Important events in history
on May 20 ^th

Events

2022
1. Russo-Ukrainian War: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.
  1. Russo-Ukrainian War
    
    The Russo-Ukrainian War has been ongoing between Russia and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine and supported pro-Russian separatists in the war in Donbas against Ukrainian government forces; fighting for the first eight years of the conflict also included naval incidents, cyberwarfare, and heightened political tensions. In February 2022, the conflict saw a major escalation as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
  2. Mariupol
    
    Mariupol is a city on the north coast of the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Kalmius River, in the Pryazovia region of Ukraine. Prior to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and its capture by Russia, it was the tenth-largest city in Ukraine and the second-largest in Donetsk Oblast, with an estimated population of 425 681, according to a January 2022 estimate. Following its capture, the population is now, according to Ukrainian authorities, estimated to be less than 100,000.
  3. Siege of Mariupol
    
    The siege of Mariupol was a siege in Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, when forces from Russia and the separatist Donetsk People's Republic engaged Ukrainian forces in the city of Mariupol. The siege, which was part of the Russian eastern Ukraine offensive and southern Ukraine offensive, started on 24 February 2022 and concluded on 20 May 2022, when Russia announced the remaining Ukrainian forces in Mariupol surrendered after they were ordered to cease fighting.
2019
1. The International System of Units (SI): The base units are redefined, making the international prototype of the kilogram obsolete.
  1. International System of Units
    
    The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and based on the metre as the unit of length and either the kilogram as the unit of mass or the kilogram-force as the unit of force.</ref> and the world's most widely used system of measurement. Established and maintained by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), it is the only system of measurement with an official status in nearly every country in the world, employed in science, technology, industry, and everyday commerce.
  2. International Prototype of the Kilogram
    
    The International Prototype of the Kilogram is an object that was used to define the magnitude of the mass of the kilogram from 1889, when it replaced the Kilogramme des Archives, until 2019, when it was replaced by a new definition of the kilogram based on physical constants. During that time, the IPK and its duplicates were used to calibrate all other kilogram mass standards on Earth.
2016
1. The government of Singapore authorised the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite the international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations.
  1. Singapore
    
    Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor to the north. The country's territory is composed of one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet; the combined area of these has increased by 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. It has the third highest population density in the world. With a multicultural population and recognising the need to respect cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the lingua franca and numerous public services are available only in English. Multiracialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics.
  2. Capital punishment
    
    Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is a state-sanctioned practice of killing a person as a punishment for a crime. The sentence ordering that an offender is to be punished in such a manner is known as a death sentence, and the act of carrying out the sentence is known as an execution. A prisoner who has been sentenced to death and awaits execution is condemned and is commonly referred to as being "on death row".
  3. Kho Jabing
    
    Kho Jabing, later in life Muhammad Kho Abdullah, was a Malaysian of mixed Chinese and Iban descent from Sarawak, Malaysia, who partnered with a friend to rob and murder a Chinese construction worker named Cao Ruyin in Singapore on 17 February 2008. While his accomplice was eventually jailed and caned for robbery, Kho Jabing was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on 30 July 2010, and lost his appeal on 24 May 2011.
  4. Amnesty International
    
    Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and supporters around the world. The stated mission of the organization is to campaign for "a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments." The organization has played a notable role on human rights issues due to its frequent citation in media and by world leaders.
  5. 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.
2013
1. An EF5 tornado strikes the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, killing 24 people and injuring 377 others.
  1. Enhanced Fujita scale
    
    The Enhanced Fujita scale rates tornado intensity based on the severity of the damage they cause. It is used in some countries, including the United States, Canada, China, and Mongolia.
  2. 2013 Moore tornado
    
    On the afternoon of May 20, 2013, a large and extremely violent EF5 tornado ravaged through Moore, Oklahoma, and adjacent areas, with peak winds estimated at 210 mph (340 km/h), killing 24 people and injuring 212 others. The tornado was part of a larger weather system that had produced several other tornadoes across the Great Plains over the previous two days, including five that struck portions of Central Oklahoma the day prior on May 19.
  3. Oklahoma City
    
    Oklahoma City, officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and is the 8th largest city in the Southern United States. The population grew following the 2010 census and reached 687,725 in the 2020 census. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a population of 1,396,445, and the Oklahoma City–Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,469,124, making it Oklahoma's largest municipality and metropolitan area by population.
  4. Moore, Oklahoma
    
    Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma.
2012
1. The first of two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, resulting in seven deaths.
  1. 2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
    
    In May 2012, two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The events are known in Italy as the 2012 Emilia earthquakes, because they mainly affected the Emilia region.
2. At least 27 people are killed and 50 others injured when a 6.0-magnitude earthquake strikes northern Italy.
  1. 2012 Northern Italy earthquakes
    
    In May 2012, two major earthquakes struck Northern Italy, causing 27 deaths and widespread damage. The events are known in Italy as the 2012 Emilia earthquakes, because they mainly affected the Emilia region.
2011
1. Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
  1. Mamata Banerjee
    
    Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served many times as a Union Cabinet Minister, Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its first chairperson. She is often referred to as 'Didi'.
  2. List of chief ministers of West Bengal
    
    The Chief Minister of West Bengal is the representative of the Government of India in the state of West Bengal and the head of the executive branch of the Government of West Bengal. The chief minister is head of the Council of Ministers and appoints ministers. The chief minister, along with their cabinet, exercises executive authority in the state. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly.
2002
1. The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
  1. East Timor
    
    East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the Oecusse exclave on the north-western half, and the minor islands of Atauro and Jaco. Australia is the country's southern neighbour, separated by the Timor Sea. The country's size is 14,874 square kilometres (5,743 sq mi). Dili is its capital city.
  2. Indonesia
    
    Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres. With over 275 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
  3. Portuguese Empire
    
    The Portuguese Empire, also known as the Portuguese Overseas or the Portuguese Colonial Empire, was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the later overseas territories governed by Portugal. It was one of the longest-lived empires in European history, lasting almost six centuries from the conquest of Ceuta in North Africa, in 1415, to the transfer of sovereignty over Macau to China in 1999. The empire began in the 15th century, and from the early 16th century it stretched across the globe, with bases in North and South America, Africa, and various regions of Asia and Oceania.
1996
1. In deciding Romer v. Evans, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a constitutional amendment in Colorado that prevented protected status under the law for homosexuals or bisexuals.
  1. Romer v. Evans
    
    Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), when the Court had held that laws criminalizing sodomy were constitutional.
  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. Colorado
    
    Colorado is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The 2020 United States census enumerated the population of Colorado at 5,773,714, an increase of 14.80% since the 2010 United States census.
  4. Protected group
    
    A protected group, protected class (US), or prohibited ground (Canada) is a category by which people qualified for special protection by a law, policy, or similar authority. In Canada and the United States, the term is frequently used in connection with employees and employment and housing. Where illegal discrimination on the basis of protected group status is concerned, a single act of discrimination may be based on more than one protected class. For example, discrimination based on antisemitism may relate to religion, ethnicity, national origin, or any combination of the three; discrimination against a pregnant woman might be based on sex, marital status, or both.
2. Civil rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of gays and lesbians.
  1. LGBT rights in the United States
    
    Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in the United States are among the most socially, culturally, and legally permissive and advanced in the world, with public opinion and jurisprudence on the issue changing significantly since the late 1980s. In 1962, all 50 states criminalized same-sex sexual activity, but by 2003 all remaining laws against same-sex sexual activity were invalidated in Lawrence v. Texas. Beginning with Massachusetts in 2004, LGBT Americans had won the right to marry in all 50 states by 2015. Additionally, in many states and municipalities, LGBT Americans are explicitly protected from discrimination in employment, housing, and access to public accommodations. Many LGBT rights in the United States have been established by the United States Supreme Court, which has invalidated a state law banning protected class recognition based upon homosexuality, struck down sodomy laws nationwide, struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, made same-sex marriage legal nationwide, and prohibited employment discrimination against gay and transgender employees. American public opinion is overwhelmingly supportive of same-sex marriage. A September 2022 Grinnell College National Poll found that 74% of Americans believe same-sex marriage should be a guaranteed right while 13% disagreed, with strong majorities among both Republicans and Democratic voters.
  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. Romer v. Evans
    
    Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case dealing with sexual orientation and state laws. It was the first Supreme Court case to address gay rights since Bowers v. Hardwick (1986), when the Court had held that laws criminalizing sodomy were constitutional.
  4. Colorado
    
    Colorado is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains. Colorado is the eighth most extensive and 21st most populous U.S. state. The 2020 United States census enumerated the population of Colorado at 5,773,714, an increase of 14.80% since the 2010 United States census.
  5. Homosexuality
    
    Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to people of the same sex. It "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions."
1993
1. "One for the Road", the series finale of American television sitcom Cheers, was watched by 42.4 million American households on its original airing.
  1. One for the Road (Cheers)
    
    "One for the Road" is the final episode of the American television series Cheers. It was the 271st episode of the series and the twenty-sixth episode of the eleventh season of the show. It first aired on NBC on May 20, 1993, to an audience of approximately 42.4 million households in a 98-minute version, making it the second-highest-rated series finale of all time behind the series finale of M*A*S*H and the highest-rated episode of the 1992–1993 television season in the United States. The 98-minute version was re-broadcast on May 23, 1993, and an edited 90-minute version aired on August 19, 1993.
  2. Cheers
    
    Cheers is an American sitcom television series that ran on NBC from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993, with a total of 275 half-hour episodes across 11 seasons. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions in association with Paramount Network Television, and was created by the team of James Burrows and Glen and Les Charles. The show is set in a real-life bar and namesake Cheers in Boston, where a group of locals meet to drink, relax and socialize.
1990
1. The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
  1. Communism
    
    Communism is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange which allocates products to everyone in the society. Communist society also involves the absence of private property, social classes, money, and the state. Communists often seek a voluntary state of self-governance, but disagree on the means to this end. This reflects a distinction between a more libertarian approach of communization, revolutionary spontaneity, and workers' self-management, and a more vanguardist or communist party-driven approach through the development of a constitutional socialist state followed by the withering away of the state.
  2. Romania
    
    Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeast Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate, and an area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi), with a population of around 19 million. Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, followed by Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.
1989
1. The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
  1. Democracy
    
    Democracy is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation, or to choose governing officials to do so. Who is considered part of "the people" and how authority is shared among or delegated by the people has changed over time and at different rates in different countries, but over time more and more of a democratic country's inhabitants have generally been included. Cornerstones of democracy include freedom of assembly, association, property rights, freedom of religion and speech, inclusiveness and equality, citizenship, consent of the governed, voting rights, freedom from unwarranted governmental deprivation of the right to life and liberty, and minority rights.
  2. 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
    
    The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth Clearing or June Fourth Massacre, troops armed with assault rifles and accompanied by tanks fired at the demonstrators and those trying to block the military's advance into Tiananmen Square. The protests started on 15 April and were forcibly suppressed on 4 June when the government declared martial law and sent the People's Liberation Army to occupy parts of central Beijing. Estimates of the death toll vary from several hundred to several thousand, with thousands more wounded. The popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests is sometimes called the '89 Democracy Movement or the Tiananmen Square Incident.
1985
1. Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
  1. Radio y Televisión Martí
    
    Radio Televisión Martí is an American state-run radio and television international broadcaster based in Miami, Florida, financed by the federal government of the United States through the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which transmits news in Spanish to Cuba. Its broadcasts can also be heard and viewed worldwide through their website and on shortwave radio frequencies.
  2. Voice of America
    
    Voice of America is the state-owned international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages which it distributes to affiliate stations around the globe. It is primarily viewed by a non-American audience.
  3. Cuba
    
    Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The official area of the Republic of Cuba is 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi) but a total of 350,730 km² including the exclusive economic zone. Cuba is the second-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.
1983
1. uMkhonto we Sizwe, the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress, detonated a car bomb in Pretoria, resulting in 19 deaths and 217 injuries.
  1. UMkhonto we Sizwe
    
    uMkhonto we Sizwe is the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), and was founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government.
  2. African National Congress
    
    The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election installed Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent national President, has served as President of the ANC since 18 December 2017.
  3. Church Street, Pretoria bombing
    
    The Church Street bombing was a car bomb attack on 20 May 1983 in the South African capital Pretoria by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. The bombing killed 19 people, including the two perpetrators, and wounded 217. The Church Street Bombing was the most deadly attack by the ANC against South Africa's ruling National Party.
  4. Pretoria
    
    Pretoria is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Cape Town is the legislative capital whereas Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.
2. First publications of the discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by a team of French scientists including Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Jean-Claude Chermann, and Luc Montagnier.
  1. HIV
    
    The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of Lentivirus that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive. Without treatment, average survival time after infection with HIV is estimated to be 9 to 11 years, depending on the HIV subtype.
  2. Virus
    
    A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1892 article describing a non-bacterial pathogen infecting tobacco plants and the discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Martinus Beijerinck in 1898, more than 9,000 virus species have been described in detail of the millions of types of viruses in the environment. Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth and are the most numerous type of biological entity. The study of viruses is known as virology, a subspeciality of microbiology.
  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. Science (journal)
    
    Science, also widely referred to as Science Magazine, is the peer-reviewed academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and one of the world's top academic journals. It was first published in 1880, is currently circulated weekly and has a subscriber base of around 130,000. Because institutional subscriptions and online access serve a larger audience, its estimated readership is over 400,000 people.
  5. Françoise Barré-Sinoussi
    
    Françoise Barré-Sinoussi is a French virologist and Director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Division and Professor at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. Born in Paris, France, Barré-Sinoussi performed some of the fundamental work in the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as the cause of AIDS. In 2008, Barré-Sinoussi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with her former mentor, Luc Montagnier, for their discovery of HIV. She mandatorily retired from active research on August 31, 2015 and fully retired by some time in 2017.
  6. Jean-Claude Chermann
    
    Jean-Claude Chermann is a French virologist who managed the research team which, by 1983, under the administrative supervision of Luc Montagnier, had discovered the virus associated with AIDS. Whereas second author of this initial publication and obviously involved as team manager in this discovery, he had been omitted from the Nobel Prize attributed to its colleagues. In 2008, as chairman of the support committee for the attribution of the Nobel Prize in medicine to Jean-Claude Chermann, Bernard Le Grelle, a political consultant, campaigned for the official recognition of this oversight with the Nobel committee by bringing together more than 700 doctors, professors and scientists . The virus was named lymphadenopathy-associated virus, or LAV. A year later, a team led by Robert Gallo of the United States confirmed the discovery of the virus, but renamed it human T-lymphotropic virus type III (HTLV-III).
  7. Luc Montagnier
    
    Luc Montagnier was a French virologist and joint recipient, with Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Harald zur Hausen, of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). He worked as a researcher at the Pasteur Institute in Paris and as a full-time professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
3. Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by Umkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
  1. Church Street, Pretoria bombing
    
    The Church Street bombing was a car bomb attack on 20 May 1983 in the South African capital Pretoria by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress. The bombing killed 19 people, including the two perpetrators, and wounded 217. The Church Street Bombing was the most deadly attack by the ANC against South Africa's ruling National Party.
  2. UMkhonto we Sizwe
    
    uMkhonto we Sizwe is the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), and was founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government.
  3. Pretoria
    
    Pretoria is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Cape Town is the legislative capital whereas Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.
1980
1. In a referendum in Quebec, the population rejects, by 60% of the vote, a government proposal to move towards independence from Canada.
  1. 1980 Quebec referendum
    
    The 1980 Quebec independence referendum was the first referendum in Quebec on the place of Quebec within Canada and whether Quebec should pursue a path toward sovereignty. The referendum was called by Quebec's Parti Québécois (PQ) government, which advocated secession from Canada.
1971
1. In the Chuknagar massacre, Pakistani forces massacre thousands, mostly Bengali Hindus.
  1. Chuknagar massacre
    
    Chuknagar massacre was a massacre committed by the Pakistan Army during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The massacre took place on 20 May 1971 at Dumuria in Khulna and it was one of the largest massacres during the war. The exact number of persons killed in the massacre is not known. Academic Sarmila Bose, in her controversial book. dismisses claims that 10,000 were killed as "unhelpful", and argues that the reported number of attackers could have shot no more than several hundred people before running out of ammunition. The majority of people killed in the massacre were men, although an unknown number of women and children were murdered as well.
1969
1. The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
  1. Battle of Hamburger Hill
    
    The Battle of Hamburger Hill was a battle of the Vietnam War that was fought by US Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces against People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces during Operation Apache Snow. Though the heavily-fortified Hill 937, a ridge of the mountain Dong Ap Bia in central Vietnam near its western border with Laos, had little strategic value, US command ordered its capture by a frontal assault, only to abandon it soon thereafter. The action caused a controversy both in the American military and public.
  2. Vietnam
    
    Vietnam or Viet Nam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of 311,699 square kilometres (120,348 sq mi) and population of 96 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country. Vietnam borders China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital is Hanoi and largest city Ho Chi Minh City
1967
1. The Popular Movement of the Revolution political party is established in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
  1. Popular Movement of the Revolution
    
    The Popular Movement of the Revolution was the ruling political party in Zaire. For most of its existence, it was the only legally permitted party in the country. It was founded by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu on 20 May 1967.
  2. Political party
    
    A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or policy goals.
  3. Democratic Republic of the Congo
    
    The Democratic Republic of the Congo, informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in Central Africa. It is bordered to the northwest by the Republic of the Congo, to the north by the Central African Republic, to the northeast by South Sudan, to the east by Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, and by Tanzania, to the south and southeast by Zambia, to the southwest by Angola, and to the west by the South Atlantic Ocean and the Cabinda exclave of Angola. By area, it is the second-largest country in Africa and the 11th-largest in the world. With a population of around 108 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the most populous officially Francophone country in the world. The national capital and largest city is Kinshasa, which is also the nation's economic center.
1965
1. While attempting to land at Cairo International Airport, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashed for unknown reasons, killing all but 6 of the 121 people on board.
  1. Cairo International Airport
    
    Cairo International Airport is the principal international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air as well as several other airlines. The airport is located in Heliopolis, to the northeast of Cairo around fifteen kilometres from the business area of the city and has an area of approximately 37 km2 (14 sq mi).
  2. Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
    
    Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 121 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed.
2. One hundred twenty-one people are killed when Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 crashes at Cairo International Airport.
  1. Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705
    
    Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705 (PK705) was a Boeing 720 airliner that crashed while descending to land at Cairo International Airport on 20 May 1965. Of the 121 passengers and crew on board, all but 6 were killed.
  2. Cairo International Airport
    
    Cairo International Airport is the principal international airport of Cairo and the largest and busiest airport in Egypt. It serves as the primary hub for Egyptair and Nile Air as well as several other airlines. The airport is located in Heliopolis, to the northeast of Cairo around fifteen kilometres from the business area of the city and has an area of approximately 37 km2 (14 sq mi).
1964
1. Discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation by Robert Woodrow Wilson and Arno Penzias.
  1. Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation
    
    The discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation constitutes a major development in modern physical cosmology. In 1964, US physicist Arno Allan Penzias and radio-astronomer Robert Woodrow Wilson discovered the CMB, estimating its temperature as 3.5 K, as they experimented with the Holmdel Horn Antenna. The new measurements were accepted as important evidence for a hot early Universe and as evidence against the rival steady state theory as theoretical work around 1950 showed the need for a CMB for consistency with the simplest relativistic universe models. In 1978, Penzias and Wilson were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their joint measurement. There had been a prior measurement of the cosmic background radiation (CMB) by Andrew McKellar in 1941 at an effective temperature of 2.3 K using CN stellar absorption lines observed by W. S. Adams. Although no reference to the CMB is made by McKellar, it was not until much later after the Penzias and Wilson measurements that the significance of this measurement was understood.
  2. Cosmic microwave background
    
    In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all space. It is an important source of data on the early universe because it is the oldest electromagnetic radiation in the universe, dating to the epoch of recombination when the first atoms were formed. With a traditional optical telescope, the space between stars and galaxies is completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope shows a faint background brightness, or glow, almost uniform, that is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the radio spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s, and earned the discoverers the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics.
  3. Robert Woodrow Wilson
    
    Robert Woodrow Wilson is an American astronomer who, along with Arno Allan Penzias, discovered cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) in 1964. The pair won the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery.
  4. Arno Allan Penzias
    
    Arno Allan Penzias is an American physicist, radio astronomer and Nobel laureate in physics. Along with Robert Woodrow Wilson, he discovered the cosmic microwave background radiation, which helped establish the Big Bang theory of cosmology.
1956
1. In Operation Redwing, the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
  1. Operation Redwing
    
    Operation Redwing was a United States series of 17 nuclear test detonations from May to July 1956. They were conducted at Bikini and Enewetak atolls by Joint Task Force 7 (JTF7). The entire operation followed Project 56 and preceded Project 57. The primary intention was to test new, second-generation thermonuclear weapons. Also tested were fission devices intended to be used as primaries for thermonuclear weapons, and small tactical weapons for air defense. Redwing demonstrated the first United States airdrop of a deliverable hydrogen bomb during test Cherokee. Because the yields for many tests at Operation Castle in 1954 were dramatically higher than predictions, Redwing was conducted using an "energy budget": There were limits to the total amount of energy released, and the amount of fission yield was also strictly controlled. Fission, primarily "fast" fission of the natural uranium tamper surrounding the fusion capsule, greatly increases the yield of thermonuclear devices, and constitutes the great majority of the fallout, as nuclear fusion is a relatively clean reaction.
  2. Thermonuclear weapon
    
    A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lower mass, or a combination of these benefits. Characteristics of nuclear fusion reactions make possible the use of non-fissile depleted uranium as the weapon's main fuel, thus allowing more efficient use of scarce fissile material such as uranium-235 or plutonium-239. The first full-scale thermonuclear test was carried out by the United States in 1952; the concept has since been employed by most of the world's nuclear powers in the design of their weapons.
  3. Bikini Atoll
    
    Bikini Atoll, sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a 229.4-square-mile (594.1 km2) central lagoon. After the Second World War, the atoll's inhabitants were forcibly relocated in 1946, after which the islands and lagoon were the site of 23 nuclear tests by the United States until 1958.
1949
1. In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established.
  1. National Security Agency
    
    The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and processing of information and data for foreign and domestic intelligence and counterintelligence purposes, specializing in a discipline known as signals intelligence (SIGINT). The NSA is also tasked with the protection of U.S. communications networks and information systems. The NSA relies on a variety of measures to accomplish its mission, the majority of which are clandestine. The existence of the NSA was not revealed until 1975. The NSA has roughly 32,000 employees.
1948
1. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek wins the 1948 Republic of China presidential election and is sworn in as the first President of the Republic of China at Nanjing.
  1. Chiang Kai-shek
    
