[Edit]

top

1472 - Orkney and Shetland are returned by Norway to Scotland, due to a defaulted dowry payment.

1547 - Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

1724 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London.

1725 - The first reported case of white men scalping Native Americans takes place in New Hampshire colony.

1792 - The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by President George Washington.

1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean patriot and leader of rebellion against Napoleon's forces, was executed.

1816 - Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville debuts at Teatro Argentina, with a fiasco.

1835 - Concepción, Chile is destroyed by an earthquake

1864 - Battle of Olustee

1872 - In New York City the Metropolitan Museum of Art opens.

1873 - The University of California opens its first medical school in San Francisco, California.

1901 - The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

1913 - King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

1921 - The film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, starring Rudolph Valentino, premieres.

1931 - California gets the go-ahead by the U.S. Congress to build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

1942 - Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.

1943 - American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

1943 - The Paricutín volcano begins to form in Paricutín, México.

1944 - World War II: "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on Nazi aircraft manufacturing centers.

1944 - World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.

1947 - State of Prussia ceases to exist

1952 - Emmett L. Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

1952 - The film The African Queen opens at the Capitol Theatre in New York City.

1959 - The Avro Arrow programme to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

1962 - Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn orbits the earth three times in 4 hours, 55 minutes, becoming the first American to orbit the earth.

1965 - Ranger 8 crashes into the moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

1969 - The date that Michel Collin had predicted as the coming of a world wide catastrophe.

1976 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.

1987 - Unabomber: In Salt Lake City, in the USA, a bomb explodes in a computer store.

1991 - A gigantic statue of Albania's long-time dictator, Enver Hoxha, is brought down in the Albanian capital, Tirana, by mobs of angry protesters.

1992 - Ross Perot announces his intention to run in the 1992 U.S. presidential election on CNN's Larry King Live.

1992 - The FA Premier League is formed and takes over as the professional league in England from season 1992–93.

1998 - American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

2001 - FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years.

2002 - In Reqa Al-Gharbiya, Egypt, a fire on a train injures over 65 and kills at least 370.

2003 - In Rhode Island, in the USA, The Station nightclub fire kills about 100 and injures over 200.

2005 - Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

top

1631 - Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (d. 1712)

1745 - Henry James Pye, English poet (d. 1813)

1751 - Johann Heinrich Voß, German poet (d. 1826)

1753 - Louis Alexandre Berthier, French marshal (d. 1815)

1757 - John 'Mad Jack' Fuller, English philanthropist (d. 1834)

1794 - William Carleton, Irish novelist (d. 1869)

1802 - Charles de Bériot, Belgian violinist (d. 1870)

1819 - Alfred Escher, Swiss politician, railroad entrepreneur (d. 1882)

1839 - Benjamin Waugh, American minister and founder of the NSPCC (d. 1908)

1844 - Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist (d. 1906)

1844 - Joshua Slocum, Canadian seaman and adventurer (d. 1909)

1848 - Edward Henry Harriman, American railroad executive (d. 1909)

1866 - Carl Westman, Swedish architect and designer (d. 1936)

1887 - Vincent Massey, Governor-General of Canada (d. 1967)

1888 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)

1893 - Russel Crouse, American playwright (d. 1966)

1899 - Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, American businessman and heir (d. 1992)

1901 - Cecil Harmsworth King, was owner of Mirror Group Newspapers (d. 1987)

1901 - Muhammad Naguib, President of Egypt (d. 1984)

1902 - Ansel Adams, American photographer (d. 1984)

1904 - Alexei Kosygin, Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1980)

1912 - Pierre Boulle, French author (d. 1994)

1914 - John Daly, South African-born broadcaster (d. 2001)

1923 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (d. 1985)

1924 - Gloria Vanderbilt, American clothing designer and entrepreneur

1925 - Robert Altman, American film director

1925 - Heinz Kluncker, German labor union leader

1926 - Richard Matheson, American author

1927 - Roy Cohn, American lawyer, and anti-Communist (d. 1986)

1927 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (d. 2005)

1927 - Sidney Poitier, American actor

1931 - Amanda Blake, American actress (d. 1989)

1934 - Bobby Unser, American race car driver

1936 - Marj Dusay, American actress

1936 - Larry Hovis, American actor (d. 2003)

1937 - Robert Huber, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate

1937 - Roger Penske, American race car driver

1937 - Nancy Wilson, American singer

1938 - Richard Beymer, American actor

1939 - Frank Arundel, English footballer

1941 - Buffy Sainte-Marie, American singer

1942 - Phil Esposito, Canadian hockey player

1942 - Charlie Gillett, British radio DJ

1943 - Mike Leigh, British film director

1943 - Antonio Inoki, Japanese professional wrestler

1944 - Willem van Hanegem, Dutch footballer and coach

1945 - Brion James, American actor (d. 1999)

1946 - Brenda Blethyn, English actress

1946 - Sandy Duncan, American singer and actress

1946 - John Geils, Jr., American guitarist (J. Geils Band)

1947 - Peter Osgood, English footballer

1947 - Peter Strauss, American actor

1948 - Jennifer O'Neill, Brazilian-born actress

1949 - Ivana Trump, Czech skier, model and socialite

1950 - Ken Shimura, Japanese television performer and actor

1950 - Walter Becker, American jazz-rock guitarist (Steely Dan)

