48 BC – Pompey is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy upon arriving in Egypt.
235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.
935 – Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.
995 – Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.
1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
1106 – King Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
1238 – King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors. Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
1322 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
1538 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California.
1779 – American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
1781 – American Revolution: American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.
1787 – The Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly-written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.
1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted. It will be made public on 13 October.
1844 – Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
1867 – Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, having also been the capital of Ontario’s predecessors since 1796.
1868 – The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
1871 – The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.
1889 – The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter.
1892 – The first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.
1893 – Foundation of the Portuguese football club FC Porto.
1901 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.
1912 – The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Protestant Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.
1912 – Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.
1918 – World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.
1919 – Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska.
1924 – The first aerial circumnavigation is completed by a team from the US Army.
1928 – Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.
1939 – World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.
1941 – World War II: The Drama uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.
1941 – Ted Williams achieves a .406 batting average for the season, and becomes the last major league baseball player to bat .400 or better.
1944 – World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.
1951 – CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.
1961 – A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
1970 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
1971 – The Parliament of the UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
1973 – The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT’s alleged involvement in the coup d’état in Chile.
1975 – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
1986 – The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.
1991 – The Strategic Air Command stands down from alert all ICBMs scheduled for deactivation under START I, as well as its strategic bomber force.
1992 – A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew.
1994 – The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
1995 – Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.
1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
2000 – Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al-Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
2008 – Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit.
2009 – The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1400 people.
2012 – Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants.
2014 – The 2014 Hong Kong protests begin in response to restrictive political reforms imposed by the NPC in Beijing.
2016 – The 2016 South Australian blackout occurs, lasting up to three days in some areas.
2018 – The 7.5 Mw 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami, leaves 4,340 dead and 10,679 injured.
2018 – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the international project Tree of Peace was established (September, 28). One of the trees was planted personally by Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic.
Births on September 28
551 BC – Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. (d. 479 BC)
616 – Javanshir, King of Caucasian Albania (d. 680)
1494 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1545)
1555 – Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Marshal of France (d. 1623)
1573 – Théodore de Mayerne, Swiss physician (d. 1654)
1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1694)
1681 – Johann Mattheson, German composer, lexicographer, and diplomat (d. 1764)
1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1774)
1705 – Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
1735 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1811)
1746 – William Jones, English-Welsh philologist and scholar (d. 1794)
1765 – Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (d. 1814)
1803 – Prosper Mérimée, French archaeologist, historian, and author (d. 1870)
1809 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
1819 – Narcís Monturiol, Spanish engineer and publisher (d. 1885)
1821 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American minister and politician (d. 1874)
1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter and educator (d. 1889)
1824 – Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet and critic (d. 1897)
1836 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber, invented the ballcock (d. 1910)
1838 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian national saint (d. 1918)
1841 – Georges Clemenceau, French journalist, physician, and politician, 85th Prime Minister of France (d. 1929)
1844 – Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1852 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
1852 – Isis Pogson, British astronomer and meteorologist (d. 1945)
1856 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (d. 1923)
1860 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist (d. 1934)
1861 – Amélie of Orléans, queen consort of Portugal (d. 1951)
1867 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, Japanese lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
