28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Births on May 10
874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
589 – Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.
1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
1450 – Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
1516 – A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murdered Emperor Lê Tương Dực and fled, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended.
1541 – Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River(then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
1788 – King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements.
1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.
1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
1846 – Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
1877 – At Gilmore’s Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play.
1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.
1921 – The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.
1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
1942 – World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims comes into effect.
1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
1945 – The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia.
1946 – Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.
1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances.
1987 – The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the “worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history”.
1997 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao’an International Airport, killing 35 people.
2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.
Births on May 8
1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
1427 – John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1470)
1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
1492 – Andrea Alciato, Italian jurist and writer (d. 1550)
1508 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562)
1521 – Peter Canisius, Dutch-Swiss priest and saint (d. 1597)
1551 – Thomas Drury, English government informer and swindler (d. 1603)
1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish politician (d. 1698)
1628 – Angelo Italia, Sicilian Jesuit and architect (d. 1700)
1629 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (d. 1697)
1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German field marshal and politician (d. 1706)
1639 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian artist (d. 1709)
1641 – Nicolaes Witsen, Mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1717)
1653 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1734)
1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1726)
1698 – Henry Baker, English naturalist (d. 1774)
1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (d. 1811)
1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (d. 1794)
1745 – Carl Stamitz, German violinist and composer (d. 1801)
1753 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and rebel leader (d. 1811)
1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
1815 – Edward Tompkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 1872)
1818 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian pharmacist and politician, 3rd Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1896)
1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1885)
1824 – William Walker, American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (d. 1860)
1825 – George Bruce Malleson, English-Indian colonel and author (d. 1898)
1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
1828 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898)
1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (d. 1869)
1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter and academic (d. 1910)
1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Canadian judge, author, and songwriter (d. 1920)
1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist and mycologist (d. 1909)
1846 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (d. 1919)
1850 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1915)
1853 – Dan Brouthers, American baseball player and manager (d. 1932)
1856 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, president for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913. (d. 1952)
1858 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (d. 1924)
1858 – J. Meade Falkner, English author and poet (d. 1932)
1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (d. 1925)
1867 – Margarete Böhme, German novelist (d. 1939)
1879 – Wesley Coe, American shot putter, discus thrower, and tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
1885 – Thomas B. Costain, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1965)
1892 – Adriaan Pelt, Dutch journalist and diplomat (d. 1981)
1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (d. 1967)
1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player and coach (d. 1988)
1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English rugby player and sportscaster (d. 1963)
1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American businessman (d. 1962)
1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop (d. 1979)
1895 – Edmund Wilson, American critic, essayist, and editor (d. 1972)
1898 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960)
1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality (d. 1959)
1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
1899 – Jacques Heim, French fashion designer (d. 1967)
1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1903 – Fernandel, French actor and singer (d. 1971)
1903 – Mary Stewart, Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch, British politician and educator (d. 1984)
1904 – John Snagge, English journalist (d. 1996)
1905 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1965)
1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1910 – George Male, English footballer (d. 1998)
1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American author and publisher (d. 1975)
1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1981)
1911 – Wilhelm Friedrich de Gaay Fortman, Dutch jurist and politician, Dutch Minister of The Interior (d. 1997)
1911 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1938)
1912 – George Woodcock, Canadian author and poet (d. 1995)
1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984)
1913 – Sid James, South African-English actor and singer (d. 1976)
1915 – Milton Meltzer, American historian and author (d. 2009)
1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian water polo player, lawyer, and businessman (d. 2016)
1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritual leader and educator (d. 1993)
1916 – Ramananda Sengupta, Indian cinematographer (d. 2017)
1917 – John Anderson, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Kansas (d. 2014)
1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (d. 1996)
1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish illustrator (d. 1991)
1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author and poet (d. 2003)
1920 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (d. 2000)
1922 – Mary Q. Steele, American naturalist and author (d. 1992)
1924 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan author and academic (d. 1989)
1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzanian politician, 2nd President of Tanzania
1926 – David Attenborough, English environmentalist and television host
1926 – David Hurst, German actor (d. 2019)
1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor (d. 2017)
1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1927 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (d. 2015)
1928 – Robert Conley, American journalist (d. 2013)
1928 – Ted Sorensen, American lawyer, 8th White House Counsel (d. 2010)
1929 – Ethel D. Allen, American physician and politician (d. 1981)
1929 – Girija Devi, Indian classical singer (d. 2017)
1929 – Claude Castonguay, Canadian banker and politician
1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1930 – Heather Harper, Northern Irish soprano (d. 2019)
1930 – Doug Atkins, American football player (d. 2015)
1930 – René Maltête, French photographer and poet (d. 2000)
1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet, essayist, and translator
1932 – Julieta Campos, Cuban-Mexican author and translator (d. 2007)
1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
1932 – Harry Wells, Australian rugby league player
1934 – Leonard Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann, South African-English lawyer and judge
1934 – Maurice Norman, English footballer
1934 – David Williamson, Baron Williamson of Horton, English soldier and politician (d. 2015)
1935 – Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland, Scottish politician
1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (d. 2018)
1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager
1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese author
1936 – Haljand Udam, Estonian orientalist and academic (d. 2005)
1937 – Bernard Cleary, Canadian journalist, academic, and politician
1937 – Mike Cuellar, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 2010)
1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
1938 – Javed Burki, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
1938 – Jean Giraud, French author and illustrator (d. 2012)
1939 – Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010)
1940 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1940 – James Blyth, Baron Blyth of Rowington, English businessman and academic
1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian lawyer and politician, 47th Canadian Minister of Justice
Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Romania)
Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (United States and others)
Earliest day on which State Flag and State Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday of May (site of the WFTO) (International)
Emancipation Day (Columbus, Mississippi)
Furry Dance (Helston, UK)
Liberation Day (Czech Republic)
Miguel Hidalgo’s birthday (Mexico)
Parents’ Day (South Korea)
Truman Day (Missouri)
Veterans Day (Norway)
Victory in Europe Day, and its related observances (Europe):
Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, continues to May 9
White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)
1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.
