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March 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
  • 1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
  • 1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.
  • 1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
  • 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
  • 1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
  • 1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.
  • 1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
  • 1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican army massacres 342 Texas POWs at Goliad, Texas.
  • 1866 – President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866. His veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9.
  • 1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
  • 1884 – A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.
  • 1886 – Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
  • 1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
  • 1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
  • 1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
  • 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war’s first major Chinese victory over Japan.
  • 1941 – World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
  • 1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
  • 1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
  • 1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
  • 1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
  • 1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
  • 1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.
  • 1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
  • 1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, leads to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
  • 1981 – The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
  • 1986 – A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
  • 1990 – The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.
  • 1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People’s Republic of China.
  • 1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
  • 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
  • 1999 – Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
  • 2000 – A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one person and injures 71 others.
  • 2002 – Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover seder in Netanya, Israel.
  • 2002 – Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors; 19 other people are injured.
  • 2004 – HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
  • 2009 – The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.
  • 2014 – Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
  • 2015 – Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
  • 2016 – A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
  • 2020 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.

Births on March 27

  • 972 – Robert II, king of France (d. 1031)
  • 1401 – Albert III, duke of Bavaria (d. 1460)
  • 1416 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded Order of the Minims (d. 1507)
  • 1546 – Johannes Piscator, German theologian (d. 1625)
  • 1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)
  • 1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
  • 1679 – Domenico Lalli, Italian poet and librettist (d. 1741)
  • 1681 – Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish-Italian cardinal (d. 1760)
  • 1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (d. 1762)
  • 1710 – Joseph Abaco, Belgian cellist and composer (d. 1805)
  • 1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and author (d. 1779)
  • 1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian historian and theologian (d. 1795)
  • 1724 – Jane Colden, American botanist and author (d. 1766)
  • 1745 – Lindley Murray, American-English Quaker and grammarian (d. 1826)
  • 1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and composer (d. 1767)
  • 1746 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican-French lawyer and politician (d. 1785)
  • 1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)
  • 1781 – Alexander Vostokov, Estonian-Russian philologist and academic (d. 1864)
  • 1784 – Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian philologist, orientalist, and author (d. 1842)
  • 1785 – Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)
  • 1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1863)
  • 1801 – Alexander Barrow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1846)
  • 1802 – Charles-Mathias Simons, German-Luxembourger jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1874)
  • 1809 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French engineer, urban planner, and politician (d. 1891)
  • 1811 – Edward William Cooke, English painter and illustrator (d. 1880)
  • 1814 – Charles Mackay, Scottish journalist, anthologist, and author (d. 1889)
  • 1820 – Edward Augustus Inglefield, English admiral and explorer (d. 1894)
  • 1822 – Henri Murger, French novelist and poet (d. 1861)
  • 1824 – Virginia Minor, American women’s suffrage activist (d. 1894)
  • 1839 – John Ballance, Irish-New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893)
  • 1843 – George Frederick Leycester Marshall, English colonel and entomologist (d. 1934)
  • 1844 – Adolphus Greely, American general and explorer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1935)
  • 1845 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
  • 1845 – Jakob Sverdrup, Norwegian bishop and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs (d. 1899)
  • 1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
  • 1851 – Ruperto Chapí, Spanish composer, co-founded Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (d. 1909)
  • 1851 – Vincent d’Indy, French composer and educator (d. 1931)
  • 1852 – Jan van Beers, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1927)
  • 1854 – Giovanni Battista Grassi, Italian physician, zoologist, and entomologist (d. 1925)
  • 1855 – William Libbey, American target shooter, colonel, mountaineer, geographer, geologist, and archaeologist (d. 1927)
  • 1857 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician, eugenicist, and academic (d. 1936)
  • 1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer and footballer (d. 1927)
  • 1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American-Swiss scholar and academic (d. 1924)
  • 1862 – Jelena Dimitrijević, Serbian short story writer, novelist, poet, traveller, social worker, feminist and polyglot (d. 1945)
  • 1862 – Arturo Berutti, Argentinian composer (d. 1938)
  • 1863 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1933)
  • 1866 – John Allan, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Victoria (d. 1936)
  • 1868 – Patty Hill, American songwriter and educator (d. 1946)
  • 1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician, 2nd Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1938)
  • 1869 – J. R. Clynes, English trade unionist and politician, Home Secretary (d. 1949)
  • 1871 – Heinrich Mann, German author and poet (d. 1950)
  • 1871 – Joseph G. Morrison, American captain and Nazarene minister (d. 1939)
  • 1871 – Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician, Minister of Labour (d. 1948)
  • 1875 – Albert Marquet, French painter (d. 1947)
  • 1877 – Oscar Grégoire, Belgian water polo player and swimmer (d. 1947)
  • 1878 – Kathleen Scott, British sculptor (d. 1947)
  • 1879 – Sándor Garbai, Hungarian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1947)
  • 1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
  • 1879 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourger-American painter and photographer (d. 1973)
  • 1881 – Arkady Averchenko, Russian playwright and satirist (d. 1925)
  • 1882 – Thomas Graham Brown, Scottish mountaineer and physiologist (d. 1965)
  • 1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)
  • 1884 – Gordon Thomson, English rower and lieutenant (d. 1953)
  • 1885 – Julio Lozano Díaz, Honduran accountant and politician, 40th President of Honduras (d. 1957)
  • 1885 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (d. 1961)
  • 1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian politician (d. 1934)
  • 1886 – Wladimir Burliuk, Ukrainian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
  • 1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect, designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building (d. 1969)
  • 1887 – Väinö Siikaniemi, Finnish javelin thrower, poet, and translator (d. 1932)
  • 1888 – George Alfred Lawrence Hearne, English-South African cricketer (d. 1978)
  • 1889 – Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (d. 1974)
  • 1889 – Leonard Mociulschi, Romanian general (d. 1979)
  • 1890 – Harald Julin, Swedish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1967)
  • 1890 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (d. 1974)
  • 1891 – Lajos Zilahy, Hungarian novelist and playwright (d. 1974)
  • 1891 – Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, Belarusian-Lithuanian architect, journalist, and diplomat, created the Flag of Belarus (d. 1959)
  • 1892 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
  • 1892 – Thorne Smith, American author (d. 1934)
  • 1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (d. 1947)
  • 1893 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1981)
  • 1893 – George Beranger, Australian-American actor and director (d. 1973)
  • 1894 – René Fonck, French colonel and pilot (d. 1953)
  • 1895 – Roland Leighton, English soldier and poet (d. 1915)
  • 1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1958)
  • 1897 – Fred Keating, American magician, stage and film actor (d. 1961)
  • 1899 – Francis Ponge, French poet and author (d. 1988)
  • 1899 – Herbert Arthur Stuart, German-Swiss physicist and academic (d. 1974)
  • 1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress and producer (d. 1983)
  • 1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator and screenwriter (d. 2000)
  • 1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
  • 1901 – Eisaku Satō, Japanese politician, 61st Prime Minister of Japan, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
  • 1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian journalist and poet (d. 1971)
  • 1902 – Sidney Buchman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1975)
  • 1902 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (d. 1998)
  • 1903 – Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexican poet and playwright (d. 1950)
  • 1905 – Leroy Carr, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1935)
  • 1905 – Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, German general (d. 1980)
  • 1905 – Elsie MacGill, Canadian-American author and engineer (d. 1980)
  • 1906 – Pee Wee Russell, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 1969)
  • 1909 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (d. 1994)
  • 1909 – Ben Webster, American saxophonist (d. 1973)
  • 1909 – Valery Marakou, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1937)
  • 1910 – Ai Qing, Chinese poet and author (d. 1996)
  • 1911 – Veronika Tushnova, Russian poet and physician (d. 1965)
  • 1912 – James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
  • 1913 – Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (d. 1945)
  • 1914 – Richard Denning, American actor (d. 1998)
  • 1914 – Budd Schulberg, American author, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2009)
  • 1915 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American guitarist (d. 2006)
  • 1917 – Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th United States Secretary of State (d. 2002)
  • 1920 – Colin Rowe, English-American architect, theorist and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1921 – Phil Chess, Czech-American record producer, co-founded Chess Records (d. 2016)
  • 1921 – Moacir Barbosa Nascimento, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2000)
  • 1921 – Harold Nicholas, American actor and dancer (d. 2000)
  • 1922 – Dick King-Smith, English author (d. 2011)
  • 1922 – Stefan Wul, French author and surgeon (d. 2003)
  • 1922 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, and sculptor (d. 2007)
  • 1923 – Shūsaku Endō, Japanese author (d. 1996)
  • 1923 – Louis Simpson, Jamaican-American poet, translator, and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (d. 1990)
  • 1924 – Ian Black, Scottish international footballer, goalkeeper and lawn bowls player (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Margaret K. Butler, American mathematician and computer programmer (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Frank O’Hara, American writer (d. 1966)
  • 1927 – Sylvia Anderson, English voice actress, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2016)
  • 1927 – Anthony Lewis, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1927 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (d. 2007)
  • 1928 – Jean Dotto, French cyclist (d. 2000)
  • 1929 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (d. 1988)
  • 1929 – Reg Evans, Australian actor (d. 2009)
  • 1930 – Daniel Spoerri, Romanian-Swiss photographer, writer and artist
  • 1931 – David Janssen, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1980)
  • 1932 – Junior Parker, American singer and harmonica player (d. 1971)
  • 1932 – Bailey Olter, Micronesian politician, 3rd President of the Federated States of Micronesia (d. 1999)
  • 1933 – Lê Văn Hưng, South Vietnamese Brigadier general (d. 1975)
  • 1934 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist, author, and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1935 – Stanley Rother, American Roman Catholic priest and missionary (d. 1981)
  • 1935 – Julian Glover, English actor
  • 1936 – Malcolm Goldstein, American violinist and composer
  • 1937 – Alan Hawkshaw, English keyboard player and songwriter
  • 1939 – Jay Kim, South Korean-American engineer and politician
  • 1939 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver and businessman
  • 1940 – Sandro Munari, Italian race car driver
  • 1940 – Austin Pendleton, American actor, director, and playwright
  • 1941 – Ivan Gašparovič, Slovak lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Slovakia
  • 1941 – Liese Prokop, Austrian pentathlete and politician, Austrian Minister of the Interior (d. 2006)
  • 1942 – Michael Jackson, English journalist and author (d. 2007)
  • 1942 – John Sulston, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
  • 1942 – Michael York, English actor
  • 1943 – Mike Curtis, American football player and coach (d. 2020)
  • 1944 – Jesse Brown, American marine and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2002)
  • 1944 – Bryan Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1946 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (d. 1999)
  • 1947 – Oliver Friggieri, Maltese author, critic, poet and philosopher
  • 1947 – Brian Jones, English balloonist and pilot
  • 1947 – Walt Mossberg, American journalist
  • 1948 – Jens-Peter Bonde, Danish lawyer and politician
  • 1950 – Tony Banks, English keyboardist and songwriter
  • 1950 – Petros Efthymiou, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs
  • 1950 – Maria Ewing, African-American soprano
  • 1950 – Chris Stewart, English musician and author
  • 1950 – Terry Yorath, Welsh international footballer, Midfielder and international manager
  • 1951 – Andrei Kozyrev, Belgian-Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia
  • 1952 – Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austrian skier
  • 1952 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)
  • 1953 – Herman Ponsteen, Dutch cyclist
  • 1954 – Gerard Batten, English lawyer and politician
  • 1955 – Patrick McCabe, Irish writer
  • 1955 – Mariano Rajoy, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
  • 1955 – Susan Neiman, Jewish American-German philosopher and author
  • 1956 – Leung Kwok-hung, Hong Kong activist and politician
  • 1956 – Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross country skier
  • 1957 – Kostas Vasilakakis, Greek footballer and manager
  • 1957 – Stephen Dillane, English actor
  • 1958 – Didier de Radiguès, Belgian race car driver and motorcycle racer
  • 1959 – Andrew Farriss, Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist
  • 1960 – Hans Pflügler, German footballer
  • 1960 – Renato Russo, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
  • 1961 – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league player and coach
  • 1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss professional cyclist
  • 1962 – Jann Arden, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1962 – Brett French, Australian rugby league player
  • 1962 – Rob Hollink, Dutch poker player
  • 1962 – John O’Farrell, English journalist and author
  • 1962 – Brad Wright, American-Spanish basketball player
  • 1962 – Kevin J. Anderson, American science fiction writer
  • 1963 – Cory Blackwell, American basketball player
  • 1963 – Randall Cunningham, American football player, coach, and pastor
  • 1963 – Filippos Sachinidis, Greek-Canadian economist and politician
  • 1963 – Gary Stevens, English-Australian footballer and physiotherapist
  • 1963 – Quentin Tarantino, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
  • 1963 – Xuxa, Brazilian actress, singer, businesswoman and television presenter
  • 1965 – Gregor Foitek, Swiss race car driver
  • 1966 – Žarko Paspalj, Serbian basketball player
  • 1967 – Talisa Soto, American actress
  • 1968 – Irina Belova, Russian heptathlete
  • 1969 – Gianluigi Lentini, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1969 – Pauley Perrette, American actress
  • 1970 – Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran (d. 2001)
  • 1970 – Derek Aucoin, Canadian baseball player
  • 1970 – Mariah Carey, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1970 – Brent Fitz, Canadian-American multi-instrumentalist and recording artist
  • 1970 – Jarrod McCracken, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress
  • 1970 – Uwe Rosenberg, German game designer, created Bohnanza
  • 1971 – David Coulthard, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor
  • 1972 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Surinamese-Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
  • 1972 – Charlie Haas, American professional wrestler
  • 1973 – Roger Telemachus, South African cricketer
  • 1974 – Marek Citko, Polish footballer and manager
  • 1974 – George Koumantarakis, Greek-South African footballer
  • 1974 – Gaizka Mendieta, Spanish footballer
  • 1975 – Andrew Blowers, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1975 – Kim Felton, Australian golfer
  • 1975 – Jeff Palmer, American gay porn actor and singer-songwriter
  • 1975 – Fergie, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
  • 1975 – Christian Fiedler, German footballer and manager
  • 1976 – Roberta Anastase, Romanian politician, 57th President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania
  • 1976 – Danny Fortson, American basketball player
  • 1976 – Adrian Anca, Romanian footballer
  • 1977 – Vítor Meira, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1978 – Gabriel Paraschiv, Romanian footballer
  • 1978 – Marius Bakken, Norwegian runner
  • 1978 – Amélie Cocheteux, French tennis player
  • 1979 – Tom Palmer, English rugby union player
  • 1979 – Mohsen Moeini, Iranian author and director
  • 1979 – Imran Tahir, Pakistani-South African cricketer
  • 1979 – Jennifer Wilson, Zimbabwean-South African field hockey player
  • 1980 – Sean Ryan, American football player
  • 1980 – Michaela Paštiková, Czech tennis player
  • 1980 – Maksim Shevchenko, Kazakhstani footballer
  • 1981 – Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
  • 1981 – Akhil Kumar, Indian boxer
  • 1981 – Jukka Keskisalo, Finnish runner
  • 1981 – Hilda Kibet, Kenyan runner
  • 1982 – Shawn Beveney, Guyanese footballer
  • 1983 – Yuliya Golubchikova, Russian pole vaulter
  • 1983 – Vasily Koshechkin, Russian ice hockey player
  • 1983 – Román Martínez, Argentinian footballer
  • 1984 – Adam Ashley-Cooper, Australian rugby player
  • 1984 – Ben Franks, Australian-born New Zealand rugby player
  • 1984 – Brett Holman, Australian footballer
  • 1985 – Dustin Byfuglien, American ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Danny Vukovic, Australian footballer
  • 1986 – Manuel Neuer, German footballer
  • 1987 – Jefferson Bernárdez, Honduran footballer
  • 1987 – Samuel Francis, Nigerian-Qatari sprinter
  • 1987 – Polina Gagarina, Russian singer-songwriter
  • 1987 – Buster Posey, American baseball player
  • 1988 – Jessie J, English singer-songwriter
  • 1988 – Atsuto Uchida, Japanese footballer
  • 1988 – Brenda Song, American actress
  • 1988 – Mauro Goicoechea, Uruguayan footballer
  • 1988 – Holliday Grainger, English actress
  • 1989 – Matt Harvey, American baseball player
  • 1989 – Camilla Lees, New Zealand netball player
  • 1990 – Erdin Demir, Swedish-Turkish footballer
  • 1990 – Ben Hunt, Australian rugby league player
  • 1990 – Nicolas Nkoulou, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1990 – Luca Zuffi, Swiss footballer
  • 1990 – Kimbra, New Zealand musician
  • 1990 – Brodha V, Indian Rapper and Music Producer
  • 1992 – Marc Muniesa, Spanish footballer
  • 1995 – Bill Tuiloma, New Zealand footballer

Deaths on March 27

  • 710 – Rupert of Salzburg, Austrian bishop and saint (b. 660)
  • 853 – Haymo of Halberstadt, German bishop and author (b. 778)
  • 913 – Du Xiao, chancellor of Later Liang
  • 913 – Zhang empress of Later Liang
  • 916 – Alduin I, Frankish nobleman
  • 965 – Arnulf I, Count of Flanders (born c. 890)
  • 973 – Hermann Billung, Frankish lieutenant (b. 900)
  • 1045 – Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara’i, Fatimid vizier
  • 1184 – Giorgi III, King of Georgia
  • 1248 – Maud Marshal, English countess (b. 1192)
  • 1350 – Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)
  • 1378 – Pope Gregory XI (b. 1336)
  • 1462 – Vasily II of Moscow (b. 1415)
  • 1472 – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop and poet (b. 1434)
  • 1482 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1457)
  • 1564 – Lütfi Pasha, Turkish historian and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1488)
  • 1572 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian polymath (b. c. 1523)
  • 1598 – Theodor de Bry, Belgian-German engraver, goldsmith, and publisher (b. 1528)
  • 1613 – Sigismund Báthory (b. 1573)
  • 1615 – Margaret of Valois (b. 1553)
  • 1621 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian cardinal (b. 1554)
  • 1624 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (b. 1578)
  • 1625 – James VI and I of the United Kingdom (b. 1566)
  • 1635 – Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)
  • 1676 – Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier, and diplomat (b. 1597)
  • 1679 – Abraham Mignon, Dutch painter (b. 1640)
  • 1697 – Simon Bradstreet, English businessman and politician, 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1603)
  • 1729 – Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1679)
  • 1757 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1717)
  • 1770 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (b. 1696)
  • 1848 – Gabriel Bibron, French zoologist and herpetologist (b. 1805)
  • 1849 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, Irish-Canadian politician, 35th Governor General of Canada (b. 1776)
  • 1850 – Wilhelm Beer, Prussian astronomer and banker (b. 1797)
  • 1864 – Jean-Jacques Ampère, French philologist and academic (b. 1800)
  • 1869 – James Harper, American publisher and politician, 65th Mayor of New York City (b. 1795)
  • 1875 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, Peruvian soldier and politician, President of Peru (b. 1808)
  • 1875 – Edgar Quinet, French historian and academic (b. 1803)
  • 1878 – George Gilbert Scott, English architect, designed the Albert Memorial and St Mary’s Cathedral (b. 1811)
  • 1886 – Henry Taylor, English poet and playwright (b. 1800)
  • 1889 – John Bright, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1811)
  • 1890 – Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
  • 1898 – Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian philosopher and activist (b. 1817)
  • 1900 – Joseph A. Campbell, American businessman, founded the Campbell Soup Company (b. 1817)
  • 1910 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American ichthyologist, zoologist, and engineer (b. 1835)
  • 1913 – Richard Montgomery Gano, American minister, physician, and general (b. 1830)
  • 1918 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1838)
  • 1918 – Martin Sheridan, Irish-American discus thrower and jumper (b. 1881)
  • 1921 – Harry Barron, English general and politician, 16th Governor of Western Australia (b. 1847)
  • 1922 – Nikolay Sokolov, Russian composer and educator (b. 1859)
  • 1923 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (b. 1842)
  • 1925 – Carl Neumann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1832)
  • 1926 – Kick Kelly, American baseball player, manager, and umpire (b. 1856)
  • 1926 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
  • 1927 – Joe Start, American baseball player and manager (b. 1842)
  • 1927 – Klaus Berntsen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1844)
  • 1928 – Leslie Stuart, English organist and composer (b. 1863)
  • 1931 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (b. 1867)
  • 1934 – Francis William Reitz, South African lawyer and politician, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1844)
  • 1938 – William Stern, German-American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1871)
  • 1940 – Michael Joseph Savage, Australian-New Zealand politician, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)
  • 1942 – Julio González, Catalan sculptor and painter (b. 1876)
  • 1943 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1882)
  • 1945 – Vincent Hugo Bendix, American engineer and businessman, founded Bendix Corporation (b. 1881)
  • 1945 – Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1866)
  • 1946 – Karl Groos, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1861)
  • 1949 – Elisheva Bikhovski, Israeli-Russian poet (b. 1888)
  • 1952 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (b. 1894)
  • 1956 – Évariste Lévi-Provençal, French orientalist and historian (b. 1894)
  • 1958 – Leon C. Phillips, American lawyer and politician, 11th Governor of Oklahoma (b. 1890)
  • 1960 – Gregorio Marañón, Spanish physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1887)
  • 1967 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
  • 1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
  • 1968 – Vladimir Seryogin, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1922)
  • 1973 – Mikhail Kalatozov, Georgian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1903)
  • 1974 – Eduardo Santos, Colombian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of Colombia (b. 1888)
  • 1975 – Arthur Bliss, English conductor and composer (b. 1891)
  • 1976 – Georg August Zinn, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Hesse (b. 1901)
  • 1977 – Shirley Graham Du Bois, American author, playwright, and composer (b. 1896)
  • 1977 – Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)
  • 1977 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch airline pilot (b. 1927)
  • 1978 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded the White Spot (b. 1902)
  • 1978 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey (b. 1922)
  • 1978 – Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1920)
  • 1980 – Steve Fisher, American author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 1981 – Jakob Ackeret, Swiss engineer and academic (b. 1898)
  • 1982 – Fazlur Khan, Bangladeshi-American engineer and architect, designed the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (b. 1929)
  • 1987 – William Bowers, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1916)
  • 1988 – Charles Willeford, American author, poet, and critic (b. 1919)
  • 1989 – May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
  • 1989 – Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (b. 1898)
  • 1990 – Percy Beard, American hurdler and coach (b. 1908)
  • 1991 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)
  • 1992 – Colin Gibson, English footballer (b. 1923)
  • 1992 – Lang Hancock, Australian businessman (b. 1909)
  • 1992 – James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (b. 1906)
  • 1993 – Kamal Hassan Ali, Egyptian general and politician, Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1921)
  • 1993 – Paul László, Hungarian-American architect and interior designer (b. 1900)
  • 1994 – Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist (b. 1912)
  • 1994 – Lawrence Wetherby, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1908)
  • 1995 – René Allio, French director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
  • 1997 – Lane Dwinell, American businessman and politician, 69th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1906)
  • 1997 – Ella Maillart, Swiss skier, sailor, field hockey player, and photographer (b. 1903)
  • 1998 – David McClelland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1917)
  • 1999 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (b. 1946)
  • 2000 – George Allen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1914)
  • 2000 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1942)
  • 2002 – Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
  • 2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (b. 1935)
  • 2002 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
  • 2003 – Edwin Carr, New Zealand composer and educator (b. 1926)
  • 2004 – Robert Merle, French author (b. 1909)
  • 2005 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (b. 1913)
  • 2006 – Dan Curtis, American director and producer (b. 1928)
  • 2006 – Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish author (b. 1921)
  • 2006 – Rudolf Vrba, Czech Holocaust survivor and educator (b. 1924)
  • 2006 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (b. 1962)
  • 2007 – Nancy Adams, New Zealand botanist and illustrator (b. 1926)
  • 2007 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
  • 2008 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (b. 1921)
  • 2009 – Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (b. 1922)
  • 2010 – Dick Giordano, American illustrator (b. 1932)
  • 2011 – Clement Arrindell, Nevisian judge and politician, 1st Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (b. 1931)
  • 2011 – Farley Granger, American actor (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist and feminist (b. 1929)
  • 2013 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Yvonne Brill, Canadian-American scientist and engineer (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Fay Kanin, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1917)
  • 2014 – Richard N. Frye, American scholar and academic (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defense and first United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Johnny Helms, American trumpet player, bandleader, and educator (b. 1935)
  • 2015 – T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (b. 1922)
  • 2016 – Mother Angelica, American Roman Catholic religious leader and media personality (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on March 27

  • Christian feast day:
    • Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
    • Amador of Portugal
    • Augusta of Treviso
    • Charles Henry Brent (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh
    • John of Egypt
    • Philetus
    • Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730.
    • Rupert of Salzburg
    • Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
    • March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Armed Forces Day (Myanmar)
  • International whisk(e)y day
  • World Theatre Day (International)

March 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 14- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1590 – Battle of Ivry: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots defeat the forces of the Catholic League under Charles, Duke of Mayenne, during the French Wars of Religion.
  • 1647 – Thirty Years’ War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
  • 1663 – According to his own account, Otto von Guericke completes his book De Vacuo.
  • 1674 – The Third Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of Ronas Voe results in the Dutch East India Company ship Wapen van Rotterdam being captured with a death toll of up to 300 Dutch crew and soldiers.
  • 1757 – Admiral Sir John Byng is executed by firing squad aboard HMS Monarch for breach of the Articles of War.
  • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: Spanish forces capture Fort Charlotte in Mobile, Alabama, the last British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans.
  • 1794 – Eli Whitney is granted a patent for the cotton gin.
  • 1885 – The Mikado, a light opera by W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, receives its first public performance at the Savoy Theatre in London.
  • 1900 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
  • 1903 – Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, the first national wildlife refuge in the US, is established by President Theodore Roosevelt.
  • 1920 – In the second of the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites, about 80% of the population in Zone II votes to remain part of Weimar Germany.
  • 1926 – The El Virilla train accident, Costa Rica, kills 248 people and wounds another 93 when a train falls off a bridge over the Río Virilla between Heredia and Tibás.
  • 1931 – Alam Ara, India’s first talking film, is released.
  • 1939 – Slovakia declares independence under German pressure.
  • 1942 – Anne Miller becomes the first American patient to be treated with penicillin, under the care of Orvan Hess and John Bumstead.
  • 1943 – The liquidation of the Kraków Ghetto is completed.
  • 1945 – The R.A.F. drop the Grand Slam bomb in action for the first time, on a railway viaduct near Bielefeld, Germany.
  • 1951 – Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time.
  • 1961 – A USAF B-52 bomber crashes near near Yuba City, California whilst carrying nuclear weapons.
  • 1964 – Jack Ruby is convicted of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, the assumed assassin of John F. Kennedy.
  • 1967 – The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
  • 1978 – The Israel Defense Forces launch Operation Litani, a seven-day campaign to invade and occupy southern Lebanon.
  • 1980 – LOT Flight 7 crashes during final approach near Warsaw, Poland, killing 87 people, including a 14-man American boxing team.
  • 1982 – The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London.
  • 1988 – In the Johnson South Reef Skirmish Chinese forces defeat Vietnamese forces in an altercation over control of one of the Spratly Islands.
  • 1995 – Norman Thagard becomes the first American astronaut to ride to space on board a Russian launch vehicle.
  • 2006 – The 2006 Chadian coup d’état attempt ends in failure.
  • 2007 – The Nandigram violence in Nandigram, West Bengal results in the deaths of at least 14 people.
  • 2008 – A series of riots, protests, and demonstrations erupt in Lhasa and subsequently spread elsewhere in Tibet.
  • 2019 – Cyclone Idai makes landfall near Beira, Mozambique, causing devastating floods and over 1000 deaths.