1867 – James Edwin Campbell, American poet, editor, short story writer and educator (d. 1896)
1868 – Evelyn Beatrice Hall, English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire, and wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre (d. 1956)
1877 – Albert Young, American boxer and promoter (d. 1940)
1878 – Joseph Ruddy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
1870 – Florent Schmitt, French composer and critic (d. 1958)
1881 – Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (d. 1950)
1882 – Mart Saar, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1963)
1885 – Emil Väre, Finnish wrestler, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
1887 – Avery Brundage, American businessman, 5th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1975)
1889 – Jack Fournier, American baseball player and coach (d. 1973)
1890 – Florence Violet McKenzie, Australian electrical engineer (d. 1982)
1892 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (d. 1967)
1893 – Hilda Geiringer, Austrian mathematician (d. 1973)
1893 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek author, poet, and playwright (d. 1984)
1898 – Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (d. 1957)
1900 – Isabel Pell, American socialite, fought as part of the French Resistance during WWII (d. 1951)
1901 – William S. Paley, American broadcaster, founded CBS (d. 1990)
1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
1903 – Haywood S. Hansell, American general (d. 1988)
1905 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
1907 – Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast and physician (d. 1997)
1907 – Bhagat Singh, Indian activist (d. 1931)
1909 – Al Capp, American author and illustrator (d. 1979)
1910 – Diosdado Macapagal, Filipino lawyer and politician, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
1910 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1942)
1913 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (d. 2007)
1913 – Alice Marble, American tennis player (d. 1990)
1914 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American refugee and singer (d. 2014)
1915 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)
1916 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (d. 1977)
1916 – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Ukrainian-Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2008)
1918 – Ángel Labruna, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
1918 – Arnold Stang, American actor (d. 2009)
1919 – Doris Singleton, American actress (d. 2012)
1922 – Larry Munson, American sportscaster (d. 2011)
1923 – Tuli Kupferberg, American singer, poet, and writer (d. 2010)
1923 – John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (d. 2007)
1923 – William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
1924 – Rudolf Barshai, Russian-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 2010)
1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian-French actor and singer (d. 1996)
1925 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist, founded the CRAY Computer Company (d. 1996)
1925 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
1925 – Martin David Kruskal, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2006)
1926 – Jerry Clower, American soldier, comedian, and author (d. 1998)
1928 – Koko Taylor, American singer (d. 2009)
1929 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer and composer
1930 – Tommy Collins, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
1930 – Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist, author, and academic (d. 2019)
1932 – Jeremy Isaacs, Scottish screenwriter and producer
1932 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, and director (d. 1973)
1933 – Joe Benton, English soldier and politician
1933 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor and educator (d. 2006)
1933 – Johnny “Country” Mathis, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
1935 – Bruce Crampton, Australian golfer
1935 – David Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick, English diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations
1935 – Ronald Lacey, English actor (d. 1991)
1936 – Emmett Chapman, American guitarist, invented the Chapman Stick
1936 – Eddie Lumsden, Australian rugby league player (d. 2019)
1936 – Robert Wolders, Dutch television actor (d. 2018)
1937 – Alice Mahon, English trade union leader and politician
1937 – Glenn Sutton, American country music songwriter and record producer (d. 2007)
1938 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
1939 – Stuart Kauffman, American biologist and academic
1941 – David Lewis, American philosopher and academic (d. 2001)
1941 – Edmund Stoiber, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Bavaria
1942 – Pierre Clémenti, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1942 – Edward “Little Buster” Forehand, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1943 – Warren Lieberfarb, American businessman
1943 – George W. S. Trow, American novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
1943 – Nick St. Nicholas, German-Canadian bass player
1944 – Richie Karl, American golfer
1944 – Marcia Muller, American journalist and author
1945 – Marielle Goitschel, French skier
1945 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter and journalist (d. 2011)
1945 – Fusako Shigenobu, Japanese activist, founded the Japanese Red Army
1946 – Tom Bower, English journalist and author
1946 – Majid Khan, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
1947 – Bob Carr, Australian journalist and politician, 37th Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1947 – Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh
1947 – Jon Snow, English journalist and academic
1947 – Rhonda Hughes, American mathematician and academic
1949 – Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
1950 – Paul Burgess, English drummer
1950 – Christina Hoff Sommers, American author and philosopher
1950 – John Sayles, American novelist, director, and screenwriter
1951 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2015)
1952 – Christopher Buckley, American satirical novelist
