March 24

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

    March 24th is the 365th and last day of the year in many European implementations of the Julian calendar.

    March 24 in History

    • 1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
    • 1387 – English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.
    • 1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
    • 1603 – James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
    • 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.
    • 1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
    • 1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February
    • 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
    • 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
    • 1765 – Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
    • 1794 – In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.
    • 1829 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
    • 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
    • 1854 – President José Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.
    • 1860 – Sakuradamon Incident: Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke.
    • 1869 – The last of Titokowaru’s forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
    • 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
    • 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
    • 1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Bang Bo on the Tonkin–Guangxi border.
    • 1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
    • 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
    • 1921 – The 1921 Women’s Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, first international women’s sports event.
    • 1927 – Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
    • 1934 – United States Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
    • 1944 – Ardeatine massacre: German troops murder 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
    • 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.
    • 1946 – A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
    • 1958 – Rock ‘n’ roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
    • 1961 – Quebec Board of the French Language is established.
    • 1965 – Images from the Ranger 9 lunar probe are broadcast live on network television.
    • 1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.
    • 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.
    • 1977 – Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India, the first Prime Minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.
    • 1980 – El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
    • 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
    • 1989 – In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m3) of crude oil after running aground.
    • 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.
    • 1998 – Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
    • 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.
    • 1998 – First computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany
    • 1999 – Kosovo war: NATO began attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
    • 1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno kills 38 people.
    • 2003 – The Arab League votes 21–1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
    • 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
    • 2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

