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March 17- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 45 BC – In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
  • 180 – Commodus becomes sole emperor of the Roman Empire at the age of eighteen, following the death of his father, Marcus Aurelius.
  • 455 – Petronius Maximus becomes, with support of the Roman Senate, emperor of the Western Roman Empire; he forces Licinia Eudoxia, the widow of his predecessor, Valentinian III, to marry him.
  • 1001 – The Raja of Butuan in what is now the Philippines sends a tributary mission to the Song dynasty.
  • 1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England.
  • 1452 – The Battle of Los Alporchones is fought in the context of the Spanish Reconquista between the Emirate of Granada and the combined forces of the Kingdom of Castile and Murcia resulting in a Christian victory.
  • 1560 – Fort Coligny on Villegagnon Island in Rio de Janeiro is attacked and destroyed during the Portuguese campaign against France Antarctique.
  • 1677 – The Siege of Valenciennes, during the Franco-Dutch War, ends with France’s taking of the city.
  • 1776 – American Revolution: The British Army evacuates Boston, ending the Siege of Boston, after George Washington and Henry Knox place artillery in positions overlooking the city.
  • 1780 – American Revolution: George Washington grants the Continental Army a holiday “as an act of solidarity with the Irish in their fight for independence”.
  • 1805 – The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King of Italy.
  • 1824 – The Anglo-Dutch Treaty is signed in London, dividing the Malay archipelago. As a result, the Malay Peninsula is dominated by the British, while Sumatra and Java and surrounding areas are dominated by the Dutch.
  • 1842 – The Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed.
  • 1852 – Annibale De Gasparis discovers in Naples the asteroid Psyche from the north dome of the Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte
  • 1860 – The First Taranaki War begins in Taranaki, New Zealand, a major phase of the New Zealand Wars.
  • 1861 – The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
  • 1891 – SS Utopia collides with HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar and sinks, killing 562 of the 880 passengers on board.
  • 1921 – The Second Polish Republic adopts the March Constitution.
  • 1939 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and Japan begins.
  • 1941 – In Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • 1942 – Holocaust: The first Jews from the Lvov Ghetto are gassed at the Belzec death camp in what is today eastern Poland.
  • 1945 – The Ludendorff Bridge in Remagen, Germany, collapses, ten days after its capture.
  • 1947 – First flight of the B-45 Tornado strategic bomber.
  • 1948 – Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the North Atlantic Treaty establishing NATO.
  • 1950 – Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley announce the creation of element 98, which they name “californium”.
  • 1957 – A plane crash in Cebu, Philippines kills Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
  • 1958 – The United States launches the first solar-powered satellite.
  • 1960 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the National Security Council directive on the anti-Cuban covert action program that will ultimately lead to the Bay of Pigs Invasion.
  • 1963 – Mount Agung erupted on Bali killing more than 1,100 people.
  • 1966 – Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the DSV Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
  • 1968 – As a result of nerve gas testing by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps in Skull Valley, Utah, over 6,000 sheep are found dead.
  • 1969 – Golda Meir becomes the first female Prime Minister of Israel.
  • 1973 – The Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Burst of Joy is taken, depicting a former prisoner of war being reunited with his family, which came to symbolize the end of United States involvement in the Vietnam War.
  • 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel collapses during engineering works, killing two workers.
  • 1985 – Serial killer Richard Ramirez, aka the “Night Stalker”, commits the first two murders in his Los Angeles murder spree.
  • 1988 – A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into a mountainside near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
  • 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
  • 1992 – Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
  • 1992 – A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
  • 2000 – Five hundred and thirty members of the Ugandan cult Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God die in a fire, considered to be a mass murder or suicide orchestrated by leaders of the cult. Elsewhere another 248 members are later found dead.
  • 2003 – Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
  • 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo: More than 22 are killed and 200 wounded. Thirty-five Serbian Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Serbia are destroyed.

Births on March 17

  • 763 – Harun al-Rashid, Abbasid caliph (d. 809)
  • 1231 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (d. 1242)
  • 1473 – James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
  • 1523 – Giovanni Francesco Commendone, Catholic cardinal (d. 1584)
  • 1537 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese daimyō (d. 1598)
  • 1611 – Robert Douglas, Count of Skenninge, Swedish field marshal (d. 1662)
  • 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French harpsichord player and composer (d. 1729)
  • 1676 – Thomas Boston, Scottish philosopher and theologian (d. 1732)
  • 1686 – Jean-Baptiste Oudry, French painter and engraver (d. 1755)
  • 1725 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (d. 1806)
  • 1777 – Patrick Brontë, Irish-English priest and author (d. 1861)
  • 1777 – Roger B. Taney, American politician and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1864)
  • 1780 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish minister, economist, and educator (d. 1847)
  • 1781 – Ebenezer Elliott, English poet and educator (d. 1849)
  • 1804 – Jim Bridger, American fur trader and explorer (d. 1881)
  • 1806 – Norbert Rillieux, African American inventor and chemical engineer (d. 1894)
  • 1820 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (d. 1897)
  • 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (d. 1900)
  • 1839 – Josef Rheinberger, Liechtensteiner-German organist and composer (d. 1901)
  • 1846 – Kate Greenaway, English author and illustrator (d. 1901)
  • 1849 – Charles F. Brush, American businessman and philanthropist, co-invented the Arc lamp (d. 1929)
  • 1849 – Cornelia Clapp, American marine biologist (d. 1934)
  • 1856 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
  • 1862 – Silvio Gesell, Belgian merchant and economist (d. 1930)
  • 1864 – Joseph Baptista, Indian engineer, lawyer, and politician (d. 1930)
  • 1866 – Pierce Butler, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1939)
  • 1867 – Patrice Contamine de Latour, Spanish poet (d. 1926)
  • 1877 – Edith New, British militant suffragette (d. 1951)
  • 1877 – Otto Gross, Austrian-German psychoanalyst and philosopher (d. 1920)
  • 1880 – Patrick Hastings, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 1952)
  • 1880 – Lawrence Oates, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1912)
  • 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
  • 1884 – Alcide Nunez, American clarinet player (d. 1934)
  • 1885 – Ralph Rose, American track and field athlete (d. 1913)
  • 1886 – Princess Patricia of Connaught (d. 1974)
  • 1888 – Paul Ramadier, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1961)
  • 1889 – Harry Clarke, Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator (d. 1931)
  • 1891 – Ross McLarty, Australian politician, 17th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1962)
  • 1892 – Sayed Darwish, Egyptian singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1923)
  • 1894 – Paul Green, American playwright and academic (d. 1981)
  • 1895 – Lloyd Rees, Australian painter (d. 1988)
  • 1901 – Alfred Newman, American composer and conductor (d. 1970)
  • 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer and lawyer (d. 1971)
  • 1904 – Chaim Gross, Austrian-American sculptor and educator (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (d. 1996)
  • 1907 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian academic and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1991)
  • 1907 – Takeo Miki, Japanese politician, 41st Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1988)
  • 1910 – Sonny Werblin, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Bayard Rustin, American activist (d. 1987)
  • 1914 – Sammy Baugh, American football player and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1915 – Robert S. Arbib Jr., American ornithologist, writer and conservationist (d. 1987)
  • 1915 – Ray Ellington, English drummer and bandleader (d. 1985)
  • 1915 – Bill Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider (d. 2011)
  • 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer, pianist, and television host (d. 1965)
  • 1920 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladeshi politician, 1st President of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
  • 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli general and politician, 12th Israeli Minister of Communications (d. 2009)
  • 1922 – Patrick Suppes, American psychologist and philosopher (d. 2014)
  • 1924 – Stephen Dodgson, English composer and educator (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian actor (d. 2015)
  • 1926 – Siegfried Lenz, Polish-German author and playwright (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – Betty Allen, American soprano and educator (d. 2009)
  • 1928 – William John McKeag, Canadian businessman and politician, 17th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 2007)
  • 1930 – Paul Horn, American-Canadian flute player and saxophonist (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – James Irwin, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1991)
  • 1931 – Patricia Breslin, American actress (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – David Peakall, English-American chemist and toxicologist (d. 2001)
  • 1933 – Myrlie Evers-Williams, American journalist and activist
  • 1933 – Penelope Lively, English author
  • 1935 – Fred T. Mackenzie, American biologist and academic
  • 1935 – Adam Wade, American singer, drummer, and actor
  • 1936 – Ida Kleijnen, Dutch chef (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Ladislav Kupkovič, Slovakian composer and conductor (d. 2016)
  • 1936 – Ken Mattingly, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1937 – Galina Samsova, Russian ballerina
  • 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-French dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
  • 1938 – Keith O’Brien, Northern Ireland-born Scottish cleric, theologian, and cardinal (d. 2018)
  • 1938 – Zola Taylor, American singer (d. 2007)
  • 1939 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (d. 2006)
  • 1939 – Bill Graham, Canadian academic and politician, 4th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1939 – Robin Knox-Johnston, English sailor and first person to perform a single-handed non-stop circumnavigation of the globe
  • 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1940 – Mark White, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Texas (d. 2017)
  • 1941 – Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese soldier and politician
  • 1941 – Paul Kantner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
  • 1941 – Max Stafford-Clark, English director and academic
  • 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer and rapist (d. 1994)
  • 1943 – Jeff Banks, Welsh fashion designer
  • 1943 – Andrew Brook, Canadian philosopher, author, and academic
  • 1944 – Pattie Boyd, English model, author, and photographer
  • 1944 – Cito Gaston, American baseball player and manager
  • 1944 – John Sebastian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Michael Hayden, American general, 20th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  • 1947 – Dennis Bond, English footballer, midfielder
  • 1947 – Yury Chernavsky, Russian-American songwriter and producer
  • 1948 – William Gibson, American-Canadian author and screenwriter
  • 1948 – Alex MacDonald, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1949 – Pat Rice, Irish footballer and coach
  • 1949 – Stuart Rose, English businessman
  • 1951 – Scott Gorham, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Craig Ramsay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1951 – Kurt Russell, American actor and producer
  • 1952 – Barry Horne, English activist (d. 2001)
  • 1953 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino activist (d. 2001)
  • 1953 – Chuck Muncie, American football player (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
  • 1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American activist and politician
  • 1955 – Paul Overstreet, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor, director, and bass player
  • 1956 – Patrick McDonnell, American author and illustrator
  • 1956 – Rory McGrath, British comedian, television personality, and writer
  • 1957 – Michael Kelly, American journalist and author (d. 2003)
  • 1958 – Christian Clemenson, American actor
  • 1959 – Danny Ainge, American baseball and basketball player
  • 1959 – Paul Black, American singer-songwriter and drummer
  • 1960 – Arye Gross, American actor
  • 1960 – Vicki Lewis, American actress and singer
  • 1961 – Sam Bowie, American basketball player
  • 1961 – Dana Reeve, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2006)
  • 1961 – Casey Siemaszko, American actor
  • 1962 – Carsten Almqvist, Swedish business executive
  • 1962 – Ank Bijleveld, Dutch politician
  • 1962 – Janet Gardner, American singer and guitarist
  • 1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish singer and actress
  • 1962 – Rob Sitch, Australian actor, director, and producer
  • 1963 – Roger Harper, Guyanese cricketer and coach
  • 1964 – Stefano Borgonovo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer and journalist
  • 1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor and producer
  • 1964 – Jacques Songo’o, Cameroonian footballer and coach
  • 1965 – Andrew Hudson, South African cricketer
  • 1966 – Andrew Rosindell, English journalist and politician
  • 1967 – Jason Alchin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1967 – Billy Corgan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and producer
  • 1967 – Barry Minkow, American pastor and businessman
  • 1968 – Eri Nitta, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1968 – Mathew St. Patrick, American actor and producer
  • 1969 – Edgar Grospiron, French skier
  • 1969 – Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founded own eponymous brand (d. 2010)
  • 1970 – Patrick Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1970 – Gene Ween, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1971 – Bill Mueller, American baseball player and coach
  • 1972 – Melissa Auf der Maur, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1972 – Torquil Campbell, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
  • 1973 – Rico Blanco, Filipino singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
  • 1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and drummer
  • 1973 – Vance Wilson, American baseball player and manager
  • 1974 – Mark Dolan, English comedian and television host
  • 1975 – Justin Hawkins, English singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Puneeth Rajkumar, Indian actor, singer, and producer
  • 1975 – Test, Canadian-American wrestler (d. 2009)
  • 1975 – Natalie Zea, American actress
  • 1976 – Scott Downs, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2009)
  • 1976 – Álvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1977 – Tamar Braxton, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1978 – Zachery Kouwe, American journalist
  • 1979 – Stormy Daniels, born Stephanie Gregory, American adult film actress
  • 1979 – Andrew Ference, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Stephen Kramer Glickman, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and fashion designer
  • 1979 – Samoa Joe, American professional wrestler
  • 1980 – Danny Califf, American soccer player
  • 1980 – Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, Pakistani tennis player
  • 1981 – Aaron Baddeley, American-Australian golfer
  • 1981 – Servet Çetin, Turkish footballer
  • 1981 – Kyle Korver, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Nicky Jam, American-Puerto-Rican singer and songwriter
  • 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
  • 1983 – James Heath, English golfer
  • 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
  • 1983 – Attila Vajda, Hungarian sprint canoeist
  • 1984 – Ryan Rottman, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1985 – Tuğba Karademir, Turkish-Canadian figure skater
  • 1986 – Chris Davis, American baseball player
  • 1986 – Edin Džeko, Bosnian footballer
  • 1986 – Miles Kane, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1986 – Silke Spiegelburg, German pole vaulter
  • 1987 – Federico Fazio, Argentinian international footballer, centre backland rugby league player
  • 1987 – Ryan Parent, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Emmanuel Sanders, American football player
  • 1988 – Rasmus Elm, Swedish footballer
  • 1988 – Fraser Forster, English footballer
  • 1988 – Grimes, Canadian artist, musician and music video director
  • 1988 – Ryan White, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1989 – Shinji Kagawa, Japanese footballer
  • 1990 – Hozier, Irish singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1990 – Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton player
  • 1991 – Jack De Belin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Patrick Cantlay, American golfer
  • 1992 – John Boyega, English actor
  • 1993 – Matteo Bianchetti, Italian footballer
  • 1994 – Dean Britt, Australian rugby league player
  • 1995 – Ashley Taylor, Australian rugby league player
  • 1997 – Katie Ledecky, American swimmer

