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  • June 23 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 229 – Sun Quan proclaims himself emperor of Eastern Wu.
    • 1266 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Trapani, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet, capturing all its ships.
    • 1280 – The Spanish Reconquista: In the Battle of Moclín the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.
    • 1305 – A peace treaty between the Flemish and the French is signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
    • 1314 – First War of Scottish Independence: The Battle of Bannockburn (south of Stirling) begins.
    • 1532 – Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France sign the “Treaty of Closer Amity With France” (also known as the Pommeraye treaty), pledging mutual aid against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1565 – Dragut, commander of the Ottoman navy, dies during the Great Siege of Malta.
    • 1594 – The Action of Faial, Azores. The Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas, loaded with slaves and treasure, is attacked and sunk by English ships with only 13 survivors out of over 700 on board.
    • 1611 – The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson’s fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
    • 1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
    • 1713 – The French residents of Acadia are given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada.
    • 1757 – Battle of Plassey: Three thousand British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000-strong Indian army under Siraj ud-Daulah at Plassey.
    • 1758 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Krefeld: British, Hanoverian, and Prussian forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
    • 1760 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Landeshut: Austria defeats Prussia.
    • 1780 – American Revolution: Battle of Springfield fought in and around Springfield, New Jersey (including Short Hills, formerly of Springfield, now of Millburn Township).
    • 1794 – Empress Catherine II of Russia grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
    • 1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
    • 1812 – War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
    • 1860 – The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: At Fort Towson in the Oklahoma Territory, Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army.
    • 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the “Type-Writer”.
    • 1887 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada creating the nation’s first national park, Banff National Park.
    • 1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
    • 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran.
    • 1914 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta.
    • 1917 – In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.
    • 1919 – Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia.
    • 1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
    • 1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.
    • 1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
    • 1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city.
    • 1940 – Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
    • 1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later.
    • 1942 – World War II: Germany’s latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
    • 1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
    • 1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s veto of the Taft–Hartley Act.
    • 1951 – The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched.
    • 1956 – The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa.
    • 1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.
    • 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.
    • 1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.
    • 1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
    • 1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
    • 1969 – IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry.
    • 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
    • 1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.
    • 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
    • 1985 – A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard.
    • 1994 – NASA’s Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center.
    • 2001 – The 8.4 Mw  southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 74 people dead, and 2,687 injured.
    • 2012 – Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials.
    • 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.
    • 2013 – Militants stormed a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan killing ten climbers, and a local guide.
    • 2014 – The last of Syria’s declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction.
    • 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.
    • 2017 – A series of terrorist attacks took place in Pakistan resulting in 96 deaths and wounded 200 others.

