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    September 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 48 BC – Pompey is assassinated by order of King Ptolemy upon arriving in Egypt.
    • 235 – Pope Pontian resigns. He is exiled to the mines of Sardinia, along with Hippolytus of Rome.
    • 351 – Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius.
    • 365 – Roman usurper Procopius bribes two legions passing by Constantinople, and proclaims himself emperor.
    • 935 – Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is murdered by a group of nobles led by his brother Boleslaus I, who succeeds him.
    • 995 – Boleslaus II, Duke of Bohemia, kills most members of the rival Slavník dynasty.
    • 1066 – William the Conqueror lands in England, beginning the Norman conquest.
    • 1106 – King Henry I of England defeats his brother, Robert Curthose.
    • 1238 – King James I of Aragon conquers Valencia from the Moors. Shortly thereafter, he proclaims himself king of Valencia.
    • 1322 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, defeats Frederick I of Austria in the Battle of Mühldorf.
    • 1538 – Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Navy scores a decisive victory over a Holy League fleet in the Battle of Preveza.
    • 1542 – Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo of Portugal arrives at what is now San Diego, California.
    • 1779 – American Revolution: Samuel Huntington is elected President of the Continental Congress, succeeding John Jay.
    • 1781 – American Revolution: American forces backed by a French fleet begin the siege of Yorktown.
    • 1787 – The Congress of the Confederation votes to send the newly-written United States Constitution to the state legislatures for approval.
    • 1821 – The Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire is drafted. It will be made public on 13 October.
    • 1844 – Oscar I of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
    • 1867 – Toronto becomes the capital of Ontario, having also been the capital of Ontario’s predecessors since 1796.
    • 1868 – The Battle of Alcolea causes Queen Isabella II of Spain to flee to France.
    • 1871 – The Brazilian Parliament passes a law that frees all children thereafter born to slaves, and all government-owned slaves.
    • 1889 – The General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) defines the length of a meter.
    • 1892 – The first night game for American football takes place in a contest between Wyoming Seminary and Mansfield State Normal.
    • 1893 – Foundation of the Portuguese football club FC Porto.
    • 1901 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas kill more than forty American soldiers while losing 28 of their own.
    • 1912 – The Ulster Covenant is signed by some 500,000 Ulster Protestant Unionists in opposition to the Third Irish Home Rule Bill.
    • 1912 – Corporal Frank S. Scott of the United States Army becomes the first enlisted man to die in an airplane crash.
    • 1918 – World War I: The Fifth Battle of Ypres begins.
    • 1919 – Race riots begin in Omaha, Nebraska.
    • 1924 – The first aerial circumnavigation is completed by a team from the US Army.
    • 1928 – Alexander Fleming notices a bacteria-killing mold growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.
    • 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agree on a division of Poland.
    • 1939 – World War II: The siege of Warsaw comes to an end.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Drama uprising against the Bulgarian occupation in northern Greece begins.
    • 1941 – Ted Williams achieves a .406 batting average for the season, and becomes the last major league baseball player to bat .400 or better.
    • 1944 – World War II: Soviet Army troops liberate Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.
    • 1951 – CBS makes the first color televisions available for sale to the general public, but the product is discontinued less than a month later.
    • 1961 – A military coup in Damascus effectively ends the United Arab Republic, the union between Egypt and Syria.
    • 1970 – Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
    • 1971 – The Parliament of the UK passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, banning the medicinal use of cannabis.
    • 1973 – The ITT Building in New York City is bombed in protest at ITT’s alleged involvement in the coup d’état in Chile.
    • 1975 – The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
    • 1986 – The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.
    • 1991 – The Strategic Air Command stands down from alert all ICBMs scheduled for deactivation under START I, as well as its strategic bomber force.
    • 1992 – A Pakistan International Airlines flight crashes into a hill in Nepal, killing all 167 passengers and crew.
    • 1994 – The cruise ferry MS Estonia sinks in the Baltic Sea, killing 852 people.
    • 1995 – Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.
    • 1995 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
    • 2000 – Al-Aqsa Intifada: Ariel Sharon visits Al-Aqsa Mosque known to Jews as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
    • 2008 – Falcon 1 becomes the first privately developed liquid-fuel ground-launched vehicle to put a payload into orbit.
    • 2009 – The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1400 people.
    • 2012 – Somali and African Union forces launch a coordinated assault on the Somali port of Kismayo to take back the city from al-Shabaab militants.
    • 2014 – The 2014 Hong Kong protests begin in response to restrictive political reforms imposed by the NPC in Beijing.
    • 2016 – The 2016 South Australian blackout occurs, lasting up to three days in some areas.
    • 2018 – The 7.5 Mw 2018 Sulawesi earthquake, which triggered a large tsunami, leaves 4,340 dead and 10,679 injured.
    • 2018 – On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, the international project Tree of Peace was established (September, 28). One of the trees was planted personally by Zuzana Čaputová, President of the Slovak Republic.

    Births on September 28

    • 551 BC – Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. (d. 479 BC)
    • 616 – Javanshir, King of Caucasian Albania (d. 680)
    • 1494 – Agnolo Firenzuola, Italian poet and playwright (d. 1545)
    • 1555 – Henri de La Tour d’Auvergne, Marshal of France (d. 1623)
    • 1573 – Théodore de Mayerne, Swiss physician (d. 1654)
    • 1605 – Ismaël Bullialdus, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1694)
    • 1681 – Johann Mattheson, German composer, lexicographer, and diplomat (d. 1764)
    • 1705 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1774)
    • 1705 – Johann Peter Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1772)
    • 1735 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1811)
    • 1746 – William Jones, English-Welsh philologist and scholar (d. 1794)
    • 1765 – Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (d. 1814)
    • 1803 – Prosper Mérimée, French archaeologist, historian, and author (d. 1870)
    • 1809 – Alvan Wentworth Chapman, American physician and botanist (d. 1899)
    • 1819 – Narcís Monturiol, Spanish engineer and publisher (d. 1885)
    • 1821 – Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, American minister and politician (d. 1874)
    • 1823 – Alexandre Cabanel, French painter and educator (d. 1889)
    • 1824 – Francis Turner Palgrave, English poet and critic (d. 1897)
    • 1836 – Thomas Crapper, English plumber, invented the ballcock (d. 1910)
    • 1838 – Sai Baba of Shirdi, Indian national saint (d. 1918)
    • 1841 – Georges Clemenceau, French journalist, physician, and politician, 85th Prime Minister of France (d. 1929)
    • 1844 – Robert Stout, Scottish-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
    • 1852 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1907)
    • 1852 – Isis Pogson, British astronomer and meteorologist (d. 1945)
    • 1856 – Kate Douglas Wiggin, American author and educator (d. 1923)
    • 1860 – Paul Ulrich Villard, French chemist and physicist (d. 1934)
    • 1861 – Amélie of Orléans, queen consort of Portugal (d. 1951)
    • 1867 – Hiranuma Kiichirō, Japanese lawyer and politician, 35th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1952)
    • 1867 – James Edwin Campbell, American poet, editor, short story writer and educator (d. 1896)
    • 1868 – Evelyn Beatrice Hall, English writer best known for her biography of Voltaire, and wrote under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre (d. 1956)
    • 1877 – Albert Young, American boxer and promoter (d. 1940)
    • 1878 – Joseph Ruddy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1962)
    • 1870 – Florent Schmitt, French composer and critic (d. 1958)
    • 1881 – Pedro de Cordoba, American actor (d. 1950)
    • 1882 – Mart Saar, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1963)
    • 1885 – Emil Väre, Finnish wrestler, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
    • 1887 – Avery Brundage, American businessman, 5th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1975)
    • 1889 – Jack Fournier, American baseball player and coach (d. 1973)
    • 1890 – Florence Violet McKenzie, Australian electrical engineer (d. 1982)
    • 1892 – Elmer Rice, American playwright (d. 1967)
    • 1893 – Hilda Geiringer, Austrian mathematician (d. 1973)
    • 1893 – Giannis Skarimpas, Greek author, poet, and playwright (d. 1984)
    • 1898 – Carl Clauberg, German Nazi physician (d. 1957)
    • 1900 – Isabel Pell, American socialite, fought as part of the French Resistance during WWII (d. 1951)
    • 1901 – William S. Paley, American broadcaster, founded CBS (d. 1990)
    • 1901 – Ed Sullivan, American television host (d. 1974)
    • 1903 – Haywood S. Hansell, American general (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Max Schmeling, German boxer (d. 2005)
    • 1907 – Heikki Savolainen, Finnish gymnast and physician (d. 1997)
    • 1907 – Bhagat Singh, Indian activist (d. 1931)
    • 1909 – Al Capp, American author and illustrator (d. 1979)
    • 1910 – Diosdado Macapagal, Filipino lawyer and politician, 9th President of the Philippines (d. 1997)
    • 1910 – Wenceslao Vinzons, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1942)
    • 1913 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (d. 2007)
    • 1913 – Alice Marble, American tennis player (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American refugee and singer (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (d. 1953)
    • 1916 – Peter Finch, English-Australian actor (d. 1977)
    • 1916 – Olga Lepeshinskaya, Ukrainian-Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – Ángel Labruna, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1983)
    • 1918 – Arnold Stang, American actor (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Doris Singleton, American actress (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Larry Munson, American sportscaster (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Tuli Kupferberg, American singer, poet, and writer (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – John Scott, 9th Duke of Buccleuch, Scottish captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Selkirkshire (d. 2007)
    • 1923 – William Windom, American actor (d. 2012)
    • 1924 – Rudolf Barshai, Russian-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 2010)
    • 1924 – Marcello Mastroianni, Italian-French actor and singer (d. 1996)
    • 1925 – Seymour Cray, American computer scientist, founded the CRAY Computer Company (d. 1996)
    • 1925 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (d. 1991)
    • 1925 – Martin David Kruskal, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2006)
    • 1926 – Jerry Clower, American soldier, comedian, and author (d. 1998)
    • 1928 – Koko Taylor, American singer (d. 2009)
    • 1929 – Lata Mangeshkar, Indian playback singer and composer
    • 1930 – Tommy Collins, American country music singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
    • 1930 – Immanuel Wallerstein, American sociologist, author, and academic (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Jeremy Isaacs, Scottish screenwriter and producer
    • 1932 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer-songwriter, poet, and director (d. 1973)
    • 1933 – Joe Benton, English soldier and politician
    • 1933 – Miguel Ortiz Berrocal, Spanish sculptor and educator (d. 2006)
    • 1933 – Johnny “Country” Mathis, American singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1934 – Brigitte Bardot, French actress
    • 1935 – Bruce Crampton, Australian golfer
    • 1935 – David Hannay, Baron Hannay of Chiswick, English diplomat, British Permanent Representative to the United Nations
    • 1935 – Ronald Lacey, English actor (d. 1991)
    • 1936 – Emmett Chapman, American guitarist, invented the Chapman Stick
    • 1936 – Eddie Lumsden, Australian rugby league player (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Robert Wolders, Dutch television actor (d. 2018)
    • 1937 – Alice Mahon, English trade union leader and politician
    • 1937 – Glenn Sutton, American country music songwriter and record producer (d. 2007)
    • 1938 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1939 – Stuart Kauffman, American biologist and academic
    • 1941 – David Lewis, American philosopher and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1941 – Edmund Stoiber, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Bavaria
    • 1942 – Pierre Clémenti, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
    • 1942 – Edward “Little Buster” Forehand, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
    • 1943 – Warren Lieberfarb, American businessman
    • 1943 – George W. S. Trow, American novelist, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
    • 1943 – Nick St. Nicholas, German-Canadian bass player
    • 1944 – Richie Karl, American golfer
    • 1944 – Marcia Muller, American journalist and author
    • 1945 – Marielle Goitschel, French skier
    • 1945 – Manolis Rasoulis, Greek singer-songwriter and journalist (d. 2011)
    • 1945 – Fusako Shigenobu, Japanese activist, founded the Japanese Red Army
    • 1946 – Tom Bower, English journalist and author
    • 1946 – Majid Khan, Indian-Pakistani cricketer
    • 1947 – Bob Carr, Australian journalist and politician, 37th Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1947 – Sheikh Hasina, Bangladeshi politician, 10th Prime Minister of Bangladesh
    • 1947 – Jon Snow, English journalist and academic
    • 1947 – Rhonda Hughes, American mathematician and academic
    • 1949 – Jim Henshaw, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1950 – Paul Burgess, English drummer
    • 1950 – Christina Hoff Sommers, American author and philosopher
    • 1950 – John Sayles, American novelist, director, and screenwriter
    • 1951 – Jim Diamond, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2015)
    • 1952 – Christopher Buckley, American satirical novelist
    • 1952 – Efthimis Kioumourtzoglou, Greek basketball player and coach
    • 1952 – Sylvia Kristel, Dutch model and actress (d. 2012)
    • 1952 – Andy Ward, English drummer
    • 1953 – Otmar Hasler, Liechtensteiner educator and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Liechtenstein
    • 1954 – Steve Largent, American football player and politician
    • 1954 – George Lynch, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1954 – John Scott, English rugby player
    • 1954 – Margot Wallström, Swedish politician and diplomat, 42nd Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs
    • 1955 – Stéphane Dion, Canadian sociologist and politician, 15th Canadian Minister of the Environment
    • 1955 – Mercy Manci, Xhosa sangoma and HIV activist from South Africa
    • 1955 – Kenny Kirkland, American pianist (d. 1998)
    • 1956 – Martha Isabel Fandiño Pinilla, Colombian-Italian mathematician and author
    • 1957 – Bill Cassidy, American politician and physician
    • 1959 – Ron Fellows, Canadian race car driver
    • 1959 – Laura Bruce, American artist
    • 1960 – Gary Ayres, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1960 – Tom Byrum, American golfer
    • 1960 – Frank Hammerschlag, German footballer and manager
    • 1960 – Gus Logie, Trinidadian cricketer
    • 1960 – Kamlesh Patel, Baron Patel of Bradford, English politician
    • 1960 – Jennifer Rush, American singer-songwriter
    • 1960 – Socrates Villegas, Filipino archbishop
    • 1961 – Helen Grant, English lawyer and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
    • 1961 – Gregory Jbara, American actor and singer
    • 1961 – Quentin Kawānanakoa, American lawyer and politician
    • 1961 – Anne White, American tennis player
    • 1962 – Grant Fuhr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1962 – Laurie Rinker, American golfer
    • 1962 – Dietmar Schacht, German footballer and manager
    • 1962 – Chuck Taylor, American journalist
    • 1963 – Steve Blackman, American wrestler and martial artist
    • 1963 – Érik Comas, French race car driver
    • 1963 – Greg Weisman, American voice actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Claudio Borghi, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Gregor Fisken, Scottish race car driver
    • 1964 – Janeane Garofalo, American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Paul Jewell, English footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Mārtiņš Roze, Latvian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1966 – Scott Adams, American football player (d. 2013)
    • 1966 – Maria Canals-Barrera, Cuban-American actress
    • 1966 – Puri Jagannadh, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Mira Sorvino, American actress
    • 1967 – Moon Zappa, American actress and author
    • 1968 – Francois Botha, South African boxer and mixed martial artist
    • 1968 – Mika Häkkinen, Finnish race car driver
    • 1968 – Trish Keenan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
    • 1968 – Sean Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2008)
    • 1968 – Rob Moroso, American race car driver (d. 1990)
    • 1968 – Naomi Watts, English-Australian actress and producer
    • 1969 – Kerri Chandler, electronic music producer and DJ
    • 1969 – Marcel Dost, Dutch decathlete
    • 1969 – Ben Greenman, American journalist and author
    • 1969 – Piper Kerman, American author and memoirist
    • 1969 – Éric Lapointe, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1969 – Sascha Maassen, German race car driver
    • 1969 – Angus Robertson, Scottish politician
    • 1969 – Nico Vaesen, Belgian footballer
    • 1970 – Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japanese tennis player
    • 1970 – Mike DeJean, American baseball player
    • 1970 – Gualter Salles, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1971 – Joseph Arthur, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – George Eustice, English lawyer and politician
    • 1971 – Braam van Straaten, South African rugby player
    • 1971 – Alan Wright, English footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Dita Von Teese, American model and dancer
    • 1973 – Brian Rafalski, American ice hockey player
    • 1974 – Marco Di Loreto, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Mariya Kiselyova, Russian swimmer
    • 1974 – Joonas Kolkka, Finnish footballer and coach
    • 1974 – Shane Webcke, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1975 – Stuart Clark, Australian cricketer and manager
    • 1975 – Isamu Jordan, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1975 – Lenny Krayzelburg, Russian-American swimmer
    • 1976 – Fedor Emelianenko, Russian mixed martial artist and politician
    • 1977 – Ireneusz Marcinkowski, Polish footballer
    • 1977 – Pak Se-ri, South Korean golfer
    • 1977 – Young Jeezy, American rapper
    • 1978 – Ben Edmondson, Australian cricketer
    • 1979 – Bam Margera, American skateboarder, actor, and stuntman
    • 1979 – Taki Tsan, American-Greek rapper and producer
    • 1980 – Marlon Parmer, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Greg Anderson, American pianist and composer
    • 1981 – Willy Caballero, Argentine footballer
    • 1981 – José Calderón, Spanish basketball player
    • 1981 – Jorge Guagua, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1981 – Iracema Trevisan, Brazilian bass player
    • 1982 – Aleksandr Anyukov, Russian footballer
    • 1982 – Abhinav Bindra, Indian target shooter
    • 1982 – Ray Emery, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2018)
    • 1982 – Ranbir Kapoor, Indian actor and director
    • 1982 – Nolwenn Leroy, French singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1982 – Emeka Okafor, American basketball player
    • 1982 – Dustin Penner, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Aivar Rehemaa, Estonian skier
    • 1982 – Anderson Varejão, Brazilian basketball player
    • 1982 – St. Vincent, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1983 – Stefan Moore, English footballer
    • 1983 – John Schwalger, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1984 – Jenny Omnichord, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Luke Pomersbach, Australian cricketer
    • 1984 – Naim Terbunja, Kosovan-Swedish boxer
    • 1984 – Melody Thornton, American singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1984 – Mathieu Valbuena, French footballer
    • 1984 – Ryan Zimmerman, American baseball player
    • 1985 – Shindong, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1985 – Alina Ibragimova, Russian-English violinist
    • 1986 – Andrés Guardado, Mexican footballer
    • 1986 – Meskerem Legesse, Ethiopian runner (d. 2013)
    • 1986 – Dominic Waters, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Pierre Becken, German footballer
    • 1987 – Gary Deegan, Irish footballer
    • 1987 – Hilary Duff, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1987 – Chloë Hanslip, English violinist
    • 1987 – Viktoria Leks, Estonian high jumper
    • 1988 – Marin Čilić, Croatian tennis player
    • 1988 – Esmée Denters, Dutch singer-songwriter
    • 1988 – Aleks Vrteski, Australian footballer
    • 1988 – Worakls, French DJ and electronic musician
    • 1989 – Çağla Büyükakçay, Turkish tennis player
    • 1989 – Darius Johnson-Odom, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Mark Randall, English footballer
    • 1990 – Phoenix Battye, Australian rugby player
    • 1992 – Khem Birch, Canadian professional basketball player
    • 1992 – Adam Thompson, English-Northern Irish footballer
    • 1992 – Kōko Tsurumi, Japanese gymnast
    • 1993 – Jodie Williams, English sprinter
    • 1995 – Jason Williams, English footballer

