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  • June 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1312 BC – Mursili II launches a campaign against the Kingdom of Azzi-Hayasa.
    • 217 BC – The Romans, led by Gaius Flaminius, are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at the Battle of Lake Trasimene.
    • 109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 40 kilometres (25 miles) northwest of Rome.
    • 474 – Julius Nepos forces Roman usurper Glycerius to abdicate the throne and proclaims himself Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
    • 637 – The Battle of Moira is fought between the High King of Ireland and the Kings of Ulster and Dál Riata. It is claimed to be the largest battle in the history of Ireland.
    • 972 – Battle of Cedynia, the first documented victory of Polish forces, takes place.
    • 1128 – Battle of São Mamede, near Guimarães: Forces led by Afonso I defeat forces led by his mother Teresa of León and her lover Fernando Pérez de Traba.
    • 1230 – The Siege of Jaén begins, in the context of the Spanish Reconquista.
    • 1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce.
    • 1340 – Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Sluys: The French fleet is almost completely destroyed by the English fleet commanded in person by King Edward III.
    • 1374 – A sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance causes people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapse from exhaustion.
    • 1497 – John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland leading the first European exploration of the region since the Vikings.
    • 1509 – Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon are crowned King and Queen of England.
    • 1535 – The Dominion of Münster, a radical communal Anabaptist state in the independent German city of Münster, is conquered by Franz von Waldeck, the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Münster in a night attack.
    • 1571 – Miguel López de Legazpi founds Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
    • 1604 – Samuel de Champlain discovers the mouth of the Saint John River, site of Reversing Falls and the present-day city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.
    • 1622 – Battle of Macau: The Dutch make a failed attempt to capture Macau.
    • 1663 – The Spanish garrison of Évora capitulates, following the Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial.
    • 1717 – The Premier Grand Lodge of England is founded in London, the first Masonic Grand Lodge in the world (now the United Grand Lodge of England).
    • 1762 – Battle of Wilhelmsthal: The British-Hanoverian army of Ferdinand of Brunswick defeats French forces in Westphalia.
    • 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Great Siege of Gibraltar begins.
    • 1793 – The French Constitution of 1793 is formally adopted, although it is effectively suspended by the Committee of Public Safety.
    • 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon’s Grande Armée crosses the Neman river beginning the invasion of Russia.
    • 1813 – Battle of Beaver Dams: A British and Indian combined force defeats the United States Army.
    • 1821 – The Battle of Carabobo takes place. It is the decisive battle in the war of independence of Venezuela from Spain.
    • 1859 – Battle of Solferino (Battle of the Three Sovereigns): Sardinia and France defeat Austria in Solferino, northern Italy.
    • 1866 – Battle of Custoza: An Austrian army defeats the Italian army during the Austro-Prussian War.
    • 1880 – First performance of O Canada at the Congrès national des Canadiens-Français. The song would later become the national anthem of Canada.
    • 1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot is assassinated by Sante Geronimo Caserio.
    • 1902 – King Edward VII of the United Kingdom develops appendicitis, delaying his coronation.
    • 1913 – Greece and Serbia annul their alliance with Bulgaria.
    • 1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million-dollar contract.
    • 1918 – First airmail service in Canada from Montreal to Toronto.
    • 1922 – The American Professional Football Association is renamed the National Football League.
    • 1932 – A bloodless revolution instigated by the People’s Party ends the absolute power of King Prajadhipok of Siam (now Thailand).
    • 1938 – Pieces of a meteorite land near Chicora, Pennsylvania. The meteorite is estimated to have weighed 450 metric tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded.
    • 1939 – Siam is renamed Thailand by Plaek Phibunsongkhram, the country’s third prime minister.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Collar, the first British Commando raid on occupied France, by No 11 Independent Company.
    • 1943 – US military police attempt to arrest a black soldier in Bamber Bridge, England, sparking the Battle of Bamber Bridge mutiny that leaves one dead and seven wounded.
    • 1947 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington, leading to the coining of the phrase “flying saucer”.
    • 1948 – Cold War: Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
    • 1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd, is aired on NBC.
    • 1950 – Apartheid: In South Africa, the Group Areas Act is passed, formally segregating races.
    • 1954 – First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
    • 1957 – In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.
    • 1963 – The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government.
    • 1973 – The UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, is attacked by an arsonist during a church service, and 32 people die from smoke inhalation or fire.
    • 1975 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 encounters severe wind shear and crashes on final approach to New York’s JFK Airport killing 113 of the 124 passengers on board, making it the deadliest U.S. plane crash at the time. This accident led to decades of research into downburst and microburst phenomena and their effects on aircraft.
    • 1981 – The Humber Bridge opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It remained the world’s longest bridge span for 17 years.
    • 1982 – British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines.
    • 1989 – Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
    • 1995 – Rugby World Cup: South Africa defeats New Zealand and Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb Ellis Cup in an iconic post-apartheid moment.
    • 2002 – The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history.
    • 2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.
    • 2010 – At Wimbledon, John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France, in the longest match in professional tennis history.
    • 2010 – Julia Gillard assumes office as the first female Prime Minister of Australia.
    • 2012 – Death of Lonesome George, the last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise.
    • 2013 – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and engaging in sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison.

    Births on June 24

    • 1210 – Count Floris IV of Holland (d. 1234)
    • 1244 – Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1308)
    • 1254 – Floris V, Count of Holland (d. 1296)
    • 1257 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (probable; d. 1331)
    • 1314 – Philippa of Hainault Queen of England (d. 1369)
    • 1322 – Joanna, Duchess of Brabant (d. 1406)
    • 1343 – Joan of Valois, Queen of Navarre (d. 1373)
    • 1360 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general
    • 1386 – John of Capistrano, Italian priest and saint (d. 1456)
    • 1465 – Isabella del Balzo, Queen Consort of Naples (d. 1533)
    • 1485 – Johannes Bugenhagen, Polish-German priest and reformer (d. 1558)
    • 1485 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg (d. 1555)
    • 1499 – Johannes Brenz, German theologian and the Protestant Reformer (d. 1570)
    • 1519 – Theodore Beza, French theologian and scholar (d. 1605)
    • 1532 – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1588)
    • 1532 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1573)
    • 1535 – Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal (d. 1573)
    • 1546 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (d. 1610)
    • 1587 – William Arnold, English-American settler (d. 1675)
    • 1591 – Mustafa I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1639)
    • 1614 – John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse
    • 1616 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman, student of Rembrandt (d. 1680)
    • 1661 – Hachisuka Tsunanori, Japanese daimyō (d. 1730)
    • 1663 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (d. 1742)
    • 1687 – Johann Albrecht Bengel, German-Lutheran clergyman and scholar (d. 1757)
    • 1694 – Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, Swiss author and theorist (d. 1748)
    • 1704 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d’Argens, French philosopher and author (d. 1771)
    • 1753 – William Hull, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Michigan Territory (d. 1825)
    • 1755 – Anacharsis Cloots, Prussian-French activist (d. 1794)
    • 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (d. 1846)
    • 1771 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French chemist and businessman, founded DuPont (d. 1834)
    • 1774 – Antonio González de Balcarce, Argentinian commander and politician, 5th Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1819)
    • 1774 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (d. 1838)
    • 1777 – John Ross, Scottish commander and explorer (d. 1856)
    • 1782 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (d. 1847)
    • 1783 – Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist and geographer (d. 1850)
    • 1784 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1853)
    • 1788 – Thomas Blanchard, American inventor (d. 1864)
    • 1795 – Ernst Heinrich Weber, German physician and psychologist (d. 1878)
    • 1797 – John Hughes, Irish-American archbishop (d. 1864)
    • 1797 – Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish geologist and explorer (d. 1873)
    • 1804 – Stephan Endlicher, Austrian botanist, numismatist, and sinologist (d. 1849)
    • 1804 – Willard Richards, American religious leader (d. 1854)
    • 1811 – John Archibald Campbell, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1889)
    • 1813 – Henry Ward Beecher, American minister and reformer (d. 1887)
    • 1813 – Francis Boott, American composer (d. 1904)
    • 1821 – Guillermo Rawson, Argentinian physician and politician (d. 1890)
    • 1826 – George Goyder, English-Australian surveyor (d. 1898)
    • 1835 – Johannes Wislicenus, German chemist and academic (d. 1902)
    • 1838 – Jan Matejko, Polish painter (d. 1893)
    • 1839 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, American businessman (d. 1903)
    • 1842 – Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist (d. 1914)
    • 1846 – Samuel Johnson, Nigerian priest and historian (d. 1901)
    • 1850 – Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Irish field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Sudan (d. 1916)
    • 1852 – Friedrich Loeffler, German bacteriologist and academic (d. 1915)
    • 1854 – Eleanor Norcross, American painter (d. 1923)
    • 1856 – Henry Chapman Mercer, American archaeologist and author (d. 1930)
    • 1858 – Hastings Rashdall, English historian, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1924)
    • 1865 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (d. 1929)
    • 1867 – Ruth Randall Edström, American educator and activist (d. 1944)
    • 1869 – Prince George of Greece and Denmark (d. 1957)
    • 1872 – Frank Crowninshield, American journalist and art and theatre critic (d. 1947)
    • 1875 – Forrest Reid, Irish novelist, literary critic and translator (d. 1947)
    • 1880 – Oswald Veblen, American mathematician and academic (g. 1960)
    • 1880 – João Cândido Felisberto, Brazilian revolutionary and sailor (d. 1969)
    • 1881 – George Shiels, Irish-Canadian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1949)
    • 1882 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1953)
    • 1882 – Carl Diem, German businessman (d. 1962)
    • 1883 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
    • 1883 – Fritz Löhner-Beda, Jewish Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (d.1942)
    • 1883 – Jean Metzinger, French artist (d. 1956)
    • 1883 – Arthur L. Newton, American runner (d. 1956)
    • 1883 – Frank Verner, American runner (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Frank Waller, American runner (d. 1941)
    • 1885 – Olaf Holtedahl, Norwegian geologist (d. 1975)
    • 1888 – Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect, designed the Rietveld Schröder House (d. 1964)
    • 1893 – Roy O. Disney, American businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1971)
    • 1895 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and soldier (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1958)
    • 1900 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
    • 1901 – Marcel Mule, French saxophonist (d. 2001)
    • 1901 – Harry Partch, American composer and theorist (d. 1974)
    • 1901 – Chuck Taylor, American basketball player and salesman (d. 1969)
    • 1904 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1995)
    • 1905 – Fred Alderman, American sprinter (d. 1998)
    • 1906 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Willard Maas, American poet and educator (d. 1971)
    • 1907 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1989)
    • 1908 – Hugo Distler, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942)
    • 1908 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian colonel (d. 1976)
    • 1909 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1978)
    • 1909 – William Penney, Baron Penney, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1991)
    • 1909 – Betty Cavanna, American author (d. 2001)
    • 1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist and academic (d. 2011)
    • 1911 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (d. 1968)
    • 1912 – Brian Johnston, English sportscaster and author (d. 1994)
    • 1912 – Mary Wesley, English author (d. 2002)
    • 1913 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (d. 2002)
    • 1914 – Jan Karski, Polish-American activist and academic (d. 2000)
    • 1914 – Pearl Witherington, French secret agent (d. 2008)
    • 1915 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – William B. Saxbe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 70th United States Attorney General (d. 2010)
    • 1916 – Saloua Raouda Choucair, Lebanese painter and sculptor (d. 2017)
    • 1917 – David Easton, Canadian-American political scientist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1917 – Lucy Jarvis, American television producer (d. 2020)
    • 1917 – Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Joan Clarke, English cryptanalyst and numismatist (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Yong Nyuk Lin, Singaporean businessman and politician, Singaporean Minister for Education (d. 2012)
    • 1919 – Al Molinaro, American actor (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – Gerhard Sommer, German soldier
    • 1922 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – John Postgate, English microbiologist, author, and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Richard Timberlake, American economist
    • 1923 – Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (d. 2011)
    • 1924 – Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2008)
    • 1924 – Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Yoshito Takamine, American politician (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Ogden Reid, American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (d. 1997)
    • 1927 – James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer
    • 1930 – Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Donald Gordon, South African businessman and philanthropist (d. 2019)
    • 1930 – William Bernard Ziff, Jr., American publisher (d. 2006)
    • 1931 – Billy Casper, American golfer and architect (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – David McTaggart, Canadian-Italian environmentalist (d. 2001)
    • 1933 – Sam Jones, American basketball player and coach
    • 1933 – Ngina Kenyatta, 1st First Lady of Kenya
    • 1934 – Ferdinand Biwersi, German footballer and referee (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Jean-Pierre Ferland, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1934 – Gloria Christian, Italian singer
    • 1935 – Terry Riley, American composer and educator
    • 1935 – Jean Milesi, French racing cyclist
    • 1935 – Charlie Dees, American baseball player
    • 1937 – Anita Desai, Indian-American author and academic
    • 1938 – Lawrence Block, American author
    • 1938 – Abulfaz Elchibey, 1st democratically elected Azerbaijani president (d. 2000)
    • 1938 – Ken Gray, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1992)
    • 1939 – Brigitte Fontaine, French singer
    • 1940 – Ian Ross, Australian newsreader (d. 2014)
    • 1940 – Vittorio Storaro, Italian cinematographer
    • 1941 – Erkin Koray, Turkish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1941 – Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst and author
    • 1941 – Graham McKenzie, Australian cricketer
    • 1942 – Arthur Brown, English rock singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Michele Lee, American actress and singer
    • 1942 – Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Chilean engineer and politician, 32nd President of Chile
    • 1942 – Colin Groves, Australian academician and educator
    • 1943 – Birgit Grodal, Danish economist and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1944 – Jeff Beck, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1944 – Kathryn Lasky, American author
    • 1944 – Chris Wood, English saxophonist (d. 1983)
    • 1945 – Colin Blunstone, English singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Wayne Cashman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1945 – George Pataki, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Governor of New York
    • 1945 – Betty Stöve, Dutch tennis player
    • 1946 – David Collenette, Canadian civil servant and politician, 32nd Canadian Minister of National Defence
    • 1946 – Ellison Onizuka, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986)
    • 1946 – Robert Reich, American economist and politician, 22nd United States Secretary of Labor
    • 1947 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef, author, and television personality (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Peter Weller, American actor and director
    • 1948 – Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1949 – John Illsley, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1949 – Betty Jackson, English fashion designer
    • 1950 – Nancy Allen, American actress
    • 1950 – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish-born English photographer (d. 2006)
    • 1950 – Jan Kulczyk, Polish businessman (d. 2015)
    • 1950 – Mercedes Lackey, American author
    • 1951 – Raelene Boyle, Australian sprinter
    • 1951 – Charles Sturridge, English director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1952 – Dianna Melrose, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Tanzania
    • 1952 – Bob Neill, English lawyer and politician
    • 1953 – William E. Moerner, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1953 – Michael Tuck, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1955 – Chris Higgins, English geneticist and academic
    • 1955 – Edmund Malura, German footballer and manager
    • 1955 – Loren Roberts, American golfer
    • 1956 – Owen Paterson, English politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
    • 1957 – Mark Parkinson, American lawyer and politician, 45th Governor of Kansas
    • 1958 – Jean Charest, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada
    • 1958 – Silvio Mondinelli, Italian mountaineer
    • 1958 – John Tortorella, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Andy McCluskey, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1960 – Elish Angiolini, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland
    • 1960 – Siedah Garrett, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1960 – Karin Pilsäter, Swedish accountant and politician
    • 1960 – Erik Poppe, Norwegian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
    • 1961 – Dennis Danell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2000)
    • 1961 – Iain Glen, Scottish actor
    • 1961 – Bernie Nicholls, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – Ralph E. Reed, Jr., American journalist and activist
    • 1961 – Curt Smith, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1963 – Yuri Kasparyan, Russian guitarist
    • 1963 – Preki, Serbian-American soccer player and coach
    • 1963 – Mike Wieringo, American author and illustrator (d. 2007)
    • 1964 – Jean-Luc Delarue, French television host and producer (d. 2012)
    • 1964 – Kathryn Parminter, Baroness Parminter, English politician
    • 1964 – Gary Suter, American ice hockey player and scout
    • 1965 – Claude Bourbonnais, Canadian race car driver
    • 1965 – Uwe Krupp, German ice hockey player and coach
    • 1965 – Richard Lumsden, English actor, writer, composer and musician
    • 1966 – Hope Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1966 – Adrienne Shelly, American actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1967 – Janez Lapajne, Slovenian director and producer
    • 1967 – John Limniatis, Greek-Canadian footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Alaa Abdelnaby, Egyptian-American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1970 – Glenn Medeiros, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1970 – Bernardo Sassetti, Portuguese pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1972 – Robbie McEwen, Australian cyclist
    • 1972 – Denis Žvegelj, Slovenian rower
    • 1973 – Alexis Gauthier, French chef
    • 1973 – Jere Lehtinen, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1974 – Dan Byles, English sailor, rower, and politician
    • 1974 – Chris Guccione, American baseball player and umpire
    • 1975 – Marek Malík, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Federico Pucciariello, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
    • 1976 – Brock Olivo, American football player and coach
    • 1977 – Dimos Dikoudis, Greek basketball player and manager
    • 1977 – Jeff Farmer, Australian footballer
    • 1978 – Luis García, Spanish footballer
    • 1978 – Pantelis Kafes, Greek footballer
    • 1978 – Shunsuke Nakamura, Japanese footballer
    • 1978 – Ariel Pink, American singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Juan Román Riquelme, Argentinian footballer
    • 1978 – Emppu Vuorinen, Finnish guitarist and songwriter
    • 1979 – Mindy Kaling, American actress and producer
    • 1979 – Petra Němcová, Czech model and philanthropist
    • 1980 – Cicinho, Brazilian footballer
    • 1980 – Nina Dübbers, German tennis player
    • 1980 – Andrew Jones, Australian race car driver
    • 1980 – Minka Kelly, American actress
    • 1982 – Kevin Nolan, English footballer
    • 1982 – Jarret Stoll, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Rebecca Cooke, English swimmer
    • 1983 – Gianni Munari, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Gard Nilssen, Norwegian drummer
    • 1983 – David Shillington, Australian rugby league player
    • 1984 – Andrea Raggi, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – J.J. Redick, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Johanna Welin, Swedish-born German wheelchair basketball player
    • 1985 – Diego Alves Carreira, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Tom Kennedy, English footballer
    • 1985 – Ethan Klein, American YouTuber
    • 1985 – Nate Myles, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Vernon Philander, South African cricketer
    • 1985 – Yukina Shirakawa, Japanese model
    • 1986 – Stuart Broad, English cricketer
    • 1986 – Phil Hughes, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Solange Knowles, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1987 – Simona Dobrá, Czech tennis player
    • 1987 – Lionel Messi, Argentinian footballer
    • 1987 – Pierre Vaultier, French snowboarder
    • 1988 – Micah Richards, English footballer
    • 1989 – Teklemariam Medhin, Eritrean runner
    • 1990 – Michael Del Zotto, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Richard Sukuta-Pasu, German footballer
    • 1991 – Yasmin Paige, English actress
    • 1991 – Aidan Sezer, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – David Alaba, Austrian footballer
    • 1996 – Duki, Argentinian rapper