    Births on June 23

    • 47 BC – Caesarion, Egyptian king (d. 30 BC)
    • 1385 – Stefan, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken (d. 1459)
    • 1433 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
    • 1456 – Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland (d. 1486)
    • 1489 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy, Italian nobleman (d. 1496)
    • 1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
    • 1596 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (d. 1641)
    • 1616 – Shah Shuja, Mughal prince (d. 1661)
    • 1625 – John Fell, English churchman and influential academic (d. 1686)
    • 1668 – Giambattista Vico, Italian jurist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1744)
    • 1683 – Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and sinologist (d. 1745)
    • 1711 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Italian instrument maker (d. 1786)
    • 1716 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (d. 1789)
    • 1750 – Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist and academic (d. 1801)
    • 1763 – Joséphine de Beauharnais, French wife of Napoleon I (d. 1814)
    • 1799 – John Milton Bernhisel, American physician and politician (d. 1881)
    • 1800 – Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and activist (d. 1846)
    • 1824 – Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1910)
    • 1843 – Paul Heinrich von Groth, German scientist (d. 1927)
    • 1860 – Albert Giraud, Belgian poet and librarian (d. 1929)
    • 1863 – Sándor Bródy, Hungarian author and journalist (d. 1924)
    • 1877 – Norman Pritchard, Indian-English hurdler and actor (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – Huda Sha’arawi, Egyptian feminist and journalist (d. 1947)
    • 1884 – Cyclone Taylor, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1888 – Bronson M. Cutting, American publisher and politician (d. 1935)
    • 1889 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet and author (d. 1966)
    • 1889 – Verena Holmes, English engineer (d. 1964)
    • 1894 – Harold Barrowclough, New Zealand military leader, lawyer and Chief Justice (d. 1972)
    • 1894 – Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
    • 1894 – Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
    • 1899 – Amédée Gordini, Italian-born French race car driver and sports car manufacturer (d. 1979)
    • 1900 – Blanche Noyes, American aviator, winner of the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race (d. 1981)
    • 1901 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (d. 1962)
    • 1903 – Paul Martin Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1904 – Quintin McMillan, South African cricketer (d. 1938)
    • 1905 – Jack Pickersgill, Canadian civil servant and politician, 35th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1997)
    • 1906 – Tribhuvan of Nepal (d. 1955)
    • 1907 – Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian actress and singer (d. 2008)
    • 1907 – James Meade, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
    • 1909 – David Lewis, Russian-Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
    • 1909 – Georges Rouquier, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1910 – Jean Anouilh, French playwright and screenwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader, 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)
    • 1910 – Milt Hinton, American bassist and photographer (d. 2000)
    • 1910 – Bill King, English commander and author (d. 2012)
    • 1910 – Lawson Little, American golfer (d. 1968)
    • 1912 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (d. 1954)
    • 1913 – William P. Rogers, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Frances Gabe, American artist and inventor (d. 2016)
    • 1916 – Len Hutton, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1990)
    • 1916 – Irene Worth, American actress (d. 2002)
    • 1916 – Al G. Wright, American bandleader and conductor
    • 1919 – Mohamed Boudiaf, Algerian politician, President of Algeria (d. 1992)
    • 1920 – Saleh Ajeery, Kuwaiti astronomer
    • 1921 – Paul Findley, American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1922 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1998)
    • 1923 – Peter Corr, Irish-English footballer and manager (d. 2001)
    • 1923 – Elroy Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Doris Johnson, American politician
    • 1923 – Jerry Rullo, American professional basketball player (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian communist and Partisan (d. 1945)
    • 1924 – Frank Bolle, American comic-strip artist, comic-book artist, and illustrator (d. 2020)
    • 1925 – Miriam Karlin, English actress (d. 2011)
    • 1925 – Art Modell, American businessman (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – Anna Chennault, Chinese widow of Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Lawson Soulsby, Baron Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, English microbiologist and parasitologist (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Magda Herzberger, Romanian author, poet and composer, a survivor of the Holocaust
    • 1926 – Annette Mbaye d’Erneville, Senegalese writer
    • 1926 – Arnaldo Pomodoro, Italian sculptor
    • 1927 – Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987)
    • 1927 – John Habgood, Baron Habgood, English archbishop (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Jean Cione, American baseball player (d. 2010)
    • 1928 – Klaus von Dohnányi, German politician
    • 1928 – Michael Shaara, American author and academic (d. 1988)
    • 1929 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 2003)
    • 1929 – Mario Ghella, Italian racing cyclist
    • 1930 – Donn F. Eisele, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1987)
    • 1930 – John Elliott, English historian and academic
    • 1930 – Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall, English businessman and politician
    • 1930 – Anthony Thwaite, English poet, critic, and academic
    • 1930 – Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, former First Lady of Ivory Coast
    • 1931 – Gunnar Uusi, Estonian chess player (d. 1981)
    • 1931 – Ola Ullsten, Swedish politician and diplomat (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Peter Millett, Baron Millett, English lawyer and judge
    • 1934 – Keith Sutton, English bishop (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Bill Torrey, Canadian businessman (d. 2018)
    • 1934 – Virbhadra Singh, Indian politician
    • 1935 – Maurice Ferré, Puerto Rican-American politician, 32nd Mayor of Miami
    • 1935 – Keith Burkinshaw, English footballer and manager
    • 1936 – Richard Bach, American novelist and essayist
    • 1936 – Costas Simitis, Greek economist, lawyer, and politician, 180th Prime Minister of Greece
    • 1937 – Martti Ahtisaari, Finnish captain and politician, 10th President of Finland, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1937 – Alan Haselhurst, English academic and politician
    • 1937 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1939 – Scott Burton, American sculptor (d. 1989)
    • 1940 – Adam Faith, English singer (d. 2003)
    • 1940 – George Feigley, American sex cult leader and two-time prison escapee (d. 2009)
    • 1940 – Derry Irvine, Baron Irvine of Lairg, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
    • 1940 – Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
    • 1940 – Mike Shrimpton, New Zealand cricketer and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish painter and musician (d. 1962)
    • 1940 – Diana Trask, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1941 – Robert Hunter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
    • 1941 – Roger McDonald, Australian author and screenwriter
    • 1941 – Keith Newton, English footballer (d. 1998)
    • 1942 – Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, English cosmologist and astrophysicist
    • 1943 – Patrick Bokanowski, French filmmaker
    • 1943 – Ellyn Kaschak, American psychologist and academic
    • 1943 – James Levine, American pianist and conductor
    • 1945 – Kjell Albin Abrahamson, Swedish journalist and author
    • 1945 – John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, President of Southern Sudan (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Julian Hipwood, English polo player and coach
    • 1946 – Ted Shackelford, American actor
    • 1947 – Bryan Brown, Australian actor and producer
    • 1948 – Clarence Thomas, American lawyer and judge, United States Supreme Court Justice
    • 1949 – Gordon Bray, Australian journalist and sportscaster
    • 1949 – Sheila Noakes, Baroness Noakes, English accountant and politician
    • 1951 – Angelo Falcón, Puerto Rican-American political scientist, activist, and academic, founded the National Institute for Latino Policy
    • 1951 – Michèle Mouton, French race car driver and manager
    • 1951 – Raj Babbar, Indian actor and politician
    • 1953 – Armen Sarkissian, Armenian physicist, politician and current President of Armenia
    • 1955 – Pierre Corbeil, Canadian dentist and politician
    • 1955 – Glenn Danzig, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1955 – Jean Tigana, French footballer and manager
    • 1956 – Daniel J. Drucker, Canadian academic and educator
    • 1956 – Tony Hill, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Randy Jackson, American bass player and producer
    • 1957 – Dave Houghton, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
    • 1957 – Frances McDormand, American actress, winner of the Triple Crown of Acting
    • 1958 – John Hayes, English politician, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change
    • 1960 – Donald Harrison, American saxophonist, composer, and producer
    • 1960 – Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese composer and programmer
    • 1961 – Richard Arnold, English lawyer and judge
    • 1961 – Zoran Janjetov, Serbian singer and illustrator
    • 1961 – LaSalle Thompson, American basketball player, coach, and manager
    • 1962 – Chuck Billy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1963 – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
    • 1964 – Nicolas Marceau, Canadian economist and politician
    • 1964 – Tara Morice, Australian actress and singer
    • 1964 – Joss Whedon, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Lou Yun, Chinese gymnast
    • 1965 – Paul Arthurs, English guitarist
    • 1965 – Sylvia Mathews Burwell, American government and non-profit executive
    • 1965 – Peter O’Malley, Australian golfer
    • 1966 – Chico DeBarge, American singer and pianist
    • 1969 – Martin Klebba, American actor, producer, and stuntman
    • 1970 – Robert Brooks, American football player
    • 1970 – Martin Deschamps, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1970 – Yann Tiersen, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – Fred Ewanuick, Canadian actor and producer
    • 1971 – Félix Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1972 – Selma Blair, American actress
    • 1972 – Louis Van Amstel, Dutch dancer and choreographer
    • 1972 – Zinedine Zidane, French footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Joel Edgerton, Australian actor
    • 1974 – Mark Hendrickson, American basketball and baseball player
    • 1975 – Kevin Dyson, American football player and coach
    • 1975 – David Howell, English golfer
    • 1975 – Mike James, American basketball player
    • 1975 – KT Tunstall, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1976 – Wade Barrett, American soccer player and manager
    • 1976 – Joe Becker, American guitarist and composer
    • 1976 – Savvas Poursaitidis, Greek-Cypriot footballer and scout
    • 1976 – Brandon Stokley, American football player
    • 1976 – Paola Suárez, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1976 – Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress and singer
    • 1976 – Patrick Vieira, French footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer
    • 1977 – Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer and manager
    • 1977 – Jaan Jüris, Estonian ski jumper
    • 1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Shaun O’Hara, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Memphis Bleek, American rapper, producer, and actor
    • 1978 – Frederic Leclercq, French heavy metal musician
    • 1978 – Matt Light, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1979 – LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player
    • 1980 – Becky Cloonan, American author and illustrator
    • 1980 – Melissa Rauch, American actress
    • 1980 – Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
    • 1980 – Francesca Schiavone, Italian tennis player
    • 1981 – Antony Costa, English singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Rolf Wacha, German rugby player
    • 1982 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2011)
    • 1983 – Brooks Laich, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – José Manuel Rojas, Chilean footballer
    • 1984 – Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1984 – Takeshi Matsuda, Japanese swimmer
    • 1984 – Levern Spencer, Saint Lucian high jumper
    • 1985 – Marcel Reece, American football player
    • 1986 – Christy Altomare, American actress and singer songwriter
    • 1987 – Alessia Filippi, Italian swimmer
    • 1988 – Chet Faker, Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast
    • 1989 – Lisa Carrington, New Zealand flatwater canoeist
    • 1989 – Jordan Nolan, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Clevid Dikamona, French footballer
    • 1990 – Vasek Pospisil, Canadian tennis player
    • 1990 – Laura Ràfols, Spanish footballer
    • 1991 – Katie Armiger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1992 – Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistani gymnast
    • 1992 – Nampalys Mendy, French footballer
    • 1993 – Tim Anderson, American baseball player
    • 1993 – Marvin Grumann, German footballer
    • 2004 – Alexandra Trusova, Russian figure skater

