Events
- 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (According to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).
- 928 - Trpimir II succeedes to the Croatian throne
- 1387 - Battle of Castagnaro
- 1513 - Leo X is elected Pope.
- 1649 - The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
- 1702 - The first regular English-language newspaper, The Daily Courant, is published in London.
- 1708 - Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from a militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation.
- 1779 - Army Corps of Engineers for the United States was authorized by the Congress
- 1801 - Paul I of Russia is assassinated, leading the way for his son Alexander I to accede the throne.
- 1824 - The United States War Department creates the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
- 1845 - The Flagstaff War: In New Zealand, Chiefs Hone Heke and Kawiti lead 700 Māoris to chop down the British flagpole and drive settlers out of the British colonial settlement of Kororareka because of breaches of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.
- 1845 - British citizen Henry Jones invents self-raising flour.
- 1848 - Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government.
- 1851 - The first performance of Rigoletto, written by Verdi.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted.
- 1864 - The Great Sheffield Flood: The largest man-made disaster ever to befall England kills over 250 people in Sheffield.
- 1867 - The first performance of Don Carlos written by Verdi.
- 1872 - Work began erecting Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales; Located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain. Also on this day in 1872, the Meiji Japanese government officially annexes the Ryukyu Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa prefecture.
- 1888 - The Great Blizzard of '88 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
- 1897 - A meteorite enters the earth's atmosphere and explodes over New Martinsville, West Virginia. The debris causes damage but no human injuries are reported.
- 1900 - Second Boer War: Boer leader Paul Kruger's peace overtures are rejected by Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Lord Salisbury.
- 1912 - Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Liberal Party, wins the Greek elections again.
- 1917 - World War I: Baghdad falls to the Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Stanley Maude.
- 1927 - In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre.
- 1931 - Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union
- 1936 - British Prime Minister pardons five convicted Irish militants who promise to join growing conflict with Germany.
- 1941 - World War II: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan.
- 1942 - World War II: General Douglas MacArthur abandons Corregidor.
- 1945 - World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2.
- 1966 - President Sukarno of Indonesia was forced to give up his executive power.
- 1966 - A fire at two ski resorts in Numata, Japan kills 31 people.
- 1977 - 130+ hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined negotiations.
- 1978 - Nine Palestinian Al Fatah guerillas hijack a bus in Israel, killing 34 civilians and wounding 70 before being killed by security forces. The Israelis retaliate by invading southern Lebanon three days later, under codename Operation Litani.
- 1983 - Bob Hawke becomes 23rd Prime Minister of Australia.
- 1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.
- 1988 - Iran-Iraq War: Ceasefire declared.
- 1990 - Lithuania declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.
- 1990 - Patricio Aylwin is sworn-in as the first democratically elected Chilean president since 1970.
- 1991 - A curfew is imposed on black townships in South Africa after fighting between rival political gangs kills 49.
- 1993 - Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn-in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States.
- 1996 - John Howard comes to power as the twenty-fifth Prime Minister of Australia.
- 1996 - EU Database Directive passed
- 1997 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
- 1999 - Infosys becomes the first Indian company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
- 2003 - The International Criminal Court is founded in The Hague.
- 2004 - Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid kill 192 people.
- 2006 - Michelle Bachelet inaugurated as first female president of Chile.
Births
- 1544 - Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (d. 1595)
- 1725 - Henry Benedict Stuart, pretender to the throne of Great Britain (d. 1807)
- 1785 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1861)
- 1787 - Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (d. 1852)
- 1811 - Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician (d. 1877)
- 1818 - Marius Petipa, French ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1910)
- 1822 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (d. 1900)
- 1863 - Andrew Stoddart, English cricketer (d. 1915)
- 1873 - David Horsley, English-born film executive (d. 1933)
- 1876 - Carl Ruggles, American composer (d. 1971)
- 1870 - Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (d. 1946)
- 1880 - Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenecist (d. 1943)
- 1885 - Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (d. 1948)
- 1887 - Raoul Walsh, American film director (d. 1980)
- 1890 - Vannevar Bush, American engineer and politician (d. 1974)
- 1898 - Dorothy Gish, American actress (d. 1968)
- 1899 - Frederick IX of Denmark, Danish King (d. 1972)
- 1903 - Lawrence Welk, American musician (d. 1992)
- 1903 - Ronald Syme, New Zealand classicist and historian (d. 1989)
- 1910 - Robert Havemann, German chemist (d. 1982)
- 1915 - Hans Peter Keller, German writer (d. 1988)
- 1915 - Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (d. 2004)
- 1915 - JCR Licklider, computer scientist and internet pioneer (d.1990)
- 1916 - Harold Wilson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1995)
