Saturday

  • March 21- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    In astrology, the day of the equinox is the first full day of the sign of Aries. It is also the traditional first day of the astrological year. In the 21st century, the equinox usually occurs on March 19 or 20; it occurred on March 21 only in 2003 and 2007. The next year in which the equinox occurs on March 21 will be 2102.

    March 21 in History

    • 537 – Siege of Rome: King Vitiges attempts to assault the northern and eastern city walls, but is repulsed at the Praenestine Gate, known as the Vivarium, by the defenders under the Byzantine generals Bessas and Peranius.
    • 630 – Emperor Heraclius returns the True Cross, one of the holiest Christian relics, to Jerusalem.
    • 717 – Battle of Vincy between Charles Martel and Ragenfrid.
    • 1152 – Annulment of the marriage of King Louis VII of France and Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.
    • 1188 – Emperor Antoku accedes to the throne of Japan.
    • 1556 – On the day of his execution in Oxford, former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer deviates from the scripted sermon by renouncing the recantations he has made and adds, “And as for the pope, I refuse him, as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist with all his false doctrine.”
    • 1788 – A fire in New Orleans leaves most of the town in ruins.
    • 1800 – With the church leadership driven out of Rome during an armed conflict, Pius VII is crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
    • 1801 – The Battle of Alexandria is fought between British and French forces near the ruins of Nicopolis near Alexandria in Egypt.
    • 1804 – Code Napoléon is adopted as French civil law.
    • 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: Austrian forces repel French troops in the Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube.
    • 1844 – The Bahá’í calendar begins. This is the first day of the first year of the Bahá’í calendar. It is annually celebrated by members of the Bahá’í Faith as the Bahá’í New Year or Náw-Rúz.
    • 1861 – Alexander Stephens gives the Cornerstone Speech.
    • 1871 – Otto von Bismarck is appointed as the first Chancellor of the German Empire.
    • 1871 – Journalist Henry Morton Stanley begins his trek to find the missionary and explorer David Livingstone.
    • 1913 – Over 360 are killed and 20,000 homes destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio.
    • 1918 – World War I: The first phase of the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael, begins.
    • 1919 – The Hungarian Soviet Republic is established becoming the first Communist government to be formed in Europe after the October Revolution in Russia.
    • 1921 – The New Economic Policy is implemented by the Bolshevik Party in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.
    • 1925 – The Butler Act prohibits the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.
    • 1925 – Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
    • 1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented with the Medal of Honor for the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
    • 1935 – Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asks the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran.
    • 1937 – Ponce massacre: Nineteen people in Ponce, Puerto Rico are gunned down by police acting on orders of the US-appointed Governor, Blanton C. Winship.
    • 1943 – Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorff plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, but the plan falls through; von Gersdorff is able to defuse the bomb in time and avoid suspicion.
    • 1945 – World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
    • 1945 – World War II: Operation Carthage: Royal Air Force planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark. They also accidentally hit a school, killing 125 civilians.
    • 1945 – World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes.
    • 1946 – The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in professional American football since 1933.
    • 1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
    • 1960 – Apartheid: Sharpeville massacre, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
    • 1963 – Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary (in California) closes.
    • 1965 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9, the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
    • 1965 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
    • 1968 – Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.
    • 1970 – The first Earth Day proclamation is issued by Joseph Alioto, Mayor of San Francisco.
    • 1980 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War.
    • 1983 – The first cases of the 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic begin; Israelis and Palestinians accuse each other of poison gas, but the cause is later determined mostly to be psychosomatic.
    • 1986 – Debi Thomas became the first African American to win the World Figure Skating Championships
    • 1990 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
    • 1994 – The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.
    • 1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
    • 2000 – Pope John Paul II makes his first ever pontifical visit to Israel.
    • 2006 – The social media site Twitter is founded.
    • 2009 – Four police officers are shot and killed and a fifth is wounded in two shootings at Oakland, California.
    • 2019 – The 2019 Xiangshui chemical plant explosion occurs, killing at least 47 people and injuring 640 others.

    Births on March 21

    • 927 – Emperor Taizu of Song (d. 976)
    • 1474 – Angela Merici, Italian educator and saint (d. 1540)
    • 1501 – Anne Brooke, Baroness Cobham, English noble (d. 1558)
    • 1521 – Maurice, Elector of Saxony (d. 1553)
    • 1527 – Hermann Finck, German composer and educator (d. 1558)
    • 1555 – John Leveson, English politician (d. 1615)
    • 1557 – Anne Howard, Countess of Arundel, English countess and poet (d. 1630)
    • 1626 – Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, Spanish saint and missionary (d. 1667)
    • 1672 – Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and translator (d. 1742)
    • 1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German Baroque composer and musician (d. 1750)
    • 1713 – Francis Lewis, Welsh-American merchant and politician (d. 1803)
    • 1716 – Josef Seger, Bohemian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1782)
    • 1752 – Mary Dixon Kies, American inventor (d. 1837)
    • 1763 – Jean Paul, German journalist and author (d. 1825)
    • 1768 – Joseph Fourier, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1830)
    • 1806 – Benito Juárez, Mexican lawyer and politician, 25th President of Mexico (d. 1872)
    • 1811 – Nathaniel Woodard, English priest and educator (d. 1891)
    • 1825 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian soldier and engineer (d. 1890)
    • 1835 – Thomas Hayward, English cricketer (d. 1876)
    • 1839 – Modest Mussorgsky, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1881)
    • 1854 – Alick Bannerman, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1924)
    • 1857 – Alice Henry, Australian journalist and activist (d. 1943)
    • 1859 – Daria Pratt, American golfer (d. 1938)
    • 1865 – George Owen Squier, American general (d. 1934)
    • 1866 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1952)
    • 1867 – Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., American director and producer (d. 1932)
    • 1869 – David Robertson, Scottish-English golfer and rugby player (d. 1937)
    • 1874 – Alfred Tysoe, English runner (d. 1901)
    • 1876 – Walter Tewksbury, American runner and hurdler (d. 1968)
    • 1877 – Maurice Farman, French race car driver and pilot (d. 1964)
    • 1878 – Morris H. Whitehouse, American architect (d. 1944)
    • 1880 – Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1971)
    • 1880 – Hans Hofmann, German-American painter and academic (d. 1966)
    • 1882 – Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician (d. 1963)
    • 1884 – George David Birkhoff, American mathematician (d. 1944)
    • 1885 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (d. 1952)
    • 1886 – Walter Dray, American pole vaulter (d. 1973)
    • 1887 – Clarice Beckett, Australian painter (d. 1935)
    • 1887 – Lajos Kassák, Hungarian poet, novelist and painter (d. 1967)
    • 1887 – M. N. Roy, Indian philosopher and politician (d. 1954)
    • 1889 – Jock Sutherland, American football player and coach (d. 1948)
    • 1896 – Friedrich Waismann, Austrian mathematician, physicist, and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1959)
    • 1897 – Sim Gokkes, Dutch composer and conductor (d. 1943)
    • 1897 – Salvador Lutteroth, Mexican wrestling promoter, founded Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (d. 1987)
    • 1899 – Panagiotis Pipinelis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1970)
    • 1901 – Karl Arnold, German businessman and politician, President of the German Bundesrat (d. 1958)
    • 1902 – Son House, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1988)
    • 1904 – Jehane Benoît, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1987)
    • 1904 – Forrest Mars, Sr., American candy maker, created M&M’s and Mars bar (d. 1999)
    • 1904 – Nikos Skalkottas, Greek violinist and composer (d. 1949)
    • 1905 – Phyllis McGinley, American author and poet (d. 1978)
    • 1906 – John D. Rockefeller III, American philanthropist (d. 1978)
    • 1906 – Jim Thompson, American businessman (d. 1967)
    • 1906 – André Filho, Brazilian musician and songwriter (d. 1974)
    • 1907 – Zoltán Kemény, Hungarian sculptor (d. 1965)
    • 1909 – Harry Lane, English footballer (d. 1977)
    • 1910 – Julio Gallo, American businessman, co-founded E & J Gallo Winery (d. 1993)
    • 1910 – Muhammad Siddiq Khan, Bangladeshi librarian and educator (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Walter Lincoln Hawkins, African-American scientist and inventor (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – André Laurendeau, Canadian journalist, playwright, and politician (d. 1968)
    • 1913 – George Abecassis, English race car driver and pilot (d. 1991)
    • 1913 – Guillermo Haro, Mexican astronomer (d. 1988)
    • 1914 – Paul Tortelier, French cellist and composer (d. 1990)
    • 1916 – Bismillah Khan, Indian shehnai player (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Ken Wharton, English race car driver (d. 1957)
    • 1917 – Frank Hardy, Australian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1994)
    • 1918 – Patrick Lucey, American captain and politician, 38th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Charles Thompson, American pianist and composer (d. 2016)
    • 1919 – Douglas Warren, Australian bishop (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Manolis Chiotis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1970)
    • 1920 – Éric Rohmer, French director, film critic, journalist, novelist and screenwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1921 – Arthur Grumiaux, Belgian violinist and pianist (d. 1986)
    • 1921 – Antony Hopkins, English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Russ Meyer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1923 – Louis-Edmond Hamelin, Canadian geographer, author, and academic (d. 2020)
    • 1923 – Nizar Qabbani, Syrian poet, publisher, and diplomat (d. 1998)
    • 1923 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious leader, founded Sahaja Yoga (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Rezső Nyers, Hungarian politician (d. 2018)
    • 1924 – Philip Abbott, American actor (d. 1998)
    • 1924 – Dov Shilansky, Lithuanian-Israeli lawyer and politician (d. 2010)
    • 1925 – Harold Ashby, American saxophonist (d. 2003)
    • 1925 – Peter Brook, English-French director and producer
    • 1925 – Hugo Koblet, Swiss cyclist (d. 1964)
    • 1926 – André Delvaux, Belgian director and screenwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1927 – Halton Arp, American-German astronomer and critic (d. 2013)
    • 1927 – Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German soldier and politician, Vice-Chancellor of Germany (d. 2016)
    • 1928 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Maurice Catarcio, American wrestler (d. 2005)
    • 1930 – James Coco, American actor (d. 1987)
    • 1930 – Otis Spann, American blues pianist, singer and composer (d. 1970)
    • 1931 – Toyonobori, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1998)
    • 1931 – Clark L. Brundin, American-English engineer and academic
    • 1931 – Catherine Gibson, Scottish swimmer (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Al Williamson, American illustrator (d. 2010)
    • 1932 – Walter Gilbert, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1932 – Joseph Silverstein, American violinist and conductor (d. 2015)
    • 1933 – John Hall, English businessman
    • 1933 – Michael Heseltine, Welsh businessman and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    • 1934 – Al Freeman, Jr., American actor and director (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Brian Clough, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
    • 1936 – Ed Broadbent, Canadian pilot and politician
    • 1936 – Mike Westbrook, English pianist and composer
    • 1937 – Ann Clwyd, Welsh journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
    • 1937 – Tom Flores, American football player and coach
    • 1937 – Pierre-Jean Rémy, French diplomat and author (d. 2010)
    • 1938 – Michael Foreman, English author and illustrator
    • 1938 – Grahame Thomas, Australian cricketer
    • 1939 – Kathleen Widdoes, American actress
    • 1940 – Solomon Burke, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
    • 1940 – Andrea Elle, German bicyclist
    • 1942 – Françoise Dorléac, French actress (d. 1967)
    • 1942 – Kostas Politis, Greek basketball player and coach (d. 2018)
    • 1942 – Amina Claudine Myers, African-American singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1942 – Patcha Ramachandra Rao, India metallurgist, educator and administrator (d. 2010)
    • 1943 – István Gyulai, Hungarian sprinter and sportscaster (d. 2006)
    • 1943 – Hartmut Haenchen, German conductor
    • 1943 – Vivian Stanshall, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and painter (d. 1995)
    • 1944 – Marie-Christine Barrault, French actress
    • 1944 – Janet Daley, American-English journalist and author
    • 1944 – Hideki Ishima, Japanese guitarist
    • 1944 – Mike Jackson, English general
    • 1944 – David Lindley, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1944 – Gaye Adegbalola, African-American singer and guitarist
    • 1945 – Anthony Grabiner, Baron Grabiner, English lawyer
    • 1945 – Charles Greene, American sprinter and coach
    • 1945 – Rose Stone, African-American R&B singer and keyboard player
    • 1946 – Timothy Dalton, Welsh-English actor
    • 1946 – Ray Dorset, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, Japanese cardinal
    • 1947 – George Johnston. Scottish footballer, forward
    • 1948 – Scott Fahlman, American computer scientist and academic
    • 1949 – Alvin Kallicharran, Guyanese cricketer and coach
    • 1949 – Andy Love, Scottish-English politician
    • 1949 – Eddie Money, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
    • 1949 – Slavoj Žižek, Slovenian sociologist, philosopher, and academic
    • 1950 – Roger Hodgson, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1950 – Ron Oden, American minister and politician, 19th Mayor of Palm Springs
    • 1950 – Sergey Lavrov, Russian politician and diplomat, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1951 – Conrad Lozano, American bass player
    • 1951 – Russell Thompkins Jr., American soul singer
    • 1953 – Steve Furber, English computer scientist and academic
    • 1953 – Paul Martin Lester, American photographer, author, and educator
    • 1953 – David Wisniewski, English-American author and illustrator (d. 2002)
    • 1955 – Fadi Abboud, Lebanese economist and politician
    • 1955 – Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian politician and retired military officer, 38th President of Brazil
    • 1955 – Bob Bennett, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Dimitrios Papadimoulis, Greek politician
    • 1955 – Bärbel Wöckel, East German sprinter
    • 1956 – Dick Beardsley, American runner
    • 1956 – Guy Chadwick, German-English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1956 – Richard H. Kirk, English guitarist, keyboard player, composer, and producer
    • 1956 – Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian runner
    • 1958 – Marlies Göhr, German sprinter
    • 1958 – Brad Hall, American comedian, director, and screenwriter
    • 1958 – Gary Oldman, English actor, filmmaker, musician and author
    • 1959 – Sarah Jane Morris, English singer-songwriter
    • 1959 – Yuval Rotem, Israeli diplomat
    • 1959 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese keyboard player and composer
    • 1960 – Marwan Farhat, Syrian actor and voice actor
    • 1960 – Benito T. de Leon, Filipino general
    • 1960 – Raivo Puusepp, Estonian architect
    • 1960 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1994)
    • 1960 – Robert Sweet, American drummer and producer
    • 1961 – Lothar Matthäus, German footballer and manager
    • 1961 – Gary O’Reilly, English footballer, defender
    • 1961 – Kassie DePaiva, American actress
    • 1961 – Slim Jim Phantom, American rock drummer
    • 1961 – Kim Turner, American hurdler
    • 1962 – Matthew Broderick, American actor
    • 1962 – Kathy Greenwood, Canadian actress and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Rosie O’Donnell, American actress, producer, and talk show host
    • 1962 – Mark Waid, American author
    • 1963 – Shawon Dunston, American baseball player
    • 1963 – Ronald Koeman, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Shawn Lane, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1963 – Share Pedersen, American bass player
    • 1964 – Ieuan Evans, Welsh rugby player
    • 1964 – Jesper Skibby, Danish cyclist
    • 1965 – Xavier Bertrand, French businessman and politician, French Minister of Social Affairs
    • 1965 – Thomas Frank, American author, historian and political analyst
    • 1966 – Benito Archundia, Mexican footballer, referee, lawyer, and economist
    • 1966 – Hauke Fuhlbrügge, German runner
    • 1966 – Matthew Maynard, English cricketer and coach
    • 1966 – Moa Matthis, Swedish author
    • 1967 – Carwyn Jones, Welsh lawyer and politician, First Minister of Wales
    • 1967 – Mirela Rupic, American costume and fashion designer
    • 1968 – Cameron Clyne, Australian businessman
    • 1968 – Andrew Copeland, American singer and guitarist
    • 1968 – Gary Walsh, English football coach and former footballer
    • 1968 – Greg Ellis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1968 – Tolunay Kafkas, Turkish footballer and manager
    • 1968 – Scott Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Jonah Goldberg, American journalist and author
    • 1970 – Shiho Niiyama, Japanese voice actress (d. 2000)
    • 1970 – Cenk Uygur, Turkish-American political activist
    • 1971 – Zsolt Kürtösi, Hungarian decathlete
    • 1972 – Chris Candido, American wrestler (d. 2005)
    • 1972 – Balázs Kiss, Hungarian hammer thrower
    • 1972 – Derartu Tulu, Ethiopian runner
    • 1972 – Graeme Welch, English cricketer
    • 1973 – Ananda Lewis, American television host
    • 1973 – Stuart Nethercott, English footballer, defender and manager
    • 1973 – Large Professor, American rapper and producer
    • 1974 – Rhys Darby, New Zealand comedian and actor
    • 1974 – Dejima Takeharu, Japanese sumo wrestler
    • 1974 – Edsel Dope, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1974 – Ted Kravitz, British presenter and Formula One pit-lane reporter
    • 1974 – Kevin Leahy, American drummer
    • 1974 – Conor Woodman, Irish journalist and author
    • 1975 – Yacoub Al-Mohana, Kuwaiti director and producer
    • 1975 – Corne Krige, South African rugby player
    • 1975 – Fabricio Oberto, Argentinian-Italian basketball player
    • 1975 – Vitaly Potapenko, Ukrainian basketball player and coach
    • 1975 – Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
    • 1976 – Rachael MacFarlane, American voice actress and singer
    • 1976 – Bamboo Mañalac, Filipino singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1976 – Tekin Sazlog, German-Turkish footballer
    • 1977 – Bruno Cirillo, Italian footballer
    • 1977 – Jamie Delgado, English tennis player
    • 1978 – Sally Barsosio, Kenyan runner
    • 1978 – Joyce Jimenez, Filipino movie and TV actress
    • 1978 – Charmaine Dragun, Australian journalist (d. 2007)
    • 1978 – Cristian Guzmán, Dominican baseball player
    • 1978 – Mohammad Rezaei, Iranian wrestler
    • 1980 – Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
    • 1980 – Marit Bjørgen, Norwegian skier
    • 1980 – Lee Jin, South Korean singer and actress
    • 1980 – Deryck Whibley, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1981 – Germano Borovicz Cardoso Schweger, Brazilian footballer
    • 1981 – Sébastien Chavanel, French cyclist
    • 1981 – Glenn Hall, Australian rugby league player
    • 1981 – Jason King, Australian rugby league player
    • 1981 – Todd Polglase, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Maria Elena Camerin, Italian tennis player
    • 1982 – Ejegayehu Dibaba, Ethiopian runner
    • 1982 – Aaron Hill, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Colin Turkington, Northern Irish race car driver
    • 1983 – Lucila Pascua, Spanish basketball player
    • 1983 – Jean Ondoa, Cameroonian footballer
    • 1984 – Tiago dos Santos Roberto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1984 – Guillermo Daniel Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1985 – Ryan Callahan, American ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Adrian Peterson, American football player
    • 1986 – Scott Eastwood, American actor
    • 1986 – Michu, Spanish footballer
    • 1986 – Romanos Alyfantis, Greek swimmer
    • 1986 – Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, Greek pole vaulter
    • 1987 – Carlos Carrasco, Venezuelan baseball pitcher
    • 1988 – Kateřina Čechová, Czech sprinter
    • 1988 – Erik Johnson, American ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Eric Krüger, German sprinter
    • 1988 – Michael Madl, Austrian footballer, defender
    • 1989 – Jordi Alba, Spanish footballer
    • 1989 – Nicolás Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1990 – Mandy Capristo, German singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1990 – Ryann Krais, American runner and heptathlete
    • 1990 – Alex Nimo, Liberian-American soccer player
    • 1991 – Luke Chapman, English footballer
    • 1991 – Antoine Griezmann, French footballer
    • 1992 – Lehlogonolo Masalesa, South African footballer
    • 1992 – Karolína Plíšková, Czech tennis player
    • 1993 – Jake Bidwell, English footballer
    • 1993 – Jesse Joronen, Finnish footballer
    • 1994 – Margaret Lu, American fencer
    • 1997 – Martina Stoessel, Argentine actress
    • 2000 – Jace Norman, American actor

