618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China.
656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
860 – Byzantine–Rus’ War: A fleet of about 200 Rus’ vessels sails into the Bosphorus and starts pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
1053 – Battle of Civitate: Three thousand horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX.
1178 – Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon’s distance from the Earth (on the order of meters) are a result of this collision.
1264 – The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.
1265 – A draft Byzantine–Venetian treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, but is not ratified by Doge Reniero Zeno.
1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
1633 – Charles I is crowned King of Scots at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.
1684 – The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.
1757 – Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years’ War.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.
1799 – Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith.
1812 – The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison, beginning the War of 1812.
1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.
1822 – Constantine Kanaris blows up the Ottoman navy’s flagship at Chios, killing the Kapudan Pasha Nasuhzade Ali Pasha.
1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin’s own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.
1859 – First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.
1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1887 – The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
1900 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.
1908 – Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the ship Kasato-Maru.
1908 – The University of the Philippines is established.
1923 – Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
1935 – Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, clash with striking longshoremen, resulting in a total of 60 injuries and 24 arrests.
1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle.
1940 – The “Finest Hour” speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.
1945 – William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”) is charged with treason for his pro-German propaganda broadcasting during World War II.
1946 – Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist, calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa.
1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
1953 – The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.
1953 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129.
1954 – Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état.
1965 – Vietnam War: The United States uses B-52 bombers to attack National Liberation Front guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
1972 – Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen people are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes two minutes after take off from London’s Heathrow Airport.
1979 – SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
1981 – The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.
1982 – Italian banker Roberto Calvi’s body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England.
1983 – Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
1983 – Mona Mahmudnizhad, together with nine other Bahá’í women, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran over her religious beliefs.
1984 – A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners takes place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984–85 UK miners’ strike.
1994 – The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
2006 – The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1 is launched.
2007 – The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire happened in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine firefighters.
2009 – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched.
2018 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes northern Osaka.
Births on June 18
1269 – Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar (d. 1298)
1318 – Eleanor of Woodstock (d. 1355)
1332 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1391)
1466 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (d. 1539)
1511 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor, designed the Ponte Santa Trinita (d. 1592)
1517 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (d. 1593)
1521 – Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu (d. 1577)
1667 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal (d. 1750)
1673 – Antonio de Literes, Spanish composer (d. 1747)
1677 – Antonio Maria Bononcini, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1726)
1716 – Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter and educator (d. 1809)
1717 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1757)
1757 – Ignaz Pleyel, Austrian-French pianist and composer (d. 1831)
1757 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentinian lawyer and politician 1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1833)
1769 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Irish-English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1822)
1799 – William Lassell, English astronomer and merchant (d. 1880)
1812 – Ivan Goncharov, Russian journalist and author (d. 1891)
1815 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (d. 1881)
1816 – Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte, French daughter of Napoleon (d. 1907)
1816 – Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepali ruler (d. 1877)
1833 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and President (1880-1884) (d. 1893)
1834 – Auguste-Théodore-Paul de Broglie, French philosopher and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – William H. Seward Jr., American general and banker (d. 1920)
1845 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
1850 – Richard Heuberger, Austrian composer and critic (d. 1914)
1854 – E. W. Scripps, American publisher, founded the E. W. Scripps Company (d. 1926)
1857 – Henry Clay Folger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Folger Shakespeare Library (d. 1930)
1858 – Andrew Forsyth, Scottish-English mathematician and academic (d. 1942)
1858 – Hector Rason, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1927)
1862 – Carolyn Wells, American novelist and poet (d. 1942)
1863 – George Essex Evans, English-Australian poet and author (d. 1909)
1868 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (d. 1957)
1870 – Édouard Le Roy, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1954)
1877 – James Montgomery Flagg, American painter and illustrator (d. 1960)
1881 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1956)
1882 – Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian compositor and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1949)
1884 – Édouard Daladier, French captain and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1970)
1886 – George Mallory, English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1924)
1886 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist and paleontologist (d. 1978)
1887 – Tancrède Labbé, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1956)
1896 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (d. 1986)
1897 – Martti Marttelin, Finnish runner (d. 1940)
1900 – Vlasta Vraz, Czech-American relief worker, editor, and fundraiser (d. 1989)
1901 – Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1901 – Llewellyn Rees, English actor (d. 1994)
1902 – Louis Alter, American musician (d. 1980)
1902 – Paavo Yrjölä, Finnish decathlete (d. 1980)
1903 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (d. 1965)
1903 – Raymond Radiguet, French author and poet (d. 1923)
1904 – Keye Luke, Chinese-American actor (d. 1991)
1904 – Manuel Rosenthal, French conductor and composer (d. 2003)
1905 – Eduard Tubin, Estonian composer and conductor (d. 1982)
1907 – Frithjof Schuon, Swiss-American metaphysicist, philosopher, and author (d. 1998)
1908 – Bud Collyer, American actor and game show host (d. 1969)
1908 – Stanley Knowles, American-Canadian academic and politician (d. 1997)
1908 – Nedra Volz, American actress (d. 2003)
1910 – Dick Foran, American actor and singer (d. 1979)
1910 – Avon Long, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
1910 – Ray McKinley, American singer, drummer, and bandleader (d. 1995)
1912 – Glenn Morris, American decathlete (d. 1974)
1913 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (d. 2005)
1913 – Sammy Cahn, American pianist and composer (d. 1993)
1913 – Sylvia Porter, American economist and journalist (d. 1991)
1913 – Françoise Loranger, Canadian playwright and producer (d. 1995)
1913 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker and philanthropist (d. 2008)
1913 – Oswald Teichmüller, German mathematician (d. 1943)
1914 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (d. 1998)
1914 – Efraín Huerta, Mexican poet (d.1982)
1915 – Red Adair, American firefighter (d. 2004)
1915 – Robert Kanigher, American author (d. 2002)
1915 – Alice T. Schafer, American mathematician (d. 2009)
1916 – Julio César Turbay Ayala, Colombian lawyer and politician, 25th President of Colombia (d. 2005)
1917 – Richard Boone, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1981)
1917 – Jack Karnehm, English snooker player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1917 – Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1918 – Alf Francis, West Prussia-born, English motor racing mechanic and race car constructor (d. 1983)
1918 – Jerome Karle, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1918 – Franco Modigliani, Italian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1919 – Jüri Järvet, Estonian actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1920 – Ian Carmichael, English actor and singer (d. 2010)
1920 – Lode Van Den Bergh, Belgian author and academic
1922 – Claude Helffer, French pianist and educator (d. 2004)
1924 – George Mikan, American basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
1925 – Robert Beadell, American composer and educator (d. 1994)
1926 – Philip B. Crosby, American businessman and author (d. 2001)
1926 – Allan Sandage, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 2010)
1926 – Tom Wicker, American journalist and author (d. 2011)
1927 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-English actress (d. 1998)
1927 – Paul Eddington, English actor (d. 1995)
1928 – Michael Blakemore, Australian actor, director, and screenwriter
1928 – David T. Lykken, American geneticist and academic (d. 2006)
1929 – Jürgen Habermas, German sociologist and philosopher
1929 – Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2015)
1931 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazilian sociologist, academic, and politician, 34th President of Brazil
1932 – Dudley R. Herschbach, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Geoffrey Hill, English poet and academic (d. 2016)
1933 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2018)
1933 – Tommy Hunt, American singer
1934 – Brian Kenny, English general (d. 2017)
1934 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 2004)
1936 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (d. 1992)
1936 – Barack Obama Sr., Kenyan economist (d. 1982)
1936 – Ronald Venetiaan, Surinamese politician, 6th President of Suriname
1937 – Del Harris, American basketball player and coach
1937 – Jay Rockefeller, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of West Virginia
1937 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist and historian (d. 2006)
1937 – Vitaly Zholobov, Ukrainian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1938 – Kevin Murray, Australian footballer and coach
1939 – Lou Brock, American baseball player and sportscaster
1939 – Jean-Claude Germain, Canadian historian, author, and journalist
1939 – Brooks Firestone, American businessman and politician
1941 – Roger Lemerre, French footballer and manager
1941 – Paul Mayersberg, English director and screenwriter
1941 – Delia Smith, English chef and author
1942 – John Bellany, Scottish painter and academic (d. 2013)
1942 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1942 – Pat Hutchins, English author and illustrator
1942 – Thabo Mbeki, South African politician, 23rd President of South Africa
1942 – Paul McCartney, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Richard Perry, American record producer
1942 – Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (d. 1980)
1942 – Nick Tate, Australian actor and director
1942 – Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (d. 2004)
1943 – Barry Evans, English actor (d. 1997)
1943 – Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, dancer, and actress
1944 – Bruce DuMont, American broadcaster and political analyst
1944 – Sandy Posey, American pop/country singer
1946 – Russell Ash, English journalist and author (d. 2010)
1946 – Bruiser Brody, American wrestler (d. 1988)
1946 – Fabio Capello, Italian footballer and manager
1946 – Maria Bethânia, Brazilian singer
1947 – Ivonne Coll, Puerto Rican-American model and actress, Miss Puerto Rico 1967
1947 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1947 – Linda Thorson, Canadian actress
1948 – Philip Jackson, English actor
1948 – Éva Marton, Hungarian soprano and actress
1948 – Sherry Turkle, American academic, psychologist, and sociologist
1949 – Chris Van Allsburg, American author and illustrator
1949 – Jarosław Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Poland
1949 – Lech Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 4th President of Poland (d. 2010)
1949 – Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
1950 – Rod de’Ath, Welsh drummer and producer (d. 2014)
1950 – Annelie Ehrhardt, German hurdler
1950 – Mike Johanns, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of Agriculture
1950 – Jackie Leven, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1951 – Mohammed Al-Sager, Kuwaiti journalist and politician
1951 – Miriam Flynn, American actress and comedian
1951 – Ian Hargreaves, English-Welsh journalist and academic
1951 – Stephen Hopper, Australian botanist and academic
1951 – Gyula Sax, Hungarian chess player (d. 2014)
1952 – Tiiu Aro, Estonian physician and politician, Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1952 – Denis Herron, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Carol Kane, American actress
1952 – Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Lee Soo-man, South Korean singer and businessman, founded S.M. Entertainment
1953 – Peter Donohoe, English pianist and educator
1955 – Ed Fast, Canadian lawyer and politician
1956 – Brian Benben, American actor and producer
1956 – John Scott, English organist and conductor (d. 2015)
1957 – Miguel Ángel Lotina, Spanish footballer and manager
1957 – Richard Powers, American novelist
1958 – Peter Altmaier, German jurist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
1958 – Gary Martin, British voice actor and actor
1959 – Joe Ansolabehere, American animation screenwriter and producer
1960 – Barbara Broccoli, American director and producer
1960 – Steve Murphy, Canadian journalist
1961 – Oz Fox, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1961 – Angela Johnson, American novelist and poet
1961 – Alison Moyet, English singer-songwriter
1962 – Lisa Randall, American physicist and academic
1963 – Dizzy Reed, American keyboard player and songwriter
1963 – Bruce Smith, American football player
1964 – Uday Hussein, Iraqi commander (d. 2003)
1964 – Patti Webster, American publicist and author (d. 2013)
1966 – Kurt Browning, Canadian figure skater, choreographer, and sportscaster
1966 – Troy Kemp, Bahamian high jumper
1968 – Frank Müller, German decathlete
1969 – Haki Doku, Albanian cyclist
1969 – Christopher Largen, American journalist and author (d. 2012)
1970 – Katie Derham, English journalist
1970 – Ivan Kozák, Slovak footballer
1970 – Greg Yaitanes, American director and producer
1971 – Kerry Butler, American actress and singer
1971 – Jason McAteer, English-Irish footballer and manager
1971 – Nathan Morris, American soul singer
1972 – Anu Tali, Estonian pianist and conductor
1972 – Wikus du Toit, South African actor, director, and composer
1973 – Julie Depardieu, French actress
1973 – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, American author and music critic
1973 – Ray LaMontagne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austrian skier
1973 – Matt Parsons, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Gavin Wanganeen Australian footballer and coach
1974 – Vincenzo Montella, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Sergey Sharikov, Russian fencer and coach (d. 2015)
1975 – Marie Gillain, Belgian actress
1975 – Aleksandrs Koļinko, Latvian footballer
1975 – Martin St. Louis, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Blake Shelton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Wang Liqin, Chinese table tennis player
1979 – Yumiko Kobayashi, Japanese voice actress and singer
1979 – Ivana Wong, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
1980 – Antonio Gates, American football player
1980 – Sergey Kirdyapkin, Russian race walker
1980 – Craig Mottram, Australian runner
1980 – Antero Niittymäki, Finnish ice hockey player
1980 – Tara Platt, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1981 – Clint Newton, American-Australian rugby league player
1981 – Marco Streller, Swiss footballer
1982 – Nadir Belhadj, French-Algerian footballer
1982 – Marco Borriello, Italian footballer
1982 – Nathan Cavaleri, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1983 – Billy Slater, Australian rugby league player
1983 – Cameron Smith, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Nanyak Dala, Canadian rugby player
1985 – Chris Coghlan, American baseball player
1985 – Alex Hirsch, American animator and television producer
1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang.