    Deaths on June 23

    • AD 79 – Vespasian, Roman emperor (b. AD 9)
    • 679 – Æthelthryth, English saint (b. 636)
    • 947 – Li Congyi, prince of Later Tang (b. 931)
    • 947 – Wang, imperial consort of Later Tang
    • 960 – Feng Yanji, chancellor of Southern Tang (b. 903)
    • 994 – Lothair Udo I, count of Stade (b. 950)
    • 1018 – Henry I, margrave of Austria
    • 1137 – Adalbert of Mainz, German archbishop
    • 1222 – Constance of Aragon, Hungarian queen (b. 1179)
    • 1290 – Henryk IV Probus, duke of Wrocław and high duke of Kraków (b. c. 1258)
    • 1314 – Henry de Bohun, English knight
    • 1324 – Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (b. 1270)
    • 1343 – Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, Italian cardinal (b. c. 1270)
    • 1356 – Margaret II, Holy Roman Empress (b. 1311)
    • 1537 – Pedro de Mendoza, Spanish conquistador (b. 1487)
    • 1565 – Dragut, Ottoman admiral (b. 1485)
    • 1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese commander (b. 1537)
    • 1615 – Mashita Nagamori, Japanese daimyō (b. 1545)
    • 1677 – William Louis, duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
    • 1686 – William Coventry, English politician (b. 1628)
    • 1707 – John Mill, English theologian and author (b. 1645)
    • 1733 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss paleontologist and scholar (b. 1672)
    • 1770 – Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
    • 1775 – Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and author (b. 1692)
    • 1779 – Mikael Sehul, Ethiopian warlord (b. 1691)
    • 1806 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (b. 1723)
    • 1811 – Nicolau Tolentino de Almeida, Portuguese poet and author (b. 1740)
    • 1832 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (b. 1761)
    • 1836 – James Mill, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1773)
    • 1848 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este, Electress of Bavaria (b. 1776)
    • 1856 – Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1806)
    • 1881 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist and academic (b. 1804)
    • 1891 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist and academic (b. 1804)
    • 1891 – Samuel Newitt Wood, American lawyer and politician (b. 1825)
    • 1893 – William Fox, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1812)
    • 1893 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (b. 1817)
    • 1914 – Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Indian guru and philosopher (b. 1838)
    • 1945 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian journalist and activist (b. 1923)
    • 1953 – Albert Gleizes, French painter (b. 1881)
    • 1954 – Salih Omurtak, Turkish general (b. 1889)
    • 1956 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and educator (b. 1875)
    • 1959 – Boris Vian, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1920)
    • 1959 – Hidir Lutfi, Iraqi poet. (b. 1880)
    • 1969 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish runner (b. 1907)
    • 1970 – Roscoe Turner, American soldier and pilot (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (b. 1944)
    • 1980 – Sanjay Gandhi, Indian engineer and politician (b. 1946)
    • 1980 – Clyfford Still, American painter and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1989 – Werner Best, German police officer and jurist (b. 1903)
    • 1990 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor, and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1992 – Eric Andolsek, American football player (b. 1966)
    • 1995 – Roger Grimsby, American journalist (b. 1928)
    • 1995 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
    • 1996 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, 174th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
    • 1996 – Ray Lindwall, Australian cricketer and rugby player (b. 1921)
    • 1997 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (b. 1936)
    • 1998 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish-American actress (b. 1911)
    • 2000 – Peter Dubovský, Slovak footballer (b. 1972)
    • 2002 – Pedro Alcázar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
    • 2005 – Shana Alexander, American journalist and author (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet and critic (b. 1925)
    • 2006 – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Spelling Television (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (b. 1968)
    • 2008 – Claudio Capone, Italian-Scottish actor (b. 1952)
    • 2008 – Arthur Chung, Guyanese surveyor and politician, 1st President of Guyana (b. 1918)
    • 2008 – Marian Glinka, Polish actor and bodybuilder (b. 1943)
    • 2009 – Raymond Berthiaume, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1931)
    • 2009 – Ed McMahon, American game show host and announcer (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Jerri Nielsen, American physician and explorer (b. 1952)
    • 2010 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat (b. 1915)
    • 2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (b. 1927)
    • 2011 – Dennis Marshall, Costa Rican footballer (b. 1985)
    • 2011 – Fred Steiner, American composer and conductor (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – James Durbin, English economist and statistician (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Brigitte Engerer, French pianist and educator (b. 1952)
    • 2012 – Alan McDonald, Northern Ireland footballer and manager (b. 1963)
    • 2012 – Frank Chee Willeto, American soldier and politician, 4th Vice President of the Navajo Nation (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Walter J. Zable, American football player and businessman, founded the Cubic Corporation (b. 1915)
    • 2013 – Bobby Bland, American singer-songwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2013 – Frank Kelso, American admiral and politician, United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Kurt Leichtweiss, German mathematician and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Darryl Read, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (b. 1951)
    • 2013 – Sharon Stouder, American swimmer (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Nancy Garden, American author (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Euros Lewis, Welsh cricketer (b. 1942)
    • 2014 – Paula Kent Meehan, American businesswoman, co-founded Redken (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Miguel Facussé Barjum, Honduran businessman (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Nirmala Joshi, Indian nun, lawyer, and social worker (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Ralph Stanley, American singer and banjo player (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on June 23