    Chiang Kai-shek, also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 to his death in 1975 – until 1949 in mainland China and from then on in Taiwan. After his rule was confined to Taiwan following his defeat by Mao Zedong in the Chinese Civil War, he continued to head the ROC government in exile.
  2. 1948 Chinese presidential election
    
    The 1948 Chinese presidential election was held on April 20, 1948 at the National Assembly House in Nanking. The election was conducted by the National Assembly to elect the President and Vice President of China. This is the first election under the newly adopted 1947 Constitution of the Republic of China.
  3. President of the Republic of China
    
    The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had authority of ruling over Mainland China, but its remaining jurisdictions has been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other smaller islands since the conclusion of Second Chinese Civil War.
  4. Nanjing
    
    Nanjing, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the third largest city in the East China region. The city has 11 districts, an administrative area of 6,600 km2 (2,500 sq mi), and a total recorded population of 9,314,685 as of 2020.
1941
1. World War II: Battle of Crete: German paratroops invade Crete.
  1. Battle of Crete
    
    The Battle of Crete, codenamed Operation Mercury, was a major Axis airborne and amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May 1941, with a multiple German airborne landings on Crete. Greek and other Allied forces, along with Cretan civilians, defended the island. After only one day of fighting, the Germans had suffered heavy casualties and the Allied troops were confident that they would defeat the invasion. The next day, through communication failures, Allied tactical hesitation, and German offensive operations, Maleme Airfield in western Crete fell, enabling the Germans to land reinforcements and overwhelm the defensive positions on the north of the island. Allied forces withdrew to the south coast. More than half were evacuated by the British Royal Navy and the remainder surrendered or joined the Cretan resistance. The defence of Crete evolved into a costly naval engagement; by the end of the campaign the Royal Navy's eastern Mediterranean strength had been reduced to only two battleships and three cruisers.
  2. Nazi Germany
    
    Nazi Germany was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a dictatorship. Under Hitler's rule, Germany quickly became a totalitarian state where nearly all aspects of life were controlled by the government. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", alluded to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the earlier Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which Hitler and the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945 after just 12 years when the Allies defeated Germany, ending World War II in Europe.
  3. Fallschirmjäger
    
    The Fallschirmjäger were the paratrooper branch of the German Luftwaffe before and during World War II. They were the first German paratroopers to be committed in large-scale airborne operations. Throughout World War II, the commander of the branch was Kurt Student.
  4. Crete
    
    Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica. Crete rests about 160 km (99 mi) south of the Greek mainland, and about 100 km (62 mi) southwest of Anatolia. Crete has an area of 8,450 km2 (3,260 sq mi) and a coastline of 1,046 km (650 mi). It bounds the southern border of the Aegean Sea, with the Sea of Crete to the north and the Libyan Sea to the south.
1940
1. The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
  1. The Holocaust
    
    The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; around two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. The murders were carried out in pogroms and mass shootings; by a policy of extermination through labor in concentration camps; and in gas chambers and gas vans in German extermination camps, chiefly Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bełżec, Chełmno, Majdanek, Sobibór, and Treblinka in occupied Poland.
  2. Internment
    
    Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply mean imprisonment, it tends to refer to preventive confinement rather than confinement after having been convicted of some crime. Use of these terms is subject to debate and political sensitivities. The word internment is also occasionally used to describe a neutral country's practice of detaining belligerent armed forces and equipment on its territory during times of war, under the Hague Convention of 1907.
  3. Auschwitz concentration camp
    
    Auschwitz concentration camp was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust. It consisted of Auschwitz I, the main camp (Stammlager) in Oświęcim; Auschwitz II-Birkenau, a concentration and extermination camp with gas chambers; Auschwitz III-Monowitz, a labor camp for the chemical conglomerate IG Farben; and dozens of subcamps. The camps became a major site of the Nazis' final solution to the Jewish question.
1932
1. Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
  1. Amelia Earhart
    
    Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, was one of the first aviators to promote commercial air travel, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots.
  2. Newfoundland (island)
    
    Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of the North American mainland and the most populous part of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It has 29 percent of the province's land area. The island is separated from the Labrador Peninsula by the Strait of Belle Isle and from Cape Breton Island by the Cabot Strait. It blocks the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, creating the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, the world's largest estuary. Newfoundland's nearest neighbour is the French overseas collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
1927
1. By the Treaty of Jeddah, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty of King Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia (pictured) over Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become Saudi Arabia.
  1. Treaty of Jeddah (1927)
    
    The 1927 Treaty of Jeddah, formally the Treaty between His Majesty and His Majesty the King of the Hejaz and of Nejd and Its Dependencies was signed between the United Kingdom and Ibn Saud. It recognised the independence of Ibn Saud and sovereignty over what was then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The two regions were unified into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In return, Ibn Saud agreed to stop his forces from attacking and harassing neighbouring British protectorates.
  2. Ibn Saud
    
    Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, known in the West as Ibn Saud, was an Arab tribal, political, and religious leader who founded Saudi Arabia, the third Saudi state, and reigned as its first king from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, and King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.
  3. Hejaz
    
    The Hejaz is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Province" in Saudi Arabia. It is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the 'Asir Region. Its largest city is Jeddah, with Mecca and Medina being the fourth and fifth largest cities respectively in the country. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula.
  4. Najd
    
    Najd, or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the House of Saud to bring Arabia under a single polity and under the Salafi jurisprudence.
2. Treaty of Jeddah: The United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
  1. Treaty of Jeddah (1927)
    
    The 1927 Treaty of Jeddah, formally the Treaty between His Majesty and His Majesty the King of the Hejaz and of Nejd and Its Dependencies was signed between the United Kingdom and Ibn Saud. It recognised the independence of Ibn Saud and sovereignty over what was then known as the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The two regions were unified into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. In return, Ibn Saud agreed to stop his forces from attacking and harassing neighbouring British protectorates.
  2. Sovereignty
    
    Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body, or institution that has the ultimate authority over other people in order to establish a law or change an existing law. In political theory, sovereignty is a substantive term designating supreme legitimate authority over some polity. In international law, sovereignty is the exercise of power by a state. De jure sovereignty refers to the legal right to do so; de facto sovereignty refers to the factual ability to do so. This can become an issue of special concern upon the failure of the usual expectation that de jure and de facto sovereignty exist at the place and time of concern, and reside within the same organization.
  3. Ibn Saud
    
    Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud, known in the West as Ibn Saud, was an Arab tribal, political, and religious leader who founded Saudi Arabia, the third Saudi state, and reigned as its first king from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, and King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.
  4. Hejaz
    
    The Hejaz is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Province" in Saudi Arabia. It is bordered in the west by the Red Sea, in the north by Jordan, in the east by the Najd, and in the south by the 'Asir Region. Its largest city is Jeddah, with Mecca and Medina being the fourth and fifth largest cities respectively in the country. The Hejaz is the most cosmopolitan region in the Arabian Peninsula.
  5. Najd
    
    Najd, or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the House of Saud to bring Arabia under a single polity and under the Salafi jurisprudence.
  6. Saudi Arabia
    
    Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about 2,150,000 km2 (830,000 sq mi), making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Arab world, and the largest in Western Asia and the Middle East. It is bordered by the Red Sea to the west; Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman to the southeast; and Yemen to the south. Bahrain is an island country off the east coast. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northwest separates Saudi Arabia from Egypt. Saudi Arabia is the only country with a coastline along both the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and most of its terrain consists of arid desert, lowland, steppe, and mountains. Its capital and largest city is Riyadh. The country is home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities in Islam.
3. Charles Lindbergh takes off for Paris from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, N.Y., aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, landing .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}33+1⁄2 hours later.
  1. Charles Lindbergh
    
    Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km), flying alone for 33.5 hours. His aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis, was designed and built by the Ryan Airline Company specifically to compete for the Orteig Prize for the first flight between the two cities. Although not the first transatlantic flight, it was the first solo transatlantic flight, the first nonstop transatlantic flight between two major city hubs, and the longest by over 1,900 miles (3,000 km). It is known as one of the most consequential flights in history and ushered in a new era of air transportation between parts of the globe.
  2. Spirit of St. Louis
    
    The Spirit of St. Louis is the custom-built, single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane that was flown by Charles Lindbergh on May 20–21, 1927, on the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France, for which Lindbergh won the $25,000 Orteig Prize.
1902
1. Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President.
  1. Cuba
    
    Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola, and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The official area of the Republic of Cuba is 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi) but a total of 350,730 km² including the exclusive economic zone. Cuba is the second-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.
  2. Tomás Estrada Palma
    
    Tomás Estrada Palma was a Cuban politician, the president of the Cuban Republican in Arms during the Ten Years' War, and the first President of Cuba, between May 20, 1902, and September 28, 1906. His collateral career as a New York City area educator and writer enabled Estrada Palma to create pro-Cuban literature aimed at gaining sympathy, assistance and publicity. He was eventually successful in garnering the attention of influential Americans. He was an early and persistent voice calling for the United States to intervene in Cuba on humanitarian grounds. During his presidency his major accomplishments include improving Cuba's infrastructure, communication, and public health.
1891
1. History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.
  1. History of film
    
    The history of film chronicles the development of a visual art form created using film technologies that began in the late 19th century.
  2. Thomas Edison
    
    Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory.
  3. Kinetoscope
    
    The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video: it created the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. First described in conceptual terms by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1888, it was largely developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. Dickson and his team at the Edison lab in New Jersey also devised the Kinetograph, an innovative motion picture camera with rapid intermittent, or stop-and-go, film movement, to photograph movies for in-house experiments and, eventually, commercial Kinetoscope presentations.
1883
1. Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people.
  1. Krakatoa
    
    Krakatoa, also transcribed Krakatau, is a caldera in the Sunda Strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. The caldera is part of a volcanic island group comprising four islands. Two, Lang and Verlaten, are remnants of a previous volcanic edifice destroyed in eruptions long before the famous 1883 eruption; another, Rakata, is the remnant of a much larger island destroyed in the 1883 eruption.
  2. 1883 eruption of Krakatoa
    
    The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa in the Sunda Strait occurred from 20 May until 21 October 1883, peaking in the late morning hours of 27 August when over 70% of the island of Krakatoa and its surrounding archipelago were destroyed as it collapsed into a caldera.
1882
1. The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy was formed.
  1. Triple Alliance (1882)
    
    The Triple Alliance was a military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. It was formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 during World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been closely allied since 1879. Italy was looking for support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral. The existence and membership of the treaty were well known, but its exact provisions were kept secret until 1919.
  2. German Empire
    
    The German Empire, also referred to as Imperial Germany, the Kaiserreich, the Second Reich, as well as simply Germany, was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic.
  3. Austria-Hungary
    
    Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War.
  4. Kingdom of Italy
    
    The Kingdom of Italy was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and form the modern Italian Republic. The state resulted from a decades-long process, the Risorgimento, of consolidating the different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single state. That process was influenced by the Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered Italy's legal predecessor state.
2. The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed.
  1. Triple Alliance (1882)
    
    The Triple Alliance was a military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. It was formed on 20 May 1882 and renewed periodically until it expired in 1915 during World War I. Germany and Austria-Hungary had been closely allied since 1879. Italy was looking for support against France shortly after it lost North African ambitions to the French. Each member promised mutual support in the event of an attack by any other great power. The treaty provided that Germany and Austria-Hungary were to assist Italy if it was attacked by France without provocation. In turn, Italy would assist Germany if attacked by France. In the event of a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia, Italy promised to remain neutral. The existence and membership of the treaty were well known, but its exact provisions were kept secret until 1919.
  2. Austria-Hungary
    
    Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War and was dissolved shortly after its defeat in the First World War.
  3. Kingdom of Italy
    
    The Kingdom of Italy was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and form the modern Italian Republic. The state resulted from a decades-long process, the Risorgimento, of consolidating the different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single state. That process was influenced by the Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered Italy's legal predecessor state.
1875
1. Representatives from seventeen countries signed the Metre Convention, which set up an institute for the purpose of coordinating international metrology and for coordinating the development of the metric system.
  1. Metre Convention
    
    The Metre Convention, also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations. The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), that coordinates international metrology and the development of the metric system.
  2. Metrology
    
    Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in France when a length standard taken from a natural source was proposed. This led to the creation of the decimal-based metric system in 1795, establishing a set of standards for other types of measurements. Several other countries adopted the metric system between 1795 and 1875; to ensure conformity between the countries, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was established by the Metre Convention. This has evolved into the International System of Units (SI) as a result of a resolution at the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960.
  3. Metric system
    
    The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the International System of Units (SI) in the mid-20th century, under the oversight of an international standards body. Adopting the metric system is known as metrication.
2. Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.
  1. Metre Convention
    
    The Metre Convention, also known as the Treaty of the Metre, is an international treaty that was signed in Paris on 20 May 1875 by representatives of 17 nations. The treaty created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), an intergovernmental organization under the authority of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the supervision of the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), that coordinates international metrology and the development of the metric system.
  2. International System of Units
    
    The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and based on the metre as the unit of length and either the kilogram as the unit of mass or the kilogram-force as the unit of force.</ref> and the world's most widely used system of measurement. Established and maintained by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM), it is the only system of measurement with an official status in nearly every country in the world, employed in science, technology, industry, and everyday commerce.
1873
1. Levi Strauss and Jacob W. Davis received a patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim overalls, allowing their company to start manufacturing blue jeans.
  1. Levi Strauss
    
    Levi Strauss was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.
  2. Jacob W. Davis
    
    Jacob William Davis was an American tailor of Latvian-Jewish origin who is credited with inventing modern jeans. Growing up in Latvia, he emigrated to the United States as a young man and spent some time in Canada as well. He invented jeans by using sturdy cloth and rivets to strengthen weak points in the seams, and partnered with Levi Strauss to mass-produce them.
  3. Patent
    
    A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention. In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights. In some industries patents are an essential form of competitive advantage; in others they are irrelevant.
  4. Denim
    
    Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been produced in India for hundreds of years, denim as it is recognized today was first produced in Nîmes, France.
  5. Levi Strauss & Co.
    
    Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to open a west coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware, the company's corporate headquarters is located in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.
  6. Jeans
    
    Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Prior to the patent, the term "blue jeans" had been long in use for various garments, constructed from blue-colored denim.
2. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
  1. Levi Strauss
    
    Levi Strauss was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.
  2. Jacob W. Davis
    
    Jacob William Davis was an American tailor of Latvian-Jewish origin who is credited with inventing modern jeans. Growing up in Latvia, he emigrated to the United States as a young man and spent some time in Canada as well. He invented jeans by using sturdy cloth and rivets to strengthen weak points in the seams, and partnered with Levi Strauss to mass-produce them.
  3. Patent
    
    A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention. In most countries, patent rights fall under private law and the patent holder must sue someone infringing the patent in order to enforce their rights. In some industries patents are an essential form of competitive advantage; in others they are irrelevant.
  4. Jeans
    
    Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by Jacob W. Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Prior to the patent, the term "blue jeans" had been long in use for various garments, constructed from blue-colored denim.
  5. Copper
    
    Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orange color. Copper is used as a conductor of heat and electricity, as a building material, and as a constituent of various metal alloys, such as sterling silver used in jewelry, cupronickel used to make marine hardware and coins, and constantan used in strain gauges and thermocouples for temperature measurement.
1864
1. American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
  1. Battle of Ware Bottom Church
    
    The Battle of Ware Bottom Church was fought on May 20, 1864, between Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The Union troops were led by Benjamin Butler, while the Confederates were led by P.G.T. Beauregard. The Confederates were victorious, and Butler's forces remained in their Bermuda Hundred defenses. Following the battle, the Confederates began digging a critical set of defensive earthworks that became known as the Howlett Line.
  2. Virginia
    
    Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population in 2020 was over 8.65 million, with 36% of them living in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.
  3. Bermuda Hundred campaign
    
    The Bermuda Hundred campaign was a series of battles fought at the town of Bermuda Hundred, outside Richmond, Virginia, during May 1864 in the American Civil War. Union Maj. Gen. Benjamin Butler, commanding the Army of the James, threatened Richmond from the east but was stopped by forces under Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard.
1862
1. U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law, opening 84 million acres of public land to settlers.
  1. Abraham Lincoln
    
    Abraham Lincoln was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
  2. Homestead Acts
    
    The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than 160 million acres of public land, or nearly 10 percent of the total area of the United States, was given away free to 1.6 million homesteaders; most of the homesteads were west of the Mississippi River.
1861
1. American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.
  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. Kentucky
    
    Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to the east; Tennessee to the south; and Missouri to the west. Its northern border is defined by the Ohio River. Its capital is Frankfort, and its two largest cities are Louisville and Lexington. Its population was approximately 4.5 million in 2020.
  3. Neutral country
    
    A neutral country is a state that is neutral towards belligerents in a specific war or holds itself as permanently neutral in all future conflicts. As a type of non-combatant status, nationals of neutral countries enjoy protection under the law of war from belligerent actions to a greater extent than other non-combatants such as enemy civilians and prisoners of war. Different countries interpret their neutrality differently: some, such as Costa Rica, have demilitarized, while Switzerland holds to "armed neutrality", to deter aggression with a sizeable military, while barring itself from foreign deployment.
  4. Confederate States of America
    
    The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States, the Confederacy, or "the South", was an unrecognized breakaway republic in North America that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confederacy comprised U.S. states that declared secession and warred against the United States during the American Civil War. Eleven U.S. states, nicknamed Dixie, declared secession and formed the main part of the CSA. They were South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Kentucky, and Missouri also had declarations of secession and full representation in the Confederate Congress during their Union army occupation.
1840
1. York Minster is badly damaged by fire.
  1. York Minster
    
    The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the third-highest office of the Church of England, and is the mother church for the Diocese of York and the Province of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title; the word Metropolitical in the formal name refers to the Archbishop of York's role as the Metropolitan bishop of the Province of York. Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.
1813
1. Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
  1. Battle of Bautzen (1813)
    
    In the Battle of Bautzen, a combined Prusso–Russian army, that was massively outnumbered, was pushed back by Napoleon but escaped destruction, with some sources claiming that Marshal Michel Ney failed to block their retreat. The Prussians under General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and Russians under General Peter Wittgenstein, retreating after their defeat at Lützen were attacked by French forces under Napoleon.
  2. Saxony
    
    Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and its largest city is Leipzig. Saxony is the tenth largest of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of 18,413 square kilometres (7,109 sq mi), and the sixth most populous, with more than 4 million inhabitants.
  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.
1802
1. By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
  1. Law of 20 May 1802
    
    The French Law of 20 May 1802 was passed by Napoleon Bonaparte that day, revoking the Law of 4 February 1794 which had abolished slavery in all the French colonies. However, the 1794 decree was only implemented in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and Guiana, did not take effect in Mauritius, Reunion and Martinique, the last of which had been captured by the British and thus was unaffected by French law.
  2. Napoleon
    
    Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814 and again in 1815. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy endures to this day, as a highly celebrated and controversial leader. He initiated many liberal reforms that have persisted in society, and is considered one of the greatest military commanders in history, but between three and six million civilians and soldiers perished in what became known as the Napoleonic Wars.
  3. Slavery
    
    Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave, who is someone forbidden to quit their service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as their property. Slavery typically involves the enslaved person being made to perform some form of work while also having their location or residence dictated by the enslaver. Many historical cases of enslavement occurred when the enslaved broke the law, became indebted, or suffered a military defeat; other forms of slavery were instituted along demographic lines such as race. The duration of a person's enslavement might be for life, or for a fixed period of time, after which freedom would be granted. Although most forms of slavery are explicitly involuntary and involve the coercion of the enslaved, there also exists voluntary slavery, entered into by the enslaved to pay a debt or obtain money because of poverty. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of civilization, legal in most societies, but it is now outlawed in most countries of the world, except as a punishment for a crime.
  4. French colonial empire
    
    The French colonial empire comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that existed until 1814, by which time most of it had been lost or sold, and the "Second French Colonial Empire", which began with the conquest of Algiers in 1830. At its apex between the two world wars, the second French colonial empire was the second-largest colonial empire in the world behind the British Empire.
  5. French Revolution
    
    The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, while phrases like liberté, égalité, fraternité reappeared in other revolts, such as the 1917 Russian Revolution, and inspired campaigns for the abolition of slavery and universal suffrage. The values and institutions it created dominate French politics to this day.
1775
1. The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
  1. Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence
    
    The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is a text published in 1819 with the now disputed claim that it was the first declaration of independence made in the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution. It was supposedly signed on May 20, 1775, in Charlotte, North Carolina, by a committee of citizens of Mecklenburg County, who declared independence from Great Britain after hearing of the battle of Lexington. If true, the Mecklenburg Declaration preceded the United States Declaration of Independence by more than a year.
  2. Charlotte, North Carolina
    
    Charlotte is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 as of the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous city in the U.S., the seventh most populous city in the South, and the second most populous city in the Southeast behind Jacksonville, Florida. The city is the cultural, economic, and transportation center of the Charlotte metropolitan area, whose 2020 population of 2,660,329 ranked 22nd in the U.S. Metrolina is part of a sixteen-county market region or combined statistical area with a 2020 census-estimated population of 2,846,550.
1741
1. War of Jenkins' Ear: Having lost more than 9,500 men, mostly from yellow fever, British forces were forced to withdraw, ending the two-month-long Battle of Cartagena de Indias against Spain.
  1. War of Jenkins' Ear
    
    The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Britain and Spain lasting from 1739 to 1748, mainly in New Granada and among the West Indies of the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its name, coined by British historian Thomas Carlyle in 1858, refers to Robert Jenkins, a captain of a British merchant ship, whose ear was cut off by sailors of the Spanish coast guard when they boarded his smuggling brig, Rebecca, in April 1731. Seven years later, in support of mongering for war, Jenkins was paraded before the British Parliament, without his ear.
  2. Yellow fever
    
    Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In about 15% of people, within a day of improving the fever comes back, abdominal pain occurs, and liver damage begins causing yellow skin. If this occurs, the risk of bleeding and kidney problems is increased.
  3. Battle of Cartagena de Indias
    
    The Battle of Cartagena de Indias took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spain and Britain. The result of long-standing commercial tensions, the war was primarily fought in the Caribbean; the British tried to capture key Spanish ports in the region, including Porto Bello and Chagres in Panama, Havana, and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia.
2. The Battle of Cartagena de Indias ends in a Spanish victory and the British begin withdrawal towards Jamaica with substantial losses.
  1. Battle of Cartagena de Indias
    