    Births on March 24

    • 1103 – Yue Fei, Chinese military general (d. 1142)
    • 1441 – Ernest, Elector of Saxony, German ruler of Saxony (d. 1486)
    • 1494 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
    • 1577 – Francis, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, Bishop of Cammin (d. 1620)
    • 1607 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
    • 1628 – Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1685)
    • 1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese academic and politician (d. 1725)
    • 1693 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clock-maker, invented the Marine chronometer (d. 1776)
    • 1725 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
    • 1725 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
    • 1755 – Rufus King, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
    • 1762 – Marcos Portugal, Portuguese organist and composer (d. 1830)
    • 1775 – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (d. 1835)
    • 1782 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian-Italian painter (d. 1836)
    • 1796 – Zulma Carraud, French author (d. 1889)
    • 1796 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1878)
    • 1803 – Egerton Ryerson, Canadian minister, educator, and politician (d. 1882)
    • 1808 – Maria Malibran, Spanish-French soprano (d. 1836)
    • 1809 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1837)
    • 1809 – Joseph Liouville, French mathematician and academic (d. 1882)
    • 1816 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (d. 1891)
    • 1820 – Fanny Crosby, American poet and composer (d. 1915)
    • 1823 – Thomas Spencer Baynes, English philosopher and critic (d. 1887)
    • 1826 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American activist and author (d. 1898)
    • 1828 – Horace Gray, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1902)
    • 1829 – George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
    • 1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
    • 1830 – Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet and playwright (d. 1889)
    • 1834 – William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (d. 1896)
    • 1834 – John Wesley Powell, American soldier, geologist, and explorer (d. 1902)
    • 1835 – Joseph Stefan, Austrian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
    • 1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, 18th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1906)
    • 1850 – Silas Hocking, English minister and author (d. 1935)
    • 1854 – Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1930)
    • 1855 – Andrew W. Mellon, American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
    • 1855 – Olive Schreiner, South African author and activist (d. 1920)
    • 1862 – Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (d. 1951)
    • 1869 – Émile Fabre, French author and playwright (d. 1955)
    • 1871 – Alec Hurley, English music hall singer (d. 1913)
    • 1874 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (d. 1961)
    • 1874 – Harry Houdini, Hungarian-Jewish American magician and actor (d. 1926)
    • 1875 – William Burns, Canadian lacrosse player (d. 1953)
    • 1879 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher, poet, and composer (d. 1953)
    • 1882 – Marcel Lalu, French gymnast (d. 1951)
    • 1882 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1943)
    • 1883 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1945)
    • 1884 – Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
    • 1884 – Chika Kuroda, Japanese chemist (d. 1968)
    • 1884 – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (d. 1972)
    • 1885 – Charles Daniels, American swimmer (d. 1973)
    • 1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1978)
    • 1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
    • 1886 – Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect and designer (d. 1945)
    • 1887 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1933)
    • 1888 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (d. 1922)
    • 1889 – Albert Hill, English-Canadian runner (d. 1969)
    • 1890 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (d. 1954)
    • 1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1951)
    • 1892 – Marston Morse, American mathematician and academic (d. 1977)
    • 1893 – Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (d. 1960)
    • 1893 – George Sisler, American baseball player and scout (d. 1973)
    • 1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (d. 1957)
    • 1901 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (d. 1971)
    • 1903 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
    • 1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, author, and scholar (d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino author and diplomat (d. 2007)
    • 1907 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (d. 1960)
    • 1909 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (d. 1934)
    • 1909 – Richard Wurmbrand, Romanian Pastor and Evangelist (d. 2001)
    • 1910 – Richard Conte, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (d. 2006)
    • 1912 – Dorothy Height, African-American educator and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1915 – Eugène Martin, French racing driver (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American soldier and author (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (d. 2010)
    • 1917 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
    • 1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
    • 1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Gene Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1920 – Mary Stolz, American author (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Onna White, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2005)
    • 1923 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
    • 1923 – Michael Legat, English author and publisher (d. 2011)
    • 1924 – Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – Puig Aubert, German-French rugby league player and coach (d. 1994)
    • 1926 – Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – William Porter, American hurdler (d. 2000)
    • 1927 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Martin Walser, German author and playwright
    • 1928 – Byron Janis, American pianist and composer
    • 1929 – Pat Renella, Italian-American actor (d. 2012)
    • 1930 – David Dacko, Central African politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
    • 1930 – Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (d. 1980)
    • 1931 – Hanno Drechsler, German educator and politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1933 – Lee Mendelson, American television producer (d. 2019)
    • 1936 – Don Covay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1936 – Alex Olmedo, Peruvian-American tennis player
    • 1937 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (d. 1970)
    • 1938 – David Irving, English historian and author
    • 1940 – Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
    • 1941 – Michael Masser, American songwriter, composer and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor (d. 2018)
    • 1944 – Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Serbia
    • 1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist and academic
    • 1945 – Curtis Hanson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1945 – Patrick Malahide, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1946 – Klaus Dinger, German guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
