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June 14

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

  • 1158 – Munich is founded by Henry the Lion on the banks of the river Isar.
  • 1216 – First Barons’ War: Prince Louis of France captures the city of Winchester and soon conquers over half of the Kingdom of England.
  • 1276 – While taking exile in Fuzhou, away from the advancing Mongol invaders, the remnants of the Song dynasty court hold the coronation ceremony for Emperor Duanzong.
  • 1285 – Second Mongol invasion of Vietnam: Forces led by Prince Trần Quang Khải of the Trần dynasty destroy most of the invading Mongol naval fleet in a battle at Chuong Duong.
  • 1287 – Kublai Khan defeats the force of Nayan and other traditionalist Borjigin princes in East Mongolia and Manchuria.
  • 1381 – Richard II of England meets leaders of Peasants’ Revolt at Mile End. The Tower of London is stormed by rebels who enter without resistance.
  • 1404 – Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, having declared himself Prince of Wales, allies himself with the French against King Henry IV of England.
  • 1618 – Joris Veseler prints the first Dutch newspaper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt, &c. in Amsterdam (approximate date).
  • 1645 – English Civil War: Battle of Naseby: Twelve thousand Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
  • 1667 – The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet in the Second Anglo-Dutch War ends. It had lasted for five days and resulted in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.
  • 1690 – King William III of England (William of Orange) lands in Ireland to confront the former King James II.
  • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: the Continental Army is established by the Continental Congress, marking the birth of the United States Army.
  • 1777 – The Second Continental Congress passes the Flag Act of 1777 adopting the Stars and Stripes as the Flag of the United States.
  • 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: HMS Bounty mutiny survivors including Captain William Bligh and 18 others reach Timor after a nearly 7,400 km (4,600 mi) journey in an open boat.
  • 1800 – The French Army of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in Northern Italy and re-conquers Italy.
  • 1807 – Emperor Napoleon’s French Grande Armée defeats the Russian Army at the Battle of Friedland in Poland (modern Russian Kaliningrad Oblast) ending the War of the Fourth Coalition.
  • 1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Ismail Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, bringing the 300 year old Sudanese kingdom to an end.
  • 1822 – Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society.
  • 1830 – Beginning of the French colonization of Algeria: Thirty-four thousand French soldiers begin their invasion of Algiers, landing 27 kilometers west at Sidi Fredj.
  • 1839 – Henley Royal Regatta: the village of Henley-on-Thames, on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, stages its first regatta.
  • 1846 – Bear Flag Revolt begins: Anglo settlers in Sonoma, California, start a rebellion against Mexico and proclaim the California Republic.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Winchester: A Union garrison is defeated by the Army of Northern Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley town of Winchester, Virginia.
  • 1863 – Second Assault on the Confederate works at the Siege of Port Hudson during the American Civil War.
  • 1872 – Trade unions are legalized in Canada.
  • 1881 – The White Rajahs territories become the British protectorate of Sarawak.
  • 1900 – Hawaii becomes a United States territory.
  • 1900 – The second German Naval Law calls for the Imperial German Navy to be doubled in size.
  • 1907 – The National Association for Women’s Suffrage succeeds in getting Norwegian women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
  • 1919 – John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown depart from St. John’s, Newfoundland on the first nonstop transatlantic flight.
  • 1926 – Brazil leaves the League of Nations.
  • 1937 – Pennsylvania becomes the first (and only) state of the United States to celebrate Flag Day officially as a state holiday.
  • 1937 – U.S. House of Representatives passes the Marihuana Tax Act.
  • 1940 – World War II: The German occupation of Paris begins.
  • 1940 – The Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Lithuania resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence.
  • 1940 – Seven hundred twenty-eight Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
  • 1941 – June deportation: the first major wave of Soviet mass deportations and murder of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, begins.
  • 1944 – World War II: After several failed attempts, the British Army abandons Operation Perch, its plan to capture the German-occupied town of Caen.
  • 1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army liberate the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon.
  • 1949 – Albert II, a rhesus monkey, rides a V-2 rocket to an altitude of 134 km (83 mi), thereby becoming the first monkey in space.
  • 1951 – UNIVAC I is dedicated by the U.S. Census Bureau.
  • 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words “under God” into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
  • 1955 – Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
  • 1959 – Disneyland Monorail System, the first daily operating monorail system in the Western Hemisphere, opens to the public in Anaheim, California.
  • 1959 – Dominican exiles depart from Cuba and land in the Dominican Republic to overthrow the totalitarian government of Rafael Trujillo. All but four are killed or executed.
  • 1962 – The European Space Research Organisation is established in Paris – later becoming the European Space Agency.
  • 1966 – The Vatican announces the abolition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (“index of prohibited books”), which was originally instituted in 1557.
  • 1967 – Mariner program: Mariner 5 is launched towards Venus.
  • 1982 – Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces.
  • 1986 – The Mindbender derails and kills three riders at the Fantasyland (known today as Galaxyland) indoor amusement park in Edmonton, Alberta.
  • 1994 – The 1994 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot occurs after the New York Rangers win the Stanley Cup from Vancouver, causing an estimated C$1.1 million, leading to 200 arrests and injuries.
  • 2002 – Near-Earth asteroid 2002 MN misses the Earth by 75,000 miles (121,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon.
  • 2014 – A Ukraine military Ilyushin Il-76 airlifter is shot down, killing all 49 people on board.
  • 2017 – London: A fire in a high-rise apartment building in North Kensington leaves 72 people dead and another 74 injured.
  • 2017 – In Alexandria, Virginia, Republican member of Congress and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana is shot while practicing for charity baseball.

