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  • July 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    The Aphelion, the point in the year when the Earth is farthest from the Sun, occurs around this date.

    July 4 in History

    • 362 BC – Battle of Mantinea: The Thebans, led by Epaminondas, defeated the Spartans.
    • 414 – Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria, who reigned as regent and proclaimed herself empress (Augusta) of the Eastern Roman Empire.
    • 836 – Pactum Sicardi, a peace treaty between the Principality of Benevento and the Duchy of Naples, is signed.
    • 993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint.
    • 1054 – A supernova, called SN 1054, is seen by Chinese Song dynasty, Arab, and possibly Amerindian observers near the star Zeta Tauri. For several months it remains bright enough to be seen during the day. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula.
    • 1120 – Jordan II of Capua is anointed as prince after his infant nephew’s death.
    • 1187 – The Crusades: Battle of Hattin: Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.
    • 1253 – Battle of West-Capelle: John I of Avesnes defeats Guy of Dampierre.
    • 1359 – Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì surrenders to the Papal commander Gil de Albornoz.
    • 1456 – Ottoman–Hungarian wars: The Siege of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) begins.
    • 1534 – Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.
    • 1584 – Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe arrive at Roanoke Island
    • 1610 – The Battle of Klushino is fought between forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia during the Polish–Muscovite War.
    • 1634 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France (now Quebec, Canada).
    • 1744 – The Treaty of Lancaster, in which the Iroquois cede lands between the Allegheny Mountains and the Ohio River to the British colonies, was signed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
    • 1774 – Orangetown Resolutions are adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament’s Coercive Acts.
    • 1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
    • 1778 – American Revolutionary War: U.S. forces under George Clark capture Kaskaskia during the Illinois campaign.
    • 1802 – At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opens.
    • 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
    • 1817 – In Rome, New York, construction on the Erie Canal begins.
    • 1826 – John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively the second and third presidents of the United States, die the same day, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence. Adams’ last words were, “Thomas Jefferson survives.”
    • 1827 – Slavery is abolished in the State of New York.
    • 1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.
    • 1837 – Grand Junction Railway, the world’s first long-distance railway, opens between Birmingham and Liverpool.
    • 1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
    • 1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau’s account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
    • 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman’s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published In Brooklyn.
    • 1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: Siege of Vicksburg: Vicksburg, Mississippi surrenders to U.S. forces under Ulysses S. Grant after 47 days of siege. One hundred fifty miles up the Mississippi River, a Confederate army is repulsed at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
    • 1863 – American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after losing the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Confederate invasion of U.S. territory.
    • 1879 – Anglo-Zulu War: The Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burned to the ground, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.
    • 1881 – In Alabama, the Tuskegee Institute opens.
    • 1886 – The Canadian Pacific Railway’s first scheduled train from Montreal arrives in Port Moody on the Pacific coast, after six days of travel.
    • 1887 – The founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, joins Sindh-Madrasa-tul-Islam, Karachi.
    • 1892 – Western Samoa changes the International Date Line, causing Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
    • 1894 – The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.
    • 1898 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks off the coast of Sable Island, with the loss of 549 lives.
    • 1901 – William Howard Taft becomes American governor of the Philippines.
    • 1903 – The Philippine–American War is officially concluded.
    • 1910 – The Johnson–Jeffries riots occur after African-American boxer Jack Johnson knocks out white boxer Jim Jeffries in the 15th round. Between 11 and 26 people are killed and hundreds more injured.
    • 1911 – A massive heat wave strikes the northeastern United States, killing 380 people in eleven days and breaking temperature records in several cities.
    • 1913 – President Woodrow Wilson addresses American Civil War veterans at the Great Reunion of 1913.
    • 1914 – The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo.
    • 1918 – Mehmed V died at the age of 73 and Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.
    • 1918 – World War I: The Battle of Hamel, a successful attack by the Australian Corps against German positions near the town of Le Hamel on the Western Front.
    • 1918 – Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).
    • 1927 – First flight of the Lockheed Vega.
    • 1939 – Lou Gehrig, recently diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, informs a crowd at Yankee Stadium that he considers himself “The luckiest man on the face of the earth”, then announces his retirement from major league baseball.
    • 1941 – Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement.
    • 1942 – World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces.
    • 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world’s largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka.
    • 1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives.
    • 1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland.
    • 1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.
    • 1947 – The “Indian Independence Bill” is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan.
    • 1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts.
    • 1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage.
    • 1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor.
    • 1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom.
    • 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)).
    • 1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years.
    • 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year.
    • 1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists.
    • 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial.
    • 1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit.
    • 1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown.
    • 1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the “Butcher of Lyon”) is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment.
    • 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
    • 1997 – NASA’s Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
    • 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation.
    • 2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board.
    • 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.
    • 2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history.
    • 2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1.
    • 2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program’s history to occur on the United States’ Independence Day.
    • 2009 – The Statue of Liberty’s crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.
    • 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.
    • 2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.
    • 2015 – Chile claims its first title in international soccer by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final.

    Births on July 4

    • AD 68 – Salonina Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (d. 119)
    • 1095 – Usama ibn Munqidh, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188)
    • 1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367)
    • 1477 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534)
    • 1546 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595)
    • 1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720)
    • 1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (d. 1772)
    • 1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (d. 1769)
    • 1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright (d. 1797)
    • 1729 – George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819)
    • 1753 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809)
    • 1790 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866)
    • 1799 – Oscar I of Sweden (d. 1859)
    • 1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864)
    • 1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (d. 1882)
    • 1816 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899)
    • 1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864)
    • 1842 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (d. 1918)
    • 1845 – Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905)
    • 1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906)
    • 1854 – Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926)
    • 1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921)
    • 1871 – Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (d. 1955)
    • 1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933)
    • 1874 – John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1952)
    • 1880 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975)
    • 1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (d. 1968)
    • 1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970)
    • 1887 – Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965)
    • 1888 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945)
    • 1895 – Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996)
    • 1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981)
    • 1897 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924)
    • 1898 – Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997)
    • 1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952)
    • 1898 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (d. 1998)
    • 1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (d. 2015)
    • 1900 – Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007)
    • 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982)
    • 1902 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (d. 1983)
    • 1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986)
    • 1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976)
    • 1905 – Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975)
    • 1906 – Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993)
    • 1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948)
    • 1907 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (d. 1996)
    • 1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963)
    • 1910 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (d. 2010)
    • 1911 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989)
    • 1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010)
    • 1914 – Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1916 – Iva Toguri D’Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002)
    • 1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984)
    • 1918 – King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010)
    • 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006)
    • 1918 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013)
    • 1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015)
    • 1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977)
    • 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1921 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004)
    • 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter
    • 1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (d. 2014)
    • 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003)
    • 1922 – R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019)
    • 1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress
    • 1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter
    • 1925 – Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018)
    • 1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (d. 2015)
    • 1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008)
    • 1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer
    • 1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018)
    • 1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician
    • 1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines
    • 1928 – Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018)
    • 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – Ron Casey, Australian journalist and sportscaster (d. 2018)
    • 1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
    • 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998)
    • 1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010)
    • 1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977)
    • 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017)
    • 1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner
    • 1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress
    • 1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic
    • 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway
    • 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian
    • 1937 – Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010)
    • 1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic
    • 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020)
    • 1940 – Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
    • 1941 – Sam Farr, American politician
    • 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1941 – Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist
    • 1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach
    • 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008)
    • 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent
    • 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1943 – Conny Bauer, German trombonist
    • 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer
    • 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author
    • 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist
    • 1943 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970)
    • 1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972)
    • 1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist
    • 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist
    • 1947 – Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017)
    • 1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver
    • 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor
    • 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer
    • 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host
    • 1951 – John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician
    • 1951 – Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist
    • 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic
    • 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland
    • 1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia
    • 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress
    • 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist
    • 1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
    • 1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager
    • 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer
    • 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy
    • 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist
    • 1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator
    • 1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman
    • 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
    • 1958 – Carl Valentine, English-Canadian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer
    • 1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (d. 1994)
    • 1961 – Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima series
    • 1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist
    • 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
    • 1963 – Sonia Pierre, Hatian-Dominican human rights activist (d. 2011)
    • 1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager
    • 1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer
    • 1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician
    • 1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach
    • 1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright
    • 1966 – Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer
    • 1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager
    • 1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete
    • 1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach
    • 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach
    • 1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach
    • 1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer
    • 1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver
    • 1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor
    • 1973 – Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach
    • 1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver
    • 1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player
    • 1974 – La’Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach
    • 1976 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003)
    • 1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier
    • 1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player
    • 1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer
    • 1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician
    • 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player
    • 1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer
    • 1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer
    • 1981 – Dedé, Angolan footballer
    • 1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player
    • 1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer
    • 1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player
    • 1981 – Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016)
    • 1982 – Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player
    • 1982 – Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist
    • 1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1982 – Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino, American model, author and television personality
    • 1983 – Melanie Fiona, Canadian singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Amantle Montsho, Botswanan sprinter
    • 1983 – Miguel Pinto, Chilean footballer
    • 1983 – Amol Rajan, Indian-English journalist
    • 1983 – Mattia Serafini, Italian footballer
    • 1984 – Jin Akanishi, Japanese singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Miguel Santos Soares, Timorese footballer
    • 1985 – Kane Tenace, Australian footballer
    • 1985 – Dimitrios Mavroeidis, Greek basketball player
    • 1985 – Wason Rentería, Colombian footballer
    • 1986 – Ömer Aşık, Turkish basketball player
    • 1986 – Nguyen Ngoc Duy, Vietnamese footballer
    • 1986 – Rafael Arévalo, Salvadoran tennis player
    • 1986 – Willem Janssen, Dutch footballer
    • 1986 – Terrance Knighton, American football player
    • 1986 – Marte Elden, Norwegian skier
    • 1987 – Wude Ayalew, Ethiopian runner
    • 1987 – Guram Kashia, Georgian footballer
    • 1988 – Angelique Boyer, French-Mexican actress
    • 1989 – Benjamin Büchel, Liechtensteiner footballer
    • 1990 – Jake Gardiner, American ice hockey player
    • 1990 – Richard Mpong, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1990 – Naoki Yamada, Japanese footballer
    • 1990 – Ihar Yasinski, Belarusian footballer
    • 1992 – Ángel Romero, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1992 – Óscar Romero, Paraguayan footballer
    • 1993 – Tom Barkhuizen, English footballer
    • 1995 – Post Malone, American singer, rapper, songwriter and record producer
    • 1999 – Moa Kikuchi, Japanese musician
    • 2003 – Polina Bogusevich, Russian singer

    Deaths on July 4

    • 673 – Ecgberht, king of Kent
    • 907 – Luitpold, margrave of Bavaria
    • 907 – Dietmar I, archbishop of Salzburg
    • 910 – Luo Shaowei, Chinese warlord (b. 877)
    • 940 – Wang Jianli, Chinese general (b. 871)
    • 943 – Taejo of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 877)
    • 945 – Zhuo Yanming, Chinese Buddhist monk and emperor
    • 965 – Benedict V, pope of the Catholic Church
    • 973 – Ulrich of Augsburg, German bishop and saint (b. 890)
    • 975 – Gwangjong of Goryeo, Korean king (b. 925)
    • 1187 – Raynald of Châtillon, French knight (b. 1125)
    • 1307 – Rudolf I of Bohemia (b. 1281)
    • 1336 – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (b. 1271)
    • 1429 – Carlo I Tocco, ruler of Epirus (b. 1372)
    • 1533 – John Frith, English priest, writer, and martyr (b. 1503)
    • 1541 – Pedro de Alvarado, Spanish general and explorer (b. 1495)
    • 1546 – Hayreddin Barbarossa, Ottoman admiral (b. 1478)
    • 1551 – Gregory Cromwell, 1st Baron Cromwell, English politician (b. 1514)
    • 1603 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1521)
    • 1623 – William Byrd, English composer (b. c. 1540)
    • 1644 – Brian Twyne, English academic, antiquarian and archivist (b. 1581)
    • 1648 – Antoine Daniel, French missionary and saint, one of the eight Canadian Martyrs (b. 1601)
    • 1742 – Luigi Guido Grandi, Italian monk, mathematician, and engineer (b. 1671)
    • 1754 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright and author (b. 1680)
    • 1761 – Samuel Richardson, English author and painter (b. 1689)
    • 1780 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine (b. 1712)
    • 1787 – Charles, Prince of Soubise, Marshal of France (b. 1715)
    • 1821 – Richard Cosway, English painter and academic (b. 1742)
    • 1826 – John Adams, American lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the United States (b. 1735)
    • 1826 – Thomas Jefferson, American architect, lawyer, and politician, 3rd President of the United States (b. 1743)
    • 1831 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (b. 1758)
    • 1848 – François-René de Chateaubriand, French historian and politician (b. 1768)
    • 1850 – William Kirby, English entomologist and author (b. 1759)
    • 1854 – Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German academic and jurist (b. 1781)
    • 1857 – William L. Marcy, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 21st United States Secretary of State (b. 1786)
    • 1881 – Johan Vilhelm Snellman, Finnish philosopher and politician (b. 1806)
    • 1882 – Joseph Brackett, American composer and author (b. 1797)
    • 1886 – Poundmaker, Canadian tribal chief (b. 1797)
    • 1891 – Hannibal Hamlin, American lawyer and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (b. 1809)
    • 1901 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (b. 1843)
    • 1902 – Vivekananda, Indian monk and saint (b. 1863)
    • 1905 – Élisée Reclus, French geographer and author (b. 1830)
    • 1910 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1833)
    • 1910 – Giovanni Schiaparelli, Italian astronomer and historian (b. 1835)
    • 1916 – Alan Seeger, American soldier and poet (b. 1888)
    • 1922 – Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1894)
    • 1926 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist and saint (b. 1901)
    • 1934 – Marie Curie, French-Polish physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867)
    • 1938 – Otto Bauer, Austrian philosopher and politician, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1881)
    • 1938 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (b. 1899)
    • 1941 – Antoni Łomnicki, Polish mathematician and academic (b. 1881)
    • 1943 – Władysław Sikorski, Polish general and politician, 9th Prime Minister of the Second Republic of Poland (b. 1881)
    • 1946 – Taffy O’Callaghan, Welsh footballer and coach (b. 1906)
    • 1948 – Monteiro Lobato, Brazilian journalist and author (b. 1882)
    • 1949 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and engineer (b. 1874)
    • 1963 – Bernard Freyberg, 1st Baron Freyberg, New Zealand general and politician, 7th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1889)
    • 1963 – Clyde Kennard, American activist and martyr (b. 1927)
    • 1963 – Pingali Venkayya, Indian activist, designed the Flag of India (b. 1876)
    • 1964 – Gaby Morlay, French actress and singer (b. 1893)
    • 1969 – Henri Decoin, French director and screenwriter (b. 1890)
    • 1970 – Barnett Newman, American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
    • 1970 – Harold Stirling Vanderbilt, American sailor and businessman (b. 1884)
    • 1971 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (b. 1909)
    • 1971 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (b. 1877)
    • 1974 – Georgette Heyer, English author (b. 1902)
    • 1974 – André Randall, French actor (b. 1892)
    • 1976 – Yonatan Netanyahu, Israeli colonel (b. 1946)
    • 1976 – Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and playwright (b. 1895)
    • 1977 – Gersh Budker, Ukrainian physicist and academic (b. 1918)
    • 1979 – Lee Wai Tong, Chinese footballer and manager (b. 1905)
    • 1980 – Maurice Grevisse, Belgian linguist and author (b. 1895)
    • 1984 – Jimmie Spheeris, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
    • 1986 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critique musical and physicist (b. 1933)
    • 1986 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist and composer (b. 1903)
    • 1986 – Oscar Zariski, Belarusian-American mathematician and academic (b. 1899)
    • 1988 – Adrian Adonis, American wrestler (b. 1954)
    • 1990 – Olive Ann Burns, American journalist and author (b. 1924)
    • 1991 – Victor Chang, Chinese-Australian surgeon and physician (b. 1936)
    • 1991 – Art Sansom, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
    • 1992 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentinian bandoneon player and composer (b. 1921)
    • 1993 – Bona Arsenault, Canadian historian, genealogist, and politician (b. 1903)
    • 1994 – Joey Marella, American wrestling referee (b. 1964)
    • 1995 – Eva Gabor, Hungarian-American actress and singer (b. 1919)
    • 1995 – Bob Ross, American painter and television host (b. 1942)
    • 1997 – Charles Kuralt, American journalist (b. 1934)
    • 1997 – John Zachary Young, English zoologist and neurophysiologist (b. 1907)
    • 1999 – Leo Garel, American illustrator and educator (b. 1917)
    • 2000 – Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Polish journalist and author (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Gerald Bales, Canadian organist and composer (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., American general (b. 1912)
    • 2003 – Larry Burkett, American author and radio host (b. 1939)
    • 2003 – André Claveau, French singer (b. 1915)
    • 2003 – Barry White, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1944)
    • 2004 – Jean-Marie Auberson, Swiss violinist and conductor (b. 1920)
    • 2005 – Cliff Goupille, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1915)
    • 2005 – Hank Stram, American football player and coach (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (b. 1925)
    • 2008 – Thomas M. Disch, American author and poet (b. 1940)
    • 2008 – Jesse Helms, American politician (b. 1921)
    • 2008 – Evelyn Keyes, American actress (b. 1916)
    • 2008 – Terrence Kiel, American football player (b. 1980)
    • 2008 – Charles Wheeler, German-English soldier and journalist (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Brenda Joyce, American actress (b. 1917)
    • 2009 – Allen Klein, American businessman and talent agent, founded ABKCO Records (b. 1931)
    • 2009 – Drake Levin, American guitarist (b. 1946)
    • 2009 – Steve McNair, American football player (b. 1973)
    • 2009 – Lasse Strömstedt, Swedish author and actor (b. 1935)
    • 2009 – Jean-Baptiste Tati Loutard, Congolese poet and politician (b. 1938)
    • 2010 – Robert Neil Butler, American physician and author (b. 1927)
    • 2012 – Hiren Bhattacharyya, Indian poet and author (b. 1932)
    • 2012 – Jimmy Bivins, American boxer (b. 1919)
    • 2012 – Jeong Min-hyeong, South Korean footballer (b. 1987)
    • 2012 – Eric Sykes, English actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Onllwyn Brace, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1932)
    • 2013 – Jack Crompton, English footballer and manager (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – James Fulton, American dermatologist and academic (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Charles A. Hines, American general (b. 1935)
    • 2013 – Bernie Nolan, Irish singer (b. 1960)
    • 2014 – Giorgio Faletti, Italian author, screenwriter, and actor (b. 1950)
    • 2014 – C. J. Henderson, American author and critic (b. 1951)
    • 2014 – Earl Robinson, American baseball player (b. 1936)
    • 2014 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Nedelcho Beronov, Bulgarian judge and politician (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – William Conrad Gibbons, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1926)
    • 2016 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, and photographer (b. 1940)
    • 2017 – John Blackwell, American R&B, funk, and jazz drummer (b. 1973)
    • 2017 – Daniil Granin, Soviet and Russian author (b. 1919)
    • 2018 – Henri Dirickx, Belgian footballer (b. 1927)
    • 2018 – Robby Müller, Dutch cinematographer (b. 1940)

    Holidays and observances on July 4

    • Christian feast day:
      • Andrew of Crete
      • Bertha of Artois
      • Blessed Catherine Jarrige
      • Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
      • Elizabeth of Aragon (or of Portugal)
      • Oda of Canterbury
      • Ulrich of Augsburg
      • July 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Birthday of Queen Sonja (Norway)
    • The first evening of Dree Festival, celebrated until July 7 (Apatani people, Arunachal Pradesh, India)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the Declaration of Independence of the United States from Great Britain in 1776. (United States and its dependencies)
    • Liberation Day (Northern Mariana Islands)
    • Liberation Day (Rwanda)
    • Republic Day (Philippines)

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

    • 1184 BC – Trojan War: Troy is sacked and burned, according to calculations by Eratosthenes.
    • 173 – Marcomannic Wars: The Roman army in Moravia is encircled by the Quadi, who have broken the peace treaty (171). In a violent thunderstorm emperor Marcus Aurelius defeats and subdues them in the so-called “miracle of the rain”.
    • 631 – Emperor Taizong of Tang sends envoys to the Xueyantuo bearing gold and silk in order to seek the release of Chinese prisoners captured during the transition from Sui to Tang.
    • 786 – A Hasanid Alid uprising in Mecca is crushed by the Abbasids at the Battle of Fakhkh.
    • 980 – Vladimir the Great consolidates the Kievan realm from Ukraine to the Baltic Sea. He is proclaimed ruler (knyaz) of all Kievan Rus’.
    • 1011 – Lombard Revolt: Greek citizens of Bari rise up against the Lombard rebels led by Melus and deliver the city to Basil Mesardonites, Byzantine governor (catepan) of the Catepanate of Italy.
    • 1118 – Roger of Salerno, Prince of Antioch, captures Azaz from the Seljuk Turks.
    • 1157 – Albert I of Brandenburg, also called The Bear (Ger: Albrecht der Bär), becomes the founder of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, Germany and the first margrave.
    • 1345 – The megas doux Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire, is lynched by political prisoners.
    • 1429 – Hundred Years’ War: Start of the Battle of Jargeau.
    • 1488 – Battle of Sauchieburn: Fought between rebel Lords and James III of Scotland, resulting in the death of the king.
    • 1509 – Henry VIII of England marries Catherine of Aragon.
    • 1594 – Philip II recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paved way to the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía (an elite ruling class of native nobility in Spanish Philippines).
    • 1748 – Denmark adopts the characteristic Nordic Cross flag later taken up by all other Scandinavian countries.
    • 1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook runs aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
    • 1775 – The American Revolutionary War’s first naval engagement, the Battle of Machias, results in the capture of a small British naval vessel.
    • 1776 – The Continental Congress appoints Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston to the Committee of Five to draft a declaration of independence.
    • 1788 – Russian explorer Gerasim Izmailov reaches Alaska.
    • 1805 – A fire consumes large portions of Detroit in the Michigan Territory.
    • 1825 – The first cornerstone is laid for Fort Hamilton in New York City.
    • 1837 – The Broad Street Riot occurs in Boston, fueled by ethnic tensions between Yankees and Irish.
    • 1865 – The Naval Battle of the Riachuelo is fought on the rivulet Riachuelo (Argentina), between the Paraguayan Navy on one side and the Brazilian Navy on the other. The Brazilian victory was crucial for the later success of the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina) in the Paraguayan War.
    • 1892 – The Limelight Department, one of the world’s first film studios, is officially established in Melbourne, Australia.
    • 1895 – Paris–Bordeaux–Paris, sometimes called the first automobile race in history or the “first motor race”, takes place.
    • 1898 – The Hundred Days’ Reform, a planned movement to reform social, political, and educational institutions in China, is started by the Guangxu Emperor, but is suspended by Empress Dowager Cixi after 104 days. (The failed reform led to the abolition of the Imperial examination in 1905.)
    • 1901 – The boundaries of the Colony of New Zealand are extended by the UK to include the Cook Islands.
    • 1903 – A group of Serbian officers stormed the royal palace and assassinated King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga.
    • 1917 – King Alexander assumes the throne of Greece after his father, Constantine I, abdicates under pressure from allied armies occupying Athens.
    • 1919 – Sir Barton wins the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first horse to win the U.S. Triple Crown.
    • 1920 – During the U.S. Republican National Convention in Chicago, U.S. Republican Party leaders gathered in a room at the Blackstone Hotel to come to a consensus on their candidate for the U.S. presidential election, leading the Associated Press to coin the political phrase “smoke-filled room”.
    • 1935 – Inventor Edwin Armstrong gives the first public demonstration of FM broadcasting in the United States at Alpine, New Jersey.
    • 1936 – The London International Surrealist Exhibition opens.
    • 1937 – Great Purge: The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin executes eight army leaders.
    • 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Wuhan starts.
    • 1940 – World War II: The Siege of Malta begins with a series of Italian air raids.
    • 1942 – World War II: The United States agrees to send Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
    • 1942 – Free French Forces retreat from Bir Hakeim after having successfully delayed the Axis advance.
    • 1944 – USS Missouri, the last battleship built by the United States Navy and future site of the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, is commissioned.
    • 1955 – Eighty-three spectators are killed and at least 100 are injured after an Austin-Healey and a Mercedes-Benz collide at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the deadliest ever accident in motorsports.
    • 1956 – Start of Gal Oya riots, the first reported ethnic riots that target minority Sri Lankan Tamils in the Eastern Province. The total number of deaths is reportedly 150.
    • 1962 – Frank Morris, John Anglin and Clarence Anglin allegedly become the only prisoners to escape from the prison on Alcatraz Island.
    • 1963 – American Civil Rights Movement: Governor of Alabama George Wallace defiantly stands at the door of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, from attending that school. Later in the day, accompanied by federalized National Guard troops, they are able to register.
    • 1963 – Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burns himself with gasoline in a busy Saigon intersection to protest the lack of religious freedom in South Vietnam.
    • 1963 – John F. Kennedy addresses Americans from the Oval Office proposing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which would revolutionize American society by guaranteeing equal access to public facilities, ending segregation in education, and guaranteeing federal protection for voting rights.
    • 1964 – World War II veteran Walter Seifert attacks an elementary school in Cologne, Germany, killing at least eight children and two teachers and seriously injuring several more with a home-made flamethrower and a lance.
    • 1968 – Lloyd J. Old identified the first cell surface antigens that could differentiate among different cell types.
    • 1970 – After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army Generals, becoming the first women to do so.
    • 1971 – The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
    • 1978 – Altaf Hussain founds the student political movement All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) in Karachi University.
    • 1981 – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake at Golbaf, Iran, kills at least 2,000.
    • 1987 – Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant are elected as the first black MPs in Great Britain.
    • 1998 – Compaq Computer pays US$9 billion for Digital Equipment Corporation in the largest high-tech acquisition.
    • 2001 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
    • 2002 – Antonio Meucci is acknowledged as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
    • 2004 – Cassini–Huygens makes its closest flyby of the Saturn moon Phoebe.
    • 2007 – Mudslides in Chittagong, Bangladesh, kill 130 people.
    • 2008 – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada’s First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
    • 2008 – The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is launched into orbit.
    • 2010 – The first African FIFA World Cup kicks off in South Africa.
    • 2012 – More than 80 people die in a landslide triggered by two earthquakes in Afghanistan; an entire village is buried.
    • 2013 – Greece’s public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It reopened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
    • 2018 – 3 World Trade Center officially opens.