1952 – Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Greek basketball player and coach
1952 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model and actress (d. 2012)
1952 – Andy Ward, English drummer
1953 – Otmar Hasler, Liechtensteiner educator and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
1954 – Steve Largent, American football player and politician
1954 – George Lynch, American guitarist and songwriter
1954 – John Scott, English rugby player
1954 – Margot Wallström, Swedish politician and diplomat, 42nd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
1955 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian sociologist and politician, 15th Canadian Minister of the Environment
1955 – Mercy Manci, Xhosa sangoma and HIV activist from South Africa
1955 – Kenny Kirkland, American pianist (d. 1998)
1956 – Martha Isabel Fandiño Pinilla, Colombian-Italian mathematician and author
1957 – Bill Cassidy, American politician and physician
1959 – Ron Fellows, Canadian race car driver
1959 – Laura Bruce, American artist
1960 – Gary Ayres, Australian footballer and coach
1960 – Tom Byrum, American golfer
1960 – Frank Hammerschlag, German footballer and manager
1960 – Gus Logie, Trinidadian cricketer
1960 – Kamlesh Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, English politician
1960 – Jennifer Rush, American singer-songwriter
1960 – Socrates Villegas, Filipino archbishop
1961 – Helen Grant, English lawyer and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
1961 – Gregory Jbara, American actor and singer
1961 – Quentin Kawānanakoa, American lawyer and politician
1961 – Anne White, American tennis player
1962 – Grant Fuhr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Laurie Rinker, American golfer
1962 – Dietmar Schacht, German footballer and manager
1962 – Chuck Taylor, American journalist
1963 – Steve Blackman, American wrestler and martial artist
1963 – Érik Comas, French race car driver
1963 – Greg Weisman, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Claudio Borghi, Argentinian footballer and manager
1964 – Gregor Fisken, Scottish race car driver
1964 – Janeane Garofalo, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
1964 – Paul Jewell, English footballer and manager
1964 – Mārtiņš Roze, Latvian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
1966 – Scott Adams, American football player (d. 2013)
1966 – Maria Canals-Barrera, Cuban-American actress
1966 – Puri Jagannadh, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
1967 – Mira Sorvino, American actress
1967 – Moon Zappa, American actress and author
1968 – Francois Botha, South African boxer and mixed martial artist
1968 – Mika Häkkinen, Finnish race car driver
1968 – Trish Keenan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1968 – Sean Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2008)
1968 – Rob Moroso, American race car driver (d. 1990)
1968 – Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress and producer
1969 – Kerri Chandler, electronic music producer and DJ
1969 – Marcel Dost, Dutch decathlete
1969 – Ben Greenman, American journalist and author
1969 – Piper Kerman, American author and memoirist
1969 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1969 – Sascha Maassen, German race car driver
1969 – Angus Robertson, Scottish politician
1969 – Nico Vaesen, Belgian footballer
1970 – Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
1970 – Mike DeJean, American baseball player
1970 – Gualter Salles, Brazilian race car driver
1971 – Joseph Arthur, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – George Eustice, English lawyer and politician
1971 – Braam van Straaten, South African rugby player
1971 – Alan Wright, English footballer and manager
1972 – Dita Von Teese, American model and dancer
1973 – Brian Rafalski, American ice hockey player
1974 – Marco Di Loreto, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Mariya Kiselyova, Russian swimmer
1974 – Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer and coach
1974 – Shane Webcke, Australian rugby league player and coach
1975 – Stuart Clark, Australian cricketer and manager
1975 – Isamu Jordan, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
1096 – Count Emicho enters Mainz, where his followers massacre Jewish citizens.At least 600 Jews are killed.
1120 – Richard III of Capua is anointed as Prince two weeks before his untimely death.
1153 – Malcolm IV becomes King of Scotland.
1199 – John is crowned King of England.
1257 – Richard of Cornwall, and his wife, Sanchia of Provence, are crowned King and Queen of the Germans at Aachen Cathedral.
1644 – Manchu regent Dorgon defeats rebel leader Li Zicheng of the Shun dynasty at the Battle of Shanhai Pass, allowing the Manchus to enter and conquer the capital city of Beijing.
1703 – Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
1798 – The Battle of Oulart Hill takes place in Wexford, Ireland; Irish rebel leaders defeat and kill a detachment of militia.
1799 – War of the Second Coalition: Austrian forces defeat the French at Winterthur, Switzerland.
1813 – War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on Palermo, Sicily, as part of the Italian unification.
1863 – American Civil War: First Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson.
1874 – The first group of Dorsland trekkers under the leadership of Gert Alberts leaves Pretoria.
1883 – Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
1896 – The F4-strength St. Louis–East St. Louis tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and causing over $10–million in damage.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima begins.
1917 – Pope Benedict XV promulgates the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the first comprehensive codification of Catholic canon law in the legal history of the Catholic Church.
1919 – The NC-4 aircraft arrives in Lisbon after completing the first transatlantic flight.
1927 – The Ford Motor Company ceases manufacture of the Ford Model T and begins to retool plants to make the Ford Model A.
1930 – The 1,046 feet (319 m) Chrysler Building in New York City, the tallest man-made structure at the time, opens to the public.