786 – A Hasanid Alid uprising in Mecca is crushed by the Abbasids at the Battle of Fakhkh.
980 – Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus’.
1011 – Lombard Revolt: Greek citizens of Bari rise up against the Lombard rebels led by Melus and deliver the city to Basil Mesardonites, Byzantine governor (catepan) of the Catepanate of Italy.
1118 – Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, captures Azaz from the Seljuk Turks.
1157 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called The Bear (Ger: Albrecht der Bär), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first margrave.
1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
1429 – Hundred Years’ War: Start of the Battle of Jargeau.
1488 – Battle of Sauchieburn: Fought between rebel Lords and James III of Scotland, resulting in the death of the king.
1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
1865 – The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the “first motor race”, takes place.
1898 – The Hundred Days’ Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
1901 – The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.
1903 – A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, abdicates under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens.
1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
1936 – The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens.
1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts.
1940 – World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids.
1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
1942 – Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance.
1944 – USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights.
1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
1968 – Lloyd J. Old identified the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first women to do so.
1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University.
1981 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
1987 – Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain.
1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people.
2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
2008 – The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit.
2010 – The first African FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.
2012 – More than 80 people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried.
2013 – Greece’s public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It reopened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
2018 – 3 World Trade Center officially opens.
Births on June 11
1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
1431 – Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (d. 1456)
1456 – Anne Neville, Princess of Wales and Queen of England (d. 1485)
1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet and translator (d. 1594)
1555 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1627)
1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1637)
1585 – Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (d. 1615)
1588 – George Wither, English poet (d. 1667)
1620 – John Moore, English businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1702)
1655 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
1662 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1712)
1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (d. 1764)
1696 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish-Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian organist and composer (d. 1780)
1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese harpsichord player and composer (d. 1742)
1709 – Joachim Martin Falbe, German painter (d. 1782)
1712 – Benjamin Ingham, American missionary (d. 1772)
1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (d. 1746)
1741 – Joseph Warren, American physician and general (d. 1775)
1776 – John Constable, English painter and academic (d. 1837)
1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran philosopher and theorist (d. 1855)
1807 – James F. Schenck, American admiral (d. 1882)
1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (d. 1879)
1818 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1903)
1829 – Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1904)
1832 – Lucy Pickens, American wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens (d. 1899)
1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (d. 1934)
1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (d. 1929)
1861 – Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (d. 1933)
1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (d. 1945)
1871 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (d. 1928)
1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 1960)
1877 – Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (d. 1909)
1879 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (d. 1973)
1881 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (d. 1963)
1881 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (d. 1983)
1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (d. 1927)
1889 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (d. 1976)
1894 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (d. 1952)
1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975)
1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927)
1897 – Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (d. 1970)
1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1901 – Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (d. 1978)
1901 – Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (d. 1968)
1902 – Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (d. 1983)
1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player and coach (d. 1976)
1908 – Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (d. 1982)
1908 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (d. 1919)
1909 – Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (d. 2003)
1910 – Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (d. 1991)
1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997)
1912 – James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1912 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (d. 1963)
1912 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (d. 2012)
1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 1970)
1913 – Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
1914 – Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
1915 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1997)
1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (d. 1999)
1917 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (d. 2008)
1918 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (d. 1980)
1919 – Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (d. 2008)
1919 – Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (d. 2009)
1920 – Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (d. 1981)
1920 – Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (d. 2013)
1922 – Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (d. 2014)
1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1925 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2013)
1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator
1927 – Beryl Grey, English ballerina
1927 – John W. O’Malley, American Catholic historian, academic and Jesuit priest
1927 – Kit Pedler, English parapsychologist and author (d. 1981)
1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014)
1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001)
1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright
1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade
1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012)
1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017)
1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland
1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012)
1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
1947 – Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach
1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar
1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter
1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014)
1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Matthew Engel, English journalist and author
1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer
1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner
1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician
1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician
1953 – Barbara Minty, American model
1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer
1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author
1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster
1956 – Simon Plouffe, Canadian mathematician and academic
1956 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2015)
1956 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American bass player and bandleader
1958 – Barry Adamson, English singer and bass player
1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host
1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach
1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter
1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000)
1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver
1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002)
1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player
1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player
1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player
1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer
1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player
1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
1969 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)
1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer
1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer
1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician
1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer
1971 – Kenjiro Tsuda, Japanese voice actor
1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach
1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager
1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner
1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor
1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer
1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer
1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player
1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee
1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper
1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player
218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus. He flees but is captured near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia.
793 – Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of Norse activity in the British Isles.
1042 – Edward the Confessor becomes King of England – the country’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king.
1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre, beginning his crusade.
1663 – Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial ensures Portugal’s independence from Spain.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: American attackers are driven back at the Battle of Trois-Rivières.
1783 – Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
1789 – James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
1794 – Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution’s new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.
1856 – A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.
1861 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
1867 – Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).
1887 – Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the ‘Art of Compiling Statistics’, which was his punched card calculator.
1906 – Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
1912 – Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.
1918 – A solar eclipse is observed at Baker City, Oregon by scientists and an artist hired by the United States Navy.
1928 – Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Peking, whose name is changed to Beijing (“Northern Capital”).
1929 – Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
1940 – World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian Campaign.
1941 – World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
1949 – Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
1949 – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
1953 – An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.
1953 – The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
1959 – USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
1966 – An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.
1966 – Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita scale: The first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
1966 – The National Football League and American Football League announced a merger effective in 1970.
1967 – Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
1982 – Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
1984 – Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.
1987 – New Zealand’s Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
1992 – The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1995 – Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
2001 – Mamoru Takuma kills eight and injures 15 in a mass stabbing at an elementary school in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan.
2004 – The first Venus Transit in well over a century takes place, the previous one being in 1882.
2007 – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State’s worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
2008 – At least 37 miners go missing after an explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine causes it to collapse.
2008 – At least seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.
2009 – Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour.
2014 – At least 28 people are killed in an attack at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan.
Births on June 8
862 – Emperor Xizong of Tang (d. 888)
1508 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer (d. 1586)
1552 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet and author (d. 1638)
1593 – George I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania (d. 1648)
1625 – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1712)
1671 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1751)
1717 – John Collins, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1795)
1724 – John Smeaton, English engineer, designed the Coldstream Bridge and Perth Bridge (d. 1794)
1745 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (d. 1818)
1757 – Ercole Consalvi, Italian cardinal (d. 1824)
1788 – Charles A. Wickliffe, American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1869)
1810 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (d. 1856)
1829 – John Everett Millais, English painter and illustrator (d. 1896)
1831 – Thomas J. Higgins, Canadian-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1917)
1842 – John Q. A. Brackett, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1918)
1851 – Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, French physician and physicist (d. 1940)
1852 – Guido Banti, Italian physician and pathologist (d. 1925)
1854 – Douglas Cameron, Canadian politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 1921)
1855 – George Charles Haité, English painter and illustrator (d. 1924)
1858 – Charlotte Scott, English mathematician (d. 1931)
1859 – Smith Wigglesworth, English evangelist (d. 1947)
1860 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (d. 1959)
1868 – Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (d. 1942)
1872 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1949)
1875 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (d. 1934)
1876 – Alexandre Tuffère, Greek-French triple jumper (d. 1958)
1885 – Karl Genzken, German physician (d. 1957)
1891 – William Funnell, Australian public servant (d. 1962)
1893 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (d. 1968)
1893 – Gaby Morlay, French actress (d. 1964)
1894 – Erwin Schulhoff, Czech composer and pianist (d. 1942)
1895 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
1897 – John G. Bennett, English mathematician and technologist (d. 1974)
1899 – Eugène Lapierre, Canadian organist, composer and arts administrator (d. 1970)
1899 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (d. 1945)
1900 – Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, later pardoned posthumously (d. 1945)
1903 – Ralph Yarborough, American colonel and politician (d. 1996)
1903 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author and poet (d. 1987)
1910 – C. C. Beck, American illustrator (d. 1989)
1910 – John W. Campbell, American journalist and author (d. 1971)
1910 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer, sculptor, and painter (d. 2003)
1911 – Edmundo Rivero, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
1912 – Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, British abstract painter (d. 2004)
1912 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
1912 – Harry Holtzman, American painter (d. 1987)
1915 – Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 2015)
1916 – Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1916 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1916 – Richard Pousette-Dart, American painter and educator (d. 1992)
1917 – Byron White, American football player and judge (d. 2002)
1918 – George Edward Hughes, Irish-New Zealand philosopher and logician (d. 1994)
1918 – Robert Preston, American captain, actor, and singer (d. 1987)
1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (d. 2016)
1918 – John H. Ross, American captain and pilot (d. 2013)
1919 – John R. Deane, Jr., American general (d. 2013)
1920 – Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (d. 1995)
1921 – Gordon McLendon, American broadcaster and businessman (d. 1986)
1921 – Olga Nardone, American actress (d. 2010)
1921 – LeRoy Neiman, American soldier and painter (d. 2012)
1921 – Alexis Smith, Canadian-born American actress and singer (d. 1993)
1921 – Suharto, Indonesian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (d. 2008)
1924 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2013)
1924 – Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist and academic (d. 2013)
1925 – Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (d. 2018)
1927 – Jerry Stiller, American actor, comedian and producer (d. 2020)
1929 – Nada Inada, Japanese psychiatrist and author (d. 2013)
1930 – Robert Aumann, German-American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Marcel Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1993)
1931 – James Goldstone, American director and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1931 – Dana Wynter, British actress (d. 2011)
1932 – Ray Illingworth, English cricketer and sportscaster
1932 – Ian Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood, Scottish lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
1933 – Rommie Loudd, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
1933 – Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress, and television host (d. 2014)
1933 – Robert Stevens, English lawyer and academic
1934 – Millicent Martin, English actress and singer
1935 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
1936 – James Darren, American actor
1936 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1937 – Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright
1938 – Angelo Amato, Italian cardinal
1939 – Herb Adderley, American football player
1940 – Nancy Sinatra, American singer and actress
1941 – Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician and activist (d. 1981)
1941 – George Pell, Australian cardinal
1942 – Nikos Konstantopoulos, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior
1942 – Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
1943 – Colin Baker, English actor
1943 – William Calley, American lieutenant
1943 – Willie Davenport, American colonel and hurdler (d. 2002)
1943 – Peter Eggert, German footballer and manager
1943 – Pierre-André Fournier, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 2015)