    Births on June 11

    • 1403 – John IV, Duke of Brabant (d. 1427)
    • 1431 – Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond (d. 1456)
    • 1456 – Anne Neville, Princess of Wales and Queen of England (d. 1485)
    • 1540 – Barnabe Googe, English poet and translator (d. 1594)
    • 1555 – Lodovico Zacconi, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1627)
    • 1572 – Ben Jonson, English poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1637)
    • 1585 – Evert Horn, Swedish soldier (d. 1615)
    • 1588 – George Wither, English poet (d. 1667)
    • 1620 – John Moore, English businessman and politician, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1702)
    • 1655 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
    • 1662 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1712)
    • 1672 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti, Italian priest and composer (d. 1749)
    • 1690 – Giovanni Antonio Giay, Italian composer (d. 1764)
    • 1696 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish-Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)
    • 1697 – Francesco Antonio Vallotti, Italian organist and composer (d. 1780)
    • 1704 – Carlos Seixas, Portuguese harpsichord player and composer (d. 1742)
    • 1709 – Joachim Martin Falbe, German painter (d. 1782)
    • 1712 – Benjamin Ingham, American missionary (d. 1772)
    • 1723 – Johann Georg Palitzsch, German astronomer (d. 1788)
    • 1726 – Infanta Maria Teresa Rafaela of Spain (d. 1746)
    • 1741 – Joseph Warren, American physician and general (d. 1775)
    • 1776 – John Constable, English painter and academic (d. 1837)
    • 1797 – José Trinidad Reyes, Honduran philosopher and theorist (d. 1855)
    • 1807 – James F. Schenck, American admiral (d. 1882)
    • 1815 – Julia Margaret Cameron, Indian-Sri Lankan photographer (d. 1879)
    • 1818 – Alexander Bain, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1903)
    • 1829 – Edward Braddon, English-Australian politician, 18th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1904)
    • 1832 – Lucy Pickens, American wife of Francis Wilkinson Pickens (d. 1899)
    • 1842 – Carl von Linde, German engineer and academic (d. 1934)
    • 1846 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (d. 1920)
    • 1847 – Millicent Fawcett, English academic and activist (d. 1929)
    • 1861 – Alexander Peacock, Australian politician, 20th Premier of Victoria (d. 1933)
    • 1864 – Richard Strauss, German composer and conductor (d. 1949)
    • 1867 – Charles Fabry, French physicist and academic (d. 1945)
    • 1871 – Stjepan Radić, Croatian lawyer and politician (d. 1928)
    • 1876 – Alfred L. Kroeber, American-French anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 1960)
    • 1877 – Renée Vivien, English-French poet and author (d. 1909)
    • 1879 – Roger Bresnahan, American baseball player and manager (d. 1944)
    • 1880 – Jeannette Rankin, American social worker and politician (d. 1973)
    • 1881 – Spiros Xenos, Greek-Swedish painter (d. 1963)
    • 1881 – Mordecai Kaplan, Lithuanian rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (d. 1983)
    • 1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (d. 1927)
    • 1889 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (d. 1976)
    • 1894 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (d. 1952)
    • 1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975)
    • 1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927)
    • 1897 – Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (d. 1970)
    • 1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
    • 1901 – Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (d. 1978)
    • 1901 – Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (d. 1968)
    • 1902 – Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (d. 1983)
    • 1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player and coach (d. 1976)
    • 1908 – Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (d. 1982)
    • 1908 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (d. 1919)
    • 1909 – Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (d. 1991)
    • 1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997)
    • 1912 – James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
    • 1912 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (d. 1963)
    • 1912 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 1970)
    • 1913 – Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1914 – Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1915 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1997)
    • 1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (d. 1999)
    • 1917 – Joseph B. Wirthlin, American businessman and religious leader (d. 2008)
    • 1918 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (d. 1980)
    • 1919 – Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (d. 2009)
    • 1920 – Shelly Manne, American drummer, composer, and bandleader (d. 1984)
    • 1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (d. 1981)
    • 1920 – Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (d. 2013)
    • 1922 – Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1925 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006)
    • 1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator
    • 1927 – Beryl Grey, English ballerina
    • 1927 – John W. O’Malley, American Catholic historian, academic and Jesuit priest
    • 1927 – Kit Pedler, English parapsychologist and author (d. 1981)
    • 1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014)
    • 1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001)
    • 1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician
    • 1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright
    • 1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade
    • 1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012)
    • 1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017)
    • 1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland
    • 1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress
    • 1947 – Richard Palmer-James, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach
    • 1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar
    • 1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter
    • 1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014)
    • 1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1951 – Matthew Engel, English journalist and author
    • 1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer
    • 1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner
    • 1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician
    • 1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician
    • 1953 – Barbara Minty, American model
    • 1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer
    • 1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
    • 1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower
    • 1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author
    • 1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Simon Plouffe, Canadian mathematician and academic
    • 1956 – Arthur Porter, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1956 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, American bass player and bandleader
    • 1958 – Barry Adamson, English singer and bass player
    • 1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host
    • 1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach
    • 1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter
    • 1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000)
    • 1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver
    • 1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002)
    • 1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player
    • 1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer
    • 1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein
    • 1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player
    • 1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer
    • 1969 – Bryan Fogarty, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2002)
    • 1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer
    • 1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer
    • 1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician
    • 1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1971 – Kenjiro Tsuda, Japanese voice actor
    • 1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach
    • 1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach
    • 1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager
    • 1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner
    • 1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer
    • 1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor
    • 1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer
    • 1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer
    • 1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster
    • 1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player
    • 1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer
    • 1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee
    • 1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter
    • 1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper
    • 1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player
    • 1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player
    • 1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player
    • 1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier
    • 1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player
    • 1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player
    • 1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer
    • 1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer
    • 1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper
    • 1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor
    • 1987 – Marsel İlhan, Turkish tennis player
    • 1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer
    • 1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer
    • 1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host
    • 1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter
    • 1991 – Daniel Howell, English internet celebrity
    • 1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player
    • 1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress
    • 1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer
    • 1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor
    • 1999 – Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer

    Deaths on June 11

    • 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC)
    • 573 – Emilian of Cogolla, Iberic saint (b. 472)
    • 840 – Junna, emperor of Japan (b. 785)
    • 884 – Shi Jingsi, general of the Tang Dynasty
    • 888 – Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen (b. 830)
    • 1183 – Henry the Young King of England (b. 1155)
    • 1216 – Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174)
    • 1248 – Adachi Kagemori, Japanese samurai
    • 1253 – Amadeus IV, count of Savoy (b. 1197)
    • 1298 – Yolanda of Poland (b. 1235)
    • 1323 – Bérenger Fredoli, French lawyer and bishop (b. 1250)
    • 1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire
    • 1347 – Bartholomew of San Concordio, Italian Dominican canonist and man of letters (b. 1260)
    • 1446 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (b. 1425)
    • 1479 – John of Sahagun, hermit and saint (b. 1419)
    • 1488 – James III of Scotland (b. 1451)
    • 1557 – John III of Portugal (b. 1502)
    • 1560 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1515)
    • 1683 – Nikita Pustosvyat, a leader of the Russian Old Believers, beheaded (b. unknown)
    • 1695 – André Félibien, French historian and author (b. 1619)
    • 1712 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1654)
    • 1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660)
    • 1748 – Felice Torelli, Italian painter (b. 1667)
    • 1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded the Whitbread Company (b. 1720)
    • 1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786)
    • 1852 – Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (b. 1799)
    • 1859 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (b. 1773)
    • 1879 – William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840)
    • 1882 – Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (b. 1804)
    • 1885 – Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (b. 1810)
    • 1897 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (b. 1821)
    • 1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1837)
    • 1903 – Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1876)
    • 1903 – Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1864)
    • 1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (b. 1815)
    • 1913 – Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1856)
    • 1914 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848)
    • 1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (b. 1853)
    • 1924 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (b. 1837)
    • 1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861)
    • 1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (b. 1896)
    • 1936 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (b. 1906)
    • 1937 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895)
    • 1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850)
    • 1955 – Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (b. 1905)
    • 1962 – Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (b. 1900)
    • 1963 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (b. 1897)
    • 1965 – Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (b. 1908)
    • 1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883)
    • 1970 – Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (b. 1884)
    • 1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883)
    • 1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (b. 1898)
    • 1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917)
    • 1979 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (b. 1893)
    • 1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907)
    • 1983 – Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian businessman and politician (b. 1894)
    • 1984 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922)
    • 1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter and illustrator (b. 1888)
    • 1991 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925)
    • 1993 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952)
    • 1994 – A. Thurairajah, Sri Lankan engineer and academic (b. 1934)
    • 1995 – Rodel Naval, Filipino singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1953)
    • 1996 – George Hees, Canadian politician (b. 1910)
    • 1996 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (b. 1908)
    • 1998 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906)
    • 1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
    • 2001 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1923)
    • 2003 – David Brinkley, American journalist and author (b. 1920)
    • 2004 – Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946)
    • 2005 – Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general and politician, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1922)
    • 2005 – Anne-Marie Alonzo, Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher (b. 1951)
    • 2006 – Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (b. 1944)
    • 2006 – Bruce Shand, English soldier (b. 1917)
    • 2007 – Imre Friedmann, American biologist and academic (b. 1921)
    • 2007 – Mala Powers, American actress (b. 1931)
    • 2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1938)
    • 2008 – Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1922)
    • 2011 – Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1947)
    • 2011 – Seth Putnam, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1968)
    • 2012 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (b. 1917)
    • 2012 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Miller Barber, American golfer (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Carl W. Bauer, American lawyer and politician (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – James Grimsley, Jr., American general (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Rory Morrison, English journalist (b. 1964)
    • 2013 – Kristiāns Pelšs, Latvian ice hockey player (b. 1992)
    • 2013 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Ruby Dee, American actress (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor and composer (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1955)
    • 2014 – Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (b. 1952)
    • 2014 – Benjamin Mophatlane, South African businessman (b. 1973)
    • 2014 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Jim Ed Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934)
    • 2015 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (b. 1930)
    • 2015 – Ian McKechnie, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1941)
    • 2015 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (b. 1924)
    • 2015 – Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (b. 1945)
    • 2016 – Rudi Altig, German track and road racing cyclist (b. 1937)
    • 2020 – Stella Pevsner, children’s author (b. 1921)

    Holidays and observances on June 11

    • American Evacuation Day (Libya)
    • Brazilian Navy commemorative day (Brazil)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Barnabas the Apostle
      • Bartholomew the Apostle (Eastern Christianity)
      • Blessed Ignatius Maloyan (Armenian Catholic Church)
      • Paula Frassinetti
      • Riagail of Bangor
      • June 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada)
    • Kamehameha Day (Hawaii, United States)
    • Student Day (Honduras)

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

    • 363 – The Roman emperor Julian defeats the Sasanian army in the Battle of Ctesiphon, under the walls of the Sasanian capital, but is unable to take the city.
    • 1108 – Battle of Uclés: Almoravid troops under the command of Tamim ibn Yusuf defeat a Castile and León alliance under the command of Prince Sancho Alfónsez.
    • 1167 – Battle of Monte Porzio: A Roman army supporting Pope Alexander III is defeated by Christian of Buch and Rainald of Dassel.
    • 1176 – Battle of Legnano: The Lombard League defeats Emperor Frederick I.
    • 1328 – Philip VI is crowned King of France.
    • 1416 – Battle of Gallipoli: The Venetians under Pietro Loredan defeat a much larger Ottoman fleet off Gallipoli.
    • 1453 – Fall of Constantinople: Ottoman armies under Sultan Mehmed II Fatih capture Constantinople after a 53-day siege, ending the Byzantine Empire.
    • 1658 – Battle of Samugarh: decisive battle in the struggle for the throne during the Mughal war of succession (1658–1659).
    • 1660 – English Restoration: Charles II is restored to the throne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
    • 1733 – The right of settlers in New France to enslave natives is upheld at Quebec City.
    • 1780 – American Revolutionary War: At the Battle of Waxhaws, the British continue attacking after the Continentals lay down their arms, killing 113 and critically wounding all but 53 that remained.
    • 1790 – Rhode Island becomes the last of North America’s original Thirteen Colonies to ratify the Constitution and become one of the United States.
    • 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Between 300 and 500 United Irishmen are executed as rebels by the British Army in County Kildare, Ireland.
    • 1807 – Mustafa IV became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
    • 1848 – Wisconsin is admitted as the 30th U.S. state.
    • 1852 – Jenny Lind leaves New York after her two-year American tour.
    • 1861 – The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is founded, in Hong Kong.
    • 1864 – Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico arrives in Mexico for the first time.
    • 1867 – The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (“the Compromise”) is born through Act 12, which establishes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
    • 1868 – Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia is assassinated.
    • 1886 – The pharmacist John Pemberton places his first advertisement for Coca-Cola, which appeared in The Atlanta Journal.
    • 1900 – N’Djamena is founded as Fort-Lamy by the French commander Émile Gentil.
    • 1903 – In the May Coup, Alexander I, King of Serbia, and Queen Draga, are assassinated in Belgrade by the Black Hand (Crna Ruka) organization.
    • 1913 – Igor Stravinsky’s ballet score The Rite of Spring receives its premiere performance in Paris, France, provoking a riot.
    • 1914 – The Ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland sinks in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence with the loss of 1,012 lives.
    • 1918 – Armenia defeats the Ottoman Army in the Battle of Sardarabad.
    • 1919 – Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity is tested (later confirmed) by Arthur Eddington and Andrew Claude de la Cherois Crommelin
    • 1920 – The Louth flood of 1920 was a severe flash flooding in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth which occurred 29 May 1920, resulting in 23 fatalities in 20 minutes. It has been described as one of the most significant flood disasters in Britain during the 20th century.
    • 1931 – Michele Schirru, a citizen of the United States, is executed by Italian military firing squad for intent to kill Benito Mussolini.
    • 1932 – World War I veterans begin to assemble in Washington, D.C., in the Bonus Army to request cash bonuses promised to them to be paid in 1945.
    • 1935 – First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aeroplane.
    • 1945 – First combat mission of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator heavy bomber.
    • 1948 – United Nations Truce Supervision Organization is founded.
    • 1950 – The St. Roch, the first ship to circumnavigate North America, arrives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
    • 1953 – Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay become the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on Tenzing Norgay’s (adopted) 39th birthday.
    • 1964 – The Arab League meets in East Jerusalem to discuss the Palestinian question, leading to the formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
    • 1973 – Tom Bradley is elected the first black mayor of Los Angeles, California.
    • 1982 – Pope John Paul II becomes the first pontiff to visit Canterbury Cathedral.
    • 1982 – Falklands War: British forces defeat the Argentines at the Battle of Goose Green.
    • 1985 – Heysel Stadium disaster: Thirty-nine association football fans die and hundreds are injured when a dilapidated retaining wall collapses.
    • 1985 – Amputee Steve Fonyo completes cross-Canada marathon at Victoria, British Columbia, after 14 months.
    • 1988 – The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
    • 1989 – Signing of an agreement between Egypt and the United States, allowing the manufacture of parts of the F-16 jet fighter plane in Egypt.
    • 1990 – The Russian parliament elects Boris Yeltsin as president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
    • 1993 – The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war-torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.
    • 1999 – Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
    • 1999 – Space Shuttle Discovery completes the first docking with the International Space Station.
    • 2001 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
    • 2004 – The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
    • 2008 – A doublet earthquake, of combined magnitude 6.1, strikes Iceland near the town of Selfoss, injuring 30 people.
    • 2012 – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hits northern Italy near Bologna, killing at least 24 people.
    • 2015 – One World Observatory at One World Trade Center opens.

    Births on May 29

    • 1421 – Charles, Prince of Viana (d. 1461)
    • 1439 – Pope Pius III (d. 1503)
    • 1443 – Victor, Duke of Münsterberg, Reichsgraf, Duke of Münsterberg and Opava, Count of Glatz (d. 1500)
    • 1504 – Antun Vrančić, Croatian archbishop (d. 1573)
    • 1555 – George Carew, 1st Earl of Totnes, English Earl, general and administrator (d. 1629)
    • 1568 – Virginia de’ Medici, Italian princess (d. 1615)
    • 1594 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, Bavarian field marshal (d. 1632)
    • 1627 – Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French princess (d. 1693)
    • 1630 – Charles II of England (d. 1685)
    • 1675 – Humphry Ditton, English mathematician and philosopher (d. 1715)
    • 1716 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton, French zoologist and mineralogist (d. 1800)
    • 1722 – James FitzGerald, 1st Duke of Leinster, Irish soldier and politician (d. 1773)
    • 1730 – Jackson of Exeter, English organist and composer (d. 1803)
    • 1736 – Patrick Henry, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (d. 1799)
    • 1780 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (d. 1855)
    • 1794 – Johann Heinrich von Mädler, German astronomer and selenographer (d. 1874)
    • 1797 – Louise-Adéone Drölling, French painter (d. 1836)
    • 1823 – John H. Balsley, American carpenter and inventor (d. 1895)
    • 1860 – Isaac Albéniz, Spanish pianist and composer (d. 1909)
    • 1871 – Clark Voorhees, American painter (d. 1933)
    • 1873 – Rudolf Tobias, Estonian organist and composer (d. 1918)
    • 1874 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, and playwright (d. 1936)
    • 1880 – Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (d. 1936)
    • 1892 – Alfonsina Storni, Swiss-Argentinian poet and author (d. 1938)
    • 1893 – Max Brand, American journalist and author (d. 1944)
    • 1894 – Beatrice Lillie, Canadian-English actress, singer and writer (d. 1989)
    • 1894 – Josef von Sternberg, Austrian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1969)
    • 1897 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Czech-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1957)
    • 1899 – Douglas Abbott, Canadian lawyer and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Defence (d. 1987)
    • 1902 – Harry Kadwell, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 1999)
    • 1903 – Bob Hope, English-American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2003)
    • 1904 – Hubert Opperman, Australian cyclist and politician (d. 1996)
    • 1905 – Sebastian Shaw, English actor, director, and playwright (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – T. H. White, Indian-English author (d. 1964)
    • 1907 – Hartland Molson, Canadian captain and politician (d. 2002)
    • 1908 – Diana Morgan, Welsh-English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1996)
    • 1910 – Ralph Metcalfe, American sprinter and politician (d. 1978)
    • 1913 – Tony Zale, American boxer (d. 1997)
    • 1914 – Stacy Keach Sr., American actor (d. 2003)
    • 1914 – Tenzing Norgay, Nepalese-Indian mountaineer (d. 1986)
    • 1915 – Karl Münchinger, German conductor and composer (d. 1990)
    • 1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States (d. 1963)
    • 1917 – Marcel Trudel, Canadian historian, author, and academic (d. 2011)
    • 1919 – Jacques Genest, Canadian physician and academic (d. 2018)
    • 1920 – John Harsanyi, Hungarian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
    • 1920 – Clifton James, American actor (d. 2017)
    • 1921 – Norman Hetherington, Australian cartoonist and puppeteer (d. 2010)
    • 1922 – Joe Weatherly, American race car driver (d. 1964)
    • 1922 – Iannis Xenakis, Greek-French composer, engineer, and theorist (d. 2001)
    • 1923 – Bernard Clavel, French author (d. 2010)
    • 1923 – John Parker, 6th Earl of Morley, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Devon (d. 2015)
    • 1923 – Eugene Wright, American jazz bassist
    • 1924 – Lars Bo, Danish author and illustrator (d. 1999)
    • 1924 – Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
    • 1924 – Pepper Paire, American baseball player (d. 2013)
    • 1926 – Katie Boyle, Italian-English actress and television host (d. 2018)
    • 1926 – Halaevalu Mataʻaho ʻAhomeʻe, Queen Consort of Tonga (d. 2017)
    • 1926 – Abdoulaye Wade, Senegalese academic and politician, 3rd President of Senegal
    • 1927 – Jean Coutu, Canadian pharmacist and businessman, founded the Jean Coutu Group
    • 1929 – Harry Frankfurt, American philosopher and academic
    • 1929 – Peter Higgs, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1929 – Roberto Vargas, Puerto Rican-American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Paul R. Ehrlich, American biologist and author
    • 1932 – Richie Guerin, American basketball player and coach
    • 1933 – Helmuth Rilling, German conductor and educator
    • 1933 – Tarquinio Provini, Italian motorcycle racer (d. 2005)
    • 1934 – Bill Vander Zalm, Dutch-Canadian businessman and politician, 28th Premier of British Columbia
    • 1935 – André Brink, South African author and playwright (d. 2015)
    • 1935 – Sylvia Robinson, American singer and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1937 – Charles W. Pickering, American lawyer and judge
    • 1937 – Irmin Schmidt, German keyboard player and composer
    • 1937 – Alwin Schockemöhle, German show-jumper
    • 1937 – Harry Statham, American basketball player and coach
    • 1938 – Christopher Bland, English businessman and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1938 – Fay Vincent, American lawyer and businessman
    • 1939 – Pete Smith, Australian radio and television announcer
    • 1939 – Al Unser, American race car driver
    • 1940 – Taihō Kōki, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 48th Yokozuna (d. 2013)
    • 1940 – Farooq Leghari, Pakistani politician, 8th President of Pakistan (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – Doug Scott, English mountaineer and author
    • 1941 – Bob Simon, American journalist (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Pierre Bourque, Canadian businessman and politician, 40th Mayor of Montreal
    • 1942 – Kevin Conway, American actor and director (d. 2020)
    • 1943 – Robert W. Edgar, American educator and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Bob Benmosche, American businessman (d. 2015)
    • 1944 – Quentin Davies, English soldier and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
    • 1945 – Gary Brooker, English singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1945 – Peter Fraser, Baron Fraser of Carmyllie, Scottish lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland (d. 2013)
    • 1945 – Julian Le Grand, English economist and author
    • 1945 – Martin Pipe, English jockey and trainer
    • 1945 – Joyce Tenneson, American photographer
    • 1945 – Jean-Pierre Van Rossem, Belgian scholar and author (d. 2018)
    • 1946 – Fernando Buesa, Spanish politician (d. 2000)
    • 1947 – Anthony Geary, American actor
    • 1948 – Michael Berkeley, English composer and radio host
    • 1948 – Keith Gull, English microbiologist and academic
    • 1949 – Robert Axelrod, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2019)
    • 1949 – Brian Kidd, English footballer and manager
    • 1949 – Francis Rossi, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1950 – Rebbie Jackson, American singer and actress
    • 1953 – Danny Elfman, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1954 – Robert Beaser, American composer and educator
    • 1954 – Jerry Moran, American lawyer and politician
    • 1955 – Frank Baumgartl, German runner (d. 2010)
    • 1955 – John Hinckley Jr., American attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan
    • 1955 – David Kirschner, American animator, producer, and author
    • 1955 – Gordon Rintoul, Scottish historian and curator
    • 1955 – Ken Schrader, American race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1956 – Mark Lyall Grant, English diplomat, British Ambassador to the United Nations
    • 1956 – La Toya Jackson, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1957 – Steven Croft, English bishop and theologian
    • 1957 – Jeb Hensarling, American lawyer and politician
    • 1957 – Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian film director
    • 1958 – Annette Bening, American actress
    • 1958 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, and activist (d. 2011)
    • 1958 – Uwe Rapolder, German footballer and coach
    • 1958 – Mike Stenhouse, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1959 – Rupert Everett, English actor and novelist
    • 1959 – Mel Gaynor, English drummer
    • 1959 – Steve Hanley, Irish-English bass player and songwriter
    • 1960 – Thomas Baumer, Swiss economist and academic
    • 1960 – Mike Freer, English politician
    • 1961 – Melissa Etheridge, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist
    • 1961 – John Miceli, American drummer
    • 1962 – Fandi Ahmad, Singaporean footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1962 – Eric Davis, American baseball player
    • 1962 – Carol Kirkwood, Scottish journalist
    • 1962 – Chloé Sainte-Marie, Canadian actress and singer
    • 1963 – Blaze Bayley, English singer-songwriter
    • 1963 – Zhu Jianhua, Chinese high jumper
    • 1963 – Ukyo Katayama, Japanese race car driver
    • 1963 – Claude Loiselle, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1964 – Howard Mills III, American academic and politician
    • 1964 – Oswaldo Negri Jr., Brazilian race car driver
    • 1966 – Natalie Nougayrède, French journalist
    • 1967 – Noel Gallagher, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1967 – Mike Keane, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1967 – Steven Levitt, American economist, author, and academic
    • 1968 – Torquhil Campbell, 13th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician
    • 1968 – Tate George, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Jessica Morden, English politician
    • 1968 – Hida Viloria, American activist
    • 1970 – Natarsha Belling, Australian journalist
    • 1970 – Roberto Di Matteo, Italian footballer and manager
    • 1971 – Éric Lucas, Canadian boxer
    • 1971 – Bernd Mayländer, German race car driver
    • 1971 – Jo Beth Taylor, Australian television host and actress
    • 1971 – Rob Womack, English shot putter and discus thrower
    • 1972 – Bill Curley, American basketball player and coach
    • 1972 – Simon Jones, English singer and bass player
    • 1973 – Tomoko Kaneda, Japanese voice actress, singer, and radio personality
    • 1973 – Mark Lee, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1973 – Alpay Özalan, Turkish footballer
    • 1974 – Steve Cardenas, American martial artist and retired actor
    • 1974 – Stephen Larkham, Australian rugby player and coach
    • 1974 – Aaron McGruder, American author and cartoonist
    • 1974 – Myf Warhurst, Australian radio and television host
    • 1974 – Jenny Willott, English politician
    • 1975 – Jason Allison, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1975 – Mel B, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
    • 1975 – Sven Kubis, German footballer
    • 1975 – Sarah Millican, English comedian
    • 1975 – Anthony Wall, English golfer
    • 1975 – Daniel Tosh, American comedian, television host, actor, writer, and executive producer
    • 1976 – Caçapa, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1976 – Jerry Hairston Jr., American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Raef LaFrentz, American basketball player
    • 1976 – Yegor Titov, Russian footballer
    • 1977 – Massimo Ambrosini, Italian footballer
    • 1977 – Marco Cassetti, Italian footballer
    • 1977 – António Lebo Lebo, Angolan footballer
    • 1978 – Pelle Almqvist, Swedish singer-songwriter
    • 1978 – Sébastien Grosjean, French tennis player
    • 1978 – Lorenzo Odone, Italian-American adrenoleukodystrophy patient who inspired the 1992 film, Lorenzo’s Oil (d. 2008)
    • 1978 – Adam Rickitt, English singer
    • 1979 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer
    • 1979 – Brian Kendrick, American wrestler
    • 1979 – John Rheinecker, American baseball player (d. 2017)
    • 1980 – Ernesto Farías, Argentinian footballer
    • 1981 – Andrey Arshavin, Russian footballer
    • 1982 – Nataliya Dobrynska, Ukrainian heptathlete
    • 1982 – Matt Macri, American baseball player
    • 1982 – Kim Tae-kyun, South Korean baseball player
    • 1984 – Carmelo Anthony, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Nia Jax, Australian-American professional wrestler
    • 1984 – Funmi Jimoh, American long jumper
    • 1984 – Andreas Schäffer, German footballer
    • 1984 – Ina Wroldsen, Norwegian singer and songwriter
    • 1985 – Nathan Horton, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1987 – Lina Andrijauskaitė, Lithuanian long jumper
    • 1987 – Issac Luke, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1987 – Kelvin Maynard, Dutch footballer (d. 2019)
    • 1987 – Noah Reid, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1987 – Rui Sampaio, Portuguese footballer
    • 1988 – Muath Al-Kasasbeh, Jordanian captain and pilot (d. 2015)
    • 1988 – Cheng Fei, Chinese gymnast
    • 1988 – Steve Mason, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1989 – Ezekiel Ansah, Ghanaian-American football player
    • 1989 – Diego Barisone, Argentinian footballer (d. 2015)
    • 1989 – Riley Keough, American model and actress
    • 1990 – Joe Biagini, American baseball pitcher
    • 1992 – Sarah Moundir, Swiss tennis player
    • 1993 – Jana Čepelová, Slovak tennis player
    • 1993 – Maika Monroe, American actress and kiteboarder
    • 1993 – Grete Šadeiko, Estonian heptathlete
    • 1998 – Markelle Fultz, American basketball player
    • 1999 – Park Ji-hoon, South Korean singer and actor

