Leap year

  • July 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    This day is the midpoint of a common year because there are 182 days before and 182 days after it in common years, and 183 before and 182 after in leap years. The exact time of the middle of the year is at noon. In countries that use summertime the actual exact time of the midpoint in a common year is at 1:00 p.m for locations in the northern hemisphere or 11:00 a.m for locations in the southern hemisphere; this is when 182 days and 12 hours have elapsed and there are 182 days and 12 hours remaining. In a leap year in those countries, the middle of the year is at midnight. In countries that use summer time, the midpoint occurs at 1:00 a.m. on July 2, or 11:00 p.m. on July 1 in the southern hemisphere. This is due to summertime having advanced the time by one hour. It falls on the same day of the week as New Year’s Day in common years.

    • 437 – Emperor Valentinian III begins his reign over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome.
    • 626 – Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident.
    • 706 – In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang’an.
    • 866 – Battle of Brissarthe: The Franks led by Robert the Strong are defeated by a joint Breton-Viking army.
    • 936 – King Henry the Fowler dies in his royal palace in Memleben. He is succeeded by his son Otto I, who becomes the ruler of East Francia.
    • 963 – The Byzantine army proclaims Nikephoros II Phokas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea.
    • 1298 – The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg.
    • 1494 – The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.
    • 1504 – Bogdan III the One-Eyed becomes Voivode of Moldavia.
    • 1555 – Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola.
    • 1561 – Menas, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz.
    • 1582 – Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide.
    • 1613 – The first English expedition (from Virginia) against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place.
    • 1644 – English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
    • 1645 – Battle of Alford: Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
    • 1698 – Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine.
    • 1776 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not published until July 4.
    • 1816 – The French frigate Méduse strikes the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board have to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault’s painting The Raft of the Medusa.
    • 1822 – Thirty-five slaves, including Denmark Vesey, are hanged in South Carolina after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion.
    • 1823 – Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.
    • 1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutiny and take over the slave ship Amistad.
    • 1853 – The Russian Army crosses the Pruth river into the Danubian Principalities, Moldavia and Wallachia—providing the spark that will set off the Crimean War.
    • 1871 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States.
    • 1881 – Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James A. Garfield (who will die of complications from his wounds on September 19).
    • 1890 – The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act.
    • 1897 – British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London.
    • 1900 – The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
    • 1900 – Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia receives its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus.
    • 1921 – World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.
    • 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm.
    • 1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.
    • 1940 – Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta.
    • 1940 – The SS Arandora Star is sunk by U-47 in the North Atlantic with the loss of over 800 lives, mostly civilians.
    • 1962 – The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart, opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
    • 1964 – Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
    • 1966 – France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, on Moruroa Atoll.
    • 1976 – End of South Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
    • 1986 – Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile.
    • 1990 – In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy, 1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca.
    • 1994 – USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board.
    • 1997 – The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis.
    • 2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.
    • 2001 – The AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is first implanted.
    • 2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon.
    • 2005 – The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
    • 2008 – Colombian conflict: Íngrid Betancourt, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, is released from captivity after being held for six and a half years by FARC.
    • 2010 – The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people.
    • 2013 – The International Astronomical Union names Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.
    • 2013 – A magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Aceh, Indonesia, killing at least 42 people and injuring 420 others.

    Births on July 2

    • 419 – Valentinian III, Roman emperor (d. 455)
    • 1363 – Maria, Queen of Sicily (d. 1401)
    • 1478 – Louis V, Elector Palatine (d. 1544)
    • 1486 – Jacopo Sansovino, Italian sculptor and architect (d. 1570)
    • 1489 – Thomas Cranmer, English archbishop, theologian, and saint (d. 1556)
    • 1492 – Elizabeth Tudor, English daughter of Henry VII of England (d. 1495)
    • 1500 – Federico Cesi (cardinal), Italian cardinal (d. 1565)
    • 1575 – Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derby, English noblewoman and head of state of the Isle of Man (d. 1627)
    • 1597 – Theodoor Rombouts, Flemish painter (d. 1637)
    • 1647 – Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1730)
    • 1648 – Arp Schnitger, German organ builder (d. 1719)
    • 1665 – Samuel Penhallow, English-American soldier and historian (d. 1726)
    • 1667 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal and art collector (d. 1740)
    • 1714 – Christoph Willibald Gluck, German composer (d. 1787)
    • 1724 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet and author (d. 1803)
    • 1797 – Francisco Javier Echeverría, Mexican businessman and politician. President of Mexico (1841) (d. 1852)
    • 1819 – Charles-Louis Hanon, French pianist and composer (d. 1900)
    • 1820 – George Law Curry, American publisher and politician, 5th Governor of the Oregon Territory (d. 1878)
    • 1820 – Juan N. Méndez, Mexican general and interim president, 1876-1877 (d. 1894)
    • 1821 – Charles Tupper, Canadian physician and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1915)
    • 1825 – Émile Ollivier, French statesman (d. 1913)
    • 1834 – Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack, Dutch economist and historian (d. 1917)
    • 1849 – Maria Theresa of Austria-Este (d. 1919)
    • 1862 – William Henry Bragg, English physicist, chemist, and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1942)
    • 1865 – Lily Braun, German author and publicist (d. 1916)
    • 1869 – Liane de Pougy, French-Swiss dancer and author (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Harriet Brooks, Canadian physicist and academic (d. 1933)
    • 1876 – Wilhelm Cuno, German businessman and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1933)
    • 1877 – Hermann Hesse, German-born Swiss poet, novelist, and painter, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1962)
    • 1877 – Rinaldo Cuneo, American artist (“the painter of San Francisco”) (d. 1939)
    • 1881 – Royal Hurlburt Weller, American lawyer and politician (d. 1929)
    • 1884 – Alfons Maria Jakob, German neurologist and author (d. 1931)
    • 1893 – Ralph Hancock, Welsh gardener and author (d. 1950)
    • 1900 – Tyrone Guthrie, English actor and director (d. 1971)
    • 1900 – Sophie Harris, English costume and scenic designer for theatre and opera (d. 1966)
    • 1902 – K. Kanapathypillai, Sri Lankan author and academic (d. 1968)
    • 1902 – Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, Dutch-French pianist (d. 1987)
    • 1903 – Alec Douglas-Home, English cricketer and politician, 66th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
    • 1903 – Olav V of Norway (d. 1991)
    • 1904 – René Lacoste, French tennis player and businessman, created the polo shirt (d. 1996)
    • 1906 – Hans Bethe, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005)
    • 1906 – Károly Kárpáti, Hungarian Jewish wrestler (d. 1996)
    • 1906 – Séra Martin, French middle-distance runner (d. 1993)
    • 1908 – Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer and jurist, 32nd Solicitor General of the United States (d. 1993)
    • 1911 – Reg Parnell, English race car driver and manager (d. 1964)
    • 1913 – Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, English historian and academic (d. 1999)
    • 1914 – Frederick Fennell, American conductor and educator (d. 2004)
    • 1914 – Ethelreda Leopold, American actress (d. 1988)
    • 1914 – Mário Schenberg, Brazilian physicist and engineer (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Erich Topp, German admiral (d. 2005)
    • 1915 – Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, British peer, politician and soldier (d. 2014)
    • 1916 – Ken Curtis, American actor and singer (d. 1991)
    • 1916 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German colonel and pilot (d. 1982)
    • 1916 – Reino Kangasmäki, Finnish wrestler (d. 2010)
    • 1916 – Zélia Gattai, Brazilian author and photographer (d. 2008)
    • 1917 – Leonard J. Arrington, American author and academic, founded the Mormon History Association (d. 1999)
    • 1918 – Athos Bulcão, Brazilian painter and sculptor (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – Indumati Bhattacharya, Indian politician
    • 1919 – Jean Craighead George, American author (d. 2012)
    • 1920 – John Kneubuhl, Samoan-American historian, screenwriter, and playwright (d. 1992)
    • 1922 – Pierre Cardin, Italian-French fashion designer
    • 1922 – Paula Valenska, Czech actress
    • 1923 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American soldier and author (d. 1958)
    • 1923 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
    • 1925 – Medgar Evers, American soldier and activist (d. 1963)
    • 1925 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 1961)
    • 1925 – Marvin Rainwater, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Octavian Paler, Romanian journalist and politician (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Lee Allen, American saxophone player (d. 1994)
    • 1927 – James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
    • 1927 – Brock Peters, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1929 – Imelda Marcos, Filipino politician; 10th First Lady of the Philippines
    • 1930 – Carlos Menem, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 50th President of Argentina
    • 1931 – Mohammad Yazdi, Iranian cleric
    • 1932 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy’s (d. 2002)
    • 1933 – Peter Desbarats, Canadian journalist, author, and playwright
    • 1933 – Kenny Wharram, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Tom Springfield, English musician
    • 1935 – Gilbert Kalish, American pianist and educator
    • 1936 – Omar Suleiman, Egyptian general and politician, 16th Vice President of Egypt (d. 2012)
    • 1937 – Polly Holliday, American actress
    • 1937 – Richard Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1938 – David Owen, English physician and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
    • 1939 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet and politician (d. 1976)
    • 1939 – John H. Sununu, American engineer and politician, 14th White House Chief of Staff
    • 1939 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (d. 1973)
    • 1940 – Kenneth Clarke, English politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
    • 1941 – William Guest, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1941 – Wendell Mottley, Trinidadian sprinter, economist, and politician
    • 1942 – John Eekelaar, South African-English lawyer and scholar
    • 1942 – Vicente Fox, Mexican businessman and politician, 35th President of Mexico (2000-2006)
    • 1943 – Ivi Eenmaa, Estonian politician, 36th Mayor of Tallinn
    • 1943 – Larry Lake, American-Canadian trumpet player and composer (d. 2013)
    • 1946 – Richard Axel, American neuroscientist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1946 – Ron Silver, American actor, director, and political activist (d. 2009)
    • 1947 – Larry David, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1947 – Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, English politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
    • 1948 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1949 – Greg Brown, American musician
    • 1949 – Robert Paquette, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1950 – Lynne Brindley, English librarian and academic
    • 1950 – Jon Trickett, English politician
    • 1952 – Sylvia Rivera, American transgender rights activist (d. 2002)
    • 1952 – Anatoliy Solomin, Ukrainian race walker and coach
    • 1954 – Chris Huhne, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change
    • 1955 – Kim Carr, Australian educator and politician, 31st Australian Minister for Human Services
    • 1956 – Jerry Hall, American model and actress
    • 1957 – Bret Hart, Canadian wrestler
    • 1957 – Jüri Raidla, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice
    • 1957 – Purvis Short, American basketball player
    • 1958 – Pavan Malhotra, Indian actor
    • 1960 – Maria Lourdes Sereno, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 24th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
    • 1961 – Clark Kellogg, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1962 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (d. 2006)
    • 1964 – Jose Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player and mixed martial artist
    • 1964 – Ozzie Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1964 – Joe Magrane, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1964 – Alan Tait, English-Scottish rugby player and coach
    • 1965 – Norbert Röttgen, German lawyer and politician
    • 1969 – Tim Rodber, English rugby player
    • 1970 – Derrick Adkins, American hurdler
    • 1970 – Steve Morrow, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Troy Brown, American football player and actor
    • 1971 – Bryan Redpath, Scottish rugby player and coach
    • 1972 – Darren Shan, English author
    • 1974 – Sean Casey, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1975 – Éric Dazé, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Kristen Michal, Estonian lawyer and politician
    • 1975 – Erik Ohlsson, Swedish singer and guitarist
    • 1975 – Stefan Terblanche, South African rugby player
    • 1976 – Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer
    • 1976 – Tomáš Vokoun, Czech-American ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Deniz Barış, Turkish footballer
    • 1978 – Jüri Ratas, Estonian politician, 42nd Mayor of Tallinn
    • 1979 – Walter Davis, American triple jumper
    • 1979 – Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of United Airlines Flight 175 (d. 2001)
    • 1979 – Sam Hornish Jr., American race car driver
    • 1979 – Joe Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Nyjer Morgan, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Nathan Ellington, English footballer
    • 1981 – Carlos Rogers, American football player
    • 1983 – Michelle Branch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1983 – Kyle Hogg, English cricketer
    • 1984 – Thomas Kortegaard, Danish footballer
    • 1984 – Johnny Weir, American figure skater
    • 1985 – Rhett Bomar, American football player
    • 1985 – Chad Henne, American football player
    • 1985 – Ashley Tisdale, American actress, singer, and producer
    • 1986 – Brett Cecil, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer
    • 1987 – Esteban Granero, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Lee Chung-yong, South Korean footballer
    • 1989 – Nadezhda Grishaeva, Russian basketball player
    • 1989 – Alex Morgan, American soccer player
    • 1990 – Kayla Harrison, American judoka
    • 1990 – Merritt Mathias, American soccer player
    • 1990 – Morag McLellan, Scottish field hockey player
    • 1990 – Margot Robbie, Australian actress and producer
    • 1990 – Danny Rose, English footballer
    • 1990 – Bill Tupou, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1992 – Madison Chock, American ice dancer
    • 1993 – Vince Staples, American rapper and actor
    • 1994 – Henrik Kristoffersen, Norwegian skier
    • 1995 – Ryan Murphy, American swimmer
    • 1996 – Julia Grabher, Austrian tennis player

    Deaths on July 2

    • 626 – Li Jiancheng, Chinese prince (b. 589)
    • 626 – Li Yuanji, Chinese prince (b. 603)
    • 649 – Li Jing, Chinese general (b. 571)
    • 862 – Swithun, English bishop and saint (b. 789)
    • 866 – Robert the Strong, Frankish nobleman
    • 936 – Henry the Fowler, German king (b. 876)
    • 1215 – Eisai, Japanese Buddhist priest (b. 1141)
    • 1298 – Adolf of Germany (b. 1220)
    • 1504 – Stephen III of Moldavia (b. 1434)
    • 1566 – Nostradamus, French astrologer and author (b. 1503)
    • 1578 – Thomas Doughty, English explorer
    • 1582 – Akechi Mitsuhide, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1528)
    • 1591 – Vincenzo Galilei, Italian lute player and composer (b. 1520)
    • 1619 – Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1547)
    • 1621 – Thomas Harriot, English astronomer, mathematician, and ethnographer (b. 1560)
    • 1656 – François-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-French general (b. 1611)
    • 1674 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1614)
    • 1743 – Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1673)
    • 1746 – Thomas Baker, English antiquarian and author (b. 1656)
    • 1778 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher and composer (b. 1712)
    • 1833 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (b. 1757)
    • 1843 – Samuel Hahnemann, German physician and academic (b. 1755)
    • 1850 – Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1788)
    • 1857 – Carlo Pisacane, Italian soldier and philosopher (b. 1818)
    • 1903 – Ed Delahanty, American baseball player (b. 1867)
    • 1912 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (b. 1870)
    • 1914 – Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1836)
    • 1915 – Porfirio Díaz, Mexican general and politician, 29th President of Mexico (b. 1830)
    • 1920 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846)
    • 1926 – Émile Coué, French psychologist and pharmacist (b. 1857)
    • 1929 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress (b. 1894)
    • 1932 – Manuel II of Portugal (b. 1889)
    • 1950 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1872)
    • 1955 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1873)
    • 1961 – Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
    • 1963 – Alicia Patterson, American publisher, co-founded Newsday (b. 1906)
    • 1964 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1929)
    • 1966 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet and author (b. 1900)
    • 1970 – Jessie Street, Australian suffragette and feminist (b. 1889)
    • 1972 – Joseph Fielding Smith, American religious leader, 10th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876)
    • 1973 – Betty Grable, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1916)
    • 1973 – George McBride, American baseball player and manager (b. 1880)
    • 1973 – Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (b. 1892)
    • 1975 – James Robertson Justice, English actor (b. 1907)
    • 1977 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (b. 1899)
    • 1978 – Aris Alexandrou, Greek author and poet (b. 1922)
    • 1986 – Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
    • 1988 – Vibert Douglas, Canadian astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1894)
    • 1989 – Andrei Gromyko, Soviet economist and politician, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1909)
    • 1990 – Snooky Lanson, American singer (b. 1914)
    • 1991 – Lee Remick, American actress (b. 1935)
    • 1993 – Fred Gwynne, American actor (b. 1926)
    • 1994 – Andrés Escobar, Colombian footballer (b. 1967)
    • 1995 – Lloyd MacPhail, Canadian businessman and politician, 23rd Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island (b. 1920)
    • 1997 – James Stewart, American actor (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Mario Puzo, American author and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (b. 1952)
    • 2002 – Ray Brown, American bassist and composer (b. 1926)
    • 2003 – Briggs Cunningham, American race car driver and businessman (b. 1907)
    • 2004 – Mochtar Lubis, Indonesian journalist and author (b. 1922)
    • 2005 – Ernest Lehman, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Norm Prescott, American actor, composer, and producer, co-founded Filmation Studios (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Jan Murray, American comedian, actor, and game show host (b. 1916)
    • 2007 – Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano and television personality (b. 1929)
    • 2008 – Natasha Shneider, Russian-American singer, keyboard player, and actress (b. 1956)
    • 2008 – Elizabeth Spriggs, English actress and screenwriter (b. 1929)
    • 2010 – Beryl Bainbridge, English screenwriter and author (b. 1932)
    • 2011 – Itamar Franco, Brazilian engineer and politician, 33rd President of Brazil (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Maurice Chevit, French actor and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Julian Goodman, American journalist (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Angelo Mangiarotti, Italian architect and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Betty Meggers, American archaeologist and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2012 – Ed Stroud, American baseball player (b. 1939)
    • 2013 – Anthony G. Bosco, American bishop (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Armand Gaudreault, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American chemist, academic, and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Emilio Álvarez Montalván, Nicaraguan ophthalmologist and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2014 – Manuel Cardona, Spanish physicist and academic (b. 1934)
    • 2014 – Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe (b. 1915)
    • 2014 – Harold W. Kuhn, American mathematician and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and World War II US Army Air Forces captain (b. 1917)
    • 2015 – Ronald Davison, New Zealand lawyer and judge, 10th Chief Justice of New Zealand (b. 1920)
    • 2015 – Charlie Sanders, American football player and sportscaster (b. 1946)
    • 2015 – Jim Weaver, American football player and coach (b. 1945)
    • 2015 – Jacobo Zabludovsky, Mexican journalist (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Caroline Aherne, English actress and comedian (b. 1963)
    • 2016 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
    • 2016 – Patrick Manning, 4th & 6th Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1946)
    • 2016 – Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, activist, and author (b. 1928)
    • 2020 – Ángela Jeria, Chilean archaeologist (b. 1926)
    • 2020 – Byron Bernstein Reckful, gamer, Twitch streamer, investor (b. 1989)

    Holidays and observances on July 2

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aberoh and Atom (Coptic Church)
      • Bernardino Realino
      • Feast of the Visitation (Anglicanism; Levoča at Mariánska hora)
      • Monegundis
      • Otto of Bamberg
      • Oudoceus
      • Martinian and Processus
      • Pishoy (Coptic Church)
      • Stephen III of Moldavia
      • July 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Unity Day can fall, while July 8 is the latest; celebrated on Tuesday following Heroes’ Day. (Zambia)
    • Flag Day (Curaçao)
    • Palio di Provenzano (Siena, Italy)
    • Police Day (Azerbaijan)

  • July 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    It is the last day of the first half of the year. The end of this day marks the halfway point of a leap year. It also falls on the same day of the week as New Year’s Day in a leap year. The midpoint of the year for southern hemisphere DST countries occurs at 11:00 p.m.

    • AD 69 – Tiberius Julius Alexander orders his Roman legions in Alexandria to swear allegiance to Vespasian as Emperor.
    • 552 – Battle of Taginae: Byzantine forces under Narses defeat the Ostrogoths in Italy, and the Ostrogoth king, Totila, is mortally wounded.
    • 1097 – Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders led by prince Bohemond of Taranto defeat a Seljuk army led by sultan Kilij Arslan I.
    • 1431 – The Battle of La Higueruela takes place in Granada, leading to a modest advance of the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista.
    • 1520 – Spanish conquistadors led by Hernán Cortés fight their way out of Tenochtitlan after nightfall.
    • 1523 – Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos become the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels.
    • 1569 – Union of Lublin: The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania confirm a real union; the united country is called the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations.
    • 1643 – First meeting of the Westminster Assembly, a council of theologians (“divines”) and members of the Parliament of England appointed to restructure the Church of England, at Westminster Abbey in London.
    • 1690 – Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne in Ireland (as reckoned under the Julian calendar).
    • 1766 – François-Jean de la Barre, a young French nobleman, is tortured and beheaded before his body is burnt on a pyre along with a copy of Voltaire’s Dictionnaire philosophique nailed to his torso for the crime of not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession in Abbeville, France.
    • 1770 – Lexell’s Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (2,180,000 km; 1,360,000 mi).
    • 1782 – Raid on Lunenburg: American privateers attack the British settlement of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
    • 1819 – Johann Georg Tralles discovers the Great Comet of 1819, (C/1819 N1). It was the first comet analyzed using polarimetry, by François Arago.
    • 1837 – A system of civil registration of births, marriages and deaths is established in England and Wales.
    • 1855 – Signing of the Quinault Treaty: The Quinault and the Quileute cede their land to the United States.
    • 1858 – Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s papers on evolution to the Linnean Society of London.
    • 1862 – The Russian State Library is founded as the Library of the Moscow Public Museum.
    • 1862 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Malvern Hill takes place. It is the last of the Seven Days Battles, part of George B. McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign.
    • 1863 – Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Gettysburg begins.
    • 1867 – The British North America Act takes effect as the Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia join into confederation to create the modern nation of Canada. Sir John A. Macdonald is sworn in as the first Prime Minister of Canada. This date is commemorated annually in Canada as Canada Day, a national holiday.
    • 1870 – The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
    • 1873 – Prince Edward Island joins into Canadian Confederation.
    • 1874 – The Sholes and Glidden typewriter, the first commercially successful typewriter, goes on sale.
    • 1878 – Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
    • 1879 – Charles Taze Russell publishes the first edition of the religious magazine The Watchtower.
    • 1881 – The world’s first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.
    • 1881 – General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell and Childers reforms of the British Army, comes into effect.
    • 1885 – The United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada.
    • 1885 – The Congo Free State is established by King Leopold II of Belgium.
    • 1890 – Canada and Bermuda are linked by telegraph cable.
    • 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Battle of San Juan Hill is fought in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
    • 1903 – Start of first Tour de France bicycle race.
    • 1908 – SOS is adopted as the international distress signal.
    • 1911 – Germany despatches the gunship SMS Panther to Morocco, sparking the Agadir Crisis.
    • 1915 – Leutnant Kurt Wintgens of the then-named German Deutsches Heer’s Fliegertruppe army air service achieves the first known aerial victory with a synchronized machine-gun armed fighter plane, the Fokker M.5K/MG Eindecker.
    • 1916 – World War I: First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded.
    • 1922 – The Great Railroad Strike of 1922 begins in the United States.
    • 1923 – The Parliament of Canada suspends all Chinese immigration.
    • 1931 – United Airlines begins service (as Boeing Air Transport).
    • 1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in a single-engined monoplane aircraft.
    • 1932 – Australia’s national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was formed.
    • 1935 – Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambush strikers participating in the On-to-Ottawa Trek.
    • 1942 – World War II: First Battle of El Alamein.
    • 1942 – The Australian Federal Government becomes the sole collector of income tax in Australia as State Income Tax is abolished.
    • 1943 – The City of Tokyo and the Prefecture of Tokyo are both replaced by the Tokyo Metropolis.
    • 1947 – The Philippine Air Force is established.
    • 1948 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid-i-Azam) inaugurates Pakistan’s central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan.
    • 1949 – The merger of two princely states of India, Cochin and Travancore, into the state of Thiru-Kochi (later re-organized as Kerala) in the Indian Union ends more than 1,000 years of princely rule by the Cochin royal family.
    • 1957 – The International Geophysical Year begins.
    • 1958 – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.
    • 1958 – Flooding of Canada’s Saint Lawrence Seaway begins.
    • 1959 – Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the US, the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.
    • 1960 – Independence of Somalia.
    • 1960 – Ghana becomes a republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceases to be its head of state.
    • 1962 – Independence of Rwanda and Burundi.
    • 1963 – ZIP codes are introduced for United States mail.
    • 1963 – The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.
    • 1966 – The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.
    • 1967 – Merger Treaty: The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.
    • 1968 – The United States Central Intelligence Agency’s Phoenix Program is officially established.
    • 1968 – The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed in Washington, D.C., London and Moscow by sixty-two countries.
    • 1968 – Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL–CIO in the United States.
    • 1972 – The first Gay pride march in England takes place.
    • 1976 – Portugal grants autonomy to Madeira.
    • 1978 – The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.
    • 1979 – Sony introduces the Walkman.
    • 1980 – “O Canada” officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
    • 1983 – A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djallon mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
    • 1984 – The PG-13 rating is introduced by the MPAA.
    • 1987 – The American radio station WFAN in New York City is launched as the world’s first all-sports radio station.
    • 1990 – German reunification: East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.
    • 1991 – Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
    • 1997 – China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony is attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
    • 1999 – The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. In Wales, the powers of the Welsh Secretary are transferred to the National Assembly.
    • 2002 – The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
    • 2002 – Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154, and DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757, collide in mid-air over Überlingen, southern Germany, killing all 71 on board both planes.
    • 2003 – Over 500,000 people protest against efforts to pass anti-sedition legislation in Hong Kong.
    • 2004 – Saturn orbit insertion of Cassini–Huygens begins at 01:12 UTC and ends at 02:48 UTC.
    • 2006 – The first operation of Qinghai–Tibet Railway is conducted in China.
    • 2007 – Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces.
    • 2008 – Riots erupt in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.
    • 2013 – Croatia becomes the 28th member of the European Union.

