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9th among the 18 economies in Latin America and the Caribbean and 74th out of 132 countries overall. The report highlights E-participation and Government's online service as an area of weakness to greater innovation. Broadband penetration in Jamaica stood at 77.7% in March 2021. Via the National Broadband Initiative, the Jamaican government seeks to provide Internet connection to every household by 2025. Scientific publications Caricom scientists have a modest output in terms of scientific research papers. UNESCO reports that between 2011 and 2019, output has fluctuated for most member states. Between 2017 and 2019, Caricom researchers continued to publish mostly in areas related to health sciences with Jamaica contributing over 20% of articles in this field. In terms of research density, Jamaica produced 114 publications per million inhabitants in 2019. Between 2014 and 2016, Jamaica ranked 4th in terms of average of relative citations (1.36). In terms of scientific co-authorship, between 2017 and 2019, Jamaica produced 379 publications in collaboration with the US, 118 with UK, 95 with Canada, 52 with France and 51 with Mexico. Science activities Notable activities that are geared towards promoting science and innovation: The Coding in Schools Programme: Launched in 2021, the aim is promote the teaching and learning of coding in public educational institutions across Jamaica. STEM Ambassador Programme: Launched in early 2021, the programme allows industry experts to encourage STEM students to achieve academic and career goals through consistent mentorship and interactive support. The Science Resource Centre & Innovation Laboratory: Opened in 2018, the lab is focused on the nurturing and development of revenue-generating clean technology companies within the region. It's the first facility of its kind within the Caribbean. The Public Wi-Fi Hotspot Programme: Jamaica has thirteen Wi-Fi-hotspots (as of September 2021), providing free public access to Internet services. Seven new locations are planned by March 2022. Science and Technology Fairs. Institutions There are several institutions involved in undertaking research: The Medical Association of Jamaica, whose origins date back to 1877, provides a wide range of services including medical education seminars and workshops. The Institute of Jamaica, founded in 1879 "For the Encouragement of Literature, Science and Art in Jamaica". The Jamaica Institution of Engineers, founded in the 1940s to promote and encourage the general advancement of engineering. The University of the West Indies, founded in 1948, has faculties of medical sciences and natural sciences. The Geological Society of Jamaica, established in 1955, seeks to provide for the professional growth of earth scientists at all levels of expertise and from all sectors The University of Technology, founded as the Jamaica Institute of Technology in 1958. The Scientific Research Council, located in Kingston and founded in 1960, coordinates scientific research efforts in Jamaica. Sugar Industry Research Institute, founded in 1973, aims to research and develop methods to improve agriculture technology as it relates to sugar cane production. The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, founded in 1975, carries out research and development for agriculture in the Caribbean region. Achievements In 2021, two Jamaican scientists won the prestigious International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) 2020 awards, making Jamaica the first country to take home prizes in the organisation's two award categories in any one year. Jamaica has produced many internationally awarded scientists. Examples include: Henry Lowe, honoured by the United States Government for his contributions to the sciences, science education and exemplary public service. Lowe was presented with a proclamation from the United States House of Representatives. Thomas Lecky, made an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for meritorious and devoted service to agriculture. Patricia DeLeon, awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring by Barack Obama. Geoff Palmer, Knighted by Queen Elizabeth ll for his services to human rights, science and charity. Palmer also became the fourth person to be honoured with the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction. Evan Dale Abel, named by Cell Press as one of the most inspirational Black scientists in the United States. Cicely Delphine Williams, made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, awarded the James Spence Gold Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for the discovery of Kwashiorkor. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Ghana, for her "love, care and devotion to sick children". Manley West, received the Certificate of Merit from the Government of Canada. Maydianne Andrade, named one of the Brilliant 10 by Popular Science magazine. Simone Anne Marie Badal-McCreath, awarded the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Scientists in the Developing World for her creation of a lab at the Natural Products Institute to research the anti-cancer properties of natural Jamaican products. Patricia Daley, announced as one of the United Kingdom's 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage, in recognition of her contribution to education. Karen E. Nelson, received the Helmholtz International Fellow Award. Walt W. Braithwaite, the Walt E. Braithwaite Legacy Award is named in his honour. Bertram Fraser-Reid received numerous awards worldwide. These include the 1977 Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada; the Claude S. Hudson Award in carbohydrate chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1989; recognition as the Senior Distinguished U.S. Scientist by Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1990; the Percy Julian Award from the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 1991; North Carolina Chemist of the Year by the American Institute of Chemistry in 1995 and the Haworth Memorial Medal and Lectureship from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1995. Scientific and technological contributions Notable discoveries and inventions include: Medicine The antibiotic Monamycin, discovered in 1959 by Jamaican Kenneth E. Magnus. Discovery of the child malnutrition syndrome, kwashiorkor. Cicely Williams was the first to recognise and conduct research on kwashiorkor and differentiate it from other dietary deficiencies. She also developed a treatment regime to combat the disease – this saved many lives. The pioneer of treatments for paediatric sickle cell anaemia. Yvette Francis-McBarnette was the first to use prophylactic antibiotics in the treatment of children with sickle cell. Canasol, a medicated eye-drop for the treatment of glaucoma. Dr Manley West and Dr Albert Lockhart developed the drug in1985. Canasol reduces the fluid pressure within the eye that is present in late-stage glaucoma. Canasol is still one of the most popular drugs for treating glaucoma. The JaipurKnee, a budget-friendly prosthetic knee joint. It was listed at number 18 in Time Magazine's “50 Best Inventions of 2009”. Jamaican Joel Sadler co-designed the device as part of a course project in Medical Device Design. The JaipurKnee is made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon and is both flexible and stable, even on irregular terrain. The device was further developed by Stanford University in collaboration with the Jaipur Foot Group, a charity that provides prostheses to Indian amputees. The JaipurKnee has since been exported to many countries, impacting the lives of amputees around the world. The (Ramphal) Cardiac Surgery Simulator. The model is used in the training of many cardiothoracic surgery residents in the United States Space exploration The portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system. In 2000, Kingston born Robert Rashford co-invented the world's first portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system. The NDE system detects flaws in materials used to construct aircraft, spacecraft and industrial pipelines without having to take these materials apart. The system was used in the maintenance of the United States Government's Hubble Space Telescope. Protective enclosure for use transporting orbital replacement units (orus) within a space craft, invented by Robert
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among the 18 economies in Latin America and the Caribbean and 74th out of 132 countries overall. The report highlights E-participation and Government's online service as an area of weakness to greater innovation. Broadband penetration in Jamaica stood at 77.7% in March 2021. Via the National Broadband Initiative, the Jamaican government seeks to provide Internet connection to every household by 2025. Scientific publications Caricom scientists have a modest output in terms of scientific research papers. UNESCO reports that between 2011 and 2019, output has fluctuated for most member states. Between 2017 and 2019, Caricom researchers continued to publish mostly in areas related to health sciences with Jamaica contributing over 20% of articles in this field. In terms of research density, Jamaica produced 114 publications per million inhabitants in 2019. Between 2014 and 2016, Jamaica ranked 4th in terms of average of relative citations (1.36). In terms of scientific co-authorship, between 2017 and 2019, Jamaica produced 379 publications in collaboration with the US, 118 with UK, 95 with Canada, 52 with France and 51 with Mexico. Science activities Notable activities that are geared towards promoting science and innovation: The Coding in Schools Programme: Launched in 2021, the aim is promote the teaching and learning of coding in public educational institutions across Jamaica. STEM Ambassador Programme: Launched in early 2021, the programme allows industry experts to encourage STEM students to achieve academic and career goals through consistent mentorship and interactive support. The Science Resource Centre & Innovation Laboratory: Opened in 2018, the lab is focused on the nurturing and development of revenue-generating clean technology companies within the region. It's the first facility of its kind within the Caribbean. The Public Wi-Fi Hotspot Programme: Jamaica has thirteen Wi-Fi-hotspots (as of September 2021), providing free public access to Internet services. Seven new locations are planned by March 2022. Science and Technology Fairs. Institutions There are several institutions involved in undertaking research: The Medical Association of Jamaica, whose origins date back to 1877, provides a wide range of services including medical education seminars and workshops. The Institute of Jamaica, founded in 1879 "For the Encouragement of Literature, Science and Art in Jamaica". The Jamaica Institution of Engineers, founded in the 1940s to promote and encourage the general advancement of engineering. The University of the West Indies, founded in 1948, has faculties of medical sciences and natural sciences. The Geological Society of Jamaica, established in 1955, seeks to provide for the professional growth of earth scientists at all levels of expertise and from all sectors The University of Technology, founded as the Jamaica Institute of Technology in 1958. The Scientific Research Council, located in Kingston and founded in 1960, coordinates scientific research efforts in Jamaica. Sugar Industry Research Institute, founded in 1973, aims to research and develop methods to improve agriculture technology as it relates to sugar cane production. The Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, founded in 1975, carries out research and development for agriculture in the Caribbean region. Achievements In 2021, two Jamaican scientists won the prestigious International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) 2020 awards, making Jamaica the first country to take home prizes in the organisation's two award categories in any one year. Jamaica has produced many internationally awarded scientists. Examples include: Henry Lowe, honoured by the United States Government for his contributions to the sciences, science education and exemplary public service. Lowe was presented with a proclamation from the United States House of Representatives. Thomas Lecky, made an honorary Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for meritorious and devoted service to agriculture. Patricia DeLeon, awarded the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring by Barack Obama. Geoff Palmer, Knighted by Queen Elizabeth ll for his services to human rights, science and charity. Palmer also became the fourth person to be honoured with the American Society of Brewing Chemists Award of Distinction. Evan Dale Abel, named by Cell Press as one of the most inspirational Black scientists in the United States. Cicely Delphine Williams, made a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George, awarded the James Spence Gold Medal of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for the discovery of Kwashiorkor. She was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Ghana, for her "love, care and devotion to sick children". Manley West, received the Certificate of Merit from the Government of Canada. Maydianne Andrade, named one of the Brilliant 10 by Popular Science magazine. Simone Anne Marie Badal-McCreath, awarded the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Scientists in the Developing World for her creation of a lab at the Natural Products Institute to research the anti-cancer properties of natural Jamaican products. Patricia Daley, announced as one of the United Kingdom's 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage, in recognition of her contribution to education. Karen E. Nelson, received the Helmholtz International Fellow Award. Walt W. Braithwaite, the Walt E. Braithwaite Legacy Award is named in his honour. Bertram Fraser-Reid received numerous awards worldwide. These include the 1977 Merck, Sharp & Dohme Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada; the Claude S. Hudson Award in carbohydrate chemistry from the American Chemical Society in 1989; recognition as the Senior Distinguished U.S. Scientist by Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 1990; the Percy Julian Award from the National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers in 1991; North Carolina Chemist of the Year by the American Institute of Chemistry in 1995 and the Haworth Memorial Medal and Lectureship from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 1995. Scientific and technological contributions Notable discoveries and inventions include: Medicine The antibiotic Monamycin, discovered in 1959 by Jamaican Kenneth E. Magnus. Discovery of the child malnutrition syndrome, kwashiorkor. Cicely Williams was the first to recognise and conduct research on kwashiorkor and differentiate it from other dietary deficiencies. She also developed a treatment regime to combat the disease – this saved many lives. The pioneer of treatments for paediatric sickle cell anaemia. Yvette Francis-McBarnette was the first to use prophylactic antibiotics in the treatment of children with sickle cell. Canasol, a medicated eye-drop for the treatment of glaucoma. Dr Manley West and Dr Albert Lockhart developed the drug in1985. Canasol reduces the fluid pressure within the eye that is present in late-stage glaucoma. Canasol is still one of the most popular drugs for treating glaucoma. The JaipurKnee, a budget-friendly prosthetic knee joint. It was listed at number 18 in Time Magazine's “50 Best Inventions of 2009”. Jamaican Joel Sadler co-designed the device as part of a course project in Medical Device Design. The JaipurKnee is made of self-lubricating, oil-filled nylon and is both flexible and stable, even on irregular terrain. The device was further developed by Stanford University in collaboration with the Jaipur Foot Group, a charity that provides prostheses to Indian amputees. The JaipurKnee has since been exported to many countries, impacting the lives of amputees around the world. The (Ramphal) Cardiac Surgery Simulator. The model is used in the training of many cardiothoracic surgery residents in the United States Space exploration The portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system. In 2000, Kingston born Robert Rashford co-invented the world's first portable 3D non-destructive evaluation (NDE) system. The NDE system detects flaws in materials used to construct aircraft, spacecraft and industrial pipelines without having to take these materials apart. The system was used in the maintenance of the United States Government's Hubble Space Telescope. Protective enclosure for use transporting orbital replacement units (orus) within a space craft, invented by Robert Rashford. Robert Rashford also designed and developed unique spacecraft support systems for the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Airborne Support Equipment (UASE) at the Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC). At General
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are collectively designated as Svalbard and Jan Mayen, with the two-letter country code "SJ". Natural resources Jan Mayen Island has one exploitable natural resource, gravel, from the site at Trongskaret. Other than this, economic activity is limited to providing services for employees of Norway's radio communications and meteorological stations located on the island. Jan Mayen has one unpaved airstrip, Jan Mayensfield, which is about long. The coast has no ports or harbours, only offshore anchorages. There are important fishing resources, and the existence of Jan Mayen establishes a large exclusive economic zone around it. A dispute between Norway and Denmark regarding the fishing exclusion zone between Jan Mayen and Greenland was settled in 1988 granting Denmark the greater area of sovereignty. Geologists suspect significant deposits of petroleum and natural gas lie below Jan Mayen's surrounding seafloors. Status Jan Mayen Island is an integral part of the Kingdom of Norway. Since 1995, Jan Mayen has been administered by the County Governor (fylkesmann) of the northern Norwegian county of Nordland, to which it is closest. However, some authority over Jan Mayen has been assigned to the station commander of the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation, a branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. Society Demography The only inhabitants on the island are personnel working for the Norwegian Armed Forces and the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. Eighteen people spend the winter on the island, but the population may roughly double (35) during the summer, when heavy maintenance is performed. Personnel serve either six months or one year, and are exchanged twice a year in April and October. The support crew, including mechanics, cooks, and a nurse, are among the military personnel. The military personnel operated a Loran-C base, until it closed at the end of 2015. Both the LORAN transmitter and the meteorological station are located a few kilometres away from the settlement Olonkinbyen (Olonkin Town), where all personnel live. Transport Transport to the island is provided by C-130 Hercules military transport planes operated by the Royal Norwegian Air Force that land at Jan Mayensfield's gravel runway. The planes fly in from Bodø Main Air Station eight times a year. Since the airport does not have any instrument landing capabilities, good visibility is required, and it is not uncommon for the planes to have to return to Bodø, two hours away, without landing. For heavy goods, freight ships visit during the summer, but since there are no harbours, the ships must anchor. Communication The island has no indigenous population, but is assigned the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code SJ (together with Svalbard). It uses the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .no (.sj is allocated but not used) and data code JN. Jan Mayen has telephone and internet connection over satellite, using Norwegian telephone numbers (country code 47). Its amateur radio call sign prefix is JX. It has a postal code, NO-8099 JAN MAYEN, but delivery time varies, especially during the winter. History Unverified "discoveries" of a terra nullius Between the fifth and ninth centuries (400–900 AD), numerous communities of monks originating in Ireland (Papar) navigated throughout the north Atlantic in leather boats, exploring and sometimes settling in distant islands where their monastic communities could be separated from close contact with others. Strong indicators exist of their presence in the Faroe Islands and Iceland before the arrival of the Vikings, and medieval Gaelic chronicles such as the famous Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot testify to the extensive interest in exploration at the time. A modern-day trans-Atlantic journey proved the ability of the early navigators to reach all lands of the north Atlantic even further from Ireland than Jan Mayen – and, given favorable winds, at a speed roughly equal to that of modern yachts. Though quite feasible, there is nevertheless no direct physical trace of medieval landings or settlement on Jan Mayen. The land named Svalbarð ("cold coast") by the Vikings in the early medieval book Landnámabók may have been Jan Mayen (instead of Spitsbergen, renamed Svalbard by the Norwegians in modern times); the distance from Iceland to Svalbarð mentioned in this book is two days' sailing (with favorable winds), consistent with the approximate to Jan Mayen and not with the minimum to Spitsbergen. However much Jan Mayen may have been known in Europe at that time, it was subsequently forgotten for some centuries. In the 17th century, many claims of the island's rediscovery were made, spurred by the rivalry on the Arctic whaling grounds, and the island received many names. According to Thomas Edge, an early 17th-century whaling captain who was often inaccurate, "William Hudson" discovered the island in 1608 and named it "Hudson's Touches" (or "Tutches"). However, the well-known explorer Henry Hudson could only have come by on his voyage in 1607 (if he had made an illogical detour) and he made no mention of it in his journal. According to William Scoresby (1820: p.154), referring to the mistaken belief that the Dutch had discovered the island in 1611, Hull whalers discovered the island "about the same time" and named it "Trinity Island". Muller (1874: pp.190–191) took this to mean they had come upon Jan Mayen in 1611 or
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In January the Noordsche Compagnie (Northern Company), modelled on the Dutch East India Company, had been established to support Dutch whaling in the Arctic. Two of its ships, financed by merchants from Amsterdam and Enkhuizen, reached Jan Mayen in July 1614. The captains of these ships—Jan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout (after whom the island was ultimately named) on the Gouden Cath (Golden Cat), and Jacob de Gouwenaer on the Orangienboom (Orange Tree)—named it Mr. Joris Eylant after the Dutch cartographer Joris Carolus who was on board and mapped the island. The captains acknowledged that a third Dutch ship, the Cleyn Swaentgen (Little Swan) captained by Jan Jansz Kerckhoff and financed by Noordsche Compagnie shareholders from Delft, had already been at the island when they arrived. They had assumed the latter, who named the island Maurits Eylandt (or Mauritius) after Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, would report their discovery to the States General. However, the Delft merchants had decided to keep the discovery secret and returned in 1615 to hunt for their own profit. The ensuing dispute was only settled in 1617, though both companies were allowed to whale at Jan Mayen in the meantime. In 1615, the English whaler Robert Fotherby went ashore. Apparently thinking he had made a new discovery, he named the island "Sir Thomas Smith's Island" and the volcano "Mount Hakluyt". On a map of c. 1634, Jean Vrolicq renamed the island Île de Richelieu. Jan Mayen first appeared on Willem Jansz Blaeu's 1620 edition map of Europe, originally published by Cornelis Doedz in 1606. Blaeu, who lived in Amsterdam, named it "Jan Mayen" after captain Jan Jacobszoon May van Schellinkhout of the Amsterdam-financed Gouden Cath. Blaeu made the first detailed map of the island in his famous "Zeespiegel" atlas of 1623, establishing its current name. Dutch whaling base From 1615 to 1638, Jan Mayen was used as a whaling base by the Dutch Noordsche Compagnie, which had been given a monopoly on whaling in the Arctic regions by the States General in 1614. Only two ships, one from the Noordsche Compagnie, and the other from the Delft merchants, were off Jan Mayen in 1615. The following year a score of vessels were sent to the island. The Noordsche Compagnie sent eight ships escorted by three warships under Jan Jacobsz. Schrobop; while the Delft merchants sent up five ships under Adriaen Dircksz. Leversteyn, son of one of the above merchants. There were also two ships from Dunkirk sent by John Clarke, as well as a ship each from London and Hull. Heertje Jansz, master of the Hope, of Enkhuizen, wrote a day-by-day account of the season. The ships took two weeks to reach Jan Mayen, arriving early in June. On 15 June they met the two English ships, which Schrobop allowed to remain, on condition they gave half their catch to the Dutch. The ships from Dunkirk were given the same conditions. By late July the first ship had left with a full cargo of whale oil; the rest left early in August, several filled with oil. That year 200 men were seasonally living and working on the island at six temporary whaling stations (spread along the northwest coast). During the first decade of whaling, more than ten ships visited Jan Mayen each year, while in the second period (1624 and later) five to ten ships were sent. With the exception of a few ships from Dunkirk, which came to the island in 1617 and were either driven away or forced to give a third of their catch to the Dutch, only the Dutch and merchants from Hull sent up ships to Jan Mayen from 1616 onward. In 1624 ten wooden houses were built in South Bay. About this time the Dutch appear to have abandoned the temporary stations consisting of tents of sail and crude furnaces, replacing them with two semi-permanent stations with wooden storehouses and dwellings and large brick furnaces, one in the above-mentioned South Bay and the other in the North Bay. In 1628 two forts were built to protect the stations. Among the sailors active at Jan Mayen was the later admiral Michiel Adriaensz de Ruyter. In 1633, at the age of 26, he was for the first time listed as an officer aboard de Groene Leeuw (The Green Lion). He again went to Jan Mayen in 1635, aboard the same ship. In 1632 the Noordsche Compagnie expelled the Danish-employed Basque whalers from Spitsbergen. In revenge, the latter sailed to Jan Mayen, where the Dutch had left for the winter, to plunder the Dutch equipment and burn down the settlements and factories. Captain Outger Jacobsz of Grootebroek was asked to stay the next winter (1633/34) on Jan Mayen with six shipmates to defend the island. While a group with the same task survived the winter on Spitsbergen, all seven on Jan Mayen died of scurvy or trichinosis (from eating raw polar bear meat) combined with the harsh conditions. During the first phase of whaling the hauls were generally good, some exceptional. For example, Mathijs Jansz. Hoepstock caught 44 whales in Hoepstockbukta in 1619, which produced 2,300 casks of whale oil. During the second phase the hauls were much lower. While 1631 turned out to be a very good season, the following year, due to the weather and ice, only eight whales were caught. In 1633 eleven ships managed to catch just 47 whales; while a meager 42 were caught by the same number in 1635. The bowhead whale was locally hunted to near-extinction around 1640 (approximately 1000 had been killed and processed on the island), at which time Jan Mayen was abandoned and stayed uninhabited for two and a half centuries. 19th and 20th centuries During the International Polar Year 1882–1883 the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition stayed one year at Jan Mayen. The expedition performed extensive mapping of the area, their maps being of such quality that they were used until the 1950s. The Austrian polar station on Jan Mayen Island was built and equipped in 1882 fully at Count Wilczek's own expense. Polar bears appear on Jan Mayen, although in diminished numbers compared with earlier times. Between 1900 and 1920, there were a number of Norwegian trappers spending winters on Jan Mayen, hunting Arctic foxes in addition to some polar bears. But the exploitation soon made the profits decline, and the hunting ended. Polar bears in this region of the Arctic are genetically distinguishable from those living elsewhere. The League of Nations gave Norway jurisdiction over the island, and in 1921 Norway opened the first meteorological station. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute annexed the middle part of the island for Norway in 1922 and the whole island in 1926 when Hallvard Devold was head of the weather observations base on the island. On 27 February 1930, the island was made de jure a part of the Kingdom of Norway. During World War II, continental Norway was invaded and occupied by Germany in spring 1940. The four-man team on Jan Mayen stayed at their posts and in an act of defiance began sending their weather reports to the United Kingdom instead of Norway. The British codenamed Jan Mayen 'Island X' and attempted to reinforce it with troops to counteract any German attack. The Norwegian patrol boat ran aground on Nansenflua, one of the islands' many uncharted lava reefs and the 68-man crew abandoned ship and joined the Norwegian team on shore. The British expedition commander, prompted by the loss of the gunboat, decided to abandon Jan Mayen until the following spring and radioed for a rescue ship. Within a few days a ship arrived and evacuated the four Norwegians and their would-be reinforcements, after demolishing the weather station to prevent it from falling into German hands. The Germans attempted to land a weather team on the island on 16 November 1940; the German naval trawler carrying the team crashed on the rocks just off Jan Mayen after a patrolling British destroyer had picked them up on radar. The detection was not by chance, as the German plan had been compromised from the beginning with British wireless interceptors of the Radio Security Service following the communications of the Abwehr (the German Intelligence service) concerning the operation, and the destroyer had been waiting. Most of the crew struggled ashore and were taken prisoner by a landing party from the destroyer. The Allies returned to the island on 10 March 1941, when the Norwegian ship Veslekari, escorted by the patrol boat Honningsvaag, dropped 12 Norwegian weathermen on the island. The team's radio transmissions soon betrayed its presence to the Axis, and German planes from Norway began to bomb and strafe Jan Mayen whenever weather permitted, but did little damage. Soon supplies and reinforcements arrived, and even some anti-aircraft guns, giving the island a garrison of a few dozen weathermen and soldiers. By 1941, Germany had given up hope of evicting the Allies from the island and the constant air raids stopped. On 7 August 1942, a German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor", probably on a mission to bomb the station, crashed into the nearby mountainside of Danielssenkrateret in fog, killing its crew of nine. In 1950, the wreck of another German plane with four crew members was discovered on the southwest side of the island. In 1943, the Americans established a radio locating station named Atlantic City in the north to try to locate German radio bases in Greenland. After the war, the meteorological station was located at Atlantic City, but moved in 1949 to a new location. Radio Jan Mayen also served as an important radio station for ship traffic in the Arctic Ocean. In 1959
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territories that are in the southern hemisphere (the other is American Samoa). Located only south of the equator, Jarvis has no known natural freshwater lens and scant rainfall. This creates a very bleak, flat landscape without any plants larger than shrubs. There is no evidence that the island has ever supported a self-sustaining human population. Its sparse bunch grass, prostrate vines and low-growing shrubs are primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife. Jarvis Island was submerged underwater during the latest interglacial period, roughly 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were higher than today. As the sea level declined, the horseshoe-shaped lagoon was formed in the center of Jarvis Island. Topographic isolation Jarvis Island's highest point has a topographic isolation of , with Joe's Hill on Kiritimati being the nearest higher neighbor. Time zone Jarvis Island is located in the Samoa Time Zone (UTC -11:00), the same time zone as American Samoa, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll. Birds Jarvis Island once held some of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the tropical ocean, but guano mining and the introduction of rodents have ruined much of the island's native wildlife. Just eight breeding species were recorded in 1982, compared to thirteen in 1996, and fourteen species in 2004. The Polynesian storm petrel had made its return after over 40 years absent from Jarvis Island, and the number of Brown noddies multiplied from just a few birds in 1982 to nearly 10,000. Just twelve Gray-backed terns were recorded in 1982, but by 2004, over 200 nests were found on there. The island, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports colonies of lesser frigatebirds, brown and masked boobies, red-tailed tropicbirds, Polynesian storm petrels, blue noddies and sooty terns, as well as serving as a migratory stopover for bristle-thighed curlews. History Discovery The island's first known sighting by the British on August 21, 1821, by the British ship Eliza Francis (or Eliza Frances) owned by Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis and commanded by Captain Brown. The island was visited by whaling vessels till the 1870s. The U.S. Exploring Expedition surveyed the island in 1841. In March 1857 the island was claimed for the United States under the Guano Islands Act and formally annexed on February 27, 1858. Nineteenth-century guano mining The American Guano Company, which was incorporated in 1857, established claims in respect of Baker Island and Jarvis Island which was recognized under the U.S. Guano Islands Act of 1856. Beginning in 1858, several support structures were built on Jarvis Island, along with a two-story, eight-room "superintendent's house" featuring an observation cupola and wide verandahs. Tram tracks were laid down for bringing mined guano to the western shore. One of the first loads was taken by Samuel Gardner Wilder. For the following twenty-one years, Jarvis was commercially mined for guano, sent to the United States as fertilizer, but the island was abruptly abandoned in 1879, leaving behind about a dozen buildings and 8,000 tonnes of mined guano. New Zealand entrepreneurs, including photographer Henry Winkelmann, then made unsuccessful attempts to continue guano extraction on Jarvis, and the two-storey house was sporadically inhabited during the early 1880s. Squire Flockton was left alone on the island as caretaker for several months and committed suicide there in 1883, apparently from gin-fueled despair. His wooden grave marker was a carved plank which could be seen in the island's tiny four-grave cemetery for decades. John T. Arundel & Co. resumed mining guano from 1886 to 1899. The United Kingdom annexed the island on June 3, 1889. Phosphate and copra entrepreneur John T. Arundel visited the island in 1909 on maiden voyage of the S.S. Ocean Queen and near the beach landing on the western shore members of the crew built a pyramidal day beacon made from slats of wood, which was painted white. The beacon was standing in 1935, and remained until at least 1942. Wreck of barquentine Amaranth On August 30, 1913, the barquentine Amaranth (C. W. Nielson, captain) was carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle, New South Wales, to San Francisco when it wrecked on Jarvis' southern shore. Ruins of ten wooden guano-mining buildings, the two-story house among them, could still be seen by the Amaranth crew, who left Jarvis aboard two lifeboats. One reached Pago Pago, American Samoa, and the other made Apia in Western Samoa. The ship's scattered remains were noted and scavenged for many years, and rounded fragments of coal from the Amaranth'''s hold were still being found on the south beach in the late 1930s. Millersville (1935–1942) Jarvis
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world. The low-lying coral island has long been noted as hard to sight from small ships and is surrounded by a narrow fringing reef. Jarvis Island is one of two United States territories that are in the southern hemisphere (the other is American Samoa). Located only south of the equator, Jarvis has no known natural freshwater lens and scant rainfall. This creates a very bleak, flat landscape without any plants larger than shrubs. There is no evidence that the island has ever supported a self-sustaining human population. Its sparse bunch grass, prostrate vines and low-growing shrubs are primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds, shorebirds, and marine wildlife. Jarvis Island was submerged underwater during the latest interglacial period, roughly 125,000 years ago, when sea levels were higher than today. As the sea level declined, the horseshoe-shaped lagoon was formed in the center of Jarvis Island. Topographic isolation Jarvis Island's highest point has a topographic isolation of , with Joe's Hill on Kiritimati being the nearest higher neighbor. Time zone Jarvis Island is located in the Samoa Time Zone (UTC -11:00), the same time zone as American Samoa, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, and Palmyra Atoll. Birds Jarvis Island once held some of the largest seabird breeding colonies in the tropical ocean, but guano mining and the introduction of rodents have ruined much of the island's native wildlife. Just eight breeding species were recorded in 1982, compared to thirteen in 1996, and fourteen species in 2004. The Polynesian storm petrel had made its return after over 40 years absent from Jarvis Island, and the number of Brown noddies multiplied from just a few birds in 1982 to nearly 10,000. Just twelve Gray-backed terns were recorded in 1982, but by 2004, over 200 nests were found on there. The island, with its surrounding marine waters, has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports colonies of lesser frigatebirds, brown and masked boobies, red-tailed tropicbirds, Polynesian storm petrels, blue noddies and sooty terns, as well as serving as a migratory stopover for bristle-thighed curlews. History Discovery The island's first known sighting by the British on August 21, 1821, by the British ship Eliza Francis (or Eliza Frances) owned by Edward, Thomas and William Jarvis and commanded by Captain Brown. The island was visited by whaling vessels till the 1870s. The U.S. Exploring Expedition surveyed the island in 1841. In March 1857 the island was claimed for the United States under the Guano Islands Act and formally annexed on February 27, 1858. Nineteenth-century guano mining The American Guano Company, which was incorporated in 1857, established claims in respect of Baker Island and Jarvis Island which was recognized under the U.S. Guano Islands Act of 1856. Beginning in 1858, several support structures were built on Jarvis Island, along with a two-story, eight-room "superintendent's house" featuring an observation cupola and wide verandahs. Tram tracks were laid down for bringing mined guano to the western shore. One of the first loads was taken by Samuel Gardner Wilder. For the following twenty-one years, Jarvis was commercially mined for guano, sent to the United States as fertilizer, but the island was abruptly abandoned in 1879, leaving behind about a dozen buildings and 8,000 tonnes of mined guano. New Zealand entrepreneurs, including photographer Henry Winkelmann, then made unsuccessful attempts to continue guano extraction on Jarvis, and the two-storey house was sporadically inhabited during the early 1880s. Squire Flockton was left alone on the island as caretaker for several months and committed suicide there in 1883, apparently from gin-fueled despair. His wooden grave marker was a carved plank which could be seen in the island's tiny four-grave cemetery for decades. John T. Arundel & Co. resumed mining guano from 1886 to 1899. The United Kingdom annexed the island on June 3, 1889. Phosphate and copra entrepreneur John T. Arundel visited the island in 1909 on maiden voyage of the S.S. Ocean Queen and near the
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Channel Islands were one of the last places in Europe to be liberated. 9 May is celebrated as the island's Liberation Day, where there are celebrations in Liberation Square. Escalation in a fishing-rights dispute between the Jersey government and French fishers led to an international dispute in May 2021. Royal Navy vessels were deployed to prevent a potential blockade by French ships. Previously in March 2021, fishing vessels from Jersey blocked Saint Helier Marina in protest. Politics Jersey is a Crown Dependency and is not part of the United Kingdom – it is officially part of the British Islands. As one of the Crown Dependencies, Jersey is autonomous and self-governing, with its own independent legal, administrative and fiscal systems. Jersey's government has described Jersey as a "self-governing, democratic country with the power of self-determination". Because Jersey is a dependency of the British Crown, Queen Elizabeth II reigns in Jersey. "The Crown" is defined by the Law Officers of the Crown as the "Crown in right of Jersey". The Queen's representative and adviser in the island is the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey – Sir Stephen Dalton since 13 March 2017. He is a point of contact between Jersey ministers and the UK Government and carries out some functions in relation to immigration control, deportation, naturalisation and the issue of passports. In 1973, the Royal Commission on the Constitution set out the duties of the Crown as including: ultimate responsibility for the 'good government' of the Crown Dependencies; ratification of island legislation by Order-in-Council (royal assent); international representation, subject to consultation with the island authorities before concluding any agreement which would apply to them; ensuring the islands meet their international obligations; and defence. Legislature and government Jersey's unicameral legislature is the States Assembly. It includes 49 elected members: 8 senators (elected on an island-wide basis), 12 Connétables (often called 'constables', heads of parishes) and 29 deputies (representing constituencies), all elected for four-year terms as from the October 2011 elections. Jersey has one of the lowest voter turnouts internationally, with just 33% of the electorate voting in 2005, putting it well below the 77% European average for that year. From the 2022 elections, the role of Senators will be abolished and the eight senators replaced with an increased number of deputies. The 37 deputies will be elected from nine super constituencies, rather than in individual parishes, as they are now. Although efforts were made the remove the Connétables, they will continue their historic role as States members. There are also five non-voting members appointed by the Crown: the Bailiff, the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, the Dean of Jersey, the Attorney General and Solicitor General. The Bailiff is President (presiding officer) of the States Assembly, head of the judiciary and as civic head of the island carries out various ceremonial roles. The Council of Ministers, consisting of a Chief Minister and nine ministers, makes up the leading body of the Government of Jersey. Each minister may appoint up to two assistant ministers. A Chief Executive is head of the civil service. Some government functions are carried out in the island's parishes. Law Jersey is a distinct jurisdiction for the purposes of conflict of laws, separate from the other Channel Islands, England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Jersey law has been influenced by several different legal traditions, in particular Norman customary law, English common law and modern French civil law. Jersey's legal system is therefore described as 'mixed' or 'pluralistic', and sources of law are in French and English languages, although since the 1950s the main working language of the legal system is English. The principal court is the Royal Court, with appeals to the Jersey Court of Appeal and, ultimately, to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The Bailiff is head of the judiciary; the Bailiff and the Deputy Bailiff are appointed by the Crown. Other members of the island's judiciary are appointed by the Bailiff. External relations The external relations of Jersey are overseen by the External Relations Minister of the Government of Jersey. In 2007, the Chief Minister and the UK Lord Chancellor signed an agreement that established a framework for the development of the international identity of Jersey. Although diplomatic representation is reserved to the Crown, Jersey has been developing its own international identity over recent years. It negotiates directly with foreign governments on various matters, for example Tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) have been signed directly by the island with several countries. The Government maintains offices (some in partnership with Guernsey) in Caen, London and Brussels. Jersey is a member of the British-Irish Council, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie. Jersey Independence has in the past been discussed in the States Assembly. Former External Relations Minister Sir Philip Bailhache has at various times warned that the island may need to go independent. It is not Jersey Government policy to seek independence, but the island is prepared if it needed to do so. Jersey is a third-party European country to the EU. Since 1 January 2021, Jersey has been part of the UK-EU Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement for the purposes of goods and fishing. Goods exported from the island into Europe are not subject to tariffs and Jersey is solely responsible for management of its territorial waters, however permits may be granted to EU fishermen who have a history of fishing in the Bailiwick's waters. The management of this permit system has caused tension between the French and Jersey authorities, with the French threatening to cut off Jersey's electricity supply in May 2021. Before the end of the transition period after the UK withdrew from the EU in 2020, Jersey had a special relationship with the EU. It was part of the EU customs union and there was free movement of goods between Jersey and the EU but the single market in financial services and free movement of people did not apply to Jersey. In May 2021, France threatened to cut off Jersey's electricity supply in a fight over post-Brexit fishing rights. Administrative divisions Jersey is divided into twelve parishes (which have civil and religious functions). They are all named after their parish church. The Connétable is the head of the parish. They are elected at island general elections and sit ex oficio in the States Assembly. The parishes have various civil administrative functions, such as roads (managed by the Road Committee) and policing (through the Honorary Police). Each parish is governed through direct democracy at Parish Assemblies, consisting of all eligible voters resident in the parish. The Procureurs du Bien Public are the legal and financial representatives of these parishes. The parishes of Jersey are further divided into vingtaines (or, in St. Ouen, cueillettes), divisions that are historic. Today they are used chiefly for purposes of local administration and electoral constituency. Geography Jersey is an island measuring (or 66,436 vergées), including reclaimed land and intertidal zone. It lies in the English Channel, about from the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy, France, and about south of Great Britain. It is the largest and southernmost of the Channel Islands and part of the British Isles, with a maximum land elevation of 143 m (469 ft) above sea level. About 24% of the island is built-up. 52% of the land area is dedicated to cultivation and around 18% is the natural environment. It lies within longitude -2° W and latitude 49° N. It has a coastline that is long and a total area of . It measures roughly from west to east and north to south, which gives it the affectionate name among locals of "nine-by-five". The island is divided into twelve parishes; the largest is St Ouen and the smallest is St Clement. The island is characterised by a number of valleys which generally run north-to-south, such as Waterworks Valley, Grands Vaux, Mont les Vaux, although a few run in other directions, such as Le Mourier Valley. The highest point on the island is Les Platons at . There are several smaller island groups that are part of the Bailiwick of Jersey, such as Les Minquiers and Les Écrehous, however unlike the smaller islands of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, none of these are permanently inhabited. Settlements The largest settlement is the town of St Helier, including the built-up area of southern St Helier and neighbouring areas such as Georgetown, which also plays host to the island's seat of government. The town is the central business district, hosting a large proportion of the island's retail and employment, such as the finance industry. Outside of the town, many islanders live in suburban and rural settlements, especially along main roads leading out of town and even the more rural areas of the island have considerable amounts of development (St Ouen, the least densely populated parish still has 270 persons per square kilometre). The south and east coasts from St Aubin to Gorey are largely urbanised. The second smaller urban area is the Les Quennevais area in St Brelade, which is home to a small precinct of shops, schools, a park and a leisure centre. Most people across Jersey regularly travel from the rural settlements to St Helier and from the town to the rural areas for work and leisure purposes. Housing costs in Jersey are very high. The Jersey House Price Index has at least doubled between 2002 and 2020. The mix-adjusted house price for Jersey is £567,000, higher than any UK region (UK average: £249,000) including London (average: £497,000; highest of any UK region). Climate The climate is an oceanic climate with mild winters and mild to warm summers. The Atlantic Ocean has a moderating effect on temperature in Jersey, as water has a much greater specific heat capacity than air and tends to heat and cool slowly throughout the year. This has a warming influence on coastal areas in winter and a cooling influence in summer. The highest temperature recorded was 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) on 9 August 2003 and again on 23 July 2019, and the lowest temperature recorded was −10.3 °C (13.5 °F) on 5 January 1894. By comparison, higher temperatures are found in Great Britain, which achieved 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Faversham, Kent on 10 August 2003. The impact of the Atlantic Ocean and coastal winds ensure that Jersey is slightly cooler than the southern and central parts of England during the summer months. Snow falls rarely in Jersey; some years will pass with no snow fall at all. The terrain consists of a plateau sloping from long sandy bays in the south to rugged cliffs in the north. The plateau is cut by valleys running generally north–south. The following table contains the official Jersey Airport averages for 1981–2010 for Jersey, being located from St. Helier. Economy Jersey's economy is highly developed and services-focused, with a GDP per capita of £45,320 in 2019. It is a mixed market economy, with free market principles and an advanced social security infrastructure. It is based on financial services (40% of GVA in 2012), tourism and hospitality (hotels, restaurants, bars, transport and communications totalling 8.4% of GVA in 2012), retail and wholesale (7% of GVA in 2012), construction (6.2% of GVA in 2012) and agriculture (1.3% of GVA in 2012). 53,460 people were employed in Jersey : 24% in financial and legal services; 16% in wholesale and retail trades; 16% in the public sector; 10% in education, health and other private sector services; 10% in construction and quarrying; 9% in hotels, restaurants and bars. Thanks to specialisation in a few high-return sectors, at purchasing power parity Jersey has high economic output per capita, substantially ahead of all of the world's large developed economies. Gross national income in 2009 was £3.7 billion (approximately £40,000 per head of population). However, this is not indicative of each individual resident's purchasing power and the actual standard of living in Jersey is comparable to that in the UK outside central London. Jersey is most notable for being one of the world's largest offshore finance centres. The UK acts as a conduit for financial services between European countries and the island. The growth of this sector however has not been without its controversies as Jersey has been characterised by critics and detractors as a place in which the "leadership has essentially been captured by global finance, and whose members will threaten and intimidate anyone who dissents." In June 2005 the States introduced the Competition (Jersey) Law 2005, a competition law based on those of other jurisdictions, to regulate competition and stimulate economic growth. Tourism is an important economic sector for the island. Hospitality (hotels, restaurants and bars) made up 4.2% of Jersey's GVA in 2019. It is estimated that the wider contribution of tourism in particular is 8.3% (2017). Travel to Jersey is very seasonal. Accommodation occupancy is much higher in the summer months, especially August, than in the winter months (with a low in November). The majority of visitors to the island arrive by air from the UK. In 2017, 52% of the Island's area was agricultural land (a decrease since 2009). Major agricultural products are potatoes and dairy produce; agriculture's share of GVA increased 5% in 2009, a fifth successive year of growth. Jersey cattle are a small breed of cow widely known for their rich milk and cream; the quality of their meat is also appreciated
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lanes, some of which are classified as green lanes, which have a 15 mph speed limit and where priority is afforded to pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders. Jersey has an airport and a number of ports, which are operated by Ports of Jersey. Currency Jersey's monetary policy is linked to the Bank of England. The official currency of Jersey is the pound sterling. Jersey issues its own postage stamps, banknotes (including a £1 note which is not issued in the UK) and coins that circulate alongside all other sterling coinage. Jersey currency is not legal tender outside Jersey; however it is "acceptable tender" in the UK and can be surrendered at banks in exchange for UK currency. Due to French tourism, many places accept the euro. In July 2014, the Jersey Financial Services Commission approved the establishment of the world's first regulated Bitcoin fund, at a time when the digital currency was being accepted by some local businesses. Demography Censuses have been undertaken in Jersey since 1821. In the 2011 census, the total resident population was estimated to be 97,857, of whom 34% live in Saint Helier, the island's only town. Approximately half the island's population was born in Jersey; 31% of the population were born elsewhere in the British Isles, 7% in continental Portugal or Madeira, 8% in other European countries and 4% elsewhere. The people of Jersey are often called Islanders or, in individual terms, Jerseyman or Jerseywoman. Some Jersey-born people identify as British. Jersey and its people have been described as a nation. Immigration and nationality Jersey employs a number of population controls on people moving to and from the island. Jersey is part of the Common Travel Area (CTA), a border control-free zone which encompasses the Crown Dependencies, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. This means a passport is not required to travel from Jersey to any of these territories (or vice versa) though the Government recommends all travellers bring photo ID since it may need to be checked by customs or police officers and is generally required by commercial transport providers into the island. Due to the CTA, Jersey-born British citizens in the rest of the CTA and British and Irish citizens in Jersey have the right to access social benefits, access healthcare, access social housing support and to vote in general elections. For non-CTA travel, Jersey maintains its own immigration and border controls (although most travel into the Bailiwick is from the rest of the CTA), however UK immigration legislation may be extended to Jersey (subject to exceptions and adaptations) following consultation with Jersey and with Jersey's consent. The definition of "United Kingdom" in the British Nationality Act 1981 is interpreted as including the UK and the Islands together. This means that for immigration and nationality purposes, the UK generally treats Jersey as though it were part of the UK. As such, there is no such thing as a 'Jersey passport'. British passports issued in Jersey are full British passports with the same design of and their holders enjoy the same rights as other British citizens. However, they will only be issued to British Jersey residents or Jersey-born British citizens and say "BRITISH PASSPORT BAILIWICK OF JERSEY". Jersey is constitutionally entitled to restrict immigration by non-Jersey residents, but control of immigration at the point of entry cannot be introduced for British, certain Commonwealth and EEA nationals without change to existing international law. To control population, Jersey operates a system of registration which restricts the right to live and work in the island according to certain requirements. In order to move to Jersey or work in Jersey, everyone (including Jersey-born people) must be registered and have a registration card. There are a number of statuses: History of immigration Historical large-scale immigration was facilitated by the introduction of steamships (from 1823). By 1840, up to 5,000 English people, mostly half-pay officers and their families, had settled in Jersey. In the aftermath of 1848, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian and French political refugees came to Jersey. Following Louis Napoléon's coup of 1851, more French proscrits arrived. By the end of the 19th century, well-to-do British families, attracted by the lack of income tax, were settling in Jersey in increasing numbers, establishing St Helier as a predominantly English-speaking town. Seasonal work in agriculture had depended mostly on Bretons and mainland Normans from the 19th century. The growth of tourism attracted staff from the UK. Following Liberation in 1945, agricultural workers were mostly recruited from the UK – the demands of reconstruction in mainland Normandy and Brittany employed domestic labour. Until the 1960s, the population had been relatively stable for decades at around 60,000 (excluding the Occupation years). Economic growth spurred immigration and a rise in population, which is, by 2013, about 100,000. From the 1960s Portuguese workers arrived, mostly working initially in seasonal industries in agriculture and tourism. Immigration has helped give aspects of Jersey a distinct urban character, particularly in and around the parish of St Helier, which contributes much to ongoing debates between development and sustainability throughout the island. Language Religion Religion in Jersey has a complex history, drawn largely from different Christian denominations. In 2015, Jersey's first ever national survey of religion found that two fifths of Jersey people have no religion, with only small handfuls of Jersey people belonging to the non-Christian religions. In total, 54% said they had some form of religion, and 7% were not sure. Of those that specified a denomination of Christianity, equal proportions were 'Catholic' or 'Roman Catholic' (43%) as were 'Anglican' or 'Church of England' (44%). The remaining eighth (13%) gave another Christian denomination. The established church is the Church of England, from 2015 under the See of Canterbury (previously under the Winchester diocese). In the countryside, Methodism found its traditional stronghold. A substantial minority of Roman Catholics can also be found in Jersey. There are two Catholic private combined primary and secondary schools: De La Salle College in Saint Saviour is an all-boys school, and Beaulieu Convent School in Saint Saviour is an all-girls school; and FCJ primary school in St. Saviour. A Catholic order of Sisters has a presence in school life. Culture Until the 19th century, indigenous Jèrriais – a variety of Norman – was the language of the island though French was used for official business. During the 20th century, British cultural influence saw an intense language shift take place and Jersey today is predominantly English-speaking. Jèrriais nonetheless survives; around 2,600 islanders (three percent) are reckoned to be habitual speakers, and some 10,000 (12 percent) in all claim some knowledge of the language, particularly amongst the elderly in rural parishes. There have been efforts to revive Jèrriais in schools, and the highest number of declared Jèrriais speakers is in the capital. The dialects of Jèrriais differ in phonology and, to a lesser extent, lexis between parishes, with the most marked differences to be heard between those of the west and east. Many place names are in Jèrriais, and French and English place names are also to be found. Anglicisation of the place names increased apace with the migration of English people to the island. Some Neolithic carvings are the earliest works of artistic character to be found in Jersey. Only fragmentary wall-paintings remain from the rich mediaeval artistic heritage, after the wholesale iconoclasm of the Calvinist Reformation of the 16th century. The island is particularly famous for the Battle of Flowers, a carnival held annually since 1902. Other festivals include La Fête dé Noué (Christmas festival), La Faîs'sie d'Cidre (cidermaking festival), the Battle of Britain air display, Jersey Live Music Festival, Branchage Film Festival, food festivals, and parish events. The island's patron saint is Saint Helier. Media BBC Radio Jersey provides a radio service, and BBC Channel Islands News with headquarters in Jersey provides a joint television news service with Guernsey. ITV Channel Television is a regional ITV franchise shared with the Bailiwick of Guernsey but with its headquarters in Jersey. Channel 103 is a commercial radio station. Bailiwick Radio broadcasts two music services, Classics and Hits, online at bailiwickradio.com, Apple & Android apps and on TuneIn. Radio Youth FM is an internet radio station run by young people. Bailiwick Express is one of Jersey's digital online news sources. Jersey has only one newspaper, the Jersey Evening Post, which is printed six days a week, and has been in publication since 1890. Music The traditional folk music of Jersey was common in country areas until the mid-20th century. It cannot be separated from the musical traditions of continental Europe, and the majority of songs and tunes that have been documented have close parallels or variants, particularly in France. Most of the surviving traditional songs are in French, with a minority in Jèrriais. In contemporary music, Guru Josh was most notable for his internationally successful debut hit Infinity and its re-releases, reaching number one in numerous European countries. Furthermore, Nerina Pallot has enjoyed international success. Music festivals in Jersey include Jersey Live, Weekender, Rock in the Park, Avanchi presents Jazz in July, the music section of the Jersey Eisteddfod and the Liberation Jersey Music Festival. Cinema In 1909, T. J. West established the first cinema in the Royal Hall in St. Helier, which became known as West's Cinema in 1923 (demolished 1977). The first talking picture, The Perfect Alibi, was shown on 30 December 1929 at the Picture House in St. Helier. The Jersey Film Society was founded on 11 December 1947 at the Café Bleu, West's Cinema. The large Art Deco Forum Cinema was opened in 1935 – during the German occupation this was used for German propaganda films. The Odeon Cinema was opened 2 June 1952 and, was later rebranded in the early 21st century as the Forum cinema. Its owners, however, struggled to meet tough competition from the Cineworld Cinemas group, which opened a 10 screen multiplex on the waterfront centre in St. Helier on reclaimed land in December 2002 and the Odeon closed its doors in late 2008. The Odeon is now a listed building. Since 1997, Kevin Lewis (formerly of the Cine Centre and the New Forum) has arranged the Jersey Film Festival, a charity event showing the latest and also classic films outdoors in 35 mm on a big screen. The festival is regularly held in Howard Davis Park, St Saviour. First held in 2008, the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival attracts filmmakers from all over the world. The 2001 movie The Others was set on the island in 1945 shortly after liberation. Food and drink Seafood has traditionally been important to the cuisine of Jersey: mussels (called moules in the island), oysters, lobster and crabs – especially spider crabs – ormers and conger. Jersey milk being very rich, cream and butter have played a large part in insular cooking. (See Channel Island milk) However, there is no indigenous tradition of cheese making, contrary to the custom of mainland Normandy, but some cheese is produced commercially. Jersey fudge, mostly imported and made with milk from overseas Jersey cattle herds, is a popular food product with tourists. Jersey Royal potatoes are the local variety of new potato, and the island is famous for its early crop of Chats (small potatoes) from the south-facing côtils (steeply sloping fields). They were originally grown using vraic as a natural fertiliser giving them their own individual taste, only a small portion of those grown in the island still use this method. They are eaten in a variety of ways, often simply boiled and served with butter or when not as fresh fried in butter. Apples historically were an important crop. Bourdélots are apple dumplings, but the most typical speciality is black butter (lé nièr beurre), a dark spicy spread prepared from apples, cider and spices. Cider used to be an important export. After decline and near-disappearance in the late 20th century, apple production is being increased and promoted. Besides cider, apple brandy is produced. Other production of alcohol drinks includes wine, and in 2013 the first commercial vodkas made from Jersey Royal potatoes were marketed. Among other traditional dishes are cabbage loaf, Jersey wonders (les mèrvelles), fliottes, bean crock (les pais au fou), nettle (ortchie) soup, vraic buns. Sport In its own right Jersey participates in the Commonwealth Games and in the biennial Island Games, which it first hosted in 1997 and more recently in 2015. In sporting events in which Jersey does not have international representation, when the British Home Nations are competing separately, islanders that do have high athletic skill may choose to compete for any of the Home Nations – there are, however, restrictions on subsequent transfers to represent another Home Nation. Jersey is an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC). The Jersey cricket team plays in the Inter-insular match among others. The Jersey cricket team competed in the World Division 4, held in Tanzania in October 2008, after recently finishing as runners-up and therefore being promoted from the World Division 5 held in Jersey. They also competed in the European Division 2, held in Guernsey during August 2008. The youth cricket teams have been promoted to play in the European Division 1 alongside Ireland, Scotland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Guernsey. In two tournaments at this level Jersey have finished 6th. For Horse racing, Les Landes Racecourse can be found at Les Landes in St. Ouen next to the ruins of Grosnez Castle. The Jersey Football Association supervises football in Jersey. The Jersey Football Combination has nine teams in its top division. Jersey national football team plays in the annual Muratti competition among others. Rugby union in Jersey comes under the auspices of the Jersey Rugby Association (JRA), which is a member of the Rugby Football Union of England. Jersey Reds compete in the English rugby union system; after four promotions in five seasons,
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trade between Jersey and the New World, especially Canada and Newfoundland. By 1763, around a third of the fish being exported from Conception Bay was carried by Jersey vessels. In the 1780s, a number of Jersey families setttled permanently, such as the de Quettevilles in Forteau, Labrador. The first printing press was introduced to Jersey in 1784. Anti-seigneurial attitudes remained in Jersey, despite the reforms of 1771. In 1785, an anti-seigneurial document containing 36 articles was included in St Ouen's Parish Assembly minutes. It included demands for reform such as the abolition of services and an end to the seizure of goods following bankruptcy. These demands were paralleled in St Helier and St John and by an article in , the only newspaper at the time. These demands formed the basis for a sustained anti-feudal struggle during the next century. 19th century The 19th century saw massive changes in Jersey society. A large influx of immigrants from England made Jersey a more connected island than ever before, and brought with it cultural changes and the desire for political reform. During this period, the States reformed to become more representative of the population and the Jersey culture became more anglicised and less religious. The island also grew economically and the built-up areas of the island expanded, especially St Helier, with the development of public transport on the island. Pre-Victoria The pre-existing road network was an intricate network of roads and lanes. During the nineteenth century, many parishes took on the administration of more and more of these lanes. The network was criticised at the time for being subpar. A common Jèrriais saying is , which means 'as old as the roads'. In the early 19th century, the military roads were constructed (on occasion at gunpoint in the face of opposition from landowners) by the governor, General George Don, to link coastal fortifications with the town harbour. Much of the opposition to the plans came from islanders, who thought the country's best defence was its convoluted network of narrow lanes. The new road system was met with considerable opposition, particularly due to its expense. The St Helier Parish Assembly forbade the completion of the Trinity main road within its boundaries. The new network allowed greater communication between disparate parts of the island. These had an unexpected effect on agriculture once peace restored reliable trade links. Farmers in previously isolated valleys were able to swiftly transport crops grown in the island's microclimate to waiting ships and then on to the markets of London and Paris ahead of the competition. In conjunction with the later introduction of steamships and the development of the French and British railway systems, Jersey's agriculture was no longer as isolated as before. The early 19th century was a period of growth of trade for Jersey. In the wake of the Napoleonic wars after the defeat of France in 1815, the Channel Islands lost their strategic value, as points of conflict between the British and foreign powers moved to the North Sea. The UK had a need to reduce its forces to cut spending, but the Channel Islands defence costs reached £500,000 pa, even in peacetime. The utility of possessing the islands came into question. John Ramsay McCulloch described the advantages the islands provided to the UK as "neither very obvious nor material". However, in 1845, the Duke of Wellington strongly defended the islands in the Memorandum on the Defence of the United Kingdom. An English Custom House was established in the island in 1810. A key turning point in Jersey history was the introduction of steamships. Previous to that, travel to the island was long and unpredictable. In the mid-1820s, the post office switched to steam as well. The first paddle steamer to visit Jersey was the Medina on 11 June 1823. In 1824, two shipping companies were established, each operating weekly steamship services to England. This brought thousands of passengers to the country. By 1840, there were 5,000 English residents, who some say did not mix well or interact deeply with the native Jèrriais. The number of English-speaking soldiers stationed in the island and the number of retired officers and English-speaking labourers who came to the islands in the 1820s led to the island gradually moving towards an English-speaking culture in town. This new immigration had a large impact on local architecture, with a number of mainland Georgian-style houses and terraces erected on the main roads out of St Helier. The town also expanded with many new streets, such as Burrard Street, first developed in 1812. In 1831, street lighting was first used. In 1843 it was agreed to erect street names. The rapid growth of St. Helier was one of the most significant changes in the landscape of Jersey during the 19th century. The town developed from a small settlement by the coast to encompassing most of the parish and spreading out into St. Clement and St. Saviour. An important growth for St Helier in the early 19th century was the construction of the harbour. Previously, ships coming into the town had only a small jetty at the site now called the English Harbour and the French Harbour. The Chamber of Commerce urged the States to build a new harbour, but the States refused, so the Chamber took it into their own hands and paid to upgrade the harbour in 1790. A new breakwater was constructed to shelter the jetty and harbours. In 1814, the merchants constructed the roads now known as Commercial Buildings and Le Quai des Marchands to connect the harbours to the town and in 1832 construction was finished on the Esplanade and its sea wall. A rapid expansion in shipping led the States in 1837 to order the construction of two new piers: the Victoria and Albert Piers. A new island politics The post-Napoleonic War period was a divisive period politically for the island. In 1821, there was an election for Jurat. The St Laurentine Laurelites (conservatives, the eventual name for the ) attacked the Inn in their village where Rose men (the progressive descendants of the ) were holding a meeting. They damaged the building and injured both the innkeeper and his wife. On election day in St Martin, the a number of Rose voters were attacked, after which most Rose men refrained from voting. Although the Rose candidate won overall, he faced a number of lawsuits over claims of voter fraud, so in the end the Laurel candidate George Bertram took office.:232 At this time, the national administration system, despite reform, still resembled a feudal system of governance. They also remained dominated by judicial and legislative overlap. In the nineteenth century, the growth of the town shifted economic power from the country parishes to St Helier, where also resided a large English population. During this century, Jersey's power structure shifted from the English Crown to the Jersey States, establishing Jersey as a near-independent state, however ultimate authority over the island shifted from the Crown to the British Parliament, aligning with the shift in the UK's politics towards a purely ceremonial monarch. The Privy Council put pressure of the island to reform its institutions, in the belief these reforms should align the country with a more English model of government and law. In 1883, John Stuart Blackie recounted an Englishman's comment that only one thing was needed to make Jersey perfect, and that was "a full participation in the benefits of English law". However, the Lieutenant Governor at the time stated that the absence of English law was what had brought Jerseymen such prosperity. Many locals blamed this push for reform on the island's new immigrants, who were unaccustomed to the island's distinct political and legal systems (although a major part of the mainstream reformer movement was in fact made of Jerseymen). Many English who had moved to the island discovered an alien environment, with unfamiliar laws (in a foreign language they could not understand) and no recourse to access the local power to counter them. The reformers of English heritage mostly came from the middle classes, and sought to further their own rights, not necessarily those of the working class. These Englishmen formed a pressure group known as the Civil Assembly of St Helier. This group was effectively split into two, one organised around Abraham Le Cras' hard-code English reformism and the other, a larger looser corpus of English reformists. The former was never representative of a significant proportion of the English community. One thing both shared however was a belief that the English systems were far superior to the historic Norman-based structures. Abraham Le Cras was an outspoken new resident - though with Jersey heritage - opposed to Jersey's self-government. He not only thought Jersey should be integrated into England fully, but disputed the right of the States to even make its own laws. He is noted as saying, 'the States have no more power to make laws for Jersey than I have'. In 1840 he won a court case challenging the States' ability to naturalise people as citizens. The Privy Council determined that the long-standing precedent of the States doing so had been invalidated since Jersey had been ruled under civil law since 1771. In 1846, he persuaded the MP for Bath to push for a Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the law of Jersey, however HM Government instead promised a Royal Commission. The Commission advised the abolition of the Royal Court run by the Jurats and the replacement of it with three Crown-appointed judges and the introduction of a paid police force. Le Cras left the island to live in England in 1850. In 1852, the island experienced somewhat of a constitutional crisis when the Privy Council issued three Orders in Council: establishing a police court, a petty debts court and a paid police force for St Helier. This sparked controversy locally, with claims that the move threatened Jersey's independence. Both parties united against the move and around 7000 islanders signing a petition. By 1854, the council had agreed to revoke the Orders, on the condition that the States passed most of the council's requirements. In 1856, further constitutional reform brought deputies into the States for the first time, with one deputy from each country parish and three from town. The threats to Jersey's autonomy continued. In the 1860s, there was raised a threat of an intervention in the island's government by the British Parliament itself, in order to impose change on the island's structures. A cultural turn Nonconformity challenged traditional Jersey society from within; it had always been a part of Jersey life, and non-conformists such as the Methodists had generally been tolerated during peacetime. This isn't to say there weren't some tensions between the Established Church and non-conformists, but these were generally exceptional. Most country people had at least one non-conformist within their own family, so the othering of non-conformists never took much hold. However, non-conformists were often unable to fully participate in country life as the church played a central role in the secular parish, and were notably absent from honorary roles within the parish. The Established Church had to reassess itself and reform and the parish structure altered itself to become a more civil-focused organisation, preserving itself while allowing its community more religious freedom. The 19th century marked a turning point for Jersey's linguistic landscape. Previously, the country had been cut off from England and had many more links with its French neighbours, so the native Jèrriais language, a , dominated over the English language. However mass immigration, compounded with reduced links with the Norman mainland due to the French wars, saw Jersey anglicise en masse, altering linguistic tendencies and bringing values and social structures from Victorian England. The incoming Englishmen did not have any inclination to give up their language and adopt the local tongue, which was oft viewed as a corruption of Standard French, and English became seen as the language of commercial success and intellectual achievements. On top of this, the Channel Islands remained rather unique in being a British territory in which English was not the dominant language (unlike in the Celtic regions, which had suffered linguistic persecution, not enjoying Jersey's relative independence), rather stacking the odds against Jèrriais. That is not to say that English was entirely foreign to the local population; the Jersey gentry had also a good, though not fluent, knowledge of English, having mostly been educated in that language, but the peasantry remained largely ignorant of English, in fact for native Jerseymen, the influence of English culture only became a threat when imposed on them by external agitators, such as Abraham Le Cras. With the improvements in military technology, new military techniques were needed to defend the island. It was suggested that measures should be taken to anglicise the Channel Island natives, including encouraging the use of English. It was suggested that, although the islands had proven themselves loyal to the British sovereign, that this was out of hereditary impression, rather than affinity towards the English people, and that anglicisation would not only encourage loyalty and congeniality between the nations, but also provide economic prosperity and improved "general happiness". In 1846, through a lens of growing nationalism in the UK, there was concern against sending young islanders to France for education, where they might bring French principles, friendships and views of policy and government to the British Islands. The Jersey gentry adopted this policy of anglicisation due to social and economic benefits it would bring. Anglophiles such as John Le Couteur strove to introduce England to Jersey. In 1856, the Jersey Times, an English language newspaper, was established in Jersey. The use of the English language in the States was first suggested by Rev. Abraham Le Sueur of Grouville in 1880. Victorian Era Queen Victoria was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom in the right of Jersey in 1837. The first notable event of the Victorian era for Jersey was the change in currency. The livre tournois had been used as the legal currency for centuries, however it had been abolished during the French Revolutionary period. Although the coins were no longer minted, they remained the legal currency in Jersey until 1837, when dwindling supplies and consequent difficulties in trade and payment obliged the adoption of the pound sterling as legal tender. Keen to prevent a repeat of the Six-sou Revolt, the authorities wanted to ensure a fair exchange rate; 520 sous would be the equivalent of one Pound sterling. Jersey issued its first coins in 1841, including the 1/13 shilling coin, which was closer in value to the old sou than the English penny. In the 1840s, the Rose leader Pierre Le Sueur was elected as Connétable of St Helier. From 1845, he orchestrated the construction of a complete sewer system for the town. He remained in office for 15 years and on his death an obelisk was erected in the Broad Street square. The population of Jersey rose rapidly, from 47,544 in 1841 to 56,078 20 years later, despite a 20% mortality rate amongst new born children. Life expectancy was 35 years. Both immigration and emigration increased. In 1851, the English immigrant population numbered around 12,000, compared with a total island population of 57,000 people. In St Helier, they constituted 7,000 of the parish's 30,000 residents. As with in England, the English community in Jersey was not coherent, but divided by social class. At the top of the social ladder were those of independent means, who chose to retire in the island: they did not participate much in the local lifestyle or politics, instead creating a mini-English social life for themselves. While at the bottom, there was the English-born working class, who often lacked basic rights such as accessing welfare. In 1852, the French author and poet Victor Hugo arrived to seek refuge in Jersey, as had many other revolutionaries and socialists from the Continent, facing exile from France and Belgium. If any of these proscrits died on the island, they were buried in Macpela cemetery in Sion, St John. In 1855, these refugees republished in their weekly paper an open letter from a number of French socialists living in London, which stated 'You have sacrificed your dignity as a Queen, your fastidiousness as a woman, your pride as an aristocrat, even your honour.' The Lieutenant-Governor banished the three editors two days later. Although Hugo had disapproved of the letter, he joined a protest against the expulsion, and hence too was exiled from the island. He and his family left for Guernsey. The Theatre Royal was built, as were Victoria College in 1852 and exhibited 34 items at The Great Exhibition in 1851, the world's first ever Pillar box was installed in 1852 and a paid police force was created in 1854. This century saw Jersey develop a public transport network. Towards the end of the last century, omnibuses came into use for the first time in the island. Two railways, the Jersey Western Railway in 1870, and the Jersey Eastern Railway in 1874, were opened. The western railway from to La Corbière and the eastern railway from to Gorey Pier. The two railways were never connected. Jersey was the fourth-largest shipbuilding area in the 19th-century British Isles, building over 900 vessels around the island. Shipbuilding declined with the coming of iron ships and steam. A number of banks on Jersey, guarantors of an industry both onshore and off, failed in 1873 and 1886, even causing strife and discord in far-flung societies. The population fell slightly in the twenty years to 1881. In the late 19th century, as the former thriving cider and wool industries declined, island farmers benefited from the development of two luxury products - Jersey cattle and Jersey Royal potatoes. The former was the product of careful and selective breeding programmes; the latter was a total fluke. The anarchist philosopher, Peter Kropotkin, who visited the Channel Islands in 1890, 1896, and 1903, described the agriculture of Jersey in The Conquest of Bread. The 19th century also saw the rise of tourism as an important industry (linked with the improvement in passenger ships) which reached its climax in the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s. 20th century Elementary education became obligatory in 1899, and free in 1907. Queen Victoria died in 1901, and Edward VII was proclaimed as King in the Royal Square. His coronation a year later was marked by the first Battle of Flowers. The years before the First World War saw the foundation of the Jersey Eisteddfod by the Dean of Jersey, Samuel Falle. The first aeroplanes arrived in Jersey in 1912. In 1914, the British garrison was withdrawn at the start of the First World War and the militia were mobilised. Jersey men served in the British and French armed forces. Numbers of German prisoners of war were interned in Jersey. The influenza epidemic of 1918 added to the toll of war. In 1919, imperial measurements replaced, for the most part, the traditional Jersey system of weights and measures; women aged over 30 were given the vote; and the endowments of the ancient grammar schools were repurposed as scholarships for Victoria College. In 1921, the visit of King George V was the occasion for the design of the parish crests. In 1923, the British government asked Jersey to contribute an annual sum towards the costs of the Empire. The States of Jersey refused and offered instead a one-off contribution to war costs. After negotiations, Jersey's one-off contribution was accepted. The first motor car had arrived in 1899 and buses started running on the island in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, competition from motor buses had rendered the railways unprofitable, with final closure coming in 1935 after a fire disaster (except for the later German reintroduction of rail during the military occupation). Jersey Airport was opened in 1937 to replace the use of the beach of Saint Aubin's bay as an airstrip at low tide, and the railways could not cope with the competition. English was first permitted in debates in the States of Jersey in 1901, and the first legislation to be drawn up primarily in English was the Income Tax Law of 1928. Occupation 1940-1945 Following the withdrawal of defences by the British government and German bombardment, Jersey was occupied by German troops between 1940 and 1945. The Channel Islands were the only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II. This period of occupation had about 8,000 islanders evacuated, 1,200 islanders deported to camps in Germany, and over 300 islanders sentenced to the prison and concentration camps of mainland Europe. Twenty died as a result. The islanders endured near-starvation in the winter of 1944–45, after the Channel Islands had been cut off from German-occupied Europe by Allied forces advancing from the Normandy beachheads, avoided only by the arrival of the Red Cross supply ship Vega in December 1944. Liberation Day - 9 May is marked as a public holiday. Post-Liberation After five years of occupation, the people of Jersey began to rebuild the island. In 1944, a group of exiled islanders, called Nos Iles, set out what the Channel Islands would need after the war. Examples include better education, development of the economy, especially tourism, and greater cooperation between the islands. They also emphasised the need for efficient land management. Some Jersey men were enlisted in national service in occupied Germany. The UK donated more than £4 million to clear Jersey's occupation debt, as well as sending gifts of essential items. There were over 50,000 mines to be cleared. Sir Edward Grasett was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor in August 1945. The 1945 census showed that 44,382 people were resident in the island (an increase of 4000 since Liberation). By the next year, there were 50,749, and the majority lived in St Helier. Many returned to their pre-war homes to find them in a state of dereliction and were given grants to repair the damage. Many islanders called for the reform and modernisation of the States: a poll by the JEP showed that only 88 of the 1,784 surveyed thought Rectors should stay in the States and a vast majority wanted the legislature and judiciary separated. The Jersey Democratic Movement campaigned for either the incorporation of the island as a county of England or at least the abolition of the States. The other political party to emerge during this period was the Progressive Party, consisting of some present States members, who opposed the JDM. In the 1945 Deputies' election, the Progressives won a landslide victory, giving a mandate for change. The franchise was extended to all British adults, previously voting rights in Jersey had only been to men and women over 30 according to property ownership. The largest reform came in the form of the 1948 States reform. Jurats were no longer States members and were to be elected by an Electoral College. It also introduced a retirement age for Jurats of 70. In all cases, the Bailiff shall be the judge of the law, and the Jurats the "judge of fact". The Jurats' role in the States was replaced by 12 senators, four of whom would retire every three years. The Church also lost most of its representation in the States, with the role of Rector being abolished and the number of Deputies increased to 28. The island adopted free, universal secondary education and a social security system. The bill for the social security system was passed in May 1950. A paid police force to cover the whole island was established to work alongside the honorary police. Divorce was legalised in 1949. In 1952, a state secondary school for boys was opened at Hautlieu and a girls' secondary was opened at Rouge Bouillon. Ten years later these would combine to form a single co-ed grammar school at Hautlieu, and two other schools: one for boys (d'Hautrée) and another for girls (at the Rouge Bouillon site) were opened. Later the two St Helier schools were combined into one comprehensive school and two other comprehensives were opened at Les Quennevais and Le Rocquier. Highlands College was purchased by the States in 1973 to provide further education.:280 There was an expansion of housing to deal with growing population and to improve the quality of existing housing. There was also a slum clearance programme involving States-funded homes (either for social housing or sale) and States-funded mortgages. By 1948, since the end of the war, two estates had been built: Grasett Park and Princess Place. A sum of £52,000 was agreed to build more houses on land already owned by the States. The population saw growth from wealthy immigrants looking for lower
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Battle of Jersey The 18th century was a period of political tension between Britain and France, as the two nations clashed all over the world as their ambitions grew. Because of its position, Jersey was more or less on a continuous war footing. During the American Wars of Independence, two attempted invasions of the island were made. In 1779, the Prince of Orange William V was prevented from landing at St Ouen's Bay; on 6 January 1781, a force led by Baron de Rullecourt captured St Helier in a daring dawn raid, but was defeated by a British army led by Major Francis Peirson in the Battle of Jersey. A short-lived peace was followed by the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars which, when they had ended, had changed Jersey forever. In 1799–1800, over 6000 Russian troops under the command of Charles du Houx de Vioménil were quartered in Jersey after an evacuation of Holland. After the Battle The end of war with France and America saw the growth of trade between Jersey and the New World, especially Canada and Newfoundland. By 1763, around a third of the fish being exported from Conception Bay was carried by Jersey vessels. In the 1780s, a number of Jersey families setttled permanently, such as the de Quettevilles in Forteau, Labrador. The first printing press was introduced to Jersey in 1784. Anti-seigneurial attitudes remained in Jersey, despite the reforms of 1771. In 1785, an anti-seigneurial document containing 36 articles was included in St Ouen's Parish Assembly minutes. It included demands for reform such as the abolition of services and an end to the seizure of goods following bankruptcy. These demands were paralleled in St Helier and St John and by an article in , the only newspaper at the time. These demands formed the basis for a sustained anti-feudal struggle during the next century. 19th century The 19th century saw massive changes in Jersey society. A large influx of immigrants from England made Jersey a more connected island than ever before, and brought with it cultural changes and the desire for political reform. During this period, the States reformed to become more representative of the population and the Jersey culture became more anglicised and less religious. The island also grew economically and the built-up areas of the island expanded, especially St Helier, with the development of public transport on the island. Pre-Victoria The pre-existing road network was an intricate network of roads and lanes. During the nineteenth century, many parishes took on the administration of more and more of these lanes. The network was criticised at the time for being subpar. A common Jèrriais saying is , which means 'as old as the roads'. In the early 19th century, the military roads were constructed (on occasion at gunpoint in the face of opposition from landowners) by the governor, General George Don, to link coastal fortifications with the town harbour. Much of the opposition to the plans came from islanders, who thought the country's best defence was its convoluted network of narrow lanes. The new road system was met with considerable opposition, particularly due to its expense. The St Helier Parish Assembly forbade the completion of the Trinity main road within its boundaries. The new network allowed greater communication between disparate parts of the island. These had an unexpected effect on agriculture once peace restored reliable trade links. Farmers in previously isolated valleys were able to swiftly transport crops grown in the island's microclimate to waiting ships and then on to the markets of London and Paris ahead of the competition. In conjunction with the later introduction of steamships and the development of the French and British railway systems, Jersey's agriculture was no longer as isolated as before. The early 19th century was a period of growth of trade for Jersey. In the wake of the Napoleonic wars after the defeat of France in 1815, the Channel Islands lost their strategic value, as points of conflict between the British and foreign powers moved to the North Sea. The UK had a need to reduce its forces to cut spending, but the Channel Islands defence costs reached £500,000 pa, even in peacetime. The utility of possessing the islands came into question. John Ramsay McCulloch described the advantages the islands provided to the UK as "neither very obvious nor material". However, in 1845, the Duke of Wellington strongly defended the islands in the Memorandum on the Defence of the United Kingdom. An English Custom House was established in the island in 1810. A key turning point in Jersey history was the introduction of steamships. Previous to that, travel to the island was long and unpredictable. In the mid-1820s, the post office switched to steam as well. The first paddle steamer to visit Jersey was the Medina on 11 June 1823. In 1824, two shipping companies were established, each operating weekly steamship services to England. This brought thousands of passengers to the country. By 1840, there were 5,000 English residents, who some say did not mix well or interact deeply with the native Jèrriais. The number of English-speaking soldiers stationed in the island and the number of retired officers and English-speaking labourers who came to the islands in the 1820s led to the island gradually moving towards an English-speaking culture in town. This new immigration had a large impact on local architecture, with a number of mainland Georgian-style houses and terraces erected on the main roads out of St Helier. The town also expanded with many new streets, such as Burrard Street, first developed in 1812. In 1831, street lighting was first used. In 1843 it was agreed to erect street names. The rapid growth of St. Helier was one of the most significant changes in the landscape of Jersey during the 19th century. The town developed from a small settlement by the coast to encompassing most of the parish and spreading out into St. Clement and St. Saviour. An important growth for St Helier in the early 19th century was the construction of the harbour. Previously, ships coming into the town had only a small jetty at the site now called the English Harbour and the French Harbour. The Chamber of Commerce urged the States to build a new harbour, but the States refused, so the Chamber took it into their own hands and paid to upgrade the harbour in 1790. A new breakwater was constructed to shelter the jetty and harbours. In 1814, the merchants constructed the roads now known as Commercial Buildings and Le Quai des Marchands to connect the harbours to the town and in 1832 construction was finished on the Esplanade and its sea wall. A rapid expansion in shipping led the States in 1837 to order the construction of two new piers: the Victoria and Albert Piers. A new island politics The post-Napoleonic War period was a divisive period politically for the island. In 1821, there was an election for Jurat. The St Laurentine Laurelites (conservatives, the eventual name for the ) attacked the Inn in their village where Rose men (the progressive descendants of the ) were holding a meeting. They damaged the building and injured both the innkeeper and his wife. On election day in St Martin, the a number of Rose voters were attacked, after which most Rose men refrained from voting. Although the Rose candidate won overall, he faced a number of lawsuits over claims of voter fraud, so in the end the Laurel candidate George Bertram took office.:232 At this time, the national administration system, despite reform, still resembled a feudal system of governance. They also remained dominated by judicial and legislative overlap. In the nineteenth century, the growth of the town shifted economic power from the country parishes to St Helier, where also resided a large English population. During this century, Jersey's power structure shifted from the English Crown to the Jersey States, establishing Jersey as a near-independent state, however ultimate authority over the island shifted from the Crown to the British Parliament, aligning with the shift in the UK's politics towards a purely ceremonial monarch. The Privy Council put pressure of the island to reform its institutions, in the belief these reforms should align the country with a more English model of government and law. In 1883, John Stuart Blackie recounted an Englishman's comment that only one thing was needed to make Jersey perfect, and that was "a full participation in the benefits of English law". However, the Lieutenant Governor at the time stated that the absence of English law was what had brought Jerseymen such prosperity. Many locals blamed this push for reform on the island's new immigrants, who were unaccustomed to the island's distinct political and legal systems (although a major part of the mainstream reformer movement was in fact made of Jerseymen). Many English who had moved to the island discovered an alien environment, with unfamiliar laws (in a foreign language they could not understand) and no recourse to access the local power to counter them. The reformers of English heritage mostly came from the middle classes, and sought to further their own rights, not necessarily those of the working class. These Englishmen formed a pressure group known as the Civil Assembly of St Helier. This group was effectively split into two, one organised around Abraham Le Cras' hard-code English reformism and the other, a larger looser corpus of English reformists. The former was never representative of a significant proportion of the English community. One thing both shared however was a belief that the English systems were far superior to the historic Norman-based structures. Abraham Le Cras was an outspoken new resident - though with Jersey heritage - opposed to Jersey's self-government. He not only thought Jersey should be integrated into England fully, but disputed the right of the States to even make its own laws. He is noted as saying, 'the States have no more power to make laws for Jersey than I have'. In 1840 he won a court case challenging the States' ability to naturalise people as citizens. The Privy Council determined that the long-standing precedent of the States doing so had been invalidated since Jersey had been ruled under civil law since 1771. In 1846, he persuaded the MP for Bath to push for a Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the law of Jersey, however HM Government instead promised a Royal Commission. The Commission advised the abolition of the Royal Court run by the Jurats and the replacement of it with three Crown-appointed judges and the introduction of a paid police force. Le Cras left the island to live in England in 1850. In 1852, the island experienced somewhat of a constitutional crisis when the Privy Council issued three Orders in Council: establishing a police court, a petty debts court and a paid police force for St Helier. This sparked controversy locally, with claims that the move threatened Jersey's independence. Both parties united against the move and around 7000 islanders signing a petition. By 1854, the council had agreed to revoke the Orders, on the condition that the States passed most of the council's requirements. In 1856, further constitutional reform brought deputies into the States for the first time, with one deputy from each country parish and three from town. The threats to Jersey's autonomy continued. In the 1860s, there was raised a threat of an intervention in the island's government by the British Parliament itself, in order to impose change on the island's structures. A cultural turn Nonconformity challenged traditional Jersey society from within; it had always been a part of Jersey life, and non-conformists such as the Methodists had generally been tolerated during peacetime. This isn't to say there weren't some tensions between the Established Church and non-conformists, but these were generally exceptional. Most country people had at least one non-conformist within their own family, so the othering of non-conformists never took much hold. However, non-conformists were often unable to fully participate in country life as the church played a central role in the secular parish, and were notably absent from honorary roles within the parish. The Established Church had to reassess itself and reform and the parish structure altered itself to become a more civil-focused organisation, preserving itself while allowing its community more religious freedom. The 19th century marked a turning point for Jersey's linguistic landscape. Previously, the country had been cut off from England and had many more links with its French neighbours, so the native Jèrriais language, a , dominated over the English language. However mass immigration, compounded with reduced links with the Norman mainland due to the French wars, saw Jersey anglicise en masse, altering linguistic tendencies and bringing values and social structures from Victorian England. The incoming Englishmen did not have any inclination to give up their language and adopt the local tongue, which was oft viewed as a corruption of Standard French, and English became seen as the language of commercial success and intellectual achievements. On top of this, the Channel Islands remained rather unique in being a British territory in which English was not the dominant language (unlike in the Celtic regions, which had suffered linguistic persecution, not enjoying Jersey's relative independence), rather stacking the odds against Jèrriais. That is not to say that English was entirely foreign to the local population; the Jersey gentry had also a good, though not fluent, knowledge of English, having mostly been educated in that language, but the peasantry remained largely ignorant of English, in fact for native Jerseymen, the influence of English culture only became a threat when imposed on them by external agitators, such as Abraham Le Cras. With the improvements in military technology, new military techniques were needed to defend the island. It was suggested that measures should be taken to anglicise the Channel Island natives, including encouraging the use of English. It was suggested that, although the islands had proven themselves loyal to the British sovereign, that this was out of hereditary impression, rather than affinity towards the English people, and that anglicisation would not only encourage loyalty and congeniality between the nations, but also provide economic prosperity and improved "general happiness". In 1846, through a lens of growing nationalism in the UK, there was concern against sending young islanders to France for education, where they might bring French principles, friendships and views of policy and government to the British Islands. The Jersey gentry adopted this policy of anglicisation due to social and economic benefits it would bring. Anglophiles such as John Le Couteur strove to introduce England to Jersey. In 1856, the Jersey Times, an English language newspaper, was established in Jersey. The use of the English language in the States was first suggested by Rev. Abraham Le Sueur of Grouville in 1880. Victorian Era Queen Victoria was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom in the right of Jersey in 1837. The first notable event of the Victorian era for Jersey was the change in currency. The livre tournois had been used as the legal currency for centuries, however it had been abolished during the French Revolutionary period. Although the coins were no longer minted, they remained the legal currency in Jersey until 1837, when dwindling supplies and consequent difficulties in trade and payment obliged the adoption of the pound sterling as legal tender. Keen to prevent a repeat of the Six-sou Revolt, the authorities wanted to ensure a fair exchange rate; 520 sous would be the equivalent of one Pound sterling. Jersey issued its first coins in 1841, including the 1/13 shilling coin, which was closer in value to the old sou than the English penny. In the 1840s, the Rose leader Pierre Le Sueur was elected as Connétable of St Helier. From 1845, he orchestrated the construction of a complete sewer system for the town. He remained in office for 15 years and on his death an obelisk was erected in the Broad Street square. The population of Jersey rose rapidly, from 47,544 in 1841 to 56,078 20 years later, despite a 20% mortality rate amongst new born children. Life expectancy was 35 years. Both immigration and emigration increased. In 1851, the English immigrant population numbered around 12,000, compared with a total island population of 57,000 people. In St Helier, they constituted 7,000 of the parish's 30,000 residents. As with in England, the English community in Jersey was not coherent, but divided by social class. At the top of the social ladder were those of independent means, who chose to retire in the island: they did not participate much in the local lifestyle or politics, instead creating a mini-English social life for themselves. While at the bottom, there was the English-born working class, who often lacked basic rights such as accessing welfare. In 1852, the French author and poet Victor Hugo arrived to seek refuge in Jersey, as had many other revolutionaries and socialists from the Continent, facing exile from France and Belgium. If any of these proscrits died on the island, they were buried in Macpela cemetery in Sion, St John. In 1855, these refugees republished in their weekly paper an open letter from a number of French socialists living in London, which stated 'You have sacrificed your dignity as a Queen, your fastidiousness as a woman, your pride as an aristocrat, even your honour.' The Lieutenant-Governor banished the three editors two days later. Although Hugo had disapproved of the letter, he joined a protest against the expulsion, and hence too was exiled from the island. He and his family left for Guernsey. The Theatre Royal was built, as were Victoria College in 1852 and exhibited 34 items at The Great Exhibition in 1851, the world's first ever Pillar box was installed in 1852 and a paid police force was created in 1854. This century saw Jersey develop a public transport network. Towards the end of the last century, omnibuses came into use for the first time in the island. Two railways, the Jersey Western Railway in 1870, and the Jersey Eastern Railway in 1874, were opened. The western railway from to La Corbière and the eastern railway from to Gorey Pier. The two railways were never connected. Jersey was the fourth-largest shipbuilding area in the 19th-century British Isles, building over 900 vessels around the island. Shipbuilding declined with the coming of iron ships and steam. A number of banks on Jersey, guarantors of an industry both onshore and off, failed in 1873 and 1886, even causing strife and discord in far-flung societies. The population fell slightly in the twenty years to 1881. In the late 19th century, as the former thriving cider and wool industries declined, island farmers benefited from the development of two luxury products - Jersey cattle and Jersey Royal potatoes. The former was the product of careful and selective breeding programmes; the latter was a total fluke. The anarchist philosopher, Peter Kropotkin, who visited the Channel Islands in 1890, 1896, and 1903, described the agriculture of Jersey in The Conquest of Bread. The 19th century also saw the rise of tourism as an important industry (linked with the improvement in passenger ships) which reached its climax in the period from the end of the Second World War to the 1980s. 20th century Elementary education became obligatory in 1899, and free in 1907. Queen Victoria died in 1901, and Edward VII was proclaimed as King in the Royal Square. His coronation a year later was marked by the first Battle of Flowers. The years before the First World War saw the foundation of the Jersey Eisteddfod by the Dean of Jersey, Samuel Falle. The first aeroplanes arrived in Jersey in 1912. In 1914, the British garrison was withdrawn at the start of the First World War and the militia were mobilised. Jersey men served in the British and French armed forces. Numbers of German prisoners of war were interned in Jersey. The influenza epidemic of 1918 added to the toll of war. In 1919, imperial measurements replaced, for the most part, the traditional Jersey system of weights and measures; women aged over 30 were given the vote; and the endowments of the ancient grammar schools were repurposed as scholarships for Victoria College. In 1921, the visit of King George V was the occasion for the design of the parish crests. In 1923, the British government asked Jersey to contribute an annual sum towards the costs of the Empire. The States of Jersey refused and offered instead a one-off contribution to war costs. After negotiations, Jersey's one-off contribution was accepted. The first motor car had arrived in 1899 and buses started running on the island in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, competition from motor buses had rendered the railways unprofitable, with final closure coming in 1935 after a fire disaster (except for the later German reintroduction of rail during the military occupation). Jersey Airport was opened in 1937 to replace the use of the beach of Saint Aubin's bay as an airstrip at low tide, and the railways could not cope with the competition. English was first permitted in debates in the States of Jersey in 1901, and the first legislation to be drawn up primarily in English was the Income Tax Law of 1928. Occupation 1940-1945 Following the withdrawal of defences by the British government and German bombardment, Jersey was occupied by German troops between 1940 and 1945. The Channel Islands were the only British soil occupied by German troops in World War II. This period of occupation had about 8,000 islanders evacuated, 1,200 islanders deported to camps in Germany, and over 300 islanders sentenced to the prison and concentration camps of mainland Europe. Twenty died as a result. The islanders endured near-starvation in the winter of 1944–45, after the Channel Islands had been cut off from German-occupied Europe by Allied forces advancing from the Normandy beachheads, avoided only by the arrival of the Red Cross supply ship Vega in December 1944. Liberation Day - 9 May is marked as a public holiday. Post-Liberation After five years of occupation, the people of Jersey began to rebuild the island. In 1944, a group of exiled islanders, called Nos Iles, set out what the Channel Islands would need after the war. Examples include better education, development of the economy, especially tourism, and greater cooperation between the islands. They also emphasised the need for efficient land management. Some Jersey men were enlisted in national service in occupied Germany. The UK donated more than £4 million to clear Jersey's occupation debt, as well as sending gifts of essential items. There were over 50,000 mines to be cleared. Sir Edward Grasett was sworn in as Lieutenant Governor in August 1945. The 1945 census showed that 44,382 people were resident in the island (an increase of 4000 since Liberation). By the next year, there were 50,749, and the majority lived in St Helier. Many returned to their pre-war homes to find them in a state of dereliction and were given grants to repair the damage. Many islanders called for the reform and modernisation of the States: a poll by the JEP showed that only 88 of the 1,784 surveyed thought Rectors should stay in the States and a vast majority wanted the legislature and judiciary separated. The Jersey Democratic Movement campaigned for either the incorporation of the island as a county of England or at least the abolition of the States. The other political party to emerge during this period was the Progressive Party, consisting of some present States members, who opposed the JDM. In the 1945 Deputies' election, the Progressives won a landslide victory, giving a mandate for change. The franchise was extended to all British adults, previously voting rights in Jersey had only been to men and women over 30 according to property ownership. The largest reform came in the form of the 1948 States reform. Jurats were no longer States members and were to be elected by an Electoral College. It also introduced a retirement age for Jurats of 70. In all cases, the Bailiff shall be the judge of the law, and the Jurats the "judge of fact". The Jurats' role in the States was replaced by 12 senators, four of whom would retire every three years. The Church also lost most of its representation in the States, with the role of Rector being abolished and the number of Deputies increased to 28. The island adopted free, universal secondary education and a social security system. The bill for the social security system was passed in May 1950. A paid police force to cover the whole island was established to work alongside the honorary police. Divorce was legalised in 1949. In 1952, a state secondary school for boys was opened at Hautlieu and a girls' secondary was opened at Rouge Bouillon. Ten years later these would combine to form a single co-ed grammar school at Hautlieu, and two other schools: one for boys (d'Hautrée) and another for girls (at the Rouge Bouillon site) were opened. Later the two St Helier schools were combined into one comprehensive school and two other comprehensives were opened at Les Quennevais and Le Rocquier. Highlands College was purchased by the States in 1973 to provide further education.:280 There was an expansion of housing to deal with growing population and to improve the quality of existing housing. There was also a slum clearance programme involving States-funded homes (either for social housing or sale) and States-funded mortgages. By 1948, since the end of the war, two estates had been built: Grasett Park and Princess Place. A sum of £52,000 was agreed to build more houses on land already owned by the States. The population saw growth from wealthy immigrants looking for lower taxes and seasonal essential workers from the Continent and mainland. Jersey was particularly attractive to retired civil servants in former British colonies as these obtained independence throughout the 20th century. This created a need for new infrastructure. Street lighting began to spread to the country parishes and a new sewage farm was built at Bellozane. Mains drainage was extended beyond St Helier and new water production facilities were constructed.:281 The island saw a growth in tourism and the reopening of the Battle of Flowers parade (for the first time since World War I) as well as new cinemas and the International Road Race. The military establishments of the island were handed over by the British Government to the Island and Jersey's Militia abolished. For the first time since Edward III, there was no permanent military presence on the island. The arsenals, forts are castles were converted to museums and housing (or in the case of Fort Regent, into the main leisure centre for town). There was a dispute over the ownership of Jersey's islets - the Minquiers and the Ecréhous - between the UK and France. The International Court of Justice ruled in favour of British ownership of the reefs. Between 1945 and the Queen's coronation in 1952, there were outbreaks of polio and tuberculosis and the opening of the Jersey Maternity hospital and St John Ambulance headquarters. Agriculture was hit by a series of foot-and-mouth outbreaks. The first senatorial election was brief. Each Senator was elected for either nine, six or three years depending on where they came in the polling list.
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largest settlement is the town of St Helier, which also plays host to the island's seat of government. The town consists of the built-up area of southern St Helier, including First Tower, and some adjoining parts of St Saviour and St Clement, such as Georgetown. The town is the central business district, hosting a large proportion of the island's retail and employment, such as the finance industry. The primary suburban areas of St Helier consist of the Five Oaks area in St Saviour, and developments along the coast, primarily along main roads to east and west of the town. The south and east coasts from St Aubin to Gorey are largely urbanised, with only small gaps in their development, such as the Royal Golf Course in Grouville. Outside of the town, many islanders live in rural and village settlements and even the more rural areas of the island have considerable amounts of development (even St Ouen, the least densely populated parish still has 270 persons per square kilometre). The most notable exurban development is the Les Quennevais area, which is home to a small precinct of shops, a park and a leisure centre. Many people in these communities regularly travel to St Helier for work and leisure purposes. Most of the villages are the namesake settlement of their parish, for example St John's Village in St John, however some are not, such as Maufant Village on the border of St Saviour and St Martin. Another semantic term used for smaller settlements are (different in meaning from the term with the same name meaning 'Town') such as in St. Lawrence. Housing costs in Jersey are very high. The Jersey House Price Index has at least doubled between 2002 and 2020. The mix-adjusted house price for Jersey is £567,000, higher than any UK region (UK average: £249,000) including London (average: £497,000; highest of any UK region). Planning and development control Land use is tightly controlled in Jersey, especially due to the high density population. The Planning Team of the Customer and Local Services Department manages planning applications, but approval is granted by the Planning Committee, made of States Members. The governing development plan for the island is the Island Plan, last published in 2011 and voted on by the States Assembly. The plan decides the overall vision for development on the island as well as issuing baseline planning guidance. The current Island Plan was issued in 2011 and revised in 2014. In 2021, the Island Plan is under review, with a bridging Island Plan expected to be in place from 2022. The Revised 2011 Island Plan is centred of three simple concepts of countryside protection, the wise use of resources and urban regeneration. It aims to meet most development needs in the existing built-up areas, especially the town of St Helier. Jersey has a single national park known as the Coastal National Park, formed of a number of separate areas. The park includes St Ouen's Bay, Gorey Common, the north and south-west coast and certain valleys such as St Catherine's Woods. It also includes the offshore reefs part of the Bailiwick. In the national park, most forms of development are not permitted. Jersey has a green belt policy known as the Green Zone. This consists of most rural areas on the island except the national park. There is a general presumption against development in the zone. According to the plan the policy has "vigourous" public support. Political geography The Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency. It is self-governing with its own legislature, the States Assembly, and government. It is sovereign territory of the Crown and not part of the United Kingdom, however the UK is internationally responsible for Jersey. The Jersey government is "with some important caveats, content with their relationship with the Ministry of Justice".:para 13 Jersey is part of the British-Irish Council, which is formed of the national governments of each of the countries and dependencies in the British Isles. Jersey is neither a member of the United Nations nor the European Union. The island is divided into twelve administrative regions, known as parishes, the largest of which is St Ouen and the smallest of which is St Clement. Economic geography Jersey has a highly developed economy driven by international financial and legal services, which accounted for 40.5% of total GVA in 2010. Its gross national income per capita is among the highest in the world. The island has been criticised by some as a tax haven as it attracts deposits from customers outside the island seeking lower taxes. However, the Jersey financial sector disputes this claim. Other important sectors to the Jersey economy include construction, retail and wholesale, agriculture and tourism. References External
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to the island's seat of government. The town consists of the built-up area of southern St Helier, including First Tower, and some adjoining parts of St Saviour and St Clement, such as Georgetown. The town is the central business district, hosting a large proportion of the island's retail and employment, such as the finance industry. The primary suburban areas of St Helier consist of the Five Oaks area in St Saviour, and developments along the coast, primarily along main roads to east and west of the town. The south and east coasts from St Aubin to Gorey are largely urbanised, with only small gaps in their development, such as the Royal Golf Course in Grouville. Outside of the town, many islanders live in rural and village settlements and even the more rural areas of the island have considerable amounts of development (even St Ouen, the least densely populated parish still has 270 persons per square kilometre). The most notable exurban development is the Les Quennevais area, which is home to a small precinct of shops, a park and a leisure centre. Many people in these communities regularly travel to St Helier for work and leisure purposes. Most of the villages are the namesake settlement of their parish, for example St John's Village in St John, however some are not, such as Maufant Village on the border of St Saviour and St Martin. Another semantic term used for smaller settlements are (different in meaning from the term with the same name meaning 'Town') such as in St. Lawrence. Housing costs in Jersey are very high. The Jersey House Price Index has at least doubled between 2002 and 2020. The mix-adjusted house price for Jersey is £567,000, higher than any UK region (UK average: £249,000) including London (average: £497,000; highest of any UK region). Planning and development control Land use is tightly controlled in Jersey, especially due to the high density population. The Planning Team of the Customer and Local Services Department manages planning applications, but approval is granted by the Planning Committee, made of States Members. The governing development plan for the island is the Island Plan, last published in 2011 and voted on by the States Assembly. The plan decides the overall vision for development on the island as well as issuing baseline planning guidance. The current Island Plan was issued in 2011 and revised in 2014. In 2021, the Island Plan is under review, with a bridging Island Plan expected to be in place from 2022. The Revised 2011 Island Plan is centred of three simple concepts of countryside protection, the wise use of resources and urban regeneration. It aims to meet most development needs in the existing built-up areas, especially the town of St Helier. Jersey has a single national park known as the Coastal National Park, formed of a number of separate areas. The park includes St Ouen's Bay, Gorey Common, the north and south-west coast and certain valleys such as St Catherine's Woods. It also includes the offshore reefs part of the Bailiwick. In the national park, most forms of development are not permitted. Jersey has a green belt policy known as the Green Zone. This consists of most rural areas on the island except the national park. There is a general presumption against development in the zone. According to the plan the policy has "vigourous" public support. Political geography The Bailiwick of
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men, and 16 to 59 for women; 66% of the population). The dependency ratio for Jersey was 52% (similar to 2011); the dependency ratio is around the same value as that in 1931, however was higher (60%) in 1971, and lower (47%) in 1991. Place of birth Half of the population of Jersey was born on the island, with the majority of the remainder from elsewhere in the British Islands. 7% of the population was born in Portugal, including Madeira, the largest overseas place of birth. In 1981, only 3% of the population was born in Portugal and 5% elsewhere. Of the category 'Other European country', the primary countries were France and Romania and for 'Elsewhere in the world', the primary countries were South Africa and India. Statistics The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Birth rate 11.0 births/1,000 population (2005) Death rate 8.5 deaths/1,000 population (2005) Net immigration rate 2.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.) Sex ratio Infant
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(60%) in 1971, and lower (47%) in 1991. Place of birth Half of the population of Jersey was born on the island, with the majority of the remainder from elsewhere in the British Islands. 7% of the population was born in Portugal, including Madeira, the largest overseas place of birth. In 1981, only 3% of the population was born in Portugal and 5% elsewhere. Of the category 'Other European country', the primary countries were France and Romania and for 'Elsewhere in the world', the primary countries were South Africa and India. Statistics The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Birth rate 11.0 births/1,000 population (2005) Death rate 8.5 deaths/1,000 population (2005) Net immigration rate 2.81 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.) Sex ratio Infant mortality 4 deaths/1,000 live births (2005) Life expectancy at birth total population: 78.48 years male: 76.07 years female: 81.07 years (2000 est.) Average age at death Men 72 Women 79 Total fertility rate 1.56 children born/woman (2000 est.) Nationality noun: Jerseyman, Jerseywoman adjective: Jersey Ethnic groups British and Norman-French descent. Portuguese and Polish minorities. Religions
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adviser in the island is the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, appointed for a five year term. He is a point of contact between Jersey ministers and the United Kingdom government and carries out executive functions in relation to immigration control, deportation, naturalisation and the issue of passports. Since 2017, the incumbent Lieutenant Governor has been Sir Stephen Dalton. The Crown (not the government or parliament of Jersey) appoints the Lieutenant Governor, the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff, Attorney General and Solicitor General. In practice, the process of appointment involves a panel in Jersey which select a preferred candidate whose name is communicated to the UK Ministry of Justice for approval before a formal recommendation is made to the Queen. Legislature The parliamentary body responsible for adopting legislation and scrutinising the Council of Ministers is the States Assembly. Forty-Nine elected members (8 Senators, 29 Deputies and 12 Connétables) sit in the unicameral assembly. There are also five non-elected, non-voting members appointed by the Crown (the Bailiff, the Lieutenant Governor, the Dean of Jersey, the Attorney General and the Solicitor General). Elections for Senators and Deputies occur at fixed four-yearly intervals, historically in October. From 2018, elections will be held in May every fourth year. At a local level, the Connétables (or 'constables') are elected for four years. Other posts in parish municipalities vary in length from one to three years and elections take place at a Parish Assembly on a majority basis. It has been some time since parties contested elections at this level, other than for the position of Connétable who uniquely has a role in both the national assembly and in local government. Decisions in the States are taken by majority vote of the elected members present and voting. The States of Jersey Law 2005 removed the Bailiff's a casting vote and the Lieutenant Governor's power of veto. Although formally organised party politics plays no role in the States of Jersey assembly, members often vote together in two main blocs – a minority of members, holding broadly progressive views and critical of the Council of Ministers versus a majority of members, of conservative ideology, who support the Council of Ministers. Scrutiny panels of backbench members of the assembly have been established to examine (i) economic affairs, (ii) environment, (iii) corporate services, (iv) education and home affairs and (v) health, social security and housing. The real utility of the panels is said to be "that of independent critique which holds ministers to account and constructively engages with policy which is deficient". According to constitutional convention United Kingdom legislation may be extended to Jersey by Order in Council at the request of the Island's government. Whether an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament may expressly apply to the Island as regards matters of self-government, or whether this historic power is now in abeyance, is a matter of legal debate. The States of Jersey Law 2005 established that no United Kingdom Act or Order in Council may apply to the Bailiwick without being referred to the States of Jersey. Executive Previously, both executive and legislative powers were vested in a single body: the States of Jersey. A committee system managed government affairs and policy, with committees formed of States members. A report of a review committee chaired by Sir Cecil Clothier criticised this system of government, finding it incapable of developing high-level strategy, efficient policy coordination or effective political leadership. The States of Jersey Law 2005 introduced a ministerial system of government. Executive powers are now vested in the Council of Ministers - formed of the Chief Minister and other Ministers (all elected directly by the States). The Council is the leading decision-making body of the wider Government of Jersey. The Chief Minister is elected from among the elected members of the States. Ministers are then proposed both by the Chief Minister and any other elected member, the final decision being made by the States assembly. The overall direction of government as agreed by the Council of Ministers is published periodically as a "strategic plan", the current one being the Common Strategic Policy 2018 to 2022. These plans are debated and approved by the States Assembly and translated into action by a series of business plans for each department. Cabinet collective responsibility among members of the Council of Ministers is a feature of the 2015 Code of Conduct for Ministers. However, ministers retain the right to present their own policy to the States in their capacity as a member of the assembly in domains not concerning Council policy. In recent years, former Chief Executive Charlie Parker introduced a number of reforms to the government's administrative structure. Moving away from a system whereby each Minister heads a single department, the One Government structure focuses on more efficient governmental organisation. As of 2022, the Government departments are: Office of the Chief Executive Customer and Local Services Children, Young People, Education and Skills Health and Community Services Infrastructure, Housing and Environment Justice and Home Affairs Strategic Policy, Planning and Performance Treasury and Exchequer Economy Chief Operating Office Political parties Since the 1950s, politics in Jersey has been dominanted by independent representatives. Historically, the island had two parties: the conservative Roses (Charlots) and the progressive Laurels (Magot). Due to the 2022 electoral reform, Jersey may be moving towards a politics dominated by parties. As of February 2022, there are four political parties in Jersey, which hold around a third of the States: Jersey Alliance (centre-right, party of government) Jersey Liberal Conservatives (centre-right) Reform Jersey (social democratic) Progress Party (centrist) Criticism Jersey's political system has often been criticised over the centuries, both within and without the island. The 'Jersey Way' is a term used in critiques to describe a political culture that enforces conformity, ignores perversion of the course of justice and suppresses political dissent. The Tax Justice Network states the Jersey Way allows for the island's political system to be abused by financial services sector companies. The Tax Justice Network criticises the political system for its absence of judicial independence (due to 'close relations between the legal and financial services' and 'the intimate relations between legal professionals who grew up together'); lack of second chamber in its parliament (for scrutiny purposes); no political parties; no formaised government and opposition and the lack of a wide range of independent news sources, or research capabilities. Criticism of the political system is no modern development. In the nineteenth century, Abraham Le Cras was an outspoken new resident of the island. A retired colonel, Le Cras was opposed to Jersey's historic self-government and represented a group of people who not only thought Jersey should be integrated into England fully, but disputed the right of the States to even make its own laws. He is noted as saying 'The States have no more power to make laws for Jersey than I have'. In 1840 he won a court case challenging the States' ability to naturalise people as citizens. The Privy Council determined that the long-standing precedent of the States doing so had been invalidated since Jersey had been ruled under civil law since 1771. In 1846, he persuaded the MP for Bath to push for a Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the law of Jersey, however HM Government instead promised a Royal Commission. The Commission advised the abolition of the Royal Court run by the Jurats and the replacement of it with three Crown-appointed judges and the introduction of a paid police force. Le Cras left the island to live in England in 1850. Local government Jersey is divided into twelve administrative districts known as parishes. All have access to the sea and are named after the saints to whom their ancient parish churches are dedicated. The parishes of Jersey are further divided into vingtaines (or, in St. Ouen, cueillettes), divisions which are historic and nowadays mostly used for purposes of electoral constituency in municipal elections. These elections are held to elect the members of the Parish municipality. Each parish has an Honorary Police force of elected, unpaid civilians who exercise police and prosecution powers. Jersey politicians Separation debate The separation issue came up in the House of Commons in a debate on Jersey's constitution in 1969. According to Sir Cyril Black, Member of Parliament for Wimbledon, Jersey was on the verge of declaring independence from the British Government after the Queen's speech stated HM Government would examine the relationships with the Channel Islands. Jersey opposed its inclusion in the Royal Commission on the Constitution and the complete lack of consultation surrounding it. The Home Secretary later stated that there was no intention to change the relationship. The question of Jersey's independence has been discussed from time to time in the States Assembly. In 1999, a member of the government said that 'Independence is an option open to the Island if the circumstances should justify this' but the government 'does not believe independence is appropriate in the present circumstances and does not see the circumstances arising in the foreseeable future when it would be appropriate'. In 2000, Senator Paul Le Claire called for a referendum on independence, a proposal which failed to win any significant support. The Policy and Resources Committee of the States of Jersey established the Constitutional Review Group in July 2005, chaired by Sir Philip Bailhache, with terms of reference 'to conduct a review and evaluation of the potential advantages and disadvantages for Jersey in seeking independence from the United Kingdom or other incremental change in the constitutional relationship, while retaining the Queen as Head of State'. Proposals for Jersey independence have subsequently been discussed at an international conference held in Jersey, organised by the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review. The former Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache has called for changes to the Channel Islands' relationship with the United Kingdom government, arguing that 'at the very least, we should be ready for independence if we are placed in a position where that course was the only sensible option'. In October 2012 the Council of Ministers issued a "Common policy for external relations" that set out a number of principles for the conduct of external relations in accordance with existing undertakings and agreements. This document noted that Jersey "is a self-governing, democratic country with the power of self-determination" and "that it is not Government policy to seek independence from the United Kingdom, but rather to ensure that Jersey is prepared if it were in the best interests of Islanders to do so". On the basis of the established principles the Council of Ministers decided to "ensure that Jersey is prepared for external change that may affect the Island's formal relationship with the United Kingdom and/or European Union". Constitutional Review Group report The Group's Second Interim Report was presented to the States by the Council of Ministers in June 2008. The report made a number of recommendations about Jersey independence, including the benefits and costs of independence and the social and cultural consequences. The island would need to be recognised as a sovereign state on a country by country basis. The report concluded that 'Jersey is equipped to face the challenges of independence' but 'whether those steps should be taken is not within the remit of this paper'. At present the island is protected by the British Armed Forces. Upon independence the island would need to develop its own capacity to entirely handle defensive and security affairs. It established that Jersey could seek membership of a defensive alliance (e.g. NATO); negotiate a defence agreement with a sovereign state (e.g. the UK) - San Marino, for example have a defence agreement with Italy that cost 700,000 USD in 2000/01 - or establish an independent defence force (in a similar manner to Antingua and Barbuda, which spends around £2.5 million). Furthermore, it is unlikely that any major European power would allow the island to be invaded, but the island could not feasibly protect itself from a major external threat without securing defensive agreements. Independence would require the establishment of a Foreign Affairs Department
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Jersey, which hold around a third of the States: Jersey Alliance (centre-right, party of government) Jersey Liberal Conservatives (centre-right) Reform Jersey (social democratic) Progress Party (centrist) Criticism Jersey's political system has often been criticised over the centuries, both within and without the island. The 'Jersey Way' is a term used in critiques to describe a political culture that enforces conformity, ignores perversion of the course of justice and suppresses political dissent. The Tax Justice Network states the Jersey Way allows for the island's political system to be abused by financial services sector companies. The Tax Justice Network criticises the political system for its absence of judicial independence (due to 'close relations between the legal and financial services' and 'the intimate relations between legal professionals who grew up together'); lack of second chamber in its parliament (for scrutiny purposes); no political parties; no formaised government and opposition and the lack of a wide range of independent news sources, or research capabilities. Criticism of the political system is no modern development. In the nineteenth century, Abraham Le Cras was an outspoken new resident of the island. A retired colonel, Le Cras was opposed to Jersey's historic self-government and represented a group of people who not only thought Jersey should be integrated into England fully, but disputed the right of the States to even make its own laws. He is noted as saying 'The States have no more power to make laws for Jersey than I have'. In 1840 he won a court case challenging the States' ability to naturalise people as citizens. The Privy Council determined that the long-standing precedent of the States doing so had been invalidated since Jersey had been ruled under civil law since 1771. In 1846, he persuaded the MP for Bath to push for a Parliamentary Committee to enquire into the law of Jersey, however HM Government instead promised a Royal Commission. The Commission advised the abolition of the Royal Court run by the Jurats and the replacement of it with three Crown-appointed judges and the introduction of a paid police force. Le Cras left the island to live in England in 1850. Local government Jersey is divided into twelve administrative districts known as parishes. All have access to the sea and are named after the saints to whom their ancient parish churches are dedicated. The parishes of Jersey are further divided into vingtaines (or, in St. Ouen, cueillettes), divisions which are historic and nowadays mostly used for purposes of electoral constituency in municipal elections. These elections are held to elect the members of the Parish municipality. Each parish has an Honorary Police force of elected, unpaid civilians who exercise police and prosecution powers. Jersey politicians Separation debate The separation issue came up in the House of Commons in a debate on Jersey's constitution in 1969. According to Sir Cyril Black, Member of Parliament for Wimbledon, Jersey was on the verge of declaring independence from the British Government after the Queen's speech stated HM Government would examine the relationships with the Channel Islands. Jersey opposed its inclusion in the Royal Commission on the Constitution and the complete lack of consultation surrounding it. The Home Secretary later stated that there was no intention to change the relationship. The question of Jersey's independence has been discussed from time to time in the States Assembly. In 1999, a member of the government said that 'Independence is an option open to the Island if the circumstances should justify this' but the government 'does not believe independence is appropriate in the present circumstances and does not see the circumstances arising in the foreseeable future when it would be appropriate'. In 2000, Senator Paul Le Claire called for a referendum on independence, a proposal which failed to win any significant support. The Policy and Resources Committee of the States of Jersey established the Constitutional Review Group in July 2005, chaired by Sir Philip Bailhache, with terms of reference 'to conduct a review and evaluation of the potential advantages and disadvantages for Jersey in seeking independence from the United Kingdom or other incremental change in the constitutional relationship, while retaining the Queen as Head of State'. Proposals for Jersey independence have subsequently been discussed at an international conference held in Jersey, organised by the Jersey and Guernsey Law Review. The former Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache has called for changes to the Channel Islands' relationship with the United Kingdom government, arguing that 'at the very least, we should be ready for independence if we are placed in a position where that course was the only sensible option'. In October 2012 the Council of Ministers issued a "Common policy for external relations" that set out a number of principles for the conduct of external relations in accordance with existing undertakings and agreements. This document noted that Jersey "is a self-governing, democratic country with the power of self-determination" and "that it is not Government policy to seek independence from the United Kingdom, but rather to ensure that Jersey is prepared if it were in the best interests of Islanders to do so". On the basis of the established principles the Council of Ministers decided to "ensure that Jersey is prepared for external change that may affect the Island's formal relationship with the United Kingdom and/or European Union". Constitutional Review Group report The Group's Second Interim Report was presented to the States by the Council of Ministers in June 2008. The report made a number of recommendations about Jersey independence, including the benefits and costs of independence and the social and cultural consequences. The island would need to be recognised as a sovereign state on a country by country basis. The report concluded that 'Jersey is equipped to face the challenges of independence' but 'whether those steps should be taken is not within the remit of this paper'. At present the island is protected by the British Armed Forces. Upon independence the island would need to develop its own capacity to entirely handle defensive and security affairs. It established that Jersey could seek membership of a defensive alliance (e.g. NATO); negotiate a defence agreement with a sovereign state (e.g. the UK) - San Marino, for example have a defence agreement with Italy that cost 700,000 USD in 2000/01 - or establish an independent defence force (in a similar manner to Antingua and Barbuda, which spends around £2.5 million). Furthermore, it is
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spent in the island, and Jersey residents do not pay tax or national insurance contributions to HMRC. As the UK is responsible for Jersey's defence and international representation, the cost of Jersey to the British taxpayer could be seen at around £55 million, though this is a notional cost; it's unlikely that, if Jersey were independent, that money would be saved on costs to the armed forces. The States make, upon agreement with Westminster, a contribution to the costs of its relationship in the form of a territorial army on the island. Taxation Jersey does not have inheritance, wealth, corporate or capital gains tax. Personal Tax Until the 20th century, the States relied on indirect taxation to finance the administration of Jersey. The levying of impôts (duties) different from those of the United Kingdom was granted by Charles II and remained in the hands of the Assembly of Governor, Bailiff and Jurats until 1921 when that body's tax raising powers were transferred to the Assembly of the States, leaving the Assembly of Governor, Bailiff and Jurats to serve simply as licensing bench for the sale of alcohol (this fiscal reform also stripped the Lieutenant-Governor of most of his effective remaining administrative functions). The first income tax in Jersey was introduced in 1928. Income tax has been levied at a flat rate of 20% set by the occupying Germans during the Second World War. Jersey's tax is not entirely regressive, however. Exemption thresholds apply to those on lower incomes and tax reliefs exist for married couples, single parents, child day care and children. Residents living in Jersey under the high value residency scheme are charged 20% on the first £725,000 and 1% on anything over that amount. Until February 2020, married women in Jersey did not have control over their own tax affairs. Since 1928, married couples were required to file tax receipts under their spouse's name, married women's earning were considered part of their spouses' earnings and male permission was required for women to be treated separately or to discuss her financial affairs with the tax office. For couples in same-sex marriages, the older partner was required to give permission for the younger. In 2020, a vote in the States Assembly (40 pour, 2 abstentions) to reform the law to give both marriage partners equal rights over the couple's tax affairs passed to come into force from 2021. Goods and services tax Historically, no value added tax (VAT) was levied in Jersey, with the result that luxury goods have often been cheaper than in the UK or in France. This provided an incentive for tourism from neighbouring countries. The States of Jersey introduced a goods and services tax (GST) in 2008. It was originally set at 3%, but rose to 5% on 1 June 2011 as part of the 2011 States budget. To try to prevent islanders living below the poverty line, the States of Jersey introduced an Income Support service in January 2008. Although this is a form of VAT, there are a number of significant differences between the European VAT and Jersey's GST. It is charged at a much lower rate than UK or French VAT, so Jersey can still act as a low-tax shopping jurisdiction on certain items. However there are far fewer exemptions to GST policy. For example, no VAT is charged on female sanitary products (the so-called 'tampon tax') in the UK while GST still applies in Jersey. Some items are GST zero-rated, e.g. exports, housing, prescriptions, while others are exempt from the tax, e.g. financial services, insurance, postal services and supplies by charities. Imported goods below £135 are also exempt from the charge. Corporation Tax Jersey has a corporate income tax. The standard rate for all corporations is 0%, however Jersey is not a corporate-tax free jurisdiction. A 10% tax applies for regulated financial services companies and a 20% maximum tax rate applies for larger corporate retailers and utility and property income companies. On 5 June 2021, global finance ministers, including the UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak, at the G7 agreed to set a new global minimum tax rate of 15% (although all G7 countries have higher tax rates) and to ensure that major corporations, such as Amazon and Microsoft, pay taxes in the countries where they operate, not those where they have headquarters. It will affect the island and take a number of years to implement, meaning Jersey's "zero-ten" tax policy will no longer be possible. On 16 May, Chief Minister John Le Fondré had criticised the move led by Joe Biden. He said in an interview with the i newspaper that the US should look "closer to home before involving themselves in the tax policies of others", citing Delaware's tax regime. Former Senator Ben Shenton said the zero-ten system was nearing its "sell-by" date and the zero percent rate was reinforcing Jersey's image as a tax haven. Welfare state During the COVID-19 pandemic, the government introduced Co-Funded Payroll to support businesses. Tax haven Many have criticised Jersey's tax policies and labelled the island as a tax haven, although some, including the Government of Jersey, do not recognise that label. Despite the island's small size, it is recognised as a large offshore finance centre. Jersey Finance estimates that Jersey trusts control £1 trillion in assets. According to the Tax Justice Network, Jersey suffers from the "Finance Curse", a term used to described to illustrate a low-tax jurisdictions over-reliance on the finance sector (which accounts for over 50% of the island's GVA and directly accounts for 25% of the island's jobs) and a lack of a viable alternative development strategy. Even in the modern day, Jersey continues to encourage high-wealth individuals to settle in the island to take advantage of lower tax rates. Jersey has a long history of tax avoidance, being one of the first offshore financial services markets. Jersey has a long history of low-tax and duty-free economic activity. Jersey's situation between France and England meant that Jerseyman took up smuggling of goods into French and English ports. For example, Jean Martel of St Brelade, organised brandy and textile smuggling into both sides of the Channel. In the 1920s, high net worth individuals from Britain would emigrate to the island (or simply shift their wealth there) for tax purposes. In 2020, the Tax Justice Network, a UK tax advocacy group, placed Jersey 7th in its list of "The top 10 countries that have done the most to proliferate corporate tax avoidance and break down the global corporate tax system" and 16th in its Financial Secrecy Index. below larger countries such as the UK, however still placing at the lower end of the 'extreme danger zone' for offshore secrecy'. The island accounts of 0.46 per cent of the global offshore finance market, making a small player in the total market. A large proportion of the financial services conducted in Jersey are tax-driven, meaning they are booked there without the requirement of adding value. Tax Research UK classes Jersey as a tax haven. It too claims Jersey is a tax haven, citing its "half-hearted commitment to transparency". Jersey's finance industry featured in a BBC Panorama documentary, titled "Tax me if you can", first broadcast on 2 February 2009. It is arguable that the people who benefit from Jersey's new tax structure are the owners of the large businesses that are separate or support the financial service based businesses. This is because they do not have to pay any corporation tax but will still benefit from the island's business. In 2020, the Corporate Tax Heaven Index ranked Jersey 8th for 2021 with an haven score (a measure of the jurisdiction's systems to be used for corporate tax abuse) of 100 out of 100, however only has 0.51% on the Global Scale Weight ranking. As of 2020, the European Union does not consider Jersey to be a tax haven ("non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes"). Jersey cooperates with the EU and implements all its commitments. When the list was established in 2017, Jersey was initially on its "grey list" (Annex II), however was removed from the list entirely in March 2019. One of the mitigation measures Jersey put in place was the "Economic Substance Law" in 2019. Under the law, companies within its scope must be directed and managed, conduct Core Income Generating Activities ("the key essential and valuable activities that generate the income of the company and these activities must be carried out in Jersey") and have adequate employees, expenditure and physical assets in Jersey. The chair of the EU Tax Matters Subcommittee Paul Tang has however criticised the list for not including "renowned tax havens" such as Jersey. In January 2021, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to include on the blacklist of countries those that use a 0% corporate tax regime, which includes Jersey. However, the final decision still rests with the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council. Robert Palmer, director of Tax Justice UK, said, "post-Brexit the UK tax havens have lost their protector within the corridors of Brussels". Furthermore, in 2017 the OECD ranked Jersey as a 'compliant' country in terms of tax transparency in its Global Transparency Barometer. The Netherlands however does consider Jersey to be a tax haven. Jersey was placed on their tax avoidance "blacklist" in 2019. The list includes any jurisdiction with a corporate tax rate below 9%. As a result, companies registered in Jersey must pay 20.5% tax on interest and royalties received from the Netherlands from 2021. However former Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, has countered these criticisms, saying that "Jersey [is] among cooperative finance centres". Jersey has tax information exchange agreements with 40 countries, double taxation agreements with a number of other countries (with more "ready for signing"). Jersey Finance, the body representing the finance industry in Jersey, does not consider Jersey a tax haven, but does recognise ongoing tax evasion and avoidance. In September 2013 the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, said it was not fair any longer to refer to any of the overseas territories or Crown dependencies as tax havens, as they have taken action to make sure that they have fair and open tax systems. Its information privacy law also provides exemptions that other European countries do not, for example in the way Trusts do not have to disclose as much information to Benficiaries about use of their personal data as is normally required under such laws. A report by Capital Economics Ltd., comissioned by Jersey Finance found that the island is a conduit for around £500 billion of foreign investment in the UK. That report found Jersey is a net economic benefit to the UK, supporting between 250,000 and 575,563 jobs in the UK. 50 per cent of the foreign investment into the UK originates outside the London time zone, so the report argues that, without Jersey, the investment may go to other international finance centres, rather than staying in the British Islands. A survey in the report found that 85 percent of Jersey's financial services business would leave the sterling zone entiely without Jersey. VAT The absence of VAT also led to the growth of a fulfilment industry, whereby low-value luxury items, such as videos, lingerie and contact lenses were exported in a manner avoiding VAT on arrival, thus undercutting local prices on the same products. A number of companies, including off-island companies Tesco, HMV and Amazon and on-island companies Play.com and Blahdvd, operated this model. In 2005 the States of Jersey announced limits on licences granted to non-resident companies trading in this way. Low-value consignment relief provided the mechanism for VAT-free imports from the Channel Islands to the UK. In April 2012, the UK closed
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and have adequate employees, expenditure and physical assets in Jersey. The chair of the EU Tax Matters Subcommittee Paul Tang has however criticised the list for not including "renowned tax havens" such as Jersey. In January 2021, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to include on the blacklist of countries those that use a 0% corporate tax regime, which includes Jersey. However, the final decision still rests with the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council. Robert Palmer, director of Tax Justice UK, said, "post-Brexit the UK tax havens have lost their protector within the corridors of Brussels". Furthermore, in 2017 the OECD ranked Jersey as a 'compliant' country in terms of tax transparency in its Global Transparency Barometer. The Netherlands however does consider Jersey to be a tax haven. Jersey was placed on their tax avoidance "blacklist" in 2019. The list includes any jurisdiction with a corporate tax rate below 9%. As a result, companies registered in Jersey must pay 20.5% tax on interest and royalties received from the Netherlands from 2021. However former Chief Minister Terry Le Sueur, has countered these criticisms, saying that "Jersey [is] among cooperative finance centres". Jersey has tax information exchange agreements with 40 countries, double taxation agreements with a number of other countries (with more "ready for signing"). Jersey Finance, the body representing the finance industry in Jersey, does not consider Jersey a tax haven, but does recognise ongoing tax evasion and avoidance. In September 2013 the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, said it was not fair any longer to refer to any of the overseas territories or Crown dependencies as tax havens, as they have taken action to make sure that they have fair and open tax systems. Its information privacy law also provides exemptions that other European countries do not, for example in the way Trusts do not have to disclose as much information to Benficiaries about use of their personal data as is normally required under such laws. A report by Capital Economics Ltd., comissioned by Jersey Finance found that the island is a conduit for around £500 billion of foreign investment in the UK. That report found Jersey is a net economic benefit to the UK, supporting between 250,000 and 575,563 jobs in the UK. 50 per cent of the foreign investment into the UK originates outside the London time zone, so the report argues that, without Jersey, the investment may go to other international finance centres, rather than staying in the British Islands. A survey in the report found that 85 percent of Jersey's financial services business would leave the sterling zone entiely without Jersey. VAT The absence of VAT also led to the growth of a fulfilment industry, whereby low-value luxury items, such as videos, lingerie and contact lenses were exported in a manner avoiding VAT on arrival, thus undercutting local prices on the same products. A number of companies, including off-island companies Tesco, HMV and Amazon and on-island companies Play.com and Blahdvd, operated this model. In 2005 the States of Jersey announced limits on licences granted to non-resident companies trading in this way. Low-value consignment relief provided the mechanism for VAT-free imports from the Channel Islands to the UK. In April 2012, the UK closed this loophole, leading to the closure of many island businesses and the loss of a number of jobs on the island. The Social Security department introduced a Back to Work programme to deal with the job losses and Jersey Post had to suffer significant cut-backs in response to a reduction in fulfilment. The States appealed against the UK decision, but this failed. As a result of the new rule, the UK tax authorities reported a 200% rise in import VAT from the Channel Islands, estimated at £95 million per year. Sectors Financial and legal services Jersey-based financial organisations provide services to customers worldwide. In December 2020, it was reported that there were 13,510 jobs within this sector. The finance sector profits were about £1.18 billion in 2015. Jersey is one of the top worldwide offshore financial centers It has been criticised for its tax practices, with many calling the island a tax haven. It attracts deposits from customers outside of the island, seeking the advantages such places offer, like reduced tax burdens. In 2020, Tax Justice ranked Jersey as the 16th on the Financial Secrecy Index, below larger countries such as the UK, however still placing at the lower end of the 'extreme danger zone' for offshore secrecy'. However The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) have all endorsed Jersey as a top international finance centre. In 2017’s OECD Rating, Jersey scored top marks from the OECD on tax transparency, receiving a "fully compliant" rating and as recently as 2019 The European Council of Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) have formally confirmed Jersey a Co-operative Jurisdiction. In addition, a MONEYVAL Assessment by the Council of Europe rated Jersey compliant or largely compliant in 48 of their 49 assessment areas, the highest score amongst all states assessed. In the fourth quarter of 2020, the total value of banking deposits held in Jersey decreased from £137.8bn to £131.6bn while the net asset value of regulated funds under administration increased by £12.6bn to £378.1bn. There were 33,626 live companies on Jersey's register. Jersey shares The International Stock Exchange (TISE) with Guernsey, where it is based. Construction Construction represented 7% of GVA during 2019. In June 2020 it was reported that 5,970 people were employed full-time in the construction and quarrying sector. St Helier has a lot of ongoing construction projects. The reclamation of land opened in the 1980s new land for development in the town centre. This has led to development projects such as the Jersey International Finance Centre, Horizon and the new St Helier Waterfront project. The GVA of the construction sector declined by 1% between 2018 and 2019. Retail and wholesale As of June 2020 there were 6,940 jobs within Jersey's wholesale and retail trades. Retail and wholesale declined by 1% between 2018 and 2019. Jersey has a large range of local and national shops. SandpiperCI Limited operate a chain of stores in Jersey, their franchises include well-known names, such as Morrisons, Marks & Spencer, Iceland, and Costa Coffee. A number of online retailers, and fulfillment houses operate from the Channel Islands, including Jersey, supplying a variety of low-value goods such as CDs, DVDs, video games, and gadgets. Residents of the EU were choosing to order goods from Jersey, so as to benefit from a tax relief known as Low-value consignment relief (LVCR). UK residents, in particular, were taking advantage of this situation. A local company, play.com grew substantially during the time that LVCR applied to Jersey. Notably, Amazon UK also took advantage of this by dispatching some low-value items from Jersey. In April 2012 the UK Government made law changes to prevent the Channel Islands continued exploitation of LVCR, meaning that UK residents would have to pay the full VAT amount on items imported from the Channel Islands. Some goods are still sold and distributed from Jersey, despite these changes. Agriculture In 2017, 33,301 vergées were dedicated to agriculture, with each holding having an average area of 78 vergées. Since 2006, there has been a reduction in the number of smaller holding areas, as have the number of larger holdings (64 in 2006 to 53
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Telephone Numbering Plan, which means the island shares the UK's international dialling code +44. 4G license operators in the island are obligated to provide a 2 Mbps download speed to 95% of the island population 90% of the time. In 2016, the island had 95% 4G coverage and higher average mobile data speeds than (7 major cities in) the UK. In 2020, JT retains the majority mobile market share of 52%, compared with 24% for Airtel-Vodafone and 23% for Sure, the island's other mobile operators. In 2020, there were 124,262 mobile subscriptions, of which 2,845 were mobile only. Mobile data prices are lower in Jersey than other similarly-sized countries, such as Bermuda and Malta, but slightly higher than the major operators in the UK. In 2020, the following mobile usage statistics were recorded: 202.0 million mobile minutes, 48.3 million SMS messages and 9.56 million GB of data used. Landline telephones Jersey is part of the UK's National Telephone Numbering Plan, which means the island shares the UK's international dialling code +44. Landline telephone numbers have the area code (0)1534. Postal service Future The Government of Jersey has a telecommunications development strategy called A telecoms strategy for Jersey. Telephony Addressing Jersey
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there were 124,262 mobile subscriptions, of which 2,845 were mobile only. Mobile data prices are lower in Jersey than other similarly-sized countries, such as Bermuda and Malta, but slightly higher than the major operators in the UK. In 2020, the following mobile usage statistics were recorded: 202.0 million mobile minutes, 48.3 million SMS messages and 9.56 million GB of data used. Landline telephones Jersey is part of the UK's National Telephone Numbering Plan, which means the island shares the UK's international dialling code +44. Landline telephone numbers have the area code (0)1534. Postal service Future The Government of Jersey has a telecommunications development strategy called A telecoms strategy for Jersey. Telephony Addressing Jersey is incorporated into the UK National Telephone Numbering Plan, using the following area codes: JT Global (formerly Jersey Telecom): +44 1534 for land-lines +44 7797 for mobiles Sure (Batelco): +44 7700 for mobiles Airtel-Vodafone: +44 7829 for mobiles Fixed line Fixed PSTN lines in use; approx 57,700 (2009). Mobile cellular JT Group Limited Sure Airtel-Vodafone With over 120 mobile phone masts, in 2012, spread across its area, the island has a phone mast density almost five times that of the United Kingdom as a whole but similar to any urban area. Telephony system and infrastructure Domestic Jersey Telecom: System X supplied by Marconi Communications. Marconi Softswitch and UTStarcom SoftSwitch. Connectivity 4 submarine communication cables. 2 microwave links. Mass media Radio Digital DAB+ broadcasts started in Jersey on 1 August 2021. Radio broadcast stations BBC Radio Jersey 88·8MHz FM, 1026kHz MW AM, and bbc.co.uk/jersey. Channel 103 103·7 MHz FM and channel103.com. Radio Lions, a closed-circuit hospital radio station launched by the Jersey Lions Club in 1975. Radio Force 7, a former Saint-Malo radio station, pioneered bilingual broadcasting aimed at the Channel Islands from January 1988 to the early 1990s. Contact 94. Former radio station (5 September
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the Jersey Highway Code. Visitors wishing to drive must possess a Certificate of Insurance or an International Green Card, a valid Driving Licence or International Driving Permit (UK International Driving Permits are not valid). Photocopies are not acceptable. A nationality plate must be displayed on the back of visiting vehicles. It is an offence to hold a mobile phone whilst driving a moving vehicle. It is not an offence to use a hands-free system. Where fitted, all passengers inside a vehicle must wear a seat belt at all times, regardless of whether they are sitting in the front or the rear. Drink-driving is illegal in Jersey. Police use breathalyser tests during spot checks and a person is guilty if there is over 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 ml breath. The penalties for drinking and driving in Jersey are up to £2,000 fine or 6 months in prison for the first offence plus unlimited disqualification of driving licence. It is an offence to drive whilst under the influence of drugs. Since July 2014 it has also been illegal to smoke in any vehicle carrying passengers under the age of 18. Traffic calming Over the years, a number of traffic calming schemes have been introduced around the island to get motorists to slow down. In 2016, a report in the JEP outlined a number of traffic calming schemes that were under consideration around the island. Car sharing Jersey has a shared electric car operator, EVie, that provides islandwide self-service electric car hire. Cycling Jersey has infrastructure dedicated to cyclists. Cycle infrastructure has been improving in the previous decade under the Sustainable Transport Policy. The best developed cycle route is the route from St Helier to Corbière. The route consists of segregated cycle paths and shared pedestrian-cycle paths, including the St Aubin's Bay promenade and the Railway Walk. The connection from West Park to Havre des Pas was completed an upgraded after a ministerial decision in 2011. A branch of this route connects to St Peter's Village via Les Quennevais. There is a segregated cycle-pedestrian path along St Peter's Valley, which connects pedestrians and cyclists from the green lane network in St Mary to roads near the St Aubin's Bay Promenade cycle route. It was opened in 2016. Jersey has a network of signposted cycle routes. There are fifteen routes in total, such as route 1, which forms a loop around the island. Most of the routes are on quieter lanes and dedicated paths, however some of these routes are on busy main road with no dedicated infrastructure. The Eastern Cycle Route network is a proposed network of cycle-safe routes in the eastern parishes of St Clement and Grouville. The first section from Gorey to La Ville-ès-Renauds in Grouville was opened in 2011. There is a dedicated network of Green Lanes across the island, which have a 15 mph speed limit and where priority is afforded to cyclists. Jersey has a shared electric bike operator, EVie, that provides islandwide self-service electric bike hire. Companies EVie Buses Buses started running on the island in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, competition from motor buses had rendered the railways unprofitable, with final closure coming in 1935 after a fire disaster (except for the later German reintroduction of rail during the military occupation). Buses are operated by CT Plus Jersey, a local subsidiary of HCT Group. Bus service routes radiate from the Liberation Station in St Helier. In 2012, it was announced that CT Plus would take over the operation of the bus service, commencing on 2 January 2013, ending 10 years of Connex service in Jersey. This new service is called LibertyBus. Parking Public parking in Jersey is controlled by time restrictions and payment. A single-yellow line along the side of the carriageway indicates a "No waiting" restriction. There are no double-yellow lines in Jersey. Parking on yellow lines is liable to a fine. Some on-street and off-street parking is paid parking. Payments operate using either Paycards or PayByPhone and is indicated with the Paycard Symbol. Paycards are a form of voucher payment. Paycards are purchased from various stores around the island and can be used by scratching the time of arrival on the relevant number of units. Certain car parks, such as the Waterfront, Sand Street and Ports of Jersey Car Parks use automatic number plate recognition or ticket technology with a pay upon
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de Saint Pierre A12 Beaumont to St Ouen road: La Route de Beaumont, La Grande Route de Saint Pierre, La Grande Route de Saint Ouen A13 St Aubin to Red Houses road: La Mont les Vaux, La Grande Route de Saint Brelade, La Route des Genets, La Route Orange A14: Rouge Bouillon A15: St Clement's Road A16: Commercial Buildings A17: La Route du Fort Driving laws Driving laws in Jersey are the United Kingdom Highway Code, supplemented by the Jersey Highway Code. Visitors wishing to drive must possess a Certificate of Insurance or an International Green Card, a valid Driving Licence or International Driving Permit (UK International Driving Permits are not valid). Photocopies are not acceptable. A nationality plate must be displayed on the back of visiting vehicles. It is an offence to hold a mobile phone whilst driving a moving vehicle. It is not an offence to use a hands-free system. Where fitted, all passengers inside a vehicle must wear a seat belt at all times, regardless of whether they are sitting in the front or the rear. Drink-driving is illegal in Jersey. Police use breathalyser tests during spot checks and a person is guilty if there is over 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 ml breath. The penalties for drinking and driving in Jersey are up to £2,000 fine or 6 months in prison for the first offence plus unlimited disqualification of driving licence. It is an offence to drive whilst under the influence of drugs. Since July 2014 it has also been illegal to smoke in any vehicle carrying passengers under the age of 18. Traffic calming Over the years, a number of traffic calming schemes have been introduced around the island to get motorists to slow down. In 2016, a report in the JEP outlined a number of traffic calming schemes that were under consideration around the island. Car sharing Jersey has a shared electric car operator, EVie, that provides islandwide self-service electric car hire. Cycling Jersey has infrastructure dedicated to cyclists. Cycle infrastructure has been improving in the previous decade under the Sustainable Transport Policy. The best developed cycle route is the route from St Helier to Corbière. The route consists of segregated cycle paths and shared pedestrian-cycle paths, including the St Aubin's Bay promenade and the Railway Walk. The connection from West Park to Havre des Pas was completed an upgraded after a ministerial decision in 2011. A branch of this route connects to St Peter's Village via Les Quennevais. There is a segregated cycle-pedestrian path along St Peter's Valley, which connects pedestrians and cyclists from the green lane network in St Mary to roads near the St Aubin's Bay Promenade cycle route. It was opened in 2016. Jersey has a network of signposted cycle routes. There are fifteen routes in total, such as route 1, which forms a loop around the island. Most of the routes are on quieter lanes and dedicated paths, however some of these routes are on busy main road with no dedicated infrastructure. The Eastern Cycle Route network is a proposed network of cycle-safe routes in the eastern parishes of St Clement and Grouville. The first section from Gorey to La Ville-ès-Renauds in Grouville was opened in 2011. There is a dedicated network of Green Lanes across the island, which have a 15 mph speed limit and where priority is afforded to cyclists. Jersey has a shared electric bike operator, EVie, that provides islandwide self-service electric bike hire. Companies EVie Buses Buses started running on the island in the 1920s, and by the 1930s, competition from motor buses had rendered the railways unprofitable, with final closure coming in 1935 after a fire disaster (except for the later German reintroduction of rail during the military occupation). Buses are operated by CT Plus Jersey, a local subsidiary of HCT Group. Bus service routes radiate from the Liberation Station in St Helier. In 2012, it was announced that CT Plus would take over the operation of the bus service, commencing on 2 January 2013, ending 10 years of Connex service in Jersey. This new service is called LibertyBus. Parking Public parking in Jersey is controlled by time restrictions and payment. A single-yellow line along the side of the carriageway indicates a "No waiting" restriction. There are no double-yellow lines in Jersey. Parking on yellow lines is liable to a fine. Some on-street and off-street parking is paid parking. Payments operate using either Paycards or PayByPhone and is indicated with the Paycard Symbol. Paycards are a form of voucher payment. Paycards are purchased from various stores around the island and can be used by scratching the time of arrival on the relevant number of units. Certain car parks, such as the Waterfront, Sand Street and Ports of Jersey Car Parks use automatic number plate recognition or ticket technology with a pay upon exit system. Some parking is free to use however is time-restricted and a Jersey parking disc must be displayed showing time of arrival. There are four main residents’ and business parking zones within St Helier. Air transport There is a single airport on the island, Jersey Airport, located in St Peter. It has one runway and one terminal building and has direct flights throughout the year to many United Kingdom and International destinations, including nine daily flights to London. Before the present airport opened in 1937, air transport was through seaplanes, which landed at West Park in St Helier. The first aeroplane to land in Jersey was the Sanchez Besa in August 1912. The first passenger flight was recorded as taking place 147 years earlier through air balloon. Rail transport Historically there were public railway
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and transformed itself into a purple doughnut. A glowing purple cloud was faintly visible for a few minutes." The nuclear yield was reported in most official documents as "less than 20 kilotons." One report by the U.S. government reported the yield of the "Tightrope" test as 10 kilotons. Seven sounding rockets were launched from Johnston Island in support of the Tightrope test, and this was the final American nuclear atmospheric test. Failures The "Fishbowl" series included four failures, all of which were deliberately disrupted by range safety officers when the missiles' systems failed during launch and were aborted. The second launch of the Fishbowl series, "Bluegill", carried an active warhead. Bluegill was "lost" by a defective range safety tracking radar and had to be destroyed 10 minutes after liftoff even though it probably ascended successfully. The subsequent nuclear weapon launch failures from Johnston Atoll caused serious contamination to the island and surrounding areas with weapons-grade plutonium and americium that remains an issue to this day. The failure of the "Bluegill" launch created in effect a dirty bomb but did not release the nuclear warhead's plutonium debris onto Johnston Atoll as the missile fell into the ocean south of the island and was not recovered. However, the "Starfish", "Bluegill Prime", and "Bluegill Double Prime" test launch failures in 1962 scattered radioactive debris over Johnston Island contaminating it, the lagoon, and Sand Island with plutonium for decades. "Starfish", a high altitude Thor launched nuclear test scheduled for June 20, 1962, was the first to contaminate the atoll. The rocket with the 1.45-megaton Starfish device (W49 warhead and the MK-4 re-entry vehicle) on its nose was launched that evening, but the Thor missile engine cut out only 59 seconds after launch. The range safety officer sent a destruct signal 65 seconds after launch, and the missile was destroyed at approximately altitude. The warhead high explosive detonated in 1-point safe fashion, destroying the warhead without producing nuclear yield. Large pieces of the plutonium contaminated missile, including pieces of the warhead, booster rocket, engine, re-entry vehicle and missile parts, fell back on Johnston Island. More wreckage along with plutonium contamination was found on nearby Sand Island. "Bluegill Prime," the second attempt to launch the payload which failed last time was scheduled for 23:15 (local) on July 25, 1962. It too was a genuine disaster and caused the most serious plutonium contamination on the island. The Thor missile was carrying one pod, two re-entry vehicles and the W50 nuclear warhead. The missile engine malfunctioned immediately after ignition, and the range safety officer fired the destruct system while the missile was still on the launch pad. The Johnston Island launch complex was demolished in the subsequent explosions and fire which burned through the night. The launch emplacement and portions of the island were contaminated with radioactive plutonium spread by the explosion, fire and wind-blown smoke. Afterward, the Johnston Island launch complex was heavily damaged and contaminated with plutonium. Missile launches and nuclear testing halted until the radioactive debris was dumped and soils were recovered and the launch emplacement rebuilt. Three months of repairs, decontamination, and rebuilding the LE1 as well as the backup pad LE2 were necessary before tests could resume. In an effort to continue with the testing program, U.S. troops were sent in to do a rapid cleanup. The troops scrubbed down the revetments and launch pad, carted away debris and removed the top layer of coral around the contaminated launch pad. The plutonium-contaminated rubbish was dumped in the lagoon, polluting the surrounding marine environment. More than 550 drums of contaminated material were dumped in the ocean off Johnston from 1964 to 1965. At the time of the Bluegill Prime disaster, the top fill around the launch pad was scraped by a bulldozer and grader. It was then dumped into the lagoon to make a ramp, so the rest of the debris could be loaded onto landing craft to be dumped out into the ocean. An estimated 10 percent of the plutonium from the test device was in the fill used to make the ramp. Then the ramp was covered and placed into a landfill on the island during 1962 dredging to extend the island. The lagoon was again dredged in 1963–1964 and used to expand Johnston Island from to recontaminating additional portions of the island. On October 15, 1962 the "Bluegill Double Prime" test also misfired. During the test, the rocket was destroyed at a height of 109,000 feet after it malfunctioned 90 seconds into the flight. U.S. Defense Department officials confirm that when the rocket was destroyed, it contributed to the radioactive pollution on the island. In 1963, the U.S. Senate ratified the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which contained a provision known as "Safeguard C". Safeguard C was the basis for maintaining Johnston Atoll as a "ready to test" above-ground nuclear testing site should atmospheric nuclear testing ever be deemed to be necessary again. In 1993, Congress appropriated no funds for the Johnston Atoll "Safeguard C" mission, bringing it to an end. Anti-satellite mission 1962–1975 Program 437 turned the PGM-17 Thor into an operational anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon system, a capability that was kept top secret even after it was deployed. The Program 437 mission was approved for development by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on November 20, 1962 and based at the Atoll. Program 437 used modified Thor missiles that had been returned from deployment in Great Britain and was the second deployed U.S. operational nuclear anti-satellite operation. Eighteen more suborbital Thor launches took place from Johnston Island during the 1964–1975 period in support of Program 437. In 1965–1966 four Program 437 Thors were launched with 'Alternate Payloads' for satellite inspection. This was evidently an elaboration of the system to allow visual verification of the target before destroying it. These flights may have been related to the late 1960s Program 922, a non-nuclear version of Thor with infrared homing and a high-explosive warhead. Thors were kept positioned and active near the two Johnston Island launch pads after 1964. However, partly because of the Vietnam War, in October 1970 the Department of Defense had transferred Program 437 to standby status as an economic measure. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks led to Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty that prohibited 'interference with national means of verification', which meant that ASAT's were not allowed, by treaty, to attack Russian spy satellites. Thors were removed from Johnston Atoll and were stored in mothballed war-reserve condition at Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1970 until the anti-satellite mission of Johnston Island facilities was ceased on August 10, 1974, and the program was officially discontinued on April 1, 1975, when any possibility of restoring the ASAT program was finally terminated. Eighteen Thor launches in support of the Program 437 Alternate Payload (AP) mission took place from Johnston Atoll's Launch emplacements. Baker–Nunn satellite tracking camera station The Space Detection and Tracking System or SPADATS was operated by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) along with the U.S. Air Force Spacetrack system, The Navy Space Surveillance System and Canadian Forces Air Defense Command Satellite Tracking Unit. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory also operated a dozen 3.5 ton Baker-Nunn Camera systems (none at Johnston) for cataloging of man-made satellites. The U.S. Air Force had ten Baker-Nunn camera stations around the world mostly from 1960 to 1977 with a phase-out beginning in 1964. The Baker-Nunn space camera station was constructed on Sand Island and was functioning by 1965. USAF 18th Surveillance Squadron operated the Baker-Nunn camera at a station built along the causeway on Sand Island until 1975 when a contract to operate the four remaining Air Force stations was awarded to Bendix Field Engineering Corporation. In about 1977, the camera at Sand Island was moved to Daegu, South Korea. Baker-Nunn were rendered obsolete with the Initial Operational Capability of 3 GEODSS optical tracking sites at Daegu, Korea; Mount Haleakala, Maui and White Sands Missile Range. A fourth site was operational in 1985 at Diego Garcia and a proposed fifth site in Portugal was cancelled. The Daegu, Korea site was closed due to encroaching city lights. GEODSS tracked satellites at night, though the MIT Lincoln Laboratory test site, co-located with Site 1 at White Sands did track asteroids in daytime as proof of concept in the early 1980s. Johnston Island Recovery Operations Center Satellite and Missile Observation System Project (SAMOS-E) or "E-6" was a relatively short-lived series of United States visual reconnaissance satellites in the early 1960s. SAMOS was also known by the unclassified terms Program 101 and Program 201. The Air Force program was used as a cover for the initial development of the Central Intelligence Agency's Key Hole (including Corona and Gambit) reconnaissance satellites systems. Imaging was performed with film cameras and television surveillance from polar low Earth orbits with film canisters returning via capsule and parachute with mid-air retrieval. SAMOS was first launched in 1960, but not operational until 1963 with all of the missions being launched from Vandenberg AFB. During the early months of the SAMOS program it was essential not only to hide the Corona and GAMBIT technical efforts under a screen of SAMOS activity, but also to make the orbital vehicle portions of the two systems resemble one another in outward appearance. Thus, some of the configuration details of SAMOS were decided less by engineering logic than by the need to camouflage GAMBIT and thus, in theory, a GAMBIT could be launched without alerting many people to its real nature. Problems relative to tracking networks, communications, and recovery were resolved with the decision in late February 1961 to use Johnston Island as the film capsule descent and recovery zone for the program. On July 10, 1961 work was initiated on four buildings of the Johnston Island Recovery Operations Center for the National Reconnaissance Office. Men from the Johnston Atoll facility would recover the parachuting film canister capsules with a radar equipped JC-130 aircraft by capturing them in the air with a specialized recovery apparatus. The recovery center was also responsible for collecting the radioactive scientific data pods dropped from missiles following launch and nuclear detonation. Biological warfare test site 1965–68 The atoll was subject to large-scale bioweapons testing over four years starting in 1965. The American strategic tests of bioweapons were as expensive and elaborate as the tests of the first hydrogen bombs at Eniwetok Atoll. They involved enough ships to have made the world's fifth-largest independent navy. One experiment involved a number of barges loaded with hundreds of rhesus monkeys. It is estimated that one jet with bioweapon spray "would probably be more efficient at causing human deaths than a ten-megaton hydrogen bomb." In the lead up to biological warfare testing in the Pacific under Project 112 and Project SHAD, a new virus was discovered during the Pacific Ocean Biological Survey Program by teams from the Smithsonian's Division of Birds aboard a United States Army tugboat involved in the program. Initially, the name of that effort was to be called the Pacific Ornithological Observation Project but this was changed for obvious reasons. First isolated in 1964 the tick-borne virus was discovered in Ornithodoros capensis ticks, found in a nest of common noddy (Anous stolidus) at Sand Island, Johnston Atoll. It was designated Johnston Atoll Virus and is related to influenza. In February, March, and April 1965 Johnston Atoll was used to launch biological attacks against U.S. Army and Navy vessels south-west of Johnston island in vulnerability, defense and decontamination tests conducted by the Deseret Test Center during Project SHAD under Project 112. Test DTC 64-4 (Deseret Test Center) was originally called "RED BEVA" (Biological EVAluation) though the name was later changed to "Shady Grove", likely for operational security reasons. The biological agents released during this test included Francisella tularensis (formerly called Pasteurella tularensis) (Agent UL), the causative agent of tularemia; Coxiella burnetii (Agent OU), causative agent of Q fever; and Bacillus globigii (Agent BG). During Project SHAD, Bacillus globigii was used to simulate biological warfare agents (such as anthrax), because it was then considered a contaminant with little health consequence to humans; however, it is now considered a human pathogen. Ships equipped with the E-2 multi-head disseminator and
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water for takeoff. From July 10–22, 1923, the atoll was recorded in a pioneering aerial photography project. The left Honolulu on July 16 and joined up with the Whippoorwill to complete the survey and then traveled to Wake Island to complete surveys there. Tents were pitched on the southwest beach of fine white sand, and a rather thorough biological survey was made of the island. Hundreds of sea birds, of a dozen kinds, were the principal inhabitants, together with lizards, insects, and hermit crabs. The reefs and shallow water abounded with fish and other marine life. On June 29, 1926, by , President Calvin Coolidge established Johnston Island Reservation as a federal bird refuge and placed it under the control of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as a "refuge and breeding ground for native birds." Johnston Atoll was added to the United States National Wildlife Refuge system in 1926, and renamed the Johnston Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1940. The Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge was established to protect the tropical ecosystem and the wildlife that it harbors. However, the Department of Agriculture had no ships, and the United States Navy was interested in the atoll for strategic reasons, so with on December 29, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt placed the islands under the "control and jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Navy for administrative purposes", but subject to use as a refuge and breeding ground for native birds, under the United States Department of the Interior. On February 14, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued to create naval defense areas in the central Pacific territories. The proclamation established "Johnston Island Naval Defensive Sea Area" which encompassed the territorial waters between the extreme high-water marks and the three-mile marine boundaries surrounding the atoll. "Johnston Island Naval Airspace Reservation" was also established to restrict access to the airspace over the naval defense sea area. Only U.S. government ships and aircraft were permitted to enter the naval defense areas at Johnston unless authorized by the Secretary of the Navy. In 1990, two full-time U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel, a Refuge Manager and a biologist, were stationed on Johnston Atoll to handle the increase in biological, contaminant, and resource conflict activities. After the military mission on the island ended in 2004, the Atoll was administered by the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The outer islets and water rights were managed cooperatively by the Fish and Wildlife Service, with some of the actual Johnston Island land mass remaining under control of the United States Air Force (USAF) for environmental remediation and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) for plutonium cleanup purposes. However, on January 6, 2009, under authority of section 2 of the Antiquities Act, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established by President George W. Bush to administer and protect Johnston Island along with six other Pacific islands. The national monument includes Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge within its boundaries and contains of land and over of water area. The Administration of President Barack Obama in 2014 extended the protected area to encompass the entire Exclusive Economic Zone, by banning all commercial fishing activities. Under a 2017 review of all national monuments extended since 1996, then-Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke recommended to permit fishing outside the 12-mile limit. Military control 1934–2004 On December 29, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt with transferred control of Johnston Atoll to the United States Navy under the 14th Naval District, Pearl Harbor, in order to establish an air station, and also to the Department of the Interior to administer the bird refuge. In 1948, the USAF assumed control of the Atoll. During the Operation Hardtack nuclear test series from April 22 to August 19, 1958, administration of Johnston Atoll was assigned to the Commander of Joint Task Force 7. After the tests were completed, the island reverted to the command of the US Air Force. From 1963 to 1970, the Navy's Joint Task force 8 and the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) held joint operational control of the island during high-altitude nuclear testing operations. In 1970, operational control was handed back to the Air Force until July 1973, when Defense Special Weapons Agency was given host-management responsibility by the Secretary of Defense. Over the years, sequential descendant organizations have been the Defense Atomic Support Agency (DASA) from 1959 to 1971, the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) from 1971 to 1996, and the Defense Special Weapons Agency (DSWA) from 1996 to 1998. In 1998, Defense Special Weapons Agency, and selected elements of the Office of Secretary of Defense were combined to form the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In 1999, host-management responsibility transferred from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency once again to the Air Force until the Air Force mission ended in 2004 and the base was closed. Sand Island seaplane base In 1935, personnel from the US Navy's Patrol Wing Two carried out some minor construction to develop the atoll for seaplane operation. In 1936, the Navy began the first of many changes to enlarge the atoll's land area. They erected some buildings and a boat landing on Sand Island and blasted coral to clear a seaplane landing. Several seaplanes made flights from Hawaii to Johnston, such as that of a squadron of six aircraft in November, 1935. In November 1939, further work was commenced on Sand Island by civilian contractors to allow the operation of one squadron of patrol planes with tender support. Part of the lagoon was dredged and the excavated material was used to make a parking area connected by a causeway to Sand Island. Three seaplane landings were cleared, one by and two cross-landings each by and dredged to a depth of . Sand Island had barracks built for 400 men, a mess hall, underground hospital, radio station, water tanks and a steel control tower. In December 1943 an additional of parking was added to the seaplane base. On May 26, 1942, a United States Navy Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina wrecked at Johnston Atoll. The Catalina pilot made a normal power landing and immediately applied throttle for take-off. At a speed of about fifty knots the plane swerved to the left and then continued into a violent waterloop. The hull of the plane was broken open and the Catalina sank immediately. After the war on March 27, 1949, a PBY-6A Catalina had to make a forced landing during flight from Kwajalein to Johnston Island. The plane was damaged beyond repair and the crew of 11 was rescued nine hours later by a Navy ship which sank the plane by gunfire. During 1958, a proposed support agreement for Navy Seaplane operations at Johnston Island was under discussion though it was never completed because a requirement for the operation failed to materialize. Airfield By September 1941, construction of an airfield on Johnston Island commenced. A by runway was built together with two 400-man barracks, two mess halls, a cold-storage building, an underground hospital, a fresh-water plant, shop buildings, and fuel storage. The runway was complete by December 7, 1941, though in December 1943 the 99th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to . The runway was subsequently lengthened and improved as the island was enlarged. During World War II Johnston Atoll was used as a refueling base for submarines, and also as an aircraft refueling stop for American bombers transiting the Pacific Ocean, including the Boeing B-29 Enola Gay. By 1944, the atoll was one of the busiest air transport terminals in the Pacific. Air Transport Command aeromedical evacuation planes stopped at Johnston en route to Hawaii. Following V-J Day on August 14, 1945, Johnston Atoll saw the flow of men and aircraft that had been coming from the mainland into the Pacific turn around. By 1947, over 1,300 B-29 and B-24 bombers had passed through the Marianas, Kwajalein, Johnston Island, and Oahu en route to Mather Field and civilian life. Following World War II, Johnston Atoll Airport was used commercially by Continental Air Micronesia, touching down between Honolulu and Majuro. When an aircraft landed it was surrounded by armed soldiers and the passengers were not allowed to leave the aircraft. Aloha Airlines also made weekly scheduled flights to the island carrying civilian and military personnel; in the 1990s there were flights almost daily, and some days saw up to three arrivals. Just before movement of the chemical munitions to Johnston Atoll, the Surgeon General, Public Health Service, reviewed the shipment and the Johnston Atoll storage plans. His recommendations caused the Secretary of Defense in December 1970 to issue instructions suspending missile launches and all non-essential aircraft flights. As a result, Air Micronesia service was immediately discontinued, and missile firings were terminated with the exception of two 1975 satellite launches deemed critical to the island's mission. There were many times when the runway was needed for emergency landings for both civil and military aircraft. When the runway was decommissioned, it could no longer be used as a potential emergency landing place when planning flight routes across the Pacific Ocean. As of 2003, the airfield at Johnston Atoll consisted of an unmaintained closed single asphalt/concrete runway 5/23, a parallel taxiway, and a large paved ramp along the southeast side of the runway. World War II 1941–1945 In February 1941 Johnston Atoll was designated as a Naval Defensive Sea Area and Airspace Reservation. On the day the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, was out of her home port of Pearl Harbor, to make a simulated bombardment at Johnston Island. Japan's strike at Pearl Harbor occurred as the ship was unloading marines, civilians and stores on the atoll. On December 15, 1941, the atoll was shelled outside the reef by a Japanese submarine, which had been part of the attack on Pearl Harbor eight days earlier. Several buildings including the power station were hit, but no personnel were injured. Additional Japanese shelling occurred on December 22 and 23, 1941. On all occasions, Johnston Atoll's coastal artillery guns returned fire, driving off the sub. In July 1942, the civilian contractors at the atoll were replaced by 500 men from the 5th and 10th Naval Construction Battalions, who expanded the fuel storage and water production at the base and built additional facilities. The 5th Battalion departed in January 1943. In December 1943 the 99th Naval Construction Battalion arrived at the atoll and proceeded to lengthen the runway to and add an additional of parking to the seaplane base. Coast Guard mission 1957–1992 On January 25, 1957, the Department of Treasury was granted a 5-year permit for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) to operate and maintain a Long Range Aid to Navigation (LORAN) transmitting station on Johnston Atoll. Two years later in December 1959, the Secretary of Defense approved the Secretary of the Treasury's request to use Sand Island for U.S. Coast Guard LORAN A and C station sites. The USCG was granted permission to install a LORAN A and C station on Sand Island to be staffed by U.S. Coast Guard personnel through June 30, 1992. The permit for a LORAN station to operate on Johnston Island was terminated in 1962. On November 1, 1957, a new United States Coast Guard LORAN-A station was commissioned. By 1958, the Coast Guard LORAN Station at Johnston Island began transmitting on a 24-hour basis, thus establishing a new LORAN rate in the Central Pacific. The new rate between Johnston Island and French Frigate Shoals gave a higher order of accuracy for fixing positions in the steamship lanes from Oahu, Hawaii, to Midway Island. In the past, this was impossible in some areas along this important shipping route. The original U.S. Coast Guard LORAN-A Station on Johnston Island ceased operations on June 30, 1961 when the new station on nearby Sand Island began transmitting using a larger 180 foot antenna. The LORAN-C station was disestablished on July 1, 1992, and all Coast Guard personnel, electronic equipment, and property departed the atoll that month. Buildings on Sand Island were transferred to other activities. LORAN whip antennas on Johnston and Sand Islands were removed, and the 625-foot LORAN tower and antenna were demolished on December 3, 1992. The LORAN A and C station and buildings on Sand Island were then dismantled and removed. National nuclear weapon test site 1958–1963 Successes Between 1958 and 1975, Johnston Atoll was used as an American national nuclear test site for atmospheric and extremely high-altitude nuclear explosions in outer space. In 1958, Johnston Atoll was the location of the two "Hardtack I" nuclear tests firings. One conducted August 1, 1958 was codenamed "Hardtack Teak" and one conducted August 12, 1958 was codenamed "Orange." Both tests detonated 3.8-megaton hydrogen bombs launched to high altitudes by rockets from Johnston Atoll. Johnston Island was also used as the launch site of 124 sounding rockets going up as high as . These carried scientific instruments and telemetry equipment, either in support of the nuclear bomb tests, or in experimental antisatellite technology. Eight PGM-17 Thor missiles deployed by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) were launched from Johnston Island in 1962 as part of "Operation Fishbowl," a part of "Operation Dominic" nuclear weapons tests in the Pacific. The first launch in "Operation Fishbowl" was a successful research and development launch with no warhead. In the end, "Operation Fishbowl" produced four successful high-altitude detonations: "Starfish Prime," "Checkmate," "Bluegill Triple Prime," and "Kingfish." In addition, it produced one atmospheric nuclear explosion, "Tightrope." On July 9, 1962, "Starfish Prime" had a 1.4-megaton explosion, using a W49 warhead at an altitude of about . It created a very brief fireball visible over a wide area, plus bright artificial auroras visible in Hawaii for several minutes. "Starfish Prime" also produced an electromagnetic pulse that disrupted some electric power and communication systems in Hawaii. It pumped enough radiation into the Van Allen belts to destroy or damage seven satellites in orbit. The final Fishbowl launch that used a Thor missile carried the "Kingfish" 400-kiloton warhead up to its detonation altitude. Although it was officially one of the Operation Fishbowl tests, it is sometimes not listed among high-altitude nuclear tests because of its lower detonation altitude. "Tightrope" was the final test of Operation Fishbowl and detonated on November 3, 1962. It launched on a nuclear-armed Nike-Hercules missile and was detonated at a lower altitude than the other tests: "At Johnston Island, there was an intense white flash. Even with high-density goggles, the burst was too bright to view, even for a few seconds. A distinct thermal pulse was felt on bare skin. A yellow-orange disc was formed, and transformed itself into a purple doughnut. A glowing purple cloud was faintly visible for a few minutes." The nuclear yield was reported in most official documents as "less than 20 kilotons." One report by the U.S. government reported the yield of the "Tightrope" test as 10 kilotons. Seven sounding rockets were launched from Johnston Island in support of the Tightrope test, and this was the final American nuclear atmospheric test. Failures The "Fishbowl" series included four failures, all of which were deliberately disrupted by range safety officers when the missiles' systems failed during launch and were aborted. The second launch of the Fishbowl series, "Bluegill", carried an active warhead. Bluegill was "lost" by a defective range safety tracking radar and had to be destroyed 10 minutes after liftoff even though it probably ascended successfully. The subsequent nuclear weapon launch failures from Johnston Atoll caused serious contamination to the island and surrounding areas with weapons-grade plutonium and americium that remains an issue to this day. The failure of the "Bluegill" launch created in effect a dirty bomb but did not release the nuclear warhead's plutonium debris onto Johnston Atoll as the missile fell into the ocean south of the island and was not recovered. However, the "Starfish", "Bluegill Prime", and "Bluegill Double Prime" test launch failures in 1962 scattered radioactive debris over Johnston Island contaminating it, the lagoon, and Sand Island with plutonium for decades. "Starfish", a high altitude Thor launched nuclear test scheduled for June 20, 1962, was the first to contaminate the atoll. The rocket with the 1.45-megaton Starfish device (W49 warhead and the MK-4 re-entry vehicle) on its nose was launched that evening, but the Thor missile engine cut out only 59 seconds after launch. The range safety officer sent a destruct signal 65 seconds after launch, and the missile was destroyed at approximately altitude. The warhead high explosive detonated in 1-point safe fashion, destroying the warhead without producing nuclear yield. Large pieces of the plutonium contaminated missile, including pieces of the warhead, booster rocket, engine, re-entry vehicle and missile parts, fell back on Johnston Island. More wreckage along with plutonium contamination was found on nearby Sand Island. "Bluegill Prime," the second attempt to launch the payload which failed last time was scheduled for 23:15 (local) on July 25, 1962. It too was a genuine disaster and caused the most serious plutonium contamination on the island. The Thor missile was carrying one pod, two re-entry vehicles and the W50 nuclear warhead. The missile engine malfunctioned immediately after ignition, and the range safety officer fired the destruct system while the missile was still on the launch pad. The Johnston Island launch complex was demolished in the subsequent explosions and fire which burned through the night. The launch emplacement and portions of the island were contaminated with radioactive plutonium spread by the explosion, fire and wind-blown smoke. Afterward, the Johnston Island launch complex was heavily damaged and contaminated with plutonium. Missile launches and nuclear testing halted until the radioactive debris was dumped and soils were recovered and the launch emplacement rebuilt. Three months of repairs, decontamination, and rebuilding the LE1 as well as the backup pad LE2 were necessary before tests could resume. In an effort to continue with the testing program, U.S. troops were sent in to do a rapid cleanup. The troops scrubbed down the revetments and launch pad, carted away debris and removed the top layer of coral around the contaminated launch pad. The plutonium-contaminated rubbish was dumped in the lagoon, polluting the surrounding marine environment. More than 550 drums of contaminated material were dumped in the ocean off Johnston from 1964 to 1965. At the time of the Bluegill Prime disaster, the top fill around the launch pad was scraped by a bulldozer and grader. It was then dumped into the lagoon to make a ramp, so the rest of the debris could be loaded onto landing craft to be dumped out into the ocean. An estimated 10 percent of the plutonium from the test device was in the fill used to make the ramp. Then the ramp was covered and placed into a landfill on the island during 1962 dredging to extend the island. The lagoon was again dredged in 1963–1964 and used to expand Johnston Island from to recontaminating additional portions of the island. On October 15, 1962 the "Bluegill Double Prime" test also misfired. During the test, the rocket was destroyed at a height of 109,000 feet after it malfunctioned 90 seconds into the flight. U.S. Defense Department officials confirm that when the rocket was destroyed, it contributed to the radioactive pollution on the island. In 1963, the U.S. Senate ratified the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which contained a provision known as "Safeguard C". Safeguard C was the basis for maintaining Johnston Atoll as a "ready to test" above-ground nuclear testing site should
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Jordan's claim to the West Bank in favor of the Palestinians. Jordan is landlocked except at its southern extremity, where nearly of shoreline along the Gulf of Aqaba provide access to the Red Sea. Geographic coordinates: Boundaries Except for small sections of the borders with Israel and Syria, Jordan's international boundaries do not follow well-defined natural features of the terrain. The country's boundaries were established by various international agreements and with the exception of the border with Israel, none was in dispute in early 1989. Jordan's boundaries with Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia do not have the special significance that the border with Israel does; these borders have not always hampered tribal nomads in their movements, yet for a few groups borders did separate them from traditional grazing areas and delimited by a series of agreements between the United Kingdom and the government of what eventually became Saudi Arabia) was first formally defined in the Hadda Agreement of 1925. In 1965 Jordan and Saudi Arabia concluded an agreement that realigned and delimited the boundary. Jordan gained 19 kilometers of land on the Gulf of Aqaba and 6,000 square kilometers of territory in the interior, and 7,000 square kilometers of Jordanian-administered, landlocked territory was ceded to Saudi Arabia. The new boundary enabled Jordan to expand its port facilities and established a zone in which the two parties agreed to share petroleum revenues equally if oil were discovered. The agreement also protected the pasturage and watering rights of nomadic tribes inside the exchanged territories. Topography The country consists mainly of a plateau between and meters high, divided into ridges by valleys and gorges, and a few mountainous areas. West of the plateau, land descents form the East Bank of the Jordan Rift Valley. The valley is part of the north-south Great Rift Valley, and its successive depressions are Lake Tiberias (Sea of Galilee; its bottom is about ), Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea (its bottom is about ), Arabah, and the Gulf of Aqaba at the Red Sea. Jordan's western border follows the bottom of the rift. Although an earthquake-prone region, no severe shocks had been recorded for several centuries. By far the greatest part of the East Bank is desert, displaying the land forms and other features associated with great aridity. Most of this land is part of the Syrian Desert and northern Arabian Desert. There are broad expanses of sand and dunes, particularly in the south and southeast, together with salt flats. Occasional jumbles of sandstone hills or low mountains support only meager and stunted vegetation that thrives for a short period after the scanty winter rains. These areas support little life and are the least populated regions of Jordan. The drainage network is coarse and incised. In many areas the relief provides no eventual outlet to the sea, so that sedimentary deposits accumulate in basins where moisture evaporates or is absorbed in the ground. Toward the depression in the western part of the East Bank, the desert rises gradually into the Jordanian Highlands—a steppe country of high, deeply cut limestone plateaus with an average elevation of about 900 meters. Occasional summits in this region reach 1,200 meters in the northern part and exceed 1,700 meters in the southern part; the highest peak is Jabal Ramm at 1,754 meters (though the highest peak in all of Jordan is Jabal Umm al Dami at 1854 meters. It is located in a remote part of southern Jordan). These highlands are an area of long-settled villages. The western edge of this plateau country forms an escarpment along the eastern side of the Jordan River-Dead Sea depression and its continuation south of the Dead Sea. Most of the wadis that provide drainage from the plateau country into the depression carry water only during the short season of winter rains. Sharply incised with deep, canyon-like walls, whether flowing or dry the wadis can be formidable obstacles to travel. The Jordan River is short, but from its mountain headwaters (approximately 160 kilometers north of the river's mouth at the Dead
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sand and dunes, particularly in the south and southeast, together with salt flats. Occasional jumbles of sandstone hills or low mountains support only meager and stunted vegetation that thrives for a short period after the scanty winter rains. These areas support little life and are the least populated regions of Jordan. The drainage network is coarse and incised. In many areas the relief provides no eventual outlet to the sea, so that sedimentary deposits accumulate in basins where moisture evaporates or is absorbed in the ground. Toward the depression in the western part of the East Bank, the desert rises gradually into the Jordanian Highlands—a steppe country of high, deeply cut limestone plateaus with an average elevation of about 900 meters. Occasional summits in this region reach 1,200 meters in the northern part and exceed 1,700 meters in the southern part; the highest peak is Jabal Ramm at 1,754 meters (though the highest peak in all of Jordan is Jabal Umm al Dami at 1854 meters. It is located in a remote part of southern Jordan). These highlands are an area of long-settled villages. The western edge of this plateau country forms an escarpment along the eastern side of the Jordan River-Dead Sea depression and its continuation south of the Dead Sea. Most of the wadis that provide drainage from the plateau country into the depression carry water only during the short season of winter rains. Sharply incised with deep, canyon-like walls, whether flowing or dry the wadis can be formidable obstacles to travel. The Jordan River is short, but from its mountain headwaters (approximately 160 kilometers north of the river's mouth at the Dead Sea) the riverbed drops from an elevation of about 3,000 meters above sea level to more than 400 meters below sea level. Before reaching Jordanian territory the river forms the Sea of Galilee, the surface of which is 212 meters below sea level. The Jordan River's principal tributary is the Yarmouk River. Near the junction of the two rivers, the Yarmouk forms the boundary between Israel on the northwest, Syria on the northeast, and Jordan on the south. The Zarqa River, the second main tributary of the Jordan River, flows and empties entirely within the East Bank. A 380-kilometer-long rift valley runs from the Yarmouk River in the north to Al Aqaba in the south. The northern part, from the Yarmouk River to the Dead Sea, is commonly known as the Jordan Valley. It is divided into eastern and western parts by the Jordan River. Bordered by a steep escarpment on both the eastern and the western side, the valley reaches a maximum width of twenty-two kilometers at some points. The valley is properly known as Al Ghawr or Al Ghor (the depression, or valley). The Rift Valley on the southern side of the Dead Sea is known as the Southern Ghawr and the Wadi al Jayb (popularly known as the Wadi al Arabah). The Southern Ghawr runs from Wadi al Hammah, on the south side of the Dead Sea, to Ghawr Faya, about twenty-five kilometers south of the Dead Sea. Wadi al Jayb is 180 kilometers long, from the southern shore of the Dead Sea to Al Aqaba in the south. The valley floor varies in level.
