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August 1 in History
- 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.
- AD 69 – Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis.
- 527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
- 607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).
- 902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabids army, concluding the Muslim conquest of Sicily.
- 1203 – Isaac II Angelos, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexios IV Angelos co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.
- 1291 – The Old Swiss Confederacy is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.
- 1469 – Louis XI of France founds the chivalric order called the Order of Saint Michael in Amboise.
- 1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.
- 1571 – The Ottoman conquest of Cyprus is concluded, by the surrender of Famagusta.
- 1620 – Speedwell leaves Delfshaven to bring pilgrims to America by way of England.
- 1664 – Ottoman forces are defeated in the battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.
- 1714 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era of British history.
- 1759 – Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
- 1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
- 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay): Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.
- 1800 – The Acts of Union 1800 are passed which merge the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
- 1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
- 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force, although it remains legal in the possessions of the East India Company until the passage of the Indian Slavery Act, 1843.
- 1842 – The Lombard Street riot erupts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.
- 1849 – Joven Daniel wrecks at the coast of Araucanía, Chile, leading to allegations that local Mapuche tribes murdered survivors and kidnapped Elisa Bravo.
- 1855 – The first ascent of Monte Rosa, the second highest summit in the Alps.
- 1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
- 1893 – Henry Perky patents shredded wheat.
- 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
- 1907 – The start of the first Scout camp on Brownsea Island, the origin of the worldwide Scouting movement.
- 1911 – Harriet Quimby takes her pilot’s test and becomes the first U.S. woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator’s certificate.
- 1914 – The German Empire declares war on the Russian Empire at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.
- 1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army.
- 1933 – Anti-Fascist activists Bruno Tesch, Walter Möller, Karl Wolff, and August Lütgens are executed by the Nazi regime in Altona.
- 1936 – The Olympics opened in Berlin with a ceremony presided over by Adolf Hitler.
- 1937 – Josip Broz Tito reads the resolution “Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH” to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.
- 1943 – World War II: Operation Tidal Wave also known as “Black Sunday”, was a failed American attempt to destroy Romanian oil fields.
- 1944 – World War II: The Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi German occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
- 1946 – Leaders of the Russian Liberation Army, a force of Russian prisoners of war that collaborated with Nazi Germany, are executed in Moscow, Soviet Union for treason.
- 1950 – Guam is organized as a United States commonwealth as President Harry S. Truman signs the Guam Organic Act.
- 1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
- 1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.
- 1960 – Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.
- 1961 – U.S. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara orders the creation of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the nation’s first centralized military espionage organization.
- 1964 – The former Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- 1965 – Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune was published for the first time. It was named as the world’s best-selling science fiction novel in 2003.
- 1966 – Charles Whitman kills 16 people at the University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.
- 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.
- 1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
- 1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by former Beatle George Harrison, is held at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
- 1974 – Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the “Green Line”, dividing Cyprus into two zones.
- 1980 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world’s first democratically elected female head of state.
- 1980 – A train crash kills 18 people in County Cork, Ireland.
- 1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.
- 1984 – Commercial peat-cutters discover the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, England.
- 1988 – A British soldier was killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.
- 1993 – The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.
- 1998 – The establishment of Muslim Medics, one of the largest student-led societies in Imperial College London that provides both academic and wellbeing support to medical students of all backgrounds.
- 2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 others in Asunción, Paraguay.
- 2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour, killing 13 people and injuring 145.
- 2008 – The Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway begins operation as the fastest commuter rail system in the world.
- 2008 – Eleven mountaineers from international expeditions died on K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth in the worst single accident in the history of K2 mountaineering.
- 2017 – A suicide attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan kills 20 people.
Births on August 1
- 10 BC – Claudius, Roman emperor (d. 54)
- 126 – Pertinax, Roman emperor (d. 193)
- 845 – Sugawara no Michizane, Japanese scholar and politician (d. 903)
- 992 – Hyeonjong, Korean king (d. 1031)
- 1068 – Taizu, Chinese emperor (d. 1123)
- 1313 – Kōgon, Japanese emperor (d. 1364)
- 1377 – Go-Komatsu, Japanese emperor (d. 1433)
- 1385 – John FitzAlan, 13th Earl of Arundel (d. 1421)
- 1410 – Jan IV, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (d. 1475)
- 1492 – Wolfgang, German prince (d. 1566)
- 1520 – Sigismund II, Polish king (d. 1572)
- 1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and scholar (d. 1622)
- 1555 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)
- 1579 – Luis Vélez de Guevara, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1644)
- 1626 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi and theorist (d. 1676)
- 1630 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1673)
- 1659 – Sebastiano Ricci, Italian painter (d. 1734)
- 1713 – Charles I, German duke and prince (d. 1780)
- 1714 – Richard Wilson, Welsh painter and academic (d. 1782)
- 1738 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (d. 1794)
- 1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French soldier, biologist, and academic (d. 1829)
- 1770 – William Clark, American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th Governor of Missouri Territory (d. 1838)
- 1778 – Mary Jefferson Eppes, daughter of Thomas Jefferson who died in childbirth (d. 1804)
- 1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and poet (d. 1843)
- 1779 – Lorenz Oken, German-Swiss botanist, biologist, and ornithologist (d. 1851)
- 1809 – William B. Travis, American colonel and lawyer (d. 1836)
- 1815 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1882)
- 1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1889)
- 1819 – Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1891)
- 1831 – Antonio Cotogni, Italian opera singer and educator (d. 1918)
- 1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, American lawyer and politician, 35th United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)
- 1856 – George Coulthard, Australian footballer and cricketer (d. 1883)
- 1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French lawyer and politician, 13th President of France (d. 1937)
- 1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1884)
- 1860 – Bazil Assan, Romanian engineer and explorer (d. 1918)
- 1861 – Sammy Jones, Australian cricketer (d. 1951)
- 1865 – Isobel Lilian Gloag, English painter (d. 1917)
- 1871 – John Lester, American cricketer and soccer player (d. 1969)
- 1877 – George Hackenschmidt, Estonian-English wrestler and strongman (d. 1968)
- 1878 – Konstantinos Logothetopoulos, Greek physician and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1961)
- 1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician and academic (d. 1940)
- 1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- 1889 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist and academic (d. 1979)
- 1891 – Karl Kobelt, Swiss lawyer and politician, 52nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1968)
- 1893 – Alexander of Greece (d. 1920)
- 1894 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (d. 1927)
- 1898 – Morris Stoloff, American composer and musical director (d. 1980)
- 1899 – Raymond Mays, English race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
- 1900 – Otto Nothling, Australian cricketer and rugby player (d. 1965)
- 1901 – Francisco Guilledo, Filipino boxer (d. 1925)
- 1903 – Paul Horgan, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1995)
- 1905 – Helen Sawyer Hogg, American-Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1993)
- 1907 – Eric Shipton, Sri Lankan-English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1977)
- 1910 – James Henry Govier, English painter and illustrator (d. 1974)
- 1910 – Walter Scharf, American pianist and composer (d. 2003)
- 1910 – Gerda Taro, German war photographer (d. 1937)
- 1911 – Jackie Ormes, American journalist and cartoonist (d. 1985)
- 1912 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1979)
- 1912 – Gego, German-Venezuelan sculptor and academic (d. 1994)
- 1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)
- 1914 – Jack Delano, American photographer and composer (d. 1997)
- 1914 – Alan Moore, Australian painter and educator (d. 2015)
- 1914 – J. Lee Thompson, English-Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
- 1916 – Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal (d. 2014)
- 1916 – Anne Hébert, Canadian author and poet (d. 2000)
- 1918 – T. J. Jemison, American minister and activist (d. 2013)
- 1919 – Stanley Middleton, English author (d. 2009)
- 1920 – Raul Renter, Estonian economist and chess player (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player, sailor, and sportscaster (d. 2009)
- 1921 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)
- 1922 – Arthur Hill, Canadian-American actor (d. 2006)
- 1923 – Val Bettin, American actor
- 1924 – Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (d. 2015)
- 1924 – Frank Havens, American canoeist (d. 2018)
- 1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Frank Worrell, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1967)
- 1925 – Ernst Jandl, Austrian poet and author (d. 2000)
- 1926 – George Hauptfuhrer, American basketball player and lawyer (d. 2013)
- 1926 – Hannah Hauxwell, English TV personality (d. 2018)
- 1927 – María Teresa López Boegeholz, Chilean oceanographer (d. 2006)
- 1927 – Anthony G. Bosco, American bishop (d. 2013)
- 1928 – Jack Shea, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
- 1929 – Hafizullah Amin, Afghan educator and politician, Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1979)
- 1929 – Ann Calvello, American roller derby racer (d. 2006)