Births on June 14

  • 1444 – Nilakantha Somayaji, Indian astronomer and mathematician (d. 1544)
  • 1463 – Henry IV, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1514)
  • 1479 – Giglio Gregorio Giraldi, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1552)
  • 1529 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (d. 1595)
  • 1627 – Johann Abraham Ihle, German astronomer (d. 1699)
  • 1691 – Jan Francisci, Slovak organist and composer (d. 1758)
  • 1726 – Thomas Pennant, Welsh ornithologist and historian (d. 1798)
  • 1730 – Antonio Sacchini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1786)
  • 1736 – Charles-Augustin de Coulomb, French physicist and engineer (d. 1806)
  • 1763 – Simon Mayr, German composer and educator (d. 1845)
  • 1780 – Henry Salt, English historian and diplomat, British Consul-General in Egypt (d. 1827)
  • 1796 – Nikolai Brashman, Czech-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1866)
  • 1798 – František Palacký, Czech historian and politician (d. 1876)
  • 1801 – Heber C. Kimball, American religious leader (d. 1868)
  • 1811 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (d. 1896)
  • 1812 – Fernando Wood, American merchant and politician, 73rd Mayor of New York City (d. 1881)
  • 1819 – Henry Gardner, American merchant and politician, 23rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1892)
  • 1820 – John Bartlett, American author and publisher (d. 1905)
  • 1829 – Bernard Petitjean, French Roman Catholic missionary to Japan (d. 1884)
  • 1838 – Yamagata Aritomo, Japanese Field Marshal and politician, 3rd and 9th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1922)
  • 1840 – William F. Nast, American businessman (d. 1893)
  • 1848 – Bernard Bosanquet, English philosopher and theorist (d. 1923)
  • 1848 – Max Erdmannsdörfer, German conductor and composer (d. 1905)
  • 1855 – Robert M. La Follette, American lawyer and politician, 20th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 1925)
  • 1856 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1922)
  • 1862 – John Ulric Nef, Swiss-American chemist and academic (d. 1915)
  • 1864 – Alois Alzheimer, German psychiatrist and neuropathologist (d. 1915)
  • 1868 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
  • 1868 – Anna B. Eckstein, German peace activist (d. 1947)
  • 1870 – Sophia of Prussia (d. 1932)
  • 1871 – Hermanus Brockmann, Dutch rower (d. 1936)
  • 1871 – Jacob Ellehammer, Danish mechanic and engineer (d. 1946)
  • 1872 – János Szlepecz, Slovene priest and author (d. 1936)
  • 1877 – Jane Bathori, French soprano (d. 1970)
  • 1877 – Ida MacLean, British biochemist, the first woman admitted to the London Chemical Society (d. 1944)
  • 1878 – Léon Thiébaut, French fencer (d. 1943)
  • 1879 – Arthur Duffey, American sprinter and coach (d. 1955)
  • 1884 – John McCormack, Irish tenor and actor (d. 1945)
  • 1884 – Georg Zacharias, German swimmer (d. 1953)
  • 1890 – May Allison, American actress (d. 1989)
  • 1894 – Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (d. 1924)
  • 1894 – José Carlos Mariátegui (d. 1930)
  • 1894 – W. W. E. Ross, Canadian geophysicist and poet (d. 1966)
  • 1895 – Jack Adams, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 1968)
  • 1900 – Ruth Nanda Anshen, American writer, editor, and philosopher (d. 2003)
  • 1900 – June Walker, American stage and film actress (d. 1966)
  • 1903 – Alonzo Church, American mathematician and logician (d. 1995)
  • 1903 – Rose Rand, Austrian-American logician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1980)
  • 1904 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photographer and journalist (d. 1971)
  • 1905 – Steve Broidy, American businessman (d. 1991)
  • 1905 – Arthur Davis, American animator and director (d. 2000)
  • 1907 – Nicolas Bentley, English author and illustrator (d. 1978)
  • 1907 – René Char, French poet and author (d. 1988)
  • 1909 – Burl Ives, American actor and singer (d. 1995)
  • 1910 – Rudolf Kempe, German pianist and conductor (d. 1976)
  • 1913 – Joe Morris, English-Canadian lieutenant and trade union leader (d. 1996)
  • 1916 – Dorothy McGuire, American actress (d. 2001)
  • 1917 – Lise Nørgaard, Danish journalist, author, and screenwriter
  • 1917 – Gilbert Prouteau, French poet and director (d. 2012)
  • 1917 – Atle Selberg, Norwegian-American mathematician and academic (d. 2007)
  • 1918 – Fred Baur, American chemist and founder of Pringles (d. 2008)
  • 1919 – Gene Barry, American actor (d. 2009)
  • 1919 – Sam Wanamaker, American actor and director (d. 1993)
  • 1921 – Martha Greenhouse, American actress (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Judith Kerr, German-English author and illustrator (d. 2019)
  • 1923 – Green Wix Unthank, American soldier, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – James Black, Scottish pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2010)
  • 1925 – Pierre Salinger, American journalist and politician, 11th White House Press Secretary (d. 2004)
  • 1926 – Don Newcombe, American baseball player (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Argentinian-Cuban physician, author, guerrilla leader and politician (d. 1967)
  • 1929 – Cy Coleman, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
  • 1929 – Alan Davidson, Australian cricketer
  • 1929 – Johnny Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2011)
  • 1931 – Marla Gibbs, American actress and comedian
  • 1931 – Ross Higgins, Australian actor (d. 2016)
  • 1931 – Junior Walker, American saxophonist (d. 1995)
  • 1933 – Jerzy Kosiński, Polish-American novelist and screenwriter (d. 1991)
  • 1933 – Vladislav Rastorotsky, Russian gymnast and coach
  • 1936 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2005)
  • 1936 – Irmelin Sandman Lilius, Finnish author, poet, and translator
  • 1938 – Julie Felix, American-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020)
  • 1939 – Steny Hoyer, American lawyer and politician
  • 1939 – Peter Mayle, English author and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1939 – Colin Thubron, English journalist and author
  • 1942 – Jonathan Raban, English author and academic
  • 1942 – Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (d. 2008)
  • 1943 – Barry Burman, English painter and academic (d. 2001)
  • 1943 – Jennifer Gretton, Baroness Gretton, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire
  • 1943 – John Miles, English racing driver and journalist
  • 1943 – Harold Wheeler, American composer, conductor, and producer
  • 1944 – Laurie Colwin, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1992)
  • 1945 – Rod Argent, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1945 – Carlos Reichenbach, Brazilian director and producer (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Richard Stebbins, American sprinter and educator
  • 1946 – Robert Louis-Dreyfus, French-Swiss businessman (d. 2009)
  • 1946 – Tõnu Sepp, Estonian instrument maker and educator
  • 1946 – Donald Trump, American businessman, television personality and 45th President of the United States
  • 1947 – Roger Liddle, Baron Liddle, English politician
  • 1947 – Barry Melton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1947 – Paul Rudolph, Canadian singer, guitarist, and cyclist
  • 1948 – Laurence Yep, American author and playwright
  • 1949 – Jim Lea, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
  • 1949 – Roger Powell, English-Australian scientist and academic
  • 1949 – Antony Sher, South African-British actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1949 – Harry Turtledove, American historian and author
  • 1949 – Alan White, English drummer and songwriter
  • 1950 – Rowan Williams, Welsh archbishop and theologian
  • 1951 – Paul Boateng, English lawyer and politician, British High Commissioner to South Africa
  • 1951 – Danny Edwards, American golfer
  • 1952 – Robert Lepikson, Estonian racing driver and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior (d. 2006)
  • 1952 – Pat Summitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016)
  • 1952 – Leon Wieseltier, American philosopher, journalist, and critic
  • 1953 – Janet Mackey, New Zealand lawyer and politician
  • 1954 – Will Patton, American actor
  • 1955 – Michael D. Duvall, American businessman and politician
  • 1955 – Paul O’Grady, English television host, producer, and drag performer
  • 1955 – Kirron Kher, Indian theatre, film & television actress, TV talk show host, politician and Member of Parliament
  • 1956 – Fred Funk, American golfer and coach
  • 1956 – King Diamond (Kim Bendix Petersen), heavy metal musician
  • 1957 – Suzanne Nora Johnson, American lawyer and businesswoman
  • 1957 – Mona Simpson, American novelist
  • 1958 – Pamela Geller, American activist and blogger
  • 1959 – Marcus Miller, American bass player, composer, and producer
  • 1960 – Tonie Campbell, American hurdler
  • 1960 – Mike Laga, American baseball player
  • 1961 – Boy George, English singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1961 – Dušan Kojić, Serbian singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1961 – Sam Perkins, American basketball player
  • 1963 – Grant Kenny, Australian iron man and canoeist
  • 1964 – Peter Gilliver, English lexicographer and academic
  • 1967 – Dedrick Dodge, American football player and coach
  • 1968 – Campbell Brown, American journalist
  • 1968 – Faizon Love, Cuban-American actor and screenwriter
  • 1969 – Éric Desjardins, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1969 – Steffi Graf, German tennis player
  • 1970 – Heather McDonald, American comedian, actress, and author
  • 1971 – Bruce Bowen, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Ramon Vega, Swiss footballer
  • 1972 – Rick Brunson, American basketball player and coach
  • 1972 – Matthias Ettrich, German computer scientist and engineer, founded KDE
  • 1972 – Dominic Brown, English guitarist and songwriter
  • 1972 – Claude Henderson, South African cricketer
  • 1972 – Danny McFarlane, Jamaican hurdler and sprinter
  • 1973 – Sami Kapanen, Finnish-American ice hockey player and manager
  • 1976 – Alan Carr, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter
  • 1976 – Massimo Oddo, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1977 – Boeta Dippenaar, South African cricketer
  • 1977 – Chris McAlister, American football player
  • 1977 – Joe Worsley, English rugby player and coach
  • 1978 – Steve Bégin, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Diablo Cody, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1978 – Annia Hatch, Cuban-American gymnast and coach
  • 1978 – Nikola Vujčić, Croatian former professional basketball player
  • 1979 – Shannon Hegarty, Australian rugby league player
  • 1981 – Elano, Brazilian footballer and manager
  • 1982 – Jamie Green, English racing driver
  • 1982 – Nicole Irving, Australian swimmer
  • 1982 – Lang Lang, Chinese pianist
  • 1983 – Trevor Barry, Bahamian high jumper
  • 1983 – Louis Garrel, French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1984 – Lorenzo Booker, American football player
  • 1984 – Mark Cosgrove, Australian cricketer
  • 1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, English singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Yury Prilukov, Russian swimmer
  • 1985 – Oleg Medvedev. Russian luger
  • 1985 – Andy Soucek, Spanish racing driver
  • 1986 – Matt Read, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Andrew Cogliano, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Mohamed Diamé, Senegalese footballer
  • 1988 – Adrián Aldrete, Mexican footballer
  • 1988 – Kevin McHale, American actor, singer, dancer and radio personality
  • 1989 – Lucy Hale, American actress and singer-songwriter
  • 1989 – Brad Takairangi, Australian-Cook Islands rugby league player
  • 1990 – Patrice Cormier, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1990 – Stephen McLaughlin, Irish footballer
  • 1991 – Kostas Manolas, Greek footballer
  • 1991 – Jesy Nelson, English singer
  • 1992 – Devante Smith-Pelly, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1993 – Gunna, American rapper
  • 1993 – Ryan McCartan, American actor and singer
  • 1999 – Tzuyu, Taiwanese singer

