1801

  • May 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 330 – Constantinople is consecrated.
    • 868 – A copy of the Diamond Sutra is printed in China, making it the oldest known dated printed book.
    • 912 – Alexander becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch–Hanoverian army.
    • 1792 – Robert Gray commands the first expedition to sail into the Columbia River.
    • 1812 – Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is assassinated by John Bellingham in the lobby of the British House of Commons.
    • 1813 – William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth discover a route across the Blue Mountains, opening up inland Australia to settlement.
    • 1833 – The Lady of the Lake strikes an iceberg off Newfoundland and sinks with the loss of up to 265 passengers and crew.
    • 1846 – President James K. Polk asked for a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.
    • 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: Indian rebels seize Delhi from the British.
    • 1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd state of the United States.
    • 1880 – Seven people are killed in the Mussel Slough Tragedy, a gun battle in California.
    • 1889 – An attack upon a U.S. Army paymaster and escort results in the theft of over $28,000 and the award of two Medals of Honor.
    • 1894 – Four thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a wildcat strike.
    • 1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.
    • 1943 – World War II: American troops invade Attu Island in the Aleutian Islands in an attempt to expel occupying Japanese forces.
    • 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Okinawa, the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikazes.
    • 1960 – Adolf Eichmann is captured by the Mossad in Argentina.
    • 1963 – Racist bombings in Birmingham, Alabama, disrupt nonviolence in the Birmingham campaign and precipitate a crisis involving federal troops.
    • 1970 – The 1970 Lubbock tornado kills 26 and causes $250 million in damage.
    • 1973 – Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg’s charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
    • 1985 – Fifty-six spectators die and more than 200 are injured in the Bradford City stadium fire.
    • 1987 – Klaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
    • 1996 – After the aircraft’s departure from Miami, a fire started by improperly handled chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of Atlanta-bound ValuJet Flight 592 causes the Douglas DC-9 to crash in the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 on board.
    • 1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.
    • 1998 – India conducts three underground atomic tests in Pokhran.
    • 2000 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatists ambush Russian paramilitary forces in the Republic of Ingushetia.
    • 2010 – David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country’s first coalition government since the Second World War.
    • 2011 – An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hits Lorca, Spain.
    • 2013 – Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
    • 2014 – Fifteen people are killed and 46 injured in Kinshasa in a stampede caused by tear gas being thrown into soccer stands by police officers.
    • 2016 – One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.

    Births on May 11

    • 1571 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (d. 1637)
    • 1715 – Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach, German organist (d. 1739)
    • 1752 – Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, German physician, physiologist, and anthropologist (d. 1840)
    • 1797 – José Mariano Salas, Mexican general and politician (d. 1867)
    • 1811 – Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, Swiss politician (d. 1893)
    • 1852 – Charles W. Fairbanks, American journalist and politician, 26th United States Vice President (d. 1918)
    • 1854 – Jack Blackham, Australian cricketer (d. 1932)
    • 1869 – Archibald Warden, English tennis player (d. 1943)
    • 1871 – Frank Schlesinger, American astronomer and author (d. 1943)
    • 1875 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (d. 1912)
    • 1881 – Al Cabrera, Spanish-Cuban baseball player and manager (d. 1964)
    • 1881 – Jan van Gilse, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1944)
    • 1881 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1963)
    • 1888 – Irving Berlin, Belarusian-American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
    • 1888 – Willis Augustus Lee, American admiral (d. 1945)
    • 1889 – Paul Nash, British painter (d. 1946)
    • 1890 – Willie Applegarth, English-American sprinter (d. 1958)
    • 1890 – Helge Løvland, Norwegian decathlete (d. 1984)
    • 1894 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)
    • 1895 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (d. 1978)
    • 1895 – William Grant Still, American composer and conductor (d. 1978)
    • 1896 – Josip Štolcer-Slavenski, Croatian composer and academic (d. 1955)
    • 1897 – Robert E. Gross, American businessman (d. 1961)
    • 1901 – Rose Ausländer, Ukrainian-English poet and author (d. 1988):7
    • 1901 – Gladys Rockmore Davis, American painter (d. 1967)
    • 1902 – Edna Ernestine Kramer, American mathematician (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Charlie Gehringer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1993)
    • 1904 – Salvador Dalí, Spanish artist (d. 1989)
    • 1905 – Lise de Baissac, Mauritian-born SOE agent, war hero (d. 2004)
    • 1905 – Catherine Bauer Wurster, American architect and public housing advocate (d. 1964)
    • 1907 – Rip Sewell, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989
    • 1911 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Phil Silvers, American actor and comedian (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Indian-Pakistani author and screenwriter (d. 1955)
    • 1916 – Camilo José Cela, Spanish author and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
    • 1918 – Richard Feynman, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1921 – Robin Barbour, Scottish minister and author (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, German politician (d. 2016)
    • 1924 – Antony Hewish, English astronomer and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1925 – Edward J. King, American football player and politician, 66th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2006)
    • 1927 – Bernard Fox, British actor (d. 2016)
    • 1927 – Gene Savoy, American explorer, author, and scholar (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Edsger W. Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist and academic (d. 2002)
    • 1930 – Stanley Elkin, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1995)
    • 1932 – Valentino Garavani, Italian fashion designer
    • 1933 – Louis Farrakhan, American religious leader
    • 1934 – Jim Jeffords, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Jack Twyman, American basketball player (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Francisco Umbral, Spanish journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1937 – Ildikó Újlaky-Rejtő, Hungarian Olympic and world champion foil fencer
    • 1938 – Narendra Patel, Baron Patel, Tanzanian-English obstetrician, academic, and politician
    • 1941 – Eric Burdon, English musician
    • 1941 – Ian Redpath, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1943 – Nancy Greene, Canadian skier and politician
    • 1944 – John Benaud, Australian cricketer
    • 1948 – Jack Cantoni, French rugby player (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Nirj Deva, Sri Lankan-English politician
    • 1950 – Jeremy Paxman, English journalist and author
    • 1950 – Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Indian actor (d. 2014)
    • 1951 – Ed Stelmach, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Alberta
    • 1954 – John Gregory, English footballer and manager
    • 1955 – John DeStefano, Jr., American politician, 49th Mayor of New Haven
    • 1957 – Mike Nesbitt, Northern Irish journalist and politician
    • 1962 – Steve Bono, American football player
    • 1964 – Bobby Witt, American baseball player
    • 1964 – Floyd Youmans, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1967 – Alberto García Aspe, Mexican footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Mitch Healey, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1969 – Simon Vroemen, Dutch runner
    • 1970 – Harold Ford, Jr., American lawyer and politician
    • 1970 – Jason Queally, English cyclist
    • 1972 – Tomáš Dvořák, Czech decathlete and coach
    • 1973 – Tsuyoshi Ogata, Japanese runner
    • 1974 – Darren Ward, English-Welsh footballer and coach
    • 1974 – Tony Warner, English born Trinidadian international footballer and coach
    • 1975 – Francisco Cordero, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1976 – Kardinal Offishall, American rapper and record producer/executive
    • 1977 – Pablo Gabriel García, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1977 – Victor Matfield, South African rugby player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Bobby Roode, Canadian professional wrestler
    • 1978 – Laetitia Casta, French model and actress
    • 1982 – Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and singer (d. 2013)
    • 1983 – Matt Leinart, American football player
    • 1983 – Steven Sotloff, American-Israeli journalist (d. 2014)
    • 1983 – Holly Valance, Australian actress, singer and model
    • 1984 – Andrés Iniesta, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Abou Diaby, French footballer
    • 1986 – Miguel Veloso, Portuguese footballer
    • 1987 – Lim Seul-ong, South Korean singer and actor
    • 1987 – Monica Roșu, Romanian gymnast
    • 1988 – Jeremy Maclin, American football player
    • 1988 – Brad Marchand, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Alyssa Brown, Canadian artistic gymnast
    • 1989 – Giovani dos Santos, Mexican international footballer
    • 1989 – Cam Newton, American football player
    • 1992 – Thibaut Courtois, Belgian footballer
    • 1992 – Pablo Sarabia, Spanish footballer
    • 1993 – Maurice Harkless, American-Puerto Rican basketball player
    • 1994 – Hagos Gebrhiwet, Ethiopian runner
    • 1995 – Gelson Martins, Portuguese footballer
    • 1999 – Sabrina Carpenter, American singer and actress
    • 1999 – Kaitlyn Dias, American actress and voice artist

    Deaths on May 11

    • 1610 – Matteo Ricci, Italian priest and mathematician (b. 1552)
    • 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and politician (b. 1602)
    • 1778 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1708)
    • 1779 – John Hart, American lawyer and politician (b. 1711)
    • 1812 – Spencer Perceval, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1762)
    • 1848 – Tom Cribb, English boxer (b. 1781)
    • 1849 – Juliette Récamier, French businesswoman (b. 1777)
    • 1882 – Frederick Innes, Scottish-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1816)
    • 1889 – John Cadbury, English businessman and philanthropist, founded the Cadbury Company (b. 1801)
    • 1908 – Charles Kingston, Australian politician, 20th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
    • 1916 – Karl Schwarzschild, German astronomer and physicist (b. 1873):xix
    • 1918 – George Elmslie, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Victoria (b. 1861)
    • 1920 – James Colosimo, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1878)
    • 1920 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, literary critic, and playwright (b. 1837)
    • 1927 – Juan Gris, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
    • 1929 – Jozef Murgaš, Slovak-American priest, architect, botanist, and painter (b. 1864)
    • 1938 – George Lyon, Canadian golfer and cricketer (b. 1858)
    • 1955 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer (b. 1874)
    • 1960 – John D. Rockefeller Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1874)
    • 1963 – Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888):169
    • 1967 – James E. Brewton, American painter (b. 1930)
    • 1979 – Lester Flatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
    • 1981 – Bob Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1945)
    • 1983 – Zenna Henderson, American writer (b. 1917)
    • 1985 – Chester Gould, American cartoonist, created Dick Tracy (b. 1900)
    • 1986 – Fritz Pollard, American football player and coach (b. 1894)
    • 1988 – Kim Philby, British-Soviet double agent (b. 1912)
    • 1994 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1928)
    • 2001 – Douglas Adams, English novelist and screenwriter (b. 1952)
    • 2002 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1912)
    • 2002 – Bill Peet, American animator and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 2003 – Noel Redding, English bass player (b. 1945)
    • 2005 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (b. 1908)
    • 2006 – Floyd Patterson, American boxer and actor (b. 1935)
    • 2007 – Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (b. 1913)
    • 2008 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (b. 1953)
    • 2009 – Abel Goumba, Central African physician and politician, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Claudio Huepe, Chilean economist and politician, Chilean Minister Secretary-General of Government (b. 1939)
    • 2009 – Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda, Indian admiral (b. 1915)
    • 2010 – Doris Eaton Travis, American dancer and vaudevillian (b. 1904)
    • 2011 – Robert Traylor, American basketball player (b. 1977)

    Holidays and observances on May 11

    • Christian feast day:
      • Anthimus of Rome
      • Gangulphus of Burgundy
      • Majolus of Cluny
      • Mamertus, the first of the Ice Saints
      • May 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • National Technology Day (India)
    • Statehood Day (Minnesota)
    • Vietnam Human Rights Day (Vietnam)

  • May 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 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
    • 1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
    • 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
    • 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
    • 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
    • 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
    • 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
    • 1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
    • 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
    • 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
    • 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
    • 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
    • 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
    • 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
    • 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
    • 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
    • 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
    • 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
    • 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player

    Deaths on May 10

    • 1299 – Theingapati, heir to the Pagan Kingdom
    • 1403 – Katherine Swynford, widow of John of Gaunt
    • 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
    • 1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1433)
    • 1521 – Sebastian Brant, German author (b. 1457)
    • 1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
    • 1569 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (b. 1500)
    • 1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
    • 1717 – John Hathorne, American merchant and politician (b. 1641)
    • 1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1670)
    • 1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
    • 1787 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (b. 1715)
    • 1794 – Élisabeth of France, French princess and youngest sibling of Louis XVI (b.1764)
    • 1798 – George Vancouver, English navigator and explorer (b. 1757)
    • 1807 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (b. 1725)
    • 1818 – Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (b. 1735)
    • 1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
    • 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (b. 1760)
    • 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
    • 1868 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1826)
    • 1891 – Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (b. 1817)
    • 1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (b. 1863)
    • 1910 – Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
    • 1945 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1899)
    • 1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (b. 1881)
    • 1965 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1894)
    • 1968 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (b. 1929)
    • 1974 – Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (b. 1894)
    • 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
    • 1982 – Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (b. 1916)
    • 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1990 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (b. 1916)
    • 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (b. 1942)
    • 1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator
    • 2000 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
    • 2000 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
    • 2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
    • 2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
    • 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)
    • 2018 – David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (b. 1914)
    • 2019 – Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (b. 1951)

    Holidays and observances on May 10

    • Children’s Day (Maldives)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus
      • Calepodius
      • Catald
      • Comgall
      • Damien of Molokai
      • Gordianus and Epimachus
      • Job (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)
      • John of Ávila
      • May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
    • Constitution Day (Micronesia)
    • Earliest possible day on which Pentecost can fall, while June 13 is the latest; celebrated 50 days after Easter Day.(Christianity)
    • Golden Spike Day (Promontory, Utah)
    • Mother’s Day (Guatemala, and Mexico)

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

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

    Births on May 9

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

    Deaths on May 9

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

    Holidays and observances on May 9

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

  • May 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 453 BC – Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
    • 413 – Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
    • 589 – Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.
    • 1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
    • 1450 – Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
    • 1516 – A group of imperial guards, led by Trịnh Duy Sản, murdered Emperor Lê Tương Dực and fled, leaving the capital Thăng Long undefended.
    • 1541 – Hernando de Soto stops near present-day Walls, Mississippi, and sees the Mississippi River(then known by the Spanish as Río de Espíritu Santo, the name given to it by Alonso Álvarez de Pineda in 1519).
    • 1788 – King Louis XVI of France attempts to impose the reforms of Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne by abolishing the parlements.
    • 1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme générale, is tried, convicted and guillotined in one day in Paris.
    • 1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.
    • 1842 – A train derails and catches fire in Paris, killing between 52 and 200 people.
    • 1846 – Mexican–American War: American forces led by Zachary Taylor defeat a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande in the first major battle of the war.
    • 1877 – At Gilmore’s Gardens in New York City, the first Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show opens.
    • 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
    • 1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.
    • 1899 – The Irish Literary Theatre in Dublin produced its first play.
    • 1902 – In Martinique, Mount Pelée erupts, destroying the town of Saint-Pierre and killing over 30,000 people. Only a handful of residents survive the blast.
    • 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
    • 1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.
    • 1921 – The creation of the Communist Party of Romania.
    • 1924 – The Klaipėda Convention is signed formally incorporating Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory) into Lithuania.
    • 1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
    • 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
    • 1941 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby.
    • 1942 – World War II: The German 11th Army begins Operation Trappenjagd (Bustard Hunt) and destroys the bridgehead of the three Soviet armies defending the Kerch Peninsula.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington.
    • 1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims comes into effect.
    • 1945 – End of the Prague uprising, celebrated now as a national holiday in the Czech Republic.
    • 1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
    • 1945 – The Halifax riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax, Nova Scotia.
    • 1946 – Estonian schoolgirls Aili Jõgi and Ageeda Paavel blow up the Soviet memorial which preceded the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn.
    • 1963 – South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
    • 1967 – The Philippine province of Davao is split into three: Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Davao Oriental.
    • 1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
    • 1973 – A 71-day standoff between federal authorities and the American Indian Movement members occupying the Pine Ridge Reservation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota ends with the surrender of the militants.
    • 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
    • 1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
    • 1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
    • 1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three people and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the Assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
    • 1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened, preventing the floodplain of most of Greater London from being flooded except under extreme circumstances.
    • 1987 – The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
    • 1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered to be the “worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history”.
    • 1997 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 crashes on approach into Bao’an International Airport, killing 35 people.
    • 2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection.