- 1929 – Leila Abashidze, Georgian actress (d. 2018)
- 1930 – Lionel Bart, English composer (d. 1999)
- 1930 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist, anthropologist, and philosopher (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actress and writer (d. 1991)
- 1930 – Lawrence Eagleburger, American lieutenant and politician, 62nd United States Secretary of State (d. 2011)
- 1930 – Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician, 51st Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1996)
- 1930 – Geoffrey Holder, Trinidadian-American actor, singer, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
- 1931 – Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1931 – Trevor Goddard, South African cricketer (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Meir Kahane, American-Israeli rabbi and activist, founded the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)
- 1932 – Meena Kumari, Indian actress (d. 1972)
- 1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor, singer, director, and producer (d. 2009)
- 1933 – Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
- 1933 – Teri Shields, American actress, producer, and agent (d. 2012)
- 1933 – Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian and author (d. 2007)
- 1934 – John Beck, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2000)
- 1934 – Derek Birdsall, English graphic designer
- 1935 – Geoff Pullar, English cricketer (d. 2014)
- 1936 – W. D. Hamilton, Egyptian born British biologist, psychologist, and academic (d. 2000)
- 1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, Algerian-French fashion designer, co-founded Yves Saint Laurent (d. 2008)
- 1936 – Laurie Taylor, English sociologist, radio host, and academic
- 1937 – Al D’Amato, American lawyer and politician
- 1939 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (d. 2015)
- 1939 – Terry Kiser, American actor
- 1939 – Stephen Sykes, English bishop and theologian (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Robert James Waller, American author and photographer (d. 2017)
- 1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, English cricketer and umpire
- 1940 – Henry Silverman, American businessman, founded Cendant
- 1940 – Mahmoud Dowlatabadi, Iranian writer and actor
- 1941 – Ron Brown, American captain and politician, 30th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 1996)
- 1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1942 – Jerry Garcia, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
- 1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1944 – Dmitry Nikolayevich Filippov, Russian banker and politician (d. 1998)
- 1945 – Douglas Osheroff, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 – Boz Burrell, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and guitarist (d. 2006)
- 1946 – Rick Coonce, American drummer (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Richard O. Covey, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
- 1946 – Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist and academic
- 1947 – Lorna Goodison, Jamaican poet and author
- 1947 – Chantal Montellier, French comics creator and artist
- 1948 – Avi Arad, Israeli-American screenwriter and producer, founded Marvel Studios
- 1948 – Cliff Branch, American football player
- 1948 – David Gemmell, English journalist and author (d. 2006)
- 1949 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstani politician, 2nd President of Kyrgyzstan
- 1949 – Jim Carroll, American poet, author, and musician (d. 2009)
- 1949 – Ray Nettles, American football player (d. 2009)
- 1950 – Roy Williams, American basketball player and coach
- 1951 – Tim Bachman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1951 – Tommy Bolin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
- 1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player, coach, and manager
- 1952 – Zoran Đinđić, Serbian philosopher and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)
- 1953 – Robert Cray, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist and author
- 1954 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican-Canadian boxer (d. 2006)
- 1954 – James Gleick, American journalist and author
- 1954 – Benno Möhlmann, German footballer and manager
- 1957 – Taylor Negron, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
- 1958 – Rob Buck, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2000)
- 1958 – Michael Penn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player and coach
- 1959 – Joe Elliott, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1960 – Chuck D, American rapper and songwriter
- 1960 – Suzi Gardner, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1962 – Jacob Matlala, South African boxer (d. 2013)
- 1963 – Demián Bichir, Mexican-American actor and producer
- 1963 – Coolio, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor
- 1963 – Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut and engineer
- 1963 – Dean Wareham, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1964 – Adam Duritz, American singer-songwriter and producer
- 1964 – Fiona Hyslop, Scottish businesswoman and politician
- 1964 – Augusta Read Thomas, American composer, conductor and educator
- 1965 – Brandt Jobe, American golfer
- 1965 – Sam Mendes, English director and producer
- 1966 – James St. James, American club promoter and author
- 1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player and coach
- 1967 – José Padilha, Brazilian director, producer and screenwriter
- 1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player and coach
- 1968 – Dan Donegan, American heavy metal guitarist and songwriter
- 1968 – Shigetoshi Hasegawa, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Andrei Borissov, Estonian footballer and manager
- 1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player and scout
- 1969 – Graham Thorpe, English cricketer and journalist
- 1970 – Quentin Coryatt, American football player
- 1970 – David James, English footballer and manager
- 1970 – Eugenie van Leeuwen, Dutch cricketer
- 1972 – Nicke Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1972 – Christer Basma, Norwegian footballer and coach
- 1972 – Todd Bouman, American football player and coach
- 1972 – Thomas Woods, American historian, economist, and academic
- 1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American soccer player and coach
- 1973 – Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian runner
- 1973 – Edurne Pasaban, Spanish mountaineer
- 1974 – Cher Calvin, American journalist
- 1974 – Marek Galiński, Polish cyclist (d. 2014)
- 1974 – Tyron Henderson, South African cricketer
- 1974 – Dennis Lawrence, Trinidadian footballer and coach
- 1974 – Beckie Scott, Canadian skier
- 1975 – Vhrsti, Czech author and illustrator
- 1976 – Don Hertzfeldt, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
- 1976 – Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer
- 1976 – Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer
- 1976 – David Nemirovsky, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1976 – Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer and manager
- 1976 – Cristian Stoica, Romanian-Italian rugby player
- 1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
- 1977 – Haspop, French-Moroccan dancer, choreographer, and actor
- 1977 – Darnerien McCants, American-Canadian football player
- 1977 – Damien Saez, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1977 – Yoshi Tatsu, Japanese wrestler and boxer
- 1978 – Andy Blignaut, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1978 – Björn Ferry, Swedish biathlete
- 1978 – Dhani Harrison, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1978 – Chris Iwelumo, Scottish footballer
- 1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player
- 1979 – Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer
- 1979 – Nathan Fien, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
- 1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor, director, and producer
- 1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 – Romain Barras, French decathlete
- 1980 – Esteban Paredes, Chilean footballer
- 1981 – Dean Cox, Australian footballer
- 1981 – Pia Haraldsen, Norwegian journalist and author
- 1981 – Christofer Heimeroth, German footballer
- 1981 – Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer
- 1981 – Jamie Jones-Buchanan, English rugby player
- 1982 – Basem Fathi, Jordanian footballer
- 1982 – Montserrat Lombard, English actress, director, and screenwriter
- 1983 – Bobby Carpenter, American football player
- 1983 – Craig Clarke, New Zealand rugby player
- 1983 – Julien Faubert, French footballer
- 1983 – David Gervasi, Swiss decathlete
- 1984 – Steve Feak, American game designer
- 1984 – Francesco Gavazzi, Italian cyclist
- 1984 – Brandon Kintzler, American baseball player
- 1984 – Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer
- 1985 – Stuart Holden, Scottish-American soccer player
- 1985 – Adam Jones, American baseball player
- 1985 – Cole Kimball, American baseball player
- 1985 – Tendai Mtawarira, South African rugby player
- 1985 – Kris Stadsgaard, Danish footballer
- 1985 – Dušan Švento, Slovak footballer
- 1986 – Damien Allen, English footballer
- 1986 – Anton Strålman, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1986 – Andrew Taylor, English footballer
- 1986 – Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player
- 1986 – Mike Wallace, American football player
- 1987 – Iago Aspas, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Karen Carney, English women’s football winger
- 1987 – Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer
- 1987 – Lee Wallace, Scottish footballer
- 1988 – Mustafa Abdellaoue, Norwegian footballer
- 1988 – Patryk Małecki, Polish footballer
- 1988 – Bodene Thompson, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1989 – Madison Bumgarner, American baseball player
- 1989 – Tiffany Hwang, Korean American singer, songwriter, and actress
- 1990 – Aledmys Díaz, Cuban baseball player
- 1990 – Jean Hugues Gregoire, Mauritian swimmer
- 1990 – Elton Jantjies, South African rugby player
- 1991 – Piotr Malarczyk, Polish footballer
- 1991 – Marco Puntoriere, Italian footballer
- 1992 – Austin Rivers, American basketball player
- 1992 – Mrunal Thakur, Indian actress
- 1993 – Álex Abrines, Spanish basketball player
- 1993 – Leon Thomas III, American actor and singer
- 1994 – Sergeal Petersen, South African rugby player
- 1994 – Ayaka Wada, Japanese singer
- 1996 – Katie Boulter, English tennis player
- 2001 – Park Si-eun, South Korean actress
Deaths on August 1
- 30 BC – Mark Antony, Roman general and politician (b. 83 BC)
- 371 – Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop and saint (b. 283)
- 527 – Justin I, Byzantine emperor (b. 450)
- 873 – Thachulf, duke of Thuringia
- 946 – Ali ibn Isa al-Jarrah, Abbasid vizier (b. 859)
- 946 – Lady Xu Xinyue, Chinese queen (b. 902)
- 953 – Yingtian, Chinese Khitan empress (b. 879)
- 984 – Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester
- 1098 – Adhemar of Le Puy, French papal legate
- 1137 – Louis VI, king of France (b. 1081)
- 1146 – Vsevolod II of Kiev, Russian prince
- 1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)
- 1252 – Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Italian archbishop and explorer (b. 1180)
- 1299 – Conrad de Lichtenberg, Bishop of Strasbourg (b. 1240)
- 1402 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1341)
- 1457 – Lorenzo Valla, Italian author and educator (b. 1406)
- 1464 – Cosimo de’ Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1386)
- 1494 – Giovanni Santi, artist and father of Raphael (b. c. 1435)
- 1541 – Simon Grynaeus, German theologian and scholar (b. 1493)
- 1543 – Magnus I, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1488)
- 1546 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)
