910 – Battle of Augsburg: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army under King Louis the Child, using the famous feigned retreat tactic of the nomadic warriors.
1240 – At the instigation of Louis IX of France, an inter-faith debate, known as the Disputation of Paris, starts between a Christian monk and four rabbis.
1381 – Peasants’ Revolt: In England, rebels assemble at Blackheath, just outside London.
1418 – Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Parisians slaughter Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac and his suspected sympathizers, along with all prisoners, foreign bankers, and students and faculty of the College of Navarre.
1429 – Hundred Years’ War: On the second day of the Battle of Jargeau, Joan of Arc leads the French army in their capture of the city and the English commander, William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
1550 – The city of Helsinki, Finland (belonging to Sweden at the time) is founded by King Gustav I of Sweden.
1653 – First Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of the Gabbard begins, lasting until the following day.
1665 – Thomas Willett is appointed the first mayor of New York City.
1758 – French and Indian War: Siege of Louisbourg: James Wolfe’s attack at Louisbourg, Nova Scotia, commences
1772 – French explorer Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne and 25 of his men killed by Māori in New Zealand.
1775 – American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
1776 – The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted.
1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch.
1817 – The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais.
1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma’il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom.
1830 – Beginning of the Invasion of Algiers: Thiry-four thousand French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch.
1864 – American Civil War, Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their position at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
1898 – Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines’ independence from Spain.
1899 – New Richmond tornado: The eighth deadliest tornado in U.S. history kills 117 people and injures around 200.
1914 – Massacre of Phocaea: Turkish irregulars slaughter 50 to 100 Greeks and expel thousands of others in an ethnic cleansing operation in the Ottoman Empire.
1921 – Mikhail Tukhachevsky orders the use of chemical weapons against the Tambov Rebellion, bringing an end to the peasant uprising.
1935 – A ceasefire is negotiated between Bolivia and Paraguay, ending the Chaco War.
1939 – Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures’ Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor.
1939 – The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York.
1940 – World War II: Thirteen thousand British and French troops surrender to Major General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux.
1942 – Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday.
1943 – The Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city’s old Jewish graveyard and shot.
1944 – World War II: Operation Overlord: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Normandy, France.
1954 – Pope Pius XII canonises Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him at the time the youngest unmartyred saint in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2017, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged ten and nine at the time of their deaths, are declared saints.
1963 – NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith during the civil rights movement.
1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa.
1967 – The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional.
1975 – India, Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha of the city of Allahabad ruled that India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had used corrupt practices to win her seat in the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office. Mrs. Gandhi sent word that she refused to resign.
1979 – Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross.
1987 – The Central African Republic’s former emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule.
1987 – Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate, U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall.
1988 – Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 46, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, crashes short of the runway at Libertador General José de San Martín Airport, killing all 22 people on board.
1990 – Russia Day: The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty.
1991 – Russians first democratically elected Boris Yeltsin as the President of Russia.
1991 – Kokkadichcholai massacre: The Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village of Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town of Batticaloa.
1993 – An election takes place in Nigeria and is won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. Its results are later annulled by the military Government of Ibrahim Babangida.
1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are murdered outside Simpson’s home in Los Angeles. Her estranged husband, O.J. Simpson is later charged with the murders, but is acquitted by a jury.
1997 – Queen Elizabeth II reopens the Globe Theatre in London.
1999 – Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force (KFor) enters the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2009 – Analog television stations (excluding low-powered stations) switch to digital television following the DTV Delay Act.
2009 – A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests.
2016 – Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police.
2017 – American student Otto Warmbier returns home in a coma after spending 17 months in a North Korean prison and dies a week later.
2018 – United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea held the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore.
Births on June 12
950 – Reizei, Japanese emperor (d. 1011)
1107 – Gao Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1187)
1161 – Constance, Duchess of Brittany (d. 1201)
1519 – Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1574)
1561 – Anna of Württemberg, German princess (d. 1616)
1564 – John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (d. 1633)
1573 – Robert Radclyffe, 5th Earl of Sussex, soldier (d. 1629)
1577 – Paul Guldin, Swiss astronomer and mathematician (d. 1643)
1580 – Adriaen van Stalbemt, Flemish painter (d. 1662)
1653 – Maria Amalia of Courland, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1711)
1686 – Marie-Catherine Homassel Hecquet, French writer (d. 1764)
1711 – Louis Legrand, French priest and theologian (d. 1780)
1760 – Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai, French author, playwright, journalist, and politician (d. 1797)
1771 – Patrick Gass, American sergeant (Lewis and Clark Expedition) and author (d. 1870)
1775 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (d. 1851)
1777 – Robert Clark, American physician and politician (d. 1837)
1795 – John Marston, American sailor (d. 1885)
1798 – Samuel Cooper, American general (d. 1876)
1800 – Samuel Wright Mardis, American politician (d. 1836)
1802 – Harriet Martineau, English sociologist and author (d. 1876)
1806 – John A. Roebling, German-American engineer, designed the Brooklyn Bridge (d. 1869)
1807 – Ante Kuzmanić, Croatian physician and journalist (d. 1879)
1812 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist and academic (d. 1890)
1819 – Charles Kingsley, English priest, historian, and author (d. 1875)
1827 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss author, best known for Heidi (d. 1901)
1831 – Robert Herbert, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Queensland (d. 1905)
1841 – Watson Fothergill, English architect, designed the Woodborough Road Baptist Church (d. 1928)
1843 – David Gill, Scottish-English astronomer and author (d. 1914)
1851 – Oliver Lodge, English physicist and academic (d. 1940)
1857 – Maurice Perrault, Canadian architect, engineer, and politician, 15th Mayor of Longueuil (d. 1909)
1858 – Harry Johnston, English botanist and explorer (d. 1927)
1858 – Henry Scott Tuke, English painter and photographer (d. 1929)
1861 – William Attewell, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1927)
1864 – Frank Chapman, American ornithologist, photographer, and author (d. 1945)
1877 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (d. 1971)
1883 – Fernand Gonder, French pole vaulter (d. 1969)
1883 – Robert Lowie, Austrian-American anthropologist and academic (d. 1957)
1888 – Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1920)
1890 – Egon Schiele, Austrian soldier and painter (d. 1918)
1892 – Djuna Barnes, American novelist, journalist, and playwright (d. 1982)
1895 – Eugénie Brazier, French chef (d. 1977)
1897 – Anthony Eden, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1977)
1899 – Fritz Albert Lipmann, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1899 – Weegee, Ukrainian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1968)
1902 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian lawyer and politician, Mayor of Ghent (d. 1973)
1905 – Ray Barbuti, American sprinter and football player (d. 1988)
1906 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (d. 1977)
1908 – Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian broadcaster (d. 1988)
1908 – Marina Semyonova, Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2010)
1908 – Otto Skorzeny, German SS officer (d. 1975)
1910 – Bill Naughton, Irish-English playwright and author (d. 1992)
1912 – Bill Cowley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1993)
1912 – Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (d. 1961)
1913 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (d. 1996)
1913 – Desmond Piers, Canadian admiral (d. 2005)
1914 – William Lundigan, American actor (d. 1975)
1914 – Go Seigen, Chinese-Japanese Go player (d. 2014)
1915 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (d. 1995)
1915 – Christopher Mayhew, English soldier and politician (d. 1997)
1915 – David Rockefeller, American banker and businessman (d. 2017)
1916 – Irwin Allen, American director and producer (d. 1991)
1916 – Raúl Héctor Castro, Mexican-American politician and diplomat, 14th Governor of Arizona (d. 2015)
1918 – Samuel Z. Arkoff, American film producer (d. 2001)
1918 – Georgia Louise Harris Brown, American architect (d. 1999)
1918 – Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, Sri Lankan-Australian mathematician and academic (d. 2001)
1919 – Uta Hagen, German-American actress and educator (d. 2004)
1920 – Dave Berg, American soldier and cartoonist (d. 2002)
1920 – Peter Jones, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1921 – Luis García Berlanga, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1921 – Christopher Derrick, English author, critic, and academic (d. 2007)
1921 – James Archibald Houston, Canadian author and illustrator (d. 2005)
1922 – Margherita Hack, Italian astrophysicist and author (d. 2013)
1924 – George H. W. Bush, American lieutenant and politician, 41st President of the United States (d. 2018)
1924 – Grete Dollitz, German-American guitarist and radio host (d. 2013)
1928 – Vic Damone, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
1928 – Petros Molyviatis, Greek politician and diplomat, Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs
1928 – Richard M. Sherman, American composer and director
1929 – Brigid Brophy, English author and critic (d. 1995)
1929 – Anne Frank, German-Dutch diarist; victim of the Holocaust (d. 1945)
1929 – Jameel Jalibi, Pakistani linguist and academic
1929 – John McCluskey, Baron McCluskey, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland (d. 2017)
1930 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (d. 1979)
1930 – Donald Byrne, American chess player (d. 1976)
1930 – Innes Ireland, Scottish race car driver and engineer (d. 1993)
1930 – Jim Nabors, American actor and singer (d. 2017)
1931 – Trevanian, American author and scholar (d. 2005)
1931 – Rona Jaffe, American novelist (d. 2005)
1932 – Mimi Coertse, South African soprano and producer
1932 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (d. 2002)
1933 – Eddie Adams, American photographer and journalist (d. 2004)
1934 – John A. Alonzo, American actor and cinematographer (d. 2001)
1934 – Kevin Billington, English director and producer
1935 – Ian Craig, Australian cricketer (d. 2014)
1935 – Paul Kennedy, English lawyer and judge
1937 – Vladimir Arnold, Russian-French mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
1937 – Klaus Basikow, German footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1937 – Antal Festetics, Hungarian-Austrian biologist and zoologist
1937 – Chips Moman, American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter (d. 2016)
1938 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (d. 2016)
1938 – Tom Oliver, English-Australian actor
1939 – Ron Lynch, Australian rugby league player and coach
1939 – Frank McCloskey, American sergeant and politician (d. 2003)
1940 – Jacques Brassard, Canadian educator and politician
1941 – Marv Albert, American sportscaster
1941 – Chick Corea, American pianist and composer
1941 – Roy Harper, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1941 – Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1941 – Lucille Roybal-Allard, American politician
1942 – Len Barry, American singer-songwriter and producer
1942 – Bert Sakmann, German physiologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1945 – Pat Jennings, Irish footballer and coach
1946 – Michel Bergeron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1946 – Bobby Gould, English footballer and manager
1946 – Catherine Bréchignac, French physicist and academic
1948 – Hans Binder, Austrian race car driver
1948 – Herbert Meyer, German footballer
1948 – Len Wein, American comic book writer and editor (d. 2017)
1949 – Jens Böhrnsen, German judge and politician
1949 – Marc Tardif, Canadian ice hockey player
1949 – John Wetton, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 2017)
1950 – Oğuz Abadan, Turkish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Michael Fabricant, English politician
1950 – Sonia Manzano, American actress of Puerto Rican descent, noted for playing Maria on Sesame Street
1950 – Bun E. Carlos, American drummer
1951 – Brad Delp, American musician and singer (d. 2007)
1951 – Andranik Margaryan, Armenian engineer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Armenia (d. 2007)
1952 – Spencer Abraham, American academic and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Energy
1952 – Junior Brown, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – Pete Farndon, English bass player and songwriter (d. 1983)
1953 – Rocky Burnette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – Tim Razzall, Baron Razzall, English lawyer and politician
1956 – Terry Alderman, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
1957 – Timothy Busfield, American actor, director, and producer
1957 – Javed Miandad, Pakistani cricketer and coach
1958 – Meredith Brooks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1959 – John Linnell, American singer-songwriter and musician
1959 – Scott Thompson, Canadian actor and comedian
1960 – Joe Kopicki, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Jordan Peterson, Canadian psychologist, professor and cultural critic
1963 – Philippe Bugalski, French race car driver (d. 2012)
1963 – Warwick Capper, Australian footballer, coach, and actor
1963 – Tim DeKay, American actor
1963 – Jerry Lynn, American wrestler
1964 – Derek Higgins, Irish race car driver
1964 – Kent Jones, American journalist
1964 – Paula Marshall, American actress
1964 – Peter Such, Scottish-born, English cricketer
1965 – Adrian Toole, Australian rugby league player
1965 – Gwen Torrence, American sprinter
1965 – Cathy Tyson, English actress
1966 – Marc Glanville, Australian rugby league player
1966 – Tom Misteli, Swiss cell biologist
1967 – Aivar Kuusmaa, Estonian basketball player and coach
671 – Emperor Tenji of Japan introduces a water clock (clepsydra) called Rokoku. The instrument, which measures time and indicates hours, is placed in the capital of Ōtsu.
1190 – Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowns in the river Saleph while leading an army to Jerusalem.
1329 – The Battle of Pelekanon results in a Byzantine defeat by the Ottoman Empire.
1523 – Copenhagen is surrounded by the army of Frederick I of Denmark, as the city will not recognise him as the successor of Christian II of Denmark.
1539 – Council of Trent: Pope Paul III sends out letters to his bishops, delaying the Council due to war and the difficulty bishops had traveling to Venice.
1596 – Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk discover Bear Island.
1619 – Thirty Years’ War: Battle of Záblatí, a turning point in the Bohemian Revolt.
1624 – Signing of the Treaty of Compiègne between France and the Netherlands.
1692 – Salem witch trials: Bridget Bishop is hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem, Massachusetts, for “certaine Detestable Arts called Witchcraft and Sorceries”.
1719 – Jacobite risings: Battle of Glen Shiel
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) is crowned.
1786 – A landslide dam on the Dadu River created by an earthquake ten days earlier collapses, killing 100,000 in the Sichuan province of China.
