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

by

“Mordad 5th”—day 129th in the Iranian official calendar (236 days – 237 days in leap years – till the end of the year)

July 26 in History

  • 657 – First Fitna: In the Battle of Siffin, troops led by Ali ibn Abu Talib clash with those led by Muawiyah I.
  • 811 – Battle of Pliska: Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I is killed and his heir Staurakios is seriously wounded.
  • 920 – Rout of an alliance of Christian troops from Navarre and Léon against the Muslims at the Battle of Valdejunquera.
  • 1309 – Henry VII is recognized King of the Romans by Pope Clement V.
  • 1469 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Edgecote Moor, pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV of England, takes place.
  • 1509 – The Emperor Krishnadevaraya ascends to the throne, marking the beginning of the regeneration of the Vijayanagara Empire.
  • 1529 – Francisco Pizarro González, Spanish conquistador, is appointed governor of Peru.
  • 1581 – Plakkaat van Verlatinghe (Act of Abjuration): The northern Low Countries declare their independence from the Spanish king, Philip II.
  • 1703 – During the Bavarian Rummel the rural population of Tyrol drove the Bavarian Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol with a victory at the Pontlatzer Bridge and thus prevented the Bavarian Army, which was allied with France, from marching as planned on Vienna during the War of the Spanish Succession.
  • 1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match takes place near Guildford, England.
  • 1758 – French and Indian War: The Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
  • 1775 – The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General.
  • 1788 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
  • 1803 – The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London, United Kingdom.
  • 1814 – The Swedish–Norwegian War begins.
  • 1822 – José de San Martín arrives in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to meet with Simón Bolívar.
  • 1822 – First day of the three-day Battle of Dervenakia, between the Ottoman Empire force led by Mahmud Dramali Pasha and the Greek Revolutionary force led by Theodoros Kolokotronis.
  • 1847 – Liberia declares its independence.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid ends; At Salineville, Ohio, Confederate cavalry leader John Hunt Morgan and 360 of his volunteers are captured by Union forces.
  • 1882 – Premiere of Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal at Bayreuth.
  • 1882 – The Republic of Stellaland is founded in Southern Africa.
  • 1887 – Publication of the Unua Libro, founding the Esperanto movement.
  • 1890 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina the Revolución del Parque takes place, forcing President Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman’s resignation.
  • 1891 – France annexes Tahiti.
  • 1892 – Dadabhai Naoroji is elected as the first Indian Member of Parliament in Britain.
  • 1897 – Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.
  • 1899 – Ulises Heureaux, the 27th President of the Dominican Republic, is assassinated.
  • 1908 – United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation).
  • 1918 – Emmy Noether’s paper, which became known as Noether’s theorem was presented at Göttingen, Germany, from which conservation laws are deduced for symmetries of angular momentum, linear momentum, and energy.
  • 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Germany and Italy decide to intervene in the war in support for Francisco Franco and the Nationalist faction.
  • 1936 – King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicates the throne, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
  • 1937 – Spanish Civil War: End of the Battle of Brunete with the Nationalist victory.
  • 1941 – World War II: In response to the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Only 300 Jews survive out of 160,000 living in Lviv prior to occupation.
  • 1945 – The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from power.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Potsdam Declaration is signed in Potsdam, Germany.
  • 1945 – World War II: HMS Vestal is the last British Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the war.
  • 1945 – World War II: The USS Indianapolis arrives at Tinian with components and enriched uranium for the Little Boy nuclear bomb.
  • 1946 – Aloha Airlines begins service from Honolulu International Airport.
  • 1947 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947 into United States law creating the Central Intelligence Agency, United States Department of Defense, United States Air Force, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the United States National Security Council.
  • 1948 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the military of the United States.
  • 1951 – Walt Disney’s 13th animated film, Alice in Wonderland, premieres in London, England, United Kingdom.
  • 1952 – King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favor of his son Fuad.
  • 1953 – Cold War: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement
  • 1953 – Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle orders an anti-polygamy law enforcement crackdown on residents of Short Creek, Arizona, which becomes known as the Short Creek raid.
  • 1953 – Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the Samichon River, just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War.
  • 1956 – Following the World Bank’s refusal to fund building the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalizes the Suez Canal, sparking international condemnation.
  • 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, dictator of Guatemala, is assassinated.
  • 1958 – Explorer program: Explorer 4 is launched.
  • 1963 – Syncom 2, the world’s first geosynchronous satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral on a Delta B booster.
  • 1963 – An earthquake in Skopje, Yugoslavia (present-day North Macedonia) leaves 1,100 dead.
  • 1963 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development votes to admit Japan.
  • 1968 – Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
  • 1971 – Apollo program: Launch of Apollo 15 on the first Apollo “J-Mission”, and first use of a Lunar Roving Vehicle.
  • 1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country’s first civil government after seven years of military rule.
  • 1977 – The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
  • 1979 (1358 SH) – Holding the first Friday Prayer in Iran led by Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani
  • 1986 (1365 SH) – Aerial bombardment of citizens of Arak by Ba’athist Iraq regime at 9:13 a.m. (local time):
  • 1988 (1367 SH) – Mersad Operation part of Iran-Iraq war
  • 1989 – A federal grand jury indicts Cornell University student Robert T. Morris, Jr. for releasing the Morris worm, thus becoming the first person to be prosecuted under the 1986 Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
  • 1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H.W. Bush.
  • 1993 – Asiana Airlines Flight 733 crashes into a ridge on Mt. Ungeo on its third attempt to land at Mokpo Airport, South Korea. Sixty-eight of the 116 people onboard are killed.
  • 1999 – Celebrated as Kargil Vijay Diwas. Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. The Indian Army announces the complete eviction of Pakistani intruders.
  • 2005 – Space Shuttle program: STS-114 Mission: Launch of Discovery, NASA’s first scheduled flight mission after the Columbia Disaster in 2003.
  • 2005 – Mumbai, India receives 99.5cm of rain (39.17 inches) within 24 hours, resulting in floods killing over 5,000 people.
  • 2008 – Fifty-six people are killed and over 200 people are injured, in the Ahmedabad bombings in India.
  • 2009 – The militant Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram attacks a police station in Bauchi, leading to reprisals by the Nigeria Police Force and four days of violence across multiple cities.
  • 2016 – The Sagamihara stabbings occur in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. Nineteen people are killed.
  • 2016 – Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
  • 2016 – Solar Impulse 2 becomes the first solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth.

Births on July 26

  • 1030 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Polish bishop and saint (d. 1079)
  • 1400 – Isabel le Despenser, Countess of Worcester, English noble (d. 1439)
  • 1502 – Christian Egenolff, German printer (d. 1555)
  • 1612 – Murad IV, Ottoman sultan (d. 1640)
  • 1678 – Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1711)
  • 1711 – Lorenz Christoph Mizler, German physician, mathematician, and historian (d. 1778)
  • 1739 – George Clinton, American general and politician, 4th Vice President of the United States (d. 1812)
  • 1782 – John Field, Irish pianist and composer (d. 1837)
  • 1791 – Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1844)
  • 1796 – George Catlin, American painter, author, and traveler (d. 1872)
  • 1802 – Mariano Arista, Mexican general and politician, 42nd President of Mexico (d. 1855)
  • 1819 – Justin Holland, American guitarist and educator (d. 1887)
  • 1829 – Auguste Beernaert, Belgian politician, 14th Prime Minister of Belgium, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1912)
  • 1841 – Carl Robert Jakobson, Estonian journalist and politician (d. 1882)
  • 1842 – Alfred Marshall, English economist and academic (d. 1924)
  • 1844 – Stefan Drzewiecki, Ukrainian-Polish engineer and journalist (d. 1938)
  • 1854 – Philippe Gaucher, French dermatologist and academic (d. 1918)
  • 1855 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1936)
  • 1856 – George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
  • 1858 – Tom Garrett, Australian cricketer and lawyer (d. 1943)
  • 1863 – Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (d. 1948)
  • 1865 – Philipp Scheidemann, German journalist and politician, 10th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1939)
  • 1865 – Rajanikanta Sen, Indian poet and composer (d. 1910)
  • 1874 – Serge Koussevitzky, Russian-American bassist, composer, and conductor (d. 1951)
  • 1875 – Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (d. 1961)
  • 1875 – Antonio Machado, Spanish poet and academic (d. 1939)
  • 1877 – Jesse Lauriston Livermore, American investor and security analyst, “Great Bear of Wall Street” (d. 1940)
  • 1878 – Ernst Hoppenberg, German swimmer and water polo player (d. 1937)
  • 1879 – Shunroku Hata, Japanese field marshal and politician, 48th Japanese Minister of War (d. 1962)
  • 1880 – Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian playwright and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Ukrainian People’s Republic (d. 1951)
  • 1882 – Albert Dunstan, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of Victoria (d. 1950)
  • 1885 – Roy Castleton, Major League Baseball player (d.1967)
  • 1885 – André Maurois, French soldier and author (d. 1967)
  • 1886 – Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
  • 1888 – Reginald Hands, South African cricketer and rugby player (d. 1918)
  • 1890 – Daniel J. Callaghan, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1942)
  • 1892 – Sad Sam Jones, American baseball player and manager (d. 1966)
  • 1893 – George Grosz, German painter and illustrator (d. 1959)
  • 1894 – Aldous Huxley, English novelist and philosopher (d. 1963)
  • 1895 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian (d. 1964)
  • 1896 – Tim Birkin, English soldier and race car driver (d. 1933)
  • 1897 – Harold D. Cooley, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974)
  • 1897 – Paul Gallico, American journalist and author (d. 1976)
  • 1900 – Sarah Kafrit, Israeli politician and teacher (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Estes Kefauver, American lawyer and politician (d. 1963)
  • 1904 – Edwin Albert Link, American industrialist and entrepreneur, invented the flight simulator (d. 1981)
  • 1906 – Irena Iłłakowicz, German-Polish lieutenant (d. 1943)
  • 1908 – Lucien Wercollier, Luxembourger sculptor (d. 2002)
  • 1909 – Peter Thorneycroft, Baron Thorneycroft, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1994)
  • 1909 – Vivian Vance, American actress and singer (d. 1979)
  • 1913 – Kan Yuet-keung, Hong Kong banker, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – C. Farris Bryant, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 34th Governor of Florida (d. 2002)
  • 1914 – Erskine Hawkins, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1993)
  • 1914 – Ellis Kinder, American baseball player (d. 1968)
  • 1916 – Dean Brooks, American physician and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1916 – Jaime Luiz Coelho, Brazilian archbishop (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Marjorie Lord, American actress (d. 2015)
  • 1919 – Virginia Gilmore, American actress (d. 1986)
  • 1919 – James Lovelock, English biologist and chemist
  • 1920 – Bob Waterfield, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
  • 1921 – Tom Saffell, American baseball player and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1921 – Jean Shepherd, American radio host, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1922 – Blake Edwards, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1922 – Jim Foglesong, American record producer (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Jason Robards, American actor (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Jan Berenstain, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
  • 1923 – Hoyt Wilhelm, American baseball player and coach (d. 2002)
  • 1925 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish physician and politician (d. 2000)
  • 1925 – Joseph Engelberger, American physicist and engineer (d. 2015)
  • 1925 – Gene Gutowski, Polish-American producer (d. 2016)
  • 1925 – Ana María Matute, Spanish author and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1926 (1305 SH) – Sadeq Khalkhali, Shia cleric and a religious ruler in the Islamic Republic of Iran (d. 2003)
  • 1926 – Dorothy E. Smith, Canadian sociologist
  • 1927 – Gulabrai Ramchand, Indian cricketer (d. 2003)
  • 1928 – Don Beauman, English race car driver (d. 1955)
  • 1928 – Francesco Cossiga, Italian academic and politician, 8th President of Italy (d. 2010)
  • 1928 – Elliott Erwitt, French-American photographer and director
  • 1928 – Ibn-e-Safi, Indian-Pakistani author and poet (d. 1980)
  • 1928 – Joe Jackson, American talent manager, father of Michael Jackson (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Stanley Kubrick, American director, producer, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 1999)
  • 1928 – Peter Lougheed, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Premier of Alberta (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, Irish-born English politician
  • 1928 – Bernice Rubens, Welsh author (d. 2004)
  • 1929 – Marc Lalonde, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice
  • 1929 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, Brazilian lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – Barbara Jefford, English actress
  • 1931 – Telê Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager (d. 2006)
  • 1934 – Tommy McDonald, American football player (d. 2018)
  • 1936 – Tsutomu Koyama, Japanese volleyball player and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1936 – Lawrie McMenemy, English footballer and manager
  • 1938 – Bobby Hebb, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Keith Peters, Welsh physician and academic
  • 1939 – Jun Henmi, Japanese author and poet (d. 2011)
  • 1939 – John Howard, Australian lawyer and politician, 25th Prime Minister of Australia
  • 1939 – Bob Lilly, American football player and photographer
  • 1939 – Richard Marlow, English organist and conductor (d. 2013)
  • 1940 – Dobie Gray, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1940 – Brian Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney, Northern Irish-British academic and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1940 – Bobby Rousseau, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1941 – Jean Baubérot, French historian and sociologist
  • 1941 – Darlene Love, American singer and actress
  • 1941 – Brenton Wood, American R&B singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1942 – Vladimír Mečiar, Slovak politician, 1st Prime Minister of Slovakia
  • 1942 (1321 SH) – Bahman Mofid, Iranian actor
  • 1942 – Teddy Pilette, Belgian race car driver
  • 1943 – Peter Hyams, American director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
  • 1943 – Mick Jagger, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
  • 1944 (1323 SH) – Dariush Arjmand, Iranian actor
  • 1945 – Betty Davis, American singer-songwriter
  • 1945 – Helen Mirren, English actress
  • 1946 – Emilio de Villota, Spanish race car driver
  • 1948 – Luboš Andršt, Czech guitarist and songwriter
  • 1948 – Herbert Wiesinger, German figure skater
  • 1949 – Thaksin Shinawatra, Thai businessman and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Thailand
  • 1949 – Roger Taylor, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
  • 1950 – Nelinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1950 – Nicholas Evans, English journalist, screenwriter, and producer
  • 1950 – Susan George, English actress and producer
  • 1950 – Anne Rafferty, English lawyer and judge
  • 1950 – Rich Vogler, American race car driver (d. 1990)
  • 1951 – Rick Martin, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2011)
  • 1952 – Glynis Breakwell, English psychologist and academic
  • 1953 – Felix Magath, German footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Robert Phillips, American guitarist
  • 1953 – Henk Bleker, Dutch politician
  • 1953 – Earl Tatum, American professional basketball player
  • 1954 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player and coach (d. 1994)
  • 1955 – Aleksandrs Starkovs, Latvian footballer and coach
  • 1955 – Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani businessman and politician, 11th President of Pakistan
  • 1956 – Peter Fincham, English screenwriter and producer
  • 1956 – Dorothy Hamill, American figure skater
  • 1956 – Tommy Rich, American wrestler
  • 1956 – Tim Tremlett, English cricketer and coach
  • 1957 – Norman Baker, Scottish politician
  • 1957 – Nana Visitor, American actress
  • 1958 – Monti Davis, American basketball player (d. 2013)
  • 1958 – Angela Hewitt, Canadian-English pianist
  • 1959 – Rick Bragg, American author and journalist
  • 1959 – Kevin Spacey, American actor and director
  • 1960 (1339 SH) – Mohsen Vezvaei, Iranian commander killed in Iran-Iraq war
  • 1961 – Gary Cherone, American singer-songwriter
  • 1961 – Andy Connell, English keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1961 – Felix Dexter, Caribbean-English comedian and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1963 – Jeff Stoughton, Canadian curler
  • 1964 – Sandra Bullock, American actress and producer
  • 1964 – Ralf Metzenmacher, German painter and designer
  • 1964 – Anne Provoost, Belgian author
  • 1965 – Jeremy Piven, American actor and producer
  • 1965 – Jim Lindberg, American singer and guitarist
  • 1966 – Angelo di Livio, Italian footballer
  • 1967 – Martin Baker, English organist and conductor
  • 1967 – Tim Schafer, American video game designer, founded Double Fine Productions
  • 1967 – Jason Statham, English actor
  • 1968 – Frédéric Diefenthal, French actor and director
  • 1968 – Jim Naismith, Scottish biologist and academic
  • 1968 – Olivia Williams, English actress
  • 1969 – Greg Colbrunn, American baseball player and coach
  • 1969 – Tanni Grey-Thompson, Welsh baroness and wheelchair racer
  • 1971 – Khaled Mahmud, Bangladeshi cricketer and coach
  • 1971 – Chris Harrison, America television personality
  • 1972 – Nathan Buckley, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1973 – Kate Beckinsale, English actress
  • 1973 – Mariano Raffo, Argentinian director and producer
  • 1974 – Iron & Wine, American singer-songwriter
  • 1974 – Kees Meeuws, New Zealand rugby player and coach
  • 1974 – Dean Sturridge, English footballer and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Ingo Schultz, German sprinter
  • 1975 – Joe Smith, American basketball player
  • 1975 – Elizabeth Truss, English accountant and politician, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • 1976 – Elena Kustarova, Russian ice dancer and coach
  • 1976 – Darius Labanauskas, Lithuanian darts player
  • 1977 – Joaquín Benoit, Dominican baseball player
  • 1977 – Martin Laursen, Danish footballer and manager
  • 1977 – Tanja Szewczenko, German figure skater
  • 1979 – Friedrich Michau, German rugby player
  • 1979 – Derek Paravicini, English pianist
  • 1979 – Peter Sarno, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Erik Westrum, American ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Juliet Rylance, English actress
  • 1980 – Jacinda Ardern, 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1980 – Dave Baksh, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1980 – Robert Gallery, American football player
  • 1981 – Abe Forsythe, Australian actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1981 (1360 SH) Mehdi Seyed-Salehi, Iranian soccer player
  • 1981 – Maicon Sisenando, Brazilian footballer
  • 1982 – Gilad Hochman, Israeli composer
  • 1982 – Christopher Kane, Scottish fashion designer
  • 1983 – Kelly Clark, American snowboarder
  • 1983 – Stephen Makinwa, Nigerian footballer
  • 1983 – Roderick Strong, American wrestler
  • 1983 – Naomi van As, Dutch field hockey player
  • 1983 – Ken Wallace, Australian kayaker
  • 1983 – Delonte West, American basketball player
  • 1984 – Kyriakos Ioannou, Cypriot high jumper
  • 1984 – Benjamin Kayser, French rugby player
  • 1984 – Sabri Sarıoğlu, Turkish footballer
  • 1985 – Marcus Benard, American football player
  • 1985 – Gaël Clichy, French footballer
  • 1985 – Audrey De Montigny, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1985 – Mat Gamel, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Leonardo Ulloa, Argentinian footballer
  • 1986 – John White, English footballer
  • 1987 – Panagiotis Kone, Greek footballer
  • 1987 – Jordie Benn, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Fredy Montero, Colombian footballer
  • 1988 – Yurie Omi, Japanese female announcer
  • 1988 – Sayaka Akimoto, Filipino–Japanese actress and singer
  • 1991 – Tyson Barrie, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Marika Koroibete, Fijian rugby player
  • 1993 – Raymond Faitala-Mariner, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1994 – Ella Leivo, Finnish tennis player
  • 1996 – Olivia Breen, British sprinter

