Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors. Please consider supporting us by whitelisting our website.

Actor

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

On This Day /
  • 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
  • 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
  • 1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
  • 1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII’s reign.
  • 1567 – Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murder five incarcerated Swedish nobles.
  • 1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
  • 1607 – One hundred English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America.
  • 1621 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.
  • 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
  • 1667 – The French Royal Army crosses the border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting the War of Devolution opposing France to the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance.
  • 1683 – The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world’s first university museum.
  • 1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics.
  • 1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally held on the preceding Sunday.
  • 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
  • 1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
  • 1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
  • 1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
  • 1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
  • 1856 – John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
  • 1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
  • 1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
  • 1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the conflict on the side of the Allies.
  • 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
  • 1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.
  • 1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
  • 1940 – Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
  • 1941 – World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks then-pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
  • 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Egypt captures the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, but the five-day effort gives Israeli forces time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian advance a week later.
  • 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
  • 1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
  • 1960 – Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.
  • 1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for “disturbing the peace” after disembarking from their bus.
  • 1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
  • 1967 – Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel.
  • 1976 – The Judgment of Paris takes place in France, launching California as a worldwide force in the production of quality wine.
  • 1981 – Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.
  • 1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
  • 1988 – Section 28 of the United Kingdom’s Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.
  • 1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
  • 1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
  • 1992 – The ethnic cleansing in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina begins when Serbian militia and police forces enter the town.
  • 1993 – Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
  • 1993 – Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and five other people are assassinated in a shootout at Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport in Mexico.
  • 1994 – Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
  • 1995 – While attempting to return to Leeds Bradford Airport in the United Kingdom, Knight Air Flight 816 crashes in Harewood, North Yorkshire, killing all 12 people on board.
  • 1999 – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
  • 2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
  • 2002 – Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
  • 2014 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people.
  • 2014 – At least three people are killed in a shooting at Brussels’ Jewish Museum of Belgium.
  • 2019 – Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India).
  • 2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.

Births on May 24

  • 15 BC – Germanicus, Roman general (d. 19)
  • 1335 – Margaret of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary (d. 1349)
  • 1494 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
  • 1522 – John Jewel, English bishop (d. 1571)
  • 1544 – William Gilbert, English physician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1603)
  • 1576 – Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley, English courtier (d. 1635)
  • 1616 – John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Scottish politician, Secretary of State, Scotland (d. 1682)
  • 1628 – Marek Sobieski, Polish noble (d. 1652)
  • 1669 – Emerentia von Düben, Swedish royal favorite (d. 1743)
  • 1671 – Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1737)
  • 1686 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-German physicist and engineer, developed the Fahrenheit scale (d. 1736)
  • 1689 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1769)
  • 1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (d. 1793)
  • 1789 – Cathinka Buchwieser, German operatic singer and actress (d.1828)
  • 1794 – William Whewell, English priest and philosopher (d. 1866)
  • 1803 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (d. 1866)
  • 1810 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1874)
  • 1816 – Emanuel Leutze, German-American painter (d. 1868)
  • 1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
  • 1830 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter and academic (d. 1897)
  • 1855 – Arthur Wing Pinero, English actor, director, and playwright (d. 1934)
  • 1861 – Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland, Maltese lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1940)
  • 1863 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (d. 1938)
  • 1868 – Charlie Taylor, American engineer and mechanic (d. 1956)
  • 1870 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, American lawyer and judge (d. 1938)
  • 1870 – Jan Smuts, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1950)
  • 1874 – Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1878)
  • 1875 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1961)
  • 1878 – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, American psychologist and engineer (d. 1972)
  • 1879 – H. B. Reese, American candy maker, created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (d. 1956)
  • 1886 – Paul Paray, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1979)
  • 1887 – Mick Mannock, Irish soldier and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
  • 1891 – William F. Albright, American archaeologist, philologist, and scholar (d. 1971)
  • 1895 – Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., American publisher, founded Advance Publications (d. 1979)
  • 1899 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)
  • 1899 – Henri Michaux, Belgian-French poet and painter (d. 1984)
  • 1900 – Eduardo De Filippo, Italian actor and screenwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1901 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer and manager (d. 1968)
  • 1902 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1954)
  • 1902 – Sylvia Daoust, Canadian sculptor (d. 2004)
  • 1905 – George Nakashima, American woodworker and architect(d. 1990)
  • 1905 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
  • 1909 – Wilbur Mills, American banker and politician (d. 1992)
  • 1910 – Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (d. 1983)
  • 1913 – Joe Abreu, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1993)
  • 1914 – Lilli Palmer, German-American actress (d. 1986)
  • 1916 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (d. 2002)
  • 1917 – Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, English lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Coleman Young, American politician, 66th Mayor of Detroit (d. 1997)
  • 1923 – Siobhán McKenna, Irish actress (d. 1986)
  • 1924 – Philip Pearlstein, American soldier and painter
  • 1925 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and director (d. 1994)
  • 1926 – Stanley Baxter, Scottish actor and screenwriter
  • 1928 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – Arnold Wesker, English playwright and producer (d. 2016)
  • 1933 – Jane Byrne, American lawyer and politician, 50th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2014)
  • 1933 – Réal Giguère, Canadian television host and actor
  • 1933 – Aharon Lichtenstein, French-Israeli rabbi and author (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Joan Micklin Silver, American director and screenwriter
  • 1936 – Harold Budd, American composer and poet
  • 1937 – Maryvonne Dupureur, French runner and educator (d. 2008)
  • 1937 – Archie Shepp, American saxophonist and composer
  • 1938 – Prince Buster, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
  • 1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
  • 1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1941 – Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, English academic and politician
  • 1942 – Ali Bacher, South African cricketer and manager
  • 1942 – Hannu Mikkola, Finnish race car driver
  • 1942 – Ichirō Ozawa, Japanese lawyer and politician, Japanese Minister of Home Affairs
  • 1943 – Gary Burghoff, American actor
  • 1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1944 – Dominique Lavanant, French actress
  • 1945 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Steven Norris, English engineer and politician
  • 1945 – Richard Ottaway, English lieutenant and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • 1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman
  • 1946 – Tansu Çiller, Turkish economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey
  • 1946 – Jesualdo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer and manager
  • 1946 – Irena Szewińska, Russian-Polish sprinter
  • 1947 – Albert Bouchard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
  • 1947 – Mike De Leon, Filipino director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer
  • 1947 – Mike Reid, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and American football player
  • 1947 – Waddy Wachtel, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer
  • 1947 – Martin Winterkorn, German businessman
  • 1948 – Richard Dembo, French director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
  • 1949 – Jim Broadbent, English actor
  • 1949 – Roger Deakins , English cinematographer
  • 1953 – Alfred Molina, English actor
  • 1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1955 – Philippe Lafontaine, Belgian singer and songwriter
  • 1955 – Rajesh Roshan, Indian composer
  • 1956 – R. B. Bernstein, American constitutional historian
  • 1956 – Larry Blackmon, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1956 – Dominic Grieve, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
  • 1956 – Michael Jackson, Irish archbishop
  • 1958 – Chip Ganassi, American race car driver, team owner and businessman
  • 1959 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-American ice hockey player (d. 1985)
  • 1959 – Barry O’Farrell, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of New South Wales
  • 1960 – Guy Fletcher, English keyboard player, guitarist, and producer
  • 1960 – Bill Harrigan, Australian rugby league referee and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
  • 1961 – Lorella Cedroni, Italian philosopher and theorist (d. 2013)
  • 1961 – Alain Lemieux, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Héctor Camacho, Puerto Rican-American boxer (d. 2012)
  • 1962 – Gene Anthony Ray, American actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2003)
  • 1963 – Ivan Capelli, Italian race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1963 – Michael Chabon, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter
  • 1963 – Joe Dumars, American basketball player
  • 1963 – Rich Rodriguez, American football player and coach
  • 1963 – Valerie Taylor, American computer scientist and educator
  • 1964 – Liz McColgan, Scottish educator and runner
  • 1964 – Adrian Moorhouse, English swimmer
  • 1964 – Isidro Pérez, Mexican boxer (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Pat Verbeek, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
  • 1965 – John C. Reilly, American actor
  • 1965 – Shinichirō Watanabe, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Éric Cantona, French footballer, manager, and actor
  • 1966 – Ricky Craven, American race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Tamer Karadağlı, Turkish actor
  • 1967 – Andrey Borodin, Russian-English economist and businessman
  • 1967 – Eric Close, American actor
  • 1967 – Heavy D, Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2011)
  • 1967 – Carlos Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
  • 1969 – Martin McCague, Northern Irish-English cricketer
  • 1969 – Jacob Rees-Mogg, English politician
  • 1969 – Rich Robinson, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1971 – Kris Draper, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
  • 1972 – Greg Berlanti, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Rodrigo, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
  • 1973 – Bartolo Colón, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1973 – Shirish Kunder, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Vladimír Šmicer, Czech footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Sébastien Foucan, French runner and actor
  • 1974 – Masahide Kobayashi, Japanese baseball player and coach
  • 1974 – Magnus Manske, German biochemist and computer programmer, developed MediaWiki
  • 1975 – Will Sasso, Canadian actor and comedian
  • 1975 – Marc Gagnon, Canadian speed skater
  • 1975 – Giannis Goumas, Greek footballer and coach
  • 1975 – Maria Lawson, English singer-songwriter
  • 1976 – Alessandro Cortini, Italian-American singer and keyboard player
  • 1976 – Catherine Cox, New Zealand-Australian netball player
  • 1976 – Silje Vige, Norwegian singer
  • 1977 – Jeet Gannguli, Indian score composer, music director and singer
  • 1978 – Elijah Burke, American wrestler
  • 1978 – Johan Holmqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Brad Penny, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Rose, French singer, songwriter and composer
  • 1979 – Tracy McGrady, American basketball player
  • 1979 – Kareem McKenzie, American football player
  • 1980 – Jason Babin, American football player
  • 1980 – Anthony Minichiello, Australian rugby league player
  • 1981 – Andy Lee, Australian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
  • 1982 – Issah Gabriel Ahmed, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1982 – Rian Wallace, American football player
  • 1983 – Custódio Castro, Portuguese footballer
  • 1983 – Pedram Javaheri, Iranian-American meteorologist and journalist
  • 1983 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (d. 2009)
  • 1984 – Sarah Hagan, American actress
  • 1984 – Dmitri Kruglov, Estonian footballer
  • 1985 – Tim Bridgman, English race car driver
  • 1986 – Mark Ballas, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, dancer, and actor
  • 1986 – Giannis Kontoes, Greek footballer
  • 1987 – Guillaume Latendresse, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Artem Anisimov, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Monica Lin Brown, American sergeant
  • 1988 – Billy Gilman, American musician
  • 1988 – Lucian Wintrich, American political artist and White House correspondent
  • 1989 – G-Eazy, American rapper
  • 1989 – Andrew Jordan, English race car driver
  • 1990 – Mattias Ekholm, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1991 – Aled Davies, Welsh discus thrower
  • 1991 – Cody Eakin, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Marcus Bettinelli, English footballer, goalkeeper
  • 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
  • 1994 – Emily Nicholl, Scottish netball player
  • 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
  • 1994 – Emily Temple Wood, American 2016 Wikipedian of the Year award
  • 1999 – Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Norwegian actor

Deaths on May 24

  • 688 – Ségéne, bishop of Armagh (b. c. 610)
  • 1089 – Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • 1136 – Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1070)
  • 1153 – David I of Scotland (b. 1083)
  • 1201 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (b. 1179)
  • 1351 – Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman, Moroccan sultan (b. 1297)
  • 1408 – Taejo of Joseon (b. 1335)
  • 1425 – Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, Scottish politician (b. 1362)
  • 1456 – Ambroise de Loré, French commander (b. 1396)
  • 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (b. 1473)
  • 1612 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1563)
  • 1627 – Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet and cleric (b. 1561)
  • 1632 – Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (b. 1553)
  • 1665 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Spanish Franciscan abbess and mystic (b. 1602)
  • 1734 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
  • 1792 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1718)
  • 1806 – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, Scottish field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire (b. 1723)
  • 1843 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
  • 1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German author and composer (b. 1797)
  • 1861 – Elmer E. Ellsworth, American colonel (b. 1837)
  • 1872 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter and illustrator (b. 1794)
  • 1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist (b. 1805)
  • 1881 – Samuel Palmer, English painter and illustrator (b. 1805)
  • 1901 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (b. 1824)
  • 1908 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer and architect (b. 1821)
  • 1915 – John Condon, Irish-English soldier (b. 1896)
  • 1919 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet, journalist, and educator (b. 1870)
  • 1929 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (b. 1863)
  • 1941 – Lancelot Holland, English admiral (b. 1887)
  • 1945 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal and pilot (b. 1892)
  • 1948 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
  • 1949 – Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect, designed Lenin’s Mausoleum and Moscow Kazanskaya railway station (b. 1873)
  • 1950 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English field marshal and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (b. 1883)
  • 1951 – Thomas N. Heffron, American actor, director, screenwriter (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Martha Annie Whiteley, English chemist and mathematician (b. 1866)
  • 1958 – Frank Rowe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
  • 1959 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
  • 1963 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
  • 1965 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1908)
  • 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (b. 1899)
  • 1976 – Denise Pelletier, Canadian actress (b. 1923)
  • 1979 – Ernest Bullock, English organist, composer, and educator (b. 1890)
  • 1981 – Herbert Müller, Swiss race car driver (b. 1940)
  • 1984 – Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter and businessman, founded WWE (b. 1914)
  • 1988 – Freddie Frith, English motorcycle road racer (b. 1909)
  • 1990 – Arthur Villeneuve, Canadian painter (b. 1910)
  • 1991 – Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
  • 1992 – Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese race car driver (b. 1956)
  • 1995 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
  • 1996 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (b. 1934)
  • 1996 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist and author (b. 1908)
  • 1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b. 1923)
  • 2000 – Kurt Schork, American journalist and scholar (b. 1947)
  • 2000 – Majrooh Sultanpuri, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
  • 2002 – Wallace Markfield, American author (b. 1926)
  • 2003 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910)
  • 2004 – Henry Ries, German-American photographer (b. 1917)
  • 2004 – Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
  • 2004 – Edward Wagenknecht, American critic and educator (b. 1900)
  • 2005 – Carl Amery, German activist and author (b. 1922)
  • 2005 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist and poet (b. 1913)
  • 2005 – Guy Tardif, Canadian academic and politician (b. 1935)
  • 2006 – Henry Bumstead, American art director and production designer (b. 1915)
  • 2006 – Claude Piéplu, French actor (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (b. 1930)
  • 2008 – Dick Martin, American actor, comedian, and director (b. 1922)
  • 2008 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (b. 1936)
  • 2009 – Jay Bennett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1963)
  • 2010 – Ray Alan, English ventriloquist, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
  • 2010 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1972)
  • 2010 – Raymond V. Haysbert, American businessman and activist (b. 1920)
  • 2010 – Petr Muk, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1965)
  • 2010 – Anneliese Rothenberger, German soprano and actress (b. 1926)
  • 2011 – Huguette Clark, American heiress, painter, and philanthropist (b. 1906)
  • 2011 – Hakim Ali Zardari, Indian-Pakistani businessman and politician (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – Klaas Carel Faber, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922)
  • 2012 – Kathi Kamen Goldmark, American journalist and author (b. 1948)
  • 2012 – Jacqueline Harpman, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – Juan Francisco Lombardo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Lee Rich, American production manager and producer (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Helmut Braunlich, German-American violinist and composer (b. 1929)
  • 2013 – Ron Davies, Welsh footballer (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Gotthard Graubner, German painter (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Haynes Johnson, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Pyotr Todorovsky, Ukrainian-Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – David Allen, English cricketer (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Stormé DeLarverie, known as the “Rosa Parks of the lesbian community” (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, Iranian businessman (b. 1969)
  • 2014 – Knowlton Nash, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1927)
  • 2014 – John Vasconcellos, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Dean Carroll, English rugby player (b. 1962)
  • 2015 – Kenneth Jacobs, Australian lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
  • 2015 – Tanith Lee, English author (b. 1947)
  • 2018 – Gudrun Burwitz, daughter of Margarete Himmler and Heinrich Himmler (b. 1929)
  • 2018 – John Bain (TotalBiscuit), English gaming commentator and critic (b. 1984)

Holidays and observances on May 24

  • Aldersgate Day/Wesley Day (Methodism)
  • Battle of Pichincha Day (Ecuador)
  • Bermuda Day (Bermuda), celebrated on the nearest weekday if May 24 falls on the weekend.
  • Christian feast day:
    • Anna Pak Agi (one of The Korean Martyrs)
    • Donatian and Rogatian
    • Jackson Kemper (Episcopal Church)
    • Joanna
    • Mary, Help of Christians
    • Sarah (celebrated by the Romani people of Camargue)
    • Vincent of Lérins
    • May 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Commonwealth Day (Belize)
  • Earliest day on which El Colacho tradition can fall, while June 27 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday after Corpus Christi. (Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos)
  • Independence Day (Eritrea), celebrates the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993.
  • Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda)
  • Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance:
    • Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day (Bulgaria)
    • Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners’ Day (North Macedonia)
  • Victoria Day; celebrated on Monday on or before May 24. (Canada), and its related observance:
    • National Patriots’ Day or Journée nationale des patriotes (Quebec)

May 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 1430 – Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to raise the Siege of Compiègne.
  • 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola is burned at the stake in Florence, Italy.
  • 1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void.
  • 1568 – Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, defeat Jean de Ligne, Duke of Arenberg, and his loyalist troops in the Battle of Heiligerlee, opening the Eighty Years’ War.
  • 1609 – Official ratification of the Second Virginia Charter takes place.
  • 1618 – The Second Defenestration of Prague precipitates the Thirty Years’ War.
  • 1701 – After being convicted of piracy and of murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd is hanged in London.
  • 1706 – John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, defeats a French army under Marshal François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy at the Battle of Ramillies.
  • 1788 – South Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution as the eighth American state.
  • 1793 – Battle of Famars during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
  • 1829 – Accordion patent granted to Cyrill Demian in Vienna, Austrian Empire.
  • 1844 – Declaration of the Báb the evening before the 23rd: A merchant of Shiraz announces that he is a Prophet and founds a religious movement that would later be brutally crushed by the Persian government. He is considered to be a forerunner of the Bahá’í Faith; Bahá’ís celebrate the day as a holy day.
  • 1846 – Mexican–American War: President Mariano Paredes of Mexico unofficially declares war on the United States.
  • 1863 – The General German Workers’ Association, a precursor of the modern Social Democratic Party of Germany, is founded in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony.
  • 1873 – The Canadian Parliament establishes the North-West Mounted Police, the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
  • 1900 – American Civil War: Sergeant William Harvey Carney is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Assault on the Battery Wagner in 1863.
  • 1907 – The unicameral Parliament of Finland gathers for its first plenary session.
  • 1911 – The New York Public Library is dedicated.
  • 1915 – World War I: Italy joins the Allies, fulfilling its part of the Treaty of London.
  • 1932 – In Brazil, four students are shot and killed during a manifestation against the Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas, which resulted in the outbreak of the Constitutionalist Revolution several weeks later.
  • 1934 – Infamous American bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde are ambushed by police and killed in Bienville Parish, Louisiana.
  • 1934 – The Auto-Lite strike culminates in the “Battle of Toledo”, a five-day melée between 1,300 troops of the Ohio National Guard and 6,000 picketers.
  • 1939 – The U.S. Navy submarine USS Squalus sinks off the coast of New Hampshire during a test dive, causing the death of 24 sailors and two civilian technicians. The remaining 32 sailors and one civilian naval architect are rescued the following day.
  • 1945 – World War II: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel, commits suicide while in Allied custody.
  • 1945 – World War II: Germany’s Flensburg Government under Karl Dönitz is dissolved when its members are arrested by British forces.
  • 1948 – Thomas C. Wasson, the US Consul-General, is assassinated in Jerusalem, Israel.
  • 1949 – Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
  • 1951 – Tibetans sign the Seventeen Point Agreement with China.
  • 1960 – A tsunami caused by an earthquake in Chile the previous day kills 61 people in Hilo, Hawaii.
  • 1992 – Italy’s most prominent anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, his wife and three body guards are killed by the Corleonesi clan with a half-ton bomb near Capaci, Sicily. His friend and colleague Paolo Borsellino will be assassinated less than two months later, making 1992 a turning point in the history of Italian Mafia prosecutions.
  • 1995 – The first version of the Java programming language is released.
  • 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
  • 2002 – The “55 parties” clause of the Kyoto Protocol is reached after its ratification by Iceland.
  • 2006 – Alaskan stratovolcano Mount Cleveland erupts.
  • 2008 – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) awards Middle Rocks to Malaysia and Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore, ending a 29-year territorial dispute between the two countries.
  • 2013 – A freeway bridge carrying Interstate 5 over the Skagit River collapses in Mount Vernon, Washington.
  • 2014 – Seven people, including the perpetrator, are killed and another 14 injured in a killing spree near the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara.
  • 2015 – At least 46 people are killed as a result of floods caused by a tornado in Texas and Oklahoma.
  • 2016 – Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, killed at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
  • 2016 – Eight bombings were carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Jableh and Tartus, coastline cities in Syria. One hundred eighty-four people were killed and at least 200 people injured.
  • 2017 – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute’s attack in Marawi.