    Deaths on March 21

    • 543 or 547 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian saint (b. 480)
    • 867 – Ælla, king of Northumbria
    • 867 – Osberht, king of Northumbria
    • 1034 – Ezzo, Count Palatine of Lotharingia (b. 955)
    • 1063 – Richeza of Lotharingia (b. 995)
    • 1076 – Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1011)
    • 1201 – Absalon, Danish archbishop (b. c. 1128)
    • 1306 – Robert II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1248)
    • 1372 – Rudolf VI, Margrave of Baden
    • 1487 – Nicholas of Flüe, Swiss monk and saint (b. 1417)
    • 1540 – John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, English peer and courtier (b. c. 1482)
    • 1556 – Thomas Cranmer, English archbishop (b. 1489)
    • 1571 – Odet de Coligny, French cardinal and Protestant (b. 1517)
    • 1617 – Pocahontas, Algonquian Indigenous princess (b. c. 1595)
    • 1653 – Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha, Albanian politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
    • 1656 – James Ussher, Irish archbishop (b. 1581)
    • 1676 – Henri Sauval, French historian and author (b. 1623)
    • 1729 – John Law, Scottish-French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1671)
    • 1729 – Elżbieta Sieniawska, politically influential Polish magnate (b. 1669)
    • 1734 – Robert Wodrow, Scottish historian and author (b. 1679)
    • 1751 – Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (b. 1706)
    • 1752 – Gio Nicola Buhagiar, Maltese painter (b. 1698)
    • 1762 – Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French priest, astronomer, and academic (b. 1713)
    • 1772 – Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, French geographer and cartographer (b. 1703)
    • 1795 – Giovanni Arduino, Italian miner and geologist (b. 1714)
    • 1801 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer and educator (b. 1741)
    • 1804 – Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien (b. 1772)
    • 1843 – Robert Southey, English poet, historian, and translator (b. 1774)
    • 1843 – Guadalupe Victoria, Mexican general and politician, 1st President of Mexico (b. 1786)
    • 1854 – Pedro María de Anaya, Mexican soldier. President (1847-1848) (b. 1795)
    • 1863 – Edwin Vose Sumner, American general (b. 1797)
    • 1869 – Juan Almonte, son of José María Morelos, was a Mexican soldier and diplomat who served as a regent in the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (b. 1803)
    • 1884 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (b. 1819)
    • 1891 – Joseph E. Johnston, American general (b. 1807)
    • 1915 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American golfer, tennis player, and engineer (b. 1856)
    • 1920 – Evelina Haverfield, British suffragette and aid worker (b. 1867)
    • 1932 – Frantz Reichel, French rugby player and hurdler (b. 1871)
    • 1934 – Franz Schreker, Austrian composer and conductor (b. 1878)
    • 1934 – Lilyan Tashman, American actress (b. 1896)
    • 1936 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1865)
    • 1939 – Evald Aav, Estonian composer and conductor (b. 1900)
    • 1939 – Ali Hikmet Ayerdem, Turkish general and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1943 – Cornelia Fort, American soldier and pilot (b. 1919)
    • 1945 – Arthur Nebe, German SS officer (b. 1894)
    • 1951 – Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor and composer (b. 1871)
    • 1953 – Ed Voss, American basketball player (b. 1922)
    • 1956 – Hatı Çırpan, Turkish politician (b. 1890)
    • 1958 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American soldier and author (b. 1923)
    • 1970 – Manolis Chiotis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1920)
    • 1975 – Joe Medwick, American baseball player and coach (b. 1911)
    • 1978 – Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh, President of Ireland (b. 1911)
    • 1980 – Peter Stoner, American mathematician and astronomer (b. 1888)
    • 1985 – Michael Redgrave, English actor, director, and manager (b. 1908)
    • 1987 – Walter L. Gordon, Canadian accountant, lawyer, and politician, 22nd Canadian Minister of Finance (b. 1906)
    • 1987 – Robert Preston, American captain, actor, and singer (b. 1918)
    • 1991 – Vedat Dalokay, Turkish architect and politician, Mayor of Ankara (b. 1927)
    • 1991 – Leo Fender, American businessman, founded Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (b. 1909)
    • 1992 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (b. 1914)
    • 1992 – Natalie Sleeth, American pianist and composer (b. 1930)
    • 1994 – Macdonald Carey, American actor (b. 1913)
    • 1994 – Lili Damita, French-American actress and singer (b. 1904)
    • 1994 – Aleksandrs Laime, Latvian-born explorer (b. 1911)
    • 1997 – Wilbert Awdry, English cleric and author, created Thomas the Tank Engine (b. 1911)
    • 1998 – Galina Ulanova, Russian ballerina (b. 1910)
    • 1999 – Jean Guitton, French philosopher and author (b. 1905)
    • 1999 – Ernie Wise, English comedian and actor (b. 1925)
    • 2001 – Chung Ju-yung, South Korean businessman, founded Hyundai (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Anthony Steel, English actor and singer (b. 1920)
    • 2002 – Herman Talmadge, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 70th Governor of Georgia (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Shivani, Indian author (b. 1923)
    • 2003 – Umar Wirahadikusumah, Indonesian general and politician, 4th Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1924)
    • 2004 – Ludmilla Tchérina, French actress, dancer, and choreographer (b. 1924)
    • 2005 – Barney Martin, American police officer and actor (b. 1923)
    • 2005 – Bobby Short, American singer and pianist (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Drew Hayes, American author and illustrator (b. 1969)
    • 2007 – Sven O. Høiby, Norwegian hurdler and journalist (b. 1936)
    • 2008 – Denis Cosgrove, English-American geographer and academic (b. 1948)
    • 2008 – Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente, Chilean architect and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2009 – Walt Poddubny, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1960)
    • 2010 – Wolfgang Wagner, German director and manager (b. 1919)
    • 2011 – Loleatta Holloway, American singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
    • 2011 – Gerd Klier, German footballer (b. 1944)
    • 2011 – Ladislav Novák, Czech footballer and manager (b. 1931)
    • 2011 – Pinetop Perkins, American singer and pianist (b. 1913)
    • 2012 – Albrecht Dietz, German economist and businessman (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Ron Erhardt, American football player and coach (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Robert Fuest, English director, screenwriter, and production designer (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Tonino Guerra, Italian poet and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Irving Louis Horowitz, American sociologist, author, and academic (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Yuri Razuvaev, Russian chess player and trainer (b. 1945)
    • 2012 – Marina Salye, Russian geologist and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2013 – Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Rick Hautala, American author and screenwriter (b. 1949)
    • 2013 – Harlon Hill, American football player and coach (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Giancarlo Zagni, Italian director and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2014 – Qoriniasi Bale, Fijian lawyer and politician, 25th Attorney-General of Fiji (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Bill Boedeker, American football player and soldier (b. 1924)
    • 2014 – Jack Fleck, American golfer (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Simeon Oduoye, Nigerian police officer and politician (b. 1945)
    • 2014 – James Rebhorn, American actor (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Ishaya Bakut, Nigerian general and politician, Governor of Benue State (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Chuck Bednarik, American lieutenant and football player (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – James C. Binnicker, American sergeant (b. 1938)
    • 2015 – Hans Erni, Swiss painter, sculptor, and illustrator (b. 1909)
    • 2015 – Jørgen Ingmann, Danish singer and guitarist (Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann) (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (b. 1955)
    • 2017 – Chuck Barris, American game show host and producer (b. 1929)
    • 2017 – Colin Dexter, English author (b. 1930)
    • 2017 – Martin McGuinness, Irish republican and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland (2007–2017) (b. 1950)
    • 2017 – Mike Hall, British cyclist (b. 1981)
    • 2019 – Victor Hochhauser CBE, British music promoter (b. 1923)[21]
    • 2019 – Gonzalo Portocarrero, Peruvian sociologist (b. 1949)

    Holidays and observances on March 21

    • Arbor Day (Portugal)
    • Birth of Benito Juárez, a Fiestas Patrias (Mexico)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello
      • Passing of Saint Benedict (Order of Saint Benedict)
      • Birillus
      • Enda of Aran
      • Nicholas of Flüe
      • Serapion of Thmuis
      • Thomas Cranmer (Anglicanism)
      • March 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Holy Saturday can fall, while April 24 is the latest; celebrated on the Saturday before Easter (Christianity)
    • Education Freedom Day
    • Harmony Day (Australia)
    • Human Rights Day (South Africa)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Namibia from South African mandate in 1990
    • International Colour Day (International)
    • International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (International)
    • International Day of Forests (International), by proclamation of the United Nations General Assembly
    • Mother’s Day (most of the Arab world)
    • National Tree Planting Day (Lesotho)
    • Newroz (Iran, Kurdistan, Mesopotamia)
    • Truant’s Day (Poland, Faroe Islands)
    • Vernal equinox related observances (see March 20)
    • World Down Syndrome Day (International)
    • World Poetry Day (International)
    • World Puppetry Day (International)
    • Youth Day (Tunisia)

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

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

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

    Births on March 20

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

    Deaths on March 20

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

    Holidays and observances on March 20

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

  • March 6- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 12 BCE – The Roman Emperor Augustus is named Pontifex Maximus, incorporating the position into that of the emperor.
    • 632 – The Farewell Sermon (Khutbah, Khutbatul Wada’) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
    • 845 – Execution of the 42 Martyrs of Amorium at Samarra.
    • 961 – Byzantine conquest of Chandax by Nikephoros Phokas, end of the Emirate of Crete.
    • 1204 – The Siege of Château Gaillard ends in a French victory over King John of England, who loses control of Normandy to King Philip II Augustus.
    • 1323 – Treaty of Paris of 1323 is signed.
    • 1454 – Thirteen Years’ War: Delegates of the Prussian Confederation pledge allegiance to King Casimir IV of Poland who agrees to commit his forces in aiding the Confederation’s struggle for independence from the Teutonic Knights.
    • 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Guam.
    • 1665 – The first joint Secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, publishes the first issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, the world’s longest-running scientific journal.
    • 1788 – The First Fleet arrives at Norfolk Island in order to found a convict settlement.
    • 1820 – The Missouri Compromise is signed into law by President James Monroe. The compromise allows Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state, brings Maine into the Union as a free state, and makes the rest of the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase territory slavery-free.
    • 1834 – York, Upper Canada, is incorporated as Toronto.
    • 1836 – Texas Revolution: Battle of the Alamo: After a thirteen-day siege by an army of 3,000 Mexican troops, the 187 Texas volunteers, including frontiersman Davy Crockett and colonel Jim Bowie, defending the Alamo are killed and the fort is captured.
    • 1857 – The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case.
    • 1869 – Dmitri Mendeleev presents the first periodic table to the Russian Chemical Society.
    • 1882 – The Serbian kingdom is re-founded.
    • 1899 – Bayer registers “Aspirin” as a trademark.
    • 1902 – Real Madrid CF is founded.
    • 1912 – Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
    • 1921 – Portuguese Communist Party is founded as the Portuguese Section of the Communist International.
    • 1930 – International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by the Comintern.
    • 1933 – Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a “bank holiday”, closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.
    • 1943 – Norman Rockwell published Freedom from Want in The Saturday Evening Post with a matching essay by Carlos Bulosan as part of the Four Freedoms series.
    • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, ends with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion, the bulk of the garrison of the town of Grevena, leading to its liberation a fortnight later.
    • 1944 – World War II: Soviet Air Forces bomb an evacuated town of Narva in German-occupied Estonia, destroying the entire historical Swedish-era town.
    • 1945 – World War II: Cologne is captured by American troops. On the same day, Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins.
    • 1946 – Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
    • 1951 – Cold War: The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins.
    • 1953 – Georgy Malenkov succeeds Joseph Stalin as Premier of the Soviet Union and First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
    • 1957 – Ghana becomes the first Sub-Saharan country to gain independence from the British.
    • 1964 – Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad officially gives boxing champion Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali.
    • 1964 – Constantine II becomes King of Greece.
    • 1965 – Premier Tom Playford of South Australia loses power after 27 years in office.
    • 1967 – Cold War: Joseph Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to the United States.
    • 1968 – Three rebels are executed by Rhodesia, the first executions since UDI, prompting international condemnation.
    • 1970 – An explosion at the Weather Underground safe house in Greenwich Village kills three.
    • 1975 – For the first time the Zapruder film of the assassination of John F. Kennedy is shown in motion to a national TV audience by Robert J. Groden and Dick Gregory.
    • 1975 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement of their border dispute.
    • 1983 – The first United States Football League games are played.
    • 1984 – In the United Kingdom, a walkout at Cortonwood Colliery in Brampton Bierlow signals the start of a strike that lasted almost a year and involved the majority of the country’s miners.
    • 1987 – The British ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes in about 90 seconds, killing 193.
    • 1988 – Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in Operation Flavius.
    • 1992 – The Michelangelo computer virus begins to affect computers.
    • 2003 – Air Algérie Flight 6289 crashes at the Aguenar – Hadj Bey Akhamok Airport in Tamanrasset, Algeria, killing 102 out of the 103 people on board.
    • 2008 – A suicide bomber kills 68 people (including first responders) in Baghdad on the same day that a gunman kills eight students in Jerusalem.