Deaths on July 26

  • 342 – Cheng of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 321)
  • 432 – Celestine I, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 811 – Nikephoros I, Byzantine emperor
  • 899 – Li Hanzhi, Chinese warlord (b. 842)
  • 943 – Motoyoshi, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 890)
  • 990 – Fujiwara no Kaneie, Japanese statesman (b. 929)
  • 1380 – Kōmyō, emperor of Japan (b. 1322)
  • 1450 – Cecily Neville, duchess of Warwick (b. 1424)
  • 1471 – Paul II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1417)
  • 1533 – Atahualpa, Inca emperor abducted and murdered by Francisco Pizarro (b. ca. 1500)
  • 1592 – Armand de Gontant, French marshal (b. 1524)
  • 1605 – Miguel de Benavides, Spanish archbishop and sinologist (b. 1552)
  • 1611 – Horio Yoshiharu, Japanese daimyō (b. 1542)
  • 1630 – Charles Emmanual I, duke of Savoy (b. 1562)
  • 1659 – Mary Frith, English female criminal (b. 1584)
  • 1680 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier (b. 1647)
  • 1684 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1646)
  • 1693 – Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark, queen of Sweden (b. 1656)
  • 1712 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1631)
  • 1723 – Robert Bertie, 1st Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1660)
  • 1801 – Maximilian Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1756)
  • 1863 – Sam Houston, American general and politician, 7th Governor of Texas (b. 1793)
  • 1867 – Otto, king of Greece (b. 1815)
  • 1899 – Ulises Heureaux, 22nd, 26th, and 27th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1845)
  • 1915 – James Murray, Scottish lexicographer and philologist (b. 1837)
  • 1919 – Edward Poynter, English painter and illustrator (b. 1836)
  • 1921 – Howard Vernon, Australian actor (b. 1848)
  • 1925 – Antonio Ascari, Italian race car driver (b. 1888)
  • 1925 – Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and philosopher (b. 1848)
  • 1925 – William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)
  • 1926 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War, son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1843)
  • 1930 – Pavlos Karolidis, Greek historian and academic (b. 1849)
  • 1932 – Fred Duesenberg, German-American businessman, co-founded the Duesenberg Company (b. 1876)
  • 1934 – Winsor McCay, American cartoonist, animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1871)
  • 1941 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician and academic (b. 1875)
  • 1942 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian author and playwright (b. 1900)
  • 1951 – James Mitchell, Australian politician, 13th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1866)
  • 1952 – Eva Perón, Argentinian politician, 25th First Lady of Argentina (b. 1919)
  • 1953 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician, 135th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1883)
  • 1957 – Carlos Castillo Armas, Authoritarian ruler of Guatemala (1954-1957)
  • 1960 – Cedric Gibbons, British art director and production designer (b. 1893)
  • 1964 – Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, English race car driver and politician (b. 1884)
  • 1968 – Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (b. 1899)
  • 1970 – Robert Taschereau, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 11th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1896)
  • 1971 – Diane Arbus, American photographer and academic (b. 1923)
  • 1980 (1359 SH) – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the second shah (king) of Pahlavi dynasty
  • 1984 – George Gallup, American mathematician and statistician, founded the Gallup Company (b. 1901)
  • 1984 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (b. 1906)
  • 1986 – W. Averell Harriman, American politician and diplomat, 11th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1891)
  • 1988 – Fazlur Rahman Malik, Pakistani philosopher, scholar, and academic (b. 1919)
  • 1992 – Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
  • 1993 – Matthew Ridgway, American general (b. 1895)
  • 1994 – James Luther Adams, American theologian and academic (b. 1901)
  • 1995 – Laurindo Almeida, Brazilian-American guitarist and composer (b. 1917)
  • 1995 – Raymond Mailloux, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1918)
  • 1995 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (b. 1907)
  • 1996 – Max Winter, American businessman and sports executive (b. 1903)
  • 1999 – Walter Jackson Bate, American author and critic (b. 1918)
  • 1999 – Phaedon Gizikis, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (b. 1917)
  • 2000 – John Tukey, American mathematician and academic (b. 1915)
  • 2001 – Rex T. Barber, American colonel and pilot (b. 1917)
  • 2001 – Peter von Zahn, German journalist and author (b. 1913)
  • 2004 – William A. Mitchell, American chemist, created Pop Rocks and Cool Whip (b. 1911)
  • 2005 – Alexander Golitzen, Russian-born American production designer and art director (b. 1908)
  • 2005 – Jack Hirshleifer, American economist and academic (b. 1925)
  • 2005 – Gilles Marotte, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1945)
  • 2007 – Lars Forssell, Swedish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1928)
  • 2007 – Skip Prosser, American basketball player and coach (b. 1950)
  • 2009 – Merce Cunningham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1919)
  • 2010 – Sivakant Tiwari, Indian-Singaporean politician (b. 1945)
  • 2011 – Joe Arroyo, Colombian singer-songwriter and composer (b. 1955)
  • 2011 – Richard Harris, American-Canadian football player and coach (b. 1948)
  • 2011 – Sakyo Komatsu, Japanese author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
  • 2011 – Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Don Bagley, American bassist and composer (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Karl Benjamin, American painter and educator (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Miriam Ben-Porat, Russian-Israeli lawyer and jurist (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Lupe Ontiveros, American actress (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – James D. Watkins, American admiral and politician, 6th United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Luther F. Cole, American lawyer and politician (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Harley Flanders, American mathematician and academic (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Sung Jae-gi, South Korean philosopher and activist (b. 1967)
  • 2013 – George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1919)
  • 2014 – Oleh Babayev, Ukrainian businessman and politician (b. 1965)
  • 2014 – Charles R. Larson, American admiral (b. 1936)
  • 2014 – Richard MacCormac, English architect, founded MJP Architects (b. 1938)
  • 2014 – Sergei O. Prokofieff, Russian anthropologist and author (b. 1954)
  • 2014 – Roland Verhavert, Belgian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Bijoy Krishna Handique, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Mines (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Leo Reise, Jr., Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Ann Rule, American police officer and author (b. 1931)
  • 2017 – June Foray, American voice actress (b. 1917)
  • 2017 – Patti Deutsch, American voice artist and comedic actress (b. 1943)
  • 2017 – Ronald Phillips, American criminal (b. 1973)
  • 2018 – Adem Demaci, Kosovo Albanian politician and writer (b. 1936)
  • 2018 – John Kline, American basketball player (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances on July 26

  • Christian feast day:
    • Andrew of Phú Yên
    • Anne (Western Christianity)
    • Bartolomea Capitanio
    • Blessed Maria Pierina
    • Joachim (Western Christianity)
    • Paraskevi of Rome (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Venera
    • July 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of National Significance (Barbados)
  • Day of the National Rebellion (Cuba)
  • Esperanto Day
  • Independence Day (Liberia), celebrates the independence of Liberia from the American Colonization Society in 1847.
  • Independence Day (Maldives), celebrates the independence of Maldives from the United Kingdom in 1965.
  • Kargil Victory Day or Kargil Vijay Diwas (India)

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

by
  • 1099 – Some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city as its Muslim defenders watch.
  • 1283 – Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta.
  • 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
  • 1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
  • 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island.
  • 1709 – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden’s status as a major power in Europe.
  • 1716 – The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway.
  • 1730 – An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than 1,000 km (620 mi) of Chile’s coastline.
  • 1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York.
  • 1760 – British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
  • 1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America.
  • 1776 – Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
  • 1808 – Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
  • 1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
  • 1853 – The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade.
  • 1859 – King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.
  • 1864 – Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishi’s planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya.
  • 1874 – The Mounties begin their March West.
  • 1876 – The Hamburg massacre prior to the 1876 United States presidential election results in the deaths of six African-Americans of the Republican Party, along with one white assailant.
  • 1879 – Sailing ship USS Jeannette departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole.
  • 1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
  • 1892 – St. John’s, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
  • 1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
  • 1912 – Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
  • 1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22.
  • 1933 – The first rugby union test match between the Wallabies of Australia and the Springboks of South Africa is played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town.
  • 1937 – Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad.
  • 1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident.
  • 1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force (WAF).
  • 1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union.
  • 1962 – Ne Win besieges and dynamites the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement.
  • 1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
  • 1968 – The Chrysler wildcat strike begins in Detroit, Michigan.
  • 1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
  • 1972 – Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani.
  • 1980 – The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park.
  • 1982 – A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months.
  • 1988 – The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more.
  • 1994 – Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
  • 2003 – Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing 116 of the 117 people on board.
  • 2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program.
  • 2014 – Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.

Births on July 8

  • 1478 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1550)
  • 1528 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (d. 1580)
  • 1538 – Alberto Bolognetti, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
  • 1545 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (d. 1568)
  • 1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1653)
  • 1621 – Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (d. 1695)
  • 1760 – Christian Kramp, French mathematician and academic (d. 1826)
  • 1766 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (d. 1842)
  • 1779 – Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter and architect (d. 1851)
  • 1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer (d. 1907)
  • 1830 – Frederick W. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1915)
  • 1831 – John Pemberton, American chemist and pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola (d. 1888)
  • 1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1914)
  • 1838 – Eli Lilly, American soldier, chemist, and businessman, founded Eli Lilly and Company (d. 1898)
  • 1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (d. 1917)
  • 1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company (d. 1937)
  • 1851 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1941)
  • 1851 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (d. 1916)
  • 1857 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist (d. 1911)
  • 1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (d. 1945)
  • 1876 – Alexandros Papanastasiou, Greek sociologist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
  • 1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (d. 1961)
  • 1885 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1977)
  • 1885 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (d. 1948)
  • 1890 – Stanton Macdonald-Wright, American painter (d. 1973)
  • 1892 – Richard Aldington, English author and poet (d. 1962)
  • 1892 – Pavel Korin, Russian painter (d. 1967)
  • 1893 – R. Carlyle Buley, American historian and author (d. 1968)
  • 1894 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
  • 1895 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
  • 1898 – Melville Ruick, American actor (d. 1972)
  • 1900 – George Antheil, American pianist, composer, and author (d. 1959)
  • 1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic (d. 2008)
  • 1905 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and director (d. 1997)
  • 1906 – Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the IDS Center and PPG Place (d. 2005)
  • 1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (d. 1995)
  • 1908 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and actor (d. 1975)
  • 1908 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (d. 1979)
  • 1908 – V. K. R. Varadaraja Rao, Indian economist, politician, professor and educator (d. 1991)
  • 1909 – Alan Brown, English soldier (d. 1971)
  • 1909 – Ike Petersen, American football back (d. 1995)
  • 1910 – Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general (d. 2001)
  • 1911 – Ken Farnes, English cricketer (d. 1941)
  • 1913 – Alejandra Soler, Spanish politician (d. 2017)
  • 1914 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Billy Eckstine, American singer and trumpet player (d. 1993)
  • 1915 – Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general (d. 2019)
  • 1915 – Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general (d. 2005)
  • 1916 – Jean Rouverol, American author, actress and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1917 – Pamela Brown, English actress (d. 1975)
  • 1917 – Faye Emerson, American actress (d. 1983)
  • 1917 – J. F. Powers, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1999)
  • 1918 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 2009)
  • 1918 – Irwin Hasen, American illustrator (d. 2015)
  • 1918 – Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot (d. 2002)
  • 1918 – Julia Pirie, British spy working for MI5 (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Edward B. Giller, U.S Major General (d. 2017)
  • 1918 – Craig Stevens, American actor (d. 2000)
  • 1919 – Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany (d. 2016)
  • 1920 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman (d. 1995)
  • 1921 – John Money, New Zealand psychologist and sexologist, responsible for controversial sexual identity study on David Reimer (d. 2006)
  • 1923 – Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler (d. 2019)
  • 1924 – Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (d. 2005)
  • 1924 – Charles C. Droz, American politician
  • 1925 – Marco Cé, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Arthur Imperatore Sr., Italian-American businessman from New Jersey
  • 1925 – Bill Mackrides, American football quarterback (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Dominique Nohain, French actor, screenwriter and director (d. 2017)
  • 1926 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – John Dingell, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2019)
  • 1926 – Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender
  • 1926 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and author (d. 2004)
  • 1927 – Maurice Hayes, Irish educator and politician (d. 2017)
  • 1927 – Khensur Lungri Namgyel, Tibetan religious leader
  • 1927 – Bob Beckham, American country singer (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Balakh Sher Mazari, former Prime Minister of Pakistan
  • 1930 – Jerry Vale, American singer (d. 2014)
  • 1933 – Antonio Lamer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Raquel Correa, Chilean journalist (d. 2012)
  • 1934 – Marty Feldman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
  • 1934 – Edward D. DiPrete, American politician
  • 1935 – John David Crow, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Steve Lawrence, American actor and singer
  • 1935 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Diane Clare, English actress (d. 2013)
  • 1939 – Ed Lumley, Canadian businessman and politician, 8th Canadian Minister of Communications
  • 1940 – Joe B. Mauldin, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1941 – Dario Gradi, Italian-English footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1942 – Phil Gramm, American economist and politician
  • 1944 – Jaimoe, American drummer
  • 1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor and singer
  • 1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician, 91st President of the Swiss Confederation
  • 1947 – Kim Darby, American actress
  • 1947 – Jenny Diski, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1947 – Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian religious leader, founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae
  • 1948 – Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1948 – Ruby Sales, American civil-rights activist
  • 1949 – Wolfgang Puck, Austrian-American chef, restaurateur and entrepreneur
  • 1949 – Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 2009)
  • 1951 – Alan Ashby, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
  • 1951 – Anjelica Huston, American actress and director
  • 1952 – Larry Garner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1952 – Jack Lambert, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1952 – Marianne Williamson, American author and activist
  • 1956 – Terry Puhl, Canadian baseball player and coach
  • 1957 – Carlos Cavazo, Mexican-American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1957 – Aleksandr Gurnov, Russian journalist and author
  • 1958 – Kevin Bacon, American actor and musician
  • 1958 – Andreas Carlgren, Swedish educator and politician, 8th Swedish Minister for the Environment
  • 1958 – Tzipi Livni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 18th Justice Minister of Israel
  • 1959 – Pauline Quirke, English actress
  • 1960 – Mal Meninga, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1961 – Ces Drilon, Filipino journalist
  • 1961 – Andrew Fletcher, English keyboard player
  • 1961 – Toby Keith, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
  • 1961 – Karl Seglem, Norwegian saxophonist and record producer
  • 1962 – Joan Osborne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1963 – Mark Christopher, American director and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Alexei Gusarov, Russian ice hockey player and manager
  • 1965 – Dan Levinson, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and bandleader
  • 1966 – Ralf Altmeyer, German-Chinese virologist and academic
  • 1966 – Shadlog Bernicke, Nauruan politician
  • 1967 – Jordan Chan, Hong Kong actor and singer
  • 1968 – Billy Crudup, American actor
  • 1968 – Shane Howarth, New Zealand rugby player and coach
  • 1969 – Sugizo, Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
  • 1970 – Beck, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1970 – Sylvain Gaudreault, Canadian educator and politician
  • 1970 – Todd Martin, American tennis player and coach
  • 1971 – Neil Jenkins, Welsh rugby player and coach
  • 1972 – Karl Dykhuis, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1972 – Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricketer
  • 1972 – Shōsuke Tanihara, Japanese actor
  • 1974 – Hu Liang, Chinese field hockey player
  • 1976 – Talal El Karkouri, Moroccan footballer
  • 1976 – David Kennedy, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1976 – Ellen MacArthur, English sailor
  • 1977 – Christian Abbiati, Italian footballer
  • 1977 – Paolo Tiralongo, Italian cyclist
  • 1977 – Milo Ventimiglia, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1977 – Wang Zhizhi, Chinese basketball player
  • 1978 – Urmas Rooba, Estonian footballer
  • 1979 – Mat McBriar, American football player
  • 1979 – Ben Jelen, Scottish-American singer-songwriter
  • 1980 – Eric Chouinard, American-Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Robbie Keane, Irish footballer
  • 1981 – Wolfram Müller, German runner
  • 1981 – Anastasia Myskina, Russian tennis player
  • 1982 – Sophia Bush, American actress and director
  • 1982 – Hakim Warrick, American basketball player
  • 1983 – John Bowker, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Rich Peverley, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Jaime Garcia, Mexican baseball player
  • 1986 – Renata Costa, Brazilian footballer
  • 1988 – Miki Roqué, Spanish footballer (d. 2012)
  • 1988 – Jesse Sergent, New Zealand cyclist
  • 1988 – Dave Taylor, Australian rugby league player
  • 1989 – Yarden Gerbi, Israeli Judo champion
  • 1989 – Tor Marius Gromstad, Norwegian footballer (d. 2012)
  • 1991 – Virgil van Dijk, Dutch footballer
  • 1992 – Ariel Camacho, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1992 – Son Heung-min, Korean footballer
  • 1992 – Xander Mobus, American voice actor
  • 1997 – Bryce Love, American football player
  • 1997 – Lauran Hibberd, English singer-songwriter
  • 1998 – Jaden Smith, American actor and rapper

