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  • July 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.
    • 238 – The Praetorian Guard storm the palace and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They are dragged through the streets of Rome and executed. On the same day, Gordian III, age 13, is proclaimed emperor.
    • 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.
    • 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire’s second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week.
    • 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany).
    • 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6.
    • 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
    • 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
    • 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
    • 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland.
    • 1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
    • 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
    • 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a Pyrrhic victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
    • 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
    • 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning “Memoir on the Diffraction of Light”, precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.
    • 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
    • 1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
    • 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
    • 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
    • 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.
    • 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
    • 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
    • 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9, 1907, and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.
    • 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
    • 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
    • 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party.
    • 1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the “Bonus Army” of World War I veterans.
    • 1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: In Tōngzhōu, China, the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
    • 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
    • 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
    • 1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
    • 1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
    • 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
    • 1959 – First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
    • 1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
    • 1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
    • 1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
    • 1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
    • 1973 – During the Dutch Grand Prix driver Roger Williamson was killed in the race, after a suspected tire failure caused the car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.
    • 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
    • 1980 – Iran adopts a new “holy” flag after the Islamic Revolution.
    • 1981 – A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
    • 1981 – After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
    • 1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
    • 1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
    • 1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
    • 1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
    • 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
    • 2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.
    • 2013 – Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.
    • 2019 – Prison riot between rival gangs broke out in Brazil, at least 57 people have been killed.

    Births on July 29 

    • 869 – Muhammad al-Mahdi, Iraqi 12th Imam (d. 941)
    • 996 – Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman (d. 1075)
    • 1166 – Henry II, French nobleman and king of Jerusalem (d. 1197)
    • 1356 – Martin the Elder, king of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (d. 1410)
    • 1537 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, Spanish nobleman (d. 1590)
    • 1573 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania-Stettin (d. 1618)
    • 1580 – Francesco Mochi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
    • 1605 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymn-writer (d. 1659)
    • 1646 – Johann Theile, German organist and composer (d. 1724)
    • 1744 – Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (d. 1830)
    • 1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1845)
    • 1797 – Daniel Drew, American businessman and financier (d. 1879)
    • 1801 – George Bradshaw, English cartographer and publisher (d. 1853)
    • 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (d. 1859)
    • 1806 – Horace Abbott, American businessman and banker (d. 1887)
    • 1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1900)
    • 1817 – Martin Körber, Baltic German pastor, composer, and conductor (d. 1893)
    • 1841 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (d. 1912)
    • 1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (d. 1901)
    • 1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (d. 1918)
    • 1846 – Isabel, Brazilian princess (d. 1921)
    • 1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (d. 1923)
    • 1860 – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, English politician, 8th Governor of Queensland (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Berthold Oppenheim, Moravian rabbi (d. 1942)
    • 1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (d. 1946)
    • 1871 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian writer and journalist (d. 1930)
    • 1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, lawyer, and politician (d. 1957)
    • 1874 – J. S. Woodsworth, Canadian minister and politician (d. 1942)
    • 1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress and acting teacher (d. 1949)
    • 1878 – Don Marquis, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
    • 1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (d. 1942)
    • 1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1945)
    • 1884 – Ralph Austin Bard, American financier and politician, 2nd Under Secretary of the Navy (d. 1975)
    • 1885 – Theda Bara, American actress (d. 1955)
    • 1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (d. 1951)
    • 1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (d. 1982)
    • 1891 – Bernhard Zondek, German-Israeli gynecologist and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1892 – William Powell, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
    • 1896 – Maria L. de Hernández, Mexican-American rights activist (d. 1986)
    • 1897 – Neil Ritchie, Guyanese-English general (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (d. 1959)
    • 1900 – Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker and political activist (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (d. 1980)
    • 1900 – Don Redman, American composer, and bandleader (d. 1964)
    • 1904 – Mahasi Sayadaw, Burmese monk and philosopher (d. 1982)
    • 1904 – J. R. D. Tata, French-Indian pilot and businessman, founded Tata Motors and Tata Global Beverages (d. 1993)
    • 1905 – Clara Bow, American actress (d. 1965)
    • 1905 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1905 – Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (d. 2006)
    • 1906 – Thelma Todd, American actress and singer (d. 1935)
    • 1907 – Melvin Belli, American lawyer (d. 1996)
    • 1909 – Samm Sinclair Baker, American author (d. 1997)
    • 1909 – Chester Himes, American-Spanish author (d. 1984)
    • 1910 – Gale Page, American actress (d. 1983)
    • 1911 – Foster Furcolo, American lawyer and politician, 60th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1995)
    • 1911 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Erich Priebke, German war criminal, leader of the 1944 Ardeatine massacre (d. 2013)
    • 1914 – Irwin Corey, American actor and activist (d. 2017)
    • 1915 – Bruce R. McConkie, American colonel and religious leader (d. 1985)
    • 1915 – Francis W. Sargent, American soldier and politician, 64th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1998)
    • 1916 – Budd Boetticher, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Charlie Christian, American guitarist (d. 1942)
    • 1916 – Rupert Hamer, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Victoria (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Rochus Misch, German SS officer (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Don Ingalls, American writer and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Edwin O’Connor, American journalist and author (d. 1968)
    • 1918 – Mary Lee Settle, American novelist, essayist, and memoirist (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Neville Jeffress, Australian businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Richard Egan, American actor (d. 1987)
    • 1921 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Edgar Cortright, American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (d. 2012)
    • 1923 – Gordon Mitchell, American bodybuilder and actor (d. 2003)
    • 1924 – Lloyd Bochner, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Robert Horton, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Harold W. Kuhn, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Ted Lindsay, Canadian ice hockey player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Mikis Theodorakis, Greek composer
    • 1926 – Robert Kilpatrick, Baron Kilpatrick of Kincraig, Scottish physician, academic, and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Harry Mulisch, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Paul Taylor, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2018)
    • 1931 – Kjell Karlsen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2020)
    • 1932 – Leslie Fielding, English diplomat
    • 1932 – Nancy Kassebaum, American businesswoman and politician
    • 1933 – Lou Albano, Italian-American wrestler, manager, and actor (d. 2009)
    • 1933 – Colin Davis, English race car driver (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Robert Fuller, American actor and rancher
    • 1933 – Randy Sparks, American folk singer-songwriter and musician (The New Christy Minstrels)
    • 1935 – Peter Schreier, German tenor and conductor (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Elizabeth Dole, American lawyer and politician, 20th United States Secretary of Labor
    • 1937 – Daniel McFadden, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate
    • 1938 – Peter Jennings, Canadian-American journalist and author (d. 2005)
    • 1938 – Jean Rochon, Canadian physician and politician
    • 1940 – Betty Harris, American chemist
    • 1940 – Winnie Monsod, Filipina economist and political commentator
    • 1941 – Jennifer Dunn, American engineer and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1941 – Goenawan Mohamad, Indonesian poet and playwright
    • 1941 – David Warner, English actor
    • 1942 – Doug Ashdown, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1943 – David Taylor, English snooker player and sportscaster
    • 1944 – Jim Bridwell, American rock climber and mountaineer
    • 1945 – Sharon Creech, American author and educator
    • 1945 – Mircea Lucescu, Romanian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1946 – Ximena Armas, Chilean painter
    • 1946 – Stig Blomqvist, Swedish race car driver
    • 1946 – Neal Doughty, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
    • 1946 – Alessandro Gogna, Italian mountaineer and adventurer
    • 1946 – Diane Keen, English actress
    • 1946 – Aleksei Tammiste, Estonian basketball player
    • 1947 – Dick Harmon, American golfer and coach (d. 2006)
    • 1948 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
    • 1949 – Leslie Easterbrook, American actress
    • 1949 – Jamil Mahuad, Ecuadorian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Ecuador
    • 1950 – Jenny Holzer, American painter, author, and dancer
    • 1951 – Susan Blackmore, English psychologist and theorist
    • 1951 – Dan Driessen, American baseball player and coach
    • 1951 – Dean Pitchford, American actor, director, screenwriter, and composer
    • 1952 – Norman Blackwell, Baron Blackwell, English businessman and politician
    • 1952 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player and sportscaster
    • 1952 – Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, Greek politician
    • 1953 – Ken Burns, American director and producer
    • 1953 – Geddy Lee, Canadian musician
    • 1953 – Frank McGuinness, Irish poet and playwright
    • 1953 – Tim Gunn, American television host and actor
    • 1954 – Patti Scialfa, American musician
    • 1955 – Jean-Hugues Anglade, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Dave Stevens, American illustrator (d. 2008)
    • 1955 – Stephen Timms, English politician, Minister of State for Competitiveness
    • 1956 – Teddy Atlas, American boxer, trainer, and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Ronnie Musgrove, American lawyer and politician, 62nd Governor of Mississippi
    • 1956 – Faustino Rupérez, Spanish cyclist
    • 1957 – Liam Davison, Australian author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1957 – Viktor Gavrikov, Lithuanian-Swiss chess player (d. 2016)
    • 1957 – Nellie Kim, Russian gymnast and coach
    • 1958 – Gail Dines, English-American author, activist, and academic
    • 1958 – Simon Nye, English screenwriter and producer
    • 1958 – Cynthia Rowley, American fashion designer
    • 1959 – Sanjay Dutt, Indian actor, singer, and producer
    • 1959 – Ruud Janssen, Dutch blogger and illustrator
    • 1959 – Dave LaPoint, American baseball player and manager
    • 1959 – John Sykes, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Didier Van Cauwelaert, French author
    • 1962 – Carl Cox, English DJ and producer
    • 1962 – Frank Neubarth, German footballer and manager
    • 1962 – Scott Steiner, American wrestler
    • 1962 – Vincent Rousseau, Belgian runner
    • 1963 – Hans-Holger Albrecht, Belgian-German businessman
    • 1963 – Jim Beglin, Irish footballer and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Julie Elliott, English politician
    • 1963 – Azeem Hafeez, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1963 – Alexandra Paul, American actress and producer
    • 1963 – Graham Poll, English footballer, referee, and journalist
    • 1964 – Jaanus Veensalu, Estonian footballer
    • 1965 – Luis Alicea, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
    • 1965 – Dean Haglund, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Adam Holloway, English captain and politician
    • 1965 – Stan Koziol, American soccer player (d. 2014)
    • 1965 – Chang-Rae Lee, South Korean-American author and academic
    • 1965 – Xavier Waterkeyn, Australian author
    • 1965 – Woody Weatherman, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1966 – Sally Gunnell, English hurdler and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Stuart Lampitt, English cricketer
    • 1966 – Martina McBride, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1968 – Gideon Henderson, English geologist and academic
    • 1968 – Paavo Lötjönen, Finnish cellist and educator
    • 1970 – Adele Griffin, American author
    • 1970 – Andi Peters, English journalist, actor, and producer
    • 1970 – John Rennie, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1971 – Andrea Philipp, German sprinter
    • 1972 – Wil Wheaton, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Stephen Dorff, American actor and producer
    • 1973 – Denis Urubko, Kazakh mountaineer
    • 1975 – Yoshihiro Akiyama, Japanese mixed martial artist
    • 1975 – Lanka de Silva, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1975 – Corrado Grabbi, Italian footballer
    • 1975 – Jaanus Sirel, Estonian footballer
    • 1978 – Mike Adams, American baseball player
    • 1978 – Marina Lazarovska, Macedonian tennis player
    • 1979 – Karim Essediri, Tunisian footballer
    • 1979 – Ronald Murray, American basketball player
    • 1979 – Juris Umbraško, Latvian basketball player
    • 1980 – Ryan Braun, Canadian-American baseball player
    • 1980 – Fernando González, Chilean tennis player
    • 1980 – Ben Koller, American drummer
    • 1980 – John Morris, Australian rugby league player
    • 1981 – Fernando Alonso, Spanish race car driver
    • 1981 – Andrés Madrid, Argentinian footballer
    • 1981 – Troy Perkins, American soccer player
    • 1982 – Janez Aljančič, Slovenian footballer
    • 1982 – Jônatas Domingos, Brazilian footballer
    • 1982 – Allison Mack, American actress and criminal
    • 1983 – Jason Belmonte, Australian bowler
    • 1983 – Inés Gómez Mont, Mexican journalist and actress
    • 1983 – Alexei Kaigorodov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Jerious Norwood, American football player
    • 1983 – Elise Testone, American singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Oh Beom-seok, South Korean footballer
    • 1984 – Chad Billingsley, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Wilson Palacios, Honduran footballer
    • 1985 – Besart Berisha, Albanian footballer
    • 1985 – Okinoumi Ayumi, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1985 – Simon Santoso, Indonesian badminton player
    • 1988 – Tarjei Bø, Norwegian biathlete
    • 1989 – Grit Šadeiko, Estonian heptathlete
    • 1991 – Dale Copley, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Irakli Logua, Russian footballer
    • 1992 – Karen Torrez, Bolivian swimmer
    • 1993 – Nicole Melichar, American tennis player
    • 1994 – Liam O’Brien, Canadian ice hockey player