Births on May 23

  • 635 – K’inich Kan Bahlam II, Mayan king (d. 702)
  • 675 – Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II, King of Mutharaiyar dynasty, Tamil Nadu, India
  • 1052 – Philip I of France (d. 1108)
  • 1100 – Emperor Qinzong of Song (d. 1161)
  • 1127 – Uijong of Goryeo, Korean monarch of the Goryeo dynasty (d. 1173)
  • 1330 – Gongmin of Goryeo, Korean ruler (d. 1374)
  • 1586 – Paul Siefert, German composer and organist (d. 1666)
  • 1606 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1682)
  • 1614 – Bertholet Flemalle, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1675)
  • 1617 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (d. 1692)
  • 1629 – William VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, noble of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1663)
  • 1707 – Carl Linnaeus, Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist (d. 1778)
  • 1718 – William Hunter, Scottish-English anatomist and physician (d. 1783)
  • 1729 – Giuseppe Parini, Italian poet and educator (d. 1799)
  • 1730 – Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, Prussian prince and general (d. 1813)
  • 1734 – Franz Mesmer, German physician and astrologer (d. 1815)
  • 1741 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian organist and composer (d. 1801)
  • 1789 – Franz Schlik, Austrian earl and general (d. 1862)
  • 1790 – Jules Dumont d’Urville, French admiral and explorer (d. 1842)
  • 1790 – James Pradier, French neoclassical sculptor (d. 1852)
  • 1794 – Ignaz Moscheles, Czech pianist and composer (d. 1870)
  • 1795 – Charles Barry, English architect, designed the Upper Brook Street Chapel and Halifax Town Hall (d. 1860)
  • 1800 – Rómulo Díaz de la Vega, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1877)
  • 1810 – Margaret Fuller, American journalist and critic (d. 1850)
  • 1817 – Manuel Robles Pezuela, Unconstitutional Mexican interim president (d. 1862)
  • 1820 – James Buchanan Eads, American engineer, designed the Eads Bridge (d. 1887)
  • 1820 – Lorenzo Sawyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 1891)
  • 1824 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1881)
  • 1834 – Jānis Frīdrihs Baumanis, Latvian architect (d. 1891)
  • 1834 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (d. 1890)
  • 1837 – Anatole Mallet, Swiss mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1919)
  • 1837 – Józef Wieniawski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1912)
  • 1838 – Amaldus Nielsen, Norwegian painter (d. 1932)
  • 1840 – George Throssell, Irish-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 1910)
  • 1844 – `Abdu’l-Bahá, Iranian religious leader (d. 1921)
  • 1848 – Otto Lilienthal, German pilot and engineer (d. 1896)
  • 1855 – Isabella Ford, English author and activist (d. 1924)
  • 1861 – József Rippl-Rónai, Hungarian painter (d. 1927)
  • 1863 – Władysław Horodecki, Polish architect (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – William O’Connor, American fencer (d. 1939)
  • 1865 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian jurist and politician, 11th President of Brazil (d. 1942)
  • 1875 – Alfred P. Sloan, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1966)
  • 1882 – William Halpenny, Canadian pole vaulter (d. 1960)
  • 1883 – Douglas Fairbanks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1939)
  • 1884 – Corrado Gini, Italian sociologist and demographer (d. 1965)
  • 1887 – Thoralf Skolem, Norwegian mathematician and theorist (d. 1963)
  • 1887 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian sailor and captain (d. 1951)
  • 1888 – Adriaan Roland Holst, Dutch writer (d. 1976)
  • 1888 – Zack Wheat, American baseball player and police officer (d. 1972)
  • 1889 – Ernst Niekisch, German educator and politician (d. 1967)
  • 1890 – Herbert Marshall, English-American actor and singer (d. 1966)
  • 1891 – Pär Lagerkvist, Swedish novelist, playwright, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1974)
  • 1892 – Albert Spencer, 7th Earl Spencer, British peer and grandfather of Diana Spencer (d. 1975)
  • 1896 – Felix Steiner, Russian-German SS officer (d. 1966)
  • 1897 – Jimmie Guthrie, Scottish motorcycle racer (d. 1937)
  • 1898 – Scott O’Dell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1989)
  • 1898 – Josef Terboven, German soldier and politician (d. 1945)
  • 1899 – Jeralean Talley, American super-centenarian (d. 2015)
  • 1900 – Hans Frank, German lawyer and politician (d. 1946)
  • 1900 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German lawyer and theorist (d. 1954)
  • 1908 – John Bardeen, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
  • 1908 – Hélène Boucher, French pilot (d. 1934)
  • 1910 – Margaret Wise Brown, American author and educator (d. 1952)
  • 1910 – Hugh Casson, English architect and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1910 – Scatman Crothers, American actor and comedian (d. 1986)
  • 1910 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (d. 1962)
  • 1910 – Artie Shaw, American clarinet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2004)
  • 1911 – Lou Brouillard, Canadian boxer (d. 1984)
  • 1911 – Paul Augustin Mayer, German cardinal (d. 2010)
  • 1911 – Betty Nuthall, English tennis player (d. 1983)
  • 1912 – Jean Françaix, French pianist and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1912 – John Payne, American actor (d. 1989)
  • 1914 – Harold Hitchcock, English visionary landscape artist (d. 2009)
  • 1914 – Celestine Sibley, American journalist and author (d. 1999)
  • 1914 – Barbara Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, English economist, journalist, and prominent Catholic layperson (d. 1981)
  • 1915 – S. Donald Stookey, American physicist and chemist, invented CorningWare (d. 2014)
  • 1917 – Edward Norton Lorenz, American mathematician and meteorologist (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 1997)
  • 1919 – Robert Bernstein, American author and playwright (d. 1988)
  • 1919 – Ruth Fernández, Puerto Rican contralto and a member of the Puerto Rican Senate (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Betty Garrett, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2011)
  • 1920 – Helen O’Connell, American singer (d. 1993)
  • 1923 – Alicia de Larrocha, Catalan-Spanish pianist (d. 2009)
  • 1923 – Irving Millman, American virologist and microbiologist (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Joshua Lederberg, American biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2008)
  • 1926 – Basil Salvadore D’Souza, Indian bishop (d. 1996)
  • 1926 – Joe Slovo, Lithuanian-South African activist and politician (d. 1995)
  • 1928 – Rosemary Clooney, American singer and actress (d. 2002)
  • 1928 – Nigel Davenport, English actor (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish-Austrian actress (d. 1982)
  • 1930 – Friedrich Achleitner, German poet and critic (d. 2019)
  • 1931 – Barbara Barrie, American actress
  • 1932 – Kevork Ajemian, Syrian-French journalist and author (d. 1998)
  • 1933 – Joan Collins, English actress
  • 1933 – Ove Fundin, Swedish motorcycle racer
  • 1934 – Robert Moog, electronic engineer and inventor of the Moog synthesizer (d. 2005)
  • 1935 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author (d. 2009)
  • 1936 – Ingeborg Hallstein, German soprano and actress
  • 1936 – Charles Kimbrough, American actor
  • 1939 – Michel Colombier, French-American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1939 – Reinhard Hauff, German director and screenwriter
  • 1940 – Bjorn Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist (d. 2002)
  • 1940 – Gérard Larrousse, French race car driver
  • 1940 – Cora Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
  • 1941 – Zalman King, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Rod Thorn, American basketball player, coach, and executive
  • 1942 – Gabriel Liiceanu, Romanian philosopher, author, and academic
  • 1942 – Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao, Indian director, screenwriter, and choreographer
  • 1943 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (d. 2016)
  • 1944 – John Newcombe, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1945 – Padmarajan, Indian director, screenwriter, and author (d. 1991)
  • 1946 – David Graham, Australian golfer
  • 1947 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and translator (d. 1995)
  • 1948 – Myriam Boyer, French actress, director, and producer
  • 1949 – Daniel DiNardo, American cardinal
  • 1949 – Alan García, Peruvian lawyer and politician, 61st and 64th President of Peru (d. 2019)
  • 1950 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2017)
  • 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian chess player
  • 1951 – Antonis Samaras, Greek economist and politician, 185th Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1952 – Martin Parr, English photographer and journalist
  • 1954 – Gerry Armstrong, Northern Irish international footballer, striker
  • 1954 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American boxer and actor
  • 1955 – Luka Bloom, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1956 – Andrea Pazienza, Italian illustrator and painter (d. 1988)
  • 1956 – Ursula Plassnik, Austrian politician and diplomat, Foreign Minister of Austria
  • 1956 – Buck Showalter, American baseball player, coach, and manager
  • 1958 – Mitch Albom, American journalist, author, and screenwriter
  • 1958 – Drew Carey, American actor, game show host, and entrepreneur
  • 1958 – Lea DeLaria, American actress and singer
  • 1959 – Marcella Mesker, Dutch tennis player and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Linden Ashby, American actor
  • 1961 – Daniele Massaro, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1961 – Norrie May-Welby, Scottish Australian gender activist
  • 1962 – Karen Duffy, American actress
  • 1963 – Viviane Baladi, Swiss mathematician
  • 1964 – Ruth Metzler, Swiss lawyer and politician
  • 1965 – Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo, Spanish footballer
  • 1965 – Tom Tykwer, German director, producer, screenwriter, and composer
  • 1965 – Melissa McBride, American actress
  • 1965 – Paul Sironen, Australian rugby league player
  • 1966 – Graeme Hick, Zimbabwean-English cricketer and coach
  • 1966 – Gary Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1967 – Luís Roberto Alves, Mexican footballer
  • 1967 – Anna Ibrisagic, Swedish politician
  • 1968 – Guinevere Turner, American actress and screenwriter
  • 1970 – Bryan Herta, American race car driver and businessman, co-founded Bryan Herta Autosport
  • 1971 – George Osborne, English journalist and politician, former Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • 1972 – Rubens Barrichello, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1972 – Martin Saggers, English cricketer and umpire
  • 1973 – Maxwell, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1974 – Jewel, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, actress, and poet
  • 1974 – Manuela Schwesig, German politician, German Federal Minister of Family Affairs
  • 1976 – Ricardinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1977 – Ilia Kulik, Russian figure skater
  • 1978 – Scott Raynor, American drummer
  • 1979 – Rasual Butler, American basketball player (d. 2018)
  • 1979 – Brian Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Theofanis Gekas, Greek footballer
  • 1980 – Ben Ross, Australian rugby league player
  • 1983 – Silvio Proto, Belgian-Italian footballer
  • 1984 – Hugo Almeida, Portuguese footballer
  • 1985 – Sebastián Fernández, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1985 – Teymuraz Gabashvili, Russian tennis player
  • 1985 – Wim Stroetinga, Dutch cyclist
  • 1985 – Ross Wallace, Scottish footballer
  • 1986 – Ryan Coogler, American film director and screenwriter
  • 1986 – Alexei Sitnikov, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater
  • 1986 – Alice Tait, Australian swimmer
  • 1986 – Ruben Zadkovich, Australian footballer
  • 1987 – Gracie Otto, Australian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1987 – Bray Wyatt, American wrestler
  • 1988 – Rosanna Crawford, Canadian biathlete
  • 1988 – Angelo Ogbonna, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Morgan Pressel, American golfer
  • 1989 – Ezequiel Schelotto, Italian footballer
  • 1990 – Dan Evans, British tennis player
  • 1990 – Kristina Kucova, Slovakian tennis player
  • 1990 – Oliver Venno, Estonian volleyball player
  • 1991 – Aaron Donald, American football player
  • 1991 – Lena Meyer-Landrut, German singer-songwriter
  • 1991 – César Pinares, Chilean footballer
  • 1996 – Katharina Althaus, German ski jumper
  • 1996 – Emmanuel Boateng, Ghanaian footballer
  • 1996 – Razvan Marin, Romanian footballer
  • 1997 – Pedro Chirivella, Spanish footballer
  • 1997 – Coy Craft, American footballer
  • 1997 – Joe Gomez, English footballer
  • 1997 – Gustaf Nilsson, Swedish footballer
  • 1997 – Sam Timmins, New Zealand basketball player
  • 1998 – Sérgio Sette Câmara, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1998 – Ross Cunningham, Scottish footballer
  • 1998 – Salwa Eid Naser, Bahraini track and field sprinter
  • 1998 – Luca De La Torre, American footballer
  • 1998 – Steve Lacy, American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer
  • 2000 – Felipe Drugovich, Brazilian race car driver
  • 2000 – Jaxson Hayes, American basketball player

Deaths on May 23

  • 230 – Urban I, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 922 – Li Sizhao, Chinese general and governor
  • 962 – Guibert of Gembloux, Frankish abbot (b. 892)
  • 1125 – Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1081)
  • 1304 – Jehan de Lescurel, French poet and composer
  • 1338 – Alice de Warenne, Countess of Arundel, English noble (b. 1287)
  • 1370 – Toghon Temür, Mongol emperor (b. 1320)
  • 1423 – Antipope Benedict XIII (b. 1328)
  • 1498 – Girolamo Savonarola, Italian friar and preacher (b. 1452)
  • 1523 – Ashikaga Yoshitane, Japanese shōgun (b. 1466)
  • 1524 – Ismail I, First Emperor of Safavid Empire (b. 1487)
  • 1591 – John Blitheman, English organist and composer (b. 1525)
  • 1662 – John Gauden, English bishop (b. 1605)
  • 1670 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1610)
  • 1691 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (b. 1622)
  • 1701 – William Kidd, Scottish pirate (b. 1645)
  • 1749 – Abraham ben Abraham, Polish martyr (b. 1700)
  • 1752 – William Bradford, English-American printer (b. 1663)
  • 1754 – John Wood, the Elder, English architect, designed The Circus and Queen Square (b. 1704)
  • 1783 – James Otis, Jr., American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
  • 1813 – Géraud Duroc, French general and diplomat (b. 1772)
  • 1815 – Gotthilf Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, American clergyman and botanist (b. 1753)
  • 1841 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1765)
  • 1855 – Charles Robert Malden, English lieutenant and explorer (b. 1797)
  • 1857 – Augustin-Louis Cauchy, French mathematician and academic (b. 1789)
  • 1868 – Kit Carson, American general (b. 1809)
  • 1886 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian and academic (b. 1795)
  • 1893 – Anton von Schmerling, Austrian politician (b. 1805)
  • 1895 – Franz Ernst Neumann, German mineralogist, physicist, and mathematician (b. 1798)
  • 1906 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian director, playwright, and poet (b. 1828)
  • 1908 – François Coppée, French poet and author (b. 1842)
  • 1920 – Svetozar Boroević, Croatian-Austrian field marshal (b. 1856)
  • 1921 – August Nilsson, Swedish shot putter and tug of war competitor (b. 1872)
  • 1934 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (b. 1909)
  • 1934 – Mihkel Martna, Estonian journalist and politician (b. 1860)
  • 1934 – Bonnie Parker, American criminal (b. 1910)
  • 1937 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company and Rockefeller University (b. 1839)
  • 1938 – Frederick Ruple, Swiss-American painter (b. 1871)
  • 1942 – Panagiotis Toundas, Greek composer and conductor (b. 1886)
  • 1945 – Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician, Reich Minister of the Interior (b. 1900)
  • 1947 – Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, Swiss author and poet (b. 1878)
  • 1949 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Gustav Suits, Latvian-Estonian poet and politician (b. 1883)
  • 1960 – Georges Claude, French engineer and inventor, created Neon lighting (b. 1870)
  • 1962 – Louis Coatalen, French engineer (b. 1879)
  • 1963 – August Jakobson, Estonian author and politician (b. 1904)
  • 1965 – David Smith, American sculptor (b. 1906)
  • 1975 – Moms Mabley, American comedian and actor (b. 1894)
  • 1979 – S. Selvanayagam, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (b. 1932)
  • 1981 – Gene Green, American baseball player (b. 1933)
  • 1981 – Rayner Heppenstall, English author and poet (b. 1911)
  • 1981 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1898)
  • 1981 – David Lewis, Belarusian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1909)
  • 1986 – Sterling Hayden, American actor (b. 1916)
  • 1989 – Georgy Tovstonogov, Russian director and producer (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Karl Koch, German computer hacker (b. 1965)
  • 1991 – Wilhelm Kempff, German pianist and composer (b. 1895)
  • 1991 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1907)
  • 1991 – Fletcher Markle, Canadian director, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1921)
  • 1992 – Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (b. 1948)
  • 1992 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (b. 1939)
  • 1994 – Olav Hauge, Norwegian poet (b. 1908)
  • 1996 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (b. 1934)
  • 1998 – Telford Taylor, American general and lawyer (b. 1908)
  • 1999 – Owen Hart, Canadian-American wrestler (b. 1965)
  • 2002 – Sam Snead, American golfer and journalist (b. 1912)
  • 2006 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Kazimierz Górski, Polish footballer and manager (b. 1921)
  • 2008 – Iñaki Ochoa de Olza, Spanish mountaineer (b. 1967)
  • 2008 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1935)
  • 2009 – Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean soldier and politician, 9th President of South Korea (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – José Lima, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1972)
  • 2010 – Simon Monjack, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1970)
  • 2011 – Xavier Tondo, Spanish cyclist (b. 1978)
  • 2012 – Paul Fussell, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Epy Guerrero, Dominican baseball player, coach, and scout (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Hayri Kozakçıoğlu, Turkish police officer and politician, 15th Governor of Istanbul Province (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
  • 2013 – Flynn Robinson, American basketball player (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Mikhail Egorovich Alekseev, Russian linguist and academic (b. 1949)
  • 2014 – Madhav Mantri, Indian cricketer (b. 1921)
  • 2015 – Anne Meara, American actress, comedian and playwright (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Aleksey Mozgovoy, Ukrainian sergeant (b. 1975)
  • 2015 – Alicia Nash, Salvadoran-American physicist and engineer (b. 1933)
  • 2015 – John Forbes Nash, Jr., American mathematician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1928)
  • 2017 – Roger Moore, English actor (b. 1927)
  • 2020 – Hana Kimura, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1997)

Holidays and observances on May 23

  • Christian feast day:
    • Aaron the Illustrious (Syriac Orthodox Church)
    • Desiderius of Vienne
    • Giovanni Battista de’ Rossi
    • Julia of Corsica
    • Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Kepler (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Quintian, Lucius and Julian
    • William of Perth
    • May 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Germany)
  • Earliest day on which Declaration of the Báb can fall, while May 24 is the latest; observed on ‘Aẓamat 8 (Bahá’í Faith)
  • Earliest day on which National Heroes’ Day can fall, while May 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Monday of May. (Turks and Caicos Islands)
  • Labour Day (Jamaica)
  • Students’ Day (Mexico)
  • World Turtle Day

May 23 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 192 – Dong Zhuo is assassinated by his adopted son Lü Bu.
  • 760 – Fourteenth recorded perihelion passage of Halley’s Comet.
  • 853 – A Byzantine fleet sacks and destroys undefended Damietta in Egypt.
  • 1176 – The Hashshashin (Assassins) attempt to assassinate Saladin near Aleppo.
  • 1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.
  • 1246 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king of the Kingdom of Germany in opposition to Conrad IV.
  • 1254 – Serbian King Stefan Uroš I and the Republic of Venice sign a peace treaty.
  • 1370 – Brussels massacre: Hundreds of Jews are murdered and the rest of the Jewish community is banished from Brussels, Belgium, for allegedly desecrating consecrated Host.
  • 1377 – Pope Gregory XI issues five papal bulls to denounce the doctrines of English theologian John Wycliffe.
  • 1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.
  • 1520 – The massacre at the festival of Tóxcatl takes place during the Fall of Tenochtitlan, resulting in turning the Aztecs against the Spanish.
  • 1629 – Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Danish King Christian IV sign the Treaty of Lübeck ending Danish intervention in the Thirty Years’ War.
  • 1762 – Sweden and Prussia sign the Treaty of Hamburg.
  • 1762 – Trevi Fountain is officially completed and inaugurated in Rome.
  • 1766 – A large earthquake causes heavy damage and loss of life in Istanbul and the Marmara region.
  • 1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially begins as the Corps of Discovery departs from St. Charles, Missouri.
  • 1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.
  • 1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.
  • 1816 – A mob in Littleport, Cambridgeshire, England, riots over high unemployment and rising grain costs, and the riots spread to Ely the next day.
  • 1819 – SS Savannah leaves port at Savannah, Georgia, United States, on a voyage to become the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1826 – HMS Beagle departs on its first voyage.
  • 1840 – The penal transportation of British convicts to the New South Wales colony is abolished.
  • 1848 – Slavery is abolished in Martinique.
  • 1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. president to ever hold a patent.
  • 1856 – Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina severely beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts with a cane in the hall of the United States Senate for a speech Sumner had made regarding Southerners and slavery.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Union forces begin the Siege of Port Hudson which lasts 48 days, the longest siege in U.S. military history.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: After ten weeks, the Union Army’s Red River Campaign ends in failure.
  • 1872 – Reconstruction Era: President Ulysses S. Grant signs the Amnesty Act into law, restoring full civil and political rights to all but about 500 Confederate sympathizers.
  • 1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.
  • 1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their “Flying-Machine”.
  • 1915 – Lassen Peak erupts with a powerful force, the only volcano besides Mount St. Helens to erupt in the contiguous U.S. during the 20th century.
  • 1915 – Three trains collide in the Quintinshill rail disaster near Gretna Green, Scotland, killing 227 people and injuring 246.
  • 1926 – Chiang Kai-shek replaces the communists in Kuomintang China.
  • 1927 – Near Xining, China, an 8.3 magnitude earthquake causes 200,000 deaths in one of the world’s most destructive earthquakes.
  • 1939 – World War II: Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel.
  • 1941 – During the Anglo-Iraqi War, British troops take Fallujah.
  • 1942 – Mexico enters the Second World War on the side of the Allies.
  • 1943 – Joseph Stalin disbands the Comintern.
  • 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey and Greece.
  • 1957 – South Africa’s government approves of racial separation in universities.
  • 1958 – The 1958 riots in Ceylon become a watershed in the race relations of various ethnic communities of Sri Lanka. The total deaths is estimated at 300, mostly Tamils.
  • 1960 – The Great Chilean earthquake, measuring 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale, hits southern Chile, becoming the most powerful earthquake ever recorded.
  • 1962 – Continental Airlines Flight 11 crashes after bombs explode on board.
  • 1963 – Greek left-wing politician Grigoris Lambrakis is shot in an assassination attempt, and dies five days later.
  • 1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.
  • 1967 – Egypt closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping.
  • 1967 – L’Innovation department store in Brussels, Belgium, burns down, resulting in 323 dead or missing and 150 injured, the most devastating fire in Belgian history.
  • 1968 – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores.
  • 1969 – Apollo 10’s lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon’s surface.
  • 1972 – Ceylon adopts a new constitution, becoming a republic and changing its name to Sri Lanka, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
  • 1972 – Over 400 women in Derry, Northern Ireland attack the offices of Sinn Féin following the shooting by the Irish Republican Army of a young British soldier on leave.
  • 1987 – Hashimpura massacre occurs in Meerut, India.
  • 1987 – First ever Rugby World Cup kicks off with New Zealand playing Italy at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand.
  • 1990 – North and South Yemen are unified to create the Republic of Yemen.
  • 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia join the United Nations.
  • 1994 – A worldwide trade embargo against Haiti goes into effect to punish its military rulers for not reinstating the country’s ousted elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
  • 1996 – The Burmese military regime jails 71 supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi in a bid to block a pro-democracy meeting.
  • 1998 – A U.S. federal judge rules that U.S. Secret Service agents can be compelled to testify before a grand jury concerning the Lewinsky scandal involving President Bill Clinton.
  • 2000 – In Sri Lanka, over 150 Tamil rebels are killed over two days of fighting for control in Jaffna.
  • 2002 – Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
  • 2010 – Air India Express Boeing 737 crashes over a cliff upon landing at Mangalore, India, killing 158 of 166 people on board, becoming the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737.
  • 2010 – Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2–0 in the Uefa Champions League final in Madrid, Spain to become the first, and so far only, Italian team to win the historic treble (Serie A, Coppa Italia, Champions League).
  • 2011 – An EF5 tornado strikes Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people and wreaking $2.8 billion in damages, the costliest and seventh-deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
  • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree opens to the public. It is the tallest tower in the world (634 m), and the second tallest man-made structure on Earth after Burj Khalifa (829.8 m).
  • 2014 – General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d’état, following six months of political turmoil.
  • 2014 – An explosion occurs in Ürümqi, capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang region, resulting in at least 43 deaths and 91 injuries.
  • 2015 – The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to legalize gay marriage in a public referendum.
  • 2017 – Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
  • 2017 – United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.

