beagle

  • May 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances 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

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

    April 20 in History

    • 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
    • 1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
    • 1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is today the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador.
    • 1535 – The sun dog phenomenon is observed over Stockholm, as later depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
    • 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
    • 1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
    • 1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
    • 1689 – Deposed monarch James II of England lays siege to Derry.
    • 1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
    • 1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
    • 1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
    • 1792 – France declares war against the “King of Hungary and Bohemia”, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
    • 1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
    • 1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
    • 1810 – The governor of Caracas, Venezuela declares independence from Spain.
    • 1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
    • 1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter (and the first to return from) Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing.
    • 1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
    • 1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
    • 1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
    • 1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
    • 1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus.
    • 1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
    • 1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
    • 1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
    • 1912 – Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Fenway Park in Boston.
    • 1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miners’ strike.
    • 1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
    • 1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
    • 1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
    • 1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday’s celebrations in Germany
    • 1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
    • 1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
    • 1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
    • 1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
    • 1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
    • 1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech.
    • 1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
    • 1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
    • 1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
    • 2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricade himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
    • 2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
    • 2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
    • 2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
    • 2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya’an, in China’s Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
    • 2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.

    Births on April 20

    • 1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
    • 1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
    • 1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
    • 1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
    • 1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
    • 1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
    • 1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
    • 1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
    • 1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
    • 1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
    • 1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
    • 1772 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary and French general (d. 1824)
    • 1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
    • 1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
    • 1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
    • 1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
    • 1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
    • 1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
    • 1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
    • 1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
    • 1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
    • 1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
    • 1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
    • 1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
    • 1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
    • 1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
    • 1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
    • 1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
    • 1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
    • 1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
    • 1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
    • 1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
    • 1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
    • 1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
    • 1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
    • 1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
    • 1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
    • 1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
    • 1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
    • 1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
    • 1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
    • 1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
    • 1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
    • 1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
    • 1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
    • 1907 – Miran Bux, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
    • 1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
    • 1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
    • 1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
    • 1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
    • 1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
    • 1913 – Roger Rochard, French runner (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
    • 1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
    • 1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
    • 1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
    • 1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
    • 1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
    • 1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
    • 1920 – Ronald Speirs, American colonel (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
    • 1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
    • 1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer
    • 1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
    • 1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
    • 1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
    • 1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
    • 1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
    • 1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
    • 1933 – Kristaq Dhamo, Albanian actor and film director
    • 1936 – Lisa Davis, English and American former child and adult actress