    Deaths on July 29

    • 238 – Balbinus, Roman emperor (b. 165)
    • 238 – Pupienus, Roman emperor (b. 178)
    • 451 – Tuoba Huang, prince of Northern Wei (b. 428)
    • 796 – Offa of Mercia (b. 730)
    • 846 – Li Shen, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
    • 1030 – Olaf II of Norway (b. 995)
    • 1095 – Ladislaus I of Hungary (b. 1040)
    • 1099 – Pope Urban II (b. 1042)
    • 1108 – Philip I of France (b. 1052)
    • 1236 – Ingeborg of Denmark, Queen of France (b. 1175)
    • 1326 – Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (b. 1259)
    • 1504 – Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby (b. 1435)
    • 1507 – Martin Behaim, German-Bohemian geographer and astronomer (b. 1459)
    • 1573 – John Caius, English physician and academic (b. 1510)
    • 1612 – Jacques Bongars, French scholar and diplomat (b. 1554)
    • 1644 – Pope Urban VIII (b. 1568)
    • 1752 – Peter Warren, Irish admiral and politician (b. 1703)
    • 1781 – Johann Kies, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1713)
    • 1792 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Chancellor of France (b. 1714)
    • 1813 – Jean-Andoche Junot, French general (b. 1771)
    • 1833 – William Wilberforce, English philanthropist and politician (b. 1759)
    • 1839 – Gaspard de Prony, French mathematician and engineer (b. 1755)
    • 1844 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1791)
    • 1856 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (b. 1810)
    • 1857 – Thomas Dick, Scottish minister, astronomer, and author (b. 1774)
    • 1887 – Agostino Depretis, Italian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1813)
    • 1890 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1853)
    • 1895 – Floriano Peixoto, Brazilian general and politician, 2nd President of Brazil (b. 1839)
    • 1900 – Umberto I of Italy (b. 1844)
    • 1908 – Marie Adam-Doerrer (b. 1838)
    • 1913 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and jurist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1838)
    • 1918 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (b. 1863)
    • 1924 – Sotirios Krokidas, Greek educator and politician, 110th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1852)
    • 1934 – Didier Pitre, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1883)
    • 1938 – Nikolai Krylenko, Russian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Prosecutor General of the Russian SFSR (b. 1885)
    • 1950 – Joe Fry, English race car driver (b. 1915)
    • 1951 – Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded Galatasaray S.K. (b. 1886)
    • 1954 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
    • 1960 – Hasan Saka, Turkish politician, 7th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1885)
    • 1962 – Ronald Fisher, English biologist and statistician (b. 1890)
    • 1962 – Leonardo De Lorenzo, Italian-American flute player and educator (b. 1875)
    • 1964 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (b. 1885)
    • 1966 – Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, Nigerian general and politician, 2nd Head of State of Nigeria (b. 1924)
    • 1966 – Adekunle Fajuyi, Nigerian colonel (b. 1926)
    • 1970 – John Barbirolli, English cellist and conductor (b. 1899)
    • 1973 – Norm Smith, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1915)
    • 1973 – Roger Williamson, English race car driver (b. 1948)
    • 1974 – Cass Elliot, American singer (b. 1941)
    • 1974 – Erich Kästner, German author and poet (b. 1899)
    • 1976 – Mickey Cohen, American gangster (b. 1913)
    • 1978 – Andrzej Bogucki, Polish actor, operetta singer, and songwriter (b. 1904)
    • 1979 – Herbert Marcuse, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1898)
    • 1979 – Bill Todman, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1916)
    • 1981 – Robert Moses, American urban planner, designed the Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway (b. 1888)
    • 1982 – Harold Sakata, American wrestler and actor (b. 1920)
    • 1982 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American engineer, invented the Iconoscope (b. 1889)
    • 1983 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1900)
    • 1983 – Raymond Massey, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1896)
    • 1983 – David Niven, English military officer and actor (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Fred Waring, American television host and bandleader (b. 1900)
    • 1987 – Bibhutibhushan Mukhopadhyay, Indian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1894)
    • 1990 – Bruno Kreisky, Austrian academic and politician, 22nd Chancellor of Austria (b. 1911)
    • 1992 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1952)
    • 1994 – John Britton, American physician (b. 1925)
    • 1994 – Dorothy Hodgkin, Egyptian-English biochemist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
    • 1995 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1917)
    • 1996 – Ric Nordman, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1919)
    • 1996 – Marcel-Paul Schützenberger, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1920)
    • 1996 – Jason Thirsk, American singer and bass player (b. 1967)
    • 1998 – Jerome Robbins, American director, producer, and choreographer (b. 1918)
    • 2001 – Edward Gierek, Polish soldier and politician (b. 1913)
    • 2001 – Wau Holland, German computer scientist, co-founded Chaos Computer Club (b. 1951)
    • 2003 – Foday Sankoh, Sierra Leonean soldier, founded the Revolutionary United Front (b. 1937)
    • 2004 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress and singer (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Michel Serrault, French actor (b. 1928)
    • 2007 – Tom Snyder, American journalist and talk show host (b. 1936)
    • 2007 – Marvin Zindler, American journalist (b. 1921)
    • 2008 – Bruce Edward Ivins, American scientist and bio-defense researcher (b. 1946)
    • 2010 – Charles E. Wicks, American chemist and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Tatiana Egorova, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1970)
    • 2012 – August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Chris Marker, French photographer and journalist (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – James Mellaart, English archaeologist and author (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – John Stampe, Danish footballer and coach (b. 1957)
    • 2013 – Christian Benítez, Ecuadorian footballer (b. 1986)
    • 2013 – Peter Flanigan, American banker and civil servant (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Tony Gaze, Australian soldier, pilot, and race car driver (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Munir Hussain, Indian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – M. Caldwell Butler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Jon R. Cavaiani, English-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Giorgio Gaslini, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – María Antonia Iglesias, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1945)
    • 2014 – Péter Kiss, Hungarian engineer and politician (b. 1959)
    • 2014 – Idris Muhammad, American drummer and composer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Thomas R. St. George, American soldier and author (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – Antony Holland, English-Canadian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Peter O’Sullevan, Anglo-Irish sportscaster (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Mike Pyle, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Franklin H. Westervelt, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1930)
    • 2018 – Oliver Dragojević, a Croatian recording artist (b. 1947)
    • 2018 – Josip Peruzovic, Yugoslav-born American professional wrestler (b. 1947)

    Holidays and observances on July 29

    • Christian feast day:
      • Lupus of Troyes
      • Martha of Bethany (Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran Church)
      • Mary of Bethany
      • Olaf II of Norway
      • Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix
      • July 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Somer’s Day can fall, while August 4 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before the first Monday in August. (Bermuda)
    • International Tiger Day
    • Mohun Bagan Day (India)
    • National Anthem Day (Romania)
    • National Thai Language Day (Thailand)
    • Ólavsøka or Olsok, opening of the Løgting session. (Faroe Islands and the Nordic countries)

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

    In the Northern Hemisphere, the Summer solstice sometimes occurs on this date, while the Winter solstice occurs in the Southern Hemisphere.