- 1920 - Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch physicist, Nobel laureate
- 1921 - Frank Harary, American mathematician (d. 2005)
- 1921 - Ástor Piazzolla, Argentine composer (d. 1992)
- 1922 - Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek philosopher and economist (d. 1997)
- 1922 - José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor
- 1926 - Reverend Ralph Abernathy, American civil rights leader (d. 1990)
- 1927 - Robert Mosbacher, United States Secretary of Commerce
- 1928 - Albert Salmi, American actor (d. 1990)
- 1929 - Timothy Carey, American actor (d. 1994)
- 1930 - Claude Jutra, Quebec film actor and director (d. 1986)
- 1931 - Rupert Murdoch, Australian-born entrepreneur
- 1934 - Sam Donaldson, American reporter
- 1935 - Sandra Milo, Italian actress
- 1936 - Antonin Scalia, American Supreme Court Justice
- 1939 - Flaco Jiménez, American musician
- 1945 - Harvey Mandel, American musician
- 1947 - Tristan Murail, French composer
- 1948 - César Gerónimo, Dominican baseball player
- 1948 - Dominique Sanda, French actress
- 1950 - Bobby McFerrin, American singer
- 1950 - Jerry Zucker, American director
- 1952 - Douglas Adams, English writer (d. 2001)
- 1954 - Gale Norton, United States Secretary of the Interior
- 1955 - Nina Hagen, German singer
- 1956 - Rob Paulsen, American voice actor
- 1957 - Lady Chablis, American entertainer
- 1958 - Anissa Jones, American actress (d. 1976)
- 1958 - Flemming Rose, Danish journalist
- 1959 - Nina Hartley, American pornographic actress
- 1960 - Christophe Gans, French film director
- 1961 - Elias Koteas, Canadian actor
- 1963 - Alex Kingston, English actress
- 1964 - Vinnie Paul, American musician (Pantera)
- 1964 - Shane Richie, British actor
- 1964 - Peter Berg, American film actor, director and producer
- 1965 - Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen, British television presenter
- 1967 - John Barrowman, Scottish-American actor
- 1968 - Lisa Loeb, American singer
- 1969 - Terrence Howard, American actor
- 1969 - Soraya, Colombian-American singer (d. 2006)
- 1971 - Johnny Knoxville, American television personality
- 1971 - Martin Ručinský, Czech ice hockey player
- 1974 - Bobby Abreu, Venezuelan baseball player
- 1975 - Eric the Midget, American radio personality
- 1976 - Thomas Gravesen, Danish footballer
- 1978 - Didier Drogba, Ivory Coast footballer
- 1978 - Albert Luque, Spanish footballer
- 1978 - Christopher Rice, American author
- 1979 - Benji Madden, American musician (Good Charlotte)
- 1979 - Joel Madden, American musician (Good Charlotte)
- 1979 - Elton Brand, American basketball player
- 1979 - Fred Jones, American basketball player
- 1980 - Paul Scharner, Austrian footballer
- 1981 - David Anders, American actor
- 1981 - Heidi Cortez, American erotic broadcaster
- 1981 - Lee Evans, American football player
- 1981 - Russell Lissack, English musician (Bloc Party)
- 1981 - LeToya Luckett, American singer (ex-Destiny's Child)
- 1982 - Thora Birch, American actress
- 1984 - Marc-André Grondin, French Canadian actor
- 1985 - Nikolai Topor-Stanley, Australian soccer player
- 1987 - Marc-Andre Gragnani, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1989 - Anton Yelchin, Russian-born actor
- 1990 - Reiley McClendon, American actor
Deaths
- 222 - Elagabalus, Roman Emperor
- 222 - Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus (b. 180)
- 859 - Eulogius of Cordoba, Spanish Bishop and Christian Martyr
- 1198 - Marie de Champagne, daughter of Louis VII of France (b. 1145)
- 1486 - Albert III, Margrave of Brandenburg (b. 1414)
- 1514 - Donato Bramante, Italian architect (b. 1444)
- 1575 - Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (b. 1520)
- 1602 - Emilio de' Cavalieri, Italian composer
- 1607 - Giovanni Maria Nanino, Italian composer
- 1722 - John Toland, Irish philosopher (b. 1670)
- 1759 - John Forbes, British general (b. 1710)
- 1786 - Charles Humphreys, American delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1714)
- 1801 - Paul I of Russia, Russian tsar (b. 1754)
- 1847 - Johnny Appleseed, American pioneer agronomist (b. 1774)
- 1854 - Willard Richards, American religious leader (b. 1804)
- 1856 - James Beatty, Irish railway engineer (b. 1820)
- 1869 - Vladimir Odoevsky, Russian philosopher (b. 1803)
- 1870 - King Moshoeshoe I of Lesotho
- 1907 - Jean Casimir-Perier, French politician (b. 1847)
- 1908 - Revd Benjamin Waugh, American activist (b. 1839)
- 1920 - Julio Garavito Armero, Colombian astronomer (b. 1865)
- 1931 - F.W. Murnau, German director (b. 1888)
- 1937 - Joseph S. Cullinan, American oil industrialist (b. 1860)
- 1952 - Pierre Renoir, French stage and film actor and director (b. 1885)
- 1955 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1881)
- 1957 - Admiral Richard E. Byrd, American explorer (b. 1888)
- 1960 - Roy Chapman Andrews, American explorer and adventurer (b. 1884)
- 1967 - Geraldine Farrar, American soprano (b. 1882)
- 1969 - John Wyndham, British author (b. 1903)
- 1970 - Erle Stanley Gardner, American novelist (b. 1889)
- 1971 - Philo T. Farnsworth, American television pioneer (b. 1906)
- 1971 - Whitney Young, American civil rights leader (b. 1921)
- 1977 - Ulysses S. Grant IV, American geologist (b. 1893)
- 1978 - Claude François, French singer (b. 1939)
- 1982 - Edmund Cooper, English author (b. 1926)
- 1984 - Kostas Roukounas, Greek rembetiko singer and song writer (b. 1903)
- 1986 - Sonny Terry, American blues musician (b. 1911)
- 1992 - Richard Brooks, American film director (b. 1912)
- 1993 - Dino Bravo, Italian-born professional wrestler (b. 1949)
- 1996 - Vince Edwards, American film actor and director (b. 1928)
- 1999 - Camille Laurin, Quebec psychiatrist and politician (b. 1922)
- 2002 - James Tobin, American economist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
- 2003 - Brian Cleeve, Irish author (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Ivar Hansen, speaker of the Danish Folketing (b. 1938)
- 2006 - Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (b. 1941)
- 2006 - Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1931)
Holidays and observances
External links