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May 3 in History
- 752 – Mayan king Bird Jaguar IV of Yaxchilan in modern-day Chiapas, Mexico assumes the throne.
- 1294 – John II becomes Duke of Brabant, Lothier and Limburg.
- 1481 – The largest of three earthquakes strikes the island of Rhodes and causes an estimated 30,000 casualties.
- 1491 – Kongo monarch Nkuwu Nzinga is baptized by Portuguese missionaries, adopting the baptismal name of João I.
- 1616 – Treaty of Loudun ends French civil war.
- 1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
- 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
- 1808 – Finnish War: Sweden loses the fortress of Sveaborg to Russia.
- 1808 – Peninsular War: The Madrid rebels who rose up on May 2 are executed near Príncipe Pío hill.
- 1815 – Neapolitan War: Joachim Murat, King of Naples is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino, the decisive engagement of the war.
- 1830 – The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway is opened; it is the first steam-hauled passenger railway to issue season tickets and include a tunnel.
- 1837 – The University of Athens is founded in Athens, Greece.
- 1848 – The boar-crested Anglo-Saxon Benty Grange helmet is discovered in a barrow on the Benty Grange farm in Derbyshire.
- 1849 – The May Uprising in Dresden begins: The last of the German revolutions of 1848–49.
- 1855 – American adventurer William Walker departs from San Francisco with about 60 men to conquer Nicaragua.
- 1860 – Charles XV of Sweden–Norway is crowned king of Sweden.
- 1867 – The Hudson’s Bay Company gives up all claims to Vancouver Island.
- 1901 – The Great Fire of 1901 begins in Jacksonville, Florida.
- 1913 – Raja Harishchandra, the first full-length Indian feature film, is released, marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.
- 1920 – A Bolshevik coup fails in the Democratic Republic of Georgia.
- 1921 – West Virginia becomes the first state to legislate a broad sales tax, but does not implement it until a number of years later due to enforcement issues.
- 1921 – The Government of Ireland Act 1920 is passed, dividing Ireland into Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
- 1928 – The Jinan incident begins with the deaths of twelve Japanese civilians by Chinese forces in Jinan, China, which leads to Japanese retaliation and the deaths of over 2,000 Chinese civilians in the following days.
- 1939 – The All India Forward Bloc is formed by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
- 1942 – World War II: Japanese naval troops invade Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands during the first part of Operation Mo that results in the Battle of the Coral Sea between Japanese forces and forces from the United States and Australia.
- 1945 – World War II: Sinking of the prison ships Cap Arcona, Thielbek and Deutschland by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.
- 1947 – New post-war Japanese constitution goes into effect.
- 1948 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Shelley v. Kraemer that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities are legally unenforceable.
- 1951 – London’s Royal Festival Hall opens with the Festival of Britain.
- 1951 – The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
- 1952 – Lieutenant Colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict of the United States land a plane at the North Pole.
- 1952 – The Kentucky Derby is televised nationally for the first time, on the CBS network.
- 1957 – Walter O’Malley, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, agrees to move the team from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
- 1960 – The Off-Broadway musical comedy The Fantasticks opens in New York City’s Greenwich Village, eventually becoming the longest-running musical of all time.
- 1960 – The Anne Frank House museum opens in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
- 1963 – The police force in Birmingham, Alabama switches tactics and responds with violent force to stop the “Birmingham campaign” protesters. Images of the violent suppression are transmitted worldwide, bringing new-found attention to the civil rights movement.
- 1971 – Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989
- 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.
- 1978 – The first unsolicited bulk commercial email (which would later become known as “spam”) is sent by a Digital Equipment Corporation marketing representative to every ARPANET address on the west coast of the United States.
- 1986 – Twenty-one people are killed and forty-one are injured after a bomb explodes on Air Lanka Flight 512 at Colombo airport in Sri Lanka.
- 1987 – A crash by Bobby Allison at the Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama fencing at the start-finish line would lead NASCAR to develop the restrictor plate for the following season both at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega.
- 1999 – The southwestern portion of Oklahoma City is devastated by an F5 tornado, killing forty-five people, injuring 665, and causing $1 billion in damage. The tornado is one of 66 from the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak. This tornado also produces the highest wind speed ever recorded, measured at 301 +/- 20 mph (484 +/- 32 km/h).
- 1999 – Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side resulted into the kargil war.
- 2000 – The sport of geocaching begins, with the first cache placed and the coordinates from a GPS posted on Usenet.
- 2001 – The United States loses its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for the first time since the commission was formed in 1947.
- 2002 – An Indian Air Force MiG-21 crashes into a bank in Jalandhar, killing eight and injuring 17.
- 2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
- 2015 – Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
- 2016 – Eighty-eight thousand people were evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire ripped through the community, destroying approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.
Births on May 3
- 490 – K’an Joy Chitam I, ruler of Palenque (d. 565)
- 612 – Constantine III, Byzantine emperor (d. 641)
- 1238 – Emilia Bicchieri, Italian saint (d. 1314)
- 1276 – Louis, Count of Évreux, son of King Philip III of France (d. 1319)
- 1415 – Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (d. 1495)
- 1428 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (d. 1495)
- 1446 – Margaret of York (d. 1503)
- 1461 – Raffaele Riario, Italian cardinal (d. 1521)
- 1469 – Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and philosopher (d. 1527)
- 1479 – Henry V, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1552)
- 1481 – Juana de la Cruz Vázquez Gutiérrez, Spanish abbess of the Franciscan Third Order Regular (d. 1534)
- 1536 – Stephan Praetorius, German theologian (d. 1603)
- 1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec (d. 1668)
- 1662 – Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann, German architect, designed the Pillnitz Castle (d. 1736)
- 1678 – Amaro Pargo, Spanish corsair (d. 1747)
- 1695 – Henri Pitot, French physicist and engineer, invented the Pitot tube (d. 1771)
- 1729 – Florian Leopold Gassmann, Czech composer (d. 1774)
- 1761 – August von Kotzebue, German playwright and author (d. 1819)
- 1764 – Princess Élisabeth of France (d. 1794)
- 1768 – Charles Tennant, Scottish chemist and businessman (d. 1838)
- 1783 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (d. 1858)
- 1814 – Adams George Archibald, Canadian lawyer and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (d. 1892)
- 1826 – Charles XV of Sweden (d. 1872)
- 1844 – Richard D’Oyly Carte, English talent agent and composer (d. 1901)
- 1849 – Jacob Riis, Danish-American journalist and photographer (d. 1914)
- 1849 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1929)
- 1854 – George Gore, American baseball player and manager (d. 1933)
- 1859 – August Herrmann, American executive in Major League Baseball (d.1931)
- 1860 – Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1940)
- 1867 – Andy Bowen, American boxer (d. 1894)
- 1867 – J. T. Hearne, English cricketer (d. 1944)
- 1870 – Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (d. 1948)
- 1871 – Emmett Dalton, American criminal (d. 1937)
- 1873 – Pavlo Skoropadskyi, German-Ukrainian general and politician, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1945)
- 1874 – François Coty, French businessman and publisher, founded Coty, Inc. (d. 1934)
- 1874 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer and academic (d. 1954)
- 1877 – Karl Abraham, German psychoanalyst and author (d. 1925)
- 1879 – Fergus McMaster, Australian businessman and soldier, co-founded Qantas (d. 1950)
- 1886 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (d. 1971)
- 1887 – Marika Kotopouli, Greek actress (d. 1954)
- 1889 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (d. 1981)
- 1889 – Gottfried Fuchs, German-Canadian Olympic soccer player (d. 1972)
- 1891 – Tadeusz Peiper, Polish poet and critic (d. 1969)
- 1891 – Eppa Rixey, American baseball pitcher (d. 1963)
- 1892 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
- 1892 – Jacob Viner, Canadian-American economist and academic (d. 1970)
- 1893 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian author (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Cornelius Van Til, Dutch philosopher, theologian, and apologist (d. 1987)
- 1896 – Karl Allmenröder, German soldier and pilot (d. 1917)
- 1896 – V. K. Krishna Menon, Indian lawyer, jurist, and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 1974)
- 1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright (d. 1990)
- 1897 – William Joseph Browne, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Solicitor General of Canada (d. 1989)
- 1898 – Septima Poinsette Clark, American educator and activist (d. 1987)
- 1898 – Golda Meir, Ukrainian-Israeli educator and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1978)
- 1902 – Alfred Kastler, German-French physicist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
- 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor (d. 1977)
- 1905 – Edmund Black, American hammer thrower (d. 1996)
- 1905 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1988)
- 1905 – Red Ruffing, American baseball pitcher and coach (d. 1986)