1944 – Mark Belanger, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1944 – Marc Ouellet, Canadian cardinal
1944 – Boz Scaggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (d. 2014)
1945 – Derek Underwood, English cricketer
1946 – Graham Henry, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1947 – Annie Haslam, English singer-songwriter and painter
1947 – Sara Paretsky, American author
1947 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, geneticist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
1949 – Emanuel Ax, Polish-American pianist and educator
1949 – Hildegard Falck, German runner
1950 – Kathy Baker, American actress
1950 – Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress and producer
1951 – Tony Rice, American guitarist and songwriter
1951 – Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer-songwriter
1953 – Billy Hayes, English union leader
1953 – Sandy Nairne, English historian and curator
1953 – Ivo Sanader, Croatian historian and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
1953 – Olav Stedje, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1954 – Greg Ginn, American punk rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (Black Flag)
1954 – Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan (d. 2013)
1954 – Sergei Storchak, Ukrainian-Russian politician
1955 – Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web
1955 – José Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer and manager
1955 – Griffin Dunne, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Udo Bullmann, German politician
1956 – Jonathan Potter, English psychologist, sociolinguist, and academic
1957 – Scott Adams, American author and illustrator
1957 – Don Robinson, American baseball player and politician
1957 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor
1958 – Louise Richardson, Irish political scientist and academic
1958 – Keenen Ivory Wayans, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1959 – Mohsen Kadivar, Iranian philosopher
1960 – Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter
1960 – Terje Gewelt, Norwegian bassist
1960 – Thomas Steen, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist
1962 – John Gibbons, American baseball player and manager
1962 – Andreas Keim, German footballer
1962 – Nick Rhodes, English keyboard player and producer
1963 – Karen Kingsbury, American journalist and author
1963 – Antoaneta Todorova, Bulgarian javelin thrower
1964 – Butch Reynolds, American runner and coach
1965 – Kevin Farley, American screenwriter
1965 – Rob Pilatus, German model, dancer and singer (Milli Vanilli) (d. 1998)
1966 – Julianna Margulies, American actress
1966 – Doris Pearson, English singer-songwriter and choreographer
1967 – Dan Futterman, American actor, screenwriter and producer
1967 – Russell E. Morris, Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of St Andrews
1968 – Rob Ray, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1969 – David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player and coach
1969 – J. P. Manoux, American actor
1969 – Marcos Siega, American director and producer
1970 – Gabrielle Giffords, American businesswoman, politician and activist
1970 – Kwame Kilpatrick, American educator and politician, 68th Mayor of Detroit
1970 – Steve Renouf, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1970 – Troy Vincent, American football player
1971 – Mark Feuerstein, American actor, director, and producer
1972 – Christian Mayrleb, Austrian footballer
1973 – Lexa Doig, Canadian model and actress
1973 – Bryant Reeves, American basketball player
1974 – Pål Arne Fagernes, Norwegian javelin thrower (d. 2003)
1974 – Lauren Burns, Australian taekwondo practitioner
1974 – Alma Lepina, Latvian figure skater
1975 – Emm Gryner, Canadian singer-songwriter
1975 – Bryan McCabe, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1975 – Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1975 – Shilpa Shetty, Indian actress and producer
1976 – Eion Bailey, American actor
1976 – Kenji Johjima, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Catherine McKinnell, English lawyer and politician
1977 – Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer
1978 – Eun Ji-won, South Korean rapper, dancer, and producer
1978 – Maria Menounos, American television journalist
1979 – Alexei Kozlov, Estonian figure skater
1979 – Pete Orr, Canadian-American baseball player
1979 – Adine Wilson, New Zealand netball player
1979 – İpek Şenoğlu, Turkish tennis player
1980 – Gustavo Manduca, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Jamie Spencer, Irish jockey
1981 – Alex Band, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1981 – Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author
1981 – Matteo Meneghello, Italian race car driver
1981 – Sara Watkins, American singer-songwriter and fiddler
1982 – Matteo Barbini, Italian rugby player
1982 – Michael Cammalleri, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Dickson Etuhu, Nigerian footballer
1982 – Irina Lăzăreanu, Romanian-Canadian model and singer
1982 – Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
1983 – Gaines Adams, American football player (d. 2010)
1983 – Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
1983 – Pantelis Kapetanos, Greek footballer
1983 – Coby Karl, American basketball player
1984 – Javier Mascherano, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Alexandre Despatie, Canadian diver
1985 – Rosanna Pansino, American actress, writer and TV personality
1986 – Patrick Kaleta, American ice hockey player
1986 – Andrej Sekera, Slovak ice hockey player
1987 – Coralie Balmy, French swimmer
1987 – Issiar Dia, Senegalese footballer
1989 – Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player
1989 – Mitchell Schwartz, American football player
1990 – Todd Barclay, New Zealand politician
1990 – Mickey Bushell, English wheelchair racer
1992 – Sebá, Brazilian footballer
1996 – Doğanay Kılıç, Turkish footballer
1997 – Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player
Deaths on June 8
632 – Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, widely regarded as its founder (b. 570/571)
696 – Chlodulf, bishop of Metz (or 697)
951 – Zhao Ying, Chinese chancellor (b. 885)
1042 – Harthacnut, English-Danish king (b. 1018)
1154 – William of York, English archbishop and saint
2013 – Taufiq Kiemas, Indonesian politician, 5th First Spouse of Indonesia (b. 1942)
2014 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (b. 1903)
2014 – Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (b. 1948)
2015 – Chea Sim, Cambodian commander and politician (b. 1932)
2017 – Sam Panopoulos, Greek cook (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances on June 8
Christian feast day:
Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan
Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart (Droste zu Vischering)
Chlodulf of Metz
Jacques Berthieu, S.J.
Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland
Medard
Melania the Elder
Roland Allen (Episcopal Church (USA))
Thomas Ken (Church of England)
William of York
June 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Queen’s Birthday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in June. (Australia, except Western Australia and Queensland)
421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.
1002 – Henry II, a cousin of Emperor Otto III, is elected and crowned King of Germany.
1099 – First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli.
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – The Great Reform Act of England and Wales receives royal assent.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866 – One thousand eight hundred Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after looting and plundering the Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg areas of Canada East.
1880 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, the assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), ends the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the “whites-only” car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
1905 – Norway’s parliament dissolves its union with Sweden. The vote was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year.
1906 – Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines: Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops.
1919 – Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. Five hundred to nine hundred thousand civilians are killed.
1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae, carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans, is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns from exactly five years in exile during World War II.
1946 – The United Kingdom’s BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of the Second World War.
1948 – Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada take place.
1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing the Ninth-of-May Constitution, making his nation a Communist state.
1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1962 – The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) sets fire to the University of Algiers library building, destroying about 500,000 books.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) high.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
2013 – A bus catches fire in the Chinese city of Xiamen, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 34 others.
2013 – A gunman opens fire at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, after setting a house on fire nearby, killing six people, including the suspect.
2014 – At least 37 people are killed in an attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province.
Births on June 7
1003 – Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia (d. 1048)
1402 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese noble (d. 1481)
1422 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (d. 1482)
1502 – John III of Portugal (d. 1557)
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1615)
1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian actor and singer (d. 1734)
1702 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1761)
1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806)
1761 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)
1778 – Beau Brummell, English cricketer and fashion designer (d. 1840)
1811 – James Young Simpson, Scottish obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1837 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (d. 1903)
1840 – Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927)
1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1930)
1847 – George Washington Ball, American legislator from Iowa (d. 1915)
1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (d. 1903)
1851 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922)
1861 – Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (d. 1942)
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928)
1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960)
1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963)
1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972)
1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958)
1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975)
1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938)
1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990)
1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958)
1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970)
1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973)
1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971)
1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000)
1905 – James J. Braddock, American lieutenant and boxer (d. 1974)
1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963)
1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002)
1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974)
1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994)
1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014)
1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007)
1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995)
1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986)
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995)
1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997)
1921 – Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (d. 2010)
1921 – Brian Talboys, New Zealand politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2012)
1922 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000)
1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017)
1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2020)
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian race car driver (d. 1953)
1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014)
1928 – Dave Bowen, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1928 – Randolph Turpin, English boxer (d. 1966)
1929 – Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (d. 1983)
1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada
1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress and author
1932 – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Romeo Galán, Argentine athlete
1935 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2012)
1935 – Shyama, Indian actress (d. 2017)
1936 – Bert Sugar, American author and boxing historian (d. 2012)
1938 – Ian St John, Scottish international footballer, forward and manager
1939 – Yuli Turovsky, Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (d. 2013)
1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor
1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor
1944 – Annette Lu, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of the Republic of China
1944 – Clarence White, American guitarist and singer (d. 1973)
1945 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1945 – John Olsen, Australian politician, 42nd Premier of South Australia
1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian lawyer and politician, 26th Chancellor of Austria
1947 – Don Money, American baseball player and coach
1947 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1948 – Jim Walton, American businessman
1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor
1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish-American novelist, screenwriter, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Johnny Clegg, English- born South African singer-songwriter, guitarist and anthropologist (d. 2019)
1954 – Louise Erdrich, American novelist and poet
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor and producer
1955 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1956 – L.A. Reid, American songwriter and producer, co-founded LaFace Records
1957 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer-songwriter and producer
1957 – Paddy McAloon, English singer-songwriter
1958 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
1958 – Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai politician and diplomat
1959 – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, 50th Governor of Indiana
1960 – Hirohiko Araki, Japanese manga artist and creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
1960 – Bill Prady, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Dave Catching, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1962 – Thierry Hazard, French singer-songwriter
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese race car driver
1963 – Gordon Gano, American musician
1964 – Gia Carides, Australian actress
1964 – Graeme Labrooy, Sri Lankan cricketer
1965 – Mick Foley, American wrestler, actor, and author
1965 – Jean-Pierre François, French footballer and singer
1965 – Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector
1966 – Eric Kretz, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Tom McCarthy, American director, screenwriter and actor
1966 – Stéphane Richer, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Dave Navarro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Helen Baxendale, English actress
1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Andrei Kovalenko, Russian ice hockey player
1970 – Mike Modano, American ice hockey player
1972 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
1974 – Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host
1975 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player
1976 – Necro, American rapper, producer, and director
1976 – Mirsad Türkcan, Turkish basketball player
1977 – Marcin Baszczyński, Polish footballer
1978 – Mini Andén, Swedish-American model, actress, and producer
1978 – Bill Hader, Two-time Emmy winning American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1979 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
1979 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
1980 – Ed Moses, American swimmer
1981 – Stephen Bywater, English footballer
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Kevin Kyle, Scottish footballer
1983 – Milan Jurčina, Slovak ice hockey player
1983 – Piotr Małachowski, Polish discus thrower
1984 – Ari Koivunen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1984 – Eri Yanetani, Japanese snowboarder
1985 – Arkadiusz Piech, Polish footballer
1985 – Charlie Simpson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Richard Thompson, Trinidadian sprinter
1986 – Keegan Bradley, American golfer
1988 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
1988 – Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper
1990 – T. J. Brodie, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Allison Schmitt, American swimmer
1991 – Cenk Tosun, Turkish professional footballer
1991 – Fetty Wap, American rapper
1992 – Sara Niemietz, American singer-songwriter and actress
1992 – Mathias Gehrt, Danish professional footballer
1992 – Alípio, Brazilian footballer
1993 – George Ezra, English singer, songwriter and guitarist
Deaths on June 7
555 – Vigilius, Pope of the Catholic Church (b. 500)
862 – Al-Muntasir, Abbasid caliph (b. 837)
929 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (b. 877)
940 – Qian Hongzun, heir apparent of Wuyue (b. 925)
951 – Lu Wenji, Chinese chancellor (b. 876)
1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274)
1337 – William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286)
1341 – An-Nasir Muhammad, Egyptian sultan (b. 1285)
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shōgun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, English queen (b. 1366)
1492 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 (b. 1427)
1594 – Rodrigo Lopez, physician of Queen Elizabeth (b. 1525)
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1660 – George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania (b. 1621)
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish scholar and theologian (b. 1641)
1779 – William Warburton, English bishop and critic (b. 1698)
1792 – Benjamin Tupper, American general and surveyor (b. 1738)
1810 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (b. 1765)
1826 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1787)
1840 – Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
1843 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet (b. 1770)
1853 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian missionary and bishop (b. 1787)
1854 – Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
1859 – David Cox, English painter (b. 1783)
1861 – Patrick Brontë, Anglo-Irish priest and author (b. 1777)
1863 – Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Latin American liberator (b. 1790)
1866 – Chief Seattle, American tribal chief (b. 1780)
1879 – William Tilbury Fox, English dermatologist and academic (b. 1836)
1896 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
1911 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
1915 – Charles Reed Bishop, American banker and politician, founded the First Hawaiian Bank (b. 1822)
1916 – Émile Faguet, French author and critic (b. 1847)
1927 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (b. 1905)
1927 – Edmund James Flynn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)
1932 – John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (b. 1856)
1283 – Battle of the Gulf of Naples: Roger of Lauria, admiral to King Peter III of Aragon, destroys the Neapolitan fleet and captures Charles of Salerno.