    Deaths on September 28

    • 48 BC – Pompey, Roman general and politician (b. 106 BC)
    • 782 – Leoba, Anglo-Saxon nun
    • 935 – Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia
    • 980 – Minamoto no Hiromasa, Japanese nobleman (b. 918)
    • 1197 – Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1165)
    • 1213 – Gertrude of Merania, queen consort of Hungaria (b. 1185)
    • 1330 – Elizabeth of Bohemia, queen consort of Bohemia (b. 1292)
    • 1429 – Cymburgis of Masovia, duchess consort of Austria (b. 1394)
    • 1582 – George Buchanan, Scottish historian and scholar (b. 1506)
    • 1596 – Margaret Clifford, countess of Derby (b. 1540)
    • 1618 – Josuah Sylvester, English poet and translator (b. 1563)
    • 1687 – Francis Turretin, Swiss-Italian theologian and academic (b. 1623)
    • 1694 – Gabriel Mouton, French mathematician and theologian (b. 1618)
    • 1702 – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, French-English lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1640)
    • 1742 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (b. 1663)
    • 1829 – Nikolay Raevsky, Russian general and politician (b. 1771)
    • 1844 – Pyotr Aleksandrovich Tolstoy, Russian general and politician (b. 1769)
    • 1859 – Carl Ritter, German geographer and academic (b. 1779)
    • 1873 – Émile Gaboriau, French journalist and author (b. 1832)
    • 1891 – Herman Melville, American author and poet (b. 1819)
    • 1895 – Louis Pasteur, French chemist and microbiologist (b. 1822)
    • 1899 – Giovanni Segantini, Austrian painter (b. 1858)
    • 1914 – Richard Warren Sears, American businessman, co-founded Sears (b. 1863)
    • 1915 – Saitō Hajime, Japanese samurai (b. 1844)
    • 1918 – Georg Simmel, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1858)
    • 1918 – Freddie Stowers, American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1896)
    • 1925 – Paul Vermoyal, French actor (b. 1888)
    • 1935 – William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, and producer, invented the Kinetoscope (b. 1860)
    • 1938 – Charles Duryea, American engineer and businessman, founded the Duryea Motor Wagon Company (b. 1861)
    • 1943 – Sam Ruben, American chemist and academic (b. 1913)
    • 1943 – Filippo Illuminato, Italian partisan, Gold Medal of Military Valour (b. 1930)
    • 1949 – Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens (b. 1881)
    • 1953 – Edwin Hubble, American astronomer and scholar (b. 1889)
    • 1956 – William Boeing, American businessman, founded the Boeing Company (b. 1881)
    • 1957 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan violinist and composer (b. 1888)
    • 1959 – Rudolf Caracciola, German race car driver (b. 1901)
    • 1962 – Roger Nimier, French soldier and author (b. 1925)
    • 1964 – Harpo Marx, American comedian, actor, and singer (b. 1888)
    • 1966 – André Breton, French author and poet (b. 1896)
    • 1970 – John Dos Passos, American novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright (b. 1896)
    • 1970 – Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian colonel and politician, 2nd President of Egypt (b. 1918)
    • 1978 – Pope John Paul I (b. 1912)
    • 1979 – John Herbert Chapman, Canadian physicist and engineer (b. 1921)
    • 1981 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan journalist and politician, President of Venezuela (b. 1908)
    • 1982 – Mabel Albertson, American actress (b. 1901)
    • 1984 – Cihad Baban, Turkish journalist, author, and politician (b. 1911)
    • 1989 – Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino lawyer and politician, 10th President of the Philippines (b. 1917)
    • 1990 – Larry O’Brien, American businessman and politician, 57th United States Postmaster General (b. 1917)
    • 1991 – Miles Davis, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1926)
    • 1993 – Peter De Vries, American editor and novelist (b. 1910)
    • 1993 – Alexander A. Drabik, American sergeant (b. 1910)
    • 1994 – Urmas Alender, Estonian singer (b. 1953)
    • 1994 – José Francisco Ruiz Massieu, Mexican lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Guerrero (b. 1946)
    • 1994 – Harry Saltzman, Canadian production manager and producer (b. 1915)
    • 1994 – K. A. Thangavelu, Indian film actor and comedian (b. 1917)
    • 1999 – Escott Reid, Canadian academic and diplomat (b. 1905)
    • 2000 – Pierre Trudeau, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Patsy Mink, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2002 – Hartland Molson, Canadian captain and politician (b. 1907)
    • 2003 – Althea Gibson, American tennis player and golfer (b. 1927)
    • 2003 – Elia Kazan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1909)
    • 2003 – George Odlum, Saint Lucian politician and diplomat (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Geoffrey Beene, American fashion designer (b. 1924)
    • 2005 – Constance Baker Motley, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1921)
    • 2007 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Wally Parks, American businessman, founded the National Hot Rod Association (b. 1913)
    • 2009 – Guillermo Endara, Panamanian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Panama (b. 1936)
    • 2009 – Ulf Larsson, Swedish actor and director (b. 1956)
    • 2010 – Kurt Albert, German mountaineer and photographer (b. 1954)
    • 2010 – Arthur Penn, American director and producer (b. 1922)
    • 2010 – Dolores Wilson, American soprano and actress (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Avraham Adan, Israeli general (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Chris Economaki, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Brajesh Mishra, Indian politician and diplomat, 1st Indian National Security Advisor (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – James Emanuel, American-French poet and scholar (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Jonathan Fellows-Smith, South African cricketer and rugby player (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – George Amon Webster, American singer and pianist (b. 1945)
    • 2014 – Dannie Abse, Welsh physician, poet, and author (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Joseph H. Alexander, American colonel and historian (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Sheila Faith, English dentist and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Tim Rawlings, English footballer and manager (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Petr Skoumal, Czech pianist and composer (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Alexander Faris, Irish composer and conductor (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Walter Dale Miller, American rancher and politician, 29th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer (b. 1939)
    • 2016 – Agnes Nixon, American television writer and director (b. 1922)
    • 2016 – Gary Glasberg, American television writer and producer (b. 1966)
    • 2016 – Shimon Peres, Polish-Israeli statesman and politician, 9th President of Israel (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – Gloria Naylor, American novelist (b. 1950)
    • 2017 – Daniel Pe’er, Israeli television host and newsreader (b. 1943)
    • 2018 – Predrag Ejdus, Serbian actor (b. 1947)
    • 2019 – José José, 71, Mexican singer (El Principe de la Canción or The Prince of Song), pancreas cancer (b. 1948)

    Holidays and observances on September 28

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron of Auxerre
      • Annemund
      • Conval
      • Eustochium
      • Exuperius
      • Faustus of Riez
      • John of Dukla
      • Leoba
      • Lorenzo Ruiz
      • Paternus of Auch
      • Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton and Margery Kempe (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Simón de Rojas
      • Wenceslas
      • September 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics).
    • Czech Statehood Day (Czech Republic)
    • Freedom from Hunger Day
    • International Day for Universal Access to Information
    • National Day of Awareness and Unity against Child Pornography (Philippines)
    • Teachers’ Day (Taiwan and Chinese-Filipino schools in the Philippines), ceremonies dedicated to Confucius are also observed.
    • World Rabies Day (International)

  • July 31 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 30 BC – Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian’s forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
    • 781 – The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: 6th day of the 7th month of the 1st year of the Ten’o (天応) era).
    • 1009 – Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.
    • 1201 – Attempted usurpation by John Komnenos the Fat for the throne of Alexios III Angelos.
    • 1423 – Hundred Years’ War: Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated by the English at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
    • 1451 – Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.
    • 1492 – The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
    • 1498 – On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
    • 1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
    • 1618 – Maurice, Prince of Orange disbands the waardgelders militia in Utrecht, a pivotal event in the Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions.
    • 1655 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
    • 1658 – Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal emperor of India.
    • 1703 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
    • 1712 – Action of 31 July 1712 (Great Northern War): Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea; the result is inconclusive.
    • 1715 – Seven days after a Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.
    • 1741 – Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
    • 1763 – Odawa Chief Pontiac’s forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac’s War.
    • 1777 – The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette “be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States.”
    • 1790 – The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
    • 1856 – Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
    • 1865 – The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
    • 1874 – Dr. Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.
    • 1904 – Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.
    • 1913 – The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.
    • 1919 – German national assembly adopts the Weimar Constitution, which comes into force on August 14.
    • 1932 – The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
    • 1938 – Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).
    • 1938 – Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
    • 1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”
    • 1941 – World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
    • 1945 – Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
    • 1948 – At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
    • 1948 – USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.
    • 1964 – Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.
    • 1970 – Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
    • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
    • 1972 – The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.
    • 1973 – A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723 crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.
    • 1975 – The Troubles: three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.
    • 1987 – A tornado occurs in Edmonton, Canada.
    • 1988 – Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.
    • 1991 – The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries’ stockpiles.
    • 1992 – The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.
    • 1992 – Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.
    • 1999 – Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector: NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon’s surface.
    • 2006 – Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.
    • 2007 – Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
    • 2012 – Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.
    • 2014 – Gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung kill at least 20 people and injure more than 270.

