Events
Up to 1900
1901 – 2000
- 1913 - Over 360 people are killed and 20,000 homes are destroyed by a flood in Dayton, Ohio.
- 1918 – World War I: Second Battle of the Somme begins.
- 1919 - The Chinese High School is established in Singapore by Tan Kah Kee.
- 1921 - A new economic policy is implemented by the Bolsheviks in response to the economic failure as a result of war communism.
- 1925 - Syngman Rhee is removed from office as President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
- 1925 - The Butler Act bans the teaching of human evolution in Tennessee.
- 1928 – Charles Lindbergh is presented the Congressional Medal of Honor for his first trans-Atlantic flight.
- 1933 - Holocaust: Dachau Concentration Camp is completed. Its first prisoners arrive the next day.
- 1935 – Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans'.
- 1937 - Ponce Massacre: 19 people, including a 7-year-old girl, are killed in Ponce, Puerto Rico, being gunned down by police guard acting under orders of US-appointed Governor Blanton C. Winship.
- 1940 – Paul Reynaud becomes Prime Minister of France.
- 1943 - Wehrmacht officer Rudolf von Gersdorffplots to assassinate Nazi leader Adolf Hitler by using a suicide bomb, though the plan does not go ahead.
- 1945 – World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
- 1945 - World War II: Operation Carthage - British planes bomb Gestapo headquarters in Copenhagen, though a school is also hit, killing 125 people.
- 1945 - World War II: Bulgaria and the Soviet Union successfully complete their defense of the north bank of the Drava River as the Battle of the Transdanubian Hills concludes.
- 1946 - The Los Angeles Rams sign Kenny Washington, making him the first African American player in American football since 1933.
- 1952 – Alan Freed presents the Moondog Coronation Ball, the first rock and roll concert, in Cleveland, Ohio.
- 1960 – Apartheid: Massacre in Sharpeville, South Africa: Police open fire on a group of unarmed black South African demonstrators, killing 69 and wounding 180.
- 1963 – Alcatraz, a federal penitentiary on an island in San Francisco Bay, closes.
- 1964 – In Copenhagen, Denmark, Gigliola Cinquetti wins the ninth Eurovision Song Contest for Italy singing "Non ho l'età" (I'm not old enough).
- 1965 – Ranger program: NASA launches Ranger 9 which is the last in a series of unmanned lunar space probes.
- 1965 – Martin Luther King Jr leads 3,200 people on the start of the 3rd and finally successful Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery Alabama.
- 1968 - Battle of Karameh in Jordan between Israel's Defense Forces and Fatah.
- 1970 – The first Earth Day proclamation was issued by San Francisco Mayor Joseph Alioto.
- 1970 – Vinko Bogataj crashes during a ski-jumping championship in Germany; his image becomes that of the "agony of defeat guy" in the opening credits of ABC's Wide World of Sports.
- 1970 – In Amsterdam, Netherlands, Dana wins the fifteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Ireland singing "All Kinds of Everything".
- 1975 – The Ethiopian military declares an end to Ethiopia's monarchy.
- 1980 – President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan.
- 1980 – On the season finale of the soap opera Dallas, the infamous character J.R. Ewing is shot by an unseen assailant, leading to the catchphrase "Who Shot JR?"
- 1985 – Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
- 1989 – Sports Illustrated reports allegations that tie baseball player Pete Rose to baseball gambling.
- 1990 – Namibia becomes independent after 75 years of South African rule.
- 1994 - United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change enters into force.
- 1999 – Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones become the first to circumnavigate the Earth in a hot air balloon.
- 2000 - Pope John Paul II visits Israel.
From 2001
- 2002 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh along with three other suspects are charged with murder for their part in the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- 2004 – In Malaysia, the 11th Federal and State elections are held, returning the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional to power with an increased majority.
- 2005 – In Red Lake, Minnesota, 10 are killed in a school shooting, the worst since the Columbine High School massacre.
