Important events in history
on April 8 ^th

Events

2020
1. Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee.
  1. Bernie Sanders
    
    Bernard Sanders is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007. Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history. He has a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career. He is often seen as a leader of the democratic socialist movement in the United States. Sanders unsuccessfully sought the Democratic Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and 2020, finishing in second place in both campaigns. Before his election to Congress, he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont.
  2. Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign
    
    The 2020 presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders was an election campaign from the junior United States senator and former representative from Vermont. It began with Sanders's formal announcement on February 19, 2019. The announcement followed widespread speculation that he would run again after running unsuccessfully in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries.
  3. Joe Biden
    
    Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who is the 46th and current president of the United States. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama, and represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009.
  4. Democratic Party (United States)
    
    The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Founded in 1828, it was predominantly built by Martin Van Buren, who assembled a wide cadre of politicians in every state behind war hero Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main political rival has been the Republican Party since the 1850s. The party is a big tent, and is less ideologically uniform than the Republican Party due to the broader list of unique voting blocs that compose it, though modern liberalism is the majority ideology in the party.
2013
1. The Islamic State of Iraq enters the Syrian Civil War and begins by declaring a merger with the Al-Nusra Front under the name Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham.
  1. Islamic State of Iraq
    
    The Islamic State of Iraq, commonly referred to as al-Qaeda in Iraq, was a militant Salafist jihadist group that aimed to establish an Islamic state in Sunni, Arab-majority areas of Iraq during the Iraq War and later in Syria during the Syrian Civil War.
  2. Syrian civil war
    
    The Syrian civil war is an ongoing multi-sided civil war in Syria fought between the Syrian Arab Republic led by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and various domestic and foreign forces that oppose both the Syrian government and each other, in varying combinations.
  3. Al-Nusra Front
    
    Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra, known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham after July 2016, and also described as al-Qaeda in Syria or al-Qaeda in the Levant, was a Salafist jihadist terrorist organization fighting against Syrian government forces in the Syrian Civil War. Its aim was to establish an Islamic state in the country. The group has changed its name several times and merged with and separated from other groups.
  4. Islamic State
    
    The Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and by its Arabic acronym Daesh, is a militant Islamist group and former unrecognized quasi-state that follows the Salafi jihadist branch of Sunni Islam. It was founded by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 1999 and gained global prominence in 2014, when it drove Iraqi security forces out of key cities during the Anbar campaign, which was followed by its capture of Mosul and the Sinjar massacre.
2010
1. U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty.
  1. Barack Obama
    
    Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the United States. He previously served as a U.S. senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004, and previously worked as a civil rights lawyer before entering politics.
  2. Dmitry Medvedev
    
    Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev is a Russian politician who has been serving as the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020. Medvedev also served as the president of Russia between 2008 and 2012 and prime minister of Russia between 2012 and 2020.
  3. New START
    
    New START is a nuclear arms reduction treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation with the formal name of Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed on 8 April 2010 in Prague, and, after ratification, entered into force on 5 February 2011. It is expected to last until 5 February 2026, having been extended in 2021.
2008
1. The construction of the world's first skyscraper to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.
  1. Bahrain World Trade Center
    
    The Bahrain World Trade Center is a 240-metre-high (787 ft), 50-floor, twin tower complex located in Manama, Bahrain. Designed by the multi-national architectural firm Atkins, construction on the towers was completed in 2008. It is the first skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design. The wind turbines were developed, built and installed by the Danish company Norwin A/S.
  2. Bahrain
    
    Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island which makes up around 83 percent of the country's landmass. Bahrain is situated between Qatar and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by the King Fahd Causeway. According to the 2020 census, the country's population numbers 1,501,635, of which 712,362 are Bahraini nationals. Bahrain spans some 760 square kilometres (290 sq mi), and is the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore. The capital and largest city is Manama.
2006
1. Shedden massacre: The bodies of eight men, all shot to death, are found in a field in Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario. The murders are soon linked to the Bandidos Motorcycle Club.
  1. Shedden massacre
    
    The Shedden massacre involved the gang-related killing of eight men, whose bodies were found in a field five kilometres north of Shedden, a small village in the Canadian province of Ontario, on April 8, 2006. Four vehicles, with the bodies inside, were first discovered by a farmer. The day after the bodies were discovered, five people, including one member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, were arrested for the murders, and three more people were arrested in June 2006. The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said the killings were an isolated event and there were no fears for the safety of local residents. The name Shedden massacre is a misnomer. The killings took place at a farm outside of Iona Station and Shedden was the hamlet closest to where the bodies were discovered in a farmer's field.
  2. Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario
    
    Shedden, Ontario is a hamlet in Southwold Township, Elgin County in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is known as "The Rhubarb Capital of Ontario" and is home to the "Rosy Rhubarb Festival" which is held in early June each summer with the big Shedden tractor pull that comes the week after. It was named in honour of John Shedden who was the foreman during the construction of Toronto's Union Station.
  3. Bandidos Motorcycle Club
    
    The Bandidos Motorcycle Club, also known as the Bandido Nation, is an outlaw motorcycle club with a worldwide membership. Formed in San Leon, Texas in 1966, the Bandidos MC is estimated to have between 2,000 and 2,500 members and 303 chapters, located in 22 countries, making it the second-largest motorcycle club in the world behind the Hells Angels.
2005
1. A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.
  1. Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005
    
    A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon's ascending node on April 8, 2005. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. This eclipse is a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse.
  2. Pacific Ocean
    
    The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east.
  3. Costa Rica
    
    Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and maritime border with Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around five million in a land area of 51,060 km2 (19,710 sq mi). An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José, with around two million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.
  4. Panama
    
    Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a transcontinental country spanning the central part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the south. Its capital and largest city is Panama City, whose metropolitan area is home to nearly half the country's 4 million people.
  5. Colombia
    
    Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with an insular region in North America. It is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east, Brazil to the southeast, Ecuador and Peru to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west and Panama to the northwest. Colombia comprises 32 departments and the Capital District of Bogotá, the country's largest city. It covers an area of 1,141,748 square kilometers (440,831 sq mi), with a population of 50 million. Colombia's cultural heritage reflects influences by various Amerindian civilizations, European settlement, enslaved Africans, as well as immigration from Europe and the Middle East. Spanish is the nation's official language, besides which over 70 languages are spoken.
  6. Venezuela
    
    Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It has a territorial extension of 916,445 km2 (353,841 sq mi), and its population was estimated at 29 million in 2022. The capital and largest urban agglomeration is the city of Caracas.
2004
1. War in Darfur: The Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government, the Justice and Equality Movement, and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.
  1. War in Darfur
    
    The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, is a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan, which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
  2. 2004 Darfur Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement
    
    Following the escalation of the Darfur conflict in the Sudan, Chad brokered negotiations in N'Djamena led to the Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement between the Sudanese government and the two rebel groups, the Sudanese Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) on 8 April 2004, other signatories were Chad and the African Union. The ceasefire came into effect on 11 April 2004.
  3. Sudan
    
    Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south and the Red Sea. It has a population of 45.70 million people as of 2022 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area, and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011, since which both titles have been held by Algeria. Its capital is Khartoum and its most populated city is Omdurman.
  4. Justice and Equality Movement
    
    The Justice and Equality Movement is an opposition group in Sudan founded by Khalil Ibrahim. Gibril Ibrahim has led the group since January 2012 after the death of Khalil, his brother, in December 2011. JEM's political agenda includes issues such as: radical and comprehensive constitutional reform to grant Sudan's regions a greater share of power in ruling the country, the replacement of social injustice and political tyranny with justice and equality, and basic services for every Sudanese.
  5. Sudan Liberation Movement/Army
    
    The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army is a Sudanese rebel group active in Darfur, Sudan. It was founded as the Darfur Liberation Front by members of three indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur: the Fur, the Zaghawa, and the Masalit, among whom were the leaders Abdul Wahid al Nur of the Fur and Minni Minnawi of the Zaghawa.
1993
1. The Republic of North Macedonia joins the United Nations.
  1. North Macedonia
    
    North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It is a landlocked country bordering Kosovo to the northwest, Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south, and Albania to the west. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's 1.83 million people. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians, a South Slavic people. Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks, Romani, Serbs, Bosniaks, Aromanians and a few other minorities.
  2. United Nations
    
    The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. It is the world's largest and most familiar international organization. The UN is headquartered on international territory in New York City, and has other main offices in Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, and The Hague.
2. The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.
  1. Space Shuttle Discovery
    
    Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to September 5, 1984. Over 27 years of service it launched and landed 39 times, aggregating more spaceflights than any other spacecraft to date. The Space Shuttle launch vehicle has three main components: the Space Shuttle orbiter, a single-use central fuel tank, and two reusable solid rocket boosters. Nearly 25,000 heat-resistant tiles cover the orbiter to protect it from high temperatures on re-entry.
  2. STS-56
    
    STS-56 was a NASA Space Shuttle Discovery mission to perform special experiments. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 8, 1993.
1992
1. Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
  1. Tennis
    
    Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will.
  2. Arthur Ashe
    
    Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team, and the only black man ever to win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. He was ranked world No. 1 by Rex Bellamy, Bud Collins, Judith Elian, Lance Tingay, World Tennis and Tennis Magazine (U.S.) in 1975. That year, Ashe was awarded the 'Martini and Rossi' Award, voted for by a panel of journalists, and the ATP Player of the Year award. In the ATP computer rankings, he peaked at No. 2 in May 1976.
  3. HIV/AIDS
    
    Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual may not notice any symptoms, or may experience a brief period of influenza-like illness. Typically, this is followed by a prolonged incubation period with no symptoms. If the infection progresses, it interferes more with the immune system, increasing the risk of developing common infections such as tuberculosis, as well as other opportunistic infections, and tumors which are otherwise rare in people who have normal immune function. These late symptoms of infection are referred to as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). This stage is often also associated with unintended weight loss.
  4. Blood transfusion
    
    Blood transfusion is the process of transferring blood products into a person's circulation intravenously. Transfusions are used for various medical conditions to replace lost components of the blood. Early transfusions used whole blood, but modern medical practice commonly uses only components of the blood, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, clotting factors and platelets.
1987
1. Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigns amid controversy over racist remarks he had made while on Nightline.
  1. Los Angeles Dodgers
    
    The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn, which later became a borough of New York City, the team joined the NL in 1890 as the Brooklyn Bridegrooms and assumed several different monikers thereafter before finally settling on the name Dodgers in 1932. From the 1940s through the mid-1950s, the Dodgers developed a fierce cross-town rivalry with the New York Yankees as the two clubs faced each other in the World Series seven times, with the Dodgers losing the first five matchups before defeating them to win the franchise's first title in 1955. It was also during this period that the Dodgers made history by breaking the baseball color line in 1947 with the debut of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in the Major Leagues since 1884. Another major milestone was reached in 1956 when Don Newcombe became the first player ever to win both the Cy Young Award and the NL MVP in the same season.
  2. Al Campanis
    
    Alexander Sebastian Campanis was an American executive in Major League Baseball (MLB). He had a brief major league playing career, as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1943; he was the first Greek player in MLB history. Campanis is most famous for his position as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1968 to 1987, from which he was fired on April 8, 1987, as a result of controversial remarks regarding blacks in baseball made during an interview on Nightline two days earlier.
  3. Racism
    
    Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. There have been attempts to legitimize racist beliefs through scientific means, such as scientific racism, which have been overwhelmingly shown to be unfounded. In terms of political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, and supremacism.
  4. Nightline
    
    Nightline is ABC News' late-night television news program broadcast on ABC in the United States with a franchised formula to other networks and stations elsewhere in the world. Created by Roone Arledge, the program featured Ted Koppel as its main anchor from March 1980 until his retirement in November 2005. Its current, rotating anchors are Byron Pitts and Juju Chang. Nightline airs weeknights from 12:37 to 1:07 a.m., Eastern Time, after Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which had served as the program's lead-out from 2003 to 2012.
1975
1. Frank Robinson manages the Cleveland Indians in his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.
  1. Frank Robinson
    
    Frank Robinson was an American professional baseball outfielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played for five teams, from 1956 to 1976. The only player to be named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of both the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), he was named the NL MVP after leading the Cincinnati Reds to the pennant in 1961 and was named the AL MVP in 1966 with the Baltimore Orioles after winning the Triple Crown; Robinson's 49 home runs (HR) that year tied for the most by any AL player between 1962 and 1989, and stood as a franchise record for 30 years. He helped lead the Orioles to the first two World Series titles in franchise history in 1966 and 1970, and was named the Series MVP in 1966 after leading the Orioles to a four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1975, Robinson became the first Black manager in big league history, as the Cleveland Indians’ player-manager.
  2. Cleveland Guardians
    
    The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field. Since their establishment as a Major League franchise in 1901, the team has won 11 Central division titles, six American League pennants, and two World Series championships. The team's World Series championship drought since 1948 is the longest active among all 30 current Major League teams. The team's name references the Guardians of Traffic, eight monolithic 1932 Art Deco sculptures by Henry Hering on the city's Hope Memorial Bridge, which is adjacent to Progressive Field. The team's mascot is named "Slider." The team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Goodyear, Arizona.
  3. Baseball
    
    Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game is live when the umpire signals to the pitcher either verbally or by pointing, indicating that the ball is now in play. A player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners' advance around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate.
  4. African Americans
    
    African Americans are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslaved Africans who are from the United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin.
1970
1. Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers accidentally strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
  1. Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing
    
    The Bahr el-Baqar primary school in the Egyptian village of Bahr el-Baqar was bombed by the Israeli Air Force on 8 April 1970, killing 46 children. Of the 130 children who attended the school, 46 were killed and over 50 wounded. The school itself was completely demolished. The attack was carried out by Israeli Air Force F4 Phantom II fighter bombers, at 9:20 am on Wednesday 8 April. Five bombs and two air-to-ground missiles struck the single-floor school, which consisted of three classrooms.
1968
1. BOAC Flight 712 experienced an engine fire shortly after take-off from London Heathrow, leading to the deaths of five people on board, including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was posthumously awarded a George Cross for heroism.
  1. BOAC Flight 712
    
    BOAC Flight 712 was a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) service operated by a Boeing 707-465 from London Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Zurich and Singapore. On Monday 8 April 1968, it suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion over checklists and distractions from the presence of a check pilot contributed to the deaths of five of the 127 on board. The direct cause of the fire was the failure of a compressor wheel, due to metal fatigue.
  2. Heathrow Airport
    
    Heathrow Airport, called London Airport until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow, is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports serving Greater London. The airport facility is owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. In 2021, it was the seventh-busiest airport in the world by international passenger traffic and eighth-busiest in Europe by total passenger traffic.
  3. Barbara Jane Harrison
    
    Barbara Jane Harrison GC, known as Jane Harrison, was a British flight attendant who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her role in the evacuation of BOAC Flight 712. She is one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross for heroism and the only woman awarded the medal for gallantry in peacetime. The other three female George Cross recipients served with the Special Operations Executive in occupied France during the Second World War.
  4. George Cross
    
    The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been equal in stature to the Victoria Cross, the highest military gallantry award. It is awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger", not in the presence of the enemy, to members of the British armed forces and to British civilians. Posthumous awards have been allowed since it was instituted. It was previously awarded to residents of Commonwealth countries, most of which have since established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians including police, emergency services and merchant seamen. Many of the awards have been personally presented by the British monarch to recipients or, in the case of posthumous awards, to next of kin. The investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.
2. BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
  1. BOAC Flight 712
    
    BOAC Flight 712 was a British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) service operated by a Boeing 707-465 from London Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Zurich and Singapore. On Monday 8 April 1968, it suffered an engine failure on takeoff that quickly led to a major fire; the engine detached from the aircraft in flight. After the aircraft had made a successful emergency landing, confusion over checklists and distractions from the presence of a check pilot contributed to the deaths of five of the 127 on board. The direct cause of the fire was the failure of a compressor wheel, due to metal fatigue.
  2. Barbara Jane Harrison
    
    Barbara Jane Harrison GC, known as Jane Harrison, was a British flight attendant who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her role in the evacuation of BOAC Flight 712. She is one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross for heroism and the only woman awarded the medal for gallantry in peacetime. The other three female George Cross recipients served with the Special Operations Executive in occupied France during the Second World War.
  3. George Cross
    
    The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been equal in stature to the Victoria Cross, the highest military gallantry award. It is awarded "for acts of the greatest heroism or for most conspicuous courage in circumstance of extreme danger", not in the presence of the enemy, to members of the British armed forces and to British civilians. Posthumous awards have been allowed since it was instituted. It was previously awarded to residents of Commonwealth countries, most of which have since established their own honours systems and no longer recommend British honours. It may be awarded to a person of any military rank in any service and to civilians including police, emergency services and merchant seamen. Many of the awards have been personally presented by the British monarch to recipients or, in the case of posthumous awards, to next of kin. The investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.
1961
1. A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf killed 238 people.
  1. MV Dara
    
    The MV Dara was a Dubai-based passenger liner, built in 1948 by Barclay, Curle & Co. Ltd., a shipyard in Glasgow, Scotland. The 120-metre (390 ft), four-decked vessel travelled mostly between the Persian Gulf and the Indian subcontinent, carrying expatriate passengers who were employed in the nations of the Gulf.
  2. Persian Gulf
    
    The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. It is connected to the Gulf of Oman in the east by the Strait of Hormuz. The Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline.
1960
1. The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.
  1. Netherlands
    
    The Netherlands, informally Holland, is a country located in Northwestern Europe with overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The Netherlands consists of twelve provinces; it borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, with a North Sea coastline to the north and west. It shares maritime borders with the United Kingdom, Germany and Belgium in the North Sea. The country's official language is Dutch, with West Frisian as a secondary official language in the province of Friesland. Dutch Low Saxon and Limburgish are recognised regional languages, while Dutch Sign Language, Sinte Romani and Yiddish are recognised non-territorial languages. Dutch, English and Papiamento are official in the Caribbean territories.
  2. West Germany
    
    West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 October 1990. During the Cold War, the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from eleven states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation/Trizone held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The FRG's provisional capital was the city of Bonn, and the Cold War era country is retrospectively designated as the Bonn Republic.
  3. Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War
    
    At the end of World War II, plans were made in the Netherlands to annex German territory as compensation for the damages caused by the war. In October 1945, the Dutch state asked Germany for 25 billion guilders in reparations. In February 1945 it had already been established at the Yalta Conference that reparations would not be given in monetary form. The plan which was worked out in most detail was the one made by Frits Bakker Schut, and hence became known as the Bakker Schut Plan or Groot Nederland Plan.
  4. Deutsche Mark
    
    The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark", was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically called the "Deutschmark". One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 pfennigs.
  5. Wiedergutmachung
    
    The German word Wiedergutmachung after World War II refers to the reparations that the German government agreed to pay in 1953 to the direct survivors of the Holocaust, and to those who were made to work at forced labour camps or who otherwise became victims of the Nazis. The sum would amount, through the years, to over 100 billion Deutsche Mark. Historian Tony Judt writes about Wiedergutmachung:In making this agreement Konrad Adenauer ran some domestic political risk: in December 1951, just 5 percent of West Germans surveyed admitted feeling ‘guilty’ towards Jews. A further 29 percent acknowledged that Germany owed some restitution to the Jewish people. The rest were divided between those who thought that only people ‘who really committed something’ were responsible and should pay, and those who thought ‘that the Jews themselves were partly responsible for what happened to them during the Third Reich.’ When the restitution agreement was debated in the Bundestag on March 18th 1953, the Communists voted against, the Free Democrats abstained and both the Christian Social Union and Adenauer’s own CDU were divided, with many voting against any Wiedergutmachung (reparations).
1959
1. A team of computer scientists and others met to discuss the creation of a common business-oriented programming language that became COBOL.
  1. Computer science
    
    Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines to practical disciplines. Computer science is generally considered an area of academic research and distinct from computer programming.
  2. Programming language
    
    A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
  3. COBOL
    
    COBOL is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. However, due to its declining popularity and the retirement of experienced COBOL programmers, programs are being migrated to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages or replaced with software packages. Most programming in COBOL is now purely to maintain existing applications; however, many large financial institutions were still developing new systems in COBOL as late as 2006.
2. A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
  1. Grace Hopper
    
    Grace Brewster Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and United States Navy rear admiral. One of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I computer, she was a pioneer of computer programming who invented one of the first linkers. Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages, and the FLOW-MATIC programming language she created using this theory was later extended to create COBOL, an early high-level programming language still in use today.
  2. Programming language
    
    A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs. Most programming languages are text-based formal languages, but they may also be graphical. They are a kind of computer language.
  3. COBOL
    
    COBOL is a compiled English-like computer programming language designed for business use. It is an imperative, procedural and, since 2002, object-oriented language. COBOL is primarily used in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments. COBOL is still widely used in applications deployed on mainframe computers, such as large-scale batch and transaction processing jobs. However, due to its declining popularity and the retirement of experienced COBOL programmers, programs are being migrated to new platforms, rewritten in modern languages or replaced with software packages. Most programming in COBOL is now purely to maintain existing applications; however, many large financial institutions were still developing new systems in COBOL as late as 2006.
3. The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
  1. Organization of American States
    
    The Organization of American States is an international organization that was founded on 30 April 1948 for the purposes of solidarity and co-operation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in the United States capital, Washington, D.C., the OAS has 35 members, which are independent states in the Americas. Since the 1990s, the organization has focused on election monitoring. The head of the OAS is the Secretary General; the incumbent is Uruguayan Luis Almagro.
  2. Inter-American Development Bank
    
    The Inter-American Development Bank is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean. Established in 1959, the IDB supports Latin American and Caribbean economic development, social development and regional integration by lending to governments and government agencies, including State corporations.
1954
1. A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
  1. North American T-6 Texan
    
    The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1970s. Designed by North American Aviation, the T-6 is known by a variety of designations depending on the model and operating air force. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) and USAAF designated it as the AT-6, the United States Navy the SNJ, and British Commonwealth air forces the Harvard, the name by which it is best known outside the US. Starting in 1948, the new United States Air Force (USAF) designated it the T-6, with the USN following in 1962. It remains a popular warbird used for airshow demonstrations and static displays. It has also been used many times to simulate various historical aircraft, including the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero. A total of 15,495 T-6s of all variants were built.
  2. Trans-Canada Air Lines
    
    Trans-Canada Air Lines was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGregor. Founded in 1937, it was renamed Air Canada in 1965.
  3. Canadair North Star
    
    The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruising speed of 325 mph (523 km/h) compared with the 227 mph (365 km/h) of the standard DC-4. Requested by TCA in 1944, the prototype flew on 15 July 1946. The type was used by various airlines and by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). It proved to be reliable but noisy when in service through the 1950s and into the 1960s. Some examples continued to fly into the 1970s, converted to cargo aircraft.
  4. Moose Jaw
    
    Moose Jaw is the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Lying on the Moose Jaw River in the south-central part of the province, it is situated on the Trans-Canada Highway, 77 km (48 mi) west of Regina. Residents of Moose Jaw are known as Moose Javians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Moose Jaw No. 161.
2. South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
  1. South African Airways Flight 201
    
    South African Airways Flight 201 (SA201), a de Havilland Comet 1, took off at 18:32 UTC on 8 April 1954 from Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy, en route to Cairo, Egypt, on the second stage of its flight from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight crashed at around 19:07 UTC, killing all on board. The flight was operated as a charter by British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) using the aircraft G-ALYY, with a South African crew of seven, and carrying fourteen passengers.
  2. De Havilland Comet
    