    The Battle of Cartagena de Indias took place during the 1739 to 1748 War of Jenkins' Ear between Spain and Britain. The result of long-standing commercial tensions, the war was primarily fought in the Caribbean; the British tried to capture key Spanish ports in the region, including Porto Bello and Chagres in Panama, Havana, and Cartagena de Indias in present-day Colombia.
  2. Spanish Navy
    
    The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, the most famous being the discovery of America and the first global circumnavigation by Elcano. For several centuries, it played a crucial logistical role in the expansion and consolidation of the Spanish Empire, and defended a vast trade network across the Atlantic Ocean between the Americas and Europe, and the Manila Galleon across the Pacific Ocean between the Philippines and the Americas.
  3. 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.
  4. Withdrawal (military)
    
    A tactical withdrawal or retreating defensive action is a type of military operation, generally meaning that retreating forces draw back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, force the enemy to overextend to secure a decisive victory, or to lead the enemy into an ambush. It is considered a relatively risky operation, requiring discipline to keep from turning into a disorganized rout or at the very least doing severe damage to the military's morale.
  5. Jamaica
    
    Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning 10,990 square kilometres (4,240 sq mi) in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about 145 kilometres (90 mi) south of Cuba, and 191 kilometres (119 mi) west of Hispaniola ; the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands lies some 215 kilometres (134 mi) to the north-west.
  6. Casualty (person)
    
    A casualty, as a term in military usage, is a person in military service, combatant or non-combatant, who becomes unavailable for duty due to any of several circumstances, including death, injury, illness, capture or desertion.
1645
1. Yangzhou massacre: The ten day massacre of 800,000 residents of the city of Yangzhou, part of the Transition from Ming to Qing.
  1. Yangzhou massacre
    
    The Yangzhou massacre in May, 1645 in Yangzhou, Qing dynasty China, refers to the mass killings of innocent civilians by Manchu and defected northern Ming soldiers, commanded by the Manchu general Dodo.
  2. Yangzhou
    
    Yangzhou, postal romanization Yangchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province (Suzhong), East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across the river to the south. Its population was 4,414,681 at the 2010 census and its urban area is home to 2,146,980 inhabitants, including three urban districts, currently in the agglomeration.
  3. Transition from Ming to Qing
    
    The transition from Ming to Qing, alternatively known as Ming–Qing transition or the Manchu conquest of China, from 1618 to 1683, saw the transition between two major dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conflict between the emerging Qing dynasty, the incumbent Ming dynasty, and several smaller factions. It ended with the consolidation of Qing rule, and the fall of the Ming and several other factions.
1631
1. The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War.
  1. Magdeburg
    
    Magdeburg is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
  2. Holy Roman Empire
    
    The Holy Roman Empire, also known after 1512 as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, was a political entity in Western, Central and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
  3. Sack of Magdeburg
    
    The Sack of Magdeburg, also called Magdeburg's Wedding or Magdeburg's Sacrifice, was the destruction of the Protestant city of Magdeburg on 20 May 1631 by the Imperial Army and the forces of the Catholic League, resulting in the deaths of around 20,000, including both defenders and non-combatants. The event is considered the worst massacre of the Thirty Years' War. Magdeburg, then one of the largest cities in Germany, having well over 25,000 inhabitants in 1630, did not recover its importance until well into the 18th century.
  4. Thirty Years' War
    
    The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battle, famine, and disease, while some areas of what is now modern Germany experienced population declines of over 50%. Related conflicts include the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Franco-Spanish War, and the Portuguese Restoration War.
1609
1. Thomas Thorpe published the first copies of Shakespeare's sonnets, possibly without William Shakespeare's consent.
  1. Thomas Thorpe
    
    Thomas Thorpe was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century critics thought that he might have published the poems without Shakespeare's consent; Sidney Lee called him "predatory and irresponsible." Conversely, modern scholars Wells and Taylor assert their verdict that "Thorpe was a reputable publisher, and there is nothing intrinsically irregular about his publication."
  2. Shakespeare's sonnets
    
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616) wrote sonnets on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. However, there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost. There is also a partial sonnet found in the play Edward III.
  3. William Shakespeare
    
    William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
2. Shakespeare's sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
  1. Shakespeare's sonnets
    
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616) wrote sonnets on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609. However, there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost. There is also a partial sonnet found in the play Edward III.
  2. Thomas Thorpe
    
    Thomas Thorpe was an English publisher, most famous for publishing Shakespeare's sonnets and several works by Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. His publication of the sonnets has long been controversial. Nineteenth-century critics thought that he might have published the poems without Shakespeare's consent; Sidney Lee called him "predatory and irresponsible." Conversely, modern scholars Wells and Taylor assert their verdict that "Thorpe was a reputable publisher, and there is nothing intrinsically irregular about his publication."
1570
1. The "first modern atlas", Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius, was published.
  1. Atlas
    
    An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
  2. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
    
    Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on 20 May 1570 in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography.
  3. Abraham Ortelius
    
    Abraham Ortelius was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Along with Gemma Frisius and Gerardus Mercator, Ortelius is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography. He was a notable figure of this school in its golden age and an important geographer of Spain during the age of discovery. The publication of his atlas in 1570 is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. He was the first person proposing that the continents were joined before drifting to their present positions.
2. Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the first modern atlas.
  1. Cartography
    
    Cartography is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.
  2. Abraham Ortelius
    
    Abraham Ortelius was a Brabantian cartographer, geographer, and cosmographer, conventionally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Along with Gemma Frisius and Gerardus Mercator, Ortelius is generally considered one of the founders of the Netherlandish school of cartography and geography. He was a notable figure of this school in its golden age and an important geographer of Spain during the age of discovery. The publication of his atlas in 1570 is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. He was the first person proposing that the continents were joined before drifting to their present positions.
  3. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum
    
    Theatrum Orbis Terrarum is considered to be the first true modern atlas. Written by Abraham Ortelius, strongly encouraged by Gillis Hooftman and originally printed on 20 May 1570 in Antwerp, it consisted of a collection of uniform map sheets and supporting text bound to form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. The Ortelius atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography. The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (1570) is often considered as the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography.
  4. Atlas
    
    An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth.
1521
1. Ignatius of Loyola is seriously wounded in the Battle of Pampeluna.
  1. Ignatius of Loyola
    
    Ignatius of Loyola, S.J., venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, who, with Peter Faber and Francis Xavier, founded the religious order of the Society of Jesus, and became its first Superior General, in Paris in 1541. He envisioned the purpose of the Society of Jesus to be missionary work and teaching. In addition to the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty of other religious orders in the church, Loyola instituted a fourth vow for Jesuits of obedience to the Pope, to engage in projects ordained by the pontiff. Jesuits were instrumental in leading the Counter-Reformation.
  2. List of battles of the Italian Wars
1520
1. Hernando Cortes defeats Panfilo de Narvaez, sent by Spain to punish him for insubordination.
  1. Hernán Cortés
    
    Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.
  2. Pánfilo de Narváez
    
    Pánfilo de Narváez was a Spanish conquistador and soldier in the Americas. Born in Spain, he first embarked to Jamaica in 1510 as a soldier. He came to participate in the conquest of Cuba and led an expedition to Camagüey escorting Bartolomé de las Casas.
1498
1. Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
  1. Vasco da Gama
    
    Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira, was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
  2. Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India
    
    The Portuguese discovery of the sea route to India was the first recorded trip directly from Europe to the Indian subcontinent, via the Cape of Good Hope. Under the command of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, it was undertaken during the reign of King Manuel I in 1495–1499. Considered one of the most remarkable voyages of the Age of Discovery, it initiated the Portuguese maritime trade at Fort Cochin and other parts of the Indian Ocean, the military presence and settlements of the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay.
  3. Kozhikode
    
    Kozhikode, also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second largest metropolitan area in Kerala and the 19th largest in India. Kozhikode is classified as a Tier 2 city by the Government of India.
1497
1. John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
  1. John Cabot
    
    John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer. His 1497 voyage to the coast of North America under the commission of Henry VII of England is the earliest-known European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century. To mark the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Cabot's expedition, both the Canadian and British governments elected Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland as representing Cabot's first landing site. However, alternative locations have also been proposed.
  2. Bristol
    
    Bristol is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in South West England. The wider Bristol Built-up Area is the eleventh most populous urban area in the United Kingdom.
  3. Matthew (ship)
    
    Matthew was a caravel sailed by John Cabot in 1497 from Bristol to Newfoundland, North America. There are two modern replicas – one in Bristol, England and one in Bonavista, Newfoundland.
1449
1. The Battle of Alfarrobeira is fought, establishing the House of Braganza as a principal royal family of Portugal.
  1. Battle of Alfarrobeira
    
    The Battle of Alfarrobeira took place on 20 May 1449. It was a confrontation between the forces commanded by King Afonso V of Portugal and his uncle Afonso, Duke of Braganza, against the army of the rebellious Peter, Duke of Coimbra. The place was Vialonga, near Lisbon, at the margins of the creek of Alfarrobeira. The result was the clear defeat and death of the Duke of Coimbra and the establishment of the Braganzas as the most powerful House of Portugal.
  2. House of Braganza
    
    The Most Serene House of Braganza, also known as the Brigantine Dynasty, is a dynasty of emperors, kings, princes, and dukes of Portuguese origin which reigned in Europe and the Americas.
1426
1. King Mohnyin Thado formally ascends to the throne of Ava.[note 1]
  1. Mohnyin Thado
    
    Mohnyin Thado was king of Ava from 1426 to 1439. He is also known in Burmese history as Mohnyin Min Taya after his longtime tenure as the sawbwa of Mohnyin, a Shan-speaking frontier state. He founded the royal house of Mohnyin that would rule the kingdom until 1527.
  2. Kingdom of Ava
    
    The Kingdom of Ava was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1364 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing that had ruled central Burma since the collapse of the Pagan Empire in the late 13th century.
1293
1. King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Estudio de Escuelas de Generales in Alcalá de Henares.
  1. Sancho IV of Castile
    
    Sancho IV of Castile called the Brave, was the king of Castile, León and Galicia from 1284 to his death. Following his brother Ferdinand's death, he gained the support of nobles that declared him king instead of Ferdinand's son Alfonso. Faced with revolts throughout his reign, before he died he made his wife regent for his son Ferdinand IV.
  2. Complutense University of Madrid
    
    The Complutense University of Madrid is a public research university located in Madrid. Founded in Alcalá in 1293, it is one of the oldest operating universities in the world. It is located on a sprawling campus that occupies the entirety of the Ciudad Universitaria district of Madrid, with annexes in the district of Somosaguas in the neighboring city of Pozuelo de Alarcón. It is named after the ancient Roman settlement of Complutum, now an archeological site in Alcalá de Henares, just east of Madrid.
  3. Alcalá de Henares
    
    Alcalá de Henares is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located 35 kilometres to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. As of 2018, it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated municipality.
1217
1. First Barons' War: English forces under William Marshal defeated French troops at the Battle of Lincoln.
  1. First Barons' War
    
    The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against King John of England. The conflict resulted from King John's disastrous wars against King Philip II of France, which led to the collapse of the Angevin Empire, and John's subsequent refusal to accept and abide Magna Carta, which John had sealed on 15 June 1215.
  2. William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
    
    William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal, was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings—Henry II, his sons the "Young King" Henry, Richard I, and John, and finally John's son Henry III.
  3. Battle of Lincoln (1217)
    
    The Second Battle of Lincoln occurred at Lincoln Castle on Saturday 20 May 1217, during the First Barons' War, between the forces of the future Louis VIII of France and those of King Henry III of England. Louis's forces were attacked by a relief force under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Thomas, Count of Perche, commanding the French troops, was killed and Louis was expelled from his base in the southeast of England. The looting that took place afterwards is known as the "Lincoln Fair". The citizens of Lincoln were loyal to Louis so Henry's forces sacked the city.
2. The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
  1. Battle of Lincoln (1217)
    
    The Second Battle of Lincoln occurred at Lincoln Castle on Saturday 20 May 1217, during the First Barons' War, between the forces of the future Louis VIII of France and those of King Henry III of England. Louis's forces were attacked by a relief force under the command of William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. Thomas, Count of Perche, commanding the French troops, was killed and Louis was expelled from his base in the southeast of England. The looting that took place afterwards is known as the "Lincoln Fair". The citizens of Lincoln were loyal to Louis so Henry's forces sacked the city.
  2. Lincoln, England
    
    Lincoln is a cathedral city, a non-metropolitan district, and the county town of Lincolnshire, England. In the 2021 Census, the Lincoln district had a population of 103,813. The 2011 census gave the urban area of Lincoln, including North Hykeham and Waddington, a population of 115,000.
  3. Louis VIII of France
    
    Louis VIII, nicknamed The Lion, was King of France from 1223 to 1226. As prince, he invaded England on 21 May 1216 and was excommunicated by a papal legate on 29 May 1216. On 2 June 1216, Louis was proclaimed "King of England" by rebellious barons in London, though never crowned. He soon seized half the English kingdom but was eventually defeated by the English and after the Treaty of Lambeth, was paid 10,000 marks, pledged never to invade England again, and was absolved of his excommunication.
  4. William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
    
    William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal, was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman. He served five English kings—Henry II, his sons the "Young King" Henry, Richard I, and John, and finally John's son Henry III.
794
1. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia was beheaded on the orders of King Offa of Mercia.
  1. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
    
    The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great. Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were independently updated. In one case, the Chronicle was still being actively updated in 1154.
  2. Æthelberht II of East Anglia
    
    Æthelberht, also called Saint Ethelbert the King, was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his reign, which may have begun in 779, according to later sources, and very few of the coins he issued have been discovered. It is known from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was killed on the orders of Offa of Mercia in 794.
  3. Kingdom of East Anglia
    
    The Kingdom of the East Angles, today known as the Kingdom of East Anglia, was a small independent kingdom of the Angles comprising what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It was ruled by the Wuffingas dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, but fell to Mercia in 794, and was conquered by the Danes in 869, to form part of the Danelaw. It was conquered by Edward the Elder and incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 918.
  4. Offa of Mercia
    
    Offa was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald. Offa defeated the other claimant, Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of Midland peoples such as the Hwicce and the Magonsæte. Taking advantage of instability in the kingdom of Kent to establish himself as overlord, Offa also controlled Sussex by 771, though his authority did not remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended Mercian Supremacy over most of southern England, allying with Beorhtric of Wessex, who married Offa's daughter Eadburh, and regained complete control of the southeast. He also became the overlord of East Anglia and had King Æthelberht II of East Anglia beheaded in 794, perhaps for rebelling against him.
2. While visiting the royal Mercian court at Sutton Walls with a view to marrying princess Ælfthryth, King Æthelberht II of East Anglia is taken captive and beheaded.
  1. Mercia
    
    Mercia was one of the three notable Anglic kingdoms founded after Sub-Roman Britain was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred around the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England.
  2. Sutton Walls Hill Fort
    
    Sutton Walls Hillfort is an elongated ovoid Iron Age Hill fort located four miles north of the city of Hereford, England. It was added to the Sites and Monuments Record in 1988.
  3. Ælfthryth of Crowland
    
    Ælfthryth, also known as Alfreda, Alfritha, Aelfnryth, or Etheldritha, is a saint, virgin, and recluse, venerated in both the Roman Catholic Church and Antiochian Orthodox Church. She was a daughter of King Offa of Mercia and his consort, Cynethryth.
  4. Æthelberht II of East Anglia
    
    Æthelberht, also called Saint Ethelbert the King, was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his reign, which may have begun in 779, according to later sources, and very few of the coins he issued have been discovered. It is known from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was killed on the orders of Offa of Mercia in 794.
  5. Decapitation
    
    Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the involuntary functions that are needed for the body to function.
685
1. The Picts defeated the Northumbrians at the Battle of Dun Nechtain, severely weakening the latter's power in northern Great Britain.
  1. Picts
    
    The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. Their Latin name, Picti, appears in written records from the 3rd to the 10th century. Early medieval sources report the existence of a distinct Pictish language, which today is believed to have been an Insular Celtic language, closely related to the Brittonic spoken by the Britons who lived to the south.
  2. Northumbria
    
    Northumbria was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland.
  3. Battle of Dun Nechtain
    
    The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere was fought between the Picts, led by King Bridei Mac Bili, and the Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith, on 20 May 685.
2. The Battle of Dun Nechtain is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
  1. Battle of Dun Nechtain
    
    The Battle of Dun Nechtain or Battle of Nechtansmere was fought between the Picts, led by King Bridei Mac Bili, and the Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith, on 20 May 685.
  2. Picts
    
    The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from early medieval texts and Pictish stones. Their Latin name, Picti, appears in written records from the 3rd to the 10th century. Early medieval sources report the existence of a distinct Pictish language, which today is believed to have been an Insular Celtic language, closely related to the Brittonic spoken by the Britons who lived to the south.
  3. Bridei III
    
    King Bridei III (616/628?–693) was king of the Picts from 672 until 693.
  4. Northumbria
    
    Northumbria was an early medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom in what is now Northern England and south-east Scotland.
  5. Ecgfrith of Northumbria
    
    Ecgfrith was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Nechtansmere against the Picts of Fortriu in which he lost his life.
491
1. Empress Ariadne marries Anastasius I. The widowed Augusta is able to choose her successor for the Byzantine throne, after Zeno (late emperor) dies of dysentery.
  1. Ariadne (empress)
    
    Aelia Ariadne was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Zeno and Anastasius I. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with her feast day falling on August 22.
  2. Anastasius I Dicorus
    
    Anastasius I Dicorus was Eastern Roman emperor from 491 to 518. A career civil servant, he came to the throne at the age of 61 after being chosen by the wife of his predecessor, Zeno. His reign was characterised by reforms and improvements in the government, finances, economy, and bureaucracy of the Empire. He is noted for leaving the empire with a stable government, reinvigorated monetary economy and a sizeable budget surplus, which allowed the Empire to pursue more ambitious policies under his successors, most notably Justinian I. Since many of Anastasius' reforms proved long-lasting, his influence over the Empire endured for many centuries.
  3. List of Augustae
    
    Augusta was a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and honoured women of the imperial families. It was the feminine form of Augustus. In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater Senatus and Mater Castrorum and Mater Patriae.
  4. Byzantine Empire
    
    The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from its earlier incarnation because it was centered on Constantinople, oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
  5. Zeno (emperor)
    
    Zeno was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues. His reign saw the end of the Western Roman Empire following the deposition of Romulus Augustus and the death of Julius Nepos, but he was credited with contributing much to stabilising the Eastern Empire.
  6. Dysentery
    
    Dysentery, historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehydration.
325
1. The First Council of Nicaea is formally opened, starting the first ecumenical council of the Christian Church.
  1. First Council of Nicaea
    
    The First Council of Nicaea was a council of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325.
  2. Ecumenical council
    
    An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are convoked from the whole world (oikoumene) and which secures the approbation of the whole Church.

Births & Deaths

2022
1. Roger Angell, American sportswriter and author (b. 1920) deaths
  1. Roger Angell
    
    Roger Angell was an American essayist known for his writing on sports, especially baseball. The only writer ever elected into both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Baseball Writers' Association of America, he was a regular contributor to The New Yorker and was its chief fiction editor for many years. He wrote numerous works of fiction, non-fiction, and criticism, and for many years wrote an annual Christmas poem for The New Yorker.
2. Susan Roces, Filipino actress (b. 1941) deaths
  1. Susan Roces
    
    Jesusa Purificacion Levy Sonora-Poe, known professionally as Susan Roces, was a Filipino actress. She was the wife of Ronald Allan Kelley Poe, better known as Fernando Poe Jr. Roces was regarded as the "Queen of Philippine Movies" and starred in more than 130 films and television programs. She won five FAMAS Awards, including two Best Actress wins. Luna Awards honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her long-standing career and contribution to Philippine cinema. In 2005, Roces was one of the first inductees on Eastwood City Walk of Fame. She played the character "Lola Flora" on the ABS-CBN television series FPJ's Ang Probinsyano since the pilot episode in 2015. Months prior to her death in 2022, Roces was honored by The Philippine Post Office with a commemorative stamp.
2019
1. Niki Lauda, Austrian race car driver (b. 1949) deaths
  1. Niki Lauda
    
    Andreas Nikolaus "Niki" Lauda was an Austrian Formula One driver and aviation entrepreneur. He was a three-time F1 World Drivers' Champion, winning in 1975, 1977 and 1984, and is the only driver in F1 history to have been champion for both Ferrari and McLaren, two of the sport's most successful constructors.
2016
1. Kho Jabing, Malaysian convicted murderer who was executed by hanging in Singapore (b. 1984) deaths
  1. Kho Jabing
    
    Kho Jabing, later in life Muhammad Kho Abdullah, was a Malaysian of mixed Chinese and Iban descent from Sarawak, Malaysia, who partnered with a friend to rob and murder a Chinese construction worker named Cao Ruyin in Singapore on 17 February 2008. While his accomplice was eventually jailed and caned for robbery, Kho Jabing was convicted of murder and sentenced to death on 30 July 2010, and lost his appeal on 24 May 2011.
2015
1. Bob Belden, American saxophonist, composer, and producer (b. 1956) deaths
  1. Bob Belden
    
    James Robert Belden was an American saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader, and producer. As a composer he may be best known for his Grammy Award winning orchestral jazz recording, Black Dahlia (2001). As producer, he was mostly associated with the remastering of recordings by trumpeter Miles Davis for Columbia Records.
2. Femi Robinson, Nigerian actor and playwright (b. 1940) deaths
  1. Femi Robinson
    
    Femi Robinson Listen was a Nigerian film and television actor, famous for his lead role in The Village Headmaster, where his stage name, "Ife Araba, The Village Headmaster", was coined. Chief Eddie Ugbomah, former Chairman of the Nigerian Film Corporation, called him "an icon of the industry".
2014
1. Sandra Bem, American psychologist and academic (b. 1944) deaths
  1. Sandra Bem
    
    Sandra Ruth Lipsitz Bem was an American psychologist known for her works in androgyny and gender studies. Her pioneering work on gender roles, gender polarization and gender stereotypes led directly to more equal employment opportunities for women in the United States.
2. Ross Brown, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1934) deaths
  1. Ross Brown (rugby union)
    