- 2006 – The Social networking site Twitter is founded by Jack Dorsey in San Francisco, California.
- 2010 - The 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver end.
- 2013 - Justin Welby is officially enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
- 2014 - Vladimir Putin signs a decree making Crimea part of Russia.
- 2016 - Congolese politician Jean-Pierre Bemba is convicted of rape, murder and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
- 2018 - Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns as President of Peru as a result of a corruption scandal.
- 2019 - A river ferry capsizes near Mosul, Iraq, killing 70 people.
Births
Up to 1900
- 927 - Emperor Taizu of Song of China (d. 976)
- 1474 - Angela Merici, Italian religious leader and saint (d. 1540)
- 1521 - Maurice, Elector of Saxony (d. 1553)
- 1522 - Mihrimah Sultan, daughter of Suleiman the Magnificent (d. 1578)
- 1527 - Hermann Finck, German composer (d. 1558)
- 1626 - Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, Canary Islands-born Christian missionary (d. 1667)
- 1672 - Stefano Benedetto Pallavicino, Italian poet and opera librettist (d. 1742)
- 1685 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
- 1713 - Francis Lewis, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1803)
- 1716 - Josef Seger, Bohemian composer (d. 1782)
- 1763 – Jean Paul, German writer (d. 1825)
- 1768 – Joseph Fourier, French engineer and mathematician (d. 1830)
- 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1840)
- 1786 - Joseph Vance, 13th Governor of Ohio (d. 1852)
- 1797 - Johann Andreas Wagner, German zoologist (d. 1861)
- 1801 – Maria Theresa of Tuscany, Queen of Sardinia (d. 1855)
- 1806 – Benito Juarez, President of Mexico (d. 1872)
- 1817 - Joseph Poelaert, Belgian architect (d. 1879)
- 1825 – Alexander Mizhayskiy, Russian aviation pioneer (d. 1890)
- 1827 - Andrew Leith Adams, Scottish doctor, naturalist and geologist (d. 1882)
- 1839 – Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer (d. 1881)
- 1857 - Alice Henry, Australian activist, journalist and trade unionist (d. 1943)
- 1859 - Dania Pratt, American golfer (d. 1938)
- 1865 - George Owen Squier, American inventor (d. 1934)
- 1867 – Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., American theater producer (d. 1932)
- 1869 - David Robertson, Scottish golfer (d. 1937)
- 1874 - Alfred Tysoe, British athlete (d. 1901)
- 1876 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (d. 1968)
- 1877 - Maurice Farman, French motor racing champion and aircraft manufacturer (d. 1964)
- 1880 - Broncho Billy Anderson, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1971)
- 1882 - Aleksander Keskula, Estonian politician (d. 1963)
- 1882 - Bascom Lamar Lunsford, American singer and lawyer (d. 1973)
- 1883 - Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko, Soviet-Russian politician and diplomat (d. 1938)
- 1885 – Pierre Renoir, French actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1886 - Walter Dray, American pole vaulter (d. 1973)
- 1887 - Erich Mendelsohn, German-American architect (d. 1953)
- 1887 - M. N. Roy, Indian philosopher and politician (d. 1954)
- 1889 - Alexander Vertinsky, Soviet-Russian artist, singer and movie actor (d. 1957)
- 1890 - C. Douglass Buck, Governor of Delaware (d. 1965)
- 1891 - Jonathan Hale, Canadian-American actor (d. 1966)
- 1893 - Sidney Franklin, American director and movie producer (d. 1972)
- 1895 - Leonid Utsoyov, Russian jazz singer, bandleader and actor (d. 1982)