1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.
1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.
1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
1659 – English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.
1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.
1757 – Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years’ War.
1757 – The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757).
1757 – English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
1782 – Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1857 – The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.
1861 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by the Army of Northern Virginia.
1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
1882 – Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.
1882 – The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
1906 – The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).
1910 – George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.
1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.
1916 – Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs’ Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.
1916 – Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.
1933 – The Deutsche Studentenschaft attacked Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.
1935 – New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.
1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
1941 – At California’s March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
1941 – The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
1942 – World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
1945 – World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
1945 – World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
1949 – EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.
1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.
1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
1975 – During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian Genocide.
1976 – The 6.5 Mw Friuli earthquake affected Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured.
1983 – The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
1984 – One hundred three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
1988 – All thirty-six passengers and crew were killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashed into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.
1994 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
1996 – The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
1997 – The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history.
1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.
1999 – The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio-interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.
2010 – In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
2013 – Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.
Births on May 6
973 – Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1024)
1464 – Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Polish princess (d. 1512)
1493 – Girolamo Seripando, Italian theologian and cardinal (d. 1563)
1501 – Marcellus II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1555)
1574 – Innocent X, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1655)
1580 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, French noble (d. 1637)
1635 – Johann Joachim Becher, German physician and alchemist (d. 1682)
1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French author and playwright (d. 1747)
1680 – Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Italian-French cellist and composer (d. 1755)
1713 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher and academic (d. 1780)
1714 – Anton Raaff, German tenor (d. 1797)
1742 – Jean Senebier, Swiss pastor and physiologist (d. 1809)
1758 – André Masséna, French general (d. 1817)
1758 – Maximilien Robespierre, French lawyer and politician (d. 1794)
1769 – Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
1769 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
1781 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher and author (d. 1832)
1797 – Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
1800 – Roman Sanguszko, Polish general (d. 1881)
1827 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (d. 1891)
1836 – Max Eyth, German engineer and author (d. 1906)
1843 – Grove Karl Gilbert, American geologist and academic (d. 1918)
1848 – Henry Edward Armstrong, English chemist and academic (d. 1937)
1851 – Aristide Bruant, French singer and actor (d. 1925)
1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1939)
1856 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (d. 1920)
1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1931)
1868 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (d. 1927)
1869 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and central banker, 8th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (d. 1932)
1870 – Walter Rutherford, Scottish golfer (d. 1936)
1871 – Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
1871 – Christian Morgenstern, German author and poet (d. 1914)
1872 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1934)
1872 – Djemal Pasha, Ottoman general (d. 1922)
1879 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
1879 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (d. 1929)
1880 – Winifred Brunton, English-South African painter and illustrator (d. 1959)
1880 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German-Swiss painter (d. 1938)
1883 – Alberto Collo, Italian actor (d. 1955)
1895 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and author (d. 1974)
1895 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian soldier and politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (d. 1946)
1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
1896 – Rolf Maximilian Sievert, Swedish physicist and academic (d. 1966)
1897 – Paul Alverdes, German author and poet (d. 1979)
1898 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1945)
1902 – Harry Golden, Ukrainian-American journalist and author (d. 1981)
1902 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1957)
1903 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (d. 1977)
1904 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 1984)
1904 – Catherine Lacey, English actress (d. 1979)
1904 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
1905 – Philip N. Krasne, American lawyer and producer (d. 1999)
1906 – André Weil, French mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
1907 – Weeb Ewbank, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
1911 – Guy des Cars, French journalist and author (d. 1993)
1913 – Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (d. 1989)
1913 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (d. 1993)
1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1985)
1915 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
1916 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1997)
1917 – Kal Mann, American songwriter (d. 2001)
1918 – Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and first president of the United Arab Emirates (d. 2004)
1919 – André Guelfi, French race car driver (d. 2016)
