Events of May 27
1328--Philip VI is crowned King of France.
1813--War of 1812: In Canada, American forces capture Fort George.
1833--Alexander III is crowned Tsar of Russia.
1895--Oscar Wilde is sent to prison for sodomy.
1896--The F4-strength St. Louis-East St. Louis Tornado hits in St. Louis, Missouri and East Saint Louis, Illinois, killing at least 255 people and incurring $2.9 billion in damages (1997USD).
1919--1st transatlantic flight ends; U.S. Navy flying boat takes 11 days
1919--Charles Strite patents pop-up toaster
1936--The RMS Queen Mary begins her maiden voyage.
1937--Carl Hubbell wins his 24th consecutive game (since July 17, 1936)
1937--Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, dedicated
1940--World War II: 97 out of 99 members of a Royal Norfolk Regiment unit are massacred while trying to surrender at Dunkirk. (Le Paradis) The German commander, Captain Fritz Knochlein, is eventually hanged for war crimes.
1974--Jacques Chirac becomes Prime Minister of France.
1980--The Gwangju Massacre: airborne and army troops of South Korea retake the city of Gwangju from civil militias, killing at least 207 and possibly many more.
1995--In Charlottesville, Virginia, actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition.
1941--World War II: The German battleship Bismarck is sunk in the North Atlantic killing 2,300 men.
1996--Chechnya peace treaty signed
1997--The F5-strength Jarrell Tornado slams into the small town of Jarrell, Texas, killing 27 people.
1998--Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
1999--The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.


People Born On May 27

Isadora Duncan (1878-1927), dancer
Christopher Lee, actor
Joseph Fiennes, actor
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes (1971-2002), singer
Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR driver
Todd Bridges, actor
Adam Carolla, TV personality
Louis Gossett, Jr., actor
Ramsey Lewis, Jazz legend
Henry Kissinger, former US Secretary-of-State
Sam Snead (1912-2002), golfing legend
Hubert H. Humphrey (1911-1978), US Vice President under Lyndon Johnson
Vincent Price (1911-1993), actor/horror film legend
Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961), American author of hardboiled detective novels and short stories.
James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok (1837-1876), Gun fighter, Indian scout, Union spy, U.S. Marshal, gambler and actor
André Lauren "André 3000" Benjamin, American musician, singer, songwriter, rapper, hip hop producer, pop producer and actor. Half of the hip hop duo, OutKast

People who died on May 27

Alice Adams (1926-1999), ,American novelist, short story writer, academic and university professor, author of Superior Women
Umberto Agnelli (1934-2004), Business, Chairman of Fiat, 2003-04
Luciano Berio (1925-2003), Composer, Italian Avant-garde composer
Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867), Author, Bullfinch's Mythology
John Calvin (1509-1564), Religion, French Protestant Reformation
Evans F. Carlson (1896-1947), Military, Carlson's Raiders
Gordon Coates (1878-1943), Head of State, Prime Minister of New Zealand, 1925-28
James Montgomery Flagg (1877-1960), Painter, I Want YOU for U.S. Army poster
Paul Gleason (1939-2006), Actor, The Breakfast Club
Jeffrey Hunter (1926-1969), Actor, King of Kings
Frederic Eugene Ives (1856-1937), Inventor, Halftone process
Victor Kiam (1926-2001), Business, Liked it so much, he bought the company (Remington shavers and appliances)
Robert Koch (1843-1910), Doctor, Discovered bacteria that causes tuberculosis
Wiley Mayne (1917-2007), Politician, Congressman from Iowa, 1967-75
Ruth McDevitt (1895-1976), Actor, Pistols 'n' Petticoats
Robert B. Meyner (1908-1990), Politician, Governor of New Jersey, 1954-62
Thomas Münzer (1490-1525), Religion,German Protestant religious fanatic
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), Head of State, First Prime Minister of India
Richard Nugent (1906-1987), Author, Harlem Renaissance writer
Niccolo Paganini (1782-1840), Violinist, Italian violinist and composer
John C. Porter (1872-1959), Politician, Mayor of Los Angeles, 1929-33
Maurice Richard (1921-2000), Hockey, Canadian Hockey player and NHL Hall of Famer
Robert L. Ripley (1890-1949), Curator, Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Kenneth C. Royall (1894-1971), Attorney, US Secretary of the Army, 1947-49
Ernst Ruska (1906-1988), Physicist, Inventor of the electron microscope
Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914), Physicist, Lightbulb, photographic printing
Alex Toth (1928-2006), Cartoonist, Creator of Space Ghost
Werner Stocker, German actor (1955-1993)
Mary Philbin, American actress (b: July 16, 1903 ; d: May 27, 1993)
Uncle Charlie Osborne, American fiddler (1890-1992)
Leopold Nowak, musicologist (1904-1991)
John Howard Northrop, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (1891-1987)
Isma'il Raji' al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and comparative religion scholar (1921-1986)
Srecko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (1904-1926)
Nicolò Paganini (d: May 27, 1840)
Jedediah Smith (d: May 27, 1831)
François-Noël Babeuf, French revolutionary (1760-1797)
Marquise de Montespan (d: May 27, 1707)
Dominique Bouhours (d: May 27, 1702)
Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (1626-1690)
Gaspard Dughet (d: May 27, 1675)
Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll (d: May 27, 1661)
François Ravaillac (d: May 27, 1610)
Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence (1473-1541)
Thomas Muentzer (d: May 27, 1525)
Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan (1452-1508)
John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, English military leader (1404-1444)
Simeon I of Bulgaria (d: May 27, 927)
Ordono I of Asturias (d: May 27, 866)

Events
1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later, without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty.
1142 - With the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah, The Great Peacemaker, the Iroquois tribes establish the Confederation of the Haudenosaunee.
1422 - Henry VI, becomes King of England at the age of 9 months.
1803 - Lewis and Clark start their expedition from Pittsburgh at 11 o clock in the morning.
1864 - During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1876 - Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
1886 - Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina.
1888 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's known victims.
1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
1907 - Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the Triple Entente alliance.
1914 - Ecuador becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1915 - Brazil becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
1920 - Polish-Bolshevik War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
1920 - First radio news program broadcast by station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.
1939 - Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on Gleiwitz radio station, giving them an excuse to attack Poland the following day, starting World War II in Europe.
1942 - In Ternopil, western Ukraine, at 4.30 am, German SS organise the first deportation of Jews from Ternopil ghetto to death camp in Belzec, about 5,000 Jews were deported to face death in Belzec. When the Germans captured Ternopil, about 18,000 Jews lived in the city.
1943 - The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for a black person, is commissioned.
1945 - The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.
1948 - Actor Robert Mitchum was arrested in a Hollywood drug raid. He would later be found guilty of criminal conspiracy to possess marijuana and was sentenced to 60 days in prison.
1957 - The Federation of Malaya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1962 - Trinidad and Tobago become independent.
1963 - Walter Cronkite began his stint as anchor of the CBS Evening News.
1965 - The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Aircraft makes its first flight.
1968 - Garfield Sobers becomes the first cricketer to hit 6 sixes in one over.
1978 - William and Emily Harris, founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, plead guilty to the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
1980 - The Gdańsk Agreement is signed.
1986 - Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.
1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 - Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo .
1994 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Al-Fayed die as a result of a car crash in Paris.
1998 - North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.
1999 - The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others.
1999 - A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground.
2002 - Morecambe FC experienced their highest away win in their history, 15-0 against Guisely.
2005 - A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people.
2006 - Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream was recovered from a raid by Norwegian police. The paintings were said to be in a better-than-expected condition.

Births
12 - Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
161 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (d. 192)
1569 - Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1627)
1602 – Amalia von Solms, countess of Solms-Braunfels (d. 1675)
1663 - Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (d. 1705)
1721 - George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, British statesman (d. 1775)
1741 - Jean Paul Egide Martini, French composer (d. 1816)
1811 - Theophile Gautier, French poet and novelist (d. 1872)
1821 - Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician (d. 1894)
1822 - Galusha A. Grow, American politician (d. 1907)
1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (d. 1886)
1843 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1919)
1870 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (d. 1952)
1871 - James E. Ferguson, Texan governor (d. 1944)
1878 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
1879 - Alma Mahler, wife of Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius and Franz Werfel (d. 1964)
1880 - Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands (d. 1962)
1885 - DuBose Heyward, American playwright (d. 1940)
1893 - Lily Laskine, French harpist (d. 1988)
1896 - Félix-Antoine Savard, French-Canadian priest and novelist (d. 1982)
1897 - Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)
1900 - Gino Lucetti, Italian anarchist (d. 1943)
1903 - Arthur Godfrey, American television host (d. 1983)
1903 - Vladimir Jankélévitch, French philosopher (d. 1985)
1905 - Sanford Meisner, American actor and teacher (d. 1997)
1907 - Augustus F. Hawkins, American politician and civil rights lawmaker (d. 2007)
1907 - Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino politician (d. 1957)
1907 - William Shawn, American editor (d. 1992)
1907 - Altiero Spinelli, Italian citizen and advocate of European federalism (d. 1986)
1908 - William Saroyan, American novelist (d. 1981)
1913 - Sir Bernard Lovell, English radio astronomer
1914 - Richard Basehart, American actor (d. 1984)
1916 - Daniel Schorr, American journalist
1918 - Alan Jay Lerner, American lyricist (d. 1986)
1919 - Amrita Preetam, Indian poetess and author (d. 2005)
1924 - Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (d. 2003)
1927 - Bill Daily, American actor and comedian
1928 - James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)
1931 - Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
1931 - Jean Béliveau, Canadian ice hockey player
1934 - Nikos Xanthopoulos, Greek actor
1935 - Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager
1935 - Eldridge Cleaver, American political activist (d. 1998)
1937 - Warren Berlinger, American actor
1937 - Bobby Parker, American blues musician/guitarist
1938 - Martin Bell, British journalist
1938 - Murray Gleeson, Australian Jurist, Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia (b. 1938
1939 - Jerry Allison, American drummer (The Crickets)
1941 - William DeWitt, Jr., American businessman
1944 - Roger Dean, British artist
1945 - Van Morrison, Northern Irish musician
1945 - Itzhak Perlman, Israeli violinist
1946 - Jerome Corsi, American writer
1947 - Mona Marshall, American voice actress
1947 - Yumiko Ōshima, Japanese manga artist
1947 - Luca di Montezemolo, Italian businessman
1948 - Lowell Ganz, American screenwriter
1948 - Rudolf Schenker, German guitarist (Scorpions)
1948 - Harald Ertl, Austrian racing driver (d. 1982)
1948 - Holger Osieck, German footballer and coach
1949 - Richard Gere, American actor
1949 - H. David Politzer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1952 - Herbert Reul, German politician
1953 - György Károly, Hungarian author
1953 - Miguel Ángel Guerra, Argentine racing driver
1953 - Pavel Vinogradov, Russian cosmonaut
1954 - Julie Brown, American actress, singer-songwriter and screenwriter
1954 - Caroline Cossey, English model
1955 - Edwin Moses, American athlete
1956 - Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer
1957 - Gina Schock, American drummer (The Go-Go's)
1957 - Glenn Tilbrook, British musician (Squeeze)
1958 - Serge Blanco, French rugby footballer
1959 - Ralph Krueger, German-Canadian ice hockey coach
1960 - Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hizballah
1960 - Chris Whitley, American musician (d. 2005)
1960 - Vali Ionescu, Rumanian long jumper
1962 - Dee Bradley Baker, American voice actor
1963 - Reb Beach, American guitarist (Winger, Whitesnake)
1963 - Todd Carty, Irish actor
1963 - Sonny Silooy, Dutch football player
1964 - Raymond P. Hammond, American poet and editor
1965 - Céline Bonnier, Quebec actress
1965 - Daniel Bernhardt, Swiss actor
1966 - Jan Einar Thorsen, Norwegian Alpine skier
1967 - Anita Moen, Norwegian Cross-country skier
1968 - Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player
1969 - Jonathan LaPaglia, Australian actor
1969 - Nathalie Bouvier, French alpine skier
1970 - Deborah Gibson, American singer
1970 - Queen Rania, Queen of Jordan
1970 - Zack Ward, Canadian actor
1970 - Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer
1971 - Pádraig Harrington, Irish professional golfer
1972 - Chris Tucker, American actor
1973 - Scott Niedermayer, hockey player
1974 - Andriy Medvedev, Ukrainian tennis player
1975 - Daniel Harding, British conductor
1975 - Gabe Kapler, American baseball player and manager
1975 - Sara Ramirez, American actress
1975 - John Grahame, American-born Canadian hockey player
1976 - Radek Martinek, Czechoslovakian ice hockey player
1976 - Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer
1976 - Vincent Delerm, French singer-songwriter, pianist and composer
1977 - Jeff Hardy, American professional wrestler
1977 - Ian Harte, Irish footballer
1977 - Craig Nicholls, Australian musician (The Vines)
1978 - Phina Oruche, British actress
1978 - Philippe Christanval, French footballer
1979 - Clay Hensley, professional baseball player
1979 - Mickie James, American professional wrestler
1979 - Mark Johnston, Canadian swimmer
1979 - Simon Neil, Scottish musician (Biffy Clyro)
1979 - Ramón Santiago, Dominican baseball player
1980 - Joe Budden, American rapper
1981 - Joe Swanberg, American filmmaker
1981 - 40 Cal, American rapper
1981 - Dwayne Peel, Welsh International rugby player
1982 - Ian Crocker, American swimmer
1982 - Chris Duhon, American basketball player
1982 - Josh Kroeger, American baseball player
1982 - Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-born ice hockey player
1982 - Jose Reina, Spanish footballer
1982 - Michele Rugolo, Italian racing driver
1982 - Patrick Nuo, Swiss singer
1983 - Larry Fitzgerald, American football player
1984 - Ted Ligety, American alpine skier
1984 - Matti Breschel, Danish road bicycle racer
1984 - Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer
1987 - Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer

Deaths
651 - Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish bishop and missionary
683 - Pacal II ruler of the Maya polity of Palenque
1056 - Theodora, Byzantine Empress (b. 981)
1234 - Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (b. 1212)
1372 - Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, English soldier (b. 1301)
1422 - King Henry V of England (b. 1387)
1645 - Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet (b. 1566)
1654 - Ole Worm, Danish physician (b. 1588)
1688 - John Bunyan, English writer (b. 1628)
1730 - Gottfried Finger, Czech composer (b. 1660?)
1741 - Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist (b. 1681)
1772 - William Borlase, English naturalist (b. 1695)
1795 - François-André Danican Philidor, French chess player (b. 1726)
1799 - Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (b. 1720)
1814 - Arthur Phillip, British admiral, first Governor of New South Wales (b. 1738)
1867 - Charles Baudelaire, French poet (b. 1821)
1869 - Mary Ward, Irish scientist, first automobile accident victim (b. 1827)
1888 - Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, widely believed to be the first victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1845)
1920 - Wilhelm Wundt, German psychologist (b. 1832)
1940 - Georges Gauthier, French Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop of Montreal (b. 1871)
1941 - Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (b. 1892)
1948 - Billy Laughlin, American actor (b. 1932)
1952 - Henri Bourassa, French Canadian political leader (b. 1868)
1963 - Georges Braque, French painter (b. 1882)
1967 - Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer (b. 1891)
1969 - Rocky Marciano, American boxer (b. 1923)
1973 - John Ford, American film director (b. 1894)
1974 - William Pershing Benedict, American pilot
1974 - Norman Kirk, New Zealand prime minister (b. 1923)
1978 - John Wrathall, President of Rhodesia (b. 1913)
1979 - Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (b. 1904)
1985 - Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian biologist, Nobel laureate (b. 1899)
1986 - Henry Moore, English sculptor (b. 1898)
1986 - Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland (b. 1900)
1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
1997 - Dodi Al-Fayed, film producer (b. 1955)
2002 - Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player (b. 1908)
2002 - George Porter, English chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1920)
2004 - Carl Wayne, English singer (b. 1943)
2005 - Joseph Rotblat, Polish-British physicist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1908)
2005 - Michael Sheard, British actor (b. 1940)
2006 - Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (b. 1983)
2006 - Tom Delaney, British racing driver (b. 1911)
2007 - Gay Brewer, American golfer (b. 1932)

Holidays and observances
Roman Catholic Saints - Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, Saint Abundius, Saint Raymond Nonnatus
Poland, Europe - Day of Solidarity and Freedom, on the anniversary of August Agreement from 1980
Moldova: Day of Our Language (Limba Noastra).
Malaysia - Hari Merdeka, a National Day (independence within the Commonwealth, 1957).
Kyrgyzstan - Independence Day (from USSR, 1991).
Trinidad and Tobago - Independence Day (from United Kingdom, 1962).

Events

1531 - Huldrych Zwingli is killed in battle with the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland.
1582 - Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, often causing widespread panic to the natives.
1614 - Adriaen Block and 12 Amsterdam merchants petition the States General for exclusive trading rights in the New Netherland colony.
1634 - the Burchardi flood — "the second Grote Mandrenke" killed around 15,000 men in North Friesland, Denmark and Germany.
1776 - American Revolution: Battle of Valcour Island - On Lake Champlain 15 American gunboats are defeated but give Patriot forces enough time to prepare defenses of New York City.
1809 - Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.
1811 - Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).
1852 - The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
1862 - American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
1864 - Campina Grande, Brazil was established as a city.
1865 - Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.
1890 - In Washington, DC, the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
1899 - Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts. The Western League was renamed the American League.
1906 - San Francisco public school board sparks United States diplomatic crisis with Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
1910 - Ex-president Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright Brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert-St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.
1918 - Major Tsumani shakes Caribbean
1929 - JC Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.
1930 - Collingwood Football Club in Melbourne, Australia, won the VFL premiership for the fourth consecutive year.
1941 - Beginning of the National Liberation War of Macedonia.
1942 - World War II: Battle of Cape Esperance - On the northwest coast of Guadalcanal, United States Navy ships intercept and defeat a Japanese fleet on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
1944 - Tuvinian People's Republic or formerly Tannu Tuva was annexed by the U.S.S.R
1950 - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission issues the first license to broadcast television in color, to CBS (RCA will successfully dispute and block the license from taking effect, however, in an attempt to refine the psycotropic effects).
1954 - First Indochina War: The Viet Minh take control of North Vietnam.
1957 The Orbit of the last stage of the R-7 Semyorka rocket carrying Sputnik I was first successfully calculated on an IBM 704 computer by teams at The M.I.T. Computation Center and Operation Moonwatch, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1958 - Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).
1962 - Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
1967 - Afghan Prime Minister Mohammad Hashim Maiwandwal resigns for health reasons
1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 7, the first successful manned Apollo mission, with astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn F. Eisele and Walter Cunningham aboard.
1975 - The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Janis Ian and Billy Preston as musical guests.
1976 - George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 was approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
1982 - The Mary Rose, a Tudor gunship which sunk on July 18 1545, is raised from the sea bed in the Solent Channel, near Portsmouth.
1984 - Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
1986 - Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. Gorbachev allegedly arrived to the talks drunk and pantsless
1987 - March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights attracts an estimated 200,000 people to protest the Bowers v. Hardwick decision and the U.S. government's handling of the AIDS epidemic; first public display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.
1998 - A Congo Airlines Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 40 niggers and a hamster.
2000 - The 100th Space Shuttle mission (STS-92) is flown.
2001 - The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
2002 - A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven. Mayor fired for describing the event as 'hilarious'.