    Deaths on May 29

    • 931 – Jimeno Garcés of Pamplona
    • 1040 – Renauld I, Count of Nevers
    • 1259 – Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)
    • 1311 – James II of Majorca (b. 1243)
    • 1320 – Pope John VIII of Alexandria, Coptic pope
    • 1327 – Jens Grand, Danish archbishop (b. c. 1260)
    • 1379 – Henry II of Castile (b. 1334)
    • 1405 – Philippe de Mézières, French soldier and author (b. 1327)
    • 1425 – Hongxi Emperor of China (b. 1378)
    • 1453 – Ulubatlı Hasan, Ottoman commander (b. 1428)
    • 1453 – Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1404)
    • 1500 – Bartolomeu Dias, Portuguese explorer and navigator (b. 1451)
    • 1500 – Thomas Rotherham, English cleric and minister (b. 1423)
    • 1546 – David Beaton, Scottish cardinal and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1494)
    • 1593 – John Penry, Welsh martyr (b. 1559)
    • 1660 – Frans van Schooten, Dutch mathematician and academic (b. 1615)
    • 1691 – Cornelis Tromp, Dutch admiral (b. 1629)
    • 1790 – Israel Putnam, American general (b. 1718)
    • 1796 – Carl Fredrik Pechlin, Swedish general and politician (b. 1720)
    • 1814 – Joséphine de Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte (b. 1763)
    • 1829 – Humphry Davy, English-Swiss chemist and academic (b. 1778)
    • 1847 – Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy, French general (b. 1766)
    • 1862 – Franz Mirecki, Polish composer, music conductor, and music teacher (b. 1791)
    • 1866 – Winfield Scott, American general, lawyer, and politician (b. 1786)
    • 1873 – Prince Friedrich of Hesse and by Rhine (b. 1870)
    • 1892 – Bahá’u’lláh, Persian religious leader, founded the Bahá’í Faith (b. 1817)
    • 1896 – Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist and academic (b. 1814)
    • 1903 – Bruce Price, American architect, designed the Château Frontenac and American Surety Building (b. 1845)
    • 1910 – Mily Balakirev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1837)
    • 1911 – W. S. Gilbert, English playwright and poet (b. 1836)
    • 1914 – Laurence Sydney Brodribb Irving, English author and playwright (b. 1871)
    • 1914 – Henry Seton-Karr, English explorer, hunter, and author (b. 1853)
    • 1917 – Kate Harrington, American poet and educator (b. 1831)
    • 1919 – Robert Bacon, American colonel and politician, 39th United States Secretary of State (b. 1860)
    • 1920 – Carlos Deltour, French rower (b. 1864)
    • 1921 – Abbott Handerson Thayer, American painter and educator (b. 1849)
    • 1935 – Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1874)
    • 1939 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Austrian-Polish nun and saint, founded the Congregation of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus (b. 1865)
    • 1941 – Léo-Pol Morin, Canadian pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1892)
    • 1942 – John Barrymore, American actor (b. 1882)
    • 1946 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German SS officer (b. 1905)
    • 1948 – May Whitty, English actress (b. 1865)
    • 1951 – Fanny Brice, American singer and comedian (b. 1891)
    • 1951 – Dimitrios Levidis, Greek-French soldier and composer (b. 1885)
    • 1953 – Morgan Russell, American painter and educator (b. 1886)
    • 1957 – James Whale, English director (b. 1889)
    • 1958 – Juan Ramón Jiménez, Spanish poet and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
    • 1963 – Netta Muskett, English author (b. 1887)
    • 1966 – Ignace Lepp, Estonian-French priest and psychologist (b. 1909)
    • 1968 – Arnold Susi, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1896)
    • 1970 – John Gunther, American journalist and author (b. 1901)
    • 1970 – Eva Hesse, American artist (b. 1936)
    • 1972 – Moe Berg, American baseball player, coach, and spy (b. 1902)
    • 1972 – Stephen Timoshenko, Ukrainian-American engineer and academic (b. 1878)
    • 1973 – George Harriman, English businessman (b. 1908)
    • 1977 – Ba Maw, Burmese politician, Prime Minister of Burma (b. 1893)
    • 1979 – Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded United Artists (b. 1892)
    • 1979 – John H. Wood Jr., American lawyer and judge (b. 1916)
    • 1982 – Romy Schneider, Austrian actress (b. 1938)
    • 1983 – Arvīds Pelše, Latvian-Russian historian and politician (b. 1899)
    • 1987 – Charan Singh, Indian politician, 5th Prime Minister of India (b. 1902)
    • 1988 – Salem bin Laden, Saudi Arabian businessman (b. 1946)
    • 1989 – George C. Homans, American sociologist and academic (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – Margaret Barr (choreographer), Australian choreographer and teacher of dance-drama (b. 1904)
    • 1993 – Billy Conn, American boxer (b. 1917)
    • 1994 – Erich Honecker, German lawyer and politician (b. 1912)
    • 1994- Lady May Abel Smith, member of the British Royal Family (b. 1906)
    • 1996 – Tamara Toumanova, American ballerina and actress (b. 1919)
    • 1997 – Jeff Buckley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1966)
    • 1998 – Barry Goldwater, American general, activist, and politician (b. 1909)
    • 2003 – David Jefferies, English motorcycle racer (b. 1972)
    • 2004 – Archibald Cox, American lawyer and politician, 31st United States Solicitor General (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Samuel Dash, American academic and politician (b. 1925)
    • 2005 – John D’Amico, Canadian ice hockey player and referee (b. 1937)
    • 2005 – Hamilton Naki, South African surgeon (b. 1926)
    • 2005 – George Rochberg, American soldier and composer (b. 1918)
    • 2006 – Jacques Bouchard, Canadian businessman (b. 1930)
    • 2007 – Dave Balon, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1938)
    • 2007 – Lois Browne-Evans, Bermudian lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2008 – Paula Gunn Allen, Native American writer (b. 1939)
    • 2008 – Luc Bourdon, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1987)
    • 2008 – Harvey Korman, American actor and comedian (b. 1927)
    • 2010 – Dennis Hopper, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
    • 2011 – Sergei Bagapsh, Abkhazian politician, 2nd President of Abkhazia (b. 1949)
    • 2011 – Bill Clements, American soldier and politician, 42nd Governor of Texas (b. 1917)
    • 2011 – Ferenc Mádl, Hungarian academic and politician, 14th President of Hungary (b. 1931)
    • 2012 – Mark Minkov, Russian composer (b. 1944)
    • 2012 – Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1912)
    • 2012 – Doc Watson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Richard Ballantine, American-English journalist and author (b. 1940)
    • 2013 – Françoise Blanchard, French actress (b. 1954)
    • 2013 – Andrew Greeley, American priest, sociologist, and author (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Mulgrew Miller, American pianist and composer (b. 1955)
    • 2013 – Henry Morgentaler, Polish-Canadian physician and activist (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Franca Rame, Italian actress and playwright (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Ludwig G. Strauss, German physician and academic (b. 1949)
    • 2013 – Wali-ur-Rehman, Pakistani commander (b. 1970)
    • 2014 – Christine Charbonneau, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Walter Jakob Gehring, Swiss biologist and academic (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Peter Glaser, Czech-American scientist and engineer (b. 1923)
    • 2014 – Miljenko Prohaska, Croatian composer and conductor (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – William M. Roth, American businessman (b. 1916)
    • 2015 – Henry Carr, American football player and sprinter (b. 1942)
    • 2015 – Doris Hart, American tennis player (b. 1925)
    • 2015 – Betsy Palmer, American actress (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – Manuel Noriega, Panamanian general and politician, Military Leader of Panama (b. 1934)
    • 2017 – Mordechai Tzipori, Israeli Lieutenant General and minister (b. 1924)
    • 2017 – Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Greek politician and prime minister (b. 1918)
    • 2020 – Maikanti Baru, Nigerian engineer, former chief of state oil firm. (b. 1959)

    Holidays and observances on May 29

    • Army Day (Argentina)
    • Ascension of Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í Faith) (Only if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz falls on March 21 of the Gregorian calendar)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bona of Pisa
      • Hypomone (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Maximin of Trier
      • Pope Alexander of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Theodosia of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)
      • Ursula Ledóchowska
      • May 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Earliest day on which Feast of the Sacred Heart can fall, while July 2 is the latest; celebrated 19 days after Pentecost. (Catholic Church)
    • International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (International)
    • National Elderly Day (Indonesia)
    • Oak Apple Day (England), and its related observance:
      • Castleton Garland Day (Castleton)
    • Statehood Day (Rhode Island and Wisconsin)
    • Veterans Day (Sweden)
    • World Digestive Health Day

  • May 28 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    • 585 BC – A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of Halys, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
    • 621 – Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty’s collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.
    • 1533 – The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.
    • 1588 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)
    • 1644 – English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.
    • 1754 – French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.
    • 1802 – In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon’s troops.
    • 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.
    • 1871 – The Paris Commune falls after two months.
    • 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.
    • 1905 – Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.
    • 1907 – The first Isle of Man TT race was held.
    • 1918 – The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.
    • 1926 – The 28 May 1926 coup d’état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.
    • 1932 – In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.
    • 1934 – Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.
    • 1936 – Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.
    • 1937 – Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer is founded.
    • 1940 – World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
    • 1940 – World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first allied infantry victory of the War.
    • 1948 – Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.
    • 1958 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
    • 1961 – Peter Benenson’s article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.
    • 1974 – Northern Ireland’s power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.
    • 1975 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.
    • 1977 – In Southgate, Kentucky, the Beverly Hills Supper Club is engulfed in fire, killing 165 people inside.
    • 1979 – Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
    • 1987 – A West German pilot, Mathias Rust, who was 18 years old, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
    • 1991 – The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
    • 1995 – The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shook the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.
    • 1996 – U.S. President Bill Clinton’s former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
    • 1998 – Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.
    • 1999 – In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.
    • 2002 – The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.
    • 2003 – Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.
    • 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq’s interim government.
    • 2008 – The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.
    • 2010 – In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.
    • 2011 – Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

    Births on May 28

    • 1140 – Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (d. 1207)
    • 1371 – John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1419)
    • 1524 – Selim II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1574)
    • 1588 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1672)
    • 1589 – Robert Arnauld d’Andilly, French writer (d. 1674)
    • 1663 – António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (d. 1736)
    • 1676 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 1754)
    • 1692 – Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (d. 1740)
    • 1738 – Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (d. 1814)
    • 1759 – William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1806)
    • 1763 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (d. 1811)
    • 1764 – Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (d. 1836)
    • 1779 – Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (d. 1852)
    • 1807 – Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (d. 1873)
    • 1818 – P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (d. 1893)
    • 1836 – Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1916)
    • 1836 – Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (d. 1918)
    • 1837 – George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman’s Cathedral (d. 1921)
    • 1837 – Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (d. 1908)
    • 1841 – Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (d. 1887)
    • 1853 – Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (d. 1919)
    • 1858 – Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (d. 1939)
    • 1872 – Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (d. 1917)
    • 1878 – Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (d. 1945)
    • 1879 – Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (d. 1958)
    • 1883 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (d. 1966)
    • 1883 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (d. 1978)
    • 1884 – Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd President of Czechoslovakia (d. 1948)
    • 1886 – Santo Trafficante, Sr., Italian-American mobster (d. 1954)
    • 1888 – Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (d. 1942)
    • 1888 – Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (d. 1947)
    • 1888 – Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (d. 1953)
    • 1889 – Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (d. 1929)
    • 1892 – Minna Gombell, American actress (d. 1973)
    • 1900 – Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (d. 1939)
    • 1903 – S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (d. 1994)
    • 1906 – Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (d. 1997)
    • 1908 – Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (d. 2005)
    • 1908 – Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (d. 1964)
    • 1909 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2005)
    • 1910 – Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 1987)
    • 1910 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1910 – T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
    • 1911 – Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (d. 1994)
    • 1911 – Thora Hird, English actress (d. 2003)
    • 1911 – Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (d. 1986)
    • 1912 – Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1912 – Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (d. 1981)
    • 1912 – Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1990)
    • 1914 – W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (d. 1996)
    • 1915 – Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (d. 2001)
    • 1916 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (d. 1990)
    • 1917 – Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (d. 2012)
    • 1918 – Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (d. 1990)
    • 1921 – D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (d. 1955)
    • 1921 – Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (d. 1999)
    • 1921 – Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (d. 2017)
    • 1922 – Roger Fisher, American author and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier
    • 1923 – György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (d. 2006)
    • 1923 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (d. 1996)
    • 1924 – Edward du Cann, English naval officer and politician (d. 2017)
    • 1924 – Paul Hébert, Canadian actor (d. 2017)
    • 1925 – Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2006)
    • 1925 – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Sally Forrest, American actress and dancer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Patrick McNair-Wilson, English politician
    • 1930 – Edward Seaga, American-Jamaican academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Jamaica (d. 2019)
    • 1931 – Carroll Baker, American actress
    • 1931 – Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries
    • 1933 – John Karlen, American actor
    • 1933 – Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1936 – Claude Forget, Canadian academic and politician
    • 1936 – Ole K. Sara, Norwegian politician (d. 2013)
    • 1936 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (d. 1997)
    • 1938 – Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive
    • 1939 – Maeve Binchy, Irish novelist (d. 2012)
    • 1940 – David William Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London
    • 1940 – Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi and academic, founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue
    • 1941 – Beth Howland, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1943 – Terry Crisp, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1944 – Faith Brown, English actress and singer
    • 1944 – Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City
    • 1944 – Gladys Knight, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1944 – Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (d. 2013)
    • 1944 – Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (d. 2003)
    • 1944 – Billy Vera, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1945 – Patch Adams, American physician and author, founded the Gesundheit! Institute
    • 1945 – John N. Bambacus, American military veteran (USMC) and politician
    • 1945 – John Fogerty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1945 – Jean Perrault, Canadian politician, Mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec
    • 1945 – Helena Shovelton, English physician
    • 1946 – Bruce Alexander, English actor
    • 1946 – Skip Jutze, American baseball player
    • 1946 – Janet Paraskeva, Welsh politician
    • 1946 – K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet and critic
    • 1946 – William Shawcross, English journalist and author
    • 1947 – Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist and academic
    • 1947 – Lynn Johnston, Canadian author and illustrator
    • 1947 – Leland Sklar, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1948 – Michael Field, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Tasmania
    • 1948 – Pierre Rapsat, Belgian singer and songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1949 – Martin Kelner, English journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and radio presenter
    • 1949 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (d. 1998)
    • 1952 – Roger Briggs, American pianist, composer, conductor, and educator
    • 1953 – Pierre Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1954 – João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian jumper (d. 1999)
    • 1954 – Youri Egorov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 1988)
    • 1954 – Charles Saumarez Smith, English historian and academic
    • 1954 – Péter Szilágyi, Hungarian conductor and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1954 – John Tory, Canadian lawyer and politician, 65th Mayor of Toronto
    • 1955 – Laura Amy Schlitz, American author and librarian
    • 1955 – Mark Howe, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1956 – Jerry Douglas, American guitarist and producer
    • 1956 – Jeff Dujon, Jamaican cricketer
    • 1956 – Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (d. 1980)
    • 1956 – Peter Wilkinson, English admiral
    • 1957 – Colin Barnes, English footballer
    • 1957 – Kirk Gibson, American baseball player and manager
    • 1957 – Ben Howland, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Risto Mannisenmäki, Finnish racing driver
    • 1960 – Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina
    • 1960 – Mary Portas, English journalist and author
    • 1963 – Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic
    • 1964 – Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer
    • 1964 – Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1964 – Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress
    • 1964 – Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter
    • 1965 – Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1965 – Mary Coughlan, Irish politician
    • 1966 – Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright
    • 1966 – Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist
    • 1966 – Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer
    • 1967 – Glen Rice, American basketball player
    • 1968 – Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1969 – Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager
    • 1969 – Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (d. 2016)
    • 1970 – Glenn Quinn, American actor (d. 2002)
    • 1971 – Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer
    • 1971 – Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster
    • 1971 – Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician
    • 1972 – Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager
    • 1972 – Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager
    • 1973 – Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer
    • 1974 – Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
    • 1975 – Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic
    • 1976 – Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player
    • 1976 – Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach
    • 1976 – Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer
    • 1976 – Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1977 – Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author
    • 1978 – Jake Johnson, American actor
    • 1979 – Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (d. 2001)
    • 1979 – Ronald Curry, American football player and coach
    • 1980 – Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer
    • 1980 – Lucy Shuker, English tennis player
    • 1981 – Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1981 – Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player
    • 1981 – Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1982 – Alexa Davalos, French-American actress
    • 1982 – Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Steve Cronin, American soccer player
    • 1983 – Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1983 – Roman Atwood, American YouTube star
    • 1985 – Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1985 – Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer
    • 1985 – Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer
    • 1985 – Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer
    • 1986 – Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player
    • 1986 – Seth Rollins, American wrestler
    • 1986 – Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete
    • 1987 – T.J. Yates, American football player
    • 1988 – NaVorro Bowman, American football player
    • 1988 – Percy Harvin, American football player
    • 1988 – Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player
    • 1990 – Kyle Walker, English international footballer, right-back
    • 1991 – Sharrif Floyd, American football player
    • 1991 – Alexandre Lacazette, French footballer
    • 1991 – Kail Piho, Estonian skier
    • 1992 – Tom Carroll, English footballer
    • 1993 – Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player
    • 1993 – Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player
    • 1994 – John Stones, English footballer
    • 1994 – Son Yeon-jae, South Korean gymnast
    • 1998 – Dahyun, Korean singer
    • 1999 – Cameron Boyce, American actor (d. 2019)
    • 2000 – Phil Foden, English footballer