    Births on July 31

    • 1143 – Emperor Nijō of Japan (d. 1165)
    • 1396 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)
    • 1526 – Augustus, Elector of Saxony (d. 1586)
    • 1527 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)
    • 1595 – Philipp Wolfgang, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1641)
    • 1598 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (d. 1654)
    • 1686 – Charles of France, Duke of Berry (d. 1714)
    • 1702 – Jean Denis Attiret, French missionary and painter (d. 1768)
    • 1704 – Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1752)
    • 1718 – John Canton, English physicist and academic (d. 1772)
    • 1724 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (d. 1801)
    • 1759 – Ignaz Anton von Indermauer, Austrian nobleman and government official (d. 1796)
    • 1777 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (d. 1849)
    • 1796 – Jean-Gaspard Deburau, Czech-French actor and mime (d. 1846)
    • 1800 – Friedrich Wöhler, German chemist and academic (d. 1882)
    • 1803 – John Ericsson, Swedish-American engineer, co-designed the USS Princeton and the Novelty Locomotive (d. 1889)
    • 1816 – George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)
    • 1826 – William S. Clark, American colonel and politician (d. 1886)
    • 1835 – Henri Brisson, French lawyer and politician, 50th Prime Minister of France (d. 1912)
    • 1835 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and explorer (d. 1903)
    • 1836 – Vasily Sleptsov, Russian author and activist (d. 1878)
    • 1837 – William Quantrill, American captain (d. 1865)
    • 1839 – Ignacio Andrade, Venezuelan general and politician, 25th President of Venezuela (d. 1925)
    • 1843 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and author (d. 1918)
    • 1847 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (d. 1905)
    • 1854 – José Canalejas, Spanish academic and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1912)
    • 1858 – Richard Dixon Oldham, English seismologist and geologist (d. 1936)
    • 1858 – Marion Talbot, influential American educator (d. 1948)
    • 1860 – Mary Vaux Walcott, American painter and illustrator (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – S. S. Kresge, American businessman, founded Kmart (d. 1966)
    • 1875 – Jacques Villon, French painter (d. 1963)
    • 1877 – Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (d. 1970)
    • 1880 – Premchand, Indian author and playwright (d. 1936)
    • 1883 – Ramón Fonst, Cuban fencer (d. 1959)
    • 1884 – Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, Polish-German economist and politician (d. 1945)
    • 1886 – Salvatore Maranzano, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1931)
    • 1886 – Fred Quimby, American animation producer (d. 1965)
    • 1887 – Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher (d. 1969)
    • 1892 – Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist and publisher, founded Worldwide Church of God (d. 1986)
    • 1892 – Joseph Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1959)
    • 1894 – Fred Keenor, Welsh footballer (d. 1972)
    • 1901 – Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
    • 1902 – Gubby Allen, Australian-English cricketer and soldier (d. 1989)
    • 1904 – Brett Halliday, American engineer, surveyor, and author (d. 1977)
    • 1909 – Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Austrian theorist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1911 – George Liberace, American violinist (d. 1983)
    • 1912 – Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (d. 2008)
    • 1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
    • 1912 – Irv Kupcinet, American football player and journalist (d. 2003)
    • 1913 – Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1984)
    • 1914 – Paul J. Christiansen, American conductor and composer (d. 1997)
    • 1914 – Louis de Funès, French actor and screenwriter (d. 1983)
    • 1916 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (d. 1986)
    • 1916 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Bill Todman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1979)
    • 1918 – Paul D. Boyer, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
    • 1918 – Hank Jones, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2010)
    • 1918 – Frank Renouf, New Zealand businessman and financier (d. 1998)
    • 1919 – Hemu Adhikari, Indian cricketer (d. 2003)
    • 1919 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster and actor (d. 2006)
    • 1919 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (d. 1987)
    • 1920 – James E. Faust, American religious leader, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – Peter Benenson, English lawyer and activist, founded Amnesty International (d. 2005)
    • 1921 – Donald Malarkey, American sergeant and author (d. 2017)
    • 1921 – Whitney Young, American activist (d. 1971)
    • 1922 – Hank Bauer, American baseball player and manager (d. 2007)
    • 1923 – Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-American songwriter and producer, founded Atlantic Records (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist and engineer, invented Kevlar (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Carmel Quinn, Irish singer, actress and writer
    • 1925 – John Swainson, Canadian-American jurist and politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (d. 1994)
    • 1926 – Bernard Nathanson, American physician and activist (d. 2011)
    • 1926 – Hilary Putnam, American mathematician, computer scientist, and philosopher (d. 2016)
    • 1927 – Peter Nichols, English author and playwright (d. 2019)
    • 1928 – Bill Frenzel, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Lynne Reid Banks, English author
    • 1929 – Gilles Carle, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1929 – Don Murray, American actor
    • 1929 – José Santamaría, Uruguayan footballer and manager
    • 1931 – Nick Bollettieri, American tennis player and coach
    • 1931 – Kenny Burrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1932 – Ted Cassidy, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1979)
    • 1932 – John Searle, American philosopher and academic
    • 1933 – Cees Nooteboom, Dutch journalist, author, and poet
    • 1935 – Yvon Deschamps, Canadian comedian, actor, and producer
    • 1935 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1939 – Steuart Bedford, English pianist and conductor
    • 1939 – Susan Flannery, American actress
    • 1939 – France Nuyen, Vietnamese-French actress
    • 1941 – Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Gujarat (d. 2004)
    • 1943 – William Bennett, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Education
    • 1943 – Lobo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1944 – Geraldine Chaplin, American actress and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Jonathan Dimbleby, English journalist and author
    • 1944 – Sherry Lansing, American film producer
    • 1944 – Robert C. Merton, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1944 – David Norris, Irish scholar and politician
    • 1945 – William Weld, American lawyer and politician, 68th Governor of Massachusetts
    • 1946 – Gary Lewis, American pop-rock musician
    • 1947 – Karl Green, English bass player and songwriter (Herman’s Hermits)
    • 1947 – Richard Griffiths, English actor (d. 2013)
    • 1947 – Mumtaz, Indian actress
    • 1947 – Hubert Védrine, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1947 – Ian Beck, English children’s illustrator and author
    • 1948 – Russell Morris, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1949 – Mike Jackson, American basketball player
    • 1949 – Alan Meale, English journalist and politician
    • 1950 – Richard Berry, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1951 – Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Australian tennis player
    • 1952 – Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player
    • 1952 – Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and politician, 23rd Mayor of Fresno, California
    • 1952 – Helmuts Balderis, Latvian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1952 – João Barreiros, Portuguese author and critic
    • 1952 – Faye Kellerman, American author
    • 1953 – Ted Baillieu, Australian architect and politician, 46th Premier of Victoria
    • 1953 – Jimmy Cook, South African cricketer and coach
    • 1953 – Hugh McDowell, English cellist
    • 1954 – Derek Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1956 – Michael Biehn, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Bill Callahan, American football player and coach
    • 1956 – Ron Kuby, American lawyer and radio host
    • 1956 – Deval Patrick, American lawyer and politician, 71st Governor of Massachusetts
    • 1956 – Lynne Rae Perkins, American author and illustrator
    • 1957 – Daniel Ash, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1957 – Mark Thompson, English business executive
    • 1958 – Bill Berry, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1958 – Mark Cuban, American businessman and television personality
    • 1958 – Suzanne Giraud, French music editor and composer
    • 1959 – Stanley Jordan, American guitarist, pianist, and songwriter
    • 1959 – Andrew Marr, Scottish journalist and author
    • 1959 – Kim Newman, English journalist and author
    • 1960 – Dale Hunter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1960 – Malcolm Ross, Scottish guitarist and songwriter
    • 1961 – Frank Gardner, English captain and journalist
    • 1961 – Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Nigerian banker, royal
    • 1962 – John Chiang, American lawyer and politician, 31st California State Controller
    • 1962 – Kevin Greene, American football player and coach
    • 1962 – Wesley Snipes, American actor and producer
    • 1963 – Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim), English DJ and musician
    • 1963 – Fergus Henderson, English chef and author
    • 1963 – Brian Skrudland, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1964 – Jim Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1964 – Urmas Hepner, Estonian footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Scott Brooks, American basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – John Laurinaitis, American wrestler and producer
    • 1965 – Ian Roberts, English-Australian rugby league player and actor
    • 1965 – J. K. Rowling, English author and film producer
    • 1966 – Dean Cain, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Tony Massenburg, American basketball player
    • 1967 – Tim Wright, Welsh composer
    • 1968 – Saeed-Al-Saffar, Emirati cricketer
    • 1968 – Julian Richards, Welsh director and producer
    • 1969 – Antonio Conte, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Loren Dean, American actor
    • 1969 – Kenneth D. Schisler, American lawyer and politician
    • 1970 – Ahmad Akbarpour, Iranian author and poet
    • 1970 – Ben Chaplin, English actor
    • 1970 – Andrzej Kobylański, Polish footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Giorgos Sigalas, Greek basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Gus Frerotte, American football player and coach
    • 1973 – Nathan Brown, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1974 – Emilia Fox, English actress
    • 1974 – Leona Naess, American-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1974 – Jonathan Ogden, American football player
    • 1975 – Randy Flores, American baseball player and coach
    • 1975 – Andrew Hall, South African cricketer
    • 1975 – Gabe Kapler, American baseball player and manager
    • 1976 – Joshua Cain, American guitarist and producer
    • 1976 – Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rican footballer and manager
    • 1978 – Zac Brown, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1978 – Nick Sorensen, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Justin Wilson, English race car driver (d. 2015)
    • 1979 – Jaco Erasmus, South African-Italian rugby player
    • 1979 – J.J. Furmaniak, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Per Krøldrup, Danish footballer
    • 1979 – Carlos Marchena, Spanish footballer
    • 1979 – B.J. Novak, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Mikko Hirvonen, Finnish race car driver
    • 1980 – Mils Muliaina, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1981 – Titus Bramble, English footballer
    • 1981 – Vernon Carey, American football player
    • 1981 – Paul Whatuira, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1981 – M. Shadows, American musician, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold
    • 1982 – Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spanish tennis player
    • 1982 – DeMarcus Ware, American football player
    • 1985 – Daniel Ciofani, Italian footballer
    • 1985 – Rémy Di Gregorio, French cyclist
    • 1986 – Evgeni Malkin, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Brian Orakpo, American football player
    • 1987 – Michael Bradley, American soccer player
    • 1988 – Alex Glenn, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1989 – Victoria Azarenka, Belorussian tennis player
    • 1991 – Réka Luca Jani, Hungarian tennis player
    • 1992 – José Fernández, Cuban baseball player (d. 2016)
    • 1992 – Ryan Johansen, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Kyle Larson, American race car driver
    • 1994 – Lil Uzi Vert, American hip hop artist

    Deaths on July 31

    • 54 BC – Aurelia Cotta, Roman mother of Gaius Julius Caesar (b. 120 BC)
    • 450 – Peter Chrysologus, Italian bishop and saint (b. 380)
    • 910 – Feng Xingxi, Chinese warlord
    • 975 – Fu Yanqing, Chinese general (b. 898)
    • 1098 – Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury
    • 1358 – Étienne Marcel, French rebel leader (b. 1302)
    • 1396 – William Courtenay, English archbishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
    • 1508 – Na’od, Ethiopian emperor
    • 1556 – Ignatius of Loyola, Spanish priest and theologian, founded the Society of Jesus (b. 1491)
    • 1616 – Roger Wilbraham, Solicitor-General for Ireland (b. 1553)
    • 1638 – Sibylla Schwarz, German poet (b. 1621)
    • 1653 – Thomas Dudley, English soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)
    • 1693 – Willem Kalf, Dutch still life painter (b. 1619)
    • 1726 – Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and theorist (b. 1695)
    • 1750 – John V, king of Portugal (b. 1689)
    • 1762 – Luis Vicente de Velasco e Isla, Spanish sailor and commander (b. 1711)
    • 1781 – John Bligh, 3rd Earl of Darnley, British parliamentarian (b. 1719)
    • 1784 – Denis Diderot, French philosopher and critic (b. 1713)
    • 1805 – Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian soldier (b. 1756)
    • 1864 – Louis Christophe François Hachette, French publisher (b. 1800)
    • 1875 – Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
    • 1884 – Kiến Phúc, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1869)
    • 1886 – Franz Liszt, Hungarian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
    • 1891 – Jean-Baptiste Capronnier, Belgian stained glass painter (b. 1814)
    • 1913 – John Milne, British geologist and mining engineer. (b. 1850)
    • 1914 – Jean Jaurès, French journalist and politician (b. 1859)
    • 1917 – Hedd Wyn, Welsh language poet (b. 1887)
    • 1917 – Francis Ledwidge, Irish soldier and poet (b. 1881)
    • 1920 – Ion Dragoumis, Greek philosopher and diplomat (b. 1878)
    • 1940 – Udham Singh, Indian activist (b. 1899)
    • 1943 – Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1905)
    • 1942 – Francis Younghusband, British Army Officer, explorer and spiritual writer (b.1863)
    • 1944 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French pilot and poet (b. 1900)
    • 1953 – Robert A. Taft, American soldier and politician (b. 1889)
    • 1954 – Onofre Marimón, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1923)
    • 1958 – Eino Kaila, Finnish philosopher and psychologist, attendant of the Vienna circle (b. 1890)
    • 1964 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
    • 1966 – Bud Powell, American pianist (b. 1924)
    • 1968 – Jack Pizzey, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
    • 1971 – Walter P. Carter, American soldier and activist (b. 1923)
    • 1972 – Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)
    • 1973 – Azumafuji Kin’ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 40th Yokozuna (b. 1921)
    • 1979 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress and director (b. 1903)
    • 1980 – Pascual Jordan, German physicist, author, and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1980 – Mohammed Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)
    • 1981 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian general and politician, Military Leader of Panama (b. 1929)
    • 1985 – Eugene Carson Blake, American religious leader (b. 1906)
    • 1986 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese diplomat (b. 1900)
    • 1987 – Joseph E. Levine, American film producer (b, 1905)
    • 1990 – Albert Leduc, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
    • 1992 – Leonard Cheshire, English captain and pilot (b. 1917)
    • 1992 – Md. Abdul Wajed Chowdhury, Bangladeshi politician.
    • 1993 – Baudouin, King of Belgium (b. 1930)
    • 2000 – William Keepers Maxwell Jr., American editor, novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1908)
    • 2001 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (b. 1914)
    • 2001 – Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (b. 1910)
    • 2003 – Guido Crepax, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1933)
    • 2004 – Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Wim Duisenberg, Dutch economist and politician, 1st President of the European Central Bank (b. 1935)
    • 2009 – Bobby Robson, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
    • 2009 – Harry Alan Towers, English-Canadian screenwriter and producer (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Mollie Hunter, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Alfredo Ramos, Brazilian footballer and coach (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Gore Vidal, American novelist, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Tony Sly, American musician, singer-songwriter (b. 1970)
    • 2013 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Michel Donnet, English-Belgian general and pilot (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – John Graves, American captain and author (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Trevor Storer, English businessman, founded Pukka Pies (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Warren Bennis, American scholar, author, and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Nabarun Bhattacharya, Indian journalist and author (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Jeff Bourne, English footballer (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Wilfred Feinberg, American lawyer and judge (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Alan Cheuse, American writer and critic (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – Howard W. Jones, American surgeon and academic (b. 1910)
    • 2015 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler and actor (b. 1954)
    • 2015 – Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 58th Yokozuna (b. 1955)
    • 2016 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician (b. 1928)
    • 2017 – Jeanne Moreau, French actress (b. 1928)
    • 2018 – Tony Bullimore, British sailor & businessman (b. 1939)
    • 2019 – Harold Prince, noted Broadway producer and director, who received more Tony awards than anyone else in history (b. 1928)