    • 1946 – Kitty O’Neil, American stuntwoman (d. 2018)
    • 1947 – Dennis Erickson, American football player and coach
    • 1947 – Christine Gregoire, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Governor of Washington
    • 1947 – Mick Jones, English footballer and coach
    • 1947 – Alan Sugar, English businessman
    • 1948 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1948 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer (d. 1989)
    • 1948 – Lee Oskar, Jewish-Danish musician
    • 1949 – Tabitha King, American author and poet
    • 1949 – Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1949 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (April Wine) (d. 2017)
    • 1949 – Nick Lowe, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
    • 1949 – Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian academic and politician, 36th Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran
    • 1949 – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
    • 1950 – Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (d. 2011)
    • 1951 – Peter Boyle, Scottish-Australian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1951 – Pat Bradley, American golfer
    • 1951 – Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
    • 1951 – Dougie Thomson, Scottish bass player
    • 1951 – Anna Włodarczyk, Polish long jumper and coach
    • 1952 – Greg McCrary, American football player (d. 2013)
    • 1953 – Anita L. Allen, African-American lawyer, philosopher, and academic
    • 1953 – Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian
    • 1955 – Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1955 – Pat Price, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – Steve Ballmer, American businessman
    • 1956 – Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
    • 1957 – Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and skier
    • 1957 – Pat Jarvis, Australian rugby league player
    • 1958 – Mike Woodson, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Emmit King, American sprinter
    • 1959 – Renaldo Nehemiah, American hurdler and football player
    • 1959 – Derek Statham, English footballer
    • 1960 – Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
    • 1960 – Barry Horowitz, American wrestler
    • 1960 – Kelly Le Brock, English-American actress and model
    • 1960 – Nena, German singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1960 – Scott Pruett, American race car driver
    • 1960 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
    • 1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer and coach
    • 1961 – Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
    • 1962 – Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
    • 1962 – Star Jones, African-American lawyer, journalist, and talk show host
    • 1962 – Irina Meszynski, German discus thrower
    • 1963 – Raimond van der Gouw, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1963 – Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1963 – Torsten Voss, German decathlete and bobsledder
    • 1965 – The Undertaker, American wrestler and actor
    • 1966 – Floyd Heard, American sprinter and coach
    • 1967 – Diann Roffe, American skier
    • 1968 – Minarti Timur, Indonesian badminton player
    • 1969 – Stephan Eberharter, Austrian skier
    • 1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
    • 1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and violinist
    • 1970 – Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
    • 1970 – Erica Kennedy, African-American journalist and author (d. 2012)
    • 1970 – Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian-American football player
    • 1971 – Tig Notaro, American comedian and actor
    • 1972 – Christophe Dugarry, French footballer
    • 1972 – Steve Karsay, American baseball player and coach
    • 1973 – Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
    • 1973 – Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1973 – Steve Corica, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Jure Ivanušič, Slovenian actor, concert pianist and chansonnier
    • 1973 – Mette Jacobsen, Danish swimmer
    • 1973 – Glen Jakovich, Australian footballer
    • 1973 – Jim Parsons, American actor
    • 1974 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress
    • 1974 – Sergey Klyugin, Russian high jumper
    • 1974 – Tado, Filipino comedian and activist (d. 2014)
    • 1975 – Thomas Johansson, Swedish-Monacan tennis player
    • 1976 – Aaron Brooks, American football player
    • 1976 – Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer and coach
    • 1976 – Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
    • 1976 – Peyton Manning, American football player and entrepreneur
    • 1977 – Jessica Chastain, American actress
    • 1977 – Maxim Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
    • 1978 – Michael Braun, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1978 – Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer and manager
    • 1978 – José Valverde, Dominican baseball player
    • 1979 – Lake Bell, Jewish-American actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1979 – Norris Hopper, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Periklis Iakovakis, Greek hurdler
    • 1979 – Graeme Swann, English cricketer
    • 1980 – Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
    • 1981 – Mike Adams, American football player
    • 1981 – Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
    • 1981 – Dirk Hayhurst, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Mark Looms, Dutch footballer
    • 1981 – Gary Paffett, English racing driver
    • 1982 – Corey Hart, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Jack Swagger, American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler
    • 1982 – Epico Colon, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
    • 1982 – Jimmy Hempte, Belgian footballer
    • 1982 – Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer
    • 1983 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – T.J. Ford, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French born Cameroonian international footballer, left-back
    • 1984 – Chris Bosh, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Adrian D’Souza, Indian field hockey player
    • 1984 – Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner
    • 1984 – Park Bom, South Korean singer
    • 1984 – Philipp Petzschner, German tennis player
    • 1985 – Lana, American wrestler and manager
    • 1985 – Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1987 – Ramires, Brazilian footballer
    • 1987 – Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
    • 1987 – Billy Jones, English footballer
    • 1987 – Yuma Asami, Japanese actress and singer
    • 1988 – Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete
    • 1988 – Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
    • 1988 – Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer
    • 1988 – Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer
    • 1988 – Matt Todd, New Zealand rugby union player
    • 1990 – Starlin Castro, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Aljur Abrenica, Filipino actor
    • 1990 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
    • 1990 – Lacey Evans, American wrestler
    • 1991 – Nick Browne, English cricketer
    • 1991 – Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player
    • 1995 – Enzo Fernandez, French-Spanish footballer