    Ross Handley Brown was a New Zealand rugby union footballer. He played 16 test matches, most frequently in the first-five back position, for New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks, from 1955 until 1962.
3. Robyn Denny, English-French painter (b. 1930) deaths
  1. Robyn Denny
    
    Edward Maurice FitzGerald "Robyn" Denny was one of a group of young artists who transformed British art in the late 1950s, leading it into the international mainstream. Reacting against the mainstream St Ives School of landscape-based painting and inspired by Abstract Expressionism, American films, popular culture and urban modernity, they saw abstract painting as their only conceivable route.
4. Arthur Gelb, American journalist, author, and critic (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Arthur Gelb
    
    Arthur Gelb was an American editor, author and executive and was the managing editor of The New York Times from 1986 to 1989.
5. Prince Rupert Loewenstein, Spanish-English businessman (b. 1933) deaths
  1. Prince Rupert Loewenstein
    
    Rupert zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, Count of Loewenstein-Scharffeneck was a Spanish-born Bavarian aristocrat and the longtime financial manager of the rock band The Rolling Stones.
6. Barbara Murray, English actress (b. 1929) deaths
  1. Barbara Murray
    
    Barbara Ann Murray was an English actress.
2013
1. Flavio Costantini, Italian painter and illustrator (b. 1926) deaths
  1. Flavio Costantini
    
    Flavio Costantini was an Italian artist. Costantini created portraits of writers and artists for newspapers, and illustrated several novels. His early works were inspired by the novelist Franz Kafka, and by literary, utopian and anarchist ideals. His later work presented a pessimistic view of civilization. He created series of paintings exploring historical themes: Anarchy, the wreck of the Titanic, alchemy and Mozart, the French Revolution and its victims, Yekaterinburg and the murder of Nicholas II and his family. His last series offered a dark reading of Pinocchio, which he considered one of the three or four greatest Italian novels.
2. Billie Dawe, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Billie Dawe
    
    Billie Dawe was a Canadian amateur ice hockey player. He was a member of the 1950 World Champion team, the Edmonton Mercurys, and led that team to a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics.
3. Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (b. 1947) deaths
  1. Anders Eliasson
    
    Anders Erik Birger Eliasson was a Swedish composer.
4. Miloslav Kříž, Czech basketball player and coach (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Miloslav Kříž
    
    Miloslav Kříž was a Czech professional basketball player and coach. As a player, he played first for Uncas Prague, and later for Sparta Prague, but he was better known as a head coach and trainer, especially as the head coach of the senior Czechoslovakian women's national team. He was awarded the FIBA Order of Merit, for his services to basketball, in 2002.
5. Ray Manzarek, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer (b. 1939) deaths
  1. Ray Manzarek
    
    Raymond Daniel Manzarek Jr. was an American keyboardist. He is best known as a member of the Doors, co-founding the band with singer and lyricist Jim Morrison in 1965.
6. Denys Roberts, English judge and politician (b. 1923) deaths
  1. Denys Roberts
    
    Sir Denys Tudor Emil Roberts was a British colonial official and judge. Joining the colonial civil service as a Crown Counsel in Nyasaland in 1953, he became Attorney General of Gibraltar in 1960. In 1962, he was posted to Hong Kong as Solicitor-General, and was successively promoted to Attorney-General in 1966, Colonial Secretary/Chief Secretary in 1973 and Chief Justice in 1979. He was the first and only Attorney-General to become both Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong. Never having been a judge before, he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1979 and was the first and only Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong to receive such appointment.
7. Zach Sobiech, American singer-songwriter (b. 1995) deaths
  1. Zach Sobiech
    
    Zachary David Sobiech was an American singer-songwriter and musician from Lakeland, Minnesota, who was a member of the band A Firm Handshake. The single "Clouds" gained extensive media attention on YouTube, prior to Sobiech's death from cancer in May 2013. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100, eventually becoming a hit also in the UK, Canada and France. His philosophy was that in his last days of life due to his cancer, he needed to make people happy.
2012
1. Leela Dube, Indian anthropologist and scholar (b. 1923) deaths
  1. Leela Dube
    
    Leela Dube was a renowned anthropologist and feminist scholar, fondly called Leeladee by many. She was the widow of anthropologist and sociologist Shyama Charan Dube and a younger sister of the late classical singer Sumati Mutatkar. She is survived by two sons, Mukul Dube and Saurabh Dube. Known for her work on kinship and in women's studies, she wrote several books including Matriliny and Islam: religion and society in the Laccadives and Women and kinship: comparative perspectives on gender in South and South‑east Asia.
2. Robin Gibb, Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1949) deaths
  1. Robin Gibb
    
    Robin Hugh Gibb was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his own successful solo career. Their youngest brother Andy was also a singer.
3. David Littman, English-Swiss historian, author, and academic (b. 1933) deaths
  1. David Littman (activist)
    
    David Gerald Littman was a British Jewish activist best known for organising the departure of Jewish children from Morocco when he was 28. He then worked as a lobbyist at the United Nations in Geneva and was also an historian. He was married to Bat Ye'or.
4. Ken Lyons, American bass guitarist (b. 1953) deaths
  1. Ken Lyons
    
    Kenneth Leo Lyons was a bass guitarist and founding member of the southern rock band 38 Special. He was born to mother Joyce Lavelle Godwin Lyons and father Clynn Leo Lyons in Jacksonville, Florida. He founded 38 Special with Don Barnes, Donnie Van Zant, Jack Grondin, Steve Brookins, and Jeff Carlisi in 1974. He was a member of 38 special from 1974 to 1977. He only played on their self-titled debut album. He left 38 Special in 1977, before their first album was released. Lyons was replaced by Larry Junstrom, who continued to play in 38 Special until his retirement in 2014. Lyons died on May 20, 2012 at the age of 59 at the Wake Forest Baptist Health Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
5. Eugene Polley, American engineer, invented the remote control (b. 1915) deaths
  1. Eugene Polley
    
    Eugene Polley was an electrical engineer and engineering manager for Zenith Electronics who invented the first wireless remote control for television.
  2. Remote control
    
    In electronics, a remote control is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as a television set, DVD player or other home appliance. A remote control can allow operation of devices that are out of convenient reach for direct operation of controls. They function best when used from a short distance. This is primarily a convenience feature for the user. In some cases, remote controls allow a person to operate a device that they otherwise would not be able to reach, as when a garage door opener is triggered from outside.
6. Andrew B. Steinberg, American lawyer (b. 1958) deaths
  1. Andrew B. Steinberg
    
    Andrew Bart Steinberg was a leading aviation regulatory lawyer, who held several key posts in the public and private sectors in the United States. He served until 2008 as the Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs within the United States Department of Transportation, after being confirmed to the position by the U.S. Senate on September 29, 2006, following appointment by President George W. Bush. Prior to that post, he had been appointed by the President in May 2003, as the Chief Counsel of the Federal Aviation Administration, where he served as the top legal advisor to FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey. Steinberg was a partner in the Washington D.C. office of the international law firm of Jones Day, where he led the firm's aviation regulatory practice, a post once held by aviation pioneer L. Welch Pogue.
2011
1. Randy Savage, American wrestler and actor (b. 1952) deaths
  1. Randy Savage
    
    Randall Mario Poffo, better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
2009
1. Arthur Erickson, Canadian architect and urban planner, designed Roy Thomson Hall (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Arthur Erickson
    
    Arthur Charles Erickson was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Engineering at the University of British Columbia and, in 1950, received his B.Arch. (Honours) from McGill University. He is known as Canada's most influential architect and was the only Canadian architect to win the American Institute of Architects AIA Gold Medal. When told of Erickson's award, Philip Johnson said, "Arthur Erickson is by far the greatest architect in Canada, and he may be the greatest on this continent."
  2. Roy Thomson Hall
    
    Roy Thomson Hall is a concert hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located downtown in the city's entertainment district, it is home to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, and the Toronto Defiant. Opened in 1982, its circular architectural design exhibits a sloping and curvilinear glass exterior. It was designed by Canadian architects Arthur Erickson and Mathers and Haldenby. Itzhak Perlman acted as a special advisor to the architects on accessibility needs for disabled performers and guests.
2. Lucy Gordon, American actress and model (b. 1980) deaths
  1. Lucy Gordon (actress)
    
    Lucy Gordon was an English actress and model. She became a face of CoverGirl in 1997 before starting an acting career. Her first film was Perfume in 2001 before going on to have small roles in Spider-Man 3, Serendipity and The Four Feathers. Gordon had played the actress and singer Jane Birkin in the film Gainsbourg, a biopic of singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Before the film was released, she hanged herself in her flat in Paris on 20 May 2009.
3. Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (b. 1919) deaths
  1. Pierre Gamarra
    
    Pierre Gamarra was a French poet, novelist and literary critic, a long-time chief editor and director of the literary magazine Europe.Gamarra is best known for his poems and novels for the youth and for narrative and poetical works deeply rooted in his native region of Midi-Pyrénées.
2008
1. Hamilton Jordan, American politician, 8th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1944) deaths
  1. Hamilton Jordan
    
    William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan was an American politician who served as Chief of Staff to President of the United States Jimmy Carter.
  2. White House Chief of Staff
    
    The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a cabinet position, in the federal government of the United States.
2007
1. Norman Von Nida, Australian golfer (b. 1914) deaths
  1. Norman Von Nida
    
    Norman Guy Von Nida was an Australian professional golfer.
2005
1. Paul Ricœur, French philosopher and academic (b. 1913) deaths
  1. Paul Ricœur
    
    Jean Paul Gustave Ricœur was a French philosopher best known for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics. As such, his thought is within the same tradition as other major hermeneutic phenomenologists, Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Gabriel Marcel. In 2000, he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for having "revolutionized the methods of hermeneutic phenomenology, expanding the study of textual interpretation to include the broad yet concrete domains of mythology, biblical exegesis, psychoanalysis, theory of metaphor, and narrative theory."
2. William Seawell, American general (b. 1918) deaths
  1. William Seawell
    
    William Thomas Seawell was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force and former head of Pan Am.
2002
1. Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, biologist, and academic (b. 1941) deaths
  1. Stephen Jay Gould
    
    Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was one of the most influential and widely read authors of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In 1996, Gould was hired as the Vincent Astor Visiting Research Professor of Biology at New York University, after which he divided his time teaching between there and Harvard.
2001
1. Renato Carosone, Italian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1920) deaths
  1. Renato Carosone
    
    Renato Carosone was an Italian musician.
2000
1. Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flute player (b. 1922) deaths
  1. Jean-Pierre Rampal
    
    Jean-Pierre Louis Rampal was a French flautist. He has been personally "credited with returning to the flute the popularity as a solo classical instrument it had not held since the 18th century."
2. Malik Sealy, American basketball player and actor (b. 1970) deaths
  1. Malik Sealy
    
    Malik Sealy was an American professional basketball player, active from 1992 until his death in an automobile accident at the age of 30. Sealy played eight seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, Detroit Pistons and Minnesota Timberwolves.
3. Yevgeny Khrunov, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933) deaths
  1. Yevgeny Khrunov
    
    Yevgeny Vasilyevich Khrunov was a Soviet cosmonaut who flew on the Soyuz 5/Soyuz 4 mission.
1998
1. Jamie Chadwick, English race car driver births
  1. Jamie Chadwick
    
    Jamie Laura Chadwick is a British racing driver who races for Jenner Racing in the W Series. She won the inaugural W Series season in 2019, before retaining her title in 2021 and 2022. She currently holds the records for the most wins, podiums, pole positions and points in the W Series. She has also competed in the Race of Champions for Great Britain alongside David Coulthard, as well as racing in Extreme E. She is a development driver for the Williams Formula One team.
2. Nam Nguyen, Canadian figure skater births
  1. Nam Nguyen
    
    Nam Nguyen is a Canadian retired competitive figure skater. He is the 2014 World Junior champion, 2019 Skate Canada silver medallist, and two-time Canadian national champion. He has placed as high as fifth at the World Championships, in 2015.
3. Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (b. 1916) deaths
  1. Robert Normann
    
    Robert Uno Normann was a Norwegian guitarist and considered a jazz guitar pioneer.
1996
1. Brian Kelly, Australian rugby league player births
  1. Brian Kelly (rugby league)
    
    Brian Kelly is an Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a centre for the Gold Coast Titans in the NRL.
2. Jon Pertwee, English actor, portrayed the Third Doctor (b. 1919) deaths
  1. Jon Pertwee
    
    John Devon Roland "Jon" Pertwee was an English actor, comedian, entertainer, cabaret performer and TV presenter. Born into a theatrical family, he served in the Royal Navy and the Naval Intelligence Division during the Second World War. In his early career, he worked as a stage comedian, which included performing at the Glasgow Empire Theatre and sharing a bill with Max Wall and Jimmy James.
  2. Third Doctor
    
    The Third Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the protagonist of the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. He was portrayed by actor Jon Pertwee. Within the series' narrative, the Doctor is a centuries-old alien Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey who travels in time and space in the TARDIS, frequently with companions. At the end of life, the Doctor regenerates. Consequently, both the physical appearance and personality of the Doctor changes.
1995
1. Les Cowie, Australian rugby league player (b. 1925) deaths
  1. Les Cowie
    
    Leslie Gordon Cowie was an Australian rugby league footballer, a fine lock for the champion South Sydney Rabbitohs teams of the 1950s and an Australia national representative. In 1994 he received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to Rugby League football.
1993
1. Caroline Zhang, American figure skater births
  1. Caroline Zhang
    
    Caroline Zhao Zhang is an American figure skater. She is a two-time Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2007 World Junior Champion, the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a three-time U.S. national medalist.
1992
1. Cate Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer births
  1. Cate Campbell
    
    Cate Natalie Campbell, is a Malawian-born Australian competitive swimmer, and a current multiple world record holder, who won two bronze medals at the 2008 Summer Olympics, a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, a gold and a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the current world record holder in the Long Course 4 x 100 m Freestyle Relay with Team Australia and the short course 100 m freestyle. Campbell was one of the flagbearers for Australia at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics alongside basketball player Patty Mills.
2. Jack Gleeson, Irish actor births
  1. Jack Gleeson
    
    Jack Gleeson is an Irish actor who played Joffrey Baratheon on the HBO television series Game of Thrones (2011–2014). Following this role, Gleeson took a hiatus from acting, but has since taken part in independent theatre and the 2020 BBC miniseries Out of Her Mind.
3. Enes Kanter, Turkish basketball player births
  1. Enes Kanter Freedom
    
    Enes Kanter Freedom is a former professional basketball player who is currently a free agent. Born in Switzerland to Turkish parents, he was raised in Turkey and moved to the United States as a teenager. Freedom was selected as the third overall pick of the 2011 NBA draft by the Utah Jazz. A center, Freedom has played for five NBA teams since entering the league in 2011. Between 2008 and 2015, he represented the Turkish national team in international play.
1991
1. Bastian Baker, Swiss singer, songwriter, and performer births
  1. Bastian Baker
    
    Bastien Kaltenbacher, better known as Bastian Baker, is a Swiss singer, songwriter, performer and ice hockey player. He is currently under contract with HCV Martigny of the MySports League.
2. Emre Colak, Turkish footballer births
  1. Emre Çolak
    
    Emre Çolak is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Göztepe.
1989
1. Siosia Vave, Australian-Tongan rugby league player births
  1. Siosaia Vave
    
    Siosaia Vave is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the St Mary's Saints in the Ron Massey Cup. He previously played for the Parramatta Eels, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles, Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Melbourne Storm in the NRL.
2. John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904) deaths
  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.
3. Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (b. 1946) deaths
  1. Gilda Radner
    
    Gilda Susan Radner was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). In her routines, Radner specialized in parodies of television stereotypes, such as advice specialists and news anchors. In 1978, she won an Emmy Award for her performances on the show. She also portrayed those characters in her highly successful one-woman show on Broadway in 1979. Radner's SNL work established her as an iconic figure in the history of American comedy.
1988
1. Joel Moon, Australian rugby league player births
  1. Joel Moon
    
    Joel Moon is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre and five-eighth in the 2000s and 2010s. He last played for the Leeds Rhinos in the Super League.
1987
1. Mike Havenaar, Japanese footballer births
  1. Mike Havenaar
    
    Mike Havenaar is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a striker for FC Bonbonera GIFU.
2. Julian Wright, American basketball player births
  1. Julian Wright
    
    Julian Emil-Jamaal Wright is an American professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the University of Kansas. In 2014–15, he was the top rebounder in the Israel Basketball Premier League.
1986
1. Dexter Blackstock, English footballer births
  1. Dexter Blackstock
    
    Dexter Anthony Titus Blackstock is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played most notably for Queens Park Rangers and Nottingham Forest.
2. Stéphane Mbia, Cameroonian footballer births
  1. Stéphane Mbia
    
    Stéphane Mbia Etoundi is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or defender.
3. Jiřina Svobodová, Czech pole vaulter births
  1. Jiřina Ptáčníková
    
    Jiřina Kudličková, née Ptáčníková is a former Czech pole vaulter. She won the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki and the 2014 World Indoor Championships.
1985
1. Chris Froome, Kenyan-English cyclist births
  1. Chris Froome
    
    Christopher Clive Froome [kɹɪs fɹuːm], is a Kenyan/British road racing cyclist who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Israel–Premier Tech. He has won seven Grand Tours: four editions of the Tour de France, one Giro d'Italia (2018) and the Vuelta a España twice. He has also won several other stage races, and the Velo d'Or three times. Froome has also won two Olympic bronze medals in road time trials, in 2012 and 2016, and took bronze in the 2017 World Championships.
2. Brendon Goddard, Australian footballer births
  1. Brendon Goddard
    
    Brendon Goddard is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda and Essendon in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for the St Kilda Football Club from 2003 to 2012, then with Essendon from 2013 to 2018.
1984
1. Mauro Rafael da Silva, Brazilian footballer births
  1. Mauro (footballer, born May 1984)
    
    Mauro Rafael da Silva is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a forward.
2. Patrick Ewing Jr., American basketball player births
  1. Patrick Ewing Jr.
    
    Patrick Aloysius Ewing Jr. is a Jamaican-American professional basketball coach and former player who is the Head Coach and General Manager of the Newfoundland Growlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He is the eldest son of Hall of Fame basketball player and New York Knicks legend Patrick Ewing and Sharon Campbell. He has three brothers and three sisters.
3. Keith Grennan, American football player births
  1. Keith Grennan
    
    Keith Grennan is a former American football defensive end. He most recently played for the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League. He was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football at Eastern Washington.
1983
1. Óscar Cardozo, Paraguayan footballer births
  1. Óscar Cardozo
    
    Óscar René Cardozo Marín is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Club Libertad and the Paraguay national team.
2. Matt Langridge, English rower births
  1. Matt Langridge
    
    Matthew Langridge is a British rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.
1982
1. Petr Čech, Czech footballer births
  1. Petr Čech
    
    Petr Čech is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He also plays semi-professional ice hockey as a goaltender for Chelmsford Chieftains. Described by numerous players, pundits and managers as one of the greatest goalkeepers in history, he is argued, alongside Peter Schmeichel, to be the greatest goalkeeper in Premier League history.
2. Imran Farhat, Pakistani cricketer births
  1. Imran Farhat
    
    Imran Farhat is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2001 and 2013. He usually opened the batting in most of his international innings. In January 2021, he retired from cricket, following the group stage of the 2020–21 Pakistan Cup. In February 2021, he began to undertake coaching courses with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
3. Jessica Raine, English actress births
  1. Jessica Raine
    
    Jessica Raine is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series Call the Midwife (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film An Adventure in Space and Time (2013).
4. Daniel Ribeiro, Brazilian director, producer, and screenwriter births
  1. Daniel Ribeiro
    
    Daniel Ribeiro was born in São Paulo on May 20, 1982. He is a Brazilian film director known for his works You, Me and Him made in 2007 and I Don't Want To Go Back Alone made in 2010 which was later made into the full-length feature The Way He Looks in 2014.
1981
1. Iker Casillas, Spanish footballer births
  1. Iker Casillas
    
    Iker Casillas Fernández is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "San Iker" for his ability to produce spectacular saves, Casillas is widely considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is known for his athleticism, quick reactions and outstanding shot-stopping ability. Having spent the majority of his career at Real Madrid, Casillas is one of the few players to achieve over 1000 professional career matches, and holds the record for the most clean sheets in the UEFA Champions League, as well as for the Spain national team. Currently, he works for RTVE, Movistar Plus+ and Azteca Deportes.
2. Rachel Platten, American singer and songwriter births
  1. Rachel Platten
    
    Rachel Ashley Platten is an American singer-songwriter and author. After releasing two albums independently in 2003 and 2011, she signed with Columbia Records in 2015 and released her mainstream debut single, "Fight Song", which peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, topped charts in the United Kingdom, and peaked within the top ten of multiple charts worldwide. Platten won a Daytime Emmy Award for a live performance of the song on Good Morning America. Her major-label debut studio album, Wildfire (2016), was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and featured the follow-up singles "Stand by You" and "Better Place". Her second major-label album, Waves (2017), followed a year later.
3. Lindsay Taylor, American basketball player births
  1. Lindsay Taylor
    
    Lindsay Corine Taylor is an American former professional basketball player. She played in the WNBA, KBSL, LFB, WKBL, Polish Women's League, WCBA, and Angola Women's Basketball League. A very experienced player, she also played professionally overseas in 13 basketball seasons. Standing 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) tall she usually played the center position.
4. Mark Winterbottom, Australian race car driver births
  1. Mark Winterbottom
    
    Mark "Frosty" Winterbottom is an Australian professional racing driver. He currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship, driving the No. 18 Holden ZB Commodore for Team 18. His career highlights include winning the 2013 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, twice winning the Sandown 500 and receiving the Mike Kable Young Gun Award in 2003. Winterbottom has also won his maiden championship title in the 2015 International V8 Supercars Championship, making it the first title for Ford in five years.
1980
1. Austin Kearns, American baseball player births
  1. Austin Kearns
    
    Austin Ryan Kearns is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2002 through 2013 for the Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals, Cleveland Indians, New York Yankees, and Miami Marlins.
2. Kassim Osgood, American football player births
  1. Kassim Osgood
    
    Kassim Alexandre Osgood is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and special teamer in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for San Diego State University and Cal Poly, and was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2003. He has played for the San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions.
1979
1. Andrew Scheer, Canadian politician, 28th Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada births
  1. Andrew Scheer
    
    Andrew James Scheer is a Canadian politician who has served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Regina—Qu'Appelle since 2004. Scheer served as the 35th speaker of the House of Commons from 2011 to 2015, and was the leader of the Conservative Party and leader of the Official Opposition from 2017 to 2020.
  2. List of Canadian conservative leaders
    