    Holidays and observances on July 31

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abanoub
      • Germanus of Auxerre
      • Ignatius of Loyola
      • Neot
      • July 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which the Feast of Kamál (Perfection) can fall, while August 1 is the latest; observed on the first day of the eighth month of the Bahá’í calendar. (Bahá’í Faith)
    • End of the Trinity term (sitting of the High Court of Justice of England)
    • Ka Hae Hawaiʻi Day (Hawaii, United States), and its related observance:
      • Sovereignty Restoration Day (Hawaiian sovereignty movement)
    • Martyrdom Day of Shahid Udham Singh (Haryana and Punjab, India)
    • Treasury Day (Poland)
    • Warriors’ Day (Malaysia)

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

    • 762 – Baghdad is founded.
    • 1419 – First Defenestration of Prague: A crowd of radical Hussites kill seven members of the Prague city council.
    • 1502 – Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras during his fourth voyage.
    • 1609 – Beaver Wars: At Ticonderoga (now Crown Point, New York), Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs on behalf of his native allies.
    • 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the House of Burgesses, convenes for the first time.
    • 1626 – An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
    • 1635 – Eighty Years’ War: The Siege of Schenkenschans begins; Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, begins the recapture of the strategically important fortress from the Spanish Army.
    • 1656 – Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
    • 1676 – Nathaniel Bacon issues the “Declaration of the People of Virginia”, beginning Bacon’s Rebellion against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.
    • 1729 – Founding of Baltimore, Maryland.
    • 1733 – The first Masonic Grand Lodge in the future United States is constituted in Massachusetts.
    • 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
    • 1811 – Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, leader of the Mexican insurgency, is executed by the Spanish in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
    • 1825 – Malden Island is discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.
    • 1859 – First ascent of Grand Combin, one of the highest summits in the Alps.
    • 1863 – American Indian Wars: Representatives of the United States and tribal leaders including Chief Pocatello (of the Shoshone) sign the Treaty of Box Elder.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines at Petersburg, Virginia by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.
    • 1865 – The steamboat Brother Jonathan sinks off the coast of Crescent City, California, killing 225 passengers, the deadliest shipwreck on the Pacific Coast of the U.S. at the time.
    • 1866 – Armed Confederate veterans in New Orleans riot against a meeting of Radical Republicans, killing 48 people and injuring another 100.
    • 1871 – The Staten Island Ferry Westfield’s boiler explodes, killing over 85 people.
    • 1912 – Japan’s Emperor Meiji dies and is succeeded by his son Yoshihito, who is now known as the Emperor Taishō.
    • 1930 – In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup.
    • 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney’s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
    • 1945 – World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors.
    • 1956 – A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress is signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, authorizing In God We Trust as the U.S. national motto.
    • 1962 – The Trans-Canada Highway, the longest national highway in the world, is officially opened.
    • 1965 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid.
    • 1966 – England defeats West Germany to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup at Wembley Stadium after extra time.
    • 1969 – Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.
    • 1971 – Apollo program: Apollo 15 Mission: David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
    • 1971 – An All Nippon Airways Boeing 727 and a Japanese Air Force F-86 collide over Morioka, Iwate, Japan killing 162.
    • 1974 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon releases subpoenaed White House recordings after being ordered to do so by the Supreme Court of the United States.
    • 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
    • 1978 – The 730 (transport), Okinawa Prefecture changes its traffic on the right-hand side of the road to the left-hand side.
    • 1980 – Vanuatu gains independence.
    • 1980 – Israel’s Knesset passes the Jerusalem Law.
    • 1981 – As many as 50,000 demonstrators, mostly women and children, took to the streets in Łódź to protest food ration shortages in Communist Poland.
    • 1990 – Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by IRA terrorists in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them.
    • 2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.
    • 2006 – The world’s longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
    • 2011 – Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall.
    • 2012 – A train fire kills 32 passengers and injures 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India.
    • 2012 – A power grid failure in Delhi leaves more than 300 million people without power in northern India.
    • 2014 – One hundred and fifty people are trapped after a landslide in Maharashtra, India; 20 are killed.

    Births on July 30

    • 1470 – Hongzhi, emperor of the Ming dynasty (d. 1505)
    • 1511 – Giorgio Vasari, Italian painter, historian, and architect (d. 1574)
    • 1549 – Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1609)
    • 1641 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1673)
    • 1751 – Maria Anna Mozart, Austrian pianist (d. 1829)
    • 1763 – Samuel Rogers, English poet and art collector (d. 1855)
    • 1809 – Charles Chiniquy, Canadian-American priest and theologian (d. 1899)
    • 1818 – Emily Brontë, English novelist and poet (d. 1848)
    • 1818 – Jan Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, 16th and 19th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1897)
    • 1825 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian engineer and author (d. 1893)
    • 1832 – George Lemuel Woods, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 3rd Governor of Oregon (d. 1890)
    • 1855 – Georg Wilhelm von Siemens, German-Swiss businessman (d. 1919)
    • 1857 – Thorstein Veblen, American economist and sociologist (d. 1929)
    • 1859 – Henry Simpson Lunn, English minister and humanitarian, founded Lunn Poly (d. 1939)
    • 1862 – Nikolai Yudenich, Russian general (d. 1933)
    • 1863 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (d. 1947)
    • 1872 – Princess Clémentine of Belgium (d. 1955)
    • 1881 – Smedley Butler, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1940)
    • 1890 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (d. 1975)
    • 1893 – Fatima Jinnah, Pakistani dentist and politician (d. 1967)
    • 1898 – Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1986)
    • 1899 – Gerald Moore, English pianist (d. 1987)
    • 1901 – Alfred Lépine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1955)
    • 1904 – Salvador Novo, Mexican poet and playwright (d. 1974)
    • 1909 – C. Northcote Parkinson, English historian and author (d. 1993)
    • 1910 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (d. 2003)
    • 1913 – Lou Darvas, American soldier and cartoonist (d. 1987)
    • 1914 – Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, Irish journalist and author, 6th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 1999)
    • 1920 – Walter Schuck, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 2015)
    • 1921 – Grant Johannesen, American pianist and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Henry W. Bloch, American banker and businessman, co-founded H&R Block (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Stan Stennett, Welsh actor and trumpet player (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Alexander Trocchi, Scottish author and poet (d. 1984)
    • 1926 – Betye Saar, African American artist
    • 1927 – Richard Johnson, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Pete Schoening, American mountaineer (d. 2004)
    • 1927 – Victor Wong, American actor (d. 2001)
    • 1928 – Joe Nuxhall, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – Sid Krofft, Canadian-American puppeteer and producer
    • 1931 – Dominique Lapierre, French historian and author
    • 1934 – Bud Selig, 9th Major League Baseball Commissioner
    • 1936 – Buddy Guy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1936 – Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (d. 2020)
    • 1938 – Hervé de Charette, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1938 – Terry O’Neill, English photographer (d. 2019)
    • 1939 – Peter Bogdanovich, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1939 – Eleanor Smeal, American activist, founded the Feminist Majority Foundation
    • 1940 – Patricia Schroeder, American lawyer and politician
    • 1940 – Clive Sinclair, English businessman, founded Sinclair Radionics and Sinclair Research
    • 1941 – Paul Anka, Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1942 – Pollyanna Pickering, English environmentalist and painter (d. 2018)
    • 1943 – Henri-François Gautrin, Canadian physicist and politician
    • 1944 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (d. 1973)
    • 1944 – Peter Bottomley, English politician
    • 1944 – Frances de la Tour, English actress
    • 1945 – Patrick Modiano, French novelist and screenwriter, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1945 – David Sanborn, American saxophonist and composer
    • 1946 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 1994)
    • 1946 – Jeffrey Hammond, English bass player
    • 1947 – William Atherton, American actor and producer
    • 1947 – Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, French virologist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1947 – Jonathan Mann, American physician and author (d. 1998)
    • 1947 – Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California
    • 1948 – Billy Paultz, American basketball player
    • 1948 – Jean Reno, Moroccan-French actor
    • 1948 – Otis Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1948 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (d. 2010)
    • 1949 – Duck Baker, American guitarist
    • 1949 – Sonia Proudman, English lawyer and judge
    • 1950 – Harriet Harman, English lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Frank Stallone, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1951 – Alan Kourie, South African cricketer
    • 1951 – Gerry Judah, Indian-English painter and sculptor
    • 1952 – Stephen Blackmore, English botanist and author
    • 1954 – Ken Olin, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1955 – Rat Scabies, English drummer and producer
    • 1955 – Christopher Warren-Green, English violinist and conductor
    • 1956 – Delta Burke, American actress
    • 1956 – Réal Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1956 – Anita Hill, American lawyer and academic
    • 1956 – Soraida Martinez, American painter and educator
    • 1957 – Antonio Adamo, Italian director and cinematographer
    • 1957 – Bill Cartwright, American basketball player and coach
    • 1957 – Clint Hurdle, American baseball player and manager
    • 1957 – Nery Pumpido, Argentinian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1958 – Kate Bush, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1958 – Liz Kershaw, English radio broadcaster
    • 1958 – Daley Thompson, English decathlete and trainer
    • 1960 – Jennifer Barnes, American-English musicologist and academic
    • 1960 – Richard Linklater, American director and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Brillante Mendoza, Filipino independent film director
    • 1961 – Laurence Fishburne, American actor and producer
    • 1962 – Alton Brown, American chef, author, and producer
    • 1962 – Jay Feaster, American ice hockey player and manager
    • 1962 – Yakub Memon, Indian accountant and terrorist (d. 2015)
    • 1963 – Peter Bowler, English-Australian cricketer
    • 1963 – Lisa Kudrow, American actress and producer
    • 1963 – Antoni Martí, Andorran architect and politician
    • 1963 – Chris Mullin, American basketball player, coach, and executive
    • 1964 – Ron Block, American singer-songwriter and banjo player
    • 1964 – Vivica A. Fox, American actress
    • 1964 – Alek Keshishian, Lebanese-American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Jürgen Klinsmann, German footballer and manager
    • 1964 – Laine Randjärv, Estonian lawyer and politician, 6th Estonian Minister of Culture
    • 1965 – Tim Munton, English cricketer
    • 1966 – Kerry Fox, New Zealand actress and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Craig Gannon, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1966 – Allan Langer, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1966 – Louise Wener, English author and singer-songwriter
    • 1968 – Terry Crews, American football player and actor
    • 1968 – Robert Korzeniowski, Polish race walker and coach
    • 1968 – Sean Moore, Welsh drummer and songwriter
    • 1969 – Simon Baker, Australian actor, director, and producer
    • 1969 – Errol Stewart, South African cricketer and lawyer
    • 1970 – Alun Cairns, Welsh businessman and politician
    • 1970 – Dean Edwards, American comedian, actor, and singer
    • 1970 – Christopher Nolan, English-American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Elvis Crespo, American-Puerto Rican singer
    • 1971 – Tom Green, Canadian comedian and actor
    • 1972 – Jim McIlvaine, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Kenton Cool, English mountaineer
    • 1973 – Ümit Davala, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Anastasios Katsabis, Greek footballer
    • 1973 – Markus Näslund, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
    • 1973 – Sonu Nigam, Indian playback singer and actor
    • 1973 – Clementa C. Pinckney, American minister and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1974 – Radostin Kishishev, Bulgarian footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Jason Robinson, English rugby league footballer, and rugby union footballer and coach
    • 1974 – Hilary Swank, American actress and producer
    • 1975 – Graham Nicholls, English author and activist
    • 1975 – Kate Starbird, American basketball player and computer scientist
    • 1977 – Diana Bolocco, Chilean model and journalist;
    • 1977 – Misty May-Treanor, American volleyball player and coach
    • 1977 – Jaime Pressly, American actress
    • 1977 – Bootsy Thornton, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Ian Watkins, Welsh singer-songwriter and child abuse convict
    • 1979 – Carlos Arroyo, Puerto Rican basketball player and singer
    • 1979 – Chad Keegan, South African cricketer and coach
    • 1979 – Graeme McDowell, Northern Irish golfer
    • 1979 – Maya Nasser, Syrian journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1980 – Seth Avett, American folk-rock singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1980 – Justin Rose, South African-English golfer
    • 1981 – Nicky Hayden, American motorcycle racer (d. 2017)
    • 1981 – Juan Smith, South African rugby union footballer
    • 1981 – Hope Solo, American soccer player
    • 1981 – Indrek Turi, Estonian decathlete
    • 1982 – Jehad Al-Hussain, Syrian footballer
    • 1982 – James Anderson, English cricketer
    • 1982 – Yvonne Strahovski, Australian actress
    • 1983 – Seán Dillon, Irish footballer
    • 1984 – Marko Asmer, Estonian race car driver
    • 1984 – Gabrielle Christian, American actress and singer
    • 1984 – Trudy McIntosh, Australian artistic gymnast
    • 1984 – Kevin Pittsnogle, American basketball player
    • 1985 – Chris Guccione, Australian tennis player
    • 1985 – Daniel Fredheim Holm, Norwegian footballer
    • 1985 – Luca Lanotte, Italian ice dancer
    • 1985 – Matthew Scott, Australian rugby league player
    • 1986 – Tiago Alencar, Brazilian footballer
    • 1986 – William Zillman, Australian rugby league player
    • 1987 – Anton Fink, German footballer
    • 1987 – Sam Saunders, American golfer
    • 1988 – Wen Chean Lim, Malaysian rhythmic gymnast
    • 1989 – Aleix Espargaró, Spanish motorcycle racer
    • 1989 – Wayne Parnell, South African cricketer
    • 1990 – Chris Maxwell, Welsh footballer
    • 1991 – Diana Vickers, English singer-songwriter
    • 1992 – Hannah Cockroft, English wheelchair racer
    • 1993 – Jacob Faria, American baseball player
    • 1993 – André Gomes, Portuguese footballer
    • 1993 – Margarida Moura, Portuguese tennis player
    • 1994 – Nelydia Senrose, Malaysian actress
    • 1996 – Nina Stojanović, Serbian tennis player