Deaths on March 17

  • 45 BC – Titus Labienus, Roman general (b. 100 BC)
  • 45 BC – Publius Attius Varus, Roman governor of Africa
  • 180 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (b. 121)
  • 624 – Amr ibn Hishām, Arab polytheist
  • 659 – Gertrude of Nivelles, Frankish abbess
  • 836 – Haito, bishop of Basel
  • 905 – Li Yu, Prince of De, prince and emperor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 1008 – Kazan, emperor of Japan (b. 968)
  • 1040 – Harold Harefoot, king of England
  • 1058 – Lulach, king of Scotland
  • 1199 – Jocelin of Glasgow, Scottish monk and bishop (b. 1130)
  • 1267 – Pierre de Montreuil, French architect
  • 1270 – Philip of Montfort, French knight and nobleman
  • 1272 – Go-Saga, emperor of Japan (b. 1220)
  • 1361 – An-Nasir Hasan, Mamluk sultan of Egypt
  • 1394 – Louis of Enghien, French nobleman
  • 1406 – Ibn Khaldun, Tunisian sociologist, historian, and scholar (b. 1332)
  • 1425 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1407)
  • 1516 – Giuliano de’ Medici, Italian nobleman (b. 1479)
  • 1527 – Rana Sanga, Indian ruler (b. 1482)
  • 1565 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (b. 1500)
  • 1611 – Sophia of Sweden, duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1547)
  • 1620 – John Sarkander, Polish-Moravian priest and saint (b. 1576)
  • 1640 – Philip Massinger, English playwright (b. 1583)
  • 1649 – Gabriel Lalemant, French missionary and saint (b. 1610)
  • 1663 – Jerome Weston, 2nd Earl of Portland, English diplomat (b. 1605)
  • 1680 – François de La Rochefoucauld, French author (b. 1613)
  • 1704 – Menno van Coehoorn, Dutch soldier and engineer (b. 1641)
  • 1715 – Gilbert Burnet, Scottish bishop and historian (b. 1643)
  • 1741 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (b. 1671)
  • 1764 – George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, English astronomer and politician (b. 1695)
  • 1782 – Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (b. 1700)
  • 1828 – James Edward Smith, English botanist and entomologist (b. 1759)
  • 1829 – Sophia Albertina, princess-abbess of Quedlinburg (b. 1753)
  • 1830 – Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French general and politician (b. 1764)
  • 1846 – Friedrich Bessel, German astronomer, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1784)
  • 1849 – William II, Dutch sovereign prince and king (b. 1792)
  • 1853 – Christian Doppler, Austrian physicist and mathematician (b. 1803)
  • 1871 – Robert Chambers, Scottish geologist and publisher, co-founded Chambers Harrap (b. 1802)
  • 1875 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1832)
  • 1893 – Jules Ferry, French lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of France (b. 1832)
  • 1917 – Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
  • 1926 – Aleksei Brusilov, Georgian-Russian general (b. 1853)
  • 1937 – Austen Chamberlain, English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1863)
  • 1940 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (b. 1854)
  • 1946 – Dai Li, Chinese general (b. 1897)
  • 1949 – Aleksandra Ekster, Russian-French painter and set designer (b. 1882)
  • 1956 – Fred Allen, American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and author (b. 1894)
  • 1956 – Irène Joliot-Curie, French physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
  • 1957 – Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino captain and politician, 7th President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
  • 1958 – John Pius Boland, Irish tennis player and politician (b. 1870)
  • 1958 – Bertha De Vriese, Belgian physician (b. 1877)
  • 1961 – Susanna M. Salter, American activist and politician (b. 1860)
  • 1965 – Amos Alonzo Stagg, American football player and coach (b. 1862)
  • 1974 – Louis Kahn, American architect and academic, designed Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban (b. 1901)
  • 1976 – Luchino Visconti, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1906)
  • 1981 – Paul Dean, American baseball player (b. 1913)
  • 1983 – Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
  • 1983 – Louisa E. Rhine, American botanist and parapsychologist (b. 1891)
  • 1986 – Clarence D. Lester, African-American fighter pilot (b.1923)
  • 1990 – Capucine, French model and actress (b. 1928)
  • 1992 – Grace Stafford, American actress (b. 1903)
  • 1993 – Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
  • 1994 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish-English actress and director (b. 1925)
  • 1996 – René Clément, French director and screenwriter (b. 1913)
  • 1996 – Terry Stafford, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
  • 1997 – Jermaine Stewart, American singer-songwriter and dancer (b. 1957)
  • 1999 – Ernest Gold, Austrian-American composer (b. 1921)
  • 1999 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French activist (b. 1905)
  • 2002 – Rosetta LeNoire, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
  • 2002 – Văn Tiến Dũng, Vietnamese general and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for Vietnam (b. 1917)
  • 2002 – Sylvester “Pat” Weaver, American television broadcaster and producer (b. 1908)
  • 2005 – Royce Frith, Canadian lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (b. 1923)
  • 2005 – George F. Kennan, American historian and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union (b. 1904)
  • 2005 – Andre Norton, American author (b. 1912)
  • 2006 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – Ray Meyer, American basketball player and coach (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – İstemihan Taviloğlu, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1945)
  • 2007 – John Backus, American mathematician and computer scientist, designed Fortran (b. 1924)
  • 2007 – Roger Bennett, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1959)
  • 2008 – Roland Arnall, French-American businessman and diplomat, 63rd United States Ambassador to the Netherlands (b. 1939)
  • 2009 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian television host and politician (b. 1937)
  • 2010 – Alex Chilton, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1950)
  • 2010 – Sid Fleischman, American author and screenwriter (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – Michael Gough, English actor (b. 1916)
  • 2011 – Ferlin Husky, American country music singer (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Shenouda III, pope of Alexandria (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Margaret Whitlam, Australian swimmer and author (b. 1919)
  • 2013 – William B. Caldwell III, American general (b. 1925)
  • 2013 – Lawrence Fuchs, American scholar and academic (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – A.B.C. Whipple, American journalist and historian (b. 1918)
  • 2014 – Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (b. 1974)
  • 2014 – Joseph Kerman, American musicologist and critic (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Rachel Lambert Mellon, American gardener, philanthropist, art collector and political patron (b. 1910)
  • 2015 – Frank Perris, Canadian motorcycle racer (b. 1931)
  • 2016 – Meir Dagan, Israeli general (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – Zoltán Kamondi, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1960)
  • 2018 – Mike MacDonald, Canadian comedian (b. 1954)
  • 2018 – Phan Văn Khải, the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances on March 17

  • Children’s Day (Bangladesh)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Alexius of Rome (Eastern Church)
    • Gertrude of Nivelles
    • John Sarkander
    • Joseph of Arimathea (Western Church)
    • Patrick of Ireland
    • March 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Evacuation Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts)
  • Saint Patrick’s Day, a public holiday in Ireland, Montserrat and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, widely celebrated in the English-speaking world and to a lesser degree in other parts of the world.

March 17- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 14- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.
  • 1647 – Thirty Years’ War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
  • 1663 – According to his own account, Otto von Guericke completes his book De Vacuo.
  • 1674 – The Third Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of Ronas Voe results in the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam being captured with a death toll of up to 300 Dutch crew and soldiers.
  • 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
  • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans.
  • 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
  • 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in London.
  • 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
  • 1903 – Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first national wildlife refuge in the US, is established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • 1920 – In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany.
  • 1926 – The El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica, kills 248 people and wounds another 93 when a train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás.
  • 1931 – Alam Ara, India’s first talking film, is released.
  • 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.
  • 1942 – Anne Miller becomes the first American patient to be treated with penicillin, under the care of Orvan Hess and John Bumstead.
  • 1943 – The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto is completed.
  • 1945 – The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany.
  • 1951 – Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time.
  • 1961 – A USAF B-52 bomber crashes near near Yuba City, California whilst carrying nuclear weapons.
  • 1964 – Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy.
  • 1967 – The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
  • 1978 – The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon.
  • 1980 – LOT Flight 7 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
  • 1982 – The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London.
  • 1988 – In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands.
  • 1995 – Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle.
  • 2006 – The 2006 Chadian coup d’état attempt ends in failure.
  • 2007 – The Nandigram violence in Nandigram, West Bengal results in the deaths of at least 14 people.
  • 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet.
  • 2019 – Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1000 deaths.

Births on March 14

  • 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
  • 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)
  • 1800 – James Bogardus, American inventor and architect (d. 1874)
  • 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (d. 1822)
  • 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1849)
  • 1813 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1892)
  • 1820 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (d. 1878)
  • 1822 – Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1889)
  • 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French poet and critic (d. 1891)
  • 1833 – Frederic Shields, English painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
  • 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist and educator (d. 1910)
  • 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (d. 1910)
  • 1836 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (d. 1865)
  • 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (d. 1903)
  • 1844 – Umberto I of Italy (d. 1900)
  • 1844 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (d. 1881)
  • 1847 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (d. 1871)
  • 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
  • 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1915)
  • 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (d. 1925)
  • 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (d. 1920)
  • 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, American lawyer and politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1925)
  • 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (d. 1951)
  • 1863 – Casey Jones, American engineer (d. 1900)
  • 1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (d. 1933)
  • 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, English author and playwright (d. 1951)
  • 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
  • 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
  • 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1969)
  • 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (d. 1918)
  • 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964)
  • 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French publisher, founded Shakespeare and Company (d. 1962)
  • 1898 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter and illustrator (d. 1954)
  • 1899 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (d. 1992)
  • 1901 – Sid Atkinson, South African hurdler and long jumper (d. 1977)
  • 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (d. 1974)
  • 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (d. 2010)
  • 1905 – Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1983)
  • 1906 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (d. 1972)
  • 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American designer of military aircraft (d. 1991)
  • 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher and academic (d. 1961)
  • 1908 – Philip Conrad Vincent, English engineer and businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (d. 1979)
  • 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (d. 2005)
  • 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2001)
  • 1912 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr. American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1914 – Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver and businessman, founded Petty Enterprises (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
  • 1916 – Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1917 – Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Zoia Horn, American librarian (d. 2014)
  • 1919 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created Dennis the Menace (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Dorothy Tyler-Odam, English high jumper (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
  • 1925 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Frank Borman, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (d. 1980)
  • 1929 – Bob Goalby, American golfer
  • 1932 – Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia
  • 1933 – Michael Caine, English actor and author
  • 1933 – Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
  • 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
  • 1934 – Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army
  • 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer
  • 1937 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Eleanor Bron, English actress and screenwriter
  • 1938 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2016)
  • 1938 – John Gleeson, Australian cricketer (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor
  • 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter
  • 1939 – Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter
  • 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1942 – Rita Tushingham, English actress
  • 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress and singer (d. 1994)
  • 1944 – Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor
  • 1944 – Václav Nedomanský, Czech ice hockey player and manager
  • 1944 – Bobby Smith, English footballer and manager
  • 1944 – Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Jasper Carrott, English comedian, actor, and game show host
  • 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist
  • 1946 – William Lerach, American securities and class action attorney
  • 1946 – Wes Unseld, American basketball player, coach, and manager
  • 1947 – Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (d. 1993)
  • 1947 – William J. Jefferson, American lawyer and politician
  • 1947 – Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1948 – Tom Coburn, American physician and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1948 – Theo Jansen, Dutch sculptor
  • 1950 – Rick Dees, American actor and radio host
  • 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben & Jerry’s
  • 1953 – Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1955 – Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1956 – Alexey Pajitnov, Russian video game designer and computer engineer, creator of Tetris
  • 1956 – Butch Wynegar, American baseball player and coach
  • 1957 – Tad Williams, American author
  • 1958 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco
  • 1959 – Laila Robins, American actress
  • 1959 – Tamara Tunie, American actress
  • 1960 – Heidi Hammel, American astronomer and academic
  • 1961 – Garry Jack, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1961 – Mike Lazaridis, Turkish–Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded BlackBerry Limited
  • 1963 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1965 – Kevin Brown, American baseball player and coach
  • 1965 – Aamir Khan, Indian film actor, producer, and director
  • 1965 – Billy Sherwood, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1965 – Kevin Williamson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Jonas Elmer, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Elise Neal, American actress and producer
  • 1968 – Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
  • 1969 – Larry Johnson, American basketball player and actor
  • 1970 – Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Irom Chanu Sharmila, Indian poet and activist
  • 1973 – Rohit Shetty, Indian film director and producer
  • 1974 – Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Steve Harper, English footballer and referee
  • 1975 – Dmitri Markov, Belarusian-Australian pole vaulter
  • 1976 – Phil Vickery, English rugby player and sportscaster
  • 1977 – Vadims Fjodorovs, Latvian footballer and coach
  • 1977 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (d. 2011)
  • 1977 – Jeremy Paul, New Zealand-Australian rugby player
  • 1978 – Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
  • 1979 – Nicolas Anelka, French footballer and manager
  • 1979 – Chris Klein, American actor
  • 1979 – Sead Ramović, German-Bosnian footballer
  • 1980 – Aaron Brown, English footballer and coach
  • 1980 – Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1981 – Bobby Jenks, American baseball player
  • 1981 – George Wilson, American football player
  • 1982 – Carlos Marinelli, Argentinian footballer
  • 1982 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (d. 2008)
  • 1983 – Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
  • 1986 – Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1986 – Jessica Gallagher, Australian skier and cyclist
  • 1986 – Andy Taylor, English footballer
  • 1988 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player
  • 1988 – Rico Freimuth, German decathlete
  • 1989 – Kevin Lacroix, Canadian race car driver
  • 1990 – Joe Allen, Welsh footballer
  • 1990 – Tamás Kádár, Hungarian footballer
  • 1990 – Haru Kuroki, Japanese actress
  • 1990 – Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Icelandic footballer
  • 1991 – Emir Bekrić, Serbian hurdler
  • 1991 – László Szűcs, Hungarian footballer
  • 1991 – Steven Zellner, German footballer
  • 1993 – Philipp Ziereis, German footballer
  • 1994 – Ansel Elgort, American actor and DJ
  • 1996 – Batuhan Altıntaş, Turkish footballer
  • 1997 – Simone Biles, American gymnast
  • 2008 – Abby Ryder Fortson, American actress

