Events

Pre-1600

• 293 Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.

• 878 Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege.

• 879 Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.

• 996 Sixteen-year-old Otto III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.

• 1294 Coronation of Michael IX Palaiologos as Byzantine Emperor.

• 1347 Coronation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor by patriarch Isidore I of Constantinople at the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae.

• 1349 Dušan's Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, is enacted by Dušan the Mighty.

• 1403 Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.

• 1424 Coronation of James I of Scotland at Scone.

• 1554 Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.

1601–1900

• 1659 In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.

• 1660 The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy.

• 1674 The nobility elect John Sobieski King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

• 1703 Daniel Defoe is imprisoned on charges of seditious libel.

• 1725 The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

• 1758 Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War. She is returned six and a half years later.

• 1792 A lava dome collapses on Mount Unzen, near the city of Shimbara on the Japanese island of Kyūshū, creating a deadly tsunami that killed nearly 15,000 people.

• 1799 The end of the Siege of Acre (1799): Napoleon Bonaparte abandons his siege of the Ottoman city of Acre after two months. This was the turning point of Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign and one of the first major defeats he suffered in his military career.

• 1809 The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.

• 1851 Slavery in Colombia is abolished.

• 1856 Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.

• 1863 American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.

• 1864 Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile. The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.

• 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.

• 1864 The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.

• 1871 French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting. By the close of "Bloody Week", some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.

• 1871 Opening of the first rack railway in Europe, the Rigi Bahnen on Mount Rigi.

• 1879 War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.

• 1881 The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Dansville, New York.

• 1894 The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.

1901–present

• 1904 The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.

• 1911 President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.

• 1917 The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire's military forces.

• 1917 The Great Atlanta fire of 1917 causes $5.5million in damages, destroying some 300 acres including 2,000 homes, businesses and churches, displacing about 10,000 people but leading to only one fatality (due to heart attack).

• 1924 University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing".

• 1925 The opera Doktor Faust, unfinished when composer Ferruccio Busoni died, is premiered in Dresden.

• 1927 Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

• 1932 Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

• 1934 Oskaloosa, Iowa, becomes the first municipality in the United States to fingerprint all of its citizens.

• 1936 Sada Abe is arrested after wandering the streets of Tokyo for days with her dead lover's severed genitals in her handbag. Her story soon becomes one of Japan's most notorious scandals.

• 1937 A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

• 1939 The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

• 1946 Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

• 1951 The opening of the Ninth Street Show, otherwise known as the 9th Street Art Exhibition: A gathering of a number of notable artists, and the stepping-out of the post war New York avant-garde, collectively known as the New York School.

• 1961 American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.

• 1966 The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.

• 1969 Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.

• 1972 Michelangelo's Pietà in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is damaged by a vandal, the mentally disturbed Hungarian geologist Laszlo Toth.

• 1976 Twenty-nine people are killed in the Yuba City bus disaster in Martinez, California.

• 1979 White Night riots in San Francisco following the manslaughter conviction of Dan White for the assassinations of George Moscone and Harvey Milk.

• 1981 The Italian government releases the membership list of Propaganda Due, an illegal pseudo-Masonic lodge that was implicated in numerous Italian crimes and mysteries.

• 1981 Transamerica Corporation agrees to sell United Artists to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for $380million after the box office failure of the 1980 film Heaven's Gate.

• 1982 Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.

• 1988 Margaret Thatcher holds her controversial Sermon on the Mound before the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

• 1991 Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.

• 1991 Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.

• 1992 After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosts his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.

• 1994 The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.

• 1996 The ferry sinks in Tanzanian waters on Lake Victoria, killing nearly 1,000.

• 1996 The seven Trappist monks of Tibhirine who were abducted on March 27 are killed under uncertain circumstances.

• 1998 In Miami, five abortion clinics are attacked by a butyric acid attacker.

• 1998 President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.

• 2000 Nineteen people are killed in a plane crash in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

• 2001 French Taubira law is enacted, officially recognizing the Atlantic slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity.

• 2003 The 6.8 Boumerdès earthquake shakes northern Algeria with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). More than 2,200 people were killed and a moderate tsunami sank boats at the Balearic Islands.

• 2005 The tallest roller coaster in the world, Kingda Ka opens at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey.