1793 – The Jardin des Plantes museum opens in Paris. A year later, it becomes the first public zoo.
1793 – French Revolution: Following the arrests of Girondin leaders, the Jacobins gain control of the Committee of Public Safety installing the revolutionary dictatorship.
1805 – First Barbary War: Yusuf Karamanli signs a treaty ending the hostilities between Tripolitania and the United States.
1829 – The first Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on the Thames in London.
1838 – Myall Creek massacre: Twenty-eight Aboriginal Australians are murdered.
1854 – The United States Naval Academy graduates its first class of students.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Big Bethel: Confederate troops under John B. Magruder defeat a much larger Union force led by General Ebenezer W. Pierce in Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Brice’s Crossroads: Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeat a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi.
1868 – Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia is assassinated.
1871 – Sinmiyangyo: Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 US Marines in a naval attack on Han River forts on Kanghwa Island, Korea.
1878 – League of Prizren is established, to oppose the decisions of the Congress of Berlin and the Treaty of San Stefano, as a consequence of which the Albanian lands in the Balkans were being partitioned and given to the neighbor states of Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece.
1886 – Mount Tarawera in New Zealand erupts, killing 153 people and burying the famous Pink and White Terraces. Eruptions continue for three months creating a large, 17 km long fissure across the mountain peak.
1898 – Spanish–American War: In the Battle of Guantánamo Bay, U.S. Marines begin the American invasion of Spanish-held Cuba.
1916 – The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire was declared by Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca.
1918 – The Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István sinks off the Croatian coast after being torpedoed by an Italian MAS motorboat; the event is recorded by camera from a nearby vessel.
1924 – Fascists kidnap and kill Italian Socialist leader Giacomo Matteotti in Rome.
1935 – Dr. Robert Smith takes his last drink, and Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by him and Bill Wilson.
1935 – Chaco War ends: A truce is called between Bolivia and Paraguay who had been fighting since 1932.
1940 – World War II: The Kingdom of Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.
1940 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy’s actions in his “Stab in the Back” speech at the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.
1940 – World War II: Military resistance to the German occupation of Norway ends.
1942 – World War II: The Lidice massacre is perpetrated as a reprisal for the assassination of Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.
1944 – World War II: Six hundred forty-two men, women and children massacred at Oradour-sur-Glane, France.
1944 – World War II: In Distomo, Boeotia, Greece, 218 men, women and children are massacred by German troops.
1944 – In baseball, 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall of the Cincinnati Reds becomes the youngest player ever in a major-league game.
1945 – Australian Imperial Forces land in Brunei Bay to liberate Brunei.
1947 – Saab produces its first automobile.
1957 – John Diefenbaker leads the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to a stunning upset in the 1957 Canadian federal election, ending 22 years of Liberal Party government.
1963 – The Equal Pay Act of 1963, aimed at abolishing wage disparity based on sex, was signed into law by John F. Kennedy as part of his New Frontier Program.
1964 – United States Senate breaks a 75-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leading to the bill’s passage.
1967 – The Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire.
1977 – James Earl Ray escapes from Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros, Tennessee. He is recaptured three days later.
1980 – The African National Congress in South Africa publishes a call to fight from their imprisoned leader Nelson Mandela.
1982 – Lebanon War: The Syrian Arab Army defeats the Israeli Defense Forces in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.
1990 – British Airways Flight 5390 lands safely at Southampton Airport after a blowout in the cockpit causes the captain to be partially sucked from the cockpit. There are no fatalities.
1991 – Eleven-year-old Jaycee Lee Dugard is kidnapped in South Lake Tahoe, California; she would remain a captive until 2009.
1994 – China conducts a nuclear test for DF-31 warhead at Area C (Beishan), Lop Nur, its prominence being due to the Cox Report.
1996 – Peace talks begin in Northern Ireland without the participation of Sinn Féin.
1997 – Before fleeing his northern stronghold, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen’s family members.
1999 – Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
2001 – Pope John Paul II canonizes Lebanon’s first female saint, Saint Rafqa.
2002 – The first direct electronic communication experiment between the nervous systems of two humans is carried out by Kevin Warwick in the United Kingdom.
2003 – The Spirit rover is launched, beginning NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission.
2009 – James Wenneker von Brunn, who was 88-years-old, opened fire inside the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and fatally shot Museum Special Police Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns. Other security guards returned fire, wounding von Brunn, who was apprehended.
2019 – An Agusta A109E Power crashed onto the AXA Equitable Center on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, which sparked a fire on the top of the building. The pilot of the helicopter was killed.
Births on June 10
867 – Emperor Uda of Japan (d. 931)
940 – Abu al-Wafa’ Buzjani, Persian mathematician and astronomer (d. 998)
1213 – Fakhr-al-Din Iraqi, Persian poet and philosopher (d. 1289)
1465 – Mercurino Gattinara, Italian statesman and jurist (d. 1530)
1513 – Louis, Duke of Montpensier (1561–1582) (d. 1582)
1557 – Leandro Bassano, Italian painter (d. 1622)
1632 – Esprit Fléchier, French bishop and author (d. 1710)
1688 – James Francis Edward Stuart, claimant to the English and Scottish throne (d. 1766)
1713 – Princess Caroline of Great Britain (d. 1757)
1716 – Carl Gustaf Ekeberg, Swedish physician and explorer (d. 1784)
1753 – William Eustis, American physician and politician, 12th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1804 – Hermann Schlegel, German ornithologist and herpetologist (d. 1884)
1819 – Gustave Courbet, French-Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1877)
1825 – Sondre Norheim, Norwegian-American skier (d. 1897)
1832 – Edwin Arnold, English poet and journalist (d. 1904)
1832 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer (d. 1891)
1832 – Stephen Mosher Wood, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1920)
1835 – Rebecca Latimer Felton, American educator and politician (d. 1930)
1839 – Ludvig Holstein-Ledreborg, Danish lawyer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1912)
1840 – Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter (d. 1920)
1843 – Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1900)
1854 – Sarah Grand, Irish feminist writer (d. 1943)
1859 – Emanuel Nobel, Swedish-Russian businessman (d. 1932)
1862 – Mrs. Leslie Carter, American actress (d. 1937)
1863 – Louis Couperus, Dutch author and poet (d. 1923)
1864 – Ninian Comper, Scottish architect (d. 1960)
1865 – Frederick Cook, American physician and explorer (d. 1940)
1880 – André Derain, French painter and sculptor (d. 1954)
1882 – Nils Økland, Norwegian Esperantist and teacher (d. 1969)
1884 – Leone Sextus Tollemache, English captain (d. 1917)
1886 – Sessue Hayakawa, Japanese actor and producer (d. 1973)
1891 – Al Dubin, Swiss-American songwriter (d. 1945)
1895 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress (d. 1952)
1897 – Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1898 – Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt (d. 1983)
1899 – Stanisław Czaykowski, Polish race car driver (d. 1933)
1901 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (d. 1988)
1904 – Lin Huiyin, Chinese architect and poet (d. 1955)
1907 – Fairfield Porter, American painter and critic (d. 1975)
1907 – Dicky Wells, American jazz trombonist (d. 1985)[n 1]
1909 – Lang Hancock, Australian soldier and businessman (d. 1992)
1910 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
1910 – Howlin’ Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
1911 – Ralph Kirkpatrick, American harpsichord player and musicologist (d. 1984)
1911 – Terence Rattigan, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1912 – Jean Lesage, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1980)
1913 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 2007)
1913 – Benjamin Shapira, German-Israeli biochemist and academic (d. 1993)
1914 – Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (d. 1988)
1915 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American novelist, essayist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
1916 – Peride Celal, Turkish author (d. 2013)
1916 – William Rosenberg, American entrepreneur, founded Dunkin’ Donuts (d. 2002)
1918 – Patachou, French singer and actress (d. 2015)
1918 – Barry Morse, English-Canadian actor and director (d. 2008)
1919 – Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Palestinian physician and politician (d. 2007)
1919 – Kevin O’Flanagan, Irish footballer, rugby player, and physician (d. 2006)
1921 – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
1921 – Jean Robic, French cyclist (d. 1980)
1922 – Judy Garland, American singer, actress, and vaudevillian (d. 1969)
1922 – Bill Kerr, South African-Australian actor (d. 2014)
1923 – Paul Brunelle, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
1923 – Robert Maxwell, Czech-English captain, publisher, and politician (d. 1991)
1924 – Friedrich L. Bauer, German mathematician, computer scientist, and academic (d. 2015)
1925 – Leo Gravelle, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1925 – Nat Hentoff, American historian, author, and journalist (d. 2017)
1925 – James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer (d. 2015)
1926 – Bruno Bartoletti, Italian conductor (d. 2013)
1926 – Lionel Jeffries, English actor, screenwriter and film director (d. 2010)
218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus. He flees but is captured near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia.
793 – Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of Norse activity in the British Isles.
1042 – Edward the Confessor becomes King of England – the country’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king.
1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre, beginning his crusade.
1663 – Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial ensures Portugal’s independence from Spain.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: American attackers are driven back at the Battle of Trois-Rivières.
1783 – Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
1789 – James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
1794 – Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution’s new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.
1856 – A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.
1861 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
1867 – Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).
1887 – Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the ‘Art of Compiling Statistics’, which was his punched card calculator.
1906 – Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
1912 – Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.
1918 – A solar eclipse is observed at Baker City, Oregon by scientists and an artist hired by the United States Navy.
1928 – Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Peking, whose name is changed to Beijing (“Northern Capital”).
1929 – Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
1940 – World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian Campaign.
1941 – World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant.
1942 – World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
1949 – Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
1949 – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
1953 – An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.
1953 – The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
1959 – USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
1966 – An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.
1966 – Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita scale: The first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
1966 – The National Football League and American Football League announced a merger effective in 1970.
1967 – Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
1982 – Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
1984 – Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.
1987 – New Zealand’s Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
1992 – The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
1995 – Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
2001 – Mamoru Takuma kills eight and injures 15 in a mass stabbing at an elementary school in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan.
2004 – The first Venus Transit in well over a century takes place, the previous one being in 1882.
2007 – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State’s worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
2008 – At least 37 miners go missing after an explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine causes it to collapse.
2008 – At least seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.
2009 – Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour.
2014 – At least 28 people are killed in an attack at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan.