    Deaths on July 30

    • 578 – Jacob Baradaeus, Greek bishop
    • 579 – Pope Benedict I
    • 734 – Tatwine, English archbishop (b. 670)
    • 829 – Shi Xiancheng, general of the Tang Dynasty
    • 1286 – Bar Hebraeus, Syrian scholar and historian (b. 1226)
    • 1393 – Alberto d’Este, Lord of Ferrara and Modena (b. 1347)
    • 1516 – Johann V of Nassau-Vianden-Dietz (b. 1455)
    • 1540 – Thomas Abel, English priest and martyr (b. 1497)
    • 1540 – Robert Barnes, English martyr and reformer (b. 1495)
    • 1550 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1505)
    • 1566 – Guillaume Rondelet, French doctor (b. 1507)
    • 1608 – Rory O’Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, last King of Tyrconnell (b. 1575)
    • 1624 – Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, British nobleman (b. 1579)
    • 1652 – Charles Amadeus, Duke of Nemours (b. 1624)
    • 1680 – Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory, Irish admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1634)
    • 1683 – Maria Theresa of Spain (b. 1638)
    • 1691 – Daniel Georg Morhof, German scholar and academic (b. 1639)
    • 1700 – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, English royal (b. 1689)
    • 1718 – William Penn, English businessman and philosopher, founded the Province of Pennsylvania (b. 1644)
    • 1771 – Thomas Gray, English poet (b. 1716)
    • 1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican priest and soldier (b. 1753)
    • 1832 – Lê Văn Duyệt, Vietnamese general, mandarin (b. 1763-4)
    • 1870 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian poet and journalist (b. 1818)
    • 1875 – George Pickett, American general (b. 1825)
    • 1889 – Charlie Absolom, England cricketer (b. 1846)
    • 1898 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1815)
    • 1900 – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (b. 1844)
    • 1912 – Emperor Meiji of Japan (b. 1852)
    • 1918 – Joyce Kilmer, American soldier, journalist, and poet (b. 1886)
    • 1920 – Albert Gustaf Dahlman, Swedish executioner (b. 1848)
    • 1930 – Joan Gamper, Swiss-Spanish footballer and businessman, founded FC Barcelona (b. 1877)
    • 1938 – John Derbyshire, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1878)
    • 1941 – Hugo Celmiņš, Latvian politician, former Prime Minister of Latvia (b. 1877)
    • 1947 – Joseph Cook, English-Australian miner and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1860)
    • 1965 – Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author and playwright (b. 1886)
    • 1970 – Walter Murdoch, Scottish-Australian academic (b. 1874)
    • 1970 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (b. 1897)
    • 1971 – Thomas Hollway, Australian politician, 36th Premier of Victoria (b. 1906)
    • 1975 – James Blish, American author and critic (b. 1921)
    • 1977 – Emory Holloway, American scholar, author, and educator (b. 1885)
    • 1983 – Howard Dietz, American songwriter and publicist (b. 1896)
    • 1983 – Lynn Fontanne, English actress (b. 1887)
    • 1985 – Julia Robinson, American mathematician and theorist (b. 1919)
    • 1989 – Lane Frost, American professional bull rider
    • 1990 – Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (b. 1937)
    • 1992 – Brenda Marshall, Filipino-American actress and singer (b. 1915)
    • 1992 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American illustrator, co-created Superman (b. 1914)
    • 1996 – Claudette Colbert, French-American actress (b. 1903)
    • 1997 – Bảo Đại, Vietnamese emperor (b. 1913)
    • 1998 – Buffalo Bob Smith, American television host (b. 1917)
    • 2001 – Anton Schwarzkopf, German engineer (b. 1924)
    • 2003 – Steve Hislop, Scottish motorcycle racer (b. 1962)
    • 2003 – Sam Phillips, American record producer, founded Sun Records (b. 1923)
    • 2005 – Ray Cunningham, American baseball player (b. 1905)
    • 2005 – John Garang, Sudanese colonel and politician, 6th President of South Sudan (b. 1945)
    • 2006 – Duygu Asena, Turkish journalist and author(b. 1946)
    • 2006 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (b. 1924)
    • 2006 – Murray Bookchin, American philosopher and author (b. 1921)
    • 2006 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (b. 1904)
    • 2006 – Akbar Mohammadi, Iranian activist (b. 1972)
    • 2007 – Michelangelo Antonioni, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
    • 2007 – Teoctist Arăpașu, Romanian patriarch (b. 1915)
    • 2007 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1918)
    • 2007 – Bill Walsh, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2008 – Anne Armstrong, American businesswoman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (b. 1927)
    • 2009 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian militant leader, founded Boko Haram (b. 1970)
    • 2009 – Peter Zadek, German director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Bob Peterson, American basketball player (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Maeve Binchy, Irish author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1939)
    • 2012 – Bill Doss, American singer and guitarist (b. 1968)
    • 2012 – Stig Ossian Ericson, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Les Green, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)
    • 2012 – Jonathan Hardy, New Zealand-Australian actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2012 – Bill Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1960)
    • 2012 – Mary Louise Rasmuson, American colonel (b. 1911)
    • 2013 – Cecil Alexander, American architect, designed the State of Georgia Building (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Berthold Beitz, German businessman (b. 1913)
    • 2013 – Robert Neelly Bellah, American sociologist and author (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Harry F. Byrd Jr., American lieutenant, publisher, and politician (b. 1914)
    • 2013 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Ossie Schectman, American basketball player (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Benjamin Walker, Indian-English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
    • 2014 – Robert Drew, American director and producer (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Harun Farocki, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
    • 2014 – Julio Grondona, Argentinian businessman (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Peter Hall, English geographer, author, and academic (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Dick Smith, American make-up artist (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Dick Wagner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Lynn Anderson, American singer (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Endel Lippmaa, Estonian physicist (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Francis Paul Prucha, American historian and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Alena Vrzáňová, Czech figure skater (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1925)
    • 2018 – Michael A. Sheehan, American author, former government official and military officer (b. 1955)

    Holidays and observances on July 30

    • Christian feast day:
      • Abdon and Sennen
      • Hatebrand
      • Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda
      • Peter Chrysologus
      • Robert Barnes (Lutheran)
      • Rufinus of Assisi
      • Tatwine
      • Ursus of Auxerre
      • Solanus Casey
      • July 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Feast of the Throne (Morocco)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Vanuatu from the United Kingdom and France in 1980.
    • International Day of Friendship (international), and its related observances:
      • Día del Amigo (Paraguay)
    • Martyrs Day (South Sudan)

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

    • 811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury.
    • 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios.
    • 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.
    • 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.
    • 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
    • 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.
    • 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor’s coasts.
    • 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
    • 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
    • 1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India.
    • 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.
    • 1885 – President Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer.
    • 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
    • 1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans.
    • 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28.
    • 1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana
    • 1921 – The Communist Party of China (CPC) is established at the founding National Congress.
    • 1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
    • 1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.
    • 1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.
    • 1940 – The United States’ Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
    • 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.
    • 1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.
    • 1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England.
    • 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
    • 1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin.
    • 1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.
    • 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.
    • 1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.
    • 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.
    • 1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
    • 1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings.
    • 1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.
    • 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel.
    • 1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.
    • 1972 – The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.
    • 1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece’s metapolitefsi era.
    • 1980 – Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.
    • 1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.
    • 1983 – Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
    • 1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.
    • 1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
    • 1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender.
    • 1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
    • 1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.
    • 1997 – Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.
    • 1999 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa.
    • 1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
    • 2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.
    • 2014 – TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Phengu Airport. 48 of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured.
    • 2015 – NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler.
    • 2016 – Kabul twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang when protesters, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were marching against route changing of the TUTAP power project. At least 80 people were killed and 260 were injured.
    • 2018 – A wildfire in East Attica, Greece caused the death of 102 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in history of Greece and the second-deadliest in the world, in the 21st century, after the 2009 bushfires in Australia that killed 180.

    Births on July 23

    • 1301 – Otto, Duke of Austria (d. 1339)
    • 1339 – Louis I, Duke of Anjou (d. 1384)
    • 1370 – Pier Paolo Vergerio the Elder, humanist (d. 1444 or 1445)
    • 1401 – Francesco I Sforza, Italian husband of Bianca Maria Visconti (d. 1466)
    • 1441 – Danjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (d. 1457)
    • 1503 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1547)
    • 1614 – Bonaventura Peeters the Elder, Flemish painter (d. 1652)
    • 1635 – Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, New France garrison commander (d. 1660)
    • 1649 – Pope Clement XI (d. 1721)
    • 1705 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (d. 1752)
    • 1713 – Luís António Verney, Portuguese philosopher and pedagogue (d. 1792)
    • 1773 – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish general and politician, 6th Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)
    • 1775 – Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1812)
    • 1777 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter and illustrator (d. 1810)
    • 1796 – Franz Berwald, Swedish surgeon and composer (d. 1868)
    • 1802 – Manuel María Lombardini, Mexican general and president (1853) (d. 1853)
    • 1823 – Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian archbishop and missionary (d. 1894)
    • 1838 – Édouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor (d. 1910)
    • 1851 – Peder Severin Krøyer, Norwegian-Danish painter (d. 1909)
    • 1856 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer and journalist (d. 1920)
    • 1864 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (d. 1903)
    • 1865 – Henry Norris, English businessman and politician (d. 1934)
    • 1866 – Francesco Cilea, Italian composer and academic (d. 1950)
    • 1878 – James Thomas Milton Anderson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Saskatchewan (d. 1946)
    • 1882 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1948)
    • 1883 – Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, French-English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the County of London (d. 1963)
    • 1884 – Emil Jannings, Swiss-German actor (d. 1950)
    • 1885 – Izaak Killam, Canadian financier and philanthropist (d. 1955)
    • 1885 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Georgian-American businessman, created Prince Matchabelli perfume (d. 1935)
    • 1886 – Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish historian and diplomat (d. 1978)
    • 1886 – Walter H. Schottky, Swiss-German physicist and engineer (d. 1976)
    • 1888 – Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist and screenwriter (d. 1959)
    • 1891 – Louis T. Wright, American surgeon and civil rights activist (d. 1952)
    • 1892 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1975)
    • 1894 – Arthur Treacher, English-American actor and television personality (d. 1975)
    • 1895 – Aileen Pringle, American actress (d. 1989)
    • 1898 – Daniel Cosío Villegas, Mexican historian, economist (d. 1976)
    • 1898 – Bengt Djurberg, Swedish actor and singer (d. 1941)
    • 1898 – Red Dutton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Herman Kruusenberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1970)
    • 1898 – Jacob Marschak, Ukrainian-American economist, journalist, and author (d. 1977)
    • 1899 – Gustav Heinemann, German lawyer and politician, 3rd President of West Germany (d. 1976)
    • 1900 – Julia Davis Adams, American author and journalist (d. 1993)
    • 1900 – John Babcock, Canadian-American sergeant (d. 2010)
    • 1900 – Inger Margrethe Boberg, Danish folklore researcher and writer (d. 1957)
    • 1901 – Hank Worden, American actor and singer (d. 1992)
    • 1901 – Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer, Puerto Rican brothel owner and madam in barrio Maragüez, Ponce, Puerto Rico (d. 1974)
    • 1905 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian author and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1906 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
    • 1906 – Chandra Shekhar Azad, Indian activist (d. 1931)
    • 1912 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1912 – Michael Wilding, English actor (d. 1979)
    • 1913 – Michael Foot, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Employment (d. 2010)
    • 1914 – Nassos Daphnis, Greek-American painter (d.2010)
    • 1914 – Virgil Finlay, American illustrator (d. 1971)
    • 1914 – Elly Annie Schneider, German-American actress (d. 2004)
    • 1916 – Laurel Martyn, Australian ballerina and choreographer (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Abraham Bueno de Mesquita, Dutch comedian and actor (d. 2005)
    • 1918 – Ruth Duccini, American actress (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Pee Wee Reese, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Calvert DeForest, American actor (d. 2007)
    • 1922 – Damiano Damiani, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (d. 2004)
    • 1923 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (d. 1997)
    • 1923 – Morris Halle, Latvian-American linguist and academic (d. 2018)
    • 1923 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (d. 2001)
    • 1924 – Gavin Lambert, English-American screenwriter and author (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Gazanfer Bilge, Turkish wrestler (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Tajuddin Ahmad, Bangladeshi politician, 1st Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
    • 1925 – Quett Masire, Botswana politician, the former Vice-President of Botswana (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Alain Decaux, French historian and author (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Gloria DeHaven, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – Ludvík Vaculík, Czech journalist and author (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Gérard Brach, French director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1928 – Leon Fleisher, American pianist and conductor
    • 1928 – Vera Rubin, American astronomer and academic (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Hubert Selby, Jr., American author and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1929 – Danny Barcelona, American drummer (d. 2007)
    • 1929 – Lateef Jakande, Nigerian journalist and politician, 5th Governor of Lagos State
    • 1931 – Te Atairangikaahu, Māori queen (d. 2006)
    • 1931 – Claude Fournier, Canadian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer
    • 1931 – Guy Fournier, Canadian author and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Raimund Abraham, Austrian architect, designed the Austrian Cultural Forum (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – Bert Convy, American actor, singer, and game show host (d. 1991)
    • 1933 – Benedict Groeschel, American priest, psychologist, and talk show host (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Richard Rogers, Italian-English architect, designed the Millennium Dome and Lloyd’s building
    • 1935 – Jim Hall, American race car driver
    • 1936 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1993)
    • 1936 – Anthony Kennedy, American lawyer and jurist
    • 1937 – Dave Webster, American football player and engineer
    • 1938 – Juliet Anderson, American porn actress and producer (d. 2010)
    • 1938 – Ronny Cox, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1938 – Charles Harrelson, American murderer (d. 2007)
    • 1938 – Bert Newton, Australian actor and television host
    • 1940 – Danielle Collobert, French author, poet, and journalist (d. 1978)
    • 1940 – Don Imus, American radio host (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finance (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – Christopher Andrew, English historian and academic
    • 1941 – Richie Evans, American race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1941 – Sergio Mattarella, Italian lawyer, judge, and politician, 12th President of Italy
    • 1942 – Sallyanne Atkinson, Australian journalist and politician, Lord Mayor of Brisbane
    • 1942 – Madeline Bell, American singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Richard E. Dauch, American businessman, co-founded American Axle (d. 2013)
    • 1942 – Dimitris Liantinis, Greek philosopher and author (d. 1998)
    • 1943 – Randall Forsberg, American scientist (d. 2007)
    • 1943 – Tony Joe White, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
    • 1944 – Dino Danelli, American drummer
    • 1944 – Maria João Pires, Portuguese pianist
    • 1945 – Edward Gregson, English composer and educator
    • 1945 – Jon Sammels, English footballer
    • 1946 – Andy Mackay, English oboe player and composer
    • 1946 – René Ricard, American poet, painter, and critic (d. 2014)
    • 1947 – Gardner Dozois, American journalist and author (d. 2018)
    • 1947 – David Essex, English singer-songwriter, and actor
    • 1947 – Torsten Palm, Swedish race car driver
    • 1947 – Robin Simon, English historian, critic, and academic
    • 1948 – Ross Cranston, Australian-English lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales
    • 1948 – John Cushnahan, Northern Irish educator and politician
    • 1948 – John Hall, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and politician
    • 1948 – Stanisław Targosz, Polish general (d. 2013)
    • 1949 – Clive Rice, South African cricketer and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1950 – Alex Kozinski, Romanian-born American lawyer and judge
    • 1950 – Ian Thomas, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1950 – Blair Thornton, Canadian guitarist and songwriter
    • 1950 – Alan Turner, Australian cricketer
    • 1952 – Paul Hibbert, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 2008)
    • 1952 – Bill Nyrop, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1995)
    • 1952 – John Rutsey, Canadian drummer (d. 2008)
    • 1952 – Janis Siegel, American jazz singer (The Manhattan Transfer)
    • 1953 – Graham Gooch, English cricketer and coach
    • 1953 – Najib Razak, Malaysian politician, 6th Prime Minister of Malaysia
    • 1957 – Jo Brand, English comedian, actress, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Nikos Galis, American basketball player
    • 1957 – Theo van Gogh, Dutch actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1957 – Quentin Willson, English TV presenter, Top Gear.
    • 1958 – Ken Green, American golfer
    • 1958 – Tomy Winata, Indonesian businessman and philanthropist, founded the Artha Graha Peduli Foundation
    • 1959 – Nancy Savoca, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Gary Ella, Australian rugby player
    • 1960 – Susan Graham, American soprano and educator
    • 1960 – Al Perez, American wrestler
    • 1961 – André Ducharme, Canadian comedian and author
    • 1961 – Michael Durant, American pilot and author
    • 1961 – Martin Gore, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1961 – Woody Harrelson, American actor and activist
    • 1961 – Milind Gunaji, Indian actor, model, television show host, and author
    • 1962 – Eriq La Salle, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1962 – Mark Laurie, Australian rugby league player
    • 1962 – Alain Lefèvre, Canadian pianist and composer
    • 1963 – Slobodan Zivojinovic, Serbian tennis player
    • 1964 – Uwe Barth, German politician
    • 1964 – Nick Menza, German drummer and songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1965 – Rob Dickinson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1965 – Slash, English-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1967 – Philip Seymour Hoffman, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1968 – Elden Campbell, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Gary Payton, American basketball player and actor
    • 1968 – Stephanie Seymour, American model and actress
    • 1969 – Andrew Cassels, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1970 – Charisma Carpenter, American actress
    • 1970 – Thea Dorn, German author and playwright
    • 1970 – Sam Watters, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1971 – Dalvin DeGrate, American rapper and producer
    • 1971 – Alison Krauss, American singer-songwriter and fiddler
    • 1971 – Joel Stein, American journalist
    • 1972 – Suat Kılıç, Turkish journalist, lawyer, and politician, Turkish Minister of Youth and Sports
    • 1972 – Floyd Reifer, Barbadian cricketer and coach
    • 1972 – Marlon Wayans, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Nomar Garciaparra, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1973 – Fran Healy, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1973 – Himesh Reshammiya, Indian singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and director
    • 1973 – Andrea Scanavacca, Italian rugby player and manager
    • 1974 – Terry Glenn, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
    • 1974 – Maurice Greene, American sprinter
    • 1974 – Rik Verbrugghe, Belgian cyclist
    • 1975 – Dan Rogerson, English politician
    • 1976 – Judit Polgár, Hungarian chess player
    • 1977 – Scott Clemmensen, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1977 – Gail Emms, English badminton player
    • 1977 – Néicer Reasco, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1977 – Shawn Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Stuart Elliott, Northern Irish footballer
    • 1978 – Stefanie Sun, Singaporean singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1978 – Lauren Groff, American novelist and short story writer
    • 1979 – Perro Aguayo Jr., Mexican wrestler and promoter (d. 2015)
    • 1979 – Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer
    • 1979 – Richard Sims, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1979 – Ricardo Sperafico, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1979 – Cathleen Tschirch, German sprinter
    • 1980 – Sandeep Parikh, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Michelle Williams, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1981 – Steve Jocz, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, and director
    • 1981 – Dmitriy Karpov, Kazakhstani decathlete
    • 1981 – Aleksandr Kulik, Estonian footballer
    • 1981 – Jarkko Nieminen, Finnish tennis player
    • 1982 – Ömer Aysan Barış, Turkish footballer
    • 1982 – Joe Mather, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Gökhan Ünal, Turkish footballer
    • 1982 – Gerald Wallace, American basketball player
    • 1982 – Paul Wesley, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1983 – Bec Hewitt, Australian actress
    • 1983 – Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer
    • 1983 – David Strettle, English rugby player
    • 1984 – Walter Gargano, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1984 – Matthew Murphy, English singer and guitarist
    • 1984 – Brandon Roy, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Celeste Thorson, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1985 – Luis Ángel Landín, Mexican footballer
    • 1986 – Aya Uchida, Japanese voice actress and singer
    • 1986 – Nelson Philippe, French race car driver
    • 1986 – Yelena Sokolova, Russian long jumper
    • 1987 – Alessio Cerci, Italian footballer
    • 1987 – Felipe Dylon, Brazilian singer
    • 1987 – Serdar Kurtuluş, Turkish footballer
    • 1989 – Daniel Radcliffe, English actor
    • 1989 – Donald Young, American tennis player
    • 1990 – Kevin Reynolds, Canadian figure skater
    • 1991 – Lauren Mitchell, Australian gymnast
    • 1991 – Jarrod Wallace, Australian rugby league footballer
    • 1992 – Danny Ings, English footballer
    • 1996 – Alexandra Andresen, Norwegian heiress and equestrian

