1843

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

    • 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
    • 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
    • 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
    • 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
    • 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
    • 1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
    • 1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
    • 1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
    • 1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
    • 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
    • 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
    • 1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
    • 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
    • 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
    • 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
    • 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
    • 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
    • 1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
    • 1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
    • 1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
    • 1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
    • 1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
    • 1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
    • 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
    • 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
    • 1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
    • 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
    • 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
    • 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
    • 1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
    • 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
    • 1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
    • 1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
    • 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
    • 1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
    • 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
    • 1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
    • 1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
    • 2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
    • 2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
    • 2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
    • 2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

    Births on May 10

    • 874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
    • 955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
    • 1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
    • 1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
    • 1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
    • 1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
    • 1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
    • 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
    • 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
    • 1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
    • 1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
    • 1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
    • 1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
    • 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
    • 1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
    • 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
    • 1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
    • 1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
    • 1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
    • 1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
    • 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
    • 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
    • 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
    • 1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
    • 1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
    • 1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
    • 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
    • 1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
    • 1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
    • 1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
    • 1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
    • 1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
    • 1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
    • 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
    • 1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
    • 1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
    • 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
    • 1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
    • 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
    • 1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
    • 1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
    • 1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
    • 1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
    • 1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
    • 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
    • 1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
    • 1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
    • 1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
    • 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
    • 1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
    • 1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
    • 1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
    • 1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
    • 1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
    • 1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
    • 1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
    • 1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
    • 1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
    • 1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
    • 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
    • 1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
    • 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
    • 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
    • 1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
    • 1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
    • 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
    • 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
    • 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
    • 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
    • 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
    • 1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
    • 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
    • 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
    • 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
    • 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
    • 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
    • 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
    • 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
    • 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
    • 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
    • 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
    • 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player

    Deaths on May 10

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

    Holidays and observances on May 10

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

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

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

    Births on May 6

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

    Deaths on May 6

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

    Holidays and observances on May 6

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

  • May 5 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    This day marks the approximate midpoint of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the March equinox).

    May 5 in History

    • 553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins
    • 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta.
    • 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire.
    • 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
    • 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament.
    • 1654 – Cromwell’s Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh.
    • 1672 – In preparation for the Franco-Dutch War, Louis XIV of France personally inspects his troops at Charleroi in one of the most magnificent displays of military power in the seventeenth century.
    • 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
    • 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614.
    • 1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
    • 1809 – The Swiss canton of Aargau allows citizenship to Jews.
    • 1811 – Peninsular War: In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, the British-Portuguese Army repels an attempt by the French Army of Portugal to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.
    • 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.
    • 1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen.
    • 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy.
    • 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate District of the Gulf surrenders about 4,000 men at Citronelle, Alabama.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia.
    • 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York.
    • 1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles.
    • 1886 – The Bay View massacre: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven.
    • 1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor.
    • 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball.
    • 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder.
    • 1912 – Pravda, the “voice” of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg.
    • 1920 – Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder.
    • 1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
    • 1927 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is first published.
    • 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
    • 1940 – World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London.
    • 1940 – World War II: Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms.
    • 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots’ Victory Day.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath becomes effective, encompassing all German armed forces opposing the 21st Army Group in northwestern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
    • 1945 – World War II: Dönitz gives Löhr permission to seek an armistice with the Western Allies to preserve a communist free Austria and recognising first, from a German standpoint, the separation of Austria from Germany undoing the Anschluss.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation.
    • 1945 – World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon.
    • 1945 – World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, the only battle in which American and German troops fought cooperatively.
    • 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
    • 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King of Thailand.
    • 1955 – The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.
    • 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight.
    • 1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day.
    • 1972 – Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.
    • 1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59​2⁄5, an as-yet unbeaten record.
    • 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege.
    • 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27.
    • 1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
    • 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America
    • 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man.
    • 1992 – Armand Césari Stadium disaster in Bastia (Corsica): Eighteen people are killed and 2,300 are injured when one of the terraces collapses before a football match between SC Bastia and Olympique de Marseille.
    • 1993 – Three eight-year-old boys are murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, Ultimately leading to the conviction of the West Memphis Three.
    • 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
    • 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism.
    • 1998 – A Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 operating for Occidental Petroleum crashes on approach to Alférez FAP Alfredo Vladimir Sara Bauer Airport in Andoas, Peru, killing 75 people.
    • 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
    • 2007 – Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon.
    • 2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.
    • 2014 – Eleven people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong.
    • 2014 – Twenty-two people die after two boats carrying refugees collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece.
    • 2019 – A Russian jet plane burst into flames while attempting an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow killing at least 41 people.
    • 2020 – The National Telecommunications Commission issued a Cease and desist order to ABS-CBN Corporation to stop the operation of it’s free TV and radio stations.