    Births on March 6

    • 1340 – John of Gaunt (d. 1399)
    • 1405 – John II of Castile (d. 1454)
    • 1459 – Jakob Fugger, German merchant and banker (d. 1525)
    • 1475 – Michelangelo, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1564)
    • 1483 – Francesco Guicciardini, Italian historian and politician (d. 1540)
    • 1493 – Juan Luis Vives, Spanish scholar and humanist (d. 1540)
    • 1495 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and diplomat (d. 1556)
    • 1536 – Santi di Tito, Italian painter (d. 1603)
    • 1619 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French author and playwright (d. 1655)
    • 1663 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop and poet (d. 1732)
    • 1706 – George Pocock, English admiral (d. 1792)
    • 1716 – Pehr Kalm, Swedish-Finnish botanist and explorer (d. 1779)
    • 1724 – Henry Laurens, English-American merchant and politician, 5th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1792)
    • 1761 – Antoine-François Andréossy, French general and diplomat (d. 1828)
    • 1779 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, Swiss-French general (d. 1869)
    • 1780 – Lucy Barnes, American writer (d. 1809)
    • 1785 – Karol Kurpiński, Polish composer and conductor (d. 1857)
    • 1787 – Joseph von Fraunhofer, German physicist and astronomer (d. 1826)
    • 1806 – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, English-Italian poet and translator (d. 1861)
    • 1812 – Aaron Lufkin Dennison, American businessman, co-founded the Waltham Watch Company (d. 1895)
    • 1817 – Princess Clémentine of Orléans (d. 1907)
    • 1818 – William Claflin, American businessman and politician, 27th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1905)
    • 1823 – Charles I of Württemberg (d. 1891)
    • 1831 – Philip Sheridan, Irish-American general (d. 1888)
    • 1834 – George du Maurier, French-English author and illustrator (d. 1896)
    • 1841 – Viktor Burenin, Russian author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1926)
    • 1849 – Georg Luger, Austrian gun designer, designed the Luger pistol (d. 1923)
    • 1864 – Richard Rushall, British businessman (d. 1953)
    • 1870 – Oscar Straus, Viennese composer and conductor (d. 1954)
    • 1871 – Afonso Costa, Portuguese lawyer and politician, 59th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1937)
    • 1872 – Ben Harney, American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
    • 1879 – Jimmy Hunter, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1962)
    • 1882 – F. Burrall Hoffman, American architect, co-designed Villa Vizcaya (d. 1980)
    • 1882 – Guy Kibbee, American actor and singer (d. 1956)
    • 1884 – Molla Mallory, Norwegian-American tennis player (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Ring Lardner, American journalist and author (d. 1933)
    • 1886 – Jam Handy, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1983)
    • 1886 – Nella Walker, American actress and vaudevillian (d. 1971)
    • 1892 – Bert Smith, English international footballer, right half (d. 1969)
    • 1893 – Furry Lewis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1981)
    • 1893 – Ella P. Stewart, pioneering Black American pharmacist (d. 1987)
    • 1895 – Albert Tessier, Canadian priest and historian (d. 1976)
    • 1898 – Gus Sonnenberg, American football player and wrestler (d. 1944)
    • 1900 – Gina Cigna, French-Italian soprano and actress (d. 2001)
    • 1900 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (d. 1975)
    • 1900 – Henri Jeanson, French journalist and author (d. 1970)
    • 1903 – Empress Kōjun of Japan (d. 2000)
    • 1904 – José Antonio Aguirre, Spanish lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Basque Country (d. 1960)
    • 1905 – Bob Wills, American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (d. 1959)
    • 1909 – Obafemi Awolowo, Nigerian lawyer and politician (d. 1987)
    • 1909 – Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Polish poet and author (d. 1966)
    • 1910 – Ella Logan, Scottish-American singer and actress (d. 1969)
    • 1912 – Mohammed Burhanuddin, Indian spiritual leader, 52nd Da’i al-Mutlaq (d. 2014)
    • 1917 – Donald Davidson, American philosopher and academic (d. 2003)
    • 1917 – Will Eisner, American illustrator and publisher (d. 2005)
    • 1917 – Frankie Howerd, English comedian (d. 1992)
    • 1918 – Howard McGhee, American trumpeter (d. 1987)
    • 1920 – Lewis Gilbert, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1921 – Leo Bretholz, Austrian-American holocaust survivor and author (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Ed McMahon, American comedian, game show host, and announcer (d. 2009)
    • 1923 – Wes Montgomery, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1968)
    • 1924 – Ottmar Walter, German footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – William H. Webster, American lawyer and jurist, 14th Director of Central Intelligence
    • 1926 – Ann Curtis, American swimmer (d. 2012)
    • 1926 – Alan Greenspan, American economist and politician
    • 1926 – Ray O’Connor, Australian politician, 22nd Premier of Western Australia (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Andrzej Wajda, Polish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1927 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Gordon Cooper, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2004)
    • 1927 – Gabriel García Márquez, Colombian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Tom Foley, American lawyer and politician, 57th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – David Sheppard, English cricketer and bishop (d. 2005)
    • 1930 – Lorin Maazel, French-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Marc Bazin, Haitian lawyer and politician, 49th President of Haiti (d. 2010)
    • 1932 – Bronisław Geremek, Polish historian and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008)
    • 1933 – Ted Abernathy, American baseball player (d. 2004)
    • 1933 – William Davis, German-English journalist and economist (d. 2019)
    • 1933 – Augusto Odone, Italian economist and inventor of Lorenzo’s oil (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Red Simpson, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1935 – Ron Delany, Irish runner and coach
    • 1935 – Derek Kevan, English footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (d. 2002)
    • 1936 – Marion Barry, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia (d. 2014)
    • 1936 – Choummaly Sayasone, Laotian politician, 5th President of Laos
    • 1937 – Ivan Boesky, American businessman
    • 1937 – Valentina Tereshkova, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut
    • 1938 – Keishu Tanaka, Japanese politician, 17th Japanese Minister of Justice
    • 1939 – Kit Bond, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of Missouri
    • 1939 – Adam Osborne, Thai-Indian engineer and businessman, founded the Osborne Computer Corporation (d. 2003)
    • 1940 – Ken Danby, Canadian painter (d. 2007)
    • 1940 – Joanna Miles, French-born American actress
    • 1940 – R. H. Sikes, American golfer
    • 1940 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (d. 2001)
    • 1940 – Jeff Wooller, English accountant and banker
    • 1941 – Peter Brötzmann, German saxophonist and clarinet player
    • 1941 – Marilyn Strathern, Welsh anthropologist and academic
    • 1942 – Ben Murphy, American actor
    • 1944 – Richard Corliss, American journalist and critic (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano and actress
    • 1944 – Mary Wilson, American singer
    • 1945 – Angelo Castro, Jr., Filipino actor and journalist (d. 2012)
    • 1946 – David Gilmour, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Richard Noble, Scottish race car driver and businessman
    • 1947 – Kiki Dee, English singer-songwriter
    • 1947 – Dick Fosbury, American high jumper
    • 1947 – Anna Maria Horsford, American actress
    • 1947 – Rob Reiner, American actor, director, producer, and activist
    • 1947 – Jean Seaton, English historian and academic
    • 1947 – John Stossel, American journalist and author
    • 1948 – Stephen Schwartz, American composer and producer
    • 1949 – Shaukat Aziz, Pakistani economist and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Pakistan
    • 1949 – Martin Buchan, Scottish footballer and manager
    • 1950 – Arthur Roche, English archbishop
    • 1951 – Gerrie Knetemann, Dutch cyclist (d. 2004)
    • 1952 – Denis Napthine, Australian politician, 47th Premier of Victoria
    • 1953 – Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali banker and politician, 34th Prime Minister of Nepal
    • 1953 – Carolyn Porco, American astronomer and academic
    • 1953 – Phil Alvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Jeff Greenwald, American author, photographer, and monologist
    • 1954 – Harald Schumacher, German footballer and manager
    • 1955 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (d. 1994)
    • 1955 – Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (d. 2015)
    • 1956 – Peter Roebuck, English cricketer, journalist, and sportcaster (d. 2011)
    • 1956 – Steve Vizard, Australian television host, actor, and producer
    • 1960 – Sleepy Floyd, American basketball player and coach
    • 1962 – Alison Nicholas, British golfer
    • 1963 – D. L. Hughley, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Linda Pearson, Scottish sport shooter
    • 1965 – Allan Bateman, Welsh rugby player
    • 1965 – Jim Knight, English politician
    • 1966 – Alan Davies, English comedian, actor and screenwriter
    • 1967 – Julio Bocca, Argentinian ballet dancer and director
    • 1967 – Connie Britton, American actress
    • 1967 – Glenn Greenwald, American journalist and author
    • 1967 – Shuler Hensley, American actor and singer
    • 1968 – Moira Kelly, American actress and director
    • 1971 – Darrick Martin, American basketball player and coach
    • 1972 – Shaquille O’Neal, American basketball player, actor, and rapper
    • 1972 – Jaret Reddick, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
    • 1973 – Michael Finley, American basketball player
    • 1973 – Peter Lindgren, Swedish guitarist and songwriter
    • 1973 – Greg Ostertag, American basketball player
    • 1973 – Trent Willmon, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1974 – Guy Garvey, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1974 – Matthew Guy, Australian politician
    • 1974 – Brad Schumacher, American swimmer
    • 1974 – Beanie Sigel, American rapper
    • 1975 – Aracely Arámbula, Mexican actress and singer
    • 1975 – Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Canadian pianist and conductor
    • 1976 – Ken Anderson, American wrestler and actor
    • 1977 – Nantie Hayward, South African cricketer
    • 1977 – Giorgos Karagounis, Greek international footballer, midfielder
    • 1977 – Shabani Nonda, DR Congolese footballer
    • 1977 – Marcus Thames, American baseball player and coach
    • 1978 – Sage Rosenfels, American football player
    • 1978 – Chad Wicks, American wrestler
    • 1979 – Clint Barmes, American baseball player
    • 1979 – Érik Bédard, Canadian baseball player
    • 1979 – David Flair, American wrestler
    • 1979 – Tim Howard, American soccer player
    • 1980 – Emílson Cribari, Brazilian footballer
    • 1981 – Ellen Muth, American actress
    • 1983 – Andranik Teymourian, Armenian-Iranian footballer
    • 1984 – Daniël de Ridder, Dutch footballer
    • 1984 – Eskil Pedersen, Norwegian politician
    • 1984 – Chris Tomson, American drummer
    • 1985 – Bakaye Traoré, French-Malian footballer
    • 1986 – Jake Arrieta, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Francisco Cervelli, Venezuelan-Italian baseball player
    • 1986 – Ross Detwiler, American baseball player
    • 1986 – Eli Marienthal, American actor
    • 1986 – Charlie Mulgrew, Scottish footballer
    • 1987 – Kevin-Prince Boateng, Ghanaian-German footballer
    • 1987 – José Manuel Flores, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Agnes Carlsson, Swedish singer
    • 1988 – Marina Erakovic, New Zealand tennis player
    • 1988 – Simon Mignolet, Belgian footballer
    • 1989 – Agnieszka Radwańska, Polish tennis player
    • 1990 – Derek Drouin, Canadian athlete
    • 1991 – Lex Luger, American keyboard player and producer
    • 1991 – Emma McDougall, English footballer (d. 2013)
    • 1991 – Tyler Gregory Okonma, American rapper
    • 1993 – Andrés Rentería, Colombian footballer
    • 1994 – Nathan Redmond, English footballer
    • 1994 – Marcus Smart, American basketball player
    • 1994 – Wesley Hoedt, Dutch footballer
    • 1995 – Georgi Kitanov, Bulgarian footballer
    • 1996 – Christian Coleman, American sprinter
    • 1996 – Tyrell Fuimaono, Australian rugby player
    • 1996 – Timo Werner, German footballer