Births

1335 - Taejo of Joseon, ruler of Korea (d. 1408)
1616 - Andreas Gryphius, German writer (d. 1664)
1661 - Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (d. 1742)
1671 - Frederick IV of Denmark (d. 1730)
1671 - Richard Moungler (d. 1730)
1672 - Pylyp Orlyk, Ukrainian Zaporozhian Cossack starshina, diplomat (d. 1742)
1675 - Samuel Clarke, English philosopher (d. 1729)
1738 - Arthur Phillip, Governor of New South Wales (d. 1814)
1758 - Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers, German astronomer (d. 1840)
1786 - Stevenson Archer, American Congressman (d. 1848)
1788 - Simon Sechter, Austrian music teacher (d. 1867)
1814 - Jean Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe (d. 1888)
1815 - Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, Italian-born adventurer (d. 1881)
1821 - George Williams, English founder of the YMCA (d. 1905)
1844 - Henry Heinz, American food manufacturer (d. 1916)
1865 - Hans E. Kinck, Norwegian author and philologist (d. 1926)
1871 - Johan Oscar Smith, Norweigian religious leader (d. 1943)
1872 - Harlan Fiske Stone, 12th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1946)
1881 - Hans Kelsen, Austrian legal theorist (d. 1973)
1884 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1949)
1884 - Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (d. 1962)
1884 - Sig Ruman, German-American actor (d. 1967)
1885 - François Mauriac, French author, Nobel laureate (d. 1970)
1895 - Jakov Gotovac, Croatian composer (d. 1982)
1897 - Nathan Twining, USAF general (d. 1982)
1899 - Eddie Dyer, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1902 - Jayaprakash Narayan, Indian freedom fighter and political leader (d. 1979)
1905 - Fred Trump, American real estate developer, father of Donald Trump (d. 1999)
1918 - Jerome Robbins, American choreographer (d. 1998)
1919 - Art Blakey, American jazz drummer (d. 1990)
1919 - Jean Vander Pyl, American voice actress (d. 1999)
1924 - Mal Whitfield, American athlete
1925 - Elmore Leonard, American novelist
1926 - Neville Wran, Premier of New South Wales
1926 - Nhất Hạnh, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk
1927 - Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium (d. 2005)
1928 - Alfonso de Portago, Spanish race car driver (d. 1957)
1929 - Liselotte Pulver, Swiss actress
1930 - Sam Johnson, American politician
1930 - LaVell Edwards, American football coach
1932 - Dottie West, American singer (d. 1991)
1936 - Billy Higgins, American jazz drummer (d. 2001)
1937 - Sir Bobby Charlton, English footballer
1937 - R. H. W. Dillard, American poet
1939 - Maria Bueno, Brazilian tennis player
1939 - Austin Currie, Northern Irish politician
1941 - Lester Bowie, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1999)
1941 - Charles Shyer, American film director
1942 - Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
1943 - John Nettles, English actor
1944 - Mike Fiore, American baseball player
1944 - Rodney Marsh, English Footballer
1946 - Sawao Kato, Japanese gymnast
1946 - Oba Chandler, American convicted murderer
1946 - Daryl Hall, American musician
1946 - Gary Mallaber, American musician (The Steve Miller Band)
1947 - Al Atkins, English musician
1947 - Lucas Papademos, Greek economist
1947 - Thomas Boswell, American sports columnist
1948 - Cecilia, Spanish singer-songwriter
1951 - Jean-Jacques Goldman, French singer/songwriter
1953 - David Morse, American actor
1956 - Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay
1957 - Paul Bown, English actor
1957 - Dawn French, Welsh comedian
1959 - Wayne Gardner, Australian racing driver
1960 - Curt Ford, American baseball player
1961 - Neil Buchanan, English television presenter
1961 - Amr Diab, Egyptian singer
1961 - Steve Young, American football player
1962 - Nicola Bryant, English actress
1962 - Joan Cusack, American actress
1963 - Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein of Jordan
1963 - Ronny Rosenthal, Israeli footballer
1964 - Michael J. Nelson, American actor
1965 - Alexander Hacke, German musician (Einstürzende Neubauten)
1965 - Sean Patrick Flanery, American actor
1966 - Solofa Fatu, aka Rikishi, American professional wrestler
1966 - Luke Perry, American actor
1967 - Tony Chimel, American professional wrestling announcer
1967 - Artie Lange, American actor and comedian
1967 - David Starr, American race car driver
1967 - Tazz, American professional wrestler and commentator
1968 - Claude Lapointe, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Jane Krakowski, American actress
1969 - Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
1970 - Chidi Ahanotu, American football player
1970 - Andy Marriott, English footballer
1970 - MC Lyte, American rapper
1970 - U-God, American rapper (Wu-Tang Clan)
1970 - Constance Zimmer, American actress
1971 - Petra Haden, American musician (The Rentals)
1971 - Jason Ellis, Australian professional skateboarder
1972 - Claudia Black, Australian actress
1973 - Takeshi Kaneshiro, actor/model
1973 - Steven Pressley, Scottish footballer
1973 - Mike Smith, American guitarist (Snot, Limp Bizkit)
1973 - Dmitri Young, American baseball player
1973 - Niki Xanthou, Greek long jumper
1974 - Jason Arnott, Canadian ice hockey player
1974 - Terje Haakonsen, Norwegian snowboarder
1976 - Emily Deschanel, American actress
1976 - Brent Bennett, American mercenary
1977 - Matthew Bomer, American actor
1977 - Desmond Mason, American basketball player
1977 - Claudia Palacios, Colombian television journalist
1977 - Ty Wigginton, American baseball player
1978 - Kali, Angolan footballer
1979 - Bae Doona, South Korean model and actress
1979 - Andy Douglas, American professional wrestler
1979 - Gabe Saporta, Uruguayan-born American musician (Cobra Starship, Midtown)
1980 - Nyron Nosworthy, English footballer
1981 - Beau Brady, Australian Actor
1983 - William Sledd, American internet personality
1983 - Ruslan Ponomariov, Ukrainian chess player
1984 - Sergio Hellings, Dutch footballer
1984 - Martha MacIsaac, Canadian actress
1985 - Michelle Trachtenberg, American actress
1987 - Mike Conley, Jr., American basketball player
1987 - Mark Zito, American entertainer
1989 - Michelle Wie, American golfer
1991 - Chauncey Matthews, American Juniors singer
1995 - Princess Luisa Maria of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este

Deaths

1188 - Robert I of Dreux, son of Louis VI of France
1303 - Pope Boniface VIII
1347 - Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1282)
1424 - Jan Zizka, leader of the Hussites (b. 1370)
1531 - Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss Protestant leader (b. 1484)
1705 - Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (b. 1663)
1708 - Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, German mathematician (b. 1651)
1721 - Edward Colston, English merchant and philanthropist (b. 1636)
1725 - Hans Herr, Swiss-born Mennonite bishop (b. 1639)
1779 - Kazimierz Pułaski, Polish fighter for American independence (b. 1745)
1809 - Meriwether Lewis, American explorer (b. 1774)
1811 - Johann Conrad Ammann, Swiss physician and naturalist (b. 1724)
1821 - John Ross Key, American judge and lawyer (b. 1754)
1852 - Ferdinand Eisenstein, German mathematician (b. 1823)
1889 - James Prescott Joule, English physicist (b. 1818)
1896 - Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer (b. 1824)
1896 - Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1829)
1935 - Steele Rudd, Australian author (b. 1868)
1940 - Lluís Companys, President of Generalitat of Catalonia (shot) (b. 1882)
1940 - Vito Volterra, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1860)
1961 - Chico Marx, American comedian (b. 1887)
1963 - Jean Cocteau, French writer (b. 1889)
1963 - Édith Piaf, French singer and actress (b. 1915)
1965 - Dorothea Lange, American photographer (b. 1895)
1965 - Walther Stampfli, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1884)
1971 - Chesty Puller, the most decorated Marine in history (b. 1898)
1976 - Alfredo Bracchi, Italian author (b. 1897)
1977 - MacKinlay Kantor, American author (b. 1904)
1988 - Bonita Granville, American actress (b. 1923)
1989 - M. King Hubbert, American geophysicist (b. 1904)
1991 - Steven Jesse Bernstein, American underground poet (suicide) (b. 1950)
1991 - Redd Foxx, American comedian and actor (b. 1922)
1993 - Jess Thomas, American tenor (b. 1927)
1996 - Lars Ahlfors, Finnish mathematician (b. 1907)
1996 - Joe Morris, C.C., LL.D., Canadian trade unionist (b. 1913)
1996 - Renato Russo, Brazilian rock singer-songwriter (b. 1960)
1998 - Richard Denning, American actor (b. 1914)
2000 - Donald Dewar, First Minister of Scotland (b. 1937)
2002 - Dina Pathak, Indian Actress (b. 1922)
2004 - Keith Miller, Australian sportsman (b. 1919)
2005 - Edward Szczepanik, Polish economist and Prime Minister in exile (b. 1915)
2005 - Shan-ul-Haq Haqqee, Linguist, and writer of Pakistan (b. 1917)
2006 - Cory Lidle, American baseball pitcher (b. 1972)
2006 - Maud Kiepsz, Polish fighter pilot, World War Two, , reported as "hearing some things"
2006 - Howard Kerzner, Chief Executive Officer of Kerzner International (b. 1964)
2006 - Benito Martínez, Cuban who claimed to be the oldest person, died mildly ironically. Family didn't mourn - mostly dead also. (b. ?1880)
2007 - Werner von Trapp, member of the Trapp Family Singers (b. 1915)
2007 - David Lee "Tex" Hill, World War Two fighter pilot, flying ace, 1st American Volunteer Group (b. 1915)

Holidays and observances

Roman Empire - Meditrinalia is held in honor of Meditrina
RC Saints - memorial of the blessed Pope John XXIII; Saints Andronicus, Probus, and Tarachus; Alexander Sauli;
United States - National Coming Out Day
Poland - Water-based Pokemon Appreciation Day
Republic of Macedonia - Revolution Day

Events
240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
1282 - The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
1296 - Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
1814 - Murat issues the Rimini Declaration which would later inspire Italian Unification.
1822 - Florida Territory created in the United States.
1842 - Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation by Dr. Crawford Long.
1844 - One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
1855 - Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas - "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
1856 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War.
1858 - Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser.
1863 - Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
1867 - Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this Seward's Folly.
1870 - Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.
1885 - The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
1909 - The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan & Queens.
1910 - Mississippi Legislature founded The University of Southern Mississippi.
1912 - Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
1939 - The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets the world airspeed record of 463 mph.
1939 - First flight of the Australian C.A.C. CA-16 Wirraway.
1940 - Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking to be the capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna, Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.
1945 - World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 to Americans.
1949 - Riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joined NATO.
1951 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
1954 - Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada.
1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.
1965 - Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
1972 - Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
1979 - Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.
1982 - Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
1997 - Five (channel) Begins broadcasting in the UK
2006 - Marcos Pontes is the first Brazilian astronaut in space.
2006 - UK Terrorism Act 2006 becomes law.

Births
1135 - Maimonedes, philosopher (d. 1204)
1326 - Ivan II of Russia, Grand Duke of Muscovy (d. 1359)
1432 - Mehmed II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1481)
1640 - John Trenchard, English politician (d. 1695)
1739 - Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire Empress (d. 1767)
1746 - Francisco Goya, Spanish painter (d. 1828)
1750 - John Stafford Smith, English composer (d. 1836)
1820 - Anna Sewell, British author (d. 1878)
1844 - Paul Verlaine, French poet (d. 1896)
1853 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (d. 1890)
1857 - Leon Charles Thevenin, French telegraph engineer (d. 1926)
1864 - Franz Oppenheimer, German sociologist (d. 1943)
1879 - Coen de Koning, Dutch ice skater (d. 1954)
1880 - Sean O'Casey, Irish dramatist (d. 1964)
1892 - Fortunato Depero, Italian artist (d. 1960)
1892 - Erhard Milch, German field marshal (d. 1972)
1894 - Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer (d. 1977)
1895 - Jean Giono, French author (d. 1970)
1899 - Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, well known Bengali writer (d. 1970)
1902 - Brooke Astor, American philanthropist (d. 2007)
1902 - Ted Heath, British musician and band leader (d. 1969)
1903 - Countee Cullen, American poet (d. 1946)
1903 - Joy Ridderhof, American missionary (d. 1984)
1904 - Ripper Collins, baseball player (d. 1970)
1905 - Albert Pierrepoint, English executioner (d. 1992)
1907 - Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte, German Luftwaffe Officer (d. 1994)
1910 - Józef Marcinkiewicz, mathematician (d. 1940)
1913 - Marc Davis, American animator (d. 2000)
1913 - Richard Helms, American CIA director (d. 2002)
1913 - Frankie Laine, American singer (d. 2007)
1913 - Censu Tabone, President of Malta
1914 - Sonny Boy Williamson I, American musician (d. 1948)
1919 - McGeorge Bundy, American National Security Advisor (d. 1996)
1922 - Turhan Bey, Turkish actor
1923 - Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (d. 1986)
1926 - Ingvar Kamprad, Swedish entrepreneur
1926 - Werner Torkanowsky, German conductor (d. 1992)
1927 - Peter Marshall, American game show host
1928 - Robert Badinter, French politician
1928 - Tom Sharpe, English satirical author
1929 - Richard Dysart, American actor
1930 - John Astin, American actor
1930 - Rolf Harris, Australian artist and entertainer
1932 - Ted Morgan, Swiss-born writer
1933 - Jean-Claude Brialy, French actor and director (d. 2007)
1935 - Karl Berger, German musicologist and musician
1935 - Willie Galimore, American football player (d. 1964)
1937 - Warren Beatty, American actor and director
1940 - Jerry Lucas, American basketball player
1941 - Graeme Edge, British musician (Moody Blues)
1941 - Wasim Sajjad, President of Pakistan
1943 - Ken Forssi, American musician (Love) (d. 1998)
1945 - Eric Clapton, British guitarist/singer
1945 - Johnnie Walker, British DJ
1947 - Ryszard Kotla, Polish travel writer and activist, tour guide, journalist, academic teacher, engineer
1948 - Mervyn King, British economist
1948 - Eddie Jordan Former owner of Jordan Grand Prix
1949 - Naomi Sims, American fashion model and businesswoman
1949 - Liza Frulla, Quebec politician
1950 - Robbie Coltrane, Scottish actor and comedian
1951 - Yves Séguin, Quebec politician
1952 - Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach
1953 - Cydney Bernard, American film producer
1955 - Randy VanWarmer, American singer and songwriter (d. 2004)
1956 - Bill Butler, Scottish politician
1957 - Paul Reiser, American actor
1958 - Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor
1959 - Peter Ellis, convicted child abuser
1959 - Sabine Meyer, German clarinetist
1961 - Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
1962 - MC Hammer, American rap musician
1962 - Bil Dwyer, American actor
1963 - Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
1964 - Tracy Chapman, American singer
1964 - Vlado Bozinovski, Australian former footballer
1964 - Dave Ellett, Canadian hockey player
1964 - Ian Ziering, American actor
1965 - Piers Morgan, British journalist
1966 - Joey Castillo, American drummer (Queens of the Stone Age)
1966 - Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess grandmaster and author
1967 - Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (d. 2008)
1967 - Hayashibara Megumi, Japanese voice actress and singer
1968 - Donna D'Errico, American actress and model
1968 - Celine Dion, Canadian singer
1970 - Secretariat, American racehorse (d. 1989)
1971 - Mark Consuelos, American actor
1972 - Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
1973 - Jan Koller, Czech footballer
1973 - Matthew Pritchard, Welsh Stuntman
1975 - Bahar Soomekh, American actress
1976 - Mark McClelland, Northern Irish musician (Degrassi)
1976 - Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
1976 - Obadele Thompson, Barbadian athlete
1978 - Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player
1979 - Norah Jones, American singer and pianist
1979 - Simon Webbe, English singer
1980 - Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
1980 - Yalin, Turkish singer and songwriter
1982 - Jason Dohring, American actor
1983 - Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
1983 - Zach Gowen, American professional wrestler
1983 - Scott Moffatt, Canadian singer and songwriter
1983 - Davis Romero, Panamanian baseball player
1983 - Hebe Tian, Taiwanese singer (S.H.E)
1984 - Mario Ancic, Croatian tennis player
1984 - Anna Nalick, American singer and songwriter.
1986 - Beni Arashiro, Japanese singer
1986 - Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer

Deaths
1486 - Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury
1526 - Konrad Mutian, German humanist (b. 1471)
1540 - Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg, German statesman and Archbishop of Salzburg (b. 1469)
1559 - Adam Ries, German mathematician (b. 1492)
1587 - Ralph Sadler, English statesman (b. 1507)
1662 - François le Métel de Boisrobert, French poet (b. 1592)
1707 - Vauban, French architect (b. 1633)
1764 - Pietro Locatelli, Italian composer (b. 1695)
1783 - William Hunter, Scottish anatomist (b. 1718)
1804 - Victor-François, 2nd duc de Broglie, Marshal of France (b. 1718)
1840 - Beau Brummell, English celebrity and dandy (b. 1778)
1842 - Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun, French painter (b. 1755)
1879 - Thomas Couture, French painter and teacher (b. 1815)
1886 - Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, French Canadian politician (b. 1838)
1896 - Charilaos Trikoupis, seven times prime-minister of Greece (b. 1832)
1912 - Karl May, German author (b. 1842)
1925 - Rudolf Steiner, Austrian philosopher (b. 1861)
1936 - Conchita Supervía, Spanish opera singer (b. 1895)
1943 - Jan Bytnar, Polish activist (b. 1921)
1943 - Maciej Aleksy Dawidowski, Polish activist (b. 1920)
1949 - Friedrich Bergius, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1884)
1950 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (b. 1872)
1959 - Daniil Andreev, Russian writer and mystic (b. 1906)
1965 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
1966 - Maxfield Parrish, American artist (b. 1870)
1966 - Newbold Morris, American politician (b. 1902)
1967 - Jean Toomer, American writer (b. 1894)
1968 - Bobby Driscoll, American actor (b. 1937)
1970 - Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
1972 - Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
1977 - Abdel Halim Hafez, Egyptian singer and actor (b. 1929)
1981 - DeWitt Wallace, American publisher (b. 1889)
1984 - Karl Rahner, German theologian (b. 1904)
1985 - Harold Peary, American actor and singer (heart attack) (b. 1908)
1986 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
1988 - Edgar Faure, French politician (b. 1908)
1992 - Manolis Andronikos, Greek archeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (b. 1919)
1999 - Gary Morton, American film and television producer (b. 1924)
2002 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
2003 - Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
2003 - Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
2004 - Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (b. 1908)
2004 - Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)
2004 - Michael King, New Zealand historian (b. 1945)
2004 - Timi Yuro, American singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Emil Dimitrov, Bulgarian singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Robert Creeley, American poet (b. 1926)
2005 - Milton Green, American athlete (b. 1913)
2005 - Fred Korematsu, American civil rights activist (b. 1919)
2005 - O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and cartoonist (b. 1930)
2005 - Derrick Plourde, American drummer (b. 1971)
2006 - Red Hickey, American football coach (b. 1917)
2008 - Dith Pran, The Killing Fields Photographer (b. 1942)
2008 - David Leslie, Touring Car Driver (b. 1953)
2008 - Richard Lloyd, Racing Car Driver (b. 1945)