    The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines buried in the wing roots, a pressurised cabin, and large square windows. For the era, it offered a relatively quiet, comfortable passenger cabin and was commercially promising at its debut in 1952.
1953
1. Mau Mau leader Jomo Kenyatta is convicted by British Kenya's rulers.
  1. Mau Mau rebellion
    
    The Mau Mau rebellion (1952–1960), also known as the Mau Mau uprising, Mau Mau revolt or Kenya Emergency, was a war in the British Kenya Colony (1920–1963) between the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as the Mau Mau, and the British authorities.
  2. Jomo Kenyatta
    
    Jomo Kenyatta was a Kenyan anti-colonial activist and politician who governed Kenya as its Prime Minister from 1963 to 1964 and then as its first President from 1964 to his death in 1978. He was the country's first indigenous head of government and played a significant role in the transformation of Kenya from a colony of the British Empire into an independent republic. Ideologically an African nationalist and conservative, he led the Kenya African National Union (KANU) party from 1961 until his death.
  3. Kenya Colony
    
    The Colony and Protectorate of Kenya, commonly known as British Kenya or British East Africa, was part of the British Empire in Africa. It was established when the former East Africa Protectorate was transformed into a British Crown colony in 1920. Technically, the "Colony of Kenya" referred to the interior lands, while a 16 km (10 mi) coastal strip, nominally on lease from the Sultan of Zanzibar, was the "Protectorate of Kenya", but the two were controlled as a single administrative unit. The colony came to an end in 1963 when an ethnic Kenyan majority government was elected for the first time and eventually declared independence as the Republic of Kenya.
1952
1. U.S. President Harry Truman calls for the seizure of all domestic steel mills in an attempt to prevent the 1952 steel strike.
  1. Harry S. Truman
    
    Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin Roosevelt and as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to January 1945. Assuming the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the Conservative Coalition which dominated the Congress.
  2. 1952 steel strike
    
    The 1952 steel strike was a strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) against U.S. Steel (USS) and nine other steelmakers. The strike was scheduled to begin on April 9, 1952, but US President Harry Truman nationalized the American steel industry hours before the workers walked out. The steel companies sued to regain control of their facilities. On June 2, 1952, in a landmark decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952), that the President lacked the authority to seize the steel mills.
1950
1. India and Pakistan sign the Liaquat–Nehru Pact.
  1. India
    
    India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. The nation's capital city is New Delhi.
  2. Pakistan
    
    Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-largest Muslim population just behind Indonesia. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country in the world by area and 2nd largest in South Asia, spanning 881,913 square kilometres. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650-mile) coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest, and China to the northeast. It is separated narrowly from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border with Oman. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre.
  3. Liaquat–Nehru Pact
    
    The Liaquat–Nehru Pact was a bilateral treaty between India and Pakistan in which refugees were allowed to return to dispose of their property, abducted women and looted property were to be returned, forced conversions were unrecognized, and minority rights were confirmed.
1946
1. Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
  1. Électricité de France
    
    Électricité de France S.A., commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in 2016, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of at least 120 gigawatts of generation capacity in Europe, South America, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.
  2. Public utility
    
    A public utility company is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.
  3. Nationalization
    
    Nationalization or collectivization is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets or to assets owned by lower levels of government being transferred to the state. Nationalization contrasts with privatization and with demutualization. When previously nationalized assets are privatized and subsequently returned to public ownership at a later stage, they are said to have undergone renationalization. Industries often subject to nationalization include the commanding heights of the economy – telecommunications, electric power, fossil fuels, railways, airlines, iron ore, media, postal services, banks, and water – though, in many jurisdictions, many such entities have no history of private ownership.
1945
1. World War II: After an air raid accidentally destroys a train carrying about 4,000 Nazi concentration camp internees in Prussian Hanover, the survivors are massacred by Nazis.
  1. Nazi concentration camps
    
    From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe.
  2. Province of Hanover
    
    The Province of Hanover was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1868 to 1946.
  3. Celle massacre
    
    The Celle massacre was a massacre of concentration camp inmates that took place in Celle, Prussian Hanover, in the last weeks of the Second World War. On 8 April 1945 over 3,000 internees being transported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were killed in an Allied air raid and subsequent attacks on survivors by SS guards, Gestapo, and Nazi party officials, as well as members of the public. Some of the perpetrators of the massacre were later tried but all of those convicted for the crime were set free in the early 1950s.
1943
1. Otto and Elise Hampel were executed in Berlin for performing acts of resistance against Nazism.
  1. Otto and Elise Hampel
    
    Otto and Elise Hampel were a working class German couple who created a simple method of protest against Nazism in Berlin during the middle years of World War II. They wrote postcards denouncing Hitler's government and left them in public places around the city. They were eventually caught, tried, and beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943. Shortly after the end of the war, their Gestapo file was given to German novelist Hans Fallada, and their story inspired his 1947 novel, translated into English and published in 2009 as Every Man Dies Alone. The story was filmed in 2016 as Alone in Berlin.
  2. German resistance to Nazism
    
    Many individuals and groups in Germany that were opposed to the Nazi regime engaged in active resistance, including attempts to remove Adolf Hitler from power by assassination or by overthrowing his established regime.
2. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases by common carriers and public utilities.
  1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
    
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the leader of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and became a central figure in world events during the first half of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. He built the New Deal Coalition, which defined modern liberalism in the United States throughout the middle third of the 20th century. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended in victory shortly after he died in office.
  2. Inflation
    
    In economics, inflation refers to a general increase in the prices of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the general price level of goods and services. The common measure of inflation is the inflation rate, the annualized percentage change in a general price index. As prices do not all increase at the same rate, the consumer price index (CPI) is often used for this purpose. The employment cost index is also used for wages in the United States.
  3. Common carrier
    
    A common carrier in common law countries is a person or company that transports goods or people for any person or company and is responsible for any possible loss of the goods during transport. A common carrier offers its services to the general public under license or authority provided by a regulatory body, which has usually been granted "ministerial authority" by the legislation that created it. The regulatory body may create, interpret, and enforce its regulations upon the common carrier with independence and finality as long as it acts within the bounds of the enabling legislation.
  4. Public utility
    
    A public utility company is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government monopolies.
3. Otto and Elise Hampel are executed in Berlin for their anti-Nazi activities.
  1. Otto and Elise Hampel
    
    Otto and Elise Hampel were a working class German couple who created a simple method of protest against Nazism in Berlin during the middle years of World War II. They wrote postcards denouncing Hitler's government and left them in public places around the city. They were eventually caught, tried, and beheaded in Berlin's Plötzensee Prison in April 1943. Shortly after the end of the war, their Gestapo file was given to German novelist Hans Fallada, and their story inspired his 1947 novel, translated into English and published in 2009 as Every Man Dies Alone. The story was filmed in 2016 as Alone in Berlin.
  2. Berlin
    
    Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.6 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituent states, Berlin is surrounded by the State of Brandenburg and contiguous with Potsdam, Brandenburg's capital. Berlin's urban area, which has a population of around 4.5 million, is the second most populous urban area in Germany after the Ruhr. The Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's third-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr and Rhine-Main regions.
1942
1. World War II: The United States Army Air Forces flew its first mission from India over the Hump (the eastern end of the Himalayas) to deliver materiel to China.
  1. World War II
    
    World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries.
  2. United States Army Air Forces
    
    The United States Army Air Forces was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II (1941–1945). It was created on 20 June 1941 as successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps and is the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force, today one of the six armed forces of the United States. The AAF was a component of the United States Army, which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces: the Army Ground Forces, the United States Army Services of Supply, and the Army Air Forces. Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff.
  3. The Hump
    
    The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and the units of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) based in China. Creating an airlift presented the USAAF a considerable challenge in 1942: it had no units trained or equipped for moving cargo, and no airfields existed in the China Burma India Theater (CBI) for basing the large number of transports that would be needed. Flying over the Himalayas was extremely dangerous and made more difficult by a lack of reliable charts, an absence of radio navigation aids, and a dearth of information about the weather.
  4. Himalayas
    
    The Himalayas, or Himalaya, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest in Nepal. Over 100 peaks exceeding 7,200 m (23,600 ft) in elevation lie in the Himalayas. By contrast, the highest peak outside Asia is 6,961 m (22,838 ft) tall.
  5. Materiel
    
    Materiel refers to supplies, equipment, and weapons in military supply-chain management, and typically supplies and equipment in a commercial supply chain context.
2. World War II: The Japanese take Bataan in the Philippines.
  1. World War II
    
    World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. World War II was a total war that directly involved more than 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries.
  2. Empire of Japan
    
    The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent formation of modern Japan. It encompassed the Japanese archipelago and several colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories.
  3. Bataan
    
    Bataan, officially the Province of Bataan, is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entire Bataan Peninsula on Luzon, Bataan is bordered by the provinces of Zambales and Pampanga to the north. The peninsula faces the South China Sea to the west and Subic Bay to the north-west, and encloses Manila Bay to the east.
  4. Philippines
    
    The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean and consists of around 7,641 islands that are broadly categorized under three main geographical divisions from north to south: Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The Philippines is bounded by the South China Sea to the west, the Philippine Sea to the east, and the Celebes Sea to the southwest. It shares maritime borders with Taiwan to the north, Japan to the northeast, Palau to the east and southeast, Indonesia to the south, Malaysia to the southwest, Vietnam to the west, and China to the northwest. The Philippines covers an area of 300,000 km2 (120,000 sq mi) and, as of 2021, it had a population of around 109 million people, making it the world's thirteenth-most populous country. The Philippines has diverse ethnicities and cultures throughout its islands. Manila is the country's capital, while the largest city is Quezon City; both lie within the urban area of Metro Manila.
1940
1. The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.
  1. Mongolian People's Party
    
    The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) is a social democratic political party in Mongolia. It was founded as a communist party in 1920 by Mongolian revolutionaries and is the oldest political party in Mongolia.
  2. Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal
    
    Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal was the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic from 1940 to 1984.
  3. General Secretary of the Mongolian People's Party
    
    The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Party is the leader of the Mongolian People's Party. With some exceptions, the office was synonymous with leaders of the Mongolian People's Republic. Throughout its history the office had three other names: Chairman, Secretary, and First Secretary.
  4. Mongolian People's Republic
    
    The Mongolian People's Republic was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It was ruled by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and maintained close links with the Soviet Union throughout its history.
1935
1. The Works Progress Administration is formed when the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 becomes law.
  1. Works Progress Administration
    
    The Works Progress Administration was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads. It was set up on May 6, 1935, by presidential order, as a key part of the Second New Deal.
  2. Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935
    
    The Relief Appropriation Act of 1935 was passed on April 8, 1935, as a part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. It was a large public works program that included the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Administration (PWA), the National Youth Administration, the Resettlement Administration, the Rural Electrification Administration, and other assistance programs. These programs were called the "second New Deal". The programs gave Americans work, for which the government would pay them. The goal was to help unemployment, pull the country out of the Great Depression, and prevent another depression in the future. This was the first and largest system of public-assistance relief programs in American history, and it led to the largest accumulation of national debt.
1929
1. Indian independence movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
  1. Indian independence movement
    
    The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
  2. Bhagat Singh
    
    Bhagat Singh was a charismatic Indian revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian nationalist. He later took part in a largely symbolic bombing of the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and a hunger strike in jail, which—on the back of sympathetic coverage in Indian-owned newspapers—turned him into a household name in the Punjab region, and after his execution at age 23 into a martyr and folk hero in Northern India. Borrowing ideas from Bolshevism and anarchism, he electrified a growing militancy in India in the 1930s, and prompted urgent introspection within the Indian National Congress's nonviolent but eventually successful campaign for India's independence.
  3. Batukeshwar Dutt
    
    Batukeshwar Dutt pronunciation (help·info) was an Indian socialist revolutionary and independence fighter in the early 1900s. He is best known for having exploded two bombs, along with Bhagat Singh, in the Central Legislative Assembly in New Delhi on 8 April 1929. After they were arrested, tried and imprisoned for life, he and Singh initiated a historic hunger strike protesting against the abusive treatment of Indian political prisoners, and eventually secured some rights for them. He was also a member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.
1924
1. Sharia courts are abolished in Turkey, as part of Atatürk's Reforms.
  1. Sharia
    
    Sharia is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the Hadith. In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim fundamentalists and modernists.
  2. Turkey
    
    Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe. It shares borders with the Black Sea to the north; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq to the southeast; Syria and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Cyprus is located off the south coast. Turks form the vast majority of the nation's population and Kurds are the largest minority. Ankara is Turkey's capital, while Istanbul is its largest city and financial centre.
  3. Atatürk's reforms
    
    Atatürk's Reforms were a series of political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic policy changes, designed to convert the new Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern nation-state, implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in accordance with the Kemalist ideology. His political party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) ran Turkey as a one-party-state, implemented these reforms starting in 1923. After Atatürk's death, his successor İsmet İnönü, continued one-party rule and Kemalist style reforms until the CHP lost to the Democrat Party in Turkey's second, truly multi-party election in 1950.
1918
1. World War I: Actors Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin sell war bonds on the streets of New York City's financial district.
  1. World War I
    
    World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, and referred to by some Anglophone authors as the "Great War" or the "War to End All Wars", was a global conflict which lasted from 1914 to 1918, and is considered one of the deadliest conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war.
  2. Douglas Fairbanks
    
    Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films including The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro, but spent the early part of his career making comedies.
  3. Charlie Chaplin
    
    Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.
  4. War bond
    
    War bonds are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are also a means to control inflation by removing money from circulation in a stimulated wartime economy. War bonds are either retail bonds marketed directly to the public or wholesale bonds traded on a stock market. Exhortations to buy war bonds have often been accompanied by appeals to patriotism and conscience. Retail war bonds, like other retail bonds, tend to have a yield which is below that offered by the market and are often made available in a wide range of denominations to make them affordable for all citizens.
1913
1. The 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, requiring direct election of Senators, becomes law.
  1. Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
    
    The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the Constitution, under which senators were elected by state legislatures. It also alters the procedure for filling vacancies in the Senate, allowing for state legislatures to permit their governors to make temporary appointments until a special election can be held.
  2. Election
    
    An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
  3. United States Senate
    
    The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
1911
1. American cartoonist Winsor McCay released the silent short film Little Nemo, one of the earliest animated films.
  1. Winsor McCay
    
    Zenas Winsor McCay was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). For contractual reasons, he worked under the pen name Silas on the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.
  2. Little Nemo (1911 film)
    
    Winsor McCay: The Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, more commonly known as Little Nemo, is a 1911 silent animated short film by American cartoonist Winsor McCay. One of the earliest animated films, it was McCay's first, and featured characters from McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. Its expressive character animation distinguished the film from the experiments of earlier animators.
2. Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
  1. Dutch people
    
    The Dutch are an ethnic group and nation native to the Netherlands. They share a common history and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Aruba, Suriname, Guyana, Curaçao, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States. The Low Countries were situated around the border of France and the Holy Roman Empire, forming a part of their respective peripheries and the various territories of which they consisted had become virtually autonomous by the 13th century. Under the Habsburgs, the Netherlands were organised into a single administrative unit, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the Northern Netherlands gained independence from Spain as the Dutch Republic. The high degree of urbanization characteristic of Dutch society was attained at a relatively early date. During the Republic the first series of large-scale Dutch migrations outside of Europe took place.
  2. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
    
    Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was a Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate. He exploited the Hampson–Linde cycle to investigate how materials behave when cooled to nearly absolute zero and later to liquefy helium for the first time, in 1908. He also discovered superconductivity in 1911.
  3. Superconductivity
    
    Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered even down to near absolute zero, a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops abruptly to zero. An electric current through a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.
1908
1. Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
  1. Harvard University
    
    Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and one of the most prestigious and highly ranked universities in the world.
  2. Harvard Business School
    
    Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA program, management-related doctoral programs, and many executive education programs. It owns Harvard Business Publishing, which publishes business books, leadership articles, case studies, and the monthly Harvard Business Review. It is also home to the Baker Library/Bloomberg Center.
1906
1. Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
  1. Auguste Deter
    
    Auguste Deter was a German woman notable for being the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
  2. Alzheimer's disease
    
    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the typical life expectancy following diagnosis is three to nine years.
1904
1. France and the United Kingdom signed the Entente Cordiale, agreeing to a peaceful coexistence after centuries of intermittent conflict.
  1. Entente Cordiale
    
    The Entente Cordiale comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial demarcation addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement. The Entente Cordiale represented the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé, who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security in Western Europe against any German system of alliances. Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon and to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne.
2. Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan, was renamed Times Square after the New York Times building.
  1. Midtown Manhattan
    
    Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project, the headquarters of the United Nations, Grand Central Terminal, and Rockefeller Center, as well as tourist destinations such as Broadway, Times Square, and Koreatown. Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan is the busiest transportation hub in the Western Hemisphere.
  2. Times Square
    
    Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped space five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets.
  3. The New York Times
    
    The New York Times is an American daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to be a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid digital subscribers. It also is a producer of popular podcasts such as the Daily. Founded in 1851 by Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, it was initially published by Raymond, Jones & Company. The Times has won 132 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any newspaper, and has long been regarded as a national "newspaper of record". For print it is ranked 18th in the world by circulation and 3rd in the U.S.
3. The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
  1. French Third Republic
    
    The French Third Republic was the system of government adopted in France from 4 September 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed during the Franco-Prussian War, until 10 July 1940, after the Fall of France during World War II led to the formation of the Vichy government.
  2. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
    
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into a unified state. The establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 led to the remainder later being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1927.
  3. Entente Cordiale
    
    The Entente Cordiale comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial demarcation addressed by the agreement, the signing of the Entente Cordiale marked the end of almost a thousand years of intermittent conflict between the two states and their predecessors, and replaced the modus vivendi that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 with a more formal agreement. The Entente Cordiale represented the culmination of the policy of Théophile Delcassé, who believed that a Franco-British understanding would give France some security in Western Europe against any German system of alliances. Credit for the success of the negotiation of the Entente Cordiale belongs chiefly to Paul Cambon and to the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne.
1895
1. In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
  1. Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co.
    
    Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company, 157 U.S. 429 (1895), affirmed on rehearing, 158 U.S. 601 (1895), was a landmark case of the Supreme Court of the United States. In a 5-to-4 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the income tax imposed by the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act for being an unapportioned direct tax. The decision was superseded in 1913 by the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which allows Congress to levy income taxes without apportioning them among the states.
  2. Supreme Court of the United States
    
    The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." The court holds the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law. However, it may act only within the context of a case in an area of law over which it has jurisdiction. The court may decide cases having political overtones, but has ruled that it does not have power to decide non-justiciable political questions.
  3. Income tax in the United States
    
    Income taxes in the United States are imposed by the federal government, and most states. The income taxes are determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income, which is the total income less allowable deductions. Income is broadly defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and trusts may be taxable on undistributed income. Partnerships are not taxed, but their partners are taxed on their shares of partnership income. Residents and citizens are taxed on worldwide income, while nonresidents are taxed only on income within the jurisdiction. Several types of credits reduce tax, and some types of credits may exceed tax before credits. An alternative tax applies at the federal and some state levels.
  4. Constitutionality
    
    Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When laws, procedures, or acts directly violate the constitution, they are unconstitutional. All others are considered constitutional unless the country in question has a mechanism for challenging laws as unconstitutional.
1886
1. William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
  1. William Ewart Gladstone
    
    William Ewart Gladstone was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-consecutive terms beginning in 1868 and ending in 1894. He also served as Chancellor of the Exchequer four times, serving over 12 years.
  2. Government of Ireland Bill 1886
    
    The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party under Charles Stewart Parnell had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1870s.
  3. House of Commons of the United Kingdom
    
    The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
1866
1. Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.
  1. Austro-Prussian War
    
    The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variants names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as Deutscher Krieg, Deutscher Bruderkrieg and by a variety of other names, was fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, with each also being aided by various allies within the German Confederation. Prussia had also allied with the Kingdom of Italy, linking this conflict to the Third Independence War of Italian unification. The Austro-Prussian War was part of the wider rivalry between Austria and Prussia, and resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.
  2. Italy
    
    Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, in Southern Europe; its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical region. Italy is also considered part of Western Europe. A unitary parliamentary republic with Rome as its capital and largest city, the country covers a total area of 301,230 km2 (116,310 sq mi) and shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino. Italy has a territorial exclave in Switzerland, Campione. With over 60 million inhabitants, Italy is the third-most populous member state of the European Union.
  3. Prussia
    
    Prussia was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was de facto dissolved by an emergency decree transferring powers of the Prussian government to German Chancellor Franz von Papen in 1932 and de jure by an Allied decree in 1947. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, expanding its size with the Prussian Army. Prussia, with its capital at Königsberg and then, when it became the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701, Berlin, decisively shaped the history of Germany.
  4. Austrian Empire
    
    The Austrian Empire was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, it was the third most populous monarchy in Europe after the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom. Along with Prussia, it was one of the two major powers of the German Confederation. Geographically, it was the third-largest empire in Europe after the Russian Empire and the First French Empire.
1864
1. American Civil War: Late-arriving reinforcements helped Confederate forces rout the Union Army at the Battle of Mansfield.
  1. American Civil War
    
    The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union and the Confederacy, the latter formed by states that had seceded. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction.
  2. Confederate States Army
    
    The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting against the United States forces in order to win the independence of the Southern states and uphold the institution of slavery. On February 28, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a provisional volunteer army and gave control over military operations and authority for mustering state forces and volunteers to the newly chosen Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. Davis was a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, and colonel of a volunteer regiment during the Mexican–American War. He had also been a United States senator from Mississippi and U.S. Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce. On March 1, 1861, on behalf of the Confederate government, Davis assumed control of the military situation at Charleston, South Carolina, where South Carolina state militia besieged Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, held by a small U.S. Army garrison. By March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress expanded the provisional forces and established a more permanent Confederate States Army.
  3. Union Army
    
    During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to the preservation of the United States as a working, viable republic.
  4. Battle of Mansfield
    
    The Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, on April 8, 1864, in Louisiana formed part of the Red River Campaign during the American Civil War, when Union forces were attempting to occupy the Louisiana state capital, Shreveport.
1832
1. Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
  1. Black Hawk War
    
    The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, into the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to reclaim land sold to the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis.
  2. St. Louis
    
    St. Louis is the second-largest city in Missouri. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which extends into Illinois, had an estimated population of over 2.8 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second-largest in Illinois.
  3. Sauk people
    
    The Sauk or Sac are a group of Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands culture group, who lived primarily in the region of what is now Green Bay, Wisconsin, when first encountered by the French in 1667. Their autonym is oθaakiiwaki, and their exonym is Ozaagii(-wag) in Ojibwe. The latter name was transliterated into French and English by colonists of those cultures. Today they have three federally recognized tribes, together with the Meskwaki (Fox), located in Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas.
  4. Native Americans in the United States
    
    Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States.. There are 574 federally recognized tribes living within the US, about half of which are associated with Indian reservations. As defined by the United States Census, "Native Americans" are Indigenous tribes that are originally from the contiguous United States, along with Alaska Natives. Indigenous peoples of the United States who are not listed as American Indian or Alaska Native include Native Hawaiians, Samoan Americans, and the Chamorro people. The US Census groups these peoples as "Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders".
1820
1. The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.
  1. Venus de Milo
    