    Births on May 5

    • 1210 – Afonso III of Portugal (d. 1279)
    • 1282 – Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena (d. 1322)
    • 1310 – Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (d. 1376)
    • 1352 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (d. 1410)
    • 1479 – Guru Amar Das, Indian 3rd Sikh Guru (d. 1574)
    • 1504 – Stanislaus Hosius, Polish cardinal (d. 1579)
    • 1530 – Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, French nobleman (d. 1574)
    • 1542 – Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire (d. 1623)
    • 1582 – John Frederick, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1628)
    • 1684 – Françoise Charlotte d’Aubigné, French wife of Adrien Maurice de Noailles (d. 1739)
    • 1747 – Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1792)
    • 1749 – Jean-Frédéric Edelmann, French pianist and composer (d. 1794)
    • 1764 – Robert Craufurd, Scottish general and politician (d. 1812)
    • 1800 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (d. 1864)
    • 1813 – Søren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher and author (d. 1855)
    • 1818 – Karl Marx, German philosopher, sociologist, and journalist (d. 1883)
    • 1826 – Eugénie de Montijo, French wife of Napoleon III (d. 1920)
    • 1830 – John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (d. 1906)
    • 1832 – Hubert Howe Bancroft, American ethnologist and historian (d. 1918)
    • 1833 – Ferdinand von Richthofen, German geographer and academic (d. 1905)
    • 1834 – Viktor Hartmann, Russian painter and architect (d. 1873)
    • 1843 – William George Beers, Canadian dentist and patriot (d. 1900)
    • 1846 – Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
    • 1858 – John L. Leal, American physician (d. 1914)
    • 1859 – Charles B. Hanford, American Shakespearean actor (d. 1926)
    • 1864 – Nellie Bly, American journalist and author (d. 1922)
    • 1865 – Helen Maud Merrill, American litterateur and poet (d. 1943)
    • 1866 – Thomas B. Thrige, Danish businessman (d. 1938)
    • 1869 – Fabián de la Rosa, Filipino painter and educator (d. 1937)
    • 1869 – Hans Pfitzner, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
    • 1874 – Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1941)
    • 1882 – Sylvia Pankhurst, English women’s suffrage movement leader and socialist activist (d. 1960)
    • 1883 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English general and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (d. 1950)
    • 1883 – Anna Johnson Pell Wheeler, American mathematician (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Chief Bender, American baseball player and coach (d. 1954)
    • 1885 – Kingsley Fairbridge, South African-Australian scholar and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1887 – Mervyn S. Bennion, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1941)
    • 1889 – Herbie Taylor, South African cricketer and soldier (d. 1973)
    • 1890 – Christopher Morley, American journalist and author (d. 1957)
    • 1892 – Dorothy Garrod, British archaeologist (d. 1968)
    • 1898 – Elsie Eaves, American engineer (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Blind Willie McTell, American Piedmont blues singer and guitar player (d. 1959)
    • 1899 – Freeman Gosden, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1900 – Helen Redfield, American geneticist (d. 1988)
    • 1903 – James Beard, American chef and author (d. 1985)
    • 1905 – Floyd Gottfredson, American author and illustrator (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Charles Exbrayat, French author and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1907 – Daryna Dmytrivna Polotniuk, Bukovinian (Ukrainian) journalist and author (d. 1982)
    • 1908 – Kurt Böhme, German opera singer (d. 1989)
    • 1909 – Miklós Radnóti, Hungarian poet and author (d. 1944)
    • 1910 – Leo Lionni, American author and illustrator (d. 1999)
    • 1911 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1911 – Andor Lilienthal, Russian-Hungarian chess player (d. 2010)
    • 1911 – Pritilata Waddedar, Indian educator and activist (d. 1932)
    • 1913 – Duane Carter, American race car driver (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Tyrone Power, American actor (d. 1958)
    • 1915 – Alice Faye, American actress and singer (d. 1998)
    • 1916 – Zail Singh, Indian politician, 7th President of India (d. 1994)
    • 1917 – Pío Leyva, Cuban singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Egidio Galea, Maltese Roman Catholic priest (d. 2005)
    • 1919 – Georgios Papadopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, 169th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
    • 1922 – Irene Gut Opdyke, Polish nurse and humanitarian (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – William C. Campbell, American golfer (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – James Gilbert, Scottish television producer and director (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Cathleen Synge Morawetz, Canadian mathematician (d. 2017)
    • 1923 – Richard Wollheim, English philosopher and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1925 – Leo Ryan, American soldier, educator, and politician (d. 1978)
    • 1927 – Pat Carroll, American actress
    • 1929 – Ilene Woods, American actress (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Hans Abramson, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Greg, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1999)
    • 1932 – Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Bob Said, American race car driver and bobsled racer (d. 2002)
    • 1933 – Igor Kashkarov, Russian high jumper
    • 1933 – Collie Smith, Jamaican cricketer (d. 1959)
    • 1934 – Henri Konan Bédié, Ivorian politician, 2nd President of Côte d’Ivoire
    • 1934 – Victor Garland, Australian accountant and politician, 26th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
    • 1935 – Eddie Linden, Scottish poet and magazine editor
    • 1935 – Bernard Pivot, French journalist, talk show host, and producer
    • 1935 – Robert Rehme, American film producer
    • 1936 – Sandy Baron, American actor and comedian (d. 2001)
    • 1936 – Patrick Gowers, English composer and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Ervin Lázár, Hungarian author (d. 2006)
    • 1937 – Delia Derbyshire, English musician, arranger and composer (d. 2001)
    • 1938 – Michael Murphy, American actor
    • 1938 – Barbara Wagner, Canadian figure skater and coach
    • 1939 – Ray Gosling, English journalist, author, and activist (d. 2013)
    • 1940 – Lance Henriksen, American actor
    • 1940 – Michael Lindsay-Hogg, American director and producer
    • 1941 – Alexander Ragulin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
    • 1942 – István Bujtor, Hungarian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1942 – Jean Corston, Baroness Corston, English lawyer and politician
    • 1942 – Hugh Courtenay, 18th Earl of Devon, English politician (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
    • 1943 – Michael Palin, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1943 – Ignacio Ramonet, Spanish journalist and author
    • 1944 – Bo Larsson, Swedish footballer
    • 1944 – John Rhys-Davies, Welsh actor and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Roger Rees, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 2015)
    • 1945 – Kurt Loder, American journalist, author, and critic
    • 1945 – Dianne Willcocks, English sociologist and academic
    • 1946 – Jim Kelly, American actor, athlete, and martial artist
    • 1946 – Aydın Menderes, Turkish politician (d. 2011)
    • 1948 – Bella van der Spiegel-Hage, Dutch cyclist
    • 1948 – Bill Ward, English drummer and songwriter
    • 1949 – Eppie Bleeker, Dutch speed skater
    • 1950 – Rex Caldwell, American golfer
    • 1950 – Maggie MacNeal, Dutch singer
    • 1951 – Rudolf Finsterer, German rugby player and coach
    • 1951 – Toomas Vilosius, Estonian physician and politician, 2nd Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
    • 1952 – Ed Lee, American politician and attorney, 43rd Mayor of San Francisco (d. 2017)
    • 1952 – Jorge Llopart, Spanish race walker
    • 1952 – Willem Witteveen, Dutch scholar and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1955 – Jon Butcher, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and freelance multimedia producer
    • 1956 – Steve Scott, American runner and coach
    • 1957 – Richard E. Grant, Swazi-English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Peter Howitt, English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Aad van Mil, Dutch water polo player
    • 1958 – Ron Arad, Israeli colonel and pilot (d. 1986)
    • 1958 – Robert DiPierdomenico, Australian footballer and sportscaster
    • 1958 – Vanessa Downing, Australian actress
    • 1958 – Jack Wishna, American businessman, co-founded Rockcityclub (d. 2012)
    • 1959 – Bobby Ellsworth, American singer and bass player
    • 1959 – Ian McCulloch, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1959 – Steve Stevens, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1959 – Brian Williams, American journalist
    • 1960 – Doug Hawkins, Australian footballer and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Marg Downey, Australian actress
    • 1961 – Hiroshi Hase, Japanese wrestler and politician
    • 1961 – Rob Williams, American basketball player (d. 2014)
    • 1962 – Kaoru Wada, Japanese composer and conductor
    • 1963 – James LaBrie, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1963 – Simon Rimmer, English chef and author
    • 1963 – Scott Westerfeld, American author and composer
    • 1964 – Jean-François Copé, French politician, French Minister of Budget
    • 1964 – Heike Henkel, German high jumper
    • 1964 – Don Payne, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1964 – Minami Takayama, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1964 – Efrat Mishori, Israeli poet and filmmaker
    • 1965 – Glenn Seton, Australian race car driver
    • 1966 – Shawn Drover, Canadian drummer
    • 1966 – Sergei Stanishev, Bulgarian politician, 46th Prime Minister of Bulgaria
    • 1966 – Josh Weinstein, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1967 – Adam Hughes, American author and illustrator
    • 1967 – Alexis Sinduhije, Burundian journalist and politician
    • 1969 – Pieter Muller, South African rugby player
    • 1970 – Kyan Douglas, American television host and author
    • 1970 – Todd Newton, American game show host
    • 1971 – Harold Miner, American basketball player
    • 1971 – Mike Redmond, American baseball player and manager
    • 1972 – James Cracknell, English rower
    • 1972 – Žigmund Pálffy, Slovakian ice hockey player
    • 1972 – Mikael Renberg, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Meb Keflezighi, American runner
    • 1976 – Dieter Brummer, Australian actor
    • 1976 – Jean-François Dumoulin, Canadian race car driver
    • 1976 – Anastasios Pantos, Greek footballer
    • 1976 – Juan Pablo Sorín, Argentinian footballer and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Morgan Pehme, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1979 – Vincent Kartheiser, American actor
    • 1980 – Yossi Benayoun, Israeli footballer
    • 1980 – Hank Green, American entrepreneur, educator, and vlogger
    • 1980 – DerMarr Johnson, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Craig David, English singer-songwriter, musician and producer
    • 1981 – Danielle Fishel, American actress
    • 1982 – Ferrie Bodde, Dutch footballer
    • 1982 – Wouter D’Haene, Belgian sprinter
    • 1982 – Randall Gay, American football player
    • 1982 – Corey Parker, Australian rugby league footballer
    • 1983 – James Anyon, English cricketer
    • 1983 – Henry Cavill, English actor
    • 1983 – Mabel Gay, Cuban triple jumper
    • 1983 – Annie Villeneuve, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Scott Ware, American football player
    • 1984 – Johanna Hedva, Korean-American artist and genderqueer activist
    • 1984 – Wade MacNeil, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1984 – Christian Valdez, Mexican footballer
    • 1985 – Shoko Nakagawa, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1985 – Emanuele Giaccherini, Italian footballer
    • 1985 – Tsepo Masilela, South African footballer
    • 1985 – Marcos Rogério Oliveira Duarte, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Terrence Wheatley, American football player
    • 1987 – Graham Dorrans, Scottish footballer
    • 1988 – Adele, English singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Mervyn Westfield, English cricketer
    • 1989 – Chris Brown, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
    • 1991 – Xenofon Fetsis, Greek footballer
    • 1991 – Raúl Jiménez, Mexican footballer
    • 1992 – Loïck Landre, French footballer
    • 1994 – Celeste, English singer
    • 1998 – Aryna Sabalenka, Belarusian tennis player
    • 1999 – Nathan Chen, American figure skater
    • 1999 – Justin Kluivert, Dutch footballer