Births on March 14

  • 1638 – Johann Georg Gichtel, German mystic (d. 1710)
  • 1790 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (d. 1863)
  • 1800 – James Bogardus, American inventor and architect (d. 1874)
  • 1801 – Kristjan Jaak Peterson, Estonian poet (d. 1822)
  • 1804 – Johann Strauss I, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1849)
  • 1813 – Joseph P. Bradley, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1892)
  • 1820 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (d. 1878)
  • 1822 – Teresa Cristina of the Two Sicilies (d. 1889)
  • 1823 – Théodore de Banville, French poet and critic (d. 1891)
  • 1833 – Frederic Shields, English painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
  • 1833 – Lucy Hobbs Taylor, American dentist and educator (d. 1910)
  • 1835 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (d. 1910)
  • 1836 – Isabella Beeton, English author of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (d. 1865)
  • 1837 – Charles Ammi Cutter, American librarian (d. 1903)
  • 1844 – Umberto I of Italy (d. 1900)
  • 1844 – Arthur O’Shaughnessy, English poet and herpetologist (d. 1881)
  • 1847 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet and playwright (d. 1871)
  • 1853 – Ferdinand Hodler, Swiss painter (d. 1918)
  • 1854 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1915)
  • 1854 – John Lane, English publisher, co-founded The Bodley Head (d. 1925)
  • 1854 – Alexandru Macedonski, Romanian author and poet (d. 1920)
  • 1854 – Thomas R. Marshall, American lawyer and politician, 28th Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1925)
  • 1862 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (d. 1951)
  • 1863 – Casey Jones, American engineer (d. 1900)
  • 1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (d. 1933)
  • 1869 – Algernon Blackwood, English author and playwright (d. 1951)
  • 1874 – Anton Philips, Dutch businessman, co-founded Philips Electronics (d. 1951)
  • 1879 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955)
  • 1882 – Wacław Sierpiński, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1969)
  • 1885 – Raoul Lufbery, French-American soldier and pilot (d. 1918)
  • 1886 – Firmin Lambot, Belgian cyclist (d. 1964)
  • 1887 – Sylvia Beach, American-French publisher, founded Shakespeare and Company (d. 1962)
  • 1898 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter and illustrator (d. 1954)
  • 1899 – K. C. Irving, Canadian businessman, founded Irving Oil (d. 1992)
  • 1901 – Sid Atkinson, South African hurdler and long jumper (d. 1977)
  • 1903 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (d. 1974)
  • 1904 – Doris Eaton Travis, American actress and dancer (d. 2010)
  • 1905 – Raymond Aron, French journalist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1983)
  • 1906 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin, Turkish composer and educator (d. 1972)
  • 1908 – Ed Heinemann, American designer of military aircraft (d. 1991)
  • 1908 – Maurice Merleau-Ponty, French philosopher and academic (d. 1961)
  • 1908 – Philip Conrad Vincent, English engineer and businessman, founded Vincent Motorcycles (d. 1979)
  • 1911 – Akira Yoshizawa, Japanese origamist (d. 2005)
  • 1912 – Cliff Bastin, English footballer (d. 1991)
  • 1912 – Les Brown, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 2001)
  • 1912 – W. Graham Claytor, Jr. American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1994)
  • 1912 – W. Willard Wirtz, American lawyer and politician, 10th United States Secretary of Labor (d. 2010)
  • 1914 – Lee Hays, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981)
  • 1914 – Bill Owen, English actor and songwriter (d. 1999)
  • 1914 – Lee Petty, American race car driver and businessman, founded Petty Enterprises (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
  • 1916 – Horton Foote, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1917 – Alan Smith, English lieutenant and pilot (d. 2013)
  • 1918 – Zoia Horn, American librarian (d. 2014)
  • 1919 – Max Shulman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1920 – Hank Ketcham, American author and cartoonist, created Dennis the Menace (d. 2001)
  • 1920 – Dorothy Tyler-Odam, English high jumper (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – S. Truett Cathy, American businessman, founded Chick-fil-A (d. 2014)
  • 1921 – Ada Louise Huxtable, American author and critic (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1923 – Diane Arbus, American photographer (d. 1971)
  • 1925 – William Clay Ford, Sr., American businessman (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Joseph A. Unanue, American sergeant and businessman (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – François Morel, Canadian pianist, composer, conductor, and educator (d. 2018)
  • 1928 – Frank Borman, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1928 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (d. 1980)
  • 1929 – Bob Goalby, American golfer
  • 1932 – Mark Murphy, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Naina Yeltsina, Russian wife of Boris Yeltsin, First Lady of Russia
  • 1933 – Michael Caine, English actor and author
  • 1933 – Quincy Jones, American singer-songwriter, trumpet player, and producer
  • 1934 – Eugene Cernan, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
  • 1934 – Paul Rader, American 15th General of The Salvation Army
  • 1936 – Bob Charles, New Zealand golfer
  • 1937 – Peter van der Merwe, South African cricketer and referee (d. 2013)
  • 1938 – Eleanor Bron, English actress and screenwriter
  • 1938 – Jan Crouch, American televangelist, co-founder of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (d. 2016)
  • 1938 – John Gleeson, Australian cricketer (d. 2016)
  • 1939 – Raymond J. Barry, American actor
  • 1939 – Bertrand Blier, French director and screenwriter
  • 1939 – Yves Boisset, French director and screenwriter
  • 1941 – Wolfgang Petersen, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1942 – Rita Tushingham, English actress
  • 1943 – Anita Morris, American actress and singer (d. 1994)
  • 1944 – Boris Brott, Canadian composer and conductor
  • 1944 – Václav Nedomanský, Czech ice hockey player and manager
  • 1944 – Bobby Smith, English footballer and manager
  • 1944 – Tom Stannage, Australian historian and academic (d. 2012)
  • 1945 – Jasper Carrott, English comedian, actor, and game show host
  • 1945 – Michael Martin Murphey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1945 – Walter Parazaider, American saxophonist
  • 1946 – William Lerach, American securities and class action attorney
  • 1946 – Wes Unseld, American basketball player, coach, and manager
  • 1947 – Roy Budd, English pianist and composer (d. 1993)
  • 1947 – William J. Jefferson, American lawyer and politician
  • 1947 – Jona Lewie, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1948 – Tom Coburn, American physician and politician (d. 2020)
  • 1948 – Billy Crystal, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1948 – Theo Jansen, Dutch sculptor
  • 1950 – Rick Dees, American actor and radio host
  • 1951 – Jerry Greenfield, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Ben & Jerry’s
  • 1953 – Nick Keir, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1955 – Jonathan Kaufer, American director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
  • 1956 – Alexey Pajitnov, Russian video game designer and computer engineer, creator of Tetris
  • 1956 – Butch Wynegar, American baseball player and coach
  • 1957 – Tad Williams, American author
  • 1958 – Albert II, Prince of Monaco
  • 1959 – Laila Robins, American actress
  • 1959 – Tamara Tunie, American actress
  • 1960 – Heidi Hammel, American astronomer and academic
  • 1961 – Garry Jack, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1961 – Mike Lazaridis, Turkish–Canadian businessman and philanthropist, founded BlackBerry Limited
  • 1963 – Bruce Reid, Australian cricketer and coach
  • 1965 – Kevin Brown, American baseball player and coach
  • 1965 – Aamir Khan, Indian film actor, producer, and director
  • 1965 – Billy Sherwood, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1965 – Kevin Williamson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Jonas Elmer, Danish actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1966 – Elise Neal, American actress and producer
  • 1968 – Megan Follows, Canadian-American actress
  • 1969 – Larry Johnson, American basketball player and actor
  • 1970 – Kristian Bush, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Irom Chanu Sharmila, Indian poet and activist
  • 1973 – Rohit Shetty, Indian film director and producer
  • 1974 – Patrick Traverse, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Steve Harper, English footballer and referee
  • 1975 – Dmitri Markov, Belarusian-Australian pole vaulter
  • 1976 – Phil Vickery, English rugby player and sportscaster
  • 1977 – Vadims Fjodorovs, Latvian footballer and coach
  • 1977 – Naoki Matsuda, Japanese footballer (d. 2011)
  • 1977 – Jeremy Paul, New Zealand-Australian rugby player
  • 1978 – Pieter van den Hoogenband, Dutch swimmer
  • 1979 – Nicolas Anelka, French footballer and manager
  • 1979 – Chris Klein, American actor
  • 1979 – Sead Ramović, German-Bosnian footballer
  • 1980 – Aaron Brown, English footballer and coach
  • 1980 – Ben Herring, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1981 – Bobby Jenks, American baseball player
  • 1981 – George Wilson, American football player
  • 1982 – Carlos Marinelli, Argentinian footballer
  • 1982 – François Sterchele, Belgian footballer (d. 2008)
  • 1983 – Bakhtiyar Artayev, Kazakh boxer
  • 1986 – Elton Chigumbura, Zimbabwean cricketer
  • 1986 – Jessica Gallagher, Australian skier and cyclist
  • 1986 – Andy Taylor, English footballer
  • 1988 – Stephen Curry, American basketball player
  • 1988 – Rico Freimuth, German decathlete
  • 1989 – Kevin Lacroix, Canadian race car driver
  • 1990 – Joe Allen, Welsh footballer
  • 1990 – Tamás Kádár, Hungarian footballer
  • 1990 – Haru Kuroki, Japanese actress
  • 1990 – Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, Icelandic footballer
  • 1991 – Emir Bekrić, Serbian hurdler
  • 1991 – László Szűcs, Hungarian footballer
  • 1991 – Steven Zellner, German footballer
  • 1993 – Philipp Ziereis, German footballer
  • 1994 – Ansel Elgort, American actor and DJ
  • 1996 – Batuhan Altıntaş, Turkish footballer
  • 1997 – Simone Biles, American gymnast
  • 2008 – Abby Ryder Fortson, American actress

Deaths on March 14

  • 840 – Einhard, Frankish scholar
  • 968 – Matilda of Ringelheim, Saxon queen (b. c. 896)
  • 1555 – John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (b. 1485)
  • 1647 – Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange (b. 1584)
  • 1648 – Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English general and politician (b. 1584)
  • 1696 – Jean Domat, French lawyer and jurist (b. 1625)
  • 1748 – George Wade, Irish field marshal and politician (b. 1673)
  • 1757 – John Byng, British admiral and politician, 11th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1704)
  • 1791 – Johann Salomo Semler, German historian and critic (b. 1725)
  • 1803 – Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, German poet (b. 1724)
  • 1811 – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1735)
  • 1823 – Charles François Dumouriez, French general and politician, French Minister of War (b. 1739)
  • 1860 – Carl Ritter von Ghega, Italian engineer, designed the Semmering railway (b. 1802)
  • 1877 – Juan Manuel de Rosas, Argentinian general and politician, 17th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (b. 1793)
  • 1883 – Karl Marx, German philosopher and theorist (b. 1818)
  • 1884 – Quintino Sella, Italian economist and politician, Italian Minister of Finances (b. 1827)
  • 1932 – George Eastman, American inventor and businessman, founded Eastman Kodak (b. 1854)
  • 1953 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak Communist politician and 14th President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1896)
  • 1957 – Evagoras Pallikarides, Cypriot activist (b. 1938)
  • 1965 – Marion Jones Farquhar, American tennis player (b. 1879)
  • 1968 – Erwin Panofsky, German historian and academic (b. 1892)
  • 1969 – Ben Shahn, Lithuanian-American painter, illustrator, and educator (b. 1898)
  • 1973 – Howard H. Aiken, American computer scientist and engineer (b. 1900)
  • 1973 – Chic Young, American cartoonist (b. 1901)
  • 1975 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)
  • 1976 – Busby Berkeley, American director and choreographer (b. 1895)
  • 1977 – Fannie Lou Hamer, American activist and philanthropist (b. 1917)
  • 1980 – Mohammad Hatta, Indonesian politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Indonesia (b. 1902)
  • 1980 – Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente, Spanish environmentalist (b. 1928)
  • 1984 – Hovhannes Shiraz, Armenian poet (b. 1915)
  • 1989 – Zita of Bourbon-Parma, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary (b. 1892)
  • 1991 – Howard Ashman, American playwright and composer (b. 1950)
  • 1995 – William Alfred Fowler, American physicist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
  • 1997 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (b. 1907)
  • 1999 – Kirk Alyn, American actor (b. 1910)
  • 1999 – John Broome, American author (b. 1913)
  • 2003 – Jack Goldstein, Canadian-American painter (b. 1945)
  • 2003 – Jean-Luc Lagardère, French engineer and businessman (b. 1928)
  • 2006 – Lennart Meri, Estonian director and politician, 2nd President of Estonia (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Lucie Aubrac, French educator and activist (b. 1912)
  • 2008 – Chiara Lubich, Italian activist, co-founded the Focolare Movement (b. 1920)
  • 2010 – Peter Graves, American actor (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Pierre Schoendoerffer, French director and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Ċensu Tabone, Maltese general and politician, 4th President of Malta (b. 1913)
  • 2013 – Jack Greene, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Aramais Sahakyan, Armenian poet and author (b. 1936)
  • 2013 – Ieng Sary, Vietnamese-Cambodian politician, Cambodian Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Tony Benn, English politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Meir Har-Zion, Israeli commander (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – John W. Cahn, German-American metallurgist and academic (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Peter Maxwell Davies, English composer and conductor (b. 1934)
  • 2016 – Suranimala Rajapaksha, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
  • 2018 – Jim Bowen, English stand-up comedian and TV personality (b. 1937)
  • 2018 – Marielle Franco, Brazilian politician and human rights activist (b. 1979)
  • 2018 – Stephen Hawking, English physicist and author (b. 1942)
  • 2018 – Liam O’Flynn, Irish uileann piper (b. 1945)
  • 2019 – Jake Phelps, American skateboarder and Thrasher editor-in-chief (b. 1962)

Holidays and observances on March 14

  • Christian feast day:
    • Leobinus
    • March 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Constitution Day (Andorra)
  • Heroes’ Day (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
  • Mother Tongue Day (Estonia)
  • Nanakshahi New Year, first day of the month of Chet (Sikhism)
  • Pi Day
  • Summer Day (Albania)
  • White Day on which men give gifts to women; complementary to Valentine’s Day (Japan and other Asian nations)

March 14- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 222 – Alexander Severus becomes emperor of Rome, replacing his cousin, 18-year-old Elagabalus. The bodies of the assassinated emperor and his mother, Julia Soaemias, are dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber.
  • 1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: English condottiero Sir John Hawkwood leads Padova to victory in a factional clash with Verona.
  • 1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina.
  • 1649 – The Frondeurs and the French sign the Peace of Rueil.
  • 1702 – The Daily Courant, England’s first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time.
  • 1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
  • 1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end.
  • 1811 – During André Masséna’s retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, a division led by French Marshal Michel Ney fights off a combined Anglo-Portuguese force to give Masséna time to escape.
  • 1824 – The United States Department of War creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
  • 1845 – Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hone Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororareka, New Zealand.
  • 1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
  • 1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
  • 1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England.
  • 1872 – Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.
  • 1879 – Shō Tai formally abdicated his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom.
  • 1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
  • 1917 – World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
  • 1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
  • 1931 – Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union.
  • 1941 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
  • 1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established with Bảo Đại as its ruler.
  • 1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
  • 1975 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese and Viet Cong guerrilla forces establish control over Buôn Ma Thuột commune from the South Vietnamese army.
  • 1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Siege: More than 130 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
  • 1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel’s Operation Litani.
  • 1981 – Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement.
  • 1983 – Pakistan successfully conducts a cold test of a nuclear weapon.
  • 1983 – Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia.
  • 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union making Gorbachev the USSR’s de facto, and last, head of state.
  • 1990 – Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
  • 1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970.
  • 1993 – Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
  • 1999 – Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
  • 2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush-hour trains in Madrid, Spain, killing 192 people.
  • 2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
  • 2007 – Georgia claims Russian helicopters attacked the Kodori Valley in Abkhazia, an accusation that Russia categorically denies later.
  • 2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Sixteen are killed and 11 are injured before recent-graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany.
  • 2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile, while three earthquakes, the strongest measuring magnitude 6.9 and all centered next to Pichilemu, capital of Cardenal Caro province, hit central Chile during the ceremony.
  • 2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale.
  • 2012 – A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar.
  • 2016 – At least 21 people are killed by flooding and mudslides in and around São Paulo, Brazil, following heavy rain.
  • 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares a pandemic due to the COVID-19 virus.

Births on March 11

  • 1279 – Mary of Woodstock, daughter of Edward I of England (d. c.1332)
  • 1503 – George Harper, English politician (d. 1558)
  • 1530 – Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar (d. 1573)
  • 1544 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (d. 1595)
  • 1634 – Nicholas Gassaway, English colonial military and political leader (d. 1691)
  • 1738 – Benjamin Tupper, American general (d. 1792)
  • 1745 – Bodawpaya, Burmese king (d. 1819)
  • 1785 – John McLean, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Postmaster General (d. 1861)
  • 1787 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
  • 1806 – Louis Boulanger, French Romantic painter, lithographer and illustrator (d. 1867)
  • 1811 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1877)
  • 1815 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer (d. 1879)
  • 1818 – Marius Petipa, French-Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1910)
  • 1819 – Henry Tate, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Tate & Lyle (d. 1899)
  • 1822 – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (d. 1900)
  • 1854 – Jane Meade Welch, American journalist and lecturer (d. 1931)
  • 1863 – Andrew Stoddart, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1915)
  • 1870 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1946)
  • 1872 – Kathleen Clarice Groom, Australian-English author and screenwriter (d. 1954)
  • 1873 – David Horsley, English-American film producer, co-founded Universal Studios (d. 1933)
  • 1876 – Carl Ruggles, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
  • 1878 – Umegatani Tōtarō II, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 1927)
  • 1880 – Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist and sociologist (d. 1943)
  • 1884 – Lewi Pethrus, Swedish minister and hymn-writer (d. 1974)
  • 1884 – Ömer Seyfettin, Turkish soldier, author, and educator (d. 1920)
  • 1885 – Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver and journalist (d. 1948)
  • 1887 – Raoul Walsh, American actor and director (d. 1980)
  • 1887 – Kâzım Orbay, Turkish general and politician (d. 1964)
  • 1890 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (d. 1974)
  • 1893 – Wanda Gág, American author and illustrator (d. 1946)
  • 1895 – Shemp Howard, American actor (d. 1955)
  • 1896 – Olivério Pinto, Brazilian zoologist and physician (d. 1981)
  • 1897 – Henry Cowell, American pianist and composer (d. 1965)
  • 1898 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)
  • 1899 – James H. Douglas, Jr., American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (d. 1988)
  • 1899 – Frederick IX of Denmark (d. 1972)
  • 1900 – Hanna Bergas, German teacher who contributed to the rescue of Jewish children during WWII (d. 1987)
  • 1903 – Ronald Syme, New Zealand historian and scholar (d. 1989)
  • 1903 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (d. 1992)
  • 1907 – Jessie Matthews, English actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
  • 1908 – Matti Sippala, Finnish javelin thrower (d. 1997)
  • 1910 – Robert Havemann, German chemist and academic (d. 1982)
  • 1911 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Egyptian-Scottish general and politician (d. 1996)
  • 1913 – Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, German colonel and pilot (d. 1944)
  • 1915 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (d. 2004)
  • 1915 – J. C. R. Licklider, American computer scientist and psychologist (d. 1990)
  • 1916 – Ezra Jack Keats, American author and illustrator (d. 1983)
  • 1916 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
  • 1920 – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2017)
  • 1921 – Frank Harary, American mathematician and academic (d. 2005)
  • 1921 – Jeff Stollmeyer, Trinidadian cricketer (d. 1989)
  • 1921 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player (d. 1992)
  • 1922 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek economist and philosopher (d. 1997)
  • 1922 – José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor and director (d. 2009)
  • 1922 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia (d. 1976)
  • 1923 – Louise Brough, American tennis player (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American biochemist and academic (d. 1983)
  • 1925 – İlhan Selçuk, Turkish lawyer, journalist, and author (d. 2010)
  • 1926 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (d. 1990)
  • 1927 – Joachim Fuchsberger, German actor and television host (d. 2014)
  • 1927 – Col Geelan, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1996)
  • 1927 – Freda Meissner-Blau, Austrian activist and politician (d. 2015)
  • 1927 – Robert Mosbacher, American sailor, businessman, and politician, 25th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (d. 2014)
  • 1928 – Albert Salmi, American actor (d. 1990)
  • 1929 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1994)
  • 1929 – Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (d. 1998)
  • 1930 – David Gentleman, English illustrator and engraver
  • 1930 – Claude Jutra, Canadian actor, director and screenwriter (d. 1986)
  • 1931 – Janosch, Polish-German author and illustrator
  • 1931 – Marisa Del Frate, Italian actress and singer (d. 2015)
  • 1931 – Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate
  • 1932 – Leroy Jenkins, American violinist and composer (Revolutionary Ensemble) (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Nigel Lawson, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer
  • 1934 – Sam Donaldson, American journalist
  • 1936 – Hollis Frampton, American director, screenwriter, and photographer (d. 1984)
  • 1936 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2016)
  • 1938 – Joseph Brooks, American director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (d. 2011)
  • 1939 – Lorraine Hunt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Lieutenant Governor of Nevada
  • 1939 – Orlando Quevedo, Filipino cardinal
  • 1940 – Alberto Cortez, Argentinian-Spanish singer-songwriter (d. 2019)
  • 1942 – Marcus Borg, American scholar, theologian and author (d. 2015)
  • 1942 – Joel Steiger, American director, producer and screenwriter
  • 1943 – Arturo Merzario, Italian race car driver
  • 1945 – Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
  • 1945 – Harvey Mandel, American guitarist
  • 1946 – Mark Metcalf, American actor and producer
  • 1947 – Geoff Hunt, Australian squash player
  • 1947 – Tristan Murail, French composer and educator
  • 1948 – Roy Barnes, American lawyer and politician, 80th Governor of Georgia
  • 1949 – Griselda Pollock, South African-English historian and academic
  • 1950 – Sam Kekovich, Australian footballer and sportscaster
  • 1950 – Bobby McFerrin, American singer-songwriter, producer, and conductor
  • 1950 – Jerry Zucker, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1951 – Andres Metspalu, Estonian geneticist and academic
  • 1951 – Dominique Sanda, French model and actress
  • 1952 – Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (d. 2001)
  • 1953 – László Bölöni, Romanian-Hungarian footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Derek Daly, Irish-American race car driver and sportscaster
  • 1953 – Jimmy Iovine, American record producer and businessman, co-founded Interscope Records and Beats Electronics
  • 1953 – Bernie LaBarge, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1954 – David Newman, American composer and conductor
  • 1954 – Gale Norton, American lawyer and politician, 48th United States Secretary of the Interior
  • 1955 – Leslie Cliff, Canadian swimmer
  • 1955 – Nina Hagen, German singer and actress
  • 1955 – D. J. MacHale, American author, director, and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Willie Banks, American triple jumper
  • 1956 – Curtis Brown, American colonel, pilot and astronaut
  • 1956 – Helen Rollason, English journalist and sportscaster (d. 1999)
  • 1957 – The Lady Chablis, American drag queen performer (d. 2016)
  • 1958 – Ian Horrocks, English computer scientist and academic
  • 1958 – Tetsurō Oda, Japanese singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1958 – James Pinkerton, American journalist and author
  • 1958 – Anissa Jones, American child actress (d. 1976)
  • 1958 – Flemming Rose, Danish journalist and author
  • 1959 – Manuel Negrete Arias, Mexican footballer and coach
  • 1959 – Nina Hartley, American pornographic actress/director, sex educator, sex-positive feminist, and author
  • 1959 – Margus Oopkaup, Estonian actor
  • 1959 – Dejan Stojanović, Serbian-American journalist and poet
  • 1960 – Christophe Gans, French director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1960 – Junichi Sato, Japanese animator and director
  • 1960 – Warwick Taylor, New Zealand rugby player
  • 1961 – Elias Koteas, Canadian actor
  • 1961 – Bruce Watson, Canadian-Scottish guitarist
  • 1962 – Mary Gauthier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1962 – Matt Mead, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of Wyoming
  • 1963 – Gary Barnett, English footballer and manager
  • 1963 – Alex Kingston, English actress
  • 1963 – David LaChapelle, American photographer and director
  • 1964 – Peter Berg, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
  • 1964 – Vinnie Paul, American drummer, songwriter and producer (d. 2018)
  • 1964 – Shane Richie, English actor and singer
  • 1965 – Nigel Adkins, English footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Jesse Jackson, Jr., American lawyer and politician
  • 1965 – Wallace Langham, American actor
  • 1965 – Jenny Packham, English fashion designer
  • 1965 – Allan Vainola, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1966 – Robbie Brookside, English wrestler and trainer
  • 1966 – John Thompson III, American basketball player and coach
  • 1966 – Ilias Zouros, Greek basketball player and coach
  • 1967 – John Barrowman, Scottish-American actor and singer
  • 1967 – Brad Carson, American lawyer and politician, United States Under Secretary of the Army
  • 1967 – Renzo Gracie, Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and trainer
  • 1967 – Cynthia Klitbo, Mexican actress
  • 1968 – Stéphane Bédard, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1968 – Simone Buchanan, Australian actress
  • 1968 – Lisa Loeb, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress
  • 1969 – Terrence Howard, American actor and producer
  • 1969 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2006)
  • 1970 – Andre Nickatina, American rapper and producer
  • 1971 – Johnny Knoxville, American actor, stuntman, and producer
  • 1971 – Martin Ručinský, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1972 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (d. 2013)
  • 1973 – Martin Hiden, Austrian footballer and coach
  • 1974 – Bobby Abreu, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1975 – João Barbosa, Portuguese racing driver
  • 1975 – Shawn Springs, American football player
  • 1976 – Thomas Gravesen, Danish footballer
  • 1976 – Kotomitsuki Keiji, Japanese sumo wrestler
  • 1977 – Becky Hammon, American-Russian basketball player and coach
  • 1978 – Scott Calderwood, English-Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1978 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian footballer
  • 1978 – Albert Luque, Spanish footballer
  • 1979 – Elton Brand, American basketball player
  • 1979 – Fred Jones, American basketball player
  • 1979 – Benji Madden, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1979 – Joel Madden, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1979 – Keren Peles, Israeli singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1979 – Kirk Reynoldson, Australian rugby league player
  • 1980 – Paul Scharner, Austrian footballer
  • 1980 – Dan Uggla, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Heidi Cortez, American businesswoman and author
  • 1981 – Luke Johnson, English drummer and songwriter
  • 1981 – LeToya Luckett, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1982 – Brian Anderson, American baseball player
  • 1982 – Thora Birch, American actress
  • 1982 – Hasan Raza, Pakistani cricketer
  • 1983 – Lucy DeVito, American actress
  • 1985 – Paul Bissonnette, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Daniel Vázquez Evuy, Equatoguinean footballer
  • 1985 – Cassandra Fairbanks, American journalist and activist
  • 1985 – Luis Hernández, Mexican figure skater
  • 1985 – Stelios Malezas, Greek footballer
  • 1985 – Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer
  • 1985 – Derek Schouman, American football player
  • 1985 – Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Australian footballer
  • 1985 – Hakuhō Shō, Mongolian sumo wrestler, the 69th Yokozuna
  • 1986 – Dario Cologna, Swiss skier
  • 1986 – Mariko Shinoda, Japanese singer and actress
  • 1987 – Marc-André Gragnani, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Tanel Kangert, Estonian cyclist
  • 1987 – Ngonidzashe Makusha, Zimbabwean sprinter and long jumper
  • 1987 – Colin Munro, South African-New Zealand cricketer
  • 1988 – Fábio Coentrão, Portuguese footballer
  • 1988 – Cecil Lolo, South African footballer (d. 2015)
  • 1988 – Katsuhiko Nakajima, Japanese wrestler
  • 1989 – Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (d. 2016)
  • 1990 – Ayumi Morita, Japanese tennis player
  • 1991 – Kamohelo Mokotjo, South African footballer
  • 1992 – Austin Swift, American actor
  • 1992 – KZ Tandingan, Filipina singer and rapper
  • 1993 – Jodie Comer, British actress
  • 1993 – Anthony Davis, American basketball player
  • 1994 – Andrew Robertson, Scottish footballer