• 2006 The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.

• 2010 JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.

• 2011 Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date.

• 2012 A bus accident near Himara, Albania kills 13 people and injures 21 others.

• 2012 A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sanaa, Yemen.

• 2014 Random killings occur on the Bannan Line of the Taipei MRT, killing four and injuring 24.

• 2017 Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus perform their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

• 2024 The Greenfield tornado kills five and injures 35 across rural Iowa, United States. Wind speeds in excess of are estimated from measurements for the third time in history.

• 2024 A stabbing spree on the Green line of the Taichung MRT injures four people, including the perpetrator.

Births

Pre-1600

• 1471 Albrecht Dürer, German painter, engraver, and mathematician (died 1528)

• 1497 Al-Hattab, Muslim jurist (died 1547)

• 1527 Philip II of Spain, King of Spain, Portugal, England and Ireland (died 1598)

1601–1900

• 1653 Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (died 1697)

• 1688 (O.S.) Alexander Pope, English poet, essayist, and translator (died 1744)

• 1755 Alfred Moore, American lawyer and judge (died 1810)

• 1756 William Babington, Irish-born, English physician and mineralogist (died 1833)

• 1759 Joseph Fouché, French lawyer and politician (died 1820)

• 1775 Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (died 1840)

• 1780 Elizabeth Fry, English prison reformer, philanthropist and Quaker (died 1845)

• 1790 William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, English politician, Lord Chamberlain of the Household (died 1858)

• 1792 Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis, French mathematician and engineer (died 1843)

• 1799 Mary Anning, English paleontologist (died 1847)

• 1801 Princess Sophie of Sweden, Swedish princess (died 1865)

• 1806 Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, English duchess (died 1868)

• 1808 David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (died 1890)

• 1827 William P. Sprague, American banker and politician (died 1899)

• 1828 Rudolf Koller, Swiss painter (died 1905)

• 1835 František Chvostek, Czech-Austrian physician and academic (died 1884)

• 1837 Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (died 1919)

• 1843 Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss lawyer and politician, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1914)

• 1843 Louis Renault, French jurist, educator, and Nobel Prize laureate (died 1918)

• 1844 Henri Rousseau, French painter (died 1910)

• 1849 Édouard-Henri Avril, French painter (died 1928)

• 1850 Giuseppe Mercalli, Italian priest and volcanologist (died 1914)

• 1851 Léon Bourgeois, French police officer and politician, 64th Prime Minister of France, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1925)

• 1853 Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac, French politician (died 1905)

• 1855 Ella Stewart Udall, American telegraphist (died 1937)

• 1856 José Batlle y Ordóñez, Uruguayan journalist and politician, President of Uruguay (died 1929)

• 1858 Édouard Goursat, French mathematician (died 1936)

• 1860 Willem Einthoven, Indonesian-Dutch physician, physiologist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1927)

• 1861 Abel Ayerza, Argentinian physician and academic (died 1918)

• 1863 Archduke Eugen of Austria (died 1954)

• 1864 Princess Stéphanie of Belgium (died 1945)

• 1867 Anne Walter Fearn, American physician (died 1939)

• 1873 Hans Berger, German neurologist and academic (died 1941)

• 1878 Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (died 1930)

• 1880 Tudor Arghezi, Romanian journalist, author, and poet (died 1967)

• 1884 Manuel Pérez y Curis, Uruguayan poet and publisher (died 1920)

• 1885 Princess Sophie of Albania, (Princess Sophie of Schönburg-Waldenburg) (died 1936)

• 1893 Arthur Carr, English cricketer (died 1963)

• 1893 Giles Chippindall, Australian public servant (died 1969)

• 1895 Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934–1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (died 1970)

• 1898 Armand Hammer, American physician and businessman, founded Occidental Petroleum (died 1990)

• 1898 Charles Léon Hammes, Luxembourgian lawyer and judge (died 1967)

• 1898 Carl Johnson, American long jumper (died 1932)

• 1898 John McLaughlin, American painter and translator (died 1976)

1901–present

• 1901 Regina M. Anderson, Multiracial playwright and librarian (died 1993)

• 1901 Horace Heidt, American pianist, bandleader, and radio host (died 1986)

• 1901 Sam Jaffe, American film producer and agent (died 2000)