- 1906 – Mary Astor, American actress (d. 1987)
- 1906 – René Huyghe, French historian and author (d. 1997)
- 1906 – Anna Roosevelt Halsted, American journalist and author (d. 1975)
- 1906 – Enrique Laguerre, Puerto Rican journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2005)
- 1910 – Norman Corwin, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2011)
- 1912 – Virgil Fox, American organist and composer (d. 1980)
- 1912 – May Sarton, American poet, novelist and memoirist (d. 1995)
- 1913 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (d. 1973)
- 1914 – Georges-Emmanuel Clancier, French journalist, author, and poet (d. 2018)
- 1915 – Stu Hart, Canadian wrestler and trainer, founded Stampede Wrestling (d. 2003)
- 1915 – Richard Lippold, American sculptor and academic (d. 2002)
- 1916 – Léopold Simoneau, Canadian tenor and actor (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Betty Comden, American screenwriter and librettist (d. 2006)
- 1917 – George Gaynes, Finnish-American actor (d. 2016)
- 1918 – Ted Bates, English footballer and manager (d. 2003)
- 1919 – John Cullen Murphy, American soldier and illustrator (d. 2004)
- 1919 – Pete Seeger, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2014)
- 1920 – John Lewis, American pianist and composer (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Len Shackleton, English footballer and journalist (d. 2000)
- 1923 – George Hadjinikos, Greek pianist, conductor, and educator (d. 2015)
- 1923 – Ralph Hall, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (d. 2019)
- 1924 – Yehuda Amichai, German-Israeli author and poet (d. 2000)
- 1924 – Ken Tyrrell, English race car driver, founded Tyrrell Racing (d. 2001)
- 1925 – Jean Séguy, French sociologist and author (d. 2007)
- 1926 – Matt Baldwin, Canadian curler and engineer
- 1928 – Dave Dudley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Jacques-Louis Lions, French mathematician (d. 2001)
- 1929 – Denise Lor, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
- 1930 – Juan Gelman, Argentinian poet and author (d. 2014)
- 1930 – David Harrison, English chemist and academic
- 1931 – Vasily Rudenkov, Belarusian hammer thrower (d. 1982)
- 1931 – Sait Maden, Turkish translator, poet, painter and graphic designer (d. 2013)
- 1932 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (d. 2017)
- 1933 – James Brown, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
- 1933 – Steven Weinberg, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1934 – Henry Cooper, English boxer and sportscaster (d. 2011)
- 1934 – Georges Moustaki, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor
- 1935 – Ron Popeil, American businessman, founded the Ronco Company
- 1937 – Nélida Piñon, Brazilian author and academic
- 1938 – Omar Abdel-Rahman, Egyptian terrorist
- 1938 – Chris Cannizzaro, American baseball player
- 1938 – Napoleon XIV, American singer, songwriter and record producer
- 1939 – Jonathan Harvey, English composer and educator (d. 2012)
- 1940 – David Koch, American engineer, businessman, and philanthropist (d. 2019)
- 1940 – Clemens Westerhof, Dutch footballer and manager
- 1941 – Alexander Harley, English general
- 1941 – Edward Malloy, American priest and academic
- 1942 – Věra Čáslavská, Czech gymnast and coach (d. 2016)
- 1942 – Dave Marash, American journalist and sportscaster
- 1942 – Butch Otter, American soldier and politician, 32nd Governor of Idaho
- 1943 – Yukio Hashi, Japanese singer and actor
- 1943 – Jim Risch, American lawyer and politician, 31st Governor of Idaho
- 1943 – Vicente Saldivar, Mexican boxer (d. 1985)
- 1944 – Peter Doyle, English bishop
- 1944 – Pete Staples, English bass player
- 1945 – Jörg Drehmel, German triple jumper and coach
- 1945 – Davey Lopes, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1946 – Norm Chow, American football player and coach
- 1946 – Silvino Francisco, South African snooker player
- 1946 – Greg Gumbel, American sportscaster
- 1947 – Doug Henning, Canadian magician (d. 2000)
- 1948 – Denis Cosgrove, British-American academic and geographer (d. 2008)
- 1948 – Chris Mulkey, American actor
- 1949 – Liam Donaldson, English physician and academic
- 1949 – Ruth Lister, Baroness Lister of Burtersett, English academic and politician
- 1949 – Ron Wyden, American academic and politician
- 1950 – Mary Hopkin, Welsh singer-songwriter
- 1950 – Dag Arnesen, Norwegian pianist and composer
- 1951 – Alan Clayson, English singer-songwriter and journalist
- 1951 – Christopher Cross, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1951 – Ashok Gehlot, Indian politician, 21st Chief Minister of Rajasthan
- 1951 – Tatyana Tolstaya, Russian author and publicist
- 1952 – Chuck Baldwin, American pastor and politician
- 1952 – Caitlin Clarke, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1952 – Joseph W. Tobin, American cardinal
- 1953 – Bruce Hall, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
- 1953 – Jake Hooker, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1954 – Angela Bofill, American singer-songwriter
- 1954 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1955 – Stephen D. M. Brown, British geneticist
- 1955 – Colin Deans, Scottish rugby player
- 1955 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2004)
- 1955 – Seishirō Nishida, Japanese actor
- 1956 – Marc Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician
- 1957 – Alain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1957 – Rod Langway, Taiwanese-American ice hockey player and coach
- 1958 – Bill Sienkiewicz, American author and illustrator
- 1958 – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-English comedian, writer, and broadcaster
- 1959 – David Ball, English keyboard player and producer
- 1959 – Uma Bharti, Indian activist and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh
- 1959 – Ben Elton, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1960 – Kathy Smallwood-Cook, English sprinter and educator
- 1961 – Steve McClaren, English footballer and manager
- 1961 – David Vitter, American lawyer and politician
- 1961 – Leyla Zana, Kurdish activist and politician
- 1962 – Anders Graneheim, Swedish bodybuilder
- 1963 – Jeff Hornacek, American basketball player and coach
- 1963 – Mona Siddiqui, Pakistani-Scottish journalist and academic
- 1964 – Sterling Campbell, American drummer and songwriter
- 1964 – Ron Hextall, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager
- 1965 – Ignatius Aphrem II, Syrian patriarch
- 1965 – Mark Cousins, Northern Irish director, writer, cinematographer
- 1965 – John Jensen, Danish footballer and coach
- 1965 – Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian businessman
- 1966 – Giorgos Agorogiannis, Greek footballer
- 1966 – Frank Dietrich, German politician (d. 2011)
- 1967 – Daniel Anderson, Australian rugby league coach and manager
- 1967 – Kenneth Joel Hotz, Canadian producer, writer, director, actor, and comedian
- 1968 – Viliami Ofahengaue, Tongan-Australian rugby player
- 1971 – Douglas Carswell, British politician, the first elected MP for the UK Independence Party
- 1972 – Stephen Barclay, English lawyer and politician
- 1973 – Jamie Baulch, Welsh sprinter and television host
- 1975 – Willie Geist, American television journalist and host
- 1976 – Jeff Halpern, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Brad Scott, Australian footballer and coach
- 1976 – Chris Scott, Australian footballer and coach
- 1977 – Eric Church, American country music singer-songwriter
- 1977 – Ryan Dempster, Canadian baseball player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Tyronn Lue, American basketball player and coach
- 1977 – Maryam Mirzakhani, Iranian mathematician (d. 2017)
- 1977 – Ben Olsen, American soccer player and coach
- 1978 – Christian Annan, Ghanaian-Hong Kong footballer
- 1978 – Paul Banks, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Dai Tamesue, Japanese hurdler
- 1978 – Lawrence Tynes, American football player
- 1979 – Steve Mack, American wrestler
- 1979 – Anastasiya Shvedova, Belarusian pole vaulter
- 1980 – Zuzana Ondrášková, Czech tennis player
- 1982 – Igor Olshansky, Ukrainian-American football player
- 1982 – Nick Stavinoha, American baseball player
- 1983 – Joseph Addai, American football player
- 1983 – Romeo Castelen, Dutch footballer
- 1983 – Jérôme Clavier, French pole vaulter
- 1983 – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian footballer (d. 2015)
- 1985 – Ezequiel Lavezzi, Argentinian footballer
- 1985 – Kadri Lehtla, Estonian biathlete
- 1985 – Miko Mälberg, Estonian swimmer
- 1986 – Moon Byung-woo, South Korean footballer
- 1987 – Lina Grinčikaitė, Lithuanian sprinter
- 1988 – Ben Revere, American baseball player
- 1988 – Paddy Holohan, Irish mixed martial artist
- 1989 – Jesse Bromwich, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1989 – Katinka Hosszú, Hungarian swimmer
- 1990 – Brooks Koepka, American golfer
- 1991 – Samuel Seo, South Korean musician
- 1992 – Aaron Whitchurch, Australian rugby league player
- 1995 – Ivan Bukavshin, Russian chess player (d. 2016)
- 1996 – Mary Cain, American runner
- 1996 – Alex Iwobi, Nigerian football player
- 1996 – Domantas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
- 1997 – Desiigner, American rapper
- 1997 – Dwayne Haskins, American football player
- 1997 – Ivana Jorović, Serbian tennis player
Deaths on May 3
- 678 – Tōchi, Japanese princess
- 738 – Uaxaclajuun Ub’aah K’awiil, Mayan ruler (ajaw)
- 1152 – Matilda of Boulogne (b. 1105)
- 1270 – Béla IV of Hungary (b. 1206)
- 1294 – John I, Duke of Brabant (b. 1252)
- 1330 – Alexios II Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1282)
- 1410 – Antipope Alexander V
- 1481 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (b. 1432)
- 1501 – John Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, English Baron (b. 1463)
- 1524 – Richard Grey, 3rd Earl of Kent, English peer (b. 1481)
- 1534 – Juana de la Cruz Vazquez Gutierrez, Spanish Roman Catholic nun and venerable (b. 1481)
- 1589 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1528)
- 1606 – Henry Garnet, English priest and author (b. 1555)
- 1621 – Elizabeth Bacon, English Tudor gentlewoman (b. 1541)
- 1679 – James Sharp, Scottish archbishop (b. 1613)
- 1693 – Claude de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French courtier (b. 1607)
- 1704 – Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Czech-Austrian violinist and composer (b. 1644)
