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June 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

524 – The Franks are defeated by the Burgundians in the Battle of Vézeronce.
841 – In the Battle of Fontenay-en-Puisaye, forces led by Charles the Bald and Louis the German defeat the armies of Lothair I of Italy and Pepin II of Aquitaine.
1258 – War of Saint Sabas: In the Battle of Acre, the Venetians defeat a larger Genoese fleet sailing to relieve Acre.
1530 – At the Diet of Augsburg the Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and Electors of Germany.
1658 – Spanish forces fail to retake Jamaica at the Battle of Rio Nuevo during the Anglo-Spanish War.
1678 – Venetian Elena Cornaro Piscopia is the first woman awarded a doctorate of philosophy when she graduates from the University of Padua.
1741 – Maria Theresa is crowned Queen of Hungary.
1786 – Gavriil Pribylov discovers St. George Island of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea.
1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1848 – A photograph of the June Days uprising becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.
1876 – Battle of the Little Bighorn and the death of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer.
1900 – The Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers the Dunhuang manuscripts, a cache of ancient texts that are of great historical and religious significance, in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, China.
1906 – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania millionaire Harry Thaw shoots and kills prominent architect Stanford White.
1910 – The United States Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for “immoral purposes”; the ambiguous language would be used to selectively prosecute people for years to come.
1910 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet The Firebird is premiered in Paris, bringing him to prominence as a composer.
1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at the Great Reunion of 1913.
1935 – Colombia–Soviet Union relations are established.
1938 – Dr. Douglas Hyde is inaugurated as the first President of Ireland.
1940 – World War II: The French armistice with Germany comes into effect.
1943 – The Holocaust: Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis.
1943 – The left-wing German Jewish exile Arthur Goldstein is murdered in Auschwitz.
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in the Nordic countries, begins.
1944 – World War II: United States Navy and British Royal Navy ships bombard Cherbourg to support United States Army units engaged in the Battle of Cherbourg.
1944 – The final page of the comic Krazy Kat is published, exactly two months after its author George Herriman died.
1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl (better known as The Diary of Anne Frank) is published.
1950 – The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea.
1960 – Cold War: Two cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency left for vacation to Mexico, and from there defected to the Soviet Union.
1975 – Mozambique achieves independence from Portugal.
1975 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of internal emergency in India.
1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri for the suffering it had caused to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
1978 – The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
1981 – Microsoft is restructured to become an incorporated business in its home state of Washington.
1991 – Slovenia and Croatia declare their independence by referendum from Yugoslavia.
1993 – Kim Campbell is sworn in as the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
1996 – The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
1997 – An unmanned Progress spacecraft collides with the Russian space station Mir.
1997 – The National Hockey League approved expansion franchises for Nashville (1998), Atlanta (1999), Columbus (2000), and Minneapolis-Saint Paul (2000).
1998 – In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
2017 – The World Health Organization estimates that Yemen has over 200,000 cases of cholera.

Births on June 25

1242 – Beatrice of England (d. 1275)
1328 – William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (d. 1397)
1371 – Joanna II of Naples (d. 1435)
1484 – Bartholomeus V. Welser, German banker (d. 1561)
1526 – Elisabeth Parr, Marchioness of Northampton (d. 1565)
1560 – Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (d. 1634)
1568 – Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden (d. 1597)
1612 – John Albert Vasa, Polish cardinal (d. 1634)
1709 – Francesco Araja, Italian composer (d. 1762)
1715 – Joseph Foullon de Doué, French soldier and politician, Controller-General of Finances (d. 1789)
1755 – Natalia Alexeievna of Russia (d. 1776)
1799 – David Douglas, Scottish-English botanist and explorer (d. 1834)
1814 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist and engineer (d. 1896)
1825 – James Farnell, Australian politician, 8th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1888)
1852 – Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (d. 1926)
1858 – Georges Courteline, French author and playwright (d. 1929)
1860 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer and conductor (d. 1956)
1863 – Émile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat (d. 1935)
1864 – Walther Nernst, German chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
1866 – Eloísa Díaz, Chilean doctor and Chile’s first female physician (d. 1950)
1874 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (d. 1944)
1884 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (d. 1917)
1884 – Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German-French art collector and historian (d. 1979)
1886 – Henry H. Arnold, American general (d. 1950)
1887 – George Abbott, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1887 – Frigyes Karinthy, Hungarian author, poet, and journalist (d. 1938)
1892 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese microbiologist and general (d. 1959)
1894 – Hermann Oberth, Romanian-German physicist and engineer (d. 1989)
1898 – Kay Sage, American painter and poet (d. 1963)
1900 – Marta Abba, Italian actress (d. 1988)
1900 – Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer (d. 1969)
1900 – Georgia Hale, American silent film actress and real estate investor (d. 1985)
1900 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (d. 1979)
1901 – Harold Roe Bartle, American businessman and politician, 47th Mayor of Kansas City (d. 1974)
1902 – Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu of Japan (d. 1953)
1903 – George Orwell, British novelist, essayist, and critic (d. 1950)
1903 – Anne Revere, American actress (d. 1990)
1905 – Rupert Wildt, German-American astronomer and academic (d. 1976)
1907 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
1908 – Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and academic (d. 2000)
1911 – William Howard Stein, American chemist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
1912 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1996)
1913 – Cyril Fletcher, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1915 – Whipper Billy Watson, Canadian-American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990)
1917 – Nils Karlsson, Swedish skier (d. 2012)
1917 – Claude Seignolle, French author (d. 2018)
1918 – P. H. Newby, English soldier and author (d. 1997)
1920 – Lassie Lou Ahern, American actress (d. 2018)
1921 – Celia Franca, English-Canadian ballerina and choreographer, founded the National Ballet of Canada (d. 2007)
1922 – Johnny Smith, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
1923 – Sam Francis, American soldier and painter (d. 1994)
1923 – Dorothy Gilman, American author (d. 2012)
1923 – Jamshid Amouzegar, 43rd Prime Minister of Iran (d. 2016)
1924 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1924 – Dimitar Isakov, Bulgarian football player
1924 – Madan Mohan, Iraqi-Indian composer and director (d. 1975)
1924 – William J. Castagna, American lawyer and judge
1925 – Clifton Chenier, American singer-songwriter and accordion player (d. 1987)
1925 – June Lockhart, American actress
1925 – Clay Evans, American Baptist pastor (d. 2019)
1925 – Robert Venturi, American architect and academic (d. 2018)
1925 – Virginia Patton, American actress and businesswoman
1926 – Margaret Anstee, English diplomat (d. 2016)
1926 – Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author and poet (d. 1973)
1926 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (d. 2015)
1926 – Stig Sollander, Swedish Alpine skier (d. 2019)
1927 – Antal Róka, Hungarian runner (d. 1970)
1927 – Chuck Smith, American pastor, founded the Calvary Chapel (d. 2013)
1927 – Arnold Wolfendale, English astronomer and academic
1928 – Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
1928 – John A. Wickham Jr., United States Army general
1928 – Michel Brault, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1928 – Peyo, Belgian author and illustrator, created The Smurfs (d. 1992)
1928 – Bill Russo, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
1928 – Alex Toth, American animator and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1929 – Eric Carle, American author and illustrator
1929 – Francesco Marchisano, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
1931 – V. P. Singh, Indian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (d. 2008)
1932 – Peter Blake, English painter and illustrator
1932 – Tim Parnell, English race car driver (d. 2017)
1932 – George Sluizer, French-Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1933 – Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, designed the Porto School of Architecture
1934 – Jean Geissinger, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1934 – Jack W. Hayford, American minister and author
1934 – Beatriz Sheridan, Mexican actress and director (d. 2006)
1935 – Ray Butt, English television producer and director (d. 2013)
1935 – Salihu Ibrahim, Nigerian Army Officer (d. 2018)
1935 – Taufiq Ismail, Indonesian poet and activist
1935 – Larry Kramer, American author, playwright, and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (d. 2020)
1935 – Don Demeter, American professional baseball player
1935 – Tony Lanfranchi, English race car driver (d. 2004)
1935 – Judy Howe, American artistic gymnast
1935 – Charles Sheffield, English-American mathematician, physicist, and author (d. 2002)
1936 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian engineer and politician, 3rd President of Indonesia (d. 2019)
1936 – Bert Hölldobler, German biologist and entomologist
1937 – Eddie Floyd, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter
1937 – Derek Foster, Baron Foster of Bishop Auckland, English politician (d. 2019)
1937 – Doreen Wells, English ballerina and actress
1939 – Allen Fox, American tennis player and coach
1940 – Judy Amoore, Australian runner
1940 – Mary Beth Peil, American actress and singer
1940 – A. J. Quinnell, English-Maltese author (d. 2005)
1940 – Clint Warwick, English bass player (d. 2004)
1941 – Denys Arcand, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – John Albert Raven, Scottish academic and ecologist
1942 – Nikiforos Diamandouros, Greek academic and politician
1942 – Willis Reed, American basketball player, coach, and manager
1942 – Michel Tremblay, Canadian author and playwright
1944 – Robert Charlebois, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1944 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013)
1945 – Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter
1945 – Baba Gana Kingibe, Nigerian politician
1945 – Harry Womack, American singer (d. 1974)
1946 – Roméo Dallaire, Dutch-Canadian general and politician
1946 – Allen Lanier, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013)
1946 – Ian McDonald, English guitarist and saxophonist
1947 – John Hilton, English table tennis player
1947 – John Powell, American discus thrower
1947 – Jimmie Walker, American actor and comedian
1949 – Richard Clarke, Irish archbishop
1949 – Patrick Tambay, French race car driver
1949 – Yoon Joo-sang, South Korean actor
1950 – Marcello Toninelli, Italian author and screenwriter
1951 – Eva Bayer-Fluckiger, Swiss mathematician and academic
1952 – Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal
1952 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
1952 – Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1952 – Alan Green, Northern Irish sportscaster
1952 – Kristina Abelli Elander, Swedish artist
1953 – Olivier Ameisen, French-American cardiologist and educator (d. 2013)
1953 – Ian Davis, Australian cricketer
1954 – Mario Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
1954 – David Paich, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1954 – Lina Romay, Spanish actress (d. 2012)
1954 – Daryush Shokof, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Sonia Sotomayor, American lawyer and judge
1955 – Vic Marks, English cricketer and sportscaster
1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (d. 2018)
1956 – Frank Paschek, German long jumper
1956 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004)
1956 – Craig Young, Australian rugby player and coach
1957 – Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1958 – George Becali, Romanian businessman, politician
1959 – Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper and educator
1959 – Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper
1959 – Bobbie Vaile, Australian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1996)
1960 – Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, English-Scottish journalist and author
1960 – Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1960 – Craig Johnston, South African-Australian footballer and photographer
1960 – Laurent Rodriguez, French rugby player
1961 – Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, producer and singer
1963 – John Benjamin Hickey, American actor
1963 – Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author
1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
1963 – Mike Stanley, American baseball player
1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Phil Emery, Australian cricketer
1964 – Johnny Herbert, English race car driver and sportscaster
1964 – John McCrea, American singer-songwriter and musician
1964 – Greg Raymer, American poker player and lawyer
1965 – Napole Polutele, French politician
1965 – Kerri Pottharst, Australian beach volleyball player
1965 – Joseph Hii Teck Kwong, Malaysian bishop
1966 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American basketball player
1967 – Tracey Spicer, Australian journalist
1968 – Adrian Garvey, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player
1968 – Vaios Karagiannis, Greek footballer and manager
1969 – Hunter Foster, American actor and singer
1969 – Zim Zum, American guitarist and songwriter
1970 – Ariel Gore, American journalist and author
1970 – Roope Latvala, Finnish guitarist
1970 – Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete and politician
1970 – Aaron Sele, American baseball player and scout
1971 – Karen Darke, English cyclist and author
1971 – Jason Gallian, Australian-English cricketer and educator
1971 – Rod Kafer, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
1971 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish-Scottish footballer and manager
1971 – Michael Tucker, American baseball player
1972 – Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
1972 – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan engineer and politician
1973 – René Corbet, Canadian ice hockey player
1973 – Milan Hnilička, Czech ice hockey player
1973 – Jamie Redknapp, English footballer and coach
1974 – Nisha Ganatra, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Glen Metropolit, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer
1975 – Linda Cardellini, American actress
1975 – Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach
1975 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player
1975 – Michele Merkin, American model and television host
1976 – José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer
1976 – Iestyn Harris, Welsh rugby player and coach
1976 – Carlos Nieto, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1976 – Neil Walker, American swimmer
1978 – Aramis Ramírez, Dominican-American baseball player
1978 – Luke Scott, American baseball player
1978 – Marcus Stroud, American football player
1979 – Marko Albert, Estonian swimmer and triathlete
1979 – Richard Hughes, Scottish footballer
1979 – Busy Philipps, American actress
1981 – Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper
1982 – Rain, South Korean singer and actor
1982 – Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player
1983 – Todd Cooper, English swimmer
1983 – Marc Janko, Austrian footballer
1984 – Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer
1985 – Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer
1986 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer and actress
1986 – Seda Tokatlıoğlu, Turkish volleyball player
1988 – Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player
1988 – Miguel Layún, Mexican footballer
1988 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier
1989 – Jack Cork, English footballer
1989 – Edgar Morais, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1989 – Rafael Morais, Portuguese actor, director, and screenwriter
1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipino actress
1991 – Liisi Rist, Estonian cyclist
1991 – Anna Zaja, German tennis player
1996 – Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazilian-American race car driver
1996 – Sione Mata’utia, Australian rugby league player
1996 – Lele Pons, Latina-American Internet personality
1998 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer
2006 – Mckenna Grace, American actress