    The Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. It is one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture, having been prominently displayed at the Louvre Museum since shortly after the statue was rediscovered on the island of Milos, Greece, in 1820.
  2. Aegean Sea
    
    The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some 215,000 square kilometres. In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea and the Black Sea by the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The Aegean Islands are located within the sea and some bound it on its southern periphery, including Crete and Rhodes. The sea reaches a maximum depth of 2,639m to the west of Karpathos. The Thracian Sea and the Sea of Crete are main subdivisions of the Aegean Sea.
  3. Milos
    
    Milos or Melos is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group.
1812
1. Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki.
  1. Alexander I of Russia
    
    Alexander I was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
  2. Emperor of all the Russias
    
    The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia was the monarch of the Russian Empire.
  3. Grand Duke of Finland
    
    Grand Duke of Finland, or, more accurately, the Grand Prince of Finland, was, from around 1580 to 1809, a title in use by most Swedish monarchs. Between 1809 and 1917, it was the official title of the ruler of the autonomous Grand Principality of Finland, who was also the Emperor of Russia. The anachronistic female form of the title in English would be Grand Duchess of Finland. The only women to have used the title were the Swedish queens regnant Kristina and Ulrika Eleonora. A few crown princes of Sweden also were called Grand Duke of Finland.
  4. Turku
    
    Turku is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (Varsinais-Suomi) and the former Turku and Pori Province. The region was originally called Suomi (Finland), which later became the name for the whole country. As of 31 March 2021, the population of Turku was 194,244 making it the sixth largest city in Finland after Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere, Vantaa and Oulu. There were 281,108 inhabitants living in the Turku Central Locality, ranking it as the third largest urban area in Finland after the Capital Region area and Tampere Central Locality. The city is officially bilingual as 5.2 percent of its population identify Swedish as a mother-tongue.
  5. Helsinki
    
    Helsinki is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of 658,864. The city's urban area has a population of 1,268,296, making it by far the most populous urban area in Finland as well as the country's most important center for politics, education, finance, culture, and research; while Tampere in the Pirkanmaa region, located 179 kilometres (111 mi) to the north from Helsinki, is the second largest urban area in Finland. Helsinki is located 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Tallinn, Estonia, 400 km (250 mi) east of Stockholm, Sweden, and 300 km (190 mi) west of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It has close historical ties with these three cities.
1740
1. War of the Austrian Succession: The Royal Navy captured the Spanish ship of the line Princesa, which was later mustered into British service.
  1. War of the Austrian Succession
    
    The War of the Austrian Succession was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's War in North America, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War and the First and Second Silesian Wars.
  2. Royal Navy
    
    The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against France. The modern Royal Navy traces its origins to the early 16th century; the oldest of the UK's armed services, it is consequently known as the Senior Service.
  3. Ship of the line
    
    A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which depended on the two columns of opposing warships maneuvering to volley fire with the cannons along their broadsides. In conflicts where opposing ships were both able to fire from their broadsides, the opponent with more cannons firing – and therefore more firepower – typically had an advantage. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying more of the most powerful guns, the natural progression was to build sailing vessels that were the largest and most powerful of their time.
  4. HMS Princess (1740)
    
    HMS Princess was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She had served for ten years as the Princesa for the Spanish Navy, until her capture off Cape Finisterre in 1740 during the War of the Austrian Succession.
  5. Muster (military)
    
    The term muster means the process or event of accounting for members in a military unit. This practice of inspections led to the coining of the English idiom pass muster, meaning being sufficient. When a unit is created, it is "mustered in" and when it is disbanded, it is "mustered out". If a unit "musters" it is generally to take account of who is present and who is not.
1730
1. Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated.
  1. Congregation Shearith Israel
    
    The Congregation Shearith Israel – often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue – is the oldest Jewish congregation in the United States. It was established in 1654 in New Amsterdam by Jews who arrived from Dutch Brazil. Until 1825, when Jewish immigrants from Germany established a congregation, it was the only Jewish congregation in New York City.
  2. Synagogue
    
    A synagogue, sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worship. Synagogues have a place for prayer, where Jews attend religious Services or special ceremonies, have rooms for study, social hall(s), administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious school and Hebrew school, sometimes Jewish preschools, and often have many places to sit and congregate; display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork throughout; and sometimes have items of some Jewish historical significance or history about the Synagogue itself, on display.
1630
1. Kiliaen van Rensselaer purchased land near present-day Albany, New York, to found the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which became the most successful patroonship under the Dutch West India Company.
  1. Kiliaen van Rensselaer (merchant)
    
    Kiliaen van Rensselaer was a Dutch diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company, being instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland.
  2. Albany, New York
    
    Albany is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about 10 miles (16 km) south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about 135 miles (220 km) north of New York City.
  3. Manor of Rensselaerswyck
    
    The Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Manor Rensselaerswyck, Van Rensselaer Manor, or just simply Rensselaerswyck, was the name of a colonial estate—specifically, a Dutch patroonship and later an English manor—owned by the van Rensselaer family that was located in the area that would later become the Capital District of New York in the United States.
  4. Patroon
    
    In the United States, a patroon was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions of 1629, the Dutch West India Company first started to grant this title and land to some of its invested members. These inducements to foster colonization and settlement are the basis for the patroon system. By the end of the eighteenth century, virtually all of the American states had abolished primogeniture and entail; thus patroons and manors evolved into simply large estates subject to division and leases.
  5. Dutch West India Company
    
    The Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx (1567–1647) and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.
1605
1. The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
  1. Oulu
    
    Oulu is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: Helsinki, Espoo, Tampere and Vantaa, and the fourth largest urban area in the country after Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. Oulu's neighbouring municipalities are: Hailuoto, Ii, Kempele, Liminka, Lumijoki, Muhos, Pudasjärvi, Tyrnävä and Utajärvi.
  2. Finland
    
    Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland across Estonia to the south. Finland covers an area of 338,455 square kilometres (130,678 sq mi) with a population of 5.6 million. Helsinki is the capital and largest city, forming a larger metropolitan area with the neighbouring cities of Espoo, Kauniainen, and Vantaa. The vast majority of the population are ethnic Finns. Finnish, alongside Swedish, are the official languages. Swedish is the native language of 5.2% of the population. Finland's climate varies from humid continental in the south to the boreal in the north. The land cover is primarily a boreal forest biome, with more than 180,000 recorded lakes.
  3. Charles IX of Sweden
    
    Charles IX, also Carl, reigned as King of Sweden from 1604 until his death. He was the youngest son of King Gustav I and of his second wife, Margaret Leijonhufvud, the brother of King Eric XIV and of King John III, and the uncle of Sigismund, who became king both of Sweden and of Poland. By his father's will Charles received, by way of appanage, the Duchy of Södermanland, which included the provinces of Närke and Värmland; but he did not come into actual possession of them till after the fall of Eric and the succession to the throne of John in 1568.
1271
1. The Knights Hospitaller surrendered the Krak des Chevaliers (pictured) to the army of the Mamluk sultan Baibars.
  1. Knights Hospitaller
    
    The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller, was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headquartered in the Kingdom of Jerusalem until 1291, on the island of Rhodes from 1310 until 1522, in Malta from 1530 until 1798 and at Saint Petersburg from 1799 until 1801. Today several organizations continue the Hospitaller tradition, specifically the mutually recognized orders of St. John, which are the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John, the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John, the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands, and the Order of Saint John in Sweden.
  2. Krak des Chevaliers
    
    Krak des Chevaliers, Arabic: قلعة الحصن, romanized: Qalʿat al-Ḥiṣn also called Hisn al-Akrad and formerly Crac de l'Ospital; Krak des Chevaliers or Crac des Chevaliers, is a medieval castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by Kurdish troops garrisoned there by the Mirdasids. In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the order of the Knights Hospitaller. It remained in their possession until it fell in 1271.
  3. Mamluk
    
    Mamluk is a term most commonly referring to non-Arab, ethnically diverse slave-soldiers and freed slaves who were assigned military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab dynasties in the Muslim world.
  4. Baybars
    
    Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari, of Turkic Kipchak origin, commonly known as Baibars or Baybars – nicknamed Abu al-Futuh – was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history.
2. In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.
  1. Syria
    
    Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a Western Asian country located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It is a unitary republic that consists of 14 governorates (subdivisions), and is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east and southeast, Jordan to the south, and Israel and Lebanon to the southwest. Cyprus lies to the west across the Mediterranean Sea. A country of fertile plains, high mountains, and deserts, Syria is home to diverse ethnic and religious groups, including the majority Syrian Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, Circassians, Albanians, and Greeks. Religious groups include Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis. The capital and largest city of Syria is Damascus. Arabs are the largest ethnic group, and Muslims are the largest religious group.
  2. Baybars
    
    Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari, of Turkic Kipchak origin, commonly known as Baibars or Baybars – nicknamed Abu al-Futuh – was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria in the Bahri dynasty, succeeding Qutuz. He was one of the commanders of the Egyptian forces that inflicted a defeat on the Seventh Crusade of King Louis IX of France. He also led the vanguard of the Egyptian army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, which marked the first substantial defeat of the Mongol army and is considered a turning point in history.
  3. Krak des Chevaliers
    
    Krak des Chevaliers, Arabic: قلعة الحصن, romanized: Qalʿat al-Ḥiṣn also called Hisn al-Akrad and formerly Crac de l'Ospital; Krak des Chevaliers or Crac des Chevaliers, is a medieval castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by Kurdish troops garrisoned there by the Mirdasids. In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the order of the Knights Hospitaller. It remained in their possession until it fell in 1271.
1250
1. Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
  1. Seventh Crusade
    
    The Seventh Crusade (1248–1254) was the first of the two Crusades led by Louis IX of France. Also known as the Crusade of Louis IX to the Holy Land, it aimed to reclaim the Holy Land by attacking Egypt, the main seat of Muslim power in the Near East. The Crusade initially met with success but ended in defeat, with most of the army – including the king – captured by the Muslims.
  2. Ayyubid dynasty
    
    The Ayyubid dynasty was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish origin, Saladin had originally served Nur ad-Din of Syria, leading Nur ad-Din's army in battle against the Crusaders in Fatimid Egypt, where he was made Vizier. Following Nur ad-Din's death, Saladin was proclaimed as the first Sultan of Egypt, and rapidly expanded the new sultanate beyond the frontiers of Egypt to encompass most of the Levant, in addition to Hijaz, Yemen, northern Nubia, Tarabulus, Cyrenaica, southern Anatolia, and northern Iraq, the homeland of his Kurdish family. By virtue of his sultanate including Hijaz, the location of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, he was the first ruler to be hailed as the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a title that would be held by all subsequent Sultans of Egypt until the Ottoman conquest of 1517. Saladin's military campaigns in the first decade of his rule, aimed at uniting the various Arab and Muslim states in the region against the Crusaders, set the general borders and sphere of influence of the Sultanate of Egypt for the almost three and a half centuries of its existence. Most of the Crusader states, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to Saladin after his victory at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. However, the Crusaders reconquered the coast of Palestine in the 1190s.
  3. Louis IX of France
    
    Louis IX, commonly known as Saint Louis or Louis the Saint, was King of France from 1226 to 1270, and the most illustrious of the Direct Capetians. He was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII. His mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled the kingdom as regent until he reached maturity, and then remained his valued adviser until her death. During Louis' childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition of rebellious vassals and secured Capetian success in the Albigensian Crusade, which had started 20 years earlier.
  4. Battle of Fariskur (1250)
    
    The Battle of Fariskur was the last major battle of the Seventh Crusade. The battle was fought on 8 April 1250, between the Crusaders led by King Louis IX of France and Egyptian forces led by Turanshah of the Ayyubid dynasty.
1232
1. Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.
  1. Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty
    
    The Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, also known as the Mongol–Jin War, was fought between the Mongol Empire and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in Manchuria and North China. The war, which started in 1211, lasted over 23 years and ended with the complete conquest of the Jin dynasty by the Mongols in 1234.
  2. Mongol Empire
    
    The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, extending northward into parts of the Arctic; eastward and southward into parts of the Indian subcontinent, attempted invasions of Southeast Asia and conquered the Iranian Plateau; and westward as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.
  3. Mongol siege of Kaifeng
    
    In the Mongol siege of Kaifeng from 1232 to 1233, the Mongol Empire captured Kaifeng, the capital of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty. The Mongol Empire and the Jin dynasty had been at war for nearly two decades, beginning in 1211 after the Jin dynasty refused the Mongol offer to submit as a vassal. Ögedei Khan sent two armies to besiege Kaifeng, one led by himself, and the other by his brother Tolui. Command of the forces, once they converged into a single army, was given to Subutai who led the siege. The Mongols arrived at the walls of Kaifeng on April 8, 1232.
  4. Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
    
    The Jin dynasty or Jin State, officially known as the Great Jin, was an imperial dynasty of China that existed between 1115 and 1234. Its name is sometimes written as Kin, Jurchen Jin, Jinn, or Chin in English to differentiate it from an earlier Jìn dynasty whose name is rendered identically in Hanyu Pinyin without the tone marking. It is also sometimes called the "Jurchen dynasty" or the "Jurchen Jin", because members of the ruling Wanyan clan were of Jurchen descent.
1139
1. Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy.
  1. Roger II of Sicily
    
    Roger II was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and King of Africa in 1148. By the time of his death at the age of 58, Roger had succeeded in uniting all the Norman conquests in Italy into one kingdom with a strong centralized government.
  2. Pope Innocent II
    
    Pope Innocent II, born Gregorio Papareschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 February 1130 to his death in 1143. His election as pope was controversial and the first eight years of his reign were marked by a struggle for recognition against the supporters of Anacletus II. He reached an understanding with King Lothair III of Germany who supported him against Anacletus and whom he crowned as Holy Roman emperor. Innocent went on to preside over the Second Lateran council.
  3. Antipope Anacletus II
    
    Anacletus II, born Pietro Pierleoni, was an antipope who ruled in opposition to Pope Innocent II from 1130 until his death in 1138. After the death of Pope Honorius II, the college of cardinals was divided over his successor. Unusually, the election was entrusted to eight cardinals, who elected Papareschi. A larger body of cardinals then elected Pierleoni, which led to a major schism in the Roman Catholic Church. Anacletus had the support of most Romans, including the Frangipani family, and Innocent was forced to flee to France. North of the Alps, Innocent gained the crucial support of the major religious orders, in particular Bernard of Clairvaux's Cistercians, the Abbot of Cluny Peter the Venerable; and Norbert of Xanten, the Archbishop of Magdeburg who established the Premonstratensians and held a high rank in the Court of the German Emperor Lothar III.
  4. Pope
    
    The pope, also known as supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome, head of the worldwide Catholic Church, and has also served as the head of state or sovereign of the Papal States and later the Vatican City State since the eighth century. From a Catholic viewpoint, the primacy of the bishop of Rome is largely derived from his role as the apostolic successor to Saint Peter, to whom primacy was conferred by Jesus, who gave Peter the Keys of Heaven and the powers of "binding and loosing", naming him as the "rock" upon which the Church would be built. The current pope is Francis, who was elected on 13 March 2013.
876
1. Abbasid forces decisively defeated those of Saffarid emir Ya'qub ibn Laith, forcing the latter to halt his advance into Iraq.
  1. Abbasid Caliphate
    
    The Abbasid Caliphate was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib, from whom the dynasty takes its name. They ruled as caliphs for most of the caliphate from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after having overthrown the Umayyad Caliphate in the Abbasid Revolution of 750 CE (132 AH). The Abbasid Caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, modern-day Iraq, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, near the ancient Babylonian capital city of Babylon. Baghdad became the center of science, culture and invention in what became known as the Golden Age of Islam. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".
  2. Battle of Dayr al-Aqul
    
    The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul was fought on 8 April 876, between forces of the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn Laith and the Abbasid Caliphate. Taking place some 80 km southeast (downstream) of Baghdad, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Abbasids, forcing Ya'qub to halt his advance into Iraq.
  3. Saffarid dynasty
    
    The Saffarid dynasty was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to emerge after the Islamic conquest, the Saffarid dynasty was part of the Iranian Intermezzo. The dynasty's founder was Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, who was born in 840 in a small town called Karnin (Qarnin), which was located east of Zaranj and west of Bost, in what is now Afghanistan. A native of Sistan and a local ayyār, Ya'qub worked as a coppersmith (ṣaffār) before becoming a warlord. He seized control of the Sistan region and began conquering most of Iran and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
  4. Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar
    
    Ya'qūb ibn al-Layth al-Saffār, was a coppersmith and the founder of the Saffarid dynasty of Sistan, with its capital at Zaranj. Under his military leadership, he conquered much of the eastern portions of Greater Iran consisting of modern-day Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan as well as portions of western Pakistan and a small part of Iraq. He was succeeded by his brother, Amr ibn al-Layth.
2. The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
  1. Battle of Dayr al-Aqul
    
    The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul was fought on 8 April 876, between forces of the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn Laith and the Abbasid Caliphate. Taking place some 80 km southeast (downstream) of Baghdad, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Abbasids, forcing Ya'qub to halt his advance into Iraq.
  2. Baghdad
    
    Baghdad is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. In 762 CE, Baghdad was chosen as the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, and became its most notable major development project. Within a short time, the city evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center of the Muslim world. This, in addition to housing several key academic institutions, including the House of Wisdom, as well as a multiethnic and multi-religious environment, garnered it a worldwide reputation as the "Center of Learning".
  3. Saffarid dynasty
    
    The Saffarid dynasty was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian origin that ruled over parts of Persia, Greater Khorasan, and eastern Makran from 861 to 1003. One of the first indigenous Persian dynasties to emerge after the Islamic conquest, the Saffarid dynasty was part of the Iranian Intermezzo. The dynasty's founder was Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, who was born in 840 in a small town called Karnin (Qarnin), which was located east of Zaranj and west of Bost, in what is now Afghanistan. A native of Sistan and a local ayyār, Ya'qub worked as a coppersmith (ṣaffār) before becoming a warlord. He seized control of the Sistan region and began conquering most of Iran and Afghanistan, as well as parts of Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
217
1. Roman emperor Caracalla (pictured) was assassinated near Harran and succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect Macrinus.
  1. Caracalla
    
    Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known by his nickname "Caracalla" was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna. Proclaimed co-ruler by his father in 198, he reigned jointly with his brother Geta, co-emperor from 209, after their father's death in 211. His brother was murdered by the Praetorian Guard later that year, under orders from Caracalla himself, who then reigned afterwards as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Caracalla found administration to be mundane, leaving those responsibilities to his mother. Caracalla's reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples.
  2. Harran
    
    Harran, historically known as Carrhae, is a rural town and district of the Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey, approximately 40 kilometres southeast of Urfa and 20 kilometers from the border crossing with Syria at Akçakale.
  3. Praetorian Guard
    
    The Praetorian Guard was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new caesar of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the cohortes praetoriae and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria.
  4. Macrinus
    
    Marcus Opellius Macrinus was Roman emperor from April 217 to June 218, reigning jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. As a member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial class and also the first emperor who never visited Rome during his reign. Before becoming emperor, Macrinus served under Emperor Caracalla as a praetorian prefect and dealt with Rome's civil affairs. He later conspired against Caracalla and had him murdered in a bid to protect his own life, succeeding him as emperor.
2. Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
  1. Roman emperor
    
    The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period. The emperors used a variety of different titles throughout history. Often when a given Roman is described as becoming "emperor" in English it reflects his taking of the title augustus. Another title often used was caesar, used for heirs-apparent, and imperator, originally a military honorific. Early emperors also used the title princeps civitatis. Emperors frequently amassed republican titles, notably princeps senatus, consul, and pontifex maximus.
  2. Caracalla
    
    Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known by his nickname "Caracalla" was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna. Proclaimed co-ruler by his father in 198, he reigned jointly with his brother Geta, co-emperor from 209, after their father's death in 211. His brother was murdered by the Praetorian Guard later that year, under orders from Caracalla himself, who then reigned afterwards as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Caracalla found administration to be mundane, leaving those responsibilities to his mother. Caracalla's reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples.
  3. Praetorian Guard
    
    The Praetorian Guard was a unit of the Imperial Roman army that served as personal bodyguards and intelligence agents for the Roman emperors. During the Roman Republic, the Praetorian Guard were an escort for high-rank political officials and were bodyguards for the senior officers of the Roman legions. In 27 BC, after Rome's transition from republic to empire, the first emperor of Rome, Augustus, designated the Praetorians as his personal security escort. For three centuries, the guards of the Roman emperor were also known for their palace intrigues, by which influence upon imperial politics the Praetorians could overthrow an emperor and then proclaim his successor as the new caesar of Rome. In AD 312, Constantine the Great disbanded the cohortes praetoriae and destroyed their barracks at the Castra Praetoria.
  4. Prefect
    
    Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area.
  5. Macrinus
    
    Marcus Opellius Macrinus was Roman emperor from April 217 to June 218, reigning jointly with his young son Diadumenianus. As a member of the equestrian class, he became the first emperor who did not hail from the senatorial class and also the first emperor who never visited Rome during his reign. Before becoming emperor, Macrinus served under Emperor Caracalla as a praetorian prefect and dealt with Rome's civil affairs. He later conspired against Caracalla and had him murdered in a bid to protect his own life, succeeding him as emperor.