    • 451 – Battle of Chalons: Flavius Aetius’ battles Attila the Hun. After the battle, which was inconclusive, Attila retreats, causing the Romans to interpret it as a victory.
    • 1180 – First Battle of Uji, starting the Genpei War in Japan.
    • 1620 – The Battle of Höchst takes place during the Thirty Years’ War.
    • 1631 – The Sack of Baltimore: The Irish village of Baltimore is attacked by Algerian pirates.
    • 1652 – Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
    • 1685 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth declares himself King of England at Bridgwater.
    • 1756 – A British garrison is imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
    • 1782 – The U.S. Congress adopts the Great Seal of the United States.
    • 1787 – Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the ‘United States’.
    • 1789 – Deputies of the French Third Estate take the Tennis Court Oath.
    • 1819 – The U.S. vessel SS Savannah arrives at Liverpool, United Kingdom. It is the first steam-propelled vessel to cross the Atlantic, although most of the journey is made under sail.
    • 1837 – Queen Victoria succeeds to the British throne.
    • 1840 – Samuel Morse receives the patent for the telegraph.
    • 1862 – Barbu Catargiu, the Prime Minister of Romania, is assassinated.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: West Virginia is admitted as the 35th U.S. state.
    • 1877 – Alexander Graham Bell installs the world’s first commercial telephone service in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
    • 1893 – Lizzie Borden is acquitted of the murders of her father and stepmother.
    • 1895 – The Kiel Canal, crossing the base of the Jutland peninsula and the busiest artificial waterway in the world, is officially opened.
    • 1900 – Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army begins a 55-day siege of the Legation Quarter in Beijing, China.
    • 1900 – Baron Eduard Toll, leader of the Russian Polar Expedition of 1900, departs Saint Petersburg in Russia on the explorer ship Zarya, never to return.
    • 1921 – Workers of Buckingham and Carnatic Mills in the city of Chennai, India, begin a four-month strike.
    • 1942 – The Holocaust: Kazimierz Piechowski and three others, dressed as members of the SS-Totenkopfverbände, steal an SS staff car and escape from the Auschwitz concentration camp.
    • 1943 – The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.
    • 1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force launches Operation Bellicose, the first shuttle bombing raid of the war. Lancaster bombers damage the V-2 rocket production facilities at the Zeppelin Works while en route to an air base in Algeria.
    • 1944 – World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”.
    • 1944 – Continuation War: The Soviet Union demands an unconditional surrender from Finland during the beginning of partially successful Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. The Finnish government refuses.
    • 1944 – The experimental MW 18014 V-2 rocket reaches an altitude of 176 km, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space.
    • 1945 – The United States Secretary of State approves the transfer of Wernher von Braun and his team of Nazi rocket scientists to the U.S. under Operation Paperclip.
    • 1948 – The Deutsche Mark is introduced in Western Allied-occupied Germany. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.
    • 1956 – A Venezuelan Super-Constellation crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Asbury Park, New Jersey, killing 74 people.
    • 1959 – A rare June hurricane strikes Canada’s Gulf of St. Lawrence killing 35.
    • 1960 – The Mali Federation gains independence from France (it later splits into Mali and Senegal).
    • 1963 – Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States sign an agreement to establish the so-called “red telephone” link between Washington and Moscow.
    • 1972 – Watergate scandal: An 18½-minute gap appears in the tape recording of the conversations between U.S. President Richard Nixon and his advisers regarding the recent arrests of his operatives while breaking into the Watergate complex.
    • 1973 – Snipers fire upon left-wing Peronists in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in what is known as the Ezeiza massacre. At least 13 are killed and more than 300 are injured.
    • 1973 – Aeroméxico Flight 229 crashes on approach to Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport, killing all 27 people on board.
    • 1975 – The film Jaws is released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as “summer blockbusters”.
    • 1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime.
    • 1982 – The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.
    • 1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered.
    • 1990 – The 7.4 Mw  Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000.
    • 1991 – German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital Berlin.
    • 1994 – The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured.
    • 2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida.

    Births on June 20

    • 1005 – Ali az-Zahir, Fatimid caliph of Egypt (d. 1036)
    • 1389 – John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, English statesman (d. 1435)
    • 1469 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, duke of Milan (d. 1494)
    • 1566 – Sigismund III Vasa, Polish and Swedish king (d. 1632)
    • 1583 – Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and politician, Lord High Constable of Sweden (d. 1652)
    • 1634 – Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy (d. 1675)
    • 1642 – George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715)
    • 1647 – John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691)
    • 1717 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor and painter (d. 1776)
    • 1723 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816)
    • 1737 – Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1786)
    • 1754 – Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, princess of Baden (d. 1832)
    • 1756 – Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer and educator (d. 1792)
    • 1761 – Jacob Hübner, German entomologist and author (d. 1826)
    • 1763 – Wolfe Tone, Irish rebel leader (d. 1798)
    • 1770 – Moses Waddel, American minister and academic (d. 1840)
    • 1771 – Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist, and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright (d. 1820)
    • 1771 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (d. 1848)
    • 1777 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (d. 1840)
    • 1778 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, French politician, 7th Prime Minister of France (d. 1832)
    • 1786 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet and author (d. 1859)
    • 1796 – Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso, Italian cardinal (d. 1878)
    • 1808 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1888)
    • 1809 – Isaak August Dorner, German theologian and academic (d. 1884)
    • 1813 – Joseph Autran, French poet and author (d. 1877)
    • 1819 – Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer (d. 1880)
    • 1847 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women’s rights activist (d. 1916)
    • 1855 – Richard Lodge, English historian and academic (d. 1936)
    • 1858 – Charles W. Chesnutt, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1932)
    • 1860 – Alexander Winton, Scottish-American race car driver and engineer (d. 1932)
    • 1860 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937)
    • 1861 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
    • 1865 – George Redmayne Murray, English biologist and physician (d. 1939)
    • 1866 – James Burns, English cricketer (d. 1957)
    • 1869 – Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded the Kirloskar Group (d. 1956)
    • 1870 – Georges Dufrénoy, French painter and academic (d. 1943)
    • 1872 – George Carpenter, American 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948)
    • 1875 – Reginald Punnett, English geneticist, statistician, and academic (d. 1967)
    • 1882 – Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (d. 1937)
    • 1884 – Mary R. Calvert, American astronomer and author (d. 1974)
    • 1884 – Johannes Heinrich Schultz, German psychiatrist and psychotherapist (d. 1970)
    • 1885 – Andrzej Gawroński, Polish linguist and academic (d. 1927)
    • 1887 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
    • 1889 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer and academic (d. 1951)
    • 1891 – Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian soprano (d. 1951)
    • 1891 – John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1976)
    • 1893 – Wilhelm Zaisser, German soldier and politician (d. 1958)
    • 1894 – Lloyd Hall, American chemist and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1896 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1982)
    • 1897 – Elisabeth Hauptmann, German author and playwright (d. 1973)
    • 1899 – Jean Moulin, French soldier and engineer (d. 1943)
    • 1903 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, sculptor, and singer (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1906 – Bob King, American high jumper and obstetrician (d. 1965)
    • 1907 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (d. 1998)
    • 1908 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (d. 2009)
    • 1908 – Gus Schilling, American actor (d. 1957)
    • 1909 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (d. 1959)
    • 1910 – Josephine Johnson, American author and poet (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980)
    • 1912 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004)
    • 1912 – Jack Torrance, American shot putter and football player (d. 1969)
    • 1914 – Gordon Juckes, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1994)
    • 1914 – Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Turkish archaeologist and academic
    • 1915 – Dick Reynolds, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2002)
    • 1915 – Terence Young, Chinese-English director and screenwriter (d. 1994)
    • 1916 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (d. 1973)
    • 1916 – T. Texas Tyler, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972)
    • 1917 – Helena Rasiowa, Austrian-Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1994)
    • 1918 – George Lynch, American race car driver (d. 1997)
    • 1918 – Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian-American author (d. 2011)
    • 1920 – Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (d. 1980)
    • 1920 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (d. 1954)
    • 1920 – Thomas Jefferson, American trumpet player (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Pancho Segura, Ecuadorian tennis player (d. 2017)
    • 1923 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001)
    • 1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971)
    • 1926 – Rehavam Ze’evi, Israeli general and politician, 9th Israeli Minister of Tourism (d. 2001)
    • 1927 – Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (d. 1964)
    • 1928 – Martin Landau, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician
    • 1928 – Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and educator (d. 1999)
    • 1929 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Anne Weale, English journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – Edith Windsor, American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (d. 2017)
    • 1930 – John Waine, English bishop
    • 1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress
    • 1931 – James Tolkan, American actor and director
    • 1932 – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet and author (d. 1994)
    • 1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 1933 – Claire Tomalin, English journalist and author
    • 1934 – Wendy Craig, English actress
    • 1935 – Jim Barker, American politician (d. 2005)
    • 1935 – Len Dawson, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1935 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1971)
    • 1936 – Billy Guy, American singer (d. 2002)
    • 1936 – Enn Vetemaa, Estonian author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
    • 1937 – Stafford Dean, English actor and singer
    • 1937 – Jerry Keller, American singer-songwriter
    • 1938 – Joan Kirner, Australian educator and politician, 42nd Premier of Victoria (d. 2015)
    • 1938 – Mickie Most, English music producer (d. 2003)
    • 1939 – Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (d. 1998)
    • 1939 – Budge Rogers, English rugby player and manager
    • 1940 – Eugen Drewermann, German priest and theologian
    • 1940 – John Mahoney, English actor (d. 2018)
    • 1941 – Stephen Frears, English actor, director, and producer
    • 1941 – Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut
    • 1942 – Neil Trudinger, Australian mathematician and theorist
    • 1942 – Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1945 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist
    • 1946 – Xanana Gusmão, Timorese soldier and politician, 1st President of East Timor
    • 1946 – David Kazhdan, Russian-Israeli mathematician and academic
    • 1946 – Bob Vila, American television host
    • 1946 – André Watts, American pianist and educator
    • 1947 – Dolores “LaLa” Brooks, American pop singer (The Crystals)
    • 1948 – Cirilo Flores, American bishop (d. 2014)
    • 1948 – Ludwig Scotty, Nauruan politician, 10th President of Nauru
    • 1949 – Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass player and songwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1949 – Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
    • 1949 – Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 8th president of Sri Lanka
    • 1950 – Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq
    • 1951 – Tress MacNeille, American actress and voice artist
    • 1951 – Sheila McLean, Scottish scholar and academic
    • 1951 – Paul Muldoon, Irish poet and academic
    • 1952 – John Goodman, American actor
    • 1952 – Vikram Seth, Indian author and poet
    • 1953 – Robert Crais, American author and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Raúl Ramírez, Mexican tennis player
    • 1953 – Willy Rampf, German engineer
    • 1954 – Allan Lamb, South African-English cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003)
    • 1955 – E. Lynn Harris, American author (d. 2009)
    • 1956 – Peter Reid, English footballer and manager
    • 1956 – Sohn Suk-hee, South Korean newscaster
    • 1958 – Kelly Johnson, English hard rock guitarist and songwriter (d. 2007)
    • 1960 – Philip M. Parker, American economist and author
    • 1960 – John Taylor, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor
    • 1963 – Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter
    • 1963 – Mark Ovenden, British author and broadcaster
    • 1964 – Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer
    • 1964 – Silke Möller, German runner
    • 1966 – Boaz Yakin, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress
    • 1967 – Dan Tyminski, American singer-songwriter
    • 1968 – Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1969 – Paulo Bento, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Misha Verbitsky, Russian mathematician and academic
    • 1969 – MaliVai Washington, American tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1970 – Andrea Nahles, German politician, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs
    • 1970 – Athol Williams, South African poet and social philosopher
    • 1971 – Rodney Rogers, American basketball player and coach
    • 1971 – Jeordie White, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bass player
    • 1972 – Alexis Alexoudis, Greek footballer
    • 1973 – Chino Moreno, American singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Joan Balcells, Spanish tennis player
    • 1975 – Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer
    • 1976 – Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer
    • 1976 – Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player
    • 1977 – Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player
    • 1977 – Amos Lee, American singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Frank Lampard, English footballer
    • 1978 – Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer
    • 1979 – Charles Howell III, American golfer
    • 1980 – Franco Semioli, Italian footballer
    • 1980 – Tika Sumpter, American actress
    • 1980 – Fabian Wegmann, German cyclist
    • 1981 – Brede Hangeland, Norwegian footballer
    • 1982 – Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer
    • 1982 – Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer
    • 1982 – Example, English singer/rapper
    • 1983 – Josh Childress, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Darren Sproles, American football player
    • 1984 – Hassan Adams, American basketball player
    • 1985 – Saki Aibu, Japanese actress
    • 1985 – Aurélien Chedjou, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1985 – Matt Flynn, American football player
    • 1986 – Dreama Walker, American actress
    • 1987 – A-fu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter
    • 1987 – Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player
    • 1987 – Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer
    • 1987 – Joseph Ebuya, Kenyan runner
    • 1987 – Kierra Sheard, American gospel singer
    • 1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor
    • 1989 – Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer
    • 1989 – Terrelle Pryor, American football player
    • 1990 – DeQuan Jones, American basketball player
    • 1991 – Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer
    • 1991 – Rick ten Voorde, Dutch footballer
    • 1993 – Sead Kolašinac, Bosnian footballer
    • 1994 – Leonard Williams, American football player
    • 1995 – Caroline Weir, Scottish footballer
    • 1996 – Sam Bennett, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1997 – Bálint Kopasz, Hungarian sprint canoeist