1951 - Edward Albert, American actor

1951 - Gordon Brown, British politician

1951 - Randy California, guitarist (Spirit) (d. 1997)

1953 - Riccardo Chailly, Italian conductor

1954 - Anthony Stewart Head, English actor

1954 - Patty Hearst, American socialite and kidnapping victim

1954 - Jon Brant, American musician (Cheap Trick)

1960 - Joel Hodgson, American comedian, creator of Mystery Science Theater 3000

1963 - Charles Barkley, American basketball player

1963 - Ian Brown, British singer (Stone Roses)

1966 - Cindy Crawford, American model

1967 - Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (d. 1994)

1967 - Lili Taylor, American actress

1969 - Gedo, Japanese professional wrestler

1971 - Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer

1972 - Brent Gretzky, Canadian hockey player; brother of Wayne Gretzky

1972 - K-OS, Canadian musician/rapper

1975 - Gail Kim, wrestler

1975 - Brian Littrell, American musician (Backstreet Boys)

1975 - Liván Hernández, Baseball player

1976 - Ed Graham, British drummer (The Darkness)

1977 - Stephon Marbury, American basketball player

1977 - T.J. Slaughter, American football player

1978 - Julia Jentsch, German actress

1978 - Lauren Ambrose, American actress

1980 - Imanol Harinordoquy, French rugby player

1980 - Artur Boruc, Polish football (soccer) goalkeeper

1981 - Tony Hibbert, English footballer

1981 - Chris Thile, American mandolinist

1985 - Yulia Volkova, Russian musician (t.A.T.u.)

1988 - Rihanna, Barbadian musician

top

702 - Chan Bahlum II, king of the Maya state of Palenque (b. 635)

1154 - Saint Wulfric of Haselbury Plucknett

1171 - Conan IV, Duke of Brittany (b. 1138)

1194 - King Tancred of Sicily

1258 - Al-Musta'sim, last Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad

1408 - Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (b. 1342)

1431 - Pope Martin V (b. 1368)

1513 - King Christian II of Denmark (b. 1455)

1524 - Tecún Umán, last leader of the Quiché-Maya in the northern highlands of Guatemala.

1579 - Nicholas Bacon, English politician (b. 1509)

1618 - Philip William, Prince of Orange (b. 1554)

1626 - John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)

1762 - Tobias Mayer, German astronomer (b. 1723)

1771 - Jean Jacques d'Ortous de Mairan, French geophysicist (b. 1678)

1773 - King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia (b. 1701)

1778 - Laura Bassi, Italian scholar (b. 1711)

1790 - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1741)

1803 - Marie Dumesnil, French actress (b. 1713)

1806 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (b. 1725)

1810 - Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean national hero (executed) (b. 1767)

1871 - Paul Kane, Irish-born painter (b. 1810)

1893 - P.G.T. Beauregard, American Confederate general (b. 1818)

1895 - Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist writer (b. 1818)

1907 - Henri Moissan, French chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1852)

1916 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Swedish writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1844)

1920 - Robert Peary, American explorer (b. 1856)

1961 - Percy Grainger, Australian composer (b. 1882)

1963 - Ferenc Fricsay, Hungarian conductor (b. 1914)

1966 - Chester Nimitz, American admiral (b. 1885)

1968 - Anthony Asquith, British film director and writer (b. 1902)

1969 - Ernest Ansermet, Swiss conductor (b. 1883)

1970 - Sophie Treadwell, American playwright and journalist (b. 1885)

1972 - Maria Goeppert-Mayer, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)

1972 - Walter Winchell, American journalist (b. 1897)

1975 - Robert Strauss, American politician and diplomat (b. 1918)

1976 - René Cassin, French judge, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1887)

1976 - Kathryn Kuhlman, American evangelist (b. 1907)

1980 - J.B. Rhine, American parapsychologist (b. 1895)

1981 - Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor, socialite (b. 1904)

1983 - Fritz Köberle, Austrian-Brazilian physician (b. 1910)

1985 - Clarence Nash, American voice actor (b. 1904)

1992 - Roberto D'Aubuisson, Salvadoran politician (b. 1944)

1992 - Dick York, American actor (b. 1928)

1993 - Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1916)

1996 - Solomon Asch, American psychologist (b. 1907)

1996 - Tōru Takemitsu, Japanese composer (b. 1930)

1999 - Sarah Kane, English playwright (b. 1971)

1999 - Gene Siskel, American film critic (b. 1946)

2000 - Anatoly Sobchak, Russian politician (b. 1937)

2001 - Rosemary DeCamp, American actress (b. 1910)

2003 - Maurice Blanchot, French author (b. 1907)

2003 - Orville Freeman, American politician (b. 1918)

2003 - Harry Jacunski, American football player

2003 - Ty Longley, American guitarist (Great White) (b. 1971)

2003 - Mushaf Ali Mir, Pakistan Chief of the Air Staff (b. 1947)

2005 - Pam Bricker, jazz singer and Thievery Corporation vocalist (b. 1954)

2005 - Sandra Dee, American actress (b. 1944)

2005 - John Raitt, American actor (b. 1917)

2005 - Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (b. 1937)

2005 - Tom Willmore, English gemoeter (b. 1919)

2006 - Curt Gowdy, American sportscaster (b. 1919)