Births & Deaths

2022
1. Mimi Reinhardt, Austrian Jewish secretary (b. 1915) deaths
  1. Mimi Reinhardt
    
    Mimi Reinhardt was an Austrian Jewish secretary. She worked for Oskar Schindler and typed his list of Jewish workers to recruit for his factory.
2020
1. Rick May, American-Canadian voice actor (b. 1940) deaths
  1. Rick May
    
    Rick May was a Canadian-American voice actor, theatrical performer, director, and teacher. May provided the English-language voice for Peppy Hare and Andross in Star Fox 64, the Soldier in Team Fortress 2, and Dr. M in Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves, among other video game characters. He also played Inspector Lestrade in the long running radio show The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes from 1998 through 2020.
2. Abdul Momin Imambari, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (b. 1930) deaths
  1. Abdul Momin Imambari
    
    Abdul Momin Shaykh-e-Imambari was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, teacher and politician. He was a former president of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Bangladesh.
2019
1. Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian-born American art curator (b. 1926) deaths
  1. Josine Ianco-Starrels
    
    Josine Ianco-Starrels was a Romanian-born American art curator who worked as a museum director in Los Angeles, California.
2015
1. Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1934) deaths
  1. Jayakanthan
    
    D. Jayakanthan, popularly known as JK, was an Indian writer, journalist, orator, filmmaker, critic and activist. Born in Cuddalore, he dropped out of school at the age of 9 and went to Madras, where he joined the Communist Party of India. In a career spanning six decades, he authored around 40 novels, 200 short stories, apart from two autobiographies. Outside literature, he made two films. In addition, four of his other novels were adapted into films by others.
2. Rayson Huang, Hong Kong chemist and academic (b. 1920) deaths
  1. Rayson Huang
    
    Rayson Lisung Huang,, was a Hong Kong chemist, who was an expert on radicals. He was the first Chinese Vice-Chancellor of The University of Hong Kong, a position in which he served from 1972 until 1986.
3. Sergei Lashchenko, Ukrainian kick-boxer (b. 1987) deaths
  1. Sergei Lashchenko
    
    Serhiy Lashchenko, also spelled as Sergii Lashchenko and Sergei Lascenko, was a Ukrainian kickboxer. He was a K-1 and Superkombat Heavyweight.
4. David Laventhol, American journalist and publisher (b. 1933) deaths
  1. David Laventhol
    
    David Abram Laventhol was an American newspaper editor and publisher at The Washington Post, Newsday and the Los Angeles Times. He was known for his work designing newspapers, most notably as first editor of the Style section of The Washington Post. He was also known for his shy and humble style, being called an "unlikely mogul".
5. Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (b. 1936) deaths
  1. Jean-Claude Turcotte
    
    Jean-Claude Turcotte was a Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal. Upon his elevation into the cardinalate he was made the Cardinal-Priest of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Canadian Martyrs. He was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal from 1990 to 2012, and was succeeded as Archbishop by Christian Lépine.
2014
1. Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi patriarch (b. 1927) deaths
  1. Emmanuel III Delly
    
    Mar Emmanuel III Delly was the Patriarch Emeritus of Babylon of the Chaldeans and former Primate of the Chaldean Catholic Church, an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular church of the Catholic Church, and also a cardinal. He was born in Tel Keppe and was ordained a priest on 21 December 1952. He was consecrated a bishop in December 1962 at the age of 35. He was elected Patriarch of the Chaldean Church on 3 December 2003, succeeding the late Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid. He was raised to the rank of cardinal bishop on 24 November 2007.
2. Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Karlheinz Deschner
    
    Karl Heinrich Leopold Deschner was a German researcher and writer who achieved public attention in Europe for his trenchant and fiercely critical treatment of Christianity in general and the Catholic Church in particular, as expressed in several articles and books, culminating in his 10 volume Christianity's Criminal History.
3. Ivan Mercep, New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (b. 1930) deaths
  1. Ivan Mercep
    
    Ivan Mercep was a New Zealand architect.
  2. Te Papa
    
    The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Te Papa Tongarewa translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring from mother Earth here in New Zealand". Usually known as Te Papa, it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery. An average of more than 1.5 million people visit every year, making it the 17th-most-visited art gallery in the world. Te Papa's philosophy emphasises the living face behind its cultural treasures, many of which retain deep ancestral links to the indigenous Māori people.
2013
1. Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist (b. 1958) deaths
  1. Mikhail Beketov
    
    Mikhail Vasilyevich Beketov was a Russian journalist who came to widespread attention when he was attacked in an assault thought to be connected with his coverage of the planned destruction of the Khimki Forest to make way for the Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway.
2. Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (b. 1942) deaths
  1. Annette Funicello
    
    Annette Joanne Funicello was an American actress and singer. Funicello began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve. She was one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the original Mickey Mouse Club. In her teenage years, she recorded under the name Annette, and had a successful career as a pop singer. Her most notable singles are "O Dio Mio", "First Name Initial", "Tall Paul", and "Pineapple Princess". During the mid-1960s, she established herself as a film actress, popularizing the successful "Beach Party" genre alongside co-star Frankie Avalon.
3. Sara Montiel, Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (b. 1928) deaths
  1. Sara Montiel
    
    María Antonia Abad Fernández MML, known professionally as Sara Montiel, also Sarita Montiel, was a Spanish actress and singer, who also held Mexican citizenship since 1951. She began her career in the 1940s and became the most internationally popular and highest paid star of Spanish cinema in the 1960s. She appeared in nearly fifty films and recorded around 500 songs in five different languages.
4. José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (b. 1917) deaths
  1. José Luis Sampedro
    
    José Luis Sampedro Sáez was a Spanish economist and writer who advocated an economy "more humane, more caring, able to help develop the dignity of peoples". Academician of the Real Academia Española since 1990, he was the recipient of the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain, the Menéndez Pelayo International Prize (2010) and the Spanish Literature National Prize (2011). He became an inspiration for the anti-austerity movement in Spain.
5. Margaret Thatcher, English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1925) deaths
  1. Margaret Thatcher
    
    Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher , was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime minister and the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century. As prime minister, she implemented economic policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
  2. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
    
    The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern prime ministers hold office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the House of Commons, they sit as members of Parliament.
2012
1. Blair Kiel, American football player and coach (b. 1961) deaths
  1. Blair Kiel
    
    Blair Armstrong Kiel was a four-year starting quarterback and punter for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team, from 1980 to 1983. He played professionally for several teams in the National Football League, the Canadian Football League, and the Arena Football League, and was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1998. Kiel worked as an advisor to corporate real estate clients in the Indianapolis area. He retired to start a non-profit organization to help young athletes plan for when their athletic careers are over.
2. Jack Tramiel, Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (b. 1928) deaths
  1. Jack Tramiel
    
    Jack Tramiel was an American businessman and Holocaust survivor, best known for founding Commodore International. The Commodore PET, VIC-20 and Commodore 64 are some home computers produced while he was running the company. Tramiel later formed Atari Corporation after he purchased the remnants of the original Atari, Inc. from its parent company.
  2. Commodore International
    
    Commodore International was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Machines (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the home personal computer industry in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. The company developed and marketed the world's best-selling computer, the Commodore 64 (1982), and released its Amiga computer line in July 1985. With quarterly sales ending 1983 of $49 million, Commodore was one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers.
3. Janusz K. Zawodny, Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (b. 1921) deaths
  1. Janusz K. Zawodny
    
    Janusz Kazimierz Zawodny was a Polish-American historian, political scientist, and World War II soldier and resistance fighter of the Polish Underground State.
2011
1. Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (b. 1910) deaths
  1. Hedda Sterne
    
    Hedda Sterne was a Romanian-born American artist who was an active member of the New York School of painters. Her work is often associated with Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism.
2010
1. Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter (b. 1946) deaths
  1. Malcolm McLaren
    
    Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provocative way. He is best known as a promoter and manager of bands the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols.
2. Teddy Scholten, Dutch singer (b. 1926) deaths
  1. Teddy Scholten
    
    Dorothea Margaretha "Teddy" Scholten was a Dutch singer and television presenter. She is known for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1959 with the song "Een beetje", representing the Netherlands.
2009
1. Richard de Mille, American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (b. 1922) deaths
  1. Richard de Mille
    
    Richard de Mille was an American author.
2. Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (b. 1976) deaths
  1. Piotr Morawski
    
    Piotr Morawski was a Polish mountaineer. He was best known for making the first successful winter ascent together with Simone Moro of Shishapangma on January 14, 2005. Morawski died aged 32 during an international Dhaulagiri/Manaslu expedition in Nepal. He fell into a crevasse at an elevation of 5500 m while acclimatizing.
2008
1. Kazuo Shiraga, Japanese painter (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Kazuo Shiraga
    
    Kazuo Shiraga was a Japanese abstract painter and the first-generation member of the postwar artists collective Gutai Art Association (Gutai). As a Gutai member, he was a prolific, inventive, and pioneering experimentalist who tackled a range of media: in addition to painting, he worked in performance art, three-dimensional object making, conceptual art, and installations, many of which are preserved only in documentary photos and films.
2007
1. Sol LeWitt, American painter and sculptor (b. 1928) deaths
  1. Sol LeWitt
    
    Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including conceptual art and minimalism.
2006
1. Gerard Reve, Dutch author and poet (b. 1923) deaths
  1. Gerard Reve
    
    Gerard Kornelis van het Reve was a Dutch writer. He started writing as Simon Gerard van het Reve and adopted the shorter Gerard Reve [ˈɣeːrɑrt ˈreːvə] in 1973. Together with Willem Frederik Hermans and Harry Mulisch, he is considered one of the "Great Three" of Dutch post-war literature. His 1981 novel De vierde man was the basis for Paul Verhoeven's 1983 film.
2005
1. Onna White, Canadian choreographer and dancer (b. 1922) deaths
  1. Onna White
    
    Onna White was a Canadian choreographer and dancer, nominated for eight Tony Awards.
2004
1. Werner Schumacher, German actor (b. 1921) deaths
  1. Werner Schumacher
    
    Werner Schumacher was a German actor. From 1971 until 1986 he starred in the Süddeutscher Rundfunk version of the popular television crime series Tatort.
2002
1. Skai Jackson, American actress births
  1. Skai Jackson
    
    Skai Jackson is an American actress who was included in Time's list of Most Influential Teens in 2016. She is best known for portraying the role of Zuri Ross in the Disney Channel sitcom Jessie (2011–2015), which she subsequently reprised in its sequel Bunk'd (2015–2018).
2. María Félix, Mexican actress (b. 1914) deaths
  1. María Félix
    
    María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, her taste for the finesse and strong personality garnered her the title of diva early in her career. She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her as a wedding gift by Félix's second husband, Agustín Lara. Her acting career consists of 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina.
3. Harvey Quaytman, American painter (b. 1937) deaths
  1. Harvey Quaytman
    
    Harvey Quaytman was a geometric abstraction painter best known for large modernist canvases with powerful monochromatic tones, in layered compositions, often with hard edges - inspired by Malevich and Mondrian. He had more than 60 solo exhibitions in his career, and his works are held in the collections of many top public museums.
2000
1. František Šťastný, Czech motorcycle racer (b. 1927) deaths
  1. František Šťastný
    
    František Šťastný was a Czech Grand Prix motorcycle road racer.
2. Claire Trevor, American actress (b. 1910) deaths
  1. Claire Trevor
    
    Claire Trevor was an American actress. She appeared in 65 feature films from 1933 to 1982, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Key Largo (1948), and received nominations for her roles in The High and the Mighty (1954) and Dead End (1937). Trevor received top billing, ahead of John Wayne, for Stagecoach (1939).
1997
1. Kim Woo-jin, South Korean singer births
  1. Kim Woo-jin
    
    Kim Woo-jin, also known mononymously as Woojin (우진), is a South Korean singer and actor. He was signed to JYP Entertainment and was a member of the boy group Stray Kids from their formation through the eponymous survival show in 2017 until his departure two years later. He signed with 10x Entertainment in his endeavor to launch a solo career. Amidst his transition to a soloist, he faced false accusations of sexual misconduct by anonymous users on social media website Twitter. He denied the allegations and an investigation found various forms of fabrication from the accusers. He released his debut mini-album The Moment : A Minor and its lead single "Ready Now" in August 2021.
2. Saygrace, Australian singer and songwriter births
  1. Saygrace
    
    Grace Sewell, known professionally as SayGrace, is an Australian singer and songwriter. She is best known for "You Don't Own Me", a cover version of the 1963 Lesley Gore song, produced by Quincy Jones, Parker Ighile and featuring G-Eazy. The song, a single from her debut album with Regime Music Societe and RCA Records, was a number-one hit in Australia.
3. Arno Verschueren, Belgian professional football player births
  1. Arno Verschueren
    
    Arno Verschueren is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam.
4. Laura Nyro, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1947) deaths
  1. Laura Nyro
    
    Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession (1968) and New York Tendaberry (1969), and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the 5th Dimension recording her songs. Wider recognition for her artistry was posthumous while her contemporaries such as Elton John idolized her. She was praised for her strong emotive vocal style and 3-octave mezzo-soprano vocal range.
1996
1. Anna Korakaki, Greek Olympic medalist in shooting births
  1. Anna Korakaki
    
    Anna Korakaki is a Greek Olympic shooter.
2. Ben Johnson, American actor and stuntman (b. 1918) deaths
  1. Ben Johnson (actor)
    
    Francis Benjamin Johnson Jr. was an American film and television actor, stuntman, and world-champion rodeo cowboy. Tall and laconic, Johnson brought authenticity to many roles in Westerns with his droll manner and expert horsemanship.
3. León Klimovsky, Argentinian-Spanish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906) deaths
  1. León Klimovsky
    
    León Klimovsky was an Argentine film director, screenwriter and film producer.
4. Mick Young, Australian politician (b. 1936) deaths
  1. Mick Young
    
    Michael Jerome Young was an Australian politician. He rose through the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to become its National Secretary, before serving as a Labor member of the House of Representatives from the 1974 election to 1988. He was a senior minister in the Hawke government, and was a prominent political figure during the 1970s and 1980s. Young was also President of the Australian Labor Party from 1986 to 1988.
1995
1. Cedi Osman, Turkish professional basketball player births
  1. Cedi Osman
    
    Cedi Osman is a Macedonian/Turkish professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays the small forward position.
1994
1. Josh Chudleigh, Australian rugby league player births
  1. Josh Chudleigh
    
    Josh Chudleigh is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup. Primarily a hooker, he previously played for the North Queensland Cowboys.
2. François Rozet, French-Canadian actor (b. 1899) deaths
  1. François Rozet
    
    François Rozet, was a French-born Canadian actor.
1993
1. Viktor Arvidsson, Swedish ice hockey player births
  1. Viktor Arvidsson
    
    Johan Viktor Arvidsson is a Swedish professional ice hockey player for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected by the Nashville Predators in the fourth round, 112th overall, at the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.
2. Marian Anderson, American operatic singer (b. 1897) deaths
  1. Marian Anderson
    
    Marian Anderson was an American contralto. She performed a wide range of music, from opera to spirituals. Anderson performed with renowned orchestras in major concert and recital venues throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965.
1992
1. Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907) deaths
  1. Daniel Bovet
    
    Daniel Bovet was a Swiss-born Italian pharmacologist who won the 1957 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of drugs that block the actions of specific neurotransmitters. He is best known for his discovery in 1937 of antihistamines, which block the neurotransmitter histamine and are used in allergy medication. His other research included work on chemotherapy, sulfa drugs, the sympathetic nervous system, the pharmacology of curare, and other neuropharmacological interests.
  2. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
    
    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
1991
1. Per Ohlin, Swedish musician (b. 1969) deaths
  1. Dead (musician)
    
    Per Yngve "Pelle" Ohlin, better known by his stage name Dead, was a Swedish metal musician, who was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the Norwegian black metal band Mayhem from 1988 until his death in 1991. Prior to Mayhem, he also performed as vocalist in the death/thrash band Morbid. Dead was a popular figure of the Norwegian black metal scene, and his legacy persists in the genre to this day. Roadrunner Records ranked him No. 48 out of 50 of The Greatest Metal Front-Men of All Time.
1990
1. Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer (d. 2017) births
  1. Kim Jong-hyun
    
    Kim Jong-hyun, known mononymously as Jonghyun, was a South Korean singer-songwriter, record producer, radio host, and author under the SM Entertainment label. He was the main vocalist of the South Korean boy band Shinee for nine years, releasing twelve albums with the group in both Korean and Japanese. He also participated in SM Entertainment's project group, SM the Ballad, for the release of two EP albums.
2. Ryan White, American activist, inspired the Ryan White Care Act (b. 1971) deaths
  1. Ryan White
    
    Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States after his school barred him from attending classes following a diagnosis of AIDS. As a hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated factor VIII blood treatment and, when diagnosed in December 1984, was given six months to live. Doctors said he posed no risk to other students, as AIDS is not an airborne disease and spreads solely through bodily fluids, but AIDS was poorly understood by the general public at the time. When White tried to return to school, many parents and teachers in Howard County rallied against his attendance due to unwarranted concerns of the disease spreading to other students and staff. A lengthy administrative appeal process ensued, and news of the conflict turned Ryan into a popular celebrity and advocate for AIDS research and public education. Surprising his doctors, Ryan White lived five years longer than predicted. He died on April 8, 1990, one month before his high school graduation.
  2. Ryan White CARE Act
    
    The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, Pub.L. 101–381, 104 Stat. 576, enacted August 18, 1990), was an act of the United States Congress and is the largest federally funded program in the United States for people living with HIV/AIDS. In exchange for States adopting harsh criminal laws regulating the conduct of HIV-positive individuals and providing for their public felony prosecution, the act made federal funding available through contingency grants to states for low-income, uninsured, and under-insured people to be treated with the chemotherapeutic drug AZT. The act is named in honor of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager who contracted AIDS through a tainted blood transfusion. He was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984 at age 13 and was subsequently expelled from school because of the disease. White became a well-known advocate for AIDS research and awareness until his death in 1990 at age 18.
1988
1. Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player births
  1. Jenni Asserholt
    
    Jenni Anna Christina Asserholt is a Swedish retired ice hockey player and current team physical therapist to HV71 Dam of the Swedish Women's Hockey League (SDHL). She played as a forward with HV71 Dam and Linköping HC Dam in the SDHL and with the Swedish women's national ice hockey team. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
1987
1. Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer births
  1. Royston Drenthe
    
    Royston Ricky Drenthe is a Dutch footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Murcia. Although primarily a left winger, he has also played as a left-back.
2. Jeremy Hellickson, American baseball player births
  1. Jeremy Hellickson
    
    Jeremy Robert Hellickson is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, and Washington Nationals. Following the 2011 season, Hellickson was named American League Rookie of the Year. In Tampa Bay, Hellickson was nicknamed "Hellboy" by local fans and media.
3. Elton John, Trinidadian footballer births
  1. Elton John (footballer)
    
    Elton David Wallace John is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.
4. Sam Rapira, New Zealand rugby league player births
  1. Sam Rapira
    
    Sam Rapira is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer who last played for Toulouse Olympique in the Betfred Championship. He played as a prop.
1986
1. Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer births
  1. Igor Akinfeev
    
    Igor Vladimirovich Akinfeev is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for and captains Russian club CSKA Moscow.
2. Félix Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player births
  1. Félix Hernández
    
    Félix Abraham Hernández García, nicknamed "King Félix", is a Venezuelan former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners from 2005 through 2019.
1985
1. Patrick Schliwa, German rugby player births
  1. Patrick Schliwa
    
    Patrick Schliwa is a German international rugby union player, playing for the Heidelberger RK in the Rugby-Bundesliga and the German national rugby union team.
2. Yemane Tsegay, Ethiopian runner births
  1. Yemane Tsegay
    
    Yemane Adhane Tsegay is an Ethiopian long distance runner who specialises in the marathon. He won the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon with a personal best time of 2:04:48 hours. He has also won marathons in Eindhoven, Gyeongju, Macau and Taipei.
3. John Frederick Coots, American pianist and composer (b. 1897) deaths
  1. John Frederick Coots
    
    John Frederick Coots was an American songwriter. He composed over 700 popular songs and over a dozen Broadway shows. In 1934, Coots wrote the melody with his then chief collaborator, lyricist Haven Gillespie, for the biggest hit of either man's career, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town." The song became one of the biggest sellers in American history.
1984
1. Michelle Donelan, British politician births
  1. Michelle Donelan
    
    Michelle Emma May Elizabeth Donelan is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport since September 2022. She previously served as Minister of State for Higher and Further Education from 2020 to 2022, and Secretary of State for Education for two days during the July 2022 UK government crisis. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham in Wiltshire since 2015.
2. Ezra Koenig, American singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Ezra Koenig
    
    Ezra Michael Koenig is an American musician, singer-songwriter, producer, and internet radio personality. He is best known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of indie rock band Vampire Weekend. Additionally, Koenig is the creator of the Netflix animated comedy series Neo Yokio and also hosts the Apple Music radio talk show Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig. Time Crisis is airing its eighth season, as of 2022.
3. Pablo Portillo, Mexican singer and actor births
  1. Pablo Portillo
    
    Pablo Alberto Portillo Heredia is a Mexican singer and actor.
4. Taran Noah Smith, American actor births
  1. Taran Noah Smith
    
    Taran Noah Smith is an American former actor widely known for his role as Mark Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement.
5. Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1894) deaths
  1. Pyotr Kapitsa
    
    Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa or Peter Kapitza (Russian: Пётр Леонидович Капица, Romanian: Petre Capița was a leading Soviet physicist and Nobel laureate, best known for his work in low-temperature physics.
  2. Nobel Prize in Physics
    
    The Nobel Prize in Physics is a yearly award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions for humankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901, the others being the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Physics is traditionally the first award presented in the Nobel Prize ceremony.
1983
1. Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russian runner births
  1. Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova
    
    Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova is a Russian runner. She is a former specialist in the 3000 metres steeplechase, and won a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She later moved up to marathon and won the Olympic bronze medal in that event at the 2012 London Games.
2. Isamu Kosugi, Japanese actor and director (b. 1904) deaths
  1. Isamu Kosugi
    
    Isamu Kosugi was a Japanese actor and film director.
1982
1. Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer births
  1. Gennady Golovkin
    
    Gennadiy Gennadyevich Golovkin, often known by his nickname "GGG" or "Triple G", is a Kazakhstani professional boxer. He has held multiple middleweight world championships, and is a two-time unified champion, having held the IBF title since 2019 and the WBA (Super) title since April 2022. Previously he held the unified WBA (Super), WBC and IBF titles between 2014 and 2018, and has challenged once for the undisputed super middleweight championship in 2022. He is also a two-time IBO middleweight champion, in his second reign since 2019.
2. Brett White, Australian rugby league player births
  1. Brett White
    
    Brett White is a former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Canberra Raiders and the Melbourne Storm in the NRL. Both an Ireland and Australian international, and New South Wales State of Origin representative prop forward, he played the majority of his career at the Storm, before signing with the Canberra Raiders from 2011. Married Cassie Adland in 2009, with whom he has 4 children.
1981
1. Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer births
  1. Frédérick Bousquet
    
    Frédérick Bousquet is a retired freestyle and butterfly swimmer from France. He was the holder of the world record in the 50 m freestyle in a time of 20.94 in long course, set on 26 April 2009 at the final of the French Championships. Since the record was swum in a banned, performance-enhancing suit it remained in limbo whether the record stood until FINA approved it in July following a modification of his suit. He is the first swimmer to go under the 21-second mark in this distance. He previously held the record in the 50 m short course in a time of 21.10, set in 2004 at the Men's NCAA Division One Swimming and Diving Championships, for over two years. At the 2009 World Championships in Rome Bousquet competed in the 50 and 100 free, capturing a silver in the 50 and bronze in the 100. Bousquet did not qualify for the 2012 Olympics but his ex-partner Laure Manaudou and his brother-in-law Florent Manaudou did.
2. Ofer Shechter, Israeli model, actor, and screenwriter births
  1. Ofer Shechter
    
    Ofer Shechter is an Israeli actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and former model.
3. Omar Bradley, American general (b. 1893) deaths
  1. Omar Bradley
    
    Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and oversaw the U.S. military's policy-making in the Korean War.
1980
1. Manuel Ortega, Austrian singer births
  1. Manuel Ortega (singer)
    
    Manuel Ortega is an Austrian singer of Spanish origin.
2. Katee Sackhoff, American actress births
  1. Katee Sackhoff
    
    Kathryn Ann Sackhoff is an American actress known for playing Lieutenant Kara "Starbuck" Thrace on the Sci Fi Channel's television program Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), Niko Breckenridge on the Netflix series Another Life (2019–2021), Victoria "Vic" Moretti on the A&E / Netflix series Longmire, Bo-Katan Kryze on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian as well as providing the voice for the character in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2012–2020) and Star Wars Rebels (2017), and the voice of Bitch Pudding on Robot Chicken (2005–present), as well as several other characters throughout her career. She was nominated for four Saturn Awards for her work on Battlestar Galactica and won the award for Best Supporting Actress on Television in 2005.
3. Mariko Seyama, Japanese announcer, photographer, and model births
  1. Mariko Seyama
    
    Mariko Seyama is a Japanese announcer and former model who is represented by the talent agency Horipro. She was an announcer for Nippon Television.
1979
1. Alexi Laiho, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2020) births
  1. Alexi Laiho
    