    • 1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
    • 1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
    • 1936 – Christopher Robinson, English organist and conductor
    • 1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
    • 1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
    • 1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1937 – George Takei, American actor
    • 1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
    • 1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
    • 1938 – Peter Snow, British historian and journalist
    • 1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
    • 1939 – Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
    • 1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
    • 1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
    • 1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
    • 1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor
    • 1942 – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic
    • 1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish journalist and author
    • 1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
    • 1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
    • 1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American model and actress (d. 1971)
    • 1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
    • 1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
    • 1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
    • 1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
    • 1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and head coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner
    • 1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
    • 1946 – Julien Poulin, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1946 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (d. 1982)
    • 1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
    • 1947 – David Leland, English actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
    • 1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
    • 1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1949 – Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress
    • 1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (d. 2015)
    • 1949 – Massimo D’Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
    • 1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
    • 1950 – Steve Erickson, American author and critic
    • 1950 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
    • 1950 – N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
    • 1951 – Louise Jameson, English actress
    • 1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
    • 1952 – Louka Katseli, Greek economist and politician
    • 1952 – Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball player and coach
    • 1952 – Eric Pickles, English politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
    • 1953 – Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author
    • 1955 – Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut
    • 1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for Justice
    • 1956 – Peter Chelsom, English film director, writer, and actor
    • 1956 – Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian economist and politician
    • 1956 – Georgie Glen, Scottish actress
    • 1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Perry Haddock, Australian rugby league player
    • 1960 – Debbie Flintoff-King, Australian hurdler and coach
    • 1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
    • 1961 – Nicholas Lyndhurst, English actor
    • 1961 – Paul Usher, English actor
    • 1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1963 – Rachel Whiteread, English sculptor
    • 1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
    • 1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor and director
    • 1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
    • 1965 – Kostis Chatzidakis, Greek politician, Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism
    • 1965 – Léa Fazer, Swiss film director, screenwriter and actress
    • 1965 – Adrián Fernández, Mexican race car driver
    • 1965 – Rebecca Lacey, English actress
    • 1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher and academic
    • 1966 – David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
    • 1966 – Vincent Riendeau, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
    • 1968 – Julia Morris, Australian entertainer
    • 1968 – Yelena Välbe, Russian skier and manager
    • 1968 – Roman Virastyuk, Ukrainian shot putter
    • 1969 – Felix Baumgartner, Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper
    • 1969 – Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania
    • 1970 – Sarantuya, Mongolian soprano
    • 1970 – Avishai Cohen, Israeli singer-songwriter and bassist
    • 1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
    • 1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer, physiologist, and academic
    • 1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player and manager
    • 1971 – Nikos Kyzeridis, Greek footballer
    • 1972 – Lê Huỳnh Đức, Vietnamese footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1972 – Carmen Electra, American model and actress
    • 1972 – Željko Joksimović, Serbian singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1972 – Stephen Marley, American singer, guitarist, and producer
    • 1972 – Julia Peng, Taiwanese singer
    • 1973 – Isabel dos Santos, Angolan businesswoman and first African woman billionaire
    • 1973 – Lamond Murray, American basketball player
    • 1974 – Adrian Ilie, Romanian footballer
    • 1974 – Julie Fernandez, English actress and model
    • 1974 – Urmas Paet, Estonian journalist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1975 – Killer Mike, American rapper and activist
    • 1976 – Aldo Bobadilla, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1976 – Ismail Rasheed, Maldivian actor
    • 1976 – Georgina Rylance, English actress
    • 1979 – Stian Barsnes-Simonsen, Norwegian actor and television host
    • 1979 – Ludovic Magnin, Swiss footballer and coach
    • 1979 – Nate Marquardt, American mixed martial artist
    • 1980 – Gunta Baško, Latvian basketball player
    • 1980 – Sunaina Sunaina, Indian weightlifter
    • 1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer and actress
    • 1982 – Jacqueline Govaert, Dutch singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1982 – Dario Knežević, Croatian footballer
    • 1983 – Danny Granger, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian model
    • 1983 – Joanne King, Irish actress
    • 1984 – Nelson Évora, Ivorian-Portuguese triple jumper
    • 1984 – Bárbara Lennie, Spanish actress
    • 1984 – Edixon Perea, Colombian footballer
    • 1984 – Jenna Shoemaker, American triathlete
    • 1985 – Curt Hawkins, American wrestler
    • 1985 – Brent Seabrook, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1987 – Chun Woo-hee, South Korean actress
    • 1988 – Brandon Belt, American baseball player
    • 1989 – Cally-Jo, English fine artist and tattoo artist
    • 1989 – Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014
    • 1989 – Carlos Valdes, Colombian-American actor and singer
    • 1990 – Luhan, Chinese singer and actor
    • 1990 – Abby Mavers, English actress
    • 1992 – Kristian Álvarez, Mexican footballer
    • 1992 – Marko Meerits, Estonian footballer
    • 1995 – Damian McKenzie, New Zealand rugby union player
    • 1995 – Jean Marie Dongou, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1997 – Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, German tennis player
    • 1998 – Zachary Claman DeMelo, Canadian racing driver