1933 – New Deal: The U.S. Federal Securities Act is signed into law requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.
1933 – The Walt Disney Company releases the cartoon Three Little Pigs, with its hit song “Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”
1935 – New Deal: The Supreme Court of the United States declares the National Industrial Recovery Act to be unconstitutional in A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, (295 U.S. 495).
1937 – In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California.
1940 – World War II: In the Le Paradis massacre, 99 soldiers from a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are shot after surrendering to German troops; two survive.
1941 – World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaims an “unlimited national emergency”.
1941 – World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing almost 2,100 men.
1942 – World War II: In Operation Anthropoid, Reinhard Heydrich is fatally wounded in Prague; he dies of his injuries eight days later.
1958 – First flight of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II.
1960 – In Turkey, a military coup removes President Celâl Bayar and the rest of the democratic government from office.
1962 – The Centralia mine fire is ignited in the town’s landfill above a coal mine.
1965 – Vietnam War: American warships begin the first bombardment of National Liberation Front targets within South Vietnam.
1967 – Australians vote in favor of a constitutional referendum granting the Australian government the power to make laws to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national census.
1967 – The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy is launched by Jacqueline Kennedy and her daughter Caroline.
1971 – The Dahlerau train disaster, the worst railway accident in West Germany, kills 46 people and injures 25 near Wuppertal.
1971 – Pakistani forces massacre over 200 civilians, mostly Bengali Hindus, in the Bagbati massacre.
1975 – Dibbles Bridge coach crash near Grassington, in North Yorkshire, England, kills 33 – the highest ever death toll in a road accident in the United Kingdom.
1980 – The Gwangju Massacre: Airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
1984 – The Danube-Black Sea canal is opened, in a ceremony attended by the Ceaușescus. It had been under construction since the 1950s.
1996 – First Chechen War: the Russian President Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechnyan rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
1997 – The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak occurs, spawning multiple tornadoes in Central Texas, including the F5 that killed 27 in Jarrell.
1998 – Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
2001 – Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf seize twenty hostages from an affluent island resort on Palawan in the Philippines; the hostage crisis would not be resolved until June 2002.
2006 – The 6.4 Mw Yogyakarta earthquake shakes central Java with an MSK intensity of VIII (Damaging), leaving more than 5,700 dead and 37,000 injured.
2016 – Barack Obama is the first president of United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.
2017 – Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
2018 – Maryland Flood Event: A flood occurs throughout the Patapsco Valley causing one death and destroying the entire first floors of buildings on Main Street in Ellicott City and causing cars to overturn.
Births on May 27
742 – Emperor Dezong of Tang (d. 805)
1332 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian historian and theologian (d. 1406)
1378 – Zhu Quan, Chinese military commander, historian and playwright (d. 1448)
1519 – Girolamo Mei, Italian historian and theorist (d. 1594)
1537 – Louis IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Marburg (d. 1604)
1576 – Caspar Schoppe, German author and scholar (d. 1649)
1584 – Michael Altenburg, German theologian and composer (d. 1640)
1601 – Antoine Daniel, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1648)
1626 – William II, Prince of Orange (d. 1650)
1627 – Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (d. 1693)
1651 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (d. 1729)
1652 – Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine of Germany (d. 1722)
1738 – Nathaniel Gorham, American merchant and politician, 14th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1796)
1756 – Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria (d. 1825)
1774 – Francis Beaufort, Irish hydrographer and officer in the Royal Navy (d. 1857)
1794 – Cornelius Vanderbilt, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1877)
1814 – John Rudolph Niernsee, Viennese-born American architect (d.1885)
1815 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1896)