1920 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji (d. 2004)
1920 – Marguerite Piazza, American soprano and actress (d. 2012)
1921 – Erich Fried, Austrian-German author, poet, and translator (d. 1988)
1922 – Camille Laurin, Canadian psychiatrist and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1999)
1923 – Harry Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
1924 – Nestor Basterretxea, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 2014)
1924 – Patricia Helen Kennedy, American socialite, activist, and author (d. 2006)
1924 – Denny Wright, English guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1992)
1926 – Gilles Grégoire, Canadian politician, co-founded the Parti Québécois (d. 2006)
1929 – Rosemary Cramp, English archaeologist and academic
1929 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1929 – John Taylor, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
1931 – Willie Mays, American baseball player and coach
1931 – Louis Gambaccini, American government official (d. 2018)
1932 – Ahmet Haxhiu, Kosovan activist (d. 1994)
1932 – Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2020)
1934 – Richard Shelby, American lawyer and politician
1937 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (d. 2014)
1938 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
1939 – Eddie C. Campbell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2018)
1939 – Chet Allen, American child actor (d. 1984)
1942 – Ariel Dorfman, Argentinian author, playwright, and academic
1943 – Andreas Baader, German terrorist, co-founded the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
1943 – Milton William Cooper, American theorist and author (d. 2001)
1943 – Wolfgang Reinhardt, German pole vaulter (d. 2011)
1943 – James Turrell, American sculptor and illustrator
1944 – Anton Furst, English-American production designer and art director (d. 1991)
1944 – Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
1945 – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American country singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
1945 – Bob Seger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
1947 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher and author
1947 – Ljubomir Vračarević, Serbian martial artist, founded Real Aikido (d. 2013)
1948 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2013)
1950 – Jeffery Deaver, American journalist and author
1951 – Samuel Doe, Liberian sergeant and politician, 21st President of Liberia (d. 1990)
1952 – Gerrit Zalm, Dutch economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1953 – Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (d. 1986)
1953 – Tony Blair, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1953 – Michelle Courchesne, Canadian urban planner and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
1953 – Ülle Rajasalu, Estonian politician
1953 – Graeme Souness, Scottish international footballer and manager
1953 – Lynn Whitfield, American actress and producer
1954 – Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
1954 – Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician, 120th Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs
1954 – Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican author and poet
1954 – Ain Lutsepp, Estonian actor and politician
1955 – Nicholas Alexander, 7th Earl of Caledon, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Armagh
1955 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
1955 – John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos, Greek actor and screenwriter
1956 – Cindy Lovell, American educator and writer
1956 – Roland Wieser, German race walker and coach
1958 – Randall Stout, American architect, designed the Taubman Museum of Art (d. 2014)
1959 – Andreas Busse, German runner
1959 – Charles Hendry, English politician
1960 – Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
1960 – Keith Dowding, English political scientist, philosopher, and academic
1960 – Roma Downey, Irish-American actress and producer
1960 – John Flansburgh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Aleksei Lotman, Estonian biologist and politician
1960 – Anne Parillaud, French actress
1961 – Oleksandr Apaychev, Ukrainian decathlete and coach
1961 – George Clooney, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Tom Hunter, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
1961 – Gina Riley, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Frans Timmermans, Dutch politician and diplomat, First Vice President of the European Commission
1962 – Tom Brake, English politician
1962 – Brad Izzard, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina
1965 – Leslie Hope, Canadian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Worku Bikila, Ethiopian runner
1968 – Lætitia Sadier, French singer and keyboard player
1969 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1970 – Roland Kun, Nauruan politician
1970 – Kavan Smith, Canadian actor
1971 – Chris Shiflett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 – Naoko Takahashi, Japanese runner
1974 – Bernard Barmasai, Kenyan runner
1974 – Daniela Bártová, Czech pole vaulter and gymnast
1975 – Alan Richardson, English cricketer and coach
1976 – Dean Chandler, English footballer
1976 – Iván de la Peña, Spanish footballer
1977 – Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
1977 – Marc Chouinard, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Mark Eaton, American ice hockey player and coach
1977 – Chantelle Newbery, Australian diver
1978 – John Abraham, American football player
1978 – Tony Estanguet, French slalom canoeist
1978 – Fredrick Federley, Swedish journalist and politician
1978 – Alexandr Fedorov, Russian bodybuilder
1979 – Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
1979 – Jan Erik Mikalsen, Norwegian composer
1979 – Jon Montgomery, Canadian skeleton racer and television host
1980 – Brooke Bennett, American swimmer
1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek professional basketball player
1980 – Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Matthew Whiley, English cricketer
1982 – Jason Witten, American football player
1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author
1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious leader, the 17th Karmapa Lama
1983 – Fredrik Sjöström, Swedish ice hockey player
1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
1984 – Juan Pablo Carrizo, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
1986 – Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
1987 – Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
1987 – Meek Mill, American rapper
1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress
1988 – Ryan Anderson, American basketball player
1988 – Dakota Kai, New Zealander profesional wrestler
1989 – Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
1989 – Jesse Hughes, Canadian DJ and producer
1990 – José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
1992 – Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
1992 – Byun Baekhyun, South Korean musician and actor
1992 – Jonas Valančiūnas, Lithuanian professional basketball player
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and becomes its vassal.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1521 – Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Västerås.