- 1557 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish archbishop, historian, and cartographer (b. 1490)
- 1580 – Albrecht Giese, Polish-German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)
- 1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)
- 1603 – Matthew Browne, English politician (b. 1563)
- 1714 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain (b. 1665)
- 1787 – Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1696)
- 1795 – Clas Bjerkander, Swedish meteorologist, botanist, and entomologist (b. 1735)
- 1796 – Sir Robert Pigot, 2nd Baronet, English colonel and politician (b. 1720)
- 1798 – François-Paul Brueys d’Aigalliers, French admiral (b. 1753)
- 1807 – John Boorman, English cricketer (b. c. 1754)
- 1807 – John Walker, English actor, philologist, and lexicographer (b. 1732)
- 1808 – Lady Diana Beauclerk, English painter and illustrator (b. 1734)
- 1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (b. 1763)
- 1851 – William Joseph Behr, German publicist and academic (b. 1775)
- 1863 – Jind Kaur Majarani (Regent) of the Sikh Empire (b. 1817)
- 1866 – John Ross, American tribal chief (b. 1790)
- 1869 – Peter Julian Eymard, French Priest and Founder Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (b. 1811)
- 1869 – Richard Dry, Australian politician, 7th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1815)
- 1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and scout (b. 1853)
- 1911 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (b. 1852)
- 1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American lawyer and politician (b. 1843)
- 1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and police officer (b. 1854)
- 1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer and journalist (b. 1856)
- 1921 – T.J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (b. 1876)
- 1922 – Donát Bánki, Hungarian engineer (b. 1856)
- 1929 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)
- 1938 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and academic (b. 1862)
- 1943 – Lydia Litvyak, Russian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1921)
- 1944 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (b. 1878)
- 1959 – Jean Behra, French race car driver (b. 1921)
- 1963 – Theodore Roethke, American poet (b. 1908)
- 1966 – Charles Whitman, American murderer (b. 1941)
- 1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian-German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)
- 1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)
- 1970 – Doris Fleeson, American journalist (b. 1901)
- 1970 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1883)
- 1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer and educator (b. 1882)
- 1973 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (b. 1893)
- 1974 – Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian cardinal (b. 1898)
- 1977 – Francis Gary Powers, American captain and pilot (b. 1929)
- 1980 – Patrick Depailler, French race car driver (b. 1944)
- 1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)
- 1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
- 1982 – T. Thirunavukarasu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
- 1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist and composer (b. 1937)
- 1990 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist, author, and academic (b. 1897)
- 1996 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1897)
- 1996 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and surgeon (b. 1929)
- 1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-British actress (b. 1927)
- 2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)
- 2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
- 2003 – Marie Trintignant, French actress and screenwriter (b. 1962)
- 2004 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (b. 1913)
- 2005 – Al Aronowitz, American journalist (b. 1928)
- 2005 – Wim Boost, Dutch cartoonist and educator (b. 1918)
- 2005 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter and sculptor (b. 1920)
- 2005 – Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)
- 2006 – Bob Thaves, American illustrator (b. 1924)
- 2006 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and activist (b. 1949)
- 2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish singer-songwriter and banjo player (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Gertan Klauber, Czech-English actor (b. 1932)
- 2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1916)
- 2009 – Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Lolita Lebrón, Puerto Rican-American activist (b. 1919)
- 2010 – Eric Tindill, New Zealand rugby player and cricketer (b. 1910)
- 2012 – Aldo Maldera, Italian footballer and agent (b. 1953)
- 2012 – Douglas Townsend, American composer and musicologist (b. 1921)
- 2012 – Barry Trapnell, English cricketer and academic (b. 1924)
- 2013 – John Amis, English journalist and critic (b. 1922)
- 2013 – Gail Kobe, American actress and producer (b. 1932)
- 2013 – Babe Martin, American baseball player (b. 1920)
- 2013 – Toby Saks, American cellist and educator (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Wilford White, American football player (b. 1928)
- 2014 – Valyantsin Byalkevich, Belarusian footballer and manager (b. 1973)
- 2014 – Jan Roar Leikvoll, Norwegian author (b. 1974)
- 2014 – Charles T. Payne, American soldier (b. 1925)
- 2014 – Mike Smith, English radio and television host (b. 1955)
- 2015 – Stephan Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (b. 1968)
- 2015 – Cilla Black, English singer and actress (b. 1943)
- 2015 – Bernard d’Espagnat, French physicist, philosopher, and author (b. 1921)
- 2015 – Bob Frankford, English-Canadian physician and politician (b. 1939)
- 2015 – Hong Yuanshuo, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1948)
- 2016 – Queen Anne of Romania (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances on August 1
- Armed Forces Day (Lebanon)
- Armed Forces Day (China) or Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Liberation Army (People’s Republic of China)
- Azerbaijani Language and Alphabet Day (Azerbaijan)
- Celebration of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 which ended the slavery in the British Empire, generally celebrated as a part of Carnival, as the Caribbean Carnival takes place at this time (British West Indies):
- Earliest day on which Caribana celebration can fall, celebrated on the first Weekend of August. (Toronto)
- Earliest day on which Emancipation Day can fall, celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Anguilla, the Bahamas, British Virgin Islands)
- Emancipation Day (Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago)
- Christian feast day:
- Abgar V of Edessa (Syrian Church)
- Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori
- Æthelwold of Winchester
- Bernard Võ Văn Duệ (one of Vietnamese Martyrs)
- Blessed Gerhard Hirschfelder
- Eusebius of Vercelli
- Exuperius of Bayeux
- Felix of Girona
- Peter Apostle in Chains
- Procession of the Cross and the beginning of Dormition Fast (Eastern Orthodoxy)
- The Holy Maccabees
- August 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Earliest day on which August Bank Holiday (Ireland) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August.
- Earliest day on which Civic Holiday can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Canada)
- Earliest day on which Commerce Day, or Frídagur verslunarmanna, can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Iceland)
- Earliest day on which Constitution Day (Cook Islands) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August.
- Earliest day on which Farmers’ Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August. (Zambia)
- Earliest day on which International Beer Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Friday of August.
- Earliest day on which Friendship Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday of August. (United States)
- Earliest day on which Kadooment Day can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August (Barbados)
- Earliest day on which Labor Day (Samoa) can fall, while August 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of August (Samoa)
- Minden Day (United Kingdom)
- National Day, celebrates the independence of Benin from France in 1960.
- National Day, commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit in 1291.
- Official Birthday and Coronation Day of the King of Tonga (Tonga)
- Parents’ Day (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Statehood Day (Colorado)
- Swiss National Day (Switzerland)
- The beginning of autumn observances in the Northern hemisphere and spring observances in the Southern hemisphere (Neopagan Wheel of the Year):
- Lughnasadh in the Northern hemisphere, Imbolc in the Southern hemisphere; traditionally begins on the eve of August 1. (Gaels, Ireland, Scotland, Neopagans)
- Lammas (England, Scotland, Neopagans)
- Pachamama Raymi (Quechuan in Ecuador and Peru)
- The first day of Carnaval del Pueblo (Burgess Park, London, England)
- Victory Day (Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam)
- World Scout Scarf Day
- Yorkshire Day (Yorkshire, England)
-
July 3 in History
- 324 – Battle of Adrianople: Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
- 987 – Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France until the French Revolution in 1792.
- 1035 – William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087.
- 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
- 1754 – French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
- 1767 – Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
- 1767 – Norway’s oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
- 1775 – American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Iroquois allied to Britain kill 360 people in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
- 1819 – The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.
- 1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today’s Framingham State University, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.
- 1844 – The last pair of great auks is killed.
- 1848 – Governor-General Peter von Scholten emancipates all remaining slaves in the Danish West Indies.
- 1849 – France invades the Roman Republic and restores the Papal States.
- 1852 – Congress establishes the United States’ 2nd mint in San Francisco.
- 1863 – American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett’s Charge.
- 1866 – Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgrätz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
- 1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
- 1886 – Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the first purpose-built automobile.
- 1886 – The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
- 1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
- 1898 – A Spanish squadron, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, is defeated by an American squadron under William T. Sampson in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba.
- 1913 – Confederate veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913 reenact Pickett’s Charge; upon reaching the high-water mark of the Confederacy they are met by the outstretched hands of friendship from Union survivors.
- 1938 – World speed record for a steam locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 125.88 miles per hour (202.58 km/h).
- 1938 – United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicates the Eternal Light Peace Memorial and lights the eternal flame at Gettysburg Battlefield.
- 1940 – World War II: The Royal Navy attacks the French naval squadron in Algeria, to ensure that it will not fall under German control. Of the four French battleships present, one is sunk, two are damaged, and one escapes back to France.