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There are also hundreds of thousands of workers from Egypt, Indonesia and South Asia, who work as domestic and construction workers. Definition The territory of Jordan can be defined by the history of its creation after the end of World War I, the League of Nations and redrawing of the borders of the Eastern Mediterranean littoral. The ensuing decisions, most notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which created the Mandatory Palestine. In September 1922, Transjordan was formally identified as a subdivision of the Mandate Palestine after the League of Nations approved the British Transjordan memorandum which stated that the Mandate east of the Jordan River would be excluded from all the provisions dealing with Jewish settlement west of the Jordan River. Ethnic and religious groups Arab Arab Jordanians are either descended from families and clans who were living in the cities and towns in Transjordan prior to the 1948 war, most notably in the governorates of Jerash, Ajlun, Balqa, Irbid, Madaba, Al Karak, Aqaba, Amman and some other towns in the country, or from the Palestinian families who sought refuge in Jordan in different times in the 20th century, mostly during and after the wars of 1948 and 1967. Many Christians are natives especially in towns such as Fuhies, Madaba, Al Karak, Ajlun, or have Bedouin origins, and a significant number came in 1948 and 1967 mainly from Jerusalem, Jaffa, Lydda, Bethlehem, and other Palestinian cities. Along to some other Arab ethnicities, mostly from Syria and Iraq. Druze The Druze people are believed to constitute about 0.5% of the total population of Jordan, which is around 32,000. The Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or "believers in one God," are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas west and north of Amman. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam. Bedouins Arabs The other group of Jordanians is descended from Bedouins (of which, less than 1% live a nomadic lifestyle). Bedouin settlements are concentrated in the wasteland south and east of the country. Armenians There were an estimated 5,000 Armenians living within the country in 2009. An estimated 4,500 of these are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and predominantly speak the Western dialect of the Armenian language. This population makes up the majority of non-Arab Christians in the country. Assyrians There is an Assyrian refugee population in Jordan. Many Assyrians have arrived in Jordan as refugees since the invasion of Iraq, making up a large part of the Iraqi refugees. Circassians By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Authorities directed the Circassian immigrants to settle in Jordan. The Circassians are Sunni Muslims and are estimated to number 20,000 to 80,000 people. Chechens There are about 10,000 Chechens estimated to reside in Jordan. Refugees Jordan is a home to 2,175,491 registered Palestine refugees. Out of those 2,175,491 refugees, 634,182 have not been given Jordanian citizenship. Jordan also hosts around 1.4 million Syrian refugees who fled to the country due to the Syrian Civil War since 2011. About 31,163 Yemenis and 22,700 Libyan refugees live in Jordan as of January 2015. There are thousands of Lebanese refugees who came to Jordan when civil strife and war and the 2006 war broke out in their native country. Up to 1 million Iraqis came to Jordan following the Iraq War in 2003. In 2015, their number was 130,911. About 2,500 Iraqi Mandaean refugees have been resettled in Jordan. Religion Health and education Jordan prides itself on
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one God," are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas west and north of Amman. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam. Bedouins Arabs The other group of Jordanians is descended from Bedouins (of which, less than 1% live a nomadic lifestyle). Bedouin settlements are concentrated in the wasteland south and east of the country. Armenians There were an estimated 5,000 Armenians living within the country in 2009. An estimated 4,500 of these are members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and predominantly speak the Western dialect of the Armenian language. This population makes up the majority of non-Arab Christians in the country. Assyrians There is an Assyrian refugee population in Jordan. Many Assyrians have arrived in Jordan as refugees since the invasion of Iraq, making up a large part of the Iraqi refugees. Circassians By the end of the 19th century, the Ottoman Authorities directed the Circassian immigrants to settle in Jordan. The Circassians are Sunni Muslims and are estimated to number 20,000 to 80,000 people. Chechens There are about 10,000 Chechens estimated to reside in Jordan. Refugees Jordan is a home to 2,175,491 registered Palestine refugees. Out of those 2,175,491 refugees, 634,182 have not been given Jordanian citizenship. Jordan also hosts around 1.4 million Syrian refugees who fled to the country due to the Syrian Civil War since 2011. About 31,163 Yemenis and 22,700 Libyan refugees live in Jordan as of January 2015. There are thousands of Lebanese refugees who came to Jordan when civil strife and war and the 2006 war broke out in their native country. Up to 1 million Iraqis came to Jordan following the Iraq War in 2003. In 2015, their number was 130,911. About 2,500 Iraqi Mandaean refugees have been resettled in Jordan. Religion Health and education Jordan prides itself on its health services, some of the best in the region. Qualified medics, favourable investment climate and Jordan's stability have contributed to the success of this sector. Jordan has a very advanced education system. The school education system comprises 2 years of pre-school education, 10 years of compulsory basic education, and two years of secondary academic or vocational education, after which the students sit for the General Certificate of Secondary Education Exam (Tawjihi). Scholars may attend either private or public schools. Access to higher education is open to holders of the General Secondary Education Certificate, who can then choose between private Community Colleges, public Community Colleges or universities (public and private). The credit-hour system, which entitles students to select courses according to a study plan, is implemented at universities. The number of public universities has reached (10), besides (17) universities that are private, and (51) community colleges. Numbers of universities accompanied by significant increase in number of students enrolled to study in these universities, where the number of enrolled students in both public and private universities is estimated at nearly (236) thousand; (28) thousand out of the total are from Arab or foreign nationalities. Source: UN World Population Prospects Statistics The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Total population 10,331,557 (According to the Population Clock as of September 30, 2021). Gender ratio at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2016 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 34.68% (male 1,827,554/female 1,726,691) 15-24 years: 20.07% (male 1,103,042/female 953,704) 25-54 years: 37.36% (male 2,073,211/female 1,755,290) 55-64 years: 4.44% (male 236,435/female 218,469) 65 years and over:
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and responsible to the Chamber of Deputies on matters of general policy, including the composition of cabinet. A two-thirds vote of "no confidence" by the Chamber can force the cabinet to resign. Legislative branch Legislative power rests in the bicameral National Assembly. The National Assembly (Majlis al-Umma) has two chambers. The Chamber of Deputies (Majlis al-Nuwaab) has 130 members, elected for a four-year terms in single-seat constituencies with 15 seats reserved for women by a special electoral college, nine for Christians and three for Chechens/Circassians. While the Chamber of Deputies is elected by the people, its main legislative abilities are limited to approving, rejecting, or amending legislation with little power to initiate laws. The Assembly of Senators (Majlis al-Aayan) has 65 members appointed by the King for a four-year term. The Assembly of Senators is responsible to the Chamber of Deputies and can be removed by a "vote of no confidence". Political factions or blocs in the Jordanian parliament change with each parliamentary election and typically involve one of the following affiliations; a democratic Marxist/Socialist faction, a mainstream liberal faction, a moderate-pragmatic faction, a mainstream conservative faction, and an extreme conservative faction (such as the Islamic Action Front). The Jordanian Chamber of Deputies is known for brawls between its members, including acts of violence and the use of weapons. In September 2013 Representative Talal al-Sharif tried to shoot one of his colleagues with an assault rifle while at the parliamentary premises. Judicial branch The judiciary is completely independent from the other two branches of the government. The constitution provides for three categories of courts—civil (in this case meaning "regular"), religious, and special. Regular courts consist of both civil and criminal varieties at the first level—First Instance or Conciliation Courts, second level—Appelette or Appeals Courts, and the Cassation Court which is the highest judicial authority in the kingdom. There are two types of religious courts: Sharia courts which enforce the provisions of Islamic law and civil status, and tribunals of other religious communities officially recognized in Jordan. Political conditions King Hussein ruled Jordan from 1953 to 1999, surviving a number of challenges to his rule, drawing on the loyalty of his military, and serving as a symbol of unity and stability for both the Jordanians and Palestinian communities in Jordan. King Hussein ended martial law in 1989 and ended suspension on political parties that was initiated following the loss of the West Bank to Israel and in order to preserve the status quo in Jordan. In 1989 and 1993, Jordan held free and fair parliamentary elections. Controversial changes in the election law led Islamist parties to boycott the 1997, 2011 and 2013 elections. King Abdullah II succeeded his father Hussein following the latter's death in February 1999. Abdullah moved quickly to reaffirm Jordan's peace treaty with Israel and its
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courts: Sharia courts which enforce the provisions of Islamic law and civil status, and tribunals of other religious communities officially recognized in Jordan. Political conditions King Hussein ruled Jordan from 1953 to 1999, surviving a number of challenges to his rule, drawing on the loyalty of his military, and serving as a symbol of unity and stability for both the Jordanians and Palestinian communities in Jordan. King Hussein ended martial law in 1989 and ended suspension on political parties that was initiated following the loss of the West Bank to Israel and in order to preserve the status quo in Jordan. In 1989 and 1993, Jordan held free and fair parliamentary elections. Controversial changes in the election law led Islamist parties to boycott the 1997, 2011 and 2013 elections. King Abdullah II succeeded his father Hussein following the latter's death in February 1999. Abdullah moved quickly to reaffirm Jordan's peace treaty with Israel and its relations with the United States. Abdullah, during the first year in power, refocused the government's agenda on economic reform. Jordan's continuing structural economic difficulties, burgeoning population, and more open political environment led to the emergence of a variety of political parties. Moving toward greater independence, Jordan's parliament has investigated corruption charges against several regime figures and has become the major forum in which differing political views, including those of political Islamists, are expressed. On February 1, 2011, it was announced that King Abdullah had dismissed his government. This has been interpreted as a pre-emptive move in the context of the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution and unfolding events in nearby Egypt. Decentralization King Abdullah II and the Jordanian Government began the process of decentralization, with the Madaba governorate as the pilot project, on the regional level dividing the nation into three regions: North, Central, and South. The Greater Amman Municipality will be excluded from the plan but it will set up a similar decentralization process. Each region will have an elected council that will handle the political, social, legal, and economic affairs of its area. This decentralization process is part of Jordan's Democratization Program. Corruption Jordan ranked 47th out of 180 nations in the Corruption Perceptions Index. The Constitution of Jordan states that no member of Parliament can have any financial or business dealings with the government and no member of the royal family can be in the government. However, corruption remains a problem in Jordan despite progress. Corruption cases are examined by the Anti-Corruption Commission and then referred to the judiciary for legal action.
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data service generate annual revenue of around JD836.5m ($1.18bn) per year, which is equivalent to 13.5% of GDP. Jordan's IT sector is the most developed and competitive in the region due to the 2001 telecom liberalization. Market share of the mobile sector, the most competitive telecoms market, is currently fairly evenly divided between the three operators, with Zain, owned by MTC Kuwait, maintaining the largest share (39%), followed by France Telecom's brand Orange (36%) and Umniah (25%), which is 96% owned by Bahrain's Batelco. End of year figures for 2007 show that the market trend is towards greater parity, with Zain's share falling in the space of a year from 47% in 2006 and the other two operators picking up subscribers. The increased competition has led to pricing that is more favourable to consumers. Mobile penetration is currently around 80%. Ambitious subsequent national strategies were formulated already since Y 2000 as a private sector initiative directly led by his majesty the king of Jordan. Information technology association in Jordan (int@j ) was established to kick off a private sector process that would focus on preparing Jordan for the new economy through IT and shall reflect the national objectives towards automation and modernization in co-operation with the ministry of information technology in Jordan the (MOICT). The latest strategy will take the sector through to 2011, aims to bring Jordan to precise objectives. The ICT sector currently accounts for over a 14% (indirect) of the kingdom's GDP. This figure includes foreign investment and total domestic revenue from the sector. Employment growth in the sector was progressive and reached up to 60.000 (indirect ) by 2008. The government is working to address employment issues and education related to sector by developing ICT training and opportunities to increase the overall penetration of ICT in Jordanian society. The policy outlines a number of objectives for the country to reach within the next three years, including almost doubling the size of the sector to $3bn, and pushing internet user penetration up to 50%. The early founder of Int@j and its first chairman of the board is Karim Kawar and early activists who drove the national strategic objectives and helped formulate an action plan through the developing pillars were Marwan Juma Jordan's minister of ICT, Doha Abdelkhaleq on labour and education. Humam Mufti on advocacy and Nashat Masri on Capital and finance amongst others. Such an infrastructure made Jordan a suitable location for IT startups that operate in the fields of web development, mobile application development, online services, and investment in IT businesses. The IT industry in Jordan in the year 2000 and beyond got a very big boost after the Gulf War of 1991. This boost came from a large influx of immigrants from the Gulf countries to Jordan, mostly from Jordanian expatriates from Kuwait, totaling few hundred thousands. This large wave impacted Jordan in many ways, and one of them was on its IT industry. Energy Energy remains perhaps the biggest challenge for continued growth for Jordan's economy. Spurred by the surge in the price of oil to more than $145 a barrel at its peak, the Jordanian government has responded with an ambitious plan for the sector. The country's lack of domestic resources is being addressed via a $14bn investment programme in the sector. The programme aims to reduce reliance on imported products from the current level of 96%, with renewables meeting 10% of energy demand by 2020 and nuclear energy meeting 60% of energy needs by 2035. The government also announced in 2007 that it would scale back subsidies in several areas, including energy, where there have historically been regressive subsidies for fuel and electricity. In another new step, the government is opening up the sector to competition, and intends to offer all the planned new energy projects to international tender. Unlike most of its neighbors, Jordan has no significant petroleum resources of its own and is heavily dependent on oil imports to fulfill its domestic energy needs. In 2002 proved oil reserves totaled only . Jordan produced only in 2004 but consumed an estimated . According to U.S. government figures, oil imports had reached about in 2004. The Iraq invasion of 2003 disrupted Jordan's primary oil supply route from its eastern neighbor, which under Saddam Hussein had provided the kingdom with highly discounted crude oil via overland truck routes. Since late 2003, an alternative supply route by tanker through the Al Aqabah port has been established; Saudi Arabia is now Jordan's primary source of imported oil; Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are secondary sources. Although not so heavily discounted as Iraqi crude oil, supplies from Saudi Arabia and the UAE are subsidized to some extent. In the face of continued high oil costs, interest has increased in the possibility of exploiting Jordan's vast oil shale resources, which are estimated to total approximately 40 billion tons, 4 billion tons of which are believed to be recoverable. Jordan's oil shale resources could produce of oil, enabling production of about . The oil shale in Jordan has the fourth largest in the world which currently, there are several companies who are negotiating with the Jordanian government about exploiting the oil shale like Royal Dutch Shell, Petrobras and Eesti Energia. Natural gas is increasingly being used to fulfill the country's domestic energy needs, especially with regard to electricity generation. Jordan was estimated to have only modest natural gas reserves (about 6 billion cubic meters in 2002), but new estimates suggest a much higher total. In 2003 the country produced and consumed an estimated 390 million cubic meters of natural gas. The primary source is located in the eastern portion of the country at the Risha gas field. Until the early 2010s, the country imported the bulk of its natural gas via the Arab Gas Pipeline that stretches from the Al Arish terminal in Egypt underwater to Al Aqabah and then to northern Jordan, where it links to two major power stations. This Egypt–Jordan pipeline supplied Jordan with approximately 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year. Gas supplies from Egypt were halted in 2013 due to insurgent activities in the Sinai and domestic gas shortages in Egypt. In light of this, a liquified natural gas terminal was built in the Port of Aqaba to facilitate gas imports. In 2017, a low-capacity gas pipeline from Israel was completed which supplies the Arab Potash factories near the Dead Sea. As of 2018, a large capacity pipeline from Israel is under construction in northern Jordan which is expected to begin operating by 2020 and will supply the kingdom with 3 BCM of gas per year, thereby satisfying most of Jordan's natural gas consumption needs. The state-owned National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) produces most of Jordan's electricity (94%). Since mid-2000, privatization efforts have been undertaken to increase independent power generation facilities; a Belgian firm was set to begin operations at a new power plant near Amman with an estimated capacity of 450 megawatts. Power plants at Az Zarqa (400 megawatts) and Al Aqabah (650 MW) are Jordan's other primary electricity providers. As a whole, the country consumed nearly 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2003 while producing only 7.5 billion kWh of electricity. Electricity production in 2004 rose to 8.7 billion kWh, but production must continue to increase in order to meet demand, which the government estimates would continue to grow by about 5% per year. About 99 percent of the population is reported to have access to electricity. Transport The transportation sector on average contributes some 10% to Jordan's GDP, with transportation and communications accounting for $2.14bn in 2007. Well aware of the sector's importance to the country's service and industry-oriented economy, in 2008 the government formulated a new national transport strategy with the aim to improve, modernise and further privatise the sector. With no imminent solution to the ongoing security crisis in Iraq in sight, prospects for the Jordanian transport sector as a whole look bright. The country will arguably remain one of the major transit points for both goods and people destined for Iraq, while the number of tourists visiting Jordan is set to continue to increase. The main events to follow in the near future are the relocation of Aqaba's main port, a national railway system, and the construction of a new terminal at QAIA. Volatility in fuel prices is almost certainly going to have negative effects on operational costs and as such may hamper the sector's average annual growth of around 6%. However, uncertain fuel prices also offer a great deal of incentive to boost private investments in alternative modes of transport such as public buses and improved trains. Media and Advertising Although the state remains a major influence, Jordan's media sector has seen significant privatisation and liberalisation efforts in recent years. Based on official rack rates, research firm Ipsos estimated that the advertisement sector spent some $280m towards publicity in Jordan's media, 80% of which was spent on newspapers, followed by TV, radio and magazines. The biggest event of 2007 was the cancelled launch of ATV, the kingdom's first private broadcaster. As a result, the state-owned Jordan TV (JTV) remains the country's sole broadcaster. In recent years, Jordan has also seen a spectacular rise in the number of blogs, websites and news portals as sources of news information. The increasing diversification of Jordan's media is a good sign and should boost advertising revenues and private initiatives. Recording growth of 30%, 2007 turned out to be yet another outstanding year for Jordan's advertising industry. Following nearly a decade of double-digit growth, however, most publicity specialists expect to see a relative slowdown in 2008. Unlike 2007, no major campaigns were planned for the first part of 2008. Additionally, the Jordanian advertising had some catching up to do with the rest of the region in terms of average expenditure per capita. As the sector matures, it is only normal for growth figures to gradually decrease. Since 2000 total ad spend increased from $77m to $280m in 2007, an increase of 260%. The Jordanian telecoms sector was the biggest ad spender in 2007, accounting for around 20% of the market, followed by the banking and finance sector (12%), services industry (11%), real estate (8%) and the automotive sector (5%). In the next year, particularly if there is a downturn, it would become increasingly important for the sector to develop good vocational training and to begin to take advantage of new media markets. Services Services accounted for more than 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004. The sector employed nearly 75 percent of the labor force in 2002. The banking sector is widely regarded as advanced in both regional and international terms. In 2007, total profits of the 15 listed banks rose 14.89% to JD640m ($909m). Jordan's strong growth of 6% in 2007 was reflected in a 20.57% expansion in net credit to JD17.9bn ($25.4bn) by the end of the year. The most improvement was in trade, construction and industry. Many banks suffered from the sharp correction in the Amman Stock Market in 2006, encouraging them to focus on core banking business in 2007, and this was reflected in a 16.65% rise in net interest and commission income to JD1.32bn ($1.87bn). The stock market also picked up in 2007 and total portfolio income losses decreased. Although Jordan's banking sector is small by global standards, it has attracted strong interest from regional investors in Lebanon and the GCC. New regulations introduced by the CBJ, in addition to political stability, have helped to create a favourable investment environment. Its conservative policies helped Jordan avoid the global financial crisis of 2009, Jordanian banks was one of the only countries that posted a profit in 2009. Contributing an estimated JD477.5m ($678.05m), or 4.25% of Jordan's GDP, according to figures from the Central Bank, the construction sector performed strongly in 2007. The Great Amman Municipality (GAM) completed its master plan for the capital, which is expected to grow from 700 km2 today to 1700 km2 by 2025. Amman is changing from a predominantly horizontal to a largely vertical city due to various clusters of high-rises. Significant developments outside Amman include the rapid residential build-up of Zarqa, the transformation of Aqaba into a commercial and tourist centre, and the construction of a series of high-end hotels and tourist resorts along the Dead Sea. A new airport terminal, Amman ring road and a light rail between the capital and Zarqa are being constructed. Despite recording a relative slowdown compared to the expansion of recent years, Jordan's construction and real estate market continued to grow in 2007. Trading totaled JD5.6bn ($8bn), up from JD5.2bn ($7.4bn) in 2006, according to Jordan's Land and Survey Department. Although the years of astounding growth—some 75% in 2004 and 48% in 2005—seem to have passed, the future looks bright for real estate, as demand continues to outstrip supply, while Jordan remains a very attractive investment destination for foreign businesses, second-home buyers and Jordanians working abroad. With Jordan's continuing sharp population growth, as well as its strategic
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continue to increase in order to meet demand, which the government estimates would continue to grow by about 5% per year. About 99 percent of the population is reported to have access to electricity. Transport The transportation sector on average contributes some 10% to Jordan's GDP, with transportation and communications accounting for $2.14bn in 2007. Well aware of the sector's importance to the country's service and industry-oriented economy, in 2008 the government formulated a new national transport strategy with the aim to improve, modernise and further privatise the sector. With no imminent solution to the ongoing security crisis in Iraq in sight, prospects for the Jordanian transport sector as a whole look bright. The country will arguably remain one of the major transit points for both goods and people destined for Iraq, while the number of tourists visiting Jordan is set to continue to increase. The main events to follow in the near future are the relocation of Aqaba's main port, a national railway system, and the construction of a new terminal at QAIA. Volatility in fuel prices is almost certainly going to have negative effects on operational costs and as such may hamper the sector's average annual growth of around 6%. However, uncertain fuel prices also offer a great deal of incentive to boost private investments in alternative modes of transport such as public buses and improved trains. Media and Advertising Although the state remains a major influence, Jordan's media sector has seen significant privatisation and liberalisation efforts in recent years. Based on official rack rates, research firm Ipsos estimated that the advertisement sector spent some $280m towards publicity in Jordan's media, 80% of which was spent on newspapers, followed by TV, radio and magazines. The biggest event of 2007 was the cancelled launch of ATV, the kingdom's first private broadcaster. As a result, the state-owned Jordan TV (JTV) remains the country's sole broadcaster. In recent years, Jordan has also seen a spectacular rise in the number of blogs, websites and news portals as sources of news information. The increasing diversification of Jordan's media is a good sign and should boost advertising revenues and private initiatives. Recording growth of 30%, 2007 turned out to be yet another outstanding year for Jordan's advertising industry. Following nearly a decade of double-digit growth, however, most publicity specialists expect to see a relative slowdown in 2008. Unlike 2007, no major campaigns were planned for the first part of 2008. Additionally, the Jordanian advertising had some catching up to do with the rest of the region in terms of average expenditure per capita. As the sector matures, it is only normal for growth figures to gradually decrease. Since 2000 total ad spend increased from $77m to $280m in 2007, an increase of 260%. The Jordanian telecoms sector was the biggest ad spender in 2007, accounting for around 20% of the market, followed by the banking and finance sector (12%), services industry (11%), real estate (8%) and the automotive sector (5%). In the next year, particularly if there is a downturn, it would become increasingly important for the sector to develop good vocational training and to begin to take advantage of new media markets. Services Services accounted for more than 70 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2004. The sector employed nearly 75 percent of the labor force in 2002. The banking sector is widely regarded as advanced in both regional and international terms. In 2007, total profits of the 15 listed banks rose 14.89% to JD640m ($909m). Jordan's strong growth of 6% in 2007 was reflected in a 20.57% expansion in net credit to JD17.9bn ($25.4bn) by the end of the year. The most improvement was in trade, construction and industry. Many banks suffered from the sharp correction in the Amman Stock Market in 2006, encouraging them to focus on core banking business in 2007, and this was reflected in a 16.65% rise in net interest and commission income to JD1.32bn ($1.87bn). The stock market also picked up in 2007 and total portfolio income losses decreased. Although Jordan's banking sector is small by global standards, it has attracted strong interest from regional investors in Lebanon and the GCC. New regulations introduced by the CBJ, in addition to political stability, have helped to create a favourable investment environment. Its conservative policies helped Jordan avoid the global financial crisis of 2009, Jordanian banks was one of the only countries that posted a profit in 2009. Contributing an estimated JD477.5m ($678.05m), or 4.25% of Jordan's GDP, according to figures from the Central Bank, the construction sector performed strongly in 2007. The Great Amman Municipality (GAM) completed its master plan for the capital, which is expected to grow from 700 km2 today to 1700 km2 by 2025. Amman is changing from a predominantly horizontal to a largely vertical city due to various clusters of high-rises. Significant developments outside Amman include the rapid residential build-up of Zarqa, the transformation of Aqaba into a commercial and tourist centre, and the construction of a series of high-end hotels and tourist resorts along the Dead Sea. A new airport terminal, Amman ring road and a light rail between the capital and Zarqa are being constructed. Despite recording a relative slowdown compared to the expansion of recent years, Jordan's construction and real estate market continued to grow in 2007. Trading totaled JD5.6bn ($8bn), up from JD5.2bn ($7.4bn) in 2006, according to Jordan's Land and Survey Department. Although the years of astounding growth—some 75% in 2004 and 48% in 2005—seem to have passed, the future looks bright for real estate, as demand continues to outstrip supply, while Jordan remains a very attractive investment destination for foreign businesses, second-home buyers and Jordanians working abroad. With Jordan's continuing sharp population growth, as well as its strategic location at the heart of the Middle East, the kingdom's main market drivers indicate a bright future for years to come. Although a number of class-A office space developments are currently under construction, it would take a few years to close the gap between demand and supply. The Amman retail market may become more saturated in the short term. Consequently, developers may turn to other cities to build supermarkets and malls. Jordan's insurance market, with 29 companies operating in a country of just 5.7 million people, is saturated, despite regulatory encouragements for mergers and acquisitions. In terms of market share based on premiums, motor coverage accounts for 42.4%, medical insurance 18.6%, fire and property damage 17%, life 9.8%, marine and transport 7.9% and other insurance the remaining 4.3%. The insurance sector made up 2.52% of GDP in 2006, up from 2.43% in 2005. Current plans call for increasing the sector's GDP contribution to 7% in the short term and 10% in the long term. The sector holds great potential but remains underdeveloped. Region-wide price increases and a lack of consumer understanding of products are two major challenges. In addition, cultural considerations, including religion, make improving market penetration difficult. The cost of living has also risen, and the IMF forecasts that the inflation rate would reach 9% in 2008. Salaries have remained unchanged, however, leaving consumers with less disposable income. Other than mandatory motor coverage, insurance products are considered a luxury by average Jordanians, who must often prioritise spending. There would likely only be a few changes to the market in the coming year. Members of the sector would like to see greater coordination among the regulators and those working for the kingdom's legal system in order to improve insurance laws. Tourism The state of the tourism sector is widely regarded as below potential, especially given the country's rich history, ancient ruins, Mediterranean climate, and diverse geography. Despite personal appeals by the king and an increasingly sophisticated marketing campaign, the industry is still adversely affected by the political instability of the region. More than 5 million visitors entered Jordan in 2004, generating US$1.3 billion in earnings. Earnings from tourism rose to US$1.4 billion in 2005. The fact that the bulk of Jordan's tourist trade emanates from elsewhere in the Middle East should contribute to the industry's growth potential in the years ahead, as Jordan is relatively stable, open, and safe in comparison to many of its neighbors. The tourism sector remains an important element of the Jordanian economy, directly employing some 30,000 Jordanians and contributing 10% to the kingdom's GDP. Despite a decline in Arab and Gulf visitors, 2007 marked a year of steady growth for the tourism sector. Revenues jumped 13% to nearly $2.11bn during the first 11 months, up from $1.86bn for the same period in 2006. The sector is overseen by the government's National Tourism Strategy (NTS), which was established in 2004 to take the industry through 2010. NTS aimed to double tourism revenues during the period and to increase tourism-related jobs to 91,719. The first goal has already been met but the second one might be more of a challenge: between 2004 and 2007 the total number of people employed in the sector rose from 23,544 to 35,484. This is impressive growth, but less than half the 90,000-or-more goal. NTS hopes to place Jordan as a boutique destination for high-end tourists. The strategy identifies seven priorities or niche markets: cultural heritage (archaeology); religion; ecotourism; health and wellness; adventure; meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE); and cruises. The Jordan Tourism Board's (JTB) marketing budget has increased in the past year from JD6m ($8.52m) to JD11.5m ($16.3m). These are positive times for tourism in Jordan, with steady growth and major projects in the pipeline. The sector has to make improvements in infrastructure and marketing, but overall the industry has been improving for the past several years. External trade Since 1995, economic growth has been low. Real GDP has grown at only about 1.5% annually, while the official unemployment has hovered at 14% (unofficial estimates are double this number). The budget deficit and public debt have remained high and continue to widen, yet during this period inflation has remained low due mainly to stable monetary policy and the continued peg to the United States Dollar. Exports of manufactured goods have risen at an annual rate of 9%. Monetary stability has been reinforced, even when tensions were renewed in the region during 1998, and during the illness and ultimate death of King Hussein in 1999. Expectations of increased trade and tourism as a consequence of Jordan's peace treaty with Israel have been disappointing. Security-related restrictions to trade with the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have led to a substantial decline in Jordan's exports there. Following his ascension, King Abdullah improved relations with Arabic states of the Persian Gulf and Syria, but this brought few real economic benefits. Most recently the Jordanians have focused on WTO membership and a Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. as means to encourage export-led growth. Investment The stock market
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relay link with Egypt and Syria; connection to international submarine cable FLAG (Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe); participant in MEDARABTEL; international links total about 4,000. Radio Radios: 1.66 million () Media and Communications Providers Seagulls - www.seagullscommunications.com FM Stations Television Television broadcast stations: 20 (plus 96 repeaters) () Televisions: 500,000 () PCs 40% of Jordanian households have a PC. This is expected to double in the coming years when the government reduces the sales tax on PCs and internet service in an effort to make Jordan the high-tech capital of the Middle East. The Jordanian Government is also providing every university student with a laptop in partnership with the private sector. All Jordan's schools are connected with internet service and the Jordanian Government is heavily purchasing computers and smart technology to be equipped in Jordan's classrooms. Internet As of 2013, Internet penetration in Jordan was 63%. It was 50.5 per cent by the end of 2011. Internet usage more than doubled from 2007 to 2009 with the rapid growth expected to continue. Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) figures indicate that Internet penetration stood at 29 per cent by the end of 2009 and 38 per cent by the end of 2010. The Jordanian government has announced that the sales tax on computers and internet connection would be removed in order to further stimulate the ICT industry in Jordan. King Abdullah II told the BBC in 2004 that he hoped to make his country the tech hub of the Middle East. Jordan has more internet start up companies than any other country in the Middle East, and thus was dubbed the Middle East's "Silicon Valley". Amman was ranked as the 10th-best city in
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2009 and 38 per cent by the end of 2010. The Jordanian government has announced that the sales tax on computers and internet connection would be removed in order to further stimulate the ICT industry in Jordan. King Abdullah II told the BBC in 2004 that he hoped to make his country the tech hub of the Middle East. Jordan has more internet start up companies than any other country in the Middle East, and thus was dubbed the Middle East's "Silicon Valley". Amman was ranked as the 10th-best city in the world to launch a tech startup, according to a 2012 list compiled by Finaventures, a California-based venture-capital firm.Top 10 cities to launch a tech startup Tech entrepreneurs have praised the ability to access high speed internet connections in Jordan, comparing this to Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Al Jami'a Street, in Jordan's northern city of Irbid, was ranked as the street with the highest number of internet cafes in the world by the Guinness World Records. Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3,160 () Internet users:: 3.163 million () Country code top-level domain (ccTLD):''' .JO Past The IT industry in Jordan in the year 2000 and beyond got a very big boost after the Gulf War of 1991. This boost came from a
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planned, which are expected to be tendered later in 2010. The three routes are: From the Syrian border, via Zarqa, to the Saudi border; replacing part of the Hedjaz Railway; Connecting the first line to Aqaba, and from Mafraq to Irbid, replacing another part of the Hedjaz Railway; A link to the Iraqi border. However, in late 2010 the government announced an economic relief package and following the 2011 Jordanian protests it was decided to reduce the expected three year capital investment plan in the national railway network by 72 percent, partly to fund the relief package. Therefore, it is unclear when the ambitions railway expansion plan will be carried out. There are also plans for a light rail system operating between Amman and Zarqa and metro line in Amman. Currently, two connected but non-contiguously operated sections of the Hedjaz Railway exist: from Amman in Jordan to Syria, as the "Hedjaz Jordan Railway." from phosphate mines near Ma'an to the Gulf of Aqaba as the "Aqaba Railway." In August 2011, Jordanian government approved the construction of the railway from Aqaba to the Iraqi border (near Trebil). The Iraqis in the meantime started the construction of the line from the border to their current railhead at Ramadi. Timeline 2008- Proposals for international links. 2007- China to rebuild Hejaz line 2006- Various rail proposals. The Israeli business newspaper Globes reported that in a meeting between the Israeli minister of transport, Shaul Mofaz and the Jordanian ambassador in Tel Aviv in November, the transport minister announced that European nations are interested in financing the construction of a Haifa-Irbid-Amman railway. 2005- 2005 in rail transport - Jordanian Transport Minister Saoud Nseirat responds to comments made on Monday, December 12, by Israeli Transport Minister Meir Shitrit. Shitrit had announced his intentions to propose a new standard gauge railway to connect Haifa, Israel, to Irbid, Jordan, passing through King Hussein Bridge and Jenin, a project that could cost as much as $300 million (for the Jordanian portion of the line). Nseirat responded to Shitrit's comments with a denial, stating that there have not been any discussions between the two nations on such a project and no plans for such a connection have been proposed by anyone in the Jordanian government. Shitrit plans to make his formal proposal at a conference for Mediterranean transport
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newspaper Globes reported that in a meeting between the Israeli minister of transport, Shaul Mofaz and the Jordanian ambassador in Tel Aviv in November, the transport minister announced that European nations are interested in financing the construction of a Haifa-Irbid-Amman railway. 2005- 2005 in rail transport - Jordanian Transport Minister Saoud Nseirat responds to comments made on Monday, December 12, by Israeli Transport Minister Meir Shitrit. Shitrit had announced his intentions to propose a new standard gauge railway to connect Haifa, Israel, to Irbid, Jordan, passing through King Hussein Bridge and Jenin, a project that could cost as much as $300 million (for the Jordanian portion of the line). Nseirat responded to Shitrit's comments with a denial, stating that there have not been any discussions between the two nations on such a project and no plans for such a connection have been proposed by anyone in the Jordanian government. Shitrit plans to make his formal proposal at a conference for Mediterranean transport ministers in Marrakesh on December 20. - The Public Transport Regulatory Commission has entered into an agreement with a private sector consortium, following a competitive bidding process, to develop a light rail system between the Jordanian capital Amman and nearby industrial city of Zarqa. This light rail project, to be operational by 2011, will be the first urban rail public-private partnership (PPP) in the Middle East. The system will be operated using (standard gauge) electrically propelled light rail vehicles on a double track. The total length of the LRS system will be approximately 25 kilometres. The majority of the LRS route, between Al-Mahatta (in Amman) and New Zarqa will be constructed within the existing Hedjaz Railway right-of-way (22.2 kilometres). The Public Transport Regulatory Commission estimates that the new system will carry about 45,000 passengers a day in its first year. Canada's CPCS was the lead advisor to the PTRC in this PPP transaction. CPCS is also advising the Government of Jordan in the privatization of the Aqaba Railway Corporation, running from Ma'an to Aqaba. This railway is used to transport phosphate from mines located in Ma'an. The commission plans to modernize the old narrow gauge railway and replace it with new track. Pipelines gas 473 km; oil 49 km Ports and harbors The port of Aqaba on the Gulf of Aqaba is the only sea port in Jordan. Merchant marine total: 7 ships (with a volume of or over) totaling / ships by type (1999): bulk carrier 2, cargo ship 2, container ship 1, livestock carrier 1, roll-on/roll-off ship 1 The governments of Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq
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and maintained relations with Iraq. In public, Jordan continued to call for the lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq within the context of implementing UNIC resolutions . Since the end of the war, Jordan has largely restored its relations with Western countries through its participation in the Middle East war process and enforcement of UN sanctions against Iraq. Jordan signed a non-aggression pact with Israel (the Washington Declaration) in Washington, D.C., on July 25, 1994. Jordan and Israel signed a historic peace treaty on October 26, 1994, witnessed by President Clinton, accompanied by Secretary of State Warren Christopher. The U.S. has participated with Jordan and Israel in trilateral development discussions during which key issues have been water-sharing and security; cooperation on Jordan Rift
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free trade agreement with the United States. Jordan is an active member of the UN and several of its specialized and related agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and World Health Organization (WHO). Jordan is a member of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Non-Aligned Movement, and Arab League. Within the context of the European Union's "European Neighbourhood Policy" the EU and Jordan have jointly adopted an Action plan to reinforce their political and economic interdependence, and further implement their current Association Agreement. This Action Plan covers a timeframe of three to five years and will encourage and support Jordan's national reform objectives and further integration into European economic and social structures. Israel captured Jerusalem in 1967, which is located at the West Bank of Jordan. Since 1967 Pakistan has been demanding its vacation at the international level. Jordan together with Pakistan is playing an effective role in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Bilateral relations See also List of diplomatic missions in Jordan List of diplomatic missions of Jordan Visa requirements for Jordanian citizens References External links The Washington Declaration between Jordan and
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a prison, and a cemetery. The workers on the island came mainly from Mauritius and the Seychelles. Working conditions were extremely harsh, with rule-breaking punished by flogging or imprisonment, and each worker had to extract one metric ton of phosphate per day to earn 3.5 rupees. In 1968, Mauritian workers revolted, and the operation's management appealed to the prefect of Réunion for help. The revolt brought government and media attention to abusive practices on the island, including droit du seigneur being practiced by one of the foremen, and some members of the staff were fired by SOFIM's president. In the 1960s, the price of phosphate collapsed, and the mining operation on the island ceased to be profitable. SOFIM was dissolved in 1968, and the last workers left the island in 1975. The French government retook control of the concession, paying 45 million CFA to Hector Patureau in compensation. Installation of a weather station (1971–1973) In 1963, an auxiliary weather installation, called "la Goulette," was installed to carry out regular temperature and pressure readings. But on a visit to the island in 1971, a representative of the Weather Service found numerous irregularities in the readings, as well as poor security on the island, which was still under the responsibility of Patureau. Following the recommendations of the World Weather Watch, a basic, year-round weather station was built in 1973 in the southwest part of the island, at the end of the airstrip. A project to create a Club Med tourist resort was proposed by Gilbert Trigano, which for a time brought a team of workers to the island under the supervision of Hector Patureau, but it was quickly abandoned. Military presence (1974–present) In 1974, the French government decided to install military detachments across the Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean that lay within the Mozambique Channel (Juan de Nova, Europa Island, and the Glorioso Islands). Its aim was primarily to respond to Madagascar's claims to those territories, which France considers protected within an exclusive economic zone. Juan de Nova Island was assigned a small garrison of 14 soldiers from the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, as well as a gendarme. They settled in housing that formerly hosted SOFIM workers. The troops receive supplies by air every 45 days. Today, most of the installations from the mining days are in ruins, and only a few buildings are maintained for military use. Upkeep is also performed on the cemetery. The island has been converted into a nature preserve, which aims to protect biodiversity and particularly coral reefs. It is closed to access, with temporary authorization granted to scientists on short-term missions. Wrecks The island lies on the sea route between South Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. It is affected by strong currents and has become the site of numerous wrecks. Most visible are the remains of the which ran onto the southern fringing reef in 1911. Economic resources Guano The presence of a significant bird population on Juan de Nova Island led to a major guano deposit on the surface of the island. This became the first natural resource to be exploited on the island in the 20th century. This mining operation led to the establishment of the first structures on the island, and the workers also planted coconut trees, whose products were also exported. The exploitation of guano stopped around 1970, after the price of phosphates dropped. Hydrocarbons In 2005, a government decree authorized preliminary exploration for liquid or gas hydrocarbons offshore. This authorization covers an area of approximately 62,000 square kilometers surrounding the island. In 2008, a subsequent decree granted an exploration permit for the "Juan de Nova Est" field to the companies Nighthawk Energy Plc, Jupiter Petroleum Juan de Nova Ltd, and Osceola Hydrocarbons Ltd, as well as to Marex Inc. and Roc Oil Company Ltd for the "Juan de Nova Maritime Profond" field. The licensees had to commit to investing around $100 million over five years for mining and research. The eastern boundary of these exploration areas is in contention with Madagascar and its exclusive economic zone. In 2015, the drilling authorization was renewed Sapetro and Marex Petroleum for a period of three years. However, these projects have been abandoned since 2019, when the island was classified as a nature reserve. Fauna and flora Three or four times a year, scientists come to Juan de Nova Island to study its ecosystem. Despite the ongoing scientific efforts, an inventory of the island's biodiversity (particularly genetics) is only in its earliest stages. There is much to be studied. Researchers from the University of Reunion Island's ECOMAR lab have worked to identify or observe seabirds around the island. In particular, they have worked to study the behavior of 2 million pairs of terns that have sought refuge on the island, forming the largest colony in
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Ocean that lay within the Mozambique Channel (Juan de Nova, Europa Island, and the Glorioso Islands). Its aim was primarily to respond to Madagascar's claims to those territories, which France considers protected within an exclusive economic zone. Juan de Nova Island was assigned a small garrison of 14 soldiers from the 2nd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment, as well as a gendarme. They settled in housing that formerly hosted SOFIM workers. The troops receive supplies by air every 45 days. Today, most of the installations from the mining days are in ruins, and only a few buildings are maintained for military use. Upkeep is also performed on the cemetery. The island has been converted into a nature preserve, which aims to protect biodiversity and particularly coral reefs. It is closed to access, with temporary authorization granted to scientists on short-term missions. Wrecks The island lies on the sea route between South Africa and the northern tip of Madagascar. It is affected by strong currents and has become the site of numerous wrecks. Most visible are the remains of the which ran onto the southern fringing reef in 1911. Economic resources Guano The presence of a significant bird population on Juan de Nova Island led to a major guano deposit on the surface of the island. This became the first natural resource to be exploited on the island in the 20th century. This mining operation led to the establishment of the first structures on the island, and the workers also planted coconut trees, whose products were also exported. The exploitation of guano stopped around 1970, after the price of phosphates dropped. Hydrocarbons In 2005, a government decree authorized preliminary exploration for liquid or gas hydrocarbons offshore. This authorization covers an area of approximately 62,000 square kilometers surrounding the island. In 2008, a subsequent decree granted an exploration permit for the "Juan de Nova Est" field to the companies Nighthawk Energy Plc, Jupiter Petroleum Juan de Nova Ltd, and Osceola Hydrocarbons Ltd, as well as to Marex Inc. and Roc Oil Company Ltd for the "Juan de Nova Maritime Profond" field. The licensees had to commit to investing around $100 million over five years for mining and research. The eastern boundary of these exploration areas is in contention with Madagascar and its exclusive economic zone. In 2015, the drilling authorization was renewed Sapetro and Marex Petroleum for a period of three years. However, these projects have been abandoned since 2019, when the island was classified as a nature reserve. Fauna and flora Three or four times a year, scientists come to Juan de Nova Island to study its ecosystem. Despite the ongoing scientific efforts, an inventory of the island's biodiversity (particularly genetics) is only in its earliest stages. There is much to be studied. Researchers from the University of Reunion Island's ECOMAR lab have worked to identify or observe seabirds around the island. In particular, they have worked to study the behavior of 2 million pairs of terns that have sought refuge on the island, forming the largest colony in the Indian Ocean. Pascale Chabanet, of the Institut de recherche pour le développement, says based on their research on the island: "The reefs of these deserted and isolated islands like Juan de Nova Island are preserved from all pollution and anthropogenic influence. But they are affected by climate change."Such environments are useful for scientists to measure to what degree environmental changes are attributable to humans. The scientists are also observing and working to mitigate the impact of the presence of invasive species on the island, including mosquitoes such as Aedes aegypti, Aedes fryeri, Culex sitiens, Culex tritaeniorhynchus, and Mansonia uniformis. Aedes albopictus, an invasive Asian species that can carry pathogenic arbovirus, has also been seen on the island.
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(by then deceased) rival, Ursus. In September, Tycho secured him a commission as a collaborator on the new project he had proposed to the emperor: the Rudolphine Tables that should replace the Prutenic Tables of Erasmus Reinhold. Two days after Tycho's unexpected death on 24 October 1601, Kepler was appointed his successor as the imperial mathematician with the responsibility to complete his unfinished work. The next 11 years as imperial mathematician would be the most productive of his life. Imperial Advisor Kepler's primary obligation as imperial mathematician was to provide astrological advice to the emperor. Though Kepler took a dim view of the attempts of contemporary astrologers to precisely predict the future or divine specific events, he had been casting well-received detailed horoscopes for friends, family, and patrons since his time as a student in Tübingen. In addition to horoscopes for allies and foreign leaders, the emperor sought Kepler's advice in times of political trouble. Rudolf was actively interested in the work of many of his court scholars (including numerous alchemists) and kept up with Kepler's work in physical astronomy as well. Officially, the only acceptable religious doctrines in Prague were Catholic and Utraquist, but Kepler's position in the imperial court allowed him to practice his Lutheran faith unhindered. The emperor nominally provided an ample income for his family, but the difficulties of the over-extended imperial treasury meant that actually getting hold of enough money to meet financial obligations was a continual struggle. Partly because of financial troubles, his life at home with Barbara was unpleasant, marred with bickering and bouts of sickness. Court life, however, brought Kepler into contact with other prominent scholars (Johannes Matthäus Wackher von Wackhenfels, Jost Bürgi, David Fabricius, Martin Bachazek, and Johannes Brengger, among others) and astronomical work proceeded rapidly. Supernova of 1604 It was in this context, as the imperial mathematician and astrologer to the emperor, that Kepler described the new star two years later in his De Stella Nova. In it, Kepler addressed the star's astronomical properties while taking a skeptical approach to the many astrological interpretations then circulating. He noted its fading luminosity, speculated about its origin, and used the lack of observed parallax to argue that it was in the sphere of fixed stars, further undermining the doctrine of the immutability of the heavens (the idea accepted since Aristotle that the celestial spheres were perfect and unchanging). The birth of a new star implied the variability of the heavens. Kepler also attached an appendix where he discussed the recent chronology work of the Polish historian Laurentius Suslyga; he calculated that, if Suslyga was correct that accepted timelines were four years behind, then the Star of Bethlehem—analogous to the present new star—would have coincided with the first great conjunction of the earlier 800-year cycle. Over the following years, Kepler attempted (unsuccessfully) to begin a collaboration with Italian astronomer Giovanni Antonio Magini, and dealt with chronology, especially the dating of events in the life of Jesus. Around 1611, Kepler circulated a manuscript of what would eventually be published (posthumously) as Somnium [The Dream]. Part of the purpose of Somnium was to describe what practicing astronomy would be like from the perspective of another planet, to show the feasibility of a non-geocentric system. The manuscript, which disappeared after changing hands several times, described a fantastic trip to the Moon; it was part allegory, part autobiography, and part treatise on interplanetary travel (and is sometimes described as the first work of science fiction). Years later, a distorted version of the story may have instigated the witchcraft trial against his mother, as the mother of the narrator consults a demon to learn the means of space travel. Following her eventual acquittal, Kepler composed 223 footnotes to the story—several times longer than the actual text—which explained the allegorical aspects as well as the considerable scientific content (particularly regarding lunar geography) hidden within the text. Later life Troubles In 1611, the growing political-religious tension in Prague came to a head. Emperor Rudolf—whose health was failing—was forced to abdicate as King of Bohemia by his brother Matthias. Both sides sought Kepler's astrological advice, an opportunity he used to deliver conciliatory political advice (with little reference to the stars, except in general statements to discourage drastic action). However, it was clear that Kepler's future prospects in the court of Matthias were dim. Also in that year, Barbara Kepler contracted Hungarian spotted fever, then began having seizures. As Barbara was recovering, Kepler's three children all fell sick with smallpox; Friedrich, 6, died. Following his son's death, Kepler sent letters to potential patrons in Württemberg and Padua. At the University of Tübingen in Württemberg, concerns over Kepler's perceived Calvinist heresies in violation of the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord prevented his return. The University of Padua—on the recommendation of the departing Galileo—sought Kepler to fill the mathematics professorship, but Kepler, preferring to keep his family in German territory, instead travelled to Austria to arrange a position as teacher and district mathematician in Linz. However, Barbara relapsed into illness and died shortly after Kepler's return. Kepler postponed the move to Linz and remained in Prague until Rudolf's death in early 1612, though between political upheaval, religious tension, and family tragedy (along with the legal dispute over his wife's estate), Kepler could do no research. Instead, he pieced together a chronology manuscript, Eclogae Chronicae, from correspondence and earlier work. Upon succession as Holy Roman Emperor, Matthias re-affirmed Kepler's position (and salary) as imperial mathematician but allowed him to move to Linz. Linz (1612–1630) In Linz, Kepler's primary responsibilities (beyond completing the Rudolphine Tables) were teaching at the district school and providing astrological and astronomical services. In his first years there, he enjoyed financial security and religious freedom relative to his life in Prague—though he was excluded from Eucharist by his Lutheran church over his theological scruples. It was also during his time in Linz that Kepler had to deal with the accusation and ultimate verdict of witchcraft against his mother Katharina in the Protestant town of Leonberg. That blow, happening only a few years after Kepler's excommunication, is not seen as a coincidence but as a symptom of the full-fledged assault waged by the Lutherans against Kepler. His first publication in Linz was De vero Anno (1613), an expanded treatise on the year of Christ's birth. He also participated in deliberations on whether to introduce Pope Gregory's reformed calendar to Protestant German lands. On 30 October 1613, Kepler married the 24-year-old Susanna Reuttinger. Following the death of his first wife Barbara, Kepler had considered 11 different matches over two years (a decision process formalized later as the marriage problem). He eventually returned to Reuttinger (the fifth match) who, he wrote, "won me over with love, humble loyalty, economy of household, diligence, and the love she gave the stepchildren." The first three children of this marriage (Margareta Regina, Katharina, and Sebald) died in childhood. Three more survived into adulthood: Cordula (born 1621); Fridmar (born 1623); and Hildebert (born 1625). According to Kepler's biographers, this was a much happier marriage than his first. Christianity Kepler's belief that God created the cosmos in an orderly fashion caused him to attempt to determine and comprehend the laws that govern the natural world, most profoundly in astronomy. The phrase "I am merely thinking God's thoughts after Him" has been attributed to him, although this is probably a capsulized version of a writing from his hand: Those laws [of nature] are within the grasp of the human mind; God wanted us to recognize them by creating us after his own image so that we could share in his own thoughts. Astronomy Mysterium Cosmographicum Kepler's first major astronomical work, Mysterium Cosmographicum (The Cosmographic Mystery, 1596), was the first published defense of the Copernican system. Kepler claimed to have had an epiphany on 19 July 1595, while teaching in Graz, demonstrating the periodic conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in the zodiac: he realized that regular polygons bound one inscribed and one circumscribed circle at definite ratios, which, he reasoned, might be the geometrical basis of the universe. After failing to find a unique arrangement of polygons that fit known astronomical observations (even with extra planets added to the system), Kepler began experimenting with 3-dimensional polyhedra. He found that each of the five Platonic solids could be inscribed and circumscribed by spherical orbs; nesting these solids, each encased in a sphere, within one another would produce six layers, corresponding to the six known planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. By ordering the solids selectively—octahedron, icosahedron, dodecahedron, tetrahedron, cube—Kepler found that the spheres could be placed at intervals corresponding to the relative sizes of each planet's path, assuming the planets circle the Sun. Kepler also found a formula relating the size of each planet's orb to the length of its orbital period: from inner to outer planets, the ratio of increase in orbital period is twice the difference in orb radius. However, Kepler later rejected this formula, because it was not precise enough. Kepler thought the Mysterium had revealed God's geometrical plan for the universe. Much of Kepler's enthusiasm for the Copernican system stemmed from his theological convictions about the connection between the physical and the spiritual; the universe itself was an image of God, with the Sun corresponding to the Father, the stellar sphere to the Son, and the intervening space between them to the Holy Spirit. His first manuscript of Mysterium contained an extensive chapter reconciling heliocentrism with biblical passages that seemed to support geocentrism. With the support of his mentor Michael Maestlin, Kepler received permission from the Tübingen university senate to publish his manuscript, pending removal of the Bible exegesis and the addition of a simpler, more understandable, description of the Copernican system as well as Kepler's new ideas. Mysterium was published late in 1596, and Kepler received his copies and began sending them to prominent astronomers and patrons early in 1597; it was not widely read, but it established Kepler's reputation as a highly skilled astronomer. The effusive dedication, to powerful patrons as well as to the men who controlled his position in Graz, also provided a crucial doorway into the patronage system. In 1621, Kepler published an expanded second edition of Mysterium, half as long again as the first, detailing in footnotes the corrections and improvements he had achieved in the 25 years since its first publication. In terms of impact, the Mysterium can be seen as an important first step in modernizing the theory proposed by Copernicus in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium. Whilst Copernicus sought to advance a heliocentric system in this book, he resorted to Ptolemaic devices (viz., epicycles and eccentric circles) in order to explain the change in planets' orbital speed, and also continued to use as a point of reference the center of the Earth's orbit rather than that of the Sun "as an aid to calculation and in order not to confuse the reader by diverging too much from Ptolemy." Modern astronomy owes much to Mysterium Cosmographicum, despite flaws in its main thesis, "since it represents the first step in cleansing the Copernican system of the remnants of the Ptolemaic theory still clinging to it." Astronomia Nova The extended line of research that culminated in Astronomia Nova (A New Astronomy)—including the first two laws of planetary motion—began with the analysis, under Tycho's direction, of Mars' orbit.In this work Kepler introduced the revolutionary concept of planetary orbit, a path of a planet in space resulting from the action of physical causes, distinct from previously held notion of planetary orb(a spherical shell to which planet is attached). As a result of this breakthrough astronomical phenomena came to be seen as being govern by physical laws. Kepler calculated and recalculated various approximations of Mars' orbit using an equant (the mathematical tool that Copernicus had eliminated with his system), eventually creating a model that generally agreed with Tycho's observations to within two arcminutes (the average measurement error). But he was not satisfied with the complex and still slightly inaccurate result; at certain points the model differed from the data by up to eight arcminutes. The wide array of traditional mathematical astronomy methods having failed him, Kepler set about trying to fit an ovoid orbit to the data. In Kepler's religious view of the cosmos, the Sun (a symbol of God the Father) was the source of motive force in the Solar System. As a physical basis, Kepler drew by analogy on William Gilbert's theory of the magnetic soul of the Earth from De Magnete (1600) and on his own work on optics. Kepler supposed that the motive power (or motive species) radiated by the Sun weakens with distance, causing faster or slower motion as planets move closer or farther from it. Perhaps this assumption entailed a mathematical relationship that would restore astronomical order. Based on measurements of the aphelion and perihelion of the Earth and Mars, he created a formula in which a planet's rate of motion is inversely proportional to its distance from the Sun. Verifying this relationship throughout the orbital cycle required very extensive calculation; to simplify this task, by late 1602 Kepler reformulated the proportion in terms of geometry: planets sweep out equal areas in equal times—his second law of planetary motion. He then set about calculating the entire orbit of Mars, using the geometrical rate law and assuming an egg-shaped ovoid orbit. After approximately 40 failed attempts, in late 1604 he at last hit upon the idea of an ellipse, which he had previously assumed to be too simple a solution for earlier astronomers to have overlooked. Finding that an elliptical orbit fit the Mars data, Kepler immediately concluded that all planets move in ellipses, with the Sun at one focus—his first law of planetary motion. Because he employed no calculating assistants, he did not extend the mathematical analysis beyond Mars. By the end of the year, he completed the manuscript for Astronomia nova, though it would not be published until 1609 due to legal disputes over the use of Tycho's observations, the property of his heirs. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy Since completing the Astronomia Nova, Kepler had intended to compose an astronomy textbook that would cover all the fundamentals of heliocentric astronomy. Kepler spent the next several years working on what would become Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae (Epitome of Copernican Astronomy). Despite its title, which merely hints at heliocentrism, the Epitome is less about Copernicus's work and more about Kepler's own astronomical system. The Epitome contained all three laws of planetary motion and attempted to explain heavenly motions through physical causes. Although it explicitly extended the first two laws of planetary motion (applied to Mars in Astronomia nova) to all the planets as well as the Moon and the Medicean satellites of Jupiter, it did not explain how elliptical orbits could be derived from observational data. Originally intended as an introduction for the uninitiated, Kepler sought to model his Epitome after that of his master Michael Maestlin, who published a well-regarded book explaining the basics of geocentric astronomy to non-experts. Kepler completed the first of three volumes, consisting of Books I–III, by 1615 in the same question-answer format of Maestlin's and have it printed in 1617. However, the banning of Copernican books by the Catholic Church, as well as the start of the Thirty Years' War, meant that publication of the next two volumes would be delayed. In the interim, and to avoid being subject to the ban, Kepler switched the audience of the Epitome from beginners to that of expert astronomers and mathematicians, as the arguments became more and more sophisticated and requiring advanced mathematics to be understood. The second volume, consisting of Book IV, was published in 1620, followed by the third volume, consisting of Books V–VII, in 1621. Rudolphine Tables In the years following the completion of Astronomia Nova, most of Kepler's research was focused on preparations for the Rudolphine Tables and a comprehensive set of ephemerides (specific predictions of planet and star positions) based on the table (though neither would be completed for many years). Kepler, at last, completed the Rudolphine Tables in 1623, which at the time was considered his major work. However, due to the publishing requirements of the emperor and negotiations with Tycho Brahe's heir, it would not be printed until 1627. Astrology Like Ptolemy, Kepler considered astrology as the counterpart to astronomy, and as being of equal interest and value. However, in the following years, the two subjects drifted apart until astrology was no longer practiced among professional astronomers. Sir Oliver Lodge observed that Kepler was somewhat disdainful of astrology in his own day, as he was "continually attacking and throwing sarcasm at astrology, but it was the only thing for which people would pay him, and on it after a fashion he lived." Nonetheless, Kepler spent a huge amount of time trying to restore astrology on a firmer philosophical footing, composing numerous astrological calendars, more than 800 nativities, and a number of treaties dealing with the subject of astrology proper. De Fundamentis In his bid to become imperial astronomer, Kepler wrote De Fundamentis (1601), whose title can be translated as “On Giving Astrology Sounder Foundations”, as a short foreword to one of his yearly almanacs. In this work, Kepler describes the effects of the Sun, Moon, and the planets in terms of their light and their influences upon humors, finalizing with Kepler's view that the Earth possesses a soul with some sense of geometry. Stimulated by the geometric convergence of rays formed around it, the world-soul is sentient but not conscious. As a shepherd is pleased by the piping of a flute without understanding the theory of musical harmony, so likewise Earth responds to the angles and aspects made by the heavens but not in a conscious manner. Eclipses are important as omens because the animal faculty of the Earth is violently disturbed by the sudden intermission of light, experiencing something like emotion and persisting in it for some time. Kepler surmises that there are "cyclic journeys in the humors of the Earth", and gives an example "the 19 year period of the Moon" which sailors say affects tides - presumably the 18.6-year nutation cycle, that is rotation of the lunar nodes - and "if this is so the laws and periods of the cycles should be investigated by collating observations made over many years, something which has not yet been done". Tertius Interveniens Kepler and Helisaeus Roeslin engaged in a series of published attacks and counter-attacks on the importance of astrology after the supernova of 1604; around the same time, physician Philip Feselius published a work dismissing astrology altogether (and Roeslin's work in particular). In response to what Kepler saw as the excesses of astrology, on the one hand, and overzealous rejection of it, on the other, Kepler prepared Tertius Interveniens (1610). Nominally this work—presented to the common patron of Roeslin and Feselius—was a neutral mediation between the feuding scholars (the titled meaning "Third-party interventions"), but it also set out Kepler's general views on the value of astrology, including some hypothesized mechanisms of interaction between planets and individual souls. While Kepler considered most traditional rules and methods of astrology to be the "evil-smelling dung" in which "an industrious hen" scrapes, there was an "occasional grain-seed, indeed, even a pearl or a gold nugget" to be found by the conscientious scientific astrologer. Music Harmonice Mundi Kepler was convinced "that the geometrical things have provided the Creator with the model for decorating the whole world". In Harmonice Mundi (1619), he attempted to explain the proportions of the natural world—particularly the astronomical and astrological aspects—in terms of music. The central set of "harmonies" was the musica universalis or "music of the spheres", which had been studied by Pythagoras, Ptolemy and others before Kepler; in fact, soon after publishing Harmonice Mundi, Kepler was embroiled in a priority dispute with Robert Fludd, who had recently published his own harmonic theory. Kepler began by exploring regular polygons and regular solids, including the figures that would come to be known as Kepler's solids. From there, he extended his harmonic analysis to music, meteorology, and astrology; harmony resulted from the tones made by the souls of heavenly bodies—and in the case of astrology, the interaction between those tones and human souls. In the final portion of the work (Book V), Kepler
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and Feselius—was a neutral mediation between the feuding scholars (the titled meaning "Third-party interventions"), but it also set out Kepler's general views on the value of astrology, including some hypothesized mechanisms of interaction between planets and individual souls. While Kepler considered most traditional rules and methods of astrology to be the "evil-smelling dung" in which "an industrious hen" scrapes, there was an "occasional grain-seed, indeed, even a pearl or a gold nugget" to be found by the conscientious scientific astrologer. Music Harmonice Mundi Kepler was convinced "that the geometrical things have provided the Creator with the model for decorating the whole world". In Harmonice Mundi (1619), he attempted to explain the proportions of the natural world—particularly the astronomical and astrological aspects—in terms of music. The central set of "harmonies" was the musica universalis or "music of the spheres", which had been studied by Pythagoras, Ptolemy and others before Kepler; in fact, soon after publishing Harmonice Mundi, Kepler was embroiled in a priority dispute with Robert Fludd, who had recently published his own harmonic theory. Kepler began by exploring regular polygons and regular solids, including the figures that would come to be known as Kepler's solids. From there, he extended his harmonic analysis to music, meteorology, and astrology; harmony resulted from the tones made by the souls of heavenly bodies—and in the case of astrology, the interaction between those tones and human souls. In the final portion of the work (Book V), Kepler dealt with planetary motions, especially relationships between orbital velocity and orbital distance from the Sun. Similar relationships had been used by other astronomers, but Kepler—with Tycho's data and his own astronomical theories—treated them much more precisely and attached new physical significance to them. Among many other harmonies, Kepler articulated what came to be known as the third law of planetary motion. He tried many combinations until he discovered that (approximately) "The square of the periodic times are to each other as the cubes of the mean distances." Although he gives the date of this epiphany (8 March 1618), he does not give any details about how he arrived at this conclusion. However, the wider significance for planetary dynamics of this purely kinematical law was not realized until the 1660s. When conjoined with Christiaan Huygens' newly discovered law of centrifugal force, it enabled Isaac Newton, Edmund Halley, and perhaps Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke to demonstrate independently that the presumed gravitational attraction between the Sun and its planets decreased with the square of the distance between them. This refuted the traditional assumption of scholastic physics that the power of gravitational attraction remained constant with distance whenever it applied between two bodies, such as was assumed by Kepler and also by Galileo in his mistaken universal law that gravitational fall is uniformly accelerated, and also by Galileo's student Borrelli in his 1666 celestial mechanics. Optics Astronomiae Pars Optica As Kepler slowly continued analyzing Tycho's Mars observations—now available to him in their entirety—and began the slow process of tabulating the Rudolphine Tables, Kepler also picked up the investigation of the laws of optics from his lunar essay of 1600. Both lunar and solar eclipses presented unexplained phenomena, such as unexpected shadow sizes, the red color of a total lunar eclipse, and the reportedly unusual light surrounding a total solar eclipse. Related issues of atmospheric refraction applied to all astronomical observations. Through most of 1603, Kepler paused his other work to focus on optical theory; the resulting manuscript, presented to the emperor on 1 January 1604, was published as Astronomiae Pars Optica (The Optical Part of Astronomy). In it, Kepler described the inverse-square law governing the intensity of light, reflection by flat and curved mirrors, and principles of pinhole cameras, as well as the astronomical implications of optics such as parallax and the apparent sizes of heavenly bodies. He also extended his study of optics to the human eye, and is generally considered by neuroscientists to be the first to recognize that images are projected inverted and reversed by the eye's lens onto the retina. The solution to this dilemma was not of particular importance to Kepler as he did not see it as pertaining to optics, although he did suggest that the image was later corrected "in the hollows of the brain" due to the "activity of the Soul." Today, Astronomiae Pars Optica is generally recognized as the foundation of modern optics (though the law of refraction is conspicuously absent). With respect to the beginnings of projective geometry, Kepler introduced the idea of continuous change of a mathematical entity in this work. He argued that if a focus of a conic section were allowed to move along the line joining the foci, the geometric form would morph or degenerate, one into another. In this way, an ellipse becomes a parabola when a focus moves toward infinity, and when two foci of an ellipse merge into one another, a circle is formed. As the foci of a hyperbola merge into one another, the hyperbola becomes a pair of straight lines. He also assumed that if a straight line is extended to infinity it will meet itself at a single point at infinity, thus having the properties of a large circle. Dioptrice In the first months of 1610, Galileo Galilei—using his powerful new telescope—discovered four satellites orbiting Jupiter. Upon publishing his account as Sidereus Nuncius [Starry Messenger], Galileo sought the opinion of Kepler, in part to bolster the credibility of his observations. Kepler responded enthusiastically with a short published reply, Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo [Conversation with the Starry Messenger]. He endorsed Galileo's observations and offered a range of speculations about the meaning and implications of Galileo's discoveries and telescopic methods, for astronomy and optics as well as cosmology and astrology. Later that year, Kepler published his own telescopic observations of the moons in Narratio de Jovis Satellitibus, providing further support of Galileo. To Kepler's disappointment, however, Galileo never published his reactions (if any) to Astronomia Nova. Kepler also started a theoretical and experimental investigation of telescopic lenses using a telescope borrowed from Duke Ernest of Cologne. The resulting manuscript was completed in September 1610 and published as Dioptrice in 1611. In it, Kepler set out the theoretical basis of double-convex converging lenses and double-concave diverging lenses—and how they are combined to produce a Galilean telescope—as well as the concepts of real vs. virtual images, upright vs. inverted images, and the effects of focal length on magnification and reduction. He also described an improved telescope—now known as the astronomical or Keplerian telescope—in which two convex lenses can produce higher magnification than Galileo's combination of convex and concave lenses. Mathematics and physics As a New Year's gift that year (1611), he also composed for his friend and some-time patron, Baron Wackher von Wackhenfels, a short pamphlet entitled Strena Seu de Nive Sexangula (A New Year's Gift of Hexagonal Snow). In this treatise, he published the first description of the hexagonal symmetry of snowflakes and, extending the discussion into a hypothetical atomistic physical basis for the symmetry, posed what later became known as the Kepler conjecture, a statement about the most efficient arrangement for packing spheres. Kepler wrote the influential mathematical treatise Nova stereometria doliorum vinariorum in 1613, on measuring the volume of containers such as wine barrels, which was published in 1615. Kepler also contributed to the development of infinitesimal methods and numerical analysis, including iterative approximations, infinitesimals, and the early use of logarithms and transcendental equations. Legacy Reception of his astronomy Kepler's laws of planetary motion were not immediately accepted. Several major figures such as Galileo and René Descartes completely ignored Kepler's Astronomia nova. Many astronomers, including Kepler's teacher, Michael Maestlin, objected to Kepler's introduction of physics into his astronomy. Some adopted compromise positions. Ismaël Bullialdus accepted elliptical orbits but replaced Kepler's area law with uniform motion in respect to the empty focus of the ellipse, while Seth Ward used an elliptical orbit with motions defined by an equant. Several astronomers tested Kepler's theory, and its various modifications, against astronomical observations. Two transits of Venus and Mercury across the face of the sun provided sensitive tests of the theory, under circumstances when these planets could not normally be observed. In the case of the transit of Mercury in 1631, Kepler had been extremely uncertain of the parameters for Mercury, and advised observers to look for the transit the day before and after the predicted date. Pierre Gassendi observed the transit on the date predicted, a confirmation of Kepler's prediction. This was the first observation of a transit of Mercury. However, his attempt to observe the transit of Venus just one month later was unsuccessful due to inaccuracies in the Rudolphine Tables. Gassendi did not realize that it was not visible from most of Europe, including Paris. Jeremiah Horrocks, who observed the 1639 Venus transit, had used his own observations to adjust the parameters of the Keplerian model, predicted the transit, and then built apparatus to observe the transit. He remained a firm advocate of the Keplerian model. Epitome of Copernican Astronomy was read by astronomers throughout Europe, and following Kepler's death, it was the main vehicle for spreading Kepler's ideas. In the period 1630 – 1650, this book was the most widely used astronomy textbook, winning many converts to ellipse-based astronomy. However, few adopted his ideas on the physical basis for celestial motions. In the late 17th century, a number of physical astronomy theories drawing from Kepler's work—notably those of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli and Robert Hooke—began to incorporate attractive forces (though not the quasi-spiritual motive species postulated by Kepler) and the Cartesian concept of inertia. This culminated in Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica (1687), in which Newton derived Kepler's laws of planetary motion from a force-based theory of universal gravitation. History of science Beyond his role in the historical development of astronomy and natural philosophy, Kepler has loomed large in the philosophy and historiography of science. Kepler and his laws of motion were central to early histories of astronomy such as Jean-Étienne Montucla's 1758 Histoire des mathématiques and Jean-Baptiste Delambre's 1821 Histoire de l'astronomie moderne. These and other histories written from an Enlightenment perspective treated Kepler's metaphysical and religious arguments with skepticism and disapproval, but later Romantic-era natural philosophers viewed these elements as central to his success. William Whewell, in his influential History of the Inductive Sciences of 1837, found Kepler to be the archetype of the inductive scientific genius; in his Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences of 1840, Whewell held Kepler up as the embodiment of the most advanced forms of scientific method. Similarly, Ernst Friedrich Apelt—the first to extensively study Kepler's manuscripts, after their purchase by Catherine the Great—identified Kepler as a key to the "Revolution of the sciences". Apelt, who saw Kepler's mathematics, aesthetic sensibility, physical ideas, and theology as part of a unified system of thought, produced the first extended analysis of Kepler's life and work. Alexandre Koyré's work on Kepler was, after Apelt, the first major milestone in historical interpretations of Kepler's cosmology and its influence. In the 1930s and 1940s, Koyré, and a number of others in the first generation of professional historians of science, described the "Scientific Revolution" as the central event in the history of science, and Kepler as a (perhaps the) central figure in the revolution. Koyré placed Kepler's theorization, rather than his empirical work, at the center of the intellectual transformation from ancient to modern world-views. Since the 1960s, the volume of historical Kepler scholarship has expanded greatly, including studies of his astrology and meteorology, his geometrical methods, the role of his religious views in his work, his literary and rhetorical methods, his interaction with the broader cultural and philosophical currents of his time, and even his role as an historian of science. Philosophers of science—such as Charles Sanders Peirce, Norwood Russell Hanson, Stephen Toulmin, and Karl Popper—have repeatedly turned to Kepler: examples of incommensurability, analogical reasoning, falsification, and many other philosophical concepts have been found in Kepler's work. Physicist Wolfgang Pauli even used Kepler's priority dispute with Robert Fludd to explore the implications of analytical psychology on scientific investigation. Editions and translations Modern translations of a number of Kepler's books appeared in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, the systematic publication of his collected works began in 1937 (and is nearing completion in the early 21st century). An edition in eight volumes, Kepleri Opera omnia, was prepared by Christian Frisch (1807–1881), during 1858 to 1871, on the occasion of Kepler's 300th birthday. Frisch's edition only included Kepler's Latin, with a Latin commentary. A new edition was planned beginning in 1914 by Walther von Dyck (1856–1934). Dyck compiled copies of Kepler's unedited manuscripts, using international diplomatic contacts to convince the Soviet authorities to lend him the manuscripts kept in Leningrad for photographic reproduction. These manuscripts contained several works by Kepler that had not been available to Frisch. Dyck's photographs remain the basis for the modern editions of Kepler's unpublished manuscripts. Max Caspar (1880–1956) published his German translation of Kepler's Mysterium Cosmographicum in 1923. Both Dyck and Caspar were influenced in their interest in Kepler by mathematician Alexander von Brill (1842–1935). Caspar became Dyck's collaborator, succeeding him as project leader in 1934, establishing the Kepler-Kommission in the following year. Assisted by Martha List (1908–1992) and Franz Hammer (1898–1979), Caspar continued editorial work during World War II. Max Caspar also published a biography of Kepler in 1948. The commission was later chaired by Volker Bialas (during 1976–2003) and Ulrich Grigull (during 1984–1999) and Roland Bulirsch (1998–2014). Veneration and eponymy Kepler has acquired a popular image as an icon of scientific modernity and a man before his time; science popularizer Carl Sagan described him as "the first astrophysicist and the last scientific astrologer". The debate over Kepler's place in the Scientific Revolution has produced a wide variety of philosophical and popular treatments. One of the most influential is Arthur Koestler's 1959 The Sleepwalkers, in which Kepler is unambiguously the hero (morally and theologically as well as intellectually) of the revolution. A well-received, if fanciful, historical novel by John Banville, Kepler (1981), explored many of the themes developed in Koestler's non-fiction narrative and in the philosophy of science. Somewhat more fanciful is a recent work of nonfiction, Heavenly Intrigue (2004), suggesting that Kepler murdered Tycho Brahe to gain access to his data. In Austria, Kepler left behind such a historical legacy that he was one of the motifs of a silver collector's coin: the 10-euro Johannes Kepler silver coin, minted on 10 September 2002. The reverse side of the coin has a portrait of Kepler, who spent some time teaching in Graz and the surrounding areas. Kepler was acquainted with Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg personally, and he probably influenced the construction of Eggenberg Castle (the motif of the obverse of the coin). In front of him on the coin is the model of nested spheres and polyhedra from Mysterium Cosmographicum. The German composer Paul Hindemith wrote an opera about Kepler entitled Die Harmonie der Welt, and a symphony of the same name was derived from music for the opera. Philip Glass wrote an opera called Kepler based on Kepler's life (2009). Kepler is honored together with Nicolaus Copernicus with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on 23 May. Directly named for Kepler's contribution to science are Kepler's laws of planetary motion, Kepler's Supernova (Supernova 1604, which he observed and described) and the Kepler Solids, a set of geometrical constructions, two of which were described by him, and the Kepler conjecture on sphere packing. In astronomy: The lunar crater Kepler (Keplerus, named by Giovanni Riccioli, 1651), the asteroid 1134 Kepler (1929), Kepler (crater on Mars) (1973), Kepler Launch Site for model rockets (2001), the Kepler space telescope, a space photometer launched by NASA in 2009, Johannes Kepler ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle launched to resupply the ISS in 2011). Educational institutions: Johannes Kepler University Linz (1975), Kepler College (Seattle, Washington), besides several institutions of primary and secondary education, such as Johannes Kepler Grammar School, at the site where Kepler lived in Prague, and
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Shockley's field effect principle had been anticipated and patented in 1930 by Julius Lilienfeld, who filed his MESFET-like patent in Canada on October 22, 1925. Shockley publicly took the lion's share of the credit for the invention of transistor; this led to a deterioration of Bardeen's relationship with Shockley. Bell Labs management, however, consistently presented all three inventors as a team. Shockley eventually infuriated and alienated Bardeen and Brattain, and he essentially blocked the two from working on the junction transistor. Bardeen began pursuing a theory for superconductivity and left Bell Labs in 1951. Brattain refused to work with Shockley further and was assigned to another group. Neither Bardeen nor Brattain had much to do with the development of the transistor beyond the first year after its invention. The "transistor" (a portmanteau of "transconductance" and "resistor") was 1/50 the size of the vacuum tubes it replaced in televisions and radios, used far less power, was far more reliable, and it allowed electrical devices to become more compact. University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign By 1951, Bardeen was looking for a new job. Fred Seitz, a friend of Bardeen, convinced the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign to make Bardeen an offer of $10,000 a year. Bardeen accepted the offer and left Bell Labs. He joined the engineering and physics faculties at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1951. He was Professor of Electrical Engineering and of Physics at Illinois. His Ph.D. student Nick Holonyak (1954), invented the LED in 1962. At Illinois, he established two major research programs, one in the Electrical Engineering Department and one in the Physics Department. The research program in the Electrical Engineering Department dealt with both experimental and theoretical aspects of semiconductors, and the research program in the Physics Department dealt with theoretical aspects of macroscopic quantum systems, particularly superconductivity and quantum liquids. He was an active professor at Illinois from 1951 to 1975 and then became Professor Emeritus. In his later life, Bardeen remained active in academic research, during which time he focused on understanding the flow of electrons in charge density waves (CDWs) through metallic linear chain compounds. His proposals that CDW electron transport is a collective quantum phenomenon (see Macroscopic quantum phenomena) were initially greeted with skepticism. However, experiments reported in 2012 show oscillations in CDW current versus magnetic flux through tantalum trisulfide rings, similar to the behavior of superconducting quantum interference devices (see SQUID and Aharonov–Bohm effect), lending credence to the idea that collective CDW electron transport is fundamentally quantum in nature. (See quantum mechanics.) Bardeen continued his research throughout the 1980s, and published articles in Physical Review Letters and Physics Today less than a year before he died. A collection of Bardeen's personal papers are held by the University of Illinois Archives. The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1956 In 1956, John Bardeen shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with William Shockley of Semiconductor Laboratory of Beckman Instruments and Walter Brattain of Bell Telephone Laboratories "for their researches on semiconductors and their discovery of the transistor effect". At the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, Brattain and Shockley received their awards that night from King Gustaf VI Adolf. Bardeen brought only one of his three children to the Nobel Prize ceremony. King Gustav chided Bardeen because of this, and Bardeen assured the King that the next time he would bring all his children to the ceremony. He kept his promise. BCS theory In 1957, Bardeen, in collaboration with Leon Cooper and his doctoral student John Robert Schrieffer, proposed the standard theory of superconductivity known as the BCS theory (named for their initials). The Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 In 1972, Bardeen shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Leon N Cooper of Brown University and John Robert Schrieffer of the University of Pennsylvania "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory". This was Bardeen's second Nobel Prize in Physics. He became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes in the same field. Only three others have ever received more than one Nobel Prize. Bardeen brought his three children to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm. Bardeen gave much of his Nobel Prize money to fund the Fritz London Memorial Lectures at Duke University. Other awards In addition to being awarded the Nobel prize twice, Bardeen has numerous other awards including: 1952 Franklin Institute's Stuart Ballantine Medal. 1959 elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 1965 National Medal of Science. 1971 IEEE Medal of Honor for "his profound contributions to the understanding of the conductivity of solids, to the invention of the transistor, and to the microscopic theory of superconductivity." Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS) in 1973. 1975 Franklin Medal. On January 10, 1977, John Bardeen was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford. He was represented at the ceremony by his son, William Bardeen. Bardeen was one of 11 recipients given the Third Century Award from President George H. W. Bush in 1990 for "exceptional contributions to American society" and was granted a gold medal from the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1988. 1987 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement Xerox Bardeen was also an important adviser to Xerox Corporation. Though quiet by nature, he took the uncharacteristic step of urging Xerox executives to keep their California research center, Xerox PARC, afloat when the parent company was suspicious that its research center would amount to little. Personal life Bardeen married Jane Maxwell on July 18, 1938. While at Princeton, he met Jane during a visit to his old friends in Pittsburgh. Bardeen was a scientist with a very unassuming personality. While he served as a professor for almost 40 years at the University
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a fundamental theory of conventional superconductivity known as the BCS theory. The transistor revolutionized the electronics industry, making possible the development of almost every modern electronic device, from telephones to computers, and ushering in the Information Age. Bardeen's developments in superconductivity—for which he was awarded his second Nobel Prize—are used in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) and medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Born and raised in Wisconsin, Bardeen received a PhD in physics from Princeton University. After serving in World War II, he was a researcher at Bell Labs, and a professor at the University of Illinois. In 1990, Bardeen appeared on Life magazine's list of "100 Most Influential Americans of the Century." Education and early life Bardeen was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 23, 1908. He was the son of Charles Bardeen, the first dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School. Bardeen attended the University High School at Madison. He graduated from the school in 1923 at age 15. He could have graduated several years earlier, but this was postponed because he took courses at another high school and because of his mother's death. He entered the University of Wisconsin in 1923. While in college, he joined the Zeta Psi fraternity. He raised the needed membership fees partly by playing billiards. He was initiated as a member of Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. He chose engineering because he did not want to be an academic like his father. He also felt that engineering had good job prospects. Bardeen received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1928 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He graduated in 1928 despite taking a year off to work in Chicago. He took all the graduate courses in physics and mathematics that had interested him, and he graduated in five years instead of the usual four. This allowed him time to complete his Master's thesis, which was supervised by Leo J. Peters. He received his Master of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1929 from Wisconsin. Bardeen furthered his studies by staying on at Wisconsin, but he eventually went to work for Gulf Research Laboratories, the research arm of the Gulf Oil Corporation that was based in Pittsburgh. From 1930 to 1933, Bardeen worked there on the development of methods for the interpretation of magnetic and gravitational surveys. He worked as a geophysicist. After the work failed to keep his interest, he applied and was accepted to the graduate program in mathematics at Princeton University. As a graduate student, Bardeen studied mathematics and physics. Under physicist Eugene Wigner, he ended up writing his thesis on a problem in solid-state physics. Before completing his thesis, he was offered a position as Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University in 1935. He spent the next three years there, from 1935 to 1938, working with to-be Nobel laureates in physics John Hasbrouck van Vleck and Percy Williams Bridgman on problems in cohesion and electrical conduction in metals, and also did some work on level density of nuclei. He received his Ph.D. in mathematical physics from Princeton in 1936. Career and research World War II Service From 1941 to 1944, Bardeen headed the group working on magnetic mines and torpedoes and mine and torpedo countermeasures at the Naval Ordnance Laboratory. During this period, his wife Jane gave birth to a son (Bill, born in 1941) and a daughter (Betsy, born in 1944). Bell Labs In October 1945, Bardeen began work at Bell Labs. He was a member of a solid-state physics group, led by William Shockley and chemist Stanley Morgan. Other personnel working in the group were Walter Brattain, physicist Gerald Pearson, chemist Robert Gibney, electronics expert Hilbert Moore and several technicians. He moved his family to Summit, New Jersey. The assignment of the group was to seek a solid-state alternative to fragile glass vacuum tube amplifiers. Their first attempts were based on Shockley's ideas about using an external electrical field on a semiconductor to affect its conductivity. These experiments mysteriously failed every time in all sorts of configurations and materials. The group was at a standstill until Bardeen suggested a theory that invoked surface states that prevented the field from penetrating the semiconductor. The group changed its focus to study these surface states, and they met almost daily to discuss the work. The rapport of the group was excellent, and ideas were freely exchanged. By the winter of 1946, they had enough results that Bardeen submitted a paper on the surface states to Physical Review. Brattain started experiments to study the surface states through observations made while shining a bright light on the semiconductor's surface. This led to several more papers (one of them co-authored with Shockley), which estimated the density of the surface states to be more than enough to account for their failed experiments. The pace of the work picked up significantly when they started to surround point contacts between the semiconductor and the conducting wires with electrolytes. Moore built a circuit that allowed them to vary the frequency of the input signal easily and suggested that they use glycol borate (gu), a viscous chemical that did not evaporate. Finally, they began to get some evidence of power amplification when Pearson, acting on a suggestion by Shockley, put a
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era: The Bullae. A pear shaped vessel used to hold perfume. Its surface was usually decorated with repoussé and engraved symbolic figures. Much of the jewelry found was not worn by Etruscans, but were made to accompany them in the after world. Most, if not all, techniques of Etruscan goldsmiths were not invented by them as they are dated to the third millennium BC. Rome Although jewellery work was abundantly diverse in earlier times, especially among the barbarian tribes such as the Celts, when the Romans conquered most of Europe, jewellery was changed as smaller factions developed the Roman designs. The most common artefact of early Rome was the brooch, which was used to secure clothing together. The Romans used a diverse range of materials for their jewellery from their extensive resources across the continent. Although they used gold, they sometimes used bronze or bone, and in earlier times, glass beads & pearl. As early as 2,000 years ago, they imported Sri Lankan sapphires and Indian diamonds and used emeralds and amber in their jewellery. In Roman-ruled England, fossilised wood called jet from Northern England was often carved into pieces of jewellery. The early Italians worked in crude gold and created clasps, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. They also produced larger pendants that could be filled with perfume. Like the Greeks, often the purpose of Roman jewellery was to ward off the "Evil Eye" given by other people. Although women wore a vast array of jewellery, men often only wore a finger ring. Although they were expected to wear at least one ring, some Roman men wore a ring on every finger, while others wore none. Roman men and women wore rings with an engraved gem on it that was used with wax to seal documents, a practice that continued into medieval times when kings and noblemen used the same method. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the jewellery designs were absorbed by neighbouring countries and tribes. Middle Ages Post-Roman Europe continued to develop jewellery making skills. The Celts and Merovingians in particular are noted for their jewellery, which in terms of quality matched or exceeded that of the Byzantine Empire. Clothing fasteners, amulets, and, to a lesser extent, signet rings, are the most common artefacts known to us. A particularly striking Celtic example is the Tara Brooch. The Torc was common throughout Europe as a symbol of status and power. By the 8th century, jewelled weaponry was common for men, while other jewellery (with the exception of signet rings) seemed to become the domain of women. Grave goods found in a 6th–7th century burial near Chalon-sur-Saône are illustrative. A young girl was buried with: 2 silver fibulae, a necklace (with coins), bracelet, gold earrings, a pair of hair-pins, comb, and buckle. The Celts specialised in continuous patterns and designs, while Merovingian designs are best known for stylised animal figures. They were not the only groups known for high quality work. Note the Visigoth work shown here, and the numerous decorative objects found at the Anglo-Saxon Ship burial at Sutton Hoo Suffolk, England are a particularly well-known example. On the continent, cloisonné and garnet were perhaps the quintessential method and gemstone of the period. The Eastern successor of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, continued many of the methods of the Romans, though religious themes came to predominate. Unlike the Romans, the Franks, and the Celts, however, Byzantium used light-weight gold leaf rather than solid gold, and more emphasis was placed on stones and gems. As in the West, Byzantine jewellery was worn by wealthier females, with male jewellery apparently restricted to signet rings. Woman's jewellery had some peculiarities like kolts that decorated headband. Like other contemporary cultures, jewellery was commonly buried with its owner. Renaissance The Renaissance and exploration both had significant impacts on the development of jewellery in Europe. By the 17th century, increasing exploration and trade led to increased availability of a wide variety of gemstones as well as exposure to the art of other cultures. Whereas prior to this the working of gold and precious metal had been at the forefront of jewellery, this period saw increasing dominance of gemstones and their settings. An example of this is the Cheapside Hoard, the stock of a jeweller hidden in London during the Commonwealth period and not found again until 1912. It contained Colombian emerald, topaz, amazonite from Brazil, spinel, iolite, and chrysoberyl from Sri Lanka, ruby from India, Afghan lapis lazuli, Persian turquoise, Red Sea peridot, as well as Bohemian and Hungarian opal, garnet, and amethyst. Large stones were frequently set in box-bezels on enamelled rings. Notable among merchants of the period was Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who brought the precursor stone of the Hope Diamond to France in the 1660s. When Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned as Emperor of the French in 1804, he revived the style and grandeur of jewellery and fashion in France. Under Napoleon's rule, jewellers introduced parures, suites of matching jewellery, such as a diamond tiara, diamond earrings, diamond rings, a diamond brooch, and a diamond necklace. Both of Napoleon's wives had beautiful sets such as these and wore them regularly. Another fashion trend resurrected by Napoleon was the cameo. Soon after his cameo decorated crown was seen, cameos were highly sought. The period also saw the early stages of costume jewellery, with fish scale covered glass beads in place of pearls or conch shell cameos instead of stone cameos. New terms were coined to differentiate the arts: jewellers who worked in cheaper materials were called bijoutiers, while jewellers who worked with expensive materials were called joailliers, a practice which continues to this day. Romanticism Starting in the late 18th century, Romanticism had a profound impact on the development of western jewellery. Perhaps the most significant influences were the public's fascination with the treasures being discovered through the birth of modern archaeology and a fascination with Medieval and Renaissance art. Changing social conditions and the onset of the Industrial Revolution also led to growth of a middle class that wanted and could afford jewellery. As a result, the use of industrial processes, cheaper alloys, and stone substitutes led to the development of paste or costume jewellery. Distinguished goldsmiths continued to flourish, however, as wealthier patrons sought to ensure that what they wore still stood apart from the jewellery of the masses, not only through use of precious metals and stones but also though superior artistic and technical work. One such artist was the French goldsmith François-Désiré Froment-Meurice. A category unique to this period and quite appropriate to the philosophy of romanticism was mourning jewellery. It originated in England, where Queen Victoria was often seen wearing jet jewellery after the death of Prince Albert, and it allowed the wearer to continue wearing jewellery while expressing a state of mourning at the death of a loved one. In the United States, this period saw the founding in 1837 of Tiffany & Co. by Charles Lewis Tiffany. Tiffany's put the United States on the world map in terms of jewellery and gained fame creating dazzling commissions for people such as the wife of Abraham Lincoln. Later, it would gain popular notoriety as the setting of the film Breakfast at Tiffany's. In France, Pierre Cartier founded Cartier SA in 1847, while 1884 saw the founding of Bulgari in Italy. The modern production studio had been born and was a step away from the former dominance of individual craftsmen and patronage. This period also saw the first major collaboration between East and West. Collaboration in Pforzheim between German and Japanese artists led to Shakudō plaques set into Filigree frames being created by the Stoeffler firm in 1885).<ref>Ilse-Neuman, Ursula. Book review "Schmuck/Jewellery 1840–1940: Highlights from the Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim. Metalsmith. Fall2006, Vol. 26 Issue 3, pp. 12–13</ref> Perhaps the grand finalé – and an appropriate transition to the following period – were the masterful creations of the Russian artist Peter Carl Fabergé, working for the Imperial Russian court, whose Fabergé eggs and jewellery pieces are still considered as the epitome of the goldsmith's art. 18th century/Romanticism/Renaissance Many whimsical fashions were introduced in the extravagant eighteenth century. Cameos that were used in connection with jewellery were the attractive trinkets along with many of the small objects such as brooches, ear-rings and scarf-pins. Some of the necklets were made of several pieces joined with the gold chains were in and bracelets were also made sometimes to match the necklet and the brooch. At the end of the Century the jewellery with cut steel intermixed with large crystals was introduced by an Englishman, Matthew Boulton of Birmingham. Art Nouveau In the 1890s, jewellers began to explore the potential of the growing Art Nouveau style and the closely related German Jugendstil, British (and to some extent American) Arts and Crafts Movement, Catalan Modernisme, Austro-Hungarian Sezession, Italian "Liberty", etc. Art Nouveau jewellery encompassed many distinct features including a focus on the female form and an emphasis on colour, most commonly rendered through the use of enamelling techniques including basse-taille, champleve, cloisonné, and plique-à-jour. Motifs included orchids, irises, pansies, vines, swans, peacocks, snakes, dragonflies, mythological creatures, and the female silhouette. René Lalique, working for the Paris shop of Samuel Bing, was recognised by contemporaries as a leading figure in this trend. The Darmstadt Artists' Colony and Wiener Werkstätte provided perhaps the most significant input to the trend, while in Denmark Georg Jensen, though best known for his Silverware, also contributed significant pieces. In England, Liberty & Co., (notably through the Cymric designs of Archibald Knox) and the British arts & crafts movement of Charles Robert Ashbee contributed slightly more linear but still characteristic designs. The new style moved the focus of the jeweller's art from the setting of stones to the artistic design of the piece itself. Lalique's dragonfly design is one of the best examples of this. Enamels played a large role in technique, while sinuous organic lines are the most recognisable design feature. The end of World War I once again changed public attitudes, and a more sober style developed. Art Deco Growing political tensions, the after-effects of the war, and a reaction against the perceived decadence of the turn of the 20th century led to simpler forms, combined with more effective manufacturing for mass production of high-quality jewellery. Covering the period of the 1920s and 1930s, the style has become popularly known as Art Deco. Walter Gropius and the German Bauhaus movement, with their philosophy of "no barriers between artists and craftsmen" led to some interesting and stylistically simplified forms. Modern materials were also introduced: plastics and aluminium were first used in jewellery, and of note are the chromed pendants of Russian-born Bauhaus master Naum Slutzky. Technical mastery became as valued as the material itself. In the West, this period saw the reinvention of granulation by the German Elizabeth Treskow, although development of the re-invention has continued into the 1990s. It is based on the basic shapes. Asia In Asia, the Indian subcontinent has the longest continuous legacy of jewellery making anywhere, Asia was the first place where these jewellery were made in large numbers for the royals with a history of over 5,000 years. One of the first to start jewellery making were the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization, in what is now predominately modern-day Pakistan and part of northern and western India. Early jewellery making in China started around the same period, but it became widespread with the spread of Buddhism around 2,000 years ago. China The Chinese used silver in their jewellery more than gold. Blue kingfisher feathers were tied onto early Chinese jewellery and later, blue gems and glass were incorporated into designs. However, jade was preferred over any other stone. The Chinese revered jade because of the human-like qualities they assigned to it, such as its hardness, durability, and beauty. The first jade pieces were very simple, but as time progressed, more complex designs evolved. Jade rings from between the 4th and 7th centuries BC show evidence of having been worked with a compound milling machine, hundreds of years before the first mention of such equipment in the west. In China, the most uncommon piece of jewellery is the earring, which was worn neither by men nor women. In modern times, earrings are still considered culturally taboo for men in China—in fact, in 2019, the Chinese video streaming service iQiyi began blurring the ears of male actors wearing earrings. Amulets were common, often with a Chinese symbol or dragon. Dragons, Chinese symbols, and phoenixes were frequently depicted on jewellery designs. The Chinese often placed their jewellery in their graves. Most Chinese graves found by archaeologists contain decorative jewellery. Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent has a long jewellery history, which has gone through various changes via cultural influence and politics for more than 5,000–8,000 years. Because India had an abundant supply of precious metals and gems, it prospered financially through export and exchange with other countries. While European traditions were heavily influenced by waxing and waning empires, India enjoyed a continuous development of art forms for some 5,000 years. One of the first to start jewellery making were the peoples of the Indus Valley Civilization. By 1500 BC, the peoples of the Indus Valley were creating gold earrings and necklaces, bead necklaces, and metallic bangles. Before 2100 BC, prior to the period when metals were widely used, the largest jewellery trade in the Indus Valley region was the bead trade. Beads in the Indus Valley were made using simple techniques. First, a bead maker would need a rough stone, which would be bought from an eastern stone trader. The stone would then be placed into a hot oven where it would be heated until it turned deep red, a colour highly prized by people of the Indus Valley. The red stone would then be chipped to the right size and a hole bored through it with primitive drills. The beads were then polished. Some beads were also painted with designs. This art form was often passed down through the family. Children of bead makers often learned how to work beads from a young age. Each stone had its own characteristics related to Hinduism. Jewellery in the Indus Valley was worn predominantly by females, who wore numerous clay or shell bracelets on their wrists. They were often shaped like doughnuts and painted black. Over time, clay bangles were discarded for more durable ones. In present-day India, bangles are made out of metal or glass. Other pieces that women frequently wore were thin bands of gold that would be worn on the forehead, earrings, primitive brooches, chokers, and gold rings. Although women wore jewellery the most, some men in the Indus Valley wore beads. Small beads were often crafted to be placed in men and women's hair. The beads were about one millimetre long. A female skeleton (presently on display at the National Museum, New Delhi, India) wears a carlinean bangle (bracelet) on her left hand. Kada is a special kind of bracelet and is widely popular in Indian culture. They symbolize animals such as peacock, elephant, etc. According to Hindu belief, gold and silver are considered as sacred metals. Gold is symbolic of the warm sun, while silver suggests the cool moon. Both are the quintessential metals of Indian jewellery. Pure gold does not oxidise or corrode with time, which is why Hindu tradition associates gold with immortality. Gold imagery occurs frequently in ancient Indian literature. In the Vedic Hindu belief of cosmological creation, the source of physical and spiritual human life originated in and evolved from a golden womb (hiranyagarbha) or egg (hiranyanda), a metaphor of the sun, whose light rises from the primordial waters. Jewellery had great status with India's royalty; it was so powerful that they established laws, limiting wearing of jewellery to royalty. Only royalty and a few others to whom they granted permission could wear gold ornaments on their feet. This would normally be considered breaking the appreciation of the sacred metals. Even though the majority of the Indian population wore jewellery, Maharajas and people related to royalty had a deeper connection with jewellery. The Maharaja's role was so important that the Hindu philosophers identified him as central to the smooth working of the world. He was considered as a divine being, a deity in human form, whose duty was to uphold and protect dharma, the moral order of the universe. Navaratna (nine gems) is a powerful jewel frequently worn by a Maharaja (Emperor). It is an amulet, which comprises diamond, pearl, ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, cat's eye, coral, and hyacinth (red zircon). Each of these stones is associated with a celestial deity, represented the totality of the Hindu universe when all nine gems are together. The diamond is the most powerful gem among the nine stones. There were various cuts for the gemstone. Indian Kings bought gemstones privately from the sellers. Maharaja and other royal family members value gem as Hindu God. They exchanged gems with people to whom they were very close, especially the royal family members and other intimate allies. India was the first country to mine diamonds, with some mines dating back to 296 BC. India traded the diamonds, realising their valuable qualities. Historically, diamonds have been given to retain or regain a lover's or ruler's lost favour, as symbols of tribute, or as an expression of fidelity in exchange for concessions and protection. Mughal emperors and Kings used the diamonds as a means of assuring their immortality by having their names and worldly titles inscribed upon them. Moreover, it has played and continues to play a pivotal role in Indian social, political, economic, and religious event, as it often has done elsewhere. In Indian history, diamonds have been used to acquire military equipment, finance wars, foment revolutions, and tempt defections. They have contributed to the abdication or the decapitation of potentates. They have been used to murder a representative of the dominating power by lacing his food with crushed diamond. Indian diamonds have been used as security to finance large loans needed to buttress politically or economically tottering regimes. Victorious military heroes have been honoured by rewards of diamonds and also have been used as ransom payment for release from imprisonment or abduction. Today, many of the jewellery designs and traditions are used, and jewellery is commonplace in Indian ceremonies and weddings. North and South America Jewellery played a major role in the fate of the Americas when the Spanish established an empire to seize South American gold. Jewellery making developed in the Americas 5,000 years ago in Central and South America. Large amounts of gold was easily accessible, and the Aztecs, Mixtecs, Mayans, and numerous Andean cultures, such as the Mochica of Peru, created beautiful pieces of jewellery. With the Mochica culture, goldwork flourished. The pieces are no longer simple metalwork, but are now masterful examples of jewellery making. Pieces are sophisticated in their design, and feature inlays of turquoise, mother of pearl, spondylus shell, and amethyst. The nose and ear ornaments, chest plates, small containers and whistles are considered masterpieces of ancient Peruvian culture. Among the Aztecs, only nobility wore gold jewellery, as it showed their rank, power, and wealth. Gold jewellery was most common in the Aztec Empire and was often decorated with feathers from Quetzal birds and others. In general, the more jewellery an Aztec noble wore, the higher his status or prestige. The Emperor and his High Priests, for example, would be nearly completely covered in jewellery when making public appearances. Although gold was the most common and a popular material used in Aztec jewellery, jade, turquoise, and certain feathers were considered more valuable. In addition to adornment and status, the Aztecs also used jewellery in sacrifices to appease the gods. Priests also used gem-encrusted daggers to perform animal and human sacrifices. Another ancient American civilization with expertise in jewellery making were the Maya. At the peak of their civilization, the Maya were making jewellery from jade, gold, silver, bronze, and copper. Maya designs were similar to those of the Aztecs, with lavish headdresses and jewellery. The Maya also traded in precious gems. However, in earlier times, the Maya had little access to metal, so they made the majority of their jewellery out of bone or stone. Merchants and nobility were the only few that wore expensive jewellery in the Maya region, much the same as with the Aztecs. In North America, Native Americans used shells, wood, turquoise, and soapstone, almost unavailable in South and Central America. The turquoise was used in necklaces and to be placed in earrings. Native Americans with access to oyster shells, often located in only one location in America, traded the shells with other tribes, showing the great importance of the body adornment trade in Northern America. Native American Native American jewellery is the personal adornment, often in the forms of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, pins, brooches, labrets, and more, made by the Indigenous peoples of the United States. Native American jewellery reflects the cultural diversity and history of its makers. Native American tribes continue to develop distinct aesthetics rooted in their personal artistic visions and cultural traditions. Artists create jewellery for adornment, ceremonies, and trade. Lois Sherr Dubin writes, "[i]n the absence of written languages, adornment became an important element of Indian [Native American] communication, conveying many levels of information." Later, jewellery and personal adornment "...signaled resistance to assimilation. It remains a major statement of tribal and individual identity." Within the Haida Nation of the Pacific Northwest, copper was used as a form of jewelry for creating bracelets. Metalsmiths, beaders, carvers, and lapidaries combine a variety of metals, hardwoods, precious and semi-precious gemstones, beadwork, quillwork, teeth, bones, hide, vegetal fibres, and other materials to create jewellery. Contemporary Native American jewellery ranges from hand-quarried and processed stones and shells to computer-fabricated steel and titanium jewellery. Pacific Jewellery making in the Pacific started later than in other areas because of recent human settlement. Early Pacific jewellery was made of bone, wood, and other natural materials, and thus has not survived. Most Pacific jewellery is worn above the waist, with headdresses, necklaces, hair pins, and arm and waist belts being the most common pieces. Jewellery in the Pacific, with the exception of Australia, is worn to be a symbol of either fertility or power. Elaborate headdresses are worn by many Pacific cultures and some, such as the inhabitants of Papua New Guinea, wear certain headdresses once they have killed an enemy. Tribesman may wear boar bones through their noses. Island jewellery is still very much primal because of the lack of communication with outside cultures. Some areas of Borneo and Papua New Guinea are yet to be explored by Western nations. However, the island nations that were flooded with Western missionaries have had drastic changes made to their jewellery designs. Missionaries saw any type of tribal jewellery as a sign of the wearer's devotion to paganism. Thus many tribal designs were lost forever in the mass conversion to Christianity. Australia is now the number one supplier of opals in the world. Opals had already been mined in Europe and South America for many years prior, but in the late 19th century, the Australian opal market became predominant. Australian opals are only mined in a few select places around the country, making it one of the most profitable stones in the Pacific. The New Zealand Māori traditionally had a strong culture of personal adornment, most famously the hei-tiki. Hei-tikis are traditionally carved by hand from bone, nephrite, or bowenite. Nowadays a wide range of such traditionally inspired items such as bone carved pendants based on traditional fishhooks hei matau and other greenstone jewellery are popular with young New Zealanders of all backgrounds – for whom they relate to a generalized sense of New Zealand identity. These trends have contributed towards a worldwide interest in traditional Māori culture and arts. Other than jewellery created through Māori influence, modern jewellery in New Zealand is multicultural and varied. Modern Most modern commercial jewellery continues traditional forms and styles, but designers such as Georg Jensen have widened the concept of wearable art. The advent of new materials, such as plastics, Precious Metal Clay (PMC), and colouring techniques, has led to increased variety in styles. Other advances, such as the development of improved pearl harvesting by people such as Mikimoto Kōkichi and the development of improved quality artificial gemstones such as moissanite (a diamond simulant), has placed jewellery within the economic grasp of a much larger segment of the population. The "jewellery as art" movement was spearheaded by artisans such as Robert Lee Morris and continued by designers such as Gill Forsbrook in the UK. Influence from other cultural forms is also evident. One example of this is bling-bling style jewellery, popularised by hip-hop and rap artists in the early 21st century, e.g. grills, a type of jewellery worn over the teeth. The late 20th century saw the blending of European design with oriental techniques such as Mokume-gane. The following are innovations in the decades straddling the year 2000: "Mokume-gane, hydraulic die forming, anti-clastic raising, fold-forming, reactive metal anodising, shell forms, PMC, photoetching, and [use of] CAD/CAM." Also, 3D printing as a production technique gains more and more importance. With a great variety of services offering this production method, jewellery design becomes accessible
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but are often extremely long-lived; in European cultures the most common forms of jewellery listed above have persisted since ancient times, while other forms such as adornments for the nose or ankle, important in other cultures, are much less common. Jewellery may be made from a wide range of materials. Gemstones and similar materials such as amber and coral, precious metals, beads, and shells have been widely used, and enamel has often been important. In most cultures jewellery can be understood as a status symbol, for its material properties, its patterns, or for meaningful symbols. Jewellery has been made to adorn nearly every body part, from hairpins to toe rings, and even genital jewellery. In modern European culture the amount worn by adult males is relatively low compared with other cultures and other periods in European culture. The word jewellery itself is derived from the word jewel, which was anglicised from the Old French "jouel", and beyond that, to the Latin word "jocale", meaning plaything. In British English, Indian English, New Zealand English, Hiberno-English, Australian English, and South African English it is spelled jewellery, while the spelling is jewelry in American English. Both are used in Canadian English, though jewelry prevails by a two to one margin. In French and a few other European languages the equivalent term, joaillerie, may also cover decorated metalwork in precious metal such as objets d'art and church items, not just objects worn on the person. Form and function Humans have used jewellery for a number of different reasons: functional, generally to fix clothing or hair in place as a marker of social status and personal status, as with a wedding ring as a signifier of some form of affiliation, whether ethnic, religious or social to provide talismanic protection (in the form of amulets) as an artistic display as a carrier or symbol of personal meaning – such as love, mourning, a personal milestone or even luck superstition Most cultures at some point have had a practice of keeping large amounts of wealth stored in the form of jewellery. Numerous cultures store wedding dowries in the form of jewellery or make jewellery as a means to store or display coins. Alternatively, jewellery has been used as a currency or trade good. an example being the use of slave beads. Many items of jewellery, such as brooches and buckles, originated as purely functional items, but evolved into decorative items as their functional requirement diminished. Jewellery can symbolise group membership (as in the case, of the Christian crucifix or the Jewish Star of David) or status (as in the case of chains of office, or the Western practice of married people wearing wedding rings). Wearing of amulets and devotional medals to provide protection or to ward off evil is common in some cultures. These may take the form of symbols (such as the ankh), stones, plants, animals, body parts (such as the Khamsa), or glyphs (such as stylised versions of the Throne Verse in Islamic art). Materials and methods In creating jewellery, gemstones, coins, or other precious items are often used, and they are typically set into precious metals. Platinum alloys range from 900 (90% pure) to 950 (95.0% pure). The silver used in jewellery is usually sterling silver, or 92.5% fine silver. In costume jewellery, stainless steel findings are sometimes used. Other commonly used materials include glass, such as fused-glass or enamel; wood, often carved or turned; shells and other natural animal substances such as bone and ivory; natural clay; polymer clay; Hemp and other twines have been used as well to create jewellery that has more of a natural feel. However, any inclusion of lead or lead solder will give a British Assay office (the body which gives U.K. jewellery its stamp of approval, the Hallmark) the right to destroy the piece, however it is very rare for the assay office to do so. Beads are frequently used in jewellery. These may be made of glass, gemstones, metal, wood, shells, clay and polymer clay. Beaded jewellery commonly encompasses necklaces, bracelets, earrings, belts and rings. Beads may be large or small; the smallest type of beads used are known as seed beads, these are the beads used for the "woven" style of beaded jewellery. Seed beads are also used in an embroidery technique where they are sewn onto fabric backings to create broad collar neck pieces and beaded bracelets. Bead embroidery, a popular type of handwork during the Victorian era, is enjoying a renaissance in modern jewellery making. Beading, or beadwork, is also very popular in many African and indigenous North American cultures. Silversmiths, goldsmiths, and lapidaries use methods including forging, casting, soldering or welding, cutting, carving and "cold-joining" (using adhesives, staples and rivets to assemble parts). Diamonds Diamonds were first mined in India. Pliny may have mentioned them, although there is some debate as to the exact nature of the stone he referred to as Adamas. In 2005, Australia, Botswana, Russia and Canada ranked among the primary sources of gemstone diamond production. There are negative consequences of the diamond trade in certain areas. Diamonds mined during the recent civil wars in Angola, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and other nations have been labelled as blood diamonds when they are mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency. The British crown jewels contain the Cullinan Diamond, part of the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found (1905), at 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g). Now popular in engagement rings, this usage dates back to the marriage of Maximilian I to Mary of Burgundy in 1477. A popular style is the diamond solitaire, which features a single large diamond mounted prominently. Within solitaire, there are 3 categories in which a ring can be classified into: prong, bezel and tension setting. Other gemstones Many precious and semiprecious stones are used for jewellery. Among them are: Amber Amber, an ancient organic gemstone, is composed of tree resin that has hardened over time. The stone must be at least one million years old to be classified as amber, and some amber can be up to 120 million years old. Amethyst Amethyst has historically been the most prized gemstone in the quartz family. It is treasured for its purple hue, which can range in tone from light to dark. Emerald Emeralds are one of the three main precious gemstones (along with rubies and sapphires) and are known for their fine green to bluish green colour. They have been treasured throughout history, and some historians report that the Egyptians mined emerald as early as 3500 BC. Jade Jade is most commonly associated with the colour green but can come in a number of other colours as well. Jade is closely linked to Asian culture, history, and tradition, and is sometimes referred to as the stone of heaven. Jasper Jasper is a gemstone of the chalcedony family that comes in a variety of colours. Often, jasper will feature unique and interesting patterns within the coloured stone. Picture jasper is a type of jasper known for the colours (often beiges and browns) and swirls in the stone's pattern. Quartz Quartz refers to a family of crystalline gemstones of various colours and sizes. Among the well-known types of quartz are rose quartz (which has a delicate pink colour), and smoky quartz (which comes in a variety of shades of translucent brown). A number of other gemstones, such as Amethyst and Citrine, are also part of the quartz family. Rutilated quartz is a popular type of quartz containing needle-like inclusions. Ruby Rubies are known for their intense red colour and are among the most highly valued precious gemstones. Rubies have been treasured for millennia. In Sanskrit, the word for ruby is ratnaraj, meaning king of precious stones. Sapphire The most popular form of sapphire is blue sapphire, which is known for its medium to deep blue colour and strong saturation. Fancy sapphires of various colours are also available. In the United States, blue sapphire tends to be the most popular and most affordable of the three major precious gemstones (emerald, ruby, and sapphire). Turquoise Turquoise is found in only a few places on earth, and the world's largest turquoise-producing region is the southwest United States. Turquoise is prized for its attractive colour, most often an intense medium blue or a greenish blue, and its ancient heritage. Turquoise is used in a great variety of jewellery styles. It is perhaps most closely associated with southwest and Native American jewellery, but it is also used in many sleek, modern styles. Some turquoise contains a matrix of dark brown markings, which provides an interesting contrast to the gemstone's bright blue colour. Some gemstones (like pearls, coral, and amber) are classified as organic, meaning that they are produced by living organisms. Others are inorganic, meaning that they are generally composed of and arise from minerals. Some gems, for example, amethyst, have become less valued as methods of extracting and importing them have progressed. Some man-made gems can serve in place of natural gems, such as cubic zirconia, which can be used in place of diamond. Metal finishes For platinum, gold, and silver jewellery, there are many techniques to create finishes. The most common are high-polish, satin/matte, brushed, and hammered. High-polished jewellery is the most common and gives the metal a highly reflective, shiny look. Satin, or matte finish reduces the shine and reflection of the jewellery, and this is commonly used to accentuate gemstones such as diamonds. Brushed finishes give the jewellery a textured look and are created by brushing a material (similar to sandpaper) against the metal, leaving "brush strokes". Hammered finishes are typically created by using a rounded steel hammer and hammering the jewellery to give it a wavy texture. Some jewellery is plated to give it a shiny, reflective look or to achieve a desired colour. Sterling silver jewellery may be plated with a thin layer of 0.999 fine silver (a process known as flashing) or may be plated with rhodium or gold. Base metal costume jewellery may also be plated with silver, gold, or rhodium for a more attractive finish. Impact on society Jewellery has been used to denote status. In ancient Rome, only certain ranks could wear rings; later, sumptuary laws dictated who could wear what type of jewellery. This was also based on rank of the citizens of that time. Cultural dictates have also played a significant role. For example, the wearing of earrings by Western men was considered effeminate in the 19th century and early 20th century. More recently, the display of body jewellery, such as piercings, has become a mark of acceptance or seen as a badge of courage within some groups but is completely rejected in others. Likewise, hip hop culture has popularised the slang term bling-bling, which refers to ostentatious display of jewellery by men or women. Conversely, the jewellery industry in the early 20th century launched a campaign to popularise wedding rings for men, which caught on, as well as engagement rings for men, which did not, going so far as to create a false history and claim that the practice had medieval roots. By the mid-1940s, 85% of weddings in the U.S. featured a double-ring ceremony, up from 15% in the 1920s. Some religions have specific rules or traditions surrounding jewellery (or even prohibiting it) and many religions have edicts against excessive display. Islam, for instance, considers the wearing of gold by men as Haraam. The majority of Islamic jewellery was in the form of bridal dowries, and traditionally was not handed down from generation to generation; instead, on a woman's death it was sold at the souk and recycled or sold to passers-by. Islamic jewellery from before the 19th century is thus exceedingly rare. Some Christian denominations forbid the use of jewellery by both men and women, including Amish-Mennonites and Holiness churches. The New Testament of the Bible gives injunctions against the wearing of gold, in the writings of the apostles Paul and Peter, and Revelations, describes "the great whore", or false religious system, as being "decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand." (Rev. 17:4) History The history of jewellery is long and goes back many years, with many different uses among different cultures. It has endured for thousands of years and has provided various insights into how ancient cultures worked. Prehistory The earliest known Jewellery was actually created not by humans (Homo sapiens) but by Neanderthal living in Europe. Specifically, perforated beads made from small sea shells have been found dating to 115,000 years ago in the Cueva de los Aviones, a cave along the southeast coast of Spain. Later in Kenya, at Enkapune Ya Muto, beads made from perforated ostrich egg shells have been dated to more than 40,000 years ago. In Russia, a stone bracelet and marble ring are attributed to a similar age. Later, the European early modern humans had crude necklaces and bracelets of bone, teeth, berries, and stone hung on pieces of string or animal sinew, or pieces of carved bone used to secure clothing together. In some cases, jewellery had shell or mother-of-pearl pieces. A decorated engraved pendant (the Star Carr Pendant) dating to around 11,000 BC, and thought to be the oldest Mesolithic art in Britain, was found at the site of Star Carr in North Yorkshire in 2015. In southern Russia, carved bracelets made of mammoth tusk have been found. The Venus of Hohle Fels features a perforation at the top, showing that it was intended to be worn as a pendant. Around seven-thousand years ago, the first sign of copper jewellery was seen. In October 2012 the Museum of Ancient History in Lower Austria revealed that they had found a grave of a female jewellery worker – forcing archaeologists to take a fresh look at prehistoric gender roles after it appeared to be that of a female fine metal worker – a profession that was previously thought to have been carried out exclusively by men. Africa Egypt The first signs of established jewellery making in Ancient Egypt was around 3,000–5,000 years ago. The Egyptians preferred the luxury, rarity, and workability of gold over other metals. In Predynastic Egypt jewellery soon began to symbolise political and religious power in the community. Although it was worn by wealthy Egyptians in life, it was also worn by them in death, with jewellery commonly placed among grave goods. In conjunction with gold jewellery, Egyptians used coloured glass, along with semi-precious gems. The colour of the jewellery had significance. Green, for example, symbolised fertility. Lapis lazuli and silver had to be imported from beyond the country's borders. Egyptian designs were most common in Phoenician jewellery. Also, ancient Turkish designs found in Persian jewellery suggest that trade between the Middle East and Europe was not uncommon. Women wore elaborate gold and silver pieces that were used in ceremonies. Maghreb countries in North Africa Jewellery of the Berber cultures is a style of traditional jewellery worn by women and girls in the rural areas of the Maghreb region in North Africa inhabited by indigenous Berber people (in Berber language: Amazigh, Imazighen, pl). Following long social and cultural traditions, the silversmiths of different ethnic Berber groups of Morocco, Algeria and neighbouring countries created intricate jewellery to adorn their women and that formed part of their ethnic identity. Traditional Berber jewellery was usually made of silver and includes elaborate brooches made of triangular plates and pins (fibula), originally used as clasps for garments, but also necklaces, bracelets, earrings and similar items. Another major type is the so-called khmissa (local pronunciation of the Arabic word "khamsa" for the number "five"), which is called afus in the Berber language (Tamazight). This form represents the five fingers of the hand and is traditionally believed both by Muslims as well as Jewish people to protect against the Evil Eye. Europe and the Middle East The first gold jewelry from Bulgaria The oldest gold jewelry in the world is dating from 4,600 BC to 4,200 BC and was discovered in Europe, at the site of Varna Necropolis, near the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria. Several prehistoric Bulgarian finds are considered no less old – the golden treasures of Hotnitsa, Durankulak, artifacts from the Kurgan settlement of Yunatsite near Pazardzhik, the golden treasure Sakar, as well as beads and gold jewelry found in the Kurgan settlement of Provadia – Solnitsata (“salt pit”). However, Varna gold is most often called the oldest since this treasure is the largest and most diverse. Mesopotamia By approximately 5,000 years ago, jewellery-making had become a significant craft in the cities of Mesopotamia. The most significant archaeological evidence comes from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, where hundreds of burials dating 2900–2300 BC were unearthed; tombs such as that of Puabi contained a multitude of artefacts in gold, silver, and semi-precious stones, such as lapis lazuli crowns embellished with gold figurines, close-fitting collar necklaces, and jewel-headed pins. In Assyria, men and women both wore extensive amounts of jewellery, including amulets, ankle bracelets, heavy multi-strand necklaces, and cylinder seals. Jewellery in Mesopotamia tended to be manufactured from thin metal leaf and was set with large numbers of brightly coloured stones (chiefly agate, lapis, carnelian, and jasper). Favoured shapes included leaves, spirals, cones, and bunches of grapes. Jewellers created works both for human use and for adorning statues and idols. They employed a wide variety of sophisticated metalworking techniques, such as cloisonné, engraving, fine granulation, and filigree. Extensive and meticulously maintained records pertaining to the trade and manufacture of jewellery have also been unearthed throughout Mesopotamian archaeological sites. One record in the Mari royal archives, for example, gives the composition of various items of jewellery: Greece The Greeks started using gold and gems in jewellery in 1600 BC, although beads shaped as shells and animals were produced widely in earlier times. Around 1500 BC, the main techniques of working gold in Greece included casting, twisting bars, and making wire. Many of these sophisticated techniques were popular in the Mycenaean period, but unfortunately this skill was lost at the end of the Bronze Age. The forms and shapes of jewellery in ancient Greece such as the armring (13th century BC), brooch (10th century BC) and pins (7th century BC), have varied widely since the Bronze Age as well. Other forms of jewellery include wreaths, earrings, necklace and bracelets. A good example of the high quality that gold working techniques could achieve in Greece is the 'Gold Olive Wreath' (4th century BC), which is modeled on the type of wreath given as a prize for winners in athletic competitions like the Olympic Games. Jewellery dating from 600 to 475 BC is not well represented in the archaeological record, but after the Persian wars the quantity of jewellery again became more plentiful. One particularly popular type of design at this time was a bracelet decorated with snake and animal-heads Because these bracelets used considerably more metal, many examples were made from bronze. By 300 BC, the Greeks had mastered making coloured jewellery and using amethysts, pearl, and emeralds. Also, the first signs of cameos appeared, with the Greeks creating them from Indian Sardonyx, a striped brown pink and cream agate stone. Greek jewellery was often simpler than in other cultures, with simple designs and workmanship. However, as time progressed, the designs grew in complexity and different materials were soon used. Jewellery in Greece was hardly worn and was mostly used for public appearances or on special occasions. It was frequently given as a gift and was predominantly worn by women to show their wealth, social status, and beauty. The jewellery was often supposed to give the wearer protection from the "Evil Eye" or endowed the owner with supernatural powers, while others had a religious symbolism. Older pieces of jewellery that have been found were dedicated to the Gods. They worked two styles of pieces: cast pieces and pieces hammered out of sheet metal. Fewer pieces of cast jewellery have been recovered. It was made by casting the metal onto two stone or clay moulds. The two halves were then joined together, and wax, followed by molten metal, was placed in the centre. This technique had been practised since the late Bronze Age. The more common form of jewellery was the hammered sheet type. Sheets of metal would be hammered to thickness and then soldered together. The inside of the two sheets would be filled with wax or another liquid to preserve the metal work. Different techniques, such as using a stamp or engraving, were then used to create motifs on the jewellery. Jewels may then be added to hollows or glass poured into special cavities on the surface.'The Greeks took much of their designs from outer origins, such as Asia, when Alexander the Great conquered part of it. In earlier designs, other European influences can also be detected. When Roman rule came to Greece, no change in jewellery designs was detected. However, by 27 BC, Greek designs were heavily influenced by the Roman culture. That is not to say that indigenous design did not thrive. Numerous polychrome butterfly pendants on silver foxtail chains, dating from the 1st century, have been found near Olbia, with only one example ever found anywhere else. Etruscan Gorgons, pomegranates, acorns, lotus flowers and palms were a clear indicator of Greek influence in Etruscan jewelry. The modelling of heads, which was a typical practice from the Greek severe period, was a technique that spread throughout the Etruscan territory. An even clearer evidence of new influences is the shape introduced in the Orientalizing era: The Bullae. A pear shaped vessel used to hold perfume. Its surface was usually decorated with repoussé and engraved symbolic figures. Much of the jewelry found was not worn by Etruscans, but were made to accompany them in the after world. Most, if not all, techniques of Etruscan goldsmiths were not invented by them as they are dated to the third millennium BC. Rome Although jewellery work was abundantly diverse in earlier times, especially among the barbarian tribes such as the Celts, when the Romans conquered most of Europe, jewellery was changed as smaller factions developed the Roman designs. The most common artefact of early Rome was the brooch, which was used to secure clothing together. The Romans used a diverse range of materials for their jewellery from their extensive resources across the continent. Although they used gold, they sometimes used bronze or bone, and in earlier times, glass beads & pearl. As early as 2,000 years ago, they imported Sri Lankan sapphires and Indian diamonds and used emeralds and amber in their jewellery. In Roman-ruled England, fossilised wood called jet from Northern England was often carved into pieces of jewellery. The early Italians worked in crude gold and created clasps, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. They also produced larger pendants that could be filled with perfume. Like the Greeks, often the purpose of Roman jewellery was to ward off the "Evil Eye" given by other people. Although women wore a vast array of jewellery, men often only wore a finger ring. Although they were expected to wear at least one ring, some Roman men wore a ring on every finger, while others wore none. Roman men and women wore rings with an engraved gem on it that was used with wax to seal documents, a practice that continued into medieval times when kings and noblemen used the same method. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the jewellery designs were absorbed by neighbouring countries and tribes. Middle Ages Post-Roman Europe continued to develop jewellery making skills. The Celts and Merovingians in particular are noted for their jewellery, which in terms of quality matched or exceeded that of the Byzantine Empire.