1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland’s House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.
1903 – A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People’s Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China’s leading universities, is founded.
1916 – World War I: The UK’s 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.
1944 – World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo’s most wanted person, parachutes back into France to be a liaison between London and the local maquis group.
1945 – World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy.
1945 – World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands.
1945 – World War II: The Captain-class frigate HMS Goodall (K479) is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the European theatre of World War II.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor; Hitler and Braun both commit suicide the following day.
1945 – Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People’s Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 – Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 – The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with some of its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1975 – Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnamese-held Trường Sa Islands.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1986 – Chernobyl disaster: American and European spy satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant.
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
1991 – The 7.0 Mw Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
1992 – Riots in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
2011 – The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.
2013 – A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, injures 43 people.
2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing seven people.
2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.
Births on April 29
912 – Minamoto no Mitsunaka, Japanese samurai (d. 997)
1469 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509)
1587 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (d. 1679)
1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1745)
1667 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish-English physician and polymath (d. 1735)
1686 – Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (d. 1742)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (d. 1810)
1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807)
1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (d. 1820)
1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1833)
1780 – Charles Nodier, French librarian and author (d. 1844)
1783 – David Cox, English landscape painter (d. 1859)
1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American publisher and politician, 14th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1814 – Sadok Barącz, Galician religious leader, historian, folklorist, archivist (d. 1892)
1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
1837 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1891)
1842 – Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1899)
1847 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer, conductor, and co-founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (d. 1907)
1848 – Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (d. 1906)
1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1912)
1858 – Georgia Hopley, American journalist, temperance advocate, and the first woman prohibition agent (d. 1944)
1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (d. 1933)
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951)
1863 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (d. 1922)
1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (d. 1930)
1872 – Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (d. 1952)
1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (d. 1950)
1878 – Friedrich Adler, Jewish-German academic, artist and designer (d.1945)
1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961, March 8)
1880 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish military officer, diplomat and politician (d. 1943)
1882 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (d. 1960)
1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (d. 1945)
1891 – Bharathidasan, Indian poet and activist (d. 1964)
1894 – Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (d. 1970)
1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948)
1887 – Raymond Thorne, American swimmer (d. 1921)
1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1895 – Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (d. 1970)
1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1967)
1899 – Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1974)
1899 – Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976)
1900 – Concha de Albornoz, Spanish feminist and intellectual, exiled during the Spanish Civil War (d. 1972)
1900 – Amelia Best, Australian politician, one of the first women elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly (d. 1979)
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989)
1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 1997)
1908 – Jack Williamson, American author and academic (d. 2006)
1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1997)
1917 – Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (d. 1961)
1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990)
1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1920 – Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (d. 1996)
1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer (d. 2013)
1922 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcycle racer and journalist (d. 2001)
1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (d. 2016)
1923 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
1924 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (d. 2006)
1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress
1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007)
1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (d. 2007)
1926 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1927 – Dorothy Manley, English sprinter
1927 – Bill Slater, English footballer (d. 2018)
1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (d. 2011)
1928 – Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (d. 2007)
1929 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1929 – Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (d. 2015)
1929 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (d. 2017)
1931 – Frank Auerbach, British-German painter
1931 – Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1931 – Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (d. 2014)
1932 – Joy Clements, American soprano and actress (d. 2005)
1932 – David Tindle, English painter and educator
1933 – Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1933 – Mark Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, 61st Prime Minister of Belgium
1933 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1934 – Peter de la Billière, English general
1934 – Erika Fisch, German sprinter and hurdler
1934 – Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde
1935 – Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1936 – Zubin Mehta, Indian bassist and conductor
1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
1936 – Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist
1936 – April Stevens, American pop singer
1937 – Arvo Mets, Estonian-Russian poet and translator (d. 1997)
1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English author
1938 – Bernard Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon
1938 – Klaus Voormann, German artist, bass player, and producer
1940 – Stephanos of Tallinn, Estonian metropolitan