Births on June 8
862 – Emperor Xizong of Tang (d. 888)
1508 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer (d. 1586)
1552 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet and author (d. 1638)
1593 – George I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania (d. 1648)
1625 – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1712)
1671 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1751)
1717 – John Collins, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1795)
1724 – John Smeaton, English engineer, designed the Coldstream Bridge and Perth Bridge (d. 1794)
1745 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (d. 1818)
1757 – Ercole Consalvi, Italian cardinal (d. 1824)
1788 – Charles A. Wickliffe, American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1869)
1810 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (d. 1856)
1829 – John Everett Millais, English painter and illustrator (d. 1896)
1831 – Thomas J. Higgins, Canadian-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1917)
1842 – John Q. A. Brackett, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1918)
1851 – Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, French physician and physicist (d. 1940)
1852 – Guido Banti, Italian physician and pathologist (d. 1925)
1854 – Douglas Cameron, Canadian politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 1921)
1855 – George Charles Haité, English painter and illustrator (d. 1924)
1858 – Charlotte Scott, English mathematician (d. 1931)
1859 – Smith Wigglesworth, English evangelist (d. 1947)
1860 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (d. 1959)
1868 – Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (d. 1942)
1872 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1949)
1875 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (d. 1934)
1876 – Alexandre Tuffère, Greek-French triple jumper (d. 1958)
1885 – Karl Genzken, German physician (d. 1957)
1891 – William Funnell, Australian public servant (d. 1962)
1893 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (d. 1968)
1893 – Gaby Morlay, French actress (d. 1964)
1894 – Erwin Schulhoff, Czech composer and pianist (d. 1942)
1895 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
1897 – John G. Bennett, English mathematician and technologist (d. 1974)
1899 – Eugène Lapierre, Canadian organist, composer and arts administrator (d. 1970)
1899 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (d. 1945)
1900 – Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, later pardoned posthumously (d. 1945)
1903 – Ralph Yarborough, American colonel and politician (d. 1996)
1903 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author and poet (d. 1987)
1910 – C. C. Beck, American illustrator (d. 1989)
1910 – John W. Campbell, American journalist and author (d. 1971)
1910 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer, sculptor, and painter (d. 2003)
1911 – Edmundo Rivero, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
1912 – Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, British abstract painter (d. 2004)
1912 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
1912 – Harry Holtzman, American painter (d. 1987)
1915 – Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 2015)
1916 – Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1916 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1916 – Richard Pousette-Dart, American painter and educator (d. 1992)
1917 – Byron White, American football player and judge (d. 2002)
1918 – George Edward Hughes, Irish-New Zealand philosopher and logician (d. 1994)
1918 – Robert Preston, American captain, actor, and singer (d. 1987)
1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (d. 2016)
1918 – John H. Ross, American captain and pilot (d. 2013)
1919 – John R. Deane, Jr., American general (d. 2013)
1920 – Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (d. 1995)
1921 – Gordon McLendon, American broadcaster and businessman (d. 1986)
1921 – Olga Nardone, American actress (d. 2010)
1921 – LeRoy Neiman, American soldier and painter (d. 2012)
1921 – Alexis Smith, Canadian-born American actress and singer (d. 1993)
1921 – Suharto, Indonesian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (d. 2008)
1924 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2013)
1924 – Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist and academic (d. 2013)
1925 – Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (d. 2018)
1927 – Jerry Stiller, American actor, comedian and producer (d. 2020)
1929 – Nada Inada, Japanese psychiatrist and author (d. 2013)
1930 – Robert Aumann, German-American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1930 – Marcel Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1993)
1931 – James Goldstone, American director and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1931 – Dana Wynter, British actress (d. 2011)
1932 – Ray Illingworth, English cricketer and sportscaster
1932 – Ian Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood, Scottish lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
1933 – Rommie Loudd, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
1933 – Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress, and television host (d. 2014)
1933 – Robert Stevens, English lawyer and academic
1934 – Millicent Martin, English actress and singer
1935 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
1936 – James Darren, American actor
1936 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1937 – Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright
1938 – Angelo Amato, Italian cardinal
1939 – Herb Adderley, American football player
1940 – Nancy Sinatra, American singer and actress
1941 – Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician and activist (d. 1981)
1941 – George Pell, Australian cardinal
1942 – Nikos Konstantopoulos, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior
1942 – Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
1943 – Colin Baker, English actor
1943 – William Calley, American lieutenant
1943 – Willie Davenport, American colonel and hurdler (d. 2002)
1943 – Peter Eggert, German footballer and manager
1943 – Pierre-André Fournier, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 2015)
1944 – Mark Belanger, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1944 – Marc Ouellet, Canadian cardinal
1944 – Boz Scaggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (d. 2014)
1945 – Derek Underwood, English cricketer
1946 – Graham Henry, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1947 – Annie Haslam, English singer-songwriter and painter
1947 – Sara Paretsky, American author
1947 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, geneticist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
1949 – Emanuel Ax, Polish-American pianist and educator
1949 – Hildegard Falck, German runner
1950 – Kathy Baker, American actress
1950 – Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress and producer
1951 – Tony Rice, American guitarist and songwriter
1951 – Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer-songwriter
1953 – Billy Hayes, English union leader
1953 – Sandy Nairne, English historian and curator
1953 – Ivo Sanader, Croatian historian and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
1953 – Olav Stedje, Norwegian singer-songwriter
1954 – Greg Ginn, American punk rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (Black Flag)
1954 – Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan (d. 2013)
1954 – Sergei Storchak, Ukrainian-Russian politician
1955 – Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web
1955 – José Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer and manager
1955 – Griffin Dunne, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Udo Bullmann, German politician
1956 – Jonathan Potter, English psychologist, sociolinguist, and academic
1957 – Scott Adams, American author and illustrator
1957 – Don Robinson, American baseball player and politician
1957 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor
1958 – Louise Richardson, Irish political scientist and academic
1958 – Keenen Ivory Wayans, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1959 – Mohsen Kadivar, Iranian philosopher
1960 – Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter
1960 – Terje Gewelt, Norwegian bassist
1960 – Thomas Steen, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist
1962 – John Gibbons, American baseball player and manager
1962 – Andreas Keim, German footballer
1962 – Nick Rhodes, English keyboard player and producer
1963 – Karen Kingsbury, American journalist and author
1963 – Antoaneta Todorova, Bulgarian javelin thrower
1964 – Butch Reynolds, American runner and coach
1965 – Kevin Farley, American screenwriter
1965 – Rob Pilatus, German model, dancer and singer (Milli Vanilli) (d. 1998)
1966 – Julianna Margulies, American actress
1966 – Doris Pearson, English singer-songwriter and choreographer
1967 – Dan Futterman, American actor, screenwriter and producer
1967 – Russell E. Morris, Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of St Andrews
1968 – Rob Ray, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1969 – David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player and coach
1969 – J. P. Manoux, American actor
1969 – Marcos Siega, American director and producer
1970 – Gabrielle Giffords, American businesswoman, politician and activist
1970 – Kwame Kilpatrick, American educator and politician, 68th Mayor of Detroit
1970 – Steve Renouf, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1970 – Troy Vincent, American football player
1971 – Mark Feuerstein, American actor, director, and producer
1972 – Christian Mayrleb, Austrian footballer
1973 – Lexa Doig, Canadian model and actress
1973 – Bryant Reeves, American basketball player
1974 – Pål Arne Fagernes, Norwegian javelin thrower (d. 2003)
1974 – Lauren Burns, Australian taekwondo practitioner
1974 – Alma Lepina, Latvian figure skater
1975 – Emm Gryner, Canadian singer-songwriter
1975 – Bryan McCabe, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1975 – Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportscaster
1975 – Shilpa Shetty, Indian actress and producer
1976 – Eion Bailey, American actor
1976 – Kenji Johjima, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Catherine McKinnell, English lawyer and politician
1977 – Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer
1978 – Eun Ji-won, South Korean rapper, dancer, and producer
1978 – Maria Menounos, American television journalist
1979 – Alexei Kozlov, Estonian figure skater
1979 – Pete Orr, Canadian-American baseball player
1979 – Adine Wilson, New Zealand netball player
1979 – İpek Şenoğlu, Turkish tennis player
1980 – Gustavo Manduca, Brazilian footballer
1980 – Jamie Spencer, Irish jockey
1981 – Alex Band, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1981 – Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author
1981 – Matteo Meneghello, Italian race car driver
1981 – Sara Watkins, American singer-songwriter and fiddler
1982 – Matteo Barbini, Italian rugby player
1982 – Michael Cammalleri, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Dickson Etuhu, Nigerian footballer
1982 – Irina Lăzăreanu, Romanian-Canadian model and singer
1982 – Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
1983 – Gaines Adams, American football player (d. 2010)
1983 – Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
1983 – Pantelis Kapetanos, Greek footballer
1983 – Coby Karl, American basketball player
1984 – Javier Mascherano, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Alexandre Despatie, Canadian diver
1985 – Rosanna Pansino, American actress, writer and TV personality
1986 – Patrick Kaleta, American ice hockey player
1986 – Andrej Sekera, Slovak ice hockey player
1987 – Coralie Balmy, French swimmer
1987 – Issiar Dia, Senegalese footballer
1989 – Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player
1989 – Mitchell Schwartz, American football player
1990 – Todd Barclay, New Zealand politician
1990 – Mickey Bushell, English wheelchair racer
1992 – Sebá, Brazilian footballer
1996 – Doğanay Kılıç, Turkish footballer
1997 – Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player
Deaths on June 8
632 – Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, widely regarded as its founder (b. 570/571)
696 – Chlodulf, bishop of Metz (or 697)
951 – Zhao Ying, Chinese chancellor (b. 885)
1042 – Harthacnut, English-Danish king (b. 1018)
1154 – William of York, English archbishop and saint
2013 – Taufiq Kiemas, Indonesian politician, 5th First Spouse of Indonesia (b. 1942)
2014 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (b. 1903)
2014 – Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (b. 1948)
2015 – Chea Sim, Cambodian commander and politician (b. 1932)
2017 – Sam Panopoulos, Greek cook (b. 1934)
Holidays and observances on June 8
Christian feast day:
Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan
Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart (Droste zu Vischering)
Chlodulf of Metz
Jacques Berthieu, S.J.
Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland
Medard
Melania the Elder
Roland Allen (Episcopal Church (USA))
Thomas Ken (Church of England)
William of York
June 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Queen’s Birthday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in June. (Australia, except Western Australia and Queensland)
421 – Emperor Theodosius II marries Aelia Eudocia at Constantinople (Byzantine Empire).
879 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia under Duke Branimir as an independent state.
1002 – Henry II, a cousin of Emperor Otto III, is elected and crowned King of Germany.
1099 – First Crusade: The Siege of Jerusalem begins.
1420 – Troops of the Republic of Venice capture Udine, ending the independence of the Patria del Friuli.
1494 – Spain and Portugal sign the Treaty of Tordesillas which divides the New World between the two countries.
1628 – The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document, is granted the Royal Assent by Charles I and becomes law.
1654 – Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1692 – Port Royal, Jamaica, is hit by a catastrophic earthquake; in just three minutes, 1,600 people are killed and 3,000 are seriously injured.
1776 – Richard Henry Lee presents the “Lee Resolution” to the Continental Congress. The motion is seconded by John Adams and will lead to the United States Declaration of Independence.
1788 – French Revolution: Day of the Tiles: Civilians in Grenoble toss roof tiles and various objects down upon royal troops.
1800 – David Thompson reaches the mouth of the Saskatchewan River in Manitoba.
1810 – The newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres is first published in Argentina.
1832 – The Great Reform Act of England and Wales receives royal assent.
1832 – Asian cholera reaches Quebec, brought by Irish immigrants, and kills about 6,000 people in Lower Canada.
1862 – The United States and the United Kingdom agree in the Lyons–Seward Treaty to suppress the African slave trade.
1863 – During the French intervention in Mexico, Mexico City is captured by French troops.
1866 – One thousand eight hundred Fenian raiders are repelled back to the United States after looting and plundering the Saint-Armand and Frelighsburg areas of Canada East.
1880 – War of the Pacific: The Battle of Arica, the assault and capture of Morro de Arica (Arica Cape), ends the Campaña del Desierto (Desert Campaign).
1892 – Homer Plessy is arrested for refusing to leave his seat in the “whites-only” car of a train; he lost the resulting court case, Plessy v. Ferguson.
1899 – American Temperance crusader Carrie Nation begins her campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas.
1905 – Norway’s parliament dissolves its union with Sweden. The vote was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year.
1906 – Cunard Line’s RMS Lusitania is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland.
1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines: Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops.
1919 – Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people.
1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence.
1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. Five hundred to nine hundred thousand civilians are killed.
1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory.
1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska.
1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae, carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans, is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war.
1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns from exactly five years in exile during World War II.
1946 – The United Kingdom’s BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of the Second World War.
1948 – Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada take place.
1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing the Ninth-of-May Constitution, making his nation a Communist state.
1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films.
1962 – The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) sets fire to the University of Algiers library building, destroying about 500,000 books.
1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
1967 – Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.
1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades.
1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq’s Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera.
1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits.
1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard.
1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) high.
2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon.
2013 – A bus catches fire in the Chinese city of Xiamen, killing at least 47 people and injuring more than 34 others.
2013 – A gunman opens fire at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, after setting a house on fire nearby, killing six people, including the suspect.
2014 – At least 37 people are killed in an attack in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s South Kivu province.
Births on June 7
1003 – Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia (d. 1048)
1402 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese noble (d. 1481)
1422 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (d. 1482)
1502 – John III of Portugal (d. 1557)
1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1615)
1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian actor and singer (d. 1734)
1702 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1761)
1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806)
1761 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (d. 1821)
1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828)
1778 – Beau Brummell, English cricketer and fashion designer (d. 1840)
1811 – James Young Simpson, Scottish obstetrician (d. 1870)
1831 – Amelia Edwards, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1837 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (d. 1903)
1840 – Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927)
1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1930)
1847 – George Washington Ball, American legislator from Iowa (d. 1915)
1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (d. 1903)
1851 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922)
1861 – Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (d. 1942)
1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952)
1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928)
1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960)
1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933)
1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963)
1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931)
1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948)
1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972)
1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958)
1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975)
1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938)
1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974)
1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990)
1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958)
1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970)
1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973)
1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971)
1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000)
1905 – James J. Braddock, American lieutenant and boxer (d. 1974)
1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963)
1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002)
1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974)
1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005)
1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994)
1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014)
1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989)
1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007)
1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990)
1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995)
1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986)
1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000)
1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995)
1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997)
1921 – Myrtle Edwards, Australian cricketer and softball player (d. 2010)
1921 – Brian Talboys, New Zealand politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2012)
1922 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000)
1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017)
1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2020)
1927 – Charles de Tornaco, Belgian race car driver (d. 1953)
1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014)
1928 – Dave Bowen, Welsh footballer and manager (d. 1995)
1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1928 – Randolph Turpin, English boxer (d. 1966)
1929 – Ernie Roth, American wrestling manager (d. 1983)
1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada
1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress and author
1932 – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Romeo Galán, Argentine athlete
1935 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2012)
1935 – Shyama, Indian actress (d. 2017)
1936 – Bert Sugar, American author and boxing historian (d. 2012)
1938 – Ian St John, Scottish international footballer, forward and manager
1939 – Yuli Turovsky, Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (d. 2013)
1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor
1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor
1944 – Annette Lu, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 8th Vice President of the Republic of China
1944 – Clarence White, American guitarist and singer (d. 1973)
1945 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1945 – John Olsen, Australian politician, 42nd Premier of South Australia
1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian lawyer and politician, 26th Chancellor of Austria
1947 – Don Money, American baseball player and coach
1947 – Thurman Munson, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1948 – Jim Walton, American businessman
1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor
1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish-American novelist, screenwriter, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1953 – Johnny Clegg, English- born South African singer-songwriter, guitarist and anthropologist (d. 2019)
1954 – Louise Erdrich, American novelist and poet
1955 – William Forsythe, American actor and producer
1955 – Tim Richmond, American race car driver (d. 1989)
1956 – L.A. Reid, American songwriter and producer, co-founded LaFace Records
1957 – Juan Luis Guerra, Dominican singer-songwriter and producer
1957 – Paddy McAloon, English singer-songwriter
1958 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
1958 – Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai politician and diplomat
1959 – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, 50th Governor of Indiana
1960 – Hirohiko Araki, Japanese manga artist and creator of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure
1960 – Bill Prady, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Dave Catching, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1962 – Thierry Hazard, French singer-songwriter
1962 – Takuya Kurosawa, Japanese race car driver
1963 – Gordon Gano, American musician
1964 – Gia Carides, Australian actress
1964 – Graeme Labrooy, Sri Lankan cricketer
1965 – Mick Foley, American wrestler, actor, and author
1965 – Jean-Pierre François, French footballer and singer
1965 – Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector
1966 – Eric Kretz, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1966 – Tom McCarthy, American director, screenwriter and actor
1966 – Stéphane Richer, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Dave Navarro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1970 – Helen Baxendale, English actress
1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer
1970 – Andrei Kovalenko, Russian ice hockey player
1970 – Mike Modano, American ice hockey player
1972 – Karl Urban, New Zealand actor
1974 – Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host
1975 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player
1976 – Necro, American rapper, producer, and director
1976 – Mirsad Türkcan, Turkish basketball player
1977 – Marcin Baszczyński, Polish footballer
1978 – Mini Andén, Swedish-American model, actress, and producer
1978 – Bill Hader, Two-time Emmy winning American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1979 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
1979 – Anna Torv, Australian actress
1980 – Ed Moses, American swimmer
1981 – Stephen Bywater, English footballer
1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player
1981 – Kevin Kyle, Scottish footballer
1983 – Milan Jurčina, Slovak ice hockey player
1983 – Piotr Małachowski, Polish discus thrower
1984 – Ari Koivunen, Finnish singer-songwriter
1984 – Eri Yanetani, Japanese snowboarder
1985 – Arkadiusz Piech, Polish footballer
1985 – Charlie Simpson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Richard Thompson, Trinidadian sprinter
1986 – Keegan Bradley, American golfer
1988 – Michael Cera, Canadian actor
1988 – Milan Lucic, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper
1990 – T. J. Brodie, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Allison Schmitt, American swimmer
1991 – Cenk Tosun, Turkish professional footballer
1991 – Fetty Wap, American rapper
1992 – Sara Niemietz, American singer-songwriter and actress
1992 – Mathias Gehrt, Danish professional footballer
1992 – Alípio, Brazilian footballer
1993 – George Ezra, English singer, songwriter and guitarist
Deaths on June 7
555 – Vigilius, Pope of the Catholic Church (b. 500)
862 – Al-Muntasir, Abbasid caliph (b. 837)
929 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (b. 877)
940 – Qian Hongzun, heir apparent of Wuyue (b. 925)
951 – Lu Wenji, Chinese chancellor (b. 876)
1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274)
1337 – William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286)
1341 – An-Nasir Muhammad, Egyptian sultan (b. 1285)
1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shōgun (b. 1305)
1394 – Anne of Bohemia, English queen (b. 1366)
1492 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 (b. 1427)
1594 – Rodrigo Lopez, physician of Queen Elizabeth (b. 1525)
1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1577)
1660 – George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania (b. 1621)
1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish scholar and theologian (b. 1641)
1779 – William Warburton, English bishop and critic (b. 1698)
1792 – Benjamin Tupper, American general and surveyor (b. 1738)
1810 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (b. 1765)
1826 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1787)
1840 – Frederick William III of Prussia (b. 1770)
1843 – Friedrich Hölderlin, German lyric poet (b. 1770)
1853 – Norbert Provencher, Canadian missionary and bishop (b. 1787)
1854 – Charles Baudin, French admiral (b. 1792)
1859 – David Cox, English painter (b. 1783)
1861 – Patrick Brontë, Anglo-Irish priest and author (b. 1777)
1863 – Antonio Valero de Bernabé, Latin American liberator (b. 1790)
1866 – Chief Seattle, American tribal chief (b. 1780)
1879 – William Tilbury Fox, English dermatologist and academic (b. 1836)
1896 – Pavlos Carrer, Greek composer (b. 1829)
1911 – Maurice Rouvier, French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1842)
1915 – Charles Reed Bishop, American banker and politician, founded the First Hawaiian Bank (b. 1822)
1916 – Émile Faguet, French author and critic (b. 1847)
1927 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (b. 1905)
1927 – Edmund James Flynn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Premier of Quebec (b. 1847)
1932 – John Verran, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of South Australia (b. 1856)
1215 – Zhongdu (now Beijing), then under the control of the Jurchen ruler Emperor Xuanzong of Jin, is captured by the Mongols under Genghis Khan, ending the Battle of Zhongdu.