- 1724 – John Leverett the Younger, American lawyer, academic, and politician (b. 1662)
- 1750 – John Willison, Scottish minister and author (b. 1680)
- 1752 – Samuel Ogle, English-American captain and politician, 5th Governor of Restored Proprietary Government (b. 1692)
- 1758 – Pope Benedict XIV (b. 1675)
- 1763 – George Psalmanazar, French-English author (b. 1679)
- 1764 – Francesco Algarotti, Italian philosopher, poet, and critic (b. 1712)
- 1779 – John Winthrop, American mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1714)
- 1793 – Martin Gerbert, German historian and theologian (b. 1720)
- 1839 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer (b. 1771)
- 1856 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (b. 1803)
- 1856 – Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, Arab-French servant to Napoleon I (b. 1788)
- 1882 – Leonidas Smolents, Austrian–Greek general and army minister (b. 1806)
- 1910 – Howard Taylor Ricketts, American pathologist (b. 1871)
- 1916 – Tom Clarke, Irish rebel (b. 1858)
- 1916 – Thomas MacDonagh, Irish poet and rebel (b. 1878)
- 1916 – Patrick Pearse, Irish teacher and rebel leader (b. 1879)
- 1918 – Charlie Soong, Chinese businessman and missionary (b. 1863)
- 1919 – Elizabeth Almira Allen, American educator (b. 1854)
- 1921 – Théodore Pilette, Belgian race car driver (b. 1883)
- 1925 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (b. 1841)
- 1932 – Charles Fort, American journalist and author (b. 1874)
- 1935 – Jessie Willcox Smith, American illustrator (b. 1863)
- 1939 – Madeleine Desroseaux, French author and poet (b. 1873)
- 1942 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1873)
- 1943 – Harry Miller, American engineer (b. 1875)
- 1948 – Ernst Tandefelt, Finnish assassin of Heikki Ritavuori (b. 1876)
- 1949 – Fanny Walden, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1888)
- 1958 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (b. 1889)
- 1969 – Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd President of India (b. 1897)
- 1970 – Cemil Gürgen Erlertürk, Turkish footballer, coach, and pilot (b. 1918)
- 1972 – Kenneth Bailey, Australian lawyer and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to Canada (b. 1898)
- 1972 – Emil Breitkreutz, American runner and coach (b. 1883)
- 1972 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (b. 1904)
- 1978 – Bill Downs, American journalist (b. 1914)
- 1981 – Nargis, Indian actress (b. 1929)
- 1986 – Robert Alda, American actor (b. 1914)
- 1987 – Dalida, Italian singer, actress, dancer, and model (b. 1933)
- 1988 – Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1908)
- 1989 – Christine Jorgensen, American trans woman (b. 1926)
- 1991 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (b. 1933)
- 1992 – George Murphy, American actor, dancer, and politician (b. 1902)
- 1996 – Dimitri Fampas, Greek guitarist, composer, and educator (b. 1921)
- 1996 – Alex Kellner, American baseball player (b. 1924)
- 1996 – Jack Weston, American actor (b. 1924)
- 1997 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (b. 1976)
- 1997 – Narciso Yepes, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1927)
- 1998 – Gene Raymond, American actor (b. 1908)
- 1999 – Joe Adcock, American baseball player and manager (b. 1927)
- 1999 – Steve Chiasson, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1967)
- 1999 – Godfrey Evans, English cricketer (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Júlia Báthory, Hungarian glass designer (b. 1901)
- 2000 – John Joseph O’Connor, American cardinal (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Barbara Castle, Baroness Castle of Blackburn, English politician, First Secretary of State (b. 1910)
- 2002 – Yevgeny Svetlanov, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
- 2003 – Suzy Parker, American model and actress (b. 1932)
- 2004 – Ken Downing, English race car driver (b. 1917)
- 2004 – Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1928)
- 2006 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (b. 1921)
- 2006 – Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (b. 1949)
- 2006 – Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (b. 1932)
- 2007 – Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (b. 1913)
- 2007 – Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923)
- 2007 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (b. 1928)
- 2009 – Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (b. 1931)
- 2010 – Roy Carrier, American accordion player (b. 1947)
- 2010 – Peter O’Donnell, English soldier and author (b. 1920)
- 2010 – Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (b. 1923)
- 2011 – Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (b. 1922)
- 2011 – Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (b. 1936)
- 2011 – Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (b. 1927)
- 2012 – Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (b. 1918)
- 2012 – Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Joe Astroth, American baseball player (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (b. 1926)
- 2013 – Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (b. 1924)
- 2013 – Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (b. 1958)
- 2013 – David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (b. 1909)
- 2013 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (b. 1960)
- 2013 – Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (b. 1958)
- 2014 – Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (b. 1986)
- 2015 – Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (b. 1915)
- 2016 – Ian Deans, Canadian politician (b. 1937)
- 2016 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
- 2017 – Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (b. 1942)
Holidays and observances on May 3
- Christian feast day:
- Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
- Antonia and Alexander
- Juvenal of Narni
- Moura (Coptic Church)
- Philip and James the Lesser
- Pope Alexander I
- Sarah the Martyr (Coptic Church)
- The Most Holy Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland
- Theodosius of Kiev (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- May 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Constitution Memorial Day (Japan)
- Constitution Day (Poland)
- Finding of the Holy Cross-related observances:
- Fiesta de las Cruces (Spain and Hispanic America)
- Roodmas, or Feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross (Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church)
- Sun Day (International)
- World Press Freedom Day
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March 30 in History
- 598 – Balkan Campaign: The Avars lift the siege at the Byzantine stronghold of Tomis. Their leader Bayan I retreats north of the Danube River after the Avaro-Slavic hordes are decimated by the plague.
- 1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
- 1296 – Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
- 1699 – Guru Gobind Singh establishes the Khalsa in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
- 1815 – Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Proclamation which would later inspire Italian unification.
- 1818 – Physicist Augustin Fresnel reads a memoir on optical rotation to the French Academy of Sciences, reporting that when polarized light is “depolarized” by a Fresnel rhomb, its properties are preserved in any subsequent passage through an optically-rotating crystal or liquid.
- 1822 – The Florida Territory is created in the United States.
- 1841 – The National Bank of Greece is founded in Athens.
- 1842 – Ether anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by the American surgeon Dr. Crawford Long.
- 1844 – One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
- 1855 – Origins of the American Civil War: “Border Ruffians” from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
- 1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
- 1861 – Discovery of the chemical elements: Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
- 1863 – Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
- 1867 – Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2-cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward.
- 1870 – Texas is readmitted to the United States Congress following Reconstruction.
- 1885 – The Battle for Kushka triggers the Panjdeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the Russian and British Empire.
- 1899 – German Society of Chemistry issues an invitation to other national scientific organizations to appoint delegates to the International Committee on Atomic Weights.
- 1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
- 1918 – Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.
- 1939 – The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph (745 km/h).
- 1940 – Second Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Jingwei.
- 1944 – World War II: Allied bombers conduct their most severe bombing run on Sofia, Bulgaria.
- 1944 – Out of 795 Lancasters, Halifaxes and Mosquitos sent to attack Nuremberg, 95 bombers do not return, making it the largest RAF Bomber Command loss of the war.
- 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces invade Austria and capture Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Danzig.
- 1949 – Cold War: A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.
- 1959 – Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet for India.
- 1961 – The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed in New York City.
- 1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the United States Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
- 1972 – Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
- 1976 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: in the first organized response against Israeli policies by a Palestinian collective since 1948, Palestinians create the first Land Day.
- 1979 – Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
- 1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
- 1982 – Space Shuttle program: STS-3 mission is completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
- 2002 – 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
- 2009 – Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
- 2017 – SpaceX conducts the world’s first reflight of an orbital class rocket.