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(2004) Berglin nästa (2006) Berglins Tolva ("Berglin's Twelfth") (2007) Berglin den trettonde : samlade teckningar av Jan och Maria Berglin ("Berglin the Thirteenth: drawings by Jan and Maria Berglin") (2008) Varje dag man inte köper pizza är en seger ("Every day you don't get pizza is a victory") (2009) Berglin den trettonde, Kartago 2008 (with Maria Berglin) Någon ser dig när du petar näsan Galago, 2010 (with Maria Berglin) Bronto Berglin, Galago 2011 (with Maria Berglin) (samlade serier 1999–2008) Den speciella & den allmänna vardagsteorin, Bonnier Fakta, 2012 (with Maria Berglin) Det är den som möter som ska backa, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2013 (with Maria Berglin) Berglins stora bok om kropp & hälsa, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2014 (with Maria Berglin) Mitt i rondellen, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2014 (with Maria Berglin) Det sista rotavdraget, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2015 (with Maria Berglin) God Jul Luj Dog – samlade julteckningar, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2015 (with Maria Berglin) Serier från andra våningen, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2016 (with Maria Berglin) Kaos är granne med Bjällermalms Natur och Kultur, 2017 (with Maria Berglin) Nämenvaf…, Natur och Kultur, 2018 (with
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serier mot sekelslutsleda (1997) Andra bullar! (1998) Knektöppning – Ess i topp (1999) Magnum Berglin: Samlade teckningar 1989-1999 ("Collected drawings 1989-1999") (2001) Lagom Berglin (2002) Pytte Berglin (2003) Berglinska Tider (2004) Berglin nästa (2006) Berglins Tolva ("Berglin's Twelfth") (2007) Berglin den trettonde : samlade teckningar av Jan och Maria Berglin ("Berglin the Thirteenth: drawings by Jan and Maria Berglin") (2008) Varje dag man inte köper pizza är en seger ("Every day you don't get pizza is a victory") (2009) Berglin den trettonde, Kartago 2008 (with Maria Berglin) Någon ser dig när du petar näsan Galago, 2010 (with Maria Berglin) Bronto Berglin, Galago 2011 (with Maria Berglin) (samlade serier 1999–2008) Den speciella & den allmänna vardagsteorin, Bonnier Fakta, 2012 (with Maria Berglin) Det är den som möter som ska backa, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2013 (with Maria Berglin) Berglins stora bok om kropp & hälsa, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2014 (with Maria Berglin) Mitt i rondellen, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2014 (with Maria Berglin) Det sista rotavdraget, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2015 (with Maria Berglin) God Jul Luj Dog – samlade julteckningar, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2015 (with Maria Berglin) Serier från andra våningen, Wahlström & Widstrand, 2016 (with Maria Berglin) Kaos är granne med Bjällermalms Natur och Kultur, 2017 (with Maria Berglin) Nämenvaf…, Natur och Kultur, 2018 (with
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film project after a protracted period and, in July 2012, Jarmusch began shooting Only Lovers Left Alive with Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddleston (who replaced Fassbender), Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, and John Hurt, while Jarmusch's musical project SQÜRL were the main contributors to the film's soundtrack. The film screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), with Jarmusch explaining the seven-year completion time frame at the former: "The reason it took so long is that no one wanted to give us the money. It took years to put it together. Its getting more and more difficult for films that are a little unusual, or not predictable, or don't satisfy people's expectations of something." The film's budget was US$7 million and its UK release date was February 21, 2014. Paterson (2016) Jarmusch wrote and directed Paterson in 2016. The film follows the daily experiences of an inner-city bus driver and poet (Adam Driver) in Paterson, New Jersey, who shares the same name as the city. Paterson was inspired by objectivist American poet William Carlos Williams and his epic poem "Paterson". The film features the wry, minimalist style found in Jarmusch's other works and earned 22 award nominations for Jarmusch, Driver and Nellie, the dog featured in the film. The story focuses on Paterson's poetry writing efforts, interspersed with his observations and experiences of the residents he encounters on his bus route and in his daily life. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, writing: "A mild-mannered, almost startlingly undramatic work that offers discreet pleasures to longtime fans of the New York indie-scene veteran, who can always be counted on to go his own way." Eric Kohn, film critic of IndieWire wrote that the film was "an apt statement from Jarmusch, a filmmaker who continues to surprise and innovate while remaining true to his singular voice, and who here seems to have delivered its purest manifestation." The Dead Don't Die (2019) Jarmusch wrote and directed his first horror film, the zombie comedy The Dead Don't Die featuring an ensemble cast which included performances from Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Carol Kane, and Selena Gomez. On June 14, 2019 the film premiered at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival and received mixed reviews. The film was distributed by Focus Features. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote of the film "At times, the deadpan of Murray and Driver becomes, well, a bit deadening, and true wit is in short supply, even though the film remains amusing most of the way." Music In the early 1980s, Jarmusch was part of a revolving lineup of musicians in Robin Crutchfield's Dark Day project, and later became the keyboardist and one of two vocalists for The Del-Byzanteens, a No Wave band who released the LP Lies to Live By in 1982. Jarmusch is also featured on the album Wu-Tang Meets the Indie Culture (2005) in two interludes described by Sean Fennessy in a Pitchfork review of the album as both "bizarrely pretentious" and "reason alone to give it a listen". Jarmusch and Michel Gondry each contributed a remix to a limited edition release of the track "Blue Orchid" by The White Stripes in 2005. The author of a series of essays on influential bands, Jarmusch has also had at least two poems published. He is a founding member of The Sons of Lee Marvin, a humorous "semi-secret society" of artists resembling the iconic actor, which issues communiqués and meets on occasion for the ostensible purpose of watching Marvin's films. He released three collaborative albums with lutist Jozef van Wissem, Concerning the Entrance into Eternity (Important Records), The Mystery of Heaven (Sacred Bones Records), in 2012 and the 2019 release An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil (Sacred Bones Records). Jarmusch is a member of the avant-garde rock band SQÜRL with film associate Carter Logan and sound engineer Shane Stoneback. Band formed to create additional soundtrack for Jarmusch's film The Limits of Control, which they released together with two other songs on an EP called "Film Music from “The Limits Of Control” under the name Bad Rabbit. SQÜRL's version of Wanda Jackson's 1961 song "Funnel of Love", featuring Madeline Follin of Cults on vocals, opens Jarmusch's 2014 film Only Lovers Left Alive. Dutch lute composer Jozef van Wissem also collaborated with Jarmusch on the soundtrack of Only Lovers Left Alive, and the pair also plays in a duo. Jarmusch first met van Wissem on a street in New York City's SoHo neighborhood in 2007, at which time the lute player handed the director a CD. Several months later, Jarmusch asked van Wissem to send his catalog of recordings and the two started playing together as part of their developing friendship. Van Wissem explained in early April 2014: "I know the way [Jarmusch] makes his films is kind of like a musician. He has music in his head when he's writing a script so it's more informed by a tonal thing than it is by anything else." As a filmmaker In 2014 Jarmusch shunned the "auteur theory" and likened the filmmaking process to human sexual reproduction: I put 'A film by' as a protection of my rights, but I don't really believe it. It's important for me to have a final cut, and I do for every film. So I'm in the editing room every day, I'm the navigator of the ship, but I'm not the captain, I can't do it without everyone's equally valuable input. For me it's phases where I'm very solitary, writing, and then I'm preparing, getting the money, and then I'm with the crew and on a ship and it's amazing and exhausting and exhilarating, and then I'm alone with the editor again... I've said it before, it's like seduction, wild sex, and then pregnancy in the editing room. That's how it feels for me. Style Jarmusch has been characterized as a minimalist filmmaker whose idiosyncratic films are unhurried. His films often eschew traditional narrative structure, lacking clear plot progression and focus more on mood and character development. In an interview early in his career, he stated that his goal was "to approximate real time for the audience." Jarmusch's early work is marked by a brooding, contemplative tone, featuring extended silent scenes and prolonged still shots. He has experimented with a vignette format in three films that were either released, or begun around, the early 1990s: Mystery Train, Night on Earth and Coffee and Cigarettes. The Salt Lake Tribune critic Sean P. Means wrote that Jarmusch blends "film styles and genres with sharp wit and dark humor", while his style is also defined by a signature deadpan comedic tone. The protagonists of Jarmusch's films are usually lone adventurers. The director's male characters have been described by critic Jennie Yabroff as "three time losers, petty thiefs and inept con men, all... eminently likeable, if not down right charming"; while novelist Paul Auster described them as "laconic, withdrawn, sorrowful mumblers". Jarmusch has revealed that his instinct is a greater influence during the filmmaking process than any cognitive processes. He explained: "I feel like I have to listen to the film and let it tell me what it wants. Sometimes it mumbles and it isn't very clear." Films such as Dead Man and Limits of Control have polarized fans and general viewers alike, as Jarmusch's stylistic instinct is embedded in his strong sense of independence. Themes Though his films are predominantly set in the United States, Jarmusch has advanced the notion that he looks at America "through a foreigner's eyes", with the intention of creating a form of world cinema that synthesizes European and Japanese film with that of Hollywood. His films have often included foreign actors and characters, and (at times substantial) non-English dialogue. In his two later-nineties films, he dwelt on different cultures' experiences of violence, and on textual appropriations between cultures: a wandering Native American's love of William Blake, a black hitman's passionate devotion to the Hagakure. The interaction and syntheses between different cultures, the arbitrariness of national identity, and irreverence towards ethnocentric, patriotic or nationalistic sentiment are recurring themes in Jarmusch's work. Jarmusch's fascination with music is another characteristic that is readily apparent in his work. Musicians appear frequently in key roles—John Lurie, Tom Waits, Gary Farmer, Youki
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of New York University's School of the Arts (then under the direction of Hollywood director László Benedek). Despite his lack of experience in filmmaking, his submission of a collection of photographs and an essay about film secured his acceptance into the program. He studied there for four years, meeting fellow students and future collaborators Sara Driver, Tom DiCillo, Howard Brookner, and Spike Lee in the process. During the late 1970s in New York City, Jarmusch and his contemporaries were part of an alternative culture scene centered on the CBGB music club. In his final year at New York University, Jarmusch worked as an assistant to the film noir director Nicholas Ray, who was at that time teaching in the department. In an anecdote, Jarmusch recounted the formative experience of showing his mentor his first script; Ray disapproved of its lack of action, to which Jarmusch responded after meditating on the critique by reworking the script to be even less eventful. On Jarmusch's return with the revised script, Ray reacted favourably to his student's dissent, citing approvingly the young student's obstinate independence. Jarmusch was the only person Ray brought to work—as his personal assistant—on Lightning Over Water, a documentary about his dying years on which he was collaborating with Wim Wenders. Ray died in 1979 after a long fight with cancer. A few days afterwards, having been encouraged by Ray and New York underground filmmaker Amos Poe and using scholarship funds given by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation to pay for his school tuition, Jarmusch started work on a film for his final project. The university, unimpressed with Jarmusch's use of his funding as well as the project itself, promptly refused to award him a degree. Career 1980s Jarmusch's final year university project was completed in 1980 as Permanent Vacation, his first feature film. It had its premiere at the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg (formerly known as Filmweek Mannheim) and won the Josef von Sternberg Award. It was made on a shoestring budget of around $12,000 in misdirected scholarship funds and shot by cinematographer Tom DiCillo on 16 mm film. The 75 minute quasi-autobiographical feature follows an adolescent drifter (Chris Parker) as he wanders around downtown Manhattan. The film was not released theatrically, and did not attract the sort of adulation from critics that greeted his later work. The Washington Post staff writer Hal Hinson would disparagingly comment in an aside during a review of Jarmusch's Mystery Train (1989) that in the director's debut, "the only talent he demonstrated was for collecting egregiously untalented actors". The bleak and unrefined Permanent Vacation is nevertheless one of the director's most personal films, and established many of the hallmarks he would exhibit in his later work, including derelict urban settings, chance encounters, and a wry sensibility. Stranger Than Paradise (1984) Jarmusch's first major film, Stranger Than Paradise, was produced on a budget of approximately $125,000 and released in 1984 to much critical acclaim. A deadpan comedy recounting a strange journey of three disillusioned youths from New York through Cleveland to Florida, the film broke many conventions of traditional Hollywood filmmaking. It was awarded the Camera d'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival as well as the 1985 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film, and became a landmark work in modern independent film. Down by Law (1986) In 1986, Jarmusch wrote and directed Down by Law, starring musicians John Lurie and Tom Waits, and Italian comic actor Roberto Benigni (his introduction to American audiences) as three convicts who escape from a New Orleans jailhouse. Shot like the director's previous efforts in black and white, this constructivist neo-noir was Jarmusch's first collaboration with Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller, who had been known for his work with Wenders. Further films His next two films each experimented with parallel narratives: Mystery Train (1989) told three successive stories set on the same night in and around a small Memphis hotel, and Night on Earth (1991) involved five cab drivers and their passengers on rides in five different world cities, beginning at sundown in Los Angeles and ending at sunrise in Helsinki. Less bleak and somber than Jarmusch's earlier work, Mystery Train nevertheless retained the director's askance conception of America. He wrote Night on Earth in about a week, out of frustration at the collapse of the production of another film he had written and the desire to visit and collaborate with friends such as Benigni, Gena Rowlands, Winona Ryder and Isaach de Bankolé. As a result of his early work, Jarmusch became an influential representative of the trend of the American road movie. Not intended to appeal to mainstream filmgoers, these early Jarmusch films were embraced by art house audiences, gaining a small but dedicated American following and cult status in Europe and Japan. Each of the four films had its premiere at the New York Film Festival, while Mystery Train was in competition at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Jarmusch's distinctive aesthetic and auteur status fomented a critical backlash at the close of this early period, however; though reviewers praised the charm and adroitness of Mystery Train and Night On Earth, the director was increasingly charged with repetitiveness and risk-aversion. A film appearance in 1989 as a used car dealer in the cult comedy Leningrad Cowboys Go America further solidified his interest and participation in the road movie genre. In 1991 Jarmusch appeared as himself in Episode One of John Lurie's cult television series Fishing With John. 1990s Dead Man (1995) In 1995, Jarmusch released Dead Man, a period film set in the 19th century American West starring Johnny Depp and Gary Farmer. Produced at a cost of almost $9 million with a high-profile cast including John Hurt, Gabriel Byrne and, in his final role, Robert Mitchum, the film marked a significant departure for the director from his previous features. Earnest in tone in comparison to its self-consciously hip and ironic predecessors, Dead Man was thematically expansive and of an often violent and progressively more surreal character. The film was shot in black and white by Robby Müller, and features a score composed and performed by Neil Young, for whom Jarmusch subsequently filmed the tour documentary Year of the Horse, released to tepid reviews in 1997. Though ill-received by mainstream American reviewers, Dead Man found much favor internationally and among critics, many of whom lauded it as a visionary masterpiece. It has been hailed as one of the few films made by a Caucasian that presents an authentic Native American culture and character, and Jarmusch stands by it as such, though it has attracted both praise and castigation for its portrayal of the American West, violence, and especially Native Americans. Ghost Dog (1999) Following artistic success and critical acclaim in the American independent film community, he achieved mainstream recognition with his far-East philosophical crime film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999), shot in Jersey City and starring Forest Whitaker as a young inner-city man who has found purpose for his life by unyieldingly conforming it to the Hagakure, an 18th-century philosophy text and training manual for samurai, becoming, as directed, a terrifyingly deadly hit-man for a local mob boss to whom he may owe a debt, and who then betrays him. The soundtrack was supplied by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, which blends into the director's "aesthetics of sampling". The film was unique among other things for the number of books important to and discussed by its characters, most of them listed bibliographically as part of the end credits. The film is also considered to be a homage to Le Samourai, a 1967 French New Wave film by auteur Jean-Pierre Melville, which starred renowned French actor Alain Delon in a strikingly similar role and narrative. 2000s A five-year gap followed the release of Ghost Dog, which the director has attributed to a creative crisis he experienced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in New York City. 2004 saw the eventual release of Coffee and Cigarettes, a collection of eleven short films of characters sitting around drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes that had been filmed by Jarmusch over the course of the previous two decades. The first vignette, "Strange to Meet You", had been shot for and aired on Saturday Night Live in 1986, and paired Roberto Benigni with comedian Steven Wright. This had been followed three years later by "Twins", a segment featuring actors Steve Buscemi and Joie and Cinqué Lee, and then in 1993 with the Short Film Palme d'Or-winning "Somewhere in California", starring musicians Tom Waits and Iggy Pop. Broken Flowers (2005) He followed Coffee and Cigarettes in 2005 with Broken Flowers, which starred Bill Murray as an early retiree who goes in search of the mother of his unknown son in attempt to overcome a midlife crisis. Following the release of Broken Flowers, Jarmusch signed a deal with Fortissimo Films, whereby the distributor would fund and have "first-look" rights to the director's future films, and cover some of the overhead costs of his production company, Exoskeleton. The film premiered at the 58th Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or and received the Grand Prix. Film critic Peter Bradshaw for The Guardian described the film as "Jarmusch's most enjoyable, accessible work
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Certainly several church documents including a papal letter and two indulgences were printed, one of which was issued in Mainz. In view of the value of printing in quantity, seven editions in two styles were ordered, resulting in several thousand copies being printed. Some printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus, may have been printed by Gutenberg; these have been dated either 1451–52 or 1455. In 1455, Gutenberg completed copies of a beautifully executed folio Bible (Biblia Sacra), with 42 lines on each page. Copies sold for 30 florins each, which was roughly three years' wages for an average clerk. Nonetheless, it was much cheaper than a manuscript Bible that could take a single scribe over a year to prepare. After printing, some copies were rubricated or hand-illuminated in the same elegant way as manuscript Bibles from the same period. 48 substantially complete copies are known to survive, including two at the British Library that can be viewed and compared online. The text lacks modern features such as page numbers, indentations, and paragraph breaks. An undated 36-line edition of the Bible was printed, probably in Bamberg in 1458–60, possibly by Gutenberg. A large part of it was shown to have been set from a copy of Gutenberg's Bible, thus disproving earlier speculation that it was the earlier of the two. Printing method with movable type Gutenberg's early printing process, and what texts he printed with movable type, are not known in great detail. His later Bibles were printed in such a way as to have required large quantities of type, some estimates suggesting as many as 100,000 individual sorts. Setting each page would take, perhaps, half a day, and considering all the work in loading the press, inking the type, pulling the impressions, hanging up the sheets, distributing the type, etc., it is thought that the Gutenberg–Fust shop might have employed as many as 25 craftsmen. Gutenberg's technique of making movable type remains unclear. In the following decades, punches and copper matrices became standardized in the rapidly disseminating printing presses across Europe. Whether Gutenberg used this sophisticated technique or a somewhat primitive version has been the subject of considerable debate. In the standard process of making type, a hard metal punch (made by punchcutting, with the letter carved back to front) is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. This is then placed into a hand-held mould and a piece of type, or "sort", is cast by filling the mould with molten type-metal; this cools almost at once, and the resulting piece of type can be removed from the mould. The matrix can be reused to create hundreds, or thousands, of identical sorts so that the same character appearing anywhere within the book will appear very uniform, giving rise, over time, to the development of distinct styles of typefaces or fonts. After casting, the sorts are arranged into type cases, and used to make up pages which are inked and printed, a procedure which can be repeated hundreds, or thousands, of times. The sorts can be reused in any combination, earning the process the name of "movable type". (For details, see Typography.) The invention of the making of types with punch, matrix and mold has been widely attributed to Gutenberg. However, recent evidence suggests that Gutenberg's process was somewhat different. If he used the punch and matrix approach, all his letters should have been nearly identical, with some variation due to miscasting and inking. However, the type used in Gutenberg's earliest work shows other variations. In 2001, the physicist Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Princeton librarian Paul Needham, used digital scans of a Papal bull in the Scheide Library, Princeton, to carefully compare the same letters (types) appearing in different parts of the printed text. The irregularities in Gutenberg's type, particularly in simple characters such as the hyphen, suggested that the variations could not have come either from ink smear or from wear and damage on the pieces of metal on the types themselves. Although some identical types are clearly used on other pages, other variations, subjected to detailed image analysis, suggested that they could not have been produced from the same matrix. Transmitted light pictures of the page also appeared to reveal substructures in the type that could not arise from traditional punchcutting techniques. They hypothesized that the method involved impressing simple shapes to create alphabets in "cuneiform" style in a matrix made of some soft material, perhaps sand. Casting the type would destroy the mould, and the matrix would need to be recreated to make each additional sort. This could explain the variations in the type, as well as the substructures observed in the printed images. Thus, they speculated that "the decisive factor for the birth of typography", the use of reusable moulds for casting type, was a more progressive process than was previously thought. They suggested that the additional step of using the punch to create a mould that could be reused many times was not taken until twenty years later, in the 1470s. Others have not accepted some or all of their suggestions, and have interpreted the evidence in other ways, and the truth of the matter remains uncertain. A 1568 book Batavia by Hadrianus Junius from Holland claims that the idea of the movable type came to Gutenberg from Laurens Janszoon Coster via Fust, who was apprenticed to Coster in the 1430s and may have brought some of his equipment from Haarlem to Mainz. While Coster appears to have experimented with moulds and castable metal type, there is no evidence that he had actually printed anything with this technology. He was an inventor and a goldsmith. However, there is one indirect supporter of the claim that Coster might be the inventor. The author of the Cologne Chronicle of 1499 quotes Ulrich Zell, the first printer of Cologne, that printing was performed in Mainz in 1450, but that some type of printing of lower quality had previously occurred in the Netherlands. However, the chronicle does not mention the name of Coster, while it actually credits Gutenberg as the "first inventor of printing" in the very same passage (fol. 312). The first securely dated book by Dutch printers is from 1471, and the Coster connection is today regarded as a mere legend. The 19th-century printer and typefounder Fournier Le Jeune suggested that Gutenberg was not using type cast with a reusable matrix, but wooden types that were carved individually. A similar suggestion was made by Nash in 2004. This remains possible, albeit entirely unproven. Legacy Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime, the printing technologies spread quickly, and news and books began to travel across Europe much faster than before. It fed the growing Renaissance, and since it greatly facilitated scientific publishing, it was a major catalyst for the later scientific revolution. The capital of printing in Europe shifted to Venice, where visionary printers like Aldus Manutius ensured widespread availability of the major Greek and Latin texts. The claims of an Italian origin for movable type have also focused on this rapid rise of Italy in movable-type printing. This may perhaps be explained by the prior eminence of Italy in the paper and printing trade. Additionally, Italy's economy was growing rapidly at the time, facilitating the spread of literacy. Christopher Columbus had a geography book (printed with movable type) bought by his father. That book is in a Spanish museum, the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville. Finally, the city of Mainz was sacked in 1462, driving many (including a number of printers and punch cutters) into exile. Printing was also a factor in the Reformation. Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses were printed and circulated widely; subsequently he issued broadsheets outlining his anti-indulgences position (certificates of indulgences were one of the first items Gutenberg had printed). The broadsheet contributed to development of the newspaper. In the decades after Gutenberg, many conservative patrons looked down on cheap printed books; books produced by hand were considered more desirable. Today there is a large antique market for the earliest printed objects. Books printed prior to 1500 are known as incunabula. There are many statues of Gutenberg in Germany, including the famous one by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1837) at Gutenbergplatz in Mainz, home to the eponymous Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum on the history of early printing. The latter publishes the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, the leading periodical in the field. Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library, commemorates Gutenberg's name. The Mainzer Johannisnacht commemorates the person Johannes Gutenberg in his native city since 1968. In 1952, the United States Postal Service issued a five hundredth anniversary stamp commemorating Johannes Gutenberg invention of the movable-type printing press. In 1961 the Canadian philosopher and scholar Marshall McLuhan entitled his pioneering study in the fields of print culture, cultural studies, and media ecology, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. Regarded as one of the most influential people in human history, Gutenberg remains
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compared online. The text lacks modern features such as page numbers, indentations, and paragraph breaks. An undated 36-line edition of the Bible was printed, probably in Bamberg in 1458–60, possibly by Gutenberg. A large part of it was shown to have been set from a copy of Gutenberg's Bible, thus disproving earlier speculation that it was the earlier of the two. Printing method with movable type Gutenberg's early printing process, and what texts he printed with movable type, are not known in great detail. His later Bibles were printed in such a way as to have required large quantities of type, some estimates suggesting as many as 100,000 individual sorts. Setting each page would take, perhaps, half a day, and considering all the work in loading the press, inking the type, pulling the impressions, hanging up the sheets, distributing the type, etc., it is thought that the Gutenberg–Fust shop might have employed as many as 25 craftsmen. Gutenberg's technique of making movable type remains unclear. In the following decades, punches and copper matrices became standardized in the rapidly disseminating printing presses across Europe. Whether Gutenberg used this sophisticated technique or a somewhat primitive version has been the subject of considerable debate. In the standard process of making type, a hard metal punch (made by punchcutting, with the letter carved back to front) is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. This is then placed into a hand-held mould and a piece of type, or "sort", is cast by filling the mould with molten type-metal; this cools almost at once, and the resulting piece of type can be removed from the mould. The matrix can be reused to create hundreds, or thousands, of identical sorts so that the same character appearing anywhere within the book will appear very uniform, giving rise, over time, to the development of distinct styles of typefaces or fonts. After casting, the sorts are arranged into type cases, and used to make up pages which are inked and printed, a procedure which can be repeated hundreds, or thousands, of times. The sorts can be reused in any combination, earning the process the name of "movable type". (For details, see Typography.) The invention of the making of types with punch, matrix and mold has been widely attributed to Gutenberg. However, recent evidence suggests that Gutenberg's process was somewhat different. If he used the punch and matrix approach, all his letters should have been nearly identical, with some variation due to miscasting and inking. However, the type used in Gutenberg's earliest work shows other variations. In 2001, the physicist Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Princeton librarian Paul Needham, used digital scans of a Papal bull in the Scheide Library, Princeton, to carefully compare the same letters (types) appearing in different parts of the printed text. The irregularities in Gutenberg's type, particularly in simple characters such as the hyphen, suggested that the variations could not have come either from ink smear or from wear and damage on the pieces of metal on the types themselves. Although some identical types are clearly used on other pages, other variations, subjected to detailed image analysis, suggested that they could not have been produced from the same matrix. Transmitted light pictures of the page also appeared to reveal substructures in the type that could not arise from traditional punchcutting techniques. They hypothesized that the method involved impressing simple shapes to create alphabets in "cuneiform" style in a matrix made of some soft material, perhaps sand. Casting the type would destroy the mould, and the matrix would need to be recreated to make each additional sort. This could explain the variations in the type, as well as the substructures observed in the printed images. Thus, they speculated that "the decisive factor for the birth of typography", the use of reusable moulds for casting type, was a more progressive process than was previously thought. They suggested that the additional step of using the punch to create a mould that could be reused many times was not taken until twenty years later, in the 1470s. Others have not accepted some or all of their suggestions, and have interpreted the evidence in other ways, and the truth of the matter remains uncertain. A 1568 book Batavia by Hadrianus Junius from Holland claims that the idea of the movable type came to Gutenberg from Laurens Janszoon Coster via Fust, who was apprenticed to Coster in the 1430s and may have brought some of his equipment from Haarlem to Mainz. While Coster appears to have experimented with moulds and castable metal type, there is no evidence that he had actually printed anything with this technology. He was an inventor and a goldsmith. However, there is one indirect supporter of the claim that Coster might be the inventor. The author of the Cologne Chronicle of 1499 quotes Ulrich Zell, the first printer of Cologne, that printing was performed in Mainz in 1450, but that some type of printing of lower quality had previously occurred in the Netherlands. However, the chronicle does not mention the name of Coster, while it actually credits Gutenberg as the "first inventor of printing" in the very same passage (fol. 312). The first securely dated book by Dutch printers is from 1471, and the Coster connection is today regarded as a mere legend. The 19th-century printer and typefounder Fournier Le Jeune suggested that Gutenberg was not using type cast with a reusable matrix, but wooden types that were carved individually. A similar suggestion was made by Nash in 2004. This remains possible, albeit entirely unproven. Legacy Although Gutenberg was financially unsuccessful in his lifetime, the printing technologies spread quickly, and news and books began to travel across Europe much faster than before. It fed the growing Renaissance, and since it greatly facilitated scientific publishing, it was a major catalyst for the later scientific revolution. The capital of printing in Europe shifted to Venice, where visionary printers like Aldus Manutius ensured widespread availability of the major Greek and Latin texts. The claims of an Italian origin for movable type have also focused on this rapid rise of Italy in movable-type printing. This may perhaps be explained by the prior eminence of Italy in the paper and printing trade. Additionally, Italy's economy was growing rapidly at the time, facilitating the spread of literacy. Christopher Columbus had a geography book (printed with movable type) bought by his father. That book is in a Spanish museum, the Biblioteca Colombina in Seville. Finally, the city of Mainz was sacked in 1462, driving many (including a number of printers and punch cutters) into exile. Printing was also a factor in the Reformation. Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses were printed and circulated widely; subsequently he issued broadsheets outlining his anti-indulgences position (certificates of indulgences were one of the first items Gutenberg had printed). The broadsheet contributed to development of the newspaper. In the decades after Gutenberg, many conservative patrons looked down on cheap printed books; books produced by hand were considered more desirable. Today there is a large antique market for the earliest printed objects. Books printed prior to 1500 are known as incunabula. There are many statues of Gutenberg in Germany, including the famous one by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1837) at Gutenbergplatz in Mainz, home to the eponymous Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz and the Gutenberg Museum on the history of early printing. The latter publishes the Gutenberg-Jahrbuch, the leading periodical in the field. Project Gutenberg, the oldest digital library, commemorates Gutenberg's name. The Mainzer Johannisnacht commemorates the person Johannes Gutenberg in his native city since 1968. In 1952, the United States Postal Service issued a five hundredth anniversary stamp commemorating Johannes Gutenberg invention of the movable-type printing press. In 1961 the Canadian philosopher and scholar Marshall McLuhan entitled his pioneering study in the fields of print culture, cultural studies, and media ecology, The Gutenberg Galaxy: The Making of Typographic Man. Regarded as one of the most influential people in human history, Gutenberg remains a towering figure in the popular image. In a 1978 book by a historian that purports to rank the 100 most influential persons in history, Gutenberg comes in at number 8, after T'sai Lun and before Christopher Columbus. In 1999, the A&E Network ranked Gutenberg the No. 1 most influential person of the second millennium on their "Biographies of the Millennium" countdown. In 1997, Time–Life magazine picked Gutenberg's invention as the most important of the second millennium. In space, he is commemorated in the name of the asteroid 777 Gutemberga. Two operas based on Gutenberg are G, Being the Confession and Last Testament of Johannes Gensfleisch, also known as Gutenberg, Master Printer, formerly of Strasbourg and Mainz, from 2001 with music by Gavin Bryars; and La Nuit de Gutenberg, with music by Philippe Manoury, premiered in 2011 in Strasbourg. In 2018, WordPress named its new editing system Gutenberg in tribute to him. Notes References Citations Sources Further reading [More recent, abridged version] Describes the social
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directed by Luc Besson, was inspired by his life story and that of his friend, Enzo Maiorca. Mayol was one of the screenwriters and authored the book Homo Delphinus: the Dolphin Within Man of his philosophy about the aquatic origins of humans. Early life Jacques Mayol was a French national born in Shanghai, China. Mayol spent his summer holidays in Karatsu (Japan) every year as a child. When he was 7, he would skin dive with his older brother in seas around Nanatsugama (:ja:七つ釜)(Karatsu, Japan), where he saw a dolphin for the first time. Mayol described the fateful encounter in his book, "Homo Delphinus: The Dolphin Within Man". Career On 23 November 1976, at 49, he became the first free diver to descend to 100 meters (330 ft) ; and when he was 56, he managed to descend to 105 meters. During the scientific research phase of his career, Mayol tried to answer the question of whether man had a hidden aquatic potential that could be evoked by rigorous physiological and psychological training. Mayol's lifelong passion for diving was based on his love for the ocean, his personal philosophy and his desire to explore his own limits. During his lifetime, he helped introduce the then elitist sport of free-diving into the mainstream. His diving philosophy was to reach a state of mind based on relaxation and yoga breathing, with which he could accomplish apnea. He also contributed to technological advances in the field of free-diving, particularly improving assemblies used by no-limits divers. He was also instrumental in the development of scuba diving's octopus regulator, which was invented by Dave Woodward at UNEXSO around 1965–6. Woodward believed that having the safety divers carry two second stages would be a safer and more practical approach than buddy breathing in the event of an emergency. Mayol was already an experienced free diver when he met the Sicilian Enzo Maiorca who was the first to dive below 50m. Mayol reached 60m depth. A friendship, as well as rivalry between the two men ensued. Their most famous records
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around 1965–6. Woodward believed that having the safety divers carry two second stages would be a safer and more practical approach than buddy breathing in the event of an emergency. Mayol was already an experienced free diver when he met the Sicilian Enzo Maiorca who was the first to dive below 50m. Mayol reached 60m depth. A friendship, as well as rivalry between the two men ensued. Their most famous records were set in the no-limits category, in which the divers are permitted to use weighted sleds to descend and air balloons for a speedy ascent. Between 1966 and 1983, Mayol was eight times no-limits world champion. In 1981 he set a world record of 61m in the constant weight discipline, using fins. In 1976 Mayol broke the 100m barrier with a no-limits 101m dive off Elba, Italy. Tests showed that during this dive his heart beat decreased from 60 to 27 beats/min, an aspect of the mammalian diving reflex, a reflex more evident in whales, seals, and dolphins. Mayol's last deep dive followed in 1983 when he reached the depth of 105m, at the age of 56. Dolphins Mayol's fascination with dolphins started in 1955 when he was working as a commercial diver at an aquarium in Miami, Florida. There he met a female dolphin called Clown and formed a close bond with her. Imitating Clown, he learned how to hold his breath longer and how to behave and integrate himself underwater. It is the dolphins that became the foundation of Mayol's life philosophy of "Homo Delphinus". Throughout his book L'Homo Delphinus (2000 published in English as Homo Delphinus: The Dolphin within Man by Idelson Gnocchi Publishers Ltd.) Mayol expounds his theories about man's relationship with the sea where he explores the aquatic ape hypothesis of human origins. He felt man could re-awaken his dormant mental and spiritual faculties and the physiological mechanisms from the depths of his psyche and genetic make-up to develop the potential of his aquatic origins, to become a Homo delphinus. Jacques Mayol predicted that, within a couple of generations, some people would be able to dive to 200 m and hold their breath for up to ten minutes. Today the no-limits record stands at 253 m (Herbert Nitsch, June 2012). Serbian Branko Petrović holds the record for Static Apnea at 11 minutes and 54 seconds (October 2014). Croatian Goran Čolak holds the record for static apnea on pure oxygen at 23 minutes 1 second (June 2014). Film The film The Big Blue, directed by
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were shot to death and many others were burned to death when the barracks were set on fire. Terboven had ordered the massacre a few days earlier. In July 1942 at least one German guard assigned to the Korgen prison camp was killed. The commandant ordered retribution: execution by gunfire for "39 prisoners at Korgen and 20 at Osen"; in the days that followed, Terboven also ordered retribution: around 400 prisoners shot and killed in various camps. From 1941, Terboven increasingly focused on crushing the Norwegian resistance movement which engaged in acts of sabotage and assassination against the Germans. On 17 September 1941, Terboven decreed that special SS and Police Tribunals would have jurisdiction over Norwegian citizens who violated his decrees. These were summary proceedings with the accused provided no adequate defense. The trials were not open to the public and the proceedings were not published. Sentences were carried out shortly after being pronounced, with no right of appeal. It is estimated that some 150 individuals were sentenced to death by these tribunals. Many more were sentenced to long terms at hard labor. On 26 April 1942, the Nazis learned that two members of the resistance were being sheltered by the inhabitants of Telavåg, a small fishing village. When the Gestapo arrived, shots were exchanged and two Gestapo agents were killed. Terboven was outraged and personally led a reprisal raid on 30 April that was quick and brutal. All buildings were burned to the ground, all boats were sunk or confiscated and all livestock taken away. All men in the village were either executed or sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. Of the 72 who were deported from Telavåg, 31 were murdered in captivity. The women and children were imprisoned for two years. Another 18 Norwegian prisoners (unrelated to Telavåg) held at the Trandum internment camp were also executed as a reprisal. In another incident, the shooting of two German police officials on 6 September 1942 led to Terboven personally declaring martial law in Trondheim from 5 to 12 October 1942. He imposed a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and suppressed all newspapers, public assemblies and railroad transportation. On Terboven's orders, ten prominent citizens were executed in reprisal and their assets confiscated. In addition, Terboven set up an ad hoc extrajudicial tribunal to try Norwegians considered “hostile to the state.” An additional 24 men were tried and summarily executed over the next three days. Despite the small number of Jews in Norway's population (around 1,800) Terboven persecuted them relentlessly. Some 930 managed to escape to neighboring Sweden but some 770 were rounded up and deported to Germany. The main deportation occurred on 26 November 1942 when 532 Jews were shipped to Stettin aboard the SS Donau. From there, they were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp; only 9 survived the war. On 25 February 1943 another 158 were similarly deported aboard the SS Gotenland; only 6 survived. Last months of the war and death On 25 September 1944, Terboven, in his capacity as Gauleiter of Essen, was named commander of the Volkssturm units in the Gau. In reality, it was his Deputy Gauleiter, Fritz Schlessmann, who executed these duties as he had been Acting Gauleiter in Essen during Terboven's absence in Norway since 1940. In October 1944, in response to the Red Army advance in to the Finnmark region of northern Norway, Terboven instituted a scorched earth policy that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction, including the burning of 10,000 homes, 4700 farms and hundreds of schools, churches, shops and industrial buildings. As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven's personal aspiration was to organize Festung Norwegen (Fortress Norway) for the Nazi regime's last stand. However, after Hitler's suicide, his successor, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz, summoned Terboven to his headquarters in Flensburg on 3 May 1945 and ordered him to cooperate with winding down hostilities. However, Terboven expressed his desire to continue fighting. Consequently, Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post as Reichskommissar on 7 May, transferring his powers to General der Gebirgstruppe Franz Böhme. With the announcement of Germany's surrender, Terboven committed suicide on 8 May 1945 by detonating 50 kg of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound. He died alongside the body of Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess, who had shot himself earlier. Terboven's family survived him in West Germany, and his wife Ilse died in 1972. References Sources Biography from Deutsches Historisches Museum Biography from Historisches Centrum Hagen WorldStatesmen- here Norway External links 1898 births 1945 suicides Fascist rulers Gauleiters German military personnel of World War I German newspaper editors German people of Dutch descent German people of World War II Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Reichstag of Nazi
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September 1941, Terboven decreed that special SS and Police Tribunals would have jurisdiction over Norwegian citizens who violated his decrees. These were summary proceedings with the accused provided no adequate defense. The trials were not open to the public and the proceedings were not published. Sentences were carried out shortly after being pronounced, with no right of appeal. It is estimated that some 150 individuals were sentenced to death by these tribunals. Many more were sentenced to long terms at hard labor. On 26 April 1942, the Nazis learned that two members of the resistance were being sheltered by the inhabitants of Telavåg, a small fishing village. When the Gestapo arrived, shots were exchanged and two Gestapo agents were killed. Terboven was outraged and personally led a reprisal raid on 30 April that was quick and brutal. All buildings were burned to the ground, all boats were sunk or confiscated and all livestock taken away. All men in the village were either executed or sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany. Of the 72 who were deported from Telavåg, 31 were murdered in captivity. The women and children were imprisoned for two years. Another 18 Norwegian prisoners (unrelated to Telavåg) held at the Trandum internment camp were also executed as a reprisal. In another incident, the shooting of two German police officials on 6 September 1942 led to Terboven personally declaring martial law in Trondheim from 5 to 12 October 1942. He imposed a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. and suppressed all newspapers, public assemblies and railroad transportation. On Terboven's orders, ten prominent citizens were executed in reprisal and their assets confiscated. In addition, Terboven set up an ad hoc extrajudicial tribunal to try Norwegians considered “hostile to the state.” An additional 24 men were tried and summarily executed over the next three days. Despite the small number of Jews in Norway's population (around 1,800) Terboven persecuted them relentlessly. Some 930 managed to escape to neighboring Sweden but some 770 were rounded up and deported to Germany. The main deportation occurred on 26 November 1942 when 532 Jews were shipped to Stettin aboard the SS Donau. From there, they were transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp; only 9 survived the war. On 25 February 1943 another 158 were similarly deported aboard the SS Gotenland; only 6 survived. Last months of the war and death On 25 September 1944, Terboven, in his capacity as Gauleiter of Essen, was named commander of the Volkssturm units in the Gau. In reality, it was his Deputy Gauleiter, Fritz Schlessmann, who executed these duties as he had been Acting Gauleiter in Essen during Terboven's absence in Norway since 1940. In October 1944, in response to the Red Army advance in to the Finnmark region of northern Norway, Terboven instituted a scorched earth policy that resulted in the forced evacuation of 50,000 Norwegians and widespread destruction, including the burning of 10,000 homes, 4700 farms and hundreds of schools, churches, shops and industrial buildings. As the tide of the war turned against Germany, Terboven's personal aspiration was to organize Festung Norwegen (Fortress Norway) for the Nazi regime's last stand. However, after Hitler's suicide, his successor, Großadmiral Karl Dönitz, summoned Terboven to his headquarters in Flensburg on 3 May 1945 and ordered him to cooperate with winding down hostilities. However, Terboven expressed his desire to continue fighting. Consequently, Dönitz dismissed Terboven from his post as Reichskommissar on 7 May, transferring his powers to General der Gebirgstruppe Franz Böhme. With the announcement of Germany's surrender, Terboven committed suicide on 8 May 1945 by detonating 50 kg of dynamite in a bunker on the Skaugum compound. He died alongside the body of Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Rediess, who had shot himself earlier. Terboven's family survived him in West Germany, and his wife Ilse died in 1972. References
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Time. Early life Brown was born on May 3, 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina, to 16-year-old Susie (née Behling; 1916–2004) and 21-year-old Joseph Gardner Brown (1912–1993) in a small wooden shack. Brown's name was supposed to have been Joseph James Brown, but his first and middle names were mistakenly reversed on his birth certificate. In his autobiography, Brown stated that he had Chinese and Native American ancestry and that his father was of mixed African-American and Native American descent, while his mother was of mixed African-American and Asian descent. The Brown family lived in extreme poverty in Elko, South Carolina, which was an impoverished town at the time. They later moved to Augusta, Georgia, when James was four or five. His family first settled at one of his aunts' brothels. They later moved into a house shared with another aunt. Brown's mother eventually left the family after a contentious and abusive marriage and moved to New York. Brown spent long stretches of time on his own, hanging out in the streets and hustling to get by. He managed to stay in school until the sixth grade. He began singing in talent shows as a young child, first appearing at Augusta's Lenox Theater in 1944, winning the show after singing the ballad "So Long". While in Augusta, Brown performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon at the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's home. He learned to play the piano, guitar, and harmonica during this period. He became inspired to become an entertainer after hearing "Caldonia" by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. In his teen years, Brown briefly had a career as a boxer. At the age of 16, he was convicted of robbery and sent to a juvenile detention center in Toccoa. There, he formed a gospel quartet with four fellow cellmates, including Johnny Terry. Brown met singer Bobby Byrd when the two played against each other in a baseball game outside the detention center. Byrd also discovered that Brown could sing after hearing of "a guy called Music Box", which was Brown's musical nickname at the prison. Byrd has since claimed he and his family helped to secure an early release, which led to Brown promising the court he would "sing for the Lord". Brown was released on a work sponsorship with Toccoa business owner S.C. Lawson. Lawson was impressed with Brown's work ethic and secured his release with a promise to keep him employed for two years. Brown was paroled on June 14, 1952. Brown went on to work with both of Lawson's sons, and would come back to visit the family from time to time throughout his career. Shortly after being paroled he joined the gospel group the Ever-Ready Gospel Singers, featuring Byrd's sister Sarah. Music career 1953–1961: The Famous Flames Brown eventually joined Bobby Byrd's group in 1954. The group had evolved from the Gospel Starlighters, an a cappella gospel group, to an R&B group with the name the Avons. He reputedly joined the band after one of its members, Troy Collins, died in a car crash. Along with Brown and Byrd, the group consisted of Sylvester Keels, Doyle Oglesby, Fred Pulliam, Nash Knox and Nafloyd Scott. Influenced by R&B groups such as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, the Orioles and Billy Ward and his Dominoes, the group changed its name, first to the Toccoa Band and then to the Flames. Nafloyd's brother Baroy later joined the group on bass guitar, and Brown, Byrd and Keels switched lead positions and instruments, often playing drums and piano. Johnny Terry later joined, by which time Pulliam and Oglesby had long left. one of his 10 children commited suicide. Berry Trimier became the group's first manager, booking them at parties near college campuses in Georgia and South Carolina. The group had already gained a reputation as a good live act when they renamed themselves the Famous Flames. In 1955, the group had contacted Little Richard while performing in Macon. Richard convinced the group to get in contact with his manager at the time, Clint Brantley, at his nightclub. Brantley agreed to manage them after seeing the group audition. He then sent them to a local radio station to record a demo session, where they performed their own composition "Please, Please, Please", which was inspired when Little Richard wrote the words of the title on a napkin and Brown was determined to make a song out of it. The Famous Flames eventually signed with King Records' Federal subsidiary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and issued a re-recorded version of "Please, Please, Please" in March 1956. The song became the group's first R&B hit, selling over a million copies. None of their follow-ups gained similar success. By 1957, Brown had replaced Clint Brantley as manager and hired Ben Bart, chief of Universal Attractions Agency. That year the original Flames broke up, after Bart changed the name of the group to "James Brown and The Famous Flames". In October 1958, Brown released the ballad "Try Me", which hit number one on the R&B chart in the beginning of 1959, becoming the first of seventeen chart-topping R&B hits. Shortly afterwards, he recruited his first band, led by J. C. Davis, and reunited with Bobby Byrd who joined a revived Famous Flames lineup that included Eugene "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth and Bobby Bennett, with Johnny Terry sometimes coming in as the "fifth Flame". Brown, the Flames, and his entire band debuted at the Apollo Theater on April 24, 1959, opening for Brown's idol, Little Willie John. Federal Records issued two albums credited to Brown and the Famous Flames (both contained previously released singles). By 1960, Brown began multi-tasking in the recording studio involving himself, his singing group, the Famous Flames, and his band, a separate entity from The Flames, sometimes named the James Brown Orchestra or the James Brown Band. That year the band released the top ten R&B hit "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, billed under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & the Swans" due to label issues. As a result of its success, King president Syd Nathan shifted Brown's contract from Federal to the parent label, King, which according to Brown in his autobiography meant "you got more support from the company". While with King, Brown, under the Famous Flames lineup, released the hit-filled album Think! and the following year released two albums with the James Brown Band earning second billing. With the Famous Flames, Brown sang lead on several more hits, including"Bewildered", "I'll Go Crazy" and "Think", songs that hinted at his emerging style. 1962–1966: Mr. Dynamite In 1962, Brown and his band scored a hit with their cover of the instrumental "Night Train", becoming a top five R&B single. That same year, the ballads "Lost Someone" and "Baby You're Right", the latter a Joe Tex composition, added to his repertoire and increased his reputation with R&B audiences. On October 24, 1962, Brown financed a live recording of a performance at the Apollo and convinced Syd Nathan to release the album, despite Nathan's belief that no one would buy a live album due to the fact that Brown's singles had already been bought and that live albums were usually bad sellers. Live at the Apollo was released the following June and became an immediate hit, eventually reaching number two on the Top LPs chart and selling over a million copies, staying on the charts for 14 months. In 1963, Brown scored his first top 20 pop hit with his rendition of the standard "Prisoner of Love". He also launched his first label, Try Me Records, which included recordings by the likes of Tammy Montgomery (later to be famous as Tammi Terrell), Johnny & Bill (Famous Flames associates Johnny Terry and Bill Hollings) and the Poets, which was another name used for Brown's backing band. During this time Brown began an ill-fated two-year relationship with 17-year-old Tammi Terrell when she sang in his revue. Terrell ended their personal and professional relationship because of his abusive behavior. In 1964, seeking bigger commercial success, Brown and Bobby Byrd formed the production company, Fair Deal, linking the operation to the Mercury imprint, Smash Records. King Records, however, fought against this and was granted an injunction preventing Brown from releasing any recordings for the label. Prior to the injunction, Brown had released three vocal singles, including the blues-oriented hit "Out of Sight", which further indicated the direction his music was going to take. Touring throughout the year, Brown and the Famous Flames grabbed more national attention after giving an explosive show-stopping performance on the live concert film The T.A.M.I. Show. The Flames' dynamic gospel-tinged vocals, polished choreography and timing as well as Brown's energetic dance moves and high-octane singing upstaged the proposed closing act, the Rolling Stones. Having signed a new deal with King, Brown released his song "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in 1965, which became his first top ten pop hit and won him his first Grammy Award. Brown also signed a production deal with Loma Records. Later in 1965, he issued "I Got You", which became his second single in a row to reach number-one on the R&B chart and top ten on the pop chart. Brown followed that up with the ballad "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", a third Top 10 Pop hit (No. 1 R&B) which confirmed his stance as a top-ranking performer, especially with R&B audiences from that point on. 1967–1970: Soul Brother No. 1 By 1967, Brown's emerging sound had begun to be defined as funk music. That year he released what some critics cited as the first true funk song, "Cold Sweat", which hit number-one on the R&B chart (Top 10 Pop) and became one of his first recordings to contain a drum break and also the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a single chord. The instrumental arrangements on tracks such as "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968) and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969) featured a more developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style, with the horn section, guitars, bass and drums meshed together in intricate rhythmic patterns based on multiple interlocking riffs. Changes in Brown's style that started with "Cold Sweat" also established the musical foundation for Brown's later hits, such as "I Got the Feelin'" (1968) and "Mother Popcorn" (1969). By this time Brown's vocals frequently took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation, not quite sung but not quite spoken, that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. This would become a major influence on the techniques of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades. Brown's style of funk in the late 1960s was based on interlocking syncopated parts: strutting bass lines, syncopated drum patterns, and iconic percussive guitar riffs. The main guitar ostinatos for "Ain't It Funky" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (both 1969), are examples of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk; irresistibly danceable riffs, stripped down to their rhythmic essence. On both recordings the tonal structure is bare bones. The pattern of attack-points is the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches, as if the guitar were an African drum, or idiophone. Alexander Stewart states that this popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s". Those same tracks were later resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s onward. As a result, James Brown remains to this day the world's most sampled recording artist, but, two tracks that he wrote, are also synonymous with modern dance, especially with house music, jungle music, and drum and bass music, (which were sped up exponentially, in the latter two genres). "Bring it Up" has an Afro-Cuban guajeo-like structure. All three of these guitar riffs are based on an onbeat/offbeat structure. Stewart says that it "is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle." It was around this time as the musician's popularity increased that he acquired the nickname "Soul Brother No. 1", after failing to win the title "King of Soul" from Solomon Burke during a Chicago gig two years prior. Brown's recordings during this period influenced musicians across the industry, most notably groups such as Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.s as well as vocalists such as Edwin Starr, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards from The Temptations, and Michael Jackson, who, throughout his career, cited Brown as his ultimate idol. Brown's band during this period employed musicians and arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the simplicity and drive of R&B with the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band. Guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song, and Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart Famous Flames singer and sideman Bobby Byrd, trombonist Fred Wesley, drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and Melvin Parker, saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney, guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum and bassist Bernard Odum. In addition to a torrent of singles and studio albums, Brown's output during this period included two more successful live albums, Live at the Garden (1967) and Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968), and a 1968 television special, James Brown: Man to Man. His music empire expanded along with his influence on the music scene. As Brown's music empire grew, his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. Brown bought radio stations during the late 1960s, including WRDW in his native Augusta, where he shined shoes as a boy. In November 1967, James Brown purchased radio station WGYW in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a reported $75,000, according to the January 20, 1968 Record World magazine. The call letters were changed to WJBE reflecting his initials. WJBE began on January 15, 1968, and broadcast a Rhythm & Blues format. The station slogan was "WJBE 1430 Raw Soul". Brown also bought WEBB in Baltimore in 1970. Brown branched out to make several recordings with musicians outside his own band. In an attempt to appeal to the older, more affluent, and predominantly white adult contemporary audience, Brown recorded Gettin' Down To It (1969) and Soul on Top (1970)—two albums consisting mostly of romantic ballads, jazz standards, and homologous reinterpretations of his earlier hits—with the Dee Felice Trio and the Louie Bellson Orchestra. In 1968, he recorded a number of funk-oriented tracks with The Dapps, a white Cincinnati band, including the hit "I Can't Stand Myself". He also released three albums of Christmas music with his own band. 1970–1975: Godfather of Soul In March 1970, most of Brown's mid-to-late 1960s road band walked out on him due to money disputes, a development augured by the prior disbandment of The Famous Flames singing group for the same reason in 1968. Brown and erstwhile Famous Flames singer Bobby Byrd (who chose to remain in the band during this tumultuous period) subsequently recruited several members of the Cincinnati-based The Pacemakers, which included Bootsy Collins and his brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins; augmented by the remaining members of the 1960s road band (including Fred Wesley, who rejoined Brown's outfit in December 1970) and other newer musicians, they would form the nucleus of The J.B.'s, Brown's new backing ensemble. Shortly following their first performance together, the band entered the studio to record the Brown-Byrd composition, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"; the song and other contemporaneous singles would further cement Brown's influence in the nascent genre of funk music. This iteration of the J.B.'s dissolved after a March 1971 European tour (documented on the 1991 archival release Love Power Peace) due to additional money disputes and Bootsy Collins' use of LSD; the Collins brothers would soon become integral members of Parliament-Funkadelic, while a new lineup of the J.B.'s coalesced around Wesley, St. Clair Pinckney and drummer John Starks. In 1971, Brown began recording for Polydor Records which also took over distribution of Brown's King Records catalog. Many of his sidemen and supporting players, including Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson and former rival Hank Ballard, released records on the People label, an imprint founded by Brown that was purchased by Polydor as part of Brown's new contract. The recordings on the People label, almost all of which were produced by Brown himself, exemplified the mature flowering of his "house style". Several tracks thought by critics to be excessively sexual were released at this time. He would later soften his vocal approach. Songs such as "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd, "Think" by Lyn Collins and "Doing It to Death" by Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s are considered as much a part of Brown's recorded legacy as the recordings released under his own name. That year, he also began touring African countries and was received well by audiences there. During the 1972 presidential election, James Brown openly proclaimed his support of Richard Nixon for reelection to the presidency over Democratic candidate George McGovern. The decision led to a boycott of his performances and, according to Brown, cost him a big portion of his black audience. As a result, Brown's record sales and concerts in the United States reached a lull in 1973 as he failed to land a number-one R&B single that year. Brown relied more on touring outside the United States where he continued to perform for sold-out crowds in cities such as London, Paris and Lausanne. That year he also faced problems with the IRS for failure to pay back taxes, charging he hadn't paid upwards of $4.5 million; five years earlier, the IRS had claimed he owed nearly $2 million. In 1973, Brown provided the score for the blaxploitation film Black Caesar. He also recorded another soundtrack for the film, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. Following the release of these soundtracks, Brown acquired a self-styled nickname, "The Godfather of Soul", which remains his most popular nickname. In 1974 he returned to the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts with "The Payback", with the parent album reaching the same spot on the album charts; he would reach No. 1 two more times in 1974, with "My Thang" and "Papa Don't Take No Mess". Later that year, he returned to Africa and performed in Kinshasa as part of the buildup to The Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Admirers of Brown's music, including Miles Davis and other jazz musicians, began to cite him as a major influence on their own styles. However, Brown, like others who were influenced by his music, also "borrowed" from other musicians. His 1976 single, "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)" (R&B No. 31), interpolated the main riff from "Fame" by David Bowie while omitting any attribution to the latter song's composers (including Bowie, John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar), not the other way around as was often believed. "Papa Don't Take No Mess" would prove to be his final single to reach the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts and his final Top 40 pop single of the 1970s, though he continued to occasionally have Top 10 R&B recordings. Among his top ten R&B hits during this latter period included "Funky President" (R&B No. 4) and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (R&B No. 4), the latter song released in 1976 and aimed at musical rivals such as Barry White, The Ohio Players and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Brown credited his then-wife and two of their children as writers of the song to avoid concurrent tax problems with the IRS. Starting in October 1975, Brown produced, directed, and hosted Future Shock, an Atlanta-based television variety show that ran for three years. 1975–1991: Decline and resurgence Although his records were mainstays of the vanguard New York underground disco scene (exemplified by DJs such as David Mancuso and Francis Grasso) from 1969 onwards, Brown did not consciously yield to the trend until 1975's Sex Machine Today. By 1977, he was no longer a dominant force in R&B. After "Get Up Offa That Thing", thirteen of Brown's late 1970s recordings for Polydor failed to reach the Top 10 of the R&B chart, with only "Bodyheat" in 1976 and the disco-oriented "It's Too Funky in Here" in 1979 reaching the R&B Top 15 and the ballad "Kiss in '77" reaching the Top 20. After 1976's "Bodyheat", he also failed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, Brown's concert attendance began dropping and his reported disputes with the IRS caused his business empire to collapse. In addition, Brown's former bandmates, including Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and the Collins brothers, had found bigger success as members of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The emergence of disco also stopped Brown's success on the R&B charts because its slicker, more commercial style had superseded his more raw funk productions. By the release of 1979's The Original Disco Man, Brown was not providing much production or writing, leaving most of it to producer Brad Shapiro, resulting in the song "It's Too Funky in Here" becoming Brown's most successful single in this period. After two more albums failed to chart, Brown left Polydor in 1981. It was around this time that Brown changed the name of his band from the J.B.'s to the Soul Generals (or Soul G's). The band retained that name until his death. Despite Brown's declining record sales, promoters Gary LoConti and Jim Rissmiller helped Brown sell out a string of residency shows at the Country Club in Reseda. Brown's compromised commercial standing prevented him from charging a large live fee to the promoters for these shows. However, the great success of these shows marked a turning point for Brown's career, and soon he was back on top in Hollywood. Movies followed, starting with appearances in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit and Rocky IV, as well as guest-starring in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" (1987). In 1984, he teamed with rap musician Afrika Bambaataa on the song "Unity". A year later he signed with Scotti Brothers Records and issued the moderately successful album Gravity in 1986. It included Brown's final Top 10 pop hit, "Living in America", marking his first Top 40 entry since 1974 and his first Top 10 pop entry since 1968. Produced and written by Dan Hartman, it was also featured prominently on the Rocky IV film and soundtrack. Brown performed the song in the film at Apollo Creed's final fight, shot in the Ziegfeld Room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and was credited in the film as "The Godfather of Soul". 1986 also saw the publication of his autobiography, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, co-written with Bruce Tucker. In 1987, Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Living in America". In 1988, Brown worked with the production team Full Force on the new jack swing-influenced I'm Real. It spawned his final two Top 10 R&B hits, "I'm Real" and "Static", which peaked at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, on the R&B charts. Meanwhile, the drum break from the second version of the original 1969 hit "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" (the recording included on the compilation album In the Jungle Groove) became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) during the early 1980s that hip hop pioneer Kurtis Blow called the song "the national anthem of hip hop". 1991–2006: Final years After his stint in prison during the late 1980s, Brown met Larry Fridie and Thomas Hart who produced the first James Brown biopic, entitled James Brown: The Man, the Message, the Music, released in 1992. He returned to music with the album Love Over-Due in 1991. It included the single "(So Tired of Standing Still We Got to) Move On", which peaked at No. 48 on the R&B chart. His former record label Polydor also released the four-CD box set Star Time, spanning Brown's career to date. Brown's release from prison also prompted his former record labels to reissue his albums on CD, featuring additional tracks and commentary by music critics and historians. That same year, Brown appeared on rapper MC Hammer's video for "Too Legit to Quit". Hammer had been noted, alongside Big Daddy Kane, for bringing Brown's unique stage shows and their own energetic dance moves to the hip-hop generation; both listed Brown as their idol. Both musicians also sampled his work, with Hammer having sampled the rhythms from "Super Bad" for his song "Here Comes the Hammer", from his best-selling album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. Big Daddy Kane sampled many times. Before the year was over, Brown–who had immediately returned to work with his band following his release–organized a pay-per-view concert following a show at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, that was well received. On June 10, 1991, James Brown and a star-filled line up performed before a crowd at the Wiltern Theatre for a live pay-per-view at-home audience. James Brown: Living in America – Live! was the brainchild of Indiana producer Danny Hubbard. It featured M.C. Hammer as well as Bell Biv Devoe, Heavy D & the Boys, En Vogue, C+C Music Factory, Quincy Jones, Sherman Hemsley and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Ice-T, Tone Loc and Kool Moe Dee performed paying homage to Brown. This was Brown's first public performance since his parole from the South Carolina prison system in February. He had served two-and-a-half years of two concurrent six-year sentences for aggravated assault and other felonies. Brown continued making recordings. In 1993 his album Universal James was released. It included his final Billboard charting single, "Can't Get Any Harder", which peaked at No. 76 on the US R&B chart and reached No. 59 on the UK chart. Its brief charting in the UK was probably due to the success of a remixed version of "I Feel Good" featuring Dakeyne. Brown also released the singles "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina", which failed to chart. In 1995, Brown returned to the Apollo and recorded Live at the Apollo 1995. It included a studio track titled "Respect Me", which was released as a single; again it failed to chart. Brown's final studio albums, I'm Back and The Next Step, were released in 1998 and 2002 respectively. I'm Back featured the song "Funk on Ah Roll", which peaked at No. 40 in the UK but did not chart in his native US. The Next Step included Brown's final single, "Killing Is Out, School Is In". Both albums were produced by Derrick Monk. Brown's concert success, however, remained unabated and he kept up with a grueling schedule throughout the remainder of his life, living up to his previous nickname, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business", in spite of his advanced age. In 2003, Brown participated in the PBS American Masters television documentary James Brown: Soul Survivor, which was directed by Jeremy Marre. Brown performed in the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show. Brown celebrated his status as an icon by appearing in a variety of entertainment and sports events, including an appearance on the WCW pay-per-view event, SuperBrawl X, where he danced alongside wrestler Ernest "The Cat" Miller, who based his character on Brown, during his in-ring skit with The Maestro. Brown then appeared in Tony Scott's short film Beat the Devil in 2001. He was featured alongside Clive Owen, Gary Oldman, Danny Trejo and Marilyn Manson. Brown also made a cameo appearance in the 2002 Jackie Chan film The Tuxedo, in which Chan was required to finish Brown's act after having accidentally knocked out the singer. In 2002, Brown appeared in Undercover Brother, playing himself. In 2004, Brown performed in Hyde Park, London as a support act for Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts. The beginning of 2005 saw the publication of Brown's second book, I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul, written with Marc Eliot. In February and March, he participated in recording sessions for an intended studio album with Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, and other longtime collaborators. Though he lost interest in the album, which remains unreleased, a track from
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Byrd, the group consisted of Sylvester Keels, Doyle Oglesby, Fred Pulliam, Nash Knox and Nafloyd Scott. Influenced by R&B groups such as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, the Orioles and Billy Ward and his Dominoes, the group changed its name, first to the Toccoa Band and then to the Flames. Nafloyd's brother Baroy later joined the group on bass guitar, and Brown, Byrd and Keels switched lead positions and instruments, often playing drums and piano. Johnny Terry later joined, by which time Pulliam and Oglesby had long left. one of his 10 children commited suicide. Berry Trimier became the group's first manager, booking them at parties near college campuses in Georgia and South Carolina. The group had already gained a reputation as a good live act when they renamed themselves the Famous Flames. In 1955, the group had contacted Little Richard while performing in Macon. Richard convinced the group to get in contact with his manager at the time, Clint Brantley, at his nightclub. Brantley agreed to manage them after seeing the group audition. He then sent them to a local radio station to record a demo session, where they performed their own composition "Please, Please, Please", which was inspired when Little Richard wrote the words of the title on a napkin and Brown was determined to make a song out of it. The Famous Flames eventually signed with King Records' Federal subsidiary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and issued a re-recorded version of "Please, Please, Please" in March 1956. The song became the group's first R&B hit, selling over a million copies. None of their follow-ups gained similar success. By 1957, Brown had replaced Clint Brantley as manager and hired Ben Bart, chief of Universal Attractions Agency. That year the original Flames broke up, after Bart changed the name of the group to "James Brown and The Famous Flames". In October 1958, Brown released the ballad "Try Me", which hit number one on the R&B chart in the beginning of 1959, becoming the first of seventeen chart-topping R&B hits. Shortly afterwards, he recruited his first band, led by J. C. Davis, and reunited with Bobby Byrd who joined a revived Famous Flames lineup that included Eugene "Baby" Lloyd Stallworth and Bobby Bennett, with Johnny Terry sometimes coming in as the "fifth Flame". Brown, the Flames, and his entire band debuted at the Apollo Theater on April 24, 1959, opening for Brown's idol, Little Willie John. Federal Records issued two albums credited to Brown and the Famous Flames (both contained previously released singles). By 1960, Brown began multi-tasking in the recording studio involving himself, his singing group, the Famous Flames, and his band, a separate entity from The Flames, sometimes named the James Brown Orchestra or the James Brown Band. That year the band released the top ten R&B hit "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" on Dade Records, owned by Henry Stone, billed under the pseudonym "Nat Kendrick & the Swans" due to label issues. As a result of its success, King president Syd Nathan shifted Brown's contract from Federal to the parent label, King, which according to Brown in his autobiography meant "you got more support from the company". While with King, Brown, under the Famous Flames lineup, released the hit-filled album Think! and the following year released two albums with the James Brown Band earning second billing. With the Famous Flames, Brown sang lead on several more hits, including"Bewildered", "I'll Go Crazy" and "Think", songs that hinted at his emerging style. 1962–1966: Mr. Dynamite In 1962, Brown and his band scored a hit with their cover of the instrumental "Night Train", becoming a top five R&B single. That same year, the ballads "Lost Someone" and "Baby You're Right", the latter a Joe Tex composition, added to his repertoire and increased his reputation with R&B audiences. On October 24, 1962, Brown financed a live recording of a performance at the Apollo and convinced Syd Nathan to release the album, despite Nathan's belief that no one would buy a live album due to the fact that Brown's singles had already been bought and that live albums were usually bad sellers. Live at the Apollo was released the following June and became an immediate hit, eventually reaching number two on the Top LPs chart and selling over a million copies, staying on the charts for 14 months. In 1963, Brown scored his first top 20 pop hit with his rendition of the standard "Prisoner of Love". He also launched his first label, Try Me Records, which included recordings by the likes of Tammy Montgomery (later to be famous as Tammi Terrell), Johnny & Bill (Famous Flames associates Johnny Terry and Bill Hollings) and the Poets, which was another name used for Brown's backing band. During this time Brown began an ill-fated two-year relationship with 17-year-old Tammi Terrell when she sang in his revue. Terrell ended their personal and professional relationship because of his abusive behavior. In 1964, seeking bigger commercial success, Brown and Bobby Byrd formed the production company, Fair Deal, linking the operation to the Mercury imprint, Smash Records. King Records, however, fought against this and was granted an injunction preventing Brown from releasing any recordings for the label. Prior to the injunction, Brown had released three vocal singles, including the blues-oriented hit "Out of Sight", which further indicated the direction his music was going to take. Touring throughout the year, Brown and the Famous Flames grabbed more national attention after giving an explosive show-stopping performance on the live concert film The T.A.M.I. Show. The Flames' dynamic gospel-tinged vocals, polished choreography and timing as well as Brown's energetic dance moves and high-octane singing upstaged the proposed closing act, the Rolling Stones. Having signed a new deal with King, Brown released his song "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" in 1965, which became his first top ten pop hit and won him his first Grammy Award. Brown also signed a production deal with Loma Records. Later in 1965, he issued "I Got You", which became his second single in a row to reach number-one on the R&B chart and top ten on the pop chart. Brown followed that up with the ballad "It's a Man's Man's Man's World", a third Top 10 Pop hit (No. 1 R&B) which confirmed his stance as a top-ranking performer, especially with R&B audiences from that point on. 1967–1970: Soul Brother No. 1 By 1967, Brown's emerging sound had begun to be defined as funk music. That year he released what some critics cited as the first true funk song, "Cold Sweat", which hit number-one on the R&B chart (Top 10 Pop) and became one of his first recordings to contain a drum break and also the first that featured a harmony that was reduced to a single chord. The instrumental arrangements on tracks such as "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" and "Licking Stick-Licking Stick" (both recorded in 1968) and "Funky Drummer" (recorded in 1969) featured a more developed version of Brown's mid-1960s style, with the horn section, guitars, bass and drums meshed together in intricate rhythmic patterns based on multiple interlocking riffs. Changes in Brown's style that started with "Cold Sweat" also established the musical foundation for Brown's later hits, such as "I Got the Feelin'" (1968) and "Mother Popcorn" (1969). By this time Brown's vocals frequently took the form of a kind of rhythmic declamation, not quite sung but not quite spoken, that only intermittently featured traces of pitch or melody. This would become a major influence on the techniques of rapping, which would come to maturity along with hip hop music in the coming decades. Brown's style of funk in the late 1960s was based on interlocking syncopated parts: strutting bass lines, syncopated drum patterns, and iconic percussive guitar riffs. The main guitar ostinatos for "Ain't It Funky" and "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose" (both 1969), are examples of Brown's refinement of New Orleans funk; irresistibly danceable riffs, stripped down to their rhythmic essence. On both recordings the tonal structure is bare bones. The pattern of attack-points is the emphasis, not the pattern of pitches, as if the guitar were an African drum, or idiophone. Alexander Stewart states that this popular feel was passed along from "New Orleans—through James Brown's music, to the popular music of the 1970s". Those same tracks were later resurrected by countless hip-hop musicians from the 1970s onward. As a result, James Brown remains to this day the world's most sampled recording artist, but, two tracks that he wrote, are also synonymous with modern dance, especially with house music, jungle music, and drum and bass music, (which were sped up exponentially, in the latter two genres). "Bring it Up" has an Afro-Cuban guajeo-like structure. All three of these guitar riffs are based on an onbeat/offbeat structure. Stewart says that it "is different from a time line (such as clave and tresillo) in that it is not an exact pattern, but more of a loose organizing principle." It was around this time as the musician's popularity increased that he acquired the nickname "Soul Brother No. 1", after failing to win the title "King of Soul" from Solomon Burke during a Chicago gig two years prior. Brown's recordings during this period influenced musicians across the industry, most notably groups such as Sly and the Family Stone, Funkadelic, Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, Booker T. & the M.G.s as well as vocalists such as Edwin Starr, David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards from The Temptations, and Michael Jackson, who, throughout his career, cited Brown as his ultimate idol. Brown's band during this period employed musicians and arrangers who had come up through the jazz tradition. He was noted for his ability as a bandleader and songwriter to blend the simplicity and drive of R&B with the rhythmic complexity and precision of jazz. Trumpeter Lewis Hamlin and saxophonist/keyboardist Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis (the successor to previous bandleader Nat Jones) led the band. Guitarist Jimmy Nolen provided percussive, deceptively simple riffs for each song, and Maceo Parker's prominent saxophone solos provided a focal point for many performances. Other members of Brown's band included stalwart Famous Flames singer and sideman Bobby Byrd, trombonist Fred Wesley, drummers John "Jabo" Starks, Clyde Stubblefield and Melvin Parker, saxophonist St. Clair Pinckney, guitarist Alphonso "Country" Kellum and bassist Bernard Odum. In addition to a torrent of singles and studio albums, Brown's output during this period included two more successful live albums, Live at the Garden (1967) and Live at the Apollo, Volume II (1968), and a 1968 television special, James Brown: Man to Man. His music empire expanded along with his influence on the music scene. As Brown's music empire grew, his desire for financial and artistic independence grew as well. Brown bought radio stations during the late 1960s, including WRDW in his native Augusta, where he shined shoes as a boy. In November 1967, James Brown purchased radio station WGYW in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a reported $75,000, according to the January 20, 1968 Record World magazine. The call letters were changed to WJBE reflecting his initials. WJBE began on January 15, 1968, and broadcast a Rhythm & Blues format. The station slogan was "WJBE 1430 Raw Soul". Brown also bought WEBB in Baltimore in 1970. Brown branched out to make several recordings with musicians outside his own band. In an attempt to appeal to the older, more affluent, and predominantly white adult contemporary audience, Brown recorded Gettin' Down To It (1969) and Soul on Top (1970)—two albums consisting mostly of romantic ballads, jazz standards, and homologous reinterpretations of his earlier hits—with the Dee Felice Trio and the Louie Bellson Orchestra. In 1968, he recorded a number of funk-oriented tracks with The Dapps, a white Cincinnati band, including the hit "I Can't Stand Myself". He also released three albums of Christmas music with his own band. 1970–1975: Godfather of Soul In March 1970, most of Brown's mid-to-late 1960s road band walked out on him due to money disputes, a development augured by the prior disbandment of The Famous Flames singing group for the same reason in 1968. Brown and erstwhile Famous Flames singer Bobby Byrd (who chose to remain in the band during this tumultuous period) subsequently recruited several members of the Cincinnati-based The Pacemakers, which included Bootsy Collins and his brother Phelps "Catfish" Collins; augmented by the remaining members of the 1960s road band (including Fred Wesley, who rejoined Brown's outfit in December 1970) and other newer musicians, they would form the nucleus of The J.B.'s, Brown's new backing ensemble. Shortly following their first performance together, the band entered the studio to record the Brown-Byrd composition, "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine"; the song and other contemporaneous singles would further cement Brown's influence in the nascent genre of funk music. This iteration of the J.B.'s dissolved after a March 1971 European tour (documented on the 1991 archival release Love Power Peace) due to additional money disputes and Bootsy Collins' use of LSD; the Collins brothers would soon become integral members of Parliament-Funkadelic, while a new lineup of the J.B.'s coalesced around Wesley, St. Clair Pinckney and drummer John Starks. In 1971, Brown began recording for Polydor Records which also took over distribution of Brown's King Records catalog. Many of his sidemen and supporting players, including Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s, Bobby Byrd, Lyn Collins, Vicki Anderson and former rival Hank Ballard, released records on the People label, an imprint founded by Brown that was purchased by Polydor as part of Brown's new contract. The recordings on the People label, almost all of which were produced by Brown himself, exemplified the mature flowering of his "house style". Several tracks thought by critics to be excessively sexual were released at this time. He would later soften his vocal approach. Songs such as "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd, "Think" by Lyn Collins and "Doing It to Death" by Fred Wesley & the J.B.'s are considered as much a part of Brown's recorded legacy as the recordings released under his own name. That year, he also began touring African countries and was received well by audiences there. During the 1972 presidential election, James Brown openly proclaimed his support of Richard Nixon for reelection to the presidency over Democratic candidate George McGovern. The decision led to a boycott of his performances and, according to Brown, cost him a big portion of his black audience. As a result, Brown's record sales and concerts in the United States reached a lull in 1973 as he failed to land a number-one R&B single that year. Brown relied more on touring outside the United States where he continued to perform for sold-out crowds in cities such as London, Paris and Lausanne. That year he also faced problems with the IRS for failure to pay back taxes, charging he hadn't paid upwards of $4.5 million; five years earlier, the IRS had claimed he owed nearly $2 million. In 1973, Brown provided the score for the blaxploitation film Black Caesar. He also recorded another soundtrack for the film, Slaughter's Big Rip-Off. Following the release of these soundtracks, Brown acquired a self-styled nickname, "The Godfather of Soul", which remains his most popular nickname. In 1974 he returned to the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts with "The Payback", with the parent album reaching the same spot on the album charts; he would reach No. 1 two more times in 1974, with "My Thang" and "Papa Don't Take No Mess". Later that year, he returned to Africa and performed in Kinshasa as part of the buildup to The Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. Admirers of Brown's music, including Miles Davis and other jazz musicians, began to cite him as a major influence on their own styles. However, Brown, like others who were influenced by his music, also "borrowed" from other musicians. His 1976 single, "Hot (I Need To Be Loved, Loved, Loved, Loved)" (R&B No. 31), interpolated the main riff from "Fame" by David Bowie while omitting any attribution to the latter song's composers (including Bowie, John Lennon and guitarist Carlos Alomar), not the other way around as was often believed. "Papa Don't Take No Mess" would prove to be his final single to reach the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts and his final Top 40 pop single of the 1970s, though he continued to occasionally have Top 10 R&B recordings. Among his top ten R&B hits during this latter period included "Funky President" (R&B No. 4) and "Get Up Offa That Thing" (R&B No. 4), the latter song released in 1976 and aimed at musical rivals such as Barry White, The Ohio Players and K.C. and the Sunshine Band. Brown credited his then-wife and two of their children as writers of the song to avoid concurrent tax problems with the IRS. Starting in October 1975, Brown produced, directed, and hosted Future Shock, an Atlanta-based television variety show that ran for three years. 1975–1991: Decline and resurgence Although his records were mainstays of the vanguard New York underground disco scene (exemplified by DJs such as David Mancuso and Francis Grasso) from 1969 onwards, Brown did not consciously yield to the trend until 1975's Sex Machine Today. By 1977, he was no longer a dominant force in R&B. After "Get Up Offa That Thing", thirteen of Brown's late 1970s recordings for Polydor failed to reach the Top 10 of the R&B chart, with only "Bodyheat" in 1976 and the disco-oriented "It's Too Funky in Here" in 1979 reaching the R&B Top 15 and the ballad "Kiss in '77" reaching the Top 20. After 1976's "Bodyheat", he also failed to appear on the Billboard Hot 100. As a result, Brown's concert attendance began dropping and his reported disputes with the IRS caused his business empire to collapse. In addition, Brown's former bandmates, including Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and the Collins brothers, had found bigger success as members of George Clinton's Parliament-Funkadelic collective. The emergence of disco also stopped Brown's success on the R&B charts because its slicker, more commercial style had superseded his more raw funk productions. By the release of 1979's The Original Disco Man, Brown was not providing much production or writing, leaving most of it to producer Brad Shapiro, resulting in the song "It's Too Funky in Here" becoming Brown's most successful single in this period. After two more albums failed to chart, Brown left Polydor in 1981. It was around this time that Brown changed the name of his band from the J.B.'s to the Soul Generals (or Soul G's). The band retained that name until his death. Despite Brown's declining record sales, promoters Gary LoConti and Jim Rissmiller helped Brown sell out a string of residency shows at the Country Club in Reseda. Brown's compromised commercial standing prevented him from charging a large live fee to the promoters for these shows. However, the great success of these shows marked a turning point for Brown's career, and soon he was back on top in Hollywood. Movies followed, starting with appearances in the feature films The Blues Brothers, Doctor Detroit and Rocky IV, as well as guest-starring in the Miami Vice episode "Missing Hours" (1987). In 1984, he teamed with rap musician Afrika Bambaataa on the song "Unity". A year later he signed with Scotti Brothers Records and issued the moderately successful album Gravity in 1986. It included Brown's final Top 10 pop hit, "Living in America", marking his first Top 40 entry since 1974 and his first Top 10 pop entry since 1968. Produced and written by Dan Hartman, it was also featured prominently on the Rocky IV film and soundtrack. Brown performed the song in the film at Apollo Creed's final fight, shot in the Ziegfeld Room at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and was credited in the film as "The Godfather of Soul". 1986 also saw the publication of his autobiography, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul, co-written with Bruce Tucker. In 1987, Brown won the Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Living in America". In 1988, Brown worked with the production team Full Force on the new jack swing-influenced I'm Real. It spawned his final two Top 10 R&B hits, "I'm Real" and "Static", which peaked at No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, on the R&B charts. Meanwhile, the drum break from the second version of the original 1969 hit "Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose" (the recording included on the compilation album In the Jungle Groove) became so popular at hip hop dance parties (especially for breakdance) during the early 1980s that hip hop pioneer Kurtis Blow called the song "the national anthem of hip hop". 1991–2006: Final years After his stint in prison during the late 1980s, Brown met Larry Fridie and Thomas Hart who produced the first James Brown biopic, entitled James Brown: The Man, the Message, the Music, released in 1992. He returned to music with the album Love Over-Due in 1991. It included the single "(So Tired of Standing Still We Got to) Move On", which peaked at No. 48 on the R&B chart. His former record label Polydor also released the four-CD box set Star Time, spanning Brown's career to date. Brown's release from prison also prompted his former record labels to reissue his albums on CD, featuring additional tracks and commentary by music critics and historians. That same year, Brown appeared on rapper MC Hammer's video for "Too Legit to Quit". Hammer had been noted, alongside Big Daddy Kane, for bringing Brown's unique stage shows and their own energetic dance moves to the hip-hop generation; both listed Brown as their idol. Both musicians also sampled his work, with Hammer having sampled the rhythms from "Super Bad" for his song "Here Comes the Hammer", from his best-selling album Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em. Big Daddy Kane sampled many times. Before the year was over, Brown–who had immediately returned to work with his band following his release–organized a pay-per-view concert following a show at Los Angeles' Wiltern Theatre, that was well received. On June 10, 1991, James Brown and a star-filled line up performed before a crowd at the Wiltern Theatre for a live pay-per-view at-home audience. James Brown: Living in America – Live! was the brainchild of Indiana producer Danny Hubbard. It featured M.C. Hammer as well as Bell Biv Devoe, Heavy D & the Boys, En Vogue, C+C Music Factory, Quincy Jones, Sherman Hemsley and Keenen Ivory Wayans. Ice-T, Tone Loc and Kool Moe Dee performed paying homage to Brown. This was Brown's first public performance since his parole from the South Carolina prison system in February. He had served two-and-a-half years of two concurrent six-year sentences for aggravated assault and other felonies. Brown continued making recordings. In 1993 his album Universal James was released. It included his final Billboard charting single, "Can't Get Any Harder", which peaked at No. 76 on the US R&B chart and reached No. 59 on the UK chart. Its brief charting in the UK was probably due to the success of a remixed version of "I Feel Good" featuring Dakeyne. Brown also released the singles "How Long" and "Georgia-Lina", which failed to chart. In 1995, Brown returned to the Apollo and recorded Live at the Apollo 1995. It included a studio track titled "Respect Me", which was released as a single; again it failed to chart. Brown's final studio albums, I'm Back and The Next Step, were released in 1998 and 2002 respectively. I'm Back featured the song "Funk on Ah Roll", which peaked at No. 40 in the UK but did not chart in his native US. The Next Step included Brown's final single, "Killing Is Out, School Is In". Both albums were produced by Derrick Monk. Brown's concert success, however, remained unabated and he kept up with a grueling schedule throughout the remainder of his life, living up to his previous nickname, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business", in spite of his advanced age. In 2003, Brown participated in the PBS American Masters television documentary James Brown: Soul Survivor, which was directed by Jeremy Marre. Brown performed in the Super Bowl XXXI halftime show. Brown celebrated his status as an icon by appearing in a variety of entertainment and sports events, including an appearance on the WCW pay-per-view event, SuperBrawl X, where he danced alongside wrestler Ernest "The Cat" Miller, who based his character on Brown, during his in-ring skit with The Maestro. Brown then appeared in Tony Scott's short film Beat the Devil in 2001. He was featured alongside Clive Owen, Gary Oldman, Danny Trejo and Marilyn Manson. Brown also made a cameo appearance in the 2002 Jackie Chan film The Tuxedo, in which Chan was required to finish Brown's act after having accidentally knocked out the singer. In 2002, Brown appeared in Undercover Brother, playing himself. In 2004, Brown performed in Hyde Park, London as a support act for Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts. The beginning of 2005 saw the publication of Brown's second book, I Feel Good: A Memoir of a Life of Soul, written with Marc Eliot. In February and March, he participated in recording sessions for an intended studio album with Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, and other longtime collaborators. Though he lost interest in the album, which remains unreleased, a track from the sessions, "Gut Bucket", appeared on a compilation CD included with the August 2006 issue of MOJO. He appeared at Edinburgh 50,000 – The Final Push, the final Live 8 concert on July 6, 2005, where he performed a duet with British pop star Will Young on "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag". In the Black Eyed Peas album "Monkey Business", Brown was featured on a track called, "They Don't Want Music". The previous week he had performed a duet with another British pop star, Joss Stone, on the United Kingdom chat show Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. In 2006, Brown continued his "Seven Decades of Funk World Tour", his last concert tour where he performed all over the world. His final U.S. performances were in San Francisco on August 20, 2006, as headliner at the Festival of the Golden Gate (Foggfest) on the Great Meadow at Fort Mason. The following day, August 21, he performed at Humboldt State University in Arcata, CA, at a small theatre (800 seats) on campus. His last shows were greeted with positive reviews, and one of his final concert appearances at the Irish Oxegen festival in Punchestown in 2006 was performed for a record crowd of 80,000 people. He played a full concert as part of the BBC's Electric Proms on October 27, 2006, at The Roundhouse, supported by The Zutons, with special appearances from Max Beasley and The Sugababes. Brown's last televised appearance was at his induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2006, before his death the following month. Before his death, Brown had been scheduled to perform a duet with singer Annie Lennox on the song "Vengeance" for her new album Venus, which was released in 2007. Artistry As a vocalist, Brown performed in a forceful shout style derived from gospel music. Meanwhile, "his rhythmic grunts and expressive shrieks harked back farther still to ring shouts, work songs, and field cries", according to the Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History (1996): "He reimported the rhythmic complexity from which rhythm and blues, under the dual pressure of rock 'n' roll and pop, had progressively fallen away since its birth from jazz and blues." For many years, Brown's touring show was one of the most extravagant productions in American popular music. At the time of Brown's death, his band included three guitarists, two bass guitar players, two drummers, three horns and a percussionist. The bands that he maintained during the late 1960s and 1970s were of comparable size, and the bands also included a three-piece amplified string section that played during the ballads. Brown employed between 40 and 50 people for the James Brown Revue, and members of the revue traveled with him in a bus to cities and towns all over the country, performing upwards of 330 shows a year with almost all of the shows as one-nighters. Concert style Before James Brown appeared on stage, his personal MC gave him an elaborate introduction accompanied by drumrolls, as the MC worked in Brown's various sobriquets along with the names of many of his hit songs. The introduction by Fats Gonder, captured on Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo is a representative example: James Brown's performances were famous for their intensity and length. His own stated goal was to "give people more than what they came for — make them tired, 'cause that's what they came for.'" Brown's concert repertoire consisted mostly of his own hits and recent songs, with a few R&B covers mixed in. Brown danced vigorously as he sang, working popular dance steps such as the Mashed Potato into his routine along with dramatic leaps, splits and slides. In addition, his horn players and singing group (The Famous Flames) typically performed choreographed dance routines, and later incarnations of the Revue included backup dancers. Male performers in the Revue were required to wear tuxedoes and cummerbunds long after more casual concert wear became the norm among the younger musical acts. Brown's own extravagant outfits and his elaborate processed hairdo completed the visual impression. A James Brown concert typically included a performance by a featured vocalist, such as Vicki Anderson or Marva Whitney, and an instrumental feature for the band, which sometimes served as the opening act for the show. A trademark feature of Brown's stage shows, usually during the song "Please, Please, Please", involved Brown dropping to his knees while clutching the microphone stand in his hands, prompting the show's longtime MC, Danny Ray, to come out, drape a cape over Brown's shoulders and escort him off the stage after he had worked himself to exhaustion during his performance. As Brown was escorted off the stage by the MC, Brown's vocal group, the Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Lloyd Stallworth, and Bobby Bennett), continued singing the background vocals "Please, please don't go-oh". Brown would then shake off the cape and stagger back to the microphone to perform an encore. Brown's routine was inspired by a similar one used by the professional wrestler Gorgeous George, as well as Little Richard. In his 2005 autobiography I Feel Good: A Memoir in a Life of Soul, Brown, who was a fan of Gorgeous George, credited the wrestler as the inspiration for both his cape routine and concert attire, stating, "Seeing him on TV helped create the James Brown you see on stage". Brown performs a version of the cape routine in the film of the T.A.M.I. Show (1964) in which he and The Famous Flames upstaged The Rolling Stones, and over the closing credits of the film Blues Brothers 2000. The Police refer to "James Brown on the T.A.M.I. Show" in their 1980 song "When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around". Band leadership Brown demanded extreme discipline, perfection and precision from his musicians and dancers – performers in his Revue showed up for rehearsals and members wore the right "uniform" or "costume" for concert performances. During an interview conducted by Terri Gross during the NPR segment "Fresh Air" with Maceo Parker, a former saxophonist in Brown's band for most of the 1960s and part of the 1970s and 1980s, Parker offered his experience with the discipline that Brown demanded of the band: Brown also had a practice of directing, correcting and assessing fines on members of his band who broke his rules, such as wearing unshined shoes, dancing out of sync or showing up late on stage. During some of his concert performances, Brown danced in front of his band with his back to the audience as he slid across the floor, flashing hand signals and splaying his pulsating fingers to the beat of the music. Although audiences thought Brown's dance routine was part of his act, this practice was actually his way of pointing to the offending member of his troupe who played or sang the wrong note or committed some other infraction. Brown used his splayed fingers and hand signals to alert the offending person of the fine that person must pay to him for breaking his rules. Brown's demands of his support acts were, meanwhile, quite the reverse. As Fred Wesley recalled of his time as musical director of the JBs, if Brown felt intimidated by a support act he would try to "undermine their performances by shortening their sets without notice, demanding that they not do certain showstopping songs, and even insisting on doing the unthinkable, playing drums on some of their songs. A sure set killer." Social activism Education advocacy and humanitarianism Brown's main social activism was in preserving the need for education among youths, influenced by his own troubled childhood and his being forced to drop out of the seventh grade for wearing "insufficient clothes". Due to heavy dropout rates in the 1960s, Brown released the pro-education song, "Don't Be a Drop-Out". Royalties of the song were donated to dropout-prevention charity programs. The success of this led to Brown meeting with President Lyndon B. Johnson at the White House. Johnson cited Brown for being a positive role model to the youth. A lifelong Republican, Brown gained the confidence of President Richard Nixon, to whom he found he had to explain the plight of Black Americans. Throughout the remainder of his life, Brown made public speeches in schools and continued to advocate the importance of education in school. Upon filing his will in 2002, Brown advised that most of the money in his estate go into creating the I Feel Good, Inc. Trust to benefit disadvantaged children and provide scholarships for his grandchildren. His final single, "Killing Is Out, School Is In", advocated against murders of young children in the streets. Brown often gave out money and other items to children while traveling to his childhood hometown of Augusta. A week before his death, while looking gravely ill, Brown gave out toys and turkeys to kids at an Atlanta orphanage, something he had done several times over the years. Civil rights and self-reliance Though Brown performed at benefit rallies for civil rights organizations in the mid-1960s, Brown often shied away from discussing civil rights in his songs in fear of alienating his crossover audience. In 1968, in response to a growing urge of anti-war advocacy during the Vietnam War, Brown recorded the song, "America Is My Home". In the song, Brown performed a rap, advocating patriotism and exhorting listeners to "stop pitying yoursel[ves] and get up and fight". At the time of the song's release, Brown had been participating in performing for troops stationed in Vietnam. The Boston Garden concert On April 5, 1968, a day after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, Brown provided a free citywide televised concert at the Boston Garden to maintain public order and calm concerned Boston residents (over the objections of the police chief, who wanted to call off the concert, which he thought would incite violence). The show was later released on DVD as Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968. According to the documentary The Night James Brown Saved Boston, then-mayor Kevin White had strongly restrained the Boston police from cracking down on minor violence and protests after the assassination, while religious and community leaders worked to keep tempers from flaring. White arranged to have Brown's performance broadcast multiple times on Boston's public television station, WGBH, thus keeping potential rioters off the streets, watching the concert for free. Angered by not being told of this, Brown demanded $60,000 for "gate" fees (money he thought would be lost from ticket sales on account of the concert being broadcast for free) and then threatened to go public about the secret arrangement when the city balked at paying up afterwards, news of which would have been a political death blow to White and spark riots of its own. White eventually lobbied the behind-the-scenes power-brokering group known as "The Vault" to come up with money for Brown's gate fee and other social programs, contributing $100,000. Brown received $15,000 from them via the city. White also persuaded management at the Garden to give up their share of receipts to make up the differences. Following this successful performance, Brown was counseled by President Johnson to urge cities ravaged from riots following King's assassination to not resort to violence, telling them to "cool it, there's another way". Responding to pressure from black activists, including H. Rap Brown, to take a bigger stance on their issues and from footage of black on black crime committed in inner cities, Brown wrote the lyrics to the song "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud", which his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis accompanied with a musical composition. Released late that summer, the song's lyrics helped to make it an anthem for the civil rights movement. Brown only performed the song sporadically following its initial release and later stated he had regrets about recording it, saying in 1984, "Now 'Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud' has done more for the black race than any other record, but if I had my choice, I wouldn't have done it, because I don't like defining anyone by race. To teach race is to teach separatism." In his autobiography he stated: The song is obsolete now ... But it was necessary to teach pride then, and I think the song did a lot of good for a lot of people ... People called "Black and Proud" militant and angry – maybe because of the line about dying on your feet instead of living on your knees. But really, if you listen to it, it sounds like a children's song. That's why I had children in it, so children who heard it could grow up feeling pride ...
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RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote. In total, he wrote or co-authored more than 200 RFCs. Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the Director of the names and number assignment clearinghouse, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from its inception. He was the first member of the Internet Society, and was on its Board of Trustees. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. He also managed the Los Nettos Network. All of the above were part-time activities he assumed in conjunction with his primary position as Director of the Computer Networks Division, Division 7, of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. DNS Root Authority test, U.S. response On January 28, 1998, Postel, as a test, emailed eight of the twelve operators of Internet's regional root nameservers on his own authority and instructed them to reconfigure their servers, changing the root zone server from then SAIC subsidiary Network Solutions' A.ROOT-SERVERS.NET (198.41.0.4) to IANA's DNSROOT.IANA.ORG (198.32.1.98). The operators complied with Postel's instructions, thus dividing control of Internet naming between the non-government operators with IANA and the 4 remaining U.S. Government roots at NASA, DoD, and BRL with NSI. Though usage of the Internet was not interrupted, he soon received orders from senior government officials to undo this change, which he did. Within a week, the US NTIA issued A proposal to improve technical management of Internet names and addresses, including changes to authority over the Internet DNS root zone, which ultimately, and controversially, increased U.S. control.