    This is a list of federal leaders after Confederation who were members of federal conservative parties.
2. Jayson Werth, American baseball player births
  1. Jayson Werth
    
    Jayson Richard Gowan Werth is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2002 to 2017. His 15-season career was split among the Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, and the Washington Nationals.
1978
1. Hristos Banikas, Greek chess player births
  1. Hristos Banikas
    
    Hristodoulos Banikas is a Greek chess grandmaster from Salonica.
2. Pavla Hamáčková-Rybová, Czech pole vaulter births
  1. Pavla Hamáčková-Rybová
    
    Pavla Hamáčková married Rybová is a Czech pole vaulter.
3. Nils Schumann, German runner births
  1. Nils Schumann
    
    Nils Schumann is a former German athlete, winner of the 800 m at the 2000 Summer Olympics, who retired in 2009. For most of the five years before his retirement he had featured sparingly at an international level due to injuries.
1977
1. Matt Czuchry, American actor births
  1. Matt Czuchry
    
    Matthew Charles Czuchry is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Logan Huntzberger on The WB television series Gilmore Girls (2005–2007) and Cary Agos on the CBS television drama The Good Wife (2009–2016). Since 2018, he has starred as Conrad Hawkins on the Fox medical drama series The Resident.
2. Leo Franco, Argentinian footballer births
  1. Leo Franco
    
    Leonardo "Leo" Neoren Franco is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is a manager.
3. Angela Goethals, American actress births
  1. Angela Goethals
    
    Angela Bethany Goethals is an American film, television and stage actress. Goethals made her acting debut in the Broadway production of Coastal Disturbances in 1987, and later played the sister of Macaulay Culkin's character in Home Alone (1990). Throughout the 1990s, Goethals went on to star in several independent films and television shows, including a leading role on the sitcom Phenom (1993), as well as a small role in Jerry Maguire (1996).
4. Stirling Mortlock, Australian rugby player births
  1. Stirling Mortlock
    
    Stirling Austin Mortlock AM is a former Australian professional rugby union player. He has scored more than 1,000 points in Super Rugby, and nearly 500 test points for the Wallabies. Mortlock is a former Wallaby, Melbourne Rebels and Brumbies captain.
5. Vesa Toskala, Finnish ice hockey player births
  1. Vesa Toskala
    
    Vesa Tapani Toskala is a Finnish former professional ice hockey goaltender.
1976
1. Ramón Hernández, Venezuelan-American baseball player births
  1. Ramón Hernández
    
    Ramón José Hernández Marin is a Venezuelan former professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Oakland Athletics (1999–2003), San Diego Padres (2004–2005), Baltimore Orioles (2006–2008), Cincinnati Reds (2009–2011), Colorado Rockies (2012) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2013).
2. Tomoya Satozaki, Japanese baseball player births
  1. Tomoya Satozaki
    
    Tomoya Satozaki is former a Japanese professional baseball player. He played the entirety of his career with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
3. Syd Howe, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1911) deaths
  1. Syd Howe
    
    Sydney Harris Howe was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Howe played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Quakers, Toronto Maple Leafs, St. Louis Eagles and Detroit Red Wings.
4. Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (b. 1924) deaths
  1. Zelmar Michelini
    
    Zelmar Michelini was a Uruguayan reporter and politician, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976 as part of Operation Condor.
5. Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz, Uruguayan politician (b. 1934) deaths
  1. Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz
    
    Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz was a Uruguayan political figure, who died by assassination in the framework of Operation Condor. He was married to Matilde Rodriguez Larreta and had five children: Marcos, Juan Pablo, Magdalena, Facundo and Mateo.
1975
1. Juan Minujín, Argentinian actor, director, and screenwriter births
  1. Juan Minujín
    
    Juan Gervasio Minujín is an Argentine actor and film director. He is the nephew of plastic artist Marta Minujín.
2. Barbara Hepworth, English sculptor and lithographer (b. 1903) deaths
  1. Barbara Hepworth
    
    Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a leading figure in the colony of artists who resided in St Ives during the Second World War.
1974
1. Allison Amend, American novelist and short story writer births
  1. Allison Amend
    
    Allison Amend is an American novelist and short story writer.
2. Shiboprosad Mukherjee, Indian film director, writer and actor births
  1. Shiboprosad Mukherjee
    
    Shiboprosad Mukherjee is an Indian Bengali filmmaker, writer and actor. He, collaborating with Nandita Roy, debuted with their film Icche, which garnered both critical acclaim as well as commercial success. The director duo is known for making socially relevant films which are also entertaining to the viewers. They have also directed some of the popular most new age Bengali films like Praktan, Bela Seshe, Icche, Muktodhara, Accident, Alik Sukh and Ramdhanu, Haami, Konntho, Gotro which were critically acclaimed as well as enjoyed commercial success. He also serves as a partner at Windows Productions. His film Praktan, bagged multiple National Awards and Alik Sukh was premiered at the Marche du Film section in Cannes Film Festival in 2013. His film Konttho was selected as the Indian entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
1973
1. Nathan Long, Australian rugby league player births
  1. Nathan Long (rugby league)
    
    Nathan Long is an Australian former rugby league footballer. He played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Northern Eagles, Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and the St. George Illawarra Dragons as a second-row forward.
2. Renzo Pasolini, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1938) deaths
  1. Renzo Pasolini
    
    Renzo Pasolini, nicknamed "Paso", was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1964 to 1972.
3. Jarno Saarinen, Finnish motorcycle racer (b. 1945) deaths
  1. Jarno Saarinen
    
    Jarno Karl Keimo Saarinen was a Finnish professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In the early 1970s, he was considered one of the most promising and talented motorcycle racers of his era until he was killed during the 1973 Nations Grand Prix in Italy. Saarinen's death led to increased demands for better safety conditions for motorcycle racers competing in the world championships. He remains the only Finn to have won a motorcycle road racing world championship. Saarinen was inducted into the F.I.M. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2009.
1972
1. Michael Diamond, Australian shooter births
  1. Michael Diamond (sport shooter)
    
    Michael Constantine Diamond, OAM is a professional target shooter from Australia.
2. Christophe Dominici, French rugby player (d. 2020) births
  1. Christophe Dominici
    
    Christophe Dominici was a French rugby union player. In a career spanning seventeen years between 1991 and 2008, he played wing for Stade Français and France, scoring a total of 25 tries in 67 international caps, emerging as one of the giants of French rugby. He also served as a member of the coaching staff at Stade Français between 2008 and 2009. He had represented French clubs RC La Valette and RC Toulonnais earlier in his career.
3. Busta Rhymes, American rapper, producer, and actor births
  1. Busta Rhymes
    
    Trevor George Smith Jr., known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver George "Buster" Rhymes. He has received 12 Grammy Award nominations for his work, making him one of the most-nominated artists without winning.
1971
1. Šárka Kašpárková, Czech triple jumper and coach births
  1. Šárka Kašpárková
    
    Šárka Kašpárková is a Czech former track and field athlete who specialised in the triple jump.
2. Tony Stewart, American race car driver births
  1. Tony Stewart
    
    Anthony Wayne Stewart, nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion as a driver, winning titles in 2002, 2005, and 2011. As a team owner, he has won NASCAR Cup titles in 2011 with himself and in 2014 with Kevin Harvick as drivers. Throughout his racing career, Stewart has won racing titles in Indy, midget, sprint, and USAC Silver Crown cars. He is the only driver in history to win a championship in both IndyCar and NASCAR.
3. Waldo Williams, Welsh poet and academic (b. 1904) deaths
  1. Waldo Williams
    
    Waldo Goronwy Williams was one of the leading Welsh-language poets of the 20th century. He was also a notable Christian pacifist, anti-war campaigner, and Welsh nationalist. He is often referred to by his first name only.
1970
1. Terrell Brandon, American basketball player births
  1. Terrell Brandon
    
    Thomas Terrell Brandon is an American former professional basketball player. He played for three teams during his 11-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A two-time All-Star, Brandon was a key starter on three NBA franchises before a series of injuries ultimately forced him to play his last game at 31 years old.
2. Louis Theroux, Singaporean-English journalist and producer births
  1. Louis Theroux
    
    Louis Sebastian Theroux is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received two British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.
1969
1. Road Dogg, American wrestler, producer, and soldier births
  1. Road Dogg
    
    Brian Girard James is an American professional wrestler currently signed with the WWE where he serves as the Senior Vice President of Live Events. James was best known for his initial tenure with World Wrestling Federation as The Roadie from 1994 to 1995 and as "Road Dogg" Jesse James from 1996 to 2001. He is also known for his appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as B.G. James from 2002 to 2009, and has also made appearances for several other promotions such as Smoky Mountain Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, the United States Wrestling Association, the Catch Wrestling Association, and World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA).
1968
1. Timothy Olyphant, American actor and producer births
  1. Timothy Olyphant
    
    Timothy David Olyphant is an American actor. He made his acting debut in an off-Broadway theater in 1995, in The Monogamist, and won the Theatre World Award for his performance, and then originated David Sedaris' The Santaland Diaries in 1996. He then branched out to film; in the early years of his career, he was often cast in supporting villainous roles, most notably in Scream 2 (1997), Go (1999), A Man Apart (2003), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), and The Girl Next Door (2004). He came to the attention of a wider audience with his portrayal of Sheriff Seth Bullock in HBO's western Deadwood (2004–2006), later reprising the role in Deadwood: The Movie (2019). He had starring roles in such films as Catch and Release (2006), Hitman (2007), A Perfect Getaway (2009), and The Crazies (2010), and he played the main antagonist, Thomas Gabriel, in Live Free or Die Hard (2007). Olyphant was a recurring guest star in season two of the FX legal thriller Damages (2009).
1967
1. Graham Brady, English politician births
  1. Graham Brady
    
    Sir Graham Stuart Brady is a British politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Altrincham and Sale West since 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Chairman of the 1922 Committee since 2010, except for a brief period in 2019. During his tenure as 1922 Committee chairman, he has overseen votes of no confidence into prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson.
2. Gabriele Muccino, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter births
  1. Gabriele Muccino
    
    Gabriele Muccino is an Italian film director. He has worked his way from making short films only aired on Italian television to become a well-known and successful American filmmaker. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother's films. Muccino has directed 12 films and is best known for his first American film The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. Muccino has been nominated for and won several awards including the David di Donatello Award for Best Director in 2001 for his film The Last Kiss.
1966
1. Dan Abrams, American journalist and author births
  1. Dan Abrams
    
    Daniel Abrams is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show Dan Abrams Live on NewsNation, On Patrol: Live on Reelz and The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets The Law on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. channel. He is also the Chief Legal Analyst of ABC News.
1965
1. Ted Allen, American television host and author births
  1. Ted Allen
    
    Edward Reese Allen is an American author and television personality. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the Bravo network's television program Queer Eye, and has been the host of the TV cooking competition series Chopped since its launch in 2009, as well as Chopped Junior, which began in mid-2015. On April 13, 2014, he became the host of another Food Network show, originally called America's Best Cook; a retooled version of that show, retitled All-Star Academy, debuted on March 1, 2015. In early 2015, he also hosted a four-part special, Best. Ever., which scoured America for its best burgers, pizza, breakfast, and barbecue. He is a longtime contributing writer to Esquire magazine, and is the author of two cookbooks, and regularly appears on the Food Network show Beat Bobby Flay and other television cooking shows.
2. Stu Grimson, Canadian ice hockey player, sportscaster, and lawyer births
  1. Stu Grimson
    
    Stuart Grimson is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. Grimson played in the National Hockey League from 1989 to 2002. During this time, he played for the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Detroit Red Wings, Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes, Los Angeles Kings, and Nashville Predators. Grimson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, but grew up in Kamloops, British Columbia.
1964
1. Kōichirō Genba, Japanese politician, 80th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs births
  1. Kōichirō Genba
    
    Kōichirō Genba is a Japanese politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012. He is a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet, and was a member to the Democratic Party of Japan and its successor Democratic Party until its merger in 2018. He left the party briefly before the merger, and joined the Group of Independents House of Representatives caucus of other former Democrats a few days later. A native of Tamura, Fukushima and graduate of Sophia University, he was later accepted into the prestigious Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, an institution founded by Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita which grooms future civic leaders of Japan. Genba was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993 after serving in the assembly of Fukushima Prefecture for one term. In September 2011 he was chosen as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
  2. Minister for Foreign Affairs (Japan)
    
    The Minister for Foreign Affairs is a member of the cabinet of Japan and is the leader and chief executive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The minister is responsible for implementing Japan’s foreign policy and is also a statutory member of the National Security Council. The minister is nominated by the Prime Minister of Japan and is appointed by the Emperor of Japan.
2. Edin Osmanović, Slovenian footballer, coach, and manager births
  1. Edin Osmanović
    
    Edin Osmanović is a Slovenian football manager and former player. He began his career in Rudar Trbovlje and later coached many clubs in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the highest level in Slovenian football, including Celje, Gorica, Rudar Velenje, Korotan Prevalje, Dravograd, Aluminij, and Mura 05.
3. Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, English journalist and author births
  1. Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer
    
    Charles Edward Maurice Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer,, styled Viscount Althorp between 1975 and 1992, is a British peer, author, journalist, and broadcaster. He is the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, and is the maternal uncle of William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex.
4. Rudy Lewis, American singer (b. 1936) deaths
  1. Rudy Lewis
    
    Rudy Lewis was an American rhythm and blues singer known for his work with the Drifters. In 1988, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1963
1. David Wells, American baseball player and sportscaster births
  1. David Wells
    
    David Lee Wells is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Boomer", Wells was considered one of the league's top left-handed pitchers during his career and made three All-Star appearances. In 1998, he pitched the 15th perfect game in baseball history. Wells also appeared in the postseason as a member of six teams, tied for the most with Kenny Lofton, and won two World Series titles. Following his 2007 retirement, Wells served as a broadcaster for MLB on TBS and was the host of The Cheap Seats on FOXSports.com.
1961
1. Clive Allen, English international footballer and manager births
  1. Clive Allen
    
    Clive Darren Allen is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career.
2. Nick Heyward, English singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Nick Heyward
    
    Nicholas Heyward is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first album, after which he continued as a solo artist.
3. Josef Priller, German colonel and pilot (b. 1915) deaths
  1. Josef Priller
    
    Josef "Pips" Priller was a German military aviator and wing commander in the Luftwaffe during World War II. As a fighter ace, he was credited with 101 enemy aircraft shot down in 307 combat missions. All of his victories were claimed over the Western Front, including 11 four-engine bombers and at least 68 Supermarine Spitfire fighters.
1960
1. Tony Goldwyn, American actor and director births
  1. Tony Goldwyn
    
    Anthony "Tony" Howard Goldwyn is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), and had his breakthrough for starring as Carl Bruner in the fantasy thriller film Ghost (1990), which earned him a nomination for the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor. He went on to star as Harold Nixon in the biographical film Nixon (1995), which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination, and as Neil Armstrong in the HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998).
1959
1. Susan Cowsill, American singer-songwriter births
  1. Susan Cowsill
    
    Susan Claire Cowsill is a musician, vocalist and songwriter.
1958
1. Ron Reagan, American journalist and radio host births
  1. Ron Reagan
    
    Ronald Prescott Reagan is an American liberal political commentator, writer, radio personality, television host, and dancer. He is a former radio host and political analyst for KIRO and Air America Radio, where he hosted his own daily three-hour show. He has also been a contributor to MSNBC. His liberal views contrast with those of his father and conservative icon, President Ronald Reagan.
2. Jane Wiedlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress births
  1. Jane Wiedlin
    
    Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin is an American musician and singer, best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist of the new wave band The Go-Go's. She has also had a successful solo career.
1957
1. Yoshihiko Noda, Japanese lawyer and politician, 62nd Prime Minister of Japan births
  1. Yoshihiko Noda
    
    Yoshihiko Noda is a Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan from 2011 to 2012. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet. He was named to succeed Naoto Kan as a result of a runoff vote against Banri Kaieda in his party, and was formally appointed by the Emperor on 2 September 2011.
  2. Prime Minister of Japan
    
    The prime minister of Japan is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its Ministers of State. The prime minister also serves as the civilian commander-in-chief of the Japan Self Defence Forces and as a sitting member of the House of Representatives. The individual is appointed by the emperor of Japan after being nominated by the National Diet and must retain the nomination of the lower house and answer to parliament to remain in office.
1956
1. Ingvar Ambjørnsen, Norwegian-German author and critic births
  1. Ingvar Ambjørnsen
    
    Ingvar Even Ambjørnsen-Haefs is a Norwegian writer. He is best known for his "Elling" tetralogy: Utsikt til paradiset (1993), Fugledansen (1995), Brødre i blodet (1996), and Elsk meg i morgen (1999).
2. Gerry Peyton, English born Irish international footballer and coach births
  1. Gerry Peyton
    
    Gerald Joseph Peyton is a football coach and former footballer who is currently the interim coach of Indian Super League club Odisha FC. A goalkeeper, Peyton had lengthy spells with Fulham and AFC Bournemouth. Following his retirement, he went into coaching and acted as goalkeeping coach for several teams, including Arsenal from 2003 to 2018.
3. Douglas Preston, American journalist and author births
  1. Douglas Preston
    
    Douglas Jerome Preston is an American journalist and author. Although he is best known for his thrillers in collaboration with Lincoln Child, he has also written six solo novels, including the Wyman Ford series and a novel entitled Jennie, which was made into a movie by Disney. He has authored a half-dozen nonfiction books on science and exploration and writes occasionally for The New Yorker, Smithsonian, and other magazines.
4. Max Beerbohm, English essayist, parodist, and caricaturist (b. 1872) deaths
  1. Max Beerbohm
    
    Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the Saturday Review from 1898 until 1910, when he relocated to Rapallo, Italy. In his later years he was popular for his occasional radio broadcasts. Among his best-known works is his only novel, Zuleika Dobson, published in 1911. His caricatures, drawn usually in pen or pencil with muted watercolour tinting, are in many public collections.
5. Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer and trainer (b. 1881) deaths
  1. Zoltán Halmay
    
    Zoltán Imre Ödön Halmay de Erdőtelek was a Hungarian Olympic swimmer. He competed in four Olympics, winning the following medals:1900: silver, bronze 1904: gold 1906: gold, silver 1908: silver
1955
1. Steve George, American keyboard player and songwriter births
  1. Steve George (keyboardist)
    
    Steve George is an American keyboard player, saxophone player and singer who is perhaps best known as the keyboardist and background vocalist for the 1980s band, Mr. Mister. He co-wrote all of the Mr. Mister songs, together with his childhood friend, Mr. Mister frontman Richard Page, with whom he also played in Pages prior to forming Mr. Mister.
2. Zbigniew Preisner, Polish composer and producer births
  1. Zbigniew Preisner
    
    Zbigniew Preisner is a Polish film score composer, best known for his work with film director Krzysztof Kieślowski. He is the recipient of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis as well as the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He is a member of the French Film Academy.
1954
1. David Paterson, American lawyer and politician, 55th Governor of New York births
  1. David Paterson
    
    David Alexander Paterson is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who was the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to the end of 2010. He is the first legally blind person to be sworn in as governor of a U.S. state, and is the first African American governor of New York.
  2. Governor of New York
    
    The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the New York Legislature, to convene the legislature and grant pardons, except in cases of impeachment and treason. The governor is the highest paid governor in the country.
2. Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway, Scottish lawyer and judge births
  1. Colin Sutherland, Lord Carloway
    
    Colin John MacLean Sutherland, Lord Carloway , is a Scottish advocate and judge who has served as the Lord President of the Court of Session and Lord Justice General since 2015. He was previously Lord Justice Clerk from 2012 to 2015 and has been a Senator of the College of Justice since 2000.
1953
1. Robert Doyle, Australian educator and politician, 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne births
  1. Robert Doyle
    
    Robert Keith Bennett Doyle is an Australian politician who was the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008 until he resigned on 4 February 2018 amidst allegations of sexual harassment. He was previously Member for Malvern in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria from 1992 to 2006 and Leader of the Victorian Opposition from 2002 to 2006, representing the Liberal Party.
  2. List of mayors and lord mayors of Melbourne
    
    This is a list of the mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia.
1952
1. Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer and manager births
  1. Roger Milla
    
    Albert Roger Miller, known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be major stars on the international stage. He played in three World Cups for the Cameroon national team.
2. Michael Wills, English politician, British Minister of Justice births
  1. Michael Wills
    
    Michael David Wills, Baron Wills is a British politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Justice from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Swindon North from 1997 to 2010.
  2. Ministry of Justice (United Kingdom)
    
    The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is a ministerial department of His Majesty's Government headed by the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor. Its stated priorities are to reduce re-offending and protect the public, to provide access to justice, to increase confidence in the justice system, and uphold people's civil liberties. The Secretary of State is the minister responsible to Parliament for the judiciary, the court system and prisons and probation in England and Wales, with some additional UK-wide responsibilities e.g. the UK Supreme Court and judicial appointments by the Crown. The department is also responsible for areas of constitutional policy not transferred in 2010 to the Deputy Prime Minister, human rights law and information rights law across the UK.
1951
1. Thomas Akers, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut births
  1. Thomas Akers
    
    Thomas Dale Akers is a former American astronaut in NASA's Space Shuttle program.
2. Christie Blatchford, Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster (d. 2020) births
  1. Christie Blatchford
    
    Christie Marie Blatchford was a Canadian newspaper columnist, journalist and broadcaster. She published four non-fiction books.
3. Mike Crapo, American lawyer and politician births
  1. Mike Crapo
    
    Michael Dean Crapo is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Idaho, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Republican Party, Crapo previously served as the U.S. representative for Idaho's 2nd congressional district from 1993 to 1999.
1950
1. Andy Johns, English-American engineer and producer (d. 2013) births
  1. Andy Johns
    
    Jeremy Andrew Johns was a British sound engineer and record producer who worked on several well-known rock albums, including the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. (1972), Television's Marquee Moon (1977), and a series of albums by Led Zeppelin during the 1970s. His sound is exemplified by Free's album Highway, which he engineered and produced.
2. Reinaldo Merlo, Argentinian footballer and coach births
  1. Reinaldo Merlo
    
    Reinaldo Carlos Merlo is an Argentine football coach and former player, who played as a midfielder.
3. Jane Parker-Smith, English organist (d. 2020) births
  1. Jane Parker-Smith
    