1818 – Amelia Bloomer, American journalist and activist (d. 1894)
1819 – Julia Ward Howe, American poet and songwriter (d. 1910)
1827 – Samuel F. Miller, American lawyer and politician (d. 1892)
1832 – Zenas Ferry Moody, American surveyor and politician, 7th Governor of Oregon (d. 1917)
1836 – Jay Gould, American businessman and financier (d. 1892)
1837 – Wild Bill Hickok, American police officer (d. 1876)
1852 – Billy Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1899)
1857 – Theodor Curtius, German chemist (d. 1928)
1860 – Manuel Teixeira Gomes, Portuguese politician, 7th President of Portugal (d. 1941)
1863 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (d. 1921)
1867 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (d. 1931)
1868 – Aleksa Šantić, Bosnian poet and author (d. 1924)
1871 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (d. 1958)
1875 – Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (d. 1942)
1876 – Ferdynand Antoni Ossendowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 1945)
1876 – William Stanier, English engineer (d. 1965)
1878 – Anna Cervin, Swedish artist (d. 1972)
1879 – Karl Bühler, German-American linguist and psychologist (d. 1963)
1879 – Hans Lammers, German judge and politician (d. 1962)
1883 – Jessie Arms Botke, American painter (d. 1971)
1884 – Max Brod, Czech journalist, author, and composer (d. 1968)
1887 – Frank Woolley, English cricketer (d. 1978)
1888 – Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
1891 – Claude Champagne, Canadian violinist, pianist, and composer (d. 1965)
1891 – Jaan Kärner, Estonian poet and author (d. 1958)
1894 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (d. 1961)
1894 – Dashiell Hammett, American detective novelist and screenwriter (d. 1961)
1895 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian educator and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (d. 1995)
1897 – John Cockcroft, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1897 – Dink Templeton, American rugby player and coach (d. 1962)
1898 – David Crosthwait, American engineer, inventor and writer (d. 1976)
1899 – Johannes Türn, Estonian chess and draughts player (d. 1993)
1900 – Lotte Toberentz, German overseer of the Nazi Uckermark concentration camp (d. 1964)
1900 – Uładzimir Žyłka, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1933)
1904 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese jumper and journalist (d. 1997)
1906 – Buddhadasa, Thai monk and philosopher (d. 1993)
1906 – Harry Hibbs, English footballer (d. 1984)
1906 – Antonio Rosario Mennonna, Italian bishop (d. 2009)
1907 – Nicolas Calas, Greek-American poet and critic (d. 1988)
1907 – Rachel Carson, American biologist, environmentalist, and author (d. 1964)
1909 – Dolores Hope, American singer and philanthropist (d. 2011)
1911 – Hubert Humphrey, American journalist and politician, 38th Vice President of the United States (d. 1978)
1911 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (d. 2007)
1911 – Vincent Price, American actor (d. 1993)
1912 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1982)
1912 – Sam Snead, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1912 – Terry Moore, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1995)
1915 – Ester Soré, Chilean singer-songwriter (d. 1996)
1915 – Herman Wouk, American novelist (d. 2019)
1917 – Harry Webster, English engineer (d. 2007)
1918 – Yasuhiro Nakasone, Japanese commander and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2019)
1921 – Bob Godfrey, Australian-English animator, director, and voice actor (d. 2013)
1922 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (d. 2015)
1922 – Christopher Lee, English actor (d. 2015)
1922 – John D. Vanderhoof, American banker and politician, 37th Governor of Colorado (d. 2013)
1923 – Henry Kissinger, German-American political scientist and politician, 56th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate
1923 – Sumner Redstone, American businessman and philanthropist
1924 – Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 2014)
1924 – John Sumner, English-Australian director, founded the Melbourne Theatre Company (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Hillerman, American journalist and author (d. 2008)
1927 – Jüri Randviir, Estonian chess player and journalist (d. 1996)
1928 – Thea Musgrave, Scottish-American composer and educator
1930 – John Barth, American novelist and short story writer
1930 – William S. Sessions, American civil servant and judge, 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
1930 – Eino Tamberg, Estonian composer and educator (d. 2010)
1931 – André Barbeau, French-Canadian neurologist (d. 1986)
1931 – John Chapple, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Gibraltar
1931 – Bernard Fresson, French actor (d. 2002)