Deaths on June 25

635 – Gao Zu, Chinese emperor (b. 566)
841 – Gerard of Auvergne, Frankish nobleman
841 – Ricwin of Nantes, Frankish nobleman
891 – Sunderolt, German archbishop
931 – An Chonghui, Chinese general
1014 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unready
1031 – Sheng Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 972)
1134 – Niels, king of Denmark (b. 1065)
1218 – Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1160)
1291 – Eleanor of Provence, queen of England (b. 1223)
1337 – Frederick III, king of Sicily (b. 1272)
1394 – Dorothea of Montau, German hermitess (b. 1347)
1483 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier and translator (b. 1440)
1483 – Richard Grey, half brother of Edward V of England (b. 1458)
1522 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1451)
1533 – Mary Tudor, queen of France (b. 1496)
1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1541)
1593 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (b. 1541)
1634 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (b. 1576)
1638 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1602)
1665 – Sigismund Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1630)
1669 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (b. 1616)
1671 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (b. 1598)
1673 – Charles de Batz-Castelmore d’Artagnan, French captain (b. 1611)
1686 – Simon Ushakov, Russian painter and educator (b. 1626)
1715 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and politician (b. 1646)
1767 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (b. 1681)
1798 – Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, painter, and architect (b. 1721)
1822 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German composer, critic, and jurist (b. 1776)
1835 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746)
1838 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774)
1861 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823)
1866 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (b. 1803)
1868 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (b. 1811)
1870 – David Heaton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
1875 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796)
1876 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (b. 1845)
1876 – Boston Custer, American civilian army contractor (b. 1848)
1876 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (b. 1839)
1876 – Thomas Custer, American officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1845)
1876 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American officer (b. 1840)
1882 – François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806)
1884 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (b. 1858)
1886 – Jean-Louis Beaudry, Canadian businessman and politician, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809)
1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 5th President of France (b. 1837)
1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853)
1912 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-British painter (b. 1836)
1916 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1844)
1917 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (b. 1884)
1918 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1867)
1922 – Satyendranath Dutta, Indian poet and author (b. 1882)
1937 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900)
1939 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (b. 1913)
1943 – Arthur Goldstein, German Jewish left-wing activist (c. 1887)
1944 – Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian jurist and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871)
1944 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1906)
1947 – Jimmy Doyle, American boxer (b. 1924)
1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895)
1949 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871)
1949 – James Steen, American water polo player (b. 1876)
1950 – Maurice O’Sullivan, Irish police officer and author (b. 1904)
1958 – Alfred Noyes, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1880)
1959 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938)
1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
1968 – Tony Hancock, English comedian and actor (b. 1924)
1971 – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician, biologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880)
1972 – Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (b. 1890)
1974 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893)
1976 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (b. 1909)
1977 – Olave Baden-Powell, British Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting leader (b. 1889)
1977 – Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1911)
1979 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1894)
1979 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (b. 1906)
1981 – Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Peruvian painter and political activist (b. 1888)
1983 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1916)
1984 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (b. 1926)
1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1962)
1990 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and murderer (b. 1940)
1992 – Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965)
1995 – Warren E. Burger, Fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1907)
1995 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1996 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat, British Ambassador to South Africa (b. 1914)
1997 – Jacques Cousteau, French oceanographer and explorer (b. 1910)
2002 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (b. 1934)
2003 – Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (b. 1915)
2004 – Morton Coutts, New Zealand inventor (b. 1904)
2005 – John Fiedler, American actor and voice artist (b. 1925)
2005 – Kâzım Koyuncu, Turkish singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1971)
2006 – Jaap Penraat, Dutch-American humanitarian (b. 1918)
2007 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (b. 1933)
2007 – Jeeva, Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1963)
2008 – Lyall Watson, South African anthropologist and ethologist (b. 1939)
2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (b. 1947)
2009 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (b. 1958)
2009 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937)
2010 – Alan Plater, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1935)
2010 – Richard B. Sellars, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1915)
2011 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1933)
2011 – Goff Richards, English composer and conductor (b. 1944)
2011 – Margaret Tyzack, English actress (b. 1931)
2012 – Shigemitsu Dandō, Japanese academic and jurist (b. 1913)
2012 – Campbell Gillies, Scottish jockey (b. 1990)
2012 – George Randolph Hearst, Jr., American businessman (b. 1927)
2012 – Lucella MacLean, American baseball player (b. 1921)
2012 – Edgar Ross, American boxer (b. 1949)
2013 – George Burditt, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
2013 – Catherine Gibson, Scottish swimmer (b. 1931)
2013 – Robert E. Gilka, American photographer and journalist (b. 1916)
2013 – Harry Parker, American rower and coach (b. 1935)
2013 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist (b. 1918)
2013 – Green Wix Unthank, American soldier and judge (b. 1923)
2014 – Nigel Calder, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2014 – Ana María Matute, Spanish author and academic (b. 1925)
2014 – Ivan Plyushch, Ukrainian agronomist and politician (b. 1941)
2015 – Patrick Macnee, English actor (b. 1922)
2015 – Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, Egyptian-Armenian patriarch (b. 1940)
2016 – Adam Small, South African writer of apartheid-period (b. 1936)
2018 – Richard Benjamin Harrison, American businessman and reality television personality (b. 1941)
2018 – David Goldblatt, South African photographer of apartheid-period (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances on June 25

Arbor Day (Philippines)
Christian feast day:
- David of Munktorp
- Eurosia
- Maximus (Massimo) of Turin
- Philipp Melanchthon (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
- Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)
- Prosper of Aquitaine
- Prosper of Reggio
- William of Montevergine
- June 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Mozambique from Portugal in 1975.
National Catfish Day (United States)
Statehood Day (Slovenia)
Statehood Day (Virginia)
Teacher’s Day (Guatemala)
World Vitiligo Day

June 25 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

618 – Li Yuan becomes Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries of Tang dynasty rule over China.
656 – Ali becomes Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate.
860 – Byzantine–Rus’ War: A fleet of about 200 Rus’ vessels sails into the Bosphorus and starts pillaging the suburbs of the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
1053 – Battle of Civitate: Three thousand horsemen of Norman Count Humphrey rout the troops of Pope Leo IX.
1178 – Five Canterbury monks see what is possibly the Giordano Bruno crater being formed. It is believed that the current oscillations of the Moon’s distance from the Earth (on the order of meters) are a result of this collision.
1264 – The Parliament of Ireland meets at Castledermot in County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this Irish legislature.
1265 – A draft Byzantine–Venetian treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, but is not ratified by Doge Reniero Zeno.
1429 – French forces under the leadership of Joan of Arc defeat the main English army under Sir John Fastolf at the Battle of Patay. This turns the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
1633 – Charles I is crowned King of Scots at St Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh.
1684 – The charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked via a scire facias writ issued by an English court.
1757 – Battle of Kolín between Prussian forces under Frederick the Great and an Austrian army under the command of Field Marshal Count Leopold Joseph von Daun in the Seven Years’ War.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British troops abandon Philadelphia.
1799 – Action of 18 June 1799: A frigate squadron under Rear-admiral Perrée is captured by the British fleet under Lord Keith.
1812 – The United States declaration of war upon the United Kingdom is signed by President James Madison, beginning the War of 1812.
1815 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Waterloo results in the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte by the Duke of Wellington and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher forcing him to abdicate the throne of France for the second and last time.
1822 – Constantine Kanaris blows up the Ottoman navy’s flagship at Chios, killing the Kapudan Pasha Nasuhzade Ali Pasha.
1858 – Charles Darwin receives a paper from Alfred Russel Wallace that includes nearly identical conclusions about evolution as Darwin’s own, prompting Darwin to publish his theory.
1859 – First ascent of Aletschhorn, second summit of the Bernese Alps.
1873 – Susan B. Anthony is fined $100 for attempting to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
1887 – The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
1900 – Empress Dowager Cixi of China orders all foreigners killed, including foreign diplomats and their families.
1908 – Japanese immigration to Brazil begins when 781 people arrive in Santos aboard the ship Kasato-Maru.
1908 – The University of the Philippines is established.
1923 – Checker Taxi puts its first taxi on the streets.
1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic).
1935 – Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, clash with striking longshoremen, resulting in a total of 60 injuries and 24 arrests.
1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle.
1940 – The “Finest Hour” speech is delivered by Winston Churchill.
1945 – William Joyce (“Lord Haw-Haw”) is charged with treason for his pro-German propaganda broadcasting during World War II.
1946 – Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist, calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa.
1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.
1953 – The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.
1953 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129.
1954 – Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état.
1965 – Vietnam War: The United States uses B-52 bombers to attack National Liberation Front guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
1972 – Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen people are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes two minutes after take off from London’s Heathrow Airport.
1979 – SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union.
1981 – The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight.
1982 – Italian banker Roberto Calvi’s body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England.
1983 – Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
1983 – Mona Mahmudnizhad, together with nine other Bahá’í women, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran over her religious beliefs.
1984 – A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners takes place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984–85 UK miners’ strike.
1994 – The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
2006 – The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1 is launched.
2007 – The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire happened in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine firefighters.
2009 – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched.
2018 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes northern Osaka.

Births on June 18

1269 – Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar (d. 1298)
1318 – Eleanor of Woodstock (d. 1355)
1332 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1391)
1466 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (d. 1539)
1511 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor, designed the Ponte Santa Trinita (d. 1592)
1517 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (d. 1593)
1521 – Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu (d. 1577)
1667 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal (d. 1750)
1673 – Antonio de Literes, Spanish composer (d. 1747)
1677 – Antonio Maria Bononcini, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1726)
1716 – Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter and educator (d. 1809)
1717 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1757)
1757 – Ignaz Pleyel, Austrian-French pianist and composer (d. 1831)
1757 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentinian lawyer and politician 1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1833)
1769 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Irish-English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1822)
1799 – William Lassell, English astronomer and merchant (d. 1880)
1812 – Ivan Goncharov, Russian journalist and author (d. 1891)
1815 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (d. 1881)
1816 – Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte, French daughter of Napoleon (d. 1907)
1816 – Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepali ruler (d. 1877)
1833 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and President (1880-1884) (d. 1893)
1834 – Auguste-Théodore-Paul de Broglie, French philosopher and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – William H. Seward Jr., American general and banker (d. 1920)
1845 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
1850 – Richard Heuberger, Austrian composer and critic (d. 1914)
1854 – E. W. Scripps, American publisher, founded the E. W. Scripps Company (d. 1926)
1857 – Henry Clay Folger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Folger Shakespeare Library (d. 1930)
1858 – Andrew Forsyth, Scottish-English mathematician and academic (d. 1942)
1858 – Hector Rason, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1927)
1862 – Carolyn Wells, American novelist and poet (d. 1942)
1863 – George Essex Evans, English-Australian poet and author (d. 1909)
1868 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (d. 1957)
1870 – Édouard Le Roy, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1954)
1877 – James Montgomery Flagg, American painter and illustrator (d. 1960)
1881 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1956)
1882 – Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian compositor and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1949)
1884 – Édouard Daladier, French captain and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1970)
1886 – George Mallory, English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1924)
1886 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist and paleontologist (d. 1978)
1887 – Tancrède Labbé, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1956)
1896 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (d. 1986)
1897 – Martti Marttelin, Finnish runner (d. 1940)
1900 – Vlasta Vraz, Czech-American relief worker, editor, and fundraiser (d. 1989)
1901 – Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1901 – Llewellyn Rees, English actor (d. 1994)
1902 – Louis Alter, American musician (d. 1980)
1902 – Paavo Yrjölä, Finnish decathlete (d. 1980)
1903 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (d. 1965)
1903 – Raymond Radiguet, French author and poet (d. 1923)
1904 – Keye Luke, Chinese-American actor (d. 1991)
1904 – Manuel Rosenthal, French conductor and composer (d. 2003)
1905 – Eduard Tubin, Estonian composer and conductor (d. 1982)
1907 – Frithjof Schuon, Swiss-American metaphysicist, philosopher, and author (d. 1998)
1908 – Bud Collyer, American actor and game show host (d. 1969)
1908 – Stanley Knowles, American-Canadian academic and politician (d. 1997)
1908 – Nedra Volz, American actress (d. 2003)
1910 – Dick Foran, American actor and singer (d. 1979)
1910 – Avon Long, American actor and singer (d. 1984)
1910 – Ray McKinley, American singer, drummer, and bandleader (d. 1995)
1912 – Glenn Morris, American decathlete (d. 1974)
1913 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (d. 2005)
1913 – Sammy Cahn, American pianist and composer (d. 1993)
1913 – Sylvia Porter, American economist and journalist (d. 1991)
1913 – Françoise Loranger, Canadian playwright and producer (d. 1995)
1913 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker and philanthropist (d. 2008)
1913 – Oswald Teichmüller, German mathematician (d. 1943)
1914 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (d. 1998)
1914 – Efraín Huerta, Mexican poet (d.1982)
1915 – Red Adair, American firefighter (d. 2004)
1915 – Robert Kanigher, American author (d. 2002)
1915 – Alice T. Schafer, American mathematician (d. 2009)
1916 – Julio César Turbay Ayala, Colombian lawyer and politician, 25th President of Colombia (d. 2005)
1917 – Richard Boone, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1981)
1917 – Jack Karnehm, English snooker player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1917 – Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1918 – Alf Francis, West Prussia-born, English motor racing mechanic and race car constructor (d. 1983)
1918 – Jerome Karle, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1918 – Franco Modigliani, Italian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1919 – Jüri Järvet, Estonian actor and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1920 – Ian Carmichael, English actor and singer (d. 2010)
1920 – Lode Van Den Bergh, Belgian author and academic
1922 – Claude Helffer, French pianist and educator (d. 2004)
1924 – George Mikan, American basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
1925 – Robert Beadell, American composer and educator (d. 1994)
1926 – Philip B. Crosby, American businessman and author (d. 2001)
1926 – Allan Sandage, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 2010)
1926 – Tom Wicker, American journalist and author (d. 2011)
1927 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-English actress (d. 1998)
1927 – Paul Eddington, English actor (d. 1995)
1928 – Michael Blakemore, Australian actor, director, and screenwriter
1928 – David T. Lykken, American geneticist and academic (d. 2006)
1929 – Jürgen Habermas, German sociologist and philosopher
1929 – Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2015)
1931 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazilian sociologist, academic, and politician, 34th President of Brazil
1932 – Dudley R. Herschbach, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1932 – Geoffrey Hill, English poet and academic (d. 2016)
1933 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2018)
1933 – Tommy Hunt, American singer
1934 – Brian Kenny, English general (d. 2017)
1934 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 2004)
1936 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (d. 1992)
1936 – Barack Obama Sr., Kenyan economist (d. 1982)
1936 – Ronald Venetiaan, Surinamese politician, 6th President of Suriname
1937 – Del Harris, American basketball player and coach
1937 – Jay Rockefeller, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of West Virginia
1937 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist and historian (d. 2006)
1937 – Vitaly Zholobov, Ukrainian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
1938 – Kevin Murray, Australian footballer and coach
1939 – Lou Brock, American baseball player and sportscaster
1939 – Jean-Claude Germain, Canadian historian, author, and journalist
1939 – Brooks Firestone, American businessman and politician
1941 – Roger Lemerre, French footballer and manager
1941 – Paul Mayersberg, English director and screenwriter
1941 – Delia Smith, English chef and author
1942 – John Bellany, Scottish painter and academic (d. 2013)
1942 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1942 – Pat Hutchins, English author and illustrator
1942 – Thabo Mbeki, South African politician, 23rd President of South Africa
1942 – Paul McCartney, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1942 – Richard Perry, American record producer
1942 – Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (d. 1980)
1942 – Nick Tate, Australian actor and director
1942 – Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (d. 2004)
1943 – Barry Evans, English actor (d. 1997)
1943 – Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, dancer, and actress
1944 – Bruce DuMont, American broadcaster and political analyst
1944 – Sandy Posey, American pop/country singer
1946 – Russell Ash, English journalist and author (d. 2010)
1946 – Bruiser Brody, American wrestler (d. 1988)
1946 – Fabio Capello, Italian footballer and manager
1946 – Maria Bethânia, Brazilian singer
1947 – Ivonne Coll, Puerto Rican-American model and actress, Miss Puerto Rico 1967
1947 – Bernard Giraudeau, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1947 – Linda Thorson, Canadian actress
1948 – Philip Jackson, English actor
1948 – Éva Marton, Hungarian soprano and actress
1948 – Sherry Turkle, American academic, psychologist, and sociologist
1949 – Chris Van Allsburg, American author and illustrator
1949 – Jarosław Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Poland
1949 – Lech Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 4th President of Poland (d. 2010)
1949 – Lincoln Thompson, Jamaican singer-songwriter (d. 1999)
1950 – Rod de’Ath, Welsh drummer and producer (d. 2014)
1950 – Annelie Ehrhardt, German hurdler
1950 – Mike Johanns, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of Agriculture
1950 – Jackie Leven, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1951 – Mohammed Al-Sager, Kuwaiti journalist and politician
1951 – Miriam Flynn, American actress and comedian
1951 – Ian Hargreaves, English-Welsh journalist and academic
1951 – Stephen Hopper, Australian botanist and academic
1951 – Gyula Sax, Hungarian chess player (d. 2014)
1952 – Tiiu Aro, Estonian physician and politician, Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1952 – Denis Herron, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Carol Kane, American actress
1952 – Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Lee Soo-man, South Korean singer and businessman, founded S.M. Entertainment
1953 – Peter Donohoe, English pianist and educator
1955 – Ed Fast, Canadian lawyer and politician
1956 – Brian Benben, American actor and producer
1956 – John Scott, English organist and conductor (d. 2015)
1957 – Miguel Ángel Lotina, Spanish footballer and manager
1957 – Richard Powers, American novelist
1958 – Peter Altmaier, German jurist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany
1958 – Gary Martin, British voice actor and actor
1959 – Joe Ansolabehere, American animation screenwriter and producer
1960 – Barbara Broccoli, American director and producer
1960 – Steve Murphy, Canadian journalist
1961 – Oz Fox, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Andrés Galarraga, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1961 – Angela Johnson, American novelist and poet
1961 – Alison Moyet, English singer-songwriter
1962 – Lisa Randall, American physicist and academic
1963 – Dizzy Reed, American keyboard player and songwriter
1963 – Bruce Smith, American football player
1964 – Uday Hussein, Iraqi commander (d. 2003)
1964 – Patti Webster, American publicist and author (d. 2013)
1966 – Kurt Browning, Canadian figure skater, choreographer, and sportscaster
1966 – Troy Kemp, Bahamian high jumper
1968 – Frank Müller, German decathlete
1969 – Haki Doku, Albanian cyclist
1969 – Christopher Largen, American journalist and author (d. 2012)
1970 – Katie Derham, English journalist
1970 – Ivan Kozák, Slovak footballer
1970 – Greg Yaitanes, American director and producer
1971 – Kerry Butler, American actress and singer
1971 – Jason McAteer, English-Irish footballer and manager
1971 – Nathan Morris, American soul singer
1972 – Anu Tali, Estonian pianist and conductor
1972 – Wikus du Toit, South African actor, director, and composer
1973 – Julie Depardieu, French actress
1973 – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, American author and music critic
1973 – Ray LaMontagne, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1973 – Alexandra Meissnitzer, Austrian skier
1973 – Matt Parsons, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Gavin Wanganeen Australian footballer and coach
1974 – Vincenzo Montella, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Sergey Sharikov, Russian fencer and coach (d. 2015)
1975 – Marie Gillain, Belgian actress
1975 – Aleksandrs Koļinko, Latvian footballer
1975 – Martin St. Louis, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Blake Shelton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Wang Liqin, Chinese table tennis player
1979 – Yumiko Kobayashi, Japanese voice actress and singer
1979 – Ivana Wong, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress
1980 – Antonio Gates, American football player
1980 – Sergey Kirdyapkin, Russian race walker
1980 – Craig Mottram, Australian runner
1980 – Antero Niittymäki, Finnish ice hockey player
1980 – Tara Platt, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1981 – Clint Newton, American-Australian rugby league player
1981 – Marco Streller, Swiss footballer
1982 – Nadir Belhadj, French-Algerian footballer
1982 – Marco Borriello, Italian footballer
1982 – Nathan Cavaleri, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1983 – Billy Slater, Australian rugby league player
1983 – Cameron Smith, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Nanyak Dala, Canadian rugby player
1985 – Chris Coghlan, American baseball player
1985 – Alex Hirsch, American animator and television producer
1986 – Edgars Eriņš, Latvian decathlete
1986 – Richard Gasquet, French tennis player
1987 – Omar Arellano, Mexican footballer
1987 – Moeen Ali, English cricketer
1988 – Elini Dimoutsos, Greek footballer
1988 – Josh Dun, American musician
1989 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, French-born Gabonese footballer
1989 – Chris Harris Jr., American football player
1990 – Luke Adam, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Sandra Izbașa, Romanian gymnast
1990 – Derek Stepan, American ice hockey player
1990 – Christian Taylor, American triple jumper
1993 – Dennis Lloyd, Israeli musician, producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist
1994 – Sean McMahon, Australian rugby player
1994 – Takeoff, American rapper
1995 – Maxim Kovtun, Russian figure skater
1996 – Alen Halilović, Croatian footballer
1996 – Niki Wories, Dutch figure skater
1997 – Katharina Hobgarski, German tennis player
1997 – Latrell Mitchell, Australian rugby league player
1999 – Trippie Redd, American rapper