Deaths on July 8

  • 689 – Kilian, Irish bishop
  • 810 – Pepin of Italy, son of Charlemagne (b. 773)
  • 873 – Gunther, archbishop of Cologne
  • 900 – Qatr al-Nada, wife of the Abbasid caliph al-Mu’tadid
  • 901 – Grimbald, French-English monk and saint (b. 827)
  • 975 – Edgar the Peaceful, English king (b. 943)
  • 1153 – Pope Eugene III (b. 1087)
  • 1253 – Theobald I of Navarre (b. 1201)
  • 1261 – Adolf IV of Holstein, Count of Schauenburg
  • 1390 – Albert of Saxony, Bishop of Halberstadt and German philosopher (b. circa 1320)
  • 1538 – Diego de Almagro, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1475)
  • 1623 – Pope Gregory XV (b. 1554)
  • 1689 – Edward Wooster, English-American settler (b. 1622)
  • 1695 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1629)
  • 1716 – Robert South, English preacher and theologian (b. 1634)
  • 1721 – Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1649)
  • 1784 – Torbern Bergman, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1735)
  • 1794 – Richard Mique, French architect (b. 1728)
  • 1820 – Octavia Taylor, daughter of Zachary Taylor (b. 1816)
  • 1822 – Percy Bysshe Shelley, English poet and playwright (b. 1792)
  • 1850 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (b. 1774)
  • 1859 – Oscar I of Sweden (b. 1799)
  • 1873 – Franz Xaver Winterhalter, German painter and lithographer (b. 1805)
  • 1887 – Ben Holladay, American businessman (b. 1819)
  • 1895 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian chemist and physicist (b. 1821)
  • 1905 – Walter Kittredge, American violinist and composer (b. 1834)
  • 1913 – Louis Hémon, French-Canadian author (b. 1880)
  • 1917 – Tom Thomson, Canadian painter (b. 1877)
  • 1930 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1856)
  • 1933 – Anthony Hope, English author and playwright (b. 1863)
  • 1934 – Benjamin Baillaud, French astronomer and academic (b. 1848)
  • 1939 – Havelock Ellis, English psychologist and author (b. 1859)
  • 1941 – Moses Schorr, Polish rabbi, historian, and politician (b. 1874)
  • 1942 – Louis Franchet d’Espèrey, Algerian-French general (b. 1856)
  • 1942 – Refik Saydam, Turkish physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1881)
  • 1943 – Jean Moulin, French soldier (b. 1899)
  • 1950 – Othmar Spann, Austrian sociologist, economist, and philosopher (b. 1878)
  • 1952 – August Alle, Estonian lawyer, author, and poet (b. 1890)
  • 1956 – Giovanni Papini, Italian journalist, author, and critic (b. 1881)
  • 1965 – Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author (b. 1881)
  • 1968 – Désiré Mérchez, French swimmer and water polo player (b. 1882)
  • 1971 – Kurt Reidemeister, German mathematician connected to the Vienna Circle (b. 1893)
  • 1972 – Ghassan Kanafani, Palestinian writer and politician (b. 1936)
  • 1973 – Gene L. Coon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
  • 1973 – Ben-Zion Dinur, Russian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Education Minister of Israel (b. 1884)
  • 1973 – Wilfred Rhodes, English cricketer and coach (b. 1877)
  • 1979 – Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
  • 1979 – Michael Wilding, English actor (b. 1912)
  • 1979 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
  • 1981 – Bill Hallahan, American baseball player (b. 1902)
  • 1985 – Phil Foster, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1913)
  • 1985 – Jean-Paul Le Chanois, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
  • 1986 – Skeeter Webb, American baseball player and manager (b. 1909)
  • 1987 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (b. 1903)
  • 1987 – Gerardo Diego, Spanish poet and author (b. 1896)
  • 1988 – Ray Barbuti, American runner and football player (b. 1905)
  • 1990 – Howard Duff, American actor (b. 1913)
  • 1991 – James Franciscus, American actor (b. 1934)
  • 1994 – Christian-Jaque, French director and screenwriter (b. 1904)
  • 1994 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean commander and politician, President of North Korea (b. 1912)
  • 1994 – Lars-Eric Lindblad, Swedish-American businessman and explorer (b. 1927)
  • 1994 – Dick Sargent, American actor (b. 1930)
  • 1996 – Irene Prador, Austrian-born actress and writer (b. 1911)
  • 1998 – Lilí Álvarez, Spanish tennis player, author, and feminist (b. 1905)
  • 1999 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
  • 2001 – John O’Shea, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2002 – Ward Kimball, American animator and trombonist (b. 1914)
  • 2004 – Paula Danziger, American author and educator (b. 1944)
  • 2005 – Maurice Baquet, French actor and cellist (b. 1911)
  • 2006 – June Allyson, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
  • 2007 – Chandra Shekhar, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (b. 1927)
  • 2007 – Jack B. Sowards, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – John Templeton, American-born British businessman and philanthropist (b. 1912)
  • 2009 – Midnight, American singer-songwriter (b. 1962)
  • 2011 – Roberts Blossom, American actor and poet (b. 1924)
  • 2011 – Betty Ford, First Lady of the United States (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Muhammed bin Saud Al Saud, Saudi Arabian politician (b. 1934)
  • 2012 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (b. 1917)
  • 2012 – Gyang Dalyop Datong, Nigerian physician and politician (b. 1959)
  • 2012 – Martin Pakledinaz, American costume designer (b. 1953)
  • 2013 – Dick Gray, American baseball player (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Edmund Morgan, American historian and author (b. 1916)
  • 2013 – Claudiney Ramos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1980)
  • 2013 – Rubby Sherr, American physicist and academic (b. 1913)
  • 2013 – Sundri Uttamchandani, Indian author (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Brett Walker, American songwriter and producer (b. 1961)
  • 2014 – Plínio de Arruda Sampaio, Brazilian lawyer and politician (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Ben Pangelinan, Guamanian businessman and politician (b. 1956)
  • 2014 – Howard Siler, American bobsledder and coach (b. 1945)
  • 2014 – Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (b. 1953)
  • 2015 – Ken Stabler, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1945)
  • 2015 – James Tate, American poet (b. 1943)
  • 2016 – Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – Tab Hunter, American actor, pop singer, film producer and author (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances on July 8

  • Christian Feast Day:
    • Abda and Sabas
    • Auspicius of Trier
    • Grimbald
    • Kilian, Totnan, and Colman
    • Peter and Fevronia Day (Russian Orthodox)
    • Procopius of Scythopolis
    • Sunniva and companions
    • Theobald of Marly
    • July 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Air Force and Air Defense Forces Day (Ukraine)

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

by

The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

July 4 in History

  • 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans.
  • 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
  • 836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.
  • 993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.
  • 1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
  • 1120 – Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.
  • 1187 – The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
  • 1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
  • 1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
  • 1456 – Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins.
  • 1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
  • 1584 – Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island
  • 1610 – The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Muscovite War.
  • 1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).
  • 1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
  • 1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts.
  • 1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
  • 1778 – American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
  • 1802 – At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.
  • 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
  • 1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
  • 1826 – John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, die the same day, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. Adams’ last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
  • 1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.
  • 1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.
  • 1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
  • 1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
  • 1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau’s account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
  • 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published In Brooklyn.
  • 1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. One hundred fifty miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Confederate invasion of U.S. territory.
  • 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.
  • 1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
  • 1886 – The Canadian Pacific Railway’s first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel.
  • 1887 – The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
  • 1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
  • 1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
  • 1898 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.
  • 1901 – William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.
  • 1903 – The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.
  • 1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured.
  • 1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities.
  • 1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
  • 1914 – The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo.
  • 1918 – Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
  • 1918 – World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front.
  • 1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
  • 1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
  • 1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth”, then announces his retirement from major league baseball.
  • 1941 – Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.
  • 1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement.
  • 1942 – World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world’s largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.
  • 1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.
  • 1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.
  • 1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
  • 1947 – The “Indian Independence Bill” is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.
  • 1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.
  • 1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage.
  • 1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.
  • 1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom.
  • 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)).
  • 1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
  • 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.
  • 1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
  • 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial.
  • 1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.
  • 1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown.
  • 1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the “Butcher of Lyon”) is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
  • 1997 – NASA’s Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
  • 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
  • 2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board.
  • 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.
  • 2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history.
  • 2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
  • 2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program’s history to occur on the United States’ Independence Day.
  • 2009 – The Statue of Liberty’s crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.
  • 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.
  • 2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.
  • 2015 – Chile claims its first title in international soccer by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final.

Births on July 4

  • AD 68 – Salonina Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (d. 119)
  • 1095 – Usama ibn Munqidh, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188)
  • 1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367)
  • 1477 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534)
  • 1546 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595)
  • 1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720)
  • 1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (d. 1772)
  • 1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (d. 1769)
  • 1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright (d. 1797)
  • 1729 – George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819)
  • 1753 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809)
  • 1790 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866)
  • 1799 – Oscar I of Sweden (d. 1859)
  • 1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864)
  • 1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (d. 1882)
  • 1816 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899)
  • 1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864)
  • 1842 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (d. 1918)
  • 1845 – Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905)
  • 1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906)
  • 1854 – Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926)
  • 1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921)
  • 1871 – Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (d. 1955)
  • 1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
  • 1874 – John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1952)
  • 1880 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975)
  • 1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (d. 1968)
  • 1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970)
  • 1887 – Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965)
  • 1888 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945)
  • 1895 – Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981)
  • 1897 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924)
  • 1898 – Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997)
  • 1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952)
  • 1898 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (d. 1998)
  • 1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
  • 1900 – Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007)
  • 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982)
  • 1902 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (d. 1983)
  • 1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992)
  • 1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986)
  • 1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
  • 1905 – Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (d. 1991)
  • 1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996)
  • 1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975)
  • 1906 – Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993)
  • 1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948)
  • 1907 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (d. 1996)
  • 1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963)
  • 1910 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003)
  • 1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (d. 2010)
  • 1911 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989)
  • 1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997)
  • 1915 – Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
  • 1916 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006)
  • 1918 – Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002)
  • 1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
  • 1918 – King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (d. 2006)
  • 1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010)
  • 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006)
  • 1918 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015)
  • 1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977)
  • 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019)
  • 1921 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
  • 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter
  • 1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
  • 1922 – R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
  • 1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter
  • 1925 – Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (d. 2015)
  • 1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008)
  • 1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer
  • 1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician
  • 1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines
  • 1928 – Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001)
  • 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Ron Casey, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2018)
  • 1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)
  • 1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010)
  • 1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977)
  • 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013)
  • 1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
  • 1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017)
  • 1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner
  • 1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress
  • 1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic
  • 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway
  • 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian
  • 1937 – Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic
  • 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020)
  • 1940 – Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
  • 1941 – Sam Farr, American politician
  • 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist
  • 1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach
  • 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008)
  • 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent
  • 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1943 – Conny Bauer, German trombonist
  • 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer
  • 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author
  • 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist
  • 1943 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
  • 1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972)
  • 1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist
  • 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist
  • 1947 – Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017)
  • 1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver
  • 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor
  • 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer
  • 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host
  • 1951 – John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician
  • 1951 – Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist
  • 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic
  • 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
  • 1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia
  • 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress
  • 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist
  • 1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
  • 1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer
  • 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy
  • 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist
  • 1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator
  • 1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman
  • 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
  • 1958 – Carl Valentine, English-Canadian footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer
  • 1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (d. 1994)
  • 1961 – Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima series
  • 1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist
  • 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
  • 1963 – Sonia Pierre, Hatian-Dominican human rights activist (d. 2011)
  • 1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager
  • 1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer
  • 1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician
  • 1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach
  • 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach
  • 1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright
  • 1966 – Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer
  • 1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (d. 2016)
  • 1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager
  • 1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete
  • 1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach
  • 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach
  • 1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach
  • 1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer
  • 1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver
  • 1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor
  • 1973 – Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach
  • 1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver
  • 1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player
  • 1974 – La’Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach
  • 1976 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
  • 1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier
  • 1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player
  • 1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer
  • 1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician
  • 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player
  • 1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer
  • 1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer
  • 1981 – Dedé, Angolan footballer
  • 1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player
  • 1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer
  • 1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player
  • 1981 – Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016)
  • 1982 – Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player
  • 1982 – Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist
  • 1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1982 – Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality
  • 1983 – Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1983 – Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter
  • 1983 – Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer
  • 1983 – Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist
  • 1983 – Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Miguel Santos Soares, Timorese footballer
  • 1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer
  • 1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player
  • 1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer
  • 1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player
  • 1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer
  • 1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player
  • 1986 – Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer
  • 1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player
  • 1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier
  • 1987 – Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner
  • 1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer
  • 1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress
  • 1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer
  • 1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player
  • 1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer
  • 1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer
  • 1992 – Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer
  • 1992 – Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer
  • 1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer
  • 1995 – Post Malone, American singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer
  • 1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician
  • 2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer

Deaths on July 4

  • 673 – Ecgberht, king of Kent
  • 907 – Luitpold, margrave of Bavaria
  • 907 – Dietmar I, archbishop of Salzburg
  • 910 – Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (b. 877)
  • 940 – Wang Jianli, Chinese general (b. 871)
  • 943 – Taejo of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 877)
  • 945 – Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Buddhist monk and emperor
  • 965 – Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 973 – Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop and saint (b. 890)
  • 975 – Gwangjong of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 925)
  • 1187 – Raynald of Châtillon, French knight (b. 1125)
  • 1307 – Rudolf I of Bohemia (b. 1281)
  • 1336 – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (b. 1271)
  • 1429 – Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (b. 1372)
  • 1533 – John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (b. 1503)
  • 1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1495)
  • 1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (b. 1478)
  • 1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, English politician (b. 1514)
  • 1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1521)
  • 1623 – William Byrd, English composer (b. c. 1540)
  • 1644 – Brian Twyne, English academic, antiquarian and archivist (b. 1581)
  • 1648 – Antoine Daniel, French missionary and saint, one of the eight Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601)
  • 1742 – Luigi Guido Grandi, Italian monk, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1671)
  • 1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright and author (b. 1680)
  • 1761 – Samuel Richardson, English author and painter (b. 1689)
  • 1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (b. 1712)
  • 1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715)
  • 1821 – Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (b. 1742)
  • 1826 – John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (b. 1735)
  • 1826 – Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of the United States (b. 1743)
  • 1831 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
  • 1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (b. 1768)
  • 1850 – William Kirby, English entomologist and author (b. 1759)
  • 1854 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (b. 1781)
  • 1857 – William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (b. 1786)
  • 1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (b. 1806)
  • 1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (b. 1797)
  • 1886 – Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1797)
  • 1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (b. 1809)
  • 1901 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (b. 1843)
  • 1902 – Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (b. 1863)
  • 1905 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (b. 1830)
  • 1910 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833)
  • 1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (b. 1835)
  • 1916 – Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (b. 1888)
  • 1922 – Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1894)
  • 1926 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (b. 1901)
  • 1934 – Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
  • 1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1881)
  • 1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899)
  • 1941 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1881)
  • 1943 – Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (b. 1881)
  • 1946 – Taffy O’Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (b. 1906)
  • 1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (b. 1882)
  • 1949 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (b. 1874)
  • 1963 – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889)
  • 1963 – Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (b. 1927)
  • 1963 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (b. 1876)
  • 1964 – Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (b. 1893)
  • 1969 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (b. 1890)
  • 1970 – Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
  • 1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (b. 1884)
  • 1971 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (b. 1909)
  • 1971 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (b. 1877)
  • 1974 – Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902)
  • 1974 – André Randall, French actor (b. 1892)
  • 1976 – Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (b. 1946)
  • 1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1895)
  • 1977 – Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (b. 1918)
  • 1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1905)
  • 1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (b. 1895)
  • 1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
  • 1986 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (b. 1933)
  • 1986 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist and composer (b. 1903)
  • 1986 – Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1899)
  • 1988 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (b. 1954)
  • 1990 – Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (b. 1924)
  • 1991 – Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (b. 1936)
  • 1991 – Art Sansom, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
  • 1992 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (b. 1921)
  • 1993 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1994 – Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (b. 1964)
  • 1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (b. 1919)
  • 1995 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host (b. 1942)
  • 1997 – Charles Kuralt, American journalist (b. 1934)
  • 1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (b. 1907)
  • 1999 – Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (b. 1917)
  • 2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1919)
  • 2002 – Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (b. 1919)
  • 2002 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (b. 1912)
  • 2003 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (b. 1939)
  • 2003 – André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915)
  • 2003 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1944)
  • 2004 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1920)
  • 2005 – Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1915)
  • 2005 – Hank Stram, American football player and coach (b. 1923)
  • 2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (b. 1925)
  • 2008 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (b. 1940)
  • 2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
  • 2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)
  • 2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (b. 1980)
  • 2008 – Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (b. 1923)
  • 2009 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (b. 1917)
  • 2009 – Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (b. 1931)
  • 2009 – Drake Levin, American guitarist (b. 1946)
  • 2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (b. 1973)
  • 2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (b. 1935)
  • 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (b. 1938)
  • 2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (b. 1932)
  • 2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (b. 1987)
  • 2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (b. 1940)
  • 2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (b. 1960)
  • 2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1950)
  • 2014 – C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (b. 1951)
  • 2014 – Earl Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
  • 2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1926)
  • 2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (b. 1940)
  • 2017 – John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (b. 1973)
  • 2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (b. 1919)
  • 2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (b. 1927)
  • 2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on July 4

  • Christian feast day:
    • Andrew of Crete
    • Bertha of Artois
    • Blessed Catherine Jarrige
    • Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
    • Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal)
    • Oda of Canterbury
    • Ulrich of Augsburg
    • July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Birthday of Queen Sonja (Norway)
  • The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain in 1776. (United States and its dependencies)
  • Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
  • Liberation Day (Rwanda)
  • Republic Day (Philippines)

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

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

Births on April 18

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

Deaths on April 18

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

Holidays and observances on  April 18

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

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

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

Births on April 15

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

Deaths on April 15

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

Holidays and observances on April 15

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

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

by
  • 428 – Nestorius becomes the Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 837 – Halley’s Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
  • 1407 – Deshin Shekpa, 5th Karmapa Lama visits the Ming dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title “Great Treasure Prince of Dharma”.
  • 1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
  • 1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
  • 1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
  • 1741 – War of the Austrian Succession: Prussia gains control of Silesia at the Battle of Mollwitz.
  • 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.
  • 1815 – The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth’s climate for the next two years.
  • 1816 – The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
  • 1821 – Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Ottoman government from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.
  • 1826 – The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year’s siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
  • 1858 – After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
  • 1864 – Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
  • 1866 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
  • 1868 – At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
  • 1872 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.
  • 1875 – India: Arya Samaj is founded in Mumbai by Swami Dayananda Saraswati to propagate his goal of social reform.
  • 1887 – On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of the Catholic University of America.
  • 1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
  • 1916 – The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
  • 1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
  • 1925 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City, by Charles Scribner’s Sons.
  • 1938 – The 1938 German parliamentary election and referendum seeks approval for a single list of Nazi candidates and the recent annexation of Austria.
  • 1939 – Alcoholics Anonymous, A.A.’s “Big Book”, is first published.
  • 1941 – World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
  • 1944 – Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp.
  • 1957 – The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
  • 1963 – One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
  • 1968 – The TEV Wahine, a New Zealand ferry sinks in Wellington harbour due to a fierce storm – the strongest winds ever in Wellington. Out of the 734 people on board, fifty-three died.
  • 1970 – Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
  • 1971 – Ping-pong diplomacy: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, China hosts the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
  • 1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Sun Bin’s lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
  • 1973 – Invicta International Airlines Flight 435 crashes in a snowstorm on approach to Basel, Switzerland, killing 108 people.
  • 1979 – Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
  • 1988 – The Ojhri Camp explosion kills or injures more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan.
  • 1991 – Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy, killing 140.
  • 1991 – A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.
  • 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland.
  • 2009 – President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
  • 2010 – Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
  • 2016 – The Paravur temple accident in which a devastating fire caused by the explosion of firecrackers stored for Vishu, kills more than one hundred people out of the thousands gathered for seventh day of Bhadrakali worship.
  • 2016 – An earthquake of 6.6 magnitude strikes 39 km west-southwest of Ashkasham, shakes up India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Srinagar and Pakistan.
  • 2019 – Scientists from the Event Horizon Telescope project announce the first ever image of a black hole, located in the centre of the M87 galaxy.