    Deaths on June 20

    • 465 – Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei (b. 440)
    • 656 – Uthman ibn Affan, Rashidun caliph (b. 577)
    • 840 – Louis the Pious, Carolingian emperor (b. 778)
    • 930 – Hucbald, Frankish monk and music theorist
    • 981 – Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg
    • 1176 – Mikhail of Vladimir, Russian prince
    • 1351 – Margareta Ebner, German nun and mystic (b. 1291)
    • 1405 – Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland (b. 1343)
    • 1597 – Willem Barentsz, Dutch cartographer and explorer (b. 1550)
    • 1605 – Feodor II of Russia (b. 1589)
    • 1668 – Heinrich Roth, German missionary and scholar (b. 1620)
    • 1776 – Benjamin Huntsman, English businessman (b. 1704)
    • 1787 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German viol player and composer (b. 1723)
    • 1800 – Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician and academic (b. 1719)
    • 1810 – Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish general and politician (b. 1755)
    • 1815 – Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (b. 1766)
    • 1820 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian general, economist, and politician (b. 1770)
    • 1837 – William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765)
    • 1840 – Pierre Claude François Daunou, French historian and politician (b. 1761)
    • 1847 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (b. 1782)
    • 1869 – Hijikata Toshizō, Japanese commander (b. 1835)
    • 1870 – Jules de Goncourt, French historian and author (b. 1830)
    • 1872 – Élie Frédéric Forey, French general (b. 1804)
    • 1875 – Joseph Meek, American police officer and politician (b. 1810)
    • 1888 – Johannes Zukertort, Polish-English chess player (b. 1842)
    • 1906 – John Clayton Adams, English painter (b. 1840)
    • 1909 – Friedrich Martens, Estonian-Russian historian, lawyer, and diplomat (b. 1845)
    • 1925 – Josef Breuer, Austrian physician and psychologist (b. 1842)
    • 1929 – Emmanouil Benakis, Greek merchant and politician, 35th Mayor of Athens (b. 1843)
    • 1945 – Bruno Frank, German author, poet, and playwright (b. 1878)
    • 1947 – Bugsy Siegel, American mobster (b. 1906)
    • 1952 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (b. 1898)
    • 1958 – Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1963 – Raphaël Salem, Greek-French mathematician and academic (b. 1898)
    • 1965 – Bernard Baruch, American financier and politician (b. 1870)
    • 1966 – Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1894)
    • 1974 – Horace Lindrum, Australian snooker player (b. 1912)
    • 1975 – Suzanne Comhaire-Sylvain, Hatian anthropologist (b. 1898)
    • 1978 – Mark Robson, Canadian-American director and producer (b. 1913)
    • 1984 – Estelle Winwood, English actress (b. 1883)
    • 1995 – Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and educator (b. 1911)
    • 1997 – Cahit Külebi, Turkish poet and author (b. 1917)
    • 1999 – Clifton Fadiman, American game show host, author, and critic (b. 1902)
    • 2001 – Gina Cigna, French-Italian soprano (b. 1900)
    • 2002 – Erwin Chargaff, Austrian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1905)
    • 2002 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch runner (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1950)
    • 2005 – Larry Collins, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1929)
    • 2005 – Jack Kilby, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)
    • 2010 – Roberto Rosato, Italian footballer (b. 1943)
    • 2010 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (b. 1916)
    • 2011 – Ryan Dunn, American television personality (b. 1977)
    • 2012 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States. (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – LeRoy Neiman, American painter (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss of Köstritz (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Andrew Sarris, American critic (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Ingvar Rydell, Swedish footballer (b. 1922)
    • 2015 – Angelo Niculescu, Romanian footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Miriam Schapiro, Canadian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
    • 2017 – Prodigy, American music artist (b. 1974)

    Holidays and observances on June 20

    • Christian feast day:
      • Adalbert of Magdeburg
      • Florentina
      • John of Matera
      • Blessed Margareta Ebner
      • Methodius of Olympus
      • Pope Silverius
      • June 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of the National Flag (Argentina)
    • The earliest date for the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the Southern hemisphere, and its related observance:
      • Earliest day on which Day of the Finnish Flag can fall, while June 26 is the latest; celebrated on Saturday of Midsummer’s Day (Finland)
      • International Surfing Day (on or near Summer solstice)
      • Litha / Midsummer celebrations in the northern hemisphere, Yule in the southern hemisphere.
    • Gas Sector Day (Azerbaijan)
    • Martyrs’ Day (Eritrea)
    • West Virginia Day (West Virginia)
    • World Refugee Day (International)

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

    • 17 – Germanicus celebrates a triumph in Rome for his victories over the Cherusci, Chatti, and other German tribes west of the Elbe.
    • 451 – Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sasanian Empire takes place. The Sasanids defeat the Armenians militarily but guarantee them freedom to openly practice Christianity.
    • 946 – King Edmund I of England is murdered by a thief whom he personally attacks while celebrating St Augustine’s Mass Day.
    • 961 – King Otto I elects his 6-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. He is crowned at Aachen, and placed under the tutelage of his grandmother Matilda.
    • 1135 – Alfonso VII of León and Castile is crowned in León Cathedral as Imperator totius Hispaniae (Emperor of all of Spain).
    • 1293 – An earthquake strikes Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, killing about 23,000.
    • 1328 – William of Ockham, the Franciscan Minister-General Michael of Cesena, and two other Franciscan leaders secretly leave Avignon, fearing a death sentence from Pope John XXII.
    • 1538 – Geneva expels John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin lives in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years.
    • 1573 – The Battle of Haarlemmermeer, a naval engagement in the Dutch War of Independence.
    • 1637 – Pequot War: A combined English and Mohegan force under John Mason attacks a village in Connecticut, massacring approximately 500 Pequots.
    • 1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claim victory in the Battle of Montijo.
    • 1736 – The Battle of Ackia was fought near the present site of Tupelo, Mississippi. British and Chickasaw soldiers repelled a French and Choctaw attack on the then-Chickasaw village of Ackia.
    • 1770 – The Orlov Revolt, an attempt to revolt against the Ottoman Empire before the Greek War of Independence, ends in disaster for the Greeks.
    • 1783 – A Great Jubilee Day held at North Stratford, Connecticut, celebrated the end of fighting in the American Revolution.
    • 1805 – Napoléon Bonaparte assumes the title of King of Italy and is crowned with the Iron Crown of Lombardy in Milan Cathedral, the gothic cathedral in Milan.
    • 1821 – Establishment of the Peloponnesian Senate by the Greek rebels.
    • 1822 – One hundred sixteen people die in the Grue Church fire, the biggest fire disaster in Norway’s history.
    • 1857 – Dred Scott is emancipated by the Blow family, his original owners.
    • 1864 – Montana is organized as a United States territory.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi division, is the last full general of the Confederate Army to surrender, at Galveston, Texas.
    • 1868 – The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson ends with his acquittal by one vote.
    • 1869 – Boston University is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
    • 1879 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
    • 1896 – Nicholas II becomes the last Tsar of Imperial Russia.
    • 1896 – Charles Dow publishes the first edition of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
    • 1897 – Dracula, a Gothic horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker, is published.
    • 1897 – The original manuscript of William Bradford’s history, “Of Plymouth Plantation” is returned to the Governor of Massachusetts by the Bishop of London after being taken during the American Revolutionary War.
    • 1900 – Thousand Days’ War: The Colombian Conservative Party turns the tide of war in their favor with victory against the Colombian Liberal Party in the Battle of Palonegro.
    • 1908 – The first major commercial oil strike in the Middle East was made at Masjed Soleyman in southwest Persia. The rights to the resource were quickly acquired by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company.
    • 1917 – Several powerful tornadoes rip through Illinois, including the city of Mattoon.
    • 1918 – The Democratic Republic of Georgia is established.
    • 1923 – The first 24 Hours of Le Mans was held and has since been run annually in June.
    • 1927 – The last Ford Model T rolls off the assembly line after a production run of 15,007,003 vehicles.
    • 1936 – In the House of Commons of Northern Ireland, Tommy Henderson begins speaking on the Appropriation Bill. By the time he sits down in the early hours of the following morning, he had spoken for ten hours.
    • 1937 – Walter Reuther and members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) clashed with Ford Motor Company security guards at the River Rouge Complex complex in Dearborn, Michigan, during the Battle of the Overpass.
    • 1938 – In the United States, the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its first session.
    • 1940 – World War II: Operation Dynamo: In northern France, Allied forces begin a massive evacuation from Dunkirk, France.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Siege of Calais ends with the surrender of the British and French garrison.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Gazala takes place.
    • 1948 – The U.S. Congress passes Public Law 80-557, which permanently establishes the Civil Air Patrol as an auxiliary of the United States Air Force.
    • 1966 – British Guiana gains independence, becoming Guyana.
    • 1967 – The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is released.
    • 1968 – H-dagurinn in Iceland: Traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight
    • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 returns to Earth after a successful eight-day test of all the components needed for the forthcoming first manned moon landing.
    • 1970 – The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 becomes the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2.
    • 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
    • 1972 – The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
    • 1981 – Italian Prime Minister Arnaldo Forlani and his coalition cabinet resign following a scandal over membership of the pseudo-masonic lodge P2 (Propaganda Due).
    • 1981 – An EA-6B Prowler crashes on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.
    • 1983 – The 7.8 Mw  Sea of Japan earthquake shakes northern Honshu with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami is generated that leaves about 100 people dead.
    • 1986 – The European Community adopts the European flag.
    • 1991 – Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
    • 1991 – Lauda Air Flight 004 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes in the Phu Toei National Park in Thailand, killing all 223 people on board.
    • 1998 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in New Jersey v. New York that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
    • 1998 – The first “National Sorry Day” was held in Australia, and reconciliation events were held nationally, and attended by over a million people.
    • 2002 – The tugboat Robert Y. Love collides with a support pier of Interstate 40 on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, resulting in 14 deaths and 11 others injured.
    • 2004 – United States Army veteran Terry Nichols is found guilty of 161 state murder charges for helping carry out the Oklahoma City bombing.
    • 2008 – Severe flooding begins in eastern and southern China that will ultimately cause 148 deaths and force the evacuation of 1.3 million.