Births on May 22

  • 626 – Itzam K’an Ahk I, Mayan king (d. 686)
  • 1009 – Su Xun, Chinese writer (d. 1066)
  • 1408 – Annamacharya, Hindu saint (d. 1503)
  • 1539 – Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (d. 1621)
  • 1622 – Louis de Buade de Frontenac, French soldier and governor (d. 1698)
  • 1644 – Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (d. 1730)
  • 1650 – Richard Brakenburgh, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1702)
  • 1694 – Daniel Gran, Austrian painter (d. 1757)
  • 1715 – François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and diplomat (d. 1794)
  • 1733 – Hubert Robert, French painter (d. 1808)
  • 1752 – Louis Legendre, French butcher and politician (d. 1797)
  • 1762 – Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, English politician (d. 1834)
  • 1770 – Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom (d. 1840)
  • 1772 – Ram Mohan Roy, Indian philosopher and reformer (d. 1833)
  • 1782 – Hirose Tansō, Japanese neo-Confucian scholar, teacher, writer (d. 1856)
  • 1783 – William Sturgeon, English physicist and inventor, invented the electromagnet and electric motor (d. 1850)
  • 1808 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (d. 1855)
  • 1811 – Giulia Grisi, Italian soprano (d. 1869)
  • 1811 – Henry Pelham-Clinton, 5th Duke of Newcastle, English politician (d. 1864)
  • 1813 – Richard Wagner, German composer (d. 1883)
  • 1814 – Amalia Lindegren, Swedish painter (d. 1891)
  • 1820 – Worthington Whittredge, American painter (d. 1910)
  • 1828 – Albrecht von Graefe, German ophthalmologist and academic (d. 1870)
  • 1831 – Henry Vandyke Carter, English anatomist and surgeon (d. 1897)
  • 1833 – Félix Bracquemond, French painter and etcher (d. 1914)
  • 1833 – Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla, Spanish politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1895)
  • 1841 – Catulle Mendès, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1909)
  • 1844 – Mary Cassatt, American painter and educator (d. 1926)
  • 1846 – Rita Cetina Gutiérrez, Mexican poet, educator, and activist (d. 1908)
  • 1848 – Fritz von Uhde, German painter and educator (d. 1911)
  • 1849 – Aston Webb, English architect and academic (d. 1930)
  • 1858 – Belmiro de Almeida, Brazilian painter, illustrator, sculptor (d. 1935)
  • 1859 – Arthur Conan Doyle, British writer (d. 1930)
  • 1859 – Tsubouchi Shōyō, Japanese author, playwright, and educator (d. 1935)
  • 1864 – Willy Stöwer, German author and illustrator (d. 1931)
  • 1868 – Augusto Pestana, Brazilian engineer and politician (d. 1934)
  • 1874 – Daniel François Malan, South African clergyman and politician, 5th Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1959)
  • 1876 – Julius Klinger, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1942)
  • 1879 – Warwick Armstrong, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 1947)
  • 1879 – Jean Cras, French admiral and composer (d. 1932)
  • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian statesman and independence leader (d. 1926)
  • 1880 – Francis de Miomandre, French author and translator (d. 1959)
  • 1885 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
  • 1885 – Soemu Toyoda, Japanese admiral (d. 1957)
  • 1887 – A. W. Sandberg, Danish film director and screenwriter (d. 1938)
  • 1891 – Johannes R. Becher, German politician, novelist, and poet (d. 1958)
  • 1894 – Friedrich Pollock, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1970)
  • 1897 – Robert Neumann, German and English-speaking author (d. 1975)
  • 1900 – Juan Arvizu, Mexican lyric opera tenor and bolero vocalist (d.1985)
  • 1901 – Maurice J. Tobin, American politician, 6th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 1953)
  • 1902 – Jack Lambert, English footballer and manager (d. 1940)
  • 1902 – Al Simmons, American baseball player and coach (d. 1956)
  • 1904 – Uno Lamm, Swedish electrical engineer and inventor (d. 1989)
  • 1905 – Bodo von Borries, German physicist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (d. 1956)
  • 1905 – Tom Driberg, British politician (d. 1976)
  • 1907 – Hergé, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1983)
  • 1907 – Laurence Olivier, English actor, director, and producer (d. 1989)
  • 1908 – Horton Smith, American golfer and captain (d. 1963)
  • 1909 – Margaret Mee, English illustrator and educator (d. 1988)
  • 1912 – Herbert C. Brown, English-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
  • 1913 – Rafael Gil, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1913 – Dominique Rolin, Belgian author (d. 2012)
  • 1914 – Max Kohnstamm, Dutch historian and diplomat (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, bandleader, poet (d. 1993)
  • 1917 – George Aratani, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
  • 1917 – Jean-Louis Curtis, French author (d. 1995)
  • 1919 – Paul Vanden Boeynants, Belgian businessman and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Thomas Gold, Austrian-American astrophysicist and academic (d. 2004)
  • 1921 – George S. Hammond, American scientist (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Quinn Martin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1987)
  • 1924 – Charles Aznavour, French-Armenian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Jean Tinguely, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1991)
  • 1927 – Michael Constantine, American actor
  • 1927 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – George Andrew Olah, Hungarian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
  • 1928 – Serge Doubrovsky, French theorist and author (d. 2017)
  • 1928 – John Mackenzie, Scottish director and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1928 – T. Boone Pickens, American businessman (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Hiroshi Sano, Japanese novelist (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Ahmed Fouad Negm, Egyptian poet (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Kenny Ball, English jazz trumpet player, vocalist, and bandleader (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Marisol Escobar, French-American sculptor (d. 2016)
  • 1930 – Harvey Milk, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1978)
  • 1932 – Robert Spitzer, American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Chen Jingrun, Chinese mathematician and academic (d. 1996)
  • 1934 – Peter Nero, American pianist and conductor
  • 1936 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (d. 2014)
  • 1937 – Facundo Cabral, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1938 – Richard Benjamin, American actor and director
  • 1938 – Susan Strasberg, American actress (d. 1999)
  • 1939 – Paul Winfield, American actor (d. 2004)
  • 1940 – Kieth Merrill, American filmmaker
  • 1940 – Michael Sarrazin, Canadian actor (d. 2011)
  • 1940 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist
  • 1940 – Mick Tingelhoff, American Pro Football Hall of Famer
  • 1941 – Menzies Campbell, Scottish sprinter and politician
  • 1942 – Roger Brown, American basketball player (d. 1997)
  • 1942 – Ted Kaczynski, American academic and mathematician turned anarchist and serial murderer (Unabomber)
  • 1942 – Barbara Parkins, Canadian actress
  • 1942 – Richard Oakes, Native American civil rights activist (d. 1972)
  • 1943 – Betty Williams, Northern Irish peace activist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2020)
  • 1943 – Tommy John, American baseball player
  • 1944 – John Flanagan, Australian fantasy author
  • 1945 – Bob Katter, Australian politician
  • 1946 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer and manager (d. 2005)
  • 1946 – Michael Green, English physicist and academic
  • 1946 – Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager (d. 2015)
  • 1946 – Andrei Marga, Romanian philosopher, political scientist, politician
  • 1946 – Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Russian-Ukrainian astronomer
  • 1948 – Tomás Sánchez, Cuban painter and engraver
  • 1948 – Nedumudi Venu, Indian actor and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Cheryl Campbell, English actress
  • 1949 – Valentin Inzko, Austrian diplomat
  • 1950 – Bernie Taupin, English singer-songwriter and poet
  • 1953 – François Bon, French writer
  • 1953 – Cha Bum-kun, South Korean footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Paul Mariner, English footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1954 – Barbara May Cameron, Native American human rights activist (d. 2002)
  • 1954 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese-American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1956 – Lucie Brock-Broido, American poet (d. 2018)
  • 1957 – Lisa Murkowski, American lawyer and politician
  • 1959 – David Blatt, Israeli-American basketball player and coach
  • 1959 – Morrissey, English singer-songwriter and performer
  • 1959 – Kwak Jae-yong, South Korean director and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Mehbooba Mufti, Indian politician
  • 1960 – Hideaki Anno, Japanese animator, director, and screenwriter
  • 1962 – Brian Pillman, American football player and wrestler (d. 1997)
  • 1963 – Claude Closky, French contemporary artist
  • 1965 – Jay Carney, American journalist, 29th White House Press Secretary
  • 1966 – Johnny Gill, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1966 – Wang Xiaoshuai, Chinese director and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Graham Linehan, Irish comedian, actor, and author
  • 1969 – Cathy McMorris Rodgers, American lawyer and politician
  • 1970 – Naomi Campbell, English model
  • 1970 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (d. 2019)
  • 1972 – Max Brooks, American author and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Danish actor
  • 1974 – Garba Lawal, Nigerian footballer
  • 1974 – Henrietta Ónodi, Hungarian Olympic gymnast
  • 1974 – Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Ukrainian politician
  • 1975 – Salva Ballesta, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Christian Vande Velde, American cyclist
  • 1978 – Ginnifer Goodwin, American actress
  • 1978 – Katie Price, English television personality and glamour model
  • 1979 – Maggie Q, American actress
  • 1979 – Nazanin Boniadi, Iranian-American actress
  • 1980 – Sharice Davids, American politician
  • 1980 – Lucy Gordon, British actress and model (d. 2009)
  • 1981 – Daniel Bryan, American wrestler
  • 1981 – Bassel Khartabil, Syrian computer programmer and engineer (d. 2015)
  • 1981 – Jürgen Melzer, Austrian tennis player
  • 1982 – Erin McNaught, Australian model and actress
  • 1982 – Apolo Ohno, American speed skater
  • 1982 – Hong Yong-jo, North Korean footballer
  • 1983 – Natasha Kai, American soccer player and Olympic medalist
  • 1984 – Karoline Herfurth, German actress
  • 1984 – Didier Ya Konan, Ivorian footballer
  • 1984 – Dustin Moskovitz, American entrepreneur, co-founder of Facebook
  • 1985 – Tranquillo Barnetta, Swiss footballer
  • 1985 – Tao Okamoto, Japanese model and actress
  • 1986 – Julian Edelman, American football player
  • 1986 – Matt Jarvis, English footballer
  • 1986 – Tatiana Volosozhar, Russian figure skater
  • 1987 – Novak Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
  • 1987 – Arturo Vidal, Chilean footballer
  • 1988 – Heida Reed, Icelandic-British actress
  • 1989 – Corey Dickerson, American baseball player
  • 1990 – Wyatt Roy, Australian politician
  • 1991 – Joel Obi, Nigerian footballer
  • 1991 – Suho, South Korean singer and actor
  • 1992 – Anna Baryshnikov, American actress
  • 1994 – Florian Luger, Austrian male model
  • 1998 – Samile Bermannelli, Brazilian fashion model
  • 1999 – Camren Bicondova, American actress
  • 1999 – Femke Huijzer, Dutch model

Deaths on May 22

  • 192 – Dong Zhuo, Chinese warlord and politician (b. 138)
  • 337 – Constantine the Great, Roman emperor (b. 272)
  • 748 – Empress Genshō of Japan (b. 683)
  • 1067 – Constantine X, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1006)
  • 1068 – Emperor Go-Reizei of Japan (b. 1025)
  • 1310 – Saint Humility, founder of the Vallumbrosan religious order of nuns (b. c.1226)
  • 1409 – Blanche of England, sister of King Henry V (b. 1392)
  • 1455 – Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1406)
  • 1455 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, Lancastrian commander (b. 1414)
  • 1455 – Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, English commander (b. 1393)
  • 1457 – Rita of Cascia, Italian nun and saint (b. 1381)
  • 1490 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English administrator, nobleman and magnate (b. 1416)
  • 1538 – John Forest, English friar and martyr (b. 1471)
  • 1540 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (b. 1483)
  • 1545 – Sher Shah Suri, Indian ruler (b. 1486)
  • 1553 – Giovanni Bernardi, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1495)
  • 1602 – Renata of Lorraine (b. 1544)
  • 1609 – Pieter Willemsz. Verhoeff, Dutch captain (b. 1573)
  • 1666 – Gaspar Schott, German physicist and mathematician (b. 1608)
  • 1667 – Pope Alexander VII (b. 1599)
  • 1745 – François-Marie, 1st duc de Broglie, French general (b. 1671)
  • 1760 – Baal Shem Tov, Polish rabbi and author (b. 1700)
  • 1772 – Durastante Natalucci, Italian historian and academic (b. 1687)
  • 1795 – Ewald Friedrich von Hertzberg, Prussian politician, Foreign Minister of Prussia (b. 1725)
  • 1802 – Martha Washington, First, First Lady of the United States (b. 1731)
  • 1851 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist and diplomat (b. 1755)
  • 1859 – Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies (b. 1810)
  • 1861 – Thornsbury Bailey Brown, American soldier (b. 1829)
  • 1868 – Julius Plücker, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
  • 1885 – Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1802)
  • 1901 – Gaetano Bresci, Italian-American anarchist, assassin of Umberto I of Italy (b. 1869)
  • 1910 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (b. 1864)
  • 1932 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Anglo-Irish activist, landlord, and playwright, co-founded the Abbey Theatre (b. 1852)
  • 1933 – Tsengeltiin Jigjidjav, Mongolian politician, 10th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1894)
  • 1938 – William Glackens, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
  • 1939 – Ernst Toller, German playwright and author (b. 1893)
  • 1939 – Jiří Mahen, Czech author and playwright (b. 1882)
  • 1954 – Chief Bender, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1884)
  • 1965 – Christopher Stone, English radio host (b. 1882)
  • 1966 – Tom Goddard, English cricketer (b. 1900)
  • 1967 – Langston Hughes, American poet, social activist, novelist, and playwright (b. 1902)
  • 1967 – Charlotte Serber, American Librarian of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos site (b. 1911)
  • 1972 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (b. 1904)
  • 1972 – Margaret Rutherford, English actress (b. 1892)
  • 1974 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (b. 1903)
  • 1975 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)
  • 1982 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (b. 1899)
  • 1983 – Albert Claude, Belgian biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
  • 1985 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (b. 1909)
  • 1988 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1914)
  • 1989 – Steven De Groote, South African pianist and educator (b. 1953)
  • 1990 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer (b. 1922)
  • 1991 – Shripad Amrit Dange, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1899)
  • 1991 – Stan Mortensen, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
  • 1992 – Zellig Harris, American linguist and academic (b. 1909)
  • 1993 – Mieczysław Horszowski, Polish-American pianist and composer (b. 1892)
  • 1997 – Alziro Bergonzo, Italian architect and painter (b. 1906)
  • 1997 – Alfred Hershey, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
  • 1998 – John Derek, American actor, director, and photographer (b. 1926)
  • 1998 – José Enrique Moyal, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1910)
  • 2000 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916)
  • 2004 – Richard Biggs, American actor (b. 1960)
  • 2004 – Mikhail Voronin, Russian gymnast (b. 1945)
  • 2005 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (b. 1914)
  • 2005 – Thurl Ravenscroft, American voice actor and singer (b. 1914)
  • 2006 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (b. 1945)
  • 2007 – Pemba Doma Sherpa, Nepalese mountaineer (b. 1970)
  • 2008 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (b. 1946)
  • 2010 – Martin Gardner, American mathematician, cryptographer, and author (b. 1914)
  • 2011 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – Muzafar Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1970)
  • 2012 – Wesley A. Brown, American lieutenant and engineer (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (b. 1922)
  • 2015 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player and coach (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Vladimir Katriuk, Ukrainian-Canadian SS officer (b. 1921)
  • 2016 – Velimir “Bata” Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2017 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (b. 1981)
  • 2019 – Judith Kerr, German-born British writer and illustrator (b. 1923)
  • 2020 – Denise Cronenberg, Canadian costume designer (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on May 22

  • Abolition Day (Martinique)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Castus and Emilius
    • Fulk
    • Humilita
    • Michael Hồ Đình Hy (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
    • Quiteria
    • Rita of Cascia
    • Romanus of Subiaco
    • May 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Harvey Milk Day (California)
  • International Day for Biological Diversity (International)
  • United States National Maritime Day
  • National Sovereignty Day (Haiti)
  • Republic Day (Sri Lanka)
  • Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra to Bari (Ukraine)
  • Unity Day (Yemen), celebrates the unification of North and South Yemen into the Republic of Yemen in 1990.
  • World Goth Day

May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 21 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
  • 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege.
  • 879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
  • 996 – Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
  • 1349 – Dušan’s Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.
  • 1403 – Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
  • 1554 – Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.
  • 1659 – In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.
  • 1660 – The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy.
  • 1674 – The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
  • 1703 – Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel.
  • 1725 – The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
  • 1758 – Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.
  • 1792 – A lava dome collapses on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, creating a deadly tsunami that kills nearly 15,000 people.
  • 1809 – The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
  • 1851 – Slavery in Colombia is abolished.
  • 1856 – Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
  • 1864 – Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
  • 1864 – The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
  • 1871 – French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of “Bloody Week”, some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
  • 1871 – Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi.
  • 1879 – War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
  • 1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
  • 1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.
  • 1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.
  • 1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
  • 1917 – The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire’s military forces.
  • 1917 – The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5 million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).
  • 1924 – University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a “thrill killing”.
  • 1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
  • 1934 – Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.
  • 1936 – Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover’s severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan’s most notorious scandals.
  • 1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.
  • 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
  • 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • 1951 – The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.
  • 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
  • 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
  • 1969 – Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
  • 1972 – Michelangelo’s Pietà in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.
  • 1976 – Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California.
  • 1979 – White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.
  • 1981 – The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.
  • 1981 – Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380 million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven’s Gate.
  • 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.
  • 1991 – Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
  • 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
  • 1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.
  • 1994 – The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
  • 1996 – The ferry MV Bukoba sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.
  • 1998 – In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker.
  • 1998 – President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
  • 2001 – French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.
  • 2003 – The 6.8 Mw  Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands.
  • 2005 – The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.
  • 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
  • 2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.
  • 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date.
  • 2012 – A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others.
  • 2012 – A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sana’a, Yemen.
  • 2017 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Births on May 21

  • 1471 – Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (d. 1528)
  • 1497 – Al-Hattab, Muslim jurist (d. 1547)
  • 1527 – Philip II of Spain (d. 1598)
  • 1653 – Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (d. 1697)
  • 1688 – Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (d. 1744)
  • 1755 – Alfred Moore, American lawyer and judge (d. 1810)
  • 1756 – William Babington, Irish-born, English physician and mineralogist (d. 1833)
  • 1763 – Joseph Fouché, French lawyer and politician (d. 1820)
  • 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (d. 1840)
  • 1780 – Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, philanthropist and Quaker (d. 1845)
  • 1790 – William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Lord Chamberlain of the Household (d. 1858)
  • 1792 – Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1843)
  • 1799 – Mary Anning, English paleontologist (d. 1847)
  • 1801 – Princess Sophie of Sweden, Swedish princess (d. 1865)
  • 1806 – Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, English duchess (d. 1868)
  • 1808 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (d. 1890)
  • 1827 – William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (d. 1899)
  • 1828 – Rudolf Koller, Swiss painter (d. 1905)
  • 1835 – František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician and academic (d. 1884)
  • 1837 – Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (d. 1919)
  • 1843 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
  • 1843 – Louis Renault, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918)
  • 1844 – Henri Rousseau, French painter (d. 1910)
  • 1850 – Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (d. 1914)
  • 1851 – Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
  • 1853 – Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (d. 1905)
  • 1856 – José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan journalist and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1929)
  • 1860 – Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1927)
  • 1861 – Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician and academic (d. 1918)
  • 1863 – Archduke Eugen of Austria (d. 1954)
  • 1864 – Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (d. 1945)
  • 1873 – Hans Berger, German neurologist and academic (d. 1941)
  • 1878 – Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (d. 1930)
  • 1880 – Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1967)
  • 1884 – Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet and publisher (d. 1920)
  • 1885 – Princess Sophie of Albania, (Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg) (d. 1936)
  • 1893 – Arthur Carr, English cricketer (d. 1963)
  • 1893 – Giles Chippindall, Australian public servant (d. 1969)
  • 1895 – Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934–1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (d. 1970)
  • 1898 – Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (d. 1990)
  • 1898 – Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (d. 1967)
  • 1898 – Carl Johnson, American long jumper (d. 1932)
  • 1898 – John McLaughlin, American painter and translator (d. 1976)
  • 1901 – Regina M. Anderson, Multiracial playwright and librarian (d. 1993)
  • 1901 – Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (d. 1986)
  • 1901 – Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (d. 2000)
  • 1901 – Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (d. 1992)
  • 1902 – Earl Averill, American baseball player (d. 1983)
  • 1902 – Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect and academic, designed the Ameritrust Tower (d. 1981)
  • 1902 – Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1974)
  • 1903 – Manly Wade Wellman, American author (d. 1986)
  • 1904 – Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (d. 1981)
  • 1904 – Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1943)
  • 1907 – John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (d. 1979)
  • 1912 – Chen Dayu, Chinese painter and calligrapher (d. 2001)
  • 1912 – John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist and academic (d. 1986)
  • 1912 – Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (d. 1982)
  • 1913 – Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (d. 1976)
  • 1915 – Cathleen Cordell, American actress (d. 1997)
  • 1915 – Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Indian Civil Service Officer and former Under Secretary-General of the UN (d. 2003)
  • 1916 – Dennis Day, American singer and actor (d. 1988)
  • 1916 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (d. 2002)
  • 1916 – Harold Robbins, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1993)
  • 1918 – Anthony Steel, English actor and singer (d. 2001)
  • 1919 – George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (d. 1994)
  • 1921 – Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (d. 2010)
  • 1921 – Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
  • 1923 – Vernon Biever, American photographer (d. 2010)
  • 1923 – Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
  • 1923 – Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
  • 1923 – Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright (d. 2002)
  • 1923 – Evelyn Ward, American actress (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist (d. 1999)
  • 1926 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2005)
  • 1927 – Kay Kendall, English actress and comedian (d. 1959)
  • 1927 – Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (d. 2012)
  • 1928 – Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (d. 1975)
  • 1928 – Alice Drummond, American actress (d. 2016)
  • 1929 – Larance Marable, American drummer (d. 2012)
  • 1929 – Robert Welch, English silversmith and industrial designer (d. 2000)
  • 1930 – Tommy Bryant, American bassist (d. 1982)
  • 1930 – Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
  • 1930 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower and surgeon (d. 2011)
  • 1932 – Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (d. 2014)
  • 1933 – Maurice André, French trumpet player (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (d. 1993)
  • 1934 – Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Bob Northern, American horn player and bandleader
  • 1934 – Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1935 – Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
  • 1938 – Lee “Shot” Williams, American singer (d. 2011)
  • 1939 – Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor
  • 1940 – Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1941 – Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1941 – Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager
  • 1941 – Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician
  • 1941 – Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1942 – David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales
  • 1942 – John Konrads, Australian swimmer
  • 1942 – Danny Ongais, American race car driver
  • 1943 – Vincent Crane, English pianist and composer (d. 1989)
  • 1943 – John Dalton, English bass player
  • 1943 – Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1944 – Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician
  • 1944 – Marcie Blane, American singer
  • 1944 – Janet Dailey, American author and entrepreneur (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Mary Robinson, Irish lawyer and politician, 7th President of Ireland
  • 1945 – Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut
  • 1945 – Richard Hatch, American actor, writer, and producer (d. 2017)
  • 1946 – Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
  • 1946 – Wayne Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider and coach
  • 1947 – Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1947 – Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (d. 1992)
  • 1947 – İlber Ortaylı, Turkish historian and academic
  • 1948 – Elizabeth Buchan, English author and critic
  • 1948 – Joe Camilleri, Maltese-Australian singer-songwriter and saxophonist
  • 1948 – Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor
  • 1948 – Denis MacShane, Scottish journalist and politician, UK Minister of State for Europe
  • 1948 – Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1949 – Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic
  • 1949 – Denis O’Connor, British police officer
  • 1949 – Rosalind Plowright, English soprano
  • 1950 – Will Hutton, English economist and journalist
  • 1951 – Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician
  • 1951 – Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
  • 1952 – Mr. T, American actor and wrestler
  • 1953 – Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist
  • 1954 – D. B. S. Jeyaraj, Sri Lankan-Canadian journalist and blogger
  • 1954 – Janice Karman, American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice actress
  • 1954 – Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer
  • 1955 – Paul Barber, English field hockey player
  • 1955 – Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1957 – James Bailey, American basketball player
  • 1957 – Nadine Dorries, English nurse and politician
  • 1957 – Judge Reinhold, American actor and producer
  • 1957 – Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress
  • 1958 – Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (d. 2015)
  • 1958 – Muffy Calder, Canadian-Scottish computer scientist and academic
  • 1958 – Michael Crick, English journalist and author
  • 1958 – Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer
  • 1958 – Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives
  • 1960 – Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (d. 1994)
  • 1960 – Kent Hrbek, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Mohanlal, Indian actor
  • 1960 – Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer
  • 1960 – Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer
  • 1962 – David Crumb, American composer and educator
  • 1963 – Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer
  • 1963 – Patrick Grant, American musician and producer
  • 1963 – David Lonsdale, English actor
  • 1964 – Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer
  • 1963 – Kevin Shields, American-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1963 – Dave Specter, American guitarist
  • 1963 – Laurie Spina, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1964 – Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach
  • 1965 – Josh Richman, American actor and producer
  • 1966 – Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright
  • 1966 – Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler
  • 1967 – Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2007)
  • 1968 – Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower
  • 1968 – Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (d. 1985)
  • 1969 – Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer
  • 1969 – Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (d. 2000)
  • 1969 – Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • 1969 – George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician
  • 1969 – Brian Statham, Rhodesian born English footballer, defender and manager
  • 1970 – Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler
  • 1970 – Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Pauline Menczer, Australian surfer
  • 1970 – Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1972 – The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (d. 1997)
  • 1973 – Stewart Cink, American golfer
  • 1973 – Noel Fielding, English comedian, musician and television presenter
  • 1974 – Brad Arthur, Australian rugby league coach
  • 1974 – Fairuza Balk, American actress
  • 1974 – Aditi Gowitrikar, Indian model, actress, and physician, Mrs. World 2001
  • 1974 – Havoc, American rapper and producer
  • 1975 – Anthony Mundine, Australian rugby league player and boxer
  • 1976 – Stuart Bingham, English snooker player
  • 1976 – Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (d. 2013)
  • 1976 – Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1977 – Quinton Fortune, South African international footballer midfielder and coach
  • 1977 – Michael Fuß, German footballer
  • 1977 – Ricky Williams, American football player and coach
  • 1978 – Max B, American rapper and songwriter
  • 1978 – Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model
  • 1978 – Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player and coach
  • 1979 – Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer
  • 1979 – Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health
  • 1979 – James Clancy Phelan, Australian author and academic
  • 1979 – Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist
  • 1979 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech musician/composer
  • 1980 – Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Edson Buddle, American soccer player
  • 1981 – Josh Hamilton, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter
  • 1983 – Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player
  • 1983 – Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer
  • 1983 – Kaori Shimizu, Japanese voice actress and singer
  • 1984 – Brandon Fields, American football player
  • 1984 – Sara Goller, German volleyball player
  • 1984 – Syamsul Yusof, Malaysian actor, film director, scriptwriter, film producer, rapper and singer
  • 1985 – Mutya Buena, English singer-songwriter
  • 1985 – Alison Carroll, English gymnast, model, and actress
  • 1985 – Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist
  • 1985 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (d. 2012)
  • 1985 – Isa Guha, English cricketer
  • 1985 – Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player
  • 1985 – Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor
  • 1985 – Dušan Kuciak, Slovak footballer
  • 1985 – Heath L’Estrange, Australian rugby league player
  • 1985 – Andrew Miller, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer
  • 1986 – Myra, American singer and actress
  • 1986 – Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker
  • 1986 – Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1986 – Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Beau Falloon, Australian rugby league player
  • 1988 – Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer
  • 1988 – Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer
  • 1988 – Jonny Howson, English footballer
  • 1988 – Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper
  • 1989 – Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer
  • 1989 – Hal Robson-Kanu, English footballer
  • 1990 – Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete
  • 1990 – Rene Krhin, Slovenian footballer
  • 1991 – Guilherme, Brazilian footballer
  • 1992 – Hutch Dano, American actor
  • 1992 – Lisa Evans, Scottish footballer
  • 1992 – Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer
  • 1992 – Olivia Olson, American singer and actress
  • 1993 – Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete
  • 1993 – Luke Garbutt, English footballer, left-back
  • 1994 – Tom Daley, English diver
  • 1995 – Katharina Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian
  • 1995 – Diego Loyzaga, Filipino actor
  • 1996 – Josh Allen, American footballer
  • 1996 – Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player
  • 1996 – Karen Khachanov, Russian tennis player
  • 1997 – Ivan De Santis, Italian footballer
  • 1997 – Sisca Folkertsma, Dutch footballer
  • 1997 – Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer-songwriter