    Deaths on April 20

    • 689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)
    • 767 – Taichō, Japanese monk (b. 682)
    • 888 – Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 862)
    • 1099 – Peter Bartholomew (b. 1061)
    • 1164 – Antipope Victor IV
    • 1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (b. 1130)
    • 1248 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1206)
    • 1284 – Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (b. 1251)
    • 1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
    • 1322 – Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar
    • 1521 – Zhengde, Chinese emperor (b. 1491)
    • 1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (b. 1506)
    • 1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (b. 1485)
    • 1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (b. 1567)
    • 1703 – Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (b. 1632)
    • 1769 – Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (b. 1720)
    • 1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (b. 1764)
    • 1873 – William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (b. 1798)
    • 1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1817)
    • 1881 – William Burges, English architect and designer (b. 1827)
    • 1886 – Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1814)
    • 1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1826)
    • 1899 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (b. 1820)
    • 1902 – Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (b. 1833)
    • 1912 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (b. 1847)
    • 1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
    • 1927 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1866)
    • 1929 – Prince Henry of Prussia (b. 1862)
    • 1931 – Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (b. 1862)
    • 1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1858)
    • 1935 – John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1872)
    • 1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (b. 1863)
    • 1942 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (b. 1870)
    • 1944 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (b. 1917)
    • 1945 – Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (b. 1874)
    • 1946 – Mae Busch, Australian actress (b. 1891)
    • 1947 – Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
    • 1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
    • 1961 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (b. 1892)
    • 1967 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1896)
    • 1968 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (b. 1877)
    • 1969 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914)
    • 1980 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1924)
    • 1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (b. 1892)
    • 1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (b. 1916)
    • 1991 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
    • 1991 – Don Siegel, American director and producer (b. 1912)
    • 1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (b. 1922)
    • 1992 – Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911)
    • 1995 – Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (b. 1911)
    • 1996 – Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1918)
    • 1999 – Casualties of the Columbine High School massacre:
      • Cassie Bernall, American student (b. 1981)
      • Eric Harris, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
      • Dylan Klebold, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
      • Rachel Scott, American student, inspired the Rachel’s Challenge (b. 1981)
    • 1999 – Rick Rude, American wrestler (b. 1958)
    • 2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
    • 2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
    • 2003 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
    • 2003 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
    • 2004 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (b. 1956)
    • 2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (b. 1904)
    • 2007 – Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931)
    • 2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931)
    • 2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1923)
    • 2010 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (b. 1912)
    • 2011 – Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970)
    • 2012 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Mithat Bayrak, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (b. 1937)
    • 2014 – Neville Wran, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (b. 1953)
    • 2017 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer and actor (b. 1944)
    • 2018 – Avicii, Swedish DJ, and musician (b. 1989)
    • 2019 – Jacqueline Saburido, Venezuelan activist (b. 1978)

    Holidays and observances on April 20

    • 420 (cannabis culture) (International)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Agnes of Montepulciano
      • Beuno
      • Hugh of Anzy le Duc
      • Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran)
      • Marcellinus of Gaul (Embrun)
      • Blessed Oda of Brabant
      • Pope Anicetus
      • Theotimos
      • April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations)

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

    • 1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal.
    • 1558 – French troops, led by Francis, Duke of Guise, take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
    • 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia.
    • 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able to distinguish the last two until the following day.
    • 1738 – A peace treaty is signed between Peshwa Bajirao and Jai Singh II following Maratha victory in the Battle of Bhopal.
    • 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens.
    • 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon.
    • 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin on board, drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago.
    • 1894 – Thomas Edison makes a kinetoscopic film of someone sneezing. On the same day, his employee, William Kennedy Dickson, receives a patent for motion picture film.
    • 1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”.
    • 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail.
    • 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen.
    • 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64–57 vote.
    • 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established from New York City to London.
    • 1928 – A disastrous flood of the River Thames kills 14 people and causes extensive damage to much of riverside London.
    • 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand’s west coast.
    • 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement.
    • 1940 – Winter War: Battle of Raate Road – The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
    • 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO.
    • 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York at the head office of IBM.
    • 1955 – Contralto Marian Anderson becomes the first person of color to perform at the Metropolitan Opera in Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.
    • 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro.
    • 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral.
    • 1973 – In his second shooting spree of the week, Mark Essex fatally shoots seven people and wounds five others at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers.
    • 1979 – Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
    • 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation.
    • 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
    • 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union.
    • 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoute in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d’état, which ends in his arrest.
    • 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President.
    • 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
    • 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
    • 2012 – A hot air balloon crashes near Carterton, New Zealand, killing all 11 people on board.
    • 2015 – Two gunmen commit mass murder at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, shooting twelve people execution style, and wounding eleven others.
    • 2015 – A car bomb explodes outside a police college in the Yemeni capital Sana’a with at least 38 people reported dead and more than 63 injured.
    • 2020 – The 6.4Mw  2019–20 Puerto Rico earthquakes kill four and injure nine in southern Puerto Rico.