Deaths on March 14

  • 840 – Einhard, Frankish scholar
  • 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim, Saxon queen (b. c. 896)
  • 1555 – John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (b. 1485)
  • 1647 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)
  • 1648 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (b. 1584)
  • 1696 – Jean Domat, French lawyer and jurist (b. 1625)
  • 1748 – George Wade, Irish field marshal and politician (b. 1673)
  • 1757 – John Byng, British admiral and politician, 11th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1704)
  • 1791 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and critic (b. 1725)
  • 1803 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (b. 1724)
  • 1811 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735)
  • 1823 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general and politician, French Minister of War (b. 1739)
  • 1860 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (b. 1802)
  • 1877 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian general and politician, 17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (b. 1793)
  • 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1818)
  • 1884 – Quintino Sella, Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finances (b. 1827)
  • 1932 – George Eastman, American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (b. 1854)
  • 1953 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak Communist politician and 14th President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1896)
  • 1957 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot activist (b. 1938)
  • 1965 – Marion Jones Farquhar, American tennis player (b. 1879)
  • 1968 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (b. 1892)
  • 1969 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American painter, illustrator, and educator (b. 1898)
  • 1973 – Howard H. Aiken, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1900)
  • 1973 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
  • 1975 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
  • 1976 – Busby Berkeley, American director and choreographer (b. 1895)
  • 1977 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American activist and philanthropist (b. 1917)
  • 1980 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Indonesia (b. 1902)
  • 1980 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (b. 1928)
  • 1984 – Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (b. 1892)
  • 1991 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (b. 1950)
  • 1995 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 1997 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (b. 1907)
  • 1999 – Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910)
  • 1999 – John Broome, American author (b. 1913)
  • 2003 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian-American painter (b. 1945)
  • 2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French engineer and businessman (b. 1928)
  • 2006 – Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French educator and activist (b. 1912)
  • 2008 – Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (b. 1920)
  • 2010 – Peter Graves, American actor (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Pierre Schoendoerffer, French director and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general and politician, 4th President of Malta (b. 1913)
  • 2013 – Jack Greene, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Aramais Sahakyan, Armenian poet and author (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, Cambodian Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Tony Benn, English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Meir Har-Zion, Israeli commander (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – John W. Cahn, German-American metallurgist and academic (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Peter Maxwell Davies, English composer and conductor (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Suranimala Rajapaksha, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
  • 2018 – Jim Bowen, English stand-up comedian and TV personality (b. 1937)
  • 2018 – Marielle Franco, Brazilian politician and human rights activist (b. 1979)
  • 2018 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (b. 1942)
  • 2018 – Liam O’Flynn, Irish uileann piper (b. 1945)
  • 2019 – Jake Phelps, American skateboarder and Thrasher editor-in-chief (b. 1962)

Holidays and observances on March 14

  • Christian feast day:
    • Leobinus
    • March 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Andorra)
  • Heroes’ Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
  • Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)
  • Nanakshahi New Year, first day of the month of Chet (Sikhism)
  • Pi Day
  • Summer Day (Albania)
  • White Day on which men give gifts to women; complementary to Valentine’s Day (Japan and other Asian nations)

March 14- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 12- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.
  • 1622 – Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier, founders of the Society of Jesus, are canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.
  • 1689 – James II of England landed at Kinsale, starting the Williamite War in Ireland.
  • 1811 – Peninsular War: A day after a successful rearguard action, French Marshal Michel Ney once again successfully delays the pursuing Anglo-Portuguese force at the Battle of Redinha.
  • 1912 – The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
  • 1913 – The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra.
  • 1918 – Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint Petersburg held this status for most of the period since 1713.
  • 1920 – The Kapp Putsch begins when the Marinebrigade Ehrhardt is ordered to march on Berlin.
  • 1928 – In California, the St. Francis Dam fails; the resulting floods kill 431 people.
  • 1930 – Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile march to the sea to protest the British monopoly on salt in India.
  • 1933 – Great Depression: Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This is also the first of his “fireside chats”.
  • 1938 – Anschluss: German troops occupy and absorb Austria.
  • 1940 – Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia.
  • 1942 – The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Japanese Empire in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.
  • 1947 – Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
  • 1950 – The Llandow air disaster kills 80 people when the aircraft they are travelling in crashes near Sigingstone, Wales. At the time this was the world’s deadliest air disaster.
  • 1967 – Suharto takes power from Sukarno when the People’s Consultative Assembly inaugurate him as Acting President of Indonesia.
  • 1968 – Mauritius achieves independence from the United Kingdom.
  • 1971 – The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
  • 1989 – Sir Tim Berners-Lee submits his proposal to CERN for an information management system, which subsequently develops into the world wide web.
  • 1992 – Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
  • 1993 – Several bombs explode in Mumbai, India, killing about 300 people and injuring hundreds more.
  • 1993 – North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
  • 1999 – Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
  • 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
  • 2003 – The World Health Organization officially release a global warning of outbreaks of Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
  • 2004 – The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly: the first such impeachment in the nation’s history.
  • 2009 – Financier Bernard Madoff pleads guilty to one of the largest frauds in Wall Street’s history.
  • 2011 – A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
  • 2014 – A gas explosion in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem kills eight and injures 70 others.
  • 2019 – In the House of Commons, the revised EU Withdrawal Bill was rejected by a margin of 149 votes.

Births on March 12

  • 1270 – Charles, Count of Valois (d. 1325)
  • 1515 – Caspar Othmayr, German Lutheran pastor and composer (d. 1553)
  • 1607 – Paul Gerhardt, German poet and composer (d. 1676)
  • 1613 – André Le Nôtre, French gardener and architect (d. 1700)
  • 1626 – John Aubrey, English historian and philosopher (d. 1697)
  • 1637 – Anne Hyde, Duchess of York and Albany (d. 1671)
  • 1672 – Richard Steele, Irish-Welsh journalist and politician (d. 1729)
  • 1685 – George Berkeley, Irish bishop and philosopher (d. 1753)
  • 1710 – Thomas Arne, English composer (d. 1778)
  • 1735 – François-Emmanuel Guignard, comte de Saint-Priest, French politician and diplomat (d. 1821)
  • 1753 – Jean Denis, French politician, lawyer, jurist, journalist, and historian (d. 1827)
  • 1766 – Claudius Buchanan, Scottish theologian (d. 1815)
  • 1781 – Frederica of Baden, Queen consort to Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (d. 1826)
  • 1784 – William Buckland, English geologist and paleontologist; Dean of Westminster (d. 1856)
  • 1795 – William Lyon Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian journalist and politician, 1st Mayor of Toronto (d. 1861)
  • 1795 – George Tyler Wood, American military officer and politician (d. 1858)
  • 1806 – Jane Pierce, American wife of Franklin Pierce, 15th First Lady of the United States (d. 1863)
  • 1807 – James Abbott, Indian Army officer (d. 1896)
  • 1815 – Louis-Jules Trochu, French military leader and politician (d. 1896)
  • 1821 – John Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1893)
  • 1821 – Medo Pucić, Croatian writer and politician (d. 1882)
  • 1823 – Katsu Kaishū, Japanese statesman (d. 1899)
  • 1824 – Gustav Kirchhoff, Russian-German physicist and academic (d. 1887)
  • 1832 – Charles Boycott, English farmer and agent (d. 1897)
  • 1834 – Hilary A. Herbert, Secretary of the Navy (d. 1919)
  • 1835 – Simon Newcomb, Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1909)
  • 1837 – Alexandre Guilmant, French organist and composer (d. 1911)
  • 1838 – William Henry Perkin, English chemist and academic (d. 1907)
  • 1843 – Gabriel Tarde, French sociologist and criminologist (d. 1904)
  • 1855 – Eduard Birnbaum, Polish-born German cantor (d. 1920)
  • 1857 – William V. Ranous, American actor and director (d. 1915)
  • 1858 – Adolph Ochs, American publisher (d. 1935)
  • 1859 – Ernesto Cesàro, Italian mathematician (d. 1906)
  • 1860 – Eric Stenbock, Estonian poet and author (d. 1895)
  • 1863 – Gabriele D’Annunzio, Italian soldier, journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1938)
  • 1863 – Vladimir Vernadsky, Russian and Ukrainian mineralogist and chemist (d. 1945)
  • 1864 – W. H. R. Rivers, English anthropologist, neurologist, ethnologist, and psychiatrist (d. 1922)
  • 1874 – Edmund Eysler, Austrian composer (d. 1949)
  • 1877 – Wilhelm Frick, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of the Interior (d. 1946)
  • 1878 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1903)
  • 1880 – Henry Drysdale Dakin, English-American chemist and academic (d. 1952)
  • 1881 – Väinö Tanner, Finnish politician of Social Democratic Party of Finland (d. 1966)
  • 1882 – Carlos Blanco Galindo, Bolivian politician (d. 1943)
  • 1883 – Sándor Jávorka, Hungarian botanist (d. 1961)
  • 1888 – Walter Hermann Bucher, German-American geologist and paleontologist (d. 1965)
  • 1888 – Hans Knappertsbusch, German conductor (d. 1965)
  • 1890 – Evert Taube, Swedish singer-songwriter and lute player (d. 1976)
  • 1896 – Jesse Fuller, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1976)
  • 1898 – Tian Han, Chinese playwright (d. 1968)
  • 1898 – Luitpold Steidle, German army officer and politician (d. 1984)
  • 1899 – Ramón Muttis, Argentine footballer (d. 1955)
  • 1900 – Rinus van den Berge, Dutch athlete (d. 1972)
  • 1900 – Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, 19th President of Colombia (d. 1975)
  • 1904 – Lyudmila Keldysh, Russian mathematician (d. 1976)
  • 1905 – Takashi Shimura, Japanese actor (d. 1982)
  • 1907 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1908 – Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (d. 1970)
  • 1908 – David Marshall, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (d. 1995)
  • 1909 – Petras Cvirka, Lithuanian author (d. 1947)
  • 1910 – Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1980)
  • 1910 – László Lékai, Archbishop of Esztergom and Cardinal (d. 1986)
  • 1911 – Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Mexican academic and politician, 49th President of Mexico (d. 1979)
  • 1912 – Willie Hall, English international footballer (d. 1967)
  • 1912 – Irving Layton, Romanian-Canadian poet and academic (d. 2006)
  • 1913 – Yashwantrao Chavan, Indian politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1984)
  • 1913 – Agathe von Trapp, Hungarian-American singer and author (d. 2010)
  • 1915 – Alberto Burri, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1995)
  • 1915 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist (d. 1991)
  • 1917 – Leonard Chess, American record company executive, co-founder of Chess Records (d. 1969)
  • 1917 – Millard Kaufman, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1917 – Googie Withers, Indian-Australian actress (d. 2011)
  • 1918 – Pádraig Faulkner, Irish Fianna Fáil politician (d. 2012)
  • 1918 – Elaine de Kooning, American painter and academic (d. 1989)
  • 1921 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (d. 2001)
  • 1921 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (d. 1986)
  • 1922 – Jack Kerouac, American author and poet (d. 1969)
  • 1922 – Lane Kirkland, American sailor and union leader (d. 1999)
  • 1923 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater and cyclist (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Norbert Brainin, Austrian violinist (d. 2005)
  • 1923 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Mae Young, American wrestler (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Leo Esaki, Japanese physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1925 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (d. 2012)
  • 1926 – George Ariyoshi, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Hawaii
  • 1926 – Arthur A. Hartman, American career diplomat (d. 2015)
  • 1926 – John Clellon Holmes, American author and professor (d. 1988)
  • 1926 – David Nadien, American violinist (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – Raúl Alfonsín, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 46th President of Argentina (d. 2009)
  • 1927 – Emmett Leith, professor of electrical engineering and co-inventor of three-dimensional holography (d. 2005)
  • 1927 – Sudharmono, 5th Vice President of Indonesia (d. 2006)
  • 1928 – Edward Albee, American director and playwright (d. 2016)
  • 1929 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (d. 2014)
  • 1930 – Antony Acland, British former diplomat and Provost of Eton College
  • 1931 – Józef Tischner, Polish priest and philosopher (d. 2000)
  • 1932 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian basketball player (d. 2014)
  • 1932 – Andrew Young, American pastor and politician, 14th United States Ambassador to the United Nations
  • 1933 – Myrna Fahey, American actress (d. 1973)
  • 1933 – Barbara Feldon, American actress
  • 1934 – Francisco J. Ayala, Spanish-American evolutionary biologist and philosopher
  • 1936 – Virginia Hamilton, American children’s books author (d. 2002)
  • 1936 – Michał Heller, Polish professor of philosophy
  • 1936 – Eddie Sutton, American basketball player and coach
  • 1937 – Zoltán Horvath, Hungarian sabre fencer
  • 1937 – Zurab Sotkilava, Georgian operatic tenor (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – Vladimir Msryan, Armenian actor, (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Johnny Rutherford, American race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1938 – Juan Horacio Suárez, Argentine bishop
  • 1940 – Al Jarreau, American singer (d. 2017)
  • 1941 – Josip Skoblar, former Croatian footballer
  • 1942 – Jimmy Wynn, American baseball player (d. 2020)
  • 1943 – Ratko Mladić, Serbian general
  • 1944 – Erwin Mueller, former American basketball player (d. 2018)
  • 1945 – Anne Summers, Australian feminist writer, editor, publisher and public servant
  • 1946 – Dean Cundey, American cinematographer and film director
  • 1946 – Liza Minnelli, American actress, singer and dancer
  • 1946 – Frank Welker, American voice actor and singer
  • 1947 – Peter Harry Carstensen, German educator and politician
  • 1947 – Jan-Erik Enestam, Finland-Swedish politician
  • 1947 – David Rigert, Soviet Olympic weightlifter
  • 1947 – Mitt Romney, American businessman and politician, 70th Governor of Massachusetts
  • 1948 – Virginia Bottomley, Scottish social worker and politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
  • 1948 – Kent Conrad, American politician
  • 1948 – James Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1949 – Rob Cohen, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1949 – David Mellor, British politician
  • 1950 – Javier Clemente, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1952 – André Comte-Sponville, French philosopher
  • 1952 – Yasuhiko Okudera, former Japanese footballer
  • 1952 – John Mitchell, English footballer, forward
  • 1953 – Pavel Pinigin, former Soviet wrestler and Olympic champion
  • 1954 – Anish Kapoor, Indian-English sculptor
  • 1956 – Ove Aunli, former Norwegian cross-country skier
  • 1956 – Stanisław Bobak, Polish ski jumper (d. 2010)
  • 1956 – Steve Harris, English bass player and songwriter
  • 1956 – Lesley Manville, English actress
  • 1956 – Dale Murphy, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1956 – Pim Verbeek, Dutch football manager (d. 2019)
  • 1957 – Patrick Battiston, French footballer and coach
  • 1957 – Marlon Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1957 – Andrey Lopatov, Soviet basketball player
  • 1958 – Phil Anderson, English-Australian cyclist
  • 1959 – Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb politician and president of Republika Srpska
  • 1959 – Luenell, American comedian and actress
  • 1959 – Michael Walter, German luger (d. 2016)
  • 1960 – Jason Beghe, American actor
  • 1960 – Courtney B. Vance, American actor and painter
  • 1961 – Titus Welliver, American actor
  • 1962 – Julia Campbell, American actress
  • 1962 – Andreas Köpke, former German footballer
  • 1962 – Chris Sanders, American illustrator and voice actor
  • 1962 – Darryl Strawberry, American baseball player and minister
  • 1963 – John Andretti, American race car driver (d. 2020)
  • 1963 – Candy Costie, American swimmer
  • 1963 – Joaquim Cruz, Brazilian runner and coach
  • 1963 – Reiner Gies, German boxer
  • 1963 – Ian Holloway, English footballer and manager
  • 1963 – Paul Way, English golfer
  • 1964 – Dieter Eckstein, retired German footballer
  • 1964 – Umirzak Shukeyev, Kazakh chairman of Samruk-Kazyna
  • 1965 – Steve Finley, American baseball player
  • 1965 – Ivari Padar, former Minister of Finance and Minister of Agriculture of the Estonian Social Democratic Party
  • 1966 – David Daniels, American countertenor
  • 1966 – Grant Long, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Julio Dely Valdés, Panamanian footballer and manager
  • 1968 – Tammy Duckworth, Thai-American colonel, pilot, and politician
  • 1968 – Aaron Eckhart, American actor and producer
  • 1969 – Graham Coxon, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1969 – Jake Tapper, American journalist and author
  • 1970 – Karen Bradley, British politician
  • 1970 – Dave Eggers, American author and screenwriter
  • 1970 – Mathias Grönberg, Swedish golfer
  • 1970 – Rex Walters, American basketball player and coach
  • 1971 – Isaiah Rider, American basketball player and rapper
  • 1971 – Dragutin Topić, Serbian high jumper
  • 1972 – Doron Sheffer, Israeli basketball player
  • 1974 – Charles Akonnor, former Ghanaian footballer
  • 1974 – Walid Badir, former Israeli footballer
  • 1975 – Nicolae Grigore, former Romanian footballer
  • 1975 – Edgaras Jankauskas, former Lithuanian footballer
  • 1975 – Srđan Pecelj, Bosnian footballer
  • 1976 – Deron Quint, American ice hockey defenseman
  • 1976 – Zhao Wei, Chinese actress, film director, producer and pop singer
  • 1977 – Michelle Burgher, track and field athlete
  • 1977 – Ramiro Corrales, American soccer player
  • 1977 – Amdy Faye, former Senegalese footballer
  • 1977 – Brent Johnson, American ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Casey Mears, American race car driver
  • 1978 – Marco Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
  • 1978 – Arina Tanemura, Japanese author and illustrator
  • 1979 – Rhys Coiro, American actor
  • 1979 – Pete Doherty, English musician, songwriter, actor, poet, writer, and artist
  • 1979 – Jamie Dwyer, Australian field hockey player and coach
  • 1979 – Gerard López, former Spanish footballer
  • 1979 – Ben Sandford, New Zealand skeleton racer
  • 1979 – Tim Wieskötter, German sprint canoer
  • 1979 – Edwin Villafuerte, Ecuadorian goalkeeper
  • 1980 – Césinha, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980 – Becky Holliday, American pole vaulter
  • 1980 – Jens Mouris, Dutch cyclist
  • 1980 – Douglas Murray, Swedish ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Kenta Kobayashi, Japanese wrestler and kick-boxer
  • 1981 – Katarina Srebotnik, Slovenian tennis player
  • 1981 – Holly Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1982 – Lili Bordán, Hungarian-American actress
  • 1982 – Samm Levine, American actor and comedian
  • 1982 – Ilya Nikulin, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Hisato Satō, Japanese footballer
  • 1982 – Yūto Satō, Japanese footballer
  • 1982 – Tobias Schweinsteiger, German footballer
  • 1983 – Atif Aslam, Pakistani singer and actor
  • 1984 – Shreya Ghoshal, Indian singer
  • 1984 – Jaimie Alexander, American actress
  • 1985 – Marco Bonanomi, Italian racing driver
  • 1985 – Aleksandr Bukharov, Russian footballer
  • 1985 – Ed Clancy, English track and road cyclist
  • 1985 – Andriy Tovt, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1986 – Martynas Andriuškevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1986 – Oleh Dopilka, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1986 – Danny Jones, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
  • 1986 – Ben Offereins, Australian runner
  • 1986 – František Rajtoral, Czech footballer (d. 2017)
  • 1987 – Manuele Boaro, Italian cyclist
  • 1987 – Jessica Hardy, American swimmer
  • 1987 – Maxwell Holt, American volleyball player
  • 1987 – Teimour Radjabov, Azerbaijani chess player
  • 1987 – Chris Seitz, American soccer player
  • 1987 – Vadim Shipachyov, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Pablo Velázquez, Paraguayan footballer
  • 1988 – Sebastian Brendel, German canoe racer
  • 1988 – Kostas Mitroglou, Greek footballer
  • 1988 – Cristian Chagas Tarouco, Brazilian footballer
  • 1989 – Jordan Adéoti, French footballer
  • 1989 – Vytautas Černiauskas, Lithuanian footballer
  • 1989 – Tyler Clary, former American swimmer
  • 1989 – Richard Eckersley, English footballer
  • 1989 – Chen Jianghua, Chinese basketball player
  • 1989 – Siim Luts, Estonian footballer
  • 1990 – Alexander Kröckel, German skeleton racer
  • 1990 – Irakli Kvekveskiri, Georgian footballer
  • 1990 – Dawid Kubacki, Polish ski jumper
  • 1990 – Matias Myttynen, Finnish ice hockey player
  • 1990 – Ilija Nestorovski, Macedonian footballer
  • 1990 – Milena Raičević, Montenegrin handballer
  • 1990 – Mikko Sumusalo, Finnish footballer
  • 1991 – Felix Kroos, German footballer
  • 1991 – Niclas Heimann, German footballer
  • 1991 – Leandro Fernandez, Argentine footballer
  • 1992 – Daniele Baselli, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Jordan Ferri, French footballer
  • 1992 – Ciara Mageean, Irish middle-distance runner
  • 1992 – Jiří Skalák, Czech footballer
  • 1993 – Shehu Abdullahi, Nigerian footballer
  • 1993 – Amjad Attwan, Iraqi footballer
  • 1993 – Anton Shramchenko, Belarusian footballer
  • 1994 – Katie Archibald, Scottish track cyclist
  • 1994 – Jerami Grant, American basketball player
  • 1994 – Christina Grimmie, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1996 – Sehrou Guirassy, French footballer
  • 1996 – Karim Hafez, Egyptian footballer
  • 1996 – Robert Murić, Croatian footballer
  • 1997 – Dean Henderson, English footballer
  • 1997 – Allan Saint-Maximin, French footballer
  • 1997 – Felipe Vizeu, Brazilian footballer
  • 1998 – Mecole Hardman, American football player
  • 1998 – Daniel Samohin, Israeli figure skater
  • 1998 – Elizaveta Ukolova, Czech figure skater