• 1901 Suzanne Lilar, Belgian author and playwright (died 1992)

• 1902 Earl Averill, American baseball player (died 1983)

• 1902 Marcel Breuer, Hungarian-American architect and academic, designed the Ameritrust Tower (died 1981)

• 1902 Anatole Litvak, Ukrainian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1974)

• 1903 Manly Wade Wellman, American author (died 1986)

• 1904 Robert Montgomery, American actor and director (died 1981)

• 1904 Fats Waller, American singer-songwriter and pianist (died 1943)

• 1907 John C. Allen, American roller coaster designer (died 1979)

• 1912 Chen Dayu, Chinese painter and calligrapher (died 2001)

• 1912 John Curtis Gowan, American psychologist and academic (died 1986)

• 1912 Monty Stratton, American baseball player and coach (died 1982)

• 1913 Gina Bachauer, Greek pianist and composer (died 1976)

• 1914 Romain Gary, French novelist, diplomat, film director, aviator (died 1980)

• 1915 Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan, Indian Civil Service Officer and former Under Secretary-General of the UN (died 2003)

• 1916 Dennis Day, American singer and actor (died 1988)

• 1916 Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (died 2002)

• 1916 Harold Robbins, American author and screenwriter (died 1997)

• 1917 Raymond Burr, Canadian-American actor and director (died 1993)

• 1919 George P. Mitchell, American businessman and philanthropist (died 2013)

• 1920 Bill Barber, American tuba player and educator (died 2007)

• 1920 Forrest White, American businessman, co-founded the Music Man Company (died 1994)

• 1921 Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (died 2010)

• 1921 Andrei Sakharov, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989)

• 1923 Vernon Biever, American photographer (died 2010)

• 1923 Armand Borel, Swiss-American mathematician and academic (died 2003)

• 1923 Ara Parseghian, American football player and coach (died 2017)

• 1923 Dorothy Hewett, Australian feminist poet, novelist and playwright (died 2002)

• 1923 Evelyn Ward, American actress (died 2012)

• 1924 Peggy Cass, American actress, comedian, and game show panelist (died 1999)

• 1926 Robert Creeley, American novelist, essayist, and poet (died 2005)

• 1926 Albert Grossman, American music manager (died 1986)

• 1927 Kay Kendall, English actress and comedian (died 1959)

• 1927 Péter Zwack, Hungarian businessman and diplomat (died 2012)

• 1928 Tom Donahue, American radio host and producer (died 1975)

• 1928 Alice Drummond, American actress (died 2016)

• 1929 Larance Marable, American drummer (died 2012)

• 1929 Robert Welch, English silversmith and industrial designer (died 2000)

• 1930 Tommy Bryant, American bassist (died 1982)

• 1930 Keith Davis, New Zealand rugby player (died 2019)

• 1930 Malcolm Fraser, Australian politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Australia (died 2015)

• 1932 Inese Jaunzeme, Latvian javelin thrower and surgeon (died 2011)

• 1932 Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (died 2014)

• 1933 Maurice André, French trumpet player (died 2012)

• 1933 Yevgeny Minayev, Russian weightlifter (died 1993)

• 1934 Jocasta Innes, Chinese-English journalist and author (died 2013)

• 1934 Bob Northern, American horn player and bandleader (died 2020)

• 1934 Bengt I. Samuelsson, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2024)

• 1935 Terry Lightfoot, English clarinet player and bandleader (died 2013)

• 1936 Günter Blobel, Polish-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018)

• 1938 Lee "Shot" Williams, American singer (died 2011)

• 1939 Heinz Holliger, Swiss oboist, composer, and conductor

• 1940 Tony Sheridan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2013)

• 1941 Martin Carthy, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

• 1941 Bobby Cox, American baseball player and manager (died 2026)

• 1941 Ambrose Greenway, 4th Baron Greenway, English photographer and politician

• 1941 Ronald Isley, American singer-songwriter and producer

• 1942 David Hunt, Baron Hunt of Wirral, English politician, Secretary of State for Wales

• 1942 John Konrads, Australian swimmer (died 2021)

• 1942 Danny Ongais, American race car driver (died 2022)

• 1943 Vincent Crane, English pianist and composer (died 1989)