    Births on January 7

    • 889 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (d. 943)
    • 1355 – Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, English politician, Lord High Constable of England (d. 1397)
    • 1502 – Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585)
    • 1634 – Adam Krieger, German organist and composer (d. 1666)
    • 1647 – William Louis, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677)
    • 1685 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish agronomist and businessman (d. 1761)
    • 1706 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751)
    • 1713 – Giovanni Battista Locatelli, Italian director and manager (d. 1785)
    • 1718 – Israel Putnam, American general (d. 1790)
    • 1746 – George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (d. 1823)
    • 1768 – Joseph Bonaparte, Italian king (d. 1844)
    • 1797 – Mariano Paredes, Mexican general and 16th president (1845-1846) (d. 1849)
    • 1800 – Millard Fillmore, American politician, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874)
    • 1814 – Robert Nicoll, Scottish poet (d.1837)
    • 1815 – Elizabeth Louisa Foster Mather, American writer (d.1882)
    • 1827 – Sandford Fleming, Scottish-Canadian engineer, created Universal Standard Time (d. 1915)
    • 1830 – Albert Bierstadt, American painter (d. 1902)
    • 1831 – Heinrich von Stephan, German postman, founded the Universal Postal Union (d. 1897)
    • 1832 – James Munro, Scottish-Australian publisher and politician, 15th Premier of Victoria (d. 1908)
    • 1834 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (d. 1874)
    • 1837 – Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded the White Star Line Shipping Company (d. 1899)
    • 1844 – Bernadette Soubirous, French nun and saint (d. 1879)
    • 1858 – Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Belarusian lexicographer and journalist (d. 1922)
    • 1863 – Anna Murray Vail, American botanist and first librarian of the New York Botanical Garden (d. 1955)
    • 1871 – Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956)
    • 1873 – Charles Péguy, French poet and journalist (d. 1914)
    • 1873 – Adolph Zukor, Hungarian-American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (d. 1976)
    • 1875 – Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945)
    • 1876 – William Hurlstone, English pianist and composer (d. 1906)
    • 1877 – William Clarence Matthews, American baseball player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1928)
    • 1889 – Vera de Bosset, Russian-American ballerina (d. 1982)
    • 1891 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (d. 1960)
    • 1895 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (d. 1974)
    • 1899 – Al Bowlly, Mozambican-English singer-songwriter (disputed; d. 1941)
    • 1899 – Francis Poulenc, French pianist and composer (d. 1963)
    • 1900 – John Brownlee, Australian actor and singer (d. 1969)
    • 1906 – Red Allen, American trumpet player (d. 1967)
    • 1910 – Orval Faubus, American soldier and politician, 36th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994)
    • 1912 – Charles Addams, American cartoonist, created The Addams Family (d. 1988)
    • 1913 – Johnny Mize, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 1993)
    • 1916 – W. L. Jeyasingham, Sri Lankan geographer and academic (d. 1989)
    • 1916 – Babe Pratt, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1988)
    • 1920 – Vincent Gardenia, Italian-American actor (d. 1992)
    • 1921 – Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid, Colombian politician (d. 1997)
    • 1921 – Chester Kallman, American poet and translator (d. 1975)
    • 1922 – Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (d. 2000)
    • 1923 – Hugh Kenner, Canadian scholar and critic (d. 2003)
    • 1925 – Gerald Durrell, Indian-English zookeeper, conservationist and author, founded Durrell Wildlife Park (d. 1995)
    • 1926 – Kim Jong-pil, South Korean lieutenant and politician, 11th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2018)