    Births on July 1

    • 1311 – Liu Bowen, Chinese military strategist, statesman and poet (d. 1375)
    • 1464 – Clara Gonzaga, Italian noble (d. 1503)
    • 1481 – Christian II of Denmark (d. 1559)
    • 1506 – Louis II of Hungary (d. 1526)
    • 1534 – Frederick II of Denmark (d. 1588)
    • 1553 – Peter Street, English carpenter and builder (d. 1609)
    • 1574 – Joseph Hall, English bishop and mystic (d. 1656)
    • 1586 – Claudio Saracini, Italian lute player and composer (d. 1630)
    • 1633 – Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1698)
    • 1646 – Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1716)
    • 1663 – Franz Xaver Murschhauser, German composer and theorist (d. 1738)
    • 1725 – Rhoda Delaval, English painter and aristrocrat (d. 1757)
    • 1725 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (d. 1807)
    • 1731 – Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, Scottish-English admiral (d. 1804)
    • 1742 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (d. 1799)
    • 1771 – Ferdinando Paer, Italian composer and conductor (d. 1839)
    • 1788 – Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer (d. 1867)
    • 1804 – Charles Gordon Greene, American journalist and politician (d. 1886)
    • 1804 – George Sand, French author and playwright (d. 1876)
    • 1807 – Thomas Green Clemson, American politician and educator, founded Clemson University (d. 1888)
    • 1808 – Ygnacio del Valle, Mexican-American landowner (d. 1880)
    • 1814 – Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (d. 1884)
    • 1818 – Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian-Austrian physician and obstetrician (d. 1865)
    • 1818 – Karl von Vierordt, German physician, psychologist and academic (d. 1884)
    • 1822 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet and activist (d. 1888)
    • 1834 – Jadwiga Łuszczewska, Polish poet and author (d. 1908)
    • 1850 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (d. 1927)
    • 1858 – Willard Metcalf, American painter (d. 1925)
    • 1858 – Velma Caldwell Melville, American editor and writer of prose and poetry (d. 1924)
    • 1863 – William Grant Stairs, Canadian-English captain and explorer (d. 1892)
    • 1869 – William Strunk Jr., American author and educator (d. 1946)
    • 1872 – Louis Blériot, French pilot and engineer (d. 1936)
    • 1872 – William Duddell, English physicist and engineer (d. 1917)
    • 1873 – Alice Guy-Blaché, French-American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1873 – Andrass Samuelsen, Faroese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 1954)
    • 1875 – Joseph Weil, American con man (d. 1976)
    • 1876 – T.J. Ryan, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Queensland (d. 1921)
    • 1878 – Jacques Rosenbaum, Estonian-German architect (d. 1944)
    • 1879 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1954)
    • 1881 – Edward Battersby Bailey, English geologist (d. 1965)
    • 1882 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1962)
    • 1883 – Arthur Borton, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1933)
    • 1885 – Dorothea Mackellar, Australian author and poet (d. 1968)
    • 1887 – Amber Reeves, New Zealand-English author and scholar (d. 1981)
    • 1892 – James M. Cain, American author and journalist (d. 1977)
    • 1892 – László Lajtha, Hungarian composer and conductor (d. 1963)
    • 1899 – Thomas A. Dorsey, American pianist and composer (d. 1993)
    • 1899 – Charles Laughton, English-American actor and director (d. 1962)
    • 1899 – Konstantinos Tsatsos, Greek scholar and politician, President of Greece (d. 1987)
    • 1901 – Irna Phillips, American screenwriter (d. 1973)
    • 1902 – William Wyler, French-American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1981)
    • 1903 – Amy Johnson, English pilot (d. 1941)
    • 1903 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress (d. 1979)
    • 1906 – Jean Dieudonné, French mathematician and academic (d. 1992)
    • 1906 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies (d. 2004)
    • 1907 – Norman Pirie, Scottish-English biochemist and virologist (d. 1997)
    • 1909 – Emmett Toppino, American sprinter (d. 1971)
    • 1910 – Glenn Hardin, American hurdler (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Arnold Alas, Estonian landscape architect and artist (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian marshal and politician, Soviet Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
    • 1912 – David Brower, American environmentalist, founded Sierra Club Foundation (d. 2000)
    • 1912 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (d. 1989)
    • 1913 – Frank Barrett, American baseball player (d. 1998)
    • 1913 – Lee Guttero, American basketball player (d. 2004)
    • 1913 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 1979)
    • 1914 – Thomas Pearson, British Army officer (d. 2019)
    • 1914 – Christl Cranz, German alpine skier (d. 2004)
    • 1914 – Bernard B. Wolfe, American politician (d. 2016)
    • 1915 – Boots Poffenberger, American baseball player (d. 1999)
    • 1915 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter, bass player, guitarist and producer (d. 1992)
    • 1915 – Joseph Ransohoff, American soldier and neurosurgeon (d. 2001)
    • 1915 – Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, British peer (d. 2000)
    • 1915 – Nguyễn Văn Linh, Vietnamese politician (d. 1998)
    • 1916 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress
    • 1916 – Iosif Shklovsky, Ukrainian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985)
    • 1916 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (d. 2012)
    • 1917 – Humphry Osmond, English-American lieutenant and psychiatrist (d. 2004)
    • 1917 – Álvaro Domecq y Díez, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2005)
    • 1918 – Ralph Young, American singer and actor (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – Ahmed Deedat, South African writer and public speaker (d. 2005)
    • 1918 – Pedro Yap, Filipino lawyer (d. 2003)
    • 1919 – Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Malik Dohan al-Hassan, Iraqi politician
    • 1919 – Gerald E. Miller, American vice admiral (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – Henri Amouroux, French historian and journalist (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982)
    • 1920 – Joseph G. Williams, American musician
    • 1920 – George I. Fujimoto, American-Japanese chemist
    • 1921 – Seretse Khama, Batswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (d. 1980)
    • 1921 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (d. 2005)
    • 1921 – Arthur Johnson, Canadian canoeist (d. 2003)
    • 1922 – Toshi Seeger, German-American activist, co-founded the Clearwater Festival (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Mordechai Bibi, Israeli politician
    • 1923 – Scotty Bowers, American Marine, author and pimp (d. 2019)
    • 1924 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Florence Stanley, American actress (d. 2003)
    • 1924 – Georges Rivière, French actor
    • 1925 – Farley Granger, American actor (d. 2011)
    • 1925 – Art McNally, American football referee
    • 1926 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Carl Hahn, German businessman
    • 1926 – Mohamed Abshir Muse, Somali general (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1927 – Alan J. Charig, English paleontologist and author (d. 1997)
    • 1927 – Joseph Martin Sartoris, American bishop
    • 1927 – Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India (d. 2007)[27]
    • 1929 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
    • 1930 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American director and producer (d. 2005)
    • 1930 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and academic (d. 2008)
    • 1931 – Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer
    • 1932 – Ze’ev Schiff, French-Israeli journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1933 – C. Scott Littleton, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2010)
    • 1934 – Claude Berri, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2009)
    • 1934 – Jamie Farr, American actor
    • 1934 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter
    • 1934 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1935 – James Cotton, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – David Prowse, English actor
    • 1936 – Wally Amos, American entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos
    • 1938 – Craig Anderson, American baseball player and coach
    • 1938 – Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian flute player and composer
    • 1939 – Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2008)
    • 1940 – Craig Brown, Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1940 – Ela Gandhi, South African activist and politician
    • 1940 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (d. 1987)
    • 1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player
    • 1941 – Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
    • 1941 – Myron Scholes, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer
    • 1942 – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Iraqi field marshal and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
    • 1942 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer and pastor (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Julia Higgins, English chemist and academic
    • 1943 – Philip Brunelle, American conductor and organist
    • 1943 – Peeter Lepp, Estonian politician, 37th Mayor of Tallinn
    • 1943 – Jeff Wayne, American composer, musician and lyricist
    • 1945 – Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer
    • 1945 – Debbie Harry, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1946 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2013)
    • 1946 – Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish sergeant and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs
    • 1947 – Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Japanese race car driver
    • 1947 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1948 – John Ford, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1949 – Néjia Ben Mabrouk, Tunisian-Belgian director and screenwriter
    • 1949 – John Farnham, English-Australian singer-songwriter
    • 1949 – David Hogan, American composer and educator (d. 1996)
    • 1949 – Venkaiah Naidu, Indian lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – David Duke, American white supremacist, politician and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard
    • 1951 – Trevor Eve, English actor and producer
    • 1951 – Anne Feeney, American singer-songwriter and activist
    • 1951 – Julia Goodfellow, English physicist and academic
    • 1951 – Klaus-Peter Justus, German runner
    • 1951 – Tom Kozelko, American basketball player
    • 1951 – Terrence Mann, American actor, singer and dancer
    • 1951 – Fred Schneider, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1951 – Victor Willis, American singer-songwriter, pianist and actor
    • 1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer and screenwriter
    • 1952 – David Arkenstone, American composer and performer
    • 1952 – David Lane, English oncologist and academic
    • 1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1952 – Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
    • 1953 – Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Malta
    • 1953 – Jadranka Kosor, Croatian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Croatia
    • 1954 – Keith Whitley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1989)
    • 1955 – Nikolai Demidenko, Russian pianist and educator
    • 1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese economist and politician, 7th Premier of the People’s Republic of China
    • 1955 – Lisa Scottoline, American lawyer and author
    • 1957 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (d. 2010)
    • 1957 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1957 – Sean O’Driscoll, English footballer and manager
    • 1958 – Jack Dyer Crouch II, American diplomat, United States Deputy National Security Advisor
    • 1960 – Michael Beattie, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1960 – Lynn Jennings, American runner
    • 1960 – Evelyn “Champagne” King, American soul/disco singer
    • 1960 – Kevin Swords, American rugby player
    • 1961 – Malcolm Elliott, English cyclist
    • 1961 – Ivan Kaye, English actor
    • 1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner
    • 1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997)
    • 1961 – Michelle Wright, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Andre Braugher, American actor and producer
    • 1962 – Mokhzani Mahathir, Malaysian businessman
    • 1963 – Roddy Bottum, American singer and keyboard player
    • 1963 – Nick Giannopoulos, Australian actor
    • 1963 – David Wood, American lawyer and environmentalist (d. 2006)
    • 1964 – Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach
    • 1965 – Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer
    • 1965 – Garry Schofield, English rugby player and coach
    • 1965 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian director and producer
    • 1966 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer and coach
    • 1966 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2013)
    • 1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress
    • 1969 – Séamus Egan, American-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper, producer, dancer and actress
    • 1971 – Julianne Nicholson, American actress
    • 1974 – Jefferson Pérez, Ecuadorian race walker
    • 1975 – Sean Colson, American basketball player and coach
    • 1975 – Sufjan Stevens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Hannu Tihinen, Finnish footballer
    • 1976 – Albert Torrens, Australian rugby league player
    • 1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Szymon Ziółkowski, Polish hammer thrower
    • 1977 – Tom Frager, Senegalese-French singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Keigo Hayashi, Japanese musician
    • 1977 – Jarome Iginla, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Forrest Griffin, American mixed martial artist and actor
    • 1981 – Carlo Del Fava, South African-Italian rugby player
    • 1981 – Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-Australian footballer
    • 1982 – Justin Huber, Australian baseball player
    • 1982 – Joachim Johansson, Swedish tennis player
    • 1982 – Adrian Ward, American football player
    • 1982 – Hilarie Burton, American actress
    • 1984 – Donald Thomas, Bahamian high jumper
    • 1985 – Chris Perez, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Andrew Lee, Australian footballer
    • 1986 – Julian Prochnow, German footballer
    • 1987 – Michael Schrader, German decathlete
    • 1988 – Dedé, Brazilian footballer
    • 1988 – Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete
    • 1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver
    • 1990 – Ben Coker, English footballer
    • 1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player
    • 1992 – Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player
    • 1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgian footballer
    • 1995 – Savvy Shields, Miss America 2017
    • 1996 – Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater
    • 1998 – Aleksandra Golovkina, Lithuanian figure skater
    • 2000 – Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter
    • 2001 – Chosen Jacobs, American entertainer

    Deaths on July 1

    • 552 – Totila, Ostrogoth king
    • 992 – Heonjeong, Korean queen (b. 966)
    • 1109 – Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile (b. 1040)
    • 1224 – Hōjō Yoshitoki, regent of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan (b. 1163)
    • 1242 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1183)
    • 1277 – Baibars, Egyptian sultan (b. 1223)
    • 1321 – María de Molina, queen of Castile and León
    • 1348 – Joan, English princess
    • 1555 – John Bradford, English reformer, prebendary of St. Paul’s (b. 1510)
    • 1589 – Lady Saigō, Japanese concubine (b. 1552)
    • 1592 – Marc’Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer and educator (b. 1535)
    • 1614 – Isaac Casaubon, French philologist and scholar (b. 1559)
    • 1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English politician (b. 1575)
    • 1681 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish archbishop and saint (b. 1629)
    • 1736 – Ahmed III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1673)
    • 1774 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1705)
    • 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1730)
    • 1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1710)
    • 1787 – Charles de Rohan, French marshal (b. 1715)
    • 1819 – the Public Universal Friend, American evangelist (b. 1752)
    • 1839 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1785)
    • 1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (b. 1800)
    • 1863 – John F. Reynolds, American general (b. 1820)
    • 1884 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (b. 1819)
    • 1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (b. 1811)
    • 1905 – John Hay, American journalist and politician, 37th United States Secretary of State (b. 1838)
    • 1912 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (b. 1875)
    • 1925 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (b. 1866)
    • 1934 – Ernst Röhm, German paramilitary commander (b. 1887)
    • 1942 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer (b. 1857)
    • 1943 – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist, author, and anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1894)
    • 1944 – Carl Mayer, Austrian-English screenwriter (b. 1894)
    • 1944 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian author (b. 1930)
    • 1948 – Achille Varzi, Italian race car driver (b. 1904)
    • 1950 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (b. 1865)
    • 1950 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish-American architect, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (b. 1873)
    • 1951 – Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, novelist and journalist (b. 1922)
    • 1961 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (b. 1894)
    • 1962 – Purushottam Das Tandon, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
    • 1962 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1882)
    • 1964 – Pierre Monteux, French-American viola player and conductor (b. 1875)
    • 1965 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
    • 1965 – Robert Ruark, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
    • 1966 – Frank Verner, American runner (b. 1883)
    • 1967 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (b. 1888)
    • 1968 – Fritz Bauer, German judge and politician (b. 1903)
    • 1971 – William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
    • 1971 – Learie Constantine, Trinidadian-English cricketer, lawyer, and politician (b. 1901)
    • 1974 – Juan Perón, Argentinian general and politician, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
    • 1978 – Kurt Student, German general and pilot (b. 1890)
    • 1981 – Carlos de Oliveira, Portuguese author and poet (b. 1921)
    • 1983 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, designed the Montreal Biosphère (b. 1895)
    • 1984 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1904)
    • 1991 – Michael Landon, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
    • 1992 – Franco Cristaldi, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1924)
    • 1994 – Merriam Modell, American author (b. 1908)
    • 1995 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (b. 1938)
    • 1995 – Ian Parkin, English guitarist (Be-Bop Deluxe) (b. 1950)
    • 1996 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1904)
    • 1996 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (b. 1954)
    • 1996 – Steve Tesich, Serbian-American author and screenwriter (b. 1942)
    • 1997 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
    • 1997 – Charles Werner, American cartoonist (b. 1909)
    • 1999 – Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-American director and producer (b. 1908)
    • 1999 – Forrest Mars Sr., American businessman, created M&M’s and the Mars bar (b. 1904)
    • 1999 – Sylvia Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
    • 1999 – Sola Sierra, Chilean human rights activist (b. 1935)
    • 2000 – Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)
    • 2001 – Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
    • 2001 – Jean-Louis Rosier, French race car driver (b. 1925)
    • 2003 – Herbie Mann, American flute player and saxophonist (b. 1930)
    • 2004 – Peter Barnes, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2004 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (b. 1924)
    • 2004 – Todor Skalovski, Macedonian composer and conductor (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Renaldo Benson, American singer-songwriter (Four Tops) (b. 1936)
    • 2005 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1923)
    • 2005 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (Change) (b. 1951)
    • 2006 – Ryutaro Hashimoto, Japanese politician, 53rd Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Robert Lepikson, Estonian race car driver and politician, Estonian Minister of the Interior (b. 1952)
    • 2006 – Fred Trueman, English cricketer and sportscaster (b. 1931)
    • 2008 – Mel Galley, English guitarist (b. 1948)
    • 2009 – Karl Malden, American actor (b. 1912)
    • 2009 – Onni Palaste, Finnish soldier and author (b. 1917)
    • 2009 – Mollie Sugden, English actress (b. 1922)
    • 2010 – Don Coryell, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
    • 2010 – Arnold Friberg, American painter and illustrator (b. 1913)
    • 2010 – Ilene Woods, American actress and singer (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Peter E. Gillquist, American priest and author (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Ossie Hibbert, Jamaican-American keyboard player and producer (b. 1950)
    • 2012 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Alan G. Poindexter, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1961)
    • 2012 – Jack Richardson, American author and playwright (b. 1934)
    • 2013 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Charles Foley, American game designer, co-created Twister (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – William H. Gray, American minister and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Jean Garon, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2014 – Stephen Gaskin, American activist, co-founded The Farm (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Bob Jones, English lawyer and politician (b. 1955)
    • 2014 – Anatoly Kornukov, Ukrainian-Russian general (b. 1942)
    • 2014 – Walter Dean Myers, American author and poet (b. 1937)
    • 2015 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and television host (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Czesław Olech, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Nicholas Winton, English lieutenant and humanitarian (b. 1909)
    • 2016 – Robin Hardy, English author and film director (b. 1929)
    • 2020 – Georg Ratzinger, German Roman Catholic priest and musician (b. 1924)

    Holidays and observances on July 1

    • Christian feast day:
      • Aaron (Syriac Christianity)
      • Blessed Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
      • Felix of Como
      • Junípero Serra
      • Julius and Aaron
      • Leontius of Autun
      • Servanus
      • Veep
      • July 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
      • Feast of the Most Precious Blood (removed from official Roman Catholic calendar since 1969)
    • Earliest day on which Alexanderson Day can fall, celebrated on the Sunday closest to July 2. (Sweden)
    • Earliest day on which CARICOM Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Guyana)
    • Earliest day on which Constitution Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Cayman Islands)
    • Earliest day on which Día del Amigo can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July. (Peru)
    • Earliest day on which Fishermen’s Holiday, celebrated on the first Friday of July (Marshall Islands)
    • Earliest day on which Heroes’ Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday in July. (Zambia)
    • Earliest day on which International Co-operative Day, can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July.
    • Earliest day on which International Free Hugs Day, can fall, celebrated on the first Saturday of July.
    • Earliest day on which Navy Day can fall, celebrated on the first Sunday in July. (Ukraine)
    • Earliest day on which Navy Days can fall, celebrated First Saturday and Sunday. (Netherlands)
    • Earliest day on which Youth Day can fall, while July 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Sunday in July. (Singapore)
    • Armed Forces Day (Singapore)
    • Canada Day, formerly Dominion Day (Canada)
    • Children’s Day (Pakistan)
    • Communist Party of China Founding Day (China)
    • Day of Officials and Civil Servants (Hungary)
    • Doctors’ Day (India)
    • Emancipation Day (Netherlands Antilles)
    • Engineer’s Day (Bahrain, Mexico)
    • Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Hong Kong, China)
    • Independence Day (Burundi), celebrates the independence of Burundi from Belgium in 1962.
    • Independence Day (Rwanda)
    • Independence Day (Somalia)
    • International Tartan Day
    • July Morning (Bulgaria)
    • Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) (Suriname)
    • Madeira Day (Madeira, Portugal)
    • Moving Day (Quebec) (Canada)
    • Newfoundland and Labrador Memorial Day
    • Republic Day (Ghana)
    • Sir Seretse Khama Day (Botswana)
    • Territory Day (British Virgin Islands)
    • The first day of Van Mahotsav, celebrated until July 7. (India)

  • April 5 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 823 – Lothair I is crowned King of Italy by Pope Paschal I.
    • 919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa’im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army.
    • 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos is crowned Byzantine emperor at Constantinople, bringing the Komnenian dynasty to full power.
    • 1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
    • 1536 – Royal Entry of Charles V into Rome: The last Roman triumph.
    • 1566 – Two hundred Dutch noblemen, led by Hendrick van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Spanish Inquisition in the Seventeen Provinces.
    • 1609 – Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.
    • 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
    • 1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.
    • 1710 – The Statute of Anne receives the royal assent establishing the Copyright law of the United Kingdom.
    • 1722 – The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island.
    • 1792 – United States President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.
    • 1795 – Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made.
    • 1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement, led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
    • 1879 – Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
    • 1900 – Archaeologists in Knossos, Crete, discover a large cache of clay tablets with hieroglyphic writing in a script they call Linear B.
    • 1904 – The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh and Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
    • 1915 – Boxing challenger Jess Willard knocks out Jack Johnson in Havana, Cuba to become the Heavyweight Champion of the World.
    • 1922 – The American Birth Control League, forerunner of Planned Parenthood, is incorporated.
    • 1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
    • 1933 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs two executive orders: 6101 to establish the Civilian Conservation Corps, and 6102 “forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates” by U.S. citizens.
    • 1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: An F5 tornado kills 233 in Tupelo, Mississippi.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid. Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
    • 1943 – World War II: American bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel. Their target was the Erla factory one kilometer from the residential area hit.
    • 1944 – World War II: Two hundred seventy inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.
    • 1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow “temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory”.
    • 1946 – Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm.
    • 1946 – A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.
    • 1949 – A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, kills 77 people and leads to nationwide fire code improvements in the United States.
    • 1951 – Cold War: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg are sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.
    • 1956 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
    • 1956 – In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Ceylon.
    • 1957 – In India, Communists win the first elections in united Kerala and E. M. S. Namboodiripad is sworn in as the first Chief Minister.
    • 1958 – Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
    • 1969 – Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations occur in many U.S. cities.
    • 1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
    • 1976 – In China, the April Fifth Movement leads to the Tiananmen Incident.
    • 1977 – The US Supreme Court rules that congressional legislation that diminished the size of the Sioux people’s reservation thereby destroyed the tribe’s jurisdictional authority over the area in Rosebud Sioux Tribe v. Kneip.
    • 1986 – Three people are killed in the bombing of the La Belle discotheque in West Berlin, Germany.
    • 1991 – An ASA EMB 120 crashes in Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 aboard including Sen. John Tower and astronaut Sonny Carter.
    • 1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
    • 1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War.
    • 1998 – In Japan, the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge opens to traffic, becoming the longest bridge span in the world.
    • 1999 – Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 are handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.
    • 2000 – UEFA Cup semi-final violence: Four Galatasaray fans are arrested for the stabbings to death of two Leeds United fans.
    • 2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.
    • 2010 – Twenty-nine coal miners are killed in an explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in West Virginia.