    Deaths on May 5

    • 465 – Gerontius, Archbishop of Milan
    • 1194 – Casimir II the Just, Polish son of Bolesław III Wrymouth (b. 1138)
    • 1243 – Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent, English justiciar (b. c. 1160)
    • 1306 – Constantine Palaiologos, Byzantine general (b. 1261)
    • 1309 – Charles II of Naples (b. 1254)
    • 1316 – Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I of England (b. 1282)
    • 1338 – Prince Tsunenaga, son of the Japanese Emperor (b. 1324)
    • 1380 – Saint Philotheos, Coptic martyr
    • 1432 – Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola, Italian adventurer
    • 1525 – Frederick III, Elector of Saxony (b. 1463)
    • 1582 – Charlotte of Bourbon, Princess consort of Orange, married to William I of Orange (b. 1547)
    • 1586 – Henry Sidney, Irish politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1529)
    • 1671 – Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester, English general and politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom (b. 1602)
    • 1672 – Samuel Cooper, English painter and linguist (b. 1609)
    • 1700 – Angelo Italia, Italian architect (b. 1628)
    • 1705 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1640)
    • 1760 – Laurence Shirley, 4th Earl Ferrers, English politician (b. 1720)
    • 1766 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (b. 1684)
    • 1808 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (b. 1757)
    • 1821 – Napoleon, French general and emperor (b. 1769)
    • 1827 – Frederick Augustus I of Saxony (b. 1750)
    • 1833 – Sophia Campbell, English-Australian painter (b. 1777)
    • 1855 – Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, English politician (b. 1786)
    • 1859 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (b. 1805)
    • 1860 – Jean-Charles Prince, Canadian bishop (b. 1804)
    • 1883 – John O’Shanassy, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Victoria (b. 1818)
    • 1892 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (b. 1818)
    • 1896 – Silas Adams, American lawyer and politician (b. 1839)
    • 1902 – Bret Harte, American short story writer and poet (b. 1836)
    • 1907 – Şeker Ahmed Pasha, Turkish soldier and painter (b. 1841)
    • 1913 – Henry Moret, French painter (b. 1856)
    • 1916 – John MacBride, Irish soldier and rebel (b. 1865)
    • 1916 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (b. 1866)
    • 1921 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian journalist and publicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
    • 1924 – A. Sabapathy, Sri Lankan journalist and politician (b. 1853)
    • 1931 – Glen Kidston, English pilot and race car driver (b. 1899)
    • 1942 – Qemal Stafa, Albanian politician (b. 1920)
    • 1947 – Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (b. 1917)
    • 1957 – Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (b. 1878)
    • 1959 – Carlos Saavedra Lamas, Argentinian academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1878)
    • 1962 – Ernest Tyldesley, English cricketer (b. 1889)
    • 1965 – Nikos Gounaris, Greek tenor and composer (b. 1915)
    • 1965 – John Waters, American director and screenwriter (b. 1893)
    • 1971 – Violet Jessop, Argentinean-English nurse (b. 1887)
    • 1973 – Zekai Özger, Turkish poet and academic (b. 1948)
    • 1977 – Ludwig Erhard, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1897)
    • 1981 – Bobby Sands, PIRA volunteer and hunger striker (b. 1954)
    • 1983 – Horst Schumann, German physician (b. 1901)
    • 1983 – John Williams, English-American actor (b. 1903)
    • 1985 – Donald Bailey, English engineer, designed the Bailey bridge (b. 1901)
    • 1988 – Michael Shaara, American author and academic (b. 1928)
    • 1993 – Irving Howe, American literary and social critic (b. 1920)
    • 1994 – Mário Quintana, Brazilian poet and translator (b. 1906)
    • 1995 – Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player and coach (b. 1911)
    • 1999 – Vasilis Diamantopoulos, Greek actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Gino Bartali, Italian cyclist (b. 1914)
    • 2000 – Bill Musselman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2001 – Morris Graves, American painter and educator (b. 1910)
    • 2001 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, created CliffsNotes (b. 1918)
    • 2002 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, 62nd President of Bolivia (b. 1926)
    • 2002 – Paul Wilbur Klipsch, American engineer, founded Klipsch Audio Technologies (b. 1904)
    • 2002 – George Sidney, American director and producer (b. 1916)
    • 2003 – Sam Bockarie, Sierra Leonean commander (b. 1964)
    • 2003 – Walter Sisulu, South African activist and politician (b. 1912)
    • 2006 – Naushad Ali, Indian composer and producer (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Atıf Yılmaz, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
    • 2007 – Theodore Harold Maiman, American-Canadian physicist and engineer, created the laser (b. 1927)
    • 2008 – Irv Robbins, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded Baskin-Robbins (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Jerry Wallace, American singer and guitarist (b. 1928)
    • 2010 – Giulietta Simionato, Italian soprano (b. 1910)
    • 2010 – Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Nigerian academic and politician, 13th President of Nigeria (b. 1951)
    • 2011 – Claude Choules, English-Australian soldier (b. 1901)
    • 2011 – Yosef Merimovich, Israeli footballer and manager (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Dana Wynter, British actress (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Surendranath, Indian cricketer (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Carl Johan Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (b. 1916)
    • 2012 – Aatos Erkko, Finnish journalist and publisher (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – George Knobel, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Roy Padayachie, South African lawyer and politician, South African Minister of Communications (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Sarah Kirsch, German poet and author (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Robert Ressler, American FBI agent and author (b. 1937)
    • 2014 – Michael Otedola, Nigerian journalist and politician, 9th Governor of Lagos State (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Jobst Brandt, American cyclist, engineer, and author (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Hans Jansen, Dutch linguist, academic, and politician (b. 1942)
    • 2017 – Binyamin Elon, Israeli Orthodox rabbi and politician (b. 1954)
    • 2017 – Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, Mauritanian politician (b. 1953)