Births on March 30
- 892 – Shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin Dynasty (d. 942)
- 1135 – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (April 6 also proposed, d. 1204)
- 1326 – Ivan II of Moscow (d. 1359)
- 1432 – Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan (d. 1481)
- 1510 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (d. 1566)
- 1551 – Salomon Schweigger, German theologian (d. 1622)
- 1606 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1647)
- 1632 – John Proctor, farmer hanged for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials (d. 1692)
- 1640 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1695)
- 1727 – Tommaso Traetta, Italian composer and educator (d. 1779)
- 1746 – Francisco Goya, Spanish-French painter and sculptor (d. 1828)
- 1750 – John Stafford Smith, English organist and composer (d. 1836)
- 1793 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (d. 1877)
- 1805 – Ferdinand Johann Wiedemann, German-Swedish linguist and botanist (d. 1887)
- 1811 – Robert Bunsen, German chemist and academic (d. 1899)
- 1820 – Anna Sewell, English author (d. 1878)
- 1820 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1882)
- 1844 – Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
- 1853 – Vincent van Gogh, Dutch-French painter and illustrator (d. 1890)
- 1853 – Arnoldo Sartorio, German composer, pianist, and teacher (d. 1936)
- 1857 – Léon Charles Thévenin, French engineer (d. 1926)
- 1858 – Siegfried Alkan, German composer (d. 1941)
- 1863 – Mary Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (d. 1930)
- 1864 – Franz Oppenheimer, German-American sociologist and economist (d. 1943)
- 1874 – Charles Lightoller, English 2nd officer on the RMS Titanic (d. 1952)
- 1874 – Josiah McCracken, American hammer thrower, shot putter, and football player (d. 1962)
- 1874 – Nicolae Rădescu, Romanian general and politician, Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
- 1875 – Thomas Xenakis, Greek-American gymnast (d. 1942)
- 1879 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (d. 1954)
- 1880 – Seán O’Casey, Irish dramatist, playwright, and memoirist (d. 1964)
- 1882 – Melanie Klein, Jewish Austrian-English psychologist and author (d. 1960)
- 1888 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-born cartoonist (d. 1957)
- 1891 – Chunseong, Korean monk, writer and philosopher (d. 1977)
- 1892 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1945)
- 1892 – Fortunato Depero, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1960)
- 1892 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
- 1892 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (d. 1918)
- 1892 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (d. 1968)
- 1894 – Tommy Green, English race walker (d. 1975)
- 1894 – Sergey Ilyushin, Russian engineer, founded Ilyushin Aircraft Company (d. 1977)
- 1895 – Jean Giono, French author and poet (d. 1970)
- 1895 – Carl Lutz, Swiss vice-consul to Hungary during WWII, credited with saving over 62,000 Jews (d. 1975)
- 1895 – Charlie Wilson, English footballer (d. 1971)
- 1899 – Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, Indian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970)
- 1902 – Brooke Astor, American socialite and philanthropist (d. 2007)
- 1902 – Ted Heath, English trombonist and composer (d. 1969)
- 1903 – Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
- 1904 – Ripper Collins, American baseball player and coach (d. 1970)
- 1905 – Archie Birkin, English motorcycle racer (d. 1927)
- 1905 – Mikio Oda, Japanese triple jumper and academic (d. 1998)
- 1905 – Albert Pierrepoint, English hangman (d. 1992)
- 1907 – Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German general (d. 1994)
- 1910 – Józef Marcinkiewicz, Polish soldier, mathematician, and academic (d. 1940)
- 1911 – Ekrem Akurgal, Turkish archaeologist and academic (d. 2002)
- 1912 – Jack Cowie, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Alvin Hamilton, Canadian lieutenant and politician, 18th Canadian Minister of Agriculture (d. 2004)
- 1913 – Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
- 1913 – Richard Helms, American soldier and diplomat, 8th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 2002)
- 1913 – Frankie Laine, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
- 1913 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general, physician, and politician, 4th President of Malta (d. 2012)
- 1914 – Sonny Boy Williamson I, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 1948)
- 1915 – Pietro Ingrao, Italian journalist and politician (d. 2015)
- 1917 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1995)
- 1919 – McGeorge Bundy, American intelligence officer and diplomat, 6th United States National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
- 1919 – Robin M. Williams, New Zealand mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
- 1921 – André Fontaine, French historian and journalist (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Turhan Bey, American actor (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Arthur Wightman, American physicist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1923 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (d. 1986)
- 1926 – Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish businessman, founded IKEA (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Wally Grout, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
- 1928 – Robert Badinter, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice
- 1928 – Colin Egar, Australian cricket umpire (d. 2008)
- 1928 – Tom Sharpe, English-Spanish author and educator (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Richard Dysart, American actor (d. 2015)
- 1929 – Ray Musto, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
- 1929 – István Rózsavölgyi, Hungarian runner (d. 2012)
- 1930 – John Astin, American actor
- 1930 – Rolf Harris, Australian singer-songwriter
- 1933 – Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
- 1934 – Paul Crouch, American broadcaster, co-founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2013)
- 1934 – Hans Hollein, Austrian architect and academic, designed Haas House (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Karl Berger, German pianist and composer
- 1935 – Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
- 1935 – Gordon Mumma, American composer
- 1937 – Warren Beatty, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1937 – Ian MacLaurin, Baron MacLaurin of Knebworth, English businessman
- 1938 – John Barnhill, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Klaus Schwab, German economist and engineer, founded the World Economic Forum
- 1940 – Norman Gifford, English cricketer
- 1940 – Jerry Lucas, American basketball player and educator
- 1940 – Hans Ragnemalm, Swedish lawyer and judge (d. 2016)
- 1941 – Graeme Edge, English singer-songwriter and drummer
- 1941 – Ron Johnston, English geographer and academic
- 1941 – Wasim Sajjad, Pakistani lawyer and politician, President of Pakistan
- 1941 – Bob Smith, American soldier and politician
- 1942 – Ruben Kun, Nauruan lawyer and politician, 14th President of Nauru (d. 2014)
- 1942 – Tane Norton, New Zealand rugby player
- 1942 – Kenneth Welsh, Canadian actor
- 1943 – Jay Traynor, American pop and doo-wop singer (d. 2014)
- 1944 – Mark Wylea Erwin, American businessman and diplomat
- 1944 – Brian Wilshire, Australian radio host
- 1945 – Eric Clapton, English guitarist and singer-songwriter
- 1947 – Dick Roche, Irish politician, Minister of State for European Affairs
- 1947 – Terje Venaas, Norwegian bassist
- 1948 – Nigel Jones, Baron Jones of Cheltenham, English computer programmer and politician
- 1948 – Eddie Jordan, Irish racing driver and team owner, founded Jordan Grand Prix
- 1948 – Mervyn King, English economist and academic
- 1948 – Jim “Dandy” Mangrum, American rock singer
- 1949 – Liza Frulla, Canadian talk show host and politician, 3rd Minister of Canadian Heritage
- 1949 – Dana Gillespie, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1949 – Naomi Sims, American model and author (d. 2009)
- 1950 – Janet Browne, English-American historian and academic
- 1950 – Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor
- 1950 – Grady Little, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1950 – Warren Snowdon, Australian educator and politician, 39th Australian Minister for Veterans’ Affairs
- 1951 – Paul Da Vinci, English singer-songwriter
- 1952 – Stuart Dryburgh, English-New Zealand cinematographer
- 1952 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
- 1955 – Randy VanWarmer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2004)
- 1956 – Bill Butler, Scottish educator and politician
- 1956 – Juanito Oiarzabal, Spanish mountaineer
- 1956 – Shahla Sherkat, Iranian journalist and author
- 1957 – Marie-Christine Koundja, Chadian author and diplomat
- 1957 – Paul Reiser, American actor and comedian
- 1958 – Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor and stand-up comedian
- 1958 – Joey Sindelar, American golfer
- 1959 – Martina Cole, English television host and author
- 1960 – Laurie Graham, Canadian skier
- 1960 – Bill Johnson, American skier (d. 2016)
- 1961 – Mike Thackwell, New Zealand racing driver
- 1961 – Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 1999)
- 1962 – Mark Begich, American politician
- 1962 – MC Hammer, American rapper and actor
- 1962 – Gary Stevens, English international footballer, defender and manager
- 1963 – Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Mongolian journalist and politician, 4th President of Mongolia
- 1963 – Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
- 1963 – Panagiotis Tsalouchidis, Greek footballer
- 1964 – Vlado Bozinovski, Macedonian-Australian footballer and manager
- 1964 – Tracy Chapman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1965 – Piers Morgan, English journalist and talk show host
- 1966 – Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess player and author
- 1966 – Dmitry Volkov, Russian swimmer
- 1966 – Leonid Voloshin, Russian triple jumper
- 1967 – Christopher Bowman, American figure skater and coach (d. 2008)
- 1967 – Richard Hutten, Dutch furniture designer
- 1967 – Julie Richardson, New Zealand tennis player
- 1968 – Celine Dion, Canadian singer-songwriter
- 1969 – Troy Bayliss, Australian motorcycle racer
- 1970 – Tobias Hill, English poet and author
- 1970 – Sylvain Charlebois, Canadian food/agriculture researcher and author
- 1971 – Mari Holden, American cyclist
- 1971 – Mark Consuelos, American actor and television personality
- 1972 – Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
- 1972 – Emerson Thome, Brazilian footballer and scout
- 1972 – Karel Poborský, Czech footballer
- 1973 – Adam Goldstein, American keyboard player, DJ, and producer (d. 2009)
- 1973 – Jan Koller, Czech footballer
- 1973 – Kareem Streete-Thompson, Caymanian-American long jumper
- 1974 – Martin Love, Australian cricketer
- 1975 – Paul Griffen, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
- 1976 – Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
- 1976 – Obadele Thompson, Barbadian sprinter
- 1976 – Troels Lund Poulsen, Danish politician, Minister for Education of Denmark
- 1977 – Abhishek Chaubey, Indian director and screenwriter
- 1978 – Paweł Czapiewski, Polish runner
- 1978 – Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player and coach