    Deaths on March 6

    • 190 – Liu Bian (poisoned by Dong Zhuo) (b. 176)
    • 653 – Li Ke, prince of the Tang Dynasty (b. 619)
    • 766 – Chrodegang, Frankish bishop and saint
    • 903 – Lu Guangqi, Chinese official and chancellor
    • 903 – Su Jian, Chinese official and chancellor
    • 1070 – Ulric I, Margrave of Carniola
    • 1251 – Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (b. 1235)
    • 1353 – Roger Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Ruthyn
    • 1466 – Alvise Loredan, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1393)
    • 1490 – Ivan the Young, Ruler of Tver (b. 1458)
    • 1491 – Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers
    • 1531 – Pedro Arias Dávila, Spanish explorer and diplomat (b. 1440)
    • 1616 – Francis Beaumont, English playwright (b. 1584)
    • 1754 – Henry Pelham, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1694)
    • 1758 – Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Durham (b. 1705)
    • 1764 – Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, English lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom (b. 1690)
    • 1796 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French historian and author (b. 1713)
    • 1836 – Deaths at the Battle of the Alamo:
      • James Bonham, American lawyer and soldier (b. 1807)
      • James Bowie, American colonel (b. 1796)
      • Davy Crockett, American soldier and politician (b. 1786)
      • William B. Travis, American lieutenant colonel and lawyer (b. 1809)
    • 1854 – Charles Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Irish colonel and diplomat, Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies (b. 1778)
    • 1866 – William Whewell, English priest, historian, and philosopher (b. 1794)
    • 1867 – Charles Farrar Browne, American-English author and educator (b. 1834)
    • 1888 – Louisa May Alcott, American novelist and poet (b. 1832)
    • 1895 – Camilla Collett, Norwegian novelist and activist (b. 1813)
    • 1899 – Kaʻiulani of Hawaii (b. 1875)
    • 1900 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and businessman, co-founded Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (b. 1834)
    • 1905 – John Henninger Reagan, American surveyor, judge, and politician, 3rd Confederate States of America Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1818)
    • 1905 – Makar Yekmalyan, Armenian composer (b. 1856)
    • 1919 – Oskars Kalpaks, Latvian colonel (b. 1882)
    • 1920 – Ömer Seyfettin, Turkish author and educator (b. 1884)
    • 1932 – John Philip Sousa, American conductor and composer (b. 1854)
    • 1933 – Anton Cermak, Czech-American lawyer and politician, 44th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1873)
    • 1935 – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., American colonel, lawyer, and jurist (b. 1841)
    • 1939 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1852)
    • 1941 – Francis Aveling, Canadian priest, psychologist, and author (b. 1875)
    • 1941 – Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor and academic, designed Mount Rushmore (b. 1867)
    • 1948 – Ross Lockridge, Jr., American author, poet, and academic (b. 1914)
    • 1948 – Alice Woodby McKane, First Black woman doctor in Savannah, Georgia (b. 1865)
    • 1950 – Albert François Lebrun, French engineer and politician, 15th President of France (b. 1871)
    • 1951 – Ivor Novello, Welsh singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1893)
    • 1951 – Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Ukrainian playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Ukraine (b. 1880)
    • 1952 – Jürgen Stroop, German general (b. 1895)
    • 1955 – Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician (b. 1884)
    • 1961 – George Formby, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1904)
    • 1964 – Paul of Greece (b. 1901)
    • 1965 – Margaret Dumont, American actress (b. 1889)
    • 1967 – John Haden Badley, English author and educator, founded the Bedales School (b. 1865)
    • 1967 – Nelson Eddy, American actor and singer (b. 1901)
    • 1967 – Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer, linguist, and philosopher (b. 1882)
    • 1970 – William Hopper, American actor (b. 1915)
    • 1973 – Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
    • 1974 – Ernest Becker, American anthropologist and author (b. 1924)
    • 1976 – Maxie Rosenbloom, American boxer (b. 1903)
    • 1977 – Alvin R. Dyer, American religious leader (b. 1903)
    • 1978 – Dennis Viollet, English-American soccer player and manager (b. 1933)
    • 1981 – George Geary, English cricketer and coach (b. 1893)
    • 1981 – Rambhau Mhalgi, Indian politician and member of the Lok Sabha (b. 9 July 1921)
    • 1982 – Ayn Rand, Russian-American philosopher, author, and playwright (b. 1905)
    • 1984 – Billy Collins, Jr., American boxer (b. 1961)
    • 1984 – Martin Niemöller, German pastor and theologian (b. 1892)
    • 1984 – Homer N. Wallin, American admiral (b. 1893)
    • 1984 – Henry Wilcoxon, Dominican-American actor and producer (b. 1905)
    • 1986 – Georgia O’Keeffe, American painter (b. 1887)
    • 1988 – Mairéad Farrell, Provisional IRA volunteer (b. 1957)
    • 1988 – Daniel McCann, Provisional IRA volunteer (b. 1957)
    • 1988 – Seán Savage, Provisional IRA volunteer (b. 1965)
    • 1994 – Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and politician, 9th Greek Minister of Culture (b. 1920)
    • 1997 – Cheddi Jagan, Guyanese politician, 4th President of Guyana (b. 1918)
    • 1997 – Michael Manley, Jamaican soldier, pilot, and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1924)
    • 1997 – Ursula Torday, English author (b. 1912)
    • 1999 – Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Bahrain king (b. 1933)
    • 2000 – John Colicos, Canadian actor (b. 1928)
    • 2002 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1969)
    • 2004 – Hercules, American wrestler (b. 1957)
    • 2004 – Frances Dee, American actress (b. 1909)
    • 2005 – Hans Bethe, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
    • 2005 – Danny Gardella, American baseball player and trainer (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Tommy Vance, English radio host (b. 1943)
    • 2005 – Teresa Wright, American actress (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Gladys Marín, Chilean activist and political figure. (b.1938)
    • 2006 – Anne Braden, American journalist and activist (b. 1924)
    • 2006 – Kirby Puckett, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1960)
    • 2007 – Jean Baudrillard, French photographer and theorist (b. 1929)
    • 2007 – Ernest Gallo, American businessman, co-founded E & J Gallo Winery (b. 1909)
    • 2008 – Peter Poreku Dery, Ghanaian cardinal (b. 1918)
    • 2009 – Francis Magalona, Filipino rapper, producer, and actor (b. 1964)
    • 2010 – Endurance Idahor, Nigerian footballer (b. 1984)
    • 2010 – Mark Linkous, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1962)
    • 2010 – Betty Millard, American philanthropist and activist (b. 1911)
    • 2012 – Francisco Xavier do Amaral, East Timorese politician, 1st President of East Timor (b. 1937)
    • 2012 – Donald M. Payne, American businessman and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2012 – Helen Walulik, American baseball player (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (Charlie Brown Jr.) (b. 1970)
    • 2013 – Stompin’ Tom Connors, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Alvin Lee, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
    • 2013 – W. Wallace Cleland, American biochemist and academic (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Alemayehu Atomsa, Ethiopian educator and politician (b. 1969)
    • 2014 – Frank Jobe, American soldier and surgeon (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Sheila MacRae, English-American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Martin Nesbitt, American lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
    • 2014 – Manlio Sgalambro, Italian philosopher, author, and poet (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Fred Craddock, American minister and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Ram Sundar Das, Indian lawyer and politician, 18th Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1921)
    • 2015 – Enrique “Coco” Vicéns, Puerto Rican-American basketball player and politician (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Nancy Reagan, American actress, 42nd First Lady of the United States (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Sheila Varian, American horse trainer and breeder (b. 1937)
    • 2017 – Robert Osborne, American actor and historian (b. 1932)
    • 2018 – Peter Nicholls, Australian science fiction critic and encyclopedist (b. 1939)

    Holidays and observances on March 6

    • Christian feast day:
      • Chrodegang
      • Colette
      • Fridolin
      • Kyneburga, Kyneswide and Tibba
      • Marcian of Tortona
      • William W. Mayo and Charles Frederick Menninger (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Olegarius
      • March 6 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • European Day of the Righteous, commemorates those who have stood up against crimes against humanity and totalitarism with their own moral responsibility. (Europe)
    • Foundation Day (Norfolk Island), the founding of Norfolk Island in 1788.
    • Independence Day (Ghana), celebrates the independence of Ghana from the UK in 1957.
    • The Day of the Dude, celebrated by the adherents of Dudeism

  • 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.

  • February 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 1339 – The Milanese army and the St. George’s (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.
    • 1472 – Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.
    • 1547 – Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
    • 1685 – René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France’s claim to Texas.
    • 1792 – The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.
    • 1798 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.
    • 1813 – Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.
    • 1816 – Rossini’s opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
    • 1835 – The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.
    • 1846 – Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.
    • 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.
    • 1865 – End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.
    • 1872 – The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.
    • 1877 – Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.
    • 1901 – The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.
    • 1909 – Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.
    • 1913 – King O’Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.
    • 1920 – An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.
    • 1931 – The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.
    • 1933 – The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.
    • 1933 – Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s upcoming election campaign.
    • 1935 – Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
    • 1942 – Lieutenant Edward O’Hare becomes America’s first World War II flying ace.
    • 1943 – American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.
    • 1943 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.
    • 1944 – World War II: The “Big Week” began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
    • 1944 – World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.
    • 1952 – Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.
    • 1956 – The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.
    • 1959 – The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
    • 1962 – Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.
    • 1965 – Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.
    • 1971 – The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.
    • 1979 – An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.
    • 1986 – The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.
    • 1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
    • 1991 – In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania’s long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.
    • 1998 – American figure skater Tara Lipinski, at the age of 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
    • 2003 – During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.
    • 2005 – Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
    • 2009 – Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
    • 2010 – In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.
    • 2014 – Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine’s capital Kiev, many reportedly killed by snipers.
    • 2015 – Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.
    • 2016 – Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

    Births on February 20

    • 1358 – Eleanor of Aragon, queen of John I of Castile (d. 1382)
    • 1469 – Thomas Cajetan, Italian philosopher (d. 1534)
    • 1523 – Jan Blahoslav, Czech writer (d. 1571)
    • 1549 – Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, last Duke of Urbino (d. 1631)
    • 1552 – Sengoku Hidehisa, Daimyō (d. 1614)
    • 1608 – Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (d. 1649)
    • 1631 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English politician, Treasurer of the Navy (d. 1712)
    • 1633 – Jan de Baen, Dutch painter (d. 1702)
    • 1705 – Nicolas Chédeville, French musette player and composer (d. 1782)
    • 1726 – William Prescott, American colonel (d. 1795)
    • 1745 – Henry James Pye, English poet and politician (d. 1813)
    • 1751 – Johann Heinrich Voss, German poet, translator, and academic (d. 1826)
    • 1753 – Louis-Alexandre Berthier, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1815)
    • 1759 – Johann Christian Reil, German physician, physiologist, and anatomist (d. 1813)
    • 1774 – Vicente Sebastián Pintado, Spanish cartographer, engineer, military officer and land surveyor of Spanish Louisiana and Spanish West Florida (d. 1829)
    • 1784 – Judith Montefiore, British linguist, travel writer, philanthropist (d. 1862)
    • 1792 – Eliza Courtney, French daughter of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1859)
    • 1794 – William Carleton, Irish author (d. 1869)
    • 1802 – Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (d. 1870)
    • 1819 – Alfred Escher, Swiss businessman and politician (d. 1882)
    • 1839 – Benjamin Waugh, English activist, founded the NSPCC (d. 1908)
    • 1844 – Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1906)
    • 1844 – Joshua Slocum, Canadian sailor and adventurer (d. 1909)
    • 1848 – E. H. Harriman, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1909)
    • 1857 – A. P. Lucas, English cricketer (d. 1923)
    • 1866 – Carl Westman, Swedish architect, designed the Stockholm Court House and Röhsska Museum (d. 1936)
    • 1867 – Louise, Princess Royal of England (d. 1931)
    • 1870 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (d. 1937)
    • 1874 – Mary Garden, Scottish-American soprano and actress (d. 1967)
    • 1879 – Hod Stuart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1907)
    • 1880 – Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen, French author and poet (d. 1923)
    • 1882 – Elie Nadelman, Polish-American sculptor (d. 1946)
    • 1887 – Vincent Massey, Canadian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
    • 1888 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (d. 1948)
    • 1889 – Hulusi Behçet, Turkish dermatologist and physician (d. 1948)
    • 1893 – Elizabeth Holloway Marston, American psychologist and author (d. 1993)
    • 1895 – Louis Zborowski, English race car driver and engineer (d. 1924)
    • 1897 – Ivan Albright, American painter (d. 1983)
    • 1898 – Ante Ciliga, Croatian politician, writer and publisher (d. 1992)
    • 1899 – Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1992)
    • 1901 – René Dubos, French-American biologist and author (d. 1982)
    • 1901 – Louis Kahn, American architect, designed the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and the Bangladesh Parliament Building (d. 1974)
    • 1901 – Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian general and politician, 1st President of Egypt (d. 1984)
    • 1901 – Ramakrishna Ranga Rao of Bobbili, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (d. 1978)
    • 1902 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (d. 1984)
    • 1904 – Alexei Kosygin, Russian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)
    • 1906 – Gale Gordon, American actor (d. 1995)
    • 1912 – Pierre Boulle, French soldier and author (d. 1994)
    • 1912 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand flying ace of the Second World War (d. 2006)
    • 1913 – Tommy Henrich, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
    • 1914 – John Charles Daly, South African–American journalist and game show host (d. 1991)
    • 1916 – Jean Erdman, American dancer and choreographer
    • 1918 – Leonore Annenberg, American businesswoman and diplomat (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – James O’Meara, English soldier and pilot (d. 1974)
    • 1920 – Karl Albrecht, German businessman, co-founded Aldi (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (d. 1992)
    • 1923 – Victor G. Atiyeh, American businessman and politician, 32nd Governor of Oregon (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Forbes Burnham, Guyanese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of Guyana (d. 1985)
    • 1923 – Rena Vlahopoulou, Greek actress (d. 2004)
    • 1924 – Gloria Vanderbilt, American actress, fashion designer, and socialite (d. 2019)
    • 1925 – Robert Altman, American director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Tochinishiki Kiyotaka, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 44th Yokozuna (d. 1990)
    • 1926 – Matthew Bucksbaum, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded General Growth Properties (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Gillian Lynne, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Bob Richards, American Olympic track and field athlete
    • 1926 – María de la Purísima Salvat Romero, Spanish Roman Catholic nun; later canonized (d. 1998)
    • 1927 – Roy Cohn, American lawyer and political activist (d. 1986)
    • 1927 – Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban singer and musician (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Sidney Poitier, Bahamian-American actor, director, and diplomat
    • 1928 – Roy Face, American baseball player and carpenter
    • 1928 – Jean Kennedy Smith, American diplomat, 25th United States Ambassador to Ireland
    • 1929 – Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)
    • 1931 – John Milnor, American mathematician and academic
    • 1932 – Adrian Cristobal, Filipino journalist and author (d. 2007)
    • 1934 – Bobby Unser, American race car driver
    • 1935 – Ellen Gilchrist, American novelist, short story writer, and poet
    • 1936 – Marj Dusay, American actress (d. 2020)
    • 1936 – Larry Hovis, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
    • 1936 – Shigeo Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and coach
    • 1937 – David Ackles, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1999)
    • 1937 – Robert Huber, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1937 – Roger Penske, American race car driver and businessman
    • 1937 – Robert Evans, Australian minister and amateur astronomer
    • 1937 – Nancy Wilson, American singer and actress (d. 2018)
    • 1938 – Richard Beymer, American actor, director, and cinematographer
    • 1940 – Jimmy Greaves, English international footballer, forward and TV pundit
    • 1941 – Lim Kit Siang, Malaysian lawyer and politician
    • 1941 – Buffy Sainte-Marie, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1942 – Phil Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
    • 1942 – Mitch McConnell, American lawyer, and politician
    • 1942 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1943 – Antonio Inoki, Japanese wrestler, mixed martial artist, and politician
    • 1943 – Mike Leigh, English director and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Robert de Cotret, Canadian economist and politician, 56th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1999)
    • 1944 – Lew Soloff, American trumpet player, composer, and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1945 – Alan Hull, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1995)
    • 1946 – Brenda Blethyn, English actress
    • 1946 – Sandy Duncan, American actress, singer, and dancer
    • 1946 – J. Geils, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
    • 1947 – Peter Osgood, English footballer (d. 2006)
    • 1947 – Peter Strauss, American actor and producer
    • 1948 – Pierre Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1948 – Jennifer O’Neill, American model and actress
    • 1949 – Eddie Hemmings, English cricketer
    • 1949 – Ivana Trump, Czech-American socialite and model
    • 1950 – Walter Becker, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2017)
    • 1950 – Peter Marinello, Scottish footballer, forward
    • 1950 – Tony Wilson, English journalist and businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1951 – Edward Albert, American actor (d. 2006)
    • 1951 – Gordon Brown, Scottish historian and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    • 1951 – Randy California, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
    • 1951 – Phil Neal, English footballer and manager
    • 1953 – Poison Ivy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1954 – Jon Brant, American bass player
    • 1954 – Anthony Head, English actor
    • 1954 – Patty Hearst, American actress and author
    • 1957 – Glen Hanlon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1959 – Scott Brayton, American race car driver (d. 1996)
    • 1959 – David Corn, American journalist and author
    • 1959 – Bill Gullickson, American baseball player
    • 1960 – Joel Hodgson, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Cándido Muatetema Rivas, Equatoguinean politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea (d. 2014)
    • 1961 – Steve Lundquist, American swimmer
    • 1962 – Dwayne McDuffie, American author, screenwriter, and producer, co-founded Milestone Media (d. 2011)
    • 1963 – Charles Barkley, American basketball player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Ian Brown, English singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1963 – Joakim Nystrom, Swedish tennis player
    • 1963 – Mariliza Xenogiannakopoulou, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Health
    • 1963 – Cui Yongyuan, Chinese former anchor
    • 1964 – Willie Garson, American actor and director
    • 1964 – Tom Harris, Scottish journalist and politician
    • 1964 – Jeff Maggert, American golfer
    • 1964 – French Stewart, American actor
    • 1966 – Cindy Crawford, American model and businesswoman
    • 1967 – Paul Accola, Swiss alpine skier
    • 1967 – Kurt Cobain, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994)
    • 1967 – David Herman, American comedian and actor
    • 1967 – Andrew Shue, American actor and activist, founded Do Something
    • 1967 – Lili Taylor, American actress
    • 1967 – Tom Waddle, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1969 – Kjell Ove Hauge, Norwegian school principal and track and field athlete
    • 1969 – Siniša Mihajlović, Serbian footballer and manager
    • 1969 – Danis Tanović, Bosnian director and screenwriter
    • 1971 – Calpernia Addams, American actress, author, and activist
    • 1971 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer
    • 1971 – Joost van der Westhuizen, South African rugby player (d. 2017)
    • 1972 – Neil Primrose, Scottish drummer
    • 1974 – Karim Bagheri, Iranian footballer and manager
    • 1975 – Liván Hernández, Cuban baseball player
    • 1975 – Brian Littrell, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1975 – Niclas Wallin, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1977 – Stephon Marbury, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Gail Kim, Canadian professional wrestler
    • 1978 – Lauren Ambrose, American actress and producer
    • 1980 – Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player
    • 1980 – Luis Gabriel Rey, Colombian footballer
    • 1981 – Tony Hibbert, English footballer
    • 1981 – Fred Jackson, American football player
    • 1982 – Jason Hirsh, American baseball player
    • 1983 – Jose Morales, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Justin Verlander, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Brian McCann, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Trevor Noah, South African comedian, actor, and television host
    • 1984 – Ramzee Robinson, American football player
    • 1985 – Ryan Sweeney, American baseball player
    • 1985 – Julia Volkova, Russian singer and actress
    • 1985 – TJ Kirk, American YouTube personality and podcast host
    • 1987 – Luke Burgess, English rugby league player
    • 1987 – Miles Teller, American actor
    • 1988 – Kealoha Pilares, American football player
    • 1988 – Ki Bo-bae, South Korean archer
    • 1988 – Rihanna, Barbadian-American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1988 – Jiah Khan, Indian singer and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1989 – Daly Cherry-Evans, Australian rugby league player
    • 1990 – Ciro Immobile, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Hidilyn Diaz, Filipino weightlifter
    • 1991 – Giovanni Kyeremateng, Italian footballer
    • 1991 – Angelique van der Meet, Dutch tennis player
    • 1991 – Antonio Pedroza, English-Mexican footballer
    • 1991 – Jocelyn Rae, English-Scottish tennis player
    • 1992 – Kyle Turner, Australian rugby league player
    • 1994 – Elseid Hysaj, Albanian footballer