    Holidays and observances on May 5

    • Children’s Day (Japan, South Korea)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Angelus of Jerusalem
      • Aventinus of Tours
      • Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice
      • Frederick the Wise (Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod)
      • Hilary of Arles
      • Jutta of Kulmsee
      • Stanisław Kazimierczyk
      • May 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Cinco de Mayo (Mexico, United States)
    • Constitution Day (Kyrgyzstan)
    • Europe Day (Council of Europe)
    • Feast of al-Khadr or Saint George (Palestinian)
    • Indian Arrival Day (Guyana)
    • International Midwives’ Day (International)
    • Liberation Day (Denmark, Netherlands)
    • Lusophone Culture Day (Community of Portuguese Language Countries)
    • World Portuguese language day (International)
    • Martyrs’ Day (Albania)
    • Patriots’ Victory Day (Ethiopia)
    • Senior Citizens Day (Palau)
    • Tango no sekku (Japan)

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

    May 2 in History

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

    Births on May 2

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

    Deaths on May 2

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

    Holidays and observances on May 2

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

  • April 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
    • 775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
    • 799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
    • 1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
    • 1607 – Eighty Years’ War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
    • 1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
    • 1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
    • 1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
    • 1792 – “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
    • 1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire.
    • 1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
    • 1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
    • 1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
    • 1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks’ Mills.
    • 1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
    • 1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
    • 1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
    • 1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
    • 1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
    • 1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class “A” League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
    • 1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
    • 1940 – Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands is approved by the British occupation government.
    • 1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
    • 1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.
    • 1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini is captured after trying to escape. This day was set as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation of Italy.
    • 1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
    • 1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland’s soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
    • 1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
    • 1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.
    • 1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
    • 1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
    • 1960 – The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
    • 1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
    • 1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
    • 1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
    • 1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
    • 1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
    • 1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
    • 1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
    • 1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.
    • 1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
    • 1988 – In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
    • 1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
    • 2001 – Michele Alboreto is killed while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
    • 2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
    • 2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
    • 2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
    • 2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
    • 2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.

    Births on April 25

    • 1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
    • 1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
    • 1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
    • 1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
    • 1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
    • 1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
    • 1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
    • 1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
    • 1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
    • 1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
    • 1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
    • 1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
    • 1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
    • 1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
    • 1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
    • 1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
    • 1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
    • 1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
    • 1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
    • 1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
    • 1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
    • 1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
    • 1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
    • 1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
    • 1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
    • 1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
    • 1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children’s stories (d. 1962)
    • 1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi’s law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
    • 1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
    • 1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
    • 1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
    • 1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
    • 1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
    • 1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
    • 1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
    • 1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
    • 1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
    • 1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
    • 1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
    • 1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
    • 1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
    • 1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
    • 1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
    • 1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
    • 1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
    • 1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
    • 1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
    • 1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
    • 1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
    • 1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
    • 1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
    • 1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
    • 1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
    • 1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
    • 1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
    • 1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
    • 1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
    • 1925 – Louis O’Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
    • 1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
    • 1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
    • 1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
    • 1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
    • 1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
    • 1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
    • 1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
    • 1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
    • 1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
    • 1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
    • 1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
    • 1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
    • 1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
    • 1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
    • 1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
    • 1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
    • 1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
    • 1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
    • 1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
    • 1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
    • 1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
    • 1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland
    • 1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician
    • 1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
    • 1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
    • 1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
    • 1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
    • 1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
    • 1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
    • 1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
    • 1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
    • 1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
    • 1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
    • 1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
    • 1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
    • 1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
    • 1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
    • 1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
    • 1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
    • 1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
    • 1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
    • 1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
    • 1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
    • 1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
    • 1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
    • 1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
    • 1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
    • 1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
    • 1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
    • 1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
    • 1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
    • 1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian director, producer, and critic
    • 1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
    • 1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
    • 1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
    • 1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
    • 1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
    • 1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
    • 1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
    • 1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
    • 1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
    • 1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
    • 1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
    • 1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
    • 1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
    • 1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
    • 1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
    • 1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
    • 1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
    • 1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
    • 1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
    • 1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
    • 1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
    • 1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
    • 1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
    • 1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
    • 1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
    • 1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
    • 1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
    • 1977 – Constantinos Christoforou, Cypriot singer-songwriter
    • 1977 – Ilias Kotsios, Greek footballer
    • 1977 – Marguerite Moreau, American actress and producer
    • 1977 – Matthew West, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1978 – Matt Walker, English swimmer
    • 1980 – Ben Johnston, Scottish drummer and songwriter
    • 1980 – James Johnston, Scottish bass player and songwriter
    • 1980 – Daniel MacPherson, Australian actor and television host
    • 1980 – Bruce Martin, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1980 – Kazuhito Tadano, Japanese baseball player
    • 1980 – Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
    • 1981 – Dwone Hicks, American football player
    • 1981 – Felipe Massa, Brazilian racing driver
    • 1981 – John McFall, English sprinter
    • 1981 – Anja Pärson, Swedish skier
    • 1982 – Brian Barton, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Monty Panesar, English cricketer
    • 1982 – Marco Russo, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Johnathan Thurston, Australian rugby league player
    • 1983 – DeAngelo Williams, American football player
    • 1984 – Robert Andino, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Isaac Kiprono Songok, Kenyan runner
    • 1985 – Giedo van der Garde, Dutch racing driver
    • 1986 – Alexei Emelin, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Thin Seng Hon, Cambodian Paralympic athlete
    • 1986 – Gwen Jorgensen, American triathlete
    • 1986 – Claudia Rath, German heptathlete
    • 1987 – Razak Boukari, Togolese footballer
    • 1987 – Jay Park, American-South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1987 – Johann Smith, American soccer player
    • 1988 – James Sheppard, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Marie-Michèle Gagnon, Canadian skier
    • 1989 – Michael van Gerwen, Dutch darts player
    • 1989 – Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, one of the highest-ranking spiritual leaders in Tibet
    • 1990 – Jean-Éric Vergne, French racing driver
    • 1990 – Taylor Walker, Australian footballer
    • 1991 – Alex Shibutani, American ice dancer
    • 1993 – Alex Bowman, American race car driver
    • 1993 – Daniel Norris, American baseball player
    • 1994 – Omar McLeod, Jamaican hurdler
    • 1995 – Lewis Baker, English footballer
    • 1996 – Mack Horton, Australian swimmer
    • 1997 – Julius Ertlthaler, Austrian footballer