- 1978 – Bok van Blerk, South African singer-songwriter and actor
- 1979 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter and pianist
- 1979 – Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, Ukrainian footballer
- 1980 – Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
- 1981 – Jammal Brown, American football player
- 1981 – Andrea Masi, Italian rugby player
- 1982 – Mark Hudson, English footballer
- 1982 – Philippe Mexès, French footballer
- 1982 – Javier Portillo, Spanish footballer
- 1982 – Jason Dohring, American actor
- 1983 – Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
- 1984 – Mario Ančić, Croatian tennis player
- 1984 – Samantha Stosur, Australian tennis player
- 1985 – Giacomo Ricci, Italian racing driver
- 1986 – Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Trent Barreta, American wrestler
- 1987 – Calum Elliot, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – Kwok Kin Pong, Hong Kong footballer
- 1987 – Marc-Édouard Vlasic, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1988 – Will Matthews, Australian rugby league player
- 1988 – Thanasis Papazoglou, Greek footballer
- 1988 – Richard Sherman, American football player
- 1988 – Larisa Yurkiw, Canadian alpine skier
- 1989 – Chris Sale, American baseball player
- 1989 – João Sousa, Portuguese tennis player
- 1990 – Thomas Rhett, American country music singer and songwriter
- 1990 – Michal Březina, Czech figure skater
- 1992 – Palak Muchhal, Indian playback singer
- 1993 – Anitta, Brazilian singer and entertainer
- 1994 – Jetro Willems, Dutch footballer
- 1997 – Cha Eun-woo, South Korean singer and actor, A member of the South Korean boy band, Astro
- 1998 – Kalyn Ponga, Australian rugby league player
- 2000 – Colton Herta, American race car driver
Deaths on March 30
- 116 – Quirinus of Neuss, Roman martyr and saint
- 365 – Ai of Jin, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 341)
- 943 – Li Bian, emperor of Southern Tang (b. 889)
- 987 – Arnulf II, Count of Flanders (b. 960)
- 1180 – Al-Mustadi, Caliph (b. 1142)
- 1202 – Joachim of Fiore, Italian mystic and theologian (b. 1135)
- 1465 – Isabella of Clermont, queen consort of Naples (b. c. 1424)
- 1472 – Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy (b. 1435)
- 1486 – Thomas Bourchier, English cardinal (b. 1404)
- 1526 – Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
- 1540 – Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German cardinal (b. 1469)
- 1559 – Adam Ries, German mathematician and academic (b. 1492)
- 1587 – Ralph Sadler, English politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1507)
- 1662 – François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet and playwright (b. 1592)
- 1689 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish atheist and philosopher (b. 1634)
- 1707 – Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, French general and engineer (b. 1633)
- 1764 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1695)
- 1783 – William Hunter, Scottish anatomist and physician (b. 1718)
- 1804 – Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1718)
- 1806 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (b. 1757)
- 1830 – Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1763)
- 1840 – Beau Brummell, English-French fashion designer (b. 1778)
- 1842 – Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, French painter (b. 1755)
- 1864 – Louis Schindelmeisser, German clarinet player, composer, and conductor (b. 1811)
- 1873 – Bénédict Morel, Austrian-French psychiatrist and physician (b. 1809)
- 1879 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (b. 1815)
- 1886 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian judge and politician, 6th Premier of Quebec (b. 1838)
- 1896 – Charilaos Trikoupis, Greek politician, 55th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1832)
- 1912 – Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
- 1925 – Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher and author (b. 1861)
- 1935 – Romanos Melikian, Armenian composer (b. 1883)
- 1936 – Conchita Supervía, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1895)
- 1940 – Sir John Gilmour, 2nd Baronet Scottish soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1876)
- 1943 – Jan Bytnar, Polish lieutenant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1921)
- 1943 – Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish sergeant; WWII resistance fighter (b. 1920)
- 1945 – Béla Balogh, Hungarian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
- 1949 – Friedrich Bergius, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
- 1949 – Dattaram Hindlekar, Indian cricketer (b. 1909)
- 1950 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1872)
- 1952 – Jigme Wangchuck, Bhutanese king (b. 1905)
- 1955 – Harl McDonald, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1899)
- 1956 – Edmund Clerihew Bentley, English author and poet (b. 1875)
- 1959 – Daniil Andreyev, Russian mystic and poet (b. 1906)
- 1959 – John Auden, English solicitor, deputy coroner and a territorial soldier (b. 1894)
- 1959 – Riccardo Zanella, Italian politician (b. 1875)
- 1960 – Joseph Haas, German composer and educator (b. 1879)
- 1961 – Philibert Jacques Melotte, English astronomer (b. 1880)
- 1963 – Aleksandr Gauk, Russian conductor and composer (b. 1893)
- 1964 – Nella Larsen, American nurse and author (b. 1891)
- 1965 – Philip Showalter Hench, American physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1896)
- 1966 – Newbold Morris, American lawyer and politician (b. 1902)
- 1966 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (b. 1870)
- 1966 – Erwin Piscator, German director and producer (b. 1893)
- 1967 – Frank Thorpe, Australian public servant (b. 1885)
- 1967 – Jean Toomer, American poet and novelist (b. 1894)
- 1969 – Lucien Bianchi, Belgian racing driver (b. 1934)
- 1970 – Heinrich Brüning, German economist and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
- 1972 – Mahir Çayan, Turkish politician (b. 1946)
- 1972 – Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
- 1973 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish pilot and politician (b. 1903)
- 1973 – Yves Giraud-Cabantous, French racing driver (b. 1904)
- 1975 – Peter Bamm, German journalist and author (b. 1897)
- 1977 – Levko Revutsky, Ukrainian composer and educator (b. 1889)
- 1978 – George Paine, English cricketer and coach (b. 1908)
- 1978 – Memduh Tağmaç, Turkish general (b. 1904)
- 1979 – Airey Neave, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (b. 1916)
- 1979 – Ray Ventura, French pianist and bandleader (b. 1908)
- 1981 – DeWitt Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1889)
- 1984 – Karl Rahner, German-Austrian priest and theologian (b. 1904)
- 1985 – Harold Peary, American actor and singer (b. 1908)
- 1986 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (b. 1899)
- 1986 – John Ciardi, American poet and etymologist (b. 1916)
- 1988 – Edgar Faure, French historian and politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1908)
- 1990 – Harry Bridges, Australian-born American activist and trade union leader (b. 1901)
- 1992 – Manolis Andronikos, Greek archaeologist and academic (b. 1919)
- 1993 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter (b. 1916)
- 1993 – Richard Diebenkorn, American painter (b. 1922)
- 1995 – Rozelle Claxton, American pianist (b. 1913)
- 1995 – Tony Lock, English-Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1929)
- 1995 – Paul A. Rothchild, American record producer (b. 1935)
- 1996 – Hugh Falkus, English pilot and author (b. 1917)
- 1996 – Ryoei Saito, Japanese businessman (b. 1916)
- 2000 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (b. 1915)
- 2002 – Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
- 2002 – Anand Bakshi, Indian poet and lyricist (b. 1930)
- 2003 – Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
- 2003 – Valentin Pavlov, Russian banker and politician, 11th Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
- 2004 – Alistair Cooke, English-American journalist and author (b. 1908)
- 2004 – Hubert Gregg, English actor and director (b. 1914)
- 2004 – Michael King, New Zealand historian and author (b. 1945)
- 2004 – Timi Yuro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
- 2005 – Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Milton Green, American hurdler and soldier (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Fred Korematsu, American political activist (b. 1919)
- 2005 – O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
- 2005 – Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian (b. 1968)
- 2006 – Red Hickey, American football player and coach (b. 1917)
- 2006 – John McGahern, Irish author and educator (b. 1934)
- 2007 – John Roberts, Canadian political scientist, academic, and politician, 46th Secretary of State for Canada (b. 1933)
- 2008 – Roland Fraïssé, French mathematical logician (b. 1920)
- 2008 – David Leslie, Scottish racing driver (b. 1953)
- 2008 – Richard Lloyd, English racing driver (b. 1945)
- 2008 – Dith Pran, Cambodian-American photographer and journalist (b. 1942)
- 2010 – Jaime Escalante, Bolivian-American educator (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (b. 1922)
- 2010 – Martin Sandberger, German SS officer (b. 1911)
- 2012 – Janet Anderson Perkin, Canadian baseball player and curler (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Aquila Berlas Kiani, Indian-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Francesco Mancini, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1968)
- 2012 – Granville Semmes, American businessman, founded 1-800-Flowers (b. 1928)
- 2012 – Leonid Shebarshin, Russian KGB officer (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (b. 1923)
- 2013 – Bobby Parks, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
- 2013 – Phil Ramone, South African-American songwriter and producer, co-founded A & R Recording (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Edith Schaeffer, Chinese-Swiss religious leader and author, co-founded L’Abri (b. 1914)
- 2013 – Bob Turley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Ray Hutchison, American lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Kate O’Mara, English actress (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Roger Slifer, American author, illustrator, screenwriter, and producer (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1921)
- 2018 – Bill Maynard, English actor (b. 1928)
- 2020 – Bill Withers, American musician (b. 1938)
Holidays and observances on March 30
- Christian feast day:
- Blessed Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy
- Blessed Maria Restituta Kafka
- John Climacus
- Mamertinus of Auxerre
- Quirinus of Neuss
- Thomas Son Chasuhn, Marie-Nicolas-Antoine Daveluy (part of The Korean Martyrs)
- Tola of Clonard
- March 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which the first day of Hocktide can fall, while April 3 is the latest; observed on the second Monday after Easter. (Hungerford, England; popular in medieval England)
- Land Day (Palestine)
- National Doctors’ Day (United States)
- Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
- School Day of Non-violence and Peace (Spain)
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March 25 in History
- 708 – Pope Constantine succeeds Pope Sisinnius as the 88th pope.