    Deaths on July 23

    • 955 – He Ning, Chinese chancellor (b. 898)
    • 997 – Nuh II, Samanid emir (b. 963)
    • 1100 – Warner of Grez, French nobleman, relative of Godfrey of Bouillon
    • 1227 – Qiu Chuji, Chinese religious leader, founded the Dragon Gate Taoism (b. 1148)
    • 1298 – Thoros III, Armenian king (b. c. 1271)
    • 1373 – Bridget of Sweden, Swedish mystic and saint, founded the Bridgettine Order (b. 1303)
    • 1403 – Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, English rebel (b. 1343)
    • 1531 – Louis de Brézé, French husband of Diane de Poitiers
    • 1536 – Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1519)
    • 1562 – Götz von Berlichingen, German knight and poet (b. 1480)
    • 1584 – John Day, English printer (b. 1522)
    • 1596 – Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (b. 1526)
    • 1645 – Michael I, Russian tsar (b. 1596)
    • 1692 – Gilles Ménage, French lawyer, philologist, and scholar (b. 1613)
    • 1727 – Simon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt, English politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1661)
    • 1757 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian harpsichord player and composer (b. 1685)
    • 1773 – George Edwards, English biologist and ornithologist (b. 1693)
    • 1781 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-American pastor and politician (b. 1724)
    • 1793 – Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1721)
    • 1833 – Anselmo de la Cruz, Chilean politician, Chilean Minister of Finance (b. 1777)
    • 1853 – Andries Pretorius, South African general (b. 1798)
    • 1875 – Isaac Singer, American businessman, founded the Singer Corporation (b. 1811)
    • 1878 – Carl von Rokitansky, Bohemian physician, pathologist, and politician (b. 1804)
    • 1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822)
    • 1904 – John Douglas, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of Queensland (b. 1828)
    • 1909 – Frederick Holder, Australian politician, 19th Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
    • 1916 – William Ramsay, Scottish-English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
    • 1919 – Spyridon Lambros, Greek historian and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1851)
    • 1920 – Conrad Kohrs, German-American rancher and politician (b. 1835)
    • 1924 – Frank Frost Abbott, American author and scholar (b. 1850)
    • 1926 – Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
    • 1927 – Reginald Dyer, British brigadier general (b. 1864)
    • 1930 – Glenn Curtiss, American pilot and engineer (b. 1878)
    • 1932 – Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (b. 1884)
    • 1936 – Anna Abrikosova, Russian linguist (b. 1882)
    • 1941 – George Lyman Kittredge, American scholar and educator (b. 1860)
    • 1941 – José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (b. 1914)
    • 1942 – Adam Czerniaków, Polish engineer and politician (b. 1880)
    • 1942 – Andy Ducat, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1886)
    • 1948 – D. W. Griffith, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1875)
    • 1950 – Shigenori Tōgō, Japanese politician and diplomat, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1882)
    • 1951 – Robert J. Flaherty, American director and producer (b. 1884)
    • 1951 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (b. 1856)
    • 1954 – Herman Groman, American runner (b. 1882)
    • 1955 – Cordell Hull, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 47th United States Secretary of State, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1871)
    • 1957 – Bob Shiring, American football player and coach (b. 1870)
    • 1966 – Montgomery Clift, American actor (b. 1920)
    • 1968 – Henry Hallett Dale, English pharmacologist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1875)
    • 1971 – Van Heflin, American actor (b. 1910)
    • 1972 – Esther Applin, American geologist and paleontologist (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – Eddie Rickenbacker, American pilot and race car driver, founded Rickenbacker Motors (b. 1890)
    • 1979 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (b. 1898)
    • 1980 – Sarto Fournier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 38th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1908)
    • 1980 – Keith Godchaux, American keyboard player and songwriter (b. 1948)
    • 1980 – Mollie Steimer, Russian activist (b. 1897)
    • 1982 – Vic Morrow, American actor (b. 1929)
    • 1983 – Georges Auric, French composer (b. 1899)
    • 1985 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer and manager (b. 1923)
    • 1989 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (b. 1931)
    • 1990 – Kenjiro Takayanagi, Japanese engineer (b. 1899)
    • 1996 – Jean Muir, American actress (b. 1911)
    • 1997 – Chūhei Nambu, Japanese jumper and journalist (b. 1904)
    • 1999 – Hassan II of Morocco (b. 1929)
    • 2001 – Eudora Welty, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1909)
    • 2002 – Leo McKern, Australian-English actor (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – William Luther Pierce, American activist and author (b. 1933)
    • 2002 – Chaim Potok, American novelist and rabbi (b. 1929)
    • 2002 – Clark Gesner, American author and composer (b. 1938)
    • 2003 – James E. Davis, American police officer and politician (b. 1962)
    • 2004 – Mehmood Ali, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1932)
    • 2004 – Carlos Paredes, Portuguese guitarist and composer (b. 1925)
    • 2004 – Piero Piccioni, Italian pianist, conductor, and composer (b. 1921)
    • 2005 – Ted Greene, American guitarist and journalist (b. 1946)
    • 2006 – Jean-Paul Desbiens, Canadian journalist and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2007 – Ron Miller, American songwriter and producer (b. 1933)
    • 2007 – Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghan king (b. 1914)
    • 2008 – Kurt Furgler, Swiss lawyer and politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (b. 1924)
    • 2009 – E. Lynn Harris, American author and screenwriter (b. 1955)
    • 2010 – Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (b. 1916)
    • 2011 – Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (b. 1983)
    • 2012 – Margaret Mahy, New Zealand author (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Sally Ride, American physicist and astronaut (b. 1951)
    • 2012 – Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian soldier and politician (b. 1914)
    • 2012 – Esther Tusquets, Spanish publisher and author (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – José Luis Uribarri, Spanish television host and director (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Dominguinhos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and accordion player (b. 1941)
    • 2013 – Pauline Clarke, English author (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Arthur J. Collingsworth, American diplomat (b. 1944)
    • 2013 – Emile Griffith, American boxer and trainer (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Kim Jong-hak, South Korean director and producer (b. 1951)
    • 2013 – Djalma Santos, Brazilian footballer (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Dora Bryan, English actress and restaurateur (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Norman Leyden, American composer and conductor (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Ariano Suassuna, Brazilian author and playwright (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Jordan Tabor, English footballer (b. 1990)
    • 2015 – Shigeko Kubota, Japanese-American sculptor and director (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Don Oberdorfer, American journalist, author, and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – William Wakefield Baum, American cardinal (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – John Kundla, American basketball coach (b. 1916)

    Holidays and observances on July 23

    • Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)
    • Children’s Day (Indonesia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bridget of Sweden
      • Heiromartyr Phocas (Eastern Orthodox)
      • John Cassian (Western Christianity)
      • Liborius of Le Mans
      • Margarita María
      • Mercè Prat i Prat
      • Rasyphus and Ravennus
      • July 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • National Remembrance Day (Papua New Guinea)
    • Renaissance Day (Oman)
    • Revolution Day (Egypt)

  • July 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
    • 230 – Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope.
    • 285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.
    • 365 – The 365 Crete earthquake affects the Greek island of Crete with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing a destructive tsunami that affects the coasts of Libya and Egypt, especially Alexandria. Many thousands were killed.
    • 905 – King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeats the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking his oath (see 902).
    • 1242 – Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan.
    • 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.
    • 1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
    • 1568 – Eighty Years’ War: Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.
    • 1645 – Qing dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.
    • 1656 – The Raid on Málaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
    • 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
    • 1774 – Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.
    • 1798 – French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon’s forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.
    • 1831 – Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army.
    • 1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
    • 1873 – At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
    • 1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
    • 1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.
    • 1907 – The passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 people.
    • 1919 – The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
    • 1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
    • 1925 – Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
    • 1944 – World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10.
    • 1944 – World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are tortured and executed in Berlin, Germany, for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
    • 1949 – The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.
    • 1952 – The 7.3 Mw  Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.
    • 1954 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
    • 1959 – NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” initiative.
    • 1959 – Elijah Jerry “Pumpsie” Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
    • 1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike is elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, becoming the world’s first female head of government
    • 1961 – Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
    • 1969 – Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon.
    • 1970 – After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
    • 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130.
    • 1973 – In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.
    • 1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.
    • 1977 – The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.
    • 1979 – Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
    • 1983 – The world’s lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).
    • 1990 – Taiwan’s military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.
    • 1995 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People’s Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
    • 2001 – At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect.
    • 2005 – July 2005 London bombings occur.
    • 2008 – Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first president of Nepal.
    • 2011 – NASA’s Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
    • 2012 – Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.