• 1943 John Dalton, English bass player

• 1943 Hilton Valentine, English guitarist and songwriter (died 2021)

• 1944 Haleh Afshar, Baroness Afshar, Iranian-English academic and politician (died 2022)

• 1944 Marcie Blane, American singer

• 1944 Janet Dailey, American author and entrepreneur (died 2013)

• 1944 Mary Robinson, Irish lawyer and politician, President of Ireland

• 1945 Ernst Messerschmid, German physicist and astronaut

• 1945 Richard Hatch, American actor, writer, and producer (died 2017)

• 1946 Allan McKeown, English-American screenwriter and producer (died 2013)

• 1946 Wayne Roycroft, Australian equestrian rider and coach

• 1947 Bill Champlin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

• 1947 Linda Laubenstein, American physician and academic (died 1992)

• 1947 İlber Ortaylı, Turkish historian and academic (died 2026)

• 1948 Elizabeth Buchan, English author and critic

• 1948 Joe Camilleri, Maltese-Australian singer-songwriter and saxophonist

• 1948 Jonathan Hyde, Australian-English actor

• 1948 Denis MacShane, Scottish journalist and politician, UK Minister of State for Europe

• 1948 Leo Sayer, English-Australian singer-songwriter and musician

• 1949 Andrew Neil, Scottish journalist and academic

• 1949 Denis O'Connor, British police officer

• 1949 Rosalind Plowright, English soprano

• 1950 Will Hutton, English economist and journalist

• 1951 Al Franken, American actor, screenwriter, and politician

• 1951 Adrian Hardiman, Irish lawyer and judge (died 2016)

• 1952 Mr. T, American actor and wrestler

• 1953 Nora Aunor, Filipino actress and recording artist (died 2025)

• 1953 Jim Devine, British politician

• 1954 Marc Ribot, American guitarist and composer

• 1955 Paul Barber, English field hockey player

• 1955 Stan Lynch, American drummer, songwriter, and producer

• 1957 James Bailey, American basketball player

• 1957 Nadine Dorries, English politician

• 1957 Judge Reinhold, American actor and producer

• 1957 Renée Soutendijk, Dutch actress

• 1958 Christian Audigier, French fashion designer (died 2015)

• 1958 Muffy Calder, Canadian-Scottish computer scientist and academic

• 1958 Michael Crick, English journalist and author

• 1958 Naeem Khan, Indian-American fashion designer

• 1958 Jefery Levy, American director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1958 Curtis T. McMullen, American mathematician, 1998 Fields medalist

• 1959 Nick Cassavetes, American actor, director, and screenwriter

• 1959 Abdulla Yameen, Maldivian politician, 6th President of the Maldives

• 1960 Jeffrey Dahmer, American serial killer (died 1994)

• 1960 Kent Hrbek, American baseball player and sportscaster

• 1960 Mohanlal, Indian actor

• 1960 Mark Ridgway, Australian cricketer

• 1960 Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer

• 1962 David Crumb, American composer and educator

• 1963 Richard Appel, American screenwriter and producer

• 1963 Patrick Grant, American musician and producer

• 1963 David Lonsdale, English actor

• 1963 Dave Specter, American guitarist

• 1963 Laurie Spina, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster

• 1964 Danny Bailey, English footballer and coach

• 1964 Pete Sandoval, Salvadoran-American drummer

• 1966 Lisa Edelstein, American actress and playwright

• 1966 Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler

• 1967 Chris Benoit, Canadian professional wrestler (died 2007)

• 1967 Alain Yzermans, Belgian politician

• 1968 Ilmar Raag, Estonian director, producer, and screenwriter

• 1968 Matthias Ungemach, German-Australian rower

• 1968 Julie Vega, Filipino actress and singer (died 1985)

• 1969 Pierluigi Brivio, Italian footballer

• 1969 Georgiy Gongadze, Georgian-Ukrainian journalist and director (died 2000)

• 1969 Masayo Kurata, Japanese voice actress and singer

• 1969 George LeMieux, American lawyer and politician

• 1969 Brian Statham, Rhodesian born English footballer and manager

• 1970 Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler

• 1970 Dorsey Levens, American football player and sportscaster

• 1970 Pauline Menczer, Australian surfer

• 1970 Carl Veart, Australian footballer and coach

• 1971 – Shane Cloete, Zimbabwean-British ex-cricketer and teacher

• 1972 The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (died 1997)

