Historical Events on this Day in History

Births

• 1231 – Emperor Shijō of Japan (d. 1242)
• 1473 – King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
• 1628 – François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
• 1665 – Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, French musician, harpsichordist and composer (d. 1729)
• 1676 – Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
• 1725 – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (d. 1806)
• 1747 – Johannes Jährig, German linguist (d. 1795)
• 1777 – Patrick Bronte, Anglo-Irish writer, curate, and father of the Bronte sisters (d. 1861)
• 1777 – Roger Brooke Taney, 5th Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1864)
• 1780 – Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, author, and scientist (d. 1847)
• 1781 – Ebenezer Elliott, British poet (d. 1849)
• 1787 – Edmund Kean, English actor (d. 1833)
• 1804 – Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer (d. 1881)
• 1820 – Jean Ingelow, English poet (d. 1897)
• 1834 – Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor (d. 1900)
• 1846 – Kate Greenaway, English children's author and illustrator (d. 1901)
• 1856 – Mikhail Vrubel, Russian painter (d. 1910)
• 1862 – Silvio Gesell, Belgian economist (d. 1930)
• 1864 – Joseph Baptista, Indian Home Rule Movement founder (d. 1930)
• 1866 – Pierce Butler, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1939)
• 1870 – Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (d. 1951)
• 1872 – Konstantinos Skarlatos, Greek Olympic shooter (d. 1969)
• 1876 – Frederick Ayres, American composer (d. 1926)
• 1877 – Otto Gross, Austrian psychoanalyst (d. 1920)
• 1880 – Sir Patrick Hastings, British barrister (d. 1952)
• 1880 – Lawrence Oates, English army officer and Antarctic explorer (d. 1912)
• 1881 – Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1973)
• 1883 – Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
• 1884 – Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1934)
• 1886 – Princess Patricia of Connaught, British princess (d. 1974)
• 1888 – Paul Ramadier, French politician (d. 1961)
• 1892 – Benjamin Drake Van Wissen, Australian Engineer (d. 1984)
• 1894 – Paul Green, American writer (d. 1981)
• 1897 – Jozef C. Mazur, American stained glass artist and painter (d. 1970)
• 1901 – Alfred Newman, American film composer (d. 1970)
• 1902 – Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
• 1907 – Jean Van Houtte, Belgian politician (d. 1991)
• 1907 – Sonny Werblin, American football franchise owner (d. 1991)
• 1908 – Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
• 1911 – Vello Kaaristo, Estonian cross-country skier (d. 1965)
• 1912 – Bayard Rustin, American civil rights activist (d. 1987)
• 1914 – Sammy Baugh, American football player (d. 2008)
• 1915 – Henry Bumstead, American art director (d. 2006)
• 1916 – Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
• 1919 – Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
• 1920 – Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Founding Leader of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
• 1921 – Meir Amit, Israeli politician and general (d. 2009)
• 1925 – Gabriele Ferzetti, Italian film and stage actor
• 1926 – Siegfried Lenz, German writer
• 1928 – William John McKeag, Canadian politician (d. 2007)
• 1930 – Paul Horn, American jazz flutist
• 1930 – James Irwin, American astronaut (d. 1991)
• 1931 – David Peakall, British scientist (d. 2001)
• 1932 – Donald N. Langenberg, American physicist
• 1933 – Myrlie Evers-Williams, American activist
• 1936 – Ladislav Kupkovic, Slovakian composer
• 1936 – Patty Maloney, American actress
• 1936 – Ken Mattingly, American astronaut
• 1937 – Rudy Ray Moore, American comedian and actor (d. 2008)
• 1937 – Adam Wade, American singer and actor
• 1938 – Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
• 1938 – Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien, Northern Irish clergyman
• 1938 – Zola Taylor, American singer (The Platters) (d. 2007)
• 1939 – Jim Gary, American sculptor (d. 2006)
• 1939 – Bill Graham, Canadian politician
• 1939 – Giovanni Trapattoni, Italian football manager
• 1939 – Robin Knox-Johnston, British Yachtsman
• 1940 – Mark White, American politician
• 1941 – Paul Kantner, American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
• 1941 – Wang Jin-pyng, Taiwanese politician
• 1942 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
• 1944 – Pattie Boyd, British photographer and model
• 1944 – Cito Gaston, American baseball player and manager
• 1944 – John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter
• 1945 – Michael Hayden, American Air Force General, CIA director
• 1945 – Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
• 1947 – Jan Andersson, Swedish politician
• 1947 – Yury Chernavsky, Russian-born composer and producer
• 1947 – James Morrow, American author
• 1948 – Alex MacDonald, Scottish footballer and football manager
• 1948 – William Gibson, American writer
• 1949 – Patrick Duffy, American actor
• 1949 – Daniel Lavoie, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1949 – Pat Rice, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• 1950 – Patrick Adams, American record producer and songwriter
• 1951 – Donald Findlay, Scottish lawyer
• 1951 – Scott Gorham, American musician (Thin Lizzy)
• 1951 – Craig Ramsay, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1951 – Kurt Russell, American actor
• 1952 – Nikos Xydakis, Greek musician and composer
• 1952 – Barry Horne, Animal rights activist (d. 2001)
• 1953 – Filemon Lagman, Filipino communist revolutionary (d. 2001)
• 1953 – Chuck Muncie, American football running back
• 1954 – Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
• 1955 – Cynthia McKinney, American politician, 2008 Presidential candidate
• 1955 – Gary Sinise, American actor
• 1956 – Patrick McDonnell, American cartoonist
• 1956 – Rory McGrath, English comedian and writer
• 1957 – Mal Donaghy, Northern Irish footballer
• 1957 – Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
• 1958 – Pat Bolland, Canadian Broadcaster
• 1959 – Danny Ainge, American basketball player and coach
• 1959 – Paul Black, American rock singer
• 1959 – Christian Clemenson, American actor
• 1960 – Rebeca Arthur, American actress
• 1960 – Arye Gross, American actor
• 1960 – Vicki Lewis, American actress
• 1961 – Sam Bowie, American basketball player
• 1961 – Marcus Dillistone, Royal premiered and award-winning British film director.