    Births on July 21

    • 541 – Emperor Wen of Sui, emperor of the Sui Dynasty (d. 604)
    • 1030 – Kyansittha, King of Burma (d. 1112)
    • 1414 – Pope Sixtus IV (d. 1484)
    • 1462 – Queen Jeonghyeon, Korean royal consort (d. 1530)
    • 1476 – Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara (d. 1534)
    • 1476 – Anna Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1497)
    • 1515 – Philip Neri, Italian Roman Catholic saint (d. 1595)
    • 1535 – García Hurtado de Mendoza, 5th Marquis of Cañete, Royal Governor of Chile (d. 1609)
    • 1616 – Anna de’ Medici, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1676)
    • 1620 – Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)
    • 1648 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (d. 1689)
    • 1654 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino catechist and sacristan; later canonized (d. 1672)
    • 1664 – Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat, British Ambassador to France (d. 1721)
    • 1693 – Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1768)
    • 1710 – Paul Möhring, German physician, botanist, and zoologist (d. 1792)
    • 1783 – Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (d. 1853)
    • 1808 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian, academic, and politician (d. 1864)
    • 1810 – Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist and physicist (d. 1878)
    • 1811 – Robert Mackenzie, Scottish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of Queensland (d. 1873)
    • 1816 – Paul Reuter, German-English journalist, founded Reuters (d. 1899)
    • 1858 – Maria Christina of Austria (d. 1929)
    • 1858 – Lovis Corinth, German painter (d. 1925)
    • 1858 – Alfred Henry O’Keeffe, New Zealand painter and educator (d. 1941)
    • 1863 – C. Aubrey Smith, English-American cricketer and actor (d. 1948)
    • 1866 – Carlos Schwabe, Swiss Symbolist painter and printmaker (d. 1926)
    • 1870 – Emil Orlík, Czech painter, etcher, and lithographer (d. 1932)
    • 1875 – Charles Gondouin, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1947)
    • 1880 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak astronomer, general, and politician (d. 1919)
    • 1882 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian author and illustrator (d. 1967)
    • 1885 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1948)
    • 1891 – Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower and soldier (d. 1969)
    • 1893 – Hans Fallada, German author (d. 1947)
    • 1896 – Sophie Bledsoe Aberle, Native American anthropologist, physician and nutritionist (d. 1996)
    • 1898 – Sara Carter, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
    • 1899 – Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
    • 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1900 – Isadora Bennett, American theatre manager and modern dance publicity agent (d. 1980)
    • 1903 – Russell Lee, American photographer and journalist (d. 1986)
    • 1903 – Roy Neuberger, American businessman and financier, co-founded Neuberger Berman (d. 2010)
    • 1908 – Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (d. 1996)
    • 1911 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author and theorist (d. 1980)
    • 1911 – Umashankar Joshi, Indian author, poet, and scholar (d. 1988)
    • 1914 – Aleksander Kreek, Estonian shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1977)
    • 1917 – Alan B. Gold, Canadian lawyer and jurist (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Isaac Stern, Polish violinist and conductor (d. 2001)
    • 1920 – Jean Daniel, Algerian-French-Jewish journalist and author (d. 2020)
    • 1921 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (d. 2000)
    • 1921 – John Horsley, English actor (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, Zulu sangoma (d. 2020)
    • 1922 – Kay Starr, American singer (d. 2016)
    • 1922 – Mollie Sugden, English actress (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1923 – Queenie Watts, English actress and singer (d. 1980)
    • 1924 – Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 7th Governor of Balochistan
    • 1924 – Don Knotts, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1926 – Paul Burke, American actor (d. 2009)
    • 1925 – Johnny Peirson, Canadian hockey player
    • 1926 – Norman Jewison, Canadian actor, director, and producer
    • 1926 – Bill Pertwee, English actor (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Karel Reisz, Czech-English director and producer (d. 2002)
    • 1928 – Sky Low Low, Canadian wrestler (d. 1998)
    • 1929 – Bob Orton, American wrestler (d. 2006)
    • 1930 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1930 – Helen Merrill, American singer
    • 1931 – Sonny Clark, American pianist and composer (d. 1963)
    • 1931 – Plas Johnson, American saxophonist
    • 1931 – Leon Schidlowsky, Chilean-Israeli painter and composer
    • 1932 – Kaye Stevens, American singer and actress (d. 2011)
    • 1933 – John Gardner, American novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 1982)
    • 1934 – Chandu Borde, Indian cricketer and manager
    • 1934 – Jonathan Miller, English actor, director, and author (d. 2019)
    • 1935 – Norbert Blüm, German businessman and politician
    • 1935 – Moe Drabowsky, Polish-American baseball player and coach (d. 2006)
    • 1937 – Eduard Streltsov, Soviet footballer (d. 1990)
    • 1938 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1995)
    • 1938 – Anton Kuerti, Austrian-Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor
    • 1938 – Janet Reno, American lawyer and politician, 79th United States Attorney General (d. 2016)
    • 1939 – Jamey Aebersold, American saxophonist and educator
    • 1939 – Kim Fowley, American singer-songwriter, producer, and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1939 – John Negroponte, English-American diplomat, 23rd United States Ambassador to the United Nations
    • 1943 – Fritz Glatz, Austrian race car driver (d. 2002)
    • 1943 – Edward Herrmann, American actor (d. 2014)
    • 1943 – Henry McCullough, Northern Irish guitarist, singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1944 – John Atta Mills, Ghanaian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Ghana (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Buchi Emecheta, Nigerian author and academic (d. 2017)
    • 1944 – Paul Wellstone, American academic and politician (d. 2002)
    • 1945 – Wendy Cope, English poet, critic, and educator
    • 1945 – Geoff Dymock, Australian cricketer
    • 1945 – Barry Richards, South African cricketer
    • 1946 – Ken Starr, American lawyer and judge, 39th Solicitor General of the United States
    • 1946 – Timothy Harris, American author, screenwriter and producer
    • 1947 – Chetan Chauhan, Indian cricketer and politician
    • 1948 – Art Hindle, Canadian actor and director
    • 1948 – Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1948 – Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
    • 1949 – Christina Hart, American playwright and actress
    • 1949 – Hirini Melbourne, New Zealand singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2003)
    • 1950 – Ubaldo Fillol, Argentinian footballer and coach
    • 1950 – Susan Kramer, Baroness Kramer, English politician, Minister of State for Transport
    • 1951 – Richard Gozney, English politician and diplomat, 30th Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man, 139th Governor of Bermuda
    • 1951 – Robin Williams, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
    • 1952 – John Barrasso, American physician and politician
    • 1952 – Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, Malaysian economist
    • 1953 – Eric Bazilian, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer (The Hooters)
    • 1953 – Jeff Fatt, Australian keyboard player and actor
    • 1953 – Bernie Fraser, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1953 – Brian Talbot, English footballer and manager
    • 1955 – Howie Epstein, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1955 – Dannel Malloy, American lawyer and politician, 88th Governor of Connecticut
    • 1955 – Henry Priestman, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1955 – Taco, Indonesian-born Dutch singer and entertainer
    • 1955 – Béla Tarr, Hungarian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1956 – Michael Connelly, American author
    • 1957 – Stefan Löfven, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Sweden
    • 1957 – Jon Lovitz, American comedian, actor, and producer
    • 1958 – Dave Henderson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
    • 1959 – Gene Miles, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1959 – Reha Muhtar, Turkish journalist
    • 1959 – Paul Vautin, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Amar Singh Chamkila, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
    • 1960 – Veselin Matić, Serbian basketball player and coach
    • 1960 – Fritz Walter, German footballer
    • 1961 – Morris Iemma, Australian politician, 40th Premier of New South Wales
    • 1961 – Jim Martin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Victor Adebowale, Baron Adebowale, English businessman
    • 1963 – Kevin Poole, English footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Giant Silva, Brazilian basketball player, mixed martial artist, and wrestler
    • 1964 – Steve Collins, Irish boxer and actor
    • 1964 – Ross Kemp, English actor and producer
    • 1964 – Jens Weißflog, German ski jumper and journalist
    • 1965 – Guðni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer and lawyer
    • 1965 – Mike Bordick, American baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1966 – Arija Bareikis, American actress
    • 1966 – Sarah Waters, Welsh author and academic
    • 1968 – Brandi Chastain, American soccer player and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Aditya Srivastava, Indian actor
    • 1968 – Lyle Odelein, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1969 – Godfrey, American comedian and actor
    • 1969 – Klaus Graf, German race car driver
    • 1969 – Emerson Hart, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1969 – Isabell Werth, German equestrian
    • 1970 – Michael Fitzpatrick, American singer-songwriter
    • 1971 – Emmanuel Bangué, French long jumper
    • 1971 – Charlotte Gainsbourg, English-French actress and singer
    • 1971 – Nitzan Shirazi, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1972 – Korey Cooper, American singer and guitarist
    • 1972 – Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan marathon runner
    • 1974 – Geoff Jenkins, American baseball player and coach
    • 1974 – René Reinumägi, Estonian actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1975 – Christopher Barzak, American author and educator
    • 1975 – Cara Dillon, Irish singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Ravindra Pushpakumara, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1975 – Mike Sellers, American football player
    • 1976 – Jaime Murray, English actress
    • 1977 – Paul Casey, English golfer
    • 1978 – Justin Bartha, American actor
    • 1978 – Anderson da Silva Gibin, Brazilian footballer
    • 1978 – Josh Hartnett, American actor
    • 1978 – Julian Huppert, English academic and politician
    • 1978 – Damian Marley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1978 – Gary Teale, Scottish footballer
    • 1979 – David Carr, American football player
    • 1979 – Tamika Catchings, American basketball player
    • 1979 – Luis Ernesto Michel, Mexican footballer
    • 1979 – Andriy Voronin, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1980 – Justin Griffith, American football player
    • 1980 – Sandra Laoura, French skier
    • 1980 – CC Sabathia, American baseball player
    • 1980 – Yvonne Sampson, Australian journalist and sportscaster
    • 1981 – Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1981 – Anabelle Langlois, Canadian figure skater
    • 1981 – Joaquín, Spanish footballer
    • 1981 – Romeo Santos, American singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
    • 1982 – Jason Cram, Australian swimmer
    • 1982 – Mao Kobayashi, Japanese newscaster and actress (d. 2017)
    • 1984 – Jurrick Juliana, Dutch footballer
    • 1984 – Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
    • 1985 – Mati Lember, Estonian footballer
    • 1985 – Von Wafer, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Anthony Annan, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1986 – Rebecca Ferguson, American-English singer-songwriter
    • 1986 – Jason Thompson, American basketball player
    • 1987 – Bilel Mohsni, French footballer
    • 1987 – Jesús Zavala, Mexican footballer
    • 1988 – KB, American rapper
    • 1988 – DeAndre Jordan, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Chris Mitchell, Scottish footballer (d. 2016)
    • 1989 – Marco Fabián, Mexican footballer
    • 1989 – Juno Temple, English actress
    • 1990 – Chris Martin, English footballer
    • 1990 – Jason Roy, English cricketer
    • 1990 – Erislandy Savón, Cuban amateur heavyweight boxer
    • 1990 – Franck Elemba, Congolese athlete
    • 1991 – Sara Sampaio, Portuguese model
    • 1992 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
    • 1996 – Mikael Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1998 – Thomas Preining, Austrian racing driver

    Deaths on July 21

    • 658 – K’an II, Mayan ruler (b. 588)
    • 710 – Li Guo’er, princess of the Tang dynasty
    • 710 – Wei, empress of the Tang Dynasty
    • 710 – Shangguan Wan’er, Chinese poet (b. 664)
    • 987 – Geoffrey I, Count of Anjou
    • 1259 – Gojong of Goryeo
    • 1403 – Henry Percy, English soldier (b. 1364)
    • 1403 – Sir Walter Blount, English soldier, standard-bearer of Henry IV
    • 1403 – Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, English soldier
    • 1425 – Manuel II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1350)
    • 1552 – Antonio de Mendoza, Spanish politician, 1st Viceroy of New Spain (b. 1495)
    • 1688 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1610)
    • 1793 – Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, French admiral, explorer, and politician (b. 1739)
    • 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet and songwriter (b. 1759)
    • 1798 – François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b. 1733)
    • 1798 – Anthony Perry, Irish rebel leader (b. ca. 1760)
    • 1868 – William Bland, Australian surgeon and politician (b. 1789)
    • 1878 – Sam Bass, American outlaw (b. 1851)
    • 1880 – Hiram Walden, American general and politician (b. 1800)
    • 1889 – Nelson Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1813)
    • 1899 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1833)
    • 1920 – Fiammetta Wilson, English astronomer and educator (b. 1864)
    • 1932 – Bill Gleason, American baseball player (b. 1858)
    • 1934 – Hubert Lyautey, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1854)
    • 1938 – Owen Wister, American lawyer and author (b. 1860)
    • 1941 – Bohdan Lepky, Ukrainian poet and scholar (b. 1872)
    • 1943 – Charley Paddock, American runner and actor (b. 1900)
    • 1943 – Louis Vauxcelles, French Jewish art critic (b. 1870)
    • 1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German soldier (b. 1907)
    • 1946 – Gualberto Villarroel, Bolivian soldier and politician, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1908)
    • 1948 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (b. 1904)
    • 1952 – Pedro Lascuráin, Mexican politician, president for 45 minutes on February 13, 1913. (b. 1856)
    • 1966 – Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher, Vienna Circle member (b. 1884)
    • 1967 – Jimmie Foxx, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1907)
    • 1967 – Albert Lutuli, South African academic and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898)
    • 1967 – Basil Rathbone, South African-American actor and singer (b. 1892)
    • 1968 – Ruth St. Denis, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1878)
    • 1970 – Mikhail Mikhaylovich Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b. 1907)
    • 1970 – Bob Kalsu, American football player and lieutenant (b. 1945)
    • 1972 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter and sailor (b. 1889)
    • 1972 – Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1928)
    • 1977 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (b. 1907)
    • 1982 – Dave Garroway, American journalist and actor (b. 1913)
    • 1991 – Paul Warwick, English race car driver (b. 1969)
    • 1994 – Marijac, French author and illustrator (b. 1908)
    • 1997 – Olaf Kopvillem, Estonian-Canadian conductor and composer (b. 1926)
    • 1998 – Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
    • 1998 – Robert Young, American actor and singer (b. 1907)
    • 2000 – Marc Reisner, American environmentalist and author (b. 1948)
    • 2002 – Esphyr Slobodkina, Russian-American author and illustrator (b. 1908)
    • 2003 – John Davies, English-New Zealand runner and coach (b. 1938)
    • 2004 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1929)
    • 2004 – Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Long John Baldry, English-Canadian singer and actor (b. 1941)
    • 2005 – Lord Alfred Hayes, English-American wrestler and manager (b. 1928)
    • 2006 – Mako Iwamatsu, Japanese-American actor and singer (b. 1933)
    • 2006 – Ta Mok, Cambodian soldier and monk (b. 1926)
    • 2007 – Dubravko Škiljan, Croatian linguist and academic (b. 1949)
    • 2008 – Donald Stokes, English businessman (b. 1914)
    • 2010 – Luis Corvalán, Chilean educator and politician (b. 1916)
    • 2010 – Ralph Houk, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1919)
    • 2010 – John E. Irving, Canadian businessman (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Alexander Cockburn, Scottish-American journalist and author (b. 1941)
    • 2012 – Marie Kruckel, American baseball player (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Ali Podrimja, Albanian poet and author (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – James D. Ramage, American admiral and pilot (b. 1916)
    • 2012 – Angharad Rees, English-born Welsh actress (b. 1944)
    • 2012 – Don Wilson, English cricketer and coach (b. 1937)
    • 2013 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1988)
    • 2013 – Lourembam Brojeshori Devi, Indian martial artist (b. 1981)
    • 2013 – Det de Beus, Dutch field hockey player (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Luis Fernando Rizo-Salom, Colombian-French composer and educator (b. 1971)
    • 2013 – Fred Taylor, American football player and coach (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Louise Abeita, Isleta Pueblo (Native American) writer, poet, and educator (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Dan Borislow, American businessman, invented the magicJack (b. 1961)
    • 2014 – Lettice Curtis, English engineer and pilot (b. 1915)
    • 2014 – Hans-Peter Kaul, German lawyer and judge (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Rilwanu Lukman, Nigerian engineer and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Kevin Skinner, New Zealand rugby player and boxer (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Robert Broberg, Swedish singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2015 – E. L. Doctorow, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American physician (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Czesław Marchaj, Polish-English sailor and academic (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Dick Nanninga, Dutch footballer (b. 1949)
    • 2016 – Dennis Green, American football player and coach (b. 1949)
    • 2017 – John Heard, American film and television actor (b. 1946)
    • 2018 – Alene Duerk, U.S. Navy first female admiral (b. 1920)

    Holidays and observances on July 21

    • Christian feast day:
      • Albert John Luthuli (Episcopal Church)
      • Arbogast
      • Barhadbesciabas
      • Carlos of Brazil (Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church)
      • Daniel (Catholic Church)
      • Lawrence of Brindisi
      • Praxedes
      • Victor of Marseilles
      • July 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam)
    • Belgian National Day (Belgium)
    • Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)
    • Summer Kazanskaya (Russia)

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

    • AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
    • 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
    • 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
    • 1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.
    • 1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
    • 1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
    • 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
    • 1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.
    • 1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice’s “Kingdom of the Morea”, thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
    • 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
    • 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
    • 1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
    • 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
    • 1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
    • 1848 – The first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
    • 1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
    • 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
    • 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
    • 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
    • 1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
    • 1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.
    • 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
    • 1932 – In the Preußenschlag (“Prussian coup”), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia
    • 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
    • 1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
    • 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
    • 1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
    • 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
    • 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
    • 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
    • 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.
    • 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
    • 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
    • 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
    • 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
    • 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany’s secret service, defects to East Germany.
    • 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world’s first elected female head of government.
    • 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
    • 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
    • 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
    • 1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
    • 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
    • 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the “Football War”.
    • 1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d’état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
    • 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
    • 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
    • 1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
    • 1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
    • 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
    • 1989 – Burma’s ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
    • 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
    • 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
    • 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
    • 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
    • 2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
    • 2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
    • 2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
    • 2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
    • 2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.