- 1896 - Friedrich Waismann, Austrian mathematician, physicist and philosopher (d. 1959)
- 1897 - Salvador Lutteroth, Mexican wrestling promoter (d. 1987)
1901 – 1950
- 1901 – Karl Arnold, German politician (d. 1958)
- 1904 - Nikos Skalkottas, Greek composer (d. 1949)
- 1906 - John D. Rockefeller III, American philanthropist (d. 1978)
- 1910 – Mohammad Siddiq S Khan, Bangladeshi intellectual (d. 1978)
- 1913 – George Abecassis, British racing driver (d. 1991)
- 1914 - Paul Tortelier, French cellist (d. 1990)
- 1916 - Bismillah Khan, Indian musician (d. 2006)
- 1917 - Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general and politician (d. 1984)
- 1918 - Patrick Lucey, 38th Governor of Wisconsin (d. 2014)
- 1919 - R. M. Hare, British philosopher (d. 2002)
- 1920 - Georg Ots, Estonian opera singer (d. 1975)
- 1920 – Eric Rohmer, French director (d. 2010)
- 1921 - Antony Hopkins, English composer, conductor and pianist (d. 2014)
- 1922 - Russ Meyer, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2004)
- 1923 – Nirmala Srivastava, Indian religious figure (d. 2011)
- 1925 - Harold Ashby, American saxophonist (d. 2003)
- 1925 - Peter Brook, English theatre and movie director
- 1927 – Hans-Dietrich Genscher, German politician and diplomat (d. 2016)
- 1927 - Halton Arp, American astronomer (d. 2013)
- 1928 - Surya Bahadur Thapa, Prime Minister of Nepal (d. 2015)
- 1929 - Jimmy Wardhaugh, Scottish footballer (d. 1978)
- 1931 - Alda Merini, Italian poet (d. 2009)
- 1931 – Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar (d. 1975)
- 1932 – Walter Gilbert, American chemist
- 1932 - Joseph Silverstein, American violinist and conductor (d. 2015)
- 1933 – Michael Heseltine, British politician
- 1933 - Antonio Pica, Spanish footballer (d. 2014)
- 1934 - Al Freeman, Jr., American actor (d. 2012)
- 1935 – Brian Clough, English footballer and manager (d. 2004)
- 1935 - Erich Kunzel, American conductor (d. 2009)
- 1937 - Ann Clwyd, Welsh politician
- 1938 - Luigi Tenco, Italian singer (d. 1967)
- 1940 – Solomon Burke, American singer-songwriter (d. 2010)
- 1942 – Fradique de Menezes, former President of São Tomé and Príncipe
- 1942 – Ali Abdullah Saleh, former President of Yemen (d. 2017)
- 1942 - Kostas Politis, Greek basketball player and coach
- 1943 – Vivian Stanshall, English musician (d. 1995)
- 1944 - Marie-Christine Barrault, French actress
- 1944 - Hideki Ishima, Japanese guitarist
- 1944 - Cox Habbema, Dutch actress (d. 2016)
- 1944 - Mike Jackson, British general
- 1946 – Timothy Dalton, British actor
- 1946 - Joseph Mitsuaki Takami, 9th Archbishop of Nagasaki
- 1946 - Ray Dorset, British musician
- 1947 - Michael Dibdin, British writer (d. 2007)
- 1949 - Eddie Money, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019)
- 1949 – Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian sociologist and cultural critic
- 1950 – Roger Hodgson, English musician
- 1950 - Sergey Lavrov, Russian politician and diplomat
1951 – 1975
- 1954 - Mike Dunleavy, American basketball coach
- 1955 - Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil
- 1956 – Ingrid Kristiansen, Norwegian athlete
- 1957 – Youssef Rzouga, Tunisian poet
- 1958 - Marlies Göhr, German athlete
- 1958 – Gary Oldman, British actor
- 1959 – Nobuo Uematsu, Japanese composer
- 1959 - Sarah Jane Morris, English singer-songwriter
- 1960 – Ayrton Senna, Brazilian Formula 1 driver (d. 1994)
- 1960 - Jim Matheson, American politician
- 1961 – Lothar Matthaus, German footballer
- 1961 - Kassie DePaiva, American actress
- 1962 – Rosie O'Donnell, American comedienne, actress, talk show host, and publisher