• 1973 Stewart Cink, American golfer

• 1973 Noel Fielding, English comedian, musician and television presenter

• 1974 Brad Arthur, Australian rugby league coach

• 1974 Fairuza Balk, American actress

• 1974 Havoc, American rapper and producer

• 1975 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (died 2003)

• 1975 Anthony Mundine, Australian rugby league player and boxer

• 1976 Stuart Bingham, English snooker player

• 1976 Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (died 2013)

• 1976 Deron Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

• 1977 Quinton Fortune, South African international footballer and coach

• 1977 Michael Fuß, German footballer

• 1977 Ricky Williams, American football player

• 1978 Max B, American rapper and songwriter

• 1978 Briana Banks, German-American porn actress and model

• 1978 Jamaal Magloire, Canadian basketball player and coach

• 1979 Damián Ariel Álvarez, Argentinian-Mexican footballer

• 1979 Jamie Hepburn, Scottish politician, Minister for Sport, Health Improvement and Mental Health

• 1979 James Clancy Phelan, Australian author and academic

• 1979 Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist

• 1980 Gotye, Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter

• 1981 Craig Anderson, American ice hockey player

• 1981 Edson Buddle, American soccer player

• 1981 Josh Hamilton, American baseball player

• 1981 Maximilian Mutzke, German singer-songwriter

• 1981 Anna Rogowska, Polish pole vaulter

• 1983 Līga Dekmeijere, Latvian tennis player

• 1983 Deidson Araújo Maia, Brazilian footballer

• 1984 Brandon Fields, American football player

• 1984 Sara Goller, German volleyball player

• 1985 Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist

• 1985 Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (died 2012)

• 1985 Isa Guha, English cricketer and sportscaster

• 1985 Lucie Hradecká, Czech tennis player

• 1985 Kano, English rapper, producer, and actor

• 1985 Dušan Kuciak, Slovak footballer

• 1985 Heath L'Estrange, Australian rugby league player

• 1985 Andrew Miller, American baseball player

• 1986 Mario Mandžukić, Croatian footballer

• 1986 Myra, American singer and actress

• 1986 Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker

• 1986 Park Sojin, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer

• 1986 Greg Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1986 Matt Wieters, American baseball player

• 1987 Beau Falloon, Australian rugby league player

• 1988 Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer

• 1988 Park Gyu-ri, South Korean singer

• 1988 Jonny Howson, English footballer

• 1988 Kaire Leibak, Estonian triple jumper

• 1989 Emily Robins, New Zealand actress and singer

• 1989 Hal Robson-Kanu, Welsh footballer

• 1990 Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete

• 1990 Rene Krhin, Slovenian footballer

• 1991 Guilherme, Brazilian footballer

• 1992 Hutch Dano, American actor

• 1992 Lisa Evans, Scottish footballer

• 1992 Philipp Grüneberg, German footballer

• 1992 Olivia Olson, American singer and actress

• 1993 Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete

• 1993 Luke Garbutt, English footballer

• 1993 Matías Kranevitter, Argentine footballer

• 1993 Lynn Williams, American soccer player

• 1994 Tom Daley, English diver

• 1995 Diego Loyzaga, Filipino actor

• 1996 Josh Allen, American football player

• 1996 Indy de Vroome, Dutch tennis player

• 1996 Karen Khachanov, Russian tennis player

• 1997 Ivan De Santis, Italian footballer

• 1997 Sisca Folkertsma, Dutch footballer

• 1997 Viktoria Petryk, Ukrainian singer-songwriter

• 1997 Kevin Quinn, American actor and singer

• 2002 Elena Huelva, Spanish cancer activist and influencer (died 2023)

Deaths

Pre-1600

• 252 Sun Quan, Chinese emperor of Eastern Wu (born 182)

• 954 Feng Dao, Chinese prince and chancellor (born 882)

• 987 Louis V, king of West Francia (born c. 966)

• 1075 Richeza of Poland, queen of Hungary (born 1013)

• 1086 Wang Anshi, Chinese statesman and poet (born 1021)