    Deaths on May 28

    • 576 – Germain of Paris, French bishop and saint (b. 496)
    • 741 – Ucha’an K’in B’alam, Mayan king
    • 926 – Kong Qian, official of Later Tang
    • 926 – Li Jiji, prince of Later Tang
    • 1023 – Wulfstan, English archbishop
    • 1279 – William Wishart, English bishop
    • 1327 – Robert Baldock, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England
    • 1357 – Afonso IV of Portugal (b. 1291)
    • 1427 – Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (b. 1397)
    • 1556 – Saitō Dōsan, Japanese samurai (b. 1494)
    • 1626 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (b. 1561)
    • 1651 – Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, English politician (b. 1594)
    • 1672 – John Trevor, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1626)
    • 1747 – Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (b. 1715)
    • 1750 – Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (b. 1720)
    • 1787 – Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1719)
    • 1805 – Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (b. 1743)
    • 1808 – Richard Hurd, English bishop (b. 1720)
    • 1811 – Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for War (b. 1742)
    • 1831 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (b. 1756)
    • 1843 – Noah Webster, American lexicographer (b. 1758)
    • 1849 – Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (b. 1820)
    • 1864 – Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1878 – John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
    • 1904 – Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (b. 1846)
    • 1916 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (b. 1856)
    • 1927 – Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (b. 1878)
    • 1937 – Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (b. 1870)
    • 1946 – Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1858)
    • 1947 – August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (b. 1907)
    • 1952 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (b. 1882)
    • 1953 – Tatsuo Hori, Japanese author and poet (b. 1904)
    • 1964 – Terry Dillon, American football player (b. 1941)
    • 1968 – Fyodor Okhlopkov, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1908)
    • 1971 – Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1925)
    • 1972 – Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (b. 1894)
    • 1975 – Ezzard Charles, American boxer (b. 1921)
    • 1976 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
    • 1980 – Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician and academic (b. 1895)
    • 1981 – Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (b. 1910)
    • 1981 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (b. 1901)
    • 1982 – H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1940)
    • 1983 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (b. 1909)
    • 1984 – Eric Morecambe, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
    • 1986 – Edip Cansever, Turkish poet and author (b. 1928)
    • 1988 – Sy Oliver, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (b. 1910)
    • 1990 – Julius Eastman, American composer (b. 1940)
    • 1994 – Julius Boros, American golfer (b. 1920)
    • 1994 – Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American author and academic (b. 1916)
    • 1998 – Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor and comedian (b. 1948)
    • 1999 – Michael Barkai, Israeli commander (b. 1935)
    • 1999 – B. Vittalacharya, Indian director and producer (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (b. 1926)
    • 2001 – Joe Moakley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1927)
    • 2001 – Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (b. 1946)
    • 2002 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (b. 1905)
    • 2003 – Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Russian engineer and astronaut (b. 1933)
    • 2003 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
    • 2003 – Martha Scott, American actress (b. 1912)
    • 2004 – Umberto Agnelli, Swiss-Italian businessman and politician (b. 1934)
    • 2004 – Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (b. 1979)
    • 2004 – John Tolos, Greek-Canadian wrestler (b. 1930)
    • 2006 – Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (b. 1920)
    • 2007 – Jörg Immendorff, German painter, sculptor, and academic (b. 1945)
    • 2007 – Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Agriculture (b. 1945)
    • 2008 – Beryl Cook, English painter and illustrator (b. 1926)
    • 2010 – Gary Coleman, American actor (b. 1968)
    • 2011 – Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Bob Edwards, English journalist (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Yuri Susloparov, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (b. 1958)
    • 2013 – Viktor Kulikov, Russian commander (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
    • 2013 – Gerd Schmückle, German general (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Stan Crowther, English footballer (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Oscar Dystel, American publisher (b. 1912)
    • 2014 – Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (b. 1928)
    • 2014 – Bob Houbregs, Canadian-American basketball player and manager (b. 1932)
    • 2014 – Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer (b. 1971)
    • 2015 – Steven Gerber, American pianist and composer (b. 1948)
    • 2015 – Johnny Keating, Scottish trombonist, composer, and producer (b. 1927)
    • 2015 – Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1940)
    • 2018 – Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (b. 1963)
    • 2018 – Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
    • 2018 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (b. 1941)

    Holidays and observances on May 28

    • Armed Forces Day (Croatia)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Bernard of Menthon
      • Germain of Paris
      • John Calvin (Episcopal Church)
      • Lanfranc
      • Margaret Pole
      • William of Gellone
      • May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Downfall of the Derg Day (Ethiopia)
    • Flag Day (Philippines)
    • Menstrual Hygiene Day
    • Republic Day (Nepal)
    • TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)
    • Youm-e-Takbir (Pakistan)

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

    • 919 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as king of the East Frankish Kingdom.
    • 1218 – The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
    • 1276 – Magnus Ladulås is crowned King of Sweden in Uppsala Cathedral.
    • 1487 – The ten-year-old Lambert Simnel is crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland, with the name of Edward VI in a bid to threaten King Henry VII’s reign.
    • 1567 – Erik XIV of Sweden and his guards murder five incarcerated Swedish nobles.
    • 1595 – Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.
    • 1607 – One hundred English settlers disembark in Jamestown, the first permanent English colony in America.
    • 1621 – The Protestant Union is formally dissolved.
    • 1626 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan.
    • 1667 – The French Royal Army crosses the border into the Spanish Netherlands, starting the War of Devolution opposing France to the Spanish Empire and the Triple Alliance.
    • 1683 – The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, opens as the world’s first university museum.
    • 1689 – The English Parliament passes the Act of Toleration protecting dissenting Protestants but excluding Roman Catholics.
    • 1738 – John Wesley is converted, essentially launching the Methodist movement; the day is celebrated annually by Methodists as Aldersgate Day and a church service is generally held on the preceding Sunday.
    • 1798 – The Irish Rebellion of 1798 led by the United Irishmen against British rule begins.
    • 1813 – South American independence leader Simón Bolívar enters Mérida, leading the invasion of Venezuela, and is proclaimed El Libertador (“The Liberator”).
    • 1822 – Battle of Pichincha: Antonio José de Sucre secures the independence of the Presidency of Quito.
    • 1832 – The First Kingdom of Greece is declared in the London Conference.
    • 1844 – Samuel Morse sends the message “What hath God wrought” (a biblical quotation, Numbers 23:23) from a committee room in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland, to inaugurate a commercial telegraph line between Baltimore and Washington D.C.
    • 1856 – John Brown and his men kill five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas.
    • 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops occupy Alexandria, Virginia.
    • 1883 – The Brooklyn Bridge in New York City is opened to traffic after 14 years of construction.
    • 1900 – Second Boer War: The United Kingdom annexes the Orange Free State.
    • 1915 – World War I: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary, joining the conflict on the side of the Allies.
    • 1930 – Amy Johnson lands in Darwin, Northern Territory, becoming the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia (she left on May 5 for the 11,000 mile flight).
    • 1935 – The first night game in Major League Baseball history is played in Cincinnati, Ohio, with the Cincinnati Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies 2–1 at Crosley Field.
    • 1940 – Igor Sikorsky performs the first successful single-rotor helicopter flight.
    • 1940 – Acting on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, NKVD agent Iosif Grigulevich orchestrates an unsuccessful assassination attempt on exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Coyoacán, Mexico.
    • 1941 – World War II: In the Battle of the Atlantic, the German Battleship Bismarck sinks then-pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Hood, killing all but three crewmen.
    • 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Egypt captures the Israeli kibbutz of Yad Mordechai, but the five-day effort gives Israeli forces time to prepare enough to stop the Egyptian advance a week later.
    • 1956 – The first Eurovision Song Contest is held in Lugano, Switzerland.
    • 1958 – United Press International is formed through a merger of the United Press and the International News Service.
    • 1960 – Following the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, the largest ever recorded earthquake, Cordón Caulle begins to erupt.
    • 1961 – American civil rights movement: Freedom Riders are arrested in Jackson, Mississippi, for “disturbing the peace” after disembarking from their bus.
    • 1962 – Project Mercury: American astronaut Scott Carpenter orbits the Earth three times in the Aurora 7 space capsule.
    • 1967 – Egypt imposes a blockade and siege of the Red Sea coast of Israel.
    • 1976 – The Judgment of Paris takes place in France, launching California as a worldwide force in the production of quality wine.
    • 1981 – Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, his wife, and his presidential committee die in an aircraft accident while travelling from Quito to Zapotillo minutes after the president gave a famous speech regarding the 24 de mayo anniversary of the Battle of Pichincha.
    • 1982 – Liberation of Khorramshahr: Iranians recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis during the Iran–Iraq War.
    • 1988 – Section 28 of the United Kingdom’s Local Government Act 1988, a controversial amendment stating that a local authority cannot intentionally promote homosexuality, is enacted.
    • 1991 – Israel conducts Operation Solomon, evacuating Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
    • 1992 – The last Thai dictator, General Suchinda Kraprayoon, resigns following pro-democracy protests.
    • 1992 – The ethnic cleansing in Kozarac, Bosnia and Herzegovina begins when Serbian militia and police forces enter the town.
    • 1993 – Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
    • 1993 – Roman Catholic Cardinal Juan Jesús Posadas Ocampo and five other people are assassinated in a shootout at Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla Guadalajara International Airport in Mexico.
    • 1994 – Four men convicted of bombing the World Trade Center in New York in 1993 are each sentenced to 240 years in prison.
    • 1995 – While attempting to return to Leeds Bradford Airport in the United Kingdom, Knight Air Flight 816 crashes in Harewood, North Yorkshire, killing all 12 people on board.
    • 1999 – The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
    • 2000 – Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
    • 2002 – Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
    • 2014 – A 6.4 magnitude earthquake occurs in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, injuring 324 people.
    • 2014 – At least three people are killed in a shooting at Brussels’ Jewish Museum of Belgium.
    • 2019 – Twenty-two students die in a fire in Surat (India).
    • 2019 – Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.

    Births on May 24

    • 15 BC – Germanicus, Roman general (d. 19)
    • 1335 – Margaret of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary (d. 1349)
    • 1494 – Pontormo, Italian painter (d. 1557)
    • 1522 – John Jewel, English bishop (d. 1571)
    • 1544 – William Gilbert, English physician, physicist, and astronomer (d. 1603)
    • 1576 – Elizabeth Carey, Lady Berkeley, English courtier (d. 1635)
    • 1616 – John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Scottish politician, Secretary of State, Scotland (d. 1682)
    • 1628 – Marek Sobieski, Polish noble (d. 1652)
    • 1669 – Emerentia von Düben, Swedish royal favorite (d. 1743)
    • 1671 – Gian Gastone de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1737)
    • 1686 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, Polish-German physicist and engineer, developed the Fahrenheit scale (d. 1736)
    • 1689 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1769)
    • 1743 – Jean-Paul Marat, Swiss-French physician, journalist, and politician (d. 1793)
    • 1789 – Cathinka Buchwieser, German operatic singer and actress (d.1828)
    • 1794 – William Whewell, English priest and philosopher (d. 1866)
    • 1803 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (d. 1866)
    • 1810 – Abraham Geiger, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1874)
    • 1816 – Emanuel Leutze, German-American painter (d. 1868)
    • 1819 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (d. 1901)
    • 1830 – Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter and academic (d. 1897)
    • 1855 – Arthur Wing Pinero, English actor, director, and playwright (d. 1934)
    • 1861 – Gerald Strickland, 1st Baron Strickland, Maltese lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1940)
    • 1863 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (d. 1938)
    • 1868 – Charlie Taylor, American engineer and mechanic (d. 1956)
    • 1870 – Benjamin N. Cardozo, American lawyer and judge (d. 1938)
    • 1870 – Jan Smuts, South African lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1950)
    • 1874 – Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (d. 1878)
    • 1875 – Robert Garrett, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1961)
    • 1878 – Lillian Moller Gilbreth, American psychologist and engineer (d. 1972)
    • 1879 – H. B. Reese, American candy maker, created Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (d. 1956)
    • 1886 – Paul Paray, French organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1979)
    • 1887 – Mick Mannock, Irish soldier and pilot, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
    • 1891 – William F. Albright, American archaeologist, philologist, and scholar (d. 1971)
    • 1895 – Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr., American publisher, founded Advance Publications (d. 1979)
    • 1899 – Suzanne Lenglen, French tennis player (d. 1938)
    • 1899 – Henri Michaux, Belgian-French poet and painter (d. 1984)
    • 1900 – Eduardo De Filippo, Italian actor and screenwriter (d. 1984)
    • 1901 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer and manager (d. 1968)
    • 1902 – Lionel Conacher, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1954)
    • 1902 – Sylvia Daoust, Canadian sculptor (d. 2004)
    • 1905 – George Nakashima, American woodworker and architect(d. 1990)
    • 1905 – Mikhail Sholokhov, Russian novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
    • 1909 – Wilbur Mills, American banker and politician (d. 1992)
    • 1910 – Jimmy Demaret, American golfer (d. 1983)
    • 1913 – Joe Abreu, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1993)
    • 1914 – Lilli Palmer, German-American actress (d. 1986)
    • 1916 – Roden Cutler, Australian lieutenant and politician, 32nd Governor of New South Wales (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway, English lawyer and judge (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Coleman Young, American politician, 66th Mayor of Detroit (d. 1997)
    • 1923 – Siobhán McKenna, Irish actress (d. 1986)
    • 1924 – Philip Pearlstein, American soldier and painter
    • 1925 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator and educator (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and director (d. 1994)
    • 1926 – Stanley Baxter, Scottish actor and screenwriter
    • 1928 – William Trevor, Irish novelist, playwright and short story writer (d. 2016)
    • 1932 – Arnold Wesker, English playwright and producer (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Jane Byrne, American lawyer and politician, 50th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2014)
    • 1933 – Réal Giguère, Canadian television host and actor
    • 1933 – Aharon Lichtenstein, French-Israeli rabbi and author (d. 2015)
    • 1935 – Joan Micklin Silver, American director and screenwriter
    • 1936 – Harold Budd, American composer and poet
    • 1937 – Maryvonne Dupureur, French runner and educator (d. 2008)
    • 1937 – Archie Shepp, American saxophonist and composer
    • 1938 – Prince Buster, Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
    • 1938 – Tommy Chong, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1940 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-American poet and essayist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
    • 1941 – Bob Dylan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, artist, writer, and producer; Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1941 – Patricia Hollis, Baroness Hollis of Heigham, English academic and politician
    • 1942 – Ali Bacher, South African cricketer and manager
    • 1942 – Hannu Mikkola, Finnish race car driver
    • 1942 – Ichirō Ozawa, Japanese lawyer and politician, Japanese Minister of Home Affairs
    • 1943 – Gary Burghoff, American actor
    • 1944 – Patti LaBelle, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1944 – Dominique Lavanant, French actress
    • 1945 – Terry Callier, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2012)
    • 1945 – Steven Norris, English engineer and politician
    • 1945 – Richard Ottaway, English lieutenant and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
    • 1945 – Priscilla Presley, American actress and businesswoman
    • 1946 – Tansu Çiller, Turkish economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1946 – Jesualdo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer and manager
    • 1946 – Irena Szewińska, Russian-Polish sprinter
    • 1947 – Albert Bouchard, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and drummer
    • 1947 – Mike De Leon, Filipino director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer
    • 1947 – Mike Reid, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and American football player
    • 1947 – Waddy Wachtel, American guitarist, singer-songwriter, and record producer
    • 1947 – Martin Winterkorn, German businessman
    • 1948 – Richard Dembo, French director and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1949 – Jim Broadbent, English actor
    • 1949 – Roger Deakins , English cinematographer
    • 1953 – Alfred Molina, English actor
    • 1955 – Rosanne Cash, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1955 – Philippe Lafontaine, Belgian singer and songwriter
    • 1955 – Rajesh Roshan, Indian composer
    • 1956 – R. B. Bernstein, American constitutional historian
    • 1956 – Larry Blackmon, American singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1956 – Dominic Grieve, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales
    • 1956 – Michael Jackson, Irish archbishop
    • 1958 – Chip Ganassi, American race car driver, team owner and businessman
    • 1959 – Pelle Lindbergh, Swedish-American ice hockey player (d. 1985)
    • 1959 – Barry O’Farrell, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of New South Wales
    • 1960 – Guy Fletcher, English keyboard player, guitarist, and producer
    • 1960 – Bill Harrigan, Australian rugby league referee and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Kristin Scott Thomas, English actress
    • 1961 – Lorella Cedroni, Italian philosopher and theorist (d. 2013)
    • 1961 – Alain Lemieux, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1962 – Héctor Camacho, Puerto Rican-American boxer (d. 2012)
    • 1962 – Gene Anthony Ray, American actor, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2003)
    • 1963 – Ivan Capelli, Italian race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1963 – Michael Chabon, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Joe Dumars, American basketball player
    • 1963 – Rich Rodriguez, American football player and coach
    • 1963 – Valerie Taylor, American computer scientist and educator
    • 1964 – Liz McColgan, Scottish educator and runner
    • 1964 – Adrian Moorhouse, English swimmer
    • 1964 – Isidro Pérez, Mexican boxer (d. 2013)
    • 1964 – Pat Verbeek, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1965 – John C. Reilly, American actor
    • 1965 – Shinichirō Watanabe, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Éric Cantona, French footballer, manager, and actor
    • 1966 – Ricky Craven, American race car driver and sportscaster
    • 1967 – Tamer Karadağlı, Turkish actor
    • 1967 – Andrey Borodin, Russian-English economist and businessman
    • 1967 – Eric Close, American actor
    • 1967 – Heavy D, Jamaican-American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2011)
    • 1967 – Carlos Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player and manager
    • 1969 – Martin McCague, Northern Irish-English cricketer
    • 1969 – Jacob Rees-Mogg, English politician
    • 1969 – Rich Robinson, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1971 – Kris Draper, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
    • 1972 – Greg Berlanti, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Rodrigo, Argentinian singer-songwriter (d. 2000)
    • 1973 – Bartolo Colón, Dominican-American baseball player
    • 1973 – Shirish Kunder, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1973 – Vladimír Šmicer, Czech footballer and manager
    • 1974 – Sébastien Foucan, French runner and actor
    • 1974 – Masahide Kobayashi, Japanese baseball player and coach
    • 1974 – Magnus Manske, German biochemist and computer programmer, developed MediaWiki
    • 1975 – Will Sasso, Canadian actor and comedian
    • 1975 – Marc Gagnon, Canadian speed skater
    • 1975 – Giannis Goumas, Greek footballer and coach
    • 1975 – Maria Lawson, English singer-songwriter
    • 1976 – Alessandro Cortini, Italian-American singer and keyboard player
    • 1976 – Catherine Cox, New Zealand-Australian netball player
    • 1976 – Silje Vige, Norwegian singer
    • 1977 – Jeet Gannguli, Indian score composer, music director and singer
    • 1978 – Elijah Burke, American wrestler
    • 1978 – Johan Holmqvist, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Brad Penny, American baseball player
    • 1978 – Rose, French singer, songwriter and composer
    • 1979 – Tracy McGrady, American basketball player
    • 1979 – Kareem McKenzie, American football player
    • 1980 – Jason Babin, American football player
    • 1980 – Anthony Minichiello, Australian rugby league player
    • 1981 – Andy Lee, Australian comedian, actor, and screenwriter
    • 1982 – Issah Gabriel Ahmed, Ghanaian footballer
    • 1982 – Rian Wallace, American football player
    • 1983 – Custódio Castro, Portuguese footballer
    • 1983 – Pedram Javaheri, Iranian-American meteorologist and journalist
    • 1983 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (d. 2009)
    • 1984 – Sarah Hagan, American actress
    • 1984 – Dmitri Kruglov, Estonian footballer
    • 1985 – Tim Bridgman, English race car driver
    • 1986 – Mark Ballas, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, dancer, and actor
    • 1986 – Giannis Kontoes, Greek footballer
    • 1987 – Guillaume Latendresse, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Artem Anisimov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Monica Lin Brown, American sergeant
    • 1988 – Billy Gilman, American musician
    • 1988 – Lucian Wintrich, American political artist and White House correspondent
    • 1989 – G-Eazy, American rapper
    • 1989 – Andrew Jordan, English race car driver
    • 1990 – Mattias Ekholm, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1991 – Aled Davies, Welsh discus thrower
    • 1991 – Cody Eakin, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1992 – Marcus Bettinelli, English footballer, goalkeeper
    • 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
    • 1994 – Emily Nicholl, Scottish netball player
    • 1994 – Daiya Seto, Japanese swimmer
    • 1994 – Emily Temple Wood, American 2016 Wikipedian of the Year award
    • 1999 – Tarjei Sandvik Moe, Norwegian actor

    Deaths on May 24

    • 688 – Ségéne, bishop of Armagh (b. c. 610)
    • 1089 – Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury
    • 1136 – Hugues de Payens, first Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1070)
    • 1153 – David I of Scotland (b. 1083)
    • 1201 – Theobald III, Count of Champagne (b. 1179)
    • 1351 – Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman, Moroccan sultan (b. 1297)
    • 1408 – Taejo of Joseon (b. 1335)
    • 1425 – Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany, Scottish politician (b. 1362)
    • 1456 – Ambroise de Loré, French commander (b. 1396)
    • 1543 – Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish mathematician and astronomer (b. 1473)
    • 1612 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1563)
    • 1627 – Luis de Góngora, Spanish poet and cleric (b. 1561)
    • 1632 – Robert Hues, English mathematician and geographer (b. 1553)
    • 1665 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Spanish Franciscan abbess and mystic (b. 1602)
    • 1734 – Georg Ernst Stahl, German physician and chemist (b. 1660)
    • 1792 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician, 16th Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1718)
    • 1806 – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, Scottish field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Argyllshire (b. 1723)
    • 1843 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
    • 1848 – Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, German author and composer (b. 1797)
    • 1861 – Elmer E. Ellsworth, American colonel (b. 1837)
    • 1872 – Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, German painter and illustrator (b. 1794)
    • 1879 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist (b. 1805)
    • 1881 – Samuel Palmer, English painter and illustrator (b. 1805)
    • 1901 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (b. 1824)
    • 1908 – Old Tom Morris, Scottish golfer and architect (b. 1821)
    • 1915 – John Condon, Irish-English soldier (b. 1896)
    • 1919 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet, journalist, and educator (b. 1870)
    • 1929 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (b. 1863)
    • 1941 – Lancelot Holland, English admiral (b. 1887)
    • 1945 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German field marshal and pilot (b. 1892)
    • 1948 – Jacques Feyder, Belgian actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
    • 1949 – Alexey Shchusev, Russian architect, designed Lenin’s Mausoleum and Moscow Kazanskaya railway station (b. 1873)
    • 1950 – Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, English field marshal and politician, 43rd Governor-General of India (b. 1883)
    • 1951 – Thomas N. Heffron, American actor, director, screenwriter (b. 1872)
    • 1956 – Martha Annie Whiteley, English chemist and mathematician (b. 1866)
    • 1958 – Frank Rowe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
    • 1959 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (b. 1888)
    • 1963 – Elmore James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1918)
    • 1965 – Sonny Boy Williamson II, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1908)
    • 1974 – Duke Ellington, American pianist and composer (b. 1899)
    • 1976 – Denise Pelletier, Canadian actress (b. 1923)
    • 1979 – Ernest Bullock, English organist, composer, and educator (b. 1890)
    • 1981 – Herbert Müller, Swiss race car driver (b. 1940)
    • 1984 – Vince McMahon Sr., American wrestling promoter and businessman, founded WWE (b. 1914)
    • 1988 – Freddie Frith, English motorcycle road racer (b. 1909)
    • 1990 – Arthur Villeneuve, Canadian painter (b. 1910)
    • 1991 – Gene Clark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
    • 1992 – Hitoshi Ogawa, Japanese race car driver (b. 1956)
    • 1995 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1916)
    • 1996 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (b. 1934)
    • 1996 – Joseph Mitchell, American journalist and author (b. 1908)
    • 1997 – Edward Mulhare, Irish actor (b. 1923)
    • 2000 – Kurt Schork, American journalist and scholar (b. 1947)
    • 2000 – Majrooh Sultanpuri, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Wallace Markfield, American author (b. 1926)
    • 2003 – Rachel Kempson, English actress (b. 1910)
    • 2004 – Henry Ries, German-American photographer (b. 1917)
    • 2004 – Milton Shulman, Canadian author and critic (b. 1913)
    • 2004 – Edward Wagenknecht, American critic and educator (b. 1900)
    • 2005 – Carl Amery, German activist and author (b. 1922)
    • 2005 – Arthur Haulot, Belgian journalist and poet (b. 1913)
    • 2005 – Guy Tardif, Canadian academic and politician (b. 1935)
    • 2006 – Henry Bumstead, American art director and production designer (b. 1915)
    • 2006 – Claude Piéplu, French actor (b. 1923)
    • 2006 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (b. 1930)
    • 2008 – Dick Martin, American actor, comedian, and director (b. 1922)
    • 2008 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (b. 1936)
    • 2009 – Jay Bennett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1963)
    • 2010 – Ray Alan, English ventriloquist, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1930)
    • 2010 – Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (b. 1972)
    • 2010 – Raymond V. Haysbert, American businessman and activist (b. 1920)
    • 2010 – Petr Muk, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1965)
    • 2010 – Anneliese Rothenberger, German soprano and actress (b. 1926)
    • 2011 – Huguette Clark, American heiress, painter, and philanthropist (b. 1906)
    • 2011 – Hakim Ali Zardari, Indian-Pakistani businessman and politician (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Klaas Carel Faber, Dutch-German SS officer (b. 1922)
    • 2012 – Kathi Kamen Goldmark, American journalist and author (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Jacqueline Harpman, Belgian psychoanalyst and author (b. 1929)
    • 2012 – Juan Francisco Lombardo, Argentinian footballer (b. 1925)
    • 2012 – Lee Rich, American production manager and producer (b. 1918)
    • 2013 – Helmut Braunlich, German-American violinist and composer (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Ron Davies, Welsh footballer (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Gotthard Graubner, German painter (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Haynes Johnson, American journalist and author (b. 1931)
    • 2013 – Pyotr Todorovsky, Ukrainian-Russian director and screenwriter (b. 1925)
    • 2014 – David Allen, English cricketer (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Stormé DeLarverie, known as the “Rosa Parks of the lesbian community” (b. 1920)
    • 2014 – Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, Iranian businessman (b. 1969)
    • 2014 – Knowlton Nash, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – John Vasconcellos, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician (b. 1932)
    • 2015 – Dean Carroll, English rugby player (b. 1962)
    • 2015 – Kenneth Jacobs, Australian lawyer and judge (b. 1917)
    • 2015 – Tanith Lee, English author (b. 1947)
    • 2018 – Gudrun Burwitz, daughter of Margarete Himmler and Heinrich Himmler (b. 1929)
    • 2018 – John Bain (TotalBiscuit), English gaming commentator and critic (b. 1984)