1288 – The Battle of Worringen ends the War of the Limburg Succession, with John I, Duke of Brabant, being one of the more important victors.
1610 – The masque Tethys’ Festival is performed at Whitehall Palace to celebrate the investiture of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.
1644 – The Qing dynasty Manchu forces led by the Shunzhi Emperor take Beijing during the collapse of the Ming dynasty.
1798 – The Battle of New Ross: The attempt to spread the United Irish Rebellion into Munster is defeated.
1817 – The first Great Lakes steamer, the Frontenac, is launched.
1829 – HMS Pickle captures the armed slave ship Voladora off the coast of Cuba.
1832 – The June Rebellion breaks out in Paris in an attempt to overthrow the monarchy of Louis Philippe.
1837 – Houston is incorporated by the Republic of Texas.
1849 – Denmark becomes a constitutional monarchy by the signing of a new constitution.
1851 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.
1862 – As the Treaty of Saigon is signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Trương Định decides to defy Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.
1873 – Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar closes the great slave market under the terms of a treaty with Great Britain.
1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris.
1888 – The Rio de la Plata earthquake takes place.
1893 – The trial of Lizzie Borden for the murder of her father and step-mother begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
1900 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria.
1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women’s suffrage.
1916 – Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; he is the first American Jew to hold such a position.
1916 – World War I: The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire breaks out.
1917 – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as “Army registration day”.
1940 – World War II: After a brief lull in the Battle of France, the Germans renew the offensive against the remaining French divisions south of the River Somme in Operation Fall Rot (“Case Red”).
1941 – World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing.
1942 – World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania.
1944 – World War II: More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day.
1945 – The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power.
1946 – A fire in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, kills 61 people.
1947 – Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe.
1949 – Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand’s Parliament.
1956 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, “Hound Dog”, on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.
1959 – The first government of Singapore is sworn in.
1963 – The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns in a sex scandal known as the “Profumo affair”.
1963 – Movement of 15 Khordad: Protests against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers.
1964 – DSV Alvin is commissioned.
1967 – The Six-Day War begins: Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border.
1968 – Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.
1975 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.
1975 – The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).
1976 – The Teton Dam in Idaho, United States, collapses.
1981 – The “Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS.
1983 – More than 100 people are killed when the Russian river cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a girder of the Ulyanovsk Railway Bridge. The collision caused a freight train to derail, further damaging the vessel yet the ship remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service.
1984 – Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India’s prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.
1989 – The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
1993 – Portions of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, fall into the sea following a landslide.
1995 – The Bose–Einstein condensate is first created.
1997 – The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins.
1998 – A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks.
2000 – The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed.
2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history.
2003 – A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50 °C (122 °F) in the region.
2004 – Noël Mamère, Mayor of Bègles, celebrates marriage for two men for the first time in France.
2006 – Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
2009 – After 65 straight days of civil disobedience, at least 31 people are killed in clashes between security forces and indigenous people near Bagua, Peru.
2013 – A building collapse in Philadelphia kills six and wounds 14 other people.
2015 – An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.0 struck Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia killing 18 people, including hikers and mountain guides on Mount Kinabalu, after mass landslides that occurred during the earthquake. This is the strongest earthquake to strike Malaysia since 1975.
2017 – Montenegro becomes the 29th member of the NATO.
2017 – Six Arab countries—Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates—cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region.
Births on June 5
1341 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of King Edward III of England and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1402)
1412 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, Italian ruler (d. 1478)
1493 – Justus Jonas, German priest and academic (d. 1555)
1523 – Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1573)
1554 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian clergyman (d. 1621)
1587 – Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658)
1596 – Peter Wtewael, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1660)
1640 – Pu Songling, Chinese author (d. 1715)
1646 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1684)
1660 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (d. 1744)
1757 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (d. 1808)
1760 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist (d. 1852)
1771 – Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851)
1781 – Christian Lobeck, German scholar and academic (d. 1860)
1801 – William Scamp, English architect and engineer (d. 1872)
1819 – John Couch Adams, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1892)
1830 – Carmine Crocco, Italian soldier (d. 1905)
1850 – Pat Garrett, American sheriff (d. 1908)
1862 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist and optician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930)
1868 – James Connolly, Scottish-born Irish rebel leader (d. 1916)
1870 – Bernard de Pourtalès, Swiss captain and sailor (d. 1935)
1876 – Isaac Heinemann, German-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1957)
1877 – Willard Miller, Canadian-American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1959)
1878 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (d. 1923)
1879 – Robert Mayer, German-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1985)
1883 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1946)
1884 – Ralph Benatzky, Czech-Swiss composer (d. 1957)
1884 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English author (d. 1969)
1884 – Frederick Lorz, American runner (d. 1914)
1892 – Jaan Kikkas, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1944)
1894 – Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian-English publisher and academic (d. 1976)
1895 – William Boyd, American actor and producer (d. 1972)
1895 – William Roberts, English soldier and painter (d. 1980)
1898 – Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian shoe designer, founded Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. (d. 1960)
1898 – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, playwright, and director (d. 1936)
1899 – Otis Barton, American diver, engineer, and actor, designed the bathysphere (d. 1992)
1899 – Theippan Maung Wa, Burmese writer (d. 1942)
1900 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1902 – Arthur Powell Davies, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1957)
1905 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (d. 1987)
1912 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist and author (d. 2003)
1912 – Eric Hollies, English cricketer (d. 1981)
1913 – Conrad Marca-Relli, American-Italian painter and academic (d. 2000)
1914 – Beatrice de Cardi, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2016)
1916 – Sid Barnes, Australian cricketer (d. 1973)
1916 – Eddie Joost, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
1919 – Richard Scarry, American-Swiss author and illustrator (d. 1994)
1920 – Marion Motley, American football player and coach (d. 1999)
1920 – Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American journalist and author (d. 1974)
1922 – Paul Couvret, Dutch-Australian soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 2013)
1922 – Sheila Sim, English actress (d. 2016)
1923 – Jorge Daponte, Argentinian racing driver (d. 1963)
1923 – Roger Lebel, Canadian actor (d. 1994)
1923 – Daniel Pinkham, American organist and composer (d. 2006)
1924 – Lou Brissie, American baseball player and scout (d. 2013)
1924 – Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (d. 2013)
1925 – Bill Hayes, American actor and singer
1926 – Paul Soros, Hungarian-American engineer and businessman (d. 2013)
1928 – Robert Lansing, American actor (d. 1994)
1928 – Umberto Maglioli, Italian racing driver (d. 1999)
1928 – Tony Richardson, English-American director and producer (d. 1991)
1930 – Alifa Rifaat, Egyptian author (d. 1996)
1931 – Yves Blais, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1998)
1931 – Jacques Demy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1931 – Jerzy Prokopiuk, Polish anthropologist and philosopher
1932 – Christy Brown, Irish painter and author (d. 1981)
1932 – Dave Gold, American businessman, founded the 99 Cents Only Stores (d. 2013)
1933 – Bata Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (d. 2016)
1934 – Vilhjálmur Einarsson, Icelandic triple jumper, painter, and educator (d. 2019)
1934 – Bill Moyers, American journalist, 13th White House Press Secretary
1937 – Hélène Cixous, French author, poet, and critic
1938 – Moira Anderson, Scottish singer
1938 – Karin Balzer, German hurdler (d. 2019)
1938 – Roy Higgins, Australian jockey (d. 2014)
1939 – Joe Clark, Canadian journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Canada
1939 – Margaret Drabble, English novelist, biographer, and critic
1941 – Martha Argerich, Argentinian pianist
1941 – Erasmo Carlos, Brazilian singer-songwriter
1941 – Spalding Gray, American writer, actor, and monologist (d. 2004)
1941 – Robert Kraft, American businessman, founded The Kraft Group
1941 – Jeff Rooker, Baron Rooker, English academic and politician, Minister of State for Immigration
1941 – Gudrun Sjödén, Swedish designer
1942 – Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatoguinean lieutenant and politician, 2nd President of Equatorial Guinea
1943 – Abraham Viruthakulangara, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India (d. 2018)
1944 – Whitfield Diffie, American cryptographer and academic
1945 – John Carlos, American runner and football player
1945 – André Lacroix, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1946 – John Du Cann, English guitarist (d. 2001)
1946 – Bob Grant, Australian rugby league player
1946 – Patrick Head, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Williams F1
1946 – Wanderléa, Brazilian singer and television host
1947 – Laurie Anderson, American singer-songwriter and violinist
1947 – Tom Evans, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983)
1947 – David Hare, English director, playwright, and screenwriter
1947 – Freddie Stone, American singer, guitarist, and pastor
1949 – Ken Follett, Welsh author
1949 – Elizabeth Gloster, English lawyer and judge
1949 – Alexander Scrymgeour, 12th Earl of Dundee, Scottish politician
1950 – Ronnie Dyson, American singer and actor (d. 1990)
1950 – Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., Filipino journalist and activist (d. 1977)