Deaths on June 14

  • 809 – Ōtomo no Otomaro, Japanese general (b. 731)
  • 847 – Methodius I, patriarch of Constantinople
  • 957 – Guadamir, bishop of Vic (Spain)
  • 976 – Aron, Bulgarian nobleman
  • 1161 – Emperor Qinzong of the Song dynasty (b. 1100)
  • 1205 – Walter III, Count of Brienne
  • 1349 – Günther von Schwarzburg, German king (b. 1304)
  • 1381 – Simon Sudbury, English archbishop (b. 1316)
  • 1497 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía, Italian son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1474)
  • 1516 – John III of Navarre (b. 1469)
  • 1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489)
  • 1548 – Carpentras, French composer (b. 1470)
  • 1583 – Shibata Katsuie, Japanese samurai (b. 1522)
  • 1594 – Jacob Kroger, German goldsmith, hanged in Edinburgh for stealing the jewels of Anne of Denmark.
  • 1594 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1532)
  • 1662 – Henry Vane the Younger, English-American politician, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1613)
  • 1674 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French author and poet (b. 1600)
  • 1679 – Guillaume Courtois, French painter and illustrator (b. 1628)
  • 1746 – Colin Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician (b. 1698)
  • 1794 – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, English courtier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1718)
  • 1800 – Louis Desaix, French general (b. 1768)
  • 1800 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general (b. 1753)
  • 1801 – Benedict Arnold, American general during the American Revolution later turned British spy (b. 1741)
  • 1825 – Pierre Charles L’Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (b. 1754)
  • 1837 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (b. 1798)
  • 1864 – Leonidas Polk, American general and bishop (b. 1806)
  • 1887 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (b. 1807)
  • 1883 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet and author (b. 1809)
  • 1886 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian director and playwright (b. 1823)
  • 1907 – William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer, designed the Home Insurance Building (b. 1832)
  • 1907 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (b. 1830)
  • 1908 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, 6th Governor General of Canada (b. 1841)
  • 1914 – Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1835)
  • 1916 – João Simões Lopes Neto, Brazilian author (b. 1865)
  • 1920 – Max Weber, German sociologist and economist (b. 1864)
  • 1923 – Isabelle Bogelot, French philanthropist (b. 1838)
  • 1926 – Mary Cassatt, American-French painter (b. 1843)
  • 1927 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (b. 1894)
  • 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author (b. 1859)
  • 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist and academic (b. 1857)
  • 1932 – Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian businesswoman, co-founded Desjardins Group (b. 1858)
  • 1933 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (b. 1860)
  • 1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, playwright, and novelist (b. 1874)
  • 1936 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter, and designer, designed the IG Farben Building (b. 1869)
  • 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish-English physicist and engineer (b. 1888)
  • 1946 – Jorge Ubico, 21st President of Guatemala (b. 1878)
  • 1953 – Tom Cole, Welsh-American racing driver (b. 1922)
  • 1968 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901)
  • 1972 – Dündar Taşer, Turkish soldier and politician (b. 1925)
  • 1977 – Robert Middleton, American actor (b. 1911)
  • 1977 – Alan Reed, American actor, original voice of Fred Flintstone (b.1907)
  • 1979 – Ahmad Zahir, Afghan singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
  • 1980 – Charles Miller, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1939)
  • 1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (b. 1899)
  • 1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, American composer and songwriter (b. 1918)
  • 1987 – Stanisław Bareja, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
  • 1990 – Erna Berger, German soprano and actress (b. 1900)
  • 1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (b. 1907)
  • 1994 – Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1942)
  • 1994 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (b. 1924)
  • 1994 – Marcel Mouloudji, French singer and actor (b. 1922)
  • 1995 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1917)
  • 1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1949)
  • 1995 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (b. 1937)
  • 1996 – Noemí Gerstein, Argentinian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1908)
  • 1997 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926)
  • 1999 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (b. 1932)
  • 2000 – Attilio Bertolucci, Italian poet and author (b. 1911)
  • 2002 – June Jordan, American author and activist (b. 1936)
  • 2003 – Dale Whittington, American race car driver (b. 1959)
  • 2004 – Ulrich Inderbinen, Swiss mountaineer and guide (b. 1900)
  • 2005 – Carlo Maria Giulini, Italian conductor and director (b. 1914)
  • 2005 – Mimi Parent, Canadian-Swiss painter (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Monty Berman, English director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1905)
  • 2006 – Jean Roba, Belgian author and illustrator (b. 1930)
  • 2007 – Ruth Graham, Chinese-American author, poet, and painter (b. 1920)
  • 2007 – Robin Olds, American general and pilot (b. 1922)
  • 2007 – Kurt Waldheim, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Austrian politician, 9th President of Austria (b. 1918)
  • 2009 – Bob Bogle, American musician (The Ventures) (b. 1934)
  • 2009 – William McIntyre, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and judge (b. 1918)
  • 2012 – Peter Archer, Baron Archer of Sandwell, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Bob Chappuis, American football player and soldier (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Margie Hyams, American pianist and vibraphone player (b. 1920)
  • 2012 – Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, German pianist and academic (b. 1930)
  • 2012 – Carlos Reichenbach, Brazilian director and producer (b. 1945)
  • 2012 – Gitta Sereny, Austrian-English historian, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
  • 2013 – Elroy Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Alberto Cañas Escalante, Costa Rican journalist and politician (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Isabelle Collin Dufresne, French actress (b. 1935)
  • 2014 – Robert Lebeck, German photographer and journalist (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – James E. Rogers, American lawyer, businessman, and academic (b. 1938)
  • 2015 – Richard Cotton, Australian geneticist and academic (b. 1940)
  • 2015 – Anne Nicol Gaylor, American activist, co-founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Qiao Shi, Chinese politician (b. 1924)
  • 2016 – Ann Morgan Guilbert, American actress and singer (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Gilles Lamontagne, Canadian politician, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1919)
  • 2020 – Sushant Singh Rajput, Indian film actor (b. 1986)

Holidays and observances on June 14

  • Christian feast day:
    • Burchard of Meissen
    • Caomhán of Inisheer
    • Elisha (Roman Catholic and Lutheran)
    • Fortunatus of Naples (Roman Catholic)
    • Blessed Francisca de Paula de Jesus (Nhá Chica)
    • Joseph the Hymnographer (Roman Catholic: Orthodox April 3)
    • Methodios I of Constantinople
    • Quintian of Rodez (Rodez)
    • Richard Baxter (Church of England)
    • Valerius and Rufinus
    • June 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Commemoration of the Soviet Deportation related observances:
    • Baltic Freedom Day (United States)
    • Mourning and Commemoration Day or Leinapäev (Estonia)
    • Mourning and Hope Day (Lithuania)
  • Day of Memory for Repressed People (Armenia)
  • Flag Day (United States)
  • Freedom Day (Malawi)
  • Liberation Day (Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands)
  • World Blood Donor Day

June 14 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

June 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 218 – Battle of Antioch: With the support of the Syrian legions, Elagabalus defeats the forces of emperor Macrinus. He flees but is captured near Chalcedon and later executed in Cappadocia.
  • 793 – Vikings raid the abbey at Lindisfarne in Northumbria, commonly accepted as the beginning of Norse activity in the British Isles.
  • 1042 – Edward the Confessor becomes King of England – the country’s penultimate Anglo-Saxon king.
  • 1191 – Richard I arrives in Acre, beginning his crusade.
  • 1663 – Portuguese victory at the Battle of Ameixial ensures Portugal’s independence from Spain.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: American attackers are driven back at the Battle of Trois-Rivières.
  • 1783 – Laki, a volcano in Iceland, begins an eight-month eruption which kills over 9,000 people and starts a seven-year famine.
  • 1789 – James Madison introduces twelve proposed amendments to the United States Constitution in Congress.
  • 1794 – Robespierre inaugurates the French Revolution’s new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, with large organized festivals all across France.
  • 1856 – A group of 194 Pitcairn Islanders, descendants of the mutineers of HMS Bounty, arrives at Norfolk Island, commencing the Third Settlement of the Island.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: Tennessee secedes from the Union.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Cross Keys: Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson save the Army of Northern Virginia from a Union assault on the James Peninsula led by General George B. McClellan.
  • 1867 – Coronation of Franz Joseph as King of Hungary following the Austro-Hungarian compromise (Ausgleich).
  • 1887 – Herman Hollerith applies for US patent #395,781 for the ‘Art of Compiling Statistics’, which was his punched card calculator.
  • 1906 – Theodore Roosevelt signs the Antiquities Act into law, authorizing the President to restrict the use of certain parcels of public land with historical or conservation value.
  • 1912 – Carl Laemmle incorporates Universal Pictures.
  • 1918 – A solar eclipse is observed at Baker City, Oregon by scientists and an artist hired by the United States Navy.
  • 1928 – Second Northern Expedition: The National Revolutionary Army captures Peking, whose name is changed to Beijing (“Northern Capital”).
  • 1929 – Margaret Bondfield is appointed Minister of Labour. She is the first woman appointed to the Cabinet of the United Kingdom.
  • 1940 – World War II: The completion of Operation Alphabet, the evacuation of Allied forces from Narvik at the end of the Norwegian Campaign.
  • 1941 – World War II: The Allies commence the Syria–Lebanon Campaign against the possessions of Vichy France in the Levant.
  • 1942 – World War II: The Japanese imperial submarines I-21 and I-24 shell the Australian cities of Sydney and Newcastle.
  • 1949 – Helen Keller, Dorothy Parker, Danny Kaye, Fredric March, John Garfield, Paul Muni and Edward G. Robinson are named in an FBI report as Communist Party members.
  • 1949 – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is published.
  • 1953 – An F5 tornado hits Beecher, Michigan, killing 116, injuring 844, and destroying 340 homes.
  • 1953 – The United States Supreme Court rules in District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co. that restaurants in Washington, D.C., cannot refuse to serve black patrons.
  • 1959 – USS Barbero and the United States Postal Service attempt the delivery of mail via Missile Mail.
  • 1966 – An F-104 Starfighter collides with XB-70 Valkyrie prototype no. 2, destroying both aircraft during a photo shoot near Edwards Air Force Base. Joseph A. Walker, a NASA test pilot, and Carl Cross, a United States Air Force test pilot, are both killed.
  • 1966 – Topeka, Kansas, is devastated by a tornado that registers as an “F5” on the Fujita scale: The first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
  • 1966 – The National Football League and American Football League announced a merger effective in 1970.
  • 1967 – Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident occurs, killing 34 and wounding 171.
  • 1972 – Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured by Associated Press photographer Nick Ut moments later while the young girl is seen running down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
  • 1982 – Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
  • 1984 – Homosexuality is declared legal in the Australian state of New South Wales.
  • 1987 – New Zealand’s Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
  • 1992 – The first World Oceans Day is celebrated, coinciding with the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • 1995 – Downed U.S. Air Force pilot Captain Scott O’Grady is rescued by U.S. Marines in Bosnia.
  • 2001 – Mamoru Takuma kills eight and injures 15 in a mass stabbing at an elementary school in the Osaka Prefecture of Japan.
  • 2004 – The first Venus Transit in well over a century takes place, the previous one being in 1882.
  • 2007 – Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, is hit by the State’s worst storms and flooding in 30 years resulting in the death of nine people and the grounding of a trade ship, the MV Pasha Bulker.
  • 2008 – At least 37 miners go missing after an explosion in a Ukrainian coal mine causes it to collapse.
  • 2008 – At least seven people are killed and ten injured in a stabbing spree in Tokyo, Japan.
  • 2009 – Two American journalists are found guilty of illegally entering North Korea and sentenced to 12 years of penal labour.
  • 2014 – At least 28 people are killed in an attack at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, Pakistan.