- 1962 – Matthew Broderick, American actor
- 1963 - Ronald Koeman, Dutch footballer
- 1963 – Shawn Lane, American musician
- 1964 - Ieuan Evans, Welsh rugby player
- 1964 - Jesper Skibby, Danish cyclist
- 1965 - Xavier Bertrand, French politician
- 1966 - Benito Archundia, Mexican football referee
- 1966 - DJ Premier, American DJ and producer
- 1967 – Jonas Berggren, Swedish musician (Ace of Base)
- 1967 – Carwyn Jones, Welsh politician and former First Minister of Wales
- 1967 – Adrian Chiles, English television presenter
- 1968 - Scott Williams, American basketball player and sportscaster
- 1969 – Ali Daei, Iranian footballer
- 1972 - Chris Candido, American professional wrestler (d. 2005)
- 1974 - Laura Allen, American actress
- 1975 – Mark Williams, Welsh snooker player
- 1975 - Yacoub Al-Mohana, Kuwaiti producer and director
From 1976
- 1976 - Rachael MacFarlane, American voice actress
- 1978 – Nick Baines, English musician (Kaiser Chiefs)
- 1978 – Kevin Federline, American dancer
- 1978 – Rani Mukerji, Indian actress and model
- 1980 – Marit Bjorgen, Norwegian cross-country skier
- 1980 – Ronaldinho, Brazilian footballer
- 1980 - Deryck Whibley, Canadian singer and guitarist (Sum 41)
- 1980 - Lee Jin, South Korean actress
- 1982 – Antar Yahia, Algerian footballer
- 1982 – Aaron Hill, American baseball player
- 1982 - Ejegayehu Dibaba, Ethiopian long-distance runner
- 1982 - Colin Turkington, Northern Irish racing driver
- 1983 - Gonzalo Fierro, Chilean footballer
- 1984 - Guillermo Daniel Rodriguez, Uruguayan footballer
- 1986 - Michu, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Lee Cattermole, English footballer
- 1989 - Jordi Alba, Spanish footballer
- 1989 – Rochelle Humes, English singer (The Saturdays)
- 1989 – Nicolas Lodeiro, Uruguayan footballer
- 1990 - Mandy Capristo, German singer-songwriter and producer
- 1991 - Luke Chapman, English footballer
- 1991 - Antoine Griezmann, French footballer
- 1993 - Jade Jones, Welsh taekwondoin
- 1993 - Jade Bidwell, English footballer
- 1993 - Suraj Sharma, Indian actor
- 1997 - Martina Stoessel, Argentine actress, singer, dancer and model
- 2004 - Count Claus-Casimir of Orange-Nassau, Jonkheer van Amsberg, Dutch royal
Deaths
Up to 1900
- 547 – Benedict of Nursia, Italian monk (b. 480)
- 1063 - Richeza Lotharingia, Queen of Poland
- 1076 – Robert I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1011)
- 1181 - Taira Kiromori, Japanese general (b. 1118)
- 1306 – Robert II, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1248)
- 1487 - Nicholas of Flue, Swiss patron saint (b. 1417)
- 1556 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1489)
- 1617 – Pocahontas, Native American, daughter of Powhatan (b. 1595)
- 1653 - Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha, Albanian statesman and Grand Vizier
- 1729 - John Law, Scottish economist (b. 1671)
- 1734 - Robert Wodrow, Scottish historian (b. 1679)
- 1762 – Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (b. 1713)
- 1772 - Jacques-Nicolas Bellin, French cartographer (b. 1703)
- 1795 - Giovanni Arduino, Italian geologist (b. 1714)
- 1801 – Andrea Luchesi, Italian composer (b. 1741)
- 1843 – Guadalupe Victoria, 1st President of Mexico (b. 1786)
- 1843 - Robert Southey, English poet (b. 1774)
- 1857 – William Scoresby, British explorer (b. 1789)
- 1884 - Ezra Abbot, American scholar (b. 1819)
1901 – 2000
- 1910 – Nadar, French photographer (b. 1820)
- 1915 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor (b. 1856)
- 1920 - Federigo Tozzi, Italian writer (b. 1883)