Deaths on May 21

  • 252 – Sun Quan, Chinese emperor of Eastern Wu (b. 182)
  • 954 – Feng Dao, Chinese prince and chancellor (b. 882)
  • 987 – Louis V, king of West Francia (b. c. 966)
  • 1075 – Richeza of Poland, queen of Hungary (b. 1013)
  • 1086 – Wang Anshi, Chinese statesman and poet (b. 1021)
  • 1237 – Olaf the Black, Manx son of Godred II Olafsson
  • 1254 – Conrad IV, king of Germany (b. 1228)
  • 1416 – Anna of Celje, queen consort of Poland (b. 1386)
  • 1471 – Henry VI, king of England (b. 1421)
  • 1481 – Christian I, king of Denmark (b. 1426)
  • 1512 – Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (b. 1452)
  • 1524 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1443)
  • 1542 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (b. 1496)
  • 1563 – Martynas Mažvydas, Lithuanian writer (b. 1510)
  • 1607 – John Rainolds, English scholar and academic (b. 1549)
  • 1619 – Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (b. 1537)
  • 1639 – Tommaso Campanella, Italian astrologer, theologian, and poet (b. 1568)
  • 1647 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and playwright (b. 1581)
  • 1650 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish general and politician (b. 1612)
  • 1664 – Elizabeth Poole, English settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (b. 1588)
  • 1670 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (b. 1586)
  • 1686 – Otto von Guericke, German physicist and inventor of the Magdeburg Hemispheres (b. 1602)
  • 1690 – John Eliot, English-American minister and missionary (b. 1604)
  • 1719 – Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (b. 1646)
  • 1724 – Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
  • 1742 – Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (b. 1664)
  • 1762 – Alexander Joseph Sulkowski, Polish and Saxon general (b. 1695)
  • 1771 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (b. 1722)
  • 1786 – Carl Wilhelm Scheele, German-Swedish chemist and pharmacist (b. 1742)
  • 1790 – Thomas Warton, English poet and critic (b. 1728)
  • 1810 – Chevalier d’Eon, French diplomat and spy (b. 1728)
  • 1844 – Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (b. 1775)
  • 1858 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (b. 1783)
  • 1862 – John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (b. 1827)
  • 1879 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (b. 1848)
  • 1894 – Émile Henry, French anarchist (b. 1872)
  • 1894 – August Kundt, German physicist and academic (b. 1839)
  • 1895 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1819)
  • 1901 – Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (b. 1874)
  • 1911 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (b. 1857)
  • 1915 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (b. 1875)
  • 1919 – Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (b. 1853)
  • 1920 – Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (b. 1859)
  • 1925 – Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (b. 1871)
  • 1926 – Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (b. 1886)
  • 1929 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1847)
  • 1932 – Marcel Boulenger, French fencer and author (b. 1873)
  • 1935 – Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
  • 1935 – Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist (b. 1848)
  • 1940 – Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (b. 1888)
  • 1949 – Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, playwright, and critic (b. 1906)
  • 1952 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)
  • 1956 – Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (b. 1877)
  • 1957 – Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (b. 1889)
  • 1964 – James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
  • 1965 – Marguerite Bise, French chef (b. 1898)
  • 1965 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (b. 1882)
  • 1968 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (b. 1896)
  • 1970 – E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (b. 1885)
  • 1973 – Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (b. 1911)
  • 1973 – Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (b. 1897)
  • 1981 – Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer (b. 1957)
  • 1981 – Patsy O’Hara, INLA volunteer (b. 1957)
  • 1983 – Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (b. 1903)
  • 1984 – Ann Little, American actress (b. 1891)
  • 1988 – Sammy Davis Sr., American actor and dancer (b. 1900)
  • 1991 – Lino Brocka, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1939)
  • 1991 – Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (b. 1944)
  • 1995 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (b. 1938)
  • 1996 – Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1957)
  • 1996 – Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (b. 1917)
  • 1996 – Villem Raam, Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator (b. 1910)
  • 1998 – Robert Gist, American actor and director (b. 1917)
  • 2000 – Barbara Cartland, English author (b. 1901)
  • 2000 – John Gielgud, English actor (b. 1904)
  • 2000 – Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (b. 1956)
  • 2002 – Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (b. 1930)
  • 2003 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (b. 1928)
  • 2003 – Frank D. White, American captain, banker, and politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (b. 1933)
  • 2005 – Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (b. 1956)
  • 2005 – Stephen Elliott, American actor (b. 1918)
  • 2005 – Howard Morris, American actor and director (b. 1919)
  • 2006 – Spencer Clark, American race car driver (b. 1987)
  • 2006 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (b. 1909)
  • 2006 – Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
  • 2006 – Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
  • 2012 – Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race riot (b. 1903)
  • 2012 – Constantine of Irinoupolis, Metropolitan of Irinoupolis and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (b. 1964)
  • 2012 – Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (b. 1950)
  • 2012 – Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (b. 1939)
  • 2013 – Count Christian of Rosenborg, member of the Danish royal family (b. 1942)
  • 2013 – Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (b. 1922)
  • 2013 – Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Mohammad Khaled Hossain, Bangladeshi mountaineer (b. 1979)
  • 2013 – Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (b. 1935)
  • 2013 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1953)
  • 2014 – Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (b. 1939)
  • 2014 – Evelyn Blackmon, American businesswoman and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Johnny Gray, American baseball player (b. 1926)
  • 2014 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (b. 1956)
  • 2015 – Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (b. 1969)
  • 2015 – Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2015 – Jassem Al-Kharafi, Kuwaiti businessman and politician, 8th Kuwaiti Speaker of the National Assembly (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – Fred Gladding, American baseball player and coach (b. 1936)
  • 2015 – Louis Johnson, American bass player and producer (b. 1955)
  • 2016 – Nick Menza, American drummer and songwriter (b. 1964)
  • 2019 – Rik Kuypers, Belgian film director (b. 1925)
  • 2019 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (b. 1971)
  • 2020 – Alan Merten, fifth President of George Mason University (b. 1941)

Holidays and observances on May 21

  • Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Arcangelo Tadini
    • Blessed Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González
    • Blessed Franz Jägerstätter
    • Earliest day on which Corpus Christi can fall, while June 24 is the latest; held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday (often locally moved to Sunday). (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Emperor Constantine I
    • Eugène de Mazenod
    • Helena of Constantinople, also known as “Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles.” (Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)
    • John Elliot (Episcopal Church)
    • Saints of the Cristero War, including Christopher Magallanes
    • May 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians)
  • Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the Montenegrin independence referendum in 2006, celebrated until the next day. (Montenegro)
  • Navy Day (Chile)
  • Saint Helena Day, celebrates the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502. (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)
  • World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (International)
  • International Tea Day (International)

May 21 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

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

Births on May 20

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

Deaths on May 20

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

Holidays and observances on May 20

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

May 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 639 – Ashina Jiesheshuai and his tribesmen assaulted Emperor Taizong at Jiucheng Palace.
  • 715 – Pope Gregory II is elected.
  • 1051 – Henry I of France marries the Russian princess, Anne of Kiev.
  • 1445 – John II of Castile defeats the Infantes of Aragon at the First Battle of Olmedo.
  • 1499 – Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.
  • 1535 – French explorer Jacques Cartier sets sail on his second voyage to North America with three ships, 110 men, and Chief Donnacona’s two sons (whom Cartier had kidnapped during his first voyage).
  • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded for adultery, treason, and incest.
  • 1542 – The Prome Kingdom falls to the Taungoo Dynasty in present-day Myanmar.
  • 1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots.
  • 1643 – Thirty Years’ War: French forces under the duc d’Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.
  • 1649 – An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.
  • 1655 – The Invasion of Jamaica begins during the Anglo-Spanish War.
  • 1743 – Jean-Pierre Christin developed the centigrade temperature scale.
  • 1749 – King George II of Great Britain grants the Ohio Company a charter of land around the forks of the Ohio River.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: A Continental Army garrison surrenders in the Battle of The Cedars.
  • 1780 – New England’s Dark Day, an unusual darkening of the day sky, was observed over the New England states and parts of Canada.
  • 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.
  • 1828 – U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.
  • 1845 – Captain Sir John Franklin and his ill-fated Arctic expedition depart from Greenhithe, England.
  • 1848 – Mexican–American War: Mexico ratifies the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo thus ending the war and ceding California, Nevada, Utah and parts of four other modern-day U.S. states to the United States for US$15 million.
  • 1911 – Parks Canada, the world’s first national park service, is established as the Dominion Parks Branch under the Department of the Interior.
  • 1917 – The Norwegian football club Rosenborg BK is founded.
  • 1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk lands at Samsun on the Anatolian Black Sea coast, initiating what is later termed the Turkish War of Independence.
  • 1921 – The United States Congress passes the Emergency Quota Act establishing national quotas on immigration.
  • 1922 – The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union is established.
  • 1934 – Zveno and the Bulgarian Army engineer a coup d’état and install Kimon Georgiev as the new Prime Minister of Bulgaria.
  • 1942 – World War II: In the aftermath of the Battle of the Coral Sea, Task Force 16 heads to Pearl Harbor.
  • 1950 – A barge containing munitions destined for Pakistan explodes in the harbor at South Amboy, New Jersey, devastating the city.
  • 1950 – Egypt announces that the Suez Canal is closed to Israeli ships and commerce.
  • 1959 – The North Vietnamese Army establishes Group 559, whose responsibility is to determine how to maintain supply lines to South Vietnam; the resulting route is the Ho Chi Minh trail.
  • 1961 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).
  • 1961 – At Silchar Railway Station, Assam, 11 Bengalis die when police open fire on protesters demanding state recognition of Bengali language in the Bengali Language Movement.
  • 1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe’s rendition of “Happy Birthday”.
  • 1963 – The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
  • 1971 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.
  • 1986 – The Firearm Owners Protection Act is signed into law by U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
  • 1991 – Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
  • 1997 – The Sierra Gorda biosphere, the most ecologically diverse region in Mexico, is established as a result of grassroots efforts.
  • 2007 – President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.
  • 2010 – The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.
  • 2012 – Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.
  • 2012 – A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.
  • 2015 – The Refugio oil spill deposited 142,800 U.S. gallons (3,400 barrels) of crude oil onto an area in California considered one of the most biologically diverse coastlines of the west coast.
  • 2016 – EgyptAir Flight 804 crashes into the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Paris to Cairo, killing all on board.
  • 2018 – The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is held at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, with an estimated global audience of 1.9 billion.

Births on May 19

  • 1400 – John Stourton, 1st Baron Stourton, English soldier and politician (d. 1462)
  • 1462 – Baccio D’Agnolo, Italian woodcarver, sculptor and architect (d. 1543)
  • 1476 (or 1474) – Helena of Moscow, Grand Duchess consort of Lithuania and Queen consort of Poland (d. 1513)
  • 1593 – Claude Vignon, French painter (d. 1670)
  • 1616 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer (d. 1667)
  • 1639 – Charles Weston, 3rd Earl of Portland, English soldier and noble (d. 1665)
  • 1700 – José de Escandón, 1st Count of Sierra Gorda, Spanish sergeant and politician (d. 1770)
  • 1724 – Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol, English admiral and politician, Chief Secretary for Ireland (d. 1779)
  • 1744 – Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, German-born Queen to George III of the United Kingdom (d. 1818)
  • 1762 – Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher and academic (d. 1814)
  • 1773 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (d. 1854)
  • 1795 – Johns Hopkins, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1873)
  • 1827 – Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French academic and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1896)
  • 1832 – James Watney, Jr., English politician, brewer and cricketer (d. 1886)
  • 1857 – John Jacob Abel, American biochemist and pharmacologist (d. 1938)
  • 1861 – Nellie Melba, Australian soprano and actress (d. 1931)
  • 1871 – Walter Russell, American painter, sculptor, and author (d. 1963)
  • 1874 – Gilbert Jessop, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1955)
  • 1878 – Alfred Laliberté, Canadian sculptor and painter (d. 1953)
  • 1879 – Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor, American-English politician (d. 1964)
  • 1880 – Albert Richardson, English architect and educator, designed the Manchester Opera House (d. 1964)
  • 1881 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (official birthday), Turkish field marshal and statesman, 1st President of Turkey (d. 1938)
  • 1884 – David Munson, American runner (d. 1953)
  • 1886 – Francis Biddle, American lawyer and judge, 58th United States Attorney General (d. 1968)
  • 1887 – Ion Jalea, Romanian soldier and sculptor (d. 1983)
  • 1889 – Tản Đà, Vietnamese poet and author (d. 1939)
  • 1889 – Henry B. Richardson, American archer (d. 1963)
  • 1890 – Eveline Adelheid von Maydell, German-American illustrator (d. 1962)
  • 1890 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese politician, 1st President of Vietnam (d. 1969)
  • 1891 – Oswald Boelcke, German captain and pilot (d. 1916)
  • 1893 – H. Bonciu, Romanian author, poet, and journalist (d. 1950)
  • 1897 – Frank Luke, American lieutenant and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1918)
  • 1898 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and painter (d. 1974)
  • 1899 – Lothar Rădăceanu, Romanian journalist, linguist, and politician (d. 1955)
  • 1902 – Lubka Kolessa, Ukrainian-Canadian pianist and educator (d. 1997)
  • 1903 – Ruth Ella Moore, American scientist (d. 1994)
  • 1906 – Bruce Bennett, American shot putter and actor (d. 2007)
  • 1908 – Manik Bandopadhyay, Indian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
  • 1908 – Merriam Modell, American author (d. 1994)
  • 1908 – Percy Williams, Canadian sprinter (d. 1982)
  • 1909 – Nicholas Winton, English banker and humanitarian (d. 2015)
  • 1910 – Alan Melville, South African cricketer (d. 1983)
  • 1913 – Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th President of India (d. 1996)
  • 1914 – Max Perutz, Austrian-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2002)
  • 1914 – Alex Shibicky, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – John Vachon, American photographer and journalist (d. 1975)
  • 1915 – Renée Asherson, English actress (d. 2014)
  • 1918 – Abraham Pais, Dutch-American physicist, historian, and academic (d. 2000)
  • 1919 – Georgie Auld, Canadian-American saxophonist, clarinet player, and bandleader (d. 1990)
  • 1919 – Mitja Ribičič, Italian-Slovenian soldier and politician, 25th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Tina Strobos, Dutch psychiatrist known for rescuing Jews during World War II (d. 2012)
  • 1921 – Leslie Broderick, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1921 – Harry W. Brown, American colonel and pilot (d. 1991)
  • 1921 – Daniel Gélin, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Yuri Kochiyama, American activist (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Karel van het Reve, Dutch historian and author (d. 1999)
  • 1922 – Arthur Gorrie, Australian hobby shop proprietor (d. 1992)
  • 1924 – Sandy Wilson, English composer and songwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 1998)
  • 1925 – Malcolm X, American minister and activist (d. 1965)
  • 1926 – Edward Parkes, English engineer and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1926 – Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1927 – Serge Lang, French-American mathematician, author and academic (d. 2005)
  • 1928 – Colin Chapman, English engineer and businessman, founded Lotus Cars (d. 1982)
  • 1928 – Thomas Kennedy, English air marshal (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Gil McDougald, American baseball player and coach (d. 2010)
  • 1928 – Dolph Schayes, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1929 – Helmut Braunlich, German-American violinist and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Richard Larter, Australian painter (d. 2014)
  • 1929 – John Stroger, American politician (d. 2008)
  • 1930 – Eugene Genovese, American historian and author (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Lorraine Hansberry, American playwright and director (d. 1965)
  • 1931 – Bob Anderson, English race car driver (d. 1967)
  • 1931 – Trevor Peacock, English actor, screenwriter and songwriter
  • 1932 – Alma Cogan, English singer (d. 1966)
  • 1932 – Paul Erdman, American economist and author (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Bill Fitch, American basketball player and coach
  • 1932 – Elena Poniatowska, Mexican intellectual and journalist
  • 1933 – Edward de Bono, Maltese physician, author, and academic
  • 1934 – Ruskin Bond, Indian author and poet
  • 1934 – Jim Lehrer, American journalist and author (d. 2020)
  • 1935 – David Hartman, American journalist and television personality
  • 1937 – Pat Roach, English wrestler (d. 2004)
  • 1938 – Moisés da Costa Amaral, East Timorese politician (d. 1989)
  • 1938 – Herbie Flowers, English musician
  • 1938 – Igor Ter-Ovanesyan, Ukrainian long jumper and coach
  • 1939 – Livio Berruti, Italian sprinter
  • 1939 – James Fox, English actor
  • 1939 – Nancy Kwan, Hong Kong-American actress and makeup artist
  • 1939 – Jānis Lūsis, Latvian javelin thrower and coach (d. 2020)
  • 1939 – Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
  • 1940 – Jan Janssen, Dutch cyclist
  • 1940 – Mickey Newbury, American country/pop singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1941 – Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Igor Judge, Baron Judge, Maltese-English lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales
  • 1942 – Gary Kildall, American computer scientist, founded Digital Research Inc. (d. 1994)
  • 1942 – Robert Kilroy-Silk, English television host and politician
  • 1943 – Eddie May, English footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1943 – Shirrel Rhoades, American author, publisher, and academic
  • 1944 – Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (d. 2019)
  • 1945 – Pete Townshend, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1946 – Claude Lelièvre, Belgian activist
  • 1946 – Michele Placido, Italian actor and director
  • 1946 – André the Giant, French-American wrestler and actor (d. 1993)
  • 1947 – Paul Brady, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1947 – Christopher Chope, English lawyer and politician
  • 1947 – David Helfgott, Australian pianist
  • 1948 – Grace Jones, Jamaican-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1949 – Dusty Hill, American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1949 – Philip Hunt, Baron Hunt of Kings Heath, English politician
  • 1949 – Archie Manning, American football player
  • 1950 – Tadeusz Ślusarski, Polish pole vaulter (d. 1998)
  • 1951 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1951 – Dick Slater, American wrestler
  • 1952 – Charlie Spedding, English runner
  • 1952 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1953 – Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge, Scottish lawyer and judge
  • 1953 – Shavarsh Karapetyan, Armenian finswimmer
  • 1953 – Florin Marin, Romanian footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Victoria Wood, English actress, singer, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1954 – Rick Cerone, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1954 – Hōchū Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor
  • 1954 – Phil Rudd, Australian-New Zealand drummer
  • 1955 – James Gosling, Canadian-American computer scientist, created Java
  • 1956 – Oliver Letwin, English philosopher and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • 1956 – Martyn Ware, English keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
  • 1957 – Bill Laimbeer, American basketball player and coach
  • 1957 – James Reyne, Nigerian-Australian singer-songwriter
  • 1961 – Vadim Cojocaru, Moldovan politician
  • 1961 – Gregory Poirier, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Wayne Van Dorp, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1963 – Filippo Galli, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1964 – Peter Jackson, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
  • 1964 – John Lee, South Korean-American football player
  • 1964 – Miloslav Mečíř, Slovak tennis player
  • 1965 – Maile Flanagan, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Marc Bureau, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Jodi Picoult, American author and educator
  • 1966 – Polly Walker, English actress
  • 1967 – Alexia, Italian singer
  • 1967 – Geraldine Somerville, Irish-born English actress
  • 1968 – Kyle Eastwood, American actor and bass player
  • 1970 – Stuart Cable, Welsh drummer (d. 2010)
  • 1970 – K. J. Choi, South Korean golfer
  • 1970 – Regina Narva, Estonian chess player
  • 1970 – Nia Zulkarnaen, Indonesian actress, singer and producer
  • 1971 – Ross Katz, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Andres Salumets, Estonian biologist, biochemist, and educator
  • 1972 – Jenny Berggren, Swedish singer-songwriter
  • 1972 – Claudia Karvan, Australian actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Dario Franchitti, Scottish race car driver
  • 1974 – Andrew Johns, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1974 – Emma Shapplin, French soprano
  • 1974 – Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Indian actor
  • 1975 – Pretinha, Brazilian footballer
  • 1975 – London Fletcher, American football player
  • 1975 – Josh Paul, American baseball player and manager
  • 1975 – Jonas Renkse, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1976 – Ed Cota, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Kevin Garnett, American basketball player
  • 1977 – Manuel Almunia, Spanish footballer
  • 1977 – Wouter Hamel, Dutch singer and guitarist
  • 1977 – Brandon Inge, American baseball player
  • 1977 – Natalia Oreiro, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1978 – Marcus Bent, English footballer
  • 1978 – Dave Bus, Dutch footballer
  • 1979 – Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
  • 1979 – Diego Forlan, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1980 – Tony Hackworth, English footballer
  • 1981 – Luciano Figueroa, Argentinian footballer
  • 1981 – Yo Gotti, American rapper
  • 1981 – Michael Leighton, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Sina Schielke, German sprinter
  • 1981 – Klaas-Erik Zwering, Dutch swimmer
  • 1982 – Kevin Amankwaah, English footballer
  • 1982 – Pål Steffen Andresen, Norwegian footballer
  • 1982 – Klaas Vantornout, Belgian cyclist
  • 1983 – Michael Che, American comedian
  • 1983 – Jessica Fox, English actress
  • 1984 – Marcedes Lewis, American football player
  • 1985 – Aleister Black, Dutch professional wrestler
  • 1986 – Mario Chalmers, American basketball player
  • 1987 – Michael Angelakos, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1987 – David Edgar, Canadian soccer player
  • 1987 – Mariano Torres, Argentinian footballer
  • 1987 – Jayne Wisener, Northern Irish actress
  • 1991 – Jordan Pruitt, American singer-songwriter
  • 1992 – Marshmello, American electronic music producer and DJ
  • 1992 – Michele Camporese, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Ola John, Dutch footballer
  • 1992 – Felise Kaufusi, New Zealand-Tongan rugby league player
  • 1992 – Evgeny Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Sam Smith, English singer-songwriter
  • 1994 – Carlos Guzmán, Mexican footballer
  • 1995 – Taane Milne, New Zealand rugby league player

Deaths on May 19

  • 804 – Alcuin, English monk and scholar (b. 735)
  • 956 – Robert, archbishop of Trier
  • 988 – Dunstan, English archbishop and saint (b. 909)
  • 1102 – Stephen, Count of Blois (b. 1045)
  • 1125 – Vladimir II Monomakh, Grand Duke of Kiev
  • 1164 – Saint Bashnouna, Egyptian saint and martyr
  • 1218 – Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
  • 1296 – Pope Celestine V (b. 1215)
  • 1303 – Saint Ivo of Kermartin, French canon lawyer (b. 1253)
  • 1319 – Louis, Count of Évreux (b. 1276)
  • 1389 – Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1350)
  • 1396 – John I of Aragon (b. 1350)
  • 1526 – Emperor Go-Kashiwabara of Japan (b. 1464)
  • 1531 – Jan Łaski, Polish archbishop and diplomat (b. 1456)
  • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England (1533–1536); second wife of Henry VIII of England (b. c. 1501)
  • 1601 – Costanzo Porta, Italian composer (b. 1528)
  • 1609 – García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete (b. 1535)
  • 1610 – Thomas Sanchez, Spanish priest and theologian (b. 1550)
  • 1623 – Mariam-uz-Zamani, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1542)
  • 1637 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (b. 1588)
  • 1715 – Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1661)
  • 1786 – John Stanley, English organist and composer (b. 1712)
  • 1795 – Josiah Bartlett, American physician and politician, 4th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1729)
  • 1795 – James Boswell, Scottish biographer (b. 1740)
  • 1798 – William Byron, 5th Baron Byron, English lieutenant and politician (b. 1722)
  • 1821 – Camille Jordan, French lawyer and politician (b. 1771)
  • 1825 – Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, French philosopher and theorist (b. 1760)
  • 1831 – Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, Estonian-German physician, botanist, and entomologist (b. 1793)
  • 1864 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1804)
  • 1865 – Sengge Rinchen, Mongolian general (b. 1811)
  • 1872 – John Baker, English-Australian politician, 2nd Premier of South Australia (b. 1813)
  • 1876 – Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Dutch historian and politician (b. 1801)
  • 1885 – Peter W. Barlow, English engineer (b. 1809)
  • 1895 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1853)
  • 1898 – William Ewart Gladstone, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1809)
  • 1901 – Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, South African general and politician, 1st President of the South African Republic (b. 1819)
  • 1903 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer (b. 1856)
  • 1904 – Auguste Molinier, French librarian and historian (b. 1851)
  • 1904 – Jamsetji Tata, Indian businessman, founded Tata Group (b. 1839)
  • 1906 – Gabriel Dumont, Canadian Métis leader (b. 1837)
  • 1907 – Benjamin Baker, English engineer, designed the Forth Bridge (b. 1840)
  • 1912 – Bolesław Prus, Polish journalist and author (b. 1847)
  • 1915 – John Simpson Kirkpatrick, English-Australian soldier (b. 1892)
  • 1918 – Gervais Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (b. 1885)
  • 1935 – T. E. Lawrence, British colonel and archaeologist (b. 1888)
  • 1936 – Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, British Islamic scholar (b. 1875)
  • 1939 – Ahmet Ağaoğlu, Azerbaijani-Turkish journalist and publicist (b. 1869)
  • 1943 – Kristjan Raud, Estonian painter and illustrator (b. 1865)
  • 1945 – Philipp Bouhler, German soldier and politician (b. 1889)
  • 1946 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (b. 1869)
  • 1950 – Daniel Ciugureanu, Romanian physician and politician, Prime Minister of Moldova (b. 1884)
  • 1954 – Charles Ives, American composer and educator (b. 1874)
  • 1958 – Jadunath Sarkar, Indian historian (b. 1870)
  • 1958 – Archie Scott Brown, Scottish race car driver (b. 1927)
  • 1958 – Ronald Colman, English actor (b. 1891)
  • 1963 – Walter Russell, American painter, sculptor, and author (b. 1871)
  • 1969 – Coleman Hawkins, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1901)
  • 1971 – Ogden Nash, American poet (b. 1902)
  • 1978 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian-Swedish journalist and author (b. 1898)
  • 1980 – Joseph Schull, Canadian playwright and historian (b. 1906)
  • 1983 – Jean Rey, Belgian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the European Commission (b. 1902)
  • 1984 – John Betjeman, English poet and academic (b. 1906)
  • 1986 – Jimmy Lyons, American saxophonist (b. 1931)
  • 1987 – James Tiptree, Jr., American psychologist and author (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Yiannis Papaioannou, Greek composer and educator (b. 1910)
  • 1994 – Jacques Ellul, French sociologist, philosopher, and academic (b. 1912)
  • 1994 – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, American journalist, 37th First Lady of the United States (b. 1929)
  • 1994 – Luis Ocaña, Spanish cyclist (b. 1945)
  • 1996 – John Beradino, American baseball player and actor (b. 1917)
  • 1998 – Sōsuke Uno, Japanese soldier and politician, 75th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1922)
  • 2001 – Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1916)
  • 2001 – Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
  • 2002 – John Gorton, Australian lieutenant and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1911)
  • 2002 – Walter Lord, American historian and author (b. 1917)
  • 2004 – Mary Dresselhuys, Dutch actress and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 2007 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (b. 1940)
  • 2007 – Dean Eyre, New Zealand politician (b. 1914)
  • 2008 – Vijay Tendulkar, Indian playwright and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 2009 – Robert F. Furchgott, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
  • 2009 – Nicholas Maw, English composer and academic (b. 1935)
  • 2009 – Clint Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1913)
  • 2011 – Garret FitzGerald, Irish lawyer and politician, 8th Taoiseach of Ireland (b. 1926)
  • 2011 – Jeffrey Catherine Jones, American artist (b.1944)
  • 2012 – Bob Boozer, American basketball player (b. 1937)
  • 2012 – Tamara Brooks, American conductor and educator (b. 1941)
  • 2012 – Ian Burgess, English race car driver (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – Gerhard Hetz, German-Mexican swimmer (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – Phil Lamason, New Zealand soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – G. Sarsfield Ford, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Robin Harrison, English-Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Neil Reynolds, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Simon Andrews, English motorcycle racer (b. 1982)
  • 2014 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (b. 1926)
  • 2014 – Terry W. Gee, American businessman and politician (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Sam Greenlee, American author and poet (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Vincent Harding, American historian and scholar (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Gabriel Kolko, American historian and author (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Zbigniew Pietrzykowski, Polish boxer (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Bruce Lundvall, American businessman (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Ted McWhinney, Australian-Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Happy Rockefeller, American philanthropist, socialite; 31st Second Lady of the United States (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Robert S. Wistrich, English historian, author, and academic (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Alan Young, English-born Canadian-American actor (b. 1919)
  • 2016 – Morley Safer, Canadian-born American journalist (b. 1931)
  • 2017 – Nawshirwan Mustafa, General coordinator of the Movement for Change (Gorran) (b. 1944)
  • 2018 – Zhengzhang Shangfang, Chinese linguist (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances on May 19