- 1944 – World War II: The Minsk Offensive clears German troops from the city.
- 1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress.
- 1952 – The SS United States sets sail on her maiden voyage to Southampton. During the voyage, the ship takes the Blue Riband away from the RMS Queen Mary.
- 1967 – The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police mutiny.
- 1969 – Space Race: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N-1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
- 1970 – The Troubles: The “Falls Curfew” begins in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 1970 – Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashes into the Les Agudes mountain in the Montseny Massif near the village of Arbúcies in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.
- 1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
- 1988 – United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 1988 – The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosphorus.
- 1996 – British Prime Minister John Major announced the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland.
- 2013 – Egyptian coup d’état: President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is overthrown by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for Morsi’s resignation, to which he did not respond. President of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour is declared acting president.
Births on July 3
- 321 – Valentinian I, Roman emperor (d. 375)
- 1423 – Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
- 1442 – Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
- 1518 – Li Shizhen, Chinese physician and mineralogist (d. 1593)
- 1530 – Claude Fauchet, French historian and author (d. 1601)
- 1534 – Myeongjong of Joseon, Ruler of Korea (d. 1567)
- 1550 – Jacobus Gallus, Slovenian composer (d. 1591)
- 1569 – Thomas Richardson, English politician and judge (d. 1635)
- 1683 – Edward Young, English poet, dramatist and literary critic (Night-Thoughts) (d. 1765)
- 1685 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, English field marshal and politician (d. 1768)
- 1728 – Robert Adam, Scottish-English architect, designed Culzean Castle (d. 1792)
- 1738 – John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
- 1778 – Carl Ludvig Engel, German architect (d. 1840)
- 1789 – Johann Friedrich Overbeck, German-Italian painter and engraver (d. 1869)
- 1814 – Ferdinand Didrichsen, Danish botanist and physicist (d. 1887)
- 1823 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek-Ottoman statesman, diplomat, playwright, and translator (d. 1891)
- 1844 – Dankmar Adler, German-born American architect and engineer (d. 1900)
- 1846 – Achilles Alferaki, Russian composer and politician, Governor of Taganrog (d. 1919)
- 1851 – Charles Bannerman, English-Australian cricketer and umpire (d. 1930)
- 1854 – Leoš Janáček, Czech composer and theorist (d. 1928)
- 1860 – Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American sociologist and author (d. 1935)
- 1866 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (d. 1906)
- 1869 – Svend Kornbeck, Danish actor (d. 1933)
- 1870 – R. B. Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
- 1871 – William Henry Davies, Welsh poet and writer (d.1940)
- 1874 – Jean Collas, French rugby player and tug of war competitor (d. 1928)
- 1875 – Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon and academic (d. 1951)
- 1876 – Ralph Barton Perry, American philosopher and academic (d. 1957)
- 1878 – George M. Cohan, American songwriter, actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1942)
- 1879 – Alfred Korzybski, Polish-American mathematician, linguist, and philosopher (d. 1950)
- 1880 – Carl Schuricht, Polish-German conductor (d. 1967)
- 1883 – Franz Kafka, Czech-Austrian author (d. 1924)
- 1886 – Raymond A. Spruance, American admiral and diplomat, United States Ambassador to the Philippines (d. 1969)
- 1888 – Ramón Gómez de la Serna, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1963)
- 1889 – Richard Cramer, American actor (d. 1960)
- 1893 – Sándor Bortnyik, Hungarian painter and graphic designer (d. 1976)
- 1896 – Doris Lloyd, English actress (d. 1968)
- 1897 – Jesse Douglas, American mathematician and academic (d. 1965)
- 1898 – Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1982)
- 1900 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
- 1901 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, American composer (d. 1953)
- 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1992)
- 1905 – Johnny Gibson, American hurdler and coach (d. 2006)
- 1906 – George Sanders, Russian-born British actor (d. 1972)
- 1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American author (d. 1992)
- 1908 – Robert B. Meyner, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1990)
- 1909 – Stavros Niarchos, Greek shipping magnate (d.1996)
- 1910 – Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1954)
- 1911 – Joe Hardstaff Jr., English cricketer (d. 1990)
- 1913 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American journalist, actress, and author (d. 1965)
- 1916 – John Kundla, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017)
- 1917 – João Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, manager, and journalist (d. 1990)
- 1918 – S. V. Ranga Rao, Indian actor, director, and producer (d. 1974)
- 1918 – Johnny Palmer, American golfer (d. 2006)
- 1919 – Cecil FitzMaurice, 8th Earl of Orkney (d. 1998)
- 1919 – Gerald W. Thomas, American soldier and academic (d. 2013)
- 1920 – Eddy Paape, Belgian illustrator (d. 2012)
- 1920 – Paul O’Dea, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978)
- 1921 – Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
- 1921 – François Reichenbach, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
- 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter and sculptor (d. 2010)
- 1922 – Theo Brokmann Jr., Dutch football player (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Amalia Aguilar, Cuban-Mexican film actress and dancer
- 1924 – S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (d. 2016)
- 1925 – Terry Moriarty, Australian rules footballer (d. 2011)
- 1925 – Danny Nardico, American professional boxer (d. 2010)
- 1925 – Philip Jamison, American artist
- 1926 – Johnny Coles, American trumpet player (d. 1997)
- 1926 – Rae Allen, American actress, singer, and director
- 1926 – Laurence Street, Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Ken Russell, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2011)
- 1927 – Tim O’Connor, American actor (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Evelyn Anthony, English author (d. 2018)
- 1929 – Clément Perron, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
- 1929 – Joanne Herring, American socialite, businesswoman, political activist, philanthropist, diplomat, and television talk show host
- 1930 – Pete Fountain, American clarinet player (d. 2016)
- 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, German-Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
- 1930 – Tommy Tedesco, American guitarist (d. 1997)
- 1932 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (d. 2014)
- 1933 – Edward Brandt, Jr., American physician and mathematician (d. 2007)
- 1935 – Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
- 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American geologist, astronaut, and politician
- 1936 – Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill, English lawyer and politician
- 1936 – Baard Owe, Norwegian-Danish actor
- 1937 – Nicholas Maxwell, English philosopher and academic
- 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-English playwright and screenwriter
- 1938 – Jean Aitchison, English linguist and academic
- 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German soprano and director
- 1939 – László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs
- 1939 – Coco Laboy, Puerto Rican baseball player
- 1940 – Lamar Alexander, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Education
- 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish engineer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Poland
- 1940 – Lance Larson, American swimmer
- 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994)
- 1941 – Gloria Allred, American lawyer and activist
- 1941 – Liamine Zéroual, Algerian politician, 4th President of Algeria
- 1942 – Eddy Mitchell, French singer-songwriter
- 1943 – Gary Waldhorn, British actor
- 1943 – Judith Durham, Australian folk-pop singer-songwriter and musician
- 1943 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor
- 1943 – Norman E. Thagard, American astronaut
- 1945 – Michael Cole, American actor
- 1945 – Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Scottish politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 2018)
- 1946 – Johnny Lee, American singer and guitarist
- 1946 – Leszek Miller, Polish political scientist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Poland
- 1946 – Michael Shea, American author (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Dave Barry, American journalist and author
- 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress and singer
- 1947 – Mike Burton, American swimmer
- 1948 – Paul Barrere, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1948 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish author and illustrator
- 1949 – Susan Penhaligon, English actress
- 1949 – John Verity, English guitarist
- 1949 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (d. 2006)
- 1949 – Bo Xilai, Chinese politician, Chinese Minister of Commerce
- 1950 – Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer
- 1950 – James Hahn, American judge and politician, 40th Mayor of Los Angeles
- 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (d. 2014)
- 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer and footballer
- 1952 – Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
- 1952 – Lu Colombo, Italian singer
- 1952 – Andy Fraser, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015)
- 1952 – Carla Olson, American singer-songwriter and music producer
- 1952 – Wasim Raja, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2006)
- 1952 – Amit Kumar, Indian film playback singer, actor, director, music director and musician
- 1953 – Lotta Sollander, Swedish alpine skier
- 1954 – Les Cusworth, English rugby player
- 1955 – Claude Rajotte, Canadian radio and television host
- 1956 – Montel Williams, American talk show host and television personality
- 1957 – Poly Styrene, British musician (d. 2011)
- 1958 – Matthew Fraser, Canadian-English journalist and academic
- 1958 – Charlie Higson, English actor, singer, and author
- 1958 – Siân Lloyd, Welsh meteorologist and journalist
- 1958 – Didier Mouron, Swiss-Canadian painter
- 1958 – Aaron Tippin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1959 – Julie Burchill, English journalist and author
- 1959 – Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer
- 1959 – Stephen Pearcy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1959 – David Shore, Canadian screenwriter and producer
- 1960 – Vince Clarke, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
- 1962 – Scott Borchetta, American record executive and entrepreneur