Deaths on March 12

  • 417 – Innocent I, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 604 – Gregory I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 540)
  • 1022 – Symeon the New Theologian (b. 949)
  • 1316 – Stefan Dragutin (b. c. 1244)
  • 1539 – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, English diplomat and politician (b.1477)
  • 1648 – Tirso de Molina, Spanish monk and poet (b. 1571)
  • 1699 – Peder Griffenfeld, Danish politician (b. 1635)
  • 1898 – Zachris Topelius, Finnish-Swedish journalist, historian, and author (b. 1818)
  • 1916 – Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Austrian author (b. 1830)
  • 1925 – Sun Yat-sen, Chinese physician and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1866)
  • 1929 – Asa Griggs Candler, American businessman and politician, 44th Mayor of Atlanta (b. 1851)
  • 1935 – Mihajlo Pupin, Serbian-American physicist and chemist (b. 1858)
  • 1942 – William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862)
  • 1943 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor (b. 1869)
  • 1946 – Ferenc Szálasi, Hungarian soldier and politician, Head of State of Hungary (b. 1897)
  • 1949 – Wilhelm Steinkopf, German chemist (b. 1879)
  • 1954 – Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (b. 1870)
  • 1955 – Charlie Parker, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1920)
  • 1955 – Theodor Plievier, German author best known for his anti-war novel (b. 1892)
  • 1957 – Josephine Hull, American actress (b. 1877)
  • 1971 – Eugene Lindsay Opie, American physician and pathologist (b. 1873)
  • 1973 – Frankie Frisch, American baseball player and manager (b. 1898)
  • 1974 – George D. Sax, American banker and businessman (b. 1904)
  • 1985 – Eugene Ormandy, Hungarian-American violinist and conductor (b. 1899)
  • 1989 – Maurice Evans, English-American actor (b. 1901)
  • 1991 – Ragnar Granit, Finnish-Swedish neuroscientist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1900)
  • 1991 – William Heinesen, Faroese author, poet, and author (b. 1900)
  • 1992 – Lucy M. Lewis, American potter (b. 1890)
  • 1998 – Beatrice Wood, American painter and potter (b. 1893)
  • 1999 – Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1916)
  • 1999 – Bidu Sayão, Brazilian-American soprano (b. 1902)
  • 2000 – Aleksandar Nikolić, Yugoslav basketball coach (b. 1924)
  • 2001 – Morton Downey Jr., American singer-songwriter, actor, and talk show host (b. 1933)
  • 2001 – Robert Ludlum, American author (b. 1927)
  • 2001 – Victor Westhoff, Dutch botanist and academic (b. 1916)
  • 2002 – Spyros Kyprianou, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Cyprus (b. 1932)
  • 2002 – Jean-Paul Riopelle, Canadian painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
  • 2003 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (b. 1952)
  • 2003 – Howard Fast, American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1914)
  • 2003 – Lynne Thigpen, American actress and singer (b. 1948)
  • 2004 – Milton Resnick, Russian-American painter (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – Victor Sokolov, Russian-American priest and journalist (b. 1947)
  • 2008 – Jorge Guinzburg, Argentinian journalist and producer (b. 1949)
  • 2008 – Lazare Ponticelli, Italian-French soldier and supercentenarian (b. 1897)
  • 2010 – Miguel Delibes, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – Nilla Pizzi, Italian singer (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Dick Harter, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – Michael Hossack, American drummer (b. 1946)
  • 2012 – Friedhelm Konietzka, German-Swiss footballer and manager (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Clive Burr, English drummer and songwriter (b. 1957)
  • 2013 – Michael Grigsby, English director and producer (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Ganesh Pyne, Indian painter and illustrator (b. 1937)
  • 2014 – Věra Chytilová, Czech actress, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – Paul C. Donnelly, American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (b. 1936)
  • 2015 – Willie Barrow, American minister and activist (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Michael Graves, American architect and academic, designed the Portland Building and the Humana Building (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet and author (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1948)
  • 2016 – Rafiq Azad, Bangladeshi poet and author (b. 1942)
  • 2016 – Felix Ibru, Nigerian architect and politician, Governor of Delta State (b. 1935)
  • 2016 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on March 12

  • Arbor Day (China)
  • Arbor Day (Taiwan)
  • Aztec New Year
  • Christian feast day:
    • Alphege
    • Bernard of Carinola (or of Capua)
    • Gorgonius, Peter Cubicularius and Dorotheus of Nicomedia
    • Mura (McFeredach)
    • Fina
    • Maximilian of Tebessa
    • Paul Aurelian
    • Pope Gregory I (Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Catholic Church, and Anglican Communion)
    • Theophanes the Confessor
    • March 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • National Day (Mauritius)
  • World Day Against Cyber Censorship
  • Youth Day (Zambia)

March 12- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /

February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2016, 2020, and 2024. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth’s revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in most of the world. Lunisolar calendars (whose months are based on the phases of the Moon) instead add a leap or intercalary month

In the Gregorian calendar, years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day. Thus, 1700, 1800, and 1900 did not contain a leap day; neither will 2100, 2200, and 2300. Conversely, 1600 and 2000 did and 2400 will. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. Years not containing a leap day are called common years. In the Chinese calendar, this day will only occur in years of the monkey, dragon, and rat.

A leap day is observed because the Earth’s period of orbital revolution around the Sun takes approximately six hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth’s position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. The Julian calendar used in Christendom until the 16th century added a leap day every four years; but this rule adds too many days (roughly three every 400 years), making the equinoxes and solstices shift gradually to earlier dates. By the 16th century the vernal equinox had drifted to March 11, so the Gregorian calendar was introduced both to shift it back by omitting several days, and to reduce the number of leap years via the aforementioned century rule to keep the equinoxes more or less fixed and the date of Easter consistently close to the vernal equinox.

Leap days can present a particular problem in computing known as the leap year bug when February 29 is not handled correctly in logic that accepts or manipulates dates. For example, this has happened with ATMs and Microsoft’s cloud system Azure.

Leap years

Although most modern calendar years have 365 days, a complete revolution around the Sun (one solar year) takes approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (or, for simplicity’s sake, approximately 365 days and 6 hours, or 365.25 days) .An extra 23 hours, 15 minutes, and 4 seconds thus accumulates every four years (again, for simplicity’s sake, approximately an extra 24 hours, or 1 day, every four years), requiring that an extra calendar day be added to align the calendar with the Sun’s apparent position. Without the added day, in future years the seasons would occur later in the calendar, eventually leading to confusion about when to undertake activities dependent on weather, ecology, or hours of daylight.

Solar years are actually slightly shorter than 365 days and 6 hours (365.25 days), which had been known since the 2nd century BC when Hipparchus stated that it lasted 365 + 1/4 − 1/300 days, but this was ignored by Julius Caesar and his astronomical adviser Sosigenes. The Gregorian calendar corrected this by adopting the length of the tropical year stated in three medieval sources, the Alfonsine tables, De Revolutionibus, and the Prutenic Tables, truncated to two sexagesimal places, 365 14/60 33/3600 days or 365 + 1/4 − 3/400 days or 365.2425 days. The length of the tropical year in 2000 was 365.24217 mean solar daysAdding a calendar day every four years, therefore, results in an excess of around 44 minutes every four years, or about 3 days every 400 years. To compensate for this, three days are removed every 400 years. The Gregorian calendar reform implements this adjustment by making an exception to the general rule that there is a leap year every four years. Instead, a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year unless that year is also divisible by 400. This means that the years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years, while the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, and 2500 are not leap years.

Modern (Gregorian) calendar

The Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20,871 weeks including 97 leap days (146,097 days). Over this period, February 29 falls on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday 13 times; Friday and Saturday 14 times; and Monday and Wednesday 15 times. Except for a century mark that is not a multiple of 400, consecutive leap days fall in order Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday, Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, and repeats again.

Early Roman calendar

Adding a leap day (after 23 February) shifts the commemorations in the 1962 Roman Missal.