- 717 – Theodosius III resigns the throne to the Byzantine Empire to enter the clergy.
- 919 – Romanos Lekapenos seizes the Boukoleon Palace in Constantinople and becomes regent of the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII.
- 1000 – Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah assassinates the eunuch chief minister Barjawan and assumes control of the government.
- 1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scots (Scotland).
- 1409 – The Council of Pisa opens.
- 1555 – The city of Valencia is founded in present-day Venezuela.
- 1576 – Jerome Savage takes out a sub-lease to start the Newington Butts Theatre outside London.
- 1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia.
- 1655 – Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
- 1802 – The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a “Definitive Treaty of Peace” between France and the United Kingdom.
- 1807 – The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
- 1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger-carrying railway in the world.
- 1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
- 1821 – Traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence. The war had actually begun on 23 February 1821 (Julian calendar).
- 1845 – New Zealand Legislative Council pass the first Militia Act constituting the New Zealand Army.
- 1865 – American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces temporarily capture Fort Stedman from the Union.
- 1894 – Coxey’s Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington, D.C.
- 1911 – In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
- 1917 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
- 1918 – The Belarusian People’s Republic is established.
- 1924 – On the anniversary of Greek Independence, Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaims the Second Hellenic Republic.
- 1931 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
- 1941 – The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers with the signing of the Tripartite Pact.
- 1947 – An explosion in a coal mine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
- 1948 – The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
- 1949 – More than 92,000 kulaks are suddenly deported from the Baltic states to Siberia.
- 1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg’s poem “Howl” on obscenity grounds.
- 1957 – The European Economic Community is established with West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg as the first members.
- 1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1969 – During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
- 1971 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandon an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
- 1975 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.
- 1979 – The first fully functional Space Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
- 1988 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
- 1995 – WikiWikiWeb, the world’s first wiki, and part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham.
- 1996 – The European Union’s Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
- 2006 – Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
- 2006 – Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged 2006 Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
Births on March 25
- 1252 – Conradin, Duke of Swabia (d. 1268)
- 1259 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1332)
- 1297 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1341)
- 1297 – Arnošt of Pardubice, Polish archbishop (d. 1364)
- 1345 – Blanche of Lancaster (d. 1369)
- 1347 – Catherine of Siena, Italian philosopher, theologian, and saint (d. 1380)
- 1404 – John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (d. 1444)
- 1414 – Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1455)
- 1434 – Eustochia Smeralda Calafato, Italian saint (d. 1485)
- 1453 – Giuliano de’ Medici (d. 1478)
- 1479 – Vasili III of Russia (d. 1533)
- 1491 – Marie d’Albret, Countess of Rethel (d. 1549)
- 1510 – Guillaume Postel, French linguist (d. 1581)
- 1538 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1612)
- 1541 – Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1587)
- 1545 – John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg (d. 1622)
- 1546 – Giacomo Castelvetro, Italian writer (d. 1616)
- 1593 – Jean de Brébeuf, French-Canadian missionary and saint (d. 1649)
- 1611 – Evliya Çelebi, Ottoman Turk traveller and writer (d. 1682)
- 1636 – Henric Piccardt, Dutch lawyer (d. 1712)
- 1643 – Louis Moréri, French priest and scholar (d. 1680)
- 1661 – Paul de Rapin, French soldier and historian (d. 1725)
- 1699 – Johann Adolph Hasse, German singer and composer (d. 1783)
- 1741 – Jean-Antoine Houdon, French sculptor and educator (d. 1828)
- 1745 – John Barry, American naval officer and father of the American navy (d. 1803)
- 1767 – Joachim Murat, French general (d. 1815)
- 1782 – Caroline Bonaparte, French daughter of Carlo Buonaparte (d. 1839)
- 1800 – Ernst Heinrich Karl von Dechen, German geologist and academic (d. 1889)
- 1808 – José de Espronceda, Spanish poet and author (d. 1842)
- 1824 – Clinton L. Merriam, American banker and politician (d. 1900)
- 1840 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American colonel (d. 1876)
- 1863 – Simon Flexner, American physician and academic (d. 1946)
- 1867 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor, designed Mount Rushmore (d. 1941)
- 1867 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian-American cellist and conductor (d. 1957)
- 1868 – Bill Lockwood, English cricketer (d. 1932)
- 1871 – Louis Perrée, French fencer (d. 1924)
- 1872 – Horatio Nelson Jackson, American race car driver and physician (d. 1955)
- 1873 – Rudolf Rocker, German-American author and activist (d. 1958)
- 1874 – Selim Sırrı Tarcan, Turkish educator and politician (d. 1957)
- 1876 – Irving Baxter, American jumper and pole vaulter (d. 1957)
- 1877 – Walter Little, Canadian politician (d. 1961)
- 1878 – František Janda-Suk, Czech discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1955)
- 1879 – Amedee Reyburn, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1920)
- 1881 – Béla Bartók, Hungarian pianist and composer (d. 1945)
- 1881 – Patrick Henry Bruce, American painter and educator (d. 1936)
- 1881 – Mary Webb, English author and poet (d. 1927)
- 1893 – Johannes Villemson, Estonian runner (d. 1971)
- 1895 – Siegfried Handloser, German general and physician (d. 1954)
- 1885 – Jimmy Seed, English international footballer, inside forward and manager (d. 1966)
- 1897 – Leslie Averill, New Zealand doctor and soldier (d. 1981)
- 1899 – François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (d. 1994)
- 1901 – Ed Begley, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1903 – Binnie Barnes, English-American actress (d. 1998)
- 1903 – Frankie Carle, American pianist and bandleader (d. 2001)
- 1903 – Nahum Norbert Glatzer, Ukrainian-American theologian and scholar (d. 1990)
- 1904 – Pete Johnson, American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist (d. 1967)
- 1905 – Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, German colonel (d. 1944)
- 1906 – Jean Sablon, French singer and actor (d. 1994)
- 1906 – A. J. P. Taylor, English historian and academic (d. 1990)
- 1908 – David Lean, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1991)
- 1910 – Magda Olivero, Italian soprano (d. 2014)
- 1910 – Benzion Netanyahu, Polish-Israeli historian and academic (d. 2012)
- 1912 – Melita Norwood, English civil servant and spy (d. 2005)
- 1912 – Jean Vilar, French actor and director (d. 1971)
- 1913 – Reo Stakis, Cypriot-Scottish businessman, founded Stakis Hotels (d. 2001)
- 1914 – Norman Borlaug, American agronomist and humanitarian, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009)
- 1915 – Dorothy Squires, Welsh singer (d. 1998)
- 1916 – S. M. Pandit, Indian painter and educator (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Howard Cosell, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 1995)
- 1920 – Paul Scott, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1978)
- 1920 – Patrick Troughton, English actor (d. 1987)
- 1920 – Usha Mehta, Gandhian and freedom fighter of India (d. 2000)
- 1921 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (d. 1995)
- 1921 – Simone Signoret, French actress (d. 1985)
- 1922 – Eileen Ford, American businesswoman, co-founded Ford Models (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Bonnie Guitar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
- 1923 – Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Roberts Blossom, American actor (d. 2011)
- 1924 – Machiko Kyō, Japanese actress (d. 2019)
- 1925 – Flannery O’Connor, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1964)
- 1925 – Anthony Quinton, Baron Quinton, English physician and philosopher (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Kishori Sinha, Indian politician, social activist and advocate (d. 2016)
- 1926 – Riz Ortolani, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
- 1926 – László Papp, Hungarian boxer (d. 2003)