• 1961 – Andrew Paul, English actor
• 1961 – Dana Reeve, American actress and activist (d. 2006)
• 1961 – Casey Siemaszko, American actor
• 1961 – Alexander Bard, Swedish artist, singer (Army Of Lovers), music producer, and philosopher
• 1962 – Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, Dutch politician
• 1962 – Clare Grogan, Scottish actress-singer
• 1963 – Alex Fong Chung-Sun, Chinese actor
• 1963 – Nick Peros, Canadian composer
• 1964 – Lee Dixon, English footballer
• 1964 – Rob Lowe, American actor
• 1964 – Jacques Songo'o, Cameroonian footballer
• 1966 – Jeremy Sheffield, English actor
• 1967 – Billy Corgan, American musician (Smashing Pumpkins)
• 1967 – Barry Minkow, American criminal and fraudster
• 1969 – Patricia Ford, American model
• 1969 – Edgar Grospiron, French freestyle skier
• 1969 – Alexander McQueen, British fashion designer (d. 2010)
• 1969 – Mathew St. Patrick, American actor
• 1970 – Patrick Lebeau, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Yanic Truesdale, Canadian actor
• 1970 – Gene Ween, American musician (Ween)
• 1971 – Bill Mueller, American baseball player
• 1972 – Melissa Auf der Maur, Canadian musician
• 1972 – Marc Gunn, poet, podcaster, and musician (Brobdingnagian Bards)
• 1972 – Mia Hamm, American soccer player
• 1973 – Rico Blanco, Filipino singer (Rivermaya)
• 1973 – Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
• 1973 – Vance Wilson, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jerome Woods, American football player
• 1974 – Marisa Coughlan, American actress
• 1974 – Mark Dolan, British TV show host
• 1974 – Oliver Palotai, German keyboard player (Doro)
• 1975 – Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
• 1975 – Gina Holden, Canadian actress
• 1975 – Mason Jennings, American musician
• 1975 – Andrew "Test" Martin, Canadian wrestler (d. 2009)
• 1975 – Puneet Rajkumar, Indian (Kannada) actor, singer and director
• 1975 – Natalie Zea, American actress
• 1976 – Brittany Daniel, American actress
• 1976 – Cynthia Daniel, American actress and photographer
• 1976 – Scott Downs, American baseball player
• 1976 – Stephen Gately, Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone) (d. 2009)
• 1976 – Álvaro Recoba, Uruguayan footballer
• 1978 – Adam Jennings, British actor, producer and director
• 1979 – Nicole "Coco" Austin, American glamor model
• 1979 – Stormy Daniels, American pornographic actress
• 1979 – Andrew Ference, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1979 – Samoa Joe, Samoan wrestler
• 1979 – Sharman Joshi, Indian actor
• 1979 – Stephen Kramer Glickman, American actor and comedian
• 1980 – Danny Califf, American soccer player
• 1980 – Katie Morgan, American pornographic actress
• 1981 – Aaron Baddeley, Australian golfer
• 1981 – Servet Çetin, Turkish footballer
• 1981 – Kyle Korver, American basketball player
• 1981 – Thorsten Stuckmann, German footballer
• 1982 – Steven Pienaar, South African footballer
• 1983 – Raul Meireles, Portuguese footballer
• 1985 – Vassiliki Arvaniti, Greek beach volleyball player
• 1986 – Edin Džeko, Bosnian footballer
• 1986 – Miles Kane, British musician
• 1986 – Olesya Rulin, Russian actress
• 1987 – Krisnan Inu, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1987 – Rob Kardashian, American model and singer
• 1987 – Ryan Parent, Canadian hockey player
• 1987 – Bobby Ryan, American ice hockey player
• 1990 – Saina Nehwal, Indian badminton player
• 1993 – Julia Winter, British Actress

• 1401 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
• 1603 – James VI of Scotland also becomes James I of England.
• 1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei, and establishes the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan.
• 1707 – The Acts of Union 1707 is signed, officially uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Christian Ludwig, margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called theBrandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046-1051.