    • 1928 – William Peter Blatty, American author and screenwriter (d. 2017)
    • 1929 – Robert Juniper, Australian painter and sculptor (d. 2012)
    • 1929 – Terry Moore, American actress
    • 1931 – Mirja Hietamies, Finnish skier (d. 2013)
    • 1933 – Elliott Kastner, American-English film producer (d. 2010)
    • 1934 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian lawyer and politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (d. 2002)
    • 1934 – Tassos Papadopoulos, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 5th President of Cyprus (d. 2008)
    • 1935 – Li Shengjiao, Chinese diplomat and international jurist (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – Kenny Davern, American clarinet player and saxophonist (d. 2006)
    • 1935 – Valeri Kubasov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Iona Brown, English violinist and conductor (d. 2004)
    • 1941 – John E. Walker, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1942 – Vasily Alekseyev, Russian-German weightlifter and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1943 – Sadako Sasaki, Japanese survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, known for one thousand origami cranes (d. 1955)
    • 1944 – Mike McGear, British performing artist and rock photographer
    • 1944 – Kotaro Suzumura, Japanese economist and academic (d. 2020)
    • 1945 – Raila Odinga, Kenyan engineer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Kenya
    • 1946 – Jann Wenner, American publisher, co-founded Rolling Stone
    • 1947 – Tony Elliott, English publisher, founded Time Out
    • 1948 – Kenny Loggins, American singer-songwriter
    • 1948 – Ichirou Mizuki, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1950 – Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1952 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist
    • 1953 – Robert Longo, American painter and sculptor
    • 1954 – Alan Butcher, English cricketer and coach
    • 1955 – Mamata Shankar, Indian-Bengali actress
    • 1956 – David Caruso, American actor
    • 1957 – Katie Couric, American television journalist, anchor, and author
    • 1959 – Angela Smith, Baroness Smith of Basildon, English accountant and politician
    • 1959 – Kathy Valentine, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1960 – Loretta Sanchez, American politician
    • 1961 – John Thune, American lawyer and politician
    • 1962 – Aleksandr Dugin, Russian political analyst and strategist known for his fascist views
    • 1962 – Ron Rivera, American football player and coach
    • 1964 – Nicolas Cage, American actor
    • 1965 – Alessandro Lambruschini, Italian runner
    • 1967 – Nick Clegg, English academic and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    • 1969 – Marco Simone, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Andy Burnham, English politician
    • 1971 – Jeremy Renner, American actor
    • 1972 – Donald Brashear, American-Canadian ice hockey player and mixed martial artist
    • 1974 – Alenka Bikar, Slovenian sprinter and politician
    • 1976 – Vic Darchinyan, Armenian-Australian boxer
    • 1976 – Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player
    • 1977 – Sofi Oksanen, Finnish author and playwright
    • 1979 – Aloe Blacc, American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, businessman and philanthropist.
    • 1982 – Francisco Rodríguez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1982 – Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer
    • 1983 – Edwin Encarnación, Dominican baseball player
    • 1985 – Lewis Hamilton, English racing driver
    • 1986 – Wayne Routledge, English footballer winger
    • 1987 – Stefan Babović, Serbian footballer
    • 1987 – Lyndsy Fonseca, American actress
    • 1987 – Davide Astori, Italian footballer (d. 2018)
    • 1990 – Gregor Schlierenzauer, Austrian ski jumper
    • 1991 – Eden Hazard, Belgian footballer
    • 1991 – Caster Semenya, South African sprinter