    Births on May 8

    • 1326 – Joan I, Countess of Auvergne (d. 1360)
    • 1427 – John Tiptoft, 1st Earl of Worcester, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1470)
    • 1460 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1536)
    • 1492 – Andrea Alciato, Italian jurist and writer (d. 1550)
    • 1508 – Charles Wriothesley, English Officer of Arms (d. 1562)
    • 1521 – Peter Canisius, Dutch-Swiss priest and saint (d. 1597)
    • 1551 – Thomas Drury, English government informer and swindler (d. 1603)
    • 1587 – Victor Amadeus I, Duke of Savoy (d. 1637)
    • 1622 – Claes Rålamb, Swedish politician (d. 1698)
    • 1628 – Angelo Italia, Sicilian Jesuit and architect (d. 1700)
    • 1629 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (d. 1697)
    • 1632 – Heino Heinrich Graf von Flemming, German field marshal and politician (d. 1706)
    • 1639 – Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Italian artist (d. 1709)
    • 1641 – Nicolaes Witsen, Mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1717)
    • 1653 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1734)
    • 1670 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1726)
    • 1698 – Henry Baker, English naturalist (d. 1774)
    • 1720 – William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1764)
    • 1735 – Nathaniel Dance-Holland, English painter and politician (d. 1811)
    • 1737 – Edward Gibbon, English historian and politician (d. 1794)
    • 1745 – Carl Stamitz, German violinist and composer (d. 1801)
    • 1753 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and rebel leader (d. 1811)
    • 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint (d. 1859)
    • 1815 – Edward Tompkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 1872)
    • 1818 – Samuel Leonard Tilley, Canadian pharmacist and politician, 3rd Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1896)
    • 1821 – William Henry Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1885)
    • 1824 – William Walker, American physician, lawyer, journalist and mercenary (d. 1860)
    • 1825 – George Bruce Malleson, English-Indian colonel and author (d. 1898)
    • 1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910)
    • 1828 – Charbel Makhluf, Lebanese monk and saint (d. 1898)
    • 1829 – Louis Moreau Gottschalk, American pianist and composer (d. 1869)
    • 1835 – Bertalan Székely, Hungarian painter and academic (d. 1910)
    • 1839 – Adolphe-Basile Routhier, Canadian judge, author, and songwriter (d. 1920)
    • 1842 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist and mycologist (d. 1909)
    • 1846 – Oscar Hammerstein I, American businessman and composer (d. 1919)
    • 1850 – Ross Barnes, American baseball player and manager (d. 1915)
    • 1853 – Dan Brouthers, American baseball player and manager (d. 1932)
    • 1856 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, president for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913. (d. 1952)
    • 1858 – Heinrich Berté, Slovak-Austrian composer (d. 1924)
    • 1858 – J. Meade Falkner, English author and poet (d. 1932)
    • 1859 – Johan Jensen, Danish mathematician and engineer (d. 1925)
    • 1867 – Margarete Böhme, German novelist (d. 1939)
    • 1879 – Wesley Coe, American shot putter, discus thrower, and tug of war competitor (d. 1926)
    • 1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972)
    • 1885 – Thomas B. Costain, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1965)
    • 1892 – Adriaan Pelt, Dutch journalist and diplomat (d. 1981)
    • 1893 – Francis Ouimet, American golfer (d. 1967)
    • 1893 – Edd Roush, American baseball player and coach (d. 1988)
    • 1893 – Teddy Wakelam, English rugby player and sportscaster (d. 1963)
    • 1895 – James H. Kindelberger, American businessman (d. 1962)
    • 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop (d. 1979)
    • 1895 – Edmund Wilson, American critic, essayist, and editor (d. 1972)
    • 1898 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (d. 1960)
    • 1899 – Arthur Q. Bryan, American actor, voice actor, comedian and radio personality (d. 1959)
    • 1899 – Friedrich Hayek, Austrian economist and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1992)
    • 1899 – Jacques Heim, French fashion designer (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – Turkey Stearnes, American baseball player (d. 1979)
    • 1902 – André Michel Lwoff, French microbiologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
    • 1903 – Fernandel, French actor and singer (d. 1971)
    • 1903 – Mary Stewart, Baroness Stewart of Alvechurch, British politician and educator (d. 1984)
    • 1904 – John Snagge, English journalist (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1965)
    • 1906 – Roberto Rossellini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1977)
    • 1910 – George Male, English footballer (d. 1998)
    • 1910 – Andrew E. Svenson, American author and publisher (d. 1975)
    • 1910 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (d. 1981)
    • 1911 – Wilhelm Friedrich de Gaay Fortman, Dutch jurist and politician, Dutch Minister of The Interior (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Robert Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1938)
    • 1912 – George Woodcock, Canadian author and poet (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984)
    • 1913 – Sid James, South African-English actor and singer (d. 1976)
    • 1915 – Milton Meltzer, American historian and author (d. 2009)
    • 1916 – João Havelange, Brazilian water polo player, lawyer, and businessman (d. 2016)
    • 1916 – Chinmayananda Saraswati, Indian spiritual leader and educator (d. 1993)
    • 1916 – Ramananda Sengupta, Indian cinematographer (d. 2017)
    • 1917 – John Anderson, Jr., American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Kansas (d. 2014)
    • 1919 – Lex Barker, American actor (d. 1973)
    • 1920 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (d. 1996)
    • 1920 – Tom of Finland, Finnish illustrator (d. 1991)
    • 1920 – Sloan Wilson, American author and poet (d. 2003)
    • 1920 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (d. 2000)
    • 1922 – Mary Q. Steele, American naturalist and author (d. 1992)
    • 1924 – S. Vithiananthan, Sri Lankan author and academic (d. 1989)
    • 1925 – Ali Hassan Mwinyi, Tanzanian politician, 2nd President of Tanzania
    • 1926 – David Attenborough, English environmentalist and television host
    • 1926 – David Hurst, German actor (d. 2019)
    • 1926 – Don Rickles, American comedian and actor (d. 2017)
    • 1927 – Chumy Chúmez, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Robert Conley, American journalist (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Ted Sorensen, American lawyer, 8th White House Counsel (d. 2010)
    • 1929 – Ethel D. Allen, American physician and politician (d. 1981)
    • 1929 – Girija Devi, Indian classical singer (d. 2017)
    • 1929 – Claude Castonguay, Canadian banker and politician
    • 1929 – Miyoshi Umeki, Japanese-American actress and singer (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Heather Harper, Northern Irish soprano (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Doug Atkins, American football player (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – René Maltête, French photographer and poet (d. 2000)
    • 1930 – Gary Snyder, American poet, essayist, and translator
    • 1932 – Julieta Campos, Cuban-Mexican author and translator (d. 2007)
    • 1932 – Phyllida Law, Scottish actress
    • 1932 – Harry Wells, Australian rugby league player
    • 1934 – Leonard Hoffmann, Baron Hoffmann, South African-English lawyer and judge
    • 1934 – Maurice Norman, English footballer
    • 1934 – David Williamson, Baron Williamson of Horton, English soldier and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1935 – Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland, Scottish politician
    • 1935 – Princess Elisabeth of Denmark (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Jack Charlton, English footballer and manager
    • 1936 – Kazuo Koike, Japanese author
    • 1936 – Haljand Udam, Estonian orientalist and academic (d. 2005)
    • 1937 – Bernard Cleary, Canadian journalist, academic, and politician
    • 1937 – Mike Cuellar, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 2010)
    • 1937 – Carlos Gaviria Díaz, Colombian lawyer and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Thomas Pynchon, American novelist
    • 1938 – Javed Burki, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
    • 1938 – Jean Giraud, French author and illustrator (d. 2012)
    • 1939 – Paul Drayton, American sprinter (d. 2010)
    • 1940 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1940 – James Blyth, Baron Blyth of Rowington, English businessman and academic
    • 1940 – Irwin Cotler, Canadian lawyer and politician, 47th Canadian Minister of Justice
    • 1940 – Emilio Delgado, Mexican-American actor, “Sesame Street”
    • 1940 – Ricky Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 1985)
    • 1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1941 – John Fred, American singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
    • 1941 – Bill Lockyer, American academic and politician, 30th Attorney General of California
    • 1941 – James Traficant, American lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Martin Dobkin, Canadian doctor and politician, 2nd Mayor of Mississauga
    • 1942 – Robin Hobbs, English cricketer
    • 1942 – Norman Lamont, Scottish banker and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
    • 1942 – Pierre Morency, Canadian poet and playwright
    • 1942 – Terry Neill, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1943 – Pat Barker, English author
    • 1943 – Johnny Greaves, Australian rugby league player
    • 1943 – Jon Mark, English-New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer
    • 1943 – Danny Whitten, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
    • 1944 – Gary Glitter, English singer-songwriter
    • 1944 – Bill Legend, English drummer
    • 1945 – Arthur Docters van Leeuwen, Dutch jurist and politician
    • 1945 – Mike German, Baron German, Welsh educator and politician, Deputy First Minister for Wales
    • 1945 – Janine Haines, Australian politician (d. 2004)
    • 1945 – Keith Jarrett, American pianist and composer
    • 1946 – André Boulerice, Canadian politician
    • 1946 – Jonathan Dancy, English philosopher, author, and academic
    • 1947 – H. Robert Horvitz, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1947 – Felicity Lott, English soprano
    • 1947 – John Reid, Baron Reid of Cardowan, Scottish historian and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1948 – Steve Braun, American baseball player and coach
    • 1948 – Stephen Stohn, American-Canadian lawyer and producer
    • 1949 – David Vines, Australian economist and academic
    • 1950 – Robert Mugge, American director and producer
    • 1950 – Lepo Sumera, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2000)
    • 1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor
    • 1951 – Mike D’Antoni, American basketball player and coach
    • 1951 – Chris Frantz, American drummer and producer
    • 1952 – Peter McNab, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer
    • 1954 – Pam Arciero, American puppeteer and voice actress
    • 1954 – David Keith, American actor and director
    • 1954 – John Michael Talbot, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Stephen Furst, American actor and director (d. 2017)
    • 1955 – Mladen Markač, Croatian general
    • 1955 – Keith Osgood, English footballer
    • 1956 – Jeff Wincott, Canadian actor and martial artist
    • 1957 – Bill Cowher, American football player and coach
    • 1957 – Rino Katase, Japanese actress
    • 1957 – Gary Lunn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 6th Canadian Minister of Natural Resources
    • 1958 – Roddy Doyle, Irish novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Simone Kleinsma, Dutch actress and singer
    • 1958 – Brooks Newmark, American-English businessman and politician, Lord of the Treasury
    • 1958 – Lovie Smith, American football player and coach
    • 1959 – Ronnie Lott, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1959 – David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland, English politician
    • 1959 – Ikue Sakakibara, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1960 – Franco Baresi, Italian footballer and coach
    • 1960 – Eric Brittingham, American bass player
    • 1961 – Bill de Blasio, American politician, 109th Mayor of New York City
    • 1961 – Gert Kruys, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Vallo Reimaa, Estonian academic and politician
    • 1961 – David Winning, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Natalia Molchanova, Russian diver (d. 2015)
    • 1962 – David Sole, Scottish rugby player
    • 1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1963 – Anthony Field, Australian guitarist, songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1963 – Michel Gondry, French director and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Izabela Kloc, Polish politician
    • 1963 – Aleksandr Kovalenko, Belarusian triple jumper
    • 1963 – Rick Zombo, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1964 – Päivi Alafrantti, Finnish javelin thrower
    • 1964 – Melissa Gilbert, American actress and director
    • 1964 – Bobby Labonte, American race car driver
    • 1964 – Nathalie Roy, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1964 – Dave Rowntree, English drummer and animator
    • 1964 – Metin Tekin, Turkish footballer, manager, and journalist
    • 1966 – Cláudio Taffarel, Brazilian footballer and coach
    • 1967 – Viviana Durante, Italian ballerina and actress
    • 1967 – Angus Scott, British sports television presenter
    • 1968 – Teet Kask, Estonian ballet dancer and choreographer
    • 1968 – Nathalie Normandeau, Canadian politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
    • 1968 – Johan Pehrson, Swedish lawyer and politician
    • 1969 – Jonny Searle, English rower
    • 1969 – Akebono Tarō, American-Japanese sumo wrestler, the 64th Yokozuna
    • 1969 – John Timu, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1970 – Michael Bevan, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1970 – Naomi Klein, Canadian author and activist
    • 1970 – Luis Enrique, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Chuck Huber, American voice actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Candice Night, American singer-songwriter
    • 1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1972 – Ray Whitney, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1973 – Hiromu Arakawa, Japanese author and illustrator
    • 1973 – Jesús Arellano, Mexican footballer
    • 1973 – Marcus Brigstocke, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Marge Kõrkjas, Estonian swimmer
    • 1974 – Korey Stringer, American football player (d. 2001)
    • 1974 – Christian XXX, American pornographic star
    • 1975 – Enrique Iglesias, Spanish-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1975 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Gastón Mazzacane, Argentinian race car driver
    • 1975 – Dmitri Ustritski, Estonian footballer
    • 1976 – Gonçalo Abecasis, Portuguese-American biochemist and academic
    • 1976 – Martha Wainwright, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Bad News Brown, Canadian rapper, harmonica player, and actor (d. 2011)
    • 1977 – Theodoros Papaloukas, Greek basketball player
    • 1977 – Kathrin Bringmann, German mathematician and academic
    • 1978 – Lúcio, Brazilian footballer
    • 1978 – Jang Woo-hyuk, South Korean rapper and dancer
    • 1979 – Ole Morten Vågan, Norwegian bassist
    • 1980 – Keyon Dooling, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Panagiotis Kafkis, Greek basketball player
    • 1980 – Evgeny Lebedev, Russian-English publisher and philanthropist
    • 1980 – Michelle McManus, Scottish singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1980 – Benny Yau, Hong Kong-Canadian actor and singer
    • 1981 – Stephen Amell, Canadian actor
    • 1981 – Andrea Barzagli, Italian footballer
    • 1981 – Tatyana Dektyareva, Russian hurdler
    • 1981 – Björn Dixgård, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1981 – Manny Gamburyan, Armenian-American mixed martial artist
    • 1981 – John Maine, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Buakaw Banchamek, Thai kick-boxer
    • 1982 – Christina Cole, English actress
    • 1982 – Adrián González, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Uğur Yıldırım, Turkish-Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Juan Martin Goity, Argentinian-German rugby player
    • 1983 – Bershawn Jackson, American hurdler
    • 1983 – Lawrence Vickers, American football player
    • 1983 – Vicky McClure, English actress
    • 1984 – David King, English figure skater
    • 1985 – Tommaso Ciampa, American wrestler
    • 1985 – Silvia Stroescu, Romanian gymnast
    • 1985 – Sarah Vaillancourt, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Usama Young, American football player
    • 1986 – Pemra Özgen, Turkish tennis player
    • 1986 – Galen Rupp, American runner
    • 1986 – Marvell Wynne, American soccer player
    • 1987 – Felix Jones, American football player
    • 1987 – Aarne Nirk, Estonian hurdler
    • 1987 – Mark Noble, English footballer
    • 1987 – Kurt Tippett, Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Tanel Kurbas, Estonian basketball player
    • 1988 – Maicon Pereira de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1989 – Liam Bridcutt, English footballer
    • 1989 – Lars Eller, Danish ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Dinesh Patel, Indian baseball player
    • 1990 – Kemba Walker, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Ethan Gage, Canadian soccer player
    • 1991 – Valentijn Lietmeijer, Dutch basketball player
    • 1991 – Anamaria Tămârjan, Romanian gymnast
    • 1992 – Kevin Hayes, American ice hockey player
    • 1993 – Pat Cummins, Australian cricketer
    • 1996 – 6ix9ine, American rapper
    • 2001 – Jordyn Huitema, Canadian soccer player
    • 2003 – Moulay Hassan, Crown Prince of Morocco