• 1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
• 1765 – American Revolutionary War: The Kingdom of Great Britain passes the Quartering Act that requires the Thirteen Colonies to house Britishtroops.
• 1829 – Catholic Emancipation: The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
• 1832 – In Hiram, Ohio a group of men beat, tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Jr..
• 1837 – Canada gives African Canadian men the right to vote.
• 1860 – Sakuradamon incident (1860): Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke
• 1869 – The last of Titokowaru's forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
• 1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
• 1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
• 1896 – A. S. Popov makes the first radio signal transmission in history.
• 1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground "Rapid Transit Railroad" that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
• 1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
• 1922 – Irish War of Independence: In Belfast, Northern Irish policemen break into the home of a Catholic family and shoot all eight males inside.
• 1923 – Greece becomes a republic.
• 1927 – Nanjing Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
• 1934 – U.S. Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
• 1944 – Ardeatine Massacre: German troops kill 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
• 1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 prisoners begin breaking out of Stalag Luft III.
• 1946 – The British Cabinet Mission, consisting of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander, arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
• 1958 – Rock'N'Roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
• 1959 – The Party of the African Federation is launched by Léopold Sédar Senghor and Modibo Keita.
• 1965 – NASA spacecraft Ranger 9, equipped to convert its signals into a form suitable for showing on domestic television, brings images of the Moon into ordinary homes beforecrash landing.
• 1972 – The United Kingdom imposes direct rule over Northern Ireland.
• 1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles, California.
• 1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process. Since 2006, a public holiday known as Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice is held on this day.
• 1980 – Archbishop Óscar Romero is killed while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
• 1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
• 1989 – Exxon Valdez oil spill: In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m³) of petroleum after running aground.
• 1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
• 1998 – Jonesboro massacre: Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro,Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
• 1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India killing 250 people and injuring 3000 others.
• 1999 – Mont Blanc Tunnel fire kills 38 people
• 1999 – Kosovo War: NATO commences air bombardment against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
• 2000 – S&P 500 index reaches an intraday high of 1,552.87, a peak that, due to the collapse of the dot-com bubble, it will not reach again for another seven-and-a-half years.
• 2003 – The Arab League votes 21-1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
• 2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.

• 421 – Venice is founded at twelve o'clock noon, according to legend.
• 1199 – Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6.
• 1306 – Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland.
• 1409 – The Council of Pisa opens.
• 1584 – Sir Walter Raleigh is granted a patent to colonize Virginia.
• 1634 – The first settlers arrive in Maryland.
• 1655 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
• 1802 – The Treaty of Amiens is signed as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace" between France and the United Kingdom.
• 1807 – The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire.
• 1807 – The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world.
• 1811 – Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.
• 1821 – (Julian Calendar) Traditional date of the start of the Greek War of Independence. The war had actually began since 23 February 1821. The date was chosen in the early years of the Greek state so that it falls on the day of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, strengthening the ties between the Greek Orthodox Church and the newly-found state.
• 1865 – American Civil War: In Virginia, Confederate forces temporarily capture Fort Stedman from the Union.
• 1894 – Coxey's Army, the first significant American protest march, departs Massillon, Ohio for Washington D.C.
• 1911 – In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers.
• 1917 – The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811.
• 1918 – The Belarusian People's Republic is established.
• 1924 – On the anniversary of Greek Independence, Alexandros Papanastasiou proclaims the Second Hellenic Republic.
• 1931 – The Scottsboro Boys are arrested in Alabama and charged with rape.
• 1941 – The Kingdom of Yugoslavia joins the Axis powers with the signing of the Tripartite Pact.
• 1943 – Start of the American amphibious landings in the Philippines a turning point in the Pacific War.
• 1947 – An explosion in a coal mine in Centralia, Illinois kills 111.
• 1948 – The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma.
• 1949 – The extensive deportation campaign known as March deportation is conducted in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to force collectivisation by way of terror. The Sovietauthorities deport more than 92,000 people from the Baltics to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
• 1957 – United States Customs seizes copies of Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl" on the grounds of obscenity.
• 1957 – The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).
• 1958 – Canada's Avro Arrow makes its first flight.
• 1965 – Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
• 1969 – During their honeymoon, John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold their first Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel (until March 31).
• 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Beginning of Operation Searchlight by the Pakistani Armed Forces against East Pakistani civilians.
• 1971 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandon an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
• 1975 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by a mentally ill nephew.
• 1979 – The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch.
• 1988 – The Candle demonstration in Bratislava is the first mass demonstration of the 1980s against the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.
• 1990 – The Happy Land fire was an arson fire that kills 87 people trapped inside an illegal nightclub in the New York City borough of The Bronx.
• 1992 – Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returns to Earth after a 10-month stay aboard the Mir space station.
• 1995 – WikiWikiWeb, the world's first wiki, and part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham.
• 1996 – An 81-day-long standoff between the anti-government group Montana Freemen and law enforcement near Jordan, Montana, begins.
• 1996 – The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease (Bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
• 2006 – Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
• 2006 – Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, 2006, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.