    Deaths on April 25

    • 501 – Rusticus, saint and archbishop of Lyon (b. 455)
    • 775 – Smbat VII Bagratuni, Armenian prince
    • 775 – Mushegh VI Mamikonian, Armenian prince
    • 908 – Zhang Wenwei, Chinese chancellor
    • 1074 – Herman I, Margrave of Baden
    • 1077 – Géza I of Hungary (b. 1040)
    • 1185 – Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
    • 1217 – Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia
    • 1228 – Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem (b. 1212)
    • 1243 – Boniface of Valperga, Bishop of Aosta
    • 1264 – Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, medieval English nobleman; Earl of Winchester (b. 1195)
    • 1295 – Sancho IV of Castile (b. 1258)
    • 1342 – Pope Benedict XII (b. 1285)
    • 1397 – Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent, English nobleman
    • 1472 – Leon Battista Alberti, Italian author, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
    • 1516 – John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
    • 1566 – Louise Labé, French poet and author (b. 1520)
    • 1566 – Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
    • 1595 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and songwriter (b. 1544)
    • 1605 – Naresuan, Siamese King of Ayutthaya Kingdom (b. c. 1555)
    • 1644 – Chongzhen Emperor of China (b. 1611)
    • 1660 – Henry Hammond, English cleric and theologian (b. 1605)
    • 1690 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish painter and educator (b. 1610)
    • 1744 – Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1701)
    • 1770 – Jean-Antoine Nollet, French minister, physicist, and academic (b. 1700)
    • 1800 – William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
    • 1840 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1781)
    • 1873 – Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1783)
    • 1875 – 12th Dalai Lama (b. 1857)
    • 1878 – Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
    • 1890 – Crowfoot, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1830)
    • 1891 – Nathaniel Woodard, English priest and educator (b. 1811)
    • 1892 – Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (b. 1840)
    • 1892 – Karl von Ditmar, Estonian-German geologist and explorer (b. 1822)
    • 1906 – John Knowles Paine, American composer and educator (b. 1839)
    • 1911 – Emilio Salgari, Italian journalist and author (b. 1862)
    • 1913 – Joseph-Alfred Archambeault, Canadian bishop (b. 1859)
    • 1915 – Frederick W. Seward, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (b. 1830)
    • 1919 – Augustus D. Juilliard, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1836)
    • 1923 – Louis-Olivier Taillon, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Premier of Quebec (b. 1840)
    • 1928 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (b. 1878)
    • 1941 – Salih Bozok, Turkish commander and politician (b. 1881)
    • 1943 – Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian director, producer, and playwright (b. 1858)
    • 1944 – George Herriman, American cartoonist (b. 1880)
    • 1944 – Tony Mullane, Irish-American baseball player (b. 1859)
    • 1944 – William Stephens, American engineer and politician, 24th Governor of California (b. 1859)
    • 1945 – Huldreich Georg Früh, Swiss composer (b. 1903)
    • 1961 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (b. 1875)
    • 1970 – Anita Louise, American actress (b. 1915)
    • 1972 – George Sanders, English actor (b. 1906)
    • 1973 – Olga Grey, Hungarian-American actress (b. 1896)
    • 1974 – Gustavo R. Vincenti, Maltese architect and developer (b. 1888)
    • 1975 – Mike Brant, Israeli singer and songwriter (b.1947)
    • 1976 – Carol Reed, English director and producer (b. 1906)
    • 1976 – Markus Reiner, Israeli engineer and educator (b. 1886)
    • 1982 – John Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
    • 1983 – William S. Bowdern, American priest and author (b. 1897)
    • 1988 – Carolyn Franklin, American singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
    • 1988 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (b. 1904)
    • 1990 – Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist, composer, and actor (b. 1923)
    • 1992 – Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
    • 1995 – Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
    • 1995 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1911)
    • 1995 – Lev Shankovsky, Ukrainian military historian (b. 1903)
    • 1996 – Saul Bass, American graphic designer and director (b. 1920)
    • 1998 – Wright Morris, American author and photographer (b. 1910)
    • 1999 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author (b. 1914)
    • 1999 – Roger Troutman, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1951)
    • 2000 – Lucien Le Cam, French mathematician and statistician (b. 1924)
    • 2000 – David Merrick, American director and producer (b. 1911)
    • 2001 – Michele Alboreto, Italian racing driver (b. 1956)
    • 2002 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (b. 1971)
    • 2003 – Samson Kitur, Kenyan runner (b. 1966)
    • 2004 – Thom Gunn, English-American poet and academic (b. 1929)
    • 2005 – Jim Barker, American politician (b. 1935)
    • 2005 – Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk and educator (b. 1908)
    • 2006 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent member of parliament (b. 1948)
    • 2007 – Alan Ball Jr., English footballer and manager (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Arthur Milton, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1928)
    • 2007 – Bobby Pickett, American singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
    • 2008 – Humphrey Lyttelton, English trumpet player, composer, and radio host (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
    • 2010 – Dorothy Provine, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
    • 2010 – Alan Sillitoe, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Poly Styrene, British musician (b. 1957)
    • 2012 – Gerry Bahen, Australian footballer (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Denny Jones, American rancher and politician (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – Moscelyne Larkin, American ballerina and educator (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Louis le Brocquy, Irish painter and illustrator (b. 1916)
    • 2013 – Brian Adam, Scottish biochemist and politician (b. 1948)
    • 2013 – Jacob Avshalomov, American composer and conductor (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – György Berencsi, Hungarian virologist and academic (b. 1941)
    • 2013 – Rick Camp, American baseball player (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Dan Heap, Canadian priest and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – William Judson Holloway Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and judge (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Earl Morrall, American football player and coach (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Tito Vilanova, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1968)
    • 2014 – Stefanie Zweig, German journalist and author (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Jim Fanning, American-Canadian baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Don Mankiewicz, American screenwriter and novelist (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Mike Phillips, American basketball player (b. 1956)
    • 2016 – Tom Lewis, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of New South Wales (b. 1922)
    • 2018 – Madeeha Gauhar, Pakistani actress, playwright and director of social theater, and women’s rights activist (b. 1956)
    • 2019 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on April 25

    • Anniversary of the First Cabinet of Kurdish Government (Iraqi Kurdistan)
    • Anzac Day (Australia, New Zealand)
    • Arbor Day (Germany)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Giovanni Battista Piamarta
      • Major Rogation (Western Christianity)
      • Mark the Evangelist
      • Maughold
      • Philo and Agathopodes
      • Anianus of Alexandria
      • April 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • DNA Day
    • Flag Day (Faroe Islands)
    • Freedom Day (Portugal)
    • Liberation Day (Italy)
    • Liberation Day (South Georgia)
    • Military Foundation Day (North Korea)
    • Parental Alienation Awareness Day
    • Red Hat Society Day
    • Sinai Liberation Day (Egypt)
    • World Malaria Day