Births on June 8

  • 862 – Emperor Xizong of Tang (d. 888)
  • 1508 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian Protestant reformer (d. 1586)
  • 1552 – Gabriello Chiabrera, Italian poet and author (d. 1638)
  • 1593 – George I Rákóczi, prince of Transylvania (d. 1648)
  • 1625 – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1712)
  • 1671 – Tomaso Albinoni, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1751)
  • 1717 – John Collins, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1795)
  • 1724 – John Smeaton, English engineer, designed the Coldstream Bridge and Perth Bridge (d. 1794)
  • 1745 – Caspar Wessel, Norwegian-Danish mathematician and cartographer (d. 1818)
  • 1757 – Ercole Consalvi, Italian cardinal (d. 1824)
  • 1788 – Charles A. Wickliffe, American politician, 14th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1869)
  • 1810 – Robert Schumann, German composer and critic (d. 1856)
  • 1829 – John Everett Millais, English painter and illustrator (d. 1896)
  • 1831 – Thomas J. Higgins, Canadian-American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1917)
  • 1842 – John Q. A. Brackett, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1918)
  • 1851 – Jacques-Arsène d’Arsonval, French physician and physicist (d. 1940)
  • 1852 – Guido Banti, Italian physician and pathologist (d. 1925)
  • 1854 – Douglas Cameron, Canadian politician, 8th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba (d. 1921)
  • 1855 – George Charles Haité, English painter and illustrator (d. 1924)
  • 1858 – Charlotte Scott, English mathematician (d. 1931)
  • 1859 – Smith Wigglesworth, English evangelist (d. 1947)
  • 1860 – Alicia Boole Stott, Irish-English mathematician and theorist (d. 1940)
  • 1867 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (d. 1959)
  • 1868 – Robert Robinson Taylor, American architect (d. 1942)
  • 1872 – Jan Frans De Boever, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1949)
  • 1875 – Ernst Enno, Estonian poet and author (d. 1934)
  • 1876 – Alexandre Tuffère, Greek-French triple jumper (d. 1958)
  • 1885 – Karl Genzken, German physician (d. 1957)
  • 1891 – William Funnell, Australian public servant (d. 1962)
  • 1893 – Ernst Marcus, German zoologist (d. 1968)
  • 1893 – Gaby Morlay, French actress (d. 1964)
  • 1894 – Erwin Schulhoff, Czech composer and pianist (d. 1942)
  • 1895 – Santiago Bernabéu Yeste, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1978)
  • 1897 – John G. Bennett, English mathematician and technologist (d. 1974)
  • 1899 – Eugène Lapierre, Canadian organist, composer and arts administrator (d. 1970)
  • 1899 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (d. 1945)
  • 1900 – Lena Baker, African-American maid executed for capital murder, later pardoned posthumously (d. 1945)
  • 1903 – Ralph Yarborough, American colonel and politician (d. 1996)
  • 1903 – Marguerite Yourcenar, Belgian-French author and poet (d. 1987)
  • 1910 – C. C. Beck, American illustrator (d. 1989)
  • 1910 – John W. Campbell, American journalist and author (d. 1971)
  • 1910 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French-American photographer, sculptor, and painter (d. 2003)
  • 1911 – Edmundo Rivero, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1912 – Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, British abstract painter (d. 2004)
  • 1912 – Maurice Bellemare, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
  • 1912 – Harry Holtzman, American painter (d. 1987)
  • 1915 – Kayyar Kinhanna Rai, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 2015)
  • 1916 – Francis Crick, English biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
  • 1916 – Luigi Comencini, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1916 – Richard Pousette-Dart, American painter and educator (d. 1992)
  • 1917 – Byron White, American football player and judge (d. 2002)
  • 1918 – George Edward Hughes, Irish-New Zealand philosopher and logician (d. 1994)
  • 1918 – Robert Preston, American captain, actor, and singer (d. 1987)
  • 1918 – John D. Roberts, American chemist and academic (d. 2016)
  • 1918 – John H. Ross, American captain and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1919 – John R. Deane, Jr., American general (d. 2013)
  • 1920 – Gwen Harwood, Australian poet and playwright (d. 1995)
  • 1921 – Gordon McLendon, American broadcaster and businessman (d. 1986)
  • 1921 – Olga Nardone, American actress (d. 2010)
  • 1921 – LeRoy Neiman, American soldier and painter (d. 2012)
  • 1921 – Alexis Smith, Canadian-born American actress and singer (d. 1993)
  • 1921 – Suharto, Indonesian soldier and politician, 2nd President of Indonesia (d. 2008)
  • 1924 – Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Kenneth Waltz, American political scientist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Barbara Bush, American wife of George H. W. Bush, 41st First Lady of the United States (d. 2018)
  • 1927 – Jerry Stiller, American actor, comedian and producer (d. 2020)
  • 1929 – Nada Inada, Japanese psychiatrist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Robert Aumann, German-American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1930 – Marcel Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1993)
  • 1931 – James Goldstone, American director and screenwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1931 – Dana Wynter, British actress (d. 2011)
  • 1932 – Ray Illingworth, English cricketer and sportscaster
  • 1932 – Ian Kirkwood, Lord Kirkwood, Scottish lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
  • 1933 – Rommie Loudd, American football player and coach (d. 1998)
  • 1933 – Joan Rivers, American comedian, actress, and television host (d. 2014)
  • 1933 – Robert Stevens, English lawyer and academic
  • 1934 – Millicent Martin, English actress and singer
  • 1935 – Molade Okoya-Thomas, Nigerian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2015)
  • 1936 – James Darren, American actor
  • 1936 – Kenneth G. Wilson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
  • 1937 – Gillian Clarke, Welsh poet and playwright
  • 1938 – Angelo Amato, Italian cardinal
  • 1939 – Herb Adderley, American football player
  • 1940 – Nancy Sinatra, American singer and actress
  • 1941 – Robert Bradford, Northern Irish politician and activist (d. 1981)
  • 1941 – George Pell, Australian cardinal
  • 1942 – Nikos Konstantopoulos, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior
  • 1942 – Doug Mountjoy, Welsh snooker player
  • 1943 – Colin Baker, English actor
  • 1943 – William Calley, American lieutenant
  • 1943 – Willie Davenport, American colonel and hurdler (d. 2002)
  • 1943 – Peter Eggert, German footballer and manager
  • 1943 – Pierre-André Fournier, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 2015)
  • 1944 – Mark Belanger, American baseball player (d. 1998)
  • 1944 – Marc Ouellet, Canadian cardinal
  • 1944 – Boz Scaggs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Steven Fromholz, American singer-songwriter, producer, and poet (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – Derek Underwood, English cricketer
  • 1946 – Graham Henry, New Zealand rugby player and coach
  • 1947 – Annie Haslam, English singer-songwriter and painter
  • 1947 – Sara Paretsky, American author
  • 1947 – Eric F. Wieschaus, American biologist, geneticist, and academic Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1949 – Emanuel Ax, Polish-American pianist and educator
  • 1949 – Hildegard Falck, German runner
  • 1950 – Kathy Baker, American actress
  • 1950 – Sônia Braga, Brazilian actress and producer
  • 1951 – Tony Rice, American guitarist and songwriter
  • 1951 – Bonnie Tyler, Welsh singer-songwriter
  • 1953 – Billy Hayes, English union leader
  • 1953 – Sandy Nairne, English historian and curator
  • 1953 – Ivo Sanader, Croatian historian and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Croatia
  • 1953 – Olav Stedje, Norwegian singer-songwriter
  • 1954 – Greg Ginn, American punk rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (Black Flag)
  • 1954 – Kiril of Varna, Bulgarian metropolitan (d. 2013)
  • 1954 – Sergei Storchak, Ukrainian-Russian politician
  • 1955 – Tim Berners-Lee, English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web
  • 1955 – José Antonio Camacho, Spanish footballer and manager
  • 1955 – Griffin Dunne, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1956 – Udo Bullmann, German politician
  • 1956 – Jonathan Potter, English psychologist, sociolinguist, and academic
  • 1957 – Scott Adams, American author and illustrator
  • 1957 – Don Robinson, American baseball player and politician
  • 1957 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech/Finnish sculptor
  • 1958 – Louise Richardson, Irish political scientist and academic
  • 1958 – Keenen Ivory Wayans, American actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1959 – Mohsen Kadivar, Iranian philosopher
  • 1960 – Mick Hucknall, English singer-songwriter
  • 1960 – Terje Gewelt, Norwegian bassist
  • 1960 – Thomas Steen, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
  • 1961 – Mary Bonauto, American lawyer and gay rights activist
  • 1962 – John Gibbons, American baseball player and manager
  • 1962 – Andreas Keim, German footballer
  • 1962 – Nick Rhodes, English keyboard player and producer
  • 1963 – Karen Kingsbury, American journalist and author
  • 1963 – Antoaneta Todorova, Bulgarian javelin thrower
  • 1964 – Butch Reynolds, American runner and coach
  • 1965 – Kevin Farley, American screenwriter
  • 1965 – Rob Pilatus, German model, dancer and singer (Milli Vanilli) (d. 1998)
  • 1966 – Julianna Margulies, American actress
  • 1966 – Doris Pearson, English singer-songwriter and choreographer
  • 1967 – Dan Futterman, American actor, screenwriter and producer
  • 1967 – Russell E. Morris, Professor of Materials Chemistry at the University of St Andrews
  • 1968 – Rob Ray, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
  • 1969 – David Barnhill, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1969 – J. P. Manoux, American actor
  • 1969 – Marcos Siega, American director and producer
  • 1970 – Gabrielle Giffords, American businesswoman, politician and activist
  • 1970 – Kwame Kilpatrick, American educator and politician, 68th Mayor of Detroit
  • 1970 – Steve Renouf, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1970 – Troy Vincent, American football player
  • 1971 – Mark Feuerstein, American actor, director, and producer
  • 1972 – Christian Mayrleb, Austrian footballer
  • 1973 – Lexa Doig, Canadian model and actress
  • 1973 – Bryant Reeves, American basketball player
  • 1974 – Pål Arne Fagernes, Norwegian javelin thrower (d. 2003)
  • 1974 – Lauren Burns, Australian taekwondo practitioner
  • 1974 – Alma Lepina, Latvian figure skater
  • 1975 – Emm Gryner, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Bryan McCabe, Canadian-American ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Mark Ricciuto, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1975 – Shilpa Shetty, Indian actress and producer
  • 1976 – Eion Bailey, American actor
  • 1976 – Kenji Johjima, Japanese baseball player
  • 1976 – Catherine McKinnell, English lawyer and politician
  • 1977 – Kanye West, American rapper, producer, director, and fashion designer
  • 1978 – Eun Ji-won, South Korean rapper, dancer, and producer
  • 1978 – Maria Menounos, American television journalist
  • 1979 – Alexei Kozlov, Estonian figure skater
  • 1979 – Pete Orr, Canadian-American baseball player
  • 1979 – Adine Wilson, New Zealand netball player
  • 1979 – İpek Şenoğlu, Turkish tennis player
  • 1980 – Gustavo Manduca, Brazilian footballer
  • 1980 – Jamie Spencer, Irish jockey
  • 1981 – Alex Band, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1981 – Rachel Held Evans, American Christian author
  • 1981 – Matteo Meneghello, Italian race car driver
  • 1981 – Sara Watkins, American singer-songwriter and fiddler
  • 1982 – Matteo Barbini, Italian rugby player
  • 1982 – Michael Cammalleri, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1982 – Dickson Etuhu, Nigerian footballer
  • 1982 – Irina Lăzăreanu, Romanian-Canadian model and singer
  • 1982 – Nadia Petrova, Russian tennis player
  • 1983 – Gaines Adams, American football player (d. 2010)
  • 1983 – Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player
  • 1983 – Pantelis Kapetanos, Greek footballer
  • 1983 – Coby Karl, American basketball player
  • 1984 – Javier Mascherano, Argentinian footballer
  • 1985 – Alexandre Despatie, Canadian diver
  • 1985 – Rosanna Pansino, American actress, writer and TV personality
  • 1986 – Patrick Kaleta, American ice hockey player
  • 1986 – Andrej Sekera, Slovak ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Coralie Balmy, French swimmer
  • 1987 – Issiar Dia, Senegalese footballer
  • 1989 – Timea Bacsinszky, Swiss tennis player
  • 1989 – Mitchell Schwartz, American football player
  • 1990 – Todd Barclay, New Zealand politician
  • 1990 – Mickey Bushell, English wheelchair racer
  • 1992 – Sebá, Brazilian footballer
  • 1996 – Doğanay Kılıç, Turkish footballer
  • 1997 – Jeļena Ostapenko, Latvian tennis player