1931 – Faten Hamama, Egyptian actress and producer (d. 2015)
1931 – Philip Kotler, American author and professor
1933 – Edward Samuel Rogers, Canadian businessman (d. 2008)
1933 – Manfred Sommer, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2007)
1934 – Ray Daviault, Canadian-American baseball player
1934 – Harlan Ellison, American author and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1935 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1935 – Mal Evans, British road manager of The Beatles (d. 1976)
1935 – Jerry Kindall, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1935 – Ramsey Lewis, American jazz pianist and composer
1935 – Lee Meriwether, American model and actress, Miss America 1955
1936 – Benjamin Bathurst, English admiral
1936 – Louis Gossett, Jr., American actor and producer
1936 – Marcel Masse, Canadian educator and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2014)
1937 – Allan Carr, American playwright and producer (d. 1999)
1939 – Simon Cairns, 6th Earl Cairns, English courtier and businessman
1939 – Yves Duhaime, Canadian captain and politician
1939 – Sokratis Kokkalis, Greek businessman
1939 – Gerald Ronson, English businessman and philanthropist
1939 – Lionel Sosa, Mexican-American advertising and marketing executive
1939 – Don Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1940 – Mike Gibson, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1942 – Lee Baca, American police officer
1942 – Piers Courage, English racing driver (d. 1970)
1942 – Roger Freeman, Baron Freeman, English accountant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1942 – Robin Widdows, English racing driver
1943 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (d. 2015)
1943 – Bruce Weitz, American actor
1944 – Chris Dodd, American lawyer and politician
1944 – Ingrid Roscoe, English historian and politician, Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire
1944 – Alain Souchon, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1945 – Bruce Cockburn, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1946 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (d. 2005)
1946 – John Williams, English motorcycle racer (d. 1978)
1947 – Peter DeFazio, American politician
1947 – Marty Kristian, German-Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1947 – Branko Oblak, Slovenian footballer and coach
1947 – Riivo Sinijärv, Estonian politician, 19th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1948 – Wubbo de Boer, Dutch civil servant (d. 2017)
1948 – Pete Sears, English bass player
1948 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (d. 2014)
1949 – Hugh Lowther, 8th Earl of Lonsdale, English politician
1949 – Christa Vahlensieck, German runner
1950 – Dee Dee Bridgewater, American singer-songwriter and actress
1950 – Makis Dendrinos, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1951 – John Conteh, English boxer
1954 – Pauline Hanson, Australian businesswoman, activist, and politician
1954 – Jackie Slater, American football player and coach
1955 – Eric Bischoff, American wrestler, manager, and producer
1955 – Richard Schiff, American actor, director, and producer
1955 – Ian Tracey, English organist and conductor
1956 – Cynthia McFadden, American journalist
1956 – Rosemary Squire, English producer and manager, co-founded Ambassador Theatre Group
1956 – Giuseppe Tornatore, Italian director and screenwriter
1957 – Dag Terje Andersen, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of Labour
1957 – Nitin Gadkari, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Transport
1957 – Eddie Harsch, Canadian-American keyboard player and bass player (d. 2016)
1957 – Siouxsie Sioux, English singer-songwriter, musician, and producer
1958 – Nick Anstee, English accountant and politician, 682nd Lord Mayor of London
1958 – Neil Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician
1958 – Jesse Robredo, Filipino politician, 23rd Filipino Secretary of the Interior (d. 2012)
1960 – Gaston Therrien, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1961 – José Luíz Barbosa, Brazilian runner and coach
1961 – Peri Gilpin, American actress
1962 – Marcelino Bernal, Mexican footballer
1962 – Ray Borner, Australian basketball player
1962 – Steven Brill, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Anthony A. Hyman, Israeli-English biologist and academic
1962 – David Mundell, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland
1962 – Ravi Shastri, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
1963 – Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Cuban pianist and composer
1963 – Maria Walliser, Swiss skier
1964 – Adam Carolla, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Pat Cash, Australian-English tennis player and sportscaster
1966 – Heston Blumenthal, English chef and author