    Jane Caroline Rebecca Parker-Smith (1950–2020) was a British classical organist. Her obituary in The Guardian said she had "a stellar international career, popular with audiences for her wide-ranging sympathies and jaw-dropping virtuosity".
1949
1. Robert Morin, Canadian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter births
  1. Robert Morin
    
    Robert Morin is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer. In 2009, he received Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.
2. Michèle Roberts, English author and poet births
  1. Michèle Roberts
    
    Michèle Brigitte Roberts FRSL is a British writer, novelist and poet. She is the daughter of a French Catholic teacher mother and English Protestant father, and has dual UK–France nationality.
3. Dave Thomas, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter births
  1. Dave Thomas (actor)
    
    David William Thomas is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer. He is best known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
4. Damaskinos of Athens, Greek archbishop and politician, 137th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1891) deaths
  1. Damaskinos of Athens
    
    Archbishop Damaskinos Papandreou, born Dimitrios Papandreou was the archbishop of Athens and All Greece from 1941 until his death. He was also the regent of Greece between the pull-out of the German occupation force in 1944 and the return of King George II to Greece in 1946. His rule was between the liberation of Greece from the German occupation during World War II and the Greek Civil War.
  2. List of prime ministers of Greece
    
    This is a list of the heads of government of the modern Greek state, from its establishment during the Greek Revolution to the present day. Although various official and semi-official appellations were used during the early decades of independent statehood, the title of prime minister has been the formal designation of the office at least since 1843. On dates, Greece officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 16 February 1923. All dates prior to that, unless specifically denoted, are Old Style.
1947
1. Steve Currie, English bass player (d. 1981) births
  1. Steve Currie
    
    Steve Currie was an English musician who was best known as the bass player and a long-term member of the English glam rock band T. Rex.
2. Greg Dyke, English journalist and academic births
  1. Greg Dyke
    
    Gregory Dyke is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing 'tabloid' television to British broadcasting, and reviving the ratings of TV-am. In the 1990s, he held chief executive positions at LWT Group, Pearson Television, and Channel 5.
3. Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862) deaths
  1. Philipp Lenard
    
    Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard was a Hungarian-born German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905 for his work on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties. One of his most important contributions was the experimental realization of the photoelectric effect. He discovered that the energy (speed) of the electrons ejected from a cathode depends only on the wavelength, and not the intensity, of the incident light.
  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.
4. Georgios Siantos, Greek sergeant and politician (b. 1890) deaths
  1. Georgios Siantos
    
    Georgios Siantos was a prominent figure of the Communist Party of Greece who served as acting general secretary of the party, and as a leader of the National Liberation Front (EAM)/Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) Resistance movement during the German occupation of Greece in World War II.
1946
1. Cher, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress births
  1. Cher
    
    Cher is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industry. Cher is known for her distinctive contralto singing voice and for having worked in numerous areas of entertainment, as well as adopting a variety of styles and appearances throughout her six-decade-long career. Cher gained popularity in 1965 as one-half of the folk rock husband-wife duo Sonny & Cher after their song "I Got You Babe" peaked at number one on the US and UK charts. Together they sold 40 million records worldwide. Her solo career was established during the same time, with the top-ten singles "Bang Bang " and "You Better Sit Down Kids". She became a television personality in the 1970s with her CBS shows; first The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, watched by over 30 million viewers weekly during its three-year run, and then the namesake Cher. She emerged as a fashion trendsetter by wearing elaborate outfits on her television shows. While working on television, Cher released the US Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", "Half-Breed", and "Dark Lady", becoming the female artist with the most number-one singles in United States history at the time. After her divorce from Sonny Bono in 1975, she released the disco album Take Me Home (1979) and earned $300,000 a week for her 1979–1982 concert residency in Las Vegas.
2. Bobby Murcer, American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2008) births
  1. Bobby Murcer
    
    Bobby Ray Murcer was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he later rejoined as a longtime broadcaster. A Gold Glove winner and five-time All-Star, and was voted to the AP's American League 1970s All-Decade team. Murcer led the American League in on-base percentage in 1971, and in runs and total bases in 1972.
3. Jacob Ellehammer, Danish pilot and engineer (b. 1871) deaths
  1. Jacob Ellehammer
    
    Jacob Christian Hansen-Ellehammer was a Danish watchmaker and inventor born in Bakkebølle, Denmark. He is remembered chiefly for his contributions to powered flight.
1945
1. Vladimiro Montesinos, Peruvian intelligence officer births
  1. Vladimiro Montesinos
    
    Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres is a former long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, National Intelligence Service (SIN), under President Alberto Fujimori. In the year 2000, the infamous "Vladi-videos" came to light through the television: they were secret videos recorded by Montesinos that showed him bribing elected congressmen into leaving the opposition and joining the pro-Fujimori group of the Congress. The ensuing scandal caused Montesinos to flee the country and prompted Fujimori's resignation.
1944
1. Joe Cocker, English singer-songwriter (d. 2014) births
  1. Joe Cocker
    
    John Robert "Joe" Cocker was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of songs written by other song writers, though he composed a number of songs for most of his albums as well, often in conjunction with songwriting partner Chris Stainton.
2. Boudewijn de Groot, Indonesian-Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist births
  1. Boudewijn de Groot
    
    Frank Boudewijn de Groot is a Dutch singer-songwriter, known for "Welterusten Meneer de President" (1966).
3. Keith Fletcher, English cricketer and manager births
  1. Keith Fletcher
    
    Keith William Robert Fletcher is an English former first-class cricketer who played for Essex and England. He later became England's team manager. His nickname was "The Gnome of Essex", so christened by his Essex teammate, Ray East, because Fletcher's winklepickers had begun to curl up at the toes due to wear.
4. Dietrich Mateschitz, Austrian businessman, co-founder of Red Bull GmbH (d. 2022) births
  1. Dietrich Mateschitz
    
    Dietrich Mateschitz was an Austrian billionaire businessman. He was the co-founder and 49% owner of Red Bull GmbH. In April 2022, Mateschitz's net worth was estimated at US$27.4 billion.
  2. Red Bull GmbH
    
    Red Bull GmbH is an Austrian private company known for its range of energy drinks of the same name. It is also known for its sponsorship of a range of sporting events and teams. The headquarters of Red Bull GmbH are located in Fuschl am See, Salzburg.
1943
1. Albano Carrisi, Italian singer, actor, and winemaker births
  1. Albano Carrisi
    
    Albano Antonio Carrisi, better known as Al Bano, is an Italian tenor, actor, and winemaker. He is one of the most recognisable Italian singers in the world whose career spans 7 decades. He has gained notability due to his vocal capabilities as well as mésalliance with Romina Power, daughter of Hollywood star Tyrone Power. In 2016, he was awarded Albanian citizenship due to his close ties with the country.
2. Deryck Murray, Trinidadian cricketer births
  1. Deryck Murray
    
    Deryck Lance Murray is a former West Indies cricketer. A wicketkeeper and right-handed batsman, Murray kept wicket to the West Indian fast bowling attacks of the 1970s ; his glovework effected 189 Test dismissals and greatly enhanced the potency of the bowling attack.
1942
1. Raymond Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States births
  1. Raymond Chrétien
    
    Raymond A. J. Chrétien is a Canadian lawyer and diplomat. He served as Canada's ambassador to the United States from 1994–2000. His uncle Jean Chrétien, was the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003.
  2. List of ambassadors of Canada to the United States
    
    This is a list of ambassadors of Canada to the United States, formally titled as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America for Her [His] Majesty's Government in Canada. Originally, Canada's top diplomatic representative to the U.S. had the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. The title was promoted to the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in 1943, during the period when Leighton McCarthy had the post.
2. Lynn Davies, Welsh sprinter and long jumper births
  1. Lynn Davies
    
    Lynn Davies CBE is a Welsh former track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He was the 1964 Olympic champion in the event. He was born in Nantymoel near Bridgend and was a member of the Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club.
3. Carlos Hathcock, American sergeant and sniper (d. 1999) births
  1. Carlos Hathcock
    
    Carlos Norman Hathcock II was a United States Marine Corps (USMC) sniper with a service record of 93 confirmed kills. Hathcock's record and the extraordinary details of the missions he undertook made him a legend in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honored by having a rifle named after him: a variant of the M21 dubbed the Springfield Armory M25 White Feather, for the nickname "White Feather" given to Hathcock by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN).
4. Frew McMillan, South African tennis player births
  1. Frew McMillan
    
    Frew Donald McMillan is a former professional male tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by the Bryan brothers, Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, John McEnroe and Tom Okker. He was also ranked No.1 in Doubles on the ATP Computer for a significant period from 1977 to 1979 when he was aged 37.
5. Hector Guimard, French Architect (b. 1867) deaths
  1. Hector Guimard
    
    Hector Guimard was a French architect and designer, and a prominent figure of the Art Nouveau style. He achieved early fame with his design for the Castel Beranger, the first Art Nouveau apartment building in Paris, which was selected in an 1899 competition as one of the best new building facades in the city. He is best known for the glass and iron edicules or canopies, with ornamental Art Nouveau curves, which he designed to cover the entrances of the first stations of the Paris Metro.
1941
1. Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore births
  1. Goh Chok Tong
    
    Goh Chok Tong is a Singaporean former politician who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1990 and 2004, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party between 1992 and 2004. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Marine Parade SMC between 1976 and 1988, and Marine Parade GRC between 1988 and 2020.
  2. Prime Minister of Singapore
    
    The prime minister of Singapore is the head of government of the Republic of Singapore. The president appoints the prime minister, a Member of Parliament (MP) who in their opinion, is most likely to command the confidence of the majority of MPs. The incumbent prime minister is Lee Hsien Loong, who took office on 12 August 2004.
2. John Strasberg, American actor and teacher births
  1. John Strasberg
    
    John Strasberg is the son of Lee and Paula Strasberg of the Actors Studio, and brother of actress Susan Strasberg.
1940
1. Shorty Long, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1969) births
  1. Shorty Long
    
    Frederick Earl "Shorty" Long was an American soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer for Motown's Soul Records imprint. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1980.
2. Stan Mikita, Slovak-Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2018) births
  1. Stan Mikita
    
    Stanley Mikita was a Slovak-born Canadian ice hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks of the National Hockey League, generally regarded as the best centre of the 1960s. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players. In 1961, he became the first Slovak-born player to win the Stanley Cup.
3. Sadaharu Oh, Japanese-Taiwanese baseball player and manager births
  1. Sadaharu Oh
    
    Sadaharu Oh, also known as Wang Chen-chih, is a Japanese-born former baseball player and manager in Japan. Oh holds the world lifetime home run record, having hit 868 home runs during his professional career. He established many NPB batting records, including runs batted in (RBI) (2,170), slugging percentage (.634), bases on balls (2,390), and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (1.080). In 1977, Oh became the first recipient of the People's Honour Award. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.
4. Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859) deaths
  1. Verner von Heidenstam
    
    Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam was a Swedish poet, novelist and laureate of the 1916 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1912. His poems and prose work are filled with a great joy of life, sometimes imbued with a love of Swedish history and scenery, particularly its physical aspects.
  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.
1939
1. Balu Mahendra, Sri Lankan-Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014) births
  1. Balu Mahendra
    
    Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran, commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as an auteur, Mahendra usually scripted and edited his films apart from shooting them. He was the recipient of six National Film Awards, five Filmfare Awards South and several state government awards.
1937
1. Dave Hill, American golfer (d. 2011) births
  1. Dave Hill (golfer)
    
    James David Hill was an American professional golfer. He was the brother of Mike Hill who was also a professional golfer.
2. Derek Lampe, English footballer births
  1. Derek Lampe
    
    Derek Lampe is an English former professional footballer who played for Fulham and represented England Youth, playing in the position of centre half.
1936
1. Anthony Zerbe, American actor births
  1. Anthony Zerbe
    
    Anthony Jared Zerbe is an American actor. His notable film roles include the post-apocalyptic cult leader Matthias in The Omega Man, a 1971 film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel, I Am Legend; as an Irish Catholic coal miner and one of the Molly Maguires in the 1970 film The Molly Maguires; as a corrupt gambler in Farewell, My Lovely; as the leper colony chief Toussaint in the 1973 historical drama prison film Papillon; as Abner Devereaux in Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park; as villain Milton Krest in the James Bond film Licence to Kill; Rosie in The Turning Point; Roger Stuart in The Dead Zone; Admiral Dougherty in Star Trek: Insurrection; and Councillor Hamann in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
1935
1. José Mujica, Uruguayan guerrilla leader and politician, 40th President of Uruguay births
  1. José Mujica
    
    José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano is a Uruguayan politician, former revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and imprisoned for 14 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was Minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a Senator afterwards. As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as president on 1 March 2010. He was the Second Gentleman of Uruguay from 13 September 2017 to 1 March 2020, when his wife Lucia Topolansky was vice president under his immediate predecessor and successor, Tabaré Vázquez.
  2. Guerrilla warfare
    
    Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics, and mobility, to fight a larger and less-mobile traditional military.
  3. List of presidents of Uruguay
    
    Uruguay is a presidential republic in which the president is both the head of state and head of government. The following is a list of all the people who have held the office of President of Uruguay since 6 November 1830, with the exception of those who held the office of "President" under the National Council of Government, which served as the country's executive directory from 1955 to 1967. The first president of this list is Fructuoso Rivera, who held the office twice and once as part of the Triumvirate that ruled Uruguay from 1853 to 1854.
1933
1. Constance Towers, American actress and singer births
  1. Constance Towers
    
    Constance Mary Towers is an American film, stage, and television actress, and singer. She gained prominence for her appearances in several mainstream 1950s films before transitioning to theater, starring in numerous Broadway productions through the 1970s. Her accolades include two Emmy Award nominations.
1931
1. Ken Boyer, American baseball player and manager (d. 1982) births
  1. Ken Boyer
    
    Kenton Lloyd "Ken" Boyer was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman, coach and manager who played with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers for 15 seasons, 1955 through 1969.
2. Louis Smith, American trumpeter (d. 2016) births
  1. Louis Smith (musician)
    
    Edward Louis Smith was an American jazz trumpeter from Memphis, Tennessee.
3. Ernest Noel, Scottish businessman and politician (b. 1831) deaths
  1. Ernest Noel
    
    Ernest Noel, FGS was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Scottish seat of Dumfries Burghs from 1874 to 1886. He was chairman of the Artizans, Labourers & General Dwellings Company from 1880, during the construction of a new suburb for the working classes in Wood Green which was named "Noel Park" in his honour.
1930
1. Sam Etcheverry, American football player and coach (d. 2009) births
  1. Sam Etcheverry
    
    Samuel "The Rifle" Etcheverry was a professional American and Canadian football player and head coach. Etcheverry played the quarterback position, most famously with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and was named Canadian football's Most Outstanding Player in 1954. Etcheverry's jersey #92 is one of seven retired by the Alouettes.
1929
1. Gilles Loiselle, Canadian politician and diplomat, 33rd Canadian Minister of Finance births
  1. Gilles Loiselle
    
    Gilles Loiselle, was a Canadian politician.
  2. Minister of Finance (Canada)
    
    The minister of finance is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing the Department of Finance and presenting the federal government's budget each year. It is one of the most important positions in the Cabinet.
1927
1. Bud Grant, American football player and coach births
  1. Bud Grant
    
    Harry Peter "Bud" Grant Jr. is a former head coach and player of American football, Canadian football, and a former player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Grant served as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons; he was the team's second (1967–83) and fourth (1985) head coach, leading them to four Super Bowl appearances, 11 division titles, one league championship and three National Football Conference championships. Before coaching the Vikings, he was the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for ten seasons, winning the Grey Cup four times. Grant is the most successful coach in Vikings history, and the fifth most successful professional football coach overall with a combined 286 wins in the NFL and CFL. Grant was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1994. He was the first coach to guide teams to the Grey Cup and the Super Bowl, the only other being Marv Levy.
2. David Hedison, American actor (d. 2019) births
  1. David Hedison
    
    Albert David Hedison Jr. was an American film, television, and stage actor. He was billed as Al Hedison in his early film work until 1959 when he was cast in the role of Victor Sebastian in the short-lived espionage television series Five Fingers. NBC insisted that he change his name and he proposed his middle name and he was billed as David Hedison from then on. He was known for his roles as the titular character in The Fly (1958), Captain Lee Crane in the television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968), and CIA agent Felix Leiter in two James Bond films, Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989).
3. Franciszek Macharski, Polish cardinal (d. 2016) births
  1. Franciszek Macharski
    
    Franciszek Macharski was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was appointed Archbishop of Kraków from 1978, named by Pope John Paul II to succeed him in that role. Macharski was elevated to the cardinalate in 1979, and resigned as archbishop in 2005.
1926
1. Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (d. 1956) births
  1. Bob Sweikert
    
    Robert Charles Sweikert was an American racing driver, best known as the winner of the 1955 Indianapolis 500 and the 1955 National Championship, as well as the 1955 Midwest Sprint car championship - the only driver in history to sweep all three in a single season.
1925
1. Alexei Tupolev, Russian engineer, designed the Tupolev Tu-144 (d. 2001) births
  1. Aleksey Tupolev
    
    Aleksey Andreevich Tupolev was a Soviet and later Russian aircraft designer who led the development of the first supersonic passenger jet, the Tupolev Tu-144. He also helped design the Buran space shuttle and the long-range heavy bomber Tu-2000, both of which were suspended for lack of funding.
  2. Tupolev Tu-144
    
    The Tupolev Tu-144 is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999.
2. Joseph Howard, Maltese politician, 1st Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1862) deaths
  1. Joseph Howard (Prime Minister)
    
    Joseph Howard, OBE was Prime Minister of Malta from 1921 to 1923.
  2. Prime Minister of Malta
    
    The prime minister of Malta is the head of government, which is the highest official of Malta. The Prime Minister chairs Cabinet meetings, and selects its ministers to serve in their respective portfolios. The Prime Minister holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the Parliament, as such they sit as Members of Parliament.
1924
1. David Chavchavadze, English-American CIA officer and author (d. 2014) births
  1. David Chavchavadze
    
    David Chavchavadze was a British-born American author and a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer of Georgian-Russian origin.
  2. Central Intelligence Agency
    
    The Central Intelligence Agency, known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and performing covert actions. As a principal member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States. President Harry S. Truman had created the Central Intelligence Group under the direction of a Director of Central Intelligence by presidential directive on January 22, 1946, and this group was transformed into the Central Intelligence Agency by implementation of the National Security Act of 1947.
2. Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan journalist and politician (d. 1976) births
  1. Zelmar Michelini
    
    Zelmar Michelini was a Uruguayan reporter and politician, assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976 as part of Operation Condor.
3. Bogd Khan, Mongolian ruler (c. 1869) deaths
  1. Bogd Khan
    
    Bogd Khan was the khan of the Bogd Khaganate from 1911 to 1924, following the state's de facto independence from the Qing dynasty of China after the Xinhai Revolution. Born in Tibet, he was the third most important person in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy as the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, below only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, and therefore also known as the "Bogdo Lama". He was the spiritual leader of Outer Mongolia's Tibetan Buddhism. His wife Tsendiin Dondogdulam, the Ekh Dagina, was believed to be a manifestation of White Tara.
1923
1. Edith Fellows, American actress (d. 2011) births
  1. Edith Fellows
    
    Edith Marilyn Fellows was an American actress who became a child star in the 1930s. Best known for playing orphans and street urchins, Fellows was an expressive actress with a good singing voice. She made her screen debut at the age of five in Charley Chase's film short Movie Night (1929). Her first credited role in a feature film was The Rider of Death Valley (1932). By 1935, she had appeared in over twenty films. Her performance opposite Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas in She Married Her Boss (1935) won her a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures, the first such contract offered to a child.
2. Sam Selvon, Trinidad-born writer (d. 1994) births
  1. Sam Selvon
    
    Samuel Selvon was a Trinidad-born writer, who moved to London, England, in the 1950s. His 1956 novel The Lonely Londoners is groundbreaking in its use of creolised English, or "nation language", for narrative as well as dialogue.
1922
1. Ted Hinton, Northern Irish international footballer (d. 1988) births
  1. Ted Hinton (footballer)
    
    Edward Hinton was a Northern Irish international footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League. He was famed for keeping his false teeth in the back of his net when he played.
1921
1. Wolfgang Borchert, German author and playwright (d. 1947) births
  1. Wolfgang Borchert
    
    Wolfgang Borchert was a German author and playwright whose work was strongly influenced by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. His work is among the best-known examples of the Trümmerliteratur movement in post-World War II Germany. His most famous work is the drama Draußen vor der Tür, which he wrote soon after the end of World War II. His works are uncompromising on the issues of humanity and humanism. He is one of the most popular authors of the German postwar period; his work continues to be studied in German schools.
2. Hal Newhouser, American baseball player and scout (d. 1998) births
  1. Hal Newhouser
    
    Harold Newhouser, nicknamed "Prince Hal," was an American professional baseball player. In Major League Baseball (MLB), he pitched 17 seasons on the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians, from 1939 through 1955. Newhouser was an All-Star for six seasons and was considered to be the most dominating pitcher of the World War II era of baseball, winning the pitching triple crown for the Tigers in 1945. To date, he is also the only pitcher in MLB history ever to win two consecutive MVP awards. Newhouser was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992.
3. Pedro Trebbau, German-born Venezuelan zoologist (d. 2021) births
  1. Pedro Trebbau
    
    Pedro Trebbau was a German-born Venezuelan zoologist. His career was characterized by the promotion and preservation of Venezuelan wildlife and nature. His research and collaboration with the herpetologist Peter Pritchard produced the still-extant reference book on The Turtles of Venezuela.
4. Hao Wang, Chinese-American logician, philosopher, and mathematician (d. 1995) births
  1. Hao Wang (academic)
    
    Hao Wang was a Chinese-American logician, philosopher, mathematician, and commentator on Kurt Gödel.
1920
1. John Cruickshank, Scottish lieutenant and banker, Victoria Cross recipient births
  1. John Cruickshank
    
    John Alexander Cruickshank VC is a Scottish banker, former Royal Air Force officer, and a Second World War recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Cruickshank was awarded the VC for sinking a German U-boat and then, despite serious injuries, safely landing his aircraft. He is the last living recipient to have been awarded the VC during the Second World War.
  2. Victoria Cross
    
    The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously awarded by countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, most of which have 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 under military command. No civilian has received the award since 1879. Since the first awards were presented by Queen Victoria in 1857, two-thirds of all awards have been personally presented by the British monarch. The investitures are usually held at Buckingham Palace.
1919
1. George Gobel, American comedian (d. 1991) births
  1. George Gobel
    