    Births on July 20

    • 356 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (d. 323 BC)
    • 647 – Yazid I, Arabian caliph (d. 683)
    • 682 – Taichō, Japanese monk and scholar (d. 767)
    • 1304 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1374)
    • 1313 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (d. 1367)
    • 1346 – Margaret, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1361)
    • 1470 – John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, English noble (d. 1539)
    • 1519 – Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
    • 1537 – Arnaud d’Ossat, French cardinal (d. 1604)
    • 1583 – Alban Roe, English Benedictine martyr (d. 1642)
    • 1591 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (d. 1643)
    • 1592 – Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden (d. 1663)
    • 1601 – Robert Wallop, English politician (d. 1667)
    • 1620 – Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder, Dutch poet and scholar (d. 1681)
    • 1649 – William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (d. 1709)
    • 1754 – Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher and academic (d. 1836)
    • 1757 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian politician and diplomat (d. 1811)
    • 1762 – Jakob Haibel, Austrian tenor and composer (d. 1826)
    • 1774 – Auguste de Marmont, French general (d. 1852)
    • 1789 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1839)
    • 1804 – Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (d. 1892)
    • 1822 – Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (d. 1884)
    • 1838 – Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (d. 1899)
    • 1838 – William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (d. 1911)
    • 1838 – Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English civil servant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1928)
    • 1847 – Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (d. 1935)
    • 1849 – Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
    • 1852 – Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1932)
    • 1854 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (d. 1940)
    • 1864 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
    • 1864 – Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (d. 1913)
    • 1868 – Miron Cristea, Romanian cleric and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1939)
    • 1873 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (d. 1932)
    • 1876 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician and academic (d. 1944)
    • 1877 – Tom Crean, Irish sailor and explorer (d. 1938)
    • 1882 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1937)
    • 1889 – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Verna Felton, American actress (d. 1966)
    • 1890 – Julie Vinter Hansen, Danish-Swiss astronomer and academic (d. 1960)
    • 1890 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (d. 1964)
    • 1893 – George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier (d. 1915)
    • 1895 – László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
    • 1897 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
    • 1900 – Maurice Leyland, English cricketer and coach (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – Vehbi Koç, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Koç Holding (d. 1996)
    • 1901 – Eugenio Lopez Sr., Filipino businessman and founder of the Lopez Group of Companies (d. 1975)
    • 1901 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Leonidas Berry, American gastroenterologist (d. 1995)
    • 1905 – Joseph Levis, American foil fencer (d. 2005)
    • 1909 – Eric Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
    • 1910 – Vilém Tauský, Czech-English conductor and composer (d. 2004)
    • 1911 – Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941)
    • 1911 – José Zabala-Santos, Filipino author and illustrator (d. 1985)
    • 1912 – George Johnston, Australian journalist and author (d. 1970)
    • 1914 – Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian philanthropist (d. 2018)
    • 1914 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (d. 2005)
    • 1914 – Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 2006)
    • 1919 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge, English writer (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – Elliot Richardson, American lieutenant and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Alan Stephenson Boyd, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Transportation
    • 1923 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
    • 1924 – Lola Albright, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Thomas Berger, American author and playwright (d. 2014)
    • 1924 – Mort Garson, Canadian-American songwriter and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission
    • 1925 – Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1961)
    • 1927 – Barbara Bergmann, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Heather Chasen, English actress (d. 2020)
    • 1927 – Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer (d. 2019)
    • 1927 – Ian P. Howard, English-Canadian psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Belaid Abdessalam, Prime Minister of Algeria
    • 1929 – Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman, co-founded Little Caesars (d. 2017)
    • 1929 – Rajendra Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor and producer (d. 1999)
    • 1929 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (d. 2000)
    • 1930 – Giannis Agouris, Greek journalist and author (d. 2006)
    • 1930 – Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
    • 1930 – William H. Goetzmann, American historian and author (d. 2010)
    • 1930 – Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress
    • 1931 – Tony Marsh, English race car driver (d. 2009)
    • 1932 – Nam June Paik, American artist (d. 2006)
    • 1932 – Otto Schily, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior
    • 1933 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
    • 1933 – Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Rex Williams, English snooker player
    • 1935 – Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, English businessman and art collector
    • 1935 – Sleepy LaBeef, American rockabilly singer and musician (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Alistair MacLeod, Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician
    • 1938 – Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1938 – Roger Hunt, English footballer
    • 1938 – Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
    • 1938 – Diana Rigg, English actress
    • 1938 – Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
    • 1939 – Judy Chicago, American painter and sculptor
    • 1941 – Don Chuy, American football player (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist
    • 1941 – Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (d. 1988)
    • 1942 – Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
    • 1943 – Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2016)
    • 1943 – Bob McNab, English footballer
    • 1943 – Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010)
    • 1943 – Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009)
    • 1944 – Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – W. Cary Edwards, American politician (d. 2010)
    • 1944 – Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor
    • 1944 – T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter
    • 1945 – Larry Craig, American soldier and politician
    • 1945 – John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1945 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (d. 1980)
    • 1946 – Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer
    • 1947 – Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1947 – Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1948 – Muse Watson, American actor and producer
    • 1950 – Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer
    • 1951 – Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1953 – Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1953 – Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author
    • 1953 – Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress
    • 1954 – Moira Harris, American actress
    • 1954 – Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer
    • 1955 – Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player
    • 1955 – René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright
    • 1955 – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter
    • 1956 – Paul Cook, English drummer
    • 1956 – Thomas N’Kono, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1956 – Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016)
    • 1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter
    • 1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver
    • 1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher
    • 1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor
    • 1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation
    • 1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver
    • 1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic
    • 1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author
    • 1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer
    • 1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver
    • 1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author
    • 1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico
    • 1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player
    • 1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist
    • 1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor
    • 1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer
    • 1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist
    • 1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer
    • 1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist
    • 1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player
    • 1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress
    • 1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player
    • 1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player
    • 1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
    • 1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter
    • 1973 – Omar Epps, American actor
    • 1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
    • 1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
    • 1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer
    • 1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer
    • 1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player
    • 1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor
    • 1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer
    • 1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs
    • 1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor
    • 1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist
    • 1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach
    • 1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver
    • 1977 – Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer
    • 1977 – Yves Niaré, French shot putter (d. 2012)
    • 1977 – Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer
    • 1978 – Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Will Solomon, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Elliott Yamin, American singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Ieva Zunda, Latvian runner and hurdler
    • 1979 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (d. 2004)
    • 1979 – Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1979 – David Ortega, Spanish swimmer
    • 1980 – Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer
    • 1980 – Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman
    • 1981 – Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician
    • 1982 – Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player
    • 1984 – Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player
    • 1985 – John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1985 – Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality
    • 1985 – David Mundy, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1987 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist
    • 1987 – Niall McGinn, Irish footballer
    • 1988 – Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
    • 1988 – Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player
    • 1989 – Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer
    • 1989 – Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer
    • 1990 – Lars Unnerstall, German footballer
    • 1991 – Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler
    • 1991 – Ryan James, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015
    • 1991 – Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner
    • 1993 – Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player
    • 1995 – Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1996 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player

    Deaths on July 20

    • 518 – Amantius, Byzantine grand chamberlain and Monophysite martyr
    • 833 – Ansegisus, Frankish abbot and saint
    • 985 – Boniface VII, antipope of Rome
    • 1031 – Robert II, king of France (b. 972)
    • 1156 – Toba, emperor of Japan (b. 1103)
    • 1320 – Oshin, king of Armenia (b. 1282)
    • 1332 – Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland
    • 1387 – Robert IV, French nobleman (b. 1356)
    • 1398 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, Welsh nobleman (b. 1374)
    • 1453 – Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French historian and author (b. 1400)
    • 1454 – John II, king of Castile and León (b. 1405)
    • 1514 – György Dózsa, Transylvanian peasant revolt leader (b. 1470)
    • 1524 – Claude, queen consort of France (b. 1499)
    • 1526 – García Jofre de Loaísa, Spanish explorer (b. 1490)
    • 1600 – William More, English courtier (b. 1520)
    • 1616 – Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Irish nobleman and rebel soldier (b. 1550)
    • 1704 – Peregrine White, English-American farmer and soldier (b. 1620)
    • 1752 – Johann Christoph Pepusch, German-English composer and theorist (b. 1667)
    • 1816 – Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (b. 1743)
    • 1866 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1897 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (b. 1820)
    • 1901 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840)
    • 1903 – Leo XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1810)
    • 1908 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek businessman and author (b. 1835)
    • 1908 – Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz, German geophysicist and seismologist (b. 1881)
    • 1910 – Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (b. 1863)
    • 1922 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1856)
    • 1923 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (b. 1878)
    • 1926 – Felix Dzerzhinsky, Russian educator and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1927 – Ferdinand I, king of Romania (b. 1865)
    • 1928 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet and author (b. 1896)
    • 1932 – René Bazin, French author and academic (b. 1853)
    • 1937 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1882)
    • 1937 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
    • 1941 – Lew Fields, American actor and producer (b. 1867)
    • 1944 – Ludwig Beck, German general (b. 1880)
    • 1945 – Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871)
    • 1951 – Abdullah I, king of Jordan (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Dumarsais Estimé, Haitian lawyer and politician, 33rd President of Haiti (b. 1900)
    • 1953 – Jan Struther, English author and hymn-writer (b. 1901)
    • 1955 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869)
    • 1956 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (b. 1868)
    • 1959 – William D. Leahy, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (b. 1875)
    • 1965 – Batukeshwar Dutt, Indian activist (b. 1910)
    • 1968 – Bray Hammond, American historian and author (b. 1886)
    • 1970 – Iain Macleod, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1913)
    • 1972 – Geeta Dutt, Indian singer and actress (b. 1930)
    • 1973 – Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)
    • 1973 – Robert Smithson, American photographer and sculptor (b. 1938)
    • 1974 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (b. 1900)
    • 1974 – Kamal Dasgupta, Bengali music director, composer and folk artist. (b. 1912)
    • 1976 – Joseph Rochefort, American captain and cryptanalyst (b. 1900)
    • 1977 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (b. 1939)
    • 1980 – Maria Martinez, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) potter (b. 1887)
    • 1981 – Kostas Choumis, Greek-Romanian footballer (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Frank Reynolds, American soldier and journalist (b. 1923)
    • 1987 – Richard Egan, American soldier and actor (b. 1921)
    • 1989 – Forrest H. Anderson, American judge and politician, 17th Governor of Montana (b. 1913)
    • 1990 – Herbert Turner Jenkins, American police officer (b. 1907)
    • 1993 – Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (b. 1945)
    • 1994 – Paul Delvaux, Belgian painter (b. 1897)
    • 1997 – M. E. H. Maharoof, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1939)
    • 1998 – June Byers, American wrestler (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Sandra Gould, American actress (b. 1916)
    • 2002 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (b. 1946)
    • 2003 – Nicolas Freeling, English author (b. 1927)
    • 2004 – Lala Mara, Fijian politician (b. 1931)
    • 2004 – Valdemaras Martinkėnas, Lithuanian footballer and coach (b. 1965)
    • 2005 – James Doohan, Canadian-American actor (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Finn Gustavsen, Norwegian journalist and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – Kayo Hatta, American director and cinematographer (b. 1958)
    • 2006 – Ted Grant, South African-English theorist and activist (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and producer (b. 1919)
    • 2007 – Tammy Faye Messner, American Christian evangelist and talk show host (b. 1942)
    • 2008 – Artie Traum, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1943)
    • 2008 – Dinko Šakić, Croatian concentration camp commander (b. 1921)
    • 2009 – Vedat Okyar, Turkish footballer (b. 1945)
    • 2009 – Mark Rosenzweig, American psychologist and academic (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Lucian Freud, German-English painter and illustrator (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Alastair Burnet, English journalist (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Jack Davis, American hurdler (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – José Hermano Saraiva, Portuguese historian, jurist, and politician, Portuguese Minister of Education (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Pierre Fabre, French pharmacist and businessman, founded Laboratoires Pierre Fabre (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Khurshed Alam Khan, Indian politician, 2nd Governor of Goa (b. 1919)
    • 2013 – Augustus Rowe, Canadian physician and politician (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Helen Thomas, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Constantin Lucaci, Romanian sculptor and educator (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Bob McNamara, American football player (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Klaus Schmidt, German archaeologist and academic (b. 1953)
    • 2015 – Wayne Carson, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
    • 2015 – Fred Else, English footballer and manager (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Dieter Moebius, Swiss-German keyboard player and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2016 – Radu Beligan, Romanian actor, director, and essayist (b. 1918)
    • 2017 – Chester Bennington, American singer (b. 1976)

    Holidays and observances on July 20

    • Birthday of Crown Prince Haakon Magnus (Norway)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Ansegisus
      • Apollinaris of Ravenna
      • Aurelius
      • Ealhswith (or Elswith)
      • Elijah
      • Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth, and Harriet Ross Tubman (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • John Baptist Yi (one of The Korean Martyrs)
      • Margaret the Virgin
      • Thorlac (relic translation)
      • Wilgefortis (cult suppressed)
      • July 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Día del Amigo (Argentina, Brazil)
    • Engineer’s Day (Costa Rica)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence declaration of Colombia from Spain in 1810.
    • International Chess Day
    • Lempira Day (Honduras)
    • Tree Planting Day (Central African Republic)