    Holidays and observances on May 24

    • Aldersgate Day/Wesley Day (Methodism)
    • Battle of Pichincha Day (Ecuador)
    • Bermuda Day (Bermuda), celebrated on the nearest weekday if May 24 falls on the weekend.
    • Christian feast day:
      • Anna Pak Agi (one of The Korean Martyrs)
      • Donatian and Rogatian
      • Jackson Kemper (Episcopal Church)
      • Joanna
      • Mary, Help of Christians
      • Sarah (celebrated by the Romani people of Camargue)
      • Vincent of Lérins
      • May 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Commonwealth Day (Belize)
    • Earliest day on which El Colacho tradition can fall, while June 27 is the latest; celebrated on Sunday after Corpus Christi. (Castrillo de Murcia, near Burgos)
    • Independence Day (Eritrea), celebrates the independence of Eritrea from Ethiopia in 1993.
    • Lubiri Memorial Day (Buganda)
    • Saints Cyril and Methodius Day (Eastern Orthodox Church, Julian Calendar) and its related observance:
      • Bulgarian Education and Culture and Slavonic Literature Day (Bulgaria)
      • Saints Cyril and Methodius, Slavonic Enlighteners’ Day (North Macedonia)
    • Victoria Day; celebrated on Monday on or before May 24. (Canada), and its related observance:
      • National Patriots’ Day or Journée nationale des patriotes (Quebec)

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

    • 28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
    • 1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
    • 1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
    • 1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
    • 1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
    • 1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
    • 1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
    • 1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
    • 1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
    • 1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
    • 1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
    • 1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
    • 1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
    • 1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
    • 1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
    • 1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
    • 1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
    • 1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
    • 1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
    • 1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
    • 1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
    • 1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
    • 1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
    • 1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
    • 1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
    • 1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
    • 1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
    • 1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
    • 1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
    • 1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
    • 1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
    • 1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
    • 1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
    • 1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
    • 1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
    • 1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
    • 1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
    • 1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
    • 1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
    • 2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
    • 2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
    • 2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
    • 2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

    Births on May 10

    • 874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
    • 955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
    • 1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
    • 1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
    • 1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
    • 1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
    • 1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
    • 1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
    • 1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
    • 1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
    • 1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
    • 1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
    • 1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
    • 1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
    • 1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
    • 1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
    • 1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
    • 1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
    • 1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
    • 1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
    • 1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
    • 1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
    • 1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
    • 1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
    • 1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
    • 1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
    • 1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
    • 1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
    • 1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
    • 1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
    • 1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
    • 1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
    • 1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
    • 1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
    • 1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
    • 1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
    • 1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
    • 1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
    • 1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
    • 1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
    • 1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
    • 1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
    • 1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
    • 1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
    • 1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
    • 1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
    • 1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
    • 1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
    • 1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
    • 1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
    • 1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
    • 1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
    • 1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
    • 1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
    • 1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
    • 1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
    • 1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
    • 1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
    • 1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
    • 1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
    • 1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
    • 1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
    • 1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
    • 1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
    • 1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
    • 1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
    • 1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
    • 1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
    • 1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
    • 1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
    • 1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
    • 1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
    • 1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
    • 1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
    • 1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
    • 1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
    • 1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
    • 1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
    • 1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
    • 1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
    • 1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
    • 1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
    • 1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
    • 1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
    • 1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
    • 1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
    • 1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
    • 1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
    • 1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
    • 1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
    • 1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
    • 1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
    • 1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
    • 1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
    • 1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
    • 1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
    • 1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
    • 1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
    • 1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
    • 1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
    • 1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
    • 1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
    • 1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
    • 1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
    • 1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
    • 1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player

    Deaths on May 10

    • 1299 – Theingapati, heir to the Pagan Kingdom
    • 1403 – Katherine Swynford, widow of John of Gaunt
    • 1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
    • 1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1433)
    • 1521 – Sebastian Brant, German author (b. 1457)
    • 1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
    • 1569 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (b. 1500)
    • 1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
    • 1717 – John Hathorne, American merchant and politician (b. 1641)
    • 1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1670)
    • 1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
    • 1787 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (b. 1715)
    • 1794 – Élisabeth of France, French princess and youngest sibling of Louis XVI (b.1764)
    • 1798 – George Vancouver, English navigator and explorer (b. 1757)
    • 1807 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (b. 1725)
    • 1818 – Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (b. 1735)
    • 1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
    • 1849 – Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (b. 1760)
    • 1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
    • 1868 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (b. 1808)
    • 1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1826)
    • 1891 – Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (b. 1817)
    • 1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (b. 1863)
    • 1910 – Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1826)
    • 1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
    • 1945 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1898)
    • 1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1899)
    • 1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (b. 1881)
    • 1965 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1894)
    • 1968 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (b. 1929)
    • 1974 – Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (b. 1894)
    • 1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
    • 1982 – Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (b. 1916)
    • 1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1990 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (b. 1916)
    • 1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (b. 1942)
    • 1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator
    • 2000 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
    • 2000 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
    • 2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
    • 2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
    • 2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (b. 1937)
    • 2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
    • 2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
    • 2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)
    • 2012 – Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
    • 2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
    • 2012 – Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)
    • 2018 – David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (b. 1914)
    • 2019 – Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (b. 1951)

    Holidays and observances on May 10

    • Children’s Day (Maldives)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus
      • Calepodius
      • Catald
      • Comgall
      • Damien of Molokai
      • Gordianus and Epimachus
      • Job (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)
      • John of Ávila
      • May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
    • Constitution Day (Micronesia)
    • Earliest possible day on which Pentecost can fall, while June 13 is the latest; celebrated 50 days after Easter Day.(Christianity)
    • Golden Spike Day (Promontory, Utah)
    • Mother’s Day (Guatemala, and Mexico)
  • |

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

    • 33 BC – Lucius Marcius Philippus, step-brother to the future emperor Augustus, celebrates a triumph for his victories while serving as governor in one of the provinces of Hispania.
    • 395 – Emperor Arcadius marries Aelia Eudoxia, daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto. She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of Late Antiquity.
    • 629 – Shahrbaraz is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
    • 711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
    • 1296 – First War of Scottish Independence: John Balliol’s Scottish army is defeated by an English army commanded by John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey at the Battle of Dunbar.
    • 1509 – Pope Julius II places the Italian state of Venice under interdict.
    • 1521 – Battle of Mactan: Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu.
    • 1522 – Combined forces of Spain and the Papal States defeat a French and Venetian army at the Battle of Bicocca.
    • 1539 – Re-founding of the city of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), by Nikolaus Federmann and Sebastián de Belalcázar.
    • 1565 – Cebu is established becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.
    • 1578 – Duel of the Mignons claims the lives of two favourites of Henry III of France and two favorites of Henry I, Duke of Guise.
    • 1595 – The relics of Saint Sava are incinerated in Belgrade on the Vračar plateau by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha; the site of the incineration is now the location of the Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world.
    • 1650 – The Battle of Carbisdale: A Royalist army from Orkney invades mainland Scotland but is defeated by a Covenanter army.
    • 1667 – Blind and impoverished, John Milton sells Paradise Lost to a printer for £10, so that it could be entered into the Stationers’ Register.
    • 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Ridgefield: A British invasion force engages and defeats Continental Army regulars and militia irregulars at Ridgefield, Connecticut.
    • 1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines and Berbers attack the Tripolitan city of Derna (The “shores of Tripoli” part of the Marines’ Hymn).
    • 1813 – War of 1812: American troops capture York, the capital of Upper Canada, in the Battle of York.
    • 1861 – American President Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
    • 1865 – The New York State Senate creates Cornell University as the state’s land grant institution.
    • 1906 – The State Duma of the Russian Empire meets for the first time.
    • 1909 – Sultan of Ottoman Empire Abdul Hamid II is overthrown, and is succeeded by his brother, Mehmed V.
    • 1911 – Following the resignation and death of William P. Frye, a compromise is reached to rotate the office of President pro tempore of the United States Senate.
    • 1927 – Carabineros de Chile (Chilean national police force and gendarmerie) are created.
    • 1936 – The United Auto Workers (UAW) gains autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.
    • 1941 – World War II: German troops enter Athens.
    • 1941 – World War II: The Communist Party of Slovenia, the Slovene Christian Socialists, the left-wing Slovene Sokols (also known as “National Democrats”) and a group of progressive intellectuals establish the Liberation Front of the Slovene Nation.
    • 1945 – World War II: The last German formations withdraw from Finland to Norway. The Lapland War and thus, World War II in Finland, comes to an end and the Raising the Flag on the Three-Country Cairn photograph is taken.
    • 1945 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is arrested by Italian partisans in Dongo, while attempting escape disguised as a German soldier.
    • 1953 – Operation Moolah offers $50,000 to any pilot who defected with a fully mission-capable Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 to South Korea. The first pilot was to receive $100,000.
    • 1960 – Togo gains independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.
    • 1961 – Sierra Leone is granted its independence from the United Kingdom, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.
    • 1967 – Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a large opening ceremony broadcast around the world. It opens to the public the next day.
    • 1974 – Ten thousand march in Washington, D.C., calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Richard Nixon.
    • 1978 – Former United States President Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
    • 1978 – The Saur Revolution begins in Afghanistan, ending the following morning with the murder of Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
    • 1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.
    • 1986 – The city of Pripyat and surrounding areas are evacuated due to Chernobyl disaster.
    • 1987 – The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
    • 1989 – The April 27 demonstrations, student-led protests responding to the April 26 Editorial, during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
    • 1992 – The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, comprising Serbia and Montenegro, is proclaimed.
    • 1992 – Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
    • 1992 – The Russian Federation and 12 other former Soviet republics become members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
    • 1993 – Most of the Zambia national football team lose their lives in a plane crash off Libreville, Gabon en route to Dakar, Senegal to play a 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Senegal.
    • 1994 – South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.
    • 2005 – Airbus A380 aircraft had its maiden test flight.
    • 2006 – Construction begins on the Freedom Tower (later renamed One World Trade Center) in New York City.
    • 2007 – Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
    • 2007 – Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great south of Jerusalem.
    • 2011 – The 2011 Super Outbreak devastates parts of the Southeastern United States, especially the states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Tennessee. 205 tornadoes touched down on April 27 alone, killing more than 300 and injuring hundreds more.
    • 2012 – At least four explosions hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk with at least 27 people injured.
    • 2018 – The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.

    Births on April 27

    • 85 BC – Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, Roman politician and general (d. 43 BC)
    • 1468 – Frederick Jagiellon, Primate of Poland (d. 1503)
    • 1564 – Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (d. 1632)
    • 1556 – François Béroalde de Verville, French writer (d. 1626)
    • 1593 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal empress buried at the Taj Mahal (d. 1631)
    • 1650 – Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen Consort of Denmark (1670-1699) (d. 1714)
    • 1654 – Charles Blount, English deist and philosopher (d. 1693)
    • 1701 – Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (d. 1773)
    • 1718 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American surveyor and lawyer (d. 1790)
    • 1748 – Adamantios Korais, Greek-French philosopher and scholar (d. 1833)
    • 1755 – Marc-Antoine Parseval, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1836)
    • 1759 – Mary Wollstonecraft, English philosopher, historian, and novelist (d. 1797)
    • 1788 – Charles Robert Cockerell, English architect, archaeologist, and writer (d. 1863)
    • 1791 – Samuel Morse, American painter and inventor, co-invented the Morse code (d. 1872)
    • 1812 – William W. Snow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1886)
    • 1812 – Friedrich von Flotow, German composer (d. 1883)
    • 1820 – Herbert Spencer, English biologist, anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher (d. 1903)
    • 1822 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885)
    • 1840 – Edward Whymper, English-French mountaineer, explorer, author, and illustrator (d. 1911)
    • 1848 – Otto of Bavaria (d. 1916)
    • 1850 – Hans Hartwig von Beseler, German general and politician (d. 1921)
    • 1853 – Jules Lemaître, French playwright and critic (d. 1914)
    • 1857 – Theodor Kittelsen, Norwegian painter and illustrator (d. 1914)
    • 1861 – William Arms Fisher, American composer and music historian (d. 1948)
    • 1866 – Maurice Raoul-Duval, French polo player (d. 1916)
    • 1875 – Frederick Fane, Irish-born, English cricketer (d. 1960)
    • 1880 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958)
    • 1882 – Jessie Redmon Fauset, American author and poet (d. 1961)
    • 1887 – Warren Wood, American golfer (d. 1926)
    • 1888 – Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
    • 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1953)
    • 1893 – Draža Mihailović, Serbian general (d. 1946)
    • 1893 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1939)
    • 1894 – George Petty, American painter and illustrator (d. 1975)
    • 1894 – Nicolas Slonimsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
    • 1896 – Rogers Hornsby, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1963)
    • 1896 – William Hudson, New Zealand-Australian engineer (d. 1978)
    • 1896 – Wallace Carothers, American chemist and inventor of nylon (d. 1937)
    • 1898 – Ludwig Bemelmans, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1962)
    • 1899 – Walter Lantz, American animator, producer, screenwriter, and actor (d. 1994)
    • 1900 – August Koern, Estonian politician and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs in exile (d. 1989)
    • 1902 – Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté, Malian educator and activist (d. 1942)
    • 1904 – Cecil Day-Lewis, Anglo-Irish poet and author (d. 1972)
    • 1904 – Nikos Zachariadis, Greek politician (d. 1973)
    • 1905 – John Kuck, American javelin thrower and shot putter (d. 1986)
    • 1906 – Yiorgos Theotokas, Greek author and playwright (d. 1966)
    • 1910 – Chiang Ching-kuo, Chinese politician, 3rd President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)
    • 1911 – Bruno Beger, German anthropologist and ethnologist (d. 2009)
    • 1911 – Chris Berger, Dutch sprinter and footballer (d. 1965)
    • 1912 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (d. 2001)
    • 1912 – Zohra Sehgal, Indian actress, dancer, and choreographer (d. 2014)
    • 1913 – Philip Abelson, American physicist and author (d. 2004)
    • 1913 – Irving Adler, American mathematician, author, and academic (d. 2012)
    • 1913 – Luz Long, German long jumper and soldier (d. 1943)
    • 1916 – Robert Hugh McWilliams, Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and judge (d. 2013)
    • 1916 – Enos Slaughter, American baseball player and manager (d. 2002)
    • 1917 – Roman Matsov, Estonian violinist, pianist, and conductor (d. 2001)
    • 1918 – Sten Rudholm, Swedish lawyer and jurist (d. 2008)
    • 1920 – Guido Cantelli, Italian conductor (d. 1956)
    • 1920 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Ukrainian mathematician and academic (d. 1997)
    • 1920 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2010)
    • 1920 – Edwin Morgan, Scottish poet and translator (d. 2010)
    • 1921 – Robert Dhéry, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
    • 1922 – Jack Klugman, American actor (d. 2012)
    • 1922 – Sheila Scott, English nurse and pilot (d. 1988)
    • 1923 – Betty Mae Tiger Jumper, Seminole chief (d. 2011)
    • 1924 – Vernon B. Romney, American lawyer and politician, 14th Attorney General of Utah (d. 2013)
    • 1925 – Derek Chinnery, English broadcaster (d. 2015)
    • 1926 – Tim LaHaye, American minister, activist, and author (d. 2016)
    • 1926 – Basil A. Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 59th Secretary of State of New York (d. 2014)
    • 1926 – Alan Reynolds, English painter and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Coretta Scott King, African-American activist and author (d. 2006)
    • 1927 – Joe Moakley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (d. 2001)
    • 1929 – Nina Ponomaryova, Russian discus thrower and coach (d. 2016)
    • 1931 – Igor Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist and educator
    • 1932 – Anouk Aimée, French actress
    • 1932 – Pik Botha, South African lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 8th South African Ambassador to the United States (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Casey Kasem, American disc jockey, music historian, radio celebrity, and voice actor; co-created American Top 40 (d. 2014)
    • 1932 – Chuck Knox, American football coach (d. 2018)
    • 1932 – Derek Minter, English motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
    • 1932 – Gian-Carlo Rota, Italian-American mathematician and philosopher (d. 1999)
    • 1933 – Peter Imbert, Baron Imbert, English police officer and politician, Lord Lieutenant for Greater London (d. 2017)
    • 1935 – Theodoros Angelopoulos, Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
    • 1935 – Ron Morris, American pole vaulter and coach
    • 1936 – Geoffrey Shovelton, English singer and illustrator (d. 2016)
    • 1937 – Sandy Dennis, American actress (d. 1992)
    • 1937 – Robin Eames, Irish Anglican archbishop
    • 1937 – Richard Perham, English biologist and academic (d. 2015)
    • 1938 – Earl Anthony, American bowler and sportscaster (d. 2001)
    • 1938 – Alain Caron, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1986)
    • 1939 – Judy Carne, English actress and comedian (d. 2015)
    • 1939 – Stanisław Dziwisz, Polish cardinal
    • 1941 – Fethullah Gülen, Turkish preacher and theologian
    • 1941 – Dilip Kumar Chakrabarti, Indian archaeologist
    • 1941 – Lee Roy Jordan, American football player
    • 1942 – Ruth Glick, American author
    • 1942 – Jim Keltner, American drummer
    • 1943 – Helmut Marko, Austrian race car driver and manager
    • 1944 – Michael Fish, English meteorologist and journalist
    • 1944 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer (d. 2017)
    • 1944 – Herb Pedersen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1945 – Martin Chivers, English footballer and manager
    • 1945 – Jack Deverell, English general
    • 1945 – Helen Hodgman, Scottish-Australian author
    • 1945 – Terry Willesee, Australian journalist and television host
    • 1945 – August Wilson, American author and playwright (d. 2005)
    • 1946 – Franz Roth, German footballer
    • 1947 – G. K. Butterfield, African-American soldier, lawyer, and politician
    • 1947 – Nick Greiner, Hungarian-Australian politician, 37th Premier of New South Wales
    • 1947 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
    • 1947 – Keith Magnuson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2003)
    • 1947 – Ann Peebles, American soul singer-songwriter
    • 1948 – Frank Abagnale Jr., American security consultant and criminal
    • 1948 – Josef Hickersberger, Austrian footballer, coach, and manager
    • 1948 – Kate Pierson, American singer-songwriter and bass player
    • 1949 – Grant Chapman, Australian businessman and politician
    • 1950 – Jaime Fresnedi, Filipino politician
    • 1950 – Paul Lockyer, Australian journalist (d. 2011)
    • 1951 – Ace Frehley, American guitarist and songwriter
    • 1952 – Larry Elder, American lawyer and talk show host
    • 1952 – George Gervin, American basketball player
    • 1952 – Ari Vatanen, Finnish race car driver and politician
    • 1953 – Arielle Dombasle, French-American actress and model
    • 1954 – Frank Bainimarama, Fijian commander and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Fiji
    • 1954 – Herman Edwards, American football player, coach, and sportscaster
    • 1954 – Mark Holden, Australian singer, actor, and lawyer
    • 1955 – Gudrun Berend, German hurdler (d. 2011)
    • 1955 – Eric Schmidt, American engineer and businessman
    • 1956 – Bryan Harvey, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2006)
    • 1956 – Jeff Probyn, English rugby player, coach, and manager
    • 1957 – Willie Upshaw, American baseball player and manager
    • 1959 – Sheena Easton, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, actress, and producer
    • 1959 – Marco Pirroni, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1960 – Mike Krushelnyski, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – Andrew Schlafly, American lawyer and activist, founded Conservapedia
    • 1962 – Ángel Comizzo, Argentinian footballer and manager
    • 1962 – Seppo Räty, Finnish javelin thrower and coach
    • 1962 – Im Sang-soo, South Korean director and screenwriter
    • 1962 – Andrew Selous, English soldier and politician
    • 1963 – Russell T Davies, Welsh screenwriter and producer
    • 1965 – Anna Chancellor, English actress
    • 1966 – Peter McIntyre, Australian cricketer
    • 1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese illustrator
    • 1967 – Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands
    • 1967 – Tommy Smith, Scottish saxophonist, composer, and educator
    • 1967 – Erik Thomson, Scottish-New Zealand actor
    • 1967 – Jason Whitlock, American football player and journalist
    • 1968 – Dana Milbank, American journalist and author
    • 1969 – Cory Booker, African-American lawyer and politician
    • 1969 – Darcey Bussell, English ballerina
    • 1971 – Olari Elts, Estonian conductor
    • 1972 – Nigel Barker, English photographer and author
    • 1972 – Almedin Civa, Bosnian footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Duško Adamović, Serbian footballer
    • 1973 – Sharlee D’Angelo, Swedish bass player and songwriter
    • 1973 – Sébastien Lareau, Canadian tennis player
    • 1974 – Frank Catalanotto, American baseball player
    • 1974 – Richard Johnson, Australian footballer
    • 1975 – Rabih Abdullah, American football player
    • 1975 – Chris Carpenter, American baseball player and manager
    • 1975 – Pedro Feliz, Dominican baseball player
    • 1975 – Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japanese ski jumper
    • 1976 – Isobel Campbell, Scottish singer-songwriter and cellist
    • 1976 – Sally Hawkins, English actress
    • 1976 – Walter Pandiani, Uruguayan footballer
    • 1976 – Faisal Saif, Indian director, screenwriter, and critic
    • 1979 – Will Boyd, American bass player
    • 1979 – Natasha Chokljat, Australian netball player
    • 1979 – Vladimir Kozlov, Ukrainian wrestler
    • 1980 – Sybille Bammer, Austrian tennis player
    • 1980 – Talitha Cummins, Australian journalist
    • 1980 – Christian Lara, Ecuadorian footballer
    • 1981 – Joey Gathright, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Patrik Gerrbrand, Swedish footballer
    • 1982 – François Parisien, Canadian cyclist
    • 1982 – Alexander Widiker, German rugby player
    • 1983 – Ari Graynor, American actress and producer
    • 1983 – Martin Viiask, Estonian basketball player
    • 1984 – Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1984 – Daniel Holdsworth, Australian rugby league player
    • 1984 – Patrick Stump, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
    • 1985 – José António de Miranda da Silva Júnior, Brazilian footballer
    • 1985 – Meselech Melkamu, Ethiopian runner
    • 1986 – Jenna Coleman, English actress
    • 1986 – Hayley Mulheron, Scottish netball player
    • 1986 – Dinara Safina, Russian tennis player
    • 1987 – Taylor Chorney, American ice hockey player
    • 1987 – Elliott Shriane, Australian speed skater
    • 1987 – William Moseley, English actor
    • 1987 – Wang Feifei, Chinese singer and actress
    • 1988 – Joeri Dequevy, Belgian footballer
    • 1988 – Kris Thackray, English footballer
    • 1988 – Semyon Varlamov, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1988 – Lizzo, American singer and rapper
    • 1989 – Lars Bender, German footballer
    • 1989 – Sven Bender, German footballer
    • 1989 – Tim Glasby, Australian rugby league player
    • 1989 – Dmytro Kozban, Ukrainian footballer
    • 1990 – Trude Raad, Norwegian deaf track and field athlete
    • 1991 – Isaac Cuenca, Spanish footballer
    • 1991 – Eric Fukusaki, Peruvian singer
    • 1991 – Lara Gut, Swiss skier
    • 1992 – Keenan Allen, American football player
    • 1994 – Corey Seager, American baseball player
    • 1995 – Nick Kyrgios, Australian tennis player
    • 1997 – Josh Onomah, English footballer