* 70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem.
* 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, was promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.
* 1331 - Stefan Dušan declares himself king of Serbia
* 1380 - Battle of Kulikovo - Russian forces defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance.
* 1449 - Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor.
* 1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
* 1514 - Battle of Orsha - In one of the biggest battles of the century, Lithuanians and Poles defeat the Russian army.
* 1565 - Pedro Menéndez de Avilés settles St. Augustine, Florida.
* 1565 - The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish siege of Malta (the Siege of Malta started on May 18).
* 1727 - A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children.
* 1755 - French and Indian War: Battle of Lake George.
* 1756 - French and Indian War: Kittanning Expedition.
* 1761 - Marriage of George III of the United Kingdom to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Queen Charlotte).
* 1793 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Hondschoote.
* 1796 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Bassano - French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano del Grappa.
* 1810 - The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men established fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon.
* 1831 - William IV was crowned King of Great Britain.
* 1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass - On the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.
* 1888 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.
* 1888 - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played.
* 1900 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
* 1914 - World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war.
* 1921 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman won the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
* 1923 - Honda Point Disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
* 1926 - Germany was admitted to the League of Nations.
* 1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
* 1934 - Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 135 people.
* 1935 - US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish," is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
* 1941 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins. German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. Stalin orders the Volga Deutsche deported to Siberia.
* 1943 - World War II: Julius Fučík is executed by Nazis.
* 1943 - World War II: The O.B.S. (German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone) in Frascati was bombed by USAAF.
* 1943 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy.
* 1944 - World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time.
* 1944 - World War II: Menton is liberated from Germany.
* 1945 - Cold War: United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.
* 1951 - Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
* 1954 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established.
* 1959 - The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established.
* 1960 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).
* 1962 - Newly independent, Algeria, by referendum, adopts a Constitution.
* 1962 - Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways 9F locomotive 92220 'Evening Star'
* 1966- Star Trek, the classic science fiction television series, debuts with its first episode, titled "The Man Trap."
* 1966 - The Severn Bridge was officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
* 1967 - The formal end of steam traction in the North East of England by British Railways.
* 1970 - Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September
* 1971 - In Washington, DC, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
* 1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
* 1975 - Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline (printed in all uppercase) "I Am A Homosexual." He is later given a general discharge.
* 1986 - American nationally syndicated talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show is launched.
* 1991 - Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
* 1994 - A USAir Boeing 737 crashes in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, near the city of Aliquippa.
* 1999 - United States Attorney General Janet Reno names former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas in response to revelations in the film Waco: The Rules of Engagement contradicting the official government stories.
* 2000 - The Republic of Albania officially joins the World Trade Organization.
* 2001 - Durban, South Africa hosts the World Conference against Racism.
* 2004 - The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.
* 2005 - Two EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America.

* 1551 - The foundation day in Vitória, Brazil
* Andorra - National day: Mare de Deu de Meritxell.
* Pakistan - Defence Day (Pak-Naval Day)
* Bahá'í Faith - Feast of 'Izzat (Might) - First day of the tenth month of the Bahá'í calendar.
* Republic of Macedonia - Independence day (from Yugoslavia, 1991).
* Malta - Feast of Our Lady of Victories (il-Vittorja); anniversary of the 1565 victory of the Knights of Malta over the Ottoman Empire; anniversary of the 1943 surrender of Italy to the Allied forces, marking the end of World War II hostilities on Malta.
* Fiestas de Santa Fe in New Mexico, USA.
* International Literacy Day
* Rhodri Day in Jersey, Channel Islands
* Adrian and Natalia of Nicomedia
* Birth of Mary (mother of Jesus)
* Pope Sergius I

* 801 - Ansgar, German Catholic archbishop (d. 865)
* 828 - Ali al-Hadi, Shia Imam (d. 868)
* 1157 - King Richard I of England (d. 1199)
* 1207 - King Sancho II of Portugal (d. 1248)
* 1271 - Charles Martel d'Anjou, son of Charles II of Naples (d. 1295)
* 1380 - Saint Bernardino of Siena, Italian Franciscan missionary (d. 1444)
* 1474 - Ludovico Ariosto, Italian poet (d. 1533)
* 1515 - Alfonso Salmeron, Spanish Jesuit biblical scholar (d. 1585)
* 1588 - Marin Mersenne, French mathematician (d. 1648)
* 1611 - Johann Friedrich Gronovius, German classical scholar (d. 1671)
* 1621 - Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, French general (d. 1686)
* 1633 - Ferdinand IV of Germany (d. 1654)
* 1672 - Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (d. 1703)
* 1749 - Gabrielle de Polastron, comtesse de Polignac, French aristocrat (d. 1793)
* 1749 - Marie-Louise, Princesse de Lamballe, French aristocrat (d. 1792)
* 1778 - Clemens Brentano, German poet (d. 1842)
* 1783 - Nicolai Grundtvig, Danish writer and philosopher (d. 1872)
* 1804 - Eduard Mörike, German poet (d. 1875)
* 1814 - Charles-Étienne Brasseur de Bourbourg, French writer and historian (d. 1874)
* 1824 - Jaime Nunó, Spanish composer (d. 1908)
* 1828 - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, American Civil War soldier (d. 1914)
* 1828 - Clarence Cook, American writer and art critic (d. 1900)
* 1830 - Frédéric Mistral, French poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1914)
* 1841 - Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (d. 1904)
* 1841 - Charles J. Guiteau, American assassin of James A. Garfield (d. 1882)
* 1852 - Emperor Gwangmu of Korea (d. 1919)
* 1857 - Georg Michaelis, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1936)
* 1873 - Alfred Jarry, French absurdist playwright
* 1873 - David O. McKay, ninth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1970)
* 1881 - Harry Hillman, American athlete (d. 1945)
* 1884 - Théodore Pilette, Belgian racing driver (d. 1921)
* 1886 - Siegfried Sassoon, English poet (d. 1967)
* 1887 - Prince George of Yugoslavia (d. 1972)
* 1889 - Robert Alphonso Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio (d. 1953)
* 1895 - Sara García, Mexican actress (d. 1980)
* 1896 - Howard Dietz, American lyricist and librettist (d. 1983)
* 1897 - Jimmie Rodgers, American singer and composer (d. 1933)
* 1901 - Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa (d. 1966)
* 1910 - Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director (d. 1994)
* 1914 - Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (d. 2001)
* 1915 - Frank Cady, American actor
* 1918 - Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
* 1919 - Gianni Brera, (Giovanni Luigi Brera), Italian journalist and writer (d. 1992)
* 1921 - Harry Secombe, Welsh entertainer (d. 2001)
* 1922 - Sid Caesar, American comedian
* 1922 - Lyndon LaRouche, American politician
* 1924 - Mimi Parent, Canadian painter (d. 2005)
* 1924 - Marie-Claire Kirkland, Quebec politician
* 1924 - Grace Metalious, American novelist (d. 1964)
* 1925 - Peter Sellers, English actor (d. 1980)
* 1927 - Harlan Howard, American country music songwriter (d. 2002)
* 1929 - Christoph von Dohnanyi, German conductor
* 1929 - Roger Byrne, English footballer (d. 1958
* 1930 - Nguyen Cao Ky, Premier of South Vietnam
* 1930 - Mario Adorf, film and stage actor
* 1930 - Robert W. Firestone, Author, Artist, Clinical Psychologist
* 1931 - John Garrett, British politician (d. 2007)
* 1932 - Patsy Cline, American singer (d. 1963)
* 1933 - Asha Bhonsle, Indian singer
* 1933 - Paul M. Fleiss, American pediatrician; father of Heidi Fleiss
* 1933 - Michael Frayn, British playwright
* 1933 - Eric Salzman, American composer
* 1934 - Rodrigue Biron, Canadian politician
* 1934 - Peter Maxwell Davies, British composer
* 1937 - Barbara Frum, Canadian news anchor (d. 1992)
* 1937 - Virna Lisi, Italian actress
* 1937 - Sam Nunn, American politician
* 1938 - Kenichi Horie, Japanese adventurer
* 1939 - Carsten Keller, German field hockey player
* 1939 - Guitar Shorty, American blues guitarist
* 1941 - Bernie Sanders, American politician
* 1942 - Brian Cole, American bass guitar player (The Association) (d. 1972)
* 1943 - Adelaide C. Eckardt, American politician
* 1944 - Terry Jenner, Australian cricketer
* 1945 - Ron Pigpen McKernan, American musician (Grateful Dead) (d. 1973)
* 1945 - Rogie Vachon, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
* 1946 - L.C. Greenwood, American football player
* 1947 - Ann Beattie, American writer
* 1947 - Valery Afanassiev, Russian pianist
* 1947 - Benjamin Orr, American bassist (The Cars) (d. 2000)
* 1950 - Zachary Richard, Louisiana singer and songwriter
* 1950 - Mike Simpson, American politician
* 1951 - Nikos Karvelas, Greek composer
* 1954 - Mark Foley, American politician
* 1956 - Frank Tovey, British musician (d. 2002)
* 1956 - Maurice Cheeks, American basketball player and head coach
* 1957 - Heather Thomas, American actress
* 1958 - Michael Lardie, American guitarist/keyboardist
* 1958 - Mitsuru Miyamoto, Japanese voice actor
* 1959 - Daler Nazarov, Tajik composer and actor
* 1960 - Aimee Mann, American musician
* 1960 - Stefano Casiraghi, Italian businessman; husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco (d. 1990)
* 1960 - Aguri Suzuki, Japanese racing driver and Formula One team owner
* 1961 - Paul Zanetti, Australian political cartoonist
* 1962 - Sergio Casal, Spanish tennis player
* 1962 - Christopher Klim, American novelist
* 1962 - Thomas Kretschmann, German actor
* 1963 - Li Ning, Chinese gymnast
* 1963 - Brad Silberling, American television and film director
* 1963 - Hitoshi Matsumoto, Japanese comedian
* 1964 - Michael Johns, American business executive
* 1964 - Scott Levy, American professional wrestler
* 1964 - Joachim Nielsen, Norwegian musician (d. 2000)
* 1966 - Carola, Swedish singer
* 1966 - Peter Furler, Christian musician (Newsboys)
* 1967 - Kimberly Peirce, American film director
* 1969 - Gary Speed, Welsh footballer
* 1969 - Oswaldo Ibarra, Ecuadorian footballer
* 1969 - Lars Bohinen, Norwegian footballer
* 1970 - Neko Case, American musician
* 1970 - Latrell Sprewell, American basketball player
* 1970 - Yuji Nishizawa, Japanese hijacker
* 1971 - Brooke Burke, American model
* 1971 - Daniel Petrov, Bulgarian boxer
* 1971 - David Arquette, American actor
* 1971 - Martin Freeman, English actor
* 1971 - Pierre Sévigny, French-Canadian ice hockey player
* 1972 - Markus Babbel, German footballer
* 1972 - Os du Randt, South African rugby player
* 1972 - Lisa Kennedy, American television personality
* 1972 - Tomokazu Seki, Japanese voice actor
* 1972 - Phil Laak, Ireland-born professional poker player
* 1973 - Khamis Al-Owairan, Saudi Arabian footballer
* 1974 - Braulio Luna, Mexican footballer
* 1974 - Tanaz Eshaghian, Iranian-born American documentarian
* 1975 - Richard Hughes, English musician (Keane)
* 1975 - Elena Likhovtseva, Russian tennis player
* 1975 - Larenz Tate, American Actor
* 1975 - Lee Eul-Yong, South Korean footballer
* 1976 - Sjeng Schalken, Dutch former tennis player
* 1976 - Gerald Drummond, Costa Rican footballer
* 1976 - Jervis Drummond, Costa Rican footballer
* 1976 - Sarah Kucserka, American screenwriter
* 1977 - Jay McKee, Canadian hockey player
* 1978 - Gerard Autet, Spanish footballer
* 1978 - Gil Meche, American baseball player
* 1979 - Pink, American singer
* 1980 - Teruyuki Moniwa, Japanese footballer
* 1981 - Morten Gamst Pedersen, Norwegian footballer
* 1981 - Jonathan Taylor Thomas, American actor
* 1983 - Wali Lundy, American football player
* 1983 - Diego Benaglio, Swiss-Italian footballer
* 1983 - Will Blalock, American basketball player
* 1983 - Chris Judd, Australian football player
* 1983 - Lewis Roberts-Thompson, Australian football player
* 1984 - Vitaly Petrov, Russian racing driver
* 1984 - Peter Whittingham, English footballer
* 1985 - Yendi Phillips, Jamaican beauty pageant contestant
* 1986 - João Moutinho, Sporting Lisbon midfielder
* 1986 - Matt Grothe, American football player
* 1988 - Caitlin Hill, Australian internet personality
* 1990 - Matt Barkley, American football player
* 1995 - Katarzyna B., pathetic polish girl
* 1996 - Krystal Reyes, Filipina actress
* 1997 - Kimberlea Berg, English actress

* 701 - Pope Sergius I
* 780 - Leo IV, Byzantine Emperor
* 1397 - Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester.
* 1425 - King Charles III of Navarre (b. 1361)
* 1539 - John Stokesley, English churchman
* 1560 - Amy Robsart, English noblewoman (b. 1534)
* 1603 - George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, English politician (b. 1547)
* 1613 - Carlo Gesualdo, Italian composer (b. 1566)
* 1637 - Robert Fludd, English mystic (b. 1574)
* 1645 - John Coke, English politician (b. 1563)
* 1644 - Francis Quarles, English poet (b. 1592)
* 1645 - Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish writer (b. 1580)
* 1656 - Joseph Hall, English bishop and writer (b. 1574)
* 1675 - Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, countess of Solms-Braunfels (b. 1602)
* 1682 - Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (b. 1606)
* 1721 - Michael Brokoff, Czech sculptor (b. 1686)
* 1739 - Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (b. 1668)
* 1755 - Ephraim Williams, American philanthropist (b. 1715)
* 1761 - Bernard Forest de Bélidor, French engineer (b. 1698)
* 1780 - Enoch Poor, American Continental Army general (b. 1736)
* 1784 - Ann Lee, American religious leader (b. 1736)
* 1811 - Peter Simon Pallas, German zoologist (b. 1741)
* 1853 - Frédéric Ozanam, founder of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (b. 1813)
* 1882 - Joseph Liouville, French mathematician (b. 1809)
* 1888 - Annie Chapman, widely believed to be the second victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1841)
* 1894 - Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician (b. 1821)
* 1933 - King Faysal I of Iraq (b. 1883)
* 1943 - Julius Fucik, Czech journalist (executed) (b. 1903)
* 1948 - Thomas Mofolo, Lesotho writer (b. 1876)
* 1949 - Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)
* 1965 - Dorothy Dandridge, American actress (b. 1922)
* 1965 - Hermann Staudinger, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1881)
* 1969 - Bud Collyer, American television game show host (b. 1908)
* 1969 - Alexandra David-Néel, French explorer and writer (b. 1868)
* 1977 - Zero Mostel, American actor (b. 1915)
* 1979 - Jean Seberg, American actress (b. 1938)
* 1980 - Willard Libby, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
* 1981 - Roy Wilkins, American civil rights activist (b. 1901)
* 1981 - Hideki Yukawa, Japanese physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
* 1983 - Antonin Magne, French cyclist (b. 1904)
* 1985 - John Franklin Enders, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1887)
* 1991 - Alex North, American composer (b. 1910)
* 1999 - Moondog, American composer, musician and poet (b. 1916)
* 2002 - Laurie Williams, West Indian cricketer (b. 1968)
* 2003 - Jaclyn Linetsky, Canadian voice actress (b. 1986)
* 2003 - Leni Riefenstahl, German film director (b. 1902)
* 2004 - Frank Thomas, American animator (b. 1913)
* 2005 - Noel Cantwell, Irish cricketer and footballer (b. 1932)
* 2006 - Hilda Bernstein, English-born South African author, artist, and activist (b. 1915)
* 2006 - Peter Brock, Australian racecar driver and TV personality (rally accident) (b. 1945)
* 2006 - Frank Middlemass, actor (b. 1919)
* 2006 - Erk Russell, American football coach (b. 1923)
* 2007 - Ramón Cardemil, Chilean huaso (b. 1917)

June 23

* 1305 - Flemish-French peace treaty signed at Athis-sur-Orge.
* 1314 - Start of the Battle of Bannockburn south of Stirling, Edward II of England & Robert I of Scotland met in battle. Scotland won and Edward fled the field and Scotland.
* 1532 - Henry VIII and François I sign secret treaty against Emperor Charles V.
* 1565 - Turgut Reis (Dragut), commander of the Ottoman Navy dies, during the Siege of Malta.
* 1611 - The mutinous crew of Henry Hudson's fourth voyage sets Henry, his son and seven loyal crew members adrift in an open boat in what is now Hudson Bay; they are never heard from again.
* 1661 - Marriage contract between Charles II of England & Catharina of Portugal.
* 1683 - William Penn signs friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.
* 1713 - French residents of Acadia given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia Canada.
* 1757 - Battle of Plassey - 3000 British troops under Robert Clive defeat a 50,000 strong Indian army under Siraj Ud Daulah at Plassey.
* 1758 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Krefeld - British forces defeat French troops at Krefeld in Germany.
* 1760 - Seven Years' War: Battle of Landeshut - Austria beats Prussia.
* 1794 - Empress of Russia Catherine II grants Jews permission to settle in Kiev.
* 1810 - John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company.
* 1812 - War of 1812: Great Britain had revoked the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
* 1860 - The United States Congress establishes the Government Printing Office.
* 1865 - American Civil War: At Fort Towson in Oklahoma Territory Confederate General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant rebel army.
* 1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes receives a patent for Type-Writer.
* 1887 - The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada, creating that nation's first national park, Banff National Park.
* 1888 - Frederick Douglass is the first African-American nominated for US president.
* 1894 - International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne, Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin.
* 1917 - In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire.
* 1919 - Defeat of German forces at Cesis in northern Latvia during Estonian Liberation War, now celebrated annually as Estonian Victory Day.
* 1926 - The College Board administers the first SAT exam.
* 1931 - Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane.
* 1938 - The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.
* 1940 - World War II: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.
* 1941 - Lithuanian Activist Front initiates Lithuanian 1941 independence from the Soviet Union; it lasted only briefly as the Nazis occupied Lithuania a few weeks later.
* 1942 - World War II: The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz take place on a trainload of Jews from Paris.
* 1942 - World War II: Germany's latest fighter, a Focke-Wulf FW190 is captured intact when it mistakenly lands in Wales.
* 1943 - World War II: The British destroyers Eclipse and Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
* 1945 - The Imperial Japanese armed forces ended organized resistance to the U.S. armed forces in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island of Okinawa.
* 1947 - The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act.
* 1955 - In the Strahov Stadium in Prague the 1st all-national Spartakiáda begins.
* 1958 - The Dutch Reformed Church accepts women ministers.
* 1959 - Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany (where he resumed a scientific career).
* 1959 - A fire in a resort hotel in Stalheim, Norway kills 34 people.
* 1967 - Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
* 1967 - Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 crashes due to an incorrectly installed valve, killing all 34 on board.
* 1968 - 74 are killed and 150 injured in a football stampede towards a closed exit in a Buenos Aires stadium.
* 1969 - Warren E. Burger is sworn in as chief justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring chief Earl Warren.
* 1972 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House chief of staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
* 1972 - 45 countries leave the Sterling Area, allowing their currencies to fluctuate independently of the British Pound.
* 1973 - A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six year old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by arsonist Peter Dinsdale.
* 1985 - A terrorist bomb aboard Air India flight 182 brings the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland; killing all 329 people aboard.
* 1988 - James Hansen testifies to U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that it was 99% probable that global warming had begun.
* 1990 - Moldavia declares independence.