Births on April 10

  • 401 – Theodosius II, Roman emperor (d. 450)
  • 1018 – Nizam al-Mulk, Persian scholar and vizier (d. 1092)
  • 1472 – Margaret of York, English princess (d. 1472)
  • 1480 – Philibert II, duke of Savoy (d. 1504)
  • 1487 – William I, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1559)
  • 1512 – James V, king of Scotland (d. 1542)
  • 1579 – Augustus II, duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1666)
  • 1583 – Hugo Grotius, Dutch philosopher and jurist (d. 1645)
  • 1603 – Christian, Prince-Elect of Denmark (d. 1647)
  • 1651 – Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician, physicist, and physician (d. 1708)
  • 1656 – René Lepage de Sainte-Claire, French-Canadian settler, founded Rimouski (d. 1718)
  • 1704 – Benjamin Heath, English scholar and author (d. 1766)
  • 1707 – Michel Corrette, French organist, composer, and author (d. 1795)
  • 1713 – John Whitehurst, English geologist and clockmaker (d. 1788)
  • 1755 – Samuel Hahnemann, German-French physician and academic (d. 1843)
  • 1762 – Giovanni Aldini, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1834)
  • 1769 – Jean Lannes, French marshal (d. 1809)
  • 1778 – William Hazlitt, English essayist and critic (d. 1830)
  • 1794 – Matthew C. Perry, English-Scottish American commander (d. 1858)
  • 1806 – Juliette Drouet, French actress (d. 1883)
  • 1806 – Leonidas Polk, Scottish-American general and bishop (d. 1884)
  • 1827 – Lew Wallace, American general, lawyer, and politician, 11th Governor of New Mexico Territory (d. 1905)
  • 1829 – William Booth, English minister, founded The Salvation Army (d. 1912)
  • 1847 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-American journalist, publisher, and politician, founded Pulitzer, Inc. (d. 1911)
  • 1864 – Eugen d’Albert, Scottish-German pianist and composer (d. 1932)
  • 1865 – Jack Miner, American-Canadian farmer, hunter, and environmentalist (d. 1944)
  • 1867 – George William Russell, Irish author, poet, and painter (d. 1935)
  • 1868 – George Arliss, English actor and playwright (d. 1946)
  • 1868 – Asriel Günzig, Moravian rabbi (d. 1931)
  • 1873 – Kyösti Kallio, Finnish farmer, banker, and politician, 4th President of Finland (d. 1940)
  • 1875 – George Clawley, English footballer (d. 1920)
  • 1877 – Alfred Kubin, Austrian author and illustrator (d. 1959)
  • 1879 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (d. 1939)
  • 1879 – Coenraad Hiebendaal, Dutch rower and physician (d. 1921)
  • 1880 – Frances Perkins, American sociologist, academic, and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1965)
  • 1880 – Montague Summers, English clergyman and author (d. 1948)
  • 1886 – Johnny Hayes, American runner and trainer (d. 1965)
  • 1887 – Bernardo Houssay, Argentinian physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
  • 1889 – Louis Rougier, French philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1982)
  • 1891 – Frank Barson, English footballer and coach (d. 1968)
  • 1893 – Otto Steinböck, Austrian zoologist (d. 1969)
  • 1894 – Ben Nicholson, British painter (d. 1982)
  • 1897 – Prafulla Chandra Sen, Indian accountant and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1990)
  • 1900 – Arnold Orville Beckman, American chemist, inventor, and philanthropist (d. 2004)
  • 1901 – Dhananjay Ramchandra Gadgil, Indian economist (d. 1971)
  • 1903 – Clare Turlay Newberry, American author and illustrator (d. 1970)
  • 1906 – Steve Anderson, American hurdler (d. 1988)
  • 1910 – Margaret Clapp, American scholar and academic (d. 1974)
  • 1910 – Helenio Herrera, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1997)
  • 1910 – Paul Sweezy, American economist and publisher, founded the Monthly Review (d. 2004)
  • 1911 – Martin Denny, American pianist and composer (d. 2005)
  • 1911 – Maurice Schumann, French journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs for France (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – Boris Kidrič, Austrian-Slovenian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Slovenia (d. 1953)
  • 1913 – Stefan Heym, German-American soldier and author (d. 2001)
  • 1914 – Jack Badcock, Australian cricketer (d. 1982)
  • 1915 – Harry Morgan, American actor and director (d. 2011)
  • 1915 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (d. 2014)
  • 1916 – Lee Jung-seob, Korean painter (d. 1956)
  • 1917 – Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, Indian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1917 – Robert Burns Woodward, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
  • 1919 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Chuck Connors, American baseball player and actor (d. 1992)
  • 1921 – Jake Warren, Canadian soldier and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (d. 2008)
  • 1921 – Sheb Wooley, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2003)
  • 1923 – Roger Gaillard, Haitian historian and author (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Jane Kean, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Floyd Simmons, American decathlete and actor (d. 2008)
  • 1923 – Sid Tickridge, English footballer (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – John Watkins, South African cricketer
  • 1924 – Kenneth Noland, American soldier and painter (d. 2010)
  • 1925 – Linda Goodman, American astrologer and author (d. 1995)
  • 1925 – Angelo Poffo, American wrestler and promoter (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Junior Samples, American comedian (d. 1983)
  • 1927 – Norma Candal, Puerto Rican-American actress (d. 2006)
  • 1927 – Marshall Warren Nirenberg, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
  • 1929 – Mike Hawthorn, English race car driver (d. 1959)
  • 1929 – Liz Sheridan, American actress
  • 1929 – Max von Sydow, Swedish-French actor (d. 2020)
  • 1930 – Claude Bolling, French pianist, composer, and actor
  • 1930 – Dolores Huerta, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers
  • 1931 – Kishori Amonkar, Indian classical vocalist (d. 2017)
  • 1932 – Delphine Seyrig, Swiss/Alsatian French actress (d. 1990)
  • 1932 – Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Rokusuke Ei, Japanese composer and author (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Helen McElhone, Scottish politician (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – David Halberstam, American journalist and author (d. 2007)
  • 1935 – John A. Bennett, American soldier (d. 1961)
  • 1935 – Patrick Garland, English actor and director (d. 2013)
  • 1935 – Peter Hollingworth, Australian bishop, 23rd Governor General of Australia
  • 1936 – John Howell, English long jumper
  • 1936 – John Madden, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1936 – Bobby Smith, American singer (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Bella Akhmadulina, Soviet and Russian poet, short story writer, and translator (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Don Meredith, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
  • 1939 – Claudio Magris, Italian scholar, author, and translator
  • 1940 – Gloria Hunniford, British radio and television host
  • 1941 – Harold Long, Canadian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Paul Theroux, American novelist, short story writer, and travel writer
  • 1942 – Nick Auf der Maur, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1998)
  • 1942 – Ian Callaghan, English footballer
  • 1942 – Stuart Dybek, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
  • 1943 – Andrzej Badeński, Polish-German sprinter (d. 2008)
  • 1943 – Margaret Pemberton, English author
  • 1945 – Kevin Berry, Australian swimmer (d. 2006)
  • 1946 – David Angell, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2001)
  • 1946 – Bob Watson, American baseball player and manager
  • 1946 – Adolf Winkelmann, German director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1947 – David A. Adler, American author and educator
  • 1947 – Bunny Wailer, Jamaican singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1948 – Mel Blount, American football player
  • 1949 – Daniel Mangeas, French banker and sportscaster
  • 1949 – Eric Troyer, American singer-songwriter, keyboardist and guitarist
  • 1950 – Ken Griffey, Sr., American baseball player and manager
  • 1950 – Eddie Hazel, American guitarist (d. 1992)
  • 1951 – David Helvarg, American journalist and activist
  • 1952 – Narayan Rane, Indian politician, 16th Chief Minister of Maharashtra
  • 1952 – Masashi Sada, Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, novelist, actor, and producer
  • 1952 – Steven Seagal, American actor, producer, and martial artist
  • 1953 – David Moorcroft, English runner and businessman
  • 1953 – Pamela Wallin, Swedish-Canadian journalist, academic, and politician
  • 1954 – Paul Bearer, American wrestler and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Anne Lamott, American author and educator
  • 1954 – Peter MacNicol, American actor
  • 1954 – Juan Williams, Panamanian-American journalist and author
  • 1955 – Lesley Garrett, English soprano and actress
  • 1956 – Carol V. Robinson, English chemist and academic
  • 1957 – Aliko Dangote, Nigerian businessman, founded Dangote Group
  • 1957 – John M. Ford, American author and poet (d. 2006)
  • 1957 – Steve Gustafson, Spanish-American bass player
  • 1957 – Rosemary Hill, English historian and author
  • 1958 – Bob Bell, Northern Irish engineer
  • 1958 – Yefim Bronfman, Uzbek-American pianist
  • 1958 – Brigitte Holzapfel, German high jumper
  • 1959 – Babyface, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1959 – Yvan Loubier, Canadian economist and politician
  • 1959 – Brian Setzer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1960 – Steve Bisciotti, American businessman, co-founded Allegis Group
  • 1960 – Katrina Leskanich, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1960 – Terry Teagle, American basketball player
  • 1961 – Nicky Campbell, Scottish broadcaster and journalist
  • 1961 – Joe Cole, American roadie and author (d. 1991)
  • 1961 – Carole Goble, English computer scientist and academic
  • 1961 – Mark Jones, American basketball player
  • 1962 – Steve Tasker, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1963 – Warren DeMartini, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1963 – Jeff Gray, American baseball player and coach
  • 1963 – Doris Leuthard, Swiss lawyer and politician, 162nd President of the Swiss Confederation
  • 1965 – Tim Alexander, American drummer and songwriter
  • 1966 – Steve Claridge, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Donald Dufresne, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1967 – David Rovics, American singer-songwriter
  • 1968 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (d. 1996)
  • 1968 – Orlando Jones, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1969 – Steve Glasson, Australian lawn bowler
  • 1969 – Ekaterini Koffa, Greek sprinter
  • 1970 – Enrico Ciccone, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1970 – Leonard Doroftei, Romanian-Canadian boxer
  • 1970 – Kenny Lattimore, American singer-songwriter
  • 1970 – Q-Tip, American rapper, producer, and actor
  • 1971 – Brad William Henke, American football player and actor
  • 1971 – Indro Olumets, Estonian footballer and coach
  • 1971 – Al Reyes, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1972 – Ian Harvey, Australian cricketer
  • 1972 – Priit Kasesalu, Estonian computer programmer, co-created Skype
  • 1972 – Gordon Buchanan, Scottish film maker
  • 1973 – Guillaume Canet, French actor and director
  • 1973 – Roberto Carlos, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Aidan Moffat, Scottish singer-songwriter
  • 1973 – Christopher Simmons, Canadian-American graphic designer, author, and academic
  • 1974 – Eric Greitens, American soldier, author and politician
  • 1974 – Petros Passalis, Greek footballer
  • 1975 – Chris Carrabba, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1975 – Terrence Lewis, Indian dancer and choreographer
  • 1975 – David Harbour, American actor
  • 1976 – Clare Buckfield, English actress
  • 1976 – Yoshino Kimura, Japanese actress and singer
  • 1976 – Sara Renner, Canadian skier
  • 1977 – Stephanie Sheh, Taiwanese-American voice actress, director, and producer
  • 1978 – Sir Christus, Finnish guitarist
  • 1979 – Iván Alonso, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1979 – Kenyon Coleman, American football player
  • 1979 – Rachel Corrie, American author and activist (d. 2003)
  • 1979 – Tsuyoshi Domoto, Japanese singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1979 – Sophie Ellis-Bextor, English singer-songwriter
  • 1979 – Peter Kopteff, Finnish footballer
  • 1980 – Sean Avery, Canadian ice hockey player and model
  • 1980 – Charlie Hunnam, English actor
  • 1980 – Shao Jiayi, Chinese footballer
  • 1980 – Kasey Kahne, American race car driver
  • 1980 – Bryce Soderberg, American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1981 – Laura Bell Bundy, American actress and singer
  • 1981 – Liz McClarnon, English singer and dancer
  • 1981 – Michael Pitt, American actor, model and musician
  • 1981 – Alexei Semenov, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Andre Ethier, American baseball player
  • 1982 – Chyler Leigh, American actress and singer
  • 1983 – Jamie Chung, American actress
  • 1983 – Andrew Dost, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1983 – Ryan Merriman, American actor
  • 1983 – Hannes Sigurðsson, Icelandic footballer
  • 1984 – Faustina Agolley, Australian television host
  • 1984 – Jeremy Barrett, American figure skater
  • 1984 – Mandy Moore, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1984 – David Obua, Ugandan footballer
  • 1984 – Damien Perquis, French-Polish footballer
  • 1984 – Gonzalo Javier Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer
  • 1985 – Barkhad Abdi, Somali-American actor and director
  • 1985 – Willo Flood, Irish footballer
  • 1985 – Jesús Gámez, Spanish footballer
  • 1985 – Dion Phaneuf, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Olivia Borlée, Belgian sprinter
  • 1986 – Fernando Gago, Argentine footballer
  • 1986 – Corey Kluber, American baseball pitcher
  • 1986 – Vincent Kompany, Belgian footballer
  • 1986 – Tore Reginiussen, Norwegian footballer
  • 1987 – Shay Mitchell, Canadian actress and model
  • 1987 – Hayley Westenra, New Zealand soprano
  • 1988 – Chris Heston, American baseball pitcher
  • 1988 – Kareem Jackson, American football player
  • 1988 – Haley Joel Osment, American actor
  • 1990 – Ben Amos, English footballer
  • 1990 – Andile Jali, South African footballer
  • 1990 – Ricky Leutele, Australian-Samoan rugby league player
  • 1990 – Maren Morris, American singer
  • 1990 – Alex Pettyfer, English actor
  • 1991 – AJ Michalka, American actress and singer
  • 1992 – Jack Buchanan, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Sadio Mané, Senegalese footballer
  • 1992 – Daisy Ridley, English actress
  • 1993 – Sofia Carson, American singer and actress
  • 1994 – Siobhan Hunter, Scottish footballer
  • 1995 – Ian Nelson, American actor
  • 1996 – Thanasi Kokkinakis, Australian tennis player
  • 1996 – Audrey Whitby, American actress
  • 1998 – Anna Pogorilaya, Russian figure skater
  • 2001 – Ky Baldwin, Australian singer and actor
  • 2001 – Noa Kirel, Israeli singer

Deaths on April 10

  • 879 – Louis the Stammerer, king of West Francia (b. 846)
  • 943 – Landulf I, prince of Benevento and Capua
  • 948 – Hugh of Arles, king of Italy
  • 1008 – Notker of Liège, French bishop (b. 940)
  • 1216 – Eric X, king of Sweden (b. 1180)
  • 1282 – Ahmad Fanakati, chief minister under Kublai Khan
  • 1309 – Elisabeth von Rapperswil, Swiss countess (b. 1261)
  • 1362 – Maud, English noblewoman (b. 1339)
  • 1500 – Michael Tarchaniota Marullus, Greek scholar and poet
  • 1533 – Frederick I, king of Denmark and Norway (b. 1471)
  • 1545 – Costanzo Festa, Italian composer
  • 1585 – Gregory XIII, Pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1502)
  • 1598 – Jacopo Mazzoni, Italian philosopher (b. 1548)
  • 1599 – Gabrielle d’Estrées, French mistress of Henry IV of France (b. 1571)
  • 1601 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish soldier and poet (b. 1562)
  • 1619 – Thomas Jones, English-Irish archbishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of Ireland (b. 1550)
  • 1640 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1578)
  • 1644 – William Brewster, English official and pilgrim leader (b. 1566)
  • 1646 – Santino Solari, Swiss architect and sculptor (b. 1576)
  • 1667 – Jan Marek Marci, Czech physician and author (b. 1595)
  • 1704 – William Egon of Fürstenberg, German cardinal (b. 1629)
  • 1756 – Giacomo Antonio Perti, Italian composer (b. 1661)
  • 1760 – Jean Lebeuf, French historian and author (b. 1687)
  • 1786 – John Byron, English admiral and politician, 24th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1723)
  • 1806 – Horatio Gates, English-American general (b. 1727)
  • 1813 – Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1736)
  • 1823 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher and academic (b. 1757)
  • 1871 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1789)
  • 1904 – Isabella II, Spanish queen (b. 1830)
  • 1909 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic (b. 1837)
  • 1919 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general (b. 1879)
  • 1920 – Moritz Cantor, German mathematician and historian (b. 1829)
  • 1931 – Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet, painter, and philosopher (b. 1883)
  • 1935 – Rosa Campbell Praed, Australian novelist (b. 1851)
  • 1938 – King Oliver, American cornet player and bandleader (b. 1885)
  • 1942 – Carl Schenstrøm, Danish actor and director (b. 1881)
  • 1943 – Andreas Faehlmann, Estonian-German sailor and engineer (b. 1898)
  • 1945 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer and typographer (b. 1882)
  • 1947 – Charles Nordhoff, English-American lieutenant and author (b. 1887)
  • 1950 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1876)
  • 1954 – Auguste Lumière, French director and producer (b. 1862)
  • 1954 – Oscar Mathisen, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1888)
  • 1955 – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, French priest, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1881)
  • 1958 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (b. 1928)
  • 1960 – André Berthomieu, French director and screenwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1962 – Michael Curtiz, Hungarian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1886)
  • 1962 – Stuart Sutcliffe, Scottish artist and musician (b. 1940)
  • 1965 – Lloyd Casner, American race car driver, founded Casner Motor Racing Division (b. 1928)
  • 1965 – Linda Darnell, American actress (b. 1923)
  • 1966 – Evelyn Waugh, English soldier, novelist, journalist and critic (b. 1903)
  • 1968 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian lieutenant and politician (b. 1899)
  • 1969 – Harley Earl, American businessman (b. 1893)
  • 1975 – Walker Evans, American photographer (b. 1903)
  • 1975 – Marjorie Main, American actress (b. 1890)
  • 1978 – Hjalmar Mäe, Estonian politician (b. 1901)
  • 1979 – Nino Rota, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1911)
  • 1980 – Kay Medford, American actress and singer (b. 1919)
  • 1981 – Howard Thurman, American author, philosopher and civil rights activist (b. 1899)
  • 1983 – Issam Sartawi, Palestinian activist (b. 1935)
  • 1985 – Zisis Verros, Greek chieftain of the Macedonian Struggle (b. 1880)
  • 1986 – Linda Creed, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 1991 – Kevin Peter Hall, American actor (b. 1955)
  • 1991 – Martin Hannett, English guitarist and producer (b. 1948)
  • 1991 – Natalie Schafer, American actress (b. 1900)
  • 1992 – Sam Kinison, American comedian and actor (b. 1953)
  • 1993 – Chris Hani, South African activist and politician (b. 1942)
  • 1994 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1924)
  • 1995 – Morarji Desai, Indian politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (b. 1896)
  • 1997 – Michael Dorris, American author and academic (b. 1945)
  • 1998 – Seraphim of Athens, Greek archbishop (b. 1913)
  • 1999 – Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, German-American biochemist and physician (b. 1910)
  • 1999 – Jean Vander Pyl, American actress and voice artist (b. 1919)
  • 2000 – Peter Jones, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2000 – Larry Linville, American actor (b. 1939)
  • 2003 – Little Eva, American singer (b. 1943)
  • 2004 – Jacek Kaczmarski, Polish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet (b. 1957)
  • 2004 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Sabancı Holding (b. 1933)
  • 2005 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (b. 1923)
  • 2005 – Scott Gottlieb, American drummer (b. 1970)
  • 2005 – Archbishop Iakovos of America (b. 1911)
  • 2005 – Al Lucas, American football player (b. 1978)
  • 2005 – Wally Tax, Dutch singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2007 – Charles Philippe Leblond, French-Canadian biologist and academic (b. 1910)
  • 2007 – Dakota Staton, American singer (b. 1930)
  • 2009 – Deborah Digges, American poet and educator (b. 1950)
  • 2010 – Casualties in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash included:
    • Ryszard Kaczorowski, Polish soldier and politician, 6th President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1919)
    • Maria Kaczyńska, Polish economist, First Lady of Poland (b. 1942)
    • Lech Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 4th President of Poland (b. 1949)
    • Anna Walentynowicz, Ukrainian-Polish journalist and activist (b. 1929)
  • 2010 – Dixie Carter, American actress and singer (b. 1939)
  • 2012 – Raymond Aubrac, French engineer and activist (b. 1914)
  • 2012 – Barbara Buchholz, German theremin player and composer (b. 1959)
  • 2012 – Lili Chookasian, Armenian-American operatic singer (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Luis Aponte Martínez, Puerto Rican cardinal (b. 1922)
  • 2012 – Akin Omoboriowo, Nigerian lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Lorenzo Antonetti, Italian cardinal (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Raymond Boudon, French sociologist and academic (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Binod Bihari Chowdhury, Bangladeshi activist (b. 1911)
  • 2013 – Robert Edwards, English physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Olive Lewin, Jamaican anthropologist, musicologist, and author (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Gordon Thomas, English cyclist (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (b. 1951)
  • 2014 – Dominique Baudis, French journalist and politician (b. 1947)
  • 2014 – Jim Flaherty, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Richard Hoggart, English author and academic (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (b. 1946)
  • 2015 – Richie Benaud, Australian cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Raúl Héctor Castro, Mexican-American politician and diplomat, 14th Governor of Arizona (b. 1916)
  • 2015 – Judith Malina, German-American actress and director, co-founded The Living Theatre (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Rose Francine Rogombé, Gabonese lawyer and politician, President of Gabon (b. 1942)
  • 2015 – Peter Walsh, Australian farmer and politician, 6th Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1935)
  • 2016 – Howard Marks, Welsh cannabis smuggler, writer, and legalisation campaigner (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances on April 10

  • Christian feast day:
    • Fulbert of Chartres
    • James, Azadanus and Abdicius
    • Mikael Agricola (Lutheran)
    • Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (Episcopal Church)
    • William of Ockham (Anglicanism)
    • William Law (Anglicanism)
    • April 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Builder (Azerbaijan)
  • Feast of the Third Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
  • Siblings Day (International observance)
  • World Homeopathy Day

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

by
  • 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
  • 402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
  • 1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
  • 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
  • 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
  • 1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, an illegitimate son of Peter I of Portugal, is made king John I of Portugal.
  • 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
  • 1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
  • 1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
  • 1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
  • 1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
  • 1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
  • 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
  • 1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
  • 1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
  • 1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
  • 1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
  • 1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
  • 1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan’s debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign.
  • 1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
  • 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
  • 1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
  • 1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
  • 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
  • 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
  • 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary’s claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
  • 1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
  • 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson’s address to Congress).
  • 1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
  • 1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
  • 1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
  • 1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
  • 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
  • 1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Slater’s Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
  • 1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
  • 1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
  • 1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
  • 1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
  • 1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Leadership Election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon after.
  • 1970 – Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
  • 1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
  • 1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
  • 1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Waterloo”, launching their international career.
  • 1979 – Student protests break out in Nepal.
  • 1984 – Members of Cameroon’s Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
  • 1992 – The Bosnian War begins.
  • 1994 – The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
  • 1997 – In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occurs when a group of young people abduct and kidnap a religious family before shooting them dead on a rural suburban road.
  • 1998 – Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
  • 1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
  • 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
  • 2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
  • 2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
  • 2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
  • 2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
  • 2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.
  • 2012 – Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.
  • 2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an “aggression”, adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
  • 2018 – A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.