    Deaths on May 8

    • 535 – Pope John II
    • 615 – Pope Boniface IV (b. 550)
    • 685 – Pope Benedict II
    • 997 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 939)
    • 1157 – Ahmed Sanjar, Seljuk sultan (b. 1086)
    • 1192 – Ottokar IV, duke of Styria (b. 1163)
    • 1220 – Richeza of Denmark, queen of Sweden
    • 1278 – Duan Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1269)
    • 1319 – Haakon V, king of Norway (b. 1270)
    • 1473 – John Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English politician (b. 1420)
    • 1538 – Edward Foxe, English bishop and academic (b. 1496)
    • 1551 – Barbara Radziwiłł, queen of Poland (b. 1520)
    • 1668 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nun and saint (b. 1632)
    • 1766 – Samuel Chandler, English minister and author (b. 1693)
    • 1773 – Ali Bey al-Kabir, Egyptian sultan (b. 1728)
    • 1781 – Richard Jago, English priest and poet (b. 1715)
    • 1782 – Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1699)
    • 1785 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1719)
    • 1785 – Pietro Longhi, Italian painter (b. 1701)
    • 1788 – Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1723)
    • 1794 – Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist and biologist (b. 1743)
    • 1819 – Kamehameha I, king of the Hawaiian Islands
    • 1822 – John Stark, American general (b. 1728)
    • 1828 – Mauro Giuliani, Italian guitarist, cellist, and composer (b. 1781)
    • 1837 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and politician, Russian Minister of Police (b. 1770)
    • 1842 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (b. 1790)
    • 1853 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest, 21st Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1785)
    • 1880 – Gustave Flaubert, French novelist (b. 1821)
    • 1891 – Helena Blavatsky, Russian-English mystic and author (b. 1831)
    • 1891 – John Robertson, English-Australian politician, 5th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1816)
    • 1893 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and president, 1880–1884 (b. 1833)
    • 1903 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (b. 1848)
    • 1907 – Edmund G. Ross, American soldier and politician, 13th Governor of New Mexico Territory (b. 1826)
    • 1925 – John Beresford, Irish polo player (b. 1847)
    • 1936 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (b. 1880)
    • 1941 – Natalie, queen consort of Serbia (b. 1859)
    • 1941 – Tore Svennberg, Swedish actor and director (b. 1858)
    • 1942 – Nikolai Reek, Estonian general and politician, 11th Estonian Minister of War (b. 1890)
    • 1943 – Mordechai Anielewicz, Polish commander (b. 1919)
    • 1944 – Themistoklis Diakidis, Greek high jumper (b. 1882)
    • 1945 – Frank Bourne, British soldier, last survivor of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift (b. 1854)
    • 1945 – Wilhelm Rediess, German SS officer (b. 1900)
    • 1945 – Bernhard Rust, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1883)
    • 1945 – Josef Terboven, German lieutenant and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1947 – Harry Gordon Selfridge, American-English businessman, founded Selfridges (b. 1858)
    • 1948 – U Saw, Burmese politician, Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1900)
    • 1950 – Vital Brazil, Brazilian physician and immunologist (b. 1865)
    • 1952 – William Fox, Austrian businessman, founded Fox Theatres (b. 1879)
    • 1959 – John Fraser, Canadian soccer player (b. 1881)
    • 1960 – J. H. C. Whitehead, Indian-English mathematician and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1965 – Wally Hardinge, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)
    • 1969 – Remington Kellogg, American zoologist and paleontologist (b. 1892)
    • 1972 – Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (b. 1880)
    • 1972 – Beatrice Helen Worsley, Mexican-Canadian computer scientist (b. 1921)
    • 1975 – Avery Brundage, American businessman and art collector (b. 1887)
    • 1980 – Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (b. 1920)
    • 1981 – Uri Zvi Greenberg, Israeli poet and journalist (b. 1896)
    • 1982 – Neil Bogart, American record producer, co-founded Casablanca Records (b. 1943)
    • 1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (b. 1950)
    • 1983 – John Fante, American author and screenwriter (b. 1909)
    • 1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1890)
    • 1984 – Gino Bianco, Italian-Brazilian race car driver (b. 1916)
    • 1985 – Karl Marx, German conductor and composer (b. 1897)
    • 1985 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (b. 1918)
    • 1985 – Dolph Sweet, American actor (b. 1920)
    • 1986 – Ernle Bradford, English historian and author (b. 1922)
    • 1987 – Doris Stokes, English psychic and author (b. 1920)
    • 1988 – Robert A. Heinlein, American science fiction writer and screenwriter (b. 1907)
    • 1990 – Luigi Nono, Italian composer and educator (b. 1924)
    • 1991 – Jean Langlais, French pianist and composer (b. 1907)
    • 1991 – Rudolf Serkin, Czech-Austrian pianist and educator (b. 1903)
    • 1992 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (b. 1933)
    • 1993 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (b. 1923)
    • 1994 – George Peppard, American actor and producer (b. 1928)
    • 1995 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (b. 1953)
    • 1996 – Beryl Burton, English cyclist (b. 1937)
    • 1996 – Luis Miguel Dominguín, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1926)
    • 1996 – Larry Levis, American poet, author, and critic (b. 1946)
    • 1996 – Garth Williams, American illustrator (b. 1912)
    • 1998 – Johannes Kotkas, Estonian wrestler (b. 1915)
    • 1998 – Charles Rebozo, American banker and businessman (b. 1912)
    • 1999 – Dirk Bogarde, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1921)
    • 1999 – Ed Gilbert, American actor (b. 1931)
    • 1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964)
    • 1999 – Soeman Hs, Indonesian author and educator (b. 1904)
    • 2000 – Pita Amor, Mexican poet and author (b. 1918)
    • 2000 – Dédé Fortin, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1962)
    • 2000 – Henry Nicols, American activist (b. 1973)
    • 2003 – Elvira Pagã, Brazilian vedette, singer, and artist (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Jean Carrière, French author (b. 1928)
    • 2005 – Nicolás Vuyovich, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1981)
    • 2006 – Iain Macmillan, Scottish photographer and author (b. 1938)
    • 2007 – Philip R. Craig, American author and poet (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Carson Whitsett, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1945)
    • 2008 – Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (b. 1982)
    • 2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917)
    • 2009 – Bud Shrake, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
    • 2011 – Lionel Rose, Australian boxer (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Everett Lilly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Jerry McMorris, American businessman (b. 1941)
    • 2012 – Stacy Robinson, American football player (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Ampon Tangnoppakul, Thai criminal (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (b. 1911)
    • 2013 – Jeanne Cooper, American actress (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Bryan Forbes, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Hugh J. Silverman, American philosopher and theorist (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Ken Whaley, Austrian-English bass player (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Nancy Malone, American actress, director, and producer (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Yago Lamela, Spanish long jumper (b. 1977)
    • 2014 – Jair Rodrigues, Brazilian singer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – R. Douglas Stuart Jr., American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Norway (b. 1916)
    • 2014 – Joseph P. Teasdale, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Missouri (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Zeki Alasya, Turkish actor and director (b. 1943)
    • 2015 – Mwepu Ilunga, Congolese footballer (b. 1949)
    • 2015 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli sculptor and painter (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Juan Schwanner, Hungarian-Chilean footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Atanas Semerdzhiev, Bulgarian soldier and politician, 1st Vice President of Bulgaria (b. 1924)
    • 2016 – Tom M. Apostol, American analytic number theorist (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – William Schallert, American actor; president (1979–81) of the Screen Actors Guild (b. 1922)
    • 2018 – Big Bully Busick, American professional wrestler (b. 1954)
    • 2018 – Anne V. Coates, British film editor (Lawrence of Arabia, The Elephant Man, Erin Brockovich), Oscar winner (1963) (b. 1925)
    • 2019 – Sprent Dabwido, President of Nauru from 2011 to 2013 (b. 1972)

    Holidays and observances on May 8

    • Christian feast day:
      • Amato Ronconi
      • Apparition of Saint Michael
      • Arsenius the Great
      • Desideratus
      • Blessed Catherine of St. Augustine
      • Julian of Norwich (Anglican, Lutheran)
      • Magdalene of Canossa
      • Our Lady of Luján
      • Peter of Tarentaise
      • Blessed Teresa Demjanovich (Ruthenian Catholic Church)
      • May 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Romania)
    • Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (United States and others)
    • Earliest day on which State Flag and State Emblem Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Sunday of May. (Belarus)
    • Earliest day on which World Fair Trade Day can fall, while May 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday of May (site of the WFTO) (International)
    • Emancipation Day (Columbus, Mississippi)
    • Furry Dance (Helston, UK)
    • Liberation Day (Czech Republic)
    • Miguel Hidalgo’s birthday (Mexico)
    • Parents’ Day (South Korea)
    • Truman Day (Missouri)
    • Veterans Day (Norway)
    • Victory in Europe Day, and its related observances (Europe):
      • Time of Remembrance and Reconciliation for Those Who Lost Their Lives during the Second World War, continues to May 9
    • White Lotus Day (Theosophy)
    • World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (International)

  • May 6 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; many scholars consider this the end of the Renaissance.
    • 1536 – The Siege of Cuzco commences, in which Incan forces attempt to retake the city of Cuzco from the Spanish.
    • 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.
    • 1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
    • 1659 – English Restoration: A faction of the British Army removes Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth and reinstalls the Rump Parliament.
    • 1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.
    • 1757 – Battle of Prague: A Prussian army fights an Austrian army in Prague during the Seven Years’ War.
    • 1757 – The end of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, and the end of Burmese Civil War (1740–1757).
    • 1757 – English poet Christopher Smart is admitted into St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics in London, beginning his six-year confinement to mental asylums.
    • 1782 – Construction begins on the Grand Palace, the royal residence of the King of Siam in Bangkok, at the command of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
    • 1801 – Captain Thomas Cochrane in the 14-gun HMS Speedy captures the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
    • 1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.
    • 1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
    • 1857 – The East India Company disbands the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry whose sepoy Mangal Pandey had earlier revolted against the British in the lead up to the War of Indian Independence.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chancellorsville ends with the defeat of the Army of the Potomac by the Army of Northern Virginia.
    • 1877 – Chief Crazy Horse of the Oglala Lakota surrenders to United States troops in Nebraska.
    • 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke and Lord Frederick Cavendish are stabbed to death by Fenian assassins in Phoenix Park, Dublin.
    • 1882 – The United States Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act.
    • 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
    • 1906 – The Russian Constitution of 1906 is adopted (on April 23 by the Julian calendar).
    • 1910 – George V becomes King of Great Britain, Ireland, and many overseas territories, on the death of his father, Edward VII.
    • 1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.
    • 1916 – Twenty-one Lebanese nationalists are executed in Martyrs’ Square, Beirut by Djemal Pasha.
    • 1916 – Vietnamese Emperor Duy Tân is captured while calling upon the people to rise up against the French, and is later deposed and exiled to Réunion island.
    • 1933 – The Deutsche Studentenschaft attacked Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft, later burning many of its books.
    • 1935 – New Deal: Under the authority of the newly-enacted Federal Emergency Relief Administration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 7034 to create the Works Progress Administration.
    • 1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
    • 1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
    • 1941 – At California’s March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
    • 1941 – The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.
    • 1942 – World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
    • 1945 – World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
    • 1949 – EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.
    • 1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
    • 1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
    • 1966 – Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are sentenced to life imprisonment for the Moors murders in England.
    • 1972 – Deniz Gezmiş, Yusuf Aslan and Hüseyin İnan are executed in Ankara after being convicted of attempting to overthrow the Constitutional order.
    • 1975 – During a lull in fighting, 100,000 Armenians gather in Beirut for the 60th anniversary commemorations of the Armenian Genocide.
    • 1976 – The 6.5 Mw  Friuli earthquake affected Northern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 900–978 dead and 1,700–2,400 injured.
    • 1983 – The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
    • 1984 – One hundred three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
    • 1988 – All thirty-six passengers and crew were killed when Widerøe Flight 710 crashed into Mt. Torghatten in Brønnøy.
    • 1994 – Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and French President François Mitterrand officiate at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
    • 1996 – The body of former CIA director William Colby is found washed up on a riverbank in southern Maryland, eight days after he disappeared.
    • 1997 – The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank’s 300-year history.
    • 1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.
    • 1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac.
    • 1999 – The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
    • 2001 – During a trip to Syria, Pope John Paul II becomes the first pope to enter a mosque.
    • 2002 – Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn is assassinated following a radio-interview at the Mediapark in Hilversum.
    • 2010 – In just 36 minutes, the Dow-Jones average plunged nearly 1000 points in what is known as the 2010 Flash Crash.
    • 2013 – Three women, kidnapped and missing for more than a decade, are found alive in Cleveland, Ohio, in the United States.

    Births on May 6

    • 973 – Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1024)
    • 1464 – Sophia Jagiellon, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Polish princess (d. 1512)
    • 1493 – Girolamo Seripando, Italian theologian and cardinal (d. 1563)
    • 1501 – Marcellus II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1555)
    • 1574 – Innocent X, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1655)
    • 1580 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat, French noble (d. 1637)
    • 1635 – Johann Joachim Becher, German physician and alchemist (d. 1682)
    • 1668 – Alain-René Lesage, French author and playwright (d. 1747)
    • 1680 – Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Italian-French cellist and composer (d. 1755)
    • 1713 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher and academic (d. 1780)
    • 1714 – Anton Raaff, German tenor (d. 1797)
    • 1742 – Jean Senebier, Swiss pastor and physiologist (d. 1809)
    • 1758 – André Masséna, French general (d. 1817)
    • 1758 – Maximilien Robespierre, French lawyer and politician (d. 1794)
    • 1769 – Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1824)
    • 1769 – Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
    • 1781 – Karl Christian Friedrich Krause, German philosopher and author (d. 1832)
    • 1797 – Joseph Brackett, American religious leader and composer (d. 1882)
    • 1800 – Roman Sanguszko, Polish general (d. 1881)
    • 1827 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (d. 1891)
    • 1836 – Max Eyth, German engineer and author (d. 1906)
    • 1843 – Grove Karl Gilbert, American geologist and academic (d. 1918)
    • 1848 – Henry Edward Armstrong, English chemist and academic (d. 1937)
    • 1851 – Aristide Bruant, French singer and actor (d. 1925)
    • 1856 – Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist and psychoanalyst (d. 1939)
    • 1856 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (d. 1920)
    • 1861 – Motilal Nehru, Indian lawyer and politician, President of the Indian National Congress (d. 1931)
    • 1868 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (d. 1927)
    • 1869 – Junnosuke Inoue, Japanese businessman and central banker, 8th and 11th Governor of the Bank of Japan (d. 1932)
    • 1870 – Walter Rutherford, Scottish golfer (d. 1936)
    • 1871 – Victor Grignard, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1935)
    • 1871 – Christian Morgenstern, German author and poet (d. 1914)
    • 1872 – Willem de Sitter, Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1934)
    • 1872 – Djemal Pasha, Ottoman general (d. 1922)
    • 1879 – Bedřich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (d. 1952)
    • 1879 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (d. 1929)
    • 1880 – Winifred Brunton, English-South African painter and illustrator (d. 1959)
    • 1880 – Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, German-Swiss painter (d. 1938)
    • 1883 – Alberto Collo, Italian actor (d. 1955)
    • 1895 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and author (d. 1974)
    • 1895 – Fidél Pálffy, Hungarian soldier and politician, Hungarian Minister of Agriculture (d. 1946)
    • 1895 – Rudolph Valentino, Italian actor (d. 1926)
    • 1896 – Rolf Maximilian Sievert, Swedish physicist and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1897 – Paul Alverdes, German author and poet (d. 1979)
    • 1898 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1945)
    • 1902 – Harry Golden, Ukrainian-American journalist and author (d. 1981)
    • 1902 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1957)
    • 1903 – Toots Shor, American businessman, founded Toots Shor’s Restaurant (d. 1977)
    • 1904 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (d. 1984)
    • 1904 – Catherine Lacey, English actress (d. 1979)
    • 1904 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
    • 1905 – Philip N. Krasne, American lawyer and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1906 – André Weil, French mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1907 – Weeb Ewbank, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
    • 1911 – Guy des Cars, French journalist and author (d. 1993)
    • 1913 – Carmen Cavallaro, American pianist (d. 1989)
    • 1913 – Stewart Granger, English-American actor (d. 1993)
    • 1915 – Orson Welles, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1985)
    • 1915 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (d. 1986)
    • 1916 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist and astronomer (d. 1997)
    • 1917 – Kal Mann, American songwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1918 – Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi and first president of the United Arab Emirates (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – André Guelfi, French race car driver (d. 2016)
    • 1920 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Fiji (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Marguerite Piazza, American soprano and actress (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Erich Fried, Austrian-German author, poet, and translator (d. 1988)
    • 1922 – Camille Laurin, Canadian psychiatrist and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1999)
    • 1923 – Harry Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2002)
    • 1924 – Nestor Basterretxea, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Patricia Helen Kennedy, American socialite, activist, and author (d. 2006)
    • 1924 – Denny Wright, English guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1926 – Gilles Grégoire, Canadian politician, co-founded the Parti Québécois (d. 2006)
    • 1929 – Rosemary Cramp, English archaeologist and academic
    • 1929 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – John Taylor, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Willie Mays, American baseball player and coach
    • 1931 – Louis Gambaccini, American government official (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Ahmet Haxhiu, Kosovan activist (d. 1994)
    • 1932 – Alexander Thynn, 7th Marquess of Bath, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Richard Shelby, American lawyer and politician
    • 1937 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (d. 2014)
    • 1938 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1939 – Eddie C. Campbell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2018)
    • 1939 – Chet Allen, American child actor (d. 1984)
    • 1942 – Ariel Dorfman, Argentinian author, playwright, and academic
    • 1943 – Andreas Baader, German terrorist, co-founded the Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
    • 1943 – Milton William Cooper, American theorist and author (d. 2001)
    • 1943 – Wolfgang Reinhardt, German pole vaulter (d. 2011)
    • 1943 – James Turrell, American sculptor and illustrator
    • 1944 – Anton Furst, English-American production designer and art director (d. 1991)
    • 1944 – Masanori Murakami, Japanese baseball player and coach
    • 1945 – Jimmie Dale Gilmore, American country singer-songwriter, guitarist, actor, and producer
    • 1945 – Bob Seger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Alan Dale, New Zealand actor
    • 1947 – Martha Nussbaum, American philosopher and author
    • 1947 – Ljubomir Vračarević, Serbian martial artist, founded Real Aikido (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2013)
    • 1950 – Jeffery Deaver, American journalist and author
    • 1951 – Samuel Doe, Liberian sergeant and politician, 21st President of Liberia (d. 1990)
    • 1952 – Gerrit Zalm, Dutch economist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
    • 1953 – Alexander Akimov, Ukrainian Chernobyl worker (d. 1986)
    • 1953 – Tony Blair, British politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    • 1953 – Michelle Courchesne, Canadian urban planner and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
    • 1953 – Ülle Rajasalu, Estonian politician
    • 1953 – Graeme Souness, Scottish international footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Lynn Whitfield, American actress and producer
    • 1954 – Tom Abernethy, American basketball player
    • 1954 – Dora Bakoyannis, Greek politician, 120th Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs
    • 1954 – Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican author and poet
    • 1954 – Ain Lutsepp, Estonian actor and politician
    • 1955 – Nicholas Alexander, 7th Earl of Caledon, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Armagh
    • 1955 – Tom Bergeron, American television host
    • 1955 – John Hutton, Baron Hutton of Furness, English academic and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1956 – Lakis Lazopoulos, Greek actor and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Cindy Lovell, American educator and writer
    • 1956 – Roland Wieser, German race walker and coach
    • 1958 – Randall Stout, American architect, designed the Taubman Museum of Art (d. 2014)
    • 1959 – Andreas Busse, German runner
    • 1959 – Charles Hendry, English politician
    • 1960 – Lyudmila Andonova, Bulgarian high jumper
    • 1960 – Keith Dowding, English political scientist, philosopher, and academic
    • 1960 – Roma Downey, Irish-American actress and producer
    • 1960 – John Flansburgh, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Aleksei Lotman, Estonian biologist and politician
    • 1960 – Anne Parillaud, French actress
    • 1961 – Oleksandr Apaychev, Ukrainian decathlete and coach
    • 1961 – George Clooney, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Tom Hunter, Scottish businessman and philanthropist
    • 1961 – Gina Riley, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Frans Timmermans, Dutch politician and diplomat, First Vice President of the European Commission
    • 1962 – Tom Brake, English politician
    • 1962 – Brad Izzard, Australian rugby league player
    • 1963 – Alessandra Ferri, Italian ballerina
    • 1965 – Leslie Hope, Canadian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Worku Bikila, Ethiopian runner
    • 1968 – Lætitia Sadier, French singer and keyboard player
    • 1969 – Jim Magilton, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Roland Kun, Nauruan politician
    • 1970 – Kavan Smith, Canadian actor
    • 1971 – Chris Shiflett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1972 – Martin Brodeur, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1972 – Naoko Takahashi, Japanese runner
    • 1974 – Bernard Barmasai, Kenyan runner
    • 1974 – Daniela Bártová, Czech pole vaulter and gymnast
    • 1975 – Alan Richardson, English cricketer and coach
    • 1976 – Dean Chandler, English footballer
    • 1976 – Iván de la Peña, Spanish footballer
    • 1977 – Christophe Brandt, Belgian cyclist
    • 1977 – Marc Chouinard, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Mark Eaton, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1977 – Chantelle Newbery, Australian diver
    • 1978 – John Abraham, American football player
    • 1978 – Tony Estanguet, French slalom canoeist
    • 1978 – Fredrick Federley, Swedish journalist and politician
    • 1978 – Alexandr Fedorov, Russian bodybuilder
    • 1979 – Gerd Kanter, Estonian discus thrower
    • 1979 – Jan Erik Mikalsen, Norwegian composer
    • 1979 – Jon Montgomery, Canadian skeleton racer and television host
    • 1980 – Brooke Bennett, American swimmer
    • 1980 – Dimitris Diamantidis, Greek professional basketball player
    • 1980 – Ricardo Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
    • 1980 – Matthew Whiley, English cricketer
    • 1982 – Jason Witten, American football player
    • 1983 – Dani Alves, Brazilian footballer
    • 1983 – Ingrid Jonach, Australian author
    • 1983 – Gabourey Sidibe, American actress
    • 1983 – Trinley Thaye Dorje, Tibetan religious leader, the 17th Karmapa Lama
    • 1983 – Fredrik Sjöström, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Anton Babchuk, Ukrainian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Juan Pablo Carrizo, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Chris Paul, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Goran Dragic, Slovenian basketball player
    • 1987 – Dries Mertens, Belgian footballer
    • 1987 – Meek Mill, American rapper
    • 1987 – Adrienne Warren, American actress
    • 1988 – Ryan Anderson, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Dakota Kai, New Zealander profesional wrestler
    • 1989 – Dominika Cibulková, Slovak tennis player
    • 1989 – Jesse Hughes, Canadian DJ and producer
    • 1990 – José Altuve, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1992 – Brendan Gallagher, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Byun Baekhyun, South Korean musician and actor
    • 1992 – Jonas Valančiūnas, Lithuanian professional basketball player
    • 1993 – Gustavo Gómez, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1994 – Mateo Kovačić, Austrian-Croatian footballer
    • 1997 – Duncan Scott, Scottish swimmer
    • 2019 – Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, British royal