* 47 BC - Pharaoh Ptolemy XV of Egypt
* 1373 - Queen Joan II of Naples (d. 1435)
* 1433 - Francis II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1488)
* 1456 - Margaret of Denmark, wife of James III of Scotland (d. 1486)
* 1534 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (d. 1582)
* 1596 - Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (d. 1641)
* 1612 - André Tacquet, Belgian mathematician (d. 1660)
* 1668 - Giambattista Vico, Italian philosopher and historian (d. 1744)
* 1683 - Etienne Fourmont, French orientalist (d. 1745)
* 1703 - Maria Leszczyńska, queen of Louis XV of France (d. 1768)
* 1716 - Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English politician (d. 1789)
* 1750 - Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist (d. 1801)
* 1763 - Josephine de Beauharnais, Empress of France (d. 1814)
* 1799 - John Milton Bernhisel, American physician (d. 1881)
* 1800 - Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and social activist (d. 1846)
* 1824 - Carl Reinecke, German musician and composer (d. 1910)
* 1884 - Cyclone Taylor, ice hockey player (d. 1979)
* 1888 - Bronson M. Cutting, American politician (d. 1935)
* 1889 - Anna Akhmatova, Russian poet (d. 1966)
* 1894 - Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (d. 1956)
* 1894 - King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (d. 1972)
* 1902 - Mathias Wieman, German actor (d. 1969)
* 1903 - Paul Joseph James Martin, Canadian politician (d. 1992)
* 1907 - James Meade, English economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
* 1909 - David Lewis, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1981)
* 1910 - Jean Anouilh, French dramatist (d. 1987)
* 1910 - Gordon B. Hinckley, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 2008)
* 1910 - Milt Hinton, American jazz bassist (d. 2000)
* 1912 - Alan Turing, English mathematician (d. 1954)
* 1916 - Len Hutton, English cricketer (d. 1990)
* 1919 - Muhammad Boudiaf, Algerian political leader (d. 1992)
* 1922 - Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1998)
* 1925 - Miriam Karlin, English actress
* 1927 - Bob Fosse, American choreographer (d. 1987)
* 1929 - June Carter Cash, American singer (d. 2003)
* 1935 - Maurice Ferre, mayor of Miami
* 1936 - Costas Simitis, Prime Minister of Greece
* 1937 - Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland
* 1937 - Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets)
* 1940 - Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)
* 1940 - Lord Irvine of Lairg, Scottish Lord Chancellor
* 1940 - Wilma Rudolph, American runner (d. 1994)
* 1940 - Stuart Sutcliffe, English musician (The Beatles) (d. 1962)
* 1941 - Robert Hunter, American lyricist and poet (The Grateful Dead)
* 1941 - Richard M. Richie Roberts, Former Marine and New Jersey Police Detective, Criminal Defense Attorney
* 1943 - James Levine, American conductor
* 1943 - Vint Cerf, American Internet pioneer
* 1945 - John Garang, Leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) and former Vice-President of Sudan under Omar al-Bashir
* 1945 - Kjell Albin Abrahamson, Swedish journalist and writer.
* 1946 - Ted Shackleford, American actor
* 1947 - Bryan Brown, Australian actor
* 1948 - Clarence Thomas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice
* 1948 - Darhyl S. Ramsey, American author
* 1948 - Myles Goodwyn, Canadian guitarist and vocalist (April Wine)
* 1949 - Gordon Bray, Australian sports broadcaster
* 1950 - Douglas C. Lord, Canadian businessman
* 1951 - Michèle Mouton, French race car driver
* 1955 - Glenn Danzig, American musician (The Misfits and Danzig)
* 1955 - Jordan, British actress and model
* 1955 - Jean Tigana, French footballer
* 1955 - Pierre Corbeil, Quebec politician
* 1956 - Randy Jackson, American music producer
* 1957 - Frances McDormand, American actress
* 1960 - Donald Harrison, American musician
* 1960 - Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese musician and programmer
* 1961 - Zoran Janjetov, Serbian comic artist
* 1962 - Chuck Billy, American singer
* 1962 - Kari Takko, Finnish ice hockey player
* 1962 - Kevin Yagher, TV/film special effects technician
* 1963 - Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
* 1963 - Steve Shelley, American musician (Crucifucks and Sonic Youth)
* 1964 - Joss Whedon, American producer, director, and screenwriter
* 1964 - Yun Lou, Chinese gymnast
* 1965 - Paul Arthurs, British guitarist (Oasis)
* 1966 - Chico DeBarge, American musician (DeBarge)
* 1966 - Richie Ren, Taiwanese musician
* 1967 - Paul King, New Zealand politician
* 1967 - Helen Geake, British archaeologist
* 1969 - Martin Klebba, American actor
* 1970 - Robert Brooks, American football player
* 1970 - Yann Tiersen, French musician
* 1971 - Felix Potvin, Canadian hockey player
* 1972 - Selma Blair, American actress
* 1972 - Ron Corning, American television anchor
* 1972 - Zinedine Zidane, French footballer
* 1973 - Marie N, Latvian singer
* 1974 - Joel Edgerton, Australian actor
* 1975 - Kevin Dyson, American football player
* 1975 - KT Tunstall, Scottish singer and songwriter
* 1976 - Joe Becker, American musician
* 1976 - Brandon Stokley, American football player
* 1976 - Patrick Monahan, British comedian
* 1976 - Patrick Vieira, French footballer
* 1977 - Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer
* 1977 - Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer
* 1977 - Jason Mraz, American singer and songwriter
* 1978 - Memphis Bleek, American rapper
* 1978 - Matt Light, American football player
* 1978 - Frédéric Leclercq, French bassist (Dragonforce)
* 1980 - Ramnaresh Sarwan, Guyanese cricketer
* 1981 - Ni~ya, Japanese bassist
* 1983 - Jason Berrent, American performer
* 1984 - Duffy, Welsh Singer
* 1988 - Isabella Leong Lok-Sze, Hong Kong singer, actress and model
* 1988 - Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast

* 79 - Vespasian, Roman Emperor (b. 9)
* 1018 - Henry I of Austria
* 1516 - King Ferdinand II of Aragon (b. 1452)
* 1555 - Pedro Mascarenhas, Portuguese explorer (b. 1470)
* 1582 - Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese military leader (b. 1537)
* 1615 - Mashita Nagamori, Japanese warlord (b. 1545)
* 1677 - Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1647)
* 1686 - William Coventry, English statesman
* 1707 - John Mill, English theologian
* 1733 - Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss scholar (b. 1672)
* 1770 - Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (b. 1721)
* 1775 - Karl Ludwig, Freiherr von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and writer (b. 1692)
* 1779 - Ras Mikael Sehul, warlord of Ethiopia (b. about 1691)
* 1806 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (b. 1723)
* 1856 - Ivan Kireevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher (b. 1806)
* 1832 - James Hall, Scottish geologist (b. 1761)
* 1891 - Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist (b. 1804)
* 1893 - Sir Theophilus Shepstone, British-born South African statesman (b. 1817)
* 1926 - Viktor Vasnetsov, Russian painter (b. 1848)
* 1956 - Reinhold Glière, Russian composer (b. 1875)
* 1959 - Boris Vian, French writer and musician (b. 1920)
* 1969 - Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish athlete (b. 1907)
* 1970 - Roscoe Turner, American aviator and racer (b. 1895)
* 1980 - Clyfford Still, American painter (b. 1904)
* 1980 - Varahagiri Venkata Giri, Fourth President of India (b. 1894)
* 1981 - Zarah Leander, Swedish actress and singer (b. 1907)
* 1982 - Vincent Chin, Chinese-American hate crime victim (b. 1955)
* 1989 - Werner Best, German jurist and nazi leader (b. 1903)
* 1992 - Eric Andolsek, American football player (b. 1966)
* 1995 - Jonas Salk, American medical researcher (b. 1914)
* 1995 - Anatoly Tarasov, Russian ice hockey coach (b. 1918)
* 1996 - Andreas Papandreou, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1919)
* 1998 - Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish actress (b. 1911)
* 1999 - Buster Merryfield, British actor (b. 1920)
* 2001 - Yvonne Dionne, one of the Canadian Dionne quintuplets (b. 1934)
* 2002 - Pedro 'El Rockero' Alcazar, Panamanian boxer (b. 1975)
* 2003 - Maynard Jackson, Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (b. 1938)
* 2005 - Shana Alexander, American columnist (b. 1926)
* 2005 - Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet (b. 1925)
* 2006 - Aaron Spelling, American television producer (b. 1923)
* 2006 - Luke Graham, wrestler, and one-half of first-ever WWF Tag Team Champions (b. 1940)
* 2006 - Harriet, a 175 year old tortoise (b. 1830)
* 2007 - Rod Beck, baseball player (b. 1968)

* Jāņi (Līgo) - Latvia
* Midsummer's Eve, Christianized as the eve of the feast of Saint John the Baptist, is celebrated in much of Northern Europe
* Victory Day - Estonia
* Father's Day - Poland, Nicaragua and Uganda
* Grand Duke's Official Birthday - Luxembourg
* Saint Etheldreda
* Saint Jonas Day - especially celebrated in Lithuania
* Saint Lietbert of Brakel (d. 1076)
* Blessed Mary of Oignies (d. 1213)

Events
644 - Umar ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, is killed by a Persian slave in Medina.
1468 - Liège is sacked by Charles I of Burgundy's troops.
1493 - Christopher Columbus first sights the island of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea.
1783 - John Austin, a highwayman, is the last to be publicly hanged at London's Tyburn gallows.
1783 - The American Continental Army is disbanded.
1793 - French playwright, journalist and feminist Olympe de Gouges is guillotined.
1812 - Napoleonic armies defeated at Vyazma
1817 - The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opens in Montreal, Quebec.
1838 - The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language daily broadsheet newspaper is founded as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce.
1848 - A greatly revised constitution, drafted by Johan Rudolf Thorbecke, severely limiting the powers of the Dutch monarchy, and strengthening the powers of the parliament and the ministers, is proclaimed. This constitution is still in effect today.
1856 - A British fleet bombs Canton.
1883 - American Old West: Self-described "Black Bart the poet" gets away with his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture.
1903 - With the encouragement of the United States, Panama proclaims itself independent from Colombia. US President Theodore Roosevelt had wanted the United States to build the Panama Canal, but was not willing to pay what Colombia asked.
1905 - Csar Nicholas II of Russia signs a document of amnesty for the political prisoners.
1911 - Chevrolet officially enters the automobile market in competition with the Ford Model T.
1913 - The USA introduces an income tax.
1918 - Austria-Hungary enters into an armistice with the World War I Allies, and the Habsburg-ruled empire dissolves.
1918 - Poland declares its independence from Russia.
1930 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas became Head of the Provisional Government in Brazil after a bloodless coup on October 24.
1935 - George II of Greece regains his throne through a popular plebiscite.
1942 - World War II: Second Battle of El Alamein ends - German forces under Erwin Rommel are forced to retreat during the night.
1942 - The Koli Point action begins during the Guadalcanal Campaign and ends on November 12.
1942 - The city of Kisarazu in founded in Chiba, Japan.
1943 - World War II: 500 aircraft of the U.S. 8th Air Force devastate Wilhelmshafen harbor in Germany.
1944 - World War II: Two supreme commanders of the Slovak National Uprising, Generals Ján Golian and Rudolf Viest are captured, tortured and later executed by German forces.
1957 - Sputnik program: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit: a dog named Laika.
1964 - Washington D.C. residents are able to vote in a presidential election for the first time.
1967 - Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins.
1969 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.
1973 - Mariner program: NASA launches the Mariner 10 toward Mercury, on March 29, 1974, becoming the first space probe to reach that planet.
1978 - Dominica gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1979 - Greensboro massacre: Five members of the Communist Workers Party are shot dead and seven are wounded by a group of Klansmen and neo-Nazis during a "Death to the Klan" rally.
1982 - The Salang tunnel fire in Afghanistan kills up to 2,000+ people.
1986 - Iran-Contra Affair: The Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa reports that the United States has been selling weapons to Iran in secret in order to secure the release of seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon.
1986 - The Federated States of Micronesia become independent from the United States of America.
1988 - Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries try to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the coup attempt within 24 hours.


Births
39 - Lucan, Roman poet (d. 65)
1500 - Benvenuto Cellini, Italian artist (d. 1571)
1558 - Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy (d. 1594)
1560 - Annibale Carracci, Italian painter (d. 1609)
1587 - Samuel Scheidt, German composer (d. 1654)
1604 - Osman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1622)
1618 - Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1707)
1633 - Bernardino Ramazzini, Italian physician (d. 1714)
1718 - John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English statesman (d. 1792)
1749 - Daniel Rutherford, Scottish chemist and physician (d. 1819)
1793 - Stephen F. Austin, American pioneer (d. 1836)
1794 - William Cullen Bryant, American poet and journalist (d. 1878)
1799 - William Sprague III, American politician from Rhode Island (d. 1856)
1801 - Karl Baedeker, German author and publisher (d. 1859)
1801 - Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer (d. 1835)
1815 - John Mitchel, Fenian
1816 - Jubal Early, American Confederate general (d. 1894)
1816 - Calvin Fairbank, American abolitionist minister (d. 1898)
1845 - Edward Douglass White, 9th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1921)
1852 - Meiji Emperor, Japanese emperor (d. 1912)
1856 - Jim McCormick, baseball player (d. 1918)
1857 - Mikhail Alekseev, Russian general (d. 1918)
1862 - Henry George, Jr., American politician (d. 1916)
1876 - Stephen Peter Alencastre, Roman Catholic prelate (d. 1940)
1877 - Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, Chilean president. (d. 1960)
1887 - Samuil Marshak, Russian writer, translator and children's poet (d. 1964)
1890 - Eustaquio van Lieshout, Dutch priest (d. 1943)
1893 - Edward Adelbert Doisy, American biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1986)
1895 - Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918)
1896 - Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish illustrator (d. 1970)
1899 - Gleb Wataghin, Ukrainian-Italian physicist (d. 1986)
1900 - Adolf Dassler, founder of Adidas (d. 1978)
1901 - Leopold III of Belgium (d. 1983)
1901 - André Malraux, French writer (d. 1976)
1903 - Walker Evans, American photographer (d. 1975)
1908 - Bronko Nagurski, American football player (d. 1990)
1909 - James Reston, American journalist (d. 1995)
1910 - Richard Hurndall, British actor (d. 1984)
1912 - Alfredo Stroessner, President of Paraguay (d. 2006)
1918 - Bob Feller, baseball player
1918 - Elizabeth P. Hoisington, American Brigadier General (d. 2007)
1918 - Russell B. Long, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (d. 2003)
1918 - Dean Riesner, film and television screenwriter (d. 2002)
1919 - Jesús Blasco, Spanish comic book author (d. 1995)
1920 - Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Australian writer (d. 1993)
1921 - Charles Bronson, American actor (d. 2003)
1923 - Tomás Cardinal Ó Fiaich, Northern Irish clergyman (d. 1990)
1924 - Samuel Ruiz García, Mexican Roman Catholic bishop
1926 - Valdas Adamkus, President of the Republic of Lithuania
1926 - Maurice Couture, French Canadian Roman Catholic archbishop
1928 - Osamu Tezuka, Japanese manga artist (d. 1989)
1930 - D. James Kennedy, American theologian (d. 2007)
1930 - Brian Robinson, British cyclist
1930 - Lois Smith, American actress
1931 - Yon Hyong-muk, North Korean politician (d. 2005)
1931 - Monica Vitti, Italian actress
1931 - Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (d. 2007)
1933 - Ken Berry, American actor
1933 - John Barry, English composer
1933 - Jeremy Brett, English actor (d. 1995)
1933 - Aneta Corsaut, American actress (d. 1995)
1933 - Michael Dukakis, American politician
1933 - Amartya Sen, Indian economist, Nobel Prize laureate
1934 - Ruma Guha Thakurta, Singer, Actress, Dancer, Founder of Calcutta Youth Choir
1936 - Roy Emerson, Australian tennis champion
1938 - Martin Dunwoody, British mathematician
1938 - Jean Rollin, French director and screenwriter
1941 - Brian Poole, English musician (The Tremeloes)
1943 - Bert Jansch, Scottish folk musician
1945 - Ken Holtzman, American baseball player and manager
1945 - Gerd Müller, German footballer
1945 - J. D. Souther, American country-rock singer/songwriter & actor
1946 - Tom Savini, American actor
1947 - Mazie Hirono, American politician
1948 - Lulu, British actress and singer
1948 - Helmut Koinigg, Austrian racing driver (d. 1974)
1949 - Larry Holmes, American boxer
1949 - Anna Wintour, English-American editor
1949 - Mike Evans, American actor (d. 2006)
1950 - Joe Queenan, American writer
1950 - Massimo Mongai, Italian writer
1951 - Ed Murawinski, American cartoonist, New York Daily News
1952 - Roseanne Barr, American actress and comedian
1952 - Jim Cummings, American voice actor
1952 - David Ho, Taiwanese-American AIDS researcher
1953 - Kate Capshaw, American actress
1953 - Helios Creed, American musician (Chrome)
1953 - Larry Herndon, baseball player
1953 - Dennis Miller, American comedian
1954 - Adam Ant, English singer
1955 - Phil Simms, American football player
1956 - Kevin Murphy, American actor and puppeteer
1956 - Gary Ross, American film director
1957 - Dolph Lundgren, Swedish actor
1959 - Hal Hartley, American film director and writer
1960 - Karch Kiraly, American volleyball player
1962 - Jacqui Smith UK Home Secretary
1963 - Ian Wright, English footballer
1963 - Shigeaki Hattori, Japanese racing driver
1966 - Joe Hachem, Lebanese-born Australian poker player
1967 - John Tomac, American MTB Hall of Fame cyclist
1967 - Steven Wilson, English Musician (Porcupine Tree)
1969 - Robert Miles, Swiss record producer, composer and musician in trance and ambient music.
1971 - Dylan Moran, Irish comedian
1971 - Diego Alessi, Italian race car driver
1973 - Kirk Jones (Sticky Fingaz), American musician
1973 - Nemone, athlete and broadcaster
1974 - Tariq Abdul-Wahad, French basketball player
1975 - Darren Sharper, American football player
1976 - Guillermo Franco, Argentine-Mexican footballer
1977 - Aria Giovanni, American model
1979 - Beau McDonald, Australian Rules Footballer
1979 - Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer
1979 - Tim McIlrath, American musician (Rise Against)
1982 - Evgeny Plushenko, Russian figure skater
1983 - Suzane von Richthofen, Brazilian murderess
1984 - Ryo Nishikido, Japanese Idol (member of NEWS (band) and Kanjani8)
1984 - Christian Bakkerud, Danish racing driver
1987 - Gemma Ward, Australian model
1987 - Colin Kaepernick, American football player
1989 - Paula DeAnda, American singer