    Deaths on January 7

    • 312 – Lucian of Antioch, Christian martyr, saint, and theologian (b. 240)
    • 838 – Babak Khorramdin, Iranian leader of the Khurramite uprising against the Abbasid Caliphate
    • 856 – Aldric, bishop of Le Mans
    • 1131 – Canute Lavard, Danish prince and saint (b. 1096)
    • 1285 – Charles I of Naples (b. 1226)
    • 1325 – Denis of Portugal (b. 1261)
    • 1355 – Inês de Castro, Castilian noblewoman (b. 1325)
    • 1400 – John Montagu, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, English Earl (b. 1350)
    • 1451 – Amadeus VIII of Savoy a.k.a. Antipope Felix V (b. 1383)
    • 1529 – Peter Vischer the Elder, German sculptor (b. 1455)
    • 1536 – Catherine of Aragon (b. 1485)
    • 1566 – Louis de Blois, Flemish monk and author (b. 1506)
    • 1619 – Nicholas Hilliard, English painter and goldsmith (b. 1547)
    • 1625 – Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer and author (b. 1560)
    • 1655 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
    • 1658 – Theophilus Eaton, American farmer and politician, 1st Governor of the New Haven Colony (b. 1590)
    • 1694 – Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire (b. 1618)
    • 1700 – Raffaello Fabretti, Italian scholar and author (b. 1618)
    • 1715 – François Fénelon, French archbishop, theologian, and poet (b. 1651)
    • 1758 – Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1686)
    • 1767 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (b. 1703)
    • 1770 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician and diplomat (b. 1695)
    • 1812 – Joseph Dennie, American journalist and author (b. 1768)
    • 1830 – John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian public servant and politician (b. 1770)
    • 1830 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (b. 1769)
    • 1858 – Mustafa Reşid Pasha, Ottoman politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1800)
    • 1864 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808)
    • 1892 – Tewfik Pasha, Egyptian ruler (b. 1852)
    • 1893 – Josef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835)
    • 1919 – Henry Ware Eliot, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Washington University in St. Louis (b. 1843)
    • 1920 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849)
    • 1927 – Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos, Greek politician, 99th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)
    • 1931 – Edward Channing, American historian and author (b. 1856)
    • 1932 – André Maginot, French sergeant and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1936 – Guy d’Hardelot, French pianist and composer (b. 1858)
    • 1941 – Charles Finger, English journalist and author (b. 1869)
    • 1943 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1856)
    • 1951 – René Guénon, French-Egyptian philosopher and author (b. 1886)
    • 1960 – Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers, English tennis player and coach (b. 1878)
    • 1963 – Arthur Edward Moore, New Zealand-Australian farmer and politician, 23rd Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
    • 1964 – Reg Parnell, English racing driver and manager (b. 1911)
    • 1967 – David Goodis, American author and screenwriter (b. 1917)
    • 1967 – Carl Schuricht, German-Swiss conductor (b. 1880)
    • 1968 – J. L. B. Smith, South African chemist and academic (b. 1897)
    • 1972 – John Berryman, American poet and scholar (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Alvar Lidell, English journalist and radio announcer(b. 1908)
    • 1981 – Eric Robinson, Australian businessman and politician, 2nd Australian Minister for Finance (b. 1926)
    • 1984 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1986 – Juan Rulfo, Mexican author, screenwriter, and photographer (b. 1917)
    • 1988 – Zara Cisco Brough, American Nipmuc Indian chief and fashion designer (b.1919)
    • 1988 – Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913)
    • 1989 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (b. 1901)
    • 1990 – Bronko Nagurski, Canadian-American football player and wrestler (b. 1908)
    • 1992 – Richard Hunt, American puppeteer and voice actor (b. 1951)
    • 1995 – Murray Rothbard, American economist, historian, and theorist (b. 1926)
    • 1996 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1930)
    • 1998 – Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915)
    • 1998 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
    • 2000 – Gary Albright, American wrestler (b. 1963)
    • 2001 – James Carr, American singer (b. 1942)
    • 2002 – Avery Schreiber, American comedian and actor (b. 1935)
    • 2004 – Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Pierre Daninos, French author (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer, geographer, and author (b. 1912)
    • 2007 – Bobby Hamilton, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1957)
    • 2007 – Magnus Magnusson, Icelandic journalist, author, and academic (b. 1929)
    • 2008 – Alwyn Schlebusch, South African academic and politician, Vice State President of South Africa (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Tony Blankley, British-born American child actor, journalist and pundit (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (b. 1907)
    • 2015 – Mompati Merafhe, Botswana general and politician, Vice-President of Botswana (b. 1936)
    • 2015 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French cartoonist (b. 1934)
    • 2016 – Bill Foster, American basketball player and coach (b. 1929)
    • 2016 – John Johnson, American basketball player (b. 1947)
    • 2016 – Kitty Kallen, American singer (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Judith Kaye, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1938)
    • 2016 – Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Home Affairs (b. 1936)
    • 2017 – Mário Soares, Portuguese politician; 16th President of Portugal (b. 1924)
    • 2018 – Jim Anderton, Former New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister (b. 1938)
    • 2018 – France Gall, French singer (b. 1947)

    Holidays and observances on January 7

    • Christian Feast Day:
      • André Bessette (Canada)
      • Canute Lavard
      • Charles of Sezze
      • Felix and Januarius
      • Lucian of Antioch
      • Raymond of Penyafort
      • Synaxis of John the Forerunner & Baptist (Julian Calendar)
      • January 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Christmas (Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches using the Julian Calendar, Rastafari)
      • Christmas in Russia
      • Christmas in Ukraine
      • Remembrance Day of the Dead (Armenia)
    • Distaff Day (medieval Europe)
    • Earliest day on which Plough Monday can fall, while January 13 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after Epiphany (Europe).
    • Nanakusa no sekku (Japan)
    • Pioneer’s Day (Liberia)
    • Tricolour day or Festa del Tricolore (Italy)
    • Victory from Genocide Day (Cambodia)
  • | |