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

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

    Births on April 18

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

    Deaths on April 18

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

    Holidays and observances on  April 18

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

  • April 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1080 – Harald III of Denmark dies and is succeeded by Canute IV, who would later be the first Dane to be canonized.
    • 1349 – The rule of the Bavand dynasty in Mazandaran is brought to an end by the murder of Hasan II.
    • 1362 – Kaunas Castle falls to the Teutonic Order after a month-long siege.
    • 1492 – Spain and Christopher Columbus sign the Capitulations of Santa Fe for his voyage to Asia to acquire spices.
    • 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther over his teachings begins during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. Initially intimidated, he asks for time to reflect before answering and is given a stay of one day.
    • 1524 – Giovanni da Verrazzano reaches New York harbor.
    • 1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, in what would be one of the largest invasions of the Spanish territories in the Americas.
    • 1797 – Citizens of Verona begin an unsuccessful eight-day rebellion against the French occupying forces.
    • 1861 – The state of Virginia’s secession convention votes to secede from the United States, later becoming the eighth state to join the Confederate States of America.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Grierson’s Raid begins: Troops under Union Army Colonel Benjamin Grierson attack central Mississippi.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Plymouth begins: Confederate forces attack Plymouth, North Carolina.
    • 1869 – Morelos is admitted as the 27th state of Mexico.
    • 1876 – Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.
    • 1895 – The Treaty of Shimonoseki between China and Japan is signed. This marks the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, and the defeated Qing Empire is forced to renounce its claims on Korea and to concede the southern portion of the Fengtien province, Taiwan and the Pescadores Islands to Japan.
    • 1905 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides Lochner v. New York, which holds that the “right to free contract” is implicit in the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
    • 1907 – The Ellis Island immigration center processes 11,747 people, more than on any other day.
    • 1912 – Russian troops open fire on striking goldfield workers in northeast Siberia, killing at least 150.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia surrenders to Germany.
    • 1942 – French prisoner of war General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Königstein Fortress.
    • 1944 – Forces of the Communist-controlled Greek People’s Liberation Army attack the smaller National and Social Liberation resistance group, which surrenders. Its leader Dimitrios Psarros is murdered.
    • 1945 – World War II: Montese, Italy, is liberated from Nazi forces.
    • 1946 – The last French troops are withdrawn from Syria.
    • 1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom’s first National Park.
    • 1961 – Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
    • 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy.
    • 1969 – Communist Party of Czechoslovakia chairman Alexander Dubček is deposed.
    • 1970 – Apollo program: The ill-fated Apollo 13 spacecraft returns to Earth safely.
    • 1971 – The Provisional Government of Bangladesh is formed.
    • 1975 – The Cambodian Civil War ends. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
    • 1978 – Mir Akbar Khyber is assassinated, provoking a communist coup d’état in Afghanistan.
    • 1982 – Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
    • 1992 – The Katina P is deliberately run aground off of Maputo, Mozambique and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
    • 2006 – A Palestinian suicide bomber detonates an explosive device in a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 11 people and injuring 70.
    • 2013 – An explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West, Texas, kills 15 people and injures 160 others.
    • 2014 – NASA’s Kepler space telescope confirms the discovery of the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of another star.