    Alexi Laiho was a Finnish guitarist, composer, and vocalist. He was best known as the lead guitarist, lead vocalist and founding member of the melodic death metal band Children of Bodom, and was also the guitarist for Sinergy, the Local Band, Kylähullut, and Bodom After Midnight, which formed just prior to his death. Laiho had previously played with Thy Serpent and Impaled Nazarene on occasion, as well as Warmen and Hypocrisy.
2. Amit Trivedi, Indian singer-songwriter births
  1. Amit Trivedi
    
    Amit Trivedi is an Indian music director, singer and a lyricist who works primarily in Hindi films. After working as a theatre and jingle composer and composing for non-film albums, he debuted as a film composer in the 2008 Hindi film Aamir, he gained prominence for his work in the Hindi film Dev.D (2009).
3. Breece D'J Pancake, American short story writer (b. 1952) deaths
  1. Breece D'J Pancake
    
    Breece D'J Pancake was an American short story writer. He is said to be "one of the greatest authors you've never heard of" according to an article on his work in Study Breaks. Pancake was a native of West Virginia. Several of his short stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals during his lifetime.
1978
1. Daigo, Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, and voice actor births
  1. Daigo (musician)
    
    Daigo Naitō , formerly known as Daigo Stardust, is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor, talent, and voice actor. He debuted in 2003 as Daigo Stardust under Victor Entertainment. In 2007, he formed the rock band Breakerz. With the solo debut of Akihide, Daigo continued his solo project in 2013, but dropped the pseudonym surname "Stardust".
2. Bernt Haas, Austrian-Swiss footballer births
  1. Bernt Haas
    
    Bernt Haas is a former Swiss football defender.
3. Rachel Roberts, Canadian model and actress births
  1. Rachel Roberts (model)
    
    Rachel Roberts is a Canadian model and actress. Roberts has appeared in numerous ad campaigns, most notably for Biotherm Skin Care Products, and she became well known in the United States as the title character in the film Simone.
4. Jocelyn Robichaud, Canadian tennis player and coach births
  1. Jocelyn Robichaud
    
    Jocelyn Robichaud is a former tour professional tennis player. Robichaud captured three junior Grand Slam titles and played Davis Cup for Canada. More of a doubles specialist, he won three Challenger events in doubles and reached a career-high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 119.
5. Evans Rutto, Kenyan runner births
  1. Evans Rutto
    
    Evans Rutto is a Kenyan long-distance runner, who specialises in road running events. He made the fastest-ever marathon debut by winning the 2003 Chicago Marathon in a time of 2:05:50. He won the London Marathon and a second title in Chicago the following year.
1977
1. Ana de la Reguera, Mexican actress births
  1. Ana de la Reguera
    
    Anabell Gardoqui de la Reguera is a Mexican actress. She has starred in telenovelas, films, the HBO television series Eastbound & Down and Capadocia, the Amazon television series Goliath, and the 2006 comedy Nacho Libre.
2. Mehran Ghassemi, Iranian journalist and author (d. 2008) births
  1. Mehran Ghassemi
    
    Mehran Ghassemi was an Iranian journalist. He was an expert on Iranian Nuclear Dossier and Foreign Policy and published hundreds of articles in Iranian newspapers.
3. Mark Spencer, American computer programmer and engineer births
  1. Mark Spencer (computer engineer)
    
    Mark Spencer is an American computer engineer and is the original author of the GTK+-based instant messaging client Gaim, the L2TP daemon l2tpd and the Cheops Network User Interface.
1975
1. Anouk, Dutch singer births
  1. Anouk (singer)
    
    Anouk Schemmekes, professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. After her 1997 breakthrough rock single Nobody's Wife, she had hit records in the Dutch and Belgian charts. Many of her albums topped the Dutch album charts; most of them going Platinum and several debuting in the number 1 position. Her most famous singles include: R U Kiddin' Me, Michel, Girl, Lost, Modern World, Three Days in a Row, Birds, and Woman.
2. Francesco Flachi, Italian footballer births
  1. Francesco Flachi
    
    Francesco Flachi is an Italian former professional footballer, currently playing for Eccellenza amateurs Signa.
3. Timo Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player births
  1. Timo Pérez
    
    Timoniel M. Pérez is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder. Between 2000 and 2007, he played for the New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers. Prior to his MLB career, Pérez spent four seasons with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball.
4. Funda Arar, Turkish singer births
  1. Funda Arar
    
    Funda Arar is a Turkish singer.
1974
1. Toutai Kefu, Tongan-Australian rugby player births
  1. Toutai Kefu
    
    Toutai Kefu is a Tonga-born rugby coach, who earned 60 caps playing at number eight for the Australian national team. Kefu is currently the head coach of the Tongan national team having previously coached them as a caretaker in 2012. He is also the Assistant Coach of the First 15 at Iona College. He is additionally the head coach of the Australian side Queensland Country in the National Rugby Championship, while there is a break between international windows.
2. Nnedi Okorafor, Nigerian-American author and educator births
  1. Nnedi Okorafor
    
    Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.
3. James Charles McGuigan, Canadian cardinal (b. 1894) deaths
  1. James McGuigan
    
    James Charles McGuigan was a Canadian prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the longest-serving Archbishop of Toronto, serving for almost 37 years from 1934 to 1971. He became the first English-speaking cardinal from Canada in 1946.
1973
1. Khaled Badra, Tunisian footballer births
  1. Khaled Badra
    
    Khaled Badra is a Tunisian former professional footballer who played as a defender.
2. Emma Caulfield, American actress births
  1. Emma Caulfield
    
    Emma Caulfield Ford is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as former demon Anya Jenkins on the supernatural drama television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1998–2003), which earned her a nomination for the Satellite Award for Best Cast. She had recurring roles as Susan Keats on the Fox teen drama series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1995–1996), as Emma Bradshaw on the CW teen drama series Life Unexpected (2010–2011), and as Sarah Proctor on the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021). She starred in the supernatural horror film Darkness Falls (2003) and in the romantic comedy film Timer (2009), and had a supporting role in the comedy film Back in the Day (2014).
3. Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881) deaths
  1. Pablo Picasso
    
    Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War.
1972
1. Paul Gray, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2010) births
  1. Paul Gray (American musician)
    
    Paul Dedrick Gray was an American musician, also known as the Pig. He was the bassist, backing vocalist, main songwriter and one of the founding members of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he was designated #2.
2. Sergei Magnitsky, Russian lawyer and accountant (d. 2009) births
  1. Sergei Magnitsky
    
    Sergei Leonidovich Magnitsky was a Ukrainian-born Russian tax advisor responsible for exposing corruption and misconduct by Russian government officials while representing client Hermitage Capital Management. His arrest in 2008 and subsequent death after eleven months in police custody generated international attention and triggered both official and unofficial inquiries into allegations of fraud, theft and human rights violations in Russia. His posthumous trial was the first in the Russian Federation.
1971
1. Darren Jessee, American singer-songwriter and drummer births
  1. Darren Jessee
    
    Darren Michael Jessee is an American drummer and singer-songwriter best known as a member of the alternative rock trio Ben Folds Five. Jessee has also worked as an instrumentalist for Sharon Van Etten and Hiss Golden Messenger and released two solo albums and four albums as singer and songwriter for indie band Hotel Lights. His first solo album, The Jane, Room 217, was released on August 24th, 2018, to near-universal acclaim from critics.
1969
1. Zinaida Aksentyeva, Ukrainian astronomer (b. 1900) deaths
  1. Zinaida Aksentyeva
    
    Zinaïda Mikolaïevna Aksentieva was a Ukrainian/Soviet astronomer and geophysicist.
1968
1. Patricia Arquette, American actress and director births
  1. Patricia Arquette
    
    Patricia Tiffany Arquette is an American actress. She made her feature film debut as Kristen Parker in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Her other notable films include True Romance (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Flirting with Disaster (1996), Lost Highway (1997), The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Stigmata (1999), Holes (2003), Fast Food Nation (2006), The Wannabe (2015), and Toy Story 4 (2019). For playing a single mother in the coming-of-age film Boyhood (2014), which was filmed from 2002 until 2014, Arquette won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
2. Patricia Girard, French runner and hurdler births
  1. Patricia Girard
    
    Patricia Girard is a French athlete who competed mainly in the 100m hurdles.
3. Tracy Grammer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Tracy Grammer
    
    Tracy Grammer is an American folk singer known for her work as half of the folk duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer and for the solo career that she has continued since Carter's death. She released three albums with Dave Carter during his lifetime, at first doing instrumental work and providing backing vocals, and then, by their last album together, singing lead vocals on half of the tracks. Four albums by the duo have been released since Carter's death. She has also released four solo recordings, some of which have included previously unreleased songs by Carter, as well as four songbooks.
1967
1. Kenny Benjamin, Antiguan cricketer births
  1. Kenny Benjamin
    
    Kenneth Charlie Griffith ("Kenny") Benjamin is a former cricketer who played 26 Tests and 26 One Day Internationals for the West Indies.
1966
1. Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (d. 2014) births
  1. Iveta Bartošová
    
    Iveta Bartošová was a Czech singer, actress and celebrity, three-time best female vocalist in the music poll Zlatý slavík. She was also known for her turbulent lifestyle attracting the attention of the Czech tabloid media.
2. Mark Blundell, English race car driver births
  1. Mark Blundell
    
    Mark Blundell is a British racing driver who competed in Formula One for four seasons, sports cars, and CART. He won the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans. He was a Formula One presenter for the British broadcaster ITV until the end of the 2008 season when the TV broadcasting rights switched to the BBC. Blundell returned to the track in 2019, driving in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship for the Trade Price Cars team.
3. Andy Currier, English rugby league player births
  1. Andy Currier
    
    Andrew S. Currier is an English former professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. A Great Britain national representative goal-kicking centre, he played most of his club rugby with English club Widnes as well as stints with Featherstone Rovers, Warrington Wolves and the Australian team Balmain Tigers. At the time of his retirement, he was co-holder of the Widnes club record for most points in a match, with 34. He played out the last years of his career with English rugby union teams.
4. Charlotte Dawson, New Zealand-Australian television host (d. 2014) births
  1. Charlotte Dawson
    
    Charlotte Dawson was a New Zealand–Australian television personality. She was known in New Zealand for her roles as host of Getaway, and in Australia as a host on The Contender Australia and as a judge on Australia's Next Top Model. In 2014, her death by suicide attracted Australasian-wide news coverage.
5. Dalton Grant, English high jumper births
  1. Dalton Grant
    
    Dalton Grant is a former high jumper.
6. Mazinho, Brazilian footballer, coach, and manager births
  1. Mazinho
    
    Iomar do Nascimento, known as Mazinho, is a Brazilian football manager and former player. Mazinho played primarily as a defensive midfielder and a full-back in his professional playing career. As a manager, he had a short spell at Greek club Aris in 2009.
7. Harri Rovanperä, Finnish race car driver births
  1. Harri Rovanperä
    
    Harri "Rovis" Rovanperä is a Finnish rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 2006. He drove for SEAT (1997–00), Peugeot (2001–04), Mitsubishi (2005) and Red Bull Škoda Team (2006). Rovanperä was known as a loose surface specialist. He is the father of 2022 World Rally driver's championship winner Kalle Rovanperä.
8. Evripidis Stylianidis, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior births
  1. Evripidis Stylianidis
    
    Evripidis Stylianidis is a Greek politician who has served as Minister for the Interior, Minister for Education and Minister for Transport and Communications. He is a member of New Democracy.
  2. Ministry of the Interior (Greece)
    
    The Ministry of the Interior is a government department of Greece. On 15 September 1995, it was merged with the Ministry of the Prime Minister's Office to form the Ministry of the Interior, Public Administration and Decentralization. On 19 September 2007, it was merged with the Ministry of Public Order and reverted to its original name. The merger was reversed on 7 October 2009, when the Ministry of the Interior, Decentralization and Electronic Governance was formed. On 27 June 2011, a separate Ministry of Administrative Reform and Electronic Governance was created, and the Ministry of the Interior again reverted to its original name. On 27 January 2015, the two were merged with the Ministry of Public Order and Citizen Protection to form the Ministry of the Interior and Administrative Reorganization. A separate Ministry of Administrative Reorganization was created on 5 November 2016, and the Ministry of the Interior reverted to its original name for the third time in a decade. A separate Ministry of Citizen Protection was also re-established on 29 August 2018. The Ministry of Administrative Reorganization was reabsorbed by the Ministry of the Interior on 9 July 2019.
9. Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer births
  1. Robin Wright
    
    Robin Gayle Wright is an American actress. She has won a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award, and has received eleven Emmy Award nominations for her work in television.
1965
1. Steven Blaney, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Public Safety births
  1. Steven Blaney
    
    Steven Blaney is a Canadian businessman and Conservative politician. He served as the Minister of Public Safety Canada and previously as the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Minister of State for La Francophonie in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He has represented the Québec riding of Lévis—Bellechasse in the Canadian House of Commons since the 2006 federal election. Despite his anglophone-sounding name, Blaney is a Francophone. He was reelected in the 2015 election. In 2017, he unsuccessfully ran for Conservative party leader.
  2. Minister of Public Safety
    
    The minister of public safety is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for overseeing Public Safety Canada, the internal security department of the Government of Canada. The portfolio succeeded the role of solicitor general of Canada in 2005.
2. Michael Jones, New Zealand rugby player and coach births
  1. Michael Jones (rugby union)
    
    Sir Michael Niko Jones is a New Zealand former rugby union player and coach.
3. Lars Hanson, Swedish actor (b. 1886) deaths
  1. Lars Hanson
    
    Lars Mauritz Hanson was a Swedish film and stage actor, internationally mostly remembered for his motion picture roles during the silent film era.
1964
1. Biz Markie, American rapper, producer, and actor (d. 2021) births
  1. Biz Markie
    
    Marcel Theo Hall, known professionally as Biz Markie, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, and record producer. Markie was best known for his 1989 single "Just a Friend", which became a Top 40 hit in several countries and was named No. 100 on VH1's list of the 100 greatest hip-hop songs of all time in 2008. Markie was sometimes referred to as the "Clown Prince of Hip Hop".
2. John McGinlay, Scottish footballer and manager births
  1. John McGinlay
    
    John McGinlay is a Scottish football manager, former professional footballer and scout who is the club ambassador of Bolton Wanderers.
1963
1. Tine Asmundsen, Norwegian bassist births
  1. Tine Asmundsen
    
    Tine Asmundsen is a Norwegian jazz bassist, known from her own band, Lonely Woman, playing with David Murray at Kongsberg Jazzfestival 2010.
2. Julian Lennon, English singer-songwriter births
  1. Julian Lennon
    
    Julian Charles John Lennon is an English musician. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia, and he is named after his paternal grandmother, Julia Lennon. Julian inspired three Beatles songs: "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" (1967), "Hey Jude" (1968) and "Good Night" (1968). His parents divorced in 1968 after his father had an affair with Yoko Ono.
3. Terry Porter, American basketball player and coach births
  1. Terry Porter
    
    Terry Porter is an American former college basketball coach and former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was most recently the head men's basketball coach at the University of Portland. A native of Wisconsin, he played college basketball at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point before being drafted 24th by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1985 NBA draft. In Portland, he played ten seasons with two All-Star Game appearances. Porter spent 17 years in the NBA as a player. Following his retirement as a player in 2002, he began coaching in the league. Porter has twice been a head coach, first with his hometown Milwaukee Bucks and then with the Phoenix Suns.
4. Donita Sparks, American singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Donita Sparks
    
    Donita Sparks is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter most notable for being the co-founder of the band L7. Sparks also initiated, performed, and released original material with her solo project, the band Donita Sparks and the Stellar Moments.
5. Alec Stewart, English cricketer births
  1. Alec Stewart
    
    Alec James Stewart is an English former cricketer, and former captain of the England cricket team, who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batsman. He is the fourth-most-capped English cricketer ever in Test matches and third-most-capped in One Day Internationals (ODIs), having played in 133 Tests and 170 ODIs. An attacking batsman in tests against the new ball, Stewart is regarded as one of England's greatest openers. Legendary Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram considers him one of the most difficult batsmen he ever bowled to.
6. Seth Tobias, American businessman (d. 2007) births
  1. Seth Tobias
    
    Seth Tobias was an American hedge fund manager and financial commentator who made frequent appearances on the CNBC television programs Squawk Box and Kudlow & Company.
1962
1. Paddy Lowe, English engineer births
  1. Paddy Lowe
    
    Patrick Allen Lowe FREng, known as Paddy Lowe, is the founder and CEO of the fossil-free synthetic fuel company Zero Petroleum. A former motor racing engineer and computer scientist, he spent 32 years working in Formula One and served as Chief Technical Officer at Williams Racing, Executive Director (Technical) at Mercedes Formula One team and Technical Director at McLaren.
2. Izzy Stradlin, American guitarist and songwriter births
  1. Izzy Stradlin
    
    Jeffrey Dean Isbell, best known as Izzy Stradlin, is an American musician, songwriter and singer. He was a co-founder and rhythm guitarist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which he left at the height of their fame in 1991, and with whom he recorded four studio albums.
3. Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (b. 1892) deaths
  1. Juan Belmonte
    
    Juan Belmonte García was a Spanish bullfighter. He fought in a record number of bull fights and was responsible for changing the art of bullfighting. He had minor deformities in his legs which forced him to design new techniques and styles of bullfighting.
1961
1. Richard Hatch, American reality contestant births
  1. Richard Hatch (Survivor contestant)
    
    Richard Holman Hatch Jr. is an American former reality television contestant. In 2000, he became the first Survivor winner in its debut season, originally broadcast on CBS. He subsequently competed in All-Stars season of Survivor, the fourth celebrity edition of Celebrity Apprentice, and season 17 of The Biggest Loser. He was convicted with three counts related to attempted tax evasion and fraudulent tax return in January 2006. He served his fifty-one months and then, after failing to amend his 2000 and 2001 tax returns, additional nine months in prison.
2. Brian McDermott, English footballer and manager births
  1. Brian McDermott (footballer)
    
    Brian James McDermott is a former professional footballer and former manager of Reading.
3. Joseph Carrodus, Australian public servant (b. 1885) deaths
  1. Joseph Carrodus
    
    Joseph Aloysius Carrodus was a senior Australian public servant.
1960
1. John Schneider, American actor and country singer births
  1. John Schneider (screen actor)
    
    John Richard Schneider is an American actor and country music singer. He is best known for his portrayal of Beauregard "Bo" Duke in the American television action/comedy series The Dukes of Hazzard, Jonathan Kent in the 2001–11 TV series Smallville, and James "Jim" Cryer on the television series The Haves and the Have Nots, created by Tyler Perry.
1959
1. Alain Bondue, French cyclist births
  1. Alain Bondue
    
    Alain Bondue is a former racing cyclist from France. He competed for France in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union in the individual pursuit event where he finished in second place.
2. Marios Makrionitis, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens (b. 1913) deaths
  1. Marios Makrionitis
    
    Marios Makrionitis, SJ was a Greek Jesuit prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Athens from 1953 until 1959, when he died from injuries caused by an automobile accident.
1958
1. Detlef Bruckhoff, German footballer births
  1. Detlef Bruckhoff
    
    Detlef Bruckhoff is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made a total of 16 Bundesliga appearances for Tennis Borussia Berlin and Darmstadt 98.
2. Tom Petranoff, American javelin thrower and coach births
  1. Tom Petranoff
    
    Thomas Alan Petranoff is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. He held the world record from May 1983 to July 1984; his 99.72 m throw was almost the length of an American football field. During his career, he was a silver medalist at the World Championships in 1983 and represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in 1984 and 1988. He transferred to South Africa in the 1990s and was twice a winner at the African Championships. His personal best with the new implement javelin is 89.16 m (292.5 ft). In the final years of his career, he returned to the United States and won a medal at the 1999 Pan American Games.
1956
1. Michael Benton, Scottish-English paleontologist and academic births
  1. Michael Benton
    
    Michael James Benton is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. His published work has mostly concentrated on the evolution of Triassic reptiles but he has also worked on extinction events and faunal changes in the fossil record.
2. Christine Boisson, French actress births
  1. Christine Boisson
    
    Christine Boisson is a French actress.
3. Roman Dragoun, Czech singer-songwriter and keyboard player births
  1. Roman Dragoun
    
    Roman Dragoun is a Czech singer, songwriter and keyboardist. In 1980–1983 and 2007–present he is member of Progres 2. He was member of Stromboli, T4 and Futurum. He was a session musician for number of musicians and he was singer for musical theatre. In 2012, Dragoun was inducted into Beatová síň slávy.
1955
1. Gerrie Coetzee, South African boxer births
  1. Gerrie Coetzee
    
    Gerhardus Christian Coetzee is a South African former professional boxer who competed from 1974 to 1986, and in 1993 and 1997. He was the first African ever to fight for, and win, a world heavyweight championship, having held the WBA title from 1983 to 1984. He holds notable knockout wins against WBA world heavyweight champion Michael Dokes and former unified world heavyweight champion Leon Spinks, as well as a draw with future WBC world heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas.
2. Ron Johnson, American businessman and politician births
  1. Ron Johnson (Wisconsin politician)
    
    Ronald Harold Johnson is an American accountant, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Wisconsin. A Republican, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010, defeating Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold. He was reelected in 2016, defeating Feingold in a rematch, and in 2022, narrowly defeating Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.
3. Barbara Kingsolver, American novelist, essayist and poet births
  1. Barbara Kingsolver
    
    Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. Kingsolver earned degrees in biology at DePauw University and the University of Arizona and worked as a freelance writer before she began writing novels. Her widely known works include The Poisonwood Bible, the tale of a missionary family in the Congo, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, a non-fiction account of her family's attempts to eat locally.
4. David Wu, Taiwanese-American lawyer and politician births
  1. David Wu
    
    David Wu is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Oregon's 1st congressional district from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
1954
1. Gary Carter, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012) births
  1. Gary Carter
    
    Gary Edmund Carter was an American professional baseball catcher whose 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career was spent primarily with the Montreal Expos and New York Mets.
2. Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco (d. 2012) births
  1. Princess Lalla Amina of Morocco
    
    Princess Lalla Amina was a member of the Moroccan royal family and former President of the Royal Moroccan Federation of Equestrian Sports.
3. G.V. Loganathan, Indian-American engineer and academic (d. 2007) births
  1. G. V. Loganathan
    
    Gobichettipalayam Vasudevan "G. V." Loganathan was an Indian-born American professor, who, at the time of his death, was a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental engineering, part of the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech, United States.
1952
1. Ahmet Piriştina, Turkish politician (d. 2004) births
  1. Ahmet Piriştina
    
    Ahmet Piriştina was a Turkish politician who was Mayor of İzmir from 1999 to 2004. He was of Albanian descent.
1951
1. Gerd Andres, German politician births
  1. Gerd Andres
    
    Gerd Andres is a German politician and member of the SPD. From 1987 to 2009 he was a member of the Bundestag.
2. Geir Haarde, Icelandic economist, journalist, and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Iceland births
  1. Geir Haarde
    
    Geir Hilmar Haarde is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009 and as president of the Nordic Council in 1995. Geir was chairman of the Icelandic Independence Party from 2005 to 2009. Since 23 February 2015 he has served as the ambassador of Iceland to the United States and several Latin American countries.
  2. Prime Minister of Iceland
    
    The prime minister of Iceland is Iceland's head of government. The prime minister is appointed formally by the president and exercises executive authority along with the cabinet subject to parliamentary support.
3. Mel Schacher, American bass player births
  1. Mel Schacher
    