  • Christian feast day:
    • Calocerus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Crispin of Viterbo
    • Dunstan (Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church; commemoration, Anglicanism)
    • Ivo of Kermartin
    • Joaquina Vedruna de Mas
    • Maria Bernarda Bütler
    • Peter Celestine
    • Pudentiana (Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church)
    • May 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day (Turkey, Northern Cyprus)
  • Greek Genocide Remembrance Day (Greece)
  • Hồ Chí Minh’s Birthday (Vietnam)
  • Malcolm X Day (United States of America)
  • National Asian & Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
  • Hepatitis Testing Day (United States)
  • Mother’s Day (Kyrgyzstan)

May 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 332 – Emperor Constantine the Great announces free distributions of food to the citizens in Constantinople.
  • 872 – Louis II of Italy is crowned for the second time as Roman Emperor at Rome, at the age of 47. His first coronation was 28 years earlier, in 844, during the reign of his father Lothair I.
  • 1096 – First Crusade: Around 800 Jews are massacred in Worms, Germany.
  • 1152 – The future Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. He would become king two years later, after the death of his cousin once removed King Stephen of England.
  • 1268 – The Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in the Siege of Antioch.
  • 1291 – Fall of Acre, the end of Crusader presence in the Holy Land.
  • 1302 – Bruges Matins, the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges by members of the local Flemish militia.
  • 1388 – During the Battle of Buyur Lake, General Lan Yu leads a Chinese army forward to crush the Mongol hordes of Tögüs Temür, the Khan of Northern Yuan.
  • 1499 – Alonso de Ojeda sets sail from Cádiz on his voyage to what is now Venezuela.
  • 1565 – The Great Siege of Malta begins, in which Ottoman forces attempt and fail to conquer Malta.
  • 1593 – Playwright Thomas Kyd’s accusations of heresy lead to an arrest warrant for Christopher Marlowe.
  • 1631 – In Dorchester, Massachusetts, John Winthrop takes the oath of office and becomes the first Governor of Massachusetts.
  • 1652 – Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced.
  • 1756 – The Seven Years’ War begins when Great Britain declares war on France.
  • 1783 – First United Empire Loyalists reach Parrtown (later called Saint John, New Brunswick), Canada, after leaving the United States.
  • 1794 – Battle of Tourcoing during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
  • 1803 – Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
  • 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
  • 1811 – Battle of Las Piedras: The first great military triumph of the revolution of the Río de la Plata in Uruguay led by José Artigas.
  • 1812 – John Bellingham is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.
  • 1843 – The Disruption in Edinburgh of the Free Church of Scotland from the Church of Scotland.
  • 1848 – Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
  • 1860 – Abraham Lincoln wins the Republican Party presidential nomination over William H. Seward, who later becomes the United States Secretary of State.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
  • 1896 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that the “separate but equal” doctrine is constitutional.
  • 1896 – Khodynka Tragedy: A mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II results in the deaths of 1,389 people.
  • 1900 – The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
  • 1912 – The first Indian film, Shree Pundalik by Dadasaheb Torne, is released in Mumbai.
  • 1917 – World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President of the United States the power of conscription.
  • 1926 – Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears in Venice, California.
  • 1927 – The Bath School disaster: Forty-five people, including many children, are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
  • 1927 – After being founded for 20 years, the Government of the Republic of China approves Tongji University to be among the first national universities of the Republic of China.
  • 1933 – New Deal: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  • 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino: Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers evacuate Monte Cassino.
  • 1944 – Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
  • 1948 – The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
  • 1953 – Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
  • 1955 – Operation Passage to Freedom, the evacuation of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam to South Vietnam following the end of the First Indochina War, ends.
  • 1965 – Israeli spy Eli Cohen is hanged in Damascus, Syria.
  • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 10 is launched.
  • 1973 – Aeroflot Flight 109 is hijacked mid-flight and the aircraft is subsequently destroyed when the hijacker’s bomb explodes, killing all 82 people on board.
  • 1974 – Nuclear weapons testing: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
  • 1977 – Likud party wins the 1977 Israeli legislative election, with Menachem Begin, its founder, as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
  • 1980 – Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, United States, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
  • 1980 – Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations calling for democratic reforms.
  • 1990 – In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record of 515.3 km/h (320.2 mph).
  • 1991 – Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is not recognized by the international community.
  • 1993 – Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
  • 1994 – Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
  • 2005 – A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra.
  • 2006 – The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
  • 2009 – The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
  • 2015 – At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar.
  • 2018 – A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills 10 people.

Births on May 18

  • 1048 – Omar Khayyám, Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet (d. 1131)
  • 1186 – Konstantin of Rostov (d. 1218)
  • 1450 – Piero Soderini, Italian politician and diplomat (d. 1513)
  • 1537 – Guido Luca Ferrero, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1585)
  • 1631 – Stanislaus Papczyński, Polish priest (d. 1701)
  • 1662 – George Smalridge, English bishop (d. 1719)
  • 1692 – Joseph Butler, English bishop, theologian, and apologist (d. 1752)
  • 1711 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Ragusan physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1787)
  • 1777 – John George Children, English chemist, mineralogist, and zoologist (d. 1852)
  • 1778 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Austria (d. 1854)
  • 1785 – John Wilson, Scottish author and critic (d. 1854)
  • 1797 – Frederick Augustus II of Saxony (d. 1854)
  • 1822 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (d. 1896)
  • 1835 – Charles N. Sims, American Methodist preacher and 3rd chancellor of Syracuse University (d. 1908)
  • 1850 – Oliver Heaviside, English engineer, mathematician, and physicist (d. 1925)
  • 1851 – James Budd, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of California (d. 1908)
  • 1852 – Gertrude Käsebier, American photographer (d. 1934)
  • 1854 – Bernard Zweers, Dutch composer and educator (d. 1924)
  • 1855 – Francis Bellamy, American minister and author (d. 1931)
  • 1862 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and politician, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1948)
  • 1867 – Minakata Kumagusu, Japanese author, biologist, naturalist and ethnologist (d. 1941)
  • 1868 – Nicholas II of Russia (d. 1918)
  • 1869 – Lucy Beaumont, English-American actress (d. 1937)
  • 1871 – Denis Horgan, Irish shot putter and weight thrower (d. 1922)
  • 1872 – Bertrand Russell, British mathematician, historian, and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
  • 1876 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (d. 1931)
  • 1878 – Johannes Terwogt, Dutch rower (d. 1977)
  • 1882 – Babe Adams, American baseball player, manager, and journalist (d. 1968)
  • 1883 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian marshal and politician, 16th President of Brazil (d. 1974)
  • 1883 – Walter Gropius, German-American architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building (d. 1969)
  • 1886 – Jeanie MacPherson, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1946)
  • 1889 – Thomas Midgley, Jr., American chemist and engineer (d. 1944)
  • 1891 – Rudolf Carnap, German-American philosopher and academic (d. 1970)
  • 1892 – Ezio Pinza, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1957)
  • 1895 – Augusto César Sandino, Nicaraguan rebel leader (d. 1934)
  • 1896 – Eric Backman, Swedish runner (d. 1965)
  • 1897 – Frank Capra, Italian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
  • 1898 – Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Turkish poet, author, and playwright (d. 1973)
  • 1901 – Henri Sauguet, French composer (d. 1989)
  • 1901 – Vincent du Vigneaud, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1978)
  • 1902 – Meredith Willson, American playwright and composer (d. 1984)
  • 1904 – Shunryū Suzuki, Japanese-American monk and educator (d. 1971)
  • 1904 – Jacob K. Javits, American colonel and politician, 58th New York Attorney General (d. 1986)
  • 1905 – Ruth Alexander, pioneering American pilot (d. 1930)
  • 1905 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1943)
  • 1907 – Irene Hunt, American author and educator (d. 2001)
  • 1909 – Fred Perry, English-Australian tennis player and academic (d. 1995)
  • 1910 – Ester Boserup, Danish economist and author (d. 1999)
  • 1911 – Big Joe Turner, American blues/R&B singer (d. 1985)
  • 1912 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1912 – Perry Como, American singer and television host (d. 2001)
  • 1912 – Walter Sisulu, South African politician (d. 2003)
  • 1913 – Jane Birdwood, Baroness Birdwood, Canadian-English publisher and politician (d. 2000)
  • 1914 – Pierre Balmain, French fashion designer, founded Balmain (d. 1982)
  • 1914 – Boris Christoff, Bulgarian-Italian opera singer (d. 1993)
  • 1917 – Bill Everett, American author and illustrator (d. 1973)
  • 1919 – Margot Fonteyn, British ballerina (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Pope John Paul II (d. 2005)
  • 1921 – Michael A. Epstein, English pathologist and academic
  • 1922 – Bill Macy, American actor (d. 2019)
  • 1922 – Kai Winding, Danish-American trombonist and composer (d. 1983)
  • 1923 – Jean-Louis Roux, Canadian actor and politician, 34th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2004)
  • 1924 – Priscilla Pointer, American actress
  • 1924 – Jack Whitaker, American sportscaster (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Lillian Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
  • 1927 – Richard Body, English politician (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Ray Nagel, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (d. 2010)
  • 1929 – Jack Sanford, American baseball player and coach (d. 2000)
  • 1929 – Norman St John-Stevas, Baron St John of Fawsley, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Warren Rudman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Fred Saberhagen, American soldier and author (d. 2007)
  • 1931 – Don Martin, American cartoonist (d. 2000)
  • 1931 – Robert Morse, American actor
  • 1931 – Kalju Pitksaar, Estonian chess player (d. 1995)
  • 1931 – Clément Vincent, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – Bernadette Chirac, French politician, First Lady of France
  • 1933 – H. D. Deve Gowda, Indian farmer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of India
  • 1933 – Don Whillans, English rock climber and mountaineer (d. 1985)
  • 1934 – Dwayne Hickman, American actor and director
  • 1936 – Leon Ashley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1936 – Türker İnanoğlu, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1936 – Michael Sandle, English sculptor and academic
  • 1937 – Brooks Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1937 – Jacques Santer, Luxembourger jurist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Luxembourg
  • 1938 – Janet Fish, American painter and academic
  • 1939 – Patrick Cormack, Baron Cormack, English historian, journalist, and politician
  • 1939 – Giovanni Falcone, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
  • 1939 – Gordon O’Connor, Canadian general and politician, 38th Canadian Minister of Defence
  • 1940 – Erico Aumentado, Filipino journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Gino Brito, Canadian wrestler and promoter
  • 1941 – Malcolm Longair, Scottish astronomer, physicist, and academic
  • 1941 – Miriam Margolyes, English-Australian actress and singer
  • 1942 – Nobby Stiles, English footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1944 – Albert Hammond, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1944 – W. G. Sebald, German novelist, essayist, and poet (d. 2001)
  • 1946 – Frank Hsieh, Taiwanese lawyer and politician, 40th Premier of the Republic of China
  • 1946 – Reggie Jackson, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1946 – Gerd Langguth, German political scientist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1947 – John Bruton, Irish politician, 10th Taoiseach of Ireland
  • 1947 – Gail Strickland, American actress
  • 1948 – Joe Bonsall, American country/gospel singer
  • 1948 – Yi Mun-yol, South Korean author and academic
  • 1948 – Richard Swedberg, Swedish sociologist and academic
  • 1948 – Tom Udall, American lawyer and politician, 28th New Mexico Attorney General, United States Senator from New Mexico
  • 1949 – Rick Wakeman, English progressive rock keyboardist and songwriter (Yes)
  • 1949 – Walter Hawkins, American gospel music singer and pastor (d. 2010)
  • 1950 – Rod Milburn, American hurdler and coach (d. 1997)
  • 1950 – Mark Mothersbaugh, American singer-songwriter and painter
  • 1951 – Richard Clapton, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Jim Sundberg, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1951 – Angela Voigt, German long jumper (d. 2013)
  • 1952 – Diane Duane, American author and screenwriter
  • 1952 – David Leakey, English general and politician
  • 1952 – George Strait, American singer, guitarist and producer
  • 1952 – Jeana Yeager, American pilot
  • 1953 – Alan Kupperberg, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
  • 1954 – Wreckless Eric, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1954 – Eric Gerets, Belgian footballer and manager
  • 1955 – Chow Yun-fat, Hong Kong actor and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Catherine Corsini, French director and screenwriter
  • 1956 – John Godber, English playwright and screenwriter
  • 1957 – Michael Cretu, Romanian-German keyboard player and producer
  • 1957 – Henrietta Moore, English anthropologist and academic
  • 1958 – Rubén Omar Romano, Argentinian-Mexican footballer and coach
  • 1958 – Toyah Willcox, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1959 – Graham Dilley, English cricketer and coach (d. 2011)
  • 1959 – Jay Wells, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Brent Ashton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1960 – Jari Kurri, Finnish ice hockey player, coach, and manager
  • 1960 – Yannick Noah, French tennis player
  • 1961 – Russell Senior, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1963 – Marty McSorley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1963 – Sam Vincent, American basketball player and coach
  • 1964 – Ignasi Guardans, Spanish academic and politician
  • 1966 – Renata Nielsen, Polish-Danish long jumper and coach
  • 1966 – Michael Tait, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1967 – Nina Björk, Swedish journalist and author
  • 1967 – Heinz-Harald Frentzen, German race car driver
  • 1967 – Nancy Juvonen, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded Flower Films
  • 1967 – Mimi Macpherson, Australian environmentalist, entrepreneur and celebrity
  • 1968 – Philippe Benetton, French rugby player
  • 1968 – Ralf Kelleners, German race car driver
  • 1969 – Troy Cassar-Daley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1969 – Martika, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1969 – Antônio Carlos Zago, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Tina Fey, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1970 – Tim Horan, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Billy Howerdel, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1970 – Javier Cárdenas, Spanish singer, television and radio presenter
  • 1970 – Vicky Sunohara, Canadian former ice hockey player
  • 1971 – Brad Friedel, American international soccer player, goalkeeper, manager and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Mark Menzies, Scottish politician
  • 1971 – Nobuteru Taniguchi, Japanese race car driver
  • 1972 – Turner Stevenson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1973 – Donyell Marshall, American basketball player and coach
  • 1973 – Aleksandr Olerski, Estonian footballer (d. 2011)
  • 1974 – Nelson Figueroa, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1975 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player
  • 1975 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1976 – Ron Mercer, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Marko Tomasović, Croatian pianist and composer
  • 1976 – Oleg Tverdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
  • 1977 – Lee Hendrie, English footballer
  • 1977 – Danny Mills, English footballer and sportscaster
  • 1977 – Li Tie, Chinese footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
  • 1978 – Marcus Giles, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Charles Kamathi, Kenyan runner
  • 1979 – Jens Bergensten, Swedish video game designer, co-designed Minecraft
  • 1979 – Mariusz Lewandowski, Polish footballer
  • 1979 – Michal Martikán, Slovak slalom canoeist
  • 1979 – Milivoje Novaković, Slovenian footballer
  • 1979 – Julián Speroni, Argentinian footballer
  • 1980 – Reggie Evans, American basketball player
  • 1980 – Michaël Llodra, French tennis player
  • 1980 – Diego Pérez, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1981 – Mahamadou Diarra, Malian international footballer
  • 1981 – Ashley Harrison, Australian rugby league player
  • 1982 – Jason Brown, English footballer
  • 1982 – Marie-Ève Pelletier, Canadian tennis player
  • 1983 – Gary O’Neil, English footballer
  • 1983 – Luis Terrero, Dominican baseball player
  • 1983 – Vince Young, American football player
  • 1984 – Ivet Lalova, Bulgarian sprinter
  • 1984 – Simon Pagenaud, French race car driver
  • 1984 – Darius Šilinskis, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1984 – Joakim Soria, Mexican baseball player
  • 1984 – Niki Terpstra, Dutch cyclist
  • 1985 – Oliver Sin, Hungarian painter
  • 1985 – Henrique Sereno, Portuguese footballer
  • 1986 – Ahmed Hamada, Egyptian race car driver
  • 1986 – Kevin Anderson, South African tennis player
  • 1988 – Taeyang, South Korean singer
  • 1990 – Dimitri Daeseleire, Belgian footballer
  • 1990 – Yuya Osako, Japanese footballer
  • 1990 – Josh Starling, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Adwoa Aboah, British fashion model
  • 1993 – Stuart Percy, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1993 – Jessica Watson, Australian sailor
  • 1998 – Polina Edmunds, American figure skater
  • 1999 – Laura Omloop, Belgian singer-songwriter
  • 2000 – Ryan Sessegnon, English footballer
  • 2000 – Steven Sessegnon, English footballer
  • 2002 – Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater

Deaths on May 18

  • 526 – Pope John I (b. 470)
  • 893 – Stephen I of Constantinople (b. 867)
  • 932 – Ma Shaohong, general of Later Tang
  • 947 – Emperor Taizong of the Liao Dynasty
  • 978 – Frederick I, duke of Upper Lorraine
  • 1065 – Frederick, Duke of Lower Lorraine (b. c. 1003)
  • 1096 – Minna of Worms, Jewish martyr killed during the Worms massacre (1096)
  • 1160 – Eric Jedvardsson (King Eric IX) of Sweden (since 1156); (b. circa 1120)
  • 1297 – Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury
  • 1401 – Vladislaus II of Opole (b. 1332)
  • 1410 – Rupert of Germany, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1352)
  • 1550 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (b. 1498)
  • 1551 – Domenico di Pace Beccafumi, Italian painter (b. 1486)
  • 1675 – Stanisław Lubieniecki, Polish astronomer, historian, and theologian (b. 1623)
  • 1675 – Jacques Marquette, French-American missionary and explorer (b. 1637)
  • 1692 – Elias Ashmole, English astrologer and politician (b. 1617)
  • 1721 – Maria Barbara Carillo, victim of the Spanish Inquisition (b.1625)
  • 1733 – Georg Böhm, German organist and composer (b. 1761)
  • 1780 – Charles Hardy, English-American admiral and politician, 29th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1714)
  • 1781 – Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian-Indian rebel leader (b. 1742)
  • 1792 – Levy Solomons, Canadian merchant and fur trader (b. 1730)
  • 1795 – Robert Rogers, English colonel (b. 1731)
  • 1799 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and publisher (b. 1732)
  • 1800 – Alexander Suvorov, Russian general (b. 1729)
  • 1807 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (b. 1721)
  • 1808 – Elijah Craig, American minister, inventor, and educator, invented Bourbon whiskey (b. 1738)
  • 1844 – Richard McCarty, American lawyer and politician (b. 1780)
  • 1853 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (b. 1806)
  • 1867 – Clarkson Stanfield, English painter (b. 1793)
  • 1889 – Isabella Glyn, Scottish-English actress (b. 1823)
  • 1900 – Félix Ravaisson-Mollien, French archaeologist and philosopher (b. 1813)
  • 1908 – Louis-Napoléon Casault, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1823)
  • 1909 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1860)
  • 1909 – George Meredith, English novelist and poet (b. 1828)
  • 1910 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (b. 1841)
  • 1910 – Pauline Viardot, French soprano and composer (b. 1821)
  • 1911 – Gustav Mahler, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1860)
  • 1922 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
  • 1941 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (b. 1863)
  • 1943 – Ōnishiki Daigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 28th Yokozuna (b. 1883)
  • 1947 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
  • 1955 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (b. 1875)
  • 1956 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (b. 1895)
  • 1958 – Jacob Fichman, Israeli poet and critic (b. 1881)
  • 1963 – Ernie Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (b. 1939)
  • 1968 – Frank Walsh, Australian politician, 34th Premier of South Australia (b. 1897)
  • 1971 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1908)
  • 1973 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (b. 1880)
  • 1974 – Harry Ricardo, English engine designer and researcher (b. 1885)
  • 1975 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
  • 1980 – Victims of Mount St. Helens eruption:
    • Reid Blackburn, American photographer and journalist (b. 1952)
    • David A. Johnston, American volcanologist and geologist (b. 1949)
  • 1980 – Ian Curtis, English singer-songwriter (b. 1956)
  • 1981 – Arthur O’Connell, American actor (b. 1908)
  • 1981 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (b. 1908)
  • 1987 – Mahdi Amel, Lebanese journalist, poet, and academic (b. 1936)
  • 1989 – Dorothy Ruth, American horse breeder and author (b. 1921)
  • 1990 – Jill Ireland, English actress (b. 1936)
  • 1995 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (b. 1903)
  • 1995 – Alexander Godunov, Russian-American ballet dancer and actor (b. 1949)
  • 1995 – Brinsley Le Poer Trench, 8th Earl of Clancarty, Irish ufologist and historian (b. 1911)
  • 1995 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (b. 1933)
  • 1998 – Obaidullah Aleem, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1939)
  • 1999 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican singer, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1954)
  • 1999 – Betty Robinson, American runner (b. 1911)
  • 2000 – Stephen M. Wolownik, Russian-American composer and musicologist (b. 1946)
  • 2001 – Irene Hunt, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
  • 2004 – Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (b. 1927)
  • 2006 – Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (b. 1933)
  • 2007 – Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (b. 1911)
  • 2008 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (b. 1942)
  • 2009 – Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (b. 1954)
  • 2012 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (b. 1967)
  • 2012 – Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1959)
  • 2013 – Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Steve Forrest, American actor (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – David McMillan, American football player (b. 1981)
  • 2013 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (b. 1928)
  • 2014 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1948)
  • 2014 – Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (b. 1946)
  • 2015 – Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1947)
  • 2015 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – T. J. Moran, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (b. 1946)
  • 2017 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (b. 1940)
  • 2017 – Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (b. 1916)
  • 2017 – Chris Cornell, American singer (b. 1964)
  • 2020 – Ken Osmond, American actor and the police officer (b. 1943)

Holidays and observances on May 18

  • Christian feast day:
    • Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury
    • Eric IX of Sweden
    • Felix of Cantalice
    • Pope John I
    • Venantius of Camerino
    • May 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Victoria Day (Canada) (Earliest possible date of the last Monday preceding May 25)
  • Baltic Fleet Day (Russia)
  • Battle of Las Piedras Day (Uruguay)
  • Day of Remembrance of Crimean Tatar genocide (Ukraine)
  • Flag and Universities Day (Haiti)
  • Independence Day (Somaliland) (unrecognized)
  • International Museum Day
  • Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day (Sri Lankan Tamils)
  • Revival, Unity, and Poetry of Magtymguly Day (Turkmenistan)
  • Teacher’s Day (Syria)
  • Victory Day (Sri Lanka)
  • World AIDS Vaccine Day