Deaths on June 8

  • 632 – Muhammad, the central figure of Islam, widely regarded as its founder (b. 570/571)
  • 696 – Chlodulf, bishop of Metz (or 697)
  • 951 – Zhao Ying, Chinese chancellor (b. 885)
  • 1042 – Harthacnut, English-Danish king (b. 1018)
  • 1154 – William of York, English archbishop and saint
  • 1290 – Beatrice Portinari, object of Dante Alighieri’s adoration (b. 1266)
  • 1376 – Edward, the Black Prince, English son of Edward III of England (b. 1330)
  • 1383 – Thomas de Ros, 4th Baron de Ros, English politician (b. 1338)
  • 1384 – Kan’ami, Japanese actor and playwright (b. 1333)
  • 1405 – Richard le Scrope, Archbishop of York (b. c.1350)
  • 1405 – Thomas de Mowbray, 4th Earl of Norfolk (b. 1385)
  • 1476 – George Neville, English archbishop and academic (b. 1432)
  • 1492 – Elizabeth Woodville, Queen consort of England (b. 1437)
  • 1501 – George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, Earl of Huntly and Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1440)
  • 1505 – Hongzhi Emperor of China (b. 1470)
  • 1600 – Edward Fortunatus, German nobleman (b. 1565)
  • 1611 – Jean Bertaut, French bishop and poet (b. 1552)
  • 1612 – Hans Leo Hassler, German organist and composer (b. 1562)
  • 1621 – Anne de Xainctonge, French saint, founded the Society of the Sisters of Saint Ursula of the Blessed Virgin (b. 1567)
  • 1628 – Rudolph Goclenius, German lexicographer and philosopher (b. 1547)
  • 1651 – Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1604)
  • 1714 – Sophia of Hanover (b. 1630)
  • 1716 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German son of Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (b. 1658)
  • 1727 – August Hermann Francke, German-Lutheran pietist, philanthropist, and scholar (b. 1663)
  • 1768 – Johann Joachim Winckelmann, German archaeologist and scholar (b. 1717)
  • 1771 – George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1716)
  • 1795 – Louis XVII of France (b. 1785)
  • 1809 – Thomas Paine, English-American theorist and author (b. 1737)
  • 1831 – Sarah Siddons, Welsh actress (b. 1755)
  • 1835 – Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Italian economist and jurist (b. 1761)
  • 1845 – Andrew Jackson, American general, judge, and politician, 7th President of the United States (b. 1767)
  • 1846 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (b. 1799)
  • 1857 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (b. 1803)
  • 1874 – Cochise, American tribal chief (b. 1805)
  • 1876 – George Sand, French author and playwright (b. 1804)
  • 1885 – Ignace Bourget, Canadian bishop (b. 1799)
  • 1889 – Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (b. 1844)
  • 1899 – Mary of the Divine Heart, German nun and saint (b. 1863)
  • 1924 – Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1902)
  • 1924 – George Mallory, English lieutenant and mountaineer (b. 1886)
  • 1929 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-American poet and playwright (b. 1861)
  • 1945 – Karl Hanke, Polish-German soldier and politician (b. 1903)
  • 1951 – Eugène Fiset, Canadian physician, general, and politician, 18th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1874)
  • 1951 – Oswald Pohl, German SS officer (b. 1892)
  • 1956 – Marie Laurencin, French painter and sculptor (b. 1883)
  • 1959 – Leslie Johnson, English race car driver (b. 1912)
  • 1965 – Edmondo Rossoni, Italian politician (b. 1884)
  • 1966 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (b. 1890)
  • 1968 – Elizabeth Enright, American author and illustrator (b. 1909)
  • 1968 – Ludovico Scarfiotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1933)
  • 1969 – Arunachalam Mahadeva, Sri Lankan politician and diplomat (b. 1885)
  • 1969 – Robert Taylor, American actor and singer (b. 1911)
  • 1970 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (b. 1908)
  • 1971 – J.I. Rodale, American author and playwright (b. 1898)
  • 1976 – Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, Norwegian zoologist and psychologist (b. 1894)
  • 1982 – Satchel Paige, American baseball player and coach (b. 1906)
  • 1984 – Gordon Jacob, English composer and academic (b. 1895)
  • 1987 – Alexander Iolas, Egyptian-American art collector (b. 1907)
  • 1997 – George Turner, Australian author and critic (b. 1916)
  • 1997 – Karen Wetterhahn, American chemist and academic (b. 1948)
  • 1998 – Sani Abacha, Nigerian general and politician, 10th President of Nigeria (b. 1943)
  • 1998 – Maria Reiche, German mathematician and archaeologist (b. 1903)
  • 2000 – Jeff MacNelly, American cartoonist (b. 1948)
  • 2001 – Alex de Renzy, American director and producer (b. 1935)
  • 2004 – Charles Hyder, American astrophysicist and academic (b. 1930)
  • 2004 – Mack Jones, American baseball player (b. 1938)
  • 2006 – Jaxon, American illustrator and publisher, co-founded Rip Off Press (b. 1941)
  • 2006 – Matta El Meskeen, Egyptian monk, theologian, and author (b. 1919)
  • 2008 – Šaban Bajramović, Serbian singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
  • 2009 – Omar Bongo, Gabonese captain and politician, President of Gabon (b. 1935)
  • 2010 – Crispian St. Peters, English singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
  • 2012 – Pete Brennan, American basketball player (b. 1936)
  • 2012 – Charles E. M. Pearce, New Zealand-Australian mathematician and academic (b. 1940)
  • 2012 – Ghassan Tueni, Lebanese journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1926)
  • 2013 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1948)
  • 2013 – Yoram Kaniuk, Israeli painter, journalist, and critic (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Taufiq Kiemas, Indonesian politician, 5th First Spouse of Indonesia (b. 1942)
  • 2014 – Alexander Imich, Polish-American chemist, parapsychologist, and academic (b. 1903)
  • 2014 – Yoshihito, Prince Katsura of Japan (b. 1948)
  • 2015 – Chea Sim, Cambodian commander and politician (b. 1932)
  • 2017 – Sam Panopoulos, Greek cook (b. 1934)