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December 1969 as a Postgraduate Research Engineer (I) where he was involved in early work on the ARPANET. He was involved in the development of the Internet domain system and, at his instigation, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed a second set of protocols for handling data between networks, which is now known as Internet Protocol (IP). Together with Cerf and Steve Crocker, Postel worked on implementing most of the ARPANET protocols. Cerf would later become one of the principal designers of the TCP/IP standard, which works because of the sentence known as Postel's Law. Postel worked with ARPANET until 24 August 1973 when he left to join MITRE Corporation. He assisted with Network Information Center which was being set up at SRI by Elizabeth Feinler. In March 1977, he joined the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California as a research scientist. Postel was the RFC Editor from 1969 until his death, and wrote and edited many important RFCs, including RFC 791, RFC 792 and RFC 793, which define the basic protocols of the Internet protocol suite, and RFC 2223, Instructions to RFC Authors. Between 1982 and 1984 Postel co-authored the RFCs which became the foundation of today's DNS (RFC 819, RFC 881, RFC 882 and RFC 920) which were joined in 1995 by RFC 1591 which he also co-wrote. In total, he wrote or co-authored more than 200 RFCs. Postel served on the Internet Architecture Board and its predecessors for many years. He was the Director of the names and number assignment clearinghouse, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), from its inception. He was the first member of the Internet Society, and was on its Board of Trustees. He was the original and long-time .us Top-Level Domain administrator. He also managed the Los Nettos Network. All of the above were part-time activities he assumed in conjunction with
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the RFC Editor function at the ISI from 1998 until 2006. As Area Director of the User Services area, she was a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group of the IETF from 1990 to March 1998. Recognition With Bob Braden, she received the 2006 Postel Award in recognition of her services to the Internet. She is mentioned, along with a brief biography, in RFC 1336, Who's Who in the Internet (1992). Upon her death, former IETF Chairman Brian Carpenter suggested that "What would Joyce have said?" should be a guiding question for the organization. Death She died on December 28, 2015, due to complications from cancer. Selected works Reynolds, J. K., Postel, J. B., Katz, A. R., Finn, G. G., & DeSchon, A. L. (1985). The DARPA experimental multimedia mail system. Computer, 18(10), 82-89. Postel, J. B., Finn, G. G., Katz, A. R., & Reynolds, J. K. (1988). An experimental multimedia mail system. ACM Transactions on
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Numbers Authority, such as the global allocation of IP addresses, Autonomous System (AS) number allocation, and management of the root zone of the Domain Name System (DNS). After Postel's death in 1998, Reynolds helped supervise the transition of the IANA functions to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. She worked with ICANN in this role until 2001, while remaining an employee of ISI. From 1987 to 2006, she served on the editorial team of the Request for Comments series, co-leading the RFC Editor function at the ISI from 1998 until 2006. As Area Director of the User Services area, she was a member of the Internet Engineering Steering Group of the IETF from 1990 to March 1998. Recognition With Bob
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summer. 45 million litres of julmust are consumed during December, which is around 50% of the total soft drink volume in December and 75% of the total yearly must sales. Must was created by Harry Roberts and his father Robert Roberts in 1910 as a non-alcoholic alternative to beer. Ingredients The syrup is still made exclusively by Roberts AB in Örebro. The syrup is sold to different soft drink manufacturers that then make the final product in their own way. This means that the must from two different companies doesn't taste the same, even though they are made of the same syrup. Must is made of carbonated water, sugar, hop extract, malt extract, spices, caramel colouring, citric acid, and preservatives. The hops and malt extracts give the must a somewhat root beer-like taste without the sassafras - or British/Caribbean malt drinks such as Supermalt. It can be aged provided it is stored in a glass bottle. Some people buy julmust in December only to store it a year before drinking it. In 2013, a rumour occurred that the EU would ban julmust due to a directive banning the
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to return for Christmas 2011. Outside Sweden In November 2004, PepsiCo marketed a product somewhat similar in taste to julmust in the United States called Pepsi Holiday Spice. It was on sale during the 2004 and 2006 Christmas seasons. Cost Plus World Market in the United States sells julmust during the Christmas holiday season. IKEA in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Italy, Australia, Austria, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland sells Dryck Julmust during Christmas, which is a Julmust variant with sweetener instead of sugar. As of 2017, it is called "Vintersaga" (winter saga) Swedish festive drink. It is also sold in Russia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Hungary and Switzerland as Dryck Påskmust at Easter. Julmust can be found at speciality shops in the United Kingdom (also through Sainsbury's and Ocado) and Belgium. Julmust is also available for purchase in Finland around Christmas. It is considered part of the Christmas dinner by the Swedish-speaking minority. It has also found popularity within the rest of the population as well. See also Malt drink Kvass Dandelion and burdock List of soft drinks by country Svagdricka References Christmas food Soft drinks Swedish drinks Soft beers and malt drinks Non-alcoholic drinks Swedish words
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men became good friends, and Arago's innovative and witty accounts of his travels led Verne toward a newly developing genre of literature: that of travel writing. In 1852, two new pieces from Verne appeared in the Musée des familles: Martin Paz, a novella set in Lima, which Verne wrote in 1851 and published 10 July through 11 August 1852, and Les Châteaux en Californie, ou, Pierre qui roule n'amasse pas mousse (The Castles in California, or, A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss), a one-act comedy full of racy double entendres. In April and May 1854, the magazine published Verne's short story Master Zacharius, an E. T. A. Hoffmann-like fantasy featuring a sharp condemnation of scientific hubris and ambition, followed soon afterward by A Winter Amid the Ice, a polar adventure story whose themes closely anticipated many of Verne's novels. The Musée also published some nonfiction popular science articles which, though unsigned, are generally attributed to Verne. Verne's work for the magazine was cut short in 1856 when he had a serious quarrel with Pitre-Chevalier and refused to continue contributing (a refusal he would maintain until 1863, when Pitre-Chevalier died, and the magazine went to new editorship). While writing stories and articles for Pitre-Chevalier, Verne began to form the idea of inventing a new kind of novel, a "Roman de la Science" ("novel of science"), which would allow him to incorporate large amounts of the factual information he so enjoyed researching in the Bibliothèque. He is said to have discussed the project with the elder Alexandre Dumas, who had tried something similar with an unfinished novel, Isaac Laquedem, and who enthusiastically encouraged Verne's project. At the end of 1854, another outbreak of cholera led to the death of Jules Seveste, Verne's employer at the Théâtre Lyrique and by then a good friend. Though his contract only held him to a further year of service, Verne remained connected to the theater for several years after Seveste's death, seeing additional productions to fruition. He also continued to write plays and musical comedies, most of which were not performed. Family In May 1856, Verne traveled to Amiens to be the best man at the wedding of a Nantes friend, Auguste Lelarge, to an Amiens woman named Aimée du Fraysne de Viane. Verne, invited to stay with the bride's family, took to them warmly, befriending the entire household and finding himself increasingly attracted to the bride's sister, Honorine Anne Hébée Morel (née du Fraysne de Viane), a widow aged 26 with two young children. Hoping to find a secure source of income, as well as a chance to court Morel in earnest, he jumped at her brother's offer to go into business with a broker. Verne's father was initially dubious but gave in to his son's requests for approval in November 1856. With his financial situation finally looking promising, Verne won the favor of Morel and her family, and the couple were married on 10 January 1857. Verne plunged into his new business obligations, leaving his work at the Théâtre Lyrique and taking up a full-time job as an agent de change on the Paris Bourse, where he became the associate of the broker Fernand Eggly. Verne woke up early each morning so that he would have time to write, before going to the Bourse for the day's work; in the rest of his spare time, he continued to consort with the Onze-Sans-Femme club (all eleven of its "bachelors" had by this time gotten married). He also continued to frequent the Bibliothèque to do scientific and historical research, much of which he copied onto notecards for future use—a system he would continue for the rest of his life. According to the recollections of a colleague, Verne "did better in repartee than in business". In July 1858, Verne and Aristide Hignard seized an opportunity offered by Hignard's brother: a sea voyage, at no charge, from Bordeaux to Liverpool and Scotland. The journey, Verne's first trip outside France, deeply impressed him, and upon his return to Paris he fictionalized his recollections to form the backbone of a semi-autobiographical novel, Backwards to Britain (written in the autumn and winter of 1859–1860 and not published until 1989). A second complimentary voyage in 1861 took Hignard and Verne to Stockholm, from where they traveled to Christiania and through Telemark. Verne left Hignard in Denmark to return in haste to Paris, but missed the birth on 3 August 1861 of his only biological son, Michel. Meanwhile, Verne continued work on the idea of a "Roman de la Science", which he developed in a rough draft, inspired, according to his recollections, by his "love for maps and the great explorers of the world". It took shape as a story of travel across Africa and would eventually become his first published novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon. Hetzel In 1862, through their mutual acquaintance Alfred de Bréhat, Verne came into contact with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, and submitted to him the manuscript of his developing novel, then called Voyage en Ballon. Hetzel, already the publisher of Honoré de Balzac, George Sand, Victor Hugo, and other well-known authors, had long been planning to launch a high-quality family magazine in which entertaining fiction would combine with scientific education. He saw Verne, with his demonstrated inclination toward scrupulously researched adventure stories, as an ideal contributor for such a magazine, and accepted the novel, giving Verne suggestions for improvement. Verne made the proposed revisions within two weeks and returned to Hetzel with the final draft, now titled Five Weeks in a Balloon. It was published by Hetzel on 31 January 1863. To secure his services for the planned magazine, to be called the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation (Magazine of Education and Recreation), Hetzel also drew up a long-term contract in which Verne would give him three volumes of text per year, each of which Hetzel would buy outright for a flat fee. Verne, finding both a steady salary and a sure outlet for writing at last, accepted immediately. For the rest of his lifetime, most of his novels would be serialized in Hetzel's Magasin before their appearance in book form, beginning with his second novel for Hetzel, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864–65). When The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was published in book form in 1866, Hetzel publicly announced his literary and educational ambitions for Verne's novels by saying in a preface that Verne's works would form a novel sequence called the Voyages extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages or Extraordinary Journeys), and that Verne's aim was "to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format that is his own, the history of the universe". Late in life, Verne confirmed that this commission had become the running theme of his novels: "My object has been to depict the earth, and not the earth alone, but the universe… And I have tried at the same time to realize a very high ideal of beauty of style. It is said that there can't be any style in a novel of adventure, but it isn't true." However, he also noted that the project was extremely ambitious: "Yes! But the Earth is very large, and life is very short! In order to leave a completed work behind, one would need to live to be at least 100 years old!" Hetzel influenced many of Verne's novels directly, especially in the first few years of their collaboration, for Verne was initially so happy to find a publisher that he agreed to almost all of the changes Hetzel suggested. For example, when Hetzel disapproved of the original climax of Captain Hatteras, including the death of the title character, Verne wrote an entirely new conclusion in which Hatteras survived. Hetzel also rejected Verne's next submission, Paris in the Twentieth Century, believing its pessimistic view of the future and its condemnation of technological progress were too subversive for a family magazine. (The manuscript, believed lost for some time after Verne's death, was finally published in 1994.) The relationship between publisher and writer changed significantly around 1869 when Verne and Hetzel were brought into conflict over the manuscript for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Verne had initially conceived of the submariner Captain Nemo as a Polish scientist whose acts of vengeance were directed against the Russians who had killed his family during the January Uprising. Hetzel, not wanting to alienate the lucrative Russian market for Verne's books, demanded that Nemo be made an enemy of the slave trade, a situation that would make him an unambiguous hero. Verne, after fighting vehemently against the change, finally invented a compromise in which Nemo's past is left mysterious. After this disagreement, Verne became notably cooler in his dealings with Hetzel, taking suggestions into consideration but often rejecting them outright. From that point, Verne published two or more volumes a year. The most successful of these are: Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864); De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, 1869); and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. Verne could now live on his writings, but most of his wealth came from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), which he wrote with Adolphe d'Ennery. In 1867, Verne bought a small boat, the Saint-Michel, which he successively replaced with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. On board the Saint-Michel III, he sailed around Europe. After his first novel, most of his stories were first serialised in the Magazine d'Éducation et de Récréation, a Hetzel biweekly publication, before being published in book form. His brother Paul contributed to 40th French climbing of the Mont-Blanc and a collection of short stories – Doctor Ox – in 1874. Verne became wealthy and famous. Meanwhile, Michel Verne married an actress against his father's wishes, had two children by an underage mistress and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son improved as Michel grew older. Later years Though raised as a Roman Catholic, Verne gravitated towards deism. Some scholars believe his novels reflect a deist philosophy, as they often involve the notion of God or divine providence but rarely mention the concept of Christ. On 9 March 1886, as Verne returned home, his twenty-six-year-old nephew, Gaston, shot at him twice with a pistol. The first bullet missed, but the second one entered Verne's left leg, giving him a permanent limp that could not be overcome. This incident was hushed up in the media, but Gaston spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum. After the deaths of both his mother and Hetzel (who died in 1886), Jules Verne began publishing darker works. In 1888 he entered politics and was elected town councillor of Amiens, where he championed several improvements and served for fifteen years. Verne was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1870. He was promoted to an Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 1892. Death and posthumous publications On 24 March 1905, while ill with chronic diabetes and complications from a stroke which paralyzed his right side, Verne died at his home in Amiens, 44 Boulevard Longueville (now Boulevard Jules-Verne). His son, Michel Verne, oversaw the publication of the novels Invasion of the Sea and The Lighthouse at the End of the World after Jules's death. The Voyages extraordinaires series continued for several years afterwards at the same rate of two volumes a year. It was later discovered that Michel Verne had made extensive changes in these stories, and the original versions were eventually published at the end of the 20th century by the Jules Verne Society (Société Jules Verne). In 1919, Michel Verne published The Barsac Mission (), whose original drafts contained references to Esperanto, a language that his father had been very interested in. In 1989, Verne's great-grandson discovered his ancestor's as-yet-unpublished novel Paris in the Twentieth Century, which was subsequently published in 1994. Works Verne's largest body of work is the Voyages extraordinaires series, which includes all of his novels except for the two rejected manuscripts Paris in the Twentieth Century and Backwards to Britain (published posthumously in 1994 and 1989, respectively) and for projects left unfinished at his death (many of which would be posthumously adapted or rewritten for publication by his son Michel). Verne also wrote many plays, poems, song texts, operetta libretti, and short stories, as well as a variety of essays and miscellaneous non-fiction. Literary reception After his debut under Hetzel, Verne was enthusiastically received in France by writers and scientists alike, with George Sand and Théophile Gautier among his earliest admirers. Several notable contemporary figures, from the geographer Vivien de Saint-Martin to the critic Jules Claretie, spoke highly of Verne and his works in critical and biographical notes. However, Verne's growing popularity among readers and playgoers (due especially to the highly successful stage version of Around the World in Eighty Days) led to a gradual change in his literary reputation. As the novels and stage productions continued to sell, many contemporary critics felt that Verne's status as a commercially popular author meant he could only be seen as a mere genre-based storyteller, rather than a serious author worthy of academic study. This denial of formal literary status took various forms, including dismissive criticism by such writers as Émile Zola and the lack of Verne's nomination for membership in the Académie Française, and was recognized by Verne himself, who said in a late interview: "The great regret of my life is that I have never taken any place in French literature." To Verne, who considered himself "a man of letters and an artist, living in the pursuit of the ideal", this critical dismissal on the basis of literary ideology could only be seen as the ultimate snub. This bifurcation of Verne as a popular genre writer but a critical persona non grata continued after his death, with early biographies (including one by Verne's own niece, Marguerite Allotte de la Fuÿe) focusing on error-filled and embroidered hagiography of Verne as a popular figure rather than on Verne's actual working methods or his output. Meanwhile, sales of Verne's novels in their original unabridged versions dropped markedly even in Verne's home country, with abridged versions aimed directly at children taking their place. However, the decades after Verne's death also saw the rise in France of the "Jules Verne cult", a steadily growing group of scholars and young writers who took Verne's works seriously as literature and willingly noted his influence on their own pioneering works. Some of the cult founded the Société Jules Verne, the first academic society for Verne
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quarrel with Pitre-Chevalier and refused to continue contributing (a refusal he would maintain until 1863, when Pitre-Chevalier died, and the magazine went to new editorship). While writing stories and articles for Pitre-Chevalier, Verne began to form the idea of inventing a new kind of novel, a "Roman de la Science" ("novel of science"), which would allow him to incorporate large amounts of the factual information he so enjoyed researching in the Bibliothèque. He is said to have discussed the project with the elder Alexandre Dumas, who had tried something similar with an unfinished novel, Isaac Laquedem, and who enthusiastically encouraged Verne's project. At the end of 1854, another outbreak of cholera led to the death of Jules Seveste, Verne's employer at the Théâtre Lyrique and by then a good friend. Though his contract only held him to a further year of service, Verne remained connected to the theater for several years after Seveste's death, seeing additional productions to fruition. He also continued to write plays and musical comedies, most of which were not performed. Family In May 1856, Verne traveled to Amiens to be the best man at the wedding of a Nantes friend, Auguste Lelarge, to an Amiens woman named Aimée du Fraysne de Viane. Verne, invited to stay with the bride's family, took to them warmly, befriending the entire household and finding himself increasingly attracted to the bride's sister, Honorine Anne Hébée Morel (née du Fraysne de Viane), a widow aged 26 with two young children. Hoping to find a secure source of income, as well as a chance to court Morel in earnest, he jumped at her brother's offer to go into business with a broker. Verne's father was initially dubious but gave in to his son's requests for approval in November 1856. With his financial situation finally looking promising, Verne won the favor of Morel and her family, and the couple were married on 10 January 1857. Verne plunged into his new business obligations, leaving his work at the Théâtre Lyrique and taking up a full-time job as an agent de change on the Paris Bourse, where he became the associate of the broker Fernand Eggly. Verne woke up early each morning so that he would have time to write, before going to the Bourse for the day's work; in the rest of his spare time, he continued to consort with the Onze-Sans-Femme club (all eleven of its "bachelors" had by this time gotten married). He also continued to frequent the Bibliothèque to do scientific and historical research, much of which he copied onto notecards for future use—a system he would continue for the rest of his life. According to the recollections of a colleague, Verne "did better in repartee than in business". In July 1858, Verne and Aristide Hignard seized an opportunity offered by Hignard's brother: a sea voyage, at no charge, from Bordeaux to Liverpool and Scotland. The journey, Verne's first trip outside France, deeply impressed him, and upon his return to Paris he fictionalized his recollections to form the backbone of a semi-autobiographical novel, Backwards to Britain (written in the autumn and winter of 1859–1860 and not published until 1989). A second complimentary voyage in 1861 took Hignard and Verne to Stockholm, from where they traveled to Christiania and through Telemark. Verne left Hignard in Denmark to return in haste to Paris, but missed the birth on 3 August 1861 of his only biological son, Michel. Meanwhile, Verne continued work on the idea of a "Roman de la Science", which he developed in a rough draft, inspired, according to his recollections, by his "love for maps and the great explorers of the world". It took shape as a story of travel across Africa and would eventually become his first published novel, Five Weeks in a Balloon. Hetzel In 1862, through their mutual acquaintance Alfred de Bréhat, Verne came into contact with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, and submitted to him the manuscript of his developing novel, then called Voyage en Ballon. Hetzel, already the publisher of Honoré de Balzac, George Sand, Victor Hugo, and other well-known authors, had long been planning to launch a high-quality family magazine in which entertaining fiction would combine with scientific education. He saw Verne, with his demonstrated inclination toward scrupulously researched adventure stories, as an ideal contributor for such a magazine, and accepted the novel, giving Verne suggestions for improvement. Verne made the proposed revisions within two weeks and returned to Hetzel with the final draft, now titled Five Weeks in a Balloon. It was published by Hetzel on 31 January 1863. To secure his services for the planned magazine, to be called the Magasin d'Éducation et de Récréation (Magazine of Education and Recreation), Hetzel also drew up a long-term contract in which Verne would give him three volumes of text per year, each of which Hetzel would buy outright for a flat fee. Verne, finding both a steady salary and a sure outlet for writing at last, accepted immediately. For the rest of his lifetime, most of his novels would be serialized in Hetzel's Magasin before their appearance in book form, beginning with his second novel for Hetzel, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras (1864–65). When The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was published in book form in 1866, Hetzel publicly announced his literary and educational ambitions for Verne's novels by saying in a preface that Verne's works would form a novel sequence called the Voyages extraordinaires (Extraordinary Voyages or Extraordinary Journeys), and that Verne's aim was "to outline all the geographical, geological, physical, and astronomical knowledge amassed by modern science and to recount, in an entertaining and picturesque format that is his own, the history of the universe". Late in life, Verne confirmed that this commission had become the running theme of his novels: "My object has been to depict the earth, and not the earth alone, but the universe… And I have tried at the same time to realize a very high ideal of beauty of style. It is said that there can't be any style in a novel of adventure, but it isn't true." However, he also noted that the project was extremely ambitious: "Yes! But the Earth is very large, and life is very short! In order to leave a completed work behind, one would need to live to be at least 100 years old!" Hetzel influenced many of Verne's novels directly, especially in the first few years of their collaboration, for Verne was initially so happy to find a publisher that he agreed to almost all of the changes Hetzel suggested. For example, when Hetzel disapproved of the original climax of Captain Hatteras, including the death of the title character, Verne wrote an entirely new conclusion in which Hatteras survived. Hetzel also rejected Verne's next submission, Paris in the Twentieth Century, believing its pessimistic view of the future and its condemnation of technological progress were too subversive for a family magazine. (The manuscript, believed lost for some time after Verne's death, was finally published in 1994.) The relationship between publisher and writer changed significantly around 1869 when Verne and Hetzel were brought into conflict over the manuscript for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas. Verne had initially conceived of the submariner Captain Nemo as a Polish scientist whose acts of vengeance were directed against the Russians who had killed his family during the January Uprising. Hetzel, not wanting to alienate the lucrative Russian market for Verne's books, demanded that Nemo be made an enemy of the slave trade, a situation that would make him an unambiguous hero. Verne, after fighting vehemently against the change, finally invented a compromise in which Nemo's past is left mysterious. After this disagreement, Verne became notably cooler in his dealings with Hetzel, taking suggestions into consideration but often rejecting them outright. From that point, Verne published two or more volumes a year. The most successful of these are: Voyage au centre de la Terre (Journey to the Center of the Earth, 1864); De la Terre à la Lune (From the Earth to the Moon, 1865); Vingt mille lieues sous les mers (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas, 1869); and Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (Around the World in Eighty Days), which first appeared in Le Temps in 1872. Verne could now live on his writings, but most of his wealth came from the stage adaptations of Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours (1874) and Michel Strogoff (1876), which he wrote with Adolphe d'Ennery. In 1867, Verne bought a small boat, the Saint-Michel, which he successively replaced with the Saint-Michel II and the Saint-Michel III as his financial situation improved. On board the Saint-Michel III, he sailed around Europe. After his first novel, most of his stories were first serialised in the Magazine d'Éducation et de Récréation, a Hetzel biweekly publication, before being published in book form. His brother Paul contributed to 40th French climbing of the Mont-Blanc and a collection of short stories – Doctor Ox – in 1874. Verne became wealthy and famous. Meanwhile, Michel Verne married an actress against his father's wishes, had two children by an underage mistress and buried himself in debts. The relationship between father and son improved as Michel grew older. Later years Though raised as a Roman Catholic, Verne gravitated towards deism. Some scholars believe his novels reflect a deist philosophy, as they often involve the notion of God or divine providence but rarely mention the concept of Christ. On 9 March 1886, as Verne returned home, his twenty-six-year-old nephew, Gaston, shot at him twice with a pistol. The first bullet missed, but the second one entered Verne's left leg, giving him a permanent limp that could not be overcome. This incident was hushed up in the media, but Gaston spent the rest of his life in a mental asylum. After the deaths of both his mother and Hetzel (who died in 1886), Jules Verne began publishing darker works. In 1888 he entered politics and was elected town councillor of Amiens, where he championed several improvements and served for fifteen years. Verne was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1870. He was promoted to an Officier de la Légion d'honneur in 1892. Death and posthumous publications On 24 March 1905, while ill with chronic diabetes and complications from a stroke which paralyzed his right side, Verne died at his home in Amiens, 44 Boulevard Longueville (now Boulevard Jules-Verne). His son, Michel Verne, oversaw the publication of the novels Invasion of the Sea and The Lighthouse at the End of the World after Jules's death. The Voyages extraordinaires series continued for several years afterwards at the same rate of two volumes a year. It was later discovered that Michel Verne had made extensive changes in these stories, and the original versions were eventually published at the end of the 20th century by the Jules Verne Society (Société Jules Verne). In 1919, Michel Verne published The Barsac Mission (), whose original drafts contained references to Esperanto, a language that his father had been very interested in. In 1989, Verne's great-grandson discovered his ancestor's as-yet-unpublished novel Paris in the Twentieth Century, which was subsequently published in 1994. Works Verne's largest body of work is the Voyages extraordinaires series, which includes all of his novels except for the two rejected manuscripts Paris in the Twentieth Century and Backwards to Britain (published posthumously in 1994 and 1989, respectively) and for projects left unfinished at his death (many of which would be posthumously adapted or rewritten for publication by his son Michel). Verne also wrote many plays, poems, song texts, operetta libretti, and short stories, as well as a variety of essays and miscellaneous non-fiction. Literary reception After his debut under Hetzel, Verne was enthusiastically received in France by writers and scientists alike, with George Sand and Théophile Gautier among his earliest admirers. Several notable contemporary figures, from the geographer Vivien de Saint-Martin to the critic Jules Claretie, spoke highly of Verne and his works in critical and biographical notes. However, Verne's growing popularity among readers and playgoers (due especially to the highly successful stage version of Around the World in Eighty Days) led to a gradual change in his literary reputation. As the novels and stage productions continued to sell, many contemporary critics felt that Verne's status as a commercially popular author meant he could only be seen as a mere genre-based storyteller, rather than a serious author worthy of academic study. This denial of formal literary status took various forms, including dismissive criticism by such writers as Émile Zola and the lack of Verne's nomination for membership in the Académie Française, and was recognized by Verne himself, who said in a late interview: "The great regret of my life is that I have never taken any place in French literature." To Verne, who considered himself "a man of letters and an artist, living in the pursuit of the ideal", this critical dismissal on the basis of literary ideology could only be seen as the ultimate snub. This bifurcation of Verne as a popular genre writer but a critical persona non grata continued after his death, with early biographies (including one by Verne's own niece, Marguerite Allotte de la Fuÿe) focusing on error-filled and embroidered hagiography of Verne as a popular figure rather than on Verne's actual working methods or his output. Meanwhile, sales of Verne's novels in their original
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of Science and Education in the cabinet of Minister President Heinz Kühn. He soon gained a reputation as a reformer. As part of the mass education campaign of the 1970s, he founded five universities, each at different sites, in North Rhine-Westphalia and initiated Germany's first distance learning university at Hagen (modelled on the British Open University). In 1977, Rau became Chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia SPD and, in 1978, Minister President of the state, which he remained until 1998, with four successful elections for the SPD, which became strongest party in the Landtag each time and gained an absolute majority three times, in 1980, 1985, 1990 and finally 1995. From 1995 onwards, Rau led an SPD-Greens coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia. Rau twice served as President of the Bundesrat in 1982/83 and 1994/95. In 1987, Rau was his party's candidate to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but he lost the elections against Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats (CDU). In 1994, Rau was a candidate to become President of Germany but lost to Roman Herzog. In 1998, Rau stepped down from his positions as SPD chairman and Minister President, and on 23 May 1999, he was elected President of Germany by the Federal Assembly of Germany to succeed Roman Herzog (CDU). On 1 July 2004, he was succeeded by Horst Köhler. In common with all other Federal presidents except for Heinemann, who had not wished to be seen off in this manner, Rau was honored by a Großer Zapfenstreich which, at his request, included the hymn "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" (literally "that Jesus remain my Joy", but commonly Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring). During 2000, Rau became the first German head of state to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German. The controversial step prompted some Israeli delegates to walk out. However, Israeli President Moshe Katsav supported and praised him
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worked as a publisher, especially with the Protestant Youth Publishing House. Political career Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann. The party was known for proposing German reunification from 1952 until it was disbanded in 1957. In 1958, the pacifist Rau and his political mentor, Gustav Heinemann, joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), where he was active in the Wuppertal chapter. He served as deputy chairman of the SPD party of Wuppertal and was elected later on to the City Council (1964–1978), where he served as chairman of the SPD Group (1964–1967) and later as Mayor (1969–1970). In 1958, Rau was elected for the first time as member of the Landtag (state parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1967, he became chairman of the SPD fraction in the Landtag, and in 1970, he was Minister of Science and Education in the cabinet of Minister President Heinz Kühn. He soon gained a reputation as a reformer. As part of the mass education campaign of the 1970s, he founded five universities, each at different sites, in North Rhine-Westphalia and initiated Germany's first distance learning university at Hagen (modelled on the British Open University). In 1977, Rau became Chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia SPD and, in 1978, Minister President of the state, which he remained until 1998, with four successful elections for the SPD, which became strongest party in the Landtag each time and gained an absolute majority three times, in 1980, 1985, 1990 and finally 1995. From 1995 onwards, Rau led an SPD-Greens coalition in North Rhine-Westphalia. Rau twice served as President of the Bundesrat in 1982/83 and 1994/95. In 1987, Rau was his party's candidate to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but he lost the elections against Helmut Kohl’s Christian Democrats (CDU). In 1994, Rau was a candidate to become President of Germany but lost to Roman Herzog. In 1998, Rau stepped down from his positions as SPD chairman and Minister President, and on 23 May 1999, he was elected President of Germany by the
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Jackson, Wisconsin (disambiguation) Jackson, Wyoming Jackson County (disambiguation) Jackson Hole, a valley in the state of Wyoming Jackson metropolitan area (disambiguation) Jackson Parish, Louisiana Jackson River (Virginia) Jackson Township (disambiguation) Lake Jackson (Georgia), a reservoir Elsewhere Jackson Island, in Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation Mount Jackson (disambiguation) Jackson (crater), a prominent lunar impact crater in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon Arts, entertainment, and media Films Jackson (2008 film), an American film Jackson (2015 film), a film Other arts, entertainment, and media Jackson (song), written by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler Classical Electrodynamics (book), a physics textbook often known by the name of its author: Jackson Jackson (album) The Jackson Twins, a comic strip Companies Jackson Guitars, a manufacturing company Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research
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Jackson, Missouri Jackson, Nebraska Jackson, New Hampshire Jackson, Camden County, New Jersey Jackson Township, New Jersey Jackson, New York Jackson, North Carolina Jackson, Ohio Jackson Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania Jackson, Rhode Island Jackson, South Carolina Jackson, Tennessee Jackson, Washington Jackson, Wisconsin (disambiguation) Jackson, Wyoming Jackson County (disambiguation) Jackson Hole, a valley in the state of Wyoming Jackson metropolitan area (disambiguation) Jackson Parish, Louisiana Jackson River (Virginia) Jackson Township (disambiguation) Lake Jackson (Georgia), a reservoir Elsewhere Jackson Island, in Franz Josef Land, Russian Federation Mount Jackson (disambiguation) Jackson (crater), a prominent lunar impact crater in the northern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon Arts, entertainment, and media Films Jackson (2008 film), an American film Jackson (2015 film), a film Other arts, entertainment, and media Jackson (song), written by Jerry Leiber and Billy Edd Wheeler Classical Electrodynamics (book), a physics textbook often known by the name of its author: Jackson Jackson (album) The Jackson Twins, a comic strip Companies Jackson Guitars,
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to be the highest point in Jordan, but SRTM data shows that Jabal Umm al Dami is above sea level and therefore higher. Traditional climbing routes
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and therefore higher. Traditional climbing routes over its eastern face make it one of the main attractions for climbers. There are about ten scrambling routes across the mountain. Tony Howard wrote a valuable book about Jordan, including
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Socialist artwork, films, and literature. Church struggle In 1933, Hitler signed the Reichskonkordat (Reich Concordat), a treaty with the Vatican that required the regime to honour the independence of Catholic institutions and prohibited clergy from involvement in politics. However, the regime continued to target the Christian churches to weaken their influence. Throughout 1935 and 1936, hundreds of clergy and nuns were arrested, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or sexual offences. Goebbels widely publicised the trials in his propaganda campaigns, showing the cases in the worst possible light. Restrictions were placed on public meetings, and Catholic publications faced censorship. Catholic schools were required to reduce religious instruction and crucifixes were removed from state buildings. Hitler often vacillated on whether or not the Kirchenkampf (church struggle) should be a priority, but his frequent inflammatory comments on the issue were enough to convince Goebbels to intensify his work on the issue; in February 1937 he stated he wanted to eliminate the Protestant church. In response to the persecution, Pope Pius XI had the "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With Burning Concern") Encyclical smuggled into Germany for Passion Sunday 1937 and read from every pulpit. It denounced the systematic hostility of the regime toward the church. In response, Goebbels renewed the regime's crackdown and propaganda against Catholics. His speech of 28 May in Berlin in front of 20,000 party members, which was also broadcast on the radio, attacked the Catholic church as morally corrupt. As a result of the propaganda campaign, enrolment in denominational schools dropped sharply, and by 1939 all such schools were disbanded or converted to public facilities. Harassment and threats of imprisonment led the clergy to be much more cautious in their criticism of the regime. Partly out of foreign policy concerns, Hitler ordered a scaling back of the church struggle by the end of July 1937. Antisemitism and the Holocaust Goebbels was antisemitic from a young age. After joining the Nazi Party and meeting Hitler, his antisemitism grew and became more radical. He began to see the Jews as a destructive force with a negative impact on German society. After the Nazis seized control, he repeatedly urged Hitler to take action against the Jews. Despite his extreme antisemitism, Goebbels spoke of the "rubbish of race-materialism" and of the unnecessity of biological racism for the Nazi ideology. He also described Himmler's ideology as "in many regards, mad" and thought Alfred Rosenberg's theories were ridiculous. The Nazi Party's goal was to remove Jews from German cultural and economic life, and eventually to remove them from the country altogether. In addition to his propaganda efforts, Goebbels actively promoted the persecution of the Jews through pogroms, legislation, and other actions. Discriminatory measures he instituted in Berlin in the early years of the regime included bans against their using public transport and requiring that Jewish shops be marked as such. In November 1938, the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath was killed in Paris by the young Jewish man Herschel Grynszpan. In response, Goebbels arranged for inflammatory antisemitic material to be released by the press, and the result was the start of a pogrom. Jews were attacked and synagogues destroyed all over Germany. The situation was further inflamed by a speech Goebbels gave at a party meeting on the night of 8 November, where he obliquely called for party members to incite further violence against Jews while making it appear to be a spontaneous series of acts by the German people. At least a hundred Jews were killed, several hundred synagogues were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of Jewish shops were vandalised in an event called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). Around 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. The destruction stopped after a conference held on 12 November, where Göring pointed out that the destruction of Jewish property was in effect the destruction of German property since the intention was that it would all eventually be confiscated. Goebbels continued his intensive antisemitic propaganda campaign that culminated in Hitler's 30 January 1939 Reichstag speech, which Goebbels helped to write: While Goebbels had been pressing for expulsion of the Berlin Jews since 1935, there were still 62,000 living in the city in 1940. Part of the delay in their deportation was that they were needed as workers in the armaments industry. Deportations of German Jews began in October 1941, with the first transport from Berlin leaving on 18 October. Some Jews were shot immediately on arrival in destinations such as Riga and Kaunas. In preparation for the deportations, Goebbels ordered that all German Jews wear an identifying yellow badge as of 5 September 1941. On 6 March 1942, Goebbels received a copy of the minutes of the Wannsee Conference, which indicated indirectly that the Jewish population of Europe was to be sent to extermination camps in occupied areas of Poland and killed. His diary entries of the period show that he was well aware of the fate of the Jews. "In general, it can probably be established that 60 per cent of them will have to be liquidated, while only 40 per cent can be put to work. ... A judgment is being carried out on the Jews which is barbaric but thoroughly deserved," he wrote on 27 March 1942. Goebbels had frequent discussions with Hitler about the fate of the Jews, a subject they discussed almost every time they met. He was aware throughout that the Jews were being exterminated, and completely supported this decision. He was one of the few top Nazi officials to do so publicly. World War II As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must be undertaken, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. A year later he told his military leaders that 1942 was the target date for going to war in the east. Goebbels was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Hitler aggressively pursuing Germany's expansionist policies sooner rather than later. At the time of the Reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936, Goebbels summed up his general attitude in his diary: "[N]ow is the time for action. Fortune favors the brave! He who dares nothing wins nothing." In the lead-up to the Sudetenland crisis in 1938, Goebbels took the initiative time and again to use propaganda to whip up sympathy for the Sudeten Germans while campaigning against the Czech government. Still, Goebbels was well aware there was a growing "war panic" in Germany and so by July had the press conduct propaganda efforts at a lower level of intensity. After the western powers acceded to Hitler's demands concerning Czechoslovakia in 1938, Goebbels soon redirected his propaganda machine against Poland. From May onwards, he orchestrated a campaign against Poland, fabricating stories about atrocities against ethnic Germans in Danzig and other cities. Even so, he was unable to persuade the majority of Germans to welcome the prospect of war. He privately held doubts about the wisdom of risking a protracted war against Britain and France by attacking Poland. After the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, Goebbels used his propaganda ministry and the Reich chambers to control access to information domestically. To his chagrin, his rival Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, continually challenged Goebbels' jurisdiction over the dissemination of international propaganda. Hitler declined to make a firm ruling on the subject, so the two men remained rivals for the remainder of the Nazi era. Goebbels did not participate in the military decision-making process, nor was he made privy to diplomatic negotiations until after the fact. The Propaganda Ministry took over the broadcasting facilities of conquered countries immediately after surrender, and began broadcasting prepared material using the existing announcers as a way to gain the trust of the citizens. Most aspects of the media, both domestically and in the conquered countries, were controlled by Goebbels and his department. The German Home Service, the Armed Forces Programme, and the German European Service were all rigorously controlled in everything from the information they were permitted to disseminate to the music they were allowed to play. Party rallies, speeches, and demonstrations continued; speeches were broadcast on the radio and short propaganda films were exhibited using 1,500 mobile film vans. Hitler made fewer public appearances and broadcasts as the war progressed, so Goebbels increasingly became the voice of the Nazi regime for the German people. From May 1940 he wrote frequent editorials that were published in Das Reich which were later read aloud over the radio. He found films to be his most effective propaganda medium, after radio. At his insistence, initially half the films made in wartime Germany were propaganda films (particularly on antisemitism) and war propaganda films (recounting both historical wars and current exploits of the Wehrmacht). Goebbels became preoccupied with morale and the efforts of the people on the home front. He believed that the more the people at home were involved in the war effort, the better their morale would be. For example, he initiated a programme for the collection of winter clothing and ski equipment for troops on the eastern front. At the same time, Goebbels implemented changes to have more "entertaining material" in radio and film produced for the public, decreeing in late 1942 that 20 per cent of the films should be propaganda and 80 per cent light entertainment. As Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbels dealt with increasingly serious shortages of necessities such as food and clothing, as well as the need to ration beer and tobacco, which were important for morale. Hitler suggested watering the beer and degrading the quality of the cigarettes so that more could be produced, but Goebbels refused, saying the cigarettes were already of such low quality that it was impossible to make them any worse. Through his propaganda campaigns, he worked hard to maintain an appropriate level of morale among the public about the military situation, neither too optimistic nor too grim. The series of military setbacks the Germans suffered in this period – the thousand-bomber raid on Cologne (May 1942), the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein (November 1942), and especially the catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad (February 1943) – were difficult matters to present to the German public, who were increasingly weary of the war and sceptical that it could be won. On 16 November 1942 Goebbels, like all Gauleiters, was appointed the Reich Defense Commissioner for his Gau. This enabled him to issue direct instructions to authorities within his jurisdiction in matters concerning the civilian war effort. On 15 January 1943, Hitler appointed Goebbels as head of the newly created Air Raid Damage committee, which meant Goebbels was nominally in charge of nationwide civil air defences and shelters as well as the assessment and repair of damaged buildings. In actuality, the defence of areas other than Berlin remained in the hands of the local Gauleiters, and his main tasks were limited to providing immediate aid to the affected civilians and using propaganda to improve their morale. By early 1943, the war produced a labour crisis for the regime. Hitler created a three-man committee with representatives of the State, the army, and the Party in an attempt to centralise control of the war economy. The committee members were Hans Lammers (head of the Reich Chancellery), Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command; OKW), and Martin Bormann, who controlled the Party. The committee was intended to independently propose measures regardless of the wishes of various ministries, with Hitler reserving most final decisions to himself. The committee, soon known as the Dreierausschuß (Committee of Three), met eleven times between January and August 1943. However, they ran up against resistance from Hitler's cabinet ministers, who headed deeply entrenched spheres of influence and were excluded from the committee. Seeing it as a threat to their power, Goebbels, Göring, and Speer worked together to bring it down. The result was that nothing changed, and the Committee of Three declined into irrelevance by September 1943. Partly in response to being excluded from the Committee of Three, Goebbels pressured Hitler to introduce measures that would produce "total war", including closing businesses not essential to the war effort, conscripting women into the labour force, and enlisting men in previously exempt occupations into the Wehrmacht. Some of these measures were implemented in an edict of 13 January, but to Goebbels' dismay, Göring demanded that his favourite restaurants in Berlin should remain open, and Lammers successfully lobbied Hitler to have women with children exempted from conscription, even if they had child care available. After receiving an enthusiastic response to his speech of 30 January 1943 on the topic, Goebbels believed he had the support of the German people in his call for total war. His next speech, the Sportpalast speech of 18 February 1943, was a passionate demand for his audience to commit to total war, which he presented as the only way to stop the Bolshevik onslaught and save the German people from destruction. The speech also had a strong antisemitic element and hinted at the extermination of the Jewish people that was already underway. The speech was presented live on radio and was filmed as well. During the live version of the speech, Goebbels accidentally begins to mention the "extermination" of the Jews; this is omitted in the published text of the speech. Goebbels' efforts had little impact for the time being, because Hitler, who in principle was in favour of total war, was not prepared to implement changes over the objections of his ministers. The discovery around this time of a mass grave of Polish officers that had been killed by the Red Army in the 1940 Katyn massacre was made use of by Goebbels in his propaganda in an attempt to drive a wedge between the Soviets and the other western allies. Plenipotentiary for total war On 1 April 1943, Goebbels was named Stadtpräsident of Berlin, thus uniting under his control the city's highest party and governmental offices. After the Allied invasion of Sicily (July 1943) and the strategic Soviet victory in the Battle of Kursk (July–August 1943), Goebbels began to recognise that the war could no longer be won. Following the Allied invasion of Italy and the fall of Mussolini in September, he raised with Hitler the possibility of a separate peace, either with the Soviets or with Britain. Hitler rejected both of these proposals. As Germany's military and economic situation grew steadily worse, on 25 August 1943 Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler took over the post of interior minister, replacing Wilhelm
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propaganda films directed by Leni Riefenstahl. It won the gold medal at the 1935 Venice Film Festival. At the 1935 Nazi party congress rally at Nuremberg, Goebbels declared that "Bolshevism is the declaration of war by Jewish-led international subhumans against culture itself." Goebbels was involved in planning the staging of the 1936 Summer Olympics, held in Berlin. It was around this time that he met and started having an affair with the actress Lída Baarová, whom he continued to see until 1938. A major project in 1937 was the Degenerate Art Exhibition, organised by Goebbels, which ran in Munich from July to November. The exhibition proved wildly popular, attracting over two million visitors. A degenerate music exhibition took place the following year. Meanwhile, Goebbels was disappointed by the lack of quality in the National Socialist artwork, films, and literature. Church struggle In 1933, Hitler signed the Reichskonkordat (Reich Concordat), a treaty with the Vatican that required the regime to honour the independence of Catholic institutions and prohibited clergy from involvement in politics. However, the regime continued to target the Christian churches to weaken their influence. Throughout 1935 and 1936, hundreds of clergy and nuns were arrested, often on trumped up charges of currency smuggling or sexual offences. Goebbels widely publicised the trials in his propaganda campaigns, showing the cases in the worst possible light. Restrictions were placed on public meetings, and Catholic publications faced censorship. Catholic schools were required to reduce religious instruction and crucifixes were removed from state buildings. Hitler often vacillated on whether or not the Kirchenkampf (church struggle) should be a priority, but his frequent inflammatory comments on the issue were enough to convince Goebbels to intensify his work on the issue; in February 1937 he stated he wanted to eliminate the Protestant church. In response to the persecution, Pope Pius XI had the "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With Burning Concern") Encyclical smuggled into Germany for Passion Sunday 1937 and read from every pulpit. It denounced the systematic hostility of the regime toward the church. In response, Goebbels renewed the regime's crackdown and propaganda against Catholics. His speech of 28 May in Berlin in front of 20,000 party members, which was also broadcast on the radio, attacked the Catholic church as morally corrupt. As a result of the propaganda campaign, enrolment in denominational schools dropped sharply, and by 1939 all such schools were disbanded or converted to public facilities. Harassment and threats of imprisonment led the clergy to be much more cautious in their criticism of the regime. Partly out of foreign policy concerns, Hitler ordered a scaling back of the church struggle by the end of July 1937. Antisemitism and the Holocaust Goebbels was antisemitic from a young age. After joining the Nazi Party and meeting Hitler, his antisemitism grew and became more radical. He began to see the Jews as a destructive force with a negative impact on German society. After the Nazis seized control, he repeatedly urged Hitler to take action against the Jews. Despite his extreme antisemitism, Goebbels spoke of the "rubbish of race-materialism" and of the unnecessity of biological racism for the Nazi ideology. He also described Himmler's ideology as "in many regards, mad" and thought Alfred Rosenberg's theories were ridiculous. The Nazi Party's goal was to remove Jews from German cultural and economic life, and eventually to remove them from the country altogether. In addition to his propaganda efforts, Goebbels actively promoted the persecution of the Jews through pogroms, legislation, and other actions. Discriminatory measures he instituted in Berlin in the early years of the regime included bans against their using public transport and requiring that Jewish shops be marked as such. In November 1938, the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath was killed in Paris by the young Jewish man Herschel Grynszpan. In response, Goebbels arranged for inflammatory antisemitic material to be released by the press, and the result was the start of a pogrom. Jews were attacked and synagogues destroyed all over Germany. The situation was further inflamed by a speech Goebbels gave at a party meeting on the night of 8 November, where he obliquely called for party members to incite further violence against Jews while making it appear to be a spontaneous series of acts by the German people. At least a hundred Jews were killed, several hundred synagogues were damaged or destroyed, and thousands of Jewish shops were vandalised in an event called Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass). Around 30,000 Jewish men were sent to concentration camps. The destruction stopped after a conference held on 12 November, where Göring pointed out that the destruction of Jewish property was in effect the destruction of German property since the intention was that it would all eventually be confiscated. Goebbels continued his intensive antisemitic propaganda campaign that culminated in Hitler's 30 January 1939 Reichstag speech, which Goebbels helped to write: While Goebbels had been pressing for expulsion of the Berlin Jews since 1935, there were still 62,000 living in the city in 1940. Part of the delay in their deportation was that they were needed as workers in the armaments industry. Deportations of German Jews began in October 1941, with the first transport from Berlin leaving on 18 October. Some Jews were shot immediately on arrival in destinations such as Riga and Kaunas. In preparation for the deportations, Goebbels ordered that all German Jews wear an identifying yellow badge as of 5 September 1941. On 6 March 1942, Goebbels received a copy of the minutes of the Wannsee Conference, which indicated indirectly that the Jewish population of Europe was to be sent to extermination camps in occupied areas of Poland and killed. His diary entries of the period show that he was well aware of the fate of the Jews. "In general, it can probably be established that 60 per cent of them will have to be liquidated, while only 40 per cent can be put to work. ... A judgment is being carried out on the Jews which is barbaric but thoroughly deserved," he wrote on 27 March 1942. Goebbels had frequent discussions with Hitler about the fate of the Jews, a subject they discussed almost every time they met. He was aware throughout that the Jews were being exterminated, and completely supported this decision. He was one of the few top Nazi officials to do so publicly. World War II As early as February 1933, Hitler announced that rearmament must be undertaken, albeit clandestinely at first, as to do so was in violation of the Versailles Treaty. A year later he told his military leaders that 1942 was the target date for going to war in the east. Goebbels was one of the most enthusiastic supporters of Hitler aggressively pursuing Germany's expansionist policies sooner rather than later. At the time of the Reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936, Goebbels summed up his general attitude in his diary: "[N]ow is the time for action. Fortune favors the brave! He who dares nothing wins nothing." In the lead-up to the Sudetenland crisis in 1938, Goebbels took the initiative time and again to use propaganda to whip up sympathy for the Sudeten Germans while campaigning against the Czech government. Still, Goebbels was well aware there was a growing "war panic" in Germany and so by July had the press conduct propaganda efforts at a lower level of intensity. After the western powers acceded to Hitler's demands concerning Czechoslovakia in 1938, Goebbels soon redirected his propaganda machine against Poland. From May onwards, he orchestrated a campaign against Poland, fabricating stories about atrocities against ethnic Germans in Danzig and other cities. Even so, he was unable to persuade the majority of Germans to welcome the prospect of war. He privately held doubts about the wisdom of risking a protracted war against Britain and France by attacking Poland. After the Invasion of Poland in September 1939, Goebbels used his propaganda ministry and the Reich chambers to control access to information domestically. To his chagrin, his rival Joachim von Ribbentrop, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, continually challenged Goebbels' jurisdiction over the dissemination of international propaganda. Hitler declined to make a firm ruling on the subject, so the two men remained rivals for the remainder of the Nazi era. Goebbels did not participate in the military decision-making process, nor was he made privy to diplomatic negotiations until after the fact. The Propaganda Ministry took over the broadcasting facilities of conquered countries immediately after surrender, and began broadcasting prepared material using the existing announcers as a way to gain the trust of the citizens. Most aspects of the media, both domestically and in the conquered countries, were controlled by Goebbels and his department. The German Home Service, the Armed Forces Programme, and the German European Service were all rigorously controlled in everything from the information they were permitted to disseminate to the music they were allowed to play. Party rallies, speeches, and demonstrations continued; speeches were broadcast on the radio and short propaganda films were exhibited using 1,500 mobile film vans. Hitler made fewer public appearances and broadcasts as the war progressed, so Goebbels increasingly became the voice of the Nazi regime for the German people. From May 1940 he wrote frequent editorials that were published in Das Reich which were later read aloud over the radio. He found films to be his most effective propaganda medium, after radio. At his insistence, initially half the films made in wartime Germany were propaganda films (particularly on antisemitism) and war propaganda films (recounting both historical wars and current exploits of the Wehrmacht). Goebbels became preoccupied with morale and the efforts of the people on the home front. He believed that the more the people at home were involved in the war effort, the better their morale would be. For example, he initiated a programme for the collection of winter clothing and ski equipment for troops on the eastern front. At the same time, Goebbels implemented changes to have more "entertaining material" in radio and film produced for the public, decreeing in late 1942 that 20 per cent of the films should be propaganda and 80 per cent light entertainment. As Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbels dealt with increasingly serious shortages of necessities such as food and clothing, as well as the need to ration beer and tobacco, which were important for morale. Hitler suggested watering the beer and degrading the quality of the cigarettes so that more could be produced, but Goebbels refused, saying the cigarettes were already of such low quality that it was impossible to make them any worse. Through his propaganda campaigns, he worked hard to maintain an appropriate level of morale among the public about the military situation, neither too optimistic nor too grim. The series of military setbacks the Germans suffered in this period – the thousand-bomber raid on Cologne (May 1942), the Allied victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein (November 1942), and especially the catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad (February 1943) – were difficult matters to present to the German public, who were increasingly weary of the war and sceptical that it could be won. On 16 November 1942 Goebbels, like all Gauleiters, was appointed the Reich Defense Commissioner for his Gau. This enabled him to issue direct instructions to authorities within his jurisdiction in matters concerning the civilian war effort. On 15 January 1943, Hitler appointed Goebbels as head of the newly created Air Raid Damage committee, which meant Goebbels was nominally in charge of nationwide civil air defences and shelters as well as the assessment and repair of damaged buildings. In actuality, the defence of areas other than Berlin remained in the hands of the local Gauleiters, and his main tasks were limited to providing immediate aid to the affected civilians and using propaganda to improve their morale. By early 1943, the war produced a labour crisis for the regime. Hitler created a three-man committee with representatives of the State, the army, and the Party in an attempt to centralise control of the war economy. The committee members were Hans Lammers (head of the Reich Chancellery), Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Armed Forces High Command; OKW), and Martin Bormann, who controlled the Party. The committee was intended to independently propose measures regardless of the wishes of various ministries, with Hitler reserving most final decisions to himself. The committee, soon known as the Dreierausschuß (Committee of Three), met eleven times between January and August 1943. However, they ran up against resistance from Hitler's cabinet ministers, who headed deeply entrenched spheres of influence and were excluded from the committee. Seeing it as a threat to their power, Goebbels, Göring, and Speer worked together to bring it down. The result was that nothing changed, and the Committee of Three declined into irrelevance by September 1943. Partly in response to being excluded from the Committee of Three, Goebbels pressured Hitler to introduce measures that would produce "total war", including closing businesses not essential to the war effort, conscripting women into the labour force, and enlisting men in previously exempt occupations into the Wehrmacht. Some of these measures were implemented in an edict of 13 January, but to Goebbels' dismay, Göring demanded that his favourite restaurants in Berlin should remain open, and Lammers successfully lobbied Hitler to have women with children exempted from conscription, even if they had child care available. After receiving an enthusiastic response to his speech of 30 January 1943 on the topic, Goebbels believed he had the support of the German people in his call for total war. His next speech, the Sportpalast speech of 18 February 1943, was a passionate demand for his audience to commit to total war, which he presented as the only way to stop the Bolshevik onslaught and save the German people from destruction. The speech also had a strong antisemitic element and hinted at the extermination of the Jewish people that was already underway. The speech was presented live on radio and was filmed as well. During the live version of the speech, Goebbels accidentally begins to mention the "extermination" of the Jews; this is omitted in the published text of the speech. Goebbels' efforts had little impact for the time being, because Hitler, who in principle was in favour of total war, was not prepared to implement changes over the objections of his ministers. The discovery around this time of a mass grave of Polish officers that had been killed by the Red Army in the 1940 Katyn massacre was made use of by Goebbels in his propaganda in an attempt to drive a wedge between the Soviets and the other western allies. Plenipotentiary for total war On 1 April 1943, Goebbels was named Stadtpräsident of Berlin, thus uniting under his control the city's highest party and governmental offices. After the Allied invasion of Sicily (July 1943) and the strategic Soviet victory in the Battle of Kursk (July–August 1943), Goebbels began to recognise that the war could no longer be won. Following the Allied invasion of Italy and the fall of Mussolini in September, he raised with Hitler the possibility of a separate peace, either with the Soviets or with Britain. Hitler rejected both of these proposals. As Germany's military and economic situation grew steadily worse, on 25 August 1943 Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler took over the post of interior minister, replacing Wilhelm Frick. Intensive air raids on Berlin and other cities took the lives of thousands of people. Göring's Luftwaffe attempted to retaliate with air raids on London in early 1944, but they no longer had sufficient aircraft to make much of an impact. While Goebbels' propaganda in this period indicated that a huge retaliation was in the offing, the V-1 flying bombs, launched on British targets beginning in mid-June 1944, had little effect, with only around 20 per cent reaching their intended targets. To boost morale, Goebbels continued to publish propaganda to the effect that further improvements to these weapons would have a decisive impact on the outcome of the war. Meanwhile, in the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944, the Allies successfully gained a foothold in France. Throughout July 1944, Goebbels and Speer continued to press Hitler to bring the economy to a total war footing. The 20 July plot, where Hitler was almost killed by a bomb at his field headquarters in East Prussia, played into the hands of those who had been pushing for change: Bormann, Goebbels, Himmler, and Speer. Over the objections of Göring, Goebbels was appointed on 23 July as Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War, charged with maximising the manpower for the Wehrmacht and the armaments industry at the expense of sectors of the economy not critical to the war effort. Through these efforts, he was able to free up an additional half a million men for military service. However, as many of these new recruits came from the armaments industry, the move put him in conflict with armaments minister Speer. Untrained workers from elsewhere were not readily absorbed into the armaments industry, and likewise, the new Wehrmacht recruits waited in barracks for their turn to be trained. At Hitler's behest, the Volkssturm (People's Storm) – a nationwide militia of men previously considered unsuitable for military service – was formed on 18 October 1944. Goebbels recorded in his diary that 100,000 recruits were sworn in from his Gau alone. However, the men, mostly age 45 to 60, received only rudimentary training and many were not properly armed. Goebbels' notion that these men could effectively serve on the front lines against Soviet tanks and artillery was unrealistic at best. The programme was deeply unpopular. Goebbels realised that his influence would diminish in wartime. He suffered a series of setbacks as propaganda became less important compared to warfare, the war economy, and the Allied bombing of German cities. Historian Michael Balfour states that from 1942 onward, Goebbels, "lost control over Nazi policy toward the press and over the handling of news in general." Rival agencies expanded. The foreign ministry took charge of propaganda outside Germany. The military set up its own propaganda division, providing daily reports on the progress of the war and the conditions of the armed forces. The Nazi Party also generated and distributed its own propaganda during the war. Goebbels was still influential when he had the opportunity to meet with Hitler, who became less available as he moved his headquarters closer to the military front lines. They were together perhaps one day a month. Furthermore, Hitler rarely gave speeches or rallies of the sort that had dominated propaganda in the 1930s. After Hitler returned to Berlin in 1945, Goebbels' ministry was destroyed by an Allied air raid on 13 March, and Goebbels had great difficulty disseminating propaganda. In April 1945, he finally bested the rival agencies and took full charge of propaganda, but by then the Soviet Red Army had already entered Berlin. Goebbels was an astute observer of the war, and historians have exhaustively mined his diary for insights on how the Nazi leadership tried to maintain public morale. Defeat and death In the last months of the war, Goebbels's speeches and articles took on an increasingly apocalyptic tone. By the beginning of 1945, with the Soviets on the Oder River and the Western Allies preparing to cross the Rhine River, he could no longer disguise the inevitability of German defeat. Berlin had little in the way of fortifications or artillery, and even Volkssturm units were in short supply, as almost everything and everyone had been sent to the front. Goebbels noted in his diary on 21 January that millions of Germans were fleeing westward. He tentatively discussed with Hitler the issue of making peace overtures to the western allies, but Hitler again refused. Privately, Goebbels was conflicted at pushing the case with Hitler since he did not want to lose Hitler's confidence. When other Nazi leaders urged Hitler to leave Berlin and establish a new centre of resistance in the National Redoubt in Bavaria, Goebbels opposed this, arguing for a heroic last stand in Berlin. His family (except for Magda's son Harald, who had served in the Luftwaffe and been captured by the Allies) moved into their house in Berlin to await the end. He and Magda may have discussed suicide and the fate of their young children in a long meeting on the night of 27 January. He knew how the outside world would view the criminal acts committed by the regime and had no desire to subject himself to the "debacle" of a trial. He burned his private papers on the night of 18 April. Goebbels knew how to play on Hitler's fantasies, encouraging him to see the hand of providence in the death of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt on 12 April. Whether Hitler really saw this event as a turning point as Goebbels proclaimed is not known. By this time, Goebbels had gained the position he had wanted so long—at Hitler's side.
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production. In August 2016, the film began principal photography. The Coens first wrote the script for Suburbicon in 1986. The film was eventually directed by George Clooney and began filming in October 2016. It was released by Paramount Pictures in the fall of 2017. The Coens directed The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a Western anthology starring Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, and James Franco. It began streaming on Netflix on November 16, 2018, after a brief theatrical run. 2020s It was announced in March 2019 that Joel Coen would be directing an adaptation of Macbeth starring Denzel Washington. The film, titled The Tragedy of Macbeth, would be Joel's first directorial effort without his brother Ethan, who was taking a break from films to focus on theater. The film premiered at the 2021 New York Film Festival. Planned and uncompleted projects In a 1998 interview with Alex Simon for Venice magazine, the Coens discussed a project called The Contemplations, which would be an anthology of short films based on stories in a leather bound book from a "dusty old library". This project may have influenced or evolved into The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which has the same structure. In 2001, Joel stated that "a Cold War comedy called 62 Skidoo is one I'd like to do someday". The Coens had hoped to film James Dickey's novel To the White Sea. They were due to start production in 2002, with Jeremy Thomas producing and Brad Pitt in the lead role, but it was canceled when the Coens felt that the budget offered was not enough to successfully produce the film. In 2008, it was announced that the Coen brothers would write and direct an adaptation of Michael Chabon's novel The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2007). They were to produce the film with Scott Rudin for Columbia Pictures. In the fall of 2012, however, Chabon told Mother Jones that "the Coen brothers wrote a draft of a script and then they seemed to move on", and that the film rights had "lapsed back to me". In 2009, the Coens stated that they were interested in making a sequel to Barton Fink called Old Fink, which would take place in the 1960s, around the same time period as A Serious Man. The Coens also stated that they had talks with John Turturro in reprising his role as Fink, but they were waiting "until he was actually old enough to play the part". In 2011, the Coens were working on a television project, called Harve Karbo, about a quirky Los Angeles private eye, for Imagine Television. In December 2013, the Coens stated in an interview that they were working on a new musical comedy centered around an opera singer, though they said it is "not a musical per se". In August 2015, it was announced that Warner Bros. had optioned the film rights to Ross Macdonald's novel Black Money for the Coen brothers to potentially write and direct. In October 2016, The Hollywood Reporter reported that the Coens would work on the screenplay for Fox titled Dark Web, and based on Joshuah Bearman's two-part Wired article about Ross Ulbricht and his illicit Silk Road online marketplace. The project originated in 2013, with novelist Dennis Lehane on board for the screenplay. Chernin Entertainment would produce. On February 10, 2017, it was announced that the Scarface remake's script was being written by the Coens. Luca Guadagnino announced plans to direct the film. Production company The Coen brothers' own film production company, Mike Zoss Productions located in New York City, has been credited on their films from O Brother, Where Art Thou? onwards. It was named after Mike Zoss Drug, an independent pharmacy in St. Louis Park since 1950 that was the brothers' beloved hangout when they were growing up in the Twin Cities. The name was also used for the pharmacy in No Country for Old Men. The Mike Zoss logo consists of a crayon drawing of a horse, standing in a field of grass, with its head turned around as it looks back over its hindquarters. Directing distinctions Up to 2003, Joel received sole credit for directing and Ethan for producing, due to guild rules that disallowed multiple director credits to prevent dilution of the position's significance. The only exception to this rule is if the co-directors are an "established duo". From 2004 on, they were able to share the director credit and since then, the Coen brothers have become only the third duo to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. With four Academy Award nominations for No Country for Old Men for the duo (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing as Roderick Jaynes), the Coen brothers have tied the record for the most nominations by a single nominee (counting an "established duo" as one nominee) for the same film. Orson Welles set the record in 1941 with Citizen Kane being nominated for Best Picture (though at the time, individual producers were not named as nominees), Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Warren Beatty received the same nominations, first for Heaven Can Wait in 1978 and again in 1981 with Reds. Alan Menken also then achieved the same feat when he was nominated for Best Score and triple-nominated for Best Song for Beauty and the Beast in 1991. In 2018, Alfonso Cuarón was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Roma. Most recently, Chloé Zhao matched this record in 2021 when she was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Film Editing for Nomadland (which also starred McDormand in her third Oscar-winning role). Filmography Collaborators Accolades Directed Academy Award performances Bibliography (Includes all films up to The Ladykillers and some subsidiary works [Crimewave, Down from the Mountain, Bad Santa].) Notes References External links Joel and Ethan Coen at Rotten Tomatoes Coenesque: The Films of the Coen Brothers (joint pseudonym) Ethan
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Henry Kissinger, Man on the Go, Lumberjacks of the North and The Banana Film. Education Joel and Ethan graduated from St. Louis Park High School in 1973 and 1976, respectively, and from Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. After Simon's Rock, Joel spent four years in the undergraduate film program at New York University, where he made a 30-minute thesis film called Soundings. In 1979 he briefly enrolled in the graduate film program at the University of Texas at Austin, following a woman he had married who was in the graduate linguistics program. The marriage soon ended in divorce and Joel left UT Austin after nine months. Ethan went on to Princeton University and earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy in 1979. His senior thesis was a 41-page essay, "Two Views of Wittgenstein's Later Philosophy," which was supervised by Raymond Geuss. Personal lives Joel has been married to actress Frances McDormand since 1984. In 1995, they adopted a son, Pedro McDormand Coen, from Paraguay when he was six months old. McDormand has acted in several Coen Brothers films: Blood Simple, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Fargo, The Man Who Wasn't There, Burn After Reading, and Hail, Caesar! For her performance in Fargo, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Ethan married film editor Tricia Cooke in 1990. They have two children: daughter Dusty and son Buster Jacob. Ethan Coen and family live in New York, while Joel Coen and Frances McDormand live in Marin County, California. Career 1980s After graduating from New York University, Joel worked as a production assistant on a variety of industrial films and music videos. He developed a talent for film editing and met Sam Raimi while assisting Edna Ruth Paul in editing Raimi's first feature film, The Evil Dead (1981). In 1984 the brothers wrote and directed Blood Simple, their first commercial film together. Set in Texas, the film tells the tale of a shifty, sleazy bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. The film contains elements that point to their future direction: distinctive homages to genre movies (in this case noir and horror), plot twists layered over a simple story, dark humor, and mise-en-scène. The film starred Frances McDormand, who went on to feature in many of the Coen brothers' films (and marry Joel). Upon release the film received much praise and won awards for Joel's direction at both the Sundance and Independent Spirit awards. Their next project was Crimewave (1985), directed by Sam Raimi and written by the Coens and Raimi. Joel and Raimi also made cameo appearances in Spies Like Us (1985). The brothers' next film was Raising Arizona (1987), the story of an unlikely married couple: ex-convict H.I. (Nicolas Cage) and police officer Ed (Holly Hunter), who long for a baby but are unable to conceive. When a local furniture tycoon (Trey Wilson) appears on television with his newly born quintuplets and jokes that they "are more than we can handle", H.I. steals one of the quintuplets to bring up as their own. The film featured Frances McDormand, John Goodman, William Forsythe, Sam McMurray, and Randall "Tex" Cobb. 1990s Miller's Crossing, released in 1990, starred Albert Finney, Gabriel Byrne, and John Turturro. The film is about feuding gangsters in the Prohibition era, inspired by Dashiell Hammett's novels Red Harvest (1929) and The Glass Key (serialized in 1930). The following year, they released Barton Fink (1991); set in 1941, in which a New York playwright, the eponymous Barton Fink (played by John Turturro), moves to Los Angeles to write a B-movie. He settles down in his hotel room to commence writing but suffers writer's block until his room is invaded by the man next door (John Goodman). Barton Fink was a critical success, earning Oscar nominations and winning three major awards at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, including the Palme d'Or. It was their first film with cinematographer Roger Deakins, a key collaborator for the next 25 years. The Hudsucker Proxy (co-written with Raimi) was released in 1994. In it, the board of a large corporation in 1958 New York City appoints a naive schmo as president (Tim Robbins) for underhanded reasons. The film bombed at the box office ($30 million budget, $3 million gross in the USA), even though it featured Paul Newman and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Frances McDormand appears in a brief uncredited role. The Coens wrote and directed the crime thriller Fargo (1996), set in their home state of Minnesota. Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy), who has serious financial problems, has his wife kidnapped so that his wealthy father-in-law will pay the ransom. His plan goes wrong when the kidnappers deviate from the plan and local cop Marge Gunderson (McDormand) starts to investigate. Produced on a small budget of $7 million, Fargo was a critical and commercial success, with particular praise for its dialogue and McDormand's performance. The film received several awards, including a BAFTA award and Cannes award for direction, and two Oscars: a Best Original Screenplay and a Best Actress Oscar for McDormand. In the Coens' next film, the black comedy The Big Lebowski (1998), "The Dude" (Jeff Bridges), a Los Angeles slacker, is used as an unwitting pawn in a kidnapping plot with his bowling buddies (Steve Buscemi and John Goodman). Despite initially receiving mixed reviews and underperforming at the box office, it is now well received by critics, and is regarded as a classic cult film. An annual festival, Lebowski Fest, began in 2002, and many adhere to the philosophy of "Dudeism". Entertainment Weekly ranked it 8th on their Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years list in 2008. Gates of Eden, a collection of short stories written by Ethan Coen, was published in 1998. The same year, Ethan co-wrote the comedy The Naked Man, directed by their storyboard artist J. Todd Anderson. 2000s The Coen brothers' next film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), was
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appointments as president of the Argentine Society of Writers and as professor of English and American Literature at the Argentine Association of English Culture. His short story "Emma Zunz" was made into a film (under the name of Días de odio, Days of Hate, directed in 1954 by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson). Around this time, Borges also began writing screenplays. In 1955, he became director of the Argentine National Library. By the late 1950s he had become completely blind. Neither the coincidence nor the irony of his blindness as a writer escaped Borges: Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche esta declaración de la maestría de Dios, que con magnífica ironía me dio a la vez los libros y la noche. No one should read self-pity or reproach Into this statement of the majesty Of God; who with such splendid irony, Granted me books and night at one touch. His later collection of poetry, Elogio de la Sombra (In Praise of Darkness), develops this theme. In 1956 the University of Cuyo awarded Borges the first of many honorary doctorates and the following year he received the National Prize for Literature. From 1956 to 1970, Borges also held a position as a professor of literature at the University of Buenos Aires and other temporary appointments at other universities. In the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968, he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. As his eyesight deteriorated, Borges relied increasingly on his mother's help. When he was not able to read and write anymore (he never learned to read Braille), his mother, to whom he had always been close, became his personal secretary. When Perón returned from exile and was re-elected president in 1973, Borges immediately resigned as director of the National Library. International renown Eight of Borges's poems appear in the 1943 anthology of Spanish American Poets by H. R. Hays. "The Garden of Forking Paths", one of the first Borges stories to be translated into English, appeared in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, translated by Anthony Boucher. Though several other Borges translations appeared in literary magazines and anthologies during the 1950s (and one story appeared in the science fiction magazine Fantastic Universe in 1960), his international fame dates from the early 1960s. In 1961, Borges received the first Prix International, which he shared with Samuel Beckett. While Beckett had garnered a distinguished reputation in Europe and America, Borges had been largely unknown and untranslated in the English-speaking world and the prize stirred great interest in his work. The Italian government named Borges Commendatore and the University of Texas at Austin appointed him for one year to the Tinker Chair. This led to his first lecture tour in the United States. In 1962, two major anthologies of Borges's writings were published in English by New York presses: Ficciones and Labyrinths. In that year, Borges began lecture tours of Europe. Numerous honors were to accumulate over the years such as a Special Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America "for distinguished contribution to the mystery genre" (1976), the Balzan Prize (for Philology, Linguistics and literary Criticism) and the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (all 1980), as well as the French Legion of Honour (1983) and the Diamond Konex Award for Literature Arts as the most important writer in the last decade in his country. In 1967, Borges began a five-year period of collaboration with the American translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni, through whom he became better known in the English-speaking world. Di Giovanni contended that Borges's popularity was due to his writing with multiple languages in mind and deliberately using Latin words as a bridge from Spanish to English. Borges continued to publish books, among them El libro de los seres imaginarios (Book of Imaginary Beings, 1967, co-written with Margarita Guerrero), El informe de Brodie (Dr. Brodie's Report, 1970), and El libro de arena (The Book of Sand, 1975). He lectured prolifically. Many of these lectures were anthologized in volumes such as Siete noches (Seven Nights) and Nueve ensayos dantescos (Nine Dantesque Essays). His presence in 1967 on campus at the University of Virginia (UVA) in the U.S. influenced a group of students among whom was Jared Loewenstein, who would later become founder and curator of the Jorge Luis Borges Collection at UVA, one of the largest repositories of documents and manuscripts pertaining to Borges's early works. In 1984, he travelled to Athens, Greece, and later to Rethymnon, Crete, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the School of Philosophy at the University of Crete. Later personal life In 1967, Borges married the recently widowed Elsa Astete Millán. Friends believed that his mother, who was 90 and anticipating her own death, wanted to find someone to care for her blind son. The marriage lasted less than three years. After a legal separation, Borges moved back in with his mother, with whom he lived until her death at age 99. Thereafter, he lived alone in the small flat he had shared with her, cared for by Fanny, their housekeeper of many decades. From 1975 until the time of his death, Borges traveled internationally. He was often accompanied in these travels by his personal assistant María Kodama, an Argentine woman of Japanese and German ancestry. In April 1986, a few months before his death, he married her via an attorney in Paraguay, in what was then a common practice among Argentines wishing to circumvent the Argentine laws of the time regarding divorce. On his religious views, Borges declared himself an agnostic, clarifying: "Being an agnostic means all things are possible, even God, even the Holy Trinity. This world is so strange that anything may happen, or may not happen." Borges was taught to read the Bible by his English Protestant grandmother and he prayed the Our Father each night because of a promise he made to his mother. He also died in the presence of a priest. Death During his final days in Geneva, Borges began brooding about the possibility of an afterlife. Although calm and collected about his own death, Borges began probing Kodama as to whether she inclined more towards the Shinto beliefs of her father or the Catholicism of her mother. Kodama "had always regarded Borges as an Agnostic, as she was herself", but given the insistence of his questioning, she offered to call someone more "qualified". Borges responded, "You are asking me if I want a priest." He then instructed her to call two clergymen, a Catholic priest, in memory of his mother, and a Protestant minister, in memory of his English grandmother. He was visited first by Father Pierre Jacquet and by Pastor Edouard de Montmollin. Borges died of liver cancer on 14 June 1986, aged 86, in Geneva. His burial was preceded by an ecumenical service at the Protestant Cathédrale de Saint Pierre on 18 June. With many Swiss and Argentine dignitaries present, Pastor de Montmollin read the First Chapter of St John's Gospel. He then preached that "Borges was a man who had unceasingly searched for the right word, the term that could sum up the whole, the final meaning of things." He said, however, that no man can reach that word through his own efforts and in trying becomes lost in a labyrinth. Pastor de Montmollin concluded, "It is not man who discovers the word, it is the Word that comes to him." Father Jacquet also preached, saying that, when visiting Borges before his death, he had found "a man full of love, who received from the Church the forgiveness of his sins". After the funeral, Borges was laid to rest in Geneva's Cimetière de Plainpalais. His grave, marked by a rough-hewn headstone, is adorned with carvings derived from Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse art and literature. Legacy Kodama, his widow and heir on the basis of the marriage and two wills, gained control over his works. Her assertive administration of his estate resulted in a bitter dispute with the French publisher Gallimard regarding the republication of the complete works of Borges in French, with Pierre Assouline in Le Nouvel Observateur (August 2006) calling her "an obstacle to the dissemination of the works of Borges". Kodama took legal action against Assouline, considering the remark unjustified and defamatory, asking for a symbolic compensation of one euro. Kodama also rescinded all publishing rights for existing collections of his work in English, including the translations by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, in which Borges himself collaborated, and from which di Giovanni would have received an unusually high fifty percent of the royalties. Kodama commissioned new translations by Andrew Hurley, which have become the official translations in English. Political opinions During the 1920s and 1930s, Borges was a vocal supporter of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the social democratic Radical Civic Union. In 1945, Borges signed a manifesto calling for an end to military rule and the establishment of political liberty and democratic elections. By the 1960s, he had grown more skeptical of democracy. During a 1971 conference at Columbia University, a creative writing student asked Borges what he regarded as "a writer's duty to his time". Borges replied, "I think a writer's duty is to be a writer, and if he can be a good writer, he is doing his duty. Besides, I think of my own opinions as being superficial. For example, I am a Conservative, I hate the Communists, I hate the Nazis, I hate the anti-Semites, and so on; but I don't allow these opinions to find their way into my writings—except, of course, when I was greatly elated about the Six-Day War. Generally speaking, I think of keeping them in watertight compartments. Everybody knows my opinions, but as for my dreams and my stories, they should be allowed their full freedom, I think. I don't want to intrude into them, I'm writing fiction, not fables." In the 1980s, towards the end of his life, Borges regained his earlier faith in democracy and held it out as the only hope for Argentina. In 1983, Borges applauded the election of the Radical Civic Union's Raúl Alfonsín and welcomed the end of military rule with the following words: "I once wrote that democracy is the abuse of statistics ... On October 30, 1983, Argentine democracy refuted me splendidly. Splendidly and resoundingly." Anti-communism Borges recurrently declared himself a "Spencerian anarchist who believes in the individual and not in the State" due to his father's influence. In an interview with Richard Burgin during the late 1960s, Borges described himself as a "mild" adherent of classical liberalism. He further recalled that his opposition to communism and to Marxism was absorbed in his childhood, stating: "Well, I have been brought up to think that the individual should be strong and the State should be weak. I couldn't be enthusiastic about theories where the State is more important than the individual." After the overthrow via coup d'état of President Juan Domingo Perón in 1955, Borges supported efforts to purge Argentina's Government of Peronists and dismantle the former President's welfare state. He was enraged that the Communist Party of Argentina opposed these measures and sharply criticized them in lectures and in print. Borges's opposition to the Party in this matter ultimately led to a permanent rift with his longtime lover, Argentine Communist Estela Canto. In a 1956 interview given to El Hogar, he stated that "[Communists] are in favor of totalitarian regimes and systematically combat freedom of thought, oblivious of the fact that the principal victims of dictatorships are, precisely, intelligence and culture." Borges elaborated: "Many people are in favor of dictatorships because they allow them to avoid thinking for themselves. Everything is presented to them ready-made. There are even agencies of the State that supply them with opinions, passwords, slogans, and even idols to exalt or cast down according to the prevailing wind or in keeping with the directives of the thinking heads of the single party." In later years, Borges frequently expressed contempt for Marxist and Communist authors, poets, and intellectuals. In an interview with Burgin, Borges referred to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as "a very fine poet" but a "very mean man" for unconditionally supporting the Soviet Union and demonizing the United States. Borges commented about Neruda, "Now he knows that's rubbish." In the same interview, Borges also criticized famed poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, who was abducted by Nationalist soldiers and executed without trial during the Spanish Civil War. In Borges's opinion, Lorca's poetry and plays, when examined against his tragic death, appeared better than they actually were. Anti-fascism In 1934, Argentine ultra-nationalists, sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, asserted Borges was secretly Jewish, and by implication, not truly Argentinian. Borges responded with the essay "Yo, Judío" ("Me, I'm a Jew"), a reference to the old phrase "Yo, Argentino" ("Me, I'm Argentine") uttered by potential victims during pogroms against Argentine Jews, to signify one was not Jewish. In the essay, Borges declares he would be proud to be a Jew, and remarks that any pure Castilian is likely to come from ancient Jewish descent, from a millennium ago. Both before and during the Second World War, Borges regularly published essays attacking the Nazi police state and its racist ideology. His outrage was fueled by his deep love for German literature. In an essay published in 1937, Borges attacked the Nazi Party's use of children's books to inflame antisemitism. He wrote, "I don't know if the world can do without German civilization, but I do know that its corruption by the teachings of hatred is a crime." In a 1938 essay, Borges reviewed an anthology which rewrote German authors of the past to fit the Nazi party line. He was disgusted by what he described as Germany's "chaotic descent into darkness" and the attendant rewriting of history. He argued that such books sacrificed the German people's culture, history and integrity in the name of restoring their national honour. Such use of children's books for propaganda he writes, "perfect the criminal arts of barbarians." In a 1944 essay, Borges postulated, In 1946, Borges published the short story "Deutsches Requiem", which masquerades as the last testament of a condemned Nazi war criminal named Otto Dietrich zur Linde. In a 1971 conference at Columbia University, Borges was asked about the story by a student from the creative writing program. He recalled, "When the Germans were defeated I felt great joy and relief, but at the same time I thought of the German defeat as being somehow tragic, because here we have perhaps the most educated people in Europe, who have a fine literature, a fine tradition of philosophy and poetry. Yet these people were bamboozled by a madman named Adolf Hitler, and I think there is tragedy there." In a 1967 interview with Burgin, Borges recalled how his interactions
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techniques to tell essentially true stories. The second consists of literary forgeries, which Borges initially passed off as translations of passages from famous but seldom-read works. In the following years, he served as a literary adviser for the publishing house Emecé Editores, and from 1936 to 1939 wrote weekly columns for El Hogar. In 1938, Borges found work as the first assistant at the Miguel Cané Municipal Library. It was in a working-class area and there were so few books that cataloging more than one hundred books per day, he was told, would leave little to do for the other staff and would make them look bad. The task took him about an hour each day and the rest of his time he spent in the basement of the library, writing and translating. Later career Borges's father died in 1938, shortly before his 64th birthday. On Christmas Eve that year, Borges suffered a severe head injury; during treatment, he nearly died of sepsis. While recovering from the accident, Borges began exploring a new style of writing for which he would become famous. His first story written after his accident, "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote,” came out in May 1939. One of his most famous works, "Menard" examines the nature of authorship, as well as the relationship between an author and his historical context. His first collection of short stories, El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan (The Garden of Forking Paths), appeared in 1941, composed mostly of works previously published in Sur. The title story concerns a Chinese professor in England, Dr. Yu Tsun, who spies for Germany during World War I, in an attempt to prove to the authorities that an Asian person is able to obtain the information that they seek. A combination of book and maze, it can be read in many ways. Through it, Borges arguably invented the hypertext novel and went on to describe a theory of the universe based upon the structure of such a novel. Composed of stories taking up over sixty pages, the book was generally well received, but El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan failed to garner for him the literary prizes many in his circle expected. Victoria Ocampo dedicated a large portion of the July 1942 issue of Sur to a "Reparation for Borges." Numerous leading writers and critics from Argentina and throughout the Spanish-speaking world contributed writings to the "reparation" project. With his vision beginning to fade in his early thirties and unable to support himself as a writer, Borges began a new career as a public lecturer. He became an increasingly public figure, obtaining appointments as president of the Argentine Society of Writers and as professor of English and American Literature at the Argentine Association of English Culture. His short story "Emma Zunz" was made into a film (under the name of Días de odio, Days of Hate, directed in 1954 by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson). Around this time, Borges also began writing screenplays. In 1955, he became director of the Argentine National Library. By the late 1950s he had become completely blind. Neither the coincidence nor the irony of his blindness as a writer escaped Borges: Nadie rebaje a lágrima o reproche esta declaración de la maestría de Dios, que con magnífica ironía me dio a la vez los libros y la noche. No one should read self-pity or reproach Into this statement of the majesty Of God; who with such splendid irony, Granted me books and night at one touch. His later collection of poetry, Elogio de la Sombra (In Praise of Darkness), develops this theme. In 1956 the University of Cuyo awarded Borges the first of many honorary doctorates and the following year he received the National Prize for Literature. From 1956 to 1970, Borges also held a position as a professor of literature at the University of Buenos Aires and other temporary appointments at other universities. In the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968, he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University. As his eyesight deteriorated, Borges relied increasingly on his mother's help. When he was not able to read and write anymore (he never learned to read Braille), his mother, to whom he had always been close, became his personal secretary. When Perón returned from exile and was re-elected president in 1973, Borges immediately resigned as director of the National Library. International renown Eight of Borges's poems appear in the 1943 anthology of Spanish American Poets by H. R. Hays. "The Garden of Forking Paths", one of the first Borges stories to be translated into English, appeared in the August 1948 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, translated by Anthony Boucher. Though several other Borges translations appeared in literary magazines and anthologies during the 1950s (and one story appeared in the science fiction magazine Fantastic Universe in 1960), his international fame dates from the early 1960s. In 1961, Borges received the first Prix International, which he shared with Samuel Beckett. While Beckett had garnered a distinguished reputation in Europe and America, Borges had been largely unknown and untranslated in the English-speaking world and the prize stirred great interest in his work. The Italian government named Borges Commendatore and the University of Texas at Austin appointed him for one year to the Tinker Chair. This led to his first lecture tour in the United States. In 1962, two major anthologies of Borges's writings were published in English by New York presses: Ficciones and Labyrinths. In that year, Borges began lecture tours of Europe. Numerous honors were to accumulate over the years such as a Special Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America "for distinguished contribution to the mystery genre" (1976), the Balzan Prize (for Philology, Linguistics and literary Criticism) and the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, the Miguel de Cervantes Prize (all 1980), as well as the French Legion of Honour (1983) and the Diamond Konex Award for Literature Arts as the most important writer in the last decade in his country. In 1967, Borges began a five-year period of collaboration with the American translator Norman Thomas di Giovanni, through whom he became better known in the English-speaking world. Di Giovanni contended that Borges's popularity was due to his writing with multiple languages in mind and deliberately using Latin words as a bridge from Spanish to English. Borges continued to publish books, among them El libro de los seres imaginarios (Book of Imaginary Beings, 1967, co-written with Margarita Guerrero), El informe de Brodie (Dr. Brodie's Report, 1970), and El libro de arena (The Book of Sand, 1975). He lectured prolifically. Many of these lectures were anthologized in volumes such as Siete noches (Seven Nights) and Nueve ensayos dantescos (Nine Dantesque Essays). His presence in 1967 on campus at the University of Virginia (UVA) in the U.S. influenced a group of students among whom was Jared Loewenstein, who would later become founder and curator of the Jorge Luis Borges Collection at UVA, one of the largest repositories of documents and manuscripts pertaining to Borges's early works. In 1984, he travelled to Athens, Greece, and later to Rethymnon, Crete, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the School of Philosophy at the University of Crete. Later personal life In 1967, Borges married the recently widowed Elsa Astete Millán. Friends believed that his mother, who was 90 and anticipating her own death, wanted to find someone to care for her blind son. The marriage lasted less than three years. After a legal separation, Borges moved back in with his mother, with whom he lived until her death at age 99. Thereafter, he lived alone in the small flat he had shared with her, cared for by Fanny, their housekeeper of many decades. From 1975 until the time of his death, Borges traveled internationally. He was often accompanied in these travels by his personal assistant María Kodama, an Argentine woman of Japanese and German ancestry. In April 1986, a few months before his death, he married her via an attorney in Paraguay, in what was then a common practice among Argentines wishing to circumvent the Argentine laws of the time regarding divorce. On his religious views, Borges declared himself an agnostic, clarifying: "Being an agnostic means all things are possible, even God, even the Holy Trinity. This world is so strange that anything may happen, or may not happen." Borges was taught to read the Bible by his English Protestant grandmother and he prayed the Our Father each night because of a promise he made to his mother. He also died in the presence of a priest. Death During his final days in Geneva, Borges began brooding about the possibility of an afterlife. Although calm and collected about his own death, Borges began probing Kodama as to whether she inclined more towards the Shinto beliefs of her father or the Catholicism of her mother. Kodama "had always regarded Borges as an Agnostic, as she was herself", but given the insistence of his questioning, she offered to call someone more "qualified". Borges responded, "You are asking me if I want a priest." He then instructed her to call two clergymen, a Catholic priest, in memory of his mother, and a Protestant minister, in memory of his English grandmother. He was visited first by Father Pierre Jacquet and by Pastor Edouard de Montmollin. Borges died of liver cancer on 14 June 1986, aged 86, in Geneva. His burial was preceded by an ecumenical service at the Protestant Cathédrale de Saint Pierre on 18 June. With many Swiss and Argentine dignitaries present, Pastor de Montmollin read the First Chapter of St John's Gospel. He then preached that "Borges was a man who had unceasingly searched for the right word, the term that could sum up the whole, the final meaning of things." He said, however, that no man can reach that word through his own efforts and in trying becomes lost in a labyrinth. Pastor de Montmollin concluded, "It is not man who discovers the word, it is the Word that comes to him." Father Jacquet also preached, saying that, when visiting Borges before his death, he had found "a man full of love, who received from the Church the forgiveness of his sins". After the funeral, Borges was laid to rest in Geneva's Cimetière de Plainpalais. His grave, marked by a rough-hewn headstone, is adorned with carvings derived from Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse art and literature. Legacy Kodama, his widow and heir on the basis of the marriage and two wills, gained control over his works. Her assertive administration of his estate resulted in a bitter dispute with the French publisher Gallimard regarding the republication of the complete works of Borges in French, with Pierre Assouline in Le Nouvel Observateur (August 2006) calling her "an obstacle to the dissemination of the works of Borges". Kodama took legal action against Assouline, considering the remark unjustified and defamatory, asking for a symbolic compensation of one euro. Kodama also rescinded all publishing rights for existing collections of his work in English, including the translations by Norman Thomas di Giovanni, in which Borges himself collaborated, and from which di Giovanni would have received an unusually high fifty percent of the royalties. Kodama commissioned new translations by Andrew Hurley, which have become the official translations in English. Political opinions During the 1920s and 1930s, Borges was a vocal supporter of Hipólito Yrigoyen and the social democratic Radical Civic Union. In 1945, Borges signed a manifesto calling for an end to military rule and the establishment of political liberty and democratic elections. By the 1960s, he had grown more skeptical of democracy. During a 1971 conference at Columbia University, a creative writing student asked Borges what he regarded as "a writer's duty to his time". Borges replied, "I think a writer's duty is to be a writer, and if he can be a good writer, he is doing his duty. Besides, I think of my own opinions as being superficial. For example, I am a Conservative, I hate the Communists, I hate the Nazis, I hate the anti-Semites, and so on; but I don't allow these opinions to find their way into my writings—except, of course, when I was greatly elated about the Six-Day War. Generally speaking, I think of keeping them in watertight compartments. Everybody knows my opinions, but as for my dreams and my stories, they should be allowed their full freedom, I think. I don't want to intrude into them, I'm writing fiction, not fables." In the 1980s, towards the end of his life, Borges regained his earlier faith in democracy and held it out as the only hope for Argentina. In 1983, Borges applauded the election of the Radical Civic Union's Raúl Alfonsín and welcomed the end of military rule with the following words: "I once wrote that democracy is the abuse of statistics ... On October 30, 1983, Argentine democracy refuted me splendidly. Splendidly and resoundingly." Anti-communism Borges recurrently declared himself a "Spencerian anarchist who believes in the individual and not in the State" due to his father's influence. In an interview with Richard Burgin during the late 1960s, Borges described himself as a "mild" adherent of classical liberalism. He further recalled that his opposition to communism and to Marxism was absorbed in his childhood, stating: "Well, I have been brought up to think that the individual should be strong and the State should be weak. I couldn't be enthusiastic about theories where the State is more important than the individual." After the overthrow via coup d'état of President Juan Domingo Perón in 1955, Borges supported efforts to purge Argentina's Government of Peronists and dismantle the former President's welfare state. He was enraged that the Communist Party of Argentina opposed these measures and sharply criticized them in lectures and in print. Borges's opposition to the Party in this matter ultimately led to a permanent rift with his longtime lover, Argentine Communist Estela Canto. In a 1956 interview given to El Hogar, he stated that "[Communists] are in favor of totalitarian regimes and systematically combat freedom of thought, oblivious of the fact that the principal victims of dictatorships are, precisely, intelligence and culture." Borges elaborated: "Many people are in favor of dictatorships because they allow them to avoid thinking for themselves. Everything is presented to them ready-made. There are even agencies of the State that supply them with opinions, passwords, slogans, and even idols to exalt or cast down according to the prevailing wind or in keeping with the directives of the thinking heads of the single party." In later years, Borges frequently expressed contempt for Marxist and Communist authors, poets, and intellectuals. In an interview with Burgin, Borges referred to Chilean poet Pablo Neruda as "a very fine poet" but a "very mean man" for unconditionally supporting the Soviet Union and demonizing the United States. Borges commented about Neruda, "Now he knows that's rubbish." In the same interview, Borges also criticized famed poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, who was abducted by Nationalist soldiers and executed without trial during the Spanish Civil War. In Borges's opinion, Lorca's poetry and plays, when examined against his tragic death, appeared better than they actually were. Anti-fascism In 1934, Argentine ultra-nationalists, sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, asserted Borges was secretly Jewish, and by implication, not truly Argentinian. Borges responded with the essay "Yo, Judío" ("Me, I'm a Jew"), a reference to the old phrase "Yo, Argentino" ("Me, I'm Argentine") uttered by potential victims during pogroms against Argentine Jews, to signify one was not Jewish. In the essay, Borges declares he would be proud to be a Jew, and remarks that any pure Castilian is likely to come from ancient Jewish descent, from a millennium ago. Both before and during the Second World War, Borges regularly published essays attacking the Nazi police state and its racist ideology. His outrage was fueled by his deep love for German literature. In an essay published in 1937, Borges attacked the Nazi Party's use of children's books to inflame antisemitism. He wrote, "I don't know if the world can do without German civilization, but I do know that its corruption by the teachings of hatred is a crime." In a 1938 essay, Borges reviewed an anthology which rewrote German authors of the past to fit the Nazi party line. He was disgusted by what he described as Germany's "chaotic descent into darkness" and the attendant rewriting of history. He argued that such books sacrificed the German people's culture, history and integrity in the name of
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in tone as any of the most outrageous of the Restoration dramatists who may have provided some of her inspiration ... It stands alone in Austen's work as a study of an adult woman whose intelligence and force of character are greater than those of anyone she encounters. According to Janet Todd, the model for the title character may have been Eliza de Feuillide, who inspired Austen with stories of her glamorous life and various adventures. Eliza's French husband was guillotined in 1794; she married Jane's brother Henry Austen in 1797. Tom Lefroy When Austen was twenty, Tom Lefroy, a neighbour, visited Steventon from December 1795 to January 1796. He had just finished a university degree and was moving to London for training as a barrister. Lefroy and Austen would have been introduced at a ball or other neighbourhood social gathering, and it is clear from Austen's letters to Cassandra that they spent considerable time together: "I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together." Austen wrote in her first surviving letter to her sister Cassandra that Lefroy was a "very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man". Five days later in another letter, Austen wrote that she expected an "offer" from her "friend" and that "I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises to give away his white coat", going on to write "I will confide myself in the future to Mr Tom Lefroy, for whom I don't give a sixpence" and refuse all others. The next day, Austen wrote: "The day will come on which I flirt my last with Tom Lefroy and when you receive this it will be all over. My tears flow as I write at this melancholy idea". Halperin cautioned that Austen often satirised popular sentimental romantic fiction in her letters, and some of the statements about Lefroy may have been ironic. However, it is clear that Austen was genuinely attracted to Lefroy and subsequently none of her other suitors ever quite measured up to him. The Lefroy family intervened and sent him away at the end of January. Marriage was impractical as both Lefroy and Austen must have known. Neither had any money, and he was dependent on a great-uncle in Ireland to finance his education and establish his legal career. If Tom Lefroy later visited Hampshire, he was carefully kept away from the Austens, and Jane Austen never saw him again. In November 1798, Lefroy was still on Austen's mind as she wrote to her sister she had tea with one of his relatives, wanted desperately to ask about him, but could not bring herself to raise the subject. Early manuscripts (1796–1798) After finishing Lady Susan, Austen began her first full-length novel Elinor and Marianne. Her sister remembered that it was read to the family "before 1796" and was told through a series of letters. Without surviving original manuscripts, there is no way to know how much of the original draft survived in the novel published anonymously in 1811 as Sense and Sensibility. Austen began a second novel, First Impressions (later published as Pride and Prejudice), in 1796. She completed the initial draft in August 1797, aged 21; as with all of her novels, Austen read the work aloud to her family as she was working on it and it became an "established favourite". At this time, her father made the first attempt to publish one of her novels. In November 1797, George Austen wrote to Thomas Cadell, an established publisher in London, to ask if he would consider publishing First Impressions. Cadell returned Mr. Austen's letter, marking it "Declined by Return of Post". Austen may not have known of her father's efforts. Following the completion of First Impressions, Austen returned to Elinor and Marianne and from November 1797 until mid-1798, revised it heavily; she eliminated the epistolary format in favour of third-person narration and produced something close to Sense and Sensibility. In 1797, Austen met her cousin (and future sister-in-law), Eliza de Feuillide, a French aristocrat whose first husband the Comte de Feuillide had been guillotined, causing her to flee to Britain, where she married Henry Austen. The description of the execution of the Comte de Feuillide related by his widow left Austen with an intense horror of the French Revolution that lasted for the rest of her life. During the middle of 1798, after finishing revisions of Elinor and Marianne, Austen began writing a third novel with the working title Susan—later Northanger Abbey—a satire on the popular Gothic novel. Austen completed her work about a year later. In early 1803, Henry Austen offered Susan to Benjamin Crosby, a London publisher, who paid £10 for the copyright. Crosby promised early publication and went so far as to advertise the book publicly as being "in the press", but did nothing more. The manuscript remained in Crosby's hands, unpublished, until Austen repurchased the copyright from him in 1816. Bath and Southampton In December 1800 George Austen unexpectedly announced his decision to retire from the ministry, leave Steventon, and move the family to 4, Sydney Place in Bath. While retirement and travel were good for the elder Austens, Jane Austen was shocked to be told she was moving from the only home she had ever known. An indication of her state of mind is her lack of productivity as a writer during the time she lived at Bath. She was able to make some revisions to Susan, and she began and then abandoned a new novel, The Watsons, but there was nothing like the productivity of the years 1795–1799. Tomalin suggests this reflects a deep depression disabling her as a writer, but Honan disagrees, arguing Austen wrote or revised her manuscripts throughout her creative life, except for a few months after her father died. It is often claimed that Austen was unhappy in Bath, which caused her to lose interest in writing, but it is just as possible that Austen's social life in Bath prevented her from spending much time writing novels. The critic Robert Irvine argued that if Austen spent more time writing novels when she was in the countryside, it might just have been because she had more spare time as opposed to being more happy in the countryside as is often argued. Furthermore, Austen frequently both moved and travelled over southern England during this period, which was hardly a conducive environment for writing a long novel. Austen sold the rights to publish Susan to a publisher Crosby & Company, who paid her £10. The Crosby & Company advertised Susan, but never published it. The years from 1801 to 1804 are something of a blank space for Austen scholars as Cassandra destroyed all of her letters from her sister in this period for unknown reasons. In December 1802 Austen received her only known proposal of marriage. She and her sister visited Alethea and Catherine Bigg, old friends who lived near Basingstoke. Their younger brother, Harris Bigg-Wither, had recently finished his education at Oxford and was also at home. Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen accepted. As described by Caroline Austen, Jane's niece, and Reginald Bigg-Wither, a descendant, Harris was not attractive—he was a large, plain-looking man who spoke little, stuttered when he did speak, was aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless. However, Austen had known him since both were young and the marriage offered many practical advantages to Austen and her family. He was the heir to extensive family estates located in the area where the sisters had grown up. With these resources, Austen could provide her parents a comfortable old age, give Cassandra a permanent home and, perhaps, assist her brothers in their careers. By the next morning, Austen realised she had made a mistake and withdrew her acceptance. No contemporary letters or diaries describe how Austen felt about this proposal. Irvine described Bigg-Wither as a somebody who "...seems to have been a man very hard to like, let alone love". In 1814, Austen wrote a letter to her niece, Fanny Knight, who had asked for advice about a serious relationship, telling her that "having written so much on one side of the question, I shall now turn around & entreat you not to commit yourself farther, & not to think of accepting him unless you really do like him. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection". The English scholar Douglas Bush wrote that Austen had "had a very high ideal of the love that should unite a husband and wife ... All of her heroines ... know in proportion to their maturity, the meaning of ardent love". A possible autobiographical element in Sense and Sensibility occurs when Elinor Dashwood contemplates that "the worse and most irremediable of all evils, a connection for life" with an unsuitable man. In 1804, while living in Bath, Austen started, but did not complete, her novel The Watsons. The story centres on an invalid and impoverished clergyman and his four unmarried daughters. Sutherland describes the novel as "a study in the harsh economic realities of dependent women's lives". Honan suggests, and Tomalin agrees, that Austen chose to stop work on the novel after her father died on 21 January 1805 and her personal circumstances resembled those of her characters too closely for her comfort. Her father's relatively sudden death left Jane, Cassandra, and their mother in a precarious financial situation. Edward, James, Henry, and Francis Austen (known as Frank) pledged to make annual contributions to support their mother and sisters. For the next four years, the family's living arrangements reflected their financial insecurity. They spent part of the time in rented quarters in Bath before leaving the city in June 1805 for a family visit to Steventon and Godmersham. They moved for the autumn months to the newly fashionable seaside resort of Worthing, on the Sussex coast, where they resided at Stanford Cottage. It was here that Austen is thought to have written her fair copy of Lady Susan and added its "Conclusion". In 1806 the family moved to Southampton, where they shared a house with Frank Austen and his new wife. A large part of this time they spent visiting various branches of the family. On 5 April 1809, about three months before the family's move to Chawton, Austen wrote an angry letter to Richard Crosby, offering him a new manuscript of Susan if needed to secure the immediate publication of the novel, and requesting the return of the original so she could find another publisher. Crosby replied that he had not agreed to publish the book by any particular time, or at all, and that Austen could repurchase the manuscript for the £10 he had paid her and find another publisher. She did not have the resources to buy the copyright back at that time, but was able to purchase it in 1816. Chawton Around early 1809 Austen's brother Edward offered his mother and sisters a more settled life—the use of a large cottage in Chawton village that was part of Edward's nearby estate, Chawton House. Jane, Cassandra and their mother moved into Chawton cottage on 7 July 1809. Life was quieter in Chawton than it had been since the family's move to Bath in 1800. The Austens did not socialise with gentry and entertained only when family visited. Her niece Anna described the family's life in Chawton as "a very quiet life, according to our ideas, but they were great readers, and besides the housekeeping our aunts occupied themselves in working with the poor and in teaching some girl or boy to read or write." Published author Like many women authors at the time, Austen published her books anonymously. At the time, the ideal roles for a woman were as wife and mother, and writing for women was regarded at best as a secondary form of activity; a woman who wished to be a full-time writer was felt to be degrading her femininity, so books by women were usually published anonymously in order to maintain the conceit that the female writer was only publishing as a sort of part-time job, and was not seeking to become a "literary lioness" (i.e a celebrity). During her time at Chawton, Jane Austen published four generally well-received novels. Through her brother Henry, the publisher Thomas Egerton agreed to publish Sense and Sensibility, which, like all of Jane Austen's novels except Pride and Prejudice, was published "on commission", that is, at the author's financial risk. When publishing on commission, publishers would advance the costs of publication, repay themselves as books were sold and then charge a 10% commission for each book sold, paying the rest to the author. If a novel did not recover its costs through sales, the author was responsible for them. The alternative to selling via commission was by selling the copyright, where an author received a one-time payment from the publisher for the manuscript, which occurred with Pride and Prejudice. Austen's experience with Susan (the manuscript that became Northanger Abbey) where she sold the copyright to the publisher Crosby & Sons for £10, who did not publish the book, forcing her to buy back the copyright in order to get her work published, left Austen leery of this method of publishing. The final alternative, of selling by subscription, where a group of people would agree to buy a book in advance, was not an option for Austen as only authors who were well known or had an influential aristocratic patron who would recommend an up-coming book to their friends, could sell by subscription. Sense and Sensibility appeared in October 1811, and was described as being written "By a Lady". As it was sold on commission, Egerton used expensive paper and set the price at 15 shillings. Reviews were favourable and the novel became fashionable among young aristocratic opinion-makers; the edition sold out by mid-1813. Austen's novels were published in larger editions than was normal for this period. The small size of the novel-reading public and the large costs associated with hand production (particularly the cost of handmade paper) meant that most novels were published in editions of 500 copies or less to reduce the risks to the publisher and the novelist. Even some of the most successful titles during this period were issued in editions of not more than 750 or 800 copies and later reprinted if demand continued. Austen's novels were published in larger editions, ranging from about 750 copies of Sense and Sensibility to about 2,000 copies of Emma. It is not clear whether the decision to print more copies than usual of Austen's novels was driven by the publishers or the author. Since all but one of Austen's books were originally published "on commission", the risks of overproduction were largely hers (or Cassandra's after her death) and publishers may have been more willing to produce larger editions than was normal practice when their own funds were at risk. Editions of popular works of non-fiction were often much larger. Austen made £140 from Sense and Sensibility, which provided her with some financial and psychological independence. After the success of Sense and Sensibility, all of Austen's subsequent books were billed as written "By the author of Sense and Sensibility" and Austen's name never appeared on her books during her lifetime. Egerton then published Pride and Prejudice, a revision of First Impressions, in January 1813. Austen sold the copyright to Pride and Prejudice to Egerton for £110. To maximise profits, he used cheap paper and set the price at 18 shillings. He advertised the book widely and it was an immediate success, garnering three favourable reviews and selling well. Had Austen sold Pride and Prejudice on commission, she would have made a profit of £475, or twice her father's annual income. By October 1813 Egerton was able to begin selling a second edition. Mansfield Park was published by Egerton in May 1814. While Mansfield Park was ignored by reviewers, it was very popular with readers. All copies were sold within six months, and Austen's earnings on this novel were larger than for any of her other novels. Without Austen's knowledge or approval, her novels were translated into French and published in cheaply produced, pirated editions in France. The literary critic Noel King commented in 1953 that, given the prevailing rage in France at the time for lush romantic fantasies, it was remarkable that her novels with the emphasis on everyday English life had any sort of a market in France. However, King cautioned that Austen's chief translator in France, Madame Isabelle de Montolieu, had only the most rudimentary knowledge of English, and her translations were more of "imitations" than translations proper, as Montolieu depended upon assistants to provide a summary, which she then translated into an embellished French that often radically altered Austen's plots and characters. The first of the Austen novels to be published that credited her as the author was in France, when Persuasion was published in 1821 as La Famille Elliot ou L'Ancienne Inclination. Austen learned that the Prince Regent admired her novels and kept a set at each of his residences. In November 1815, the Prince Regent's librarian James Stanier Clarke invited Austen to visit the Prince's London residence and hinted Austen should dedicate the forthcoming Emma to the Prince. Though Austen disapproved of the Prince Regent, she could scarcely refuse the request. Austen disapproved of the Prince Regent on the account of his womanising, gambling, drinking, spendthrift ways and generally disreputable behaviour. She later wrote Plan of a Novel, according to Hints from Various Quarters, a satiric outline of the "perfect novel" based on the librarian's many suggestions for a future Austen novel. Austen was greatly annoyed by Clarke's often pompous literary advice, and the Plan of A Novel parodying Clarke was intended as her revenge for all of the unwanted letters she had received from the royal librarian. In mid-1815 Austen moved her work from Egerton to John Murray, a better known London publisher, who published Emma in December 1815 and a second edition of Mansfield Park in February 1816. Emma sold well, but the new edition of Mansfield Park did poorly, and this failure offset most of the income from Emma. These were the last of Austen's novels to be published during her lifetime. While Murray prepared Emma for publication, Austen began The Elliots, later published as Persuasion. She completed her first draft in July 1816. In addition, shortly after the publication of Emma, Henry Austen repurchased the copyright for Susan from Crosby. Austen was forced to postpone publishing either of these completed novels by family financial troubles. Henry Austen's bank failed in March 1816, depriving him of all of his assets, leaving him deeply in debt and costing Edward, James, and Frank Austen large sums. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had made to support their mother and sisters. Illness and death Austen was feeling unwell by early 1816, but ignored the warning signs. By the middle of that year, her decline was unmistakable, and she began a slow, irregular deterioration. The majority of biographers rely on Zachary Cope's 1964 retrospective diagnosis and list her cause of death as Addison's disease, although her final illness has also been described as resulting from Hodgkin's lymphoma. When her uncle died and left his entire fortune to his wife, effectively disinheriting his relatives, she suffered a relapse, writing, "I am ashamed to say that the shock of my Uncle's Will brought on a relapse ... but a weak Body must excuse weak Nerves". She continued to work in spite of her illness. Dissatisfied with the ending of The Elliots, she rewrote the final two chapters, which she finished on 6 August 1816. In January 1817, Austen began The Brothers (titled Sanditon when published in 1925), and completed twelve chapters before stopping work in mid-March 1817, probably due to illness. Todd describes Sanditons heroine, Diana Parker, as an "energetic invalid". In the novel, Austen mocked hypochondriacs and though she describes the heroine as "bilious", five days after abandoning the novel she wrote of herself that she was turning "every wrong colour" and living "chiefly on the sofa". She put down her pen on 18 March 1817, making a note of it. Austen made light of her condition, describing it as "bile" and rheumatism. As her illness progressed, she experienced difficulty walking and lacked energy; by mid-April she was confined to bed. In May, Cassandra and Henry brought her to Winchester for treatment, by which time she suffered agonising pain and welcomed death. Austen died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 at the age of 41. Henry, through his clerical connections, arranged for his sister to be buried in the north aisle of the nave of Winchester Cathedral. The epitaph composed by her brother James praises Austen's personal qualities, expresses hope for her salvation and mentions the "extraordinary endowments of her mind", but does not explicitly mention her achievements as a writer. Posthumous publication In the months after Austen's death in July 1817, Cassandra,
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published during her lifetime. While Murray prepared Emma for publication, Austen began The Elliots, later published as Persuasion. She completed her first draft in July 1816. In addition, shortly after the publication of Emma, Henry Austen repurchased the copyright for Susan from Crosby. Austen was forced to postpone publishing either of these completed novels by family financial troubles. Henry Austen's bank failed in March 1816, depriving him of all of his assets, leaving him deeply in debt and costing Edward, James, and Frank Austen large sums. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had made to support their mother and sisters. Illness and death Austen was feeling unwell by early 1816, but ignored the warning signs. By the middle of that year, her decline was unmistakable, and she began a slow, irregular deterioration. The majority of biographers rely on Zachary Cope's 1964 retrospective diagnosis and list her cause of death as Addison's disease, although her final illness has also been described as resulting from Hodgkin's lymphoma. When her uncle died and left his entire fortune to his wife, effectively disinheriting his relatives, she suffered a relapse, writing, "I am ashamed to say that the shock of my Uncle's Will brought on a relapse ... but a weak Body must excuse weak Nerves". She continued to work in spite of her illness. Dissatisfied with the ending of The Elliots, she rewrote the final two chapters, which she finished on 6 August 1816. In January 1817, Austen began The Brothers (titled Sanditon when published in 1925), and completed twelve chapters before stopping work in mid-March 1817, probably due to illness. Todd describes Sanditons heroine, Diana Parker, as an "energetic invalid". In the novel, Austen mocked hypochondriacs and though she describes the heroine as "bilious", five days after abandoning the novel she wrote of herself that she was turning "every wrong colour" and living "chiefly on the sofa". She put down her pen on 18 March 1817, making a note of it. Austen made light of her condition, describing it as "bile" and rheumatism. As her illness progressed, she experienced difficulty walking and lacked energy; by mid-April she was confined to bed. In May, Cassandra and Henry brought her to Winchester for treatment, by which time she suffered agonising pain and welcomed death. Austen died in Winchester on 18 July 1817 at the age of 41. Henry, through his clerical connections, arranged for his sister to be buried in the north aisle of the nave of Winchester Cathedral. The epitaph composed by her brother James praises Austen's personal qualities, expresses hope for her salvation and mentions the "extraordinary endowments of her mind", but does not explicitly mention her achievements as a writer. Posthumous publication In the months after Austen's death in July 1817, Cassandra, Henry Austen and Murray arranged for the publication of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey as a set. Henry Austen contributed a Biographical Note dated December 1817, which for the first time identified his sister as the author of the novels. Tomalin describes it as "a loving and polished eulogy". Sales were good for a year—only 321 copies remained unsold at the end of 1818. Although Austen's six novels were out of print in England in the 1820s, they were still being read through copies housed in private libraries and circulating libraries. Austen had early admirers. The first piece of what might now be called fan fiction (or real person fiction) using her as a character appeared in 1823 in a letter to the editor in The Lady's Magazine. It refers to Austen's genius and suggests that aspiring authors were envious of her powers. In 1832 Richard Bentley purchased the remaining copyrights to all of her novels, and over the following winter published five illustrated volumes as part of his Standard Novels series. In October 1833, Bentley released the first collected edition of her works. Since then, Austen's novels have been continuously in print. Genre and style Austen's works critique the sentimental novels of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. The earliest English novelists, Richardson, Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollett, were followed by the school of sentimentalists and romantics such as Walter Scott, Horace Walpole, Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe, and Oliver Goldsmith, whose style and genre Austen rejected, returning the novel on a "slender thread" to the tradition of Richardson and Fielding for a "realistic study of manners". In the mid-20th century, literary critics F. R. Leavis and Ian Watt placed her in the tradition of Richardson and Fielding; both believe that she used their tradition of "irony, realism and satire to form an author superior to both". Walter Scott noted Austen's "resistance to the trashy sensationalism of much of modern fiction—'the ephemeral productions which supply the regular demand of watering places and circulating libraries'". Yet her rejection of these genres is complex, as evidenced by Northanger Abbey and Emma. Similar to William Wordsworth, who excoriated the modern frantic novel in the "Preface" to his Lyrical Ballads (1800), Austen distances herself from escapist novels; the discipline and innovation she demonstrates is similar to his, and she shows "that rhetorically less is artistically more." She eschewed popular Gothic fiction, stories of terror in which a heroine typically was stranded in a remote location, a castle or abbey (32 novels between 1784 and 1818 contain the word "abbey" in their title). Yet in Northanger Abbey she alludes to the trope, with the heroine, Catherine, anticipating a move to a remote locale. Rather than full-scale rejection or parody, Austen transforms the genre, juxtaposing reality, with descriptions of elegant rooms and modern comforts, against the heroine's "novel-fueled" desires. Nor does she completely denigrate Gothic fiction: instead she transforms settings and situations, such that the heroine is still imprisoned, yet her imprisonment is mundane and real—regulated manners and the strict rules of the ballroom. In Sense and Sensibility Austen presents characters who are more complex than in staple sentimental fiction, according to critic Keymer, who notes that although it is a parody of popular sentimental fiction, "Marianne in her sentimental histrionics responds to the calculating world ... with a quite justifiable scream of female distress." Richardson's Pamela, the prototype for the sentimental novel, is a didactic love story with a happy ending, written at a time women were beginning to have the right to choose husbands and yet were restricted by social conventions. Austen attempted Richardson's epistolary style, but found the flexibility of narrative more conducive to her realism, a realism in which each conversation and gesture carries a weight of significance. The narrative style utilises free indirect speech—she was the first English novelist to do so extensively—through which she had the ability to present a character's thoughts directly to the reader and yet still retain narrative control. The style allows an author to vary discourse between the narrator's voice and values and those of the characters. Austen had a natural ear for speech and dialogue, according to scholar Mary Lascelles: "Few novelists can be more scrupulous than Jane Austen as to the phrasing and thoughts of their characters." Techniques such as fragmentary speech suggest a character's traits and their tone; "syntax and phrasing rather than vocabulary" is utilised to indicate social variants. Dialogue reveals a character's mood—frustration, anger, happiness—each treated differently and often through varying patterns of sentence structures. When Elizabeth Bennet rejects Darcy, her stilted speech and the convoluted sentence structure reveals that he has wounded her: From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain of the feelings of others, were such as to form that the groundwork of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike. And I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed on to marry. Austen's plots highlight women's traditional dependence on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. As an art form, the 18th-century novel lacked the seriousness of its equivalents from the 19th century, when novels were treated as "the natural vehicle for discussion and ventilation of what mattered in life". Rather than delving too deeply into the psyche of her characters, Austen enjoys them and imbues them with humour, according to critic John Bayley. He believes that the well-spring of her wit and irony is her own attitude that comedy "is the saving grace of life". Part of Austen's fame rests on the historical and literary significance that she was the first woman to write great comic novels. Samuel Johnson's influence is evident, in that she follows his advice to write "a representation of life as may excite mirth". Her humour comes from her modesty and lack of superiority, allowing her most successful characters, such as Elizabeth Bennet, to transcend the trivialities of life, which the more foolish characters are overly absorbed in. Austen used comedy to explore the individualism of women's lives and gender relations, and she appears to have used it to find the goodness in life, often fusing it with "ethical sensibility", creating artistic tension. Critic Robert Polhemus writes, "To appreciate the drama and achievement of Austen, we need to realize how deep was her passion for both reverence and ridicule ... and her comic imagination reveals both the harmonies and the telling contradictions of her mind and vision as she tries to reconcile her satirical bias with her sense of the good." Reception Contemporaneous responses As Austen's works were published anonymously, they brought her little personal renown. They were fashionable among opinion-makers, but were rarely reviewed. Most of the reviews were short and on balance favourable, although superficial and cautious, most often focused on the moral lessons of the novels. Sir Walter Scott, a leading novelist of the day, anonymously wrote a review of Emma 1815, using it to defend the then-disreputable genre of the novel and praising Austen's realism, "the art of copying from nature as she really exists in the common walks of life, and presenting to the reader, instead of the splendid scenes from an imaginary world, a correct and striking representation of that which is daily taking place around him". The other important early review was attributed to Richard Whately in 1821. However, Whately denied having authored the review, which drew favourable comparisons between Austen and such acknowledged greats as Homer and Shakespeare, and praised the dramatic qualities of her narrative. Scott and Whately set the tone for almost all subsequent 19th-century Austen criticism. 19th century Because Austen's novels did not conform to Romantic and Victorian expectations that "powerful emotion [be] authenticated by an egregious display of sound and colour in the writing", 19th-century critics and audiences preferred the works of Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Though the Romantic Scott was positive, Austen's work did not match the prevailing aesthetic values of the Romantic zeitgeist. Her novels were republished in Britain from the 1830s and sold steadily, but they were not best-sellers. The first French critic who paid notice to Austen was Philarète Chasles in an 1842 essay, dismissing her in two sentences as a boring, imitative writer with no substance. Austen was almost completely ignored in France until 1878, when the French critic Léon Boucher published the essay Le Roman Classique en Angleterre, in which he called Austen a "genius", the first French author to do so. The first accurate translation of Austen into French occurred in 1899 when Félix Fénéon translated Northanger Abbey as Catherine Moreland. In Britain, Austen gradually grew in the estimation of the literati. Philosopher and literary critic George Henry Lewes published a series of enthusiastic articles in the 1840s and 1850s. Later in the century, novelist Henry James referred to Austen several times with approval, and on one occasion ranked her with Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Henry Fielding as among "the fine painters of life". The publication of James Edward Austen-Leigh's A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced Austen to a wider public as "dear aunt Jane", the respectable maiden aunt. Publication of the Memoir spurred the reissue of Austen's novels—the first popular editions were released in 1883 and fancy illustrated editions and collectors' sets quickly followed. Author and critic Leslie Stephen described the popular mania that started to develop for Austen in the 1880s as "Austenolatry". Around the start of the 20th century, an intellectual clique of Janeites reacted against the popularisation of Austen, distinguishing their deeper appreciation from the vulgar enthusiasm of the masses. In response, Henry James decried "a beguiled infatuation" with Austen, a rising tide of public interest that exceeded Austen's "intrinsic merit and interest". The American literary critic A. Walton Litz noted that the "anti-Janites" in the 19th and 20th centuries comprised a formidable literary squad of Mark Twain, Henry James, Charlotte Brontë, D. H. Lawrence and Kingsley Amis, but in "every case the adverse judgement merely reveals the special limitations or eccentricities of the critic, leaving Jane Austen relatively untouched". Modern Austen's works have attracted legions of scholars. The first dissertation on Austen was published in 1883, by George Pellew, a student at Harvard University. Another early academic analysis came from a 1911 essay by Oxford Shakespearean scholar A. C. Bradley, who grouped Austen's novels into "early" and "late" works, a distinction still used by scholars today. The first academic book devoted to Austen in France was Jane Austen by Paul and Kate Rague (1914), who set out to explain why French critics and readers should take Austen seriously. The same year, Léonie Villard published Jane Austen, Sa Vie et Ses Oeuvres, originally her PhD thesis, the first serious academic study of Austen in France. In 1923, R.W. Chapman published the first scholarly edition of Austen's collected works, which was also the first scholarly edition of any English novelist. The Chapman text has remained the basis for all subsequent published editions of Austen's works. With the publication in 1939 of Mary Lascelles' Jane Austen and Her Art, the academic study of Austen took hold. Lascelles analyzed the books Austen read and their influence on her work, and closely examined Austen's style and "narrative art". Concern arose that academics were obscuring the appreciation of Austen with increasingly esoteric theories, a debate that has continued since. The period since World War II has seen a diversity of critical approaches to Austen, including feminist theory, and perhaps most controversially, postcolonial theory. The divide has widened between the popular appreciation of Austen, particularly by modern Janeites, and academic judgements. In 1994, literary critic Harold Bloom placed Austen among the greatest Western writers of all time. In the People's Republic of China after 1949, writings of Austen were regarded as too frivolous, and thus during the Chinese Cultural Revolution of 1966–69, Austen was banned as a "British bourgeois imperialist". In the late 1970s, when Austen's works was re-published in China, her popularity with readers confounded the authorities who had trouble understanding that people generally read books for enjoyment, not political edification. In a typical modern debate, the conservative American professor Gene Koppel, to the indignation of his liberal literature students, mentioned that Austen and her family were "Tories of the deepest dye", i.e. Conservatives in opposition to the liberal Whigs. Although several feminist authors such as Claudia Johnson and Mollie Sandock claimed Austen for their own cause, Koppel argued that different people react to a work of literature in different subjective ways, as explained by the philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Thus competing interpretations of Austen's work can be equally valid, provided they are grounded in textual and historical analysis: it is equally possible to see Austen as a feminist critiquing Regency society and as a conservative upholding its values. Adaptations Austen's novels have resulted in sequels, prequels and adaptations of almost every type, from soft-core pornography to fantasy. From the 19th century, her family members published conclusions to her incomplete novels, and by 2000 there were over 100 printed adaptations. The first dramatic adaptation of Austen was published in 1895, Rosina Filippi's Duologues and Scenes from the Novels of Jane Austen: Arranged and Adapted for Drawing-Room Performance, and Filippi was also responsible for the first professional stage adaptation, The Bennets (1901). The first film adaptation was the 1940 MGM production of Pride and Prejudice starring Laurence Olivier and Greer Garson. BBC television dramatisations since the 1970s have attempted to adhere meticulously to Austen's plots, characterisations and settings. The British critic Robert Irvine noted that in American film adaptations of Austen's novels, starting with the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice, class is subtly downplayed, and the society of Regency England depicted by Austen that is grounded in a hierarchy based upon the ownership of land and the antiquity of the family name is one that Americans cannot embrace in its entirety. From 1995 many Austen adaptations appeared, with Ang Lee's film of Sense and Sensibility, for which screenwriter and star Emma Thompson won an Academy Award, and the BBC's immensely popular TV mini-series Pride and Prejudice, starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. A 2005 British production of Pride and Prejudice, directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen, was followed in 2007 by ITV's Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, and in 2016 by Love & Friendship starring Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, a film version of Lady Susan, that borrowed the title of Austen's Love and [sic]. Honours Austen is on the £10 note which was introduced in 2017, replacing Charles Darwin. List of works Novels Sense and Sensibility (1811) Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park (1814) Emma (1815) Northanger Abbey (1818, posthumous) Persuasion (1818, posthumous) Lady Susan (1871, posthumous) Unfinished fiction The Watsons (1804) Sanditon (1817) Other works Sir Charles Grandison (adapted play) (1793, 1800) Plan of a Novel (1815) Poems (1796–1817) Prayers (1796–1817) Letters (1796–1817) Juvenilia—Volume the First (1787–1793) Frederic & Elfrida Jack & Alice Edgar & Emma Henry and Eliza The Adventures of Mr. Harley Sir William Mountague Memoirs of Mr. Clifford The Beautifull Cassandra Amelia Webster The Visit The Mystery The Three Sisters A Fragment A beautiful description The generous Curate Ode to Pity Juvenilia—Volume the Second (1787–1793) Love and Freindship Lesley Castle The History of England A Collection of Letters The female philosopher The first Act of a Comedy A Letter from a Young Lady A Tour through Wales A Tale Juvenilia—Volume the Third (1787–1793) Evelyn Catharine, or The Bower Family trees See also Jane Austen's family and ancestry Notes References Sources Alexander, Christine and Juliet McMaster, eds. The Child Writer from Austen to Woolf. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. . Auerbach, Emily. Searching for Jane Austen. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004. Austen, Jane. Catharine and Other Writings. Ed. Margaret Anne Doody and Douglas Murray. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993. . Austen, Jane. The History of England. Ed. David Starkey. Icon Books, HarperCollins Publishers, 2006. . Austen, Henry Thomas. "Biographical Notice of the Author". Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. London: John Murray, 1817. Austen-Leigh, James Edward. A Memoir of Jane Austen. 1926. Ed. R.W. Chapman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967. Austen-Leigh, William and Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh. Jane Austen: Her Life and Letters, A Family Record. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1913. Bayley, John. "Characterization in Jane Austen". The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986. . 24–34 Baker, Amy. "Caught in the Act of Greatness: Jane Austen's Characterization Of Elizabeth And Darcy By Sentence Structure In Pride and Prejudice". Explicator, Vol. 72, Issue 3, 2014. 169–178 Brownstein, Rachel M. "Out of the Drawing Room, Onto the Lawn". Jane Austen in Hollywood. Eds. Linda Troost and Sayre Greenfield. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001 . 13–21. Butler, Marilyn. "History, Politics and Religion". The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986. . 190–208 Byrne, Paula. Jane Austen and the Theatre. London and New York: Continuum, 2002. . Cartmell, Deborah and Whelehan, Imelda, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Literature on Screen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. . Collins, Irene. Jane Austen and the Clergy. London: The Hambledon Press, 1994. . Copeland, Edward and Juliet McMaster, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. . Doody, Margaret Anne. "The Early Short Fiction". The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Eds. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. . 72–86. Duffy, Joseph. "Criticism, 1814–1870". The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1986. . 93–101 Fergus, Jan. "Biography". Jane Austen in Context. Ed. Janet Todd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. . 3–11 Fergus, Jan. "The Professional Woman Writer". The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Eds. Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. . 1–20. Gay, Penny. Jane Austen and the Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. . Gilson, David. "Letter publishing history". Jane Austen in Context. Ed. Janet Todd. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. . 121–159 Gilson, David. "Editions and Publishing History". The Jane Austen Companion. Ed. J. David Grey. New York: Macmillan, 1986.