• 1237 Olaf the Black, Manx son of Godred II Olafsson

• 1254 Conrad IV, king of Germany (born 1228)

• 1416 Anna of Celje, queen consort of Poland (born 1386)

• 1471 Henry VI, king of England (born 1421)

• 1481 Christian I, king of Denmark (born 1426)

• 1512 Pandolfo Petrucci, Italian ruler (born 1452)

• 1524 Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (born 1443)

• 1542 Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (born 1496)

• 1563 Martynas Mažvydas, Lithuanian writer (born 1510)

1601–1900

• 1607 John Rainolds, English scholar and academic (born 1549)

• 1617 Luis Fajardo, Spanish admiral and nobleman (born 1556)

• 1619 Hieronymus Fabricius, Italian anatomist (born 1537)

• 1639 Tommaso Campanella, Italian astrologer, theologian, and poet (born 1568)

• 1647 Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and playwright (born 1581)

• 1650 James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish general and politician (born 1612)

• 1664 Elizabeth Poole, English settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (born 1588)

• 1670 Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (born 1586)

• 1686 Otto von Guericke, German physicist and inventor of the Magdeburg Hemispheres (born 1602)

• 1690 John Eliot, English-American minister and missionary (born 1604)

• 1719 Pierre Poiret, French mystic and philosopher (born 1646)

• 1724 Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (born 1661)

• 1742 Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (born 1664)

• 1762 Alexander Joseph Sulkowski, Polish and Saxon general (born 1695)

• 1771 Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (born 1722)

• 1786 Carl Wilhelm Scheele, German-Swedish chemist and pharmacist (born 1742)

• 1790 Thomas Warton, English poet and critic (born 1728)

• 1810 Chevalier d'Eon, French diplomat and spy (born 1728)

• 1829 Sikandar Jah, 3rd Nizam (born 1768)

• 1844 Giuseppe Baini, Italian priest and composer (born 1775)

• 1858 José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (born 1783)

• 1862 John Drew, Irish-American actor and manager (born 1827)

• 1879 Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (born 1848)

• 1894 Émile Henry, French anarchist (born 1872)

• 1894 August Kundt, German physicist and academic (born 1839)

• 1895 Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (born 1819)

1901–present

• 1901 Joseph Olivier, French rugby player (born 1874)

• 1911 Williamina Fleming, Scottish-American astronomer and academic (born 1857)

• 1915 Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (born 1875)

• 1919 Evgraf Fedorov, Russian mathematician, crystallographer, and mineralogist (born 1853)

• 1920 Venustiano Carranza, Mexican politician, 54th President of Mexico (born 1859)

• 1925 Hidesaburō Ueno, Japanese agriculturalist, guardian of Hachikō (born 1871)

• 1926 Ronald Firbank, English-Italian author (born 1886)

• 1929 Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1847)

• 1932 Marcel Boulenger, French fencer and author (born 1873)

• 1935 Jane Addams, American activist and author, co-founded Hull House, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1860)

• 1935 Hugo de Vries, Dutch botanist and geneticist (born 1848)

• 1940 Billy Minter, English footballer and manager (born 1888)

• 1949 Klaus Mann, German-American novelist, playwright, and critic (born 1906)

• 1952 John Garfield, American actor (born 1913)

• 1956 Harry Bensley, English businessman and adventurer (born 1877)

• 1957 Alexander Vertinsky, Ukrainian-Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (born 1889)

• 1964 James Franck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1882)

• 1965 Marguerite Bise, French chef (born 1898)

• 1965 Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (born 1882)

• 1968 Doris Lloyd, English actress (born 1896)

• 1970 E. L. Grant Watson, English-Australian biologist and author (born 1885)

• 1973 Vaughn Monroe, American singer, trumpet player, bandleader, and actor (born 1911)

• 1973 Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (born 1897)

• 1981 Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer, died on hunger strike (born 1957)

• 1981 Patsy O'Hara, INLA volunteer, died on hunger strike (born 1957)

• 1983 Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (born 1903)

• 1984 Ann Little, American actress (born 1891)

• 1988 Sammy Davis Sr., American actor and dancer (born 1900)

• 1991 Rajiv Gandhi, Indian politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (born 1944)

• 1995 Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defense (born 1938)

• 1996 Paul Delph, American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1957)