    Melvin George Schacher is an American musician who is the bassist of the hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad.
4. Joan Sebastian, Mexican singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2015) births
  1. Joan Sebastian
    
    José Manuel Figueroa Figueroa, known professionally as Joan Sebastian, was a Mexican singer-songwriter. He composed more than 1,000 songs, including compositions for artists such as Bronco, Vicente Fernández, Lucero, Pepe Aguilar, and Rocío Dúrcal. The first several years of his career were primarily focused on Latin pop songs, but later focused primarily on Regional Mexican music, specifically banda, mariachi, and norteño. Throughout his career, he also recorded various country songs in Spanish. Sebastian was awarded seven Latin Grammy Awards and five Grammy Awards, making him the most awarded Mexican performer in Grammy history.
5. Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian (d. 2021) births
  1. Phil Schaap
    
    Philip van Noorden Schaap was an American radio host, who specialized in jazz as a broadcaster, historian, archivist, and producer. He began presenting jazz shows on Columbia University's WKCR in 1970, and hosted Bird Flight and Traditions In Swing on WKCR for 40 years, beginning in 1981. Schaap received six Grammy Awards over the course of his career.
1950
1. Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer and coach births
  1. Grzegorz Lato
    
    Grzegorz Bolesław Lato is a Polish former professional football player and manager who played as a winger. He was a member of Poland's golden generation of football players who rose to fame in the 1970s and early 80s. Over a decade, he represented Poland at five major tournaments starting with gold at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich and ending with a third-place finish at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. He reached the peak of his career at the 1974 World Cup, where he was the leading scorer and the only Pole to-date to have won the honor. After retiring from his playing career he had a brief stint as manager in several clubs in and out of Poland.
2. Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish dancer and choreographer (b. 1890) deaths
  1. Vaslav Nijinsky
    
    Vaslav Nijinsky was a ballet dancer and choreographer cited as the greatest male dancer of the early 20th century. Born in Kiev to Polish parents, Nijinsky grew up in Imperial Russia but considered himself to be Polish. He was celebrated for his virtuosity and for the depth and intensity of his characterizations. He could dance en pointe, a rare skill among male dancers at the time, and was admired for his seemingly gravity-defying leaps.
1949
1. K. C. Kamalasabayson, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 39th Attorney General of Sri Lanka (d. 2007) births
  1. K. C. Kamalasabayson
    
    Kandapper Chinniah Kamalasabayson was a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer, Solicitor General of Sri Lanka and Attorney General of Sri Lanka.
  2. Attorney General of Sri Lanka
    
    The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is the Sri Lankan government's chief legal adviser, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. The Attorney General is usually a highly respected Senior Advocate, and is appointed by the ruling government. The current Attorney General is Sanjay Rajaratnam. The president does not have any power to make orders, mandatory or otherwise, to the attorney general. He heads the Attorney General's Department which is the public prosecutor.
2. John Madden, English director and producer births
  1. John Madden (director)
    
    John Philip Madden is an English director of stage, film, television, and radio. He is known for directing Shakespeare in Love (1998), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He has also gained recognition for directing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012) and its sequel The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015).
3. Brenda Russell, African-American-Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player births
  1. Brenda Russell
    
    Brenda Russell is an American singer-songwriter, producer, and keyboardist. Russell has a diverse musical range which encompasses R&B, pop, soul, dance, and jazz. She has received five Grammy nominations.
4. John Scott, English sociologist and academic births
  1. John Scott (sociologist)
    
    John Peter Scott is an English sociologist working on issues of economic and political sociology, social stratification, the history of sociology, and social network analysis. He is currently working independently, and has previously worked at the Universities of Strathclyde, Leicester, Essex, and Plymouth. He is a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He has been a member of the British Sociological Association since 1970. In 2015 he became Chair of Section S4 of the British Academy. In 2016 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Essex University.
1948
1. Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, Scottish academic and politician births
  1. Barbara Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone
    
    Barbara Scott Young, Baroness Young of Old Scone, is a Scottish Labour member of the House of Lords. She was created a life peer on 4 November 1997 as Baroness Young of Old Scone, of Old Scone in Perth and Kinross.
1947
1. Tom DeLay, American lawyer and politician births
  1. Tom DeLay
    
    Thomas Dale DeLay is an American author and retired politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1985 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005.
2. Steve Howe, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer births
  1. Steve Howe
    
    Stephen James Howe is an English musician, songwriter and producer, best known as the guitarist in the progressive rock band Yes across three stints since 1970. Born in Holloway, North London, Howe developed an interest in the guitar and began to learn the instrument himself at age 12. He embarked on a music career in 1964, first playing in several London-based blues, covers, and psychedelic rock bands for six years, including the Syndicats, Tomorrow, and Bodast.
3. Robert Kiyosaki, American businessman, co-founded Cashflow Technologies births
  1. Robert Kiyosaki
    
    Robert Toru Kiyosaki is an American entrepreneur, businessman and author. Kiyosaki is the founder of Rich Global LLC and the Rich Dad Company, a private financial education company that provides personal finance and business education to people through books and videos. The company's main revenues come from franchisees of the Rich Dad seminars that are conducted by independent individuals using Kiyosaki's brand name for a fee. He is also the creator of the Cashflow board and software games to educate adults and children about business and financial concepts.
  2. Rich Dad
    
    Rich Dad is a brand established by Robert Kiyosaki for a series of educational books and games about personal finance.
4. Pascal Lamy, French businessman and politician, European Commissioner for Trade births
  1. Pascal Lamy
    
    Pascal Lamy is a French political consultant and businessman. He was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2005 to 1 September 2013 for 8 years. In April 2009, WTO members reappointed Lamy for a second 4-year term, beginning on 1 September 2009. He was then succeeded by Roberto Azevêdo. Pascal Lamy was also European Commissioner for Trade for 5 years, from 13 September 1999 to 22 November 2004 and is an advisor for the transatlantic think-tank European Horizons, as well as currently serving as the Honorary President of the Paris-based think tank, Notre Europe.
  2. European Commissioner for Trade
    
    The European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy.
5. Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter, and producer (d. 2008) births
  1. Larry Norman
    
    Larry David Norman was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Christian rock music and released more than 100 albums.
6. Olaf Frydenlund, Norwegian target shooter (b. 1862) deaths
  1. Olaf Frydenlund
    
    Olaf Emil Frydenlund was a Norwegian sport shooter who competed in the early 20th century in rifle shooting. He participated in Shooting at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris and won the silver medal with the Norwegian Military Rifle team.
1946
1. Catfish Hunter, American baseball player (d. 1999) births
  1. Catfish Hunter
    
    James Augustus Hunter, nicknamed "Catfish", was a professional baseball player in Major League Baseball (MLB). From 1965 to 1979, he was a pitcher for the Kansas City / Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees. Hunter was the first pitcher since 1915 to win 200 games by age 31. He is often referred to as baseball's first big-money free agent, and was a member of five World Series championship teams.
2. Tim Thomerson, American actor and producer births
  1. Tim Thomerson
    
    Joseph Timothy "Tim" Thomerson is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Jack Deth in the Trancers film series and for his work in numerous low-budget features and for his comedic television roles.
1945
1. Derrick Walker, Scottish businessman births
  1. Derrick Walker
    
    Derrick Walker is a former British auto racing team owner. In May 2013 Walker became President of operations and competition of IndyCar until the finalization of the 2015 Indycar season.
2. Jang Yong, South Korean actor births
  1. Jang Yong
    
    Jang Yong is a South Korean actor.
1944
1. Hywel Bennett, Welsh actor (d. 2017) births
  1. Hywel Bennett
    
    Hywel Thomas Bennett was a Welsh film and television actor. He had a lead role in The Family Way (1966) and played the titular "thinking man's layabout" James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley (1979–1992).
2. Odd Nerdrum, Swedish-Norwegian painter and illustrator births
  1. Odd Nerdrum
    
    Odd Nerdrum is a Norwegian figurative painter, born in Sweden, and considered to be one of the greatest living classical figurative painters. His work is held by museums worldwide. Themes and style in Nerdrum's work reference anecdote and narrative. Primary influences by the painters Rembrandt and Caravaggio help place his work in direct conflict with the abstraction and conceptual art considered acceptable in much of Norway. Nerdrum creates six to eight paintings a year. They include still life paintings of small, everyday objects, portraits and self-portraits, and large paintings allegorical and apocalyptic in nature. The figures in Nerdrum's paintings are often dressed as if from another time and place.
1943
1. Michael Bennett, American dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 1987) births
  1. Michael Bennett (theater)
    
    Michael Bennett was an American musical theatre director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for an additional eleven.
2. Miller Farr, American football player births
  1. Miller Farr
    
    Miller Farr Jr. is a former American football cornerback who played for ten seasons in the American Football League (AFL) and the National Football League (NFL).
3. James Herbert, English author and illustrator (d. 2013) births
  1. James Herbert
    
    James John Herbert, OBE was an English horror writer. A full-time writer, he also designed his own book covers and publicity. His books have sold 54 million copies worldwide, and have been translated into 34 languages, including Chinese and Russian.
4. Chris Orr, English painter and illustrator births
  1. Chris Orr (artist)
    
    Christopher Orr MBE RA is an English artist and printmaker who has exhibited worldwide and published over 400 limited edition prints in lithography, etching and silkscreen.
1942
1. Tony Banks, Baron Stratford, Northern Irish politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics (d. 2006) births
  1. Tony Banks, Baron Stratford
    
    Anthony Louis Banks, Baron Stratford was a British politician who served as Minister for Sport from 1997 to 1999. A member of the Labour Party, he was a member of Parliament from 1983 to 2005 and subsequently as a member of the House of Lords. He was well known in the House of Commons for his acid tongue.
  2. Minister for Sport and Civil Society
    
    The Minister for Sport and Civil Society was a junior minister in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom government, with responsibility for sport and Civil Society in England. In 2020, the role merged with that of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Arts, Heritage and Tourism to become Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society.
2. Roger Chapman, English singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Roger Chapman
    
    Roger Maxwell Chapman, also known as Chappo, is an English rock vocalist. He is best known as a member of the progressive rock band Family, which he joined along with Charlie Whitney, in 1966 and also the rock, R&B band Streetwalkers formed in 1974. His idiosyncratic brand of showmanship when performing and vocal vibrato led him to become a cult figure on the British rock scene. Chapman is claimed to have said that he was trying to sing like both Little Richard and his idol Ray Charles. Since the early 1980s he has spent much of his time in Germany and has made occasional appearances there and elsewhere.
3. Douglas Trumbull, American director, producer, and special effects artist (d. 2022) births
  1. Douglas Trumbull
    
    Douglas Hunt Trumbull was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Blade Runner and The Tree of Life, and directed the movies Silent Running and Brainstorm.
4. Kostas Skarvelis, Greek guitarist and composer (b. 1880) deaths
  1. Kostas Skarvelis
    
    Kostas Skarvelis was a Greek composer of popular music, of the rembetiko (ρεμπέτικο) genre. He also wrote the lyrics for his songs and was an excellent guitar player, having participated in many recordings.
1941
1. Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer births
  1. Vivienne Westwood
    
    Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
2. Marcel Prévost, French novelist and playwright (b. 1862) deaths
  1. Marcel Prévost
    
    Eugène Marcel Prévost was a French author and dramatist.
1940
1. John Havlicek, American basketball player (d. 2019) births
  1. John Havlicek
    
    John Joseph Havlicek was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA championships, four of them coming in his first four seasons with the team.
1939
1. Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer, composer and songwriter (d. 1989) births
  1. Manolis Angelopoulos
    
    Manolis Angelopoulos was a Greek singer of Gypsy origin.
2. John Arbuthnott, Scottish microbiologist and academic births
  1. John Arbuthnott (microbiologist)
    
    Sir John Peebles Arbuthnott, PPRSE, FRCPSG, FMedSci, FRCPath is a Scottish microbiologist, and was Principal of the University of Strathclyde. He succeeded Lord Wilson of Tillyorn as President of The Royal Society of Edinburgh in October 2011 and was succeeded by Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell in October 2014.
3. Trina Schart Hyman, American author and illustrator (d. 2004) births
  1. Trina Schart Hyman
    
    Trina Schart Hyman was an American illustrator of children's books. She illustrated over 150 books, including fairy tales and Arthurian legends. She won the 1985 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing Saint George and the Dragon, retold by Margaret Hodges.
1938
1. Kofi Annan, Ghanaian economist and diplomat, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 2018) births
  1. Kofi Annan
    
    Kofi Atta Annan was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organisation founded by Nelson Mandela.
  2. Secretary-General of the United Nations
    
    The secretary-general of the United Nations is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations.
2. John Hamm, Canadian physician and politician, 25th Premier of Nova Scotia births
  1. John Hamm
    
    John Frederick Hamm is a Canadian physician and politician, who served as the 25th premier of Nova Scotia from 1999 to 2006.
  2. Premier of Nova Scotia
    
    The premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister to the lieutenant governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of the political party which has the most seats in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly who is called upon by the lieutenant governor to form a government. As the province's head of government, the premier exercises considerable power.
3. Mary W. Gray, American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer births
  1. Mary W. Gray
    
    Mary Lee Wheat Gray is an American mathematician, statistician, and lawyer. She is the author of books and papers in the fields of mathematics, mathematics education, computer science, applied statistics, economic equity, discrimination law, and academic freedom. She is currently on the Board of Advisers for POMED and is the chair of the Board of Directors of AMIDEAST.
1937
1. Tony Barton, English footballer and manager (d. 1993) births
  1. Tony Barton (footballer)
    
    Anthony Edward Barton was an English footballer, playing as an outside right, and football manager. He was born in Sutton, Surrey and managed Aston Villa to success in the 1982 European Cup, three months after taking charge. He followed this up by beating Barcelona in the 1982 European Super Cup.
2. Seymour Hersh, American journalist and author births
  1. Seymour Hersh
    
    Seymour Myron "Sy" Hersh is an American investigative journalist and political writer.
3. Momo Kapor, Serbian author and painter (d. 2010) births
  1. Momo Kapor
    
    Momčilo "Momo" Kapor was a Serbian novelist and painter.
1936
1. Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876) deaths
  1. Robert Bárány
    
    Robert Bárány was an Austrian-born otologist. He received the 1914 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the physiology and pathology of the vestibular apparatus.
  2. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
    
    The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, are awarded "to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". Nobel Prizes are awarded in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace.
2. Božena Benešová, Czech poet and novelist (b. 1873) deaths
  1. Božena Benešová
    
    Božena Benešová, née Zapletalová, was a Czech author and poet whose work is considered to have been at the forefront of psychological prose. The greater part of her youth was spent in Uherské Hradiště and Napajedla, where in 1896 she married a railway clerk named Josef Beneš. In 1908 she and her husband moved to Prague.
1935
1. Oscar Zeta Acosta, American lawyer and politician (d. 1974) births
  1. Oscar Zeta Acosta
    
    Oscar "Zeta" Acosta Fierro was a Mexican-American attorney, politician, novelist and activist in the Chicano Movement. He was most well known for his novels Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo (1972) and The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973), and for his friendship with American author Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson characterized him as a heavyweight Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in his 1971 novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Acosta disappeared in 1974 during a trip in Mexico and is presumed dead.
2. Albert Bustamante, American soldier, educator, and politician births
  1. Albert Bustamante
    
    Albert Garza Bustamante was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 23rd district. A Democrat, he served as a member and one-time Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
1934
1. Kisho Kurokawa, Japanese architect, designed the Nakagin Capsule Tower and Singapore Flyer (d. 2007) births
  1. Kisho Kurokawa
    
    Kisho Kurokawa was a leading Japanese architect and one of the founders of the Metabolist Movement.
  2. Nakagin Capsule Tower
    
    The Nakagin Capsule Tower Building was a mixed-use residential and office tower designed by architect Kisho Kurokawa and located in Shimbashi, Tokyo, Japan.
  3. Singapore Flyer
    
    The Singapore Flyer is an observation wheel at the Downtown Core district of Singapore. Officially opened on 15 April 2008, it has 28 air-conditioned capsules, each able to accommodate 28 passengers, and incorporates a three-story terminal building. The flyer has made numerous appearances in media and popular culture that features Singapore.
1933
1. James Lockhart, American scholar of colonial Latin America, especially Nahua peoples (d. 2014) births
  1. James Lockhart (historian)
    
    James Lockhart was a U.S. historian of colonial Spanish America, especially the Nahua people and Nahuatl language.
  2. Nahuas
    
    The Nahuas are a group of the indigenous people of Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They comprise the largest indigenous group in Mexico and second largest in El Salvador. The Mexica (Aztecs) were of Nahua ethnicity, and the Toltecs are often thought to have been as well, though in the pre-Columbian period Nahuas were subdivided into many groups that did not necessarily share a common identity.
1932
1. Iskandar of Johor (d. 2010) births
  1. Iskandar of Johor
    
    Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail was the 24th Sultan of Johor and the 4th Sultan of Modern Johor. He succeeded his father Sultan Ismail upon the latter's death on 10 May 1981. He was the eighth Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia from 26 April 1984 to 25 April 1989. Sultan Iskandar's reign lasted for almost 29 years until his death in January 2010. His children are married into the different royal houses of Malaysia. His eldest daughter Tunku Kamariah, the Tengku Puan Laksamana, married the Tengku Laksamana of Selangor, Tengku Sulaiman Shah. His successor and eldest son Sultan Ibrahim married Raja Zarith Sofiah of the Perak Royal Family. His daughter Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah married the heir apparent of Pahang, now Sultan Abdullah. His younger son Tunku Abdul Majid married a member of the Kedah Royal Family, Tunku Teh Mazni.
1931
1. John Gavin, American actor and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Mexico (d. 2018) births
  1. John A. Gavin
    
    John A. Gavin was an American actor who was the president of the Screen Actors Guild (1971–73), and the United States Ambassador to Mexico (1981–86). Among the films he appeared in were Imitation of Life (1959), Spartacus (1960), Psycho (1960), and Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), playing leading roles for producer Ross Hunter.
  2. List of ambassadors of the United States to Mexico
    
    The United States has maintained diplomatic relations with Mexico since 1823, when Andrew Jackson was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to that country. Jackson declined the appointment, however, and Joel R. Poinsett became the first U.S. envoy to Mexico in 1825. The rank of the U.S. chief of mission to Mexico was raised from Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 1898.
2. Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1864) deaths
  1. Erik Axel Karlfeldt
    
    Erik Axel Karlfeldt was a Swedish poet whose highly symbolist poetry masquerading as regionalism was popular and won him the 1931 Nobel Prize in Literature posthumously after he had been nominated by Nathan Söderblom, member of the Swedish Academy. It has been rumored that he had been offered the award already in 1919 but refused it, at least in part because of his position as permanent secretary to the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize.
  2. Nobel Prize in Literature
    
    The Nobel Prize in Literature is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in the field of literature, produced the most outstanding work in an idealistic direction". Though individual works are sometimes cited as being particularly noteworthy, the award is based on an author's body of work as a whole. The Swedish Academy decides who, if anyone, will receive the prize. The academy announces the name of the laureate in early October. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895. Literature is traditionally the final award presented at the Nobel Prize ceremony. On some occasions the award has been postponed to the following year, most recently in 2018 as of May 2022.
1930
1. Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma (d. 2010) births
  1. Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma
    
    Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma and Piacenza was the head of the House of Bourbon-Parma from 1977 until his death. Carlos Hugo was the Carlist pretender to the throne of Spain and sought to change the political direction of the Carlist movement through the Carlist Party, of which he was the official head during the fatal Montejurra Incident. His marriage to Princess Irene of the Netherlands in 1964 caused a constitutional crisis in the Netherlands.
1929
1. Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1978) births
  1. Jacques Brel
    
    Jacques Romain Georges Brel was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, later throughout the world. He is considered a master of the modern chanson.
2. Renzo De Felice, Italian historian and author (d. 1996) births
  1. Renzo De Felice
    
    Renzo De Felice was an Italian historian, who specialized in the Fascist era, writing, among other works, a 6000-page biography of Mussolini. He argued that Mussolini was a revolutionary modernizer in domestic issues but a pragmatist in foreign policy who continued the Realpolitik policies of Italy from 1861 to 1922. Historian of Italy Philip Morgan has called De Felice's biography of Mussolini "a very controversial, influential and at the same time problematic re-reading of Mussolini and Fascism" and rejected the contention that his work rose above politics to "scientific objectivity", as claimed by the author and his defenders.
1928
1. Fred Ebb, American lyricist (d. 2004) births
  1. Fred Ebb
    
    Fred Ebb was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera.
1927
1. Tilly Armstrong, English author (d. 2010) births
  1. Tilly Armstrong
    
    Tilly Armstrong was a British writer of romance novels from 1978 to 1998. She also wrote as Tania Langley and Kate Alexander.
2. Ollie Mitchell, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2013) births
  1. Ollie Mitchell
    
    Oliver Edward Mitchell was an American musician and bandleader. He was the son of Harold Mitchell, lead trumpeter for MGM Studios, who also taught Ollie to play the trumpet.
1926
1. Henry N. Cobb, American architect and academic, co-founded Pei Cobb Freed & Partners (d. 2020) births
  1. Henry N. Cobb
    
    Henry Nichols Cobb was an American architect and founding partner with I.M. Pei and Eason H. Leonard of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, an international architectural firm based in New York City.
  2. Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
    
    Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates. The firm has received numerous awards for its work.
2. Shecky Greene, American comedian births
  1. Shecky Greene
    
    Shecky Greene is an American comedian. He is known for his nightclub performances in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he became a headliner in the 1950s and '60s. He has appeared in several films, including Tony Rome; History of the World, Part I; and Splash. In television, he has guest-starred on such television shows as Love, American Style and Combat!, and later Laverne & Shirley and Mad About You.
3. Jürgen Moltmann, German theologian and academic births
  1. Jürgen Moltmann
    
    Jürgen Moltmann is a German Reformed theologian who is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the University of Tübingen and is known for his books such as the Theology of Hope, The Crucified God, God in Creation and other contributions to systematic theology. Jürgen Moltmann is the husband of Elisabeth Moltmann-Wendel, a notable feminist theologian. Jürgen Moltmann described his own theology as an extension of Karl Barth's theological works, especially the Church Dogmatics, and he has described his own work as Post-Barthian. He has received honorary doctorates from a number of institutions, such as Duke University (1973), the University of Louvain in Belgium (1995), the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Romania (1996), the Chung Yuan Christian University in Taiwan (2002), the Nicaraguan Evangelical University (2002), and the University of Pretoria in South Africa (2017). Moltmann was selected to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures in 1984–85, and was also the recipient of the 2000 University of Louisville and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary Grawemeyer Award in Religion.
1924
1. Frédéric Back, German-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013) births
  1. Frédéric Back
    
    Frédéric Back was a Canadian artist and film director of short animated films. During a long career with Radio-Canada, the French-language service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning two, for his 1981 film Crac and the 1987 film The Man Who Planted Trees.
2. Anthony Farrar-Hockley, English general and historian (d. 2006) births
  1. Anthony Farrar-Hockley
    
    General Sir Anthony Heritage Farrar-Hockley, nicknamed Farrar the Para, was a British Army officer and a military historian who fought in a number of British conflicts. He held a number of senior commands, ending his career as Commander-in-Chief of NATO's Allied Forces Northern Europe. Throughout his four decades of army life, he spoke plainly, and both before and after his retirement in 1982 wrote on the conflicts he had experienced and the Second World War.
3. Kumar Gandharva, Hindustani classical singer (d. 1992) births
  1. Kumar Gandharva
    