[edit] Deaths
361 - Constantius II, Roman Emperor (b. 317)
753 - Pirminius, German saint (b. 753)
1254 - John III Doukas Vatatzes, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1193)
1428 - Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, English military leader (mortally wounded in battle) (b. 1388)
1580 - Jeronimo Zurita y Castro, Spanish historian (b. 1512)
1584 - Charles Borromeo, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1538)
1600 - Richard Hooker, English theologian (b. 1554)
1643 - John Bainbridge, English astronomer (b. 1582)
1643 - Paul Guldin, Swiss astronomer and mathematician (b. 1577)
1711 - John Ernest Grabe, German-born Anglican theologian (b. 1666)
1787 - Robert Lowth, British bishop and grammarian (b. 1710)
1793 - Olympe de Gouges, French feminist and revolutionary (b. 1748)
1794 - François-Joachim de Pierre de Bernis, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1715)
1869 - Andreas Kalvos, Greek poet (b. 1792)
1890 - Ulrich Ochsenbein, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1811)
1891 - Louis Lucien Bonaparte, French politician and linguist (b. 1813)
1917 - Léon Bloy, French novelist and essayist (b. 1846)
1918 - Aleksandr Mikhailovich Lyapunov, Russian scientist (b. 1857)
1926 - Annie Oakley, American sharp-shooter (b. 1860)
1927 - Karel Matěj Čapek-Chod, Czech journalist (b. 1860)
1929 - Olav Aukrust, Norwegian poet (b. 1883)
1933 - Emile Roux, French scientist (b. 1853)
1939 - Charles Tournemire, French composer and organist (b. 1870)
1949 - Solomon R. Guggenheim, American art collector and philanthropist (b. 1861)
1954 - Henri Matisse, French artist (b. 1869)
1957 - Wilhelm Reich, Austrian psychotherapist (b. 1897)
1964 - John Henry Barbee, American guitarist and singer (b. 1905)
1970 - Peter II of Yugoslavia (b. 1923)
1973 - Marc Allégret, French director and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1983 - Alfredo Antonini, American conductor and composer (b. 1901)
1984 - Richard Hurndall, British actor (b. 1910)
1990 - Mary Martin, American actress (b. 1913)
1991 - Mort Shuman, American singer and songwriter (b. 1936)
1993 - Leon Theremin, Russian inventor (b. 1895)
1995 - Gordon S. Fahrni, physician and president of the Canadian Medical Association (b. 1887)
1995 - John Orchard, British actor (b. 1928)
1996 - Abdullah Çatlı, a Turkish nationalist and neofascist activist (b. 1956)
1996 - Jean-Bédel Bokassa, President of the Central African Republic (b. 1921)
1998 - Bob Kane, comic artist and Batman co-creator (b. 1915)
1999 - Ian Bannen, Scottish actor (b. 1928)
2001 - Ernst Gombrich, Austrian art historian (b. 1909)
2002 - Lonnie Donegan, Scottish musician (b. 1931)
2002 - Jonathan Harris, American actor (b. 1914)
2003 - Rasul Gamzatov, Russian poet (b. 1923)
2004 - Sergei Zholtok, Latvian hockey player (b. 1972)
2006 - Paul Mauriat, French musician (b. 1925)
2006 - Alberto Spencer, Ecuadorean footballer (b. 1937)
2006 - Marie Rudisill, American author and "Fruitcake Lady" (b. 1911)
2007 - Martin Meehan, Irish republican (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances
Day of resurrection of the god Osiris during the pagan celebration the Discovery of Osiris (Inventio Osiridis).
Christian feast days:
Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions
St. Germanus
St. Hubert
St. Malachy O' More
St. Martin de Porres
St. Winifred
Independence Day in Panama (1903, from Colombia), Dominica (1978, from Britain) and Federated States of Micronesia (1986, from United States)
Japan - Culture Day (originally celebrated as Emperor's Birthday until the Meiji Emperor's death in 1912)

Events

800 - Charlemagne judges the accusations against Pope Leo III in the Vatican.
1167 - The Lombard League is formed in northern Italy.
1420 - Henry V of England enters Paris.
1640 - End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, thus ending a 60 year period of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the House of Habsburg (also called the Philippine Dynasty). The Spanish Habsburgs do not recognize Portugal's new dinasty, the House of Braganza, until 1668.
1768 - The slave ship Fredensborg sinks off Tromøy in Norway.
1821 - The first constitution of Costa Rica is issued.
1822 - Peter I is crowned as Emperor of Brazil.
1824 - U.S. presidential election, 1824: Since no candidate received a majority of the total electoral college votes in the election, the United States House of Representatives is given the task to decide the winner (as stipulated by the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution).
1826 - French philhellene Fabvier forces his way through the Turkish cordon and ascends the Acropolis of Athens, which had been under siege.
1864 - In his State of the Union Address President Abraham Lincoln reaffirms the necessity of ending slavery as ordered ten weeks earlier in the Emancipation Proclamation.
1884 - American Old West: Near Frisco, New Mexico, deputy sheriff Elfego Baca holds off a gang of 80 Texan cowboys who want to kill him for arresting Charles McCarthy.
1913 - The Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving assembly line.
1913 - Crete, having obtained self rule from Turkey after the first Balkan war, is annexed by Greece.
1918 - Transylvania unites with Romania, following the incorporation of Bessarabia (March 27) and Bukovina (November 28). National Council of Romanians in Banat had voted for union with the Kingdom of Romania. National Council of Romanians in Transylvania had voted for union with the Kingdom of Romania.
1918 - Iceland becomes a sovereign state, yet remains a part of the Danish kingdom.
1918 - The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later known as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia) is proclaimed.
1919 - Lady Astor becomes first female member of the British Parliament to take her seat (she had been elected to that position on November 28).
1925 - World War I aftermath: The final Locarno Treaty is signed in London, establishing post-war territorial settlements.
1934 - In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead at the Communist Party headquarters in Leningrad by Leonid Nikolayev.
1941 - World War II: Fiorello LaGuardia, Mayor of New York City and Director of the Office of Civilian Defense, signs the Administrative Order 9, creating the Civil Air Patrol.
1952 - The New York Daily News reports the first successful sexual reassignment operation.
1955 - American Civil Rights Movement: In Montgomery, Alabama, seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating the city's racial segregation laws, an incident which leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
1958 - Central African Republic becomes independent from France.
1958 - The Our Lady of the Angels School Fire in Chicago, Illinois kills 92 children and three nuns.
1959 - Cold War: Antarctic Treaty signed , which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on that continent.
1960 - Paul McCartney and Pete Best arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany for accusation of attempted arson.
1961 - The independent Republic of West Papua is proclaimed in modern-day Western New Guinea.
1961 - Paul McCartney and Pete Best arrested then deported from Hamburg, Germany for accusation of attempted arson.
1963 - Nagaland becomes the 16th state of India.
1964 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top-ranking advisers meet to discuss plans to bomb North Vietnam.
1965 - The Border Security Force is formed in India as a special force to guard the borders.
1969 - Vietnam War: The first draft lottery in the United States is held since World War II.
1971 - Cambodian Civil War: Khmer Rouge rebels intensify assaults on Cambodian government positions, forcing their retreat from Kompong Thmar and nearby Ba Ray.
1971 - Indian Army occupies part of Kashmir.
1973 - Papua New Guinea gains self government from Australia.
1974 - TWA Flight 514, a Boeing 727, crashes northwest of Dulles International Airport killing all 92 people on-board.
1974 - Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231, crashes northwest of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
1981 - A Yugoslavian Inex Adria Aviopromet DC-9 crashes in Corsica killing all 180 people on-board.
1982 - At the University of Utah, Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
1987 - NASA announces the names of four companies that have been awarded contracts to help build Space Station Freedom.
1988 - Benazir Bhutto is appointed Prime Minister of Pakistan.
1989 - Right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed forces Movement (RAM) attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d' etat.
1989 - Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the communist party the leading role in the state.
1990 - Channel Tunnel sections started from the United Kingdom and France meet 40 meters beneath the seabed.
1991 - Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
1998 - Exxon announces a $73.7 billion USD deal to buy Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.
2001 - Captain Bill Compton brings Trans World Airlines Flight 220, an MD-83, into St. Louis International Airport bringing to an end 76 years of TWA operations following TWA’s purchase by American Airlines.

Births

1081 - Louis VI of France (d. 1137)
1083 - Anna Comnena, Byzantine historian (d. 1153)
1521 - Takeda Shingen, Japanese warlord (d. 1573)
1525 - Tadeáš Hájek, Czech physician and astronomer (d. 1600)
1580 - Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (d. 1637)
1690 - Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor of England (d. 1764)
1716 - Etienne-Maurice Falconet, French sculptor (d. 1791)
1743 - Martin Heinrich Klaproth, German chemist (d. 1817)
1761 - Marie Tussaud, French creator of wax sculptures (Madame Tussauds) (d. 1850)
1766 - Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, Russian writer (d. 1826)
1792 - Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician (d. 1856)
1844 - Alexandra of Denmark, Danish Queen Consort of Edward VII of the United Kingdom (d. 1925)
1869 - Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish assassin of Gabriel Narutowicz (d. 1923)
1873 - Valery Bryusov, Russian poet (d. 1924)
1884 - Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, German painter (d. 1976)
1886 - Rex Stout, American author (d. 1975)
1895 - Henry Williamson, English author (d. 1977)
1896 - Georgy Zhukov, Russian general & Marshal of the Soviet Union (d. 1974)
1901 - Ilona Feher, Hungarian-Jewish violinist (d. 1988)
1905 - Alexander Wilson, Canadian and Notre Dame athlete (d. 1994)
1908 - Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (d. 1984)
1910 - Alicia Markova, English ballerina (d. 2004)
1911 - Walter Alston, American baseball manager (d. 1984)
1911 - Calvin Griffith, Canadian-born baseball executive (d. 1999)
1912 - Minoru Yamasaki, American architect (d. 1986)
1913 - Mary Martin, American actor and singer (d. 1990)
1917 - Marty Marion, American baseball player and manager
1922 - Vsevolod Bobrov, Soviet ice hockey player (d. 1979)
1922 - Paul Picerni, American actor
1923 - Stansfield Turner, American admiral and CIA director
1923 - Morris, Belgian cartoonist (Lucky Luke) (d. 2001)
1925 - Martin Rodbell, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
1926 - Robert Symonds, American actor (d. 2007)
1928 - Emily McLaughlin, American actress (d. 1991)
1930 - Joachim Hoffmann, German historian (d. 2002)
1931 - Jimmy Lyons, American musician (d. 1986)
1931 - Jim Nesbitt, singer (d. 2007)
1932 - Matt Monro, English singer (d. 1985)
1933 - Fujiko F. Fujio, Japanese cartoon artist (d. 1996)
1933 - Lou Rawls, American singer (d. 2006)
1934 - Billy Paul, American singer
1935 - Woody Allen, American film director, actor, and comedian
1937 - Muriel Costa-Greenspon, American mezzo-soprano (d. 2005)
1937 - Chuck Low, American actor
1937 - Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, 6th President of Latvia
1938 - Sandy Nelson, American drummer
1939 - Lee Trevino, American golfer
1940 - Richard Pryor, American actor, comedian (d. 2005)
1942 - John Crowley, American author
1944 - Pierre Arditi, French film and stage actor
1944 - Eric Bloom, American musician (Blue Öyster Cult)
1944 - John Densmore, American drummer (The Doors)
1944 - Tahar Ben Jelloun, French writer of Moroccan origin
1944 - Daniel Pennac, French writer born in Morocco
1944 - Michael W. Hagee, 33rd Commandant of the United States Marine Corps
1945 - Bette Midler, American actress and singer
1946 - Gilbert O'Sullivan, Irish singer
1947 - Alain Bashung, French singer
1947 - Bob Fulton, English-born Australian rugby league footballer
1948 - George Foster, American baseball player
1948 - Tom Wright, English bishop and theologian
1949 - Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug lord (d. 1993)
1949 - Sebastián Piñera, Chilean businessman and presidential candidate
1950 - Keith Thibodeaux, American actor and drummer
1951 - Jaco Pastorius, American bassist (d. 1987)
1951 - Treat Williams, American actor
1954 - Bob Goen, American television host
1954 - Annette Haven, American pornographic actress
1955 - Mark Thompson, American disc jockey and actor
1955 - Verónica Forqué, Spanish actress
1956 - Julee Cruise, American singer and actress
1958 - Javier Aguirre, Mexican footballer and coach
1958 - Charlene Tilton, American actress
1959 - Billy Childish, English painter, writer and musician
1959 - Wally Lewis, Australian rugby league footballer
1960 - Carol Alt, American supermodel
1961 - Jeremy Northam, English actor
1961 - Armin Meiwes, German cannibal
1962 - Sylvie Daigle, Canadian speed skater
1962 - Joe Quesada, American comic book writer and artist, and editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics
1963 - Marco Greco, Brazilian racing driver
1963 - Arjuna Ranatunga, Sri Lankan cricketer
1963 - Nathalie Lambert, Quebec short track speed skater
1964 - Salvatore Schillaci, Italian footballer
1966 - Katherine LaNasa, American actress
1966 - Larry Walker, Canadian baseball player
1967 - Nestor Carbonell, American actor
1970 - Jouko Ahola, Finnish strongman
1970 - Kirk Rueter, American baseball player
1970 - Sarah Silverman, American actress and comedian
1971 - Emily Mortimer, English actress
1971 - Stephanie Finochio, American professional wrestler
1971 - Mika Pohjola, Finnish jazz pianist and composer
1971 - Dolgorsuren Serjbudee, Mongolian professional wrestler
1971 - Peter Van de Veire, Belgian radio-presenter
1972 - Norbert Wójtowicz, Polish historian and theologian
1974 - Costinha, Portuguese footballer
1974 - David Ludwig, American composer
1975 - Sophia Skou, Danish swimmer
1976 - Matthew Shepard, American murder victim (d. 1998)
1977 - Brad Delson, American guitarist (Linkin Park)
1977 - Jared Fogle, American Subway spokesperson
1978 - Mat Kearney, American singer and songwriter
1979 - Ryan Malone, American Hockey Player
1980 - Mohammad Kaif, Indian cricketer
1992 - [[Alex Tate], Future Dictator of The World
2001 - Aiko, Princess Toshi of Japan