    Births on May 26

    • 1264 – Koreyasu, Japanese prince and shōgun (d. 1326)
    • 1478 – Clement VII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1534)
    • 1562 – James III, margrave of Baden-Hachberg (d. 1590)
    • 1566 – Mehmed III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1603)
    • 1602 – Philippe de Champaigne, Dutch-French painter (d. 1674)
    • 1623 – William Petty, English economist and philosopher (d. 1687)
    • 1650 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire (d. 1722)
    • 1667 – Abraham de Moivre, French-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1754)
    • 1669 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (d. 1722)
    • 1700 – Nicolaus Zinzendorf, German bishop and saint (d. 1760)
    • 1799 – August Kopisch, German poet and painter (d. 1853)
    • 1822 – Edmond de Goncourt, French author and critic, founded the Académie Goncourt (d. 1896)
    • 1863 – Bob Fitzsimmons, English-New Zealand boxer (d. 1917)
    • 1865 – Robert W. Chambers, American author and illustrator (d. 1933)
    • 1867 – Mary of Teck, English-born queen consort of the United Kingdom (d. 1953)
    • 1873 – Olaf Gulbransson, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1958)
    • 1876 – Percy Perrin, English cricketer (d. 1945)
    • 1880 – W. Otto Miessner, American composer and educator (d. 1967)
    • 1881 – Adolfo de la Huerta, Mexican politician and provisional president, 1920 (d. 1955)
    • 1883 – Mamie Smith, American singer, actress, dancer, and pianist (d. 1946)
    • 1886 – Al Jolson, American singer and actor (d. 1950)
    • 1887 – Ba U, 2nd President of Burma (d. 1963)
    • 1893 – Eugene Aynsley Goossens, English conductor and composer (d. 1962)
    • 1895 – Dorothea Lange, American photographer and journalist (d. 1965)
    • 1895 – Paul Lukas, Hungarian-American actor and singer (d. 1971)
    • 1898 – Ernst Bacon, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1990)
    • 1898 – Christfried Burmeister, Estonian speed skater (d. 1965)
    • 1899 – Antonio Barrette, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
    • 1899 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (d. 1997)
    • 1900 – Karin Juel, Swedish singer, actor, and writer (d. 1976)
    • 1904 – George Formby, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1961)
    • 1904 – Necip Fazıl Kısakürek, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1983)
    • 1904 – Vlado Perlemuter, Lithuanian-French pianist and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1907 – Jean Bernard, French physician and haematologist (d. 2006)
    • 1907 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1979)
    • 1908 – Robert Morley, English actor (d. 1992)
    • 1908 – Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ, Vietnamese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1976)
    • 1909 – Matt Busby, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Adolfo López Mateos, Mexican politician, 48th President of Mexico (d. 1969)
    • 1910 – Imi Lichtenfeld, Hungarian-Israeli martial artist, boxer, and gymnast (d. 1998)
    • 1911 – Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (d. 2005)
    • 1911 – Henry Ephron, American playwright, screenwriter, and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – János Kádár, Hungarian mechanic and politician, 46th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1989)
    • 1912 – Jay Silverheels, Canadian-American actor (d. 1980)
    • 1913 – Peter Cushing, English actor (d. 1994)
    • 1913 – Pierre Daninos, French author (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Karin Ekelund, Swedish actress (d. 1976)
    • 1913 – Josef Manger, German weightlifter (d. 1991)
    • 1914 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2009)
    • 1915 – Vernon Alley, American bassist (d. 2004)
    • 1915 – Antonia Forest, English author (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Henriette Roosenburg, Dutch journalist and author (d. 1972)
    • 1919 – Rubén González, Cuban pianist (d. 2003)
    • 1920 – Jack Cheetham, South African cricketer (d. 1980)
    • 1920 – Peggy Lee, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Inge Borkh, German soprano (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Troy Smith, American businessman, founded Sonic Drive-In (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – James Arness, American actor (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Roy Dotrice, English actor (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Carmen Montejo, Cuban-Mexican actress (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Alec McCowen, English actor (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Miles Davis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
    • 1927 – Jacques Bergerac, French actor and businessman (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Jack Kevorkian, American pathologist, author, and assisted suicide activist (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – J. F. Ade Ajayi, Nigerian historian and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Ernie Carroll, Australian television personality and producer
    • 1929 – Hans Freeman, Australian bioinorganic chemist and protein crystallographer (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – John Jackson, English lawyer and businessman
    • 1929 – Catherine Sauvage, French singer and actress (d. 1998)
    • 1930 – Karim Emami, Indian-Iranian lexicographer and critic (d. 2005)
    • 1933 – Edward Whittemore, American soldier and author (d. 1995)
    • 1935 – Eero Loone, Estonian philosopher and academic
    • 1936 – David Stevens, Baron Stevens of Ludgate, English politician
    • 1937 – Manorama, Indian actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1937 – Paul E. Patton, American politician, 59th Governor of Kentucky
    • 1938 – William Bolcom, American pianist and composer
    • 1938 – Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Russian author and playwright
    • 1938 – K. Bikram Singh, Indian director and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1938 – Teresa Stratas, Canadian soprano and actress
    • 1939 – Brent Musburger, American sportscaster
    • 1939 – Herb Trimpe, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Canadian academic and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec
    • 1940 – Levon Helm, American singer-songwriter, drummer, producer, and actor (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Aldrich Ames, American CIA officer and criminal
    • 1941 – Jim Dobbin, Scottish microbiologist and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Cliff Drysdale, South African tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1941 – Imants Kalniņš, Latvian composer
    • 1943 – Erica Terpstra, Dutch swimmer, journalist, and politician
    • 1944 – Phil Edmonston, American-Canadian journalist and politician
    • 1944 – Jan Kinder, Norwegian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Sam Posey, American race car driver and journalist
    • 1945 – Vilasrao Deshmukh, Indian lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Alistair MacDuff, English lawyer and judge
    • 1945 – Garry Peterson, Canadian-American drummer
    • 1946 – Neshka Robeva, Bulgarian gymnast and coach
    • 1946 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1993)
    • 1947 – Carol O’Connell, American author and painter
    • 1947 – Glenn Turner, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1948 – Stevie Nicks, American singer-songwriter
    • 1949 – Jeremy Corbyn, British journalist and politician
    • 1949 – Ward Cunningham, American computer programmer, developed the first wiki
    • 1949 – Pam Grier, American actress
    • 1949 – Anne McGuire, Scottish educator and politician
    • 1949 – Philip Michael Thomas, American actor
    • 1949 – Hank Williams Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – Ramón Calderón, Spanish lawyer and businessman
    • 1951 – Lou van den Dries, Dutch mathematician
    • 1951 – Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut, founded Sally Ride Science (d. 2012)
    • 1951 – Madeleine Taylor-Quinn, Irish educator and politician
    • 1952 – David Meece, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1953 – Kay Hagan, American lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1953 – Don McAllister, English footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Michael Portillo, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Defence
    • 1953 – Dan Roundfield, American basketball player (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – Alan Hollinghurst, English novelist, poet, short story writer, and translator
    • 1954 – Denis Lebel, Canadian businessman and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Transport
    • 1955 – Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese-American chef
    • 1955 – Paul Stoddart, Australian businessman
    • 1955 – Wesley Walker, American football player and educator
    • 1956 – Neil Parish, English politician
    • 1956 – Fiona Shackleton, English lawyer
    • 1957 – Diomedes Díaz, Colombian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1957 – François Legault, Canadian businessman and politician
    • 1957 – Roberto Ravaglia, Italian race car driver
    • 1958 – Ronnie Black, American golfer
    • 1958 – Arto Bryggare, Finnish hurdler and politician
    • 1958 – Margaret Colin, American actress
    • 1959 – Ole Bornedal, Danish actor, director, and producer
    • 1960 – Doug Hutchison, American actor
    • 1960 – Dean Lukin, Australian weightlifter
    • 1960 – Masahiro Matsunaga, Japanese race car driver
    • 1960 – Rob Murphy, American baseball player
    • 1960 – Romas Ubartas, Lithuanian discus thrower
    • 1961 – Steve Pate, American golfer
    • 1961 – Tarsem Singh, Indian-American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Black, English singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1962 – Genie Francis, Canadian-American actress
    • 1962 – Bobcat Goldthwait, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Simon Armitage, English poet, playwright and novelist
    • 1963 – Claude Legault, Canadian actor and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Mary Nightingale, English journalist
    • 1963 – Jamie Spence, English golfer
    • 1964 – Caitlín R. Kiernan, Irish-American paleontologist and author
    • 1964 – Lenny Kravitz, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor
    • 1964 – Argiris Pedoulakis, Greek basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – Hazel Irvine, Scottish sportscaster and journalist
    • 1966 – Helena Bonham Carter, English actress
    • 1966 – Zola Budd, South African runner
    • 1967 – Philip Treacy, Irish milliner, hat designer
    • 1967 – Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1968 – Fernando León de Aranoa, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
    • 1968 – Steve Sedgley, English footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Baird, Canadian politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1969 – Siri Lindley, American triathlete and coach
    • 1969 – Dominic Mohan, English journalist
    • 1970 – Nobuhiro Watsuki, Japanese illustrator
    • 1971 – Zaher Andary, Lebanese footballer
    • 1971 – Matt Stone, American actor, animator, screenwriter, producer, and composer
    • 1973 – Naomi Harris, Canadian-American photographer
    • 1974 – Lars Frölander, Swedish swimmer
    • 1975 – Lauryn Hill, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1976 – Paul Collingwood, English cricketer and coach
    • 1976 – Stephen Curry, Australian comedian and actor
    • 1976 – Kenny Florian, American mixed martial artist and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Justin Pierre, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1977 – Nikos Chatzivrettas, Greek basketball player
    • 1977 – Raina Telgemeier, American author and cartoonist
    • 1977 – Luca Toni, Italian footballer
    • 1977 – Misaki Ito, Japanese actress and model
    • 1978 – Phil Elvrum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Fabio Firmani, Italian footballer
    • 1978 – Dan Parks, Australian-Scottish rugby player
    • 1979 – Amanda Bauer, American astronomer and academic
    • 1979 – Natalya Nazarova, Russian sprinter
    • 1979 – Elisabeth Harnois, American actress
    • 1979 – Mehmet Okur, Turkish basketball player
    • 1980 – Louis-Jean Cormier, Canadian singer and songwriter
    • 1981 – Robert Copeland, Australian footballer
    • 1981 – Anthony Ervin, American swimmer
    • 1981 – Jason Manford, English actor, screenwriter, and television host
    • 1981 – Isaac Slade, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1981 – Ben Zobrist, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Sten Lassmann, Estonian pianist
    • 1982 – Hasan Kabze, Turkish footballer
    • 1983 – Demy de Zeeuw, Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Henry Holland, English fashion designer
    • 1983 – Nathan Merritt, Australian rugby league player
    • 1985 – Monika Christodoulou, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1985 – Ashley Vincent, English footballer
    • 1986 – Michel Tornéus, Swedish long jumper
    • 1987 – Olcay Şahan, Turkish footballer
    • 1987 – Josh Thomas, Australian comedian and actor
    • 1988 – Andrea Catellani, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Will Chambers, Australian rugby league player
    • 1988 – Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, Colombian footballer
    • 1988 – Dani Samuels, Australian discus thrower
    • 1988 – Joel Selwood, Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Damian Williams, American football player
    • 1989 – Paula Findlay, Canadian triathlete
    • 1991 – Ah Young, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1992 – Curtis Rona, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1993 – Jason Adesanya, Belgian footballer
    • 1993 – Dan Sarginson, Australian-English rugby league player
    • 1993 – Katerine Savard, Canadian swimmer
    • 1993 – Jimmy Vesey, American ice hockey player
    • 1996 – Lara Goodall, South African cricketer