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Giugno (Malta) Union Dissolution Day (Norway) June 8 Bounty Day (Norfolk Island) Caribbean American HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Engineer's Day (Peru) Primož Trubar Day (Slovenia) World Brain Tumor Day (international) World Oceans Day (international) June 9 Anniversary of the Accession of King Abdullah II (Jordan) Autonomy Day (Åland) La Rioja Day (La Rioja) Murcia Day (Murcia) National Heroes' Day (Uganda) June 10 Abolition Day (French Guiana) Army Day (Jordan) National Iced Tea Day (United States) Navy Day (Italy) Portugal Day (Portugal) Reconciliation Day (Republic of the Congo) June 11 American Evacuation Day (Libya) Birthday of Prince Henrik (Denmark) Brazilian Navy commemorative day Davis Day (Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada) Kamehameha Day (Hawaii, United States) National Corn on the Cob Day (United States) National German Chocolate Cake Day Day (United States) Student Day (Honduras) June 12 Chaco Armistice Day (Paraguay) Dia dos Namorados (Brazil) Helsinki Day (Finland) June 12 Commemoration (Lagos State) Loving Day (United States) Independence Day (Philippines)|Philippine Independence Day National Peanut Butter Cookie Day (United States) Russia Day (Russia) World Day Against Child Labour (international) June 13 Inventors' Day (Hungary) Suleimaniah City Fallen and Martyrs Day (Iraqi Kurdistan) June 14 Commemoration of the Soviet Deportation related observances: Mourning and Commemoration Day or Leinapäev (Estonia) Mourning and Hope Day (Lithuania) Day of Memory for Repressed People (Armenia) Flag Day (United States) Freedom Day (Malawi) Liberation Day (Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) World Blood Donor Day (international) June 15 Arbor Day (Costa Rica) Cagayan de Oro Charter Day (Cagayan de Oro City) Day of Valdemar and Reunion day (Flag Day) (Denmark) Engineer's Day (Italy) Global Wind Day (international) Mangaia Gospel Day (Mangaia, Cook Islands) National Lobster Day (United States) National Salvation Day (Azerbaijan) Statehood Day (Arkansas, United States) June 16 Bloomsday (Dublin, Ireland) Engineer's Day (Argentina) International Day of the African Child Anniversary of Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Sikhism) National Fudge Day (United States) Sussex Day (Sussex) Youth Day (South Africa) June 17 Bunker Hill Day (Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States) Father's Day (El Salvador, Guatemala) Icelandic National Day National Eat Your Vegetables Day (United States) Occupation of the Latvian Republic Day (Latvia) World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (International) June 18 Autistic Pride Day (International) Human Rights Day (Azerbaijan) Foundation Day (Benguet) Human Rights Day (Azerbaijan) International Sushi Day National Day (Seychelles) Queen Mother's Birthday (Cambodia) Waterloo Day (United Kingdom) June 19 Day of the Independent Hungary (Hungary) Feast of Forest (Palawan) Juneteenth (United States, especially African Americans) Labour Day (Trinidad and Tobago) Laguna Day (Laguna) Never Again Day (Uruguay) Surigao del Norte Day (Surigao del Norte) Surigao del Sur Day (Surigao del Sur) World Sickle Cell Day (International) World Sauntering Day June 20 Day of the National Flag (Argentina) Festival in honor of Summanus (Roman Empire) Gas Sector Day (Azerbaijan) Martyrs' Day (Eritrea) National Ice Cream Soda Day (United States) National Kouign Amann Day (United States) National Vanilla Milkshake Day (United States) West Virginia Day (West Virginia) World Refugee Day (International) June 21 Day of the Martyrs (Togo) Father's Day (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Uganda, United Arab Emirates) Go Skateboarding Day National Indigenous Peoples Day (Canada) National Day (Greenland) National Peaches 'N' Cream Day (United States) World Humanist Day (Humanism) World Hydrography Day June 22 Anti-Fascist Struggle Day (Croatia) Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Great Patriotic War (Belarus) Father's Day (Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey) Teachers' Day (El Salvador) June 23 Father's Day (Nicaragua, Poland) Grand Duke's Official Birthday (Luxembourg) International Widows Day (international) National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism (Canada) Okinawa Memorial Day (Okinawa, Japan) Saint John's Eve (Roman Catholic Church, Europe): Bonfires of Saint John (Spain) First day of Golowan Festival (Cornwall) Jaaniõhtu (Estonia) Jāņi (Latvia) Last day of Drăgaica fair (Buzău, Romania) Festa de São João do Porto (Portugal) United Nations Public Service Day (International) Victory Day (Estonia) June 24 Army Day or Battle of Carabobo Day (Venezuela) Bannockburn Day (Scotland) Day of the Caboclo (Amazonas, Brazil) Saint John's Day, second day of celebrations. Enyovden (Bulgaria) Jaanipäev (Estonia) Jāņi (Latvia) Jónsmessa (Iceland) Midsummer Day (England) Saint Jonas' Festival or Joninės (Lithuania) Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (Quebec, Canada) Sânziene (western Carpathian Mountains of Romania) Youth Day (Ukraine) June 25 Arbor Day (Philippines) Independence Day (Mozambique) National Catfish Day (United States) Statehood Day (Croatia) Statehood Day (Slovenia) Statehood Day (Virginia) Teacher's Day (Guatemala) World Vitiligo Day June 26 Army and Navy Day (Azerbaijan) Flag Day (Romania) Independence Day (Madagascar) Independence Day (Somalia) International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking (International) International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (International) National Chocolate Pudding Day (United States) Ratcatcher's Day (Hamelin, Germany) Sunthorn Phu Day (Thailand) World Refrigeration Day (International) June 27 Canadian Multiculturalism Day (Canada) Day of Turkmen Workers of Culture and Art (Turkmenistan) Helen Keller Day (United States) Independence Day (Djibouti) Mixed Race Day (Brazil) National HIV Testing Day (United States) PTSD Awareness Day (United States) Seven Sleepers Day or Siebenschläfertag (Germany) Unity Day (Tajikistan) June 28 Carolina Day (South Carolina, United States) Constitution Day (Ukraine) Family Day (Vietnam) National Ceviche Day (United States) National Tapicoa
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till after June 15. Plutarch, however, implies that the entire month of June was more favorable for weddings than May. Certain meteor showers take place in June. The Arietids takes place May 22 to July 2 each year, and peaks on June 7. The Beta Taurids June 5 to July 18. The June Bootids take place roughly between 26 June and 2 July each year. Ancient Roman observances Under the calendar of ancient Rome, the festival of Ludi Fabarici took place on May 29 – June 1, Kalendae Fabariae took place on June 1, the Festival to Bellona took place on June 3, Ludi Piscatorii took place on June 7, and Vestalia took place from June 7 – June 15. A Rosalia was held on June 20. The Secular Games were held roughly every 100 years in either May or June. These dates do not correspond to the modern Gregorian calendar. Events in June Month-long observances LGBTQ+ Awareness and Pride month In Catholic tradition, June is the Month of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. African-American Music Appreciation Month (officially recognized by the United States) ALS Awareness Month (Canada) Caribbean American Heritage Month (United States) Crop over (Barbados), celebrated until the first Monday in August. Great Outdoors Month (United States) National Smile Month (United Kingdom) National Oceans Month (United States) Season of Emancipation (April 14 to August 23) (Barbados) PTSD Awareness Month (United States) Non-Gregorian observances, 2019 (All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at the sundown prior to the date listed, and end at sundown of the date in question unless otherwise noted.) List of observances set by the Bahá'í calendar List of observances set by the Chinese calendar List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar List of observances set by the Islamic calendar List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar Moveable observances Phi Ta Khon (Dan Sai, Loei province, Isan, Thailand) Dates are selected by village mediums and can take place anywhere between March and July. See also Movable Western Christian observances See also Movable Eastern Christian observances By other date First Tuesday International Children's Day First Wednesday Global Running Day World Bicycle Day First Friday Labour Day (Bahamas) National Doughnut Day (United States) First Saturday Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (Malaysia) National Trails Day (United States) Saiō Matsuri (Meiwa, Mie, Japan) First Sunday Armed Forces Day (Canada) Children's Day (United States) Father's Day (Lithuania, Switzerland) National Cancer Survivors Day (United States) Teacher's Day (Hungary) The Seamen's Day (Iceland) First Monday June Holiday (Lá Saoire i mí Mheitheamh) (Republic of Ireland) Queen's Official Birthday (New Zealand, Cook Islands, Western Australia) Western Australia Day Second Thursday Seersucker Thursday (United States) Second Saturday China's Cultural Heritage Day (China) Start of National Dairy Goat Awareness Week, ending on the third Saturday National Day (Montserrat, Pitcairn Islands, Saint Helena, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)) Queen's Official Birthday (United Kingdom, Tuvalu) Second Sunday Canadian Rivers Day Children's Day (United States) Father's Day (Austria, Belgium) Mother's Day (Luxembourg) Third Week Bike Week (Bicycle Week) (United Kingdom, Ireland) Second Monday Queen's Official Birthday (Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Australia, with the exception of Western Australia, which celebrates on the first Monday) Flag Day (US) Monday after the second Saturday Queen's Official Birthday (Norfolk Island) Third Friday National Flip Flop Day (United States) Third Saturday Summer Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere Day of Private Reflection (Northern Ireland) International Surfing Day International Yoga Day Midsummer World Music Day Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere We Tripantu, (Mapuche, southern Chile) Willkakuti, an Andean-Amazonic New Year (Aymara) Saturday between June 20–25 Finnish Flag Day Juhannus (Finland) Saturday nearest Summer Solstice Pixie Day (Ottery St. Mary, England) Third Sunday Father's Day (Afghanistan, Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominica, Ecuador, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kuwait, Laos, Macau, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, People's Republic of China, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) Monday Nearest to June 24 Discovery Day (Newfoundland and Labrador) Last Thursday National Bomb Pop Day (United States) Friday following Third Sunday Take Your Dog to Work Day (United Kingdom, United States) Last Saturday Armed Forces Day (United Kingdom) Inventors' and Rationalizers' Day (Russia) Veterans' Day (Netherlands) Last Sunday Father's Day (Haiti) Log Cabin Day (Michigan, United States) Mother's Day (Kenya) Fixed Gregorian observances May 15 – June 15 Tourette Syndrome awareness month. May 25 – June 25 Bicycle Month (Canada) May 27 – June 3 National Reconciliation Week (Australia) May 28 – Flag Day (Philippines) (Display of the flag in all places until June 12 is encouraged) May 31 – June 1 Gawai Dayak (Dayaks in Sarawak, Malaysia and West Kalimantan, Indonesia) June 1 Children's Day (International), and its related observances: Global Day of Parents The Day of Protection of Children Rights (Armenia) Mothers' and Children's Day (Mongolia) Fei Fei Day (Vancouver) Global Day of
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Its birth flowers are the Larkspur or the Water Lily. The zodiac signs for the month of July are Cancer (until July 22) and Leo (July 23 onwards). Observances This list does not necessarily imply either official status nor general observance. Season of Emancipation 14 April to 23 August (Barbados) Honor America Days: 14 June to 4 July (United States) Month-long observances In Catholic tradition, July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. National Hot Dog Month (United States) National Ice Cream Month (United States) Non-Gregorian observances (All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at the sundown before the date listed, and end at sundown of the date in question unless otherwise noted.) List of observances set by the Bahá'í calendar List of observances set by the Chinese calendar List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar List of observances set by the Islamic calendar List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar Movable observances Phi Ta Khon (Dan Sai, Loei province, Isan, Thailand) – Dates are selected by village mediums and can take place anywhere between March and July. Ra o te Ui Ariki (Cook Islands) July 6 Collector Car Appreciation Day (United States) Senior Citizen's Day (Kiribati) Shark Week (United States) Earth Overshoot Day See also Movable Western Christian observances See also Movable Eastern Christian observances First Friday Fishermen's Holiday (Marshall Islands) First Saturday American Independence Day Día del Amigo (Peru) International Co-operative Day International Free Hugs Day First Saturday and Sunday Navy Days (Netherlands) First Sunday Navy Day (Ukraine) Youth Day (Singapore) Sunday closest to 2 July Alexanderson Day (Sweden) First full week in July NAIDOC Week (Australia) First Monday CARICOM Day (Guyana) Heroes' Day (Zambia) Mother's Day (South Sudan) National Day (Cayman Islands) 5 July or following Monday if it's a weekend Tynwald Day (Isle of Man) Day after first Monday Unity Day (Zambia) Second Thursday National Tree Day (Mexico) Second Sunday Father's Day (Uruguay) Sea Sunday (Western Christianity) Nearest Sunday to 11 July National Day of Commemoration (Ireland) Third Monday Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (Puerto Rico, United States) Children's Day (Cuba, Panama, and Venezuela) Galla Bayramy (Turkmenistan) Marine Day (Japan) Presidents' Day (Botswana) Third Sunday Galla Bayramy (Turkmenistan) National Ice Cream Day (United States) Second to last Sunday in July and the following two weeks Construction Holiday (Quebec) Third Tuesday Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (Puerto Rico, United States) Fourth Sunday Parents' Day (United States) Friday preceding the Fourth Saturday and the following Sunday Tobata Gion Yamagasa festival (Tobata, Japan) Fourth Thursday National Chili Dog Day (United States) Last Saturday Black Saturday (France) National Dance Day (United States) Last Sunday Father's Day (Dominican Republic) National Tree Day (Australia) Navy Day (Russia) Reek Sunday (Ireland) Thursday before the first Monday Emancipation Day (Bermuda) Following Friday Somer's Day (Bermuda) Last Friday National Schools Tree Day (Australia) System Administrator Appreciation Day Fixed Gregorian observances July 1 Armed Forces Day (Singapore) Canada Day (Canada) Children's Day (Pakistan) Communist Party of China Founding Day (People's Republic of China) Day of Officials and Civil Servants (Hungary) Doctors' Day (India) Emancipation Day (Netherlands Antilles) Engineer's Day (Bahrain, Mexico) Feast of the Most Precious Blood (removed from official Roman Catholic calendar since 1969) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Hong Kong, China) Independence Day (Burundi) Independence Day (Rwanda) Independence Day (Somalia) International Tartan Day July Morning (Bulgaria) Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) (Suriname) Madeira Day (Madeira, Portugal) Moving Day (Quebec) (Canada) National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day (United States) National Gingersnap Day (United States) Newfoundland and Labrador Memorial Day Republic Day (Ghana) Sir Seretse Khama Day (Botswana) Territory Day (British Virgin Islands) Van Mahotsav, celebrated until July 7 (India) July 2 Flag Day (Curaçao) (Kingdom of the Netherlands) Palio di
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of the Northern Hemisphere, where it is the second month of summer, and the coldest month in much of the Southern Hemisphere, where it is the second month of winter. The second half of the year commences in July. In the Southern Hemisphere, July is the seasonal equivalent of January in the Northern hemisphere. "Dog days" are considered to begin in early July in the Northern Hemisphere, when the hot sultry weather of summer usually starts. Spring lambs born in late winter or early spring are usually sold before 1 July. July symbols July's birthstone is the ruby, which symbolizes contentment. Its birth flowers are the Larkspur or the Water Lily. The zodiac signs for the month of July are Cancer (until July 22) and Leo (July 23 onwards). Observances This list does not necessarily imply either official status nor general observance. Season of Emancipation 14 April to 23 August (Barbados) Honor America Days: 14 June to 4 July (United States) Month-long observances In Catholic tradition, July is the Month of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus. National Hot Dog Month (United States) National Ice Cream Month (United States) Non-Gregorian observances (All Baha'i, Islamic, and Jewish observances begin at the sundown before the date listed, and end at sundown of the date in question unless otherwise noted.) List of observances set by the Bahá'í calendar List of observances set by the Chinese calendar List of observances set by the Hebrew calendar List of observances set by the Islamic calendar List of observances set by the Solar Hijri calendar Movable observances Phi Ta Khon (Dan Sai, Loei province, Isan, Thailand) – Dates are selected by village mediums and can take place anywhere between March and July. Ra o te Ui Ariki (Cook Islands) July 6 Collector Car Appreciation Day (United States) Senior Citizen's Day (Kiribati) Shark Week (United States) Earth Overshoot Day See also Movable Western Christian observances See also Movable Eastern Christian observances First Friday Fishermen's Holiday (Marshall Islands) First Saturday American Independence Day Día del Amigo (Peru) International Co-operative Day International Free Hugs Day First Saturday and Sunday Navy Days (Netherlands) First Sunday Navy Day (Ukraine) Youth Day (Singapore) Sunday closest to 2 July Alexanderson Day (Sweden) First full week in July NAIDOC Week (Australia) First Monday CARICOM Day (Guyana) Heroes' Day (Zambia) Mother's Day (South Sudan) National Day (Cayman Islands) 5 July or following Monday if it's a weekend Tynwald Day (Isle of Man) Day after first Monday Unity Day (Zambia) Second Thursday National Tree Day (Mexico) Second Sunday Father's Day (Uruguay) Sea Sunday (Western Christianity) Nearest Sunday to 11 July National Day of Commemoration (Ireland) Third Monday Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (Puerto Rico, United States) Children's Day (Cuba, Panama, and Venezuela) Galla Bayramy (Turkmenistan) Marine Day (Japan) Presidents' Day (Botswana) Third Sunday Galla Bayramy (Turkmenistan) National Ice Cream Day (United States) Second to last Sunday in July and the following two weeks Construction Holiday (Quebec) Third Tuesday Birthday of Don Luis Muñoz Rivera (Puerto Rico, United States) Fourth Sunday Parents' Day (United States) Friday preceding the Fourth Saturday and the following Sunday Tobata Gion Yamagasa festival (Tobata, Japan) Fourth Thursday National Chili Dog Day (United States) Last Saturday Black Saturday (France) National Dance Day (United States) Last Sunday Father's Day (Dominican Republic) National Tree Day (Australia) Navy Day (Russia) Reek Sunday (Ireland) Thursday before the first Monday Emancipation Day (Bermuda) Following Friday Somer's Day (Bermuda) Last Friday National Schools Tree Day (Australia) System Administrator Appreciation Day Fixed Gregorian observances July 1 Armed Forces Day (Singapore) Canada Day (Canada) Children's Day (Pakistan) Communist Party of China Founding Day (People's Republic of China) Day of Officials and Civil Servants (Hungary) Doctors' Day (India) Emancipation Day (Netherlands Antilles) Engineer's Day (Bahrain, Mexico) Feast of the Most Precious Blood (removed from official Roman Catholic calendar since 1969) Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Hong Kong, China) Independence Day (Burundi) Independence Day (Rwanda) Independence Day (Somalia) International Tartan Day July Morning (Bulgaria) Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) (Suriname) Madeira
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Genetically Diseased Offspring" comes into effect in Nazi Germany. 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations. 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed, attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow. 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany. 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen. 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways. 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly. 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom. 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. 1957 – Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after the Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect. 1958 – The European Economic Community is established. 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces. 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom. 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa. 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia. 1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan. 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00. 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television. 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community. 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board. 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay, India, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board. 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States. 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community. 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations. 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet. 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom. 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone. 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor. 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion. 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor. 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas. 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect. 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being. 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves. 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece adopts the euro two years later). 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007. 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board. 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand. 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more. 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people. 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country. 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others. Births Pre-1600 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503) 1449 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492) 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548) 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531) 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511) 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606) 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649) 1601–1900 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692) 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728) 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748) 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787) 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749) 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800) 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780) 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818) 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796) 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, sewed flags for the Pennsylvania Navy during the Revolutionary War (d. 1836) 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849) 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821) 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860) 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847) 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874) 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853) 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880) 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868) 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864) 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866) 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861) 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878) 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849) 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys' High School and Knox Church (d. 1902) 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908) 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908) 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924) 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904) 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941) 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940) 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933) 1858 – Heinrich Rauchinger, Kraków-born painter (d. 1942) 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923) 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916) 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935) 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937) 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer and curator (d. 1946) 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957) 1867 – Mary Acworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949) 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944) 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927) 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937) 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929) 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970) 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952) 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959) 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949) 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945) 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965) 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974) 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967) 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966) 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969) 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942) 1892 – Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (d. 1958) 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948) 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940) 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and mathematician (d. 1974) 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970) 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972) 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986) 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990) 1901–present 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977) 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945) 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982) 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981) 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker and actor (d. 1988) 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931) 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992) 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959) 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960) 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971) 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986) 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012) 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995) 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988) 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991) 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944) 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016) 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000) 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997) 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990) 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948) 1919 – Sheila Mercier, British actress, Emmerdale Farm (d. 2019) 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010) 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007) 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986) 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998) 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian actress (d. 2013) 1922 – Ernest Hollings, American soldier and politician, 106th Governor of South Carolina (d. 2019) 1923 – Valentina Cortese, Italian actress (d. 2019) 1923 – Milt Jackson, American jazz vibraphonist and composer (d. 1999) 1924 – Francisco Macías Nguema, Equatorial Guinean politician, 1st President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (d. 1979) 1925 – Matthew Beard, American child actor (d. 1981) 1925 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (d. 2005) 1926 – Kazys Petkevičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (d. 2008) 1927 – Maurice Béjart, French-Swiss dancer, choreographer, and director (d. 2007) 1927 – James Reeb, American clergyman and political activist (d. 1965) 1927 – Vernon L. Smith, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1927 – Doak Walker, American football player and businessman (d. 1998) 1928 – Ernest Tidyman, American author and screenwriter (d. 1984) 1928 – Gerhard Weinberg, German-American historian, author, and academic 1929 – Larry L. King, American journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2012) 1930 – Frederick Wiseman, American director and producer 1932 – Giuseppe Patanè, Italian conductor (d. 1989) 1933 – James Hormel, American philanthropist and diplomat 1933 – Joe Orton, English dramatist (d. 1967) 1934 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (d. 1984) 1934 – Lakhdar Brahimi, Algerian politician, Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1935 – Om Prakash Chautala, Indian politician 1936 – James Sinegal, American businessman, co-founded Costco 1938 – Frank Langella, American actor 1939 – Michèle Mercier, French actress 1939 – Phil Read, English motorcycle racer and businessman 1939 – Senfronia Thompson, American politician 1939 – Younoussi Touré, Malian politician, Prime Minister of Mali 1942 – Dennis Archer, American lawyer and politician, 67th Mayor of Detroit 1942 – Anthony Hamilton-Smith, 3rd Baron Colwyn, English dentist and politician 1942 – Country Joe McDonald, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Alassane Ouattara, Ivorian economist and politician, President of the Ivory Coast 1942 – Gennadi Sarafanov, Russian pilot and cosmonaut (d. 2005) 1943 – Don Novello, American comedian, screenwriter and producer 1943 – Tony Knowles, American soldier and politician, 7th Governor of Alaska 1943 – Vladimir Šeks, Croatian lawyer and politician, 16th Speaker of the Croatian Parliament 1944 – Omar al-Bashir, Sudanese field marshal and politician, 7th President of Sudan 1944 – Barry Beath, Australian rugby league player 1944 – Zafarullah Khan Jamali, Pakistani field hockey player and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan (d.2020) 1944 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (d. 2013) 1944 – Mati Unt, Estonian author, playwright, and director (d. 2005) 1945 – Jacky Ickx, Belgian racing driver 1945 – Victor Ashe, American politician and former United States Ambassador to Poland 1946 – Claude Steele, American social psychologist and academic 1946 – Rivellino, Brazilian footballer and manager 1947 – Jon Corzine, American sergeant and politician, 54th Governor of New Jersey 1948 – Devlet Bahçeli, Turkish economist, academic, and politician, 57th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey 1948 – Dick Quax, New Zealand runner and politician (d. 2018) 1948 – Pavel Grachev, Russian general and politician, 1st Russian Minister of Defence (d. 2012) 1949 – Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian politician and diplomat 1950 – Wayne Bennett, Australian rugby league player and coach 1950 – Tony Currie, English footballer 1952 – Shaji N. Karun, Indian director and cinematographer 1953 – Gary Johnson, American businessman and politician, 29th Governor of New Mexico 1954 – Bob Menendez, American lawyer and politician 1954 – Dennis O'Driscoll, Irish poet and critic (d. 2012) 1954 – Yannis Papathanasiou, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Finance 1955 – LaMarr Hoyt, American baseball player 1955 – Mary Beard, English classicist, academic and presenter 1956 – Sergei Avdeyev, Russian engineer and astronaut 1956 – Royce Ayliffe, Australian rugby league player 1956 – Christine Lagarde, French lawyer and politician; Managing Director, International Monetary Fund 1956 – Martin Plaza, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1957 – Karen Pence, American political figure Second Lady of the United States 1957 – Evangelos Venizelos, Greek lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Greece 1958 – Grandmaster Flash, Barbadian rapper and DJ 1959 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, Afghan colonel, pilot, and astronaut 1959 – Azali Assoumani, Comorian colonel and politician, President of the Comoros 1959 – Panagiotis Giannakis, Greek basketball player and coach 1961 – Sam Backo, Australian rugby league player 1962 – Anton Muscatelli, Italian-Scottish economist and academic 1963 – Jean-Marc Gounon, French
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Grand Union Flag, at Prospect Hill. 1781 – American Revolutionary War: One thousand five hundred soldiers of the 6th Pennsylvania Regiment under General Anthony Wayne's command rebel against the Continental Army's winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey in the Pennsylvania Line Mutiny of 1781. 1788 – First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published. 1801 – The legislative union of Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland is completed, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland is proclaimed. 1801 – Ceres, the largest and first known object in the Asteroid belt, is discovered by Giuseppe Piazzi. 1804 – French rule ends in Haiti. Haiti becomes the first black-majority republic and second independent country in North America after the United States. 1806 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished. 1808 – The United States bans the importation of slaves. 1810 – Major-General Lachlan Macquarie officially becomes Governor of New South Wales. 1822 – The Greek Constitution of 1822 is adopted by the First National Assembly at Epidaurus. 1834 – Most of Germany forms the Zollverein customs union, the first such union between sovereign states. 1847 – The world's first "Mercy" Hospital is founded in Pittsburgh, United States, by a group of Sisters of Mercy from Ireland; the name will go on to grace over 30 major hospitals throughout the world. 1860 – The first Polish stamp is issued, replacing the Russian stamps previously in use. 1861 – Liberal forces supporting Benito Juárez enter Mexico City. 1863 – American Civil War: The Emancipation Proclamation takes effect in Confederate territory. 1877 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom is proclaimed Empress of India. 1885 – Twenty-five nations adopt Sandford Fleming's proposal for standard time (and also, time zones). 1890 – Eritrea is consolidated into a colony by the Italian government. 1892 – Ellis Island begins processing immigrants into the United States. 1898 – New York, New York annexes land from surrounding counties, creating the City of Greater New York. The four initial boroughs, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx, are joined on January 25 by Staten Island to create the modern city of five boroughs. 1899 – Spanish rule ends in Cuba. 1900 – Nigeria becomes British protectorate with Frederick Lugard as high commissioner. 1901–present 1901 – The Southern Nigeria Protectorate is established within the British Empire. 1901 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton is appointed the first Prime Minister. 1902 – The first American college football bowl game, the Rose Bowl between Michigan and Stanford, is held in Pasadena, California. 1910 – Captain David Beatty is promoted to Rear admiral, and becomes the youngest admiral in the Royal Navy (except for Royal family members) since Horatio Nelson. 1912 – The Republic of China is established. 1914 – The SPT Airboat Line becomes the world's first scheduled airline to use a winged aircraft. 1923 – Britain's Railways are grouped into the Big Four: LNER, GWR, SR, and LMS. 1927 – New Mexican oil legislation goes into effect, leading to the formal outbreak of the Cristero War. 1928 – Boris Bazhanov defects through Iran. He is the only assistant of Joseph Stalin's secretariat to have defected from the Eastern Bloc. 1929 – The former municipalities of Point Grey, British Columbia and South Vancouver, British Columbia are amalgamated into Vancouver. 1932 – The United States Post Office Department issues a set of 12 stamps commemorating the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. 1934 – Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay becomes a United States federal prison. 1934 – A "Law for the Prevention of Genetically Diseased Offspring" comes into effect in Nazi Germany. 1942 – The Declaration by United Nations is signed by twenty-six nations. 1945 – World War II: The German Luftwaffe launches Operation Bodenplatte, a massive, but failed, attempt to knock out Allied air power in northern Europe in a single blow. 1947 – Cold War: The American and British occupation zones in Allied-occupied Germany, after World War II, merge to form the Bizone, which later (with the French zone) became part of West Germany. 1947 – The Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect, converting British subjects into Canadian citizens. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King becomes the first Canadian citizen. 1948 – The British railway network is nationalized to form British Railways. 1949 – United Nations cease-fire takes effect in Kashmir from one minute before midnight. War between India and Pakistan stops accordingly. 1956 – Sudan achieves independence from Egypt and the United Kingdom. 1957 – George Town, Penang, is made a city by a royal charter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. 1957 – Lèse majesté in Thailand is strengthened to include "insult" and changed to a crime against national security, after the Thai criminal code of 1956 went into effect. 1958 – The European Economic Community is established. 1959 – Cuban Revolution: Fulgencio Batista, dictator of Cuba, is overthrown by Fidel Castro's forces. 1960 – Cameroon achieves independence from France and the United Kingdom. 1962 – Western Samoa achieves independence from New Zealand; its name is changed to the Independent State of Western Samoa. 1964 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is divided into the independent republics of Zambia and Malawi, and the British-controlled Rhodesia. 1965 – The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan is founded in Kabul, Afghanistan. 1970 – The defined beginning of Unix time, at 00:00:00. 1971 – Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television. 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom are admitted into the European Economic Community. 1976 – A bomb explodes on board Middle East Airlines Flight 438 over Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia, killing all 81 people on board. 1978 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Bombay, India, due to instrument failure, spatial disorientation, and pilot error, killing all 213 people on board. 1979 – Normal diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and the United States. 1981 – Greece is admitted into the European Community. 1982 – Peruvian Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes the first Latin American to hold the title of Secretary-General of the United Nations. 1983 – The ARPANET officially changes to using TCP/IP, the Internet Protocol, effectively creating the Internet. 1984 – The original American Telephone & Telegraph Company is divested of its 22 Bell System companies as a result of the settlement of the 1974 United States Department of Justice antitrust suit against AT&T. 1984 – Brunei becomes independent of the United Kingdom. 1985 – The first British mobile phone call is made by Michael Harrison to his father Sir Ernest Harrison, chairman of Vodafone. 1987 – The Isleta Pueblo tribe elect Verna Williamson to be their first female governor. 1988 – The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America comes into existence, creating the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. 1989 – The Montreal Protocol comes into force, stopping the use of chemicals contributing to ozone depletion. 1990 – David Dinkins is sworn in as New York City's first black mayor. 1993 – Dissolution of Czechoslovakia: Czechoslovakia is divided into the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. 1994 – The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas. 1994 – The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) comes into effect. 1995 – The World Trade Organization comes into being. 1995 – The Draupner wave in the North Sea in Norway is detected, confirming the existence of freak waves. 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. 1998 – Following a currency reform, Russia begins to circulate new rubles to stem inflation and promote confidence. 1999 – Euro currency is introduced in 11 member nations of the European Union (with the exception of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Greece and Sweden; Greece adopts the euro two years later). 2004 – In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007. 2007 – Bulgaria and Romania join the EU. 2007 – Adam Air Flight 574 breaks apart in mid-air and crashes near the Makassar Strait, Indonesia, killing all 102 people on board. 2009 – Sixty-six people die in a nightclub fire in Bangkok, Thailand. 2010 – A suicide car bomber detonates at a volleyball tournament in Lakki Marwat, Pakistan, killing 105 and injuring 100 more. 2011 – A bomb explodes as Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt, leave a new year service, killing 23 people. 2011 – Estonia officially adopts the Euro currency and becomes the 17th Eurozone country. 2013 – At least 60 people are killed and 200 injured in a stampede after celebrations at Félix Houphouët-Boigny Stadium in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 2015 – The Eurasian Economic Union comes into effect, creating a political and economic union between Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. 2017 – An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 60 others. Births Pre-1600 766 – Ali al-Ridha (d. 818) 8th Imam of Twelver Shia Islam 1431 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503) 1449 – Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian politician (d. 1492) 1467 – Sigismund I the Old, Polish king (d. 1548) 1484 – Huldrych Zwingli, Swiss pastor and theologian (d. 1531) 1511 – Henry, Duke of Cornwall, first-born child of Henry VIII of England (d. 1511) 1557 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1606) 1600 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1649) 1601–1900 1628 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer and theorist (d. 1692) 1655 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist and philosopher (d. 1728) 1684 – Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch scholar and author (d. 1748) 1704 – Soame Jenyns, English author, poet, and politician (d. 1787) 1711 – Baron Franz von der Trenck, Austrian soldier (d. 1749) 1714 – Giovanni Battista Mancini, Italian soprano and author (d. 1800) 1714 – Kristijonas Donelaitis, Lithuanian pastor and poet (d. 1780) 1735 – Paul Revere, American silversmith and engraver (d. 1818) 1745 – Anthony Wayne, American general and politician (d. 1796) 1752 – Betsy Ross, American seamstress, sewed flags for the Pennsylvania Navy during the Revolutionary War (d. 1836) 1768 – Maria Edgeworth, Anglo-Irish author (d. 1849) 1769 – Marie-Louise Lachapelle, French obstetrician (d. 1821) 1774 – André Marie Constant Duméril, French zoologist and academic (d. 1860) 1779 – William Clowes, English publisher (d. 1847) 1803 – Edward Dickinson, American politician and father of poet Emily Dickinson (d. 1874) 1806 – Lionel Kieseritzky, Estonian-French chess player (d. 1853) 1809 – Achille Guenée, French lawyer and entomologist (d. 1880) 1813 – George Bliss, American politician (d. 1868) 1814 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebellion leader and king (d. 1864) 1818 – William Gamble, Irish-born American general (d. 1866) 1819 – Arthur Hugh Clough, English-Italian poet and academic (d. 1861) 1819 – George Foster Shepley, American general (d. 1878) 1823 – Sándor Petőfi, Hungarian poet and activist (d. 1849) 1833 – Robert Lawson, Scottish-New Zealand architect, designed the Otago Boys' High School and Knox Church (d. 1902) 1834 – Ludovic Halévy, French author and playwright (d. 1908) 1839 – Ouida, English-Italian author and activist (d. 1908) 1848 – John W. Goff, Irish-American lawyer and politician (d. 1924) 1852 – Eugène-Anatole Demarçay, French chemist and academic (d. 1904) 1854 – James George Frazer, Scottish anthropologist and academic (d. 1941) 1854 – Thomas Waddell, Irish-Australian politician, 15th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1940) 1857 – Tim Keefe, American baseball player (d. 1933) 1858 – Heinrich Rauchinger, Kraków-born painter (d. 1942) 1859 – Michael Joseph Owens, American inventor (d. 1923) 1859 – Thibaw Min, Burmese king (d. 1916) 1860 – Michele Lega, Italian cardinal (d. 1935) 1863 – Pierre de Coubertin, French historian and educator, founded the International Olympic Committee (d. 1937) 1864 – Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer and curator (d. 1946) 1864 – Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957) 1867 – Mary Acworth Evershed, English astronomer and scholar (d. 1949) 1874 – Frank Knox, American publisher and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1944) 1874 – Gustave Whitehead, German-American pilot and engineer (d. 1927) 1877 – Alexander von Staël-Holstein, German sinologist and orientalist (d. 1937) 1878 – Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish mathematician, statistician, and engineer (d. 1929) 1879 – E. M. Forster, English author and playwright (d. 1970) 1879 – William Fox, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer, founded the Fox Film Corporation and Fox Theatres (d. 1952) 1883 – William J. Donovan, American general, lawyer, and politician (d. 1959) 1884 – Chikuhei Nakajima, Japanese lieutenant, engineer, and politician, founded Nakajima Aircraft Company (d. 1949) 1887 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (d. 1945) 1888 – Georgios Stanotas, Greek general (d. 1965) 1888 – John Garand, Canadian-American engineer, designed the M1 Garand rifle (d. 1974) 1889 – Charles Bickford, American actor (d. 1967) 1890 – Anton Melik, Slovenian geographer and academic (d. 1966) 1891 – Sampurnanand, Indian educator and politician, 3rd Governor of Rajasthan (d. 1969) 1892 – Mahadev Desai, Indian author and activist (d. 1942) 1892 – Artur Rodziński, Polish-American conductor (d. 1958) 1892 – Manuel Roxas, Filipino lawyer and politician, 5th President of the Philippines (d. 1948) 1893 – Mordechai Frizis, Greek colonel (d. 1940) 1894 – Satyendra Nath Bose, Indian physicist and mathematician (d. 1974) 1894 – Edward Joseph Hunkeler, American clergyman (d. 1970) 1895 – J. Edgar Hoover, American law enforcement official; 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (d. 1972) 1900 – Chiune Sugihara, Japanese soldier and diplomat (d. 1986) 1900 – Xavier Cugat, Spanish-American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1990) 1901–present 1902 – Buster Nupen, Norwegian-South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1977) 1902 – Hans von Dohnányi, German jurist and political dissident (d. 1945) 1904 – Fazal Ilahi Chaudhry, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th President of Pakistan (d. 1982) 1905 – Stanisław Mazur, Ukrainian-Polish mathematician and theorist (d. 1981) 1906 – Manuel Silos, Filipino filmmaker and actor (d. 1988) 1907 – Kinue Hitomi, Japanese sprinter and long jumper (d. 1931) 1909 – Dana Andrews, American actor (d. 1992) 1909 – Stepan Bandera, Ukrainian soldier and politician (d. 1959) 1911 – Audrey Wurdemann, American poet and author (d. 1960) 1911 – Basil Dearden, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1971) 1911 – Hank Greenberg, American baseball player (d. 1986) 1911 – Roman Totenberg, Polish-American violinist and educator (d. 2012) 1912 – Boris Vladimirovich Gnedenko, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1995) 1912 – Kim Philby, British spy (d. 1988) 1912 – Nikiforos Vrettakos, Greek poet and academic (d. 1991) 1914 – Noor Inayat Khan, British SOE agent (d. 1944) 1917 – Shannon Bolin, American actress and singer (d. 2016) 1918 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 2000) 1918 – Willy den Ouden, Dutch swimmer (d. 1997) 1919 – Rocky Graziano, American boxer and actor (d. 1990) 1919 – Carole Landis, American actress (d. 1948) 1919 – Sheila Mercier, British actress, Emmerdale Farm (d. 2019) 1919 – J. D. Salinger, American soldier and author (d. 2010) 1920 – Osvaldo Cavandoli, Italian cartoonist (d. 2007) 1921 – Ismail al-Faruqi, Palestinian-American philosopher and academic (d. 1986) 1921 – César Baldaccini, French sculptor and academic (d. 1998) 1921 – Regina Bianchi, Italian
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of Finland 1931 – Toshiki Kaifu, Japanese lawyer and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022) 1934 – John Hollowbread, English footballer, goalkeeper (d. 2007) 1936 – Roger Miller, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor (d. 1992) 1938 – David Bailey, English photographer and painter 1938 – Lynn Conway, American computer scientist and electrical engineer 1938 – Robert Smithson, American sculptor and photographer (d. 1973) 1940 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist 1940 – Saud bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabian economist and politician, Saudi Arabian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015) 1942 – Dennis Hastert, American educator and politician, 59th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives 1942 – Thomas Hammarberg, Swedish lawyer and diplomat 1943 – Janet Akyüz Mattei, Turkish-American astronomer (d. 2004) 1944 – Charlie Davis, Trinidadian cricketer 1944 – Norodom Ranariddh, Cambodian field marshal and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Cambodia (d. 2021) 1944 – Péter Eötvös, Hungarian composer and conductor 1947 – Calvin Hill, American football player 1947 – David Shapiro, American poet, historian, and critic 1947 – Jack Hanna, American zoologist and author 1949 – Christopher Durang, American playwright and screenwriter 1949 – Iris Marion Young, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006) 1952 – Indulis Emsis, Latvian biologist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Latvia 1954 – Henry Bonilla, American broadcaster and politician 1954 – Évelyne Trouillot, Haitian playwright and author 1961 – Craig James, American football player and sportscaster 1961 – Gabrielle Carteris, American actress 1961 – Paula Hamilton, English model 1961 – Robert Wexler, American lawyer and politician 1963 – David Cone, American baseball player and sportscaster 1963 – Edgar Martínez, American baseball player 1964 – Pernell Whitaker, American boxer (d. 2019) 1965 – Francois Pienaar, South African rugby player 1967 – Jón Gnarr, Icelandic actor and politician; 20th Mayor of Reykjavik City 1967 – Tia Carrere, American actress 1968 – Anky van Grunsven, Dutch dressage champion 1968 – Cuba Gooding, Jr., American actor and producer 1969 – Christy Turlington, American model 1969 – István Bagyula, Hungarian pole vaulter 1969 – William Fox-Pitt, English horse rider and journalist 1970 – Eric Whitacre, American composer and conductor 1971 – Renée Elise Goldsberry, American actress 1971 – Taye Diggs, American actor and singer 1972 – Mattias Norström, Swedish ice hockey player and manager 1972 – Rodney MacDonald, Canadian educator and politician, 26th Premier of Nova Scotia 1972 – Shiraz Minwalla, Indian theoretical physicist and string theorist 1974 – Ludmila Formanová, Czech runner 1974 – Tomáš Řepka, Czech footballer 1975 – Reuben Thorne, New Zealand rugby player 1975 – Dax Shepard, American actor 1977 – Brian Boucher, American ice hockey player and sportscaster 1977 – Stefan Koubek, Austrian tennis player 1979 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer 1981 – Maxi Rodríguez, Argentinian footballer 1983 – Kate Bosworth, American actress 1987 – Robert Milsom, English footballer 1988 – Damien Tussac, French-German rugby player 1992 – Paulo Gazzaniga, Argentinian footballer 1992 – Korbin Sims, Australian-Fijian rugby league player 1998 – Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Dutch footballer 1999 – Fernando Tatís Jr., American baseball player Deaths Pre-1600 951 – Liu Chengyou, Emperor Yin of the Later Han 951 – Su Fengji, Chinese official and chancellor 1096 – William de St-Calais, Bishop of Durham and chief counsellor of William II of England 1169 – Bertrand de Blanchefort, sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109) 1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos 1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom 1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order 1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460) 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460) 1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497) 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494) 1601–1900 1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539) 1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566) 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688) 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690) 1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789) 1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795) 1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801) 1901–present 1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821) 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855) 1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830) 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877) 1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862) 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834) 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864) 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898) 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870) 1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877) 1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870) 1951 – Edith New, English militant suffragette (b. 1877) 1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881) 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907) 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904) 1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910) 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905) 1975 – Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader (b. 1944) 1977 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (b. 1921) 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903) 1987 – Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1899) 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1954) 1990 – Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor (b. 1921) 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence (b. 1910) 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914) 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman (b. 1915) 1995 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921) 1995 – Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia (b. 1919) 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager (b. 1910) 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907) 2000 – Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral (b. 1920) 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator (b. 1914) 2001 – William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (b. 1913) 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician (b. 1911) 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1913) 2006 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (b. 1914) 2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic (b. 1951) 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author (b. 1941) 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911) 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author (b. 1925) 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American sailor, academic, and politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926) 2009 – Inger Christensen,
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sixth Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1109) 1184 – Theodora Komnene, Duchess of Austria, daughter of Andronikos Komnenos 1298 – Lodomer, Hungarian prelate, Archbishop of Esztergom 1470 – Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Grand Master of the Teutonic Order 1512 – Svante Nilsson, Sweden politician (b. 1460) 1514 – William Smyth, English bishop and academic (b. 1460) 1543 – Francesco Canova da Milano, Italian composer (b. 1497) 1557 – Pontormo, Italian painter and educator (b. 1494) 1601–1900 1613 – Salima Sultan Begum, Empress of the Mughal Empire (b. 1539) 1614 – Luisa Carvajal y Mendoza, Spanish mystical poet and Catholic martyr (b. 1566) 1726 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian organist and composer (b. 1688) 1763 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English statesman (b. 1690) 1850 – Manuel de la Peña y Peña, Mexican lawyer and 20th President (1847) (b. 1789) 1861 – Frederick William IV of Prussia (b. 1795) 1892 – George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1801) 1901–present 1904 – James Longstreet, American general and diplomat (b. 1821) 1913 – Léon Teisserenc de Bort, French meteorologist (b. 1855) 1915 – Karl Goldmark, Hungarian violinist and composer (b. 1830) 1917 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (b. 1877) 1920 – Paul Adam, French author (b. 1862) 1924 – Sabine Baring-Gould, English author and scholar (b. 1834) 1939 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1864) 1941 – Mischa Levitzki, Russian-American pianist and composer (b. 1898) 1946 – Joe Darling, Australian cricketer and politician (b. 1870) 1950 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1877) 1951 – William Campion, English colonel and politician, 21st Governor of Western Australia (b. 1870) 1951 – Edith New, English militant suffragette (b. 1877) 1953 – Guccio Gucci, Italian businessman and fashion designer, founder of Gucci (b. 1881) 1960 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (b. 1907) 1963 – Dick Powell, American actor, singer, and director (b. 1904) 1963 – Jack Carson, Canadian-American actor (b. 1910) 1974 – Tex Ritter, American actor (b. 1905) 1975 – Siraj Sikder, Bangladesh revolutionary leader (b. 1944) 1977 – Erroll Garner, American pianist and composer (b. 1921) 1986 – Una Merkel, American actress (b. 1903) 1987 – Harekrushna Mahatab, Indian journalist and politician, 1st Chief Minister of Odisha (b. 1899) 1989 – Safdar Hashmi, Indian actor, director, and playwright (b. 1954) 1990 – Alan Hale Jr., American film and television actor (b. 1921) 1990 – Evangelos Averoff, Greek historian and politician, Greek Minister for National Defence (b. 1910) 1994 – Dixy Lee Ray, American biologist and politician; 17th Governor of Washington (b. 1914) 1994 – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, French lawyer and businessman (b. 1915) 1995 – Nancy Kelly, American actress (b. 1921) 1995 – Siad Barre, Somalian general and politician; 3rd President of Somalia (b. 1919) 1999 – Rolf Liebermann, Swiss-French composer and manager (b. 1910) 1999 – Sebastian Haffner, German journalist and author (b. 1907) 2000 – Elmo Zumwalt, American admiral (b. 1920) 2000 – Patrick O'Brian, English author and translator (b. 1914) 2001 – William P. Rogers, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (b. 1913) 2005 – Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist and physician (b. 1911) 2006 – Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, Filipino lawyer and jurist (b. 1913) 2006 – Osa Massen, Danish-American actress (b. 1914) 2007 – A. Richard Newton, Australian-American engineer and academic (b. 1951) 2007 – Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, American historian and author (b. 1941) 2007 – Teddy Kollek, Hungarian-Israeli politician, Mayor of Jerusalem (b. 1911) 2008 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish journalist and author (b. 1925) 2008 – Lee S. Dreyfus, American sailor, academic, and politician, 40th Governor of Wisconsin (b. 1926) 2009 – Inger Christensen, Danish poet and author (b. 1935) 2009 – Dnyaneshwar Agashe, Indian businessman and cricketer (b. 1942) 2010 – David R. Ross, Scottish historian and author (b. 1958) 2011 – Anne Francis, American actress (b. 1930) 2011 – Bali Ram Bhagat, Indian politician; 16th Governor of Rajasthan (b. 1922) 2011 – Pete Postlethwaite, English actor (b. 1946) 2012 – Gordon Hirabayashi, American-Canadian sociologist and academic (b. 1918) 2012 – Silvana Gallardo, American actress and producer (b. 1953) 2012 – William P. Carey, American businessman and philanthropist, founded W. P. Carey (b. 1930) 2013 – Gerda Lerner, Austrian-American historian, author, and academic (b. 1920) 2013 – Teresa Torańska, Polish journalist and author (b. 1944) 2014 – Bernard Glasser, American director and producer (b. 1924) 2014 – Elizabeth Jane Howard, English author and screenwriter (b. 1923) 2015 – Tihomir Novakov, Serbian-American physicist and academic (b. 1929) 2016 – Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1924) 2016 – Frances Cress Welsing, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1935) 2016 – Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabian religious leader (b. 1959) 2016 – Gisela Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, Morelos, Mexico, assassinated (b. 1982) 2017 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (b. 1933) 2017 – John Berger, English art critic, novelist and painter (b. 1926) 2018 – Guida Maria, Portuguese actress (b. 1950) 2018 – Thomas S. Monson, American religious leader, 16th president
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formed. 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. 1961 – Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities. 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars. 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force. 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated. 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces. 1992 – CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people. 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths. 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA. 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons. 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history. 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto. 2015 – Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people. 2016 – In response to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. 2018 – For the first time in history all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm. 2019 – Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover. 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict. Births Pre-1600 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC) 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591) 1601–1900 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677) 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782) 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796) 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752) 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792) 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799) 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863) 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861) 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880) 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898) 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857) 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854) 1810 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897) 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891) 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900) 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897) 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867) 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889) 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935) 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921) 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914) 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899) 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904) 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939) 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936) 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946) 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957) 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950) 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960) 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957) 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960) 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967) 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963) 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948) 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912) 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950) 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967) 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914) 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973) 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963) 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961) 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990) 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985) 1901–present 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963) 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996) 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961) 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986) 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000) 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000) 1910 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992) 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936) 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002) 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005) 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010) 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994) 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004) 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002) 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004) 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963) 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977) 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005) 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994) 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005) 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013) 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997) 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005) 1924 – Enzo Cozzolini, Italian football player (d. 1962) 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009) 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016) 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015) 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989) 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015) 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author (d. 2020) 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008) 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014) 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006) 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013) 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008) 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007) 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006) 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002) 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor 1944 – Blanche d'Alpuget, Australian author 1944 – Doreen Massey, English geographer and political activist (d. 2016) 1945 – Stephen Stills, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1946 – John Paul Jones, English bass player, songwriter, and producer 1946 – Michalis Kritikopoulos, Greek footballer (d. 2002) 1947 – Fran Cotton, English rugby player 1947 – Zulema, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013) 1948 – Ian Nankervis, Australian footballer 1950 – Victoria Principal, American actress and businesswoman 1950 – Linda Steiner, American journalist and academic 1950 – Vesna Vulović, Serbian plane crash survivor and Guinness World Record holder (d. 2016) 1951 – Linda Dobbs, English lawyer and judge 1951 – Gary Nairn, Australian surveyor and politician, 14th Special Minister of State 1952 – Esperanza Aguirre, Spanish civil servant and politician, 3rd President of the Community of Madrid 1952 – Gianfranco Fini, Italian journalist and politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1952 – Jim Ross, American professional wrestling commentator 1953 – Justin Fleming, Australian playwright and author 1953 – Mohammed Waheed Hassan, Maldivian educator and politician, 5th President of the Maldives 1953 – Peter Taylor, English footballer and manager 1956 – Mel Gibson, American-Australian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1960 – Russell Spence, English racing driver 1962 – Darren Daulton, American baseball player (d. 2017) 1962 – Gavin Hastings, Scottish rugby player 1963 – Stewart Hosie, Scottish businessman and politician 1963 – Aamer Malik, Pakistani cricketer 1963 – Alex Wheatle, English author and playwright 1963 – New Jack, retired professional wrestler (d. 2021) 1964 – Bruce LaBruce, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1964 – Cheryl Miller, American basketball player and coach 1966 – Chetan Sharma, Indian cricketer 1969 – Jarmo Lehtinen, Finnish racing driver 1969 – Michael Schumacher, German racing driver 1969 – Gerda Weissensteiner, Italian luger and bobsledder 1971 – Cory Cross, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1971 – Lee Il-hwa, South Korean actress 1974 – Robert-Jan Derksen, Dutch golfer 1974 – Alessandro Petacchi, Italian cyclist 1975 – Jason Marsden, American actor 1975 – Thomas Bangalter, French DJ, musician, and producer 1976 – Angelos Basinas, Greek footballer 1976 – Nicholas Gonzalez, American actor and producer 1977 – Lee Bowyer, English footballer and coach 1977 – A. J. Burnett, American baseball player 1978 – Dimitra Kalentzou, Greek basketball player 1980 – Bryan Clay, American decathlete 1980 – Angela Ruggiero, American ice hockey player 1980 – David Tyree, American football player 1980 – Kurt Vile, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1980 – Mary Wineberg, American sprinter 1981 – Eli Manning, American football player 1982 – Peter Clarke, English footballer 1982 – Lasse Nilsson, Swedish footballer 1982 – Park Ji-yoon, South Korean singer
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of Satsuma and Chōshū seize power. 1870 – Construction work begins on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, United States. 1871 – In the Battle of Bapaume, an engagement in the Franco-Prussian War, General Louis Faidherbe's forces bring about a Prussian retreat. 1885 – Sino-French War: Beginning of the Battle of Núi Bop. 1901–present 1911 – A magnitude 7.7 earthquake destroys the city of Almaty in Russian Turkestan. 1911 – A gun battle in the East End of London leaves two dead. It sparked a political row over the involvement of then-Home Secretary Winston Churchill. 1913 – An Atlantic coast storm sets the lowest confirmed barometric pressure reading for a non-tropical system in the continental United States. 1920 – Over 640 are killed after a magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes the Mexican states Puebla and Veracruz. 1933 – Minnie D. Craig becomes the first woman elected as Speaker of the North Dakota House of Representatives, the first woman to hold a Speaker position anywhere in the United States. 1944 – World War II: US flying ace Major Greg "Pappy" Boyington is shot down in his Vought F4U Corsair by Captain Masajiro Kawato flying a Mitsubishi A6M Zero. 1946 – Popular Canadian American jockey George Woolf dies in a freak accident during a race; the annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award is created to honor him. 1947 – Proceedings of the U.S. Congress are televised for the first time. 1949 – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the central bank of the Philippines, is established. 1953 – Frances P. Bolton and her son, Oliver from Ohio, become the first mother and son to serve simultaneously in the U.S. Congress. 1956 – A fire damages the top part of the Eiffel Tower. 1957 – The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. 1958 – The West Indies Federation is formed. 1959 – Alaska is admitted as the 49th U.S. state. 1961 – Cold War: After a series of economic retaliations against one another, the United States severs diplomatic relations with Cuba. 1961 – The SL-1 nuclear reactor is destroyed by a steam explosion in the only reactor incident in the United States to cause immediate fatalities. 1961 – A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars. 1962 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro. 1976 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, comes into force. 1977 – Apple Computer is incorporated. 1990 – United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces. 1992 – CommutAir Flight 4821 crashes on approach to Adirondack Regional Airport, in Saranac Lake, New York, killing two people. 1993 – In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). 1994 – Baikal Airlines Flight 130 crashes near Mamoney, Irkutsk, Russia, resulting in 125 deaths. 1999 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA. 2002 – Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons. 2004 – Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea, resulting in 148 deaths, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Egyptian history. 2009 – The first block of the blockchain of the decentralized payment system Bitcoin, called the Genesis block, is established by the creator of the system, Satoshi Nakamoto. 2015 – Boko Haram militants destroy the entire town of Baga in north-east Nigeria, starting the Baga massacre and killing as many as 2,000 people. 2016 – In response to the execution of Nimr al-Nimr, Iran ends its diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. 2018 – For the first time in history all five major storm surge gates in the Netherlands are closed simultaneously in the wake of a storm. 2019 – Chang'e 4 makes the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon, deploying the Yutu-2 lunar rover. 2020 – Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict. Births Pre-1600 106 BC – Cicero, Roman philosopher, lawyer, and politician (d. 43 BC) 1509 – Gian Girolamo Albani, Italian cardinal (d. 1591) 1601–1900 1611 – James Harrington, English political theorist (d. 1677) 1698 – Pietro Metastasio, Italian poet and songwriter (d. 1782) 1710 – Richard Gridley, American soldier and engineer (d. 1796) 1722 – Fredrik Hasselqvist, Swedish biologist and explorer (d. 1752) 1731 – Angelo Emo, Venetian admiral and statesman (d. 1792) 1760 – Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Indian ruler (d. 1799) 1775 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont (d. 1863) 1778 – Antoni Melchior Fijałkowski, Polish archbishop (d. 1861) 1793 – Lucretia Mott, American activist (d. 1880) 1802 – Charles Pelham Villiers, English lawyer and politician (d. 1898) 1803 – Douglas William Jerrold, English journalist and playwright (d. 1857) 1806 – Henriette Sontag, German soprano and actress (d. 1854) 1810 – Antoine Thomson d'Abbadie, French geographer, ethnologist, linguist, and astronomer (d. 1897) 1816 – Samuel C. Pomeroy, American businessman and politician (d. 1891) 1819 – Charles Piazzi Smyth, Italian-Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 1900) 1831 – Savitribai Phule, Indian poet, educator, and activist (d. 1897) 1836 – Sakamoto Ryōma, Japanese samurai and rebel leader (d. 1867) 1840 – Father Damien, Flemish priest and missionary (d. 1889) 1847 – Ettore Marchiafava, Italian physician (d. 1935) 1853 – Sophie Elkan, Swedish writer (d. 1921) 1855 – Hubert Bland, English businessman (d. 1914) 1861 – Ernest Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1899) 1861 – William Renshaw, English tennis player (d. 1904) 1862 – Matthew Nathan, English soldier and politician, 13th Governor of Queensland (d. 1939) 1865 – Henry Lytton, English actor (d. 1936) 1870 – Henry Handel Richardson, Australian-English author (d. 1946) 1873 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman and art collector, founded the Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (d. 1957) 1875 – Alexandros Diomidis, Greek banker and politician, 145th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1950) 1876 – Wilhelm Pieck, German carpenter and politician, 1st President of the German Democratic Republic (d. 1960) 1877 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957) 1880 – Francis Browne, Irish Jesuit priest and photographer (d. 1960) 1883 – Clement Attlee, English soldier, lawyer, and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1967) 1883 – Duncan Gillis, Canadian discus thrower and hammer thrower (d. 1963) 1884 – Raoul Koczalski, Polish pianist and composer (d. 1948) 1885 – Harry Elkins Widener, American businessman (d. 1912) 1886 – John Gould Fletcher, American poet and author (d. 1950) 1886 – Arthur Mailey, Australian cricketer (d. 1967) 1887 – August Macke, German-French painter (d. 1914) 1892 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, and philologist (d. 1973) 1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963) 1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and comedian (d. 1961) 1898 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (d. 1990) 1900 – Donald J. Russell, American businessman (d. 1985) 1901–present 1901 – Ngô Đình Diệm, Vietnamese lawyer and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Vietnam (d. 1963) 1905 – Dante Giacosa, Italian engineer (d. 1996) 1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961) 1907 – Ray Milland, Welsh-American actor and director (d. 1986) 1909 – Victor Borge, Danish-American pianist and conductor (d. 2000) 1910 – Frenchy Bordagaray, American baseball player and manager (d. 2000) 1910 – John Sturges, American director and producer (d. 1992) 1912 – Federico Borrell García, Spanish soldier (d. 1936) 1912 – Renaude Lapointe, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2002) 1912 – Armand Lohikoski, American-Finnish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2005) 1915 – Jack Levine, American painter and soldier (d. 2010) 1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and television journalist (d. 1994) 1916 – Fred Haas, American golfer (d. 2004) 1917 – Albert Mol, Dutch author and actor (d. 2002) 1917 – Roger Williams Straus, Jr., American journalist and publisher, co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux (d. 2004) 1919 – Herbie Nichols, American pianist and composer (d. 1963) 1920 – Siegfried Buback, German lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Germany (d. 1977) 1921 – Isabella Bashmakova, Russian historian of mathematics (d. 2005) 1922 – Bill Travers, English actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1994) 1923 – Hank Stram, American football coach and sportscaster (d. 2005) 1924 – Otto Beisheim, German businessman and philanthropist, founded Metro AG (d. 2013) 1924 – André Franquin, Belgian author and illustrator (d. 1997) 1924 – Nell Rankin, American soprano and educator (d. 2005) 1924 – Enzo Cozzolini, Italian football player (d. 1962) 1925 – Jill Balcon, English actress (d. 2009) 1926 – W. Michael Blumenthal, American economist and politician, 64th United States Secretary of the Treasury 1926 – George Martin, English composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2016) 1928 – Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, Malaysian lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Sarawak (d. 2015) 1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989) 1929 – Ernst Mahle, German-Brazilian composer and conductor 1929 – Gordon Moore, American businessman, co-founder of Intel Corporation 1930 – Robert Loggia, American actor and director (d. 2015) 1932 – Eeles Landström, Finnish pole vaulter and politician 1933 – Geoffrey Bindman, English lawyer 1933 – Anne Stevenson, American-English poet and author (d. 2020) 1934 – Marpessa Dawn, American-French actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2008) 1934 – Carla Anderson Hills, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1935 – Raymond Garneau, Canadian businessman and politician 1937 – Glen A. Larson, American director, producer, and screenwriter, created Battlestar Galactica (d. 2014) 1938 – Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, English academic and politician 1938 – K. Ganeshalingam, Sri Lankan accountant and politician, Mayor of Colombo (d. 2006) 1939 – Arik Einstein, Israeli singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2013) 1939 – Bobby Hull, Canadian ice hockey player 1940 – Leo de Berardinis, Italian actor and director (d. 2008) 1940 – Bernard Blaut, Polish footballer and coach (d. 2007) 1941 – Malcolm Dick, New Zealand rugby player 1942 – John Marsden, Australian lawyer and activist (d. 2006) 1942 – John Thaw, English actor and producer, played Inspector Morse (d. 2002) 1943 – Van Dyke Parks, American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, author, and actor 1944 – Blanche d'Alpuget, Australian author 1944 – Doreen Massey, English geographer and political activist (d. 2016) 1945 – Stephen
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Nimmo, English author 1945 – Ko Chun-hsiung, Taiwanese actor, director, and politician (d. 2015) 1945 – Vince Foster, American lawyer and political figure (d. 1993) 1945 – William R. Higgins, American colonel (d. 1990) 1945 – Princess Michael of Kent 1945 – David Pleat, English footballer, manager, and sportscaster 1946 – Charles Brown, American actor (d. 2004) 1947 – Mary Hogg, English lawyer and judge 1947 – Andrea Martin, American-Canadian actress, singer, and screenwriter 1948 – Ronnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter (d. 1977) 1949 – Luis Alvarado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player (d. 2001) 1949 – Alasdair Liddell, English businessman (d. 2012) 1949 – Ian Stewart, Scottish runner 1949 – Howard Twitty, American golfer 1950 – Marius Trésor, French footballer and coach 1952 – Boris Blank, Swiss singer-songwriter 1952 – Andrzej Fischer, Polish footballer 1953 – Randy White, American football player 1954 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino poet, author, and screenwriter 1955 – Nigel Benson, English author and illustrator 1955 – Andreas Gursky, German photographer 1955 – Khalid Islambouli, Egyptian lieutenant (d. 1982) 1956 – Vitaly Kaloyev, Russian architect 1956 – Mayawati, Indian educator and politician, 23rd Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh 1956 – Marc Trestman, American football player and coach 1957 – David Ige, American politician 1957 – Marty Lyons, American football player and sportscaster 1957 – Andrew Tyrie, English journalist and politician 1957 – Mario Van Peebles, Mexican-American actor and director 1958 – Ken Judge, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2016) 1958 – Boris Tadić, Serbian psychologist and politician, 16th President of Serbia 1959 – Greg Dowling, Australian rugby league player 1959 – Pavle Kozjek, Slovenian mountaineer and photographer (d. 2008) 1961 – Serhiy N. Morozov, Ukrainian footballer and coach 1961 – Yves Pelletier, Canadian actor and director 1964 – Osmo Tapio Räihälä, Finnish composer 1965 – Maurizio Fondriest, Italian cyclist 1965 – Bernard Hopkins, American boxer and coach 1965 – James Nesbitt, Northern Irish actor 1967 – Ted Tryba, American golfer 1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor, director, and producer 1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player and manager 1970 – Shane McMahon, American wrestler and businessman 1971 – Regina King, American actress 1972 – Shelia Burrell, American heptathlete 1972 – Christos Kostis, Greek footballer 1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English journalist and critic 1973 – Essam El Hadary, Egyptian footballer 1974 – Séverine Deneulin, international development academic 1975 – Mary Pierce, Canadian-American tennis player and coach 1976 – Doug Gottlieb, American basketball player and sportscaster 1976 – Iryna Lishchynska, Ukrainian runner 1976 – Scott Murray, Scottish rugby player 1976 – Florentin Petre, Romanian footballer and manager 1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor 1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist 1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer 1979 – Drew Brees, American football player 1979 – Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer 1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer 1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player 1981 – Pitbull, American rapper and producer 1981 – Dylan Armstrong, Canadian shot putter and hammer thrower 1981 – Vanessa Henke, German tennis player 1982 – Francis Zé, Cameroonian footballer 1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer 1984 – Ben Shapiro, American author and commentator 1985 – René Adler, German footballer 1985 – Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player 1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer 1986 – Fred Davis, American football player 1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player 1987 – Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner 1987 – David Knight, English footballer 1987 – Kelleigh Ryan, Canadian fencer 1988 – Daniel Caligiuri, German footballer 1988 – Skrillex, American DJ and producer 1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2008) 1989 – Nicole Ross, American Olympic foil fencer 1990 – Robert Trznadel, Polish footballer 1991 – Marc Bartra, Spanish footballer 1991 – Nicolai Jørgensen, Danish footballer 1991 – Darya Klishina, Russian long jumper 1991 – James Mitchell, Australian basketball player 1992 – Joël Veltman, Dutch footballer 1996 – Dove Cameron, American actress and singer 1998 – Alexandra Eade, Australian artistic gymnast 2004 – Grace VanderWaal, American singer-songwriter Deaths Pre-1600 69 – Galba, Roman emperor (b. 3 BC) 378 – Chak Tok Ich'aak I, Mayan ruler 570 – Íte of Killeedy, Irish nun and saint (b. 475) 849 – Theophylact, Byzantine emperor (b. 793) 936 – Rudolph of France (b. 880) 950 – Wang Jingchong, Chinese general 1149 – Berengaria of Barcelona, queen consort of Castile (b. 1116) 1568 – Nicolaus Olahus, Romanian archbishop (b. 1493) 1569 – Catherine Carey, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (b. 1524) 1584 – Martha Leijonhufvud, Swedish noblewoman (b. 1520) 1601–1900 1623 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian lawyer, historian, and scholar (b. 1552) 1672 – John Cosin, English bishop and academic (b. 1594) 1683 – Philip Warwick, English politician (b. 1609) 1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1700) 1790 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1719) 1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (b. 1725) 1813 – Anton Bernolák, Slovak linguist and priest (b. 1762) 1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English-French mistress of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (b. 1761) 1855 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (b. 1780) 1864 – Isaac Nathan, English-Australian composer and journalist (b. 1792) 1866 – Massimo d'Azeglio, Piedmontese-Italian statesman, novelist and painter (b. 1798) 1876 – Eliza McCardle Johnson, American wife of Andrew Johnson, 18th First Lady of the United States (b. 1810) 1893 – Fanny Kemble, English actress (b. 1809) 1896 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (b. 1822) 1901–present 1905 – George Thorn, Australian politician, sixth Premier of Queensland (b. 1838) 1909 – Arnold Janssen, German priest and missionary (b. 1837) 1916 – Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian playwright and translator (b. 1850) 1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871) 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German economist, theorist, and philosopher (b. 1871) 1926 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1883) 1929 – George Cope, American painter (b. 1855) 1936 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, English cricketer and politician, seventh Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866) 1937 – Anton Holban, Romanian author, theoretician, and educator (b. 1902) 1939 – Kullervo Manner, Finnish Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister of the FSWR and the Supreme Commander of the Red Guards (b. 1880) 1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian-German mathematician and theorist (b. 1865) 1948 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and diplomat, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1862) 1950 – Henry H. Arnold, American general (b. 1886) 1951 – Ernest Swinton, British Army officer (b. 1868) 1951 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian captain and sailor (b. 1887) 1952 – Ned Hanlon, Australian sergeant and politician, 26th Premier of Queensland (b. 1887) 1955 – Yves Tanguy, French-American painter (b. 1900) 1959 – Regina Margareten, Hungarian businesswoman (b. 1863) 1964 – Jack Teagarden, American singer-songwriter and trombonist (b. 1905) 1967 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian author and illustrator (b. 1882) 1968 – Bill Masterton, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1938) 1970 – Frank Clement, English race car driver (b. 1886) 1970 – William T. Piper, American engineer and businessman, founded Piper Aircraft (b. 1881) 1972 – Daisy Ashford, English author (b. 1881) 1973 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1919) 1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1901) 1974 – Harold D. Cooley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1897) 1981 – Graham Whitehead, English race car driver (b. 1922) 1982 – Red Smith, American journalist (b. 1905) 1983 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (b. 1898) 1983 – Shepperd Strudwick, American actor (b. 1907) 1984 – Fazıl Küçük, Cypriot journalist and politician (b. 1906) 1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904) 1988 – Seán MacBride, Irish republican activist and politician, Minister for External Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904) 1990 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish-English actor (b. 1923) 1990 – Peggy van Praagh, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (b. 1910) 1993 – Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913) 1994 – Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist and composer (b. 1921) 1994 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941) 1994 – Harilal Upadhyay, Indian author, poet, and astrologist (b. 1916) 1996 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (b. 1922) 1996 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938) 1998 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian economist and politician, Prime Minister of India (b. 1898) 1998 – Junior Wells, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1934) 1999 – Betty Box, English film producer (b. 1915) 2000 – Georges-Henri Lévesque, Canadian-Dominican priest and sociologist (b. 1903) 2001 – Leo Marks, English cryptographer, playwright, and screenwriter (b. 1920) 2002 – Michael Anthony Bilandic, American politician, 49th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923) 2002 – Eugène Brands, Dutch painter (b. 1913) 2003 – Doris Fisher, American singer-songwriter (b. 1915) 2004 – Olivia Goldsmith, American author (b. 1949) 2005 – Victoria de los Ángeles, Spanish soprano and actress (b. 1923) 2005 – Walter Ernsting, German author (b. 1920) 2005 – Elizabeth Janeway, American author and critic (b. 1913) 2005 – Ruth Warrick, American actress (b. 1916) 2006 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1926) 2007 – Awad Hamed al-Bandar, Iraqi lawyer and judge (b. 1945) 2007 – Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Iraqi intelligence officer (b. 1951) 2007 – James Hillier, Canadian-American computer scientist and academic, co-invented the electron microscope (b. 1915) 2007 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino educator and diplomat (b. 1905) 2007 – Bo Yibo, Chinese commander and politician, Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1908) 2008 – Robert V. Bruce, American historian, author, and academic (b. 1923) 2008 – Brad Renfro, American actor (b. 1982) 2009 – Lincoln Verduga Loor, Ecuadorian journalist and politician (b. 1917) 2011 – Nat Lofthouse, English footballer and manager (b. 1925) 2011 – Pierre Louis-Dreyfus, French soldier, race car driver, and businessman (b. 1908) 2011 – Susannah York, English actress and activist (b. 1939) 2012 – Ed Derwinski, American soldier and politician, first United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (b. 1926) 2012 – Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Spanish lawyer and politician, third President of the Xunta of Galicia (b. 1922) 2012 – Carlo Fruttero, Italian journalist and author (b. 1926) 2012 – Samuel Jaskilka, American general (b. 1919) 2012 – Ib Spang Olsen, Danish author and illustrator (b. 1921) 2012 – Hulett C. Smith, American lieutenant and politician, 27th Governor
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American golfer 1968 – Chad Lowe, American actor, director, and producer 1969 – Delino DeShields, American baseball player and manager 1970 – Shane McMahon, American wrestler and businessman 1971 – Regina King, American actress 1972 – Shelia Burrell, American heptathlete 1972 – Christos Kostis, Greek footballer 1972 – Claudia Winkleman, English journalist and critic 1973 – Essam El Hadary, Egyptian footballer 1974 – Séverine Deneulin, international development academic 1975 – Mary Pierce, Canadian-American tennis player and coach 1976 – Doug Gottlieb, American basketball player and sportscaster 1976 – Iryna Lishchynska, Ukrainian runner 1976 – Scott Murray, Scottish rugby player 1976 – Florentin Petre, Romanian footballer and manager 1978 – Eddie Cahill, American actor 1978 – Franco Pellizotti, Italian cyclist 1978 – Ryan Sidebottom, English cricketer 1979 – Drew Brees, American football player 1979 – Michalis Morfis, Cypriot footballer 1979 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer 1980 – Matt Holliday, American baseball player 1981 – Pitbull, American rapper and producer 1981 – Dylan Armstrong, Canadian shot putter and hammer thrower 1981 – Vanessa Henke, German tennis player 1982 – Francis Zé, Cameroonian footballer 1983 – Hugo Viana, Portuguese footballer 1984 – Ben Shapiro, American author and commentator 1985 – René Adler, German footballer 1985 – Enrico Patrizio, Italian rugby player 1985 – Kenneth Emil Petersen, Danish footballer 1986 – Fred Davis, American football player 1987 – Greg Inglis, Australian rugby league player 1987 – Tsegaye Kebede, Ethiopian runner 1987 – David Knight, English footballer 1987 – Kelleigh Ryan, Canadian fencer 1988 – Daniel Caligiuri, German footballer 1988 – Skrillex, American DJ and producer 1989 – Alexei Cherepanov, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2008) 1989 – Nicole Ross, American Olympic foil fencer 1990 – Robert Trznadel, Polish footballer 1991 – Marc Bartra, Spanish footballer 1991 – Nicolai Jørgensen, Danish footballer 1991 – Darya Klishina, Russian long jumper 1991 – James Mitchell, Australian basketball player 1992 – Joël Veltman, Dutch footballer 1996 – Dove Cameron, American actress and singer 1998 – Alexandra Eade, Australian artistic gymnast 2004 – Grace VanderWaal, American singer-songwriter Deaths Pre-1600 69 – Galba, Roman emperor (b. 3 BC) 378 – Chak Tok Ich'aak I, Mayan ruler 570 – Íte of Killeedy, Irish nun and saint (b. 475) 849 – Theophylact, Byzantine emperor (b. 793) 936 – Rudolph of France (b. 880) 950 – Wang Jingchong, Chinese general 1149 – Berengaria of Barcelona, queen consort of Castile (b. 1116) 1568 – Nicolaus Olahus, Romanian archbishop (b. 1493) 1569 – Catherine Carey, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (b. 1524) 1584 – Martha Leijonhufvud, Swedish noblewoman (b. 1520) 1601–1900 1623 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian lawyer, historian, and scholar (b. 1552) 1672 – John Cosin, English bishop and academic (b. 1594) 1683 – Philip Warwick, English politician (b. 1609) 1775 – Giovanni Battista Sammartini, Italian organist and composer (b. 1700) 1790 – John Landen, English mathematician and theorist (b. 1719) 1804 – Dru Drury, English entomologist and author (b. 1725) 1813 – Anton Bernolák, Slovak linguist and priest (b. 1762) 1815 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, English-French mistress of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson (b. 1761) 1855 – Henri Braconnot, French chemist and pharmacist (b. 1780) 1864 – Isaac Nathan, English-Australian composer and journalist (b. 1792) 1866 – Massimo d'Azeglio, Piedmontese-Italian statesman, novelist and painter (b. 1798) 1876 – Eliza McCardle Johnson, American wife of Andrew Johnson, 18th First Lady of the United States (b. 1810) 1893 – Fanny Kemble, English actress (b. 1809) 1896 – Mathew Brady, American photographer and journalist (b. 1822) 1901–present 1905 – George Thorn, Australian politician, sixth Premier of Queensland (b. 1838) 1909 – Arnold Janssen, German priest and missionary (b. 1837) 1916 – Modest Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian playwright and translator (b. 1850) 1919 – Karl Liebknecht, German politician (b. 1871) 1919 – Rosa Luxemburg, German economist, theorist, and philosopher (b. 1871) 1926 – Enrico Toselli, Italian pianist and composer (b. 1883) 1929 – George Cope, American painter (b. 1855) 1936 – Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster, English cricketer and politician, seventh Governor-General of Australia (b. 1866) 1937 – Anton Holban, Romanian author, theoretician, and educator (b. 1902) 1939 – Kullervo Manner, Finnish Speaker of the Parliament, the Prime Minister of the FSWR and the Supreme Commander of the Red Guards (b. 1880) 1945 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian-German mathematician and theorist (b. 1865) 1948 – Josephus Daniels, American publisher and diplomat, 41st United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1862) 1950 – Henry H. Arnold, American general (b. 1886) 1951 – Ernest Swinton, British Army officer (b. 1868) 1951 – Nikolai Vekšin, Estonian-Russian captain and sailor (b. 1887) 1952 – Ned Hanlon, Australian sergeant and politician, 26th Premier of Queensland (b. 1887) 1955 – Yves Tanguy, French-American painter (b. 1900) 1959 – Regina Margareten, Hungarian businesswoman (b. 1863) 1964 – Jack Teagarden, American singer-songwriter and trombonist (b. 1905) 1967 – David Burliuk, Ukrainian author and illustrator (b. 1882) 1968 – Bill Masterton, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1938) 1970 – Frank Clement, English race car driver (b. 1886) 1970 – William T. Piper, American engineer and businessman, founded Piper Aircraft (b. 1881) 1972 – Daisy Ashford, English author (b. 1881) 1973 – Coleman Francis, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1919) 1973 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1901) 1974 – Harold D. Cooley, American lawyer and politician (b. 1897) 1981 – Graham Whitehead, English race car driver (b. 1922) 1982 – Red Smith, American journalist (b. 1905) 1983 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (b. 1898) 1983 – Shepperd Strudwick, American actor (b. 1907) 1984 – Fazıl Küçük, Cypriot journalist and politician (b. 1906) 1987 – Ray Bolger, American actor, singer, and dancer (b. 1904) 1988 – Seán MacBride, Irish republican activist and politician, Minister for External Affairs, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1904) 1990 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish-English actor (b. 1923) 1990 – Peggy van Praagh, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (b. 1910) 1993 – Sammy Cahn, American songwriter (b. 1913) 1994 – Georges Cziffra, Hungarian-French pianist and composer (b. 1921) 1994 – Harry Nilsson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1941) 1994 – Harilal Upadhyay, Indian author, poet, and astrologist (b. 1916) 1996 – Les Baxter, American pianist and composer (b. 1922) 1996 – Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho (b. 1938) 1998 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian economist and politician, Prime Minister of India (b. 1898) 1998 – Junior Wells, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (b. 1934) 1999 –
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Mourinho, Portuguese footballer and manager 1963 – Simon O'Donnell, Australian footballer, cricketer, and sportscaster 1963 – Tony Parks, English footballer and manager 1963 – Andrew Ridgeley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1964 – Adam Crozier, Scottish businessman 1965 – Thomas Östros, Swedish businessman and politician 1965 – Natalia Yurchenko, Russian gymnast and coach 1966 – Kazushige Nagashima, Japanese baseball player and sportscaster 1967 – Anatoly Komm, Russian chef and businessman 1967 – Col Needham, English businessman, co-founded Internet Movie Database 1968 – Jupiter Apple, Brazilian singer-songwriter, film director, and actor (d. 2015) 1969 – George Dikeoulakos, Greek-Romanian basketball player and coach 1970 – Kirk Franklin, American singer-songwriter and producer 1973 – Larissa Lowing, Canadian artistic gymnast 1973 – Melvil Poupaud, French actor, director, and screenwriter 1973 – Brendan Rodgers, Northern Irish footballer and manager 1973 – Mayu Shinjo, Japanese author and illustrator 1977 – Vince Carter, American basketball player 1977 – Justin Gimelstob, American tennis player and coach 1978 – Corina Morariu, American tennis player and sportscaster 1981 – José de Jesús Corona, Mexican footballer 1981 – Gustavo Dudamel, Venezuelan violinist, composer, and conductor 1981 – Juan José Haedo, Argentinian cyclist 1981 – Colin O'Donoghue, Irish actor 1982 – Reggie Hodges, American football player 1983 – Petri Oravainen, Finnish footballer 1983 – Eric Werner, American ice hockey player 1984 – Ryan Hoffman, Australian rugby league player 1984 – Iain Turner, Scottish footballer 1984 – Luo Xuejuan, Chinese swimmer 1985 – Heather Stanning, English rower 1986 – Gerald Green, American basketball player 1986 – Kim Jae-joong, South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, director and designer. 1986 – Mustapha Yatabaré, French-Malian footballer 1987 – Sebastian Giovinco, Italian footballer 1988 – Dimitrios Chondrokoukis, Greek high jumper 1989 – MarShon Brooks, American basketball player 1989 – Emily Hughes, American figure skater 1990 – Sergio Pérez, Mexican race car driver 1990 – Peter Sagan, Slovak professional cyclist 1990 – Nina Zander, German tennis player 1993 – Lana Clelland, Scottish footballer 1993 – Florian Thauvin, French footballer 1995 – Sione Katoa, New Zealand rugby league player 1997 – Gedion Zelalem, German-born American soccer player 2001 – Latalia Bevan, Welsh artistic gymnast 2009 – YaYa Gosselin, American actress 2009 – The Suleman octuplets Deaths Pre-1600 738 – John of Dailam, Syrian monk and saint (b. 660) 910 – Luo Yin, Chinese statesman and poet 946 – Eadgyth, Queen consort of Germany (b.c 910) 1186 – Ismat ad-Din Khatun, wife of Saladin 1390 – Adolph IX, Count of Holstein-Kiel (b.c 1327) 1567 – Nicholas Wotton, English courtier and diplomat (b. 1497) 1568 – Lady Catherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (b. 1540) 1601–1900 1620 – Amar Singh I, ruler of Mewar (b. 1559) 1630 – Henry Briggs, English mathematician and astronomer (b. 1556) 1636 – Jean Hotman, Marquis de Villers-St-Paul, French diplomat (b. 1552) 1641 – Lawrence Hyde, English lawyer (b. 1562) 1697 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and theorist (b. 1640) 1744 – Ludwig Andreas von Khevenhüller, Austrian field marshal (b. 1683) 1750 – Albert Schultens, Dutch philologist and academic (b. 1686) 1779 – Thomas Hudson, English painter (b. 1701) 1795 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German harpsichord player and composer (b. 1732) 1799 – Gabriel Christie, Scottish general (b. 1722) 1814 – Manuel do Cenáculo, Portuguese prelate and antiquarian (b. 1724) 1823 – Edward Jenner, English physician and immunologist (b. 1749) 1824 – Théodore Géricault, French painter and lithographer (b. 1791) 1830 – Filippo Castagna, Maltese politician (b. 1765) 1831 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian soldier (b. 1798) 1831 – Anton Delvig, Russian poet and journalist (b. 1798) 1849 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (b. 1803) 1855 – Gérard de Nerval, French poet and translator (b. 1808) 1860 – Wilhelmine Schröder-Devrient, opera singer (b. 1804) 1869 – Duncan Gordon Boyes, English soldier; Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1846) 1870 – Victor de Broglie, French politician, 9th Prime Minister of France (b. 1785) 1885 – Edward Davy, English-Australian physician and engineer (b. 1806) 1885 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (b. 1833) 1886 – David Rice Atchison, American general and politician (b. 1807) 1887 – Anandi Gopal Joshi, One of the first female Indian physicians (b. 1865) 1891 – Nicolaus Otto, German engineer, invented the Internal combustion engine (b. 1833) 1893 – Abner Doubleday, American general (b. 1819) 1895 – Arthur Cayley, English mathematician and academic (b. 1825) 1901–present 1904 – Whitaker Wright, English businessman (b. 1846) 1920 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (b. 1898) 1932 – William Wrigley, Jr., American businessman, founded the Wrigley Company (b. 1861) 1943 – Harry H. Laughlin, American sociologist and eugenicist (b. 1880) 1943 – Nikolai Vavilov, Russian botanist and geneticist (b. 1887) 1946 – Adriaan van Maanen, Dutch-American astronomer and academic (b. 1884) 1947 – Grace Moore, American soprano and actress (b. 1898) 1948 – Fred Conrad Koch, American biochemist and endocrinologist (born 1876) 1953 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1882) 1962 – Lucky Luciano, Italian-American mob boss (b. 1897) 1968 – Merrill C. Meigs, American publisher (b. 1883) 1973 – Edward G. Robinson, Romanian-American actor (b. 1893) 1976 – João Branco Núncio, Portuguese bullfighter (b. 1901) 1979 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (b. 1908) 1983 – Bear Bryant, American football player and coach (b. 1913) 1985 – Kenny Clarke, American jazz drummer and bandleader (b. 1914) 1986 – Ruben Nirvi, Finnish linguist and professor (b. 1905) 1990 – Lewis Mumford, American sociologist and historian (b. 1895) 1992 – José Ferrer, Puerto Rican-American actor (b. 1912) 1993 – Jan Gies, Dutch businessman and humanitarian (b. 1905) 1993 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and
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becoming the largest aperture optical telescope (until BTA-6 is built in 1976). 1950 – The Constitution of India comes into force, forming a republic. Rajendra Prasad is sworn in as the first President of India. Observed as Republic Day in India. 1952 – Black Saturday in Egypt: rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. 1956 – Soviet Union cedes Porkkala back to Finland. 1962 – Ranger 3 is launched to study the Moon. The space probe later misses the moon by 22,000 miles (35,400 km). 1966 – The three Beaumont children disappear from a beach in Glenelg, South Australia, resulting in one of the country's largest-ever police investigations. 1972 – JAT Flight 367 is destroyed by a terrorist bomb, killing 27 of the 28 people on board the DC-9. Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survives with critical injuries. 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 301 crashes during takeoff from Izmir Cumaovası Airport (now İzmir Adnan Menderes Airport), killing 66 of the 73 people on board the Fokker F28 Fellowship. 1986 – The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni. 1991 – Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi. 1998 – Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. 2001 – The 7.7 Gujarat earthquake shakes Western India, leaving 13,805–20,023 dead and about 166,800 injured. 2009 – Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina. 2009 – Nadya Suleman gives birth to the world's first surviving octuplets. 2015 – An aircraft crashes at Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete, Spain, killing 11 people and injuring 21 others. 2015 – Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptures the city of Kobanî from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), marking a turning point in the Siege of Kobanî. 2020 – A Sikorsky S-76B flying from John Wayne Airport to Camarillo Airport crashes in Calabasas, 30 miles west of Los Angeles, killing all nine people on board, including former five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant. 2021 – Protesters and farmers storm the Red Fort near Dehli, clashing with police. One protester is killed and more than 80 police officers are injured. Births Pre-1600 183 – Lady Zhen, wife of Cao Pi (d. 221) 1436 – Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Lancastrian military commander (d. 1464) 1467 – Guillaume Budé, French scholar (d. 1540) 1495 – Emperor Go-Nara of Japan (d. 1557) 1541 – Florent Chrestien, French poet and translator (d. 1596) 1549 – Jakob Ebert, German theologian (d. 1614) 1582 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (d. 1647) 1595 – Antonio Maria Abbatini, Italian composer (d. 1679) 1601–1900 1624 – George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1705) 1657 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737) 1708 – William Hayes, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1777) 1714 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor and educator (d. 1785) 1715 – Claude Adrien Helvétius, French philosopher (d. 1771) 1716 – George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville, English general and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1785) 1722 – Alexander Carlyle, Scottish minister and author (d. 1805) 1763 – Charles XIV John of Sweden (d. 1844) 1781 – Ludwig Achim von Arnim, German poet and author (d. 1831) 1813 – Juan Pablo Duarte, Dominican philosopher and poet (d. 1876) 1824 – Emil Czyrniański, Polish chemist (d. 1888) 1832 – George Shiras, Jr., American lawyer and jurist (d. 1924) 1842 – François Coppée, French poet and author (d. 1908) 1852 – Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (d. 1905) 1857 – 12th Dalai Lama (d. 1875) 1861 – Louis Anquetin, French painter (d. 1932) 1864 – József Pusztai, Slovene-Hungarian poet and journalist (d. 1934) 1866 – John Cady, American golfer (d. 1933) 1877 – Kees van Dongen, Dutch painter (d. 1968) 1878 – Dave Nourse, English-South African cricketer and coach (d. 1948) 1880 – Douglas MacArthur, American general, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1964) 1885 – Michael Considine, Irish-Australian politician (d. 1959) 1885 – Harry Ricardo, English engineer and academic (d. 1974) 1885 – Per Thorén, Swedish figure skater (d. 1962) 1887 – François Faber, French-Luxembourgian cyclist (d. 1915) 1887 – Marc Mitscher, American admiral and pilot (d. 1947) 1887 – Dimitris Pikionis, Greek architect and academic (d. 1968) 1891 – Frank Costello, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1973) 1891 – August Froehlich, German priest and martyr (d. 1942) 1891 – Wilder Penfield, American-Canadian neurosurgeon and academic (d. 1976) 1892 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (d. 1926) 1893 – Giuseppe Genco Russo, Italian mob boss (d. 1976) 1899 – Günther Reindorff, Russian-Estonian graphic designer and illustrator (d. 1974) 1900 – Karl Ristenpart, German conductor (d. 1967) 1901–present 1902 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (d. 1940) 1904 – Ancel Keys, American physiologist and nutritionist (d. 2004) 1904 – Seán MacBride, Irish lawyer and politician, Irish Minister for External Affairs Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988) 1905 – Charles Lane, American actor and singer (d. 2007) 1905 – Maria von Trapp, Austrian-American singer (d. 1987) 1907 – Dimitrios Holevas, Greek priest and philologist (d. 2001) 1908 – Jill Esmond, English actress (d. 1990) 1908 – Rupprecht Geiger, German painter and sculptor (d. 2009) 1908 – Stéphane Grappelli, French violinist (d. 1997) 1910 – Jean Image, Hungarian-French animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1989) 1911 – Polykarp Kusch, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993) 1911 – Norbert Schultze, German composer and conductor (d. 2002) 1913 – Jimmy Van Heusen, American pianist and composer (d. 1990) 1914 – Dürrüşehvar Sultan, Imperial Princess of the Ottoman Empire (d. 2006) 1915 – William Hopper, American actor (d. 1970) 1917 – Louis Zamperini, American runner and captain (d. 2014) 1918 – Philip José Farmer, American author (d. 2009) 1919 – Valentino Mazzola, Italian footballer (d. 1949) 1919 – Bill Nicholson, English footballer and manager (d. 2004) 1919 – Hyun Soong-jong, South Korean politician, 24th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2020) 1920 – Hans Holzer, Austrian-American paranormal researcher and author (d. 2009) 1921 – Eddie Barclay, French record producer, founded Barclay Records (d. 2005) 1921 – Akio Morita, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1999) 1922 – Michael Bentine, English actor and screenwriter (d. 1996) 1922 – Seán Flanagan, Irish footballer and politician, 7th Irish Minister for Health (d. 1993) 1922 – Gil Merrick, English footballer (d. 2010) 1923 – Patrick J. Hannifin, American admiral (d. 2014) 1923 – Anne Jeffreys, American actress and singer (d. 2017) 1924 – Alice Babs, Swedish singer and actress (d. 2014) 1924 – Annette Strauss, American philanthropist and politician, Mayor of Dallas (d. 1998) 1925 – David Jenkins, English bishop and theologian (d. 2016) 1925 – Joan Leslie, American actress (d. 2015) 1925 – Paul Newman, American actor, activist, director, race car driver, and businessman, co-founded Newman's Own (d. 2008) 1925 – Ben Pucci, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2013) 1925 – Claude Ryan, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2004) 1926 – Farman Fatehpuri, Pakistani linguist and scholar (d. 2013) 1926 – Joseph Bacon Fraser, Jr., American architect and businessman, co-founded the Sea Pines Company (d. 2014) 1927 – José Azcona del Hoyo, Honduran businessman and politician, President of Honduras (d. 2005) 1927 – Bob Nieman, American baseball player and scout (d. 1985) 1927 – Hubert Schieth, German footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1928 – Roger Vadim, French actor and director (d. 2000) 1929 – Jules Feiffer, American cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and educator 1934 – Roger Landry, Canadian businessman and publisher (d. 2020) 1934 – Charles Marowitz, American director, playwright, and critic (d. 2014) 1934 –
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1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965) 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer and conductor (d. 1940) 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (d. 1970) 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962) 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920) 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973) 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976) 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982) 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986) 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984) 1901–present 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978) 1903 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and 1st female FRS (d. 1971) 1906 – Pat O'Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991) 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992) 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998) 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931) 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973) 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (d. 2018) 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956) 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1989) 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004) 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002) 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014) 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014) 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993) 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976) 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004) 1926 – Jimmy Bryan, American race car driver (d. 1960) 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010) 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996) 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001) 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (d. 2015) 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014) 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012) 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator 1929 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat (d. 2021) 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990) 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer 1936 – Ismail Kadare, Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013) 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter and coach (d. 2016) 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish director and producer 1943 – Dick Taylor, English guitarist and songwriter 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013) 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013) 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand union leader and politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2020) 1949 – Jim Wong-Chu, Canadian poet (d.2017) 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress, singer and model 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2018) 1951 – Billy Bass Nelson, American R&B/funk bass player 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer and educator 1956 – Peter Schilling, German singer-songwriter 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean-South African golfer 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1964 – David Lawrence, English cricketer 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1968 – Rakim, American rapper 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician 1972 – Amy Coney Barrett, American jurist, academic, attorney, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1972 – Mark Regan, English rugby player 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer and manager 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist 1974 – Tony Delk, American basketball player and coach 1974 – Jermaine Dye, American baseball player 1974 – Ramsey Nasr, Dutch author and poet 1974 – Magglio Ordóñez, Venezuelan baseball player and politician 1975 – Pedro Pinto, Portuguese-American journalist 1975 – Junior Spivey, American baseball player and coach 1976 – Sireli Bobo, Fijian rugby player 1976 – Mark Madsen, American basketball player and coach 1976 – Rick Ross, American rapper and producer 1976 – Miltiadis Sapanis, Greek footballer 1977 – Sandis Buškevics, Latvian basketball player and coach 1977 – Daunte Culpepper, American football player 1977 – Joey Fatone, American singer, dancer, and television personality 1977 – Takuma Sato, Japanese race car driver 1978 – Gianluigi Buffon, Italian footballer 1978 – Jamie Carragher, English footballer and sportscaster 1978 – Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer (d. 2020) 1978 – Sheamus, Irish wrestler 1978 – Big Freedia, American musician 1980 – Nick Carter, American singer-songwriter and actor 1980 – Yasuhito Endō, Japanese footballer 1980 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (d. 2013) 1980 – Brian Fallon, American singer-songwriter 1981 – Elijah Wood, American actor and producer 1984 – Ben Clucas, English race car driver 1984 – Stephen Gostkowski, American football player 1984 – Andre Iguodala, American basketball player 1984 – Anne Panter, English field hockey player 1985 – J. Cole, American singer 1985 – Daniel Carcillo, Canadian ice hockey player 1985 – Lauris Dārziņš, Latvian ice hockey player 1985 – Arnold Mvuemba, French footballer 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler 1986 – Nathan Outteridge, Australian sailor 1986 – Asad Shafiq, Pakistani cricketer 1988 – Paul Henry, English footballer 1988 – Seiya Sanada, Japanese wrestler 1989 – Siem de Jong, Dutch footballer 1991 – Carl Klingberg, Swedish ice hockey player 1992 – Sergio Araujo, Argentinian footballer 1995 – Mimi-Isabella Cesar, British rhythmic gymnast Deaths Pre-1600 724 – Yazid II, Umayyad caliph (b. 687) 814 – Charlemagne, Holy Roman emperor (pleurisy; b. 742) 919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general 929 – Gao Jixing, founder of Chinese Jingnan (b. 858) 947 – Jing Yanguang, Chinese general (b. 892) 1061 – Spytihněv II, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1031) 1142 – Yue Fei, Chinese general (b. 1103) 1256 – William II, Count of Holland, King of Germany (b. 1227) 1271 – Isabella of Aragon, Queen of France (b. 1247) 1290 – Dervorguilla of Galloway, Scottish noble, mother of king John Balliol of Scotland (b. c. 1210) 1443 – Robert le Maçon, French diplomat (b. 1365) 1501 – John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham, English baron and Lord High Treasurer (b. 1433) 1547 – Henry VIII, king of England (b. 1491) 1601–1900 1613 – Thomas Bodley, English diplomat and scholar, founded the Bodleian Library (b. 1545) 1621 – Pope Paul V (b. 1550) 1666 – Tommaso Dingli, Maltese architect and sculptor (b. 1591) 1672 – Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (b. 1588) 1681 – Richard Allestree, English priest and academic (b. 1619) 1687 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (b. 1611) 1688 – Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary in China (b. 1623) 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645) 1754 – Ludvig Holberg, Norwegian-Danish historian and philosopher (b. 1684) 1782 – Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, French geographer and cartographer (b. 1697) 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769) 1859 – F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1782) 1864 – Émile Clapeyron, French physicist and engineer (b. 1799) 1873 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (b. 1809) 1901–present 1903 – Augusta Holmès, French pianist and composer (b. 1847) 1912 – Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist and theorist (b. 1819). 1912 – Eloy Alfaro, former president of Ecuador (b. 1906) 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872) 1921 – Mustafa Suphi, Turkish journalist and politician (b. 1883) 1930 – Emmy Destinn, Czech soprano and poet (b. 1878) 1935 – Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor (b. 1859) 1937 – Anastasios Metaxas, Greek architect and target shooter (b. 1862) 1938 – Bernd Rosemeyer, German race car driver (b. 1909) 1939 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865) 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881) 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1924) 1947 – Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan-French composer, conductor, and critic (b. 1875) 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906) 1949 – Jean-Pierre Wimille, French race car driver (b. 1908) 1950 – Nikolai Luzin, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1883) 1953 – James Scullin, Australian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1876) 1953 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher and poet (b. 1879) 1959 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (b. 1899) 1960 – Zora Neale Hurston, American novelist, short story writer, and folklorist (b. 1891) 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884) 1965 – Tich Freeman, English cricketer (b. 1888) 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867) 1971 – Donald Winnicott, English paediatrician and psychoanalyst (b. 1896) 1973 – John Banner, Austrian actor (b. 1910) 1976 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1924) 1978 – Ward Moore, American author (b. 1903) 1983 – Billy Fury. English pop star (b. 1940) 1983 – Frank Forde, Australian educator and politician, 15th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1890) 1986 – Space Shuttle Challenger crew Gregory Jarvis, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1944) Christa McAuliffe, American educator and astronaut
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– Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d'état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco. 1909 – United States troops leave Cuba, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, after being there since the Spanish–American War. 1915 – An act of the U.S. Congress creates the United States Coast Guard as a branch of the United States Armed Forces. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground. 1919 – The Order of the White Rose of Finland is established by Baron Gustaf Mannerheim, the regent of the Kingdom of Finland. 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion. 1922 – Knickerbocker Storm: Washington, D.C.'s biggest snowfall, causes a disaster when the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapses, killing over 100 people. 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai. 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence. 1935 – Iceland becomes the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion. 1938 – The World Land Speed Record on a public road is broken by Rudolf Caracciola in the Mercedes-Benz W125 Rekordwagen at a speed of . 1941 – Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day. 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road. 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first national television appearance. 1958 – The Lego company patents the design of its Lego bricks, still compatible with bricks produced today. 1960 – The National Football League announces expansion teams for Dallas to start in the 1960 NFL season and Minneapolis-St. Paul for the 1961 NFL season. 1964 – An unarmed United States Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19. 1965 – The current design of the Flag of Canada is chosen by an act of Parliament. 1977 – The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which dumps of snow in one day in Upstate New York. Buffalo, Syracuse, Watertown, and surrounding areas are most affected. 1980 – collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers. 1981 – Ronald Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls in the United States, helping to end the 1979 energy crisis and begin the 1980s oil glut. 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades. 1984 – Tropical Storm Domoina makes landfall in southern Mozambique, eventually causing 214 deaths and some of the most severe flooding so far recorded in the region. 1985 – Supergroup USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) records the hit single We Are the World, to help raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. 1986 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-L mission: Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board. 1988 – In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws. 2002 – TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-100, crashes in the Andes mountains in southern Colombia, killing 94. 2006 – The roof of one of the buildings at the Katowice International Fair in Poland collapses due to the weight of snow, killing 65 and injuring more than 170 others. 2021 – A nitrogen leak at a poultry food processing facility in Gainesville, Georgia kills six and injures at least ten. Births Pre-1600 598 – Tai Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 649) 1312 – Joan II, queen of Navarre (d. 1349) 1368 – Razadarit, king of Hanthawaddy (d. 1421) 1457 – Henry VII, king of England (d. 1509) 1533 – Paul Luther, German scientist (d. 1593) 1540 – Ludolph van Ceulen, German-Dutch mathematician and academic (d. 1610) 1582 – John Barclay, French-Scottish poet and author (d. 1621) 1600 – Clement IX, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1669) 1601–1900 1608 – Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Italian physiologist and physicist (d. 1679) 1611 – Johannes Hevelius, Polish astronomer and politician (d. 1687) 1622 – Adrien Auzout, French astronomer and instrument maker (d. 1691) 1693 – Gregor Werner, Austrian composer (d. 1766) 1701 – Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer (d. 1774) 1706 – John Baskerville, English printer and typographer (d. 1775) 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shōgun (d. 1761) 1717 – Mustafa III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1774) 1719 – Johann Elias Schlegel, German poet and critic (d. 1749) 1726 – Christian Felix Weiße, German poet and playwright (d. 1802) 1755 – Samuel Thomas von Sömmerring, Polish-German physician, anthropologist, and paleontologist (d. 1830) 1784 – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1860) 1797 – Charles Gray Round, English lawyer and politician (d. 1867) 1818 – George S. Boutwell, American lawyer and politician, 28th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1905) 1822 – Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish-Canadian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1892) 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885) 1853 – José Martí, Cuban journalist, poet, and theorist (d. 1895) 1853 – Vladimir Solovyov, Russian philosopher, poet, and critic (d. 1900) 1855 – William Seward Burroughs I, American businessman, founded the Burroughs Corporation (d. 1898) 1858 – Tannatt William Edgeworth David, Welsh-Australian geologist and explorer (d. 1934) 1861 – Julián Felipe, Filipino composer and educator (d. 1944) 1863 – Ernest William Christmas, Australian-American painter (d. 1918) 1864 – Charles W. Nash, American businessman, founded Nash Motors (d. 1948) 1865 – Lala Lajpat Rai, Indian author and politician (d. 1928) 1865 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, Finnish lawyer, judge, and politician, 1st President of Finland (d. 1952) 1873 – Colette, French novelist and journalist (d. 1954) 1873 – Monty Noble, Australian cricketer (d. 1940) 1874 – Alex Smith, Scottish golfer (d. 1930) 1875 – Julián Carrillo, Mexican violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1965) 1878 – Walter Kollo, German composer and conductor (d. 1940) 1880 – Herbert Strudwick, English cricketer and coach (d. 1970) 1884 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (d. 1962) 1885 – Vahan Terian, Armenian poet and activist (d. 1920) 1886 – Marthe Bibesco, Romanian-French author and poet (d. 1973) 1886 – Hidetsugu Yagi, Japanese engineer and academic (d. 1976) 1887 – Arthur Rubinstein, Polish-American pianist and educator (d. 1982) 1897 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (d. 1986) 1900 – Alice Neel, American painter (d. 1984) 1901–present 1903 – Aleksander Kamiński, Polish author and educator (d. 1978) 1903 – Kathleen Lonsdale, Irish crystallographer and 1st female FRS (d. 1971) 1906 – Pat O'Callaghan, Irish athlete (d. 1991) 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992) 1908 – Paul Misraki, Turkish-French composer and historian (d. 1998) 1909 – John Thomson, Scottish footballer (d. 1931) 1910 – John Banner, Austrian actor (d. 1973) 1911 – Johan van Hulst, Dutch politician, academic and author, Yad Vashem recipient (d. 2018) 1912 – Jackson Pollock, American painter (d. 1956) 1918 – Harry Corbett, English puppeteer, actor, and screenwriter (d. 1989) 1918 – Trevor Skeet, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician (d. 2004) 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002) 1921 – Vytautas Norkus, Lithuanian–American basketball player (d. 2014) 1922 – Anna Gordy Gaye, American songwriter and producer, co-founded Anna Records (d. 2014) 1922 – Robert W. Holley, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1993) 1924 – Marcel Broodthaers, Belgian painter and poet (d. 1976) 1925 – Raja Ramanna, Indian physicist and politician (d. 2004) 1926 – Jimmy Bryan, American race car driver (d. 1960) 1927 – Per Oscarsson, Swedish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010) 1927 – Ronnie Scott, English saxophonist (d. 1996) 1927 – Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2001) 1927 – Vera Williams, American author and illustrator (d. 2015) 1929 – Acker Bilk, English singer and clarinet player (d. 2014) 1929 – Nikolai Parshin, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2012) 1929 – Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-American sculptor and illustrator 1929 – Edith M. Flanigen, American chemist 1930 – Kurt Biedenkopf, German academic and politician, 54th President of the German Bundesrat (d. 2021) 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier 1933 – Jack Hill, American director and screenwriter 1934 – Juan Manuel Bordeu, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1990) 1935 – David Lodge, English author and critic 1936 – Alan Alda, American actor, director, and writer 1936 – Ismail Kadare, Albanian novelist, poet, essayist, and playwright 1937 – Karel Čáslavský, Czech historian and television host (d. 2013) 1938 – Tomas Lindahl, Swedish-English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1938 – Leonid Zhabotinsky, Ukrainian weightlifter and coach (d. 2016) 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut 1940 – Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman and philanthropist, founded Grupo Carso 1942 – Sjoukje Dijkstra, Dutch figure skater 1942 – Erkki Pohjanheimo, Finnish director and producer 1943 – Dick Taylor, English guitarist and songwriter 1944 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (d. 2013) 1944 – John Tavener, English composer (d. 2013) 1945 – Marthe Keller, Swiss actress and director 1947 – Jeanne Shaheen, American educator and politician, 78th Governor of New Hampshire 1948 – Bob Moses, American drummer 1948 – Charles Taylor, Liberian politician, 22nd President of Liberia 1949 – Mike Moore, New Zealand union leader and politician, 34th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 2020) 1949 – Jim Wong-Chu, Canadian poet (d.2017) 1949 – Gregg Popovich, American basketball player and coach 1950 – Barbi Benton, American actress, singer and model 1950 – Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahraini king 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut 1950 – Naila Kabeer, Bangladeshi-English economist and academic 1951 – Brian Bilbray, American politician 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2018) 1951 – Billy Bass Nelson, American R&B/funk bass player 1952 – Richard Glatzer, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1953 – Colin Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1954 – Peter Lampe, German theologian and historian 1954 – Bruno Metsu, French footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1954 – Rick Warren, American pastor and author 1955 – Vinod Khosla, Indian-American businessman, co-founded Sun Microsystems 1955 – Nicolas Sarkozy, French lawyer and politician, 23rd President of France 1956 – Richard Danielpour, American composer and educator 1956 – Peter Schilling, German singer-songwriter 1957 – Mark Napier, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1957 – Nick Price, Zimbabwean-South African golfer 1957 – Frank Skinner, English comedian, actor, and author 1959 – Frank Darabont, American director and producer 1960 – Loren Legarda, Filipino journalist and politician 1961 – Normand Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1962 – Sam Phillips, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1964 – David Lawrence, English cricketer 1966 – Seiji Mizushima, Japanese director and producer 1967 – Billy Brownless, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1968 – Sarah McLachlan, Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1968 – Rakim, American rapper 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer 1969 – Mo Rocca, American comedian and television journalist 1969 – Linda Sánchez, American lawyer and politician 1972 – Amy Coney Barrett, American jurist, academic, attorney, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1972 – Mark Regan, English rugby player 1972 – Nicky Southall, English footballer
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programmer, creator of the Python programming language 1956 – John Lydon, English singer-songwriter 1957 – Shirley Babashoff, American swimmer 1958 – Armin Reichel, German footballer and manager 1959 – Anthony LaPaglia, Australian actor and producer 1959 – Kelly Lynch, American model and actress 1960 – Akbar Ganji, Iranian journalist and author 1960 – Grant Morrison, Scottish author and screenwriter 1960 – Željko Šturanović, Montenegrin politician, 31st Prime Minister of Montenegro (d. 2014) 1961 – Elizabeth Barker, Baroness Barker, English politician 1961 – Fatou Bensouda, Gambian lawyer and judge 1961 – Lloyd Cole, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1963 – Craig Coleman, Australian rugby league player and coach 1963 – Gwen Graham, American lawyer and politician 1964 – Martha MacCallum, American journalist 1964 – Dawn Prince-Hughes, American scientist 1965 – Giorgos Gasparis, Greek basketball player and coach 1965 – Ofra Harnoy, Israeli-Canadian cellist 1965 – Peter Sagal, American author and radio host 1966 – Umar Alisha, Indian journalist and philanthropist 1966 – Thant Myint-U, Myanmar historian, diplomat, conservationist, and former presidential advisor. 1966 – Dexter Fletcher, English actor and director 1967 – Fat Mike, American singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer 1968 – John Collins, Scottish footballer and manager 1968 – Matt King, English actor, producer, and screenwriter 1968 – Ulrica Messing, Swedish politician, 2nd Swedish Minister for Infrastructure 1968 – Patrick Stevens, Belgian sprinter 1969 – Dov Charney, Canadian-American fashion designer and businessman, founded American Apparel 1969 – Daniel Moder, American cinematographer 1970 – Minnie Driver, English singer-songwriter and actress 1970 – Danny Michel, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer 1971 – Patricia Velásquez, Venezuelan model and actress 1973 – Portia de Rossi, Australian-American actress 1974 – Othella Harrington, American basketball player and coach 1974 – Ariel Pestano, Cuban baseball player 1975 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress, producer, and television host 1976 – Traianos Dellas, Greek footballer and manager 1976 – Buddy Rice, American race car driver 1977 – Kerry Washington, American actress 1978 – Fabián Caballero, Argentinian footballer and manager 1979 – Daniel Tammet, English author and educator 1980 – James Adomian, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter 1980 – Gary Doherty, Irish footballer 1980 – Shim Yi-young, South Korean actress 1981 – Julio Arca, Argentinian footballer 1981 – Mark Cameron, Australian cricketer 1981 – Gemma Collins, English media personality and businesswoman 1981 – Justin Timberlake, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actor 1982 – Maret Ani, Estonian tennis player 1982 – Allan McGregor, Scottish international footballer 1982 – Jānis Sprukts, Latvian ice hockey player 1983 – Fabio Quagliarella, Italian footballer 1984 – Vernon Davis, American football player 1984 – Josh Johnson, Canadian-American baseball player 1984 – Jeremy Wariner, American runner 1984 – Alessandro Zanni, Italian rugby player 1985 – Adam Federici, Australian footballer 1985 – Mario Williams, American football player 1986 – Walter Dix, American sprinter 1986 – Megan Ellison, American film producer, founded Annapurna Pictures 1986 – George Elokobi, Cameroonian footballer 1986 – Yves Ma-Kalambay, Belgian footballer 1986 – Pauline Parmentier, French tennis player 1987 – Marcus Mumford, American-English singer-songwriter 1988 – Brett Pitman, English footballer 1988 – Taijo Teniste, Estonian footballer 1990 – Jacopo Fortunato, Italian footballer 1990 – Jacob Markström, Swedish ice hockey player 1990 – Kota Yabu, Japanese idol, singer-songwriter, model, actor 1990 – Cro, German rapper 1994 – Kenneth Zohore, Danish footballer 1996 – Nikita Dragun, American Youtuber Deaths Pre-1600 632 – Máedóc of Ferns, Irish bishop and saint (b. 550) 876 – Hemma of Altdorf, Frankish queen 985 – Ryōgen, Japanese monk and abbot (b. 912) 1030 – William V, duke of Aquitaine (b. 969) 1216 – Theodore II, patriarch of Constantinople 1398 – Sukō, emperor of Japan (b. 1334) 1418 – Mircea I, prince of Wallachia (b. 1355) 1435 – Xuande, emperor of China (b. 1398) 1561 – Bairam Khan, Mughalan general (b. 1501) 1561 – Menno Simons, Dutch minister and theologian (b. 1496) 1580 – Henry, king of Portugal (b. 1512) 1601–1900 1606 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator, leader of the Gunpowder Plot (b. 1570) 1606 – Ambrose Rookwood, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1578) 1606 – Thomas Wintour, English Gunpowder Plot conspirator (b. 1571) 1615 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian priest, 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543) 1632 – Jost Bürgi, Swiss clockmaker and mathematician (b. 1552) 1665 – Johannes Clauberg, German philosopher and theologian (b. 1622) 1686 – Jean Mairet, French playwright (b. 1604) 1720 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Earl of Stamford, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (b. 1654) 1729 – Jacob Roggeveen, Dutch explorer (b. 1659) 1736 – Filippo Juvarra, Italian architect and set designer, designed the Basilica of Superga (b. 1678) 1790 – Thomas Lewis, Irish-born American lawyer and surveyor (b. 1718) 1794 – Mariot Arbuthnot, English admiral and politician, 12th Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia (b. 1711) 1811 – Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (b. 1763) 1815 – José Félix Ribas, Venezuelan soldier (b. 1775) 1828 – Alexander Ypsilantis, Greek general (b. 1792) 1836 – John Cheyne, English physician and author (b. 1777) 1844 – Henri Gatien Bertrand, French general (b. 1773) 1856 – 11th Dalai Lama (b. 1838) 1870 – Cilibi Moise, Moldavian-Romanian journalist and author (b. 1812) 1888 – John Bosco, Italian priest and educator, founded the Salesian Society (b. 1815) 1892 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (b. 1834) 1900 – John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish nobleman (b. 1844) 1901–present 1907 – Timothy Eaton, Canadian businessman, founded Eaton's (b. 1834) 1923 – Eligiusz Niewiadomski, Polish painter and critic (b. 1869) 1933 – John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1867) 1942 – Henry Larkin, American baseball player and manager (b. 1860) 1944 – Jean Giraudoux, French author and playwright (b. 1882) 1954 – Edwin Howard Armstrong, American engineer, invented FM radio (b. 1890) 1954 – Vivian Woodward, English captain and footballer (b. 1879) 1955 – John Mott, American activist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865) 1956 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright, created Winnie-the-Pooh (b. 1882) 1958 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1898) 1960 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (b. 1882) 1961 – Krishna Singh, Indian politician, 1st Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887) 1966 – Arthur Percival, English general (b. 1887) 1967 – Eddie Tolan, American sprinter and educator (b. 1908) 1969 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (b. 1894) 1971 – Viktor Zhirmunsky, Russian historian and linguist (b. 1891) 1973 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895) 1974 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-American film producer, co-founded Goldwyn Pictures (b. 1882) 1976 – Ernesto Miranda, American criminal (b. 1941) 1976 – Evert Taube, Swedish author and composer (b. 1890) 1985 – Reginald Baker, English-Australian film producer (b. 1896) 1985 – Tatsuzō Ishikawa, Japanese author (b. 1905) 1987 – Yves Allégret, French director and screenwriter (b. 1907) 1989 – William Stephenson, Canadian captain and spy (b. 1896) 1990 – Eveline Du Bois-Reymond Marcus, German zoologist and academic (b. 1901) 1990 – Rashad Khalifa, Egyptian-American biochemist and academic (b. 1935) 1995 – George Abbott, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1887) 1997 – John Joseph Scanlan, Irish-American bishop (b. 1930) 1999 – Giant Baba, Japanese wrestler and trainer, co-founded All Japan Pro Wrestling (b. 1938) 1999 – Norm Zauchin, American baseball player (b. 1929) 2000 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (b. 1926) 2001 – Gordon R. Dickson, Canadian-American author (b. 1923) 2002 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (b. 1919) 2004 – Eleanor Holm, American swimmer and actress (b. 1913) 2004 – Suraiya, Indian actress and playback singer (b. 1929) 2006 – Moira Shearer, Scottish actress and ballerina (b. 1926) 2007 – Molly Ivins, American journalist and author (b. 1944) 2007 – Adelaide Tambo, South African activist and politician (b. 1929) 2008 – František Čapek, Czechoslovakian canoeist (b. 1914) 2011 – Bartolomeu Anania, Romanian bishop and poet (b. 1921) 2011 – Mark Ryan, English guitarist and playwright (b. 1959) 2012 – Mani Ram Bagri, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1920) 2012 – Anthony Bevilacqua, American cardinal
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stabilizer problems, crashes in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Point Mugu, California, killing all 88 aboard. 2001 – In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988. 2001 – Two Japan Airlines planes nearly collide over Suruga Bay in Japan. 2009 – In Kenya, at least 113 people are killed and over 200 injured following an oil spillage ignition in Molo, days after a massive fire at a Nakumatt supermarket in Nairobi killed at least 25 people. 2018 – Both a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse occur. 2019 – Abdullah of Pahang is sworn in as the 16th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. 2020 – The United Kingdom's membership within the European Union ceases in accordance with Article 50, after 47 years of being a member state. 2022 – Sue Gray, a senior civil servant in the United Kingdom, publishes an initial version of her report on the Downing Street Partygate controversy. Births Pre-1600 1512 – Henry, King of Portugal (d. 1580) 1543 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1616) 1583 – Peter Bulkley, English and later American Puritan (d. 1659) 1597 – John Francis Regis, French priest and saint (d. 1640) 1601–1900 1607 – James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby (d. 1651) 1624 – Arnold Geulincx, Flemish philosopher and academic (d. 1669) 1673 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (d. 1716) 1686 – Hans Egede, Norwegian missionary and explorer (d. 1758) 1752 – Gouverneur Morris, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1816) 1759 – François Devienne, French flute player and composer (d. 1803) 1769 – André-Jacques Garnerin, French balloonist and the inventor of the frameless parachute (d. 1823) 1785 – Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, Czech cook book author (d. 1845) 1797 – Franz Schubert, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1828) 1799 – Rodolphe Töpffer, Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricaturist (d. 1846) 1820 – William B. Washburn, American politician, 28th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1887) 1835 – Lunalilo of Hawaii (d. 1874) 1854 – David Emmanuel, Romanian mathematician and academic (d. 1941) 1865 – Henri Desgrange, French cyclist and journalist (d. 1940) 1865 – Shastriji Maharaj, Indian spiritual leader, founded BAPS (d. 1951) 1868 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928) 1872 – Zane Grey, American author (d. 1939) 1881 – Irving Langmuir, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957) 1884 – Theodor Heuss, German journalist and politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Germany (d. 1963) 1884 – Mammad Amin Rasulzade, Azerbaijani scholar and politician, 1st President of The Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (d. 1955) 1889 – Frank Foster, English cricketer (d. 1958) 1892 – Eddie Cantor, American singer-songwriter, actor, and dancer (d. 1964) 1894 – Isham Jones, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1956) 1896 – Sofya Yanovskaya, Russian mathematician and historian (d. 1966) 1900 – Betty Parsons, American artist, art dealer and collector (d. 1982) 1901–present 1902 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded White Spot (d. 1978) 1902 – Tallulah Bankhead, American actress (d. 1968) 1902 – Alva Myrdal, Swedish sociologist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986) 1902 – Julian Steward, American anthropologist (d. 1972) 1905 – John O'Hara, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1970) 1909 – Miron Grindea, Romanian-English journalist (d. 1995) 1913 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (d. 1997) 1914 – Jersey Joe Walcott, American boxer and police officer (d. 1994) 1915 – Bobby Hackett, American trumpet player and cornet player (d. 1976) 1915 – Alan Lomax, American historian, author, and scholar (d. 2002) 1915 – Thomas Merton, American monk and author (d. 1968) 1915 – Garry Moore, American comedian and game show host (d. 1993) 1916 – Frank Parker, American tennis player (d. 1997) 1917 – Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (d. 2013) 1919 – Jackie Robinson, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1972) 1920 – Stewart Udall, American lawyer and politician, 37th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2010) 1920 – Bert Williams, English footballer (d. 2014) 1921 – John Agar, American actor (d. 2002) 1921 – Carol Channing, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2019) 1921 – E. Fay Jones, American architect, designed the Thorncrown Chapel (d. 2004) 1921 – Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor (d. 1959) 1922 – Joanne Dru, American actress (d. 1996) 1923 – Norman Mailer, American journalist and author (d. 2007) 1925 – Benjamin Hooks, American minister, lawyer, and activist (d. 2010) 1926 – Tom Alston, American baseball player (d. 1993) 1926 – Chuck Willis, American singer-songwriter (d. 1958) 1927 – Norm Prescott, American animator, producer, and composer, co-founded Filmation Studios (d. 2005) 1928 – Irma Wyman, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2015) 1929 – Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011) 1929 – Jean Simmons, English-American actress (d. 2010) 1930 – Joakim Bonnier, Swedish race car driver (d. 1972) 1930 – Al De Lory, American composer, conductor, and producer (d. 2012) 1931 – Ernie Banks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2015) 1931 – Christopher Chataway, English runner, journalist, and politician (d. 2014) 1932 – Miron Babiak, Polish sea captain (d. 2013) 1933 – Camille Henry, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1997) 1933 – Morton Mower, American cardiologist and inventor 1934 – Ernesto Brambilla, Italian motorcycle racer and race car driver (d. 2020) 1934 – Gene DeWeese, American author (d. 2012) 1934 – James Franciscus, American actor and producer (d. 1991) 1934 – Bob Turner, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005) 1935 – Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1936 – Can Bartu, Turkish former basketball and football player (d. 2019) 1937 – Regimantas Adomaitis, Lithuanian actor 1937 – Andrée Boucher, Canadian educator and politician, 39th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 2007) 1937 – Philip Glass, American composer 1937 – Suzanne Pleshette, American actress (d. 2008) 1938 – Beatrix of the Netherlands 1938 – Lynn Carlin, American actress 1938 – James G. Watt, American lawyer and politician, 43rd United States Secretary of the Interior 1940 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby player and coach (d. 1998) 1940 – Stuart Margolin, American actor and director 1941 – Dick Gephardt, American lawyer and politician 1941 – Gerald McDermott, American author and illustrator (d. 2012) 1941 – Jessica Walter, American actress (d. 2021) 1942 – Daniela Bianchi, Italian actress 1942 – Derek Jarman, English director, stage designer, and author (d. 1994) 1944 – John Inverarity, Australian cricketer and coach 1945 – Rynn Berry, American historian and author (d. 2014) 1945 – Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, English lawyer, judge, and academic 1945 – Joseph Kosuth, American sculptor and theorist 1946 – Terry Kath, American guitarist and singer-songwriter (d. 1978) 1946 – Medin Zhega, Albanian footballer and manager (d. 2012) 1947 – Nolan Ryan, American baseball player 1947 – Matt Minglewood, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1947 – Glynn Turman, American actor 1948 – Volkmar Groß, German footballer (d. 2014) 1948 – Muneo Suzuki, Japanese politician 1949 – Johan Derksen, Dutch footballer and journalist 1949 – Norris Church Mailer, American model and educator (d. 2010) 1949 – Ken Wilber, American sociologist, philosopher, and author 1950 – Denise Fleming, American author and illustrator 1950 – Alexander Korzhakov, Russian general and bodyguard 1950 – Janice Rebibo, American-Israeli author and poet (d. 2015) 1951 – Harry Wayne Casey, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1954 – Faoud Bacchus, Guyanese cricketer 1954 – Adrian Vandenberg, Dutch guitarist and songwriter 1955 – Virginia Ruzici, Romanian tennis player and manager 1956 – Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer, creator of the Python programming language 1956 – John Lydon,
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laureate (Physiology or Medicine) 1944 – Tommie Smith, American sprinter and football player; winner of 1968 Olympic 200m gold medal in a world record time 1946 – Tony Levin, American bass player and songwriter 1947 – David Blunkett, British Labour politician; Home Secretary 2001–2004 1947 – Robert Englund, American actor; best known for Nightmare on Elm Street 1947 – Ada Kok, Dutch butterfly stroke swimmer; winner of three Olympic medals including gold in 1968 1948 – Arlene Harris, American entrepreneur, inventor, investor and policy advocate 1949 – Holly Near, American folk singer and songwriter 1954 – Harvey Fierstein, American actor and playwright; twice a winner at the Tony Awards 1954 – Wladyslaw Zmuda, Polish footballer and manager; 91 caps for Poland and voted Best Young Player at the 1974 FIFA World Cup 1955 – Sam Simon, American director, producer and screenwriter; co-developer of The Simpsons (d. 2015) 1956 – Björn Borg, Swedish tennis player; winner of eleven Grand Slam singles titles including five consecutive Wimbledons 1966 – Sophie Jamal, Canadian endocrinologist involved in scientific misconduct 1967 – Paul Giamatti, American actor and producer 1972 – Natalie Morales, American television journalist and NBC News anchor 1974 – Sonya Walger, British-American actress 1985 – Becky Sauerbrunn, American footballer; twice a winner of the FIFA Women's World Cup, also an Olympic gold medallist 1992 – DeAndre Hopkins, American football player Deaths Pre-1600 184 – Qiao Xuan, Chinese official (b. c. 110) 863 – Abu Musa Utamish, vizier to the Abbasid Caliphate 913 – Alexander III, Byzantine emperor (b. 870) 1097 – Agnes of Aquitaine, Queen of Aragon and Navarre 1134 – Norbert of Xanten, German bishop and saint (b. 1060) 1217 – Henry I, King of Castile and Toledo (b. 1204) 1251 – William III of Dampierre, Count of Flanders 1252 – Robert Passelewe, Bishop of Chichester 1480 – Vecchietta, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (b. 1412) 1548 – João de Castro, Portuguese soldier and politician, Governor of Portuguese India (b. 1500) 1583 – Nakagawa Kiyohide, Japanese daimyo (b. 1556) 1601–1900 1661 – Martino Martini, Italian Jesuit missionary (b. 1614) 1799 – Patrick Henry, American lawyer and politician, 1st Governor of Virginia (b. 1736) 1813 – Antonio Cachia, Maltese architect, engineer and archaeologist (b. 1739) 1832 – Jeremy Bentham, English jurist and philosopher (b. 1748) 1861 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, Italian politician, 1st Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1810) 1865 – William Quantrill, leader of a Confederate guerrilla band in the American Civil War (b. 1837) 1878 – Robert Stirling, Scottish minister and engineer, invented the stirling engine (b. 1790) 1881 – Henri Vieuxtemps, Belgian violinist and composer (b. 1820) 1891 – John A. Macdonald, Scottish-Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1815) 1901–present 1916 – Yuan Shikai, Chinese general and politician, 2nd President of the Republic of China (b. 1859) 1922 – Lillian Russell, American actress and singer (b. 1860) 1935 – Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, English field marshal and politician, 12th Governor-General of Canada (b. 1862) 1941 – Louis Chevrolet, Swiss-American race car driver and businessman, founded Chevrolet and Frontenac Motor Corporation (b. 1878) 1946 – Gerhart Hauptmann, German novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1862) 1947 – James Agate, English author and critic (b. 1877) 1948 – Louis Lumière, French film director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1864) 1955 – Max Meldrum, Scottish-Australian painter and educator (b. 1875) 1961 – Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (b. 1875) 1962 – Yves Klein, French painter (b. 1928) 1962 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (b. 1934) 1963 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (b. 1912) 1968 – Robert F. Kennedy, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th United States Attorney General (b. 1925) 1976 – J. Paul Getty, American businessman, founded the Getty Oil Company (b. 1892) 1979 – Jack Haley, American actor (b. 1897) 1982 – Kenneth Rexroth, American poet and academic (b. 1905) 1983 – Hans Leip, German author, poet, and playwright who wrote the lyrics of Lili Marleen (b. 1893) 1991 – Stan Getz, American saxophonist and jazz innovator (b. 1927) 1994 – Barry Sullivan, American film actor (b. 1912) 1996 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist and immunologist; awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980 for his studies of histocompatibility (b. 1903) 2005 – Anne Bancroft, American film actress; winner of the 1963 Academy Award for Best Actress for The Miracle Worker (b. 1931) 2006 – Billy Preston, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actor (b. 1946) 2009 – Jean Dausset, French-Spanish immunologist and academic; awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his studies of the genetic basis of immunological reaction (b. 1916) 2012 – Vladimir Krutov, Russian ice hockey player; together with Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov, formed the famed KLM Line. (b. 1960) 2013 – Jerome Karle, American crystallographer and academic; awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research into
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River. 1889 – The Great Seattle Fire destroys all of downtown Seattle. 1892 – The Chicago "L" elevated rail system begins operation. 1894 – Governor Davis H. Waite orders the Colorado state militia to protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners' strike. 1901–present 1912 – The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins. It is the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. 1918 – Battle of Belleau Wood in World War I: the U.S. Marine Corps suffers its worst single day's casualties while attempting to recapture the wood at Château-Thierry (the losses are exceeded at the Battle of Tarawa in November 1943). 1925 – The original Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Chrysler from the remains of the Maxwell Motor Company. 1933 – The first drive-in theater opens in Camden, New Jersey. 1934 – New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 1942 – The United States Navy's victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway is a major turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II. All four Japanese fleet carriers taking part—, , and —are sunk, as is the heavy cruiser . The American carrier and the destroyer are also sunk. 1944 – Commencement of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Normandy, with the execution of Operation Neptune—commonly referred to as D-Day—the largest seaborne invasion in history. Nearly 160,000 Allied troops cross the English Channel with about 5,000 landing and assault craft, 289 escort vessels, and 277 minesweepers participating. By the end of the day, the Allies have landed on five invasion beaches and are pushing inland. 1971 – Soyuz 11 is launched. The mission ends in disaster when all three cosmonauts, Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev are suffocated by uncontrolled decompression of the capsule during re-entry on 29 June. 1975 – British referendum results in continued membership of the European Economic Community, with 67% of votes in favour. 1982 – The Lebanon War begins. Forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. 1985 – The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death"; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979. 1993 – Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat wins the first presidential election in Mongolia. 2002 – Eastern Mediterranean event. A near-Earth asteroid estimated at ten meters in diameter explodes over the Mediterranean Sea between Greece and Libya. The explosion is estimated to have a force of 26 kilotons, slightly more powerful than the Nagasaki atomic bomb. 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Battle of Raqqa begins with an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Births Pre-1600 1436 – Regiomontanus (Johannes Müller von Königsberg), German mathematician, astronomer, and bishop (d. 1476) 1519 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (d. 1603) 1599 – Diego Velázquez (date of baptism), Spanish painter and educator (d. 1660) 1601–1900 1606 – Pierre Corneille, French playwright and producer (d. 1684) 1622 – Claude-Jean Allouez, French-American missionary and explorer (d. 1689) 1714 – Joseph I of Portugal, King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death (d. 1777) 1755 – Nathan Hale, American soldier (d. 1776) 1756 – John Trumbull, American soldier and painter (d. 1843) 1799 – Alexander Pushkin, Russian author and poet (d. 1837) 1810 – Friedrich Wilhelm Schneidewin, German philologist and scholar (d. 1856) 1841 – Eliza Orzeszkowa, Polish author and publisher (d. 1910) 1850 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate in 1909 for physics (d. 1918) 1857 – Aleksandr Lyapunov, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1918) 1862 – Henry Newbolt, English historian, author, and poet (d. 1938) 1868 – Robert Falcon Scott, English sailor and explorer (d. 1912) 1872 – Alix of Hesse, German princess and Russian empress (d. 1918) 1875 – Thomas Mann, German author and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1955) 1890 – Ted Lewis, American singer, clarinet player, and bandleader (d. 1971) 1891 – Masti Venkatesha Iyengar, Indian author and academic (d. 1986) 1891 – Erich Marcks, German general in WWII who planned Operation Barbarossa (d. 1944) 1896 – Henry Allingham, English World War I soldier and supercentenarian (d. 2009) 1896 – Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and fascist politician who played a key role in developing Mussolini's air force (d. 1940) 1897 – Joel Rinne, Finnish actor (d. 1981) 1898 – Jacobus Johannes Fouché, South African politician, 2nd State President of South Africa (d. 1980) 1898 – Ninette de Valois, English ballerina, choreographer, and director (d. 2001) 1900 – Manfred Sakel, Ukrainian-American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1957) 1901–present 1901 – Jan Struther, English author, poet and hymnwriter who created the character Mrs Miniver (d. 1953) 1901 – Sukarno, Indonesian engineer and politician, 1st President of Indonesia (d. 1970) 1902 – Jimmie Lunceford, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1947) 1903 – Aram Khachaturian, Armenian composer and conductor (d. 1978) 1906 – Max August Zorn, German mathematician and
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Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922) 1861 – Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (d. 1942) 1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947) 1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952) 1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928) 1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960) 1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933) 1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963) 1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931) 1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948) 1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972) 1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958) 1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975) 1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938) 1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974) 1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990) 1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986) 1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958) 1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970) 1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973) 1901–present 1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971) 1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000) 1905 – James J. Braddock, American world heavyweight boxing champion (d. 1974) 1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963) 1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002) 1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974) 1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005) 1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994) 1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014) 1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989) 1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007) 1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990) 1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995) 1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986) 1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000) 1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995) 1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997) 1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000) 1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017) 1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2020) 1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014) 1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2020) 1931 – Virginia McKenna, English actress and author 1932 – Per Maurseth, Norwegian historian, academic, and politician (d. 2013) 1935 – Harry Crews, American novelist, playwright, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2012) 1936 – Bert Sugar, American author and boxing historian (d. 2012) 1938 – Ian St John, Scottish international footballer and manager (d. 2021) 1939 – Yuli Turovsky, Russian-Canadian cellist, conductor and educator (d. 2013) 1940 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer and actor 1940 – Ronald Pickup, English actor (d. 2021) 1944 – Clarence White, American guitarist and singer (d. 1973) 1945 – Wolfgang Schüssel, Austrian lawyer and politician, 26th Chancellor of Austria 1952 – Liam Neeson, Irish-American actor 1952 – Orhan Pamuk, Turkish-American novelist, screenwriter, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1954 – Louise Erdrich, American novelist and poet 1958 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor (d. 2016) 1959 – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States, 50th Governor of Indiana 1960 – Bill Prady, American screenwriter and producer 1965 – Damien Hirst, English painter and art collector 1970 – Cafu, Brazilian footballer 1974 – Bear Grylls, English adventurer, author, and television host 1978 – Bill Hader, Two-time Emmy winning American actor, comedian, and screenwriter 1981 – Anna Kournikova, Russian tennis player 1990 – Iggy Azalea, Australian rapper, singer, songwriter, and model 1991 – Fetty Wap, American rapper, singer, and songwriter 1993 – George Ezra, English singer-songwriter Deaths Pre-1600 555 – Vigilius, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 500) 862 – Al-Muntasir, Abbasid caliph (b. 837) 929 – Ælfthryth, Countess of Flanders (b. 877) 940 – Qian Hongzun, heir apparent of Wuyue (b. 925) 951 – Lu Wenji, Chinese chancellor (b. 876) 1329 – Robert the Bruce, Scottish king (b. 1274) 1337 – William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286) 1341 – An-Nasir Muhammad, Egyptian sultan (b. 1285) 1358 – Ashikaga Takauji, Japanese shōgun (b. 1305) 1394 – Anne of Bohemia, English queen (b. 1366) 1492 – Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 (b. 1427) 1594 – Rodrigo Lopez, physician of Queen Elizabeth (b. 1525) 1601–1900 1618 – Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1577) 1660 – George II Rákóczi, Prince of Transylvania (b. 1621) 1711 – Henry Dodwell, Irish scholar and theologian (b. 1641) 1740 – Alexander Spotswood, Moroccan-American colonial and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (b. 1676) 1779 – William Warburton, English bishop and critic (b. 1698) 1792 – Benjamin Tupper, American general and surveyor (b.