Deaths on March 11

  • 222 – Elagabalus, Roman emperor (b. 203)
  • 452 – Tai Wu Di, emperor of Northern Wei (b. 408)
  • 638 – Sophronius of Jerusalem (b. 560)
  • 857 – Eulogius of Córdoba, Spanish martyr and saint (b. 819)
  • 1198 – Marie of France, Countess of Champagne (b. 1145)
  • 1296 – John le Romeyn, Archbishop of York
  • 1353 – Theognostus, metropolitan of Kiev and Moscow
  • 1486 – Albrecht III Achilles, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1414)
  • 1514 – Donato Bramante, Italian architect, designed the San Pietro in Montorio (b. 1444)
  • 1575 – Matthias Flacius, Croatian theologian and reformer (b. 1520)
  • 1602 – Emilio de’ Cavalieri, Italian organist and composer (b. 1550)
  • 1607 – Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer and educator (b. 1543)
  • 1646 – Stanisław Koniecpolski, Polish soldier and statesman (b. c. 1592)
  • 1665 – Clemente Tabone, Maltese landowner and militia member (b. c. 1575)
  • 1722 – John Toland, Irish philosopher and theorist (b. 1670)
  • 1759 – John Forbes, Scottish general (b. 1710)
  • 1820 – Benjamin West, American-English painter and academic (b. 1738)
  • 1851 – Marie Louise Coidavid, Queen of Haiti (b. 1778)
  • 1851 – George McDuffie, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1790)
  • 1854 – Willard Richards, American journalist and religious leader (b. 1804)
  • 1863 – Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet, English general (b. 1803)
  • 1869 – Vladimir Odoyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (b. 1803)
  • 1870 – Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho (b. 1786)
  • 1874 – Charles Sumner, American lawyer and politician (b. 1811)
  • 1898 – William Rosecrans, American general and politician (b. 1819)
  • 1898 – Tigran Chukhajian, Armenian composer and conductor (b. 1837)
  • 1907 – Jean Casimir-Perier, French lawyer and politician, 6th President of France (b. 1847)
  • 1908 – Edmondo De Amicis, Italian journalist and author (b. 1846)
  • 1908 – Benjamin Waugh, American minister and activist (b. 1839)
  • 1915 – Thomas Alexander Browne, English-Australian author (b. 1826)
  • 1920 – Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1865)
  • 1927 – Xenophon Stratigos, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister of Transport (b. 1869)
  • 1931 – F. W. Murnau, German-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1888)
  • 1937 – Joseph S. Cullinan, American businessman, co-founded Texaco (b. 1860)
  • 1944 – Hendrik Willem van Loon, Dutch-American journalist and historian (b. 1882)
  • 1944 – Edgar Zilsel, Austrian historian and philosopher of science, linked to the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
  • 1949 – Anastasios Charalambis, Greek general and politician, 109th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1862)
  • 1949 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (b. 1879)
  • 1952 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (b. 1885)
  • 1955 – Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist, and botanist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
  • 1955 – Oscar F. Mayer, German-American businessman, founded Oscar Mayer (b. 1859)
  • 1957 – Richard E. Byrd, American admiral and explorer (b. 1888)
  • 1958 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded The Lego Group (b. 1891)
  • 1959 – Lester Dent, American author (b. 1904)
  • 1960 – Roy Chapman Andrews, American paleontologist and explorer (b. 1884)
  • 1965 – Harry Altham, English cricketer, historian and coach (b. 1888)
  • 1967 – Geraldine Farrar, American soprano and actress (b. 1882)
  • 1968 – Haşim İşcan, Turkish educator and politician, 18th Mayor of İstanbul (b. 1898)
  • 1969 – John Daly, Irish runner (b. 1880)
  • 1969 – John Wyndham, English soldier and author (b. 1903)
  • 1970 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (b. 1889)
  • 1971 – Philo Farnsworth, American inventor (b. 1906)
  • 1971 – Whitney Young, American activist (b. 1921)
  • 1977 – Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist and paleontologist (b. 1893)
  • 1978 – Claude François, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter and dancer (b. 1939)
  • 1980 – Chandra Bhanu Gupta, Indian politician, 4th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (b. 1902)
  • 1982 – Edmund Cooper, English poet and author (b. 1926)
  • 1982 – Horace Gregory, American poet, translator, and academic (b. 1898)
  • 1983 – Will Glickman, American playwright (b. 1910)
  • 1984 – Kostas Roukounas, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1986 – Sonny Terry, American singer and harmonica player (b. 1911)
  • 1989 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (b. 1917)
  • 1989 – John J. McCloy, American lawyer and banker (b. 1895)
  • 1992 – Richard Brooks, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 1995 – Myfanwy Talog, Welsh actress and singer (b. 1945)
  • 1996 – Vince Edwards, American actor and director (b. 1928)
  • 1999 – Herbert Jasper, Canadian psychologist, anatomist, and neurologist (b. 1906)
  • 1999 – Camille Laurin, Canadian psychiatrist and politician (b. 1922)
  • 2002 – James Tobin, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  • 2006 – Bernie Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1931)
  • 2006 – Slobodan Milošević, Serbian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (b. 1941)
  • 2007 – Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (b. 1921)
  • 2008 – Nils Taube, Estonian-English businessman (b. 1928)
  • 2009 – Charles Lewis, Jr., American businessman, co-founded Tapout Clothing (b. 1963)
  • 2010 – John Hill, Canadian-American wrestler (b. 1941)
  • 2010 – Merlin Olsen, American football player and actor (b. 1940)
  • 2010 – T. Somasekaram, Sri Lankan geographer and politician, 37th Surveyor General of Sri Lanka (b. 1934)
  • 2010 – Hans van Mierlo, Dutch journalist and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1931)
  • 2011 – Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (b. 1950)
  • 2012 – Henry Adefope, Nigerian physician and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Nigeria (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Sid Couchey, American author and illustrator (b. 1919)
  • 2012 – James B. Morehead, American colonel and pilot (b. 1916)
  • 2012 – Gösta Schwarck, German-Danish pianist and composer (b. 1915)
  • 2013 – Erica Andrews, Mexican-American drag queen performer (b. 1969)
  • 2013 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (b. 1930)
  • 2013 – Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (b. 1946)
  • 2013 – Simón Alberto Consalvi, Venezuelan journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Venezuela (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – Florian Siwicki, Polish general and politician (b. 1925)
  • 2014 – Dean Bailey, Australian footballer and coach (b. 1967)
  • 2014 – Joel Brinkley, American journalist and academic (b. 1952)
  • 2015 – Walter Burkert, German philologist and scholar (b. 1931)
  • 2015 – Jimmy Greenspoon, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (b. 1948)
  • 2015 – Gerald Hurst, American chemist and academic (b. 1937)
  • 2016 – Iolanda Balaș, Romanian high jumper and educator (b. 1936)
  • 2016 – Keith Emerson, English musician and composer. (b. 1944)
  • 2016 – Doreen Massey, English geographer and academic (b. 1944)
  • 2018 – Mary Rosenblum, American science fiction and mystery author (b. 1952)

Holidays and observances on March 11

  • Christian feast day:
    • Alberta of Agen
    • Áurea of San Millán
    • Benedict of Milan
    • Constantine
    • Eulogius of Córdoba
    • Blessed John Righi
    • Óengus of Tallaght
    • Sophronius of Jerusalem
    • Vindicianus
  • Day of Restoration of Independence from the Soviet Union in 1990 (Lithuania)
  • Johnny Appleseed Day (United States)
  • Moshoeshoe Day (Lesotho)

March 11- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
  • 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.
  • 947 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor.
  • 1607 – Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia.
  • 1629 – Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.
  • 1735 – An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories.
  • 1762 – French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
  • 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
  • 1830 – The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
  • 1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.
  • 1861 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
  • 1873 – The first Azerbaijani play “The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran” prepared by Akhundov was performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov.
  • 1876 – The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.
  • 1891 – Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
  • 1906 – The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France.
  • 1909 – By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
  • 1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
  • 1933 – The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area leaving around 108 people dead.
  • 1944 – Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.
  • 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
  • 1949 – Mildred Gillars (“Axis Sally”) is convicted of treason.
  • 1952 – Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba.
  • 1959 – Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama’s palace to prevent his removal.
  • 1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacked rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
  • 1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.
  • 1970 – Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
  • 1975 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
  • 1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
  • 1990 – In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.
  • 2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
  • 2017 – The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country’s Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
  • 2019 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes, leading to all 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.

Births on March 10

  • 1452 – Ferdinand II, king of Castile and León (d. 1516)
  • 1503 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1564)
  • 1536 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (d. 1572)
  • 1604 – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-Dutch alchemist and chemist (d. 1670)
  • 1628 – François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
  • 1628 – Marcello Malpighi, Italian physician and biologist (d. 1694)
  • 1656 – Giacomo Serpotta, Italian Rococo sculptor (d. 1732)
  • 1653 – John Benbow, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1702)
  • 1709 – Georg Wilhelm Steller, German botanist, zoologist, physician, and explorer (d. 1746)
  • 1749 – Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian-American priest and poet (d. 1838)
  • 1769 – Joseph Williamson, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1840)
  • 1772 – Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1829)
  • 1777 – Louis Hersent, French painter (d. 1860)
  • 1787 – Francisco de Paula Martínez de la Rosa y Berdejo, Spanish playwright and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (d. 1862)
  • 1787 – William Etty, English painter and academic (d. 1849)
  • 1788 – Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff, German author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1857)
  • 1788 – Edward Hodges Baily, English sculptor (d. 1867)
  • 1789 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (d. 1850)
  • 1795 – Joseph Légaré, Canadian painter and glazier, artist, seigneur and political figure (d. 1855)
  • 1810 – Samuel Ferguson, Irish poet and lawyer (d. 1886)
  • 1844 – Pablo de Sarasate, Spanish violinist and composer (d. 1908)
  • 1844 – Marie Euphrosyne Spartali, British Pre-Raphaelite painter (d. 1927)
  • 1845 – Alexander III of Russia (d. 1894)
  • 1846 – Edward Baker Lincoln, American son of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1850)
  • 1849 – Hallie Quinn Brown, African-American educator, writer and activist (d. 1949)
  • 1850 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (d. 1906)
  • 1853 – Thomas Mackenzie, Scottish-New Zealand cartographer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
  • 1867 – Hector Guimard, French-American architect (d. 1942)
  • 1867 – Lillian Wald, American nurse, humanitarian, and author, founded the Henry Street Settlement (d. 1940)
  • 1870 – David Riazanov, Russian theorist and politician (d. 1938)
  • 1873 – Jakob Wassermann, German-Austrian soldier and author (d. 1934)
  • 1876 – Anna Hyatt Huntington, American sculptor (d. 1973)
  • 1877 – Pascual Ortiz Rubio, Mexican diplomat and president (1930-1932) (d. 1963)
  • 1881 – Jessie Boswell, English painter (d. 1956)
  • 1888 – Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1961)
  • 1890 – Albert Ogilvie, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1939)
  • 1892 – Arthur Honegger, French composer and educator (d. 1955)
  • 1892 – Gregory La Cava, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1952)
  • 1896 – Frederick Coulton Waugh, British cartoonist, painter, teacher and author (d. 1973)
  • 1900 – Violet Brown, Jamaican supercentenarian, oldest Jamaican ever (d. 2017)
  • 1900 – Pandelis Pouliopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician (d. 1943)
  • 1901 – Michel Seuphor, Belgian painter (d. 1999)
  • 1903 – Bix Beiderbecke, American cornet player, pianist, and composer (d. 1931)
  • 1903 – Clare Boothe Luce, American playwright, journalist, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Italy (d. 1987)
  • 1903 – Edward Bawden, British artist and illustrator (d. 1989)
  • 1914 – Chandler Harper, American golfer (d. 2004)
  • 1914 – K. P. Ratnam, Sri Lankan academic and politician (d. 2010)
  • 1915 – Harry Bertoia, Italian-American sculptor and furniture designer (d. 1978)
  • 1915 – Joža Horvat, Croatian writer (d. 2012)
  • 1916 – Davie Fulton, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 2000)
  • 1917 – David Hare, American Surrealist artist, sculptor, photographer and painter (d. 1992)
  • 1918 – Günther Rall, German general and pilot (d. 2009)
  • 1919 – Marion Hutton, American singer and actress (d. 1987)
  • 1920 – Alfred Peet, Dutch-American businessman, founded Peet’s Coffee & Tea (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – Boris Vian, French author and playwright (d. 1959)
  • 1922 – Kiyoshi Yamashita, Japanese painter (d. 1971)
  • 1923 – Val Logsdon Fitch, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
  • 1924 – Judith Jones, American literary and cookbook editor (d. 2017)
  • 1925 – Bob Lanier, American lawyer, banker, and politician, 58th Mayor of Houston (d. 2014)
  • 1926 – Marques Haynes, American basketball player (d. 2015)
  • 1927 – Claude Laydu, Belgian-French actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
  • 1927 – Paul Wunderlich, German painter, sculptor and graphic artist (d. 2010)
  • 1928 – Sara Montiel, Spanish actress (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – James Earl Ray, American criminal; assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. (d. 1998)
  • 1929 – Sam Steiger, American journalist and politician (d. 2012)
  • 1930 – Sándor Iharos, Hungarian runner (d. 1996)
  • 1931 – Georges Dor, Canadian author, playwright, and composer (d. 2001)
  • 1932 – Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender, English politician (d. 2019)
  • 1932 – Udupi Ramachandra Rao, Indian physicist and engineer (d. 2017)
  • 1933 – Perunchithiranar, Tamil poet (d. 1995)
  • 1933 – Elizabeth Azcona Cranwell, Argentinian poet and translator (d. 2004)
  • 1934 – Gergely Kulcsár, Hungarian javelin thrower and coach
  • 1935 – Graham Farmer, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2019)
  • 1936 – Sepp Blatter, Swiss businessman
  • 1936 – Alfredo Zitarrosa, Uruguayan singer-songwriter and journalist (d. 1989)
  • 1938 – Norman Blake, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1938 – Ieronymos II of Athens, Greek archbishop
  • 1939 – Asghar Ali Engineer, Indian activist and author (d. 2013)
  • 1939 – Hugh Johnson, English author and critic
  • 1939 – Irina Press, Ukrainian-Russian hurdler and pentathlete (d. 2004)
  • 1940 – Chuck Norris, American actor, producer, and martial artist
  • 1940 – David Rabe, American playwright and screenwriter
  • 1943 – Peter Berresford Ellis, English historian and author
  • 1944 – Gail North-Saunders, Bahamian historian, archivist, and author who established the Bahamian National Archives
  • 1945 – Katharine Houghton, American actress and playwright
  • 1945 – Madhavrao Scindia, Indian politician, Indian Minister of Railways (d. 2001)
  • 1946 – Gérard Garouste, French contemporary artist
  • 1946 – Mike Hollands, Australian animator and director, founded Act3animation
  • 1946 – Jim Valvano, American basketball player and coach (d. 1993)
  • 1947 – Kim Campbell, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Prime Minister of Canada
  • 1947 – Tom Scholz, American rock musician (Boston), songwriter, inventor, and engineer
  • 1948 – Austin Carr, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1949 – Bill Buxton, Canadian computer scientist and academic
  • 1949 – Barbara Corcoran, American businesswoman and television personality
  • 1950 – Catherine Pugh, American politician, 50th mayor of Baltimore
  • 1952 – Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Zimbabwe (d. 2018)
  • 1953 – Paul Haggis, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1954 – Didier Barbelivien, French singer-songwriter
  • 1955 – Toshio Suzuki, Japanese race car driver
  • 1956 – Robert Llewellyn, English actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Larry Myricks, American long jumper and sprinter
  • 1957 – Osama bin Laden, Saudi Arabian terrorist, founded al-Qaeda (d. 2011)
  • 1958 – Garth Crooks, English footballer forward and sportscaster
  • 1958 – Steve Howe, American baseball player (d. 2006)
  • 1958 – Sharon Stone, American actress and producer
  • 1961 – Laurel Clark, American captain, physician, and astronaut (d. 2003)
  • 1961 – Bobby Petrino, American football player and coach
  • 1962 – Jasmine Guy, American actress, singer, and director
  • 1962 – Seiko Matsuda, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1963 – Jeff Ament, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1963 – Felipe Ramos, Mexican footballer and referee
  • 1963 – Rick Rubin, American record producer, founded Def Jam Recordings
  • 1964 – Neneh Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
  • 1964 – Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
  • 1964 – Jojo Lastimosa, Filipino basketball player and coach
  • 1964 – Nikola Mladenov, Macedonian journalist (d. 2013)
  • 1964 – Toni Polster, Austrian footballer and manager
  • 1965 – Jillian Richardson, Canadian sprinter
  • 1965 – Rod Woodson, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1966 – Edie Brickell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1966 – Mike Timlin, American baseball player
  • 1968 – Thio Li-ann, Singaporean lawyer and academic
  • 1968 – Pavel Srníček, Czech footballer and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1971 – Jon Hamm, American actor and director
  • 1972 – Timbaland, American rapper and producer
  • 1973 – Jason Croker, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1973 – Chris Sutton, English footballer
  • 1973 – Mauricio Taricco, Argentinian footballer, full back and assistant manager
  • 1976 – Barbara Schett, Austrian tennis player
  • 1978 – Camille, French singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1978 – Benjamin Burnley, American musician
  • 1981 – Samuel Eto’o, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1981 – Steven Reid, English-Irish footballer
  • 1982 – Kwame Brown, American basketball player
  • 1983 – Étienne Boulay, Canadian football player
  • 1983 – Rafe Spall, English actor
  • 1983 – Janet Mock, American journalist, author, and activist
  • 1983 – Carrie Underwood, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1984 – Ben May, English footballer
  • 1987 – Martellus Bennett, American football player
  • 1987 – Greg Eastwood, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1987 – Māris Štrombergs, Latvian BMX racer
  • 1988 – Josh Hoffman, Australian-New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1988 – Ivan Rakitić, Croatian football player
  • 1992 – Neeskens Kebano, French-born Congolese international footballer
  • 1993 – Jack Butland, English footballer
  • 1995 – DaeSean Hamilton, American football player
  • 1995 – Zach LaVine, American basketball player
  • 1995 – Sergey Mozgov, Russian ice dancer
  • 1997 – Belinda Bencic, Swiss tennis player

Deaths on March 10

  • 483 – Pope Simplicius
  • 933 – Li Renfu, Chinese warlord and governor
  • 948 – Liu Zhiyuan, Shatuo founder of the Later Han dynasty (b. 895)
  • 1039 – Eudes, Duke of Gascony
  • 1222 – Johan Sverkersson, king of Sweden since 1216 (b. 1201)
  • 1289 – Maud de Lacy, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester, English noble (b. 1223)
  • 1291 – Arghun, Mongol ruler in Persia
  • 1315 – Agnes Blannbekin, Austrian mystic (b. c.1244)
  • 1391 – Tvrtko I of Bosnia (b. 1338)
  • 1476 – Richard West, 7th Baron De La Warr (b. 1430)
  • 1510 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss priest and theologian (b. 1445)
  • 1513 – John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, English commander and politician, Lord High Constable of England (b. 1443)
  • 1527 – Nam Gon, Korean writer and prime minister (b. 1471)
  • 1528 – Balthasar Hübmaier, influential German/Moravian Anabaptist leader (b. 1480)
  • 1572 – William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester (b. c. 1483)
  • 1585 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (b. 1517)
  • 1588 – Theodor Zwinger, Swiss physician and scholar (b. 1533)
  • 1670 – Johann Rudolf Glauber, German-Dutch chemist and engineer (b. 1604)
  • 1682 – Jacob van Ruisdael, Dutch painter and etcher (b. 1628)
  • 1724 – Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist, geologist, and physician (b. 1641)
  • 1776 – Élie Catherine Fréron, French author and critic (b. 1719)
  • 1792 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1713)
  • 1823 – George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1746)
  • 1826 – John Pinkerton, Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist and historian (b. 1758)
  • 1832 – Muzio Clementi, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1752)
  • 1861 – Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian poet, playwright, and ethnographer (b. 1814)
  • 1872 – Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian journalist and politician (b. 1805)
  • 1898 – Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, French nun and saint, founded the Religious of the Assumption (b. 1817)
  • 1895 – Charles Frederick Worth, English-French fashion designer, founded the House of Worth (b. 1826)
  • 1897 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet and activist (b. 1831)
  • 1910 – Karl Lueger, Austrian lawyer and politician Mayor of Vienna (b. 1844)
  • 1910 – Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1824)
  • 1913 – Harriet Tubman, American nurse and activist (b. c.1820)
  • 1925 – Myer Prinstein, Polish-American jumper and lawyer (b. 1878)
  • 1930 – Misuzu Kaneko, Japanese poet and songwriter (b. 1903)
  • 1937 – Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian journalist and author (b. 1884)
  • 1940 – Mikhail Bulgakov, Russian novelist and playwright (b. 1891)
  • 1942 – Wilbur Scoville, American pharmacist and chemist (b. 1865)
  • 1948 – Zelda Fitzgerald, American author, poet, and dancer (b. 1900)
  • 1948 – Jan Masaryk, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1886)
  • 1951 – Kijūrō Shidehara, Japanese lawyer and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1872)
  • 1965 – Archibald Frazer-Nash, English engineer, founded Frazer Nash (b. 1889)
  • 1966 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1888)
  • 1966 – Frank O’Connor, Irish short story writer, novelist, and poet (b. 1903)
  • 1977 – E. Power Biggs, English-American organist and composer (b. 1906)
  • 1982 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (b. 1899)
  • 1985 – Konstantin Chernenko, Russian soldier and politician, 8th Head of State of The Soviet Union (b. 1911)
  • 1985 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (b. 1927)
  • 1986 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (b. 1905)
  • 1988 – Andy Gibb, Manx-Australian singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1958)
  • 1989 – Kermit Beahan, American colonel and pilot (b. 1918)
  • 1990 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (b. 1921)
  • 1992 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek bouzouki player and composer (b. 1925)
  • 1995 – Agepê, Brazilian singer/composer (b. 1942)
  • 1996 – Ross Hunter, American film producer (b. 1926)
  • 1997 – LaVern Baker, American singer and actress (b. 1929)
  • 1998 – Lloyd Bridges, American actor and director (b. 1913)
  • 1999 – Oswaldo Guayasamín, Ecuadorian painter and sculptor (b. 1919)
  • 2001 – Massimo Morsello, Italian singer-songwriter (b. 1958)
  • 2004 – Renos Apostolidis, Greek philologist, author, and critic (b. 1924)
  • 2005 – Dave Allen, Irish-English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
  • 2006 – Anna Moffo, American soprano (b. 1932)
  • 2007 – Ernie Ladd, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
  • 2010 – Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, Egyptian scholar and academic (b. 1928)
  • 2010 – Corey Haim, Canadian actor (b. 1971)
  • 2011 – Bill Blackbeard, American author and illustrator (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Bert R. Bulkin, American engineer (b. 1929)
  • 2012 – Jean Giraud, French author and illustrator (b. 1938)
  • 2012 – Mykola Plaviuk, Ukrainian politician, President Ukrainian People’s Republic in Exile (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Tan Boon Teik, Malaysian-Singaporean lawyer and politician, Attorney-General of Singapore (b. 1929)
  • 2015 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1952)
  • 2016 – Ken Adam, German-English production designer and art director (b. 1921)
  • 2016 – Roberto Perfumo, Argentinian footballer and sportscaster (b. 1942)
  • 2016 – Jovito Salonga, Filipino lawyer and politician, 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines (b. 1920)
  • 2016 – Anita Brookner, English novelist and art historian (b. 1928)