1252 – Alfonso X is proclaimed king of Castile and León.
1298 – Residents of Riga and Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida.
1495 – A monk, John Cor, records the first known batch of Scotch whisky
1533 – Anne Boleyn is crowned Queen of England.
1535 – Combined forces loyal to Charles V attack and expel the Ottomans from Tunis during the Conquest of Tunis.
1648 – The Roundheads defeat the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.
1649 – Start of the Sumuroy Revolt: Filipinos in Northern Samar led by Agustin Sumuroy revolt against Spanish colonial authorities.
1670 – In Dover, England, Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover, which will force England into the Third Anglo-Dutch War.
1676 – Battle of Öland: allied Danish-Dutch forces defeat the Swedish navy in the Baltic Sea, during the Scanian War (1675–79).
1679 – The Scottish Covenanters defeat John Graham of Claverhouse at the Battle of Drumclog.
1773 – Wolraad Woltemade rescues 14 sailors at the Cape of Good Hope from the sinking ship De Jonge Thomas by riding his horse into the sea seven times. He drowned on his eighth attempt.
1779 – The court-martial for malfeasance of Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, begins.
1792 – Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.
1794 – The battle of the Glorious First of June is fought, the first naval engagement between Britain and France during the French Revolutionary Wars.
1796 – Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.
1812 – War of 1812: U.S. President James Madison asks the Congress to declare war on the United Kingdom.
1813 – Capture of USS Chesapeake.
1815 – Napoleon promulgates a revised Constitution after it passes a plebiscite.
1831 – James Clark Ross becomes the first European at the North Magnetic Pole.
1849 – Territorial Governor Alexander Ramsey declared the Territory of Minnesota officially established.
1855 – The American adventurer William Walker conquers Nicaragua.
1857 – Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal is published.
1861 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fairfax Court House is fought.
1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: The Battle of Seven Pines (or the Battle of Fair Oaks) ends inconclusively, with both sides claiming victory.
1868 – The Treaty of Bosque Redondo is signed, allowing the Navajo to return to their lands in Arizona and New Mexico.
1879 – Napoléon Eugène, the last dynastic Bonaparte, is killed in the Anglo-Zulu War.
1890 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith’s tabulating machine to count census returns.
1913 – The Greek–Serbian Treaty of Alliance is signed, paving the way for the Second Balkan War.
1916 – Louis Brandeis becomes the first Jew appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
1918 – World War I: Western Front: Battle of Belleau Wood: Allied Forces under John J. Pershing and James Harbord engage Imperial German Forces under Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.
1922 – The Royal Ulster Constabulary is founded.
1929 – The 1st Conference of the Communist Parties of Latin America is held in Buenos Aires.
1930 – The Deccan Queen is introduced as first intercity train between Bombay VT (Now Mumbai CST) and Poona (Pune) to run on electric locomotives.
1939 – First flight of the German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter aircraft.
1941 – World War II: The Battle of Crete ends as Crete capitulates to Germany.
1941 – The Farhud, a massive pogrom in Iraq, starts and as a result, many Iraqi Jews are forced to leave their homes.
1943 – BOAC Flight 777 is shot down over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing British actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was actually an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
1946 – Ion Antonescu, “Conducator” (“Leader”) of Romania during World War II, is executed.
1950 – The Chinchaga fire ignites. By September, it would become the largest single fire on record in North America.
1958 – Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months.
1961 – The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history.
1962 – Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel.
1964 – Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta (1897 – 22 August 1978) as its first President (1964 to 1978).
1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine.
1975 – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum and others.
1978 – The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed.
1979 – The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power.
1988 – European Central Bank is founded in Brussels.
1988 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect.
1990 – Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
1993 – Dobrinja mortar attack: Thirteen are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo.
1994 – Republic of South Africa becomes a Commonwealth republic.
1999 – American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock.
2001 – Nepalese royal massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother.
2001 – Dolphinarium discotheque massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv.
2004 – Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols is sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of a parole, breaking a Guinness World Record.
2008 – A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.
2009 – Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed.
2009 – General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history.
2011 – A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people.
2011 – Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights.
2015 – A ship carrying 458 people capsizes on Yangtze river in China’s Hubei province, killing 400 people.
Births on June 1
1134 – Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (d. 1158)
1300 – Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, English politician, Lord Marshal of England (d. 1338)
1451 – Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney (d. 1508)
1460 – Enno I, Count of East Frisia, German noble (d. 1491)
1480 – Tiedemann Giese, Polish bishop (d. 1550)
1498 – Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter (d. 1574)
1522 – Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Dutch writer and scholar (d. 1590)
1563 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Secretary of State for England (d. 1612)
1612 – Frans Post, Dutch painter (d. 1680)
1633 – Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1687)
1637 – Jacques Marquette, French missionary and explorer (d. 1675)
1653 – Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (d. 1704)
1675 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist and playwright (d. 1755)
1762 – Edmund Ignatius Rice, Irish priest and missionary, founded the Irish Christian Brothers (d. 1844)
1765 – Christiane Vulpius, mistress and wife of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (d. 1816)
1770 – Friedrich Laun, German author (d. 1849)
1790 – Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian actor and playwright (d. 1836)
1796 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French physicist and engineer (d. 1832)
1800 – Edward Deas Thomson, Australian educator and politician, Chief Secretary of New South Wales (d. 1879)
1801 – Brigham Young, American religious leader, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1877)
1804 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857)
1808 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1881)
1815 – Otto of Greece (d. 1862)
1819 – Francis V, Duke of Modena (d. 1875)
1822 – Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, English portrait photographer (d. 1865)
1825 – John Hunt Morgan, American general (d. 1864)
1831 – John Bell Hood, American general (d. 1879)
1833 – John Marshall Harlan, American lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General of Kentucky (d. 1911)
1843 – Henry Faulds, Scottish physician and missionary, developed fingerprinting (d. 1930)
1844 – John J. Toffey, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1911)
1869 – Richard Wünsch, German philologist (d. 1915)
1873 – Elena Alistar, Bessarabian politician (d. 1955)
1874 – Yury Nikolaevich Voronov, Russian botanist (d. 1931)
1878 – John Masefield, English author and poet (d. 1967)
1879 – Max Emmerich, American triathlete and gymnast (d. 1956)
1882 – Nicolae Bivol, Moldovan businessman and politician, Mayor of Chișinău (d. 1940)
1887 – Clive Brook, English actor (d. 1974)
1889 – James Daugherty, American author, illustrator, and painter (d. 1974)
1889 – Charles Kay Ogden, English linguist and philosopher (d. 1957)
1890 – Frank Morgan, American actor (d. 1949)
1892 – Amanullah Khan, sovereign of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, (d. 1960)
1899 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, English mathematician and academic (d. 1963)
1901 – Hap Day, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager (d. 1990)
1901 – Tom Gorman, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978)
1901 – John Van Druten, English-American playwright and director (d. 1957)
1903 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop and martyr (d. 1973)
1903 – Hans Vogt, Norwegian linguist and academic (d. 1986)
1905 – Robert Newton, English-American actor (d. 1956)
1907 – Jan Patočka, Czech philosopher (d. 1977)
1907 – Frank Whittle, English airman and engineer, developed the jet engine (d. 1996)
1908 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American author (d. 1999)
1909 – Yechezkel Kutscher, Slovakian-Israeli philologist and linguist (d. 1971)
1910 – Gyula Kállai, Hungarian communist leader, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People’s Republic of Hungary (d. 1996)
1912 – Herbert Tichy, Austrian geologist, author, and mountaineer (d. 1987)
1913 – Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (d. 2007)
1915 – John Randolph, American actor (d. 2004)
1916 – Jean Jérôme Hamer, Belgian Cardinal (d. 1996)
1917 – William Standish Knowles, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
1920 – Robert Clarke, American actor and producer (d. 2005)
1921 – Nelson Riddle, American composer and bandleader (d. 1985)
1922 – Joan Caulfield, American model and actress (d. 1991)
1922 – Povel Ramel, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2007)
1924 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (d. 2006)
1925 – Dilia Díaz Cisneros, Venezuelan teacher (d. 2017)
1926 – Johnny Berry, English footballer (d. 1994)
1926 – Andy Griffith, American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1926 – Marilyn Monroe, American model and actress (d. 1962)
1926 – George Robb, English international footballer and teacher (d. 2011)
1926 – Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2015)
1928 – Georgy Dobrovolsky, Ukrainian pilot and astronaut (d. 1971)
1928 – Steve Dodd, Australian actor and composer (d. 2014)
1928 – Bob Monkhouse, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1929 – Nargis, Indian actress (d. 1981)<ref”>Dilip Kumar (28 July 2014). Dilip Kumar: The Substance and the Shadow. Hay House, Inc. p. 137. ISBN 978-93-81398-96-8.</ref>
1929 – James H. Billington, American academic and Thirteenth Librarian of Congress (d. 2018)
1930 – John Lemmon, English logician and philosopher (d. 1966)
1930 – Richard Levins, American ecologist and geneticist (d. 2016)
1930 – Matt Poore, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2020)
1930 – Edward Woodward, English actor (d. 2009)
1931 – Walter Horak, Austrian footballer (d. 2019)
1932 – Frank Cameron, New Zealand cricketer
1932 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (d. 1994)
1933 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (d. 1985)
1933 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2010)
1934 – Pat Boone, American singer-songwriter and actor
1934 – Peter Masterson, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1934 – Doris Buchanan Smith, American author (d. 2002)
1935 – Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, English architect, founded Foster and Partners
1935 – Reverend Ike, American minister and television host (d. 2009)
1935 – Jack Kralick, American baseball player (d. 2012)
1935 – Percy Adlon, German director, screenwriter and producer
1935 – John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2013)
1936 – Anatoly Albul, Soviet and Russian wrestler (d. 2013)
1936 – André Bourbeau, Canadian politician (d. 2018)
1936 – Bekim Fehmiu, Bosnian actor (d. 2010)
1936 – Gerald Scarfe, English illustrator and animator
1937 – Morgan Freeman, American actor and producer
1937 – Rosaleen Linehan, Irish actress
1937 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist and author (d. 2015)
1939 – Cleavon Little, American actor and comedian (d. 1992)
1940 – René Auberjonois, American actor (d. 2019)
1940 – Katerina Gogou, Greek writer and actress (d. 1993)
1940 – Kip Thorne, American physicist, astronomer, and academic
1941 – Dean Chance, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
1941 – Toyo Ito, Japanese architect, designed the Torre Realia BCN and Hotel Porta Fira
1941 – Alexander V. Zakharov, Russian physicist and astronomer
1942 – Parveen Kumar, Pakistani-English physician and academic
1943 – Orietta Berti, Italian singer and actress
1943 – Richard Goode, American pianist
1943 – Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (d. 2004)
1944 – Colin Blakemore, British neurobiologist
1944 – Robert Powell, English actor
1945 – Jim McCarty, American blues rock guitarist
1945 – Linda Scott, American singer
1945 – Lydia Shum, Chinese-Hong Kong actress (d. 2008)
1945 – Kerry Vincent, Australian chef and author