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campaign of vandalizing alcohol-serving establishments by destroying the inventory in a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas. 1901–present 1905 – Norway's parliament dissolves its union with Sweden. The vote was confirmed by a national plebiscite on August 13 of that year. 1906 – Cunard Line's is launched from the John Brown Shipyard, Glasgow (Clydebank), Scotland. 1917 – World War I: Battle of Messines: Allied soldiers detonate a series of mines underneath German trenches at Messines Ridge, killing 10,000 German troops. 1919 – Sette Giugno: Nationalist riots break out in Valletta, the capital of Malta. British soldiers fire into the crowd, killing four people. 1929 – The Lateran Treaty is ratified, bringing Vatican City into existence. 1938 – The Douglas DC-4E makes its first test flight. 1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Chinese Nationalist government creates the 1938 Yellow River flood to halt Japanese forces. Five hundred to nine hundred thousand civilians are killed. 1940 – King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian government leave Tromsø and go into exile in London. They return exactly five years later. 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Midway ends in American victory. 1942 – World War II: Aleutian Islands Campaign: Imperial Japanese soldiers begin occupying the American islands of Attu and Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. 1944 – World War II: The steamer Danae, carrying 350 Cretan Jews and 250 Cretan partisans, is sunk without survivors off the shore of Santorini. 1944 – World War II: Battle of Normandy: At Ardenne Abbey, members of the SS Division Hitlerjugend massacre 23 Canadian prisoners of war. 1945 – King Haakon VII of Norway returns from exactly five years in exile during World War II. 1946 – The United Kingdom's BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of World War II. 1948 – Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada take place. 1948 – Edvard Beneš resigns as President of Czechoslovakia rather than signing the Ninth-of-May Constitution, making his nation a Communist state. 1955 – Lux Radio Theatre signs off the air permanently. The show launched in New York in 1934, and featured radio adaptations of Broadway shows and popular films. 1962 – The Organisation Armée Secrète (OAS) sets fire to the University of Algiers library building, destroying about 500,000 books. 1965 – The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples. 1967 – Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem. 1971 – The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1971 – The Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service raids the home of Ken Ballew for illegal possession of hand grenades. 1975 – Sony launches Betamax, the first videocassette recorder format. 1977 – Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television. 1981 – The Israeli Air Force destroys Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactor during Operation Opera. 1982 – Priscilla Presley opens Graceland to the public; the bathroom where Elvis Presley died five years earlier is kept off-limits. 1989 – Surinam Airways Flight 764 crashes on approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname because of pilot error, killing 176 of 187 aboard. 1991 – Mount Pinatubo erupts, generating an ash column high. 2000 – The United Nations defines the Blue Line as the border between Israel and Lebanon. 2017 – A Myanmar Air Force Shaanxi Y-8 crashes into the Andaman Sea near Dawei, Myanmar, killing all 122 aboard. Births Pre-1600 1003 – Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia (d. 1048) 1402 – Ichijō Kaneyoshi, Japanese noble (d. 1481) 1422 – Federico da Montefeltro, Italian condottiero (d. 1482) 1502 – John III of Portugal (d. 1557) 1529 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and jurist (d. 1615) 1601–1900 1687 – Gaetano Berenstadt, Italian actor and singer (d. 1734) 1702 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1761) 1757 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (d. 1806) 1761 – John Rennie the Elder, Scottish engineer (d. 1821) 1770 – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1828) 1778 – Beau Brummell, English cricketer and fashion designer (d. 1840) 1811 – James Young Simpson, Scottish obstetrician (d. 1870) 1831 – Amelia Edwards, English journalist and author (d. 1892) 1837 – Alois Hitler, Austrian civil servant (d. 1903) 1840 – Carlota of Mexico (d. 1927) 1845 – Leopold Auer, Hungarian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1930) 1847 – George Washington Ball, American legislator from Iowa (d. 1915) 1848 – Paul Gauguin, French painter and sculptor (d. 1903) 1851 – Ture Malmgren, Swedish journalist and politician (d. 1922) 1861 – Robina Nicol, New Zealand photographer and suffragist (d. 1942) 1862 – Philipp Lenard, Slovak-German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947) 1863 – Bones Ely, American baseball player and manager (d. 1952) 1868 – Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Scottish painter and architect (d. 1928) 1877 – Roelof Klein, Dutch-American rower and engineer (d. 1960) 1879 – Knud Rasmussen, Danish anthropologist and explorer (d. 1933) 1879 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1963) 1884 – Ester Claesson, Swedish landscape architect (d. 1931) 1883 – Sylvanus Morley, American archaeologist and scholar (d. 1948) 1886 – Henri Coandă, Romanian engineer, designed the Coandă-1910 (d. 1972) 1888 – Clarence DeMar, American runner and educator (d. 1958) 1892 – Leo Reise, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1975) 1893 – Gillis Grafström, Swedish figure skater and architect (d. 1938) 1894 – Alexander P. de Seversky, Georgian-American pilot and engineer, co-designed the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (d. 1974) 1896 – Douglas Campbell, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1990) 1896 – Robert S. Mulliken, American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986) 1896 – Imre Nagy, Hungarian soldier and politician, 44th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1958) 1897 – George Szell, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1970) 1899 – Elizabeth Bowen, Anglo-Irish author and critic (d. 1973) 1901–present 1902 – Georges Van Parys, French composer (d. 1971) 1902 – Herman B Wells, American banker, author, and academic (d. 2000) 1905 – James J. Braddock, American world heavyweight boxing champion (d. 1974) 1906 – Glen Gray, American saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1963) 1907 – Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (d. 2002) 1909 – Virginia Apgar, American anesthesiologist and pediatrician, developed the Apgar test (d. 1974) 1909 – Peter W. Rodino, American captain, lawyer, and politician (d. 2005) 1909 – Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (d. 1994) 1910 – Arthur Gardner, American actor and producer (d. 2014) 1910 – Mike Sebastian, American football player and coach (d. 1989) 1910 – Bradford Washburn, American mountaineer, photographer, and cartographer (d. 2007) 1910 – Marion Post Wolcott, American photographer (d. 1990) 1911 – Brooks Stevens, American engineer and designer, designed the Wienermobile (d. 1995) 1912 – Jacques Hélian, French bandleader (d. 1986) 1917 – Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (d. 2000) 1917 – Dean Martin, American singer, actor, and producer (d. 1995) 1920 – Georges Marchais, French mechanic and politician (d. 1997) 1923 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (d. 2000) 1925 – Ernestina Herrera de Noble, Argentine publisher and executive (d. 2017) 1926 – Jean-Noël Tremblay, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2020) 1927 – Paul Salamunovich, American conductor and educator (d. 2014) 1928 – James Ivory, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1929 – John Turner, Canadian lawyer and
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rabbi, founded Reconstructionist Judaism (d. 1983) 1881 – Maggie Gripenberg, Finnish dancer and choreographer (d. 1976) 1888 – Bartolomeo Vanzetti, Italian-American anarchist and convicted criminal (d. 1927) 1889 – Hugo Wieslander, Swedish decathlete (d. 1976) 1894 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (d. 1952) 1895 – Nikolai Bulganin, Soviet politician (d. 1975) 1897 – Ram Prasad Bismil, Indian activist, founded the Hindustan Republican Association (d. 1927) 1897 – Reg Latta, Australian rugby league player (d. 1970) 1899 – Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972) 1901–present 1901 – Cap Fear, Canadian football player and rower (d. 1978) 1901 – Benny Wearing, Australian rugby league player (d. 1968) 1902 – Eric Fraser, British illustrator and graphic designer (d. 1983) 1903 – Ernie Nevers, American football player and coach (d. 1976) 1908 – Karl Hein, German hammer thrower (d. 1982) 1908 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (d. 1919) 1909 – Natascha Artin Brunswick, German-American mathematician and photographer (d. 2003) 1910 – Carmine Coppola, American flute player and composer (d. 1991) 1910 – Jacques Cousteau, French biologist, author, and inventor, co-developed the aqua-lung (d. 1997) 1912 – James Algar, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998) 1912 – William Baziotes, American painter and academic (d. 1963) 1912 – Mohammad Hassan Ganji, Iranian meteorologist and academic (d. 2012) 1913 – Vince Lombardi, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 1970) 1913 – Risë Stevens, American soprano and actress (d. 2013) 1914 – Jan Hendrik van den Berg, Dutch psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012) 1915 – Magda Gabor, Hungarian-American actress (d. 1997) 1915 – Nicholas Metropolis, American mathematician and physicist (d. 1999) 1918 – Ruth Aarons, American table tennis player and manager (d. 1980) 1919 – Suleiman Mousa, Jordanian historian and author (d. 2008) 1919 – Richard Todd, Irish-English actor (d. 2009) 1920 – Hazel Scott, Trinidadian-American singer, actress, and pianist (d. 1981) 1920 – Keith Seaman, Australian lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of South Australia (d. 2013) 1922 – Jean Sutherland Boggs, Peruvian-Canadian historian, academic, and civil servant (d. 2014) 1922 – Michael Cacoyannis, Greek Cypriot director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2011) 1925 – Johnny Esaw, Canadian sportscaster (d. 2013) 1925 – William Styron, American novelist and essayist (d. 2006) 1926 – Carlisle Floyd, American composer and educator (d. 2021) 1927 – Beryl Grey, English ballerina 1927 – John W. O'Malley, American Catholic historian, academic and Jesuit priest 1927 – Kit Pedler, English parapsychologist and author (d. 1981) 1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014) 1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001) 1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician 1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright 1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade 1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016) 1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012) 1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017) 1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish racing driver and sports presenter 1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland 1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012) 1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress 1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach 1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar 1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter 1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014) 1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer 1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner 1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician 1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician 1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer 1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower (d. 2021) 1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author 1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster 1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter 1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host 1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach 1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter 1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000) 1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver 1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002) 1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player 1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player 1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist 1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player 1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer 1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein 1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player 1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer 1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer 1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer 1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician 1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer 1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach 1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach 1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager 1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner 1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer 1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor 1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer 1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer 1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player 1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer 1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee 1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter 1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper 1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player 1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player 1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player 1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier 1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player 1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player 1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player 1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer 1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer 1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer 1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper 1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor 1987 – Marsel İlhan, Turkish tennis player 1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer 1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer 1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host 1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player 1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter 1991 – Daniel Howell, English YouTuber 1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player 1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress 1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer 1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor 1999 – Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer Deaths Pre-1600 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC) 573 – Emilian of Cogolla, Iberic saint (b. 472) 786 – Al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid, anti-Abbasid rebel leader 840 – Junna, emperor of Japan (b. 785) 884 – Shi Jingsi, general of the Tang Dynasty 888 – Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen (b. 830) 1183 – Henry the Young King of England (b. 1155) 1216 – Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174) 1248 – Adachi Kagemori, Japanese samurai 1253 – Amadeus IV, count of Savoy (b. 1197) 1298 – Yolanda of Poland (b. 1235) 1323 – Bérenger Fredoli, French lawyer and bishop (b. 1250) 1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire 1347 – Bartholomew of San Concordio, Italian Dominican canonist and man of letters (b. 1260) 1446 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (b. 1425) 1479 – John of Sahagun, hermit and saint (b. 1419) 1488 – James III of Scotland (b. 1451) 1557 – John III of Portugal (b. 1502) 1560 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1515) 1601–1900 1683 – Nikita Pustosvyat, a leader of the Russian Old Believers, beheaded (b. unknown) 1695 – André Félibien, French historian and author (b. 1619) 1712 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1654) 1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660) 1748 – Felice Torelli, Italian painter (b. 1667) 1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded the Whitbread Company (b. 1720) 1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786) 1852 – Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (b. 1799) 1859 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (b. 1773) 1879 – William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840) 1882 – Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (b. 1804) 1885 – Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (b. 1810) 1897 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (b. 1821) 1901–present 1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1837) 1903 – Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1876) 1903 – Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1864) 1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (b. 1815) 1913 – Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1856) 1914 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848) 1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (b. 1853) 1924 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (b. 1837) 1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861) 1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (b. 1896) 1936 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (b. 1906) 1937 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895) 1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850) 1955 – Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (b. 1905) 1962 – Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (b. 1900) 1963 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (b. 1897) 1965 – Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (b. 1908) 1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883) 1970 – Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (b. 1884) 1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883) 1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (b. 1898) 1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917) 1979 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (b. 1893) 1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907) 1983 – Ghanshyam Das
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parapsychologist and author (d. 1981) 1928 – Queen Fabiola of Belgium (d. 2014) 1929 – Ayhan Şahenk, Turkish businessman (d. 2001) 1930 – Charles Rangel, American soldier, lawyer, and politician 1932 – Athol Fugard, South African-American actor, director, and playwright 1932 – Tim Sainsbury, English businessman and politician, Minister of State for Trade 1933 – Gene Wilder, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2016) 1937 – Chad Everett, American actor and director (d. 2012) 1937 – Robin Warren, Australian pathologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1939 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer and journalist (d. 2017) 1939 – Jackie Stewart, Scottish racing driver and sports presenter 1942 – Parris Glendening, American politician, 59th Governor of Maryland 1943 – Henry Hill, American mobster (d. 2012) 1945 – Adrienne Barbeau, American actress 1948 – Dave Cash, American baseball player and coach 1948 – Lalu Prasad Yadav, Indian politician, 20th Chief Minister of Bihar 1949 – Frank Beard, American drummer and songwriter 1950 – Lynsey de Paul, English singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, cartoonist and actress (d. 2014) 1950 – Graham Russell, English-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1951 – Yasumasa Morimura, Japanese painter and photographer 1952 – Yekaterina Podkopayeva, Russian runner 1952 – Donnie Van Zant, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1953 – Steve Bassam, Baron Bassam of Brighton, English politician 1953 – José Bové, French farmer and politician 1954 – John Dyson, Australian cricketer 1954 – Johnny Neel, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1955 – Yuriy Sedykh, Ukrainian hammer thrower (d. 2021) 1955 – Duncan Steel, English-Australian astronomer and author 1956 – Joe Montana, American football player and sportscaster 1959 – Hugh Laurie, English actor and screenwriter 1960 – Mehmet Oz, American surgeon, author, and television host 1962 – Mano Menezes, Brazilian footballer and coach 1963 – Gioia Bruno, American singer-songwriter 1963 – Sandra Schmirler, Canadian curler and sportscaster (d. 2000) 1964 – Jean Alesi, French race car driver 1964 – Kim Gallagher, American runner (d. 2002) 1965 – Georgios Bartzokas, Greek former professional basketball player 1965 – Gavin Hill, New Zealand rugby player 1966 – Bruce Robison, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist 1967 – Graeme Bachop, New Zealand rugby player 1967 – João Garcia, Portuguese mountaineer 1968 – Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein 1968 – Manoa Thompson, Fijian rugby player 1969 – Peter Dinklage, American actor and producer 1969 – Olaf Kapagiannidis, German footballer 1971 – Vladimir Gaidamașciuc, Moldovan footballer 1971 – Liz Kendall, British politician 1971 – Mark Richardson, New Zealand cricketer 1972 – Stephen Kearney, New Zealand rugby league player and coach 1973 – José Manuel Abundis, Mexican footballer and coach 1974 – Fragiskos Alvertis, Greek basketball player, coach, and manager 1976 – Reiko Tosa, Japanese runner 1977 – Geoff Ogilvy, Australian golfer 1978 – Joshua Jackson, Canadian-American actor 1978 – Daryl Tuffey, New Zealand cricketer 1979 – Ali Boussaboun, Moroccan-Dutch footballer 1979 – Amy Duggan, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1980 – Yhency Brazoban, Dominican baseball player 1981 – Emiliano Moretti, Italian footballer 1981 – Kristo Tohver, Estonian footballer and referee 1982 – Vanessa Boslak, French pole vaulter 1982 – Jacques Freitag, South African high jumper 1982 – Joey Graham, American basketball player 1982 – Stephen Graham, American basketball player 1982 – Reni Maitua, Australian rugby league player 1982 – Eldar Rønning, Norwegian skier 1982 – Diana Taurasi, American basketball player 1983 – Chuck Hayes, American basketball player 1983 – José Reyes, Dominican baseball player 1984 – Andy Lee, Irish boxer 1984 – Vágner Love, Brazilian footballer 1985 – Tim Hoogland, German footballer 1986 – Sebastian Bayer, German long jumper 1986 – Shia LaBeouf, American actor 1987 – Marsel İlhan, Turkish tennis player 1987 – Didrik Solli-Tangen, Norwegian singer 1988 – Jesús Fernández Collado, Spanish footballer 1988 – Yui Aragaki, Japanese actress, voice actress, singer-songwriter, model, radio host 1989 – Maya Moore, American basketball player 1990 – Christophe Lemaitre, French sprinter 1991 – Daniel Howell, English YouTuber 1993 – Brittany Boyd, American basketball player 1994 – Ivana Baquero, Spanish actress 1996 – Ayaka Sasaki, Japanese singer 1998 – Charlie Tahan, American actor 1999 – Eartha Cumings, Scottish footballer Deaths Pre-1600 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC) 573 – Emilian of Cogolla, Iberic saint (b. 472) 786 – Al-Husayn ibn Ali al-Abid, anti-Abbasid rebel leader 840 – Junna, emperor of Japan (b. 785) 884 – Shi Jingsi, general of the Tang Dynasty 888 – Rimbert, archbishop of Bremen (b. 830) 1183 – Henry the Young King of England (b. 1155) 1216 – Henry of Flanders, emperor of the Latin Empire (b. c. 1174) 1248 – Adachi Kagemori, Japanese samurai 1253 – Amadeus IV, count of Savoy (b. 1197) 1298 – Yolanda of Poland (b. 1235) 1323 – Bérenger Fredoli, French lawyer and bishop (b. 1250) 1345 – Alexios Apokaukos, chief minister of the Byzantine Empire 1347 – Bartholomew of San Concordio, Italian Dominican canonist and man of letters (b. 1260) 1446 – Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Warwick (b. 1425) 1479 – John of Sahagun, hermit and saint (b. 1419) 1488 – James III of Scotland (b. 1451) 1557 – John III of Portugal (b. 1502) 1560 – Mary of Guise, queen of James V of Scotland (b. 1515) 1601–1900 1683 – Nikita Pustosvyat, a leader of the Russian Old Believers, beheaded (b. unknown) 1695 – André Félibien, French historian and author (b. 1619) 1712 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme (b. 1654) 1727 – George I of Great Britain (b. 1660) 1748 – Felice Torelli, Italian painter (b. 1667) 1796 – Samuel Whitbread, English brewer and politician, founded the Whitbread Company (b. 1720) 1847 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician (b. 1786) 1852 – Karl Bryullov, Russian painter (b. 1799) 1859 – Klemens von Metternich, German-Austrian politician, 1st State Chancellor of the Austrian Empire (b. 1773) 1879 – William, Prince of Orange (b. 1840) 1882 – Louis Désiré Maigret, French bishop (b. 1804) 1885 – Matías Ramos Mejía, Argentinian colonel (b. 1810) 1897 – Henry Ayers, English-Australian politician, 8th Premier of South Australia (b. 1821) 1901–present 1903 – Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1837) 1903 – Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1876) 1903 – Draga Mašin, Serbian wife of Alexander I of Serbia (b. 1864) 1911 – James Curtis Hepburn, American physician and missionary (b. 1815) 1913 – Mahmud Shevket Pasha, Ottoman general and politician, 279th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1856) 1914 – Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (b. 1848) 1920 – William F. Halsey, Sr., American captain (b. 1853) 1924 – Théodore Dubois, French organist, composer, and educator (b. 1837) 1927 – William Attewell, English cricketer (b. 1861) 1934 – Lev Vygotsky, Belarusian-Russian psychologist and theorist (b. 1896) 1936 – Robert E. Howard, American author and poet (b. 1906) 1937 – R. J. Mitchell, English engineer, designed the Supermarine Spitfire (b. 1895) 1941 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, founded the Boy Scouts of America (b. 1850) 1955 – Pierre Levegh, French race car driver (b. 1905) 1962 – Chhabi Biswas, Indian actor and director (b. 1900) 1963 – Thích Quảng Đức, Vietnamese monk and martyr (b. 1897) 1965 – Paul B. Coremans, Belgian chemist and academic (b. 1908) 1965 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (b. 1883) 1970 – Frank Laubach, American missionary and mystic (b. 1884) 1974 – Eurico Gaspar Dutra, Brazilian general and politician, 16th President of Brazil (b. 1883) 1974 – Julius Evola, Italian philosopher and author (b. 1898) 1976 – Jim Konstanty, American baseball player (b. 1917) 1979 – Alice Dalgliesh, Trinidadian-American author and publisher (b. 1893) 1979 – John Wayne, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1907) 1983 – Ghanshyam Das Birla, Indian businessman and politician (b. 1894) 1984 – Enrico Berlinguer, Italian politician (b. 1922) 1986 – Chesley Bonestell, American painter and illustrator (b. 1888) 1991 – Cromwell Everson, South African composer (b. 1925) 1993 – Ray Sharkey, American actor (b. 1952) 1994 – A. Thurairajah, Sri Lankan engineer and academic (b. 1934) 1995 – Rodel Naval, Filipino singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1953) 1996 – George Hees, Canadian politician (b. 1910) 1996 – Brigitte Helm, German-Swiss actress (b. 1908) 1998 – Catherine Cookson, English author (b. 1906) 1999 – DeForest Kelley, American actor and screenwriter (b. 1920) 2001 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968) 2001 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1923) 2003 – David Brinkley, American journalist and author (b. 1920) 2004 – Egon von Fürstenberg, Swiss fashion designer (b. 1946) 2005 – Vasco Gonçalves, Portuguese general and politician, 103rd Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1922) 2005 – Anne-Marie Alonzo, Canadian playwright, poet, novelist, critic and publisher (b. 1951) 2006 – Neroli Fairhall, New Zealand archer (b. 1944) 2006 – Bruce Shand, English soldier (b. 1917) 2007 – Imre Friedmann, American biologist and academic (b. 1921) 2007 – Mala Powers, American actress (b. 1931) 2008 – Ove Andersson, Swedish race car driver (b. 1938) 2008 – Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1922) 2011 – Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Israeli physicist and engineer (b. 1947) 2011 – Seth Putnam, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1968) 2012 – Ann Rutherford, Canadian-American actress (b. 1917) 2012 – Teófilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer and engineer (b. 1952) 2013 – Miller Barber, American golfer (b. 1931) 2013 – Carl W. Bauer, American lawyer and politician (b. 1933) 2013 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1926) 2013 – James Grimsley, Jr., American general (b. 1921) 2013 – Rory Morrison, English journalist (b. 1964) 2013 – Kristiāns Pelšs, Latvian ice hockey player (b. 1992) 2013 – Vidya Charan Shukla, Indian politician, Indian Minister of External Affairs (b. 1929) 2014 – Ruby Dee, American actress (b. 1922) 2014 – Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Spanish conductor and composer (b. 1933) 2014 – Susan B. Horwitz, American computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1955) 2014 – Mipham Chokyi Lodro, Tibetan lama and educator (b. 1952) 2014 – Benjamin Mophatlane, South African businessman (b. 1973) 2014 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (b. 1947) 2015 – Jim Ed Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1934) 2015 – Ornette Coleman, American saxophonist, violinist, trumpet player, and composer (b. 1930) 2015 – Ian McKechnie, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1941) 2015 – Ron Moody, English actor and singer (b. 1924) 2015 – Dusty Rhodes, American wrestler (b. 1945) 2016 – Rudi Altig, German track and road racing cyclist (b. 1937) 2020 – Stella Pevsner, children's author (b. 1921) Holidays and observances American Evacuation Day (Libya) Brazilian Navy commemorative day (Brazil) Christian feast day:
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Boateng, English lawyer and politician, British High Commissioner to South Africa 1951 – Danny Edwards, American golfer 1952 – Pat Summitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016) 1954 – Will Patton, American actor 1955 – Paul O'Grady, English television host, producer, and drag performer 1955 – Kirron Kher, Indian theatre, film & television actress, TV talk show host, politician and Member of Parliament 1959 – Marcus Miller, American bass player, composer, and producer 1960 – Tonie Campbell, American hurdler 1961 – Boy George, English singer-songwriter and producer 1961 – Dušan Kojić, Serbian singer-songwriter and bass player 1961 – Sam Perkins, American basketball player 1967 – Dedrick Dodge, American football player and coach 1968 – Faizon Love, Cuban-American actor and screenwriter 1969 – Éric Desjardins, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1969 – Steffi Graf, German tennis player 1970 – Heather McDonald, American comedian, actress, and author 1971 – Bruce Bowen, American basketball player and sportscaster 1971 – Ramon Vega, Swiss footballer 1972 – Rick Brunson, American basketball player and coach 1972 – Matthias Ettrich, German computer scientist and engineer, founded KDE 1972 – Claude Henderson, South African cricketer 1972 – Danny McFarlane, Jamaican hurdler and sprinter 1973 – Sami Kapanen, Finnish-American ice hockey player and manager 1976 – Alan Carr, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter 1976 – Massimo Oddo, Italian footballer and manager 1977 – Boeta Dippenaar, South African cricketer 1977 – Chris McAlister, American football player 1977 – Joe Worsley, English rugby player and coach 1978 – Steve Bégin, Canadian ice hockey player 1978 – Diablo Cody, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1978 – Annia Hatch, Cuban-American gymnast and coach 1978 – Nikola Vujčić, Croatian former professional basketball player 1979 – Shannon Hegarty, Australian rugby league player 1981 – Elano, Brazilian footballer and manager 1982 – Jamie Green, English racing driver 1982 – Nicole Irving, Australian swimmer 1982 – Lang Lang, Chinese pianist 1983 – Trevor Barry, Bahamian high jumper 1983 – Louis Garrel, French actor, director, and screenwriter 1984 – Lorenzo Booker, American football player 1984 – Mark Cosgrove, Australian cricketer 1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, English singer-songwriter 1984 – Yury Prilukov, Russian swimmer</ref> 1985 – Oleg Medvedev. Russian luger 1985 – Andy Soucek, Spanish racing driver 1986 – Rhe-Ann Niles-Mapp, Barbadian netball player 1986 – Matt Read, Canadian ice hockey player 1987 – Andrew Cogliano, Canadian ice hockey player 1987 – Mohamed Diamé, Senegalese footballer 1988 – Adrián Aldrete, Mexican footballer 1988 – Kevin McHale, American actor, singer, dancer and radio personality 1989 – Lucy Hale, American actress and singer-songwriter 1989 – Brad Takairangi, Australian-Cook Islands rugby league player 1990 – Patrice Cormier, Canadian ice hockey player 1991 – Kostas Manolas, Greek footballer 1991 – Jesy Nelson, English singer 1992 – Devante Smith-Pelly, Canadian ice hockey player 1993 – Gunna, American rapper 1994 – Moon Taeil, South Korean singer 1997 – David Bangala, French football defender 1999 – Chou Tzuyu, Taiwanese singer Deaths Pre-1600 809 – Ōtomo no Otomaro, Japanese general (b. 731) 847 – Methodius I, patriarch of Constantinople 957 – Guadamir, bishop of Vic (Spain) 976 – Aron, Bulgarian nobleman 1161 – Emperor Qinzong of the Song dynasty (b. 1100) 1349 – Günther von Schwarzburg, German king (b. 1304) 1381 – Simon Sudbury, English archbishop (b. 1316) 1497 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía, Italian son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1474) 1516 – John III of Navarre (b. 1469) 1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489) 1548 – Carpentras, French composer (b. 1470) 1583 – Shibata Katsuie, Japanese samurai (b. 1522) 1594 – Jacob Kroger, German goldsmith, hanged in Edinburgh for stealing the jewels of Anne of Denmark. 1594 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1532) 1601–1900 1662 – Henry Vane the Younger, English-American politician, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1613) 1674 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French author and poet (b. 1600) 1679 – Guillaume Courtois, French painter and illustrator (b. 1628) 1746 – Colin Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician (b. 1698) 1794 – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, English courtier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1718) 1800 – Louis Desaix, French general (b. 1768) 1800 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general (b. 1753) 1801 – Benedict Arnold, American general during the American Revolution later turned British spy (b. 1741) 1825 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (b. 1754) 1837 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (b. 1798) 1864 – Leonidas Polk, American general and bishop (b. 1806) 1877 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (b. 1807) 1883 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet and author (b. 1809) 1886 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian director and playwright (b. 1823) 1898 – Dewitt Clinton Senter, American politician, 18th Governor of Tennessee (b. 1830) 1901–present 1907 – William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer, designed the Home Insurance Building (b. 1832) 1907 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (b. 1830) 1908 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, 6th Governor General of Canada (b. 1841) 1914 – Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1835) 1916 – João Simões Lopes Neto, Brazilian author (b. 1865) 1920 – Max Weber, German sociologist and economist (b. 1864) 1923 – Isabelle Bogelot, French philanthropist (b. 1838) 1926 – Mary Cassatt, American-French painter (b. 1843) 1927 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (b. 1894) 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author (b. 1859) 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist and academic (b. 1857) 1932 – Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian businesswoman, co-founded Desjardins Group (b. 1858) 1933 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (b. 1860) 1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, playwright, and novelist (b. 1874) 1936 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter, and designer, designed the IG Farben Building (b. 1869) 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish-English physicist and engineer (b. 1888) 1946 – Jorge Ubico, 21st President of Guatemala (b. 1878) 1953 – Tom Cole, Welsh-American racing driver (b. 1922) 1968 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901) 1972 – Dündar Taşer, Turkish soldier and politician (b. 1925) 1977 – Robert Middleton, American actor (b. 1911) 1977 – Alan Reed, American actor, original voice of Fred Flintstone (b.1907) 1979 – Ahmad Zahir, Afghan singer-songwriter (b. 1946) 1980 – Charles Miller, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1939) 1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (b. 1899) 1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, American composer and songwriter (b. 1918) 1987 – Stanisław Bareja, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929) 1990 – Erna Berger, German soprano and actress (b. 1900) 1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (b. 1907) 1994 – Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1942) 1994 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (b. 1924) 1994 – Marcel Mouloudji, French singer and actor (b. 1922) 1995 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1917) 1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1949) 1995 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (b. 1937) 1996 – Noemí Gerstein, Argentinian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1908) 1997 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926) 1999 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (b. 1932) 2000 – Attilio Bertolucci, Italian poet and
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– Danny McFarlane, Jamaican hurdler and sprinter 1973 – Sami Kapanen, Finnish-American ice hockey player and manager 1976 – Alan Carr, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter 1976 – Massimo Oddo, Italian footballer and manager 1977 – Boeta Dippenaar, South African cricketer 1977 – Chris McAlister, American football player 1977 – Joe Worsley, English rugby player and coach 1978 – Steve Bégin, Canadian ice hockey player 1978 – Diablo Cody, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1978 – Annia Hatch, Cuban-American gymnast and coach 1978 – Nikola Vujčić, Croatian former professional basketball player 1979 – Shannon Hegarty, Australian rugby league player 1981 – Elano, Brazilian footballer and manager 1982 – Jamie Green, English racing driver 1982 – Nicole Irving, Australian swimmer 1982 – Lang Lang, Chinese pianist 1983 – Trevor Barry, Bahamian high jumper 1983 – Louis Garrel, French actor, director, and screenwriter 1984 – Lorenzo Booker, American football player 1984 – Mark Cosgrove, Australian cricketer 1984 – Siobhán Donaghy, English singer-songwriter 1984 – Yury Prilukov, Russian swimmer</ref> 1985 – Oleg Medvedev. Russian luger 1985 – Andy Soucek, Spanish racing driver 1986 – Rhe-Ann Niles-Mapp, Barbadian netball player 1986 – Matt Read, Canadian ice hockey player 1987 – Andrew Cogliano, Canadian ice hockey player 1987 – Mohamed Diamé, Senegalese footballer 1988 – Adrián Aldrete, Mexican footballer 1988 – Kevin McHale, American actor, singer, dancer and radio personality 1989 – Lucy Hale, American actress and singer-songwriter 1989 – Brad Takairangi, Australian-Cook Islands rugby league player 1990 – Patrice Cormier, Canadian ice hockey player 1991 – Kostas Manolas, Greek footballer 1991 – Jesy Nelson, English singer 1992 – Devante Smith-Pelly, Canadian ice hockey player 1993 – Gunna, American rapper 1994 – Moon Taeil, South Korean singer 1997 – David Bangala, French football defender 1999 – Chou Tzuyu, Taiwanese singer Deaths Pre-1600 809 – Ōtomo no Otomaro, Japanese general (b. 731) 847 – Methodius I, patriarch of Constantinople 957 – Guadamir, bishop of Vic (Spain) 976 – Aron, Bulgarian nobleman 1161 – Emperor Qinzong of the Song dynasty (b. 1100) 1349 – Günther von Schwarzburg, German king (b. 1304) 1381 – Simon Sudbury, English archbishop (b. 1316) 1497 – Giovanni Borgia, 2nd Duke of Gandía, Italian son of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1474) 1516 – John III of Navarre (b. 1469) 1544 – Antoine, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1489) 1548 – Carpentras, French composer (b. 1470) 1583 – Shibata Katsuie, Japanese samurai (b. 1522) 1594 – Jacob Kroger, German goldsmith, hanged in Edinburgh for stealing the jewels of Anne of Denmark. 1594 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer and educator (b. 1532) 1601–1900 1662 – Henry Vane the Younger, English-American politician, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1613) 1674 – Marin le Roy de Gomberville, French author and poet (b. 1600) 1679 – Guillaume Courtois, French painter and illustrator (b. 1628) 1746 – Colin Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician (b. 1698) 1794 – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, English courtier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1718) 1800 – Louis Desaix, French general (b. 1768) 1800 – Jean-Baptiste Kléber, French general (b. 1753) 1801 – Benedict Arnold, American general during the American Revolution later turned British spy (b. 1741) 1825 – Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French-American architect and engineer, designed Washington, D.C. (b. 1754) 1837 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (b. 1798) 1864 – Leonidas Polk, American general and bishop (b. 1806) 1877 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (b. 1807) 1883 – Edward FitzGerald, English poet and author (b. 1809) 1886 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian director and playwright (b. 1823) 1898 – Dewitt Clinton Senter, American politician, 18th Governor of Tennessee (b. 1830) 1901–present 1907 – William Le Baron Jenney, American architect and engineer, designed the Home Insurance Building (b. 1832) 1907 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (b. 1830) 1908 – Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby, English captain and politician, 6th Governor General of Canada (b. 1841) 1914 – Adlai Stevenson I, American lawyer and politician, 23rd Vice President of the United States (b. 1835) 1916 – João Simões Lopes Neto, Brazilian author (b. 1865) 1920 – Max Weber, German sociologist and economist (b. 1864) 1923 – Isabelle Bogelot, French philanthropist (b. 1838) 1926 – Mary Cassatt, American-French painter (b. 1843) 1927 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (b. 1894) 1927 – Jerome K. Jerome, English author (b. 1859) 1928 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English activist and academic (b. 1857) 1932 – Dorimène Roy Desjardins, Canadian businesswoman, co-founded Desjardins Group (b. 1858) 1933 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (b. 1860) 1936 – G. K. Chesterton, English essayist, poet, playwright, and novelist (b. 1874) 1936 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter, and designer, designed the IG Farben Building (b. 1869) 1946 – John Logie Baird, Scottish-English physicist and engineer (b. 1888) 1946 – Jorge Ubico, 21st President of Guatemala (b. 1878) 1953 – Tom Cole, Welsh-American racing driver (b. 1922) 1968 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901) 1972 – Dündar Taşer, Turkish soldier and politician (b. 1925) 1977 – Robert Middleton, American actor (b. 1911) 1977 – Alan Reed, American actor, original voice of Fred Flintstone (b.1907) 1979 – Ahmad Zahir, Afghan singer-songwriter (b. 1946) 1980 – Charles Miller, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1939) 1986 – Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator (b. 1899) 1986 – Alan Jay Lerner, American composer and songwriter (b. 1918) 1987 – Stanisław Bareja, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1929) 1990 – Erna Berger, German soprano and actress (b. 1900) 1991 – Peggy Ashcroft, English actress (b. 1907) 1994 – Lionel Grigson, English pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1942) 1994 – Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (b. 1924) 1994 – Marcel Mouloudji, French singer and actor (b. 1922) 1995 – Els Aarne, Ukrainian-Estonian pianist, composer, and educator (b. 1917) 1995 – Rory Gallagher, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1949) 1995 – Roger Zelazny, American author and poet (b. 1937) 1996 – Noemí Gerstein, Argentinian sculptor and illustrator (b. 1908) 1997 – Richard Jaeckel, American actor (b. 1926) 1999 – Bernie Faloney, American-Canadian football player and sportscaster (b. 1932) 2000
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1944 – Chris Spedding, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1945 – Tommy Franks, American general 1945 – Ken Livingstone, English politician, 1st Mayor of London 1945 – Eddy Merckx, Belgian cyclist and sportscaster 1945 – Art Bell, American broadcaster and author (d. 2018) 1946 – Peter Rosei, Austrian author, poet, and playwright 1947 – Christopher Allport, American actor (d. 2008) 1947 – Timothy Wright, American gospel singer, pastor (d. 2009) 1947 – Linda Chavez, American journalist and author 1947 – George S. Clinton, American composer and songwriter 1947 – Gregg Rolie, American rock singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1947 – Paul Young, English singer-songwriter (d. 2000) 1948 – Dave Concepción, Venezuelan baseball player and manager 1948 – Jacqueline Jones, American historian and academic 1948 – Aurelio López, Mexican baseball player and politician (d. 1992) 1948 – Karol Sikora, English physician and academic 1949 – Snakefinger, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1987) 1949 – John Craven, English economist and academic 1949 – Russell Smith, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019) 1950 – Lee Tamahori, New Zealand film director 1951 – Starhawk, American author and activist 1951 – John Garrett, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1951 – Joe Piscopo, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter 1952 – Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach, and manager 1952 – Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, English educator and politician, Secretary of State for Education 1953 – Vernon Coaker, English educator and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence 1953 – Juan Muñoz, Spanish sculptor and storyteller (d. 2001) 1954 – Mark Linn-Baker, American actor and director 1955 – Mati Laur, Estonian historian, author, and academic 1955 – Bob Sauvé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1955 – Cem Hakko, Turkish fashion designer and businessman 1956 – Iain Milne, Scottish rugby player 1957 – Philip Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013) 1957 – Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (d. 2005) 1957 – Uģis Prauliņš, Latvian composer 1958 – Pierre Berbizier, French rugby player and coach 1958 – Jello Biafra, American singer-songwriter and producer 1958 – Bobby Farrelly, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1958 – Sam Hamad, Syrian-Canadian academic and politician 1958 – Jon Leibowitz, American lawyer and politician 1958 – Daniel McVicar, American actor 1959 – Carol Anderson, American author and historian 1959 – Lawrence Haddad, South African-English economist and academic 1959 – Nikos Stavropoulos, Greek basketball player and coach 1960 – Adrián Campos, Spanish race car driver (d. 2021) 1960 – Thomas Haden Church, American actor 1961 – Kōichi Yamadera, Japanese actor and singer 1962 – Michael Monroe, Finnish singer-songwriter and saxophonist 1963 – Greg Kinnear, American actor, television presenter, and producer 1964 – Rinaldo Capello, Italian race car driver 1964 – Michael Gross, German swimmer 1964 – Steve Rhodes, English cricketer and coach 1965 – Dermontti Dawson, American football player and coach 1965 – Dan Jansen, American speed skater and sportscaster 1965 – Dara O'Kearney, Irish runner and poker player 1966 – Mohammed Ghazy Al-Akhras, Iraqi journalist and author 1966 – Tory Burch, American fashion designer and philanthropist 1966 – Ken Clark, American football player (d. 2013) 1966 – Diane Modahl, English runner 1966 – Jason Patric, American actor 1967 – Dorothea Röschmann, German soprano and actress 1967 – Eric Stefani, American keyboard player and composer 1968 – Steve Georgallis, Australian rugby league player and coach 1968 – Minoru Suzuki, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist 1969 – Paul Tergat, Kenyan runner 1969 – Geoff Toovey, Australian rugby league player and coach 1969 – Ilya Tsymbalar, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1970 – Stéphane Fiset, Canadian ice hockey player 1970 – Will Forte, American actor, comedian, and screenwriter 1970 – Jason Hanson, American football player 1970 – Popeye Jones, American basketball player and coach 1970 – Michael Showalter, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1970 – Alan Dowson, English football manager and former professional player 1971 – Paulina Rubio, Mexican pop singer 1971 – Mildred Fox, Irish politician 1973 – Leander Paes, Indian tennis player 1974 – Evangelia Psarra, Greek archer 1975 – Joshua Leonard, American actor, director, and screenwriter 1975 – Juan Carlos Valerón, Spanish footballer 1975 – Phiyada Akkraseranee, Thai actress and model 1976 – Scott Adkins, English actor and martial artist 1976 – Sven Nys, Belgian cyclist 1977 – Bartosz Brożek, Polish philosopher and jurist 1977 – Tjaša Jezernik, Slovenian tennis player 1977 – Mark Tauscher, American football player and sportscaster 1978 – Isabelle Delobel, French ice dancer 1978 – Travis Roche, Canadian ice hockey player 1979 – Nick Rimando, American soccer player 1979 – Tyson Apostol, American television personality 1979 – Young Maylay, American rapper, producer, and voice actor 1980 – Elisa Rigaudo, Italian race walker 1980 – Jeph Jacques, American author and illustrator 1980 – Venus Williams, American tennis player 1981 – Kyle Boller, American football player 1981 – Shane Watson, Australian cricketer 1982 – Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa, Brazilian footballer 1982 – Marek Svatoš, Slovak ice hockey player (d. 2016) 1982 – Stanislava Hrozenská, Slovak tennis player 1982 – Stefan Hodgetts, English racing driver 1982 – Arthur Darvill, English actor 1982 – Jodie Whittaker, English actress 1983 – Lee Ryan, English singer/actor 1983 – Vlasis Kazakis, Greek footballer 1984 – Michael Mathieu, Bahamian sprinter 1984 – Si Tianfeng, Chinese race walker 1985 – Özge Akın, Turkish sprinter 1985 – Marcos Baghdatis, Cypriot tennis player 1985 – Rafael Sóbis, Brazilian footballer 1986 – Apoula Edel, Armenian footballer 1986 – Helen Glover, English rower 1987 – Kendrick Lamar, American rapper 1987 – Nozomi Tsuji, Japanese singer and actress 1988 – Andrew Ogilvy, Australian basketball player 1988 – Shaun MacDonald, Welsh footballer 1988 – Stephanie Rice, Australian swimmer 1989 – Georgios Tofas, Cypriot footballer 1989 – Simone Battle, American singer and actress (d. 2014) 1990 – Jordan Henderson, English footballer 1990 – Josh Mansour, Australian rugby league player 1991 – Daniel Tupou, Australian-Tongan rugby league player 1994 – Amari Cooper, American football player 1995 – Clément Lenglet, French footballer 1997 – KJ Apa, New Zealand actor Deaths Pre-1600 656 – Uthman, caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate (b. 579) 676 – Adeodatus, pope of the Catholic Church 811 – Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, Japanese shōgun (b. 758) 850 – Tachibana no Kachiko, Japanese empress (b. 786) 900 – Fulk, French archbishop and chancellor 1025 – Bolesław I the Brave, Polish king (b. 967) 1091 – Dirk V, count of Holland (b. 1052) 1207 – Daoji, Chinese buddhist monk (b. 1130) 1219 – David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon 1361 – Ingeborg of Norway, princess consort and regent of Sweden (b. 1301) 1400 – Jan of Jenštejn, archbishop of Prague (b. 1348) 1463 – Catherine of Portugal, Portuguese princess (b. 1436) 1501 – John I Albert, Polish king (b. 1459) 1565 – Ashikaga Yoshiteru, Japanese shōgun (b. 1536) 1601–1900 1631 – Mumtaz Mahal, Mughal princess (b. 1593) 1649 – Injo of Joseon, Korean king (b. 1595) 1674 – Jijabai, Dowager Queen, mother of Shivaji (b. 1598) 1694 – Philip Howard, English cardinal (b. 1629) 1696 – John III Sobieski, Polish king (b. 1629) 1719 – Joseph Addison, English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician (b. 1672) 1734 – Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Secretary of State for War (b. 1653) 1740 – Sir William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1687) 1762 – Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French poet and playwright (b. 1674) 1771 – Daskalogiannis, Greek rebel leader (b. 1722) 1775 – John Pitcairn, Scottish-English soldier (b. 1722) 1797 – Mohammad Khan Qajar, Persian tribal chief (b. 1742) 1813 – Charles Middleton, 1st Baron Barham, Scottish-English admiral and politician (b. 1726) 1821 – Martín Miguel de Güemes, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1785) 1839 – Lord William Bentinck, English general and politician, 14th Governor-General of India (b. 1774) 1866 – Joseph Méry, French poet and author (b. 1798) 1889 – Lozen, Chiracaua Apache warrior woman (b. ~1840) 1898 – Edward Burne-Jones, English soldier and painter (b. 1833) 1901–present 1904 – Nikolay Bobrikov, Russian soldier and politician, Governor-General of Finland (b. 1839) 1914 – Julien Félix, French military officer and aviator (b. 1869) 1936 – Julius Seljamaa, Estonian journalist, politician, and diplomat, Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1883) 1939 – Allen Sothoron, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1893) 1939 – Eugen Weidmann, German criminal (b. 1908) 1940 – Arthur Harden, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865) 1941 – Johan Wagenaar, Dutch organist and composer (b. 1862) 1942 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Chief Justice of Canada (b. 1853) 1952 – Jack Parsons, American chemist and engineer (b. 1914) 1954 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (b. 1920) 1956 – Percival Perry, 1st Baron Perry, English businessman (b. 1878) 1956 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (b. 1892) 1956 – Bob Sweikert, American race car driver (b. 1926) 1957 – Dorothy Richardson, English journalist and author (b. 1873) 1957 – J. R. Williams, Canadian-American cartoonist (b. 1888) 1961 – Jeff Chandler, American actor (b. 1918) 1963 – Aleksander Kesküla, Estonian politician (b. 1882) 1968 – José Nasazzi, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1901) 1974 – Refik Koraltan, Turkish lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1889) 1975 – James Phinney Baxter III, American historian and academic (b. 1893) 1979 – Hubert Ashton, English cricketer and politician (b. 1898) 1979 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player and manager (b. 1888) 1981 – Richard O'Connor, Indian-English general (b. 1889) 1981 – Zerna Sharp, American author and educator (b. 1889) 1982 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (b. 1920) 1983 – Peter Mennin, American composer and educator (b. 1923) 1985 – John Boulting, English director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1913) 1986 – Kate Smith, American singer (b. 1907) 1987 – Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1936) 1996 – Thomas Kuhn, American historian and philosopher (b. 1922) 1996 – Curt Swan, American illustrator (b. 1920) 1999 – Basil Hume, English cardinal (b. 1923) 2000 – Ismail Mahomed, South African lawyer and jurist, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (b. 1931) 2001 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1919) 2001 – Thomas Winning, Scottish cardinal (b. 1925) 2002 – Willie Davenport, American sprinter and hurdler (b. 1943) 2002 – Fritz Walter, German footballer (b. 1920) 2004 – Gerry McNeil, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1926) 2006 – Bussunda, Brazilian comedian (b. 1962) 2007 – Gianfranco Ferré, Italian fashion designer (b. 1944) 2007 – Serena Wilson, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1933) 2008 – Cyd Charisse, American actress and dancer (b. 1922) 2009 – Ralf Dahrendorf, German-English sociologist and politician (b. 1929) 2009 – Darrell Powers, American sergeant (b. 1923) 2011 – Rex Mossop, Australian rugby player and sportscaster (b. 1928) 2012 – Stéphane Brosse, French mountaineer (b. 1971) 2012 – Patricia Brown, American baseball player (b. 1931) 2012 – Nathan Divinsky, Canadian mathematician and chess player (b. 1925) 2012 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (b. 1965) 2012 – Fauzia Wahab, Pakistani actress and politician (b. 1956) 2013 – Michael Baigent, New Zealand-English theorist and author (b. 1948) 2013 – Atiqul Haque Chowdhury, Bangladeshi
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fugitive Frank Nash are gunned down by gangsters attempting to free Nash. 1939 – Last public guillotining in France: Eugen Weidmann, a convicted murderer, is executed in Versailles outside the Saint-Pierre prison. 1940 – World War II: is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster. 1940 – World War II: The British Army's 11th Hussars assault and take Fort Capuzzo in Libya, Africa from Italian forces. 1940 – The three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union. 1944 – Iceland declares independence from Denmark and becomes a republic. 1948 – United Airlines Flight 624, a Douglas DC-6, crashes near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania, killing all 43 people on board. 1952 – Guatemala passes Decree 900, ordering the redistribution of uncultivated land. 1953 – Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion. 1958 – The Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, in the process of being built to connect Vancouver and North Vancouver (Canada), collapses into the Burrard Inlet killing 18 ironworkers and injuring others. 1960 – The Nez Perce tribe is awarded $4 million for of land undervalued at four cents/acre in the 1863 treaty. 1963 – The United States Supreme Court rules 8–1 in Abington School District v. Schempp against requiring the reciting of Bible verses and the Lord's Prayer in public schools. 1963 – A day after South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm announced the Joint Communiqué to end the Buddhist crisis, a riot involving around 2,000 people breaks out. One person is killed. 1967 – Nuclear weapons testing: China announces a successful test of its first thermonuclear weapon. 1971 – U.S. President Richard Nixon in a televised press conference called drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the War on drugs. 1972 – Watergate scandal: Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee during an attempt by members of the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to illegally wiretap the political opposition as part of a broader campaign to subvert the democratic process. 1985 – Space Shuttle program: STS-51-G mission: Space Shuttle Discovery launches carrying Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the first Arab and first Muslim in space, as a payload specialist. 1987 – With the death of the last individual of the species, the dusky seaside sparrow becomes extinct. 1991 – Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth. 1992 – A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II). 1994 – Following a televised low-speed highway chase, O. J. Simpson is arrested for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. 2015 – Nine people are killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. 2017 – A series of wildfires in central Portugal kill at least 64 people and injure 204 others. 2021 – Juneteenth National Independence Day, was signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983. Births Pre-1600 801 – Drogo of Metz, Frankish bishop (d. 855) 1239 – Edward I, English king (d. 1307) 1530 – François de Montmorency, French nobleman (d. 1579) 1571 – Thomas Mun, English writer on economics (d. 1641) 1601–1900 1603 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian mystic and saint (d. 1663) 1604 – John Maurice, Dutch nobleman (d. 1679) 1610 – Birgitte Thott, Danish scholar, writer and translator (b. 1662) 1631 – Gauharara Begum, Mughal princess (d. 1706) 1682 – Charles XII, Swedish king (d. 1718) 1691 – Giovanni Paolo Panini, Italian painter and architect (d. 1765) 1693 – Johann Georg Walch, German theologian and author (d. 1775) 1704 – John Kay, English engineer, invented the Flying shuttle (d. 1780) 1714 – César-François Cassini de Thury, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1784) 1718 – George Howard, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Minorca (d. 1796) 1778 – Gregory Blaxland, English-Australian explorer (d. 1853) 1800 – William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, English-Irish astronomer and politician (d. 1867) 1808 – Henrik Wergeland, Norwegian poet, playwright, and linguist (d. 1845) 1810 – Ferdinand Freiligrath, German poet and translator (d. 1876) 1811 – Jón Sigurðsson, Icelandic scholar and politician (d. 1879) 1818 – Charles Gounod, French composer and academic (d. 1893) 1818 – Sophie of Württemberg, queen of the Netherlands (d. 1877) 1821 – E. G. Squier, American archaeologist and journalist (d. 1888) 1832 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (d. 1919) 1833 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and president (d. 1893) 1858 – Eben Sumner Draper, American businessman and politician, 44th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1914) 1861 – Pete Browning, American baseball player (d. 1905) 1861 – Omar Bundy, American general (d. 1940) 1863 – Charles Michael, duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1934) 1865 – Susan La Flesche Picotte, Native American physician (d. 1915) 1867 – Flora Finch, English-American actress (d. 1940) 1867 – John Robert Gregg, Irish-born American educator, publisher, and humanitarian (d. 1948) 1867 – Henry Lawson, Australian poet and author (d. 1922) 1871 – James Weldon Johnson, American author, journalist, and activist (d. 1938) 1876 – William Carr, American rower (d. 1942) 1876 – Edward Anthony Spitzka, American anatomist and author (d. 1922) 1880 – Carl Van Vechten, American author and photographer (d. 1964) 1881 – Tommy Burns, Canadian boxer and promoter (d. 1955) 1882 – Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1918) 1882 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1971) 1888 – Heinz Guderian, German general (d. 1954) 1897 – Maria Izilda de Castro Ribeiro, Brazilian girl, popular saint (d. 1911) 1898 – M. C. Escher, Dutch illustrator (d. 1972) 1898 – Carl Hermann, German physicist and academic (d. 1961) 1898 – Joe McKelvey, Executed Irish republican (d. 1922) 1898 – Harry Patch, English soldier and firefighter (d. 2009) 1900 – Martin Bormann, German politician (d. 1945) 1900 – Evelyn Irons, Scottish journalist and war correspondent (d. 2000) 1901–present 1902 – Sammy Fain, American pianist and composer (d. 1989) 1902 – Alec Hurwood, Australian cricketer (d. 1982) 1903 – Ruth Graves Wakefield, American chef, created the chocolate chip cookie (d. 1977) 1904 – Ralph Bellamy, American actor (d. 1991) 1904 – J. Vernon McGee, American pastor and theologian (d. 1988) 1904 – Patrice Tardif, Canadian farmer and politician (d. 1989) 1907 – Maurice Cloche, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1990) 1909 – Elmer L. Andersen, American businessman and politician, 30th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2004) 1909 – Ralph E. Winters, Canadian-American film editor (d. 2004) 1910 – Red Foley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1968) 1910 – George Hees, Canadian football player and politician (d. 1996) 1914 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (d. 1993) 1915 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, American singer and banjo player (d. 1973) 1915 – Marcel Cadieux, Canadian civil servant and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (d. 1981) 1916 – Terry Gilkyson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999) 1917 – Dufferin Roblin, Canadian politician, 14th Premier of Manitoba (d. 2010) 1918 – Ajahn Chah, Thai monk and educator (d. 1992) 1919 – William Kaye Estes, American
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Peter Blake, English painter and illustrator 1932 – George Sluizer, French-Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014) 1933 – Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, designed the Porto School of Architecture 1934 – Jean Geissinger, American baseball player (d. 2014) 1934 – Jack W. Hayford, American minister and author 1934 – Beatriz Sheridan, Mexican actress and director (d. 2006) 1935 – Ray Butt, English television producer and director (d. 2013) 1935 – Salihu Ibrahim, Nigerian Army Officer (d. 2018) 1935 – Taufiq Ismail, Indonesian poet and activist 1935 – Larry Kramer, American author, playwright, and activist, co-founded Gay Men's Health Crisis (d. 2020) 1935 – Don Demeter, American professional baseball player (d. 2021) 1935 – Tony Lanfranchi, English racing driver (d. 2004) 1935 – Judy Howe, American artistic gymnast 1935 – Charles Sheffield, English-American mathematician, physicist, and author (d. 2002) 1936 – B. J. Habibie, Indonesian engineer and politician, 3rd President of Indonesia (d. 2019) 1936 – Bert Hölldobler, German biologist and entomologist 1937 – Eddie Floyd, American R&B/soul singer-songwriter 1937 – Derek Foster, Baron Foster of Bishop Auckland, English politician (d. 2019) 1937 – Doreen Wells, English ballerina and actress 1939 – Allen Fox, American tennis player and coach 1940 – Judy Amoore, Australian runner 1940 – Mary Beth Peil, American actress and singer 1940 – A. J. Quinnell, English-Maltese author (d. 2005) 1940 – Clint Warwick, English bass player (d. 2004) 1941 – Denys Arcand, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1941 – John Albert Raven, Scottish academic and ecologist 1942 – Nikiforos Diamandouros, Greek academic and politician 1942 – Willis Reed, American basketball player, coach, and manager 1942 – Michel Tremblay, Canadian author and playwright 1944 – Robert Charlebois, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor 1944 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2013) 1945 – Carly Simon, American singer-songwriter 1945 – Baba Gana Kingibe, Nigerian politician 1945 – Harry Womack, American singer (d. 1974) 1946 – Roméo Dallaire, Dutch-Canadian general and politician 1946 – Allen Lanier, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2013) 1946 – Ian McDonald, English guitarist and saxophonist (d. 2022) 1947 – John Hilton, English table tennis player 1947 – John Powell, American discus thrower 1947 – Jimmie Walker, American actor and comedian 1949 – Richard Clarke, Irish archbishop 1949 – Patrick Tambay, French racing driver 1949 – Yoon Joo-sang, South Korean actor 1950 – Marcello Toninelli, Italian author and screenwriter 1951 – Eva Bayer-Fluckiger, Swiss mathematician and academic 1952 – Péter Erdő, Hungarian cardinal 1952 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter 1952 – Martin Gerschwitz, German singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1952 – Alan Green, Northern Irish sportscaster 1952 – Kristina Abelli Elander, Swedish artist 1953 – Olivier Ameisen, French-American cardiologist and educator (d. 2013) 1953 – Ian Davis, Australian cricketer 1954 – Mario Lessard, Canadian ice hockey player 1954 – David Paich, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer 1954 – Lina Romay, Spanish actress (d. 2012) 1954 – Daryush Shokof, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter 1954 – Sonia Sotomayor, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 1955 – Vic Marks, English cricketer and sportscaster 1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (d. 2018) 1956 – Frank Paschek, German long jumper 1956 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004) 1956 – Craig Young, Australian rugby player and coach 1957 – Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1958 – George Becali, Romanian businessman, politician 1959 – Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper and educator 1959 – Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper 1959 – Bobbie Vaile, Australian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1996) 1960 – Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, English-Scottish journalist and author 1960 – Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1960 – Craig Johnston, South African-Australian footballer and photographer 1960 – Laurent Rodriguez, French rugby player 1961 – Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter 1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, producer and singer 1963 – John Benjamin Hickey, American actor 1963 – Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author 1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager 1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016) 1963 – Mike Stanley, American baseball player 1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball player and coach 1964 – Phil Emery, Australian cricketer 1964 – Johnny Herbert, English racing driver and sportscaster 1964 – John McCrea, American singer-songwriter and musician 1964 – Greg Raymer, American poker player and lawyer 1965 – Napole Polutele, French politician 1965 – Kerri Pottharst, Australian beach volleyball player 1965 – Joseph Hii Teck Kwong, Malaysian bishop 1966 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American basketball player 1967 – Tracey Spicer, Australian journalist 1968 – Adrian Garvey, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player 1968 – Vaios Karagiannis, Greek footballer and manager 1969 – Hunter Foster, American actor and singer 1969 – Zim Zum, American guitarist and songwriter 1969 – Kevin Kelley, American football coach 1970 – Ariel Gore, American journalist and author 1970 – Roope Latvala, Finnish guitarist 1970 – Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete and politician 1970 – Aaron Sele, American baseball player and scout 1971 – Karen Darke, English cyclist and author 1971 – Jason Gallian, Australian-English cricketer and educator 1971 – Rod Kafer, Australian rugby player and sportscaster 1971 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish-Scottish footballer and manager 1971 – Michael Tucker, American baseball player 1972 – Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach 1972 – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan engineer and politician 1973 – Milan Hnilička, Czech ice hockey player 1973 – Jamie Redknapp, English footballer and coach 1974 – Nisha Ganatra, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1974 – Glen Metropolit, Canadian ice hockey player 1975 – Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer 1975 – Linda Cardellini, American actress 1975 – Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach 1975 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player 1975 – Michele Merkin, American model and television host 1976 – José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer 1976 – Carlos Nieto, Argentinian-Italian rugby player 1976 – Neil Walker, American swimmer 1978 – Aramis Ramírez, Dominican-American baseball player 1979 – Richard Hughes, Scottish footballer 1979 – Busy Philipps, American actress 1981 – Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper 1982 – Rain, South Korean singer and actor 1982 – Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player 1983 – Marc Janko, Austrian footballer 1984 – Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer 1985 – Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer 1986 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer and actress 1988 – Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player 1988 – Miguel Layún, Mexican footballer 1988 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier 1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipino actress 1996 – Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazilian-American race car driver 1996 – Sione Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player 1996 – Lele Pons, Latina-American Internet personality 1998 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer Deaths Pre-1600 635 – Gao Zu, Chinese emperor (b. 566) 841 – Gerard of Auvergne, Frankish nobleman 841 – Ricwin of Nantes, Frankish nobleman 891 – Sunderolt, German archbishop 931 – An Chonghui, Chinese general 1014 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unready 1031 – Sheng Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 972) 1134 – Niels, king of Denmark (b. 1065) 1218 – Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1160) 1291 – Eleanor of Provence, queen of England (b. 1223) 1337 – Frederick III, king of Sicily (b. 1272) 1394 – Dorothea of Montau, German hermitess (b. 1347) 1483 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier and translator (b. 1440) 1483 – Richard Grey, half brother of Edward V of England (b. 1458) 1522 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1451) 1533 – Mary Tudor, queen of France (b. 1496) 1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1541) 1593 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (b. 1541) 1601–1900 1634 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (b. 1576) 1638 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1602) 1665 – Sigismund Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1630) 1669 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (b. 1616) 1671 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (b. 1598) 1673 – Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, French captain (b. 1611) 1686 – Simon Ushakov, Russian painter and educator (b. 1626) 1715 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and politician (b. 1646) 1767 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (b. 1681) 1798 – Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, painter, and architect (b. 1721) 1822 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German composer, critic, and jurist (b. 1776) 1835 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746) 1838 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774) 1861 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823) 1866 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (b. 1803) 1868 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (b. 1811) 1870 – David Heaton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823) 1875 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796) 1876 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (b. 1845) 1876 – Boston Custer, American civilian army contractor (b. 1848) 1876 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (b. 1839) 1876 – Thomas Custer, American officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1845) 1876 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American officer (b. 1840) 1882 – François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806) 1884 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (b. 1858) 1886 – Jean-Louis Beaudry, Canadian businessman and politician, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809) 1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 5th President of France (b. 1837) 1901–present 1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853) 1912 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-British painter (b. 1836) 1916 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1844) 1917 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (b. 1884) 1918 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1867) 1922 – Satyendranath Dutta, Indian poet and author (b. 1882) 1937 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900) 1939 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (b. 1913) 1943 – Arthur Goldstein, German Jewish left-wing activist (c. 1887) 1944 – Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian jurist and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871) 1944 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1906) 1947 – Jimmy Doyle, American boxer (b. 1924) 1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895) 1949 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871) 1949 – James Steen, American water polo player (b. 1876) 1950 – Maurice O'Sullivan, Irish police officer and author (b. 1904) 1958 – Alfred Noyes, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1880) 1959 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938) 1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869) 1968 – Tony Hancock, English comedian and actor (b. 1924) 1971 – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician, biologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880) 1972 – Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (b. 1890) 1974 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893) 1976 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (b. 1909) 1977 – Olave Baden-Powell, British Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting leader (b. 1889) 1977 – Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1911) 1979 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1894) 1979 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (b. 1906) 1981 – Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Peruvian painter and political activist (b. 1888) 1983 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1916) 1984 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (b. 1926) 1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1962) 1990 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and murderer (b. 1940) 1992 – Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965) 1995 – Warren E. Burger, Fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1907) 1995 – Ernest
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of the United States 1955 – Vic Marks, English cricketer and sportscaster 1956 – Anthony Bourdain, American chef and author (d. 2018) 1956 – Frank Paschek, German long jumper 1956 – Boris Trajkovski, Macedonian politician, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia (d. 2004) 1956 – Craig Young, Australian rugby player and coach 1957 – Greg Millen, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1958 – George Becali, Romanian businessman, politician 1959 – Lutz Dombrowski, German long jumper and educator 1959 – Jari Puikkonen, Finnish ski jumper 1959 – Bobbie Vaile, Australian astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1996) 1960 – Alastair Bruce of Crionaich, English-Scottish journalist and author 1960 – Brian Hayward, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1960 – Craig Johnston, South African-Australian footballer and photographer 1960 – Laurent Rodriguez, French rugby player 1961 – Timur Bekmambetov, Kazakh director, producer, and screenwriter 1961 – Ricky Gervais, English comedian, actor, director, producer and singer 1963 – John Benjamin Hickey, American actor 1963 – Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author 1963 – Doug Gilmour, Canadian ice hockey player and manager 1963 – George Michael, English singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016) 1963 – Mike Stanley, American baseball player 1964 – Dell Curry, American basketball player and coach 1964 – Phil Emery, Australian cricketer 1964 – Johnny Herbert, English racing driver and sportscaster 1964 – John McCrea, American singer-songwriter and musician 1964 – Greg Raymer, American poker player and lawyer 1965 – Napole Polutele, French politician 1965 – Kerri Pottharst, Australian beach volleyball player 1965 – Joseph Hii Teck Kwong, Malaysian bishop 1966 – Dikembe Mutombo, Congolese-American basketball player 1967 – Tracey Spicer, Australian journalist 1968 – Adrian Garvey, Zimbabwean-South African rugby player 1968 – Vaios Karagiannis, Greek footballer and manager 1969 – Hunter Foster, American actor and singer 1969 – Zim Zum, American guitarist and songwriter 1969 – Kevin Kelley, American football coach 1970 – Ariel Gore, American journalist and author 1970 – Roope Latvala, Finnish guitarist 1970 – Erki Nool, Estonian decathlete and politician 1970 – Aaron Sele, American baseball player and scout 1971 – Karen Darke, English cyclist and author 1971 – Jason Gallian, Australian-English cricketer and educator 1971 – Rod Kafer, Australian rugby player and sportscaster 1971 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish-Scottish footballer and manager 1971 – Michael Tucker, American baseball player 1972 – Carlos Delgado, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach 1972 – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Libyan engineer and politician 1973 – Milan Hnilička, Czech ice hockey player 1973 – Jamie Redknapp, English footballer and coach 1974 – Nisha Ganatra, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1974 – Glen Metropolit, Canadian ice hockey player 1975 – Kiur Aarma, Estonian journalist and producer 1975 – Linda Cardellini, American actress 1975 – Albert Costa, Spanish tennis player and coach 1975 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player 1975 – Michele Merkin, American model and television host 1976 – José Cancela, Uruguayan footballer 1976 – Carlos Nieto, Argentinian-Italian rugby player 1976 – Neil Walker, American swimmer 1978 – Aramis Ramírez, Dominican-American baseball player 1979 – Richard Hughes, Scottish footballer 1979 – Busy Philipps, American actress 1981 – Simon Ammann, Swiss ski jumper 1982 – Rain, South Korean singer and actor 1982 – Mikhail Youzhny, Russian tennis player 1983 – Marc Janko, Austrian footballer 1984 – Lauren Bush, American model and fashion designer 1985 – Karim Matmour, Algerian footballer 1986 – Aya Matsuura, Japanese singer and actress 1988 – Jhonas Enroth, Swedish ice hockey player 1988 – Miguel Layún, Mexican footballer 1988 – Therese Johaug, Norwegian cross-country skier 1990 – Andi Eigenmann, Filipino actress 1996 – Pietro Fittipaldi, Brazilian-American race car driver 1996 – Sione Mata'utia, Australian rugby league player 1996 – Lele Pons, Latina-American Internet personality 1998 – Kyle Chalmers, Australian swimmer Deaths Pre-1600 635 – Gao Zu, Chinese emperor (b. 566) 841 – Gerard of Auvergne, Frankish nobleman 841 – Ricwin of Nantes, Frankish nobleman 891 – Sunderolt, German archbishop 931 – An Chonghui, Chinese general 1014 – Æthelstan Ætheling, son of Æthelred the Unready 1031 – Sheng Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 972) 1134 – Niels, king of Denmark (b. 1065) 1218 – Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, French politician, Lord High Steward (b. 1160) 1291 – Eleanor of Provence, queen of England (b. 1223) 1337 – Frederick III, king of Sicily (b. 1272) 1394 – Dorothea of Montau, German hermitess (b. 1347) 1483 – Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, English courtier and translator (b. 1440) 1483 – Richard Grey, half brother of Edward V of England (b. 1458) 1522 – Franchinus Gaffurius, Italian composer and theorist (b. 1451) 1533 – Mary Tudor, queen of France (b. 1496) 1579 – Hatano Hideharu, Japanese warlord (b. 1541) 1593 – Michele Mercati, Italian physician and archaeologist (b. 1541) 1601–1900 1634 – John Marston, English poet and playwright (b. 1576) 1638 – Juan Pérez de Montalbán, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1602) 1665 – Sigismund Francis, archduke of Austria (b. 1630) 1669 – François de Vendôme, duke of Beaufort (b. 1616) 1671 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian priest and astronomer (b. 1598) 1673 – Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, French captain (b. 1611) 1686 – Simon Ushakov, Russian painter and educator (b. 1626) 1715 – Jean-Baptiste du Casse, French admiral and politician (b. 1646) 1767 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer and theorist (b. 1681) 1798 – Thomas Sandby, English cartographer, painter, and architect (b. 1721) 1822 – E. T. A. Hoffmann, German composer, critic, and jurist (b. 1776) 1835 – Ebenezer Pemberton, American educator (b. 1746) 1838 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (b. 1774) 1861 – Abdülmecid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1823) 1866 – Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish biologist and paleontologist (b. 1803) 1868 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (b. 1811) 1870 – David Heaton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823) 1875 – Antoine-Louis Barye, French sculptor (b. 1796) 1876 – James Calhoun, American lieutenant (b. 1845) 1876 – Boston Custer, American civilian army contractor (b. 1848) 1876 – George Armstrong Custer, American general (b. 1839) 1876 – Thomas Custer, American officer, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1845) 1876 – Myles Keogh, Irish-American officer (b. 1840) 1882 – François Jouffroy, French sculptor (b. 1806) 1884 – Hans Rott, Austrian organist and composer (b. 1858) 1886 – Jean-Louis Beaudry, Canadian businessman and politician, 11th Mayor of Montreal (b. 1809) 1894 – Marie François Sadi Carnot, French engineer and politician, 5th President of France (b. 1837) 1901–present 1906 – Stanford White, American architect, designed the Washington Square Arch (b. 1853) 1912 – Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dutch-British painter (b. 1836) 1916 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, photographer, and sculptor (b. 1844) 1917 – Géza Gyóni, Hungarian soldier and poet (b. 1884) 1918 – Jake Beckley, American baseball player and coach (b. 1867) 1922 – Satyendranath Dutta, Indian poet and author (b. 1882) 1937 – Colin Clive, British actor (b. 1900) 1939 – Richard Seaman, English race car driver (b. 1913) 1943 – Arthur Goldstein, German Jewish left-wing activist (c. 1887) 1944 – Dénes Berinkey, Hungarian jurist and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Hungary (b. 1871) 1944 – Lucha Reyes, Mexican singer and actress (b. 1906) 1947 – Jimmy Doyle, American boxer (b. 1924) 1948 – William C. Lee, American general (b. 1895) 1949 – Buck Freeman, American baseball player (b. 1871) 1949 – James Steen, American water polo player (b. 1876) 1950 – Maurice O'Sullivan, Irish police officer and author (b. 1904) 1958 – Alfred Noyes, English author, poet, and playwright (b. 1880) 1959 – Charles Starkweather, American spree killer (b. 1938) 1960 – Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869) 1968 – Tony Hancock, English comedian and actor (b. 1924) 1971 – John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr, Scottish physician, biologist, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1880) 1972 – Jan Matulka, Czech-American painter and illustrator (b. 1890) 1974 – Cornelius Lanczos, Hungarian mathematician and physicist (b. 1893) 1976 – Johnny Mercer, American singer-songwriter, co-founded Capitol Records (b. 1909) 1977 – Olave Baden-Powell, British Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting leader (b. 1889) 1977 – Endre Szervánszky, Hungarian pianist and composer (b. 1911) 1979 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (b. 1894) 1979 – Philippe Halsman, Latvian-American photographer (b. 1906) 1981 – Felipe Cossío del Pomar, Peruvian painter and political activist (b. 1888) 1983 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian pianist and composer (b. 1916) 1984 – Michel Foucault, French historian and philosopher (b. 1926) 1988 – Hillel Slovak, Israeli-American guitarist and songwriter (b. 1962) 1990 – Ronald Gene Simmons, American sergeant and murderer (b. 1940) 1992 – Jerome Brown, American football player (b. 1965) 1995 – Warren E. Burger, Fifteenth Chief Justice of the United States (b. 1907) 1995 – Ernest Walton, Irish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903) 1996 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat, British Ambassador to South Africa (b. 1914) 1997 – Jacques Cousteau, French oceanographer and explorer (b. 1910) 2002 – Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician, 29th Canadian Minister of Labour (b. 1934) 2003 – Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician, 75th Governor of Georgia (b. 1915) 2004 – Morton Coutts, New Zealand inventor (b. 1904) 2005 – John Fiedler, American actor and voice artist (b. 1925) 2005 – Kâzım Koyuncu, Turkish singer-songwriter and activist (b. 1971) 2006 – Jaap Penraat, Dutch-American humanitarian (b. 1918) 2007 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (b. 1933) 2007 – Jeeva, Indian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (b. 1963) 2008 – Lyall Watson, South African anthropologist and ethologist (b. 1939) 2009 – Farrah Fawcett, American actress and producer (b. 1947) 2009 – Michael Jackson, American singer-songwriter, producer, dancer, and actor (b. 1958) 2009 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter (b. 1937) 2010 – Alan Plater, English playwright and screenwriter (b. 1935) 2010 – Richard B. Sellars, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1915) 2011 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist and mathematician (b. 1933) 2011 – Goff Richards, English composer and conductor (b. 1944) 2011 – Margaret Tyzack, English actress (b. 1931) 2012 – Shigemitsu Dandō, Japanese academic and jurist (b.
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guitarist, and actor 1956 – Catherine Samba-Panza, interim president of the Central African Republic 1956 – Patrick Mercer, English colonel and politician 1957 – Al Hunter Ashton, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2007) 1957 – Philippe Couillard, Canadian surgeon and politician, 31st Premier of Quebec 1957 – Patty Smyth, American singer-songwriter and musician 1959 – Mark McKinney, Canadian actor and screenwriter 1960 – Mark Durkan, Irish politician 1961 – Greg LeMond, American cyclist 1961 – Terri Nunn, American singer-songwriter and actress 1962 – Jerome Kersey, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) 1963 – Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russian-Swiss businessman and philanthropist 1963 – Mark McClellan, American economist and politician 1963 – Harriet Wheeler, English singer-songwriter 1964 – Tommi Mäkinen, Finnish race car driver 1966 – Dany Boon, French actor, director, and screenwriter 1966 – Kirk McLean, Canadian ice hockey player 1966 – Jürgen Reil, American drummer 1967 – Inha Babakova, Ukrainian high jumper 1967 – Olivier Dahan, French director and screenwriter 1968 – Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, Icelandic lecturer and politician, 6th President of Iceland 1968 – Paolo Maldini, Italian footballer 1968 – Shannon Sharpe, American football player 1969 – Colin Greenwood, English bass player and songwriter 1969 – Ingrid Lempereur, Belgian swimmer 1969 – Geir Moen, Norwegian sprinter 1969 – Mike Myers, American baseball player 1970 – Paul Thomas Anderson, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1970 – Paul Bitok, Kenyan runner 1970 – Irv Gotti, American record producer, co-founded Murder Inc Records 1970 – Sean Hayes, American actor 1970 – Matt Letscher, American actor and playwright 1970 – Adam Ndlovu, Zimbabwean footballer (d. 2012) 1970 – Chris O'Donnell, American actor 1970 – Nick Offerman, American actor 1971 – Max Biaggi, Italian motorcycle racer 1972 – Jai Taurima, Australian long jumper and police officer 1973 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1974 – Derek Jeter, American baseball player 1974 – Jason Kendall, American baseball player 1975 – Chris Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player 1975 – Terry Skiverton, English footballer and manager 1976 – Ed Jovanovski, Canadian ice hockey player 1976 – Pommie Mbangwa, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster 1976 – Chad Pennington, American football player and sportscaster 1976 – Dave Rubin, American political commentator 1977 – Quincy Lewis, American basketball player 1979 – Ryō Fukuda, Japanese race car driver 1979 – Walter Herrmann, Argentinian basketball player 1979 – Ryan Tedder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1980 – Hamílton Hênio Ferreira Calheiros, Togolese footballer 1980 – Michael Jackson, English footballer 1980 – Jason Schwartzman, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor 1980 – Chris Shelton, American baseball player 1980 – Michael Vick, American football player 1981 – Natalya Antyukh, Russian sprinter and hurdler 1981 – Paolo Cannavaro, Italian footballer 1981 – Kanako Kondō, Japanese voice actress and singer 1981 – Takashi Toritani, Japanese baseball player 1982 – Zuzana Kučová, Slovak tennis player 1983 – Vinícius Rodrigues Almeida, Brazilian footballer 1983 – Nick Compton, South African-English cricketer 1983 – Toyonoshima Daiki, Japanese sumo wrestler 1983 – Felipe Melo, Brazilian footballer 1983 – Antonio Rosati, Italian footballer 1984 – Indila, French singer 1984 – José Juan Barea, Puerto Rican-American basketball player 1984 – Yankuba Ceesay, Gambian footballer 1984 – Elijah Dukes, American baseball player 1984 – Raymond Felton, American basketball player 1984 – Priscah Jeptoo, Kenyan runner 1984 – Jūlija Tepliha, Latvian figure skater 1984 – Deron Williams, American basketball player 1984 – Preslava, Bulgarian singer 1985 – Ogyen Trinley Dorje, Tibetan spiritual leader, 17th Karmapa Lama 1986 – Duvier Riascos, Colombian footballer 1987 – Carlos Iaconelli, Brazilian race car driver 1987 – Samir Nasri, French footballer 1988 – Oliver Stang, German footballer 1988 – Andrew Bachelor, Canadian-American actor, comedian, director, producer, writer and social media personality 1990 – Belaynesh Oljira, Ethiopian runner 1990 – Igor Subbotin, Estonian footballer 1991 – Houssem Chemali, French footballer 1991 – Diego Falcinelli, Italian footballer 1991 – Dustin Martin, Australian rules footballer 1992 – Joel Campbell, Costa Rican footballer 1992 – Rudy Gobert, French basketball player 1992 – Jennette McCurdy, American actress and singer-songwriter 1993 – Ariana Grande, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress 1994 – Hollie Arnold, English javelin thrower 1994 – Leonard Carow, German actor 1997 – Baek Ye-rin, South Korean singer 1997 – Callum Taylor, English cricketer 2002 – Chandler Smith, American racing driver 2005 – Princess Alexia of the Netherlands 2009 – Yesha Camile, Filipino child actress Deaths Pre-1600 116 BC – Ptolemy VIII, king of Egypt 363 – Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor (b. 332) 405 – Vigilius, bishop of Trent (b. 353) 822 – Saichō, Japanese Buddhist monk (b. 767) 969 – George El Mozahem, Egyptian martyr (b. 940) 985 – Ramiro III, king of León 1090 – Jaromír, bishop of Prague 1095 – Robert, bishop of Hereford 1265 – Anne of Bohemia, duchess of Silesia (b. 1203 or 1204) 1274 – Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian scientist and writer (b. 1201) 1487 – John Argyropoulos, Byzantine philosopher and scholar (b. 1415) 1541 – Francisco Pizarro, Spanish explorer and politician, Governor of New Castile (b. c. 1471) 1574 – Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, captain of the Scottish Guard of Henry II of France (b. 1530) 1601–1900 1677 – Francesco Buonamici, Italian architect, painter and engraver (b. 1596) 1688 – Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher and academic (b. 1617) 1752 – Giulio Alberoni, Spanish cardinal (b. 1664) 1757 – Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian field marshal (b. 1705) 1784 – Caesar Rodney, American lawyer and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (b. 1728) 1793 – Gilbert White, English ornithologist and ecologist (b. 1720) 1795 – Johannes Jährig, German linguist and translator (b. 1747) 1798 – James Dickey, Irish revolutionary (b. 1776) 1808 – Ludwik Tyszkiewicz, Polish poet and politician (b. 1748) 1810 – Joseph-Michel Montgolfier, French inventor, co-invented the hot air balloon (b. 1740) 1830 – George IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1762) 1836 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier and composer (b. 1760) 1856 – Max Stirner, German philosopher and author (b. 1806) 1870 – Armand Barbès, French lawyer and politician (b. 1809) 1878 – Mercedes of Orléans (b. 1860) 1879 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (b. 1821) 1883 – Edward Sabine, Irish-English astronomer, geophysicist, and ornithologist (b. 1788) 1901–present 1918 – Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet and author (b. 1843) 1922 – Albert I, Prince of Monaco (b. 1848) 1927 – Armand Guillaumin, French painter (b. 1841) 1932 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (b. 1900) 1938 – James Weldon Johnson, American poet, lawyer and politician (b. 1871) 1938 – Daria Pratt, American golfer (b. 1859) 1939 – Ford Madox Ford, English novelist, poet, and critic (b. 1873) 1943 – Karl Landsteiner, Austrian biologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868) 1945 – Emil Hácha, Czech lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1872) 1946 – Max Kögel, German SS officer (b. 1895) 1946 – Yōsuke Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1880) 1947 – R. B. Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1870) 1949 – Kim Koo, South Korean educator and politician, 13th President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (b. 1876) 1955 – Engelbert Zaschka, German engineer (b. 1895) 1956 – Clifford Brown, American trumpet player and composer (b. 1930) 1956 – Richie Powell, American pianist (b. 1931) 1957 – Alfred Döblin, Polish-German physician and author (b. 1878) 1957 – Malcolm Lowry, English novelist and poet (b. 1909) 1958 – George Orton, Canadian runner and hurdler (b. 1873) 1958 – Andrija Štampar, Croatian physician and scholar (b. 1888) 1964 – Léo Dandurand, American-Canadian businessman (b. 1889) 1967 – Françoise Dorléac, French actress and singer (b. 1942) 1975 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and saint (b. 1902) 1979 – Akwasi Afrifa, Ghanaian soldier and politician, 3rd Head of State of Ghana (b. 1936) 1989 – Howard Charles Green, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Public Works (b. 1895) 1990 – Anni Blomqvist, Finnish author (b. 1909) 1992 – Buddy Rogers, American wrestler (b. 1921) 1993 – Roy Campanella, American baseball player and coach (b. 1921) 1993 – William H. Riker, American political scientist and academic (b. 1920) 1994 – Jahanara Imam, Bangladeshi author and activist (b. 1929) 1996 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (b. 1958) 1996 – Necmettin Hacıeminoğlu, Turkish linguist and academic (b. 1932) 1997 – Don Hutson, American football player and coach (b. 1913) 1998 – Hacı Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (b. 1935) 2002 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914) 2002 – Arnold Brown, English-Canadian 11th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1913) 2003 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroon footballer (b. 1975) 2003 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman (b. 1915) 2003 – Strom Thurmond, American general, lawyer, and politician, 103rd Governor of South Carolina (b. 1902) 2004 – Ott Arder, Estonian poet and translator (b. 1950) 2004 – Yash Johar, Indian film producer, founded Dharma Productions (b. 1929) 2004 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli singer-songwriter (b. 1930) 2005 – Tõnno Lepmets, Estonian basketball player (b. 1938) 2005 – Richard Whiteley, English journalist and game show host (b. 1943) 2006 – Tommy Wonder, Dutch magician (b. 1953) 2007 – Liz Claiborne, Belgian-American fashion designer, founded Liz Claiborne (b. 1929) 2007 – Joey Sadler, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1914) 2010 – Algirdas Brazauskas, Lithuanian engineer and politician, 2nd President of Lithuania (b. 1932) 2010 – Harald Keres, Estonian physicist and academic (b. 1912) 2011 – Edith Fellows, American actress (b. 1923) 2011 – Jan van Beveren, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1948) 2012 – Sverker Åström, Swedish diplomat, Swedish Permanent Representative to the United Nations (b. 1915) 2012 – Pat Cummings, American basketball player (b. 1956) 2012 – Nora Ephron, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941) 2012 – Mario O'Hara, Filipino director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944) 2012 – Doris Singleton, American actress (b. 1919) 2013 – Henrik Otto Donner, Finnish trumpet player and composer (b. 1939) 2013 – Edward Huggins Johnstone, Brazilian-American sergeant and judge (b. 1922) 2013 – Byron Looper, American politician (b. 1964) 2013 – Justin Miller, American baseball player (b. 1977) 2013 – Marc Rich, Belgian-American businessman (b. 1934) 2014 – Howard Baker, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, 12th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1925) 2014 – Bill Frank, American-Canadian football player (b. 1938) 2014 – Rollin King, American businessman, co-founded Southwest Airlines (b. 1931) 2014 – Bob Mischak, American football player and coach (b. 1932) 2014 – Julius Rudel, Austrian-American conductor (b. 1921) 2014 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (b. 1931) 2015 – Yevgeny Primakov, Ukrainian-Russian journalist and politician,
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Union Act, which establishes credit unions. 1936 – Initial flight of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, the first practical helicopter. 1940 – World War II: Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Romania requiring it to cede Bessarabia and the northern part of Bukovina. 1941 – World War II: Soviet planes bomb Kassa, Hungary (now Košice, Slovakia), giving Hungary the impetus to declare war the next day. 1942 – The first flight of the Grumman F6F Hellcat. 1944 – World War II: San Marino, a neutral state, is mistakenly bombed by the RAF based on faulty information, leading to 35 civilian deaths. 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Osuchy in Osuchy, Poland, one of the largest battles between Nazi Germany and Polish resistance forces, ends with the defeat of the latter. 1945 – The United Nations Charter is signed by 50 Allied nations in San Francisco, California. 1948 – Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade. 1948 – William Shockley files the original patent for the grown-junction transistor, the first bipolar junction transistor. 1948 – Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery is published in The New Yorker magazine. 1952 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewide labour parties. 1953 – Lavrentiy Beria, head of MVD, is arrested by Nikita Khrushchev and other members of the Politburo. 1955 – The South African Congress Alliance adopts the Freedom Charter at the Congress of the People in Kliptown. 1959 – Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson becomes world champion of heavy weight boxing, by defeating American Floyd Patterson on technical knockout after two minutes and three seconds in the third round at Yankee Stadium. 1960 – The former British Protectorate of British Somaliland gains its independence as Somaliland. 1960 – Madagascar gains its independence from France. 1963 – Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall. 1967 – Karol Wojtyła (later John Paul II) made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI. 1974 – The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time to sell a package of Wrigley's chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. 1975 – Two FBI agents and a member of the American Indian Movement are killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Leonard Peltier is later convicted of the murders in a controversial trial. 1977 – Elvis Presley held his final concert in Indianapolis, Indiana at Market Square Arena. 1978 – Air Canada Flight 189, flying to Toronto, overruns the runway and crashes into the Etobicoke Creek ravine. Two of the 107 passengers on board perish. 1981 – Dan-Air Flight 240, flying to East Midlands Airport, crashes in Nailstone, Leicestershire. All three crew members perish. 1988 – The first crash of an Airbus A320 occurs when Air France Flight 296 crashes at Mulhouse–Habsheim Airfield in Habsheim, France, during an air show, killing three of the 136 people on board. 1991 – Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People's Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia. 1995 – Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani deposes his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, in a bloodless coup d'état. 1997 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Communications Decency Act violates the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. 1997 – J. K. Rowling publishes the first of her Harry Potter novel series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in United Kingdom. 2000 – The Human Genome Project announces the completion of a "rough draft" sequence. 2003 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that gender-based sodomy laws are unconstitutional. 2006 – Mari Alkatiri, the first Prime Minister of East Timor, resigns after weeks of political unrest. 2007 – Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes. 2008 – A suicide bomber dressed as an Iraqi policeman detonates an explosive vest, killing 25 people. 2012 – The Waldo Canyon fire descends into the Mountain Shadows neighborhood in Colorado Springs burning 347 homes in a matter of hours and killing two people. 2013 – Riots in China's Xinjiang region kill at least 36 people and injure 21 others. 2013 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. 2015 – Five different terrorist attacks in France, Tunisia, Somalia, Kuwait, and Syria occurred on what was dubbed Bloody Friday by international media. Upwards of 750 people were either killed or injured in these uncoordinated attacks. 2015 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Births Pre-1600 12 BC – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (d. 14) 1399 – John, Count of Angoulême (d. 1467) 1575 – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg (d. 1612) 1581 – San Pedro Claver, Spanish Jesuit saint (d. 1654) 1600 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Spanish-born bishop and viceroy of New Spain (d. 1659) 1601–1900 1681 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden (d. 1708) 1689 – Edward Holyoke, American pastor and academic (d. 1769) 1694 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (d. 1768) 1699 – Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin, French businesswoman (d. 1777) 1702 – Philip Doddridge, English hymn-writer and educator (d. 1751) 1703 – Thomas Clap, American minister and academic (d. 1767) 1726 – Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia (d. 1796) 1730 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (d. 1817) 1764 – Jan Paweł Łuszczewski, Polish politician (d. 1812) 1786 – Sunthorn Phu, Thai poet (d. 1855) 1796 – Jan Paweł Lelewel, Polish painter and engineer (d. 1847) 1798 – Wolfgang Menzel, German poet and critic (d. 1873) 1817 – Branwell Brontë, English painter and poet (d. 1848) 1819 – Abner Doubleday, American general (d. 1893) 1821 – Bartolomé Mitre, Argentinian soldier, journalist, and politician, 6th President of Argentina (d. 1906) 1824 – William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, Irish-Scottish physicist and engineer (d. 1907) 1835 – Thomas W. Knox, American journalist and author (d. 1896) 1839 – Sam Watkins, American soldier and author (d. 1901) 1852 – Daoud Corm, Lebanese painter (d. 1930) 1854 – Robert Laird Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1937) 1865 – Bernard Berenson, Lithuanian-American historian and author (d. 1959) 1866 – George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English archaeologist and banker (d. 1923) 1869 – Martin Andersen Nexø, Danish journalist and author (d. 1954) 1878 – Leopold Löwenheim, German mathematician and logician (d. 1957) 1880 – Mitchell Lewis, American actor (d. 1956) 1881 – Ya'akov Cohen, Israeli linguist, poet, and playwright (d. 1960) 1892 – Pearl S. Buck, American novelist, essayist, short story writer Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973) 1893 – Dorothy Fuldheim, American journalist and news anchor(d. 1989) 1895 – George Hainsworth, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (d. 1950) 1898 – Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and businessman (d. 1978) 1898 – Chesty Puller, US general (d. 1971) 1899 – Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918) 1901–present 1901 – Stuart Symington, American lieutenant and politician, 1st United States Secretary of the Air Force (d. 1988) 1902 – Hugues Cuénod, Swiss tenor and educator (d. 2010) 1903 – Big Bill Broonzy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1958) 1904 – Frank Scott Hogg, Canadian astronomer and academic (d. 1951) 1904 – Peter Lorre, Slovak-American actor and singer (d. 1964) 1905 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (d. 1985) 1906 – Alberto Rabagliati, Italian singer (d. 1974) 1906 – Viktor Schreckengost, American sculptor and educator (d. 2008) 1907 – Debs Garms, American baseball player (d. 1984) 1908 – Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (d. 1973) 1909 – Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-American talent manager (d. 1997) 1909 – Wolfgang Reitherman, German-American animator, director, and producer (d. 1985) 1911 – Babe Didrikson Zaharias, American golfer and basketball player (d. 1956) 1911 – Bronisław Żurakowski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2009) 1913 – Aimé Césaire, French poet, author, and politician (d. 2008) 1913 – Maurice Wilkes, English computer scientist and physicist (d. 2010) 1914 – Laurie Lee, English author and poet (d. 1997) 1914 – Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, European royalty (d. 2001) 1915 – Paul Castellano, American gangster (d. 1985) 1915 – George Haigh, English professional footballer (d. 2019) 1915 – Charlotte Zolotow, American author and poet (d. 2013) 1916 – Virginia Satir, American psychotherapist and author (d. 1988) 1916 – Giuseppe Taddei, Italian actor and singer (d. 2010) 1917 – Idriz Ajeti, Albanian albanologist (d. 2019) 1918 – Leo Rosner, Polish-born Austrian Jewish musician (d. 2008) 1918 – Raleigh Rhodes, American combat fighter pilot (d. 2007) 1918 – J. B. Fuqua, American entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2006) 1919 – Richard Neustadt, American political scientist and academic (d. 2003) 1919 – Jimmy Newberry, American pitcher (d. 1983) 1919 – George Athan Billias, American historian (d. 2018) 1919 – Donald M. Ashton, English art director (d. 2004) 1920 – Jean-Pierre Roy, Canadian-American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster (d. 2014) 1921 – Violette Szabo, French-British secret agent (d. 1945) 1921 – Robert Everett, American computer scientist (d. 2018) 1922 – Walter Farley, American author (d. 1989) 1922 – Eleanor Parker, American actress (d. 2013) 1922 – Enzo Apicella, English artist, cartoonist, designer, and restaurateur (d. 2018) 1923 – Franz-Paul Decker, German conductor (d. 2014) 1923 – Ed Bearss, American military historian and author (d. 2020) 1924 – Kostas Axelos, Greek-French philosopher and author (d. 2010) 1924 – James W. McCord Jr., CIA officer (d. 2017) 1925 – Pavel Belyayev, Russian soldier, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1970) 1925 – Wolfgang Unzicker, German chess player (d. 2006) 1925 – Jean Frydman, French resistant and businessman (d. 2021) 1926 – Kenny Baker, American fiddler (d. 2011) 1926 – Mahendra Bhatnagar, Indian poet (d. 2020) 1926 – Fernando Mönckeberg Barros, Chilean surgeon 1926 – Dinu Zamfirescu, Romanian politician 1927 – Robert Kroetsch, Canadian author and poet (d. 2011) 1928 – Jacob Druckman, American composer and academic (d. 1996) 1928 – Yoshiro Nakamatsu, Japanese inventor 1928 – Bill Sheffield, American politician; 5th Governor of Alaska 1928 – Samuel Belzberg, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2018) 1929 – June Bronhill, Australian soprano and actress (d. 2005) 1929 – Fred Bruemmer, Latvian-Canadian photographer and author (d. 2013) 1929 – Milton Glaser, American illustrator and graphic designer (d. 2020) 1930 – Jackie Fargo, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2013) 1930 – Wolfgang Schwanitz, East German secret police 1931 – Colin Wilson, English philosopher and author (d. 2013) 1931 – Robert Colbert, American actor 1932 – Dame Marguerite Pindling, Bahamian politician; Governor-General of the Bahamas 1932 – Don Valentine, American venture capitalist (d. 2019) 1933 – Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (d. 2014) 1933 – Gene Green, American baseball player (d. 1981) 1933 – David Winnick, English politician 1934 – Dave Grusin, American pianist and composer 1934 – Toru Goto, Japanese swimmer 1935 – Carlo Facetti, Italian race car driver 1935 – Sandro Riminucci, Italian basketball player 1936 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (d. 2014) 1936 – Hal Greer, American basketball player (d. 2018) 1936 – Robert Maclennan, Baron Maclennan of Rogart, Scottish politician (d. 2020) 1936 – Edith Pearlman, American short story writer 1936 – Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (d. 2015) 1936 – Nancy Willard, American author and poet (d. 2017) 1937 – Robert Coleman Richardson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013) 1937 – Reggie Workman, American bassist and composer 1938 – Neil Abercrombie, American sociologist and politician, 7th Governor of Hawaii 1938 – Billy Davis Jr., American pop-soul singer 1938 – Gerald North, American climatologist and academic 1939 – Chuck Robb, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 64th Governor of Virginia 1939 – Zainuddin Maidin, Malaysian politician (d. 2018) 1941 – Yves Beauchemin, Canadian author and academic 1942 – J.J. Dillon, American wrestler and manager 1942 – Gilberto Gil, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and politician, Brazilian Minister of Culture 1943 – Georgie Fame, English singer, pianist, and keyboard player 1943 – Warren Farrell, American author and educator 1944 – Gennady Zyuganov, Russian politician 1945 – Dwight York, American singer 1946 – Candace Pert, American neuroscientist and pharmacologist (d. 2013) 1949 – Fredric Brandt, American dermatologist and author (d. 2015) 1949 – Adrian Gurvitz, English singer-songwriter and producer 1949 – Mary Styles Harris, American biologist and geneticist 1951 – Gary Gilmour, Australian cricketer and manager (d. 2014) 1952
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British invasions of the River Plate. 1844 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother Hyrum Smith, are killed by a mob at the Carthage, Illinois jail. 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate forces defeat Union forces during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain during the Atlanta Campaign. 1895 – The inaugural run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives. 1898 – The first solo circumnavigation of the globe is completed by Joshua Slocum from Briar Island, Nova Scotia. 1901–present 1905 – During the Russo-Japanese War, sailors start a mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin. 1914 – The Illinois Monument is dedicated at Cheatham Hill in what is now the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. 1927 – Prime Minister of Japan Tanaka Giichi convenes an eleven-day conference to discuss Japan's strategy in China. The Tanaka Memorial, a forged plan for world domination, is later claimed to be a secret report leaked from this conference. 1928 – The Rovaniemi township decree was promulgated, as a result of which Rovaniemi seceded from the old rural municipality as its own market town on January 1, 1929. 1941 – Romanian authorities launch one of the most violent pogroms in Jewish history in the city of Iași, resulting in the murder of at least 13,266 Jews. 1941 – World War II: German troops capture the city of Białystok during Operation Barbarossa. 1944 – World War II: Mogaung is the first place in Burma to be liberated from the Japanese by British 'Chindits', supported by the Chinese. 1946 – In the Canadian Citizenship Act, the Parliament of Canada establishes the definition of Canadian citizenship. 1950 – The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War. 1954 – The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, the Soviet Union's first nuclear power station, opens in Obninsk, near Moscow. 1954 – The FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match between Hungary and Brazil, highly anticipated to be exciting, instead turns violent, with three players ejected and further fighting continuing after the game. 1957 – Hurricane Audrey makes landfall near the Texas–Louisiana border, killing over 400 people, mainly in and around Cameron, Louisiana. 1973 – The President of Uruguay Juan María Bordaberry dissolves Parliament and establishes a dictatorship. 1974 – U.S. president Richard Nixon visits the Soviet Union. 1976 – Air France Flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) is hijacked en route to Paris by the PFLP and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda. 1977 – France grants independence to Djibouti. 1980 – The 'Ustica massacre': Itavia Flight 870 crashes in the sea while en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, killing all 81 on board. 1981 – The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issues its "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", laying the blame for the Cultural Revolution on Mao Zedong. 1982 – Space Shuttle Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the final research and development flight mission, STS-4. 1988 – The Gare de Lyon rail accident in Paris, France, kills 56 people. 1988 – Villa Tunari massacre: Bolivian anti-narcotics police kill nine to 12 and injure over a hundred protesting coca-growing peasants. 1991 – Two days after it had declared independence, Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War. 1994 – Members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult release sarin gas in Matsumoto, Japan. Seven people are killed, 660 injured. 2007 – Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997. His Chancellor, Gordon Brown succeeds him. 2007 – The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre. 2008 – In a highly scrutinized election President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters. 2013 – NASA launches the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, a space probe to observe the Sun. 2014 – At least fourteen people are killed when a Gas Authority of India Limited pipeline explodes in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, India. 2015 – Formosa Fun Coast fire: A dust fire occurs at a recreational water park in Taiwan, killing 15 people and injuring 497 others, 199 critically. 2017 – A series of powerful cyberattacks using the Petya malware target websites of Ukrainian organizations and counterparts with Ukrainian connections around the globe. Births Pre-1600 850 – Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya, Aghlabid emir (d. 902) 1350 – Manuel II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1425) 1430 – Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, Lancastrian leader (d. 1475) 1462 – Louis XII, king of France (d. 1515) 1464 – Ernst II of Saxony, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1513) (d. 1513) 1497 – Ernest I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1546) 1550 – Charles IX, king of France (d. 1574) 1596 – Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein (d. 1655) 1601–1900 1696 – William Pepperrell, American merchant and soldier (d. 1759) 1717 – Louis-Guillaume Le Monnier, French botanist and physicist (d. 1799) 1767 – Alexis Bouvard, French astronomer and academic (d. 1843) 1805 – Napoléon Coste, French guitarist and composer (d. 1883) 1806 – Augustus De Morgan, English mathematician and logician (d. 1871) 1812 – Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston, American writer (d. 1899) 1817 – Louise von François, German author (d. 1893) 1828 – Bryan O'Loghlen, Irish-Australian politician, 13th Premier of Victoria (d. 1905) 1838 – Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Indian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1894) 1838 – Paul Mauser, German weapon designer, designed the Gewehr 98 (d. 1914) 1846 – Charles Stewart Parnell, Irish politician (d. 1891) 1850 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1919) 1850 – Lafcadio Hearn, Greek-Japanese historian and author (d. 1904) 1862 – May Irwin, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 1938) 1865 – John Monash, Australian engineer and general (d. 1931) 1869 – Kate Carew, American illustrator and journalist (d. 1961) 1869 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-Canadian philosopher and activist (d. 1940) 1869 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941) 1870 – Frank Rattray Lillie, American zoologist and embryologist (d. 1947) 1872 – Heber Doust Curtis, American astronomer (d. 1942) 1872 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1906) 1880 – Helen Keller, American author, academic, and activist (d. 1968) 1882 – Eduard Spranger, German philosopher and academic (d. 1963) 1884 – Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (d. 1962) 1885 – Pierre Montet, French historian and academic (d. 1966) 1885 – Guilhermina Suggia, Portuguese cellist (d. 1950) 1886 – Charlie Macartney, Australian cricketer and soldier (d. 1958) 1888 – Lewis Bernstein Namier, Polish-English historian and academic (d. 1960) 1888 – Antoinette Perry, American actress and director (d. 1946) 1892 – Paul Colin, French illustrator (d. 1985) 1899 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (d. 1981) 1900 – Dixie Brown, British boxer (d. 1957) 1901–present 1901 – Merle Tuve, American geophysicist and academic (d. 1982) 1905 – Armand Mondou, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1976) 1906 – Vernon Watkins, Welsh-American poet and painter (d. 1967) 1907 – John McIntire, American actor (d. 1991) 1908 – João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian physician and author (d. 1967) 1911 – Marion M. Magruder, American Marine officer, commander of the VMF(N)-533 squadron. (d. 1997) 1912 – E. R. Braithwaite, Guyanese novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat (d. 2016) 1913 – Elton Britt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972) 1913 – Philip Guston, American painter and academic (d. 1980) 1913 – Willie Mosconi, American pool player (d. 1993) 1914 – Robert Aickman, English author and activist, co-founded the Inland Waterways Association (d. 1981) 1914 – Helena Benitez, Filipina academic and administrator (d. 2016) 1914 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1988) 1915 – Grace Lee Boggs, American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 2015) 1915 – Aideu Handique, Indian actress (d. 2002) 1915 – John Alexander Moore, American zoologist and academic (d. 2002) 1916 – Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (d. 1998) 1918 – Adolph Kiefer, American swimmer (d. 2017) 1919 – M. Carl Holman, American author, educator, poet, and playwright (d. 1988) 1919 – Amala Shankar, Indian danseuse (d. 2020) 1920 – Fernando Riera, Chilean football player and manager (d. 2010) 1921 – Muriel Pavlow, English actress (d. 2019) 1922 – George Walker, American composer (d. 2018) 1923 – Jacques Berthier, French organist and composer (d. 1994) 1923 – Elmo Hope, American pianist and composer (d. 1967) 1924 – Bob Appleyard, English cricketer and businessman (d. 2015) 1925 – Leonard Lerman, American geneticist and biologist (d. 2012) 1925 – Doc Pomus, American singer-songwriter (d. 1991) 1925 – Wayne Terwilliger, American second baseman, coach, and manager (d. 2021) 1927 – Bob Keeshan, American actor and producer (d. 2004) 1928 – James Lincoln Collier, American journalist and author 1928 – Rudy Perpich, American dentist and politician, 34th Governor of Minnesota (d. 1995) 1929 – Dick the Bruiser, American football player and wrestler (d. 1991) 1929 – Peter Maas, American journalist and author (d. 2001) 1930 – Ross Perot, American businessman and politician (d. 2019) 1930 – Tommy Kono, Japanese American weightlifter (d. 2016) 1931 – Charles Bronfman, Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist 1931 – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021) 1932 – Eddie Kasko, American baseball player and manager (d. 2020) 1932 – Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (d. 2006) 1932 – Hugh Wood, English composer (d. 2021) 1936 – Lucille Clifton, American author
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Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1919) 1850 – Lafcadio Hearn, Greek-Japanese historian and author (d. 1904) 1862 – May Irwin, Canadian-American actress and singer (d. 1938) 1865 – John Monash, Australian engineer and general (d. 1931) 1869 – Kate Carew, American illustrator and journalist (d. 1961) 1869 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-Canadian philosopher and activist (d. 1940) 1869 – Hans Spemann, German embryologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941) 1870 – Frank Rattray Lillie, American zoologist and embryologist (d. 1947) 1872 – Heber Doust Curtis, American astronomer (d. 1942) 1872 – Paul Laurence Dunbar, American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1906) 1880 – Helen Keller, American author, academic, and activist (d. 1968) 1882 – Eduard Spranger, German philosopher and academic (d. 1963) 1884 – Gaston Bachelard, French philosopher and poet (d. 1962) 1885 – Pierre Montet, French historian and academic (d. 1966) 1885 – Guilhermina Suggia, Portuguese cellist (d. 1950) 1886 – Charlie Macartney, Australian cricketer and soldier (d. 1958) 1888 – Lewis Bernstein Namier, Polish-English historian and academic (d. 1960) 1888 – Antoinette Perry, American actress and director (d. 1946) 1892 – Paul Colin, French illustrator (d. 1985) 1899 – Juan Trippe, American businessman, founded Pan American World Airways (d. 1981) 1900 – Dixie Brown, British boxer (d. 1957) 1901–present 1901 – Merle Tuve, American geophysicist and academic (d. 1982) 1905 – Armand Mondou, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1976) 1906 – Vernon Watkins, Welsh-American poet and painter (d. 1967) 1907 – John McIntire, American actor (d. 1991) 1908 – João Guimarães Rosa, Brazilian physician and author (d. 1967) 1911 – Marion M. Magruder, American Marine officer, commander of the VMF(N)-533 squadron. (d. 1997) 1912 – E. R. Braithwaite, Guyanese novelist, writer, teacher, and diplomat (d. 2016) 1913 – Elton Britt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972) 1913 – Philip Guston, American painter and academic (d. 1980) 1913 – Willie Mosconi, American pool player (d. 1993) 1914 – Robert Aickman, English author and activist, co-founded the Inland Waterways Association (d. 1981) 1914 – Helena Benitez, Filipina academic and administrator (d. 2016) 1914 – Giorgio Almirante, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1988) 1915 – Grace Lee Boggs, American philosopher, author, and activist (d. 2015) 1915 – Aideu Handique, Indian actress (d. 2002) 1915 – John Alexander Moore, American zoologist and academic (d. 2002) 1916 – Robert Normann, Norwegian guitarist (d. 1998) 1918 – Adolph Kiefer, American swimmer (d. 2017) 1919 – M. Carl Holman, American author, educator, poet, and playwright (d. 1988) 1919 – Amala Shankar, Indian danseuse (d. 2020) 1920 – Fernando Riera, Chilean football player and manager (d. 2010) 1921 – Muriel Pavlow, English actress (d. 2019) 1922 – George Walker, American composer (d. 2018) 1923 – Jacques Berthier, French organist and composer (d. 1994) 1923 – Elmo Hope, American pianist and composer (d. 1967) 1924 – Bob Appleyard, English cricketer and businessman (d. 2015) 1925 – Leonard Lerman, American geneticist and biologist (d. 2012) 1925 – Doc Pomus, American singer-songwriter (d. 1991) 1925 – Wayne Terwilliger, American second baseman, coach, and manager (d. 2021) 1927 – Bob Keeshan, American actor and producer (d. 2004) 1928 – James Lincoln Collier, American journalist and author 1928 – Rudy Perpich, American dentist and politician, 34th Governor of Minnesota (d. 1995) 1929 – Dick the Bruiser, American football player and wrestler (d. 1991) 1929 – Peter Maas, American journalist and author (d. 2001) 1930 – Ross Perot, American businessman and politician (d. 2019) 1930 – Tommy Kono, Japanese American weightlifter (d. 2016) 1931 – Charles Bronfman, Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist 1931 – Martinus J. G. Veltman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2021) 1932 – Eddie Kasko, American baseball player and manager (d. 2020) 1932 – Anna Moffo, American operatic soprano (d. 2006) 1932 – Hugh Wood, English composer (d. 2021) 1936 – Lucille Clifton, American author and poet (d. 2010) 1936 – Shirley Anne Field, English actress 1937 – Joseph P. Allen, American physicist and astronaut 1937 – Otto Herrigel, Namibian lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1937 – Kirkpatrick Sale, American author and scholar 1938 – Bruce Babbitt, American lawyer and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Interior 1938 – David Hope, Baron Hope of Craighead, Scottish lieutenant and judge 1938 – Konrad Kujau, German illustrator (d. 2000) 1939 – R. D. Burman, Indian singer-songwriter (d. 1994) 1939 – Neil Hawke, Australian cricketer and footballer (d. 2000) 1940 – Ian Lang, Baron Lang of Monkton, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Scotland 1941 – Bill Baxley, American lawyer and politician, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Alabama 1941 – James P. Hogan, English-Irish author (d. 2010) 1941 – Krzysztof Kieślowski, Polish director and screenwriter (d. 1996) 1942 – Bruce Johnston, American singer-songwriter and producer 1942 – Frank Mills, Canadian pianist and composer 1942 – Danny Schechter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1943 – Ravi Batra, Indian-American economist and academic 1944 – Angela King, English environmentalist and author, co-founded Common Ground 1944 – Patrick Sercu, Belgian cyclist (d. 2019) 1945 – Joey Covington, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2013) 1945 – Norma Kamali, American fashion designer 1948 – Camile Baudoin, American guitarist 1949 – Vera Wang, American fashion designer 1951 – Ulf Andersson, Swedish chess player 1951 – Julia Duffy, American actress 1951 – Gilson Lavis, English drummer and portrait artist 1951 – Mary McAleese, Irish academic and politician, 8th President of Ireland 1952 – Madan Bhandari, Nepalese politician (d. 1993) 1953 – Igor Gräzin, Estonian academic and politician 1953 – Alice McDermott, American novelist 1954 – Richard Ibbotson, English admiral 1955 – Isabelle Adjani, French actress 1956 – Heiner Dopp, German field hockey player and politician 1957 – Gabriella Dorio, Italian runner 1958 – Lisa Germano, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1958 – Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996) 1959 – Dan Jurgens, American author and illustrator 1959 – Lorrie Morgan, American singer 1960 – Craig Hodges, American basketball player and coach 1960 – Michael Mayer, American theatre director 1960 – Robert King, English harpsichordist and conductor 1960 – Jeremy Swift, English actor 1962 – Michael Ball, English actor and singer 1962 – Sunanda Pushkar, India-born Canadian businesswoman (d. 2014) 1963 – Wendy Alexander, Scottish politician, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning 1963 – Johnny Benson Jr., American race car driver 1964 – Stephan Brenninkmeijer, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter 1964 – Chuck Person, American basketball player and coach 1965 – Simon Sebag Montefiore, English journalist, historian, and author 1965 – S. Manikavasagam, Malaysian politician and social activist 1965 – Óscar Vega, Spanish boxer 1966 – J. J. Abrams, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1966 – Jörg Bergen, German footballer and manager 1966 – Jeff Conine, American baseball player and sportscaster 1966 – Aigars Kalvītis, Latvian politician, businessman, and former Prime Minister of Latvia 1967 – Sylvie Fréchette, Canadian swimmer and coach 1967 – George Hamilton, Northern Irish police officer 1967 – Vasiliy Kaptyukh, Belarusian discus thrower 1967 – Phil Kearns, Australian rugby player and sportscaster 1968 – Kelly Ayotte, American lawyer and politician, New Hampshire Attorney General 1969 – Viktor Petrenko, Ukrainian figure skater 1970 – Régine Cavagnoud, French skier (d. 2001) 1970 – John Eales, Australian rugby player and businessman 1970 – Jim Edmonds, American baseball player and sportscaster 1970 – Jo Frost, English nanny, television personality, and author 1971 – Serginho, Brazilian footballer 1972 – Dawud Wharnsby, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1973 – Abbath Doom Occulta, Norwegian musician 1973 – Simon Archer, English badminton player 1974 – Christian Kane, American singer-songwriter and actor 1974 – Christopher O'Neill, English-American businessman 1975 – Ace Darling, American wrestler 1975 – Bianca Del Rio, American drag queen & comedian 1975 – Sarah Evanetz, Canadian swimmer 1975 – Tobey Maguire, American actor 1975 – Daryle Ward, American baseball player 1976 – Johnny Estrada, American baseball player 1976 – Leigh Nash, American singer-songwriter 1977 – Arkadiusz Radomski, Polish footballer 1978 – Apparat, German musician 1980 – Hugo Campagnaro, Argentinian footballer 1980 – Jennifer Goodridge, American keyboard player 1980 – Alexander Peya, Austrian tennis player 1980 – Kevin Pietersen, South African-English cricketer 1980 – Craig Terrill, American football player 1981 – Andrew Embley, Australian footballer 1983 – Jim Johnson, American baseball player 1983 – Dale Steyn, South African cricketer 1983 – Nikola Rakočević, Serbian actor 1984 – Khloé Kardashian, American model, businesswoman, and radio host 1984 – D.J. King, Canadian ice hockey player 1984 – Gökhan Inler, Swiss footballer 1985 – James Hook, Welsh rugby player 1985 – Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russian tennis player
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1719 – Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French general and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1785) 1734 – Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier, French organist and composer (d. 1794) 1742 – William Hooper, American physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1790) 1824 – Paul Broca, French physician, anatomist, and anthropologist (d. 1880) 1825 – Emil Erlenmeyer, German chemist (d. 1909) 1831 – Joseph Joachim, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1907) 1836 – Emmanuel Rhoides, Greek journalist and author (d. 1904) 1844 – John Boyle O'Reilly, Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer (d. 1890) 1852 – Charles Cruft, English showman, founded Crufts Dog Show (d. 1938) 1867 – Luigi Pirandello, Italian dramatist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936) 1873 – Alexis Carrel, French surgeon and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1944) 1875 – Henri Lebesgue, French mathematician and academic (d. 1941) 1879 – Wilhelm Steinkopf, German chemist (d. 1949) 1880 – John Meyers, American swimmer and water polo player (d. 1971) 1883 – Pierre Laval, French soldier and politician, 101st Prime Minister of France (d. 1945) 1884 – Lamina Sankoh, Sierra Leonean banker and politician (d. 1964) 1888 – George Challenor, Barbadian cricketer (d. 1947) 1888 – Stefi Geyer, Hungarian violinist and educator (d. 1956) 1891 – Esther Forbes, American historian and author (d. 1968) 1891 – Carl Spaatz, American general (d. 1974) 1892 – Carl Panzram, American serial killer (d. 1930) 1893 – August Zamoyski, Polish-French sculptor (d. 1970) 1894 – Jessie Baetz, Canadian-American artist, composer and pianist (d. 1974 or later) 1894 – Francis Hunter, American tennis player (d. 1981) 1901–present 1902 – Richard Rodgers, American playwright and composer (d. 1979) 1906 – Maria Goeppert Mayer, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972) 1907 – Jimmy Mundy, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1983) 1907 – Yvonne Sylvain, First female Haitian physician (d. 1989) 1909 – Eric Ambler, English author and screenwriter (d. 1998) 1912 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (d. 2007) 1913 – Franz Antel, Austrian director and producer (d. 2007) 1913 – George Lloyd, English soldier and composer (d. 1998) 1913 – Walter Oesau, German colonel and pilot (d. 1944) 1914 – Aribert Heim, Austrian SS physician and Nazi war criminal (d. 1992) 1917 – A. E. Hotchner, American author and playwright (d. 2020) 1918 – William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, Scottish-English politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1999) 1919 – Joseph P. Lordi, American government official (d. 1983) 1920 – Clarissa Eden, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2021) 1921 – P. V. Narasimha Rao, Indian lawyer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of India (d. 2004) 1922 – Hans Frauenfelder, American physicist and biophysicist 1923 – Pete Candoli, American trumpet player (d. 2008) 1923 – Adolfo Schwelm Cruz, Argentinian racing driver (d. 2012) 1923 – Gaye Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2010) 1924 – Kalevi Keihänen, Finnish entrepreneur (d. 1995) 1926 – George Booth, American cartoonist 1926 – Mel Brooks, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1926 – Robert Ledley, American academic and inventor (d. 2012) 1927 – Correlli Barnett, English historian and author 1927 – Frank Sherwood Rowland, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012) 1928 – Hans Blix, Swedish politician and diplomat, 33rd Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs 1928 – Patrick Hemingway, American writer 1928 – Harold Evans, English-American historian and journalist (d. 2020) 1928 – Peter Heine, South African cricketer (d. 2005) 1928 – Cyril Smith, English politician (d. 2010) 1929 – Alfred Miodowicz, Polish politician (d.2021) 1930 – William C. Campbell, Irish-American biologist and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1930 – Itamar Franco, Brazilian engineer and politician, 33rd President of Brazil (d. 2011) 1930 – Jack Gold, English director and producer (d. 2015) 1931 – Hans Alfredson, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2017) 1931 – Junior Johnson, American race car driver (d. 2019) 1931 – Lucien Victor, Belgian cyclist (d. 1995) 1932 – Pat Morita, American actor (d. 2005) 1933 – Gusty Spence, Northern Irish loyalist and politician (d. 2011) 1934 – Robert Carswell, Baron Carswell, Northern Irish lawyer and judge, Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland 1934 – Roy Gilchrist, Jamaican cricketer (d. 2001) 1934 – Bette Greene, American journalist and author (d. 2020) 1934 – Carl Levin, American lawyer and politician (d.2021) 1934 – Georges Wolinski, Tunisian-French journalist and cartoonist (d. 2015) 1935 – John Inman, English actor (d. 2007) 1936 – Chuck Howley, American football player 1937 – George Knudson, Canadian golfer (d. 1989) 1937 – Fernand Labrie, Canadian endocrinologist and academic (d. 2019) 1937 – Ron Luciano, American baseball player and umpire (d. 1995) 1938 – John Byner, American actor and comedian 1938 – Leon Panetta, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of Defense 1938 – S. Sivamaharajah, Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher and politician (d. 2006) 1938 – Simon Douglas-Pennant, 7th Baron Penrhyn, British baron 1939 – Klaus Schmiegel, German chemist 1940 – Karpal Singh, Malaysian lawyer and politician (d. 2014) 1940 – Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1941 – Al Downing, American baseball player and sportscaster 1941 – Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist and academic, developed the OBJ language (d. 2006) 1941 – David Johnston, Canadian academic, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor General of Canada 1942 – Chris Hani, South African politician (d. 1993) 1942 – Hans-Joachim Walde, German decathlete (d. 2013) 1942 – Frank Zane, American professional bodybuilder and author 1943 – Jens Birkemose, Danish painter 1943 – Donald Johanson, American paleontologist and academic 1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1945 – Ken Buchanan, Scottish boxer 1945 – David Knights, English bass player and producer 1945 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1989) 1945 – Türkan Şoray, Turkish actress, director, and screenwriter 1946 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (d. 2008) 1946 – Bruce Davison, American actor and director 1946 – David Duckham, English rugby player 1946 – Robert Xavier Rodríguez, American classical composer 1946 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (d. 1991) 1946 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (d. 1989) 1947 – Mark Helprin, American novelist and journalist 1947 – Laura Tyson, American economist and academic 1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress 1948 – Sergei Bodrov, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter 1948 – Deborah Moggach, English author and screenwriter 1948 – Daniel Wegner, Canadian-American psychologist and academic (d. 2013) 1949 – Don Baylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017) 1950 – Philip Fowke, English pianist and educator 1950 – Mauricio Rojas, Chilean-Swedish economist and politician 1950 – Chris Speier, American baseball player and coach 1951 – Mick Cronin, Australian rugby league player and coach 1951 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (d. 2014) 1951 – Lalla Ward, English actress and author 1952 – Enis Batur, Turkish poet and author 1952 – Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (d. 2013) 1952 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, French physician and author 1954 – A. A. Gill, Scottish author and critic (d. 2016) 1954 – Alice Krige, South African actress 1955 – Shirley Cheriton, British actress 1956 – Amira Hass, Israeli journalist and author 1956 – Noel Mugavin, Australian footballer and coach 1957 – Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1957 – Georgi Parvanov, Bulgarian historian and politician, 4th President of Bulgaria 1957 – Mike Skinner, American race car driver 1957 – Jim Spanarkel, American basketball player and sportscaster 1958 – Donna Edwards, American lawyer and politician 1958 – Félix Gray, Tunisian-French singer-songwriter 1959 – Clint Boon, English singer and keyboard player 1959 – John Shelley, British illustrator 1960 – John Elway, American football player and manager 1960 – Roland Melanson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1961 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player and coach 1962 – Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu, Romanian long jumper 1962 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (d. 2013) 1962 – Ann-Louise Skoglund, Swedish hurdler 1963 – Peter Baynham, Welsh actor, producer, and screenwriter 1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer 1964 – Christina Ashcroft, Canadian sport shooter 1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player and sportscaster 1964 – Bernie McCahill, New Zealand rugby player 1964 – Dan Stains, Australian rugby league player and coach 1964 – Steve Williamson, English saxophonist and composer 1965 – Jessica Hecht, American actress 1965 – Tiaan Strauss, South African rugby player 1966 – Peeter Allik, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 2019) 1966 – Bobby Bare Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – John Cusack, American actor and screenwriter 1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress 1967 – Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician, 7th Canadian Minister of Health 1967 – Gil Bellows, Canadian actor and producer 1967 – Zhong Huandi, Chinese runner 1967 – Lars Riedel, German discus thrower 1968 – Chayanne, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and actor 1969 – Tichina Arnold, American actress and singer 1969 – Stéphane Chapuisat, Swiss footballer 1969 – Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler 1970 – Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer and coach 1970 – Tom Merritt, American journalist 1970 – Mike White, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1971 – Lorenzo Amoruso, Italian footballer 1971 – Fabien Barthez, French footballer 1971 – Bobby Hurley, American basketball player and coach 1971 – Ron Mahay, American baseball player and scout 1971 – Elon Musk, South African-born American entrepreneur 1971 – Aileen Quinn, American actress and singer 1972 – Ngô Bảo Châu, Vietnamese-French mathematician and academic 1972 – Chris Leslie, English politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 1972 – Geeta Tripathee, Nepali poet, lyricist and literary critic 1972 – Alessandro Nivola, American actor 1973 – Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower 1973 – Corey Koskie, Canadian baseball player 1974 – Rob Dyrdek, American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and reality television star 1975 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish singer-songwriter, and guitarist
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Danish painter 1943 – Donald Johanson, American paleontologist and academic 1943 – Klaus von Klitzing, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1945 – Ken Buchanan, Scottish boxer 1945 – David Knights, English bass player and producer 1945 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1989) 1945 – Türkan Şoray, Turkish actress, director, and screenwriter 1946 – Robert Asprin, American soldier and author (d. 2008) 1946 – Bruce Davison, American actor and director 1946 – David Duckham, English rugby player 1946 – Robert Xavier Rodríguez, American classical composer 1946 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (d. 1991) 1946 – Gilda Radner, American actress and comedian (d. 1989) 1947 – Mark Helprin, American novelist and journalist 1947 – Laura Tyson, American economist and academic 1948 – Kathy Bates, American actress 1948 – Sergei Bodrov, Russian-American director, producer, and screenwriter 1948 – Deborah Moggach, English author and screenwriter 1948 – Daniel Wegner, Canadian-American psychologist and academic (d. 2013) 1949 – Don Baylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017) 1950 – Philip Fowke, English pianist and educator 1950 – Mauricio Rojas, Chilean-Swedish economist and politician 1950 – Chris Speier, American baseball player and coach 1951 – Mick Cronin, Australian rugby league player and coach 1951 – Mark Shand, English conservationist and author (d. 2014) 1951 – Lalla Ward, English actress and author 1952 – Enis Batur, Turkish poet and author 1952 – Pietro Mennea, Italian sprinter and politician (d. 2013) 1952 – Jean-Christophe Rufin, French physician and author 1954 – A. A. Gill, Scottish author and critic (d. 2016) 1954 – Alice Krige, South African actress 1955 – Shirley Cheriton, British actress 1956 – Amira Hass, Israeli journalist and author 1956 – Noel Mugavin, Australian footballer and coach 1957 – Lance Nethery, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1957 – Georgi Parvanov, Bulgarian historian and politician, 4th President of Bulgaria 1957 – Mike Skinner, American race car driver 1957 – Jim Spanarkel, American basketball player and sportscaster 1958 – Donna Edwards, American lawyer and politician 1958 – Félix Gray, Tunisian-French singer-songwriter 1959 – Clint Boon, English singer and keyboard player 1959 – John Shelley, British illustrator 1960 – John Elway, American football player and manager 1960 – Roland Melanson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1961 – Jeff Malone, American basketball player and coach 1962 – Anișoara Cușmir-Stanciu, Romanian long jumper 1962 – Artur Hajzer, Polish mountaineer (d. 2013) 1962 – Ann-Louise Skoglund, Swedish hurdler 1963 – Peter Baynham, Welsh actor, producer, and screenwriter 1963 – Charlie Clouser, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer 1964 – Christina Ashcroft, Canadian sport shooter 1964 – Mark Grace, American baseball player and sportscaster 1964 – Bernie McCahill, New Zealand rugby player 1964 – Dan Stains, Australian rugby league player and coach 1964 – Steve Williamson, English saxophonist and composer 1965 – Jessica Hecht, American actress 1965 – Tiaan Strauss, South African rugby player 1966 – Peeter Allik, Estonian painter and illustrator (d. 2019) 1966 – Bobby Bare Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – John Cusack, American actor and screenwriter 1966 – Mary Stuart Masterson, American actress 1967 – Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian politician, 7th Canadian Minister of Health 1967 – Gil Bellows, Canadian actor and producer 1967 – Zhong Huandi, Chinese runner 1967 – Lars Riedel, German discus thrower 1968 – Chayanne, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and actor 1969 – Tichina Arnold, American actress and singer 1969 – Stéphane Chapuisat, Swiss footballer 1969 – Fabrizio Mori, Italian hurdler 1970 – Mushtaq Ahmed, Pakistani cricketer and coach 1970 – Tom Merritt, American journalist 1970 – Mike White, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1971 – Lorenzo Amoruso, Italian footballer 1971 – Fabien Barthez, French footballer 1971 – Bobby Hurley, American basketball player and coach 1971 – Ron Mahay, American baseball player and scout 1971 – Elon Musk, South African-born American entrepreneur 1971 – Aileen Quinn, American actress and singer 1972 – Ngô Bảo Châu, Vietnamese-French mathematician and academic 1972 – Chris Leslie, English politician, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer 1972 – Geeta Tripathee, Nepali poet, lyricist and literary critic 1972 – Alessandro Nivola, American actor 1973 – Adrián Annus, Hungarian hammer thrower 1973 – Corey Koskie, Canadian baseball player 1974 – Rob Dyrdek, American skateboarder, entrepreneur, and reality television star 1975 – Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish singer-songwriter, and guitarist (d. 2006) 1976 – Shinobu Asagoe, Japanese tennis player 1976 – Seth Wescott, American snowboarder 1977 – Chris Spurling, American baseball player 1977 – Mark Stoermer, American bass player, songwriter, and producer 1977 – Harun Tekin, Turkish singer and guitarist 1978 – Simon Larose, Canadian tennis player 1979 – Randy McMichael, American football player 1979 – Neil Shanahan, Irish racing driver (d. 1999) 1979 – Florian Zeller, French author and playwright 1980 – Jevgeni Novikov, Estonian footballer 1981 – Savage, New Zealand rapper 1981 – Michael Crafter, Australian singer-songwriter 1981 – Guillermo Martínez, Cuban javelin thrower 1981 – Brandon Phillips, American baseball player 1982 – Ibrahim Camejo, Cuban long jumper 1985 – Phil Bardsley, English footballer 1985 – Colt Hynes, American baseball player 1986 – Kellie Pickler, American singer-songwriter 1987 – Sonata Tamošaitytė, Lithuanian hurdler 1987 – Terrence Williams, American basketball player 1989 – Jason Clark, Australian rugby league player 1989 – Andrew Fifita, Australian rugby league player 1989 – David Fifita, Australian rugby league player 1989 – Julia Zlobina, Russian-Azerbaijani figure skater 1989 – Markiplier, American internet personality 1989 – Nicole Rottmann, Austrian tennis player 1991 – Seohyun, South Korean singer, dancer, and actress 1991 – Kevin De Bruyne, Belgian footballer 1991 – Kang Min-hyuk, South Korean singer, drummer, and actor 1992 – Oscar Hiljemark, Swedish footballer 1992 – Elaine Thompson, Jamaican sprinter 1993 – Bradley Beal, American basketball player 1994 – Hussein, Crown Prince of Jordan 1994 – Emily Blue, American singer-songwriter 1996 – Donna Vekić, Croatian tennis player 1996 – Larissa Werbicki, Canadian rower 1997 – Tadasuke Makino, Japanese racing driver 1999 – Markéta Vondroušová, Czech tennis player 2002 – Marta Kostyuk, Ukrainian tennis player Deaths Pre-1600 202 – Yuan Shao, Chinese warlord 548 – Theodora I, Byzantine empress 572 – Alboin, King of the Lombards 683 – Leo II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 611) 767 – Paul I, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 700) 975 – Cyneweard, bishop of Wells 1031 – Taira no Tadatsune, Japanese governor 1061 – Floris I, count of Holland 1175 – Andrey Bogolyubsky, Russian Grand Prince (b. 1111) 1189 – Matilda of England, Duchess of Saxony, (b. 1156) 1194 – Xiao Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1127) 1385 – Andronikos IV, Byzantine emperor (b. 1348) 1497 – James Tuchet, 7th Baron Audley, English rebel leader (b. c. 1463) 1575 – Yonekura Shigetsugu, Japanese samurai 1586 – Primož Trubar, Slovenian author and reformer (b. 1508) 1598 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (b. 1527) 1601–1900 1607 – Domenico Fontana, Italian architect (b. 1543) 1716 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1665) 1757 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I (b. 1687) 1798 – John Henry Colclough, Irish revolutionary (b. c. 1769) 1813 – Gerhard von Scharnhorst, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (b. 1755) 1834 – Joseph Bové, Russian architect, designed the Triumphal Arch of Moscow (b. 1784) 1836 – James Madison, American academic and politician, 4th President of the United States (b. 1751) 1880 – Texas Jack Omohundro, American soldier and hunter (b. 1846) 1881 – Jules Armand Dufaure, French politician, 33rd Prime Minister of France (b. 1798) 1889 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer and academic (b. 1818) 1892 – Alexandros Rizos Rangavis, Greek poet and politician, Greek Foreign Minister (b. 1810) 1901–present 1913 – Manuel Ferraz de Campos Sales, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 4th President of Brazil (b. 1841) 1914 – Sophie, duchess of Hohenberg (b. 1868) 1914 – Franz Ferdinand, archduke of Austria (b. 1863) 1915 – Victor Trumper, Australian cricketer (b. 1877) 1917 – Ștefan Luchian, Romanian painter and educator (b. 1868) 1922 – Velimir Khlebnikov, Russian poet and playwright (b. 1885) 1925 – Georgina Febres-Cordero, Venezuelan nun (b. 1861) 1929 – Edward Carpenter, English poet and philosopher (b. 1844) 1936 – Alexander Berkman, American author and activist (d. 1870) 1939 – Douglas H. Johnston, governor of the Chickasaw Nation (b. 1856) 1940 – Italo Balbo, Italian air marshal and politician (b. 1896) 1944 – Friedrich Dollmann, German general (b. 1882) 1945 – Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu, Turkish journalist (b. 1879) 1947 – Stanislav Kostka Neumann, Czech writer, poet and journalist (b. 1875) 1960 – Jake Swirbul, American businessman, co-founded the Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation (b. 1898) 1962 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (b. 1903) 1962 – Cy Morgan, American baseball player (b. 1878) 1965 – Red Nichols, American cornet player, bandleader, and composer (b. 1905) 1966 – Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Turkish historian and politician, 21st Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1890) 1971 – Franz Stangl, Austrian SS officer (b. 1908) 1974 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (b. 1890) 1975 – Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis, Greek architect (b. 1913) 1975 – Rod Serling, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1924) 1978 – Clifford Dupont, English-Rhodesian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Rhodesia (b. 1905) 1980 – José Iturbi, Spanish pianist and conductor (b. 1895) 1981 – Terry Fox, Canadian runner and activist (b. 1958) 1983 – Alf Francis, German-English motor racing mechanic and racing car constructor (b. 1918) 1984 – Yigael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, general, and politician (b. 1917) 1985 – Lynd Ward, American author and illustrator (b. 1905) 1989 – Joris Ivens, Dutch journalist, director, and producer (b. 1898) 1992 – Guy Nève, Belgian racing driver (b. 1955) 1992 – Mikhail Tal, Latvian chess player (b. 1936) 1995 – Petri Walli, Finnish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969) 1999 – Vere Bird, first Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda (b. 1910) 2000 – Nils Poppe, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1908) 2001 – Mortimer J. Adler, American philosopher and author (b. 1902) 2003 – Joan Lowery Nixon, American journalist and author (b. 1927) 2004 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (b. 1912) 2005 – Brenda Howard, American activist (b. 1946) 2005 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1976) 2006 – Jim Baen, American publisher, founded Baen Books (b. 1943) 2006 – Peter Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell, English lawyer and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1919) 2006 – George Unwin, English pilot and commander (b. 1913) 2007 – Eugene B. Fluckey, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1913) 2007 – Kiichi Miyazawa, Japanese lawyer and politician, 78th Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1919) 2009 – A. K. Lohithadas, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1955) 2009 – Billy Mays, American TV personality (b. 1958) 2010 – Robert Byrd, American lawyer and politician (b. 1917) 2012 – Richard Isay, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1934) 2012 – Leontine T. Kelly, American bishop (b. 1920) 2012 – Robert Sabatier, French author and poet (b. 1923) 2012 – Doris Sams, American baseball player (b. 1927) 2013 – Ted Hood, American sailor and architect (b. 1927) 2013 – Tamás Katona, Hungarian historian and politician (b. 1932) 2013 – Kenneth Minogue, New Zealand-Australian political scientist and academic (b. 1930) 2013 – F. D. Reeve, American author and academic (b. 1928) 2013 – David Rubitsky, American sergeant (b. 1917) 2014 – Seymour Barab, American cellist and composer (b. 1921) 2014 – Jim Brosnan, American baseball player (b. 1929) 2014 – On Kawara, Japanese painter (b. 1933) 2014 – Meshach Taylor, American actor (b. 1947) 2015 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (b. 1922) 2015 – Jope Seniloli, Fijian politician, Vice-President of Fiji (b. 1939) 2015 – Wally Stanowski, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919) 2016 – Scotty Moore, American guitarist (b. 1931) 2016 – Pat Summitt, American women's college basketball head coach (b. 1952) 2016 – Buddy Ryan, American football coach (b. 1931) 2018 – Harlan Ellison, American writer (b. 1934) Holidays and observances Christian feast day: Basilides and Potamiana Irenaeus of Lyon (Western Christianity) Heimerad Blessed Maria Pia Mastena Paulus I Vincenza Gerosa June 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Constitution Day (Ukraine) Earliest day on which Vardavar can fall, while August 1 is the latest; celebrated on the 14th weeks after Easter (Armenia) Family Day (Vietnam) Poznań Remembrance Day
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1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter 1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver 1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher 1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor 1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation 1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver 1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic 1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter 1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017) 1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author 1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer 1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver 1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author 1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico 1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player 1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager 1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist 1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor 1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer 1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist 1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer 1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist 1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player 1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress 1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player 1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player 1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician 1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter 1973 – Omar Epps, American actor 1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway 1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager 1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer 1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer 1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player 1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor 1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer 1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer 1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs 1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor (d.2004) 1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager 1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist 1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach 1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1976 – Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver 1977 – Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer 1977 – Yves Niaré, French shot putter (d. 2012) 1977 – Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer 1978 – Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player 1978 – Will Solomon, American basketball player 1978 – Elliott Yamin, American singer-songwriter 1978 – Ieva Zunda, Latvian runner and hurdler 1979 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (d. 2004) 1979 – Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1979 – David Ortega, Spanish swimmer 1980 – Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer 1980 – Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman 1981 – Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician 1982 – Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player 1984 – Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player 1984 – Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player 1985 – John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter 1985 – Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality 1985 – David Mundy, Australian footballer 1986 – Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1987 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist 1987 – Niall McGinn, Irish footballer 1988 – Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer 1988 – Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player 1988 – Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player 1989 – Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer 1989 – Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer 1990 – Lars Unnerstall, German footballer 1991 – Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler 1991 – Ryan James, Australian rugby league player 1991 – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015 1991 – Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner 1991 – Tawan Vihokratana, Thai actor, host, and model 1993 – Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player 1993 – Nick Cousins, Canadian ice hockey player 1995 – Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player 1996 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player 1999 – Pop Smoke, American rapper and singer (d. 2020) Deaths Pre-1600 518 – Amantius, Byzantine grand chamberlain and Monophysite martyr 833 – Ansegisus, Frankish abbot and saint 985 – Boniface VII, antipope of Rome 1031 – Robert II, king of France (b. 972) 1156 – Toba, emperor of Japan (b. 1103) 1320 – Oshin, king of Armenia (b. 1282) 1332 – Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland 1387 – Robert IV, French nobleman (b. 1356) 1398 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, Welsh nobleman (b. 1374) 1405 – Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland (approximate, b. 1343) 1453 – Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French historian and author (b. 1400) 1454 – John II, king of Castile and León (b. 1405) 1514 – György Dózsa, Transylvanian peasant revolt leader (b. 1470) 1524 – Claude, queen consort of France (b. 1499) 1526 – García Jofre de Loaísa, Spanish explorer (b. 1490) 1600 – William More, English courtier (b. 1520) 1601–1900 1616 – Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Irish nobleman and rebel soldier (b. 1550) 1704 – Peregrine White, English-American farmer and soldier (b. 1620) 1752 – Johann Christoph Pepusch, German-English composer and theorist (b. 1667) 1816 – Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (b. 1743) 1866 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1826) 1897 – Jean Ingelow, English poet and author (b. 1820) 1901–present 1901 – William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840) 1903 – Leo XIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1810) 1908 – Demetrius Vikelas, Greek businessman and author (b. 1835) 1908 – Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz, German geophysicist and seismologist (b. 1881) 1910 – Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (b. 1863) 1917 – Ignaz Sowinski, Galician architect (b. 1858) 1922 – Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician and theorist (b. 1856) 1923 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (b. 1878) 1926 – Felix Dzerzhinsky, Russian educator and politician (b. 1877) 1927 – Ferdinand I, king of Romania (b. 1865) 1928 – Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet and author (b. 1896) 1932 – René Bazin, French author and academic (b. 1853) 1937 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1882) 1937 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874) 1941 – Lew Fields, American actor and producer (b. 1867) 1944 – Ludwig Beck, German general (b. 1880) 1944 – Mildred Harris, American actress (b. 1901) 1945 – Paul Valéry, French author and poet (b. 1871) 1951 – Abdullah I, king of Jordan (b. 1882) 1953 – Dumarsais Estimé, Haitian lawyer and politician, 33rd President of Haiti (b. 1900) 1953 – Jan Struther, English author and hymn-writer (b. 1901) 1955 – Calouste Gulbenkian, Armenian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1869) 1956 – James Alexander Calder, Canadian educator and politician, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence (b. 1868) 1959 – William D. Leahy,
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Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey 1938 – Roger Hunt, English footballer (d. 2021) 1938 – Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach 1938 – Diana Rigg, English actress (d. 2020) 1938 – Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981) 1939 – Judy Chicago, American feminist artist 1941 – Don Chuy, American football player (d. 2014) 1941 – Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist (d. 2020) 1941 – Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (d. 1988) 1942 – Pete Hamilton, American race car driver (d. 2017) 1943 – Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2016) 1943 – Bob McNab, English footballer 1943 – Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010) 1943 – Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009) 1944 – Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) 1944 – W. Cary Edwards, American politician (d. 2010) 1944 – Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor 1944 – T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter 1945 – Charles Bowden, American non-fiction author, journalist and essayist (d. 2014) 1945 – Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter 1945 – Larry Craig, American soldier and politician 1945 – John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer 1945 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (d. 1980) 1946 – Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer 1947 – Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1947 – Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1948 – Muse Watson, American actor and producer 1950 – Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician 1950 – Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer 1951 – Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter 1953 – Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter 1953 – Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author 1953 – Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress 1954 – Moira Harris, American actress 1954 – Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer 1955 – Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player 1955 – René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright 1955 – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter 1956 – Paul Cook, English drummer 1956 – Thomas N'Kono, Cameroonian footballer 1956 – Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016) 1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter 1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver 1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher 1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor 1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation 1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver 1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic 1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter 1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017) 1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author 1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer 1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver 1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author 1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico 1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player 1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager 1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist 1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor 1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer 1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist 1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer 1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist 1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player 1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress 1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player 1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player 1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician 1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter 1973 – Omar Epps, American actor 1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway 1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager 1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer 1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer 1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player 1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor 1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer 1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer 1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs 1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor (d.2004) 1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager 1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist 1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach 1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1976 – Alex Yoong, Malaysian race car driver 1977 – Kiki Musampa, Congolese footballer 1977 – Yves Niaré, French shot putter (d. 2012) 1977 – Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer 1978 – Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player 1978 – Will Solomon, American basketball player 1978 – Elliott Yamin, American singer-songwriter 1978 – Ieva Zunda, Latvian runner and hurdler 1979 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (d. 2004) 1979 – Charlotte Hatherley, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1979 – David Ortega, Spanish swimmer 1980 – Tesfaye Bramble, English-Montserratian footballer 1980 – Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman 1981 – Viktoria Ladõnskaja, Estonian journalist and politician 1982 – Antoine Vermette, Canadian ice hockey player 1984 – Alexi Casilla, Dominican baseball player 1984 – Matt Gilroy, American ice hockey player 1985 – John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter 1985 – Harley Morenstein, Canadian actor and YouTube personality 1985 – David Mundy, Australian footballer 1986 – Osric Chau, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1987 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist 1987 – Niall McGinn, Irish footballer 1988 – Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer 1988 – Stephen Strasburg, American baseball player 1988 – Shahram Mahmoudi, Iranian volleyball player 1989 – Javier Cortés, Mexican footballer 1989 – Cristian Pasquato, Italian footballer 1990 – Lars Unnerstall, German footballer 1991 – Chiyoshōma Fujio, Mongolian sumo wrestler 1991 – Ryan James, Australian rugby league player 1991 – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015 1991 – Philipp Reiter, German mountaineer and runner 1991 – Tawan Vihokratana, Thai actor, host, and model 1993 – Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player 1993 – Nick Cousins, Canadian ice hockey player 1995 – Moses Leota, New Zealand rugby league player 1996 – Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player 1999 – Pop Smoke, American rapper and singer (d. 2020) Deaths Pre-1600 518 – Amantius, Byzantine grand chamberlain and Monophysite martyr 833 – Ansegisus, Frankish abbot and saint 985 – Boniface VII, antipope of Rome 1031 – Robert II, king of France (b. 972) 1156 – Toba, emperor of Japan (b. 1103) 1320 – Oshin, king of Armenia (b. 1282) 1332 – Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, regent of Scotland 1387 – Robert IV, French nobleman (b. 1356) 1398 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, Welsh nobleman (b. 1374) 1405 – Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, fourth son of King Robert II of Scotland (approximate, b. 1343) 1453 – Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French historian and author (b. 1400) 1454 – John II, king of Castile and León (b. 1405) 1514 – György Dózsa, Transylvanian peasant revolt leader (b. 1470) 1524 – Claude, queen consort of France (b. 1499) 1526 – García Jofre de Loaísa, Spanish explorer (b. 1490) 1600 – William More, English courtier (b. 1520) 1601–1900 1616 – Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, Irish nobleman and rebel soldier (b. 1550) 1704 – Peregrine White, English-American farmer and soldier (b. 1620) 1752 – Johann Christoph Pepusch, German-English composer and theorist (b. 1667) 1816 – Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (b. 1743) 1866 – Bernhard Riemann, German mathematician and academic (b.