1940 – Brian Taber, Australian cricketer
1941 – Jonah Barrington, English-Irish squash player
1941 – Dorothy Edgington, British philosopher
1941 – Hanne Darboven, German painter (d. 2009)
1942 – Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, English politician, Minister of State for Europe
1942 – Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic
1942 – Galina Kulakova, Russian skier
1943 – Duane Allen, American country singer
1943 – Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (d. 2018)
1943 – Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic
1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman
1945 – Brian Charlesworth, English biologist, geneticist, and academic
1945 – Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (d. 2009)
1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
1945 – Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1946 – Aleksander Wolszczan, Polish astronomer
1947 – Serge Bernier, Canadian ice hockey player
1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster
1947 – Jim Ryun, American runner and politician
1948 – Bruce Cutler, American lawyer
1950 – Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (d. 2013)
1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer
1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician
1951 – Rick Burleson, American baseball player
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
1951 – John Holmes, English diplomat, British Ambassador to France
1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian
1952 – David Icke, English footballer and sportscaster
1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach
1952 – Rob Nicholson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1952 – Ron Washington, American baseball player and manager
1954 – Jake Burton Carpenter, American snowboarder and businessman, founded Burton Snowboards
1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor, and producer
1955 – Don McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress
1956 – Karen Barad, American physicist and philosopher
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor
1957 – Mark Kendall, American guitarist and songwriter
1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress
1958 – Gary Cohen, American baseball play-by-play announcer
1958 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (d. 2013)
1960 – Bill Glasson, American golfer
1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic
1962 – Bruce Driver, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Rob Druppers, Dutch runner
1962 – Stephan Burger, German Catholic archbishop
1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Radek Jaroš, Czech mountaineer and author
1965 – Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic
1965 – Peter Rauhofer, Austrian-American disc jockey and producer (d. 2013)
1965 – Larisa Turchinskaya, Russian-Australian heptathlete and coach
1965 – Brendon Tuuta, New Zealand rugby league player
1966 – Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist
1966 – Phil Tufnell, English cricketer and radio host
1967 – Marcel Albers, Dutch race car driver (d. 1992)
1967 – Curtis Joseph, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, 4th President of Croatia
1968 – Carnie Wilson, American singer-songwriter
1969 – Jack Mackenroth, American swimmer, model, and fashion designer
1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player
1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress
1972 – Dustin McDaniel, American lawyer and politician, 55th Arkansas Attorney General
1974 – Jasper Wood, Canadian violinist and educator
1974 – Anggun, Diva Indonesia
1975 – Rafael Betancourt, Venezuelan baseball player
1975 – Artem Yashkin, Ukrainian footballer
1976 – Fabio Liverani, Italian footballer and manager
1976 – Chiyotaikai Ryūji, Japanese sumo wrestler
1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player
1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager
1977 – Titus O’Neil, American football player and wrestler
1977 – Attila Zsivoczky, Hungarian decathlete and high jumper
1978 – Tony Armas, Jr., Venezuelan baseball player
1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician
1978 – Craig Gower, Australian rugby player
1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian
1979 – Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer
1979 – Ryan Sharp, Scottish race car driver and manager
1980 – Mathieu Biron, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Kelly Shoppach, American baseball player
1981 – Lisa Allen, English chef
1981 – George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer
1981 – Émilie Mondor, Canadian runner (d. 2006)
1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
1983 – Tommie Harris, American football player
1983 – David Lee, American basketball player
1984 – Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer
1984 – Paulius Jankūnas, Lithuanian basketball player
1984 – Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player
1984 – Vassilis Xanthopoulos, Greek basketball player
1985 – Jean-François Jacques, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor
1986 – Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress
1986 – Viljar Veski, Estonian basketball player
1986 – Sisa Waqa, Fijian rugby league player
1986 – Monique Alfradique, Brazilian actress
1987 – Knut Børsheim, Norwegian golfer
1987 – Sara Errani, Italian tennis player
1988 – Elías Hernández, Mexican footballer
1988 – Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer
1988 – Jovan Leacock, American football player
1988 – Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete
1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer
1991 – Adam Smith, English footballer
1991 – Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress
1992 – Emilio Orozco, American soccer player
1992 – Alina Rosenberg, German Paralympic equestrian
1994 – Christina Shakovets, German tennis player
1995 – Victoria Sinitsina, Russian ice dancer
1996 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress
1998 – Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player
2007 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess
Deaths on April 29
643 – Hou Junji, Chinese general and politician, Chancellor of the Tang dynasty
926 – Burchard II, Duke of Swabia (b. 883)
1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher, and saint (b. 1347)
1417 – Louis II of Anjou (b. 1377)
1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and theologian (b. 1517)
1630 – Agrippa d’Aubigné, French soldier and poet (b. 1552)
1658 – John Cleveland, English poet and author (b. 1613)
1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
1688 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1620)
1698 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk (b. 1655)
1707 – George Farquhar, Irish-English actor and playwright (b. 1678)
1743 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French theorist and author (b. 1658)
1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694)
1771 – Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, French-Italian architect, designed Winter Palace and Catherine Palace (b. 1700)
1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English explorer and author (b. 1713)
1793 – John Michell, English geologist and astronomer (b. 1724)
1798 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, Austrian entomologist and author (b. 1723)
1833 – William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (b. 1756)
1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1768)
1903 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (b. 1835)
1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847)
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)
404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years’ War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire.