    Deaths on May 26

    • 604 – Augustine of Canterbury, Benedictine monk and archbishop
    • 735 – Bede, English monk, historian, and theologian
    • 818 – Ali al-Ridha, Saudi Arabian 8th of The Twelve Imams
    • 926 – Yuan Xingqin, Chinese general and governor
    • 946 – Edmund I, king of England (b. 921)
    • 1035 – Berenguer Ramon I, Spanish nobleman (b. 1005)
    • 1055 – Adalbert, margrave of Austria
    • 1250 – Peter I, duke of Brittany
    • 1339 – Aldona Ona, queen of Poland
    • 1362 – Louis I, king of Naples (b. 1320)
    • 1421 – Mehmed I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1389)
    • 1512 – Bayezid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1447)
    • 1536 – Francesco Berni, Italian poet (b. 1498)
    • 1552 – Sebastian Münster, German cartographer and cosmographer (b. 1488)
    • 1648 – Vincent Voiture, French poet and author (b. 1597)
    • 1653 – Robert Filmer, English theorist and author (b. 1588)
    • 1679 – Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1636)
    • 1685 – Charles II, German elector palatine (b. 1651)
    • 1703 – Samuel Pepys, English politician (b. 1633)
    • 1742 – Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian diplomat (b. 1672)
    • 1746 – Thomas Southerne, Irish playwright (b. 1660)
    • 1762 – Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher and academic (b. 1714)
    • 1799 – James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, Scottish linguist, biologist, and judge (b. 1714)
    • 1818 – Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly, Russian field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Finland (b. 1761)
    • 1818 – Manuel Rodríguez Erdoíza, Chilean lawyer and guerrilla leader (b. 1785)
    • 1824 – Capel Lofft, English lawyer (b. 1751)
    • 1840 – Sidney Smith, English admiral and politician (b. 1764)
    • 1881 – Jakob Bernays, German philologist and academic (b. 1824)
    • 1883 – Abdelkader El Djezairi, Algerian ruler (b. 1808)
    • 1902 – Almon Brown Strowger, American soldier and inventor (b. 1839)
    • 1904 – Georges Gilles de la Tourette, French physician and neurologist (b. 1857)
    • 1908 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader, founded the Ahmadiyya movement (b. 1835)
    • 1914 – Jacob August Riis, Danish-American journalist, photographer, and reformer (b. 1849)
    • 1924 – Victor Herbert, Irish-American cellist, composer, and conductor, founded the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (b. 1859)
    • 1926 – Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (b. 1904)
    • 1933 – Horatio Bottomley, English financier, journalist, and politician (b. 1860)
    • 1933 – Jimmie Rodgers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1897)
    • 1939 – Charles Horace Mayo, American physician, co-founded Mayo Clinic (b. 1865)
    • 1943 – Edsel Ford, American businessman (b. 1893)
    • 1943 – Alice Tegnér, Swedish organist, composer, and educator (b. 1864)
    • 1944 – Christian Wirth, German SS officer (b. 1885)
    • 1948 – Torsten Bergström, Swedish actor and director (b. 1896)
    • 1951 – Lincoln Ellsworth, American explorer (b. 1880)
    • 1954 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (b. 1900)
    • 1955 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1918)
    • 1956 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (b. 1902)
    • 1959 – Philip Kassel, American gymnast (b. 1876)
    • 1966 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (b. 1894)
    • 1969 – Paul Hawkins, Australian race car driver (b. 1937)
    • 1969 – Allan Haines Loughead, American engineer, co-founded the Lockheed Corporation (b. 1889)
    • 1974 – Silvio Moser, Swiss race car driver (b. 1941)
    • 1976 – Martin Heidegger, German philosopher and academic (b. 1889)
    • 1978 – Cybele Andrianou, Greek actress (b. 1887)
    • 1979 – George Brent, Irish-American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1984 – Elizabeth Peer, American journalist (b. 1936)
    • 1989 – Don Revie, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
    • 1994 – Sonny Sharrock, American guitarist (b. 1940)
    • 1995 – Friz Freleng, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
    • 1999 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (b. 1906)
    • 1999 – Waldo Semon, American chemist and engineer (b. 1898)
    • 2001 – Vittorio Brambilla, Italian race car driver (b. 1937)
    • 2001 – Anne Haney, American actress (b. 1934)
    • 2001 – Moven Mahachi, Zimbabwean soldier and politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (b. 1952)
    • 2001 – Dona Massin, Canadian actress and choreographer (b. 1917)
    • 2002 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Kathleen Winsor, American journalist and author (b. 1919)
    • 2004 – Nikolai Chernykh, Russian astronomer (b. 1931)
    • 2005 – Eddie Albert, American actor (b. 1906)
    • 2005 – Chico Carrasquel, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2005 – Ruth Laredo, American pianist and educator (b. 1937)
    • 2005 – Leslie Smith, English businessman, co-founded Lesney Products (b. 1918)
    • 2006 – Édouard Michelin, French businessman (b. 1963)
    • 2006 – Kevin O’Flanagan, Irish footballer and physician (b. 1919)
    • 2007 – Jack Edward Oliver, English illustrator (b. 1942)
    • 2007 – Howard Porter, American basketball player (b. 1948)
    • 2008 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1934)
    • 2008 – Zita Urbonaitė, Lithuanian cyclist (b. 1973)
    • 2009 – Mihalis Papagiannakis, Greek journalist and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2009 – Peter Zezel, Canadian ice hockey and soccer player (b. 1965)
    • 2010 – Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (b. 1912)
    • 2010 – Chris Moran, English air marshal and pilot (b. 1956)
    • 2010 – Kieran Phelan, Irish politician (b. 1949)
    • 2011 – Arisen Ahubudu, Sri Lankan scholar, author, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Arthur Decabooter, Belgian cyclist (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Leo Dillon, American illustrator (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Stephen Healey, Welsh captain and footballer (b. 1982)
    • 2012 – Hiroshi Miyazawa, Japanese politician (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Hans Schmidt, Canadian wrestler (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Jim Unger, English-Canadian illustrator (b. 1937)
    • 2013 – Ray Barnhart, American businessman and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – John Bierwirth, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Roberto Civita, Italian-Brazilian businessman (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Tom Lichtenberg, American football player and coach (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Otto Muehl, Austrian painter (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Jack Vance, American author (b. 1916)
    • 2014 – Baselios Thoma Didymos I, Indian metropolitan (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American academic and neuropharmacologist (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – William R. Roy, American physician, journalist, and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Hooshang Seyhoun, Iranian-Canadian architect, sculptor, and painter (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Vicente Aranda, Spanish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Les Johnson, Australian politician and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Robert Kraft, American astronomer and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – João Lucas, Portuguese footballer (b. 1979)
    • 2015 – Dayton Waller, American soldier and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Hedy Epstein, German-born American human rights activist and Holocaust survivor (b. 1924)
    • 2017 – Zbigniew Brzezinski, Polish-born American politician (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on May 26

    • Christian feast day:
      • Augustine of Canterbury (Anglican Communion and Eastern Orthodox)
      • Lambert of Vence
      • Peter Sanz (one of Martyr Saints of China)
      • Philip Neri
      • Pope Eleuterus
      • Quadratus of Athens
      • Zachary, Bishop of Vienne
      • May 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day, commemorates the day of the First Republic in 1918 (Georgia)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Guyana from the United Kingdom in 1966.
    • Mother’s Day (Poland)
    • National Paper Airplane Day (United States)
    • National Sorry Day (Australia)

  • May 3 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
    • 1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.
    • 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
    • 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
    • 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war.
    • 1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
    • 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
    • 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
    • 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
    • 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
    • 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
    • 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
    • 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
    • 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.
    • 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.
    • 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
    • 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
    • 1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
    • 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
    • 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
    • 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
    • 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
    • 1921 – The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
    • 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.
    • 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
    • 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
    • 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
    • 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
    • 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
    • 1951 – London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
    • 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
    • 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
    • 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
    • 1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
    • 1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
    • 1960 – The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
    • 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the “Birmingham campaign” protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.
    • 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989
    • 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
    • 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
    • 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
    • 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
    • 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
    • 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side resulted into the kargil war.
    • 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
    • 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
    • 2002 – An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashes into a bank in Jalandhar, killing eight and injuring 17.
    • 2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
    • 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
    • 2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire ripped through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.