1951 – Suze Orman, American financial adviser, author, and television host
1952 – Pierre Bruneau, Canadian journalist and news anchor
1952 – Carole Fredericks, American singer (d. 2001)
1952 – Nicko McBrain, English drummer and songwriter
1953 – Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer, co-founded Amblin Entertainment
1954 – Alberto Malesani, Italian footballer and manager
1954 – Phil Neale, English cricketer, coach, and manager
1954 – Nancy Stafford, American model and actress
1955 – Edino Nazareth Filho, Brazilian footballer and manager
1956 – Richard Butler, English singer-songwriter
1956 – Kenny G, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
1957 – Charles Nolan, American fashion designer (d. 2011)
1958 – Avigdor Lieberman, Moldavian-Israeli soldier and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel
1958 – Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, Comorian businessman and politician, President of Comoros
1959 – Mark Ella, Australian rugby player
1959 – Werner Schildhauer, German runner
1960 – Boris Dugan, Estonian footballer and coach
1960 – Claire Fox, English author and academic
1961 – Anke Behmer, German heptathlete
1961 – Mary Kay Bergman, American voice actress (d. 1999)
1961 – Anthony Burger, American singer and pianist (d. 2006)
1961 – Aldo Costa, Italian engineer
1961 – Ramesh Krishnan, Indian tennis player and coach
1962 – Jeff Garlin, American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter
1962 – Tõnis Lukas, Estonian historian and politician, 34th Estonian Minister of Education
1964 – Lisa Cholodenko, American director and screenwriter
1964 – Karl Sanders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Michael E. Brown, American astronomer and author
1965 – Sandrine Piau, French soprano
1965 – Alfie Turcotte, American ice hockey player
1967 – Matt Bullard, American basketball player and sportscaster
1967 – Joe DeLoach, American sprinter
1967 – Ray Lankford, American baseball player
1967 – Ron Livingston, American actor
1968 – Ed Vaizey, English lawyer and politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
1969 – Brian McKnight, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1970 – Martin Gélinas, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1971 – Susan Lynch, Northern Irish actress
1971 – Alex Mooney, American politician
1971 – Takaya Tsubobayashi, Japanese racing driver
1971 – Mark Wahlberg, American model, actor, producer, and rapper
1972 – Yogi Adityanath, Indian priest and politician
1972 – Paweł Kotla, Polish conductor and academic
1973 – Lamon Brewster, American boxer
1973 – Gella Vandecaveye, Belgian martial artist
1974 – Mervyn Dillon, Trinidadian cricketer
1974 – Scott Draper, Australian tennis player and golfer
1974 – Russ Ortiz, American baseball player
1975 – Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Lithuanian-American basketball player
1975 – Duncan Patterson, English drummer and keyboard player
1975 – Sandra Stals, Belgian runner
1976 – Giannis Giannoulis, Canadian basketball player
1976 – Torry Holt, American football player and sportscaster
1977 – Liza Weil, American actress
1978 – Fernando Meira, Portuguese footballer
1979 – Stefanos Kotsolis, Greek footballer
1979 – Matthew Scarlett, Australian footballer
1979 – Pete Wentz, American singer-songwriter, bass player, actor, and fashion designer
1979 – Jason White, American race car driver
1980 – Mike Fisher, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Antonio García, Spanish racing driver
1981 – Serhat Akın, Turkish footballer
1981 – Sébastien Lefebvre, Canadian singer and guitarist
1982 – Ryan Dallas Cook, American trombonist (d. 2005)
1983 – Marques Colston, American football player
1984 – Robert Barbieri, Canadian-Italian rugby player
1984 – Eric Traoré, Senegalese footballer
1985 – Jeremy Abbott, American figure skater
1985 – Ekaterina Bychkova, Russian tennis player
1986 – Dave Bolland, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Vernon Gholston, American football player
1987 – Marcus Thornton, American basketball player
1988 – Alessandro Salvi, Italian footballer
1989 – Cam Atkinson, American ice hockey player
1989 – Megumi Nakajima, Japanese voice actress and singer
1990 – Radko Gudas, Czech ice hockey defenceman
1991 – Sören Bertram, German footballer
1992 – Joazhiño Arroe, Peruvian footballer
1992 – Emily Seebohm, Australian swimmer
1993 – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Samoan-New Zealand rugby league player
1995 – Troye Sivan, South African–born Australian singer-songwriter, actor, and YouTuber
1995 – Ross Wilson, English table tennis player
1997 – Sam Darnold, American football player
1998 – Yulia Lipnitskaya, Russian figure skater
Deaths on June 5
301 – Sima Lun, Chinese emperor (b. 249)
535 – Epiphanius, patriarch of Constantinople
567 – Theodosius I, patriarch of Alexandria
708 – Jacob of Edessa, Syrian bishop (b. 640)
754 – Eoban, bishop of Utrecht
754 – Boniface, English missionary and martyr (b. 675)
879 – Ya’qub ibn al-Layth, Persian emir (b. 840)
928 – Louis the Blind, king of Provence
1017 – Sanjō, emperor of Japan (b. 976)
1118 – Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester, Norman nobleman and politician (b. 1049)
1296 – Edmund Crouchback, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1245)
1310 – Amalric, prince of Tyre
1316 – Louis X, king of France (b. 1289)
1383 – Dmitry of Suzdal, Russian grand prince (b. 1324)
1400 – Frederick I, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
1424 – Braccio da Montone, Italian nobleman (b. 1368)
1434 – Yuri IV, Russian grand prince (b. 1374)
1443 – Ferdinand, Portuguese prince (b. 1402)
1445 – Leonel Power, English composer
1530 – Mercurino Gattinara, Italian statesman and jurist (b. 1465)
1568 – Lamoral, Count of Egmont (b. 1522)
1625 – Orlando Gibbons, English organist and composer (b. 1583)
1667 – Francesco Sforza Pallavicino, Italian cardinal and historian (b. 1607)
1716 – Roger Cotes, English mathematician and academic (b. 1682)
1722 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (b. 1660)
1738 – Isaac de Beausobre, French pastor and theologian (b. 1659)
1740 – Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Kent, English politician and courtier (b. 1671)
1791 – Frederick Haldimand, Swiss-Canadian general and politician, 22nd Governor of Quebec (b. 1718)
1816 – Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer and educator (b. 1741)
350 – The Roman usurper Nepotianus, of the Constantinian dynasty, proclaims himself Roman emperor, entering Rome at the head of a group of gladiators.
713 – The Byzantine emperor Philippicus is blinded, deposed and sent into exile by conspirators of the Opsikion army in Thrace. He is succeeded by Anastasios II, who begins the reorganization of the Byzantine army.
1140 – The French scholar Peter Abelard is found guilty of heresy.
1326 – The Treaty of Novgorod delineates borders between Russia and Norway in Finnmark.
1539 – Hernando de Soto claims Florida for Spain.
1608 – Samuel de Champlain completes his third voyage to New France at Tadoussac, Quebec.
1621 – The Dutch West India Company receives a charter for New Netherland.
1658 – Pope Alexander VII appoints François de Laval vicar apostolic in New France.
1665 – James Stuart, Duke of York (later to become King James II of England), defeats the Dutch fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
1781 – Jack Jouett begins his midnight ride to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of an impending raid by Banastre Tarleton.
1839 – In Humen, China, Lin Tse-hsü destroys 1.2 million kilograms of opium confiscated from British merchants, providing Britain with a casus belli to open hostilities, resulting in the First Opium War.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Philippi (also called the Philippi Races): Union forces rout Confederate troops in Barbour County, Virginia, now West Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Cold Harbor: Union forces attack Confederate troops in Hanover County, Virginia.
1866 – The Fenians are driven out of Fort Erie, Ontario back into the United States.
1885 – In the last military engagement fought on Canadian soil, the Cree leader, Big Bear, escapes the North-West Mounted Police.
1889 – The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United States is completed, running 14 miles (23 km) between a generator at Willamette Falls and downtown Portland, Oregon.
1916 – The National Defense Act is signed into law, increasing the size of the United States National Guard by 450,000 men.
1935 – One thousand unemployed Canadian workers board freight cars in Vancouver, beginning a protest trek to Ottawa.
1937 – The Duke of Windsor marries Wallis Simpson.
1940 – World War II: The Luftwaffe bombs Paris.
1940 – World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ends with a German victory and with Allied forces in full retreat.
1940 – Franz Rademacher proposes plans to make Madagascar the “Jewish homeland”, an idea that had first been considered by 19th century journalist Theodor Herzl.
1941 – World War II: The Wehrmacht razes the Greek village of Kandanos to the ground and murders 180 of its inhabitants.
1942 – World War II: Japan begins the Aleutian Islands Campaign by bombing Unalaska Island.
1943 – In Los Angeles, California, white U.S. Navy sailors and Marines clash with Latino youths in the Zoot Suit Riots.
1950 – Herzog and Lachenal of the French Annapurna expedition become the first climbers to reach the summit of an 8,000-metre peak.
1962 – At Paris Orly Airport, Air France Flight 007 overruns the runway and explodes when the crew attempts to abort takeoff, killing 130.
1963 – Soldiers of the South Vietnamese Army attack protesting Buddhists in Huế with liquid chemicals from tear-gas grenades, causing 67 people to be hospitalized for blistering of the skin and respiratory ailments.
1965 – The launch of Gemini 4, the first multi-day space mission by a NASA crew. Ed White, a crew member, performs the first American spacewalk.
1969 – Melbourne–Evans collision: off the coast of South Vietnam, the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne cuts the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Frank E. Evans in half.
1973 – A Soviet supersonic Tupolev Tu-144 crashes near Goussainville, France, killing 14, the first crash of a supersonic passenger aircraft.
1979 – A blowout at the Ixtoc I oil well in the southern Gulf of Mexico causes at least 3,000,000 barrels (480,000 m3) of oil to be spilled into the waters, the second-worst accidental oil spill ever recorded.
1980 – An explosive device is detonated at the Statue of Liberty. The FBI suspects Croatian nationalists.
1980 – The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak hits Nebraska, causing five deaths and $300 million (equivalent to $931 million in 2019) worth of damage.
1982 – The Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, Shlomo Argov, is shot on a London street; he survives but is left paralysed.
1984 – Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
1989 – The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
1991 – Mount Unzen erupts in Kyūshū, Japan, killing 43 people, all of them either researchers or journalists.
1992 – Aboriginal land rights are granted in Australia in Mabo v Queensland (No 2), a case brought by Eddie Mabo.
1998 – After suffering a mechanical failure, a high speed train derails at Eschede, Germany, killing 101 people.
2006 – The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro’s formal declaration of independence.
2012 – A plane carrying 153 people on board crashes in a residential neighborhood in Lagos, Nigeria, killing everyone on board and 10 people on the ground.
2012 – The pageant for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II takes place on the River Thames.
2013 – The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
2013 – At least 119 people are killed in a fire at a poultry farm in Jilin Province in northeastern China.
2015 – An explosion at a gasoline station in Accra, Ghana, killing more than 200 people.
2017 – London Bridge attack: Eight people are murdered and dozens of civilians are wounded by Islamist terrorists. Three of the attackers are shot dead by the police.
2019 – Khartoum massacre: In Sudan, over 100 people are killed when security forces accompanied by Janjaweed militiamen storm and open fire on a sit-in protest.