    Deaths on May 6

    • 698 – Eadberht, bishop of Lindisfarne
    • 850 – Ninmyō, Japanese emperor (b. 808)
    • 932 – Qian Liu, Chinese warlord and king (b. 852)
    • 988 – Dirk II, count of Frisia and Holland
    • 1002 – Ealdwulf, Archbishop of York, Abbot of Peterborough and Bishop of Worcester
    • 1187 – Ruben III, Prince of Armenia (b. 1145)
    • 1236 – Roger of Wendover, Benedictine monk and chronicler
    • 1471 – Edmund Beaufort, English commander (b. 1438)
    • 1471 – Thomas Tresham, Speaker of the House of Commons
    • 1475 – Dieric Bouts, Flemish painter (b. 1415)
    • 1483 – Queen Jeonghui, Korean regent (b. 1418)
    • 1502 – James Tyrrell, English knight (b. 1450)
    • 1527 – Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, Count of Montpensier and Dauphin of Auvergne (b.1490)
    • 1540 – Juan Luís Vives, Spanish scholar (b. 1492)
    • 1596 – Giaches de Wert, Flemish-Italian composer (b. 1535)
    • 1631 – Sir Robert Cotton, 1st Baronet, of Connington, English historian and politician, founded the Cotton library (b. 1570)
    • 1638 – Cornelius Jansen, Dutch-French bishop and theologian (b. 1585)
    • 1708 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop (b. 1623)
    • 1757 – Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Grafton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1683)
    • 1757 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (b. 1684)
    • 1782 – Christine Kirch, German astronomer and academic (b. 1696)
    • 1840 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (b. 1792)
    • 1859 – Alexander von Humboldt, German geographer and explorer (b. 1769)
    • 1862 – Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1817)
    • 1877 – Johan Ludvig Runeberg, Swedish-Finnish poet and hymn-writer (b. 1804)
    • 1882 – Thomas Henry Burke, Irish civil servant (b. 1829)
    • 1882 – Lord Frederick Cavendish, British politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1836)
    • 1902 – Bret Harte, American author and poet (b. 1836)
    • 1905 – Robert Herbert, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Queensland (b. 1831)
    • 1907 – Emanuele Luigi Galizia, Maltese architect and civil engineer (b. 1830)
    • 1910 – Edward VII of the United Kingdom (b. 1841)
    • 1919 – L. Frank Baum, American novelist (b. 1856)
    • 1939 – Konstantin Somov, Russian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1869)
    • 1949 – Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian-French poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
    • 1951 – Élie Cartan, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1869)
    • 1952 – Maria Montessori, Italian-Dutch physician and educator (b. 1870)
    • 1959 – Maria Dulęba, Polish actress (b. 1881)
    • 1959 – Ragnar Nurkse, Estonian-American economist and academic (b. 1907)
    • 1961 – Lucian Blaga, Romanian poet, playwright, and philosopher (b. 1895)
    • 1963 – Theodore von Kármán, Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and engineer (b. 1881)
    • 1963 – Ted Weems, American violinist, trombonist, and bandleader (b. 1901)
    • 1963 – Monty Woolley, American raconteur, actor, and director (b. 1888)
    • 1967 – Zhou Zuoren, Chinese author and translator (b. 1885)
    • 1970 – Alexander Rodzyanko, Russian general (b. 1879)
    • 1973 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
    • 1975 – József Mindszenty, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1892)
    • 1980 – María Luisa Bombal, Chilean writer (b. 1910)
    • 1983 – Ezra Jack Keats, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
    • 1983 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (b. 1922)
    • 1984 – Mary Cain, American journalist and politician (b. 1904)
    • 1984 – Bonner Pink, English politician (b. 1912)
    • 1987 – William J. Casey, American politician, 13th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1913)
    • 1989 – Earl Blaik, American football player and coach (b. 1897)
    • 1990 – Charles Farrell, American actor (b. 1901)
    • 1991 – Wilfrid Hyde-White, English actor (b. 1903)
    • 1992 – Marlene Dietrich, German-American actress and singer (b. 1901)
    • 1993 – Ann Todd, English actress and producer (b. 1909)
    • 1995 – Noel Brotherston, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1956)
    • 2000 – Gordon McClymont, Australian ecologist and academic (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Murray Adaskin, Canadian violinist, composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1906)
    • 2002 – Otis Blackwell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1932)
    • 2002 – Pim Fortuyn, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician (b. 1948)
    • 2002 – Bjørn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (b. 1940)
    • 2003 – Art Houtteman, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1927)
    • 2004 – Virginia Capers, American actress and singer (b. 1925)
    • 2004 – Philip Kapleau, American monk and educator (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Barney Kessel, American guitarist and composer (b. 1923)
    • 2006 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
    • 2006 – Lorne Saxberg, Canadian journalist (b. 1958)
    • 2007 – Enéas Carneiro, Brazilian physician and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2007 – Curtis Harrington, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Kevin Grubb, American race car driver (b. 1978)
    • 2010 – Robin Roberts, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – James R. Browning, American lieutenant, lawyer, and judge (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – James Isaac, American director and producer (b. 1960)
    • 2012 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and author (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Giulio Andreotti, Italian journalist and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Severo Aparicio Quispe, Peruvian bishop (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Michelangelo Spensieri, Italian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
    • 2014 – Wil Albeda, Dutch economist and politician, Dutch Minister of Social Affairs (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – William H. Dana, American pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (b. 1940)
    • 2014 – Billy Harrell, American baseball player and scout (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Antony Hopkins, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Maria Lassnig, Austrian painter and academic (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Farley Mowat, Canadian environmentalist and author (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Novera Ahmed, Bangladeshi sculptor (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Denise McCluggage, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Jim Wright, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 56th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1922)
    • 2016 – Patrick Ekeng, Cameroonian footballer (b. 1990)
    • 2016 – Reg Grundy, Australian businessman (b. 1923)

    Holidays and observances on May 6

    • Christian Feast Day:
      • Dominic Savio
      • Evodius of Antioch (Roman Catholic Church)
      • François de Laval
      • Gerard of Lunel
      • Lucius of Cyrene
      • Petronax of Monte Cassino
      • St George’s Day related observances (Eastern Orthodox Church):
        • Day of Bravery, also known as Gergyovden (Bulgaria)
        • Đurđevdan (Gorani, Roma)
        • Police Day (Georgia)
        • Yuri’s Day in the Spring (Russian Orthodox Church)
      • St John before the Latin Gate
      • May 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Military Spouse Day can fall, while May 12 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Mother’s Day (United States)
    • International No Diet Day
    • Martyrs’ Day (Gabon)
    • Martyrs’ Day (Lebanon and Syria)
    • Teachers’ Day (Jamaica)
    • The first day of Hıdırellez (Turkey)

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

    May 2 in History

    • 1194 – King Richard I of England gives Portsmouth its first Royal Charter
    • 1230 – William de Braose is hanged by Prince Llywelyn the Great.
    • 1335 – Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, becomes Duke of Carinthia.
    • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, is arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft.
    • 1559 – John Knox returns from exile to Scotland to become the leader of the nascent Scottish Reformation.
    • 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle.
    • 1611 – The King James Version of the Bible is published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker.
    • 1625 – Afonso Mendes, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Latin Patriarch of Ethiopia, arrives at Beilul from Goa.
    • 1670 – King Charles II of England grants a permanent charter to the Hudson’s Bay Company to open up the fur trade in North America.
    • 1672 – John Maitland becomes Duke of Lauderdale and Earl of March.
    • 1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War: The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorializes this event in his painting The Second of May 1808.
    • 1812 – The Siege of Cuautla during the Mexican War of Independence ends with both sides claiming victory after Mexican rebels under José María Morelos y Pavón abandon the city after 72 days under siege by royalist Spanish troops under Félix María Calleja.
    • 1816 – Marriage of Léopold of Saxe-Coburg and Princess Charlotte of Wales.
    • 1829 – After anchoring nearby, Captain Charles Fremantle of HMS Challenger, declares the Swan River Colony in Australia.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson is wounded by friendly fire while returning to camp after reconnoitering during the Battle of Chancellorsville. He succumbs to pneumonia eight days later.
    • 1866 – Peruvian defenders fight off the Spanish fleet at the Battle of Callao.
    • 1876 – The April Uprising breaks out in Ottoman Bulgaria.
    • 1879 – The Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party is founded in Madrid by Pablo Iglesias.
    • 1885 – Cree and Assiniboine warriors win the Battle of Cut Knife, their largest victory over Canadian forces during the North-West Rebellion.
    • 1889 – Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, signs the Treaty of Wuchale, giving Italy control over Eritrea.
    • 1906 – Closing ceremony of the Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.
    • 1918 – General Motors acquires the Chevrolet Motor Company of Delaware.
    • 1920 – The first game of the Negro National League baseball is played in Indianapolis.
    • 1933 – Germany’s independent labor unions are replaced by the German Labour Front.
    • 1941 – Following the coup d’état against Iraq Crown Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah earlier that year, the United Kingdom launches the Anglo-Iraqi War to restore him to power.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin.
    • 1945 – World War II: The surrender of Caserta comes into effect, by which German troops in Italy cease fighting.
    • 1945 – World War II: The US 82nd Airborne Division liberates Wöbbelin concentration camp finding 1000 dead prisoners, most of whom starved to death.
    • 1945 – World War II: A death march from Dachau to the Austrian border is halted by the segregated, all-Nisei 522nd Field Artillery Battalion of the U.S. Army in southern Bavaria, saving several hundred prisoners.
    • 1952 – A De Havilland Comet makes the first jetliner flight with fare-paying passengers, from London to Johannesburg.
    • 1955 – Tennessee Williams wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
    • 1963 – Berthold Seliger launches a rocket with three stages and a maximum flight altitude of more than 100 kilometres near Cuxhaven. It is the only sounding rocket developed in Germany.
    • 1964 – Vietnam War: An explosion sinks the American aircraft carrier USNS Card while it is docked at Saigon. Two Viet Cong combat swimmers had placed explosives on the ship’s hull. She is raised and returned to service less than seven months later.
    • 1964 – First ascent of Shishapangma, the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the Eight-thousanders.
    • 1969 – The British ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 departs on her maiden voyage to New York City.
    • 1972 – In the early morning hours a fire breaks out at the Sunshine Mine located between Kellogg and Wallace, Idaho, killing 91 workers.
    • 1982 – Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinks the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
    • 1986 – Chernobyl disaster: The City of Chernobyl is evacuated six days after the disaster.
    • 1989 – Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
    • 1994 – A bus crashes in Gdańsk, Poland killing 32 people.
    • 1995 – During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
    • 1998 – The European Central Bank is founded in Brussels in order to define and execute the European Union’s monetary policy.
    • 1999 – Panamanian general election, 1999: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
    • 2000 – President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
    • 2004 – The Yelwa massacre concludes. It began on 4 February 2004 when armed Muslims killed 78 Christians at Yelwa. In response, about 630 Muslims were killed by Christians on May 2nd.
    • 2008 – Cyclone Nargis makes landfall in Burma killing over 138,000 people and leaving millions of people homeless.
    • 2008 – Chaitén Volcano begins erupting in Chile, forcing the evacuation of more than 4,500 people.
    • 2011 – Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and the FBI’s most wanted man, is killed by the United States special forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
    • 2011 – An E. coli outbreak strikes Europe, mostly in Germany, leaving more than 30 people dead and many others sick from the bacteria outbreak.
    • 2012 – A pastel version of The Scream, by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, sells for $120 million in a New York City auction, setting a new world record for a work of art at auction.
    • 2014 – Two mudslides in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, leave up to 2,500 people missing.