1967 – Paul Gascoigne, English international footballer, midfielder, coach, and manager
1967 – Eddie McClintock, American actor
1968 – Jeff Bagwell, American baseball player and coach
1968 – Rebekah Brooks, English journalist
1968 – Harun Erdenay, Turkish basketball player and coach
1968 – Frank Thomas, American baseball player and sportscaster
1969 – Todd Hundley, American baseball player
1969 – Jeremy Mayfield, American race car driver
1969 – Craig Federighi, American computer scientist and engineer
1970 – Michele Bartoli, Italian cyclist
1970 – Tim Farron, English educator and politician
1970 – Joseph Fiennes, English actor
1970 – Alex Archer, American-born Australian musician
1971 – Mathew Batsiua, Nauruan politician
1971 – Paul Bettany, English actor
1971 – Wayne Carey, Australian footballer and coach
1971 – Kaur Kender, Estonian author
1971 – Lisa Lopes, American rapper and dancer (d. 2002)
1971 – Lee Sharpe, English footballer
1971 – Grant Stafford, South African tennis player
1971 – Sophie Walker, British politician, leader of the Women’s Equality Party
1971 – Petroc Trelawny, British radio and television broadcaster
1972 – Todd Demsey, American golfer
1972 – Antonio Freeman, American football player
1972 – Maxim Sokolov, Russian ice hockey player
1973 – Jack McBrayer, American actor and comedian
1973 – Tana Umaga, New Zealand rugby player and coach
1973 – Yorgos Lanthimos, Greek film video, and theatre director, producer and screenwriter
1974 – Skye Edwards, British singer-songwriter
1974 – Denise van Outen, English actress, singer, and television host
1974 – Derek Webb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1974 – Danny Wuerffel, American football player
1975 – André 3000, American rapper
1975 – Michael Hussey, Australian cricketer
1975 – Jamie Oliver, English chef and author
1975 – Feryal Özel, Turkish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
1976 – Marcel Fässler, Swiss racing driver
1977 – Abderrahmane Hammad, Algerian high jumper
1977 – Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Adin Brown, American soccer player
1979 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (d. 2004)
1979 – Mile Sterjovski, Australian footballer
1980 – Craig Buntin, Canadian figure skater
1981 – Alina Cojocaru, Romanian ballerina
1981 – Johan Elmander, Swedish footballer
1984 – Blake Ahearn, American basketball player
1984 – Miguel González, Mexican baseball pitcher
1985 – Chiang Chien-ming, Taiwanese baseball player
1985 – Roberto Soldado, Spanish footballer
1986 – Conor Cummins, Manx motorcycle racer
1986 – Bamba Fall, Senegalese basketball player
1986 – Lasse Schöne, Danish footballer
1987 – Gervinho, Ivorian footballer
1987 – Bella Heathcote, Australian actress
1987 – Eric Kolelas, French-English actor and director
1987 – Bora Paçun, Turkish basketball player
1987 – Matt Prior, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Martina Sablikova, Czech speed skater and cyclist
1988 – Vontae Davis, American football player
1988 – Irina Davydova, Russian hurdler
1988 – Garrett Richards, American baseball pitcher
1988 – Tyler Sash, American football player (d. 2015)
1989 – Igor Morozov, Estonian footballer
1990 – Yenew Alamirew, Ethiopian runner
1990 – Chris Colfer, American actor and singer
1990 – Marcus Kruger, Swedish ice hockey player
1991 – Sebastien Dewaest, Belgian footballer
1991 – Tim Lafai, Samoan rugby league player
1991 – Ksenia Pervak, Russian tennis player
1991 – Eneli Vals, Estonian footballer
1992 – Aaron Brown, Canadian sprinter
1992 – Laurence Vincent-Lapointe, Canadian canoer
Deaths on May 27
366 – Procopius, Roman usurper (b. 325)
398 – Murong Bao, emperor of the Xianbei state Later Yan (b. 355)
475 – Eutropius, bishop of Orange
866 – Ordoño I of Asturias (b. 831)
927 – Simeon I of Bulgaria first Bulgarian Emperor (b. 864)
1039 – Dirk III, Count of Holland (b. 981)
1045 – Bruno of Würzburg, imperial chancellor of Italy (b. c. 1005)
1178 – Godfrey van Rhenen, bishop of Utrecht
1240 – William de Warenne, 5th Earl of Surrey (b. 1166)
1444 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English commander (b. 1404)
1508 – Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (b. 1452)
1508 – Lucrezia Crivelli, mistress of Ludovico Sforza (b. 1452)
1525 – Thomas Müntzer, German mystic and theologian (b. 1488)
1541 – Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (b. 1473)
1564 – John Calvin, French pastor and theologian (b. 1509)
1610 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (b. 1578)
1624 – Diego Ramírez de Arellano, Spanish sailor and cosmographer (b. c. 1580)
1637 – John Boteler, 1st Baron Boteler of Brantfield, English politician (b. c. 1566)
1661 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish general and politician (b. 1607)
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