Births on April 6

  • 1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, d. 1204)
  • 1342 – Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa
  • 1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
  • 1573 – Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (d. 1643)
  • 1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
  • 1651 – André Dacier, French scholar and academic (d. 1722)
  • 1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
  • 1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (d. 1742)
  • 1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (d. 1741)
  • 1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
  • 1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (d. 1759)
  • 1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1772)
  • 1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (d. 1807)
  • 1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
  • 1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
  • 1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (d. 1853)
  • 1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
  • 1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
  • 1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (d. 1888)
  • 1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
  • 1815 – Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1883)
  • 1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
  • 1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
  • 1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
  • 1824 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
  • 1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (d. 1898)
  • 1844 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1913)
  • 1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
  • 1852 – Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (d. 1921)
  • 1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
  • 1857 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (d. 1922)
  • 1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (d. 1945)
  • 1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (d. 1897)
  • 1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (d. 1934)
  • 1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
  • 1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
  • 1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
  • 1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
  • 1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
  • 1886 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
  • 1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
  • 1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (d. 1967)
  • 1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
  • 1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (d. 1967)
  • 1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
  • 1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
  • 1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
  • 1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (d. 1920)
  • 1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
  • 1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
  • 1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
  • 1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
  • 1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
  • 1904 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (d. 1966)
  • 1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (d. 1994)
  • 1909 – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (d. 1965)
  • 1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
  • 1910 – Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
  • 1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
  • 1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (d. 1993)
  • 1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
  • 1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
  • 1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (d. 1987)
  • 1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
  • 1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
  • 1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (d. 1998)
  • 1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
  • 1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1921 – Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
  • 1923 – Herb Thomas, American race car driver (d. 2000)
  • 1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
  • 1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
  • 1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1928 – James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
  • 1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (d. 1972)
  • 1929 – André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
  • 1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator (d. 2019)
  • 1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
  • 1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
  • 1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
  • 1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
  • 1933 – Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium
  • 1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
  • 1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (d. 2010)
  • 1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
  • 1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (d. 2007)
  • 1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
  • 1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic
  • 1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician
  • 1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
  • 1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (d. 2016)
  • 1938 – Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor
  • 1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1939 – John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive
  • 1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
  • 1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1941 – Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic
  • 1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
  • 1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager
  • 1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
  • 1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1942 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (d. 2017)
  • 1943 – Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (d. 2017)
  • 1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic
  • 1943 – Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1943 – Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
  • 1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (d. 2017)
  • 1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
  • 1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician
  • 1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor and director
  • 1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
  • 1949 – Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (d. 2016)
  • 1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
  • 1949 – Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat
  • 1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1950 – Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (d. 2007)
  • 1950 – Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (d. 2001)
  • 1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
  • 1951 – Pascal Rogé, French pianist
  • 1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian
  • 1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
  • 1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author
  • 1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
  • 1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
  • 1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
  • 1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
  • 1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer
  • 1956 – Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician
  • 1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
  • 1956 – Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
  • 1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
  • 1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach
  • 1957 – Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
  • 1957 – Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
  • 1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
  • 1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut
  • 1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
  • 1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
  • 1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1960 – Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish actor and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager
  • 1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic
  • 1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador
  • 1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
  • 1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
  • 1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
  • 1967 – Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
  • 1967 – Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic
  • 1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
  • 1968 – Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic
  • 1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
  • 1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
  • 1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
  • 1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
  • 1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
  • 1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
  • 1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
  • 1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
  • 1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
  • 1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
  • 1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
  • 1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
  • 1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist
  • 1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
  • 1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
  • 1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
  • 1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
  • 1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
  • 1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
  • 1978 – Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist
  • 1978 – Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1978 – Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
  • 1978 – Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter
  • 1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
  • 1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
  • 1979 – Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster
  • 1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
  • 1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
  • 1980 – Antonio Thomas, American wrestler
  • 1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
  • 1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
  • 1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player
  • 1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
  • 1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
  • 1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
  • 1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1983 – James Wade, English darts player
  • 1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
  • 1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
  • 1984 – Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player
  • 1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1985 – Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor
  • 1986 – Nikolas Asprogenis, Cypriot footballer
  • 1986 – Aaron Curry, American football player
  • 1986 – Goeido Gotaro, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1986 – Ryota Moriwaki, Japanese footballer
  • 1987 – Benjamin Corgnet, French footballer
  • 1987 – Heidi Mount, American model
  • 1987 – Juan Adriel Ochoa, Mexican footballer
  • 1987 – Levi Porter, English footballer
  • 1987 – Hilary Rhoda, American model
  • 1988 – Jucilei, Brazilian footballer
  • 1988 – Leigh Adams, Australian footballer
  • 1988 – Daniele Gasparetto, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Carlton Mitchell, American football player
  • 1988 – Fabrice Muamba, Congolese-English footballer
  • 1988 – Ivonne Orsini, Puerto Rican-American model and television host, Miss World Puerto Rico 2008
  • 1990 – Lachlan Coote, Australian rugby league player
  • 1990 – Charlie McDermott, American actor
  • 1990 – Andrei Veis, Estonian footballer
  • 1992 – Ken, South Korean singer
  • 1992 – Julie Ertz, American soccer player
  • 1994 – Adrián Alonso, Mexican actor
  • 1995 – Darya Lebesheva, Belarusian tennis player
  • 1998 – Peyton List, American actress and model

Deaths on April 6

  • 861 – Prudentius, bishop of Troyes
  • 885 – Saint Methodius, Byzantine missionary and saint (b. 815)
  • 887 – Pei Che, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 943 – Liu Churang, Chinese general and chief of staff (b. 881)
  • 943 – Nasr II, ruler (amir) of the Samanid Empire (b. 906)
  • 1147 – Frederick II, duke of Swabia (b. 1090)
  • 1199 – Richard I, king of England (b. 1157)
  • 1231 – William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke
  • 1250 – Guillaume de Sonnac, Grand Master of the Knights Templar
  • 1252 – Peter of Verona, Italian priest and saint (b. 1206)
  • 1340 – Basil, emperor of Trebizond (Turkey)
  • 1362 – James I, count of La Marche (b. 1319)
  • 1376 – Preczlaw of Pogarell, Cardinal and Bishop of Wrocław (b. 1310)
  • 1490 – Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490 (b. 1443)
  • 1520 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483)
  • 1523 – Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1479)
  • 1528 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (b. 1471)
  • 1551 – Joachim Vadian, Swiss scholar and politician (b. 1484)
  • 1571 – John Hamilton, Scottish archbishop and academic (b. 1512)
  • 1590 – Francis Walsingham, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1532)
  • 1593 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (b. 1550)
  • 1605 – John Stow, English historian and author (b. 1525)
  • 1621 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (b. 1539)
  • 1641 – Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (b. 1581)
  • 1655 – David Blondel, French minister, historian, and scholar (b. 1591)
  • 1676 – John Winthrop the Younger, English politician, 1st Governor of Connecticut (b. 1606)
  • 1686 – Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, Irish-English politician (b. 1614)
  • 1707 – Willem van de Velde the Younger, Dutch-English painter (b. 1633)
  • 1755 – Richard Rawlinson, English minister and historian (b. 1690)
  • 1790 – Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1719)
  • 1825 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter and educator (b. 1757)
  • 1829 – Niels Henrik Abel, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (b. 1802)
  • 1833 – Adamantios Korais, Greek philosopher and scholar (b. 1748)
  • 1838 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (b. 1763)
  • 1860 – James Kirke Paulding, American author and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1778)
  • 1862 – Albert Sidney Johnston, American general (b. 1803)
  • 1883 – Benjamin Wright Raymond, American merchant and politician, 3rd Mayor of Chicago (b. 1801)
  • 1886 – William Edward Forster, English businessman, philanthropist, and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (b. 1818)
  • 1899 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (b. 1809)
  • 1906 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician, 6th County Governor of Møre og Romsdal (b. 1849)
  • 1913 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (b. 1835)
  • 1923 – Kabalega, King of Bunyoro (b.1853)
  • 1927 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (b. 1850)
  • 1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (b. 1869)
  • 1944 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (b. 1874)
  • 1947 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (b. 1896)
  • 1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
  • 1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (b. 1905)
  • 1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1895)
  • 1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
  • 1963 – Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1897)
  • 1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
  • 1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
  • 1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
  • 1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
  • 1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
  • 1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
  • 1983 – Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (b. 1908)
  • 1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
  • 1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
  • 1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1955)
  • 1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
  • 1996 – Greer Garson, English-American actress (b. 1904)
  • 1998 – Norbert Schmitz, German footballer (b. 1958)
  • 1998 – Tammy Wynette, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
  • 1999 – Red Norvo, American vibraphone player and composer (b. 1908)
  • 2000 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian politician, 1st President of Tunisia (b. 1903)
  • 2001 – Charles Pettigrew, American singer-songwriter (b. 1963)
  • 2003 – David Bloom, American journalist (b. 1963)
  • 2003 – Anita Borg, American computer scientist and educator; founded Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (b. 1949)
  • 2003 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (b. 1912)
  • 2003 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian drummer, educator, and activist (b. 1927)
  • 2004 – Lou Berberet, American baseball player (b. 1929)
  • 2004 – Larisa Bogoraz, Russian linguist and activist (b. 1929)
  • 2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – Maggie Dixon, American basketball player and coach (b. 1977)
  • 2006 – Francis L. Kellogg, American soldier and diplomat (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – Stefanos Stratigos, Greek actor and director (b. 1926)
  • 2007 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and producer (b. 1916)
  • 2009 – J. M. S. Careless, Canadian historian and academic (b. 1919)
  • 2009 – Shawn Mackay, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1982)
  • 2010 – Wilma Mankiller, American tribal leader (b. 1945)
  • 2010 – Corin Redgrave, English actor (b. 1939)
  • 2011 – Gerald Finnerman, American director and cinematographer (b. 1931)
  • 2012 – Roland Guilbault, American admiral (b. 1934)
  • 2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter and illustrator (b. 1958)
  • 2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist and academic (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Sheila Scotter, Australian fashion designer and journalist (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Reed Whittemore, American poet and critic (b. 1919)
  • 2013 – Hilda Bynoe, Grenadian physician and politician, 2nd Governor of Grenada (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Bill Guttridge, English footballer and manager (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Bigas Luna, Spanish director and screenwriter (b. 1946)
  • 2013 – Ottmar Schreiner, German lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
  • 2014 – Mary Anderson, American actress (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Jacques Castérède, French pianist and composer (b. 1926)
  • 2014 – Liv Dommersnes, Norwegian actress (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Mickey Rooney, American soldier, actor, and dancer (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Chuck Stone, American soldier, journalist, and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Massimo Tamburini, Italian motorcycle designer, co-founded Bimota (b. 1943)
  • 2015 – Giovanni Berlinguer, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – James Best, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1918)
  • 2015 – Dollard St. Laurent, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
  • 2017 – Don Rickles, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
  • 2019 – Michael O’Donnell, British physician, journalist, author and broadcaster (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances on April 6

  • Chakri Day, commemorating the establishment of the Chakri dynasty. (Thailand)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach (Lutheran Church).
    • Brychan
    • Eutychius of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Marcellinus of Carthage
    • Pope Celestine I (Catholic Church)
    • Pope Sixtus I
    • April 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
  • National Fisherman Day (Indonesia)
  • New Beer’s Eve (United States)
  • Tartan Day (United States & Canada)

March 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
  • 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
  • 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
  • 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
  • 1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification.
  • 1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is “depolarized” by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
  • 1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
  • 1841 – The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
  • 1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
  • 1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
  • 1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
  • 1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
  • 1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
  • 1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
  • 1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
  • 1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.
  • 1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empire.
  • 1899 – German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
  • 1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
  • 1918 – Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
  • 1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).
  • 1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
  • 1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
  • 1944 – Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.
  • 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
  • 1949 – Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
  • 1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
  • 1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
  • 1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
  • 1976 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
  • 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
  • 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
  • 2002 – 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
  • 2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
  • 2017 – SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.

Births on March 30

  • 892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
  • 1135 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (April 6 also proposed, d. 1204)
  • 1326 – Ivan II of Moscow (d. 1359)
  • 1432 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (d. 1481)
  • 1510 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (d. 1566)
  • 1551 – Salomon Schweigger, German theologian (d. 1622)
  • 1606 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1647)
  • 1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
  • 1640 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1695)
  • 1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer and educator (d. 1779)
  • 1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
  • 1750 – John Stafford Smith, English organist and composer (d. 1836)
  • 1793 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1877)
  • 1805 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann, German-Swedish linguist and botanist (d. 1887)
  • 1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (d. 1899)
  • 1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)
  • 1820 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
  • 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
  • 1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
  • 1853 – Arnoldo Sartorio, German composer, pianist, and teacher (d. 1936)
  • 1857 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (d. 1926)
  • 1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
  • 1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
  • 1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
  • 1874 – Josiah McCracken, American hammer thrower, shot putter, and football player (d. 1962)
  • 1874 – Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
  • 1875 – Thomas Xenakis, Greek-American gymnast (d. 1942)
  • 1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
  • 1880 – Seán O’Casey, Irish dramatist, playwright, and memoirist (d. 1964)
  • 1882 – Melanie Klein, Jewish Austrian-English psychologist and author (d. 1960)
  • 1888 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1957)
  • 1891 – Chunseong, Korean monk, writer and philosopher (d. 1977)
  • 1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1945)
  • 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1960)
  • 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (d. 1918)
  • 1892 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (d. 1968)
  • 1894 – Tommy Green, English race walker (d. 1975)
  • 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer, founded Ilyushin Aircraft Company (d. 1977)
  • 1895 – Jean Giono, French author and poet (d. 1970)
  • 1895 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (d. 1975)
  • 1895 – Charlie Wilson, English footballer (d. 1971)
  • 1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Indian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
  • 1902 – Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 2007)
  • 1902 – Ted Heath, English trombonist and composer (d. 1969)
  • 1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)
  • 1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)
  • 1905 – Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman (d. 1992)
  • 1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (d. 1994)
  • 1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish soldier, mathematician, and academic (d. 1940)
  • 1911 – Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist and academic (d. 2002)
  • 1912 – Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Agriculture (d. 2004)
  • 1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
  • 1913 – Richard Helms, American soldier and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2002)
  • 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1913 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general, physician, and politician, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)
  • 1915 – Pietro Ingrao, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1917 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1995)
  • 1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
  • 1919 – Robin M. Williams, New Zealand mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Turhan Bey, American actor (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Arthur Wightman, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1986)
  • 1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman, founded IKEA (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Wally Grout, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
  • 1928 – Robert Badinter, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice
  • 1928 – Colin Egar, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2008)
  • 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Ray Musto, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian runner (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – John Astin, American actor
  • 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and academic, designed Haas House (d. 2014)
  • 1935 – Karl Berger, German pianist and composer
  • 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
  • 1935 – Gordon Mumma, American composer
  • 1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1937 – Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, English businessman
  • 1938 – John Barnhill, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, founded the World Economic Forum
  • 1940 – Norman Gifford, English cricketer
  • 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player and educator
  • 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
  • 1941 – Graeme Edge, English singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1941 – Ron Johnston, English geographer and academic
  • 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistani lawyer and politician, President of Pakistan
  • 1941 – Bob Smith, American soldier and politician
  • 1942 – Ruben Kun, Nauruan lawyer and politician, 14th President of Nauru (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Tane Norton, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1942 – Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor
  • 1943 – Jay Traynor, American pop and doo-wop singer (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Mark Wylea Erwin, American businessman and diplomat
  • 1944 – Brian Wilshire, Australian radio host
  • 1945 – Eric Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter
  • 1947 – Dick Roche, Irish politician, Minister of State for European Affairs
  • 1947 – Terje Venaas, Norwegian bassist
  • 1948 – Nigel Jones, Baron Jones of Cheltenham, English computer programmer and politician
  • 1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver and team owner, founded Jordan Grand Prix
  • 1948 – Mervyn King, English economist and academic
  • 1948 – Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, American rock singer
  • 1949 – Liza Frulla, Canadian talk show host and politician, 3rd Minister of Canadian Heritage
  • 1949 – Dana Gillespie, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1949 – Naomi Sims, American model and author (d. 2009)
  • 1950 – Janet Browne, English-American historian and academic
  • 1950 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor
  • 1950 – Grady Little, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1950 – Warren Snowdon, Australian educator and politician, 39th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
  • 1951 – Paul Da Vinci, English singer-songwriter
  • 1952 – Stuart Dryburgh, English-New Zealand cinematographer
  • 1952 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1955 – Randy VanWarmer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
  • 1956 – Bill Butler, Scottish educator and politician
  • 1956 – Juanito Oiarzabal, Spanish mountaineer
  • 1956 – Shahla Sherkat, Iranian journalist and author
  • 1957 – Marie-Christine Koundja, Chadian author and diplomat
  • 1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor and comedian
  • 1958 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and stand-up comedian
  • 1958 – Joey Sindelar, American golfer
  • 1959 – Martina Cole, English television host and author
  • 1960 – Laurie Graham, Canadian skier
  • 1960 – Bill Johnson, American skier (d. 2016)
  • 1961 – Mike Thackwell, New Zealand racing driver
  • 1961 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 1999)
  • 1962 – Mark Begich, American politician
  • 1962 – MC Hammer, American rapper and actor
  • 1962 – Gary Stevens, English international footballer, defender and manager
  • 1963 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Mongolian journalist and politician, 4th President of Mongolia
  • 1963 – Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
  • 1963 – Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, Greek footballer
  • 1964 – Vlado Bozinovski, Macedonian-Australian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host
  • 1966 – Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess player and author
  • 1966 – Dmitry Volkov, Russian swimmer
  • 1966 – Leonid Voloshin, Russian triple jumper
  • 1967 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1967 – Richard Hutten, Dutch furniture designer
  • 1967 – Julie Richardson, New Zealand tennis player
  • 1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1969 – Troy Bayliss, Australian motorcycle racer
  • 1970 – Tobias Hill, English poet and author
  • 1970 – Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian food/agriculture researcher and author
  • 1971 – Mari Holden, American cyclist
  • 1971 – Mark Consuelos, American actor and television personality
  • 1972 – Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
  • 1972 – Emerson Thome, Brazilian footballer and scout
  • 1972 – Karel Poborský, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Adam Goldstein, American keyboard player, DJ, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1973 – Jan Koller, Czech footballer
  • 1973 – Kareem Streete-Thompson, Caymanian-American long jumper
  • 1974 – Martin Love, Australian cricketer
  • 1975 – Paul Griffen, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
  • 1976 – Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
  • 1976 – Obadele Thompson, Barbadian sprinter
  • 1976 – Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish politician, Minister for Education of Denmark
  • 1977 – Abhishek Chaubey, Indian director and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Paweł Czapiewski, Polish runner
  • 1978 – Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player and coach
  • 1978 – Bok van Blerk, South African singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1979 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1979 – Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1980 – Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
  • 1981 – Jammal Brown, American football player
  • 1981 – Andrea Masi, Italian rugby player
  • 1982 – Mark Hudson, English footballer
  • 1982 – Philippe Mexès, French footballer
  • 1982 – Javier Portillo, Spanish footballer
  • 1982 – Jason Dohring, American actor
  • 1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
  • 1984 – Mario Ančić, Croatian tennis player
  • 1984 – Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
  • 1985 – Giacomo Ricci, Italian racing driver
  • 1986 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Trent Barreta, American wrestler
  • 1987 – Calum Elliot, Scottish footballer
  • 1987 – Kwok Kin Pong, Hong Kong footballer
  • 1987 – Marc-Édouard Vlasic, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Will Matthews, Australian rugby league player
  • 1988 – Thanasis Papazoglou, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Richard Sherman, American football player
  • 1988 – Larisa Yurkiw, Canadian alpine skier
  • 1989 – Chris Sale, American baseball player
  • 1989 – João Sousa, Portuguese tennis player
  • 1990 – Thomas Rhett, American country music singer and songwriter
  • 1990 – Michal Březina, Czech figure skater
  • 1992 – Palak Muchhal, Indian playback singer
  • 1993 – Anitta, Brazilian singer and entertainer
  • 1994 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer
  • 1997 – Cha Eun-woo, South Korean singer and actor, A member of the South Korean boy band, Astro
  • 1998 – Kalyn Ponga, Australian rugby league player
  • 2000 – Colton Herta, American race car driver