    Deaths on June 24

    • 994 – Abu Isa al-Warraq, Arab scholar (b. 889)
    • 1046 – Jeongjong II, Korean ruler (b. 1018)
    • 1088 – William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey, Norman nobleman
    • 1314 – Gilbert de Clare, 8th Earl of Gloucester, English commander (b. 1291)
    • 1314 – Robert de Clifford, 1st Baron de Clifford, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Marches (b. 1274)
    • 1398 – Hongwu, Chinese emperor (b. 1328)
    • 1439 – Frederick IV, duke of Austria (b. 1382)
    • 1503 – Reginald Bray, English architect and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1440)
    • 1519 – Lucrezia Borgia, Italian wife of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1480)
    • 1520 – Hosokawa Sumimoto, Japanese commander (b. 1489)
    • 1604 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English courtier, Lord Great Chamberlain (b. 1550)
    • 1637 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer and historian (b. 1580)
    • 1643 – John Hampden, English politician (b. 1595)
    • 1766 – Adrien Maurice de Noailles, French soldier and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1678)
    • 1778 – Pieter Burman the Younger, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1714)
    • 1803 – Matthew Thornton, Irish-American judge and politician (b. 1714)
    • 1817 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania (b. 1734)
    • 1835 – Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (b. 1769)
    • 1902 – George Leake, Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (b. 1856)
    • 1908 – Grover Cleveland, American lawyer and politician, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (b. 1837)
    • 1909 – Sarah Orne Jewett, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1849)
    • 1922 – Walther Rathenau, German businessman and politician, 7th German Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1867)
    • 1931 – Otto Mears, Russian-American businessman (b. 1840)
    • 1931 – Xiang Zhongfa, Chinese politician, 2nd General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1880)
    • 1932 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (b. 1879)
    • 1943 – Camille Roy, Canadian priest and critic (b. 1870)
    • 1946 – Louise Whitfield Carnegie, American philanthropist (b. 1857)
    • 1947 – Emil Seidel, American politician, Mayor of Milwaukee (b. 1864)
    • 1962 – Volfgangs Dārziņš, Latvian composer, pianist and music critic (b. 1906)
    • 1964 – Stuart Davis, American painter and academic (b. 1892)
    • 1968 – Tony Hancock, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 1969 – Frank King, American cartoonist (b. 1883)
    • 1969 – Willy Ley, German-American historian and author (b. 1906)
    • 1976 – Minor White, American photographer, critic, and academic (b. 1908)
    • 1978 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (b. 1909)
    • 1980 – V. V. Giri, Indian lawyer and politician, 4th President of India (b. 1894)
    • 1984 – Clarence Campbell, Canadian businessman (b. 1905)
    • 1987 – Jackie Gleason, American actor, comedian, and producer (b. 1916)
    • 1988 – Csaba Kesjár, Hungarian race car driver (b. 1962)
    • 1991 – Sumner Locke Elliott, Australian-American author and playwright (b. 1917)
    • 1991 – Rufino Tamayo, Mexican painter and illustrator (b. 1899)
    • 1994 – Jean Vallerand, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1915)
    • 1995 – Andrew J. Transue, American politician and attorney Morissette v. United States (b. 1903)
    • 1997 – Brian Keith, American actor (b. 1921)
    • 2000 – Vera Atkins, British intelligence officer (b. 1908)
    • 2000 – David Tomlinson, English actor and comedian (b. 1917)
    • 2000 – Rodrigo Bueno, Argentine cuarteto singer (b. 1973)
    • 2002 – Pierre Werner, Luxembourgian banker and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg (b. 1913)
    • 2004 – Ifigeneia Giannopoulou, Greek songwriter and author (b. 1957)
    • 2005 – Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (b. 1922)
    • 2007 – Natasja Saad, Danish rapper and reggae singer (b. 1974)
    • 2007 – Chris Benoit, Canadian wrestler (b. 1967)
    • 2007 – Derek Dougan, Northern Irish footballer and manager (b. 1938)
    • 2008 – Gerhard Ringel, Austrian mathematician and academic (b. 1919)
    • 2009 – Roméo LeBlanc, Canadian journalist and politician, 25th Governor General of Canada (b. 1927)
    • 2010 – Fred Anderson, American jazz tenor saxophonist (b. 1929)
    • 2011 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Darrel Akerfelds, American baseball player and coach (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Gad Beck, German author and educator (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Gu Chaohao, Chinese mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer (b. 1988)
    • 2012 – Ann C. Scales, American lawyer, educator, and activist (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (b. 1946)
    • 2013 – Emilio Colombo, Italian politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Joannes Gijsen, Dutch bishop (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – William Hathaway, American lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – James Martin, English-Bermudian computer scientist and author (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Alan Myers, American drummer (b. 1955)
    • 2014 – John Clement, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Olga Kotelko, Canadian runner and softball player (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Ramón José Velásquez, Venezuelan journalist, lawyer, and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1916)
    • 2014 – Eli Wallach, American actor (b. 1915)
    • 2015 – Cristiano Araújo, Brazilian singer-songwriter (b. 1986)
    • 2015 – Mario Biaggi, American police officer, politician and criminal (b. 1917)
    • 2015 – Marva Collins, American author and educator (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Susan Ahn Cuddy, American lieutenant (b. 1915)
    • 2019 – Billy Drago, American actor (b. 1945)

    Holidays and observances on June 24

    • Army Day or Battle of Carabobo Day (Venezuela)
    • Bannockburn Day (Scotland)
    • Christian feast day:
      • María Guadalupe García Zavala
      • Nativity of Saint John the Baptist
      • June 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the Caboclo (Amazonas, Brazil)
    • Discovery Day, observed on the nearest Monday to June 24 (Newfoundland and Labrador)
    • Earliest day on which Armed Forces Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday in June. (United Kingdom)
    • Earliest day on which Inventors’ and Rationalizers’ Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday in June. (Russia)
    • Earliest day on which Mother’s Day can fall, while June 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in June. (Kenya)
    • Earliest day on which Youth Day can fall, while Jun 30 is the latest; celebrated on the last Sunday in June. (Ukraine, Belarus)
    • Inti Raymi, a winter solstice festival and a New Year in the Andes of the Southern Hemisphere (Sacsayhuamán)
    • St John’s Day and the second day of the Midsummer celebrations (although this is not the astronomical summer solstice, see June 20) (Roman Catholic Church, Europe), and its related observances:
      • Enyovden (Bulgaria)
      • Jaanipäev (Estonia)
      • Jāņi (Latvia)
      • Jónsmessa (Iceland)
      • Midsummer Day (England)
      • Saint Jonas’ Festival or Joninės (Lithuania)
      • Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (Quebec)
      • Sânziene (western Carpathian Mountains of Romania)
      • Wattah Wattah Festival (Philippines)
    • Fors Fortuna, ancient Roman festival to Fortuna

  • June 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    On this day the Summer solstice may occur in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Winter solstice may occur in the Southern Hemisphere.

    June 22 in History

    • 217 BC – Battle of Raphia: Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt defeats Antiochus III the Great of the Seleucid kingdom.
    • 168 BC – Battle of Pydna: Romans under Lucius Aemilius Paullus defeat Macedonian King Perseus who surrenders after the battle, ending the Third Macedonian War.
    • 813 – Battle of Versinikia: The Bulgars led by Krum defeat the Byzantine army near Edirne. Emperor Michael I is forced to abdicate in favor of Leo V the Armenian.
    • 910 – The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army near the Rednitz River, killing its leader Gebhard, Duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine).
    • 1527 – Fatahillah expels Portuguese forces from Sunda Kelapa, now regarded as the foundation of Jakarta.
    • 1593 – Battle of Sisak: Allied Christian troops defeat the Ottomans.
    • 1633 – The Holy Office in Rome forces Galileo Galilei to recant his view that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the Universe in the form he presented it in, after heated controversy.
    • 1774 – The British pass the Quebec Act, setting out rules of governance for the colony of Quebec in British North America.
    • 1783 – A poisonous cloud caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano in Iceland reaches Le Havre in France.
    • 1807 – In the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair, the British warship HMS Leopard attacks and boards the American frigate USS Chesapeake.
    • 1813 – War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a surprise attack on Beaver Dams in Ontario, Laura Secord sets out on a 30 kilometer journey on foot to warn Lieutenant James FitzGibbon.
    • 1839 – Cherokee leaders Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Elias Boudinot are assassinated for signing the Treaty of New Echota, which had resulted in the Trail of Tears.
    • 1870 – The United States Department of Justice is created by the U.S. Congress.
    • 1893 – The Royal Navy battleship HMS Camperdown accidentally rams the British Mediterranean Fleet flagship HMS Victoria which sinks taking 358 crew with her, including the fleet’s commander, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon.
    • 1897 – British colonial officers Charles Walter Rand and Lt. Charles Egerton Ayerst are assassinated in Pune, Maharashtra, India by the Chapekar brothers and Mahadeo Vinayak Ranade, who are later caught and hanged.
    • 1898 – Spanish–American War: In a chaotic operation, 6,000 men of the U.S. Fifth Army Corps begins landing at Daiquirí, Cuba, about 16 miles (26 km) east of Santiago de Cuba. Lt. Gen. Arsenio Linares y Pombo of the Spanish Army outnumbers them two-to-one, but does not oppose the landings.
    • 1907 – The London Underground’s Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway opens.
    • 1911 – George V and Mary of Teck are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
    • 1911 – Mexican Revolution: Government forces bring an end to the Magonista rebellion of 1911 in the Second Battle of Tijuana.
    • 1918 – The Hammond Circus Train Wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana.
    • 1940 – World War II: France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany, in the same railroad car in which the Germans signed the Armistice in 1918.
    • 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa.
    • 1942 – World War II: Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the Axis capture of Tobruk.
    • 1942 – The Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted by US Congress.
    • 1944 – World War II: Opening day of the Soviet Union’s Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre.
    • 1944 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa comes to an end.
    • 1948 – The ship HMT Empire Windrush brought the first group of 802 West Indian immigrants to Tilbury, marking the start of modern immigration to the United Kingdom.
    • 1948 – King George VI formally gives up the title “Emperor of India”, half a year after Britain actually gave up its rule of India.
    • 1965 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed.
    • 1969 – The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
    • 1978 – Charon, the first of Pluto’s satellites to be discovered, was first seen at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy.
    • 1984 – Virgin Atlantic Airways launches with its first flight from London Gatwick Airport.
    • 1986 – The famous Hand of God goal, scored by Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England, ignites controversy. This was later followed by the Goal of the Century. Argentina wins 2–1 and later goes on to win the World Cup.
    • 1990 – Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin.
    • 2000 – Wuhan Airlines Flight 343 is struck by lightning and crashes into Wuhan’s Hanyang District, killing 49 people.
    • 2002 – An earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw strikes a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response.
    • 2009 – A Washington D.C Metro train traveling southbound near Fort Totten station collides into another train waiting to enter the station. Nine people are killed in the collision (eight passengers and the train operator) and at least 80 others are injured.
    • 2012 – Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco.
    • 2012 – A Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter plane is shot down by the Syrian Armed Forces, killing both of the plane’s pilots and worsening already-strained relations between Turkey and Syria.
    • 2015 – The Afghan National Assembly building is attacked by gunmen after a suicide bombing. All six of the gunmen are killed and 18 people are injured.