Holidays and observances on June 8

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blessed Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan
    • Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart (Droste zu Vischering)
    • Chlodulf of Metz
    • Jacques Berthieu, S.J.
    • Jadwiga (Hedwig) of Poland
    • Medard
    • Melania the Elder
    • Roland Allen (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Thomas Ken (Church of England)
    • William of York
    • June 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest day on which Queen’s Birthday can fall, while June 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Monday in June. (Australia, except Western Australia and Queensland)
  • Bounty Day (Norfolk Island)
  • Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
  • Engineer’s Day (Peru)
  • Pranav Sivakumar Day (Illinois, United States)
  • Primož Trubar Day (Slovenia)
  • World Brain Tumor Day
  • World Oceans Day

June 8 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 20- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

Typically the March equinox falls on March 20, marking the vernal point in the Northern Hemisphere and the autumnal point in the Southern Hemisphere.

  • 235 – Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed emperor.
  • 673 – Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
  • 1206 – Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 1600 – The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599).
  • 1602 – The Dutch East India Company is established.
  • 1616 – Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
  • 1760 – The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.
  • 1815 – After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
  • 1848 – German revolutions of 1848–49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
  • 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published.
  • 1854 – The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.
  • 1861 – An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
  • 1883 – The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.
  • 1888 – The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
  • 1890 – Prime Minister of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II.
  • 1896 – With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China.
  • 1913 – Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
  • 1915 – Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
  • 1921 – The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland.
  • 1922 – The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
  • 1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso’s first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.
  • 1933 – Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appointed Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.
  • 1942 – World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: “I came out of Bataan and I shall return”.
  • 1948 – With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.
  • 1951 – Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
  • 1952 – The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty Between the United States and Japan.
  • 1956 – Tunisia gains independence from France.
  • 1964 – The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
  • 1972 – The Troubles: The first Provisional IRA car bombing in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.
  • 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
  • 1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
  • 1987 – The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
  • 1988 – Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
  • 1990 – Ferdinand Marcos’s widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
  • 1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.
  • 1995 – The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 and wounding over 6,200 people.
  • 1999 – Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.
  • 2000 – Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff’s deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English.
  • 2003 – Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.
  • 2006 – Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
  • 2012 – At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.
  • 2014 – Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
  • 2015 – A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.