    Unique 100 General Knowledge Questions & Answers

    Unique 100 General Knowledge Questions & Answers

    1. Which British actor who starred as Jimmy in the film Quadrophenia later appeared in Blur’s video for the single Parklife? – Phil Daniels


    2. Which Argentinian striker is Barcelona’s all-time leading goalscorer? – Lionel Messi


    3. In the video game Dark Souls, one of the locations in the game, Anor Londo is heavily based on which Milan landmark? – Milan Cathedral


    4. Planned and begun in 1850 by King Maximilian II of Bavaria, Maximilianstrasse is a major shopping district in which German city? – Munich


    5. Wise, methodical detective Lester Freamon is a fictional character in which TV series? – The Wire


    6. Which Europe’s most southerly capital city? – Nicosia, Cyprus


    7. Clark Kent is the real name of which superhero? – Superman


    8. The film Grease was mostly filmed in which US state? – California


    9. Which Irish writer and clergyman wrote Gulliver’s Travels? – Jonathan Swift


    10. The largest tower located OUTSIDE of London in the United Kingdom is found in which English city? – Portsmouth(Spinnaker Tower)


    11. Which Hollywood, California born actor is known for starring in films including Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street and The Departed, amongst others? – Leonardo DiCaprio


    12. Who was the Greek god of the Sea? – Poseidon


    13. Which soul singer enjoyed fleeting success in the UK as the first winner of the TV series X-Factor? – Steve Brookstein


    14. Which is the only country to have taken part in every football World Cup finals? – Brazil


    15. Charles Darwin features on which British bank note? – Ten pound note


    16. How old was Frodo when he came of age in the book Fellowship of the Rings? – 33 years old


    17. Which former American Footballer when on to play Apollo Creed in the Rocky film series? – Carl Weathers


    18. What is the relationship between Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Beatrice of York? – Grandmother-granddaughter


    19. What is the name of the founder of the company Amazon who later went on to purchase The Washington Post newspaper? – Jeff Bezos


    20. Which Spanish region is known for the Tempranillo black grape wine variety? – Rioja


    21. Which actress won the 1981 Academy Award for Best Actress aged seventy-four for her role in the film On a Golden Pond? – Katharine Hepburn


    22. Which is the only inanimate sign of the zodiac? – Libra


    23. What was the name of The Jam’s debut album, released in 1977, that shared its name with a hit single on the album? – In The City


    24. Since 1987, which Tennis Grand Slam tournament has been the fourth and final in the tennis calendar? – US Open


    25. Nelson’s Column is a monument in which London square? – Trafalgar Square


    26. Which Oasis song opens with the lyrics ‘Today is gonna be the day’? – Wonderwall


    27. Where was playwright Oscar Wilde born in October 1854? – Dublin, Ireland


    28. Which is the largest moon of the planet Saturn, by diameter? – Titan


    29. Bella Swan (later Bella Cullan) is a character in which film series? – The Twilight Saga


    30. At 119 miles long, what is the name of Scotland’s longest river? – River Tay


    31. The Bolshoi Ballet is based in which city? – Moscow


    32. Charleroi is a city in which northern European county? – Belgium


    33. What colour is the distinctive King of the Mountains jersey in cycling’s Tour de France? –Red polka dots on white


    34. Sharon Osbourne, wife of aging rocker Ozzy, was a judge on which TV music program? – X-Factor


    35. In a game of cricket, how many runs are awarded for hitting the ball over the boundary rope without bouncing? – Six runs


    36. What is the name of the branch of medicine that focuses on eyesight? – Optometry


    37. Which silent film starring Jean Dujardin won the Best Film Oscar in 2011? – The Artist


    38. William Shakespeare was born in which English market town? – Stratford-upon-Avon


    39. The Baggies is the nickname of which English football club? – West Bromwich Albion


    40. Prior to join the Euro and taking it’s name from the Greek verb ‘to grasp’, what was the former currency of Greece? – Drachma