    Deaths on March 24

    • 809 – Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (b. 763)
    • 832 – Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1284 – Hugh III of Cyprus (b. 1235)
    • 1296 – Odon de Pins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
    • 1381 – Catherine of Vadstena, Swedish saint (b. 1332)
    • 1394 – Constance of Castile, claimant to the throne of Castile
    • 1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic and saint (b. 1340)
    • 1399 – Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk (b.c. 1320)
    • 1443 – James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas (b. 1371)
    • 1455 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
    • 1499 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1470)
    • 1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese daimyō (b. 1514)
    • 1575 – Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Spanish-Portuguese rabbi and author (b. 1488)
    • 1603 – Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
    • 1653 – Samuel Scheidt, German organist and composer (b. 1587)
    • 1684 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (b. 1629)
    • 1684 – Elizabeth Ridgeway, English woman convicted of poisoning her husband
    • 1773 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English politician, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (b. 1694)
    • 1776 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (b. 1693)
    • 1824 – Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, French lawyer (b. 1753)
    • 1838 – Abraham Hume, English floriculturist and Tory politician (b. 1748/49)
    • 1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French-Russian general (b. 1779)
    • 1881 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1817)
    • 1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (b. 1807)
    • 1887 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and critic (b. 1837)
    • 1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
    • 1905 – Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1828)
    • 1909 – John Millington Synge, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1871)
    • 1915 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer (b. 1848)
    • 1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1867)
    • 1926 – Phan Châu Trinh, Vietnamese activist (b. 1872)
    • 1940 – Édouard Branly, French physicist and academic (b. 1844)
    • 1944 – Orde Wingate, Indian-English general (b. 1903)
    • 1946 – Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
    • 1946 – Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, shot putter, and jumper (b. 1869)
    • 1948 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter and illustrator (b. 1885)
    • 1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1865)
    • 1951 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (b. 1887)
    • 1953 – Mary of Teck (b. 1867)
    • 1962 – Jean Goldkette, French-American pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)
    • 1962 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
    • 1968 – Alice Guy-Blaché, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1873)
    • 1971 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel and Aarhus City Hall (b. 1902)
    • 1971 – Arthur Metcalfe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
    • 1976 – Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (b. 1887)
    • 1978 – Park Mok-wol, influential Korean poet and academic (b. 1916)
    • 1980 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (b. 1917)
    • 1984 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
    • 1985 – Raoul Ubac, French painter, sculptor, photographer and engraver (b. 1910)
    • 1988 – Turhan Feyzioğlu, Turkish academic and politician, 27th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1922)
    • 1990 – Ray Goulding, American comedian and radio host (b. 1922)
    • 1991 – John Kerr, Australian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1914)
    • 1993 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (b. 1905)
    • 1993 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (b. 1914)
    • 1995 – Joseph Needham, English historian and academic (b. 1900)
    • 1999 – Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German politician (b. 1902)
    • 1999 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Muriel Young, English television host and producer (b. 1928)
    • 2002 – César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
    • 2002 – Bob Said, American race car driver and bobsledder (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian cardinal (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (b. 1926)
    • 2007 – Shripad Narayan Pendse, Indian Marathi novelist (b. 1913)
    • 2008 – Chalmers Alford, American guitarist (b. 1955)
    • 2008 – Neil Aspinall, Welsh-English record producer and manager (b. 1941)
    • 2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)
    • 2009 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
    • 2009 – Hans Klenk, German racing driver (b. 1919)
    • 2009 – Gábor Ocskay, Hungarian ice hockey player (b. 1975)
    • 2010 – Robert Culp, American actor (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Paul Callaghan, New Zealand physicist and academic (b. 1947)
    • 2012 – Nick Noble, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, academic, and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Gury Marchuk, Russian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (b. 1972)
    • 2013 – Mohamed Yousri Salama, Egyptian dentist and politician (b. 1974)
    • 2013 – Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow, English diplomat (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Oleksandr Muzychko, Ukrainian activist (b. 1962)
    • 2014 – John Rowe Townsend, English author and scholar (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – David A. Trampier, American illustrator (b. 1954)
    • 2015 – Yehuda Avner, English-Israeli diplomat (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – notable deaths of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash:
      • Oleg Bryjak, Kazakhstani-German opera singer (b. 1960)
      • Maria Radner, German opera singer (b. 1981)
    • 2016 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (b. 1947)
    • 2016 – Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
    • 2018 – Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (b. 1924)
    • 2019 – Joseph Pilato, American film and voice actor (b.1949)
    • 2020 – Albert Uderzo, French comic book artist (b. 1927)

    Holidays and observances on March 24

    • Christian feast day:
      • Catherine of Vadstena
      • Hildelith of Barking
      • Mac Cairthinn of Clogher
      • Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism)
      • Paul Couturier (Church of England)
      • Walter Hilton (Church of England)
      • March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Uganda)
    • Student Day (Scientology)
    • World Tuberculosis Day (International)

  • 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 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)