    Births on April 5

    • 1170 – Isabella of Hainault (d. 1190)
    • 1219 – Wonjong of Goryeo, 24th ruler of Goryeo (d. 1274)
    • 1279 – Al-Nuwayri, Egyptian Muslim historian (d. 1333)
    • 1288 – Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
    • 1315 – James III of Majorca (d. 1349)
    • 1365 – William II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1417)
    • 1472 – Bianca Maria Sforza, Italian wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
    • 1521 – Francesco Laparelli, Italian architect (d. 1570)
    • 1523 – Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer and diplomat (d. 1596)
    • 1533 – Giulio della Rovere, Italian Catholic Cardinal (d. 1578)
    • 1539 – George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1603)
    • 1549 – Princess Elizabeth of Sweden, (d. 1597)
    • 1568 – Pope Urban VIII (d. 1644)
    • 1588 – Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)
    • 1591 – Frederick Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (d. 1634)
    • 1595 – John Wilson, English composer and educator (d. 1674)
    • 1604 – Charles IV (d. 1675)
    • 1616 – Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (d. 1661)
    • 1622 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1703)
    • 1649 – Elihu Yale, American-English merchant and philanthropist (d. 1721)
    • 1656 – Nikita Demidov, Russian industrialist (d. 1725)
    • 1664 – Élisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine, French noblewoman and Princess of Epinoy (d. 1748)
    • 1674 – Margravine Elisabeth Sophie of Brandenburg, (d. 1748)
    • 1691 – Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (d. 1768)
    • 1692 – Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
    • 1719 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician, Lord Marshal of Sweden (d. 1794)
    • 1726 – Benjamin Harrison V, American politician, planter and merchant (d. 1791)
    • 1727 – Pasquale Anfossi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1797)
    • 1729 – Frederick Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1809)
    • 1730 – Jean Baptiste Seroux d’Agincourt, French archaeologist and historian (d. 1814)
    • 1732 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter and etcher (d. 1806)
    • 1735 – Franziskus Herzan von Harras, Czech Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1804)
    • 1739 – Philemon Dickinson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1809)
    • 1752 – Sébastien Érard, French instrument maker (d. 1831)
    • 1761 – Sybil Ludington, American heroine of the American Revolutionary War (d. 1839)
    • 1769 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1839)
    • 1773 – José María Coppinger, governor of Spanish East Florida (d. 1844)
    • 1773 – Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (d. 1839)
    • 1777 – Marie Jules César Savigny, French zoologist (d. 1851)
    • 1782 – Wincenty Krasiński, Polish nobleman (d. 1858)
    • 1784 – Louis Spohr, German violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1859)
    • 1788 – Franz Pforr, German painter (d. 1812)
    • 1793 – Casimir Delavigne, French poet and dramatist (d. 1843)
    • 1793 – Felix de Muelenaere, Belgian politician (d. 1862)
    • 1795 – Henry Havelock, British general (d. 1857)
    • 1799 – Jacques Denys Choisy, Swiss clergyman and botanist (d. 1859)
    • 1801 – Félix Dujardin, French biologist (d. 1860)
    • 1801 – Vincenzo Gioberti, Italian philosopher, publicist and politician (d. 1852)
    • 1804 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist (d. 1881)
    • 1809 – Karl Felix Halm, German scholar and critic (d. 1882)
    • 1810 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, British East India Company army officer and politician (d. 1895)
    • 1811 – Jules Dupré, French painter (d. 1889)
    • 1814 – Felix Lichnowsky, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1848)
    • 1822 – Émile Louis Victor de Laveleye, Belgian economist (d. 1892)
    • 1827 – Joseph Lister, English surgeon and academic (d. 1912)
    • 1832 – Jules Ferry, French lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of France (d. 1893)
    • 1834 – Prentice Mulford, American humorist and author (d. 1891)
    • 1834 – Wilhelm Olbers Focke, German medical doctor and botanist (d. 1922)
    • 1834 – Frank R. Stockton, American writer and humorist (d. 1902)
    • 1835 – Vítězslav Hálek, Czech poet, writer, journalist, dramatist and theatre critic. (d. 1874)
    • 1837 – Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic (d. 1909)
    • 1839 – Robert Smalls, African-American ship’s pilot, sea captain, and politician (d. 1915)
    • 1840 – Ghazaros Aghayan, Armenian historian and linguist (d. 1911)
    • 1842 – Hans Hildebrand, Swedish archaeologist (d. 1913)
    • 1845 – Friedrich Sigmund Merkel, German anatomist and histopathologist (d. 1919)
    • 1845 – Jules Cambon, French diplomat (d. 1935)
    • 1846 – Sigmund Exner, Austrian physiologist (d. 1926)
    • 1846 – Henry Wellesley, British peer and politician (d. 1900)
    • 1848 – Thure de Thulstrup, American illustrator (d. 1930)
    • 1848 – Ulrich Wille, Swiss army general (d. 1925)
    • 1850 – Enrico Mazzanti, Italian engineer and cartoonist (d. 1910)
    • 1852 – Émile Billard, French sailor (d. 1930)
    • 1852 – Walter W. Winans, American marksman and sculptor (d. 1920)
    • 1852 – Franz Eckert, German composer and musician (d. 1916)
    • 1856 – Booker T. Washington, African-American educator, essayist and historian (d. 1915)
    • 1857 – Alexander of Battenberg (d. 1893)
    • 1858 – Washington Atlee Burpee, Canadian businessman, founded Burpee Seeds (d. 1915)
    • 1859 – Reinhold Seeberg, German theologian (d. 1935)
    • 1860 – Harry S. Barlow, British tennis player (d. 1917)
    • 1862 – Louis Ganne, French conductor (d. 1923)
    • 1862 – Leo Stern, English cellist (d. 1904)
    • 1863 – Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1950)
    • 1867 – Ernest Lewis, British tennis player (d. 1930)
    • 1869 – Sergey Chaplygin, Russian physicist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 1942)
    • 1869 – Albert Roussel, French composer (d. 1937)
    • 1870 – Motobu Chōki, Japanese karateka (d. 1944)
    • 1871 – Stanisław Grabski, Polish economist and politician (d. 1949)
    • 1872 – Samuel Cate Prescott, American microbiologist and chemist (d. 1962)
    • 1873 – Joseph Rheden, Austrian astronomer (d. 1946)
    • 1874 – Emmanuel Célestin Suhard, French Cardinal of the Catholic Church (d. 1949)
    • 1874 – Manuel María Ponce Brousset, President of Peru (d. 1966)
    • 1878 – Albert Champion, French cyclist (d. 1927)
    • 1878 – Georg Misch, German philosopher (d. 1965)
    • 1878 – Paul Weinstein, German high jumper (d. 1964)
    • 1879 – Arthur Berriedale Keith, Scottish lawyer (d. 1944)
    • 1879 – Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, German naval officer and author (d. 1956)
    • 1880 – Eric Carlberg, Swedish Army officer, diplomat, shooter, fencer and modern pentathlete (d. 1963)
    • 1880 – Vilhelm Carlberg, Swedish Army officer and shooter (d. 1970)
    • 1882 – Song Jiaoren, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1913)
    • 1882 – Natalia Sedova, 2nd wife of Leon Trotsky (d. 1962)
    • 1883 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (d. 1950)
    • 1884 – Ion Inculeț, Bessarabian academic and politician, President of Moldova (d. 1940)
    • 1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian composer (d. 1978)
    • 1886 – Gotthelf Bergsträsser, German linguist (d. 1933)
    • 1886 – Frederick Lindemann, British physicist (d. 1957)
    • 1886 – Gustavo Jiménez, Peruvian colonel and politician, 73rd President of Peru (d. 1933)
    • 1887 – William Cowhig, British gymnast (d. 1964)
    • 1889 – Vicente Ferreira Pastinha, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1981)
    • 1890 – Karl Kirk, Danish gymnast (d. 1955)
    • 1890 – William Moore, British track and field athlete (d. 1956)
    • 1891 – Arnold Jackson, English runner, soldier, and lawyer (d. 1972)
    • 1891 – Laura Vicuña, Chilean nun (d. 1904)
    • 1892 – Raymond Bonney, American ice hockey player (d. 1964)
    • 1893 – Frithjof Andersen, Norwegian wrestler (d. 1975)
    • 1893 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973)
    • 1894 – Lawrence Dale Bell, American industrialist and founder of Bell Aircraft Corporation (d. 1956)
    • 1894 – Hans Hüttig, German SS officer (d. 1980)
    • 1894 – Carl Rudolf Florin, Swedish botanist (d. 1965)
    • 1895 – Mike O’Dowd, American boxer (d. 1957)
    • 1896 – Einar Lundborg, Swedish aviator (d. 1931)
    • 1897 – Hans Schuberth, German politician (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Alfred Blalock, American surgeon and academic (d. 1964)
    • 1900 – Herbert Bayer, Austrian-American graphic designer, painter, and photographer (d. 1985)
    • 1900 – Roman Steinberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1928)
    • 1900 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)
    • 1901 – Curt Bois, German actor (d. 1991)
    • 1901 – Chester Bowles, American diplomat and ambassador (d. 1986)
    • 1901 – Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)
    • 1901 – Doggie Julian, American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach (d. 1967)
    • 1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Russian-American rabbi (d. 1994)
    • 1903 – Marion Aye, American actress (d. 1951)
    • 1904 – Richard Eberhart, American poet and academic (d. 2005)
    • 1906 – Albert Charles Smith, American botanist (d. 1999)
    • 1906 – Fernando Germani, Italian organist (d. 1998)
    • 1906 – Ted Morgan, New Zealand boxer (d. 1952)
    • 1907 – Sanya Dharmasakti, Thai jurist (d. 2002)
    • 1908 – Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)
    • 1908 – Kurt Neumann, German director (d. 1958)
    • 1908 – Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician, 4th Deputy Prime Minister of India (d. 1986)
    • 1908 – Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor and manager (d. 1989)
    • 1909 – Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer, co-founded Eon Productions (d. 1996)
    • 1909 – Giacomo Gentilomo, Italian film director and painter (d. 2001)
    • 1909 – Károly Sós, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 1991)
    • 1909 – Erwin Wegner, German hurdler (d. 1945)
    • 1910 – Sven Andersson, Swedish politician (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Oronzo Pugliese, Italian football manager (d. 1990)
    • 1911 – Hedi Amara Nouira, Tunisian politician (d. 1993)
    • 1911 – Johnny Revolta, American golfer (d. 1991)
    • 1912 – Jehan Buhan, French fencer (d. 1999)
    • 1912 – Habib Elghanian, Iranian businessman (d. 1979)
    • 1912 – Antonio Ferri, Italian scientist (d. 1975)
    • 1912 – Carlos Guastavino, Argentine composer (d. 2000)
    • 1912 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 1997)
    • 1912 – John Le Mesurier, English actor (d. 1983)
    • 1912 – István Örkény, Hungarian author and playwright (d. 1979)
    • 1912 – Bill Roberts, English sprinter and soldier (d. 2001)
    • 1913 – Antoni Clavé, Catalan artist (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Nicolas Grunitzky, 2nd President of Togo (d. 1969)
    • 1913 – Ruth Smith, Faroese artist (d. 1958)
    • 1914 – Felice Borel, Italian footballer (d. 1993)
    • 1916 – Gregory Peck, American actor, political activist, and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)
    • 1917 – Frans Gommers, Belgian footballer (d. 1996)
    • 1919 – Lester James Peries, Sri Lankan director, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2018)
    • 1920 – Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2001)
    • 1920 – Arthur Hailey, English-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Alfonso Thiele, Turkish-Italian race car driver (d. 1986)
    • 1920 – John Willem Gran, Swedish bishop (d. 2008)
    • 1921 – Christopher Hewett, English actor and theatre director (d. 2001)
    • 1922 – Tom Finney, English footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Harry Freedman, Polish-Canadian horn player, composer, and educator (d. 2005)
    • 1922 – Andy Linden, American race car driver (d. 1987)
    • 1922 – Gale Storm, American actress and singer (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – Ernest Mandel, German-born Belgian Marxist economist, Trotskyist activist and theorist (d. 1995)
    • 1923 – Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)
    • 1923 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese general and politician, 5th President of South Vietnam (d. 2001)
    • 1924 – Igor Borisov, Soviet rower (d. before 2005)
    • 1925 – Janet Rowley, American human geneticist (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Pierre Nihant, Belgian cyclist (d. 1993)
    • 1926 – Roger Corman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1926 – Liang Yusheng, Chinese writer (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Thanin Kraivichien, Thai lawyer and politician
    • 1927 – Arne Hoel, Norwegian ski jumper (d. 2006)
    • 1928 – Enzo Cannavale, Italian actor (d. 2011)
    • 1928 – Tony Williams, American singer (d. 1992)
    • 1929 – Hugo Claus, Belgian author, poet, and painter (d. 2008)
    • 1929 – Ivar Giaever, Norwegian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1929 – Nigel Hawthorne, English actor and producer (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Joe Meek, English songwriter and producer (d. 1967)
    • 1929 – Mahmoud Mollaghasemi, Iranian wrestler
    • 1930 – Mary Costa, American singer and actress
    • 1930 – Pierre Lhomme, French director of photography (d. 2019)
    • 1931 – Jack Clement, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Héctor Olivera, Argentine director, producer and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Feridun Buğeker, Turkish footballer (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1933 – Barbara Holland, American author (d. 2010)
    • 1933 – K. Kailasapathy, Sri Lankan journalist and academic (d. 1982)
    • 1934 – John Carey, English author and critic
    • 1934 – Roman Herzog, German lawyer and politician, 7th President of Germany (d. 2017)
    • 1934 – Moise Safra, Brazilian businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Banco Safra (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Stanley Turrentine, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2000)
    • 1935 – Giovanni Cianfriglia, Italian actor
    • 1935 – Peter Grant, English talent manager (d. 1995)
    • 1935 – Donald Lynden-Bell, English astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 2018)
    • 1935 – Frank Schepke, German rower (d. 2017)
    • 1936 – Ronnie Bucknum, American race car driver (d. 1992)
    • 1936 – Glenn Jordan, American director and producer
    • 1936 – Dragoljub Minić, Yugoslavian chess Grandmaster (d. 2005)
    • 1937 – Joseph Lelyveld, American journalist and author
    • 1937 – Jean-Pierre Petit, French scientist
    • 1937 – Colin Powell, American general and politician, 65th United States Secretary of State
    • 1937 – Andrzej Schinzel, Polish mathematician
    • 1937 – Arie Selinger, Israeli volleyball player and manager
    • 1937 – Juan Vicente Lezcano, Paraguayan footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1938 – Colin Bland, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (d. 2018)
    • 1938 – Mal Colston, Australian educator and politician (d. 2003)
    • 1938 – Nancy Holt, American sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
    • 1938 – Natalya Kustinskaya, Soviet actress (d. 2012)
    • 1939 – Leka I, Crown Prince of Albania (d. 2011)
    • 1939 – Crispian St. Peters, English singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1939 – Haidar Abu Bakr al-Attas, Prime Minister of Yemen
    • 1939 – Ronald White, American singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
    • 1939 – David Winters, English-American actor, choreographer and producer (d. 2019)
    • 1940 – Tommy Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1940 – Gilles Proulx, Canadian journalist, historian, and radio host
    • 1941 – Michael Moriarty, American-Canadian actor
    • 1941 – Dave Swarbrick, English singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2016)
    • 1942 – Allan Clarke, English singer-songwriter
    • 1942 – Pascal Couchepin, Swiss politician
    • 1942 – Juan Gisbert Sr., Spanish tennis player
    • 1942 – Peter Greenaway, Welsh director and screenwriter
    • 1943 – Dean Brown, Australian politician, 41st Premier of South Australia
    • 1943 – Max Gail, American actor and director
    • 1943 – Fighting Harada, Japanese boxer
    • 1943 – Miet Smet, Belgian politician
    • 1943 – Jean-Louis Tauran, French cardinal (d. 2018)
    • 1944 – Willeke van Ammelrooy, Dutch actress and director
    • 1944 – János Martonyi, Hungarian politician
    • 1944 – Evan Parker, British musician
    • 1944 – Douangchay Phichit, Laotian politician (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Willy Planckaert, Belgian cyclist
    • 1944 – Pedro Rosselló, Puerto Rican physician and politician, 7th Governor of Puerto Rico
    • 1944 – Peter T. King, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
    • 1945 – Ove Bengtson, Swedish tennis player
    • 1945 – Steve Carver, American director and producer
    • 1945 – Cem Karaca, Turkish musician (d. 2004)
    • 1945 – Tommy Smith, English footballer (d. 2019)
    • 1946 – Jane Asher, English actress
    • 1946 – Julio Ángel Fernández, Uruguayan astronomer
    • 1946 – Björn Granath, Swedish actor (d. 2017)
    • 1946 – Georgi Markov, Bulgarian Greco-Roman wrestler
    • 1947 – Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav swimmer
    • 1947 – Willy Chirino, Cuban-American musician
    • 1947 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Filipino academic and politician, 14th President of the Philippines
    • 1947 – Ramón Mifflin, Peruvian footballer
    • 1947 – Virendra Sharma, Indian-English lawyer and politician
    • 1948 – Pierre-Albert Chapuisat, Swiss footballer
    • 1948 – Dave Holland, English drummer (d. 2018)
    • 1948 – Roy McFarland, English footballer and manager
    • 1949 – Stanley Dziedzic, American wrestler
    • 1949 – Larry Franco, American film producer
    • 1949 – Judith Resnik, Ukrainian-American engineer and astronaut (d. 1986)
    • 1950 – Ann C. Crispin, American writer (d. 2013)
    • 1950 – Franklin Chang Díaz, Costa Rican-Chinese American astronaut and physicist
    • 1950 – Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1950 – Toshiko Fujita, Japanese actress, singer and narrator (d. 2018)
    • 1950 – Miki Manojlović, Serbian actor
    • 1951 – Les Binks, Irish drummer and songwriter
    • 1951 – Yevgeniy Gavrilenko, Belarusian hurdler
    • 1951 – Nedim Gürsel, Turkish writer
    • 1951 – Dean Kamen, American inventor and businessman, founded Segway Inc.
    • 1951 – Dave McArtney, New Zealand singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
    • 1951 – Ubol Ratana, Thai Princess
    • 1952 – Alfie Conn, Scottish international footballer, midfielder
    • 1952 – John C. Dvorak, American author and editor
    • 1952 – Sandy Mayer, American tennis player
    • 1952 – Dennis Mortimer, English footballer
    • 1952 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor
    • 1953 – Frank Gaffney, American journalist and radio host
    • 1953 – Keiko Han, Japanese actress
    • 1953 – Tae Jin-ah, South Korean singer
    • 1953 – Raleb Majadele, Israeli politician
    • 1953 – Ian Swales, English accountant and politician
    • 1954 – Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist and radio host
    • 1954 – Peter Case, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Mohamed Ben Mouza, Tunisian footballer
    • 1954 – Stan Ridgway, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Yoshiichi Watanabe, Japanese footballer
    • 1955 – Charlotte de Turckheim, French actress, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Ricardo Ferrero, Argentine footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1955 – Christian Gourcuff, French footballer and manager
    • 1955 – Anthony Horowitz, English author and screenwriter
    • 1955 – Bernard Longley, English prelate
    • 1955 – Akira Toriyama, Japanese illustrator
    • 1955 – Takayoshi Yamano, Japanese footballer
    • 1956 – Diamond Dallas Page, American wrestler and actor
    • 1956 – Leonid Fedun, Russian businessman
    • 1956 – Reid Ribble, American politician
    • 1957 – Sebastian Adayanthrath, Indian bishop
    • 1957 – Karin Roßley, German hurdler
    • 1958 – Henrik Dettmann, Finnish basketball coach
    • 1958 – Ryoichi Kawakatsu, Japanese footballer
    • 1958 – Johan Kriek, South African-American tennis player
    • 1958 – Daniel Schneidermann, French journalist
    • 1958 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan lawyer and journalist (d. 2009)
    • 1959 – Paul Chung, Hong Kong actor and host (d. 1989)
    • 1960 – Asteris Koutoulas, Romanian-German record producer, manager, and author
    • 1960 – Larry McCray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1960 – Ian Redford, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1960 – Hiromi Taniguchi, Japanese long-distance runner
    • 1960 – Adnan Terzić, Bosnian politician
    • 1961 – Andrea Arnold, English filmmaker and actress
    • 1961 – Anna Caterina Antonacci, Italian soprano
    • 1961 – Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Bahraini-Danish human rights activist
    • 1961 – Lisa Zane, American actress and singer
    • 1962 – Lana Clarkson, American actress and model (d. 2003)
    • 1962 – Sara Danius, Swedish scholar of literature and aesthetics
    • 1962 – Richard Gough, Swedish born Scottish international footballer
    • 1962 – Arild Monsen, Norwegian cross-country skier
    • 1962 – Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian businessman and politician, 1st President of Kalmykia
    • 1963 – Arthur Adams, American comic book artist and writer
    • 1964 – Neil Eckersley, British judoka
    • 1964 – Vakhtang Iagorashvili, Soviet modern pentathlete
    • 1964 – Levon Julfalakyan, Soviet Armenian Greco-Roman wrestler
    • 1964 – Marius Lăcătuș, Romanian footballer and coach
    • 1965 – Aykut Kocaman, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Lang Tzu-yun, Taiwanese actress
    • 1965 – Elizabeth McIntyre, American freestyle skier
    • 1965 – Svetlana Paramygina, Belarusian biathlete
    • 1966 – Yoon Hyun, South Korean judoka
    • 1966 – Mike McCready, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1967 – Troy Gentry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1967 – Franck Silvestre, French footballer
    • 1967 – Erland Johnsen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1967 – Laima Zilporytė, Soviet cyclist
    • 1968 – Paula Cole, American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1969 – Dinos Angelidis, Greek basketball player
    • 1969 – Viatcheslav Djavanian, Russian cyclist
    • 1969 – Pontus Kåmark, Swedish footballer
    • 1969 – Pavlo Khnykin, Ukrainian swimmer
    • 1969 – Tomislav Piplica, Bosnian footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Ravindra Prabhat, Indian writer and journalist
    • 1970 – Soheil Ayari, French race car driver
    • 1970 – Valérie Bonneton, French actress
    • 1970 – Diamond D, American hip hop producer
    • 1970 – Petar Genov, Bulgarian chess grandmaster
    • 1970 – Thea Gill, Canadian actress
    • 1970 – Miho Hatori, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1970 – Irina Timofeyeva, Russian long-distance runner
    • 1971 – Dong Abay, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1971 – Austin Berry, Costa Rican footballer
    • 1971 – Simona Cavallari, Italian actress
    • 1971 – Victoria Hamilton, English actress
    • 1971 – Nelson Parraguez, Chilean footballer
    • 1971 – Kim Soo-nyung, South Korean archer
    • 1972 – Krista Allen, American actress
    • 1972 – Nima Arkani-Hamed, American-Canadian theoretical physicist
    • 1972 – Tom Coronel, Dutch race car driver
    • 1972 – Paul Okon, Australian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Yasuhiro Takemoto, Japanese animator and director (d. 2019)
    • 1972 – Junko Takeuchi, Japanese actress
    • 1973 – Élodie Bouchez, French-American actress
    • 1973 – Lidia Trettel, Italian snowboarder
    • 1973 – Pharrell Williams, American singer, songwriter and rapper
    • 1974 – Sandra Bagarić, Croatian opera singer and actress
    • 1974 – Julien Boutter, French tennis player
    • 1974 – Katja Holanti, Finnish biathlete
    • 1974 – Oleg Khodkov, Russian handball player
    • 1974 – Ariel López, Argentine footballer
    • 1974 – Lukas Ridgeston, Slovak actor and director
    • 1974 – Vyacheslav Voronin, Russian high jumper
    • 1975 – Sarah Baldock, English organist and conductor
    • 1975 – John Hartson, Welsh footballer and coach
    • 1975 – Juicy J, American rapper and producer
    • 1975 – Serhiy Klymentiev, Ukrainian ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Caitlin Moran, English journalist, author, and critic
    • 1975 – Marcos Vales, Spanish footballer
    • 1975 – Shammond Williams, American basketball player and coach
    • 1976 – Luis de Agustini, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1976 – Péter Biros, Hungarian water polo player
    • 1976 – Sterling K. Brown, American actor
    • 1976 – Aleksei Budõlin, Estonian judoka
    • 1976 – Simone Inzaghi, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Natascha Ragosina, Russian boxer
    • 1976 – Henrik Stenson, Swedish golfer
    • 1976 – Valeria Straneo, Italian long-distance runner
    • 1976 – Indrek Tobreluts, Estonian biathlete
    • 1976 – Anouska van der Zee, Dutch cyclist
    • 1977 – Jonathan Erlich, Israeli tennis player
    • 1977 – Trevor Letowski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1977 – Daniel Majstorović, Swedish footballer
    • 1978 – Dwain Chambers, British track sprinter
    • 1978 – Marcone Amaral Costa, Qatari footballer
    • 1978 – Tarek El-Said, Egyptian footballer
    • 1978 – Jairo Patiño, Colombian footballer
    • 1978 – Sohyang, South Korean singer
    • 1978 – Stephen Jackson, American basketball player
    • 1978 – Arnaud Tournant, French cyclist
    • 1978 – Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer
    • 1978 – Günther Weidlinger, Austrian long-distance runner
    • 1979 – Vlada Avramov, Serbian footballer
    • 1979 – Josh Boone, American screenwriter and director
    • 1979 – Song Dae-nam, South Korean judoka
    • 1979 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer
    • 1979 – Imany, French singer
    • 1979 – Barel Mouko, Congolese footballer
    • 1979 – Cesare Natali, Italian footballer
    • 1979 – Mitsuo Ogasawara, Japanese footballer
    • 1979 – Alexander Resch, German luger
    • 1979 – Andrius Velička, Lithuanian footballer
    • 1979 – Dante Wesley, American football player
    • 1979 – Chen Yanqing, Chinese weightlifter
    • 1980 – Matt Bonner, American basketball player
    • 1980 – Alberta Brianti, Italian tennis player
    • 1980 – Rafael Cavalcante, Brazilian mixed martial artist
    • 1980 – David Chocarro, Argentinian baseball player and actor
    • 1980 – Mike Glumac, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Mario Kasun, Croatian basketball player
    • 1980 – Lee Jae-won, South Korean DJ and singer
    • 1980 – Joris Mathijsen, Dutch footballer
    • 1980 – Rasmus Quist Hansen, Danish rower
    • 1980 – Odlanier Solís, Cuban boxer
    • 1981 – Matthew Emmons, American rifle shooter
    • 1981 – Michael A. Monsoor, American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2006)
    • 1981 – Mariqueen Maandig, Filipino-American musician and singer-songwriter
    • 1981 – Daba Modibo Keïta, Malian taekwondo athlete
    • 1981 – Marissa Nadler, American musician
    • 1981 – Tom Riley, English actor and producer
    • 1981 – Mompati Thuma, Botswana footballer
    • 1981 – Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist
    • 1982 – Hayley Atwell, English-American actress
    • 1982 – Matheus Coradini Vivian, Brazilian footballer
    • 1982 – Thomas Hitzlsperger, German footballer
    • 1982 – Kelly Pavlik, American boxer
    • 1982 – Matt Pickens, American soccer player
    • 1982 – Alexandre Prémat, French race car driver
    • 1982 – Danylo Sapunov, Ukrainian-Kazakhstani triathlete
    • 1982 – Hubert Schwab, Swiss cyclist
    • 1982 – Marcel Seip, Dutch former footballer
    • 1983 – Jaime Castrillón, Colombian footballer
    • 1983 – Jorge Andrés Martínez, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1983 – Brock Radunske, Canadian-South Korean ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Yohann Sangaré, French basketball player
    • 1983 – Cécile Storti, French cross-country skier
    • 1983 – Shikha Uberoi, Indian-American tennis player
    • 1984 – Marshall Allman, American actor
    • 1984 – Aram Mp3, Armenian singer and comedian
    • 1984 – Rune Brattsveen, Norwegian biathlete
    • 1984 – Alexei Glukhov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Maartje Goderie, Dutch field hockey player
    • 1984 – Darija Jurak, Croatian tennis player
    • 1984 – Dejan Kelhar, Slovenian footballer
    • 1984 – Dmitry Kozonchuk, Russian cyclist
    • 1984 – Shin Min-a, South Korean actress
    • 1984 – Jess Sum, Hong Kong actress
    • 1984 – Peter Penz, Austrian luger
    • 1984 – Samuele Preisig, Swiss footballer
    • 1984 – Cristian Săpunaru, Romanian footballer
    • 1984 – Fabio Vitaioli, San Marinese footballer
    • 1984 – Kisho Yano, Japanese footballer
    • 1984 – Saba Qamar, Pakistani actress-model
    • 1985 – Daniel Congré, French footballer
    • 1985 – Erwin l’Ami, Dutch chess player
    • 1985 – Jolanda Keizer, Dutch heptathlete
    • 1985 – Sergey Khachatryan, Armenian violinist
    • 1985 – Linas Pilibaitis, Lithuanian footballer
    • 1985 – Jan Smeets, Dutch chess grandmaster
    • 1985 – Kristof Vandewalle, Belgian cyclist
    • 1986 – Anna Sophia Berglund, American model and actress
    • 1986 – Anzor Boltukayev, Chechen wrestler
    • 1986 – Diego Chará, Colombian footballer
    • 1986 – Charlotte Flair, American wrestler, author and actress
    • 1986 – Róbert Kasza, Hungarian Modern pentathlete
    • 1986 – Eetu Muinonen, Finnish footballer
    • 1986 – Manuel Ruz, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Albert Selimov, Azerbaijani boxer
    • 1987 – Max Grün, German footballer
    • 1987 – Balázs Hárai, Hungarian water polo player
    • 1987 – Anton Kokorin, Russian sprint athlete
    • 1987 – Fyodor Kudryashov, Russian footballer
    • 1987 – Etiënne Reijnen, Dutch footballer
    • 1988 – Gerson Acevedo, Chilean footballer
    • 1988 – Teresa Almeida, Angolan handball player
    • 1988 – Quade Cooper, New Zealand rugby player and boxer
    • 1988 – Jonathan Davies, Welsh rugby union player
    • 1988 – Gevorg Ghazaryan, Armenian footballer
    • 1988 – Alisha Glass, American ex-indoor volleyball player
    • 1988 – Vurğun Hüseynov, Azerbaijani footballer
    • 1988 – Matthias Jaissle, German footballer and manager
    • 1988 – Jon Kwang-ik, North Korean footballer
    • 1988 – Christopher Papamichalopoulos, Cypriot skier
    • 1988 – Zack Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Pape Sy, French basketball player
    • 1988 – Alexey Volkov, Russian biathlete
    • 1989 – Kader Amadou, Nigerien footballer
    • 1989 – Yémi Apithy, Beninese fencer
    • 1989 – Liemarvin Bonevacia, Dutch sprinter
    • 1989 – Freddie Fox, English actor
    • 1989 – Emre Güral, Turkish footballer
    • 1989 – Justin Holiday, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Rachel Homan, Canadian curler
    • 1989 – Lily James, English actress
    • 1989 – Trevor Marsicano, American speed skater
    • 1989 – Jonathan Rossini, Swiss footballer
    • 1989 – Kiki Sukezane, Japanese actress
    • 1989 – Sosuke Takatani, Japanese wrestler
    • 1990 – Alex Cuthbert, Welsh rugby player
    • 1990 – Amer Said Al-Shatri, Omani footballer
    • 1990 – Fredy Hinestroza, Colombian footballer
    • 1990 – Chen Huijia, Chinese swimmer
    • 1990 – Haruma Miura, Japanese actor and singer
    • 1990 – Ismaeel Mohammad, Qatari footballer
    • 1990 – Iryna Pamialova, Belarusian canoeist
    • 1990 – Jakub Sedláček, Czech ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Sercan Yıldırım, Turkish footballer
    • 1990 – Género Zeefuik, Dutch footballer
    • 1991 – Yassine Bounou, Moroccan footballer
    • 1991 – Nathaniel Clyne, English footballer
    • 1991 – Adriano Grimaldi, Italian-German footballer
    • 1991 – Joël Mall, Swiss footballer
    • 1991 – Guilherme dos Santos Torres, Brazilian footballer
    • 1992 – Emmalyn Estrada, Canadian singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1992 – Shintaro Kurumaya, Japanese footballer
    • 1992 – Kaveh Rezaei, Iranian footballer
    • 1992 – Dmytro Ryzhuk, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1993 – Andreas Bouchalakis, Greek footballer
    • 1993 – Maya DiRado, American swimmer
    • 1993 – Laura Feiersinger, Austrian footballer
    • 1993 – Scottie Wilbekin, American-born naturalized Turkish basketball player
    • 1994 – Mateusz Bieniek, Polish volleyball player
    • 1994 – Edem Rjaïbi, Tunisian footballer
    • 1994 – Richard Sánchez, Mexican footballer
    • 1995 – Viliame Kikau, Fijian rugby league player
    • 1995 – Sei Muroya, Japanese footballer
    • 1995 – Gleb Rassadkin, Belarusian footballer
    • 1995 – Sebastian Starke Hedlund, Swedish footballer
    • 1996 – Nicolas Beer, Danish race car driver
    • 1996 – Raouf Benguit, Algerian footballer
    • 1997 – Borja Mayoral, Spanish footballer
    • 1998 – Jeremy Olson
    • 1999 – Andrea Buwalda
    • 2000 – Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Indian actor
    • 2001 – Thylane Blondeau, French model and actress