    Births on June 22

    • 662 – Rui Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 716)
    • 916 – Sayf al-Dawla, founder of the Emirate of Aleppo (d. 967)
    • 1000 – Robert I, duke of Normandy (d. 1035)
    • 1373 – Elizabeth Bonifacia, heiress of Poland (d. 1399)
    • 1427 – Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Italian writer and wife of Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici (d. 1482)
    • 1450 – Eleanor of Naples, duchess of Ferrara (d. 1493)
    • 1477 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, English nobleman (d. 1530)
    • 1593 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician and militarian (d. 1671)
    • 1680 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (d. 1754)
    • 1684 – Francesco Manfredini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1762)
    • 1704 – John Taylor, English author and scholar (d. 1766)
    • 1713 – John Sackville, English cricketer and politician (d. 1765)
    • 1738 – Jacques Delille, French poet and translator (d. 1813)
    • 1757 – George Vancouver, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1798)
    • 1763 – Étienne Méhul, French pianist and composer (d. 1817)
    • 1767 – Wilhelm von Humboldt, German philosopher, academic, and politician, Interior Minister of Prussia (d. 1835)
    • 1792 – James Beaumont Neilson, Scottish engineer and businessman (d. 1865)
    • 1805 – Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1872)
    • 1820 – James Hutchison Stirling, Scottish physician and philosopher (d. 1909)
    • 1834 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon and linguist (d. 1920)
    • 1837 – Paul Morphy, American chess player (d. 1884)
    • 1837 – Ernst Ziller, German-Greek architect, designed the Presidential Mansion (d. 1923)
    • 1844 – Oscar von Gebhardt, German theologian and academic (d. 1906)
    • 1845 – Tom Dula, American soldier (d. 1868)
    • 1845 – Richard Seddon, English-New Zealand politician, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
    • 1855 – Samuel Morris, Australian cricketer (d. 1931)
    • 1856 – Henry Rider Haggard, English novelist (d. 1925)
    • 1861 – Maximilian von Spee, Danish-German admiral (d. 1914)
    • 1864 – Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician and academic (d. 1909)
    • 1871 – William McDougall, English psychologist and polymath (d. 1938)
    • 1873 – Filippo Silvestri, Italian entomologist and academic (d. 1949)
    • 1874 – Walter Friedrich Otto, German philologist and scholar (d. 1958)
    • 1876 – Pascual Díaz y Barreto, Mexican archbishop (d. 1936)
    • 1879 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1962)
    • 1880 – Johannes Drost, Dutch swimmer (d. 1954)
    • 1884 – James Rector, American sprinter and lawyer (d. 1949)
    • 1885 – Milan Vidmar, Slovenian engineer and chess player (d. 1962)
    • 1887 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and academic (d. 1975)
    • 1888 – Harold Hitz Burton, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Cleveland (d. 1964)
    • 1890 – Aleksander Warma, Estonian commander and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1970)
    • 1891 – Franz Alexander, Hungarian psychoanalyst and physician (d. 1964)
    • 1892 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German general and pilot (d. 1945)
    • 1894 – Bernard Ashmole, English archaeologist and art historian (d. 1988)
    • 1896 – Leonard W. Murray, Canadian admiral (d. 1971)
    • 1897 – Edmund A. Chester, American journalist and broadcaster (d. 1973)
    • 1897 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist and philosopher (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Erich Maria Remarque, German-Swiss soldier and author (d. 1970)
    • 1899 – Richard Gurley Drew, American engineer, invented Masking tape (d. 1980)
    • 1899 – Michał Kalecki, Polish economist and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1900 – Oskar Fischinger, German-American abstract artist, filmmaker, and painter (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – Elias Katz, Finnish runner and coach (d. 1947)
    • 1902 – Marguerite De La Motte, American actress (d. 1950)
    • 1903 – John Dillinger, American criminal (d. 1934)
    • 1903 – Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (d. 1988)
    • 1906 – William Kneale, English logician and philosopher (d. 1990)
    • 1906 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American pilot and author (d. 2001)
    • 1906 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1907 – Eriks Ādamsons, Latvian writer, poet, and novelist (d. 1946)
    • 1909 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2006)
    • 1909 – Infanta Beatriz of Spain, Spanish aristocratic (d. 2002)
    • 1909 – Mike Todd, American producer and manager (d. 1958)
    • 1910 – John Hunt, Baron Hunt, Indian-English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1998)
    • 1910 – Anne Ziegler, English singer (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – Konrad Zuse, German computer scientist and engineer, invented the Z3 computer (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Vernon Kirby, South African tennis player (d. 1994)
    • 1912 – Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1983)
    • 1912 – Raymonde Allain, French model and actress (d. 2008)
    • 1913 – Sándor Weöres, Hungarian poet and author (d. 1989)
    • 1914 – Mei Zhi, Chinese author and essayist (d. 2004)
    • 1915 – Dolf van der Linden, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1999)
    • 1915 – Cornelius Warmerdam, American pole vaulter and coach (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Randolph Hokanson, American pianist (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Thomas Quinn Curtiss, American writer, and film and theatre critic (d. 2000)
    • 1916 – Johnny Jacobs, American television announcer (d. 1982)
    • 1916 – Richard Eastham, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – Emil Fackenheim, Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi (d. 2003)
    • 1918 – Cicely Saunders, English Anglican nurse, social worker, physician and writer (d. 2005)
    • 1919 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1980)
    • 1919 – Henri Tajfel, Polish social psychologist (d. 1982)
    • 1919 – Clifton McNeely, American basketball player and coach (d. 2003)
    • 1920 – James H. Pomerene, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Jovito Salonga, Filipino lawyer and politician, 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2016)
    • 1921 – Joseph Papp, American director and producer (d. 1991)
    • 1921 – Barbara Vucanovich, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1921 – Radovan Ivšić, Croatian writer (d. 2009)
    • 1921 – Barbara Perry, American actress (d. 2019)
    • 1922 – Bill Blass, American fashion designer, founded Bill Blass Group (d. 2002)
    • 1922 – Clair Cameron Patterson, American scientist (d. 1995)
    • 1923 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Christopher Booth, English clinician and historian (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Larkin Kerwin, Canadian physicist and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1926 – George Englund, American film editor, director, producer and actor (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Rachid Solh, Lebanese politician, 48th Prime Minister of Lebanon (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Doreen Mantle, South African-English actress
    • 1927 – Anthony Low, Indian-English historian and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Ralph Waite, American actor and director (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Bruce Kent, English activist and laicised Roman Catholic priest
    • 1930 – Yuri Artyukhin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1998)
    • 1930 – Walter Bonatti, Italian journalist and mountaineer (d. 2011)
    • 1931 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (d. 2008)
    • 1932 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari, Princess of Iran (d. 2001)
    • 1932 – Yevgeny Kychanov, Russian orientalist, historian, and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (d. 2005)
    • 1932 – June Salter, Australian actress (d. 2001)
    • 1932 – Prunella Scales, English actress
    • 1932 – John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, English businessman and politician, Leader of the House of Lords
    • 1933 – Dianne Feinstein, American politician
    • 1934 – James Bjorken, American physicist, author, and academic
    • 1936 – Kris Kristofferson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1936 – Ferran Olivella, Spanish footballer
    • 1936 – Hermeto Pascoal, Brazilian accordion player and composer
    • 1937 – Chris Blackwell, English record producer, co-founded Island Records
    • 1937 – Bernie McGann, Australian saxophonist and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Don Matthews, American-Canadian football player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1939 – Ed Paschke, Polish-American painter and academic (d. 2004)
    • 1940 – Joan Busfield, English sociologist, psychologist, and academic
    • 1940 – Hubert Chesshyre, English historian and author
    • 1940 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1940 – Esther Rantzen, English journalist
    • 1941 – Ed Bradley, American journalist (d. 2006)
    • 1941 – Terttu Savola, Finnish journalist and politician
    • 1943 – Brit Hume, American journalist and author
    • 1943 – Klaus Maria Brandauer, Austrian actor and director
    • 1944 – Peter Asher, English singer, guitarist, and producer
    • 1944 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1945 – Rainer Brüderle, German economist and politician, German Minister of Economics and Technology
    • 1946 – Linda Bond, Canadian 19th General of The Salvation Army
    • 1946 – Sheila Hollins, Baroness Hollins, English psychiatrist and academic
    • 1946 – Eliades Ochoa, Cuban singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1946 – Józef Oleksy, Polish economist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2015)
    • 1946 – Stephen Waley-Cohen, English journalist and businessman
    • 1947 – Octavia E. Butler, American author (d. 2006)
    • 1947 – Howard Kaylan, American pop-rock singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1947 – Pete Maravich, American basketball player (d. 1988)
    • 1947 – Jerry Rawlings, Ghanaian lieutenant and politician, President of Ghana
    • 1948 – James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss, Scottish businessman
    • 1948 – Todd Rundgren, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1949 – Larry Junstrom, American bass player
    • 1949 – Brian Leveson, English lawyer and judge
    • 1949 – Alan Osmond, American singer and producer
    • 1949 – Meryl Streep, American actress and singer
    • 1949 – Luís Filipe Vieira, Portuguese businessman
    • 1949 – Lindsay Wagner, American actress
    • 1949 – Elizabeth Warren, American academic and politician
    • 1950 – Sharon Maughan, English actress
    • 1950 – Adrian Năstase, Romanian lawyer and politician, 59th Prime Minister of Romania
    • 1950 – Greg Oliphant, Australian rugby league player
    • 1950 – Zenonas Petrauskas, Lithuanian lawyer and politician (d. 2009)
    • 1950 – Tom Alter, Indian actor (d. 2017)
    • 1951 – Brian Cookson, British cyclist and sports administrator
    • 1951 – Craig Gruber, American bass player (d. 2015)
    • 1951 – Humphrey Ocean, English painter and academic
    • 1952 – Graham Greene, Canadian actor
    • 1952 – Santokh Singh, Malaysian football player
    • 1953 – Wim Eijk, Dutch cardinal
    • 1953 – Mauro Francaviglia, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1953 – Cyndi Lauper, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1953 – Bruce McAvaney, Australian journalist and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (d. 1977)
    • 1955 – Green Gartside, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Christine Orengo, British academic and educator
    • 1956 – Darryl Brohman, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Alfons De Wolf, Belgian cyclist
    • 1956 – Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistani agriculturist and politician, 25th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1956 – Tim Russ, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Markus Schatte, German footballer, manager, and coach
    • 1956 – Derek Forbes, Scottish bass player and guitarist
    • 1957 – Danny Baker, English journalist and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Garry Gary Beers, Australian bass player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1957 – Kevin Bond, English footballer and manager
    • 1957 – Michael Stratton, English geneticist and academic
    • 1958 – Rocío Banquells, Mexican pop singer and actress
    • 1958 – Bruce Campbell, American actor, director, producer and writer
    • 1959 – Michael Kinane, Irish jockey
    • 1959 – Nicola Sirkis, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1959 – Daniel Xuereb, French footballer
    • 1960 – Erin Brockovich, American lawyer and environmentalist
    • 1960 – Margrit Klinger, German runner
    • 1960 – Tracy Pollan, American actress
    • 1961 – Jimmy Somerville, Scottish singer-songwriter
    • 1962 – Stephen Chow, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Bobby Gillespie, Scottish musician and singer-songwriter
    • 1962 – Clyde Drexler, American basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Gerald Hillringhaus, German footballer
    • 1963 – Hokutoumi Nobuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 61st Yokozuna
    • 1963 – John Tenta, Canadian-American wrestler (d. 2006)
    • 1964 – Cadillac Anderson, American basketball player
    • 1964 – Amy Brenneman, American actress
    • 1964 – Dan Brown, American author and academic
    • 1964 – Miroslav Kadlec, Czech footballer
    • 1965 – Uwe Boll, German director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Ľubomír Moravčík, Czech footballer and manager
    • 1966 – Michael Park, English racing driver (d. 2005)
    • 1966 – Emmanuelle Seigner, French actress
    • 1966 – Dean Woods, Australian cyclist
    • 1968 – Darrell Armstrong, American basketball player and coach
    • 1968 – Miri Yu, Zainichi, Korean novelist
    • 1971 – Gary Connolly, English rugby player
    • 1971 – Mary Lynn Rajskub, American actress and comedian
    • 1971 – Kurt Warner, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1972 – Damien Oliver, Australian jockey
    • 1973 – Carson Daly, American radio and television host
    • 1974 – Jo Cox, British MP (d. 2016)
    • 1974 – Vijay, Indian film actor in Tamil cinema
    • 1975 – Urmas Reinsalu, Estonian academic and politician, 28th Estonian Minister of Defence
    • 1978 – Champ Bailey, American football player
    • 1978 – Dan Wheldon, English racing driver (d. 2011)
    • 1979 – Joey Cheek, American speed skater
    • 1979 – Thomas Voeckler, French cyclist
    • 1980 – Ilya Bryzgalov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Stephanie Jacobsen, Hong Kong-Australian actress
    • 1981 – Sione Lauaki, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1981 – Aquivaldo Mosquera, Colombian footballer
    • 1982 – Andoni Iraola, Spanish footballer
    • 1982 – Ian Kinsler, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Soraia Chaves, Portuguese actress and model
    • 1983 – Allar Raja, Estonian rower
    • 1984 – Dustin Johnson, American golfer
    • 1984 – Rubén Iván Martínez, Spanish footballer
    • 1984 – Jerome Taylor, Jamaican cricketer
    • 1984 – Janko Tipsarević, Serbian tennis player
    • 1985 – Thomas Leuluai, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1987 – Danny Green, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Nikita Rukavytsya, Ukrainian-Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Omri Casspi, Israeli basketball player
    • 1989 – Cédric Mongongu, Congolese footballer
    • 1989 – Jung Yong-hwa, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1990 – Sebastian Jung, German footballer
    • 1991 – Hugo Mallo, Spanish footballer
    • 1992 – Ura Kazuki, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1992 – Harry Reid, British actor
    • 1993 – Loris Karius, German footballer
    • 1994 – Sebastien Haller, French footballer
    • 1994 – Carlos Vinícius Santos de Jesus, Brazilian footballer
    • 1996 – Mikel Merino, Spanish footballer
    • 1999 – Sam Retford, Australian-English actor