Holidays and observances  on March 10

  • Christian feast day
    • Attala
    • Harriet Tubman (Lutheran)
    • John Ogilvie
    • Macarius of Jerusalem
    • Marie-Eugénie de Jésus
    • Pope Simplicius
    • Sojourner Truth (Lutheran)
    • March 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Harriet Tubman Day (United States of America)
  • Holocaust Remembrance Day (Bulgaria)
  • National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (United States)
  • Tibetan Uprising Day (Tibetan independence movement)

March 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This 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

March 6- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 4- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • AD 51 – Nero, later to become Roman emperor, is given the title princeps iuventutis (head of the youth).
  • 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Adrian of Nicomedia.
  • 852 – Croatian Knez Trpimir I issues a statute, a document with the first known written mention of the Croats name in Croatian sources.
  • 938 – Translation of the relics of martyr Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, Prince of the Czechs.
  • 1152 – Frederick I Barbarossa is elected King of Germany.
  • 1238 – The Battle of the Sit River is fought in the northern part of the present-day Yaroslavl Oblast of Russia between the Mongol hordes of Batu Khan and the Russians under Yuri II of Vladimir-Suzdal during the Mongol invasion of Rus’.
  • 1351 – Ramathibodi becomes King of Siam.
  • 1386 – Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) is crowned King of Poland.
  • 1461 – Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI is deposed by his House of York cousin, who then becomes King Edward IV.
  • 1493 – Explorer Christopher Columbus arrives back in Lisbon, Portugal, aboard his ship Niña from his voyage to what are now The Bahamas and other islands in the Caribbean.
  • 1519 – Hernán Cortés arrives in Mexico in search of the Aztec civilization and its wealth.
  • 1628 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal charter.
  • 1665 – English King Charles II declares war on the Netherlands marking the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
  • 1675 – John Flamsteed is appointed the first Astronomer Royal of England.
  • 1681 – Charles II grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
  • 1776 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon, leading the British troops to abandon the Siege of Boston.
  • 1789 – In New York City, the first Congress of the United States meets, putting the United States Constitution into effect. The United States Bill of Rights is written and proposed to Congress.
  • 1790 – France is divided into 83 départements, cutting across the former provinces in an attempt to dislodge regional loyalties based on ownership of land by the nobility.
  • 1791 – The Constitutional Act of 1791 is introduced by the British House of Commons in London which envisages the separation of Canada into Lower Canada (Quebec) and Upper Canada (Ontario).
  • 1791 – Vermont is admitted to the United States as the fourteenth state.
  • 1794 – The 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed by the U.S. Congress.
  • 1797 – John Adams is inaugurated as the 2nd President of the United States of America, becoming the first President to begin his presidency on March 4.
  • 1804 – Castle Hill Rebellion: Irish convicts rebel against British colonial authority in the Colony of New South Wales.
  • 1813 – Cyril VI of Constantinople is elected Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
  • 1814 – Americans defeat British forces at the Battle of Longwoods between London, Ontario and Thamesville, near present-day Wardsville, Ontario.
  • 1837 – The city of Chicago is incorporated.
  • 1848 – Carlo Alberto di Savoia signs the Statuto Albertino that will later represent the first constitution of the Regno d’Italia.
  • 1849 – President-Elect Zachary Taylor and Vice President-Elect Millard Fillmore did not take their respective oaths of office (they did so the following day), leading to the erroneous theory that outgoing President pro tempore of the United States Senate David Rice Atchison had assumed the role of acting president for one day.
  • 1861 – The first national flag of the Confederate States of America (the “Stars and Bars”) is adopted.
  • 1865 – The third and final national flag of the Confederate States of America is adopted by the Confederate Congress.
  • 1882 – Britain’s first electric trams run in east London.
  • 1890 – The longest bridge in Great Britain, the Forth Bridge in Scotland, measuring 1,710 feet (520 m) long, is opened by the Duke of Rothesay, later King Edward VII.
  • 1899 – Cyclone Mahina sweeps in north of Cooktown, Queensland, with a 12 metres (39 ft) wave that reaches up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) inland, killing over 300.
  • 1908 – The Collinwood school fire, Collinwood near Cleveland, Ohio, kills 174 people.
  • 1909 – U.S. President William Taft used what became known as a Saxbe fix, a mechanism to avoid the restriction of the U.S. Constitution’s Ineligibility Clause, to appoint Philander C. Knox as U.S. Secretary of State.
  • 1913 – First Balkan War: The Greek army engages the Turks at Bizani, resulting in victory two days later.
  • 1913 – The United States Department of Labor is formed.
  • 1917 – Jeannette Rankin of Montana becomes the first female member of the United States House of Representatives.
  • 1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States.
  • 1933 – Frances Perkins becomes United States Secretary of Labor, the first female member of the United States Cabinet.
  • 1933 – The Parliament of Austria is suspended because of a quibble over procedure – Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss initiates an authoritarian rule by decree.
  • 1941 – World War II: The United Kingdom launches Operation Claymore on the Lofoten Islands; the first large scale British Commando raid.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of the Bismarck Sea in the south-west Pacific comes to an end.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Fardykambos, one of the first major battles between the Greek Resistance and the occupying Royal Italian Army, begins. It ends on 6 March with the surrender of an entire Italian battalion and the liberation of the town of Grevena.
  • 1944 – World War II: After the success of Big Week, the USAAF begins a daylight bombing campaign of Berlin.
  • 1957 – The S&P 500 stock market index is introduced, replacing the S&P 90.
  • 1960 – The French freighter La Coubre explodes in Havana, Cuba, killing 100.
  • 1962 – A Caledonian Airways Douglas DC-7 crashes shortly after takeoff from Cameroon, killing 111 – the worst crash of a DC-7.
  • 1966 – A Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8-43 explodes on landing at Tokyo International Airport, killing 64 people.
  • 1966 – In an interview in the London Evening Standard, The Beatles’ John Lennon declares that the band is “more popular than Jesus now”.
  • 1970 – French submarine Eurydice explodes underwater, resulting in the loss of the entire 57-man crew.
  • 1974 – People magazine is published for the first time in the United States as People Weekly.
  • 1976 – The Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention is formally dissolved in Northern Ireland resulting in direct rule of Northern Ireland from London by the British parliament.
  • 1977 – The 1977 Vrancea earthquake in eastern and southern Europe kills more than 1,500, mostly in Bucharest, Romania.
  • 1980 – Nationalist leader Robert Mugabe wins a sweeping election victory to become Zimbabwe’s first black prime minister.
  • 1985 – The Food and Drug Administration approves a blood test for AIDS infection, used since then for screening all blood donations in the United States.
  • 1986 – The Soviet Vega 1 begins returning images of Halley’s Comet and the first images of its nucleus.
  • 1990 – American basketball player Hank Gathers dies after collapsing during the semifinals of a West Coast Conference Tournament game.
  • 1996 – A derailed train in Weyauwega, Wisconsin (USA) causes the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 16 days.
  • 1998 – Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
  • 2001 – BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
  • 2002 – Afghanistan: Seven American Special Operations Forces soldiers and 200 Al-Qaeda Fighters are killed as American forces attempt to infiltrate the Shah-i-Kot Valley on a low-flying helicopter reconnaissance mission.
  • 2009 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
  • 2012 – A series of explosions is reported at a munitions dump in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, killing at least 250 people.
  • 2015 – At least 34 miners die in a suspected gas explosion at the Zasyadko coal mine in the rebel-held Donetsk region of Ukraine.
  • 2018 – Former MI6 spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter are poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England, causing a diplomatic uproar that results in mass-expulsions of diplomats from all countries involved.
  • 2019 – The Indian Attack submarine was spotted by the Pakistan Navy.
  • 2020 – Former Daredevil Nik Wallenda is the first person to walk over the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua.

Births on March 4

  • 895 – Liu Zhiyuan, founder of the Later Han Dynasty (d. 948)
  • 977 – Al-Musabbihi, Fatimid historian and official (d. 1030)
  • 1188 – Blanche of Castile, French queen consort (d. 1252)
  • 1394 – Henry the Navigator, Portuguese explorer (d. 1460)
  • 1484 – George, margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1543)
  • 1492 – Francesco de Layolle, Italian organist and composer (d. 1540)
  • 1502 – Elisabeth of Hesse, princess of Saxony (d. 1557)
  • 1519 – Hindal Mirza, Mughal emperor (d. 1551)
  • 1526 – Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (d. 1596)
  • 1602 – Kanō Tan’yū, Japanese painter (d. 1674)
  • 1634 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish philosopher (d. 1689)
  • 1651 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, English lawyer, jurist, and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (d. 1716)
  • 1655 – Fra Galgario, Italian painter (d. 1743)
  • 1665 – Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier (d. 1694)
  • 1678 – Antonio Vivaldi, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1741)
  • 1702 – Jack Sheppard, English criminal (d. 1724)
  • 1706 – Lauritz de Thurah, Danish architect, designed the Hermitage Hunting Lodge and Gammel Holtegård (d. 1759)
  • 1715 – James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, English historian and politician (d. 1763)
  • 1719 – George Pigot, 1st Baron Pigot, English politician (d. 1777)
  • 1729 – Anne d’Arpajon, French wife of Philippe de Noailles (d. 1794)
  • 1745 – Charles Dibdin, English actor, playwright, and composer (d. 1814)
  • 1745 – Casimir Pulaski, Polish-American general (d. 1779)
  • 1756 – Henry Raeburn, Scottish painter and educator (d. 1823)
  • 1760 – William Payne, English painter (d. 1830)
  • 1760 – Hugh Ronalds, British nurseryman who cultivated and documented 300 varieties of apples (d. 1833)
  • 1769 – Muhammad Ali, Ottoman military leader and pasha (d. 1849)
  • 1770 – Joseph Jacotot, French philosopher and academic (d. 1840)
  • 1778 – Robert Emmet, Irish commander (d. 1803)
  • 1781 – Rebecca Gratz, American educator and philanthropist (d. 1869)
  • 1782 – Johann Rudolf Wyss, Swiss philosopher, author, and academic (d. 1830)
  • 1792 – Isaac Lea, American conchologist, geologist, and publisher (d. 1886)
  • 1793 – Karl Lachmann, German philologist and critic (d. 1851)
  • 1814 – Napoleon Collins, Rear Admiral of the United States Navy during the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War (d. 1875)
  • 1817 – Edwards Pierrepont, American lawyer and politician, 34th United States Attorney General (d. 1892)
  • 1820 – Francesco Bentivegna, Italian rebel leader (d. 1856)
  • 1822 – Jules Antoine Lissajous, French mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
  • 1823 – George Caron, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1902)
  • 1826 – August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein, German linguist, ethnographer, and theologian (d. 1907)
  • 1826 – John Buford, American general (d. 1863)
  • 1826 – Elme Marie Caro, French philosopher and academic (d. 1887)
  • 1826 – Theodore Judah, American engineer, founded the Central Pacific Railroad (d. 1863)
  • 1828 – Owen Wynne Jones, Welsh clergyman and poet (d. 1870)
  • 1838 – Paul Lacôme, French pianist, cellist, and composer (d. 1920)
  • 1847 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist and academic (d. 1904)
  • 1851 – Alexandros Papadiamantis, Greek author and poet (d. 1911)
  • 1854 – Napier Shaw, English meteorologist and academic (d. 1945)
  • 1856 – Alfred William Rich, English painter, author, and educator (d. 1921)
  • 1861 – Arthur Cushman McGiffert, American theologian and author (d. 1933)
  • 1862 – Jacob Robert Emden, Swiss astrophysicist and meteorologist (d. 1940)
  • 1863 – R. I. Pocock, English zoologist and archaeologist (d. 1947)
  • 1863 – John Henry Wigmore, American academic and jurist (d. 1943)
  • 1864 – David W. Taylor, American admiral, architect, and engineer (d. 1940)
  • 1866 – Eugène Cosserat, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1931)
  • 1867 – Jacob L. Beilhart, American activist, founded the Spirit Fruit Society (d. 1908)
  • 1867 – Charles Pelot Summerall, senior United States Army officer (d. 1955)
  • 1870 – Thomas Sturge Moore, English author and poet (d. 1944)
  • 1871 – Boris Galerkin, Russian mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
  • 1873 – Guy Wetmore Carryl, American journalist and poet (d. 1904)
  • 1873 – John H. Trumbull, American colonel and politician, 70th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1961)
  • 1875 – Mihály Károlyi, Hungarian politician, President of the Hungary (d. 1955)
  • 1875 – Enrique Larreta, Argentinian historian and author (d. 1961)
  • 1876 – Léon-Paul Fargue, French poet and author (d. 1947)
  • 1876 – Theodore Hardeen, Hungarian-American magician (d. 1945)
  • 1877 – Alexander Goedicke, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1957)
  • 1877 – Fritz Graebner, German geographer and ethnologist (d. 1934)
  • 1877 – Garrett Morgan, African-American inventor (d. 1963)
  • 1878 – Takeo Arishima, Japanese author and critic (d. 1923)
  • 1878 – Egbert Van Alstyne, American pianist and songwriter (d. 1951)
  • 1879 – Bernhard Kellermann, German author and poet (d. 1951)
  • 1880 – Channing Pollock, American playwright and critic (d. 1946)
  • 1881 – Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian educator and activist (d. 1924)
  • 1881 – Thomas Sigismund Stribling, American lawyer and author (d. 1965)
  • 1881 – Richard C. Tolman, American physicist and chemist (d. 1948)
  • 1882 – Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian academic and politician, 61st Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1941)
  • 1883 – Maude Fealy, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1971)
  • 1883 – Robert Emmett Keane, American actor (d. 1981)
  • 1883 – Sam Langford, Canadian-American boxer (d. 1956)
  • 1884 – Red Murray, American baseball player (d. 1958)
  • 1884 – Lee Shumway, American actor (d. 1959)
  • 1886 – Paul Bazelaire, French cellist and composer (d. 1958)
  • 1888 – Rafaela Ottiano, Italian-American actress (d. 1942)
  • 1888 – Jeff Pfeffer, American baseball player (d. 1972)
  • 1888 – Emma Richter, German paleontologist (d. 1956)
  • 1888 – Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
  • 1889 – Oscar Chisini, Italian mathematician and statistician (d. 1967)
  • 1889 – Oren E. Long, American soldier and politician, 10th Territorial Governor of Hawaii (d. 1965)
  • 1889 – Pearl White, American actress (d. 1938)
  • 1889 – Robert William Wood, English-American painter (d. 1979)
  • 1890 – Norman Bethune, Canadian soldier and physician (d. 1939)
  • 1891 – Dazzy Vance, American baseball player (d. 1961)
  • 1893 – Charles Herbert Colvin, American engineer, co-founded the Pioneer Instrument Company (d. 1985)
  • 1893 – Adolph Lowe, German sociologist and economist (d. 1995)
  • 1894 – Charles Corm, Lebanese businessman and philanthropist (d. 1963)
  • 1895 – Milt Gross, American animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1953)
  • 1896 – Kai Holm, Danish actor and director (d. 1985)
  • 1897 – Lefty O’Doul, American baseball player and manager (d. 1969)
  • 1898 – Georges Dumézil, French philologist and academic (d. 1986)
  • 1898 – Hans Krebs, German general (d. 1945)
  • 1899 – Peter Illing, Austrian born, British film and television actor (d. 1966)
  • 1899 – Emilio Prados, Spanish poet and author (d. 1962)
  • 1900 – Herbert Biberman, American director and screenwriter (d. 1971)
  • 1901 – Wilbur R. Franks, Canadian scientist, invented the g-suit (d. 1986)
  • 1901 – Charles Goren, American bridge player and author (d. 1991)
  • 1901 – Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo, Malagasy-French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1937)
  • 1902 – Rachel Messerer, Lithuanian-Russian actress (d. 1993)
  • 1902 – Russell Reeder, American soldier and author (d. 1998)
  • 1903 – William C. Boyd, American immunologist and chemist (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Malcolm Dole, American chemist and academic (d. 1990)
  • 1903 – Dorothy Mackaill, English-American actress and singer (d. 1990)
  • 1903 – John Scarne, American magician and author (d. 1985)
  • 1904 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (d. 1973)
  • 1904 – George Gamow, Ukrainian-American physicist and cosmologist (d. 1968)
  • 1904 – Joseph Schmidt, Austrian-Hungarian tenor and actor (d. 1942)
  • 1906 – Meindert DeJong, Dutch-American soldier and author (d. 1991)
  • 1906 – Avery Fisher, American violinist and engineer, founded Fisher Electronics (d. 1994)
  • 1906 – Georges Ronsse, Belgian cyclist and manager (d. 1969)
  • 1907 – Edgar Barrier, American actor (d. 1964)
  • 1908 – T. R. M. Howard, American surgeon and activist (d. 1976)
  • 1908 – Thomas Shaw, American singer and guitarist (d. 1977)
  • 1909 – Harry Helmsley, American businessman (d. 1997)
  • 1909 – George Edward Holbrook, American chemist and engineer (d. 1987)
  • 1910 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (d. 1985)
  • 1911 – Charles Greville, 7th Earl of Warwick, English actor (d. 1984)
  • 1912 – Afro Basaldella, Italian painter and academic (d. 1976)
  • 1912 – Ferdinand Leitner, German conductor and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1912 – Carl Marzani, Italian-American activist and publisher (d. 1994)
  • 1913 – Taos Amrouche, Algerian singer and author (d. 1976)
  • 1913 – John Garfield, American actor and singer (d. 1952)
  • 1914 – Barbara Newhall Follett, American author (d. 1939)
  • 1914 – Ward Kimball, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002)
  • 1914 – Robert R. Wilson, American physicist, sculptor, and architect (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – László Csatáry, Hungarian art dealer (d. 2013)
  • 1915 – Frank Sleeman, Australian lieutenant and politician, Lord Mayor of Brisbane (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Carlos Surinach, Spanish-Catalan composer and conductor (d. 1997)
  • 1916 – William Alland, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
  • 1916 – Giorgio Bassani, Italian author and poet (d. 2000)
  • 1916 – Hans Eysenck, German-English psychologist and theorist (d. 1997)
  • 1917 – Clyde McCullough, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1982)
  • 1918 – Kurt Dahlmann, German pilot, lawyer, and journalist (d. 2017)
  • 1918 – Margaret Osborne duPont, American tennis player (d. 2012)
  • 1919 – Buck Baker, American race car driver (d. 2002)
  • 1919 – Tan Chee Khoon, Malaysian physician and politician (d. 1996)
  • 1920 – Jean Lecanuet, French politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 1993)
  • 1920 – Alan MacNaughtan, Scottish-English actor (d. 2002)
  • 1921 – Halim El-Dabh, Egyptian-American composer and educator (d. 2017)
  • 1921 – Joan Greenwood, English actress (d. 1987)
  • 1921 – Dinny Pails, English-Australian tennis player (d. 1986)
  • 1922 – Richard E. Cunha, American director and cinematographer (d. 2005)
  • 1922 – Dina Pathak, Indian actor and director (d. 2002)
  • 1923 – Russell Freeburg, American journalist and author
  • 1923 – Francis King, English author and poet (d. 2011)
  • 1923 – Patrick Moore, English astronomer and television host (d. 2012)
  • 1924 – Kenneth O’Donnell, American soldier and politician (d. 1977)
  • 1925 – Alan R. Battersby, English chemist and academic (d. 2018)
  • 1925 – Paul Mauriat, French conductor and composer (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Henri de Contenson, French archaeologist and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1926 – Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma, French businessman, soldier and race car driver (d. 2018)
  • 1926 – Richard DeVos, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Amway (d. 2018)
  • 1926 – Pascual Pérez, Argentinian boxer (d. 1977)
  • 1926 – Don Rendell, English saxophonist and flute player (d. 2015)
  • 1927 – Phil Batt, American soldier and politician, 29th Governor of Idaho
  • 1927 – Thayer David, American actor (d. 1978)
  • 1927 – Jacques Dupin, French poet and critic (d. 2012)
  • 1927 – Robert Orben, American magician and author
  • 1927 – Dick Savitt, American tennis player and businessman
  • 1928 – Samuel Adler, German-American composer and conductor
  • 1928 – Alan Sillitoe, English novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (d. 2010)
  • 1929 – Bernard Haitink, Dutch violinist and conductor
  • 1929 – Peter Swerling, American theoretician and engineer (d. 2000)
  • 1931 – Wally Bruner, American journalist and television host (d. 1997)
  • 1931 – Bob Johnson, American ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
  • 1931 – William Henry Keeler, American cardinal (d. 2017)
  • 1931 – Alice Rivlin, American economist and politician (d. 2019)
  • 1932 – Sigurd Jansen, Norwegian pianist, composer, and conductor
  • 1932 – Ryszard Kapuściński, Polish journalist, photographer, and poet (d. 2007)
  • 1932 – Miriam Makeba, South African singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2008)
  • 1932 – Ed Roth, American illustrator (d. 2001)
  • 1932 – Frank Wells, American businessman (d. 1994)
  • 1933 – Nino Vaccarella, Italian race car driver
  • 1934 – Mario Davidovsky, Argentinian-American composer and academic (d. 2019)
  • 1934 – John Duffey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
  • 1934 – Anne Haney, American actress (d. 2001)
  • 1934 – Barbara McNair, American singer and actress (d. 2007)
  • 1934 – Sandra Reynolds, South African tennis player
  • 1934 – Janez Strnad, Slovenian physicist and academic (d. 2015)
  • 1935 – Edward Dębicki, Ukrainian-Polish poet and composer
  • 1935 – Bent Larsen, Danish chess player and author (d. 2010)
  • 1936 – Eric Allandale, Dominican trombonist and songwriter (d. 2001)
  • 1936 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (d. 1968)
  • 1936 – Aribert Reimann, German pianist and composer
  • 1937 – José Araquistáin, Spanish footballer
  • 1937 – William Deverell, Canadian lawyer, author, and activist
  • 1937 – Graham Dowling, New Zealand cricketer
  • 1937 – Leslie H. Gelb, American journalist and author (d. 2019)
  • 1937 – Yuri Senkevich, Russian physician and explorer (d. 2003)
  • 1937 – Barney Wilen, French saxophonist and composer (d. 1996)
  • 1937 – Richard B. Wright, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – Anton Balasingham, Sri Lankan-English negotiator (d. 2006)
  • 1938 – Alpha Condé, Guinean politician, President of Guinea
  • 1938 – Allan Kornblum, American police officer and judge (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Angus MacLise, American drummer and composer (d. 1979)
  • 1938 – Don Perkins, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1938 – Paula Prentiss, American actress
  • 1938 – Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • 1939 – Jack Fisher, American baseball player
  • 1939 – Robert Shaye, American film producer
  • 1940 – Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, German scholar and judge
  • 1940 – David Plante, American novelist
  • 1941 – John Hancock, American film and television actor (d. 1992)
  • 1941 – Adrian Lyne, English director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1941 – James Zagel, American lawyer and judge
  • 1942 – Gloria Gaither, American singer-songwriter
  • 1942 – Charles C. Krulak, American general
  • 1942 – David Matthews, American keyboard player and composer
  • 1942 – Lynn Sherr, American journalist and author
  • 1942 – James Gustave Speth, American lawyer and politician
  • 1942 – Zorán Sztevanovity, Serbian-Hungarian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1943 – Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2012)
  • 1943 – Aldo Rico, Argentinian commander and politician
  • 1944 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (d. 1999)
  • 1944 – Anthony Ichiro Sanda, Japanese-American physicist and academic
  • 1944 – Len Walker, English footballer and manager
  • 1944 – Bobby Womack, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1945 – Tommy Svensson, Swedish footballer and manager
  • 1945 – Gary Williams, American basketball player and coach
  • 1946 – Michael Ashcroft, English businessman and politician
  • 1946 – Danny Frisella, American baseball player (d. 1977)
  • 1946 – Haile Gerima, Ethiopian born US filmmaker
  • 1946 – Patricia Kennealy-Morrison, American journalist and author
  • 1947 – David Franzoni, American screenwriter and film producer
  • 1947 – Jan Garbarek, Norwegian saxophonist and composer
  • 1947 – Bob Lewis, American guitarist
  • 1947 – Pēteris Plakidis, Latvian pianist and composer (d. 2017)
  • 1948 – Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, New Zealand-Australian author
  • 1948 – James Ellroy, American writer
  • 1948 – Tom Grieve, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
  • 1948 – Mike Moran, English musician, songwriter and record producer
  • 1948 – Jean O’Leary, American nun and activist (d. 2005)
  • 1948 – Chris Squire, English singer-songwriter and bass guitarist (d. 2015)
  • 1948 – Shakin’ Stevens, British singer-songwriter
  • 1949 – Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian politician, 2nd President of Abkhazia (d. 2011)
  • 1949 – Carroll Baker, Canadian singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Ofelia Medina, Mexican actress and screenwriter
  • 1950 – Rick Perry, American captain and politician, 47th Governor of Texas
  • 1950 – Safet Plakalo, Bosnian author and playwright (d. 2015)
  • 1951 – Edelgard Bulmahn, German educator and politician, German Federal Minister of Education and Research
  • 1951 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, South Korean-American author, director, and producer (d. 1982)
  • 1951 – Kenny Dalglish, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1951 – Pete Haycock, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1951 – Peter O’Sullivan, Welsh international footballer, winger
  • 1951 – Sam Perlozzo, American baseball player and manager
  • 1951 – Chris Rea, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1951 – Glenis Willmott, English scientist and politician
  • 1951 – Zoran Žižić, Montenegrin politician, 4th Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (d. 2013)
  • 1952 – Peter Kuhfeld, English painter
  • 1952 – Ronn Moss, American singer-songwriter and actor
  • 1952 – Svend Robinson, American-Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1952 – Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1953 – John Edwards, Australian director and producer
  • 1953 – Emilio Estefan, Cuban-American drummer and producer
  • 1953 – Paweł Janas, Polish footballer and manager
  • 1953 – Ray Price, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
  • 1953 – Reinhold Roth, German motorcycle racer
  • 1953 – Chris Smith, American lawyer and politician
  • 1953 – Agustí Villaronga, Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter
  • 1953 – Daniel Woodrell, American novelist and short story writer
  • 1954 – Timur Apakidze, Russian general and pilot (d. 2001)
  • 1954 – Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Korean American author (d. 1982)
  • 1954 – François Fillon, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France
  • 1954 – Peter Jacobsen, American golfer and sportscaster
  • 1954 – Catherine O’Hara, Canadian-American actress and comedian
  • 1954 – Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian poet and author (d. 2017)
  • 1955 – Tim Costello, Australian minister and politician
  • 1955 – Joey Jones, Welsh footballer and manager
  • 1957 – Nicholas Coleridge, English journalist and businessman
  • 1957 – Ron Fassler, American film and television actor and author
  • 1957 – Mykelti Williamson, American actor and director
  • 1958 – Patricia Heaton, American actress
  • 1958 – Massimo Mascioletti, Italian rugby player and coach
  • 1958 – Tina Smith, American politician, junior senator of Minnesota
  • 1959 – Rick Ardon, Australian journalist
  • 1959 – Plamen Getov, Bulgarian footballer
  • 1960 – Chonda Pierce, American comedian
  • 1961 – Ray Mancini, American boxer
  • 1961 – Steven Weber, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1961 – Roger Wessels, South African golfer and educator
  • 1962 – Simon Bisley, English author and illustrator
  • 1962 – Paul Canoville, English footballer
  • 1962 – Stephan Reimertz, German historian and author
  • 1963 – Jason Newsted, American heavy metal singer-songwriter and bass player
  • 1964 – Dave Colclough, Welsh computer programmer and poker player (d. 2016)
  • 1964 – Brian Crowley, Irish lawyer and politician
  • 1964 – Tom Lampkin, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1964 – Paolo Virzì, Italian director and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Greg Alexander, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
  • 1965 – Paul W. S. Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Andrew Collins, English journalist and screenwriter
  • 1965 – Khaled Hosseini, Afghan-born American novelist
  • 1965 – Yury Lonchakov, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut
  • 1965 – John Murphy British film composer
  • 1966 – Emese Hunyady, Hungarian speed skater
  • 1966 – Kevin Johnson, American basketball player and politician, 55th Mayor of Sacramento
  • 1966 – Fiona Ma, American accountant and politician
  • 1966 – Helmut Mayer, Austrian skier
  • 1966 – Glen Nissen, Australian rugby league player
  • 1966 – Dav Pilkey, American author and illustrator
  • 1966 – Grand Puba, American rapper
  • 1966 – Mike Small, American golfer and coach
  • 1967 – Daryll Cullinan, South African cricketer and coach
  • 1967 – Evan Dando, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1967 – Ivan Lewis, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
  • 1967 – Terry Matterson, Australian rugby league player and coach
  • 1967 – Dave Rayner, English cyclist (d. 1994)
  • 1967 – Sam Taylor-Johnson, English filmmaker and photographer
  • 1967 – Kubilay Türkyilmaz, Swiss footballer
  • 1967 – Tim Vine, English comedian, actor, and author
  • 1968 – Giovanni Carrara, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1968 – Jorge Celedón, Colombian singer
  • 1968 – Patsy Kensit, English model and actress
  • 1968 – Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greek banker and politician, Prime Minister of Greece
  • 1968 – Graham Westley, English footballer and manager
  • 1969 – Pierluigi Casiraghi, Italian footballer and manager
  • 1969 – Wayne Collins, English footballer, midfielder
  • 1969 – Annie Yi, Taiwanese singer, actress, and writer
  • 1970 – Àlex Crivillé, Spanish motorcycle racer
  • 1970 – Will Keen, English actor
  • 1970 – Caroline Vis, Dutch tennis player
  • 1971 – Iain Baird, Canadian soccer player and manager
  • 1971 – Claire Baker, Scottish politician
  • 1971 – Emily Bazelon, American journalist
  • 1971 – Jason Croot, English actor and director
  • 1971 – Anders Kjølholm, Danish bass player
  • 1971 – Satoshi Motoyama, Japanese race car driver
  • 1971 – Geraldine O’Rawe, Northern Irish actress
  • 1972 – Katherine Center, American journalist and author
  • 1972 – Nocturno Culto, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1972 – Robert Smith, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1972 – Ivy Queen, Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, rapper, actress and record producer
  • 1972 – Jos Verstappen, Dutch race car driver
  • 1972 – Alison Wheeler, English singer-songwriter
  • 1973 – Massimo Brambilla, Italian footballer and coach
  • 1973 – Phillip Daniels, American football player and coach
  • 1973 – Valery Kobelev, Russian ski jumper
  • 1973 – Penny Mordaunt, English lieutenant and politician, Minister of State for the Armed Forces
  • 1973 – Linus of Hollywood, American singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1973 – Len Wiseman, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1973 – Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, Indian director and screenwriter
  • 1974 – Crowbar, American wrestler
  • 1974 – Mladen Krstajić, Serbian footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Karol Kučera, Slovak tennis player
  • 1974 – Ariel Ortega, Argentinian footballer
  • 1974 – Tommy Phelps, South Korean-American baseball player and coach
  • 1974 – ICS Vortex, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1974 – David Wagner, American tennis player and educator
  • 1974 – Bill Young, Australian rugby player
  • 1975 – Mats Eilertsen, Norwegian bassist and composer
  • 1975 – Patrick Femerling, German basketball player
  • 1975 – Antti Aalto, Finnish ice hockey player
  • 1975 – Kristi Harrower, Australian basketball player
  • 1975 – Hawksley Workman, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1976 – Robbie Blake, English footballer
  • 1976 – Tommy Jönsson, Swedish footballer
  • 1977 – Nacho Figueras, Argentinian polo player and model
  • 1977 – Traver Rains, American fashion designer and photographer
  • 1978 – Pierre Dagenais, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1978 – Denis Dallan, Italian rugby player and singer
  • 1978 – Jean-Marc Pelletier, American ice hockey player
  • 1979 – Sarah Stock, Canadian wrestler and trainer
  • 1980 – Rohan Bopanna, Indian tennis player
  • 1980 – Omar Bravo, Mexican footballer
  • 1980 – Suzanna Choffel, American singer-songwriter
  • 1980 – Giedrius Gustas, Lithuanian basketball player
  • 1980 – Scott Hamilton, New Zealand rugby player and coach
  • 1980 – Jack Hannahan, American baseball player
  • 1980 – Michael Henrich, American ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Phil McGuire, Scottish footballer and manager
  • 1980 – Aja Volkman, American singer-songwriter
  • 1981 – Ariza Makukula, Portuguese footballer
  • 1981 – Helen Wyman, English cyclist
  • 1982 – Landon Donovan, American soccer player and coach
  • 1982 – Cate Edwards, American lawyer and author
  • 1982 – Ludmila Ezhova, Russian gymnast
  • 1982 – Yasemin Mori, Turkish singer
  • 1983 – Samuel Contesti, French-Italian figure skater
  • 1983 – Adam Deacon, English film actor, rapper, writer and director
  • 1983 – Jaque Fourie, South African rugby player
  • 1983 – Drew Houston, American billionaire and Internet entrepreneur
  • 1984 – Josh Bowman, English actor
  • 1984 – Tamir Cohen, Israeli footballer
  • 1984 – Anders Grøndal, Norwegian race car driver
  • 1984 – Spencer Larsen, American football player
  • 1984 – Jeremy Loops, South African singer-songwriter and record producer
  • 1984 – Raven Quinn, American singer-songwriter
  • 1984 – Zak Whitbread, American-English footballer
  • 1985 – Jake Buxton, English footballer
  • 1985 – Chinedum Ndukwe, American football player
  • 1985 – Whitney Port, American fashion designer and author
  • 1986 – Steven Burke, English road and track cyclist
  • 1986 – Tom De Mul, Belgian footballer
  • 1986 – Mike Krieger, Brazilian-American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Instagram
  • 1986 – Siim Roops, Estonian footballer
  • 1986 – Bohdan Shust, Ukrainian footballer
  • 1986 – Manu Vatuvei, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1986 – Margo Harshman, American actress
  • 1987 – Ben McKinley, Australian footballer
  • 1987 – Cameron Wood, Australian footballer
  • 1987 – Tamzin Merchant, English actress
  • 1988 – Gal Mekel, Israeli basketball player
  • 1988 – Laura Siegemund, German tennis player
  • 1988 – Adam Watts, English footballer
  • 1989 – Benjamin Kiplagat, Ugandan long-distance runner
  • 1990 – Andrea Bowen, American actress
  • 1990 – Draymond Green, American basketball player
  • 1990 – Paddy Madden, Irish footballer
  • 1990 – Fran Mérida, Spanish footballer
  • 1992 – Nick Castellanos, American baseball player
  • 1992 – Erik Lamela, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder
  • 1992 – Bernd Leno, German footballer
  • 1992 – Karl Mööl, Estonian footballer
  • 1993 – Bobbi Kristina Brown, American singer and actress (d. 2015)
  • 1993 – Richard Peniket, English footballer
  • 1994 – Callum Harriott, English footballer
  • 1994 – AJ Tracey, British hip-hop artist and record producer
  • 1995 – Chlöe Howl, British singer-songwriter
  • 1995 – Bill Milner, English actor
  • 1996 – Lukas Webb, Australian rules footballer
  • 2002 – Jacob Hopkins, American actor