    Deaths on April 5

    • 517 – Timothy I, Byzantine patriarch
    • 582 – Eutychius, Byzantine patriarch
    • 584 – Ruadán of Lorrha, Irish abbot
    • 828 – Nikephoros I, Byzantine patriarch
    • 902 – Al-Mu’tadid, Abbasid caliph
    • 1168 – Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (b. 1104)
    • 1183 – Ramon Berenguer III, Spanish count of Cerdanya and Provence
    • 1205 – Isabella I of Jerusalem, queen regent of Jerusalem (b. 1172)
    • 1258 – Juliana of Liège, Belgian canoness and saint
    • 1308 – Ivan Kőszegi, Hungarian baron and oligarch
    • 1325 – Ralph de Monthermer, 1st Baron of Monthermer and Earl of Gloucester (b. c.1270)
    • 1419 – Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)
    • 1431 – Bernard I, margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1364)
    • 1512 – Lazzaro Bastiani, Italian painter (b. 1429)
    • 1534 – Jan Matthys, Dutch anabaptist reformer
    • 1594 – Catherine of Palma, Spanish nun (b. 1533)
    • 1617 – Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer (b. 1555)
    • 1626 – Anna Koltovskaya, Russian tsarina
    • 1673 – François Caron, Belgian-French explorer and politician, 8th Governor of Formosa (b. 1600)
    • 1674 – George Frederick, prince of Nassau-Siegen (b. 1606)
    • 1679 – Anne Geneviève de Bourbon, French princess (b. 1619)
    • 1684 – William Brouncker, English mathematician (b. 1620)
    • 1684 – Karl Eusebius, prince of Liechtenstein (b. 1611)
    • 1693 – Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, French noblewoman (b. 1627)
    • 1693 – Philip William August, German nobleman (b. 1668)
    • 1695 – George Savile, English politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1633)
    • 1697 – Charles XI, king of Sweden (b. 1655)
    • 1704 – Christian Ulrich I, German nobleman and Duke of Württemberg-Oels (b. 1652)
    • 1708 – Christian Heinrich, German prince and member of the House of Hohenzollern (b. 1661)
    • 1709 – Roger de Piles, French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat (b. 1635)
    • 1712 – Jan Luyken, Dutch poet, illustrator and engraver (b. 1649)
    • 1717 – Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
    • 1723 – Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect, sculptor and historian (b. 1656)
    • 1735 – William Derham, English minister and philosopher (b. 1657)
    • 1751 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (b. 1676)
    • 1765 – Edward Young, English poet and author (b. 1683)
    • 1767 – Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, German princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (b. 1685)
    • 1768 – Egidio Forcellini, Italian philologist (b. 1688)
    • 1769 – Marc-Antoine Laugier, Jesuit priest (b. 1713)
    • 1794 – Georges Danton, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice (b. 1759)
    • 1794 – François Chabot, French politician (b. 1756)
    • 1794 – Camille Desmoulins, French journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1760)
    • 1794 – Fabre d’Églantine, French actor, dramatist, poet and politician (b. 1750)
    • 1794 – Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles, French judge and politician (b. 1759)
    • 1794 – Pierre Philippeaux, French lawyer (b. 1754)
    • 1794 – François Joseph Westermann, French general (b. 1751)
    • 1799 – Johann Christoph Gatterer, German historian (b. 1727)
    • 1804 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (b. 1761)
    • 1808 – Johann Georg Wille, German engraver (b. 1715)
    • 1830 – Richard Chenevix, Irish chemist and playwright (b. 1774)
    • 1831 – Pierre Léonard Vander Linden, Belgian entomologist (b. 1797)
    • 1842 – Shah Shujah Durrani, 5th Emir of Afghanistan (b. 1785)
    • 1852 – Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, (b. 1800)
    • 1861 – Ferdinand Joachimsthal, German mathematician (b. 1818)
    • 1862 – Barend Cornelis Koekkoek, Dutch artist (b. 1803)
    • 1865 – Manfredo Fanti, Italian general (b. 1806)
    • 1866 – Thomas Hodgkin, British physician (b. 1798)
    • 1868 – Karel Purkyně, Czech painter (b. 1834)
    • 1871 – Paolo Savi, Italian geologist and ornithologist (b. 1798)
    • 1872 – Paul-Auguste-Ernest Laugier, French astronomer (b. 1812)
    • 1873 – Milivoje Blaznavac, Serbian soldier and politician (b. 1824)
    • 1882 – Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play, (b. 1806)
    • 1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
    • 1891 – Johann Hermann Bauer, (b. 1861)
    • 1900 – Joseph Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (b. 1822)
    • 1900 – Osman Nuri Pasha, Ottoman field marshal and the hero of the Siege of Plevna in 1877 (b. 1832)
    • 1901 – Angelo Messedaglia, Italian social scientist and statistician (b. 1820)
    • 1902 – Hans Ernst August Buchner, German bacteriologist (b. 1850)
    • 1904 – Ernst Leopold, 4th Prince of Leiningen (b. 1830)
    • 1904 – Frances Power Cobbe, Irish writer (b. 1822)
    • 1906 – Eastman Johnson, American painter (b. 1824)
    • 1914 – Bernard Borggreve, German forestry scientist (b. 1836)
    • 1916 – Maksim Kovalevsky, Russian sociologist (b. 1851)
    • 1918 – George Tupou II, King of Tonga (b. 1874)
    • 1918 – Paul Vidal de La Blache, French geographer (b. 1845)
    • 1920 – Laurent Marqueste, French sculptor (b. 1848)
    • 1921 – Alphons Diepenbrock, Dutch composer (b. 1862)
    • 1921 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish-Jewish writer and translator (b. 1853)
    • 1923 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and businessman (b. 1866)
    • 1924 – Victor Hensen, German zoologist (b. 1835)
    • 1928 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1890)
    • 1928 – Viktor Oliva, Czech painter and illustrator (b. 1861)
    • 1929 – Francis Aidan Gasquet, English Benedictine monk (b. 1846)
    • 1929 – Ludwig von Sybel, German archeologist (b. 1846)
    • 1932 – María Blanchard, Spanish painter (b. 1881)
    • 1933 – Earl Derr Biggers, American novelist and playwright (b. 1884)
    • 1933 – Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and functional theorist (b. 1854)
    • 1934 – Salvatore Di Giacomo, Italian poet, playwright, songwriter and fascist intellectual (b. 1860)
    • 1934 – Jiro Sato, Japanese tennis player (b. 1908)
    • 1935 – Achille Locatelli, Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1856)
    • 1935 – Emil Młynarski, Polish conductor, violinist, composer, and pedagogue (b. 1870)
    • 1935 – Franz von Vecsey, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1893)
    • 1936 – Chandler Egan, American golfer and architect (b. 1884)
    • 1937 – Gustav Adolf Deissmann, (b. 1866)
    • 1937 – José Benlliure y Gil, Spanish painter (b. 1858)
    • 1938 – Helena Westermarck, Finnish artist and writer (b. 1857)
    • 1938 – Verner Lehtimäki, Finnish revolutionary (b. 1890)
    • 1940 – Charles Freer Andrews, English-Indian priest, missionary, and educator (b. 1871)
    • 1940 – Robert Maillart, Swiss civil engineer (b. 1872)
    • 1940 – Jay O’Brien, American bobsledder (b. 1883)
    • 1940 – Song Zheyuan, Chinese general (b. 1885)
    • 1941 – Parvin E’tesami, Persian poet (b. 1907)
    • 1941 – Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (b. 1876)
    • 1941 – Franciszek Kleeberg, Polish general (b. 1888)
    • 1945 – Heinrich Borgmann, German officer (b. 1912)
    • 1945 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (b. 1897)
    • 1946 – Vincent Youmans, American composer and producer (b. 1898)
    • 1947 – Bernhard Pankok, German painter, artist and architect (b. 1872)
    • 1947 – Elis Strömgren, Swedish-Danish astronomer (b. 1870)
    • 1948 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American socialite and philanthropist (b. 1874)
    • 1949 – Erich Zeigner, Prime Minister of Saxony (b. 1886)
    • 1950 – Hiroshi Yoshida, Japanese painter (b. 1876)
    • 1952 – Agnes Morton, British tennis player (b.
    • 1954 – Princess Märtha of Sweden, (b. 1901)
    • 1954 – Claude Delvincourt, French pianist and composer (b. 1888)
    • 1956 – William Titt, British gymnast (b. 1881)
    • 1958 – Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria, (b. 1884)
    • 1958 – Ásgrímur Jónsson, Icelandic painter (b. 1876)
    • 1958 – Isidora Sekulić, Serbian writer (b. 1877)
    • 1961 – Nikolai Kryukov, Russian composer (b. 1908)
    • 1962 – Boo Kullberg, Swedish gymnast (b. 1889)
    • 1963 – Jacobus Oud, Dutch architect (b. 1890)
    • 1964 – James Chapin, American ornithologist (b. 1889)
    • 1964 – Aloïse Corbaz, Swiss artist (b. 1886)
    • 1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880)
    • 1965 – Pedro Sernagiotto, Italian-Brazilian footballer (b. 1908)
    • 1965 – Sándor Szalay, Hungarian figure skater (b. 1893)
    • 1967 – Mischa Elman, Ukrainian-American violinist (b. 1891)
    • 1967 – Johan Falkberget, Norwegian author (b. 1879)
    • 1967 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
    • 1967 – Herbert Johnston, British runner (b. 1902)
    • 1968 – Félix Couchoro, Togolese writer (b. 1900)
    • 1968 – Lajos Csordás, Hungarian footballer
    • 1968 – Giuseppe Paris, Italian gymnast (b. 1895)
    • 1969 – Alberto Bonucci, Italian actor and director (b. 1918)
    • 1969 – Rómulo Gallegos, Venezuelan novelist and politician (b. 1917)
    • 1969 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian SS officer (b. 1903)
    • 1970 – Louisa Bolus, South African botanist and taxonomist (b. 1877)
    • 1970 – Alfred Sturtevant, American geneticist and academic (b. 1891)
    • 1970 – Karl von Spreti, German diplomat (b. 1907)
    • 1971 – José Cubiles, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1894)
    • 1972 – Brian Donlevy, American actor and producer (b. 1901)
    • 1973 – David Murray, British race car driver (b. 1909)
    • 1973 – Isabel Jewell, American actress and singer (b. 1907)
    • 1973 – Alla Tarasova, Russian ballerina (b. l898)
    • 1974 – Bino Bini, Italian fencer (b. 1900)
    • 1974 – A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882)
    • 1975 – Tell Berna, American middle and long-distance runner (b. 1891)
    • 1975 – Victor Marijnen, Dutch politician (b. 1917)
    • 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887)
    • 1975 – Harold Osborn, American track and fielder (b. 1899)
    • 1976 – Howard Hughes, American pilot, engineer, and director (b. 1905)
    • 1976 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian surgeon and academic (b. 1891)
    • 1976 – Harry Wyld, British cyclist (b. 1900)
    • 1977 – Carlos Prío Socarrás, President of Cuba, (b. 1903)
    • 1977 – Yuri Zavadsky, Russian actor and director (b. 1894)
    • 1981 – Émile Hanse, Belgian footballer (b. 1892)
    • 1981 – Bob Hite, American singer-songwriter (b. 1945)
    • 1981 – Pinchus Kremegne, French artist (b. 1890)
    • 1982 – Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Hans Lunding, Danish military officer (b. 1899)
    • 1984 – Giuseppe Tucci, Italian scholar of oriental cultures (b. 1894)
    • 1986 – Manly Wade Wellman, American writer (b. 1903)
    • 1987 – Leabua Jonathan, 2nd Prime Minister of Lesotho (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Alf Kjellin, Swedish actor and director (b. 1920)
    • 1989 – Frank Foss, American pole vaulter (b. 1895)
    • 1989 – Karel Zeman, Czech director, artist, production designer and animator (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – Sonny Carter, American soccer player, physician, and astronaut (b. 1947)
    • 1991 – Jay Miller, American basketball player (b. 1943)
    • 1991 – Jiří Mucha, Czech journalist, writer and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 1991 – William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L’Isle (b. 1909)
    • 1991 – John Tower, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1925)
    • 1992 – Takeshi Inoue, Japanese footballer (b. 1928)
    • 1992 – Molly Picon, American actress (b. 1898)
    • 1992 – Sam Walton, American businessman, founded Walmart and Sam’s Club (b. 1918)
    • 1993 – Divya Bharti, Indian actress (b. 1974)
    • 1994 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1967)
    • 1995 – Nicolaas Cortlever, Dutch chess player (b. 1915)
    • 1995 – Emilio Greco, Italian sculptor and engraver (b. 1913)
    • 1995 – Christian Pineau, French Resistance fighter (b. 1904)
    • 1996 – Charlene Holt, American actress (b. 1928)
    • 1997 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
    • 1998 – Frederick Charles Frank, British theoretical physicist (b. 1911)
    • 1998 – Cozy Powell, English drummer (b. 1947)
    • 1999 – Giulio Einaudi, Italian book publisher (b. 1912)
    • 2000 – Heinrich Müller, Austrian footballer (b. 1909)
    • 2000 – Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)
    • 2001 – Aldo Olivieri, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
    • 2002 – Layne Staley, American singer-songwriter (b. 1967)
    • 2002 – Kim Won-gyun, North Korean composer and politician (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Keizo Morishita, Japanese painter (b. 1944)
    • 2004 – Fernand Goyvaerts, Belgian footballer (b. 1938)
    • 2004 – Sławomir Rawicz, Polish lieutenant (b. 1915)
    • 2004 – Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2005 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American novelist, essayist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Robert Borg, American military officer and equestrian (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – Chung Nam-sik, South Korean footballer (b. 1917)
    • 2006 – Allan Kaprow, American painter and educator (b. 1927)
    • 2006 – Gene Pitney, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
    • 2006 – Yevgeny Seredin, Russian swimmer (b. 1958)
    • 2006 – Pasquale Macchi, Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Leela Majumdar, Indian author and academic (b. 1908)
    • 2007 – Werner Maser, German historian and journalist (b. 1922)
    • 2007 – Mark St. John, American guitarist (b. 1956)
    • 2007 – Thomas Stoltz Harvey, American pathologist (b. 1912)
    • 2008 – Charlton Heston, American actor, director, and political activist (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – I. J. Good, British mathematician (b. 1916)
    • 2010 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Soviet cosmonaut and engineer (b. 1935)
    • 2011 – Baruch Samuel Blumberg, American physician and geneticist (b. 1925)
    • 2011 – Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African politician (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, German designer (b. 1935)
    • 2012 – Pedro Bartolomé Benoit, Dominican Republican politician military officer
    • 2012 – Jim Marshall, English businessman, founded Marshall Amplification (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Barney McKenna, Irish musician (b. 1939)
    • 2012 – Bingu wa Mutharika, Malawian economist and politician, 3rd President of Malawi (b. 1934)
    • 2013 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Piero de Palma, Italian tenor and actor (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Alan Davie, Scottish saxophonist and painter (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Mariano Díaz, Spanish cyclist (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Peter Matthiessen, American novelist, short story writer, editor, co-founded The Paris Review (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – John Pinette, American comedian (b. 1964)
    • 2014 – José Wilker, Brazilian actor, director, and producer (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (b. 1949)
    • 2015 – Juan Carlos Cáceres, Argentinian singer and pianist (b. 1936)
    • 2016 – Koço Kasapoğlu, Turkish footballer (b. 1936)
    • 2017 – Attilio Benfatto, Italian cyclist (b. 1943)
    • 2017 – Arthur Bisguier, American chess Grandmaster (b. 1929)
    • 2017 – Paul G. Comba, Italian-American computer scientist and astronomer (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – Makoto Ōoka, Japanese poet and literary critic (b. 1931)
    • 2017 – Paul O’Neill, American rock composer and producer (b. 1956)
    • 2017 – Tim Parnell, British race car driver (b. 1932)
    • 2017 – Memè Perlini, Italian actor and director (b. 1947)
    • 2017 – Atanase Sciotnic, Romanian sprint canoeist (b. 1942)
    • 2017 – Ilkka Sinisalo, Finnish ice hockey player (b. 1958)
    • 2018 – Isao Takahata, Japanese director (b. 1935)
    • 2019 – Sydney Brenner, South African biologist (b. 1927)[16]