Deaths on June 18

741 – Leo III the Isaurian, Byzantine emperor (b. 685)
908 – Zhang Hao, general of Yang Wu
1095 – Sophia of Hungary (b. c. 1050)
1164 – Elisabeth of Schönau, German Benedictine visionary (b. c. 1129)
1234 – Emperor Chūkyō of Japan (b. 1218)
1250 – Theresa of Portugal, Queen of León
1291 – Alfonso III of Aragon (b. 1265)
1333 – Henry XV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1312)
1464 – Rogier van der Weyden, Flemish painter (b. 1400)
1588 – Robert Crowley, English minister and poet (b. 1517)
1629 – Piet Pieterszoon Hein, Dutch admiral (b. 1577)
1650 – Christoph Scheiner, German priest, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1575)
1673 – Jeanne Mance, French-Canadian nurse, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (b. 1606)
1704 – Tom Brown, English author and translator (b. 1662)
1726 – Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (b. 1657)
1742 – John Aislabie, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1670)
1749 – Ambrose Philips, English poet and politician (b. 1674)
1772 – Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German jurist and scholar (b. 1706)
1772 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician and reformer (b. 1700)
1788 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714)
1794 – François Buzot, French lawyer and politician (b. 1760)
1794 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, 20th Governor of the Province of Quebec (b. 1721)
1815 – Thomas Picton, Welsh-English general and politician (b. 1758)
1833 – Robert Hett Chapman, American minister, missionary, and academic (b. 1771)
1835 – William Cobbett, English farmer and journalist (b. 1763)
1860 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck, German army officer and writer (b. 1783)
1866 – Prince Sigismund of Prussia (b. 1864)
1902 – Samuel Butler, English novelist, satirist, and critic (b. 1835)
1905 – Carmine Crocco, Italian soldier (b. 1830)
1916 – Max Immelmann, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1890)
1917 – Titu Maiorescu, Romanian critic and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1840)
1922 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1851)
1928 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian pilot and explorer (b. 1872)
1936 – Maxim Gorky, Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1868)
1937 – Gaston Doumergue, French politician, 13th President of France (b. 1863)
1942 – Arthur Pryor, American trombonist, bandleader, and politician (b. 1870)
1943 – Elias Degiannis, Greek commander (b. 1912)
1945 – Florence Bascom, American geologist and educator (b. 1862)^[10]
1945 – Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., American general (b. 1886)
1947 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (b. 1898)
1948 – Edward Brooker, English-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1891)
1959 – Ethel Barrymore, American actress (b. 1879)
1963 – Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican-American actor (b. 1912)
1964 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (b. 1890)
1967 – Geki, Italian race car driver (b. 1937)
1967 – Beat Fehr, Swiss race car driver (b. 1942)
1971 – Thomas Gomez, American actor (b. 1905)
1971 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889)
1974 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and academic (b. 1896)
1974 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian marshal and politician, Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (b. 1896)
1975 – Hugo Bergmann, German-Israeli philosopher and author (b. 1883)
1978 – Walter C. Alvarez, American physician and author (b. 1884)
1980 – Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (b. 1904)
1980 – André Leducq, French cyclist (b. 1904)
1982 – Djuna Barnes, American novelist, journalist, and playwright (b. 1892)
1982 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1912)
1982 – Curd Jürgens, German-Austrian actor and director (b. 1915)
1984 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (b. 1934)
1985 – Paul Colin, French illustrator (b. 1892)
1986 – Frances Scott Fitzgerald, American journalist (b. 1921)
1989 – I. F. Stone, American journalist and author (b. 1907)
1992 – Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, the first black Chief Nursing Officer of Nigeria (b. 1910)
1992 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1944)
1992 – Mordecai Ardon, Polish-Israeli painter and educator (b. 1896)
1993 – Craig Rodwell, American activist, founded the Oscar Wilde Bookshop (b. 1940)
1996 – Endel Puusepp, Estonian-Soviet military pilot and politician (b. 1909)
1997 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (b. 1912)
1998 – Felix Knight, American actor and tenor (b. 1908)
2000 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (b. 1928)
2003 – Larry Doby, American baseball player and manager (b. 1923)
2005 – Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer (b. 1914)
2005 – Manuel Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (b. 1914)
2006 – Vincent Sherman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
2006 – Joseph Zobel, Martinique-French author (b. 1915)
2007 – Bernard Manning, English comedian and actor (b. 1930)
2007 – Hank Medress, American singer and producer (b. 1938)
2007 – Georges Thurston, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2008 – Jean Delannoy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
2008 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (b. 1915)
2008 – Hans Steinbrenner, German sculptor (b. 1928)
2010 – Trent Acid, American wrestler (b. 1980)
2010 – José Saramago, Portuguese novelist Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
2010 – Okan Demiriş, Turkish composer (b. 1942)
2011 – Yelena Bonner, Russian activist (b. 1923)
2011 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (b. 1943)
2011 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist (b. 1942)
2012 – Horacio Coppola, Argentinian photographer and director (b. 1906)
2012 – Lina Haag, German author and activist (b. 1907)
2012 – Tom Maynard, Welsh cricketer (b. 1989)
2012 – Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín, Peruvian general and politician, 109th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1919)
2012 – Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1934)
2012 – William Van Regenmorter, American businessman and politician (b. 1939)
2013 – Brent F. Anderson, American engineer and politician (b. 1932)
2013 – Alastair Donaldson, Scottish bass player (b. 1955)
2013 – Garde Gardom, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (b. 1924)
2013 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (b. 1980)
2013 – David Wall, English ballet dancer (b. 1946)
2014 – Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist and engineer (b. 1923)
2014 – Johnny Mann, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1928)
2014 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (b. 1914)
2014 – Vladimir Popovkin, Russian general (b. 1957)
2014 – Horace Silver, American pianist and composer (b. 1928)
2015 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2015 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (b. 1920)
2015 – Danny Villanueva, American football player and broadcaster, co-founded Univision (b. 1937)
2015 – Allen Weinstein, American historian and academic (b. 1937)
2016 – Jeppiaar, Indian educationist, founder and chancellor of Sathyabama University (b. 1931)
2018 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (b. 1998)
2018 – Big Van Vader (also known as Vader) American professional wrestler (b. 1955)
2018 – Jimmy Wopo, American rapper (b. 1997)
2020 – Vera Lynn, English singer who was the “Forces’ Sweetheart” in World War II (b. 1917)

Holidays and observances on June 18

Autistic Pride Day (International)
Christian feast day:
- Bernard Mizeki (Anglican and Episcopal Church)
- Elisabeth of Schönau
- Gregorio Barbarigo
- Leontius, Hypatius and Theodulus
- Marina the Monk (Maronite Church, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria)
- Mark and Marcellian
- June 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Foundation Day (Benguet)
Human Rights Day (Azerbaijan)
National Day (Seychelles)
Queen Mother’s Birthday (Cambodia)
Waterloo Day (United Kingdom)

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

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

653 – Pope Martin I is arrested and taken to Constantinople, due to his opposition to monothelitism.
1242 – Following the Disputation of Paris, twenty-four carriage loads of Jewish religious manuscripts were burnt in Paris.
1397 – The Kalmar Union is formed under the rule of Margaret I of Denmark.
1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack at Târgovişte), forcing him to retreat from Wallachia.
1497 – Battle of Deptford Bridge: Forces under King Henry VII defeat troops led by Michael An Gof.
1565 – Matsunaga Hisahide assassinates the 13th Ashikaga shōgun, Ashikaga Yoshiteru.
1579 – Sir Francis Drake claims a land he calls Nova Albion (modern California) for England.
1596 – The Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz discovers the Arctic archipelago of Spitsbergen.
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal dies during childbirth. Her husband, Mughal emperor Shah Jahan I, will spend the next 17 years building her mausoleum, the Taj Mahal.
1665 – Battle of Montes Claros: Portugal definitively secured independence from Spain in the last battle of the Portuguese Restoration War.
1673 – French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet reach the Mississippi River and become the first Europeans to make a detailed account of its course.
1767 – Samuel Wallis, a British sea captain, sights Tahiti and is considered the first European to reach the island.
1773 – Cúcuta, Colombia, is founded by Juana Rangel de Cuéllar.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: Colonists inflict heavy casualties on British forces while losing the Battle of Bunker Hill.
1789 – In France, the Third Estate declares itself the National Assembly.
1794 – Foundation of Anglo-Corsican Kingdom.
1795 – The burghers of Swellendam expel the Dutch East India Company magistrate and declare a republic.
1839 – In the Kingdom of Hawaii, Kamehameha III issues the edict of toleration which gives Roman Catholics the freedom to worship in the Hawaiian Islands. The Hawaii Catholic Church and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace are established as a result.
1843 – The Wairau Affray, the first serious clash of arms between Māori and British settlers in the New Zealand Wars, takes place.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Vienna, Virginia.
1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Aldie in the Gettysburg Campaign.
1876 – American Indian Wars: Battle of the Rosebud: 1,500 Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse beat back General George Crook’s forces at Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory.
1877 – American Indian Wars: Battle of White Bird Canyon: The Nez Perce defeat the U.S. Cavalry at White Bird Canyon in the Idaho Territory.
1885 – The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
1898 – The United States Navy Hospital Corps is established.
1900 – Boxer Rebellion: Western Allied and Japanese forces capture the Taku Forts in Tianjin, China.
1901 – The College Board introduces its first standardized test, the forerunner to the SAT.
1910 – Aurel Vlaicu pilots an A. Vlaicu nr. 1 on its first flight.
1922 – Portuguese naval aviators Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral complete the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic.
1929 – The town of Murchison, New Zealand Is rocked by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killing 17. At the time it was New Zealand’s worst natural disaster.
1930 – U.S. President Herbert Hoover signs the Smoot–Hawley Tariff Act into law.
1932 – Bonus Army: Around a thousand World War I veterans amass at the United States Capitol as the U.S. Senate considers a bill that would give them certain benefits.
1933 – Union Station massacre: In Kansas City, Missouri, four FBI agents and captured fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash.
1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison.
1940 – World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain’s worst maritime disaster.
1940 – World War II: The British Army’s 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces.
1940 – The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic.
1948 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board.
1952 – Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land.
1953 – Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
1958 – The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others.
1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for 7 million acres (28,000 km²) of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty.
1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord’s Prayer in public schools.
1963 – A day after South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed.
1967 – Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon.
1972 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process
1985 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist.
1987 – With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct.
1991 – Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
1992 – A “joint understanding” agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
2015 – Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.
2017 – A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others.