1945 – Frederica von Stade, American soprano and actress
1946 – Brian Cox, Scottish actor
1947 – Ron Dennis, English businessman, founded the McLaren Group
1947 – Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor and singer
1947 – Ronnie Wood, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1948 – Powers Boothe, American actor (d. 2017)
1948 – Tomáš Halík, Czech Roman Catholic priest, philosopher, theologian and scholar
1948 – Michel Plasse, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006)
1948 – Juhan Viiding, Estonian poet and actor (d. 1995)
1950 – Perrin Beatty, Canadian businessman and politician
1950 – Charlene, American singer-songwriter
1950 – Jean Lambert, English educator and politician
1950 – Michael McDowell, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1952 – Şenol Güneş, Turkish footballer and manager
1952 – David Lan, South African-English director and playwright
1952 – Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter
1953 – Ronnie Dunn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Ted Field, American entrepreneur and race car driver
1954 – Jill Black, English lawyer and judge
1955 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2016)
1955 – Lorraine Moller, New Zealand runner
1955 – Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (d. 2008)
1956 – Patrick Besson, French writer and journalist
1956 – Lisa Hartman Black, American actress
1956 – Petra Morsbach, German author
1958 – Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Mongolian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Mongolia
1958 – Gennadiy Valyukevich, Belarusian triple jumper (d. 2019)
1959 – Martin Brundle, English racing driver and sportscaster
1959 – Alan Wilder, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1960 – Simon Gallup, English musician (The Cure)
1960 – Vladimir Krutov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2012)
1960 – Sergey Kuznetsov, Russian footballer and manager
1960 – Giorgos Lillikas, Cypriot politician, 8th Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs
1960 – Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (d. 2006)
1961 – Paul Coffey, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Mark Curry, American actor
1961 – Werner Günthör, Swiss shot putter and bobsledder
1961 – John Huston, American golfer
1961 – Peter Machajdík, Slovakian-German pianist and composer
1963 – Vital Borkelmans, Belgian footballer
1963 – Miles J. Padgett, Scottish physicist and academic
1963 – David Westhead, English actor and producer
1965 – Larisa Lazutina, Russian skier
1965 – Olga Nazarova, Russian sprinter
1965 – Nigel Short, English chess player and journalist
1966 – Greg Schiano, American football player and coach
1968 – Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer
1968 – Jeff Hackett, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Mathias Rust, German aviator
1969 – Luis García Postigo, former Mexican footballer
1969 – Teri Polo, American actress
1970 – Georgie Gardner, Australian journalist and television host
1970 – Alexi Lalas, American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster
1971 – Mario Cimarro, Cuban-American actor and singer
1973 – Frédérik Deburghgraeve, Belgian swimmer
1973 – Adam Garcia, Australian actor
1973 – Derek Lowe, American baseball player
1973 – Heidi Klum, German-American model, fashion designer, and producer
1974 – Alanis Morissette, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actress
1974 – Michael Rasmussen, Danish cyclist
1974 – Sarah Teather, English politician
1974 – Akis Zikos, Greek footballer and coach
1975 – Michal Grošek, Czech-Swiss ice hockey player and coach
1975 – Frauke Petry, German politician
1975 – Ēriks Rags, Latvian javelin thrower
1976 – Marlon Devonish, English sprinter and coach
1976 – Kōhei Murakami, Japanese actor
1977 – Andrea Bogart, American actress
1977 – Arsen Gitinov, Russian and Kyrgyzstani freestyle wrestler
1977 – Danielle Harris, American actress
1977 – Brad Wilkerson, American baseball player and coach
1977 – Sarah Wayne Callies, American actress
1978 – Antonietta Di Martino, Italian high jumper
1978 – Matthew Hittinger, American poet and author
1979 – Santana Moss, American football player
1979 – Markus Persson, Swedish game designer, founded Mojang
1981 – Brandi Carlile, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Amy Schumer, American actress
1981 – Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1981 – Aleksei Mikhailovich Uvarov, Russian footballer
1982 – Justine Henin, Belgian tennis player
1983 – Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko, Ukrainian runner
1983 – Tõnis Sahk, Estonian long jumper
1984 – Jean Beausejour, Chilean footballer
1984 – Olivier Tielemans, Dutch racing driver
1985 – Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopian runner
1985 – Mário Hipólito, Angolan footballer
1985 – Dinesh Karthik, Indian cricketer
1985 – Nick Young, American basketball player
1985 – Sam Young, American basketball player
1986 – Moses Ndiema Masai, Kenyan runner
1986 – Chinedu Obasi, Nigerian footballer
1986 – Ben Smith, New Zealand rugby player
1987 – Zoltán Harsányi, Slovakian footballer
1987 – Jerel McNeal, American basketball player
1987 – Yarisley Silva, Cuban pole vaulter
1988 – Javier Hernández, Mexican footballer
1989 – Nataliya Goncharova, Ukrainian/Russian volleyball player
1989 – Sammy Alex Mutahi, Kenyan runner
1990 – Miller Bolaños, Ecuadoran footballer
1990 – Kennie Chopart, Danish footballer
1990 – Carlota Ciganda, Spanish golfer
1990 – Martin Pembleton, English footballer
1990 – Bianca Perie, Romanian hammer thrower
1991 – Tyrone Roberts, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Sam Anas, American ice hockey player
1994 – Kagayaki Taishi, Japanese sumo wrestler
1996 – Edvinas Gertmonas, Lithuanian footballer
1996 – Tom Holland, English actor
1999 – Dmitri Aliev, Russian figure skater
Deaths on June 1
195 BC – Emperor Gaozu of Han (b. 256 BC)
193 – Didius Julianus, Roman Emperor (b. 133)
352 – Ran Min, “Heavenly Prince” (Tian Wang) during the Sixteen Kingdoms
654 – Pyrrhus, patriarch of Constantinople
829 – Li Tongjie, general of the Tang Dynasty
847 – Xiao, empress of the Tang Dynasty
896 – Theodosius Romanus, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
932 – Thietmar, duke of Saxony
1146 – Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess regent of Brittany (b. 1068)
1186 – Minamoto no Yukiie, Japanese warlord
1220 – Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford (b. 1176)
1310 – Marguerite Porete, French mystic
1354 – Kitabatake Chikafusa (b. 1293)
1434 – King Wladislaus II of Poland
1571 – John Story, English martyr (b. 1504)
1616 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (b. 1543)
1625 – Honoré d’Urfé, French author and poet (b. 1568)
1639 – Melchior Franck, German composer (b. 1579)
1660 – Mary Dyer, English-American martyr (b. 1611)
Earliest day on which Canadian Forces Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in June. (Canada)
Earliest day on which Father’s Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in June. (Lithuania)
Earliest day on which June Holiday can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in June. (Ireland)
Earliest day on which Labour Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday in June. (The Bahamas)
Earliest day on which Teacher’s Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in June. (Hungary)
Earliest day on which the Queen’s Birthday can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in June. (New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji)
Earliest day on which Seamen’s Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in June. (Iceland)
Earliest day on which Western Australia Day can fall, while June 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in June. (Western Australia)
Global Day of Parents (International)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Samoa from New Zealand in 1962.
Madaraka Day (Kenya)
National Maritime Day (Mexico)
National Tree Planting Day (Cambodia)
Pancasila Day (Indonesia)
President’s Day (Palau)
The beginning of Crop over, celebrated until the first Monday of August. (Barbados)
455 – Emperor Petronius Maximus is stoned to death by an angry mob while fleeing Rome.
1223 – Mongol invasion of the Cumans: Battle of the Kalka River: Mongol armies of Genghis Khan led by Subutai defeat Kievan Rus’ and Cumans.
1293 – Mongol invasion of Java was a punitive expedition against King Kertanegara of Singhasari, who had refused to pay tribute to the Yuan and maimed one of its ministers. However, it ended with failure for the Mongols. Regarded as establish City of Surabaya
1578 – King Henry III lays the first stone of the Pont Neuf (New Bridge), the oldest bridge of Paris, France.
1669 – Citing poor eyesight as a reason, Samuel Pepys records the last event in his diary.
1775 – American Revolution: The Mecklenburg Resolves are adopted in the Province of North Carolina.
1790 – Manuel Quimper explores the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
1790 – The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
1795 – French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal is suppressed.
1805 – French and Spanish forces begin the assault against British forces occupying Diamond Rock.
1813 – In Australia, William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth reach Mount Blaxland, effectively marking the end of a route across the Blue Mountains.
1859 – The clock tower at the Houses of Parliament, which houses Big Ben, starts keeping time.
1862 – American Civil War: Peninsula Campaign: Confederate forces under Joseph E. Johnston and G.W. Smith engage Union forces under George B. McClellan outside Richmond, Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: The Army of Northern Virginia engages the Army of the Potomac.
1879 – Gilmore’s Garden in New York City is renamed Madison Square Garden by William Henry Vanderbilt and is opened to the public at 26th Street and Madison Avenue.
1884 – The arrival at Plymouth of Tāwhiao, King of Maoris, to claim the protection of Queen Victoria.
1889 – Johnstown Flood: Over 2,200 people die after a dam fails and sends a 60-foot (18-meter) wall of water over the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
1902 – Second Boer War: The Treaty of Vereeniging ends the war and ensures British control of South Africa.
1909 – The National Negro Committee, forerunner to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), convenes for the first time.
1910 – The South Africa Act comes into force, establishing the Union of South Africa.
1911 – The RMS Titanic is launched in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
1911 – The President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz flees the country during the Mexican Revolution.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Jutland: The British Grand Fleet engages the High Seas Fleet in the largest naval battle of the war, which proves indecisive.
1921 – The Tulsa race massacre kills at least 39, but other estimates of black fatalities vary from 55 to about 300.
1935 – A 7.7 Mw earthquake destroys Quetta in modern-day Pakistan killing 40,000.
1941 – Anglo-Iraqi War: The United Kingdom completes the re-occupation of Iraq and returns ‘Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Navy midget submarines begin a series of attacks on Sydney, Australia.
1947 – Ferenc Nagy, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Hungary, resigns from office after blackmail from the Hungarian Communist Party accusing him of being part of a plot against the state. This grants the Communists effective control of the Hungarian government.
1961 – The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
1961 – In Moscow City Court, the Rokotov–Faibishenko show trial begins, despite the Khrushchev Thaw to reverse Stalinist elements in Soviet society.
1962 – The West Indies Federation dissolves.
1970 – The 7.9 Mw Ancash earthquake shakes Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) and a landslide buries the town of Yungay, Peru. Between 66,794–70,000 were killed and 50,000 were injured.
1971 – In accordance with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1968, observation of Memorial Day occurs on the last Monday in May for the first time, rather than on the traditional Memorial Day of May 30.
1973 – The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
1977 – The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is completed.
1985 – United States–Canada tornado outbreak: Forty-one tornadoes hit Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, leaving 76 dead.
1991 – Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations’ UNAVEM II mission.
2005 – Vanity Fair reveals that Mark Felt was “Deep Throat”.
2008 – Usain Bolt breaks the world record in the 100m sprint, with a wind-legal (+1.7 m/s) 9.72 seconds
2010 – Israeli Shayetet 13 commandos boarded the Gaza Freedom Flotilla while still in international waters trying to break the ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip; nine Turkish citizens on the flotilla were killed in the ensuing violent affray.
2013 – The asteroid 1998 QE2 and its moon make their closest approach to Earth for the next two centuries.
2013 – A record breaking 2.6 mile wide tornado strikes El Reno, Oklahoma, United States, causing eight fatalities and over 150 injuries.
2017 – A car bomb explodes in a crowded intersection in Kabul near the German embassy during rush hour, killing over 90 and injuring 463.
2017 – U.S. President Donald Trump tweets the word “covfefe” and quickly becomes a worldwide viral phenomenon.
2019 – A shooting occurs inside a municipal building at Virginia Beach, Virginia, leaving 13 people dead, including the shooter, and four others injured.