    Deaths on February 20

    • 789 – Leo of Catania, saint and bishop of Catania (b. 709)
    • 922 – Theodora, Byzantine empress
    • 1054 – Yaroslav the Wise, grand prince of Veliky Novgorod and Kiev (b. 978)
    • 1154 – Saint Wulfric of Haselbury (b. c. 1080)
    • 1171 – Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)
    • 1194 – Tancred, King of Sicily (b. 1138)
    • 1258 – Al-Musta’sim, Iraqi caliph (b. 1213)
    • 1408 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (b. 1342)
    • 1431 – Pope Martin V (b. 1368)
    • 1458 – Lazar Branković, Despot of Serbia
    • 1513 – King John of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (b. 1455)
    • 1524 – Tecun Uman, Mayan ruler (b. 1500)
    • 1579 – Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)
    • 1618 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)
    • 1626 – John Dowland, English lute player and composer (b. 1563)
    • 1762 – Tobias Mayer, German astronomer and academic (b. 1723)
    • 1771 – Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist and astronomer (b. 1678)
    • 1773 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)
    • 1778 – Laura Bassi, Italian physicist and scholar (b. 1711)
    • 1790 – Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)
    • 1806 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-American general and politician (b. 1725)
    • 1810 – Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean rebel leader (b. 1767)
    • 1850 – Valentín Canalizo, Mexican general and politician. 14th President (1843–1844) (b. 1794)
    • 1862 – William Wallace Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (b. 1850)
    • 1871 – Paul Kane, Irish-Canadian painter (b. 1810)
    • 1893 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (b. 1818)
    • 1895 – Frederick Douglass, American author and activist (b. 1818)
    • 1900 – Washakie, American tribal leader (b. 1798)
    • 1907 – Henri Moissan, French chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)
    • 1910 – Boutros Ghali, Egyptian educator and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish journalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1844)
    • 1920 – Jacinta Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1910)
    • 1920 – Robert Peary, American admiral and explorer (b. 1856)
    • 1933 – Takiji Kobayashi, Japanese writer (b. 1903)
    • 1936 – Max Schreck, German actor (b. 1879)
    • 1957 – Sadri Maksudi Arsal, Turkish scholar and politician (b. 1878)
    • 1961 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (b. 1882)
    • 1963 – Jacob Gade, Danish violinist and composer(b. 1879)
    • 1966 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)
    • 1968 – Anthony Asquith, English director and screenwriter (b. 1902)
    • 1969 – Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)
    • 1972 – Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
    • 1972 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and actor (b. 1897)
    • 1976 – René Cassin, French lawyer and judge, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)
    • 1976 – Kathryn Kuhlman, healing evangelist, known for belief in Holy Spirit (b. 1907)
    • 1981 – Nicolas de Gunzburg, French-American banker and publisher (b. 1904)
    • 1987 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (b. 1905)
    • 1992 – A. J. Casson, Canadian painter (b. 1898)
    • 1992 – Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)
    • 1993 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, founded Lamborghini (b. 1916)
    • 1993 – Ernest L. Massad, American general (b. 1908)
    • 1996 – Solomon Asch, American psychologist and academic (b. 1907)
    • 1996 – Audrey Munson, American model (b. 1891)
    • 1996 – Toru Takemitsu, Japanese pianist, guitarist, and composer (b. 1930)
    • 1999 – Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)
    • 1999 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and critic (b. 1946)
    • 2000 – Anatoly Sobchak, Russian lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Saint Petersburg (b. 1937)
    • 2001 – Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)
    • 2001 – Donella Meadows, American environmentalist, author, and academic (b. 1941)
    • 2003 – Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistani air marshal (b. 1947)
    • 2003 – Maurice Blanchot, French philosopher and author (b. 1907)
    • 2003 – Orville Freeman, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 29th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1918)
    • 2005 – Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1942)
    • 2005 – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1921)2005 – John Raitt, American actor and singer (b. 1917)
    • 2005 – Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
    • 2006 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2008 – Emily Perry, English actress and dancer (b. 1907)
    • 2009 – Larry H. Miller, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1944)
    • 2010 – Alexander Haig, American general and politician, 59th United States Secretary of State (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Knut Torbjørn Eggen, Norwegian footballer and manager (b. 1960)
    • 2012 – Katie Hall, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Kenji Eno, Japanese game designer and composer (b. 1970)
    • 2013 – David S. McKay, American biochemist and geologist (b. 1936)
    • 2013 – Antonio Roma, Argentinian footballer (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Rafael Addiego Bruno, Uruguayan jurist and politician, President of Uruguay (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Walter D. Ehlers, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – Garrick Utley, American journalist (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Govind Pansare, Indian author and activist (b. 1933)
    • 2015 – Henry Segerstrom, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1923)
    • 2015 – John C. Willke, American physician, author, and activist (b. 1925)
    • 2016 – Fernando Cardenal, Nicaraguan priest and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2017 – Vitaly Churkin, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Nations (b. 1952)
    • 2017 – Mildred Dresselhaus, American physicist (b. 1930)
    • 2017 – Steve Hewlett, British journalist (b. 1958)
    • 2020 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP

    Holidays and observances on February 20

    • Christian feast day:
      • Eleutherius of Tournai
      • Eucherius of Orléans
      • Francisco Marto and Jacinta Marto
      • Frederick Douglass (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Wulfric of Haselbury
      • February 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Heavenly Hundred Heroes (Ukraine)
    • World Day of Social Justice

  • January 26 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 661 – The Rashidun Caliphate is effectively ended with the assassination of Ali, the last caliph.
    • 945 – The co-emperors Stephen and Constantine are overthrown and forced to become monks by Constantine VII, who becomes the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1500 – Vicente Yáñez Pinzón becomes the first European to set foot on Brazil.
    • 1531 – The 6.4–7.1 Mw Lisbon earthquake kills about thirty thousand people.
    • 1564 – The Council of Trent establishes an official distinction between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
    • 1564 – The Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeats the Tsardom of Russia in the Battle of Ula during the Livonian War.
    • 1565 – Battle of Talikota, fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Deccan sultanates, leads to the subjugation, and eventual destruction of the last Hindu kingdom in India, and the consolidation of Islamic rule over much of the Indian subcontinent.
    • 1699 – For the first time, the Ottoman Empire permanently cedes territory to the Christian powers.
    • 1700 – The 8.7–9.2 Mw Cascadia earthquake takes place off the west coast of North America, as evidenced by Japanese records.
    • 1736 – Stanislaus I of Poland abdicates his throne.
    • 1788 – The British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sails into Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour) to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on Australia. Commemorated as Australia Day.
    • 1808 – The Rum Rebellion is the only successful (albeit short-lived) armed takeover of the government in New South Wales.
    • 1837 – Michigan is admitted as the 26th U.S. state.
    • 1838 – Tennessee enacts the first prohibition law in the United States.
    • 1841 – James Bremer takes formal possession of Hong Kong Island at what is now Possession Point, establishing British Hong Kong.
    • 1855 – Point No Point Treaty is signed in Washington Territory.
    • 1856 – First Battle of Seattle. Marines from the USS Decatur drive off American Indian attackers after all day battle with settlers.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Louisiana secedes from the Union.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: General Ambrose Burnside is relieved of command of the Army of the Potomac after the disastrous Fredericksburg campaign. He is replaced by Joseph Hooker.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Governor of Massachusetts John Albion Andrew receives permission from the Secretary of War to raise a militia organization for men of African descent.
    • 1870 – Reconstruction Era: Virginia rejoins the Union.
    • 1885 – Troops loyal to The Mahdi conquer Khartoum, killing the Governor-General Charles George Gordon.
    • 1905 – The world’s largest diamond ever, the Cullinan weighing 3,106.75 carats (0.621350 kg), is found at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa.
    • 1911 – Glenn Curtiss flies the first successful American seaplane.
    • 1915 – The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the U.S. Congress.
    • 1918 – Finnish Civil War: A group of Red Guards hangs a red lantern atop the tower of Helsinki Workers’ Hall to symbolically mark the start of the war.
    • 1920 – Former Ford Motor Company executive Henry Leland launches the Lincoln Motor Company which he later sold to his former employer.
    • 1926 – The first demonstration of the television by John Logie Baird.
    • 1930 – The Indian National Congress declares 26 January as Independence Day or as the day for Poorna Swaraj (“Complete Independence”) which occurred 17 years later.
    • 1934 – The Apollo Theater reopens in Harlem, New York City.
    • 1934 – German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact is signed.
    • 1939 – Spanish Civil War: Catalonia Offensive: Troops loyal to nationalist General Francisco Franco and aided by Italy take Barcelona.
    • 1942 – World War II: The first United States forces arrive in Europe landing in Northern Ireland.
    • 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins encircling the German Fourth Army near Heiligenbeil in East Prussia, which will end in destruction of the 4th Army two months later.
    • 1945 – World War II: Audie Murphy displays valor and bravery in action for which he will later be awarded the Medal of Honor.
    • 1949 – The Hale telescope at Palomar Observatory sees first light under the direction of Edwin Hubble, becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976).
    • 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as its first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India.
    • 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo’s central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses.
    • 1956 – the Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland.
    • 1961 – John F. Kennedy appoints Janet G. Travell to be the first woman Physician to the President.
    • 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km).
    • 1965 – Hindi becomes the official language of India.
    • 1972 – JAT Fight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries.
    • 1980 – Egypt–Israel relations are formally established.
    • 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
    • 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
    • 1992 – Boris Yeltsin announces that Russia will stop targeting United States cities with nuclear weapons.
    • 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had “sexual relations” with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
    • 2001 – The 7.7 Mw Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured.
    • 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.
    • 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others.
    • 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board including former five time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant.

    Births on January 26

    • 183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (d. 221)
    • 1436 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Lancastrian military commander (d. 1464)
    • 1467 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540)
    • 1495 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557)
    • 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (d. 1596)
    • 1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (d. 1614)
    • 1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (d. 1647)
    • 1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679)
    • 1624 – George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1705)
    • 1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)
    • 1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777)
    • 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (d. 1785)
    • 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771)
    • 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1785)
    • 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805)
    • 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844)
    • 1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (d. 1831)
    • 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet (d. 1876)
    • 1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (d. 1888)
    • 1832 – George Shiras, Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1924)
    • 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (d. 1908)
    • 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (d. 1905)
    • 1857 – 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875)
    • 1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (d. 1932)
    • 1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (d. 1934)
    • 1866 – John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933)
    • 1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968)
    • 1878 – Dave Nourse, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 1948)
    • 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964)
    • 1885 – Michael Considine, Irish-Australian politician (d. 1959)
    • 1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (d. 1974)
    • 1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (d. 1962)
    • 1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915)
    • 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (d. 1947)
    • 1887 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (d. 1968)
    • 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973)
    • 1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942)
    • 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (d. 1976)
    • 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926)
    • 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (d. 1976)
    • 1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (d. 1974)
    • 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967)
    • 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940)
    • 1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (d. 2004)
    • 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
    • 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (d. 2007)
    • 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – Henry Cotton, English golfer (d. 1987)
    • 1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (d. 2001)
    • 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990)
    • 1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (d. 2009)
    • 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (d. 1997)
    • 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993)
    • 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (d. 2002)
    • 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006)
    • 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970)
    • 1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014)
    • 1918 – Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romanian dictator, 1st President of Romania (d. 1989)
    • 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (d. 2009)
    • 1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949)
    • 1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
    • 1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2020)
    • 1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (d. 2009)
    • 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (d. 2005)
    • 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1999)
    • 1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (d. 1993)
    • 1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
    • 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1998)
    • 1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016)
    • 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman’s Own (d. 2008)
    • 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
    • 1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2005)
    • 1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (d. 1985)
    • 1927 – Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator
    • 1934 – Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (d. 2014)
    • 1934 – Huey “Piano” Smith, American pianist and songwriter
    • 1934 – Bob Uecker, American baseball player, sportscaster and actor
    • 1935 – Corrado Augias, Italian journalist and politician
    • 1935 – Henry Jordan, American football player (d. 1977)
    • 1935 – Paula Rego, Portuguese-born British visual artist
    • 1936 – Sal Buscema, American illustrator
    • 1937 – Joseph Saidu Momoh, Sierra Leonean soldier and politician, 2nd President of Sierra Leone (d. 2003)
    • 1937 – Francisco Gonzales, former 1960 Summer Olympics yachting team member and murderer
    • 1938 – Henry Jaglom, English-American director and screenwriter
    • 1940 – Séamus Hegarty, Irish bishop
    • 1940 – Frank Large, English footballer, centre forward and cricketer (d. 2003)
    • 1943 – César Gutiérrez, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
    • 1943 – Jack Warner, Trinidadian businessman and politician
    • 1944 – Angela Davis, American activist, academic, and author
    • 1944 – Jerry Sandusky, American football coach and criminal
    • 1945 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist (d. 1987)
    • 1945 – David Purley, English race car driver (d. 1985)
    • 1946 – Christopher Hampton, Portuguese-English director, screenwriter, and playwright
    • 1946 – Gene Siskel, American journalist and film critic (d. 1999)
    • 1946 – Susan Friedlander, American mathematician
    • 1947 – Patrick Dewaere, French actor and composer (d. 1982)
    • 1947 – Les Ebdon, English chemist and academic
    • 1947 – Redmond Morris, 4th Baron Killanin, Irish director, producer, and production manager
    • 1947 – Michel Sardou, French singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1948 – Alda Facio, Costa Rican jurist, writer and teacher
    • 1949 – Jonathan Carroll, American author
    • 1949 – David Strathairn, American actor
    • 1950 – Jörg Haider, Austrian lawyer and politician, Governor of Carinthia (d. 2008)
    • 1951 – David Briggs, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1951 – Andy Hummel, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2010)
    • 1951 – Anne Mills, English economist and academic
    • 1953 – Alik L. Alik, Micronesian politician, 7th Vice President of the Federated States of Micronesia
    • 1953 – Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish politician and diplomat, 39th Prime Minister of Denmark
    • 1953 – Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1954 – Kim Hughes, Australian cricketer
    • 1955 – Eddie Van Halen, Dutch-American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1957 – Road Warrior Hawk, American wrestler (d. 2003)
    • 1958 – Anita Baker, American singer-songwriter
    • 1958 – Ellen DeGeneres, American comedian, actress, and talk show host
    • 1961 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – Tom Keifer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1962 – Guo Jian, Chinese-Australian painter, sculptor, and photographer
    • 1962 – Tim May, Australian cricketer
    • 1962 – Oscar Ruggeri, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1963 – José Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Simon O’Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Tony Parks, English footballer and manager
    • 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1964 – Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman
    • 1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician
    • 1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach
    • 1966 – Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman
    • 1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database
    • 1968 – Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (d. 2015)
    • 1969 – George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach
    • 1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1973 – Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast
    • 1973 – Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator
    • 1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach
    • 1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1981 – José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer
    • 1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor
    • 1981 – Juan José Haedo, Argentinian cyclist
    • 1981 – Colin O’Donoghue, Irish actor
    • 1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player
    • 1983 – Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer
    • 1983 – Eric Werner, American ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player
    • 1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer
    • 1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer
    • 1985 – Heather Stanning, English rower
    • 1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player
    • 1986 – Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, director and designer.
    • 1986 – Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer
    • 1987 – Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer
    • 1988 – Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper
    • 1989 – MarShon Brooks, American basketball player
    • 1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater
    • 1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver
    • 1990 – Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist
    • 1990 – Nina Zander, German tennis player
    • 1991 – Tom Meechan, English footballer
    • 1992 – Sasha Banks, American professional wrestler
    • 1993 – Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer
    • 1993 – Florian Thauvin, French footballer
    • 1995 – Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1997 – Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player
    • 2001 – Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast

    Deaths on January 26

    • 724 – Yazid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 687)
    • 738 – John of Dailam, Syrian monk and saint (b. 660)
    • 910 – Luo Yin, Chinese statesman and poet
    • 946 – Eadgyth, Queen consort of Germany (b.c 910)
    • 1186 – Ismat ad-Din Khatun, wife of Saladin
    • 1390 – Adolph IX, Count of Holstein-Kiel (b.c 1327)
    • 1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English courtier and diplomat (b. 1497)
    • 1568 – Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1540)
    • 1620 – Amar Singh I, ruler of Mewar (b. 1559)
    • 1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1556)
    • 1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552)
    • 1641 – Lawrence Hyde, English lawyer (b. 1562)
    • 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and theorist (b. 1640)
    • 1744 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683)
    • 1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1686)
    • 1779 – Thomas Hudson, English painter (b. 1701)
    • 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German harpsichord player and composer (b. 1732)
    • 1799 – Gabriel Christie, Scottish general (b. 1722)
    • 1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician and immunologist (b. 1749)
    • 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791)
    • 1831 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian soldier (b. 1798)
    • 1831 – Anton Delvig, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1798)
    • 1849 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (b. 1803)
    • 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (b. 1808)
    • 1860 – Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, opera singer (b. 1804)
    • 1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English soldier; Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1846)
    • 1870 – Victor de Broglie, French politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (b. 1785)
    • 1885 – Edward Davy, English-Australian physician and engineer (b. 1806)
    • 1885 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (b. 1833)
    • 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American general and politician (b. 1807)
    • 1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, One of the first female Indian physicians (b. 1865)
    • 1891 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine (b. 1833)
    • 1893 – Abner Doubleday, American general (b. 1819)
    • 1895 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (b. 1825)
    • 1904 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman (b. 1846)
    • 1926 – John Flannagan, American priest and academic (b. 1860)
    • 1932 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded the Wrigley Company (b. 1861)
    • 1942 – Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1868)
    • 1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American sociologist and eugenicist (b. 1880)
    • 1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (b. 1887)
    • 1946 – Oskar Kallas, Estonian linguist and diplomat (b. 1868)
    • 1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (b. 1884)
    • 1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898)
    • 1948 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1882)
    • 1948 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1876)
    • 1948 – John Lomax, American musicologist and academic (b. 1867)
    • 1952 – Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Mongolian general and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Mongolia (b. 1895)
    • 1953 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1882)
    • 1957 – Helene Costello, American actress (b. 1906)
    • 1962 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897)
    • 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American publisher (b. 1883)
    • 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-American actor (b. 1893)
    • 1975 – Donald Sheldon, American bush pilot (b. 1921)
    • 1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese bullfighter (b. 1901)
    • 1977 – Filopimin Finos, Greek production manager and producer, founded Finos Film (b. 1908)
    • 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908)
    • 1980 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (b. 1922)
    • 1983 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913)
    • 1985 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914)
    • 1990 – Bob Gerard, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1914)
    • 1990 – Lewis Mumford, American sociologist and historian (b. 1895)
    • 1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor (b. 1912)
    • 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905)
    • 1993 – Robert Jacobsen, Danish sculptor and painter (b. 1912)
    • 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (b. 1922)
    • 1996 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – Harold Brodkey, American author and academic (b. 1930)
    • 1996 – Frank Howard, American football player and coach (b. 1909)
    • 1996 – Henry Lewis, American bassist and conductor (b. 1932)
    • 1997 – Jeane Dixon, American astrologer and psychic (b. 1904)
    • 2000 – Don Budge, American tennis player and coach (b. 1915)
    • 2000 – Kathleen Hale, English author and illustrator (b. 1898)
    • 2000 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (b. 1912)
    • 2001 – Al McGuire, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
    • 2003 – Valeriy Brumel, Russian high jumper (b. 1942)
    • 2003 – Hugh Trevor-Roper, English historian and academic (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Scottish banker and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland (b. 1931)
    • 2004 – Fred Haas, American golfer (b. 1916)
    • 2006 – Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistani politician (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
    • 2008 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and designer (b. 1906)
    • 2010 – Louis Auchincloss, American novelist and essayist (b. 1917)
    • 2011 – David Kato Kisule, Ugandan teacher and LGBT rights activist, considered a father of Uganda’s gay rights movement (b. 1964)
    • 2011 – Charlie Louvin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Roberto Mieres, Argentinian race car driver (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Christine M. Jones, American educator and politician (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Stefan Kudelski, Polish-Swiss engineer, invented the Nagra (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Padma Kant Shukla, Indian physicist and academic (b. 1950)
    • 2013 – Shōtarō Yasuoka, Japanese author (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Tom Gola, American basketball player, coach, and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Paula Gruden, Slovenian-Australian poet and translator (b. 1921)
    • 2014 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Ralph T. Troy, American banker and politician (b. 1935)
    • 2015 – Cleven “Goodie” Goudeau, American art director and cartoonist (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Sahabzada Yaqub Khan, Pakistani politician and diplomat, 14th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1920)
    • 2016 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (b. 1921)
    • 2017 – Mike Connors, American actor (b. 1925)
    • 2017 – Tam Dalyell, Scottish politician (b. 1932)
    • 2017 – Lindy Delapenha, Jamaican footballer and sports journalist (b. 1927)
    • 2017 – Barbara Hale, American actress (b. 1922)
    • 2020 – John Altobelli, American college baseball coach (b. 1963)
    • 2020 – Kobe Bryant, American basketball player (b. 1978)

    Holidays and observances on January 26

    • Christian feast day:
      • Alberic
      • Founders of Cîteaux (Alberic of Cîteaux, Robert of Molesme, Stephen Harding)
      • Blessed Gabriele Allegra
      • Paula
      • Timothy and Titus
      • January 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Australia Day (Australia)
    • Duarte Day (Dominican Republic)
    • Engineer’s Day (Panama)
    • International Customs Day
    • Liberation Day (Uganda)
    • Republic Day (India)

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

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

    Births on January 24

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

    Deaths onJanuary 24

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

    Holidays and observances on January 24

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

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

    January 8 in History

    • 307 – Jin Huaidi becomes emperor of China in succession to his father, Jin Huidi, despite a challenge from his uncle, Sima Ying
    • 871 – Alfred the Great leads a West Saxon army to repel an invasion by Danelaw Vikings.
    • 1297 – François Grimaldi, disguised as a monk, leads his men to capture the fortress protecting the Rock of Monaco, establishing his family as the rulers of Monaco
    • 1454 – The papal bull Romanus Pontifex awards the Kingdom of Portugal exclusive trade and colonization rights to all of Africa south of Cape Bojador
    • 1499 – Louis XII of France marries Anne of Brittany in accordance with a law set by his predecessor, Charles VIII.
    • 1547 – The first Lithuanian-language book, the Catechism of Martynas Mažvydas, is published in Königsberg.
    • 1735 – The premiere of George Frideric Handel’s Ariodante takes place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
    • 1746 – Second Jacobite rising: Bonnie Prince Charlie occupies Stirling.
    • 1790 – George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address in New York City.
    • 1806 – Cape Colony in southern Africa becomes a British colony as a result of the Battle of Blaauwberg.
    • 1811 – An unsuccessful slave revolt is led by Charles Deslondes in the north American settlements of St. Charles and St. James, Louisiana.
    • 1815 – War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans: Andrew Jackson leads American forces in victory over the British.
    • 1828 – The Democratic Party of the United States is organized.
    • 1835 – The United States national debt is zero for the only time.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Springfield.
    • 1867 – African American men are granted the right to vote in Washington, D.C.
    • 1877 – Crazy Horse and his warriors fight their last battle against the United States Cavalry at Wolf Mountain, Montana Territory.
    • 1889 – Herman Hollerith is issued US patent #395,791 for the ‘Art of Applying Statistics’ — his punched card calculator.
    • 1904 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system.
    • 1912 – The African National Congress is founded, under the name South African Native National Congress (SANNC).
    • 1918 – U.S. President Woodrow Wilson announces his “Fourteen Points” for the aftermath of World War I.
    • 1920 – The steel strike of 1919 ends in failure for the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers labor union.
    • 1926 – Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuỵ ascends the throne to become the last monarch of Vietnam.
    • 1926 – Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz.
    • 1936 – Kashf-e hijab decree is made and immediately enforced by Reza Shah, Iran’s head of state, banning the wearing of Islamic veils in public.
    • 1940 – World War II: Britain introduces food rationing.
    • 1945 – World War II: Philippine Commonwealth troops under the Philippine Commonwealth Army units enter the province of Ilocos Sur in Northern Luzon and attack Japanese Imperial forces.
    • 1956 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. missionaries are killed by the Huaorani of Ecuador shortly after making contact with them.
    • 1959 – Charles de Gaulle is proclaimed as the first President of the French Fifth Republic.
    • 1961 – In France a referendum supports Charles de Gaulle’s policies in Algeria.
    • 1963 – Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is exhibited in the United States for the first time, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
    • 1964 – President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a “War on Poverty” in the United States.
    • 1972 – Bowing to international pressure, President of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto releases Bengali leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from prison, who had been arrested after declaring the independence of Bangladesh.
    • 1973 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.
    • 1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of illegal entry into Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.
    • 1975 – Ella T. Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman to serve as a Governor in the United States other than by succeeding her husband.
    • 1977 – Three bombs explode in Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
    • 1981 – A local farmer reports a UFO sighting in Trans-en-Provence, France, claimed to be “perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time”.
    • 1982 – Breakup of the Bell System: AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.
    • 1989 – Kegworth air disaster: British Midland Flight 92, a Boeing 737-400, crashes into the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.
    • 1994 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov on Soyuz TM-18 leaves for Mir. He would stay on the space station until March 22, 1995, for a record 437 days in space.
    • 1996 – An Antonov An-32 cargo aircraft crashes into a crowded market in Kinshasa, Zaire, killing up to 223 on the ground; two of six crew members are also killed.
    • 2002 – President George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
    • 2003 – Turkish Airlines Flight 634 crashes near Diyarbakır Airport, Turkey, killing the entire crew and 70 of the 75 passengers.
    • 2003 – Air Midwest Flight 5481 crashes at Charlotte-Douglas Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board.
    • 2004 – The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
    • 2005 – The nuclear sub USS San Francisco collides at full speed with an undersea mountain south of Guam. One man is killed, but the sub surfaces and is repaired.
    • 2009 – A 6.1-magnitude earthquake in northern Costa Rica kills 15 people and injures 32.
    • 2010 – Gunmen from an offshoot the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three.
    • 2011 – The attempted assassination of Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent shooting in Casas Adobes, Arizona, in which five people were shot dead.
    • 2016 – Joaquín Guzmán, widely regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, is recaptured following his escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
    • 2020 – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 crashes immediately after takeoff at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport; all 176 on board are killed. The plane was shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile.