Births on June 17

801 – Drogo of Metz, Frankish bishop (d. 855)
1239 – Edward I, English king (d. 1307)
1530 – François de Montmorency, French nobleman (d. 1579)
1571 – Thomas Mun, English writer on economics (d. 1641)
1603 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1663)
1604 – John Maurice, Dutch nobleman (d. 1679)
1610 – Birgitte Thott, Danish scholar, writer and translator (b. 1662)
1631 – Gauharara Begum, Mughal princess (d. 1706)
1682 – Charles XII, Swedish king (d. 1718)
1691 – Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765)
1693 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author (d. 1775)
1704 – John Kay, English engineer, invented the Flying shuttle (d. 1780)
1714 – César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1784)
1718 – George Howard, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1796)
1778 – Gregory Blaxland, English-Australian explorer (d. 1853)
1800 – William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, English-Irish astronomer and politician (d. 1867)
1808 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet, playwright, and linguist (d. 1845)
1810 – Ferdinand Freiligrath, German poet and translator (d. 1876)
1811 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic scholar and politician (d. 1879)
1818 – Charles Gounod, French composer and academic (d. 1893)
1818 – Sophie of Württemberg, queen of the Netherlands (d. 1877)
1821 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (d. 1888)
1832 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (d. 1919)
1833 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and president (d. 1893)
1858 – Eben Sumner Draper, American businessman and politician, 44th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1914)
1861 – Pete Browning, American baseball player (d. 1905)
1861 – Omar Bundy, American general (d. 1940)
1863 – Charles Michael, duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1934)
1865 – Susan La Flesche Picotte, Native American physician (d. 1915)
1867 – Flora Finch, English-American actress (d. 1940)
1867 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born American educator, publisher, and humanitarian (d. 1948)
1867 – Henry Lawson, Australian poet and author (d. 1922)
1871 – James Weldon Johnson, American author, journalist, and activist (d. 1938)
1876 – William Carr, American rower (d. 1942)
1876 – Edward Anthony Spitzka, American anatomist and author (d. 1922)
1880 – Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (d. 1964)
1881 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer and promoter (d. 1955)
1882 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1918)
1882 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1971)
1888 – Heinz Guderian, German general (d. 1954)
1897 – Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro, Brazilian girl, popular saint (d. 1911)
1898 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (d. 1972)
1898 – Carl Hermann, German physicist and academic (d. 1961)
1898 – Harry Patch, English soldier and firefighter (d. 2009)
1900 – Martin Bormann, German politician (d. 1945)
1900 – Evelyn Irons, Scottish journalist and war correspondent (d. 2000)
1902 – Sammy Fain, American pianist and composer (d. 1989)
1902 – Alec Hurwood, Australian cricketer (d. 1982)
1903 – Ruth Graves Wakefield, American chef, created the chocolate chip cookie (d. 1977)
1904 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor (d. 1991)
1904 – J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (d. 1988)
1904 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 1989)
1907 – Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1990)
1909 – Elmer L. Andersen, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2004)
1909 – Ralph E. Winters, Canadian-American film editor (d. 2004)
1910 – Red Foley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1968)
1910 – George Hees, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1996)
1914 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (d. 1993)
1915 – David “Stringbean” Akeman, American singer and banjo player (d. 1973)
1915 – Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (d. 1981)
1916 – Terry Gilkyson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
1917 – Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (d. 2010)
1918 – Ajahn Chah, Thai monk and educator (d. 1992)
1919 – William Kaye Estes, American psychologist and academic (d. 2011)
1919 – John Moffat, Scottish lieutenant and pilot (d. 2016)
1919 – Beryl Reid, English actress (d. 1996)
1920 – Jacob H. Gilbert, American lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
1920 – Setsuko Hara, Japanese actress (d. 2015)
1920 – François Jacob, French biologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1920 – Peter Le Cheminant, English air marshal and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey (d. 2018)
1922 – John Amis, English journalist and critic (d. 2013)
1923 – Elroy Hirsch, American football player (d. 2004)
1923 – Arnold S. Relman, American physician and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian and academic (d. 1999)
1925 – Alexander Shulgin, American pharmacologist and chemist (d. 2014)
1927 – Martin Böttcher, German composer and conductor (d. 2019)
1927 – Wally Wood, American author, illustrator, and publisher (d. 1981)
1928 – Juan María Bordaberry, President of Uruguay (d. 2011)
1929 – Bud Collins, American journalist and sportscaster (d. 2016)
1929 – Tigran Petrosian, Armenian chess player (d. 1984)
1930 – Cliff Gallup, American rock & roll guitarist (d. 1988)
1930 – Brian Statham, English cricketer (d. 2000)
1931 – John Baldessari, American painter and illustrator (d. 2020)
1932 – Derek Ibbotson, English runner (d. 2017)
1932 – John Murtha, American colonel and politician (d. 2010)
1933 – Harry Browne, American soldier and politician (d. 2006)
1933 – Christian Ferras, French violinist (d. 1982)
1933 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (d. 1970)
1936 – Vern Harper, Canadian tribal leader and activist (d. 2018)
1936 – Ken Loach, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1937 – Peter Fitzgerald, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1937 – Ted Nelson, American sociologist and philosopher
1937 – Clodovil Hernandes, Brazilian fashion designer, television presenter and politician (d. 2009)
1940 – George Akerlof, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Bobby Bell, American football player
1940 – Chuck Rainey, American bassist
1941 – Nicholas C. Handy, English chemist and academic (d. 2012)
1942 – Mohamed ElBaradei, Egyptian politician, Vice President of Egypt, Nobel Prize laureate
1942 – Doğu Perinçek, Turkish lawyer and politician
1942 – Roger Steffens, American actor and producer
1943 – Newt Gingrich, American historian and politician, 58th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
1943 – Barry Manilow, American singer-songwriter and producer
1943 – Chantal Mouffe, Belgian theorist and author
1943 – Burt Rutan, American engineer and pilot
1944 – Randy Johnson, American football player (d. 2009)
1944 – Chris Spedding, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Tommy Franks, American general
1945 – Ken Livingstone, English politician, 1st Mayor of London
1945 – Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist and sportscaster
1945 – Art Bell, American broadcaster and author (d. 2018)
1946 – Peter Rosei, Austrian author, poet, and playwright
1947 – Christopher Allport, American actor (d. 2008)
1947 – Timothy Wright, American gospel singer, pastor (d. 2009)
1947 – Linda Chavez, American journalist and author
1947 – George S. Clinton, American composer and songwriter
1947 – Gregg Rolie, American rock singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1947 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
1948 – Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player and manager
1948 – Jacqueline Jones, American historian and academic
1948 – Aurelio López, Mexican baseball player and politician (d. 1992)
1948 – Karol Sikora, English physician and academic
1949 – Snakefinger, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1987)
1949 – John Craven, English economist and academic
1949 – Russell Smith, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
1950 – Lee Tamahori, New Zealand film director
1951 – Starhawk, American author and activist
1951 – John Garrett, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1951 – Joe Piscopo, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1952 – Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1952 – Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education
1953 – Vernon Coaker, English educator and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
1953 – Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor and storyteller (d. 2001)
1954 – Mark Linn-Baker, American actor and director
1955 – Mati Laur, Estonian historian, author, and academic
1955 – Bob Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1955 – Cem Hakko, Turkish fashion designer and businessman
1956 – Iain Milne, Scottish rugby player
1957 – Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
1957 – Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (d. 2005)
1957 – Uģis Prauliņš, Latvian composer
1958 – Pierre Berbizier, French rugby player and coach
1958 – Jello Biafra, American singer-songwriter and producer
1958 – Bobby Farrelly, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Sam Hamad, Syrian-Canadian academic and politician
1958 – Jon Leibowitz, American lawyer and politician
1958 – Daniel McVicar, American actor
1959 – Carol Anderson, American author and historian
1959 – Lawrence Haddad, South African-English economist and academic
1959 – Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player and coach
1960 – Adrián Campos, Spanish race car driver
1960 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor
1961 – Kōichi Yamadera, Japanese actor and singer
1962 – Michael Monroe, Finnish singer-songwriter and saxophonist
1963 – Greg Kinnear, American actor, television presenter, and producer
1964 – Rinaldo Capello, Italian race car driver
1964 – Michael Gross, German swimmer
1964 – Steve Rhodes, English cricketer and coach
1965 – Dermontti Dawson, American football player and coach
1965 – Dan Jansen, American speed skater and sportscaster
1965 – Dara O’Kearney, Irish runner and poker player
1966 – Mohammed Ghazy Al-Akhras, Iraqi journalist and author
1966 – Tory Burch, American fashion designer and philanthropist
1966 – Ken Clark, American football player (d. 2013)
1966 – Diane Modahl, English runner
1966 – Jason Patric, American actor
1967 – Dorothea Röschmann, German soprano and actress
1967 – Eric Stefani, American keyboard player and composer
1968 – Steve Georgallis, Australian rugby league player and coach
1968 – Minoru Suzuki, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1969 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan runner
1969 – Geoff Toovey, Australian rugby league player and coach
1969 – Ilya Tsymbalar, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1970 – Stéphane Fiset, Canadian ice hockey player
1970 – Will Forte, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1970 – Jason Hanson, American football player
1970 – Popeye Jones, American basketball player and coach
1970 – Michael Showalter, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Alan Dowson, English football manager and former professional player
1971 – Paulina Rubio, Mexican pop singer
1971 – Mildred Fox, Irish politician
1973 – Leander Paes, Indian tennis player
1974 – Evangelia Psarra, Greek archer
1975 – Joshua Leonard, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1975 – Juan Carlos Valerón, Spanish footballer
1975 – Phiyada Akkraseranee, Thai actress and model
1976 – Scott Adkins, English actor and martial artist
1976 – Sven Nys, Belgian cyclist
1977 – Tjaša Jezernik, Slovenian tennis player
1977 – Mark Tauscher, American football player and sportscaster
1978 – Isabelle Delobel, French ice dancer
1978 – Travis Roche, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Nick Rimando, American soccer player
1979 – Tyson Apostol, American television personality
1979 – Young Maylay, American rapper, producer, and voice actor
1980 – Elisa Rigaudo, Italian race walker
1980 – Jeph Jacques, American author and illustrator
1980 – Venus Williams, American tennis player
1981 – Kyle Boller, American football player
1981 – Shane Watson, Australian cricketer
1982 – Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian footballer
1982 – Marek Svatoš, Slovak ice hockey player (d. 2016)
1982 – Stanislava Hrozenská, Slovak tennis player
1982 – Stefan Hodgetts, English racing driver
1982 – Arthur Darvill, English actor
1982 – Jodie Whittaker, English actress
1983 – Lee Ryan, English singer/actor
1983 – Vlasis Kazakis, Greek footballer
1984 – Michael Mathieu, Bahamian sprinter
1984 – Si Tianfeng, Chinese race walker
1985 – Özge Akın, Turkish sprinter
1985 – Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player
1985 – Rafael Sóbis, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Apoula Edel, Armenian footballer
1986 – Helen Glover, English rower
1987 – Kendrick Lamar, American rapper
1987 – Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer and actress
1988 – Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player
1988 – Shaun MacDonald, Welsh footballer
1988 – Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer
1989 – Georgios Tofas, Cypriot footballer
1989 – Simone Battle, American singer and actress (d. 2014)
1990 – Jordan Henderson, English footballer
1990 – Josh Mansour, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Daniel Tupou, Australian-Tongan rugby league player
1994 – Amari Cooper, American football player
1995 – Clément Lenglet, French footballer

Deaths on June 17

656 – Uthman, caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate (b. 579)
676 – Adeodatus, pope of the Catholic Church
811 – Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, Japanese shōgun (b. 758)
850 – Tachibana no Kachiko, Japanese empress (b. 786)
900 – Fulk, French archbishop and chancellor
1025 – Bolesław I the Brave, Polish king (b. 967)
1091 – Dirk V, count of Holland (b. 1052)
1207 – Daoji, Chinese buddhist monk (b. 1130)
1219 – David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon
1361 – Ingeborg of Norway, princess consort and regent of Sweden (b. 1301)
1400 – Jan of Jenštejn, archbishop of Prague (b. 1348)
1463 – Catherine of Portugal, Portuguese princess (b. 1436)
1501 – John I Albert, Polish king (b. 1459)
1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shōgun (b. 1536)
1631 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal princess (b. 1593)
1649 – Injo of Joseon, Korean king (b. 1595)
1674 – Jijabai, Dowager Queen, mother of Shivaji (b. 1598)
1694 – Philip Howard, English cardinal (b. 1629)
1696 – John III Sobieski, Polish king (b. 1629)
1719 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (b. 1672)
1734 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1653)
1740 – Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1687)
1762 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French poet and playwright (b. 1674)
1771 – Daskalogiannis, Greek rebel leader (b. 1722)
1775 – John Pitcairn, Scottish-English soldier (b. 1722)
1797 – Mohammad Khan Qajar, Persian tribal chief (b. 1742)
1813 – Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, Scottish-English admiral and politician (b. 1726)
1821 – Martín Miguel de Güemes, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1785)
1839 – Lord William Bentinck, English general and politician, 14th Governor-General of India (b. 1774)
1866 – Joseph Méry, French poet and author (b. 1798)
1889 – Lozen, Chiracaua Apache warrior woman (b. ~1840)
1898 – Edward Burne-Jones, English soldier and painter (b. 1833)
1904 – Nikolay Bobrikov, Russian soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (b. 1839)
1936 – Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883)
1939 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1893)
1939 – Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (b. 1908)
1940 – Arthur Harden, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1941 – Johan Wagenaar, Dutch organist and composer (b. 1862)
1942 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1853)
1952 – Jack Parsons, American chemist and engineer (b. 1914)
1954 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (b. 1920)
1956 – Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (b. 1878)
1956 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (b. 1892)
1956 – Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (b. 1926)
1957 – Dorothy Richardson, English journalist and author (b. 1873)
1957 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-American cartoonist (b. 1888)
1961 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918)
1963 – Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician (b. 1882)
1968 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1901)
1974 – Refik Koraltan, Turkish lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1889)
1975 – James Phinney Baxter III, American historian and academic (b. 1893)
1979 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (b. 1898)
1979 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player and manager (b. 1888)
1981 – Richard O’Connor, Indian-English general (b. 1889)
1981 – Zerna Sharp, American author and educator (b. 1889)
1982 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920)
1983 – Peter Mennin, American composer and educator (b. 1923)
1985 – John Boulting, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1913)
1986 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907)
1987 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1936)
1996 – Thomas Kuhn, American historian and philosopher (b. 1922)
1996 – Curt Swan, American illustrator (b. 1920)
1999 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (b. 1923)
2000 – Ismail Mahomed, South African lawyer and jurist, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1931)
2001 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919)
2001 – Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal (b. 1925)
2002 – Willie Davenport, American sprinter and hurdler (b. 1943)
2002 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920)
2004 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926)
2006 – Bussunda, Brazilian comedian (b. 1962)
2007 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian fashion designer (b. 1944)
2007 – Serena Wilson, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
2008 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (b. 1922)
2009 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-English sociologist and politician (b. 1929)
2009 – Darrell Powers, American sergeant (b. 1923)
2011 – Rex Mossop, Australian rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1928)
2012 – Stéphane Brosse, French mountaineer (b. 1971)
2012 – Patricia Brown, American baseball player (b. 1931)
2012 – Nathan Divinsky, Canadian mathematician and chess player (b. 1925)
2012 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (b. 1965)
2012 – Fauzia Wahab, Pakistani actress and politician (b. 1956)
2013 – Michael Baigent, New Zealand-English theorist and author (b. 1948)
2013 – Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, Bangladeshi playwright and producer (b. 1930)
2013 – Pierre F. Côté, Canadian lawyer and civil servant (b. 1927)
2013 – Bulbs Ehlers, American basketball player (b. 1923)
2013 – James Holshouser, American politician, 68th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1934)
2014 – Patsy Byrne, English actress (b. 1933)
2014 – Éric Dewailly, Canadian epidemiologist and academic (b. 1954)
2014 – Stanley Marsh 3, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1938)
2014 – Arnold S. Relman, American physician and academic (b. 1923)
2014 – Larry Zeidel, Canadian-American ice hockey player and sportscaster (b. 1928)
2015 – Ron Clarke, Australian runner and politician, Mayor of the Gold Coast (b. 1937)
2015 – John David Crow, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
2015 – Süleyman Demirel, Turkish engineer and politician, 9th President of Turkey (b. 1924)
2015 – Roberto M. Levingston, Argentinian general and politician, 36th President of Argentina (b. 1920)
2015 – Clementa C. Pinckney, American minister and politician (b. 1973)
2017 – Baldwin Lonsdale, president of Vanuatu (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances on June 17

Christian feast day:
- Albert Chmielowski
- Botolph (England and Scandinavia)
- Gondulphus of Berry
- Hervé
- Hypatius of Bithynia (Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches)
- Rainerius
- Samuel and Henrietta Barnett (Church of England)
- June 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Father’s Day (El Salvador, Guatemala)
Icelandic National Day, celebrates the independence of Iceland from Kingdom of Denmark in 1944.
Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (Latvia)
Remembrance to East German uprising of 1953, public holiday in West Germany between 1954 and 1990 (today German Unity Day) is the public holiday day)
World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (International)
Zemla Intifada Day (Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic)