Births on June 3
20 BC – Sejanus, Roman soldier and bodyguard (d. 31 AD)
1139 – Conon of Naso, Basilian abbot (d. 1236)
1421 – Giovanni di Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian noble (d. 1463)
1454 – Bogislaw X, Duke of Pomerania (1474–1523) (d. 1523)
1537 – João Manuel, Prince of Portugal (d. 1554)
1540 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria (d. 1590)
1554 – Pietro de’ Medici, Italian noble (d. 1604)
1576 – Giovanni Diodati, Swiss-Italian minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1649)
1594 – César, Duke of Vendôme, French nobleman (d. 1665)
1603 – Pietro Paolini, Italian painter (d. 1681)
1635 – Philippe Quinault, French playwright and composer (d. 1688)
1636 – John Hale, American minister (d. 1700)
1659 – David Gregory, Scottish-English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1708)
1662 – Willem van Mieris, Dutch painter (d. 1747)
1723 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician, geologist, and botanist (d. 1788)
1726 – James Hutton, Scottish geologist and physician (d. 1797)
1736 – Ignaz Fränzl, German violinist and composer (d. 1811)
1770 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1820)
1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel and politician, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
1818 – Louis Faidherbe, French general and politician, Governor of Senegal (d. 1889)
1819 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1892)
1819 – Johan Jongkind, Dutch painter (d. 1891)
1832 – Charles Lecocq, French pianist and composer (d. 1918)
1843 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (d. 1912)
1844 – Garret Hobart, American lawyer and politician, 24th Vice President of the United States (d. 1899)
1844 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and author (d. 1909)
1852 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (d. 1896)
1853 – Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1942)
1864 – Otto Erich Hartleben, German poet and playwright (d. 1905)
1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company (d. 1950)
1865 – George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1936)
1866 – George Howells Broadhurst, English-American director and manager (d. 1952)
1873 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and psychobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (d. 1953)
1879 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1945)
1879 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist and botanist (d. 1940)
1879 – Vivian Woodward, English footballer and soldier (d. 1954)
1881 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter and set designer (d. 1964)
1890 – Baburao Painter, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1954)
1897 – Memphis Minnie, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973)
1899 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian-American biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1900 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
1900 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (d. 1997)
1901 – Maurice Evans, English actor (d. 1989)
1901 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (d. 2001)
1903 – Eddie Acuff, American actor (d. 1956)
1904 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (d. 1950)
1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (d. 1984)
1905 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German SS officer (d. 1946)
1906 – R. G. D. Allen, English economist, mathematician, and statistician (d. 1983)
1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (d. 1975)
1906 – Walter Robins, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1968)
1907 – Paul Rotha, English director and producer (d. 1984)
1910 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and model (d. 1990)
1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1913 – Pedro Mir, Dominican poet and author (d. 2000)
1914 – Ignacio Ponseti, Spanish physician and orthopedist (d. 2009)
1917 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969)
1918 – Patrick Cargill, English actor and producer (d. 1996)
1918 – Lili St. Cyr, American dancer (d. 1999)
1921 – Forbes Carlile, Australian pentathlete and coach (d. 2016)
1921 – Jean Dréjac, French singer and composer (d. 2003)
1922 – Alain Resnais, French director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1923 – Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 2017)
1924 – Karunanidhi, Indian screenwriter and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2018)
1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (d. 1991)
1924 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (d. 2014)
1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (d. 1997)
1924 – Torsten Wiesel, Swedish neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
1925 – Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal (d. 2001)
1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997)
1926 – Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2015)
1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2007)
1928 – Donald Judd, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994)
1928 – John Richard Reid, New Zealand cricketer
1929 – Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Chuck Barris, American game show host and producer (d. 2017)
1930 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American author and poet (d. 1999)
1930 – George Fernandes, Indian journalist and politician, Minister of Defence for India (d. 2019)
1930 – Dakota Staton, American singer (d. 2007)
1930 – Abbas Zandi, Iranian wrestler (d. 2017)
1930 – Ben Wada, Japanese director and producer (d. 2011)
1930 – Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe’s (d. 2020)
1931 – Françoise Arnoul, Algerian-French actress
1931 – Raúl Castro, Cuban commander and politician, 18th President of Cuba
1931 – John Norman, American philosopher and author
1931 – Lindy Remigino, American runner and coach (d. 2018)
1933 – Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Bahranian king (d. 1999)
1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter
1936 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2017)
1937 – Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, French race car driver
1939 – Frank Blevins, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of South Australia (d. 2013)
1939 – Steve Dalkowski, American baseball player (d. 2020)
1939 – Ian Hunter, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1999)
1943 – Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach
1944 – Thomas Burns, British bishop
1944 – Edith McGuire, American sprinter and educator
1944 – Eddy Ottoz, Italian hurdler and coach
1945 – Hale Irwin, American golfer and architect
1945 – Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist, and businessman, founded the Rajah Broadcasting Network
1945 – Bill Paterson, Scottish actor
1946 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (d. 1993)
1946 – Eddie Holman, American pop/R&B/gospel singer
1946 – Penelope Wilton, English actress
1947 – John Dykstra, American special effects artist and producer
1430 – Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to raise the Siege of Compiègne.
1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg, and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
1609 – Official ratification of the Second Virginia Charter takes place.
1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
1706 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy at the Battle of Ramillies.
1788 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
1793 – Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
1829 – Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
1844 – Declaration of the Báb the evening before the 23rd: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith; Bahá’ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
1846 – Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
1863 – The General German Workers’ Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.
1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
1900 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.
1932 – In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
1934 – Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
1934 – The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
1945 – World War II: Germany’s Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.
1948 – Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
1949 – Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.
1960 – A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.
1992 – Italy’s most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released.
1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
2002 – The “55 parties” clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
2006 – Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
2013 – A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.
2014 – Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in a killing spree near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
2015 – At least 46 people are killed as a result of floods caused by a tornado in Texas and Oklahoma.
2016 – Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, killed at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
2016 – Eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people were killed and at least 200 people injured.
2017 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute’s attack in Marawi.
Births on May 23
635 – K’inich Kan Bahlam II, Mayan king (d. 702)
675 – Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II, King of Mutharaiyar dynasty, Tamil Nadu, India
1052 – Philip I of France (d. 1108)
1100 – Emperor Qinzong of Song (d. 1161)
1127 – Uijong of Goryeo, Korean monarch of the Goryeo dynasty (d. 1173)
1330 – Gongmin of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 1374)
1586 – Paul Siefert, German composer and organist (d. 1666)
1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1682)
1614 – Bertholet Flemalle, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1675)
1617 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
1629 – William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, noble of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1663)
1707 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (d. 1778)
1718 – William Hunter, Scottish-English anatomist and physician (d. 1783)
1729 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and educator (d. 1799)
1730 – Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Prussian prince and general (d. 1813)
1734 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologer (d. 1815)
1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1801)
1789 – Franz Schlik, Austrian earl and general (d. 1862)
1790 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1842)
1790 – James Pradier, French neoclassical sculptor (d. 1852)
1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1870)
1795 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed the Upper Brook Street Chapel and Halifax Town Hall (d. 1860)
1800 – Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1877)
1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (d. 1850)
1817 – Manuel Robles Pezuela, Unconstitutional Mexican interim president (d. 1862)
1820 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer, designed the Eads Bridge (d. 1887)
1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 1891)
1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1881)
1834 – Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis, Latvian architect (d. 1891)
1834 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (d. 1890)
1837 – Anatole Mallet, Swiss mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1919)
1837 – Józef Wieniawski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1912)
1838 – Amaldus Nielsen, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
1840 – George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
1844 – `Abdu’l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (d. 1921)
1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (d. 1896)
1855 – Isabella Ford, English author and activist (d. 1924)
1861 – József Rippl-Rónai, Hungarian painter (d. 1927)
1863 – Władysław Horodecki, Polish architect (d. 1930)
1864 – William O’Connor, American fencer (d. 1939)
1865 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian jurist and politician, 11th President of Brazil (d. 1942)
1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1966)
1882 – William Halpenny, Canadian pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1939)
1884 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist and demographer (d. 1965)
1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (d. 1963)
1887 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian sailor and captain (d. 1951)
1888 – Adriaan Roland Holst, Dutch writer (d. 1976)
1888 – Zack Wheat, American baseball player and police officer (d. 1972)
1889 – Ernst Niekisch, German educator and politician (d. 1967)
1890 – Herbert Marshall, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
1892 – Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British peer and grandfather of Diana Spencer (d. 1975)
1896 – Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (d. 1966)
1897 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (d. 1937)
1898 – Scott O’Dell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1989)
1898 – Josef Terboven, German soldier and politician (d. 1945)
1899 – Jeralean Talley, American super-centenarian (d. 2015)
1900 – Hans Frank, German lawyer and politician (d. 1946)
1900 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German lawyer and theorist (d. 1954)
1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
1908 – Hélène Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, American author and educator (d. 1952)
1910 – Hugh Casson, English architect and academic (d. 1999)
1910 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and comedian (d. 1986)
1910 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (d. 1962)
1910 – Artie Shaw, American clarinet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2004)
1911 – Lou Brouillard, Canadian boxer (d. 1984)
1911 – Paul Augustin Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
1911 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
1912 – Jean Françaix, French pianist and composer (d. 1997)
1912 – John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
1914 – Harold Hitchcock, English visionary landscape artist (d. 2009)
1914 – Celestine Sibley, American journalist and author (d. 1999)
1914 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist, journalist, and prominent Catholic layperson (d. 1981)
1915 – S. Donald Stookey, American physicist and chemist, invented CorningWare (d. 2014)
1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
1918 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1997)
1919 – Robert Bernstein, American author and playwright (d. 1988)
1919 – Ruth Fernández, Puerto Rican contralto and a member of the Puerto Rican Senate (d. 2012)
1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2011)
1920 – Helen O’Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Catalan-Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
1923 – Irving Millman, American virologist and microbiologist (d. 2012)
1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (d. 2014)
1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
1926 – Basil Salvadore D’Souza, Indian bishop (d. 1996)
1926 – Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African activist and politician (d. 1995)
1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
1928 – Nigel Davenport, English actor (d. 2013)
1928 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (d. 2015)
1929 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish-Austrian actress (d. 1982)
1930 – Friedrich Achleitner, German poet and critic (d. 2019)
1931 – Barbara Barrie, American actress
1932 – Kevork Ajemian, Syrian-French journalist and author (d. 1998)
1933 – Joan Collins, English actress
1933 – Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
1934 – Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer (d. 2005)
1935 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author (d. 2009)
1936 – Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
1936 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
1939 – Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1939 – Reinhard Hauff, German director and screenwriter
1940 – Bjorn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (d. 2002)
1940 – Gérard Larrousse, French race car driver
1940 – Cora Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
1941 – Zalman King, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1941 – Rod Thorn, American basketball player, coach, and executive
1942 – Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher, author, and academic
1942 – Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao, Indian director, screenwriter, and choreographer
1943 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
1944 – John Newcombe, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
1945 – Padmarajan, Indian director, screenwriter, and author (d. 1991)
1946 – David Graham, Australian golfer
1947 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and translator (d. 1995)
1948 – Myriam Boyer, French actress, director, and producer
1949 – Daniel DiNardo, American cardinal
1949 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (d. 2019)
1950 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2017)
1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek economist and politician, 185th Prime Minister of Greece
1952 – Martin Parr, English photographer and journalist
1954 – Gerry Armstrong, Northern Irish international footballer, striker
1954 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer and actor
1955 – Luka Bloom, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Andrea Pazienza, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 1988)
1956 – Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician and diplomat, Foreign Minister of Austria
1956 – Buck Showalter, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1958 – Mitch Albom, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
1958 – Drew Carey, American actor, game show host, and entrepreneur
1958 – Lea DeLaria, American actress and singer
1959 – Marcella Mesker, Dutch tennis player and sportscaster
1960 – Linden Ashby, American actor
1961 – Daniele Massaro, Italian footballer and manager
1961 – Norrie May-Welby, Scottish Australian gender activist
1962 – Karen Duffy, American actress
1963 – Viviane Baladi, Swiss mathematician
1964 – Ruth Metzler, Swiss lawyer and politician
1965 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
1965 – Tom Tykwer, German director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
1965 – Melissa McBride, American actress
1965 – Paul Sironen, Australian rugby league player
1966 – Graeme Hick, Zimbabwean-English cricketer and coach
1966 – Gary Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1967 – Luís Roberto Alves, Mexican footballer
1967 – Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician
1968 – Guinevere Turner, American actress and screenwriter
1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Bryan Herta Autosport
1971 – George Osborne, English journalist and politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver
1972 – Martin Saggers, English cricketer and umpire
1973 – Maxwell, American singer-songwriter and producer
1974 – Jewel, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet
1974 – Manuela Schwesig, German politician, German Federal Minister of Family Affairs
1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
1977 – Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
1978 – Scott Raynor, American drummer
1979 – Rasual Butler, American basketball player (d. 2018)
1979 – Brian Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
1980 – Ben Ross, Australian rugby league player
1983 – Silvio Proto, Belgian-Italian footballer
1984 – Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
1985 – Sebastián Fernández, Uruguayan footballer
1985 – Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russian tennis player
1985 – Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
1986 – Ryan Coogler, American film director and screenwriter
946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
1204 – Having been elected on May 9, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
1426 – Gov. Thado of Mohnyin becomes king of Ava.