    Births on May 3

    • 490 – K’an Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 565)
    • 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (d. 641)
    • 1238 – Emilia Bicchieri, Italian saint (d. 1314)
    • 1276 – Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (d. 1319)
    • 1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
    • 1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (d. 1495)
    • 1446 – Margaret of York (d. 1503)
    • 1461 – Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal (d. 1521)
    • 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 1527)
    • 1479 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)
    • 1481 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
    • 1536 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)
    • 1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
    • 1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, designed the Pillnitz Castle (d. 1736)
    • 1678 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (d. 1747)
    • 1695 – Henri Pitot, French physicist and engineer, invented the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
    • 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (d. 1774)
    • 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
    • 1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
    • 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (d. 1838)
    • 1783 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. 1858)
    • 1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
    • 1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
    • 1844 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
    • 1849 – Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and photographer (d. 1914)
    • 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
    • 1854 – George Gore, American baseball player and manager (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (d.1931)
    • 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Andy Bowen, American boxer (d. 1894)
    • 1867 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
    • 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
    • 1871 – Emmett Dalton, American criminal (d. 1937)
    • 1873 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1945)
    • 1874 – François Coty, French businessman and publisher, founded Coty, Inc. (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer and academic (d. 1954)
    • 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1925)
    • 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (d. 1950)
    • 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
    • 1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
    • 1889 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
    • 1889 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (d. 1972)
    • 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet and critic (d. 1969)
    • 1891 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball pitcher (d. 1963)
    • 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
    • 1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian-American economist and academic (d. 1970)
    • 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (d. 1975)
    • 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
    • 1896 – Karl Allmenröder, German soldier and pilot (d. 1917)
    • 1896 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 1974)
    • 1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright (d. 1990)
    • 1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Solicitor General of Canada (d. 1989)
    • 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and activist (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
    • 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
    • 1905 – Edmund Black, American hammer thrower (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball pitcher and coach (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist and author (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
    • 1912 – May Sarton, American poet, novelist and memoirist (d. 1995)
    • 1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
    • 1914 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French journalist, author, and poet (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer, founded Stampede Wrestling (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Richard Lippold, American sculptor and academic (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – Betty Comden, American screenwriter and librettist (d. 2006)
    • 1917 – George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer and manager (d. 2003)
    • 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American soldier and illustrator (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
    • 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
    • 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Ralph Hall, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, German-Israeli author and poet (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver, founded Tyrrell Racing (d. 2001)
    • 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Matt Baldwin, Canadian curler and engineer
    • 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1928 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Denise Lor, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – David Harrison, English chemist and academic
    • 1931 – Vasily Rudenkov, Belarusian hammer thrower (d. 1982)
    • 1931 – Sait Maden, Turkish translator, poet, painter and graphic designer (d. 2013)
    • 1932 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (d. 2017)
    • 1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer and sportscaster (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor
    • 1935 – Ron Popeil, American businessman, founded the Ronco Company
    • 1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian author and academic
    • 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
    • 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
    • 1938 – Napoleon XIV, American singer, songwriter and record producer
    • 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1941 – Alexander Harley, English general
    • 1941 – Edward Malloy, American priest and academic
    • 1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist and sportscaster
    • 1942 – Butch Otter, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Yukio Hashi, Japanese singer and actor
    • 1943 – Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
    • 1943 – Vicente Saldivar, Mexican boxer (d. 1985)
    • 1944 – Peter Doyle, English bishop
    • 1944 – Pete Staples, English bass player
    • 1945 – Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper and coach
    • 1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1946 – Norm Chow, American football player and coach
    • 1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
    • 1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
    • 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
    • 1948 – Denis Cosgrove, British-American academic and geographer (d. 2008)
    • 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
    • 1949 – Liam Donaldson, English physician and academic
    • 1949 – Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, English academic and politician
    • 1949 – Ron Wyden, American academic and politician
    • 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Dag Arnesen, Norwegian pianist and composer
    • 1951 – Alan Clayson, English singer-songwriter and journalist
    • 1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1951 – Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
    • 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian author and publicist
    • 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American pastor and politician
    • 1952 – Caitlin Clarke, American actress (d. 2004)
    • 1952 – Joseph W. Tobin, American cardinal
    • 1953 – Bruce Hall, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1953 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer-songwriter
    • 1954 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1955 – Stephen D. M. Brown, British geneticist
    • 1955 – Colin Deans, Scottish rugby player
    • 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
    • 1955 – Seishirō Nishida, Japanese actor
    • 1956 – Marc Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician
    • 1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1957 – Rod Langway, Taiwanese-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1958 – Bill Sienkiewicz, American author and illustrator
    • 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-English comedian, writer, and broadcaster
    • 1959 – David Ball, English keyboard player and producer
    • 1959 – Uma Bharti, Indian activist and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
    • 1959 – Ben Elton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English sprinter and educator
    • 1961 – Steve McClaren, English footballer and manager
    • 1961 – David Vitter, American lawyer and politician
    • 1961 – Leyla Zana, Kurdish activist and politician
    • 1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
    • 1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-Scottish journalist and academic
    • 1964 – Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
    • 1965 – Ignatius Aphrem II, Syrian patriarch
    • 1965 – Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director, writer, cinematographer
    • 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
    • 1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
    • 1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
    • 1967 – Daniel Anderson, Australian rugby league coach and manager
    • 1967 – Kenneth Joel Hotz, Canadian producer, writer, director, actor, and comedian
    • 1968 – Viliami Ofahengaue, Tongan-Australian rugby player
    • 1971 – Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
    • 1972 – Stephen Barclay, English lawyer and politician
    • 1973 – Jamie Baulch, Welsh sprinter and television host
    • 1975 – Willie Geist, American television journalist and host
    • 1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
    • 1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Chris Scott, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1977 – Eric Church, American country music singer-songwriter
    • 1977 – Ryan Dempster, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player and coach
    • 1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
    • 1977 – Ben Olsen, American soccer player and coach
    • 1978 – Christian Annan, Ghanaian-Hong Kong footballer
    • 1978 – Paul Banks, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
    • 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
    • 1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
    • 1979 – Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
    • 1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
    • 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
    • 1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
    • 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
    • 1983 – Jérôme Clavier, French pole vaulter
    • 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kadri Lehtla, Estonian biathlete
    • 1985 – Miko Mälberg, Estonian swimmer
    • 1986 – Moon Byung-woo, South Korean footballer
    • 1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
    • 1988 – Ben Revere, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Paddy Holohan, Irish mixed martial artist
    • 1989 – Jesse Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
    • 1990 – Brooks Koepka, American golfer
    • 1991 – Samuel Seo, South Korean musician
    • 1992 – Aaron Whitchurch, Australian rugby league player
    • 1995 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (d. 2016)
    • 1996 – Mary Cain, American runner
    • 1996 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian football player
    • 1996 – Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1997 – Desiigner, American rapper
    • 1997 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player
    • 1997 – Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player

    Deaths on May 3

    • 678 – Tōchi, Japanese princess
    • 738 – Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)
    • 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
    • 1270 – Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
    • 1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
    • 1330 – Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1282)
    • 1410 – Antipope Alexander V
    • 1481 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (b. 1432)
    • 1501 – John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (b. 1463)
    • 1524 – Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (b. 1481)
    • 1534 – Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (b. 1481)
    • 1589 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1528)
    • 1606 – Henry Garnet, English priest and author (b. 1555)
    • 1621 – Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (b. 1541)
    • 1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
    • 1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
    • 1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1644)
    • 1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (b. 1662)
    • 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and author (b. 1680)
    • 1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (b. 1692)
    • 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
    • 1763 – George Psalmanazar, French-English author (b. 1679)
    • 1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1712)
    • 1779 – John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1714)
    • 1793 – Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (b. 1720)
    • 1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
    • 1856 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
    • 1856 – Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (b. 1788)
    • 1882 – Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (b. 1806)
    • 1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (b. 1871)
    • 1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (b. 1858)
    • 1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (b. 1878)
    • 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (b. 1879)
    • 1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (b. 1863)
    • 1919 – Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (b. 1854)
    • 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
    • 1925 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (b. 1841)
    • 1932 – Charles Fort, American journalist and author (b. 1874)
    • 1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (b. 1863)
    • 1939 – Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (b. 1873)
    • 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
    • 1943 – Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
    • 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (b. 1876)
    • 1949 – Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1888)
    • 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
    • 1970 – Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (b. 1918)
    • 1972 – Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (b. 1898)
    • 1972 – Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
    • 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
    • 1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
    • 1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 1987 – Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (b. 1933)
    • 1988 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1908)
    • 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
    • 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1933)
    • 1992 – George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (b. 1902)
    • 1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
    • 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
    • 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
    • 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1927)
    • 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
    • 1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1967)
    • 1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (b. 1901)
    • 2000 – John Joseph O’Connor, American cardinal (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (b. 1932)
    • 2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
    • 2006 – Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (b. 1932)
    • 2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (b. 1932)
    • 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
    • 2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
    • 2009 – Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (b. 1931)
    • 2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Peter O’Donnell, English soldier and author (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
    • 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (b. 1936)
    • 2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Joe Astroth, American baseball player (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (b. 1909)
    • 2013 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (b. 1960)
    • 2013 – Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (b. 1958)
    • 2014 – Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (b. 1986)
    • 2015 – Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (b. 1915)
    • 2016 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (b. 1937)
    • 2016 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
    • 2017 – Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (b. 1942)

    Holidays and observances on May 3

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
      • Antonia and Alexander
      • Juvenal of Narni
      • Moura (Coptic Church)
      • Philip and James the Lesser
      • Pope Alexander I
      • Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church)
      • The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland
      • Theodosius of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
    • Constitution Day (Poland)
    • Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances:
      • Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
      • Roodmas, or Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church)
    • Sun Day (International)
    • World Press Freedom Day

  • April 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
    • 529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
    • 611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
    • 1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’.
    • 1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
    • 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
    • 1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
    • 1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
    • 1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67).
    • 1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
    • 1788 – American pioneers to the Northwest Territory establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
    • 1789 – Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
    • 1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
    • 1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
    • 1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
    • 1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
    • 1829 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
    • 1831 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King Pedro IV.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
    • 1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
    • 1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
    • 1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
    • 1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
    • 1922 – The United States Secretary of the Interior leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
    • 1927 – The first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
    • 1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
    • 1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
    • 1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
    • 1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
    • 1945 – World War II: The battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
    • 1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
    • 1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
    • 1949 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway; it would run for 1,925 performances and win ten Tony Awards.
    • 1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech during a news conference.
    • 1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
    • 1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
    • 1964 – A bulldozer kills Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, a civil rights activist, during a school segregation protest in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking a riot.
    • 1965 – Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate against the termination of the Colville tribe in Washington DC.
    • 1968 – Motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim.
    • 1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
    • 1971 – President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.
    • 1976 – Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party (UK) after being arrested for faking his own death.
    • 1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
    • 1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
    • 1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
    • 1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
    • 1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
    • 1990 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
    • 1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
    • 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
    • 1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
    • 1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
    • 1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
    • 2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.
    • 2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
    • 2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
    • 2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.
    • 2017 – A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.