    Deaths on June 22

    • 431 – Paulinus of Nola, Christian bishop and poet (b. 354)
    • 910 – Gebhard, Frankish nobleman
    • 910 – Gerhard I, Frankish nobleman
    • 947 – Qian Hongzuo, king of Wuyue (b. 928)
    • 1017 – Leo Passianos, Byzantine general
    • 1101 – Roger I of Sicily, Norman nobleman (b. 1031)
    • 1276 – Innocent V, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1225)
    • 1343 – Aimone, Count of Savoy (b. 1291)
    • 1429 – Jamshīd al-Kāshī, Persian astronomer and mathematician (b. 1380)
    • 1521 – Leonardo Loredan, Italian politician, 76th Doge of Venice (b. 1436)
    • 1535 – John Fisher, English bishop and saint (b. 1469)
    • 1632 – James Whitelocke, English judge and politician, Chief Justice of Chester (b. 1570)
    • 1634 – Johann von Aldringen, Austrian field marshal (b. 1588)
    • 1664 – Katherine Philips, Anglo-Welsh poet (b. 1631)
    • 1699 – Josiah Child, English merchant, economist, and politician (b. 1630)
    • 1714 – Matthew Henry, Welsh minister and author (b. 1662)
    • 1766 – Carlo Zimech, Maltese priest and painter (b. 1696)
    • 1868 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (b. 1801)
    • 1872 – Rudecindo Alvarado, Argentinian general (b. 1792)
    • 1874 – Howard Staunton, English chess player (b. 1810)
    • 1892 – Pierre Ossian Bonnet, French mathematician and academic (b. 1819)
    • 1894 – Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian archbishop and missionary (b. 1823)
    • 1905 – Francis Lubbock, American colonel and politician, 9th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
    • 1913 – Ștefan Octavian Iosif, Romanian poet and translator (b. 1875)
    • 1925 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (b. 1849)
    • 1928 – A. B. Frost, American illustrator and painter (b. 1851)
    • 1931 – Armand Fallières, French politician, 9th President of France (b. 1841)
    • 1933 – Tim Birkin, English racing driver and lieutenant (b. 1896)
    • 1935 – Szymon Askenazy, Polish historian and diplomat (b. 1866)
    • 1936 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (b. 1882)
    • 1938 – C. J. Dennis, Australian poet and author (b. 1876)
    • 1940 – Monty Noble, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1873)
    • 1942 – August Froehlich, German priest and activist (b. 1891)
    • 1945 – Isamu Chō, Japanese general (b. 1895)
    • 1945 – Mitsuru Ushijima, Japanese general (b. 1887)
    • 1956 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer and novelist (b. 1873)
    • 1959 – Hermann Brill, German educator and politician, 8th Minister-President of Thuringia (b. 1895)
    • 1964 – Havank, Dutch journalist and author (b. 1904)
    • 1965 – David O. Selznick, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1902)
    • 1966 – Thaddeus Shideler, American hurdler (b. 1883)
    • 1969 – Judy Garland, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
    • 1970 – Đặng Thùy Trâm, Vietnamese surgeon and author (b. 1942)
    • 1974 – Darius Milhaud, French composer and educator (b. 1892)
    • 1977 – Jacqueline Audry, French director and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 1977 – Peter Laughner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Rocket From the Tombs and Pere Ubu) (b. 1952)
    • 1979 – Louis Chiron, Monégasque race car driver (b. 1899)
    • 1984 – Joseph Losey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
    • 1987 – Fred Astaire, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
    • 1988 – Dennis Day, American singer and actor (b. 1916)
    • 1990 – Ilya Frank, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
    • 1993 – Pat Nixon, American educator, 37th First Lady of the United States (b. 1912)
    • 1995 – Leonid Derbenyov, Russian poet and songwriter (b. 1931)
    • 1995 – Al Hansen, American sculptor and author (b. 1927)
    • 1997 – Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
    • 1997 – Gérard Pelletier, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2003 – Vasil Bykaŭ, Belarusian war novelist (b. 1924)
    • 2004 – Bob Bemer, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1920)
    • 2004 – Mattie Stepanek, American poet and author (b. 1990)
    • 2007 – Erik Parlevliet, Dutch field hockey player (b. 1964)
    • 2008 – Natalia Bekhtereva, Russian neuroscientist and psychologist (b. 1924)
    • 2008 – George Carlin, American comedian, actor, and author (b. 1937)
    • 2008 – Dody Goodman, American actress and dancer (b. 1914)
    • 2011 – Coşkun Özarı, Turkish footballer and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Juan Luis Galiardo, Spanish actor and producer (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Henning Larsen, Danish architect, designed the Copenhagen Opera House (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Allan Simonsen, Danish race car driver (b. 1978)
    • 2014 – Fouad Ajami, Lebanese-American author and academic (b. 1945)
    • 2014 – Rama Narayanan, Indian director and producer (b. 1949)
    • 2015 – James Horner, American composer and conductor (b. 1953)
    • 2017 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese newscaster and actress (b. 1982)
    • 2017 – Quett Masire, Botswanan politician (b. 1926)
    • 2018 – Vinnie Paul, American musician (b. 1964)

    Holidays and observances on June 22

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron of Aleth
      • Alban, first recorded Martyr in Britain (commemoration, Anglicanism)
      • Blessed Pope Innocent V
      • Eusebius of Samosata (Orthodox Church)
      • John Fisher (Catholic Church)
      • Nicetas of Remesiana
      • Paulinus of Nola
      • Thomas More (Catholic Church)
      • June 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Anti-Fascist Struggle Day (Croatia)
    • Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus)
    • Father’s Day (Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey)
    • Teachers’ Day (El Salvador)

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

    • 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
    • 621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty’s collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.
    • 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
    • 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)
    • 1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.
    • 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
    • 1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon’s troops.
    • 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.
    • 1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months.
    • 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
    • 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
    • 1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race was held.
    • 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.
    • 1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
    • 1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.
    • 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
    • 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
    • 1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer is founded.
    • 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
    • 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
    • 1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.
    • 1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
    • 1961 – Peter Benenson’s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
    • 1974 – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
    • 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
    • 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
    • 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
    • 1987 – A West German pilot, Mathias Rust, who was 18 years old, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
    • 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
    • 1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shook the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.
    • 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
    • 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
    • 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
    • 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
    • 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.
    • 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq’s interim government.
    • 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
    • 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.
    • 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

    Births on May 28

    • 1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (d. 1207)
    • 1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
    • 1524 – Selim II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1574)
    • 1588 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
    • 1589 – Robert Arnauld d’Andilly, French writer (d. 1674)
    • 1663 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (d. 1736)
    • 1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1754)
    • 1692 – Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (d. 1740)
    • 1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d. 1814)
    • 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
    • 1763 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (d. 1811)
    • 1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (d. 1836)
    • 1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (d. 1852)
    • 1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (d. 1873)
    • 1818 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (d. 1893)
    • 1836 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
    • 1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (d. 1918)
    • 1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman’s Cathedral (d. 1921)
    • 1837 – Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (d. 1908)
    • 1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (d. 1887)
    • 1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (d. 1919)
    • 1858 – Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (d. 1939)
    • 1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (d. 1917)
    • 1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (d. 1945)
    • 1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1958)
    • 1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (d. 1966)
    • 1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (d. 1978)
    • 1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1948)
    • 1886 – Santo Trafficante, Sr., Italian-American mobster (d. 1954)
    • 1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
    • 1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (d. 1947)
    • 1888 – Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (d. 1953)
    • 1889 – Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (d. 1929)
    • 1892 – Minna Gombell, American actress (d. 1973)
    • 1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (d. 1939)
    • 1903 – S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2005)
    • 1908 – Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (d. 1964)
    • 1909 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
    • 1911 – Thora Hird, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (d. 1986)
    • 1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (d. 1981)
    • 1912 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (d. 1996)
    • 1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (d. 1990)
    • 1917 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (d. 1990)
    • 1921 – D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (d. 1955)
    • 1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Roger Fisher, American author and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier
    • 1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 1996)
    • 1924 – Edward du Cann, English naval officer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Paul Hébert, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Sally Forrest, American actress and dancer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Patrick McNair-Wilson, English politician
    • 1930 – Edward Seaga, American-Jamaican academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2019)
    • 1931 – Carroll Baker, American actress
    • 1931 – Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
    • 1933 – John Karlen, American actor
    • 1933 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1936 – Claude Forget, Canadian academic and politician
    • 1936 – Ole K. Sara, Norwegian politician (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (d. 1997)
    • 1938 – Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive
    • 1939 – Maeve Binchy, Irish novelist (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David William Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London
    • 1940 – Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi and academic, founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue
    • 1941 – Beth Howland, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1943 – Terry Crisp, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1944 – Faith Brown, English actress and singer
    • 1944 – Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City
    • 1944 – Gladys Knight, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1944 – Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1944 – Billy Vera, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1945 – Patch Adams, American physician and author, founded the Gesundheit! Institute
    • 1945 – John N. Bambacus, American military veteran (USMC) and politician
    • 1945 – John Fogerty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1945 – Jean Perrault, Canadian politician, Mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec
    • 1945 – Helena Shovelton, English physician
    • 1946 – Bruce Alexander, English actor
    • 1946 – Skip Jutze, American baseball player
    • 1946 – Janet Paraskeva, Welsh politician
    • 1946 – K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet and critic
    • 1946 – William Shawcross, English journalist and author
    • 1947 – Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist and academic
    • 1947 – Lynn Johnston, Canadian author and illustrator
    • 1947 – Leland Sklar, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1948 – Michael Field, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Tasmania
    • 1948 – Pierre Rapsat, Belgian singer and songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1949 – Martin Kelner, English journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and radio presenter
    • 1949 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 1998)
    • 1952 – Roger Briggs, American pianist, composer, conductor, and educator
    • 1953 – Pierre Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1954 – João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian jumper (d. 1999)
    • 1954 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1954 – Charles Saumarez Smith, English historian and academic
    • 1954 – Péter Szilágyi, Hungarian conductor and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1954 – John Tory, Canadian lawyer and politician, 65th Mayor of Toronto
    • 1955 – Laura Amy Schlitz, American author and librarian
    • 1955 – Mark Howe, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – Jerry Douglas, American guitarist and producer
    • 1956 – Jeff Dujon, Jamaican cricketer
    • 1956 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
    • 1956 – Peter Wilkinson, English admiral
    • 1957 – Colin Barnes, English footballer
    • 1957 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player and manager
    • 1957 – Ben Howland, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Risto Mannisenmäki, Finnish racing driver
    • 1960 – Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina
    • 1960 – Mary Portas, English journalist and author
    • 1963 – Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic
    • 1964 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer
    • 1964 – Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1964 – Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress
    • 1964 – Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1965 – Mary Coughlan, Irish politician
    • 1966 – Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright
    • 1966 – Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist
    • 1966 – Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer
    • 1967 – Glen Rice, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1969 – Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager
    • 1969 – Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (d. 2016)
    • 1970 – Glenn Quinn, American actor (d. 2002)
    • 1971 – Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer
    • 1971 – Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician
    • 1972 – Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager
    • 1973 – Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer
    • 1974 – Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1975 – Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic
    • 1976 – Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player
    • 1976 – Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach
    • 1976 – Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1977 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author
    • 1978 – Jake Johnson, American actor
    • 1979 – Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
    • 1979 – Ronald Curry, American football player and coach
    • 1980 – Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
    • 1980 – Lucy Shuker, English tennis player
    • 1981 – Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1981 – Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player
    • 1981 – Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1982 – Alexa Davalos, French-American actress
    • 1982 – Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Steve Cronin, American soccer player
    • 1983 – Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Roman Atwood, American YouTube star
    • 1985 – Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1985 – Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer
    • 1985 – Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer
    • 1986 – Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player
    • 1986 – Seth Rollins, American wrestler
    • 1986 – Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete
    • 1987 – T.J. Yates, American football player
    • 1988 – NaVorro Bowman, American football player
    • 1988 – Percy Harvin, American football player
    • 1988 – Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Kyle Walker, English international footballer, right-back
    • 1991 – Sharrif Floyd, American football player
    • 1991 – Alexandre Lacazette, French footballer
    • 1991 – Kail Piho, Estonian skier
    • 1992 – Tom Carroll, English footballer
    • 1993 – Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player
    • 1994 – John Stones, English footballer
    • 1994 – Son Yeon-jae, South Korean gymnast
    • 1998 – Dahyun, Korean singer
    • 1999 – Cameron Boyce, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 2000 – Phil Foden, English footballer