1527 – The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
1532 – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
1584 – Santiago de Vera becomes sixth Governor-General of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
1739 – The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army.
1770 – The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France.
1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The “Regulators”, occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
1811 – Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
1812 – Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia.
1822 – Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
1832 – Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.
1834 – The Battle of Asseiceira is fought, the last and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.
1842 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
1866 – The United States Congress establishes the nickel.
1868 – The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.
1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
1877 – The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France.
1888 – Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.
1891 – The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world’s first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).
1916 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.
1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.
1919 – A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
1929 – In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.
1943 – The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
1959 – The Triton Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.
1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1961 – Park Chung-hee leads a coup d’état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
1966 – The Communist Party of China issues the “May 16 Notice”, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
1969 – Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.
1974 – Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.
1988 – A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
1997 – Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
2003 – In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
2005 – Kuwait permits women’s suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.
2011 – STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space ShuttleEndeavour.
2014 – Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.
Births on May 16
1418 – John II of Cyprus, King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458 (probable; d. 1458)
1455 – Wolfgang I of Oettingen, German count (d. 1522)
1542 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman (d. 1580)
1606 – John Bulwer, British doctor (d. 1656)
1611 – Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
1641 – Dudley North, English economist and politician (d. 1691)
1710 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (d. 1782)
1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1799)
1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist and chemist (d. 1829)
1788 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet and translator (d. 1866)
1801 – William H. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (d. 1872)
1804 – Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, American educator who founded the first U.S. kindergarten (d. 1894)
1819 – Johann Voldemar Jannsen, Estonian journalist and poet (d. 1890)
1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and statistician (d. 1894)
1824 – Levi P. Morton, American banker and politician, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)
1824 – Edmund Kirby Smith, American general (d. 1893)
1827 – Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect, designed the Amsterdam Centraal railway station and Rijksmuseum (d. 1921)
1831 – David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (d. 1900)
1862 – Margaret Fountaine, English lepidopterist and diarist (d.1940)
1876 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (d. 1948)
1879 – Pierre Gilliard, Swiss author and academic (d. 1962)
1882 – Simeon Price, American golfer (d. 1945)
1883 – Celâl Bayar, Turkish politician, 3rd President of Turkey (d. 1986)
1888 – Royal Rife, American microbiologist and instrument maker (d. 1971)
1890 – Edith Grace White, American ichthyologist (d. 1975)
1892 – Osgood Perkins, American actor (d. 1937)
1894 – Walter Yust, American journalist and writer (d. 1960)
1897 – Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist and academic (d. 1994)
1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (d. 1980)
1898 – Desanka Maksimović, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1993)
1898 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (d. 1956)
1903 – Charles F. Brannock, American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1992)
1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
1906 – Ernie McCormick, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
1906 – Alfred Pellan, Canadian painter and educator (d. 1988)
1906 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan lawyer, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
1906 – Margret Rey, German author and illustrator (d. 1996)
1907 – Bob Tisdall, Irish hurdler (d. 2004)
1909 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress and singer (d. 1960)
1909 – Luigi Villoresi, Italian race car driver (d. 1997)
1910 – Olga Bergholz, Russian poet and author (d. 1975)
1910 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (d. 2014)
1910 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1972)
1912 – Studs Terkel, American historian and author (d. 2008)
1913 – Gordon Chalk, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Queensland (d. 1991)
1913 – Woody Herman, American singer, saxophonist, and clarinet player (d. 1987)
1914 – Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
1915 – Mario Monicelli, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1916 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (d. 2009)
1917 – Ben Kuroki, American sergeant and pilot (d. 2015)
1917 – James C. Murray, American lawyer and politician (d. 1999)
1917 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author and photographer (d. 1986)
1918 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
1919 – Liberace, American pianist and entertainer (d. 1987)
1919 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish ecologist and biologist (d. 2004)
1920 – Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1923 – Victoria Fromkin, American linguist and academic (d. 2000)
1923 – Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
1923 – Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist and author (d. 2014)
1924 – Dawda Jawara, 1st President of the Gambia (d. 2019)
1925 – Nancy Roman, American astronomer (d. 2018)
1925 – Ola Vincent, Nigerian banker and economist (d. 2012)
1925 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
1928 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
1929 – Betty Carter, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
1929 – John Conyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
1929 – Claude Morin, Canadian academic and politician
1929 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist, and feminist (d. 2012)
1930 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 2000)
1931 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1931 – Hana Brady, Jewish-Czech Holocaust victim (d.1944)
1931 – K. Natwar Singh, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs
1931 – Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American soldier and politician, 85th Governor of Connecticut
1934 – Kenneth O. Morgan, Welsh historian and author
1934 – Antony Walker, English general
1935 – Floyd Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1936 – Karl Lehmann, German cardinal (d. 2018)
1937 – Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (d. 2015)
1938 – Stuart Bell, English lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
1938 – Ivan Sutherland, American computer scientist and academic
1938 – Marco Aurelio Denegri, Peruvian television host and sexologist (d. 2018)
1941 – Denis Hart, Australian archbishop
1942 – David Penry-Davey, English lawyer and judge (d. 2015)
1943 – Kay Andrews, Baroness Andrews, English politician
1943 – Dan Coats, American politician and diplomat, 29th United States Ambassador to Germany
1943 – Wieteke van Dort, Dutch actress, comedian, singer, writer and artist
1944 – Billy Cobham, Panamanian-American drummer, composer, and bandleader
1944 – Antal Nagy, Hungarian footballer
1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor
1946 – John Law, English sociologist and academic
1946 – Robert Fripp, English guitarist, songwriter and producer
1947 – Cheryl Clarke, American writer
1947 – Darrell Sweet, Scottish drummer (d. 1999)
1947 – Roch Thériault, Canadian religious leader (d. 2011)
1948 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor, director, and producer
1948 – Judy Finnigan, English talk show host and author
1948 – Enrico Fumia, Italian automobile and product designer
1948 – Emma Georgina Rothschild, English historian and academic
1948 – Staf Van Roosbroeck, Belgian cyclist
1949 – Rick Reuschel, American baseball player
1950 – Georg Bednorz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Ray Condo, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
1950 – Bruce Coville, American author
1951 – Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer
1951 – Jonathan Richman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1951 – Janet Soskice, Canadian philosopher and theologian
1952 – James Herndon, American psychologist and academic
1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor and producer
1953 – Peter Onorati, American actor
1953 – Richard Page, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1953 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna (d. 2015)
1953 – David Maclean, Scottish politician
1953 – Stephen Woolman, Lord Woolman, Scottish judge and academic
1954 – Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut
1955 – Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast
1955 – Jack Morris, American baseball player and sportscaster
1955 – Hazel O’Connor, English-born Irish singer-songwriter and actress
1955 – Páidí Ó Sé, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1955 – Debra Winger, American actress
1956 – Loretta Schrijver, Dutch television host, news anchor
1957 – Joan Benoit, American runner
1957 – Benjamin Mancroft, 3rd Baron Mancroft, English politician
1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Anthony St John, 22nd Baron St John of Bletso, English lawyer and businessman
1957 – Bob Suter, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
1959 – Mitch Webster, American baseball player
1959 – Mare Winningham, American actress and singer-songwriter
1960 – Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician, Nauruan Speaker of Parliament
1960 – S. Shanmuganathan, Sri Lankan commander and politician (d. 1998)
1961 – Kevin McDonald, Canadian actor and screenwriter
1961 – Charles Wright, American wrestler
1962 – Jimmy Hood, Scottish engineer and politician (d. 2017)
1962 – Helga Radtke, German long jumper
1963 – Rachel Griffith, Anglo-American economist
1963 – David Wilkinson, English theologian and academic
1964 – John Salley, American basketball player and actor
1964 – Boyd Tinsley, American singer-songwriter and violinist
1964 – Milton Jones, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
1965 – Krist Novoselic, American bass player, songwriter, author, and activist
1965 – Tanel Tammet, Estonian computer scientist, engineer, and academic
1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress
1966 – Scott Reeves, American singer-songwriter and actor
1966 – Thurman Thomas, American football player
1967 – Doug Brocail, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford, British politician
1968 – Ralph Tresvant, American singer and producer
1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor
1969 – Tucker Carlson, American journalist, co-founded The Daily Caller
1969 – Steve Lewis, American sprinter
1970 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentinian tennis player
1970 – Danielle Spencer, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1971 – Phil Clarke, English rugby league player and sportscaster
1971 – Rachel Goswell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Christian Califano, French rugby player
1972 – Matthew Hart, New Zealand cricketer
1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress, reality television personality, and author
1974 – Laura Pausini, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1974 – Sonny Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and rapper
1975 – Tony Kakko, Finnish musician, composer, and vocalist
1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.
1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.
1509 – Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.
1607 – Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony.
1608 – The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.
1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.
1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.
1747 – War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.
1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.
1800 – The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the U.S. Government from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.
1804 – William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St. Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition‘s historic journey up the Missouri River.
1811 – Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.
1836 – The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.
1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Jackson takes place.
1868 – Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.
1870 – The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.
1878 – The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.
1879 – The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.
1913 – Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.
1918 – Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the Two-minute silence.
1925 – Virginia Woolf’s novel Mrs Dalloway is published.
1931 – Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.
1935 – The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.
1939 – Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.
1940 – World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.
1943 – World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.
1948 – Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
1951 – Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.
1955 – Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
1961 – Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.
1970 – Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
1973 – Skylab, the United States’ first space station, is launched.
1977 – A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport (now Kenneth Kaunda International Airport) in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.
1980 – Salvadoran Civil War: the Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
1988 – Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.
2004 – The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
2004 – Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.
2010 – Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.
2012 – Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.