Main article: Roman calendar

The calendar of the Roman king Numa Pompilius had only 355 days (even though it was not a lunar calendar) which meant that it would quickly become unsynchronized with the solar year. An earlier Roman solution to this problem was to lengthen the calendar periodically by adding extra days to February, the last month of the year. February consisted of two parts, each with an odd number of days. The first part ended with the Terminalia on the 23rd, which was considered the end of the religious year, and the five remaining days formed the second part. To keep the calendar year roughly aligned with the solar year, a leap month, called Mensis Intercalaris (“intercalary month”), was added from time to time between these two parts of February. The (usual) second part of February was incorporated in the intercalary month as its last five days, with no change either in their dates or the festivals observed on them. This followed naturally because the days after the Ides (13th) of February (in an ordinary year) or the Ides of Intercalaris (in an intercalary year) both counted down to the Kalends of March (i.e. they were known as “the nth day before the Kalends of March”). The Nones (5th) and Ides of Intercalaris occupied their normal positions.

The third-century writer Censorinus says:

When it was thought necessary to add (every two years) an intercalary month of 22 or 23 days, so that the civil year should correspond to the natural (solar) year, this intercalation was in preference made in February, between Terminalia [23rd]and Regifugium [24th].

Julian reform

Main article: Julian calendar

The set leap day was introduced in Rome as a part of the Julian reform in the 1st century BCE. As before, the intercalation was made after February 23. The day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the “bis sextum“—literally ‘twice sixth’, since February 24 was ‘the sixth day before the Kalends of March’ using Roman inclusive counting (March 1 was the Kalends of March and was also the first day of the calendar year). Inclusive counting initially caused the Roman priests to add the extra day every three years instead of four; Augustus was compelled to omit leap years for a few decades to return the calendar to its proper position. Although there were exceptions, the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually regarded as the intercalated or “bissextile” day since the 3rd century CE. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages, although this has only been formally enacted in Sweden and Finland. In Britain, the extra day added to leap years remains notionally the 24th, although the 29th remains more visible on the calendar.

Born on February 29

A person born on February 29 may be called a “leapling”, a “leaper”, or a “leap-year baby”. Some leaplings celebrate their birthday in non-leap years on either February 28 or March 1, while others only observe birthdays on the authentic intercalary date, February 29.

Legal status: The effective legal date of a leapling’s birthday in non-leap years varies between jurisdictions.

In the United Kingdom and its former colony Hong Kong, when a person born on February 29 turns 18, they are considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.

In New Zealand, a person born on February 29 is deemed to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years, for the purposes of Driver Licensing under §2(2) of the Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Rule 1999. The net result is that for drivers aged 75, or over 80, their driver licence expires at the end of the last day of February, even though their birthday would otherwise fall on the first day in March in non-leap years. Otherwise, New Zealand legislation is silent on when a person born on February 29 has their birthday, although case law would suggest that age is computed based on the number of years elapsed, from the day after the date of birth, and that the person’s birth day then occurs on the last day of the year period. This differs from English common law where a birthday is considered to be the start of the next year, the preceding year ending at midnight on the day preceding the birthday. While a person attains the same age on the same day, it also means that, in New Zealand, if something must be done by the time a person attains a certain age, that thing can be done on the birthday that they attain that age and still be lawful.

In Taiwan, the legal birthday of a leapling is February 28 in common years:

If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years does not commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there is no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month.

Thus, in England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29 will have legally reached 18 years old on March 1. If they were born in Taiwan they legally become 18 on February 28, a day earlier.

In the United States, according to John Reitz, a professor of law at the University of Iowa, there is no “… statute or general rule that has anything to do with leap day.” Reitz speculates that “March 1 would likely be considered the legal birthday in non-leap years of someone born on leap day,”using the same reasoning as described for the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. However, for the purposes of Social Security, a person attains the next age the day before the anniversary of birth. Therefore, Social Security would recognize February 28 as the change in age for leap year births, not March 1

In fiction

There are many instances in children’s literature where a person’s claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting only their leap-year birthdays.

A similar device is used in the plot of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance: as a child, Frederic was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday. Having passed his 21st year, he leaves the pirate band and falls in love. However, since he was born on February 29, his 21st birthday will not arrive until he is eighty-eight (since 1900 was not a leap year), so he must leave his fiancée and return to the pirates.

Since 1967, February 29 has been the official birthday of Superman, but not Clark Kent.

February 29 in History

  • 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.
  • 1644 – Abel Tasman’s second Pacific voyage begins.
  • 1704 – Queen Anne’s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
  • 1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar.
  • 1720 – Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24.
  • 1752 – King Alaungpaya founds Konbaung Dynasty, the last dynasty of Burmese monarchy.
  • 1768 – Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation.
  • 1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
  • 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails: Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
  • 1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
  • 1912 – The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.
  • 1916 – Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
  • 1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.
  • 1920 – Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution.
  • 1936 – February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.
  • 1940 – 12th Academy Awards: For her performance as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
  • 1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
  • 1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden’s Consul General in San Francisco.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
  • 1960 – The 5.7 Mw  Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir, and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
  • 1980 – Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
  • 1984 – Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
  • 1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with one hundred other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
  • 1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay.
  • 1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.
  • 1996 – Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew die.
  • 1996 – Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
  • 2000 – Second Chechen War: Eighty-four Russian paratroopers are killed in a rebel attack on a guard post near Ulus Kert.
  • 2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup.
  • 2008 – The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence decides to withdraw Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan “immediately” after a leak leads to his deployment being reported by foreign media.
  • 2008 – Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.
  • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction is completed. It is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and the second-tallest artificial structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.

Births on February 29

  • 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
  • 1528 – Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1579)
  • 1528 – Domingo Báñez, Spanish theologian (d. 1604)
  • 1572 – Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (d. 1638)
  • 1576 – Antonio Neri, Florentine priest and glassmaker (d. 1614)
  • 1640 – Benjamin Keach, Particular Baptist preacher and author whose name was given to Keach’s Catechism (d. 1704)
  • 1692 – John Byrom, English poet and educator (d. 1763)
  • 1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-English dancer (d. 1822)
  • 1736 – Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, founded the Shakers (d. 1784)
  • 1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
  • 1812 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (d. February 29, 1880)
  • 1828 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1921)
  • 1836 – Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908)
  • 1852 – Frank Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian lawyer and judge, 4th Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1936)
  • 1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (d. 1929)
  • 1876 – William Stewart, Scottish footballer
  • 1884 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1941)
  • 1892 – Augusta Savage, American sculptor (d. 1962)
  • 1896 – Morarji Desai, Indian civil servant and politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
  • 1896 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
  • 1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1957)
  • 1904 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
  • 1908 – Balthus, French-Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 2001)
  • 1908 – Dee Brown, American historian and author (d. 2002)
  • 1908 – Alf Gover, English cricketer and coach (d. 2001)
  • 1908 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (d. 1968)
  • 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
  • 1916 – James B. Donovan, American lawyer (d. 1970)
  • 1916 – Leonard Shoen, founder of U-Haul Corp. (d. 1999)
  • 1920 – Fyodor Abramov, Russian author and critic (d. 1983)
  • 1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
  • 1920 – James Mitchell, American actor and dancer (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (d. 2016)
  • 1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and academic (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Rolland W. Redlin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
  • 1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge and politician, 14th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 2001)
  • 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, Salvadoran politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2017)
  • 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
  • 1928 – Joss Ackland, English actor
  • 1928 – Jean Adamson, British writer and illustrator
  • 1928 – Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist, and author
  • 1928 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist, co-created the Logo programming language (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Masten Gregory, American race car driver (d. 1985)
  • 1932 – Reri Grist, American soprano and actress
  • 1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
  • 1932 – Gavin Stevens, Australian cricketer
  • 1936 – Jack Lousma, American colonel, astronaut, and politician
  • 1936 – Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
  • 1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1936 – Nh. Dini, Indonesian writer (d. 2018)
  • 1940 – Sonja Barend, Dutch talk show host
  • 1940 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople
  • 1940 – William H. Turner, Jr., American horse trainer
  • 1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian physicist and politician
  • 1944 – Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1944 – Nicholas Frayling, English priest and academic
  • 1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress (d. 2014)
  • 1944 – Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008)
  • 1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian author and illustrator
  • 1944 – Lennart Svedberg, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1972).
  • 1948 – Hermione Lee, English author, critic, and academic
  • 1948 – Manoel Maria, Brazilian footballer
  • 1948 – Patricia A. McKillip, American author
  • 1948 – Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
  • 1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American journalist and producer
  • 1952 – Tim Powers, American author and educator
  • 1952 – Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
  • 1952 – Bart Stupak, American police officer and politician
  • 1956 – Jonathan Coleman, English-Australian radio and television host
  • 1956 – Bob Speller, Canadian businessman and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Agriculture
  • 1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
  • 1960 – Lucian Grainge, English businessman
  • 1960 – Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Dave Brailsford, English cyclist and coach
  • 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
  • 1964 – Mervyn Warren, American tenor, composer, and producer
  • 1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player and coach
  • 1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler and sportscaster
  • 1968 – Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress and model
  • 1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player and coach
  • 1968 – Howard Tayler, American author and illustrator
  • 1968 – Eugene Volokh, Ukrainian-American lawyer and educator
  • 1968 – Frank Woodley, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1972 – Mike Pollitt, English footballer and coach
  • 1972 – Sylvie Lubamba, Italian showgirl
  • 1972 – Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-American model and actor
  • 1972 – Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain
  • 1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (d. 2002)
  • 1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter
  • 1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American activist and educator (d. 1994)
  • 1976 – Vonteego Cummings, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Gehad Grisha, Egyptian soccer referee
  • 1976 – Katalin Kovács, Hungarian sprint kayaker
  • 1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player
  • 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
  • 1980 – Çağdaş Atan, Turkish footballer and coach
  • 1980 – Chris Conley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1980 – Patrick Côté, Canadian mixed martial artist
  • 1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Rubén Plaza, Spanish cyclist
  • 1980 – Peter Scanavino, American actor
  • 1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster
  • 1984 – Rica Imai, Japanese model and actress
  • 1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer
  • 1984 – Nuria Martínez, Spanish basketball player
  • 1984 – Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
  • 1984 – Rakhee Thakrar, English actress
  • 1984 – Dennis Walger, German rugby player
  • 1984 – Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1984 – Mark Foster, American singer, songwriter and musician
  • 1988 – Lena Gercke, German model and television host
  • 1988 – Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
  • 1988 – Brent Macaffer, Australian Rules footballer
  • 1988 – Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player
  • 1988 – Milan Melindo, Filipino boxer
  • 1992 – Sean Abbott, Australian cricketer
  • 1992 – Ben Hampton, Australian rugby league player
  • 1992 – Eric Kendricks, American football player
  • 1992 – Caitlin EJ Meyer, American actress
  • 1996 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1996 – Reece Prescod, British sprinter
  • 1996 – Claudia Williams, New Zealand tennis player
  • 2000 – Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer

Deaths on February 29

  • 468 – Pope Hilarius
  • 992 – Oswald of Worcester, Anglo-Saxon archbishop and saint (b. 925)
  • 1212 – Hōnen, Japanese monk, founded Jōdo-shū (b. 1133)
  • 1460 – Albert III, Duke of Bavaria-Munich (b. 1401)
  • 1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish Protestant reformer and martyr (b. 1504)
  • 1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer and diplomat (b. 1540)
  • 1600 – Caspar Hennenberger, German pastor, historian and cartographer (b. 1529)
  • 1604 – John Whitgift, English archbishop and academic (b. 1530)
  • 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
  • 1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English physicist and philosopher (b. 1683)
  • 1792 – Johann Andreas Stein, German piano builder (b. 1728)
  • 1820 – Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German historian and critic (b. 1743)
  • 1848 – Louis-François Lejeune, French general, painter and lithographer (b. 1775)
  • 1852 – Matsudaira Katataka, Japanese daimyō (b. 1806)
  • 1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
  • 1880 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (b. February 29, 1812)
  • 1908
    • Pat Garrett, American sheriff (b. 1850)
    • John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
  • 1920 – Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
  • 1928
    • Adolphe Appia, Swiss architect and theorist (b. 1862)
    • Ina Coolbrith, American poet and librarian (b. 1841)
  • 1940 – E. F. Benson, English archaeologist and author (b. 1867)
  • 1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (b. 1861)
  • 1948
    • Robert Barrington-Ward, English lawyer and journalist (b. 1891)
    • Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
  • 1952 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese politician and diplomat, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations (b. 1888)
  • 1956 – Elpidio Quirino, Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
  • 1960
    • Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (b. 1903)
    • Walter Yust, American journalist and author (b. 1894)
  • 1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
  • 1968
    • Lena Blackburne, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1886)
    • Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet and educator (b. 1886)
  • 1972 – Tom Davies, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
  • 1976 – Florence P. Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
  • 1980
    • Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
    • Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
  • 1984 – Ludwik Starski, Polish screenwriter and songwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1988 – Sidney Harmon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1907)
  • 1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet and author (b. 1897)
  • 1996
    • Wes Farrell, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
    • Ralph Rowe, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1924)
  • 2000 – Dennis Danell, American guitarist (b. 1961)
  • 2004
    • Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (b. 1923)
    • Jerome Lawrence, American playwright and author (b. 1915)
    • Harold Bernard St. John, Barbadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
    • Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (b. 1943)
  • 2008
    • Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
    • Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1917)
    • Akira Yamada, Japanese scholar and philosopher (b. 1922)
  • 2012
    • Roland Bautista, American guitarist (b. 1951)
    • Davy Jones, English singer, guitarist and actor (b. 1945)
    • Sheldon Moldoff, American illustrator (b. 1920)
    • P. K. Narayana Panicker, Indian social leader (b. 1930)
  • 2016
    • Wenn V. Deramas, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1966)
    • Gil Hill, American police officer, actor and politician (b. 1931)
    • Josefin Nilsson, Swedish singer (b. 1969)
    • Louise Rennison, English author (b. 1951)
    • Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistani assassin (b. 1985)

Holidays and observances on February 29

  • As a Christian feast day:
    • Auguste Chapdelaine (one of the Martyr Saints of China)
    • Oswald of Worcester (in leap year only)
    • Saint John Cassian
    • February 29 in the Orthodox church
  • The fourth day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (observed on this date only if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz falls on March 21)
  • Rare Disease Day (in leap years; celebrated in common years on February 28)
  • Bachelor’s Day (Ireland, United Kingdom)

Folk traditions

There is a popular tradition known as Bachelor’s Day in some countries allowing a woman to propose marriage to a man on February 29If the man refuses, he then is obliged to give the woman money or buy her a dress. In upper-class societies in Europe, if the man refuses marriage, he then must purchase 12 pairs of gloves for the woman, suggesting that the gloves are to hide the woman’s embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. In Ireland, the tradition is supposed to originate from a deal that Saint Bridget struck with Saint Patrick.

In the town of Aurora, Illinois, single women are deputized and may arrest single men, subject to a four-dollar fine, every February 29.

In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day.

February 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day /

This day marks the approximate midpoint of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and of summer in the Southern Hemisphere (starting the season at the December solstice).