    Births on May 2

    • 1360 – Yongle Emperor of China (d. 1424)
    • 1402 – Eleanor of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1445)
    • 1451 – René II, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1508)
    • 1458 – Eleanor of Viseu (d. 1525)
    • 1476 – Charles I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko, Governor of Bohemia and Silesia (d. 1536)
    • 1533 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (d. 1596)
    • 1551 – William Camden, English historian and topographer (d. 1623)
    • 1567 – Sebald de Weert, Dutch captain, vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company (d. 1603)
    • 1579 – Tokugawa Hidetada, Japanese shōgun (d. 1632)
    • 1601 – Athanasius Kircher, German priest and scholar (d. 1680)
    • 1660 – Alessandro Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1725)
    • 1695 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French painter and architect (d. 1766)
    • 1702 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and theosopher (d. 1782)
    • 1707 – Jean-Baptiste Barrière, French cellist and composer (d. 1747)
    • 1729 – Catherine the Great of Russia (d. 1796)
    • 1737 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1805)
    • 1740 – Elias Boudinot, American lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1821)
    • 1750 – John André, English soldier and spy (d. 1780)
    • 1752 – Ludwig August Lebrun, German oboe player and composer (d. 1790)
    • 1754 – Vicente Martín y Soler, Spanish composer (d. 1806)
    • 1772 – Novalis, German author and poet (d. 1801)
    • 1773 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian philosopher and poet (d. 1845)
    • 1797 – Abraham Pineo Gesner, Canadian physician and geologist (d. 1864)
    • 1802 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (d. 1870)
    • 1806 – Catherine Labouré, French nun and saint (d. 1876)
    • 1810 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (d. 1874)
    • 1813 – Caroline Leigh Gascoigne, English novelist and poet (d. 1883)
    • 1815 – William Buell Richards, Canadian lawyer and judge, 1st Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1889)
    • 1822 – Jane Miller Thengberg, Scottish-Swedish governess and educator (d. 1902)
    • 1828 – Désiré Charnay, French archaeologist and photographer (d. 1915)
    • 1830 – Otto Staudinger, German entomologist and author (d. 1900)
    • 1843 – Elijah McCoy, Canadian-American engineer (d. 1929)
    • 1859 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author and playwright (d. 1927)
    • 1860 – John Scott Haldane, Scottish physiologist, physician, and academic (d. 1936)
    • 1860 – Theodor Herzl, Austro-Hungarian Zionist philosopher, journalist and author (d. 1904)
    • 1865 – Clyde Fitch, American playwright (d. 1909)
    • 1867 – Giuseppe Morello, Italian-American mobster (d. 1930)
    • 1873 – Jurgis Baltrušaitis, Lithuanian poet, critic, and translator (d. 1944)
    • 1879 – James F. Byrnes, American stenographer and politician, 49th United States Secretary of State (d. 1972)
    • 1880 – Bill Horr, American football player, discus thrower, and coach (d. 1955)
    • 1882 – Isabel González, Puerto Rican activist who helped pave the way for Puerto Ricans’ American citizenship (d. 1971)
    • 1885 – Hedda Hopper, American actress and gossip columnist (d. 1966)
    • 1886 – Gottfried Benn, German author and poet (d. 1956)
    • 1887 – Vernon Castle, English-American dancer (d. 1918)
    • 1887 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
    • 1889 – Ki Hajar Dewantara, Indonesian philosopher, academic, and politician (d. 1959)
    • 1890 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (d. 1965)
    • 1892 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (d. 1918)
    • 1894 – Norma Talmadge, leading US actress of the silent era (d. 1957)
    • 1894 – Joseph Henry Woodger, English biologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1981)
    • 1895 – Lorenz Hart, American playwright and lyricist (d. 1943)
    • 1897 – John Frederick Coots, American songwriter (d. 1985)
    • 1898 – Henry Hall, English bandleader, composer, and actor (d. 1989)
    • 1901 – Bob Wyatt, English cricketer (d. 1995)
    • 1901 – Edouard Zeckendorf, Belgian doctor, army officer and mathematician (d. 1983)
    • 1901 – Willi Bredel, German writer (d. 1964)
    • 1902 – Brian Aherne, English actor (d. 1986)
    • 1902 – Werner Finck, German Kabarett comedian, actor and author (d. 1978)
    • 1903 – Benjamin Spock, American rower, pediatrician, and author (d. 1998)
    • 1904 – Bill Brandt, German-English photographer and journalist (d. 1983)
    • 1905 – Alan Rawsthorne, British composer (d. 1971)
    • 1905 – Charlotte Armstrong, American author (d. 1969)
    • 1906 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (d. 1979)
    • 1907 – Pinky Lee, American comedian and television host (d. 1993)
    • 1908 – Frank Rowlett, American cryptologist (d. 1998)
    • 1909 – Teddy Stauffer, Swiss bandleader, musician, and actor (d. 1991)
    • 1910 – Alexander Bonnyman, Jr., American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1943)
    • 1910 – Edmund Bacon, American urban planner, architect, educator, and author (d. 2005)
    • 1912 – Axel Springer, German journalist and publisher, founded Axel Springer AG (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – Karl Adam, German rowing coaches (d. 1976)
    • 1912 – Marten Toonder, Dutch comic strip creator (d. 2005)
    • 1912 – Nigel Patrick, English actor and director (d. 1981)
    • 1913 – Pietro Frua, Italian coachbuilder and car designer (d. 1983)
    • 1913 – Aydın Sayılı, Turkish historian and academic (d. 1993)
    • 1915 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Peggy Mount, English actress (d. 2001)
    • 1917 – Albert Castelyns, Belgian water polo player and bobsledder
    • 1917 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (d. 2002)
    • 1920 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Otto Buchsbaum, Austrian-Brazilian journalist and activist (d. 2000)
    • 1920 – Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian singer and sitar player (d. 1983)
    • 1920 – Guinn Smith, American pole vaulter, soldier, and pilot (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Jacob Gilboa, Israeli composer (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – B. B. Lal, Indian archaeologist
    • 1921 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
    • 1922 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (d. 2007)
    • 1922 – A. M. Rosenthal, Canadian-born American journalist and author (d. 2006)
    • 1922 – Serge Reggiani, Italian-born French singer and actor (d. 2004)
    • 1923 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (d. 2008)
    • 1923 – Albert Nordengen, Norwegian banker and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Jamal Abro, Pakistani lawyer and author (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1924 – Arthur Clues, Australian rugby league player (d. 1998)
    • 1924 – Hugh Cortazzi, English soldier, historian, and diplomat, British Ambassador to Japan (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – John Neville, English-Canadian actor (d. 2011)
    • 1926 – Gérard D. Levesque, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1993)
    • 1927 – Ray Barrett, Australian actor and singer (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Amos Kenan, Israeli columnist, painter, sculptor, playwright and novelist (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Michael Broadbent, British wine critic and writer (d. 2020)
    • 1928 – Hans Trass, Estonian ecologist and botanist (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, French writer and translator of German origin
    • 1928 – Horst Stein, German conductor (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – Édouard Balladur, Turkish-French economist and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of France
    • 1929 – James Dillion, American discus thrower (d. 2010)
    • 1929 – Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
    • 1929 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Druk Gyalpo of Bhutan (d. 1972)
    • 1930 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter and critic (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Marco Pannella, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Phil Bruns, American actor and stuntman (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Martha Grimes, American author and poet
    • 1932 – Maury Allen, American journalist, actor, and author (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – Bunk Gardner, American musician
    • 1933 – Harry Woolf, Baron Woolf, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
    • 1934 – Manfred Durniok, German film producer, director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1935 – Luis Suárez Miramontes, Spanish footballer and manager
    • 1935 – Faisal II of Iraq, the last King of Iraq (d.1958)
    • 1936 – Norma Aleandro, Argentinian actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Engelbert Humperdinck, English singer and pianist
    • 1936 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (d. 1972)
    • 1937 – Klaus Enders, German motorcycle sidecar racer (d. 2019)
    • 1937 – Lorenzo Music, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1937 – Gisela Elsner, German writer (d. 1992)
    • 1938 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (d. 1996)
    • 1939 – Sumio Iijima, Japanese physicist and engineer
    • 1939 – Ernesto Castano, Italian football player
    • 1940 – Jules Albert Wijdenbosch, Surinamese politician
    • 1941 – Tony Adamowicz, American race car driver (d. 2016)
    • 1941 – Bruce Cameron, Scottish bishop
    • 1941 – Clay Carroll, American baseball player
    • 1941 – Eddy Louiss, French jazz musician (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Jacques Rogge, Belgian businessman
    • 1942 – Wojciech Pszoniak, Polish film and theater actor
    • 1944 – Robert G. W. Anderson, English chemist, historian, and curator
    • 1945 – Randy Cain, American soul singer (d. 2009)
    • 1945 – Judge Dread, English singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1945 – Bianca Jagger, Nicaraguan-American model, actress, and activist
    • 1945 – Goldy McJohn, Canadian keyboard player (d. 2017)
    • 1946 – Peter L. Benson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2011)
    • 1946 – Lesley Gore, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – David Suchet, English actor
    • 1947 – James Dyson, English businessman, founded the Dyson Company
    • 1947 – Lynda Myles, English screenwriter and producer
    • 1947 – Philippe Herreweghe, Belgian conductor
    • 1948 – Larry Gatlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1949 – Alan Titchmarsh, English gardener and author
    • 1949 – Alfons Schuhbeck, German celebrity chef, author and businessman
    • 1950 – Simon Gaskell, English chemist and academic
    • 1950 – Duncan Gay, Australian businessman and politician
    • 1950 – Lou Gramm, American singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Richard Ground, English lawyer and judge (d. 2014)
    • 1950 – Fausto Silva, Brazilian television presenter
    • 1951 – John Glascock, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
    • 1952 – Chris Anderson, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1952 – Christine Baranski, American actress and singer
    • 1952 – Isla St Clair, Scottish singer and actress
    • 1953 – Valery Gergiev, Russian conductor and director
    • 1953 – Jamaal Wilkes, American basketball player
    • 1954 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer and conductor
    • 1954 – Dawn Primarolo, English politician
    • 1954 – Stephen Venables, English mountaineer and author
    • 1955 – Willie Miller, Scottish footballer
    • 1955 – Donatella Versace, Italian fashion designer
    • 1956 – Régis Labeaume, Canadian businessman and politician, 41st Mayor of Quebec City
    • 1958 – Yasushi Akimoto, Japanese songwriter and producer
    • 1958 – Stanislav Levý, Czech footballer and manager
    • 1958 – David O’Leary, English-Irish footballer and manager
    • 1959 – Alan Best, Canadian animator, director, and producer
    • 1959 – Tony Wakeford, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Stephen Daldry, English director and producer
    • 1961 – Steve James, English snooker player
    • 1961 – Sophie Thibault, Canadian journalist
    • 1961 – Phil Vickery, English chef and author
    • 1962 – Elizabeth Berridge, American actress
    • 1962 – Michael Grandage, English director and producer
    • 1962 – Jimmy White, English snooker player
    • 1965 – Félix José, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1966 – Uwe Freiler, German footballer
    • 1966 – Margus Kolga, Estonian diplomat
    • 1966 – Belinda Stronach, Canadian businesswoman, philanthropist, and politician
    • 1967 – Bengt Åkerblom, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1995)
    • 1967 – Mika Brzezinski, American journalist and author
    • 1967 – David Rocastle, English footballer (d. 2001)
    • 1968 – Jeff Agoos, Swiss-American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Julia Hartley-Brewer, English broadcaster and columnist
    • 1968 – Ziana Zain, Malaysian singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1969 – Brian Lara, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1970 – Marco Walker, Swiss footballer and coach
    • 1971 – Musashimaru Kōyō, Samoan-American sumo wrestler, the 67th Yokozuna
    • 1971 – Fatima Yusuf, Nigerian sprinter
    • 1972 – Paul Adcock, English footballer
    • 1972 – Ahti Heinla, Estonian programmer and businessman, co-developed Skype
    • 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, American-Canadian wrestler, actor, and producer
    • 1973 – Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, German director and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Horacio Carbonari, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Andy Johnson, English-Welsh footballer
    • 1974 – Janek Meet, Estonian footballer
    • 1975 – David Beckham, English footballer, coach, and model
    • 1975 – Joe Wilkinson, English comedian, actor and writer
    • 1976 – Jeff Gutt, American singer-songwriter
    • 1977 – Brian Cardinal, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Jan Fitschen, German runner
    • 1977 – Luke Hudson, American baseball player
    • 1977 – Fredrik Malm, Swedish journalist and politician
    • 1977 – Jenna von Oÿ, American actress and singer
    • 1977 – Kalle Palander, Finnish skier
    • 1978 – Melvin Ely, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Mike Weaver, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Jason Chimera, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Ioannis Kanotidis, Greek footballer
    • 1979 – Defne Joy Foster, Turkish-American actress, presenter and VJ (d. 2011)
    • 1980 – Tim Borowski, German footballer
    • 1980 – Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canadian skateboarder
    • 1980 – Ellie Kemper, American actress, comedian and writer
    • 1980 – Zat Knight, English footballer
    • 1980 – Artūras Masiulis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1980 – Troy Murphy, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Lassaâd Ouertani, Tunisian footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1980 – Brad Richards, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Vincent Tong, Canadian actor, singer, voice actor and director
    • 1981 – Robert Buckley, American actor
    • 1981 – Chris Kirkland, English footballer
    • 1981 – Tiago Mendes, Portuguese footballer
    • 1981 – Matt Murray, English footballer
    • 1981 – Rina Satō, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1982 – Timothy Benjamin, Welsh sprinter
    • 1982 – Johan Botha, South African cricketer
    • 1983 – Alessandro Diamanti, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Maynor Figueroa, Honduran footballer
    • 1983 – Tina Maze, Slovenian skier
    • 1983 – Daniel Sordo, Spanish race car driver
    • 1983 – Ove Vanebo, Norwegian politician
    • 1984 – Saulius Mikoliūnas, Lithuanian footballer
    • 1984 – Thabo Sefolosha, Swiss basketball player
    • 1985 – Lily Allen, English singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1985 – Kyle Busch, American race car driver
    • 1985 – Ashley Harkleroad, American tennis player
    • 1985 – Sarah Hughes, American figure skater
    • 1987 – Saara Aalto, Finnish singer and actress
    • 1987 – Nana Kitade, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1987 – Pat McAfee, American football player
    • 1987 – Kris Russell, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1987 – Justin Young, English singer and songwriter
    • 1988 – Neftalí Feliz, Dominican baseball player
    • 1988 – Stephen Henderson, Irish footballer
    • 1989 – Jeanette Pohlen, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Kay Panabaker, American actress
    • 1990 – Paul George, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Jeong Jinwoon, South Korean actor and singer
    • 1992 – Sunmi, South Korean singer
    • 1992 – María Teresa Torró Flor, Spanish tennis player
    • 1993 – Owain Doull, Welsh track cyclist
    • 1993 – Isyana Sarasvati, Indonesian singer
    • 1993 – Huang Zitao, Chinese singer and rapper
    • 1996 – Cherprang Areekul, Thai singer
    • 1996 – Julian Brandt, German footballer
    • 1996 – Schuyler Bailar, American swimmer
    • 2015 – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, British royal, and fourth in line to the British throne

    Deaths on May 2

    • 373 – Athanasius of Alexandria, Egyptian bishop and saint (b. 298)
    • 649 – Marutha of Tikrit, Persian theologian of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b. 565)
    • 821 – Liu Zong, general of the Tang Dynasty
    • 907 – Boris I of Bulgaria
    • 1219 – Leo I, King of Armenia (b. 1150)
    • 1230 – William de Braose, English son of Reginald de Braose (b. 1197)
    • 1293 – Meir of Rothenburg, German rabbi (b. c.1215)
    • 1300 – Blanche of Artois (b. 1248)
    • 1450 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English admiral (b. 1396)
    • 1519 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1452)
    • 1564 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (b. 1500)
    • 1627 – Lodovico Grossi da Viadana, Italian composer and educator (b. 1560)
    • 1667 – George Wither, English poet and author (b. 1588)
    • 1683 – Stjepan Gradić, Croatian philosopher and mathematician (b. 1613)
    • 1711 – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, English politician, First Lord of the Treasury (b. 1641)
    • 1799 – Juan Vicente de Güemes, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo (b. 1740)
    • 1802 – Herman Willem Daendels, Dutch general and politician, Governor-General of the Dutch Gold Coast (b. 1762)
    • 1810 – Henry Jerome de Salis, English priest (b. 1740)
    • 1819 – Mary Moser, English painter and academic (b. 1744)
    • 1857 – Alfred de Musset, French dramatist, poet, and novelist (b. 1810)
    • 1864 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer and educator (b. 1791)
    • 1880 – Eberhard Anheuser, German-American businessman, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (b. 1805)
    • 1880 – Tom Wills, Australian cricketer, co-created Australian rules football (b. 1835)
    • 1885 – Terézia Zakoucs, Hungarian-Slovene author (b. 1817)
    • 1915 – Clara Immerwahr, German chemist (b. 1870)
    • 1918 – Jüri Vilms, Estonian lawyer and politician (b. 1889)
    • 1925 – Antun Branko Šimić, Croatian and Bosnian-Herzegovinian poet (b. 1898)
    • 1927 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (b. 1866)
    • 1929 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (b. 1879)
    • 1941 – Penelope Delta, Greek author (b. 1874)
    • 1945 – Martin Bormann, German politician (b. 1900)
    • 1945 – Joe Corbett, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1875)
    • 1947 – Dorothea Binz, German SS officer (b. 1920)
    • 1953 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (b. 1863)
    • 1957 – Joseph McCarthy, American captain, lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1908)
    • 1963 – Ronald Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, English cricketer, peer, politician, poet, author and newspaper editor (b. 1884)
    • 1964 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (b. 1879)
    • 1969 – Franz von Papen, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1879)
    • 1972 – J. Edgar Hoover, American 1st director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (b. 1895)
    • 1974 – James O. Richardson, American admiral (b. 1878)
    • 1977 – Nicholas Magallanes, American principal dancer and charter member of the New York City Ballet (b. 1922)
    • 1979 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
    • 1980 – Clarrie Grimmett, New Zealand-Australian cricketer (b. 1891)
    • 1980 – George Pal, Hungarian-American animator and producer (b. 1908)
    • 1983 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (b. 1926)
    • 1984 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (b. 1918)
    • 1984 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1913)
    • 1985 – Attilio Bettega, Italian race car driver (b. 1951)
    • 1985 – Larry Clinton, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1909)
    • 1986 – Sergio Cresto, American race car driver (b. 1956)
    • 1986 – Henri Toivonen, Finnish race car driver (b. 1956)
    • 1989 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author (b. 1902)
    • 1989 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (b. 1906)
    • 1990 – David Rappaport, English-American actor (b. 1951)
    • 1991 – Gauri Shankar Rai, Indian Politician(b.1924)
    • 1991 – Ronald McKie, Australian journalist and author (b. 1909)
    • 1992 – Wilbur Mills, American lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
    • 1993 – André Moynet, French race car driver, pilot, and politician (b. 1921)
    • 1994 – Dorothy Marie Donnelly, American poet and author (b. 1903)
    • 1995 – John Bunting, Australian public servant and diplomat, (b. 1918)
    • 1995 – Michael Hordern, English actor (b. 1911)
    • 1997 – John Eccles, Australian neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
    • 1997 – Paulo Freire, Brazilian philosopher and academic (b. 1921)
    • 1998 – hide, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1964)
    • 1998 – Justin Fashanu, English footballer (b. 1961)
    • 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1998 – Lord Voldemort, English wizard and terrorist (b. 1926)
    • 1999 – Douglas Harkness, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1903)
    • 1999 – Oliver Reed, English actor (b. 1938)
    • 2000 – Sundar Popo, Indo-Trinidadian musician (b. 1943)
    • 2002 – W. T. Tutte, English-Canadian mathematician and academic (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean journalist and politician, 4th President of Singapore (b. 1915)
    • 2006 – Louis Rukeyser, American journalist and author (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Brad McGann, New Zealand director and screenwriter (b. 1964)
    • 2008 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress (b. 1940)
    • 2008 – Izold Pustõlnik, Ukrainian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2009 – Marilyn French, American author and academic (b. 1929)
    • 2009 – Kiyoshiro Imawano, Japanese singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1951)
    • 2009 – Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (b. 1935)
    • 2010 – Lynn Redgrave, English-American actress and singer (b. 1943)
    • 2011 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founder of Al-Qaeda (b. 1957)
    • 2012 – Fernando Lopes, Portuguese director and screenwriter (b. 1935)
    • 2012 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Tufan Miñnullin, Russian playwright and politician (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, Indonesian physician and politician, Indonesian Minister of Health (b. 1955)
    • 2012 – Akira Tonomura, Japanese physicist, author, and academic (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Ernie Field, English boxer (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Jeff Hanneman, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1964)
    • 2013 – Joseph P. McFadden, American bishop (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Dvora Omer, Israeli author and educator (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – Ivan Turina, Croatian footballer (b. 1980)
    • 2013 – Charles Banks Wilson, American painter and illustrator (b. 1918)
    • 2014 – Tomás Balduino, Brazilian bishop (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Žarko Petan, Slovenian director, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., American actor (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Stuart Archer, English colonel and architect (b. 1915)
    • 2015 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (b. 1945)
    • 2015 – Guy Carawan, American singer and musicologist (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Maya Plisetskaya, Russian-Lithuanian ballerina, choreographer, actress, and director (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Ruth Rendell, English author (b. 1930)
    • 2016 – Afeni Shakur, American music businesswoman, activist, and Black Panther (b. 1947)
    • 2020 – Arif Wazir, Pakistani politician, leader of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (b. 1982)