- 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor and producer
- 1964 – Yeardley Smith, American actress, voice actress, comedian and writer
- 1965 – Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)
- 1965 – Connie Nielsen, Danish-American actress
- 1965 – Komsan Pohkong, Thai lawyer and academic
- 1965 – Christophe Ruer, French pentathlete (d. 2007)
- 1966 – Moisés Alou, American baseball player
- 1967 – Katy Clark, Scottish lawyer and politician
- 1968 – Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo-Albanian soldier and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Kosovo
- 1970 – Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
- 1970 – Audra McDonald, American actress and singer
- 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player
- 1971 – Julian Assange, Australian journalist, publisher, and activist, founded WikiLeaks
- 1973 – Paul Rauhihi, New Zealand rugby league player
- 1973 – Ólafur Stefánsson, Icelandic handball player
- 1973 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (d. 2013)
- 1976 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011)
- 1976 – Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster
- 1976 – Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian-American mixed martial artist
- 1976 – Bobby Skinstad, Zimbabwean-South African rugby union player
- 1977 – David Bowens, American football player
- 1978 – Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese runner
- 1979 – Jamie Grove, English cricketer
- 1980 – Mazharul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2013)
- 1980 – Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer
- 1980 – Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer
- 1983 – Edinson Vólquez, Dominican baseball player
- 1984 – Manny Lawson, American football player
- 1984 – Churandy Martina, Dutch sprinter
- 1984 – Corey Sevier, Canadian actor and producer
- 1986 – Marco Antônio de Mattos Filho, Brazilian footballer
- 1986 – Kisenosato Yutaka, Japanese sumo wrestler
- 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German race car driver
- 1988 – Winston Reid, New Zealand-Danish footballer
- 1988 – Vladislav Sesganov, Russian figure skater
- 1988 – James Troisi, Australian footballer
- 1989 – Mitchell Dodds, Australian rugby league player
- 1989 – Elle King, American singer, songwriter, and actress
- 1990 – Nathan Gardner, Australian rugby league player
- 1990 – Bobby Hopkinson, English footballer
- 1990 – Lucas Mendes, Brazilian footballer
- 1991 – Alison Howie, Scottish field hockey player
- 1991 – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russian tennis player
- 1992 – Will Smith, Australian rugby league player
- 1994 – Ben Winchell, American actor
Deaths on July 3
- 458 – Anatolius of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch and saint (b. 449)
- 710 – Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (b. 656)
- 896 – Dong Chang, Chinese warlord
- 964 – Henry I, Frankish nobleman and archbishop
- 1090 – Egbert II, Margrave of Meissen (b. c. 1060)
- 1288 – Stephen de Fulbourn, English-born Irish cleric and politician
- 1503 – Pierre d’Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (b. 1423)
- 1570 – Aonio Paleario, Italian academic and reformer (b. 1500)
- 1642 – Marie de’ Medici, French queen consort and regent (b. 1573)
- 1672 – Francis Willughby, English ornithologist and ichthyologist (b. 1635)
- 1749 – William Jones, Welsh-English mathematician and academic (b. 1675)
- 1790 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l’Isle, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1736)
- 1795 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French scholar and author (b. 1714)
- 1795 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general, astronomer, and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
- 1809 – Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746)
- 1863 – George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
- 1863 – Little Crow, American tribal leader (b. 1810)
- 1881 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1811)
- 1887 – Clay Allison, American rancher (b. 1841)
- 1888 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet and author (b. 1822)
- 1904 – Édouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
- 1904 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist and playwright (b. 1860)
- 1908 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (b. 1845)
- 1916 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman and financier (b. 1834)
- 1918 – Mehmed V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1844)
- 1921 – James Mitchel, Irish-American weight thrower (b. 1864)
- 1927 – Gérard de Courcelles, French race car driver
- 1933 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, Argentinian educator and politician, 19th President of Argentina (b. 1852)
- 1935 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded the Citroën Company (b. 1878)
- 1937 – Jacob Schick, American-Canadian captain and businessman, invented the electric razor (b. 1877)
- 1940 – Nicolae Bivol, Moldovan businessman and politician, Mayor of Chișinău (b. 1882)
- 1941 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian physician and politician, Head of State of Estonia (b. 1871)
- 1954 – Siegfried Handloser, German physician and general (b. 1895)
- 1954 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter, illustrator, and academic (b. 1898)
- 1957 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player and manager (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Richard Mohaupt, German composer and Kapellmeister (b. 1904)
- 1958 – Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, English politician, 4th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1867)
- 1969 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1942)
- 1971 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
- 1974 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet and critic (b. 1888)
- 1977 – Alexander Volkov, Russian mathematician and author (b. 1891)
- 1978 – James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1979 – Louis Durey, French pianist and composer (b. 1888)
- 1981 – Ross Martin, American actor and director (b. 1920)
- 1985 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1893)
- 1986 – Rudy Vallée, American singer, saxophonist, and actor (b. 1901)
- 1989 – Jim Backus, American actor and voice artist (b. 1913)
- 1993 – Don Drysdale, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1936)
- 1994 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player and coach (b. 1934)
- 1995 – Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
- 1995 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
- 1998 – Danielle Bunten Berry, American game designer and programmer (b. 1949)
- 1999 – Mark Sandman, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1952)
- 1999 – Pelageya Polubarinova-Kochina, Russian mathematician (b. 1899)
- 1999 – Manoj Kumar Pandey,Param Vir ChakraIndian army personnel
- 2001 – Mordecai Richler, Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1931)
- 2001 – Johnny Russell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
- 2004 – Andriyan Nikolayev, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1929)
- 2005 – Alberto Lattuada, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1914)
- 2005 – Gaylord Nelson, American lawyer and politician, 35th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1916)
- 2006 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist, developed the OBJ programming language (b. 1941)
- 2007 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)
- 2008 – Clive Hornby, English actor and drummer (b. 1944)
- 2008 – Oliver Schroer, Canadian fiddler, composer, and producer (b. 1956)
- 2009 – Alauddin Al-Azad, Bangladeshi author and poet (b.1932)
- 2009 – John Keel, American journalist and author (b. 1930)
- 2010 – Abu Daoud, Palestinian terrorist, planned the Munich massacre (b. 1937)
- 2011 – Ali Bahar, Bahraini singer and guitarist (b. 1960)
- 2012 – Nguyễn Hữu Có, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1925)
- 2012 – Andy Griffith, American actor, singer, and producer (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Yvonne B. Miller, American educator and politician (b. 1934)
- 2012 – Sergio Pininfarina, Italian engineer and politician (b. 1926)
- 2012 – Richard Alvin Tonry, American lawyer and politician (b. 1935)
- 2013 – Roman Bengez, Slovenian footballer and manager (b. 1964)
- 2013 – Francis Ray, American author (b. 1944)
- 2013 – PJ Torokvei, Canadian actress and screenwriter (b. 1951)
- 2013 – Radu Vasile, Romanian historian and politician, 57th Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1942)
- 2013 – Bernard Vitet, French trumpet player and composer (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Snoo Wilson, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Jini Dellaccio, American photographer (b. 1917)
- 2014 – Tim Flood, Irish hurler and coach (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (b. 1948)
- 2014 – Ira Ruskin, American politician (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Ukrainian-American rabbi and author (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Diana Douglas, British-American actress (b. 1923)
- 2015 – Boyd K. Packer, American religious leader and educator (b. 1924)
- 2015 – Wayne Townsend, American farmer and politician (b. 1926)
- 2015 – Phil Walsh, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1960)
- 2020 – Saroj Khan, Indian dance choreographer, known as “The Mother of Dance/Choreography in India”.(b. 1948)
Holidays and observances on July 3
- Christian feast day:
- Anatolius of Constantinople
- Anatolius of Laodicea
- Dathus
- Germanus of Man
- Gurthiern
- Heliodorus of Altino
- Mucian
- Peregrina Mogas Fontcuberta
- Pope Leo II
- Thomas the Apostle
- July 3 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Emancipation Day (United States Virgin Islands)
- Independence Day, celebrates the liberation of Minsk from Nazi occupation by Soviet troops in 1944 (Belarus)
- The start of the Dog Days according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac but not according to established meaning in most European cultures
- Women’s Day (Myanmar)
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May 30 in History
- AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus and his Roman legions breach the Second Wall of Jerusalem. Jewish defenders retreat to the First Wall. The Romans build a circumvallation, cutting down all trees within fifteen kilometers.
- 1381 – Beginning of the Peasants’ Revolt in England.
- 1416 – The Council of Constance, called by Emperor Sigismund, a supporter of Antipope John XXIII, burns Jerome of Prague following a trial for heresy.
- 1431 – Hundred Years’ War: In Rouen, France, the 19-year-old Joan of Arc is burned at the stake by an English-dominated tribunal. The Roman Catholic Church remembers this day as the celebration of Saint Joan of Arc.
- 1434 – Hussite Wars: Battle of Lipany: Effectively ending the war, Utraquist forces led by Diviš Bořek of Miletínek defeat and almost annihilate Taborite forces led by Prokop the Great.
- 1510 – During the reign of the Zhengde Emperor, Ming dynasty rebel leader Zhu Zhifan is defeated by commander Qiu Yue, ending the Prince of Anhua rebellion.