    Deaths on April 27

    • 630 – Ardashir III of Persia (b. 621)
    • 1160 – Rudolf I, Count of Bregenz (b. 1081)
    • 1272 – Zita, Italian saint (b. 1212)
    • 1321 – Nicolò Albertini, Italian cardinal statesman (b. c. 1250)
    • 1353 – Simeon of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and Vladimir
    • 1403 – Maria of Bosnia, Countess of Helfenstein (b. 1335)
    • 1404 – Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1342)
    • 1463 – Isidore of Kiev (b. 1385)
    • 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese sailor and explorer (b. 1480)
    • 1599 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese general (b. 1538)
    • 1605 – Pope Leo XI (b. 1535)
    • 1607 – Edward Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell, Governor of Lecale (b. 1560)
    • 1613 – Robert Abercromby, Scottish priest and missionary (b. 1532)
    • 1656 – Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter and illustrator (b. 1596)
    • 1694 – John George IV, Elector of Saxony (b. 1668)
    • 1695 – John Trenchard, English politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (b. 1640)
    • 1702 – Jean Bart, French admiral (b. 1651)
    • 1782 – William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot, English politician, Lord Steward of the Household (b. 1710)
    • 1813 – Zebulon Pike, American general and explorer (b. 1779)
    • 1873 – William Macready, English actor and manager (b. 1793)
    • 1882 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (b. 1803)
    • 1893 – John Ballance, Irish-born New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1839)
    • 1896 – Henry Parkes, English-Australian businessman and politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1815)
    • 1915 – John Labatt, Canadian businessman (b. 1838)
    • 1915 – Alexander Scriabin, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1872)
    • 1932 – Hart Crane, American poet (b. 1899)
    • 1936 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1857)
    • 1937 – Antonio Gramsci, Italian sociologist, linguist, and politician (b. 1891)
    • 1938 – Edmund Husserl, Czech mathematician and philosopher (b. 1859)
    • 1952 – Guido Castelnuovo, Italian mathematician and statistician (b. 1865)
    • 1961 – Roy Del Ruth, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1893)
    • 1962 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani lawyer and politician, Pakistani Minister of the Interior (b. 1873)
    • 1965 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (b. 1908)
    • 1967 – William Douglas Cook, New Zealand farmer, founded the Eastwoodhill Arboretum (b. 1884)
    • 1969 – René Barrientos, Bolivian soldier, pilot, and politician, 55th President of Bolivia (b. 1919)
    • 1970 – Arthur Shields, Irish rebel and actor (b. 1896)
    • 1972 – Kwame Nkrumah, Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana (b. 1909)
    • 1973 – Carlos Menditeguy, Argentinian race car driver and polo player (b. 1914)
    • 1977 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 1988 – Fred Bear, American hunter and author (b. 1902)
    • 1989 – Konosuke Matsushita, Japanese businessman, founded Panasonic (b. 1894)
    • 1992 – Olivier Messiaen, French organist and composer (b. 1908)
    • 1992 – Gerard K. O’Neill, American physicist and astronomer (b. 1927)
    • 1995 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (b. 1911)
    • 1995 – Willem Frederik Hermans, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (b. 1921)
    • 1996 – William Colby, American diplomat, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1920)
    • 1996 – Gilles Grangier, French director and screenwriter (b. 1911)
    • 1998 – John Bassett, Canadian journalist and politician (b. 1915)
    • 1998 – Carlos Castaneda, Peruvian-American anthropologist and author (b. 1925)
    • 1998 – Anne Desclos, French journalist and author (b. 1907)
    • 1998 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (b. 1924)
    • 1999 – Al Hirt, American trumpet player and bandleader (b. 1922)
    • 1999 – Dale C. Thomson, Canadian historian, author, and academic (b. 1923)
    • 1999 – Cyril Washbrook, English cricketer (b. 1914)
    • 2002 – George Alec Effinger, American author (b. 1947)
    • 2002 – Ruth Handler, American inventor and businesswoman, created the Barbie doll (b. 1916)
    • 2005 – Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1909)
    • 2006 – Julia Thorne, American author (b. 1944)
    • 2007 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (b. 1927)
    • 2009 – Frankie Manning, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1914)
    • 2009 – Woo Seung-yeon, South Korean model and actress (b. 1983)
    • 2009 – Feroz Khan (actor), Indian Actor, Film Director & Producer (b. 1939)
    • 2011 – Marian Mercer, American actress and singer (b. 1935)
    • 2012 – Daniel E. Boatwright, American soldier and politician (b. 1930)
    • 2012 – Bill Skowron, American baseball player (b. 1930)
    • 2013 – Aída Bortnik, Argentinian screenwriter (b. 1938)
    • 2013 – Lorraine Copeland, Scottish archaeologist (b. 1921)
    • 2013 – Antonio Díaz Jurado, Spanish footballer (b. 1969)
    • 2013 – Jérôme Louis Heldring, Dutch journalist and author (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Aloysius Jin Luxian, Chinese bishop (b. 1916)
    • 2013 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician, Kenyan Minister of Justice (b. 1948)
    • 2014 – Yigal Arnon, Israeli lawyer (b. 1929)
    • 2014 – Vujadin Boškov, Serbian footballer, coach, and manager (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Daniel Colchico, American football player and coach (b. 1935)
    • 2014 – Harry Firth, Australian race car driver and manager (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Gene Fullmer, American boxer (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (b. 1926)
    • 2015 – Alexander Rich, American biologist, biophysicist, and academic (b. 1924)
    • 2017 – Vinod Khanna, Indian actor, producer and politician (b. 1946)
    • 2017 – Sadanoyama Shinmatsu, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1938)

    Holidays and observances on April 27

    • Christian feast days:
      • Anthimus of Nicomedia
      • Assicus
      • Floribert of Liège
      • John of Constantinople
      • Liberalis of Treviso
      • Pollio
      • Rafael Arnáiz Barón
      • Virgin of Montserrat
      • Zita
      • April 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Day of Russian Parliamentarism (Russia)
    • Day of the Uprising Against the Occupying Forces (Slovenia)
    • Flag Day (Moldova)
    • Freedom Day (South Africa)
      • UnFreedom Day (South Africa, unofficial)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Sierra Leone from United Kingdom in 1961.
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Togo from France in 1960.
    • King’s Day (Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten) (celebrated on April 26 if April 27 falls on a Sunday)
    • National Veterans’ Day (Finla

  • April 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    On the Roman calendar, this was known as the day before the nones of April (Latin: Prid. Non. Apr.).

    April 4 in History

    • 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
    • 1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes.
    • 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
    • 1460 – Basel University is founded.
    • 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
    • 1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia.
    • 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.
    • 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.
    • 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
    • 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.
    • 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.
    • 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).
    • 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.
    • 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances.
    • 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.
    • 1859 – Bryant’s Minstrels debut “Dixie” in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
    • 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
    • 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.
    • 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
    • 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague.
    • 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
    • 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.
    • 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
    • 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany.
    • 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather.
    • 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
    • 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
    • 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
    • 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
    • 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves.
    • 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
    • 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.
    • 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.
    • 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
    • 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.
    • 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech in New York City’s Riverside Church.
    • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
    • 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
    • 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.
    • 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
    • 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.
    • 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.
    • 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    • 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.
    • 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
    • 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.
    • 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
    • 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
    • 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
    • 1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress.
    • 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
    • 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation.
    • 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
    • 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
    • 2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.
    • 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
    • 2020 – China holds a National day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

    Births on April 4

    • 188 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
    • 1436 – Amalia of Saxony, Duchess of Bavaria-Landshut (d. 1501)
    • 1490 – Vojtěch I of Pernstein, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1534)
    • 1492 – Ambrosius Blarer, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (d. 1564)
    • 1572 – William Strachey, English author (d. 1621)
    • 1586 – Richard Saltonstall, English diplomat (d. 1661)
    • 1593 – Edward Nicholas, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1669)
    • 1640 – Gaspar Sanz, Spanish guitarist, composer, and priest (d. 1710)
    • 1646 – Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist (d. 1715)
    • 1648 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-English sculptor (d. 1721)
    • 1676 – Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (d. 1760)
    • 1688 – Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1768)
    • 1718 – Benjamin Kennicott, English theologian and scholar (d. 1783)
    • 1752 – Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (d. 1837)
    • 1760 – Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan organist and composer (d. 1797)
    • 1762 – Stephen Storace, English actor and composer (d. 1796)
    • 1772 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement (d. 1810)
    • 1780 – Edward Hicks, American minister and painter (d. 1849)
    • 1785 – Bettina von Arnim, German author, illustrator, and composer (d. 1859)
    • 1792 – Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
    • 1802 – Dorothea Dix, American nurse and activist (d. 1887)
    • 1818 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American author and poet (d. 1883)
    • 1819 – Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
    • 1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (d. 1868)
    • 1826 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (d. 1901)
    • 1829 – Owen Suffolk, Australian bushranger, poet, confidence-man and author
    • 1835 – John Hughlings Jackson, English physician and neurologist (d. 1911)
    • 1842 – Édouard Lucas, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1891)
    • 1843 – William Henry Jackson, American painter and photographer (d. 1942)
    • 1846 – Comte de Lautréamont, Uruguayan-French poet and educator (d. 1870)
    • 1851 – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, Irish lawyer and politician (d. 1931)
    • 1853 – Remy de Gourmont, French poet, novelist, and critic (d. 1915)
    • 1868 – Philippa Fawcett, English mathematician and educator (d. 1948)
    • 1869 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (d. 1958)
    • 1875 – Pierre Monteux, Sephardic Jewish French-American viola player and conductor (d. 1964)
    • 1876 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter and poet (d. 1958)
    • 1878 – Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral and historian (d. 1958)
    • 1879 – Gustav Goßler, German rower (d. 1940)
    • 1884 – James Alberione, Italian priest, founded the Society of St. Paul (d. 1971)
    • 1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (d. 1943)
    • 1886 – Frank Luther Mott, American historian and journalist (d. 1964)
    • 1888 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
    • 1888 – Zdzisław Żygulski, Sr., Polish historian and academic (d. 1975)
    • 1889 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1968)
    • 1892 – Italo Mus, Italian painter (d. 1967)
    • 1895 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991)
    • 1896 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1955)
    • 1897 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor and screenwriter (d. 1975)
    • 1898 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
    • 1899 – Hillel Oppenheimer, German-Israeli botanist and academic (d. 1971)
    • 1902 – Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, French journalist and author (d. 1969)
    • 1902 – Stanley G. Weinbaum, American author and poet (d. 1935)
    • 1905 – Eugène Bozza, French composer and conductor (d. 1991)
    • 1905 – Erika Nõva, Estonian architect and engineer (d. 1987)
    • 1906 – Bea Benaderet, Turkish-Jewish Irish-American television, radio, and voice actress (d. 1968)
    • 1906 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
    • 1907 – Robert Askin, Australian sergeant and politician, 32nd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1981)
    • 1910 – Đặng Văn Ngữ, Vietnamese physician and academic (d. 1967)
    • 1911 – Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
    • 1913 – Dave Brown, Australian rugby league player (d. 1974)
    • 1913 – Rosemary Lane, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
    • 1913 – Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Jules Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Governor General of Canada (d. 1980)
    • 1913 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983)
    • 1914 – Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014)
    • 1914 – Marguerite Duras, French novelist, screenwriter, and director (d. 1996)
    • 1914 – David W. Goodall, Australian ecologist and botanist (d. 2018)
    • 1915 – Louis Archambault, Canadian sculptor (d. 2003)
    • 1916 – Nikola Ljubičić, Serbian general and politician, 10th President of Serbia (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – Mickey Owen, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005)
    • 1916 – David White, American actor (d. 1990)
    • 1918 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English soldier and politician, Leader of the House of Lords (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Orunamamu, American-Canadian author and educator (d. 2014)
    • 1920 – Ignatius IV of Antioch, Greek patriarch (d. 2012)
    • 1921 – Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015)
    • 1922 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
    • 1923 – Peter Vaughan, English actor (d. 2016)
    • 1923 – Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2020)
    • 1924 – Bob Christie, American race car driver (d. 2009)
    • 1924 – Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
    • 1925 – Dettmar Cramer, German footballer and manager (d. 2015)
    • 1925 – Frank Truitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
    • 1925 – Claude Wagner, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1925 – Emmett Williams, American poet and author (d. 2007)
    • 1926 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (d. 2010)
    • 1926 – Ronnie Masterson, Irish actress (d. 2014)
    • 1927 – Joe Orlando, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
    • 1928 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (d. 2014)
    • 1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian
    • 1928 – Jimmy Logan, Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
    • 1928 – Monty Norman, English singer-songwriter and producer
    • 1929 – Humbert Allen Astredo, American actor (d. 2016)
    • 1930 – Netty Herawaty, Indonesian actress (d. 1989)
    • 1931 – James Dickens, English politician (d. 2013)
    • 1931 – Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence officer
    • 1931 – Catherine Tizard, New Zealand politician, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand
    • 1932 – Clive Davis, American record producer, founded Arista Records and J Records
    • 1932 – Richard Lugar, American lieutenant and politician, 44th Mayor of Indianapolis (d. 2019)
    • 1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
    • 1932 – Johanna Reiss, Dutch-American author
    • 1932 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director and producer (d. 1986)
    • 1933 – Bill France, Jr., American businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1933 – Brian Hewson, English runner
    • 1933 – Bapu Nadkarni, Indian cricketer (d. 2020)
    • 1934 – Helen Hanft, American actress (d. 2013)
    • 1934 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (d. 1996)
    • 1935 – Geoff Braybrooke, English-New Zealand soldier and politician (d. 2013)
    • 1935 – Kenneth Mars, American actor and comedian (d. 2011)
    • 1935 – Trevor Griffiths, English playwright and educator
    • 1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American businessman and academic (d. 1989)
    • 1939 – JoAnne Carner, American golfer
    • 1939 – Darlene Hooley, American educator and politician
    • 1939 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer (d. 2018)
    • 1940 – Richard Attwood, English race car driver
    • 1940 – Sharon Sheeley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
    • 1942 – Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
    • 1942 – Kitty Kelley, American journalist and biographer
    • 1942 – Elizabeth Levy, American author
    • 1944 – Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician
    • 1944 – Mary Kenny, Irish journalist, author, and playwright
    • 1944 – Bob McDill, American country music songwriter
    • 1944 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1944 – Nelson Prudêncio, Brazilian triple jumper and educator (d. 2012)
    • 1944 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (d. 2013)
    • 1945 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French-German educator and politician
    • 1945 – Caroline McWilliams, American actress (d. 2010)
    • 1946 – Colin Coates, Australian speed skater
    • 1946 – Dave Hill, English guitarist
    • 1946 – Katsuaki Satō, Japanese martial artist and coach
    • 1946 – György Spiró, Hungarian author and playwright
    • 1946 – Bubba Wyche, American football player and coach
    • 1947 – Wiranto, Indonesian general and politician
    • 1947 – Ray Fosse, American baseball player and sportscaster
    • 1947 – Eliseo Soriano, Filipino minister and television host
    • 1948 – Abdullah Öcalan, Turkish activist
    • 1948 – Berry Oakley, American bass player (d. 1972)
    • 1948 – Richard Parsons, American lawyer and businessman
    • 1948 – Dan Simmons, American author
    • 1948 – Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
    • 1948 – Pick Withers, English drummer
    • 1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican-American singer (d. 1999)
    • 1949 – Shing-Tung Yau, Chinese-American mathematician and academic
    • 1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress and director
    • 1951 – John Hannah, American football player and coach
    • 1952 – Rosemarie Ackermann, German high jumper
    • 1952 – Pat Burns, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2010)
    • 1952 – Gregg Hansford, Australian race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1995)
    • 1952 – Cherie Lunghi, English actress and dancer
    • 1952 – Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater and coach
    • 1952 – Gary Moore, Northern Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2011)
    • 1952 – Villy Søvndal, Danish educator and politician, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
    • 1953 – Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
    • 1953 – Henry Fotheringham, South African cricketer
    • 1953 – Simcha Jacobovici, Canadian director, producer, journalist, and author
    • 1953 – Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician, 31st Lord Mayor of Belfast
    • 1953 – Chen Yi, Chinese violinist and composer
    • 1956 – Evelyn Hart, Canadian ballerina
    • 1956 – Tom Herr, American baseball player and manager
    • 1956 – David E. Kelley, American screenwriter and producer
    • 1957 – Paul Downton, English cricketer
    • 1957 – Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1957 – Graeme Kelling, Scottish guitarist (d. 2004)
    • 1957 – Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese singer and trumpet player
    • 1958 – Peter Baltes, German bass player
    • 1958 – Cazuza, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
    • 1958 – Rodney Eade, Australian footballer and coach
    • 1959 – Phil Morris, American actor and screenwriter
    • 1960 – Jonathan Agnew, English cricketer and sportscaster
    • 1960 – Jane Eaglen, English soprano
    • 1960 – Hugo Weaving, Nigerian-Australian actor and producer
    • 1960 – Godknows Igali, Nigerian diplomat, civil servant and technocrat
    • 1961 – Hildi Santo-Tomas, American interior decorator
    • 1962 – Craig Adams, English bass player and songwriter
    • 1962 – Kailasho Devi, Indian social worker and politician
    • 1963 – A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1963 – Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
    • 1963 – Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1963 – Jane McDonald, English singer and broadcaster
    • 1963 – Graham Norton, Irish actor and talk show host
    • 1964 – Branco, Brazilian footballer and coach
    • 1964 – Dr. Chud, American drummer and singer
    • 1964 – Anthony Clark, American actor
    • 1964 – David Cross, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1964 – Paul Parker, England international footballer, right-back and TV pundit
    • 1964 – Đặng Thân, Vietnamese writer and poet
    • 1965 – Vinny Burns, English guitarist and producer
    • 1965 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1966 – Nancy McKeon, American actress
    • 1966 – Mike Starr, American bass player (d. 2011)
    • 1966 – Christos Tsekos, Greek basketball player
    • 1967 – Edith Masai, Kenyan-German runner
    • 1967 – George Mavrotas, Greek water polo player and politician
    • 1968 – Jesús Rollán, Spanish water polo player (d. 2006)
    • 1969 – Piotr Anderszewski, Polish pianist and composer
    • 1969 – Karren Brady, English journalist and businesswoman
    • 1970 – Georgios Amanatidis, Greek footballer and manager
    • 1970 – Greg Garcia, American director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1970 – Barry Pepper, Canadian actor and producer
    • 1970 – Jason Stoltenberg, Australian tennis player
    • 1970 – Josh Todd, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1970 – Yelena Yelesina, Russian high jumper
    • 1971 – Yanic Perreault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1971 – Malik Yusef, American actor, producer, and poet
    • 1971 – John Zandig, American wrestler and promoter
    • 1972 – Jim Dymock, Australian rugby league player and coach
    • 1972 – Jill Scott, American singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1972 – Magnus Sveningsson, Swedish bass player
    • 1973 – Chris Banks, American football player (d. 2014)
    • 1973 – David Blaine, American magician and producer
    • 1973 – Loris Capirossi, Italian motorcycle racer
    • 1973 – Peter Hoekstra, Dutch footballer and coach
    • 1973 – Chris McCormack, Australian triathlete and coach
    • 1973 – Kelly Price, American singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Delphine Arnault, French businesswoman
    • 1975 – Thobias Fredriksson, Swedish skier
    • 1975 – Joyce Giraud, Puerto Rican-American model, television actress and producer, Miss Puerto Rico 1994
    • 1975 – Pamela Ribon, American actress, screenwriter, and author
    • 1975 – Miranda Lee Richards, American singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Scott Rolen, American baseball player
    • 1975 – Kevin Weekes, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
    • 1976 – Nathan Blacklock, Australian rugby player
    • 1976 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (d. 1997)
    • 1976 – Emerson Ferreira da Rosa, Brazilian footballer
    • 1976 – James Roday, American actor, director, and screenwriter
    • 1977 – Stephan Bonnar, American mixed martial artist
    • 1977 – Keith Bulluck, American football player and sportscaster
    • 1977 – Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1977 – Stephen Mulhern, English magician and television host
    • 1977 – Omarr Smith, American football player and coach
    • 1978 – Jason Ellison, American baseball player and scout
    • 1978 – Alan Mahon, Irish footballer
    • 1979 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
    • 1979 – Roberto Luongo, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1979 – Natasha Lyonne, American actress
    • 1979 – Andy McKee, American guitarist
    • 1979 – Maksim Opalev, Russian canoeist
    • 1980 – Johnny Borrell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1980 – Trevor Moore, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1980 – Eric Steinbach, American football player
    • 1980 – Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver
    • 1981 – Currensy, American rapper
    • 1981 – Eduardo Luís Carloto, Brazilian footballer
    • 1981 – Casey Daigle, American baseball player
    • 1981 – Anna Pyatykh, Russian triple jumper
    • 1981 – Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
    • 1982 – Justin Cook, American voice actor and producer
    • 1982 – Magnus Lindgren, Swedish chef (d. 2012)
    • 1983 – Evgeny Artyukhin, Russian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Eric Andre, American comedian
    • 1983 – Ben Gordon, American basketball player
    • 1983 – Doug Lynch, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1983 – Natalie Pike, Scottish-English model and actress
    • 1983 – Amanda Righetti, American actress
    • 1984 – Sean May, American basketball player
    • 1984 – Arkady Vyatchanin, Russian swimmer
    • 1985 – Rudy Fernández, Spanish basketball player
    • 1985 – Dudi Sela, Israeli tennis player
    • 1985 – Ricardo Vilar, Brazilian footballer
    • 1986 – Eunhyuk, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
    • 1986 – Cameron Barker, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1986 – Maurice Manificat, French skier
    • 1986 – Aiden McGeady, Scottish-born Irish footballer
    • 1986 – Alexander Tettey, Norwegian footballer
    • 1987 – Sami Khedira, German footballer
    • 1987 – McDonald Mariga, Kenyan footballer
    • 1987 – Cameron Maybin, American baseball player
    • 1987 – Marcos Vellidis, Greek footballer
    • 1987 – Sarah Gadon, Canadian actress
    • 1988 – Frank Fielding, English footballer
    • 1989 – Vurnon Anita, Dutch footballer
    • 1989 – Steven Finn, English cricketer
    • 1989 – Chris Herd, Australian footballer
    • 1991 – Yui Koike, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1991 – Justin O’Neill, Australian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress and singer
    • 1991 – Marlon Stöckinger, Filipino race car driver
    • 1992 – Lucy May Barker, English actress and singer
    • 1992 – Christina Metaxa, Cypriot singer-songwriter
    • 1992 – Ricky Dillon, American youtuber and singer
    • 1993 – Samir Carruthers, English footballer
    • 1993 – Frank Kaminsky, American basketball player
    • 1994 – Shunsuke Nishikawa, Japanese actor
    • 1994 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer and actress
    • 1996 – Austin Mahone, American singer-songwriter and actor