May 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 1395 – Battle of Rovine: The Wallachians defeat an invading Ottoman army.
  • 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason.
  • 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn’s marriage is annulled.
  • 1590 – Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland.
  • 1642 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve (1612–1676) founds the Ville Marie de Montréal.
  • 1673 – Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette begin exploring the Mississippi River.
  • 1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement.
  • 1805 – Muhammad Ali becomes Wāli of Egypt.
  • 1809 – Emperor Napoleon I orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.
  • 1814 – Occupation of Monaco changes from French to Austrian.
  • 1814 – The Constitution of Norway is signed and Crown Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark is elected King of Norway by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly.
  • 1859 – Members of the Melbourne Football Club codified the first rules of Australian rules football.
  • 1863 – Rosalía de Castro publishes Cantares Gallegos, the first book in the Galician language.
  • 1865 – The International Telegraph Union (later the International Telecommunication Union) is established in Paris.
  • 1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby with the jockey Oliver Lewis (2:37.75)
  • 1900 – Second Boer War: British troops relieve Mafeking.
  • 1900 – The children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, is first published in the United States. The first copy is given to the author’s sister.
  • 1902 – Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais discovers the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient mechanical analog computer.
  • 1914 – The Protocol of Corfu is signed, recognising full autonomy to Northern Epirus under nominal Albanian sovereignty.
  • 1915 – The last British Liberal Party government (led by H. H. Asquith) falls.
  • 1933 – Vidkun Quisling and Johan Bernhard Hjort form Nasjonal Samling — the national-socialist party of Norway.
  • 1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States’ first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.
  • 1940 – World War II: Germany occupies Brussels, Belgium.
  • 1943 – World War II: Dambuster Raids commence by No. 617 Squadron RAF.
  • 1954 – The United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, outlawing racial segregation in public schools.
  • 1967 – Six-Day War: President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt.
  • 1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.
  • 1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.
  • 1974 – The Troubles: Thirty-three civilians are killed and 300 injured when the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) detonates four car bombs in Dublin and Monaghan, Republic of Ireland.
  • 1974 – Police in Los Angeles raid the Symbionese Liberation Army’s headquarters, killing six members, including Camilla Hall.
  • 1977 – Nolan Bushnell opened the first Chuck E. Cheese’s in San Jose, California.
  • 1980 – General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
  • 1980 – On the eve of presidential elections, Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path attacks a polling location in Chuschi (a town in Ayacucho), starting the Internal conflict in Peru.
  • 1983 – The U.S. Department of Energy declassifies documents showing world’s largest mercury pollution event in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (ultimately found to be 4.2 million pounds , in response to the Appalachian Observer’s Freedom of Information Act request.
  • 1983 – Lebanon, Israel, and the United States sign an agreement on Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
  • 1984 – Prince Charles calls a proposed addition to the National Gallery, London, a “monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend”, sparking controversies on the proper role of the Royal Family and the course of modern architecture.
  • 1987 – Iran–Iraq War: An Iraqi Dassault Mirage F1 fighter jet fires two missiles into the U.S. Navy warship USS Stark, killing 37 and injuring 21 of her crew.
  • 1990 – The General Assembly of the World Health Organization (WHO) eliminates homosexuality from the list of psychiatric diseases.
  • 1992 – Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests.
  • 1994 – Malawi holds its first multi-party elections.
  • 1995 – Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.
  • 1997 – Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  • 2000 – Arsenal and Galatasaray fans clash in the 2000 UEFA Cup Final riots in Copenhagen
  • 2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts.
  • 2006 – The aircraft carrier USS Oriskany is sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.
  • 2007 – Trains from North and South Korea cross the 38th Parallel in a test-run agreed by both governments. This is the first time that trains have crossed the Demilitarized Zone since 1953.
  • 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.

Births on May 17

  • 1155 – Jien, Japanese monk, poet, and historian (d. 1225)
  • 1443 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland (d. 1460)
  • 1451 – Engelbert II of Nassau, Count of Nassau-Vianden and Lord of Breda (1475–1504) (d. 1504)
  • 1490 – Albert, Duke of Prussia, last Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1568)
  • 1500 – Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (d. 1540)
  • 1551 – Martin Delrio, Belgian occultist and theologian (d. 1601)
  • 1568 – Anna Vasa of Sweden, Swedish princess (d. 1625)
  • 1610 – Stefano della Bella, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1664)
  • 1628 – Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria (d. 1662)
  • 1636 – Edward Colman, English Catholic courtier under Charles II (d. 1678)
  • 1682 – Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722)
  • 1698 – Gio Nicola Buhagiar, Maltese painter (d. 1752)
  • 1706 – Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (d. 1780)
  • 1718 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1778)
  • 1732 – Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1817)
  • 1743 – Seth Warner, American colonel (d. 1784)
  • 1749 – Edward Jenner, English physician and microbiologist (d. 1823)
  • 1758 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English politician (d. 1839)
  • 1768 – Caroline of Brunswick (d. 1821)
  • 1768 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1854)
  • 1794 – Anna Brownell Jameson, Irish-English author (d. 1860)
  • 1818 – Ezra Otis Kendall, American professor, astronomer and mathematician (d. 1899)
  • 1821 – Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and therapist (d. 1897)
  • 1835 – Thomas McIlwraith, Scottish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Queensland (d. 1900)
  • 1836 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (d. 1923)
  • 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-American chess player (d. 1900)
  • 1845 – Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan priest and poet (d. 1902)
  • 1860 – Martin Kukučín, Slovak author and playwright (d. 1928)
  • 1860 – Charlotte Barnum, American mathematician and social activist (d. 1934)
  • 1863 – Léon Gérin, Canadian lawyer, sociologist, and civil servant (d. 1951)
  • 1864 – Louis Richardet, Swiss target shooter (d. 1923)
  • 1864 – Ante Trumbić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 27th Mayor of Split (d. 1938)
  • 1866 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (d. 1925)
  • 1868 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (d. 1920)
  • 1868 – Panagis Tsaldaris, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1936)
  • 1870 – Newton Moore, Australian politician, 8th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1936)
  • 1873 – Henri Barbusse, French author and journalist (d. 1935)
  • 1873 – Dorothy Richardson, English author and journalist (d. 1957)
  • 1874 – George Sheldon, American diver (d. 1907)
  • 1882 – Karl Burman, Estonian architect and painter (d. 1965)
  • 1886 – Alfonso XIII of Spain, Spanish monarch (d. 1941)
  • 1888 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965)
  • 1889 – Dorothy Gibson, American actress and singer (d. 1946)
  • 1889 – Alfonso Reyes, Mexican author (d. 1959)
  • 1891 – Napoleon Zervas, Greek general and politician (d. 1957)
  • 1893 – Frederick McKinley Jones, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1961)
  • 1895 – Saul Adler, Belarusian-English captain and parasitologist (d. 1966)
  • 1895 – Reinhold Saulmann, Estonian sprinter and bandy player (d. 1936)
  • 1897 – Odd Hassel, Norwegian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
  • 1898 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (d. 1992)
  • 1899 – Carmen de Icaza, Spanish writer (d. 1979)
  • 1901 – Werner Egk, German pianist and composer (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Cool Papa Bell, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
  • 1904 – Marie-Anne Desmarest, French author (d. 1973)
  • 1906 – Zinka Milanov, Croatian-American soprano and educator (d. 1989)
  • 1909 – Julius Sumner Miller, American physicist and academic (d. 1987)
  • 1911 – Lisa Fonssagrives, Swedish-American model (d. 1992)
  • 1911 – Maureen O’Sullivan, Irish-American actress (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician, 31st United States Solicitor General (d. 2004)
  • 1912 – Ace Parker, American baseball and football player (d. 2013)
  • 1912 – Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner, American inventor (d. 2006)
  • 1913 – Hans Ruesch, Swiss racing driver and author (d. 2007)
  • 1914 – Robert N. Thompson, American-Canadian chiropractor and politician (d. 1997)
  • 1918 – Joan Benham, English actress (d. 1981)
  • 1918 – Birgit Nilsson, Swedish operatic soprano (d. 2005)
  • 1919 – Antonio Aguilar, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1919 – Merle Miller, American author and screenwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1919 – Gustav Naan, Russian-Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1994)
  • 1920 – Harry Männil, Estonian-Venezuelan businessman, co-founded ACO Group (d. 2010)
  • 1921 – Dennis Brain, English composer (d. 1957)
  • 1921 – Bob Merrill, American composer and screenwriter (d. 1998)
  • 1922 – Jean Rédélé, French racing driver, founded Alpine (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Michael Beetham, English commander and pilot (d. 2015)
  • 1924 – Roy Bentley, English footballer (d. 2018)
  • 1924 – Francis Tombs, Baron Tombs, English engineer and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1926 – David Ogilvy, 13th Earl of Airlie, English-Scottish soldier and politician
  • 1926 – Dietmar Schönherr, Austrian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Franz Sondheimer, German-English chemist and academic (d. 1981)
  • 1929 – Branko Zebec, Yugoslav football player and coach (d. 1988)
  • 1931 – Marshall Applewhite, American cult leader, founded Heaven’s Gate (d. 1997)
  • 1931 – Dewey Redman, American saxophonist (d. 2006)
  • 1932 – Rodric Braithwaite, English soldier and diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia
  • 1932 – Peter Burge, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
  • 1933 – Yelena Gorchakova, Russian javelin thrower (d. 2002)
  • 1934 – Friedrich-Wilhelm Kiel, German educator and politician
  • 1934 – Earl Morrall, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1934 – Ronald Wayne, American computer scientist, co-founded Apple Inc.
  • 1935 – Dennis Potter, English voice actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
  • 1936 – Dennis Hopper, American actor and director (d. 2010)
  • 1937 – Hazel R. O’Leary, American lawyer and politician, 7th United States Secretary of Energy
  • 1938 – Jason Bernard, American actor (d. 1996)
  • 1938 – Marcia Freedman, Israeli activist
  • 1938 – Pervis Jackson, American R&B bass singer (d. 2008)
  • 1939 – Hugh Dykes, Baron Dykes, English politician
  • 1939 – Gary Paulsen, American author
  • 1940 – Alan Kay, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1940 – Reynato Puno, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 22nd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
  • 1941 – David Cope, American composer and author
  • 1941 – Ben Nelson, American lawyer and politician, 37th Governor of Nebraska
  • 1942 – Taj Mahal, American blues singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1943 – Sirajuddin of Perlis, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia
  • 1943 – Johnny Warren, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
  • 1944 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – B.S. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer
  • 1945 – Tony Roche, Australian tennis player and coach
  • 1946 – Udo Lindenberg, German singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1947 – Stephen Platten, English bishop
  • 1948 – Dick Gaughan, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1949 – Bill Bruford, English drummer, songwriter, and producer
  • 1949 – Keith, American pop singer
  • 1950 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (d. 1991)
  • 1950 – Keith Bradley, Baron Bradley, English accountant and politician
  • 1950 – Janez Drnovšek, Slovenian economist and politician, 2nd President of Slovenia (d. 2008)
  • 1950 – Alan Johnson, English politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • 1950 – Valeriya Novodvorskaya, Russian journalist and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1951 – Simon Hughes, English lawyer and politician
  • 1952 – Howard Hampton, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1954 – Michael Roberts, South African-English jockey
  • 1955 – Bill Paxton, American actor and director (d. 2017)
  • 1955 – David Townsend, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
  • 1956 – Sugar Ray Leonard, American boxer
  • 1956 – Annise Parker, American politician
  • 1956 – Bob Saget, American comedian, actor, and television host
  • 1956 – Dave Sim, Canadian cartoonist and author
  • 1957 – Pascual Pérez, Dominican baseball player (d. 2012)
  • 1958 – Paul Di’Anno, English rock singer-songwriter
  • 1959 – Marcelo Loffreda, Argentine rugby player and coach
  • 1960 – Lou DiBella, American boxing promoter, actor, and producer
  • 1960 – Simon Fuller, English talent manager and producer, created the Idols series
  • 1961 – Enya, Irish singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1961 – Jamil Azzaoui, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1961 – Justin King, English businessman
  • 1962 – Lise Lyng Falkenberg, Danish journalist and author
  • 1962 – Andrew Farrar, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1962 – Craig Ferguson, Scottish-American comedian, actor, and talk show host
  • 1962 – Jane Moore, English journalist and author
  • 1962 – Rosalind Picard, American computer scientist and engineer, co-founded Affectiva
  • 1963 – Jon Koncak, American basketball player
  • 1963 – Page McConnell, American keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1964 – Stratos Apostolakis, Greek footballer and coach
  • 1964 – Mauro Martini, Italian race car driver
  • 1964 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (d. 1999)
  • 1965 – Trent Reznor, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer
  • 1965 – Jeremy Vine, English journalist and author
  • 1966 – Qusay Hussein, Iraqi soldier and politician (d. 2003)
  • 1966 – Mark Kratzmann, Australian tennis player and coach
  • 1966 – Danny Manning, American basketball player and coach
  • 1966 – Gilles Quénéhervé, French sprinter
  • 1967 – Nancy Benoit, American professional wrestling valet and model (d. 2007)
  • 1967 – Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivian lawyer and politician 4th President of the Maldives
  • 1967 – Patrick Ortlieb, Austrian skier
  • 1968 – Dave Abbruzzese, American rock drummer and songwriter
  • 1969 – Keith Hill, English footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Hubert Davis, American basketball player and coach
  • 1970 – Jordan Knight, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1970 – Matt Lindland, American mixed martial artist, wrestler, and politician
  • 1970 – Jodie Rogers, Australian diver
  • 1970 – René Vilbre, Estonian director and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Mark Connors, Australian rugby player
  • 1971 – Shaun Hart, Australian footballer, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Stella Jongmans, Dutch athlete
  • 1971 – Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Dutch royal
  • 1971 – Gina Raimondo, Governor of Rhode Island
  • 1972 – Barry Hayles, English born Jamaican international footballer
  • 1973 – Josh Homme, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1974 – Andrea Corr, Irish singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress
  • 1974 – Wiki González, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1974 – Eddie Lewis, American international soccer player
  • 1975 – Marcelinho Paraíba, Brazilian footballer
  • 1975 – Alex Wright, German wrestler
  • 1976 – Kandi Burruss, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1976 – Shayne Dunley, Australian rugby league player
  • 1976 – José Guillén, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1976 – Daniel Komen, Kenyan runner
  • 1976 – Wang Leehom, American-Taiwanese singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director
  • 1976 – Mayte Martínez, Spanish runner
  • 1976 – Kirsten Vlieghuis, Dutch freestyle swimmer
  • 1978 – John Foster, American baseball player and coach
  • 1978 – Paddy Kenny, English footballer
  • 1978 – Carlos Peña, Dominican-American baseball player
  • 1978 – Magdalena Zděnovcová, Czech tennis player
  • 1979 – David Jarolím, Czech footballer
  • 1979 – Wayne Thomas, English footballer
  • 1980 – Davor Džalto, Bosnian historian and philosopher
  • 1980 – Fredrik Kessiakoff, Swedish cyclist
  • 1980 – Alistair Overeem, Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer
  • 1980 – Ariën van Weesenbeek, Dutch drummer
  • 1981 – Beñat Albizuri, Spanish cyclist
  • 1981 – Leon Osman, English footballer
  • 1981 – Lim Jeong-hee, South Korean singer
  • 1981 – Chris Skidmore, English historian and politician
  • 1981 – Giannis Taralidis, Greek footballer
  • 1982 – Matt Cassel, American football player
  • 1982 – Dan Hardy, English mixed martial artist
  • 1982 – Reiko Nakamura, Japanese swimmer
  • 1982 – Tony Parker, French-American basketball player
  • 1982 – Chloe Smith, English politician
  • 1983 – Channing Frye, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Chris Henry, American football player (d. 2009)
  • 1983 – Nicky Hofs, Dutch footballer
  • 1983 – Kevin Kingston, Australian rugby league player
  • 1983 – Jeremy Sowers, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Christian Bolaños, Costa Rican footballer
  • 1984 – Christine Ohuruogu, English runner
  • 1984 – Christine Robinson, Canadian water polo player
  • 1984 – Passenger, English singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1985 – Teófilo Gutiérrez, Colombian footballer
  • 1985 – Derek Hough, American actor, singer, and dancer
  • 1985 – Christine Nesbitt, Canadian speed skater
  • 1985 – Todd Redmond, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Matt Ryan, American football player
  • 1986 – Marius Činikas, Lithuanian footballer
  • 1986 – Timo Simonlatser, Estonian skier
  • 1986 – Jodie Taylor, English footballer
  • 1987 – Edvald Boasson Hagen, Norwegian cyclist
  • 1987 – Aleandro Rosi, Italian footballer
  • 1988 – Nikki Reed, American actress, singer, and screenwriter
  • 1988 – Jennison Myrie-Williams, English footballer
  • 1989 – Mose Masoe, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1989 – Rain Raadik, Estonian basketball player
  • 1989 – Tessa Virtue, Canadian ice dancer
  • 1990 – Fabian Giefer, German footballer
  • 1990 – Charlie Gubb, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1990 – Katrina Hart, English runner
  • 1990 – Guido Pella, Argentine tennis player
  • 1991 – Johanna Konta, Australian-English tennis player
  • 1991 – Adil Omar, Pakistani rapper and music producer
  • 1991 – Abigail Raye, Canadian field hockey player

Deaths on May 17

  • 528 – Empress Dowager Hu of Northern Wei
  • 528 – Yuan Yong, imperial prince of Northern Wei
  • 528 – Yuan Zhao, emperor of Northern Wei (b. 526)
  • 896 – Liu Jianfeng, Chinese warlord
  • 924 – Li Maozhen, Chinese warlord and king (b. 856)
  • 946 – Al-Qa’im bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 893)
  • 1299 – Daumantas of Pskov, Lithuanian prince (b. c. 1240)
  • 1336 – Go-Fushimi, emperor of Japan (b. 1288)
  • 1365 – Louis II, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1328)
  • 1395 – Konstantin Dejanović/Constantine Dragaš, Serbian ruler (b. 1355)
  • 1464 – Thomas de Ros, 9th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1427)
  • 1510 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (b. 1445)
  • 1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, Welsh politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1478)
  • 1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford, English courtier and diplomat, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1504)
  • 1536 – William Brereton, English courtier (b. 1487)
  • 1536 – Henry Norris, English courtier (b. 1482)
  • 1546 – Philipp von Hutten, German explorer (b. 1511)
  • 1551 – Shin Saimdang, South Korean poet and calligraphist (b. 1504)
  • 1558 – Francisco de Sá de Miranda, Portuguese poet (b. 1485)
  • 1575 – Matthew Parker, English archbishop and academic (b. 1504)
  • 1606 – False Dmitriy I, pretender to the Russian throne (b. 1582)
  • 1607 – Anna d’Este, French princess (b. 1531)
  • 1626 – Joan Pau Pujol, Catalan organist and composer (b. 1570)
  • 1643 – Giovanni Picchi, Italian organist and composer (b. 1571)
  • 1727 – Catherine I of Russia (b. 1684)
  • 1729 – Samuel Clarke, English clergyman and philosopher (b. 1675)
  • 1765 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (b. 1713)
  • 1797 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright and composer (b. 1719)
  • 1801 – William Heberden, English physician and scholar (b. 1710)
  • 1807 – John Gunby, American general (b. 1745)
  • 1809 – Leopold Auenbrugger, Austrian physician (b. 1722)
  • 1822 – Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, French general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1766)
  • 1829 – John Jay, American politician and diplomat, 1st Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1745)
  • 1838 – René Caillié, French explorer and author (b. 1799)
  • 1838 – Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, French bishop and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1754)
  • 1839 – Archibald Alison, Scottish priest and author (b. 1757)
  • 1868 – Kondō Isami, Japanese commander (b. 1834)
  • 1875 – John C. Breckinridge, American lawyer and politician, 14th Vice President of the United States, Confederate States general (b. 1821)
  • 1879 – Asa Packer, American businessman, founded Lehigh University (b. 1805)
  • 1880 – Ziya Pasha, Greek author and translator (b. 1826)
  • 1886 – John Deere, American blacksmith and businessman, founded the Deere & Company (b. 1804)
  • 1888 – Giacomo Zanella, Italian priest and poet (b. 1820)
  • 1911 – Frederick August Otto Schwarz, German-American businessman, founded FAO Schwarz (b. 1836)
  • 1916 – Boris Borisovich Golitsyn, Russian physicist and seismologist (b. 1862)
  • 1917 – Clara Ayres, American nurse (b. 1880)
  • 1917 – Charles Brooke, Rajah of Sarawak (b. 1829)
  • 1919 – Guido von List, Austrian-German journalist, author, and poet (b. 1848)
  • 1921 – Karl Mantzius, Danish actor and director (b. 1860)
  • 1922 – Dorothy Levitt, English racing driver and journalist (b. 1882)
  • 1927 – Harold Geiger, American pilot and lieutenant (b. 1884)
  • 1934 – Cass Gilbert, American architect (b. 1859)
  • 1935 – Paul Dukas, French composer, critic, and educator (b. 1865)
  • 1936 – Panagis Tsaldaris, Greek lawyer and politician, 124th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1868)
  • 1938 – Jakob Ehrlich, Czech-Austrian academic and politician (b. 1877)
  • 1943 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (b. 1864)
  • 1947 – George Forbes, New Zealand farmer and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1869)
  • 1951 – William Birdwood, Anglo-Indian field marshal (b. 1865)
  • 1960 – Jules Supervielle, Uruguayan-French poet and author (b. 1884)
  • 1963 – John Wilce, American football player, coach, and physician (b. 1888)
  • 1964 – Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist and parapsychologist (b. 1895)
  • 1974 – Ernest Nash, German-American photographer and scholar (b. 1898)
  • 1977 – Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral and pilot (b. 1892)
  • 1980 – Gündüz Kılıç, Turkish football player and coach (b. 1918)
  • 1985 – Abe Burrows, American director, composer, and author (b. 1910)
  • 1987 – Gunnar Myrdal, Swedish economist, sociologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
  • 1992 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (b. 1903)
  • 1995 – Toe Blake, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1912)
  • 1996 – Kevin Gilbert, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1966)
  • 1999 – Bruce Fairbairn, Canadian trumpet player and producer (b. 1949)
  • 1999 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (b. 1966)
  • 2000 – Donald Coggan, English archbishop (b. 1909)
  • 2001 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (b. 1928)
  • 2001 – Frank G. Slaughter, American physician and author (b. 1908)
  • 2002 – László Kubala, Hungarian-Spanish footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1927)
  • 2002 – Aşık Mahzuni Şerif, Turkish poet and composer (b. 1940)
  • 2004 – Jørgen Nash, Danish poet and painter (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Tony Randall, American actor (b. 1920)
  • 2004 – Ezzedine Salim, Iraqi politician (b. 1943)
  • 2005 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (b. 1934)
  • 2006 – Cy Feuer, American director, producer, and composer (b. 1911)
  • 2007 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (b. 1924)
  • 2007 – T. K. Doraiswamy, Indian poet and author (b. 1921)
  • 2009 – Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan journalist, author, and poet (b. 1920)
  • 2009 – Jung Seung-hye, South Korean journalist and producer (b. 1965)
  • 2010 – Yvonne Loriod, French pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Walasse Ting, Chinese-American painter and poet (b. 1929)
  • 2011 – Harmon Killebrew, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Gideon Ezra, Israeli geographer and politician, Israeli Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (b. 1937)
  • 2012 – Patrick Mafisango, Congolese-Rwandan footballer (b. 1980)
  • 2012 – Donna Summer, American singer-songwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (b. 1973)
  • 2013 – Peter Schulz, German politician, Mayor of Hamburg (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Ken Venturi, American golfer and sportscaster (b. 1931)
  • 2013 – Jorge Rafael Videla, Argentine general and politician, 42nd President of Argentina (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – C. P. Krishnan Nair, Indian businessman, founded The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (b. 1944)
  • 2014 – Thongbanh Sengaphone, Laotian politician (b. 1953)
  • 2017 – Todor Veselinović, Serbian football player and manager (b. 1930)
  • 2019 – Herman Wouk, American author (b. 1915)
  • 2020 – Lucky Peterson, American blues singer, keyboardist and guitarist (b. 1964)

Holidays and observances on May 17

  • Birthday of the Raja (Perlis)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Giulia Salzano
    • Paschal Baylon
    • William Hobart Hare (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Restituta
    • May 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Children’s Day (Norway)
  • Constitution Day (Nauru)
  • Norwegian Constitution Day
  • The earliest date on which Trinity Sunday can fall, while June 20 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday after Pentecost. (Western Christianity)
  • Feast of ‘Aẓamat (Bahá’í Faith, day shifts with March Equinox, see List of observances set by the Baháʼí calendar)
  • Galician Literature Day or Día das Letras Galegas (Galicia)
  • National Day Against Homophobia (Canada)
  • International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia also known as IDAHOT
  • Liberation Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
  • Navy Day (Argentina)
  • World Hypertension Day
  • World Information Society Day (International)