Births on May 14
1316 – Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1378)
1553 – Margaret of Valois (d. 1615)
1574 – Francesco Rasi, Italian singer-songwriter, theorbo player, and poet (d. 1621)
1592 – Alice Barnham, wife of statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)
1630 – Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (d. 1681)
1652 – Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (d. 1732)
1657 – Sambhaji, Indian emperor (d. 1689)
1666 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)
1679 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (d. 1764)
1699 – Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (d. 1786)
1701 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (d. 1782)
1710 – Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (d. 1771)
1725 – Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (d. 1802)
1727 – Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (d. 1788)
1737 – George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Irish-English politician and diplomat, Governor of Grenada (d. 1806)
1752 – Timothy Dwight IV, American minister, theologian, and academic (d. 1817)
1752 – Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist and author (d. 1828)
1761 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1816)
1771 – Robert Owen, Welsh businessman and social reformer (d. 1858)
1771 – Thomas Wedgwood, English photographer (d. 1805)
1781 – Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian and academic (d. 1873)
1794 – Fanny Imlay, daughter of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (d. 1816)
1814 – Charles Beyer, German-English engineer, co-founded Beyer, Peacock and Company (d. 1876)
1817 – Alexander Kaufmann, German poet and educator (d. 1893)
1820 – James Martin, Irish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1886)
1830 – Antonio Annetto Caruana, Maltese archaeologist and author (d. 1905)
1832 – Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1903)
1851 – Anna Laurens Dawes, American author and suffragist (d. 1938)
1852 – Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (d. 1908)
1863 – John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (d. 1932)
1867 – Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Bavaria (d. 1919)
1868 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (d. 1935)
1869 – Arthur Rostron, English captain (d. 1940)
1872 – Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinal (d. 1961)
1878 – J. L. Wilkinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
1879 – Fred Englehardt, American jumper (d. 1942)
1880 – Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
1881 – Lionel Hill, Australian politician, 30th Premier of South Australia (d. 1963)
1881 – George Murray Hulbert, American judge and politician (d. 1950)
1885 – Otto Klemperer, German composer and conductor (d. 1973)
1887 – Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1943)
1888 – Archie Alexander, American mathematician and engineer (d. 1958)
1893 – Louis Verneuil, French actor and playwright (d. 1952)
1897 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1959)
1897 – Ed Ricketts, American biologist and ecologist (d. 1948)
1899 – Charlotte Auerbach, German-Jewish Scottish folklorist, geneticist, and zoologist. (d.1994)
1899 – Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (d. 1993)
1899 – Earle Combs, American baseball player and coach (d. 1976)
1900 – Hal Borland, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1900 – Walter Rehberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1957)
1900 – Cai Chang, Chinese first leader of All-China Women’s Federation (d. 1990)
1900 – Leo Smit, Dutch pianist and composer (d. 1943)
1900 – Edgar Wind, German-English historian, author, and academic (d. 1971)
1901 – Robert Ritter, German psychologist and physician (d. 1951)
1903 – Billie Dove, American actress (d. 1997)
1904 – Hans Albert Einstein, Swiss-American engineer and educator (d. 1973)
1904 – Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (d. 1961)
1905 – Jean Daniélou, French cardinal and theologian (d. 1974)
1905 – Herbert Morrison, American soldier and journalist (d. 1989)
1905 – Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (d. 1981)
1907 – Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (d. 1974)
1907 – Hans von der Groeben, German journalist and diplomat (d. 2005)
1908 – Betty Jeffrey, Australian nurse and author (d. 2000)
1909 – Godfrey Rampling, English sprinter and colonel (d. 2009)
1910 – Ken Viljoen, South African cricketer (d. 1974)
1910 – Ne Win, Prime Minister and President of Burma (d. 2002)
1914 – Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1983)
1914 – William Thomas Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (d. 2002)
1916 – Robert F. Christy, Canadian-American physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
1916 – Lance Dossor, English-Australian pianist and educator (d. 2005)
1916 – Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (d. 2001)
1917 – Lou Harrison, American composer and critic (d. 2003)
1917 – Norman Luboff, American composer and conductor (d. 1987)
1919 – Solange Chaput-Rolland, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2001)
1919 – John Hope, American soldier and meteorologist (d. 2002)
1921 – Richard Deacon, American actor (d. 1984)
1922 – Franjo Tuđman, Yugoslav historian; later 1st President of Croatia (d. 1999)
1923 – Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2019)
1923 – Mrinal Sen, Bangladeshi-Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1925 – Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (d. 2013)
1925 – Patrice Munsel, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
1925 – Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (d. 1997)
1925 – Al Porcino, American trumpet player (d. 2013)
1925 – Ninian Sanderson, Scottish race car driver (d. 1985)
1926 – Eric Morecambe, English comedian and actor (d. 1984)
1927 – Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist and author
1928 – Dub Jones, American R&B bass singer (d. 2000)
1928 – Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch engineer, author, and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Brian Macdonald, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
1929 – Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (d. 2013)
1929 – Henry McGee, English actor and singer (d. 2006)
1929 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2007)
1930 – William James, Australian general and physician (d. 2015)
1931 – Alvin Lucier, American composer and academic
1932 – Robert Bechtle, American lithographer and painter
1933 – Siân Phillips, Welsh actress and singer
1935 – Ethel Johnson, American professional wrestler (d. 2018)
1935 – Rudi Šeligo, Slovenian playwright and politician (d. 2004)
1936 – Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1973)
1936 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1987)
1938 – Robert Boyd, English pediatrician and academic
1939 – Rupert Neudeck, German journalist and humanitarian (d. 2016)
1939 – Troy Shondell, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1940 – Chay Blyth, Scottish sailor and rower
1940 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
1940 – George Mathewson, Scottish banker and businessman
1941 – Ada den Haan, Dutch swimmer
1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (d. 2003)
1942 – Byron Dorgan, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (d. 2014)
1942 – Tony Pérez, Cuban-American baseball player and manager
1942 – Malise Ruthven, Irish author and academic
1943 – Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2014)
1943 – L. Denis Desautels, Canadian accountant and civil servant
1943 – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland
1943 – Derek Leckenby, English pop-rock guitarist (d. 1994)
1943 – Richard Peto, English statistician and epidemiologist
1944 – Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist
1944 – George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm
1944 – David Kelly, Welsh scientist (d. 2003)
1945 – Francesca Annis, English actress
1945 – George Nicholls, English rugby player
1945 – Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer
1946 – Sarah Hogg, Viscountess Hailsham, English economist and journalist
1947 – Al Ciner, American pop-rock guitarist
1947 – Ana Martín, Mexican actress, singer producer and former model (Miss Mexico 1963)
1948 – Timothy Stevenson, English lawyer and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire
1948 – Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer and coach (d. 2007)
1949 – Sverre Årnes, Norwegian author, screenwriter, and director
1949 – Walter Day, American game designer and businessman, founded Twin Galaxies
1949 – Johan Schans, Dutch swimmer
1949 – Klaus-Peter Thaler, German cyclist
1951 – Jay Beckenstein, American saxophonist
1952 – David Byrne, Scottish singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1952 – Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence
1952 – Orna Grumberg, Israeli computer scientist and academic
1952 – Raul Mälk, Estonian politician, 22nd Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1952 – Wim Mertens, Belgian composer, countertenor vocalist, pianist, guitarist, and musicologist.
1952 – Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1952 – Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Tom Cochrane, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Hywel Williams, Welsh politician
1955 – Marie Chouinard, Canadian dancer and choreographer
1955 – Alasdair Fraser, Scottish fiddler
1955 – Peter Kirsten, South African cricketer and rugby player
1955 – Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach
1955 – Jens Sparschuh, German author and playwright
1956 – Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
1956 – Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist
1958 – Christine Brennan, American journalist and author
1958 – Chris Evans, English-Australian politician, 26th Australian Minister for Employment
1958 – Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer
1958 – Wilma Rusman, Dutch runner
1959 – Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer
1959 – Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player
1959 – Markus Büchel, Liechtensteiner politician, 9th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein (d. 2013)
1959 – Robert Greene, American author and translator
1959 – John Holt, American football player (d. 2013)
1959 – Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Heather Wheeler, English politician
1960 – Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet
1960 – Alec Dankworth, English bassist and composer
1960 – Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer
1960 – Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor
1961 – David Quantick, English journalist and critic
1961 – Tommy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 2015)
1961 – Tim Roth, English actor and director
1961 – Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
1962 – C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor
1962 – Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director
1963 – Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach
1963 – David Yelland, English journalist and author
1964 – James M. Kelly, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
1964 – Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer
1964 – Alan McIndoe, Australian rugby league player
1964 – Eric Peterson, American guitarist and songwriter
1965 – Eoin Colfer, Irish author
1966 – Marianne Denicourt, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter
1966 – Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model
1966 – Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1967 – Natasha Kaiser-Brown, American sprinter and coach
1967 – Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist
1968 – Mary DePiero, Canadian diver
1969 – Cate Blanchett, Australian actress
1969 – Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster
1969 – Henry Smith, English politician
1969 – Danny Wood, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and choreographer
1971 – Deanne Bray, American actress
1971 – Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1971 – Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager
1972 – Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security
1973 – Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress
1973 – Voshon Lenard, American basketball player
1973 – Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist
1973 – Hakan Ünsal, Turkish footballer and sportscaster
1973 – Julian White, English rugby player
1974 – Anu Välba, Estonian journalist
1975 – Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist
1976 – Hunter Burgan, American bass player
1976 – Brian Lawrence, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer
1977 – Sophie Anderton, English model and actress
1977 – Roy Halladay, American baseball player (d. 2017)
1977 – Ada Nicodemou, Cypriot-Australian actress
1978 – Brent Harvey, Australian footballer
1978 – Eddie House, American basketball player
1978 – André Macanga, Angolan footballer and manager
1978 – Gustavo Varela, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1979 – Edwige Lawson-Wade, French basketball player
1979 – Clinton Morrison, English-Irish footballer
1979 – Carlos Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer
1980 – Zdeněk Grygera, Czech footballer
1980 – Pavel Londak, Estonian footballer
1980 – Eugene Martineau, Dutch decathlete
1980 – Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater
1980 – Hugo Southwell, English-Scottish rugby player
1980 – Joe van Niekerk, South African rugby player
1981 – Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense
1983 – Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1983 – Keeley Donovan, English journalist
1983 – Frank Gore, American football player
1983 – Uroš Slokar, Slovenian basketball player
1983 – Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer
1983 – Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director
1984 – Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer
1984 – Luke Gregerson, American baseball player
1984 – Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter
1984 – Michael Rensing, German footballer
1984 – Indrek Siska, Estonian footballer
1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook
1985 – Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter
1985 – Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player
1985 – Simona Peycheva, Bulgarian gymnast
1985 – Zack Ryder, American wrestler
1986 – Andrea Bovo, Italian footballer
1986 – Clay Matthews III, American football player
1986 – Marco Motta, Italian footballer
1987 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (d. 2012)
1987 – Franck Songo’o, Cameroonian footballer
1987 – François Steyn, South African rugby player
1988 – Jayne Appel, American basketball player
1989 – Rob Gronkowski, American football player
1989 – Alina Talay, Belorussian hurdler
1993 – Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer
1993 – Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player
1993 – Bence Rakaczki, Hungarian footballer (d. 2014)
1994 – Marcos Aoás Corrêa, Brazilian footballer
1994 – Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer
1994 – Bronte Campbell, Australian swimmer
1994 – Dennis Praet, Belgian footballer
1995 – Bernardo Fernandes da Silva Junior, Brazilian footballer
1995 – Jonah Placid, Australian rugby player
1996 – Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ
2001 – Jack Hughes, American hockey player
Deaths on May 14
649 – Pope Theodore I
934 – Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor
964 – Pope John XII (b. 927)
1080 – William Walcher, Bishop of Durham
1219 – William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (b. 1147)
1470 – Charles VIII of Sweden (b. 1409)
1576 – Tahmasp I, Shah of Persia (b. 1514)
1603 – Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1543)
1608 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1543)
1610 – Henry IV of France (b. 1553)
1643 – Louis XIII of France (b. 1601)
1649 – Friedrich Spanheim, Swiss theologian and academic (b. 1600)
1667 – Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1601)
1688 – Antoine Furetière, French scholar, lexicographer, and author (b. 1619)
1754 – Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French playwright and producer (b. 1692)
1761 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1710)
1847 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German pianist and composer (b. 1805)
1860 – Ludwig Bechstein, German author (b. 1801)
1873 – Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (b. 1797)
1878 – Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (b. 1830)
1881 – Mary Seacole, Jamaican-English nurse and author (b. 1805)
1889 – Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1809)
1893 – Ernst Kummer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1810)
1906 – Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1829)
1912 – Frederick VIII of Denmark (b. 1843)
1912 – August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (b. 1849)
1918 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American journalist and publisher (b. 1841)
1919 – Henry J. Heinz, American businessman, founded the H. J. Heinz Company (b. 1844)
1923 – N. G. Chandavarkar, Indian jurist and politician (b. 1855)
1923 – Charles de Freycinet, French engineer and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
1931 – David Belasco, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1853)
1934 – Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (b. 1872)
1935 – Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (b. 1868)
1936 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (b. 1861)
1940 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian author and activist (b. 1869)
1940 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (b. 1902)
1943 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
1945 – Heber J. Grant, American religious leader, 7th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1856)
1945 – Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (b. 1913)
1945 – Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist (b. 1852)
1953 – Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American painter and photographer (b. 1893)
1954 – Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (b. 1888)
1956 – Joan Malleson, English physician (b. 1889)
1957 – Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (b. 1884)
1959 – Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (b. 1897)
1959 – Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (b. 1862)
1960 – Lucrezia Bori, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1887)
1962 – Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1880)
1968 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (b. 1882)
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