February 4 in History 

  • 211 – Following the death of Rome’s Emperor Septimius Severus at Eboracum (modern York, England) while preparing to lead a campaign against the Caledonians, the empire is left in the control of his two quarreling sons, Caracalla and Geta, whom he had instructed to make peace.
  • 960 – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor Taizu of Song, initiating the Song dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
  • 1169 – A strong earthquake struck the Ionian coast of Sicily, causing tens of thousands of injuries and deaths, especially in Catania.
  • 1454 – In the Thirteen Years’ War, the Secret Council of the Prussian Confederation sends a formal act of disobedience to the Grand Master.
  • 1555 – John Rogers is burned at the stake, becoming the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England.
  • 1703 – In Edo (now Tokyo), all but one of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master’s death.
  • 1758 – The city of Macapá in Brazil is founded by Sebastião Veiga Cabral.
  • 1789 – George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States by the U.S. Electoral College.
  • 1794 – The French legislature abolishes slavery throughout all territories of the French First Republic. It would be reestablished in the French West Indies in 1802.
  • 1797 – The Riobamba earthquake strikes Ecuador, causing up to 40,000 casualties.
  • 1801 – John Marshall is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States.
  • 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: Britain seizes Guadeloupe.
  • 1820 – The Chilean Navy under the command of Lord Cochrane completes the two-day long Capture of Valdivia with just 300 men and two ships.
  • 1825 – The Ohio Legislature authorizes the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal and the Miami and Erie Canal.
  • 1846 – The first Mormon pioneers make their exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, westward towards Salt Lake Valley.
  • 1859 – The Codex Sinaiticus is discovered in Egypt.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: In Montgomery, Alabama, delegates from six break-away U.S. states meet and form the Confederate States of America.
  • 1899 – The Philippine–American War begins with the Battle of Manila.
  • 1932 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Harbin, Manchuria, falls to Japan.
  • 1938 – Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Armed Forces High Command.
  • 1941 – The United Service Organization (USO) is created to entertain American troops.
  • 1945 – World War II: Santo Tomas Internment Camp is liberated from Japanese authority.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Yalta Conference between the “Big Three” (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) opens at the Livadia Palace in the Crimea.
  • 1945 – World War II: The British Indian Army and Imperial Japanese Army begin a series of battles known as the Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations.
  • 1948 – Ceylon (later renamed Sri Lanka) becomes independent within the British Commonwealth.
  • 1961 – The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
  • 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 60 plunges into Tokyo Bay, killing 133.
  • 1967 – Lunar Orbiter program: Lunar Orbiter 3 lifts off from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 13 on its mission to identify possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo spacecraft.
  • 1969 – Yasser Arafat takes over as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
  • 1974 – The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
  • 1974 – M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
  • 1975 – Haicheng earthquake (magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale) occurs in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.
  • 1976 – In Guatemala and Honduras an earthquake kills more than 22,000.
  • 1977 – A Chicago Transit Authority elevated train rear-ends another and derails, killing 11 and injuring 180, the worst accident in the agency’s history.
  • 1992 – A coup d’état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
  • 1997 – En route to Lebanon, two Israeli Sikorsky CH-53 troop-transport helicopters collide in mid-air over northern Galilee, Israel killing 73.
  • 1998 – The 5.9 Mw  Afghanistan earthquake shakes the Takhar Province with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong). With 2,323 killed, and 818 injured, damage is considered extreme.
  • 1999 – Unarmed West African immigrant Amadou Diallo is shot 41 times by four plainclothes New York City police officers on an unrelated stake-out, inflaming race relations in the city.
  • 2000 – The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.
  • 2003 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.
  • 2004 – Facebook, a mainstream online social networking site, is founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.
  • 2015 – TransAsia Airways Flight 235 with 58 people on board, en route from the Taiwanese capital Taipei to Kinmen, crashes into the Keelung River just after take-off, killing 43 people.
  • 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic causes all casinos in Macau to be closed down for 15 days.

Births on February 4

  • 1447 – Lodovico Lazzarelli, Italian poet (d. 1500)
  • 1495 – Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1535)
  • 1495 – Jean Parisot de Valette, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller (d. 1568)
  • 1505 – Mikołaj Rej, Polish poet and author (d. 1580)
  • 1575 – Pierre de Bérulle, French cardinal and theologian, founded the French school of spirituality (d. 1629)
  • 1646 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet and politician (d. 1699)
  • 1676 – Giacomo Facco, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1753)
  • 1677 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German violinist and composer (d. 1731)
  • 1688 – Pierre de Marivaux, French author and playwright (d. 1763)
  • 1725 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (d. 1804)
  • 1740 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (d. 1795)
  • 1778 – Augustin Pyramus de Candolle, Swiss botanist, mycologist, and academic (d. 1841)
  • 1799 – Almeida Garrett, Portuguese journalist and author (d. 1854)
  • 1818 – Emperor Norton, San Francisco eccentric and visionary (d. 1880)citation needed
  • 1831 – Oliver Ames, American financier and politician, 35th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1895)
  • 1848 – Jean Aicard, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1921)
  • 1849 – Jean Richepin, French poet, author, and playwright (d. 1926)
  • 1862 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (d. 1942)
  • 1865 – Abe Isoo, Japanese minister and politician (d. 1949)
  • 1868 – Constance Markievicz, Irish revolutionary and first woman elected to the UK House of Commons (d. 1927)
  • 1871 – Friedrich Ebert, German lawyer and politician, 1st President of Germany (d. 1925)
  • 1872 – Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian and Macedonian revolutionary activist (d. 1903)
  • 1873 – Étienne Desmarteau, Canadian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1905)
  • 1875 – Ludwig Prandtl, German physicist and engineer (d. 1953)
  • 1877 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (d. 1953)
  • 1881 – Eulalio Gutiérrez, Mexican general and politician, President of Mexico (d. 1939)
  • 1881 – Fernand Léger, French painter and sculptor (d. 1955)
  • 1883 – Reinhold Rudenberg, German-American inventor and a pioneer of electron microscopy (d. 1961)
  • 1891 – M. A. Ayyangar, Indian lawyer and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 1978)
  • 1892 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet and academic (d. 1964)
  • 1895 – Nigel Bruce, English actor (d. 1953)
  • 1896 – Friedrich Glauser, Austrian-Swiss author (d. 1938)
  • 1896 – Friedrich Hund, German physicist and academic (d. 1997)
  • 1897 – Ludwig Erhard, German soldier and politician, 2nd Chancellor of West Germany (d. 1977)
  • 1899 – Virginia M. Alexander, American physician and founder of the Aspiranto Health Home (d. 1949)
  • 1900 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (d. 1977)
  • 1902 – Charles Lindbergh, American pilot and explorer (d. 1974)
  • 1902 – Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, German-English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (d. 2003)
  • 1903 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1904 – MacKinlay Kantor, American author and screenwriter (d. 1977)
  • 1905 – Hylda Baker, English comedian, actress and music hall performer (d. 1986)
  • 1906 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (d. 1945)
  • 1906 – Letitia Dunbar-Harrison, Irish librarian (d. 1994)
  • 1906 – Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer and academic, discovered Pluto (d. 1997)
  • 1908 – Julian Bell, English poet and academic (d. 1937)
  • 1912 – Ola Skjåk Bræk, Norwegian banker and politician, Norwegian Minister of Industry (d. 1999)
  • 1912 – Erich Leinsdorf, Austrian-American conductor (d. 1993)
  • 1912 – Byron Nelson, American golfer and sportscaster (d. 2006)
  • 1913 – Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist (d. 2005)
  • 1914 – Alfred Andersch, German-Swiss author and publisher (d. 1980)
  • 1915 – William Talman, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968)
  • 1915 – Norman Wisdom, English singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2010)
  • 1917 – Yahya Khan, Pakistan general and politician, 3rd President of Pakistan (d. 1980)
  • 1918 – Ida Lupino, English-American actress and director (d. 1995)
  • 1918 – Luigi Pareyson, Italian philosopher and author (d. 1991)
  • 1920 – Janet Waldo, American actress and voice artist (d. 2016)
  • 1921 – Betty Friedan, American author and feminist (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Lotfi Zadeh, Iranian-American mathematician and computer scientist and founder of fuzzy logic (d. 2017)
  • 1923 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Russell Hoban, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
  • 1925 – Stanley Karnow, American journalist and historian (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Christopher Zeeman, English mathematician and academic (d. 2016)
  • 1926 – Gyula Grosics, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (d. 1952)
  • 1927 – Rolf Landauer, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1928 – Oscar Cabalén, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1967)
  • 1928 – Osmo Antero Wiio, Finnish journalist, academic, and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Paul Burlison, American rockabilly guitarist (d. 2003)
  • 1929 – Neil Johnston, American basketball player (d. 1978)
  • 1930 – Tibor Antalpéter, Hungarian volleyball player and diplomat, Hungarian Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Arthur E. Chase, American businessman and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – Jim Loscutoff, American basketball player (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Isabel Martínez de Perón, Argentinian dancer and politician, 41st President of Argentina
  • 1935 – Wallis Mathias, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1994)
  • 1935 – Martti Talvela, Finnish opera singer (d. 1989)
  • 1935 – Collin Wilcox, American actress (d. 2009)
  • 1936 – David Brenner, American comedian, actor, and author (d. 2014)
  • 1936 – Claude Nobs, Swiss businessman, founded the Montreux Jazz Festival (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – David Newman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2003)
  • 1938 – Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (d. 2010)
  • 1939 – Stan Lundine, American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of New York
  • 1940 – George A. Romero, American director and producer (d. 2017)
  • 1941 – Russell Cooper, Australian politician, 33rd Premier of Queensland
  • 1941 – Ron Rangi, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
  • 1941 – Jiří Raška, Czech skier and coach (d. 2012)
  • 1943 – Alberto João Jardim, Portuguese journalist and politician, 2nd President of the Regional Government of Madeira
  • 1943 – Wanda Rutkiewicz, Lithuanian-Polish mountaineer (d. 1992)
  • 1943 – Ken Thompson, American computer scientist and programmer, co-developed the B programming language
  • 1944 – Florence LaRue, American singer and actress
  • 1947 – Dennis C. Blair, American admiral and politician, 3rd Director of National Intelligence
  • 1947 – Dan Quayle, American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 44th Vice President of the United States
  • 1948 – Alice Cooper, American singer-songwriter
  • 1948 – Rod Grams, American journalist and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1948 – Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1949 – Michael Beck, American actor
  • 1949 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general (d. 2010)
  • 1951 – Patrick Bergin, Irish actor
  • 1951 – Phil Ehart, American rock drummer and songwriter
  • 1952 – Jenny Shipley, New Zealand educator and politician, 36th Prime Minister of New Zealand
  • 1952 – Thomas Silverstein, American prisoner, founder and former leader of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang (d. 2019)
  • 1955 – Mikuláš Dzurinda, Slovak politician, Prime Minister of Slovakia
  • 1957 – Don Davis, American composer and conductor
  • 1958 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (d. 2005)
  • 1959 – Christian Schreier, German footballer and manager
  • 1959 – Lawrence Taylor, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1960 – Siobhan Dowd, English author and activist (d. 2007)
  • 1960 – Adrienne King, American actress, dancer, and painter
  • 1960 – Jonathan Larson, American composer and playwright (d. 1996)
  • 1961 – Stewart O’Nan, American novelist
  • 1961 – Denis Savard, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Clint Black, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1962 – Stephen Hammond, English banker and politician
  • 1963 – Pirmin Zurbriggen, Swiss skier
  • 1964 – Elke Philipp, German Paralympic equestrian
  • 1965 – Jerome Brown, American football player (d. 1992)
  • 1966 – Tony Butterfield, Australian rugby league player
  • 1966 – Viatcheslav Ekimov, Russian cyclist
  • 1967 – Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (d. 1995)
  • 1970 – Gabrielle Anwar, English actress
  • 1971 – Rob Corddry, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1971 – Eric Garcetti, American lieutenant and politician, 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles
  • 1972 – Dara Ó Briain, Irish comedian and television host
  • 1972 – Giovanni Silva de Oliveira, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1973 – Oscar De La Hoya, American boxer
  • 1973 – James Hird, Australian footballer and coach
  • 1973 – Manny Legace, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1977 – Gavin DeGraw, American singer-songwriter
  • 1979 – Giorgio Pantano, Italian race car driver
  • 1980 – Raimonds Vaikulis, Latvian basketball player
  • 1981 – Jason Kapono, American basketball player
  • 1981 – Johan Vansummeren, Belgian cyclist
  • 1982 – Chris Sabin, American wrestler
  • 1982 – Ivars Timermanis, Latvian basketball player
  • 1982 – Tomas Vaitkus, Lithuanian cyclist
  • 1983 – Lee Stempniak, American ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Rebecca White, Australian politician
  • 1984 – Sandeep Acharya, Indian singer (d. 2013)
  • 1984 – Mauricio Pinilla, Chilean footballer
  • 1986 – Maximilian Götz, German race car driver
  • 1986 – Mahmudullah Riyad, Bangladeshi cricketer
  • 1987 – Darren O’Dea, Irish footballer
  • 1987 – Lucie Šafářová, Czech tennis player
  • 1988 – Carly Patterson, American gymnast and singer
  • 1993 – Bae Noo-ri, South Korean actress
  • 1998 – Maximilian Wöber, Austrian footballer