    Holidays and observances on May 2

    • Christian feast day:
      • Athanasius of Alexandria (Western Christianity)
      • Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)
      • Germanus of Normandy
      • May 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • International Harry Potter Day
    • The last day of the Festival of Ridván (Bahá’í Faith) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March equinox, see List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar)
    • Anniversary of the Dos de Mayo Uprising (Community of Madrid, Spain)
    • Birth Anniversary of Third Druk Gyalpo (Bhutan)
    • Flag Day (Poland)
    • Indonesia National Education Day
    • Teachers’ Day (Iran) (Note that this date is non-Gregorian and may change according to the March Equinox, see List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar)
  • |

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

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

    Births on April 28

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

    Deaths on April 28

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

    Holidays and observances on April 28

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

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

    • 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
    • 1478 – The Pazzi family attack Lorenzo de’ Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.
    • 1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
    • 1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
    • 1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
    • 1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces
    • 1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
    • 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
    • 1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L’Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.
    • 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the date of Confederate Memorial Day for two states.
    • 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
    • 1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded
    • 1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
    • 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
    • 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
    • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
    • 1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
    • 1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
    • 1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
    • 1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
    • 1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
    • 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army are liberated in Baguio City and they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
    • 1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
    • 1956 – SS Ideal X, the world’s first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
    • 1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
    • 1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.
    • 1962 – NASA’s Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
    • 1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
    • 1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
    • 1966 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
    • 1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
    • 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
    • 1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world’s first human open fetal surgery.
    • 1982 – Fifty-seven people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
    • 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
    • 1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
    • 1989 – People’s Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
    • 1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak’s end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year’s only F5 tornado.
    • 1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
    • 2002 – Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
    • 2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
    • 2018 – American comedian Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault.

    Births on April 26

    • 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (d. 180)
    • 757 – Hisham I of Córdoba (d. 796)
    • 764 – Al-Hadi, Iranian caliph (d. 786)
    • 1284 – Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (d. 1324)
    • 1319 – King John II of France (d. 1364)
    • 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and academic (d. 1600)
    • 1575 – Marie de’ Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
    • 1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and politician (d. 1720)
    • 1648 – Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
    • 1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (d. 1754)
    • 1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1796)
    • 1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (d. 1802)
    • 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1853)
    • 1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1866)
    • 1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (d. 1851)
    • 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (d. 1862)
    • 1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (d. 1863)
    • 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1889)
    • 1804 – Charles Goodyear, American banker, lawyer, and politician (d. 1876)
    • 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (d. 1903)
    • 1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (d. 1867)
    • 1856 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
    • 1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and educator (d. 1938)
    • 1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (d. 1959)
    • 1877 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1950)
    • 1878 – Rafael Guízar y Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (d. 1938)
    • 1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (d. 1917)
    • 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
    • 1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (d. 1939)
    • 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet and publicist (d. 1913)
    • 1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
    • 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1951)
    • 1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician (d. 1987)
    • 1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (d. 1967)
    • 1896 – Ernst Udet, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
    • 1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (d. 1967)
    • 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
    • 1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (d. 1972)
    • 1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian-English saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1958)
    • 1900 – Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder and calligrapher (d. 1969)
    • 1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (d. 1985)
    • 1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
    • 1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (d. 1991)
    • 1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, 177th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
    • 1905 – Jean Vigo, French director and screenwriter (d. 1934)
    • 1907 – Ilias Tsirimokos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
    • 1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
    • 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Paul Verner, German soldier and politician (d. 1986)
    • 1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (d. 2000)
    • 1914 – Bernard Malamud, Jewish American novelist and short story writer (d. 1986)
    • 1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer (d. 1996)
    • 1916 – Eyvind Earle, American artist, author, and illustrator (d. 2000)
    • 1916 – Ken Wallis, English commander, engineer, and pilot (d. 2013)
    • 1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (d. 1999)
    • 1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player and coach (d. 1992)
    • 1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower (d. 2019)
    • 1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch sprinter and long jumper (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1922 – J. C. Holt, English historian and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)
    • 1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – Vladimir Boltyansky, Russian mathematician, educator and author (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Frank Hahn, British economist (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Granny Hamner, American baseball player (d. 1993)
    • 1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner and sportscaster
    • 1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1931 – John Cain Jr., Australian politician, 41st Premier of Victoria (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (d. 2010)
    • 1932 – Shirley Cawley, English long jumper
    • 1932 – Frank D’Rone, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
    • 1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
    • 1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican-American general (d. 2005)
    • 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1935 – Patricia Reilly Giff, American author and educator
    • 1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
    • 1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
    • 1940 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby league player (d. 2018)
    • 1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress (d. 2019)
    • 1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
    • 1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
    • 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor
    • 1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic
    • 1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and academic, designed the Therme Vals
    • 1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (d. 2007)
    • 1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer (d. 2016)
    • 1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian race car driver
    • 1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
    • 1946 – Ralph Coates, English international footballer (d. 2010)
    • 1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
    • 1946 – Alberto Quintano, Chilean footballer
    • 1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
    • 1951 – John Battle, English politician
    • 1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
    • 1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
    • 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
    • 1956 – Koo Stark, American actress and photographer
    • 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish race car driver
    • 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
    • 1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer
    • 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Chris Mars, American artist
    • 1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
    • 1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
    • 1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
    • 1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
    • 1963 – Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
    • 1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
    • 1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
    • 1965 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
    • 1967 – Glenn Thomas Jacobs, American professional wrestler, actor, businessman and politician
    • 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress and singer-songwriter
    • 1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
    • 1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 47th First Lady of the United States
    • 1970 – Kristen R. Ghodsee, American ethnographer and academic
    • 1970 – Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
    • 1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian race car driver
    • 1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
    • 1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
    • 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
    • 1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
    • 1973 – Óscar García Junyent, Spanish footballer and coach
    • 1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician, songwriter, record producer
    • 1975 – Rahul Verma, Indian social worker and activist
    • 1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut
    • 1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
    • 1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist and author
    • 1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
    • 1978 – Joe Crede, American baseball player
    • 1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
    • 1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
    • 1980 – Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
    • 1980 – Marlon King, English footballer
    • 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress and journalist
    • 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor and producer
    • 1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch pop and jazz singer
    • 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, English rapper and producer
    • 1981 – Sandra Schmitt, German skier (d. 2000)
    • 1982 – Novlene Williams-Mills, Jamaican sprinter
    • 1983 – José María López, Argentinian race car driver
    • 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American soldier
    • 1984 – Emily Wickersham, American actress
    • 1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
    • 1985 – Andrea Koch Benvenuto, Chilean tennis player
    • 1986 – Lior Refaelov, Israeli footballer
    • 1986 – Sean Evans, American YouTuber and producer
    • 1986 – Yuliya Zaripova, Russian runner
    • 1987 – Jorge Andújar Moreno, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Ben Spina, Australian rugby league player
    • 1988 – Manuel Viniegra, Mexican footballer
    • 1988 – Gareth Evans, English footballer
    • 1989 – Melvin Ingram, American football player
    • 1990 – Mitch Rein, Australian rugby league player
    • 1990 – Nevin Spence, Northern Irish rugby player (d. 2012)
    • 1991 – Lazaros Fotias, Greek footballer
    • 1991 – Peter Handscomb, Australian cricketer
    • 1991 – Will Heard, British singer and songwriter
    • 1991 – Isaac Liu, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1991 – Ignacio Lores Varela, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1991 – Srdjan Pejicic, Canadian/Bosnian basketball player
    • 1991 – Wojciech Pszczolarski, Polish bicycle racer
    • 1992 – Aaron Judge, American baseball player
    • 1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian race car driver

    Deaths on  April 26

    • 499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (b. 467)
    • 645 – Richarius, Frankish monk and saint (b. 560)
    • 680 – Muawiyah I, Umayyad caliph (b. 602)
    • 757 – Pope Stephen II (b. 715)
    • 893 – Chen Jingxuan, general of the Tang Dynasty
    • 962 – Adalbero I, bishop of Metz
    • 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
    • 1366 – Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1392 – Jeong Mong-ju, Korean civil minister, diplomat and scholar (b. 1338)
    • 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
    • 1478 – Giuliano de’ Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1453)
    • 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shōgun (b. 1465)
    • 1558 – Jean Fernel, French physician (b. 1497)
    • 1686 – Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Swedish statesman and military man (b. 1622)
    • 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English jurist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1651)
    • 1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish nun and educator, founded the Presentation Sisters (b. 1718)
    • 1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian general (b. 1721)
    • 1809 – Bernhard Schott, German music publisher (b. 1748)
    • 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
    • 1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
    • 1895 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian-English author and poet (b. 1860)
    • 1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian-French author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1832)
    • 1915 – John Bunny, American actor (b. 1863)
    • 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician and theorist (b. 1887)
    • 1932 – William Lockwood, English cricketer (b. 1868)
    • 1934 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1876)
    • 1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
    • 1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter, and discus thrower (b. 1893)
    • 1945 – Sigmund Rascher, German physician (b. 1909)
    • 1945 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (b. 1871)
    • 1946 – James Larkin White, American miner, explorer, and park ranger (b. 1882)
    • 1950 – George Murray Hulbert, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1881)
    • 1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist and academic (b. 1868)
    • 1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
    • 1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese martial artist, founded Shotokan (b. 1868)
    • 1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and author (b. 1882)
    • 1968 – John Heartfield, German illustrator and photographer (b. 1891)
    • 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist, founded aikido (b. 1883)
    • 1970 – Erik Bergman, Swedish minister and author (b. 1886)
    • 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, striptease dancer, and writer (b. 1911)
    • 1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress and philanthropist (b. 1902)
    • 1976 – Sidney Franklin, American bullfighter (b. 1903)
    • 1976 – Sid James, South African-English actor (b. 1913)
    • 1976 – Armstrong Sperry, American author and illustrator (b. 1897)
    • 1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-born British actress, comedian and singer (b. 1893)
    • 1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
    • 1984 – Count Basie, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1904)
    • 1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
    • 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
    • 1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
    • 1987 – Shankar, Indian composer and conductor (b. 1922)
    • 1987 – John Silkin, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Leader of the House of Commons (b. 1923)
    • 1989 – Lucille Ball, American model, actress, comedian, and producer (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer and conductor (b. 1904)
    • 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – A. B. Guthrie, Jr., American novelist and historian, (b. 1901)
    • 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1931)
    • 1994 – Masutatsu Ōyama, Japanese martial artist, founded Kyokushin kaikan (b. 1923)
    • 1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
    • 1999 – Adrian Borland, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1957)
    • 1999 – Jill Dando, English journalist and television personality (b. 1961)
    • 2003 – Rosemary Brown, Jamaican-Canadian academic and politician (b. 1930)
    • 2003 – Yun Hyon-seok, South Korean poet and author (b. 1984)
    • 2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist, co-founded the World Wide Fund for Nature (b. 1904)
    • 2004 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
    • 2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
    • 2005 – Elisabeth Domitien, Prime Minister of the Central African Republic (b. 1925)
    • 2005 – Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan journalist, author, and academic (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Jack Valenti, American businessman, created the MPAA film rating system (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal investigator and author (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Mariam A. Aleem, Egyptian graphic designer and academic (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Urs Felber, Swiss engineer and businessman (b. 1942)
    • 2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
    • 2012 – Terence Spinks, English boxer and trainer (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Jacqueline Brookes, American actress and educator (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – George Jones, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Gerald Guralnik, American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2014 – Paul Robeson, Jr., American historian and author (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – DJ Rashad, American electronic musician, producer and DJ (b. 1979)
    • 2015 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1930)
    • 2016 – Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (b. 1937)
    • 2017 – Jonathan Demme, American filmmaker, producer and screenwriter (b. 1944)

    Holidays and observances on April 26

    • Chernobyl disaster related observances:
      • Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
      • Memorial Day of Radiation Accidents and Catastrophes (Russia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Aldobrandesca (or Alda)
      • Franca Visalta
      • Lucidius of Verona
      • Our Lady of Good Counsel
      • Pope Anacletus and Marcellinus
      • Riquier
      • Paschasius Radbertus
      • Peter of Rates (or of Braga)
      • Robert Hunt (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Stephen of Perm, see also Old Permic Alphabet Day
      • Trudpert
      • April 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Memorial Day (Florida, United States)
    • Union Day (Tanzania)
    • World Intellectual Property Day

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

    • 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius.
    • AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
    • AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital with four Roman legions.
    • 193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
    • 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
    • 972 – Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome.
    • 1028 – Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected King of Germany.
    • 1205 – Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
    • 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.
    • 1341 – Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V, Marquess of Saluzzo.
    • 1434 – The foundation stone of Nantes Cathedral, France is laid.
    • 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
    • 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
    • 1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years’ War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
    • 1699 – Khalsa: The Sikh religion was formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
    • 1775 – The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
    • 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
    • 1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
    • 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
    • 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day.
    • 1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
    • 1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas.
    • 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
    • 1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.
    • 1900 – The Exposition Universelle begins.
    • 1902 – James Cash Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
    • 1906 – The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
    • 1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, U.S., fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.
    • 1909 – A massacre is organized by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population of Cilicia.
    • 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th).
    • 1927 – The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
    • 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada – the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
    • 1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
    • 1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
    • 1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.
    • 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
    • 1941 – World War II: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.
    • 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
    • 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
    • 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
    • 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.
    • 1978 – Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
    • 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
    • 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
    • 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
    • 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
    • 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
    • 1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
    • 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
    • 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
    • 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
    • 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
    • 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
    • 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
    • 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in Jama Masjid, Delhi injure 13 people.
    • 2010 – Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
    • 2014 – Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others.
    • 2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.
    • 2016 – In Japan, the foreshock of Kumamoto earthquakes occurs.