    Births on April 7

    • 1206 – Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1253)
    • 1330 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English nobleman (d. 1352)
    • 1470 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)
    • 1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
    • 1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
    • 1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
    • 1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730)
    • 1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
    • 1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
    • 1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
    • 1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
    • 1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist, entomologist, and mycologist (d. 1806)
    • 1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
    • 1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
    • 1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher and author (d. 1837)
    • 1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
    • 1803 – James Curtiss, American journalist and politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
    • 1803 – Flora Tristan, French author and activist (d. 1844)
    • 1811 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1881)
    • 1817 – Francesco Selmi, Italian chemist and patriot (d. 1881)
    • 1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
    • 1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
    • 1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
    • 1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist and academic (d. 1953)
    • 1870 – Gustav Landauer, Jewish-German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
    • 1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
    • 1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
    • 1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
    • 1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
    • 1882 – Bert Ironmonger, Australian cricketer (d. 1971)
    • 1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
    • 1883 – Gino Severini, Italian-French painter and author (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
    • 1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971)
    • 1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
    • 1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
    • 1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
    • 1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
    • 1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
    • 1895 – John Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942)
    • 1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
    • 1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
    • 1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918)
    • 1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (d. 1972)
    • 1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
    • 1900 – Adolf Dymsza, Polish actor (d. 1975)
    • 1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
    • 1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
    • 1903 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
    • 1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
    • 1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician (d. 1996)
    • 1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
    • 1908 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (d. 1978)
    • 1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
    • 1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
    • 1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
    • 1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
    • 1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
    • 1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
    • 1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
    • 1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
    • 1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian trade union leader and politician (d. 2011)
    • 1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
    • 1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
    • 1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
    • 1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1928 – James White, Northern Irish author and educator (d. 1999)
    • 1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
    • 1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer
    • 1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
    • 1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1989)
    • 1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author
    • 1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1933 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (d. 2004)
    • 1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish-English actor (d. 2007)
    • 1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
    • 1937 – Charlie Thomas, American singer
    • 1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
    • 1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
    • 1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
    • 1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
    • 1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (d. 1992)
    • 1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian academic and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
    • 1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
    • 1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
    • 1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (d. 2018)
    • 1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (d. 2017)
    • 1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor, TV and film producer
    • 1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer and manager
    • 1944 – Shel Bachrach, American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
    • 1944 – Warner Fusselle, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Oshik Levi, Israeli singer and actor
    • 1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
    • 1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
    • 1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
    • 1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Gerry Cottle, English businessman
    • 1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher and academic
    • 1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist and author
    • 1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author (d. 2018)
    • 1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
    • 1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
    • 1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian poet, playwright, and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
    • 1946 – Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian politician and diplomate
    • 1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (d. 2008)
    • 1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer
    • 1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (d. 2020)
    • 1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
    • 1948 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer
    • 1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
    • 1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
    • 1951 – Bruce Gary, American drummer (d. 2006)
    • 1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
    • 1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete
    • 1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
    • 1952 – Dennis Hayden, American actor
    • 1953 – Santa Barraza, American mixed media artist
    • 1953 – Douglas Kell, English biochemist and academic
    • 1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
    • 1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
    • 1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish businesswoman and politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
    • 1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer and author
    • 1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
    • 1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
    • 1957 – Thelma Walker, British politician
    • 1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
    • 1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer and actor
    • 1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
    • 1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
    • 1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
    • 1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
    • 1962 – Jon Cruddas, English lawyer and politician
    • 1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
    • 1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish businessman
    • 1963 – Nick Herbert, English businessman and politician, Minister for Policing
    • 1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator
    • 1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
    • 1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
    • 1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian, actor, and producer
    • 1965 – Rozalie Hirs, Dutch composer and poet
    • 1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
    • 1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
    • 1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor and politician
    • 1966 – Zvika Hadar, Israeli entertainer
    • 1966 – Béla Mavrák, Hungarian tenor singer
    • 1966 – Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
    • 1967 – Artemis Gounaki, Greek-German singer-songwriter
    • 1967 – Bodo Illgner, German footballer
    • 1967 – Simone Schilder, Dutch tennis player
    • 1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Jože Možina, Slovenian historian, sociologist and journalist
    • 1968 – Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
    • 1969 – Ricky Watters, American football player
    • 1970 – Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist and educator
    • 1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
    • 1971 – Victor Kraatz, German-Canadian figure skater
    • 1972 – Tim Peake, British astronaut
    • 1973 – Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
    • 1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence
    • 1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
    • 1973 – Christian O’Connell, British radio DJ and presenter
    • 1973 – Brett Tomko, American baseball player
    • 1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1975 – Ronde Barber, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1975 – Tiki Barber, American football player and journalist
    • 1975 – Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
    • 1975 – John Cooper, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1975 – Simon Woolford, Australian rugby league player
    • 1976 – Kevin Alejandro, American actor and producer
    • 1976 – Martin Buß, German high jumper
    • 1976 – Jessica Lee, English lawyer and politician
    • 1976 – Aaron Lohr, American actor
    • 1976 – Barbara Jane Reams, American actress
    • 1976 – Gang Qiang, Chinese anchor
    • 1978 – Jo Appleby, English soprano
    • 1978 – Duncan James, English singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1978 – Lilia Osterloh, American tennis player
    • 1979 – Adrián Beltré, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1979 – Patrick Crayton, American football player
    • 1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan-American baseball player
    • 1980 – Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
    • 1980 – Tetsuji Tamayama, Japanese actor
    • 1981 – Hitoe Arakaki, Japanese singer
    • 1981 – Kazuki Watanabe, Japanese songwriter and guitarist (d. 2000)
    • 1981 – Vanessa Olivarez, American singer-songwriter, and actress
    • 1981 – Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
    • 1982 – Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
    • 1982 – Sonjay Dutt, American wrestler
    • 1982 – Kelli Young, English singer
    • 1983 – Hamish Davidson, Australian musician
    • 1983 – Franck Ribéry, French footballer
    • 1983 – Jon Stead, English footballer
    • 1983 – Jakub Smrž, Czech motorcycle rider
    • 1983 – Janar Talts, Estonian basketball player
    • 1984 – Hiroko Shimabukuro, Japanese singer
    • 1985 – KC Concepcion, Filipino actress and singer
    • 1985 – Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician
    • 1986 – Brooke Brodack, American comedian
    • 1986 – Jack Duarte, Mexican actor, singer, and guitarist
    • 1986 – Andi Fraggs, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1986 – Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer
    • 1987 – Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
    • 1987 – Jamar Smith, American football player
    • 1988 – Antonio Piccolo, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
    • 1989 – Alexa Demara, American actress, model and writer
    • 1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentinian footballer
    • 1989 – Mitchell Pearce, Australian rugby league player
    • 1989 – Teddy Riner, French judoka
    • 1990 – Nickel Ashmeade, Jamaican sprinter
    • 1990 – Anna Bogomazova, Russian-American kick-boxer, martial artist, and wrestler
    • 1990 – Sorana Cîrstea, Romanian tennis player
    • 1990 – Trent Cotchin, Australian footballer
    • 1991 – Luka Milivojević, Serbian footballer
    • 1991 – Anne-Marie, English singer-songwriter
    • 1992 – Andreea Acatrinei, Romanian gymnast
    • 1992 – Guilherme Negueba, Brazilian footballer
    • 1993 – Ichinojō Takashi, Mongolian sumo wrestler
    • 1994 – Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
    • 1994 – Aaron Gray, Australian rugby league player
    • 1996 – Emerson Hyndman, American international soccer player[5]
    • 1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player

    Deaths on April 7

    • AD 30 – Jesus Christ, (possible date of the crucifixion) (b. circa 4 BC)
    • 821 – George the Standard-Bearer, archbishop of Mytilene (b. c. 776)
    • 924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
    • 1206 – Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
    • 1340 – Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia (b. 1308)
    • 1498 – Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
    • 1499 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (b. 1442)
    • 1501 – Minkhaung II, king of Ava (b. 1446)
    • 1606 – Edward Oldcorne, English martyr (b. 1561)
    • 1614 – El Greco, Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
    • 1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyō (b. 1576)
    • 1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603)
    • 1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic and philosopher (b. 1595)
    • 1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604)
    • 1663 – Francis Cooke, English-American settler (b. 1583)
    • 1668 – William Davenant, English poet and playwright (b. 1606)
    • 1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
    • 1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
    • 1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1676)
    • 1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
    • 1766 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
    • 1767 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and director (b. 1715)
    • 1782 – Taksin, Thai king (b. 1734)
    • 1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
    • 1789 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (b. 1722)
    • 1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (b. 1724)
    • 1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743)
    • 1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
    • 1823 – Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
    • 1833 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Lithuanian composer and politician (b. 1775)
    • 1836 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (b. 1756)
    • 1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (b. 1777)
    • 1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
    • 1858 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian composer and publisher (b. 1781)
    • 1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist, activist, and politician (b. 1825)
    • 1879 – Begum Hazrat Mahal, Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (b. 1820)
    • 1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (b. 1804)
    • 1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier and politician (b. 1823)
    • 1889 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician and president, 1872-1876 (b. 1823)
    • 1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
    • 1917 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer and playwright (b. 1861)
    • 1918 – David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
    • 1918 – George E. Ohr, American potter (b. 1857)
    • 1920 – Karl Binding, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1841)
    • 1922 – James McGowen, Australian politician, 18th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1855)
    • 1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1873)
    • 1932 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
    • 1938 – Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
    • 1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
    • 1943 – Jovan Dučić, Serbian-American poet and diplomat (b. 1871)
    • 1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (b. 1859)
    • 1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)
    • 1949 – John Gourlay, Canadian soccer player (b. 1872)
    • 1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (b. 1883)
    • 1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
    • 1956 – Fred Appleby, English runner (b. 1879)
    • 1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874)
    • 1965 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
    • 1966 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (b. 1919)
    • 1968 – Edwin Baker, Canadian co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) (b. 1893)
    • 1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
    • 1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (b. 1929)
    • 1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
    • 1981 – Kit Lambert, English record producer and manager (b. 1935)
    • 1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
    • 1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (b. 1948)
    • 1984 – Frank Church, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1924)
    • 1985 – Carl Schmitt, German philosopher and jurist (b. 1888)
    • 1986 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist (b. 1912)
    • 1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 1991 – Memduh Ünlütürk, Turkish general (b. 1913)
    • 1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1903)
    • 1992 – Antonis Tritsis, Greek high jumper and politician, 71st Mayor of Athens (b. 1937)
    • 1994 – Lee Brilleaux, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
    • 1994 – Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer, manager, and politician (b. 1923)
    • 1994 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (b. 1909)
    • 1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwandan chemist, academic, and politician, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
    • 1995 – Philip Jebb, English architect and politician (b. 1927)
    • 1997 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1923)
    • 1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935)
    • 1998 – Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican-American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
    • 1999 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1911)
    • 2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
    • 2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
    • 2003 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French pianist and author (b. 1903)
    • 2003 – David Greene, English-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
    • 2004 – Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Konstantinos Kallias, Greek politician (b. 1901)
    • 2005 – Cliff Allison, English race car driver (b. 1932)
    • 2005 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
    • 2005 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Melih Kibar, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1951)
    • 2007 – Johnny Hart, American author and illustrator (b. 1931)
    • 2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 2008 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
    • 2011 – Pierre Gauvreau, Canadian painter (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Steven Kanumba, Tanzanian actor and director (b. 1984)
    • 2012 – Satsue Mito, Japanese zoologist and academic (b. 1914)
    • 2012 – Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian cardinal (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani politician (b. 1959)
    • 2012 – Mike Wallace, American television news journalist (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Marty Blake, American businessman (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Andy Johns, English-American record producer (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Irma Ravinale, Italian composer and educator (b. 1937)
    • 2013 – Mickey Rose, American screenwriter (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Carl Williams, American boxer (b. 1959)
    • 2014 – George Dureau, American painter and photographer (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – James Alexander Green, American-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – V. K. Murthy, Indian cinematographer (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
    • 2014 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – George Shuffler, American guitarist (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Tim Babcock, American soldier and politician, 16th Governor of Montana (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – José Capellán, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1981)
    • 2015 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (b. 1983)
    • 2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
    • 2016 – Blackjack Mulligan, American professional wrestler (b. 1942)
    • 2019 – Seymour Cassel, American actor (b. 1935)

    Holidays and observances on April 7

    • Christian feast days:
      • Aibert of Crespin
      • Blessed Alexander Rawlins
      • Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
      • Blessed Notker the Stammerer
      • Brynach
      • Hegesippus
      • Henry Walpole
      • Hermann Joseph
      • Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
      • Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
      • April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Flag Day (Slovenia)
    • Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
      • International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
    • Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
    • National Beer Day (United States)
    • Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
    • Women’s Day (Mozambique)
    • World Health Day (International observance)