May 17 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

May 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 946 – Emperor Suzaku abdicates the throne in favor of his brother Murakami who becomes the 62nd emperor of Japan.
  • 1204 – Having been elected on May 9, Baldwin IX, Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire.
  • 1426 – Gov. Thado of Mohnyin becomes king of Ava.
  • 1527 – The Florentines drive out the Medici for a second time and Florence re-establishes itself as a republic.
  • 1532 – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.
  • 1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.
  • 1584 – Santiago de Vera becomes sixth Governor-General of the Spanish colony of the Philippines.
  • 1739 – The Battle of Vasai concludes as the Marathas defeat the Portuguese army.
  • 1770 – The 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste, who later becomes king of France.
  • 1771 – The Battle of Alamance, a pre-American Revolutionary War battle between local militia and a group of rebels called The “Regulators”, occurs in present-day Alamance County, North Carolina.
  • 1811 – Peninsular War: The allies Spain, Portugal and United Kingdom, defeat the French at the Battle of Albuera.
  • 1812 – Imperial Russia signs the Treaty of Bucharest, ending the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman Empire cedes Bessarabia to Russia.
  • 1822 – Greek War of Independence: The Turks capture the Greek town of Souli.
  • 1832 – Juan Godoy discovers the rich silver outcrops of Chañarcillo sparking the Chilean silver rush.
  • 1834 – The Battle of Asseiceira is fought, the last and decisive engagement of the Liberal Wars in Portugal.
  • 1842 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail from Elm Grove, Missouri, with 100 pioneers.
  • 1866 – The United States Congress establishes the nickel.
  • 1868 – The United States Senate fails to convict President Andrew Johnson by one vote.
  • 1874 – A flood on the Mill River in Massachusetts destroys much of four villages and kills 139 people.
  • 1877 – The 16 May 1877 crisis occurs in France, ending with the dissolution of the National Assembly 22 June and affirming the interpretation of the Constitution of 1875 as a parliamentary rather than presidential system. The elections held in October 1877 led to the defeat of the royalists as a formal political movement in France.
  • 1888 – Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.
  • 1891 – The International Electrotechnical Exhibition opens in Frankfurt, Germany, and will feature the world’s first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current (the most common form today).
  • 1916 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the French Third Republic sign the secret wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement partitioning former Ottoman territories such as Iraq and Syria.
  • 1918 – The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed by the U.S. Congress, making criticism of the government during wartime an imprisonable offense. It will be repealed less than two years later.
  • 1919 – A naval Curtiss NC-4 aircraft commanded by Albert Cushing Read leaves Trepassey, Newfoundland, for Lisbon via the Azores on the first transatlantic flight.
  • 1920 – In Rome, Pope Benedict XV canonizes Joan of Arc.
  • 1929 – In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.
  • 1943 – The Holocaust: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising ends.
  • 1951 – The first regularly scheduled transatlantic flights begin between Idlewild Airport (now John F Kennedy International Airport) in New York City and Heathrow Airport in London, operated by El Al Israel Airlines.
  • 1959 – The Triton Fountain in Valletta, Malta is turned on for the first time.
  • 1960 – Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
  • 1961 – Park Chung-hee leads a coup d’état to overthrow the Second Republic of South Korea.
  • 1966 – The Communist Party of China issues the “May 16 Notice”, marking the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
  • 1969 – Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.
  • 1974 – Josip Broz Tito is elected president for life of Yugoslavia.
  • 1988 – A report by the Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.
  • 1991 – Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
  • 1997 – Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
  • 2003 – In Morocco, 33 civilians are killed and more than 100 people are injured in the Casablanca terrorist attacks.
  • 2005 – Kuwait permits women’s suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.
  • 2011 – STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.
  • 2014 – Twelve people are killed in two explosions in the Gikomba market area of Nairobi, Kenya.

Births on May 16

  • 1418 – John II of Cyprus, King of Cyprus and Armenia and also titular King of Jerusalem from 1432 to 1458 (probable; d. 1458)
  • 1455 – Wolfgang I of Oettingen, German count (d. 1522)
  • 1542 – Anna Sibylle of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman (d. 1580)
  • 1606 – John Bulwer, British doctor (d. 1656)
  • 1611 – Pope Innocent XI (d. 1689)
  • 1641 – Dudley North, English economist and politician (d. 1691)
  • 1710 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (d. 1782)
  • 1718 – Maria Gaetana Agnesi, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1799)
  • 1763 – Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, French pharmacist and chemist (d. 1829)
  • 1788 – Friedrich Rückert, German poet and translator (d. 1866)
  • 1801 – William H. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 24th United States Secretary of State (d. 1872)
  • 1804 – Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, American educator who founded the first U.S. kindergarten (d. 1894)
  • 1819 – Johann Voldemar Jannsen, Estonian journalist and poet (d. 1890)
  • 1821 – Pafnuty Chebyshev, Russian mathematician and statistician (d. 1894)
  • 1824 – Levi P. Morton, American banker and politician, 22nd United States Vice President (d. 1920)
  • 1824 – Edmund Kirby Smith, American general (d. 1893)
  • 1827 – Pierre Cuypers, Dutch architect, designed the Amsterdam Centraal railway station and Rijksmuseum (d. 1921)
  • 1831 – David Edward Hughes, Welsh-American physicist, co-invented the microphone (d. 1900)
  • 1862 – Margaret Fountaine, English lepidopterist and diarist (d.1940)
  • 1876 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (d. 1948)
  • 1879 – Pierre Gilliard, Swiss author and academic (d. 1962)
  • 1882 – Simeon Price, American golfer (d. 1945)
  • 1883 – Celâl Bayar, Turkish politician, 3rd President of Turkey (d. 1986)
  • 1888 – Royal Rife, American microbiologist and instrument maker (d. 1971)
  • 1890 – Edith Grace White, American ichthyologist (d. 1975)
  • 1892 – Osgood Perkins, American actor (d. 1937)
  • 1894 – Walter Yust, American journalist and writer (d. 1960)
  • 1897 – Zvi Sliternik, Israeli entomologist and academic (d. 1994)
  • 1898 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-American painter (d. 1980)
  • 1898 – Desanka Maksimović, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1993)
  • 1898 – Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese director and screenwriter (d. 1956)
  • 1903 – Charles F. Brannock, American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1992)
  • 1905 – Henry Fonda, American actor (d. 1982)
  • 1906 – Ernie McCormick, Australian cricketer (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Alfred Pellan, Canadian painter and educator (d. 1988)
  • 1906 – Arturo Uslar Pietri, Venezuelan lawyer, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
  • 1906 – Margret Rey, German author and illustrator (d. 1996)
  • 1907 – Bob Tisdall, Irish hurdler (d. 2004)
  • 1909 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress and singer (d. 1960)
  • 1909 – Luigi Villoresi, Italian race car driver (d. 1997)
  • 1910 – Olga Bergholz, Russian poet and author (d. 1975)
  • 1910 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (d. 2014)
  • 1910 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1972)
  • 1912 – Studs Terkel, American historian and author (d. 2008)
  • 1913 – Gordon Chalk, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Queensland (d. 1991)
  • 1913 – Woody Herman, American singer, saxophonist, and clarinet player (d. 1987)
  • 1914 – Edward T. Hall, American anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
  • 1915 – Mario Monicelli, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
  • 1916 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (d. 2009)
  • 1917 – Ben Kuroki, American sergeant and pilot (d. 2015)
  • 1917 – James C. Murray, American lawyer and politician (d. 1999)
  • 1917 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author and photographer (d. 1986)
  • 1918 – Wilf Mannion, English footballer and manager (d. 2000)
  • 1919 – Liberace, American pianist and entertainer (d. 1987)
  • 1919 – Ramon Margalef, Spanish ecologist and biologist (d. 2004)
  • 1920 – Martine Carol, French actress (d. 1967)
  • 1921 – Harry Carey, Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
  • 1923 – Victoria Fromkin, American linguist and academic (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Merton Miller, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
  • 1923 – Peter Underwood, English parapsychologist and author (d. 2014)
  • 1924 – Dawda Jawara, 1st President of the Gambia (d. 2019)
  • 1925 – Nancy Roman, American astronomer (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Ola Vincent, Nigerian banker and economist (d. 2012)
  • 1925 – Nílton Santos, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Billy Martin, American baseball player and coach (d. 1989)
  • 1929 – Betty Carter, American singer-songwriter (d. 1998)
  • 1929 – John Conyers, American lawyer and politician (d. 2019)
  • 1929 – Claude Morin, Canadian academic and politician
  • 1929 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist, and feminist (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 2000)
  • 1931 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1931 – Hana Brady, Jewish-Czech Holocaust victim (d.1944)
  • 1931 – K. Natwar Singh, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs
  • 1931 – Lowell P. Weicker, Jr., American soldier and politician, 85th Governor of Connecticut
  • 1934 – Kenneth O. Morgan, Welsh historian and author
  • 1934 – Antony Walker, English general
  • 1935 – Floyd Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1936 – Karl Lehmann, German cardinal (d. 2018)
  • 1937 – Yvonne Craig, American ballet dancer and actress (d. 2015)
  • 1938 – Stuart Bell, English lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1938 – Ivan Sutherland, American computer scientist and academic
  • 1938 – Marco Aurelio Denegri, Peruvian television host and sexologist (d. 2018)
  • 1941 – Denis Hart, Australian archbishop
  • 1942 – David Penry-Davey, English lawyer and judge (d. 2015)
  • 1943 – Kay Andrews, Baroness Andrews, English politician
  • 1943 – Dan Coats, American politician and diplomat, 29th United States Ambassador to Germany
  • 1943 – Wieteke van Dort, Dutch actress, comedian, singer, writer and artist
  • 1944 – Billy Cobham, Panamanian-American drummer, composer, and bandleader
  • 1944 – Antal Nagy, Hungarian footballer
  • 1944 – Danny Trejo, American actor
  • 1946 – John Law, English sociologist and academic
  • 1946 – Robert Fripp, English guitarist, songwriter and producer
  • 1947 – Cheryl Clarke, American writer
  • 1947 – Darrell Sweet, Scottish drummer (d. 1999)
  • 1947 – Roch Thériault, Canadian religious leader (d. 2011)
  • 1948 – Jesper Christensen, Danish actor, director, and producer
  • 1948 – Judy Finnigan, English talk show host and author
  • 1948 – Enrico Fumia, Italian automobile and product designer
  • 1948 – Emma Georgina Rothschild, English historian and academic
  • 1948 – Staf Van Roosbroeck, Belgian cyclist
  • 1949 – Rick Reuschel, American baseball player
  • 1950 – Georg Bednorz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1950 – Ray Condo, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
  • 1950 – Bruce Coville, American author
  • 1951 – Christian Lacroix, French fashion designer
  • 1951 – Jonathan Richman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Janet Soskice, Canadian philosopher and theologian
  • 1952 – James Herndon, American psychologist and academic
  • 1953 – Pierce Brosnan, Irish-American actor and producer
  • 1953 – Peter Onorati, American actor
  • 1953 – Richard Page, American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1953 – Kitanoumi Toshimitsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 55th Yokozuna (d. 2015)
  • 1953 – David Maclean, Scottish politician
  • 1953 – Stephen Woolman, Lord Woolman, Scottish judge and academic
  • 1954 – Dafydd Williams, Canadian physician and astronaut
  • 1955 – Olga Korbut, Soviet gymnast
  • 1955 – Jack Morris, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1955 – Hazel O’Connor, English-born Irish singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1955 – Páidí Ó Sé, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2012)
  • 1955 – Debra Winger, American actress
  • 1956 – Loretta Schrijver, Dutch television host, news anchor
  • 1957 – Joan Benoit, American runner
  • 1957 – Benjamin Mancroft, 3rd Baron Mancroft, English politician
  • 1957 – Yuri Shevchuk, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1957 – Anthony St John, 22nd Baron St John of Bletso, English lawyer and businessman
  • 1957 – Bob Suter, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
  • 1959 – Mitch Webster, American baseball player
  • 1959 – Mare Winningham, American actress and singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Landon Deireragea, Nauruan politician, Nauruan Speaker of Parliament
  • 1960 – S. Shanmuganathan, Sri Lankan commander and politician (d. 1998)
  • 1961 – Kevin McDonald, Canadian actor and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Charles Wright, American wrestler
  • 1962 – Jimmy Hood, Scottish engineer and politician (d. 2017)
  • 1962 – Helga Radtke, German long jumper
  • 1963 – Rachel Griffith, Anglo-American economist
  • 1963 – David Wilkinson, English theologian and academic
  • 1964 – John Salley, American basketball player and actor
  • 1964 – Boyd Tinsley, American singer-songwriter and violinist
  • 1964 – Milton Jones, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Krist Novoselic, American bass player, songwriter, author, and activist
  • 1965 – Tanel Tammet, Estonian computer scientist, engineer, and academic
  • 1966 – Janet Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actress
  • 1966 – Scott Reeves, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1966 – Thurman Thomas, American football player
  • 1967 – Doug Brocail, American baseball player and coach
  • 1967 – Susan Williams, Baroness Williams of Trafford, British politician
  • 1968 – Ralph Tresvant, American singer and producer
  • 1969 – David Boreanaz, American actor
  • 1969 – Tucker Carlson, American journalist, co-founded The Daily Caller
  • 1969 – Steve Lewis, American sprinter
  • 1970 – Gabriela Sabatini, Argentinian tennis player
  • 1970 – Danielle Spencer, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1971 – Phil Clarke, English rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Rachel Goswell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Christian Califano, French rugby player
  • 1972 – Matthew Hart, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1973 – Tori Spelling, American actress, reality television personality, and author
  • 1974 – Laura Pausini, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1974 – Sonny Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and rapper
  • 1975 – Tony Kakko, Finnish musician, composer, and vocalist
  • 1975 – Simon Whitfield, Canadian triathlete
  • 1976 – Dirk Nannes, Australian-Dutch cricketer
  • 1977 – Melanie Lynskey, New Zealand actress
  • 1977 – Emilíana Torrini, Icelandic singer-songwriter
  • 1978 – Scott Nicholls, English motorcycle racer
  • 1978 – Lionel Scaloni, Argentinian footballer
  • 1980 – Nuria Llagostera Vives, Spanish tennis player
  • 1981 – Ricardo Costa, Portuguese footballer
  • 1982 – Łukasz Kubot, Polish tennis player
  • 1983 – Daniel Kerr, Australian footballer
  • 1983 – Kyle Wellwood, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Darío Cvitanich, Argentinian footballer
  • 1984 – Tomáš Fleischmann, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Jensen Lewis, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
  • 1985 – Anja Mittag, German footballer
  • 1985 – Rodrigo Peters Marques, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985 – Corey Perry, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Megan Fox, American actress
  • 1986 – Andy Keogh, Irish footballer
  • 1986 – Shamcey Supsup, Filipino model and architect
  • 1987 – Tom Onslow-Cole, English race car driver
  • 1988 – Jesús Castillo, Mexican footballer
  • 1988 – Martynas Gecevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1988 – Jaak Põldma, Estonian tennis player
  • 1989 – Behati Prinsloo, Namibian model
  • 1990 – Amanda Carreras, Gibraltarian tennis player
  • 1990 – Thomas Brodie-Sangster, English actor
  • 1990 – Darko Šarović, Serbian sprinter
  • 1990 – Omar Strong, American basketball player
  • 1991 – Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgarian tennis player
  • 1991 – Joey Graceffa, American internet celebrity
  • 1991 – Ashley Wagner, American figure skater
  • 1992 – Jeff Skinner, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1992 – Kirstin Maldonado, American singer and songwriter
  • 1993 – Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norwegian biathlete
  • 1993 – Karol Mets, Estonian footballer
  • 1993 – IU, Korean singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1995 – Elizabeth Ralston, Australian footballer
  • 1996 – Louisa Chirico, an American tennis player

Deaths on May 16

  • 290 – Emperor Wu of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 236)
  • 895 – Qian Kuan, Chinese nobleman
  • 934 – Meng Hanqiong, eunuch official of Later Tang
  • 995 – Fujiwara no Michitaka, Japanese nobleman (b. 953)
  • 1182 – John Komnenos Vatatzes, Byzantine general (b. 1132)
  • 1265 – Simon Stock, English-French saint (b. 1165)
  • 1375 – Liu Bowen, Chinese military strategist, officer, statesman and poet (b. 1311)
  • 1412 – Gian Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan (b. 1388)
  • 1561 – Jan Tarnowski, Polish noble and statesman (b. 1488)
  • 1620 – William Adams, English sailor and navigator (b. 1564)
  • 1657 – Andrew Bobola, Polish missionary and martyr (b. 1591)
  • 1667 – Thomas Wriothesley, 4th Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1607)
  • 1669 – Pietro da Cortona, Italian painter and architect, designed the Santi Luca e Martina (b. 1596)
  • 1691 – Jacob Leisler, German-American politician, 8th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1640)
  • 1696 – Mariana of Austria, Queen consort of Spain (b. 1634)
  • 1703 – Charles Perrault, French author and academic (b. 1628)
  • 1778 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1718)
  • 1790 – Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire (b. 1720)
  • 1818 – Matthew Lewis, English author and playwright (b. 1775)
  • 1823 – Grace Elliott, Scottish courtesan and spy (b. c.1754)
  • 1830 – Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (b. 1768)
  • 1862 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (b. 1796)
  • 1882 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of Alabama (b. 1799)
  • 1890 – Mihkel Veske, Estonian poet, linguist and theologist (b. 1843)
  • 1891 – Ion C. Brătianu, Romanian politician, 14th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1821)
  • 1910 – Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (b. 1856)
  • 1913 – Louis Perrier, Swiss architect and politician (b. 1849)
  • 1920 – Levi P. Morton, American politician, 22nd United States Vice President (b. 1824)
  • 1926 – Mehmed VI, Ottoman sultan (b. 1861)
  • 1936 – Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Greek general and politician (b. 1860)
  • 1938 – Joseph Strauss, American engineer, co designed The Golden Gate Bridge (b. 1870)
  • 1943 – Alfred Hoche, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1865)
  • 1944 – George Ade, American journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1866)
  • 1946 – Bruno Tesch, German chemist and businessman (b. 1890)
  • 1947 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
  • 1947 – Zhang Lingfu, Chinese general (b. 1903)
  • 1953 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist and composer (b. 1910)
  • 1954 – Clemens Krauss, Austrian conductor and manager (b. 1893)
  • 1955 – James Agee, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic(b. 1909)
  • 1955 – Manny Ayulo, American race car driver (b. 1921)
  • 1956 – H. B. Reese, American candy-maker and businessman, created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (b. 1876)
  • 1957 – Eliot Ness, American federal agent (b. 1903)
  • 1961 – George A. Malcolm, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1881)
  • 1973 – Jacques Lipchitz, Lithuanian-American sculptor (b. 1891)
  • 1977 – Modibo Keïta, Malian politician, 1st President of Mali (b. 1915)
  • 1979 – A. Philip Randolph, American union leader and activist (b. 1889)
  • 1981 – Ernie Freeman, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1922)
  • 1981 – Willy Hartner, German physician and academic (b. 1905)
  • 1984 – Andy Kaufman, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
  • 1984 – Irwin Shaw, American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1913)
  • 1985 – Margaret Hamilton, American actress (b. 1902)
  • 1989 – Leila Kasra, Iranian poet and songwriter (b. 1939)
  • 1990 – Sammy Davis Jr., American singer, dancer, and actor (b. 1925)
  • 1990 – Jim Henson, American puppeteer, director, producer, and screenwriter, created The Muppets (b. 1936)
  • 1993 – Marv Johnson, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1938)
  • 1994 – Alain Cuny, French actor (b. 1908)
  • 1996 – Jeremy Michael Boorda, American admiral (b. 1939)
  • 1997 – Elbridge Durbrow, American diplomat (b. 1903)
  • 2002 – Alec Campbell, Australian soldier (b. 1899)
  • 2003 – Mark McCormack, American lawyer and sports agent, founded IMG (b. 1930)
  • 2005 – Andrew Goodpaster, American general (b. 1915)
  • 2008 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker, co-founded the Opus One Winery (b. 1913)
  • 2010 – Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Hank Jones, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1918)
  • 2011 – Ralph Barker, English author (b. 1917)
  • 2011 – Bob Davis, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1928)
  • 2011 – Edward Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1932)
  • 2011 – Kiyoshi Kodama, Japanese actor (b. 1934)
  • 2012 – Patricia Aakhus, American author and academic (b. 1952)
  • 2012 – James Abdnor, American soldier and politician, 30th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Chuck Brown, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Ernie Chan, Filipino-American illustrator (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Kevin Hickey, American baseball player (b. 1956)
  • 2013 – Angelo Errichetti, American politician (b. 1928)
  • 2013 – Bryan Illerbrun, Canadian football player (b. 1957)
  • 2013 – Frankie Librán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – Heinrich Rohrer, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933)
  • 2013 – Dick Trickle, American race car driver (b. 1941)
  • 2013 – Bernard Waber, American author and illustrator (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Chris Duckworth, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Vito Favero, Italian cyclist (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Bud Hollowell, American baseball player and manager (b. 1943)
  • 2014 – Clyde Snow, American anthropologist and author (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Prashant Bhargava, American director and producer (b. 1973)
  • 2015 – Moshe Levinger, Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – Flora MacNeil, Scottish Gaelic singer (b. 1928)
  • 2019 – Piet Blauw, Dutch politician (b. 1937)
  • 2019 – Bob Hawke, Australian politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1929)
  • 2019 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances on May 16

  • Christian feast day:
    • Aaron (Coptic Church)
    • Abda and Abdjesus, and companions:
      • Abdas of Susa
    • Andrew Bobola
    • Brendan the Navigator (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Eastern Orthodox Church)
    • Caroline Chisholm (Church of England)
    • Gemma Galgani (Passionists Calendar)
    • Germerius
    • Honoratus of Amiens
    • John of Nepomuk
    • Margaret of Cortona
    • Peregrine of Auxerre
    • Simon Stock
    • Ubald (see Saint Ubaldo Day)
  • Martyrs of Sudan (Episcopal Church (USA))
  • Mass Graves Day (Iraq)
  • National Day, declared by Salva Kiir Mayardit (South Sudan)
  • Teachers’ Day (Malaysia)