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks’ Mills.
1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class “A” League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1940 – Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands is approved by the British occupation government.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.
1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini is captured after trying to escape. This day was set as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation of Italy.
1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland’s soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2001 – Michele Alboreto is killed while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
Births on April 25
1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children’s stories (d. 1962)
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi’s law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Louis O’Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland
1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian director, producer, and critic
1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, in Chicago.
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2005 – The first ever YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
2019 – The 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.
Births on April 23
1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
1748 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965)
1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director
1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
1949 – David Cross, English violinist
1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is today the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1535 – The sun dog phenomenon is observed over Stockholm, as later depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – Deposed monarch James II of England lays siege to Derry.
1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
1792 – France declares war against the “King of Hungary and Bohemia”, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – The governor of Caracas, Venezuela declares independence from Spain.
1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter (and the first to return from) Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus.
1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Fenway Park in Boston.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miners’ strike.
1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday’s celebrations in Germany
1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech.
1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricade himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya’an, in China’s Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.
Births on April 20
1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
1772 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary and French general (d. 1824)
1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Miran Bux, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
1913 – Roger Rochard, French runner (d. 1993)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
1920 – Ronald Speirs, American colonel (d. 2007)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer
1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
1933 – Kristaq Dhamo, Albanian actor and film director
1936 – Lisa Davis, English and American former child and adult actress
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
1936 – Christopher Robinson, English organist and conductor
1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
1938 – Peter Snow, British historian and journalist
1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
1939 – Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
1941 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor
1942 – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish journalist and author
1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American model and actress (d. 1971)
1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and head coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner
1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
1946 – Julien Poulin, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (d. 1982)
1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
1947 – David Leland, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’.
1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67).
1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
1788 – American pioneers to the Northwest Territory establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
1789 – Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
1829 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
1831 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King Pedro IV.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1922 – The United States Secretary of the Interior leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
1927 – The first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
1945 – World War II: The battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
1949 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway; it would run for 1,925 performances and win ten Tony Awards.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech during a news conference.
1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
1964 – A bulldozer kills Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, a civil rights activist, during a school segregation protest in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking a riot.
1965 – Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate against the termination of the Colville tribe in Washington DC.
1968 – Motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim.
1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
1971 – President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.
1976 – Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party (UK) after being arrested for faking his own death.
1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
1990 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.
2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.
2017 – A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.
Births on April 7
1206 – Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1253)
1330 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English nobleman (d. 1352)
1470 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)
1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730)
1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist, entomologist, and mycologist (d. 1806)
1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher and author (d. 1837)
1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
1803 – James Curtiss, American journalist and politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1803 – Flora Tristan, French author and activist (d. 1844)
1811 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1881)
1817 – Francesco Selmi, Italian chemist and patriot (d. 1881)
1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist and academic (d. 1953)
1870 – Gustav Landauer, Jewish-German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
1882 – Bert Ironmonger, Australian cricketer (d. 1971)
1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
1883 – Gino Severini, Italian-French painter and author (d. 1966)
1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971)
1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
1895 – John Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942)
1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918)
1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (d. 1972)
1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1900 – Adolf Dymsza, Polish actor (d. 1975)
1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
1903 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician (d. 1996)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
1908 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
1909 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (d. 1978)
1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007)
1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
1921 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian trade union leader and politician (d. 2011)
1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1928 – James White, Northern Irish author and educator (d. 1999)
1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer
1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1930 – Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
1931 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1989)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author
1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (d. 2015)
1933 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (d. 2004)
1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish-English actor (d. 2007)
1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
1937 – Charlie Thomas, American singer
1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (d. 1992)
1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian academic and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (d. 2018)
1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (d. 2017)
1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor, TV and film producer
1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer and manager
1944 – Shel Bachrach, American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
1944 – Warner Fusselle, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
1944 – Oshik Levi, Israeli singer and actor
1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
1945 – Gerry Cottle, English businessman
1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher and academic
1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist and author
1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author (d. 2018)
1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005)
1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian poet, playwright, and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
1946 – Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian politician and diplomate
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (d. 2008)
1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer
1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (d. 2020)
1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
1948 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer
1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
1951 – Bruce Gary, American drummer (d. 2006)
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete
1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
1952 – Dennis Hayden, American actor
1953 – Santa Barraza, American mixed media artist
1953 – Douglas Kell, English biochemist and academic
1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish businesswoman and politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer and author
1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
1957 – Thelma Walker, British politician
1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer and actor
1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
1962 – Jon Cruddas, English lawyer and politician
1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish businessman
1963 – Nick Herbert, English businessman and politician, Minister for Policing
1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator
1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian, actor, and producer
1965 – Rozalie Hirs, Dutch composer and poet
1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor and politician
686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ assumes the crown of Calakmul.