    • Christian feast day:
      • Æthelthryth
      • Marie of Oignies
      • Joseph Cafasso
      • June 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Feast of Raḥmat can fall, while June 24 is the latest. (Bahá’í Faith)
    • Father’s Day (Nicaragua, Poland)
    • Grand Duke’s Official Birthday (Luxembourg)
    • International Widows Day (international)
    • National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism (Canada)
    • Okinawa Memorial Day (Okinawa Prefecture)
    • St John’s Eve and the first day of the Midsummer celebrations [although this is not the real summer solstice; see June 20] (Roman Catholic Church, Europe):
      • Bonfires of Saint John (Spain)
      • First night of Festa de São João do Porto (Porto)
      • First day of Golowan Festival (Cornwall)
      • Jaaniõhtu (Estonia)
      • Jāņi (Latvia)
      • Kupala Night (Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine)
      • Last day of Drăgaica fair (Buzău, Romania)
    • United Nations Public Service Day (International)
    • Victory Day (Estonia)

  • March 20- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    Typically the March equinox falls on March 20, marking the vernal point in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal point in the Southern Hemisphere.

    • 235 – Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed emperor.
    • 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
    • 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
    • 1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599).
    • 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
    • 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
    • 1760 – The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.
    • 1815 – After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
    • 1848 – German revolutions of 1848–49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
    • 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published.
    • 1854 – The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.
    • 1861 – An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
    • 1883 – The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.
    • 1888 – The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
    • 1890 – Prime Minister of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II.
    • 1896 – With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China.
    • 1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
    • 1915 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
    • 1921 – The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland.
    • 1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
    • 1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso’s first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.
    • 1933 – Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appointed Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.
    • 1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: “I came out of Bataan and I shall return”.
    • 1948 – With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.
    • 1951 – Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
    • 1952 – The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan.
    • 1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
    • 1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
    • 1972 – The Troubles: The first Provisional IRA car bombing in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.
    • 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
    • 1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
    • 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
    • 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
    • 1990 – Ferdinand Marcos’s widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
    • 1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.
    • 1995 – The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and wounding over 6,200 people.
    • 1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.
    • 2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff’s deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English.
    • 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.
    • 2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
    • 2012 – At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.
    • 2014 – Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
    • 2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.