    Births on April 14

    • 1126 – Averroes, Spanish physician and philosopher (d. 1198)
    • 1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
    • 1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (d. 1414)
    • 1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (d. 1598)
    • 1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1632)
    • 1578 – Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
    • 1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1695)
    • 1668 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
    • 1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (d. 1717)
    • 1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (d. 1783)
    • 1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (d. 1788)
    • 1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
    • 1741 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (d. 1762)
    • 1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799)
    • 1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)
    • 1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-President of Texas (d. 1870)
    • 1800 – John Appold, English engineer (d. 1865)
    • 1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898)
    • 1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (d. 1887)
    • 1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (d. 1901)
    • 1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900)
    • 1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (d. 1941)
    • 1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (d. 1923)
    • 1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
    • 1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (d. 1960)
    • 1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936)
    • 1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (d. 1940)
    • 1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1905)
    • 1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1929)
    • 1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (d. 1953)
    • 1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934)
    • 1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
    • 1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1936)
    • 1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (d. 1956)
    • 1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (d. 1928)
    • 1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (d. 1975)
    • 1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (d. 1956)
    • 1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1958)
    • 1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1962)
    • 1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (d. 1957)
    • 1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
    • 1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
    • 1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978)
    • 1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (d. 2002)
    • 1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
    • 1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (d. 1999)
    • 1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (d. 1987)
    • 1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (d. 1999)
    • 1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (d. 1975)
    • 1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (d. 1971)
    • 1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (d. 1994)
    • 1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (d. 1978)
    • 1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
    • 1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (d. 1998)
    • 1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (d. 2013)
    • 1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1975)
    • 1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (d. 2018)
    • 1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (d. 2010)
    • 1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
    • 1926 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Liz Renay, American actress and author (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Dany Robin, French actress and singer (d. 1995)
    • 1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1929 – Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2013)
    • 1930 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (d. 2018)
    • 1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral
    • 1931 – Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1932 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1932 – Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire
    • 1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver
    • 1933 – Boris Strugatsky, Russian author (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Yuri Oganessian, Armenian-Russian nuclear physicist
    • 1934 – Fredric Jameson, American philosopher and theorist
    • 1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician
    • 1935 – John Oliver, English bishop
    • 1935 – Erich von Däniken, Swiss historian and author
    • 1936 – Arlene Martel, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Bobby Nichols, American golfer
    • 1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer
    • 1937 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (d. 2013)
    • 1937 – Sepp Mayerl, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2012)
    • 1938 – Mahmud Esad Coşan, Turkish author and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1940 – Julie Christie, English actress and activist
    • 1940 – David Hope, Baron Hope of Thornes, English archbishop and academic
    • 1940 – Richard Thompson, English physician and academic
    • 1941 – Pete Rose, American baseball player and manager
    • 1942 – Valeriy Brumel, Soviet high jumper (d. 2003)
    • 1942 – Valentin Lebedev, Russian engineer and astronaut
    • 1942 – Björn Rosengren, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation
    • 1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist
    • 1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, Samoan economist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Samoa
    • 1945 – Ritchie Blackmore, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1945 – Roger Frappier, Canadian producer, director and screenwriter
    • 1946 – Mireille Guiliano, French-American author
    • 1946 – Michael Sarris, Cypriot economist and politician, Cypriot Minister of Finance
    • 1946 – Knut Kristiansen, Norwegian pianist and orchestra leader
    • 1947 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Bob Massie, Australian cricketer
    • 1948 – Berry Berenson, American model, actress, and photographer (d. 2001)
    • 1948 – Anastasios Papaligouras, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Justice
    • 1949 – Dave Gibbons, English author and illustrator
    • 1949 – DeAnne Julius, American-British economist and academic
    • 1949 – Chris Langham, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Chas Mortimer, English motorcycle racer
    • 1949 – John Shea, American actor and director
    • 1950 – Francis Collins, American physician and geneticist
    • 1950 – Péter Esterházy, Hungarian author (d. 2016)
    • 1951 – Milija Aleksic, English footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1951 – José Eduardo González Navas, Spanish politician
    • 1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator
    • 1951 – Elizabeth Symons, Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean, English politician
    • 1952 – Kenny Aaronson, American bass player
    • 1952 – Mickey O’Sullivan, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1952 – David Urquhart, Scottish bishop
    • 1954 – Sue Hill, English pathologist and civil servant
    • 1954 – Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese director, screenwriter, and illustrator
    • 1956 – Boris Šprem, Croatian lawyer and politician, 8th President of Croatian Parliament (d. 2012)
    • 1957 – Lothaire Bluteau, Canadian actor
    • 1957 – Mikhail Pletnev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1958 – Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor
    • 1959 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1959 – Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Canadian actress
    • 1960 – Brad Garrett, American actor and comedian
    • 1960 – Myoma Myint Kywe, Burmese historian and journalist
    • 1960 – Osamu Sato, Japanese graphic artist, programmer, and composer
    • 1960 – Tina Rosenberg, American journalist and author
    • 1960 – Pat Symcox, South African cricketer
    • 1961 – Robert Carlyle, Scottish actor and director
    • 1961 – Daniel Clowes, American cartoonist and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete
    • 1964 – Brian Adams, American wrestler (d. 2007)
    • 1964 – Jeff Andretti, American race car driver
    • 1964 – Greg Battle, American-Canadian football player
    • 1964 – Stuart Duncan, American bluegrass musician
    • 1964 – Jeff Hopkins, Welsh international footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Gina McKee, English actress
    • 1965 – Tom Dey, American director and producer
    • 1965 – Alexandre Jardin, French author
    • 1965 – Craig McDermott, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1966 – André Boisclair, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1966 – Jan Boklöv, Swedish ski jumper
    • 1966 – David Justice, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Greg Maddux, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1967 – Nicola Berti, Italian international footballer
    • 1967 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
    • 1967 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1967 – Barrett Martin, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
    • 1967 – Julia Zemiro, French-Australian actress, comedian, singer and writer
    • 1968 – Anthony Michael Hall, American actor
    • 1969 – Brad Ausmus, American baseball player and manager
    • 1969 – Martyn LeNoble, Dutch-American bass player
    • 1969 – Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist
    • 1970 – Steve Avery, American baseball player
    • 1970 – Shizuka Kudō, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1971 – Miguel Calero, Colombian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
    • 1971 – Carlos Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1971 – Gregg Zaun, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Paul Devlin, English-Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Roberto Mejía, Dominican baseball player
    • 1972 – Dean Potter, American rock climber and BASE jumper (d. 2015)
    • 1973 – Roberto Ayala, Argentinian footballer
    • 1973 – Adrien Brody, American actor
    • 1973 – Hidetaka Suehiro, Japanese video game director and writer
    • 1973 – David Miller, American tenor
    • 1974 – Da Brat, American rapper
    • 1975 – Lita, American wrestler
    • 1975 – Luciano Almeida, Brazilian footballer
    • 1975 – Avner Dorman, Israeli-American composer and academic
    • 1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer
    • 1976 – Christian Älvestam, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Georgina Chapman, English model, actress, and fashion designer, co-founded Marchesa
    • 1976 – Anna DeForge, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Kyle Farnsworth, American baseball player
    • 1976 – Nadine Faustin-Parker, Hatian hurdler
    • 1976 – Jason Wiemer, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Nate Fox, American basketball player (d. 2014)
    • 1977 – Martin Kaalma, Estonian footballer
    • 1977 – Sarah Michelle Gellar, American actress and producer
    • 1977 – Rob McElhenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1978 – Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete
    • 1979 – Iain Balshaw, English rugby player
    • 1979 – Rebecca DiPietro, American wrestler and model
    • 1979 – Marios Elia, Cypriot footballer
    • 1979 – Ross Filipo, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1979 – Noé Pamarot, French footballer
    • 1979 – Patrick Somerville, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1979 – Kerem Tunçeri, Turkish basketball player
    • 1980 – Win Butler, American-Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1980 – Jeremy Smith, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1981 – Mustafa Güngör, German rugby player
    • 1981 – Amy Leach, English director and producer
    • 1982 – Uğur Boral, Turkish footballer
    • 1982 – Larissa França, Brazilian volleyball player
    • 1983 – Simona La Mantia, Italian triple jumper
    • 1983 – James McFadden, Scottish footballer
    • 1983 – William Obeng, Ghanaian-American football player
    • 1983 – Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Georgian basketball player
    • 1984 – Blake Costanzo, American football player
    • 1984 – Charles Hamelin, Canadian speed skater
    • 1984 – Harumafuji Kōhei, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 70th Yokozuna
    • 1984 – Adán Sánchez, American-Mexican musician (d. 2004)
    • 1984 – Tyler Thigpen, American football player
    • 1985 – Grant Clitsome, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Matt Derbyshire, English footballer
    • 1986 – Goran Gogić, Serbian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1987 – Michael Baze, American jockey (d. 2011)
    • 1987 – Erwin Hoffer, Austrian footballer
    • 1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner
    • 1987 – Korina Perkovic, German tennis player
    • 1988 – Roberto Bautista Agut, Spanish tennis player
    • 1988 – Eric Gryba, Canadian ice hockey defenseman
    • 1988 – Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete
    • 1988 – Vasileios Pliatsikas, Greek footballer
    • 1988 – Brad Sinopoli, Canadian football player
    • 1989 – Joe Haden, American football player
    • 1990 – Markus Smarzoch, German footballer
    • 1992 – Frederik Sørensen, Danish footballer
    • 1996 – Abigail Breslin, American actress

    Deaths on April 14

    • 911 – Pope Sergius III, pope of the Roman Catholic Church
    • 1070 – Gerard, Duke of Lorraine (b. c. 1030)
    • 1099 – Conrad, Bishop of Utrecht (b. before 1040)
    • 1132 – Mstislav I of Kiev (b. 1076)
    • 1279 – Bolesław the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland (b. 1224)
    • 1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1275)
    • 1345 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of The United Kingdom (b. 1287)
    • 1424 – Lucia Visconti, English countess (b. 1372)
    • 1433 – Lidwina, Dutch saint (b. 1380)
    • 1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English commander and politician (b. 1428)
    • 1471 – John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu (b. 1431)
    • 1480 – Thomas de Spens, Scottish statesman and prelate (b. c. 1415)
    • 1488 – Girolamo Riario, Lord of Imola and Forli (b. 1443)
    • 1574 – Louis of Nassau (b. 1538)
    • 1578 – James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, English husband of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1534)
    • 1587 – Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (b. 1548)
    • 1599 – Henry Wallop, English politician (b. 1540)
    • 1609 – Gasparo da Salò, Italian violin maker (b. 1540)
    • 1662 – William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, English politician (b. 1582)
    • 1682 – Avvakum, Russian priest and saint (b. 1620)
    • 1721 – Michel Chamillart, French politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1652)
    • 1740 – Lady Catherine Jones, English philanthropist (b.1672)
    • 1759 – George Frideric Handel, German-English organist and composer (b. 1685)
    • 1785 – William Whitehead, English poet and playwright (b. 1715)
    • 1792 – Maximilian Hell, Slovak-Hungarian astronomer and priest (b. 1720)
    • 1843 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1801)
    • 1864 – Charles Lot Church, American-Canadian politician (b. 1777)
    • 1888 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (b. 1824)
    • 1910 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1856)
    • 1911 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (b. 1880)
    • 1911 – Henri Elzéar Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 4th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1836)
    • 1912 – Henri Brisson, French politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (b. 1835)
    • 1914 – Hubert Bland, English activist, co-founded the Fabian Society (b. 1855)
    • 1916 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women’s rights activist (b. 1847)
    • 1917 – L. L. Zamenhof, Polish physician and linguist, created Esperanto (b. 1859)
    • 1919 – Auguste-Réal Angers, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1837)
    • 1925 – John Singer Sargent, American painter (b. 1856)
    • 1930 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Georgian-Russian actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1893)
    • 1931 – Richard Armstedt, German philologist, historian, and educator (b. 1851)
    • 1935 – Emmy Noether, German-American mathematician and academic (b. 1882)
    • 1938 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (b. 1893)
    • 1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (b. 1907)
    • 1950 – Ramana Maharshi, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1879)
    • 1951 – Al Christie, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1881)
    • 1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer and scholar (b. 1860)
    • 1963 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian monk and historian (b. 1893)
    • 1964 – Tatyana Afanasyeva, Russian-Dutch mathematician and theorist (b. 1876)
    • 1964 – Rachel Carson, American biologist and author (b. 1907)
    • 1968 – Al Benton, American baseball player (b. 1911)
    • 1969 – Matilde Muñoz Sampedro, Spanish actress (b. 1900)
    • 1975 – Günter Dyhrenfurth, German-Swiss mountaineer, geologist, and explorer (b. 1886)
    • 1975 – Fredric March, American actor (b. 1897)
    • 1976 – José Revueltas, Mexican author and activist (b. 1914)
    • 1978 – Joe Gordon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
    • 1978 – F. R. Leavis, English educator and critic (b. 1895)
    • 1983 – Pete Farndon, English bassist (The Pretenders) (b. 1952)
    • 1983 – Gianni Rodari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 1986 – Simone de Beauvoir, French novelist and philosopher (b. 1908)
    • 1990 – Thurston Harris, American singer (b. 1931)
    • 1990 – Olabisi Onabanjo, Nigerian politician, 3rd Governor of Ogun State (b. 1927)
    • 1992 – Irene Greenwood, Australian radio broadcaster and feminist and peace activist (b. 1898)
    • 1994 – Salimuzzaman Siddiqui, Pakistani chemist and scholar (b. 1897)
    • 1995 – Burl Ives, American actor, folk singer, and writer (b. 1909)
    • 1999 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (b. 1911)
    • 1999 – Anthony Newley, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
    • 1999 – Bill Wendell, American television announcer (b. 1924)
    • 2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer, co-created the zip file format (b. 1962)
    • 2000 – August R. Lindt, Swiss lawyer and politician (b. 1905)
    • 2000 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer (b. 1918)
    • 2001 – Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer (b. 1939)
    • 2001 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
    • 2003 – Jyrki Otila, Finnish politician (b. 1941)
    • 2004 – Micheline Charest, English-Canadian television producer, co-founded the Cookie Jar Group (b. 1953)
    • 2006 – Mahmut Bakalli, Kosovo politician (b. 1936)
    • 2007 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Don Ho, American singer and ukulele player (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – René Rémond, French historian and economist (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Tommy Holmes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Ollie Johnston, American animator and voice actor (b. 1912)
    • 2009 – Maurice Druon, French author (b. 1918)
    • 2010 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian and scholar (b. 1932)
    • 2010 – Alice Miller, Polish-French psychologist and author (b. 1923)
    • 2010 – Peter Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player (b. 1962)
    • 2011 – Jean Gratton, Canadian Roman Catholic bishop (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Émile Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Jonathan Frid, Canadian actor (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (b. 1986)
    • 2013 – Efi Arazi, Israeli businessman, founded the Scailex Corporation (b. 1937)
    • 2013 – Colin Davis, English conductor and educator (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – R. P. Goenka, Indian businessman, founded RPG Group (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – George Jackson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Armando Villanueva, Peruvian politician, 121st Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1915)
    • 2013 – Charlie Wilson, American politician (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Nina Cassian, Romanian poet and critic (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Crad Kilodney, American-Canadian author (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – Klaus Bednarz, German journalist and author (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Mark Reeds, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1960)
    • 2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – Roberto Tucci, Italian cardinal and theologian (b. 1921)
    • 2019 – Bibi Andersson, Swedish actress (b.1935)

    Holidays and observances on April 14

    • Ambedkar Jayanti (India)
    • Black Day (South Korea)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Anthony, John, and Eustathius
      • Bénézet
      • Henry Beard Delany (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Domnina of Terni
      • Lidwina
      • Peter González
      • Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus
      • April 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Commemoration of Anfal Genocide Against the Kurds (Iraqi Kurdistan)
    • Day of Mologa (Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia)
    • Day of the Georgian language (Georgia)
    • Dhivehi Language Day (Maldives)
    • N’Ko Alphabet Day (Mande speakers)
    • Pan American Day (several countries in The Americas)
    • South and Southeast Asian New Year, celebrated on the sidereal vernal equinox. (see April 13):
      • Assamese New Year, or Bohag Bihu (India’s Assam Valley)
      • Bengali New Year, or Pohela Boishakh (Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal state)
      • Burmese New Year, or Thingyan (Myanmar)
      • Hindu and Sikh New Year, or Vaisakhi (Punjab region)
      • Khmer New Year, or Chol Chnam Thmey (Cambodia)
      • Lao New Year, or Pi Mai Lao (Laos)
      • Mahl New Year, or Alathu Aharudhuvas (Maldives and India’s Lakshadweep and Kerala state)
      • Maithili New Year, or Jude Sheetal (Mithila region)
      • Malayali New Year, or Vishu (India’s Kerala state)
      • Nepali New Year, or Navabarsha / Vaishak Ek (Nepal)
      • Oriya/Odia New Year, or Pana Sankranti (India’s Odisha state)
      • Sinhalese New Year, or Aluth Avurudhu (Sri Lanka)
      • Tamil New Year, or Puthandu (India’s Tamil Nadu state)
      • Thai New Year, or Songkran, celebrated from 13 to 15 April (Thailand)
      • Tuluva New Year, or Bisu (India’s Karnataka state)
    • The first day of Takayama Spring Festival (Takayama, Gifu, Japan)
    • Youth Day (Angola)

  • April 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.
    • 467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
    • 627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
    • 1012 – Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír who flees to Poland.
    • 1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
    • 1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
    • 1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
    • 1807 – The Froberg mutiny ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.
    • 1820 – Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
    • 1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
    • 1877 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
    • 1910 – SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
    • 1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
    • 1927 – Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
    • 1927 – Rocksprings, Texas was hit by an F5 tornado that destroyed 235 of the 247 buildings in the town and killed 72 townspeople and injured 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
    • 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
    • 1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.
    • 1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
    • 1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
    • 1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.
    • 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.
    • 1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
    • 1961 – Cold War: Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
    • 1963 – The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
    • 1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
    • 1980 – The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.
    • 1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.
    • 1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
    • 1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.
    • 1990 – Jim Gary’s “Twentieth Century Dinosaurs” exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.
    • 1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park’s name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
    • 1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving “intentionally false statements” in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
    • 2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.
    • 2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
    • 2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
    • 2010 – Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28.
    • 2013 – Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.
    • 2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