Deaths on March 30

  • 116 – Quirinus of Neuss, Roman martyr and saint
  • 365 – Ai of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 341)
  • 943 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (b. 889)
  • 987 – Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (b. 960)
  • 1180 – Al-Mustadi, Caliph (b. 1142)
  • 1202 – Joachim of Fiore, Italian mystic and theologian (b. 1135)
  • 1465 – Isabella of Clermont, queen consort of Naples (b. c. 1424)
  • 1472 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)
  • 1486 – Thomas Bourchier, English cardinal (b. 1404)
  • 1526 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
  • 1540 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German cardinal (b. 1469)
  • 1559 – Adam Ries, German mathematician and academic (b. 1492)
  • 1587 – Ralph Sadler, English politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1507)
  • 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet and playwright (b. 1592)
  • 1689 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish atheist and philosopher (b. 1634)
  • 1707 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French general and engineer (b. 1633)
  • 1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1695)
  • 1783 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist and physician (b. 1718)
  • 1804 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1718)
  • 1806 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (b. 1757)
  • 1830 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1763)
  • 1840 – Beau Brummell, English-French fashion designer (b. 1778)
  • 1842 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (b. 1755)
  • 1864 – Louis Schindelmeisser, German clarinet player, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
  • 1873 – Bénédict Morel, Austrian-French psychiatrist and physician (b. 1809)
  • 1879 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (b. 1815)
  • 1886 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Premier of Quebec (b. 1838)
  • 1896 – Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician, 55th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1832)
  • 1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
  • 1925 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and author (b. 1861)
  • 1935 – Romanos Melikian, Armenian composer (b. 1883)
  • 1936 – Conchita Supervía, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1895)
  • 1940 – Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet Scottish soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1876)
  • 1943 – Jan Bytnar, Polish lieutenant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1921)
  • 1943 – Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish sergeant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1920)
  • 1945 – Béla Balogh, Hungarian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
  • 1949 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
  • 1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricketer (b. 1909)
  • 1950 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
  • 1952 – Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1905)
  • 1955 – Harl McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899)
  • 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English author and poet (b. 1875)
  • 1959 – Daniil Andreyev, Russian mystic and poet (b. 1906)
  • 1959 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (b. 1894)
  • 1959 – Riccardo Zanella, Italian politician (b. 1875)
  • 1960 – Joseph Haas, German composer and educator (b. 1879)
  • 1961 – Philibert Jacques Melotte, English astronomer (b. 1880)
  • 1963 – Aleksandr Gauk, Russian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
  • 1964 – Nella Larsen, American nurse and author (b. 1891)
  • 1965 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
  • 1966 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (b. 1902)
  • 1966 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
  • 1966 – Erwin Piscator, German director and producer (b. 1893)
  • 1967 – Frank Thorpe, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
  • 1967 – Jean Toomer, American poet and novelist (b. 1894)
  • 1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (b. 1934)
  • 1970 – Heinrich Brüning, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
  • 1972 – Mahir Çayan, Turkish politician (b. 1946)
  • 1972 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
  • 1973 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish pilot and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1973 – Yves Giraud-Cabantous, French racing driver (b. 1904)
  • 1975 – Peter Bamm, German journalist and author (b. 1897)
  • 1977 – Levko Revutsky, Ukrainian composer and educator (b. 1889)
  • 1978 – George Paine, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
  • 1978 – Memduh Tağmaç, Turkish general (b. 1904)
  • 1979 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (b. 1916)
  • 1979 – Ray Ventura, French pianist and bandleader (b. 1908)
  • 1981 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1889)
  • 1984 – Karl Rahner, German-Austrian priest and theologian (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – Harold Peary, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
  • 1986 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
  • 1986 – John Ciardi, American poet and etymologist (b. 1916)
  • 1988 – Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1908)
  • 1990 – Harry Bridges, Australian-born American activist and trade union leader (b. 1901)
  • 1992 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1919)
  • 1993 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter (b. 1916)
  • 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
  • 1995 – Rozelle Claxton, American pianist (b. 1913)
  • 1995 – Tony Lock, English-Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1929)
  • 1995 – Paul A. Rothchild, American record producer (b. 1935)
  • 1996 – Hugh Falkus, English pilot and author (b. 1917)
  • 1996 – Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (b. 1916)
  • 2000 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (b. 1915)
  • 2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
  • 2002 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and lyricist (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
  • 2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Russian banker and politician, 11th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
  • 2004 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist and author (b. 1908)
  • 2004 – Hubert Gregg, English actor and director (b. 1914)
  • 2004 – Michael King, New Zealand historian and author (b. 1945)
  • 2004 – Timi Yuro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2005 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 1926)
  • 2005 – Milton Green, American hurdler and soldier (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Fred Korematsu, American political activist (b. 1919)
  • 2005 – O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
  • 2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (b. 1968)
  • 2006 – Red Hickey, American football player and coach (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – John McGahern, Irish author and educator (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – John Roberts, Canadian political scientist, academic, and politician, 46th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1933)
  • 2008 – Roland Fraïssé, French mathematical logician (b. 1920)
  • 2008 – David Leslie, Scottish racing driver (b. 1953)
  • 2008 – Richard Lloyd, English racing driver (b. 1945)
  • 2008 – Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photographer and journalist (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (b. 1922)
  • 2010 – Martin Sandberger, German SS officer (b. 1911)
  • 2012 – Janet Anderson Perkin, Canadian baseball player and curler (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Aquila Berlas Kiani, Indian-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2012 – Francesco Mancini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1968)
  • 2012 – Granville Semmes, American businessman, founded 1-800-Flowers (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Leonid Shebarshin, Russian KGB officer (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Bobby Parks, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
  • 2013 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Edith Schaeffer, Chinese-Swiss religious leader and author, co-founded L’Abri (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Bob Turley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Ray Hutchison, American lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Kate O’Mara, English actress (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
  • 2015 – Roger Slifer, American author, illustrator, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1954)
  • 2015 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2018 – Bill Maynard, English actor (b. 1928)
  • 2020 – Bill Withers, American musician (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on March 30

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blessed Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy
    • Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
    • John Climacus
    • Mamertinus of Auxerre
    • Quirinus of Neuss
    • Thomas Son Chasuhn, Marie-Nicolas-Antoine Daveluy (part of The Korean Martyrs)
    • Tola of Clonard
    • March 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which the first day of Hocktide can fall, while April 3 is the latest; observed on the second Monday after Easter. (Hungerford, England; popular in medieval England)
  • Land Day (Palestine)
  • National Doctors’ Day (United States)
  • Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
  • School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)

March 19- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by
  • 1277 – The Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1277 is concluded, stipulating a two-year truce and renewing Venetian commercial privileges in the Byzantine Empire.
  • 1279 – A Mongol victory at the Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty in China.
  • 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
  • 1563 – The Edict of Amboise is signed, ending the first phase of the French Wars of Religion and granting certain freedoms to the Huguenots.
  • 1649 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring it “useless and dangerous to the people of England”.
  • 1687 – Explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men.
  • 1812 – The Cortes of Cádiz promulgates the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
  • 1853 – The Taiping reform movement occupies and makes Nanjing its capital until 1864.
  • 1861 – The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand.
  • 1863 – The SS Georgiana, said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions, medicines, and merchandise then valued at over $1,000,000.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Bentonville begins. By the end of the battle two days later, Confederate forces had retreated from Four Oaks, North Carolina.
  • 1885 – Louis Riel declares a provisional government in Saskatchewan, beginning the North-West Rebellion.
  • 1895 – Auguste and Louis Lumière record their first footage using their newly patented cinematograph.
  • 1918 – The US Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time.
  • 1920 – The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time (the first time was on November 19, 1919).
  • 1921 – Irish War of Independence: One of the biggest engagements of the war takes place at Crossbarry, County Cork. About 100 Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteers escape an attempt by over 1,300 British forces to encircle them.
  • 1931 – Gambling is legalized in Nevada.
  • 1932 – The Sydney Harbour Bridge is opened.
  • 1943 – Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard.
  • 1944 – World War II: The German army occupies Hungary.
  • 1945 – World War II: Off the coast of Japan, a dive bomber hits the aircraft carrier USS Franklin, killing 724 of her crew. Badly damaged, the ship is able to return to the US under her own power.
  • 1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues his “Nero Decree” ordering all industries, military installations, shops, transportation facilities, and communications facilities in Germany to be destroyed.
  • 1946 – French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Réunion become overseas départements of France.
  • 1954 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory in round seven at Madison Square Garden in the first televised prize boxing fight shown in colour.
  • 1954 – Willie Mosconi sets a world record by running 526 consecutive balls without a miss during a straight pool exhibition at East High Billiard Club in Springfield, Ohio, setting a record that remains unbroken.
  • 1958 – The Monarch Underwear Company fire leaves 24 dead and 15 injured.
  • 1962 – Highly influential artist Bob Dylan releases his first album, Bob Dylan, for Columbia Records.
  • 1962 – The Algerian War of Independence ends.
  • 1964 – Over 500,000 Brazilians attend the March of the Family with God for Liberty, in protest against the government of João Goulart and against communism.
  • 1965 – The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to have been the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence, exactly 102 years after its destruction.
  • 1966 – 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men’s basketball team wins the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
  • 1969 – The 385-metre-tall (1,263 ft) TV-mast at Emley Moor transmitting station, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build-up.
  • 1979 – The United States House of Representatives begins broadcasting its day-to-day business via the cable television network C-SPAN.
  • 1982 – Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the United Kingdom.
  • 1987 – Televangelist Jim Bakker resigns as head of the PTL Club due to a brewing sex scandal; he hands over control to Jerry Falwell.
  • 1989 – The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty in 1979.
  • 1990 – The ethnic clashes of Târgu Mureș begin four days after the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.
  • 1998 – An Ariana Afghan Airlines Boeing 727 crashes on approach to Kabul International Airport, killing all 45 on board.
  • 2002 – Zimbabwe is suspended from the Commonwealth on charges of human rights abuses and of electoral fraud, following a turbulent presidential election.
  • 2004 – Catalina affair: A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 in 1952 over the Baltic Sea is finally recovered after years of work.
  • 2004 – March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China(Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian was shot just before the country’s presidential election on March 20.
  • 2008 – GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed.
  • 2011 – Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
  • 2013 – A series of bombings and shootings kills at least 98 people and injures 240 others across Iraq.
  • 2016 – Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don international airport, killing all 62 on board.
  • 2016 – An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, killing five people and injuring 36.
  • 2018 – The last male northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, dies, ensuring a chance of extinction for the species.

Births on March 19

  • 1206 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (d. 1248)
  • 1434 – Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1443)
  • 1488 – Johannes Magnus, Swedish archbishop and theologian (d. 1544)
  • 1534 – José de Anchieta, Spanish missionary and saint (d. 1597)
  • 1542 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (d. 1605)
  • 1601 – Alonzo Cano, Spanish painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1667)
  • 1604 – John IV of Portugal (d. 1656)
  • 1641 – Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Syrian author and scholar (d. 1731)
  • 1661 – Francesco Gasparini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1727)
  • 1684 – Jean Astruc, French physician and scholar (d. 1766)
  • 1721 – Tobias Smollett, Scottish-Italian poet and author (d. 1771) (baptised on this day)
  • 1734 – Thomas McKean, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1817)
  • 1739 – Charles-François Lebrun, duc de Plaisance, French lawyer and politician (d. 1824)
  • 1742 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian rebel leader (d. 1781)
  • 1748 – Elias Hicks, American farmer, minister, and theologian (d. 1830)
  • 1778 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (d. 1815)
  • 1809 – Fredrik Pacius, German composer and conductor (d. 1891)
  • 1813 – David Livingstone, Scottish missionary and explorer (d. 1873)
  • 1816 – Johannes Verhulst, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1891)
  • 1821 – Richard Francis Burton, English soldier, geographer, and diplomat (d. 1890)
  • 1823 – Arthur Blyth, English-Australian politician, 9th Premier of South Australia (d. 1891)
  • 1824 – William Allingham, Irish poet, author, and scholar (d. 1889)
  • 1829 – Carl Frederik Tietgen, Danish businessman (d. 1901)
  • 1844 – Minna Canth, Finnish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1897)
  • 1847 – Albert Pinkham Ryder, American painter (d. 1917)
  • 1848 – Wyatt Earp, American police officer (d. 1929)
  • 1849 – Alfred von Tirpitz, German admiral and politician (d. 1930)
  • 1858 – Kang Youwei, Chinese scholar and politician (d. 1927)
  • 1860 – William Jennings Bryan, American lawyer and politician, 41st United States Secretary of State (d. 1925)
  • 1861 – Lomer Gouin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 13th Premier of Quebec (d. 1929)
  • 1864 – Charles Marion Russell, American painter and sculptor (d. 1926)
  • 1865 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist, myrmecologist, and academic (d. 1937)
  • 1868 – Senda Berenson Abbott, Lithuanian-American basketball player and educator (d. 1954)
  • 1871 – Schofield Haigh, English cricketer and coach (d. 1921)
  • 1872 – Anna Held, Polish singer (d. 1918)
  • 1873 – Max Reger, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
  • 1875 – Zhang Zuolin, Chinese warlord (d. 1928)
  • 1876 – Felix Jacoby, German philologist (d. 1959)
  • 1880 – Ernestine Rose, American librarian and advocate (d. 1961)
  • 1881 – Edith Nourse Rogers, American social worker and politician (d. 1960)
  • 1882 – Gaston Lachaise, French-American sculptor (d. 1935)
  • 1883 – Norman Haworth, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
  • 1883 – Joseph Stilwell, American general (d. 1946)
  • 1885 – Attik, Greek composer (d. 1944)
  • 1888 – Josef Albers, German-American painter and educator (d. 1976)
  • 1888 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (d. 1969)
  • 1891 – Earl Warren, American lieutenant, jurist, and politician, 14th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1974)
  • 1892 – Theodore Sizer, American professor of the history of art (d. 1967)
  • 1892 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (d. 1961)
  • 1892 – James Van Fleet, American general and diplomat (d. 1992)
  • 1894 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and singer (d. 1975)
  • 1900 – Carmen Carbonell, Spanish stage and film actress (d. 1988)
  • 1900 – Frédéric Joliot-Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
  • 1901 – Jo Mielziner, French-American set designer (d. 1976)
  • 1904 – John Sirica, American lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
  • 1905 – Joe Rollino, American weightlifter and boxer (d. 2010)
  • 1905 – Albert Speer, German architect and politician (d. 1981)
  • 1906 – Adolf Eichmann, German SS officer (d. 1962)
  • 1906 – Clara Breed, American librarian and activist (d. 1994)
  • 1909 – Louis Hayward, South African-born American actor (d. 1985)
  • 1910 – Joseph Carroll, American general (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Hugh Watt, Australian-New Zealand engineer and politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1980)
  • 1914 – Leonidas Alaoglu, Canadian-American mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
  • 1914 – Jay Berwanger, American football player and coach (d. 2002)
  • 1915 – Robert G. Cole, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1944)
  • 1915 – Patricia Morison, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
  • 1916 – Eric Christmas, English-Canadian actor (d. 2000)
  • 1916 – Irving Wallace, American journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
  • 1917 – Laszlo Szabo, Hungarian chess player (d. 1998)
  • 1919 – Lennie Tristano, American pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1978)
  • 1920 – Kjell Aukrust, Norwegian author, poet, and painter (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Tommy Cooper, British magician and prop comedian (d. 1984)
  • 1922 – Guy Lewis, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1922 – Hiroo Onoda, Japanese lieutenant (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – Pamela Britton, American actress (d. 1974)
  • 1923 – Benito Jacovitti, Italian illustrator (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – Henry Morgentaler, Polish-Canadian physician and activist (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Joe Gaetjens, Haitian footballer (d. 1964)
  • 1925 – Brent Scowcroft, American general and diplomat, 9th United States National Security Advisor
  • 1927 – Richie Ashburn, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
  • 1928 – Hans Küng, Swiss theologian and author
  • 1928 – Patrick McGoohan, Irish-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1931 – Emma Andijewska, Ukrainian poet, writer and painter
  • 1932 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Peter Hall, English geographer, author, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1932 – Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1933 – Phyllis Newman, American actress and singer (d. 2019)
  • 1933 – Philip Roth, American novelist (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – Renée Taylor, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1933 – Richard Williams, Canadian-English animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
  • 1935 – Nancy Malone, American actress, director, and producer (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – Ursula Andress, Swiss model and actress
  • 1936 – Ben Lexcen, Australian sailor and architect (d. 1988)
  • 1937 – Clarence “Frogman” Henry, American R&B singer and pianist
  • 1937 – Egon Krenz, German politician
  • 1938 – Joe Kapp, American football player, coach, and actor
  • 1942 – Heather Robertson, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2014)
  • 1943 – Mario J. Molina, Mexican chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1943 – Mario Monti, Italian economist and politician, Prime Minister of Italy
  • 1943 – Vern Schuppan, Australian race car driver
  • 1944 – Said Musa, Belizean lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Belize
  • 1945 – John Holder, English cricketer and umpire
  • 1945 – Modestas Paulauskas, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
  • 1946 – Ruth Pointer, American musician
  • 1947 – Glenn Close, American actress, singer, and producer
  • 1947 – Marinho Peres, Brazilian footballer and coach
  • 1948 – David Schnitter, American saxophonist and educator
  • 1949 – Blase J. Cupich, American theologian and cardinal
  • 1950 – José S. Palma, Filipino archbishop
  • 1952 – Warren Lees, New Zealand cricketer and coach
  • 1952 – Martin Ravallion, Australian economist and academic
  • 1952 – Harvey Weinstein, American director and producer
  • 1953 – Ian Blair, English police officer
  • 1953 – Peter Hendy, English businessman
  • 1953 – Ricky Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1985)
  • 1954 – Cho Kwang-rae, South Korean footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1955 – Bruce Willis, German-American actor and producer
  • 1956 – Yegor Gaidar, Russian economist and politician, First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2009)
  • 1958 – Andy Reid, American football player and coach
  • 1960 – Eliane Elias, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1962 – Iván Calderón, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2003)
  • 1963 – Neil LaBute, American director and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Yoko Kanno, Japanese pianist and composer
  • 1964 – Jake Weber, English actor
  • 1966 – Michael Crockart, Scottish police officer and politician
  • 1966 – Olaf Marschall, German footballer and manager
  • 1966 – Andy Sinton, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
  • 1967 – Vladimir Konstantinov, Russian-American ice hockey player
  • 1968 – Tyrone Hill, American basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Harald Johnsen, Norwegian bassist and composer (d. 2011)
  • 1970 – Michael Krumm, German race car driver
  • 1973 – Ashley Giles, English cricketer and coach
  • 1975 – Antonio Daniels, American basketball player
  • 1975 – Matthew Richardson, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1976 – Andre Miller, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Alessandro Nesta, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Cydonie Mothersille, Jamaican-Caymanian sprinter
  • 1979 – Sheldon Brown, American football player
  • 1979 – Hee-seop Choi, South Korean-American baseball player
  • 1979 – Ivan Ljubičić, Croatian tennis player
  • 1979 – Christos Patsatzoglou, Greek footballer
  • 1979 – Hedo Türkoğlu, Turkish basketball player
  • 1980 – Luca Ferri, Italian footballer
  • 1980 – Taichi Ishikari, Japanese wrestler
  • 1980 – Mikuni Shimokawa, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Steve Cummings, English cyclist
  • 1981 – Kolo Touré, Ivorian footballer
  • 1982 – Jonathan Fanene, American football player
  • 1982 – Brad Jones, Australian footballer
  • 1982 – Eduardo Saverin, Brazilian-Singaporean businessman
  • 1982 – Yoshikaze Masatsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1985 – Inesa Jurevičiūtė, Lithuanian figure skater
  • 1986 – Tyler Bozak, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Michal Švec, Czech footballer
  • 1987 – Miloš Teodosić, Serbian basketball player
  • 1988 – Clayton Kershaw, American baseball player
  • 1991 – Aleksandr Kokorin, Russian footballer
  • 1993 – Mateusz Szwoch, Polish footballer
  • 1993 – Hakim Ziyech, Moroccan footballer
  • 1995 – Alexei Sintsov, Russian figure skater
  • 1995 – Héctor Bellerín, Spanish footballer
  • 1996 – Barbara Haas, Austrian tennis player