Deaths

1135 - Henry I of England
1241 - Isabella of England, wife of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1214)
1377 - King Magnus II of Sweden (b. 1316)
1433 - Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (b. 1377)
1455 - Lorenzo Ghiberti, Italian artist and metal smith (b. 1378)
1521 - Pope Leo X (b. 1475)
1530 - Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands (b. 1480)
1580 - Giovanni Morone, Italian cardinal (b. 1509)
1581 - Edmund Campion, English Jesuit (martyred) (b. 1540)
1581 - Ralph Sherwin, English Catholic saint (b. 1550)
1581 - Alexander Briant, English saint (b. around 1556)
1602 - Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1582)
1633 - Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (b. 1566)
1660 - Pierre d'Hozier, French historian (b. 1592)
1707 - Jeremiah Clarke, English composer (b. 1674)
1709 - Abraham a Sancta Clara, Austrian preacher (b. 1644)
1723 - Susanna Centlivre, English dramatist and actress
1729 - Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (b. 1665)
1750 - Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr, German mathematician, astronomer, and cartographer (b. 1671)
1755 - Maurice Greene, English composer (b. 1696)
1767 - Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, British Freemason (b. 1710)
1825 - Tsar Alexander I of Russia (b. 1777)
1830 - Pope Pius VIII (b. 1761)
1865 - Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss poet (b. 1796)
1866 - George Everest, Welsh surveyor and namesake of Mt. Everest (d. 1790)
1884 - William Swainson (lawyer), second, and last, Attorney-General (New Zealand) of the Crown Colony of New Zealand (b. 1809)
1916 - Charles de Foucauld, French religious leader (b. 1858)
1923 - Virginie Loveling, Belgian writer and poet (b. 1836)
1928 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (b. 1888)
1934 - Sergei Kirov, Russian revolutionary (b. 1886)
1943 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (b. 1862)
1947 - Aleister Crowley, English occultist (b. 1875)
1947 - G. H. Hardy, English mathematician (b. 1877)
1950 - E. J. Moeran, English composer (b. 1894)
1954 - Fred Rose, American songwriter and music publishing executive (b. 1897)
1964 - J. B. S. Haldane, Scottish geneticist (b. 1892)
1968 - Nicolae Bretan, Romanian opera singer (baryton) and composer born in Transylvania (b. 1887)
1968 - Dario Moreno, Turkish-Jewish singer (b. 1921)
1969 - Magic Sam, American blues guitarist and singer (b. 1937)
1973 - David Ben-Gurion, first Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
1975 - Nellie Fox, American baseball player (b. 1927)
1975 - Anna E. Roosevelt, American radio personality (b. 1906)
1986 - Lee Dorsey, American R&B singer (b. 1924)
1987 - James Baldwin, American writer (b. 1924)
1987 - Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey coach and general manager (b. 1918)
1989 - Alvin Ailey, American dancer, choreographer (b. 1931)
1991 - George Joseph Stigler, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner (b. 1911)
1996 - Peter Bronfman, Canadian businessman (b. 1928)
1997 - Stéphane Grappelli, French jazz violinist (b. 1908)
1997 - Michel Bélanger, French Canadian businessman and banker (b. 1929)
1997 - Endicott Peabody, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts (b. 1920)
1998 - Freddie Young, British cinematographer (b. 1902)
2001 - Ellis R Dungan, American born Indian film director (b. 1909)
2002 - Dave McNally, American baseball player (b. 1942)
2003 - Clark Kerr, first Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (b. 1911)
2003 - Eugenio Monti, Italian bobsledder (b. 1928)
2004 - Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (b. 1911)
2006 - Claude Jade, French actress (b. 1948)
2006 - Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist (McGill University) (b. 1937)
2007 - Anton Rodgers, British actor (b. 1933)

* 740 - An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing much damage and death.
* 1640 - The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
* 1774 - The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
* 1776 - Benjamin Franklin departed from America for France on a mission to seek French support for the American Revolution.
* 1795 - The French Directory, a five-man revolutionary government, is created.
* 1825 - The Erie Canal opens - passage from Albany, New York to Lake Erie.
* 1859 - The Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, north Wales with 459 dead.
* 1860 - Meeting of Teano. Giuseppe Garibaldi, conqueror of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, gives it to King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy.
* 1861 - The Pony Express officially ceased operations.
* 1863 - The Football Association is formed.
* 1881 - The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
* 1905 - Norway becomes independent from Sweden.
* 1912 - First Balkan War: The city of Thessaloniki is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day the Serbian troops captured Skopje.
* 1917 - World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany.
* 1917 - World War I:Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
* 1918 - Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
* 1936 - The first electric generator at Hoover Dam went into full operation.
* 1940 - The P-51 Mustang makes its maiden flight.
* 1942 - World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier, Hornet, was sunk and another aircraft carrier, Enterprise, is heavily damaged.
* 1943 - World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil".
* 1944 - World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends.
* 1947 - The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.
* 1947 - The British Military Occupation ends in Iraq.
* 1948 - Killer smog settles into Donora, Pennsylvania.
* 1951 - Boxer Joe Louis comes out of retirement to fight Rocky Marciano. However, Marciano would win the fight in eight rounds.
* 1954 - Trieste return to Italy.
* 1955 - After the last Allied troops have left the country and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares permanent neutrality.
* 1955 - Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
* 1958 - Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris, France.
* 1964 - Eric Edgar Cooke becomes last person in Western Australia to be executed.
* 1965 - The Beatles are appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBEs).
* 1977 - The last natural case of smallpox was discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
* 1978 - Independent Counsel Act is signed into law.
* 1979 - Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
* 1984 - "Baby Fae" receives a heart transplant from a baboon.
* 1992 - The command and control system of the London Ambulance Service fails catastrophically.
* 1992 - The Charlottetown Accord fails to win majority support in a Canada wide referendum.
* 1994 - Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.
* 1994 - Announcement that Andrew Wiles correctly proved Fermat's last theorem.
* 1995 - Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
* 1999 - Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
* 2000 - Laurent Gbagbo takes over as president of Côte d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against President Robert Guéï. Bret Hart retires.
* 2001 - The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
* 2002 - Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen rebels and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the rebels during a musical performance three days before.
* 2003 - The Cedar Fire, the second-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km²), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.
* 2007 - Apple Inc. releases its newest version of Mac OS X.

Births
* 1427 - Archduke Sigismund of Austria (d. 1496)
* 1473 - Friedrich of Saxony (d. 1510)
* 1491 - Zhengde, Emperor of China (d. 1521)
* 1609 - William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
* 1673 - Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian prince, linguist, and scholar (d. 1723)
* 1684 - Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (d. 1757)
* 1685 - Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)
* 1694 - Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (d. 1758)
* 1757 - Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher (d. 1823)
* 1759 - Georges Jacques Danton, French Revolutionary leader (d. 1794)
* 1768 - Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (d. 1844)
* 1794 - Konstantin Thon, Russian architect (d. 1881)
* 1795 - Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer (d. 1872)
* 1797 - Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (d. 1865)
* 1800 - Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)
* 1802 - King Miguel of Portugal (d. 1866)
* 1842 - Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, Russian painter (d. 1904)
* 1849 - Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician (d. 1917)
* 1854 - C. W. Post, American entrepreneur (d. 1914)
* 1865 - Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)
* 1869 - Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa, President of Brazil (d. 1957)
* 1871 - Guillermo Kahlo, father of Frida Kahlo (d. 1941)
* 1873 - Thorvald Stauning, Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
* 1874 - Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, socialite and philanthropist (d. 1948)
* 1874 - Martin Lowry, British chemist (d. 1936)
* 1880 - Andrei Bely, Russian writer (d. 1934)
* 1883 - Paul Pilgrim, American athlete (d. 1958)
* 1888 - Nestor Ivanovich Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist Insurrectionary leader (d. 1934)
* 1899 - Judy Johnson Hall of Fame baseball player in the Negro Leagues (d. 1989)
* 1902 - Jack Sharkey, American boxer (d. 1994)
* 1905 - George Flahiff, Canadian Cardinal (d. 1989)
* 1906 - Primo Carnera, Italian boxer (d. 1967)
* 1911 - Sid Gilman, American football player (d. 2003)
* 1911 - Mahalia Jackson, American singer (d. 1972)
* 1911 - Sorley MacLean, Scottish poet (d. 1996)
* 1912 - Don Siegel, American director (d. 1991)
* 1913 - Charlie Barnet, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1991)
* 1914 - Jackie Coogan, American actor (d. 1984)
* 1915 - Joe Fry, British racing driver (d. 1950)
* 1916 - François Mitterrand, President of France (d. 1996)
* 1919 - Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran, Shah of Iran (d. 1980)
* 1921 - George Forrest, Northern Irish MP (d. 1968)
* 1925 - Jan Wolkers, Dutch author (d. 2007)
* 1928 - Francisco Solano López, Argentine comics artists
* 1929 - Neal Matthews, Jr., American singer (The Jordanaires) (d. 2000)
* 1934 - Hans-Joachim Rödelius, German composer and musician (Cluster, Harmonia)
* 1936 - Shelley Morrison, American actress
* 1941 - Charlie Landsborough, Singer/Songwriter
* 1942 - Bob Hoskins, British actor
* 1945 - Pat Conroy, American writer
* 1945 - Jaclyn Smith, American actress
* 1945 - Demetris Th. Gotsis, Greek poet and author
* 1946 - Pat Sajak, American game show host
* 1946 - Holly Woodlawn, Puerto Rican actress
* 1946 - Keith Hopwood, British musician (Herman's Hermits)
* 1947 - Hillary Rodham Clinton, First Lady of the United States and United States Senator
* 1947 - Trevor Joyce, Irish poet
* 1947 - Ian Ashley, British racing driver
* 1948 - Toby Harrah, American Major League Baseball player
* 1949 - Steve Rogers, Major League Baseball pitcher
* 1951 - Bootsy Collins, American musician (P Funk)
* 1952 - Andrew Motion, English poet and Poet Laureate
* 1953 - Rosa Monckton, notable charity fundraiser
* 1953 - Keith Strickland, American musician (The B-52's)
* 1954 - Vassilis Hatzipanagis, Greek footballer
* 1956 - Stephen Gumley, Australian businessman
* 1956 - Rita Wilson, American actress
* 1957 - Bob Golic, American football player
* 1959 - Evo Morales, President of Bolivia
* 1959 - François Chau, Cambodian actor
* 1959 - Brian Bovell, British actor
* 1961 - Dylan McDermott, American actor
* 1962 - Cary Elwes, British actor
* 1963 - Natalie Merchant, American singer
* 1963 - Ted Demme, American film and television director (d. 2002)
* 1964 - Thomas Cavanagh, Canadian actor
* 1965 - Aaron Kwok Fu-Shing, Hong Kong singer
* 1965 - Kelly Rowan, Canadian actress and producer.
* 1966 - Jane Hajduk, American actress
* 1966 - Steve Valentine, British actor
* 1966 - Jeanne Zelasko, American sportcaster
* 1966 - Masaharu Iwata, Japanese composer
* 1967 - Keith Urban, New Zealand singer
* 1970 - Lisa Ryder, American actress
* 1970 - Dian Bachar, American actor
* 1970 - Raveena Tandon, Indian actress
* 1971 - Anthony Rapp, American singer and actor
* 1973 - Seth MacFarlane, American animator
* 1973 - Taka Michinoku , Japanese professional wrestle
* 1974 - LISA, Japanese musician
* 1976 - Miikka Kiprusoff, Finnish hockey player
* 1977 - Jon Heder, American actor
* 1978 - Jimmy Aggrey, English footballer
* 1978 - Mark Barry, English musician (BBMak)
* 1978 - CM Punk, American professional wrestler
* 1978 - Eva Kaili, Greek TV presenter and politician
* 1979 - Movsar Barayev, Chechen militant (d. 2002)
* 1980 - Cristian Chivu, Romanian footballer
* 1981 - Guy Sebastian, Australian singer
* 1981 - Sam Brown, American comedian
* 1982 - Adam Carroll, British racing driver
* 1983 - Dmitri Sychev, Russian football player
* 1983 - Francisco Liriano, Major League Baseball pitcher
* 1983 - Luke Watson, South African rugby player
* 1984 - Sasha Cohen, American figure skater
* 1984 - Jefferson Farfán, Peruvian footballer
* 1984 - Adriano Correia Claro, Brazilian footballer
* 1984 - Amanda Overmyer, American Singer, American Idol Season 7
* 1985 - Andrea Bargnani, Italian basketball player
* 1985 - Monta Ellis, American basketball player
* 1985 - Asin Thottumkal, Indian actress
* 1987 - Elise Estrada, Canadian singer

Deaths
* 899 - Alfred the Great, king of Wessex (b. 849)
* 1235 - King Andrew II of Hungary (b. 1175)
* 1440 - Gilles de Rais, French serial killer (b. 1404)
* 1633 - Horio Tadaharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1596)
* 1671 - Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1593)
* 1675 - William Sprague, English co-founder of Charlestown, Massachusetts (b. 1609)
* 1679 - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (b. 1621)
* 1686 - John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, English politician (b. 1623)
* 1717 - Catherine Sedley, English mistress of James II of England (b. 1657)
* 1751 - Philip Doddridge, English religious leader (b. 1702)
* 1764 - William Hogarth, British painter (b. 1697)
* 1773 - Amédée-François Frézier, French military engineer and explorer (b. 1682)
* 1803 - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, English politician (b. 1721)
* 1806 - John Graves Simcoe, first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (b. 1752)
* 1817 - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, Austrian scientist (b. 1727)
* 1864 - "Bloody Bill" Anderson, American Civil War rebel guerrilla leader (b. 1839)
* 1866 - John Kinder Labatt, Irish-Canadian brewer (Labatt Brewing Company) (b. 1803)
* 1890 - Carlo Collodi, Italian writer (b. 1826)
* 1896 - Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour, French statesman (b. 1827)
* 1902 - Elizabeth Cady Stanton, American feminist and suffragette (b. 1815)
* 1909 - Hirobumi Ito, Japanese Prime Minister, de facto Resident-General of Korea (b. 1841)
* 1930 - Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman (b. 1872)
* 1931 - Charles Comiskey, baseball team owner (b. 1859)
* 1937 - Józef Dowbór-Muśnicki, Polish general (b. 1867)
* 1941 - Arkady Gaidar, Russian children's writer (b. 1904)
* 1943 - Marc Aurel Stein, Hungarian-born archaeologist (b. 1862)
* 1944 - Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria (b. 1857)
* 1944 - William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1881)
* 1945 - Paul Pelliot, French explorer (b. 1878)
* 1945 - Alexei Krylov, Russian engineer and mathematician (b. 1863)
* 1947 - Canon Edwin Sidney Savage, English rector (b. 1862)
* 1952 - Hattie McDaniel, American singer and actress (b. 1895)
* 1956 - Walter Gieseking, French pianist (b. 1895)
* 1957 - Gerty Cori, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b. 1896)
* 1957 - Nikos Kazantzakis, Greek writer (b. 1883)
* 1962 - Louise Beavers, American actress (b. 1902)
* 1965 - Sylvia Likens, American torture victim (b. 1949)
* 1966 - Alma Cogan, English singer (b. 1932)
* 1971 - Vincent Coleman, American actor (b. 1901)
* 1972 - Igor Sikorsky, Kiev, Russian Empire (currently Ukraine) born inventor (b. 1889)
* 1978 - Alexander Gerschenkron, Russian-born economic historian (b. 1904)
* 1979 - Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea (b. 1917)
* 1984 - Gus Mancuso, baseball player (b. 1905)
* 1986 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (b. 1897)
* 1989 - Charles J. Pedersen, American Nobel laureate (b. 1904)
* 1994 - Wilbert Harrison, American singer (b. 1929)
* 1995 - Gorni Kramer, Italian bandleader and songwriter (b. 1913)
* 1999 - Hoyt Axton, American actor and country music singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
* 2002 - Jacques Massu, French general (b. 1908)
* 2002 - Movsar Barayev, Chechen militant (b. 1979)
* 2004 - Bobby Avila, Major League Baseball player (b. 1924)
* 2005 - Keith Parkinson, fantasy artist (b. 1958)
* 2006 - Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and museum director (b. 1924)
* 2007 - Nicolae Dobrin, Romanian footballer (b. 1947)
* 2007 - Friedman Paul Erhardt (Chef Tell), German-born American TV chef (b. 1943)
* 2007 - Dr. Arthur Kornberg, American Nobel Prize laureate in 1959 for the discovery of DNA polymerase (b. 1918)
* 2007 - Khun Sa, Burmese warlord (b. 1934)

Events
1536 - King Henry VIII orders translated Bibles be placed in every church. (Ah yes, the guy who had SEVERAL of his wives beheaded ordered translated bibles? Hypocrite much?)
1861 - American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union. (Now THAT I didn't know.)
1889 - The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris. (DUDE! ONE OF THE SIGHTS I WANNA SEE!)
1935 - New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration (WPA). (FDR, you chose an awesome date.)
1937 - Hindenberg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenberg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed. (Oh gee, go and make me depressed now!)

Births
1501 - Pope Marcellus II (One pope.)
1574 - Pope Innocent X (Two popes.)
1856 - Sigmund Freud, Austrian psychiatrist (...The man that brought us...Fruedian Slips.)
1953 - Tony Blair, former British prime minister (Emphasis on FORMER.)
1961 - George Clooney, American actor (Aren't you just jealous?)
1987 - Moon Geun-young, South Korean actress (Same day, same year. Eerie. I wonder what time of the day she was born...)

Deaths
1862 - Henry David Thoreau, American author and philosopher (b. 1817) (I've actually read a few of his works. I rather like him.)
1919 - L. Frank Baum, American writer (b. 1856) (The dude that wrote several works, but the one I remember the most is The Wizard of Oz.)

Holidays/Observances
Feast days in the Roman Catholic Church

-Saint Justus
- Saint Lucius of Cyrene
- Saint Dominic Savio, patron saint of studying youth
-Saint Evodius of Antioch
- Saint Gerard of Lunel
- Saint Henryk Kaczorowski
- Saint Petronax of Monte Cassino
- Saint Theodotus
- St George's Day — Đurđevdan (Serbian), Gergyovden (Bulgarian), Giorgoba (Georgian) the most famous Serbian slava, the most celebrated namesday in Bulgaria.