    Pandit Kumar Gandharva (pronunciation:[kʊmaːɽ ɡɐndʱɐɽʋɐ], Kn: ಕುಮಾರ್ ಗಂಧರ್ವ; 8 April 1924 – 12 January 1992), originally known as Shivaputra Siddharamayya Komkalimath was an Indian classical singer, well known for his unique vocal style and for his refusal to be bound by the tradition of any gharana. The name, Kumar Gandharva, is a title given to him when he was a child prodigy; a Gandharva is a musical spirit in Hindu mythology.
4. Sara Northrup Hollister, American occultist (d. 1997) births
  1. Sara Northrup Hollister
    
    Sara Elizabeth Bruce Northrup Hollister was an occultist and second wife of Scientologist founder L. Ron Hubbard. She played a major role in the creation of Dianetics, which evolved into the religious movement Scientology. Hubbard would evolve into the leader of the Church of Scientology.
1923
1. George Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 2003) births
  1. George Fisher (cartoonist)
    
    George Fisher was an American political cartoonist.
2. Edward Mulhare, Irish-American actor (d. 1997) births
  1. Edward Mulhare
    
    Edward Mulhare was an Irish actor whose career spanned five decades. He is best known for his starring roles in two television series: The Ghost & Mrs. Muir and Knight Rider.
1921
1. Franco Corelli, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2003) births
  1. Franco Corelli
    
    Franco Corelli was an Italian tenor who had a major international opera career between 1951 and 1976. Associated in particular with the spinto and dramatic tenor roles of the Italian repertory, he was celebrated universally for his powerhouse voice, electrifying top notes, clear timbre, passionate singing and remarkable performances. Dubbed the "prince of tenors", audiences were enchanted by his handsome features and charismatic stage presence. He had a long and fruitful partnership with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City between 1961 and 1975. He also appeared on the stages of most of the major opera houses in Europe and with opera companies throughout North America.
2. Jan Novák, Czech composer (d. 1984) births
  1. Jan Novák (composer)
    
    Jan Novák was a Czech composer of classical music. Novák was primarily active in the 1960s and composed the music for several films of Karel Kachyňa. Novák also composed music for the films of animators Jiří Trnka and Karel Zeman, the leading figures of the Czech animated film, as well as for Wir.
3. Herman van Raalte, Dutch footballer (d. 2013) births
  1. Herman van Raalte
    
    Herman van Raalte was a Dutch football player.
1920
1. Carmen McRae, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress (d. 1994) births
  1. Carmen McRae
    
    Carmen Mercedes McRae was an American jazz singer. She is considered one of the most influential jazz vocalists of the 20th century and is remembered for her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretation of lyrics.
2. Charles Griffes, American pianist and composer (b. 1884) deaths
  1. Charles Tomlinson Griffes
    
    Charles Tomlinson Griffes was an American composer for piano, chamber ensembles and voice. His initial works are influenced by German Romanticism, but after he relinquished the German style, his later works make him the most famous American representative of musical Impressionism, along with Charles Martin Loeffler. He was fascinated by the exotic, mysterious sound of the French Impressionists, and was compositionally much influenced by them while he was in Europe. He also studied the work of contemporary Russian composers such as Scriabin, whose influence is also apparent in his use of synthetic scales.
1919
1. Ian Smith, Zimbabwean lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (d. 2007) births
  1. Ian Smith
    
    Ian Douglas Smith was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first premier not born abroad, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 following prolonged dispute over the terms, particularly British demands for black majority rule. He remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed, and oversaw Rhodesia's security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the unrecognised administration against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure.
  2. Prime Minister of Rhodesia
    
    The prime minister of Rhodesia was the head of government of Rhodesia. Rhodesia, which had become a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, and was thereafter an unrecognized state until 1979. In December 1979, the country came under temporary British control, and in April 1980 the country gained recognized independence as Zimbabwe.
2. Loránd Eötvös, Hungarian physicist, academic, and politician, Hungarian Minister of Education (b. 1848) deaths
  1. Loránd Eötvös
    
    Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény, also called Baron Roland von Eötvös in English literature, was a Hungarian physicist. He is remembered today largely for his work on gravitation and surface tension, and the invention of the torsion pendulum.
  2. Minister of Education (Hungary)
    
    The Minister of Human Capacities of Hungary is a member of the Hungarian cabinet and the head of the Ministry of Human Capacities. The current minister of human capacities is Miklós Kásler.
1918
1. Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (d. 2011) births
  1. Betty Ford
    
    Elizabeth Anne Ford was the first lady of the United States from 1974 to 1977, as the wife of President Gerald Ford. As first lady, she was active in social policy and set a precedent as a politically active presidential spouse. Ford also served as the second lady of the United States from 1973 to 1974 when her husband was vice president.
  2. Gerald Ford
    
    Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected to the office of president or vice president. He previously served as the leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and was appointed to be the 40th vice president in 1973. When President Richard Nixon resigned in 1974, Ford succeeded to the presidency, but was defeated for election to a full term in 1976.
  3. First Lady of the United States
    
    The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never been codified or officially defined, she figures prominently in the political and social life of the United States. Since the early 20th century, the first lady has been assisted by official staff, now known as the Office of the First Lady and headquartered in the East Wing of the White House.
2. Glendon Swarthout, American author and academic (d. 1992) births
  1. Glendon Swarthout
    
    Glendon Fred Swarthout was an American writer and novelist.
1917
1. Winifred Asprey, American mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2007) births
  1. Winifred Asprey
    
    Winifred "Tim" Alice Asprey was an American mathematician and computer scientist. She was one of only around 200 women to earn PhDs in mathematics from American universities during the 1940s, a period of women's underrepresentation in mathematics at this level. She was involved in developing the close contact between Vassar College and IBM that led to the establishment of the first computer science lab at Vassar.
2. Lloyd Bott, Australian public servant (d. 2004) births
  1. Lloyd Bott
    
    Lloyd Forrester Bott was a senior Australian public servant.
3. Hubertus Ernst, Dutch bishop (d. 2017) births
  1. Hubertus Ernst
    
    Hubertus Cornelis Antonius Ernst was a Dutch prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. A centenarian, he was the oldest Dutch Roman Catholic bishop at the time of his death in 2017.
4. Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer (d. 1988) births
  1. Grigori Kuzmin
    
    Grigori Kuzmin was an Estonian astronomer, who worked mainly in the field of stellar dynamics.
1915
1. Ivan Supek, Croatian physicist, philosopher and writer (d. 2007) births
  1. Ivan Supek
    
    Ivan Supek was a Croatian physicist, philosopher, writer, playwright, peace activist and humanist.
1914
1. María Félix, Yaqui/Basque-Mexican actress (d. 2002) births
  1. María Félix
    
    María de los Ángeles Félix Güereña was a Mexican actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, her taste for the finesse and strong personality garnered her the title of diva early in her career. She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her as a wedding gift by Félix's second husband, Agustín Lara. Her acting career consists of 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina.
  2. Yaqui
    
    The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United States. They also have communities in Chihuahua and Durango, Mexico. The Pascua Yaqui Tribe, based in Tucson, Arizona, is the only federally recognized Yaqui tribe in the United States. Individual Yaqui people live elsewhere in the United States, especially California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.
  3. Basques
    
    The Basques are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous to, and primarily inhabit, an area traditionally known as the Basque Country — a region that is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and straddles parts of north-central Spain and south-western France.
1912
1. Alois Brunner, Austrian-German SS officer (d. 2001 or 2010) births
  1. Alois Brunner
    
    Alois Brunner was an Austrian Schutzstaffel (SS) SS-Hauptsturmführer who played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in occupied Austria, Greece, Macedonia, France, and finally Slovakia during the Second World War. He was known as Adolf Eichmann's right-hand man.
  2. Schutzstaffel
    
    The Schutzstaffel was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II.
2. Sonja Henie, Norwegian-American figure skater and actress (d. 1969) births
  1. Sonja Henie
    
    Sonja Henie was a Norwegian figure skater and film star. She was a three-time Olympic champion in women's singles, a ten-time World champion (1927–1936) and a six-time European champion (1931–1936). Henie has won more Olympic and World titles than any other ladies' figure skater. She is one of only two skaters to defend a ladies' singles Olympic title, the other being Katarina Witt, and her six European titles has only been matched by Witt.
1911
1. Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997) births
  1. Melvin Calvin
    
    Melvin Ellis Calvin was an American biochemist known for discovering the Calvin cycle along with Andrew Benson and James Bassham, for which he was awarded the 1961 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He spent most of his five-decade career at the University of California, Berkeley.
  2. Nobel Prize in Chemistry
    
    The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature, peace, and physiology or medicine. This award is administered by the Nobel Foundation, and awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on proposal of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry which consists of five members elected by the Academy. The award is presented in Stockholm at an annual ceremony on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel's death.
2. Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and academic (d. 1995) births
  1. Emil Cioran
    
    Emil Mihai Cioran was a Romanian philosopher, aphorist and essayist, who published works in both Romanian and French. His work has been noted for its pervasive philosophical pessimism, style, and aphorisms. His works frequently engaged with issues of suffering, decay, and nihilism. In 1937, Cioran moved to the Latin Quarter of Paris, which became his permanent residence, wherein he lived in seclusion with his partner, Simone Boué, until his death in 1995.
1910
1. George Musso, American football player and police officer (d. 2000) births
  1. George Musso
    
    George Francis Musso was an American football guard and offensive tackle. His twelve-year career in the National Football League (NFL) was spent entirely with the Chicago Bears.
1909
1. John Fante, American author and screenwriter (d. 1983) births
  1. John Fante
    
    John Fante was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel Ask the Dust (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depression-era Los Angeles. It is widely considered the great Los Angeles novel, and is one in a series of four, published between 1938 and 1985, that are now collectively called "The Bandini Quartet". Ask the Dust was adapted into a 2006 film starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek. Fante's published works while he lived included five novels, one novella, and a short story collection. Additional works, including two novels, two novellas, and two short story collections, were published posthumously. His screenwriting credits include, most notably, Full of Life, Jeanne Eagels (1957), and the 1962 films Walk on the Wild Side and The Reluctant Saint.
1908
1. Hugo Fregonese, Argentinian director and screenwriter (d. 1987) births
  1. Hugo Fregonese
    
    Hugo Geronimo Fregonese was an Argentine film director and screenwriter who worked both in Hollywood and his home country.
1906
1. Raoul Jobin, Canadian tenor and educator (d. 1974) births
  1. Raoul Jobin
    
    Raoul Jobin, was a French-Canadian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory.
2. Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (b. 1850) deaths
  1. Auguste Deter
    
    Auguste Deter was a German woman notable for being the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
  2. Alzheimer's disease
    
    Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems with language, disorientation, mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the typical life expectancy following diagnosis is three to nine years.
1905
1. Joachim Büchner, German sprinter and graphic designer (d. 1978) births
  1. Joachim Büchner
    
    Joachim "Jochen" Büchner was a German sprint runner who won a bronze medal in the 400 m event at the 1928 Olympics. He failed to reach the 400 m final at the next Olympics, and finished in fourth place with the German 4 × 400 m relay team. He won three national titles in the 400 m in 1927–1929 and finished second in 1925, 1931 and 1932. In 1928 he became the first German athlete to run 400 m within 48 seconds.
2. Helen Joseph, English-South African activist (d. 1992) births
  1. Helen Joseph
    
    Helen Beatrice Joseph was a South African anti-apartheid activist. Born in Sussex, England, Helen graduated with a degree in English from the University of London in 1927 and then departed for India, where she taught for three years at Mahbubia School for girls in Hyderabad. In about 1930 she left India for England via South Africa. However, she settled in Durban, where she met and married a dentist, Billie Joseph, whom she later divorced.
3. Erwin Keller, German field hockey player (d. 1971) births
  1. Erwin Keller
    
    Erwin Keller was a field hockey player from Germany, who won the silver medal for his native country at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Four members of his family did even better and won Gold.
1904
1. John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989) births
  1. John Hicks
    
    Sir John Richards Hicks was a British economist. He is considered one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics were his statement of consumer demand theory in microeconomics, and the IS–LM model (1937), which summarised a Keynesian view of macroeconomics. His book Value and Capital (1939) significantly extended general-equilibrium and value theory. The compensated demand function is named the Hicksian demand function in memory of him.
  2. Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
    
    The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is an economics award administered by the Nobel Foundation.
2. Hirsch Jacobs, American horse trainer (d. 1970) births
  1. Hirsch Jacobs
    
    Hirsch Jacobs was an American thoroughbred horse trainer and owner.
1902
1. Andrew Irvine, English mountaineer and explorer (d. 1924) births
  1. Andrew Irvine (mountaineer)
    
    Andrew Comyn "Sandy" Irvine was an English mountaineer who took part in the 1924 British Everest Expedition, the third British expedition to the world's highest mountain, Mount Everest.
2. Maria Maksakova Sr., Russian soprano (d. 1974) births
  1. Maria Maksakova Sr.
    
    Maria Petrovna Maksakova was a Soviet opera singer, mezzo-soprano, a leading soloist in the Bolshoi Theater (1923–1953), who enjoyed great success in the 1920s and 1930s, in the times often referred to as the golden age of Soviet opera. Maria Maksakova, the three times laureate of the Stalin's Prize, was designated as a People's Artist of the USSR in 1971. The actress Lyudmila Maksakova is her daughter; singer and TV presenter Maria Maksakova Jr. her granddaughter.
1900
1. Marie Byles, Australian solicitor (d. 1979) births
  1. Marie Byles
    
    Marie Beuzeville Byles was an Australian conservationist, pacifist, the first practising female solicitor in New South Wales (NSW), mountaineer, explorer and avid bushwalker, feminist, journalist, and an original member of the Buddhist Society in New South Wales. She was also a travel and non-fiction writer.
1896
1. Yip Harburg, American composer (d. 1981) births
  1. Yip Harburg
    
    Edgar Yipsel Harburg was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?", "April in Paris", and "It's Only a Paper Moon", as well as all of the songs for the film The Wizard of Oz, including "Over the Rainbow". He was known for the social commentary of his lyrics, as well as his leftist leanings. He championed racial and gender equality and union politics. He also was an ardent critic of religion.
1894
1. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (b. 1838) deaths
  1. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
    
    Bankim Chandra Chatterjee CIE was an Indian novelist, poet, Essayist and journalist. He was the author of the 1882 Bengali language novel Anandamath, which is one of the landmarks of modern Bengali and Indian literature. He was the composer of Vande Mataram, written in highly sanskritized Bengali, personifying Bengal as a mother goddess and inspiring activists during the Indian Independence Movement. Chattopadhayay wrote fourteen novels and many serious, serio-comic, satirical, scientific and critical treatises in Bengali. He is known as Sahitya Samrat in Bengali.
1892
1. Richard Neutra, Austrian-American architect, designer of the Los Angeles County Hall of Records (d. 1970) births
  1. Richard Neutra
    
    Richard Joseph Neutra was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for the majority of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. He mainly built suburban single-family detached homes for wealthy clients. His most notable works include the Kaufmann Desert House in Palm Springs, California.
  2. Los Angeles County Hall of Records
    
    The Los Angeles County Hall of Records sits in the northern end of the Civic Center in Downtown Los Angeles. The high-rise building by Richard Neutra is an example of international style architecture. The building includes louvers similar to the Kaufmann Desert House. Additionally, the screen to the right of the louvres was a feature by sculptor Malcolm Leland to incorporate ornamentation into modernist buildings.
2. Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of United Artists (d. 1979) births
  1. Mary Pickford
    
    Gladys Marie Smith, known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founded Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, and was one of the 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Pickford is considered to be one of the most recognisable women in history.
  2. United Artists
    
    United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studio was premised on allowing actors to control their own interests, rather than being dependent upon commercial studios. UA was repeatedly bought, sold, and restructured over the ensuing century. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired the studio in 1981 for a reported $350 million.
1889
1. Adrian Boult, English conductor (d. 1983) births
  1. Adrian Boult
    
    Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra in 1924. When the British Broadcasting Corporation appointed him director of music in 1930, he established the BBC Symphony Orchestra and became its chief conductor. The orchestra set standards of excellence that were rivalled in Britain only by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO), founded two years later.
1888
1. Dennis Chávez, American journalist and politician (d. 1962) births
  1. Dennis Chávez
    
    Dionisio "Dennis" Chávez was an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1935, and in the United States Senate from 1935 to 1962. He was the first Hispanic to be elected to a full term in the US Senate and the first US Senator to be born in New Mexico, which was still a US territory at the time of his birth.
1886
1. Margaret Ayer Barnes, American author and playwright (d. 1967) births
  1. Margaret Ayer Barnes
    
    Margaret Ayer Barnes was an American playwright, novelist, and short-story writer. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
1885
1. Dimitrios Levidis, Greek-French soldier, composer, and educator (d. 1951) births
  1. Dimitrios Levidis
    
    Dimitrios Levidis was a Greek composer, later naturalized French (1929).
1883
1. R. P. Keigwin, English cricketer and academic (d. 1972) births
  1. R. P. Keigwin
    
    Richard Prescott Keigwin was an English academic. He also played first-class cricket for Cambridge University, the Marylebone Cricket Club, Essex County Cricket Club and Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, and played hockey for Essex and England.
2. Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1936) births
  1. Julius Seljamaa
    
    Julius Friedrich Seljamaa was an Estonian politician, diplomat and journalist. From 1933 to 1936, he was the Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs.
  2. Minister of Foreign Affairs (Estonia)
    
    The Minister of Foreign Affairs is the senior minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Estonian Government. The Minister is one of the most important members of the Estonian government, with responsibility for the relations between Estonia and foreign states.
1877
1. Bernardino António Gomes, Portuguese physician and naturalist (b. 1806) deaths
  1. Bernardino António Gomes Jr.
    
    Bernardino António Gomes was a Portuguese physician and scientist. He is perhaps most widely remembered for his pioneering work in Portugal in the field of anaesthesiology, as the first physician in the country to use chloroform in a surgical procedure ; he is also credited with the popularization of the use of creosote and of the first ether inhalers.
1875
1. Albert I of Belgium (d. 1934) births
  1. Albert I of Belgium
    
    Albert I was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934.
1874
1. Manuel Díaz, Cuban fencer (d. 1929) births
  1. Manuel Díaz (fencer)
    
    Manuel Dionysios Díaz Martínez was a Cuban fencer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in Havana and died in Rochester, New York.
2. Stanisław Taczak, Polish general (d. 1960) births
  1. Stanisław Taczak
    
    Stanisław Taczak was a Polish general. Until 8 January 1919, he was temporary commander-in-chief of the Great Poland Uprising (1918-1919).
1871
1. Clarence Hudson White, American photographer and educator (d. 1925) births
  1. Clarence Hudson White
    
    Clarence Hudson White was an American photographer, teacher and a founding member of the Photo-Secession movement. He grew up in small towns in Ohio, where his primary influences were his family and the social life of rural America. After visiting the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, he took up photography. Although he was completely self-taught in the medium, within a few years he was internationally known for his pictorial photographs that captured the spirit and sentimentality of America in the early twentieth century. As he became well known for his images, White was sought out by other photographers who often traveled to Ohio to learn from him. He became friends with Alfred Stieglitz and helped advance the cause of photography as a true art form. In 1906 White and his family moved to New York City in order to be closer to Stieglitz and his circle and to further promote his own work. While there he became interested in teaching photography and in 1914 he established the Clarence H. White School of Photography, the first educational institution in America to teach photography as art. Due to the demands of his teaching duties, his own photography declined and White produced little new work during the last decade of his life. In 1925 he suffered a heart attack and died while teaching students in Mexico City.
1870
1. Charles Auguste de Bériot, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1802) deaths
  1. Charles Auguste de Bériot
    
    Charles Auguste de Bériot was a Belgian violinist, artist and composer.
1869
1. Harvey Cushing, American surgeon and academic (d. 1939) births
  1. Harvey Cushing
    
    Harvey Williams Cushing was an American neurosurgeon, pathologist, writer, and draftsman. A pioneer of brain surgery, he was the first exclusive neurosurgeon and the first person to describe Cushing's disease. He wrote a biography of physician William Osler in three volumes.
1867
1. Allen Butler Talcott, American painter and educator (d. 1908) births
  1. Allen Butler Talcott
    
    Allen Butler Talcott was an American landscape painter. After studying art in Paris for three years at Académie Julian, he returned to the United States, becoming one of the first members of the Old Lyme Art Colony in Connecticut. His paintings, usually landscapes depicting the local scenery and often executed en plein air, were generally Barbizon and Tonalist, sometimes incorporating elements of Impressionism. He was especially known and respected for his paintings of trees. After eight summers at Old Lyme, he died there at the age of 41.
1864
1. Carlos Deltour, French rower and rugby player (d. 1920) births
  1. Carlos Deltour
    
    Carlos Deltour, also known as Charles Deltour, was a Mexican-born French rower who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics.
1861
1. Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (b. 1811) deaths
  1. Elisha Otis
    
    Elisha Graves Otis was an American industrialist, founder of the Otis Elevator Company, and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails.
  2. Otis Worldwide
    
    Otis Worldwide Corporation is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment.
1860
1. István Széchenyi, Hungarian statesman and reformer (b.1791) deaths
  1. István Széchenyi
    
    Count István Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék was a Hungarian politician, political theorist, and writer. Widely considered one of the greatest statesmen in his nation's history, within Hungary he is still known to many as "the Greatest Hungarian".
1859
1. Edmund Husserl, German Jewish-Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1938) births
  1. Edmund Husserl
    
    Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of phenomenology.
1848
1. Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (b. 1797) deaths
  1. Gaetano Donizetti
    
    Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the bel canto opera style during the first half of the nineteenth century and a probable influence on other composers such as Giuseppe Verdi. Donizetti was born in Bergamo in Lombardy. At an early age he was taken up by Simon Mayr who enrolled him with a full scholarship in a school which he had set up. There he received detailed musical training. Mayr was instrumental in obtaining a place for Donizetti at the Bologna Academy, where, at the age of 19, he wrote his first one-act opera, the comedy Il Pigmalione, which may never have been performed during his lifetime.
1842
1. Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (d. 1933) births
  1. Elizabeth Bacon Custer
    
    Elizabeth Bacon Custer was an American author and public speaker, and the wife of Brevet Major General George Armstrong Custer, United States Army. She spent most of their marriage in relative proximity to him despite his numerous military campaigns in the American Civil War and subsequent postings on the Great Plains as a commanding officer in the United States Cavalry.
1827
1. Ramón Emeterio Betances, Puerto Rican ophthalmologist, journalist, and politician (d. 1898) births
  1. Ramón Emeterio Betances
    
    Ramón Emeterio Betances y Alacán was a Puerto Rican independence advocate and medical doctor. He was the primary instigator of the Grito de Lares revolution and is considered to be the father of the Puerto Rican independence movement. Since the Grito galvanized a burgeoning nationalist movement among Puerto Ricans, Betances is also considered "El Padre de la Patria". Because of his charitable deeds for people in need, he also became known as "El Padre de los Pobres".
1826
1. Pancha Carrasco, Costa Rican soldier (d. 1890) births
  1. Pancha Carrasco
    