    Holidays and observances on April 5

    • Christian feast day:
      • Albert of Montecorvino
      • Derfel Gadarn
      • Æthelburh of Kent
      • Gerald of Sauve-Majeure
      • Juliana of Liège
      • Maria Crescentia Höss
      • Blessed Mariano de la Mata
      • Pandita Mary Ramabai (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Ruadhán of Lorrha
      • Vincent Ferrer
      • April 5 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Cold Food Festival, held on April 4 if it is a leap year (China); and its related observances:
    • Earliest day on which Sham el-Nessim can fall, while May 9 is the latest; celebrated on Monday after the Orthodox Easter (Egypt)
    • Children’s Day (Palestinian territories)
    • Sikmogil (South Korea)
    • National Maritime Day is observed in India, in commemoration of the first voyage of SS Loyalty of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company Ltd. in 1919.

  • February 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    February 29, also known as leap day or leap year day, is a date added to most years that are divisible by 4, such as 2016, 2020, and 2024. A leap day is added in various solar calendars (calendars based on the Earth’s revolution around the Sun), including the Gregorian calendar standard in most of the world. Lunisolar calendars (whose months are based on the phases of the Moon) instead add a leap or intercalary month

    In the Gregorian calendar, years that are divisible by 100, but not by 400, do not contain a leap day. Thus, 1700, 1800, and 1900 did not contain a leap day; neither will 2100, 2200, and 2300. Conversely, 1600 and 2000 did and 2400 will. Years containing a leap day are called leap years. Years not containing a leap day are called common years. In the Chinese calendar, this day will only occur in years of the monkey, dragon, and rat.

    A leap day is observed because the Earth’s period of orbital revolution around the Sun takes approximately six hours longer than 365 whole days. A leap day compensates for this lag, realigning the calendar with the Earth’s position in the Solar System; otherwise, seasons would occur later than intended in the calendar year. The Julian calendar used in Christendom until the 16th century added a leap day every four years; but this rule adds too many days (roughly three every 400 years), making the equinoxes and solstices shift gradually to earlier dates. By the 16th century the vernal equinox had drifted to March 11, so the Gregorian calendar was introduced both to shift it back by omitting several days, and to reduce the number of leap years via the aforementioned century rule to keep the equinoxes more or less fixed and the date of Easter consistently close to the vernal equinox.

    Leap days can present a particular problem in computing known as the leap year bug when February 29 is not handled correctly in logic that accepts or manipulates dates. For example, this has happened with ATMs and Microsoft’s cloud system Azure.

    Leap years

    Although most modern calendar years have 365 days, a complete revolution around the Sun (one solar year) takes approximately 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds (or, for simplicity’s sake, approximately 365 days and 6 hours, or 365.25 days) .An extra 23 hours, 15 minutes, and 4 seconds thus accumulates every four years (again, for simplicity’s sake, approximately an extra 24 hours, or 1 day, every four years), requiring that an extra calendar day be added to align the calendar with the Sun’s apparent position. Without the added day, in future years the seasons would occur later in the calendar, eventually leading to confusion about when to undertake activities dependent on weather, ecology, or hours of daylight.

    Solar years are actually slightly shorter than 365 days and 6 hours (365.25 days), which had been known since the 2nd century BC when Hipparchus stated that it lasted 365 + 1/4 − 1/300 days, but this was ignored by Julius Caesar and his astronomical adviser Sosigenes. The Gregorian calendar corrected this by adopting the length of the tropical year stated in three medieval sources, the Alfonsine tables, De Revolutionibus, and the Prutenic Tables, truncated to two sexagesimal places, 365 14/60 33/3600 days or 365 + 1/4 − 3/400 days or 365.2425 days. The length of the tropical year in 2000 was 365.24217 mean solar daysAdding a calendar day every four years, therefore, results in an excess of around 44 minutes every four years, or about 3 days every 400 years. To compensate for this, three days are removed every 400 years. The Gregorian calendar reform implements this adjustment by making an exception to the general rule that there is a leap year every four years. Instead, a year divisible by 100 is not a leap year unless that year is also divisible by 400. This means that the years 1600, 2000, and 2400 are leap years, while the years 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2200, 2300, and 2500 are not leap years.

    Modern (Gregorian) calendar

    The Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years, which is exactly 20,871 weeks including 97 leap days (146,097 days). Over this period, February 29 falls on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday 13 times; Friday and Saturday 14 times; and Monday and Wednesday 15 times. Except for a century mark that is not a multiple of 400, consecutive leap days fall in order Sunday, Friday, Wednesday, Monday, Saturday, Thursday, Tuesday, and repeats again.

    Early Roman calendar

    Adding a leap day (after 23 February) shifts the commemorations in the 1962 Roman Missal.

    Main article: Roman calendar

    The calendar of the Roman king Numa Pompilius had only 355 days (even though it was not a lunar calendar) which meant that it would quickly become unsynchronized with the solar year. An earlier Roman solution to this problem was to lengthen the calendar periodically by adding extra days to February, the last month of the year. February consisted of two parts, each with an odd number of days. The first part ended with the Terminalia on the 23rd, which was considered the end of the religious year, and the five remaining days formed the second part. To keep the calendar year roughly aligned with the solar year, a leap month, called Mensis Intercalaris (“intercalary month”), was added from time to time between these two parts of February. The (usual) second part of February was incorporated in the intercalary month as its last five days, with no change either in their dates or the festivals observed on them. This followed naturally because the days after the Ides (13th) of February (in an ordinary year) or the Ides of Intercalaris (in an intercalary year) both counted down to the Kalends of March (i.e. they were known as “the nth day before the Kalends of March”). The Nones (5th) and Ides of Intercalaris occupied their normal positions.

    The third-century writer Censorinus says:

    When it was thought necessary to add (every two years) an intercalary month of 22 or 23 days, so that the civil year should correspond to the natural (solar) year, this intercalation was in preference made in February, between Terminalia [23rd]and Regifugium [24th].

    Julian reform

    Main article: Julian calendar

    The set leap day was introduced in Rome as a part of the Julian reform in the 1st century BCE. As before, the intercalation was made after February 23. The day following the Terminalia (February 23) was doubled, forming the “bis sextum“—literally ‘twice sixth’, since February 24 was ‘the sixth day before the Kalends of March’ using Roman inclusive counting (March 1 was the Kalends of March and was also the first day of the calendar year). Inclusive counting initially caused the Roman priests to add the extra day every three years instead of four; Augustus was compelled to omit leap years for a few decades to return the calendar to its proper position. Although there were exceptions, the first day of the bis sextum (February 24) was usually regarded as the intercalated or “bissextile” day since the 3rd century CE. February 29 came to be regarded as the leap day when the Roman system of numbering days was replaced by sequential numbering in the late Middle Ages, although this has only been formally enacted in Sweden and Finland. In Britain, the extra day added to leap years remains notionally the 24th, although the 29th remains more visible on the calendar.

    Born on February 29

    A person born on February 29 may be called a “leapling”, a “leaper”, or a “leap-year baby”. Some leaplings celebrate their birthday in non-leap years on either February 28 or March 1, while others only observe birthdays on the authentic intercalary date, February 29.

    Legal status: The effective legal date of a leapling’s birthday in non-leap years varies between jurisdictions.

    In the United Kingdom and its former colony Hong Kong, when a person born on February 29 turns 18, they are considered to have their birthday on March 1 in the relevant year.

    In New Zealand, a person born on February 29 is deemed to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years, for the purposes of Driver Licensing under §2(2) of the Land Transport (Driver Licensing) Rule 1999. The net result is that for drivers aged 75, or over 80, their driver licence expires at the end of the last day of February, even though their birthday would otherwise fall on the first day in March in non-leap years. Otherwise, New Zealand legislation is silent on when a person born on February 29 has their birthday, although case law would suggest that age is computed based on the number of years elapsed, from the day after the date of birth, and that the person’s birth day then occurs on the last day of the year period. This differs from English common law where a birthday is considered to be the start of the next year, the preceding year ending at midnight on the day preceding the birthday. While a person attains the same age on the same day, it also means that, in New Zealand, if something must be done by the time a person attains a certain age, that thing can be done on the birthday that they attain that age and still be lawful.

    In Taiwan, the legal birthday of a leapling is February 28 in common years:

    If a period fixed by weeks, months, and years does not commence from the beginning of a week, month, or year, it ends with the ending of the day which proceeds the day of the last week, month, or year which corresponds to that on which it began to commence. But if there is no corresponding day in the last month, the period ends with the ending of the last day of the last month.

    Thus, in England and Wales or in Hong Kong, a person born on February 29 will have legally reached 18 years old on March 1. If they were born in Taiwan they legally become 18 on February 28, a day earlier.

    In the United States, according to John Reitz, a professor of law at the University of Iowa, there is no “… statute or general rule that has anything to do with leap day.” Reitz speculates that “March 1 would likely be considered the legal birthday in non-leap years of someone born on leap day,”using the same reasoning as described for the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. However, for the purposes of Social Security, a person attains the next age the day before the anniversary of birth. Therefore, Social Security would recognize February 28 as the change in age for leap year births, not March 1

    In fiction

    There are many instances in children’s literature where a person’s claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out to be based on counting only their leap-year birthdays.

    A similar device is used in the plot of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1879 comic opera The Pirates of Penzance: as a child, Frederic was apprenticed to a band of pirates until his 21st birthday. Having passed his 21st year, he leaves the pirate band and falls in love. However, since he was born on February 29, his 21st birthday will not arrive until he is eighty-eight (since 1900 was not a leap year), so he must leave his fiancée and return to the pirates.

    Since 1967, February 29 has been the official birthday of Superman, but not Clark Kent.

    February 29 in History

    • 1504 – Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Jamaican natives to provide him with supplies.
    • 1644 – Abel Tasman’s second Pacific voyage begins.
    • 1704 – Queen Anne’s War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, killing 56 villagers and taking more than 100 captive.
    • 1712 – February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Julian calendar.
    • 1720 – Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I on March 24.
    • 1752 – King Alaungpaya founds Konbaung Dynasty, the last dynasty of Burmese monarchy.
    • 1768 – Polish nobles form the Bar Confederation.
    • 1796 – The Jay Treaty between the United States and Great Britain comes into force, facilitating ten years of peaceful trade between the two nations.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Kilpatrick–Dahlgren Raid fails: Plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
    • 1892 – St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
    • 1912 – The Piedra Movediza (Moving Stone) of Tandil falls and breaks.
    • 1916 – Tokelau is annexed by the United Kingdom.
    • 1916 – Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from 12 to 14 years old.
    • 1920 – Czechoslovak National Assembly adopts the Constitution.
    • 1936 – February 26 Incident in Tokyo ends.
    • 1940 – 12th Academy Awards: For her performance as “Mammy” in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
    • 1940 – Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations.
    • 1940 – In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden’s Consul General in San Francisco.
    • 1944 – World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
    • 1960 – The 5.7 Mw  Agadir earthquake shakes coastal Morocco with a maximum perceived intensity of X (Extreme), destroying Agadir, and leaving 12,000 dead and another 12,000 injured.
    • 1972 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization: South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
    • 1980 – Gordie Howe of the Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
    • 1984 – Pierre Trudeau announces his retirement as Liberal Party leader and Prime Minister of Canada.
    • 1988 – South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with one hundred other clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town.
    • 1988 – Svend Robinson becomes the first member of the House of Commons of Canada to come out as gay.
    • 1992 – First day of Bosnia and Herzegovina independence referendum.
    • 1996 – Faucett Flight 251 crashes in the Andes; all 123 passengers and crew die.
    • 1996 – Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.
    • 2000 – Second Chechen War: Eighty-four Russian paratroopers are killed in a rebel attack on a guard post near Ulus Kert.
    • 2004 – Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as President of Haiti following a coup.
    • 2008 – The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence decides to withdraw Prince Harry from a tour of Afghanistan “immediately” after a leak leads to his deployment being reported by foreign media.
    • 2008 – Misha Defonseca admits to fabricating her memoir, Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, in which she claims to have lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust.
    • 2012 – Tokyo Skytree construction is completed. It is the tallest tower in the world, 634 meters high, and the second-tallest artificial structure on Earth, next to Burj Khalifa.

    Births on February 29

    • 1468 – Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
    • 1528 – Albert V, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1579)
    • 1528 – Domingo Báñez, Spanish theologian (d. 1604)
    • 1572 – Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (d. 1638)
    • 1576 – Antonio Neri, Florentine priest and glassmaker (d. 1614)
    • 1640 – Benjamin Keach, Particular Baptist preacher and author whose name was given to Keach’s Catechism (d. 1704)
    • 1692 – John Byrom, English poet and educator (d. 1763)
    • 1724 – Eva Marie Veigel, Austrian-English dancer (d. 1822)
    • 1736 – Ann Lee, English-American religious leader, founded the Shakers (d. 1784)
    • 1792 – Gioachino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
    • 1812 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (d. February 29, 1880)
    • 1828 – Emmeline B. Wells, American journalist, poet, and activist (d. 1921)
    • 1836 – Dickey Pearce, American baseball player and manager (d. 1908)
    • 1852 – Frank Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian lawyer and judge, 4th Chief Justice of Australia (d. 1936)
    • 1860 – Herman Hollerith, American statistician and businessman, co-founded the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (d. 1929)
    • 1876 – William Stewart, Scottish footballer
    • 1884 – Richard S. Aldrich, American lawyer and politician (d. 1941)
    • 1892 – Augusta Savage, American sculptor (d. 1962)
    • 1896 – Morarji Desai, Indian civil servant and politician, 4th Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
    • 1896 – William A. Wellman, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1975)
    • 1904 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1957)
    • 1904 – Pepper Martin, American baseball player and manager (d. 1965)
    • 1908 – Balthus, French-Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 2001)
    • 1908 – Dee Brown, American historian and author (d. 2002)
    • 1908 – Alf Gover, English cricketer and coach (d. 2001)
    • 1908 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (d. 1968)
    • 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
    • 1916 – James B. Donovan, American lawyer (d. 1970)
    • 1916 – Leonard Shoen, founder of U-Haul Corp. (d. 1999)
    • 1920 – Fyodor Abramov, Russian author and critic (d. 1983)
    • 1920 – Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1920 – James Mitchell, American actor and dancer (d. 2010)
    • 1920 – Michèle Morgan, French-American actress and singer (d. 2016)
    • 1920 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and academic (d. 1991)
    • 1920 – Rolland W. Redlin, American lawyer and politician (d. 2011)
    • 1924 – David Beattie, New Zealand judge and politician, 14th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 2001)
    • 1924 – Carlos Humberto Romero, Salvadoran politician, President of El Salvador (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Al Rosen, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Joss Ackland, English actor
    • 1928 – Jean Adamson, British writer and illustrator
    • 1928 – Vance Haynes, American archaeologist, geologist, and author
    • 1928 – Seymour Papert, South African mathematician and computer scientist, co-created the Logo programming language (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Gene H. Golub, American mathematician and academic (d. 2007)
    • 1932 – Masten Gregory, American race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1932 – Reri Grist, American soprano and actress
    • 1932 – Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
    • 1932 – Gavin Stevens, Australian cricketer
    • 1936 – Jack Lousma, American colonel, astronaut, and politician
    • 1936 – Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
    • 1936 – Alex Rocco, American actor (d. 2015)
    • 1936 – Nh. Dini, Indonesian writer (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Sonja Barend, Dutch talk show host
    • 1940 – Bartholomew I of Constantinople
    • 1940 – William H. Turner, Jr., American horse trainer
    • 1944 – Ene Ergma, Estonian physicist and politician
    • 1944 – Dennis Farina, American police officer and actor (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Nicholas Frayling, English priest and academic
    • 1944 – Phyllis Frelich, American actress (d. 2014)
    • 1944 – Steve Mingori, American baseball player (d. 2008)
    • 1944 – Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian author and illustrator
    • 1944 – Lennart Svedberg, Swedish ice hockey player (d. 1972).
    • 1948 – Hermione Lee, English author, critic, and academic
    • 1948 – Manoel Maria, Brazilian footballer
    • 1948 – Patricia A. McKillip, American author
    • 1948 – Henry Small, American-born Canadian singer
    • 1952 – Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American journalist and producer
    • 1952 – Tim Powers, American author and educator
    • 1952 – Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
    • 1952 – Bart Stupak, American police officer and politician
    • 1956 – Jonathan Coleman, English-Australian radio and television host
    • 1956 – Bob Speller, Canadian businessman and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Agriculture
    • 1956 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
    • 1960 – Lucian Grainge, English businessman
    • 1960 – Khaled, Algerian singer-songwriter
    • 1960 – Richard Ramirez, American serial killer (d. 2013)
    • 1964 – Dave Brailsford, English cyclist and coach
    • 1964 – Lyndon Byers, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
    • 1964 – Mervyn Warren, American tenor, composer, and producer
    • 1968 – Chucky Brown, American basketball player and coach
    • 1968 – Pete Fenson, American curler and sportscaster
    • 1968 – Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress and model
    • 1968 – Bryce Paup, American football player and coach
    • 1968 – Howard Tayler, American author and illustrator
    • 1968 – Eugene Volokh, Ukrainian-American lawyer and educator
    • 1968 – Frank Woodley, Australian actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1972 – Mike Pollitt, English footballer and coach
    • 1972 – Sylvie Lubamba, Italian showgirl
    • 1972 – Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-American model and actor
    • 1972 – Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain
    • 1972 – Dave Williams, American singer (d. 2002)
    • 1972 – Saul Williams, American singer-songwriter
    • 1972 – Pedro Zamora, Cuban-American activist and educator (d. 1994)
    • 1976 – Vonteego Cummings, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Gehad Grisha, Egyptian soccer referee
    • 1976 – Katalin Kovács, Hungarian sprint kayaker
    • 1976 – Terrence Long, American baseball player
    • 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
    • 1980 – Çağdaş Atan, Turkish footballer and coach
    • 1980 – Chris Conley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1980 – Patrick Côté, Canadian mixed martial artist
    • 1980 – Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1980 – Rubén Plaza, Spanish cyclist
    • 1980 – Peter Scanavino, American actor
    • 1980 – Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1980 – Taylor Twellman, American soccer player and sportscaster
    • 1984 – Rica Imai, Japanese model and actress
    • 1984 – Cullen Jones, American swimmer
    • 1984 – Nuria Martínez, Spanish basketball player
    • 1984 – Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
    • 1984 – Rakhee Thakrar, English actress
    • 1984 – Dennis Walger, German rugby player
    • 1984 – Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Mark Foster, American singer, songwriter and musician
    • 1988 – Lena Gercke, German model and television host
    • 1988 – Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
    • 1988 – Brent Macaffer, Australian Rules footballer
    • 1988 – Bobby Sanguinetti, American ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Milan Melindo, Filipino boxer
    • 1992 – Sean Abbott, Australian cricketer
    • 1992 – Ben Hampton, Australian rugby league player
    • 1992 – Eric Kendricks, American football player
    • 1992 – Caitlin EJ Meyer, American actress
    • 1996 – Nelson Asofa-Solomona, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1996 – Reece Prescod, British sprinter
    • 1996 – Claudia Williams, New Zealand tennis player
    • 2000 – Ferran Torres, Spanish footballer

    Deaths on February 29

    • 468 – Pope Hilarius
    • 992 – Oswald of Worcester, Anglo-Saxon archbishop and saint (b. 925)
    • 1212 – Hōnen, Japanese monk, founded Jōdo-shū (b. 1133)
    • 1460 – Albert III, Duke of Bavaria-Munich (b. 1401)
    • 1528 – Patrick Hamilton, Scottish Protestant reformer and martyr (b. 1504)
    • 1592 – Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer and diplomat (b. 1540)
    • 1600 – Caspar Hennenberger, German pastor, historian and cartographer (b. 1529)
    • 1604 – John Whitgift, English archbishop and academic (b. 1530)
    • 1740 – Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
    • 1744 – John Theophilus Desaguliers, French-English physicist and philosopher (b. 1683)
    • 1792 – Johann Andreas Stein, German piano builder (b. 1728)
    • 1820 – Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German historian and critic (b. 1743)
    • 1848 – Louis-François Lejeune, French general, painter and lithographer (b. 1775)
    • 1852 – Matsudaira Katataka, Japanese daimyō (b. 1806)
    • 1868 – Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
    • 1880 – James Milne Wilson, Scottish-Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Tasmania (b. February 29, 1812)
    • 1908
      • Pat Garrett, American sheriff (b. 1850)
      • John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, Scottish-Australian politician, 1st Governor-General of Australia (b. 1860)
    • 1920 – Ernie Courtney, American baseball player (b. 1875)
    • 1928
      • Adolphe Appia, Swiss architect and theorist (b. 1862)
      • Ina Coolbrith, American poet and librarian (b. 1841)
    • 1940 – E. F. Benson, English archaeologist and author (b. 1867)
    • 1944 – Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, Finnish lawyer, judge and politician, 3rd President of Finland (b. 1861)
    • 1948
      • Robert Barrington-Ward, English lawyer and journalist (b. 1891)
      • Rebel Oakes, American baseball player and manager (b. 1883)
    • 1952 – Quo Tai-chi, Chinese politician and diplomat, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations (b. 1888)
    • 1956 – Elpidio Quirino, Filipino lawyer and politician, 6th President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
    • 1960
      • Melvin Purvis, American police officer and FBI agent (b. 1903)
      • Walter Yust, American journalist and author (b. 1894)
    • 1964 – Frank Albertson, American actor and singer (b. 1909)
    • 1968
      • Lena Blackburne, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1886)
      • Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet and educator (b. 1886)
    • 1972 – Tom Davies, American football player and coach (b. 1896)
    • 1976 – Florence P. Dwyer, American politician (b. 1902)
    • 1980
      • Yigal Allon, Israeli general and politician, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1918)
      • Gil Elvgren, American painter and illustrator (b. 1914)
    • 1984 – Ludwik Starski, Polish screenwriter and songwriter (b. 1903)
    • 1988 – Sidney Harmon, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1907)
    • 1992 – Ruth Pitter, English poet and author (b. 1897)
    • 1996
      • Wes Farrell, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1939)
      • Ralph Rowe, American baseball player, coach and manager (b. 1924)
    • 2000 – Dennis Danell, American guitarist (b. 1961)
    • 2004
      • Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (b. 1923)
      • Jerome Lawrence, American playwright and author (b. 1915)
      • Harold Bernard St. John, Barbadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Barbados (b. 1931)
      • Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (b. 1943)
    • 2008
      • Janet Kagan, American author (b. 1946)
      • Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (b. 1917)
      • Akira Yamada, Japanese scholar and philosopher (b. 1922)
    • 2012
      • Roland Bautista, American guitarist (b. 1951)
      • Davy Jones, English singer, guitarist and actor (b. 1945)
      • Sheldon Moldoff, American illustrator (b. 1920)
      • P. K. Narayana Panicker, Indian social leader (b. 1930)
    • 2016
      • Wenn V. Deramas, Filipino director and screenwriter (b. 1966)
      • Gil Hill, American police officer, actor and politician (b. 1931)
      • Josefin Nilsson, Swedish singer (b. 1969)
      • Louise Rennison, English author (b. 1951)
      • Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistani assassin (b. 1985)

    Holidays and observances on February 29

    • As a Christian feast day:
      • Auguste Chapdelaine (one of the Martyr Saints of China)
      • Oswald of Worcester (in leap year only)
      • Saint John Cassian
      • February 29 in the Orthodox church
    • The fourth day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (observed on this date only if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz falls on March 21)
    • Rare Disease Day (in leap years; celebrated in common years on February 28)
    • Bachelor’s Day (Ireland, United Kingdom)

    Folk traditions

    There is a popular tradition known as Bachelor’s Day in some countries allowing a woman to propose marriage to a man on February 29If the man refuses, he then is obliged to give the woman money or buy her a dress. In upper-class societies in Europe, if the man refuses marriage, he then must purchase 12 pairs of gloves for the woman, suggesting that the gloves are to hide the woman’s embarrassment of not having an engagement ring. In Ireland, the tradition is supposed to originate from a deal that Saint Bridget struck with Saint Patrick.