Deaths on February 4

  • 211 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (b. 145)
  • 708 – Pope Sisinnius (b. 650)
  • 856 – Rabanus Maurus, Frankish archbishop and theologian (b. 780)
  • 870 – Ceolnoth, archbishop of Canterbury
  • 1169 – John of Ajello, Bishop of Catania
  • 1498 – Antonio del Pollaiolo, Italian artist (b. 1429/1433)
  • 1505 – Jeanne de Valois, daughter of Louis XI of France (b. 1464)
  • 1508 – Conrad Celtes, German poet and scholar (b. 1459)
  • 1555 – John Rogers, English clergyman and translator (b. 1505)
  • 1590 – Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1517)
  • 1615 – Giambattista della Porta, Italian playwright and scholar (b. 1535)
  • 1617 – Lodewijk Elzevir, Dutch publisher, co-founded the House of Elzevir (b. 1546)
  • 1713 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (b. 1671)
  • 1774 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (b. 1701)
  • 1781 – Josef Mysliveček, Czech composer (b. 1737)
  • 1799 – Étienne-Louis Boullée, French architect and educator (b. 1728)
  • 1843 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (b. 1770)
  • 1891 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (b. 1816)
  • 1905 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (b. 1841)
  • 1926 – İskilipli Âtıf Hodja, Turkish author and scholar (b. 1875)
  • 1928 – Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
  • 1933 – Archibald Sayce, English linguist and educator (b. 1846)
  • 1940 – Nikolai Yezhov, Russian police officer and politician (b. 1895)
  • 1943 – Frank Calder, English-Canadian ice hockey player and journalist (b. 1877)
  • 1944 – Arsen Kotsoyev, Russian author and translator (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Savielly Tartakower, Russian-French chess player, journalist, and author (b. 1887)
  • 1958 – Henry Kuttner, American author and screenwriter (b. 1915)
  • 1959 – Una O’Connor, Irish-American actress (b. 1880)
  • 1968 – Neal Cassady, American novelist and poet (b. 1926)
  • 1970 – Louise Bogan, American poet and critic (b. 1897)
  • 1974 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1894)
  • 1975 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter and saxophonist (b. 1908)
  • 1982 – Alex Harvey, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1935)
  • 1982 – Georg Konrad Morgen, German lawyer and judge (b. 1909)
  • 1983 – Karen Carpenter, American singer (b. 1950)
  • 1987 – Liberace, American singer-songwriter and pianist, (b. 1919)
  • 1987 – Meena Keshwar Kamal, Afghan activist, founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (b. 1956)
  • 1987 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (b. 1902)
  • 1990 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
  • 1992 – John Dehner, American actor (b. 1915)
  • 1995 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1921)
  • 2000 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (b. 1908)
  • 2002 – Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1907)
  • 2003 – Benyoucef Benkhedda, Algerian pharmacist and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2005 – Ossie Davis, American actor, director, and playwright (b. 1917)
  • 2006 – Betty Friedan, American author and activist (b. 1921)
  • 2007 – José Carlos Bauer, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1925)
  • 2007 – Ilya Kormiltsev, Russian-English poet and translator (b. 1959)
  • 2007 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter and sculptor (b. 1922)
  • 2008 – Augusta Dabney, American actress (b. 1918)
  • 2008 – Stefan Meller, Polish academic and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland (b. 1942)
  • 2010 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Helen Tobias-Duesberg, Estonian-American composer (b. 1919)
  • 2011 – Martial Célestin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Haiti (b. 1913)
  • 2012 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1934)
  • 2012 – Florence Green, English soldier (b. 1901)
  • 2012 – Robert Daniel, American farmer, soldier, and politician (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Mike deGruy, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1951)
  • 2013 – Donald Byrd, American trumpet player (b. 1932)
  • 2013 – Reg Presley, English singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
  • 2014 – Keith Allen, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Eugenio Corti, Italian soldier, author, and playwright (b. 1921)
  • 2014 – Dennis Lota, Zambian footballer (b. 1973)
  • 2015 – Wes Cooley, American soldier and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Fitzhugh L. Fulton, American colonel and pilot (b. 1925)
  • 2016 – Edgar Mitchell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (b. 1949)
  • 2017 – Bano Qudsia, Pakistani writer (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – John Mahoney, English-American actor, voice artist, and comedian (b. 1940)
  • 2019 – Matti Nykänen, Finnish Olympic-winning ski jumper and singer (b. 1963)

Holidays and observances on February 4

  • Christian feast day:
    • Andrew Corsini
    • Gilbert of Sempringham
    • John de Brito
    • Blessed Rabanus Maurus
    • Rimbert
    • Veronica
    • February 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Day of the Armed Struggle (Angola)
  • Earliest day on which Ash Wednesday can fall, while March 10 is the latest; celebrated on the first day of Lent (Christianity)
  • Independence Day (Sri Lanka)
  • Rosa Parks Day (California and Missouri, United States)
  • World Cancer Day

February 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day /
  • 1236 – King Henry III of England marries Eleanor of Provence.
  • 1301 – Andrew III of Hungary dies, ending the Árpád dynasty in Hungary.
  • 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last bishop of Prague and, subsequently, the first Archbishop of Prague.
  • 1539 – Spain annexes Cuba.
  • 1639 – The “Fundamental Orders”, the first written constitution that created a government, is adopted in Connecticut.
  • 1761 – The Third Battle of Panipat is fought in India between the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Marathas.
  • 1784 – American Revolutionary War: Ratification Day, United States – Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain.
  • 1814 – Treaty of Kiel: Frederick VI of Denmark cedes the Kingdom of Norway to Charles XIII of Sweden in return for Pomerania.
  • 1822 – Greek War of Independence: Acrocorinth is captured by Theodoros Kolokotronis and Demetrios Ypsilantis.
  • 1858 – Napoleon III of France escapes an assassination attempt made by Felice Orsini and his accomplices in Paris.
  • 1907 – An earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica kills more than 1,000 people.
  • 1911 – Roald Amundsen’s South Pole expedition makes landfall on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf.
  • 1939 – Norway claims Queen Maud Land in Antarctica.
  • 1943 – World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
  • 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.
  • 1950 – The first prototype of the MiG-17 makes its maiden flight.
  • 1952 – NBC’s long-running morning news program Today debuts, with host Dave Garroway.
  • 1953 – Josip Broz Tito is inaugurated as the first President of Yugoslavia.
  • 1954 – The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator Corporation forming the American Motors Corporation.
  • 1957 – Kripalu Maharaj was named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher) after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars.
  • 1960 – The Reserve Bank of Australia, the country’s central bank and banknote issuing authority, is established.
  • 1967 – Counterculture of the 1960s: The Human Be-In takes place in San Francisco, California’s Golden Gate Park, launching the Summer of Love.
  • 1967 – The New York Times reports that the U.S. Army is conducting secret germ warfare experiments.
  • 1969 – USS Enterprise fire: An accidental explosion aboard the USS Enterprise near Hawaii kills 28 people.
  • 1972 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederick or Christian since 1513.
  • 1973 – Elvis Presley’s concert Aloha from Hawaii is broadcast live via satellite, and sets the record as the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history.
  • 1993 – In Poland’s worst peacetime maritime disaster, ferry MS Jan Heweliusz sinks off the coast of Rügen, drowning 55 passengers and crew; nine crew-members are saved.
  • 2000 – A United Nations tribunal sentences five Roman Catholic Bosnian Croats to up to 25 years in prison for the 1993 killing of more than 100 Bosnian Muslims.
  • 2004 – The national flag of the Republic of Georgia, the so-called “five cross flag”, is restored to official use after a hiatus of some 500 years.
  • 2010 – Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
  • 2011 – Former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali flees his country to Saudi Arabia after a series of street demonstrations against his regime and corrupt policies, asking for freedom, rights and democracy, considered as the anniversary of the Tunisian Revolution and the birth of the Arab Spring.

Births onJanuary 14

  • 83 BC – Mark Antony, Roman general and politician (d. 30 BCE)
  • 1131 – Valdemar I of Denmark (d. 1182)
  • 1273 – Joan I of Navarre, queen regnant of Navarre, queen consort of France (d. 1305)
  • 1451 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1522)
  • 1477 – Hermann of Wied, German archbishop (d. 1552)
  • 1476 – Anne St Leger, Baroness de Ros, English baroness (d. 1526)
  • 1507 – Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal (d. 1578)
  • 1507 – Luca Longhi, Italian painter (d. 1580)
  • 1551 – Abu’l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Grand vizier of emperor Akbar (d. 1602)
  • 1552 – Alberico Gentili, Italian-English academic and jurist (d. 1608)
  • 1615 – John Biddle, English minister and theologian (d. 1662)
  • 1683 – Gottfried Silbermann, German instrument maker (d. 1753)
  • 1684 – Johann Matthias Hase, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (d. 1742)
  • 1684 – Jean-Baptiste van Loo, French painter (d. 1745)
  • 1699 – Jakob Adlung, German organist, historian, and theorist (d. 1762)
  • 1700 – Picander, German poet and playwright (d. 1764)
  • 1702 – Emperor Nakamikado of Japan (d. 1737)
  • 1705 – Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier, French sailor, explorer, and politician (d. 1786)
  • 1741 – Benedict Arnold, American-British general (d. 1801)
  • 1767 – Maria Theresa of Austria (d. 1827)
  • 1780 – Henry Baldwin, American judge and politician (d. 1844)
  • 1792 – Christian de Meza, Danish general (d. 1865)
  • 1793 – John C. Clark, American lawyer and politician (d. 1852)
  • 1798 – Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, Dutch historian, jurist, and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1872)
  • 1800 – Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian composer, botanist, and publisher (d. 1877)
  • 1806 – Charles Hotham, English-Australian soldier and politician, 1st Governor of Victoria (d. 1855)
  • 1806 – Matthew Fontaine Maury, American astronomer, oceanographer, and historian (d. 1873)
  • 1818 – Zachris Topelius, Finnish author and journalist (d. 1898)
  • 1819 – Dimitrie Bolintineanu, Romanian poet and politician (d. 1872)
  • 1824 – Vladimir Stasov, Russian critic (d. 1906)
  • 1834 – Duncan Gillies, Scottish-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Victoria (d. 1903)
  • 1836 – Henri Fantin-Latour, French painter and lithographer (d. 1904)
  • 1841 – Berthe Morisot, French painter (d. 1895)
  • 1845 – Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, English politician, 34th Governor-General of India (d. 1927)
  • 1850 – Pierre Loti, French captain and author (d. 1923)
  • 1856 – J. F. Archibald, Australian journalist and publisher, co-founded The Bulletin (d. 1919)
  • 1861 – Mehmed VI, Ottoman sultan (d. 1926)
  • 1862 – Carrie Derick, Canadian botanist and geneticist (d. 1941)
  • 1863 – Manuel de Oliveira Gomes da Costa, Portuguese general and politician, 10th President of Portugal (d. 1929)
  • 1863 – Richard F. Outcault, American author and illustrator (d. 1928)
  • 1869 – Robert Fournier-Sarlovèze, French polo player and politician (d. 1937)
  • 1870 – George Pearce, Australian carpenter and politician (d. 1952)
  • 1875 – Albert Schweitzer, French-Gabonese physician and philosopher, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
  • 1882 – Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American historian and journalist (d. 1944)
  • 1883 – Nina Ricci, Italian-French fashion designer (d. 1970)
  • 1886 – Hugh Lofting, English author and poet, created Doctor Dolittle (d. 1947)
  • 1887 – Hugo Steinhaus, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Martin Niemöller, German pastor and theologian (d. 1984)
  • 1892 – Hal Roach, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1992)
  • 1892 – George Wilson, English footballer (d. 1961)
  • 1894 – Ecaterina Teodoroiu, Romanian soldier and nurse (d. 1917)
  • 1896 – John Dos Passos, American novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1970)
  • 1897 – Hasso von Manteuffel, German general and politician (d. 1978)
  • 1899 – Carlos P. Romulo, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the United Nations General Assembly (d. 1985)
  • 1901 – Bebe Daniels, American actress (d. 1971)
  • 1901 – Alfred Tarski, Polish-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1983)
  • 1904 – Cecil Beaton, English photographer, painter, and costume designer (d. 1980)
  • 1904 – Emily Hahn, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
  • 1904 – Babe Siebert, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1939)
  • 1905 – Mildred Albert, American fashion commentator, TV and radio personality, and fashion show producer (d. 1991)
  • 1905 – Takeo Fukuda, Japanese politician, 67th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1995)
  • 1906 – William Bendix, American actor (d. 1964)
  • 1907 – Georges-Émile Lapalme, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1985)
  • 1908 – Russ Columbo, American singer, violinist, and actor (d. 1934)
  • 1909 – Brenda Forbes, English-American actress (d. 1996)
  • 1909 – Joseph Losey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1984)
  • 1911 – Anatoly Rybakov, Russian-American author (d. 1998)
  • 1912 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (d. 2007)
  • 1914 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
  • 1914 – Selahattin Ülkümen, Turkish diplomat (d. 2003)
  • 1915 – Mark Goodson, American game show producer, created Family Feud and The Price Is Right (d. 1992)
  • 1919 – Giulio Andreotti, Italian journalist and politician, 41st Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013)
  • 1919 – Andy Rooney, American soldier, journalist, critic, and television personality (d. 2011)
  • 1920 – Bertus de Harder, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 1982)
  • 1921 – Murray Bookchin, American author and philosopher (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Kenneth Bulmer, American author (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Diana Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington (d. 2010)
  • 1923 – Gerald Arpino, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2008)
  • 1923 – Fred Beckey, American mountaineer and author (d. 2017)
  • 1924 – Carole Cook, American actress and singer
  • 1925 – Jean-Claude Beton, Algerian-French engineer and businessman, founded Orangina (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Moscelyne Larkin, American ballerina (d. 2012)
  • 1925 – Yukio Mishima, Japanese author, poet, and playwright (d. 1970)
  • 1926 – Frank Aletter, American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1926 – Warren Mitchell, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1926 – Tom Tryon, American actor and author (d. 1991)
  • 1927 – Zuzana Růžičková, Czech harpsichord player (d. 2017)
  • 1928 – Lars Forssell, Swedish author, poet, and songwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1928 – Hans Kornberg, German-English biologist and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Garry Winogrand, American photographer and author (d. 1984)
  • 1930 – Johnny Grande, American pianist and accordion player (d. 2006)
  • 1930 – Kenny Wheeler, Canadian-English trumpet player and composer (d. 2014)
  • 1931 – Frank Costigan, Australian lawyer and politician (d. 2009)
  • 1931 – Martin Holdgate, English biologist and academic
  • 1932 – Don Garlits, American race car driver and engineer
  • 1933 – Stan Brakhage, American director and producer (d. 2003)
  • 1934 – Richard Briers, English actor (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Alberto Rodriguez Larreta, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1977)
  • 1936 – Clarence Carter, American blues and soul singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer
  • 1937 – J. Bernlef, Dutch author and poet (d. 2012)
  • 1937 – Ken Higgs, English cricketer and coach (d. 2016)
  • 1937 – Leo Kadanoff, American physicist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1937 – Rao Gopal Rao, Indian actor, producer, and politician (d. 1994)
  • 1937 – Sonny Siebert, American baseball player
  • 1937 – Billie Jo Spears, American country singer (d. 2011)
  • 1938 – Morihiro Hosokawa, Japanese journalist and politician, 79th Prime Minister of Japan
  • 1938 – Jack Jones, American singer and actor
  • 1938 – Allen Toussaint, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2015)
  • 1939 – Kurt Moylan, Guamanian businessman and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Guam
  • 1940 – Julian Bond, American academic and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1940 – Ron Kostelnik, American football player (d. 1993)
  • 1940 – Siegmund Nimsgern, German opera singer
  • 1940 – Trevor Nunn, English director and composer
  • 1940 – Vasilka Stoeva, Bulgarian discus thrower
  • 1941 – Nicholas Brooks, English historian (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Faye Dunaway, American actress and producer
  • 1941 – Gibby Gilbert, American golfer
  • 1941 – Milan Kučan, Slovenian politician, 1st President of Slovenia
  • 1942 – Dave Campbell, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1942 – Gerben Karstens, Dutch cyclist
  • 1943 – Angelo Bagnasco, Italian cardinal
  • 1943 – Mariss Jansons, Latvian conductor (d. 2019)
  • 1943 – Shannon Lucid, American biochemist and astronaut
  • 1943 – Holland Taylor, American actress and playwright
  • 1944 – Marjoe Gortner, American actor and evangelist
  • 1944 – Graham Marsh, Australian golfer and architect
  • 1944 – Nina Totenberg, American journalist
  • 1945 – Kathleen Chalfant, American actress
  • 1945 – Maina Gielgud, English ballerina and director
  • 1947 – Taylor Branch, American historian and author
  • 1947 – Bev Perdue, American educator and politician, 73rd Governor of North Carolina
  • 1947 – Bill Werbeniuk, Canadian snooker player (d. 2003)
  • 1948 – T Bone Burnett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1948 – Muhriz of Negeri Sembilan, Yamtuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan
  • 1948 – Carl Weathers, American football player and actor
  • 1949 – Lawrence Kasdan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Mary Robison, American short story writer and novelist
  • 1949 – İlyas Salman, Turkish actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Lamar Williams, American bass player (d. 1983)
  • 1950 – Rambhadracharya, Indian religious leader, scholar, and author
  • 1950 – Arthur Byron Cover, American author and screenwriter
  • 1951 – O. Panneerselvam, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
  • 1952 – Sydney Biddle Barrows, American businesswoman and author
  • 1952 – Maureen Dowd, American journalist and author
  • 1952 – Konstantinos Iosifidis, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1952 – Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu, Romanian engineer and politician, 60th Prime Minister of Romania
  • 1953 – David Clary, English chemist and academic
  • 1953 – Denzil Douglas, Caribbean educator and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
  • 1953 – Hans Westerhoff, Dutch biologist and academic
  • 1956 – Étienne Daho, Algerian-French singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1957 – Anchee Min, Chinese-American painter, photographer, and author
  • 1959 – Geoff Tate, German-American singer-songwriter and musician
  • 1961 – Rob Hall, New Zealand mountaineer (d. 1996)
  • 1963 – Steven Soderbergh, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Beverly Kinch, English long jumper and sprinter
  • 1964 – Shepard Smith, American television journalist
  • 1965 – Marc Delissen, Dutch field hockey player, coach, and lawyer
  • 1965 – Bob Essensa, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1965 – Slick Rick, English-American rapper and producer
  • 1966 – Rob Flello, English lawyer and politician
  • 1966 – Terry Angus, English footballer, central defender
  • 1966 – Marco Hietala, Finnish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
  • 1966 – Rene Simpson, Canadian-American tennis player (d. 2013)
  • 1966 – Dan Schneider, American TV-producer
  • 1967 – Leonardo Ortolani, Italian author and illustrator, created Rat-Man
  • 1967 – Emily Watson, English actress
  • 1968 – LL Cool J, American rapper and actor
  • 1968 – Ruel Fox, English-Montserratian footballer, Midfielder, Manager and Chairman
  • 1969 – Jason Bateman, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1969 – Martin Bicknell, English cricketer
  • 1969 – Dave Grohl, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
  • 1971 – Lasse Kjus, Norwegian skier
  • 1971 – Bert Konterman, Dutch footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Antonios Nikopolidis, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1972 – Kyle Brady, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1972 – Dion Forster, South African minister, theologian, and author
  • 1972 – James Key, English engineer
  • 1973 – Giancarlo Fisichella, Italian race car driver
  • 1973 – Paul Tisdale, English footballer and manager
  • 1974 – David Flitcroft, English footballer and manager
  • 1975 – Georgina Cates, English actress
  • 1976 – Vincenzo Chianese, Italian footballer
  • 1977 – Narain Karthikeyan, Indian race car driver
  • 1977 – Terry Ryan, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Shawn Crawford, American sprinter
  • 1979 – Karen Elson, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and model
  • 1979 – Evans Soligo, Italian footballer
  • 1980 – Clive Clarke, Irish footballer
  • 1980 – Cory Gibbs, American soccer player
  • 1981 – Abdelmalek Cherrad, Algerian footballer
  • 1981 – Hyleas Fountain, American heptathlete
  • 1981 – Concepción Montaner, Spanish long jumper
  • 1981 – Chiharu Niiyama, Japanese actress and model
  • 1981 – Jadranka Đokić, Croatian actress
  • 1982 – Braith Anasta, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1982 – Marc Broussard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1982 – Chris Heighington, Australian-English rugby league player
  • 1982 – Léo Lima, Brazilian footballer
  • 1982 – Thomas Longosiwa, Kenyan runner
  • 1982 – Víctor Valdés, Spanish footballer
  • 1983 – Cesare Bovo, Italian footballer
  • 1983 – Jason Krejza, Australian cricketer
  • 1984 – Erick Aybar, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Erika Matsuo, Japanese violinist
  • 1984 – Mike Pelfrey, American baseball player
  • 1985 – Joel Rosario, Dominican-American jockey
  • 1985 – Shawn Sawyer, Canadian figure skater
  • 1986 – Yohan Cabaye, French footballer
  • 1986 – Alessio Cossu, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Atsushi Hashimoto, Japanese actor
  • 1987 – Jess Fishlock, Welsh footballer
  • 1988 – Kacey Barnfield, English actress
  • 1988 – Jack P. Shepherd, English actor
  • 1989 – Frankie Bridge, English singer-songwriter and dancer
  • 1989 – Adam Clayton, English footballer
  • 1989 – Mattia Marchi, Italian footballer
  • 1989 – Liu Xiaodong, Chinese footballer
  • 1990 – Lelisa Desisa, Ethiopian runner
  • 1990 – Grant Gustin, American actor and singer
  • 1990 – Áron Szilágyi, Hungarian fencer
  • 1992 – Robbie Brady, Irish footballer
  • 1992 – Chieh-Yu Hsu, American tennis player
  • 1993 – Daniel Bessa, Brazilian footballer
  • 1994 – Kane Elgey, Australian rugby league player
  • 1994 – Abi Phillips, English singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1994 – Kai, South Korean singer, model, actor and dancer
  • 1995 – Georgios Diamantakos, Greek basketball player
  • 1995 – Alex Johnston, Australian rugby league player