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

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

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

Births on May 21

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

Deaths on May 21

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

Holidays and observances on May 21

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

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

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

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

Births on May 15

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

Deaths on May 15

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

Holidays and observances on May 15

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

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

On This Day

May 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1373 – Julian of Norwich has visions of Jesus while suffering from a life-threatening illness, visions which are later described and interpreted in her book Revelations of Divine Love.
1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France, and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, are officially married at Greenwich.
1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.
1619 – Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is executed in The Hague after being convicted of treason.
1779 – War of the Bavarian Succession: Russian and French mediators at the Congress of Teschen negotiate an end to the war. In the agreement Austria receives the part of its territory that was taken from it (the Innviertel).
1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in the Cumberland River area of what would become the U.S. state of Tennessee, providing for democratic government and a formal system of justice.
1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the “First Fleet”) to establish a penal colony in Australia.
1804 – Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derna from the Americans attack the city.
1830 – Ecuador gains its independence from Gran Colombia.
1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on the Federal Republic of Mexico following a dispute over the American annexation of the Republic of Texas and a Mexican military incursion.
1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a “proclamation of neutrality” which recognizes the Confederacy as having belligerent rights.
1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
1861 – Pakistan’s (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri.
1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
1865 – American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: In far south Texas, the last land battle of the Civil War ends with a Confederate victory.
1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
1888 – With the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”), Empire of Brazil abolishes slavery.
1909 – The first Giro d’Italia starts from Milan. Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna will be the winner.
1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.
1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
1940 – World War II: Germany’s conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his “blood, toil, tears, and sweat” speech to the House of Commons.
1940 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands flees her country to Great Britain after the German invasion. Princess Juliana takes her children to Canada for their safety.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailović starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.
1943 – World War II: Operations Vulcan and Strike force the surrender of the last Axis troops in Tunisia.
1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The Kfar Etzion massacre is committed by Arab irregulars, the day before the declaration of independence of the state of Israel on May 14.
1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone.
1951 – The 400th anniversary of the founding of the National University of San Marcos is commemorated by the opening of the first large-capacity stadium in Peru.
1952 – The Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India, holds its first sitting.
1954 – The anti-National Service Riots, by Chinese middle school students in Singapore, take place.
1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon’s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
1958 – May 1958 crisis: A group of French military officers lead a coup in Algiers demanding that a government of national unity be formed with Charles de Gaulle at its head in order to defend French control of Algeria.
1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.
1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
1967 – Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.
1969 – May 13 Incident involving sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1971 – Over 900 unarmed Bengali Hindus are murdered in the Demra massacre.
1972 – Faulty electrical wiring ignites a fire underneath the Playtown Cabaret in Osaka, Japan. Blocked exits and non-functional elevators lead to 118 fatalities, with many victims leaping to their deaths.
1972 – The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.
1980 – An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
1985 – Police bombed MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
1989 – Large groups of students occupy Tiananmen Square and begin a hunger strike.
1990 – The Dinamo–Red Star riot took place at Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb, Croatia between the Bad Blue Boys (fans of Dinamo Zagreb) and the Delije (fans of Red Star Belgrade).
1992 – Li Hongzhi gives the first public lecture on Falun Gong in Changchun, People’s Republic of China.
1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.
1996 – Severe thunderstorms and a tornado in Bangladesh kill 600 people.
1998 – Race riots break out in Jakarta, Indonesia, where shops owned by Indonesians of Chinese descent are looted and women raped.
1998 – India carries out two nuclear weapon tests at Pokhran, following the three conducted on May 11. The United States and Japan impose economic sanctions on India.
2005 – Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan; Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates.
2006 – São Paulo violence: Rebellions occur in several prisons in Brazil.
2011 – Two bombs explode in the Charsadda District of Pakistan killing 98 people and wounding 140 others.
2012 – Forty-nine dismembered bodies are discovered by Mexican authorities on Mexican Federal Highway 40.
2013 – American physician Kermit Gosnell is found guilty in Pennsylvania of murdering three infants born alive during attempted abortions, involuntary manslaughter of a woman during an abortion procedure, and other charges.
2014 – An explosion at an underground coal mine in southwest Turkey kills 301 miners.

Births on May 13

1024 – Hugh of Cluny, French abbot and saint (d. 1109)
1179 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (d. 1201)
1221 – Alexander Nevsky, Russian prince and saint (d. 1263)
1254 – Marie of Brabant, Queen of France (d. 1321)
1453 – Mary Stewart, Countess of Arran, Scottish princess (d. 1488)
1588 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and historian (d. 1654)
1597 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (d. 1655)
1638 – Richard Simon, French priest and scholar (d. 1712)
1699 – Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, Portuguese politician, Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1782)
1712 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician and diplomat (d. 1772)
1713 – Alexis Clairaut, French mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1765)
1717 – Maria Theresa, Archduchess, Queen, and Empress; Austrian wife of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1780)
1730 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1782)
1735 – Horace Coignet, French violinist and composer (d. 1821)
1742 – Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen (d. 1798)
1753 – Lazare Carnot, French general, mathematician, and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1823)
1792 – Pope Pius IX (d. 1878)
1794 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (d. 1835)
1795 – Gérard Paul Deshayes, French geologist and chronologist (d. 1875)
1811 – Juan Bautista Ceballos, President of Mexico (1853) (b. 1859)
1822 – Francis, Duke of Cádiz (d. 1902)
1830 – Zebulon Baird Vance, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1894)
1832 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and author (d. 1864)
1840 – Alphonse Daudet, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1897)
1842 – Arthur Sullivan, English composer (d. 1900)
1853 – Vaiben Louis Solomon, Australian politician, 21st Premier of South Australia (d. 1908)
1856 – Tom O’Rourke, American boxer and manager (d. 1938)
1857 – Ronald Ross, Indian-English physician and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1932)
1868 – Sumner Paine, American target shooter (d. 1904)
1869 – Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Turkish writer (d. 1944)
1877 – Robert Hamilton, Scottish international footballer (d. 1948)
1881 – Lima Barreto, Brazilian journalist and author (d. 1922)
1881 – Joe Forshaw, American runner (d. 1964)
1882 – Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (d. 1963)
1883 – Georgios Papanikolaou, Greek-American pathologist, invented the pap smear (d. 1962)
1884 – Oskar Rosenfeld, Jewish-Austrian writer and Holocaust victim (d.1944)
1885 – Mikiel Gonzi, Maltese archbishop (d. 1984)
1887 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (d. 1951)
1888 – Inge Lehmann, Danish seismologist and geophysicist (d. 1993)
1894 – Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, Icelandic politician, 2nd President of Iceland (d. 1972)
1895 – Nandor Fodor, Hungarian-American psychologist, parapsychologist, and author (d. 1964)
1901 – Murilo Mendes, Brazilian poet and telegrapher (d. 1975)
1904 – Louis Duffus, Australian-South African cricketer and journalist (d. 1984)
1905 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, 5th President of India (d. 1977)
1907 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (d. 1989)
1908 – Eugen Kapp, Estonian composer and educator (d. 1996)
1909 – Ken Darby, American composer and conductor (d. 1992)
1911 – Robert Middleton, American actor (d. 1977)
1911 – Maxine Sullivan, American singer and actress (d. 1987)
1912 – Gil Evans, Canadian-American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1988)
1912 – Judah Nadich, American colonel and rabbi (d. 2007)
1913 – Robert Dorning, English actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1989)
1913 – Theo Helfrich, German racing driver (d. 1978)
1913 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (d. 1980)
1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer (d. 1981)
1914 – Johnnie Wright, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2011)
1914 – Antonia Ferrín Moreiras, Spanish mathematician, academic, and astronomer (d. 2009)
1916 – Sachidananda Routray, Indian Oriya-language poet (d. 2004)
1918 – Balasaraswati, Indian dancer and instructor (d. 1984)
1918 – Gwyn Howells, Australian public servant (d. 1997)
1920 – Gareth Morris, English flute player (d. 2007)
1922 – Michael Ainsworth, English cricketer (d. 1978)
1922 – Otl Aicher, German graphic designer and typographer (d. 1991)
1922 – Bea Arthur, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
1923 – Ruth Adler Schnee, German-American textile designer and interior designer
1924 – Theodore Mann, American director and producer (d. 2012)
1924 – Harry Schwarz, South African anti-apartheid leader, lawyer, and Ambassador (d. 2010)
1927 – Archie Scott Brown, Scottish race car driver (d. 1958)
1927 – Fred Hellerman, American folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2016)
1927 – Herbert Ross, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
1928 – Enrique Bolaños, Nicaraguan politician, President of Nicaragua
1928 – Édouard Molinaro, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1929 – John Galvin, American general (d. 2015)
1930 – Mike Gravel, American lieutenant and politician
1930 – José Jiménez Lozano, Spanish journalist and author
1930 – Vernon Shaw, Dominican politician, 5th President of Dominica (d. 2013)
1931 – Jim Jones, American cult leader, founder of the Peoples Temple (d. 1978)
1931 – Sydney Lipworth, South African-English lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist
1933 – John Roseboro, American baseball player and coach (d. 2002)
1934 – Ehud Netzer, Israeli archaeologist, architect, and academic (d. 2010)
1934 – Leon Wagner, American baseball player and actor (d. 2004)
1935 – Dominic Cossa, American opera singer
1935 – Jan Saudek, Czech photographer and painter
1935 – Kája Saudek, Czech author and illustrator (d. 2015)
1936 – Bill Rompkey, Canadian educator and politician (d. 2017)
1937 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor, invented the wind-up radio (d. 2018)
1937 – Roch Carrier, Canadian librarian and author
1937 – Zohra Lampert, American actress
1937 – Beverley Owen, American actress (d. 2019)
1937 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (d. 1995)
1938 – Giuliano Amato, Italian academic and politician, 48th Prime Minister of Italy
1938 – Laurent Beaudoin, Canadian businessman
1938 – Anna Cropper, British actress (d. 2007)
1938 – Francine Pascal, American author and playwright
1938 – Buck Taylor, American actor
1939 – Hildrun Claus, German long jumper
1939 – Peter Frenkel, German race walker and coach
1939 – Harvey Keitel, American actor
1940 – Bruce Chatwin, English author (d. 1989)
1940 – Kōkichi Tsuburaya, Japanese runner (d. 1968)
1941 – Senta Berger, Austrian actress
1941 – Joe Brown, English singer and musician
1941 – Jody Conradt, American basketball player and coach
1941 – Ritchie Valens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1959)
1942 – Leighton Gage, American author (d. 2013)
1942 – Roger Young, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1943 – Anthony Clarke, Baron Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, English lawyer and judge
1943 – Kurt Trampedach, Danish painter and sculptor (d. 2013)
1943 – Mary Wells, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
1944 – Sir Crispin Agnew, 11th Baronet, Scottish explorer, lawyer, and judge
1944 – Robert L. Crawford Jr., American actor
1944 – Carolyn Franklin, American R&B singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1944 – Armistead Maupin, American author, screenwriter, and actor
1945 – Lasse Berghagen, Swedish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1945 – Magic Dick, American blues-rock harmonica, trumpet, and saxophone player
1945 – Lou Marini, American saxophonist and composer
1946 – Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor and author (d. 2017)
1946 – Jean Rondeau, French race car driver and constructor (d. 1985)
1946 – Marv Wolfman, American author
1947 – Charles Baxter, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1947 – Edgar Burcksen, Dutch-American film editor
1948 – Sheila Jeffreys, English-Australian political scientist, author, and academic
1948 – Dean Meminger, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1949 – Jane Glover, English conductor and scholar
1949 – Zoë Wanamaker, American-British actress
1949 – Philip Kruse, Norwegian trumpeter and orchestra leader
1950 – Andy Cunningham, English actor (d. 2011)
1950 – Danny Kirwan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1950 – Joe Johnston, American film director and effects artist
1950 – Manning Marable, American author and academic (d. 2011)
1950 – Bobby Valentine, American baseball player and manager
1950 – Stevie Wonder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1951 – Rosie Boycott, English journalist and author
1951 – Sharon Sayles Belton, American politician, 45th Mayor of Minneapolis
1951 – Anand Modak, Indian composer and director (d. 2014)
1951 – Herman Philipse, Dutch philosopher and academic
1951 – Selina Scott, English journalist, producer, and author
1951 – Paul Thompson, English drummer
1952 – John Kasich, American politician, 69th Governor of Ohio
1952 – Mary Walsh, Canadian actress, producer, and screenwriter
1952 – Londa Schiebinger, American academic and author
1953 – Zlatko Burić, Croat-Danish actor
1953 – Gerry Sutcliffe, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
1953 – David Voelker, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1953 – Harm Wiersma, Dutch draughts player and politician
1953 – Ruth A. David, American electrical engineer
1954 – Johnny Logan, Australian-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1956 – Richard Madeley, English journalist and author
1956 – Fred Melamed, American actor
1956 – Kailash Vijayvargiya, National General Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party
1957 – Alan Ball, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Frances Barber, English actress
1957 – Mark Heap, English actor
1957 – David Hill, English organist and conductor
1957 – Mar Roxas, Filipino economist and politician, 24th Filipino Secretary of the Interior
1957 – Koji Suzuki, Japanese author and screenwriter
1958 – Anthony Ray Parker, American actor
1961 – Siobhan Fallon Hogan, American actress
1961 – Dennis Rodman, American basketball player, wrestler, and actor
1962 – Paul Burstow, English politician
1962 – Nick Hurd, English businessman and politician, Minister for Civil Society
1963 – Andrea Leadsom, English politician
1963 – Wally Masur, Australian tennis player, coach, and sportscaster
1964 – Stephen Colbert, American comedian and talk show host
1964 – Chris Maitland, English drummer
1964 – Tom Verica, American actor, television director, and producer
1965 – José Antonio Delgado, Venezuelan mountaineer (d. 2006)
1965 – Tasmin Little, English violinist and educator
1965 – János Marozsán, Hungarian footballer
1965 – Hikari Ōta, Japanese comedian and actor
1965 – José Rijo, Dominican baseball player
1965 – Lari White, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (d. 2018)
1966 – Alison Goldfrapp, English singer-songwriter and producer
1966 – Darius Rucker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Tish Cyrus, American actress and film producer
1967 – Shon Greenblatt, American actor
1967 – Tommy Gunn, pornographic actor
1967 – Chuck Schuldiner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1967 – Melanie Thornton, American-German singer (d. 2001)
1968 – Miguel Ángel Blanco, Spanish politician (d. 1997)
1968 – Susan Floyd, American actress
1968 – Scott Morrison, Australian politician, 30th Prime Minister of Australia
1968 – PMD, American rapper
1968 – Dmitriy Shevchenko, Russian discus thrower and coach
1969 – Buckethead, American guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Nikos Aliagas, French-Greek journalist and television host
1970 – Doug Evans, American football player
1970 – Robert Maćkowiak, Polish sprinter
1971 – Imogen Boorman, English actress and martial artist
1971 – Rob Fredrickson, American football player
1971 – Espen Lind, Norwegian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1971 – Tom Nalen, American football player and sportscaster
1972 – Stefaan Maene, Belgian swimmer
1972 – Darryl Sydor, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Pieta van Dishoeck, Dutch rower
1973 – Eric Lewis, American pianist
1973 – Bridgett Riley, American boxer and stuntwoman
1975 – Jamie Allison, Canadian ice hockey player
1975 – Cristian Bezzi, Italian rugby player and coach
1975 – Brian Geraghty, American actor
1976 – Mark Delaney, Welsh footballer and manager
1976 – Trajan Langdon, American basketball player and scout
1976 – Ana Popović, Serbian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Magdalena Walach, Polish actress
1977 – Ilse DeLange, Dutch singer-songwriter
1977 – Anthony Q. Farrell, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter
1977 – Robby Hammock, American baseball player and coach
1977 – Neil Hopkins, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – James Middlebrook, English cricketer
1977 – Samantha Morton, English actress and director
1977 – Brian Thomas Smith, American actor and producer
1977 – Pusha T, American rapper
1978 – Brooke Anderson, American journalist
1978 – Mike Bibby, American basketball player and coach
1978 – Ryan Bukvich, American baseball player
1978 – Germán Magariños, Argentinian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Dilshan Vitharana, Sri Lankan cricketer
1978 – Barry Zito, American baseball player
1978 – Nuwan Zoysa, Sri Lankan cricketer
1979 – Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland
1979 – Steve Mildenhall, English footballer
1979 – Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Ukrainian footballer
1980 – L. J. Smith, American football player
1981 – Luciana Berger, English politician
1981 – Nicolas Jeanjean, French rugby player
1981 – Sunny Leone, Canadian American actress, model, and pornstar
1981 – Michael Mantenuto, American actor (d. 2017)
1981 – Shaun Phillips, American football player
1981 – Ryan Piers Williams, American actor and film director
1982 – Albert Crusat, Spanish footballer
1982 – Larry Fonacier, Filipino basketball player
1982 – Oguchi Onyewu, American soccer player
1983 – Natalie Cassidy, English actress and singer
1983 – Anita Görbicz, Hungarian handball player
1983 – Johnny Hoogerland, Dutch cyclist
1983 – Grégory Lemarchal, French singer (d. 2007)
1983 – Jacob Reynolds, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1983 – Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer
1984 – J. B. Cox, American baseball player
1984 – Benny Dayal, Indian singer
1984 – Dawn Harper, American hurdler
1984 – Caroline Rotich, Kenyan runner
1985 – Javier Balboa, Spanish-Equatoguinean footballer
1985 – Jaroslav Halák, Slovak ice hockey player
1985 – David Hernandez, American baseball player
1985 – Carolina Luján, Argentine chess player
1985 – Iwan Rheon, Welsh actor and singer
1985 – Travis Zajac, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Lena Dunham, American actress, director, and screenwriter
1986 – Eun-Hee Ji, South Korean golfer
1986 – Robert Pattinson, English actor
1986 – Alexander Rybak, Belarusian-Norwegian singer-songwriter, violinist, and actor
1986 – Scott Sutter, English footballer
1986 – Nino Schurter, Swiss cyclist
1986 – Kris Versteeg, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Antonio Adán, Spanish footballer
1987 – Hugo Becker, French actor
1987 – Matt Doyle, American actor and singer
1987 – Laura Izibor, Irish singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1987 – Candice King, American singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Sandro Mareco, Argentine chess player
1987 – Hunter Parrish, American actor and singer
1987 – Marianne Vos, Dutch cyclist
1987 – Charlotte Wessels, Dutch singer-songwriter
1987 – Bobby Shuttleworth, American soccer player
1988 – Paulo Avelino, Filipino actor and singer
1988 – Didier Cohen, Australian DJ, producer and media personality
1988 – Casey Donovan, Australian singer-songwriter
1989 – P. K. Subban, Canadian ice hockey player
1990 – Mychal Givens, American baseball player
1991 – Jennifer Beattie, Scottish footballer
1991 – Anders Fannemel, Norwegian ski jumper
1992 – Bill Arnold, American ice hockey player
1992 – Willson Contreras, Venezuelan baseball player
1992 – Josh Papalii, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
1992 – Georgina García Pérez, Spanish tennis player
1993 – Stefan Kraft, Austrian ski jumper
1993 – Debby Ryan, American actress and singer
1993 – Romelu Lukaku, Belgian footballer
1993 – Siim-Tanel Sammelselg, Estonian ski jumper
1993 – Tones and I, Australian singer-songwriter
1994 – Łukasz Moneta, Polish footballer
1997 – Reimis Smith, Australian rugby league player