Deaths on March 4

  • 306 – Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia, Christian martyrs
  • 480 – Landry of Sées, French bishop and saint
  • 561 – Pelagius I, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 934 – Abdullah al-Mahdi Billah, Fatimid caliph (b. 873)
  • 1172 – Stephen III, king of Hungary (b. 1147)
  • 1193 – Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid Sultanate (b. 1137)
  • 1238 – Joan of England, queen of Scotland (b. 1210)
  • 1238 – Yuri II, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1189)
  • 1303 – Daniel of Moscow, Russian Grand Duke (b. 1261)
  • 1314 – Jakub Świnka, Polish priest and archbishop
  • 1371 – Jeanne d’Évreux, queen consort of France (b. 1310)
  • 1388 – Thomas Usk, English author
  • 1484 – Saint Casimir, Polish prince (b. 1458)
  • 1496 – Sigismund, archduke of Austria (b. 1427)
  • 1583 – Bernard Gilpin, English priest and theologian (b. 1517)
  • 1604 – Fausto Sozzini, Italian theologian and educator (b. 1539)
  • 1615 – Hans von Aachen, German painter and educator (b. 1552)
  • 1710 – Louis III, duke of Bourbon (b. 1668)
  • 1733 – Claude de Forbin, French admiral and politician (b. 1656)
  • 1744 – John Anstis, English historian and politician (b. 1669)
  • 1762 – Johannes Zick, German painter (b. 1702)
  • 1793 – Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre (b. 1725)
  • 1795 – John Collins, American politician, 3rd Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1717)
  • 1805 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (b. 1725)
  • 1807 – Abraham Baldwin, American minister, lawyer, and politician (b. 1754)
  • 1811 – Mariano Moreno, Argentinian journalist, lawyer, and politician (b. 1778)
  • 1832 – Jean-François Champollion, French philologist and scholar (b. 1790)
  • 1851 – James Richardson, English explorer (b. 1809)
  • 1852 – Nikolai Gogol, Ukrainian-Russian short story writer, novelist, and playwright (b. 1809)
  • 1853 – Thomas Bladen Capel, English admiral (b. 1776)
  • 1853 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (b. 1774)
  • 1858 – Matthew C. Perry, American naval commander (b. 1794)
  • 1864 – Thomas Starr King, American minister and politician (b. 1824)
  • 1866 – Alexander Campbell, Irish-American minister and theologian (b. 1788)
  • 1872 – Carsten Hauch, Danish poet and playwright (b. 1790)
  • 1883 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (b. 1812)
  • 1888 – Amos Bronson Alcott, American philosopher and educator (b. 1799)
  • 1903 – Joseph Henry Shorthouse, English author (b. 1834)
  • 1906 – John Schofield, American general and politician, 28th United States Secretary of War (b. 1831)
  • 1915 – William Willett, English inventor, founded British Summer Time (b. 1856)
  • 1916 – Franz Marc, German painter (b. 1880)
  • 1925 – Moritz Moszkowski, Polish-German pianist and composer (b. 1854)
  • 1925 – James Ward, English psychologist and philosopher (b. 1843)
  • 1925 – John Montgomery Ward, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860)
  • 1927 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (b. 1846)
  • 1938 – George Foster Peabody, American banker and philanthropist (b. 1852)
  • 1938 – Jack Taylor, American baseball player (b. 1874)
  • 1940 – Hamlin Garland, American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer (b. 1860)
  • 1941 – Ludwig Quidde, German activist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
  • 1944 – Fannie Barrier Williams, American educator and activist (b. 1855)
  • 1944 – Louis Buchalter, American mob boss (b. 1897)
  • 1944 – Louis Capone, Italian-American gangster (b. 1896)
  • 1944 – René Lefebvre, French businessman (b. 1879)
  • 1945 – Lucille La Verne, American actress (b. 1872)
  • 1945 – Mark Sandrich, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1900)
  • 1948 – Antonin Artaud, French actor and director (b. 1896)
  • 1949 – Clarence Kingsbury, English cyclist (b. 1882)
  • 1952 – Charles Scott Sherrington, English neurophysiologist and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)
  • 1954 – Noel Gay, English composer and songwriter (b. 1898)
  • 1960 – Herbert O’Conor, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 51st Governor of Maryland (b. 1896)
  • 1963 – William Carlos Williams, American poet, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1883)
  • 1969 – Nicholas Schenck, Russian-American businessman (b. 1881)
  • 1972 – Harold Barrowclough, New Zealand general, lawyer, and politician, 8th Chief Justice of New Zealand (b. 1894)
  • 1972 – Charles Biro, American author and illustrator (b. 1911)
  • 1974 – Adolph Gottlieb, American painter and sculptor (b. 1903)
  • 1976 – John Marvin Jones, American judge and politician (b. 1882)
  • 1976 – Walter H. Schottky, Swiss-German physicist and engineer (b. 1886)
  • 1977 – Anatol E. Baconsky, Romanian poet, author, and critic (b. 1925)
  • 1977 – Nancy Tyson Burbidge, Australian botanist and curator (b. 1912)
  • 1977 – Andrés Caicedo, Colombian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1951)
  • 1977 – William Paul, American lawyer and politician (b. 1885)
  • 1977 – Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, German jurist and politician, German Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1887)
  • 1978 – Wesley Bolin, American businessman and politician, 15th Governor of Arizona (b. 1909)
  • 1978 – Joe Marsala, American clarinet player and songwriter (b. 1907)
  • 1979 – Willi Unsoeld, American mountaineer and educator (b. 1926)
  • 1980 – Alan Hardaker, English lieutenant and businessman (b. 1912)
  • 1981 – Torin Thatcher, American actor (b. 1905)
  • 1981 – Karl-Jesko von Puttkamer, German admiral (b. 1900)
  • 1986 – Albert L. Lehninger, American biochemist and academic (b. 1917)
  • 1986 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1943)
  • 1986 – Elizabeth Smart, Canadian poet and author (b. 1913)
  • 1987 – Seibo Kitamura, Japanese sculptor (b. 1884)
  • 1988 – Beatriz Guido, Argentine author and screenwriter (b. 1924)
  • 1989 – Tiny Grimes, American guitarist (b. 1916)
  • 1990 – Hank Gathers, American basketball player (b. 1967)
  • 1991 – Godfrey Bryan, English cricketer (b. 1902)
  • 1992 – Art Babbitt, American animator and director (b. 1907)
  • 1992 – Pare Lorentz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1905)
  • 1993 – Art Hodes, Ukrainian-American pianist and composer (b. 1904)
  • 1993 – Tomislav Ivčić, Croatian singer-songwriter and politician (b. 1953)
  • 1993 – Izaak Kolthoff, Dutch chemist and academic (b. 1894)
  • 1993 – Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, English lieutenant and politician, Secretary of State for the Environment (b. 1929)
  • 1994 – John Candy, Canadian comedian and actor (b. 1950)
  • 1994 – George Edward Hughes, Irish-Scottish philosopher and author (b. 1918)
  • 1995 – Matt Urban, American colonel, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1919)
  • 1996 – Minnie Pearl, American entertainer (b. 1912)
  • 1996 – John Sauer, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1925)
  • 1997 – Joe Baker-Cresswell, English captain (b. 1901)
  • 1997 – Robert H. Dicke, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1916)
  • 1998 – Ivan Dougherty, Australian general (b. 1907)
  • 1999 – Harry Blackmun, American lawyer and judge (b. 1908)
  • 1999 – Del Close, American actor and educator (b. 1934)
  • 1999 – Miłosz Magin, Polish pianist and composer (b. 1929)
  • 2000 – Hermann Brück, German-Scottish physicist and astronomer (b. 1905)
  • 2000 – Michael Noonan, New Zealand-Australian author and screenwriter (b. 1921)
  • 2000 – Ta-You Wu, Chinese physicist and academic (b. 1907)
  • 2001 – Gerardo Barbero, Argentinian chess player (b. 1961)
  • 2001 – Jean René Bazaine, French painter and author (b. 1904)
  • 2001 – Fred Lasswell, American cartoonist (b. 1916)
  • 2001 – Jim Rhodes, American businessman and politician, 61st Governor of Ohio (b. 1909)
  • 2001 – Harold Stassen, American educator and politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (b. 1907)
  • 2002 – Ugnė Karvelis, Lithuanian author and translator (b. 1935)
  • 2002 – Elyne Mitchell, Australian skier and author (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Velibor Vasović, Serbian footballer and manager (b. 1939)
  • 2003 – Jaba Ioseliani, Georgian playwright, academic, and politician (b. 1926)
  • 2003 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1931)
  • 2004 – Claude Nougaro, French singer-songwriter (b. 1929)
  • 2005 – Nicola Calipari, Italian general (b. 1953)
  • 2005 – Yuriy Kravchenko, Ukrainian police officer and politician (b. 1951)
  • 2005 – Carlos Sherman, Uruguayan-Belarusian author and activist (b. 1934)
  • 2006 – John Reynolds Gardiner, American author and engineer (b. 1944)
  • 2006 – Edgar Valter, Estonian author and illustrator (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Thomas Eagleton, American lawyer and politician, 38th Lieutenant Governor of Missouri (b. 1929)
  • 2007 – Tadeusz Nalepa, Polish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
  • 2007 – Ian Wooldridge, English journalist (b. 1932)
  • 2008 – Gary Gygax, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1938)
  • 2008 – Leonard Rosenman, American composer and conductor (b. 1924)
  • 2009 – Yvon Cormier, Canadian wrestler (b. 1938)
  • 2009 – Horton Foote, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1916)
  • 2009 – George McAfee, American football player (b. 1918)
  • 2010 – Raimund Abraham, Austrian architect and educator, designed the Austrian Cultural Forum New York (b. 1933)
  • 2010 – Johnny Alf, Brazilian pianist and composer (b. 1929)
  • 2010 – Vladislav Ardzinba, Abkhazian historian and politician, 1st President of Abkhazia (b. 1945)
  • 2010 – Fred Wedlock, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1942)
  • 2011 – Krishna Prasad Bhattarai, Nepalese journalist and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1924)
  • 2011 – Vivienne Harris, English journalist and publisher, co-founded the Jewish Telegraph (b. 1921)
  • 2011 – Ed Manning, American basketball player and coach (b. 1943)
  • 2011 – Arjun Singh, Indian politician (b. 1930)
  • 2011 – Alenush Terian, Iranian astronomer and physicist (b. 1920)
  • 2011 – Simon van der Meer, Dutch-Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Paul McBride, Scottish lawyer and politician (b. 1965)
  • 2012 – Don Mincher, American baseball player (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Lillian Cahn, Hungarian-American businesswoman, co-founded Coach, Inc. (b. 1923)
  • 2013 – Mickey Moore, Canadian-American actor and director (b. 1914)
  • 2013 – Toren Smith, Canadian businessman, founded Studio Proteus (b. 1960)
  • 2014 – Mark Freidkin, Russian author and poet (b. 1953)
  • 2014 – Elaine Kellett-Bowman, English lawyer and politician (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Jack Kinzler, American engineer (b. 1920)
  • 2014 – Wu Tianming, Chinese director and producer (b. 1939)
  • 2015 – Dušan Bilandžić, Croatian historian and politician (b. 1924)
  • 2015 – Ray Hatton, English-American runner, author, and academic (b. 1932)
  • 2016 – Bud Collins, American journalist and sportscaster (b. 1929)
  • 2016 – Pat Conroy, American author (b. 1945)
  • 2016 – P. A. Sangma, Indian lawyer and politician, Speaker of the Lok Sabha (b. 1947)
  • 2016 – Zhou Xiaoyan, Chinese soprano and educator (b. 1917)
  • 2017 – Clayton Yeutter, American politician (b. 1930)
  • 2018 – Davide Astori, Italian soccer player (b. 1987)
  • 2019 – Keith Flint, English singer (The Prodigy) (b. 1969)
  • 2019 – Luke Perry, American actor (b. 1966)
  • 2020 – Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Peruvian politician and diplomat

Holidays and observances on March 4

  • Christian feast day:
    • Adrian of Nicomedia
    • Casimir
    • Felix of Rhuys
    • Giovanni Antonio Farina (Catholic Church)
    • Blessed Humbert III, Count of Savoy (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Paul Cuffee (Episcopal Church)
    • Peter of Pappacarbone
    • Blessed Zoltán Meszlényi
    • March 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • St Casimir’s Day (Poland and Lithuania)

March 4- History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 705 – Empress Wu Zetian abdicates the throne, restoring the Tang dynasty.
  • 1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand of Majorca and the forces of Matilda of Hainaut, ends in victory for Ferdinand.
  • 1371 – Robert II becomes King of Scotland, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
  • 1495 – King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city’s throne.
  • 1632 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, the dedicatee, receives the first printed copy of Galileo’s Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems .
  • 1651 – St. Peter’s Flood: A storm surge floods the Frisian coast, drowning 15,000 people.
  • 1744 – War of the Austrian Succession: The Battle of Toulon causes several Royal Navy captains to be court-martialed, and the Articles of War to be amended.
  • 1797 – The last Invasion of Britain begins near Fishguard, Wales.
  • 1819 – By the Adams–Onís Treaty, Spain sells Florida to the United States for five million U.S. dollars.
  • 1821 – Greek War of Independence: Alexander Ypsilantis crosses the Prut river at Sculeni into the Danubian Principalities.
  • 1847 – Mexican–American War: The Battle of Buena Vista: Five thousand American troops defeat 15,000 Mexican troops.
  • 1848 – The French Revolution of 1848, which would lead to the establishment of the French Second Republic, begins.
  • 1853 – Washington University in St. Louis is founded as Eliot Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.
  • 1855 – The Pennsylvania State University is founded in State College, Pennsylvania (as the Farmers’ High School of Pennsylvania).
  • 1856 – The United States Republican Party opens its first national convention in Pittsburgh.
  • 1862 – Jefferson Davis is officially inaugurated for a six-year term as the President of the Confederate States of America in Richmond, Virginia. He was previously inaugurated as a provisional president on February 18, 1861.
  • 1872 – The Prohibition Party holds its first national convention in Columbus, Ohio, nominating James Black as its presidential nominee.
  • 1878 – In Utica, New York, Frank Woolworth opens the first of many of five-and-dime Woolworth stores.
  • 1889 – President Grover Cleveland signs a bill admitting North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington as U.S. states.
  • 1899 – Filipino forces led by General Antonio Luna launch counterattacks for the first time against the American forces during the Philippine–American War. The Filipinos fail to regain Manila from the Americans.
  • 1904 – The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
  • 1909 – The sixteen battleships of the Great White Fleet, led by USS Connecticut, return to the United States after a voyage around the world.
  • 1915 – World War I: The Imperial German Navy institutes unrestricted submarine warfare.
  • 1921 – After Russian forces under Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg drive the Chinese out, the Bogd Khan is reinstalled as the emperor of Mongolia.
  • 1942 – World War II: President Franklin D. Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as the Japanese victory becomes inevitable.
  • 1943 – World War II: Members of the White Rose resistance, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst are executed in Nazi Germany.
  • 1944 – World War II: American aircraft mistakenly bomb the Dutch towns of Nijmegen, Arnhem, Enschede and Deventer, resulting in 800 dead in Nijmegen alone.
  • 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Red Army recaptures Krivoi Rog.
  • 1946 – The “Long Telegram”, proposing how the United States should deal with the Soviet Union, arrives from the US embassy in Moscow.
  • 1957 – Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam survives a communist shooting assassination attempt in Buôn Ma Thuột.
  • 1958 – Egypt and Syria join to form the United Arab Republic.
  • 1959 – Lee Petty wins the first Daytona 500.
  • 1972 – The Official Irish Republican Army detonates a car bomb at Aldershot barracks, killing seven and injuring nineteen others.
  • 1973 – Cold War: Following President Richard Nixon’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, the two countries agree to establish liaison offices.
  • 1974 – The Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit begins in Lahore, Pakistan. Thirty-seven countries attend and twenty-two heads of state and government participate. It also recognizes Bangladesh.
  • 1974 – Samuel Byck attempts to hijack an aircraft at Baltimore/Washington International Airport with the intention of crashing it into the White House to assassinate Richard Nixon, but is killed by police.
  • 1980 – Miracle on Ice: In Lake Placid, New York, the United States hockey team defeats the Soviet Union hockey team 4–3.
  • 1983 – The notorious Broadway flop Moose Murders opens and closes on the same night at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
  • 1984 – President of Bangladesh, H M Ershad upgraded South Sylhet’s sub-division status to a district and renamed it back to Moulvibazar.
  • 1986 – Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
  • 1994 – Aldrich Ames and his wife are charged by the United States Department of Justice with spying for the Soviet Union.
  • 1995 – The Corona reconnaissance satellite program, in existence from 1959 to 1972, is declassified.
  • 1997 – In Roslin, Midlothian, British scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly has been successfully cloned.
  • 2002 – Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
  • 2005 – The 6.4 Mw  Zarand earthquake shakes the Kerman Province of Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 612 people dead and 1,411 injured.
  • 2006 – At least six men stage Britain’s biggest robbery, stealing £53m (about $92.5 million or €78 million) from a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
  • 2011 – New Zealand’s second deadliest earthquake strikes Christchurch, killing 185 people.
  • 2011 – Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
  • 2012 – A train crash in Buenos Aires, Argentina, kills 51 people and injures 700 others.
  • 2014 – President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
  • 2015 – A ferry carrying 100 passengers capsizes in the Padma River, killing 70 people.
  • 2018 – A man throws a grenade at the U.S embassy in Podgorica, Montenegro. He dies at the scene from a second explosion, with no one else hurt.