    Births on April 17

    • 44 – Pope Evaristus (d. 107)
    • 1277 – Michael IX Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1320)
    • 1455 – Andrea Gritti, Doge of Venice (d. 1538)
    • 1497 – Pedro de Valdivia, Spanish conquistador, conquered northern Chile (d. 1553)
    • 1573 – Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria (d. 1651)
    • 1586 – John Ford, English poet and playwright (d. 1639)
    • 1598 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (d. 1671)
    • 1620 – Marguerite Bourgeoys, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal (d. 1700)
    • 1635 – Edward Stillingfleet, British theologian and scholar (d. 1699)
    • 1676 – Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
    • 1683 – Johann David Heinichen, German composer and theorist (d. 1729)
    • 1710 – Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, Scottish politician (d. 1767)
    • 1734 – Taksin, King of Thailand (d. 1782)
    • 1741 – Samuel Chase, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1811)
    • 1750 – François de Neufchâteau, French academic and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1828)
    • 1756 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian commander (d. 1805)
    • 1766 – Collin McKinney, American surveyor, merchant, and politician (d. 1861)
    • 1794 – Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, German botanist and explorer (d. 1868)
    • 1798 – Étienne Bobillier, French mathematician and academic (d. 1840)
    • 1814 – Josif Pančić, Serbian botanist and academic (d. 1888)
    • 1816 – Thomas Hazlehurst, English architect and philanthropist (d. 1876)
    • 1820 – Alexander Cartwright, American firefighter and inventor of baseball (d. 1892)
    • 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Accolay, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1900)
    • 1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co. (d. 1913)
    • 1842 – Maurice Rouvier, French businessman and politician, 53rd Prime Minister of France (d. 1911)
    • 1849 – William R. Day, American jurist and politician, 36th United States Secretary of State (d. 1923)
    • 1852 – Cap Anson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1922)
    • 1863 – Augustus Edward Hough Love, English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
    • 1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (d. 1939)
    • 1866 – Ernest Starling, English physiologist and academic (d. 1927)
    • 1875 – Aleksander Tõnisson, Estonian general and politician, 5th Estonian Minister of War (d. 1941)
    • 1877 – Matsudaira Tsuneo, Japanese diplomat (d. 1949)
    • 1878 – Emil Fuchs, German-American lawyer and businessman (d. 1961)
    • 1878 – Demetrios Petrokokkinos, Greek tennis player (d. 1942)
    • 1879 – Henri Tauzin, French hurdler (d. 1918)
    • 1882 – Artur Schnabel, Jewish-Polish pianist and composer (d. 1951)
    • 1888 – Herms Niel, German soldier, trombonist, and composer (d. 1954)
    • 1891 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (d. 1965)
    • 1895 – Robert Dean Frisbie, American soldier and author (d. 1948)
    • 1896 – Señor Wences, Spanish-American ventriloquist (d. 1999)
    • 1897 – Nisargadatta Maharaj, Indian philosopher and educator (d. 1981)
    • 1897 – Thornton Wilder, American novelist and playwright (d. 1975)
    • 1897 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (d. 1983)
    • 1899 – Aleksander Klumberg, Estonian decathlete and coach (d. 1958)
    • 1903 – Nicolas Nabokov, Russian-American composer and educator (d. 1978)
    • 1903 – Gregor Piatigorsky, Ukrainian-American cellist and educator (d. 1976)
    • 1903 – Morgan Taylor, American hurdler and coach (d. 1975)
    • 1905 – Louis Jean Heydt, American journalist and actor (d. 1960)
    • 1905 – Arthur Lake, American actor (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – Sidney Garfield, American physician, co-founded Kaiser Permanente (d. 1984)
    • 1909 – Alain Poher, French politician, President of France (d. 1996)
    • 1910 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister of Defence (d. 1990)
    • 1910 – Ivan Goff, Australian screenwriter and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1910 – Helenio Herrera, French footballer and manager (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Hervé Bazin, French author and poet (d. 1996)
    • 1911 – Lester Rodney, American soldier and journalist (d. 2009)
    • 1912 – Marta Eggerth, Jewish-Hungarian-American actress and singer (d. 2013)
    • 1914 – George Davis, American art director (d. 1984)
    • 1914 – Mac Raboy, American illustrator (d. 1967)
    • 1915 – Martin Clemens, Scottish soldier (d. 2009)
    • 1915 – Joe Foss, American general and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Regina Ghazaryan, Armenian painter (d. 1999)
    • 1916 – Win Maung, 3rd President of Union of Myanmar (d. 1989)
    • 1916 – A. Thiagarajah, Sri Lankan educator and politician (d. 1981)
    • 1916 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, world’s first female prime minister (d. 2000)
    • 1918 – William Holden, American actor (d. 1981)
    • 1919 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2016)
    • 1919 – Chavela Vargas, Costa Rican-Mexican singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Lindsay Anderson, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
    • 1923 – Solly Hemus, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2017)
    • 1923 – Neville McNamara, Australian air marshal (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Gianni Raimondi, Italian lyric tenor (d. 2008)
    • 1923 – Harry Reasoner, American soldier and journalist (d. 1991)
    • 1924 – Kenneth Norman Jones, Australian public servant
    • 1924 – Donald Richie, American-Japanese author and critic (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – René Moawad, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 13th President of Lebanon (d. 1989)
    • 1926 – Joan Lorring, British actress (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2004)
    • 1927 – Margot Honecker, East German politician and First Lady (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Victor Lownes, American businessman (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Cynthia Ozick, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist
    • 1928 – Heinz Putzl, Austrian fencer
    • 1928 – Fabien Roy, Canadian accountant and politician
    • 1929 – James Last, German-American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Chris Barber, English trombonist and bandleader
    • 1931 – John Barrett, English tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1931 – Malcolm Browne, American journalist and photographer (d. 2012)
    • 1934 – Don Kirshner, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – Peter Morris, Australian-English surgeon and academic
    • 1935 – Bud Paxson, American broadcaster, founded Home Shopping Network and Pax TV (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Ronald Hamowy, Canadian historian and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1937 – Ferdinand Piëch, Austrian-German engineer and businessman (d. 2019)
    • 1938 – Ben Barnes, American businessman and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Texas
    • 1938 – Doug Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 41st Canadian Minister of Justice
    • 1938 – Ronald H. Miller, American theologian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
    • 1938 – Kerry Wendell Thornley, American theorist and author (d. 1988)
    • 1939 – Robert Miller, American art dealer (d. 2011)
    • 1940 – Eric Dancer, English businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon
    • 1940 – Billy Fury, English singer-songwriter (d. 1983)
    • 1940 – John McCririck, English journalist (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Chuck Menville, American animator and screenwriter (d. 1992)
    • 1940 – Anja Silja, German soprano and actress
    • 1940 – Agostino Vallini, Italian cardinal and vicar general of Rome
    • 1941 – Lagle Parek, Estonian architect and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior
    • 1942 – Buster Williams, American jazz bassist
    • 1943 – Richard Allen Epstein, American lawyer, author, and academic
    • 1946 – Clare Francis, English sailor and author
    • 1947 – Nigel Emslie, Lord Emslie, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1947 – Richard Field, English lawyer and judge
    • 1947 – Sherrie Levine, American photographer
    • 1947 – Tsutomu Wakamatsu, Japanese baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1948 – Jan Hammer, Czech pianist, composer, and producer
    • 1948 – Alice Harden, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1948 – Pekka Vasala, Finnish runner
    • 1951 – Olivia Hussey, Argentinian-English actress
    • 1951 – Börje Salming, Swedish ice hockey player and businessman
    • 1952 – Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (d. 2016)
    • 1952 – Pierre Guité, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1952 – John McColl, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
    • 1952 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian commander (d. 2000)
    • 1952 – John Robertson, Scottish businessman and politician
    • 1954 – Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
    • 1954 – Roddy Piper, Canadian professional wrestler and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1954 – Michael Sembello, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Todd Lickliter, American basketball player and coach
    • 1955 – Pete Shelley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
    • 1955 – Mike Stroud, English physician and explorer
    • 1956 – Colin Tyre, Lord Tyre, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1957 – Teri Austin, Canadian actress
    • 1957 – Afrika Bambaataa, American disc jockey
    • 1957 – Nick Hornby, English novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Julia Macur, English lawyer and judge
    • 1957 – Frank McDonough, British historian
    • 1958 – Laslo Babits, Canadian javelin thrower (d. 2013)
    • 1959 – Sean Bean, English actor
    • 1959 – Jimmy Mann, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1959 – Li Meisu, Chinese shot putter
    • 1960 – Vladimir Polyakov, Russian pole vaulter
    • 1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor union leader
    • 1961 – Norman Cowans, Jamaican-English cricketer
    • 1961 – Boomer Esiason, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1961 – Bella Freud, English fashion designer
    • 1962 – Paul Nicholls, English jockey and trainer
    • 1964 – Ken Daneyko, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1964 – Maynard James Keenan, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1964 – Rachel Notley, Canadian politician
    • 1964 – Lela Rochon, American actress
    • 1966 – Vikram, Indian actor and singer
    • 1967 – Kimberly Elise, American actress
    • 1967 – Marquis Grissom, American baseball player and coach
    • 1967 – Ian Jones, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1967 – Barnaby Joyce, Australian politician, 17th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
    • 1967 – Liz Phair, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1968 – Julie Fagerholt, Danish fashion designer
    • 1968 – Phil Henderson, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1968 – Eric Lamaze, Canadian jockey
    • 1968 – Roger Twose, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1968 – Richie Woodhall, English boxer and trainer
    • 1970 – Redman, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1971 – Claire Sweeney, English actress
    • 1972 – Gary Bennett, American baseball player
    • 1972 – Tony Boselli, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Jennifer Garner, American actress
    • 1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1972 – Yuichi Nishimura, Japanese footballer and referee
    • 1972 – Terran Sandwith, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1973 – Katrin Koov, Estonian architect
    • 1973 – Brett Maher, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Theo Ratliff, American basketball player
    • 1974 – Mikael Åkerfeldt, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1974 – Victoria Beckham, English singer and fashion designer
    • 1975 – Heidi Alexander, English politician
    • 1975 – Travis Roy, American ice hockey player
    • 1976 – Maurice Wignall, Jamaican hurdler and long jumper
    • 1977 – Chad Hedrick, American speed skater
    • 1977 – Frederik Magle, Danish composer, organist, and pianist
    • 1978 – Monika Bergmann-Schmuderer, German skier
    • 1978 – Lindsay Hartley, American actress
    • 1978 – Jason White, Scottish rugby player
    • 1979 – Eric Brewer, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Marija Šestak, Serbian-Slovenian triple jumper
    • 1980 – Fabián Vargas, Colombian footballer
    • 1980 – Curtis Woodhouse, English footballer, boxer, and manager
    • 1981 – Jenny Meadows, English runner
    • 1981 – Hanna Pakarinen, Finnish singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Ryan Raburn, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Chris Thompson, English runner
    • 1981 – Zhang Yaokun, Chinese footballer
    • 1982 – Brad Boyes, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Chuck Kobasew, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Roberto Jiménez, Peruvian footballer
    • 1983 – Andrea Marcato, Italian rugby player
    • 1984 – Pablo Sebastián Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
    • 1984 – Jed Lowrie, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Raffaele Palladino, Italian footballer
    • 1985 – Rooney Mara, American actress
    • 1985 – Luke Mitchell, Australian actor and model
    • 1985 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, French tennis player
    • 1986 – Romain Grosjean, French race car driver
    • 1988 – Takahiro Moriuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1989 – Paraskevi Papachristou, Greek triple jumper
    • 1989 – Avi Kaplan, singer and songwriter
    • 1990 – Jonathan Brown, Welsh footballer
    • 1992 – Lachlan Maranta, Australian rugby league footballer
    • 1994 – Alanna Goldie, Canadian fencer
    • 1996 – Lorna Fitzgerald, British actress