    Births on March 20

    • 43 BC – Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
    • 1253 – Magadu, renamed Wareru, founder of Ramanya Kingdom, renamed Hanthawady Kingdom of Pegu (b. a commoner; d. on a Saturday in January 1307)
    • 1319 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (d. 1348)
    • 1469 – Cecily of York (d. 1507)
    • 1477 – Jerome Emser, German theologian and scholar (d. 1527)
    • 1479 – Ippolito d’Este, Italian cardinal (d. 1520)
    • 1502 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
    • 1532 – Juan de Ribera, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1611)
    • 1612 – Anne Bradstreet, Puritan American poet (d. 1672)
    • 1615 – Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (d. 1659)
    • 1639 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1709)
    • 1725 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1789)
    • 1737 – Rama I, Thai king (d. 1809)
    • 1771 – Heinrich Clauren, German author (d. 1854)
    • 1796 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (d. 1862)
    • 1799 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet and author (d. 1839)
    • 1800 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, President of Costa Rica (d. 1845)
    • 1805 – Thomas Cooper, British poet (d. 1892)
    • 1811 – Napoleon II, French emperor (d. 1832)
    • 1811 – George Caleb Bingham, American painter and politician, State Treasurer of Missouri (d. 1879)
    • 1821 – Ned Buntline, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 1886)
    • 1824 – Theodor von Heuglin, German explorer and ornithologist (d. 1876)
    • 1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (d. 1906)
    • 1831 – Patrick Jennings, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1897)
    • 1831 – Solomon L. Spink, American lawyer and politician (d. 1881)
    • 1834 – Charles William Eliot, American mathematician and academic (d. 1926)
    • 1836 – Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1886)
    • 1836 – Edward Poynter, English painter, illustrator, and curator (d. 1919)
    • 1840 – Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
    • 1851 – Ismail Gasprinski, Ukrainian educator, publisher, and politician (d. 1914)
    • 1856 – John Lavery, Irish painter (d. 1941)
    • 1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American tennis player and engineer (d. 1915)
    • 1870 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
    • 1874 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet and activist (d. 1945)
    • 1876 – Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1927)
    • 1879 – Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (d. 1960)
    • 1882 – René Coty, French lawyer and politician, 17th President of France (d. 1962)
    • 1882 – Harold Weber, American golfer (d. 1933)
    • 1884 – Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – John Jensen, Australian public servant (d. 1970)
    • 1885 – Vernon Ransford, Australian cricketer (d. 1958)
    • 1888 – Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor and actor (d. 1973)
    • 1894 – Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (d. 1974)
    • 1895 – Fredric Wertham, German-American psychologist and author (d. 1981)
    • 1898 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (d. 1954)
    • 1900 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia’s first female physician (d. 1942)
    • 1903 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
    • 1904 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Jean Galia, French rugby player and boxer (d. 1949)
    • 1906 – Abraham Beame, American accountant and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (d. 2001)
    • 1906 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (d. 1975)
    • 1907 – Hugh MacLennan, Canadian author and educator (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Michael Redgrave, English actor and director (d. 1985)
    • 1910 – Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (d. 1999)
    • 1911 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican lawyer and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
    • 1912 – Ralph Hauenstein, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
    • 1913 – Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (d. 1968)
    • 1914 – Wendell Corey, American actor and politician (d. 1968)
    • 1915 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (d. 2000)
    • 1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1973)
    • 1916 – Pierre Messmer, French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
    • 1917 – Vera Lynn, English singer, songwriter and actress (d. 2020)
    • 1917 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1984)
    • 1918 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (d. 1984)
    • 1918 – Donald Featherstone, English soldier and author (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Bernd Alois Zimmermann, German composer (d. 1970)
    • 1919 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter ace (d. 1983)
    • 1920 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (d. 1997)
    • 1920 – Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
    • 1921 – Usmar Ismail, Indonesian filmmaker (d. 1971)
    • 1921 – Dušan Pirjevec, Slovenian historian and philosopher (d. 1977)
    • 1921 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (d. 1970)
    • 1922 – Larry Elgart, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Ray Goulding, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1922 – Carl Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
    • 1923 – Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1923 – Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (d. 1999)
    • 1927 – John Joubert, South African-English composer and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Jerome Biffle, American long jumper and coach (d. 2002)
    • 1928 – James P. Gordon, American physicist and engineer (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Fred Rogers, American television host and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1929 – William Andrew MacKay, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Germán Robles, Spanish-Mexican actor and director (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1931 – Hal Linden, American actor, singer, and director
    • 1931 – Rein Raamat, Estonian director and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Lateef Adegbite, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – George Altman, American baseball player
    • 1933 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco
    • 1934 – David Malouf, Australian author and playwright
    • 1935 – Ted Bessell, American actor and director (d. 1996)
    • 1935 – Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (d. 1995)
    • 1936 – Lee “Scratch” Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor
    • 1936 – Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
    • 1937 – Lois Lowry, American author
    • 1937 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)
    • 1938 – Sergei Novikov, Russian mathematician and academic
    • 1939 – Gerald Curran, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Don Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1939 – Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1939 – Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada
    • 1940 – Stathis Chaitas, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1940 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (d. 2015)
    • 1940 – Giampiero Moretti, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded the Momo company (d. 2012)
    • 1941 – Pat Corrales, American baseball player and manager
    • 1941 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese runner
    • 1943 – Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer
    • 1943 – Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (d. 2015)
    • 1943 – Paul Junger Witt, American director and producer (d. 2018)
    • 1944 – John Cameron, English composer and conductor
    • 1944 – Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist
    • 1944 – Alan Harper, English-Irish archbishop
    • 1945 – Henry Bartholomay, American soldier and pilot (d. 2015)
    • 1945 – Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author
    • 1945 – Pat Riley, American basketball player and coach
    • 1945 – Tim Yeo, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health
    • 1946 – Douglas B. Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – John Boswell, American historian, philologist, and academic (d. 1994)
    • 1948 – John de Lancie, American actor
    • 1948 – Bobby Orr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1948 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1949 – Marcia Ball, American blues singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1949 – Richard Dowden, English journalist and educator
    • 1950 – William Hurt, American actor
    • 1950 – Carl Palmer, English drummer, percussionist, and songwriter
    • 1951 – Jimmie Vaughan, American blues-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1952 – Geoff Brabham, Australian race car driver
    • 1952 – David Greenaway, English economist and academic
    • 1953 – Phil Judd, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter
    • 1954 – Mike Francesa, American radio talk show host and television commentator
    • 1954 – Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician
    • 1954 – Paul Mirabella, American baseball player
    • 1955 – Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author
    • 1955 – Ian Moss, Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter
    • 1955 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1956 – Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission
    • 1956 – Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician
    • 1956 – Naoto Takenaka, Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director
    • 1957 – Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress
    • 1957 – David Foster, Australian woodchopper
    • 1957 – Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Theresa Russell, American actress
    • 1957 – Chris Wedge, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
    • 1958 – Holly Hunter, American actress and producer
    • 1958 – Rickey Jackson, American football player
    • 1958 – Joe Reaiche, Australian rugby player
    • 1959 – Dave Beasant, English footballer and coach
    • 1959 – Mary Roach, American author
    • 1959 – Sting, American wrestler
    • 1959 – Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, British Labour Party politician and peer
    • 1960 – Norm Magnusson, American painter and sculptor
    • 1960 – Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist and academic
    • 1960 – Yuri Shargin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
    • 1961 – Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician
    • 1961 – Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist
    • 1962 – Stephen Sommers, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
    • 1963 – Kathy Ireland, American model, actress, and furniture designer
    • 1963 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (d. 2007)
    • 1963 – David Thewlis, English-French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author
    • 1967 – Xavier Beauvois, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Mookie Blaylock, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Carlos Almeida, Cape Verdean runner
    • 1968 – A. J. Jacobs, American journalist and author
    • 1968 – Paul Merson, English footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter
    • 1969 – Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
    • 1969 – Fabien Galthie, French rugby player
    • 1970 – Edoardo Ballerini, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player
    • 1970 – sj Miller, American academic, public speaker, and social justice activist
    • 1970 – Michael Rapaport, American actor, podcast host, and director
    • 1971 – Manny Alexander, Dominican baseball player
    • 1971 – Touré, American journalist and author
    • 1972 – Chilly Gonzales, Canadian-German singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
    • 1972 – Alex Kapranos, English-Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1972 – Greg Searle, English rower
    • 1972 – Marco Sejna, German footballer
    • 1972 – Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier
    • 1973 – Nicky Boje, South African cricketer
    • 1973 – Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner
    • 1973 – Talal Khalifa Aljeri, Kuwaiti businessman
    • 1974 – Carsten Ramelow, German footballer
    • 1975 – Ramin Bahrani, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1975 – Isolde Kostner, Italian skier
    • 1976 – Chester Bennington, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2017)
    • 1978 – Kevin Betsy, English born Seychelles international footballer, midfielder and manager
    • 1978 – Brent Sherwin, Australian rugby league player
    • 1979 – Shinnosuke Abe, Japanese baseball player
    • 1979 – Freema Agyeman, English actress
    • 1979 – Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1980 – Jamal Crawford, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Robertas Javtokas, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1981 – Ian Murray, Scottish footballer
    • 1981 – Carl Webb, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1982 – Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer
    • 1982 – José Moreira, Portuguese footballer
    • 1983 – Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist
    • 1983 – Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer
    • 1984 – Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer
    • 1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress and singer
    • 1984 – Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer
    • 1985 – Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer
    • 1985 – Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player
    • 1985 – Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer
    • 1986 – Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1986 – Julián Magallanes, Argentinian footballer
    • 1986 – Ruby Rose, Australian actress and model
    • 1986 – Román Torres, Panamanian footballer
    • 1987 – Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1987 – Jô, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor and director
    • 1989 – Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi Cricketer
    • 1990 – Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
    • 1990 – Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer
    • 1991 – Mattia Destro, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer
    • 1991 – Ethan Lowe, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Sloane Stephens, American tennis player
    • 1995 – Jack Bird, Australian rugby league player