- 1536 – King Henry VIII of England marries Jane Seymour, a lady-in-waiting to his first two wives.
- 1539 – In Florida, Hernando de Soto lands at Tampa Bay with 600 soldiers with the goal of finding gold.
- 1574 – Henry III becomes King of France.
- 1588 – The last ship of the Spanish Armada sets sail from Lisbon heading for the English Channel.
- 1631 – Publication of Gazette de France, the first French newspaper.
- 1635 – Thirty Years’ War: The Peace of Prague is signed.
- 1642 – From this date all honors granted by Charles I of England are retroactively annulled by Parliament.
- 1806 – Future U.S. President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel.
- 1814 – The First Treaty of Paris is signed, returning the French frontiers to their 1792 extent, and restoring the House of Bourbon to power.
- 1815 – The East Indiaman Arniston is wrecked during a storm at Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, in present-day South Africa, with the loss of 372 lives.
- 1834 – Minister of Justice Joaquim António de Aguiar issues a law seizing “all convents, monasteries, colleges, hospices and any other houses” from the Catholic religious orders in Portugal, earning him the nickname of “The Friar-Killer”.
- 1842 – John Francis attempts to murder Queen Victoria as she drives down Constitution Hill in London with Prince Albert.
- 1845 – The Fatel Razack coming from India, lands in the Gulf of Paria in Trinidad and Tobago carrying the first Indians to the country.
- 1854 – The Kansas–Nebraska Act becomes law establishing the US territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
- 1868 – Decoration Day (the predecessor of the modern “Memorial Day”) is observed in the United States for the first time after a proclamation by John A. Logan, head of the Grand Army of the Republic (a veterans group).
- 1876 – Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz is deposed and succeeded by his nephew Murad V.
- 1883 – In New York City, a stampede on the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge killed twelve people.
- 1899 – Pearl Hart, a female outlaw of the Old West, robs a stage coach 30 miles southeast of Globe, Arizona.
- 1911 – At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first Indianapolis 500 ends with Ray Harroun in his Marmon Wasp becoming the first winner of the 500-mile auto race.
- 1913 – The Treaty of London is signed, ending the First Balkan War; Albania becomes an independent nation.
- 1914 – The new, and then the largest, Cunard ocean liner RMS Aquitania, 45,647 tons, sets sails on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England, to New York City.
- 1922 – The Lincoln Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
- 1925 – May Thirtieth Movement: Shanghai Municipal Police Force shoot and kill 13 protesting workers.
- 1937 – Memorial Day massacre: Chicago police shoot and kill ten labor demonstrators.
- 1941 – World War II: Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas climb the Athenian Acropolis and tear down the German flag.
- 1942 – World War II: One thousand British bombers launch a 90-minute attack on Cologne, Germany.
- 1943 – The Holocaust: Josef Mengele becomes chief medical officer of the Zigeunerfamilienlager (Romani family camp) at Auschwitz concentration camp.
- 1948 – A dike along the flooding Columbia River breaks, obliterating Vanport, Oregon within minutes. Fifteen people die and tens of thousands are left homeless.
- 1958 – Memorial Day: The remains of two unidentified American servicemen, killed in action during World War II and the Korean War respectively, are buried at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
- 1959 – The Auckland Harbour Bridge, crossing the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand, is officially opened by Governor-General Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham.
- 1961 – The long-time Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo is assassinated in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
- 1963 – A protest against pro-Catholic discrimination during the Buddhist crisis is held outside South Vietnam’s National Assembly, the first open demonstration during the eight-year rule of Ngo Dinh Diem.
- 1966 – Former Congolese Prime Minister, Évariste Kimba, and several other politicians are publicly executed in Kinshasa on the orders of President Joseph Mobutu.
- 1967 – The Nigerian Eastern Region declares independence as the Republic of Biafra, sparking a civil war.
- 1968 – Charles de Gaulle reappears publicly after his flight to Baden-Baden, Germany, and dissolves the French National Assembly by a radio appeal. Immediately after, less than one million of his supporters march on the Champs-Élysées in Paris. This is the turning point of May 1968 events in France.
- 1971 – Mariner program: Mariner 9 is launched to map 70% of the surface, and to study temporal changes in the atmosphere and surface, of Mars.
- 1972 – The Angry Brigade goes on trial over a series of 25 bombings throughout the United Kingdom.
- 1972 – In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
- 1974 – The Airbus A300 passenger aircraft first enters service.
- 1979 – Downeast Flight 46 crashes on approach to Knox County Regional Airport in Rockland, Maine, killing 17.
- 1975 – European Space Agency is established.
- 1982 – Cold War: Spain joins NATO.
- 1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: The 10-metre high “Goddess of Democracy” statue is unveiled in Tiananmen Square by student demonstrators.
- 1990 – Croatian Parliament is constituted after the first free, multi-party elections, today celebrated as the National Day of Croatia.
- 1998 – The 6.5 Mw Afghanistan earthquake shook the Takhar Province of northern Afghanistan with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (Very strong), killing around 4,000–4,500.
- 1998 – Nuclear Testing: Pakistan conducts an underground test in the Kharan Desert. It is reported to be a plutonium device with yield of 20kt TNT equivalent.
- 2003 – Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi flees the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.
- 2008 – Convention on Cluster Munitions is adopted.
- 2008 – TACA Flight 390 overshoots the runway at Toncontín International Airport, killing five people.
- 2012 – Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
- 2013 – Nigeria passes a law banning same-sex marriage.
- 2020 – The Crew Dragon Demo-2 launches from the Kennedy Space Center, becoming the first crewed rocket to launch from the United States since 2011.
Births on May 30
- 1010 – Ren Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1063)
- 1201 – Theobald IV, count of Champagne (d. 1253)
- 1423 – Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1461)
- 1464 – Barbara of Brandenburg, Bohemian queen (d. 1515)
- 1580 – Fadrique de Toledo, 1st Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza (d. 1634)
- 1599 – Samuel Bochart, French Protestant biblical scholar (d. 1667)
- 1623 – John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (d. 1686)
- 1686 – Antonina Houbraken, Dutch illustrator (d. 1736)
- 1718 – Wills Hill, 1st Marquess of Downshire, English politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1793)
- 1719 – Roger Newdigate, English politician (d. 1806)
- 1757 – Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1844)
- 1768 – Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty, French general (d. 1815)
- 1797 – Georg Amadeus Carl Friedrich Naumann, German mineralogist and geologist (d. 1873)
- 1800 – Henri-Marie-Gaston Boisnormand de Bonnechose, French cardinal (d. 1883)
- 1814 – Mikhail Bakunin, Russian philosopher and theorist (d. 1876)
- 1814 – Eugène Charles Catalan, Belgian-French mathematician and academic (d. 1894)
- 1819 – William McMurdo, English general (d. 1894)
- 1820 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Quebec (d. 1890)
- 1835 – Alfred Austin, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1913)
- 1844 – Félix Arnaudin, French poet and photographer (d. 1921)
- 1845 – Amadeo I, Spanish king (d. 1890)
- 1846 – Peter Carl Fabergé, Russian goldsmith and jeweler (d. 1920)
- 1862 – Mirza Alakbar Sabir, Azerbaijani philosopher and poet (d. 1911)
- 1869 – Grace Andrews, American mathematician (d. 1951)
- 1874 – Ernest Duchesne, French physician (d. 1912)
- 1875 – Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher and academic (d. 1944)
- 1879 – Colin Blythe, English cricketer and soldier (d. 1917)