    Deaths on April 4

    • 397 – Ambrose, Roman archbishop and saint (b. 338)
    • 636 – Isidore of Seville, Spanish archbishop and saint (b. 560)
    • 814 – Plato of Sakkoudion, Byzantine monk and saint (b. 735)
    • 896 – Formosus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 816)
    • 911 – Liu Yin, Chinese warlord and governor (b. 874)
    • 931 – Kong Xun, Chinese official and governor (b. 884)
    • 968 – Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince and poet (b. 932)
    • 991 – Reginold, bishop of Eichstätt
    • 1284 – Alfonso X, king of Castile and León (b. 1221)
    • 1292 – Nicholas IV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1227)
    • 1406 – Robert III, king of Scotland (b.1337)
    • 1483 – Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (b. c. 1405)
    • 1536 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
    • 1538 – Elena Glinskaya, Grand Princess and regent of Russia
    • 1588 – Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway (b. 1534)
    • 1596 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (b. 1533)
    • 1609 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist, mycologist, and academic (b. 1526)
    • 1617 – John Napier, Scottish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1550)
    • 1643 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1583)
    • 1661 – Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish field marshal (b. 1580)
    • 1743 – Daniel Neal, English historian and author (b. 1678)
    • 1761 – Théodore Gardelle, Swiss painter (b. 1722)
    • 1766 – John Taylor, English librarian and scholar (b. 1704)
    • 1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish novelist, playwright and poet (b. 1728)
    • 1792 – James Sykes, American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
    • 1807 – Jérôme Lalande, French astronomer and academic (b. 1732)
    • 1817 – André Masséna, French general (b. 1758)
    • 1841 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
    • 1846 – Solomon Sibley, American lawyer and politician, 1st Mayor of Detroit (b. 1769)
    • 1861 – John McLean, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Postmaster General (b. 1785)
    • 1863 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (b. 1790)
    • 1864 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American commander and paleontologist (b. 1808)
    • 1870 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
    • 1874 – Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
    • 1875 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (b. 1837)
    • 1878 – Richard M. Brewer, American criminal (b. 1850)
    • 1879 – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (b. 1803)
    • 1883 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (b. 1791)
    • 1890 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Quebec (b. 1820)
    • 1890 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist and academic (b. 1812)
    • 1912 – Charles Brantley Aycock, American lawyer and politician, 50th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1859)
    • 1912 – Isaac K. Funk, American minister, lexicographer, and publisher, co-founded Funk & Wagnalls (b. 1839)
    • 1919 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
    • 1919 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1908)
    • 1923 – John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher, created the Venn diagram (b. 1834)
    • 1929 – Karl Benz, German engineer and businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz (b. 1844)
    • 1931 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (b. 1853)
    • 1932 – Wilhelm Ostwald, Latvian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
    • 1933 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (b. 1842)
    • 1941 – Emine Nazikedâ Kadınefendi, the first wife and chief consort of Sultan Mehmed VI (b. 1866)
    • 1944 – Morris H. Whitehouse, American architect (b. 1878)[14]
    • 1951 – George Albert Smith, American religious leader, 8th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
    • 1953 – Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
    • 1957 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian historian and diplomat (b. 1909)
    • 1958 – Johnny Stompanato, American soldier and bodyguard (b. 1925)
    • 1961 – Harald Riipalu, Estonian military commander (b. 1912)
    • 1961 – Simion Stoilow, Romanian mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
    • 1967 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (b. 1901)
    • 1967 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1898)
    • 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (assassinated)(b. 1929)
    • 1972 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., American pastor and politician (b. 1908)
    • 1972 – Stefan Wolpe, German-American composer and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1976 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish engineer and theorist (b. 1889)
    • 1977 – Andrey Dikiy, Ukrainian-American journalist, historian, and politician (b. 1893)
    • 1979 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan (b. 1928)
    • 1979 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
    • 1980 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1917)
    • 1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
    • 1983 – Bernard Vukas, Croatian football player, played for 1953 FIFA’s “Rest of the World” team against England at Wembley (b. 1927)
    • 1984 – Oleg Antonov, Russian-Ukrainian engineer and businessman, founded Antonov (b. 1906)
    • 1985 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (b. 1891)
    • 1987 – C. L. Moore, American author and academic (b. 1911)
    • 1987 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan guru, poet, and scholar (b. 1939)
    • 1987 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
    • 1991 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – H. John Heinz III, American soldier and politician (b. 1938)
    • 1991 – Graham Ingels, American illustrator (b. 1915)
    • 1992 – Yvette Brind’Amour, Canadian actress and director (b. 1918)
    • 1992 – Jack Hamilton, Australian footballer (b. 1928)
    • 1992 – Arthur Russell, American singer-songwriter and cellist (b. 1951)
    • 1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American game designer, invented Scrabble (b. 1899)
    • 1993 – Douglas Leopold, Canadian radio and television host (b. 1947)
    • 1995 – Kenny Everett, English radio and television host (b. 1944)
    • 1995 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (b. 1915)
    • 1996 – Barney Ewell, American runner and long jumper (b. 1918)
    • 1996 – Boone Guyton, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1913)
    • 1997 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (b. 1900)
    • 1997 – Alparslan Türkeş, Turkish colonel and politician, 39th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1917)
    • 1999 – Lucille Lortel, American actress, artistic director and producer (b. 1900)
    • 1999 – Early Wynn, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1920)
    • 2001 – Liisi Oterma, Finnish astronomer (b. 1915)
    • 2001 – Ed Roth, American illustrator and engineer (b. 1932)
    • 2001 – Maury Van Vliet, American-Canadian academic (b. 1913)
    • 2003 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – Briek Schotte, Belgian cyclist and coach (b. 1919)
    • 2005 – Edward Bronfman, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
    • 2007 – Bob Clark, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
    • 2007 – Karen Spärck Jones, English computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
    • 2008 – Francis Tucker, South African race car driver (b. 1923)
    • 2009 – Maxine Cooper, American actress, activist and photographer (b. 1924)
    • 2011 – Scott Columbus, American drummer (b. 1956)
    • 2011 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, and activist (b. 1958)
    • 2012 – A. Dean Byrd, American psychologist and academic (b. 1948)
    • 2012 – Anne Karin Elstad, Norwegian author and educator (b. 1938)
    • 2012 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
    • 2012 – Dubravko Pavličić, Croatian footballer (b. 1967)
    • 2012 – Roberto Rexach Benítez, American-Puerto Rican academic and politician, 10th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Bengt Blomgren, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
    • 2013 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
    • 2013 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
    • 2013 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Noboru Yamaguchi, Japanese author (b. 1972)
    • 2014 – İsmet Atlı, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1931)
    • 2014 – Wayne Henderson, American trombonist and producer (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Kumba Ialá, Bissau-Guinean soldier and politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1953)
    • 2014 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (b. 1943)
    • 2014 – Curtis Bill Pepper, American journalist and author (b. 1917)
    • 2014 – Muhammad Qutb, Egyptian author and academic (b. 1919)
    • 2015 – Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
    • 2015 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Donald N. Levine, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2015 – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish author and poet (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)

    Holidays and observances on April 4

    • Children’s Day (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Benedict the Moor
      • Gaetano Catanoso
      • Isidore of Seville
      • Martin Luther King Jr. (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Reginald Heber (Anglican Church of Canada)
      • Tigernach of Clones
      • April 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Senegal from France (1960).
    • Peace Day (Angola)[15]
    • One of the possible days for Qingming Festival.

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

    • 747 BC – Epoch (origin) of Ptolemy’s Nabonassar Era.
    • 364 – Valentinian I is proclaimed Roman emperor
    • 1233 – Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols capture Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
    • 1266 – Battle of Benevento: An army led by Charles, Count of Anjou, defeats a combined German and Sicilian force led by Manfred, King of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of Sicily and Naples.
    • 1365 – The Ava Kingdom and the royal city of Ava (Inwa) founded by King Thado Minbya
    • 1606 – The Janszoon voyage of 1605–06 becomes the first European expedition to set foot on Australia, although it is mistaken as a part of New Guinea.
    • 1616 – Galileo Galilei is formally banned by the Roman Catholic Church from teaching or defending the view that the earth orbits the sun.
    • 1775 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates
    • 1794 – The first Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen burns down.
    • 1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba.
    • 1876 – Japan and Korea sign a treaty granting Japanese citizens extraterritoriality rights, opening three ports to Japanese trade, and ending Korea’s status as a tributary state of Qing dynasty China.
    • 1909 – Kinemacolor, the first successful color motion picture process, is first shown to the general public at the Palace Theatre in London.
    • 1914 – HMHS Britannic, sister to the RMS Titanic, is launched at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
    • 1919 – President Woodrow Wilson signs an act of Congress establishing the Grand Canyon National Park.
    • 1929 – President Calvin Coolidge signs an executive order establishing the 96,000 acre Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
    • 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
    • 1935 – Robert Watson-Watt carries out a demonstration near Daventry which leads directly to the development of radar in the United Kingdom.
    • 1936 – In the February 26 Incident, young Japanese military officers attempt to stage a coup against the government.
    • 1952 – Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada.
    • 1960 – A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
    • 1966 – Apollo program: Launch of AS-201, the first flight of the Saturn IB rocket
    • 1971 – U.N. Secretary-General U Thant signs United Nations proclamation of the vernal equinox as Earth Day.
    • 1979 – The Superliner railcar enters revenue service with Amtrak.
    • 1980 – Egypt and Israel establish full diplomatic relations.
    • 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
    • 1992 – Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces open fire on Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
    • 1993 – World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.
    • 1995 – The UK’s oldest investment banking institute, Barings Bank, collapses after a rogue securities broker Nick Leeson loses $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange using futures contracts.
    • 2008 – The New York Philharmonic performs in Pyongyang, North Korea; this is the first event of its kind to take place in North Korea.
    • 2012 – Trayvon Martin was shot and killed at the age of 17 in Sanford, Florida.
    • 2012 – A train derails in Burlington, Ontario, Canada killing at least three people and injuring 45.
    • 2013 – A hot air balloon crashes near Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

    Births on February 26

    • 1361 – Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (d. 1419)
    • 1416 – Christopher of Bavaria (d. 1448)
    • 1564 – Christopher Marlowe, English playwright, poet and translator (d. 1593)
    • 1584 – Albert VI, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1666)
    • 1587 – Stefano Landi, Italian composer and educator (d. 1639)
    • 1629 – Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll, Scottish peer (d. 1685)
    • 1651 – Quirinus Kuhlmann, German Baroque poet and mystic (d. 1689)
    • 1671 – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, English philosopher and politician (d. 1713)
    • 1672 – Antoine Augustin Calmet, French monk and theologian (d. 1757)
    • 1677 – Nicola Fago, Italian composer and teacher (d. 1745)
    • 1718 – Johan Ernst Gunnerus, Norwegian bishop, botanist and zoologist (d. 1773)
    • 1720 – Gian Francesco Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1803)
    • 1746 – Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (d. 1806)
    • 1770 – Anton Reicha, Bohemian composer and flautist (d. 1836)
    • 1777 – Matija Nenadović, Serbian priest, historian, and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 1854)
    • 1786 – François Arago, French mathematician and politician, 25th Prime Minister of France (d. 1853)
    • 1799 – Benoît Paul Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (d. 1864)
    • 1802 – Victor Hugo, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1885)
    • 1808 – Honoré Daumier, French painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 1879)
    • 1808 – Nathan Kelley, American architect, designed the Ohio Statehouse (d. 1871)
    • 1829 – Levi Strauss, German-American fashion designer, founded Levi Strauss & Co. (d. 1902)
    • 1842 – Camille Flammarion, French astronomer and author (d. 1925)
    • 1846 – Buffalo Bill, American soldier and hunter (d. 1917)
    • 1852 – John Harvey Kellogg, American surgeon, co-created Corn flakes (d. 1943)
    • 1857 – Émile Coué, French psychologist and pharmacist (d. 1926)
    • 1861 – Ferdinand I of Bulgaria (d. 1948)
    • 1861 – Nadezhda Krupskaya, Russian soldier and politician (d. 1939)
    • 1866 – Herbert Henry Dow, Canadian-American businessman, founded the Dow Chemical Company (d. 1930)
    • 1877 – Henry Barwell, Australian politician, 28th Premier of South Australia (d. 1959)
    • 1877 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (d. 1968)
    • 1879 – Frank Bridge, English viola player and composer (d. 1941)
    • 1880 – Kenneth Edgeworth, Irish astronomer (d. 1972)
    • 1881 – Janus Djurhuus, Faroese poet (d. 1948)
    • 1882 – Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (d. 1968)
    • 1885 – Aleksandras Stulginskis, Lithuanian farmer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (d. 1969)
    • 1887 – Grover Cleveland Alexander, American baseball player and coach (d. 1950)
    • 1887 – William Frawley, American actor and vaudevillian (d. 1966)
    • 1887 – Stefan Grabiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1936)
    • 1893 – Wallace Fard Muhammad, American religious leader, founded the Nation of Islam (disappeared 1934)
    • 1893 – Dorothy Whipple, English novelist (d. 1966)
    • 1896 – Andrei Zhdanov, Ukrainian-Russian civil servant and politician (d. 1948)
    • 1899 – Max Petitpierre, Swiss jurist and politician, 54th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1994)
    • 1900 – Halina Konopacka, Polish discus thrower and poet (d. 1989)
    • 1900 – Fritz Wiessner, German-American mountaineer (d. 1988)
    • 1902 – Jean Bruller, French author and illustrator, co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit (d. 1991)
    • 1903 – Giulio Natta, Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
    • 1903 – Orde Wingate, English general (d. 1944)
    • 1906 – Madeleine Carroll, English actress (d. 1987)
    • 1908 – Tex Avery, American animator, producer, and voice actor (d. 1980)
    • 1908 – Nestor Mesta Chayres, Mexican operatic tenor and bolero vocalist (d. 1971)
    • 1908 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (d. 1949)
    • 1909 – Fanny Cradock, English chef, author, and critic (d. 1994)
    • 1909 – Talal of Jordan (d. 1972)
    • 1910 – Vic Woodley, English footballer (d. 1978)
    • 1911 – Tarō Okamoto, Japanese painter and sculptor (d. 1996)
    • 1912 – Dane Clark, American actor and director (d. 1998)
    • 1913 – George Barker, English author and poet (d. 1991)
    • 1914 – Robert Alda, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1986)
    • 1916 – Jackie Gleason, American actor and singer (d. 1987)
    • 1918 – Otis R. Bowen, American physician and politician, 44th Governor of Indiana (d. 2013)
    • 1918 – Pyotr Masherov, Leader of Soviet Belarus (d. 1980)
    • 1918 – Theodore Sturgeon, American author and critic (d. 1985)
    • 1919 – Mason Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Danny Gardella, American baseball player and trainer (d. 2005)
    • 1920 – Tony Randall, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2004)
    • 1920 – Lucjan Wolanowski, Polish journalist and author (d. 2006)
    • 1921 – Betty Hutton, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
    • 1922 – Bill Johnston, Australian cricketer and businessman (d. 2007)
    • 1922 – Margaret Leighton, English actress (d. 1976)
    • 1924 – Noboru Takeshita, Japanese soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2000)
    • 1924 – Marc Bucci, American composer, lyricist, and dramatist (d. 2002)
    • 1925 – Everton Weekes, Barbadian cricketer and referee
    • 1926 – Doris Belack, American actress (d. 2011)
    • 1926 – Verne Gagne, American football player, wrestler, and trainer (d. 2015)
    • 1927 – Tom Kennedy, American game show host and actor
    • 1928 – Fats Domino, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2017)
    • 1928 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (d. 2014)
    • 1931 – Ally MacLeod, Scottish footballer and manager (d. 2004)
    • 1931 – Robert Novak, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
    • 1931 – Josephine Tewson, English actress
    • 1932 – Johnny Cash, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2003)
    • 1933 – James Goldsmith, French-British businessman and politician (d. 1997)
    • 1934 – Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina, Algerian director, producer, and screenwriter
    • 1936 – José Policarpo, Portuguese cardinal (d. 2014)
    • 1937 – Paul Dickson, American football player and coach (d. 2011)
    • 1939 – Chuck Wepner, American professional boxer
    • 1940 – Oldřich Kulhánek, Czech painter, illustrator, and stage designer (d. 2013)
    • 1942 – Jozef Adamec, Slovak footballer and manager (d. 2018)
    • 1943 – Paul Cotton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1943 – Bill Duke, American actor and director
    • 1943 – Dante Ferretti, Italian art director and costume designer
    • 1943 – Bob “The Bear” Hite, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1981)
    • 1944 – Christopher Hope, South African author and poet
    • 1944 – Ronald Lauder, American businessman and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Austria
    • 1945 – Peter Brock, Australian race car driver (d. 2006)
    • 1945 – Marta Kristen, Norwegian-American actress
    • 1945 – Mitch Ryder, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1946 – Colin Bell, English footballer
    • 1946 – Ahmed Zewail, Egyptian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
    • 1947 – Sandie Shaw, English singer and psychotherapist
    • 1948 – Sharyn McCrumb, American author
    • 1949 – Simon Crean, Australian trade union leader and politician, 14th Australian Minister for the Arts
    • 1949 – Elizabeth George, American author and educator
    • 1949 – Emma Kirkby, English soprano
    • 1950 – Jonathan Cain, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1950 – Helen Clark, New Zealand academic and politician, 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand
    • 1951 – Steve Bell, English cartoonist
    • 1951 – Wayne Goss, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Premier of Queensland (d. 2014)
    • 1953 – Michael Bolton, American singer-songwriter and actor
    • 1954 – Prince Ernst August of Hanover
    • 1954 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkish politician, 12th President of Turkey
    • 1955 – Andreas Maislinger, Austrian historian and academic, founded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service
    • 1956 – Michel Houellebecq, French author, poet, screenwriter, and director
    • 1957 – David Beasley, American lawyer and politician, 113th Governor of South Carolina
    • 1957 – Joe Mullen, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1957 – Keena Rothhammer, American swimmer
    • 1958 – Paul Ackford, English rugby player
    • 1958 – Greg Germann, American actor and director
    • 1958 – Susan Helms, American general, engineer, and astronaut
    • 1958 – Tim Kaine, American lawyer and politician, 70th Governor of Virginia
    • 1959 – Rolando Blackman, American basketball player and coach
    • 1959 – Ahmet Davutoğlu, Turkish political scientist, academic, and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Turkey
    • 1960 – Jaz Coleman, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1962 – Ahn Cheol-soo, South Korean physician, academic, and politician
    • 1963 – Chase Masterson, American actress, singer, and activist
    • 1965 – James Mitchell, American wrestler and manager
    • 1966 – Garry Conille, Haitian physician and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Haiti
    • 1966 – Marc Fortier, French-Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1966 – Najwa Karam, Lebanese singer
    • 1967 – Mark Carroll, Australian rugby league player
    • 1967 – Kazuyoshi Miura, Japanese footballer
    • 1968 – Tim Commerford, American bass player
    • 1969 – Hitoshi Sakimoto, Japanese composer and producer
    • 1970 – Mark Harper, English accountant and politician, Minister of State for Immigration
    • 1970 – Scott Mahon, Australian rugby league player
    • 1971 – Erykah Badu, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
    • 1971 – Max Martin, Swedish-American record producer and songwriter
    • 1971 – Hélène Segara, French singer-songwriter and actress
    • 1973 – Marshall Faulk, American football player
    • 1973 – Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Norwegian footballer and manager
    • 1973 – Jenny Thompson, American swimmer
    • 1974 – Sébastien Loeb, French race car driver
    • 1974 – Mikee Cojuangco-Jaworski, Filipina television actress, host and equestrienne
    • 1976 – Nalini Anantharaman, French mathematician
    • 1976 – Chad Urmston, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1977 – Marty Reasoner, American ice hockey player and coach
    • 1977 – Tim Thomas, American basketball player
    • 1977 – Shane Williams, Welsh rugby union player
    • 1978 – Abdoulaye Faye, Senegalese footballer
    • 1979 – Corinne Bailey Rae, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
    • 1979 – Steve Evans, Welsh footballer
    • 1979 – Pedro Mendes, Portuguese international footballer, midfielder
    • 1980 – Steve Blake, American basketball player
    • 1981 – Kertus Davis, American race car driver
    • 1981 – Oh Seung-bum, South Korean footballer
    • 1982 – Li Na, Chinese tennis player
    • 1982 – Matt Prior, South African-English cricketer
    • 1982 – Nate Ruess, American singer-songwriter
    • 1983 – Jerome Harrison, American football player
    • 1983 – Pepe, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer
    • 1984 – Emmanuel Adebayor, Togolese international footballer, forward
    • 1984 – Natalia Lafourcade, Mexican singer-songwriter
    • 1984 – Beren Saat, Turkish actress
    • 1985 – Fernando Llorente, Spanish international footballer, striker
    • 1986 – Hannah Kearney, American skier
    • 1989 – Gabriel Obertan, French footballer
    • 1990 – Kateřina Cachová, Czech heptathlete
    • 1990 – Takanoiwa Yoshimori, Mongolian sumo wrestler
    • 1991 – Lee Chae-rin, South Korean singer
    • 1992 – Mikael Granlund, Finnish professional hockey player
    • 1992 – Michael Chee Kam, New Zealand rugby league player
    • 1997 – Reghan Tumilty, Scottish footballer

    Deaths on February 26

    • 420 – Porphyry of Gaza, Greek bishop and saint (b. 347)
    • 943 – Muirchertach mac Néill, king of Ailech (Ireland)
    • 1154 – Roger II of Sicily (b. 1093)
    • 1266 – Manfred, King of Sicily (b. 1232)
    • 1275 – Margaret of England, Queen consort of Scots (b. 1240)
    • 1349 – Fatima bint al-Ahmar, Nasrid princess in the Emirate of Granada (b. c.1260)
    • 1360 – Roger Mortimer, 2nd Earl of March, English commander (b. 1328)
    • 1462 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford, English politician (b. 1408)
    • 1548 – Lorenzino de’ Medici, Italian writer and assassin (b. 1514)
    • 1577 – Eric XIV of Sweden (b. 1533)
    • 1603 – Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, spouse of Maximilian II (b. 1528)
    • 1608 – John Still, English bishop (b. 1543)
    • 1611 – Antonio Possevino, Italian priest and diplomat (b. 1533)
    • 1625 – Anna Vasa of Sweden, Polish and Swedish princess (b. 1568)
    • 1630 – William Brade, English violinist and composer (b. 1560)
    • 1638 – Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician and linguist (b. 1581)
    • 1723 – Thomas d’Urfey, English poet and playwright (b. 1653)
    • 1726 – Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria (b. 1662)
    • 1770 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1692)
    • 1790 – Joshua Rowley, English admiral (b. 1730)
    • 1802 – Esek Hopkins, American admiral (b. 1718)
    • 1806 – Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Haitian-French general (b. 1762)
    • 1813 – Robert R. Livingston, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs (b. 1746)
    • 1815 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (b. 1737)
    • 1821 – Joseph de Maistre, French lawyer and diplomat (b. 1753)
    • 1864 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Canadian jurist and politician, 3rd Premier of Canada East (b. 1807)
    • 1883 – Alexandros Koumoundouros, Greek lawyer and politician, 56th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1817)
    • 1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, First Indian women physician (b. 1865)
    • 1889 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist and composer (b. 1838)
    • 1903 – Richard Jordan Gatling, American engineer, invented the Gatling gun (b. 1818)
    • 1906 – Jean Lanfray, Swiss convicted murderer (b. 1874)
    • 1913 – Felix Draeseke, German composer and academic (b. 1835)
    • 1921 – Carl Menger, Polish-Austrian economist and academic (b. 1840)
    • 1930 – Mary Whiton Calkins, American philosopher and psychologist (b. 1863)
    • 1931 – Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1847)
    • 1936 – February 26 Incident:
      • Takahashi Korekiyo, Japanese accountant and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1854)
      • Saitō Makoto, Japanese admiral and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1858)
      • Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (b. 1874)
    • 1943 – Theodor Eicke, German general (b. 1892)
    • 1945 – Sándor Szurmay, Minister of Defence of the Hungarian portion of Austria-Hungary (b. 1860)
    • 1947 – Heinrich Häberlin, Swiss judge and politician, President of the Swiss National Council (b. 1868)
    • 1950 – Harry Lauder, Scottish comedian and singer (b. 1870)
    • 1951 – Sabiha Kasimati, Albanian ichthyologist (b. 1912) executed with 20 others
    • 1952 – Theodoros Pangalos, Greek general and politician, President of Greece (b. 1878)
    • 1961 – Karl Albiker, German sculptor, lithographer, and educator (b. 1878)
    • 1961 – Mohammed V of Morocco (b. 1909)
    • 1966 – Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (b. 1883)
    • 1969 – Levi Eshkol, Israeli soldier and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1895)
    • 1969 – Karl Jaspers, German-Swiss psychiatrist and philosopher (b. 1883)
    • 1981 – Robert Aickman, English author and activist (b. 1914)
    • 1981 – Howard Hanson, American composer, conductor, and educator (b. 1896)
    • 1985 – Tjalling Koopmans, Dutch-American economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1910)
    • 1989 – Roy Eldridge, American trumpet player (b. 1911)
    • 1993 – Constance Ford, American model and actress (b. 1923)
    • 1994 – Bill Hicks, American comedian (b. 1961)
    • 1995 – Jack Clayton, English director and producer (b. 1921)
    • 1997 – David Doyle, American actor (b. 1929)
    • 1998 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902)
    • 2000 – George L. Street III, American captain, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913)
    • 2002 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (b. 1919)
    • 2004 – Adolf Ehrnrooth, Finnish general (b. 1905)
    • 2004 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (b. 1956)
    • 2005 – Jef Raskin, American computer scientist, created Macintosh (b. 1943)
    • 2006 – Georgina Battiscombe, British biographer (b. 1905)
    • 2008 – Bodil Udsen, Danish actress (b. 1925)
    • 2009 – Johnny Kerr, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1932)
    • 2009 – Wendy Richard, English actress (b. 1943)
    • 2009 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (b. 1947)
    • 2010 – Jun Seba, also known as “Nujabes”, Japanese record producer, DJ, composer and arranger (b. 1974)
    • 2011 – Arnošt Lustig, Czech author, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1926)
    • 2012 – Richard Carpenter, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1929)
    • 2013 – Marie-Claire Alain, French organist and educator (b. 1926)
    • 2013 – Stéphane Hessel, German-French diplomat and author (b. 1917)
    • 2013 – Simon Li, Hong Kong judge and politician (b. 1922)
    • 2014 – Sorel Etrog, Romanian-Canadian sculptor, painter, and illustrator (b. 1933)
    • 2014 – Phyllis Krasilovsky, American author and academic (b. 1927)
    • 2014 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1947)
    • 2015 – Sheppard Frere, English historian and archaeologist (b. 1916)
    • 2015 – Theodore Hesburgh, American priest, theologian, educator, and academic (b. 1917)
    • 2015 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Tom Schweich, American lawyer and politician, 36th State Auditor of Missouri (b. 1960)
    • 2016 – Andy Bathgate, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (b. 1932)
    • 2016 – Don Getty, Canadian football player and politician, 11th Premier of Alberta (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Joseph Wapner, American lieutenant and judge (b. 1919)