    Deaths on March 20

    • 687 – Cuthbert, Northumbrian (English) monk, bishop, and saint (b. 634)
    • 703 – Wulfram, archbishop of Sens
    • 842 – Alfonso II, king of Asturias (Spain) (b. 759)
    • 851 – Ebbo, archbishop of Reims
    • 1181 – Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese general (b. 1118)
    • 1191 – Pope Clement III (b. 1130)
    • 1239 – Hermann von Salza, German knight and diplomat (b. 1179)
    • 1302 – Ralph Walpole, Bishop of Norwich
    • 1336 – Maurice Csák, Hungarian Dominican friar (b. 1270)
    • 1351 – Muhammad bin Tughluq, Sultan of Delhi
    • 1390 – Alexios III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1338)
    • 1413 – Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
    • 1440 – Sigismund I of Lithuania
    • 1475 – Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet
    • 1549 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English general and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1508)
    • 1568 – Albert, Duke of Prussia (b. 1490)
    • 1619 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1557)
    • 1673 – Augustyn Kordecki, Polish monk (b. 1603)
    • 1688 – Maria of Orange-Nassau, Dutch princess (b. 1642)
    • 1730 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
    • 1746 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter and academic (b. 1656)
    • 1780 – Benjamin Truman, English brewer and businessman (b. 1699)
    • 1793 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1705)
    • 1835 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
    • 1849 – James Justinian Morier, Turkish-English author and diplomat (b. 1780)
    • 1855 – Joseph Aspdin, English businessman (b. 1788)
    • 1865 – Yamanami Keisuke, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
    • 1874 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (b. 1810)
    • 1878 – Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (b. 1814)
    • 1894 – Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian lawyer, journalist and politician (b. 1802)
    • 1897 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1821)
    • 1899 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and author (b. 1822)
    • 1909 – Friedrich Amelung, Estonian historian and businessman (b. 1842)
    • 1918 – Lewis A. Grant, American general and lawyer (b. 1828)
    • 1925 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (b. 1859)
    • 1929 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (b. 1851)
    • 1930 – Arthur F. Andrews, American cyclist (b. 1876)
    • 1931 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
    • 1933 – Giuseppe Zangara, Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak (b. 1900; executed)
    • 1940 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
    • 1945 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (b. 1883)
    • 1946 – Amadeus William Grabau, American-Chinese geologist, paleontologist, and academic (b. 1870)
    • 1947 – Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and director (b. 1884)
    • 1952 – Hjalmar Väre, Finnish cyclist (b. 1892)
    • 1958 – Adegoke Adelabu, Nigerian merchant, journalist, and politician (b. 1915)
    • 1964 – Brendan Behan, Irish republican and playwright (b. 1923)
    • 1965 – Daniel Frank, American long jumper (b. 1882)
    • 1966 – Johnny Morrison, American baseball player (b. 1895)
    • 1968 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Henri Longchambon, French politician (b. 1896)
    • 1971 – Falih Rıfkı Atay, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1894)
    • 1972 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (b. 1921)
    • 1974 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (b. 1911)
    • 1977 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1909)
    • 1977 – Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (b. 1919)
    • 1978 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (b. 1895)
    • 1981 – Gerry Bertier, American football player (b. 1953)
    • 1983 – Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
    • 1990 – Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1907)
    • 1990 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)
    • 1992 – Georges Delerue, French composer (b. 1925)
    • 1993 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
    • 1994 – Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (b. 1946)
    • 1997 – V. S. Pritchett, English short story writer, essayist, and critic (b. 1900)
    • 1999 – Patrick Heron, British painter (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Gene Eugene, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1961)
    • 2001 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (b. 1949)
    • 2004 – Juliana of the Netherlands (b. 1909)
    • 2004 – Pierre Sévigny, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
    • 2007 – Raynald Fréchette, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi politician, Vice President of Iraq (b. 1938)
    • 2007 – Hawa Yakubu, Ghanaian politician (b. 1948)
    • 2010 – Ai, American poet and academic (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Girija Prasad Koirala, Indian-Nepalese politician, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924)
    • 2010 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1920)
    • 2011 – Johnny Pearson, English pianist, conductor, and composer (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (b. 1955)
    • 2012 – Noboru Ishiguro, Japanese animator and director (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1910)
    • 2012 – Jim Stynes, Irish-Australian footballer (b. 1966)
    • 2013 – James Herbert, English author (b. 1943)
    • 2013 – George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Zillur Rahman, Bangladeshi lawyer and politician, 19th President of Bangladesh (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Hilderaldo Bellini, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Tonie Nathan, American politician (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 2015 – Eva Burrows, Australian 13th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1929)
    • 2015 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1930)
    • 2016 – Anker Jørgensen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1922)
    • 2017 – David Rockefeller, American billionaire and philanthropist (b. 1915)
    • 2018 – C. K. Mann, a Ghanaian Highlife musician and producer (b. 1936)
    • 2019 – Mary Warnock, English philosopher & writer (b. 1924)
    • 2020 – Kenny Rogers, American singer (b. 1938)