    Pancha Carrasco, born Francisca Carrasco Jiménez, was Costa Rica's first woman in the military. Carrasco is most famous for joining the defending forces at the Battle of Rivas in 1856 with a rifle and a pocketful of bullets. The strength and determination she showed there made her a symbol of national pride and she was later honored with a Costa Rican postage stamp, a Coast Guard vessel, and the creation of the "Pancha Carrasco Police Women's Excellence Award".
1818
1. Christian IX of Denmark (d. 1906) births
  1. Christian IX of Denmark
    
    Christian IX was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
2. August Wilhelm von Hofmann, German chemist and academic (d. 1892) births
  1. August Wilhelm von Hofmann
    
    August Wilhelm von Hofmann was a German chemist who made considerable contributions to organic chemistry. His research on aniline helped lay the basis of the aniline-dye industry, and his research on coal tar laid the groundwork for his student Charles Mansfield's practical methods for extracting benzene and toluene and converting them into nitro compounds and amines. Hofmann's discoveries include formaldehyde, hydrazobenzene, the isonitriles, and allyl alcohol. He prepared three ethylamines and tetraethylammonium compounds and established their structural relationship to ammonia.
1798
1. Dionysios Solomos, Greek poet and author (d. 1857) births
  1. Dionysios Solomos
    
    Dionysios Solomos was a Greek poet from Zakynthos, who is considered to be Greece's national poet. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty, which was set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros and became the Greek and Cypriot national anthem in 1865 and 1966 respectively. He was the central figure of the Heptanese School of poetry. He is considered the national poet of Greece, not only because he wrote the national anthem, but also because he contributed to the preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature. Other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός, Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, and almost nothing was published during his lifetime.
1770
1. John Thomas Campbell, Irish-Australian banker and politician (d. 1830) births
  1. John Thomas Campbell
    
    John Thomas Campbell (1770–1830) was a public servant and politician in the New South Wales Legislative Council during the early Australian colonial period.
1761
1. William Joseph Chaminade, French priest, founded the Society of Mary (d. 1850) births
  1. William Joseph Chaminade
    
    Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade, SM was a French Catholic priest who survived persecution during the French Revolution and later founded the Society of Mary, usually called the Marianists, in 1817. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 September 2000 his feast day is celebrated on 22 January.
  2. Society of Mary (Marianists)
    
    The Society of Mary abbreviated SM is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men commonly called the Marianists or Marianist Brothers and Priests. Its members add the nominal letters "'S.M.'" to their names to indicate their membership in the Society. The Society was founded by William Joseph Chaminade, a priest who survived the anti-clerical persecution during the French Revolution. The Society is one of the four branches of the Marianist Family. Along with the other branches, the Marianist Brothers and Priests look to Mary as a model of faith and spirituality. They believe that the best ways to live a spiritual life are to share their faith with others, work with the poor, and educate and nourish the mind, the body, and the soul.
1735
1. Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676) deaths
  1. Francis II Rákóczi
    
    Francis II Rákóczi was a Hungarian nobleman and leader of Rákóczi's War of Independence against the Habsburgs in 1703–11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Today he is considered a national hero in Hungary.
1732
1. David Rittenhouse, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1796) births
  1. David Rittenhouse
    
    David Rittenhouse was an American astronomer, inventor, clockmaker, mathematician, surveyor, scientific instrument craftsman, and public official. Rittenhouse was a member of the American Philosophical Society and the first director of the United States Mint.
1726
1. Lewis Morris, American judge and politician (d. 1798) births
  1. Lewis Morris
    
    Lewis Morris was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York.
1725
1. John Wise, American minister (b. 1652) deaths
  1. John Wise (clergyman)
    
    John Wise was a Congregationalist reverend and political leader in Massachusetts during the American colonial period. Wise was noted for his political activism, specifically his protests against British taxation, for which he was once jailed As the pastor of the Chebacco Parish from 1680 to his death in 1725, Wise lived in Ipswich, Massachusetts, often called "the birthplace of American independence."
1709
1. Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen, German nobleman (b. 1641) deaths
  1. Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen
    
    Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen was a German nobleman. From 1668 until his death he was the ruler of the county of Castell-Remlingen, sharing power with his brother Friedrich Magnus of Castell-Remlingen. He also held other offices in the Margraviate of Ansbach and the Electoral Palatinate.
1704
1. Hiob Ludolf, German orientalist and philologist (b. 1624) deaths
  1. Hiob Ludolf
    
    Hiob or Job Ludolf, also known as Job Leutholf, was a German orientalist, born at Erfurt. Edward Ullendorff rates Ludolf as having "the most illustrious name in Ethiopic scholarship".
2. Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English colonel and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1641) deaths
  1. Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney
    
    Henry Sidney, 1st Earl of Romney was an English Whig politician, soldier and administrator. He is now best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who drafted the Invitation to William of Orange, which led to the November 1688 Glorious Revolution and subsequent deposition of James II of England.
  2. Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
    
    Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the Kingdom of Ireland (1541–1800) and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1922). The office, under its various names, was often more generally known as the Viceroy, and his wife was known as the vicereine. The government of Ireland in practice was usually in the hands of the Lord Deputy up to the 17th century, and later of the Chief Secretary for Ireland.
1697
1. Niels Juel, Norwegian-Danish admiral (b. 1629) deaths
  1. Niels Juel
    
    Niels Juel was a Danish admiral and a naval hero. He served as supreme command of the Dano-Norwegian Navy during the late 17th century and oversaw development of the Danish-Norwegian Navy.
1692
1. Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1770) births
  1. Giuseppe Tartini
    
    Giuseppe Tartini was an Italian composer and violinist of the Baroque era born in the Republic of Venice. Tartini was a prolific composer, composing over a hundred of pieces for the violin with the majority of them being violin concertos. However, today, he is most famously remembered for his Violin Sonata in G Minor.
1691
1. Carlo Rainaldi, Italian architect, designed the Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto (b. 1611) deaths
  1. Carlo Rainaldi
    
    Carlo Rainaldi was an Italian architect of the Baroque period.
  2. Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto
    
    Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto are two churches in Rome.
1641
1. Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (d. 1704) births
  1. Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney
    
    Henry Sidney, 1st Earl of Romney was an English Whig politician, soldier and administrator. He is now best remembered as one of the Immortal Seven who drafted the Invitation to William of Orange, which led to the November 1688 Glorious Revolution and subsequent deposition of James II of England.
  2. Secretary of State for the Northern Department
    
    The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet of the government of Great Britain up to 1782, when the Northern Department became the Foreign Office.
1612
1. Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (b. 1575) deaths
  1. Anne Catherine of Brandenburg
    
    Anne Catherine of Brandenburg was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1597 to 1612 as the first spouse of King Christian IV of Denmark.
1608
1. Magdalen Dacre, English noble (b. 1538) deaths
  1. Magdalen Dacre
    
    Magdalen Dacre, Viscountess Montagu was an English noblewoman. She was the daughter of William Dacre, 3rd Baron Dacre of Gilsland, and the second wife of Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu. Magdalen, a fervent Roman Catholic, was a Maid of Honour at the wedding of Mary I of England to Philip II of Spain in Winchester Cathedral. Dacre, despite being a Catholic, managed to remain in high regard with the Protestant Tudor Queen who succeeded Mary, Elizabeth I. Dacre was, according to biographer Lady Antonia Fraser in her historical biography, The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605, a fine example of "how the most pious Catholic could survive if he did not challenge the accepted order".
1605
1. Philip IV of Spain (d. 1665) births
  1. Philip IV of Spain
    
    Philip IV, also called the Planet King, was King of Spain from 1621 to his death and King of Portugal from 1621 to 1640. Philip is remembered for his patronage of the arts, including such artists as Diego Velázquez, and his rule over Spain during the Thirty Years' War.
2. Mary Stuart, English-Scottish princess (d. 1607) births
  1. Mary Stuart (1605–1607)
    
    Mary Stuart was the third daughter and sixth child of James VI and I by Anne of Denmark. Her birth was much anticipated. She developed pneumonia at 17 months and died the following year.
1596
1. Juan van der Hamen, Spanish artist (d. 1631) births
  1. Juan van der Hamen
    
    Juan van der Hamen y (Gómez de) León was a Spanish painter, a master of still life paintings, also called bodegones. Prolific and versatile, he painted allegories, landscapes, and large-scale works for churches and convents. Today he is remembered mostly for his still lifes, a genre he popularized in 1620s Madrid.
1586
1. Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran theologian and reformer (b. 1522) deaths
  1. Martin Chemnitz
    
    Martin Chemnitz was an eminent second-generation German, Evangelical Lutheran, Christian theologian, and a Protestant reformer, churchman, and confessor. In the Evangelical Lutheran tradition he is known as Alter Martinus, the "Second Martin": Si Martinus non fuisset, Martinus vix stetisset goes a common saying concerning him. He is listed and remembered in the Calendar of Saints and Commemorations in the Liturgical Church Year as a pastor and confessor by both the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod.
1580
1. William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, English noble, courtier and patron of the arts (d. 1630) births
  1. William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke
    
    William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, of Wilton House in Wiltshire, was an English nobleman, politician and courtier. He served as Chancellor of the University of Oxford and together with King James I founded Pembroke College, Oxford. In 1608 he was appointed Warden of the Forest of Dean, Constable of St Briavels Castle, Gloucestershire, and in 1609 Governor of Portsmouth, all of which offices he retained until his death. He served as Lord Chamberlain from 1615 to 1625. In 1623 the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays was dedicated to him and his brother and successor Philip Herbert, 1st Earl of Montgomery.
1551
1. Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (b. 1510) deaths
  1. Oda Nobuhide
    
    Oda Nobuhide was a Japanese daimyō and magistrate of the Sengoku period known as "Tiger of Owari" and also the father of Oda Nobunaga the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobuhide was a deputy shugo (Shugodai) of lower Owari Province and head of the Oda clan which controlled most of Owari.
1541
1. Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (d. 1593) births
  1. Michele Mercati
    
    Michele Mercati was a physician who was superintendent of the Vatican Botanical Garden under Popes Pius V, Gregory XIII, Sixtus V, and Clement VIII. He was one of the first scholars to recognise prehistoric stone tools as human-made rather than natural or mythologically created thunderstones.
1536
1. Barbara of Hesse (d. 1597) births
  1. Barbara of Hesse
    
    Barbara of Hesse, Duchess of Württemberg-Mömpelgard was a German noblewoman, and the wife of Count George I of Württemberg-Mömpelgard. Her second husband was Daniel, Count of Waldeck.
1533
1. Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (d. 1604) births
  1. Claudio Merulo
    
    Claudio Merulo was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance period, most famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music composed in the Venetian polychoral style. He was born in Correggio and died in Parma. Born Claudio Merlotti, he Latinised his surname when he became famous in Venetian cultural clubs.
1492
1. Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian ruler (b. 1449) deaths
  1. Lorenzo de' Medici
    
    Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici was an Italian statesman, banker, de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists, and poets. As a patron, he is best known for his sponsorship of artists such as Botticelli and Michelangelo. He held the balance of power within the Italic League, an alliance of states that stabilized political conditions on the Italian peninsula for decades, and his life coincided with the mature phase of the Italian Renaissance and the Golden Age of Florence. On the foreign policy front, Lorenzo manifested a clear plan to stem the territorial ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV, in the name of the balance of the Italian League of 1454. For these reasons, Lorenzo was the subject of the Pazzi conspiracy (1478), in which his brother Giuliano was assassinated. The Peace of Lodi of 1454 that he supported among the various Italian states collapsed with his death. He is buried in the Medici Chapel in Florence.
1461
1. Georg von Peuerbach, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1423) deaths
  1. Georg von Peuerbach
    
    Georg von Peuerbach was an Austrian astronomer, mathematician and instrument maker, best known for his streamlined presentation of Ptolemaic astronomy in the Theoricae Novae Planetarum.
1450
1. Sejong the Great, Korean king (b. 1397) deaths
  1. Sejong the Great
    
    Sejong of Joseon, personal name Yi Do, widely known as Sejong the Great, was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initially titled Grand Prince Chungnyeong, he was born as the third son of King Taejong and Queen Wongyeong. In 1418, he was designated as heir after his eldest brother, Crown Prince Yi Je, was stripped of his status. Today, King Sejong is regarded as one of the greatest leaders in Korean history.
1435
1. John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, English noble (d. 1461) births
  1. John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford
    
    John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford, 9th Lord of Skipton was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses in England. The Clifford family was one of the most prominent families among the northern English nobility of the fifteenth century, and by the marriages of his sisters John Clifford had links to some very important families of the time, including the earls of Devon. He was orphaned at twenty years of age when his father was slain by partisans of the House of York at the first battle of the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of St Albans in 1455. It was probably as a result of his father's death there that Clifford became one of the strongest supporters of Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, who ended up as effective leader of the Lancastrian faction.
1408
1. Jadwiga of Lithuania, Polish princess (d. 1431) births
  1. Hedwig Jagiellon (1408–1431)
    
    Hedwig Jagiellon was a Polish and Lithuanian princess, and a member of the Jagiellon dynasty. For most of her life she, as the only child of Wladyslaw Jagiello, was considered to be heiress of the Polish and Lithuanian thrones. After the birth of Jagiello's sons in 1424 and 1427, Hedwig had some support for her claims to the throne. She died in 1431 amidst rumors that she was poisoned by her stepmother Sophia of Halshany.
1364
1. John II, French king (b. 1319) deaths
  1. John II of France
    
    John II, called John the Good, was King of France from 1350 until his death in 1364. When he came to power, France faced several disasters: the Black Death, which killed nearly 40% of its population; popular revolts known as Jacqueries; free companies of routiers who plundered the country; and English aggression that resulted in catastrophic military losses, including the Battle of Poitiers of 1356, in which John was captured.
1338
1. Stephen Gravesend, bishop of London deaths
  1. Stephen Gravesend
    
    Stephen Gravesend was a medieval Bishop of London.
1321
1. Thomas of Tolentino, Italian-Franciscan missionary (b. c. 1255) deaths
  1. Thomas of Tolentino
    
    Thomas of Tolentino was a medieval Franciscan missionary who was martyred with his three companions in Thane, India, for "blaspheming" Muhammad. His relics were removed to Quanzhou, China, and Tolentino, Italy, by Odoric of Pordenone. He is now venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with his feast day on April 9.
1320
1. Peter I of Portugal (d. 1367) births
  1. Peter I of Portugal
    
    Peter I, called the Just or the Cruel, was King of Portugal from 1357 until his death. He was the third but only surviving son of Afonso IV of Portugal and his wife, Beatrice of Castile.
1150
1. Gertrude of Babenberg, duchess of Bohemia (b. 1118) deaths
  1. Gertrude of Babenberg, Duchess of Bohemia
    
    Gertrude of Babenberg, a member of the House of Babenberg, was Duchess consort of Bohemia from 1140 until her death, by her marriage to the Přemyslid duke Vladislaus II.
1143
1. John II Komnenos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1087) deaths
  1. John II Komnenos
    
    John II Komnenos or Comnenus was Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good", he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina and the second emperor to rule during the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire. As he was born to a reigning emperor, he had the status of a porphyrogennetos. John was a pious and dedicated monarch who was determined to undo the damage his empire had suffered following the Battle of Manzikert, half a century earlier.
967
1. Mu'izz al-Dawla, Buyid emir (b. 915) deaths
  1. Mu'izz al-Dawla
    
    Ahmad ibn Buya, after 945 better known by his laqab of Mu'izz al-Dawla, was the first of the Buyid emirs of Iraq, ruling from 945 until his death.
956
1. Gilbert, Frankish nobleman deaths
  1. Gilbert, Duke of Burgundy
    
    Gilbert of Chalon was count of Chalon, Autun, Troyes, Avallon and Dijon, and duke of Burgundy between 952 and 956. He became the ruler of the Duchy of Burgundy de facto. By his wife Ermengarde, he had two daughters: Adelais and Liutgarde. Gilbert never managed to maintain the independence of the duchy in the struggles for power of 10th-century France. In 952, he became a vassal of Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and married his oldest daughter, Liutgard, to Hugh's son Otto of Paris. Adelais married Robert of Vermandois.
944
1. Wang Yanxi, Chinese emperor deaths
  1. Wang Yanxi
    
    Wang Yanxi (王延羲), known as Wang Xi (王曦) during his reign, formally Emperor Jingzong of Min (閩景宗), was an emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Min. He became Min's ruler after a coup that overthrew his nephew Wang Jipeng in 939. With his reign being a cruel one, the imperial guard officers Zhu Wenjin and Lian Chongyu assassinated him and slaughtered the imperial Wang clan. Zhu thereafter claimed the title of Emperor of Min.
894
1. Adalelm, Frankish nobleman deaths
  1. Adalelm, Count of Troyes
    
    Adalelm was the Count of Troyes from 886 to his death. He was a son of Emenon, Count of Poitou, and a Robertian.
632
1. Charibert II, Frankish king (b. 607) deaths
  1. Charibert II
    
    Charibert II, a son of Clotaire II and his junior wife Sichilde, was briefly King of Aquitaine from 629 to his death, with his capital at Toulouse. There are no direct statements about when Charibert was born exactly, the only known fact being that he was "a few years younger" than his half-brother Dagobert. His father Clotaire evidently had a bigamous marriage and he was the offspring of the junior wife.
622
1. Shōtoku, Japanese prince (b. 572) deaths
  1. Prince Shōtoku
    
    Prince Shōtoku , also known as Prince Umayado or Prince Kamitsumiya , was a semi-legendary regent and a politician of the Asuka period in Japan who served under Empress Suiko. He was the son of Emperor Yōmei and his consort, Princess Anahobe no Hashihito, who was also Yōmei's younger half-sister. But later, he was adopted by Prince Shōtoken. His parents were relatives of the ruling Soga clan and also he was involved in the defeat of the rival Mononobe clan. The primary source of the life and accomplishments of Prince Shōtoku comes from the Nihon Shoki. The Prince is renowned for modernizing the government administration and for promoting Buddhism in Japan.
217
1. Caracalla, Roman emperor (b. 188) deaths
  1. Caracalla
    
    Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, better known by his nickname "Caracalla" was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor Septimius Severus and Empress Julia Domna. Proclaimed co-ruler by his father in 198, he reigned jointly with his brother Geta, co-emperor from 209, after their father's death in 211. His brother was murdered by the Praetorian Guard later that year, under orders from Caracalla himself, who then reigned afterwards as sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Caracalla found administration to be mundane, leaving those responsibilities to his mother. Caracalla's reign featured domestic instability and external invasions by the Germanic peoples.

Holidays

Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival" (Japan)
1. Buddha's Birthday
  
  Buddha's Birthday is a Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of East Asia and South Asia commemorating the birth of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Gautama Buddha, who was the founder of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha was born c. 563–483 BCE in Lumbini, Nepal.
2. Japan
  
  Japan is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans an archipelago of 6852 islands covering 377,975 square kilometers (145,937 sq mi); the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. Tokyo is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto.
Christian feast day: Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))
1. Anne Ayres
  
  Anne Ayres was a nun and the founder of the first Episcopalian religious order for women.
2. Episcopal Church (United States)
  
  The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African-American bishop to serve in that position.
Christian feast day: Constantina
1. Constantina
  
  Flavia Valeria Constantina, later known as Saint Constance, was the eldest daughter of Roman emperor Constantine the Great and his second wife Fausta, daughter of Emperor Maximian. Constantina may have received the title of Augusta by her father, and is venerated as a saint, having developed a medieval legend wildly at variance with what is known of her actual character.
Christian feast day: Julie Billiart of Namur
1. Julie Billiart
  
  Julie Billiart was a French nun, saint, educator, and founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was born in Cuvilly, a village in Picardy, in northern France. She was paralyzed and bedridden for 22 years, but was well known for her prayer, her embroidery skills, and her education of both the poor and the nobility, especially her work with young girls. She had to flee Cuvilly after the start of the French Revolution and escaped to Compiègne, where the stress she experienced resulted in another illness that took away her ability to speak, and where she received a vision foretelling that she would found a new religious congregation that would eventually become the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. In 1794, she met the French noblewoman and nun, Françoise Blin de Bourdon, who became Billiart's co-founder and close associate, in Amiens.
Christian feast day: Perpetuus
1. Saint Perpetuus
  
  Saint Perpetuus was the sixth Bishop of Tours, serving from 460 to 490.
Christian feast day: Walter of Pontoise
1. Walter of Pontoise
  
  Saint Walter of Pontoise was a French saint of the eleventh century. Born at Andainville, he was a professor of philosophy and rhetoric before becoming a Benedictine monk at Rebais. A story told of him is that while a novice, Walter took pity on an inmate at the monastery prison, and helped the prisoner to escape.
Christian feast day: William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))
1. William Augustus Muhlenberg
  
  William Augustus Muhlenberg was an Episcopal clergyman and educator. Muhlenberg is considered the father of church schools in the United States. An early exponent of the Social Gospel, he founded St. Luke's Hospital in New York City. Muhlenberg was also an early leader of the liturgical movement in Anglican Christianity. His model schools on Long Island had a significant impact on the history of American education. Muhlenberg left his work in secondary education in 1845.
2. Episcopal Church (United States)
  
  The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church is Michael Bruce Curry, the first African-American bishop to serve in that position.
Christian feast day: April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
1. April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  
  April 7 - Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar - April 9
Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia)
1. Public holidays in Liberia
  
  The following are public holidays in Liberia.
2. Liberia
  
  Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean to its south and southwest. It has a population of around 5 million and covers an area of 43,000 square miles (111,369 km2). English is the official language, but over 20 indigenous languages are spoken, reflecting the country's ethnic and cultural diversity. The country's capital and largest city is Monrovia.
International Romani Day
1. International Romani Day
  
  The International Romani Day is a day to celebrate Romani culture and raise awareness of the issues facing Romani people.

Important events in history on April 8 th

Events

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign

Joe Biden

Democratic Party (United States)

Islamic State of Iraq

Syrian civil war

Al-Nusra Front

Islamic State

Barack Obama

Dmitry Medvedev

New START

Bahrain World Trade Center

Bahrain

Shedden massacre

Shedden, Elgin County, Ontario

Bandidos Motorcycle Club

Solar eclipse of April 8, 2005

Pacific Ocean

Costa Rica

Panama

Colombia

Venezuela

War in Darfur

2004 Darfur Humanitarian Ceasefire Agreement

Sudan

Justice and Equality Movement

Sudan Liberation Movement/Army

North Macedonia

United Nations

Space Shuttle Discovery

STS-56

Tennis

Arthur Ashe

HIV/AIDS

Blood transfusion

Los Angeles Dodgers

Al Campanis

Racism

Nightline

Frank Robinson

Cleveland Guardians

Baseball

African Americans

Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing

BOAC Flight 712

Heathrow Airport

Barbara Jane Harrison

George Cross

BOAC Flight 712

Barbara Jane Harrison

George Cross

MV Dara

Persian Gulf

Netherlands

West Germany

Dutch annexation of German territory after the Second World War

Deutsche Mark

Wiedergutmachung

Computer science

Programming language

COBOL

Grace Hopper

Programming language

COBOL

Organization of American States

Inter-American Development Bank

North American T-6 Texan

Trans-Canada Air Lines

Canadair North Star

Moose Jaw

South African Airways Flight 201

De Havilland Comet

Mau Mau rebellion

Jomo Kenyatta

Kenya Colony

Harry S. Truman

1952 steel strike

India

Important events in history
on April 8 ^th