801 – King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months.
1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
1077 – The first Parliament of Friuli is created.
1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars.
1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1882 – American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James.
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his engine design.
1888 – The first of eleven unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.
1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1933 – First flight over Mount Everest, by the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale, and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.
1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the baby son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
1946 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
1948 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1948 – In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses begins, known as the Jeju uprising.
1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl against obscenity charges.
1956 – Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. He was assassinated the next day.
1969 – Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to “Vietnamize” the war effort.
1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.
1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.
1980 – US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shvwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
1989 – The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
1996 – Suspected “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.
1997 – The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
2000 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on its competitors.
2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record.
2008 – ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
2008 – Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS’s YFZ Ranch. Eventually, 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.
2009 – Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
2013 – More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.
2017 – A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people.
2018 – YouTube headquarters shooting.
Births on April 3
1016 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1055)
1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d. 1202)
1438 – John III of Egmont, Dutch nobleman (d. 1516)
1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581)
1540 – Maria de’ Medici, Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. (d. 1557)
1593 – George Herbert, English poet (d. 1633)
1639 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d. 1682)
1643 – Charles V, duke of Lorraine (d. 1690)
1682 – Valentin Rathgeber, German organist and composer (d. 1750)
1693 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1773)
1715 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (d. 1787)
1764 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1831)
1769 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (d. 1835)
1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843)
1778 – Pierre Bretonneau, French doctor who performed the first successful tracheotomy (d. 1862)
1781 – Swaminarayan, Indian religious leader (d. 1830)
1782 – Alexander Macomb, American general (d. 1841)
1783 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (d. 1859)
1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840)
1798 – Charles Wilkes, American admiral, geographer, and explorer (d.1877)
1807 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (d. 1877)
1814 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901)
1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1909)
1823 – George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (d. 1861)
1823 – William M. Tweed, American politician (d. 1878)
1826 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (d. 1900)
1837 – John Burroughs, American botanist and author (d. 1921)
1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (d. 1864)
1848 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (d. 1879)
1858 – Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (d. 1937)
1860 – Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 1932)
1864 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (d. 1943)
1875 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
1876 – Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (d. 1958)
1876 – Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (d. 1932)
1880 – Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (d. 1903)
1881 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954)
1882 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1952)
1883 – Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1937)
1885 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
1885 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (d. 1944)
1885 – St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (d. 1960)
1886 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (d. 1953)
1887 – Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (d. 1956)
1887 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966)
1888 – Neville Cardus, English author and critic (d. 1975)
1888 – Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (d. 1972)
1889 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1949)
1893 – Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943)
1895 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (d. 1968)
1895 – Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
1897 – Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (d. 1970)
1897 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (d. 1989)
1898 – David Jack, English footballer and manager (d. 1958)
1898 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1981)
1898 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine (d. 1967)
1900 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (d. 1987)
1900 – Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
1903 – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (d. 1988)
1904 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (d. 1999)
1904 – Sally Rand, American dancer (d. 1979)
1904 – Russel Wright, American furniture designer (d. 1976)
1905 – Robert Sink, American general (d. 1965)
1909 – Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1984)
1910 – Ted Hook, Australian public servant (d. 1990)
1911 – Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (d. 1956)
1911 – Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (d. 2001)
1911 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (d. 1980)
1912 – Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (d. 1982)
1912 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (d. 1963)
1913 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 2005)
1914 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
1914 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (d. 2008)
1915 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2016)
1915 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010)
1916 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
1916 – Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (d. 1988)
1916 – Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (d. 1991)
1918 – Mary Anderson, American actress (d. 2014)
1918 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (d. 2000)
1919 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (d. 2015)
1919 – Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (d. 2008)
1920 – Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (d. 2001)
1920 – Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (d. 1977)
1921 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (d. 1991)
1921 – Jan Sterling, American actress (d. 2004)
1922 – Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (d. 1996)
1922 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (d. 2019)
1923 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (d. 2013)
1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (d. 2004)
1924 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (d. 1945)
1925 – Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (d. 2014)
1926 – Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (d. 2019)
1926 – Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1967)
1927 – Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (d. 2012)
1928 – Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1928 – Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (d. 2018)
1928 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1928 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (d. 1999)
1929 – Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (d. 1982)
1929 – Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark
1930 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (d. 1998)
1930 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 2017)