Births on February 22

  • 1028 – Al-Juwayni, Persian jurist and theologian (died 1085)
  • 1040 – Rashi, French rabbi and author (d. 1105)
  • 1302 – Gegeen Khan, Emperor Yingzong of Yuan (d. 1323)
  • 1403 – Charles VII of France (d. 1461)
  • 1440 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (d. 1457)
  • 1500 – Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, Italian cardinal (d. 1564)
  • 1514 – Tahmasp I, Iranian shah (d. 1576)
  • 1520 – Moses Isserles, Polish rabbi (d. 1572)
  • 1550 – Charles de Ligne, 2nd Prince of Arenberg (d. 1616)
  • 1592 – Nicholas Ferrar, English scholar (d. 1637)
  • 1631 – Peder Syv, Danish historian (d. 1702)
  • 1649 – Bon Boullogne, French painter (d. 1717)
  • 1715 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French artist (d. 1790)
  • 1732 – George Washington, American general and politician, 1st President of the United States (d. 1799)
  • 1749 – Johann Nikolaus Forkel, German musicologist and theorist (d. 1818)
  • 1778 – Rembrandt Peale, American painter and curator (d. 1860)
  • 1788 – Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher and author (d. 1860)
  • 1796 – Alexis Bachelot, French priest and missionary (d. 1837)
  • 1796 – Adolphe Quetelet, Belgian mathematician, astronomer, and sociologist (d. 1874)
  • 1805 – Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, English poet and hymnwriter (d. 1848)
  • 1806 – Józef Kremer, Polish historian and philosopher (d. 1875)
  • 1817 – Carl Wilhelm Borchardt, German mathematician and academic (d. 1880)
  • 1819 – James Russell Lowell, American poet and critic (d. 1891)
  • 1824 – Pierre Janssen, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1907)
  • 1825 – Jean-Baptiste Salpointe, French-American archbishop (d. 1898)
  • 1836 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and academic (d. 1906)
  • 1840 – August Bebel, German theorist and politician (d. 1913)
  • 1849 – Nikolay Yakovlevich Sonin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1915)
  • 1857 – Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, English general, co-founded The Scout Association (d. 1941)
  • 1857 – Heinrich Hertz, German physicist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1894)
  • 1860 – Mary W. Bacheler, American physician and Baptist medical missionary (d. 1939)
  • 1863 – Charles McLean Andrews, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1943)
  • 1864 – Jules Renard, French author and playwright (d. 1910)
  • 1876 – Zitkala-Sa, American author and activist (d. 1938)
  • 1874 – Bill Klem, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1951)
  • 1879 – Johannes Nicolaus Brønsted, Danish chemist and academic (d. 1947)
  • 1880 – Eric Lemming, Swedish athlete (d. 1930)
  • 1881 – Joseph B. Ely, American lawyer and politician, 52nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1956)
  • 1881 – Albin Prepeluh, Slovenian journalist and politician (d. 1937)
  • 1882 – Eric Gill, English sculptor and illustrator (d. 1940)
  • 1883 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (d. 1940)
  • 1886 – Hugo Ball, German author and poet (d. 1927)
  • 1887 – Savielly Tartakower, Polish journalist, author, and chess player (d. 1956)
  • 1887 – Pat Sullivan, Australian-American animator and producer (d. 1933)
  • 1888 – Owen Brewster, American captain and politician, 54th Governor of Maine (d. 1961)
  • 1889 – Olave Baden-Powell, English scout leader, founded the Girl Guides (d. 1977)
  • 1889 – R. G. Collingwood, English historian and philosopher (d. 1943)
  • 1891 – Vlas Chubar, Russian economist and politician (d. 1939)
  • 1892 – Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet and playwright (d. 1950)
  • 1895 – Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, Peruvian politician (d. 1979)
  • 1897 – Karol Świerczewski, Polish general (d. 1947)
  • 1899 – George O’Hara, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1966)
  • 1900 – Luis Buñuel, Spanish-Mexican director and producer (d. 1983)
  • 1903 – Morley Callaghan, Canadian author and playwright (d. 1990)
  • 1903 – Frank P. Ramsey, English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1930)
  • 1906 – Constance Stokes, Australian painter (d. 1991)
  • 1907 – Sheldon Leonard, American actor, director, and producer (d. 1997)
  • 1907 – Robert Young, American actor (d. 1998)
  • 1908 – Rómulo Betancourt, Venezuelan politician, 56th President of Venezuela (d. 1981)
  • 1908 – John Mills, English soldier and actor (d. 2005)
  • 1910 – George Hunt, English international footballer, forward (d. 1996)
  • 1914 – Renato Dulbecco, Italian-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
  • 1915 – Gus Lesnevich, American boxer (d. 1964)
  • 1917 – Reed Crandall, American illustrator (d. 1982)
  • 1918 – Sid Abel, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 2000)
  • 1918 – Don Pardo, American radio and television announcer (d. 2014)
  • 1918 – Robert Wadlow, American man, the tallest person in recorded history (d. 1940)
  • 1921 – Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Central African general and politician, 2nd President of the Central African Republic (d. 1996)
  • 1921 – Giulietta Masina, Italian actress (d. 1994)
  • 1922 – Marshall Teague, American race car driver (d. 1959)
  • 1922 – Joe Wilder, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (d. 2014)
  • 1923 – Bleddyn Williams, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2009)
  • 1923 – François Cavanna, French author and editor (d. 2014)
  • 1925 – Edward Gorey, American illustrator and poet (d. 2000)
  • 1925 – Gerald Stern, American poet and academic
  • 1926 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1988)
  • 1927 – Florencio Campomanes, Filipino political scientist and chess player (d. 2010)
  • 1927 – Guy Mitchell, American singer (d. 1999)
  • 1928 – Clarence 13X, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Gods and Earths (d. 1969)
  • 1928 – Texas Johnny Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
  • 1928 – Paul Dooley, American actor
  • 1928 – Bruce Forsyth, English singer and television host (d. 2017)
  • 1929 – James Hong, American actor and director
  • 1929 – Rebecca Schull, American stage, film, and television actress
  • 1930 – Marni Nixon, American soprano and actress (d. 2016)
  • 1932 – Ted Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2009)
  • 1932 – Zenaida Manfugás, Cuban-born American-naturalized pianist (d. 2012)
  • 1933 – Katharine, Duchess of Kent
  • 1933 – Sheila Hancock, English actress and author
  • 1933 – Ernie K-Doe, American R&B singer (d. 2001)
  • 1933 – Bobby Smith, English international footballer, centre forward (d. 2010)
  • 1934 – Sparky Anderson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
  • 1936 – J. Michael Bishop, American microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate
  • 1937 – Tommy Aaron, American golfer
  • 1937 – Joanna Russ, American author and activist (d. 2011)
  • 1938 – Steve Barber, American baseball player (d. 2007)
  • 1938 – Tony Macedo, Gibraltarian born English footballer, goalkeeper
  • 1938 – Ishmael Reed, American poet, novelist, essayist
  • 1940 – Judy Cornwell, English actress
  • 1940 – Chet Walker, American basketball player
  • 1941 – Hipólito Mejía, Dominican politician, 52nd President of the Dominican Republic
  • 1942 – Christine Keeler, English model and dancer (d. 2017)
  • 1943 – Terry Eagleton, English philosopher and critic
  • 1943 – Horst Köhler, Polish-German economist and politician, 9th President of Germany
  • 1943 – Dick Van Arsdale, American basketball player
  • 1943 – Tom Van Arsdale, American basketball player
  • 1943 – Otoya Yamaguchi, Japanese assassin of Inejiro Asanuma (d. 1960)
  • 1944 – Jonathan Demme, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
  • 1944 – Mick Green, English rock & roll guitarist (d. 2010)
  • 1944 – Robert Kardashian, American lawyer and businessman (d. 2003)
  • 1944 – Christopher Meyer, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United States
  • 1944 – Tom Okker, Dutch tennis player and painter
  • 1945 – Oliver, American pop singer (d. 2000)
  • 1946 – Kresten Bjerre, Danish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
  • 1947 – Pirjo Honkasalo, Finnish director, cinematographer, and screenwriter
  • 1947 – Harvey Mason, American drummer
  • 1947 – John Radford, English footballer and manager
  • 1947 – Frank Van Dun, Belgian philosopher and theorist
  • 1949 – John Duncan, Scottish footballer, forward and manager
  • 1949 – Niki Lauda, Austrian racing driver (d. 2019)
  • 1949 – Olga Morozova, Russian tennis player and coach
  • 1950 – Julius Erving, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1950 – Lenny Kuhr, Dutch singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Miou-Miou, French actress
  • 1950 – Genesis P-Orridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
  • 1950 – Julie Walters, English actress and author
  • 1951 – Ellen Greene, American singer and actress
  • 1952 – Bill Frist, American physician and politician
  • 1952 – Joaquim Pina Moura, Portuguese Minister of Economy and Treasury and MP (d. 2020)
  • 1953 – Nigel Planer, English actor and screenwriter
  • 1955 – David Axelrod, American journalist and political adviser
  • 1955 – Tim Young, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1957 – Willie Smits, Dutch microbiologist and engineer
  • 1958 – Dave Spitz, American bass player and songwriter
  • 1959 – Jiří Čunek, Czech politician
  • 1959 – Kyle MacLachlan, American actor
  • 1959 – Bronwyn Oliver, Australian sculptor (d. 2006)
  • 1960 – Thomas Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde, Scottish politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  • 1961 – Akira Takasaki, Japanese guitarist, songwriter, and producer
  • 1962 – Steve Irwin, Australian zoologist and television host (d. 2006)
  • 1963 – Andrew Adonis, Baron Adonis, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
  • 1963 – Devon Malcolm, Jamaican-English cricketer
  • 1963 – Vijay Singh, Fijian-American golfer
  • 1964 – Ed Boon, American video game designer, co-created Mortal Kombat
  • 1964 – Diane Charlemagne, English singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
  • 1964 – Andy Gray, English footballer, midfielder and manager
  • 1965 – Chris Dudley, American basketball player and politician
  • 1965 – Kieren Fallon, Irish jockey
  • 1965 – Pat LaFontaine, American ice hockey player
  • 1966 – Rachel Dratch, American actress and comedian
  • 1966 – Thorsten Kaye, German-English actor
  • 1967 – Psicosis II, Mexican wrestler
  • 1968 – Shawn Graham, Canadian politician, 31st Premier of New Brunswick
  • 1968 – Bradley Nowell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1996)
  • 1968 – Jeri Ryan, American model and actress
  • 1968 – Jayson Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1969 – Thomas Jane, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1969 – Brian Laudrup, Danish footballer and sportscaster
  • 1969 – Marc Wilmots, Belgian footballer and manager
  • 1971 – Super Caló, Mexican wrestler
  • 1971 – Lea Salonga, Filipino actress and singer
  • 1972 – Michael Chang, American tennis player and coach
  • 1972 – Claudia Pechstein, German speed skater
  • 1973 – Philippe Gaumont, French cyclist (d. 2013)
  • 1973 – Juninho Paulista, Brazilian footballer
  • 1973 – Scott Phillips, American drummer and producer
  • 1974 – James Blunt, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1974 – Chris Moyles, English radio and television host
  • 1975 – Drew Barrymore, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1977 – Timo Rose, German actor, director, and producer
  • 1977 – Hakan Yakin, Swiss footballer
  • 1978 – Jenny Frost, English singer and dancer
  • 1979 – Brett Emerton, Australian footballer
  • 1979 – Lee Na-young, South Korean actress
  • 1980 – Shamari Fears, American singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1980 – Kang Sung-hoon, South Korean singer
  • 1980 – Jeanette Biedermann, German singer-songwriter and actress
  • 1983 – Shaun Tait, Australian cricketer
  • 1984 – Tommy Bowe, Irish rugby player
  • 1984 – Branislav Ivanović, Serbian footballer
  • 1985 – Hameur Bouazza, Algerian international footballer, winger
  • 1985 – Georgios Printezis, Greek basketball player
  • 1986 – Rajon Rondo, American basketball player
  • 1987 – Han Hyo-joo, South Korean actress and model
  • 1987 – Sergio Romero, Argentinian footballer
  • 1988 – Jonathan Borlée, Belgian sprinter
  • 1988 – Efraín Juárez, Mexican footballer
  • 1988 – Sebastian Tyrała, Polish-German footballer
  • 1989 – Franco Vázquez, Argentinian footballer
  • 1990 – Luca Profeta, Italian footballer
  • 1992 – Alexander Merkel, Kazakhstani-German footballer
  • 1999 – Harry Brook, English cricketer

Deaths on February 22

  • 556 – Maximianus, bishop of Ravenna (b. 499)
  • 606 – Sabinian, pope of the Catholic Church
  • 793 – Sicga, Anglo-Saxon nobleman and regicide
  • 845 – Wang, Chinese empress dowager
  • 954 – Guo Wei, Chinese emperor (b. 904)
  • 965 – Otto, duke of Burgundy (b. 944)
  • 970 – García I, king of Pamplona
  • 978 – Lambert, count of Chalon (b. 930)
  • 1071 – Arnulf III, count of Flanders
  • 1072 – Peter Damian, Italian cardinal
  • 1079 – John of Fécamp, Italian Benedictine abbot
  • 1111 – Roger Borsa, king of Sicily (b. 1078)
  • 1297 – Margaret of Cortona, Italian penitent (b. 1247)
  • 1371 – David II, king of Scotland (b. 1324)
  • 1452 – William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas (b. 1425)
  • 1500 – Gerhard VI, German nobleman (b. 1430)
  • 1511 – Henry, duke of Cornwall (b. 1511)
  • 1512 – Amerigo Vespucci, Italian cartographer and explorer (b. 1454)
  • 1627 – Olivier van Noort, Dutch explorer (b. 1558)
  • 1674 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic (b. 1595)
  • 1680 – La Voisin, French occultist (b. 1640)
  • 1690 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (b. 1619)
  • 1731 – Frederik Ruysch, Dutch physician and anatomist (b. 1638)
  • 1732 – Francis Atterbury, English bishop (b. 1663)
  • 1799 – Heshen, Chinese politician (b. 1750)
  • 1816 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish historian and philosopher (b. 1723)
  • 1875 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and illustrator (b. 1796)
  • 1875 – Charles Lyell, Scottish-English geologist and lawyer (b. 1797)
  • 1888 – Anna Kingsford, English physician and activist (b. 1846)
  • 1890 – John Jacob Astor III, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1822)
  • 1890 – Carl Bloch, Danish painter and academic (b. 1834)
  • 1897 – Charles Blondin, French tightrope walker and acrobat (b. 1824)
  • 1898 – Heungseon Daewongun, Korean king (b. 1820)
  • 1903 – Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (b. 1860)
  • 1904 – Leslie Stephen, English historian, author, and critic (b. 1832)
  • 1913 – Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and author (b. 1857)
  • 1913 – Francisco I. Madero, Mexican president and author (b. 1873)
  • 1923 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1852)
  • 1939 – Antonio Machado, Spanish-French poet and author (b. 1875)
  • 1942 – Stefan Zweig, Austrian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1881)
  • 1943 – Christoph Probst, German activist (b. 1919)
  • 1943 – Hans Scholl, German activist (b. 1918)
  • 1943 – Sophie Scholl, German activist (b. 1921)
  • 1944 – Kasturba Gandhi, Indian activist (b. 1869)
  • 1945 – Osip Brik, Russian avant garde writer and literary critic (b. 1888)
  • 1958 – Abul Kalam Azad, Indian scholar and politician, Indian Minister of Education (b. 1888)
  • 1960 – Paul-Émile Borduas, Canadian-French painter and critic (b. 1905)
  • 1961 – Nick LaRocca, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1889)
  • 1965 – Felix Frankfurter, Austrian-American lawyer and jurist (b. 1882)
  • 1971 – Frédéric Mariotti, French actor (b. 1883)
  • 1973 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (b. 1916)
  • 1973 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author (b. 1899)
  • 1973 – Katina Paxinou, Greek actress (b. 1900)
  • 1973 – Winthrop Rockefeller, American colonel and politician, 37th Governor of Arkansas (b. 1912)
  • 1976 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (b. 1904)
  • 1976 – Florence Ballard, American singer (b. 1943)
  • 1980 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter, poet and playwright (b. 1886)
  • 1982 – Josh Malihabadi, Indian-Pakistani poet and author (b. 1898)
  • 1983 – Adrian Boult, English conductor (b. 1889)
  • 1983 – Romain Maes, Belgian cyclist (b. 1913)
  • 1985 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1913)
  • 1985 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1889)
  • 1986 – John Donnelly, Australian rugby league player (b. 1955)
  • 1987 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (b. 1920)
  • 1987 – Andy Warhol, American painter and photographer (b. 1928)
  • 1992 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (b. 1906)
  • 1994 – Papa John Creach, American violinist (b. 1917)
  • 1995 – Ed Flanders, American actor (b. 1934)
  • 1997 – Joseph Aiuppa, American gangster (b. 1907)
  • 1998 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (b. 1910)
  • 1999 – William Bronk, American poet and academic (b. 1918)
  • 1999 – Menno Oosting, Dutch tennis player (b. 1964)
  • 2002 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (b. 1916)
  • 2002 – Chuck Jones, American animator, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
  • 2002 – Jonas Savimbi, Angolan general, founded UNITA (b. 1934)
  • 2004 – Andy Seminick, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
  • 2005 – Lee Eun-ju, South Korean actress and singer (b. 1980)
  • 2005 – Simone Simon, French actress (b. 1910)
  • 2007 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English politician, Leader of the House of Lords (b. 1918)
  • 2007 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player and coach (b. 1954)
  • 2012 – Sukhbir, Indian author and poet (b. 1925)
  • 2012 – Frank Carson, Irish-English comedian and actor (b. 1926)
  • 2012 – Marie Colvin, American journalist (b. 1956)
  • 2012 – Rémi Ochlik, French photographer and journalist (b. 1983)
  • 2013 – Atje Keulen-Deelstra, Dutch speed skater (b. 1938)
  • 2013 – Jean-Louis Michon, French-Swiss scholar and translator (b. 1924)
  • 2013 – Wolfgang Sawallisch, German pianist and conductor (b. 1923)
  • 2014 – Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand–Australian television host (b. 1966)
  • 2014 – Trebor Jay Tichenor, American pianist and composer (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Leo Vroman, Dutch-American hematologist, poet, and illustrator (b. 1915)
  • 2015 – Chris Rainbow, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1946)
  • 2016 – Yolande Fox, American model and singer, Miss America 1951 (b. 1928)
  • 2016 – Sonny James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – Forges, Spanish cartoonist (b. 1942)
  • 2019 – Brody Stevens, American comedian and actor (b. 1970)
  • 2019 – Morgan Woodward, American actor (b. 1925)

Holidays and observances on February 22

  • Birthday of Scouting and Guiding founder Robert Baden-Powell and Olave Baden-Powell, and its related observance:
    • Founder’s Day or “B.-P. day” (World Organization of the Scout Movement)
    • World Thinking Day (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts)
  • Christian feast day:
    • Baradates
    • Eric Liddell (Episcopal Church (USA))
    • Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter (Roman Catholic Church)
    • Margaret of Cortona
    • February 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Crime Victims Day (Europe)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Saint Lucia from the United Kingdom in 1979.

February 22 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1229 – The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a ten-year truce with al-Kamil, regaining Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem with neither military engagements nor support from the papacy.
  • 1268 – The Battle of Wesenberg is fought between the Livonian Order and Dovmont of Pskov.
  • 1332 – Amda Seyon I, Emperor of Ethiopia begins his campaigns in the southern Muslim provinces.
  • 1478 – George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason against his older brother Edward IV of England, is executed in private at the Tower of London.
  • 1637 – Eighty Years’ War: Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an important Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.
  • 1781 – Fourth Anglo-Dutch War: Captain Thomas Shirley opens his expedition against Dutch colonial outposts on the Gold Coast of Africa (present-day Ghana).
  • 1791 – Congress passes a law admitting the state of Vermont to the Union, effective 4 March, after that state had existed for 14 years as a de facto independent largely unrecognized state.
  • 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Sir Ralph Abercromby and a fleet of 18 British warships invade Trinidad.
  • 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Montereau.
  • 1861 – In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
  • 1861 – With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumes the title of King of Italy.
  • 1873 – Bulgarian revolutionary leader Vasil Levski is executed by hanging in Sofia by the Ottoman authorities.
  • 1878 – John Tunstall is murdered by outlaw Jesse Evans, sparking the Lincoln County War in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
  • 1885 – Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is published in the United States.
  • 1900 – Second Boer War: Imperial forces suffer their worst single-day loss of life on Bloody Sunday, the first day of the Battle of Paardeberg.
  • 1906 – Édouard de Laveleye forms the Belgian Olympic Committee in Brussels.
  • 1911 – The first official flight with airmail takes place from Allahabad, United Provinces, British India (now India), when Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old pilot, delivers 6,500 letters to Naini, about 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) away.
  • 1930 – While studying photographs taken in January, Clyde Tombaugh discovers Pluto.
  • 1930 – Elm Farm Ollie becomes the first cow to fly in a fixed-wing aircraft and also the first cow to be milked in an aircraft.
  • 1932 – The Empire of Japan creates the independent state of Manzhouguo (the obsolete Chinese name for Manchuria) free from the Republic of China and installed former Chinese Emperor Aisin Gioro Puyi as Chief Executive of the State.
  • 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: During the Nanking Massacre, the Nanking Safety Zone International Committee is renamed “Nanking International Rescue Committee”, and the safety zone in place for refugees falls apart.
  • 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army begins the systematic extermination of perceived hostile elements among the Chinese in Singapore.
  • 1943 – World War II: The Nazis arrest the members of the White Rose movement.
  • 1943 – World War II: Joseph Goebbels delivers his Sportpalast speech.
  • 1946 – Sailors of the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in Bombay harbour, from where the action spreads throughout the Provinces of British India, involving 78 ships, twenty shore establishments and 20,000 sailors
  • 1947 – First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to mountains.
  • 1954 – The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles.
  • 1955 – Operation Teapot: Teapot test shot “Wasp” is successfully detonated at the Nevada Test Site with a yield of 1.2 kilotons. Wasp is the first of fourteen shots in the Teapot series.
  • 1957 – Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
  • 1957 – Walter James Bolton becomes the last person legally executed in New Zealand.
  • 1965 – The Gambia becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
  • 1970 – The Chicago Seven are found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
  • 1972 – The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state’s death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
  • 1977 – The Space Shuttle Enterprise test vehicle is carried on its maiden “flight” on top of a Boeing 747.
  • 1979 – Richard Petty wins a then-record sixth Daytona 500 after leaders Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough crash on the final lap of the first NASCAR race televised live flag-to-flag.
  • 1983 – Thirteen people die and one is seriously injured in the Wah Mee massacre in Seattle. It is said to be the largest robbery-motivated mass-murder in U.S. history.
  • 1991 – The IRA explodes bombs in the early morning at Paddington station and Victoria station in London.
  • 2001 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for spying for the Soviet Union. He is ultimately convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
  • 2001 – Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
  • 2003 – Nearly 200 people die in the Daegu subway fire in South Korea.
  • 2004 – Up to 295 people, including nearly 200 rescue workers, die near Nishapur, Iran, when a runaway freight train carrying sulfur, petrol and fertilizer catches fire and explodes.
  • 2007 – Samjhauta Express bombings occurred around midnight in Diwana near the Indian city of Panipat, 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of New Delhi, India.
  • 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes the first of hundreds of thousands of classified documents disclosed by the soldier now known as Chelsea Manning.
  • 2013 – Armed robbers steal a haul of diamonds worth $50 million during a raid at Brussels Airport in Belgium.
  • 2014 – At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kiev, Ukraine.