    Births on January 8

    • 1037 – Su Dongpo, Chinese calligrapher and poet (d. 1101)
    • 1345 – Kadi Burhan al-Din, poet, kadi, and ruler of Sivas (d. 1398)
    • 1462 – Walraven II van Brederode, Dutch nobleman (d. 1531)
    • 1529 – John Frederick II, duke of Saxony (d. 1595)
    • 1556 – Uesugi Kagekatsu, Japanese daimyō (d. 1623)
    • 1583 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1643)
    • 1587 – Johannes Fabricius, German astronomer and academic (d. 1616)
    • 1587 – Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (d. 1629
    • 1589 – Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (d. 1638)
    • 1601 – Baltasar Gracián, Spanish priest and author (d. 1658)
    • 1628 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, French general (d. 1695)
    • 1632 – Samuel von Pufendorf, German economist and jurist (d. 1694)
    • 1635 – Luis Manuel Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish cardinal (d. 1709)
    • 1638 – Elisabetta Sirani, Italian painter (d. 1665)
    • 1735 – John Carroll, American archbishop, founder of Georgetown University (d. 1815)
    • 1763 – Edmond-Charles Genêt, French-American translator and diplomat (d. 1834)
    • 1786 – Nicholas Biddle, American banker and financier (d. 1844)
    • 1788 – Rudolf of Austria, Austrian archduke and archbishop (d. 1831)
    • 1792 – Lowell Mason, American composer and educator (d. 1872)
    • 1805 – John Bigler, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 3rd Governor of California (d. 1871)
    • 1805 – Orson Hyde, American religious leader, 3rd President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (d. 1878)
    • 1812 – Sigismond Thalberg, Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1871)
    • 1817 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (d. 1893)
    • 1821 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Turkey (d. 1904)
    • 1823 – Alfred Russel Wallace, Welsh geographer, biologist, and explorer (d. 1913)
    • 1824 – Wilkie Collins, English novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1889)
    • 1824 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (d. 1861)
    • 1830 – Hans von Bülow, German pianist and composer (d. 1894)
    • 1836 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-English painter and academic (d. 1912)
    • 1843 – Frederick Abberline, English police officer (d. 1929)
    • 1843 – Karl Eduard Heusner, German admiral (d. 1891)
    • 1852 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor and author (d. 1931)
    • 1854 – Fanny Bullock Workman, American mountaineer, geographer, and cartographer (d. 1925)
    • 1860 – Emma Booth, English author (d. 1903)
    • 1862 – Frank Nelson Doubleday, American publisher, founded the Doubleday Publishing Company (d. 1934)
    • 1864 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (d. 1892)
    • 1865 – Winnaretta Singer, American philanthropist (d. 1943)
    • 1866 – William G. Conley, American educator and politician, 18th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1940)
    • 1867 – Emily Greene Balch, American economist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
    • 1870 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish general and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1930)
    • 1871 – James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon, Irish captain and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 1940)
    • 1873 – Iuliu Maniu, Romanian lawyer and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1953)
    • 1876 – Arturs Alberings, Latvian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Latvia (d. 1934)
    • 1879 – Charles Bryant, English-American actor and director (d. 1948)
    • 1881 – Henrik Shipstead, American dentist and politician (d. 1960)
    • 1881 – Linnie Marsh Wolfe, American librarian and author (d. 1945)
    • 1883 – Pavel Filonov, Russian painter and poet (d. 1941)
    • 1883 – Patrick J. Hurley, American general, politician, and diplomat, 51st United States Secretary of War (d. 1963)
    • 1885 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1945)
    • 1885 – Mór Kóczán, Hungarian javelin thrower and pastor (d. 1972)
    • 1885 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American pastor and activist (d. 1967)
    • 1888 – Richard Courant, German-American mathematician and academic (d. 1972)
    • 1891 – Walther Bothe, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
    • 1891 – Storm Jameson, English journalist and author (d. 1986)
    • 1891 – Bronislava Nijinska, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1972) name=”Jöckle1995″>Clemens Jöckle (1995). Encyclopedia of Saints. Alpine Fine Arts Collection. p. 319. ISBN 978-0-88168-226-7.</ref>
    • 1896 – Jaromír Weinberger, Czech-American composer and academic (d. 1967)
    • 1897 – Dennis Wheatley, English soldier and author (d. 1977)
    • 1899 – S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka (d. 1959)
    • 1900 – Dorothy Adams, American character actress (d. 1988)
    • 1900 – Merlyn Myer, Australian philanthropist (d. 1982)
    • 1902 – Georgy Malenkov, Russian engineer and politician (d. 1988)
    • 1902 – Carl Rogers, American psychologist and academic (d. 1987)
    • 1904 – Karl Brandt, German physician and SS officer (d. 1948)
    • 1904 – Tampa Red, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1981)
    • 1905 – Carl Gustav Hempel, German philosopher from the Vienna and the Berlin Circle (d. 1997)
    • 1905 – Giacinto Scelsi, Italian composer and poet (d. 1988)
    • 1906 – Serge Poliakoff, Russian-French painter (d. 1969)
    • 1907 – Keizō Hayashi, Japanese general and civil servant (d. 1991)
    • 1908 – Fearless Nadia, Australian-Indian actress and stuntwoman (d. 1996)
    • 1908 – William Hartnell, English actor (d. 1975)
    • 1909 – Ashapoorna Devi, Indian author and poet (d. 1995)
    • 1909 – Willy Millowitsch, German actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1999)
    • 1909 – Bruce Mitchell, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
    • 1909 – Evelyn Wood, American author and educator (d. 1995)
    • 1910 – Galina Ulanova, Russian actress and ballerina (d. 1998)
    • 1911 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress, dancer, and author (d. 1970)
    • 1912 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor and director (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Lawrence Walsh, Canadian-American lawyer, judge, and politician, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
    • 1917 – Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1994)
    • 1922 – Dale D. Myers, American engineer (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Larry Storch, American actor and comedian
    • 1923 – Giorgio Tozzi, American opera singer and actor (d. 2011)
    • 1923 – Johnny Wardle, English cricketer (d. 1985)
    • 1923 – Joseph Weizenbaum, German-American computer scientist and author (d. 2008)
    • 1924 – Benjamin Lees, Chinese-American soldier and composer (d. 2010)
    • 1924 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Mohan Rakesh, Indian author and playwright (d. 1972)
    • 1926 – Evelyn Lear, American operatic soprano (d. 2012)
    • 1926 – Lazzaro Donati, Italian artist (d. 1977)
    • 1926 – Kerwin Mathews, American actor (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Kelucharan Mohapatra, Indian dancer and choreographer (d. 2004)
    • 1926 – Hanae Mori, Japanese fashion designer
    • 1926 – Soupy Sales, American comedian and actor (d. 2009)
    • 1927 – Charles Tomlinson, English poet and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1928 – Slade Gorton, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 14th Attorney General of Washington
    • 1928 – Gaston Miron, Canadian poet and author (d. 1996)
    • 1928 – Luther Perkins, American country guitarist (d. 1968)
    • 1929 – Saeed Jaffrey, Indian-British actor (d. 2015)
    • 1931 – Bill Graham, German-American businessman (d. 1991)
    • 1931 – Clarence Benjamin Jones, American lawyer and scholar
    • 1933 – Nolan Miller, American fashion and jewelry designer (d. 2012)
    • 1933 – Charles Osgood, American soldier and journalist
    • 1933 – Jean-Marie Straub, French director and screenwriter
    • 1933 – Willie Tasby, American baseball player
    • 1934 – Jacques Anquetil, French cyclist (d. 1987)
    • 1934 – Gene Freese, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Roy Kinnear, British actor (d. 1988)
    • 1934 – Alexandra Ripley, American author (d. 2004)
    • 1935 – Lewis H. Lapham, American publisher, founded Lapham’s Quarterly
    • 1935 – Elvis Presley, American singer, guitarist, and actor (d. 1977)
    • 1936 – Zdeněk Mácal, Czech-American conductor
    • 1936 – Robert May, Baron May of Oxford, Australian-English zoologist, ecologist, and academic (d. 2020)
    • 1937 – Shirley Bassey, Welsh singer
    • 1938 – Bob Eubanks, American game show host and producer
    • 1938 – Yevgeny Nesterenko, Russian opera singer and educator
    • 1939 – Carolina Herrera, Venezuelan-American fashion designer
    • 1939 – Ruth Maleczech, American actress (d. 2013)
    • 1939 – Alan Wilson, English mathematician and academic
    • 1940 – Mark Bretscher, English biologist and academic
    • 1940 – Cristy Lane, American country and gospel singer
    • 1941 – Graham Chapman, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
    • 1942 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (d. 2018)
    • 1942 – Junichirō Koizumi, Japanese politician, 56th Prime Minister of Japan
    • 1942 – Yvette Mimieux, American actress
    • 1942 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1943 – Charles Murray, American political scientist and author
    • 1944 – Terry Brooks, American lawyer and author
    • 1945 – Nancy Bond, American author and academic
    • 1945 – Phil Beal, English footballer, defender
    • 1945 – Kadir Topbaş, Turkish architect and politician, 31st Mayor of Istanbul
    • 1946 – Robby Krieger, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1946 – Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, Mexican drug lord
    • 1947 – Don Bendell, American rancher and author
    • 1947 – David Bowie, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2016)
    • 1947 – David Gates, American journalist and novelist
    • 1947 – Antti Kalliomäki, Finnish pole vaulter and politician
    • 1947 – Luke Williams, New Zealand-American wrestler
    • 1948 – Gillies MacKinnon, Scottish director and screenwriter
    • 1949 – Lawrence Rowe, Jamaican cricketer
    • 1951 – Kenny Anthony, Saint Lucian politician, 5th Prime Minister of Saint Lucia
    • 1951 – Karen Tei Yamashita, American author and academic
    • 1952 – Vladimir Feltsman, Russian-American pianist and educator
    • 1952 – Peter McCullagh, Irish mathematician and academic
    • 1953 – Bruce Sutter, American baseball player
    • 1954 – Konstantinos Kypriotis, Greek martial artist (d. 1995)
    • 1955 – Spiros Livathinos, Greek footballer and coach
    • 1955 – Mike Reno, Canadian singer and drummer
    • 1957 – Nacho Duato, Spanish dancer and choreographer
    • 1958 – Betsy DeVos, American businesswoman and politician, 11th Secretary of Education
    • 1958 – Rey Misterio, Sr., Mexican wrestler, trainer, and actor
    • 1959 – Kim Duk-koo, South Korean boxer (d. 1982)
    • 1959 – Paul Hester, Australian drummer (d. 2005)
    • 1960 – Dave Weckl, American drummer
    • 1961 – Calvin Smith, American sprinter
    • 1966 – Willie Anderson, American basketball player
    • 1966 – Igor Vyazmikin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2009)
    • 1966 – Andrew Wood, American singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1967 – Torsten Gowitzke, German footballer and manager
    • 1967 – Steven Jacobs, Australian television host and actor
    • 1967 – R. Kelly, American singer-songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player
    • 1967 – Tom Watson, English politician
    • 1971 – Jason Giambi, American baseball player
    • 1971 – Jesper Jansson, Swedish footballer
    • 1971 – Pascal Zuberbühler, Swiss footballer and coach
    • 1972 – Paul Clement, English footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1972 – Giuseppe Favalli, Italian footballer
    • 1973 – Mike Cameron, American baseball player
    • 1975 – Harris Jayaraj, Indian composer and producer
    • 1976 – Kenneth Andam, Ghanaian sprinter and businessman
    • 1976 – Carl Pavano, American baseball player
    • 1977 – Amber Benson, American actress, writer, director, and producer
    • 1977 – Francesco Coco, Italian footballer
    • 1979 – Seol Ki-hyeon, South Korean footballer and manager
    • 1979 – Adrian Mutu, Romanian footballer
    • 1979 – Stipe Pletikosa, Croatian footballer
    • 1979 – Sarah Polley, Canadian actress, director, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Adam Goodes, Australian footballer
    • 1980 – Rachel Nichols, American actress and producer
    • 1981 – Jeff Francis, Canadian baseball player
    • 1981 – Trent Waterhouse, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Gaby Hoffmann, American actress
    • 1983 – Jon Daly, Irish footballer
    • 1984 – Jeff Francoeur, American baseball player
    • 1984 – Jeon Ji-ae, South Korean actress
    • 1984 – Kim Jong-un, North Korean soldier and politician, 3rd Supreme Leader of North Korea (probable)
    • 1986 – David Silva, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Adrián López, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Michael Mancienne, English footballer
    • 1989 – Aaron Cruden, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1991 – Josh Hazlewood, Australian cricketer
    • 1991 – Stefan Johansen, Norwegian footballer
    • 1991 – Stefan Savić, Montenegrin footballer
    • 1991 – Shin Ji-min, South Korean singer and rapper
    • 1992 – Stefanie Dolson, American basketball player
    • 1992 – Koke, Spanish footballer
    • 1992 – Apostolos Vellios, Greek footballer

    Deaths on January 8

    • 307 – Hui of Jin, Chinese emperor (b. 259)
    • 482 – Severinus of Noricum, Italian apostle and saint
    • 871 – Bagsecg, Viking warrior and leader
    • 926 – Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1079 – Adèle of France, countess of Flanders (b. 1009)
    • 1107 – Edgar, king of Scotland (b. 1074)
    • 1198 – Celestine III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1106)
    • 1332 – Andronikos III, emperor of Trebizond
    • 1337 – Giotto, Italian painter and architect, designed Scrovegni Chapel and Giotto’s Campanile (b. 1266)
    • 1354 – Charles de La Cerda, French nobleman (b. 1327)
    • 1424 – Stephen Zaccaria, archbishop of Patras
    • 1456 – Lawrence Giustiniani, Italian bishop and saint (b. 1381)
    • 1464 – Thomas Ebendorfer, Austrian historian and academic (b. 1385)
    • 1538 – Beatrice of Portugal, duchess of Savoy (b. 1504)
    • 1557 – Albert Alcibiades, margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach (b. 1522)
    • 1570 – Philibert de l’Orme, French sculptor and architect, designed the Château d’Anet (b. 1510)
    • 1598 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1525)
    • 1642 – Galileo Galilei, Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher (b. 1564)
    • 1664 – Moses Amyraut, French physician and theologian (b. 1596)
    • 1707 – John Dalrymple, 1st Earl of Stair, Scottish soldier and politician, Scottish Secretary of State (b. 1648)
    • 1713 – Arcangelo Corelli, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1653)
    • 1775 – John Baskerville, English printer and type designer (b. 1706)
    • 1789 – Jack Broughton, English boxer (b. 1703)
    • 1794 – Justus Möser, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1720)
    • 1815 – Edward Pakenham, Anglo-Irish general and politician (b. 1778)
    • 1825 – Eli Whitney, American engineer and theorist, invented the cotton gin (b. 1765)
    • 1853 – Mihály Bertalanits, Slovene-Hungarian poet and educator (b. 1788)
    • 1854 – William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, English field marshal and politician, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance (b. 1768)
    • 1865 – Aimé, duc de Clermont-Tonnerre, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1779)
    • 1874 – Charles Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French historian and archaeologist (b. 1814)
    • 1878 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (b. 1821)
    • 1878 – Gauchito Gil, Argentinian saint (b. 1847)
    • 1880 – Emperor Norton, English-American businessman (b. 1811)
    • 1883 – Miska Magyarics, Slovene-Hungarian poet (b. 1825)
    • 1896 – William Rainey Marshall, American banker and politician, 5th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1825)
    • 1896 – Paul Verlaine, French poet and writer (b. 1844)
    • 1901 – John Barry, Irish soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1873)
    • 1912 – Friedrich Schrempf, German journalist and politician (b. 1858)
    • 1914 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and 30th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1823)
    • 1916 – Rembrandt Bugatti, Italian sculptor (b. 1884)
    • 1916 – Ada Rehan, Irish-American actress (b. 1860)
    • 1918 – Johannes Pääsuke, Estonian photographer and director (b. 1892)
    • 1918 – Ellis H. Roberts, American journalist and politician, 20th Treasurer of the United States (b. 1827)
    • 1920 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (b.1852)
    • 1925 – George Bellows, American painter (b.1882)
    • 1934 – Andrei Bely, Russian novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1880)
    • 1934 – Alexandre Stavisky, Ukrainian-French financier (b. 1886)
    • 1935 – Rauf Yekta, Turkish musicologist and author (b. 1871)
    • 1938 – Johnny Gruelle, American author and illustrator (b. 1880)
    • 1941 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general (b. 1857)
    • 1942 – Joseph Franklin Rutherford, American lawyer and religious leader (b. 1869)
    • 1943 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (b. 1919)
    • 1943 – Andres Larka, Estonian general and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of War (b. 1879)
    • 1944 – William Kissam Vanderbilt II, American lieutenant and sailor (b. 1878)
    • 1945 – Karl Ernst Krafft, Swiss astrologer and author (b. 1900)
    • 1948 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and graphic designer (b. 1887)
    • 1950 – Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and academic (b. 1883)
    • 1952 – Antonia Maury, American astronomer and astrophysicist (b. 1866)
    • 1953 – Hugh Binney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Tasmania (b. 1883)
    • 1954 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian-French painter and illustrator (b. 1898)
    • 1956 – Jim Elliot, American missionary and martyr (b. 1928)
    • 1958 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (b. 1869)
    • 1961 – Schoolboy Rowe, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
    • 1963 – Kay Sage, American painter (b. 1898)
    • 1969 – Albert Hill, English runner and coach (b. 1889)
    • 1969 – Elmar Kaljot, Estonian footballer and coach (b. 1901)
    • 1970 – Georges Guibourg, French actor, singer, and playwright (b. 1891)
    • 1972 – Kenneth Patchen, American poet and author (b. 1911)
    • 1975 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)
    • 1976 – Zhou Enlai, Chinese soldier and politician, 1st Premier of the People’s Republic of China (b. 1898)
    • 1976 – Robert Forgan, Scottish-English physician and politician (b. 1891)
    • 1979 – Sara Carter, American singer-songwriter and harp player (b. 1898)
    • 1980 – John Mauchly, American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
    • 1981 – Matthew Beard, American actor (b. 1925)
    • 1982 – Grégoire Aslan, Swiss-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1908)
    • 1983 – Gerhard Barkhorn, German general and pilot (b. 1919)
    • 1983 – Tom McCall, American journalist and politician, 30th Governor of Oregon (b. 1913)
    • 1983 – Gale Page, American actress (b. 1910)
    • 1984 – Eerik Kumari, Estonian ornithologist and academic (b. 1912)
    • 1986 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (b. 1906)
    • 1990 – Bernard Krigstein, American illustrator (b. 1919)
    • 1990 – Terry-Thomas, English actor and comedian (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – Steve Clark, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1960)
    • 1994 – Pat Buttram, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
    • 1994 – Harvey Haddix, American baseball player and coach (b. 1925)
    • 1996 – Metin Göktepe, Turkish photographer and journalist (b. 1968)
    • 1996 – François Mitterrand, French sergeant and politician, 21st President of France (b. 1916)
    • 1996 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (b. 1907)
    • 1997 – Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
    • 1998 – Michael Tippett, English composer and conductor (b. 1905)
    • 2002 – Alexander Prokhorov, Australian-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1916)
    • 2002 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy’s (b. 1932)
    • 2003 – Ron Goodwin, English composer and conductor (b. 1925)
    • 2004 – John A. Gambling, American radio host (b. 1930)
    • 2006 – Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish broadcaster and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (b. 1943)
    • 2007 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
    • 2007 – Arthur Cockfield, Baron Cockfield, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1916)
    • 2007 – Yvonne De Carlo, Canadian-American actress and singer (b. 1922)
    • 2007 – David Ervine, Northern Irish politician and activist (b. 1953)
    • 2007 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1925)
    • 2008 – George Moore, Australian jockey and trainer (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Lasantha Wickrematunge, Sri Lankan Journalist (b. 1958)
    • 2010 – Art Clokey, American animator, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
    • 2011 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician (b. 1937)
    • 2011 – Thorbjørn Svenssen, Norwegian footballer (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Dave Alexander, American singer and pianist (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – T. J. Hamblin, English haematologist and academic (b. 1943)
    • 2012 – John Madin, English architect, designed the Birmingham Central Library (b. 1924)
    • 2012 – Bernhard Schrader, German chemist and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Alexis Weissenberg, Bulgarian-French pianist and educator (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Kenojuak Ashevak, Canadian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1927)
    • 2013 – Jeanne Manford, American educator and activist, co-founded PFLAG (b. 1920)
    • 2013 – Alasdair Milne, Indian-English director and producer (b. 1930)
    • 2014 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Madeline Gins, American poet and architect (b. 1941)
    • 2014 – Irma Heijting-Schuhmacher, Dutch-Australian swimmer (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – Antonino P. Roman, Filipino lawyer and politician (b. 1939)
    • 2015 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer, and pastor (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Kep Enderby, Australian lawyer, judge, and politician, 23rd Attorney-General for Australia (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
    • 2016 – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – German Moreno, Filipino television host, actor, comedian and talent manager (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Nicolai Gedda, Swedish operatic tenor (b. 1925)
    • 2017 – James Mancham, Seychellois politician (b. 1939)
    • 2017 – Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iranian politician (b. 1934)
    • 2017 – Peter Sarstedt, Indian-British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
    • 2020 – Pat Dalton, Australian rules footballer (b. 1942)
    • 2020 – Buck Henry, American actor, screenwriter, and director (b. 1930)