Deaths on May 13

189 – Emperor Ling of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 156)
1112 – Ulric II, Margrave of Carniola
1176 – Matthias I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)
1285 – Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros
1312 – Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1263)
1573 – Takeda Shingen, Japanese daimyō (b. 1521)
1619 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch politician (b. 1547)
1704 – Louis Bourdaloue, French preacher and author (b. 1632)
1726 – Francesco Antonio Pistocchi, Italian singer (b. 1659)
1782 – Daniel Solander, Swedish-English botanist and phycologist (b. 1736)
1807 – Eliphalet Dyer, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1721)
1809 – Beilby Porteus, English bishop (b. 1731)
1832 – Georges Cuvier, French zoologist and academic (b. 1769)
1835 – John Nash, English architect, designed the Royal Pavilion (b. 1752)
1866 – Nikolai Brashman, Czech-Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1796)
1878 – Joseph Henry, American physicist and academic (b. 1797)
1884 – Cyrus McCormick, American businessman, co-founded the International Harvester Company (b. 1809)
1885 – Friedrich Gustav Jakob Henle, German physician, pathologist, and anatomist (b. 1809)
1903 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (b. 1864)
1916 – Sholem Aleichem, Ukrainian-American author and playwright (b. 1859)
1921 – Jean Aicard, French author, poet, and playwright (b. 1848)
1926 – Libert H. Boeynaems, Belgian-American bishop (b. 1857)
1929 – Arthur Scherbius, German electrical engineer, invented the Enigma machine (b. 1878)
1930 – Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian scientist, explorer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1938 – Charles Édouard Guillaume, Swiss-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1861)
1941 – Frederick Christian, English cricketer (b. 1877)
1941 – Ōnishiki Uichirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 26th Yokozuna (b. 1891)
1945 – Tubby Hall, American drummer (b. 1895)
1946 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (b. 1869)
1947 – Sukanta Bhattacharya, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1926)
1948 – Kathleen Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington (b. 1920)
1957 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-Israeli mathematician and academic (b. 1886)
1961 – Gary Cooper, American actor (b. 1901)
1962 – Henry Trendley Dean, American dentist (b. 1893)
1962 – Franz Kline, American painter and academic (b. 1910)
1963 – Alois Hudal, Austrian-Italian bishop (b. 1885)
1972 – Dan Blocker, American actor (b. 1928)
1974 – Jaime Torres Bodet, Mexican poet and diplomat (b. 1902)
1974 – Arthur J. Burks, American colonel and author (b. 1898)
1975 – Bob Wills, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1905)
1977 – Mickey Spillane, American mobster (b. 1934)
1985 – Leatrice Joy, American actress (b. 1893)
1985 – Richard Ellmann, American literary critic and biographer (b. 1918)
1988 – Chet Baker, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1929)
1992 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor (b. 1909)
1994 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver (b. 1920)
1994 – John Swainson, Canadian-American jurist and politician, 42nd Governor of Michigan (b. 1925)
1995 – Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (b. 1921)
1999 – Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Saudi Arabian scholar and academic (b. 1910)
1999 – Gene Sarazen, American golfer and journalist (b. 1902)
2000 – Paul Bartel, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
2000 – Jumbo Tsuruta, Japanese wrestler (b. 1951)
2001 – Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (b. 1939)
2002 – Ruth Cracknell, Australian actress and author (b. 1925)
2002 – Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
2005 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (b. 1921)
2005 – George Dantzig, American mathematician and academic (b. 1914)
2006 – Jaroslav Pelikan, American historian and scholar (b. 1923)
2006 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (b. 1949)
2008 – Saad Al-Salim Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler, Emir of Kuwait (b. 1930)
2008 – Ron Stone, American journalist and author (b. 1936)
2009 – Frank Aletter, American actor (b. 1926)
2009 – Meir Brandsdorfer, Belgian rabbi (b. 1934)
2009 – Achille Compagnoni, Italian skier and mountaineer (b. 1914)
2011 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1982)
2011 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (b. 1933)
2011 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, co-founded McCain Foods (b. 1930)
2011 – Bruce Ricker, American director and producer (b. 1942)
2012 – Arsala Rahmani Daulat, Afghan politician (b. 1937)
2012 – Donald “Duck” Dunn, American bass player, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
2012 – Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, Cuban-American theologian, author, and academic (b. 1943)
2012 – Lee Richardson, English speedway rider (b. 1979)
2012 – Don Ritchie, Australian humanitarian (b. 1925)
2012 – Nguyễn Văn Thiện, Vietnamese bishop (b. 1906)
2013 – Joyce Brothers, American psychologist, author, and actress (b. 1927)
2013 – Otto Herrigel, Namibian lawyer and politician (b. 1937)
2013 – Jagdish Mali, Indian photographer (b. 1954)
2013 – Chuck Muncie, American football player (b. 1953)
2013 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (b. 1973)
2013 – Lynne Woolstencroft, Canadian politician (b. 1943)
2014 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (b. 1926)
2014 – Malik Bendjelloul, Swedish director and producer (b. 1977)
2014 – J. F. Coleman, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
2014 – Ron Stevens, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
2014 – Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, American occultist and author (b. 1948)
2015 – Earl Averill, Jr., American baseball player (b. 1931)
2015 – Robert Drasnin, American clarinet player and composer (b. 1927)
2015 – Nina Otkalenko, Russian runner (b. 1928)
2015 – David Sackett, American-Canadian physician and academic (b. 1934)
2015 – Gainan Saidkhuzhin, Russian cyclist (b. 1937)
2018 – Margot Kidder, Canadian-American actress (b. 1948)
2019 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (b. 1922)
2019 – Unita Blackwell, American civil rights activist, and politician (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances on May 13

Abbotsbury Garland Day (Dorset, England)
Christian feast day:
- Our Lady of Fátima
- Gerard of Villamagna
- Glyceria
- John the Silent (Roman Catholic)
- Julian of Norwich (Roman Catholic)
- Frances Perkins (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Servatius
- May 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Rotuma Day (Rotuma)

May 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.
313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire.
642 – Chindasuinth is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and bishops.
1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois.
1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.
1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.
1598 – Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
1636 – Eighty Years’ War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
1671 – Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.
1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.
1871 – The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York’s first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.
1897 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
1904 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
1905 – Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
1925 – Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.
1927 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women’s federal prison in the United States.
1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
1937 – The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
1938 – The animated cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit, an early version of Bugs Bunny.
1939 – The 1939–40 New York World’s Fair opens.
1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s N.Y. World’s Fair opening day ceremonial address.
1943 – World War II: The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
1945 – World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9000 American and British airmen.
1947 – In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.
1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force.
1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
1966 – The Church of Satan is formed in The Black House, San Francisco.
1973 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that White House Counsel John Dean has been fired and that other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, have resigned.
1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
1980 – Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
1980 – The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
1982 – The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.
1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
2000 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.
2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2009 – Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen’s Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.
2012 – An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 103 people.
2013 – Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others.

Births on April 30

1245 – Philip III of France (d. 1285)
1310 – King Casimir III of Poland (d. 1368)
1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)
1383 – Anne of Gloucester, English countess, granddaughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1438)
1425 – William III, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1482)
1504 – Francesco Primaticcio, Italian painter (d. 1570)
1553 – Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)
1623 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop and saint (d. 1708)
1651 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint (d. 1719)
1662 – Mary II of England (d. 1694)
1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (d. 1709)
1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (d. 1806)
1758 – Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese commander and politician (d. 1802)
1770 – David Thompson, English-Canadian cartographer and explorer (d. 1857)
1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1855)
1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (d. 1879)
1829 – Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist and academic (d. 1884)
1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist (d. 1940)
1857 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1920)
1865 – Max Nettlau, German historian and academic (d. 1944)
1866 – Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel, American pioneer dentist (d. 1936)
1869 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, designed the IG Farben Building and Großes Schauspielhaus (d. 1936)
1870 – Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (d. 1948)
1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish priest and author (d. 1949)
1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (d. 1937)
1877 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (d. 1917)
1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American memoirist (d. 1967)
1878 – Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (d. 1948)
1880 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish cartoonist (d. 1967)
1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech soldier and author (d. 1923)
1883 – Luigi Russolo, Italian painter and composer (d. 1947)
1884 – Olof Sandborg, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
1888 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet, critic, and academic (d. 1974)
1893 – Harold Breen, Australian public servant (d. 1966)
1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German soldier and politician, 14th German Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1946)
1895 – Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic, and diplomat (d. 1960)
1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist (d. 1972)
1896 – Hans List, Austrian scientist and businessman, founded the AVL Engineering Company (d. 1996)
1897 – Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)
1900 – Erni Krusten, Estonian author and poet (d. 1984)
1901 – Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic professor of law and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)
1908 – Frank Robert Miller, Canadian air marshal and politician (d. 1997)
1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor and educator (d. 1992)
1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
1910 – Levi Celerio, Filipino pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 2002)
1914 – Charles Beetham, American middle-distance runner (d. 1997)
1914 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor, and painter (d. 2008)
1916 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2003)
1916 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician and engineer (d. 2001)
1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
1917 – Bea Wain, American singer (d. 2017)
1920 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver and pilot (d. 1994)
1920 – Tom Moore, British army officer and fundraiser
1921 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (d. 2014)
1922 – Anton Murray, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1923 – Percy Heath, American bassist (d. 2005)
1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (d. 2004)
1924 – Uno Laht, Estonian KGB officer and author (d. 2008)
1925 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)
1925 – Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1960)
1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer (d. 2011)
1926 – Cloris Leachman, American actress and comedian
1928 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author and academic (d. 2000)
1928 – Orlando Sirola, Italian tennis player (d. 1995)
1930 – Félix Guattari, French psychotherapist and philosopher (d. 1992)
1933 – Charles Sanderson, Baron Sanderson of Bowden, English politician
1934 – Jerry Lordan, English singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1934 – Don McKenney, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1937 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
1938 – Gary Collins, American actor and talk show host (d. 2012)
1938 – Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak director and screenwriter
1938 – Larry Niven, American author and screenwriter
1940 – Jeroen Brouwers, Dutch journalist and writer
1940 – Michael Cleary, Australian rugby player and politician
1941 – Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
1941 – Max Merritt, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
1942 – Sallehuddin of Kedah, Sultan of Kedah
1943 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)
1943 – Bobby Vee, American pop singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1944 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (d. 2014)
1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)
1945 – J. Michael Brady, British radiologist
1945 – Annie Dillard, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2001)
1945 – Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
1946 – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer
1947 – Paul Fiddes, English theologian and academic
1947 – Finn Kalvik, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer and manager
1947 – Mats Odell, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Financial Markets
1948 – Wayne Kramer, American guitarist and singer-songwriter
1948 – Pierre Pagé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Margit Papp, Hungarian athlete
1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball player and manager
1949 – António Guterres, Portuguese academic and politician, 114th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations
1949 – Karl Meiler, German tennis player (d. 2014)
1952 – Jacques Audiard, French director and screenwriter
1952 – Jack Middelburg, Dutch motorcycle racer (d. 1984)
1953 – Merrill Osmond, American singer and bass player
1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Kim Darroch, English diplomat, UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
1954 – Frank-Michael Marczewski, German footballer
1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and environmentalist
1955 – David Kitchin, English lawyer and judge
1955 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter
1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director and screenwriter
1957 – Wonder Mike, American rapper and songwriter
1958 – Charles Berling, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
1960 – Geoffrey Cox, English lawyer and politician
1960 – Kerry Healey, American academic and politician, 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
1961 – Arnór Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Andrew Carwood, English tenor and conductor
1963 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
1964 – Tony Fernandes, Malaysian-Indian businessman, co-founded Tune Group
1964 – Ian Healy, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1964 – Lorenzo Staelens, Belgian footballer and manager
1964 – Abhishek Chatterjee, Indian actor
1965 – Daniela Costian, Romanian-Australian discus thrower
1965 – Adrian Pasdar, American actor
1966 – Jeff Brown, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1966 – Dave Meggett, American football player and coach
1967 – Phil Chang, Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor
1969 – Warren Defever, American bass player and producer
1969 – Justine Greening, English accountant and politician, Secretary of State for International Development
1969 – Paulo Jr., Brazilian bass player
1972 – Takako Tokiwa, Japanese actress
1973 – Leigh Francis, English comedian and actor
1974 – Christian Tamminga, Dutch athlete
1975 – Johnny Galecki, American actor
1976 – Davian Clarke, Jamaican sprinter
1976 – Amanda Palmer, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1976 – Daniel Wagon, Australian rugby league player
1977 – Jeannie Haddaway, American politician
1977 – Meredith L. Patterson, American technologist, journalist, and author
1978 – Liljay, Taiwanese singer
1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer
1980 – Luis Scola, Argentinian basketball player
1980 – Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer
1981 – Nicole Kaczmarski, American basketball player
1981 – John O’Shea, Irish footballer
1981 – Kunal Nayyar, British-Indian actor
1981 – Justin Vernon, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer
1982 – Kirsten Dunst, American actress
1982 – Drew Seeley, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
1983 – Chris Carr, American football player
1983 – Tatjana Hüfner, German luger
1983 – Marina Tomić, Slovenian hurdler
1983 – Troy Williamson, American football player
1984 – Seimone Augustus, American basketball player
1984 – Shawn Daivari, American wrestler and manager
1984 – Risto Mätas, Estonian javelin thrower
1984 – Lee Roache, English footballer
1985 – Brandon Bass, American basketball player
1985 – Gal Gadot, Israeli actress and model
1985 – Ashley Alexandra Dupré, American journalist, singer, and prostitute
1986 – Dianna Agron, American actress and singer
1986 – Martten Kaldvee, Estonian biathlete
1987 – Alipate Carlile, Australian footballer
1987 – Chris Morris, South African cricketer
1987 – Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer
1988 – Andy Allen, Australian chef
1988 – Sander Baart, Dutch field hockey player
1988 – Liu Xijun, Chinese singer
1988 – Oh Hye-ri, South Korean taekwondo athlete
1989 – Jang Wooyoung, South Korean singer and actor
1990 – Jonny Brownlee, English triathlete
1990 – Mac DeMarco, Canadian singer-songwriter
1990 – Kaarel Kiidron, Estonian footballer
1991 – Chris Kreider, American ice hockey player
1992 – Travis Scott, American rapper and producer
1992 – Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer
1993 – Dion Dreesens, Dutch swimmer
1993 – Martin Fuksa, Czech canoeist
1994 – Chae Seo-jin, South Korean actress
1994 – Wang Yafan, Chinese tennis player
1996 – Luke Friend, English singer
1997 – Adam Ryczkowski, Polish footballer
1999 – Jorden van Foreest, Dutch chess grandmaster
2000 – Yui Hiwatashi, Japanese singer
2003 – Jung Yun-Seok, South Korean actor