    George Leslie Goebel was an American humorist, actor, and comedian. He was best known as the star of his own weekly comedy variety television series, The George Gobel Show, broadcasting from 1954 to 1959 on NBC, and on CBS from 1959 to 1960,. He was also a familiar panelist on the NBC game show Hollywood Squares.
1918
1. Alexandra Boyko, Russian tank commander (d. 1996) births
  1. Aleksandra Boiko
    
    Aleksandra Leontievna Boiko was a tank commander in the Soviet Army active in the Eastern Front of the Second World War.
2. Edward B. Lewis, American biologist, geneticist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004) births
  1. Edward B. Lewis
    
    Edward Butts Lewis was an American geneticist, a corecipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He helped to found the field of evolutionary developmental biology.
  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.
1917
1. Tony Cliff, Israeli-English author and activist (d. 2000) births
  1. Tony Cliff
    
    Tony Cliff was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen name of Tony Cliff. A founding member of the Socialist Review Group, which became the International Socialists and then the Socialist Workers Party, in 1977 Cliff was effectively the leader of all three.
2. Guy Favreau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 28th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1967) births
  1. Guy Favreau
    
    Guy Favreau, was a Canadian lawyer, politician and judge.
  2. Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
    
    The minister of justice and attorney general of Canada is a dual-role portfolio in the Canadian Cabinet.
3. Valentine Fleming, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1887) deaths
  1. Valentine Fleming
    
    Major Valentine Fleming was a British Conservative Member of Parliament who was killed in World War I. He was the father of authors Peter Fleming and Ian Fleming, the latter of whom created the James Bond character.
4. Philipp von Ferrary, Italian stamp collector (b. 1850) deaths
  1. Philipp von Ferrary
    
    Philip Ferrari de La Renotière was a noted French-born stamp collector, assembling probably the most complete worldwide collection that ever existed, or is likely to exist. Amongst his extremely rare stamps were the unique Treskilling Yellow of Sweden and the 1856 one-cent "Black on Magenta" of British Guiana.
1916
1. Owen Chadwick, English rugby player, historian, and academic (d. 2015) births
  1. Owen Chadwick
    
    William Owen Chadwick was a British Anglican priest, academic, rugby international, writer and prominent historian of Christianity. As a leading academic, Chadwick became Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in 1958, serving until 1968, and from 1968 to 1983 was Regius Professor of History. Chadwick was elected master of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and served from 1956 to 1983.
2. Alexey Maresyev, Russian soldier and pilot (d. 2001) births
  1. Aleksey Maresyev
    
    Aleksey Petrovich Maresyev was a Russian military pilot who became a Soviet fighter ace during World War II despite becoming a double amputee.
3. Ondina Valla, Italian sprinter and hurdler (d. 2006) births
  1. Ondina Valla
    
    Trebisonda "Ondina" Valla was an Italian female athlete, and the first Italian woman to ever win an Olympic gold medal. She won it in the 80 m hurdles event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, after establishing the new world record during the semi-final.
1915
1. Peter Copley, English actor (d. 2008) births
  1. Peter Copley
    
    Peter Copley was an English television, film and stage actor.
2. Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, 5th Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1981) births
  1. Moshe Dayan
    
    Moshe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) during the 1956 Suez Crisis, but mainly as Defense Minister during the Six-Day War in 1967, he became a worldwide fighting symbol of the new state of Israel. In the 1930s, Dayan joined the Haganah, the pre-state Jewish defense force of Mandatory Palestine. He served in the Special Night Squads under Orde Wingate during the Arab revolt in Palestine and later lost an eye in a raid on Vichy forces in Lebanon during World War II. Dayan was close to David Ben-Gurion and joined him in leaving the Mapai party and setting up the Rafi party in 1965 with Shimon Peres. Dayan became Defence Minister just before the 1967 Six-Day War. After the Yom Kippur War of 1973, during which Dayan served as Defense Minister, he was blamed for the lack of preparedness; after some time he resigned. In 1977, following the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister, Dayan was expelled from the Labor Party because he joined the Likud-led government as Foreign Minister, playing an important part in negotiating the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
  2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Israel)
    
    The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of the most important ministries in the Israeli government. The ministry's role is to implement Israel's foreign policy, and promote economic, cultural, and scientific relations with other countries.
3. Joff Ellen, Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999) births
  1. Joff Ellen
    
    Joff Ellen, was an Australian entertainer, actor and comedian.
1913
1. Teodoro Fernández, Peruvian footballer (d. 1996) births
  1. Teodoro Fernández
    
    Teodoro "Lolo" Fernández Meyzán was a Peruvian professional footballer who played as forward. All his football work was carried out as a player of the Universitario de Deportes of the Peruvian First Division. He was champion, best player and top scorer in the 1939 Copa América. He is the top idol of Universitario de Deportes and Peruvian First Division.
2. William Redington Hewlett, American engineer, co-founded Hewlett-Packard (d. 2001) births
  1. Bill Hewlett
    
    William Redington Hewlett was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP).
  2. Hewlett-Packard
    
    The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, and initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. The HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue is now designated an official California Historical Landmark, and is marked with a plaque calling it the "Birthplace of 'Silicon Valley'".
3. Carlos J. Gradin, Argentine Archaeologist (d. 2002) births
  1. Carlos J. Gradin
    
    Carlos Joaquín Gradin, also known as Carlos Gradín, was an Argentine surveyor and archaeologist. He carried out numerous studies in the Patagonian region, and is known for his extensive studies of Cueva de las Manos. He was a member of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
1911
1. Gardner Fox, American author (d. 1986) births
  1. Gardner Fox
    
    Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC Comics. Fox was also a science fiction author and wrote many novels and short stories.
2. Annie M. G. Schmidt, Dutch author and playwright (d. 1995) births
  1. Annie M. G. Schmidt
    
    Anna Maria Geertruida "Annie" Schmidt was a Dutch writer. She is called the mother of the Dutch theatrical song, and the queen of Dutch children's literature, praised for her "delicious Dutch idiom," and considered one of the greatest Dutch writers. An ultimate honour was extended to her posthumously, in 2007, when a group of Dutch historians compiled the "Canon of the Netherlands" and included Schmidt, alongside national icons such as Vincent van Gogh and Anne Frank.
1909
1. Ernest Hogan, American actor and composer (b. 1859) deaths
  1. Ernest Hogan
    
    Ernest Hogan was the first African-American entertainer to produce and star in a Broadway show and helped to popularize the musical genre of ragtime.
1908
1. Henry Bolte, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Victoria (d. 1990) births
  1. Henry Bolte
    
    Sir Henry Edward Bolte GCMG was an Australian politician who served as the 38th Premier of Victoria. To date he is the longest-serving Victorian premier, having been in office for over 17 consecutive years.
  2. Premier of Victoria
    
    The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
2. Louis Daquin, French actor and director (d. 1980) births
  1. Louis Daquin
    
    Louis Daquin was a French film director, screenwriter and actor. He directed 14 films between 1938 and 1963. He also appeared in 11 films between 1937 and 1979.
3. Francis Raymond Fosberg, American botanist and author (d. 1993) births
  1. Francis Raymond Fosberg
    
    Francis Raymond Fosberg was an American botanist. A prolific collector and author, he played a significant role in the development of coral reef and island studies.
4. James Stewart, American actor (d. 1997) births
  1. James Stewart
    
    James Maitland Stewart was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors.
1907
1. Carl Mydans, American photographer and journalist (d. 2004) births
  1. Carl Mydans
    
    Carl Mydans was an American photographer who worked for the Farm Security Administration and Life magazine.
1906
1. Giuseppe Siri, Italian cardinal (d. 1989) births
  1. Giuseppe Siri
    
    Giuseppe Siri was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Genoa from 1946 to 1987, and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1953. He was a protege of Pope Pius XII. He was considered a likely candidate to succeed Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul I.
1904
1. Margery Allingham, English author of detective fiction (d. 1966) births
  1. Margery Allingham
    
    Margery Louise Allingham was an English novelist from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", and considered one of its four "Queens of Crime", alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh.
1901
1. Max Euwe, Dutch chess player, mathematician, and author (d. 1981) births
  1. Max Euwe
    
    Machgielis "Max" Euwe was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.
2. Doris Fleeson, American journalist (d. 1970) births
  1. Doris Fleeson
    
    Doris Fleeson was an American journalist and columnist and was the first woman in the United States to have a nationally syndicated political column.
1900
1. Sumitranandan Pant, Indian poet and author (d. 1977) births
  1. Sumitranandan Pant
    
    Sumitranandan Pant was an Indian poet. He was one of the most celebrated 20th century poets of the Hindi language and was known for romanticism in his poems which were inspired by nature, people and beauty within.
1899
1. Aleksandr Deyneka, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1969) births
  1. Aleksandr Deyneka
    
    Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deyneka was a Soviet and Russian painter, graphic artist and sculptor, regarded as one of the most important Russian modernist figurative painters of the first half of the 20th century. His Collective Farmer on a Bicycle (1935) has been described as exemplifying the socialist realist style.
2. John Marshall Harlan II, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1971) births
  1. John Marshall Harlan II
    
    John Marshall Harlan was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish him from his grandfather John Marshall Harlan, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 to 1911.
1898
1. Eduard Ole, Estonian painter (d. 1995) births
  1. Eduard Ole
    
    Eduard Ole was an Estonian painter. Some of his most representative works are on permanent exhibition at the Kumu Art Museum of Estonia.
1897
1. Diego Abad de Santillán, Spanish economist and author (d. 1983) births
  1. Diego Abad de Santillán
    
    Diego Abad de Santillán, also known as his born name Sinesio Baudilio García Fernández, was an anarcho-syndicalist activist and economist.
2. Malcolm Nokes, English hammer and discus thrower (d. 1986) births
  1. Malcolm Nokes
    
    Malcolm Cuthbert Nokes MC MA BSc was a British schoolteacher, soldier, research scientist and Olympic athlete, who competed in the hammer throw and discus throw.
1896
1. Clara Schumann, German pianist and composer (b. 1819) deaths
  1. Clara Schumann
    
    Clara Josephine Schumann was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works. She also composed solo piano pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, choral pieces, and songs.
1895
1. R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire and Supermarine S.6B (d. 1937) births
  1. R. J. Mitchell
    
    Reginald Joseph Mitchell CBE, FRAeS, was a British aircraft designer who worked for the Southampton aviation company Supermarine from 1916 until 1936. He is best remembered for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine S.6B, and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire.
  2. Supermarine Spitfire
    
    The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Griffon engined Mk 24 using several wing configurations and guns. It was the only British fighter produced continuously throughout the war, and the Spitfire remains popular among enthusiasts, around 70 remain airworthy, and many more are static exhibits in aviation museums throughout the world.
  3. Supermarine S.6B
    
    The Supermarine S.6B is a British racing seaplane developed by R.J. Mitchell for the Supermarine company to take part in the Schneider Trophy competition of 1931. The S.6B marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane" and represented the cutting edge of aerodynamic technology for the era.
1894
1. Chandrashekarendra Saraswati, Indian guru and scholar (d. 1994) births
  1. Chandrashekarendra Saraswati
    
    Jagadguru Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Mahaswamigal also known as the Sage of Kanchi or Mahaperiyavar was the 68th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham. Mahaperiyavar's discourses have been recorded in a Tamil book titled "Deivathin Kural".
1886
1. Ali Sami Yen, Turkish footballer and manager, founded the Galatasaray Sports Club (d. 1951) births
  1. Ali Sami Yen
    
    Ali Sami Yen, born Ali Sami Frashëri was an Albanian-Turkish sports official best known as the founder of the Galatasaray Sports Club. After the enactment of law on family names in 1934, he took the surname Yen, which literally means "win" in the Turkish language.
  2. Galatasaray S.K.
    
    Galatasaray Spor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other departments including basketball, wheelchair basketball, volleyball, water polo, handball, athletics, swimming, rowing, sailing, judo, bridge, motorsport, equestrian, esports, and chess. Galatasaray S.K. is among the key members of the Galatasaray Community Cooperation Committee together with Galatasaray University and the prestigious Galatasaray High School.
1883
1. Faisal I of Iraq (d. 1933) births
  1. Faisal I of Iraq
    
    Faisal I bin Al-Hussein bin Ali Al-Hashemi was King of the Arab Kingdom of Syria or Greater Syria in 1920, and was King of Iraq from 23 August 1921 until his death. He was the third son of Hussein bin Ali, the Grand Emir and Sharif of Mecca, who was proclaimed as King of the Arabs in June 1916.
1882
1. Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1949) births
  1. Sigrid Undset
    
    Sigrid Undset was a Norwegian-Danish novelist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928.
  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.
1880
1. Ana Néri, Brazilian nurse and philanthropist (b. 1814) deaths
  1. Ana Néri
    
    Ana Justina Ferreira Néri was a Brazilian nurse, considered the first in her country. She is best known for her volunteer work with the Triple Alliance during the Paraguayan War.
1879
1. Hans Meerwein, German chemist (d. 1965) births
  1. Hans Meerwein
    
    Hans Meerwein was a German chemist. Several reactions and reagents bear his name, most notably the Meerwein–Ponndorf–Verley reduction, the Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement, the Meerwein arylation reaction, and Meerwein's salt.
1877
1. Pat Leahy, Irish-American jumper (d. 1927) births
  1. Patrick Leahy (athlete)
    
    Patrick Joseph Leahy was an Irish athlete who won Olympic medals in the high jump and long jump at the 1900 Summer Olympics.
1875
1. Hendrik Offerhaus, Dutch rower (d. 1953) births
  1. Hendrik Offerhaus
    
    Hendrik Karel Offerhaus was a Dutch doctor and rower who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was part of the Dutch boat Minerva Amsterdam, which finished third in the eight event.
1873
1. George-Étienne Cartier, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 9th Premier of East Canada (b. 1814) deaths
  1. George-Étienne Cartier
    
    Sir George-Étienne Cartier, 1st Baronet, was a Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation. The English spelling of the name—George, instead of Georges, the usual French spelling—is explained by his having been named in honour of King George III.
  2. List of joint premiers of the Province of Canada
    
    This is a list of the joint premiers of the Province of Canada, who were the heads of government of the Province of Canada from the 1841 unification of Upper Canada and Lower Canada until Confederation in 1867.
1864
1. John Clare, English poet (b. 1793) deaths
  1. John Clare
    
    John Clare was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th century; he is now often seen as a major 19th-century poet. His biographer Jonathan Bate called Clare "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self."
1860
1. Eduard Buchner, German chemist, zymologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1917) births
  1. Eduard Buchner
    
    Eduard Buchner was a German chemist and zymologist, awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on fermentation.
  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.
1856
1. Henri-Edmond Cross, French Neo-Impressionist painter (d. 1910) births
  1. Henri-Edmond Cross
    
    Henri-Edmond Cross, born Henri-Edmond-Joseph Delacroix, was a French painter and printmaker. He is most acclaimed as a master of Neo-Impressionism and he played an important role in shaping the second phase of that movement. He was a significant influence on Henri Matisse and many other artists. His work was instrumental in the development of Fauvism.
1854
1. George Prendergast, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Victoria (d. 1937) births
  1. George Prendergast
    
    George Michael "Mick" Prendergast was an Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Victoria. He was born to Irish emigrant parents in Adelaide, but he grew up in Stawell, Victoria. He was apprenticed as a printer, and worked as a compositor in Ballarat, Sydney and Narrandera before settling in Melbourne in 1887. A member of the Typographical Association, he represented that union at the Melbourne Trades Hall, of which he was President in 1893.
  2. Premier of Victoria
    
    The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the Australian state of Victoria. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria, and is the leader of the political party able to secure a majority in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.
1851
1. Emile Berliner, German-American inventor, invented the Gramophone record (d. 1929) births
  1. Emile Berliner
    
    Emile Berliner originally Emil Berliner, was a German-American inventor. He is best known for inventing the lateral-cut flat disc record used with a gramophone. He founded the United States Gramophone Company in 1894; The Gramophone Company in London, England, in 1897; Deutsche Grammophon in Hanover, Germany, in 1898; and Berliner Gram-o-phone Company of Canada in Montreal in 1899. Berliner also invented what was probably the first radial aircraft engine (1908), a helicopter (1919), and acoustical tiles (1920s).
  2. Phonograph record
    
    A phonograph record, or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. At first, the discs were commonly made from shellac, with earlier records having a fine abrasive filler mixed in. Starting in the 1940s polyvinyl chloride became common, hence the name vinyl.
1841
1. Joseph Blanco White, Spanish poet and theologian (b. 1775) deaths
  1. Joseph Blanco White
    
    Joseph Blanco White, born José María Blanco y Crespo, was an Anglo-Spanish political thinker, theologian, and poet.
1838
1. Jules Méline, French lawyer and politician, 65th Prime Minister of France (d. 1925) births
  1. Jules Méline
    
    Félix Jules Méline was a French statesman, Prime Minister of France from 1896 to 1898.
  2. Prime Minister of France
    
    The prime minister of France, officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers.
1834
1. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, French general (b. 1757) deaths
  1. Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
    
    Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette, known in the United States as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, commanding American troops in several battles, including the siege of Yorktown. After returning to France, he was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830. He has been considered a national hero in both countries.
1830
1. Hector Malot, French author (d. 1907) births
  1. Hector Malot
    
    Hector-Henri Malot was a French writer born in La Bouille, Seine-Maritime. He studied law in Rouen and Paris, but eventually literature became his passion. He worked as a dramatic critic for Lloyd Francais and as a literary critic for L'Opinion Nationale.
1825
1. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the U.S. (d. 1921) births
  1. Antoinette Brown Blackwell
    
    Antoinette Louisa Brown, later Antoinette Brown Blackwell, was the first woman to be ordained as a mainstream Protestant minister in the United States. She was a well-versed public speaker on the paramount issues of her time and distinguished herself from her contemporaries with her use of religious faith in her efforts to expand women's rights.
1824
1. Cadmus M. Wilcox, Confederate States Army general (d. 1890) births
  1. Cadmus M. Wilcox
    
    Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox was a career United States Army officer who served in the Mexican–American War and also was a Confederate general during the American Civil War.
  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.
1822
1. Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1912) births
  1. Frédéric Passy
    
    Frédéric Passy was a French economist and pacifist who was a founding member of several peace societies and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was also an author and politician, sitting in the Chamber of Deputies from 1881 until 1889. He was a joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 for his work in the European peace movement.
  2. Nobel Peace Prize
    
    The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiology or Medicine and Literature. Since March 1901, it has been awarded annually to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".
1818
1. William Fargo, American businessman and politician, co-founded Wells Fargo and American Express (d. 1881) births
  1. William Fargo
    
    William George Fargo was a pioneer American expressman who helped found the modern-day financial firms of American Express Company and Wells Fargo with his business partner, Henry Wells. He was also the 27th Mayor of Buffalo, serving from 1862 until 1866 during the U.S. Civil War.
  2. Wells Fargo
    
    Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and internationally. The company has operations in 35 countries with over 70 million customers globally. It is considered a systemically important financial institution by the Financial Stability Board.
  3. American Express
    
    American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was founded in 1850 and is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company's logo, adopted in 1958, is a gladiator or centurion whose image appears on the company's well-known traveler's cheques, charge cards, and credit cards.
1812
1. Count Hieronymus von Colloredo, Austrian archbishop (b. 1732) deaths
  1. Hieronymus von Colloredo
    
    Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 to 1772 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1772 until 1803, when the prince-archbishopric was secularized. After secularization, Colloredo fled to Vienna and remained the non-resident archbishop of Salzburg, bereft of temporal power, until his death in 1812. He is most famously known as a patron and employer for Mozart.
1811
1. Alfred Domett, English-New Zealand poet and politician, 4th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1887) births
  1. Alfred Domett
    
    Alfred Domett was the fourth premier of New Zealand, a close friend of the poet Robert Browning and author of the epic poem Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream. Born in England, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1842 and remained there for a further thirty years, holding many significant political posts.
  2. Prime Minister of New Zealand
    
    The prime minister of New Zealand is the head of government of New Zealand. The incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, took office on 26 October 2017.
1806
1. John Stuart Mill, English economist, civil servant, and philosopher (d. 1873) births
  1. John Stuart Mill
    
    John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory, and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century", he conceived of liberty as justifying the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control.
1799
1. Honoré de Balzac, French novelist and playwright (d. 1850) births
  1. Honoré de Balzac
    
    Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.
1795
1. Pedro María de Anaya, Mexican soldier. President (1847–1848) (d. 1854) births
  1. Pedro María de Anaya
    
    Pedro Bernardino María de Anaya y Álvarez was a Mexican soldier who served twice as interim president of Mexico during the Mexican-American War. Inbetween presidencies, he directly participated in the fighting as an officer, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Churubusco.
1793
1. Charles Bonnet, Swiss botanist and biologist (b. 1720) deaths
  1. Charles Bonnet
    
    Charles Bonnet was a Genevan naturalist and philosophical writer. He is responsible for coining the term phyllotaxis to describe the arrangement of leaves on a plant. He was among the first to notice parthenogenetic reproduction in aphids and established that insects respired through their spiracles. He was among the first to use the term "evolution" in a biological context. Deaf from an early age, he also suffered from failing eyesight and had to make use of assistants in later life to help in his research.
1782
1. William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1701) deaths
  1. William Emerson (mathematician)
    
    William Emerson was an English mathematician. He was born in Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school.
1776
1. Simon Fraser, American-Canadian fur trader and explorer (d. 1862) births
  1. Simon Fraser (explorer)
    
    Simon Fraser was a fur trader and explorer of Scottish ancestry who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. He also built the first European settlement in British Columbia.
1772
1. Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet, English inventor and politician, developed Congreve rockets (d. 1828) births
  1. Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet
    
    Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet KCH FRS was an English soldier, publisher and inventor. He pioneered rocket artillery and was renowned for his development and deployment of Congreve rockets. He was also a Tory Member of Parliament (MP).
  2. Congreve rocket
    
    The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808. The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars. Lieutenant general Thomas Desaguliers, colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, was impressed by reports of their effectiveness, and undertook several unsuccessful experiments to produce his own rocket weapons. Several captured Mysorean rockets were sent to England following the annexation of the Mysorean kingdom into British India following the death of Tipu Sultan in the siege of Seringapatam.
1769
1. Andreas Vokos Miaoulis, Greek admiral and politician (d. 1835) births
  1. Andreas Miaoulis
    