    Holidays and observances on January 8

    • Babinden (Belarus, Russia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Abo of Tiflis
      • Apollinaris Claudius
      • Blessed Eurosia Fabris
      • Gauchito Gil (Folk Catholicism)
      • Gudula
      • Harriet Bedell (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Lawrence Giustiniani
      • Lucian of Beauvais
      • Maximus of Pavia
      • Our Lady of Prompt Succor (Roman Catholic Church)
      • Pega (Anglican and Roman Catholic churches)
      • Severinus of Noricum
      • Thorfinn of Hamar
      • January 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Commonwealth Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
    • Earliest day on which Children’s Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Saturday in January. (Thailand)
    • Earliest day on which Lee–Jackson Day can fall, while January 14 is the latest; celebrated on Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (Virginia)
    • Typing Day (International observance)
  • |

    General Science & Ability MCQs (Natural Hazards and Disasters, Set-I)

    1) What is the point of origin of an earthquake?
    (a) Epicenter
    (b) Focus
    (c) Foreshock
    (d) Scarp
    (e) Seismograph
    Answer: (b)
    The exact point where the earthquake actually starts deep inside the earth’s crust (the point of origin) is called the focus, or hypocenter.

    2) What is the point on the surface nearest the earthquake?
    (a) Epicenter
    (b) Focus
    (c) Foreshock
    (d) Scarp
    (e) Seismograph
    Answer: (a)
    The epicenter is the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the hypocenter (or focus), point in the crust where a seismic rupture begins

    3) Places experiencing equal impact of an earthquake are called (CSS-2012)
    (a) Snowlines
    (b) seismic belts
    (c) Seismic lines
    (d) None of these
    Answer: (c)

    4) Where do most earthquakes occur?
    (a) Along dikes
    (b) Along faults
    (c) Along folds
    (d) Along joints
    (e) Along unconformities
    Answer: (b)
    Earthquakes can also occur far from the edges of plates, along faults. Faults are cracks in the earth where sections of a plate (or two plates) are moving in different directions. Faults are caused by all that bumping and sliding the plates do. They are more common near the edges of the plates.

    5) What is the standardized distance from an earthquake epicenter for measuring Richter magnitudes?
    (a) 0 km
    (b) 10 km
    (c) 100 km
    (d) 500 km
    (e) 1000 km
    Answer: (c)
    Richter established 100 km as the standard distance from an earthquake epicenter to measure Richter magnitude with a Wood-Anderson seismograph.

    6) What was the magnitude of the Earthquake that shook Northern Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on October, 8, 2005? (CSS-2006)
    (a) 5.7
    (b) 7.5
    (c) 7.6
    (d) None of these.
    Answer: (d)
    A major earthquake shook Pakistan on Saturday, October 8, 2005, at 8:50 a.m. The epicenter of this magnitude 7.6 quake was about 65 miles north-northeast of Islamabad, the country’s capital. At least 86,000 people were killed, more than 69,000 were injured, and extensive damage resulted in northern Pakistan. The heaviest damage occurred in the Muzaffarabad area of Kashmir.

    7) In what country did the highest magnitude earthquake ever measured take place?
    (a) Chile
    (b) Pakistan
    (c) Japan
    (d) Afghanistan
    (e) United States
    Answer: (a)
    The Chilean earthquake of 1960 is the most powerful ever recorded at 8.6 on the Richter scale or 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale.

    8) What is the immediate energy source for earthquakes?
    (a) Stored elastic energy in bent rock
    (b) Stored elastic energy in compressed rock
    (c) Stored heat energy from the earth’s interior
    (d) Stored heat energy from the sun
    Answer: (a)
    Sudden elastic rebound of bent rock that has reached the breaking point is what causes nearly all earthquakes

    9) What is the strongest magnitude earthquake ever measured on the Richter scale?
    (a) 5.5
    (b) 6.3
    (c) 6.8
    (d) 7.5
    (e) 8.6
    Answer: (e)
    Several earthquakes have been measured with a magnitude close to 8.6 on the Richter scale, but none higher.

    10) Which region of the earth has the most frequent earthquakes?
    (a) Antarctic region
    (b) Arctic region
    (c) Atlantic region
    (d) Indian region
    (e) Pacific region
    Answer: (e)
    The Pacific region has the greatest number of earthquakes because this is where most of the earth’s convergent plate boundaries lie.

    11) Japan is called: (CSS-2008)
    (a) Land of earthquakes
    (b) Land of rising sun
    (c) Land of rivers
    (d) None of these
    Answer: (b)

    12) How does shaking ground cause soft sediment to liquify?
    (a) It breaks the sediment particles into smaller pieces
    (b) It evaporates water in the pores of the sediment
    (c) It makes sediment particles fit more tightly together
    (d) It melts the sediment
    (e) It melts water in the pores of the sediment
    Answer: (c)
    Shaking ground helps particles to settle more tightly together, thus reducing interstitial space and releasing pore water.

    13) Which of the following is not associated with earthquake destruction?
    (a) Fires
    (b) High winds
    (c) Mass wasting
    (d) Trembling earth
    (e) Tsunamis
    Answer: (b)
    Earthquakes do not generate high winds.

    14) Pakistan/Kashmir earthquake of October, 2005 was result of: (CSS-2006)
    (a) Volcanic activity
    (b) Tectonic dislocation
    (c) Severe flooding
    (d) None of these
    Answer: (b)

    15) Which waves are called shear waves because of the shear forces that they subject the rock to?
    (a) P-waves
    (b) S-waves
    (c) Surface waves
    (d) All of the above
    Answer: (b)
    S-waves are also called shear waves because they subject the medium to shear forces, and they only pass through solids because only solids have elastic rebound to shear forces.

    16) Which waves are called compression waves because they compress and extend the material they pass through?
    (a) P-waves
    (b) S-waves
    (c) Surface waves
    (d) All of the above
    Answer: (a)
    P-waves are also called compression waves because they compress and extend the medium.

    17) In what order do earthquake waves arrive at seismic stations?
    (a) P-waves, then S-waves, then surface waves
    (a) S-waves, then P-waves, then surface waves
    (b) S-waves, then surface waves, then P-waves
    (c) Surface waves, then P-waves, then S-waves
    (d) Surface waves, then S-waves, then P-waves
    Answer: (a)
    Primary and secondary waves are named after their arrival sequence.

    18) Which of the following earthquake waves is first recorded on the Seismograph?
    (a) P-waves
    (b) Rayleigh waves
    (c) S-waves
    (d) Love waves
    Answer: (a)

    19) The Intensity scale of the earthquake is called?
    (a) Mercalli scale
    (b) Ritcher scale
    (c) Number scale
    (d) None of the above
    Answer: (a)

    20) The point where the energy is released during the earthquake is called?
    (a) Epicentre
    (b) Hypocentre
    (c) Circumcentre
    (d) None of the above
    Answer: (b)

    21) The type of plate- boundary interaction along the Himalayas is known as?
    (a) Continent-continent convergence
    (b) Divergent boundary
    (c) Transform boundary
    (d) Ocean-continent convergence
    Answer: (a)

    22) Which of the following describes the build up and release of stress during an earthquake?
    (a) the Modified Mercalli Scale
    (b) the elastic rebound theory
    (c) the principle of superposition
    (d) the travel time difference
    Answer: (b)

    23) Approximately what percentage of earthquakes occur at plate boundaries?
    (a) 25%
    (b) 50%
    (c) 75%
    (d) 90%
    Answer: (d)

    24) Where is the focus with respect to the epicenter?
    (a) directly below the epicenter
    (b) directly above the epicenter
    (c) in the P wave shadow zone
    (d) in the S wave shadow zone
    Answer: (b)

    25) Point A, where slip initiated during the earthquake, is called the ________.
    (a) dip
    (b) epicenter
    (c) focus
    (d) scarp
    Answer: (c)

    26) Point B is called the earthquake ________.
    (a) dip
    (b) epicenter
    (c) focus
    (d) scarp
    Answer: (b)

    27) Point C is called the _________
    (a) epicenter
    (b) fault scarp
    (c) Seismic wave
    (d) Dip of the earthquake
    Answer: (b)
    A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other. It is the topographic expression of faulting attributed to the displacement of the land surface by movement along faults.

    28) What type of faulting is illustrated in this diagram?
    (a) normal (b) Reverse
    (c) Thrust (d) Abnormal
    Answer: (a)

    29) Which one of the following earthquake waves is more destructive?
    (a) P-waves
    (b) Surface waves
    (c) S-waves
    (d) Body waves
    Answer: (b)
    Earthquake waves can be divided into two types – body waves and surface waves. There are two types of body waves – P-wave and S-wave. The surface waves are more destructive as they displace rocks, and hence results in collapse of structures.

    30) When a volcano ejects acid lava, eruption is usually
    (a) Light and less violent
    (b) Soft and less violent
    (c) Loud but less violent
    (d) Loud and more violent
    Answer: (d)

    31) In some eruptions, mudflows are forced over the
    (a) Earth’s mantle
    (b) Ocean bed
    (c) Earth’s surface
    (d) Earth’s core
    Answer: (c)

    32) Magma which is forced onto Earth’s surface is known as
    (a) Vent
    (b) Cone
    (c) Lava
    (d) Magma Chamber
    Answer: (c)

    33) An example of composite volcanoes is
    (a) Mount Everest
    (b) Puy de Dôme
    (c) Mauna Loa
    (d) Mount Merapi
    Answer: (d)

    34) ‘Flash-floods’ are associated with
    (a) Thunderstorms
    (b) Cyclonic storms
    (c) Tsunami
    (d) Tornado
    Answer: (a)
    A flash flood is a sudden flood event caused by a hydrologic response of the drainage basin. Flash floods are normally strongly localized and associated with extreme showers or thunderstorm activity, when high rates of precipitation occur in a short period of time.

    35) During eruption, volcanic material is
    (a) Blown to some meters
    (b) Blown to many kilometers
    (c) Blown to some inches
    (d) Blown to some feet
    Answer: (b)

    36) When volcanos ejects basic lava, eruption is mainly
    (a) Loud
    (b) Violent
    (c) Quite
    (d) Hard
    Answer: (c)

    37) A reference to process by which materials such as magma and gases from inside Earth are forced onto Earth’s surface is
    (a) Eruption
    (b) Lava
    (c) Volcanism
    (d) Earthquake
    Answer: (c)

    38) Movement of crustal plates result in formation of
    (a) a huge island
    (b) Small volcanic islands
    (c) a small island
    (d) Huge volcanic islands
    Answer: (b)

    39) Ice can be changed to water by: (CSS-2011)
    (a) Adding more water molecules
    (b) Changing the motion of the water molecules
    (c) Rearranging the atoms in water molecules
    (d) Destroying the atoms in water molecules
    (e) None of these
    Answer: (b)

    40) Composite volcanoes are made up of alternate layers of
    (a) Ash and cinder only
    (b) Dense lava and ash
    (c) Viscous lava, ash and cinder
    (d) pyroclastic lava, ash and cinder
    Answer: (c)

    41) Lava that contains high amounts of iron and magnesium, but low amount of silica is known as
    (a) Acid Lava
    (b) Basic Lava
    (c) Composite Lava
    (d) Component Lava
    Answer: (b)

    42) Number of classifications of volcanoes is
    (a) three
    (b) Six
    (c) nine
    (d) twelve
    Answer: (a)

    43) Acid lava is sticky or ‘viscous’ because it contains high amounts of
    (a) Copper
    (b) Iron
    (c) nickel
    (d) Silica
    Answer: (d)

    44) Eruptions from composite volcanoes are usually
    (a) Light and less violent
    (b) Soft and less violent
    (c) Loud but less violent
    (d) Loud and more violent
    Answer: (d)

    45) As volcano is carried along by plate, a new volcano is formed over the
    (a) Ocean bed
    (b) River bed
    (c) Original hot spot
    (d) Virtual hot spot
    Answer: (c)

    46) Cavity in Earth’s crust below vent that holds magma is known as
    (a) Vent
    (b) Cone
    (c) Lava
    (d) Magma Chamber
    Answer: (d)

    47) Most common type of volcano is the
    (a) Acid Lava Volcano
    (b) Basic Lava Volcano
    (c) Composite Lava Volcano
    (d) Component Volcano
    Answer: (c)

    48) Composite Lava Volcano is also known as
    (a) Cinder volcano
    (b) Ash volcano
    (c) Pyroclastic volcano
    (d) Stratovolcanoes
    Answer: (d)
    Composite volcanoes (also called stratovolcanoes) are much more explosive than shield volcanoes, the other important type of volcano.

    49) Mid-Atlantic ridge is so tall that it actually rises above sea in many places forming
    (a) Icy islands
    (b) Ice lands
    (c) Volcanic islands
    (d) Rocky islands
    Answer: (c)

    50) Basic lava erupts out of volcano, throwing out mainly
    (a) Ash
    (b) Dust
    (c) CO
    (d) CO2
    Answer: (a)