Deaths on January 14

  • 769 – Cui Huan, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
  • 927 – Wang Yanhan, king of Min (Ten Kingdoms)
  • 937 – Zhang Yanlang, Chinese official
  • 973 – Ekkehard I, Frankish monk and poet
  • 1092 – Vratislaus II of Bohemia
  • 1163 – Ladislaus II of Hungary (b. 1131)
  • 1236 – Saint Sava, Serbian archbishop and saint (b. 1175)
  • 1301 – Andrew III of Hungary (b. 1265)
  • 1331 – Odoric of Pordenone, Italian priest and explorer (b. 1286)
  • 1465 – Thomas Beckington, English statesman and prelate
  • 1476 – John de Mowbray, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1444)
  • 1555 – Jacques Dubois, French anatomist (b. 1478)
  • 1640 – Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1578)
  • 1648 – Caspar Barlaeus, Dutch historian, poet, and theologian (b. 1584)
  • 1676 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1602)
  • 1679 – Jacques de Billy, French mathematician and academic (b. 1602)
  • 1701 – Tokugawa Mitsukuni, Japanese daimyō (b. 1628)
  • 1742 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician, meteorologist, and physicist (b. 1656)
  • 1753 – George Berkeley, Anglo-Irish philosopher and author (b. 1685)
  • 1766 – Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1723)
  • 1776 – Edward Cornwallis, English general and politician, Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1713)
  • 1786 – Michael Arne, English organist and composer (b. 1741)
  • 1786 – Meshech Weare, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1713)
  • 1823 – Athanasios Kanakaris, Greek politician (b. 1760)
  • 1825 – George Dance the Younger, English architect and surveyor (b. 1741)
  • 1833 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (b. 1759)
  • 1867 – Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter and illustrator (b. 1780)
  • 1874 – Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and academic, invented the Reis telephone (b. 1834)
  • 1883 – Napoléon Coste, French guitarist and composer (b. 1806)
  • 1888 – Stephen Heller, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1813)
  • 1889 – Ema Pukšec, Croatian soprano (b. 1834)
  • 1892 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (b. 1864)
  • 1892 – Alexander J. Davis, American architect (b. 1803)
  • 1898 – Lewis Carroll, English novelist, poet, and mathematician (b. 1832)
  • 1901 – Mandell Creighton, English bishop and historian (b. 1843)
  • 1901 – Charles Hermite, French mathematician and theorist (b. 1822)
  • 1905 – Ernst Abbe, German physicist and engineer (b. 1840)
  • 1907 – Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet, Scottish soldier and politician, 6th Governor of New Zealand (b. 1832)
  • 1908 – Holger Drachmann, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1846)
  • 1915 – Richard Meux Benson, English priest and saint, founded the Society of St. John the Evangelist (b. 1824)
  • 1919 – Platon, Estonian bishop and saint (b. 1869)
  • 1920 – John Francis Dodge, American businessman, co-founded the Dodge Automobile Company (b. 1864)
  • 1926 – August Sedláček, Czech historian and author (b. 1843)
  • 1934 – Ioan Cantacuzino, Romanian physician and bacteriologist (b. 1863)
  • 1937 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet, author, and playwright (b. 1889)
  • 1942 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (b. 1883)
  • 1943 – Laura E. Richards, American author and poet (b. 1850)
  • 1944 – Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Turkish author and politician (b. 1869)
  • 1949 – Harry Stack Sullivan, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (b. 1892)
  • 1951 – Gregorios Xenopoulos, Greek author, journalist, and playwright (b. 1867)
  • 1952 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1878)
  • 1957 – Humphrey Bogart, American actor (b. 1899)
  • 1959 – Eivind Berggrav, Norwegian bishop and translator (b. 1884)
  • 1961 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (b. 1888)
  • 1962 – M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer, scholar, and politician (b. 1860)
  • 1965 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (b. 1903)
  • 1966 – Sergei Korolev, Ukrainian-Russian engineer and academic (b. 1906)
  • 1968 – Dorothea Mackellar, Australian poet and author (b. 1885)
  • 1970 – William Feller, Croatian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1906)
  • 1970 – Asım Gündüz, Turkish general (b. 1880)
  • 1972 – Horst Assmy, German footballer (b. 1933)
  • 1972 – Frederick IX of Denmark (b. 1899)
  • 1976 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia (b. 1922)
  • 1977 – Anthony Eden, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1897)
  • 1977 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (b. 1916)
  • 1977 – Anaïs Nin, French-American essayist and memoirist (b. 1903)
  • 1978 – Harold Abrahams, English sprinter, lawyer, and journalist (b. 1899)
  • 1978 – Kurt Gödel, Austrian-American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1906)
  • 1978 – Robert Heger, German conductor and composer (b. 1886)
  • 1978 – Blossom Rock, American actress (b. 1895)
  • 1980 – Robert Ardrey, American-South African author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
  • 1981 – John O’Grady, Australian author and poet (b. 1907)
  • 1981 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1893)
  • 1984 – Ray Kroc, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1902)
  • 1986 – Donna Reed, American actress (b. 1921)
  • 1987 – Turgut Demirağ, Turkish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 1987 – Douglas Sirk, German-Swiss director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
  • 1988 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician, 5th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1902)
  • 1991 – Gordon Bryant, Australian educator and politician (b. 1914)
  • 1995 – Alexander Gibson, Scottish conductor (b. 1926)
  • 1996 – Onno Tunç, Armenian-Turkish composer (b. 1948)
  • 1997 – Dollard Ménard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
  • 2000 – Leonard Weisgard, American author and illustrator (b. 1916)
  • 2004 – Uta Hagen, German-American actress (b. 1919)
  • 2004 – Ron O’Neal, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1937)
  • 2005 – Charlotte MacLeod, Canadian-American author (b. 1922)
  • 2005 – Conroy Maddox, English painter and educator (b. 1912)
  • 2005 – Rudolph Moshammer, German fashion designer (b. 1940)
  • 2005 – Jesús Rafael Soto, Venezuelan sculptor and painter (b. 1923)
  • 2006 – Henri Colpi, French director and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (b. 1939)
  • 2006 – Shelley Winters, American actress (b. 1920)
  • 2007 – Vassilis Photopoulos, Greek painter, director, and set designer (b. 1934)
  • 2008 – Judah Folkman, American physician, biologist, and academic (b. 1933)
  • 2009 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (b. 1937)
  • 2009 – Ricardo Montalbán, Mexican actor (b. 1920)
  • 2010 – Antonio Fontán, Spanish journalist and academic (b. 1923)
  • 2011 – Georgia Carroll, American singer, model and actress (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – Txillardegi, Spanish linguist and politician (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – Dan Evins, American businessman, founded Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (b. 1935)
  • 2012 – Arfa Karim, Pakistani student and computer prodigy, youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in 2004 (b. 1995)
  • 2012 – Giampiero Moretti, Italian entrepreneur and race car driver (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Rosy Varte, Armenian-French actress (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Conrad Bain, Canadian-American actor (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (b. 1944)
  • 2014 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Flavio Testi, Italian composer and musicologist (b. 1923)
  • 2015 – Bob Boyd, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2015 – Zhang Wannian, Chinese general (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Alan Rickman, English actor (b. 1946)
  • 2017 – Zhou Youguang, Chinese sociologist, (b. 1906)
  • 2018 – Spanky Manikan, Filipino veteran actor (b. 1942)
  • 2018 – Cyrille Regis, French Guianan-English footballer (b. 1958)

Holidays and observances on January 14

  • Christian feast day:
    • Barba’shmin
    • Blessed Devasahayam Pillai (Latin Church)
    • Divina Pastora (Barquisimeto)
    • Eivind Berggrav (Lutheran)
    • Felix of Nola
    • Macrina the Elder
    • Odoric of Pordenone
    • January 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Defender of the Motherland Day (Uzbekistan)
  • Feast of the Ass (Medieval Christianity)
  • Flag Day (Georgia)
  • National Forest Conservation Day (Thailand)
  • Old New Year, and its related observance:
    • Azhyrnykhua (Abkhazia)
    • Yennayer (Berbers)
  • Ratification Day (United States)
  • Revolution and Youth Day (Tunisia)
  • Sidereal winter solstice celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; marking the transition of the Sun to Capricorn, and the first day of the six months Uttarayana period. (see April 14):
    • Magh Bihu (Assam)
    • Maghe Sankranti (Nepal)
    • Maghi (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
    • Makar Sankranti (India)
    • The first day of Pongal,
    • Uttarayan (Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Rajasthan)

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