    41. Which country has the most football clubs? – South Africa


    42. Where was the first nuclear reactor built? – The USA


    43. Which brewery invented the widget for the beer can? – Guinness


    44. Which is the only mammal that able to kneel on all fours? – Elephant


    45. Who designed the Statue of Liberty? – Bartholdi


    46. Which country is Santiago the capital of? – Chile

    47. What is the name of the dog in the ‘Back to the Future’ films? – Einstein


    48. Who was the first female governor of India? – Sarojini Naidu


    49. Who wrote the music for West Side Story? – Bernstein


    50. Which is the largest species of crocodile? – Saltwater


    51. During which year did the Apple iPhone first go on sale? – 2007


    52. What was the nationality of the famous 18th century poet Robert Burns? – Scottish


    53. Where did King Arthur hold court? – Camelot


    54. In which year was Michael Jackson’s song Thriller released? – 1982


    55. Which sign of the zodiac is represented by the scales? – Libra


    56. Which country was Arnold Schwarzenegger born in? – Austria


    57. What is the name of Washington’s active stratovolcano? – Mount St. Helen


    58. Which nuts are used to make marzipan? – Almonds


    59. What is the name given to a skydiver’s canopy? – A parachute


    60. What type of shark was Jaws? – A great white


    61. How many consonants are there in the English Alphabet? – 21 consonants


    62. In which country were ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies filmed? – New Zealand


    63. What do the stripes of the US flag represent? – The 13 original colonies of the United States (sign of uniting as one)


    64. True or false: the diameter is half of the radius? – False: the radius is half of the diameter


    65. Which is the only English football team to play in the Scottish league? – Berwick Rangers


    66. Which character did Clark Gable play in Gone With The Wind? – Rhett Butler


    67. Which Roman numerals represent the number 40? – XL


    68. Which word can come before: moon, house and time? – Full


    69. What religion does a Rabi belong too? – Jewish


    70. How many hours are there in one full week? – 168 hours


    71. Which English actor starred in Gangs of New York and Lincoln? – Daniel Day Lewis


    72. Who was the president of the United States in 2000? – Bill Clinton


    73. What is the largest country in Great Britain? – England


    74. What theory did the scientist Charles Darwin help to develop? – The theory of evolution


    75. What ‘M’ is a popular egg white dessert? – Meringue


    76. How many known planets are there in our solar system? – Eight


    77. Canberra is the capital city of which country? – Australia

    78. What is an obtuse angle? – An angle measuring between 90 and 180 degrees


    79. What was the name of Moses’ brother? – Aaron


    80. Who sang the 2015 hit song ‘All About That Bass’? – Meghan Trainor


    81. Three countries of the world begin with the letter J, can you name them all? – Jamaica, Japan, Jordan


    82. Which 2015 movie features a song called ‘Writing’s on the Wall’ by Sam Smith? – Spectre (James Bond)


    83. Beginning with the fastest first, put the following body features in order of growth rate: finger nails, toe nails, hair? – Hair, finger nails, toe nails


    84. In medieval legend, what name was given to the cup from which Jesus drank from at the Last Supper? – Grail (The Holy Grail)


    85. Does the British noble title Viscount rank above or below a Baron? – Above


    86. Which solar system planet experiences the hottest surface temperature? – Venus


    87. Which George Michael song begins with the lyrics, ‘I feel so unsure, As I take your hand and lead you to the dance floor’? – Careless Whisper


    88. In 1912, which ocean did RMS Titanic sink in? – Atlantic Ocean (North Atlantic)


    89. What film series stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as leaders of a New York Mafia family? – The Godfather


    90. What traditional Easter cake is toasted and decorated with 11 to 12 marzipan balls? – Simnel Cake


    91. What type of animals make up the biggest group of amphibians? – Frogs


    92. Which naturalist wrote ‘The Voyage of the Beagle’? – Charles Darwin


    93. The inauguration of which American President took place on January 20, 2009? – Barack Obama


    94. Can you unscramble the following word to reveal the name of a hormone produced by the pancreas: NNLUSII? – Insulin


    95. What was the first fully animated feature film released by Walt Disney? – Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)


    96. Which Asian country was formerly named Ceylon? – Sri Lanka


    97. What type of gas primarily forms the Earth’s atmosphere? – Nitrogen


    98. What is the opposite of nocturnal? – Diurnal


    99. Which Winter Olympic event combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting? – The biathlon


    100. Who plays Jack Bauer in the American television series 24? – Kiefer Sutherland