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India's first female president. 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history. 2018 – As-Suwayda attacks: Coordinated attacks occur in Syria. 2019 – National extreme heat records set this day in the UK, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany during the July 2019 European heat wave. Births Pre-1600 975 – Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg (died 1018) 1016 – Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland (died 1058) 1109 – Afonso I, king of Portugal (died 1185) 1165 – Ibn Arabi, Andalusian Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher (died 1240) 1261 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (died 1312) 1291 – Hawys Gadarn, Welsh noblewoman (died 1353) 1336 – Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (died 1404) 1394 – James I, king of Scotland (died 1437) 1404 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (died 1430) 1421 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (died 1461) 1450 – Jakob Wimpfeling, Renaissance humanist (died 1528) 1486 – Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg (died 1547) 1498 – Hernando de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza (died 1575) 1532 – Alphonsus Rodriguez, Jesuit lay brother and saint (died 1617) 1556 – George Peele, English translator, poet, and dramatist (died 1596) 1562 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord (died 1611) 1573 – Christoph Scheiner, German astronomer and Jesuit (died 1650) 1581 – Brian Twyne, English archivist (died 1644) 1601–1900 1605 – Theodore Haak, German scholar (died 1690) 1633 – Joseph Williamson, English politician (died 1701) 1654 – Agostino Steffani, Italian composer and diplomat (died 1728) 1657 – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (died 1714) 1658 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish general (died 1703) 1683 – Pieter Langendijk, Dutch playwright and poet (died 1756) 1750 – Henry Knox, American general and politician, 1st United States Secretary of War (died 1806) 1753 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, French-Spanish captain and politician, 10th Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (died 1810) 1797 – Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (died 1889) 1806 – Maria Weston Chapman, American abolitionist (died 1885) 1839 – Francis Garnier, French captain and explorer (died 1873) 1844 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, and photographer (died 1916) 1847 – Paul Langerhans, German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (died 1888) 1848 – Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English lieutenant and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1930) 1857 – Frank J. Sprague, American naval officer and inventor (died 1934) 1865 – Jac. P. Thijsse, Dutch botanist and conservationist (died 1945) 1866 – Frederick Blackman, English physiologist and academic (died 1947) 1867 – Max Dauthendey, German author and painter (died 1918) 1867 – Alexander Rummler, American painter (died 1959) 1869 – Platon, Estonian bishop and saint (died 1919) 1870 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (died 1966) 1875 – Jim Corbett, Indian hunter, environmentalist, and author (died 1955) 1878 – Masaharu Anesaki, Japanese philosopher and scholar (died 1949) 1882 – George S. Rentz, American commander (died 1942) 1883 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1947) 1886 – Edward Cummins, American golfer (died 1926) 1894 – Walter Brennan, American actor (died 1974) 1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Bosnian Serb revolutionary (died 1918) 1895 – Ingeborg Spangsfeldt, Danish actress (died 1968) 1896 – Jack Perrin, American actor and stuntman (died 1967) 1896 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (died 1952) 1901–present 1901 – Ruth Krauss, American author and poet (died 1993) 1901 – Mohammed Helmy, Egyptian physician and Righteous Among the Nations (d.1982) 1901 – Lila Lee, American actress and singer (died 1973) 1902 – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher and author (died 1983) 1905 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss novelist, playwright, and memoirist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994) 1905 – Georges Grignard, French race car driver (died 1977) 1905 – Denys Watkins-Pitchford, English author and illustrator (died 1990) 1906 – Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist and clarinet player (died 1970) 1908 – Bill Bowes, English cricketer (died 1987) 1908 – Ambroise-Marie Carré, French priest and author (died 2004) 1908 – Jack Gilford, American actor (died 1990) 1914 – Woody Strode, American football player and actor (died 1994) 1915 – S. U. Ethirmanasingham, Sri Lankan businessman and politician 1915 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., American lieutenant and pilot (died 1944) 1916 – Lucien Saulnier, Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1989) 1917 – Fritz Honegger, Swiss lawyer and politician (died 1999) 1918 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (died 1986) 1920 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist, chemist, and academic (died 1958) 1921 – Adolph Herseth, American soldier and trumpet player (died 2013) 1921 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (died 1965) 1923 – Estelle Getty, American actress (died 2008) 1923 – Edgar Gilbert, American mathematician and theorist (died 2013) 1923 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (died 2007) 1924 – Frank Church, American lawyer and politician (died 1984) 1924 – Scotch Taylor, South African cricketer and hockey player (died 2004) 1925 – Benny Benjamin, American R&B drummer (died 1969) 1925 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director (died 1986) 1925 – Dick Passwater, American race car driver (died 2020) 1925 – Jutta Zilliacus, Finnish journalist and politician 1926 – Whitey Lockman, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 2009) 1926 – Bernard Thompson, British television producer and director (died 1998) 1926 – Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress (died 2018) 1927 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2003) 1927 – Midge Decter, American journalist and author 1927 – Sadiq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani politician, 10th Governor of Punjab (died 2000) 1927 – Jean-Marie Seroney, Kenyan activist and politician (died 1982) 1928 – Dolphy, Filipino actor, singer, and producer (died 2012) 1928 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (died 1988) 1928 – Nils Taube, Estonian-English businessman (died 2008) 1929 – Judd Buchanan, Canadian businessman and politician, 36th Canadian Minister of Public Works 1929 – Somnath Chatterjee, Indian lawyer and politician, 14th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (died 2018) 1929 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1995) 1930 – Murray Chapple, New Zealand cricketer and manager (died 1985) 1930 – Maureen Forrester, Canadian actress and singer (died 2010) 1930 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-Canadian journalist and criminologist (died 1990) 1930 – Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (died 2015) 1930 – Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress (died 2020) 1931 – James Butler, English sculptor and educator 1932 – Paul J. Weitz, American astronaut (died 2017) 1934 – Don Ellis, American trumpet player and composer (died 1978) 1934 – Claude Zidi, French director and screenwriter 1935 – Barbara Harris, American actress and singer (died 2018) 1935 – Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian businessman (died 2017) 1935 – Gilbert Parent, Canadian educator and politician, 33rd Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (died 2009) 1935 – John Robinson, American football player and coach 1935 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player and coach (died 2006) 1935 – Lars Werner, Swedish lawyer and politician (died 2013) 1936 – Gerry Ashmore, English race car driver 1936 – Glenn Murcutt, English-Australian architect and academic 1937 – Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, English archaeologist and academic 1939 – S. Ramadoss, Indian politician 1940 – Richard Ballantine, American-English journalist and author (died 2013) 1941 – Manny Charlton, Spanish-born Scottish rock musician and songwriter 1941 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (died 2016) 1941 – Emmett Till, American lynching victim (died 1955) 1942 – Bruce Woodley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1943 – Jim McCarty, English singer and drummer 1943 – Erika Steinbach, Polish-German politician 1944 – Sally Beauman, English journalist and author (died 2016) 1946 – José Areas, Nicaraguan drummer 1946 – Nicole Farhi, French fashion designer and sculptor 1946 – John Gibson, American radio host 1946 – Rita Marley, Cuban-Jamaican singer 1946 – P. Selvarasa, Sri Lankan politician 1946 – Ljupka Dimitrovska, Macedonian-Croatian pop singer (died 2016) 1948 – Steve Goodman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1984) 1950 – Mark Clarke, English singer-songwriter and bass player 1951 – Jack Thompson, American lawyer and activist 1951 – Verdine White, American bass player and producer 1952 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect, designed the Estádio Municipal de Braga 1953 – Joseph A. Tunzi, Chicago based author, foremost expert on Elvis Presley 1953 – Robert Zoellick, American banker and politician, 14th United States Deputy Secretary of State 1954 – Ken Greer, Canadian guitarist, keyboard player, and producer 1954 – Sheena McDonald, Scottish journalist 1954 – Walter Payton, American football player and race car driver (died 1999) 1954 – Jochem Ziegert, German footballer and manager 1955 – Iman, Somalian-English model and actress 1955 – Randall Bewley, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2009) 1956 – Frances Arnold, American scientist and engineer 1957 – Mark Hunter, English politician 1957 – Steve Podborski, Canadian skier 1958 – Alexei Filippenko, American astrophysicist and academic 1958 – Thurston Moore, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1959 – Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (died 2014) 1959 – Geoffrey Zakarian, American chef and author 1960 – Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player 1960 – Justice Howard, American photographer 1960 –
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– Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (died 1988) 1928 – Nils Taube, Estonian-English businessman (died 2008) 1929 – Judd Buchanan, Canadian businessman and politician, 36th Canadian Minister of Public Works 1929 – Somnath Chatterjee, Indian lawyer and politician, 14th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (died 2018) 1929 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1995) 1930 – Murray Chapple, New Zealand cricketer and manager (died 1985) 1930 – Maureen Forrester, Canadian actress and singer (died 2010) 1930 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-Canadian journalist and criminologist (died 1990) 1930 – Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (died 2015) 1930 – Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress (died 2020) 1931 – James Butler, English sculptor and educator 1932 – Paul J. Weitz, American astronaut (died 2017) 1934 – Don Ellis, American trumpet player and composer (died 1978) 1934 – Claude Zidi, French director and screenwriter 1935 – Barbara Harris, American actress and singer (died 2018) 1935 – Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian businessman (died 2017) 1935 – Gilbert Parent, Canadian educator and politician, 33rd Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (died 2009) 1935 – John Robinson, American football player and coach 1935 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player and coach (died 2006) 1935 – Lars Werner, Swedish lawyer and politician (died 2013) 1936 – Gerry Ashmore, English race car driver 1936 – Glenn Murcutt, English-Australian architect and academic 1937 – Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, English archaeologist and academic 1939 – S. Ramadoss, Indian politician 1940 – Richard Ballantine, American-English journalist and author (died 2013) 1941 – Manny Charlton, Spanish-born Scottish rock musician and songwriter 1941 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (died 2016) 1941 – Emmett Till, American lynching victim (died 1955) 1942 – Bruce Woodley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1943 – Jim McCarty, English singer and drummer 1943 – Erika Steinbach, Polish-German politician 1944 – Sally Beauman, English journalist and author (died 2016) 1946 – José Areas, Nicaraguan drummer 1946 – Nicole Farhi, French fashion designer and sculptor 1946 – John Gibson, American radio host 1946 – Rita Marley, Cuban-Jamaican singer 1946 – P. Selvarasa, Sri Lankan politician 1946 – Ljupka Dimitrovska, Macedonian-Croatian pop singer (died 2016) 1948 – Steve Goodman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1984) 1950 – Mark Clarke, English singer-songwriter and bass player 1951 – Jack Thompson, American lawyer and activist 1951 – Verdine White, American bass player and producer 1952 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect, designed the Estádio Municipal de Braga 1953 – Joseph A. Tunzi, Chicago based author, foremost expert on Elvis Presley 1953 – Robert Zoellick, American banker and politician, 14th United States Deputy Secretary of State 1954 – Ken Greer, Canadian guitarist, keyboard player, and producer 1954 – Sheena McDonald, Scottish journalist 1954 – Walter Payton, American football player and race car driver (died 1999) 1954 – Jochem Ziegert, German footballer and manager 1955 – Iman, Somalian-English model and actress 1955 – Randall Bewley, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2009) 1956 – Frances Arnold, American scientist and engineer 1957 – Mark Hunter, English politician 1957 – Steve Podborski, Canadian skier 1958 – Alexei Filippenko, American astrophysicist and academic 1958 – Thurston Moore, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1959 – Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (died 2014) 1959 – Geoffrey Zakarian, American chef and author 1960 – Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player 1960 – Justice Howard, American photographer 1960 – Māris Martinsons, Latvian film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor 1962 – Carin Bakkum, Dutch tennis player 1962 – Doug Drabek, American baseball player and coach 1963 – Denis Coderre, Canadian politician, 44th Mayor of Montreal 1963 – Julian Hodgson, Welsh chess player 1964 – Anne Applebaum, American journalist and author 1964 – Tony Granato, American ice hockey player and coach 1964 – Breuk Iversen, American designer and journalist 1965 – Marty Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1965 – Illeana Douglas, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter 1965 – Dale Shearer, Australian rugby league player 1966 – Daryl Halligan, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster 1966 – Maureen Herman, American bass player 1966 – Diana Johnson, English politician 1967 – Matt LeBlanc, American actor and producer 1967 – Ruth Peetoom, Dutch minister and politician 1967 – Tommy Skjerven, Norwegian footballer and referee 1968 – Rudi Bryson, South African cricketer 1968 – Shi Tao, Chinese journalist and poet 1969 – Jon Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster 1969 – Annastacia Palaszczuk, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Queensland 1971 – Roger Creager, American singer-songwriter 1971 – Tracy Murray, American basketball player 1971 – Billy Wagner, American baseball player and coach 1972 – David Penna, Australian rugby league player and coach 1973 – Dani Filth, English singer-songwriter 1973 – Kevin Phillips, English footballer 1973 – Igli Tare, Albanian footballer 1974 – Lauren Faust, American animator, producer, and screenwriter 1974 – Julia Laffranque, Estonian lawyer and judge 1974 – Kenzo Suzuki, Japanese rugby player and wrestler 1975 – Jody Craddock, English footballer and coach 1975 – Jean-Claude Darcheville, Guianan-French footballer 1975 – El Zorro, Mexican wrestler 1975 – Brian Gibson, American bass player 1975 – Evgeni Nabokov, Russian ice hockey player 1976 – Marcos Assunção, Brazilian footballer 1976 – Jovica Tasevski-Eternijan, Macedonian poet and critic 1976 – Javier Vázquez, Puerto Rican-American baseball player 1977 – Kenny Thomas, American basketball player 1978 – Gerard Warren, American football player 1978 – Louise Joy Brown, first human to be born via IVF 1979 – Ali Carter, English snooker player 1979 – Tom Lungley, English cricketer and umpire 1980 – Shawn Riggans, American baseball player 1980 – Toni Vilander, Finnish race car driver 1980 – David Wachs, American actor and producer 1980 – Scott Waldrom, New Zealand rugby player 1981 – Conor Casey, American soccer player 1981 – Constantinos Charalambidis, Cypriot footballer 1981 – Yūichi Komano, Japanese footballer 1981 – Mac Lethal, American rapper and producer 1981 – Jani Rita, Finnish ice hockey player 1982 – Brad Renfro, American actor and musician (died 2008) 1982 – Jason Dundas, Australian TV host 1983 – Nenad Krstić, Serbian basketball player 1984 – Loukas Mavrokefalidis, Greek basketball player 1985 – James Lafferty, American actor and athlete 1985 – Nelson Piquet Jr., Brazilian race car driver 1985 – Hugo Rodallega, Colombian footballer 1986 – Abraham Gneki Guié, Ivorian footballer 1986 – Hulk, Brazilian footballer 1987 – Richard Bachman, American ice hockey player 1987 – Mitchell Burgzorg, Dutch footballer and rapper 1987 – Fernando, Brazilian footballer 1987 – Jax Jones, English DJ, singer and songwriter 1987 – Eran Zahavi, Israeli footballer 1988 – John Goossens, Dutch footballer 1988 – Tom Hiariej, Dutch footballer 1988 – Stacey Kemp, English skater 1988 – Paulinho, Brazilian footballer 1988 – Anthony Stokes, Irish footballer 1989 – Natalia Vieru, Russian basketball player 1990 – Thodoris Karapetsas, Greek footballer 1991 – Hasan Piker, Twitch streamer 1991 – Toni Duggan, English footballer 1992 – Sergei Simonov, Russian ice hockey player (died 2016) 1997 – Nat Butcher, Australian rugby league player Deaths Pre-1600 306 – Constantius Chlorus, Roman emperor (born 250) 885 – Ragenold, margrave of Neustria 1011 – Ichijō, emperor of Japan (born 980) 1190 – Sibylla, queen of Jerusalem 1195 – Herrad of Landsberg, abbess, author, and illustrator (born c. 1130) 1409 – Martin I, king of Sicily (born 1376) 1471 – Thomas à Kempis, German priest and mystic 1472 – Charles of Artois, French nobleman (born 1394) 1492 – Innocent VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1432) 1564 – Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1503) 1572 – Isaac Luria, Ottoman rabbi and mystic (born 1534) 1601–1900 1608 – Pomponio Nenna, Italian composer (born 1556) 1616 – Andreas Libavius, German physician and chemist (born 1550) 1643 – Robert Pierrepont, 1st Earl of Kingston-upon-Hull, English general and politician (born 1584) 1681 – Urian Oakes, English-American minister and educator (born 1631) 1790 – Johann Bernhard Basedow, German educator and reformer (born 1723) 1790 – William Livingston, American soldier and politician, 1st Governor of New Jersey (born 1723) 1791 – Isaac Low, American merchant and politician (born 1735) 1794 – André Chénier, Greek-French poet and author (born 1762) 1794 – Jean-Antoine Roucher, French poet and author (born 1745) 1794 – Friedrich von der Trenck, Prussian adventurer and author (born 1726) 1826 – Kondraty Ryleyev, Russian poet and publisher (born 1795) 1831 – Maria Szymanowska, Polish composer and pianist (born 1789) 1834 – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English philosopher, poet, and critic (born 1772) 1842 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French physician and surgeon (born 1766) 1843 – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and inventor of waterproof fabric (born 1766) 1861 – Jonas Furrer, Swiss lawyer and politician, President of the Swiss Confederation (born 1805) 1865 – James Barry, English soldier and surgeon (born 1799) 1887 – John Taylor, American religious leader, 3rd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1808) 1901–present 1934 – François Coty, French businessman, founded Coty, Inc. (born 1874) 1934 – Engelbert Dollfuss, Austrian politician, 14th Chancellor of Austria (born 1892) 1934 – Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary (born 1888) 1942 – Fred Englehardt, American triple jumper (born 1879) 1952 – Herbert Murrill, English organist and composer (born 1909) 1958 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (born 1891) 1959 – Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Polish-born Irish rabbi and author (born 1888) 1962 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (born 1879) 1963 – Ugo Cerletti, Italian neurologist and academic (born 1877) 1966 – Frank O'Hara, American poet and critic (born 1926) 1967 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Egyptian-Greek painter (born 1878) 1971 – John Meyers, American swimmer and water polo player (born 1880) 1971 – Leroy Robertson, American composer and educator (born 1896) 1973 – Amy Jacques Garvey, Jamaican-American journalist and activist (born 1895) 1973 – Louis St. Laurent, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1882) 1977 – Shivrampant Damle, Indian educationist (born 1900) 1980 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1938) 1981 – Rosa A. González, Puerto Rican nurse, author, feminist, and activist (born 1889) 1982 – Hal Foster, Canadian-American author and illustrator (born 1892) 1984 – Bryan Hextall, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1913) 1984 – Big Mama Thornton, American singer-songwriter (born 1926) 1986 – Vincente Minnelli, American director and screenwriter (born 1903) 1988 – Judith Barsi, American child actress (born 1978) 1989 – Steve Rubell, American businessman, co-owner of Studio 54 (born 1943) 1991 – Lazar Kaganovich, Soviet politician (born 1893) 1992 – Alfred Drake, American actor and singer (born 1914) 1995 – Charlie Rich, American singer-songwriter (born 1932) 1997 – Ben Hogan, American golfer (born 1912) 1998 – Evangelos Papastratos, Greek businessman, co-founded Papastratos (born 1910) 2000 – Rudi Faßnacht, German footballer, coach, and manager (born 1934) 2002 – Abdel Rahman Badawi, Egyptian philosopher and poet (born 1917) 2003 – Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (born 1912) 2003 – John Schlesinger, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1926) 2004 – John Passmore, Australian philosopher and academic (born 1914) 2005 – Albert Mangelsdorff, German trombonist (born 1928) 2006 – Ezra Fleischer, Romanian-Israeli poet and philologist (born 1928) 2007 – Bernd Jakubowski, German footballer and manager (born 1952) 2008 – Jeff Fehring, Australian footballer (born 1955) 2008 – Tracy Hall, American chemist and academic (born 1919) 2008 – Randy Pausch, American computer scientist and educator (born 1960) 2009 – Vernon Forrest, American boxer (born 1971) 2009 – Stanley Middleton, English author (born 1919) 2009 – Harry Patch, English soldier (born 1898) 2011 – Michael Cacoyannis, Cypriot-Greek director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1922) 2012 – B. R. Ishara, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1934) 2012 – Barry Langford, English director and producer (born 1926) 2012 – Greg Mohns, American-Canadian football player and coach (born 1950) 2012 – Franz West, Austrian painter and sculptor (born 1947) 2013 – Walter De Maria, American sculptor, illustrator, and composer (born 1935) 2013 – William J. Guste, American lawyer and politician (born 1922) 2013 – Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (born 1924) 2014 – Bel Kaufman, German-American author and academic (born 1911) 2014 – Richard Larter, Australian painter and illustrator (born 1929) 2015 – Jacques Andreani, French diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (born 1929) 2015 – R. S. Gavai, Indian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor of Kerala (born 1929) 2015 – Bob Kauffman, American basketball player and coach (born 1946) 2016 – Tim LaHaye, American Christian minister and author (born 1926) 2016 – Tom Peterson, American television personality (born 1930) 2017 – Michael Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1944) 2018 – Sergio Marchionne, Italian-Canadian businessman (born 1952) 2019 – Beji Caid Essebsi, 4th President and 9th Prime Minister of Tunisia (born 1926) 2020 – Peter Green, English blues rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and founder of Fleetwood Mac (born 1946) 2020 – Lou Henson, American college basketball coach (born 1932) Holidays and observances Christian feast day: Anne (Eastern Christianity) Christopher (Western Christianity) Cucuphas Glodesind James the Great (Western Christianity) John I Agnus Julian of Le Mans (translation) Magnerich of Trier July 25 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Earliest day on which Father's Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Dominican Republic) Earliest day on which National Tree Planting Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Australia) Earliest day on which Navy Day can fall, while July 31 is the latest; celebrated on last Sunday in July. (Russia) Guanacaste Day (Costa Rica) National Baha'i
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and conductor (d. 1900) 1854 – Sarah Grand, Irish feminist writer (d. 1943) 1859 – Emanuel Nobel, Swedish-Russian businessman (d. 1932) 1862 – Mrs. Leslie Carter, American actress (d. 1937) 1863 – Louis Couperus, Dutch author and poet (d. 1923) 1864 – Ninian Comper, Scottish architect (d. 1960) 1865 – Frederick Cook, American physician and explorer (d. 1940) 1878 – Margarito Bautista, Nahua-Mexican evangelizer, theologian, and religious founder (d. 1961) 1880 – André Derain, French painter and sculptor (d. 1954) 1882 – Nils Økland, Norwegian Esperantist and teacher (d. 1969) 1884 – Leone Sextus Tollemache, English captain (d. 1917) 1886 – Sessue Hayakawa, Japanese actor and producer (d. 1973) 1891 – Al Dubin, Swiss-American songwriter (d. 1945) 1895 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress (d. 1952) 1897 – Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918) 1898 – Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt (d. 1983) 1899 – Stanisław Czaykowski, Polish racing driver (d. 1933) 1901–present 1901 – Frederick Loewe, Austrian-American composer (d. 1988) 1904 – Lin Huiyin, Chinese architect and poet (d. 1955) 1907 – Fairfield Porter, American painter and critic (d. 1975) 1907 – Dicky Wells, American jazz trombonist (d. 1985) 1909 – Lang Hancock, Australian soldier and businessman (d. 1992) 1910 – Frank Demaree, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958) 1910 – Howlin' Wolf, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976) 1911 – Ralph Kirkpatrick, American harpsichord player and musicologist (d. 1984) 1911 – Terence Rattigan, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1977) 1912 – Jean Lesage, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Premier of Quebec (d. 1980) 1913 – Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian pianist and composer (d. 2007) 1913 – Benjamin Shapira, German-Israeli biochemist and academic (d. 1993) 1914 – Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (d. 1988) 1915 – Saul Bellow, Canadian-American novelist, essayist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2005) 1916 – Peride Celal, Turkish author (d. 2013) 1916 – William Rosenberg, American entrepreneur, founded Dunkin' Donuts (d. 2002) 1918 – Patachou, French singer and actress (d. 2015) 1918 – Barry Morse, English-Canadian actor and director (d. 2008) 1919 – Haidar Abdel-Shafi, Palestinian physician and politician (d. 2007) 1919 – Kevin O'Flanagan, Irish footballer, rugby player, and physician (d. 2006) 1921 – Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (d. 2021) 1921 – Jean Robic, French cyclist (d. 1980) 1922 – Judy Garland, American actress and singer (d. 1969) 1922 – Bill Kerr, South African-Australian actor (d. 2014) 1922 – Mitchell Wallace, Australian rugby league player (d. 2016) 1923 – Paul Brunelle, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1994) 1923 – Robert Maxwell, Czech-English captain, publisher, and politician (d. 1991) 1924 – Friedrich L. Bauer, German mathematician, computer scientist, and academic (d. 2015) 1925 – Leo Gravelle, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013) 1925 – Nat Hentoff, American historian, author, and journalist (d. 2017) 1925 – James Salter, American novelist and short-story writer (d. 2015) 1926 – Bruno Bartoletti, Italian conductor (d. 2013) 1926 – Lionel Jeffries, English actor, screenwriter and film director (d. 2010) 1927 – Claudio Gilberto Froehlich, Brazilian zoologist 1927 – László Kubala, Hungarian footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2002) 1927 – Lin Yang-kang, Chinese politician, 29th Vice Premier of the Republic of China (d. 2013) 1927 – Johnny Orr, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013) 1927 – Eugene Parker, American astrophysicist and academic 1928 – Maurice Sendak, American author and illustrator (d. 2012) 1929 – James McDivitt, American general, pilot, and astronaut 1929 – Ian Sinclair, Australian farmer and politician, 42nd Australian Minister for Defence 1929 – Thomas Taylor, Baron Taylor of Blackburn, British Labour Party politician (d. 2016) 1929 – E. O. Wilson, American biologist, author, and academic 1930 – Aranka Siegal, Czech-American author and Holocaust survivor 1930 – Carmen Cozza, American baseball and football player (d. 2018) 1930 – Chen Xitong, Chinese politician, 8th Mayor of Beijing (d. 2013) 1931 – Bryan Cartledge, English academic and diplomat, British Ambassador to Russia 1931 – João Gilberto, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019) 1932 – Pierre Cartier, French mathematician and academic 1933 – Chuck Fairbanks, American football player and coach (d. 2013) 1934 – Peter Gibson, English lawyer and judge 1934 – Tom Pendry, Baron Pendry, English politician 1935 – Vic Elford, English racing driver 1935 – Lu Jiaxi, Chinese self-taught mathematician (d. 1983) 1935 – Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 2015) 1938 – Rahul Bajaj, Indian businessman and politician 1938 – Violetta Villas, Belgian-Polish singer-songwriter and actress (d. 2011) 1938 – Vasanti N. Bhat-Nayak, Indian mathematician and academic (d. 2009) 1940 – Augie Auer, American-New Zealand meteorologist (d. 2007) 1940 – John Stevens, English drummer (d. 1994) 1941 – Mickey Jones, American drummer (d. 2018) 1941 – Shirley Owens, American singer 1941 – Jürgen Prochnow, German actor 1941 – David Walker, Australian racing driver 1942 – Gordon Burns, Northern Irish journalist 1942 – Chantal Goya, French singer and actress 1942 – Arthur Hamilton, Lord Hamilton, Scottish lawyer and judge 1942 – Preston Manning, Canadian politician 1943 – Simon Jenkins, English journalist and author 1944 – Ze'ev Friedman, Polish-Israeli weightlifter (d. 1972) 1944 – Rick Price, English rock bass player 1947 – Michel Bastarache, Canadian businessman, lawyer, and jurist 1947 – Ken Singleton, American baseball player and sportscaster 1947 – Robert Wright, English air marshal 1950 – Elías Sosa, Dominican-American baseball player 1951 – Dan Fouts, American football player and sportscaster 1951 – Tony Mundine, Australian boxer 1951 – Burglinde Pollak, German pentathlete 1952 – Kage Baker, American author (d. 2010) 1953 – Eileen Cooper, English painter and academic 1953 – John Edwards, American lawyer and politician 1953 – Garry Hynes, Irish director and producer 1953 – Christine St-Pierre, Canadian journalist and politician 1954 – Moya Greene, Canadian businesswoman 1954 – Rich Hall, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1955 – Annette Schavan, German theologian and politician 1955 – Andrew Stevens, American actor and producer 1957 – Nicola Palazzo, Italian writer 1958 – Yu Suzuki, Japanese game designer and producer 1959 – Carlo Ancelotti, Italian footballer and manager 1959 – Ernie C, American heavy metal guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1959 – Eliot Spitzer, American lawyer and politician, 54th Governor of New York 1960 – Nandamuri Balakrishna, Indian film actor and politician 1961 – Kim Deal, American singer-songwriter and musician 1961 – Maxi Priest, English singer-songwriter 1962 – Gina Gershon, American actress, singer and author 1962 – Anderson Bigode Herzer, Brazilian poet and author (d. 1982) 1962 – Wong Ka Kui, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1993) 1962 – Tzi Ma, Hong Kong American character actor 1962 – Brent Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1963 – Brad Henry, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Oklahoma 1963 – Jeanne Tripplehorn,
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– Bruno Ngotty, French footballer 1971 – Erik Rutan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1971 – Kyle Sandilands, Australian radio and television host 1972 – Steven Fischer, American director and producer 1972 – Radmila Šekerinska, Macedonian politician, Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia 1972 – Eric Upashantha, Sri Lankan cricketer 1973 – Faith Evans, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress 1973 – Flesh-n-Bone, American rapper and actor 1973 – Pokey Reese, American baseball player 1974 – Dustin Lance Black, American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist 1975 – Henrik Pedersen, Danish footballer 1976 – Alari Lell, Estonian footballer 1976 – Esther Ouwehand, Dutch politician 1976 – Stefan Postma, Dutch footballer and coach 1976 – Hadi Saei, Iranian martial artist 1977 – Adam Darski (Nergal), Polish singer-songwriter and guitarist 1977 – Mike Rosenthal, American football player and coach 1978 – Raheem Brock, American football player 1979 – Evgeni Borounov, Russian ice dancer and coach 1979 – Kostas Louboutis, Greek footballer 1980 – Jessica DiCicco, American actress and voice actress 1980 – Matuzalém, Brazilian footballer 1980 – Ovie Mughelli, American football player 1980 – Dmitri Uchaykin, Russian ice hockey player (d. 2013) 1980 – Daniele Seccarecci, Italian bodybuilder (d. 2013) 1981 – Mat Jackson, English racing driver 1981 – Albie Morkel, South African cricketer 1981 – Andrey Yepishin, Russian sprinter 1982 – Tara Lipinski, American figure skater 1982 – Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland 1982 – Ana Lúcia Souza, Brazilian ballerina and journalist 1983 – Jade Bailey, Barbadian athlete 1983 – Marion Barber III, American football player 1983 – Aaron Davey, Australian footballer 1983 – Leelee Sobieski, American actress and producer 1983 – Steve von Bergen, Swiss footballer 1984 – Johanna Kedzierski, German sprinter 1984 – Dirk Van Tichelt, Belgian martial artist 1985 – Richard Chambers, Irish rower 1985 – Celina Jade, Hong Kong-American actress 1985 – Kaia Kanepi, Estonian tennis player 1985 – Andy Schleck, Luxembourger cyclist 1985 – Vasilis Torosidis, Greek footballer 1986 – Al Alburquerque, Dominican baseball player 1986 – Marco Andreolli, Italian footballer 1987 – Martin Harnik, German-Austrian footballer 1987 – Amobi Okoye, Nigerian-American football player 1988 – Jeff Teague, American basketball player 1989 – David Miller, South African cricketer 1989 – Mustapha Carayol, Gambian footballer 1989 – Alexandra Stan, Romanian singer-songwriter, dancer, and model 1991 – Alexa Scimeca Knierim, American figure skater 1992 – Kate Upton, American model and actress 1996 – Wen Junhui, Chinese singer 1997 – Cheung Ka-long, Hong Kong foil fencer, 2020 Olympic champion 1998 – Ryan Papenhuyzen, Australian rugby league player Deaths Pre-1600 323 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (b. 356 BC) AD 38 – Julia Drusilla, Roman sister of Caligula (b. 16 AD) 223 – Liu Bei, Chinese emperor (b. 161) 779 – Emperor Daizong of Tang (b. 727) 754 – Abul Abbas al-Saffah, Muslim caliph (b. 721) 871 – Odo I, Frankish nobleman 903 – Cheng Rui, Chinese warlord 932 – Dong Zhang, Chinese general 942 – Liu Yan, emperor of Southern Han (b. 889) 1075 – Ernest, Margrave of Austria (b. 1027) 1141 – Richenza of Northeim (b. 1087) 1190 – Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1122) 1261 – Matilda of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (b. 1210) 1338 – Kitabatake Akiie, Japanese governor (b. 1318) 1364 – Agnes of Austria (b. 1281) 1424 – Ernest, Duke of Austria (b. 1377) 1437 – Joan of Navarre, Queen of England (b. 1370) 1468 – Idris Imad al-Din, supreme leader of Tayyibi Isma'ilism, scholar and historian (b. 1392) 1552 – Alexander Barclay, English poet and author (b. 1476) 1556 – Martin Agricola, German composer and theorist (b. 1486) 1580 – Luís de Camões, Portuguese poet (b. 1524–25) 1601–1900 1604 – Isabella Andreini, Italian actress (b. 1562) 1607 – John Popham, English politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1531) 1654 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor (b. 1598) 1680 – Johan Göransson Gyllenstierna, Swedish lawyer and politician (b. 1635) 1692 – Bridget Bishop, Colonial Massachusetts woman hanged as a witch during the Salem witch trials (b. 1632) 1735 – Thomas Hearne, English historian and author (b. 1678) 1753 – Joachim Ludwig Schultheiss von Unfriedt, German architect (b. 1678) 1776 – Hsinbyushin, Burmese king (b. 1736) 1776 – Leopold Widhalm, Austrian instrument maker (b. 1722) 1791 – Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte, French admiral (b. 1720) 1799 – Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Caribbean-French violinist, composer, and conductor (b. 1745) 1811 – Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden (b. 1728) 1831 – Hans Karl von Diebitsch, German-Russian field marshal (b. 1785) 1836 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775) 1849 – Thomas Robert Bugeaud, French general and politician (b. 1784) 1849 – Robert Brown, Scottish botanist (b. 1773) 1868 – Mihailo Obrenović III, Prince of Serbia (b. 1823) 1899 – Ernest Chausson, French composer (b. 1855) 1901–present 1901 – Robert Williams Buchanan, Scottish poet, author, and playwright (b. 1841) 1902 – Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan priest and poet (b. 1845) 1906 – Richard Seddon, English-New Zealand politician, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1845) 1909 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (b. 1822) 1914 – Ödön Lechner, Hungarian architect (b. 1845) 1918 – Arrigo Boito, Italian author, poet, and composer (b. 1842) 1923 – Pierre Loti, French soldier and author (b. 1850) 1924 – Giacomo Matteotti, Italian lawyer and politician (b. 1885) 1926 – Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, designed the Park Güell (b. 1852) 1930 – Adolf von Harnack, German historian and theologian (b. 1851) 1934 – Frederick Delius, English composer and educator (b. 1862) 1936 – John Bowser, English-Australian politician, 26th Premier of Victoria (b. 1856) 1937 – Robert Borden, Canadian lawyer and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1854) 1939 – Albert Ogilvie, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1890) 1940 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican journalist and activist, founded the Black Star Line (b. 1887) 1944 – Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch mathematician and academic (b. 1910) 1946 – Jack Johnson, American boxer (b. 1878) 1947 – Alexander Bethune, Canadian businessman and politician, 12th Mayor of Vancouver (b. 1852) 1949 – Sigrid Undset, Danish-Norwegian novelist, essayist, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882) 1955 – Margaret Abbott, Indian-American golfer (b. 1876) 1958 – Angelina Weld Grimké, American journalist, poet, and playwright (b. 1880) 1959 – Zoltán Meskó, Hungarian politician (b. 1883) 1963 – Timothy Birdsall, English cartoonist (b. 1936) 1965 – Vahap Özaltay, Turkish footballer and manager (b. 1908) 1967 – Spencer Tracy, American actor (b. 1900) 1971 – Michael Rennie, English actor (b. 1909) 1973 – William Inge, American playwright and novelist (b. 1913) 1974 – Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1900) 1976 – Adolph Zukor, American film producer, co-founded Paramount Pictures (b. 1873) 1982 – Rainer Werner Fassbinder, German actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1945) 1984 – Halide Nusret Zorlutuna, Turkish author and poet (b. 1901) 1986 – Merle Miller, American author and playwright (b. 1919) 1987 – Elizabeth Hartman, American actress (b. 1943) 1988 – Louis L'Amour, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1908) 1991 – Jean Bruller, French author and illustrator, co-founded Les Éditions de Minuit (b. 1902) 1992 – Hachidai Nakamura, Chinese-Japanese pianist and composer (b. 1931) 1993 – Les Dawson, English comedian, actor, writer and presenter (b. 1931) 1996 – George Hees, Canadian soldier, football player, and politician (b. 1910) 1996 – Jo Van Fleet, American actress (b. 1915) 1998 – Jim Hearn, American baseball player (b. 1921) 1998 – Hammond Innes, English soldier and author (b. 1914) 2000 – Hafez al-Assad, Syrian general and politician, 18th President of Syria (b. 1930) 2000 – Brian Statham, English cricketer (b. 1930) 2001 – Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran (b. 1970) 2002 – John Gotti, American mobster (b. 1940) 2003 – Donald Regan, American colonel and politician, 11th White House Chief of Staff (b. 1918) 2003 – Bernard Williams, English philosopher and academic (b. 1929) 2003 – Phil Williams, Welsh academic and politician (b. 1939) 2004 – Ray Charles, American singer-songwriter,
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Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged. 1776 – The Virginia Declaration of Rights is adopted. 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battle of Ballynahinch. 1817 – The earliest form of bicycle, the dandy horse, is driven by Karl von Drais. 1821 – Badi VII, king of Sennar, surrenders his throne and realm to Isma'il Pasha, general of the Ottoman Empire, ending the existence of that Sudanese kingdom. 1830 – Beginning of the Invasion of Algiers: Thiry-four thousand French soldiers land 27 kilometers west of Algiers, at Sidi Ferruch. 1864 – American Civil War, Overland Campaign: Battle of Cold Harbor: Ulysses S. Grant gives the Confederate forces under Robert E. Lee a victory when he pulls his Union troops from their position at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south. 1898 – Philippine Declaration of Independence: General Emilio Aguinaldo declares the Philippines' independence from Spain. 1899 – New Richmond tornado: The eighth deadliest tornado in U.S. history kills 117 people and injures around 200. 1900 – The Reichstag approves new legislation continuing Germany's naval expansion program. It provides for construction of 38 battleships over a 20-year period. Germany's fleet will be the largest in the world. 1901–present 1914 – Massacre of Phocaea: Turkish irregulars slaughter 50 to 100 Greeks and expel thousands of others in an ethnic cleansing operation in the Ottoman Empire. 1921 – Mikhail Tukhachevsky orders the use of chemical weapons against the Tambov Rebellion, bringing an end to the peasant uprising. 1935 – A ceasefire is negotiated between Bolivia and Paraguay, ending the Chaco War. 1938 – The Helsinki Olympic Stadium was inaugurated in Töölö, Helsinki, Finland. 1939 – Shooting begins on Paramount Pictures' Dr. Cyclops, the first horror film photographed in three-strip Technicolor. 1939 – The Baseball Hall of Fame opens in Cooperstown, New York. 1940 – World War II: Thirteen thousand British and French troops surrender to Major General Erwin Rommel at Saint-Valery-en-Caux. 1942 – Anne Frank receives a diary for her thirteenth birthday. 1943 – The Holocaust: Germany liquidates the Jewish Ghetto in Brzeżany, Poland (now Berezhany, Ukraine). Around 1,180 Jews are led to the city's old Jewish graveyard and shot. 1944 – World War II: Operation Overlord: American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division secure the town of Carentan, Normandy, France. 1954 – Pope Pius XII canonises Dominic Savio, who was 14 years old at the time of his death, as a saint, making him at the time the youngest unmartyred saint in the Roman Catholic Church. In 2017, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, aged ten and nine at the time of their deaths, are declared saints. 1963 – NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in front of his home in Jackson, Mississippi by Ku Klux Klan member Byron De La Beckwith during the civil rights movement. 1963 – The film Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, is released in US theaters. It was the most expensive film made at the time. 1964 – Anti-apartheid activist and ANC leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in prison for sabotage in South Africa. 1967 – The United States Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia declares all U.S. state laws which prohibit interracial marriage to be unconstitutional. 1975 – India, Judge Jagmohanlal Sinha of the city of Allahabad ruled that India's Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had used corrupt practices to win her seat in the Indian Parliament, and that she should be banned from holding any public office. Mrs. Gandhi sent word that she refused to resign. 1979 – Bryan Allen wins the second Kremer prize for a man-powered flight across the English Channel in the Gossamer Albatross. 1981 – The first of the Indiana Jones film franchise, Raiders of the Lost Ark, is released in theaters. 1982 – Nuclear disarmament rally and concert, New York City. 1987 – The Central African Republic's former emperor Jean-Bédel Bokassa is sentenced to death for crimes he had committed during his 13-year rule. 1987 – Cold War: At the Brandenburg Gate, U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenges Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. 1988 – Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 46, a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, crashes short of the runway at Libertador General José de San Martín Airport, killing all 22 people on board. 1990 – Russia Day: The parliament of the Russian Federation formally declares its sovereignty. 1991 – Russians first democratically elected Boris Yeltsin as the President of Russia. 1991 – Kokkadichcholai massacre: The Sri Lankan Army massacres 152 minority Tamil civilians in the village of Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town of Batticaloa. 1993 – An election takes place in Nigeria and is won by Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. Its results are later annulled by the military Government of Ibrahim Babangida. 1997 – Queen Elizabeth II reopens the Globe Theatre in London. 1999 – Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force (KFor) enters the province of Kosovo in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 2009 – Analog television stations (excluding low-powered stations) switch to digital television following the DTV Delay Act. 2009 – A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests. 2016 – Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police. 2017 – American student Otto Warmbier returns home in a coma after spending 17 months in a North Korean prison and dies a week later. 2018 – United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea held the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore. Births Pre-1600 950 – Reizei, Japanese emperor (d. 1011) 1107 – Gao Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1187) 1161 – Constance, Duchess of Brittany (d. 1201) 1519 – Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1574) 1561 – Anna of Württemberg, German princess (d. 1616) 1564 – John Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (d. 1633) 1573 – Robert Radclyffe, 5th Earl of Sussex, soldier (d. 1629) 1577 – Paul Guldin, Swiss astronomer and mathematician (d. 1643) 1580 – Adriaen van Stalbemt, Flemish painter (d. 1662) 1601–1900 1653 – Maria Amalia of Courland, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1711) 1686 – Marie-Catherine Homassel Hecquet, French writer (d. 1764) 1711 – Louis Legrand, French priest and theologian (d. 1780) 1760 – Jean-Baptiste Louvet de Couvrai, French author, playwright, journalist, and politician (d. 1797) 1771 – Patrick Gass, American sergeant (Lewis and Clark Expedition) and author (d. 1870) 1775 – Karl Freiherr von Müffling, Prussian field marshal (d. 1851) 1777 – Robert Clark, American physician and politician (d. 1837) 1795 – John Marston, American sailor (d. 1885) 1798 – Samuel Cooper, American general (d. 1876) 1800 – Samuel Wright Mardis, American politician (d. 1836) 1802 – Harriet Martineau, English sociologist and author (d. 1876) 1806 – John A. Roebling, German-American engineer, designed the Brooklyn Bridge (d. 1869) 1807 – Ante Kuzmanić, Croatian physician and journalist (d. 1879) 1812 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist and academic (d. 1890) 1819 – Charles Kingsley, English priest, historian, and author (d. 1875) 1827 – Johanna Spyri, Swiss author, best known for Heidi (d. 1901) 1831 – Robert Herbert, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Queensland (d. 1905) 1841 – Watson Fothergill, English architect, designed the Woodborough Road Baptist Church (d. 1928) 1843 – David Gill, Scottish-English astronomer and author (d. 1914) 1851 – Oliver Lodge, English physicist and academic (d. 1940) 1857 – Maurice Perrault, Canadian architect, engineer, and politician, 15th Mayor of Longueuil (d. 1909) 1858 – Harry Johnston, English botanist and explorer (d. 1927) 1858 – Henry Scott Tuke, English painter and photographer (d. 1929) 1861 – William Attewell, English cricketer and umpire (d. 1927) 1864 – Frank Chapman, American ornithologist, photographer, and author (d. 1945) 1877 – Thomas C. Hart, American admiral and politician (d. 1971) 1883 – Fernand Gonder, French pole vaulter (d. 1969) 1883 – Robert Lowie, Austrian-American anthropologist and academic (d. 1957) 1888 – Zygmunt Janiszewski, Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1920) 1890 – Egon Schiele, Austrian soldier and painter (d. 1918) 1892 – Djuna Barnes, American novelist, journalist, and playwright (d. 1982) 1895 – Eugénie Brazier, French chef (d. 1977) 1897 – Anthony Eden, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1977) 1899 – Fritz Albert Lipmann, German-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986) 1899 – Weegee, Ukrainian-American photographer and journalist (d. 1968) 1901–present 1902 – Hendrik Elias, Belgian lawyer and politician, Mayor of Ghent (d. 1973) 1905 – Ray Barbuti, American sprinter and football player (d. 1988) 1906 – Sandro Penna, Italian poet (d. 1977) 1908 – Alphonse Ouimet, Canadian broadcaster (d. 1988) 1908 – Marina Semyonova, Russian ballerina and educator (d. 2010) 1908 – Otto Skorzeny, German SS officer (d. 1975) 1910 – Bill Naughton, Irish-English playwright and author (d. 1992) 1912 – Bill Cowley, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1993) 1912 – Carl Hovland, American psychologist and academic (d. 1961) 1913 – Jean Victor Allard, Canadian general (d. 1996) 1913 – Desmond Piers, Canadian admiral (d. 2005) 1914 – William Lundigan, American actor (d. 1975) 1914 – Go Seigen, Chinese-Japanese Go player (d. 2014) 1915 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (d. 1995) 1915 – Christopher Mayhew, English soldier and politician (d. 1997) 1915 – David Rockefeller, American banker and businessman (d. 2017) 1916 – Irwin Allen, American director and producer (d. 1991) 1916 – Raúl Héctor Castro, Mexican-American politician and diplomat, 14th Governor of Arizona (d. 2015) 1918 – Samuel Z. Arkoff, American film producer (d. 2001) 1918 – Georgia Louise Harris Brown, American architect (d. 1999) 1918 – Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer, Sri Lankan-Australian mathematician and academic (d. 2001) 1919 – Uta Hagen, German-American actress and educator (d. 2004) 1920 – Dave Berg, American soldier and cartoonist (d. 2002) 1920 – Peter Jones, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2000) 1921 – Luis García Berlanga, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2010) 1921 – Christopher Derrick, English author, critic, and academic (d. 2007) 1921 – James Archibald Houston, Canadian author and illustrator (d. 2005) 1922 – Margherita Hack, Italian astrophysicist and author (d. 2013) 1924 – George H. W. Bush, American lieutenant and politician, 41st President of the United States (d. 2018) 1924 – Grete Dollitz, German-American guitarist and radio host (d. 2013) 1928 – Vic Damone, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2018) 1928 – Petros Molyviatis, Greek politician and diplomat, Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs 1928 – Richard M. Sherman, American composer and director 1929 – Brigid Brophy, English author and critic (d. 1995) 1929 – Anne Frank, German-Dutch diarist; victim of the Holocaust (d. 1945) 1929 – Jameel Jalibi, Pakistani linguist and academic (d. 2019) 1929 – John McCluskey, Baron McCluskey, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland (d. 2017) 1930 – Jim Burke, Australian cricketer (d. 1979) 1930 – Donald Byrne, American chess player (d. 1976) 1930 – Innes Ireland, Scottish race car driver and engineer (d. 1993) 1930 – Jim Nabors, American actor and singer (d. 2017) 1931 – Trevanian, American author and scholar (d. 2005) 1931 – Rona Jaffe, American novelist (d. 2005) 1932 – Mimi Coertse, South African soprano and producer 1932 – Mamo Wolde, Ethiopian runner (d. 2002) 1933 – Eddie Adams, American photographer and journalist (d. 2004) 1934 –
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Mexican wrestler (d. 2013) 1969 – Mathieu Schneider, American ice hockey player 1969 – Heinz-Christian Strache, Austrian politician 1971 – Mark Henry, American weightlifter and wrestler 1971 – Ryan Klesko, American baseball player 1971 – Jérôme Romain, Caribbean-Dominican triple jumper and coach 1973 – Jason Caffey, American basketball player and coach 1973 – Darryl White, Australian footballer 1974 – Flávio Conceição, Brazilian footballer 1974 – Hideki Matsui, Japanese baseball player 1974 – Jason Mewes, American actor and producer 1974 – Kerry Kittles, American basketball player 1975 – Bryan Alvarez, American wrestler and journalist 1975 – Stéphanie Szostak, French-American actress 1976 – Antawn Jamison, American basketball player and sportscaster 1976 – Ray Price, Zimbabwean cricketer 1976 – Thomas Sørensen, Danish footballer 1976 – Paul Stenning, English author 1977 – Wade Redden, Canadian ice hockey player 1977 – Kenny Wayne Shepherd, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1978 – Lewis Moody, English rugby player 1979 – Dallas Clark, American football player 1979 – Martine Dugrenier, Canadian wrestler 1979 – Diego Milito, Argentine footballer 1979 – Robyn, Swedish singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer 1979 – Earl Watson, American basketball player and coach 1980 – Marco Bortolami, Italian rugby player 1980 – Larry Foote, American football player 1981 – Raitis Grafs, Latvian basketball player 1981 – Adriana Lima, Brazilian model and actress 1982 – Ben Blackwell, American drummer 1982 – Diem Brown, German-American journalist and activist (d. 2014) 1982 – Jason David, American football player 1982 – Shailaja Pujari, Indian weightlifter 1982 – James Tomlinson, English cricketer 1983 – Bryan Habana, South African rugby player 1983 – Alexander Pipa, German rugby player 1983 – Christine Sinclair, Canadian soccer player 1984 – James Kwalia, Kenyan-Qatari runner 1984 – Bruno Soriano, Spanish footballer 1985 – Blake Ross, American computer programmer, co-created Mozilla Firefox 1985 – Sam Thaiday, Australian rugby league player 1985 – Kendra Wilkinson, American model, actress, and author 1986 – Salim Mehajer, Australian politician 1988 – Eren Derdiyok, Swiss footballer 1988 – Mauricio Isla, Chilean footballer 1989 – Emma Eliasson, Swedish ice hockey player 1989 – Ibrahim Jeilan, Ethiopian runner 1990 – Jrue Holiday, American basketball player 1990 – David Worrall, English footballer 1992 – Philippe Coutinho, Brazilian footballer 1996 – Shonica Wharton, Barbadian netball player Deaths Pre-1600 796 – Hisham I, Muslim emir ( 757) 816 – Pope Leo III (b. 750) 918 – Æthelflæd, Mercian daughter of Alfred the Great (b. 870) 1020 – Lyfing, English archbishop (b. 999) 1036 – Tedald, Italian bishop (b. 990) 1144 – Al-Zamakhshari, Persian theologian (b. 1075) 1152 – Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon (b. 1114) 1266 – Henry II, Prince of Anhalt-Aschersleben (b. 1215) 1294 – John I of Brienne, Count of Eu 1418 – Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac (b. 1360) 1435 – John FitzAlan, 14th Earl of Arundel, English commander (b. 1408) 1478 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (b. 1412) 1524 – Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Spanish conquistador (b. 1465) 1560 – Ii Naomori, Japanese warrior (b. 1506) 1560 – Imagawa Yoshimoto, Japanese daimyō (b. 1519) 1565 – Adrianus Turnebus, French philologist and scholar (b. 1512) 1567 – Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, English politician, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1490) 1601–1900 1647 – Thomas Farnaby, English scholar and educator (b. 1575) 1668 – Charles Berkeley, 2nd Viscount Fitzhardinge, English politician (b. 1599) 1675 – Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy (b. 1634) 1734 – James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick, French-English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire (b. 1670) 1758 – Prince Augustus William of Prussia (b. 1722) 1772 – Marc-Joseph Marion du Fresne, French explorer (b. 1724) 1778 – Philip Livingston, American merchant and politician (b. 1716) 1816 – Pierre Augereau, French general (b. 1757) 1818 – Egwale Seyon, Ethiopian emperor 1841 – Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Greek composer, archaeologist, and philologist (b. 1786) 1900 – Lucretia Peabody Hale, American journalist and author (b. 1820) 1901–present 1904 – Camille of Renesse-Breidbach (b. 1836) 1912 – Frédéric Passy, French economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1822) 1917 – Teresa Carreño, Venezuelan-American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (b. 1853) 1932 – Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (b. 1852) 1937 – Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Russian general (b. 1893) 1944 – Erich Marcks, German general (b. 1891) 1946 – Médéric Martin, Canadian politician, mayor of Montreal (b. 1869) 1952 – Harry Lawson, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Victoria (b. 1875) 1957 – Jimmy Dorsey, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (The Dorsey Brothers and The California Ramblers) (b. 1904) 1962 – John Ireland, English composer and educator (b. 1879) 1963 – Medgar Evers, American soldier and activist (b. 1925) 1966 – Hermann Scherchen, German viola player and conductor (b. 1891) 1968 – Herbert Read, English poet and critic (b. 1893) 1969 – Aleksandr Deyneka, Ukrainian-Russian painter and sculptor (b. 1899) 1972 – Edmund Wilson, American critic, essayist, and editor (b. 1895) 1972 – Dinanath Gopal Tendulkar, Indian writer and documentary filmmaker (b. 1909) 1976 – Gopinath Kaviraj, Indian philosopher and scholar (b. 1887) 1978 – Guo Moruo, Chinese historian, author, and poet (b. 1892) 1978 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (b. 1912) 1980 – Billy Butlin, South African-English businessman, founded the Butlins Company (b. 1899) 1980 – Masayoshi Ōhira, Japanese politician, 68th Prime minister of Japan (b. 1910) 1980 – Milburn Stone, American actor (b. 1904) 1982 – Ian McKay, English sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1953) 1982 – Karl von Frisch, Austrian-German ethologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886) 1983 – Norma Shearer, Canadian-American actress (b. 1902) 1989 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (b. 1911) 1990 – Terence O'Neill, Baron O'Neill of the Maine, English captain and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (b. 1914) 1993 – Monte Melkonian, Armenian-American revolutionary and military commander (b. 1957) 1994 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Russian-American rabbi and author (b. 1902) 1994 – Nicole Brown Simpson, ex-wife of O. J. Simpson (b. 1959) and Ron Goldman, restaurant employee (b. 1968) 1995 – Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Italian pianist (b. 1920) 1995 – Pierre Russell, American basketball player (b. 1949) 1997 – Bulat Okudzhava, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1924) 1998 – Leo Buscaglia, American author and educator (b. 1924) 1998 – Theresa Merritt, American actress and singer (b. 1922) 1999 – J. F. Powers, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1917) 2000 – Purushottam Laxman Deshpande, Indian actor, director, and producer (b. 1919) 2002 – Bill Blass, American fashion designer, founded Bill Blass Limited (b. 1922) 2002 – Zena Sutherland, American reviewer of children's literature (b. 1915) 2003 – Gregory Peck, American actor and political activist (b. 1916) 2005 – Scott Young, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1918) 2006 – Nicky Barr, Australian rugby player and fighter pilot (b. 1915) 2006 – György Ligeti, Romanian-Hungarian composer and educator (b. 1923) 2006 – Kenneth Thomson, 2nd Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian businessman and art collector (b. 1923) 2008 – Miroslav Dvořák, Czech ice hockey player (b. 1951) 2008 – Derek Tapscott, Welsh footballer and manager (b. 1932) 2010 – Al Williamson, American illustrator (b. 1931) 2011 – René Audet, Canadian bishop (b. 1920) 2011 – Carl Gardner, American singer (The Coasters) (b. 1928) 2012 – Hector Bianciotti, Argentinian-French journalist and author (b. 1930) 2012 – Margarete Mitscherlich-Nielsen, Danish-German psychoanalyst and author (b. 1917) 2012 – Medin Zhega, Albanian footballer and manager (b. 1946) 2012 – Elinor Ostrom, American political scientist and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1933) 2012 – Pahiño, Spanish footballer (b. 1923) 2012 – Frank Walker, Australian judge and politician, 41st Attorney General of New South Wales (b. 1942) 2013 – Teresita Barajuen, Spanish nun (b. 1908) 2014 – Nabil Hemani, Algerian footballer (b. 1979) 2014 – Dan Jacobson, South African-English author and critic (b. 1929) 2014 – Frank Schirrmacher, German journalist (b. 1959) 2015 – Fernando Brant, Brazilian journalist, poet, and composer (b. 1946) 2018 – Jon Hiseman, English drummer (b. 1944) 2019 – Sylvia Miles, American actress (b. 1924) Holidays and observances Chaco Armistice Day (Paraguay) Christian feast day: 108 Martyrs of World War II Basilides, Cyrinus, Nabor and
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aspects of Conway's work. For instance, he discussed Conway's game of Sprouts (Jul 1967), Hackenbush (Jan 1972), and his angel and devil problem (Feb 1974). In the September 1976 column, he reviewed Conway's book On Numbers and Games and even managed to explain Conway's surreal numbers. Conway was a prominent member of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Grapevine. He regularly visited Gardner and often wrote him long letters summarizing his recreational research. In a 1976 visit, Gardner kept him for a week, pumping him for information on the Penrose tilings which had just been announced. Conway had discovered many (if not most) of the major properties of the tilings. Gardner used these results when he introduced the world to Penrose tiles in his January 1977 column. The cover of that issue of Scientific American features the Penrose tiles and is based on a sketch by Conway. Conferences called Gathering 4 Gardner are held every two years to celebrate the legacy of Martin Gardner, and Conway himself was often a featured speaker at these events, discussing various aspects of recreational mathematics. Major areas of research Combinatorial game theory Conway was widely known for his contributions to combinatorial game theory (CGT), a theory of partisan games. This he developed with Elwyn Berlekamp and Richard Guy, and with them also co-authored the book Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays. He also wrote the book On Numbers and Games (ONAG) which lays out the mathematical foundations of CGT. He was also one of the inventors of sprouts, as well as philosopher's football. He developed detailed analyses of many other games and puzzles, such as the Soma cube, peg solitaire, and Conway's soldiers. He came up with the angel problem, which was solved in 2006. He invented a new system of numbers, the surreal numbers, which are closely related to certain games and have been the subject of a mathematical novelette by Donald Knuth. He also invented a nomenclature for exceedingly large numbers, the Conway chained arrow notation. Much of this is discussed in the 0th part of ONAG. Geometry In the mid-1960s with Michael Guy, Conway established that there are sixty-four convex uniform polychora excluding two infinite sets of prismatic forms. They discovered the grand antiprism in the process, the only non-Wythoffian uniform polychoron. Conway has also suggested a system of notation dedicated to describing polyhedra called Conway polyhedron notation. In the theory of tessellations, he devised the Conway criterion which is a fast way to identify many prototiles that tile the plane. He investigated lattices in higher dimensions and was the first to determine the symmetry group of the Leech lattice. Geometric topology In knot theory, Conway formulated a new variation of the Alexander polynomial and produced a new invariant now called the Conway polynomial. After lying dormant for more than a decade, this concept became central to work in the 1980s on the novel knot polynomials. Conway further developed tangle theory and invented a system of notation for tabulating knots, nowadays known as Conway notation, while correcting a number of errors in the 19th-century knot tables and extending them to include all but four of the non-alternating primes with 11 crossings.(Some might say "all but 3½ of the non-alternating primes with 11 crossings." The typographical duplication in the published version of his 1970 table seems to be an effort to include one of the two missing knots that was included in the draft of the table that he sent to Fox [Compare D. Lombardero's 1968 Princeton Senior Thesis, which distinguished this one, but not the other, from all others, based on its Alexander polynomial].) The Conway knot is named after him. Group theory He was the primary author of the ATLAS of Finite Groups giving properties of many finite simple groups. Working with his colleagues Robert Curtis and Simon P. Norton he constructed the first concrete representations of some of the sporadic groups. More specifically, he discovered three sporadic groups based on the symmetry of the Leech lattice, which have been designated the Conway groups. This work made him a key player in the successful classification of the finite simple groups. Based on a 1978 observation by mathematician John McKay, Conway and Norton formulated the complex of conjectures known as monstrous moonshine. This subject, named by Conway, relates the monster group with elliptic modular functions, thus bridging two previously distinct areas of mathematics—finite groups and complex function theory. Monstrous moonshine theory has now been revealed to also have deep connections to string theory. Conway introduced the Mathieu groupoid, an extension of the Mathieu group M12 to 13 points. Number theory As a graduate student, he proved one case of a conjecture by Edward Waring, that every integer could be written as the sum of 37 numbers each raised to the fifth power, though Chen Jingrun solved the problem independently before Conway's work could be published. Algebra Conway wrote a textbook on Stephen Kleene's theory of state machines and published original work on algebraic structures, focusing particularly on quaternions and octonions. Together with Neil Sloane, he invented the icosians. Analysis He invented a base 13 function as a counterexample to the converse of the intermediate value theorem: the function takes on every real value in each interval on the real line, so it has a Darboux property but is not continuous. Algorithmics For calculating the day of the week, he invented the Doomsday algorithm. The algorithm is simple
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11 April 2020) was an English mathematician active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life. Born and raised in Liverpool, Conway spent the first half of his career at the University of Cambridge before moving to the United States, where he held the John von Neumann Professorship at Princeton University for the rest of his career. On 11 April 2020, at age 82, he died of complications from COVID-19. Early life Conway was born on 26 December 1937 in Liverpool, the son of Cyril Horton Conway and Agnes Boyce. He became interested in mathematics at a very early age. By the time he was 11, his ambition was to become a mathematician. After leaving sixth form, he studied mathematics at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. A "terribly introverted adolescent" in school, he took his admission to Cambridge as an opportunity to transform himself into an extrovert, a change which would later earn him the nickname of "the world's most charismatic mathematician". Conway was awarded a BA in 1959 and, supervised by Harold Davenport, began to undertake research in number theory. Having solved the open problem posed by Davenport on writing numbers as the sums of fifth powers, Conway began to become interested in infinite ordinals. It appears that his interest in games began during his years studying the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos, where he became an avid backgammon player, spending hours playing the game in the common room. He was awarded his doctorate in 1964 and was appointed as College Fellow and Lecturer in Mathematics at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. After leaving Cambridge in 1986, he took up the appointment to the John von Neumann Chair of Mathematics at Princeton University. Conway's Game of Life Conway was especially known for the invention of the Game of Life, one of the early examples of a cellular automaton. His initial experiments in that field were done with pen and paper, long before personal computers existed. Since the game was introduced by Martin Gardner in Scientific American in 1970, it has spawned hundreds of computer programs, web sites, and articles. It is a staple of recreational mathematics. There is an extensive wiki devoted to curating and cataloging the various aspects of the game. From the earliest days, it has been a favorite in computer labs, both for its theoretical interest and as a practical exercise in programming and data display. Conway used to hate the Game of Life—largely because it had come to overshadow some of the other deeper and more important things he has done. Nevertheless, the game did help launch a new branch of mathematics, the field of cellular automata. The Game of Life is known to be Turing complete. Conway and Martin Gardner Conway's career was intertwined with that of mathematics popularizer and Scientific American columnist Martin Gardner. When Gardner featured Conway's Game of Life in his Mathematical Games column in October 1970, it became the most widely read of all his columns and made Conway an instant celebrity. Gardner and Conway had first corresponded in the late 1950s, and over the years Gardner had frequently written about recreational aspects of Conway's work. For instance, he discussed Conway's game of Sprouts (Jul 1967), Hackenbush (Jan 1972), and his angel and devil problem (Feb 1974). In the September 1976 column, he reviewed Conway's book On Numbers and Games and even managed to explain Conway's surreal numbers. Conway was a prominent member of Martin Gardner's Mathematical Grapevine. He regularly visited Gardner and often wrote him long letters summarizing his recreational research. In a 1976 visit, Gardner kept him for a week, pumping him for information on the Penrose tilings which had just been announced. Conway had discovered many (if not most) of the major properties of the tilings. Gardner used these results when he introduced the world to Penrose tiles in his January 1977 column. The cover of that issue of Scientific American features the Penrose tiles and is based on a sketch by Conway. Conferences called Gathering 4 Gardner are held every two years to celebrate the legacy of Martin Gardner, and Conway himself was often a featured speaker at these events, discussing various aspects of recreational mathematics. Major areas of research Combinatorial game theory Conway was widely known for his contributions to combinatorial game theory (CGT), a theory of partisan games. This he developed with Elwyn Berlekamp and Richard Guy, and with them also co-authored the book Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays. He also wrote the book On Numbers and Games (ONAG) which lays out the mathematical foundations of CGT. He was also one of the inventors of sprouts, as well as philosopher's football. He developed detailed analyses of many other games and puzzles, such as the Soma cube, peg solitaire, and Conway's soldiers. He came up with the angel problem, which was solved in 2006. He invented a new system of numbers, the surreal numbers, which are closely related to certain games and have been the subject of a mathematical novelette by Donald Knuth. He also invented a nomenclature for exceedingly large numbers, the Conway chained arrow notation. Much of this is discussed in the 0th part of ONAG. Geometry In the mid-1960s with Michael Guy, Conway established that there
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Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli rabbi and scholar (d. 2010) 1928 – John Glenn, American baseball player 1929 – Winnie Ewing, Scottish lawyer and politician 1929 – George Clayton Johnson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1929 – Moe Norman, Canadian golfer (d. 2004) 1929 – José Vicente Rangel, Venezuelan politician; 21st Vice President of Venezuela (d. 2020) 1930 – Bruce Boa, Canadian actor (d. 2004) 1930 – Janette Sherman, American physician, author, and pioneer in occupational and environmental health (d. 2019) 1930 – Josephine Veasey, English soprano and actress (d. 2022) 1931 – Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968) 1931 – Jerry Herman, American composer and songwriter (d. 2019) 1931 – Julian May, American author (d. 2017) 1931 – Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate 1932 – Carlo Maria Abate, Italian race car driver (d. 2019) 1932 – Neile Adams, Filipino-American actress, singer and dancer 1932 – Manfred Preußger, German athlete 1933 – Jumpin' Gene Simmons, American rockabilly singer-songwriter (d. 2006) 1933 – C.K. Yang, Taiwanese decathlete and pole vaulter (d. 2007) 1934 – Marshall Brodien, American actor (d. 2019) 1934 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2012) 1935 – Margaret McEntee, American Catholic religious sister and educator 1935 – Wilson Tuckey, Australian politician 1935 – Wilson Whineray, New Zealand rugby player and businessman (d. 2012) 1936 – Herbert Boyer, American businessman, co-founded Genentech 1936 – Tunne Kelam, Estonian journalist and politician 1937 – Edwards Barham, American farmer and politician (d. 2014) 1937 – Gun Svensson, Swedish politician 1938 – Paul Andreu, French architect (d. 2018) 1938 – Lee Morgan, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1972) 1939 – Phil Kelly, Irish-English footballer and manager (d. 2012) 1939 – Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish political scientist, journalist and educator (d. 1999) 1939 – Mavis Staples, American singer 1940 – Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai, Indian-English economist and politician 1940 – Helen Donath, American soprano and actress 1940 – Brian Priestley, English pianist and composer 1940 – Keith Stackpole, Australian cricketer 1941 – Jake Eberts, Canadian film producer (d. 2012) 1941 – David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author, and critic (d. 2016) 1941 – Robert Pine, American actor and director 1941 – Ian Whitcomb, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2020) 1942 – Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010) 1942 – Pyotr Klimuk, Belarusian general, pilot, and astronaut 1942 – Sixto Rodriguez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Lopo do Nascimento, Angolan politician; 1st Prime Minister of Angola 1943 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and journalist (d. 1993) 1943 – Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, Zambian politician 1943 – Jerry Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1944 – Mick Grant, English motorcycle racer 1944 – Norman Hammond, English archaeologist and academic 1945 – Ron Glass, American actor (d. 2016) 1945 – Hal McRae, American baseball player and manager 1945 – John Motson, English sportscaster 1945 – Jean-Marie Poiré, French director, producer, and screenwriter 1945 – Virginia Wade, English tennis player and sportscaster 1946 – Jean-Pierre Jarier, French race car driver 1946 – Chin Han, Taiwanese actor 1947 – Arlo Guthrie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1948 – Ronnie Cutrone, American painter (d. 2013) 1948 – Chico Resch, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1948 – Natalya Sedykh, Russian figure skater, ballet dancer, actor 1948 – John Whitehead, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004) 1949 – Anna Czerwińska, Polish mountaineer and author 1949 – Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster 1949 – Greg Kihn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Tony Baldry, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, British Minister of State for Agriculture 1950 – Prokopis Pavlopoulos, President of Greece, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior 1951 – Cheryl Wheeler, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1951 – Rajnath Singh, Indian Politician and Union Home Minister of India 1952 – Kim Mitchell, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1952 – Peter van Heemst, Dutch politician 1953 – Rik Emmett, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1953 – Zoogz Rift, American musician and wrestler (d. 2011) 1954 – Tommy Bowden, American football player and coach 1954 – Andre Dawson, American baseball player 1954 – Neil Tennant, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1955 – Nic Dakin, English educator and politician 1955 – Geoff Gerard, Australian rugby league player 1956 – Tom McClintock, American lawyer and politician 1956 – K. Rajagopal, Malaysian football manager 1957 – Derry Grehan, Canadian rock guitarist and songwriter 1958 – Béla Fleck, American banjo player and songwriter 1958 – Fiona Shaw, Irish actress and director 1959 – Ellen Kuras, American director and cinematographer 1960 – Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-American convicted kidnapper and rapist (d. 2013) 1959 – Sandy West, American singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2006) 1961 – Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and film actor 1961 – Marc Riley, English guitarist (The Fall), radio DJ 1963 – Ian Lougher, Welsh motorcycle racer 1964 – Martin Laurendeau, Canadian tennis player and coach 1964 – Urban Meyer, American football player and coach 1964 – Wilfried Peeters, Belgian cyclist 1965 – Scott McCarron, American golfer 1965 – Ken Mellons, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – Clive Efford, English politician 1966 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (d. 2006) 1966 – Christian Stangl, Austrian skier and mountaineer 1966 – Anna Bråkenhielm, Swedish business executive 1967 – Tom Meents, American professional monster truck driver 1967 – Rebekah Del Rio, American singer-songwriter 1967 – Gillian Tett, English journalist and author 1967 – Ikki Sawamura, Japanese model, actor and television presenter 1967 – John Yoo, South Korean-American lawyer, author, and educator 1969 – Marty Cordova, American baseball player 1969 – Gale Harold, American actor 1970 – Gary LeVox, American singer-songwriter 1970 – Jason Orange, English singer-songwriter and dancer 1970 – John Simm, English actor 1971 – Adam Foote, Canadian ice hockey player 1971 – Gregory Goodridge, Barbadian footballer and coach 1972 – Peter Serafinowicz, English actor 1972 – Sofía Vergara, Colombian-American actress and producer 1972 – Tilo Wolff, German-Swiss singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1974 – Imelda May, Irish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer 1975 – Andrew Firestone, American businessman 1975 – Brendan Gaughan, American race car driver 1975 – Alain Nasreddine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1975 – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor (d. 2018) 1975 – Richard Westbrook, English race car driver 1976 – Edmílson, Brazilian footballer 1976 – Elijah Blue Allman, American singer and guitarist 1976 – Ludovic Giuly, French footballer 1976 – Adrian Grenier, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1976 – Brendon Lade, Australian footballer and coach 1976 – Lars Ricken, German footballer 1977 – Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor 1979 – Mvondo Atangana, Cameroon footballer 1979 – Gong Yoo, Korean actor 1980 – Alejandro Millán, Mexican singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1980 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000) 1980 – Claudia Leitte, Brazilian singer-songwriter 1980 – James Rolfe, American actor, director, and producer 1980 – Jessica Simpson, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer 1981 – Aleksandar Tunchev, Bulgarian footballer 1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American guitarist and producer 1982 – Juliya Chernetsky, Ukrainian-American television host 1982 – Sebastian Mila, Polish footballer 1982 – Jeffrey Walker, Australian actor and director 1983 – Giuseppe De Feudis, Italian footballer 1983 – Matthew Egan, Australian footballer 1983 – Gabi, Spanish footballer 1983 – Kim Hee-chul, Korean entertainer and singer 1983 – Joelson José Inácio, Brazilian footballer 1983 – Doug Kramer, Filipino basketball player 1983 – Anthony Watmough, Australian rugby league player 1984 – Nikolaos Mitrou, Greek footballer 1985 – Park Chu-young, South Korean footballer 1985 – B. J. Crombeen, American ice hockey player 1985 – Mario Gómez, German footballer 1988 – Antonio Brown, American football player 1988 – Heather Hemmens, American actress, director, and producer 1988 – Sarah Walker, New Zealand BMX rider 1990 – Adam Reynolds, Australian rugby league player 1990 – Trent Richardson, American footballer 1990 – Chiyonokuni Toshiki, Japanese sumo wrestler 1991 – Daishōmaru Shōgo, Japanese sumo wrestler 1999 – April Ivy, Portuguese composer and singer 2001 – Isabela Merced, American actress 2002 – Reece Walsh, Australian rugby league player Deaths Pre-1600 138 – Hadrian, Roman emperor (b. 76) 645 – Soga no Iruka, Japanese politician 649 – Tai Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 598) 772 – Amalberga of Temse, Frankish noblewoman 831 – Zubaidah bint Ja`far, Abbasid Princess 983 – Benedict VII, pope of the Catholic Church 994 – Leopold I, margrave of
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(d. 1908) 1830 – Camille Pissarro, Danish-French painter (d. 1903) 1832 – Alvan Graham Clark, American astronomer (d. 1897) 1835 – Henryk Wieniawski, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1880) 1839 – Adolphus Busch, German brewer, co-founded Anheuser-Busch (d. 1913) 1856 – Nikola Tesla, Serbian-American physicist and engineer (d. 1943) 1864 – Austin Chapman, Australian businessman and politician, 4th Australian Minister for Defence (d. 1926) 1867 – Prince Maximilian of Baden (d. 1929) 1871 – Marcel Proust, French novelist, critic, and essayist (d. 1922) 1874 – Sergey Konenkov, Russian sculptor (d. 1971) 1875 – Mary McLeod Bethune, American educator and activist (d. 1955) 1875 – Dezső Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Hungarian politician (d. 1973) 1877 – Ernst Bresslau, German zoologist (d. 1935) 1878 – Otto Freundlich, German painter and sculptor (d. 1943) 1882 – Ima Hogg, American society leader, philanthropist, patron and collector of the arts (d. 1975) 1883 – Johannes Blaskowitz, German general (d. 1948) 1883 – Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright and politician (d. 1952) 1888 – Giorgio de Chirico, Greek-Italian painter and set designer (d. 1978) 1888 – Toyohiko Kagawa, Japanese evangelist, author, and activist (d. 1960) 1891 – Edith Quimby, American medical researcher and physicist (d. 1982) 1894 – Jimmy McHugh, American composer (d. 1969) 1895 – Carl Orff, German composer and educator (d. 1982) 1896 – Thérèse Casgrain, Canadian politician (d. 1981) 1897 – Legs Diamond, American gangster (d. 1931) 1897 – Karl Plagge, German general and engineer (d. 1957) 1898 – Renée Björling, Swedish actress (d. 1975) 1899 – John Gilbert, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1936) 1899 – Heiri Suter, Swiss cyclist (d. 1978) 1900 – Mitchell Parish, Lithuanian-American songwriter (d. 1993) 1900 – Sampson Sievers, Russian monk and mystic (d. 1979) 1901–present 1902 – Kurt Alder, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958) 1902 – Nicolás Guillén, Cuban poet, journalist, and activist (d. 1989) 1903 – Werner Best, German SS officer and jurist (d. 1989) 1903 – John Wyndham, English soldier and author (d. 1969) 1904 – Lili Damita, French-American actress (d. 1994) 1905 – Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (d. 2002) 1905 – Thomas Gomez, American actor (d. 1971) 1905 – Wolfram Sievers, German physician (d. 1948) 1907 – Blind Boy Fuller, American singer and guitarist (d. 1941) 1909 – Donald Sinclair, English lieutenant and businessman (d. 1981) 1911 – Terry-Thomas, English comedian and character actor (d. 1990) 1911 – Cootie Williams, American trumpeter and bandleader (d. 1985) 1913 – Salvador Espriu, Spanish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1985) 1914 – Joe Shuster, Canadian-American illustrator, co-created Superman (d. 1992) 1914 – Rempo Urip, Indonesian film director (d. 2001) 1916 – Judith Jasmin, Canadian journalist (d. 1972) 1917 – Hugh Alexander, American baseball player and scout (d. 2000) 1917 – Reg Smythe, English cartoonist (d. 1998) 1918 – James Aldridge, Australian-English journalist and author (d. 2015) 1918 – Chuck Stevens, American baseball player (d. 2018) 1918 – Frank L. Lambert, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at Occidental College (d. 2018) 1918 – Fred Wacker, American race driver and engineer (d. 1998) 1919 – Pierre Gamarra, French author, poet, and critic (d. 2009) 1919 – Ian Wallace, English actor and singer (d. 2009) 1920 – David Brinkley, American journalist (d. 2003) 1920 – Owen Chamberlain, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006) 1920 – Cyril Grant, English footballer (d. 2002) 1921 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the Smiley (d. 2001) 1921 – Jeff Donnell, American actress (d. 1988) 1921 – John K. Singlaub, U.S. Army Major General (d. 2022) 1921 – Eunice Kennedy Shriver, American activist, co-founded the Special Olympics (d. 2009) 1922 – Jean Kerr, American author and playwright (d. 2003) 1922 – Herb McKenley, Jamaican sprinter (d. 2007) 1922 – Jake LaMotta, American boxer and actor (d. 2017) 1923 – Amalia Mendoza, Mexican singer and actress (d. 2001) 1923 – John Bradley, American soldier (d. 1994) 1923 – Suzanne Cloutier, Canadian actress and producer (d. 2003) 1923 – G. A. Kulkarni, Indian author and academic (d. 1987) 1924 – Johnny Bach, American basketball player and coach (d. 2016) 1924 – Bobo Brazil, American wrestler (d. 1998) 1925 – Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysian physician and politician, 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia 1925 – Ernest Bertrand Boland, American Roman Catholic bishop 1926 – Carleton Carpenter, American actor, magician, songwriter, and novelist (d. 2022) 1926 – Fred Gwynne, American actor (d. 1993) 1927 – Grigory Barenblatt, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2018) 1927 – David Dinkins, American soldier and politician, 106th Mayor of New York City (d. 2020) 1927 – William Smithers, American actor 1928 – Don Bolles, American investigative reporter (d. 1976) 1928 – Bernard Buffet, French painter and illustrator (d. 1999) 1928 – Alejandro de Tomaso, Argentinian-Italian race car driver and businessman, founded De Tomaso (d. 2003) 1928 – Moshe Greenberg, American-Israeli rabbi and scholar (d. 2010) 1928 – John Glenn, American baseball player 1929 – Winnie Ewing, Scottish lawyer and politician 1929 – George Clayton Johnson, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1929 – Moe Norman, Canadian golfer (d. 2004) 1929 – José Vicente Rangel, Venezuelan politician; 21st Vice President of Venezuela (d. 2020) 1930 – Bruce Boa, Canadian actor (d. 2004) 1930 – Janette Sherman, American physician, author, and pioneer in occupational and environmental health (d. 2019) 1930 – Josephine Veasey, English soprano and actress (d. 2022) 1931 – Nick Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1968) 1931 – Jerry Herman, American composer and songwriter (d. 2019) 1931 – Julian May, American author (d. 2017) 1931 – Alice Munro, Canadian short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate 1932 – Carlo Maria Abate, Italian race car driver (d. 2019) 1932 – Neile Adams, Filipino-American actress, singer and dancer 1932 – Manfred Preußger, German athlete 1933 – Jumpin' Gene Simmons, American rockabilly singer-songwriter (d. 2006) 1933 – C.K. Yang, Taiwanese decathlete and pole vaulter (d. 2007) 1934 – Marshall Brodien, American actor (d. 2019) 1934 – Jerry Nelson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2012) 1935 – Margaret McEntee, American Catholic religious sister and educator 1935 – Wilson Tuckey, Australian politician 1935 – Wilson Whineray, New Zealand rugby player and businessman (d. 2012) 1936 – Herbert Boyer, American businessman, co-founded Genentech 1936 – Tunne Kelam, Estonian journalist and politician 1937 – Edwards Barham, American farmer and politician (d. 2014) 1937 – Gun Svensson, Swedish politician 1938 – Paul Andreu, French architect (d. 2018) 1938 – Lee Morgan, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1972) 1939 – Phil Kelly, Irish-English footballer and manager (d. 2012) 1939 – Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Turkish political scientist, journalist and educator (d. 1999) 1939 – Mavis Staples, American singer 1940 – Meghnad Desai, Baron Desai, Indian-English economist and politician 1940 – Helen Donath, American soprano and actress 1940 – Brian Priestley, English pianist and composer 1940 – Keith Stackpole, Australian cricketer 1941 – Jake Eberts, Canadian film producer (d. 2012) 1941 – David G. Hartwell, American anthologist, author, and critic (d. 2016) 1941 – Robert Pine, American actor and director 1941 – Ian Whitcomb, English singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2020) 1942 – Ronnie James Dio, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2010) 1942 – Pyotr Klimuk, Belarusian general, pilot, and astronaut 1942 – Sixto Rodriguez, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Lopo do Nascimento, Angolan politician; 1st Prime Minister of Angola 1943 – Arthur Ashe, American tennis player and journalist (d. 1993) 1943 – Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika, Zambian politician 1943 – Jerry Miller, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1944 – Mick Grant, English motorcycle racer 1944 – Norman Hammond, English archaeologist and academic 1945 – Ron Glass, American actor (d. 2016) 1945 – Hal McRae, American baseball player and manager 1945 – John Motson, English sportscaster 1945 – Jean-Marie Poiré, French director, producer, and screenwriter 1945 – Virginia Wade, English tennis player and sportscaster 1946 – Jean-Pierre Jarier, French race car driver 1946 – Chin Han, Taiwanese actor 1947 – Arlo Guthrie, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1948 – Ronnie Cutrone, American painter (d. 2013) 1948 – Chico Resch, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1948 – Natalya Sedykh, Russian figure skater, ballet dancer, actor 1948 – John Whitehead, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004) 1949 – Anna Czerwińska, Polish mountaineer and author 1949 – Sunil Gavaskar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster 1949 – Greg Kihn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Tony Baldry, English colonel, lawyer, and politician, British Minister of State for Agriculture 1950 – Prokopis Pavlopoulos, President of Greece, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister for the Interior 1951 – Cheryl Wheeler, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1951 – Rajnath Singh, Indian Politician and Union Home Minister of India 1952 – Kim Mitchell, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1952 – Peter van Heemst, Dutch politician 1953 – Rik Emmett, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1953 – Zoogz Rift, American musician and wrestler (d. 2011) 1954 – Tommy Bowden, American football player and coach 1954 – Andre Dawson, American baseball player 1954 – Neil Tennant, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1955 – Nic Dakin, English educator and politician 1955 – Geoff Gerard, Australian rugby league player 1956 – Tom McClintock, American lawyer and politician 1956 – K. Rajagopal, Malaysian football manager 1957 – Derry Grehan, Canadian rock guitarist and songwriter 1958 – Béla Fleck, American banjo player and songwriter 1958 – Fiona Shaw, Irish actress and director 1959 – Ellen Kuras, American director and cinematographer 1960 – Ariel Castro, Puerto Rican-American convicted kidnapper and rapist (d. 2013) 1959 – Sandy West, American singer-songwriter and drummer (d. 2006) 1961 – Jacky Cheung, Hong Kong singer and film actor 1961 – Marc Riley, English guitarist (The Fall), radio DJ 1963 – Ian Lougher, Welsh motorcycle racer 1964 – Martin Laurendeau, Canadian tennis player and coach 1964 – Urban Meyer, American football player and coach 1964 – Wilfried Peeters, Belgian cyclist 1965 – Scott McCarron, American golfer 1965 – Ken Mellons, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1966 – Clive Efford, English politician 1966 – Johnny Grunge, American wrestler (d. 2006) 1966 – Christian Stangl, Austrian skier and mountaineer 1966 – Anna Bråkenhielm, Swedish business executive 1967 – Tom Meents, American professional monster truck driver 1967 – Rebekah Del Rio, American singer-songwriter 1967 – Gillian Tett, English journalist and author 1967 – Ikki Sawamura, Japanese model, actor and television presenter 1967 – John Yoo, South Korean-American lawyer, author, and educator 1969 – Marty Cordova, American baseball player 1969 – Gale Harold, American actor 1970 – Gary LeVox, American singer-songwriter 1970 – Jason Orange, English singer-songwriter and dancer 1970 – John Simm, English actor 1971 – Adam Foote, Canadian ice hockey player 1971 – Gregory Goodridge, Barbadian footballer and coach 1972 – Peter Serafinowicz, English actor 1972 – Sofía Vergara, Colombian-American actress and producer 1972 – Tilo Wolff, German-Swiss singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer 1974 – Imelda May, Irish singer-songwriter, musician, and producer 1975 – Andrew Firestone, American businessman 1975 – Brendan Gaughan, American race car driver 1975 – Alain Nasreddine, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1975 – Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor (d. 2018) 1975 – Richard Westbrook, English race car driver 1976 – Edmílson, Brazilian footballer 1976 – Elijah Blue Allman, American singer and guitarist 1976 – Ludovic Giuly, French footballer 1976 – Adrian Grenier, American actor, producer, and screenwriter 1976 – Brendon Lade, Australian footballer and coach 1976 – Lars Ricken, German footballer 1977 – Chiwetel Ejiofor, English actor 1979 – Mvondo Atangana, Cameroon footballer 1979 – Gong Yoo, Korean actor 1980 – Alejandro Millán, Mexican singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1980 – Adam Petty, American race car driver (d. 2000) 1980 – Claudia Leitte, Brazilian singer-songwriter 1980 – James Rolfe, American actor, director, and producer 1980 – Jessica Simpson, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer 1981 – Aleksandar Tunchev, Bulgarian footballer 1982 – Alex Arrowsmith, American guitarist and producer 1982 – Juliya Chernetsky, Ukrainian-American television host 1982 – Sebastian Mila, Polish footballer 1982 – Jeffrey Walker, Australian actor and director 1983 – Giuseppe
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1485 – Johannes Bugenhagen, Polish-German priest and reformer (d. 1558) 1485 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg (d. 1555) 1499 – Johannes Brenz, German theologian and the Protestant Reformer (d. 1570) 1519 – Theodore Beza, French theologian and scholar (d. 1605) 1532 – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1588) 1532 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1573) 1535 – Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal (d. 1573) 1546 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (d. 1610) 1587 – William Arnold, English-American settler (d. 1675) 1601–1900 1614 – John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse 1616 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman, student of Rembrandt (d. 1680) 1661 – Hachisuka Tsunanori, Japanese daimyō (d. 1730) 1663 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (d. 1742) 1687 – Johann Albrecht Bengel, German-Lutheran clergyman and scholar (d. 1757) 1694 – Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, Swiss author and theorist (d. 1748) 1704 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French philosopher and author (d. 1771) 1753 – William Hull, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Michigan Territory (d. 1825) 1755 – Anacharsis Cloots, Prussian-French activist (d. 1794) 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (d. 1846) 1771 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French chemist and businessman, founded DuPont (d. 1834) 1774 – Antonio González de Balcarce, Argentinian commander and politician, 5th Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1819) 1774 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (d. 1838) 1777 – John Ross, Scottish commander and explorer (d. 1856) 1782 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (d. 1847) 1783 – Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist and geographer (d. 1850) 1784 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1853) 1788 – Thomas Blanchard, American inventor (d. 1864) 1795 – Ernst Heinrich Weber, German physician and psychologist (d. 1878) 1797 – John Hughes, Irish-American archbishop (d. 1864) 1797 – Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish geologist and explorer (d. 1873) 1804 – Stephan Endlicher, Austrian botanist, numismatist, and sinologist (d. 1849) 1804 – Willard Richards, American religious leader (d. 1854) 1811 – John Archibald Campbell, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1889) 1813 – Henry Ward Beecher, American minister and reformer (d. 1887) 1813 – Francis Boott, American composer (d. 1904) 1821 – Guillermo Rawson, Argentinian physician and politician (d. 1890) 1826 – George Goyder, English-Australian surveyor (d. 1898) 1835 – Johannes Wislicenus, German chemist and academic (d. 1902) 1838 – Jan Matejko, Polish painter (d. 1893) 1839 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, American businessman (d. 1903) 1842 – Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist (d. 1914) 1846 – Samuel Johnson, Nigerian priest and historian (d. 1901) 1850 – Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Irish field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Sudan (d. 1916) 1852 – Friedrich Loeffler, German bacteriologist and academic (d. 1915) 1854 – Eleanor Norcross, American painter (d. 1923) 1856 – Henry Chapman Mercer, American archaeologist and author (d. 1930) 1858 – Hastings Rashdall, English historian, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1924) 1865 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (d. 1929) 1867 – Ruth Randall Edström, American educator and activist (d. 1944) 1869 – Prince George of Greece and Denmark (d. 1957) 1872 – Frank Crowninshield, American journalist and art and theatre critic (d. 1947) 1873 – Hugo Simberg, Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist (d. 1917) 1875 – Forrest Reid, Irish novelist, literary critic and translator (d. 1947) 1880 – Oswald Veblen, American mathematician and academic (g. 1960) 1880 – João Cândido Felisberto, Brazilian revolutionary and sailor (d. 1969) 1881 – George Shiels, Irish-Canadian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1949) 1882 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1953) 1882 – Carl Diem, German businessman (d. 1962) 1883 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964) 1883 – Fritz Löhner-Beda, Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (d.1942) 1883 – Jean Metzinger, French artist (d. 1956) 1883 – Arthur L. Newton, American runner (d. 1956) 1883 – Frank Verner, American runner (d. 1966) 1884 – Frank Waller, American runner (d. 1941) 1885 – Olaf Holtedahl, Norwegian geologist (d. 1975) 1888 – Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect, designed the Rietveld Schröder House (d. 1964) 1893 – Roy O. Disney, American businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1971) 1895 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and soldier (d. 1983) 1898 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (d. 1983) 1898 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1958) 1900 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1945) 1901–present 1901 – Marcel Mule, French saxophonist (d. 2001) 1901 – Harry Partch, American composer and theorist (d. 1974) 1901 – Chuck Taylor, American basketball player and salesman (d. 1969) 1904 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1995) 1905 – Fred Alderman, American sprinter (d. 1998) 1906 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (d. 1986) 1906 – Willard Maas, American poet and educator (d. 1971) 1907 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1989) 1908 – Hugo Distler, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942) 1908 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian colonel (d. 1976) 1909 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1978) 1909 – William Penney, Baron Penney, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1991) 1909 – Betty Cavanna, American author (d. 2001) 1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1995) 1911 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist and academic (d. 2011) 1911 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (d. 1968) 1912 – Brian Johnston, English sportscaster and author (d. 1994) 1912 – Mary Wesley, English author (d. 2002) 1913 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (d. 2002) 1914 – Jan Karski, Polish-American activist and academic (d. 2000) 1914 – Pearl Witherington, French secret agent (d. 2008) 1915 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (d. 2001) 1916 – William B. Saxbe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 70th United States Attorney General (d. 2010) 1916 – Saloua Raouda Choucair, Lebanese painter and sculptor (d. 2017) 1917 – David Easton, Canadian-American political scientist and academic (d. 2014) 1917 – Lucy Jarvis, American television producer (d. 2020) 1917 – Ramblin' Tommy Scott, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013) 1917 – Joan Clarke, English cryptanalyst and numismatist (d. 1996) 1918 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 2013) 1918 – Yong Nyuk Lin, Singaporean businessman and politician, Singaporean Minister for Education (d. 2012) 1919 – Al Molinaro, American actor (d. 2015) 1921 – Gerhard Sommer, German soldier (d. 2019) 1922 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (d. 2015) 1922 – John Postgate, English microbiologist, author, and academic (d. 2014) 1922 – Richard Timberlake, American economist (d.2020) 1923 – Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (d. 2011) 1924 – Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2008) 1924 – Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 2012) 1924 – Yoshito Takamine, American politician (d. 2015) 1925 – Ogden Reid, American politician (d. 2019) 1927 – Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (d. 1997) 1927 – James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (d. 2014) 1927 – Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014) 1929 – Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer (d. 2021) 1930 – Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010) 1930 – Donald Gordon, South African businessman and philanthropist (d. 2019) 1930 – William Bernard Ziff, Jr., American publisher (d. 2006) 1931 – Billy Casper, American golfer (d. 2015) 1932 – David McTaggart, Canadian-Italian environmentalist (d. 2001) 1933 – Sam Jones, American basketball player and coach (d. 2021) 1933 – Ngina Kenyatta, 1st First Lady of Kenya 1934 – Ferdinand Biwersi, German footballer and referee (d. 2013) 1934 – Jean-Pierre Ferland, Canadian singer-songwriter 1934 – Gloria Christian, Italian singer 1935 – Terry Riley, American composer and educator 1935 – Jean Milesi, French racing cyclist 1935 – Charlie Dees, American baseball player 1936 – Robert Downey Sr., American actor and director. Father of Robert Downey Jr. (d. 2021) 1937 – Anita Desai, Indian-American author and academic 1938 – Lawrence Block, American author 1938 – Abulfaz Elchibey, 1st democratically elected Azerbaijani president (d. 2000) 1938 – Ken Gray, New Zealand rugby player (d. 1992) 1939 – Brigitte Fontaine, French singer 1940 – Ian Ross, Australian newsreader (d. 2014) 1940 – Vittorio Storaro, Italian cinematographer 1941 – Erkin Koray, Turkish singer-songwriter and guitarist 1941 – Julia Kristeva, Bulgarian-French psychoanalyst and author 1941 – Graham McKenzie, Australian cricketer 1942 – Arthur Brown, English rock singer-songwriter 1942 – Mick Fleetwood, English-American drummer 1942 – Michele Lee, American actress and singer 1942 – Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Chilean engineer and politician, 32nd President of Chile 1942 – Colin Groves, Australian academician and educator (d. 2017) 1943 – Birgit Grodal, Danish economist and academic (d. 2004) 1944 – Jeff Beck, English guitarist and songwriter 1944 – Kathryn Lasky, American author 1944 – Chris Wood, English saxophonist (d. 1983) 1945 – Colin Blunstone, English singer-songwriter 1945 – Wayne Cashman, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1945 – George Pataki, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Governor of New York 1945 – Betty Stöve, Dutch tennis player 1946 – David Collenette, Canadian civil servant and politician, 32nd Canadian Minister of National Defence 1946 – Ellison Onizuka, American engineer, and astronaut (d. 1986) 1946 – Robert Reich, American economist and politician, 22nd United States Secretary of Labor 1947 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef, author, and television personality (d. 2014) 1947 – Peter Weller, American actor and director 1948 – Patrick Moraz, Swiss keyboard player and songwriter 1949 – John Illsley, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer 1949 – Betty Jackson, English fashion designer 1950 – Nancy Allen, American actress 1950 – Bob Carlos Clarke, Irish-born English photographer (d. 2006) 1950 – Jan Kulczyk, Polish businessman (d. 2015) 1950 – Mercedes Lackey, American author 1951 – Raelene Boyle, Australian sprinter 1951 – Charles Sturridge, English director, producer, and screenwriter 1952 – Dianna Melrose, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Tanzania 1952 – Bob Neill, English lawyer and politician 1953 – William E. Moerner, American chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate 1953 – Michael Tuck, Australian footballer and coach 1955 – Chris Higgins, English geneticist and academic 1955 – Edmund Malura, German footballer and manager 1955 – Loren Roberts, American golfer 1956 – Owen Paterson, English politician, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1957 – Mark Parkinson, American lawyer and politician, 45th Governor of Kansas 1958 – Jean Charest, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada 1958 – Silvio Mondinelli, Italian mountaineer 1958 – John Tortorella, American ice hockey player and coach 1959 – Andy McCluskey, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer 1960 – Elish Angiolini, Scottish lawyer, judge, and politician, Solicitor General for Scotland 1960 – Siedah Garrett, American singer-songwriter and pianist 1960 – Karin Pilsäter, Swedish accountant and politician 1960 – Erik Poppe, Norwegian director, cinematographer, and screenwriter 1961 – Dennis Danell, American singer and guitarist (d. 2000) 1961 – Iain Glen, Scottish actor 1961 – Bernie Nicholls, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1961 – Ralph E. Reed, Jr., American journalist and activist 1961 – Curt Smith, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1963 – Yuri Kasparyan, Russian guitarist 1963 – Preki, Serbian-American soccer player and coach 1963 – Mike Wieringo, American author and illustrator (d. 2007) 1964 – Jean-Luc Delarue, French television host and producer (d. 2012) 1964 – Kathryn Parminter, Baroness Parminter, English politician 1964 – Gary Suter, American ice hockey player and scout 1965 – Claude Bourbonnais, Canadian race car driver 1965 – Uwe Krupp, German ice hockey player and coach 1965 – Richard Lumsden, English actor, writer, composer and musician 1966 – Hope Sandoval, American singer-songwriter and musician 1966 – Adrienne Shelly, American actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006) 1967 – Janez Lapajne, Slovenian director and producer 1967 – John Limniatis, Greek-Canadian footballer and manager 1968 – Alaa Abdelnaby, Egyptian-American basketball player and sportscaster 1970 – Glenn Medeiros, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1970 – Bernardo Sassetti, Portuguese pianist, composer, and educator (d. 2012) 1972 – Robbie McEwen, Australian cyclist 1972 – Denis Žvegelj, Slovenian rower 1973 – Alexis Gauthier, French chef 1973 – Jere Lehtinen, Finnish ice hockey player 1974 – Dan Byles, English sailor, rower, and politician 1974 – Chris Guccione, American baseball player and umpire 1975 – Marek Malík, Czech ice hockey player 1975 – Federico Pucciariello, Argentinian-Italian rugby player 1976 – Brock Olivo, American football player and coach 1977 – Dimos Dikoudis, Greek basketball player and manager 1977 – Jeff Farmer, Australian footballer 1978 – Luis García, Spanish footballer 1978 – Pantelis Kafes, Greek footballer 1978 – Shunsuke Nakamura, Japanese
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In Roth v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. 1960 – Assassination attempt of Venezuelan President Rómulo Betancourt. 1963 – The United Kingdom grants Zanzibar internal self-government. 1973 – The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. Thirty-two people die as a result of fire or smoke inhalation. 1975 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 encounters severe wind shear and crashes on final approach to New York's JFK Airport killing 113 of the 124 passengers on board, making it the deadliest U.S. plane crash at the time. This accident led to decades of research into downburst and microburst phenomena and their effects on aircraft. 1981 – The Humber Bridge opens to traffic, connecting Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. It remained the world's longest bridge span for 17 years. 1982 – "The Jakarta Incident": British Airways Flight 9 flies into a cloud of volcanic ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines. 1989 – Jiang Zemin succeeds Zhao Ziyang to become the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. 1995 – Rugby World Cup: South Africa defeats New Zealand and Nelson Mandela presents Francois Pienaar with the Webb Ellis Cup in an iconic post-apartheid moment. 2002 – The Igandu train disaster in Tanzania kills 281, the worst train accident in African history. 2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional. 2010 – At Wimbledon, John Isner of the United States defeats Nicolas Mahut of France, in the longest match in professional tennis history. 2010 – Julia Gillard assumes office as the first female Prime Minister of Australia. 2012 – Death of Lonesome George, the last known individual of Chelonoidis nigra abingdonii, a subspecies of the Galápagos tortoise. 2013 – Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and engaging in sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison. Births Pre-1600 1210 – Count Floris IV of Holland (d. 1234) 1244 – Henry I, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1308) 1254 – Floris V, Count of Holland (d. 1296) 1257 – Robert de Vere, 6th Earl of Oxford, English nobleman (probable; d. 1331) 1314 – Philippa of Hainault Queen of England (d. 1369) 1322 – Joanna, Duchess of Brabant (d. 1406) 1343 – Joan of Valois, Queen of Navarre (d. 1373) 1360 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general 1386 – John of Capistrano, Italian priest and saint (d. 1456) 1465 – Isabella del Balzo, Queen Consort of Naples (d. 1533) 1485 – Johannes Bugenhagen, Polish-German priest and reformer (d. 1558) 1485 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Electress of Brandenburg (d. 1555) 1499 – Johannes Brenz, German theologian and the Protestant Reformer (d. 1570) 1519 – Theodore Beza, French theologian and scholar (d. 1605) 1532 – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1588) 1532 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1573) 1535 – Joanna of Austria, Princess of Portugal (d. 1573) 1546 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (d. 1610) 1587 – William Arnold, English-American settler (d. 1675) 1601–1900 1614 – John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse 1616 – Ferdinand Bol, Dutch painter, etcher and draftsman, student of Rembrandt (d. 1680) 1661 – Hachisuka Tsunanori, Japanese daimyō (d. 1730) 1663 – Jean Baptiste Massillon, French bishop (d. 1742) 1687 – Johann Albrecht Bengel, German-Lutheran clergyman and scholar (d. 1757) 1694 – Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui, Swiss author and theorist (d. 1748) 1704 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French philosopher and author (d. 1771) 1753 – William Hull, American general and politician, 1st Governor of Michigan Territory (d. 1825) 1755 – Anacharsis Cloots, Prussian-French activist (d. 1794) 1767 – Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (d. 1846) 1771 – Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, French chemist and businessman, founded DuPont (d. 1834) 1774 – Antonio González de Balcarce, Argentinian commander and politician, 5th Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1819) 1774 – François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo, French general and engineer (d. 1838) 1777 – John Ross, Scottish commander and explorer (d. 1856) 1782 – Juan Larrea, Argentinian captain and politician (d. 1847) 1783 – Johann Heinrich von Thünen, German economist and geographer (d. 1850) 1784 – Juan Antonio Lavalleja, Uruguayan general and politician, President of Uruguay (d. 1853) 1788 – Thomas Blanchard, American inventor (d. 1864) 1795 – Ernst Heinrich Weber, German physician and psychologist (d. 1878) 1797 – John Hughes, Irish-American archbishop (d. 1864) 1797 – Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish geologist and explorer (d. 1873) 1804 – Stephan Endlicher, Austrian botanist, numismatist, and sinologist (d. 1849) 1804 – Willard Richards, American religious leader (d. 1854) 1811 – John Archibald Campbell, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1889) 1813 – Henry Ward Beecher, American minister and reformer (d. 1887) 1813 – Francis Boott, American composer (d. 1904) 1821 – Guillermo Rawson, Argentinian physician and politician (d. 1890) 1826 – George Goyder, English-Australian surveyor (d. 1898) 1835 – Johannes Wislicenus, German chemist and academic (d. 1902) 1838 – Jan Matejko, Polish painter (d. 1893) 1839 – Gustavus Franklin Swift, American businessman (d. 1903) 1842 – Ambrose Bierce, American short story writer, essayist, and journalist (d. 1914) 1846 – Samuel Johnson, Nigerian priest and historian (d. 1901) 1850 – Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Irish field marshal and politician, Governor-General of Sudan (d. 1916) 1852 – Friedrich Loeffler, German bacteriologist and academic (d. 1915) 1854 – Eleanor Norcross, American painter (d. 1923) 1856 – Henry Chapman Mercer, American archaeologist and author (d. 1930) 1858 – Hastings Rashdall, English historian, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1924) 1865 – Robert Henri, American painter and educator (d. 1929) 1867 – Ruth Randall Edström, American educator and activist (d. 1944) 1869 – Prince George of Greece and Denmark (d. 1957) 1872 – Frank Crowninshield, American journalist and art and theatre critic (d. 1947) 1873 – Hugo Simberg, Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist (d. 1917) 1875 – Forrest Reid, Irish novelist, literary critic and translator (d. 1947) 1880 – Oswald Veblen, American mathematician and academic (g. 1960) 1880 – João Cândido Felisberto, Brazilian revolutionary and sailor (d. 1969) 1881 – George Shiels, Irish-Canadian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1949) 1882 – Athanase David, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1953) 1882 – Carl Diem, German businessman (d. 1962) 1883 – Victor Francis Hess, Austrian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964) 1883 – Fritz Löhner-Beda, Austrian librettist, lyricist and writer (d.1942) 1883 – Jean Metzinger, French artist (d. 1956) 1883 – Arthur L. Newton, American runner (d. 1956) 1883 – Frank Verner, American runner (d. 1966) 1884 – Frank Waller, American runner (d. 1941) 1885 – Olaf Holtedahl, Norwegian geologist (d. 1975) 1888 – Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect, designed the Rietveld Schröder House (d. 1964) 1893 – Roy O. Disney, American businessman, co-founded The Walt Disney Company (d. 1971) 1895 – Jack Dempsey, American boxer and soldier (d. 1983) 1898 – Armin Öpik, Estonian-Australian paleontologist and geologist (d. 1983) 1898 – Karl Selter, Estonian politician, 14th Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia (d. 1958) 1900 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1945) 1901–present 1901 – Marcel Mule, French saxophonist (d. 2001) 1901 – Harry Partch, American composer and theorist (d. 1974) 1901 – Chuck Taylor, American basketball player and salesman (d. 1969) 1904 – Phil Harris, American singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1995) 1905 – Fred Alderman, American sprinter (d. 1998) 1906 – Pierre Fournier, French cellist and educator (d. 1986) 1906 – Willard Maas, American poet and educator (d. 1971) 1907 – Arseny Tarkovsky, Russian poet and translator (d. 1989) 1908 – Hugo Distler, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942) 1908 – Alfons Rebane, Estonian colonel (d. 1976) 1909 – Jean Deslauriers, Canadian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1978) 1909 – William Penney, Baron Penney, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1991) 1909 – Betty Cavanna, American author (d. 2001) 1911 – Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentinian race car driver (d. 1995) 1911 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentinian physicist and academic (d. 2011) 1911 – Portia White, Canadian opera singer (d. 1968) 1912 – Brian Johnston, English sportscaster and author (d. 1994) 1912 – Mary Wesley, English author (d. 2002) 1913 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (d. 2002) 1914 – Jan Karski, Polish-American activist and academic (d. 2000) 1914 – Pearl Witherington, French secret agent (d. 2008) 1915 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (d. 2001) 1916 – William B. Saxbe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 70th United States Attorney General (d. 2010) 1916 – Saloua Raouda Choucair, Lebanese painter and sculptor (d. 2017) 1917 – David Easton, Canadian-American political scientist and academic (d. 2014) 1917 – Lucy Jarvis, American television producer (d. 2020) 1917 – Ramblin' Tommy Scott, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013) 1917 – Joan Clarke, English cryptanalyst and numismatist (d. 1996) 1918 – Mildred Ladner Thompson, American journalist and author (d. 2013) 1918 – Yong Nyuk Lin, Singaporean businessman and politician, Singaporean Minister for Education (d. 2012) 1919 – Al Molinaro, American actor (d. 2015) 1921 – Gerhard Sommer, German soldier (d. 2019) 1922 – Jack Carter, American actor and comedian (d. 2015) 1922 – John Postgate, English microbiologist, author, and academic (d. 2014) 1922 – Richard Timberlake, American economist (d.2020) 1923 – Margaret Olley, Australian painter and philanthropist (d. 2011) 1924 – Kurt Furgler, Swiss politician, 70th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 2008) 1924 – Archie Roy, Scottish astronomer and academic (d. 2012) 1924 – Yoshito Takamine, American politician (d. 2015) 1925 – Ogden Reid, American politician (d. 2019) 1927 – Fernand Dumont, Canadian sociologist, philosopher, and poet (d. 1997) 1927 – James B. Edwards, American dentist, soldier, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Energy (d. 2014) 1927 – Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014) 1929 – Carolyn S. Shoemaker, American astronomer (d. 2021) 1930 – Claude Chabrol, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010) 1930 – Donald Gordon, South African businessman and philanthropist (d. 2019) 1930 – William Bernard Ziff, Jr., American publisher (d. 2006) 1931 – Billy Casper, American golfer (d. 2015) 1932 – David McTaggart, Canadian-Italian environmentalist (d. 2001) 1933 – Sam Jones, American basketball player and coach (d. 2021) 1933 – Ngina Kenyatta, 1st First Lady of Kenya 1934 – Ferdinand Biwersi, German footballer and referee (d. 2013) 1934 – Jean-Pierre Ferland, Canadian singer-songwriter 1934 – Gloria Christian, Italian singer 1935 – Terry Riley, American composer and educator 1935 – Jean Milesi, French racing cyclist 1935 – Charlie Dees, American baseball player 1936 – Robert Downey Sr., American actor and director. Father of Robert Downey Jr. (d. 2021) 1937 – Anita Desai, Indian-American author and academic 1938 – Lawrence Block, American author 1938 – Abulfaz Elchibey, 1st democratically elected Azerbaijani president (d.
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Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676) 1601–1900 1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687) 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741) 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773) 1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778) 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778) 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829) 1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864) 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838) 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894) 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899) 1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899) 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922) 1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932) 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935) 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950) 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951) 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940) 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and statesman, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945) 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937) 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972) 1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969) 1901–present 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959) 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983) 1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000) 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989) 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988) 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984) 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989) 1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000) 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992) 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995) 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976) 1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006) 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (d. 2008) 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996) 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005) 1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018) 1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999) 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007) 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008) 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013) 1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013) 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007) 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013) 1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986) 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019) 1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005) 1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994) 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996) 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011) 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020) 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016) 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007) 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016) 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984) 1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973) 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998) 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician 1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016) 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer 1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018) 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager 1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic (d. 2020) 1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge 1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016) 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997) 1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue 1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author 1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991) 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995) 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer (d. 2021) 1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999) 1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018) 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer 1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan 1962 – Mary Kay Letourneau, American child rapist (d. 2020) 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager 1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice
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the merger of traditionalist parties. 1964 – In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam. 1968 – Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. 1969 – The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records in London. The impromptu concert is broken up by the police. 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Sunday: British paratroopers open fire on anti-internment marchers in Derry, Northern Ireland, killing 13 people; another person later dies of injuries sustained. 1972 – Pakistan leaves the Commonwealth of Nations in protest of its recognition of breakaway Bangladesh. 1974 – Pan Am Flight 806 crashes near Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa, killing 97. 1975 – The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary is established as the first United States National Marine Sanctuary. 1979 – A Varig Boeing 707-323C freighter, flown by the same commander as Flight 820, disappears over the Pacific Ocean 30 minutes after taking off from Tokyo. 1982 – Richard Skrenta writes the first PC virus code, which is 400 lines long and disguised as an Apple boot program called "Elk Cloner". 1989 – The American embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan is closed. 1995 – Hydroxycarbamide becomes the first approved preventive treatment for sickle cell disease. 2000 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ivory Coast, killing 169. 2013 – Naro-1 becomes the first carrier rocket launched by South Korea. Births Pre-1600 58 BC – Livia, Roman wife of Augustus (d. 29) 1410 – William Calthorpe, English knight (d. 1494) 1520 – William More, English courtier (d. 1600) 1563 – Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian and academic (d. 1641) 1573 – Georg Friedrich, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1638) 1580 – Gundakar, Prince of Liechtenstein, court official in Vienna (d. 1658) 1590 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (d. 1676) 1601–1900 1628 – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, English statesman (d. 1687) 1661 – Charles Rollin, French historian and educator (d. 1741) 1697 – Johann Joachim Quantz, German flute player and composer (d. 1773) 1703 – François Bigot, French politician (d. 1778) 1720 – Charles De Geer, Swedish entomologist and archaeologist (d. 1778) 1754 – John Lansing, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1829) 1775 – Walter Savage Landor, English poet and author (d. 1864) 1781 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German botanist and poet (d. 1838) 1816 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American general and politician, 24th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1894) 1822 – Franz Ritter von Hauer, Austrian geologist and curator (d. 1899) 1841 – Félix Faure, French politician, 7th President of France (d. 1899) 1844 – Richard Theodore Greener, American lawyer, academic, and diplomat (d. 1922) 1846 – Angela of the Cross, Spanish nun and saint (d. 1932) 1861 – Charles Martin Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer (d. 1935) 1862 – Walter Damrosch, German-American conductor and composer (d. 1950) 1866 – Gelett Burgess, American author, poet, and critic (d. 1951) 1878 – Anton Hansen Tammsaare, Estonian author (d. 1940) 1882 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and statesman, 32nd President of the United States (d. 1945) 1889 – Jaishankar Prasad, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1937) 1899 – Max Theiler, South African-American virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972) 1900 – Martita Hunt, Argentine-born British actress (d. 1969) 1901–present 1901 – Rudolf Caracciola, German racing driver (d. 1959) 1902 – Nikolaus Pevsner, German-English historian and scholar (d. 1983) 1910 – Chidambaram Subramaniam, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence (d. 2000) 1911 – Roy Eldridge, American jazz trumpet player (d. 1989) 1912 – Werner Hartmann, German physicist and academic (d. 1988) 1912 – Francis Schaeffer, American pastor and theologian (d. 1984) 1912 – Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (d. 1989) 1914 – Luc-Marie Bayle, French commander and painter (d. 2000) 1914 – John Ireland, Canadian-American actor and director (d. 1992) 1914 – David Wayne, American actor (d. 1995) 1915 – Joachim Peiper, German SS officer (d. 1976) 1915 – John Profumo, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 2006) 1917 – Paul Frère, Belgian racing driver and journalist (d. 2008) 1918 – David Opatoshu, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1996) 1919 – Fred Korematsu, American activist (d. 2005) 1920 – Michael Anderson, English director and producer (d. 2018) 1920 – Patrick Heron, British painter (d. 1999) 1920 – Delbert Mann, American director and producer (d. 2007) 1922 – Dick Martin, American comedian, actor, and director (d. 2008) 1923 – Marianne Ferber, Czech-American economist and author (d. 2013) 1924 – S. N. Goenka, Burmese-Indian author and educator (d. 2013) 1924 – Lloyd Alexander, American soldier and author (d. 2007) 1925 – Douglas Engelbart, American computer scientist, invented the computer mouse (d. 2013) 1927 – Olof Palme, Swedish statesman, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 1986) 1928 – Harold Prince, American director and producer (d. 2019) 1929 – Lois Hole, Canadian businesswoman and politician, 15th Lieutenant Governor of Alberta (d. 2005) 1929 – Hugh Tayfield, South African cricketer (d. 1994) 1929 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian-Italian physician and humanitarian (d. 1996) 1930 – Gene Hackman, American actor and author 1930 – Magnus Malan, South African general and politician, South African Minister of Defence (d. 2011) 1931 – John Crosbie, Canadian lawyer and politician, 34th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 2020) 1931 – Shirley Hazzard, Australian-American novelist, short story writer, and essayist (d. 2016) 1932 – Knock Yokoyama, Japanese comedian and politician (d. 2007) 1934 – Tammy Grimes, American actress and singer (d. 2016) 1935 – Richard Brautigan, American novelist, poet, and short story writer (d. 1984) 1935 – Tubby Hayes, English saxophonist and composer (d. 1973) 1936 – Horst Jankowski, German pianist and composer (d. 1998) 1937 – Vanessa Redgrave, English actress 1937 – Boris Spassky, Russian chess player and theoretician 1938 – Islam Karimov, Uzbek politician, 1st President of Uzbekistan (d. 2016) 1941 – Gregory Benford, American astrophysicist and author 1941 – Dick Cheney, American businessman and politician, 46th Vice President of the United States, 17th US Secretary of Defense 1941 – Tineke Lagerberg, Dutch swimmer 1942 – Marty Balin, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018) 1943 – Davey Johnson, American baseball player and manager 1944 – Lynn Harrell, American cellist and academic (d. 2020) 1944 – Colin Rimer, English lawyer and judge 1945 – Meir Dagan, Israeli military officer and intelligence official, Director of Mossad (2002–11) (d. 2016) 1945 – Michael Dorris, American author and scholar (d. 1997) 1946 – John Bird, Baron Bird, English publisher, founded The Big Issue 1947 – Les Barker, English poet and author 1947 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1991) 1949 – Peter Agre, American physician and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1950 – Jack Newton, Australian golfer 1951 – Phil Collins, English drummer, singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1951 – Charles S. Dutton, American actor and director 1951 – Bobby Stokes, English footballer (d. 1995) 1952 – Doug Falconer, Canadian football player and producer (d. 2021) 1953 – Fred Hembeck, American author and illustrator 1955 – John Baldacci, American politician, 73rd Governor of Maine 1955 – Curtis Strange, American golfer and sportscaster 1957 – Payne Stewart, American golfer (d. 1999) 1959 – Steve Folkes, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2018) 1959 – Jody Watley, American entertainer 1962 – Abdullah II of Jordan 1962 – Mary Kay Letourneau, American child rapist (d. 2020) 1964 – Otis Smith, American basketball player, coach, and manager 1965 – Kevin Moore, Australian rugby league player and coach 1966 – Danielle Goyette, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1968 – Felipe VI of Spain 1969 – Justin Skinner, English footballer and manager 1973 – Jalen Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster 1974 – Christian Bale, British actor 1974 – Olivia Colman, English actress 1975 – Juninho Pernambucano, Brazilian footballer 1976 – Andy Milonakis, American entertainer 1978 – Carmen Küng, Swiss curler 1978 – John Patterson, American baseball player 1979 – Trevor Gillies, Canadian ice hockey player 1980 – João Soares de Almeida Neto, Brazilian footballer 1980 – Georgios Vakouftsis, Greek footballer 1980 – Wilmer Valderrama, American actor and producer 1981
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founded Boko Haram (d. 2009) 1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress, producer, and talk show host 1980 – Ivan Klasnic, German-Croatian footballer 1982 – Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor 1984 – Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer 1984 – Nuno Morais, Portuguese footballer 1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player 1987 – José Abreu, Cuban baseball player 1988 – Tatyana Chernova, Russian heptathlete 1988 – Shay Logan, English footballer 1988 – Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish footballer 1989 – Kevin Shattenkirk, American ice hockey player 1992 – Markel Brown, American basketball player 1993 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer Deaths Pre-1600 661 – Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (b. 601) 702 – Princess Ōku of Japan (b. 661) 757 – An Lushan, Chinese general (b. 703) 870 – Salih ibn Wasif, Muslim general 1119 – Pope Gelasius II (b. 1060) 1327 – Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1300) 1465 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (b. 1413) 1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist and composer (b. 1530) 1601–1900 1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557) 1647 – Francis Meres, English priest and author (b. 1565) 1678 – Jerónimo Lobo, Portuguese missionary and author (b. 1593) 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638) 1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish-English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1666) 1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, French cardinal (b. 1653) 1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692) 1820 – George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738) 1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, French captain and politician (b. 1755) 1829 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovenian priest and poet (b. 1760) 1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797) 1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, Canadian author (b. 1786) 1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (b. 1812) 1899 – Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (b. 1839) 1901–present 1906 – Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818) 1928 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (b. 1861) 1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866) 1931 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (b. 1861) 1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884) 1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868) 1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871) 1944 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (b. 1868) 1946 – Harry Hopkins, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890) 1948 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta (b. 1900) 1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1885) 1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1880) 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880) 1959 – Winifred Brunton, South African painter and illustrator (b. 1880) 1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (b. 1875) 1963 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (b. 1874) 1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913) 1969 – Allen Welsh Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1893) 1970 – B. H. Liddell Hart, French-English soldier, historian, and journalist (b. 1895) 1977 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (b. 1954) 1978 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (b. 1895) 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893) 1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese author and poet (b. 1907) 1992 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1915) 1993 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (b. 1906) 1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (b. 1967) 1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American model and dancer (b. 1918) 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914) 2003 – Frank Moss, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911) 2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (b. 1924) 2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1924) 2006 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-American artist, (b. 1932) 2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (b. 1925) 2008 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (b. 1924) 2009 – Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (b. 1913) 2009 – John Martyn, British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948) 2011 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (b. 1916) 2012 – Ranjit Singh Dyal, Indian general and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (b. 1928) 2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918) 2012 – Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (b. 1919) 2014 – François Cavanna, French journalist and author (b. 1923) 2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (b. 1937) 2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933) 2015 – Alexander Vraciu, American commander and pilot (b. 1918) 2016 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (b. 1938) 2016 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1928) 2019 – George Fernandes, Indian politician (b. 1930) 2019 – James Ingram, American musician (b. 1952) 2021 – Walker Boone, Canadian actor (b. 1944) 2022 – Howard Hesseman, American actor (b. 1940) Holidays and observances Christian feast day: Andrei Rublev (Episcopal Church (USA)) Aquilinus of
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and composer (d. 2017) 1948 – Raymond Keene, English chess player and author 1949 – Doris Davenport, American poet and teacher 1949 – Evgeny Lovchev, Russian footballer and manager 1949 – Tommy Ramone, Hungarian-American drummer and producer (d. 2014) 1950 – Ann Jillian, American actress and singer 1950 – Jody Scheckter, South African race car driver and sportscaster 1951 – Fereydoon Forooghi, Iranian singer-songwriter (d. 2001) 1951 – Andy Roberts, Caribbean cricketer 1953 – Peter Baumann, German keyboard player and songwriter 1953 – Charlie Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer 1953 – Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995) 1954 – Christian Bjelland IV, Norwegian businessman and art collector 1954 – Terry Kinney, American actor and director 1954 – Oprah Winfrey, American talk show host, actress, and producer, founded Harpo Productions 1956 – Jan Jakub Kolski, Polish director, screenwriter, and cinematographer 1957 – Philippe Dintrans, French rugby player 1957 – Ron Franscell, American author and journalist 1957 – Grażyna Miller, Polish journalist and poet (d. 2009) 1959 – Mike Foligno, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1960 – Gia Carangi, American supermodel (d. 1986) 1960 – Greg Louganis, American diver and author 1961 – Petra Thümer, German swimmer and photographer 1962 – Nicholas Turturro, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter 1964 – John Anthony Gallagher, English-New Zealand rugby player 1965 – Dominik Hašek, Czech ice hockey player 1965 – Peter Lundgren, Swedish tennis player and coach 1966 – Romário, Brazilian footballer, manager, and politician 1967 – Stacey King, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster 1968 – Edward Burns, American actor, director, and producer 1968 – Susi Erdmann, German luger and bobsledder 1970 – Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Indian colonel and politician 1970 – Heather Graham, American actress 1970 – Jörg Hoffmann, German swimmer 1970 – Paul Ryan, American politician, 62nd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives 1970 – Mohammed Yusuf, Nigerian Islamist leader, founded Boko Haram (d. 2009) 1975 – Sara Gilbert, American actress, producer, and talk show host 1980 – Ivan Klasnic, German-Croatian footballer 1982 – Adam Lambert, American singer, songwriter and actor 1984 – Natalie du Toit, South African swimmer 1984 – Nuno Morais, Portuguese footballer 1985 – Marc Gasol, Spanish basketball player 1987 – José Abreu, Cuban baseball player 1988 – Tatyana Chernova, Russian heptathlete 1988 – Shay Logan, English footballer 1988 – Aydın Yılmaz, Turkish footballer 1989 – Kevin Shattenkirk, American ice hockey player 1992 – Markel Brown, American basketball player 1993 – Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, Japanese singer Deaths Pre-1600 661 – Ali, cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad (b. 601) 702 – Princess Ōku of Japan (b. 661) 757 – An Lushan, Chinese general (b. 703) 870 – Salih ibn Wasif, Muslim general 1119 – Pope Gelasius II (b. 1060) 1327 – Adolf, Count Palatine of the Rhine (b. 1300) 1465 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (b. 1413) 1597 – Elias Ammerbach, German organist and composer (b. 1530) 1601–1900 1608 – Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1557) 1647 – Francis Meres, English priest and author (b. 1565) 1678 – Jerónimo Lobo, Portuguese missionary and author (b. 1593) 1706 – Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset, English poet and courtier (b. 1638) 1737 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, Scottish-English field marshal and politician, Colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1666) 1743 – André-Hercule de Fleury, French cardinal (b. 1653) 1763 – Louis Racine, French poet (b. 1692) 1820 – George III of the United Kingdom (b. 1738) 1829 – Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de Barras, French captain and politician (b. 1755) 1829 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovenian priest and poet (b. 1760) 1870 – Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1797) 1871 – Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, Canadian author (b. 1786) 1888 – Edward Lear, English poet and illustrator (b. 1812) 1899 – Alfred Sisley, French-English painter (b. 1839) 1901–present 1906 – Christian IX of Denmark (b. 1818) 1928 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish field marshal (b. 1861) 1929 – La Goulue, French model and dancer (b. 1866) 1931 – Henri Mathias Berthelot, French general during World War I (b. 1861) 1933 – Sara Teasdale, American poet (b. 1884) 1934 – Fritz Haber, Polish-German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868) 1941 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1871) 1944 – William Allen White, American journalist and author (b. 1868) 1946 – Harry Hopkins, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Commerce (b. 1890) 1948 – Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta (b. 1900) 1950 – Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler (b. 1885) 1951 – Frank Tarrant, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1880) 1956 – H. L. Mencken, American journalist and critic (b. 1880) 1959 – Winifred Brunton, South African painter and illustrator (b. 1880) 1962 – Fritz Kreisler, Austrian-American violinist and composer (b. 1875) 1963 – Robert Frost, American poet and playwright (b. 1874) 1964 – Alan Ladd, American actor (b. 1913) 1969 – Allen Welsh Dulles, American banker, lawyer, and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (b. 1893) 1970 – B. H. Liddell Hart, French-English soldier, historian, and journalist (b. 1895) 1977 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (b. 1954) 1978 – Frank Nicklin, Australian politician, 28th Premier of Queensland (b. 1895) 1980 – Jimmy Durante, American entertainer (b. 1893) 1991 – Yasushi Inoue, Japanese author and poet (b. 1907) 1992 – Willie Dixon, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1915) 1993 – Adetokunbo Ademola, Nigerian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of Nigeria (b. 1906) 1994 – Ulrike Maier, Austrian skier (b. 1967) 1999 – Lili St. Cyr, American model and dancer (b. 1918) 2002 – Harold Russell, Canadian-American soldier and actor (b. 1914) 2003 – Frank Moss, American lawyer and politician (b. 1911) 2004 – Janet Frame, New Zealand author and poet (b. 1924) 2005 – Ephraim Kishon, Israeli author, screenwriter, and director (b. 1924) 2006 – Nam June Paik, South Korean-American artist, (b. 1932) 2008 – Bengt Lindström, Swedish painter and sculptor (b. 1925) 2008 – Margaret Truman, American singer and author (b. 1924) 2009 – Hélio Gracie, Brazilian martial artist (b. 1913) 2009 – John Martyn, British singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1948) 2011 – Milton Babbitt, American composer, educator, and theorist (b. 1916) 2012 – Ranjit Singh Dyal, Indian general and politician, 10th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (b. 1928) 2012 – Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Italian lawyer and politician, 9th President of Italy (b. 1918) 2012 – Camilla Williams, American soprano and educator (b. 1919) 2014 – François Cavanna, French journalist and author (b. 1923) 2015 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist, author, and academic (b. 1937) 2015 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (b. 1933) 2015 – Alexander Vraciu, American commander and pilot (b. 1918) 2016 – Jean-Marie Doré, Guinean lawyer and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Guinea (b. 1938) 2016 – Jacques Rivette, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1928) 2019 – George Fernandes, Indian politician (b. 1930) 2019 – James Ingram, American musician (b. 1952) 2021 – Walker Boone, Canadian actor (b. 1944) 2022 – Howard Hesseman, American actor (b. 1940) Holidays and observances Christian feast day: Andrei Rublev (Episcopal Church (USA)) Aquilinus of Milan
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Yumiko Kobayashi, Japanese voice actress and singer 1979 – Ivana Wong, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actress 1980 – Antonio Gates, American football player 1980 – Sergey Kirdyapkin, Russian race walker 1980 – Craig Mottram, Australian runner 1980 – Antero Niittymäki, Finnish ice hockey player 1980 – Tara Platt, American actress, producer, and screenwriter 1981 – Clint Newton, American-Australian rugby league player 1981 – Marco Streller, Swiss footballer 1982 – Nadir Belhadj, French-Algerian footballer 1982 – Marco Borriello, Italian footballer 1982 – Nathan Cavaleri, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor 1983 – Billy Slater, Australian rugby league player 1983 – Cameron Smith, Australian rugby league player 1984 – Nanyak Dala, Canadian rugby player 1985 – Chris Coghlan, American baseball player 1985 – Alex Hirsch, American animator and television producer 1986 – Edgars Eriņš, Latvian decathlete 1986 – Richard Gasquet, French tennis player 1987 – Omar Arellano, Mexican footballer 1987 – Moeen Ali, English cricketer 1988 – Elini Dimoutsos, Greek footballer 1988 – Josh Dun, American musician 1989 – Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, French-born Gabonese footballer 1989 – Chris Harris Jr., American football player 1990 – Luke Adam, Canadian ice hockey player 1990 – Sandra Izbașa, Romanian gymnast 1990 – Derek Stepan, American ice hockey player 1990 – Christian Taylor, American triple jumper 1993 – Dennis Lloyd, Israeli musician, producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist 1994 – Sean McMahon, Australian rugby player 1994 – Takeoff, American rapper 1995 – Maxim Kovtun, Russian figure skater 1996 – Alen Halilović, Croatian footballer 1996 – Niki Wories, Dutch figure skater 1997 – Katharina Hobgarski, German tennis player 1997 – Latrell Mitchell, Australian rugby league player 1999 – Trippie Redd, American rapper Deaths Pre-1600 741 – Leo III the Isaurian, Byzantine emperor (b. 685) 908 – Zhang Hao, general of Yang Wu 1095 – Sophia of Hungary (b. c. 1050) 1164 – Elisabeth of Schönau, German Benedictine visionary (b. c. 1129) 1234 – Emperor Chūkyō of Japan (b. 1218) 1250 – Theresa of Portugal, Queen of León 1291 – Alfonso III of Aragon (b. 1265) 1333 – Henry XV, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1312) 1464 – Rogier van der Weyden, Flemish painter (b. 1400) 1588 – Robert Crowley, English minister and poet (b. 1517) 1601–1900 1629 – Piet Pieterszoon Hein, Dutch admiral (b. 1577) 1650 – Christoph Scheiner, German priest, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1575) 1673 – Jeanne Mance, French-Canadian nurse, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal (b. 1606) 1704 – Tom Brown, English author and translator (b. 1662) 1726 – Michel Richard Delalande, French organist and composer (b. 1657) 1742 – John Aislabie, English politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1670) 1749 – Ambrose Philips, English poet and politician (b. 1674) 1772 – Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German jurist and scholar (b. 1706) 1772 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician and reformer (b. 1700) 1788 – Adam Gib, Scottish religious leader (b. 1714) 1794 – François Buzot, French lawyer and politician (b. 1760) 1794 – James Murray, Scottish-English general and politician, 20th Governor of the Province of Quebec (b. 1721) 1804 – Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma (b. 1746) 1815 – Thomas Picton, Welsh-English general and politician (b. 1758) 1833 – Robert Hett Chapman, American minister, missionary, and academic (b. 1771) 1835 – William Cobbett, English farmer and journalist (b. 1763) 1860 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck, German army officer and writer (b. 1783) 1866 – Prince Sigismund of Prussia (b. 1864) 1901–present 1902 – Samuel Butler, English novelist, satirist, and critic (b. 1835) 1905 – Carmine Crocco, Italian soldier (b. 1830) 1916 – Max Immelmann, German lieutenant and pilot (b. 1890) 1917 – Titu Maiorescu, Romanian critic and politician, 23rd Prime Minister of Romania (b. 1840) 1922 – Jacobus Kapteyn, Dutch astronomer and academic (b. 1851) 1926 – Olga Constantinovna of Russia, Queen consort of the Hellenes (b. 1851) 1928 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian pilot and explorer (b. 1872) 1936 – Maxim Gorky, Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1868) 1937 – Gaston Doumergue, French politician, 13th President of France (b. 1863) 1942 – Arthur Pryor, American trombonist, bandleader, and politician (b. 1870) 1943 – Elias Degiannis, Greek commander (b. 1912) 1945 – Florence Bascom, American geologist and educator (b. 1862) 1945 – Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr., American general (b. 1886) 1947 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (b. 1898) 1948 – Edward Brooker, English-Australian politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (b. 1891) 1959 – Ethel Barrymore, American actress (b. 1879) 1963 – Pedro Armendáriz, Mexican-American actor (b. 1912) 1964 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (b. 1890) 1967 – Geki, Italian race car driver (b. 1937) 1967 – Beat Fehr, Swiss race car driver (b. 1942) 1971 – Thomas Gomez, American actor (b. 1905) 1971 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1889) 1974 – Júlio César de Mello e Souza, Brazilian mathematician and academic (b. 1896) 1974 – Georgy Zhukov, Russian marshal and politician, Minister of Defence for the Soviet Union (b. 1896) 1975 – Hugo Bergmann, German-Israeli philosopher and author (b. 1883) 1978 – Walter C. Alvarez, American physician and author (b. 1884) 1980 – Terence Fisher, English director and screenwriter (b. 1904) 1980 – André Leducq, French cyclist (b. 1904) 1982 – Djuna Barnes, American novelist, journalist, and playwright (b. 1892) 1982 – John Cheever, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1912) 1982 – Curd Jürgens, German-Austrian actor and director (b. 1915) 1984 – Alan Berg, American lawyer and radio host (b. 1934) 1985 – Paul Colin, French illustrator (b. 1892) 1986 – Frances Scott Fitzgerald, American journalist (b. 1921) 1989 – I. F. Stone, American journalist and author (b. 1907) 1992 – Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, the first black Chief Nursing Officer of Nigeria (b. 1910) 1992 – Peter Allen, Australian singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1944) 1992 – Mordecai Ardon, Polish-Israeli painter and educator (b. 1896) 1993 – Craig Rodwell, American activist, founded the Oscar Wilde Bookshop (b. 1940) 1996 – Endel Puusepp, Estonian-Soviet military pilot and politician (b. 1909) 1997 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (b. 1912) 1998 – Felix Knight, American actor and tenor (b. 1908) 2000 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (b. 1928) 2003 – Larry Doby, American baseball player and manager (b. 1923) 2005 – Mushtaq Ali, Indian cricketer (b. 1914) 2005 – Manuel Sadosky, Argentinian mathematician and academic (b. 1914) 2006 – Vincent Sherman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1906) 2006 – Joseph Zobel, Martinique-French author (b. 1915) 2007 – Bernard Manning, English comedian and actor (b. 1930) 2007 – Hank Medress, American singer and producer (b. 1938) 2007 – Georges Thurston, Canadian singer-songwriter (b. 1951) 2008 – Jean Delannoy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1908) 2008 – Tasha Tudor, American author and illustrator (b. 1915) 2008 – Hans Steinbrenner, German sculptor (b. 1928) 2010 – Trent Acid, American wrestler (b. 1980) 2010 – José Saramago, Portuguese novelist Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922) 2010 – Okan Demiriş, Turkish composer (b. 1942) 2011 – Yelena Bonner, Russian activist (b. 1923) 2011 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (b. 1943) 2011 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist (b. 1942) 2012 – Horacio Coppola, Argentinian photographer and director (b. 1906) 2012 – Lina Haag, German author and activist (b. 1907) 2012 – Tom Maynard, Welsh cricketer (b. 1989) 2012 – Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín, Peruvian general and politician, 109th Prime Minister of Peru (b. 1919) 2012 – Alketas Panagoulias, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1934) 2012 – William Van Regenmorter, American businessman and politician (b. 1939) 2013 – Brent F. Anderson, American engineer and politician (b. 1932) 2013 – Alastair Donaldson, Scottish bass player (b. 1955) 2013 – Garde Gardom, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (b. 1924) 2013 – Michael Hastings, American journalist and author (b. 1980) 2013 – David Wall, English ballet dancer (b. 1946) 2014 – Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist and engineer (b. 1923) 2014 – Johnny Mann, American singer-songwriter and conductor (b. 1928) 2014 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (b. 1914) 2014 – Vladimir Popovkin, Russian general (b. 1957) 2014 – Horace Silver, American pianist and composer (b. 1928) 2015 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1941) 2015 – Ralph J. Roberts, American businessman, co-founded Comcast (b. 1920) 2015 – Danny Villanueva, American football player and broadcaster, co-founded Univision (b. 1937) 2015 – Allen Weinstein, American historian and academic (b. 1937) 2016 – Jeppiaar, Indian educationist, founder and chancellor of Sathyabama University (b. 1931) 2018 – XXXTentacion, American rapper (b. 1998) 2018 – Big Van Vader (also known as Vader) American professional wrestler (b. 1955) 2018 – Jimmy Wopo, American rapper (b. 1997) 2020 – Vera Lynn, English singer who was
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streets. 1928 – Aviator Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly in an aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean (she is a passenger; Wilmer Stultz is the pilot and Lou Gordon the mechanic). 1935 – Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, clash with striking longshoremen, resulting in a total of 60 injuries and 24 arrests. 1940 – Appeal of 18 June by Charles de Gaulle. 1940 – The "Finest Hour" speech is delivered by Winston Churchill. 1945 – William Joyce ("Lord Haw-Haw") is charged with treason for his pro-German propaganda broadcasting during World War II. 1946 – Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, a Socialist, calls for a Direct Action Day against the Portuguese in Goa. 1948 – Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record album in a public demonstration at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. 1948 – Britain, France and the United States announce that on June 21, the Deutsche Mark will be introduced in western Germany and West Berlin. Over the next six days, Communists increasingly restrict access to Berlin. 1953 – The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt. 1953 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns near Tachikawa, Japan, killing 129. 1954 – Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état. 1965 – Vietnam War: The United States Air Force uses B-52 bombers to attack guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam. 1972 – Staines air disaster: One hundred eighteen people are killed when a BEA H.S. Trident crashes two minutes after takeoff from London's Heathrow Airport. 1979 – SALT II is signed by the United States and the Soviet Union. 1981 – The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk, the first operational aircraft initially designed around stealth technology, makes its first flight. 1982 – Italian banker Roberto Calvi's body is discovered hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London, England. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: STS-7, Astronaut Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space. 1983 – Mona Mahmudnizhad, together with nine other women of the Baháʼí Faith, is sentenced to death and hanged in Shiraz, Iran over her religious beliefs. 1984 – A major clash between about 5,000 police and a similar number of miners takes place at Orgreave, South Yorkshire, during the 1984–85 UK miners' strike. 1994 – The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup. 1998 – Propair Flight 420 crashes near Montréal–Mirabel International Airport in Quebec, Canada, killing 11. 2006 – The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat-1 is launched. 2007 – The Charleston Sofa Super Store fire happened in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine firefighters. 2009 – The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a NASA robotic spacecraft is launched. 2018 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 strikes northern Osaka. Births Pre-1600 1269 – Eleanor of England, Countess of Bar (d. 1298) 1318 – Eleanor of Woodstock (d. 1355) 1332 – John V Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1391) 1466 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (d. 1539) 1511 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor, designed the Ponte Santa Trinita (d. 1592) 1517 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (d. 1593) 1521 – Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu (d. 1577) 1601–1900 1667 – Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshal (d. 1750) 1673 – Antonio de Literes, Spanish composer (d. 1747) 1677 – Antonio Maria Bononcini, Italian cellist and composer (d. 1726) 1716 – Joseph-Marie Vien, French painter and educator (d. 1809) 1717 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1757) 1757 – Ignaz Pleyel, Austrian-French pianist and composer (d. 1831) 1757 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentine lawyer and politician 1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (d. 1833) 1769 – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Irish-English politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1822) 1799 – William Lassell, English astronomer and merchant (d. 1880) 1812 – Ivan Goncharov, Russian journalist and author (d. 1891) 1815 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (d. 1881) 1816 – Hélène Napoleone Bonaparte, French daughter of Napoleon (d. 1907) 1816 – Jung Bahadur Rana, Nepali ruler (d. 1877) 1833 – Manuel González Flores, Mexican general and President (1880-1884) (d. 1893) 1834 – Auguste-Théodore-Paul de Broglie, French philosopher and academic (d. 1895) 1839 – William H. Seward Jr., American general and banker (d. 1920) 1845 – Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran, French physician and parasitologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922) 1850 – Richard Heuberger, Austrian composer and critic (d. 1914) 1854 – E. W. Scripps, American publisher, founded the E. W. Scripps Company (d. 1926) 1857 – Henry Clay Folger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Folger Shakespeare Library (d. 1930) 1858 – Andrew Forsyth, Scottish-English mathematician and academic (d. 1942) 1858 – Hector Rason, English-Australian politician, 7th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1927) 1862 – Carolyn Wells, American novelist and poet (d. 1942) 1863 – George Essex Evans, English-Australian poet and author (d. 1909) 1868 – Miklós Horthy, Hungarian admiral and politician, Regent of Hungary (d. 1957) 1870 – Édouard Le Roy, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1954) 1877 – James Montgomery Flagg, American painter and illustrator (d. 1960) 1881 – Zoltán Halmay, Hungarian swimmer (d. 1956) 1882 – Georgi Dimitrov, Bulgarian compositor and politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 1949) 1884 – Édouard Daladier, French captain and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1970) 1886 – George Mallory, English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1924) 1886 – Alexander Wetmore, American ornithologist and paleontologist (d. 1978) 1887 – Tancrède Labbé, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1956) 1896 – Blanche Sweet, American actress (d. 1986) 1897 – Martti Marttelin, Finnish runner (d. 1940) 1900 – Vlasta Vraz, Czech-American relief worker, editor, and fundraiser (d. 1989) 1901–present 1901 – Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (d. 1918) 1901 – Llewellyn Rees, English actor (d. 1994) 1902 – Louis Alter, American musician (d. 1980) 1902 – Paavo Yrjölä, Finnish decathlete (d. 1980) 1903 – Jeanette MacDonald, American actress and singer (d. 1965) 1903 – Raymond Radiguet, French author and poet (d. 1923) 1904 – Keye Luke, Chinese-American actor (d. 1991) 1904 – Manuel Rosenthal, French conductor and composer (d. 2003) 1905 – Eduard Tubin, Estonian composer and conductor (d. 1982) 1907 – Frithjof Schuon, Swiss-American metaphysicist, philosopher, and author (d. 1998) 1908 – Bud Collyer, American actor and game show host (d. 1969) 1908 – Stanley Knowles, American-Canadian academic and politician (d. 1997) 1908 – Nedra Volz, American actress (d. 2003) 1910 – Dick Foran, American actor and singer (d. 1979) 1910 – Avon Long, American actor and singer (d. 1984) 1910 – Ray McKinley, American singer, drummer, and bandleader (d. 1995) 1912 – Glenn Morris, American decathlete (d. 1974) 1913 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (d. 2005) 1913 – Sammy Cahn, American pianist and composer (d. 1993) 1913 – Sylvia Porter, American economist and journalist (d. 1991) 1913 – Françoise Loranger, Canadian playwright and producer (d. 1995) 1913 – Robert Mondavi, American winemaker and philanthropist (d. 2008) 1913 – Oswald Teichmüller, German mathematician (d. 1943) 1914 – E. G. Marshall, American actor (d. 1998) 1914 – Efraín Huerta, Mexican poet (d.1982) 1915 – Red Adair, American firefighter (d. 2004) 1915 – Robert Kanigher, American author (d. 2002) 1915 – Alice T. Schafer, American mathematician (d. 2009) 1916 – Julio César Turbay Ayala, Colombian lawyer and politician, 25th President of Colombia (d. 2005) 1917 – Richard Boone, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1981) 1917 – Jack Karnehm, English snooker player and sportscaster (d. 2002) 1917 – Erik Ortvad, Danish painter and illustrator (d. 2008) 1918 – Alf Francis, West Prussia-born, English motor racing mechanic and race car constructor (d. 1983) 1918 – Jerome Karle, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013) 1918 – Franco Modigliani, Italian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003) 1919 – Jüri Järvet, Estonian actor and screenwriter (d. 1995) 1920 – Ian Carmichael, English actor and singer (d. 2010) 1920 – Aster Berkhof, Belgian author and academic (d. 2020) 1922 – Claude Helffer, French pianist and educator (d. 2004) 1924 – George Mikan, American basketball player and coach (d. 2005) 1925 – Robert Beadell, American composer and educator (d. 1994) 1926 – Philip B. Crosby, American businessman and author (d. 2001) 1926 – Allan Sandage, American astronomer and cosmologist (d. 2010) 1926 – Tom Wicker, American journalist and author (d. 2011) 1927 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-English actress (d. 1998) 1927 – Paul Eddington, English actor (d. 1995) 1928 – Michael Blakemore, Australian actor, director, and screenwriter 1928 – David T. Lykken, American geneticist and academic (d. 2006) 1929 – Jürgen Habermas, German sociologist and philosopher 1929 – Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2015) 1931 – Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Brazilian sociologist, academic, and politician, 34th President of Brazil 1932 – Dudley R. Herschbach, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1932 – Geoffrey Hill, English poet and academic (d. 2016) 1933 – Colin Brumby, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2018) 1933 – Tommy Hunt, American singer 1934 – Brian Kenny, English general (d. 2017) 1934 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 2004) 1934 – Barack Obama Sr., Kenyan economist (d. 1982) 1936 – Denny Hulme, New Zealand race car driver (d. 1992) 1936 – Ronald Venetiaan, Surinamese politician, 6th President of Suriname 1937 – Del Harris, American basketball player and coach 1937 – Jay Rockefeller, American lawyer and politician, 29th Governor of West Virginia 1937 – Bruce Trigger, Canadian archaeologist, anthropologist and historian (d. 2006) 1937 – Vitaly Zholobov, Ukrainian colonel, engineer, and astronaut 1938 – Kevin Murray, Australian footballer and coach 1939 – Lou Brock, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2020) 1939 – Jean-Claude Germain, Canadian historian, author, and journalist 1939 – Brooks Firestone, American businessman and politician 1941 – Roger Lemerre, French footballer and manager 1941 – Paul Mayersberg, English director and screenwriter 1941 – Delia Smith, English chef and author 1942 – John Bellany, Scottish painter and academic (d. 2013) 1942 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (d. 2013) 1942 – Pat Hutchins, English author and illustrator (d. 2017) 1942 – Thabo Mbeki, South African politician, 23rd President of South Africa 1942 – Paul McCartney, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Richard Perry, American record producer 1942 – Carl Radle, American bass player and producer (d. 1980) 1942 – Nick Tate, Australian actor and director 1942 – Hans Vonk, Dutch conductor (d. 2004) 1943 – Barry Evans, English actor (d. 1997) 1943 – Raffaella Carrà, Italian singer, dancer, and actress (d. 2021) 1943 – Éva Marton, Hungarian soprano and actress 1944 – Bruce DuMont, American broadcaster and political analyst 1944 – Sandy Posey, American pop/country singer 1946 – Russell Ash, English journalist and author (d. 2010) 1946 – Bruiser Brody, American wrestler (d. 1988) 1946 – Fabio Capello, Italian footballer