Deaths on March 19

  • 235 – Severus Alexander, Roman emperor (b. 208)
  • 953 – Al-Mansur Billah, caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate (b. 913)
  • 968 – Emma of Paris, duchess of Normandy (b. 943)
  • 1238 – Henry the Bearded, Polish duke and son of Bolesław I the Tall (b. 1163)
  • 1263 – Hugh of Saint-Cher, French cardinal (b. 1200)
  • 1279 – Zhao Bing, Chinese emperor (b. 1271)
  • 1286 – Alexander III, king of Scotland (b. 1241)
  • 1330 – Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1301)
  • 1372 – John II, marquess of Montferrat (b. 1321)
  • 1533 – John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, English baron and statesman (b. 1467)
  • 1534 – Michael Weiße, German theologian (b. c. 1488)
  • 1539 – Lord Edmund Howard, English nobleman (b. c. 1478)
  • 1563 – Arthur Brooke, English poet
  • 1568 – Elizabeth Seymour, Lady Cromwell, English noblewoman (b.c. 1518)
  • 1581 – Francis I, duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1510)
  • 1612 – Sophia Olelkovich Radziwill, Belarusian saint (b. 1585)
  • 1637 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal (b. 1570)
  • 1649 – Gerhard Johann Vossius, German scholar and theologian (b. 1577)
  • 1683 – Thomas Killigrew, English playwright and manager (b. 1612)
  • 1687 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, French-American explorer (b. 1643)
  • 1697 – Nicolaus Bruhns, German organist and composer (b. 1665)
  • 1711 – Thomas Ken, English bishop and hymn-writer (b. 1637)
  • 1717 – John Campbell, 1st Earl of Breadalbane and Holland, Scottish soldier (b. 1636)
  • 1721 – Pope Clement XI (b. 1649)
  • 1783 – Frederick Cornwallis, English archbishop (b. 1713)
  • 1790 – Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 182nd Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1713)
  • 1797 – Philip Hayes, English organist and composer (b. 1738)
  • 1816 – Philip Mazzei, Italian-American physician and philosopher (b. 1730)
  • 1871 – Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist, geologist, and physicist (b. 1795)
  • 1897 – Antoine Thomson d’Abbadie, Irish-French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (b. 1810)
  • 1900 – John Bingham, American lawyer and politician, 7th United States Ambassador to Japan (b. 1815)
  • 1900 – Charles-Louis Hanon, French pianist and composer (b. 1819)
  • 1914 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest, geologist, and volcanologist (b. 1850)
  • 1919 – Emma Bell Miles, American writer, poet, and artist of Appalachia (b. 1879)
  • 1930 – Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1848)
  • 1930 – Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1854)
  • 1942 – Clinton Hart Merriam, American zoologist, ornithologist, and entomologist (b. 1855)
  • 1944 – William Hale Thompson, American rancher and politician, 41st Mayor of Chicago (b. 1869)
  • 1949 – James Somerville, English admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (b. 1882)
  • 1949 – James Newland, Australian soldier and policeman (b. 1881)
  • 1950 – Edgar Rice Burroughs, American soldier and author (b. 1875)
  • 1950 – Norman Haworth, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
  • 1951 – Dmytro Doroshenko, Ukrainian historian and politician, Prime Minister of Ukraine (b. 1882)
  • 1976 – Albert Dieudonné, French actor and author (b. 1889)
  • 1976 – Paul Kossoff, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1950)
  • 1977 – William L. Laurence, Lithuanian-born American journalist and author (b. 1888)
  • 1978 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (b. 1891)
  • 1982 – J. B. Kripalani, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1888)
  • 1982 – Randy Rhoads, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1956)
  • 1984 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer (b. 1928)
  • 1986 – Sabino Barinaga, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
  • 1987 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
  • 1988 – Bun Cook, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1904)
  • 1990 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (b. 1966)
  • 1993 – Henrik Sandberg, Danish production manager and producer (b. 1915)
  • 1996 – Lise Østergaard, Danish psychologist and politician (b. 1924)
  • 1996 – Virginia Henderson, American nurse, researcher, theorist and author (b. 1897)
  • 1997 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (b. 1904)
  • 1997 – Eugène Guillevic, French poet and author (b. 1907)
  • 1998 – E. M. S. Namboodiripad, Indian theorist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Kerala (b. 1909)
  • 1999 – Tofilau Eti Alesana, Samoan politician, 5th Prime Minister of Samoa (b. 1924)
  • 2000 – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (b. 1935)
  • 2000 – Shafiq-ur-Rahman, Pakistani physician and author (b. 1920)
  • 2003 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (b. 1926)
  • 2004 – Mitchell Sharp, Canadian economist and politician, 23rd Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1911)
  • 2005 – John DeLorean, American engineer and businessman, founded the DeLorean Motor Company (b. 1925)
  • 2008 – Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer (b. 1917)
  • 2008 – Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – Paul Scofield, English actor (b. 1922)
  • 2009 – Maria Bergson, Austrian-American architect and interior designer (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Kym Bonython, Australian drummer and radio host (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Jim Case, American director and producer (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Ulu Grosbard, Belgian-American director and producer (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – Hugo Munthe-Kaas, Norwegian intelligence agent (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Patrick Joseph McGovern, American businessman, founded IDG (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Fred Phelps, American lawyer, pastor, and activist, founded the Westboro Baptist Church (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – Heather Robertson, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1942)
  • 2014 – Robert S. Strauss, American diplomat, United States Ambassador to Russia (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1912)
  • 2014 – Joseph F. Weis, Jr., American lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
  • 2015 – Gus Douglass, American farmer and politician (b. 1927)
  • 2015 – Safet Plakalo, Bosnian author and playwright (b. 1950)
  • 2015 – Danny Schechter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
  • 2016 – Roger Agnelli, Brazilian banker and businessman (b. 1959)
  • 2016 – Jack Mansell, English footballer and manager (b. 1927)
  • 2019 – William Whitfield, British architect (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances on March 19

  • Christian feast day:
    • Alkmund of Derby
    • Saint Joseph (Western Christianity; if this date falls on Sunday, the feast is moved to Monday March 20)
    • March 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Maundy Thursday can fall, while April 22 is the latest; celebrated on Thursday before Easter (Christianity)
  • Minna Canth’s Birthday (Finland)
  • Kashubian Unity Day (Poland)
  • St Joseph’s Day (Roman Catholicism and Anglican Communion) related observances:
    • Falles, celebrated on the week leading to March 19 (Valencia)
    • Father’s Day (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Honduras, and Bolivia)
    • “Return of the Swallow”, annual observance of the swallows’ return to Mission San Juan Capistrano in California

March 16- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

by

March 16 in History

  • 934 – Meng Zhixiang declares himself emperor and establishes Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
  • 1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford’s Tower, York.
  • 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burned to death after the Fall of Montségur.
  • 1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the Despenser Wars.
  • 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the island of Homonhon in the Philippines.
  • 1621 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visited the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, “Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset.”
  • 1660 – The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.
  • 1689 – The 23rd Regiment of Foot, or Royal Welch Fusiliers, is founded.
  • 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish troops capture the British-held island of Roatán.
  • 1782 – Anglo-Spanish War (1779): Action of 16 March 1782.
  • 1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.
  • 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: An Austrian column is defeated by the French in the Battle of Valvasone.
  • 1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.
  • 1812 – The Siege of Badajoz begins: British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat the French garrison during the Peninsular War.
  • 1815 – Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
  • 1818 – In the Second Battle of Cancha Rayada, Spanish forces defeated Chileans under José de San Martín.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: During the Red River Campaign, Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
  • 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough began as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
  • 1870 – The first version of the overture fantasy Romeo and Juliet by Tchaikovsky receives its première performance.
  • 1872 – The Wanderers F.C. won the first FA Cup, the oldest football competition in the world, beating Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
  • 1894 – Jules Massenet’s opera Thaïs is first performed.
  • 1898 – In Melbourne the representatives of five colonies adopted a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
  • 1900 – Sir Arthur Evans purchased the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
  • 1916 – The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US–Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
  • 1917 – World War I: A German auxiliary cruiser is sunk in the Action of 16 March 1917.
  • 1918 – Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites executed 70–100 capitulated Reds.
  • 1924 – In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.
  • 1925 – An earthquake occurs in Yunnan, China.
  • 1926 – History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
  • 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
  • 1936 – Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh.
  • 1939 – From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
  • 1940 – First person killed (James Isbister) in a German bombing raid on the UK in World War II during a raid on Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ended, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persisted.
  • 1945 – Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in around 5,000 deaths.
  • 1958 – The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company’s founding.
  • 1962 – A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.
  • 1966 – Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with an Agena Target Vehicle.
  • 1968 – Vietnam War: My Lai Massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
  • 1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
  • 1969 – A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.
  • 1976 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
  • 1977 – Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.
  • 1978 – Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped. (He is later murdered by his captors.)
  • 1978 – A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73.
  • 1978 – Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.
  • 1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War: The People’s Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ends the war.
  • 1983 – Demolition of the Ismaning radio transmitter, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
  • 1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Lebanon, is kidnapped by Hezbollah. (He later dies in captivity.)
  • 1985 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 1991.
  • 1988 – Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.
  • 1988 – Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.
  • 1988 – The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three persons, one of them a member of PIRA are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.
  • 1991 – The airplane carrying eight members of Reba McEntire’s touring band crashed on the side of Otay Mountain.
  • 1995 – Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
  • 2001 – A series of bomb blasts that took place in the city of Shijiazhuang, China killed 108 people and injured 38 others, was the biggest mass murder in China in decades.
  • 2003 – American activist Rachel Corrie is killed in Rafah trying to obstruct the demolition of a home by being run over by a bulldozer.
  • 2005 – Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.
  • 2014 – Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.
  • 2016 – A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 54.
  • 2016 – Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 22 and injuring 18.