Births on May 31
1443 (or 1441) – Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby (d. 1509)
1462 – Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1504)
1469 – Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
1535 – Alessandro Allori, Italian painter (d. 1607)
1556 – Jerzy Radziwiłł, Catholic cardinal (d. 1600)
1577 – Nur Jahan, Empress consort of the Mughal Empire (d. 1645)
1613 – John George II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1680)
1640 – Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
1641 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem (d. 1707)
1725 – Ahilyabai Holkar, Queen of the Malwa Kingdom under the Maratha Empire (d. 1795)
1732 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (d. 1812)
1753 – Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
1754 – Andrea Appiani, Italian painter and educator (d. 1817)
1773 – Ludwig Tieck, German poet, author, and critic (d. 1853)
1801 – Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1887)
1815 – Adye Douglas, English-Australian cricketer and politician, 15th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1906)
1818 – John Albion Andrew, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1867)
1819 – Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist, and journalist (d. 1892)
1827 – Kusumoto Ine, first Japanese female doctor of Western medicine (d. 1903)
1835 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (d. 1869)
1838 – Henry Sidgwick, English economist and philosopher (d. 1900)
1842 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (d. 1894)
1847 – William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, Canadian-Irish businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of Belfast (d. 1924)
1852 – Francisco Moreno, Argentinian explorer and academic (d. 1919)
1852 – Julius Richard Petri, German microbiologist, invented the Petri dish (d. 1921)
1857 – Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
1858 – Graham Wallas, English socialist, social psychologist, and educationalist (d. 1932)
1860 – Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
1863 – Francis Younghusband, Indian-English captain and explorer (d. 1942)
1866 – John Ringling, American entrepreneur; one of the founders of the Ringling Brothers Circus (d. 1936)
1875 – Rosa May Billinghurst, British suffragette and women’s rights activist (d.1953)
1879 – Frances Alda, New Zealand-Australian soprano (d. 1952)
1882 – Sándor Festetics, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of War (d. 1956)
1883 – Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish politician, 2nd President of Finland (d. 1942)
1885 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (d. 1967)
1887 – Saint-John Perse, French poet and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1892 – Michel Kikoine, Belarusian-French painter (d. 1968)
1892 – Erich Neumann, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1951)
1892 – Konstantin Paustovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1968)
1892 – Gregor Strasser, German lieutenant and politician (d. 1934)
1894 – Fred Allen, American comedian, radio host, game show panelist, and author (d. 1956)
1898 – Norman Vincent Peale, American minister and author (d. 1993)
1900 – Lucile Godbold, American Olympic athlete (d. 1981)
1901 – Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1908 – Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
1909 – Art Coulter, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2000)
1911 – Maurice Allais, French economist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
1912 – Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American experimental physicist (d. 1997)
1914 – Akira Ifukube, Japanese composer and educator (d. 2006)
1916 – Bert Haanstra, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1918 – Robert Osterloh, American actor (d. 2001)
1918 – Lloyd Quarterman, African American chemist (d. 1982)
1919 – Robie Macauley, American editor, novelist and critic (d. 1995)
1921 – Edna Doré, English actress (d. 2014)
1921 – Andrew Grima, Anglo-Italian jewellery designer (d. 2007)
1921 – Howard Reig, American radio and television announcer (d. 2008)
1921 – Alida Valli, Austrian-Italian actress and singer (d. 2006)
1922 – Denholm Elliott, English-Spanish actor (d. 1992)
1923 – Ellsworth Kelly, American painter and sculptor (d. 2015)
1923 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (d. 2005)
1925 – Julian Beck, American actor and director (d. 1986)
1927 – James Eberle, English admiral (d. 2018)
1927 – Michael Sandberg, Baron Sandberg, English lieutenant and banker (d. 2017)
1928 – Pankaj Roy, Indian cricketer (d. 2001)
1929 – Menahem Golan, Israeli director and producer (d. 2014)
1930 – Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, musician, and producer
1931 – John Robert Schrieffer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019)
1931 – Shirley Verrett, American soprano and actress (d. 2010)
1932 – Ed Lincoln, Brazilian pianist, bassist, and composer (d. 2012)
1932 – Jay Miner, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 1994)
1933 – Henry B. Eyring, American religious leader, educator, and author
1934 – Jim Hutton, American actor (d. 1979)
1935 – Jim Bolger, New Zealand businessman and politician, 35th Prime Minister of New Zealand
1938 – Johnny Paycheck, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1938 – John Prescott, British sailor and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
1938 – Peter Yarrow, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1939 – Terry Waite, English humanitarian and author
1940 – Anatoliy Bondarchuk, Ukrainian hammer thrower and coach
1940 – Augie Meyers, American musician and singer-songwriter
1940 – Gilbert Shelton, American illustrator
1941 – June Clark, Welsh nurse and educator
1941 – Louis Ignarro, American pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – William Nordhaus, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Sharon Gless, American actress
1943 – Joe Namath, American football player, sportscaster, and actor
1945 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1945 – Laurent Gbagbo, Ivorian academic and politician, 4th President of Côte d’Ivoire
1945 – Bernard Goldberg, American journalist and author
1946 – Ted Baehr, American publisher and critic
1946 – Steve Bucknor, Jamaican cricketer and umpire
1946 – Krista Kilvet, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 2009)
1946 – Debbie Moore, English model and businesswoman
1947 – Junior Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Gabriele Hinzmann, German discus thrower
1948 – Svetlana Alexievich, Belarusian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – John Bonham, English musician, songwriter and drummer (d. 1980)
1948 – Martin Hannett, English bass player, guitarist, and record producer (d. 1991)
1948 – Duncan Hunter, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician
1949 – Tom Berenger, American actor, film producer and television writer
1950 – Jean Chalopin, French director, producer, and screenwriter, founded DIC Entertainment
1950 – Gregory Harrison, American actor
1950 – Edgar Savisaar, Estonian politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
1951 – Karl-Hans Riehm, German hammer thrower
1952 – Karl Bartos, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1953 – Pirkka-Pekka Petelius, Finnish actor and screenwriter
1954 – Thomas Mavros, Greek footballer
1954 – Vicki Sue Robinson, American actress and singer (d. 2000)
1955 – Tommy Emmanuel, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Susie Essman, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
1956 – Fritz Hilpert, German drummer and composer
1956 – John Young, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1957 – Jim Craig, American ice hockey player
1959 – Andrea de Cesaris, Italian racing driver (d. 2014)
1959 – Phil Wilson, English politician
1960 – Greg Adams, Canadian ice hockey player and businessman
1960 – Chris Elliott, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1960 – Peter Winterbottom, English rugby player
1961 – Ray Cote, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Justin Madden, Australian footballer and politician
1961 – Lea Thompson, American actress, director, and producer
1962 – Corey Hart, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
1963 – David Leigh, holder of the Sir Samuel Hall Chair of Chemistry at the University of Manchester
1963 – Viktor Orbán, Hungarian politician, 38th Prime Minister of Hungary
1963 – Wesley Willis, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (d. 2003)
1964 – Leonard Asper, Canadian lawyer and businessman
1964 – Stéphane Caristan, French hurdler and coach
1964 – Yukio Edano, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
1964 – Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, American rapper and producer
1965 – Brooke Shields, American model, actress, and producer
1966 – Roshan Mahanama, Sri Lankan cricketer and referee
1967 – Phil Keoghan, New Zealand television host and producer
1967 – Kenny Lofton, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city.
1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under the command of Tamim ibn Yusuf defeat a Castile and León alliance under the command of Prince Sancho Alfónsez.
1167 – Battle of Monte Porzio: A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel.
1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France.
1416 – Battle of Gallipoli: The Venetians under Pietro Loredan defeat a much larger Ottoman fleet off Gallipoli.
1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
1658 – Battle of Samugarh: decisive battle in the struggle for the throne during the Mughal war of succession (1658–1659).
1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1733 – The right of settlers in New France to enslave natives is upheld at Quebec City.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.
1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of North America’s original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the Constitution and become one of the United States.
1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are executed as rebels by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
1807 – Mustafa IV became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
1852 – Jenny Lind leaves New York after her two-year American tour.
1861 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong.
1864 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
1867 – The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (“the Compromise”) is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1868 – Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia is assassinated.
1886 – The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal.
1900 – N’Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.
1903 – In the May Coup, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
1913 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot.
1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,012 lives.
1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.
1919 – Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin
1920 – The Louth flood of 1920 was a severe flash flooding in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth which occurred 29 May 1920, resulting in 23 fatalities in 20 minutes. It has been described as one of the most significant flood disasters in Britain during the 20th century.
1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
1932 – World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
1935 – First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aeroplane.
1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.
1948 – United Nations Truce Supervision Organization is founded.
1950 – The St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.
1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
1985 – Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses.
1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
1988 – The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
1989 – Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.
1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
1993 – The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war-torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.
1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
2001 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
2004 – The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
2008 – A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.
2012 – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.
2015 – One World Observatory at One World Trade Center opens.
Births on May 29
1421 – Charles, Prince of Viana (d. 1461)
1439 – Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
1443 – Victor, Duke of Münsterberg, Reichsgraf, Duke of Münsterberg and Opava, Count of Glatz (d. 1500)
1504 – Antun Vrančić, Croatian archbishop (d. 1573)
1555 – George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes, English Earl, general and administrator (d. 1629)
1568 – Virginia de’ Medici, Italian princess (d. 1615)
1594 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian field marshal (d. 1632)
1627 – Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French princess (d. 1693)
1630 – Charles II of England (d. 1685)
1675 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1715)
1716 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French zoologist and mineralogist (d. 1800)
1722 – James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish soldier and politician (d. 1773)
1730 – Jackson of Exeter, English organist and composer (d. 1803)
1736 – Patrick Henry, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)
1780 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (d. 1855)
1794 – Johann Heinrich von Mädler, German astronomer and selenographer (d. 1874)
1797 – Louise-Adéone Drölling, French painter (d. 1836)
1823 – John H. Balsley, American carpenter and inventor (d. 1895)
1860 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (d. 1909)
1871 – Clark Voorhees, American painter (d. 1933)
1873 – Rudolf Tobias, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1918)
1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, and playwright (d. 1936)
1880 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (d. 1936)
1892 – Alfonsina Storni, Swiss-Argentinian poet and author (d. 1938)
1893 – Max Brand, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
1894 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian-English actress, singer and writer (d. 1989)
1894 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1969)
1897 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Czech-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1957)
1899 – Douglas Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Defence (d. 1987)
1902 – Harry Kadwell, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1999)
1903 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2003)
1904 – Hubert Opperman, Australian cyclist and politician (d. 1996)
1905 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor, director, and playwright (d. 1994)
1906 – T. H. White, Indian-English author (d. 1964)
1907 – Hartland Molson, Canadian captain and politician (d. 2002)
1908 – Diana Morgan, Welsh-English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1910 – Ralph Metcalfe, American sprinter and politician (d. 1978)
1913 – Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
1914 – Stacy Keach Sr., American actor (d. 2003)
1914 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese-Indian mountaineer (d. 1986)
1915 – Karl Münchinger, German conductor and composer (d. 1990)
1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
1917 – Marcel Trudel, Canadian historian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
1919 – Jacques Genest, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2018)
1920 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
1920 – Clifton James, American actor (d. 2017)
1921 – Norman Hetherington, Australian cartoonist and puppeteer (d. 2010)
1922 – Joe Weatherly, American race car driver (d. 1964)
1922 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek-French composer, engineer, and theorist (d. 2001)
1923 – Bernard Clavel, French author (d. 2010)
1923 – John Parker, 6th Earl of Morley, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon (d. 2015)
1923 – Eugene Wright, American jazz bassist
1924 – Lars Bo, Danish author and illustrator (d. 1999)
1924 – Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1924 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (d. 2013)
1926 – Katie Boyle, Italian-English actress and television host (d. 2018)
1926 – Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, Queen Consort of Tonga (d. 2017)
1926 – Abdoulaye Wade, Senegalese academic and politician, 3rd President of Senegal
1927 – Jean Coutu, Canadian pharmacist and businessman, founded the Jean Coutu Group
1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher and academic
1929 – Peter Higgs, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Roberto Vargas, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and author
1932 – Richie Guerin, American basketball player and coach
1933 – Helmuth Rilling, German conductor and educator
1933 – Tarquinio Provini, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2005)
1934 – Bill Vander Zalm, Dutch-Canadian businessman and politician, 28th Premier of British Columbia
1935 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (d. 2015)
1935 – Sylvia Robinson, American singer and producer (d. 2011)
1937 – Charles W. Pickering, American lawyer and judge
1937 – Irmin Schmidt, German keyboard player and composer
1937 – Alwin Schockemöhle, German show-jumper
1937 – Harry Statham, American basketball player and coach
1938 – Christopher Bland, English businessman and politician (d. 2017)
1938 – Fay Vincent, American lawyer and businessman
1939 – Pete Smith, Australian radio and television announcer
1939 – Al Unser, American race car driver
1940 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (d. 2013)
1940 – Farooq Leghari, Pakistani politician, 8th President of Pakistan (d. 2010)
1941 – Doug Scott, English mountaineer and author
1941 – Bob Simon, American journalist (d. 2015)
1942 – Pierre Bourque, Canadian businessman and politician, 40th Mayor of Montreal
1942 – Kevin Conway, American actor and director (d. 2020)
1943 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Bob Benmosche, American businessman (d. 2015)
1944 – Quentin Davies, English soldier and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
1945 – Gary Brooker, English singer-songwriter and pianist
1945 – Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, Scottish lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland (d. 2013)
1945 – Julian Le Grand, English economist and author
1945 – Martin Pipe, English jockey and trainer
1945 – Joyce Tenneson, American photographer
1945 – Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, Belgian scholar and author (d. 2018)
1946 – Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (d. 2000)
1947 – Anthony Geary, American actor
1948 – Michael Berkeley, English composer and radio host
1948 – Keith Gull, English microbiologist and academic
1949 – Robert Axelrod, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2019)
1949 – Brian Kidd, English footballer and manager
1949 – Francis Rossi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Rebbie Jackson, American singer and actress
1953 – Danny Elfman, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1954 – Robert Beaser, American composer and educator
1954 – Jerry Moran, American lawyer and politician
1955 – Frank Baumgartl, German runner (d. 2010)
1955 – John Hinckley Jr., American attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan
1955 – David Kirschner, American animator, producer, and author
1955 – Gordon Rintoul, Scottish historian and curator
1955 – Ken Schrader, American race car driver and sportscaster
1956 – Mark Lyall Grant, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United Nations
1956 – La Toya Jackson, American singer-songwriter and actress
1957 – Steven Croft, English bishop and theologian
1957 – Jeb Hensarling, American lawyer and politician
1957 – Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian film director
1958 – Annette Bening, American actress
1958 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, and activist (d. 2011)
1958 – Uwe Rapolder, German footballer and coach
1958 – Mike Stenhouse, American baseball player and sportscaster
1959 – Rupert Everett, English actor and novelist
1959 – Mel Gaynor, English drummer
1959 – Steve Hanley, Irish-English bass player and songwriter
1960 – Thomas Baumer, Swiss economist and academic
1960 – Mike Freer, English politician
1961 – Melissa Etheridge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist
1961 – John Miceli, American drummer
1962 – Fandi Ahmad, Singaporean footballer, coach, and manager
1962 – Eric Davis, American baseball player
1962 – Carol Kirkwood, Scottish journalist
1962 – Chloé Sainte-Marie, Canadian actress and singer
1963 – Blaze Bayley, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Zhu Jianhua, Chinese high jumper
1963 – Ukyo Katayama, Japanese race car driver
1963 – Claude Loiselle, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1964 – Howard Mills III, American academic and politician
1964 – Oswaldo Negri Jr., Brazilian race car driver
1966 – Natalie Nougayrède, French journalist
1967 – Noel Gallagher, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Mike Keane, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1967 – Steven Levitt, American economist, author, and academic
1968 – Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician
1968 – Tate George, American basketball player
1968 – Jessica Morden, English politician
1968 – Hida Viloria, American activist
1970 – Natarsha Belling, Australian journalist
1970 – Roberto Di Matteo, Italian footballer and manager
1971 – Éric Lucas, Canadian boxer
1971 – Bernd Mayländer, German race car driver
1971 – Jo Beth Taylor, Australian television host and actress
1971 – Rob Womack, English shot putter and discus thrower
1972 – Bill Curley, American basketball player and coach
1972 – Simon Jones, English singer and bass player
1973 – Tomoko Kaneda, Japanese voice actress, singer, and radio personality
1973 – Mark Lee, American guitarist and songwriter
1973 – Alpay Özalan, Turkish footballer
1974 – Steve Cardenas, American martial artist and retired actor
1974 – Stephen Larkham, Australian rugby player and coach
1974 – Aaron McGruder, American author and cartoonist
1974 – Myf Warhurst, Australian radio and television host
1974 – Jenny Willott, English politician
1975 – Jason Allison, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Mel B, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1975 – Sven Kubis, German footballer
1975 – Sarah Millican, English comedian
1975 – Anthony Wall, English golfer
1975 – Daniel Tosh, American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and executive producer
1976 – Caçapa, Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Jerry Hairston Jr., American baseball player and sportscaster
1976 – Raef LaFrentz, American basketball player
1976 – Yegor Titov, Russian footballer
1977 – Massimo Ambrosini, Italian footballer
1977 – Marco Cassetti, Italian footballer
1977 – António Lebo Lebo, Angolan footballer
1978 – Pelle Almqvist, Swedish singer-songwriter
1978 – Sébastien Grosjean, French tennis player
1978 – Lorenzo Odone, Italian-American adrenoleukodystrophy patient who inspired the 1992 film, Lorenzo’s Oil (d. 2008)
1978 – Adam Rickitt, English singer
1979 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer
1979 – Brian Kendrick, American wrestler
1979 – John Rheinecker, American baseball player (d. 2017)
1980 – Ernesto Farías, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Andrey Arshavin, Russian footballer
1982 – Nataliya Dobrynska, Ukrainian heptathlete
1982 – Matt Macri, American baseball player
1982 – Kim Tae-kyun, South Korean baseball player
1984 – Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player
1984 – Nia Jax, Australian-American professional wrestler
1984 – Funmi Jimoh, American long jumper
1984 – Andreas Schäffer, German footballer
1984 – Ina Wroldsen, Norwegian singer and songwriter
1985 – Nathan Horton, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Lina Andrijauskaitė, Lithuanian long jumper
1987 – Issac Luke, New Zealand rugby league player
1987 – Kelvin Maynard, Dutch footballer (d. 2019)
1987 – Noah Reid, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1987 – Rui Sampaio, Portuguese footballer
1988 – Muath Al-Kasasbeh, Jordanian captain and pilot (d. 2015)
1988 – Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast
1988 – Steve Mason, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Ezekiel Ansah, Ghanaian-American football player
1989 – Diego Barisone, Argentinian footballer (d. 2015)
1989 – Riley Keough, American model and actress
1990 – Joe Biagini, American baseball pitcher
1992 – Sarah Moundir, Swiss tennis player
1993 – Jana Čepelová, Slovak tennis player
1993 – Maika Monroe, American actress and kiteboarder
1993 – Grete Šadeiko, Estonian heptathlete
1998 – Markelle Fultz, American basketball player
1999 – Park Ji-hoon, South Korean singer and actor
Deaths on May 29
931 – Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona
1040 – Renauld I, Count of Nevers
1259 – Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)
1311 – James II of Majorca (b. 1243)
1320 – Pope John VIII of Alexandria, Coptic pope
1327 – Jens Grand, Danish archbishop (b. c. 1260)
1379 – Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)
1405 – Philippe de Mézières, French soldier and author (b. 1327)
585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty’s collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.
1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)
1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.
1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon’s troops.
1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.
1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months.
1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race was held.
1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.
1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.
1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer is founded.
1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.
1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
1961 – Peter Benenson’s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
1974 – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
1987 – A West German pilot, Mathias Rust, who was 18 years old, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
1995 – The 7.0 Mw Neftegorsk earthquake shook the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.
1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.
2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq’s interim government.
2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.
2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.
Births on May 28
1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (d. 1207)
1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
1524 – Selim II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1574)
1588 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
1589 – Robert Arnauld d’Andilly, French writer (d. 1674)
1663 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (d. 1736)
1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1754)
1692 – Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (d. 1740)
1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d. 1814)
1759 – William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
1763 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (d. 1811)
1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (d. 1836)
1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (d. 1852)
1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (d. 1873)
1818 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (d. 1893)
1836 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (d. 1918)
1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman’s Cathedral (d. 1921)
1837 – Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (d. 1908)
1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (d. 1887)
1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (d. 1919)
1858 – Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (d. 1939)
1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (d. 1917)
1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (d. 1945)
1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1958)
1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (d. 1966)
1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (d. 1978)
1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1948)
1886 – Santo Trafficante, Sr., Italian-American mobster (d. 1954)
1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (d. 1947)
1888 – Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (d. 1953)
1889 – Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (d. 1929)
1892 – Minna Gombell, American actress (d. 1973)
1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (d. 1939)
1903 – S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (d. 1994)
1906 – Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (d. 1997)
1908 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2005)
1908 – Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (d. 1964)
1909 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 1987)
1910 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1911 – Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
1911 – Thora Hird, English actress (d. 2003)
1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (d. 1986)
1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (d. 1992)
1912 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (d. 1981)
1912 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (d. 1996)
1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (d. 2001)
1916 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (d. 1990)
1917 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (d. 2012)
1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (d. 1990)
1921 – D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (d. 1955)
1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (d. 1999)
1921 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (d. 2015)
1922 – Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (d. 2017)
1922 – Roger Fisher, American author and academic (d. 2012)
1922 – Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier
1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (d. 2006)
1923 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 1996)
1924 – Edward du Cann, English naval officer and politician (d. 2017)
1924 – Paul Hébert, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
1925 – Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
1925 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (d. 2012)
1928 – Sally Forrest, American actress and dancer (d. 2015)
1929 – Patrick McNair-Wilson, English politician
1930 – Edward Seaga, American-Jamaican academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2019)
1931 – Carroll Baker, American actress
1931 – Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (d. 2014)
1932 – Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
1933 – John Karlen, American actor
1933 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and activist (d. 2010)
1936 – Claude Forget, Canadian academic and politician
1936 – Ole K. Sara, Norwegian politician (d. 2013)
1936 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (d. 1997)
1938 – Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive
1939 – Maeve Binchy, Irish novelist (d. 2012)
1940 – David William Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London
1940 – Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi and academic, founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue
1941 – Beth Howland, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1942 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Terry Crisp, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1944 – Faith Brown, English actress and singer
1944 – Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City
1944 – Gladys Knight, American singer-songwriter and actress
1944 – Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (d. 2013)
1944 – Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
1944 – Billy Vera, American singer-songwriter and actor
1945 – Patch Adams, American physician and author, founded the Gesundheit! Institute
1945 – John N. Bambacus, American military veteran (USMC) and politician
1945 – John Fogerty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1945 – Jean Perrault, Canadian politician, Mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec
1945 – Helena Shovelton, English physician
1946 – Bruce Alexander, English actor
1946 – Skip Jutze, American baseball player
1946 – Janet Paraskeva, Welsh politician
1946 – K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet and critic
1946 – William Shawcross, English journalist and author
1947 – Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist and academic
1947 – Lynn Johnston, Canadian author and illustrator
1947 – Leland Sklar, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1948 – Michael Field, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Tasmania
1948 – Pierre Rapsat, Belgian singer and songwriter (d. 2002)
1949 – Martin Kelner, English journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and radio presenter
1949 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 1998)
1952 – Roger Briggs, American pianist, composer, conductor, and educator
1953 – Pierre Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1954 – João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian jumper (d. 1999)
1954 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1988)
1954 – Charles Saumarez Smith, English historian and academic
1954 – Péter Szilágyi, Hungarian conductor and politician (d. 2013)
1954 – John Tory, Canadian lawyer and politician, 65th Mayor of Toronto
1955 – Laura Amy Schlitz, American author and librarian
1955 – Mark Howe, American ice hockey player and coach
1956 – Jerry Douglas, American guitarist and producer
1956 – Jeff Dujon, Jamaican cricketer
1956 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
1956 – Peter Wilkinson, English admiral
1957 – Colin Barnes, English footballer
1957 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player and manager
1957 – Ben Howland, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Risto Mannisenmäki, Finnish racing driver
1960 – Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina
1960 – Mary Portas, English journalist and author
1963 – Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic
1964 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer
1964 – Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
1964 – Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress
1964 – Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter
1965 – Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1965 – Mary Coughlan, Irish politician
1966 – Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright
1966 – Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist
1966 – Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer
1967 – Glen Rice, American basketball player
1968 – Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1969 – Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager
1969 – Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (d. 2016)
1970 – Glenn Quinn, American actor (d. 2002)
1971 – Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer
1971 – Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster
1971 – Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician
1972 – Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager
1972 – Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager
1973 – Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager
1974 – Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer
1974 – Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
1975 – Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic
1976 – Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach
1976 – Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer
1976 – Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach
1977 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author
1978 – Jake Johnson, American actor
1979 – Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
1979 – Ronald Curry, American football player and coach
1980 – Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
1980 – Lucy Shuker, English tennis player
1981 – Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player
1981 – Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player
1981 – Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1982 – Alexa Davalos, French-American actress
1982 – Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player
1983 – Steve Cronin, American soccer player
1983 – Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player
1983 – Roman Atwood, American YouTube star
1985 – Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer
1985 – Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer
1986 – Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player
1986 – Seth Rollins, American wrestler
1986 – Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete
1987 – T.J. Yates, American football player
1988 – NaVorro Bowman, American football player
1988 – Percy Harvin, American football player
1988 – Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player
1990 – Kyle Walker, English international footballer, right-back
1991 – Sharrif Floyd, American football player
1991 – Alexandre Lacazette, French footballer
1991 – Kail Piho, Estonian skier
1992 – Tom Carroll, English footballer
1993 – Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player
1994 – John Stones, English footballer
1994 – Son Yeon-jae, South Korean gymnast
1998 – Dahyun, Korean singer
1999 – Cameron Boyce, American actor (d. 2019)
2000 – Phil Foden, English footballer
Deaths on May 28
576 – Germain of Paris, French bishop and saint (b. 496)
741 – Ucha’an K’in B’alam, Mayan king
926 – Kong Qian, official of Later Tang
926 – Li Jiji, prince of Later Tang
1023 – Wulfstan, English archbishop
1279 – William Wishart, English bishop
1327 – Robert Baldock, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England
1357 – Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
1427 – Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (b. 1397)
1556 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese samurai (b. 1494)
1626 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (b. 1561)
1651 – Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1594)
1672 – John Trevor, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1626)
1747 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (b. 1715)
1750 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1719)
1805 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (b. 1743)
1808 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (b. 1720)
1811 – Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for War (b. 1742)
1831 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (b. 1756)
1843 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1820)
1864 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian and politician (b. 1808)
1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
1904 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (b. 1846)
1916 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (b. 1856)
1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1878)
1937 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (b. 1870)
1946 – Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1858)
1947 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (b. 1907)
1952 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (b. 1882)
1953 – Tatsuo Hori, Japanese author and poet (b. 1904)
1964 – Terry Dillon, American football player (b. 1941)
1968 – Fyodor Okhlopkov, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1908)
1971 – Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1925)
1972 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
1975 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (b. 1921)
1976 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician and academic (b. 1895)
1981 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
1981 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (b. 1901)
1982 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1940)
1983 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (b. 1909)
1984 – Eric Morecambe, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
1986 – Edip Cansever, Turkish poet and author (b. 1928)
1988 – Sy Oliver, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)
1990 – Julius Eastman, American composer (b. 1940)
1994 – Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
1994 – Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American author and academic (b. 1916)
1998 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor and comedian (b. 1948)
1999 – Michael Barkai, Israeli commander (b. 1935)
1999 – B. Vittalacharya, Indian director and producer (b. 1920)
2000 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (b. 1926)
2001 – Joe Moakley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
2001 – Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
2002 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)
1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens.At least 600 Jews are killed.
1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.