1930 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (d. 2015)
1930 – Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1931 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (d. 2015)
1933 – Bob Dornan, American politician
1933 – Rod Funseth, American golfer (d. 1985)
1934 – Pamela Allen, New Zealand children’s writer and illustrator
1934 – Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist
1934 – Jim Parker, American football player (d. 2005)
1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (d. 2008)
1936 – Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 1987)
1938 – Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer
1938 – Phil Rodgers, American golfer (d. 2018)
1939 – François de Roubaix, French composer (d. 1975)
1939 – Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
1939 – Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician
1941 – Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1941 – Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (d. 1984)
1942 – Marsha Mason, American actress
1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer
1942 – Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
1943 – Mario Lavista, Mexican composer
1943 – Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1943 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1986)
1943 – Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
1944 – Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic
1944 – Tony Orlando, American singer
1945 – Doon Arbus, American author and journalist
1945 – Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1945 – Catherine Spaak, French actress
1946 – Nicholas Jones, English actor
1946 – Dee Murray, English bass player (d. 1992)
1946 – Hanna Suchocka, Polish lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Poland
1947 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (d. 2013)
1948 – Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter
1948 – Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO
1948 – Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer
1948 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico
1949 – Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (d. 1992)
1949 – A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic
1949 – Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist
1951 – Brendan Barber, English trade union leader
1951 – Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator
1951 – Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1952 – Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator
1953 – Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna
1953 – James Smith, American boxer
1953 – Craig Taubman, American singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer
1954 – K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician
1956 – Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician
1956 – Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer
1956 – Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor
1956 – Ray Combs, American game show host (d. 1996)
1958 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host
1958 – Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist
1958 – Francesca Woodman, Jewish-American photographer (d. 1981)
1959 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist
1960 – Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Tim Crews, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1961 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
1962 – Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager
1962 – Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician
1963 – Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager
1963 – Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
1964 – Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager
1964 – Nigel Farage, English politician
1964 – Claire Perry, English banker and politician
1964 – Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager
1964 – Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach
1964 – Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia
1965 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000)
1966 – John de Vries, Australian race car driver
1967 – Cat Cora, American chef and author
1967 – Pervis Ellison, American basketball player
1967 – Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter
1967 – Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster
1968 – Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
1968 – Charlotte Coleman, English actress (d. 2001)
1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer
1968 – Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player
1969 – Rodney Hampton, American football player
1969 – Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach
1969 – Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor
1969 – Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer
1971 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager
1971 – Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver
1971 – Picabo Street, American skier
1972 – Jennie Garth, American actress and director
1972 – Catherine McCormack, English actress
1972 – Sandrine Testud, French tennis player
1973 – Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer
1973 – Adam Scott, American actor
1974 – Marcus Brown, American basketball player
1974 – Drew Shirley, American guitarist and songwriter
1974 – Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor
1975 – Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player
1975 – Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player
1975 – Aries Spears, American comedian and actor
1975 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player
1975 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player
1978 – Matthew Goode, English actor
1978 – Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player
1978 – John Smit, South African rugby player
1979 – Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach
1980 – Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer
1980 – Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist
1981 – Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player
1981 – DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player
1982 – Jared Allen, American football player
1982 – Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer
1982 – Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress
1983 – Ben Foster, English footballer
1983 – Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer
1984 – Maxi López, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver
1985 – Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress
1986 – Stephanie Cox, American soccer player
1986 – Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist
1986 – Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer
1987 – Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer
1987 – Jay Bruce, American baseball player
1987 – Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jason Kipnis, American baseball player
1987 – Martyn Rooney, English sprinter
1987 – Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1988 – Kam Chancellor, American football player
1988 – Brandon Graham, American football player
1988 – Peter Hartley, English footballer
1988 – Tim Krul, Dutch footballer
1989 – Romain Alessandrini, French footballer
1989 – Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer
1989 – Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer
1990 – Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer
1990 – Madison Brengle, American tennis player
1990 – Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer
1990 – Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer
1991 – Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer
1992 – Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer
1992 – Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer
1993 – Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer
1994 – Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player
1996 – Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player
1997 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer
1998 – Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer
Deaths on April 3
963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
1153 – al-Adil ibn al-Sallar, vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate
1171 – Philip of Milly, seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1120)
1203 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)
1253 – Saint Richard of Chichester
1287 – Pope Honorius IV (b. 1210)
1325 – Nizamuddin Auliya, Sufi saint (b. 1238)
1350 – Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295)
1538 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480)
1545 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481)
1606 – Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1563)
1630 – Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English noble (b. c. 1593)
1680 – Shivaji, Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (b. 1630)