Births on March 16

  • 1399 – The Xuande Emperor, ruler of Ming China (d. 1435)
  • 1445 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss priest and theologian (d. 1510)
  • 1465 – Kunigunde of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1520)
  • 1473 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (d. 1541)
  • 1559 – Amar Singh I, successor of Maharana Pratap of Mewar (d. 1620)
  • 1581 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and poet (d. 1647)
  • 1585 – Gerbrand Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (d. 1618)
  • 1590 – Ii Naotaka, Japanese daimyō (d. 1659)
  • 1596 – Ebba Brahe, Swedish countess (d. 1674)
  • 1609 – Michael Franck, German baker, teacher, poet, and composer (d. 1667)
  • 1609 – Agostino Mitelli, Italian painter (d. 1660)
  • 1621 – Georg Neumark, German poet and composer (d. 1681)
  • 1631 – René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
  • 1638 – François Crépieul, Jesuit missionary (d. 1702)
  • 1654 – Andreas Acoluthus, German scholar (d. 1704)
  • 1670 – François de Franquetot de Coigny, French general (d. 1759)
  • 1673 – Jean Bouhier, French jurist and scholar (d. 1746)
  • 1687 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I (d. 1757)
  • 1693 – Malhar Rao Holkar, Indian nobleman (d. 1766)
  • 1701 – Daniel Lorenz Salthenius, Swedish theologian (d. 1750)
  • 1729 – Maria Louise Albertine (d. 1818)
  • 1741 – Carlo Amoretti, Italian scientist (d. 1816)
  • 1744 – Nicolas-Germain Léonard, French poet and novelist (d. 1793)
  • 1750 – Caroline Herschel, German-English astronomer (d. 1848)
  • 1751 – James Madison, American academic and politician, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
  • 1753 – François Amédée Doppet, French general (d. 1799)
  • 1760 – Johann Heinrich Meyer, Swiss painter and writer (d. 1832)
  • 1766 – Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French antiquarian, cartographer, artist and explorer (d. 1875)
  • 1771 – Antoine-Jean Gros, French painter (d. 1835)
  • 1773 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentinian general and politician, 6th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1836)
  • 1774 – Matthew Flinders, English navigator and cartographer (d. 1814)
  • 1789 – Francis Rawdon Chesney, English general and explorer (d. 1872)
  • 1789 – Georg Ohm, German physicist and mathematician (d. 1854)
  • 1794 – Ami Boué, Austrian geologist and ethnographer (d. 1881)
  • 1797 – Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist (d. 1864)
  • 1799 – Anna Atkins, English botanist and photographer (d. 1871)
  • 1800 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (d. 1846)
  • 1805 – Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philologist and politician (d. 1861)
  • 1806 – Félix De Vigne, Belgian painter (d. 1862)
  • 1808 – Hannah T. King, British-born American writer and pioneer (d. 1886)
  • 1813 – Gaëtan de Rochebouët, French prime minister (d. 1899)
  • 1819 – José Paranhos, Brazilian politician (d. 1880)
  • 1820 – Enrico Tamberlik, Italian tenor (d. 1889)
  • 1821 – Eduard Heine, German mathematician and academic (d. 1881)
  • 1822 – Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor (d. 1899)
  • 1822 – John Pope, American general (d. 1892)
  • 1823 – William Henry Monk, English organist and composer (d. 1889)
  • 1825 – Camilo Castelo Branco, Portuguese writer (d. 1890)
  • 1828 – Émile Deshayes de Marcère, French politician (d. 1918)
  • 1834 – James Hector, Scottish geologist and surgeon (d. 1907)
  • 1836 – Andrew Smith Hallidie, English-American engineer and businessman (d. 1900)
  • 1839 – Sully Prudhomme, French poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
  • 1839 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter (d. 1922)
  • 1840 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese businessman (d. 1931)
  • 1840 – Georg von der Gabelentz, German linguist and sinologist (d. 1893)
  • 1845 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (d. 1928)
  • 1846 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1846 – Rebecca Cole, American physician and social reformer (d. 1922)
  • 1846 – Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book smuggler (d. 1918)
  • 1848 – Axel Heiberg, Norwegian financier and diplomat (d. 1932)
  • 1851 – Otto Bardenhewer, German patrologist (d. 1935)
  • 1851 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (d. 1931)
  • 1856 – Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (d. 1879)
  • 1857 – Charles Harding Firth, English historian and academic (d. 1936)
  • 1859 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1906)
  • 1865 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player and manager (d. 1953)
  • 1869 – Willy Burmester, German violinist (d. 1933)
  • 1871 – Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (d. 1951)
  • 1871 – Frantz Reichel, French rugby player and hurdler (d. 1932)
  • 1874 – Frédéric François-Marsal, French prime minister (d. 1958)
  • 1877 – Léo-Ernest Ouimet, Canadian director and producer (d. 1972)
  • 1878 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German cardinal (d. 1946)
  • 1878 – Paul Jouve, French painter (d. 1973)
  • 1881 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (d. 1947)
  • 1882 – James Lightbody, American runner (d. 1953)
  • 1883 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet, author, and painter (d. 1958)
  • 1884 – Eric P. Kelly, American journalist and author (d. 1960)
  • 1885 – Giacomo Benvenuti, Italian composer and musicologist (d. 1943)
  • 1885 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor (d. 1965)
  • 1886 – Herbert Lindström, Swedish tug of war player (d. 1951)
  • 1887 – Emilio Lunghi, Italian runner (d. 1925)
  • 1887 – S. Stillman Berry, American marine zoologist (1984)
  • 1889 – Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
  • 1892 – César Vallejo, Peruvian poet, playwright, and journalist (d. 1938)
  • 1895 – Ernest Labrousse, French historian (d. 1988)
  • 1897 – Antonio Donghi, Italian painter (d. 1963)
  • 1897 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
  • 1900 – Cyril Hume, American novelist (d. 1966)
  • 1900 – Mencha Karnicheva, Macedonian revolutionary and assassin (d. 1964)
  • 1901 – Alexis Chantraine, Belgian footballer (d. 1987)
  • 1903 – Mike Mansfield, American politician and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to Japan (d. 2001)
  • 1906 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish sociologist, author, and translator (d. 2009)
  • 1906 – Maurice Turnbull, Welsh-English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1944)
  • 1906 – Henny Youngman, English-American violinist and comedian (d. 1998)
  • 1908 – René Daumal, French author and poet (d. 1944)
  • 1908 – Ernest Rogez, French water polo player (d. 1986)
  • 1908 – Robert Rossen, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1966)
  • 1910 – Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (d. 1991)
  • 1910 – Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian-English cricketer and politician, 8th Nawab of Pataudi (d. 1952)
  • 1911 – Pierre Harmel, Belgian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2009)
  • 1911 – Josef Mengele, German physician and captain (d. 1979)
  • 1911 – Philip Pavia, American painter and sculptor (d.2005)
  • 1912 – Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
  • 1913 – Rémy Raffalli, French soldier (d. 1952)
  • 1915 – Kunihiko Kodaira, Japanese mathematician and academic (d. 1997)
  • 1916 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
  • 1916 – Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese engineer and businessman (d. 2010)
  • 1917 – Louis C. Wyman, American lawyer and politician (d. 2002)
  • 1917 – Laure Pillay, Mauritian lawyer and jurist (d. 2017)
  • 1917 – Mehrdad Pahlbod, Iranian politician (d. 2018)
  • 1918 – Aldo van Eyck, Dutch architect (d. 1999)
  • 1918 – Frederick Reines, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
  • 1920 – John Addison, English-American soldier and composer (d. 1998)
  • 1920 – Sid Fleischman, American author and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – Traudl Junge, German secretary (d. 2002)
  • 1920 – Leo McKern, Australian-English actor (d. 2002)
  • 1922 – Harding Lemay, American screenwriter and playwright (d. 2018)
  • 1923 – Heinz Wallberg, German conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1925 – Cornell Borchers, Lithuanian-German actress and singer (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Mary Hinkson, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Ervin Kassai, Hungarian basketball player and referee (d. 2012)
  • 1925 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist and engineer (d. 2004)
  • 1926 – Charles Goodell, American lawyer and politician (d. 1987)
  • 1926 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (d. 2017)
  • 1927 – Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1967)
  • 1927 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American sociologist and politician, 12th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2003)
  • 1927 – Olga San Juan, American actress and dancer (d. 2009)
  • 1928 – Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45th Yokozuna (d. 2010)
  • 1928 – Christa Ludwig, German soprano and actress
  • 1929 – Betty Johnson, American singer
  • 1929 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Nadja Tiller, Austrian actress
  • 1930 – Tommy Flanagan, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
  • 1930 – Minoru Miki, Japanese composer (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – Augusto Boal, Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician (d. 2009)
  • 1931 – Alan Heyman, American-South Korean musicologist and composer (d. 2014)
  • 1931 – Anthony Kenny, English philosopher and academic
  • 1931 – John Munro, Canadian lawyer and politician, 22nd Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2003)
  • 1932 – Don Blasingame, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
  • 1932 – Walter Cunningham, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1932 – Kurt Diemberger, Austrian mountaineer and author
  • 1932 – Herbert Marx, Canadian politician (d. 2020)
  • 1933 – Keith Critchlow, English architect and academic, co-founded Temenos Academy
  • 1933 – Sanford I. Weill, American banker, financier, and philanthropist
  • 1934 – Jean Cournoyer, Canadian politician
  • 1934 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Canadian lawyer and politician, 24th Governor General of Canada (d. 2002)
  • 1934 – Roger Norrington, English violinist and conductor
  • 1935 – Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano and actress
  • 1935 – Pepe Cáceres, Colombian bullfighter (d. 1987)
  • 1936 – Raymond Vahan Damadian, Armenian-American inventor, invented the MRI
  • 1936 – Fred Neil, American folk singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
  • 1937 – David Frith, English historian, journalist, and author
  • 1937 – Attilio Nicora, Italian cardinal (d. 2017)
  • 1937 – Amos Tversky, Israeli-American psychologist and academic (d. 1996)
  • 1938 – Carlos Bilardo, Argentinian footballer and manager
  • 1939 – Yvon Côté, Canadian teacher
  • 1940 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1940 – Vagif Mustafazadeh, Azerbaijani pianist and composer (d. 1979)
  • 1940 – Jan Pronk, Dutch academic and politician, Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment
  • 1940 – Keith Rowe, English guitarist
  • 1941 – Robert Guéï, Ivorian soldier and politician, 3rd President of Côte d’Ivoire (d. 2002)
  • 1941 – Chuck Woolery, American game show host and television personality
  • 1942 – Roger Crozier, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
  • 1942 – Gijs van Lennep, Dutch race car driver
  • 1942 – Jean-Pierre Schosteck, French politician
  • 1942 – James Soong, Chinese-Taiwanese politician, Governor of Taiwan Province
  • 1942 – Jerry Jeff Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1943 – Ursula Goodenough, American biologist, zoologist, and author
  • 1943 – Hans Heyer, German racing driver
  • 1943 – Álvaro de Soto, Peruvian diplomat
  • 1944 – Andrew S. Tanenbaum, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1946 – Sigmund Groven, Norwegian harmonica player and composer
  • 1946 – Mary Kaldor, English economist and academic
  • 1946 – J. Z. Knight, American New Age teacher and author
  • 1946 – Guesch Patti, French singer
  • 1948 – Michael Owen Bruce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1948 – Richard Desjardins, Canadian singer-songwriter and director
  • 1948 – Catherine Quéré, French politician
  • 1949 – Erik Estrada, American actor
  • 1949 – Victor Garber, Canadian actor and singer
  • 1949 – Elliott Murphy, American-French singer-songwriter and journalist
  • 1950 – Peter Forster, English bishop
  • 1950 – Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
  • 1950 – Edhem Šljivo, Bosnian footballer
  • 1951 – Ray Benson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1951 – Abdelmajid Bourebbou, Algerian footballer
  • 1951 – Oddvar Brå, Norwegian skier
  • 1951 – Joe DeLamielleure, American football player
  • 1951 – Alexandre Gonzalez, French long-distance runner
  • 1953 – Claus Peter Flor, German conductor
  • 1953 – Isabelle Huppert, French actress
  • 1953 – Rainer Knaak, German chess player
  • 1953 – Richard Stallman, American computer scientist and programmer
  • 1954 – David Heath, English politician
  • 1954 – Jimmy Nail, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
  • 1954 – Tim O’Brien, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1954 – Dav Whatmore, Sri Lankan-Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1954 – Nancy Wilson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actress
  • 1955 – Svetlana Alexeeva, Russian ice dancer and coach
  • 1955 – Rimantas Astrauskas, Lithuanian physicist
  • 1955 – Bruno Barreto, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1955 – Linda Lepomme, Belgian actress and singer
  • 1955 – Bob Ley, American sports anchor and reporter
  • 1955 – Andy Scott, Canadian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1955 – Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
  • 1956 – Ozzie Newsome, American football player and manager
  • 1956 – Clifton Powell, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1956 – Yoriko Shono, Japanese writer
  • 1956 – Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Swiss lawyer and politician
  • 1958 – Phillip Wilcher, Australian pianist and composer
  • 1958 – Kate Worley, American author (d. 2004)
  • 1958 – Jorge Ramos, Mexican-American journalist and author
  • 1959 – Michael J. Bloomfield, American astronaut
  • 1959 – Sebastian Currier, American composer and educator
  • 1959 – Greg Dyer, Australian cricketer
  • 1959 – Flavor Flav, American rapper and actor
  • 1959 – Charles Hudson, American baseball player
  • 1959 – Steve Marker, American musician
  • 1959 – Jens Stoltenberg, Norwegian economist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Norway, 13th Secretary General of NATO
  • 1960 – John Hemming, English businessman and politician
  • 1960 – Duane Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Jenny Eclair, English comedian, actress and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1961 – Todd McFarlane, Canadian author, illustrator, and businessman, founded McFarlane Toys
  • 1962 – Franck Fréon, French race car driver
  • 1962 – Liliane Gaschet, French athlete
  • 1963 – Jerome Flynn, English actor and singer
  • 1963 – Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor and singer (d. 2002)
  • 1964 – Patty Griffin, American singer-songwriter
  • 1964 – Jaclyn Jose, Filipino actress
  • 1964 – Pascal Richard, Swiss racing cyclist
  • 1964 – Gore Verbinski, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Steve Armstrong, American wrestler
  • 1965 – Cindy Brown, American basketball player
  • 1965 – Mark Carney, Canadian-English economist and banker
  • 1965 – Cristiana Reali, Italian-Brazilian actress
  • 1966 – Chrissy Redden, Canadian cross-country cyclist
  • 1967 – Tracy Bonham, American singer and violinist
  • 1967 – John Darnielle, American musician and novelist
  • 1967 – Lauren Graham, American actress and producer
  • 1967 – Ronnie McCoury, American bluegrass mandolin player, singer and songwriter
  • 1967 – Heidi Zurbriggen, Swiss alpine skier
  • 1968 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player and police officer
  • 1969 – Judah Friedlander, American comedian and actor
  • 1969 – Ottis Gibson, Barbadian cricketer and coach
  • 1969 – Alina Ivanova, Russian athlete
  • 1969 – Evangelos Koronios, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Joakim Berg, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1971 – Franck Comba, French rugby player
  • 1971 – Alan Tudyk, American actor
  • 1972 – Ismaïl Sghyr, French-Moroccan long-distance runner
  • 1973 – Andrey Mizurov, Kazakhstani road bicycle racer
  • 1973 – Vonda Ward, American boxer
  • 1974 – Georgios Anatolakis, Greek footballer and politician
  • 1974 – Anne Charrier, French actress
  • 1974 – Heath Streak, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1975 – Luciano Castro, Argentine actor
  • 1975 – Sienna Guillory, English model and actress
  • 1975 – Lionel Torres, French archer
  • 1976 – Blu Cantrell, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1976 – Leila Lejeune, French handballer
  • 1976 – Susanne Ljungskog, Swedish cyclist
  • 1976 – Abraham Núñez, Dominican baseball player
  • 1976 – Zhu Chen, Qatari chess Grandmaster
  • 1977 – Mónica Cruz, Spanish actress and dancer
  • 1977 – Thomas Rupprath, German swimmer
  • 1978 – Brooke Burns, American fashion model and actress
  • 1978 – Annett Renneberg, German actress and singer
  • 1979 – Christina Liebherr, Swiss equestrian
  • 1979 – Rashad Moore, American football player
  • 1979 – Sébastien Ostertag, French handball player
  • 1979 – Leena Peisa, Finnish keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1979 – Andrei Stepanov, Estonian footballer
  • 1980 – Todd Heap, American football player
  • 1980 – Felipe Reyes, Spanish basketball player
  • 1981 – Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
  • 1981 – Curtis Granderson, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Julien Mazet, French road bicycle racer
  • 1981 – Fabiana Murer, Brazilian pole vaulter
  • 1982 – Miguel Comminges, Guadeloupean footballer
  • 1982 – Riley Cote, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1982 – Tommy Hansen, Czech actor
  • 1982 – Jesús Del Nero, Spanish road bicycle racer
  • 1982 – Brian Wilson, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Stephen Drew, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Brandon League, American baseball player
  • 1983 – Nicolas Rousseau, French road bicycle racer
  • 1983 – Tramon Williams, American football player
  • 1984 – Levi Brown, American football player
  • 1984 – Aisling Bea, Irish comedienne and actress
  • 1984 – Sharon Cherop, Kenyan long-distance runner
  • 1984 – Michael Ennis, Australian rugby player
  • 1984 – Hosea Gear, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1984 – Brandon Prust, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Teddy Atine-Venel, French athlete
  • 1985 – Eddy Lover, Panamanian singer-songwriter
  • 1985 – Aleksei Sokirskiy, Russian hammer thrower
  • 1986 – Alexandra Daddario, American actress
  • 1986 – Toney Douglas, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Kenny Dykstra, American wrestler
  • 1986 – T. J. Jordan, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Boaz Solossa, Indonesian footballer
  • 1986 – Daisuke Takahashi, Japanese figure skater
  • 1987 – Fabien Lemoine, French football player
  • 1988 – Jessica Gregg, Canadian speed skater
  • 1988 – Patrick Herrmann, German footballer
  • 1989 – Blake Griffin, American basketball player
  • 1989 – Jung So-min, South Korean actress
  • 1989 – Magalie Pottier, French racing cyclist
  • 1989 – Theo Walcott, English footballer
  • 1990 – Andre Young, American basketball player
  • 1991 – Reggie Bullock, American basketball player
  • 1991 – Wolfgang Van Halen, American bassist
  • 1993 – George Ford, English rugby union player
  • 1993 – Marine Lorphelin, Miss France
  • 1994 – Joel Embiid, Cameroonian basketball player
  • 1995 – Inga Janulevičiūtė, Lithuanian figure skater
  • 1997 – Florian Neuhaus, German football player

Deaths on March 16

  • AD 37 – Tiberius, Roman emperor (b. 42 BC)
  • 455 – Valentinian III, Roman emperor (assassinated; b. 419)
  • 455 – Heraclius, Roman courtier (primicerius sacri cubiculi )
  • 842 – Xiao Mian, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 933 – Takin al-Khazari, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt
  • 943 – Pi Guangye, Chinese official and chancellor (b. 877)
  • 1021 – Heribert of Cologne, German archbishop and saint (b. 970)
  • 1072 – Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop (b. 1000)
  • 1181 – Henry I, Count of Champagne
  • 1185 – Baldwin IV of Jerusalem (b. 1161)
  • 1279 – Jeanne of Dammartin, Queen consort of Castile and León (b. 1216)
  • 1322 – Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English general and politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1276)
  • 1405 – Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (b. 1350)
  • 1410 – John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset, French-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1373)
  • 1457 – Ladislaus Hunyadi, Hungarian politician (b. 1433)
  • 1485 – Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
  • 1559 – Anthony St. Leger, English-Irish politician Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
  • 1649 – Jean de Brébeuf, French-Canadian missionary and saint (b. 1593)
  • 1679 – John Leverett, English general and politician, 19th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
  • 1721 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1657)
  • 1736 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1710)
  • 1737 – Benjamin Wadsworth, American minister and academic (b. 1670)
  • 1738 – George Bähr, German architect, designed the Dresden Frauenkirche (b. 1666)
  • 1747 – Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (b. 1690)
  • 1838 – Nathaniel Bowditch, American captain and mathematician (b. 1773)
  • 1841 – Félix Savart, French physicist and psychologist (d. 1791)
  • 1868 – David Wilmot, American politician, sponsor of Wilmot Proviso (b. 1814)
  • 1884 – Art Croft, American baseball player (b. 1855)
  • 1888 – Hippolyte Carnot, French politician (b. 1801)
  • 1892 – Samuel F. Miller, American lawyer and politician (b. 1827)
  • 1898 – Aubrey Beardsley, English author and illustrator (b. 1872)
  • 1899 – Joseph Medill, American journalist and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1823)
  • 1903 – Roy Bean, American lawyer and judge (b. 1825)
  • 1907 – John O’Leary, Irish politician (b. 1830)
  • 1912 – Max Burckhard, Austrian theater director (b. 1854)
  • 1914 – Gaston Calmette, French journalist (b. 1858)
  • 1914 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1843)
  • 1914 – John Murray, Scottish oceanographer, biologist, and limnologist (b. 1841)
  • 1925 – August von Wassermann, German bacteriologist and hygienist (b. 1866)
  • 1930 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1870)
  • 1935 – John James Rickard Macleod, Scottish physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
  • 1935 – Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-Danish chess player (b. 1886)
  • 1936 – Marguerite Durand, French actress, journalist, and activist (b. 1864)
  • 1937 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, Estonian orientalist and sinologist (b. 1877)
  • 1940 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
  • 1945 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
  • 1955 – Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
  • 1957 – Constantin Brâncuși, Romanian-French sculptor, painter, and photographer (b. 1876)
  • 1958 – Leon Cadore, American baseball player (b. 1891)
  • 1961 – Chen Geng, Chinese general and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1961 – Václav Talich, Czech violinist and conductor (b. 1883)
  • 1963 – Laura Adams Armer, American author and photographer (b. 1874)
  • 1965 – Alice Herz, German activist (b. 1882)
  • 1967 – Thomas MacGreevy, Irish poet (b. 1893)
  • 1968 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American pianist and composer (b. 1895)
  • 1968 – Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and translator (b. 1907)
  • 1970 – Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1945)
  • 1971 – Bebe Daniels, American actress (b. 1901)
  • 1971 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (b. 1902)
  • 1972 – Pie Traynor, American baseball player (b. 1898)
  • 1975 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1910)
  • 1977 – Kamal Jumblatt, Lebanese lawyer and politician (b. 1917)
  • 1979 – Jean Monnet, French economist and politician (b. 1888)
  • 1980 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (b. 1898)
  • 1983 – Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
  • 1983 – Fred Rose, Polish-Canadian politician (b. 1907)
  • 1985 – Roger Sessions, American composer, critic, and educator (b. 1896)
  • 1985 – Eddie Shore, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1902)
  • 1988 – Jigger Statz, American baseball player (b.1897)
  • 1988 – Mickey Thompson, American race car driver (b. 1928)
  • 1990 – Ernst Bacon, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1898)
  • 1991 – Chris Austin, American country singer (b .1964)
  • 1991 – Jean Bellette, Australian artist (b. 1908)
  • 1992 – Yves Rocard, French physicist and engineer (b. 1903)
  • 1994 – Eric Show, American baseball player (b. 1956)
  • 1998 – Derek Barton, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • 1998 – Esther Bubley, American photographer (b. 1921)
  • 1999 – Gratien Gélinas, Canadian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1909)
  • 2000 – Thomas Ferebee, American colonel and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 2000 – Pavel Prudnikau, Belarusian poet and author (b. 1911)
  • 2000 – Michael Starr, Canadian judge and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of Labour (b. 1910)
  • 2000 – Carlos Velázquez, Puerto Rican pitcher (b. 1948)
  • 2001 – Bob Wollek, French race car driver (b. 1943)
  • 2003 – Rachel Corrie, American activist (b. 1979)
  • 2003 – Ronald Ferguson, English captain, polo player, and manager (b. 1931)
  • 2004 – Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1910)
  • 2005 – Todd Bell, American football player (b. 1958)
  • 2005 – Ralph Erskine, English architect, designed The London Ark (b. 1914)
  • 2005 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (b. 1937)
  • 2007 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (b. 1984)
  • 2008 – Bill Brown, Australian cricketer and soldier (b. 1912)
  • 2008 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1931)
  • 2008 – Gary Hart, American wrestler and manager (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Ksenija Pajčin, Serbian singer, dancer and model (b. 1977)
  • 2011 – Richard Wirthlin, American religious leader (b. 1931)
  • 2012 – Donald E. Hillman, American colonel and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Takaaki Yoshimoto, Japanese poet, philosopher, and critic (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Jamal Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi physicist and cosmologist (b. 1939)
  • 2013 – José Alfredo Martínez de Hoz, Argentinian economist and politician, Minister of Economy of Argentina (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Yadier Pedroso, Cuban pitcher (b. 1986)
  • 2013 – Ruchoma Shain, American-born teacher and author (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Marina Solodkin, Russian-Israeli academic and politician (b. 1952)
  • 2013 – Frank Thornton, English actor (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Gary Bettenhausen, American race car driver (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Donald Crothers, American chemist and academic (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Yulisa Pat Amadu Maddy, Sierra Leonean author, poet, and playwright (b. 1936)
  • 2014 – Steve Moore, English author and illustrator (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Alexander Pochinok, Russian economist and politician (b. 1958)
  • 2015 – Jack Haley, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1964)
  • 2015 – Don Robertson, American pianist and composer (b. 1922)
  • 2016 – Alexander Esenin-Volpin, Russian-American mathematician and poet (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Frank Sinatra Jr., American singer and actor (b. 1944)
  • 2017 – Lewis Rowland, American neurologist (b. 1925)
  • 2018 – Louise Slaughter, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York (b. 1929)
  • 2019 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances on March 16

  • Christian feast day:
    • Abbán
    • Finian Lobhar (Finian the Leper)
    • Heribert of Cologne
    • Hilarius of Aquileia
    • Julian of Antioch
    • March 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Book Smugglers (Lithuania)
  • Remembrance day of the Latvian legionnaires (Latvia)
  • Saint Urho’s Day (Finnish Americans and Finnish Canadians)
  • Austin 3:16 Day (Not official, but leisure day)