Deaths on April 30

AD 65 – Lucan, Roman poet (b. 39)
125 – An, Chinese emperor (b. 94)
535 – Amalasuntha, Ostrogothic queen and regent
783 – Hildegard of the Vinzgau, Frankish queen
1002 – Eckard I, German nobleman
1030 – Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghaznavid emir (b. 971)
1063 – Ren Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1010)
1131 – Adjutor, French knight and saint
1305 – Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer (b. 1267)
1341 – John III, duke of Brittany (b. 1286)
1439 – Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English commander (b. 1382)
1524 – Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard, French soldier (b. 1473)
1544 – Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, English lawyer and judge, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1488)
1550 – Tabinshwehti, Burmese king (b. 1516)
1632 – Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, Bavarian general (b. 1559)
1632 – Sigismund III Vasa, Swedish-Polish son of John III of Sweden (b. 1566)
1637 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyō (b. 1571)
1655 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
1660 – Petrus Scriverius, Dutch historian and scholar (b. 1576)
1672 – Marie of the Incarnation, French-Canadian nun and saint, founded the Ursulines of Quebec (b. 1599)
1696 – Robert Plot, English chemist and academic (b. 1640)
1712 – Philipp van Limborch, Dutch theologian and author (b. 1633)
1736 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German scholar and author (b. 1668)
1758 – François d’Agincourt, French organist and composer (b. 1684)
1792 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1718)
1795 – Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French archaeologist and author (b. 1716)
1806 – Onogawa Kisaburō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 5th Yokozuna (b. 1758)
1841 – Peter Andreas Heiberg, Danish philologist and author (b. 1758)
1847 – Charles, Austrian commander and duke of Teschen (b. 1771)
1863 – Jean Danjou, French captain (b. 1828)
1865 – Robert FitzRoy, English admiral, meteorologist, and politician, 2nd Governor of New Zealand (b. 1805)
1870 – Thomas Cooke, Canadian bishop and missionary (b. 1792)
1875 – Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French explorer, lithographer, and cartographer (b. 1766)
1879 – Emma Smith, American religious leader (b. 1804)
1883 – Édouard Manet, French painter (b. 1832)
1891 – Joseph Leidy, American paleontologist and author (b. 1823)
1900 – Casey Jones, American engineer (b. 1863)
1903 – Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and activist (b. 1831)
1910 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (b. 1856)
1936 – A. E. Housman, English poet and scholar (b. 1859)
1939 – Frank Haller, American boxer (b. 1883)
1943 – Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist and academic (b. 1860)
1943 – Beatrice Webb, English sociologist and economist (b. 1858)
1953 – Jacob Linzbach, Estonian linguist and author (b. 1874)
1956 – Alben W. Barkley, American lawyer and politician, 35th Vice President of the United States (b. 1877)
1970 – Jacques Presser, Dutch historian, writer and poet (b. 1899)
1970 – Inger Stevens, Swedish-American actress (b. 1934)
1972 – Gia Scala, English-American model and actress (b. 1934)
1973 – Václav Renč, Czech poet and playwright (b. 1911)
1974 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (b. 1900)
1980 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican journalist and politician, 1st Governor of Puerto Rico (b. 1898)
1982 – Lester Bangs, American journalist and author (b. 1949)
1983 – George Balanchine, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1904)
1983 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader (b. 1913)
1983 – Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (b. 1897)
1986 – Robert Stevenson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
1989 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
1993 – Tommy Caton, English footballer (b. 1962)
1994 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (b. 1960)
1994 – Richard Scarry, American author and illustrator (b. 1919)
1995 – Maung Maung Kha, Burmese colonel and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1920)
1998 – Nizar Qabbani, Syrian-English poet, publisher, and diplomat (b. 1926)
2000 – Poul Hartling, Danish politician, 36th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1914)
2002 – Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, German philanthropist, founded the Gründerzeit Museum (b. 1928)
2003 – Mark Berger, American economist and academic (b. 1955)
2003 – Possum Bourne, New Zealand race car driver (b. 1956)
2005 – Phil Rasmussen, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1918)
2006 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (b. 1924)
2006 – Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesian author and academic (b. 1925)
2007 – Kevin Mitchell, American football player (b. 1971)
2007 – Tom Poston, American actor, comedian, and game show panelist (b. 1921)
2007 – Gordon Scott, American film and television actor (b. 1926)
2008 – John Cargher, English-Australian journalist and author (b. 1919)
2008 – Juancho Evertsz, Dutch Antillean politician (b. 1923)
2009 – Henk Nijdam, Dutch cyclist (b. 1935)
2011 – Dorjee Khandu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (b. 1955)
2011 – Evald Okas, Estonian painter (b. 1915)
2011 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist, author, and painter (b. 1911)
2012 – Tomás Borge, Nicaraguan poet and politician, co-founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (b. 1930)
2012 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (b. 1985)
2012 – Giannis Gravanis, Greek footballer (b. 1958)
2012 – Benzion Netanyahu, Russian-Israeli historian and academic (b. 1910)
2012 – Sicelo Shiceka, South African politician (b. 1966)
2013 – Roberto Chabet, Filipino painter and sculptor (b. 1937)
2013 – Shirley Firth, Canadian skier (b. 1953)
2013 – Viviane Forrester, French author and critic (b. 1925)
2013 – Mike Gray, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1935)
2014 – Khaled Choudhury, Indian painter and set designer (b. 1919)
2014 – Julian Lewis, English biologist and academic (b. 1946)
2014 – Carl E. Moses, American businessman and politician (b. 1929)
2014 – Ian Ross, Australian journalist (b. 1940)
2015 – Lennart Bodström, Swedish politician (b. 1928)
2015 – Ben E. King, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1938)
2015 – Steven Goldmann, Canadian director and producer (b. 1961)
2016 – Daniel Berrigan, American priest and activist (b. 1921)
2016 – Harry Kroto, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1939)
2019 – Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (b. 1944)
2020 – Tony Allen, Nigerian drummer and composer (b. 1940)

Holidays and observances on April 30

Armed Forces Day (Georgia)
Birthday of the King Carl XVI Gustaf, one of the official flag days of Sweden.
Camarón Day (French Foreign Legion)
Children’s Day (Mexico)
Christian feast day:
- Adjutor
- Aimo
- Amator, Peter and Louis
- Donatus of Evorea
- Eutropius of Saintes
- Marie Guyart (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Marie of the Incarnation (Ursuline)
- Maximus of Rome
- Blessed Miles Gerard
- Pomponius of Naples
- Pope Pius V
- Quirinus of Neuss
- Sarah Josepha Hale (Episcopal Church)
- Suitbert the Younger
- April 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Consumer Protection Day (Thailand)
Earliest day on which Ascension Day can fall, while June 3 is the latest; celebrated 40 days after Easter (Christianity), and its related observances:
- Festa della Sensa (Venice)
- Global Day of Prayer (Western Christianity)
- Sheep Festival (Cameroon)
Honesty Day (United States)
International Jazz Day (UNESCO)
Martyrs’ Day (Pakistan)
May Eve, the eve of the first day of summer in the Northern hemisphere (see May 1):
- Beltane begins at sunset in the Northern hemisphere, Samhain begins at sunset in the Southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
- Carodejnice (Czech Republic and Slovakia)
- Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe)
National Persian Gulf Day (Iran)
Reunification Day (Vietnam)
Russian State Fire Service Day (Russia)
Teachers’ Day (Paraguay)

April 30 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day, Uncategorized / admin

33 BC – Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, celebrates a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania.
395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
629 – Shahrbaraz is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol’s Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.
1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
1522 – Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeat a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca.
1539 – Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
1578 – Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favourites of Henry III of France and two favorites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world.
1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers’ Register.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ Hymn).
1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York.
1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
1865 – The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state’s land grant institution.
1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time.
1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.
1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
1941 – World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as “National Democrats”) and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation.
1945 – World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.
1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
1953 – Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
1960 – Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.
1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
1974 – Ten thousand march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
1978 – Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster.
1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft had its maiden test flight.
2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. 205 tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.
2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.

Births on April 27

85 BC – Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC)
1468 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503)
1564 – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632)
1556 – François Béroalde de Verville, French writer (d. 1626)
1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (d. 1631)
1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670-1699) (d. 1714)
1654 – Charles Blount, English deist and philosopher (d. 1693)
1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790)
1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek-French philosopher and scholar (d. 1833)
1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1836)
1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (d. 1797)
1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist, and writer (d. 1863)
1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
1812 – William W. Snow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1886)
1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
1820 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1903)
1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
1840 – Edward Whymper, English-French mountaineer, explorer, author, and illustrator (d. 1911)
1848 – Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
1850 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (d. 1921)
1853 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (d. 1914)
1857 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1914)
1861 – William Arms Fisher, American composer and music historian (d. 1948)
1866 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
1875 – Frederick Fane, Irish-born, English cricketer (d. 1960)
1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958)
1882 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
1887 – Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
1888 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
1893 – Draža Mihailović, Serbian general (d. 1946)
1893 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1939)
1894 – George Petty, American painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1896 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1963)
1896 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (d. 1978)
1896 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor of nylon (d. 1937)
1898 – Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
1899 – Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
1900 – August Koern, Estonian politician and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs in exile (d. 1989)
1902 – Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (d. 1972)
1904 – Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
1905 – John Kuck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
1906 – Yiorgos Theotokas, Greek author and playwright (d. 1966)
1910 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)
1911 – Bruno Beger, German anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 2009)
1911 – Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter and footballer (d. 1965)
1912 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (d. 2001)
1912 – Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
1913 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (d. 2004)
1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician, author, and academic (d. 2012)
1913 – Luz Long, German long jumper and soldier (d. 1943)
1916 – Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
1916 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player and manager (d. 2002)
1917 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (d. 2001)
1918 – Sten Rudholm, Swedish lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
1920 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
1920 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (d. 1997)
1920 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2010)
1920 – Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet and translator (d. 2010)
1921 – Robert Dhéry, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
1922 – Sheila Scott, English nurse and pilot (d. 1988)
1923 – Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief (d. 2011)
1924 – Vernon B. Romney, American lawyer and politician, 14th Attorney General of Utah (d. 2013)
1925 – Derek Chinnery, English broadcaster (d. 2015)
1926 – Tim LaHaye, American minister, activist, and author (d. 2016)
1926 – Basil A. Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 59th Secretary of State of New York (d. 2014)
1926 – Alan Reynolds, English painter and educator (d. 2014)
1927 – Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (d. 2006)
1927 – Joe Moakley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2001)
1929 – Nina Ponomaryova, Russian discus thrower and coach (d. 2016)
1931 – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist and educator
1932 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
1932 – Pik Botha, South African lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 8th South African Ambassador to the United States (d. 2018)
1932 – Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, music historian, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40 (d. 2014)
1932 – Chuck Knox, American football coach (d. 2018)
1932 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
1932 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
1933 – Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert, English police officer and politician, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London (d. 2017)
1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1935 – Ron Morris, American pole vaulter and coach
1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, English singer and illustrator (d. 2016)
1937 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
1937 – Robin Eames, Irish Anglican archbishop
1937 – Richard Perham, English biologist and academic (d. 2015)
1938 – Earl Anthony, American bowler and sportscaster (d. 2001)
1938 – Alain Caron, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
1939 – Judy Carne, English actress and comedian (d. 2015)
1939 – Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
1941 – Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian
1941 – Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Indian archaeologist
1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer
1943 – Helmut Marko, Austrian race car driver and manager
1944 – Michael Fish, English meteorologist and journalist
1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer (d. 2017)
1944 – Herb Pedersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Martin Chivers, English footballer and manager
1945 – Jack Deverell, English general
1945 – Helen Hodgman, Scottish-Australian author
1945 – Terry Willesee, Australian journalist and television host
1945 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (d. 2005)
1946 – Franz Roth, German footballer
1947 – G. K. Butterfield, African-American soldier, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Nick Greiner, Hungarian-Australian politician, 37th Premier of New South Wales
1947 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1947 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
1947 – Ann Peebles, American soul singer-songwriter
1948 – Frank Abagnale Jr., American security consultant and criminal
1948 – Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer, coach, and manager
1948 – Kate Pierson, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1949 – Grant Chapman, Australian businessman and politician
1950 – Jaime Fresnedi, Filipino politician
1950 – Paul Lockyer, Australian journalist (d. 2011)
1951 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter
1952 – Larry Elder, American lawyer and talk show host
1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish race car driver and politician
1953 – Arielle Dombasle, French-American actress and model
1954 – Frank Bainimarama, Fijian commander and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Fiji
1954 – Herman Edwards, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
1954 – Mark Holden, Australian singer, actor, and lawyer
1955 – Gudrun Berend, German hurdler (d. 2011)
1955 – Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman
1956 – Bryan Harvey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
1956 – Jeff Probyn, English rugby player, coach, and manager
1957 – Willie Upshaw, American baseball player and manager
1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
1959 – Marco Pirroni, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1960 – Mike Krushelnyski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – Andrew Schlafly, American lawyer and activist, founded Conservapedia
1962 – Ángel Comizzo, Argentinian footballer and manager
1962 – Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower and coach
1962 – Im Sang-soo, South Korean director and screenwriter
1962 – Andrew Selous, English soldier and politician
1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
1965 – Anna Chancellor, English actress
1966 – Peter McIntyre, Australian cricketer
1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese illustrator
1967 – Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands
1967 – Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer, and educator
1967 – Erik Thomson, Scottish-New Zealand actor
1967 – Jason Whitlock, American football player and journalist
1968 – Dana Milbank, American journalist and author
1969 – Cory Booker, African-American lawyer and politician
1969 – Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
1971 – Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
1972 – Nigel Barker, English photographer and author
1972 – Almedin Civa, Bosnian footballer and coach
1973 – Duško Adamović, Serbian footballer
1973 – Sharlee D’Angelo, Swedish bass player and songwriter
1973 – Sébastien Lareau, Canadian tennis player
1974 – Frank Catalanotto, American baseball player
1974 – Richard Johnson, Australian footballer
1975 – Rabih Abdullah, American football player
1975 – Chris Carpenter, American baseball player and manager
1975 – Pedro Feliz, Dominican baseball player
1975 – Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japanese ski jumper
1976 – Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist
1976 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
1976 – Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter, and critic
1979 – Will Boyd, American bass player
1979 – Natasha Chokljat, Australian netball player
1979 – Vladimir Kozlov, Ukrainian wrestler
1980 – Sybille Bammer, Austrian tennis player
1980 – Talitha Cummins, Australian journalist
1980 – Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
1981 – Joey Gathright, American baseball player
1981 – Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
1982 – François Parisien, Canadian cyclist
1982 – Alexander Widiker, German rugby player
1983 – Ari Graynor, American actress and producer
1983 – Martin Viiask, Estonian basketball player
1984 – Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Daniel Holdsworth, Australian rugby league player
1984 – Patrick Stump, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1985 – José António de Miranda da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian runner
1986 – Jenna Coleman, English actress
1986 – Hayley Mulheron, Scottish netball player
1986 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
1987 – Taylor Chorney, American ice hockey player
1987 – Elliott Shriane, Australian speed skater
1987 – William Moseley, English actor
1987 – Wang Feifei, Chinese singer and actress
1988 – Joeri Dequevy, Belgian footballer
1988 – Kris Thackray, English footballer
1988 – Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
1988 – Lizzo, American singer and rapper
1989 – Lars Bender, German footballer
1989 – Sven Bender, German footballer
1989 – Tim Glasby, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Dmytro Kozban, Ukrainian footballer
1990 – Trude Raad, Norwegian deaf track and field athlete
1991 – Isaac Cuenca, Spanish footballer
1991 – Eric Fukusaki, Peruvian singer
1991 – Lara Gut, Swiss skier
1992 – Keenan Allen, American football player
1994 – Corey Seager, American baseball player
1995 – Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis player
1997 – Josh Onomah, English footballer