- 1926 – Jaime Sabines, Mexican poet and politician (d. 1999)
- 1926 – Gene Shalit, American journalist and critic
- 1927 – P. Shanmugam, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Puducherry (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Jim Lovell, American captain, pilot, and astronaut
- 1928 – Gunnar Nielsen, Danish runner and typographer (d. 1985)
- 1928 – Hans Steinbrenner, German sculptor (d. 2008)
- 1929 – Cecil Taylor, American pianist and composer (d. 2018)
- 1930 – David Burge, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Carlo Mauri, Italian mountaineer and explorer (d. 1982)
- 1930 – Rudy Minarcin, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
- 1931 – Humphrey Burton, English radio and television host
- 1932 – Penelope Gilliatt, English novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1993)
- 1932 – Wes Santee, American runner (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Johnny Burnette, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
- 1934 – Bernard King, Australian actor and chef (d. 2002)
- 1934 – Karlheinz Schreiber, German-Canadian businessman
- 1934 – Gloria Steinem, American feminist activist, co-founded the Women’s Media Center
- 1935 – Gabriel Elorde, Filipino boxer (d. 1985)
- 1936 – Carl Kaufmann, American-German sprinter (d. 2008)
- 1937 – Tom Monaghan, American businessman, founded Domino’s Pizza
- 1938 – Hoyt Axton, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
- 1938 – Daniel Buren, French sculptor and painter
- 1938 – Fritz d’Orey, Brazilian race car driver
- 1939 – Toni Cade Bambara, American author, academic, and activist (d. 1995)
- 1939 – D. C. Fontana, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2019)
- 1941 – Gudmund Hernes, Norwegian sociologist and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Research
- 1942 – Aretha Franklin, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Richard O’Brien, English actor and screenwriter
- 1942 – Kim Woodburn, English television host
- 1943 – Paul Michael Glaser, American actor and director
- 1945 – Leila Diniz, Brazilian actress (d. 1972)
- 1946 – Cliff Balsom, English footballer
- 1946 – Daniel Bensaïd, French philosopher and author (d. 2010)
- 1946 – Stephen Hunter, American author and critic
- 1946 – Maurice Krafft, French volcanologist (d. 1991)
- 1947 – Richard Cork, English historian and critic
- 1947 – Elton John, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
- 1948 – Bonnie Bedelia, American actress
- 1948 – Michael Stanley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1949 – Ronnie Flanagan, Northern Irish Chief Constable (Royal Irish Constabulary, Police Service of Northern Ireland)
- 1949 – Sue Klebold, American activist
- 1950 – Chuck Greenberg, American saxophonist, songwriter, and producer (d. 1995)
- 1950 – Ronnie McDowell, American singer-songwriter
- 1950 – David Paquette, American-New Zealander pianist
- 1951 – Jumbo Tsuruta, Japanese wrestler (d. 2000)
- 1952 – Stephen Dorrell, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Health
- 1952 – Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician, Mayor of Bogotá
- 1953 – Robert Fox, English producer and manager
- 1953 – Vesna Pusić, Croatian sociologist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Croatia
- 1953 – Haroon Rasheed, Pakistani cricketer and coach
- 1954 – Thom Loverro, American journalist and author
- 1955 – Daniel Boulud, French chef and author
- 1955 – Lee Mazzilli, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1957 – Christina Boxer, English runner and journalist
- 1957 – Jonathan Michie, English economist and academic
- 1957 – Aleksandr Puchkov, Russian hurdler
- 1957 – Jim Uhls, American screenwriter and producer
- 1958 – Lorna Brown, Canadian artist, curator, and writer
- 1958 – Susie Bright, American journalist, author, and critic
- 1958 – Sisy Chen, Taiwanese journalist and politician
- 1958 – María Caridad Colón, Cuban javelin thrower and shot putter
- 1958 – John Ensign, American physician and politician
- 1958 – Ray Tanner, American baseball player and coach
- 1958 – Åsa Torstensson, Swedish politician, 3rd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure
- 1960 – Steve Norman, English saxophonist, songwriter, and producer
- 1960 – Peter O’Brien, Australian actor
- 1960 – Brenda Strong, American actress
- 1961 – Mark Brooks, American golfer
- 1962 – Marcia Cross, American actress
- 1962 – David Nuttall, English lawyer and politician
- 1963 – Karen Bruce, English dancer and choreographer
- 1963 – Velle Kadalipp, Estonian architect
- 1963 – Andrew O’Connor, British actor, comedian, magician, television presenter and executive producer
- 1964 – René Meulensteen, Dutch footballer and coach
- 1964 – Ken Wregget, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1964 – Norm Duke, American bowler
- 1965 – Avery Johnson, American basketball player and coach
- 1965 – Stefka Kostadinova, Bulgarian high jumper
- 1965 – Sarah Jessica Parker, American actress, producer, and designer
- 1966 – Tom Glavine, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1966 – Humberto Gonzalez, Mexican boxer
- 1966 – Jeff Healey, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2008)
- 1966 – Anton Rogan, Northern Irish footballer
- 1967 – Matthew Barney, American sculptor and photographer
- 1967 – Doug Stanhope, American comedian and actor
- 1967 – Debi Thomas, American figure skater and physician
- 1969 – George Chlitsios, Greek conductor and composer
- 1969 – Dale Davis, American basketball player
- 1969 – Cathy Dennis, English singer-songwriter, record producer and actress
- 1969 – Jeffrey Walker, English singer-songwriter and bass player
- 1970 – Magnus Larsson, Swedish golfer
- 1971 – Stacy Dragila, American pole vaulter and coach
- 1971 – Cammi Granato, American ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1971 – Sheryl Swoopes, American basketball player and coach
- 1972 – Giniel de Villiers, South African race car driver
- 1972 – Phil O’Donnell, Scottish footballer (d. 2007)
- 1973 – Michaela Dorfmeister, Austrian skier
- 1973 – Anders Fridén, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
- 1973 – Bob Sura, American basketball player
- 1974 – Serge Betsen, Cameroonian-French rugby player
- 1974 – Lark Voorhies, American actress and singer
- 1975 – Ladislav Benýšek, Czech ice hockey player
- 1975 – Melanie Blatt, English singer-songwriter and actress
- 1975 – Erika Heynatz, Papua New Guinean-Australian model and actress
- 1976 – Francie Bellew, Irish footballer
- 1976 – Lars Figura, German sprinter
- 1976 – Wladimir Klitschko, Ukrainian boxer
- 1976 – Rima Wakarua, New Zealand-Italian rugby player
- 1977 – Natalie Clein, English cellist and educator
- 1977 – Andrew Lindsay, Scottish rower
- 1978 – Gennaro Delvecchio, Italian footballer
- 1979 – Muriel Hurtis-Houairi, French sprinter
- 1980 – Kathrine Sørland, Norwegian fashion model and television presenter
- 1982 – Danica Patrick, American race car driver
- 1982 – Álvaro Saborío, Costa Rican footballer
- 1982 – Jenny Slate, American comedian, actress and author
- 1983 – Mickaël Hanany, French high jumper
- 1984 – Katharine McPhee, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1984 – Liam Messam, New Zealand rugby player
- 1985 – Carmen Rasmusen, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1985 – Diana Rennik, Estonian figure skater
- 1986 – Marco Belinelli, Italian basketball player
- 1986 – Megan Gibson, American softball player
- 1986 – Kyle Lowry, American basketball player
- 1986 – Mickey Paea, Australian rugby league player
- 1987 – Jacob Bagersted, Danish handball player
- 1987 – Victor Obinna, Nigerian footballer
- 1987 – Nobunari Oda, Japanese figure skater
- 1988 – Big Sean, American rapper, singer and songwriter
- 1988 – Mitchell Watt, Australian long jumper
- 1988 – Arthur Zeiler, German rugby player
- 1989 – Aly Michalka, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1989 – Scott Sinclair, English footballer
- 1990 – Mehmet Ekici, Turkish footballer
- 1990 – Alexander Esswein, German footballer
- 1991 – Scott Malone, English footballer, left-back
- 1993 – Jacob Gagan, Australian rugby league player
- 1993 – Sam Johnstone, English footballer
- 1994 – Justine Dufour-Lapointe, Canadian skier
Deaths on March 25
- 908 – Li Kening, Chinese general
- 940 – Taira no Masakado, Japanese samurai
- 990 – Nicodemus of Mammola, Italian monk and saint
- 1005 – Kenneth III, king of Scotland
- 1051 – Hugh IV, French nobleman
- 1189 – Frederick, duke of Bohemia
- 1223 – Alfonso II, king of Portugal (b. 1185)
- 1351 – Kō no Moronao, Japanese samurai
- 1351 – Kō no Moroyasu, Japanese samurai
- 1392 – Hosokawa Yoriyuki, Japanese samurai
- 1458 – Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet and politician (b. 1398)
- 1558 – Marcos de Niza, French friar and explorer (b. 1495)
- 1603 – Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese daimyō (b. 1526)
- 1609 – Olaus Martini, Swedish archbishop (b. 1557)
- 1609 – Isabelle de Limeuil, French noble (b. 1535)
- 1620 – Johannes Nucius, German composer and theorist (b. 1556)
- 1625 – Giambattista Marino, Italian poet and author (b. 1569)