    Births on April 12

    • 811 – Muhammad al-Jawad, the ninth Imam of Shia Islam (d. 835)
    • 959 – En’yū, emperor of Japan (d. 991)
    • 1116 – Richeza of Poland, queen of Sweden and Grand Princess of Minsk (d. 1156)
    • 1432 – Anne of Austria, Landgravine of Thuringia (d. 1462)
    • 1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, designed the Apostolic Palace and St. Peter’s Basilica (d. 1546)
    • 1484 – Maharana Sangram Singh, Rana of Mewar (d. 1527)
    • 1500 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (d. 1574)
    • 1526 – Muretus, French philosopher and author (d. 1585)
    • 1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English courtier and politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (d. 1604)
    • 1577 – Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648)
    • 1612 – Simone Cantarini, Italian painter and engraver (d. 1648)
    • 1639 – Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician (d. 1712)
    • 1656 – Benoît de Maillet, French diplomat and natural historian (d. 1738)
    • 1705 – William Cookworthy, English minister and pharmacist (d. 1780)
    • 1710 – Caffarelli, Italian actor and singer (d. 1783)
    • 1713 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French historian and author (d. 1796)
    • 1716 – Felice Giardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1796)
    • 1722 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1793)
    • 1724 – Lyman Hall, American physician, clergyman, and politician, 16th Governor of Georgia (d. 1790)
    • 1748 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist and author (d. 1836)
    • 1777 – Henry Clay, American lawyer and politician, 9th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
    • 1792 – John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, English soldier and politician, Lord Privy Seal (d. 1840)
    • 1794 – Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician and engineer (d. 1847)
    • 1796 – George N. Briggs, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
    • 1799 – Henri Druey, Swiss lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1855)
    • 1801 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1843)
    • 1816 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (d. 1903)
    • 1823 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright and translator (d. 1886)
    • 1839 – Nikolay Przhevalsky, Russian geographer and explorer (d. 1888)
    • 1845 – Gustaf Cederström, Swedish painter (d. 1933)
    • 1851 – José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican soldier and poet (d. 1880)
    • 1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer and author (d. 1928)
    • 1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician and academic (d. 1939)
    • 1856 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English mountaineer, cartographer, and politician (d. 1937)
    • 1863 – Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (d. 1895)
    • 1868 – Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese admiral (d. 1918)
    • 1869 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)
    • 1871 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1941)
    • 1874 – William B. Bankhead, American lawyer and politician, 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1940)
    • 1880 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (d. 1911)
    • 1883 – Imogen Cunningham, American photographer and educator (d. 1976)
    • 1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby player, cricketer, and sailor (d. 1959)
    • 1884 – Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (d. 1932)
    • 1884 – Otto Meyerhof, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
    • 1885 – Robert Delaunay, French painter (d. 1941)
    • 1887 – Harold Lockwood, American actor and director (d. 1918)
    • 1888 – Dan Ahearn, Irish-American long jumper and police officer (d. 1942)
    • 1888 – Cecil Kimber, English automobile engineer (d. 1945)
    • 1892 – Henry Darger, American writer and artist (d. 1973)
    • 1894 – Dorothy Cumming, Australian-American actress (d. 1983)
    • 1894 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 13th President of Portugal (d. 1964)
    • 1898 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (d. 1976)
    • 1901 – Lowell Stockman, American farmer and politician (d. 1962)
    • 1902 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, 36th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
    • 1903 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
    • 1907 – Zawgyi, Burmese poet, author, literary historian, critic, scholar and academic (d. 1990)
    • 1907 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian-American sculptor, designed the Marine Corps War Memorial (d. 2003)
    • 1908 – Ida Pollock, English author and painter (d. 2013)
    • 1908 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American pilot and general (d. 2006)
    • 1910 – Gillo Dorfles, Italian art critic, painter and philosopher (d. 2018)
    • 1910 – Irma Rapuzzi, French politician (d. 2018)
    • 1911 – Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer (d. 1976)
    • 1912 – Frank Dilio, Canadian businessman (d. 1997)
    • 1912 – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, 2nd Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
    • 1913 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist (d. 2013)
    • 1914 – Armen Alchian, American economist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1916 – Beverly Cleary, American author
    • 1916 – Russell Garcia, American-New Zealander composer and conductor (d. 2011)
    • 1916 – Benjamin Libet, American neuropsychologist and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1917 – Helen Forrest, American singer and actress (d. 1999)
    • 1917 – Vinoo Mankad, Indian cricketer (d. 1978)
    • 1917 – Robert Manzon, French racing driver (d. 2015)
    • 1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1919 – Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader (d. 1991)
    • 1921 – Robert Cliche, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1978)
    • 1922 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (d. 1980)
    • 1923 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Raymond Barre, French economist and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
    • 1924 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1924 – Curtis Turner, American race car driver (d. 1970)
    • 1925 – Evelyn Berezin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Ned Miller, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
    • 1926 – Jane Withers, American actress
    • 1927 – Thomas Hemsley, English baritone (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Alvin Sargent, two-time Academy-Award-winning American screenwriter (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Hardy Krüger, German actor
    • 1928 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Elspet Gray, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Mukhran Machavariani, Georgian poet and educator (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – John Landy, Australian runner and politician, 26th Governor of Victoria
    • 1930 – Bryan Magee, English philosopher and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Manuel Neri, American sculptor and painter
    • 1930 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (d. 2006)
    • 1931 – Leonid Derbenyov, Russian poet and songwriter (d. 1995)
    • 1932 – Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 5th Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2005)
    • 1932 – Jean-Pierre Marielle, French actor (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Tiny Tim, American singer and ukulele player (d. 1996)
    • 1933 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 2018)
    • 1934 – Heinz Schneiter, Swiss footballer and manager (d. 2017)
    • 1936 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
    • 1936 – Kennedy Simmonds, Kittitian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
    • 1937 – Dennis Banks, American author and activist (d. 2017)
    • 1937 – Igor Volk, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
    • 1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English director and playwright
    • 1939 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1940 – Woodie Fryman, American baseball player (d. 2011)
    • 1940 – Herbie Hancock, American pianist, composer, and bandleader
    • 1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (d. 1993)
    • 1942 – Bill Bryden, Scottish actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1942 – Carlos Reutemann, Argentinian race car driver and politician
    • 1942 – Jacob Zuma, South African politician, 4th President of South Africa
    • 1943 – Sumitra Mahajan, Indian politician, 16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
    • 1944 – Lisa Jardine, English historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – John Kay, German-Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1945 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (d. 2006)
    • 1946 – Ed O’Neill, American actor and comedian
    • 1946 – George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, Scottish politician and diplomat, 10th Secretary General of NATO
    • 1947 – Roy M. Anderson, English epidemiologist, zoologist, and academic
    • 1947 – Martin Brasier, English palaeontologist, biologist, and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Alex Briley, American disco singer
    • 1947 – Tom Clancy, American historian and author (d. 2013)
    • 1947 – Woody Johnson, American businessman and philanthropist
    • 1947 – Dan Lauria, American actor
    • 1947 – David Letterman, American comedian and talk show host
    • 1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television host and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Joschka Fischer, German academic and politician
    • 1948 – Marcello Lippi, Italian footballer, manager, and coach
    • 1949 – Scott Turow, American lawyer and author
    • 1950 – Flavio Briatore, Italian businessman
    • 1950 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1950 – Joyce Banda, Malawian politician, 4th president of Malawi
    • 1950 – Nick Sackman, English composer and educator
    • 1951 – Tom Noonan, American actor
    • 1952 – Reuben Gant, American football player
    • 1952 – Leicester Rutledge, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1952 – Gary Soto, American poet, novelist, and memoirist
    • 1952 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist (d. 2004)
    • 1953 – Tanino Liberatore, Italian author and illustrator
    • 1954 – John Faulkner, Australian educator and politician, 52nd Australian Minister for Defence
    • 1954 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1954 – Pat Travers, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Fabian Hamilton, English graphic designer, engineer, and politician
    • 1956 – Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor, director, and producer
    • 1956 – Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1957 – Greg Child, Australian mountaineer and author
    • 1957 – Vince Gill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1957 – Tama Janowitz, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1958 – Will Sergeant, English guitarist
    • 1958 – Klaus Tafelmeier, German javelin thrower
    • 1958 – Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian hurdler
    • 1959 – Howard Stableford, English radio and television host
    • 1961 – Corrado Fabi, Italian racing driver
    • 1961 – Charles Mann, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Magda Szubanski, English-Australian actress, comedian and writer
    • 1962 – Art Alexakis, American singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1962 – Carlos Sainz, Spanish racing driver
    • 1962 – Nobuhiko Takada, Japanese mixed martial artist and wrestler, founded Hustle
    • 1963 – Lydia Cacho, Mexican journalist and author
    • 1964 – Chris Fairclough, English footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Amy Ray, American folk-rock singer-songwriter, musician, and music producer
    • 1965 – Kim Bodnia, Danish actor and director
    • 1965 – Chi Onwurah, English politician
    • 1965 – Gervais Rufyikiri, Burundian politician
    • 1965 – Mihai Stoica, Romanian footballer and manager
    • 1966 – Nils-Olav Johansen, Norwegian guitarist and singer
    • 1966 – Lorenzo White, American football player
    • 1967 – Sarah Cracknell, English singer-songwriter
    • 1968 – Alicia Coppola, American actress
    • 1968 – Toby Gad, German songwriter and producer
    • 1968 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1969 – Jörn Lenz, German footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Lucas Radebe, South African footballer and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Michael Jackson, American football player and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1970 – Sylvain Bouchard, Canadian speed skater
    • 1971 – Nicholas Brendon, American actor
    • 1971 – Shannen Doherty, American actress, director, and producer
    • 1972 – Paul Lo Duca, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – J. Scott Campbell, American author and illustrator
    • 1973 – Ryan Kisor, American trumpet player and composer
    • 1973 – Antonio Osuna, Mexican-American baseball player
    • 1973 – Christian Panucci, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Belinda Emmett, Australian actress (d. 2006)
    • 1974 – Bryan Fletcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1974 – Roman Hamrlík, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1974 – Marley Shelton, American actress
    • 1974 – Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Olga Kotlyarova, Russian runner
    • 1976 – Brad Miller, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1977 – Sarah Monahan, Australian actress
    • 1977 – Jason Price, Welsh footballer
    • 1977 – Glenn Rogers, Australian-Scottish cricketer
    • 1978 – Guy Berryman, Scottish bass player and producer
    • 1978 – Scott Crary, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1978 – Svetlana Lapina, Russian high jumper
    • 1978 – Robin Walker, English businessman and politician
    • 1979 – Claire Danes, American actress
    • 1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast
    • 1979 – Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
    • 1979 – Jennifer Morrison, American actress
    • 1979 – Cristian Ranalli, Italian footballer
    • 1979 – Lee Soo-young, South Korean singer
    • 1980 – Sara Head, Welsh Paralympic table tennis champion
    • 1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Russian runner
    • 1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentinian footballer
    • 1981 – Tulsi Gabbard, American politician
    • 1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer and professional wrestler
    • 1981 – Hisashi Iwakuma, Japanese baseball pitcher
    • 1983 – Jelena Dokic, Serbian-Australian tennis player
    • 1983 – Luke Kibet, Kenyan runner
    • 1984 – Aleksey Dmitrik, Russian high jumper
    • 1985 – Brennan Boesch, American baseball player
    • 1985 – Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer
    • 1986 – Brad Brach, American baseball pitcher
    • 1986 – Blerim Džemaili, Swiss footballer
    • 1986 – Marcel Granollers, Spanish tennis player
    • 1986 – Jonathan Pitroipa, Burkinabé footballer
    • 1987 – Brooklyn Decker, American model and actress
    • 1987 – Shawn Gore, Canadian football player
    • 1987 – Josh McCrone, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Luiz Adriano, Brazilian professional footballer
    • 1987 – Brendon Urie, American singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist
    • 1988 – Ricardo Gabriel Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
    • 1988 – Stephen Brogan, English footballer
    • 1988 – Amedeo Calliari, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Jessie James Decker, American singer-songwriter
    • 1989 – Bethan Dainton, Welsh rugby union player
    • 1989 – Miguel Ángel Ponce, American-Mexican footballer
    • 1989 – Ádám Hanga, Hungarian basketball player
    • 1989 – Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian-American ice dancer
    • 1989 – Valentin Stocker, Swiss footballer
    • 1990 – Francesca Halsall, English swimmer
    • 1990 – Hiroki Sakai, Japanese footballer
    • 1991 – Torey Krug, American ice hockey player
    • 1991 – Lionel Carole, French professional footballer
    • 1991 – Oliver Norwood, English born Northern Irish international footballer
    • 1991 – Magnus Pääjärvi, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1991 – Jazz Richards, Welsh international footballer
    • 1992 – Chad le Clos, South African swimmer
    • 1993 – Jordan Archer, English-Scottish footballer
    • 1993 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1994 – Isabelle Drummond, Brazilian actress and singer
    • 1994 – Saoirse Ronan, American-born Irish actress
    • 1994 – Oh Sehun, South Korean musician
    • 1994 – Eric Bailly, Ivorian professional footballer
    • 1994 – Guido Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
    • 1995 – Pedro Cachín, Argentine tennis player
    • 1996 – Elizaveta Kulichkova, Russian tennis player

    Deaths on April 12

    • 45 BC – Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman general and politician (b. 75 BC)
    • 352 – Julius I, pope of the Catholic Church
    • 434 – Maximianus, archbishop of Constantinople
    • 901 – Eudokia Baïana, Byzantine empress and wife of Leo VI
    • 1125 – Vladislaus I, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1065)
    • 1167 – Charles VII, king of Sweden (b. c. 1130)
    • 1212 – Vsevolod the Big Nest, Grand Prince of Vladimir (b. 1154)
    • 1256 – Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre, regent of Navarre (b. c. 1217)
    • 1443 – Henry Chichele, English archbishop (b. 1364)
    • 1500 – Leonhard of Gorizia, Count of Gorz (b. 1440)
    • 1530 – Joanna La Beltraneja, Princess of Castile (b. 1462)
    • 1550 – Claude, Duke of Guise (b. 1496)
    • 1555 – Joanna of Castile (b. 1479)
    • 1675 – Richard Bennett, English politician, colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1609)
    • 1684 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (b. 1596)
    • 1687 – Ambrose Dixon, English-American soldier (b. 1619)
    • 1704 – Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and theologian (b. 1627)
    • 1748 – William Kent, English architect, designed Holkham Hall and Chiswick House (b. 1685)
    • 1782 – Metastasio, Italian-Austrian poet and composer (b. 1698)
    • 1788 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-Italian composer (b. 1719)
    • 1795 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)
    • 1814 – Charles Burney, English composer and historian (b. 1726)
    • 1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (b. 1730)
    • 1850 – Adoniram Judson, American lexicographer and missionary (b. 1788)
    • 1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician, founded Fleetwood (b. 1801)
    • 1872 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1795)
    • 1878 – William M. Tweed, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
    • 1879 – Richard Taylor, American general (b. 1826)
    • 1885 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1817)
    • 1898 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1820)
    • 1902 – Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist and academic (b. 1842)
    • 1906 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar, academic, and philanthropist (b. 1836)
    • 1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross (b. 1821)
    • 1933 – Adelbert Ames, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1835)
    • 1937 – Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Turkish playwright and poet (b. 1852)
    • 1938 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (b. 1873)
    • 1943 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (b. 1889)
    • 1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Lionel Logue, Australian actor and therapist (b. 1880)
    • 1962 – Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1923)
    • 1966 – Sydney Allard, English racing driver and founder of the Allard car company (b. 1910)
    • 1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German engineer (b. 1899)
    • 1971 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and dentist (b. 1886)
    • 1973 – Arthur Freed, American songwriter and producer (b. 1894)
    • 1975 – Josephine Baker, French actress, activist, and humanitarian (b. 1906)
    • 1977 – Philip K. Wrigley, American businessman, co-founded Lincoln Park Gun Club (b. 1894)
    • 1980 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (b. 1913)
    • 1981 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
    • 1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer and wrestler (b. 1914)
    • 1983 – Jørgen Juve, Norwegian football player and journalist (b. 1906)
    • 1983 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (b. 1944)
    • 1984 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral and cryptanalyst (b. 1903)
    • 1986 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (b. 1897)
    • 1988 – Colette Deréal, French singer and actress (b. 1927)
    • 1988 – Alan Paton, South African historian and author (b. 1903)
    • 1989 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist, co-founded Youth International Party (b. 1936)
    • 1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
    • 1992 – Ilario Bandini, Italian racing driver and businessman (b. 1911)
    • 1997 – George Wald, American neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
    • 1998 – Robert Ford, Canadian poet and diplomat (b. 1915)
    • 1999 – Boxcar Willie, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2001 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the smiley (b. 1921)
    • 2002 – George Shevelov, Ukrainian-American linguist and philologist (b. 1908)
    • 2004 – Moran Campbell, Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (b. 1925)
    • 2006 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Kevin Crease, Australian journalist (b. 1936)
    • 2008 – Cecilia Colledge, English-American figure skater and coach (b. 1920)
    • 2008 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (b. 1923)
    • 2008 – Jerry Zucker, Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1949)
    • 2010 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader (b. 1916)
    • 2010 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (b. 1945)
    • 2011 – Karim Fakhrawi, Bahraini journalist, co-founded Al-Wasat (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Mohit Chattopadhyay, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Rodgers Grant, American pianist and composer (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Johnny du Plooy, South African boxer (b. 1964)
    • 2013 – Michael France, American screenwriter (b. 1962)
    • 2013 – Brennan Manning, American priest and author (b. 1934)
    • 2013 – Annamária Szalai, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1961)
    • 2013 – Ya’akov Yosef, Israeli rabbi and politician (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – Pierre Autin-Grenier, French author and poet (b. 1947)
    • 2014 – Pierre-Henri Menthéour, French cyclist (b. 1960)
    • 2014 – Maurício Alves Peruchi, Brazilian footballer (b. 1990)
    • 2014 – Hal Smith, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Billy Standridge, American race car driver (b. 1953)
    • 2015 – Paulo Brossard, Brazilian jurist and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Patrice Dominguez, Algerian-French tennis player and trainer (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Alfred Eick, German commander (b. 1916)
    • 2015 – André Mba Obame, Gabonese politician (b. 1957)
    • 2016 – Anne Jackson, American actress (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Mohammad Al Gaz, Emirati politician & diplomat (b. 1930)
    • 2017 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (b. 1959)
    • 2020 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (b. 1983)

    Holidays and observances on April 12

    • Children’s Day (Bolivia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Adoniram Judson (Episcopal Church)
      • Alferius
      • Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso
      • Erkembode
      • Pope Julius I
      • Teresa of the Andes
      • Zeno of Verona
      • April 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin:
      • Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
      • International Day of Human Space Flight
      • Yuri’s Night (International observance)
    • Halifax Day (North Carolina)
    • National Redemption Day (Liberia)