    Deaths on May 28

    • 576 – Germain of Paris, French bishop and saint (b. 496)
    • 741 – Ucha’an K’in B’alam, Mayan king
    • 926 – Kong Qian, official of Later Tang
    • 926 – Li Jiji, prince of Later Tang
    • 1023 – Wulfstan, English archbishop
    • 1279 – William Wishart, English bishop
    • 1327 – Robert Baldock, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England
    • 1357 – Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
    • 1427 – Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (b. 1397)
    • 1556 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese samurai (b. 1494)
    • 1626 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (b. 1561)
    • 1651 – Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1594)
    • 1672 – John Trevor, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1626)
    • 1747 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (b. 1715)
    • 1750 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
    • 1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1719)
    • 1805 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (b. 1743)
    • 1808 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (b. 1720)
    • 1811 – Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for War (b. 1742)
    • 1831 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (b. 1756)
    • 1843 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
    • 1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1820)
    • 1864 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
    • 1904 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (b. 1856)
    • 1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1878)
    • 1937 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (b. 1870)
    • 1946 – Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1858)
    • 1947 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (b. 1907)
    • 1952 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Tatsuo Hori, Japanese author and poet (b. 1904)
    • 1964 – Terry Dillon, American football player (b. 1941)
    • 1968 – Fyodor Okhlopkov, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1908)
    • 1971 – Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1925)
    • 1972 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
    • 1975 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (b. 1921)
    • 1976 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
    • 1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician and academic (b. 1895)
    • 1981 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
    • 1981 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (b. 1901)
    • 1982 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1940)
    • 1983 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (b. 1909)
    • 1984 – Eric Morecambe, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
    • 1986 – Edip Cansever, Turkish poet and author (b. 1928)
    • 1988 – Sy Oliver, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)
    • 1990 – Julius Eastman, American composer (b. 1940)
    • 1994 – Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
    • 1994 – Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American author and academic (b. 1916)
    • 1998 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor and comedian (b. 1948)
    • 1999 – Michael Barkai, Israeli commander (b. 1935)
    • 1999 – B. Vittalacharya, Indian director and producer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (b. 1926)
    • 2001 – Joe Moakley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2001 – Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
    • 2002 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
    • 2003 – Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2003 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-Italian businessman and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (b. 1979)
    • 2004 – John Tolos, Greek-Canadian wrestler (b. 1930)
    • 2006 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (b. 1920)
    • 2007 – Jörg Immendorff, German painter, sculptor, and academic (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Agriculture (b. 1945)
    • 2008 – Beryl Cook, English painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Gary Coleman, American actor (b. 1968)
    • 2011 – Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Bob Edwards, English journalist (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Yuri Susloparov, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Viktor Kulikov, Russian commander (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Gerd Schmückle, German general (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Stan Crowther, English footballer (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Oscar Dystel, American publisher (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian-American basketball player and manager (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer (b. 1971)
    • 2015 – Steven Gerber, American pianist and composer (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Johnny Keating, Scottish trombonist, composer, and producer (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2018 – Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (b. 1963)
    • 2018 – Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
    • 2018 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (b. 1941)

    Holidays and observances on May 28

    • Armed Forces Day (Croatia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bernard of Menthon
      • Germain of Paris
      • John Calvin (Episcopal Church)
      • Lanfranc
      • Margaret Pole
      • William of Gellone
      • May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Downfall of the Derg Day (Ethiopia)
    • Flag Day (Philippines)
    • Menstrual Hygiene Day
    • Republic Day (Nepal)
    • TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)
    • Youm-e-Takbir (Pakistan)

  • May 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 325 – The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
    • 491 – Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
    • 685 – The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
    • 794 – While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.
    • 1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
    • 1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
    • 1449 – The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
    • 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
    • 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
    • 1521 – Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
    • 1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
    • 1609 – Shakespeare’s sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
    • 1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1645 – Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
    • 1741 – The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
    • 1775 – The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
    • 1802 – By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
    • 1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
    • 1840 – York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
    • 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening 84 million acres of public land to settlers.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
    • 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
    • 1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
    • 1882 – The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
    • 1883 – Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
    • 1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison’s prototype kinetoscope.
    • 1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country’s first President.
    • 1927 – Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
    • 1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
    • 1940 – The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
    • 1941 – World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
    • 1948 – Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.
    • 1949 – In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
    • 1956 – In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
    • 1964 – Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
    • 1967 – The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
    • 1969 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
    • 1971 – In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
    • 1980 – In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
    • 1983 – First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier.
    • 1983 – Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
    • 1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
    • 1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
    • 1990 – The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
    • 1996 – Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
    • 2002 – The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
    • 2012 – At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
    • 2013 – An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
    • 2019 – The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.

    Births on May 20

    • 1315 – Bonne of Luxembourg, first wife of John II of France (d. 1349)
    • 1470 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal, poet, and scholar (d. 1547)
    • 1505 – Levinus Lemnius, Dutch writer (d. 1568)
    • 1531 – Thado Minsaw of Ava, Viceroy of Ava (d. 1584)
    • 1537 – Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (d. 1619)
    • 1575 – Robert Heath, English judge and politician (d. 1649)
    • 1664 – Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor and architect (d. 1714)
    • 1726 – Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (d. 1770)
    • 1743 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian revolutionary, general, and president (d. 1803)
    • 1759 – William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1828)
    • 1769 – Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (d. 1835)
    • 1772 – Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, English inventor and politician, developed Congreve rockets (d. 1828)
    • 1776 – Simon Fraser, American-Canadian fur trader and explorer (d. 1862)
    • 1795 – Pedro María de Anaya, Mexican soldier. President (1847-1848) (d. 1854)
    • 1799 – Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (d. 1850)
    • 1806 – John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (d. 1873)
    • 1811 – Alfred Domett, English-New Zealand poet and politician, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1887)
    • 1818 – William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (d. 1881)
    • 1822 – Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1912)
    • 1824 – Cadmus M. Wilcox, Confederate States Army general (d. 1890)
    • 1825 – Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the U.S. (d. 1921)
    • 1830 – Hector Malot, French author (d. 1907)
    • 1838 – Jules Méline, French lawyer and politician, 65th Prime Minister of France (d. 1925)
    • 1851 – Emile Berliner, German-American inventor, invented the Gramophone record (d. 1929)
    • 1854 – George Prendergast, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Victoria (d. 1937)
    • 1856 – Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (d. 1910)
    • 1860 – Eduard Buchner, German chemist, zymologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917)
    • 1875 – Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch rower (d. 1953)
    • 1877 – Pat Leahy, Irish-American jumper (d. 1927)
    • 1879 – Hans Meerwein, German chemist (d. 1965)
    • 1882 – Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949)
    • 1883 – Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933)
    • 1886 – Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded the Galatasaray Sports Club (d. 1951)
    • 1894 – Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian guru and scholar (d. 1994)
    • 1895 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire and Supermarine S.6B (d. 1937)
    • 1897 – Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish economist and author (d. 1983)
    • 1897 – Malcolm Nokes, English hammer and discus thrower (d. 1986)
    • 1898 – Eduard Ole, Estonian painter (d. 1995)
    • 1899 – Aleksandr Deyneka, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1969)
    • 1899 – John Marshall Harlan II, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1971)
    • 1900 – Sumitranandan Pant, Indian poet and author (d. 1977)
    • 1901 – Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (d. 1981)
    • 1901 – Doris Fleeson, American journalist (d. 1970)
    • 1904 – Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (d. 1966)
    • 1906 – Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (d. 1989)
    • 1907 – Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (d. 2004)
    • 1908 – Henry Bolte, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Louis Daquin, French actor and director (d. 1980)
    • 1908 – Francis Raymond Fosberg, American botanist and author (d. 1993)
    • 1908 – James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Gardner Fox, American author (d. 1986)
    • 1911 – Annie M. G. Schmidt, Dutch author and playwright (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – Teodoro Fernández, Peruvian footballer (d. 1996)
    • 1913 – William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Peter Copley, English actor (d. 2008)
    • 1915 – Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1981)
    • 1915 – Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
    • 1916 – Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1916 – Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Ondina Valla, Italian sprinter and hurdler (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Tony Cliff, Israeli-English author and activist (d. 2000)
    • 1917 – Guy Favreau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 28th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1967)
    • 1918 – Alexandra Boyko, Russian tank commander (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – Edward B. Lewis, American biologist, geneticist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991)
    • 1920 – John Cruickshank, Scottish lieutenant and banker, Victoria Cross recipient
    • 1921 – Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright (d. 1947)
    • 1921 – Hal Newhouser, American baseball player and scout (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – Ted Hinton, Northern Irish international footballer (d. 1988)
    • 1923 – Edith Fellows, American actress (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Sam Selvon, Trinidad-born writer (d. 1994)
    • 1924 – David Chavchavadze, English-American CIA officer and author (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (d. 1976)
    • 1925 – Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (d. 2001)
    • 1926 – Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (d. 1956)
    • 1927 – Bud Grant, American football player and coach
    • 1927 – David Hedison, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (d. 2016)
    • 1929 – Gilles Loiselle, Canadian politician and diplomat, 33rd Canadian Minister of Finance
    • 1930 – Sam Etcheverry, American football player and coach (d. 2009)
    • 1931 – Ken Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1982)
    • 1931 – Louis Smith, American trumpeter (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Constance Towers, American actress and singer
    • 1935 – José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay
    • 1936 – Anthony Zerbe, American actor
    • 1937 – Dave Hill, American golfer (d. 2011)
    • 1937 – Derek Lampe, English footballer
    • 1939 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1940 – Shorty Long, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1969)
    • 1940 – Stan Mikita, Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Sadaharu Oh, Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager
    • 1941 – Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore
    • 1941 – John Strasberg, American actor and teacher
    • 1942 – Raymond Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
    • 1942 – Lynn Davies, Welsh sprinter and long jumper
    • 1942 – Carlos Hathcock, American sergeant and sniper (d. 1999)
    • 1942 – Frew McMillan, South African tennis player
    • 1943 – Albano Carrisi, Italian singer, actor, and winemaker
    • 1943 – Deryck Murray, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1944 – Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Boudewijn de Groot, Indonesian-Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1944 – Keith Fletcher, English cricketer and manager
    • 1944 – Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman, co-founded Red Bull GmbH
    • 1945 – Vladimiro Montesinos, Peruvian intelligence officer
    • 1946 – Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1946 – Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2008)
    • 1947 – Steve Currie, English bass player (d. 1981)
    • 1947 – Greg Dyke, English journalist and academic
    • 1949 – Robert Morin, Canadian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Michèle Roberts, English author and poet
    • 1949 – Dave Thomas, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1950 – Andy Johns, English-American engineer and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1950 – Reinaldo Merlo, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1951 – Thomas Akers, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut
    • 1951 – Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (d. 2020)
    • 1951 – Mike Crapo, American lawyer and politician
    • 1952 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer and manager
    • 1952 – Michael Wills, English politician, British Minister of Justice
    • 1953 – Robert Doyle, Australian educator and politician, 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne
    • 1954 – David Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of New York
    • 1954 – Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, Scottish lawyer and judge
    • 1955 – Steve George, American keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1955 – Zbigniew Preisner, Polish composer and producer
    • 1956 – Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian-German author and critic
    • 1956 – Gerry Peyton, English born Irish international footballer and coach
    • 1956 – Douglas Preston, American journalist and author
    • 1957 – Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan
    • 1958 – Ron Reagan, American journalist and radio host
    • 1958 – Jane Wiedlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
    • 1959 – Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter
    • 1960 – Tony Goldwyn, American actor and director
    • 1961 – Clive Allen, English international footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Nick Heyward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – David Wells, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1964 – Kōichirō Genba, Japanese politician, 80th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
    • 1964 – Edin Osmanović, Slovenian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1964 – Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author
    • 1965 – Ted Allen, American television host and author
    • 1965 – Stu Grimson, Canadian ice hockey player, sportscaster, and lawyer
    • 1966 – Dan Abrams, American journalist and author
    • 1967 – Graham Brady, English politician
    • 1967 – Gabriele Muccino, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer
    • 1969 – Road Dogg, American wrestler, producer, and soldier
    • 1970 – Terrell Brandon, American basketball player
    • 1970 – Louis Theroux, Singaporean-English journalist and producer
    • 1971 – Šárka Kašpárková, Czech triple jumper and coach
    • 1971 – Tony Stewart, American race car driver
    • 1972 – Michael Diamond, Australian shooter
    • 1972 – Christophe Dominici, French rugby player
    • 1972 – Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1973 – Nathan Long, Australian rugby league player
    • 1974 – Allison Amend, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1974 – Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Indian film director, writer and actor
    • 1975 – Juan Minujín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1976 – Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player
    • 1976 – Tomoya Satozaki, Japanese baseball player
    • 1977 – Matt Czuchry, American actor
    • 1977 – Leo Franco, Argentinian footballer
    • 1977 – Angela Goethals, American actress
    • 1977 – Stirling Mortlock, Australian rugby player
    • 1977 – Vesa Toskala, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Hristos Banikas, Greek chess player
    • 1978 – Pavla Hamáčková-Rybová, Czech pole vaulter
    • 1978 – Nils Schumann, German runner
    • 1979 – Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician, 28th Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
    • 1979 – Jayson Werth, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Austin Kearns, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Kassim Osgood, American football player
    • 1981 – Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer
    • 1981 – Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter
    • 1981 – Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Mark Winterbottom, Australian race car driver
    • 1982 – Petr Čech, Czech footballer
    • 1982 – Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1982 – Jessica Raine, English actress
    • 1982 – Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1983 – Óscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1983 – Matt Langridge, English rower
    • 1984 – Mauro Rafael da Silva, Brazilian footballer
    • 1984 – Patrick Ewing, Jr., American basketball player
    • 1984 – Keith Grennan, American football player
    • 1985 – Chris Froome, Kenyan-English cyclist
    • 1985 – Brendon Goddard, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Dexter Blackstock, English footballer
    • 1986 – Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1986 – Jiřina Svobodová, Czech pole vaulter
    • 1987 – Mike Havenaar, Japanese footballer
    • 1987 – Julian Wright, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Joel Moon, Australian rugby league player
    • 1989 – Siosia Vave, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
    • 1991 – Bastian Baker, Swiss singer, songwriter, and performer
    • 1991 – Emre Colak, Turkish footballer
    • 1992 – Cate Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer
    • 1992 – Jack Gleeson, Irish actor
    • 1992 – Enes Kanter, Turkish basketball player
    • 1993 – Caroline Zhang, American figure skater
    • 1996 – Brian Kelly, Australian rugby league player
    • 1998 – Jamie Chadwick, English race car driver
    • 1998 – Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater

    Deaths on May 20

    • 685 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645)
    • 794 – Æthelberht II, king of East Anglia
    • 965 – Gero the Great, Saxon ruler (b.c. 900)
    • 1062 – Bao Zheng, Chinese magistrate and mayor of Kaifeng (b. 999)
    • 1277 – Pope John XXI (b. 1215)
    • 1285 – John II of Jerusalem (b. 1259)
    • 1291 – Sufi Saint Sayyid Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari
    • 1366 – Maria of Calabria, Empress of Constantinople (b. 1329)
    • 1444 – Bernardino of Siena, Italian-Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1380)
    • 1449 – Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches
    • 1449 – Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra (b. 1392)
    • 1501 – Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister (b. 1467)
    • 1503 – Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, Italian banker and politician (b. 1463)
    • 1506 – Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, discovered the Americas (b. 1451)
    • 1550 – Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1510)
    • 1579 – Isabella Markham, English courtier (b. 1527)
    • 1622 – Osman II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1604)
    • 1645 – Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (b. 1601)
    • 1648 – Władysław IV Vasa, Polish son of Sigismund III Vasa (b. 1595)
    • 1677 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, Spanish-English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1612)
    • 1713 – Thomas Sprat, English bishop (b. 1635)
    • 1717 – John Trevor, Welsh lawyer and politician, 102nd Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1637)
    • 1722 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (b. 1669)
    • 1732 – Thomas Boston, Scottish author and educator (b. 1676)
    • 1782 – William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1701)
    • 1793 – Charles Bonnet, Swiss botanist and biologist (b. 1720)
    • 1812 – Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (b. 1732)
    • 1834 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (b. 1757)
    • 1841 – Joseph Blanco White, Spanish poet and theologian (b. 1775)
    • 1864 – John Clare, English poet (b. 1793)
    • 1873 – George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of East Canada (b. 1814)
    • 1880 – Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (b. 1814)
    • 1896 – Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819)
    • 1909 – Ernest Hogan, American actor and composer (b. 1859)
    • 1917 – Valentine Fleming, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1887)
    • 1917 – Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850)
    • 1924 – Bogd Khan, Mongolian ruler (c. 1869)
    • 1925 – Joseph Howard, Maltese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1862)
    • 1931 – Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician (b. 1831)
    • 1940 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
    • 1942 – Hector Guimard, French Architect (b. 1867)
    • 1946 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish pilot and engineer (b. 1871)
    • 1947 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
    • 1947 – Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (b. 1890)
    • 1949 – Damaskinos of Athens, Greek archbishop and politician, 137th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1891)
    • 1956 – Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (b. 1872)
    • 1956 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer and trainer (b. 1881)
    • 1961 – Josef Priller, German colonel and pilot (b. 1915)
    • 1964 – Rudy Lewis, American singer (b. 1936)
    • 1971 – Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1973 – Renzo Pasolini, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1938)
    • 1973 – Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945)
    • 1975 – Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor and lithographer (b. 1903)
    • 1976 – Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911)
    • 1976 – Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (b. 1924)
    • 1976 – Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (b. 1934)
    • 1989 – John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
    • 1989 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (b. 1946)
    • 1995 – Les Cowie, Australian rugby league player (b. 1925)
    • 1996 – Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (b. 1919)
    • 1998 – Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (b. 1916)
    • 2000 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (b. 1922)
    • 2000 – Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (b. 1970)
    • 2000 – Yevgeny Khrunov, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2001 – Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and academic (b. 1941)
    • 2005 – Paul Ricœur, French philosopher and academic (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – William Seawell, American general (b. 1918)
    • 2007 – Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (b. 1914)
    • 2008 – Hamilton Jordan, American politician, 8th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944)
    • 2009 – Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect and urban planner, designed Roy Thomson Hall (b. 1924)
    • 2009 – Lucy Gordon, American actress and model (b. 1980)
    • 2009 – Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (b. 1919)
    • 2011 – Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Leela Dube, Indian anthropologist and scholar (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1949)
    • 2012 – David Littman, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Ken Lyons, American bass guitarist (b. 1953)
    • 2012 – Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (b. 1915)
    • 2012 – Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Flavio Costantini, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (b. 1947)
    • 2013 – Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Denys Roberts, English judge and politician (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Zach Sobiech, American singer-songwriter (b. 1995)
    • 2014 – Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (b. 1944)
    • 2014 – Ross Brown, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Robyn Denny, English-French painter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Arthur Gelb, American journalist, author, and critic (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English businessman (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Barbara Murray, English actress (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
    • 2015 – Femi Robinson, Nigerian actor and playwright (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on May 20

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abercius and Helena
      • Alcuin of York
      • Aurea of Ostia
      • Austregisilus
      • Baudilus
      • Bernardino of Siena
      • Ivo of Chartres
      • Lucifer of Cagliari
      • Sanctan
      • May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)
    • Emancipation Day (Florida)
    • European Maritime Day (European Council)
    • Independence Restoration Day, celebrates the independence of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002.
    • Josephine Baker Day (NAACP)
    • National Awakening Day (Indonesia), and its related observances:
      • Indonesian Doctor Day (Indonesia)
    • National Day (Cameroon)
    • World Bee Day
    • World Metrology Day

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

    • 217 – Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated. He is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
    • 632 – King Charibert II is assassinated at Blaye (Gironde), along with his infant son Chilperic.
    • 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-‘Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
    • 1093 – The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by Walkelin.
    • 1139 – Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated.
    • 1149 – Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum.
    • 1232 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.
    • 1271 – In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.
    • 1665 – English colonial patents are granted for the establishment of the Monmouth Tract, for what would eventually become Monmouth County in northeastern New Jersey.
    • 1730 – Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in New York City, is dedicated.
    • 1740 – War of Jenkins’ Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess.
    • 1808 – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Baltimore is promoted to an archdiocese, with the founding of the dioceses of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Bardstown (now Louisville) by Pope Pius VII.
    • 1820 – The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.
    • 1832 – Black Hawk War: Around three-hundred United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Mansfield: Union forces are thwarted by the Confederate army at Mansfield, Louisiana.
    • 1866 – Italy and Prussia ally against the Austrian Empire.
    • 1886 – William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
    • 1895 – In Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
    • 1904 – The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
    • 1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
    • 1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, dies.
    • 1908 – H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, succeeding Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman.
    • 1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
    • 1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
    • 1913 – The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
    • 1916 – In Corona, California, race car driver Bob Burman crashes, killing three (including himself), and badly injuring five spectators.
    • 1918 – World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City’s financial district.
    • 1924 – Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk’s Reforms.
    • 1929 – Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
    • 1935 – The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
    • 1942 – World War II: Siege of Leningrad: Soviet forces open a much-needed railway link to Leningrad.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
    • 1943 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
    • 1943 – Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities.
    • 1945 – World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
    • 1946 – Électricité de France, the world’s largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
    • 1950 – India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat–Nehru Pact.
    • 1952 – U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike.
    • 1953 – Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya’s rulers.
    • 1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
    • 1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
    • 1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
    • 1959 – The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
    • 1960 – The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.
    • 1961 – A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238.
    • 1964 – The Gemini 1 test flight is conducted.
    • 1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
    • 1970 – Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
    • 1974 – At Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, Hank Aaron hits his 715th career home run to surpass Babe Ruth’s 39-year-old record.
    • 1975 – Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball’s first African American manager.
    • 1987 – Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racially charged remarks he had made while on Nightline.
    • 1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
    • 1993 – The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations.
    • 1999 – Haryana Gana Parishad, a political party in the Indian state of Haryana, merges with the Indian National Congress.
    • 2004 – War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and two rebel groups.
    • 2006 – Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
    • 2008 – The construction of the world’s first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
    • 2013 – The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.

    Births on April 8

    • 1320 – Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367)
    • 1408 – Jadwiga of Lithuania, Polish princess (d. 1431)
    • 1435 – John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1461)
    • 1533 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (d. 1604)
    • 1536 – Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597)
    • 1541 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (d. 1593)
    • 1580 – William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English noble, courtier and patron of the arts (d. 1630)
    • 1596 – Juan van der Hamen, Spanish artist (d. 1631)
    • 1605 – Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665)
    • 1605 – Mary Stuart, English-Scottish princess (d. 1607)
    • 1641 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1704)
    • 1692 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1770)
    • 1726 – Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (d. 1798)
    • 1732 – David Rittenhouse, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1796)
    • 1761 – William Joseph Chaminade, French priest, founded the Society of Mary (d. 1850)
    • 1770 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian banker and politician (d. 1830)
    • 1798 – Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and author (d. 1857)
    • 1818 – Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906)
    • 1818 – August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (d. 1892)
    • 1826 – Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890)
    • 1827 – Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican ophthalmologist, journalist, and politician (d. 1898)
    • 1842 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – Edmund Husserl, German Jewish-Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1938)
    • 1864 – Carlos Deltour, French rower and rugby player (d. 1920)
    • 1867 – Allen Butler Talcott, American painter and educator (d. 1908)
    • 1869 – Harvey Cushing, American surgeon and academic (d. 1939)
    • 1871 – Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (d. 1925)
    • 1874 – Manuel Díaz, Cuban fencer (d. 1929)
    • 1874 – Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960)
    • 1875 – Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934)
    • 1882 (O.S. 27 March) – Dmytro Doroshenko, Lithuanian-Ukrainian historian and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Prime Minister of Ukraine (d. 1951)
    • 1883 – R. P. Keigwin, English cricketer and academic (d. 1972)
    • 1883 – Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1936)
    • 1885 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek-French soldier, composer, and educator (d. 1951)
    • 1886 – Margaret Ayer Barnes, American author and playwright (d. 1967)
    • 1888 – Dennis Chávez, American journalist and politician (d. 1962)
    • 1889 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983)
    • 1892 – Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designed the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (d. 1970)
    • 1892 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded United Artists (d. 1979)
    • 1896 – Yip Harburg, American composer (d. 1981)
    • 1900 – Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979)
    • 1902 – Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1924)
    • 1902 – Maria Maksakova Sr., Russian soprano (d. 1974)
    • 1904 – John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
    • 1904 – Hirsch Jacobs, American horse trainer (d. 1970)
    • 1905 – Joachim Büchner, German sprinter and graphic designer (d. 1978)
    • 1905 – Helen Joseph, English-South African activist (d. 1992)
    • 1905 – Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d. 1971)
    • 1906 – Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (d. 1974)
    • 1908 – Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1909 – John Fante, American author and screenwriter (d. 1983)
    • 1910 – George Musso, American football player and police officer (d. 2000)
    • 1911 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
    • 1911 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and academic (d. 1995)
    • 1912 – Alois Brunner, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 2001 or 2010)
    • 1912 – Sonja Henie, Norwegian-American figure skater and actress (d. 1969)
    • 1914 – María Félix, Yaqui/Basque-Mexican actress (d. 2002)
    • 1915 – Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and writer (d. 2007)
    • 1917 – Winifred Asprey, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2007)
    • 1917 – Lloyd Bott, Australian public servant (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017)
    • 1917 – Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer (d. 1988)
    • 1918 – Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (d. 2011)
    • 1918 – Glendon Swarthout, American author and academic (d. 1992)
    • 1919 – Ian Smith, Zimbabwean lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Franco Corelli, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2003)
    • 1921 – Jan Novák, Czech composer (d. 1984)
    • 1921 – Herman van Raalte, Dutch footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Carmen McRae, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress (d. 1994)
    • 1923 – George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Edward Mulhare, Irish-American actor (d. 1997)
    • 1924 – Frédéric Back, German-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Anthony Farrar-Hockley, English general and historian (d. 2006)
    • 1924 – Kumar Gandharva, Hindustani classical singer (d. 1992)
    • 1924 – Sara Northrup Hollister, American occultist (d. 1997)
    • 1926 – Henry N. Cobb, American architect and academic, co-founded Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (d. 2020)
    • 1926 – Shecky Greene, American actor
    • 1926 – Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian and academic
    • 1927 – Tilly Armstrong, English author (d. 2010)
    • 1927 – Ollie Mitchell, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Fred Ebb, American lyricist (d. 2004)
    • 1929 – Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1978)
    • 1929 – Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (d. 1996)
    • 1930 – Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma (d. 2010)
    • 1931 – John Gavin, American actor and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Mexico (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Iskandar of Johor (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – James Lockhart, American scholar of colonial Latin America, especially Nahua peoples (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower and Singapore Flyer (d. 2007)
    • 1935 – Oscar Zeta Acosta, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974)
    • 1935 – Albert Bustamante, American soldier, educator, and politician
    • 1937 – Tony Barton, English footballer, outside right and manager (d. 1993)
    • 1937 – Seymour Hersh, American journalist and author
    • 1937 – Momo Kapor, Serbian author and painter (d. 2010)
    • 1938 – Kofi Annan, Ghanaian economist and diplomat, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 2018)
    • 1938 – John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia
    • 1938 – Mary W. Gray, American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer
    • 1939 – John Arbuthnott, Scottish microbiologist and academic
    • 1939 – Trina Schart Hyman, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1940 – John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019)
    • 1941 – J. J. Jackson, American soul/R&B singer, songwriter, and arranger
    • 1941 – Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer
    • 1942 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (d. 2006)
    • 1942 – Roger Chapman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1942 – Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer, and special effects artist
    • 1943 – Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987)
    • 1943 – Miller Farr, American football player
    • 1943 – James Herbert, English author and illustrator (d. 2013)
    • 1943 – Chris Orr, English painter and illustrator
    • 1944 – Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017)
    • 1944 – Odd Nerdrum, Swedish-Norwegian painter and illustrator
    • 1945 – Derrick Walker, Scottish businessman
    • 1945 – Jang Yong, South Korean actor
    • 1946 – Catfish Hunter, American baseball player (d. 1999)
    • 1946 – Tim Thomerson, American actor and producer
    • 1947 – Tom DeLay, American lawyer and politician
    • 1947 – Steve Howe, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1947 – Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman, co-founded Cashflow Technologies
    • 1947 – Pascal Lamy, French businessman and politician, European Commissioner for Trade
    • 1947 – Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter, and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, Scottish academic and politician
    • 1949 – K. C. Kamalasabayson, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 39th Attorney General of Sri Lanka (d. 2007)
    • 1949 – John Madden, English director and producer
    • 1949 – Brenda Russell, African-American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1949 – John Scott, English sociologist and academic
    • 1950 – Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer and coach
    • 1951 – Gerd Andres, German politician
    • 1951 – Geir Haarde, Icelandic economist, journalist, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Iceland
    • 1951 – Mel Schacher, American bass player
    • 1951 – Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1952 – Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician (d. 2004)
    • 1954 – Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – G.V. Loganathan, Indian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1955 – Ricky Bell, American football player (d. 1984)
    • 1955 – Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer
    • 1955 – Ron Johnson, American businessman and politician
    • 1955 – Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet
    • 1955 – David Wu, Taiwanese-American lawyer and politician
    • 1956 – Michael Benton, Scottish-English paleontologist and academic
    • 1956 – Christine Boisson, French actress
    • 1956 – Roman Dragoun, Czech singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1956 – Jim Piddock, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Fred Smerlas, American football player and radio host
    • 1958 – Detlef Bruckhoff, German footballer
    • 1958 – Tom Petranoff, American javelin thrower and coach
    • 1959 – Alain Bondue, French cyclist
    • 1960 – John Schneider, American actor and country singer
    • 1961 – Richard Hatch, American reality contestant
    • 1961 – Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager
    • 1962 – Paddy Lowe, English engineer
    • 1962 – Izzy Stradlin, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1963 – Tine Asmundsen, Norwegian bassist
    • 1963 – Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter
    • 1963 – Terry Porter, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Donita Sparks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – Alec Stewart, English cricketer
    • 1963 – Seth Tobias, American businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1964 – Biz Markie, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1964 – John McGinlay, Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Steven Blaney, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Public Safety
    • 1965 – Michael Jones, New Zealand rugby player and coach
    • 1966 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014)
    • 1966 – Mark Blundell, English race car driver
    • 1966 – Andy Currier, English rugby league player
    • 1966 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-Australian television host (d. 2014)
    • 1966 – Dalton Grant, English high jumper
    • 1966 – Mazinho, Brazilian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1966 – Harri Rovanperä, Finnish race car driver
    • 1966 – Evripidis Stylianidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior
    • 1966 – Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer
    • 1967 – Kenny Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer
    • 1968 – Patricia Arquette, French-Canadian Russian/Polish Jewish-American actress and director
    • 1968 – Patricia Girard, French runner and hurdler
    • 1968 – Tracy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – Darren Jessee, American singer-songwriter and drummer
    • 1972 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1972 – Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer and accountant (d. 2009)
    • 1973 – Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer
    • 1973 – Emma Caulfield, American actress
    • 1974 – Toutai Kefu, Tongan-Australian rugby player
    • 1974 – Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American author and educator
    • 1975 – Anouk, Dutch singer
    • 1975 – Francesco Flachi, Italian footballer
    • 1975 – Timo Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1975 – Funda Arar, Turkish singer
    • 1977 – Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress
    • 1977 – Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist and author (d. 2008)
    • 1977 – Mark Spencer, American computer programmer and engineer
    • 1978 – Daigo, Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, and voice actor
    • 1978 – Bernt Haas, Austrian-Swiss footballer
    • 1978 – Rachel Roberts, Canadian model and actress
    • 1978 – Jocelyn Robichaud, Canadian tennis player and coach
    • 1978 – Evans Rutto, Kenyan runner
    • 1979 – Alexi Laiho, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1979 – Amit Trivedi, Indian singer-songwriter
    • 1980 – Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer
    • 1980 – Katee Sackhoff, American actress
    • 1980 – Mariko Seyama, Japanese announcer, photographer, and model
    • 1981 – Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer
    • 1981 – Ofer Shechter, Israeli model, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1982 – Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer
    • 1982 – Brett White, Australian rugby league player
    • 1983 – Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russian runner
    • 1984 – Michelle Donelan, British politician
    • 1984 – Ezra Koenig, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1984 – Pablo Portillo, Mexican singer and actor
    • 1984 – Taran Noah Smith, American actor
    • 1985 – Patrick Schliwa, German rugby player
    • 1985 – Yemane Tsegay, Ethiopian runner
    • 1986 – Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer
    • 1986 – Félix Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player
    • 1987 – Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer
    • 1987 – Jeremy Hellickson, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Sam Rapira, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1988 – Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Kim Myung-sung, South Korean baseball player
    • 1990 – Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer (d. 2017)
    • 1993 – Viktor Arvidsson, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1993 – Zac Santo, Australian rugby league player
    • 1994 – Josh Chudleigh, Australian rugby league player
    • 1995 – Cedi Osman, Turkish professional basketball player
    • 1997 – Saygrace, Australian singer and songwriter
    • 1997 – Arno Verschueren, Belgian professional football player