- 1879 – Konstantin Ramul, Estonian psychologist and academic (d. 1975)
- 1881 – Georg von Küchler, German field marshal (d. 1968)
- 1882 – Wyndham Halswelle, English runner and soldier (d. 1915)
- 1883 – Sandy Pearce, Australian rugby league player (d. 1930)
- 1884 – Siegmund Glücksmann, German soldier and politician (d. 1942)
- 1885 – Villem Grünthal-Ridala, Estonian poet and linguist (d. 1942)
- 1886 – Laurent Barré, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1964)
- 1886 – Randolph Bourne, American theorist and author (d. 1918)
- 1887 – Alexander Archipenko, Ukrainian-American sculptor and illustrator (d. 1964)
- 1887 – Emil Reesen, Danish pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1964)
- 1890 – Roger Salengro, French soldier and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 1936)
- 1892 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (d. 1972)
- 1894 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1965)
- 1895 – Maurice Tate, English cricketer (d. 1956)
- 1896 – Howard Hawks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
- 1897 – Frank Wise, Australian politician, 16th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1986)
- 1898 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (d. 1985)
- 1899 – Irving Thalberg, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1936)
- 1901 – Alfred Karindi, Estonian pianist and composer (d. 1969)
- 1901 – Cornelia Otis Skinner, American actress and author (d. 1979)
- 1902 – Stepin Fetchit, American actor and dancer (d. 1985)
- 1903 – Countee Cullen, American poet and author (d. 1946)
- 1906 – Bruno Gröning, German mystic and author (d. 1959)
- 1907 – Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist and academic (d. 2008)
- 1908 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
- 1908 – Mel Blanc, American voice actor (d. 1989)
- 1909 – Jacques Canetti, French music executive and talent agent (d. 1997)
- 1909 – Freddie Frith, English motorcycle road racer (d. 1988)
- 1909 – Benny Goodman, American clarinet player, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1986)
- 1910 – Harry Bernstein, English-American journalist and author (d. 2011)
- 1912 – Julius Axelrod, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
- 1912 – Erich Bagge, German physicist and academic (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (d. 1980)
- 1912 – Millicent Selsam, American author and academic (d. 1996)
- 1912 – Joseph Stein, American playwright and author (d. 2010)
- 1914 – Akinoumi Setsuo, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 37th Yokozuna (d. 1979)
- 1915 – Len Carney, English footballer and soldier (d. 1996)
- 1916 – Justin Catayée, French soldier and politician (d. 1962)
- 1916 – Mort Meskin, American illustrator (d. 1995)
- 1918 – Pita Amor, Mexican poet and author (d. 2000)
- 1918 – Bob Evans, American businessman, founded Bob Evans Restaurants (d. 2007)
- 1919 – René Barrientos, Bolivian general and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (d. 1969)
- 1920 – Franklin J. Schaffner, Japanese-American director and producer (d. 1989)
- 1922 – Hal Clement, American author and educator (d. 2003)
- 1924 – Anthony Dryden Marshall, American CIA officer and diplomat (d. 2014)
- 1925 – John Henry Marks, English physician and author
- 1926 – Johnny Gimble, American country/western swing musician (Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys) (d. 2015)
- 1927 – Joan Birman, American mathematician
- 1927 – Clint Walker, American actor and singer (d. 2018)
- 1927 – Billy Wilson, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1993)
- 1928 – Pro Hart, Australian painter (d. 2006)
- 1928 – Agnès Varda, Belgian-French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2019)
- 1929 – Georges Gilson, French archbishop
- 1930 – Mark Birley, English businessman, founded Annabel’s (d. 2007)
- 1930 – Robert Ryman, American painter (d. 2019)
- 1931 – Larry Silverstein, American real estate magnate
- 1932 – Ray Cooney, English actor and playwright
- 1932 – Pauline Oliveros, American accordion player and composer (d. 2016)
- 1932 – Ivor Richard, Baron Richard, Welsh politician and diplomat, British Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2018)
- 1934 – Alexei Leonov, Russian general, pilot, and cosmonaut (d. 2019)
- 1934 – Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and manager (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Ruta Lee, Canadian-American actress and dancer
- 1935 – Guy Tardif, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2005)
- 1936 – Keir Dullea, American actor
- 1937 – Christopher Haskins, Anglo-Irish businessman, life peer, and British politician
- 1937 – Rick Mather, American-English architect (d. 2013)
- 1938 – Billie Letts, American author and educator (d. 2014)
- 1939 – Michael J. Pollard, American actor (d. 2019)
- 1939 – Dieter Quester, Austrian race car driver
- 1939 – Tim Waterstone, Scottish businessman, founded Waterstones
- 1940 – Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian cricket administrator (d. 2015)
- 1940 – Gilles Villemure, Canadian-American ice hockey player
- 1942 – John Gladwin, English bishop
- 1942 – Carole Stone, English journalist and author
- 1943 – Anders Michanek, Swedish motorcycle racer
- 1943 – Gale Sayers, American football player and philanthropist
- 1944 – Lenny Davidson, English guitarist and songwriter (The Dave Clark Five)
- 1944 – Meredith MacRae, American actress (d. 2000)
- 1944 – Stav Prodromou, Greek-American engineer and businessman
- 1945 – Gladys Horton, American singer (d. 2011)
- 1946 – Allan Chapman, English historian and author
- 1946 – Dragan Džajić, Serbian and Yugoslav footballer
- 1947 – Jocelyne Bourassa, Canadian golfer
- 1948 – Johan De Muynck, Belgian former professional road racing cyclist
- 1948 – Michael Piller, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2005)
- 1948 – David Thorpe, Australian rules footballer
- 1949 – P.J. Carlesimo, American basketball player and coach
- 1949 – Paul Coleridge, English lawyer and judge
- 1949 – Bob Willis, English cricketer and sportscaster (d. 2019)
- 1950 – Bertrand Delanoë, French politician, 14th Mayor of Paris
- 1950 – Paresh Rawal, Indian actor, producer, and politician
- 1950 – Joshua Rozenberg, English lawyer, journalist, and author
- 1951 – Zdravko Čolić, Bosnian Serb singer-songwriter
- 1951 – Fernando Lugo, Paraguayan bishop and politician, President of Paraguay
- 1951 – Stephen Tobolowsky, American actor, singer, and director
- 1952 – Daniel Grodnik, American screenwriter and producer
- 1952 – Kerry Fraser, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and sportscaster
- 1953 – Jim Hunter, Canadian skier
- 1953 – Colm Meaney, Irish actor
- 1955 – Topper Headon, English drummer and songwriter (The Clash)
- 1955 – Jacqueline McGlade, English-Canadian biologist, ecologist, and academic
- 1955 – Caroline Swift, English lawyer and judge
- 1955 – Colm Tóibín, Irish novelist, poet, playwright, and critic
- 1956 – Tim Lucas, American author, screenwriter, and critic
- 1957 – Michael Clayton, Australian golfer
- 1958 – Eugene Belliveau, Canadian football player
- 1958 – Marie Fredriksson, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2019)
- 1958 – Steve Israel, American lawyer and politician
- 1958 – Michael López-Alegría, Spanish-American captain, pilot, and astronaut
- 1958 – Ted McGinley, American actor
- 1959 – Phil Brown, English footballer, coach, and manager
- 1959 – Randy Ferbey, Canadian curler
- 1959 – Frank Vanhecke, Belgian politician
- 1961 – Harry Enfield, English actor, director, and screenwriter
- 1961 – Bob Yari, Iranian-American director and producer
- 1962 – Kevin Eastman, American author and illustrator, co-created the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- 1962 – Richard Fuller, English lawyer and politician
- 1962 – Tim Loughton, English businessman and politician
- 1962 – Tonya Pinkins, American actress and singer
- 1963 – Michel Langevin, Canadian drummer and songwriter
- 1963 – Élise Lucet, French journalist
- 1963 – Helen Sharman, English chemist and astronaut
- 1964 – Wynonna Judd, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
- 1964 – Andrea Montermini, Italian race car driver
- 1964 – Tom Morello, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
- 1965 – Troy Coker, Australian rugby player
- 1965 – Billy Donovan, American basketball player and coach
- 1965 – Iginio Straffi, Italian animator and producer, founded Rainbow S.r.l.