Births on February 18

  • 1201 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (d. 1274)
  • 1372 – Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Egyptian jurist and scholar (d. 1448)
  • 1486 – Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Indian monk and saint (d. 1534)
  • 1516 – Mary I of England (d. 1558)
  • 1530 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese daimyō (d. 1578)
  • 1543 – Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1608)
  • 1547 – Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī, founder of Isfahan School of Islamic Philosophy (d. 1621)
  • 1559 – Isaac Casaubon, Swiss philologist and scholar (d. 1614)
  • 1589 – Henry Vane the Elder, English politician (d. 1655)
  • 1589 – Maarten Gerritsz Vries, Dutch explorer (d. 1646)
  • 1602 – Per Brahe the Younger, Swedish soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (d. 1680)
  • 1609 – Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, English historian and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1674)
  • 1626 – Francesco Redi, Italian physician (d. 1697)
  • 1632 – Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1692)
  • 1642 – Marie Champmeslé, French actress (d. 1698)
  • 1658 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French philosopher and author (d. 1743)
  • 1732 – Johann Christian Kittel, German organist and composer (d. 1809)
  • 1745 – Alessandro Volta, Italian physicist, invented the battery (d. 1827)
  • 1814 – Samuel Fenton Cary, American lawyer and politician (d. 1900)
  • 1817 – Lewis Armistead, American general (d. 1863)
  • 1836 – Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Indian mystic and yogi (d. 1886)
  • 1838 – Ernst Mach, Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1916)
  • 1846 – Wilson Barrett, English actor, playwright, and manager (d. 1904)
  • 1848 – Louis Comfort Tiffany, American stained glass artist (d. 1933)
  • 1849 – Alexander Kielland, Norwegian author, playwright, and politician (d. 1906)
  • 1850 – George Henschel, German-English singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (d. 1934)
  • 1855 – Jean Jules Jusserand, French historian, author, and diplomat, French Ambassador to the United States (d. 1932)
  • 1860 – Anders Zorn, Swedish artist (d. 1920)
  • 1862 – Charles M. Schwab, American businessman, co-founded Bethlehem Steel (d. 1939)
  • 1867 – Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer (d. 1950)
  • 1870 – William Laurel Harris, American painter and author (d. 1924)
  • 1871 – Harry Brearley, English inventor (d. 1948)
  • 1883 – Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek philosopher, author, and playwright (d. 1957)
  • 1885 – Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (d. 1954)
  • 1893 – Maksim Haretski, Belarusian prose writer, journalist and activist (d. 1938)
  • 1890 – Edward Arnold, American actor (d. 1956)
  • 1890 – Adolphe Menjou, American actor (d. 1963)
  • 1892 – Wendell Willkie, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 1944)
  • 1896 – Li Linsi, Chinese educator and diplomat (d. 1970)
  • 1898 – Enzo Ferrari, Italian race car driver and businessman, founded Ferrari (d. 1988)
  • 1898 – Luis Muñoz Marín, Puerto Rican poet and politician, 1st Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (d. 1980)
  • 1899 – Arthur Bryant, English historian and journalist (d. 1985)
  • 1903 – Nikolai Podgorny, Ukrainian engineer and politician (d. 1983)
  • 1905 – Queenie Leonard, English actress (d. 2002)
  • 1906 – Hans Asperger, Austrian pediatrician and academic (d. 1980)
  • 1909 – Wallace Stegner, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 1993)
  • 1914 – Pee Wee King, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (d. 2000)
  • 1915 – Phyllis Calvert, English actress (d. 2002)
  • 1916 – Jean Drapeau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1999)
  • 1919 – Jack Palance, American boxer and actor (d. 2006)
  • 1920 – Bill Cullen, American game show panelist and host (d. 1990)
  • 1920 – Rolande Falcinelli, French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Mary Amdur, American toxicologist and public health researcher (d. 1998)
  • 1921 – Oscar Feltsman, Ukrainian-Russian pianist and composer (d. 2013)
  • 1922 – Eric Gairy, Grenadan politician, 1st Prime Minister of Grenada (d. 1997)
  • 1922 – Helen Gurley Brown, American journalist and author (d. 2012)
  • 1922 – Allan Melvin, American actor (d. 2008)
  • 1925 – George Kennedy, American actor (d. 2016)
  • 1925 – Halit Kıvanç, Turkish journalist and sportscaster
  • 1925 – Ghafar Baba, Malaysian politician (d. 2006)
  • 1926 – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (d. 1976)
  • 1927 – Luis Arroyo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, manager, and scout (d. 2016)
  • 1927 – Fazal Mahmood, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2005)
  • 1927 – John Warner, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 61st United States Secretary of the Navy
  • 1928 – Rex Mossop, Australian rugby player and sportscaster (d. 2011)
  • 1929 – Len Deighton, English historian and author
  • 1929 – André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 1968)
  • 1931 – Johnny Hart, American cartoonist, co-created The Wizard of Id (d. 2007)
  • 1931 – Toni Morrison, American novelist and editor, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2019).
  • 1931 – Swraj Paul, Baron Paul, Indian-English businessman and philanthropist
  • 1931 – John Ryden, Scottish footballer, centre half (d. 2013)
  • 1931 – Bob St. Clair, American football player (d. 2015)
  • 1932 – Miloš Forman, Czech-American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
  • 1933 – Yoko Ono, Japanese-American multimedia artist and musician
  • 1933 – Bobby Robson, English international footballer, inside forward and international manager (d. 2009)
  • 1933 – Mary Ure, Scottish-English actress (d. 1975)
  • 1934 – Skip Battin, American singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2003)
  • 1934 – Dave Dunmore, English footballer, centre forward
  • 1934 – Audre Lorde, American poet, essayist, memoirist, and activist (d. 1992)
  • 1934 – Paco Rabanne, Spanish-French fashion designer
  • 1936 – Jean M. Auel, American author
  • 1938 – Manny Mota, Dominican baseball player, coach, and sportscaster
  • 1938 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 50th Yokozuna (d. 2017)
  • 1938 – István Szabó, Hungarian director and screenwriter
  • 1939 – Claude Ake, Nigerian political scientist and academic (d. 1996)
  • 1939 – Bobby Hart, American singer-songwriter
  • 1939 – Marlos Nobre, Brazilian composer
  • 1940 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
  • 1940 – Prue Leith, English restaurateur and journalist
  • 1941 – Herman Santiago, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter
  • 1941 – Irma Thomas, American singer
  • 1943 – Graeme Garden, Scottish comedian, actor, and author
  • 1944 – Pat Bowlen, American businessman (d. 2019)
  • 1945 – Judy Rankin, American golfer and sportscaster
  • 1946 – Michael Buerk, English journalist
  • 1947 – Dennis DeYoung, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
  • 1947 – Eliot Engel, American educator and politician
  • 1948 – Sinéad Cusack, Irish actress
  • 1948 – Bruce Francis, Australian cricketer
  • 1948 – Keith Knudsen, American singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2005)
  • 1949 – Gary Ridgway, American criminal, Green River Killer
  • 1950 – Nana Amba Eyiaba I, Ghanaian queen mother and advocate
  • 1950 – Cristina Ferrare, American model, actress, author, and television host
  • 1950 – John Hughes, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1950 – Cybill Shepherd, American actress and singer
  • 1951 – Queen Komal of Nepal
  • 1951 – Isabel Preysler, Filipino-Spanish journalist
  • 1952 – Randy Crawford, American jazz and R&B singer
  • 1952 – Maurice Lucas, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010)
  • 1952 – Juice Newton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1952 – Bernard Valcourt, Canadian lawyer and politician
  • 1953 – Robbie Bachman, Canadian rock drummer
  • 1953 – Derek Pellicci, English-Australian drummer
  • 1954 – Charlie Fowler, American mountaineer, author, and photographer (d. 2006)
  • 1954 – Paul Rendall, English rugby player
  • 1954 – John Travolta, American actor and producer
  • 1955 – Cheetah Chrome, American musician
  • 1955 – Miles Tredinnick, English singer-songwriter and playwright
  • 1955 – Lisa See, American writer and novelist
  • 1956 – Ted Gärdestad, Swedish singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
  • 1956 – Bidzina Ivanishvili, Georgian businessman and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Georgia
  • 1957 – Marita Koch, German sprinter
  • 1957 – Vanna White, American model and game show host
  • 1959 – Jayne Atkinson, English-American actress
  • 1959 – James Metzger, American businessman and philanthropist
  • 1960 – Andy Moog, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1960 – Greta Scacchi, Italian-Australian actress
  • 1963 – Rob Andrew, English rugby player and cricketer
  • 1964 – Matt Dillon, American actor and director
  • 1964 – Paul Hanley, English drummer and songwriter
  • 1965 – Dr. Dre, American rapper, producer, and actor
  • 1966 – Phillip DeFreitas, Dominican-English cricketer
  • 1967 – Roberto Baggio, Italian footballer
  • 1967 – Colin Jackson, Welsh sprinter and hurdler
  • 1968 – Molly Ringwald, American actress
  • 1969 – Tomaž Humar, Slovenian mountaineer (d. 2009)
  • 1969 – Alexander Mogilny, Russian-American ice hockey player
  • 1970 – Susan Egan, American actress and singer
  • 1970 – James H. Fowler, American political scientist and author
  • 1970 – Raine Maida, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1970 – Massimo Taibi, Italian footballer
  • 1971 – Thomas Bjorn, Danish golfer
  • 1971 – Merritt Gant, American guitarist
  • 1972 – Fabian Picardo, Gibraltarian lawyer and politician, 7th Chief Minister of Gibraltar
  • 1973 – Shawn Estes, American baseball player and sportscaster
  • 1973 – Claude Makélélé, French footballer and manager
  • 1974 – Carrie Ann Baade, American painter and academic
  • 1974 – Jamey Carroll, American baseball player
  • 1974 – Radek Černý, Czech international footballer, goalkeeper
  • 1974 – Ruby Dhalla, Canadian chiropractor and politician
  • 1974 – Julia Butterfly Hill, American environmentalist and author
  • 1974 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russian tennis player
  • 1974 – Jillian Michaels, American fitness trainer and author
  • 1975 – Gary Neville, English footballer and coach
  • 1976 – Leilani Munter, American race car driver and environmentalist
  • 1976 – Chanda Rubin, American tennis player
  • 1976 – Bernadette Sembrano, Filipino journalist
  • 1978 – Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer
  • 1979 – Tinu Yohannan, Indian cricketer
  • 1980 – Aivar Anniste, Estonian footballer
  • 1980 – Nik Antropov, Kazakhstani-Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1980 – Regina Spektor, Russian-American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
  • 1981 – Andrei Kirilenko, Russian basketball player
  • 1981 – Alex Ríos, American baseball player
  • 1981 – Ivan Sproule, Northern Irish footballer
  • 1981 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (d. 2011)
  • 1982 – Juelz Santana, American rapper and actor
  • 1982 – Christian Tiffert, German footballer
  • 1983 – Jermaine Jenas, English international footballer, midfielder, pundit
  • 1984 – Carlos Kameni, Cameroonian footballer
  • 1985 – Anton Ferdinand, English footballer
  • 1985 – Lee Boyd Malvo, Jamaican-American murderer
  • 1985 – Jos van Emden, Dutch cyclist
  • 1986 – Robert DeLong, American singer-songwriter
  • 1986 – Marc Torrejón, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Cristian Tănase, Romanian footballer
  • 1988 – Changmin, South Korean singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor
  • 1990 – Didi Gregorius, Dutch baseball player
  • 1990 – Cody Hodgson, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1991 – Sebastian Neumann, German footballer
  • 1991 – Henry Surtees, English race car driver (d. 2009)
  • 1994 – Jake Trbojevic, Australian rugby league player
  • 1994 – J-Hope, South Korean rapper, dancer, singer-songwriter

Deaths on February 18

  • 675 – Colmán, bishop of Lindisfarne
  • 814 – Angilbert, Frankish monk and diplomat (b. 760)
  • 901 – Thābit ibn Qurra, Arab astronomer and physician (b. 826)
  • 999 – Gregory V, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 972)
  • 1139 – Yaropolk II, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1082)
  • 1218 – Berthold V, duke of Zähringen (b. 1160)
  • 1225 – Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk, Norman nobleman
  • 1294 – Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor (b. 1215)
  • 1379 – Albert II, duke of Mecklenburg (b. 1318)
  • 1397 – Enguerrand VII, French nobleman (b. 1340)
  • 1405 – Timur, Turco-Mongol ruler (b. 1336)
  • 1455 – Fra Angelico, Italian priest and painter (b. 1395)
  • 1478 – George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, English nobleman (b. 1449)
  • 1502 – Hedwig Jagiellon, duchess of Bavaria (b. 1457)
  • 1535 – Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German magician, astrologer, and theologian (b. 1486)
  • 1546 – Martin Luther, German priest and theologian, leader of the Protestant Reformation (b. 1483)
  • 1564 – Michelangelo, Italian sculptor and painter (b. 1475)
  • 1654 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French author (b. 1594)
  • 1658 – John Villiers, 1st Viscount Purbeck, English courtier (b. c. 1591)
  • 1683 – Nicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem, Dutch painter (b. 1620)
  • 1695 – William Phips, governor of Massachusetts (b. 1650)
  • 1712 – Louis, Dauphin of France, (b. 1682)
  • 1743 – Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici, Italian noble (b. 1667)
  • 1748 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (b. 1677)
  • 1772 – Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, Danish politician (b. 1712)
  • 1778 – Joseph Marie Terray, French economist and politician, Controller-General of Finances (b. 1715)
  • 1780 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (b. 1714)
  • 1788 – John Whitehurst, English geologist and clockmaker (b. 1713)
  • 1803 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet and educator (b. 1719)
  • 1851 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician and academic (b. 1804)
  • 1873 – Vasil Levski, Bulgarian activist, founded the Internal Revolutionary Organization (b. 1837)
  • 1880 – Nikolay Zinin, Russian organic chemist (b. 1812)
  • 1893 – Serranus Clinton Hastings, American lawyer and politician, 1st Chief Justice of California (b. 1814)
  • 1902 – Charles Lewis Tiffany, American businessman, founded Tiffany & Co. (b. 1812)
  • 1906 – John Batterson Stetson, American businessman, founded the John B. Stetson Company (b. 1830)
  • 1910 – Lucy Stanton, American activist (b. 1831)
  • 1911 – Billy Murdoch, Australian cricketer (b. 1854)
  • 1915 – Frank James, American soldier and criminal (b. 1843)
  • 1923 – Alois Rašín, Czech economist and politician (b. 1867)
  • 1931 – Milan Šufflay, Croatian historian, author, and politician (b. 1879)
  • 1931 – Louis Wolheim, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1880)
  • 1933 – James J. Corbett, American boxer and actor (b. 1866)
  • 1938 – David King Udall, American missionary and politician (b. 1851)
  • 1942 – Albert Payson Terhune, American journalist and author (b. 1872)
  • 1945 – Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Russian general (b. 1906)
  • 1956 – Gustave Charpentier, French composer (b. 1860)
  • 1957 – Dedan Kimathi, Kenyan rebel leader (b. 1920)
  • 1957 – Henry Norris Russell, American astronomer, astrophysicist, and academic (b. 1877)
  • 1960 – Gertrude Vanderbilt, American stage actress (b. c. 1885)
  • 1964 – Joseph-Armand Bombardier, Canadian inventor and businessman, founded Bombardier Inc. (b. 1907)
  • 1966 – Robert Rossen, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
  • 1967 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (b. 1904)
  • 1969 – Dragiša Cvetković, Serbian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1893)
  • 1973 – Frank Costello, Italian-American gangster (b. 1891)
  • 1976 – Wallace Berman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
  • 1977 – Andy Devine, American actor (b. 1905)
  • 1978 – Maggie McNamara, American actress (b. 1928)
  • 1981 – Jack Northrop, American engineer and businessman, founded the Northrop Corporation (b. 1895)
  • 1982 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author (b. 1895)
  • 1989 – Mildred Burke, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1915)
  • 1990 – Richard de Zoysa, Sri Lankan journalist (b. 1958)
  • 1993 – Jacqueline Hill, English actress (b. 1929)
  • 1995 – Eddie Gilbert, American wrestler (b. 1961)
  • 1995 – Bob Stinson, American guitarist (b. 1959)
  • 1997 – Emily Hahn, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
  • 1998 – Harry Caray, American sportscaster (b. 1914)
  • 2001 – Balthus, Polish-Swiss painter and illustrator (b. 1908)
  • 2001 – Dale Earnhardt, American stock car racer and team owner (b. 1951)
  • 2001 – Eddie Mathews, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
  • 2003 – Isser Harel, Belarusian-Israeli intelligence officer (b. 1912)
  • 2006 – Bill Cowsill, American singer and guitarist (b. 1948)
  • 2008 – Alain Robbe-Grillet, French director, screenwriter, and novelist (b. 1922)
  • 2009 – Tayeb Salih, Sudanese journalist and author (b. 1929)
  • 2009 – Miika Tenkula, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1974)
  • 2010 – John Babcock, Canadian soldier (b. 1900)
  • 2012 – George Brizan, Grenadian politician, 9th Prime Minister of Grenada (b. 1942)
  • 2012 – Elizabeth Connell, South African-English soprano (b. 1946)
  • 2013 – Kevin Ayers, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
  • 2013 – Jerry Buss, American chemist and businessman (b. 1933)
  • 2014 – Mavis Gallant, Canadian-French author and playwright (b. 1922)
  • 2014 – Kristof Goddaert, Belgian cyclist (b. 1986)
  • 2014 – Nikhil Baran Sengupta, Indian art director and production designer (b. 1943)
  • 2014 – Maria Franziska von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (b. 1914)
  • 2015 – Cass Ballenger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1926)
  • 2015 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (b. 1962)
  • 2016 – Abdul Rashid Khan, Indian singer-songwriter (b. 1908)
  • 2016 – Pantelis Pantelidis, Greek singer (b. 1983)
  • 2017 – Ivan Koloff, Canadian wrestler (b. 1942)
  • 2017 – Norma McCorvey, American abortion rights activist; Plaintiff, Roe v. Wade (b. 1947)
  • 2017 – Clyde Stubblefield, American drummer (b. 1943)
  • 2019 – Alessandro Mendini, Italian designer and architect (b.1931)

Holidays and observances on February 18

  • Christian feast day:
    • Bernadette Soubirous (France)
    • Colmán of Lindisfarne
    • Flavian of Constantinople
    • Geltrude Comensoli
    • Simeon of Jerusalem (Western Christianity)
    • February 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Dialect Day (Amami Islands, Japan)
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of the Gambia from the United Kingdom in 1965.
  • Kurdish Students Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
  • National Democracy Day, celebrates the 1951 overthrow of the Rana dynasty (Nepal)
  • Wife’s Day (Konudagur) (Iceland)

February 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
  • AD 55 – The death under mysterious circumstances of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, on the eve of his coming of age clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
  • 1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
  • 1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
  • 1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
  • 1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
  • 1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry is accused of “gerrymandering” for the first time.
  • 1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.
  • 1826 – University College London is founded as University of London.
  • 1840 – Gaetano Donizetti’s opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.
  • 1843 – Giuseppe Verdi’s opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
  • 1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia.
  • 1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is deposed.
  • 1858 – Bernadette Soubirous’s first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
  • 1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
  • 1873 – King Amadeo I of Spain abdicates.
  • 1889 – Meiji Constitution of Japan is adopted.
  • 1903 – Anton Bruckner’s 9th Symphony receives its first performance in Vienna, Austria.
  • 1906 – Pope Pius X publishes the encyclical Vehementer Nos.
  • 1919 – Friedrich Ebert (SPD), is elected President of Germany.
  • 1929 – Kingdom of Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty.
  • 1937 – The Flint sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.
  • 1938 – BBC Television produces the world’s first ever science fiction television programme, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term “robot”.
  • 1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
  • 1953 – Cold War: U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
  • 1953 – The Soviet Union breaks off diplomatic relations with Israel.
  • 1959 – The Federation of Arab Emirates of the South is created as a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
  • 1970 – Japan launches Ohsumi, becoming the fourth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
  • 1971 – Cold War: the Seabed Arms Control Treaty opened for signature outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
  • 1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
  • 1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
  • 1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing’s world Heavyweight title.
  • 1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
  • 1999 – Pluto crosses Neptune’s orbit, ending a nearly 20-year period when it was closer to the Sun than the gas giant; Pluto is not expected to interact with Neptune’s orbit again until 2231.
  • 2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
  • 2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
  • 2011 – Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.
  • 2013 – The Vatican confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI would resign the papacy as a result of his advanced age.
  • 2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
  • 2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.
  • 2016 – A man shoots six people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.
  • 2017 – North Korea test fires a ballistic missile across the Sea of Japan.
  • 2018 – Saratov Airlines Flight 703 crashes near Moscow, Russia with 71 deaths and no survivors.

Births on February 11

  • 1380 – Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar and translator (d. 1459)
  • 1466 – Elizabeth of York (d. 1503)
  • 1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (d. 1591)
  • 1568 – Honoré d’Urfé, French author and playwright (d. 1625)
  • 1649 – William Carstares, Scottish minister and academic (d. 1715)
  • 1657 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (d. 1757)
  • 1708 – Egidio Duni, Italian composer (d. 1775)
  • 1764 – Joseph Chénier, French poet and playwright (d. 1811)
  • 1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek politician, 1st Governor of Greece (d. 1831)
  • 1800 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (d. 1877)
  • 1802 – Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (d. 1880)
  • 1805 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, Native American-French Canadian explorer (d. 1866)
  • 1812 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1883)
  • 1813 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (d. 1865)
  • 1821 – Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (d. 1881)
  • 1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (d. 1913)
  • 1833 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1910)
  • 1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist (d. 1903)
  • 1845 – Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1936)
  • 1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931)
  • 1855 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
  • 1860 – Rachilde, French author and playwright (d. 1953)
  • 1863 – John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (d. 1950)
  • 1864 – Louis Bouveault, French chemist (d. 1909)
  • 1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (d. 1939)
  • 1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (d. 1945)
  • 1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (d. 1953)
  • 1881 – Carlo Carrà, Italian painter (d. 1966)
  • 1897 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (d.1954)
  • 1898 – Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (d. 1964)
  • 1900 – Ellen Broe, Danish nurse, pioneer in nursing education (d. 1994)
  • 1900 – Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher and scholar (d. 2002)
  • 1900 – Jōsei Toda, Japanese educator and activist (d. 1958)
  • 1902 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed Radisson Blu Royal Hotel (d. 1971)
  • 1904 – Keith Holyoake, New Zealand farmer and politician, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1983)
  • 1904 – Lucile Randon, French Supercentenarian
  • 1908 – Philip Dunne, American screenwriter (d. 1992)
  • 1908 – Vivian Fuchs, English explorer (d. 1999)
  • 1909 – Max Baer, American boxer and actor (d. 1959)
  • 1909 – Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
  • 1912 – Rudolf Firkušný, Czech-American pianist and educator (d. 1994)
  • 1914 – Matt Dennis, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2002)
  • 1914 – Josh White, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1969)
  • 1915 – Patrick Leigh Fermor, English soldier, author, and scholar (d. 2011)
  • 1915 – Richard Hamming, American mathematician and academic (d. 1998)
  • 1917 – Sidney Sheldon, American author and screenwriter (d. 2007)
  • 1920 – Farouk I, King of Egypt (d. 1965)
  • 1920 – Daniel F. Galouye, American author (d. 1976)
  • 1920 – Billy Halop, American actor (d. 1976)
  • 1920 – Daniel James, Jr., American general and pilot (d. 1978)
  • 1921 – Lloyd Bentsen, American colonel and politician, United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 2006)
  • 1921 – Ottavio Missoni, Italian hurdler and fashion designer, founded Missoni (d. 2013)
  • 1923 – Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (d. 2010)
  • 1924 – Budge Patty, American tennis player
  • 1925 – Virginia E. Johnson, American psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
  • 1925 – Kim Stanley, American actress (d. 2001)
  • 1926 – Paul Bocuse, French chef (d. 2018)
  • 1926 – Leslie Nielsen, Canadian-American actor and producer (d. 2010)
  • 1930 – Roy De Forest, American painter and academic (d. 2007).
  • 1932 – Dennis Skinner, English miner and politician
  • 1934 – Mel Carnahan, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, Governor of Missouri (d. 2000)
  • 1934 – Tina Louise, American actress and singer
  • 1934 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military leader of Panama (d. 2017)
  • 1934 – Mary Quant, British fashion designer
  • 1934 – David Taylor, English veterinarian and television host (d. 2013)
  • 1935 – Gene Vincent, American singer and guitarist (d. 1971)
  • 1936 – Burt Reynolds, American actor and director (d. 2018)
  • 1937 – Ian Gow, British Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the IRA (d. 1990)
  • 1937 – Bill Lawry, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
  • 1937 – Eddie Shack, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1937 – Phillip Walker, American singer and guitarist (d. 2010)
  • 1938 – Bevan Congdon, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2018)
  • 1939 – Gerry Goffin, American songwriter (d. 2014)
  • 1940 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (d. 2014)
  • 1941 – Sérgio Mendes, Brazilian pianist and composer
  • 1942 – Otis Clay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
  • 1943 – Joselito, Spanish singer and actor
  • 1943 – Alan Rubin, American trumpet player (d. 2011)
  • 1944 – Mike Oxley, American lawyer and politician (d. 2016)
  • 1944 – Joy Williams, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
  • 1946 – Ian Porterfield, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2007)
  • 1947 – Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese engineer and politician and Prime Minister of Japan
  • 1947 – Derek Shulman, Scottish singer-songwriter and producer
  • 1951 – Mike Leavitt, American politician, 14th Governor of Utah
  • 1953 – Philip Anglim, American actor
  • 1953 – Jeb Bush, American banker, politician and Governor of Florida
  • 1953 – Tom Veryzer, American baseball player (d. 2014)
  • 1954 – Wesley Strick, American director and screenwriter
  • 1956 – Didier Lockwood, French violinist (d. 2018)
  • 1959 – Roberto Moreno, Brazilian race car driver
  • 1960 – Richard Mastracchio, American engineer and astronaut
  • 1962 – Tammy Baldwin, American lawyer and politician
  • 1962 – Sheryl Crow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1964 – Sarah Palin, American journalist, politician and Governor of Alaska
  • 1964 – Ken Shamrock, American martial artist and wrestler
  • 1965 – Vicki Wilson, Australian netball player
  • 1968 – Mo Willems, American author and illustrator
  • 1969 – Jennifer Aniston, American actress and producer
  • 1969 – Andreas Hilfiker, Swiss footballer
  • 1969 – John Salako, Nigerian-English footballer, manager, and sportscaster
  • 1971 – Damian Lewis, English actor
  • 1972 – Steve McManaman, English footballer
  • 1973 – Varg Vikernes, Norwegian guitarist and songwriter
  • 1974 – Nick Barmby, English international footballer, midfielder and manager
  • 1974 – D’Angelo, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
  • 1974 – Jaroslav Špaček, Czech ice hockey player and coach
  • 1975 – Andy Lally, American race car driver
  • 1975 – Callum Thorp, Australian cricketer
  • 1975 – Jacque Vaughn, American basketball player and coach
  • 1976 – Tony Battie, American basketball player and sportscaster
  • 1979 – Brandy Norwood, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
  • 1982 – Ľubomíra Kalinová, Slovak biathlete
  • 1982 – Neil Robertson, Australian snooker player
  • 1983 – Rafael van der Vaart, Dutch international footballer, midfielder
  • 1984 – Maarten Heisen, Dutch sprinter
  • 1984 – Marco Marcato, Italian cyclist
  • 1984 – Maxime Talbot, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1985 – Šárka Strachová, Czech skier
  • 1987 – Luca Antonelli, Italian footballer
  • 1987 – Juanmi Callejón, Spanish footballer
  • 1987 – Ellen van Dijk, Dutch cyclist
  • 1987 – Brian Matusz, American baseball player
  • 1987 – Jan Smeekens, Dutch speed skater
  • 1988 – Vlad Moldoveanu, Romanian basketball player
  • 1990 – Javier Aquino, Mexican footballer
  • 1991 – Nikola Mirotic, Spanish basketball player
  • 1992 – Lasse Norman Hansen, Danish track and road cyclist
  • 1993 – Ben McLemore, American basketball player
  • 1994 – Dansby Swanson, American baseball player
  • 1996 – Jonathan Tah, German footballer