    Deaths on April 8

    • 217 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (b. 188)
    • 622 – Shōtoku, Japanese prince (b. 572)
    • 632 – Charibert II, Frankish king (b. 607)
    • 894 – Adalelm, Frankish nobleman
    • 944 – Wang Yanxi, Chinese emperor
    • 956 – Gilbert, Frankish nobleman
    • 967 – Mu’izz al-Dawla, Buyid emir (b. 915)
    • 1143 – John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1087)
    • 1150 – Gertrude of Babenberg , duchess of Bohemia (b. 1118)
    • 1321 – Thomas of Tolentino, Italian-Franciscan missionary (b. c. 1255)
    • 1338 – Stephen Gravesend, bishop of London
    • 1364 – John II, French king (b. 1319)
    • 1450 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (b. 1397)
    • 1461 – Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423)
    • 1492 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1449)
    • 1551 – Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510)
    • 1586 – Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran theologian and reformer (b. 1522)
    • 1608 – Magdalen Dacre, English noble (b. 1538)
    • 1612 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575)
    • 1691 – Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect, designed the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (b. 1611)
    • 1697 – Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (b. 1629)
    • 1704 – Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (b. 1624)
    • 1704 – Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1641)
    • 1709 – Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen, German nobleman (b. 1641)
    • 1725 – John Wise, American minister (b. 1652)
    • 1735 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
    • 1848 – Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797)
    • 1860 – István Széchenyi, Hungarian statesman and reformer (b.1791)
    • 1861 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (b. 1811)
    • 1870 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802)
    • 1894 – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1838)
    • 1906 – Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (b. 1850)
    • 1919 – Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist, academic, and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1848)
    • 1920 – Charles Griffes, American pianist and composer (b. 1884)
    • 1931 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864)
    • 1936 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
    • 1936 – Božena Benešová, Czech poet and novelist (b. 1873)
    • 1941 – Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (b. 1862)
    • 1942 – Kostas Skarvelis, Greek guitarist and composer (b. 1880)
    • 1947 – Olaf Frydenlund, Norwegian target shooter (b. 1862)
    • 1950 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish dancer and choreographer (b. 1890)
    • 1959 – Marios Makrionitis, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens (b. 1913)
    • 1961 – Joseph Carrodus, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
    • 1962 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892)
    • 1965 – Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886)
    • 1969 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian astronomer (b. 1900)
    • 1973 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
    • 1974 – James Charles McGuigan, Canadian cardinal (b. 1894)
    • 1979 – Breece D’J Pancake, American short story writer (b. 1952)
    • 1981 – Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893)
    • 1983 – Isamu Kosugi, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904)
    • 1984 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894)
    • 1985 – John Frederick Coots, American pianist and composer (b. 1897)
    • 1990 – Ryan White, American activist, inspired the Ryan White Care Act (b. 1971)
    • 1991 – Per Ohlin, Swedish musician (b. 1969)
    • 1992 – Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
    • 1993 – Marian Anderson, American operatic singer (b. 1897)
    • 1994 – François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (b. 1899)
    • 1996 – Ben Johnson, American actor and stuntman (b. 1918)
    • 1996 – León Klimovsky, Argentinian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
    • 1996 – Mick Young, Australian politician (b. 1936)
    • 1997 – Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1947)
    • 2000 – František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer (b. 1927)
    • 2000 – Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter (b. 1937)
    • 2004 – Werner Schumacher, German actor (b. 1921)
    • 2005 – Onna White, Canadian choreographer and dancer (b. 1922)
    • 2006 – Gerard Reve, Dutch author and poet (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Sol LeWitt, American painter and sculptor (b. 1928)
    • 2008 – Kazuo Shiraga, Japanese painter (b. 1924)
    • 2009 – Richard de Mille, American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (b. 1922)
    • 2009 – Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976)
    • 2010 – Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – Teddy Scholten, Dutch singer (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – Blair Kiel, American football player and coach (b. 1961)
    • 2012 – Jack Tramiel, Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Janusz K. Zawodny, Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Sara Montiel, Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Margaret Thatcher, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Ivan Mercep, New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Rayson Huang, Hong Kong chemist and academic (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Sergei Lashchenko, Ukrainian kick-boxer (b. 1987)
    • 2015 – David Laventhol, American journalist and publisher (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936)

    Holidays and observances on April 8

    • Buddha’s Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, “Flower Festival” (Japan)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Constantina
      • Julie Billiart of Namur
      • Perpetuus
      • Walter of Pontoise
      • William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia)
    • International Romani Day

  • April 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    On the Roman calendar, this was known as the day before the nones of April (Latin: Prid. Non. Apr.).

    April 4 in History

    • 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
    • 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes.
    • 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
    • 1460 – Basel University is founded.
    • 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
    • 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia.
    • 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.
    • 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.
    • 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
    • 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.
    • 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.
    • 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).
    • 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.
    • 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances.
    • 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.
    • 1859 – Bryant’s Minstrels debut “Dixie” in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
    • 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.
    • 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
    • 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague.
    • 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
    • 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.
    • 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
    • 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany.
    • 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather.
    • 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
    • 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
    • 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
    • 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
    • 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves.
    • 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
    • 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.
    • 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.
    • 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
    • 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.
    • 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech in New York City’s Riverside Church.
    • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
    • 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
    • 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.
    • 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
    • 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.
    • 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.
    • 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    • 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.
    • 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
    • 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.
    • 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
    • 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
    • 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
    • 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress.
    • 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
    • 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation.
    • 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
    • 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
    • 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.
    • 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
    • 2020 – China holds a National day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