    Andreas Vokos, better known by his nickname Miaoulis, was a Greek revolutionary, admiral, and politician who commanded Greek naval forces during the Greek War of Independence (1821–1829).
1759
1. William Thornton, Virgin Islander-American architect, designed the United States Capitol (d. 1828) births
  1. William Thornton
    
    William Thornton was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol. He also served as the first Architect of the Capitol and first Superintendent of the United States Patent Office.
  2. United States Capitol
    
    The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Though no longer at the geographic center of the federal district, the Capitol forms the origin point for the street-numbering system of the district as well as its four quadrants.
1732
1. Thomas Boston, Scottish author and educator (b. 1676) deaths
  1. Thomas Boston
    
    Thomas Boston was a Scottish Presbyterian church leader, theologian and philosopher. Boston was successively schoolmaster at Glencairn, and minister of Simprin in Berwickshire, and Ettrick in Selkirkshire. In addition to his best-known work, The Fourfold State, one of the religious classics of Scotland, he wrote an original little book, The Crook in the Lot, and a learned treatise on the Hebrew points. He also took a leading part in the Courts of the Church in what was known as the "Marrow Controversy," regarding the merits of an English work, The Marrow of Modern Divinity, which he defended against the attacks of the "Moderate" party in the Church. Boston, if unduly introspective, was a man of singular piety and amiability. His autobiography is an interesting record of Scottish life, full of sincerity and tenderness, and not devoid of humorous touches, intentional and otherwise.
1726
1. Francis Cotes, English painter and academic (d. 1770) births
  1. Francis Cotes
    
    Francis Cotes was an English painter, one of the pioneers of English pastel painting, and a founding member of the Royal Academy in 1768.
1722
1. Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist and mycologist (b. 1669) deaths
  1. Sébastien Vaillant
    
    Sébastien Vaillant was French botanist who was born at Vigny in present-day Val d'Oise.
1717
1. John Trevor, Welsh lawyer and politician, 102nd Speaker of the House of Commons (b. 1637) deaths
  1. John Trevor (speaker)
    
    Sir John Trevor was a Welsh lawyer and politician. He was Speaker of the English House of Commons from 1685 to 1687 and from 1689 to 1695. Trevor also served as Master of the Rolls from 1685 to 1689 and from 1693 to 1717. His second term as Speaker came to an end when he was expelled from the House of Commons for accepting a substantial bribe. He is the second most recent speaker to be forced out of office, with Michael Martin being the most recent.
  2. Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)
    
    The speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the House of Commons, the lower house and primary chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, was elected Speaker on 4 November 2019, following the retirement of John Bercow. Hoyle began his first full parliamentary term in the role on 17 December 2019, having been unanimously re-elected after the 2019 general election.
1713
1. Thomas Sprat, English bishop (b. 1635) deaths
  1. Thomas Sprat
    
    Thomas Sprat, FRS was an English churchman and writer, Bishop of Rochester from 1684.
1677
1. George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, Spanish-English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1612) deaths
  1. George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
    
    George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, was an English politician who as Lord Digby sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641, when he was raised to the House of Lords by a writ of acceleration. He supported the Royalist side in the English Civil War, but his ambition and instability of character caused serious problems to himself and both Kings he served.
  2. Secretary of State (England)
    
    In the Kingdom of England, the title of Secretary of State came into being near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), the usual title before that having been King's Clerk, King's Secretary, or Principal Secretary.
1664
1. Andreas Schlüter, German sculptor and architect (d. 1714) births
  1. Andreas Schlüter
    
    Andreas Schlüter was a German baroque sculptor and architect, active in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Tsardom.
1648
1. Władysław IV Vasa, Polish son of Sigismund III Vasa (b. 1595) deaths
  1. Władysław IV Vasa
    
    Władysław IV Vasa or Ladislaus IV of Poland was King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and claimant of the thrones of Sweden and Russia. Władysław IV was the eldest son of Sigismund III Vasa and his first wife, Anna of Austria.
  2. Sigismund III Vasa
    
    Sigismund III Vasa was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to 1599. He was the first Polish sovereign from the House of Vasa. Religiously zealous, he imposed Roman Catholicism across the vast realm, and his crusades against neighbouring states marked Poland's largest territorial expansion. As an enlightened despot, he presided over an era of prosperity and achievement, further distinguished by the transfer of the country's capital from Kraków to Warsaw.
1645
1. Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (b. 1601) deaths
  1. Shi Kefa
    
    Shi Kefa, courtesy names Xianzhi and Daolin, was a government official and calligrapher who lived in the late Ming dynasty. He was born in Xiangfu and claimed ancestry from Daxing County, Shuntian Prefecture. He was mentored by Zuo Guangdou (左光斗). He served as the Minister of War in Nanjing during the early part of his career. He is best remembered for his defence of Yangzhou from the Qing dynasty and was killed when Yangzhou fell to Qing forces in April 1645. After his death, the Southern Ming granted him the posthumous name "Zhongjing". Nearly a century later, the Qianlong Emperor of Qing granted Shi Kefa another posthumous name, "Zhongzheng" His descendants collected his works and compiled them into a book titled Lord Shi Zhongzheng's Collections (史忠正公集).
1622
1. Osman II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1604) deaths
  1. Osman II
    
    Osman II, also known as Osman the Young, was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 26 February 1618 until his regicide on 20 May 1622.
1579
1. Isabella Markham, English courtier (b. 1527) deaths
  1. Isabella Markham
    
    Isabella Markham, was an English courtier, a Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber of Queen Elizabeth I of England and a personal favourite of the queen. Isabella Markham was muse to the court official and poet John Harington, who wrote sonnets and poems addressed to her, before and after they married. Thomas Palfreyman dedicated his Divine Meditations to her in 1572.
1575
1. Robert Heath, English judge and politician (d. 1649) births
  1. Robert Heath
    
    Sir Robert Heath was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625.
1550
1. Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shōgun (b. 1510) deaths
  1. Ashikaga Yoshiharu
    
    Ashikaga Yoshiharu was the twelfth shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate from 1521 through 1546 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the son of the eleventh shōgun Ashikaga Yoshizumi. His childhood name was Kameomaru (亀王丸). On 1 May 1521, after Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitane and Hosokawa Takakuni struggled for power over the shogunate and Yoshitane withdrew to Awaji Island, the way was clear for Minamoto-no Yoshiharu to be installed as shogun as he enters Kyoto.
1537
1. Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (d. 1619) births
  1. Hieronymus Fabricius
    
    Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente, also known as Girolamo Fabrizio or Hieronymus Fabricius, was a pioneering anatomist and surgeon known in medical science as "The Father of Embryology."
1531
1. Thado Minsaw of Ava, Viceroy of Ava (d. 1584) births
  1. Thado Minsaw of Ava
    
    Thado Minsaw was viceroy of Ava (Inwa) from 1555 to 1584 during the reigns of kings Bayinnaung and Nanda of Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). He fought alongside his brothers Bayinnaung, Minye Sithu, Thado Dhamma Yaza II and Minkhaung II, and his nephew Nanda in nearly every campaign from the 1550s to 1570s that rebuilt, expanded and defended the Toungoo Empire. Two years after Bayinnaung's death, he raised the first serious rebellion against the rule of Nanda. Although his rebellion was defeated in April 1584, it had set in motion more rebellions elsewhere that ultimately led to the collapse of the empire in the next 15 years.
1506
1. Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer, early European explorer of the Americas (b. 1451) deaths
  1. Christopher Columbus
    
    Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean, Central America, and South America.
  2. Americas
    
    The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World.
1505
1. Levinus Lemnius, Dutch writer (d. 1568) births
  1. Levinus Lemnius
    
    Levinus Lemnius was a Dutch physician and author.
1503
1. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, Italian banker and politician (b. 1463) deaths
  1. Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici
    
    Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de' Medici, nicknamed the Popolano, was an Italian banker and politician, the brother of Giovanni il Popolano. He belonged to the junior branch of the House of Medici of Florence.
1501
1. Columba of Rieti, Italian Dominican tertiary Religious Sister (b. 1467) deaths
  1. Columba of Rieti
    
    Columba of Rieti, was an Italian religious sister of the Third Order of St. Dominic who was noted as a mystic. She was renowned for her spiritual counsel, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and fantastic miracles were attributed to her. She was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1625.
1470
1. Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal, poet, and scholar (d. 1547) births
  1. Pietro Bembo
    
    Pietro Bembo, O.S.I.H. was an Italian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Bembo greatly influenced the development of the Tuscan dialect as a literary language for poetry and prose, which, by later codification into a standard language, became the modern Italian language. In the 16th century, Bembo's poetry, essays and books proved basic to reviving interest in the literary works of Petrarch. In the field of music, Bembo's literary writing techniques helped composers develop the techniques of musical composition that made the madrigal the most important secular music of 16th-century Italy.
1449
1. Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches deaths
  1. Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches
    
    Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches was an illustrious Portuguese knight and nobleman, with a long and illustrious career abroad in England. He was invested by the English king, Henry VI as the 1st Count of Avranches and made a Knight of the Garter.
2. Infante Pedro, Duke of Coimbra (b. 1392) deaths
  1. Peter, Duke of Coimbra
    
    Infante D. Pedro, Duke of Coimbra KG, was a Portuguese infante (prince) of the House of Aviz, son of King John I of Portugal and his wife Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt. In Portugal, he is better known as Infante D. Pedro das Sete Partidas [do Mundo], "of the Seven Parts [of the World]" because of his travels. Possibly the best-travelled prince of his time, he was regent between 1439 and 1448. He was also 1st Lord of Montemor-o-Velho, Aveiro, Tentúgal, Cernache, Pereira, Condeixa and Lousã.
1444
1. Bernardino of Siena, Italian-Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1380) deaths
  1. Bernardino of Siena
    
    Bernardino of Siena or Saint Bernardino was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary preacher in Italy. He was a systematizer of Scholastic economics. His preaching, his book burnings, and his "bonfires of the vanities" made him famous/infamous during his own lifetime because they were frequently directed against sorcery, gambling, infanticide, witchcraft, homosexuals, Jews, Romani "Gypsies", usury, etc. Bernardino was later canonised by the Catholic Church as a saint – where he is also referred to as "the Apostle of Italy" – for his efforts to revive the country's Catholicism during the 15th century.
1366
1. Maria of Calabria, Empress of Constantinople (b. 1329) deaths
  1. Maria of Calabria
    
    Maria of Calabria, Countess of Alba, was a Neapolitan princess of the Capetian House of Anjou whose descendants inherited the crown of Naples following the death of her older sister, Queen Joanna I.
1315
1. Bonne of Luxembourg, first wife of John II of France (d. 1349) births
  1. Bonne of Luxembourg
    
    Bonne of Luxemburg or Jutta of Luxemburg, was born Jutta (Judith), the second daughter of King John of Bohemia, and his first wife, Elisabeth of Bohemia. She was the first wife of King John II of France; however, as she died a year prior to his accession, she was never a French queen. Jutta was referred to in French historiography as Bonne de Luxembourg, since she was a member of the House of Luxembourg. Among her children were Charles V of France, Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, and Joan, Queen of Navarre.
  2. 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.
1291
1. Sufi Saint Sayyid Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari deaths
  1. Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari
    
    Jalaluddin "Surkh-Posh" Bukhari was a Sufi saint and missionary belonging to the Sufi order of Hussaini Jalali.
1285
1. John I of Cyprus (b. 1259) deaths
  1. John I of Cyprus
    
    John I was King of Cyprus and, in contention with Charles I of Anjou, of Jerusalem too from 1284 to 1285.
1277
1. Pope John XXI (b. 1215) deaths
  1. Pope John XXI
    
    Pope John XXI, born Pedro Julião, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 September 1276 to his death on 20 May 1277. Apart from Damasus I, he has been the only Portuguese pope. He is sometimes identified with the logician and herbalist Peter of Spain, which would make him the only pope to have been a physician.
1062
1. Bao Zheng, Chinese magistrate and mayor of Kaifeng (b. 999) deaths
  1. Bao Zheng
    
    Bao Zheng, commonly known as Bao Gong, was a Chinese politician during the reign of Emperor Renzong in China's Song Dynasty. During his twenty-five years in civil service, Bao consistently demonstrated extreme honesty and uprightness, with actions such as sentencing his own uncle, impeaching an uncle of Emperor Renzong's favourite concubine and punishing powerful families. His appointment from 1057 to 1058 as the prefect of Song's capital Kaifeng, where he initiated a number of changes to better hear the grievances of the people, made him a legendary figure. During his years in office, he gained the honorific title Justice Bao due to his ability to defend peasants and commoners against corruption or injustice.
  2. Kaifeng
    
    Kaifeng is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Northern Song dynasty.
965
1. Gero the Great, Saxon ruler (b.c. 900) deaths
  1. Gero
    
    Gero I, sometimes called the Great, was a German nobleman who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he expanded into a vast territory named after him: the marca Geronis. During the mid-10th century, he was the leader of the Saxon Ostsiedlung.
  2. 900
    
    Year 900 (CM) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.
794
1. Æthelberht II, king of East Anglia deaths
  1. Æthelberht II of East Anglia
    
    Æthelberht, also called Saint Ethelbert the King, was an eighth-century saint and a king of East Anglia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom which today includes the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. Little is known of his reign, which may have begun in 779, according to later sources, and very few of the coins he issued have been discovered. It is known from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that he was killed on the orders of Offa of Mercia in 794.
  2. Kingdom of East Anglia
    
    The Kingdom of the East Angles, today known as the Kingdom of East Anglia, was a small independent kingdom of the Angles comprising what are now the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and perhaps the eastern part of the Fens. The kingdom formed in the 6th century in the wake of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. It was ruled by the Wuffingas dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries, but fell to Mercia in 794, and was conquered by the Danes in 869, to form part of the Danelaw. It was conquered by Edward the Elder and incorporated into the Kingdom of England in 918.
685
1. Ecgfrith of Northumbria (b. 645) deaths
  1. Ecgfrith of Northumbria
    
    Ecgfrith was the King of Deira from 664 until 670, and then King of Northumbria from 670 until his death in 685. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Nechtansmere against the Picts of Fortriu in which he lost his life.

Holidays

Christian feast day: Abercius and Helena
1. Abercius and Helena
  
  Abercius and Helena are saints of the Catholic church. They are said to have been the children of Alphaeus the Apostle, although this has been challenged by some parties. Both of them are known to have been martyrs: Abercius by being exposed naked to bees, and Helena by stoning. They are commemorated with a feast day on May 20.
Christian feast day: Alcuin of York
1. Alcuin
  
  Alcuin of York – also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin – was scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York. At the invitation of Charlemagne, he became a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, where he remained a figure in the 780s and 790s. "The most learned man anywhere to be found", according to Einhard's Life of Charlemagne, he is considered among the most important intellectual architects of the Carolingian Renaissance. Among his pupils were many of the dominant intellectuals of the Carolingian era.
Christian feast day: Aurea of Ostia
1. Aurea of Ostia
  
  Saint Aurea of Ostia is venerated as the patron saint of Ostia. According to one scholar, “[a]lthough the acta of Saint Aurea are pious fiction, she was a genuine martyr with a very early cultus at Ostia.”
Christian feast day: Austregisilus
1. Austregisilus
  
  Saint Austregisilus was bishop of Bourges from 612 to 624. His feast day is 20 May.
Christian feast day: Baudilus
1. Baudilus
  
  Saint Baudilus is venerated as a martyr by the Catholic Church. His cult is closely associated with the city of Nîmes but also spread into Spain.
Christian feast day: Bernardino of Siena
1. Bernardino of Siena
  
  Bernardino of Siena or Saint Bernardino was an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary preacher in Italy. He was a systematizer of Scholastic economics. His preaching, his book burnings, and his "bonfires of the vanities" made him famous/infamous during his own lifetime because they were frequently directed against sorcery, gambling, infanticide, witchcraft, homosexuals, Jews, Romani "Gypsies", usury, etc. Bernardino was later canonised by the Catholic Church as a saint – where he is also referred to as "the Apostle of Italy" – for his efforts to revive the country's Catholicism during the 15th century.
Christian feast day: Ivo of Chartres
1. Ivo of Chartres
  
  Ivo of Chartres, also known as Saint Ivo in the Roman Catholic Church, was the Bishop of Chartres, France from 1090 until his death, and an important canonist during the Investiture Crisis.
Christian feast day: Lucifer of Cagliari
1. Lucifer of Cagliari
  
  Lucifer of Cagliari was a bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia known for his passionate opposition to Arianism. He is venerated as a Saint in Sardinia, though his status remains controversial.
Christian feast day: Sanctan
1. Saint Sanctan
  
  Saint Sanctain or Sanctan was a 6th-century Manx bishop, who originally came from Northern Britain.
Christian feast day: May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
1. May 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  
  May 19 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 21
Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)
1. National Day of Remembrance (Cambodia)
  
  The National Day of Remembrance, formerly called the National Day of Hatred, which falls on May 20, is an annual event in Cambodia. It commemorates the Cambodian genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled the country between 1975 and 1979. It became a national holiday in 2018.
Emancipation Day (Florida)
1. Emancipation Day
  
  Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the Caribbean and areas of the United States on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of slaves of African descent.
European Maritime Day (European Council)
1. European Maritime Day
  
  European Maritime Day (EMD), celebrated on 20 May each year, seeks to raise European citizens' awareness of the seas and their importance. Several events take place during that day, including an annual stakeholder conference co-organised by the European Commission. European Maritime Day was established jointly by the European Council, European Parliament and European Commission in 2008 as part of the EU maritime policy.
2. European Council
  
  The European Council is a collegiate body that defines the overall political direction and priorities of the European Union. It is composed of the heads of state or government of the EU member states, the President of the European Council, and the President of the European Commission. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy also takes part in its meetings.
Independence Restoration Day, celebrates the independence of East Timor from Indonesia in 2002.
1. Independence Day (East Timor)
  
  East Timor's Independence Day or Independence Day on 28 November is a national holiday in East Timor held to celebrate independence of the country.
2. East Timor
  
  East Timor, also known as Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the Oecusse exclave on the north-western half, and the minor islands of Atauro and Jaco. Australia is the country's southern neighbour, separated by the Timor Sea. The country's size is 14,874 square kilometres (5,743 sq mi). Dili is its capital city.
3. Indonesia
  
  Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic state and the 14th-largest country by area, at 1,904,569 square kilometres. With over 275 million people, Indonesia is the world's fourth-most populous country and the most populous Muslim-majority country. Java, the world's most populous island, is home to more than half of the country's population.
Josephine Baker Day (NAACP)
1. Josephine Baker
  
  Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted France. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant.
2. NAACP
  
  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey and Ida B. Wells. Leaders of the organization included Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins.
National Awakening Day (Indonesia), and its related observances: Indonesian Doctor Day (Indonesia)
1. Public holidays in Indonesia
  
  The following table indicates declared Indonesian government national holidays. Cultural variants also provide opportunity for holidays tied to local events. Beside official holidays, there are the so-called "libur bersama" or "cuti bersama", or joint leave(s) declared nationwide by the government. In total there are 16 public holidays every year.
National Day (Cameroon)
1. National Day (Cameroon)
  
  The National Day of Cameroon, also known as Unity Day, is celebrated annually on 20 May. In a national referendum on 20 May 1972, Cameroonians voted for a unitary state as opposed to the existing federal state. The United Nations Trust Territory known as French Cameroun achieved independence from France on 1 January 1960, and British Southern Cameroons changed status from a Trusteeship under British administration to a federated state within Cameroon on 1 October 1961. The government chose 20 May as Cameroon's National Day to commemorate President Ahmadou Ahidjo's abolishment of the federal system of government in favor of a unitary country in 1972.
World Bee Day
1. World Bee Day
  
  World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20. On this day Anton Janša, the pioneer of beekeeping, was born in 1734.
World Metrology Day
1. World Metrology Day
  
  World Metrology Day is an event occurring on 20 May celebrating the International System of Units. The date is the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875. Metrology is the study of measurement. The World Metrology Day project is currently realized jointly by the BIPM and the OIML.
In China, May 20 is observed as a celebration of romantic love, because the digits 520 (Chinese: 五二零; pinyin: wǔ èr líng) sound similar to "I love you" (Chinese: 我爱你; pinyin: wǒ ài nǐ), and it is an important day for romantic gift-giving.
1. Simplified Chinese characters
  
  Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters used in mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore, as prescribed by the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one of the two standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China, Malaysia and Singapore, while traditional Chinese characters still remain in common use in Hong Kong, Macau, ROC/Taiwan and Japan to a certain extent.
2. Pinyin
  
  Hanyu Pinyin, often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese form, to learners already familiar with the Latin alphabet. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, but pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written in the Latin script, and is also used in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The word Hànyǔ literally means "Han language", while Pīnyīn (拼音) means "spelled sounds".

Important events in history on May 20 th

Events

Russo-Ukrainian War

Mariupol

Siege of Mariupol

International System of Units

International Prototype of the Kilogram

Singapore

Capital punishment

Kho Jabing

Amnesty International

United Nations

Enhanced Fujita scale

2013 Moore tornado

Oklahoma City

Moore, Oklahoma

2012 Northern Italy earthquakes

2012 Northern Italy earthquakes

Mamata Banerjee

List of chief ministers of West Bengal

East Timor

Indonesia

Portuguese Empire

Romer v. Evans

Supreme Court of the United States

Colorado

Protected group

LGBT rights in the United States

Supreme Court of the United States

Romer v. Evans

Colorado

Homosexuality

One for the Road (Cheers)

Cheers

Communism

Romania

Democracy

1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre

Radio y Televisión Martí

Voice of America

Cuba

UMkhonto we Sizwe

African National Congress

Church Street, Pretoria bombing

Pretoria

HIV

Virus

HIV/AIDS

Science (journal)

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

Jean-Claude Chermann

Luc Montagnier

Church Street, Pretoria bombing

UMkhonto we Sizwe

Pretoria

1980 Quebec referendum

Chuknagar massacre

Battle of Hamburger Hill

Vietnam

Popular Movement of the Revolution

Political party

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Cairo International Airport

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

Pakistan International Airlines Flight 705

Cairo International Airport

Discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation

Cosmic microwave background

Robert Woodrow Wilson

Arno Allan Penzias

Operation Redwing

Thermonuclear weapon

Bikini Atoll

National Security Agency

Chiang Kai-shek

1948 Chinese presidential election

President of the Republic of China

Nanjing

Battle of Crete

Nazi Germany

Important events in history
on May 20 ^th