- 1966 – Thomas Häßler, German footballer and manager
- 1966 – Stephen Malkmus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1967 – Tim Burgess, English singer-songwriter
- 1967 – Rechelle Hawkes, Australian hockey player
- 1967 – Sven Pipien, German-American bass player
- 1968 – Jason Kenney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 40th Canadian Minister of National Defence
- 1968 – Zacarias Moussaoui, French citizen, sentenced to life in prison related to September 11 attacks
- 1969 – Naomi Kawase, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1969 – Ryuhei Kitamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Paul Grayson, English rugby player and coach
- 1971 – Duncan Jones, English director, producer, and screenwriter
- 1971 – Idina Menzel, American singer-songwriter and actress
- 1971 – Jiří Šlégr, Czech ice hockey player and politician
- 1971 – Adrian Vowles, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
- 1972 – Manny Ramirez, Dominican-American baseball player and coach
- 1974 – Big L, American rapper (d. 1999)
- 1974 – Kostas Chalkias, Greek footballer
- 1974 – CeeLo Green, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor
- 1974 – David Wilkie, American ice hockey player and coach
- 1975 – Evan Eschmeyer, American basketball player
- 1975 – Brian Fair, American singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Andy Farrell, English rugby player and coach
- 1975 – Marissa Mayer, American computer scientist and businesswoman
- 1976 – Radoslav Nesterović, Slovenian-Greek basketball player
- 1976 – Magnus Norman, Swedish tennis player and coach
- 1976 – Margaret Okayo, Kenyan runner
- 1977 – Rachael Stirling, English actress
- 1977 – Federico Vilar, Argentinian-Italian footballer
- 1979 – Mike Bishai, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1979 – Clint Bowyer, American race car driver
- 1979 – Francis Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1980 – Steven Gerrard, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
- 1980 – Ilona Korstin, Russian basketball player
- 1980 – Ryōgo Narita, Japanese author
- 1981 – Devendra Banhart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
- 1981 – Gianmaria Bruni, Italian race car driver
- 1981 – Ahmad Elrich, Australian footballer
- 1981 – Remy Ma, American rapper
- 1981 – Lars Møller Madsen, Danish handball player
- 1981 – Hisanori Takada, Japanese footballer
- 1982 – Eddie Griffin, American basketball player (d. 2007)
- 1982 – James Simpson-Daniel, English rugby player
- 1984 – Sham Kwok Fai, Hong Kong footballer
- 1984 – Matt Maguire, Australian footballer
- 1984 – Alexander Sulzer, German ice hockey player
- 1985 – Igor Kurnosov, Russian chess player (d. 2013)
- 1985 – Igor Lewczuk, Polish footballer
- 1985 – Aaron Volpatti, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1986 – Nikolay Bodurov, Bulgarian international footballer, centre-back
- 1989 – Ailee, Korean-American singer and songwriter
- 1989 – Lesia Tsurenko, Ukrainian tennis player
- 1990 – Andrei Loktionov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1991 – Jonathan Fox, English swimmer
- 1992 – Harrison Barnes, American basketball player
- 1992 – Danielle Harold, English actress
- 1994 – Scott Laughton, Canadian ice hockey player
Deaths on May 30
- 531 – Xiao Tong, prince of the Liang Dynasty (b. 501)
- 727 – Hubertus, bishop Liège
- 947 – Ma Xifan, king of Chu (b. 899)
- 1035 – Baldwin IV, count of Flanders (b. 980)
- 1159 – Władysław II the Exile, High Duke of Poland and Duke of Silesia (b. 1105)
- 1252 – Ferdinand III, king of Castile and León (b. 1199)
- 1347 – John Darcy, 1st Baron Darcy de Knayth, English peer (b. 1290)
- 1376 – Joan of Ponthieu, Dame of Epernon, French noblewoman
- 1416 – Jerome of Prague, Czech martyr and theologian (b. 1379)
- 1431 – Joan of Arc, French martyr and saint (b. 1412)
- 1434 – Prokop the Great, Czech general (b. 1380)
- 1469 – Lope de Barrientos, Castilian bishop (b. 1389)
- 1472 – Jacquetta of Luxembourg, daughter of Pierre de Luxembourg (b. 1416)
- 1574 – Charles IX of France (b. 1550)
- 1593 – Christopher Marlowe, English poet and playwright (b. 1564)
- 1606 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth of the Sikh gurus (executed) (b. 1563)
- 1640 – Peter Paul Rubens, German-Belgian painter (b. 1577)
- 1696 – Henry Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Tewkesbury, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1638)
- 1670 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (b. 1597)
- 1712 – Andrea Lanzani, Italian painter (b. 1645)
- 1718 – Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle, Dutch-English general (b. 1670)
- 1744 – Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (b. 1688)
- 1770 – François Boucher, French painter and set designer (b. 1703)
- 1778 – Voltaire, French philosopher and author (b. 1694)
- 1778 – José de la Borda, French/Spanish mining magnate in colonial Mexico (b. ca. 1700)
- 1829 – Philibert Jean-Baptiste Curial, French general (b. 1774)
- 1832 – James Mackintosh, Scottish historian, jurist, and politician (b. 1765)
- 1855 – Mary Reibey, Australian businesswoman, (b. 1777)
- 1892 – Mary Hannah Gray Clarke, American author, correspondent, and poet (b. 1835)
- 1865 – John Catron, American lawyer and judge (b. 1786)
- 1901 – Victor D’Hondt, Belgian mathematician, lawyer, and jurist (b. 1841)
- 1911 – Milton Bradley, American businessman, founded the Milton Bradley Company (b. 1836)
- 1912 – Wilbur Wright, American pilot and businessman, co-founded the Wright Company (b. 1867)
- 1918 – Georgi Plekhanov, Russian philosopher and theorist (b. 1856)
- 1925 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (b. 1876)
- 1926 – Vladimir Steklov, Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1864)
- 1934 – Tōgō Heihachirō, Japanese admiral (b. 1848)
- 1939 – Floyd Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1904)
- 1941 – Prajadhipok, Thai king (b. 1893)
- 1946 – Louis Slotin, Canadian physicist and chemist (b. 1910)
- 1947 – Georg von Trapp, Austrian captain (b. 1880)
- 1948 – József Klekl, Slovene-Hungarian priest and politician (b. 1874)
- 1949 – Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French cardinal (b. 1874)
- 1951 – Hermann Broch, Austrian-American author (b. 1886)
- 1953 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (b. 1886)
- 1955 – Bill Vukovich, American race car driver (b. 1918)
- 1957 – Piero Carini, Italian race car driver (b. 1921)
- 1960 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
- 1961 – Rafael Trujillo, Dominican soldier and politician, 36th President of the Dominican Republic (b. 1891)
- 1964 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian king (b. 1882)
- 1964 – Eddie Sachs, American race car driver (b. 1927)
- 1964 – Leó Szilárd, Hungarian-American physicist and engineer (b. 1898)
- 1965 – Louis Hjelmslev, Danish linguist and academic (b. 1899)
- 1967 – Claude Rains, English-American actor (b. 1889)
- 1967 – Georg Wilhelm Pabst, Austrian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
- 1971 – Marcel Dupré, French organist and composer (b. 1886)
- 1975 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (b. 1951)
- 1975 – Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist, founded Isshin-ryū (b. 1908)
- 1975 – Michel Simon, Swiss-born French actor (b. 1895)
- 1976 – Max Carey, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1890)
- 1976 – Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese captain (b. 1902)
- 1978 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1909)
- 1980 – Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (b. 1942)
- 1981 – Don Ashby, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1955)
- 1981 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (b. 1936)
- 1982 – Albert Norden, German journalist and politician (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Perry Ellis, American fashion designer, founded his own eponymous fashion brand (b. 1940)
- 1993 – Sun Ra, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1914)
- 1994 – Ezra Taft Benson, American religious leader, 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1899)
- 1994 – Marcel Bich, Italian-French businessman, co-founded Société Bic (b. 1914)
- 1994 – Agostino Di Bartolomei, Italian footballer (b. 1955)
- 1995 – Ted Drake, English footballer and manager (b. 1912)
- 1995 – Lofty England, English-Austrian engineer (b. 1911)
- 1995 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (b. 1951)
- 1996 – Léon-Étienne Duval, French cardinal (b. 1903)
- 1996 – Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (b. 1961)
- 1999 – Kalju Lepik, Estonian poet and author (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Tex Beneke, American saxophonist and bandleader (b. 1914)
- 2001 – Denis Whitaker, Canadian general and historian (b. 1915)
- 2005 – Gérald Leblanc, Acadian poet (b. 1945)
- 2005 – Tomasz Pacyński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1958)
- 2005 – Alma Ziegler, American baseball player and stenographer (b. 1918)
- 2006 – Shohei Imamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
- 2006 – David Lloyd, New Zealand biologist and academic (b. 1938)
- 2006 – Robert Sterling, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Jean-Claude Brialy, Algerian-French actor and director (b. 1933)
- 2007 – Birgit Dalland, Norwegian politician (b. 1907)
- 2007 – Gunturu Seshendra Sarma, Indian poet and critic (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Torsten Andersson, Swedish painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
- 2009 – Susanna Haapoja, Finnish politician (b. 1966)
- 2009 – Ephraim Katzir, Israeli biophysicist and politician, 4th President of Israel (b. 1916)
- 2010 – Yuri Chesnokov, Russian volleyball player and coach (b. 1933)
- 2010 – Dufferin Roblin, Canadian commander and politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1917)
- 2011 – Isikia Savua, Fijian police officer and diplomat (b. 1952)
- 2011 – Saleem Shahzad, Pakistani journalist (b. 1970)
- 2011 – Marek Siemek, Polish philosopher and historian (b. 1942)
- 2011 – Clarice Taylor, American actress (b. 1917)
- 2011 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1921)
- 2012 – John Fox, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1957)
- 2012 – Andrew Huxley, English physiologist and biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 2012 – Gerhard Pohl, German economist and politician (b. 1937)
- 2012 – Jack Twyman, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1934)
- 2013 – Jayalath Jayawardena, Sri Lankan physician and politician (b. 1953)
- 2013 – Larry Jones, American football player and coach (b. 1933)
- 2014 – Hienadz Buraukin, Belarusian poet, journalist, and diplomat (b. 1936)
- 2014 – Henning Carlsen, Danish director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1927)
- 2014 – Joan Lorring, British actress (b. 1926)
- 2014 – Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Beau Biden, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 44th Attorney General of Delaware (b. 1969)
- 2015 – Joël Champetier, Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1957)
- 2015 – L. Tom Perry, American religious leader and member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1922)
- 2016 – Tom Lysiak, Polish-Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1953)
- 2016 – Rick MacLeish, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1950)
- 2019 – Jason Marcano, Trinidadian footballer (b. 1983)
Holidays and observances on May 30
- Anguilla Day, commemorates the beginning of the Anguillian Revolution in 1967. (Anguilla)
- Canary Islands Day (Spain)
- Christian feast day:
- Earliest day on which Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary can fall, while July 3 is the latest; celebrated 20 days after Pentecost. (Catholic Church)
- Ferdinand III of Castile
- Isaac of Dalmatia
- Joan of Arc
- Joseph Marello
- May 30 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Indian Arrival Day (Trinidad and Tobago)
- Lod Massacre Remembrance Day (Puerto Rico)
- Mother’s Day (Nicaragua)
- Statehood Day (Croatia)