- 1658 – Herman IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, German nobleman (b. 1607)
- 1677 – Wenceslaus Hollar, Czech-English painter and etcher (b. 1607)
- 1701 – Jean Regnault de Segrais, French poet and novelist (b. 1624)
- 1712 – Nehemiah Grew, English anatomist and physiologist (b. 1641)
- 1732 – Lucy Filippini, Italian teacher and saint (b. 1672)
- 1736 – Nicholas Hawksmoor, English architect, designed Easton Neston and Christ Church (b. 1661)
- 1738 – Turlough O’Carolan, Irish harp player and composer (b. 1670)
- 1801 – Novalis, German poet and author (b. 1772)
- 1818 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (b. 1745)
- 1857 – William Colgate, English-American businessman and philanthropist, founded Colgate-Palmolive (b. 1783)
- 1860 – James Braid, Scottish-English surgeon (b. 1795)
- 1869 – Edward Bates, American politician and lawyer (b. 1793)
- 1873 – Wilhelm Marstrand, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1810)
- 1907 – Ernst von Bergmann, Latvian-German surgeon and academic (b. 1836)
- 1908 – Durham Stevens, American diplomat (b. 1851)
- 1914 – Frédéric Mistral, French lexicographer and poet, 1904 Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
- 1917 – Elizabeth Storrs Mead, American academic (b. 1832)
- 1918 – Claude Debussy, French composer (b. 1862)
- 1918 – Peter Martin, Australian footballer and soldier (b. 1875)
- 1927 – Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, Palestinian Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (b. 1843)
- 1931 – Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi, Indian journalist and politician (b. 1890)
- 1931 – Ida B. Wells, American journalist and activist (b. 1862)
- 1932 – Harriet Backer, Norwegian painter (b.1845)
- 1942 – William Carr, American rower (b. 1876)
- 1951 – Eddie Collins, American baseball player and manager (b. 1887)
- 1956 – Lou Moore, American race car driver (b. 1904)
- 1956 – Robert Newton, English actor (b. 1905)
- 1957 – Max Ophüls, German-American director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
- 1958 – Tom Brown, American trombonist (b. 1888)
- 1964 – Charles Benjamin Howard, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1885)
- 1965 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (b. 1925)
- 1969 – Billy Cotton, English singer, drummer, and bandleader (b. 1899)
- 1969 – Max Eastman, American poet and activist (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Jakob Sildnik, Estonian photographer and director (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourgian-American photographer, painter, and curator (b. 1879)
- 1975 – Juan Gaudino, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1893)
- 1975 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (b. 1906)
- 1975 – Deiva Zivarattinam, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1894)
- 1976 – Josef Albers, German-American painter and educator (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Benjamin Miessner, American radio engineer and inventor (b. 1890)
- 1979 – Robert Madgwick, Australian colonel and academic (b. 1905)
- 1979 – Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (b. 1914)
- 1980 – Milton H. Erickson, American psychiatrist and psychologist (b. 1901)
- 1980 – Walter Susskind, Czech-English conductor and educator (b. 1913)
- 1982 – Goodman Ace, American comedian and writer (b. 1899)
- 1983 – Bob Waterfield, American football player and coach (b. 1920)
- 1986 – Gloria Blondell, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1987 – A. W. Mailvaganam, Sri Lankan physicist and academic (b. 1906)
- 1988 – Robert Joffrey, American dancer, choreographer, and director, co-founded the Joffrey Ballet (b. 1930)
- 1991 – Marcel Lefebvre, French-Swiss archbishop (b. 1905)
- 1992 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Angelines Fernández, Spanish-Mexican actress (b. 1922)
- 1994 – Bernard Kangro, Estonian poet and journalist (b. 1910)
- 1994 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss jurist and politician (b. 1899)
- 1995 – James Samuel Coleman, American sociologist and academic (b. 1926)
- 1995 – John Hugenholtz, Dutch engineer (b. 1914)
- 1996 – John Snagge, English journalist (b. 1904)
- 1998 – Max Green, Australian lawyer (b. 1952)
- 1998 – Steven Schiff, American lawyer and politician (b. 1947)
- 1999 – Cal Ripken, Sr., American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1936)
- 2000 – Helen Martin, American actress (b. 1909)
- 2001 – Brian Trubshaw, English cricketer and pilot (b. 1924)
- 2002 – Kenneth Wolstenholme, English journalist and sportscaster (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Paul Henning, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish photographer (b. 1950)
- 2006 – Rocío Dúrcal, Spanish singer and actress (b. 1944)
- 2006 – Richard Fleischer, American film director (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Buck Owens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Andranik Margaryan, Armenian engineer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Armenia (b. 1951)
- 2008 – Ben Carnevale, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
- 2008 – Thierry Gilardi, French journalist and sportscaster (b. 1958)
- 2008 – Abby Mann, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Herb Peterson, American businessman, created the McMuffin (b. 1919)
- 2009 – Johnny Blanchard, American baseball player (b. 1933)
- 2009 – Kosuke Koyama, Japanese-American theologian and academic (b. 1929)
- 2009 – Dan Seals, American musician (b. 1948)
- 2009 – Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, Turkish politician and member of the Parliament of Turkey (b. 1954)
- 2012 – Priscilla Buckley, American journalist and author (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Hal E. Chester, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1921)
- 2012 – John Crosfield, English businessman, founded Crosfield Electronics (b. 1915)
- 2012 – Edd Gould, English animator and voice actor, founded Eddsworld (b. 1988)
- 2012 – Antonio Tabucchi, Italian author and academic (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Léonce Bernard, Canadian politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (b. 1943)
- 2013 – Ben Goldfaden, American basketball player and educator (b. 1913)
- 2013 – Anthony Lewis, American journalist and academic (b. 1927)
- 2013 – Jean Pickering, English runner and long jumper (b. 1929)
- 2013 – Jean-Marc Roberts, French author and screenwriter (b. 1954)
- 2013 – John F. Wiley, American lieutenant, football player, and coach (b. 1920)
- 2014 – Lorna Arnold, English historian and author (b. 1915)
- 2014 – Hank Lauricella, American football player and politician (b. 1930)
- 2014 – Jon Lord, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1956)
- 2014 – Sonny Ruberto, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1946)
- 2014 – Jonathan Schell, American journalist and author (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Ralph Wilson, American businessman, founded the Buffalo Bills (b. 1918)
- 2015 – George Fischbeck, American journalist and educator (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (b. 1917)
- 2017 – Cuthbert Sebastian, St. Kitts and Nevis politician (b. 1921)
- 2018 – Zell Miller, American author and politician (b. 1932)
- 2019 – Scott Walker, American-born British singer-songwriter (b. 1943)[9]
Holidays and observances on March 25
- Anniversary of the Arengo and the Feast of the Militants (San Marino)
- Christian feast days:
- Ælfwold II of Sherborne
- Barontius and Desiderius
- Blessed Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas
- Omelyan Kovch (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church)
- Dismas, the “Good Thief”
- Humbert of Maroilles
- Quirinus of Tegernsee
- March 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Cultural Workers Day (Russia)
- Earliest day on which Seward’s Day can fall, while March 31 is the latest; celebrated on the last Monday in March. (Alaska)
- Empress Menen’s Birthday (Rastafari)
- EU Talent Day (European Union)
- Feast of the Annunciation (Christianity), and its related observances (if March 25 falls in Holy Week or Easter Week the feast is moved to the Monday after the 2nd Sunday of Easter):
- Historic start of the new year (Lady Day) in England, Wales, Ireland, and the future United States until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752. (The year 1751 began on 25 March; the year 1752 began on 1 January.) It is one of the four Quarter days in Ireland and England.
- International Day of the Unborn Child (international)
- Mother’s Day (Slovenia)
- Vårfrudagen or Våffeldagen, “Waffle Day” (Sweden, Norway & Denmark)
- Freedom Day (Belarus)
- International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (international)
- International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members (United Nations General Assembly)
- Maryland Day (Maryland, United States)
- Medal of Honor Day (United States)
- Independence Day, celebrates the start of Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire, in 1821. (Greece)
- NZ Army Day
- Struggle for Human Rights Day (Slovakia)
- Tolkien Reading Day