Deaths on February 11

  • AD 55 – Britannicus, Roman son of Claudius (b. 41)
  • 244 – Gordian III, Roman emperor (b. 225)
  • 641 – Heraclius, Byzantine emperor (b. 575)
  • 731 – Pope Gregory II (b. 669)
  • 824 – Pope Paschal I
  • 1141 – Hugh of Saint Victor, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1096)
  • 1503 – Elizabeth of York (b. 1466)
  • 1626 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1548)
  • 1650 – René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1596)
  • 1755 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist, playwright, and critic (b. 1675)
  • 1763 – William Shenstone, English poet and gardener (b. 1714)
  • 1795 – Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer (b. 1740)
  • 1829 – Alexander Griboyedov, Russian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1795)
  • 1862 – Elizabeth Siddal, English poet and artist’s model (b. 1829)
  • 1868 – Léon Foucault, French physicist and academic (b. 1819)
  • 1898 – Félix María Zuloaga, Mexican general and unconstitutional interim president (1858 and 1860-1862) (b. 1813)
  • 1901 – Milan I of Serbia (b. 1855)
  • 1917 – Oswaldo Cruz, Brazilian physician and epidemiologist (b. 1872)
  • 1918 – Alexey Kaledin, Russian general (b. 1861)
  • 1931 – Charles Algernon Parsons, English-Irish engineer, invented the steam turbine (b. 1854)
  • 1940 – John Buchan, Scottish-Canadian historian and politician, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
  • 1940 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (b. 1855)
  • 1942 – Jamnalal Bajaj, Indian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1884)
  • 1947 – Martin Klein, Estonian wrestler and coach (b. 1884)
  • 1948 – Sergei Eisenstein, Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1898)
  • 1949 – Axel Munthe, Swedish doctor (b. 1857)
  • 1958 – Ernest Jones, Welsh neurologist and psychoanalyst (b. 1879)
  • 1963 – John Olof Dahlgren, Swedish-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1872)
  • 1963 – Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist, and short story writer (b. 1932)
  • 1967 – A. J. Muste, Dutch-American minister and activist (b. 1885)
  • 1968 – Howard Lindsay, American playwright (b. 1889)
  • 1973 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
  • 1975 – Richard Ratsimandrava, Malagasy colonel and politician, President of Madagascar (b. 1931)
  • 1976 – Lee J. Cobb, American actor (b. 1911)
  • 1976 – Alexander Lippisch, German pilot and engineer (b. 1894)
  • 1977 – Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Indian lawyer and politician, President of India (b. 1905)
  • 1977 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1902)
  • 1978 – James Bryant Conant, American chemist and academic (b. 1893)
  • 1978 – Harry Martinson, Swedish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904)
  • 1982 – Eleanor Powell, American actress and dancer (b. 1912)
  • 1985 – Henry Hathaway, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1898)
  • 1986 – Frank Herbert, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
  • 1989 – George O’Hanlon, American actor and voice artist (b. 1912)
  • 1993 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
  • 1994 – Neil Bonnett, American race car driver (b. 1946)
  • 1994 – Sorrell Booke, American lieutenant, actor, and director (b. 1930)
  • 1994 – William Conrad, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1920)
  • 1994 – Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-Swiss philosopher and academic (b. 1924)
  • 1996 – Amelia Rosselli, Italian poet and author (b. 1930)
  • 2000 – Lord Kitchner, Trinidadian singer (b. 1922)
  • 2000 – Roger Vadim, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1928)
  • 2002 – Frankie Crosetti, American baseball player and coach (b. 1910)
  • 2002 – Barry Foster, English actor (b. 1931)
  • 2004 – Shirley Strickland, Australian runner (b. 1925)
  • 2005 – Jack L. Chalker, American author (b. 1944)
  • 2006 – Peter Benchley, American author and screenwriter (b. 1940)
  • 2006 – Ken Fletcher, Australian tennis player (b. 1940)
  • 2006 – Jackie Pallo, English wrestler and actor (b. 1926)
  • 2008 – Tom Lantos, American lawyer and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2008 – Frank Piasecki, American engineer (b. 1919)
  • 2009 – Estelle Bennett, American singer (b. 1941)
  • 2009 – Willem Johan Kolff, Dutch-American physician and academic (b. 1911)
  • 2010 – Heward Grafftey, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1928)
  • 2010 – Alexander McQueen, English fashion designer, founder of his eponymous brand (b. 1969)
  • 2011 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (b. 1928)
  • 2012 – Siri Bjerke, Norwegian politician, Norwegian Minister of the Environment (b. 1958)
  • 2012 – Aharon Davidi, Israeli general (b. 1927)
  • 2012 – Whitney Houston, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress (b. 1963)
  • 2013 – Rick Huxley, English bass player (b. 1940)
  • 2014 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (b. 1924)
  • 2014 – Tito Canepa, Dominican-American painter (b. 1916)
  • 2014 – Fernando González Pacheco, Colombian journalist and actor (b. 1932)
  • 2015 – Roger Hanin, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
  • 2015 – Bob Simon, American journalist (b. 1941)
  • 2015 – Jerry Tarkanian, American basketball player and coach (b. 1930)
  • 2016 – Kevin Randleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler (b. 1971)
  • 2016 – Zeng Xuelin, Thai-Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1929)
  • 2017 – Fab Melo, Brazilian basketball player (b. 1990)
  • 2017 – Jaap Rijks, Dutch Olympian (b. 1919)
  • 2018 – Vic Damone, American singer, songwriter and actor (b. 1928)
  • 2018 – Asma Jahangir, Pakistani human-rights lawyer and social activist (b. 1952)
  • 2018 – Jan Maxwell, American stage and television actress (b. 1956)
  • 2018 – Qazi Wajid, Pakistani drama actor, writer and artist (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances on February 11

  • Christian feast day:
    • Blaise Eastern Orthodox liturgics
    • Cædmon, first recorded Christian poet in England, circa 680 CE (Anglicanism)
    • Gobnait
    • Gregory II
    • Lazarus of Milan
  • European 112 Day (European Union)
  • Armed Forces Day (Liberia)
  • Evelio Javier Day (Panay Island, the Philippines)
  • Feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes (Catholic Church), and its related observance
    • World Day of the Sick (Roman Catholic Church)
  • Inventors’ Day (United States)
  • National Foundation Day (Japan)
  • Youth Day (Cameroon)
  • International Day of Women and Girls in Science (UN Women)

February 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

February 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

  • 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
  • 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking the revolution in the Wars of Scottish Independence.
  • 1355 – The St Scholastica Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
  • 1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.
  • 1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o’ Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
  • 1712 – Huilliches in Chiloé rebel against Spanish encomenderos.
  • 1763 – French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
  • 1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
  • 1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
  • 1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon: British defeat Sikhs in the final battle of the war.
  • 1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
  • 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
  • 1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
  • 1920 – Józef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
  • 1920 – About 75 % of the population in Zone I votes to join Denmark in the 1920 Schleswig plebiscites.
  • 1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
  • 1930 – The Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng launches the failed Yên Bái mutiny in hope to overthrow French protectorate over Vietnam.
  • 1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
  • 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
  • 1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
  • 1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
  • 1940 – Cartoon characters Tom and Jerry make their debut with Puss Gets the Boot.
  • 1942 – World War II: Imperial Japanese Army capture Banjarmasin, capital of Borneo in Dutch East Indies.
  • 1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
  • 1947 – The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
  • 1954 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
  • 1962 – Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
  • 1962 – Roy Lichtenstein’s first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
  • 1964 – Melbourne–Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
  • 1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
  • 1972 – Ras Al Khaimah joins the United Arab Emirates, now making up seven emirates.
  • 1984 – Kenyan soldiers kill an estimated 5000 ethnic Somali Kenyans in the Wagalla massacre.
  • 1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
  • 1996 – IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
  • 2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
  • 2007 – Then Illinois senator Barack Obama announces his candidacy for president in the 2008 elections, which he later goes on to win.
  • 2009 – The communications satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
  • 2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 others are injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
  • 2016 – South Korea decides to stop the operation of the Kaesong joint industrial complex with North Korea in response to the launch of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4.
  • 2018 – 19 people are killed and 66 injured when a Kowloon Motor Bus double-decker on route 872 in Hong Kong overturns.

Births on February 10

  • 1486 – George of the Palatinate, German bishop (d. 1529)
  • 1499 – Thomas Platter, Swiss author and scholar (d. 1582)
  • 1514 – Domenico Bollani, Bishop of Milan (d. 1579)
  • 1606 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1663)
  • 1609 – John Suckling, English poet and playwright (d. 1642)
  • 1627 – Cornelis de Bie, Flemish poet and jurist (d. 1715)
  • 1685 – Aaron Hill, English poet and playwright (d. 1750)
  • 1696 – Johann Melchior Molter, German violinist and composer (d. 1765)
  • 1744 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (d. 1819)
  • 1766 – Benjamin Smith Barton, American botanist and physician (d. 1815)
  • 1775 – Charles Lamb, English poet and essayist (d. 1834)
  • 1785 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist and engineer (d. 1836)
  • 1795 – Ary Scheffer, Dutch-French painter and academic (d. 1858)
  • 1797 – George Chichester, 3rd Marquess of Donegall (d. 1883)
  • 1821 – Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1908)
  • 1824 – Samuel Plimsoll, English merchant and politician (d. 1898)
  • 1842 – Agnes Mary Clerke, Irish astronomer and author (d. 1907)
  • 1843 – Adelina Patti, Italian-French opera singer (d. 1919)
  • 1846 – Lord Charles Beresford, Irish admiral and politician (d. 1919)
  • 1846 – Ira Remsen, American chemist and academic (d. 1927)
  • 1847 – Nabinchandra Sen, Bangladeshi poet and author (d. 1909)
  • 1859 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (d. 1943)
  • 1867 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and public servant (d. 1957)
  • 1868 – Prince Waldemar of Prussia (d. 1879)
  • 1868 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
  • 1869 – Royal Cortissoz, American art critic (d. 1948)
  • 1879 – Ernst Põdder, Estonian general (d. 1932)
  • 1881 – Pauline Brunius, Swedish actress and director (d. 1954)
  • 1883 – Edith Clarke, American electrical engineer (d. 1959)
  • 1883 – H.V. Hordern, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
  • 1889 – Cevdet Sunay, Turkish general and politician, 5th President of Turkey (d. 1982)
  • 1890 – Fanny Kaplan, Ukrainian-Russian activist (d. 1918)
  • 1890 – Boris Pasternak, Russian poet, novelist, and literary translator Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1960)
  • 1892 – Alan Hale Sr., American actor and director (d. 1950)
  • 1893 – Jimmy Durante, American actor, singer, and pianist (d. 1980)
  • 1893 – Bill Tilden, American tennis player and coach (d. 1953)
  • 1894 – Harold Macmillan, English captain and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1986)
  • 1897 – Judith Anderson, Australian actress (d. 1992)
  • 1897 – John Franklin Enders, American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
  • 1898 – Bertolt Brecht, German director, playwright, and poet (d. 1956)
  • 1898 – Joseph Kessel, French journalist and author (d. 1979)
  • 1901 – Stella Adler, American actress and educator (d. 1992)
  • 1902 – Walter Houser Brattain, Chinese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
  • 1903 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (d. 1948)
  • 1903 – Matthias Sindelar, Austrian footballer and manager (d. 1939)
  • 1904 – John Farrow, Australian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1963)
  • 1905 – Walter A. Brown, American businessman, founded the Boston Celtics (d. 1964)
  • 1905 – Chick Webb, American drummer and bandleader (d. 1939)
  • 1906 – Lon Chaney Jr., American actor (d. 1973)
  • 1907 – Anthony Cottrell, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1988)
  • 1908 – Jean Coulthard, Canadian composer and educator (d. 2000)
  • 1909 – Min Thu Wun, Burmese poet, scholar, and politician (d. 2004)
  • 1910 – Dominique Pire, Belgian friar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
  • 1914 – Larry Adler, American harmonica player, composer, and actor (d. 2001)
  • 1915 – Vladimir Zeldin, Russian actor (d. 2016)
  • 1919 – Ioannis Charalambopoulos, Greek colonel and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2014)
  • 1920 – Alex Comfort, English physician and author (d. 2000)
  • 1920 – Neva Patterson, American actress (d. 2010)
  • 1920 – José Manuel Castañón, Spanish lawyer and author (d. 2001)
  • 1922 – Árpád Göncz, Hungarian author, playwright, and politician, 1st President of Hungary (d. 2015)
  • 1922 – José Gabriel da Costa later known as Mestre Gabriel, Brazilian spiritual leader, founder of the União do Vegetal (d. 1971)
  • 1923 – Allie Sherman, American football player and coach (d. 2015)
  • 1924 – Max Ferguson, Canadian radio host and actor (d. 2013)
  • 1924 – Bud Poile, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
  • 1925 – Pierre Mondy, French actor and director (d. 2012)
  • 1926 – Sidney Bryan Berry, American general (d. 2013)
  • 1926 – Danny Blanchflower, Northern Irish soldier, footballer and manager (d. 1993)
  • 1927 – Leontyne Price, American operatic soprano
  • 1929 – Jerry Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
  • 1929 – Jim Whittaker, American mountaineer
  • 1929 – Lou Whittaker, American mountaineer
  • 1930 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (d. 2013)
  • 1930 – Robert Wagner, American actor and producer
  • 1931 – James Edward Maceo West, American inventor and acoustician
  • 1932 – Barrie Ingham, English-American actor (d. 2015)
  • 1933 – Richard Schickel, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2017)
  • 1933 – Faramarz Payvar, Iranian santur player and composer (d. 2009)
  • 1935 – Theodore Antoniou, Greek composer and conductor (d. 2018)
  • 1937 – Anne Anderson, Scottish physiologist and academic (d. 1983)
  • 1937 – Roberta Flack, American singer-songwriter and pianist
  • 1939 – Adrienne Clarkson, Hong Kong-Canadian journalist and politician, 26th Governor General of Canada
  • 1939 – Deolinda Rodríguez de Almeida, Angolan nationalist (d. 1967)
  • 1940 – Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper
  • 1940 – Kenny Rankin, American singer-songwriter (d. 2009)
  • 1941 – Michael Apted, English director and producer
  • 1944 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (d. 1992)
  • 1944 – Frank Keating, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Oklahoma
  • 1944 – Frances Moore Lappé, American author and activist
  • 1944 – Rufus Reid, American bassist and composer
  • 1945 – Delma S. Arrigoitia, Puerto Rican historian, author, educator and lawyer
  • 1947 – Louise Arbour, Canadian lawyer and jurist
  • 1947 – Butch Morris, American cornet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
  • 1947 – Nicholas Owen, English journalist
  • 1949 – Nigel Olsson, English rock drummer and singer-songwriter
  • 1950 – Luis Donaldo Colosio, Mexican economist and politician (d. 1994)
  • 1950 – Mark Spitz, American swimmer
  • 1951 – Bob Iger, American media executive
  • 1952 – Lee Hsien Loong, Singaporean general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Singapore
  • 1955 – Jim Cramer, American television personality, pundit, and author
  • 1955 – Greg Norman, Australian golfer and sportscaster
  • 1956 – Enele Sopoaga, Tuvaluan politician, 12th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
  • 1957 – Katherine Freese, American astrophysicist and academic
  • 1959 – John Calipari, American basketball player and coach
  • 1960 – Jim Kent, American biologist, computer programmer, academic
  • 1961 – Alexander Payne, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1961 – George Stephanopoulos, American television journalist
  • 1962 – Randy Velischek, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
  • 1962 – Cliff Burton, American heavy metal bassist (d. 1986)
  • 1963 – Lenny Dykstra, American baseball player
  • 1964 – Glenn Beck, American journalist, producer, and author
  • 1966 – Natalie Bennett, Australian-English journalist and politician
  • 1966 – Daryl Johnston, American football player and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Laura Dern, American actress, director, and producer
  • 1967 – Jacky Durand, French cyclist and sportscaster
  • 1967 – Vince Gilligan, American director, producer, and screenwriter
  • 1968 – Peter Popovic, Swedish ice hockey player and coach
  • 1968 – Garrett Reisman, American engineer and astronaut
  • 1969 – Joe Mangrum, American painter and sculptor
  • 1969 – James Small, South African rugby player (d. 2019)
  • 1970 – Melissa Doyle, Australian journalist and author
  • 1970 – Noureddine Naybet, Moroccan international footballer, central defender and manager
  • 1970 – Åsne Seierstad, Norwegian journalist and author
  • 1971 – Lorena Rojas, Mexican actress and singer (d. 2015)
  • 1972 – Michael Kasprowicz, Australian cricketer
  • 1973 – Martha Lane Fox, Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, English businesswoman and politician
  • 1974 – Elizabeth Banks, American actress
  • 1974 – Ty Law, American football player
  • 1974 – Ivri Lider, Israeli singer
  • 1974 – Henry Paul, New Zealand rugby player and coach
  • 1976 – Lance Berkman, American baseball player and coach
  • 1976 – Keeley Hawes, English actress
  • 1977 – Salif Diao, Senegalese footballer
  • 1979 – Joey Hand, American race car driver
  • 1980 – César Izturis, Venezuelan baseball player
  • 1980 – Enzo Maresca, Italian footballer
  • 1980 – Mike Ribeiro, Canadian ice hockey player
  • 1981 – Uzo Aduba, American actress
  • 1981 – Stephanie Beatriz, American actress
  • 1981 – Andrew Johnson, English international footballer, forward and club ambassador
  • 1981 – Holly Willoughby, English model and television host
  • 1982 – Justin Gatlin, American sprinter
  • 1982 – Tarmo Neemelo, Estonian footballer
  • 1982 – Hamad Al-Tayyar, Kuwaiti footballer
  • 1982 – Iafeta Paleaaesina, New Zealand rugby league player
  • 1983 – Vic Fuentes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
  • 1984 – Greg Bird, Australian rugby league player
  • 1984 – Alex Gordon, American baseball player
  • 1984 – Kim Hyo-jin, South Korean actress
  • 1985 – Selçuk İnan, Turkish footballer
  • 1985 – Paul Millsap, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Jeff Adrien, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Josh Akognon, American basketball player
  • 1986 – Radamel Falcao, Colombian footballer
  • 1986 – Roberto Jiménez Gago, Spanish footballer
  • 1986 – Viktor Troicki, Serbian tennis player
  • 1987 – Jakub Kindl, Czech ice hockey player
  • 1987 – Facundo Roncaglia, Argentinian footballer
  • 1988 – Francesco Acerbi, Italian footballer
  • 1989 – Liam Hendriks, Australian baseball player
  • 1990 – Barbara Guarischi, Italian cyclist
  • 1990 – Choi Soo-young, South Korean singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer
  • 1991 – Rebecca Dempster, Scottish footballer
  • 1991 – Emma Roberts, American actress
  • 1992 – Haruka Nakagawa, Japanese singer and actress
  • 1992 – Reinhold Yabo, German footballer
  • 1993 – Max Kepler, German baseball player
  • 1993 – Filip Twardzik, Czech footballer
  • 1993 – Luis Madrigal, Mexican footballer
  • 1994 – Kang Seul-gi, South Korean singer and member of Red Velvet
  • 1995 – Carolane Soucisse, Canadian ice dancer
  • 1996 – Emanuel Mammana, Argentinian footballer
  • 1997 – Lilly King, American swimmer
  • 1997 – Chloë Grace Moretz, American actress
  • 1997 – Nadia Podoroska, Argentinian tennis player
  • 2000 – Yara Shahidi, American actress and model

Deaths on February 10

  • 547 – Scholastica, Christian nun
  • 1127 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1071)
  • 1163 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem (b. 1130)
  • 1242 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (b. 1231)
  • 1242 – Saint Verdiana, Italian recluse (b. 1182)
  • 1280 – Margaret II, Countess of Flanders (b. 1202)
  • 1306 – John “the Red” Comyn, Scottish nobleman
  • 1307 – Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (b. 1265)
  • 1346 – Blessed Clare of Rimini (b. 1282)
  • 1471 – Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1413)
  • 1524 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1468)
  • 1526 – John V, Count of Oldenburg, German noble (b. 1460)
  • 1567 – Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, consort of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1545)
  • 1576 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar, translator, and academic (b. 1532)
  • 1686 – William Dugdale, English genealogist and historian (b. 1605)
  • 1755 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (b. 1689)
  • 1782 – Friedrich Christoph Oetinger, German theologian and author (b. 1702)
  • 1829 – Pope Leo XII (b. 1760)
  • 1837 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet and author (b. 1799)
  • 1854 – José Joaquín de Herrera, Mexican politician and general. President three times (1844–1854) (b. 1792)
  • 1857 – David Thompson, English-Canadian surveyor and explorer (b. 1770)
  • 1865 – Heinrich Lenz, Estonian-Italian physicist and academic (b. 1804)
  • 1879 – Honoré Daumier, French illustrator and painter (b. 1808)
  • 1887 – Ellen Wood, English author (b. 1814)
  • 1891 – Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian-Swedish mathematician and physicist (b. 1850)
  • 1904 – John A. Roche, American lawyer and politician, 30th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1844)
  • 1906 – Ezra Butler Eddy, American-Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
  • 1912 – Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, English surgeon and academic (b. 1827)
  • 1913 – Konstantinos Tsiklitiras, Greek long jumper (b. 1888)
  • 1917 – John William Waterhouse, English soldier and painter (b. 1849)
  • 1918 – Abdul Hamid II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1842)
  • 1918 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1833)
  • 1920 – Henry Strangways, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of South Australia (b. 1832)
  • 1923 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1845)
  • 1928 – José Sánchez del Río, Mexican martyr and saint (b. 1913)
  • 1932 – Edgar Wallace, English author and screenwriter (b. 1875)
  • 1939 – Pope Pius XI (b. 1857)
  • 1944 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and chess player (b. 1870)
  • 1945 – Anacleto Díaz, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1878)
  • 1950 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Leonora Speyer, American poet and violinist (b. 1872)
  • 1956 – Emmanouil Tsouderos, Greek banker and politician, 132nd Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1882)
  • 1957 – Laura Ingalls Wilder, American author (b. 1867)
  • 1960 – Aloysius Stepinac, Croatian cardinal (b. 1898)
  • 1966 – Billy Rose, American composer and songwriter (b. 1899)
  • 1967 – Dionysios Kokkinos, Greek historian and author (b. 1884)
  • 1975 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek sailor and poet (b. 1910)
  • 1979 – Edvard Kardelj, Slovene general and politician, 2nd Foreign Minister of Yugoslavia (b. 1910)
  • 1992 – Alex Haley, American soldier, journalist, and author (b. 1921)
  • 1993 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist and academic (b. 1929)
  • 1995 – Paul Monette, American author, poet, and activist (b. 1945)
  • 1997 – Brian Connolly, Scottish musician, lead singer The Sweet (b. 1945)
  • 2000 – Jim Varney, American actor, comedian and writer (b. 1949)
  • 2001 – Abraham Beame, American academic and politician, 104th Mayor of New York City (b. 1906)
  • 2001 – Buddy Tate, American saxophonist and clarinet player (b. 1913)
  • 2002 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
  • 2003 – Edgar de Evia, Mexican-American photographer (b. 1910)
  • 2003 – Albert J. Ruffo, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of San Jose (b. 1908)
  • 2003 – Ron Ziegler, American politician, 14th White House Press Secretary (b. 1939)
  • 2005 – Arthur Miller, American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1915)
  • 2006 – James Yancey, American record producer and rapper (b. 1974)
  • 2008 – Roy Scheider, American actor and boxer (b. 1932)
  • 2010 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (b. 1925)
  • 2010 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1933)
  • 2011 – Trevor Bailey, English cricketer and journalist (b. 1923)
  • 2012 – Lloyd Morrison, New Zealand banker and businessman, founded H. R. L. Morrison & Co (b. 1957)
  • 2012 – Jeffrey Zaslow, American journalist and author (b. 1958)
  • 2013 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (b. 1927)
  • 2013 – David Hartman, American-Israeli rabbi and philosopher, founded the Shalom Hartman Institute (b. 1931)
  • 2014 – Stuart Hall, Jamaican-English sociologist and theorist (b. 1932)
  • 2014 – Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Naseer Aruri, Palestinian scholar and activist (b. 1934)
  • 2015 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (b. 1928)
  • 2015 – Deng Liqun, Chinese theorist and politician (b. 1915)
  • 2016 – Fatima Surayya Bajia, Indian-Pakistani author and playwright (b. 1930)
  • 2017 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman (b. 1929)
  • 2019 – Carmen Argenziano, American actor (b. 1943)
  • 2019 – Jan-Michael Vincent, American actor (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances on February 10

  • Christian feast day:
    • Austrebertha
    • Charalambos
    • José Sánchez del Río
    • Scholastica
    • February 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • Feast of St. Paul’s Shipwreck (Malta)
  • Fenkil Day (Eritrea)
  • Kurdish Authors Union Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
  • National Memorial Day of the Exiles and Foibe (Italy)

February 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day