    In the town of Aurora, Illinois, single women are deputized and may arrest single men, subject to a four-dollar fine, every February 29.

    In Greece, it is considered unlucky to marry on a leap day.

  • January 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • AD 41 – Claudius is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the Praetorian Guard after they assassinate the previous emperor, his nephew Caligula.
    • 914 – Start of the First Fatimid invasion of Egypt.
    • 1438 – The Council of Basel suspends Pope Eugene IV.
    • 1458 – Matthias Corvinus is elected King of Hungary.
    • 1536 – King Henry VIII of England suffers an accident while jousting, leading to a brain injury that historians say may have influenced his later erratic behaviour and possible impotence.
    • 1679 – King Charles II of England dissolves the Cavalier Parliament.
    • 1742 – Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
    • 1758 – During the Seven Years’ War the leading burghers of Königsberg submit to Elizabeth of Russia, thus forming Russian Prussia (until 1763).
    • 1817 – Crossing of the Andes: Many soldiers of Juan Gregorio de las Heras are captured during the Action of Picheuta.
    • 1835 – Slaves in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, stage a revolt, which is instrumental in ending slavery there 50 years later.
    • 1848 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter’s Mill near Sacramento.
    • 1857 – The University of Calcutta is formally founded as the first fully fledged university in South Asia.
    • 1859 – The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (later named Romania) is formed as a personal union under the rule of Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza.
    • 1900 – Second Boer War: Boers stop a British attempt to break the Siege of Ladysmith in the Battle of Spion Kop.
    • 1908 – The first Boy Scout troop is organized in England by Robert Baden-Powell.
    • 1915 – World War I: British Grand Fleet battle cruisers under Vice-Admiral Sir David Beatty engage Rear-Admiral Franz von Hipper’s battle cruisers in the Battle of Dogger Bank.
    • 1916 – In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.
    • 1918 – The Gregorian calendar is introduced in Russia by decree of the Council of People’s Commissars effective February 14 (New Style).
    • 1933 – The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.
    • 1939 – The deadliest earthquake in Chilean history strikes Chillán, killing approximately 28,000 people.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Allies bombard Bangkok, leading Thailand, then under Japanese control, to declare war against the United States and United Kingdom.
    • 1943 – World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill conclude a conference in Casablanca.
    • 1946 – The United Nations General Assembly passes its first resolution to establish the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.
    • 1960 – Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the “barricades week”, during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.
    • 1961 – Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost.
    • 1968 – Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.
    • 1972 – Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
    • 1977 – The Atocha massacre occurs in Madrid during the Spanish transition to democracy.
    • 1978 – Soviet satellite Kosmos 954, with a nuclear reactor on board, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, scattering radioactive debris over Canada’s Northwest Territories. Only 1% is recovered.
    • 1984 – Apple Computer places the Macintosh personal computer on sale in the United States.
    • 1989 – Notorious serial killer Ted Bundy, with over 30 known victims, is executed by the electric chair at the Florida State Prison.
    • 1990 – Japan launches Hiten, the country’s first lunar probe, the first robotic lunar probe since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976, and the first lunar probe launched by a country other than Soviet Union or the United States.
    • 2003 – The United States Department of Homeland Security officially begins operation.
    • 2009 – Cyclone Klaus makes landfall near Bordeaux, France, causing 26 deaths as well as extensive disruptions to public transport and power supplies.
    • 2011 – At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport.

    Births on January 24

    • AD 76 – Hadrian, Roman emperor (d. 138)
    • 1287 – Richard de Bury, English bishop and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1345)
    • 1444 – Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan (d. 1476)
    • 1540 – Edmund Campion, English priest and martyr (d. 1581)
    • 1547 – Joanna of Austria, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, Austrian Archduchess (d. 1578)
    • 1602 – Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, English politician (d. 1666)
    • 1619 – Yamazaki Ansai, Japanese philosopher (d. 1682)
    • 1643 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and politician, Lord Chamberlain of Great Britain (d. 1706)
    • 1664 – John Vanbrugh, English architect and dramatist (d. 1726)
    • 1670 – William Congreve, English playwright and poet (d. 1729)
    • 1672 – Margrave Albert Frederick of Brandenburg-Schwedt, German Lieutenant General (d. 1731)
    • 1674 – Thomas Tanner, English bishop (d. 1735)
    • 1679 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (d. 1754)
    • 1684 – Charles Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, German noble (d. 1737)
    • 1705 – Farinelli, Italian castrato singer (d. 1782)
    • 1709 – Dom Bédos de Celles, French monk and organist (d. 1779)
    • 1712 – Frederick the Great, Prussian king (d. 1786)
    • 1732 – Pierre Beaumarchais, French playwright and financier (d. 1799)
    • 1739 – Jean Nicolas Houchard, French General of the French Revolution (d. 1793)
    • 1746 – Gustav III of Sweden (d. 1792)
    • 1749 – Charles James Fox, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1806)
    • 1754 – Andrew Ellicott, American soldier and surveyor (d. 1820)
    • 1761 – Louis Klein, French general (d. 1845)
    • 1763 – Louis Alexandre Andrault de Langeron, French-Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1831)
    • 1776 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German jurist, author, and composer (d. 1822)
    • 1787 – Christian Ludwig Brehm, German pastor and ornithologist (d. 1864)
    • 1804 – Delphine de Girardin, French author (d. 1855)
    • 1814 – Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, French Crown Princess (d. 1858)
    • 1814 – John Colenso, British mathematician (d. 1883)
    • 1816 – Wilhelm Henzen, German philologist and epigraphist (d. 1887)
    • 1828 – Ferdinand Cohn, German biologist (d. 1898)
    • 1829 – Yechiel Michel Epstein, Rabbi and posek (d. 1908)
    • 1836 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (d. 1909)
    • 1843 – Josip Stadler, Croatian archbishop (d. 1918)
    • 1848 – Vasily Surikov, Russian painter (d. 1916)
    • 1850 – Hermann Ebbinghaus, German psychologist (d. 1909)
    • 1853 – Sigbert Josef Maria Ganser, German psychiatrist (d. 1931)
    • 1856 – Friedrich Grünanger, Transylvanian Hungarian-German architect (d. 1929)
    • 1858 – Constance Naden, English poet and philosopher (d. 1889)
    • 1862 – Edith Wharton, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1937)
    • 1863 – August Adler, Czech and Austrian mathematician (d. 1923)
    • 1864 – Marguerite Durand, French actress, journalist, and activist (d. 1936)
    • 1864 – Gaetano Giardino, Italian soldier and Marshal of Italy (d. 1935)
    • 1866 – Jaan Poska, Estonian lawyer and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1920)
    • 1870 – Herbert Kilpin, English footballer (d. 1916)
    • 1871 – Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic, Czech poet, writer and literary critic (d. 1951)
    • 1871 – Thomas Jaggar, American volcanologist (d. 1953)
    • 1872 – Yuly Aykhenvald, Russian literary critic (d. 1928)
    • 1872 – Konstantin Bogaevsky, Russian painter (d. 1943)
    • 1872 – Morris Travers, English chemist and academic (d. 1961)
    • 1873 – Dmitry Ushakov, Russian philologist and lexicographer (d. 1942)
    • 1882 – Harold D. Babcock, American astronomer (d. 1968)
    • 1882 – Ödön Bodor, Hungarian athlete (d. 1927)
    • 1886 – Henry King, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1887 – Jean-Henri Humbert, French botanist (d. 1967)
    • 1888 – Vicki Baum, Austrian author and screenwriter (d. 1960)
    • 1888 – Ernst Heinkel, German engineer and businessman, founded the Heinkel Aircraft Manufacturing Company (d. 1958)
    • 1889 – Victor Eftimiu, Romanian poet and playwright (d. 1972)
    • 1889 – Charles Hawes, American historian and author (d. 1923)
    • 1889 – Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke, German general of paratroop forces during World War II (d. 1968)
    • 1891 – Walter Model, German field marshal (d. 1945)
    • 1892 – Franz Aigner, Austrian weightlifter (d. 1970)
    • 1895 – Eugen Roth, German poet and songwriter (d. 1976)
    • 1897 – Paul Fejos, Hungarian-born American director (d. 1963)
    • 1899 – Hoyt Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force general (d. 1954)
    • 1900 – René Guillot, French writer (d. 1969)
    • 1901 – Harry Calder, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
    • 1901 – Cassandre, French painter (d. 1968)
    • 1901 – Edward Turner, English engineer (d. 1973)
    • 1905 – J. Howard Marshall, American lawyer and businessman (d. 1995)
    • 1906 – Wilfred Jackson, American animator and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1907 – Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengganu, fourth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 1979)
    • 1907 – Maurice Couve de Murville, French soldier and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1999)
    • 1907 – Jean Daetwyler, Swiss composer and musician (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Martin Lings, English author and scholar (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Doris Haddock, American political activist (d. 2010)
    • 1912 – Frederick Ashworth, American admiral (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Norman Dello Joio, American organist and composer (d. 2008)
    • 1913 – Ray Stehr, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1983)
    • 1915 – Vítězslava Kaprálová, Czech composer and conductor (d. 1940)
    • 1915 – Robert Motherwell, American painter and academic (d. 1991)
    • 1916 – Rafael Caldera, Venezuelan lawyer and politician, 65th President of Venezuela (d. 2009)
    • 1916 – Gene Mako, Hungarian-American tennis player and actor (d. 2013)
    • 1917 – Ernest Borgnine, American actor (d. 2012)
    • 1917 – Wilhelmus Demarteau, Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Gottfried von Einem, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – Oral Roberts, American evangelist, founded Oral Roberts University and Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1973)
    • 1919 – Leon Kirchner, American composer and educator (d. 2009)
    • 1920 – Jimmy Forrest, American saxophonist (d. 1980)
    • 1920 – Jerry Maren, American actor (d. 2018)
    • 1922 – Daniel Boulanger, French actor and screenwriter (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Neil Franklin, English footballer (d. 1996)
    • 1923 – Geneviève Asse, French painter
    • 1925 – Gus Mortson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Ruth Asawa, American sculptor (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Georges Lautner, French director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Sir Patrick Macnaghten, 11th Baronet, Scottish lieutenant (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Paula Hawkins, American politician (d. 2009)
    • 1928 – Desmond Morris, English zoologist, ethologist, and painter
    • 1928 – Michel Serrault, French actor (d. 2007)
    • 1930 – Terence Bayler, New Zealand actor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Mahmoud Farshchian, Iranian-Persian painter and academic
    • 1930 – John Romita Sr., American comic book artist
    • 1931 – Lars Hörmander, Swedish mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1931 – Ib Nørholm, Danish composer and organist
    • 1932 – Éliane Radigue, French electronic music composer
    • 1933 – Kamran Baghirov, the 12th First Secretary of Azerbaijan Communist Party (d. 2000)
    • 1933 – Asim Ferhatović, Bosnian footballer (d. 1987)
    • 1934 – Leonard Goldberg, American producer (d. 2019)
    • 1934 – Stanisław Grochowiak, Polish poet and dramatist (d. 1976)
    • 1935 – Eric Ashton, English rugby player and coach (d. 2008)
    • 1935 – Shivabalayogi, Indian religious leader (d. 1994)
    • 1936 – Doug Kershaw, American fiddle player and singer
    • 1937 – Trevor Edwards, Welsh footballer
    • 1938 – Julius Hemphill, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1995)
    • 1939 – Renate Garisch-Culmberger, German shot putter
    • 1939 – Ray Stevens, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1940 – Vito Acconci, American designer (d. 2017)
    • 1940 – Joachim Gauck, German pastor and politician, 11th President of Germany
    • 1941 – Neil Diamond, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1941 – Aaron Neville, American singer
    • 1941 – Dan Shechtman, Israeli chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1942 – Ingo Friedrich, German Member of the European Parliament
    • 1942 – Gary Hart, American wrestler and manager (d. 2008)
    • 1943 – Peter Struck, German lawyer and politician, 13th German Federal Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
    • 1943 – Barry Mealand, English footballer, right back (d. 2013)
    • 1943 – Sharon Tate, American model and actress (d. 1969)
    • 1943 – Tony Trimmer, English race car driver
    • 1943 – Manuel Velázquez, Spanish footballer (d. 2016)
    • 1944 – David Gerrold, American science fiction screenwriter and author
    • 1944 – Gian-Franco Kasper, Swiss ski official
    • 1945 – John Garamendi, American football player and politician, 1st United States Deputy Secretary of the Interior
    • 1945 – Subhash Ghai, Indian director, producer and screenwriter
    • 1945 – Eva Janko, Austrian javelin thrower
    • 1946 – Michael Ontkean, Canadian actor
    • 1947 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian footballer (d. 2012)
    • 1947 – Michio Kaku, American physicist and academic
    • 1947 – Masashi Ozaki, Japanese baseball player and golfer
    • 1947 – Warren Zevon, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1948 – Elliott Abrams, American diplomat, lawyer and political scientist
    • 1948 – Michael Des Barres, English singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1949 – John Belushi, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1982)
    • 1949 – Bart Gordon, American lawyer
    • 1949 – Nadezhda Ilyina, Russian athlete and mother of Russian tennis player Nadia Petrova (d. 2013)
    • 1949 – Rihoko Yoshida, Japanese voice actress
    • 1950 – Daniel Auteuil, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1951 – Yakov Smirnoff, Ukrainian-American comedian and actor
    • 1953 – Yuri Bashmet, Russian violinist, viola player, and conductor
    • 1953 – Moon Jae-in, 19th President of South Korea
    • 1954 – Jo Gartner, Austrian race car driver (d. 1986)
    • 1955 – Jim Montgomery, American swimmer
    • 1955 – Alan Sokal, American physicist and author
    • 1955 – Lynda Weinman, American businesswoman and author
    • 1956 – Agus Martowardojo, governor of Bank Indonesia
    • 1957 – Mark Eaton, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1957 – Ade Edmondson, English comedian and musician
    • 1958 – Kim Eui-kon, Korean wrestler
    • 1958 – Jools Holland, English singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1958 – Frank Ullrich, German biathlete
    • 1959 – Akira Maeda, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
    • 1959 – Michel Preud’homme, Belgian footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Jorge Barrios, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1961 – Guido Buchwald, German footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Christa Kinshofer, German ski racer
    • 1961 – Nastassja Kinski, German-American actress and producer
    • 1961 – William Van Dijck, Belgian runner
    • 1963 – Arnold Vanderlyde, Dutch boxer
    • 1964 – Annika Dahlman, Swedish cross country skier
    • 1965 – Robin Dutt, German footballer
    • 1965 – Carlos Saldanha, Brazilian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Margaret Urlich, New Zealand singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – Pagonis Vakalopoulos, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Kim Sung-moon, South Korean wrestler
    • 1966 – Julie Dreyfus, French actress
    • 1966 – Karin Viard, French actress
    • 1967 – Michael Kiske, German singer
    • 1967 – Mark Kozelek, American singer and musician
    • 1967 – Phil LaMarr, American actor, singer, and screenwriter
    • 1967 – John Myung, American bass player and songwriter
    • 1968 – Fernando Escartín, Spanish cyclist
    • 1968 – Antony Garrett Lisi, American theoretical physicist
    • 1968 – Mary Lou Retton, American gymnast
    • 1968 – Tymerlan Huseynov, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1969 – Yoo Ho-jeong, South Korean actress
    • 1969 – Carlos Rômulo Gonçalves e Silva, bishop of Montenegro
    • 1970 – Roberto Bonano, Argentine footballer
    • 1970 – Neil Johnson, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1970 – Matthew Lillard, American actor
    • 1971 – José Carlos Fernandez, Bolivian footballer
    • 1972 – Beth Hart, American blues-rock singer and piano player
    • 1974 – Cyril Despres, French rally racer
    • 1974 – Ed Helms, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Melissa Tkautz, Australian actress and singer
    • 1974 – Rokia Traoré, Malian singer
    • 1975 – Gianluca Basile, Italian former professional basketball player
    • 1975 – Rónald Gómez, Costa Rican footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Reto Hug, Swiss triathlonist
    • 1975 – Henna Raita, Finnish alpine skier
    • 1976 – Shae-Lynn Bourne, Canadian ice dancer, coach, and choreographer
    • 1976 – Cindy Pieters, Belgian cyclist
    • 1977 – Andrija Gerić, Serbian volleyball player
    • 1977 – Michelle Hunziker, Swiss-Dutch actress, model and singer
    • 1978 – Veerle Baetens, Belgian actress and singer
    • 1978 – Mark Hildreth, Canadian actor and musician
    • 1978 – Kristen Schaal, American actress, voice artist, comedian and writer
    • 1979 – Tatyana Ali, American actress and singer
    • 1979 – Leandro Desábato, Argentinian footballer
    • 1979 – Busy Signal, Jamaican dancehall reggae artist
    • 1979 – Nik Wallenda, American acrobat
    • 1980 – Jofre Mateu, Spanish footballer
    • 1980 – Suzy, Portuguese singer
    • 1981 – Mario Eggimann, Swiss footballer
    • 1981 – Zaur Hashimov, Azerbaijani footballer and manager
    • 1981 – Elena Kolomina, Kazakhstani cross country skier
    • 1982 – Céline Deville, French footballer
    • 1982 – Daveed Diggs, American actor, rapper and singer
    • 1982 – Claudia Heill, Austrian judoka
    • 1982 – Aitor Hernández, Spanish racing cyclist
    • 1983 – Davide Biondini, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Wyatt Crockett, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1983 – Evgeny Drattsev, Russian swimmer
    • 1983 – Craig Horner, Australian actor and musician
    • 1983 – Shaun Maloney, Scottish footballer
    • 1983 – Scott Speed, American race car driver
    • 1984 – Emerse Faé, French-born Ivorian footballer
    • 1984 – Yotam Halperin, Israeli basketball player
    • 1984 – Jung Jin-sun, South Korean fencer
    • 1984 – Scott Kazmir, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Paulo Sérgio Moreira Gonçalves, Portuguese footballer
    • 1985 – Fabiana Claudino, Brazilian volleyball player
    • 1985 – Trey Gilder, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Cristiano Araújo, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1986 – Mohammad Bagheri Motamed, Iranian taekwondo practitioner
    • 1986 – Mischa Barton, English-American actress
    • 1986 – Vladislav Ivanov, Russian footballer
    • 1986 – Michael Kightly, English footballer
    • 1986 – Ricky Ullman, Israeli-American actor
    • 1987 – Wayne Hennessey, Welsh footballer
    • 1987 – Luis Suárez, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1987 – Davide Valsecchi, Italian racing driver
    • 1987 – Kia Vaughn, American born Czech basketball player
    • 1987 – Guan Xin, Chinese basketball player
    • 1988 – Selina Jörg, German snowboarder
    • 1989 – Serdar Kesimal, Turkish footballer
    • 1989 – Gong Lijiao, Chinese shot putter
    • 1989 – Ki Sung-yueng, South Korean footballer
    • 1990 – Mao Abe, Japanese singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1991 – Zhan Beleniuk, Ukrainian Greco-Roman wrestler
    • 1991 – Tatiana Kashirina, Russian weightlifter
    • 1991 – Zé Luís, Cape Verdean footballer
    • 1991 – Li Xuerui, Chinese badminton player
    • 1992 – Becky Downie, English gymnast
    • 1992 – Phiwa Nkambule, South African entrepreneur
    • 1992 – Felitciano Zschusschen, Curaçao footballer
    • 1994 – Tommie Hoban, English footballer
    • 1995 – Dylan Everett, Canadian actor
    • 1997 – Nirei Fukuzumi, Japanese racer
    • 1999 – Vitalie Damașcan, Moldovan footballer
    • 2012 – Princess Athena of Denmark, younger child of Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark

    Deaths onJanuary 24

    • AD 41 – Caligula, Roman emperor (b. 12)
    • 817 – Pope Stephen IV (b. 770)
    • 901 – Liu Jishu, general of the Tang Dynasty
    • 1046 – Eckard II, Margrave of Meissen (b. c. 985)
    • 1125 – David IV of Georgia (b. 1073)
    • 1336 – Alfonso IV of Aragon (b. 1299)
    • 1376 – Richard FitzAlan, 10th Earl of Arundel, English commander (b. 1306)
    • 1473 – Conrad Paumann, German organist and composer (b. 1410)
    • 1525 – Franciabigio, Florentine painter (b. 1482)
    • 1595 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria (b. 1529)
    • 1626 – Samuel Argall, English captain and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1572)
    • 1639 – Jörg Jenatsch, Swiss pastor and politician (b. 1596)
    • 1666 – Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer and theorist (b. 1588)
    • 1709 – George Rooke, English admiral and politician (b. 1650)
    • 1877 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist and journalist (b. 1796)
    • 1881 – James Collinson, English painter (b. 1825)
    • 1883 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (b. 1812)
    • 1895 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1849)
    • 1920 – Amedeo Modigliani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1884)
    • 1939 – Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician, created Muesli (b. 1867)
    • 1943 – John Burns, English trade union leader and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1858)
    • 1960 – Edwin Fischer, Swiss pianist and conductor (b. 1886)
    • 1961 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (b. 1884)
    • 1962 – André Lhote, French sculptor and painter (b. 1885)
    • 1962 – Stanley Lord, English naval captain (b. 1877)
    • 1962 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (b. 1901)
    • 1965 – Winston Churchill, English colonel and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
    • 1966 – Homi J. Bhabha, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1909)
    • 1970 – Caresse Crosby, American fashion designer and publisher, co-founded the Black Sun Press (b. 1891)
    • 1971 – Bill W., American activist, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous (b. 1895)
    • 1973 – J. Carrol Naish, American actor (b. 1896)
    • 1975 – Larry Fine, American comedian (b. 1902)
    • 1982 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (b. 1918)
    • 1983 – George Cukor, American director and producer (b. 1899)
    • 1986 – L. Ron Hubbard, American religious leader and author, founded the Church of Scientology (b. 1911)
    • 1986 – Gordon MacRae, American actor and singer (b. 1921)
    • 1988 – Werner Fenchel, German-Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1905)
    • 1989 – Ted Bundy, American serial killer (b. 1946)
    • 1990 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (b. 1899)
    • 1991 – Jack Schaefer, American journalist and author (b. 1907)
    • 1992 – Ken Darby, American composer and conductor (b. 1909)
    • 1993 – Gustav Ernesaks, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1908)
    • 1993 – Thurgood Marshall, American lawyer and jurist, 32nd United States Solicitor General (b. 1908)
    • 2002 – Elie Hobeika, Lebanese commander and politician (b. 1956)
    • 2003 – Gianni Agnelli, Italian businessman (b. 1921)
    • 2004 – Leônidas, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1913)
    • 2006 – Schafik Handal, Salvadoran politician (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Krystyna Feldman, Polish actress (b. 1916)
    • 2007 – İsmail Cem İpekçi, Turkish journalist and politician, 45th Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Guadalupe Larriva, Ecuadorian academic and politician (b. 1956)
    • 2007 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican-American soldier (b. 1891)
    • 2010 – Pernell Roberts, American actor (b. 1928)
    • 2011 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (b. 1949)
    • 2014 – Shulamit Aloni, Israeli lawyer and politician, 11th Israeli Minister of Education (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Rafael Pineda Ponce, Honduran academic and politician (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Otto Carius, German lieutenant and pharmacist (b. 1922)
    • 2016 – Fredrik Barth, German-Norwegian anthropologist and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2016 – Marvin Minsky, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2016 – Henry Worsley, English colonel and explorer (b. 1960)
    • 2017 – Butch Trucks, American drummer (b. 1947)
    • 2018 – Mark E. Smith, British singer-songwriter (b. 1957)
    • 2019 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, American United States Naval Aviator (b. 1953)

    Holidays and observances on January 24

    • Christian feast day:
      • Babylas of Antioch
      • Cadoc (Wales)
      • Exuperantius of Cingoli
      • Felician of Foligno
      • Francis de Sales
      • Pratulin Martyrs (Greek Catholic Church)
      • January 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Saturday of Souls can fall, while February 27 (or 28 during Leap Year) is the latest; observed 57 days before Easter. (Eastern Orthodox)
    • Feast of Our Lady of Peace (Roman Catholic Church), and its related observances:
      • Feria de Alasitas (La Paz)
    • Unification Day (Romania)
    • Uttar Pradesh Day (Uttar Pradesh, India)

  • January 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 379 – Emperor Gratian elevates Flavius Theodosius at Sirmium to Augustus, and gives him authority over all the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.
    • 649 – Conquest of Kucha: The forces of Kucha surrender after a forty-day siege led by Tang dynasty general Ashina She’er, establishing Tang control over the northern Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
    • 1419 – Hundred Years’ War: Rouen surrenders to Henry V of England, completing his reconquest of Normandy.
    • 1511 – The Italian city-fortress of Mirandola surrenders to the French.
    • 1520 – Sten Sture the Younger, the Regent of Sweden, is mortally wounded at the Battle of Bogesund and dies on February 3.
    • 1607 – San Agustin Church in Manila is officially completed; it is the oldest church still standing in the Philippines.
    • 1764 – John Wilkes is expelled from the British House of Commons for seditious libel.
    • 1764 – Bolle Willum Luxdorph records in his diary that a mail bomb, possibly the world’s first, has severely injured the Danish Colonel Poulsen, residing at Børglum Abbey.
    • 1788 – The second group of ships of the First Fleet arrive at Botany Bay.
    • 1795 – The Batavian Republic is proclaimed in the Netherlands, bringing to an end the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands.
    • 1806 – Britain occupies the Dutch Cape Colony after the Battle of Blaauwberg.
    • 1817 – An army of 5,423 soldiers, led by General José de San Martín, crosses the Andes from Argentina to liberate Chile and then Peru.
    • 1829 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust: The First Part of the Tragedy receives its premiere performance.
    • 1839 – The British East India Company captures Aden.
    • 1853 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Il trovatore receives its premiere performance in Rome.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Georgia joins South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Alabama in declaring secession from the United States.
    • 1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Mill Springs: The Confederacy suffers its first significant defeat in the conflict.
    • 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: In the Siege of Paris, Prussia wins the Battle of St. Quentin. Meanwhile, the French attempt to break the siege in the Battle of Buzenval will end unsuccessfully the following day.
    • 1883 – The first electric lighting system employing overhead wires, built by Thomas Edison, begins service at Roselle, New Jersey.
    • 1899 – Anglo-Egyptian Sudan is formed.
    • 1915 – Georges Claude patents the neon discharge tube for use in advertising.
    • 1915 – German strategic bombing during World War I: German zeppelins bomb the towns of Great Yarmouth and King’s Lynn in the United Kingdom killing at least 20 people, in the first major aerial bombardment of a civilian target.
    • 1917 – Silvertown explosion: A blast at a munitions factory in London kills 73 and injures over 400. The resulting fire causes over £2,000,000 worth of damage.
    • 1920 – The United States Senate votes against joining the League of Nations.
    • 1920 – The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is founded.
    • 1937 – Howard Hughes sets a new air record by flying from Los Angeles to New York City in 7 hours, 28 minutes, 25 seconds.
    • 1940 – You Nazty Spy!, the first Hollywood film of any kind to satirize Adolf Hitler and the Nazis premieres, starring The Three Stooges, with Moe Howard as the character “Moe Hailstone” satirizing Hitler.
    • 1941 – World War II: HMS Greyhound and other escorts of convoy AS-12 sink Italian submarine Neghelli with all hands 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Falkonera.
    • 1942 – World War II: The Japanese conquest of Burma begins.
    • 1945 – World War II: Soviet forces liberate the Łódź Ghetto. Of more than 200,000 inhabitants in 1940, less than 900 had survived the Nazi occupation.
    • 1946 – General Douglas MacArthur establishes the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo to try Japanese war criminals.
    • 1953 – Almost 72 percent of all television sets in the United States are tuned into I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth.
    • 1960 – Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
    • 1969 – Student Jan Palach dies after setting himself on fire three days earlier in Prague’s Wenceslas Square to protest about the invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union in 1968. His funeral turns into another major protest.
    • 1974 – China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam
    • 1977 – President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D’Aquino (a.k.a. “Tokyo Rose”).
    • 1978 – The last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany leaves VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America continues until 2003.
    • 1981 – Iran hostage crisis: United States and Iranian officials sign an agreement to release 52 American hostages after 14 months of captivity.
    • 1983 – Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie is arrested in Bolivia.
    • 1983 – The Apple Lisa, the first commercial personal computer from Apple Inc. to have a graphical user interface and a computer mouse, is announced.
    • 1986 – The first IBM PC computer virus is released into the wild. A boot sector virus dubbed (c)Brain, it was created by the Farooq Alvi Brothers in Lahore, Pakistan, reportedly to deter unauthorized copying of the software they had written.
    • 1991 – Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
    • 1993 – Czech Republic and Slovakia join the United Nations.
    • 1995 – After being struck by lightning the crew of Bristow Flight 56C are forced to ditch. All 18 aboard are later rescued.
    • 1996 – The barge North Cape oil spill occurs as an engine fire forces the tugboat Scandia ashore on Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
    • 1997 – Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city.
    • 1999 – British Aerospace agrees to acquire the defence subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc, forming BAE Systems in November 1999.
    • 2007 – Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper’s Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.
    • 2007 – Four-man Team N2i, using only skis and kites, completes a 1,093-mile (1,759 km) trek to reach the Antarctic pole of inaccessibility for the first time since 1965 and for the first time ever without mechanical assistance.
    • 2012 – The Hong Kong-based file-sharing website Megaupload is shut down by the FBI.
    • 2014 – A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.

    Births on January 19

    • 399 – Pulcheria, Byzantine empress and saint (d. 453)
    • 1200 – Dōgen Zenji, founder of Sōtō Zen (d. 1253)
    • 1544 – Francis II of France (d. 1560)
    • 1617 – Lucas Faydherbe, Flemish sculptor and architect (d. 1697)
    • 1628 – Charles Stanley, 8th Earl of Derby, English noble (d. 1672)
    • 1676 – John Weldon, English organist and composer (d. 1736)
    • 1721 – Jean-Philippe Baratier, German scholar and author (d. 1740)
    • 1736 – James Watt, Scottish-English chemist and engineer (d. 1819)
    • 1737 – Giuseppe Millico, Italian soprano, composer, and educator (d. 1802)
    • 1739 – Joseph Bonomi the Elder, Italian architect, designed Longford Hall and Barrells Hall (d. 1808)
    • 1752 – James Morris III, American captain (d. 1820)
    • 1757 – Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (d. 1831)
    • 1788 – Pavel Kiselyov, Russian general and politician (d. 1874)
    • 1790 – Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom, Swedish poet and academic (d. 1855)
    • 1798 – Auguste Comte, French economist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1857)
    • 1807 – Robert E. Lee, American general and academic (d. 1870)
    • 1808 – Lysander Spooner, American philosopher and author (d. 1887)
    • 1809 – Edgar Allan Poe, American short story writer, poet, and critic (d. 1849)
    • 1810 – Talhaiarn, Welsh poet and architect (d.1869)
    • 1813 – Henry Bessemer, English engineer and businessman (d. 1898)
    • 1832 – Ferdinand Laub, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1875)
    • 1833 – Alfred Clebsch, German mathematician and academic (d. 1872)
    • 1839 – Paul Cézanne, French painter (d. 1906)
    • 1848 – Arturo Graf, Italian poet, of German ancestry (d. 1913).
    • 1848 – John Fitzwilliam Stairs, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1904)
    • 1848 – Matthew Webb, English swimmer and diver (d. 1883)
    • 1851 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1922)
    • 1852 – Thomas Price, Welsh-Australian politician, 24th Premier of South Australia (d. 1909)
    • 1863 – Werner Sombart, German economist and sociologist (d. 1941)
    • 1866 – Harry Davenport, American stage and film actor (d. 1949)
    • 1871 – Dame Gruev, Bulgarian educator and activist, co-founded the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (d. 1906)
    • 1874 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (d. 1922)
    • 1876 – Wakashima Gonshirō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 21st Yokozuna (d. 1943)
    • 1876 – Dragotin Kette, Slovenian poet and author (d. 1899)
    • 1878 – Herbert Chapman, English footballer and manager (d. 1934)
    • 1879 – Boris Savinkov, Russian soldier and author (d. 1925)
    • 1882 – John Cain Sr., Australian politician, 34th Premier of Victoria (d. 1957)
    • 1883 – Hermann Abendroth, German conductor (d. 1956)
    • 1887 – Alexander Woollcott, American actor, playwright, and critic (d. 1943)
    • 1889 – Sophie Taeuber-Arp, Swiss painter and sculptor (d. 1943)
    • 1892 – Ólafur Thors, Icelandic lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1964)
    • 1893 – Magda Tagliaferro, Brazilian pianist and educator (d. 1986)
    • 1903 – Boris Blacher, German composer and playwright (d. 1975)
    • 1905 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (d. 1991)
    • 1907 – Briggs Cunningham, American race car driver, sailor, and businessman (d. 2003)
    • 1908 – Ish Kabibble, American comedian and cornet player (d. 1994)
    • 1908 – Aleksandr Gennadievich Kurosh, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1971)
    • 1911 – Choor Singh, Indian-Singaporean lawyer and judge (d. 2009)
    • 1912 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
    • 1913 – Rex Ingamells, Australian author and poet (d. 1955)
    • 1913 – Rudolf Wanderone, American professional pocket billiards player (d. 1996)
    • 1918 – John H. Johnson, American publisher, founded the Johnson Publishing Company (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Bernard Dunstan, English painter and educator (d. 2017)
    • 1920 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian politician and diplomat, 135th Prime Minister of Peru (d. 2020)
    • 1921 – Patricia Highsmith, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1995)
    • 1922 – Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer and journalist (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Miguel Muñoz, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1990)
    • 1923 – Jean Stapleton, American actress and singer (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Nicholas Colasanto, American actor and director (d. 1985)
    • 1924 – Jean-François Revel, French philosopher (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Nina Bawden, English author (d. 2012)
    • 1926 – Hans Massaquoi, German-American journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Fritz Weaver, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Tippi Hedren, American model, actress, and animal rights-welfare activist
    • 1930 – John Waite, South African cricketer (d. 2011)
    • 1931 – Robert MacNeil, Canadian-American journalist and author
    • 1932 – Russ Hamilton, English singer-songwriter (d. 2008)
    • 1932 – Richard Lester, American-English director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1932 – Harry Lonsdale, American chemist, businessman, and politician (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – George Coyne, American priest, astronomer, and theologian
    • 1935 – Johnny O’Keefe, Australian singer-songwriter (d. 1978)
    • 1936 – Ziaur Rahman, Bangladeshi general and politician, 7th President of Bangladesh (d. 1981)
    • 1936 – Willie “Big Eyes” Smith, American singer, harmonica player, and drummer (d. 2011)
    • 1936 – Fred J. Lincoln, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1937 – John Lions, Australian computer scientist and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1939 – Phil Everly, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2014)
    • 1940 – Paolo Borsellino, Italian lawyer and judge (d. 1992)
    • 1940 – Mike Reid, English comedian, actor, and author (d. 2007)
    • 1941 – Colin Gunton, English theologian and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1941 – Pat Patterson, Canadian wrestler, trainer, and referee
    • 1942 – Michael Crawford, English actor and singer
    • 1942 – Paul-Eerik Rummo, Estonian poet and politician
    • 1943 – Larry Clark, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1943 – Janis Joplin, American singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
    • 1943 – Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
    • 1944 – Shelley Fabares, American actress and singer
    • 1944 – Thom Mayne, American architect and academic, designed the San Francisco Federal Building and Phare Tower
    • 1944 – Dan Reeves, American football player and coach
    • 1945 – Trevor Williams, English singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1946 – Julian Barnes, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic
    • 1946 – Dolly Parton, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1947 – Frank Aarebrot, Norwegian political scientist and academic (d. 2017)
    • 1947 – Paula Deen, American chef and author
    • 1947 – Rod Evans, English singer-songwriter
    • 1948 – Nancy Lynch, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1948 – Frank McKenna, Canadian politician and diplomat, 27th Premier of New Brunswick
    • 1948 – Mal Reilly, English rugby league player and coach
    • 1949 – Arend Langenberg, Dutch voice actor and radio host (d. 2012)
    • 1949 – Robert Palmer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
    • 1950 – Sébastien Dhavernas, Canadian actor
    • 1951 – Martha Davis, American singer
    • 1952 – Dewey Bunnell, British-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1952 – Nadiuska, German television actress
    • 1952 – Bruce Jay Nelson, American computer scientist (d. 1999)
    • 1953 – Desi Arnaz, Jr., American actor and singer
    • 1953 – Richard Legendre, Canadian tennis player and politician
    • 1953 – Wayne Schimmelbusch, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1954 – Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
    • 1954 – Cindy Sherman, American photographer and director
    • 1954 – Esther Shkalim, Israeli poet and Mizrahi feminist
    • 1955 – Paul Rodriguez, Mexican-American comedian and actor
    • 1956 – Carman, American singer-songwriter, actor, and television host
    • 1956 – Susan Solomon, American atmospheric chemist
    • 1957 – Ottis Anderson, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1957 – Roger Ashton-Griffiths, English actor, screenwriter and film director
    • 1957 – Kenneth McClintock, Puerto Rican public servant and politician, 22nd Secretary of State of Puerto Rico
    • 1958 – Thomas Kinkade, American painter (d. 2012)
    • 1959 – Danese Cooper, American computer scientist and programmer
    • 1959 – Jeff Pilson, American bass player, songwriter, and actor
    • 1961 – William Ragsdale, American actor
    • 1961 – Wayne Hemingway, English fashion designer, co-founded Red or Dead
    • 1962 – Hans Daams, Dutch cyclist
    • 1962 – Chris Sabo, American baseball player and coach
    • 1962 – Jeff Van Gundy, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Michael Adams, American basketball player and coach
    • 1963 – Martin Bashir, English journalist
    • 1963 – John Bercow, English politician, Speaker of the House of Commons
    • 1964 – Janine Antoni, Bahamian sculptor and photographer
    • 1964 – Ricardo Arjona, Guatemalan singer-songwriter and basketball player
    • 1966 – Sylvain Côté, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1966 – Stefan Edberg, Swedish tennis player and coach
    • 1966 – Lena Philipsson, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1968 – David Bartlett, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of Tasmania
    • 1968 – Whitfield Crane, American singer-songwriter
    • 1969 – Edwidge Danticat, Haitian-American novelist and short story writer
    • 1969 – Luc Longley, Australian basketball player and coach
    • 1969 – Predrag Mijatović, Montenegrin footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Junior Seau, American football player (d. 2012)
    • 1969 – Steve Staunton, Irish footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Steffen Freund, German footballer defensive midfielder and manager
    • 1970 – Kathleen Smet, Belgian triathlete
    • 1970 – Udo Suzuki, Japanese comedian and singer
    • 1971 – Phil Nevin, American baseball player
    • 1971 – Shawn Wayans, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1971 – John Wozniak, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1972 – Ron Killings, American wrestler and rapper
    • 1972 – Troy Wilson, Australian footballer and race car driver
    • 1972 – Sergei Zjukin, Estonian chess player and coach
    • 1972 – Yoon Hae-young, South Korean actress
    • 1973 – Antero Manninen, Finnish cellist
    • 1973 – Yevgeny Sadovyi, Russian swimmer and coach
    • 1974 – Dainius Adomaitis, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
    • 1974 – Frank Caliendo, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1974 – Ian Laperrière, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1974 – Jaime Moreno, Bolivian footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Natalie Cook, Australian volleyball player
    • 1975 – Zdeňka Málková, Czech tennis player
    • 1976 – Natale Gonnella, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Tarso Marques, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1977 – Benjamin Ayres, Canadian actor, director, and photographer
    • 1979 – Svetlana Khorkina, Russian gymnast and sportscaster
    • 1979 – Josu Sarriegi, Spanish footballer
    • 1979 – Wiley, English rapper and producer
    • 1980 – Jenson Button, English race car driver
    • 1980 – Pasha Kovalev, Russian-American dancer and choreographer
    • 1980 – Luke Macfarlane, Canadian-American actor and singer
    • 1980 – Arvydas Macijauskas, Lithuanian basketball player
    • 1980 – Michael Vandort, Sri Lankan cricketer
    • 1981 – Paolo Bugia, Filipino basketball player
    • 1981 – Asier del Horno, Spanish footballer
    • 1981 – Lucho González, Argentinian footballer
    • 1982 – Pete Buttigieg, American politician
    • 1982 – Mike Komisarek, American ice hockey player
    • 1982 – Jodie Sweetin, American actress and singer
    • 1982 – Shane Tronc, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Kim Yoo-suk, South Korean pole vaulter
    • 1982 – Robin tom Rink, German singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Hikaru Utada, American-Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1984 – Fabio Catacchini, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Karun Chandhok, Indian race car driver
    • 1984 – Jimmy Kébé, Malian footballer
    • 1984 – Thomas Vanek, Austrian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Jake Allen, American football player
    • 1985 – Pascal Behrenbruch, German decathlete
    • 1985 – Benny Feilhaber, American soccer player
    • 1985 – Esteban Guerrieri, Argentinian race car driver
    • 1985 – Rika Ishikawa, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1985 – Elliott Ward, English footballer
    • 1985 – Aleksandr Yevgenyevich Nikulin, Russian footballer
    • 1986 – Claudio Marchisio, Italian footballer
    • 1986 – Oleksandr Miroshnychenko, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1986 – Moussa Sow, Senegalese footballer
    • 1987 – Edgar Manucharyan, Armenian footballer
    • 1988 – JaVale McGee, American basketball player
    • 1988 – Tyler Breeze, Canadian wrestler
    • 1990 – Tatiana Búa, Argentine tennis player
    • 1991 – Petra Martić, Croatian tennis player
    • 1991 – Erin Sanders, American actress
    • 1992 – Shawn Johnson, American gymnast
    • 1992 – Logan Lerman, American actor
    • 1992 – Mac Miller, American rapper (d. 2018)
    • 1993 – Erick Torres Padilla, Mexican footballer
    • 1994 – Matthias Ginter, German footballer
    • 1994 – Alfie Mawson, English footballer, centre back