Events:

98 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
1142 - Wrongful execution of noted Song Dynasty General Yue Fei.
1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
1593 - Vatican opens 7 year trial against scholar Giordano Bruno.
1606 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, and ending in their execution on January 31.
1695 - Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Ahmed II. Mustafa rules until his death in 1703.
1785 - The University of Georgia is founded, the first public university in the United States.
1825 - U.S. Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
1870 - The first women's fraternity,Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University.
1888 - In Washington, D.C., the National Geographic Society is founded.
1909 - The Young Left is founded in Norway.
1918 - The first hostilities occurred in the Finnish Civil War.
1939 - First flight of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
1944 - World War II: The two-year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
1945 - World War II: The Red Army arrives at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on the Frenchman Flats.
1951 - David Morrissey, Australian anthropologist, artist, and humanitarian activist is born.
1967 - Apollo program: Apollo 1 - Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
1967 - More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
1973 - Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War. Colonel William Nolde falls, becoming the conflict's last recorded American combat casualty.
1983 - Pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest subaqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō breaks through.
1996 - Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
1996 - Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Births:

* 1443 - Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
* 1546 - Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
* 1585 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
* 1603 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (d. 1685)
* 1621 - Thomas Willis, English physician (d. 1675)
* 1662 - Richard Bentley, English classical scholar (d. 1742)
* 1687 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
* 1701 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian (d. 1790)
* 1708 - Anna Petrovna of Russia (d. 1728)
* 1720 - Samuel Foote, English dramatist (d. 1777)
* 1741 - Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (d. 1821)
* 1756 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
* 1805 - Samuel Palmer, English artist (d. 1881)
* 1805 - Sophie of Bavaria, archduchess of Austria (d. 1872)
* 1805 - Maria Anna of Bavaria, queen consort of Saxony (d. 1877)
* 1806 - Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (d. 1826)
* 1814 - Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (d. 1879)
* 1823 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
* 1826 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (d. 1889)
* 1826 - Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
* 1832 - Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
* 1836 - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (d. 1895)
* 1841 - Arkhip Kuindzhi, Russian painter (d. 1910)
* 1848 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
* 1850 - Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (d. 1924)
* 1850 - Edward J. Smith, English captain of the Titanic (d. 1912)
* 1859 - Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1941)
* 1885 - Jerome Kern, American composer (d. 1945)
* 1885 - Eduard Künneke, German composer (d. 1953)
* 1885 - Maeda Seison, Japanese painter (d. 1977)
* 1891 - Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer (d. 1967)
* 1893 - Soong Ching-ling, Chinese wife of Sun Yat-sen (d. 1981)
* 1895 - Harry Ruby, American composer (d. 1974)
* 1900 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
* 1901 - Art Rooney, American football team owner (d. 1988)
* 1901 - Willy Fritsch, German actor (d. 1973)
* 1903 - John Carew Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, Nobel Laureate (d. 1997)
* 1905 - Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
1908 - Oran Page, American musician (d. 1954)
1908 - William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American newspaper magnate (d. 1993)
1912 - Arne Næss, Norwegian philosopher
1918 - Skitch Henderson, English bandleader (d. 2005)
1918 - Elmore James, American blues musician (d. 1963)
1918 - William Seawell, United States Army Brigadier General (d. 2005)
1919 - Ross Bagdasarian, American musician (d. 1972)
1920 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
1920 - John Box, British film production designer and art director (d. 2005)
1921 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
1924 - Sabu Dastagir, Indian actor (d. 1963)
1924 - Rauf Denktaş, founder of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
1926 - Fritz Spiegl, Austrian journalist (d. 2003)
1926 - Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (d. 2004)
1928 - Michael Craig, British actor
1928 - Hans Modrow, a German politician, premier of East Germany
1929 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist (d. 1984)
1930 - Bobby Blue Bland, American singer
1931 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)
1932 - Boris Shakhlin, Soviet gymnast
1933 - Mohamed Al-Fayed, Egyptian billionaire businessman
1934 - George Follmer, American race car driver
1936 - Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
1936 - Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist, Nobel Laureate
1937 - John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)
1940 - James Cromwell, American actor
1940 - Terry Harper, Canadian ice hockey player
1942 - John Witherspoon, American actor
1942 - Kate Wolf, American folk singer and songwriter (d. 1986)
1944 - Peter Akinola, Nigerian religious leader
1944 - Mairéad Corrigan, Irish activist, Nobel Prize Laureate
1944 - Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
1945 - Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader (d. 2005)
1946 - Nedra Talley, American singer (Ronettes)
1947 - Björn Afzelius, Swedish singer (d. 1999)
1947 - Vyron Polydoras, Greek politician
1948 - Jean-Philippe Collard, French pianist
1949 - Ethan Mordden, American author
1950 - Amos Grunebaum, Israeli-born physician
1950 - Derek Acorah, English spirit medium
1951 - Brian Downey, Irish musician (Thin Lizzy)
1951 - David Morrissey Australian anthropologist, artist, and humanitarian involved in forwarding the cause of CSR
1952 - Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, American football player
1954 - Peter Laird, American comic-book artist
1954 - Joko Ninomiya, Japanese martial artist
1955 - Brian Engblom, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 - John G. Roberts, 17th Chief Justice of the United States
1955 - Alexander Stuart, British author
1955 - Koji Ushikubo, Japanese racing driver
1956 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
1957 - Janick Gers, British guitarist (Iron Maiden)
1957 - Frank Miller, American comic book artist and writer and film director
1958 - James Grippando, American novelist
1958 - Kadri Mälk, Estonian artist and jewelry designer
1959 - Keith Olbermann, American news presenter
1959 - Göran Hägglund, Swedish politician
1959 - Cris Collinsworth, American football player
1961 - Margo Timmins, Canadian singer (Cowboy Junkies)
1961 - Dina Bonnevie, Filipino actress
1961 - Gillian Gilbert, British musician (New Order)
1961 - Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer
1964 - Bridget Fonda, American actress
1965 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
1965 - Mike Newell, English football manager
1967 - Bobby Deol, Indian actor
1967 - Byron Mann, Hong Kong actor
1967 - Dave Manson, Canadian ice hockey player
1968 - Patrick Blondeau, former French International footballer
1968 - Mike Patton, American singer (Faith No More)
1968 - Tricky, English rapper
1969 - Cornelius, Japanese musician and producer (Flipper's Guitar)
1969 - Michael Kulas, Canadian singer (James)
1969 - Patton Oswalt, American actor and writer
1970 - Jon Douglas Rainey, American TV personality
1970 - Emmanuel Pahud, French-Swiss flautist
1971 - Fann Wong, Singapore entertainer (Shanghai Knights)
1971 - Lil Jon, American rapper and producer
1971 - Patrice Brisebois, Canadian ice hockey player
1972 - Guillermo, Mexican-born American TV personality
1972 - Keith Wood, Irish rugby player
1972 - Mark Owen, English pop singer
1972 - Janine Ilitch, Australian netballer
1974 - Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer
1974 - Andrei Pavel, Romanian tennis player
1974 - ZP Theart, South African-born English singer (Dragonforce)
1976 - Clint Ford, American voice actor
1976 - Ahn Jung-Hwan, Korean football player
1976 - Ruby Lin, Taiwanese actress and singer
1978 - Pete Laforest, Canadian baseball player
1979 - Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer
1979 - Rosamund Pike, British actress
1979 - Mario Fatafehi, American-born Canadian Football League player
1980 - Marat Safin, Russian tennis player
1980 - Chanda Gunn, ice hockey player
1981 - Alicia Molik, Australian tennis player
1983 - Carlo Colaiacovo, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 - Gavin Floyd, American baseball player
1983 - Mike Zagurski, American baseball player
1984 - Davetta Sherwood, American actress
1987 - Lily Donaldson, British model
1987 - Katy Rose, American pop singer
1987 - Zuleidy Spanish porn star
1988 - Kerlon Moura Souza, Brazilian footballer
1989 - Millini, rock prince and lord of awesome

Deaths:

* 98 - Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
* 1490 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (b. 1435)
* 1629 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
* 1638 - Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist
* 1731 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian musical instrument maker (b. 1655)
* 1740 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
* 1814 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1762)
* 1816 - Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (b. 1724)
* 1851 - John James Audubon, French-born naturalist and ornithologist (b. 1789)
* 1857 - Dorothea Lieven, Russian noblewoman (b. 1785)
* 1860 - János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1802)
* 1880 - Edward Middleton Barry, English architect (b. 1830)
* 1901 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
* 1910 - Thomas Crapper, English inventor (b. 1836)
* 1919 - Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
* 1921 - Maurice Vincent Buckley, Australian soldier (b. 1891)
* 1927 - Georgios Grivas, Cyprus-born general in the Greek Army
* 1927 - Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis-Matulevičius (Matulewicz), Lithuanian bishop
* 1940 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
* 1956 - Erich Kleiber, Argentine conductor (b. 1890)
* 1967 - Roger Chaffee - Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1935)
* 1967 - Virgil "Gus" Grissom - Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1926)
* 1967 - Edward White - Crew of Apollo 1 (b. 1930)
* 1967 - Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France (b. 1888)
* 1970 - Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
* 1971 - Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
* 1972 - Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
* 1972 - Richard Courant, German-American mathematician (b. 1888)
* 1973 - William Nolde, last American combat casualty of Vietnam War (b. 1929)
* 1975 - Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
* 1979 - Qalander Ba Ba Auliya, Sufi master (b. 1898)
* 1983 - Louis de Funès, French actor (b. 1914)
* 1986 - Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (b. 1914)
* 1988 - Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian author (b. 1938)
* 1989 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (b. 1888)
* 1989 - Bayani Casimiro, Filipino dancer and actor (b. 1918)
* 1993 - André the Giant, French professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
* 1994 - Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
* 1996 - Ralph Yarborough, American politician (b. 1903)
* 1997 - Gerald Marks, American songwriter (All of Me) (b. 1900)
* 2000 - Friedrich Gulda, Austrian pianist (b. 1930)
* 2001 - Stavros Damianides, Greek musician (b. 1941)
* 2003 - Henryk Jabłoński, President of Poland (b. 1909)
* 2003 - Louis Archambault, Quebec sculptor (b. 1915)
* 2004 - Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)
* 2004 - Salvador Laurel, Vice President of the Philippines (b. 1928)
* 2006 - Johannes Rau, 8th President of Germany (b. 1931)
* 2006 - Gene McFadden, American singer and songwriter (b. 1948)
* 2006 - Jean-Christophe Lafaille, French mountaineer (disappeared) (b. 1965)
* 2007 - Tige Andrews, American actor (b. 1920)
* 2007 - Yang Chuan-kwang, Taiwanese athlete (b. 1933)
* 2008 - Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1910)
* 2008 - Suharto, President of Indonesia (b. 1921)
* 2008 - Louie Welch, mayor of Houston (b. 1918)

Holidays:

* UN — International Holocaust Remembrance Day
* United Kingdom — Holocaust Memorial Day.
* Germany — Gedenktag für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism).
* Poland — Dzień Pamięci Ofiar Nazizmu (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
* Italy — Giorno della Memoria (Memorial Day).
* Catholicism — Catholic Schools Week.
* Serbia — St. Sava Day.
* Denmark — Auschwitzdag (Auschwitz Day; commemoration day for the victims of the Holocaust and other genocide).
* Monaco, day of Saint Devota, patron saint
* January 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Events:
* 356 BC - A young man called Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
* 285 - Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar, co-ruler.
* 1403 - Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England
* 1545 - The first landing of French troops onto the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight occurs.
* 1568 - Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau
* 1718 - Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
* 1774 - Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
* 1831 - Inauguration of Léopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
* 1861 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory).
* 1865 - In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown.
* 1873 - At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West.
* 1877 - After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
* 1919 The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
* 1925 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100.
* 1931 - CBS's New York City station begins broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the U.S.
* 1944 - World War II: Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10).
* 1954 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
* 1960 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman prime minister in the world, making her the first elected female national leader in the world (Sri Lanka).
* 1961 - Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission - Gus Grissom piloting "Liberty Bell 7" becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).
* 1969 - Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.
* 1970 - After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
* 1972 - Bloody Friday bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) around Belfast, Northern Ireland - 22 bomb explosions, 9 people killed and 130 people seriously injured.
* 1973 - In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in 1972's Munich Olympics Massacre.
* 1976 - Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.
* 1977 - Start of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
* 1983 - The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2°C (−129°F).
* 1994 - Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way to him becoming Prime Minister in 1997.
* 1995 - Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
* 1997 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
* 2002 - Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history.
* 2004 - The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.
* 2005 - Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar July 7 bombings, target London's public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers were captured, convicted and imprisoned for long terms.

Births:
* 1515 - Philip Neri, Italian churchman (d. 1595)
* 1620 - Jean Picard, French astronomer (d. 1682)
* 1664 - Matthew Prior, English poet and diplomat (d. 1721)
* 1693 - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1768)
* 1710 - Paul Möhring, German physician (d. 1792)
* 1810 - Henri Victor Regnault, French chemist (d. 1878)
* 1858 - Lovis Corinth, German painter (d. 1925)
* 1858 - Maria Christina of Austria, queen of Spain (d. 1929)
* 1858 - Alfred Henry O'Keeffe, New Zealand artist (d. 1941)
* 1870 - Emil Orlik, Czech painter (d. 1932)
* 1880 - Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak politician, French general and astronomer (d. 1919)
* 1882 - David Burliuk, Ukrainian artist (d. 1967)
* 1893 - Hans Fallada, German writer (d. 1947)
* 1899 - Hart Crane, American poet (d. 1932)
* 1899 - Ernest Hemingway, American writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1961)
* 1903 - Roy Neuberger, American financier
* 1908 - Harold "Jug" McSpaden, American professional golfer (d. 1996)
* 1911 - Marshall McLuhan, Canadian author (d. 1980)
* 1920 - Constance Dowling, American actress (d. 1969)
* 1920 - Isaac Stern, Ukrainian-born violinist (d. 2001)
* 1923 - Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian chemist, Nobel laureate
* 1922 - Kay Starr, American singer
* 1924 - Don Knotts, American actor (d. 2006)
* 1925 - Anne Meacham, American actress
* 1926 - Paul Burke, American actor
* 1926 - Norman Jewison, Canadian film director
* 1926 - Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani general
* 1926 - Queenie Watts, English actress (d. 1980)
* 1928 - Marcel Gauthier, Canadian wrestler (d. 1998)
* 1929 - Bob Orton, American wrestler (d. 2006)
* 1932 - Ernie Warlick, American football player
* 1933 - John Gardner, American author (d. 1982)
* 1935 - Norbert Blüm, German politician
* 1935 - Moe Drabowsky, baseball player (d. 2006)
* 1938 - Janet Reno, 79th United States Attorney General
* 1939 - John Negroponte, 1st United States Director of National Intelligence
* 1943 - Edward Herrmann, American actor
* 1944 - Tony Scott, British film director
* 1944 - Paul Wellstone, American politician (d. 2002)
* 1945 - John Lowe, English darts player
* 1945 - Lydia Shum, Hong Kong comedian and actress (d. 2008)
* 1946 - Kenneth Starr, American lawyer
* 1948 - Ed Hinton, American sportswriter
* 1948 - Yusuf Islam, formerly Cat Stevens, English singer
* 1948 - Garry Trudeau, American cartoonist
* 1949 - Al Hrabosky, baseball player
* 1950 - Ubaldo Fillol, Argentinian footballer
* 1951 - Robin Williams, American comedian/actor
* 1953 - Brian Talbot, British footballer
* 1953 - Jeff Fatt, Chinese Australian actor
* 1955 - Howie Epstein, American musician (d. 2003)
* 1955 - Taco Ockerse, Indonesian singer
* 1957 - Jon Lovitz, American comedian
* 1957 - George Landress, American songwriter and music producer
* 1959 - Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Australian rugby league player
* 1960 - Lance Guest, American actor
* 1960 - Fritz Walter, German footballer
* 1961 - Amar Singh Chamkila, Punjabi folk singer
* 1961 - "Big" Jim Martin, American musician (Faith No More)
* 1963 - Kevin Poole, English footballer
* 1964 - Jens Weißflog, German ski jumper
* 1965 - Gudni Bergsson, Icelandic footballer
* 1965 - Mike Bordick, American baseball player
* 1966 - Arija Bareikis, American actress
* 1968 - Brandi Chastain, American soccer player
* 1968 - Lyle Odelein, Canadian hockey player
* 1969 - Emerson Hart, American musician (Tonic)
* 1970 - Shawn Stasiak, American professional wrestler
* 1971 - Emmanuel Bangué, French long jumper
* 1971 - Charlotte Gainsbourg, French actress and singer
* 1971 - Nuno Markl, Portuguese comedian and radio host
* 1974 - Geoff Jenkins, American baseball player
* 1975 - Mike Sellers, National Football League fullback
* 1978 - Josh Hartnett, American actor
* 1978 - Justin Bartha, American actor
* 1978 - Damian Marley, Jamacian musician
* 1978 - Gary Teale, Scottish football player
* 1979 - David Carr, American football player
* 1979 - Tamika Catchings, American basketball player
* 1980 - C. C. Sabathia, American baseball player
* 1981 - Titus Bramble, English footballer
* 1981 - Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist
* 1981 - Veronica Belmont, CNET TV personality
* 1981 - Blake Lewis, American Idol finalist
* 1981 - Joaquín Sánchez, Spanish footballer
* 1982 - Claudette Ortiz, American soul singer
* 1983 - Eivør Pálsdóttir, Faroese singer
* 1983 - Kellen Winslow II, American football player
* 1984 - Liam Ridgewell, English footballer
* 1985 - Von Wafer, American basketball player
* 1988 - Chris Mitchell (footballer), Falkirk F.C Player
* 1989 - Jamie Waylett, British actor
* 1989 - Rory Culkin, American actor
* 1989 - Chris Gunter, Welsh footballer
* 1992 - Rachael Flatt, American figure skater

Deaths:
* 1403 - Henry Percy, English soldier (killed in battle)
* 1425 - Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1350)
* 1688 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English statesman and soldier (b. 1610)
* 1793 - Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, French explorer (b. 1739)
* 1796 - Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
* 1798 - François Sebastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b. 1733)
* 1880 - Hiram Walden, American politician (b. 1800)
* 1889 - Nelson Dewey, American politician, 1st Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1813)
* 1899 - Robert G. Ingersoll, American politician and military officer (b. 1833)
* 1932 - Bill Gleason, late 19th century baseball player
* 1938 - Owen Wister, American author (b. 1860)
* 1941 - Bohdan Lepky, Ukrainian writer and poet (b. 1872)
* 1943 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (b. 1900)
* 1944 - Claus von Stauffenberg, German, leader of failed plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, by execution (b. 1907)
* 1944 - Ludwig Beck, German Chief of Staff (b. 1880)
* 1946 - Gualberto Villarroel, President of Bolivia (b. 1908)
* 1967 - Jimmie Foxx, baseball player (b. 1907)
* 1967 - Albert Lutuli, South African politician, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
* 1967 - Basil Rathbone, English actor (b. 1892)
* 1968 - Ruth St. Denis, dancer and choreographer (b. 1878)
* 1970 - Mikhail Gerasimov, Russian anthropologist and sculptor (b. 1907)
* 1970 - Bob Kalsu, American football player (b. 1945)
* 1972 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (b. 1889)
* 1982 - Dave Garroway, American television host (b. 1913)
* 1986 - Ernest Maas, American screenwriter (b. 1892)
* 1998 - Alan Shepard, astronaut (b. 1923)
* 1998 - Robert Young, American actor (b. 1907)
* 2001 - Steve Barton, American actor (b. 1954)
* 2001 - Sivaji Ganesan, South Indian Tamil actor (b. 1927)
* 2003 - John Davies, New Zealand Olympic Committee president (b. 1938)
* 2003 - Walter M. "Matt" Jefferies, American film art director (b. 1921)
* 2004 - Jerry Goldsmith, American composer (b. 1929)
* 2004 - Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (b. 1918)
* 2005 - Long John Baldry, British blues musician (b. 1941)
* 2005 - Lord Alfred Hayes, British Wrestling Announcer for WWE (b. 1928)
* 2006 - Mako, Japanese-born American actor (b. 1933)
* 2006 - Ta Mok, "The Khmer Rouge Butcher", war criminal in Democratic Kampuchea (b. 1926)

Holidays and observances:

* Belgium: National holiday (1831 - inauguration of Léopold I, first king of the Belgians)
* Guam: Liberation Day (1944)
* Russia: summer Kazanskaya
* Singapore: Racial Harmony Day

Roman Catholic

* Saint Arbogastus, bishop of Strasburg, confessor [Basel, Constance, Strassburg]
* Saint Daniel
* Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, priest, Doctor of the Church
* Saint Praxedes (Praxidis)
* Saint Victor of Marseilles, and companions, martyrs [Trier, southern France; Paris]

* 1607 - Eighty Years' War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
* 1707 - The Habsburg army is defeated by Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
* 1792 - Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
* 1792 - La Marseillaise (French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
* 1829 - Charles Fremantle arrives in the HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
* 1846 - Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.
* 1847 - The last survivors of the Donner Party are out of the wilderness.
* 1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
* 1859 - British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
* 1861 - American Civil War: The Union Army arrives in Washington, D.C.
* 1862 - American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut capture the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
* 1864 - American Civil War: The Battle of Marks' Mills.
* 1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
* 1901 - New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
* 1915 - World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins -- The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by Australian, British, French and New Zealand troops begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
* 1916 - Easter Rebellion: The United Kingdom declares martial law in Ireland.
* 1916 - Anzac Day commemorated for the first time, on the first anniversary of the landing at Anzac Cove.
* 1938 - U.S. Supreme Court delivers opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
* 1943 - The Demyansk Shield for German troops in commemoration of Demyansk Pocket is instituted.
* 1944 - The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
* 1945 - Elbe Day: United States and Russian troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two, a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.
* 1945 - The Nazi occupation army leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement. This day is taken as symbolic of the Liberation of Italy.
* 1945 - Fifty nations gather in San Francisco, California to begin the United Nations Conference on International Organizations.
* 1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson publish Molecular structure of nucleic acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.
* 1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
* 1961 - Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
* 1966 - The city of Tashkent is destroyed by a huge earthquake.
* 1972 - Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
* 1974 - Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal restores democracy after more than forty years as a corporate fascist state.
* 1975 - As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
* 1981 - More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.
* 1982 - Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
* 1983 - American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
* 1983 - Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto's orbit.
* 1986 - Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
* 1988 - In Israel, John Demjanuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
* 1990 - The Hubble Telescope is deployed into orbit from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
* 2005 - The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
* 2005 - Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
* 2005 - 107 die in Amagasaki rail crash in Japan.
* 2007 - Boris Yeltsin's funeral - the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.