- 1932 - Frantz Reichel, French athlete and rugby player (b. 1871)
- 1936 – Alexander Glazunov, Russian composer (b. 1865)
- 1943 - Cornelia Fort, American pilot (b. 1919)
- 1957 – C. K. Ogden, English writer (b. 1889)
- 1961 - Morgan Foster Larson, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1882)
- 1980 - Peter Stoner, American mathematician, astronomer and Christian apologist (b. 1888)
- 1985 – Michael Redgrave, British actor (b. 1908)
- 1987 - Dean Paul Martin, American tennis player, singer, actor and military pilot (b. 1951)
- 1987 - Robert Preston, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1991 – Leo Fender, American guitar maker (b. 1909)
- 1992 – John Ireland, Canadian movie actor and director (b. 1914)
- 1993 - Sebastiano Baggio, Italian cardinal (b. 1913)
- 1997 - Wilbert Awdry, English writer (Thomas the Tank Engine) (b. 1911)
- 1998 – Galina Ulanova, Russian ballerina (b. 1910)
- 1999 - Jean Guitton, French philosopher, writer and theologian (b. 1905)
- 1999 – Ernie Wise, British comedian (b. 1925)
From 2001
- 2001 – Anthony Steel, British actor (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Chung Ju-young, South Korean entrepreneur and businessman, founder of Hyundai (b. 1915)
- 2002 - Herman Talmadge, American politician (b. 1913)
- 2002 - Milly Dowler, British teenager (murdered) (b. 1988)
- 2003 - Umar Wirahadikusumah, 4th Vice President of Indonesia (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Ludmila Tchérina, French actress, dancer and choreographer (b. 1924)
- 2009 - Walt Poddubny, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1960)
- 2010 – Wolfgang Wagner, German opera director and festival organiser (b. 1919)
- 2011 – Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet-Russian gymnast (b. 1952)
- 2011 – Pinetop Perkins, American musician (b. 1913)
- 2012 – Tonino Guerra, Italian poet, writer and screenwriter (b. 1920)
- 2013 - Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (b. 1952)
- 2013 - Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet and academic (b. 1930)
- 2013 - Elsie Thompson, American supercentenarian (b. 1899)
- 2014 - Jack Fleck, American golfer (b. 1921)
- 2014 - Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church (b. 1933)
- 2014 - James Rebhorn, American actor (b. 1948)
- 2015 - Perro Aguayo Jr., Mexican professional wrestler (b. 1979)
- 2015 - Chuck Bednarik, American football player (b. 1925)
- 2015 - Hans Erni, Swiss painter, designer and sculptor (b. 1909)
- 2015 - James C. Binnicker, American air force officer (b. 1938)
- 2015 - Alberta Watson, Canadian actress (b. 1955)
- 2016 - Joseph Mercieca, Maltese archbishop (b. 1928)
- 2016 - Andrew Grove, Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer and author (b. 1926)
- 2017 - Martin McGuinness, Northern Irish politician (b. 1950)
- 2017 - Colin Dexter, English writer (b. 1930)
- 2017 - Henri Emmanuelli, French politician (b. 1945)
- 2017 - Chuck Barris, American television host, producer and game show creator (b. 1929)
- 2017 - August Englas, Estonian wrestler (b. 1925)
- 2017 - Roy Fisher, British poet and jazz pianist (b. 1930)
- 2018 - Anna-Lisa, Norwegian-American actress (b. 1933)
- 2018 - Tom Higgins, American rock climber (b. 1944)
- 2018 - Rolf Leeser, German-Dutch footballer (b. 1929)
- 2018 - James C. Irwin, American military officer (b. 1929)
- 2018 - John W. Vogt, American engineer and politician (b. 1936)
- 2018 - Leo C. Zeferetti, American politician (b. 1927)
Observances
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