Deaths on April 27

630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
1160 – Rudolf I, Count of Bregenz (b. 1081)
1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
1321 – Nicolò Albertini, Italian cardinal statesman (b. c. 1250)
1353 – Simeon of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir
1403 – Maria of Bosnia, Countess of Helfenstein (b. 1335)
1404 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
1463 – Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer (b. 1480)
1599 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
1605 – Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
1607 – Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, Governor of Lecale (b. 1560)
1613 – Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
1656 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1596)
1694 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
1695 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1640)
1702 – Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
1782 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (b. 1710)
1813 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
1873 – William Macready, English actor and manager (b. 1793)
1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (b. 1803)
1893 – John Ballance, Irish-born New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1839)
1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian businessman and politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
1915 – John Labatt, Canadian businessman (b. 1838)
1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1872)
1932 – Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
1936 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1857)
1937 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (b. 1891)
1938 – Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1859)
1952 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and statistician (b. 1865)
1961 – Roy Del Ruth, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
1962 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani lawyer and politician, Pakistani Minister of the Interior (b. 1873)
1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
1967 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand farmer, founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (b. 1884)
1969 – René Barrientos, Bolivian soldier, pilot, and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish rebel and actor (b. 1896)
1972 – Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
1973 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian race car driver and polo player (b. 1914)
1977 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
1988 – Fred Bear, American hunter and author (b. 1902)
1989 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (b. 1894)
1992 – Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
1992 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1927)
1995 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (b. 1911)
1995 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (b. 1921)
1996 – William Colby, American diplomat, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1920)
1996 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1998 – John Bassett, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1915)
1998 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
1998 – Anne Desclos, French journalist and author (b. 1907)
1998 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (b. 1924)
1999 – Al Hirt, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1922)
1999 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian, author, and academic (b. 1923)
1999 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b. 1914)
2002 – George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
2002 – Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
2005 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1909)
2006 – Julia Thorne, American author (b. 1944)
2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
2009 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1914)
2009 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (b. 1983)
2009 – Feroz Khan (actor), Indian Actor, Film Director & Producer (b. 1939)
2011 – Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
2012 – Daniel E. Boatwright, American soldier and politician (b. 1930)
2012 – Bill Skowron, American baseball player (b. 1930)
2013 – Aída Bortnik, Argentinian screenwriter (b. 1938)
2013 – Lorraine Copeland, Scottish archaeologist (b. 1921)
2013 – Antonio Díaz Jurado, Spanish footballer (b. 1969)
2013 – Jérôme Louis Heldring, Dutch journalist and author (b. 1917)
2013 – Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
2013 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician, Kenyan Minister of Justice (b. 1948)
2014 – Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer (b. 1929)
2014 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
2014 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
2014 – Harry Firth, Australian race car driver and manager (b. 1918)
2015 – Gene Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1931)
2015 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (b. 1926)
2015 – Alexander Rich, American biologist, biophysicist, and academic (b. 1924)
2017 – Vinod Khanna, Indian actor, producer and politician (b. 1946)
2017 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on April 27

Christian feast days:
- Anthimus of Nicomedia
- Assicus
- Floribert of Liège
- John of Constantinople
- Liberalis of Treviso
- Pollio
- Rafael Arnáiz Barón
- Virgin of Montserrat
- Zita
- April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
Flag Day (Moldova)
Freedom Day (South Africa)
- UnFreedom Day (South Africa, unofficial)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960.
King’s Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday)
National Veterans’ Day (Finla

April 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day, Uncategorized

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

On This Day / admin

215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, in Chicago.
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2005 – The first ever YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
2019 – The 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.

Births on April 23

1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
1748 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965)
1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director
1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
1949 – David Cross, English violinist
1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
1971 – Uli Herzner, German-American fashion designer
1972 – Pierre Labrie, Canadian poet and playwright
1972 – Peter Dench, English photographer and journalist
1972 – Amira Medunjanin, singer from Bosnia and Herzegovina
1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 – Carlos Dengler, American bass player
1974 – Michael Kerr, New Zealand-German rugby player
1975 – Bobby Shaw, American football player
1976 – Aaron Dessner, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1977 – John Cena, American professional wrestler and actor
1977 – David Kidwell, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
1977 – Willie Mitchell, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – John Oliver, English comedian, actor, producer, and screenwriter
1977 – Kal Penn, Indian-American actor
1977 – Bram Schmitz, Dutch cyclist
1977 – Lee Young-pyo, South Korean international footballer
1978 – Gezahegne Abera, Ethiopian runner
1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
1979 – Jaime King, American actress and model
1979 – Joanna Krupa, Polish-American model and television personality
1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
1982 – Tony Sunshine, American singer-songwriter
1983 – Leon Andreasen, Danish international footballer
1983 – Daniela Hantuchová, Slovak tennis player
1983 – Ian Henderson, English rugby league player
1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
1984 – Jesse Lee Soffer, American actor
1985 – Angel Locsin, Filipino actress, producer, and fashion designer
1986 – Sven Kramer, Dutch speed skater
1986 – Alysia Montaño, American runner
1986 – Rafael Fernandes, Brazilian baseball player
1987 – Michael Arroyo, Ecuadorian footballer
1987 – John Boye, Ghanaian footballer
1987 – Emily Fox, American basketball player
1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
1988 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
1988 – Signe Ronka, Canadian figure skater
1988 – Lenka Wienerová, Slovak tennis player
1989 – Nicole Vaidišová, Czech tennis player
1990 – Rui Fonte, Portuguese footballer, winger
1990 – Dev Patel, English actor
1991 – Nathan Baker, English footballer
1991 – Caleb Johnson, American singer-songwriter
1991 – Paul Vaughan, Australian-Italian rugby league player
1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
1994 – Song Kang, South Korean actor
1995 – Gigi Hadid, American fashion model and television personality
1997 – Zach Apple, American swimmer

Deaths on April 23

303 – Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (b. 275)
711 – Childebert III, Frankish king (b. 670)
725 – Wihtred of Kent (b. 670)
871 – Æthelred of Wessex (b. 837)
915 – Yang Shihou, Chinese general
944 – Wichmann the Elder, Saxon nobleman
990 – Ekkehard II, Swiss monk and abbot
997 – Adalbert of Prague, Czech bishop, missionary, and saint (b. 956)
1014 – Brian Boru, Irish king (b. 941)
1014 – Domnall mac Eimín, Mormaer of Mar
1016 – Æthelred the Unready, English son of Edgar the Peaceful (b. 968)
1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
1151 – Adeliza of Louvain (b. 1103)
1170 – Minamoto no Tametomo, Japanese samurai (b. 1139)
1196 – Béla III of Hungary (b. c.1148)
1200 – Zhu Xi, Chinese philosopher (b. 1130)
1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
1262 – Aegidius of Assisi, companion of Saint Francis of Assisi
1307 – Joan of Acre (b. 1272)
1400 – Aubrey de Vere, 10th Earl of Oxford, English politician and nobleman (b. c. 1338)
1407 – Olivier de Clisson, French soldier (b. 1326)
1501 – Domenico della Rovere, Catholic cardinal (b. 1442)
1554 – Gaspara Stampa, Italian poet (b. 1523)
1605 – Boris Godunov, Russian ruler (b. 1551)
1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright and poet (b. 1564)
1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
1695 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet and author (b. 1621)
1702 – Margaret Fell, English religious leader, founded the Religious Society of Friends (b. 1614)
1781 – James Abercrombie, Scottish general and politician (b. 1706)
1784 – Solomon I of Imereti (b. 1735)
1792 – Karl Friedrich Bahrdt, German theologian and author (b. 1741)
1794 – Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French lawyer and politician (b. 1721)
1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, Greek general (b. 1780)
1839 – Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin, French admiral and explorer (b. 1768)
1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet and author (b. 1770)
1889 – Jules Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly, French author and critic (b. 1808)
1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (b. 1815)
1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
1907 – Alferd Packer, American prospector (b. 1842)
1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
1936 – Teresa de la Parra, French-Venezuelan author (b. 1889)
1951 – Jules Berry, French actor and director (b. 1883)
1951 – Charles G. Dawes, American banker and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1959 – Bak Jungyang, Korean politician
1965 – George Adamski, Polish-American ufologist and author (b. 1891)
1966 – George Ohsawa, Japanese founder of the Macrobiotic diet (b. 1893)
1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and author (b. 1897)
1983 – Buster Crabbe, American swimmer and actor (b. 1908)
1984 – Red Garland, American pianist (b. 1923)
1985 – Sam Ervin, American lawyer and politician (b. 1896)
1985 – Frank Farrell, Australian rugby league player and policeman (b. 1916)
1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
1986 – Jim Laker, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1922)
1986 – Otto Preminger, Ukrainian-American actor, director, and producer (b. 1906)
1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
1991 – Johnny Thunders, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, Nepalese politician, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
1993 – Cesar Chavez, American activist, co-founded the United Farm Workers (b. 1927)
1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian farmer and politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
1995 – Howard Cosell, American lawyer and journalist (b. 1918)
1995 – Riho Lahi, Estonian journalist (b. 1904)
1995 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (b. 1904)
1996 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (b. 1913)
1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian-English author and actress (b. 1899)
1997 – Denis Compton, English cricketer and footballer (b. 1918)
1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek lawyer and politician, 172nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1907)
1998 – James Earl Ray, American assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
1998 – Thanassis Skordalos, Greek singer-songwriter and lyra player (b. 1920)
2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer (b. 1910)
2004 – Herman Veenstra, Dutch water polo player (b. 1911)
2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, New Zealand-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
2005 – Robert Farnon, Canadian-English trumpet player, composer and conductor (b. 1917)
2005 – Al Grassby, Australian journalist and politician (b. 1928)
2005 – John Mills, English actor (b. 1908)
2005 – Romano Scarpa, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
2005 – Earl Wilson, American baseball player, coach and educator (b. 1934)
2006 – Phil Walden, American record producer and manager, co-founder of Capricorn Records (b. 1940)
2007 – Paul Erdman, Canadian-American economist and author (b. 1932)
2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist, historian and author (b. 1934)
2007 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (b. 1930)
2007 – Boris Yeltsin, Russian politician, 1st President of Russia (b. 1931)
2010 – Peter Porter, Australian-born British poet (b. 1929)
2011 – James Casey, English comedian, radio scriptwriter and producer (b. 1922)
2011 – Tom King, American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1943)
2011 – Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, English businessman and politician (b. 1921)
2011 – Max van der Stoel, Dutch politician and Minister of State (b. 1924)
2011 – John Sullivan, English screenwriter and producer (b. 1946)
2012 – Lillemor Arvidsson, Swedish trade union leader and politician, 34th Governor of Gotland (b. 1943)
2012 – Billy Bryans, Canadian drummer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2012 – Chris Ethridge, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1947)
2012 – Raymond Thorsteinsson, Canadian geologist and paleontologist (b. 1921)
2012 – LeRoy T. Walker, American football player and coach (b. 1918)
2013 – Bob Brozman, American guitarist (b. 1954)
2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (b. 1943)
2013 – Tony Grealish, English footballer (b. 1956)
2013 – Antonio Maccanico, Italian banker and politician (b. 1924)
2013 – Frank W. J. Olver, English-American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
2013 – Kathryn Wasserman Davis, American philanthropist and scholar (b. 1907)
2014 – Benjamín Brea, Spanish-Venezuelan saxophonist, clarinet player, and conductor (b. 1946)
2014 – Michael Glawogger, Austrian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1959)
2014 – Jaap Havekotte, Dutch speed skater and producer of ice skates (b. 1912)
2014 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (b. 1911)
2014 – F. Michael Rogers, American general (b. 1921)
2014 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (b. 1951)
2014 – Patric Standford, English composer and educator (b. 1939)
2015 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (b. 1944)
2015 – Ray Jackson, Australian activist (b. 1941)
2015 – Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Canadian Senate (b. 1950)
2015 – Jim Steffen, American football player (b. 1936)
2015 – Francis Tsai, American author and illustrator (b. 1967)
2016 – Inge King, German-born Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
2016 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Thai politician, Prime Minister from 1995–1996 (b. 1932)
2019 – Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick, American soprano singer and presenter (b.1983)

Holidays and observances on April 23

Castile and León Day (Castile and León)
Christian feast day:
- Adalbert of Prague
- Felix, Fortunatus, and Achilleus
- George
- Blessed Giles of Assisi
- Gerard of Toul
- Ibar of Beggerin (Meath)
- Toyohiko Kagawa (Episcopal and Lutheran Church)
- April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which the first day of Children’s Day can fall, while April 29 is the latest; celebrated on the last Saturday of April. (Colombia)
Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
Khongjom Day (Manipur)
National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
Navy Day (China)
St George’s Day (England) and its related observances:
- Canada Book Day (Canada)
- La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
- World Book Day
UN English Language Day (United Nations)

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

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

April 20 in History

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

Births on April 20

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

Deaths on April 20

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

Holidays and observances on April 20

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

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