Births on March 20

  • 43 BC – Ovid, Roman poet (d. 17)
  • 1253 – Magadu, renamed Wareru, founder of Ramanya Kingdom, renamed Hanthawady Kingdom of Pegu (b. a commoner; d. on a Saturday in January 1307)
  • 1319 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (d. 1348)
  • 1469 – Cecily of York (d. 1507)
  • 1477 – Jerome Emser, German theologian and scholar (d. 1527)
  • 1479 – Ippolito d’Este, Italian cardinal (d. 1520)
  • 1502 – Pierino Belli, Italian soldier and jurist (d. 1575)
  • 1532 – Juan de Ribera, Roman Catholic archbishop (d. 1611)
  • 1612 – Anne Bradstreet, Puritan American poet (d. 1672)
  • 1615 – Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (d. 1659)
  • 1639 – Ivan Mazepa, Ukrainian diplomat, Hetman of Ukraine (d. 1709)
  • 1725 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (d. 1789)
  • 1737 – Rama I, Thai king (d. 1809)
  • 1771 – Heinrich Clauren, German author (d. 1854)
  • 1796 – Edward Gibbon Wakefield, English politician (d. 1862)
  • 1799 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet and author (d. 1839)
  • 1800 – Braulio Carrillo Colina, Costa Rican lawyer and politician, President of Costa Rica (d. 1845)
  • 1805 – Thomas Cooper, British poet (d. 1892)
  • 1811 – Napoleon II, French emperor (d. 1832)
  • 1811 – George Caleb Bingham, American painter and politician, State Treasurer of Missouri (d. 1879)
  • 1821 – Ned Buntline, American journalist, author, and publisher (d. 1886)
  • 1824 – Theodor von Heuglin, German explorer and ornithologist (d. 1876)
  • 1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (d. 1906)
  • 1831 – Patrick Jennings, Northern Irish-Australian politician, 11th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1897)
  • 1831 – Solomon L. Spink, American lawyer and politician (d. 1881)
  • 1834 – Charles William Eliot, American mathematician and academic (d. 1926)
  • 1836 – Ferris Jacobs, Jr., American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1886)
  • 1836 – Edward Poynter, English painter, illustrator, and curator (d. 1919)
  • 1840 – Illarion Pryanishnikov, Russian painter (d. 1894)
  • 1851 – Ismail Gasprinski, Ukrainian educator, publisher, and politician (d. 1914)
  • 1856 – John Lavery, Irish painter (d. 1941)
  • 1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American tennis player and engineer (d. 1915)
  • 1870 – Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, German general (d. 1964)
  • 1874 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet and activist (d. 1945)
  • 1876 – Payne Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1927)
  • 1879 – Maud Menten, Canadian physician and biochemist (d. 1960)
  • 1882 – René Coty, French lawyer and politician, 17th President of France (d. 1962)
  • 1882 – Harold Weber, American golfer (d. 1933)
  • 1884 – Philipp Frank, Austrian-American physicist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1966)
  • 1884 – John Jensen, Australian public servant (d. 1970)
  • 1885 – Vernon Ransford, Australian cricketer (d. 1958)
  • 1888 – Amanda Clement, American baseball player, umpire, and educator (d. 1971)
  • 1890 – Lauritz Melchior, Danish-American tenor and actor (d. 1973)
  • 1894 – Amalie Sara Colquhoun, Australian landscape and portrait painter (d. 1974)
  • 1895 – Fredric Wertham, German-American psychologist and author (d. 1981)
  • 1898 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (d. 1954)
  • 1900 – Amelia Chopitea Villa, Bolivia’s first female physician (d. 1942)
  • 1903 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (d. 1979)
  • 1904 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and author (d. 1990)
  • 1905 – Jean Galia, French rugby player and boxer (d. 1949)
  • 1906 – Abraham Beame, American accountant and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (d. 2001)
  • 1906 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor and bandleader (d. 1975)
  • 1907 – Hugh MacLennan, Canadian author and educator (d. 1990)
  • 1908 – Michael Redgrave, English actor and director (d. 1985)
  • 1910 – Erwin Blask, German hammer thrower (d. 1999)
  • 1911 – Alfonso García Robles, Mexican lawyer and diplomat, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Ralph Hauenstein, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
  • 1913 – Nikolai Stepulov, Russian-Estonian boxer (d. 1968)
  • 1914 – Wendell Corey, American actor and politician (d. 1968)
  • 1915 – Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian judge and politician, 8th President of Austria (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist and composer (d. 1997)
  • 1915 – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1973)
  • 1916 – Pierre Messmer, French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
  • 1917 – Vera Lynn, English singer, songwriter and actress (d. 2020)
  • 1917 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Israel (d. 1984)
  • 1918 – Jack Barry, American game show host and producer, co-founded Barry & Enright Productions (d. 1984)
  • 1918 – Donald Featherstone, English soldier and author (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Bernd Alois Zimmermann, German composer (d. 1970)
  • 1919 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German fighter ace (d. 1983)
  • 1920 – Pamela Harriman, English-American diplomat, 58th United States Ambassador to France (d. 1997)
  • 1920 – Rosemary Timperley, English author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1921 – Usmar Ismail, Indonesian filmmaker (d. 1971)
  • 1921 – Dušan Pirjevec, Slovenian historian and philosopher (d. 1977)
  • 1921 – Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician and theorist (d. 1970)
  • 1922 – Larry Elgart, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 2017)
  • 1922 – Ray Goulding, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1990)
  • 1922 – Carl Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2020)
  • 1923 – Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Shaukat Siddiqui, Pakistani journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
  • 1925 – John Ehrlichman, American lawyer, 12th White House Counsel (d. 1999)
  • 1927 – John Joubert, South African-English composer and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1928 – Jerome Biffle, American long jumper and coach (d. 2002)
  • 1928 – James P. Gordon, American physicist and engineer (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Fred Rogers, American television host and producer (d. 2003)
  • 1929 – William Andrew MacKay, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
  • 1929 – Germán Robles, Spanish-Mexican actor and director (d. 2015)
  • 1930 – S. Arasaratnam, Sri Lankan historian, author, and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1931 – Hal Linden, American actor, singer, and director
  • 1931 – Rein Raamat, Estonian director and screenwriter
  • 1933 – Lateef Adegbite, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – George Altman, American baseball player
  • 1933 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2013)
  • 1934 – Willie Brown, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Mayor of San Francisco
  • 1934 – David Malouf, Australian author and playwright
  • 1935 – Ted Bessell, American actor and director (d. 1996)
  • 1935 – Bettye Washington Greene, American chemist (d. 1995)
  • 1936 – Lee “Scratch” Perry, Jamaican singer, songwriter, music producer, and inventor
  • 1936 – Mark Saville, Baron Saville of Newdigate, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
  • 1937 – Lois Lowry, American author
  • 1937 – Jerry Reed, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2008)
  • 1938 – Sergei Novikov, Russian mathematician and academic
  • 1939 – Gerald Curran, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
  • 1939 – Don Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1939 – Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (d. 2014)
  • 1939 – Brian Mulroney, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Canada
  • 1940 – Stathis Chaitas, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1940 – Mary Ellen Mark, American photographer and journalist (d. 2015)
  • 1940 – Giampiero Moretti, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded the Momo company (d. 2012)
  • 1941 – Pat Corrales, American baseball player and manager
  • 1941 – Kenji Kimihara, Japanese runner
  • 1943 – Gerard Malanga, American poet and photographer
  • 1943 – Douglas Tompkins, American businessman, co-founded The North Face and Esprit Holdings (d. 2015)
  • 1943 – Paul Junger Witt, American director and producer (d. 2018)
  • 1944 – John Cameron, English composer and conductor
  • 1944 – Camille Cosby, American author, producer, and philanthropist
  • 1944 – Alan Harper, English-Irish archbishop
  • 1945 – Henry Bartholomay, American soldier and pilot (d. 2015)
  • 1945 – Jay Ingram, Canadian television host and author
  • 1945 – Pat Riley, American basketball player and coach
  • 1945 – Tim Yeo, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Health
  • 1946 – Douglas B. Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1946 – Malcolm Simmons, English motorcycle racer (d. 2014)
  • 1947 – John Boswell, American historian, philologist, and academic (d. 1994)
  • 1948 – John de Lancie, American actor
  • 1948 – Bobby Orr, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1948 – Nikos Papazoglou, Greek singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
  • 1949 – Marcia Ball, American blues singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1949 – Richard Dowden, English journalist and educator
  • 1950 – William Hurt, American actor
  • 1950 – Carl Palmer, English drummer, percussionist, and songwriter
  • 1951 – Jimmie Vaughan, American blues-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1952 – Geoff Brabham, Australian race car driver
  • 1952 – David Greenaway, English economist and academic
  • 1953 – Phil Judd, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and painter
  • 1954 – Mike Francesa, American radio talk show host and television commentator
  • 1954 – Liana Kanelli, Greek journalist and politician
  • 1954 – Paul Mirabella, American baseball player
  • 1955 – Nina Kiriki Hoffman, American author
  • 1955 – Ian Moss, Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter
  • 1955 – Mariya Takeuchi, Japanese singer-songwriter
  • 1956 – Catherine Ashton, English politician, Vice-President of the European Commission
  • 1956 – Anne Donahue, American lawyer and politician
  • 1956 – Naoto Takenaka, Japanese actor, comedian, singer, and director
  • 1957 – Vanessa Bell Calloway, American actress
  • 1957 – David Foster, Australian woodchopper
  • 1957 – Spike Lee, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1957 – Theresa Russell, American actress
  • 1957 – Chris Wedge, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
  • 1958 – Holly Hunter, American actress and producer
  • 1958 – Rickey Jackson, American football player
  • 1958 – Joe Reaiche, Australian rugby player
  • 1959 – Dave Beasant, English footballer and coach
  • 1959 – Mary Roach, American author
  • 1959 – Sting, American wrestler
  • 1959 – Peter Truscott, Baron Truscott, British Labour Party politician and peer
  • 1960 – Norm Magnusson, American painter and sculptor
  • 1960 – Norbert Pohlmann, German computer scientist and academic
  • 1960 – Yuri Shargin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut
  • 1961 – Ingrid Arndt-Brauer, German politician
  • 1961 – Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer and manager
  • 1961 – Sara Wheeler, English author and journalist
  • 1962 – Stephen Sommers, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1963 – Paul Annacone, American tennis player and coach
  • 1963 – Kathy Ireland, American model, actress, and furniture designer
  • 1963 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (d. 2007)
  • 1963 – David Thewlis, English-French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Natacha Atlas, Belgian singer-songwriter
  • 1965 – William Dalrymple, Scottish historian and author
  • 1967 – Xavier Beauvois, French actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1967 – Mookie Blaylock, American basketball player
  • 1968 – Carlos Almeida, Cape Verdean runner
  • 1968 – A. J. Jacobs, American journalist and author
  • 1968 – Paul Merson, English footballer and manager
  • 1968 – Ultra Naté, American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, and promoter
  • 1969 – Yvette Cooper, English economist and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  • 1969 – Fabien Galthie, French rugby player
  • 1970 – Edoardo Ballerini, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1970 – Josephine Medina, Filipino Paralympic table tennis player
  • 1970 – sj Miller, American academic, public speaker, and social justice activist
  • 1970 – Michael Rapaport, American actor, podcast host, and director
  • 1971 – Manny Alexander, Dominican baseball player
  • 1971 – Touré, American journalist and author
  • 1972 – Chilly Gonzales, Canadian-German singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1972 – Alex Kapranos, English-Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1972 – Greg Searle, English rower
  • 1972 – Marco Sejna, German footballer
  • 1972 – Cristel Vahtra, Estonian skier
  • 1973 – Nicky Boje, South African cricketer
  • 1973 – Natalya Khrushcheleva, Russian runner
  • 1973 – Talal Khalifa Aljeri, Kuwaiti businessman
  • 1974 – Carsten Ramelow, German footballer
  • 1975 – Ramin Bahrani, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1975 – Isolde Kostner, Italian skier
  • 1976 – Chester Bennington, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2017)
  • 1978 – Kevin Betsy, English born Seychelles international footballer, midfielder and manager
  • 1978 – Brent Sherwin, Australian rugby league player
  • 1979 – Shinnosuke Abe, Japanese baseball player
  • 1979 – Freema Agyeman, English actress
  • 1979 – Keven Mealamu, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1980 – Jamal Crawford, American basketball player
  • 1980 – Robertas Javtokas, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1981 – Ian Murray, Scottish footballer
  • 1981 – Carl Webb, Australian rugby league player
  • 1982 – Terrence Duffin, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1982 – Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer
  • 1982 – José Moreira, Portuguese footballer
  • 1983 – Carolina Padrón, Venezuelan journalist
  • 1983 – Jenni Vartiainen, Finnish singer
  • 1984 – Vikram Banerjee, English cricketer
  • 1984 – Christy Carlson Romano, American actress and singer
  • 1984 – Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer
  • 1985 – Morgan Amalfitano, French footballer
  • 1985 – Ronnie Brewer, American basketball player
  • 1985 – Nicolas Lombaerts, Belgian footballer
  • 1986 – Dean Geyer, South African-Australian singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1986 – Julián Magallanes, Argentinian footballer
  • 1986 – Ruby Rose, Australian actress and model
  • 1986 – Román Torres, Panamanian footballer
  • 1987 – Daniel Maa Boumsong, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1987 – Jô, Brazilian footballer
  • 1987 – Pedro Ken, Brazilian footballer
  • 1987 – Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarusian ice hockey player
  • 1989 – Xavier Dolan, Canadian actor and director
  • 1989 – Tamim Iqbal, Bangladeshi Cricketer
  • 1990 – Blake Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
  • 1990 – Marcos Rojo, Argentine footballer
  • 1991 – Mattia Destro, Italian footballer
  • 1991 – Michał Kucharczyk, Polish footballer
  • 1991 – Ethan Lowe, Australian rugby league player
  • 1993 – Sloane Stephens, American tennis player
  • 1995 – Jack Bird, Australian rugby league player