    Holidays and observances on March 20

    • Christian feast day:
      • Alexandra
      • Blessed John of Parma
      • Clement of Ireland
      • Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
      • Herbert of Derwentwater
      • John of Nepomuk
      • Józef Bilczewski
      • María Josefa Sancho de Guerra
      • Martin of Braga
      • Michele Carcano
      • Wulfram
      • March 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest date for the vernal equinox in the Northern hemisphere:
      • Bahá’í Naw-Rúz, started at sunset on March 20. The end of the 19-day sunrise-to-sunset fast. (Bahá’í Faith)
      • Chunfen (China)
      • Earth Equinox Day
      • International Astrology Day
      • New Year (Thelema)
      • Nowruz (Persian, Gilaki, Kurdish, Zoroastrians, and other Iranian people and countries with an Iranian influence)
      • Ostara in the northern hemisphere, Mabon in the southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
      • Shunbun no Hi (Japan)
      • Sun-Earth Day (United States)
      • Vernal Equinox Day/Kōreisai (Japan)
      • World Storytelling Day
    • Earliest day on which Good Friday can fall, while April 23 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Easter. (Christianity)
    • Great American Meatout (United States)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956.
    • International Day of Happiness (United Nations)
    • International Francophonie Day (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), and its related observances:
      • UN French Language Day (United Nations)
    • National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
    • World Sparrow Day

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

    • 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.
    • 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
    • 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.
    • 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
    • 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.
    • 1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
    • 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers.
    • 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Mw Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
    • 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
    • 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day.
    • 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales.
    • 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
    • 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.
    • 1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.
    • 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.
    • 1856 – First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
    • 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia rejoins the Union.
    • 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.
    • 1905 – The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
    • 1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.
    • 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
    • 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.
    • 1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
    • 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird.
    • 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.
    • 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
    • 1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
    • 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
    • 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.
    • 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.
    • 1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
    • 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.
    • 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
    • 1956 – the Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.
    • 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be the first woman Physician to the President.
    • 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
    • 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
    • 1972 – JAT Fight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries.
    • 1980 – Egypt–Israel relations are formally established.
    • 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
    • 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
    • 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
    • 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
    • 2001 – The 7.7 Mw Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.
    • 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.
    • 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
    • 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board including former five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.

    Births on January 26

    • 183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (d. 221)
    • 1436 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Lancastrian military commander (d. 1464)
    • 1467 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540)
    • 1495 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
    • 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (d. 1596)
    • 1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (d. 1614)
    • 1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (d. 1647)
    • 1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679)
    • 1624 – George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1705)
    • 1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)
    • 1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777)
    • 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (d. 1785)
    • 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
    • 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1785)
    • 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805)
    • 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844)
    • 1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (d. 1831)
    • 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet (d. 1876)
    • 1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (d. 1888)
    • 1832 – George Shiras, Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1924)
    • 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (d. 1908)
    • 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (d. 1905)
    • 1857 – 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
    • 1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (d. 1932)
    • 1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (d. 1934)
    • 1866 – John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933)
    • 1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968)
    • 1878 – Dave Nourse, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 1948)
    • 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
    • 1885 – Michael Considine, Irish-Australian politician (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (d. 1974)
    • 1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (d. 1962)
    • 1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915)
    • 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (d. 1947)
    • 1887 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (d. 1968)
    • 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973)
    • 1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942)
    • 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (d. 1976)
    • 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926)
    • 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (d. 1974)
    • 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
    • 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940)
    • 1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (d. 2004)
    • 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (d. 2007)
    • 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – Henry Cotton, English golfer (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (d. 2001)
    • 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (d. 2009)
    • 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (d. 1997)
    • 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
    • 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (d. 2002)
    • 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006)
    • 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
    • 1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator, 1st President of Romania (d. 1989)
    • 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
    • 1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2020)
    • 1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (d. 2009)
    • 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (d. 2005)
    • 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1999)
    • 1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (d. 1993)
    • 1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
    • 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman’s Own (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (d. 1985)
    • 1927 – Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator
    • 1934 – Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Huey “Piano” Smith, American pianist and songwriter
    • 1934 – Bob Uecker, American baseball player, sportscaster and actor
    • 1935 – Corrado Augias, Italian journalist and politician
    • 1935 – Henry Jordan, American football player (d. 1977)
    • 1935 – Paula Rego, Portuguese-born British visual artist
    • 1936 – Sal Buscema, American illustrator
    • 1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leonean soldier and politician, 2nd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2003)
    • 1937 – Francisco Gonzales, former 1960 Summer Olympics yachting team member and murderer
    • 1938 – Henry Jaglom, English-American director and screenwriter
    • 1940 – Séamus Hegarty, Irish bishop
    • 1940 – Frank Large, English footballer, centre forward and cricketer (d. 2003)
    • 1943 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Jack Warner, Trinidadian businessman and politician
    • 1944 – Angela Davis, American activist, academic, and author
    • 1944 – Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and criminal
    • 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
    • 1945 – David Purley, English race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1946 – Christopher Hampton, Portuguese-English director, screenwriter, and playwright
    • 1946 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and film critic (d. 1999)
    • 1946 – Susan Friedlander, American mathematician
    • 1947 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor and composer (d. 1982)
    • 1947 – Les Ebdon, English chemist and academic
    • 1947 – Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer, and production manager
    • 1947 – Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1948 – Alda Facio, Costa Rican jurist, writer and teacher
    • 1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
    • 1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
    • 1950 – Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (d. 2008)
    • 1951 – David Briggs, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1951 – Andy Hummel, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2010)
    • 1951 – Anne Mills, English economist and academic
    • 1953 – Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician, 7th Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia
    • 1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician and diplomat, 39th Prime Minister of Denmark
    • 1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer
    • 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1957 – Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (d. 2003)
    • 1958 – Anita Baker, American singer-songwriter
    • 1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
    • 1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – Tom Keifer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian painter, sculptor, and photographer
    • 1962 – Tim May, Australian cricketer
    • 1962 – Oscar Ruggeri, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Simon O’Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Tony Parks, English footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1964 – Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman
    • 1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician
    • 1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach
    • 1966 – Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman
    • 1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database
    • 1968 – Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1969 – George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach
    • 1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1973 – Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast
    • 1973 – Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator
    • 1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach
    • 1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1981 – José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer
    • 1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor
    • 1981 – Juan José Haedo, Argentinian cyclist
    • 1981 – Colin O’Donoghue, Irish actor
    • 1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player
    • 1983 – Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer
    • 1983 – Eric Werner, American ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player
    • 1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
    • 1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
    • 1985 – Heather Stanning, English rower
    • 1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, director and designer.
    • 1986 – Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer
    • 1987 – Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper
    • 1989 – MarShon Brooks, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater
    • 1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver
    • 1990 – Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist
    • 1990 – Nina Zander, German tennis player
    • 1991 – Tom Meechan, English footballer
    • 1992 – Sasha Banks, American professional wrestler
    • 1993 – Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer
    • 1993 – Florian Thauvin, French footballer
    • 1995 – Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1997 – Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player
    • 2001 – Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast

    Deaths on January 26

    • 724 – Yazid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 687)
    • 738 – John of Dailam, Syrian monk and saint (b. 660)
    • 910 – Luo Yin, Chinese statesman and poet
    • 946 – Eadgyth, Queen consort of Germany (b.c 910)
    • 1186 – Ismat ad-Din Khatun, wife of Saladin
    • 1390 – Adolph IX, Count of Holstein-Kiel (b.c 1327)
    • 1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English courtier and diplomat (b. 1497)
    • 1568 – Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1540)
    • 1620 – Amar Singh I, ruler of Mewar (b. 1559)
    • 1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1556)
    • 1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
    • 1641 – Lawrence Hyde, English lawyer (b. 1562)
    • 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and theorist (b. 1640)
    • 1744 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
    • 1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1686)
    • 1779 – Thomas Hudson, English painter (b. 1701)
    • 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German harpsichord player and composer (b. 1732)
    • 1799 – Gabriel Christie, Scottish general (b. 1722)
    • 1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician and immunologist (b. 1749)
    • 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791)
    • 1831 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian soldier (b. 1798)
    • 1831 – Anton Delvig, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1798)
    • 1849 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (b. 1803)
    • 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (b. 1808)
    • 1860 – Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, opera singer (b. 1804)
    • 1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English soldier; Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1846)
    • 1870 – Victor de Broglie, French politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (b. 1785)
    • 1885 – Edward Davy, English-Australian physician and engineer (b. 1806)
    • 1885 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (b. 1833)
    • 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American general and politician (b. 1807)
    • 1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, One of the first female Indian physicians (b. 1865)
    • 1891 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine (b. 1833)
    • 1893 – Abner Doubleday, American general (b. 1819)
    • 1895 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (b. 1825)
    • 1904 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman (b. 1846)
    • 1926 – John Flannagan, American priest and academic (b. 1860)
    • 1932 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded the Wrigley Company (b. 1861)
    • 1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1868)
    • 1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American sociologist and eugenicist (b. 1880)
    • 1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (b. 1887)
    • 1946 – Oskar Kallas, Estonian linguist and diplomat (b. 1868)
    • 1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (b. 1884)
    • 1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898)
    • 1948 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1882)
    • 1948 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1876)
    • 1948 – John Lomax, American musicologist and academic (b. 1867)
    • 1952 – Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Mongolian general and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1895)
    • 1953 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
    • 1957 – Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)
    • 1962 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
    • 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American publisher (b. 1883)
    • 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-American actor (b. 1893)
    • 1975 – Donald Sheldon, American bush pilot (b. 1921)
    • 1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese bullfighter (b. 1901)
    • 1977 – Filopimin Finos, Greek production manager and producer, founded Finos Film (b. 1908)
    • 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
    • 1980 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (b. 1922)
    • 1983 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
    • 1985 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914)
    • 1990 – Bob Gerard, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1914)
    • 1990 – Lewis Mumford, American sociologist and historian (b. 1895)
    • 1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor (b. 1912)
    • 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905)
    • 1993 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (b. 1912)
    • 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (b. 1922)
    • 1996 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Harold Brodkey, American author and academic (b. 1930)
    • 1996 – Frank Howard, American football player and coach (b. 1909)
    • 1996 – Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (b. 1932)
    • 1997 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (b. 1904)
    • 2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player and coach (b. 1915)
    • 2000 – Kathleen Hale, English author and illustrator (b. 1898)
    • 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (b. 1942)
    • 2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Scottish banker and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1931)
    • 2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani politician (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
    • 2008 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and designer (b. 1906)
    • 2010 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist and essayist (b. 1917)
    • 2011 – David Kato Kisule, Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda’s gay rights movement (b. 1964)
    • 2011 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Roberto Mieres, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Christine M. Jones, American educator and politician (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Stefan Kudelski, Polish-Swiss engineer, invented the Nagra (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Padma Kant Shukla, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, Japanese author (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Paula Gruden, Slovenian-Australian poet and translator (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Ralph T. Troy, American banker and politician (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau, American art director and cartoonist (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 14th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
    • 2016 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (b. 1921)
    • 2017 – Mike Connors, American actor (b. 1925)
    • 2017 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (b. 1932)
    • 2017 – Lindy Delapenha, Jamaican footballer and sports journalist (b. 1927)
    • 2017 – Barbara Hale, American actress (b. 1922)
    • 2020 – John Altobelli, American college baseball coach (b. 1963)
    • 2020 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (b. 1978)

    Holidays and observances on January 26

    • Christian feast day:
      • Alberic
      • Founders of Cîteaux (Alberic of Cîteaux, Robert of Molesme, Stephen Harding)
      • Blessed Gabriele Allegra
      • Paula
      • Timothy and Titus
      • January 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Australia Day (Australia)
    • Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)
    • Engineer’s Day (Panama)
    • International Customs Day
    • Liberation Day (Uganda)
    • Republic Day (India)