* 32 - Marcus Salvius Otho, Roman Emperor (d. 69)
* 1214 - King Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
* 1228 - Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
* 1284 - King Edward II of England (d. 1327)
* 1287 - Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, de facto ruler of England (d. 1330)
* 1502 - Georg Major, German Protestant theologian (d. 1574)
* 1599 - Oliver Cromwell, English statesman (d. 1658)
* 1608 - Gaston, Duke of Orléans, French politician (d. 1660)
* 1621 - Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, British soldier, statesman, and dramatist (d. 1679)
* 1694 - Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect (d. 1753)
* 1710 - James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer (d. 1776)
* 1725 - Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, British admiral (d. 1786)
* 1767 - Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (d. 1847)
* 1770 - Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist (d. 1850)
* 1775 - Charlotte of Spain, Spanish Infanta and queen of Portugal (d. 1830)
* 1776 - Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
* 1843 - Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse (d. 1878)
* 1849 - Felix Klein, German mathematician (d. 1925)
* 1851 - Leopoldo Alas y Ureña, a.k.a. "Clarín", Spanish novelist (d. 1901)
* 1874 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 1937)
* 1897 - Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
* 1898 - Fred Haney, baseball player (d. 1977)
* 1900 - Wolfgang Ernst Pauli, Austrian-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
* 1902 - Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
* 1903 - Andrey Nikolayevich Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician (d. 1987)
* 1905 - George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1986)
* 1906 - William J. Brennan, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1997)
* 1908 - Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
* 1909 - William Pereira, American architect (d. 1985)
* 1914 - Ross Lockridge, Jr., American writer (d. 1948)
* 1917 - Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
* 1918 - Gerard Henri de Vaucouleurs, French astronomer (d. 1995)
* 1918 - Astrid Varnay, Swedish-born soprano (d. 2006)
* 1921 - Karel Appel, Dutch painter (d. 2006)
* 1923 - Albert King, American musician (d. 1992)
* 1925 - Sammy Drechsel, German journalist, film director, and cabaret performer (d. 1986)
* 1925 - Kay E. Kuter, American actor (d. 2003)
* 1927 - Albert Uderzo, French cartoonist
* 1929 - Yvette Williams First New Zealander to go to olympics
* 1930 - Paul Mazursky, American film director and writer
* 1931 - Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician (d. 1980)
* 1932 - William Roache, British television actor (Coronation Street)
* 1932 - Meadowlark Lemon, American basketball player
* 1933 - Jerry Leiber, American composer
* 1934 - Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer
* 1935 - April Ashley, English model
* 1938 - Ton Schulten, Dutch artist
* 1939 - Ted Kooser, American poet and US Poet Laureate
* 1940 - Al Pacino, American actor
* 1941 - Bertrand Tavernier, French director, screenwriter and actor
* 1941 - Princess Muna al-Hussein, of Jordan
* 1942 - Jon Kyl, American politician
* 1945 - Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer and songwriter (ABBA)
* 1945 - Stu Cook, American rock bassist (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
* 1946 - Talia Shire, American actress
* 1946 - Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician
* 1947 - Johan Cruijff, Dutch footballer
* 1947 - Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
* 1948 - Yu Shyi-kun, former Premier of Taiwan
* 1949 - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician
* 1949 - Vicente Pernía, Argentine footballer
* 1949 - James Fenton, British poet
* 1950 - Steve Ferrone, British drummer
* 1951 - Ian McCartney, British Member of Parliament
* 1952 - Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist
* 1952 - Vladislav Tretiak, Soviet ice hockey player
* 1955 - Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor
* 1955 - Américo Gallego, Argentine footballer
* 1956 - Jaroslava Schallerová, Hungarian actress
* 1958 - Fish, Scottish singer and lyricist (ex-Marillion)
* 1959 - Dominique Blanc, French actress
* 1960 - Bruce Redman, Australian film producer
* 1964 - Hank Azaria, American actor
* 1964 - Andy Bell, British singer and songwriter (band Erasure)
* 1964 - Wisit Sasanatieng, Thai film director
* 1965 - Eric Avery, American musician (Jane's Addiction, Deconstruction, Polar Bear)
* 1965 - Simon Fowler, English musician (Ocean Colour Scene)
* 1966 - James Stacy Barbour, American actor and singer
* 1969 - Joe Buck, American sports broadcaster
* 1969 - Gina Torres, American actress
* 1969 - Darren Woodson, American football player
* 1969 - Renée Zellweger, American actress
* 1970 - Jason Lee, American actor
* 1971 - Tomoko Kawakami, (Voice Actress), Japanese Seiyuu
* 1972 - Sara Baras, Spanish ballerina
* 1973 - Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer (Millencolin)
* 1975 - Emily Bergl, English-American actress
* 1975 - Jacque Jones, American baseball player
* 1976 - Tim Duncan, American basketball player
* 1976 - Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player
* 1976 - Gilberto, Brazilian footballer
* 1977 - Constantinos Christoforou, Cypriot singer
* 1977 - Marguerite Moreau, American actress
* 1977 - Matthew West, American Christian singer
* 1977 - Ilias Kotsios, Greek footballer
* 1978 - Letícia Birkheuer, Brazilian model
* 1980 - Alejandro Valverde, Spanish cyclist
* 1980 - Bruce Martin, New Zealand cricketer
* 1981 - Dwone Hicks, National Football League runningback
* 1981 - Felipe Massa, Brazilian Formula One driver
* 1981 - Anja Pärson, Swedish skier
* 1982 - Monty Panesar, English cricketer
* 1983 - DeAngelo Williams, National Football League runningback
* 1983 - J.P. Howell, American baseball player
* 1984 - Andre' Woodson, American football quarterback
* 1985 - Giedo van der Garde, Dutch racing driver
* 1987 - Johann Smith, American soccer player
* 1988 - Sara Paxton, American actress
* 1988 - James Sheppard, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1989 - Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 11th Panchen Lama
* 1989 - Robbie Tarrant, Australian football player
* 1996 - Allisyn Ashley Arm, American child actress

* 1185 - Emperor Antoku of Japan (b. 1178)
* 1265 - Roger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Winchester, English crusader
* 1295 - King Sancho IV of Castile
* 1472 - Leon Battista Alberti, Italian artist, poet, and philosopher (b. 1404)
* 1516 - John Yonge, English diplomat (b. 1467)
* 1566 - Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henry II of France (b. 1499)
* 1566 - Louise Labé, French poet
* 1595 - Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (b. 1544)
* 1605 - Naresuan, King of Siam (b. 1555)
* 1644 - Chongzhen Emperor, Emperor of China (b. 1611)
* 1660 - Henry Hammond, English churchman (b. 1605)
* 1690 - David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist (b. 1610)
* 1740 - Shrimant Baji Rao Vishwanath Bhat, also known as Baji Rao I, a general and Peshwa (b. 1699)
* 1744 - Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (b. 1701)
* 1770 - Jean-Antoine Nollet, French abbot and physicist (b. 1700)
* 1800 - William Cowper, English poet (b. 1731)
* 1840 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician (b. 1781)
* 1878 - Anna Sewell, English author (b. 1820)
* 1891 - Nathaniel Woodard, English educationalist (b. 1811)
* 1892 - Henri Duveyrier, French explorer (b. 1840)
* 1911 - Emilio Salgari, Italian novelist (b. 1862)
* 1915 - Frederick William Seward, United States Assistant Secretary of State (b. 1830)
* 1923 - Louis-Olivier Taillon, Quebec politician (b. 1840)
* 1928 - Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian counter-revolutionary (b. 1878)
* 1937 - Michał Drzymała, Polish rebel (b. 1857)
* 1943 - Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Russian theatre director (b. 1858)
* 1944 - Tony Mullane, Irish-born American baseball player (b. 1859)
* 1968 - John Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
* 1972 - George Sanders, British actor (b. 1906)
* 1975 - Mike Brant, Israeli singer (b. 1947)
* 1976 - Carol Reed, British film producer and director (b. 1906)
* 1978 - Lee Kim Lai, Singaporean police officer (b. 1960)
* 1980 - Katia Mann, wife of German writer Thomas Mann (b. 1883)
* 1982 - John Cardinal Cody, American cardinal (b. 1907)
* 1990 - Dexter Gordon, American saxophonist (b. 1923)
* 1992 - Yutaka Ozaki, Japanese singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
* 1995 - Art Fleming, American game show host (b. 1925)
* 1995 - Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (b. 1911)
* 1996 - Saul Bass, American graphics designer (b. 1920)
* 1998 - Wright Morris, American writer (b. 1910)
* 1999 - Lord Killanin, Irish International Olympic Committee president (b. 1914)
* 2000 - David Merrick, American theatrical producer (b. 1911)
* 2000 - Lucien le Cam, French mathematician (b. 1924)
* 2001 - Michele Alboreto, Italian race car driver (b. 1956)
* 2002 - Indra Devi, yoga teacher (b. 1899)
* 2002 - Lisa Lopes, American rapper (TLC) (b. 1971)
* 2003 - Samson Kitur, Kenyan athlete (b. 1966)
* 2004 - Thom Gunn, British poet (b. 1929)
* 2005 - Swami Ranganathananda, Indian monk (b. 1908)
* 2006 - Jane Jacobs, American-born Canadian urbanist (b. 1916)
* 2007 - Alan Ball, English footballer (b. 1945)
* 2007 - Bobby "Boris" Pickett, American singer and songwriter (b. 1938)
* 2007 - Arthur Milton, English footballer and cricketer (b. 1928)
* 2008 - Humphrey Lyttelton, Jazz musician and broadcaster, (b. 1921)

* ANZAC Day (Australia, New Zealand).
* Faroe Islands - National Flag Day.
* Official Red Hat Society day.
* Portugal - Freedom Day
* Roman Empire - Robigalia in honor of Robigus.
* Saint Mark the Evangelist
* Saint Anianus
* Liberation from Nazism of Italy (1945)
* World Malaria Day

1504 - Christopher Columbus uses his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies.
1704 - Queen Anne's War: French forces and Native Americans stage a raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, killing 100 men, women, and children.
1712 - February 29 is followed by February 30 in Sweden, in a move to abolish the Swedish calendar for a return to the Old style.
1720 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden abdicates in favour of her husband, who becomes King Frederick I.
1780 - The Omicron Delta Omega fraternity was founded by Benjamin Franklin at James Madison University.
1864 - American Civil War: Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid fails - plans to free 15,000 Union soldiers being held near Richmond, Virginia are thwarted.
1892 - St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated.
1916 - Child labor: In South Carolina, the minimum working age for factory, mill, and mine workers is raised from twelve to fourteen years old.
1932 - TIME magazine features eccentric American politician William "Alfalfa" Murray on its cover after Murray stated his intention to run for President of the United States.
1936 - Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuts on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air.
1940 - For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award.
1940 - Finland initiates Winter War peace negotiations
1940 - In a ceremony held in Berkeley, California, because of the war, physicist Ernest Lawrence receives the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physics from Sweden's Consul General in San Francisco.
1944 - World War II: The Admiralty Islands are invaded in Operation Brewer led by American General Douglas MacArthur.
1952 - The island of Heligoland is restored to German authority.
1956 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces to the nation that he is running for a second term.
1960 - An earthquake in Morocco kills over 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir in the southern part of the country.
1960 - Family Circus makes its debut.
1964 - In Sydney, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser sets a new world record in the 100-meter freestyle swimming competition (58.9 seconds).
1972 - Vietnam War: Vietnamization - South Korea withdraws 11,000 of its 48,000 troops from Vietnam.
1972 - Hank Aaron becomes the first player in the history of Major League Baseball to sign a $200,000 contract.
1980 - Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers makes NHL history as he scores his 800th goal.
1984 - Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau announces he will retire as soon as the Liberals can elect another leader.
1988 - South African archbishop Desmond Tutu is arrested along with 100 clergymen during a five-day anti-apartheid demonstration in Cape Town
1996 - A Peruvian Boeing 737 crashes in the Andes, killing 123 people.
2004 - Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigns as President of Haiti following popular rebel uprising.

1468 - Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1692 - John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763)
1724 - Eva Marie Veigel, ballet dancer and wife of actor David Garrick (d.1822)
1736 - Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784)
1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868)
1840 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914)
1852 - Frank Gavan Duffy, Australian judge (d. 1936)
1860 - Herman Hollerith, American statistician (d. 1929)
1896 - Morarji Desai, Prime Minister of India (d. 1995)
1896 - William A. Wellman, American film director (d. 1975)
1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957)
1904 - Pepper Martin, baseball player (d. 1965)
1904 - Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian dancer and founder of Kalakshetra (d. 1986)
1908 - Balthus, French-Polish painter (d. 2001)
1908 - Dee Brown, American writer (d. 2002)
1908 - Alf Gover, English cricketer (d. 2001)
1916 - Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (d. 1994)
1920 - Arthur Franz, American actor (d. 2006)
1920 - James Mitchell, American actor
1920 - Michèle Morgan, French actress
1920 - Howard Nemerov, American poet (d. 1991)
1924 - Al Rosen, American baseball player
1924 - David Beattie, New Zealand Governor General (d. 2001)
1924 - Carlos Humberto Romero, President of El Salvador
1928 - Joss Ackland, English actor
1928 - Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
1932 - Jaguar, Brazilian cartoonist
1932 - Gene Golub, American mathematician (d. 2007)
1932 - Masten Gregory, American F1 Driver (d. 1985)
1936 - Jack Lousma, American astronaut
1936 - Henri Richard, Canadian ice hockey player
1936 - Alex Rocco, American actor
1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
1940 - William H. Turner, Jr. American horse trainer
1944 - Phyllis Frelich, American actress
1944 - Dennis Farina, American actor
1944 - Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri, Italian illustrator
1944 - Ene Ergma, Estonian politician
1948 - Jirō Akagawa, Japanese novelist
1952 - Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television personality
1952 - Tim Powers, American writer
1952 - Raisa Smetanina, Russian cross-country skier
1952 - Bart Stupak, American politician
1956 - Jonathan Coleman, Anglo-Australian entertainer
1956 - Bob Speller, Canadian politician
1956 - Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (d. 2002)
1956 - J. Randy Taraborrelli, American celebritiy journalist
1960 - Ian McKenzie Anderson, British musician
1960 - Khaled, Algerian raï musician
1960 - Richard Ramirez, American serial killer
1960 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker
1964 - Lyndon Byers, Canadian hockey player and Boston radio personality.
1964 - Jahred Shane, Afro-Brazilian rapper/singer of Hed PE
1968 - Suanne Braun, South African actress
1968 - Chucky Brown, American basketball player
1968 - Pete Fenson, American curler
1968 - Naoko Iijima, Japanese actress
1968 - Gonzalo Lira, Chilean-American novelist
1968 - Bryce Paup, American football player
1968 - Wendi Peters, British actress
1972 - Antonio Sabàto, Jr., Italian-born actor
1972 - Dave Williams, American singer (Drowning Pool) (d. 2002)
1972 - Saul Williams, American rapper, poet, and actor
1972 - Pedro Zamora, Cuban-born American Real World housemate and AIDS activist (d. 1994)
1976 - Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
1976 - Emma Barton, English actress
1976 - Terrence Long, American baseball player
1980 - Simon Gagné, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 - Taylor Twellman, American soccer player
1980 - Clinton Toopi, New Zealand rugby league footballer
1980 - Chris Conley, American musician
1980 - Ruben Plaza, Spanish cyclist
1984 - Cam Ward, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 - Darren Ambrose, English footballer
1984 - Adam Sinclair, Indian field hockey player
1984 - Cullen Jones, American swimmer
1988 - Scott Golbourne, English footballer
1992 - NaturallyLazy

1528 - Patrick Hamilton, Scottish religious reformer (martyred) (b. 1504)
1592 - Alessandro Striggio, Italian composer (b. 1540)
1604 - John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1530)
1740 - Pietro Ottoboni, Italian cardinal (b. 1667)
1744 - John Theophilus Desaguliers, French philosopher (b. 1683)
1820 - Johann Joachim Eschenburg, German literary critic (b. 1743)
1868 - Ludwig I of Bavaria (b. 1786)
1928 - Ina Coolbrith, first poet laureate of California (b. 1841)
1940 - Edward Frederic Benson, English writer (b. 1867)
1944 - Pehr Evind Svinhufvud, President of Finland (b. 1861)
1956 - Elpidio Quirino, President of the Philippines (b. 1890)
1964 - Frank Albertson, American actor (b. 1909)
1968 - Tore Ørjasæter, Norwegian poet (b. 1886)
1980 - Gil Elvgren, American artist (b. 1914)
1992 - Ruth Pitter, English poet (b. 1897)
1992 - Earl Scheib, American car repainter (b. 1908)
2000 - Dennis Danell, American artist (b. 1961)
2004 - Jerome Lawrence, American playwright (b. 1915)