    Deaths on January 19

    • 520 – John of Cappadocia, patriarch of Constantinople
    • 639 – Dagobert I, Frankish king (b. 603)
    • 914 – García I, king of León
    • 1003 – Kilian of Cologne, Irish abbot
    • 1302 – Al-Hakim I, caliph of Cairo
    • 1401 – Robert Bealknap, British justice
    • 1526 – Isabella of Austria, Danish queen (b. 1501)
    • 1547 – Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English poet (b. 1516)
    • 1565 – Diego Laynez, Spanish Jesuit theologian (b. 1512)
    • 1571 – Paris Bordone, Venetian painter (b. 1495)
    • 1576 – Hans Sachs, German poet and playwright (b. 1494)
    • 1636 – Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, Flemish painter (b.1561)
    • 1661 – Thomas Venner, English rebel leader (b. 1599)
    • 1729 – William Congreve, English playwright and poet (b. 1670)
    • 1755 – Jean-Pierre Christin, French physicist, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1683)
    • 1757 – Thomas Ruddiman, Scottish scholar and academic (b. 1674)
    • 1766 – Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni, Italian-French architect and painter (b. 1695)
    • 1785 – Jonathan Toup, English scholar and critic (b. 1713)
    • 1833 – Ferdinand Hérold, French pianist and composer (b. 1791)
    • 1847 – Charles Bent, American soldier and politician, 1st Governor of New Mexico (b. 1799)
    • 1847 – Athanasios Christopoulos, Greek poet (b. 1772)
    • 1851 – Esteban Echeverría, Argentinian poet and author (b. 1805)
    • 1853 – Karl Faber, German historian and academic (b. 1773)
    • 1865 – Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, French philosopher and politician (b. 1809)
    • 1869 – Carl Reichenbach, German chemist and philosopher (b. 1788)
    • 1874 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and scholar (b. 1798)
    • 1878 – Henri Victor Regnault, French physicist and chemist (b. 1810)
    • 1905 – Debendranath Tagore, Indian philosopher and author (b. 1817)
    • 1906 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian historian and politician, 6th President of Argentina (b. 1821)
    • 1908 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1821)
    • 1929 – Liang Qichao, Chinese journalist, philosopher, and scholar (b. 1873)
    • 1930 – Frank P. Ramsey, British mathematician, philosopher and economist (b. 1903)
    • 1938 – Branislav Nušić, Serbian author, playwright, and journalist (b. 1864)
    • 1945 – Gustave Mesny, French general (b. 1886)
    • 1948 – Tony Garnier, French architect and urban planner, designed the Stade de Gerland (b. 1869)
    • 1954 – Theodor Kaluza, German mathematician and physicist (b. 1885)
    • 1957 – József Dudás, Romanian-Hungarian activist and politician (b. 1912)
    • 1963 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (b. 1884)
    • 1964 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (b. 1886)
    • 1965 – Arnold Luhaäär, Estonian weightlifter (b. 1905)
    • 1968 – Ray Harroun, American race car driver and engineer (b. 1879)
    • 1972 – Michael Rabin, American violinist (b. 1936)
    • 1973 – Max Adrian, Irish-English actor (b. 1903)
    • 1975 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (b. 1889)
    • 1976 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (b. 1886)
    • 1979 – Moritz Jahn, German novelist and poet (b. 1884)
    • 1980 – William O. Douglas, American lawyer and jurist (b. 1898)
    • 1981 – Francesca Woodman, American photographer (b. 1958)
    • 1982 – Elis Regina, Brazilian soprano (b. 1945)
    • 1984 – Max Bentley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1920)
    • 1987 – Lawrence Kohlberg, American psychologist and academic (b. 1927)
    • 1990 – Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, Indian guru and mystic (b. 1931)
    • 1990 – Alberto Semprini, English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1908)
    • 1990 – Herbert Wehner, German politician, 6th Minister of Intra-German Relations (b. 1906)
    • 1991 – Marcel Chaput, Canadian biochemist and journalist (b. 1918)
    • 1995 – Gene MacLellan, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
    • 1996 – Don Simpson, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1943)
    • 1997 – James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
    • 1998 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1932)
    • 1999 – Ivan Francescato, Italian rugby player (b. 1967)
    • 2000 – Amatu’l-Bahá Rúhíyyih Khánum, Bahá’í Hand of the Cause of God and wife of Shoghi Effendi (b. 1910)
    • 2000 – Bettino Craxi, Italian lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1934)
    • 2000 – Hedy Lamarr, Austrian-American actress, singer, and mathematician (b. 1913)
    • 2001 – Dario Vittori, Italian-Argentinian actor and producer (b. 1921)
    • 2002 – Vavá, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1934)
    • 2003 – Milton Flores, Honduran footballer (b. 1974)
    • 2003 – Françoise Giroud, French journalist, screenwriter, and politician, French Minister of Culture (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Harry E. Claiborne, American lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – David Hookes, Australian cricketer and coach (b. 1955)
    • 2005 – K. Sello Duiker, South African author and screenwriter (b. 1974)
    • 2006 – Anthony Franciosa, American actor (b. 1928)
    • 2006 – Wilson Pickett, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941)
    • 2006 – Awn Alsharif Qasim, Sudanese author and scholar (b. 1933)
    • 2006 – Geoff Rabone, New Zealand cricketer and pilot (b. 1921)
    • 2007 – Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist and activist (b. 1954)
    • 2007 – Denny Doherty, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2007 – Murat Nasyrov, Russian singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
    • 2008 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (b. 1937)
    • 2008 – John Stewart, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1939)
    • 2008 – Don Wittman, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1936)
    • 2010 – Bill McLaren, Scottish rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Peter Åslin, Swedish ice hockey player (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Sarah Burke, Canadian skier (b. 1982)
    • 2012 – Winston Riley, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – Rudi van Dantzig, Dutch ballet dancer and choreographer (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Stan Musial, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Frank Pooler, American conductor and composer (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Earl Weaver, American baseball player and manager (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (b. 1944)
    • 2014 – Azaria Alon, Ukrainian-Israeli environmentalist, co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (b. 1918)
    • 2014 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Justin Capră, Romanian engineer and academic (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Michel Guimond, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1953)
    • 2015 – Ward Swingle, American-French singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1927)
    • 2016 – Richard Levins, American ecologist and geneticist (b. 1930)
    • 2016 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Sheila Sim, English actress (b. 1922)
    • 2017 – Miguel Ferrer, American actor (b. 1955)

    Holidays and observances on January 19

    • Birthday of Edgar Allan Poe (commemorated by the Poe Toaster at his grave in Baltimore)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bassianus of Lodi
      • Henry of Uppsala
      • Marius, Martha, Audifax, and Abachum
      • Mark of Ephesus (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Pontianus of Spoleto
      • Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester
      • January 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Heroes Day (Texas), and its related observance:
      • Robert E. Lee Day (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi)
    • Feast of Sultán (Sovereignty), first day of the 17th month of the Bahá’í calendar (Bahá’í Faith) (only if Nowruz falls on March 21, otherwise the dates shifts)
    • Husband’s Day (Iceland)
    • Kokborok Day (Tripura, India)
    • Theophany / Epiphany (Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy), and its related observances:
      • Timkat, or 20 during Leap Year (Ethiopian Orthodox)
      • Vodici or Baptism of Jesus (North Macedonia)

  • January 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    During the Middle Ages under the influence of the Catholic Church, many countries in western Europe decided to move the start of the year to one of several important Christian festivals – December 25 (the Nativity of Jesus), March 1, March 25 (the Annunciation), or even Easter. The Byzantine Empire began its numbered year on September 1.

    In England, January 1 was celebrated as the New Year festival, but from the 12th century to 1752 the year in England began on March 25 (Lady Day). So, for example, the Parliamentary record notes the execution of Charles I as occurring on January 30, 1648, (as the year did not end until March 24), although modern histories adjust the start of the year to January 1 and record the execution as occurring in 1649.

    Most western European countries changed the start of the year to January 1 before they adopted the Gregorian calendar. For example, Scotland changed the start of the Scottish New Year to January 1 in 1600. England, Ireland and the British colonies changed the start of the year to January 1 in 1752. Later that year in September, the Gregorian calendar was introduced throughout Britain and the British colonies. These two reforms were implemented by the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750.

    January 1 became the official start of the year as follows:

    Julian calendar:

    • 1544 Holy Roman Empire (Germany)
    • 1556 Spain, Portugal
    • 1559 Prussia, Sweden
    • 1564 France
    • 1576 Southern Netherlands
    • 1579 Duchy of Lorraine
    • 1583 Northern Netherlands
    • 1600 Scotland
    • 1700 Russia
    • 1752 Great Britain (excluding Scotland) and its colonies
    • 1804 Serbia

    Gregorian calendar:

    • 1750 Tuscany
    • 1797 Republic of Venice
    • 1918 Ottoman Empire
    • 1941 Thailand

    Events on January 1

    Pre-Julian Roman calendar

    • 153 BC – For the first time, Roman consuls begin their year in office on January 1.

    Early Julian calendar (before Augustus’ leap year correction)

    • 45 BC – The Julian calendar takes effect as the civil calendar of the Roman Empire, establishing January 1 as the new date of the new year.
    • 42 BC – The Roman Senate posthumously deifies Julius Caesar.

    Julian calendar

    • 193 – The Senate chooses Pertinax against his will to succeed Commodus as Roman emper]or.
    • 404 – Saint Telemachus tries to stop a gladiatorial fight in a Roman amphitheatre, and is stoned to death by the crowd. This act impresses the Christian Emperor Honorius, who issues a historic ban on gladiatorial fights.
    • 417 – Emperor Honorius forces Galla Placidia into marriage to Constantius, his famous general (magister militum) (probable).
    • 1001 – Grand Prince Stephen I of Hungary is named the first King of Hungary by Pope Sylvester II (probable).
    • 1068 – Romanos IV Diogenes marries Eudokia Makrembolitissa and is crowned Byzantine Emperor.
    • 1259 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is proclaimed co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea with his ward John IV Laskaris.
    • 1438 – Albert II of Habsburg is crowned King of Hungary.
    • 1502 – The present-day location of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is first explored by the Portuguese.
    • 1515 – Twenty-year-old Francis, Duke of Brittany, succeeds to the French throne following the death of his father-in-law, Louis XII.
    • 1527 – Croatian nobles elect Ferdinand I of Austria as King of Croatia in the Parliament on Cetin.
    • 1583 to 1700 – see January 11
    • 1600 – Scotland recognises January 1 as the start of the year, instead of March 25.
    • 1651 – Charles II is crowned King of Scotland.
    • 1700 – Russia begins using the Anno Domini era instead of the Anno Mundi era of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1701 to 1800 – see January 12
    • 1801 to 1900 – see January 13
    • 1901 to 2100 – see January 14

    Gregorian calendar

    • 1707 – John V is proclaimed King of Portugal and the Algarves in Lisbon.
    • 1739 – Bouvet Island, the world’s remotest island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier.
    • 1772 – The first traveler’s cheques, which could be used in 90 European cities, were issued by the London Credit Exchange Company.
    • 1773 – The hymn that became known as “Amazing Grace”, then titled “1 Chronicles 17:16–17” is first used to accompany a sermon led by John Newton in the town of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
    • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Norfolk, Virginia is burned by combined Royal Navy and Continental Army action.
    • 1776 – General George Washington hoists the first United States flag; the Grand Union Flag at Prospect Hill.
    • 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne’s command rebel against the Continental Army’s winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781.
    • 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.
    • 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed.
    • 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi.
    • 1803 – Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
    • 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States.
    • 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.
    • 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves.
    • 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales.
    • 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus.
    • 1847 – The world’s first “Mercy” Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world.
    • 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use.
    • 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory.
    • 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India.
    • 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming’s proposal for standard time (and also, time zones).
    • 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government
    • 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States.
    • 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs.
    • 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba.
    • 1901 – Nigeria becomes a British protectorate
    • 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister
    • 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California.
    • 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson.
    • 1912 – The Republic of China is established.
    • 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world’s first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft.
    • 1923 – Britain’s Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS.
    • 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War.
    • 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin’s secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc.
    • 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver.
    • 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington’s birth.
    • 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison.
    • 1934 – A “Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring” comes into effect in Nazi Germany.
    • 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations.
    • 1945 – World War II: In retaliation for the Malmedy massacre, U.S. troops kill 60 German POWs at Chenogne.
    • 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow.
    • 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany.
    • 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens.Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen.
    • 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways.
    • 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly.
    • 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom.
    • 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
    • 1958 – European Economic Community is established.
    • 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro’s forces.
    • 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom.
    • 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa.
    • 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia.
    • 1965 – The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan.
    • 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00.
    • 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television.
    • 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community.
    • 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board.
    • 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, off the coast of Bombay, India, killing all 213 people on board.
    • 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.
    • 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community.
    • 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
    • 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet.
    • 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T.
    • 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom.
    • 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone.
    • 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor.
    • 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.
    • 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion.
    • 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City’s first black mayor.
    • 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.
    • 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
    • 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect.
    • 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being.
    • 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves.
    • 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU.
    • 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence.
    • 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece later adopts the euro).
    • 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is “deemed to be elected” to the office of President until October 2007.
    • 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU.
    • 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia killing all 102 people on board.
    • 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand.
    • 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more.
    • 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people.
    • 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country.
    • 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
    • 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
    • 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year’s celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others

    Births on January 1

    • 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam
    • 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)
    • 1449 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492)
    • 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548)
    • 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531)
    • 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511)
    • 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606)
    • 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649)
    • 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692)
    • 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728)
    • 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748)
    • 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787)
    • 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749)
    • 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800)
    • 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780)
    • 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818)
    • 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796)
    • 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, credited with designing the Flag of the United States (d. 1836)
    • 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849)
    • 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821)
    • 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860)
    • 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847)
    • 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874)
    • 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853)
    • 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880)
    • 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868)
    • 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864)
    • 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866)
    • 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861)
    • 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878)
    • 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849)
    • 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys’ High School and Knox Church (d. 1902)
    • 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908)
    • 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908)
    • 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924)
    • 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904)
    • 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941)
    • 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940)
    • 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933)
    • 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923)
    • 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916)
    • 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935)
    • 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian, and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937)
    • 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer, and curator (d. 1946)
    • 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
    • 1867 – Mary Ackworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949)
    • 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher, and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944)
    • 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927)
    • 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937)
    • 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970)
    • 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952)
    • 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959)
    • 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949)
    • 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945)
    • 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965)
    • 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974)
    • 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967)
    • 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969)
    • 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942)
    • 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948)
    • 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940)
    • 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist, and mathematician (d. 1974)
    • 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970)
    • 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972)
    • 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986)
    • 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990)
    • 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977)
    • 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945)
    • 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982)
    • 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981)
    • 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker, and actor (d. 1988)
    • 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931)
    • 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992)
    • 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959)
    • 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960)
    • 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971)
    • 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986)
    • 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995)
    • 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988)
    • 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991)
    • 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944)
    • 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016)
    • 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000)
    • 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948)
    • 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010)
    • 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990)
    • 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007)
    • 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
    • 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier, and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999)
    • 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979)
    • 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981)
    • 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998)
    • 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965)
    • 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007)
    • 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic
    • 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer
    • 1930 – Gaafar Nimeiry, Egyptian-Sudanese politician, 4th President of the Sudan (d. 2009)
    • 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989)
    • 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat.
    • 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967)
    • 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984
    • 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician
    • 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco
    • 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress
    • 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman
    • 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician
    • 1941 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali
    • 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast (doubtful)
    • 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician
    • 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit
    • 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer.
    • 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska.
    • 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament
    • 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005)
    • 1944 – Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese field marshal and politician, 7th President of Sudan
    • 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan
    • 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver
    • 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland
    • 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic
    • 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey
    • 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012)
    • 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat
    • 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer
    • 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico
    • 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician
    • 1954 – Dennis O’Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012)
    • 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
    • 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player
    • 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter
    • 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
    • 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
    • 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece
    • 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ
    • 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros
    • 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic
    • 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French racing driver
    • 1964 – Dedee Pfeiffer, American actress
    • 1966 – Anna Burke, Australian businesswoman and politician, 28th Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
    • 1966 – Ivica Dačić, Serbian journalist and politician, 95th Prime Minister of Serbia
    • 1966 – Tihomir Orešković, Croatian–Canadian businessman, 11th Prime Minister of Croatia
    • 1968 – Davor Šuker, Croatian footballer
    • 1971 – Bobby Holík, Czech-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician
    • 1971 – Sammie Henson, American wrestler and coach
    • 1972 – Lilian Thuram, French footballer
    • 1974 – Christian Paradis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Industry
    • 1975 – Becky Kellar-Duke, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Chris Anstey, Australian basketball player and coach
    • 1975 – Fernando Tatís, Dominican baseball player
    • 1975 – Joe Cannon, American soccer player and sportscaster
    • 1979 – Vidya Balan, Indian actress
    • 1981 – Zsolt Baumgartner, Hungarian racing driver
    • 1981 – Mladen Petrić, Croatian footballer
    • 1982 – David Nalbandian, Argentinian tennis player
    • 1982 – Egidio Arévalo Ríos, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1983 – Melaine Walker, Jamaican hurdler
    • 1983 – Park Sung-hyun, South Korean archer
    • 1983 – Calum Davenport, English footballer
    • 1984 – Paolo Guerrero, Peruvian footballer
    • 1985 – Steven Davis, Northern Irish footballer
    • 1985 – Tiago Splitter, Brazilian basketball player
    • 1986 – Pablo Cuevas, Uruguayan tennis player
    • 1986 – Ramses Barden, American football player
    • 1987 – Meryl Davis, American ice dancer1987 – Patric Hörnqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Marcel Gecov, Czech footballer
    • 1989 – Jason Pierre-Paul, American football player
    • 1991 – Darius Slay, American football player

    Deaths on January 1

    • 138 – Lucius Aelius, adopted son and intended successor of Hadrian (b. 101)
    • 404 – Telemachus, Christian monk and martyr
    • 466 – Qianfei, Chinese emperor of the Liu Song Dynasty (b. 449)
    • 898 – Odo I, Frankish king (b. 860)
    • 951 – Ramiro II, king of León and Galicia1031 – William of Volpiano, Italian abbot (b. 962)
    • 1189 – Henry of Marcy, Cistercian abbot (b. c. 1136)
    • 1204 – Haakon III, king of Norway (b. 1182)
    • 1387 – Charles II, king of Navarre (b. 1332)
    • 1496 – Charles d’Orléans, count of Angoulême (b. 1459)
    • 1515 – Louis XII, king of France (b. 1462)
    • 1559 – Christian III, king of Denmark (b. 1503)
    • 1560 – Joachim du Bellay, French poet and critic (b. 1522)
    • 1617 – Hendrik Goltzius, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1558)
    • 1697 – Filippo Baldinucci, Florentine historian and author (b. 1625)
    • 1716 – William Wycherley, English playwright and poet (b. 1641)
    • 1748 – Johann Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician and academic (b. 1667)
    • 1780 – Johann Ludwig Krebs, German organist and composer (b. 1713)
    • 1782 – Johann Christian Bach, German composer (b. 1735)
    • 1789 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, British Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1716)
    • 1793 – Francesco Guardi, Italian painter and educator (b. 1712)
    • 1817 – Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist and academic (b. 1743)
    • 1846 – John Torrington, English sailor and explorer (b. 1825)
    • 1853 – Gregory Blaxland, Australian farmer and explorer (b. 1778)
    • 1862 – Mikhail Ostrogradsky, Ukrainian mathematician and physicist (b. 1801)
    • 1881 – Louis Auguste Blanqui, French activist (b. 1805)
    • 1892 – Roswell B. Mason, American lawyer and politician, 25th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
    • 1894 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist and academic (b. 1857)
    • 1896 – Alfred Ely Beach, American publisher and lawyer, created the Beach Pneumatic Transit (b. 1826)
    • 1906 – Hugh Nelson, Scottish-Australian farmer and politician, 11th Premier of Queensland (b. 1833)
    • 1918 – William Wilfred Campbell, Canadian poet and author (b. 1858)
    • 1921 – Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, German lawyer and politician, 5th Chancellor of Germany (b. 1856)
    • 1929 – Mustafa Necati, Turkish civil servant and politician, Turkish Minister of Environment and Urban Planning (b. 1894)
    • 1931 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (b. 1851)
    • 1937 – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Indian religious leader, founded the Gaudiya Math (b. 1874)
    • 1940 – Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao, Indian author and educator (b. 1865)
    • 1944 – Edwin Lutyens, English architect, designed the Castle Drogo and Thiepval Memorial (b. 1869)
    • 1944 – Charles Turner, Australian cricketer (b. 1862)
    • 1953 – Hank Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
    • 1954 – Duff Cooper, English politician and diplomat, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1890)
    • 1954 – Leonard Bacon, American poet and critic (b. 1887)
    • 1955 – Arthur C. Parker, American archaeologist and historian (b. 1881)
    • 1960 – Margaret Sullavan, American actress (b. 1909)
    • 1966 – Vincent Auriol, French journalist and politician, 16th President of the French Republic (b. 1884)
    • 1969 – Barton MacLane, American actor, playwright and screenwriter (b. 1902)
    • 1971 – Amphilochius of Pochayiv, Ukrainian saint (b. 1894)
    • 1972 – Maurice Chevalier, French actor and singer (b. 1888)
    • 1978 – Carle Hessay, German-Canadian painter (b. 1911)
    • 1980 – Pietro Nenni, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1891)
    • 1981 – Hephzibah Menuhin, American-Australian pianist (b. 1920)
    • 1982 – Victor Buono, American actor (b. 1938)
    • 1984 – Alexis Korner, French-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
    • 1992 – Grace Hopper, American computer scientist and admiral, co-developed COBOL (b. 1906)
    • 1994 – Arthur Porritt, Baron Porritt, New Zealand physician and politician, 11th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1900)
    • 1994 – Cesar Romero, American actor (b. 1907)
    • 1994 – Edward Arthur Thompson, Irish historian and academic (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Eugene Wigner, Hungarian-American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 1996 – Arleigh Burke, American admiral (b. 1901)
    • 1996 – Arthur Rudolph, German-American engineer (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Townes Van Zandt, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
    • 1998 – Helen Wills, American tennis player and coach (b. 1905)
    • 2000 – Betty Archdale, English-Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1907)
    • 2001 – Ray Walston, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (b. 1944)
    • 2003 – Joe Foss, American soldier, pilot, and politician, 20th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Shirley Chisholm, American educator and politician (b. 1924)
    • 2006 – Harry Magdoff, American economist and journalist (b. 1913)
    • 2007 – Roland Levinsky, South African-English biochemist and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2007 – Tillie Olsen, American short story writer (b. 1912)
    • 2008 – Pratap Chandra Chunder, Indian educator and politician (b. 1919)
    • 2009 – Claiborne Pell, American politician (b. 1918)
    • 2010 – Lhasa de Sela, American-Mexican singer-songwriter (b. 1972)
    • 2012 – Kiro Gligorov, Bulgarian-Macedonian lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Nay Win Maung, Burmese physician, businessman, and activist (b. 1962)
    • 2012 – Tommy Mont, American football player and coach (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Christopher Martin-Jenkins, English journalist (b. 1945)
    • 2013 – Patti Page, American singer and actress (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Higashifushimi Kunihide, Japanese monk and educator (b. 1910)
    • 2014 – Juanita Moore, American actress (b. 1914)
    • 2014 – William Mgimwa, Tanzanian banker and politician, 13th Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Boris Morukov, Russian physician and astronaut (b. 1950)
    • 2015 – Donna Douglas, American actress (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Mario Cuomo, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of New York (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Omar Karami, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 58th Prime Minister of Lebanon (b. 1934)
    • 2016 – Dale Bumpers, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 38th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Fazu Aliyeva, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer and producer (b. 1930)
    • 2017 – Derek Parfit, British philosopher (b. 1942)
    • 2017 – Tony Atkinson, British economist (b. 1944)
    • 2017 – Yvon Dupuis, Canadian politician (b. 1926)
    • 2018 – Robert Mann, American violinist (b. 1920)
    • 2019 – Pegi Young, American singer, songwriter, environmentalist, educator and philanthropist (b. 1952)
    • 2019 – Paul Neville, Australian politician (b. 1940)
    • 2020 – David Stern, American lawyer and businessman (b. 1942)
    • 2020 – Alexander Frater, British travel writer and journalist (b. 1937)
    • 2020 – Barry McDonald, Australian rugby union player (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on January 1

    • Christian feast day:
      • Adalard of Corbie
      • Basil the Great (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Feast of the Circumcision of Christ
        • Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (Anglican Communion, Lutheran Church)
        • Feast of Fools (Medieval Europe)
      • Fulgentius of Ruspe
      • Giuseppe Maria Tomasi
      • Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, the Octave Day of Christmas, considered a holy day of obligation in some countries (Catholic Church); and its related observances:
        • World Day of Peace
      • Telemachus
      • Zygmunt Gorazdowski
      • January 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Handsel Monday can fall, while January 7 is the latest; celebrated on the first Monday of the year (Scotland)
    • The second day of Hogmanay (Scotland) December 31-January 1, in some cases until January 2.
    • The last day of Kwanzaa (African-Americans)
    • The eighth of the Twelve Days of Christmas (Western Christianity)
    • Constitution Day (Italy)
    • Dissolution of Czechoslovakia-related observances:
      • Day of the Establishment of the Slovak Republic (Slovakia)
      • Restoration Day of the Independent Czech State (Czech Republic)
    • Emancipation Day (United States)
    • Euro Day (European Union)
    • Flag Day (Lithuania) commemorates raising of the Lithuanian flag on Gediminas’ Tower in 1919
    • Founding Day (Taiwan) commemorates the establishment of the Provisional Government in Nanjing
    • Global Family Day
    • Independence Day (Brunei, Cameroon, Haiti, Sudan)
    • International Nepali Dhoti and Nepali Topi Day
    • Jump-up Day (Montserrat)
    • Kalpataru Day (Ramakrishna Movement)
    • Kamakura Ebisu, January 1–3 (Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan)
    • National Bloody Mary Day (United States)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Tanzania)
    • New Year’s Day (Gregorian calendar)
      • Japanese New Year
      • Novy God Day (Russia)
      • Sjoogwachi (Okinawa Islands)
    • Polar Bear Swim Day (Canada and United States)
    • Public Domain Day (multiple countries)
    • Triumph of the Revolution (Cuba)