• 1996 Lash LaRue, American actor and producer (born 1917)

• 1996 Villem Raam, Estonian art historian, art critic and conservator (born 1910)

• 1998 Robert Gist, American actor and director (born 1917)

• 2000 Barbara Cartland, English author (born 1901)

• 2000 John Gielgud, English actor (born 1904)

• 2000 Mark R. Hughes, American businessman, founded Herbalife (born 1956)

• 2002 Niki de Saint Phalle, French-American sculptor and painter (born 1930)

• 2003 Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (born 1928)

• 2003 Frank D. White, American captain, banker, and politician, 41st Governor of Arkansas (born 1933)

• 2005 Deborah Berger, American outsider artist (born 1956)

• 2005 Stephen Elliott, American actor (born 1918)

• 2005 Howard Morris, American actor and director (born 1919)

• 2006 Spencer Clark, American race car driver (born 1987)

• 2006 Katherine Dunham, American dancer, choreographer, and author (born 1909)

• 2006 Cherd Songsri, Thai director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1931)

• 2006 Billy Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1929)

• 2012 Eddie Blazonczyk, American singer-songwriter (born 1941)

• 2012 Otis Clark, American butler and preacher, survivor of the Tulsa race massacre (born 1903)

• 2012 Constantine of Irinoupolis, Metropolitan of Irinoupolis and Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA (born 1936)

• 2012 Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (born 1964)

• 2012 Douglas Rodríguez, Cuban boxer (born 1950)

• 2012 Bill Stewart, American football player and coach (born 1952)

• 2012 Alan Thorne, Australian anthropologist and academic (born 1939)

• 2013 Count Christian of Rosenborg, member of the Danish royal family (born 1942)

• 2013 Frank Comstock, American trombonist, composer, and conductor (born 1922)

• 2013 Cot Deal, American baseball player and coach (born 1923)

• 2013 Leonard Marsh, American businessman, co-founded Snapple (born 1933)

• 2013 Bob Thompson, American pianist and composer (born 1924)

• 2013 Dominique Venner, French journalist and historian (born 1935)

• 2014 Tunku Annuar, Malaysian son of Badlishah of Kedah (born 1939)

• 2014 Johnny Gray, American baseball player (born 1926)

• 2014 Jaime Lusinchi, Venezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (born 1924)

• 2014 Alireza Soleimani, Iranian wrestler (born 1956)

• 2015 Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (born 1969)

• 2015 Twinkle, English singer-songwriter (born 1948)

• 2015 Jassem Al-Kharafi, Kuwaiti businessman and politician, 8th Kuwaiti Speaker of the National Assembly (born 1940)

• 2015 Fred Gladding, American baseball player and coach (born 1936)

• 2015 Louis Johnson, American bass player and producer (born 1955)

• 2016 Nick Menza, American drummer and songwriter (born 1964)

• 2019 Rik Kuypers, Belgian film director (born 1925)

• 2019 Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (born 1971)

• 2020 Alan Merten, fifth President of George Mason University (born 1941)

• 2024 Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, Polish composer (born 1953)

• 2025 Gerry Connolly, American politician, U.S. Representative from (born 1950)

• 2026 Kyle Busch, American race car driver and owner (born 1985)

Holidays and observances

• Afro-Colombian Day (Colombia)

Christian feast day:

• Blessed Adílio Daronch and Manuel Gómez González

• Blessed Franz Jägerstätter

• Earliest day on which Corpus Christi can fall, while June 24 is the latest; held on Thursday after Trinity Sunday (often locally moved to Sunday). (Roman Catholic Church)

• Eugène de Mazenod

• Helena of Constantinople, also known as "Feast of the Holy Great Sovereigns Constantine and Helen, Equal-to-the-Apostles." (Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion)

• Blessed Hemming of Turku

• John Elliot (Episcopal Church)

• Saints of the Cristero War, including Christopher Magallanes

• May 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

• Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians)

• Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary)

• Independence Day, celebrates the Montenegrin independence referendum in 2006, celebrated until the next day. (Montenegro)

• International Tea Day (International)

• Navy Day (Chile)

• Saint Helena Day, celebrates the discovery of Saint Helena in 1502. (Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha)

• World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (International)

References

External links

• BBC: On This Day

• Historical Events on May 21