1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
1199 – John is crowned King of England.
1257 – Richard of Cornwall, and his wife, Sanchia of Provence, are crowned King and Queen of the Germans at Aachen Cathedral.
1644 – Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.
1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
1798 – The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland; Irish rebel leaders defeat and kill a detachment of militia.
1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeat the French at Winterthur, Switzerland.
1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification.
1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson.
1874 – The first group of Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.
1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
1896 – The F4-strength St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing over $10–million in damage.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.
1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.
1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.
1933 – New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”
1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.
1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.
1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an “unlimited national emergency”.
1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.
1942 – World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.
1958 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
1962 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town’s landfill above a coal mine.
1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.
1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.
1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
1971 – Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre.
1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.
1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
1984 – The Danube-Black Sea canal is opened, in a ceremony attended by the Ceaușescus. It had been under construction since the 1950s.
1996 – First Chechen War: the Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
1997 – The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak occurs, spawning multiple tornadoes in Central Texas, including the F5 that killed 27 in Jarrell.
1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
2001 – Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.
2006 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.
2017 – Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
2018 – Maryland Flood Event: A flood occurs throughout the Patapsco Valley causing one death and destroying the entire first floors of buildings on Main Street in Ellicott City and causing cars to overturn.
Births on May 27
742 – Emperor Dezong of Tang (d. 805)
1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian and theologian (d. 1406)
1378 – Zhu Quan, Chinese military commander, historian and playwright (d. 1448)
1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian and theorist (d. 1594)
1537 – Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (d. 1604)
1576 – Caspar Schoppe, German author and scholar (d. 1649)
1584 – Michael Altenburg, German theologian and composer (d. 1640)
1601 – Antoine Daniel, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1648)
1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
1627 – Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1693)
1651 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)
1652 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine of Germany (d. 1722)
1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, American merchant and politician, 14th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)
1756 – Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)
1774 – Francis Beaufort, Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy (d. 1857)
1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1877)
1814 – John Rudolph Niernsee, Viennese-born American architect (d.1885)
1815 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1896)
1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American journalist and activist (d. 1894)
1819 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet and songwriter (d. 1910)
1827 – Samuel F. Miller, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
1832 – Zenas Ferry Moody, American surveyor and politician, 7th Governor of Oregon (d. 1917)
1836 – Jay Gould, American businessman and financier (d. 1892)
1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American police officer (d. 1876)
1852 – Billy Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1899)
1857 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (d. 1928)
1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese politician, 7th President of Portugal (d. 1941)
1863 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)
1867 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (d. 1931)
1868 – Aleksa Šantić, Bosnian poet and author (d. 1924)
1871 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (d. 1958)
1875 – Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (d. 1942)
1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 1945)
1876 – William Stanier, English engineer (d. 1965)
1878 – Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (d. 1972)
1879 – Karl Bühler, German-American linguist and psychologist (d. 1963)
1879 – Hans Lammers, German judge and politician (d. 1962)
1883 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (d. 1971)
1884 – Max Brod, Czech journalist, author, and composer (d. 1968)
1887 – Frank Woolley, English cricketer (d. 1978)
1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
1891 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (d. 1965)
1891 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (d. 1958)
1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (d. 1961)
1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (d. 1961)
1895 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1995)
1897 – John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1897 – Dink Templeton, American rugby player and coach (d. 1962)
1898 – David Crosthwait, American engineer, inventor and writer (d. 1976)
1899 – Johannes Türn, Estonian chess and draughts player (d. 1993)
1900 – Lotte Toberentz, German overseer of the Nazi Uckermark concentration camp (d. 1964)
1900 – Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1933)
1904 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese jumper and journalist (d. 1997)
1906 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (d. 1993)
1906 – Harry Hibbs, English footballer (d. 1984)
1906 – Antonio Rosario Mennonna, Italian bishop (d. 2009)
1907 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and critic (d. 1988)
1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (d. 1964)
1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist (d. 2011)
1911 – Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)
1911 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (d. 2007)
1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)
1912 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1982)
1912 – Sam Snead, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1912 – Terry Moore, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1995)
1915 – Ester Soré, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1996)
1915 – Herman Wouk, American novelist (d. 2019)
1917 – Harry Webster, English engineer (d. 2007)
1918 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese commander and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2019)
1921 – Bob Godfrey, Australian-English animator, director, and voice actor (d. 2013)
1922 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (d. 2015)
1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)
1922 – John D. Vanderhoof, American banker and politician, 37th Governor of Colorado (d. 2013)
1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate
1923 – Sumner Redstone, American businessman and philanthropist
1924 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2014)
1924 – John Sumner, English-Australian director, founded the Melbourne Theatre Company (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Hillerman, American journalist and author (d. 2008)
1927 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (d. 1996)
1928 – Thea Musgrave, Scottish-American composer and educator
1930 – John Barth, American novelist and short story writer
1930 – William S. Sessions, American civil servant and judge, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
1930 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2010)
1931 – André Barbeau, French-Canadian neurologist (d. 1986)
1931 – John Chapple, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Gibraltar
1931 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (d. 2002)
1931 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (d. 2015)
1931 – Philip Kotler, American author and professor
1933 – Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian businessman (d. 2008)
1933 – Manfred Sommer, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2007)
1934 – Ray Daviault, Canadian-American baseball player
1934 – Harlan Ellison, American author and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1935 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1935 – Mal Evans, British road manager of The Beatles (d. 1976)
1935 – Jerry Kindall, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1935 – Ramsey Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer
1935 – Lee Meriwether, American model and actress, Miss America 1955
1936 – Benjamin Bathurst, English admiral
1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr., American actor and producer
1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2014)
1937 – Allan Carr, American playwright and producer (d. 1999)
1939 – Simon Cairns, 6th Earl Cairns, English courtier and businessman
1939 – Yves Duhaime, Canadian captain and politician
1939 – Sokratis Kokkalis, Greek businessman
1939 – Gerald Ronson, English businessman and philanthropist
1939 – Lionel Sosa, Mexican-American advertising and marketing executive
1939 – Don Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1940 – Mike Gibson, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1942 – Lee Baca, American police officer
1942 – Piers Courage, English racing driver (d. 1970)
1942 – Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman, English accountant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1942 – Robin Widdows, English racing driver
1943 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (d. 2015)
1943 – Bruce Weitz, American actor
1944 – Chris Dodd, American lawyer and politician
1944 – Ingrid Roscoe, English historian and politician, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire
1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (d. 2005)
1946 – John Williams, English motorcycle racer (d. 1978)
1947 – Peter DeFazio, American politician
1947 – Marty Kristian, German-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer and coach
1947 – Riivo Sinijärv, Estonian politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1948 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant (d. 2017)
1948 – Pete Sears, English bass player
1948 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (d. 2014)
1949 – Hugh Lowther, 8th Earl of Lonsdale, English politician
1949 – Christa Vahlensieck, German runner
1950 – Dee Dee Bridgewater, American singer-songwriter and actress
1950 – Makis Dendrinos, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1951 – John Conteh, English boxer
1954 – Pauline Hanson, Australian businesswoman, activist, and politician
1954 – Jackie Slater, American football player and coach
1955 – Eric Bischoff, American wrestler, manager, and producer
1955 – Richard Schiff, American actor, director, and producer
1955 – Ian Tracey, English organist and conductor
1956 – Cynthia McFadden, American journalist
1956 – Rosemary Squire, English producer and manager, co-founded Ambassador Theatre Group
1956 – Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter
1957 – Dag Terje Andersen, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Labour
1957 – Nitin Gadkari, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Transport
1957 – Eddie Harsch, Canadian-American keyboard player and bass player (d. 2016)
1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, English singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
1958 – Nick Anstee, English accountant and politician, 682nd Lord Mayor of London
1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician
1958 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino politician, 23rd Filipino Secretary of the Interior (d. 2012)
1960 – Gaston Therrien, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1961 – José Luíz Barbosa, Brazilian runner and coach
1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress
1962 – Marcelino Bernal, Mexican footballer
1962 – Ray Borner, Australian basketball player
1962 – Steven Brill, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Anthony A. Hyman, Israeli-English biologist and academic
1962 – David Mundell, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban pianist and composer
1963 – Maria Walliser, Swiss skier
1964 – Adam Carolla, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Pat Cash, Australian-English tennis player and sportscaster
1966 – Heston Blumenthal, English chef and author
1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English international footballer, midfielder, coach, and manager
1967 – Eddie McClintock, American actor
1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player and coach
1968 – Rebekah Brooks, English journalist
1968 – Harun Erdenay, Turkish basketball player and coach
1968 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player and sportscaster
1969 – Todd Hundley, American baseball player
1969 – Jeremy Mayfield, American race car driver
1969 – Craig Federighi, American computer scientist and engineer
1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist
1970 – Tim Farron, English educator and politician
1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor
1970 – Alex Archer, American-born Australian musician
1971 – Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician
1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor
1971 – Wayne Carey, Australian footballer and coach
1971 – Kaur Kender, Estonian author
1971 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (d. 2002)
1971 – Lee Sharpe, English footballer
1971 – Grant Stafford, South African tennis player
1971 – Sophie Walker, British politician, leader of the Women’s Equality Party
1971 – Petroc Trelawny, British radio and television broadcaster
1972 – Todd Demsey, American golfer
1972 – Antonio Freeman, American football player
1972 – Maxim Sokolov, Russian ice hockey player
1973 – Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian
1973 – Tana Umaga, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1973 – Yorgos Lanthimos, Greek film video, and theatre director, producer and screenwriter
1974 – Skye Edwards, British singer-songwriter
1974 – Denise van Outen, English actress, singer, and television host
1974 – Derek Webb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football player
1975 – André 3000, American rapper
1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer
1975 – Jamie Oliver, English chef and author
1975 – Feryal Özel, Turkish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
1976 – Marcel Fässler, Swiss racing driver
1977 – Abderrahmane Hammad, Algerian high jumper
1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Adin Brown, American soccer player
1979 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)
1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer
1980 – Craig Buntin, Canadian figure skater
1981 – Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer
1984 – Blake Ahearn, American basketball player
1984 – Miguel González, Mexican baseball pitcher
1985 – Chiang Chien-ming, Taiwanese baseball player
1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer
1986 – Conor Cummins, Manx motorcycle racer
1986 – Bamba Fall, Senegalese basketball player
1986 – Lasse Schöne, Danish footballer
1987 – Gervinho, Ivorian footballer
1987 – Bella Heathcote, Australian actress
1987 – Eric Kolelas, French-English actor and director
1987 – Bora Paçun, Turkish basketball player
1987 – Matt Prior, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Martina Sablikova, Czech speed skater and cyclist
1988 – Vontae Davis, American football player
1988 – Irina Davydova, Russian hurdler
1988 – Garrett Richards, American baseball pitcher
1988 – Tyler Sash, American football player (d. 2015)
1989 – Igor Morozov, Estonian footballer
1990 – Yenew Alamirew, Ethiopian runner
1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor and singer
1990 – Marcus Kruger, Swedish ice hockey player
1991 – Sebastien Dewaest, Belgian footballer
1991 – Tim Lafai, Samoan rugby league player
1991 – Ksenia Pervak, Russian tennis player
1991 – Eneli Vals, Estonian footballer
1992 – Aaron Brown, Canadian sprinter
1992 – Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, Canadian canoer
Deaths on May 27
366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 325)
398 – Murong Bao, emperor of the Xianbei state Later Yan (b. 355)
475 – Eutropius, bishop of Orange
866 – Ordoño I of Asturias (b. 831)
927 – Simeon I of Bulgaria first Bulgarian Emperor (b. 864)
1039 – Dirk III, Count of Holland (b. 981)
1045 – Bruno of Würzburg, imperial chancellor of Italy (b. c. 1005)
1178 – Godfrey van Rhenen, bishop of Utrecht
1240 – William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (b. 1166)
1444 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1404)
1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
1508 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (b. 1452)
1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German mystic and theologian (b. 1488)
1541 – Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (b. 1473)
1564 – John Calvin, French pastor and theologian (b. 1509)
1610 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)
1624 – Diego Ramírez de Arellano, Spanish sailor and cosmographer (b. c. 1580)
1637 – John Boteler, 1st Baron Boteler of Brantfield, English politician (b. c. 1566)
1661 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish general and politician (b. 1607)
192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.
1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV.
1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host.
1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.
1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.
1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day.
1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.
1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history.
1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ends in failure.
1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.
1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246.
1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.
1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world’s most destructive earthquakes.
1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.
1957 – South Africa’s government approves of racial separation in universities.
1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.
1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later.
1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
1967 – L’Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.
1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
1969 – Apollo 10’s lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon’s surface.
1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.
1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.
1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.
2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737.
2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).
2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d’état, following six months of political turmoil.
2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.
Births on May 22
626 – Itzam K’an Ahk I, Mayan king (d. 686)
1009 – Su Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1066)
1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)
1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter (d. 1808)
1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1895)
1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
1887 – A. W. Sandberg, Danish film director and screenwriter (d. 1938)
1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
1900 – Juan Arvizu, Mexican lyric opera tenor and bolero vocalist (d.1985)
1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
1902 – Jack Lambert, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (d. 1989)
1908 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
1921 – George S. Hammond, American scientist (d. 2005)
1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author (d. 2017)
1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman (d. 2019)
1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
1930 – Kenny Ball, English jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and bandleader (d. 2013)
1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor (d. 2016)
1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
1940 – Mick Tingelhoff, American Pro Football Hall of Famer
1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
1942 – Roger Brown, American basketball player (d. 1997)
1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
1942 – Richard Oakes, Native American civil rights activist (d. 1972)
1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player
1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
1945 – Bob Katter, Australian politician
1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