    Holidays and observances on February 26

    • Christian feast day:
      • Alexander of Alexandria
      • Emily Malbone Morgan (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Isabelle of France
      • Li Tim-Oi (Anglican Church of Canada)
      • Porphyry of Gaza
      • February 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • The first day of Ayyám-i-Há (Bahá’í Faith) (Please note that this observance is only locked into this date the Gregorian calendar on this date if Bahá’í Naw-Rúz takes place on March 21, which it doesn’t in all years)
    • Day of Remembrance for Victims of Khojaly Massacre (Azerbaijan)
    • Liberation Day (Kuwait)
    • Saviours’ Day (Nation of Islam)

  • February 13 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

    February 13 in History

    • 951 – Guo Wei, a court official, leads a military coup and declares himself emperor of the new Later Zhou.
    • 962 – Emperor Otto I and Pope John XII co-sign the Diploma Ottonianum, recognizing John as ruler of Rome.
    • 1322 – The central tower of Ely Cathedral falls on the night of 12th–13th.
    • 1462 – The Treaty of Westminster is finalised between Edward IV of England and the Scottish Lord of the Isles.
    • 1503 – Challenge of Barletta: Tournament between 13 Italian and 13 French knights near Barletta.
    • 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery.
    • 1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.
    • 1660 – With the accession of young Charles XI of Sweden, his regents begin negotiations to end the Second Northern War.
    • 1689 – William and Mary are proclaimed co-rulers of England.
    • 1692 – Massacre of Glencoe: Almost 80 Macdonalds at Glen Coe, Scotland are killed early in the morning for not promptly pledging allegiance to the new king, William of Orange.
    • 1726 – Parliament of Negrete between Mapuche and Spanish authorities in Chile bring an end to the Mapuche uprising of 1723–26.
    • 1755 – Treaty of Giyanti signed by VOC, Pakubuwono III and Prince Mangkubumi. The treaty divides the Javanese kingdom of Mataram into 2: Sunanate of Surakarta and Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
    • 1849 – The delegation headed by Metropolitan bishop Andrei Șaguna hands out to the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria the General Petition of Romanian leaders in Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina, which demands that the Romanian nation be recognized.
    • 1861 – Italian unification: The Siege of Gaeta ends with the capitulation of the defending fortress, effectively bringing an end of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
    • 1867 – Work begins on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels’s primary river and creating the modern central boulevards.
    • 1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic emission.
    • 1913 – The 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence following a period of domination by Manchu Qing dynasty and initiated a period of almost four decades of independence.
    • 1914 – Copyright: In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.
    • 1920 – The Negro National League is formed.
    • 1931 – The British Raj completes its transfer from Calcutta to New Delhi.
    • 1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby, the son of Charles Lindbergh.
    • 1945 – World War II: The siege of Budapest concludes with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army.
    • 1945 – World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.
    • 1951 – Korean War: Battle of Chipyong-ni, which represented the “high-water mark” of the Chinese incursion into South Korea, commences.
    • 1954 – Frank Selvy becomes the only NCAA Division I basketball player ever to score 100 points in a single game.
    • 1955 – Israel obtains four of the seven Dead Sea Scrolls.
    • 1960 – With the success of a nuclear test codenamed “Gerboise Bleue”, France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons.
    • 1960 – Black college students stage the first of the Nashville sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee.
    • 1961 – An allegedly 500,000-year-old rock is discovered near Olancha, California, US, that appears to anachronistically encase a spark plug.
    • 1967 – American researchers discover the Madrid Codices by Leonardo da Vinci in the National Library of Spain.
    • 1975 – Fire at One World Trade Center (North Tower) of the World Trade Center in New York.
    • 1978 – Hilton bombing: a bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
    • 1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a ​1⁄2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
    • 1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
    • 1983 – A cinema fire in Turin, Italy, kills 64 people.
    • 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko succeeds the late Yuri Andropov as general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
    • 1990 – German reunification: An agreement is reached on a two-stage plan to reunite Germany.
    • 1991 – Gulf War: Two laser-guided “smart bombs” destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
    • 1996 – The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist-Centre).
    • 1999 – The last hockey game is played in Maple Leaf Gardens: the Toronto Maple Leafs lose 6–2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.
    • 2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter magnitude scale hits El Salvador, killing at least 944.
    • 2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces the discovery of the universe’s largest known diamond, white dwarf star BPM 37093. Astronomers named this star “Lucy” after The Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”.
    • 2007 – Taiwan opposition leader Ma Ying-jeou resigns as the chairman of the Kuomintang party after being indicted on charges of embezzlement during his tenure as the mayor of Taipei; Ma also announces his candidacy for the 2008 presidential election.
    • 2008 – Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
    • 2010 – A bomb explodes in the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India, killing 17 and injuring 60 more.
    • 2011 – For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
    • 2012 – The European Space Agency (ESA) conducted the first launch of the European Vega rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
    • 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un, is assassinated at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

    Births on February 13

    • 1440 – Hartmann Schedel, German physician (d. 1514)
    • 1457 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1482)
    • 1469 – Elia Levita, Renaissance Hebrew grammarian (d. 1549)
    • 1480 – Girolamo Aleandro, Italian cardinal (d. 1542)
    • 1523 – Valentin Naboth, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1593)
    • 1539 – Elisabeth of Hesse, Electress Palatine (d. 1582)
    • 1569 – Johann Reinhard I, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (d. 1625)
    • 1599 – Pope Alexander VII (d. 1667)
    • 1602 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1637)
    • 1672 – Étienne François Geoffroy, French physician and chemist (d. 1731)
    • 1683 – Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Italian painter (d. 1754)
    • 1719 – George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, English admiral and politician (d. 1792)
    • 1721 – John Reid, Scottish general (d. 1807)
    • 1728 – John Hunter, Scottish surgeon and anatomist (d. 1793)
    • 1766 – Thomas Robert Malthus, English economist and scholar (d. 1834)
    • 1768 – Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, French general and politician, 15th Prime Minister of France (d. 1835)
    • 1769 – Ivan Krylov, Russian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1844)
    • 1805 – Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician and academic (d. 1859)
    • 1811 – François Achille Bazaine, French general (d. 1888)
    • 1815 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American anthologist, editor, poet and critic (d. 1857)
    • 1831 – John Aaron Rawlins, American general and politician, 29th United States Secretary of War (d. 1869)
    • 1834 – Heinrich Caro, Sephardic Jewish Polish-German chemist and academic (d. 1910)
    • 1835 – Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Indian religious leader (d. 1908)
    • 1849 – Lord Randolph Churchill, English lawyer and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1895)
    • 1855 – Paul Deschanel, Belgian-French politician, 11th President of France (d. 1922)
    • 1863 – Hugo Becker, German cellist and composer (d. 1941)
    • 1867 – Harold Mahony, Scottish-Irish tennis player (d. 1905)
    • 1870 – Leopold Godowsky, Polish-American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
    • 1873 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (d. 1938)
    • 1876 – Fritz Buelow, German-American baseball player and umpire (d. 1933)
    • 1879 – Sarojini Naidu, Indian poet and activist (d. 1949)
    • 1880 – Dimitrie Gusti, Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1955)
    • 1881 – Eleanor Farjeon, Jewish-English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1965)
    • 1883 – Hal Chase, American baseball player and manager (d. 1947)
    • 1883 – Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Russian-Armenian actor and director (d. 1922)
    • 1884 – Alfred Carlton Gilbert, American pole vaulter and businessman, founded the A. C. Gilbert Company (d. 1961)
    • 1885 – Bess Truman, American wife of Harry S. Truman, 35th First Lady of the United States (d. 1982)
    • 1887 – Géza Csáth, Hungarian playwright and critic (d. 1919)
    • 1888 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek lawyer, economist, and politician, 162nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
    • 1889 – Leontine Sagan, Austrian actress and director (d. 1974)
    • 1891 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (d. 1985)
    • 1891 – Grant Wood, American painter and academic (d. 1942)
    • 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
    • 1898 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (d. 1979)
    • 1900 – Barbara von Annenkoff, Russian-born German film and stage actress (d. 1979)
    • 1901 – Paul Lazarsfeld, Austrian-American sociologist and academic (d. 1976)
    • 1902 – Harold Lasswell, American political scientist and theorist (d. 1978)
    • 1903 – Georgy Beriev, Georgian-Russian engineer, founded the Beriev Aircraft Company (d. 1979)
    • 1903 – Georges Simenon, Belgian-Swiss author (d. 1989)
    • 1906 – Agostinho da Silva, Portuguese philosopher and author (d. 1994)
    • 1907 – Katy de la Cruz, Filipino-American singer and actress (d. 2004)
    • 1910 – William Shockley, English-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
    • 1911 – Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Indian-Pakistani poet and journalist (d. 1984)
    • 1911 – Jean Muir, American actress and educator (d. 1996)
    • 1912 – Harald Riipalu, Russian-Estonian commander (d. 1961)
    • 1912 – Margaretta Scott, English actress (d. 2005)
    • 1913 – Khalid of Saudi Arabia (d. 1982)
    • 1915 – Lyle Bettger, American actor (d. 2003)
    • 1915 – Aung San, Burmese general and politician, 5th Premier of British Crown Colony of Burma (d. 1947)
    • 1916 – Dorothy Bliss, American invertebrate zoologist (d. 1987)
    • 1919 – Tennessee Ernie Ford, American singer and actor (d. 1991)
    • 1919 – Eddie Robinson, American football player and coach (d. 2007)
    • 1920 – Boudleaux Bryant, American songwriter (d. 1987)
    • 1920 – Eileen Farrell, American soprano and educator (d. 2002)
    • 1921 – Jeanne Demessieux, French pianist and composer (d. 1968)
    • 1921 – Aung Khin, Burmese painter (d. 1996)
    • 1922 – Francis Pym, Baron Pym, Welsh soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 2008)
    • 1922 – Gordon Tullock, American economist and academic (d. 2014)
    • 1923 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American soldier, judge, and politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (d. 2002)
    • 1923 – Chuck Yeager, American general and pilot; first test pilot to break the sound barrier
    • 1924 – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, French journalist and politician (d. 2006)
    • 1926 – Fay Ajzenberg-Selove, American nuclear physicist (d. 2012)
    • 1928 – Gerald Regan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 19th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
    • 1929 – Omar Torrijos, Panamanian commander and politician, Military Leader of Panama (d. 1981)
    • 1930 – Ernst Fuchs, Austrian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2015)
    • 1930 – Israel Kirzner, English-American economist, author, and academic
    • 1932 – Susan Oliver, American actress (d. 1990)
    • 1933 – Paul Biya, Cameroon politician, 2nd President of Cameroon
    • 1933 – Kim Novak, American actress
    • 1933 – Emanuel Ungaro, French fashion designer (d. 2019)
    • 1934 – George Segal, American actor
    • 1937 – Ali El-Maak, Sudanese author and academic (d. 1992)
    • 1937 – Angelo Mosca, American-Canadian football player and wrestler
    • 1938 – Oliver Reed, English actor (d. 1999)
    • 1940 – Bram Peper, Dutch sociologist and politician, Mayor of Rotterdam
    • 1941 – Sigmar Polke, German painter and photographer (d. 2010)
    • 1941 – Bo Svenson, Swedish-American actor, director, and producer
    • 1942 – Carol Lynley, American model and actress (d. 2019)
    • 1942 – Peter Tork, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor (d. 2019)
    • 1942 – Donald E. Williams, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2016)
    • 1943 – Elaine Pagels, American theologian and academic
    • 1944 – Stockard Channing, American actress
    • 1944 – Jerry Springer, English-American television host, actor, and politician, 56th Mayor of Cincinnati
    • 1945 – Marian Dawkins, English biologist and academic
    • 1945 – King Floyd, American singer-songwriter (d. 2006)
    • 1945 – Simon Schama, English historian and author
    • 1945 – William Sleator, American author and composer (d. 2011)
    • 1946 – Richard Blumenthal, American sergeant and politician, 23rd Attorney General of Connecticut
    • 1946 – Janet Finch, English sociologist and academic
    • 1946 – Colin Matthews, English composer and educator
    • 1947 – Stephen Hadley, American soldier and diplomat, 21st United States National Security Advisor
    • 1947 – Mike Krzyzewski, American basketball player and coach
    • 1947 – Bogdan Tanjević, Montenegrin-Bosnian professional basketball coach
    • 1947 – Kevin Bloody Wilson, Australian comedian, singer-songwriter, and guitarist
    • 1949 – Peter Kern, Austrian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
    • 1950 – Vera Baird, English lawyer and politician
    • 1950 – Peter Gabriel, English singer-songwriter and musician
    • 1952 – Ed Gagliardi, American bass player (d. 2014)
    • 1953 – Akio Sato, Japanese wrestler and manager
    • 1954 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
    • 1955 – Joe Birkett, American lawyer, judge, and politician
    • 1956 – Peter Hook, English singer, songwriter, bass player, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer
    • 1957 – Denise Austin, American fitness trainer and author
    • 1958 – Pernilla August, Swedish actress
    • 1958 – Marc Emery, Canadian publisher and activist
    • 1958 – Jean-François Lisée, Canadian journalist and politician
    • 1958 – Derek Riggs, English painter and illustrator
    • 1958 – Øivind Elgenes, Norwegian vocalist, guitarist and composer
    • 1959 – Gaston Gingras, Canadian ice hockey player
    • 1960 – Pierluigi Collina, Italian footballer and referee
    • 1960 – John Healey, English journalist and politician
    • 1960 – Gary Patterson, American football player and coach
    • 1960 – Artur Yusupov, Russian-German chess player and author
    • 1961 – Marc Crawford, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
    • 1961 – cEvin Key, Canadian singer-songwriter, drummer, keyboard player, and producer
    • 1961 – Henry Rollins, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
    • 1962 – Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Puerto Rican lawyer and politician
    • 1962 – Baby Doll, American wrestler and manager
    • 1962 – Michele Greene, American actress
    • 1964 – Stephen Bowen, American engineer, captain, and astronaut
    • 1964 – Ylva Johansson, Swedish educator and politician, Swedish Minister of Employment
    • 1965 – Peter O’Neill, Papua New Guinean accountant and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
    • 1966 – Neal McDonough, American actor and producer
    • 1966 – Jeff Waters, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
    • 1966 – Freedom Williams, American rapper and singer
    • 1967 – Stanimir Stoilov, Bulgarian footballer and coach
    • 1968 – Kelly Hu, American actress
    • 1969 – Joyce DiDonato, American soprano and actress
    • 1970 – Karoline Krüger, Norwegian singer-songwriter and pianist
    • 1971 – Sonia Evans, English singer-songwriter
    • 1971 – Mats Sundin, Swedish ice hockey player
    • 1971 – Todd Williams, American baseball player
    • 1972 – Virgilijus Alekna, Lithuanian discus thrower
    • 1972 – Charlie Garner, American football player
    • 1974 – Fonzworth Bentley, American rapper and actor
    • 1974 – Robbie Williams, English singer-songwriter
    • 1975 – Ben Collins, English race car driver
    • 1975 – Katie Hopkins, English media personality and columnist
    • 1976 – Jörg Bergmeister, German race car driver
    • 1976 – Shannon Nevin, Australian rugby league player
    • 1977 – Randy Moss, American football player and coach
    • 1978 – Niklas Bäckström, Finnish ice hockey player
    • 1978 – Philippe Jaroussky, French countertenor
    • 1979 – Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian murderer
    • 1979 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
    • 1979 – Rachel Reeves, English economist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
    • 1979 – Mena Suvari, American actress and fashion designer
    • 1980 – Carlos Cotto, Puerto Rican-American wrestler and boxer
    • 1981 – Luisão, Brazilian footballer
    • 1982 – Even Helte Hermansen, Norwegian guitarist and composer
    • 1982 – Michael Turner, American football player
    • 1983 – Mike Nickeas, Canadian baseball player
    • 1983 – Anna Watkins, English rower
    • 1984 – Hinkelien Schreuder, Dutch swimmer
    • 1985 – Kwak Ji-min, South Korean actress
    • 1986 – Luke Moore, English footballer
    • 1986 – Aqib Talib, American football player
    • 1987 – Eljero Elia, Dutch footballer
    • 1988 – Ryan Goins, American baseball player
    • 1988 – Eddy Pettybourne, New Zealand-Samoan rugby league player
    • 1989 – Rodrigo Possebon, Brazilian footballer
    • 1991 – Eliaquim Mangala, French footballer
    • 1991 – Junior Roqica, Australian-Fijian rugby league player
    • 1991 – Vianney, French singer
    • 1994 – Memphis Depay, Dutch footballer

    Deaths on February 13

    • 106 – Emperor He of Han (Han Hedi) of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty (b. AD 79)
    • 721 – Chilperic II, Frankish king (b. 672)
    • 858 – Kenneth MacAlpin, Scottish king (probable; b. 810)
    • 921 – Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia
    • 936 – Xiao Wen, empress of the Liao Dynasty
    • 942 – Muhammad ibn Ra’iq, Abbasid emir and regent
    • 988 – Adalbert Atto, Lombard nobleman
    • 1021 – Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, Fatimid caliph (b. 985)
    • 1130 – Honorius II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1060
    • 1141 – Béla II, king of Hungary and Croatia (b. 1110)
    • 1199 – Stefan Nemanja, Serbian grand prince (b. 1113)
    • 1219 – Minamoto no Sanetomo, Japanese shōgun (b. 1192)
    • 1332 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1259)
    • 1351 – Kō no Morofuyu, Japanese general
    • 1539 – Isabella d’Este, Italian noblewoman (b. 1474)
    • 1542 – Catherine Howard, English wife of Henry VIII of England (executed;b. 1521)
    • 1571 – Benvenuto Cellini, Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1500)
    • 1585 – Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish priest and scholar (b. 1515)
    • 1602 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman and theologian (b. 1507)
    • 1660 – Charles X Gustav, king of Sweden (b. 1622)
    • 1662 – Elizabeth Stuart, queen of Bohemia (b. 1596)
    • 1693 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (b. 1627)
    • 1727 – William Wotton, English linguist and scholar (b. 1666)
    • 1728 – Cotton Mather, American minister and author (b. 1663)
    • 1732 – Charles-René d’Hozier, French historian and author (b. 1640)
    • 1741 – Johann Joseph Fux, Austrian composer and theorist (b. 1660)
    • 1787 – Roger Joseph Boscovich, Croatian physicist, astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1711)
    • 1787 – Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, French lawyer and politician, Foreign Minister of France (b. 1717)
    • 1813 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1725)
    • 1818 – George Rogers Clark, American general (b. 1752)
    • 1826 – Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general and politician, Governor-General of Baltic provinces (b. 1745)
    • 1831 – Edward Berry, English admiral (b. 1768)
    • 1837 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (b. 1809)
    • 1845 – Henrik Steffens, Norwegian-German philosopher and poet (b. 1773)
    • 1877 – Costache Caragiale, Romanian actor and manager (b. 1815)
    • 1883 – Richard Wagner, German composer (b. 1813)
    • 1888 – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, French-American archbishop (b. 1814)
    • 1892 – Provo Wallis, Canadian-English admiral (b. 1791)
    • 1893 – Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, Mexican intellectual and journalist (b. 1834)
    • 1905 – Konstantin Savitsky, Russian painter (b. 1844)
    • 1906 – Albert Gottschalk, Danish painter (b. 1866)
    • 1934 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (b. 1864)
    • 1942 – Otakar Batlička, Czech journalist (b. 1895)
    • 1942 – Epitácio Pessoa, Brazilian lawyer, judge, and politician, 11th President of Brazil (b. 1865)
    • 1950 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (b. 1875)
    • 1951 – Lloyd C. Douglas, American minister and author (b. 1877)
    • 1952 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (b. 1896)
    • 1954 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1890)
    • 1956 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish mathematician and philosopher (b. 1878)
    • 1958 – Christabel Pankhurst, English activist, co-founded the Women’s Social and Political Union (b. 1880)
    • 1958 – Georges Rouault, French painter and illustrator (b. 1871)
    • 1964 – Paulino Alcántara, Filipino-Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1896)
    • 1964 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (b. 1902)
    • 1967 – Yoshisuke Aikawa, entrepreneur, businessman, and politician, founded Nissan Motor Company (b. 1880)
    • 1967 – Abelardo L. Rodríguez, substitute president of Mexico (1932-1934) (b. 1889)
    • 1968 – Mae Marsh, American actress (b. 1895)
    • 1968 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (b. 1911)
    • 1973 – Marinus Jan Granpré Molière, Dutch architect and educator (b. 1883)
    • 1975 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)
    • 1976 – Murtala Mohammed, Nigerian general and politician, 4th President of Nigeria (b. 1938)
    • 1976 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (b. 1904)
    • 1980 – David Janssen, American actor (b. 1931)
    • 1984 – Cheong Eak Chong, Singaporean entrepreneur (b. 1888)
    • 1986 – Yuri Ivask, Russian-American poet and critic (b. 1907)
    • 1989 – Wayne Hays, American lieutenant and politician (b. 1911)
    • 1991 – Arno Breker, German sculptor and illustrator (b. 1900)
    • 1992 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and physicist (b. 1909)
    • 1996 – Martin Balsam, American actor (b. 1919)
    • 1997 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman (b. 1906)
    • 1997 – Mark Krasnosel’skii, Russian-Ukrainian mathematician and academic (b. 1920)
    • 2000 – Anders Aalborg, Canadian educator and politician (b. 1914)
    • 2000 – James Cooke Brown, American sociologist and author (b. 1921)
    • 2000 – John Leake, English soldier (b. 1949)
    • 2002 – Waylon Jennings, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1937)
    • 2003 – Kid Gavilán, Cuban-American boxer (b. 1926)
    • 2003 – Walt Whitman Rostow, American economist; 7th United States National Security Advisor (b. 1916)
    • 2004 – François Tavenas, Canadian engineer and academic (b. 1942)
    • 2004 – Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev, Chechen politician, 2nd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (b. 1952)
    • 2005 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1943)
    • 2005 – Lúcia Santos, Portuguese nun (b. 1907)
    • 2006 – P. F. Strawson, English philosopher and author (b. 1919)
    • 2007 – Elizabeth Jolley, English-Australian author and academic (b. 1923)
    • 2007 – Charlie Norwood, American captain and politician (b. 1941)
    • 2007 – Richard Gordon Wakeford, English air marshal (b. 1922)
    • 2008 – Kon Ichikawa, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1915)
    • 2009 – Edward Upward, English author and educator (b. 1903)
    • 2010 – Lucille Clifton, American poet and academic (b. 1936)
    • 2010 – Dale Hawkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1936)
    • 2012 – Russell Arms, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
    • 2012 – Louise Cochrane, American-English screenwriter and producer (b. 1918)
    • 2012 – Daniel C. Gerould, American playwright and academic (b. 1928)
    • 2013 – Gerry Day, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1922)
    • 2013 – Miles J. Jones, American pathologist and physician (b. 1952)
    • 2013 – Pieter Kooijmans, Dutch judge and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for The Netherlands (b. 1933)
    • 2013 – Andrée Malebranche, Haitian artist (b. 1916)
    • 2013 – Yuko Tojo, Japanese activist and politician (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1939)
    • 2014 – Richard Møller Nielsen, Danish footballer and manager (b. 1937)
    • 2014 – Ralph Waite, American actor and activist (b. 1928)
    • 2015 – Faith Bandler, Australian activist and author (b. 1918)
    • 2015 – Stan Chambers, American journalist and actor (b. 1923)
    • 2016 – O. N. V. Kurup, Indian poet and academic (b. 1931)
    • 2016 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and judge, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (b. 1936)
    • 2017 – Ricardo Arias Calderón, Panamanian politician, Vice President (1990–1992) (b. 1933)
    • 2017 – Aileen Hernandez, American union organizer and activist (b. 1926)
    • 2017 – Seijun Suzuki, Japanese filmmaker (b. 1923)
    • 2017 – Kim Jong-nam, North Korean politician (b. 1971)
    • 2017 – E-Dubble, American rapper (b. 1982)
    • 2018 – Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark, French-born Danish royal (b. 1934)

    Holidays and observances on February 13

    • Children’s Day (Myanmar)
    • Christian feast day:
      • Absalom Jones (Episcopal Church (USA))
      • Beatrice of Ornacieux
      • Castor of Karden
      • Catherine of Ricci
      • Ermenilda of Ely
      • Fulcran
      • Jordan of Saxony
      • Polyeuctus (Roman Catholic Church)
      • February 13 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
    • World Radio Day