Deaths on March 20

  • 687 – Cuthbert, Northumbrian (English) monk, bishop, and saint (b. 634)
  • 703 – Wulfram, archbishop of Sens
  • 842 – Alfonso II, king of Asturias (Spain) (b. 759)
  • 851 – Ebbo, archbishop of Reims
  • 1181 – Taira no Kiyomori, Japanese general (b. 1118)
  • 1191 – Pope Clement III (b. 1130)
  • 1239 – Hermann von Salza, German knight and diplomat (b. 1179)
  • 1302 – Ralph Walpole, Bishop of Norwich
  • 1336 – Maurice Csák, Hungarian Dominican friar (b. 1270)
  • 1351 – Muhammad bin Tughluq, Sultan of Delhi
  • 1390 – Alexios III Megas Komnenos, Emperor of Trebizond (b. 1338)
  • 1413 – Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
  • 1440 – Sigismund I of Lithuania
  • 1475 – Georges Chastellain, Burgundian chronicler and poet
  • 1549 – Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, English general and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1508)
  • 1568 – Albert, Duke of Prussia (b. 1490)
  • 1619 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1557)
  • 1673 – Augustyn Kordecki, Polish monk (b. 1603)
  • 1688 – Maria of Orange-Nassau, Dutch princess (b. 1642)
  • 1730 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (b. 1692)
  • 1746 – Nicolas de Largillière, French painter and academic (b. 1656)
  • 1780 – Benjamin Truman, English brewer and businessman (b. 1699)
  • 1793 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1705)
  • 1835 – Louis Léopold Robert, French painter (b. 1794)
  • 1849 – James Justinian Morier, Turkish-English author and diplomat (b. 1780)
  • 1855 – Joseph Aspdin, English businessman (b. 1788)
  • 1865 – Yamanami Keisuke, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
  • 1874 – Hans Christian Lumbye, Danish composer and conductor (b. 1810)
  • 1878 – Julius Robert von Mayer, German physician and physicist (b. 1814)
  • 1894 – Lajos Kossuth, Hungarian lawyer, journalist and politician (b. 1802)
  • 1897 – Apollon Maykov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1821)
  • 1899 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and author (b. 1822)
  • 1909 – Friedrich Amelung, Estonian historian and businessman (b. 1842)
  • 1918 – Lewis A. Grant, American general and lawyer (b. 1828)
  • 1925 – George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, English politician, 35th Governor-General of India (b. 1859)
  • 1929 – Ferdinand Foch, French field marshal (b. 1851)
  • 1930 – Arthur F. Andrews, American cyclist (b. 1876)
  • 1931 – Hermann Müller, German journalist and politician, 12th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
  • 1933 – Giuseppe Zangara, Italian-American assassin of Anton Cermak (b. 1900; executed)
  • 1940 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
  • 1945 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (b. 1883)
  • 1946 – Amadeus William Grabau, American-Chinese geologist, paleontologist, and academic (b. 1870)
  • 1947 – Sigurd Wallén, Swedish actor and director (b. 1884)
  • 1952 – Hjalmar Väre, Finnish cyclist (b. 1892)
  • 1958 – Adegoke Adelabu, Nigerian merchant, journalist, and politician (b. 1915)
  • 1964 – Brendan Behan, Irish republican and playwright (b. 1923)
  • 1965 – Daniel Frank, American long jumper (b. 1882)
  • 1966 – Johnny Morrison, American baseball player (b. 1895)
  • 1968 – Carl Theodor Dreyer, Danish director and screenwriter (b. 1889)
  • 1969 – Henri Longchambon, French politician (b. 1896)
  • 1971 – Falih Rıfkı Atay, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1894)
  • 1972 – Marilyn Maxwell, American actress (b. 1921)
  • 1974 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (b. 1911)
  • 1977 – Charles Lyttelton, 10th Viscount Cobham, English politician, 9th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1909)
  • 1977 – Terukuni Manzō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 38th Yokozuna (b. 1919)
  • 1978 – Jacques Brugnon, French tennis player (b. 1895)
  • 1981 – Gerry Bertier, American football player (b. 1953)
  • 1983 – Ivan Matveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1891)
  • 1990 – Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1907)
  • 1990 – Lev Yashin, Russian footballer (b. 1929)
  • 1992 – Georges Delerue, French composer (b. 1925)
  • 1993 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 1994 – Lewis Grizzard, American writer and humorist (b. 1946)
  • 1997 – V. S. Pritchett, English short story writer, essayist, and critic (b. 1900)
  • 1999 – Patrick Heron, British painter (b. 1920)
  • 2000 – Gene Eugene, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1961)
  • 2001 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (b. 1949)
  • 2004 – Juliana of the Netherlands (b. 1909)
  • 2004 – Pierre Sévigny, Canadian colonel and politician (b. 1917)
  • 2005 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish director and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 2007 – Raynald Fréchette, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2007 – Taha Yassin Ramadan, Iraqi politician, Vice President of Iraq (b. 1938)
  • 2007 – Hawa Yakubu, Ghanaian politician (b. 1948)
  • 2010 – Ai, American poet and academic (b. 1947)
  • 2010 – Girija Prasad Koirala, Indian-Nepalese politician, 30th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924)
  • 2010 – Stewart Udall, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – Johnny Pearson, English pianist, conductor, and composer (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (b. 1955)
  • 2012 – Noboru Ishiguro, Japanese animator and director (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Polish-Israeli rabbi and author (b. 1910)
  • 2012 – Jim Stynes, Irish-Australian footballer (b. 1966)
  • 2013 – James Herbert, English author (b. 1943)
  • 2013 – George Lowe, New Zealand-English mountaineer and explorer (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Zillur Rahman, Bangladeshi lawyer and politician, 19th President of Bangladesh (b. 1929)
  • 2014 – Hennie Aucamp, South African poet, author, and academic (b. 1934)
  • 2014 – Hilderaldo Bellini, Brazilian footballer (b. 1930)
  • 2014 – Tonie Nathan, American politician (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Khushwant Singh, Indian journalist and author (b. 1915)
  • 2015 – Eva Burrows, Australian 13th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1930)
  • 2016 – Anker Jørgensen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1922)
  • 2017 – David Rockefeller, American billionaire and philanthropist (b. 1915)
  • 2018 – C. K. Mann, a Ghanaian Highlife musician and producer (b. 1936)
  • 2019 – Mary Warnock, English philosopher & writer (b. 1924)
  • 2020 – Kenny Rogers, American singer (b. 1938)

Holidays and observances on March 20

  • Christian feast day:
    • Alexandra
    • Blessed John of Parma
    • Clement of Ireland
    • Cuthbert of Lindisfarne
    • Herbert of Derwentwater
    • John of Nepomuk
    • Józef Bilczewski
    • María Josefa Sancho de Guerra
    • Martin of Braga
    • Michele Carcano
    • Wulfram
    • March 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Earliest date for the vernal equinox in the Northern hemisphere:
    • Bahá’í Naw-Rúz, started at sunset on March 20. The end of the 19-day sunrise-to-sunset fast. (Bahá’í Faith)
    • Chunfen (China)
    • Earth Equinox Day
    • International Astrology Day
    • New Year (Thelema)
    • Nowruz (Persian, Gilaki, Kurdish, Zoroastrians, and other Iranian people and countries with an Iranian influence)
    • Ostara in the northern hemisphere, Mabon in the southern hemisphere. (Neo-Druidic Wheel of the Year)
    • Shunbun no Hi (Japan)
    • Sun-Earth Day (United States)
    • Vernal Equinox Day/Kōreisai (Japan)
    • World Storytelling Day
  • Earliest day on which Good Friday can fall, while April 23 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Easter. (Christianity)
  • Great American Meatout (United States)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Tunisia from France in 1956.
  • International Day of Happiness (United Nations)
  • International Francophonie Day (Organisation internationale de la Francophonie), and its related observances:
    • UN French Language Day (United Nations)
  • National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
  • World Sparrow Day

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On This Day