    Deaths on April 17

    • 485 – Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (b. 412)
    • 617 – Donnán of Eigg, Irish priest and saint
    • 648 – Xiao, empress of the Sui Dynasty
    • 744 – Al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 706)
    • 818 – Bernard of Italy, Frankish king (b. 797)
    • 858 – Benedict III, pope of the Catholic Church
    • 1071 – Manuel Komnenos, Byzantine military commander (b. c. 1045)
    • 1080 – Harald III of Denmark (b. 1041)
    • 1111 – Robert of Molesme, Christian saint and abbot (b. 1027)
    • 1298 – Árni Þorláksson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1237)
    • 1321 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal (b. 1259)
    • 1331 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (b. 1257)
    • 1344 – Constantine II, King of Armenia
    • 1355 – Marin Falier, Doge of Venice (b. 1285)
    • 1427 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (b. 1403)
    • 1539 – George, Duke of Saxony (b. 1471)
    • 1574 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (b. 1500)
    • 1669 – Antonio Bertali, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1605)
    • 1680 – Kateri Tekakwitha, Mohawk-born Native American saint (b. 1656)
    • 1695 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican poet and scholar (b. 1651)
    • 1696 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French author (b. 1626)
    • 1711 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1678)
    • 1713 – David Hollatz, Polish pastor and theologian (b. 1648)
    • 1764 – Johann Mattheson, German lexicographer and composer (b. 1681)
    • 1790 – Benjamin Franklin, American inventor, publisher, and politician, 6th President of Pennsylvania (b. 1706)
    • 1799 – Richard Jupp, English surveyor and architect (b. 1728)
    • 1840 – Hannah Webster Foster, American journalist and author (b. 1758)
    • 1843 – Samuel Morey, American engineer (b. 1762)
    • 1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet (b. 1810)
    • 1888 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (b. 1821)
    • 1892 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1822)
    • 1921 – Manwel Dimech, Maltese journalist, author, and philosopher (b. 1860)
    • 1923 – Laurence Ginnell, Irish lawyer and politician (b. 1852)
    • 1930 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1863)
    • 1933 – Kote Marjanishvili, Georgian director and playwright (b. 1872)
    • 1936 – Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck, Dutch lawyer and politician, 28th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1873)
    • 1942 – Jean Baptiste Perrin, French-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
    • 1944 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer and coach (b. 1867)
    • 1944 – Dimitrios Psarros, Greek lieutenant, founded the National and Social Liberation (b. 1893)
    • 1946 – Juan Bautista Sacasa, Nicaraguan medical doctor, politician and 20th President of Nicaragua (b. 1874)
    • 1948 – Suzuki Kantarō, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1868)
    • 1954 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian lawyer and politician, Romanian Minister of Justice (b. 1900)
    • 1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1938)
    • 1961 – Elda Anderson, American physicist and health researcher (b. 1899)
    • 1967 – Red Allen, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908)
    • 1975 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and politician, 2nd President of India (b. 1888)
    • 1976 – Henrik Dam, Danish biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
    • 1977 – William Conway, Irish cardinal (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Felix Pappalardi, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (b. 1939)
    • 1984 – Claude Provost, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1933)
    • 1987 – Cecil Harmsworth King, English publisher (b. 1901)
    • 1987 – Dick Shawn, American actor (b. 1923)
    • 1988 – Louise Nevelson, Ukrainian-American sculptor and educator (b. 1900)
    • 1990 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (b. 1936)
    • 1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish engineer and politician, 8th president of Turkey (b. 1927)
    • 1994 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American psychologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1913)
    • 1995 – Frank E. Resnik, American sergeant and businessman (b. 1928)
    • 1996 – Piet Hein, Danish poet and mathematician (b. 1905)
    • 1997 – Chaim Herzog, Israeli general, lawyer, and politician, 6th President of Israel (b. 1918)
    • 1998 – Linda McCartney, American photographer, activist, and musician (b. 1941)
    • 2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet (b. 1930)
    • 2003 – H. B. Bailey, American race car driver (b. 1936)
    • 2003 – John Paul Getty, Jr., American-English philanthropist (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Earl King, American blues singer, guitarist and songwriter (b. 1934)
    • 2003 – Yiannis Latsis, Greek businessman (b. 1910)
    • 2004 – Edmond Pidoux, Swiss author and poet (b. 1908)
    • 2006 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (b. 1907)
    • 2006 – Scott Brazil, American director and producer (b. 1955)
    • 2006 – Henderson Forsythe, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Kitty Carlisle, American actress, singer, socialite and game show panelist (b. 1910)
    • 2008 – Aimé Césaire, Caribbean-French poet and politician (b. 1913)
    • 2008 – Danny Federici, American organist and accordion player (b. 1950)
    • 2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (b. 1940)
    • 2011 – Robert Vickrey, American artist and author (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Leila Berg, English journalist and author (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – J. Quinn Brisben, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Nityananda Mohapatra, Indian journalist, poet, and politician (b. 1912)
    • 2012 – Jonathan V. Plaut, American rabbi and author (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Stanley Rogers Resor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Secretary of the Army (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Carlos Graça, São Toméan politician, Prime Minister of São Tomé and Príncipe (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Bi Kidude, Tanzanian Taarab singer (b. ≈1910)
    • 2013 – Yngve Moe, Norwegian bass player and songwriter (b. 1957)
    • 2013 – V. S. Ramadevi, Indian politician, 13th Governor of Karnataka (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Bernat Klein, Serbian-Scottish fashion designer and painter (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Wojciech Leśnikowski, Polish–American architect and academic (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – Robert P. Griffin, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – Scotty Probasco, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Jeremiah J. Rodell, American general (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – A. Alfred Taubman, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
    • 2016 – Chyna, American wrestler (b. 1969)
    • 2016 – Doris Roberts, American actress (b. 1925)
    • 2018 – Barbara Bush, former First Lady of the United States (b. 1925)
    • 2018 – Carl Kasell, American radio personality (b. 1934)
    • 2019 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (b. 1949)

    Holidays and observances on April 17

    • Christian feast day:
      • Kateri Tekakwitha (Canada)
      • Stephen Harding
      • April 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Store Bededag or General Prayer Day can fall, while May 13 is the latest; observed on the 4th Friday after Easter. (Denmark)
    • Evacuation Day (Syria), celebrates the recognition of the independence of Syria from France in 1946.
    • FAO Day (Iraq)
    • Flag Day (American Samoa)
    • Malbec World Day
    • Women’s Day (Gabon)
    • World Hemophilia Day

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

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

    Births on April 15

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

    Deaths on April 15

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

    Holidays and observances on April 15

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

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

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

    Births on April 14

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

    Deaths on April 14

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

    Holidays and observances on April 14

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

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

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

    Births on April 12

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

    Deaths on April 12

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

    Holidays and observances on April 12

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