    Births on April 4

    • 188 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
    • 1436 – Amalia of Saxony, Duchess of Bavaria-Landshut (d. 1501)
    • 1490 – Vojtěch I of Pernstein, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1534)
    • 1492 – Ambrosius Blarer, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (d. 1564)
    • 1572 – William Strachey, English author (d. 1621)
    • 1586 – Richard Saltonstall, English diplomat (d. 1661)
    • 1593 – Edward Nicholas, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1669)
    • 1640 – Gaspar Sanz, Spanish guitarist, composer, and priest (d. 1710)
    • 1646 – Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist (d. 1715)
    • 1648 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-English sculptor (d. 1721)
    • 1676 – Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (d. 1760)
    • 1688 – Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1768)
    • 1718 – Benjamin Kennicott, English theologian and scholar (d. 1783)
    • 1752 – Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (d. 1837)
    • 1760 – Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan organist and composer (d. 1797)
    • 1762 – Stephen Storace, English actor and composer (d. 1796)
    • 1772 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement (d. 1810)
    • 1780 – Edward Hicks, American minister and painter (d. 1849)
    • 1785 – Bettina von Arnim, German author, illustrator, and composer (d. 1859)
    • 1792 – Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
    • 1802 – Dorothea Dix, American nurse and activist (d. 1887)
    • 1818 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American author and poet (d. 1883)
    • 1819 – Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
    • 1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (d. 1868)
    • 1826 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (d. 1901)
    • 1829 – Owen Suffolk, Australian bushranger, poet, confidence-man and author
    • 1835 – John Hughlings Jackson, English physician and neurologist (d. 1911)
    • 1842 – Édouard Lucas, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1891)
    • 1843 – William Henry Jackson, American painter and photographer (d. 1942)
    • 1846 – Comte de Lautréamont, Uruguayan-French poet and educator (d. 1870)
    • 1851 – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, Irish lawyer and politician (d. 1931)
    • 1853 – Remy de Gourmont, French poet, novelist, and critic (d. 1915)
    • 1868 – Philippa Fawcett, English mathematician and educator (d. 1948)
    • 1869 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (d. 1958)
    • 1875 – Pierre Monteux, Sephardic Jewish French-American viola player and conductor (d. 1964)
    • 1876 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter and poet (d. 1958)
    • 1878 – Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral and historian (d. 1958)
    • 1879 – Gustav Goßler, German rower (d. 1940)
    • 1884 – James Alberione, Italian priest, founded the Society of St. Paul (d. 1971)
    • 1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (d. 1943)
    • 1886 – Frank Luther Mott, American historian and journalist (d. 1964)
    • 1888 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
    • 1888 – Zdzisław Żygulski, Sr., Polish historian and academic (d. 1975)
    • 1889 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1968)
    • 1892 – Italo Mus, Italian painter (d. 1967)
    • 1895 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991)
    • 1896 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1955)
    • 1897 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor and screenwriter (d. 1975)
    • 1898 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
    • 1899 – Hillel Oppenheimer, German-Israeli botanist and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, French journalist and author (d. 1969)
    • 1902 – Stanley G. Weinbaum, American author and poet (d. 1935)
    • 1905 – Eugène Bozza, French composer and conductor (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Erika Nõva, Estonian architect and engineer (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – Bea Benaderet, Turkish-Jewish Irish-American television, radio, and voice actress (d. 1968)
    • 1906 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
    • 1907 – Robert Askin, Australian sergeant and politician, 32nd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1981)
    • 1910 – Đặng Văn Ngữ, Vietnamese physician and academic (d. 1967)
    • 1911 – Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
    • 1913 – Dave Brown, Australian rugby league player (d. 1974)
    • 1913 – Rosemary Lane, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
    • 1913 – Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Jules Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Governor General of Canada (d. 1980)
    • 1913 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983)
    • 1914 – Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014)
    • 1914 – Marguerite Duras, French novelist, screenwriter, and director (d. 1996)
    • 1914 – David W. Goodall, Australian ecologist and botanist (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Louis Archambault, Canadian sculptor (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Nikola Ljubičić, Serbian general and politician, 10th President of Serbia (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – Mickey Owen, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – David White, American actor (d. 1990)
    • 1918 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English soldier and politician, Leader of the House of Lords (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Orunamamu, American-Canadian author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – Ignatius IV of Antioch, Greek patriarch (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
    • 1923 – Peter Vaughan, English actor (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2020)
    • 1924 – Bob Christie, American race car driver (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
    • 1925 – Dettmar Cramer, German footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Frank Truitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Claude Wagner, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1925 – Emmett Williams, American poet and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1926 – Ronnie Masterson, Irish actress (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Joe Orlando, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
    • 1928 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian
    • 1928 – Jimmy Logan, Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
    • 1928 – Monty Norman, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1929 – Humbert Allen Astredo, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Netty Herawaty, Indonesian actress (d. 1989)
    • 1931 – James Dickens, English politician (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence officer
    • 1931 – Catherine Tizard, New Zealand politician, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand
    • 1932 – Clive Davis, American record producer, founded Arista Records and J Records
    • 1932 – Richard Lugar, American lieutenant and politician, 44th Mayor of Indianapolis (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
    • 1932 – Johanna Reiss, Dutch-American author
    • 1932 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director and producer (d. 1986)
    • 1933 – Bill France, Jr., American businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1933 – Brian Hewson, English runner
    • 1933 – Bapu Nadkarni, Indian cricketer (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Helen Hanft, American actress (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (d. 1996)
    • 1935 – Geoff Braybrooke, English-New Zealand soldier and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Kenneth Mars, American actor and comedian (d. 2011)
    • 1935 – Trevor Griffiths, English playwright and educator
    • 1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American businessman and academic (d. 1989)
    • 1939 – JoAnne Carner, American golfer
    • 1939 – Darlene Hooley, American educator and politician
    • 1939 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Richard Attwood, English race car driver
    • 1940 – Sharon Sheeley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1942 – Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Kitty Kelley, American journalist and biographer
    • 1942 – Elizabeth Levy, American author
    • 1944 – Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician
    • 1944 – Mary Kenny, Irish journalist, author, and playwright
    • 1944 – Bob McDill, American country music songwriter
    • 1944 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Nelson Prudêncio, Brazilian triple jumper and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (d. 2013)
    • 1945 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French-German educator and politician
    • 1945 – Caroline McWilliams, American actress (d. 2010)
    • 1946 – Colin Coates, Australian speed skater
    • 1946 – Dave Hill, English guitarist
    • 1946 – Katsuaki Satō, Japanese martial artist and coach
    • 1946 – György Spiró, Hungarian author and playwright
    • 1946 – Bubba Wyche, American football player and coach
    • 1947 – Wiranto, Indonesian general and politician
    • 1947 – Ray Fosse, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1947 – Eliseo Soriano, Filipino minister and television host
    • 1948 – Abdullah Öcalan, Turkish activist
    • 1948 – Berry Oakley, American bass player (d. 1972)
    • 1948 – Richard Parsons, American lawyer and businessman
    • 1948 – Dan Simmons, American author
    • 1948 – Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
    • 1948 – Pick Withers, English drummer
    • 1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican-American singer (d. 1999)
    • 1949 – Shing-Tung Yau, Chinese-American mathematician and academic
    • 1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress and director
    • 1951 – John Hannah, American football player and coach
    • 1952 – Rosemarie Ackermann, German high jumper
    • 1952 – Pat Burns, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2010)
    • 1952 – Gregg Hansford, Australian race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1995)
    • 1952 – Cherie Lunghi, English actress and dancer
    • 1952 – Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater and coach
    • 1952 – Gary Moore, Northern Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1952 – Villy Søvndal, Danish educator and politician, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1953 – Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
    • 1953 – Henry Fotheringham, South African cricketer
    • 1953 – Simcha Jacobovici, Canadian director, producer, journalist, and author
    • 1953 – Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician, 31st Lord Mayor of Belfast
    • 1953 – Chen Yi, Chinese violinist and composer
    • 1956 – Evelyn Hart, Canadian ballerina
    • 1956 – Tom Herr, American baseball player and manager
    • 1956 – David E. Kelley, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1957 – Paul Downton, English cricketer
    • 1957 – Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Graeme Kelling, Scottish guitarist (d. 2004)
    • 1957 – Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese singer and trumpet player
    • 1958 – Peter Baltes, German bass player
    • 1958 – Cazuza, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1958 – Rodney Eade, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1959 – Phil Morris, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Jonathan Agnew, English cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Jane Eaglen, English soprano
    • 1960 – Hugo Weaving, Nigerian-Australian actor and producer
    • 1960 – Godknows Igali, Nigerian diplomat, civil servant and technocrat
    • 1961 – Hildi Santo-Tomas, American interior decorator
    • 1962 – Craig Adams, English bass player and songwriter
    • 1962 – Kailasho Devi, Indian social worker and politician
    • 1963 – A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
    • 1963 – Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1963 – Jane McDonald, English singer and broadcaster
    • 1963 – Graham Norton, Irish actor and talk show host
    • 1964 – Branco, Brazilian footballer and coach
    • 1964 – Dr. Chud, American drummer and singer
    • 1964 – Anthony Clark, American actor
    • 1964 – David Cross, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Paul Parker, England international footballer, right-back and TV pundit
    • 1964 – Đặng Thân, Vietnamese writer and poet
    • 1965 – Vinny Burns, English guitarist and producer
    • 1965 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Nancy McKeon, American actress
    • 1966 – Mike Starr, American bass player (d. 2011)
    • 1966 – Christos Tsekos, Greek basketball player
    • 1967 – Edith Masai, Kenyan-German runner
    • 1967 – George Mavrotas, Greek water polo player and politician
    • 1968 – Jesús Rollán, Spanish water polo player (d. 2006)
    • 1969 – Piotr Anderszewski, Polish pianist and composer
    • 1969 – Karren Brady, English journalist and businesswoman
    • 1970 – Georgios Amanatidis, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Greg Garcia, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Barry Pepper, Canadian actor and producer
    • 1970 – Jason Stoltenberg, Australian tennis player
    • 1970 – Josh Todd, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1970 – Yelena Yelesina, Russian high jumper
    • 1971 – Yanic Perreault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Malik Yusef, American actor, producer, and poet
    • 1971 – John Zandig, American wrestler and promoter
    • 1972 – Jim Dymock, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1972 – Jill Scott, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1972 – Magnus Sveningsson, Swedish bass player
    • 1973 – Chris Banks, American football player (d. 2014)
    • 1973 – David Blaine, American magician and producer
    • 1973 – Loris Capirossi, Italian motorcycle racer
    • 1973 – Peter Hoekstra, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Chris McCormack, Australian triathlete and coach
    • 1973 – Kelly Price, American singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Delphine Arnault, French businesswoman
    • 1975 – Thobias Fredriksson, Swedish skier
    • 1975 – Joyce Giraud, Puerto Rican-American model, television actress and producer, Miss Puerto Rico 1994
    • 1975 – Pamela Ribon, American actress, screenwriter, and author
    • 1975 – Miranda Lee Richards, American singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Scott Rolen, American baseball player
    • 1975 – Kevin Weekes, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Nathan Blacklock, Australian rugby player
    • 1976 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (d. 1997)
    • 1976 – Emerson Ferreira da Rosa, Brazilian footballer
    • 1976 – James Roday, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1977 – Stephan Bonnar, American mixed martial artist
    • 1977 – Keith Bulluck, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1977 – Stephen Mulhern, English magician and television host
    • 1977 – Omarr Smith, American football player and coach
    • 1978 – Jason Ellison, American baseball player and scout
    • 1978 – Alan Mahon, Irish footballer
    • 1979 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
    • 1979 – Roberto Luongo, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Natasha Lyonne, American actress
    • 1979 – Andy McKee, American guitarist
    • 1979 – Maksim Opalev, Russian canoeist
    • 1980 – Johnny Borrell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1980 – Trevor Moore, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Eric Steinbach, American football player
    • 1980 – Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver
    • 1981 – Currensy, American rapper
    • 1981 – Eduardo Luís Carloto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1981 – Casey Daigle, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Anna Pyatykh, Russian triple jumper
    • 1981 – Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1982 – Justin Cook, American voice actor and producer
    • 1982 – Magnus Lindgren, Swedish chef (d. 2012)
    • 1983 – Evgeny Artyukhin, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Eric Andre, American comedian
    • 1983 – Ben Gordon, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Doug Lynch, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Natalie Pike, Scottish-English model and actress
    • 1983 – Amanda Righetti, American actress
    • 1984 – Sean May, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Arkady Vyatchanin, Russian swimmer
    • 1985 – Rudy Fernández, Spanish basketball player
    • 1985 – Dudi Sela, Israeli tennis player
    • 1985 – Ricardo Vilar, Brazilian footballer
    • 1986 – Eunhyuk, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1986 – Cameron Barker, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Maurice Manificat, French skier
    • 1986 – Aiden McGeady, Scottish-born Irish footballer
    • 1986 – Alexander Tettey, Norwegian footballer
    • 1987 – Sami Khedira, German footballer
    • 1987 – McDonald Mariga, Kenyan footballer
    • 1987 – Cameron Maybin, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Marcos Vellidis, Greek footballer
    • 1987 – Sarah Gadon, Canadian actress
    • 1988 – Frank Fielding, English footballer
    • 1989 – Vurnon Anita, Dutch footballer
    • 1989 – Steven Finn, English cricketer
    • 1989 – Chris Herd, Australian footballer
    • 1991 – Yui Koike, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1991 – Justin O’Neill, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress and singer
    • 1991 – Marlon Stöckinger, Filipino race car driver
    • 1992 – Lucy May Barker, English actress and singer
    • 1992 – Christina Metaxa, Cypriot singer-songwriter
    • 1992 – Ricky Dillon, American youtuber and singer
    • 1993 – Samir Carruthers, English footballer
    • 1993 – Frank Kaminsky, American basketball player
    • 1994 – Shunsuke Nishikawa, Japanese actor
    • 1994 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1996 – Austin Mahone, American singer-songwriter and actor

    Deaths on April 4

    • 397 – Ambrose, Roman archbishop and saint (b. 338)
    • 636 – Isidore of Seville, Spanish archbishop and saint (b. 560)
    • 814 – Plato of Sakkoudion, Byzantine monk and saint (b. 735)
    • 896 – Formosus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 816)
    • 911 – Liu Yin, Chinese warlord and governor (b. 874)
    • 931 – Kong Xun, Chinese official and governor (b. 884)
    • 968 – Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince and poet (b. 932)
    • 991 – Reginold, bishop of Eichstätt
    • 1284 – Alfonso X, king of Castile and León (b. 1221)
    • 1292 – Nicholas IV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1227)
    • 1406 – Robert III, king of Scotland (b.1337)
    • 1483 – Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (b. c. 1405)
    • 1536 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
    • 1538 – Elena Glinskaya, Grand Princess and regent of Russia
    • 1588 – Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway (b. 1534)
    • 1596 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (b. 1533)
    • 1609 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist, mycologist, and academic (b. 1526)
    • 1617 – John Napier, Scottish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1550)
    • 1643 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1583)
    • 1661 – Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish field marshal (b. 1580)
    • 1743 – Daniel Neal, English historian and author (b. 1678)
    • 1761 – Théodore Gardelle, Swiss painter (b. 1722)
    • 1766 – John Taylor, English librarian and scholar (b. 1704)
    • 1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish novelist, playwright and poet (b. 1728)
    • 1792 – James Sykes, American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
    • 1807 – Jérôme Lalande, French astronomer and academic (b. 1732)
    • 1817 – André Masséna, French general (b. 1758)
    • 1841 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
    • 1846 – Solomon Sibley, American lawyer and politician, 1st Mayor of Detroit (b. 1769)
    • 1861 – John McLean, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Postmaster General (b. 1785)
    • 1863 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (b. 1790)
    • 1864 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American commander and paleontologist (b. 1808)
    • 1870 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
    • 1874 – Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
    • 1875 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (b. 1837)
    • 1878 – Richard M. Brewer, American criminal (b. 1850)
    • 1879 – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (b. 1803)
    • 1883 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (b. 1791)
    • 1890 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Quebec (b. 1820)
    • 1890 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist and academic (b. 1812)
    • 1912 – Charles Brantley Aycock, American lawyer and politician, 50th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1859)
    • 1912 – Isaac K. Funk, American minister, lexicographer, and publisher, co-founded Funk & Wagnalls (b. 1839)
    • 1919 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
    • 1919 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1908)
    • 1923 – John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher, created the Venn diagram (b. 1834)
    • 1929 – Karl Benz, German engineer and businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz (b. 1844)
    • 1931 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (b. 1853)
    • 1932 – Wilhelm Ostwald, Latvian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
    • 1933 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (b. 1842)
    • 1941 – Emine Nazikedâ Kadınefendi, the first wife and chief consort of Sultan Mehmed VI (b. 1866)
    • 1944 – Morris H. Whitehouse, American architect (b. 1878)[14]
    • 1951 – George Albert Smith, American religious leader, 8th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
    • 1953 – Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
    • 1957 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian historian and diplomat (b. 1909)
    • 1958 – Johnny Stompanato, American soldier and bodyguard (b. 1925)
    • 1961 – Harald Riipalu, Estonian military commander (b. 1912)
    • 1961 – Simion Stoilow, Romanian mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
    • 1967 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (b. 1901)
    • 1967 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1898)
    • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (assassinated)(b. 1929)
    • 1972 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., American pastor and politician (b. 1908)
    • 1972 – Stefan Wolpe, German-American composer and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1976 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish engineer and theorist (b. 1889)
    • 1977 – Andrey Dikiy, Ukrainian-American journalist, historian, and politician (b. 1893)
    • 1979 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan (b. 1928)
    • 1979 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
    • 1980 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1917)
    • 1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
    • 1983 – Bernard Vukas, Croatian football player, played for 1953 FIFA’s “Rest of the World” team against England at Wembley (b. 1927)
    • 1984 – Oleg Antonov, Russian-Ukrainian engineer and businessman, founded Antonov (b. 1906)
    • 1985 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (b. 1891)
    • 1987 – C. L. Moore, American author and academic (b. 1911)
    • 1987 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan guru, poet, and scholar (b. 1939)
    • 1987 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
    • 1991 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – H. John Heinz III, American soldier and politician (b. 1938)
    • 1991 – Graham Ingels, American illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 1992 – Yvette Brind’Amour, Canadian actress and director (b. 1918)
    • 1992 – Jack Hamilton, Australian footballer (b. 1928)
    • 1992 – Arthur Russell, American singer-songwriter and cellist (b. 1951)
    • 1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American game designer, invented Scrabble (b. 1899)
    • 1993 – Douglas Leopold, Canadian radio and television host (b. 1947)
    • 1995 – Kenny Everett, English radio and television host (b. 1944)
    • 1995 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (b. 1915)
    • 1996 – Barney Ewell, American runner and long jumper (b. 1918)
    • 1996 – Boone Guyton, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 1997 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (b. 1900)
    • 1997 – Alparslan Türkeş, Turkish colonel and politician, 39th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1917)
    • 1999 – Lucille Lortel, American actress, artistic director and producer (b. 1900)
    • 1999 – Early Wynn, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1920)
    • 2001 – Liisi Oterma, Finnish astronomer (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Ed Roth, American illustrator and engineer (b. 1932)
    • 2001 – Maury Van Vliet, American-Canadian academic (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Briek Schotte, Belgian cyclist and coach (b. 1919)
    • 2005 – Edward Bronfman, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Bob Clark, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
    • 2007 – Karen Spärck Jones, English computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
    • 2008 – Francis Tucker, South African race car driver (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Maxine Cooper, American actress, activist and photographer (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Scott Columbus, American drummer (b. 1956)
    • 2011 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, and activist (b. 1958)
    • 2012 – A. Dean Byrd, American psychologist and academic (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Anne Karin Elstad, Norwegian author and educator (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Dubravko Pavličić, Croatian footballer (b. 1967)
    • 2012 – Roberto Rexach Benítez, American-Puerto Rican academic and politician, 10th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Bengt Blomgren, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Noboru Yamaguchi, Japanese author (b. 1972)
    • 2014 – İsmet Atlı, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Wayne Henderson, American trombonist and producer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Kumba Ialá, Bissau-Guinean soldier and politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Curtis Bill Pepper, American journalist and author (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Muhammad Qutb, Egyptian author and academic (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
    • 2015 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Donald N. Levine, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish author and poet (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)

    Holidays and observances on April 4

    • Children’s Day (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Benedict the Moor
      • Gaetano Catanoso
      • Isidore of Seville
      • Martin Luther King Jr. (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Reginald Heber (Anglican Church of Canada)
      • Tigernach of Clones
      • April 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Senegal from France (1960).
    • Peace Day (Angola)[15]
    • One of the possible days for Qingming Festival.