May 16 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /
  • 495 BC – A newly constructed temple in honour of the god Mercury was dedicated in ancient Rome on the Circus Maximus, between the Aventine and Palatine hills. To spite the senate and the consuls, the people awarded the dedication to a senior military officer, Marcus Laetorius.
  • 221 – Liu Bei, Chinese warlord, proclaims himself emperor of Shu Han, the successor of the Han dynasty.
  • 392 – Emperor Valentinian II is assassinated while advancing into Gaul against the Frankish usurper Arbogast. He is found hanging in his residence at Vienne.
  • 589 – King Authari marries Theodelinda, daughter of the Bavarian duke Garibald I. A Catholic, she has great influence among the Lombard nobility.
  • 908 – The three-year-old Constantine VII, the son of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, is crowned as co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire by Patriarch Euthymius I at Constantinople.
  • 1252 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull ad extirpanda, which authorizes, but also limits, the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition.
  • 1525 – Insurgent peasants led by Anabaptist pastor Thomas Müntzer were defeated at the Battle of Frankenhausen, ending the German Peasants’ War in the Holy Roman Empire.
  • 1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.
  • 1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.
  • 1618 – Johannes Kepler confirms his previously rejected discovery of the third law of planetary motion (he first discovered it on March 8 but soon rejected the idea after some initial calculations were made).
  • 1648 – The Peace of Münster is ratified, by which Spain acknowledges Dutch sovereignty.
  • 1718 – James Puckle, a London lawyer, patents the world’s first machine gun.
  • 1776 – American Revolution: The Fifth Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.
  • 1791 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre proposes the Self-denying Ordinance.
  • 1792 – War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.
  • 1793 – Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for “about 360 meters”, at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights.
  • 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.
  • 1800 – King George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.
  • 1817 – Opening of the first private mental health hospital in the United States, the Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).
  • 1836 – Francis Baily observes “Baily’s beads” during an annular eclipse.
  • 1849 – The Sicilian revolution of 1848 is finally extinguished.
  • 1850 – The Bloody Island massacre takes place in Lake County, California, in which a large number of Pomo Indians are slaughtered by a regiment of the United States Cavalry.
  • 1850 – The Arana–Southern Treaty is ratified, ending “the existing differences” between Great Britain and Argentina.
  • 1851 – The first Australian gold rush is proclaimed, although the discovery had been made three months earlier.
  • 1858 – Opening of the present Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
  • 1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of New Market, Virginia: Students from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
  • 1867 – Canadian Bank of Commerce opens for business in Toronto, Ontario. The bank would later merge with Imperial Bank of Canada to become what is CIBC in 1961.
  • 1869 – Women’s suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.
  • 1891 – Pope Leo XIII defends workers’ rights and property rights in the encyclical Rerum novarum, the beginning of modern Catholic social teaching.
  • 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: The Russian minelayer Amur lays a minefield about 15 miles off Port Arthur and sinks Japan’s battleships Hatsuse, 15,000 tons, with 496 crew and Yashima.
  • 1905 – Las Vegas is founded when 110 acres (0.45 km2), in what later would become downtown, are auctioned off.
  • 1911 – In Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States, the United States Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an “unreasonable” monopoly under the Sherman Antitrust Act and orders the company to be broken up.
  • 1911 – More than 300 Chinese immigrants are killed in the Torreón massacre when the forces of the Mexican Revolution led by Emilio Madero take the city of Torreón from the Federales.
  • 1914 – During a poker game at the Gaiety Theatre in Galesburg, Illinois, comedian Art Fisher nicknames Chicko, Harpo, Groucho, and Gummo Marx.
  • 1919 – The Winnipeg general strike begins. By 11:00, almost the whole working population of Winnipeg had walked off the job.
  • 1919 – Greek occupation of Smyrna. During the occupation, the Greek army kills or wounds 350 Turks; those responsible are punished by Greek commander Aristides Stergiades.
  • 1925 – Al-Insaniyyah, the first Arabic communist newspaper, is founded.
  • 1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, “Plane Crazy”.
  • 1929 – A fire at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio kills 123.
  • 1932 – In an attempted coup d’état, the Prime Minister of Japan Inukai Tsuyoshi is assassinated.
  • 1933 – All military aviation organizations within or under the control of the RLM of Germany were officially merged in a covert manner to form its Wehrmacht military’s air arm, the Luftwaffe.
  • 1934 – Kārlis Ulmanis establishes an authoritarian government in Latvia.
  • 1940 – USS Sailfish is recommissioned. It was originally the USS Squalus.
  • 1940 – World War II: After fierce fighting, the poorly trained and equipped Dutch troops surrender to Germany, marking the beginning of five years of occupation.
  • 1940 – Richard and Maurice McDonald open the first McDonald’s restaurant.
  • 1941 – First flight of the Gloster E.28/39 the first British and Allied jet aircraft.
  • 1941 – Joe DiMaggio begins a 56-game hitting streak.
  • 1942 – World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
  • 1943 – Joseph Stalin dissolves the Comintern (or Third International).
  • 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Poljana, the final skirmish in Europe is fought near Prevalje, Slovenia.
  • 1948 – Following the expiration of The British Mandate for Palestine, the Kingdom of Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade Israel thus starting the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
  • 1957 – At Malden Island in the Pacific Ocean, Britain tests its first hydrogen bomb in Operation Grapple.
  • 1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.
  • 1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.
  • 1963 – Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.
  • 1966 – After a policy dispute, Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ of South Vietnam’s ruling junta launches a military attack on the forces of General Tôn Thất Đính, forcing him to abandon his command.
  • 1969 – People’s Park: California Governor Ronald Reagan has an impromptu student park owned by the University of California at Berkeley fenced off from student anti-war protestors, sparking a riot.
  • 1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army generals.
  • 1970 – Philip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green are killed at Jackson State University by police during student protests.
  • 1972 – The Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. military governance since its conquest in 1945, reverts to Japanese control.
  • 1972 – In Laurel, Maryland, Arthur Bremer shoots and paralyzes Alabama Governor George Wallace while he is campaigning to become president.
  • 1974 – Ma’alot massacre: Members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine attack and take hostages at an Israeli school; a total of 31 people are killed, including 22 schoolchildren.
  • 1976 – Aeroflot Flight 1802 crashes in Viktorovka, Chernihiv Raion, killing all 52 people on board.
  • 1987 – The Soviet Union launches the Polyus prototype orbital weapons platform. It fails to reach orbit.
  • 1988 – Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
  • 1991 – Édith Cresson becomes France’s first female Prime Minister.
  • 1997 – The United States government acknowledges the existence of the “Secret War” in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other “Secret War” veterans.
  • 1997 – The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-84 to dock with the Russian space station Mir.
  • 2004 – Arsenal F.C. go an entire league campaign unbeaten in the English Premier League, joining Preston North End F.C with the right to claim the title “The Invincibles”.
  • 2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
  • 2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.
  • 2013 – An upsurge in violence in Iraq leaves more than 389 people dead over three days.

Births on May 15

  • 1397 – Sejong the Great, Korean king (d. 1450)
  • 1531 – Maria of Austria, Duchess of Jülich-Cleves-Berg (d. 1581)
  • 1565 – Hendrick de Keyser, Dutch sculptor and architect (d. 1621)
  • 1567 – Claudio Monteverdi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1643)
  • 1655 – Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
  • 1608 – René Goupil, French-American missionary and saint (d. 1642)
  • 1633 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French noble (d. 1707)
  • 1645 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, British judge (d. 1689)
  • 1689 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (d. 1762)
  • 1720 – Maximilian Hell, Hungarian priest and astronomer (d. 1792)
  • 1749 – Levi Lincoln Sr., American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Attorney General (d. 1820)
  • 1759 – Maria Theresia von Paradis, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1824)
  • 1770 – Ezekiel Hart, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1843)
  • 1773 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (d. 1859)
  • 1786 – Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek general and politician (d. 1864)
  • 1803 – Juan Almonte, son of José María Morelos, was a Mexican soldier and diplomat who served as a regent in the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (d. 1869)
  • 1805 – Samuel Carter, Early English railway solicitor and MP (d. 1878)
  • 1808 – Michael William Balfe, Irish composer and conductor (d. 1870)
  • 1817 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (d. 1905)
  • 1841 – Clarence Dutton, American commander and geologist (d. 1912)
  • 1845 – Élie Metchnikoff, Russian zoologist (d. 1916)
  • 1848 – Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter and illustrator (d. 1926)
  • 1854 – Ioannis Psycharis, Ukrainian-French philologist and author (d. 1929)
  • 1856 – L. Frank Baum, American novelist (d. 1919)
  • 1856 – Matthias Zurbriggen, Swiss mountaineer (d. 1917)
  • 1857 – Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (d. 1911)
  • 1859 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1906)
  • 1862 – Arthur Schnitzler, Austrian author and playwright (d. 1931)
  • 1863 – Frank Hornby, English businessman and politician, invented Meccano (d. 1936)
  • 1869 – Paul Probst, Swiss target shooter (d. 1945)
  • 1869 – John Storey, Australian politician, 20th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1921)
  • 1882 – Walter White, Scottish international footballer (d. 1950)
  • 1890 – Katherine Anne Porter, American short story writer, novelist, and essayist (d. 1980)
  • 1891 – Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (d. 1940)
  • 1891 – Fritz Feigl, Austrian-Brazilian chemist and academic (d. 1971)
  • 1892 – Charles E. Rosendahl, American admiral (d. 1977)
  • 1892 – Jimmy Wilde, Welsh boxer (d. 1969)
  • 1893 – José Nepomuceno, Filipino filmmaker, founder of Philippine cinema (d. 1959)
  • 1894 – Feg Murray, American hurdler and cartoonist (d. 1973)
  • 1895 – Prescott Bush, American captain, banker, and politician (d. 1972)
  • 1895 – William D. Byron, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1941)
  • 1898 – Arletty, French model, actress, and singer (d. 1992)
  • 1899 – Jean Étienne Valluy, French general (d. 1970)
  • 1900 – Ida Rhodes, American mathematician, pioneer in computer programming (d. 1986)
  • 1901 – Xavier Herbert, Australian author (d. 1984)
  • 1901 – Luis Monti, Argentinian-Italian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
  • 1902 – Richard J. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 48th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1976)
  • 1902 – Sigizmund Levanevsky, Soviet aircraft pilot of Polish origin (d. 1937)
  • 1903 – Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (d. 1998)
  • 1904 – Clifton Fadiman, American game show host and author (d. 1999)
  • 1905 – Joseph Cotten, American actor (d. 1994)
  • 1905 – Albert Dubout, French cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and sculptor (d. 1976)
  • 1905 – Abraham Zapruder, American businessman and amateur photographer, filmed the Zapruder film (d. 1970)
  • 1907 – Sukhdev Thapar, Indian activist (d. 1931)
  • 1909 – James Mason, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1909 – Clara Solovera, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1910 – Constance Cummings, British-based American actress (d. 2005)
  • 1911 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (d. 1991)
  • 1911 – Herta Oberheuser, German physician (d. 1978)
  • 1912 – Arthur Berger, American composer and educator (d. 2003)
  • 1914 – Turk Broda, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1972)
  • 1914 – Angus MacLean, Canadian farmer and politician, 25th Premier of Prince Edward Island (d. 2000)
  • 1914 – Norrie Paramor, English composer, producer, and conductor (d. 1979)
  • 1915 – Hilda Bernstein, English-South African author and activist (d. 2006)
  • 1915 – Paul Samuelson, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
  • 1915 – Henrik Sandberg, Danish production manager and producer (d. 1993)
  • 1916 – Vera Gebuhr, Danish actress (d. 2014)
  • 1918 – Eddy Arnold, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)
  • 1918 – Arthur Jackson, American lieutenant and target shooter (d. 2015)
  • 1918 – Joseph Wiseman, Canadian-American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1920 – Michel Audiard, French director and screenwriter (d. 1985)
  • 1922 – Sigurd Ottovich Schmidt, Russian historian and ethnographer (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Jakucho Setouchi, Japanese nun and author
  • 1923 – Richard Avedon, American sailor and photographer (d. 2004)
  • 1923 – John Lanchbery, English-Australian composer and conductor (d. 2003)
  • 1924 – Maria Koepcke, German-Peruvian ornithologist and zoologist (d. 1971)
  • 1925 – Andrei Eshpai, Russian pianist and composer (d. 2015)
  • 1925 – Mary F. Lyon, English geneticist and biologist (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Carl Sanders, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 74th Governor of Georgia (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Roy Stewart, Jamaican-English actor and stuntman (d. 2008)
  • 1926 – Clermont Pépin, Canadian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Anthony Shaffer, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1926 – Peter Shaffer, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1930 – Jasper Johns, American painter and sculptor
  • 1931 – Ken Venturi, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2013)
  • 1935 – Don Bragg, American pole vaulter
  • 1935 – Ted Dexter, Italian-English cricketer
  • 1935 – Utah Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)
  • 1935 – Akihiro Miwa, Japanese singer, actor, director, composer, author and drag queen
  • 1936 – Anna Maria Alberghetti, Italian-American actress and singer
  • 1936 – Mart Laga, Estonian basketball player (d. 1977)
  • 1936 – Ralph Steadman, English painter and illustrator
  • 1936 – Paul Zindel, American playwright and novelist (d. 2003)
  • 1937 – Madeleine Albright, Czech-American politician and diplomat, 64th United States Secretary of State
  • 1937 – Karin Krog, Norwegian singer
  • 1937 – Trini Lopez, American singer, guitarist, and actor
  • 1938 – Mireille Darc, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – Nancy Garden, American author (d. 2014)
  • 1939 – Dorothy Shirley, English high jumper and educator
  • 1940 – Roger Ailes, American businessman (d. 2017)
  • 1940 – Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
  • 1940 – Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach
  • 1941 – Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded the Rip Off Press (d. 2006)
  • 1942 – Lois Johnson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1942 – Jusuf Kalla, Indonesian businessman and politician, 10th Vice President of Indonesia
  • 1942 – Doug Lowe, Australian politician, 35th Premier of Tasmania
  • 1942 – K. T. Oslin, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1943 – Paul Bégin, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1943 – Freddie Perren, American songwriter, producer, and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1944 – Bill Alter, American police officer and politician
  • 1944 – Ulrich Beck, German sociologist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1945 – Michael Dexter, English hematologist and academic
  • 1945 – Jerry Quarry, American boxer (d. 1999)
  • 1946 – Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý, Vietnamese priest and activist
  • 1947 – Graeham Goble, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
  • 1948 – Kate Bornstein, American author, playwright, performance artist, and gender theorist
  • 1948 – Yutaka Enatsu, Japanese baseball player
  • 1948 – Brian Eno, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
  • 1948 – Kathleen Sebelius, American politician, 44th Governor of Kansas
  • 1949 – Frank L. Culbertson Jr., American captain, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1949 – Robert S.J. Sparks, English geologist and academic
  • 1950 – Jim Bacon, Australian politician, 41st Premier of Tasmania (d. 2004)
  • 1950 – Jim Simons, American golfer (d. 2005)
  • 1951 – Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1951 – Chris Ham, English political scientist and academic
  • 1951 – Frank Wilczek, American mathematician and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1952 – Chazz Palminteri, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1953 – George Brett, American baseball player and coach
  • 1953 – Athene Donald, English physicist and academic
  • 1953 – Mike Oldfield, English-Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1954 – Diana Liverman, English-American geographer and academic
  • 1954 – Caroline Thomson, English journalist and broadcaster
  • 1955 – Mohamed Brahmi, Tunisian politician (d. 2013)
  • 1955 – Lia Vissi, Cypriot singer-songwriter and politician
  • 1956 – Andreas Loverdos, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Labour
  • 1956 – Dan Patrick, American television anchor and sportscaster
  • 1956 – Kevin Greenaugh, American nuclear engineer
  • 1957 – Meg Gardiner, American-English author and academic
  • 1957 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Spanish politician
  • 1957 – Kevin Von Erich, American football player and wrestler
  • 1958 – Jason Graae, American musical theater actor
  • 1958 – Ruth Marcus, American journalist
  • 1958 – Ron Simmons, American football player and wrestler
  • 1959 – Khaosai Galaxy, Thai boxer and politician
  • 1959 – Luis Pérez-Sala, Spanish race car driver
  • 1959 – Beverly Jo Scott, American-Belgian singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Rhonda Burchmore, Australian actress, singer, and dancer
  • 1960 – Rob Bowman, American director and producer
  • 1960 – R. Kuhaneswaran, Sri Lankan politician
  • 1960 – Rimas Kurtinaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
  • 1961 – Giselle Fernández, Mexican-American television journalist.
  • 1962 – Lisa Curry, Australian swimmer
  • 1963 – Gavin Nebbeling, South African footballer
  • 1964 – Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Danish lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Denmark
  • 1965 – André Abujamra, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1965 – Scott Tronc, Australian rugby league player
  • 1966 – Jiří Němec, Czech footballer
  • 1967 – Simen Agdestein, Norwegian chess grandmaster and football player
  • 1967 – Laura Hillenbrand, American journalist and author
  • 1967 – John Smoltz, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Madhuri Dixit, Indian actress
  • 1968 – Cecilia Malmström, Swedish academic and politician, 15th European Commissioner for Trade
  • 1968 – Sophie Raworth, English journalist and broadcaster
  • 1969 – Hideki Irabu, Japanese-American baseball player (d. 2011)
  • 1969 – Emmitt Smith, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Frank de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Ronald de Boer, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1970 – Desmond Howard, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Alison Jackson, English photographer, director, and screenwriter
  • 1970 – Rod Smith, American football player
  • 1970 – Ben Wallace, English captain and politician
  • 1971 – Karin Lušnic, Slovenian tennis player
  • 1972 – Danny Alexander, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
  • 1972 – David Charvet, French actor and singer
  • 1974 – Vasilis Kikilias, Greek basketball player and politician
  • 1974 – Matthew Sadler, English chess player and author
  • 1974 – Marko Tredup, German footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Ahmet Zappa, American musician and writer
  • 1975 – Ray Lewis, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Ales Michalevic, Belarusian lawyer and politician
  • 1976 – Torraye Braggs, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Mark Kennedy, Irish footballer
  • 1976 – Jacek Krzynówek, Polish footballer
  • 1976 – Ryan Leaf, American football player and coach
  • 1976 – Anže Logar, Slovenian politician
  • 1976 – Tyler Walker, American baseball player
  • 1978 – Amy Chow, American gymnast and pediatrician
  • 1978 – Dwayne De Rosario, Canadian soccer player
  • 1978 – Edu, Brazilian footballer
  • 1978 – David Krumholtz, American actor
  • 1979 – Adolfo Bautista, Mexican footballer
  • 1979 – Daniel Caines, English sprinter
  • 1979 – Chris Masoe, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1979 – Ryan Max Riley, American skier
  • 1979 – Robert Royal, American football player
  • 1979 – Dominic Scott, Irish guitarist
  • 1980 – Josh Beckett, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Patrice Evra, French footballer
  • 1981 – Paul Konchesky, English international footballer
  • 1981 – Justin Morneau, Canadian baseball player
  • 1981 – Zara Phillips, English equestrian
  • 1981 – Jamie-Lynn Sigler, American actress and singer
  • 1982 – Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jamaican sprinter
  • 1982 – Segundo Castillo, Ecuadorian footballer
  • 1982 – Rafael Pérez, Dominican baseball player
  • 1982 – Layal Abboud, Lebanese singer
  • 1984 – Jeff Deslauriers, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Sérgio Jimenez, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1984 – Samantha Noble, Australian actress
  • 1984 – Beau Scott, Australian rugby league player
  • 1984 – Mr Probz, Dutch singer, songwriter, rapper, actor and record producer
  • 1985 – Cristiane, Brazilian footballer
  • 1985 – Tania Cagnotto, Italian diver
  • 1985 – Laura Harvey, English football coach
  • 1985 – Tathagata Mukherjee, Indian actor
  • 1985 – Denis Onyango, Ugandan goalkeeper
  • 1985 – Justine Robbeson, South African javelin thrower
  • 1986 – Thomas Brown, American football player
  • 1986 – Matías Fernández, Chilean footballer
  • 1986 – Adam Moffat, Scottish footballer
  • 1987 – David Adams, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Michael Brantley, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Brian Dozier, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Mark Fayne, American ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Ersan İlyasova, Turkish basketball player
  • 1987 – Leonardo Mayer, Argentinian tennis player
  • 1987 – Andy Murray, Scottish tennis player
  • 1988 – Indrek Kajupank, Estonian basketball player
  • 1988 – Scott Laird, English footballer
  • 1989 – Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, French footballer
  • 1990 – Jordan Eberle, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1990 – Lee Jong-hyun, Korean guitarist
  • 1990 – Stella Maxwell, New Zealand model
  • 1993 – Jeremy Hawkins, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1993 – Tomáš Kalas, Czech international footballer
  • 1996 – Birdy, English singer-songwriter
  • 1997 – Ousmane Dembélé, French footballer

Deaths on May 15

  • 392 – Valentinian II, Roman emperor (b. 371)
  • 558 – Hilary of Galeata, Christian monk (b. 476)
  • 884 – Narinus I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 830)
  • 913 – Hatto I, German archbishop (b. 850)
  • 926 – Zhuang Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 885)
  • 973 – Byrhthelm, bishop of Wells
  • 1036 – Go-Ichijō, emperor of Japan (b. 1008)
  • 1157 – Yuri Dolgorukiy, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1099)
  • 1175 – Mleh, prince of Armenia
  • 1174 – Nur ad-Din, Seljuk emir of Syria (b. 1118)
  • 1268 – Peter II, count of Savoy (b. 1203)
  • 1461 – Domenico Veneziano, Italian painter (b. c. 1410)
  • 1464 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (b. 1436)
  • 1470 – Charles VIII, king of Sweden (b. 1409)
  • 1585 – Niwa Nagahide, Japanese samurai (b. 1535)
  • 1609 – Giovanni Croce, Italian composer and educator (b. 1557)
  • 1615 – Henry Bromley, English politician (b. 1560)
  • 1634 – Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (b. 1585)
  • 1698 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (b. 1642)
  • 1699 – Sir Edward Petre, 3rd Baronet, English politician (b. 1631)
  • 1700 – John Hale, American minister (b. 1636)
  • 1740 – Ephraim Chambers, English publisher (b. 1680)
  • 1773 – Alban Butler, English priest and hagiographer (b. 1710)
  • 1845 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, Head of State of Costa Rica (b. 1800)
  • 1879 – Gottfried Semper, German architect and educator, designed the Semper Opera House (b. 1803)
  • 1886 – Emily Dickinson, American poet and author (b. 1830)
  • 1914 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (b. 1863)
  • 1919 – Hasan Tahsin, Turkish journalist (b. 1888)
  • 1924 – Paul-Henri-Benjamin d’Estournelles de Constant, French diplomat and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
  • 1926 – Joseph James Fletcher, Australian biologist (b. 1850)
  • 1928 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (b. 1845)
  • 1935 – Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian-Russian painter and theoretician (b. 1878)
  • 1937 – Philip Snowden, 1st Viscount Snowden, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1864)
  • 1945 – Kenneth J. Alford, English soldier, bandmaster, and composer (b. 1881)
  • 1945 – Charles Williams, English author, poet, and critic (b. 1886)
  • 1948 – Edward J. Flanagan, Irish-American priest, founded Boys Town (b. 1886)
  • 1954 – William March, American soldier and author (b. 1893)
  • 1956 – Austin Osman Spare, English painter and magician (b. 1886)
  • 1957 – Keith Andrews, American race car driver (b. 1920)
  • 1957 – Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1892)
  • 1963 – John Aglionby, English-born Bishop of Accra and soldier (b. 1884)
  • 1964 – Vladko Maček, Croatian lawyer and politician (b. 1879)
  • 1965 – Pio Pion, Italian businessman (b. 1887)
  • 1967 – Edward Hopper, American painter (b. 1882)
  • 1967 – Italo Mus, Italian painter (b. 1892)
  • 1969 – Joe Malone, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1890)
  • 1971 – Tyrone Guthrie, English director, producer, and playwright (b. 1900)
  • 1978 – Robert Menzies, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
  • 1980 – Gordon Prange, American historian and author (b. 1910)
  • 1982 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (b. 1946)
  • 1984 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor, theologian, and philosopher (b. 1912)
  • 1985 – Jackie Curtis, American actress and writer (b. 1947)
  • 1986 – Elio de Angelis, Italian race car driver (b. 1958)
  • 1986 – Theodore H. White, American historian, journalist, and author (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Johnny Green, American composer and conductor (b. 1908)
  • 1989 – Luc Lacourcière, Canadian ethnographer and author (b. 1910)
  • 1991 – Andreas Floer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1956)
  • 1991 – Amadou Hampâté Bâ, Malian ethnologist and author (b. 1901)
  • 1991 – Fritz Riess, German race car driver (b. 1922)
  • 1993 – Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, Sudanese poet and diplomat (b. 1933)
  • 1994 – Gilbert Roland, American actor (b. 1905)
  • 1995 – Eric Porter, English actor (b. 1928)
  • 1996 – Charles B. Fulton, American lawyer and judge (b. 1910)
  • 1998 – Earl Manigault, American basketball player (b. 1944)
  • 1998 – Naim Talu, Turkish economist, banker, politician, 15th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1919)
  • 2003 – June Carter Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress (b. 1929)
  • 2006 – Nizar Abdul Zahra, Iraqi footballer (b. 1961)
  • 2007 – Jerry Falwell, American pastor, founded Liberty University (b. 1933)
  • 2008 – Tommy Burns, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1956)
  • 2008 – Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (b. 1919)
  • 2008 – Will Elder, American illustrator (b. 1921)
  • 2009 – Bud Tingwell, Australian actor, director, and producer (b. 1923)
  • 2009 – Wayman Tisdale, American basketball player and bass player (b. 1964)
  • 2010 – Besian Idrizaj, Austrian footballer (b. 1987)
  • 2010 – Loris Kessel, Swiss race car driver (b. 1950)
  • 2012 – Carlos Fuentes, Mexican novelist and essayist (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Arno Lustiger, German historian and author (b. 1924)
  • 2012 – Zakaria Mohieddin, Egyptian soldier and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1918)
  • 2013 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1946)
  • 2014 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, French-Belgian politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Noribumi Suzuki, Japanese director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
  • 2015 – Elisabeth Bing, German-American physical therapist and author (b. 1914)
  • 2015 – Jackie Brookner, American sculptor and educator (b. 1945)
  • 2015 – Garo Yepremian, Cypriot-American football player (b. 1944)
  • 2020 – Fred Willard, American actor, comedian, and writer (b. 1933)[19]

Holidays and observances on May 15

  • Aoi Matsuri (Kyoto)
  • Army Day (Slovenia)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Achillius of Larissa
    • Athanasius of Alexandria (Coptic Church)
    • Dymphna
    • Hallvard Vebjørnsson (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Hesychius of Cazorla
    • Hilary of Galeata
    • Isidore the Laborer, celebrated with festivals in various countries, the beginning of bullfighting season in Madrid.
    • Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Peter, Andrew, Paul, and Denise (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Reticius (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Sophia of Rome (Roman Catholic church)
    • May 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constituent Assembly Day (Lithuania)
  • Earliest date on which Armed Forces Day (United States) can fall, while May 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday of May.
  • Independence Day (Paraguay), celebrates the independence of Paraguay from Spain in 1811. Celebrations for the anniversary of the independence begin on Flag Day, May 14.
  • International Conscientious Objectors Day
  • International Day of Families (International)
  • La Corsa dei Ceri begins on the eve of the feast day of Saint Ubaldo. (Gubbio)
  • Mother’s Day (Paraguay)
  • Nakba Day (Palestinian communities)
  • Peace Officers Memorial Day (United States)
  • Republic Day (Lithuania)
  • Teachers’ Day (Colombia, Mexico and South Korea)

May 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day