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1932 – Raymond Jolliffe, 5th Baron Hylton, English politician 1932 – Bob McGrath, American singer and actor 1932 – Billy Williams, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013) 1933 – Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Defence 1933 – Norman Lloyd-Edwards, Welsh lawyer and politician, Lord Lieutenant of South Glamorgan 1934 – Bill Blakeley, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010) 1934 – Lucjan Brychczy, Polish footballer and coach 1934 – Manuel Clouthier, Mexican businessman and politician (d. 1989) 1934 – James Anthony Griffin, American bishop 1934 – Uriel Jones, American drummer (d. 2009) 1934 – Leonard Kleinrock, American computer scientist and engineer 1935 – Christo, Bulgarian-French sculptor and painter (d. 2020) 1935 – Jeanne-Claude, Moroccan sculptor and painter (d. 2009) 1935 – Samak Sundaravej, Thai politician, 25th Prime Minister of Thailand (d. 2009) 1937 – Eleanor Holmes Norton, American lawyer and politician 1937 – Erich Ribbeck, German footballer and manager 1937 – Andreas Whittam Smith, English journalist and publisher, co-founded The Independent 1940 – Bobby Freeman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2017) 1940 – Dallas Long, American shot putter and physician 1941 – Marcel Lachemann, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1941 – Serge Lemoyne, Canadian painter (d. 1998) 1941 – Marv Tarplin, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2011) 1942 – Yiannis Boutaris, Greek businessman and politician, Mayor of Thessaloniki 1943 – Harry Collins, English sociologist, author, and academic 1943 – Malcolm McDowell, English actor and producer 1943 – Jim Guy Tucker, American lawyer and politician, 43rd Governor of Arkansas 1944 – Christine Beasley, English nursing administrator 1944 – David Curry, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 1944 – Ban Ki-moon, South Korean politician and diplomat, 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations 1945 – Whitley Strieber, American author 1946 – Sher Bahadur Deuba, Nepalese politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Nepal 1946 – Paul L. Modrich, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1946 – Gabriel of Komana, Belgian-Dutch archbishop (d. 2013) 1948 – Garnet Bailey, Canadian-American ice hockey player and scout (d. 2001) 1948 – Joe Roth, American director and producer, co-founded Morgan Creek Productions 1949 – Ann Druyan, American popular science writer 1949 – Dennis Locorriere, American singer and musician 1949 – Ulla Schmidt, German educator and politician, German Federal Minister of Health 1949 – Red Symons, English-Australian musician, television, and radio personality 1950 – Nick Brown, English politician, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 1950 – Gerd Zewe, German footballer and manager 1951 – Howard Leese, American guitarist and producer 1951 – Richard Thomas, American actor, director, and producer 1951 – Stellan Skarsgård, Swedish actor 1952 – Jean-Marie Dedecker, Belgian martial artist and politician 1953 – Tim Allen, American actor, comedian, and producer 1954 – Andrzej Lepper, Polish politician, Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland (d. 2011) 1954 – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian economist and politician, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Nigeria 1955 – Alan Hansen, Scottish footballer and sportscaster 1955 – Leah Ward Sears, German-American lawyer and jurist 1956 – Blair Chapman, Canadian ice hockey player 1956 – Sal Paolantonio, American lieutenant and journalist 1957 – Ron Areshenkoff, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2019) 1957 – Roy Cooper, American lawyer and politician, 75th Governor of North Carolina 1957 – Bruce Flowers, American basketball player 1957 – Andrzej Morozowski, Polish journalist and author 1957 – Dicky Thompson, American golfer 1959 – Boyko Borissov, Bulgarian footballer and politician, 50th Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1959 – Maurice G. Dantec, French-born Canadian science fiction writer (d. 2016) 1959 – Steve Georganas, Australian politician 1959 – Klaus Iohannis, Romanian educator and politician, 5th President of Romania 1960 – Jacques Rougeau, Canadian wrestler 1962 – Davey Hamilton, American race car driver 1962 – Glenn Michibata, Canadian-American tennis player and coach 1962 – Ally Sheedy, American actress and author 1962 – Hannah Storm, American journalist and author 1963 – Bettina Bunge, Swiss-German tennis player 1963 – Sarah Connolly, English soprano and actress 1963 – Audrey Niffenegger, American author and academic 1964 – Christian Wilhelm Berger, Romanian organist, composer, and educator 1964 – Kathy Burke, English actress, director, and playwright 1964 – Piyush Goyal, Indian politician, Minister of Railways 1964 – Šarūnas Marčiulionis, Lithuanian basketball player 1965 – Infanta Cristina Federica of Spain 1965 – Vassilis Karapialis, Greek footballer 1965 – Lukas Ligeti, Austrian-American drummer and composer 1965 – Maninder Singh, Indian cricketer 1966 – Henry Bond, English photographer and curator 1966 – Grigori Perelman, Russian mathematician 1966 – Naoki Hattori, Japanese race car driver 1967 – Taşkın Aksoy, German-Turkish footballer and manager 1968 – Fabio Baldato, Italian cyclist 1968 – Peter DeBoer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1968 – Darren Dreger, Canadian sportscaster 1968 – David Gray, English-Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1968 – Tim Leveque, Canadian ice hockey player 1968 – Denise Pearson, English singer-songwriter 1968 – Marcel Theroux, Ugandan-English journalist and author 1969 – Cayetana Guillén Cuervo, Spanish actress, director, and screenwriter 1969 – Virginie Despentes, French author, screenwriter, and director 1969 – Laura Kightlinger, American actress, comedian, producer, and screenwriter 1969 – Svetlana Krivelyova, Russian shot putter 1969 – Søren Rasted, Danish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1970 – Rivers Cuomo, American rock musician 1970 – Chris Cairns, New Zealand cricketer 1971 – Nóra Köves, Hungarian tennis player 1972 – Natalie MacMaster, Canadian fiddler 1972 – Marek Jerzy Minakowski, Polish philosopher, historian, genealogist 1973 – Sam Adams, American football player 1973 – Tanner Foust, American race car driver and television host 1973 – Mattias Hellberg, Swedish singer-songwriter 1973 – Stuart Karppinen, Australian cricketer and coach 1973 – Ville Laihiala, Finnish singer-songwriter and guitarist 1974 – Valeri Bure, Russian-American ice hockey player 1975 – Ante Covic, Australian footballer 1975 – Jeff Davis, American screenwriter and producer 1975 – Jennifer Nicole Lee, American model, actress, and author 1975 – Jaan Pehk, Estonian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1975 – Riccardo Scimeca, English footballer 1976 – Kym Marsh, English singer-songwriter and actress 1977 – Romain Mesnil, French pole vaulter 1977 – Earthwind Moreland, American football player 1978 – Ethan Embry, American actor 1979 – Esther Anderson, Australian actress 1979 – Nila Håkedal, Norwegian volleyball player 1979 – Miguel Pate, American long jumper 1979 – Ryan Pickett, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1980 – Florent Malouda, French footballer 1980 – Diego Mendieta, Paraguayan footballer (d. 2012) 1980 – Jamario Moon, American basketball player 1980 – Juan Carlos Navarro, Spanish basketball player 1980 – Darius Vassell, English footballer 1980 – Markus Winkelhock, German racing driver 1981 – Chris Evans, American actor and producer 1981 – Blake Judd, American actor, director, and producer 1981 – David Madden, founder and executive director of the National History Bee and the National History Bowl 1981 – Radim Vrbata, Czech ice hockey player 1982 – Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopian runner 1982 – Krzysztof Bosak, Polish politician 1982 – Nate Jones, American football player 1983 – Steve Novak, American basketball player 1983 – Jason Spezza, Canadian ice hockey player 1983 – Rachel Taylor, Welsh rugby union player 1984 – Nery Castillo, Mexican-Uruguayan footballer 1984 – Kaori Icho, Japanese wrestler 1984 – Antje Möldner-Schmidt, German runner 1985 – Filipe Albuquerque, Portuguese racing driver 1985 – Silvio Bankert, German footballer 1985 – Pedro Strop, Dominican baseball player 1985 – Danny Syvret, Canadian ice hockey player 1986 – Kat Dennings, American actress and comedian 1986 – Keisuke Honda, Japanese footballer 1986 – Jonathan Lucroy, American baseball catcher 1986 – Ashley Olsen, American child actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman 1986 – Mary-Kate Olsen, American child actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman 1986 – DJ Snake, French DJ and record producer 1986 – Lea Verou, Greek computer scientist and author 1986 – Måns Zelmerlöw, Swedish singer 1987 – Marko Grgić, Croatian footballer 1988 – Gabe Carimi, American football player 1988 – Reece Noi, British actor 1988 – Cody Walker, American actor 1989 – Ben Barba, Australian rugby league player 1989 – James Calado, English racing driver 1989 – Ryan McDonagh, American ice hockey defenseman 1989 – Daniel Mortimer, Australian rugby league player 1989 – Andreas Samaris, Greek footballer 1989 – Tommy Searle, English motocross racer 1989 – Hassan Whiteside, American basketball player 1989 – Erica Wiebe, Canadian wrestler 1990 – James McCann, American baseball player 1990 – Nicole Riner, Swiss tennis player 1990 – Aaron Taylor-Johnson, English actor 1991 – Will Claye, American jumper 1991 – Ryan Mason, English footballer 1992 – Semi Radradra, Fijian rugby league player 1993 – Simona Senoner, Italian ski jumper (d. 2011) 1993 – Denis Ten, Kazakhstani figure skater (d. 2018) 1994 – Deepika Kumari, Indian archer 1995 – Emily Fanning, New Zealand tennis player 1995 – Laura Ucrós, Colombian tennis player 2000 – Penny Oleksiak, Canadian swimmer Deaths Pre-1600 220 – Xiahou Dun, Chinese general 976 – Mansur I, Samanid emir 995 – Fujiwara no Michikane, Japanese nobleman (b. 961) 1036 – Ali az-Zahir, Fatimid caliph (b. 1005) 1231 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese priest and saint (b. 1195) 1256 – Tankei, Japanese sculptor (b. 1173) 1348 – Juan Manuel, Spanish prince (b. 1282) 1432 – Uko Fockena, Frisian chieftain (b. c. 1408) 1550 – Veronica Gambara, Italian poet (b. 1485) 1601–1900 1636 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, Scottish politician (b. 1562) 1645 – Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese samurai (b. 1584) 1661 – Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (b. 1595) 1665 – Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604) 1784 – Henry Middleton, American farmer and politician, 2nd President of the Continental Congress (b. 1717) 1846 – Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès, French geographer and author (b. 1767) 1861 – Henry Gray, English anatomist and surgeon (b. 1827) 1881 – Joseph Škoda, Czech physician and dermatologist (b. 1805) 1886 – Ludwig II, king of Bavaria (b. 1845) 1894 – John Cox Bray, Australian politician, 15th Premier of South Australia (b. 1842) 1898 – Joseph-Adolphe Chapleau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Quebec (b. 1840) 1901–present 1904 – Nikiforos Lytras, Greek painter and educator (b. 1832) 1917 – Louis-Philippe Hébert,
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1952 – Catalina affair: A Swedish Douglas DC-3 is shot down by a Soviet MiG-15 fighter. 1966 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Miranda v. Arizona that the police must inform suspects of their Fifth Amendment rights before questioning them (colloquially known as "Mirandizing"). 1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson nominates Solicitor-General Thurgood Marshall to become the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. 1971 – Vietnam War: The New York Times begins publication of the Pentagon Papers. 1977 – Convicted Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray is recaptured after escaping from prison three days before. 1981 – At the Trooping the Colour ceremony in London, a teenager, Marcus Sarjeant, fires six blank shots at Queen Elizabeth II. 1982 – Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid. 1982 – Battles of Tumbledown and Wireless Ridge, during the Falklands War. 1983 – Pioneer 10 becomes the first man-made object to leave the central Solar System when it passes beyond the orbit of Neptune. 1990 – First day of the June 1990 Mineriad in Romania. At least 240 strikers and students are arrested or killed in the chaos ensuing from the first post-Ceaușescu elections. 1994 – A jury in Anchorage, Alaska, blames recklessness by Exxon and Captain Joseph Hazelwood for the Exxon Valdez disaster, allowing victims of the oil spill to seek $15 billion in damages. 1996 – The Montana Freemen surrender after an 81-day standoff with FBI agents. 1997 – A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. 1999 – BMW win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Toyota being a contention for the win until a puncture in the last hour relegated it to second, Toyota not participating in Le Mans again until 2012. The race was also remembered for the flipping incidents involving the Mercedes cars, the team withdrawing mid-race and Mercedes never entering Le Mans again. 2000 – President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang. 2000 – Italy pardons Mehmet Ali Ağca, the Turkish gunman who tried to kill Pope John Paul II in 1981. 2002 – The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. 2005 – The jury acquits pop singer Michael Jackson of his charges for allegedly sexually molesting a child in 1993. 2007 – The Al Askari Mosque is bombed for a second time. 2010 – A capsule of the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa, containing particles of the asteroid 25143 Itokawa, returns to Earth by landing in the Australian Outback. 2012 – A series of bombings across Iraq, including Baghdad, Hillah and Kirkuk, kills at least 93 people and wounds over 300 others. 2015 – A man opens fire at policemen outside the police headquarters in Dallas, Texas, while a bag containing a pipe bomb is also found. He was later shot dead by police. 2018 – Volkswagen is fined one billion euros over the emissions scandal. 2021 – A gas explosion in Zhangwan district of Shiyan city, in Hubei province of China killing at least 12 people and wounding over 138 others. Births Pre-1600 AD 40 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman general (d. 93) 823 – Charles the Bald, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 877) 839 – Charles the Fat, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 888) 1367 – Taejong of Joseon (d. 1422) 1500 – Ernest of Bavaria, pledge lord of the County of Glatz (d. 1560) 1508 – Alessandro Piccolomini, Italian astronomer and philosopher (d. 1579) 1539 – Jost Amman, Swiss printmaker (d. 1591) 1555 – Giovanni Antonio Magini, Italian mathematician, cartographer and astronomer (d. 1617) 1580 – Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (d. 1626) 1595 – Jan Marek Marci, Czech physician and scientist (d. 1667) 1601–1900 1617 – Sir Vincent Corbet, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1656) 1649 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic (d. 1706) 1711 – Sir Richard Glyn, 1st Baronet, of Ewell, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1773) 1752 – Frances Burney, English novelist and playwright (d. 1840) 1761 – Antonín Vranický, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1820) 1763 – José Bonifácio de Andrada, Brazilian poet, academic, and politician (d. 1838) 1773 – Thomas Young, English physicist and physiologist (d. 1829) 1775 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Polish-Lithuanian composer and politician (d. 1833) 1786 – Winfield Scott, American general (d. 1866) 1790 – José Antonio Páez, Venezuelan general and politician, President of Venezuela (d. 1873) 1809 – Heinrich Hoffmann, German psychiatrist and author (d. 1894) 1822 – Carl Schmidt, Latvian-German chemist and academic (d. 1894) 1827 – Alberto Henschel, German-Brazilian photographer and businessman (d. 1882) 1831 – James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish physicist and mathematician (d. 1879) 1840 – Augusta Lundin, the first international Swedish fashion designer (d. 1919) 1854 – Charles Algernon Parsons, English engineer, founded C. A. Parsons and Company (d. 1931) 1863 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (d. 1935) 1864 – Rudolf Kjellén, Swedish political scientist and academic (d. 1922) 1864 – Dwight B. Waldo, American historian and academic (d. 1939) 1865 – Karl Blossfeldt, German photographer (d. 1932) 1865 – W. B. Yeats, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1939) 1868 – Wallace Clement Sabine, American physicist and academic (d. 1919) 1870 – Jules Bordet, Belgian immunologist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961) 1872 – Thomas N. Heffron, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1951) 1873 – Karin Swanström, Swedish actress, director, and producer (d. 1942) 1875 – Paul Neumann, Austrian swimmer and physician (d. 1932) 1876 – William Sealy Gosset, English chemist and statistician (d. 1937) 1879 – Heinrich Gutkin, Estonian businessman and politician (d. 1941) 1879 – Charalambos Tseroulis, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister for Military Affairs (d. 1929) 1884 – Leon Chwistek, Polish painter, philosopher, and mathematician (d. 1944) 1884 – Étienne Gilson, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978) 1885 – Henry George Lamond, Australian farmer and author (d. 1969) 1887 – André François-Poncet, French politician and diplomat (d. 1978) 1887 – Bruno Frank, German-American author, poet, and playwright (d. 1945) 1888 – Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet and critic (d. 1935) 1892 – Basil Rathbone, South African-born British-American actor (d. 1967) 1893 – Alan Arnold Griffith, English engineer (d. 1963) 1893 – Dorothy L. Sayers, English author and poet (d. 1957) 1894 – Leo Kanner, Ukrainian-American psychiatrist and physician (d. 1981) 1894 – Jacques Henri Lartigue, French photographer and painter (d. 1986) 1897 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner
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Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state. 1985 – Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador. 1987 – Basque separatist group ETA commits one of its most violent attacks, in which a bomb is set off in a supermarket, Hipercor, killing 21 and injuring 45. 1988 – Pope John Paul II canonizes 117 Vietnamese Martyrs. 1990 – The current international law defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, is ratified for the first time by Norway. 1990 – The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow. 1991 – The last Soviet army units in Hungary are withdrawn. 2005 – Following a series of Michelin tire failures during the United States Grand Prix weekend at Indianapolis, and without an agreement being reached, 14 cars from seven teams in Michelin tires withdrew after completing the formation lap, leaving only six cars from three teams on Bridgestone tires to race. 2007 – The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured. 2009 – Mass riots involving over 10,000 people and 10,000 police officers break out in Shishou, China, over the dubious circumstances surrounding the death of a local chef. 2009 – War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. 2012 – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requested asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army. 2018 – The 10,000,000th United States Patent is issued. 2018 – Antwon Rose II was fatally shot in East Pittsburgh by East Pittsburgh Police Officer Michael Rosfeld after being involved in a near-fatal drive-by shooting. Births Pre-1600 1301 – Prince Morikuni, shōgun of Japan (d. 1333) 1417 – Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, lord of Rimini (d. 1468) 1566 – James VI and I of the United Kingdom (d. 1625) 1590 – Philip Bell, British colonial governor (d. 1678) 1595 – Hargobind, sixth Sikh guru (d. 1644) 1598 – Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1677) 1601–1900 1606 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (d. 1649) 1623 – Blaise Pascal, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1662) 1633 – Philipp van Limborch, Dutch author and theologian (d. 1712) 1701 – François Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1775) 1731 – Joaquim Machado de Castro, Portuguese sculptor (d. 1822) 1764 – José Gervasio Artigas, Uruguayan general and politician (d. 1850) 1771 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1859) 1776 – Francis Johnson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1842) 1783 – Friedrich Sertürner, German chemist and pharmacist (d. 1841) 1793 – Joseph Earl Sheffield, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1882) 1795 – James Braid, Scottish-English surgeon (d. 1860) 1797 – Hamilton Hume, Australian explorer (d. 1873) 1815 – Cornelius Krieghoff, Dutch-Canadian painter (d. 1872) 1816 – William H. Webb, American shipbuilder and philanthropist, founded the Webb Institute (d. 1899) 1833 – Mary Tenney Gray, American editorial writer, club-woman, philanthropist, and suffragette (d. 1904) 1834 – Charles Spurgeon, English pastor and author (d. 1892) 1840 – Georg Karl Maria Seidlitz, German entomologist and academic (d. 1917) 1843 – Mary Sibbet Copley, American philanthropist (d. 1929) 1845 – Cléophas Beausoleil, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1904) 1846 – Antonio Abetti, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1928) 1850 – David Jayne Hill, American historian and politician, 24th United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1932) 1851 – Billy Midwinter, English-Australian cricketer (d. 1890) 1851 – Silvanus P. Thompson, English physicist, engineer, and academic (d. 1916) 1854 – Alfredo Catalani, Italian composer and academic (d. 1893) 1854 – Hjalmar Mellin, Finnish mathematician and theorist (d. 1933) 1855 – George F. Roesch, American lawyer and politician (d. 1917) 1858 – Sam Walter Foss, American poet and librarian (d. 1911) 1861 – Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, Scottish-English field marshal (d. 1928) 1861 – Émile Haug, French geologist and paleontologist (d. 1927) 1861 – José Rizal, Filipino journalist, author, and poet (d. 1896) 1865 – May Whitty, English actress (d. 1948) 1871 – Alajos Szokolyi, Hungarian hurdler, jumper, and physician (d. 1932) 1872 – Theodore Payne, English-American gardener and botanist (d. 1963) 1874 – Peder Oluf Pedersen, Danish physicist and engineer (d. 1941) 1876 – Nigel Gresley, Scottish-English engineer (d. 1941) 1877 – Charles Coburn, American actor (d. 1961) 1881 – Maginel Wright Enright, American illustrator (d. 1966) 1883 – Gladys Mills Phipps, American horse breeder (d. 1970) 1884 – Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, French painter and historian (d. 1974) 1886 – Finley Hamilton, American lawyer and politician (d. 1940) 1888 – Arthur Massey Berry, Canadian soldier and pilot (d. 1970) 1891 – John Heartfield, German photographer and activist (d. 1968) 1896 – Rajani Palme Dutt, English journalist and politician (d. 1974) 1896 – Wallis Simpson, American wife of Edward VIII (d. 1986) 1897 – Cyril Norman Hinshelwood, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967) 1897 – Moe Howard, American comedian (d. 1975) 1901–present 1902 – Guy Lombardo, Canadian-American violinist and bandleader (d. 1977) 1903 – Mary Callery, American-French sculptor and academic (d. 1977) 1903 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (d. 1941) 1903 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer and coach (d. 1965) 1903 – Hans Litten, German lawyer (d. 1938) 1905 – Mildred Natwick, American actress (d. 1994) 1906 – Ernst Boris Chain, German-Irish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979) 1906 – Knut Kroon, Swedish footballer (d. 1975) 1906 – Walter Rauff, German SS officer (d. 1984) 1907 – Clarence Wiseman, Canadian 10th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1985) 1909 – Osamu Dazai, Japanese author (d. 1948) 1909 – Rūdolfs Jurciņš, Latvian basketball player (d. 1948) 1910 – Sydney Allard, English race car driver, founded the Allard Company (d. 1966) 1910 – Paul Flory, American chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985) 1910 – Abe Fortas, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1982) 1912 – Don Gutteridge, American baseball player and manager (d. 2008) 1912 – Virginia MacWatters, American soprano and actress (d. 2005) 1913 – Helene Madison, American swimmer (d. 1970) 1914 – Alan Cranston, American journalist and politician (d. 2000) 1914 – Lester Flatt, American bluegrass singer-songwriter, guitarist, and mandolin player (d. 1979) 1915 – Pat Buttram, American actor (d. 1994) 1915 – Julius Schwartz, American publisher and agent (d. 2004) 1917 – Joshua Nkomo, Zimbabwean guerrilla leader and politician, Vice President of Zimbabwe (d. 1999) 1919 – Pauline Kael, American film critic (d. 2001) 1920 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1921 – Louis Jourdan, French-American actor and singer (d. 2015) 1922 – Aage Bohr, Danish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2009) 1922 – Marilyn P. Johnson, American educator and diplomat, 8th United States Ambassador to Togo 1923 – Bob Hank, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012) 1926 – Erna Schneider Hoover, American mathematician and inventor 1927 – Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general and human rights violator (d. 2018) 1928 – Tommy DeVito, American singer and guitarist (d. 2020) 1928 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (d. 2000) 1930 – Gena Rowlands, American actress 1932 – Pier Angeli, Italian actress (d. 1971) 1932 – José Sanchis Grau, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2011) 1932 – Marisa Pavan, Italian actress 1933 – Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (d. 1971) 1934 – Gérard Latortue, Haitian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Haiti 1936 – Marisa Galvany, American soprano and actress 1937 – André Glucksmann, French philosopher and author (d. 2015) 1938 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (d. 2002) 1939 – Bernd Hoss, German footballer and manager (d. 2016) 1939 – John F. MacArthur, American minister and theologian 1941 – Václav Klaus, Czech economist and politician, 2nd President of the Czech Republic 1942 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director and producer (d. 2010) 1944 – Chico Buarque, Brazilian singer, composer, writer and poet 1945 – Radovan Karadžić, Serbian-Bosnian politician and convicted war criminal, 1st President of Republika Srpska 1945 – Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, Nobel Prize laureate 1945 – Tobias Wolff, American short story writer, memoirist, and novelist 1946 – Jimmy Greenhoff, English footballer and manager 1947 – Salman Rushdie, Indian-English novelist and essayist 1947 – John Ralston Saul, Canadian philosopher and author 1948 – Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter (d. 1974) 1948 – Phylicia Rashad, American actress 1950 – Neil Asher Silberman, American archaeologist and historian 1950 – Ann Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician 1951 – Ayman al-Zawahiri, Egyptian terrorist 1951 – Francesco Moser, Italian cyclist 1952 – Bob Ainsworth, English politician, Secretary of State for Defence 1954 – Mike O'Brien, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales 1954 – Lou Pearlman, American music producer and fraudster (d. 2016) 1954 – Kathleen Turner, American actress 1954 – Richard Wilkins, New Zealand-Australian journalist and television presenter 1955 – Mary O'Connor, New Zealand runner 1955 – Mary Schapiro, American lawyer and politician 1957 – Anna Lindh, Swedish politician, 39th Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2003) 1957 – Jean Rabe, American journalist and author 1958 – Sergei Makarov, Russian-American ice hockey player and coach 1959 – Mark DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player 1959 – Christian Wulff, German lawyer and politician, 10th President of Germany 1960 – Andrew Dilnot, English economist and academic 1960 – Johnny Gray, American runner and coach 1960 – Luke Morley, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1960 – Patti Rizzo, American golfer 1962 – Paula Abdul, American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, and presenter 1962 – Jeremy Bates, English tennis player 1962 – Ashish Vidyarthi, Indian actor 1963 – Laura Ingraham, American radio host and author 1963 – Margarita Ponomaryova, Russian hurdler 1963 – Rory Underwood, English rugby player, lieutenant, and pilot 1964 – Brent Goulet, American soccer player and manager 1964 – Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Mayor of London 1964 – Brian Vander Ark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1965 – Sabine Braun, German heptathlete 1965 – Sadie Frost, English actress and producer 1966 – Michalis Romanidis, Greek basketball player 1967 – Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian skier and businessman 1968 – Alastair Lynch, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1968 – Timothy Morton, American philosopher and academic 1968 – Kimberly Anne "Kim" Walker, American film and television actress (d. 2001) 1970 – Rahul Gandhi, Indian politician 1970 – Quincy Watts, American sprinter and football player 1970 – Brian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1971 – José Emilio
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2009) 1922 – Marilyn P. Johnson, American educator and diplomat, 8th United States Ambassador to Togo 1923 – Bob Hank, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2012) 1926 – Erna Schneider Hoover, American mathematician and inventor 1927 – Luciano Benjamín Menéndez, Argentine general and human rights violator (d. 2018) 1928 – Tommy DeVito, American singer and guitarist (d. 2020) 1928 – Nancy Marchand, American actress (d. 2000) 1930 – Gena Rowlands, American actress 1932 – Pier Angeli, Italian actress (d. 1971) 1932 – José Sanchis Grau, Spanish author and illustrator (d. 2011) 1932 – Marisa Pavan, Italian actress 1933 – Viktor Patsayev, Kazakh engineer and astronaut (d. 1971) 1934 – Gérard Latortue, Haitian politician, 12th Prime Minister of Haiti 1936 – Marisa Galvany, American soprano and actress 1937 – André Glucksmann, French philosopher and author (d. 2015) 1938 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (d. 2002) 1939 – Bernd Hoss, German footballer and manager (d. 2016) 1939 – John F. MacArthur, American minister and theologian 1941 – Václav Klaus, Czech economist and politician, 2nd President of the Czech Republic 1942 – Merata Mita, New Zealand director and producer (d. 2010) 1944 – Chico Buarque, Brazilian singer, composer, writer and poet 1945 – Radovan Karadžić, Serbian-Bosnian politician and convicted war criminal, 1st President of Republika Srpska 1945 – Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese politician, Nobel Prize laureate 1945 – Tobias Wolff, American short story writer, memoirist, and novelist 1946 – Jimmy Greenhoff, English footballer and manager 1947 – Salman Rushdie, Indian-English novelist and essayist 1947 – John Ralston Saul, Canadian philosopher and author 1948 – Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter (d. 1974) 1948 – Phylicia Rashad, American actress 1950 – Neil Asher Silberman, American archaeologist and historian 1950 – Ann Wilson, American singer-songwriter and musician 1951 – Ayman al-Zawahiri, Egyptian terrorist 1951 – Francesco Moser, Italian cyclist 1952 – Bob Ainsworth, English politician, Secretary of State for Defence 1954 – Mike O'Brien, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales 1954 – Lou Pearlman, American music producer and fraudster (d. 2016) 1954 – Kathleen Turner, American actress 1954 – Richard Wilkins, New Zealand-Australian journalist and television presenter 1955 – Mary O'Connor, New Zealand runner 1955 – Mary Schapiro, American lawyer and politician 1957 – Anna Lindh, Swedish politician, 39th Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2003) 1957 – Jean Rabe, American journalist and author 1958 – Sergei Makarov, Russian-American ice hockey player and coach 1959 – Mark DeBarge, American singer-songwriter and trumpet player 1959 – Christian Wulff, German lawyer and politician, 10th President of Germany 1960 – Andrew Dilnot, English economist and academic 1960 – Johnny Gray, American runner and coach 1960 – Luke Morley, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1960 – Patti Rizzo, American golfer 1962 – Paula Abdul, American singer-songwriter, dancer, actress, and presenter 1962 – Jeremy Bates, English tennis player 1962 – Ashish Vidyarthi, Indian actor 1963 – Laura Ingraham, American radio host and author 1963 – Margarita Ponomaryova, Russian hurdler 1963 – Rory Underwood, English rugby player, lieutenant, and pilot 1964 – Brent Goulet, American soccer player and manager 1964 – Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and former Mayor of London 1964 – Brian Vander Ark, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1965 – Sabine Braun, German heptathlete 1965 – Sadie Frost, English actress and producer 1966 – Michalis Romanidis, Greek basketball player 1967 – Bjørn Dæhlie, Norwegian skier and businessman 1968 – Alastair Lynch, Australian footballer and sportscaster 1968 – Timothy Morton, American philosopher and academic 1968 – Kimberly Anne "Kim" Walker, American film and television actress (d. 2001) 1970 – Rahul Gandhi, Indian politician 1970 – Quincy Watts, American sprinter and football player 1970 – Brian Welch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1971 – José Emilio Amavisca, Spanish footballer 1971 – Chris Armstrong, English footballer 1972 – Jean Dujardin, French actor 1972 – Ilya Markov, Russian race walker 1972 – Brian McBride, American soccer player and coach 1972 – Robin Tunney, American actress 1973 – Jahine Arnold, American football player 1973 – Yuko Nakazawa, Japanese singer 1973 – Yasuhiko Yabuta, Japanese baseball player 1974 – Doug Mientkiewicz, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1974 – Mustaque Ahmed Ruhi, Bangladeshi member of parliament 1975 – Hugh Dancy, English actor and model 1975 – Anthony Parker, American basketball player 1976 – Anar Baghirov, Azerbaijani lawyer 1976 – Dennis Crowley, American businessman, co-founded Foursquare 1976 – Bryan Hughes, English footballer and manager 1976 – Anita Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer 1978 – Dirk Nowitzki, German basketball player 1978 – Zoe Saldana, American actress 1978 – Claudio Vargas, Dominican baseball player 1979 – José Kléberson, Brazilian footballer 1980 – Jean Carroll, Irish cricketer 1980 – Dan Ellis, Canadian ice hockey player 1980 – Robbie Neilson, Scottish footballer and manager 1980 – Nuno Santos, Portuguese footballer 1981 – Mohammed Al-Khuwalidi, Saudi Arabian long jumper 1981 – Moss Burmester, New Zealand swimmer 1982 – Alexander Frolov, Russian ice hockey player 1982 – Chris Vermeulen, Australian motorcycle racer 1983 – Macklemore, American rapper 1983 – Aidan Turner, Irish actor 1984 – Paul Dano, American actor 1984 – Wieke Dijkstra, Dutch field hockey player 1984 – Andri Eleftheriou, Cypriot sport shooter 1985 – Ai Miyazato, Japanese golfer 1985 – José Ernesto Sosa, Argentinian footballer 1985 – Dire Tune, Ethiopian runner 1986 – Aoiyama Kōsuke, Bulgarian sumo wrestler 1986 – Lázaro Borges, Cuban pole vaulter 1986 – Diego Hypólito, Brazilian gymnast 1986 – Marvin Williams, American basketball player 1987 – Rashard Mendenhall, American football player 1988 – Jacob deGrom, American baseball player 1990 – Moa Hjelmer, Swedish sprinter 1990 – Xavier Rhodes, American football player 1992 – Keaton Jennings, South African-English cricketer 1992 – C. J. Mosley, American football player 1993 – Olajide Olatunji, English YouTuber Deaths Pre-1600 404 – Huan Xuan, Jin-dynasty warlord and emperor of Huan Chu (b. 369) 626 – Soga no Umako, Japanese son of Soga no Iname (b. 551) 930 – Xiao Qing, chancellor of Later Liang (b. 862) 1027 – Romuald, Italian mystic and saint (b. 951) 1185 – Taira no Munemori, Japanese soldier (b. 1147) 1282 – Eleanor de Montfort, Welsh princess (b. 1252) 1312 – Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English politician (b. 1284) 1341 – Juliana Falconieri, Italian nun and saint (b. 1270) 1364 – Elisenda of Montcada, queen consort and regent of Aragon (b. 1292) 1504 – Bernhard Walther, German astronomer and humanist (b. 1430) 1542 – Leo Jud, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1482) 1545 – Abraomas Kulvietis, Lithuanian-Russian lawyer and jurist (b. 1509) 1567 – Anna of Brandenburg, Duchess of Mecklenburg (b. 1507) 1584 – Francis, Duke of Anjou (b. 1555) 1601–1900 1608 – Alberico Gentili, Italian lawyer and jurist (b. 1551) 1650 – Matthäus Merian, Swiss-German engraver and publisher (b. 1593) 1747 – Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer and educator (b. 1669) 1747 – Nader Shah, Persian leader (b. 1688) 1762 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (b. 1702) 1768 – Benjamin Tasker Sr., American soldier and politician, 10th Colonial Governor of Maryland (b. 1690) 1786 – Nathanael Greene, American general (b. 1742) 1805 – Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, French painter and educator (b. 1724) 1820 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and author (b. 1743) 1844 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French zoologist and biologist (b. 1772) 1864 – Richard Heales, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Victoria (b. 1822) 1864 – Sarah Rosetta Wakeman, American soldier (b. 1843) 1865 – Evangelos Zappas, Greek-Romanian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1800) 1867 – Miguel Miramón, Unconstitutional president of Mexico, 1859-1860 (b. 1832) 1867 – Maximilian I of Mexico (b. 1832) 1874 – Ferdinand Stoliczka, Moravian palaeontologist and ornithologist (b. 1838) 1884 – Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentinian-French politician and diplomat (b. 1810) 1901–present 1903 – Herbert Vaughan, English cardinal (b. 1832) 1918 – Francesco Baracca, Italian fighter pilot (b. 1888) 1921 – Ramón López Velarde, Mexican poet and author (b. 1888) 1922 – Hitachiyama Taniemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 19th Yokozuna (b. 1874) 1932 – Sol Plaatje, South African journalist and activist (b. 1876) 1937 – J. M. Barrie, Scottish novelist and playwright (b. 1860) 1939 – Grace Abbott, American social worker and activist (b. 1878) 1940 – Maurice Jaubert, French composer and conductor (b. 1900) 1941 – C. V. Hartman, Swiss botanist and anthropologist (b. 1862) 1941 – Otto Hirsch, German jurist and politician (b. 1885) 1949 – Syed Zafarul Hasan, Indian philosopher and academic (b. 1885) 1951 – Angelos Sikelianos, Greek poet and playwright (b. 1884) 1953 – Ethel Rosenberg, American spy (b. 1915) 1953 – Julius Rosenberg, American spy (b. 1918) 1956 – Thomas J. Watson, American businessman (b. 1874) 1962 – Frank Borzage, American film director and actor (b. 1894) 1966 – Ed Wynn, American actor and comedian (b. 1886) 1968 – James Joseph Sweeney, American bishop (b. 1898) 1975 – Sam Giancana, American mob boss (b. 1908) 1977 – Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist and philosopher (b. 1933) 1979 – Paul Popenoe, American explorer and scholar, founded Relationship counseling (b. 1888) 1981 – Anya Phillips, Chinese-American band manager (b. 1955) 1984 – Lee Krasner, American painter and educator (b. 1908) 1986 – Len Bias, American basketball player (b. 1963) 1987 – Margaret Carver Leighton, American author (b. 1896) 1988 – Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist and academic (b. 1922) 1988 – Gladys Spellman, American lawyer and politician (b. 1918) 1989 – Betti Alver, Estonian author and poet (b. 1906) 1990 – George Addes, American trade union leader, co-founded United Automobile Workers (b. 1911) 1990 – Isobel Andrews, New Zealand writer (b. 1905) 1991 – Jean Arthur, American actress (b. 1900) 1993 – William Golding, British novelist,
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released in the United States, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters". 1979 – ABC News correspondent Bill Stewart is shot dead by a Nicaraguan National Guard soldier under the regime of Anastasio Somoza Debayle during the Nicaraguan Revolution. The murder is caught on tape and sparks an international outcry against the regime. 1982 – The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opens in Tel Aviv, despite attempts by the Turkish government to cancel it, as it included presentations on the Armenian genocide. 1982 – The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War. 1990 – Asteroid Eureka is discovered. 1990 – The 7.4 Manjil–Rudbar earthquake affects northern Iran with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 35,000–50,000, and injuring 60,000–105,000. 1991 – The German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital of Berlin. 1994 – The 1994 Imam Reza shrine bomb explosion in Iran leaves at least 25 dead and 70 to 300 injured. 2003 – The Wikimedia Foundation is founded in St. Petersburg, Florida. Births Pre-1600 1005 – Ali az-Zahir, Fatimid caliph of Egypt (d. 1036) 1389 – John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, English statesman (d. 1435) 1469 – Gian Galeazzo Sforza, duke of Milan (d. 1494) 1566 – Sigismund III Vasa, Polish and Swedish king (d. 1632) 1583 – Jacob De la Gardie, Swedish soldier and politician, Lord High Constable of Sweden (d. 1652) 1601–1900 1634 – Charles Emmanuel II, duke of Savoy (d. 1675) 1642 – (O.S.) George Hickes, English minister and scholar (d. 1715) 1647 – (O.S.) John George III, Elector of Saxony (d. 1691) 1717 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor and painter (d. 1776) 1723 – (O.S.) Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher and historian (d. 1816) 1737 – Tokugawa Ieharu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1786) 1754 – Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, princess of Baden (d. 1832) 1756 – Joseph Martin Kraus, German-Swedish composer and educator (d. 1792) 1761 – Jacob Hübner, German entomologist and author (d. 1826) 1763 – Wolfe Tone, Irish rebel leader (d. 1798) 1770 – Moses Waddel, American minister and academic (d. 1840) 1771 – Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk, Scottish philanthropist and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Kirkcudbright (d. 1820) 1771 – Hermann von Boyen, Prussian general and politician, Prussian Minister of War (d. 1848) 1777 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (d. 1840) 1778 – Jean Baptiste Gay, vicomte de Martignac, French politician, 7th Prime Minister of France (d. 1832) 1786 – Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, French poet and author (d. 1859) 1796 – Luigi Amat di San Filippo e Sorso, Italian cardinal (d. 1878) 1808 – Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi and scholar (d. 1888) 1809 – Isaak August Dorner, German theologian and academic (d. 1884) 1813 – Joseph Autran, French poet and author (d. 1877) 1819 – Jacques Offenbach, German-French cellist and composer (d. 1880) 1847 – Gina Krog, Norwegian suffragist and women's rights activist (d. 1916) 1855 – Richard Lodge, English historian and academic (d. 1936) 1858 – Charles W. Chesnutt, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1932) 1859 – Christian von Ehrenfels, Austrian philosopher (d. 1932) 1860 – Alexander Winton, Scottish-American race car driver and engineer (d. 1932) 1860 – Jack Worrall, Australian cricketer, footballer, and coach (d. 1937) 1861 – Frederick Gowland Hopkins, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947) 1865 – George Redmayne Murray, English biologist and physician (d. 1939) 1866 – James Burns, English cricketer (d. 1957) 1867 – Leon Wachholz, Polish scientist and medical examiner (d. 1942) 1869 – Laxmanrao Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded the Kirloskar Group (d. 1956) 1870 – Georges Dufrénoy, French painter and academic (d. 1943) 1872 – George Carpenter, American 5th General of The Salvation Army (d. 1948) 1875 – Reginald Punnett, English geneticist, statistician, and academic (d. 1967) 1882 – Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (d. 1937) 1884 – Mary R. Calvert, American astronomer and author (d. 1974) 1884 – Johannes Heinrich Schultz, German psychiatrist and psychotherapist (d. 1970) 1885 – Andrzej Gawroński, Polish linguist and academic (d. 1927) 1887 – Kurt Schwitters, German painter and illustrator (d. 1948) 1889 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek-South African astronomer and academic (d. 1951) 1891 – Giannina Arangi-Lombardi, Italian soprano (d. 1951) 1891 – John A. Costello, Irish lawyer and politician, 3rd Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1976) 1893 – Wilhelm Zaisser, German soldier and politician (d. 1958) 1894 – Lloyd Hall, American chemist and academic (d. 1971) 1896 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1982) 1897 – Elisabeth Hauptmann, German author and playwright (d. 1973) 1899 – Jean Moulin, French soldier and engineer (d. 1943) 1901–present 1903 – Sam Rabin, English wrestler, sculptor, and singer (d. 1991) 1905 – Lillian Hellman, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1984) 1906 – Bob King, American high jumper and obstetrician (d. 1965) 1907 – Jimmy Driftwood, American singer-songwriter and banjo player (d. 1998) 1908 – Billy Werber, American baseball player (d. 2009) 1908 – Gus Schilling, American actor (d. 1957) 1909 – Errol Flynn, Australian-American actor (d. 1959) 1910 – Josephine Johnson, American author and poet (d. 1990) 1911 – Gail Patrick, American actress (d. 1980) 1912 – Anthony Buckeridge, English author (d. 2004) 1912 – Jack Torrance, American shot putter and football player (d. 1969) 1912 – Geoffrey Baker, English Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the British Army (d. 1980) 1914 – Gordon Juckes, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1994) 1914 – Muazzez İlmiye Çığ, Turkish archaeologist and academic 1915 – Dick Reynolds, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2002) 1915 – Terence Young, Chinese-English director and screenwriter (d. 1994) 1916 – Jean-Jacques Bertrand, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Premier of Quebec (d. 1973) 1916 – T. Texas Tyler, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1972) 1917 – Helena Rasiowa, Austrian-Polish mathematician and academic (d. 1994) 1918 – George Lynch, American race car driver (d. 1997) 1918 – Zoltán Sztáray, Hungarian-American author (d. 2011) 1920 – Danny Cedrone, American guitarist and bandleader (d. 1954) 1920 – Thomas Jefferson, American trumpet player (d. 1986) 1921 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (d. 1999) 1921 – Pancho Segura, Ecuadorian tennis player (d. 2017) 1923 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (d. 2015) 1923 – Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor and educator (d. 2013) 1924 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001) 1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (d. 2017) 1925 – Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (d. 2015) 1925 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971) 1926 – Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli general and politician, 9th Israeli Minister of Tourism (d. 2001) 1927 – Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (d. 2014) 1928 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (d. 1964) 1928 – Martin Landau, American actor and producer (d. 2017) 1928 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician 1928 – Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and educator (d. 1999) 1929 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013) 1929 – Anne Weale, English journalist and author (d. 2007) 1929 – Edith Windsor, American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist (d. 2017) 1930 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (d. 2017) 1930 – John Waine, English bishop (d. 2020) 1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress (d. 2021) 1931 – James Tolkan, American actor and director 1932 – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet and author (d. 1994) 1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor (d. 2019) 1933 – Claire Tomalin, English journalist and author 1934 – Wendy Craig, English actress 1935 – Jim Barker, American politician (d. 2005)
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1921 – Byron Farwell, American historian and author (d. 1999) 1921 – Pancho Segura, Ecuadorian tennis player (d. 2017) 1923 – Peter Gay, German-American historian, author, and academic (d. 2015) 1923 – Jerzy Nowak, Polish actor and educator (d. 2013) 1924 – Chet Atkins, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2001) 1924 – Fritz Koenig, German sculptor and academic, designed The Sphere (d. 2017) 1925 – Doris Hart, American tennis player and educator (d. 2015) 1925 – Audie Murphy, American lieutenant and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1971) 1926 – Rehavam Ze'evi, Israeli general and politician, 9th Israeli Minister of Tourism (d. 2001) 1927 – Simin Behbahani, Iranian poet and activist (d. 2014) 1928 – Eric Dolphy, American saxophonist, flute player, and composer (d. 1964) 1928 – Martin Landau, American actor and producer (d. 2017) 1928 – Jean-Marie Le Pen, French intelligence officer and politician 1928 – Asrat Woldeyes, Ethiopian surgeon and educator (d. 1999) 1929 – Edgar Bronfman, Sr., Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013) 1929 – Anne Weale, English journalist and author (d. 2007) 1929 – Edith Windsor, American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist (d. 2017) 1930 – Magdalena Abakanowicz, Polish sculptor and academic (d. 2017) 1930 – John Waine, English bishop (d. 2020) 1931 – Olympia Dukakis, American actress (d. 2021) 1931 – James Tolkan, American actor and director 1932 – Robert Rozhdestvensky, Russian poet and author (d. 1994) 1933 – Danny Aiello, American actor (d. 2019) 1933 – Claire Tomalin, English journalist and author 1934 – Wendy Craig, English actress 1935 – Jim Barker, American politician (d. 2005) 1935 – Len Dawson, American football player 1935 – Armando Picchi, Italian footballer and coach (d. 1971) 1936 – Billy Guy, American singer (d. 2002) 1936 – Enn Vetemaa, Estonian author and screenwriter (d. 2017) 1937 – Stafford Dean, English actor and singer 1937 – Jerry Keller, American singer-songwriter 1938 – Joan Kirner, Australian educator and politician, 42nd Premier of Victoria (d. 2015) 1938 – Mickie Most, English music producer (d. 2003) 1939 – Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (d. 1998) 1939 – Budge Rogers, English rugby player and manager 1940 – Eugen Drewermann, German priest and theologian 1940 – John Mahoney, English-born American actor (d. 2018) 1941 – Stephen Frears, English actor, director, and producer 1941 – Ulf Merbold, German physicist and astronaut 1942 – Neil Trudinger, Australian mathematician and theorist 1942 – Brian Wilson, American singer-songwriter and producer 1945 – Anne Murray, Canadian singer and guitarist 1946 – Xanana Gusmão, Timorese soldier and politician, 1st President of East Timor 1946 – David Kazhdan, Russian-Israeli mathematician and academic 1946 – Bob Vila, American television host 1946 – André Watts, American pianist and educator 1947 – Dolores "LaLa" Brooks, American pop singer 1948 – Cirilo Flores, American bishop (d. 2014) 1948 – Alan Longmuir, Scottish bass player and songwriter (d. 2018) 1948 – Ludwig Scotty, Nauruan politician, 10th President of Nauru 1949 – Gotabaya Rajapaksa, 8th president of Sri Lanka 1949 – Lionel Richie, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor 1950 – Nouri al-Maliki, Iraqi politician, 76th Prime Minister of Iraq 1951 – Tress MacNeille, American actress and voice artist 1951 – Sheila McLean, Scottish scholar and academic 1951 – Paul Muldoon, Irish poet and academic 1952 – John Goodman, American actor 1952 – Vikram Seth, Indian author and poet 1953 – Robert Crais, American author and screenwriter 1953 – Raúl Ramírez, Mexican tennis player 1953 – Willy Rampf, German engineer 1954 – Allan Lamb, South African-English cricketer and sportscaster 1954 – Ilan Ramon, Israeli colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003) 1955 – E. Lynn Harris, American author (d. 2009) 1956 – Peter Reid, English footballer and manager 1956 – Sohn Suk-hee, South Korean newscaster 1958 – Kelly Johnson, English hard rock guitarist and songwriter (d. 2007) 1960 – Philip M. Parker, American economist and author 1960 – John Taylor, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor 1963 – Kirk Baptiste, American sprinter 1963 – Mark Ovenden, British author and broadcaster 1964 – Pierfrancesco Chili, Italian motorcycle racer 1964 – Silke Möller, German runner 1966 – Boaz Yakin, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1967 – Nicole Kidman, American-Australian actress 1967 – Dan Tyminski, American singer-songwriter 1968 – Robert Rodriguez, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1969 – Paulo Bento, Portuguese footballer and manager 1969 – Misha Verbitsky, Russian mathematician and academic 1969 – MaliVai Washington, American tennis player and sportscaster 1970 – Andrea Nahles, German politician, German Minister of Labour and Social Affairs 1970 – Athol Williams, South African poet and social philosopher 1971 – Rodney Rogers, American basketball player and coach 1971 – Jeordie White, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and bass player 1972 – Alexis Alexoudis, Greek footballer 1973 – Chino Moreno, American singer-songwriter 1975 – Joan Balcells, Spanish tennis player 1975 – Daniel Zítka, Czech footballer 1976 – Juliano Belletti, Brazilian footballer 1976 – Carlos Lee, Panamanian baseball player 1977 – Gordan Giriček, Croatian basketball player 1977 – Amos Lee, American singer-songwriter 1978 – Frank Lampard, English footballer 1978 – Jan-Paul Saeijs, Dutch footballer 1979 – Charles Howell III, American golfer 1980 – Franco Semioli, Italian footballer 1980 – Fabian Wegmann, German cyclist 1981 – Brede Hangeland, Norwegian footballer 1982 – Aleksei Berezutski, Russian footballer 1982 – Vasili Berezutski, Russian footballer 1982 – Example, English singer/rapper 1983 – Josh Childress, American basketball player 1983 – Darren Sproles, American football player 1984 – Hassan Adams, American basketball player 1985 – Saki Aibu, Japanese actress 1985 – Aurélien Chedjou, Cameroonian footballer 1985 – Matt Flynn, American football player 1986 – Dreama Walker, American actress 1987 – A-fu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter 1987 – Carsten Ball, Australian tennis player 1987 – Asmir Begović, Bosnian footballer 1987 – Joseph Ebuya, Kenyan runner 1989 – Christopher Mintz-Plasse, American actor 1989 – Javier Pastore, Argentinian footballer 1989 – Terrelle Pryor, American football player 1990 – DeQuan Jones, American basketball player 1991 – Kalidou Koulibaly, Senegalese footballer 1991 – Rick ten Voorde, Dutch footballer 1994 – Leonard Williams, American football player 1995 – Caroline Weir, Scottish footballer 1996 – Sam Bennett, Canadian ice hockey player 1997 – Bálint Kopasz, Hungarian sprint canoeist Deaths Pre-1600 465 – Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei (b. 440) 656 – Uthman ibn Affan, Rashidun caliph (b. 577) 840 – Louis the Pious, Carolingian emperor (b. 778) 930 – Hucbald, Frankish monk and music theorist 981 – Adalbert, archbishop of Magdeburg 1176 – Mikhail of Vladimir, Russian prince 1351 – Margareta Ebner, German nun and mystic (b. 1291) 1597 – Willem Barentsz, Dutch cartographer and explorer (b. 1550) 1601–1900 1605 – Feodor II of Russia (b. 1589) 1668 – Heinrich Roth, German missionary and scholar (b. 1620) 1776 – Benjamin Huntsman, English businessman (b. 1704) 1787 – Carl Friedrich Abel, German viol player and composer (b. 1723) 1800 – Abraham Gotthelf Kästner, German mathematician and academic (b. 1719) 1810 – Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish general and politician (b. 1755) 1815 – Guillaume Philibert Duhesme, French general (b. 1766) 1820 – Manuel Belgrano, Argentinian general, economist, and politician (b. 1770) 1837 – William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1765) 1840 – Pierre Claude François Daunou, French historian
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and civil servant (d. 1941) 1881 – (O.S.) Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter, costume designer, and illustrator (d. 1962) 1882 – Lluís Companys, Spanish lawyer and politician, 123rd President of Catalonia (d. 1940) 1882 – Adrianus de Jong, Dutch fencer and soldier (d. 1966) 1882 – Rockwell Kent, American painter and illustrator (d. 1971) 1883 – Feodor Gladkov, Russian author and educator (d. 1958) 1884 – Claude Auchinleck, English field marshal (d. 1981) 1887 – Norman L. Bowen, Canadian geologist and petrologist (d. 1956) 1889 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter and sailor (d. 1972) 1891 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian architect and engineer, co-designed the Pirelli Tower and Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (d. 1979) 1891 – Hermann Scherchen, German-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 1966) 1892 – Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian and academic (d. 1971) 1893 – Alois Hába, Czech composer and educator (d. 1973) 1894 – Milward Kennedy, English journalist and civil servant (d. 1968) 1894 – Harry Schmidt, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1951) 1896 – Charles Momsen, American admiral, invented the Momsen lung (d. 1967) 1899 – Pavel Haas, Czech composer (d. 1944) 1900 – Georges-Henri Bousquet, French economist and Islamologist (d. 1978) 1901–present 1903 – Hermann Engelhard, German runner and coach (d. 1984) 1903 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist, painter and illustrator (d. 2003) 1905 – Jacques Goddet, French journalist (d. 2000) 1905 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author (d. 1980) 1908 – William Frankena, American philosopher and academic (d. 1994) 1910 – Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1971) 1911 – Irving Fein, American producer and manager (d. 2012) 1912 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2000) 1912 – Mary McCarthy, American novelist and critic (d. 1989) 1912 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (d. 2009) 1913 – Madihe Pannaseeha Thero, Sri Lankan monk and scholar (d. 2003) 1913 – Luis Taruc, Filipino political activist (d. 2005) 1914 – William Vickrey, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996) 1915 – Wilhelm Gliese, German soldier and astronomer (d. 1993) 1916 – Joseph Cyril Bamford, English businessman, founded J. C. Bamford (d. 2001) 1916 – Tchan Fou-li, Chinese photographer (d. 2018) 1916 – Herbert Friedman, American physicist and astronomer (d. 2000) 1916 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1977) 1918 – Robert A. Boyd, Canadian engineer (d. 2006) 1918 – James Joll, English historian, author, and academic (d. 1994) 1918 – Eddie Lopat, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1992) 1918 – Dee Molenaar, American mountaineer (d. 2020) 1918 – Robert Roosa, American economist and banker (d. 1993) 1918 – Tibor Szele, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1955) 1918 – Josephine Webb, American engineer 1919 – Antonia Mesina, Italian martyr and saint (d. 1935) 1919 – Gérard Pelletier, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1997) 1919 – Vladimir Simagin, Russian chess player and coach (d. 1968) 1919 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (d. 2013) 1920 – Hans Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skater (d. 2017) 1921 – Judy Holliday, American actress and singer (d. 1965) 1921 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (d. 2011) 1921 – William Edwin Self, American actor, producer, and production manager (d. 2010) 1922 – Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Burkinabé historian, politician and writer (d. 2006) 1923 – Jacques Hébert, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2007) 1924 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and historian (d. 2006) 1924 – Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor (d. 2018) 1924 – Wally Fawkes, British-Canadian jazz clarinetist and satirical cartoonist 1924 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and academic (d. 2012) 1925 – Larisa Avdeyeva, Russian mezzo-soprano (d. 2013) 1925 – Stanley Moss, American poet, publisher, and art dealer 1925 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian journalist and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1994) 1925 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (d. 2006) 1926 – Fred Cone, American football player 1926 – Conrad Hall, French-American cinematographer (d. 2003) 1927 – Carl Stokes, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Seychelles (d. 1996) 1928 – Wolfgang Haken, German-American mathematician and academic 1928 – Fiorella Mari, Brazilian-Italian actress 1928 – Margit Bara, Hungarian actress (d. 2016) 1930 – Gerald Kaufman, English journalist and politician, Shadow Foreign Secretary (d. 2017) 1930 – Mike McCormack, American football player and coach (d. 2013) 1931 – Zlatko Grgić, Croatian-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1988) 1931 – Margaret Heckler, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2018) 1931 – David Kushnir, Israeli Olympic long-jumper (d. 2020) 1932 – Bernard Ingham, English journalist and civil servant 1932 – Lalo Schifrin, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor 1932 – O.C. Smith, American R&B/jazz singer (d. 2001) 1933 – Bernie Kopell, American actor and comedian 1935 – Françoise Sagan, French author and playwright (d. 2004) 1937 – John Edrich, English cricketer and coach (d. 2020) 1938 – Don Black, English songwriter 1938 – John W. Dower, American historian and author 1938 – Michael M. Richter, German mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2020) 1940 – Mariette Hartley, American actress and television personality 1940 – Michael Ruse, Canadian philosopher and academic 1941 – Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Indian bishop 1941 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter 1941 – Lyman Ward, Canadian actor 1942 – Clive Brooke, Baron Brooke of Alverthorpe, English businessman and politician 1942 – Marjorie Margolies, American journalist and politician 1942 – Henry S. Taylor, American author and poet 1942 – Togo D. West, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2018) 1943 – Eumir Deodato, Brazilian pianist, composer, and producer 1943 – Diane Marleau, Canadian accountant and politician, Canadian Minister of Health (d. 2013) 1943 – Brian Sternberg, American pole vaulter (d. 2013) 1944 – Ray Davies, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1944 – Jon Hiseman, English drummer (d. 2018) 1944 – Tony Scott, English-American director and producer (d. 2012) 1945 – Robert Dewar, English-American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015) 1945 – Adam Zagajewski, Polish author and poet (d. 2021) 1946 – Per Eklund, Swedish race car driver 1946 – Kate Hoey, Northern Irish-British academic and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics 1946 – Brenda Holloway, American singer-songwriter 1946 – Trond Kirkvaag, Norwegian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2007) 1946 – Malcolm Rifkind, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland 1946 – Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, Iraqi-British businessman, founded M&C Saatchi and Saatchi & Saatchi 1947 – Meredith Baxter, American actress 1947 – Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer, judge, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate 1947 – Michael Gross, American actor 1947 – Joey Molland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1947 – Wade Phillips, American football coach 1947 – Fernando Savater, Spanish philosopher and author 1948 – Jovan Aćimović, Serbian footballer and manager 1948 – Ian McEwan, British novelist and screenwriter 1948 – Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish author and translator 1948 – Philippe Sarde, French composer and conductor 1949 – John Agard, Guyanese-English author, poet, and playwright 1949 – Derek Emslie, Lord Kingarth, Scottish lawyer and judge 1950 – Anne Carson, Canadian poet and academic 1950 – Joey Kramer, American rock drummer and songwriter 1950 – Enn Reitel, Scottish actor and screenwriter 1950 – Trygve Thue, Norwegian guitarist and record producer 1950 – John Paul Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter 1951 – Jim Douglas, American academic and politician, 80th Governor of Vermont 1951 – Terence Etherton, English lawyer and judge 1951 – Alan Hudson, English footballer 1951 – Nils Lofgren, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1951 – Lenore Manderson, Australian anthropologist and academic 1951 – Mona-Lisa Pursiainen, Finnish sprinter (d. 2000) 1952 – Judith Bingham, English singer-songwriter 1952 – Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster 1952 – Patrick Dunleavy, English political scientist and academic 1952 – Kōichi Mashimo, Japanese director and screenwriter 1953 – Benazir Bhutto, Pakistani politician, Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 2007) 1953 – Augustus Pablo, Jamaican producer and musician (d. 1999) 1954 – Már Guðmundsson, Icelandic economist, former Governor of Central Bank of Iceland 1954 – Mark Kimmitt, American general and politician, 16th Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 1954 – Robert Menasse, Austrian author and academic 1955 – Tim Bray, Canadian software developer and businessman 1955 – Michel Platini, French footballer and manager 1956 – Rick Sutcliffe, American baseball player and broadcaster 1957 – Berkeley Breathed, American author and illustrator 1957 – Luis Antonio Tagle, Filipino cardinal 1958 – Víctor Montoya, Bolivian journalist and author 1958 – Gennady Padalka, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut 1959 – John Baron, English captain and politician 1959 – Tom Chambers, American basketball player and sportscaster 1959 – Marcella Detroit, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1959 – Kathy Mattea, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1960 – Kate Brown, American politician, 38th Governor of Oregon 1960 – Karl Erjavec, Slovenian politician 1961 – Manu Chao, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1961 – Sascha Konietzko, German keyboard player and producer 1961 – Joko Widodo, Indonesian businessman and politician, 7th President of Indonesia 1961 – Kip Winger, American rock singer-songwriter and musician 1961 – Iztok Mlakar, Slovenian actor and singer-songwriter 1962 – Shōhei Takada, Japanese shogi player and theoretician 1962 – Viktor Tsoi, Russian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1990) 1963 – Dario Marianelli, Italian pianist and composer 1963 – Mike Sherrard, American football player 1964 – David Morrissey, English actor and director 1964 – Valeriy Neverov, Ukrainian chess player 1964 – Dimitris Papaioannou, Greek director and choreographer 1964 – Dean Saunders, Welsh footballer and manager 1964 – Doug Savant, American actor 1965 – David Beerling, English biologist and academic 1965 – Yang Liwei, Chinese general, pilot, and astronaut 1965 – Ewen McKenzie, Australian rugby player and coach 1965 – Lana Wachowski, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1966 – Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist and TV producer 1966 – Gretchen Carlson, American model and TV journalist, Miss America 1989 1966 – Mancow Muller, American radio and TV personality 1967 – Jim Breuer, American comedian, actor, and producer 1967 – Derrick Coleman, American basketball player and sportscaster 1967 – Pierre Omidyar, French-American businessman, founded eBay 1967 – Carrie Preston, American actress, director, and producer 1967 – Yingluck Shinawatra, Thai businesswoman and politician, 28th Prime Minister of Thailand 1968 – Sonique, English singer-songwriter and DJ 1970 – Eric Reed, American pianist and composer 1971 – Tyronne Drakeford, American football player 1972 – Nobuharu Asahara, Japanese sprinter and long jumper 1972 – Neil Doak, Northern Irish cricketer and rugby player 1972 – Irene van Dyk, South African-New Zealand netball player 1973 – Juliette Lewis, American actress and singer-songwriter 1973 – John Mitchell, English guitarist, vocalist and songwriter 1974 – Rob Kelly, American football player 1974 – Craig Lowndes, Australian race car driver 1974 – Flavio Roma, Italian footballer 1975 – Brian Simmons, American football player 1976 – Shelley Craft, Australian television host 1976 – Mike Einziger, American guitarist and songwriter 1976 – Nigel Lappin, Australian footballer and coach 1977 – Michael Gomez, Irish boxer 1977 – Al Wilson, American football player 1978 – Thomas Blondeau, Flemish writer (d. 2013) 1978 – Matt Kuchar, American golfer 1978 – Cristiano Lupatelli, Italian footballer 1978 – Dejan Ognjanović, Montenegrin footballer 1978 – Rim'K, French rapper 1979 – Kostas Katsouranis, Greek footballer 1979 – Chris Pratt, American actor 1980 – Michael Crocker, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster 1980 – Łukasz Cyborowski, Polish chess player 1980 – Richard Jefferson, American basketball player 1980 – Sendy Rleal, Dominican baseball player 1981 – Yann Danis, Canadian ice hockey player 1981 – Garrett Jones, American baseball player 1981 – Brandon Flowers, American singer-songwriter 1981 – Brad Walker, American pole vaulter 1982 – Lee Dae-ho, South Korean baseball player 1982 – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge 1982 – Jussie Smollett, American actor and singer 1983 – Edward Snowden, American activist and academic 1985 – Lana Del Rey, American singer-songwriter 1985 – Sentayehu Ejigu, Ethiopian runner 1985 – Byron Schammer, Australian footballer 1986 – Kathleen O'Kelly-Kennedy, Australian wheelchair basketball player 1986 – Hideaki Wakui, Japanese baseball player 1987 – Pablo Barrera, Mexican footballer 1987 – Sebastian Prödl, Austrian footballer 1987 – Dale Thomas, Australian footballer 1988 – Allyssa DeHaan, American basketball and volleyball player 1988 – Alejandro Ramírez, American chess player 1988 – Paolo Tornaghi, Italian footballer 1988 – Thaddeus Young, American basketball player 1989 – Abubaker Kaki, Sudanese runner 1990 – Ričardas Berankis, Lithuanian tennis player 1990 – Sergei Matsenko, Russian chess player 1990 – François Moubandje, Swiss footballer 1990 – Håvard Nordtveit, Norwegian footballer 1991 – Gaël Kakuta, French footballer 1992 – MAX, American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer and model 1994 – Başak Eraydın, Turkish tennis player 1996 – Tyrone May, Australian rugby league player 1997 – Rebecca Black, American singer-songwriter 1997 – Derrius Guice, American football player 1999 – Ky Rodwell, Australian rugby league player 2000 – Dylan Brown, New Zealand rugby league player 2001 – Alexandra Obolentseva, Russian chess player 2011 – Lil Bub, American celebrity cat (d. 2019) Deaths Pre-1600 532 – Emperor Jiemin of Northern Wei, former Northern Wei emperor 866 – Rodulf, Frankish archbishop 868 – Ali al-Hadi, the tenth Imam of Shia Islam (b. 829) 870 – Al-Muhtadi, Muslim caliph 947 – Zhang Li, official
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– The Irish village of Knockcroghery was burned by British forces. 1929 – An agreement brokered by U.S. Ambassador Dwight Whitney Morrow ends the Cristero War in Mexico. 1930 – One-year conscription comes into force in France. 1940 – World War II: Italy begins an unsuccessful invasion of France. 1942 – World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner. 1942 – World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by Japan against the United States mainland. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island. 1952 – The Philippine School of Commerce, through a republic act, is converted to Philippine College of Commerce, later to be the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. 1957 – Ellen Fairclough is sworn in as Canada's first female Cabinet Minister. 1963 – Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini is elected as Pope Paul VI. 1964 – Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan. 1970 – Penn Central declares Section 77 bankruptcy in what was the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcy to date. 1973 – In its decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller test for determining whether something is obscene and not protected speech under the U.S. constitution. 1978 – The original production of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, Evita, based on the life of Eva Perón, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre, London. 1982 – John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan. 1989 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment. 2000 – Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote. 2001 – A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen. 2004 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight. 2005 – Edgar Ray Killen, who had previously been unsuccessfully tried for the murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Mickey Schwerner, is convicted of manslaughter 41 years afterwards (the case had been reopened in 2004). 2006 – Pluto's newly discovered moons are officially named Nix and Hydra. 2009 – Greenland assumes self-rule. 2012 – A boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsizes in the Indian Ocean between the Indonesian island of Java and Christmas Island, killing 17 people and leaving 70 others missing. Births Pre-1600 906 – Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Muhammad, Saffarid emir (d. 963) 1002 – Pope Leo IX (d. 1054) 1226 – Bolesław V the Chaste of Poland (d. 1279) 1521 – John II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Haderslev (d. 1580) 1528 – Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1603) 1535 – Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (d. 1596) 1601–1900 1630 – Samuel Oppenheimer, German Jewish banker and diplomat (d. 1703) 1636 – Godefroy Maurice de La Tour d'Auvergne, Duke of Bouillon, French noble (d. 1721) 1639 – (O.S.) Increase Mather, American minister and author (d. 1723) 1676 – (O.S.) Anthony Collins, English philosopher and author (d. 1729) 1706 – John Dollond, English optician and astronomer (d. 1761) 1710 – James Short, Scottish-English mathematician and optician (d. 1768) 1712 – Luc Urbain de Bouëxic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (d. 1790) 1730 – Motoori Norinaga, Japanese poet and scholar (d. 1801) 1732 – Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German pianist and composer (d. 1791) 1736 – Enoch Poor, American general (d. 1780) 1741 – Prince Benedetto, Duke of Chablais (d. 1808) 1750 – Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet, French sculptor and illustrator (d. 1818) 1759 – Alexander J. Dallas, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1817) 1763 – Pierre Paul Royer-Collard, French philosopher and academic (d. 1845) 1764 – Sidney Smith, English admiral and politician (d. 1840) 1774 – Daniel D. Tompkins, American lawyer and politician, 6th Vice President of the United States (d. 1825) 1781 – Siméon Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1840) 1786 – Charles Edward Horn, English singer-songwriter (d. 1849) 1792 – Ferdinand Christian Baur, German theologian and scholar (d. 1860) 1797 – Wilhelm Küchelbecker, Russian poet and author (d. 1846) 1802 – Karl Zittel, German theologian (d. 1871) 1805 – Karl Friedrich Curschmann, German composer and singer (d. 1841) 1805 – Charles Thomas Jackson, American physician and geologist (d. 1880) 1811 – Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist and neurophysiologist (d. 1868) 1814 – Paweł Bryliński, Polish sculptor (d. 1890) 1814 – Anton Nuhn, German anatomist and academic (d. 1889) 1823 – Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873) 1825 – Thomas Edward Cliffe Leslie, Irish economist and jurist (d. 1882) 1825 – William Stubbs, English bishop and historian (d. 1901) 1828 – Ferdinand André Fouqué, French geologist and academic (d. 1904) 1828 – Nikolaus Nilles, German Catholic writer and teacher (d. 1907) 1834 – Frans de Cort, Flemish poet and author (d. 1878) 1836 – Luigi Tripepi, Italian theologian (d. 1906) 1839 – Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1908) 1845 – Samuel Griffith, Welsh-Australian politician, 9th Premier of Queensland (d. 1920) 1845 – Arthur Cowper Ranyard, English astrophysicist and astronomer (d. 1894) 1846 – Marion Adams-Acton, Scottish-English author and playwright (d. 1928) 1846 – Enrico Coleman, Italian painter (d. 1911) 1850 – Daniel Carter Beard, American author and illustrator, co-founded the Boy Scouts of America (d. 1941) 1858 – Giuseppe De Sanctis, Italian painter (d. 1924) 1858 – Medardo Rosso, Italian sculptor and educator (d. 1928) 1859 – Henry Ossawa Tanner, American-French painter and illustrator (d. 1937) 1862 – Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai historian and author (d. 1943) 1863 – Max Wolf, German astronomer and academic (d. 1932) 1864 – Heinrich Wölfflin, Swiss historian and critic (d. 1945) 1867 – Oscar Florianus Bluemner, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1938) 1867 – William Brede Kristensen, Norwegian historian of religion (d. 1953) 1868 – Edwin Stephen Goodrich, English zoologist and anatomist (d. 1946) 1870 – Clara Immerwahr, Jewish-German chemist and academic (d. 1915) 1870 – Anthony Michell, English-Australian engineer (d. 1959) 1870 – Julio Ruelas, Mexican painter (d. 1907) 1874 – Jacob Linzbach, Estonian linguist (d. 1953) 1876 – Willem Hendrik Keesom, Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1956) 1880 – Arnold Gesell, American psychologist and pediatrician (d. 1961) 1880 – Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, English economist and civil servant (d. 1941) 1881 – (O.S.) Natalia Goncharova, Russian painter, costume designer, and illustrator (d. 1962) 1882 – Lluís Companys, Spanish lawyer and politician, 123rd President of Catalonia (d. 1940) 1882 – Adrianus de Jong, Dutch fencer and soldier (d. 1966) 1882 – Rockwell Kent, American painter and illustrator (d. 1971) 1883 – Feodor Gladkov, Russian author and educator (d. 1958) 1884 – Claude Auchinleck, English field marshal (d. 1981) 1887 – Norman L. Bowen, Canadian geologist and petrologist (d. 1956) 1889 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter and sailor (d. 1972) 1891 – Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian architect and engineer, co-designed the Pirelli Tower and Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption (d. 1979) 1891 – Hermann Scherchen, German-Swiss viola player and conductor (d. 1966) 1892 – Reinhold Niebuhr, American theologian and academic (d. 1971) 1893 – Alois Hába, Czech composer and educator (d. 1973) 1894 – Milward Kennedy, English journalist and civil servant (d. 1968) 1894 – Harry Schmidt, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1951) 1896 – Charles Momsen, American admiral, invented the Momsen lung (d. 1967) 1899 – Pavel Haas, Czech composer (d. 1944) 1900 – Georges-Henri Bousquet, French economist and Islamologist (d. 1978) 1901–present 1903 – Hermann Engelhard, German runner and coach (d. 1984) 1903 – Al Hirschfeld, American caricaturist, painter and illustrator (d. 2003) 1905 – Jacques Goddet, French journalist (d. 2000) 1905 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author (d. 1980) 1908 – William Frankena, American philosopher and academic (d. 1994) 1910 – Aleksandr Tvardovsky, Russian poet and author (d. 1971) 1911 – Irving Fein, American producer and manager (d. 2012) 1912 – Kazimierz Leski, Polish pilot and engineer (d. 2000) 1912 – Mary McCarthy, American novelist and critic (d. 1989) 1912 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (d. 2009) 1913 – Madihe Pannaseeha Thero, Sri Lankan monk and scholar (d. 2003) 1913 – Luis Taruc, Filipino political activist (d. 2005) 1914 – William Vickrey, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996) 1915 – Wilhelm Gliese, German soldier and astronomer (d. 1993) 1916 – Joseph Cyril Bamford, English businessman, founded J. C. Bamford (d. 2001) 1916 – Tchan Fou-li, Chinese photographer (d. 2018) 1916 – Herbert Friedman, American physicist and astronomer (d. 2000) 1916 – Buddy O'Connor, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1977) 1918 – Robert A. Boyd, Canadian engineer (d. 2006) 1918 – James Joll, English historian, author, and academic (d. 1994) 1918 – Eddie Lopat, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1992) 1918 – Dee Molenaar, American mountaineer (d. 2020) 1918 – Robert Roosa, American economist and banker (d. 1993) 1918 – Tibor Szele, Hungarian mathematician and academic (d. 1955) 1918 – Josephine Webb, American engineer 1919 – Antonia Mesina, Italian martyr and saint (d. 1935) 1919 – Gérard Pelletier, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1997) 1919 – Vladimir Simagin, Russian chess player and coach (d. 1968) 1919 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (d. 2013) 1920 – Hans Gerschwiler, Swiss figure skater (d. 2017) 1921 – Judy Holliday, American actress and singer (d. 1965) 1921 – Jane Russell, American actress and singer (d. 2011) 1921 – William Edwin Self, American actor, producer, and production manager (d. 2010) 1922 – Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Burkinabé historian, politician and writer (d. 2006) 1923 – Jacques Hébert, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 2007) 1924 – Pontus Hultén, Swedish art collector and historian (d. 2006) 1924 – Ezzatolah Entezami, Iranian actor (d. 2018) 1924 – Wally Fawkes, British-Canadian jazz clarinetist and satirical cartoonist 1924 – Jean Laplanche, French psychoanalyst and academic (d. 2012) 1925 – Larisa Avdeyeva, Russian mezzo-soprano (d. 2013) 1925 – Stanley Moss, American poet, publisher, and art dealer 1925 – Giovanni Spadolini, Italian journalist and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1994) 1925 – Maureen Stapleton, American actress (d. 2006) 1926 – Fred Cone, American football player 1926 – Conrad Hall, French-American cinematographer (d. 2003) 1927 – Carl Stokes, American lawyer, politician, and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Seychelles (d. 1996) 1928 – Wolfgang Haken, German-American mathematician and academic 1928 – Fiorella Mari, Brazilian-Italian actress 1928 – Margit Bara, Hungarian actress (d. 2016) 1930 – Gerald Kaufman, English journalist and politician, Shadow Foreign Secretary (d. 2017) 1930 – Mike McCormack, American football player and coach (d. 2013) 1931 – Zlatko Grgić, Croatian-Canadian animator, director, and screenwriter (d. 1988) 1931 – Margaret Heckler, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2018) 1931 – David Kushnir, Israeli Olympic long-jumper (d. 2020) 1932 – Bernard Ingham, English journalist and civil servant 1932 – Lalo Schifrin, Argentinian pianist, composer, and conductor 1932 – O.C. Smith, American R&B/jazz singer (d. 2001) 1933 – Bernie Kopell, American actor and comedian 1935 – Françoise Sagan, French author and playwright (d. 2004) 1937 – John Edrich, English cricketer and coach (d. 2020) 1938 – Don Black, English songwriter 1938 – John W. Dower, American historian and author 1938 – Michael M. Richter, German mathematician and computer scientist (d. 2020) 1940 – Mariette Hartley, American actress and television personality 1940 – Michael Ruse, Canadian philosopher and academic 1941 – Aloysius Paul D'Souza, Indian bishop 1941 – Joe Flaherty, American-Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter 1941 – Lyman Ward, Canadian actor 1942 – Clive Brooke, Baron Brooke of Alverthorpe, English businessman and politician 1942 – Marjorie Margolies, American journalist and politician 1942 – Henry S. Taylor, American author and poet 1942 – Togo D. West, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2018) 1943 – Eumir Deodato, Brazilian pianist, composer, and producer 1943 – Diane Marleau, Canadian accountant and politician, Canadian Minister of Health (d. 2013) 1943 – Brian Sternberg, American pole vaulter (d. 2013) 1944 – Ray Davies, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1944 – Jon Hiseman, English drummer (d. 2018) 1944 – Tony Scott, English-American director and producer (d. 2012) 1945 – Robert Dewar, English-American computer scientist and academic (d. 2015) 1945 – Adam Zagajewski, Polish author and poet (d. 2021) 1946 – Per Eklund, Swedish race car driver 1946 – Kate Hoey, Northern Irish-British academic and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics 1946 – Brenda Holloway, American singer-songwriter 1946 – Trond Kirkvaag, Norwegian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2007) 1946 – Malcolm Rifkind, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland 1946 – Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, Iraqi-British businessman, founded M&C Saatchi and Saatchi & Saatchi 1947 – Meredith Baxter, American actress 1947 – Shirin Ebadi, Iranian lawyer, judge, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate 1947 – Michael Gross, American actor 1947 – Joey Molland, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1947 – Wade Phillips, American football coach 1947 – Fernando Savater, Spanish philosopher and author 1948 – Jovan Aćimović, Serbian footballer and manager 1948 – Ian McEwan, British novelist and screenwriter 1948 – Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish author and translator 1948 – Philippe Sarde, French composer and conductor 1949 – John Agard, Guyanese-English author, poet, and playwright 1949 – Derek Emslie, Lord Kingarth, Scottish lawyer and judge 1950 – Anne Carson, Canadian poet and academic 1950 – Joey Kramer, American rock drummer and songwriter 1950 – Enn Reitel, Scottish actor and screenwriter 1950 – Trygve Thue, Norwegian guitarist and record producer 1950 – John Paul Young, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter 1951 – Jim Douglas, American academic and politician, 80th Governor of Vermont 1951 – Terence Etherton, English lawyer and judge 1951 – Alan Hudson, English footballer
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defy Emperor Tự Đức of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners. 1873 – Sultan Barghash bin Said of Zanzibar closes the great slave market under the terms of a treaty with Great Britain. 1883 – The first regularly scheduled Orient Express departs Paris. 1888 – The Rio de la Plata earthquake takes place. 1893 – The trial of Lizzie Borden for the murder of her father and step-mother begins in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 1900 – Second Boer War: British soldiers take Pretoria. 1901–present 1915 – Denmark amends its constitution to allow women's suffrage. 1916 – Louis Brandeis is sworn in as a Justice of the United States Supreme Court; he is the first American Jew to hold such a position. 1916 – World War I: The Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire breaks out. 1917 – World War I: Conscription begins in the United States as "Army registration day". 1940 – World War II: After a brief lull in the Battle of France, the Germans renew the offensive against the remaining French divisions south of the River Somme in Operation Fall Rot ("Case Red"). 1941 – World War II: Four thousand Chongqing residents are asphyxiated in a bomb shelter during the Bombing of Chongqing. 1942 – World War II: The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. 1944 – World War II: More than 1,000 British bombers drop 5,000 tons of bombs on German gun batteries on the Normandy coast in preparation for D-Day. 1945 – The Allied Control Council, the military occupation governing body of Germany, formally takes power. 1946 – A fire in the La Salle Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, kills 61 people. 1947 – Cold War: Marshall Plan: In a speech at Harvard University, the United States Secretary of State George Marshall calls for economic aid to war-torn Europe. 1949 – Thailand elects Orapin Chaiyakan, the first female member of Thailand's Parliament. 1956 – Elvis Presley introduces his new single, "Hound Dog", on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements. 1959 – The first government of Singapore is sworn in. 1960 – The Lake Bodom murders occur in Finland. 1963 – The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, resigns in a sex scandal known as the "Profumo affair". 1963 – Movement of 15 Khordad: Protests against the arrest of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In several cities, masses of angry demonstrators are confronted by tanks and paratroopers. 1964 – DSV Alvin is commissioned. 1967 – The Six-Day War begins: Israel launches surprise strikes against Egyptian air-fields in response to the mobilisation of Egyptian forces on the Israeli border. 1968 – Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan. 1975 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War. 1975 – The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC). 1976 – The Teton Dam in Idaho, United States, collapses. Eleven people are killed as a result of flooding. 1981 – The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that five people in Los Angeles, California, have a rare form of pneumonia seen only in patients with weakened immune systems, in what turns out to be the first recognized cases of AIDS. 1983 – More than 100 people are killed when the Russian river cruise ship Aleksandr Suvorov collides with a girder of the Ulyanovsk Railway Bridge. The collision caused a freight train to derail, further damaging the vessel, yet the ship remained afloat and was eventually restored and returned to service. 1984 – Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion. 1989 – The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. 1993 – Portions of the Holbeck Hall Hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK, fall into the sea following a landslide. 1995 – The Bose–Einstein condensate is first created. 1997 – The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins. 1998 – A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants. The strike lasts seven weeks. 2000 – The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed. 2001 – Tropical Storm Allison makes landfall on the upper-Texas coastline as a strong tropical storm and dumps large amounts of rain over Houston. The storm causes $5.5 billion in damages, making Allison the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history. 2003 – A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50 °C (122 °F) in the region. 2004 – Noël Mamère, Mayor of Bègles, celebrates marriage for two men for the first time in France. 2006 – Serbia declares independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. 2009 – After 65 straight days of civil disobedience, at least 31 people are killed in clashes between security forces and indigenous people near Bagua, Peru. 2015 – An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.0 strikes Ranau, Sabah, Malaysia, killing 18 people, including hikers and mountain guides on Mount Kinabalu, after mass landslides that occurred during the earthquake. This is the strongest earthquake to strike Malaysia since 1975. 2017 – Montenegro becomes the 29th member of NATO. 2017 – Six Arab countries—Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates—cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region. Births Pre-1600 1341 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of King Edward III of England and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1402) 1412 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, Italian ruler (d. 1478) 1493 – Justus Jonas, German priest and academic (d. 1555) 1523 – Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1573) 1554 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian clergyman (d. 1621) 1587 – Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658) 1596 – Peter Wtewael, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1660) 1601–1900 1640 – Pu Songling, Chinese author (d. 1715) 1646 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1684) 1660 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (d. 1744) 1757 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (d. 1808) 1760 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist (d. 1852) 1771 – Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851) 1781 – Christian Lobeck, German scholar and academic (d. 1860) 1801 – William Scamp, English architect and engineer (d. 1872) 1819 – John Couch Adams, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1892) 1830 – Carmine Crocco, Italian soldier (d. 1905) 1850 – Pat Garrett, American sheriff (d. 1908) 1862 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist and optician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930) 1868 – James Connolly, Scottish-born Irish rebel leader (d. 1916) 1870 – Bernard de Pourtalès, Swiss captain and sailor (d. 1935) 1876 – Isaac Heinemann, German-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1957) 1877 – Willard Miller, Canadian-American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1959) 1878 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (d. 1923) 1879 – Robert Mayer, German-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1985) 1883 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1946) 1884 – Ralph Benatzky, Czech-Swiss composer (d. 1957) 1884 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English author (d. 1969) 1884 – Frederick Lorz, American runner (d. 1914) 1892 – Jaan Kikkas, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1944) 1894 – Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian-English publisher and academic (d. 1976) 1895 – William Boyd, American actor and producer (d. 1972) 1895 – William Roberts, English soldier and painter (d. 1980) 1898 – Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian shoe designer, founded Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. (d. 1960) 1898 – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, playwright, and director (d. 1936) 1899 – Otis Barton, American diver, engineer, and actor, designed the bathysphere (d. 1992) 1899 – Theippan Maung Wa, Burmese writer (d. 1942) 1900 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979) 1901–present 1902 – Arthur Powell Davies, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1957) 1905 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (d. 1987) 1912 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist and author (d. 2003) 1912 – Eric Hollies, English cricketer (d. 1981) 1913 – Conrad Marca-Relli, American-Italian painter and academic (d. 2000) 1914 – Beatrice de Cardi, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2016) 1915 - Lancelot Ware, English barrister and biochemist, co-founder of Mensa (d. 2000) 1916 – Sid Barnes, Australian cricketer (d. 1973) 1916 – Eddie Joost, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011) 1919 – Richard Scarry, American-Swiss author and illustrator (d. 1994) 1920 – Marion Motley, American football player and coach (d. 1999) 1920 – Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American journalist and author (d. 1974) 1922 – Paul Couvret, Dutch-Australian soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 2013) 1922 – Sheila Sim, English actress (d. 2016) 1923 – Jorge Daponte, Argentinian racing driver (d. 1963) 1923 – Roger Lebel, Canadian actor (d. 1994) 1923 – Daniel Pinkham, American organist and composer (d. 2006) 1924 – Lou Brissie, American baseball player and scout (d. 2013) 1924 – Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (d. 2013) 1925 – Bill Hayes, American actor and singer 1926 –
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with Qatar, accusing it of destabilising the region. Births Pre-1600 1341 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of King Edward III of England and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (d. 1402) 1412 – Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, Italian ruler (d. 1478) 1493 – Justus Jonas, German priest and academic (d. 1555) 1523 – Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1573) 1554 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian clergyman (d. 1621) 1587 – Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, English colonial administrator and admiral (d. 1658) 1596 – Peter Wtewael, Dutch Golden Age painter (d. 1660) 1601–1900 1640 – Pu Songling, Chinese author (d. 1715) 1646 – Elena Cornaro Piscopia, Italian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1684) 1660 – Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (d. 1744) 1757 – Pierre Jean George Cabanis, French physiologist and philosopher (d. 1808) 1760 – Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist, physicist, and mineralogist (d. 1852) 1771 – Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover (d. 1851) 1781 – Christian Lobeck, German scholar and academic (d. 1860) 1801 – William Scamp, English architect and engineer (d. 1872) 1819 – John Couch Adams, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1892) 1830 – Carmine Crocco, Italian soldier (d. 1905) 1850 – Pat Garrett, American sheriff (d. 1908) 1862 – Allvar Gullstrand, Swedish ophthalmologist and optician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1930) 1868 – James Connolly, Scottish-born Irish rebel leader (d. 1916) 1870 – Bernard de Pourtalès, Swiss captain and sailor (d. 1935) 1876 – Isaac Heinemann, German-Israeli scholar and academic (d. 1957) 1877 – Willard Miller, Canadian-American sailor, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1959) 1878 – Pancho Villa, Mexican general and politician, Governor of Chihuahua (d. 1923) 1879 – Robert Mayer, German-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1985) 1883 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1946) 1884 – Ralph Benatzky, Czech-Swiss composer (d. 1957) 1884 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English author (d. 1969) 1884 – Frederick Lorz, American runner (d. 1914) 1892 – Jaan Kikkas, Estonian weightlifter (d. 1944) 1894 – Roy Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson of Fleet, Canadian-English publisher and academic (d. 1976) 1895 – William Boyd, American actor and producer (d. 1972) 1895 – William Roberts, English soldier and painter (d. 1980) 1898 – Salvatore Ferragamo, Italian shoe designer, founded Salvatore Ferragamo S.p.A. (d. 1960) 1898 – Federico García Lorca, Spanish poet, playwright, and director (d. 1936) 1899 – Otis Barton, American diver, engineer, and actor, designed the bathysphere (d. 1992) 1899 – Theippan Maung Wa, Burmese writer (d. 1942) 1900 – Dennis Gabor, Hungarian-English physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979) 1901–present 1902 – Arthur Powell Davies, American minister, author, and activist (d. 1957) 1905 – Wayne Boring, American illustrator (d. 1987) 1912 – Dean Amadon, American ornithologist and author (d. 2003) 1912 – Eric Hollies, English cricketer (d. 1981) 1913 – Conrad Marca-Relli, American-Italian painter and academic (d. 2000) 1914 – Beatrice de Cardi, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2016) 1915 - Lancelot Ware, English barrister and biochemist, co-founder of Mensa (d. 2000) 1916 – Sid Barnes, Australian cricketer (d. 1973) 1916 – Eddie Joost, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011) 1919 – Richard Scarry, American-Swiss author and illustrator (d. 1994) 1920 – Marion Motley, American football player and coach (d. 1999) 1920 – Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American journalist and author (d. 1974) 1922 – Paul Couvret, Dutch-Australian soldier, pilot, and politician (d. 2013) 1922 – Sheila Sim, English actress (d. 2016) 1923 – Jorge Daponte, Argentinian racing driver (d. 1963) 1923 – Roger Lebel, Canadian actor (d. 1994) 1923 – Daniel Pinkham, American organist and composer (d. 2006) 1924 – Lou Brissie, American baseball player and scout (d. 2013) 1924 – Art Donovan, American football player and radio host (d. 2013) 1925 – Bill Hayes, American actor and singer 1926 – Paul Soros, Hungarian-American engineer and businessman (d. 2013) 1928 – Robert Lansing, American actor (d. 1994) 1928 – Umberto Maglioli, Italian racing driver (d. 1999) 1928 – Tony Richardson, English-American director and producer (d. 1991) 1930 – Alifa Rifaat, Egyptian author (d. 1996) 1931 – Yves Blais, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1998) 1931 – Jacques Demy, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1990) 1931 – Jerzy Prokopiuk, Polish anthropologist and philosopher (d. 2021) 1932 – Christy Brown, Irish painter and author (d. 1981) 1932 – Dave Gold, American businessman, founded the 99 Cents Only Stores (d. 2013) 1933 – Bata Živojinović, Serbian actor and politician (d. 2016) 1934 – Vilhjálmur Einarsson, Icelandic triple jumper, painter, and educator (d. 2019) 1934 – Bill Moyers, American journalist, 13th White House Press Secretary 1937 – Hélène Cixous, French author, poet, and critic 1938 – Moira Anderson, Scottish singer 1938 – Karin Balzer, German hurdler (d. 2019) 1938 – Roy Higgins, Australian jockey (d. 2014) 1939 – Joe Clark, Canadian journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Canada 1939 – Margaret Drabble, English novelist, biographer, and critic 1941 – Martha Argerich, Argentinian pianist 1941 – Erasmo Carlos, Brazilian singer-songwriter 1941 – Spalding Gray, American writer, actor, and monologist (d. 2004) 1941 – Gudrun Sjödén, Swedish designer 1942 – Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Equatoguinean lieutenant and politician, 2nd President of Equatorial Guinea 1943 – Abraham Viruthakulangara, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India (d. 2018) 1944 – Whitfield Diffie, American cryptographer and academic 1945 – John Carlos, American runner and football player 1945 – André Lacroix, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach 1946 – John Du Cann, English guitarist (d. 2001) 1946 – Bob Grant, Australian rugby league player 1946 – Patrick Head, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Williams F1 1946 – Wanderléa, Brazilian singer and television host 1947 – Laurie Anderson, American singer-songwriter and violinist 1947 – Tom Evans, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983) 1947 – David Hare, English director, playwright, and screenwriter 1947 – Freddie Stone, American singer, guitarist, and pastor 1949 – Ken Follett, Welsh author 1949 – Elizabeth Gloster, English lawyer and judge 1949 – Alexander Scrymgeour, 12th Earl of Dundee, Scottish politician 1950 – Ronnie Dyson, American singer and actor (d. 1990) 1950 – Abraham Sarmiento, Jr., Filipino journalist and activist (d. 1977) 1951 – Suze Orman, American financial adviser, author, and television host 1952 – Pierre Bruneau, Canadian journalist and news anchor 1952 – Carole Fredericks, American singer (d. 2001) 1952 – Nicko McBrain, English drummer and songwriter 1953 – Kathleen Kennedy, American film producer, co-founded Amblin Entertainment 1954 – Alberto Malesani, Italian footballer and manager 1954 –
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Front Page (1974), and Buddy Buddy (1981). In 1967, Lemmon's production company Jalem produced the film Cool Hand Luke, which starred Paul Newman in the lead role. The film was a box-office and critical success. Newman, in gratitude, offered him the role of the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Lemmon turned it down. The best-known Lemmon-Matthau film is The Odd Couple (1968), based on the Neil Simon play, with the lead characters being the mismatched Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau), respectively neurotical and cynical. The much-admired comedy Kotch (1971), the only film Lemmon directed, starred Matthau, who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. The Out-of-Towners (1970) was another Neil Simon-scripted film in which Lemmon appeared. In 1972, at the 44th Academy Awards, Jack Lemmon presented the Honorary Academy Award to silent screen legend Charlie Chaplin. Lemmon starred with Juliet Mills in Avanti! (1972) and appeared with Matthau in The Front Page (1974). Both films were directed by Wilder. He felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; Wilder's biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat." Wilder, though, also once said: "Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon". Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973) plays Harry Stoner, a businessman in the garment trade who finds someone to commit arson by burning down his warehouse to avoid bankruptcy. The project was rejected by multiple studios, but Paramount was prepared to make the film if it were budgeted for only $1 million. Lemmon was so keen to play the part that he worked for union scale, then $165 a week. The role was demanding; like the character, Lemmon came close to breaking point: "I started to crack as the character did," he recalled. "I just kept getting deeper and deeper into the character's despair." For this film, Lemmon won the Best Actor Oscar. Having won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Mister Roberts, he became the first actor to achieve that particular double, although Helen Hayes had achieved this feat three years earlier in the equivalent female categories. 1979–2001: Final roles Lemmon was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The China Syndrome (1979), for which he was also awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. In Tribute, a stage drama first performed in 1979, he played a press agent who has cancer while trying to mend his relationship with his son. The Broadway production ran for 212 performances, but it gained mixed reviews. Nevertheless, Lemmon was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. For his role in the 1980 film version, Lemmon gained another Oscar nomination. His final Oscar nomination was for Missing (1982), as a conservative father whose son has vanished in Chile during the period the country was under the rule of Augusto Pinochet; he won another Cannes award for his performance. A contemporary failure was his last film with Billy Wilder, Buddy Buddy (1981). Lemmon's character attempts suicide in a hotel while a hitman (Matthau) is in the next suite. Another flop at the box office was his final film with Blake Edwards, another of his friends; in That's Life! (1986), he appeared in the director's self-autobiographical part with Edwards' wife, Julie Andrews. A seductress role was played by Lemmon's wife, Felicia Farr. His later career is said to have been affected by other bad choices, such as Mass Appeal (1984), about a conservative Catholic priest, Macaroni (1985), a tale about old Army friends with Marcello Mastroianni, and That's Life. Lemmon received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988. Lemmon was nominated for a Tony Award the second and last time for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 1986; Lemmon had taken the lead role of James Tyrone in a production directed by Jonathan Miller. It had a London run in 1987, Lemmon's first theatre work in the city, and a television version followed. A return to London in 1989 for the antiwar play Veterans' Day, with Michael Gambon, was poorly received by critics, and following modest audiences, soon closed. Lemmon also worked with Kevin Spacey in the films The Murder of Mary Phagan (1987), Dad (1989), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), as well as the production of Long Day's Journey into Night. Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone's film, JFK (1991), in which both men appeared without sharing screen time. The duo reunited in Grumpy Old Men (1993). The film was a surprise hit. Later in the decade, they starred together in The Grass Harp (1995), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Out to Sea (1997), and The Odd Couple II (1998). While Grumpier Old Men grossed slightly more than its predecessor, The Odd Couple II was a box-office disappointment. In 1996, Lemmon was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Or Nonmusical Album for his narration on "Harry S Truman: A Journey To Independence". Around the same time, Lemmon starred along with James Garner in the comedy My Fellow Americans (1996) as two feuding ex-presidents. The supporting cast included Dan Aykroyd and Lauren Bacall. For his role in the William Friedkin-directed version of Twelve Angry Men (1997), Lemmon was nominated for Best Actor in a Made-for-TV Movie in the 1998 Golden Globe Awards. The award ceremony was memorable because Ving Rhames, who won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of Don King: Only in America, stunned the A-list crowd and television audience by calling Lemmon up to the stage and handing him the award. Lemmon tried not to accept but Rhames insisted. The emotional crowd gave Lemmon a standing ovation to which he replied that, "This is one of the nicest, sweetest moments I have ever known in my life." The role was as the contentious juror, played in the original 1957 film version by Henry Fonda. Lemmon appeared in the remake with George C. Scott and reunited with him in another television film, this time Inherit the Wind (1999). Lemmon was a guest voice on The Simpsons episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" (1997), as the owner of the pretzel business. For his role as Morrie Schwartz in his final television role, Tuesdays with Morrie (1999), Lemmon won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. His final film role was uncredited: the narrator in Robert Redford's film The Legend of Bagger Vance. Personal life Lemmon was married twice. His first wife was actress Cynthia Stone, with whom he had a son, Chris Lemmon (born 1954), but the couple divorced over their incompatibility. He married his second wife, actress Felicia Farr, on August 17, 1962, in Paris while shooting Irma La Douce. The couple's daughter, Courtney, was born in 1966. Lemmon was the stepfather to Denise, from Farr's previous marriage to Lee Farr. Lemmon was a Catholic. He was close friends with actors Tony Curtis and Kevin Spacey, among others. His publicist Geraldine McInerney said, "I remember Jack once telling me he lived in terror his whole life that he'd never get another job. Here was one of America's most established actors and yet he was without any confidence. It
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went on to win an Academy Award for his performance in the film. Another nine films with them co-starring eventually followed, including The Odd Couple (1968), The Front Page (1974), and Buddy Buddy (1981). In 1967, Lemmon's production company Jalem produced the film Cool Hand Luke, which starred Paul Newman in the lead role. The film was a box-office and critical success. Newman, in gratitude, offered him the role of the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Lemmon turned it down. The best-known Lemmon-Matthau film is The Odd Couple (1968), based on the Neil Simon play, with the lead characters being the mismatched Felix Unger (Lemmon) and Oscar Madison (Matthau), respectively neurotical and cynical. The much-admired comedy Kotch (1971), the only film Lemmon directed, starred Matthau, who was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar. The Out-of-Towners (1970) was another Neil Simon-scripted film in which Lemmon appeared. In 1972, at the 44th Academy Awards, Jack Lemmon presented the Honorary Academy Award to silent screen legend Charlie Chaplin. Lemmon starred with Juliet Mills in Avanti! (1972) and appeared with Matthau in The Front Page (1974). Both films were directed by Wilder. He felt Lemmon had a natural tendency toward overacting that had to be tempered; Wilder's biography Nobody's Perfect quotes the director as saying, "Lemmon, I would describe him as a ham, a fine ham, and with ham you have to trim a little fat." Wilder, though, also once said: "Happiness is working with Jack Lemmon". Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973) plays Harry Stoner, a businessman in the garment trade who finds someone to commit arson by burning down his warehouse to avoid bankruptcy. The project was rejected by multiple studios, but Paramount was prepared to make the film if it were budgeted for only $1 million. Lemmon was so keen to play the part that he worked for union scale, then $165 a week. The role was demanding; like the character, Lemmon came close to breaking point: "I started to crack as the character did," he recalled. "I just kept getting deeper and deeper into the character's despair." For this film, Lemmon won the Best Actor Oscar. Having won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for Mister Roberts, he became the first actor to achieve that particular double, although Helen Hayes had achieved this feat three years earlier in the equivalent female categories. 1979–2001: Final roles Lemmon was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in The China Syndrome (1979), for which he was also awarded Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. In Tribute, a stage drama first performed in 1979, he played a press agent who has cancer while trying to mend his relationship with his son. The Broadway production ran for 212 performances, but it gained mixed reviews. Nevertheless, Lemmon was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. For his role in the 1980 film version, Lemmon gained another Oscar nomination. His final Oscar nomination was for Missing (1982), as a conservative father whose son has vanished in Chile during the period the country was under the rule of Augusto Pinochet; he won another Cannes award for his performance. A contemporary failure was his last film with Billy Wilder, Buddy Buddy (1981). Lemmon's character attempts suicide in a hotel while a hitman (Matthau) is in the next suite. Another flop at the box office was his final film with Blake Edwards, another of his friends; in That's Life! (1986), he appeared in the director's self-autobiographical part with Edwards' wife, Julie Andrews. A seductress role was played by Lemmon's wife, Felicia Farr. His later career is said to have been affected by other bad choices, such as Mass Appeal (1984), about a conservative Catholic priest, Macaroni (1985), a tale about old Army friends with Marcello Mastroianni, and That's Life. Lemmon received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988. Lemmon was nominated for a Tony Award the second and last time for a revival of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night in 1986; Lemmon had taken the lead role of James Tyrone in a production directed by Jonathan Miller. It had a London run in 1987, Lemmon's first theatre work in the city, and a television version followed. A return to London in 1989 for the antiwar play Veterans' Day, with Michael Gambon, was poorly received by critics, and following modest audiences, soon closed. Lemmon also worked with Kevin Spacey in the films The Murder of Mary Phagan (1987), Dad (1989), and Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), as well as the production of Long Day's Journey into Night. Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone's film, JFK (1991), in which both men appeared without sharing screen time. The duo reunited in Grumpy Old Men (1993). The film was a surprise hit. Later in the decade, they starred together in The Grass Harp (1995), Grumpier Old Men (1995), Out to Sea (1997), and The Odd Couple II (1998). While Grumpier Old Men grossed slightly more than its predecessor, The Odd Couple II was a box-office disappointment. In 1996, Lemmon was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Or Nonmusical Album for his narration on "Harry S Truman: A Journey To Independence". Around the same time, Lemmon starred along with James Garner in the comedy My Fellow Americans (1996) as two feuding ex-presidents. The supporting cast included Dan Aykroyd and Lauren Bacall. For his role in the William Friedkin-directed version of Twelve Angry Men (1997), Lemmon was nominated for Best Actor in a Made-for-TV Movie in the 1998 Golden Globe Awards. The award ceremony was memorable because Ving Rhames, who won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of Don King: Only in America, stunned the A-list crowd and television audience by calling Lemmon up to the stage and handing him the award. Lemmon tried not to accept but Rhames insisted. The emotional crowd gave Lemmon a standing ovation to which he replied that, "This is one of the nicest, sweetest moments I have ever known in my life." The role was as the contentious juror, played in the original 1957 film version by Henry Fonda. Lemmon appeared in the remake with George C. Scott and reunited with him in another television film, this time Inherit the Wind (1999). Lemmon was a guest voice on The Simpsons episode "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" (1997), as the owner of the pretzel business. For his role as Morrie Schwartz in his final television role, Tuesdays with Morrie (1999), Lemmon won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. His final film role was uncredited: the narrator in Robert Redford's film The Legend of Bagger Vance. Personal life Lemmon was married twice. His first wife was actress Cynthia Stone, with whom he had a son, Chris Lemmon (born 1954), but the couple divorced over their incompatibility. He married his second wife, actress Felicia Farr, on August 17, 1962, in Paris while shooting Irma La Douce. The couple's daughter, Courtney, was born in 1966. Lemmon was the stepfather to Denise, from Farr's previous marriage to Lee Farr. Lemmon was a Catholic. He was close friends with actors Tony Curtis and Kevin Spacey, among others. His publicist Geraldine McInerney said, "I remember Jack once telling me he lived in terror his whole life that he'd never get another job. Here was one of America's most established actors and yet he was without any confidence. It was like every job was going to be his last". As the 1970s progressed, Lemmon increased his drinking to cope with stress. He was fined for driving under the influence in 1976, finally quitting alcohol in the early 1980s. On a 1998 episode of the television program Inside the Actors Studio, he stated that he was a recovering alcoholic. Lemmon was known as the "star" of the celebrity-packed, third-round telecast of the annual AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, held at Pebble Beach Golf Links each February. Lemmon's packed gallery was there not only for his humor, but also to root him on in his lifelong quest to "make the cut" to round four, something he was never able to achieve. The amateur who helps his team most in the Pro-Am portion is annually awarded the Jack Lemmon Award. During the 1980s and 1990s, Lemmon served on the advisory board of the National Student Film Institute. Lemmon was a registered Democrat. Death Lemmon died of bladder cancer on June 27, 2001. He had suffered from the disease privately for two years before his death. His body was interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, California. (The graves of Marilyn Monroe, Walter Matthau, George C. Scott, and film director Billy Wilder lie in the same cemetery.) Lemmon's gravestone reads like a title screen from a film: "JACK LEMMON in". Guests who attended the private ceremony included Billy Wilder, Shirley MacLaine, Kevin Spacey, Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Kirk Douglas, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Frank Sinatra's widow Barbara and Walter Matthau's son Charlie. Acting credits and accolades Lemmon received eight Academy Award nominations, winning for Mister Roberts in 1956 and Save the Tiger in 1974. He was nominated for Some Like it Hot (1959), The Apartment (1960), Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The China Syndrome (1979), Tribute (1981), and Missing (1982). He received two Tony Award nominations for his performances in Tribute (1979), and Long Day's Journey into Night (1986). He received four Golden Globe Awards, from 21 nominations, and received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifetime achievement in 1991. The year before he won
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published volumes". Said comments: "[I]t seemed to me that if Conrad wrote of himself, of the problem of self-definition, with such sustained urgency, some of what he wrote must have had meaning for his fiction. [I]t [was] difficult to believe that a man would be so uneconomical as to pour himself out in letter after letter and then not use and reformulate his insights and discoveries in his fiction." Said found especially close parallels between Conrad's letters and his shorter fiction. "Conrad... believed... that artistic distinction was more tellingly demonstrated in a shorter rather than a longer work.... He believed that his [own] life was like a series of short episodes... because he was himself so many different people...: he was a Pole and an Englishman, a sailor and a writer." Another scholar, Najder, writes: Conrad borrowed from other, Polish- and French-language authors, to an extent sometimes skirting plagiarism. When the Polish translation of his 1915 novel Victory appeared in 1931, readers noted striking similarities to Stefan Żeromski's kitschy novel, The History of a Sin (Dzieje grzechu, 1908), including their endings. Comparative-literature scholar Yves Hervouet has demonstrated in the text of Victory a whole mosaic of influences, borrowings, similarities and allusions. He further lists hundreds of concrete borrowings from other, mostly French authors in nearly all of Conrad's works, from Almayer's Folly (1895) to his unfinished Suspense. Conrad seems to have used eminent writers' texts as raw material of the same kind as the content of his own memory. Materials borrowed from other authors often functioned as allusions. Moreover, he had a phenomenal memory for texts and remembered details, "but [writes Najder] it was not a memory strictly categorized according to sources, marshalled into homogeneous entities; it was, rather, an enormous receptacle of images and pieces from which he would draw." Continues Najder: "[H]e can never be accused of outright plagiarism. Even when lifting sentences and scenes, Conrad changed their character, inserted them within novel structures. He did not imitate, but (as Hervouet says) 'continued' his masters. He was right in saying: 'I don't resemble anybody.' Ian Watt put it succinctly: 'In a sense, Conrad is the least derivative of writers; he wrote very little that could possibly be mistaken for the work of anyone else.' Conrad's acquaintance George Bernard Shaw says it well: "[A] man can no more be completely original [...] than a tree can grow out of air." Conrad, like other artists, faced constraints arising from the need to propitiate his audience and confirm their own favourable self-regard. This may account for his describing the admirable crew of the Judea in his 1898 story "Youth" as "Liverpool hard cases", whereas the crew of the Judea'''s actual 1882 prototype, the Palestine, had included not a single Liverpudlian, and half the crew had been non-Britons; and for Conrad's transforming the real-life 1880 criminally negligent British captain J. L. Clark, of the , in his 1900 novel Lord Jim, into the captain of the fictitious Patna—"a sort of renegade New South Wales German" so monstrous in physical appearance as to suggest "a trained baby elephant". Similarly, in his letters Conrad—during most of his literary career, struggling for sheer financial survival—often adjusted his views to the predilections of his correspondents. Historians have also noted that Conrad's works which were set in European colonies and intended to critique the effects of colonialism were set in Dutch and Belgian colonies, instead of the British Empire. The singularity of the universe depicted in Conrad's novels, especially compared to those of near-contemporaries like his friend and frequent benefactor John Galsworthy, is such as to open him to criticism similar to that later applied to Graham Greene. But where "Greeneland" has been characterised as a recurring and recognisable atmosphere independent of setting, Conrad is at pains to create a sense of place, be it aboard ship or in a remote village; often he chose to have his characters play out their destinies in isolated or confined circumstances. In the view of Evelyn Waugh and Kingsley Amis, it was not until the first volumes of Anthony Powell's sequence, A Dance to the Music of Time, were published in the 1950s, that an English novelist achieved the same command of atmosphere and precision of language with consistency, a view supported by later critics like A. N. Wilson; Powell acknowledged his debt to Conrad. Leo Gurko, too, remarks, as "one of Conrad's special qualities, his abnormal awareness of place, an awareness magnified to almost a new dimension in art, an ecological dimension defining the relationship between earth and man." T. E. Lawrence, one of many writers whom Conrad befriended, offered some perceptive observations about Conrad's writing: The Irish novelist-poet-critic Colm Tóibín captures something similar: In a letter of 14 December 1897 to his Scottish friend, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, Conrad wrote that science tells us, "Understand that thou art nothing, less than a shadow, more insignificant than a drop of water in the ocean, more fleeting than the illusion of a dream." In a letter of 20 December 1897 to Cunninghame Graham, Conrad metaphorically described the universe as a huge machine: Conrad wrote Cunninghame Graham on 31 January 1898: Leo Robson suggests that According to Robson, Language Conrad spoke his native Polish and the French language fluently from childhood and only acquired English in his twenties. He would probably have spoken some Ukrainian as a child (if only to servants); he certainly had to have some knowledge of German and Russian. His son Borys records that, though Conrad had insisted that he spoke only a few words of German, when they reached the Austrian frontier in the family's attempt to leave Poland in 1914, Conrad spoke German "at considerable length and extreme fluency". Russia, Prussia, and Austria had divided up Poland among them, and he was officially a Russian subject until his naturalization as a British subject. As a result, up to this point, his official documents were in Russian. His knowledge of Russian was good enough that his uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski wrote him (22 May 1893) advising that, when Conrad came to visit, he should "telegraph for horses, but in Russian, for Oratów doesn't receive or accept messages in an 'alien' language." Conrad chose, however, to write his fiction in English. He says in his preface to A Personal Record that writing in English was for him "natural", and that the idea of his having made a deliberate choice between English and French, as some had suggested, was in error. He explained that, though he had been familiar with French from childhood, "I would have been afraid to attempt expression in a language so perfectly 'crystallized'." In 1915, as Jo Davidson sculpted his bust, Conrad answered his question: "Ah… to write French you have to know it. English is so plastic—if you haven't got a word you need you can make it, but to write French you have to be an artist like Anatole France." These statements, as so often in Conrad's "autobiographical" writings, are subtly disingenuous. In 1897 Conrad was visited by a fellow Pole, the philosopher Wincenty Lutosławski, who asked Conrad, "Why don't you write in Polish?" Lutosławski recalled Conrad explaining: "I value our beautiful Polish literature too much to bring into it my clumsy efforts. But for the English my gifts are sufficient and secure my daily bread." Conrad wrote in A Personal Record that English was "the speech of my secret choice, of my future, of long friendships, of the deepest affections, of hours of toil and hours of ease, and of solitary hours, too, of books read, of thoughts pursued, of remembered emotions—of my very dreams!" In 1878 Conrad's four-year experience in the French merchant marine had been cut short when the French discovered he did not have a permit from the Imperial Russian consul to sail with the French. This, and some typically disastrous Conradian investments, had left him destitute and had precipitated a suicide attempt. With the concurrence of his mentor-uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski, who had been summoned to Marseilles, Conrad decided to seek employment with the British merchant marine, which did not require Russia's permission. Thus began Conrad's sixteen years' seafarer's acquaintance with the British and with the English language. Had Conrad remained in the Francophone sphere or had he returned to Poland, the son of the Polish poet, playwright, and translator Apollo Korzeniowski—from childhood exposed to Polish and foreign literature, and ambitious to himself become a writer—he might have ended writing in French or Polish instead of English. Certainly his Uncle Tadeusz thought Conrad might write in Polish; in an 1881 letter he advised his 23-year-old nephew: In the opinion of some biographers, Conrad's third language, English, remained under the influence of his first two languages—Polish and French. This makes his English seem unusual. Najder writes that: Inevitably for a trilingual Polish–French–English-speaker, Conrad's writings occasionally show linguistic spillover: "Franglais" or "Poglish"—the inadvertent use of French or Polish vocabulary, grammar, or syntax in his English writings. In one instance, Najder uses "several slips in vocabulary, typical for Conrad (Gallicisms) and grammar (usually Polonisms)" as part of internal evidence against Conrad's sometime literary collaborator Ford Madox Ford's claim to have written a certain instalment of Conrad's novel Nostromo, for publication in T. P.'s Weekly, on behalf of an ill Conrad. The impracticality of working with a language which has long ceased to be one's principal language of daily use is illustrated by Conrad's 1921 attempt at translating into English the Polish physicist, columnist, story-writer, and comedy-writer Bruno Winawer's short play, The Book of Job. Najder writes: As a practical matter, by the time Conrad set about writing fiction, he had little choice but to write in English. Poles who accused Conrad of cultural apostasy because he wrote in English instead of Polish missed the point—as do Anglophones who see, in Conrad's default choice of English as his artistic medium, a testimonial to some sort of innate superiority of the English language. According to Conrad's close friend and literary assistant Richard Curle, the fact of Conrad writing in English was "obviously misleading" because Conrad "is no more completely English in his art than he is in his nationality". Conrad, according to Curle, "could never have written in any other language save the English language....for he would have been dumb in any other language but the English." Conrad always retained a strong emotional attachment to his native language. He asked his visiting Polish niece Karola Zagórska, "Will you forgive me that my sons don't speak Polish?" In June 1924, shortly before his death, he apparently expressed a desire that his son John marry a Polish girl and learn Polish, and toyed with the idea of returning for good to now independent Poland. Conrad bridled at being referred to as a Russian or "Slavonic" writer. The only Russian writer he admired was Ivan Turgenev. "The critics", he wrote an acquaintance on 31 January 1924, six months before his death, "detected in me a new note and as, just when I began to write, they had discovered the existence of Russian authors, they stuck that label on me under the name of Slavonism. What I venture to say is that it would have been more just to charge me at most with Polonism." However, though Conrad protested that Dostoyevsky was "too Russian for me" and that Russian literature generally was "repugnant to me hereditarily and individually", Under Western Eyes is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. Controversy In 1975 the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe published an essay, "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness'", which provoked controversy by calling Conrad a "thoroughgoing racist". Achebe's view was that Heart of Darkness cannot be considered a great work of art because it is "a novel which celebrates... dehumanisation, which depersonalises a portion of the human race." Referring to Conrad as a "talented, tormented man", Achebe notes that Conrad (via the protagonist, Charles Marlow) reduces and degrades Africans to "limbs", "ankles", "glistening white eyeballs", etc., while simultaneously (and fearfully) suspecting a common kinship between himself and these natives—leading Marlow to sneer the word "ugly." Achebe also cited Conrad's description of an encounter with an African: "A certain enormous buck nigger encountered in Haiti fixed my conception of blind, furious, unreasoning rage, as manifested in the human animal to the end of my days." Achebe's essay, a landmark in postcolonial discourse, provoked debate, and the questions it raised have been addressed in most subsequent literary criticism of Conrad. Achebe's critics argue that he fails to distinguish Marlow's view from Conrad's, which results in very clumsy interpretations of the novella. In their view, Conrad portrays Africans sympathetically and their plight tragically, and refers sarcastically to, and condemns outright, the supposedly noble aims of European colonists, thereby demonstrating his skepticism about the moral superiority of white men. Ending a passage that describes the condition of chained, emaciated slaves, the novelist remarks: "After all, I also was a part of the great cause of these high and just proceedings." Some observers assert that Conrad, whose native country had been conquered by imperial powers, empathised by default with other subjugated peoples. Jeffrey Meyers notes that Conrad, like his acquaintance Roger Casement, "was one of the first men to question the Western notion of progress, a dominant idea in Europe from the Renaissance to the Great War, to attack the hypocritical justification of colonialism and to reveal... the savage degradation of the white man in Africa." Likewise, E.D. Morel, who led international opposition to King Leopold II's rule in the Congo, saw Conrad's Heart of Darkness as a condemnation of colonial brutality and referred to the novella as "the most powerful thing written on the subject." Conrad scholar Peter Firchow writes that "nowhere in the novel does Conrad or any of his narrators, personified or otherwise, claim superiority on the part of Europeans on the grounds of alleged genetic or biological difference." If Conrad or his novel is racist, it is only in a weak sense, since Heart of Darkness acknowledges racial distinctions "but does not suggest an essential superiority" of any group. Achebe's reading of Heart of Darkness can be (and has been) challenged by a reading of Conrad's other African story, "An Outpost of Progress", which has an omniscient narrator, rather than the embodied narrator, Marlow. Some younger scholars, such as Masood Ashraf Raja, have also suggested that if we read Conrad beyond Heart of Darkness, especially his Malay novels, racism can be further complicated by foregrounding Conrad's positive representation of Muslims. In 1998 H.S. Zins wrote in Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies: Adam Hochschild makes a similar point: Conrad's experience in the Belgian-run Congo made him one of the fiercest critics of the "white man's mission." It was also, writes Najder, Conrad's most daring and last "attempt to become a homo socialis, a cog in the mechanism of society. By accepting the job in the trading company, he joined, for once in his life, an organized, large-scale group activity on land.... It is not accidental that the Congo expedition remained an isolated event in Conrad's life. Until his death he remained a recluse in the social sense and never became involved with any institution or clearly defined group of people." Citizenship Conrad was a Russian subject, having been born in the Russian part of what had once been the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After his father's death, Conrad's uncle Bobrowski had attempted to secure Austrian citizenship for him—to no avail, probably because Conrad had not received permission from Russian authorities to remain abroad permanently and had not been released from being a Russian subject. Conrad could not return to Ukraine, in the Russian Empire—he would have been liable to many years' military service and, as the son of political exiles, to harassment. In a letter of 9 August 1877, Conrad's uncle Bobrowski broached two important subjects: the desirability of Conrad's naturalisation abroad (tantamount to release from being a Russian subject) and Conrad's plans to join the British merchant marine. "[D]o you speak English?... I never wished you to become naturalized in France, mainly because of the compulsory military service... I thought, however, of your getting naturalized in Switzerland..." In his next letter, Bobrowski supported Conrad's idea of seeking citizenship of the United States or of "one of the more important Southern [American] Republics". Eventually Conrad would make his home in England. On 2 July 1886 he applied for British nationality, which was granted on 19 August 1886. Yet, in spite of having become a subject of Queen Victoria, Conrad had not ceased to be a subject of Tsar Alexander III. To achieve his freedom from that subjection, he had to make many visits to the Russian Embassy in London and politely reiterate his request. He would later recall the Embassy's home at Belgrave Square in his novel The Secret Agent. Finally, on 2 April 1889, the Russian Ministry of Home Affairs released "the son of a Polish man of letters, captain of the British merchant marine" from the status of Russian subject. Memorials An anchor-shaped monument to Conrad at Gdynia, on Poland's Baltic Seacoast, features a quotation from him in Polish: "Nic tak nie nęci, nie rozczarowuje i nie zniewala, jak życie na morzu" ("[T]here is nothing more enticing, disenchanting, and enslaving than the life at sea" – Lord Jim, chapter 2, paragraph 1). In Circular Quay, Sydney, Australia, a plaque in a "writers walk" commemorates Conrad's visits to Australia between 1879 and 1892. The plaque notes that "Many of his works reflect his 'affection for that young continent.'" In San Francisco in 1979, a small triangular square at Columbus Avenue and Beach Street, near Fisherman's Wharf, was dedicated as "Joseph Conrad Square" after Conrad. The square's dedication was timed to coincide with release of Francis Ford Coppola's Heart of Darkness-inspired film, Apocalypse Now. Conrad does not appear to have ever visited San Francisco. In the latter part of World War II, the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Danae was rechristened ORP Conrad and served as part of the Polish Navy. Notwithstanding the undoubted sufferings that Conrad endured on many of his voyages, sentimentality and canny marketing place him at the best lodgings in several of his destinations. Hotels across the Far East still lay claim to him as an honoured guest, with, however, no evidence to back their claims: Singapore's Raffles Hotel continues to claim he stayed there though he lodged, in fact, at the Sailors' Home nearby. His visit to Bangkok also remains in that city's collective memory, and is recorded in the official history of The Oriental Hotel (where he never, in fact, stayed, lodging aboard his ship, the Otago) along with that of a less well-behaved guest, Somerset Maugham, who pilloried the hotel in a short story in revenge for attempts to eject him. A plaque commemorating "Joseph Conrad–Korzeniowski" has been installed near Singapore's Fullerton Hotel. Conrad is also reported to have stayed at Hong Kong's Peninsula Hotel—at a port that, in fact, he never visited. Later literary admirers, notably Graham Greene, followed closely in his footsteps, sometimes requesting the same room and perpetuating myths that have no basis in fact. No Caribbean resort is yet known to have claimed Conrad's patronage, although he is believed to have stayed at a Fort-de-France pension upon arrival in Martinique on his first voyage, in 1875, when he travelled as a passenger on the Mont Blanc. In April 2013, a monument to Conrad was unveiled in the Russian town of Vologda, where he and his parents lived in exile in 1862–63. The monument was removed, with unclear explanation, in June 2016. Legacy After the publication of Chance in 1913, Conrad was the subject of more discussion and praise than any other English writer of the time. He had a genius for companionship, and his circle of friends, which he had begun assembling even prior to his first publications, included authors and other leading lights in the arts, such as Henry James, Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham, John Galsworthy, Edward Garnett, Garnett's wife Constance Garnett (translator of Russian literature), Stephen Crane, Hugh Walpole, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells (whom Conrad dubbed "the historian of the ages to come"), Arnold Bennett, Norman Douglas, Jacob Epstein, T. E. Lawrence, André Gide, Paul Valéry, Maurice Ravel, Valery Larbaud, Saint-John Perse, Edith Wharton, James Huneker, anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski, Józef Retinger (later a founder of the European Movement, which led to the European Union, and author of Conrad and His Contemporaries). In the early 1900s Conrad composed a short series of novels in collaboration with Ford Madox Ford. In 1919 and 1922 Conrad's growing renown and prestige among writers and critics in continental Europe fostered his hopes for a Nobel Prize in Literature. It was apparently the French and Swedes—not the English—who favoured Conrad's candidacy. In April 1924 Conrad, who possessed a hereditary Polish status of nobility and coat-of-arms (Nałęcz), declined a (non-hereditary) British knighthood offered by Labour Party Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald. Conrad kept a distance from official structures—he never voted in British national elections—and seems to have been averse to public honours generally; he had already refused honorary degrees from Cambridge, Durham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, and Yale universities. In the Polish People's Republic, translations of Conrad's works were openly published, except for Under Western Eyes, which in the 1980s was published as an underground "bibuła". Conrad's narrative style and anti-heroic characters have influenced many authors, including T. S. Eliot, Maria Dąbrowska, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Gerald Basil Edwards, Ernest Hemingway, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, André Malraux, George Orwell, Graham Greene, William Golding, William Burroughs, Saul Bellow, Gabriel García Márquez, Peter Matthiessen, John le Carré, V. S. Naipaul, Philip Roth, Joan Didion, Thomas Pynchon J. M. Coetzee, and Salman Rushdie. Many films have been adapted from, or inspired by, Conrad's works. Impressions A striking portrait of Conrad, aged about 46, was drawn by the historian and poet Henry Newbolt, who met him about 1903: On 12 October 1912, American music critic James Huneker visited Conrad and later recalled being received by "a man of the world, neither sailor nor novelist, just a simple-mannered gentleman, whose welcome was sincere, whose glance was veiled, at times far-away, whose ways were French, Polish, anything but 'literary,' bluff or English." After respective separate visits to Conrad in August and September 1913, two British aristocrats, the socialite Lady Ottoline Morrell and the mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell—who were lovers at the time—recorded their impressions of the novelist. In her diary, Morrell wrote: A month later, Bertrand Russell visited Conrad at Capel House in Orlestone, and the same day on the train wrote down his impressions: Russell's Autobiography, published over half a century later in 1968, confirms his original experience: It was not only Anglophones who remarked Conrad's strong foreign accent when speaking English. After French poet Paul Valéry and French composer Maurice Ravel made Conrad's acquaintance in December 1922, Valéry wrote in 1924 of having been astonished at Conrad's "horrible" accent in English. The subsequent friendship and correspondence between Conrad and Russell lasted, with long intervals, to the end of Conrad's life. In one letter, Conrad avowed his "deep admiring affection, which, if you were never to see me again and forget my existence tomorrow will be unalterably yours usque ad finem." Conrad in his correspondence often used the Latin expression meaning "to the very end", which he seems to have adopted from his faithful guardian, mentor and benefactor, his maternal uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski. Conrad looked with less optimism than Russell on the possibilities of scientific and philosophic knowledge. In a 1913 letter to acquaintances who had invited Conrad to join their society, he reiterated his belief that it was impossible to understand the essence of either reality or life: both science and art penetrate no further than the outer shapes. Najder describes Conrad as "[a]n alienated émigré... haunted by a sense of the unreality of other people – a feeling natural to someone living outside the established structures of family, social milieu, and country". Conrad's sense of loneliness throughout his exile's life found memorable expression in the 1901 short story, "Amy Foster". Works NovelsAlmayer's Folly (1895)An Outcast of the Islands (1896)The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897)Heart of Darkness (1899)Lord Jim (1900)The Inheritors (with Ford Madox Ford) (1901)Typhoon (1902, begun 1899)The End of the Tether (written in 1902; collected in Youth, a Narrative and Two Other Stories, 1902)Romance (with Ford Madox Ford, 1903)Nostromo (1904)The Secret Agent (1907)Under Western Eyes (1911)Chance (1913)Victory (1915)The Shadow Line (1917)The Arrow of Gold (1919)The Rescue (1920)The Nature of a Crime (1923, with Ford Madox Ford)The Rover (1923)Suspense (1925; unfinished, published posthumously) Stories "The Black Mate": written, according to Conrad, in 1886; may be counted as his opus double zero; published 1908; posthumously collected in Tales of Hearsay, 1925. "The Idiots": Conrad's truly first short story, which may be counted as his opus zero; written during his honeymoon (1896), published in The Savoy periodical, 1896, and collected in Tales of Unrest, 1898. "The Lagoon": composed 1896; published in Cornhill Magazine, 1897; collected in Tales of Unrest, 1898: "It is the first short story I ever wrote." "An Outpost of Progress": written 1896; published in Cosmopolis, 1897, and collected in Tales of Unrest, 1898: "My next [second] effort in short-story writing"; it shows numerous thematic affinities with Heart of Darkness; in 1906, Conrad described it as his "best story". "The Return": completed early 1897, while writing "Karain"; never published in magazine form; collected in Tales of Unrest, 1898: "[A]ny kind word about 'The Return' (and there have been such words said at different times) awakens in me the liveliest gratitude, for I know how much the writing of that fantasy has cost me in sheer toil, in temper, and in disillusion." Conrad, who suffered while writing this psychological chef-d'oeuvre of introspection, once remarked: "I hate it." "Karain: A Memory": written February–April 1897; published November 1897 in Blackwood's Magazine and collected in Tales of Unrest, 1898: "my third short story in... order of time". "Youth": written 1898; collected in Youth, a Narrative, and Two Other Stories, 1902 "Falk": novella / story, written early 1901; collected only in Typhoon and Other Stories, 1903 "Amy Foster": composed 1901; published in the Illustrated London News, December 1901, and collected in Typhoon and Other Stories, 1903. "To-morrow": written early 1902; serialised in The Pall Mall Magazine, 1902, and collected in Typhoon and Other Stories, 1903 "Gaspar Ruiz": written after Nostromo in 1904–5; published in The Strand Magazine, 1906, and collected in A Set of Six, 1908 (UK), 1915 (US). This story was the only piece of Conrad's fiction ever adapted by the author for cinema, as Gaspar the Strong Man, 1920. "An Anarchist": written late 1905; serialised in Harper's Magazine, 1906; collected in A Set of Six, 1908 (UK), 1915 (US) "The Informer": written before January 1906; published, December 1906, in Harper's Magazine, and collected in A Set of Six, 1908 (UK), 1915 (US) "The Brute": written early 1906; published in The Daily Chronicle, December 1906; collected in A Set of Six, 1908 (UK), 1915 (US) "The Duel: A Military Story": serialised in the UK in The Pall Mall Magazine, early 1908, and later that year in the US as "The Point of Honor", in the periodical Forum; collected in A Set of Six in 1908 and published by Garden City Publishing in 1924. Joseph Fouché makes a cameo appearance. "Il Conde" (i.e., "Conte" [The Count]): appeared in Cassell's Magazine (UK), 1908, and Hamptons (US), 1909; collected in A Set of Six, 1908 (UK), 1915 (US) "The Secret Sharer": written December 1909; published in Harper's Magazine, 1910, and collected in Twixt Land and Sea, 1912 "Prince Roman": written 1910, published 1911 in The Oxford and Cambridge Review; posthumously collected in Tales of Hearsay, 1925; based on the story of Prince Roman Sanguszko of Poland (1800–81) "A Smile of Fortune": a long story, almost a novella, written in mid-1910; published in London Magazine, February 1911; collected in Twixt Land and Sea, 1912 "Freya of the Seven Isles": a near-novella, written late 1910–early 1911; published in The Metropolitan Magazine and London Magazine, early 1912 and July 1912, respectively; collected in Twixt Land and Sea, 1912 "The Partner": written 1911; published in Within the Tides, 1915 "The Inn of the Two Witches": written 1913; published in Within the Tides, 1915 "Because of the Dollars": written 1914; published in Within the Tides, 1915 "The Planter of Malata": written 1914; published in Within the Tides, 1915 "The Warrior's Soul": written late 1915–early 1916; published in Land and Water, March 1917; collected in Tales of Hearsay, 1925 "The Tale": Conrad's only story about World War I; written 1916, first published 1917 in The Strand Magazine; posthumously collected in Tales of Hearsay, 1925 Essays "Autocracy and War" (1905) The Mirror of the Sea (collection of autobiographical essays first published in various magazines 1904–06), 1906 A Personal Record (also published as Some Reminiscences), 1912 The First News, 1918 The Lesson of the Collision: A monograph upon the loss of the "Empress of Ireland", 1919 The Polish Question, 1919 The Shock of War, 1919 Notes on Life and Letters, 1921 Notes on My Books, 1921 Last Essays, edited by Richard Curle, 1926 The Congo Diary and Other Uncollected Pieces, edited by Zdzisław Najder, 1978, Adaptations A number of works in various genres and media have been based on, or inspired by, Conrad's writings, including: Cinema Victory (1919), directed by Maurice Tourneur Gaspar the Strong Man (1920), adapted from Gaspar Ruiz by the author Lord Jim (1925), directed by Victor Fleming Niebezpieczny raj (Dangerous Paradise, 1930), a Polish adaptation of Victory Dangerous Paradise (1930), an adaptation of Victory directed by William Wellman Sabotage (1936), adapted from Conrad's The Secret Agent, directed by Alfred Hitchcock Victory (1940), featuring Fredric March An Outcast of the Islands (1952), directed by Carol Reed and featuring Trevor Howard Lord Jim (1965), directed by Richard Brooks and starring Peter O'Toole The Rover (1967), adaptation of the novel The Rover (1923), directed by Terence Young, featuring Anthony Quinn La ligne d'ombre (1973), a TV adaptation of The Shadow Line by Georges Franju Smuga cienia (The Shadow Line, 1976), a Polish-British adaptation of The Shadow Line, directed by Andrzej Wajda The Duellists (1977), an adaptation of The Duel by Ridley Scott Naufragio (1977), a Mexican adaptation of Tomorrow directed by Jaime Humberto Hermosillo Apocalypse Now (1979), by Francis Ford Coppola, adapted from Heart of Darkness Un reietto delle isole (1980), by Giorgio Moser, an Italian adaptation of An Outcast of the Islands, starring Maria Carta Victory (1995), adapted by director Mark Peploe from the novel The Secret Agent (1996), starring Bob Hoskins, Patricia Arquette and Gérard Depardieu Swept from the Sea (1997), an adaptation of Amy Foster directed by Beeban Kidron Gabrielle (2005) directed by Patrice Chéreau. Adaptation of the short story "The Return" (1898), starring Isabelle Huppert and Pascal Greggory. Hanyut (2011), a Malaysian adaptation of Almayer's Folly Almayer's Folly (2011), directed by Chantal Akerman Secret Sharer (2014), inspired by "The Secret Sharer", directed by Peter Fudakowski The Young One (2016), an adaptation of the short story "Youth", directed by Julien Samani An Outpost of Progress (2016), an adaptation of the short story "An Outpost of Progress", directed by Hugo Vieira da Silva Television Heart of Darkness (1958), a CBS 90-minute loose adaption on the anthology show Playhouse 90, starring Roddy McDowall, Boris Karloff, and Eartha Kitt Nostromo (1997), a BBC TV adaptation, co-produced with Italian and Spanish TV networks and WGBH Boston The Secret Agent (1992 TV series) and The Secret Agent (2016 TV series), BBC TV series adapted from the novel The Secret Agent Heart of Darkness (1993) a TNT feature-length adaptation, directed by Nicolas Roeg, starring John Malkovich and Tim Roth; also released on VHS and DVD Operas Heart of Darkness (2011), a chamber opera in one act by Tarik O'Regan, with an English-language libretto by artist Tom Phillips. Orchestral works Suite from Heart of Darkness (2013) for orchestra and narrator by Tarik O'Regan, extrapolated from the 2011 opera of the same name. Video games Spec Ops: The Line (2012) by Yager Development, inspired by Heart of Darkness. See also Bolesław Prus King Leopold's Ghost Alice Sarah Kinkead List of Poles List of covers of Time magazine (1920s) – 7 April 1923 ORP Conrad – a World War II Polish Navy cruiser named after Joseph Conrad. Politics in fiction Stefan Bobrowski, one of Conrad's maternal uncles; like Conrad's father, a "Red"-faction political leader. Notes References Sources Taborski, Roman (1969), "Korzeniowski, Apollo", Polski słownik biograficzny, vol. XIV, Wrocław, Polska Akademia Nauk, pp. 167–69. Secondary sources (bibliography) Gérard Jean-Aubry, Vie de Conrad (Life of Conrad – the authorised biography), Gallimard, 1947, translated by Helen Sebba as The Sea Dreamer: A Definitive Biography of Joseph Conrad, New York, Doubleday & Co., 1957. Borys Conrad, My Father: Joseph Conrad, Calder & Boyars, 1970. Peter Edgerly Firchow, Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, University Press of Kentucky, 2000. Robert Hampson, Cross-Cultural Encounters in Joseph Conrad's Malay Fiction, Palgrave, 2000. Robert Hampson, Conrad's Secrets, Palgrave, 2012. Robert Hampson, Joseph Conrad, Reaktion Books, 2020. Alex Kurczaba, ed., Conrad and Poland, Boulder, East European Monographs, 1996, . C. McCarthy, The Cambridge Introduction to Edward Said, Cambridge University Press, 2010. Zdzisław Najder, "Korzeniowski, Józef Teodor Konrad", Polski Słownik Biograficzny, tom (vol.) XIV (Kopernicki, Izydor – Kozłowska, Maria), Wrocław, Zakład Narodowy Imienia Ossolińskich, Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 1968–1969, pp. 173–76. Mario Pei, The Story of Language, with an Introduction by Stuart Berg Flexner, revised ed., New York, New American Library, 1984, . Joseph Retinger, Conrad and His Contemporaries, London: Minerva, 1941; New York:
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was hospitalised for several months, suffering from gout, neuralgic pains in his right arm and recurrent attacks of malaria. He also complained of swollen hands "which made writing difficult". Taking his uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski's advice, he convalesced at a spa in Switzerland. Conrad had a phobia of dentistry, neglecting his teeth until they had to be extracted. In one letter he remarked that every novel he had written had cost him a tooth. Conrad's physical afflictions were, if anything, less vexatious than his mental ones. In his letters he often described symptoms of depression; "the evidence", writes Najder, "is so strong that it is nearly impossible to doubt it." Attempted suicide In March 1878, at the end of his Marseilles period, 20-year-old Conrad attempted suicide, by shooting himself in the chest with a revolver. According to his uncle, who was summoned by a friend, Conrad had fallen into debt. Bobrowski described his subsequent "study" of his nephew in an extensive letter to Stefan Buszczyński, his own ideological opponent and a friend of Conrad's late father Apollo. To what extent the suicide attempt had been made in earnest likely will never be known, but it is suggestive of a situational depression. Romance and marriage In 1888 during a stop-over on Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean, Conrad developed a couple of romantic interests. One of these would be described in his 1910 story "A Smile of Fortune", which contains autobiographical elements (e.g., one of the characters is the same Chief Mate Burns who appears in The Shadow Line). The narrator, a young captain, flirts ambiguously and surreptitiously with Alice Jacobus, daughter of a local merchant living in a house surrounded by a magnificent rose garden. Research has confirmed that in Port Louis at the time there was a 17-year-old Alice Shaw, whose father, a shipping agent, owned the only rose garden in town. More is known about Conrad's other, more open flirtation. An old friend, Captain Gabriel Renouf of the French merchant marine, introduced him to the family of his brother-in-law. Renouf's eldest sister was the wife of Louis Edward Schmidt, a senior official in the colony; with them lived two other sisters and two brothers. Though the island had been taken over in 1810 by Britain, many of the inhabitants were descendants of the original French colonists, and Conrad's excellent French and perfect manners opened all local salons to him. He became a frequent guest at the Schmidts', where he often met the Misses Renouf. A couple of days before leaving Port Louis, Conrad asked one of the Renouf brothers for the hand of his 26-year-old sister Eugenie. She was already, however, engaged to marry her pharmacist cousin. After the rebuff, Conrad did not pay a farewell visit but sent a polite letter to Gabriel Renouf, saying he would never return to Mauritius and adding that on the day of the wedding his thoughts would be with them. On 24 March 1896 Conrad married an Englishwoman, Jessie George. The couple had two sons, Borys and John. The elder, Borys, proved a disappointment in scholarship and integrity. Jessie was an unsophisticated, working-class girl, sixteen years younger than Conrad. To his friends, she was an inexplicable choice of wife, and the subject of some rather disparaging and unkind remarks. (See Lady Ottoline Morrell's opinion of Jessie in Impressions.) However, according to other biographers such as Frederick Karl, Jessie provided what Conrad needed, namely a "straightforward, devoted, quite competent" companion. Similarly, Jones remarks that, despite whatever difficulties the marriage endured, "there can be no doubt that the relationship sustained Conrad's career as a writer", which might have been much less successful without her. The couple rented a long series of successive homes, mostly in the English countryside. Conrad, who suffered frequent depressions, made great efforts to change his mood; the most important step was to move into another house. His frequent changes of home were usually signs of a search for psychological regeneration. Between 1910 and 1919 Conrad's home was Capel House in Orlestone, Kent, which was rented to him by Lord and Lady Oliver. It was here that he wrote The Rescue, Victory, and The Arrow of Gold. Except for several vacations in France and Italy, a 1914 vacation in his native Poland, and a 1923 visit to the United States, Conrad lived the rest of his life in England. Sojourn in Poland The 1914 vacation with his wife and sons in Poland, at the urging of Józef Retinger, coincided with the outbreak of World War I. On 28 July 1914, the day war broke out between Austro-Hungary and Serbia, Conrad and the Retingers arrived in Kraków (then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire), where Conrad visited childhood haunts. As the city lay only a few miles from the Russian border, there was a risk of being stranded in a battle zone. With wife Jessie and younger son John ill, Conrad decided to take refuge in the mountain resort town of Zakopane. They left Kraków on 2 August. A few days after arrival in Zakopane, they moved to the Konstantynówka pension operated by Conrad's cousin Aniela Zagórska; it had been frequented by celebrities including the statesman Józef Piłsudski and Conrad's acquaintance, the young concert pianist Artur Rubinstein. Zagórska introduced Conrad to Polish writers, intellectuals, and artists who had also taken refuge in Zakopane, including novelist Stefan Żeromski and Tadeusz Nalepiński, a writer friend of anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski. Conrad aroused interest among the Poles as a famous writer and an exotic compatriot from abroad. He charmed new acquaintances, especially women. However, Marie Curie's physician sister, Bronisława Dłuska, wife of fellow physician and eminent socialist activist Kazimierz Dłuski, openly berated Conrad for having used his great talent for purposes other than bettering the future of his native land. But thirty-two-year-old Aniela Zagórska (daughter of the pension keeper), Conrad's niece who would translate his works into Polish in 1923–39, idolised him, kept him company, and provided him with books. He particularly delighted in the stories and novels of the ten-years-older, recently deceased Bolesław Prus, read everything by his fellow victim of Poland's 1863 Uprising—"my beloved Prus"—that he could get his hands on, and pronounced him "better than Dickens"—a favourite English novelist of Conrad's. Conrad, who was noted by his Polish acquaintances to still be fluent in his native tongue, participated in their impassioned political discussions. He declared presciently, as Józef Piłsudski had earlier in 1914 in Paris, that in the war, for Poland to regain independence, Russia must be beaten by the Central Powers (the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires), and the Central Powers must in turn be beaten by France and Britain. After many travails and vicissitudes, at the beginning of November 1914 Conrad managed to bring his family back to England. On his return, he was determined to work on swaying British opinion in favour of restoring Poland's sovereignty. Jessie Conrad would later write in her memoirs: "I understood my husband so much better after those months in Poland. So many characteristics that had been strange and unfathomable to me before, took, as it were, their right proportions. I understood that his temperament was that of his countrymen." Politics The most extensive and ambitious political statement that Conrad ever made was his 1905 essay, "Autocracy and War", whose starting point was the Russo-Japanese War (he finished the article a month before the Battle of Tsushima Strait). The essay begins with a statement about Russia's incurable weakness and ends with warnings against Prussia, the dangerous aggressor in a future European war. For Russia he predicted a violent outburst in the near future, but Russia's lack of democratic traditions and the backwardness of her masses made it impossible for the revolution to have a salutary effect. Conrad regarded the formation of a representative government in Russia as unfeasible and foresaw a transition from autocracy to dictatorship. He saw western Europe as torn by antagonisms engendered by economic rivalry and commercial selfishness. In vain might a Russian revolution seek advice or help from a materialistic and egoistic western Europe that armed itself in preparation for wars far more brutal than those of the past. Conrad's distrust of democracy sprang from his doubts whether the propagation of democracy as an aim in itself could solve any problems. He thought that, in view of the weakness of human nature and of the "criminal" character of society, democracy offered boundless opportunities for demagogues and charlatans. Conrad kept his distance from partisan politics, and never voted in British national elections. He accused social democrats of his time of acting to weaken "the national sentiment, the preservation of which [was his] concern"—of attempting to dissolve national identities in an impersonal melting-pot. "I look at the future from the depth of a very black past and I find that nothing is left for me except fidelity to a cause lost, to an idea without future." It was Conrad's hopeless fidelity to the memory of Poland that prevented him from believing in the idea of "international fraternity", which he considered, under the circumstances, just a verbal exercise. He resented some socialists' talk of freedom and world brotherhood while keeping silent about his own partitioned and oppressed Poland. Before that, in the early 1880s, letters to Conrad from his uncle Tadeusz show Conrad apparently having hoped for an improvement in Poland's situation not through a liberation movement but by establishing an alliance with neighbouring Slavic nations. This had been accompanied by a faith in the Panslavic ideology—"surprising", Najder writes, "in a man who was later to emphasize his hostility towards Russia, a conviction that... Poland's [superior] civilization and... historic... traditions would [let] her play a leading role... in the Panslavic community, [and his] doubts about Poland's chances of becoming a fully sovereign nation-state." Conrad's alienation from partisan politics went together with an abiding sense of the thinking man's burden imposed by his personality, as described in an 1894 letter of Conrad's to a relative-by-marriage and fellow author, Marguerite Poradowska (née Gachet, and cousin of Vincent van Gogh's physician, Paul Gachet) of Brussels: Conrad wrote H.G. Wells that the latter's 1901 book, Anticipations, "seems to presuppose... a sort of select circle to which you address yourself, leaving the rest of the world outside the pale. [In addition,] you do not take sufficient account of human imbecility which is cunning and perfidious." In a 23 October 1922 letter to mathematician-philosopher Bertrand Russell, in response to the latter's book, The Problem of China, which advocated socialist reforms and an oligarchy of sages who would reshape Chinese society, Conrad explained his own distrust of political panaceas: Leo Robson writes: But, writes Robson, Conrad is no moral nihilist: In an August 1901 letter to the editor of The New York Times Saturday Book Review, Conrad wrote: "Egoism, which is the moving force of the world, and altruism, which is its morality, these two contradictory instincts, of which one is so plain and the other so mysterious, cannot serve us unless in the incomprehensible alliance of their irreconcilable antagonism." Death On 3 August 1924, Conrad died at his house, Oswalds, in Bishopsbourne, Kent, England, probably of a heart attack. He was interred at Canterbury Cemetery, Canterbury, under a misspelled version of his original Polish name, as "Joseph Teador Conrad Korzeniowski". Inscribed on his gravestone are the lines from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene which he had chosen as the epigraph to his last complete novel, The Rover: Conrad's modest funeral took place amid great crowds. His old friend Edward Garnett recalled bitterly: Another old friend of Conrad's, Cunninghame Graham, wrote Garnett: "Aubry was saying to me... that had Anatole France died, all Paris would have been at his funeral." Conrad's wife Jessie died twelve years later, on 6 December 1936, and was interred with him. In 1996 his grave was designated a Grade II listed structure. Writing style Themes and style Despite the opinions even of some who knew Conrad personally, such as fellow-novelist Henry James, Conrad—even when only writing elegantly crafted letters to his uncle and acquaintances—was always at heart a writer who sailed, rather than a sailor who wrote. He used his sailing experiences as a backdrop for many of his works, but he also produced works of similar world view, without the nautical motifs. The failure of many critics to appreciate this caused him much frustration. He wrote oftener about life at sea and in exotic parts than about life on British land because—unlike, for example, his friend John Galsworthy, author of The Forsyte Saga—he knew little about everyday domestic relations in Britain. When Conrad's The Mirror of the Sea was published in 1906 to critical acclaim, he wrote to his French translator: "The critics have been vigorously swinging the censer to me.... Behind the concert of flattery, I can hear something like a whisper: 'Keep to the open sea! Don't land!' They want to banish me to the middle of the ocean." Writing to his friend Richard Curle, Conrad remarked that "the public mind fastens on externals" such as his "sea life", oblivious to how authors transform their material "from particular to general, and appeal to universal emotions by the temperamental handling of personal experience". Nevertheless, Conrad found much sympathetic readership, especially in the United States. H.L. Mencken was one of the earliest and most influential American readers to recognise how Conrad conjured up "the general out of the particular". F. Scott Fitzgerald, writing to Mencken, complained about having been omitted from a list of Conrad imitators. Since Fitzgerald, dozens of other American writers have acknowledged their debts to Conrad, including William Faulkner, William Burroughs, Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Joan Didion, and Thomas Pynchon. An October 1923 visitor to Oswalds, Conrad's home at the time—Cyril Clemens, a cousin of Mark Twain—quoted Conrad as saying: "In everything I have written there is always one invariable intention, and that is to capture the reader's attention." Conrad the artist famously aspired, in the words of his preface to The Nigger of the 'Narcissus' (1897), "by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel... before all, to make you see. That—and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there according to your deserts: encouragement, consolation, fear, charm—all you demand—and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask." Writing in what to the visual arts was the age of Impressionism, and what to music was the age of impressionist music, Conrad showed himself in many of his works a prose poet of the highest order: for instance, in the evocative Patna and courtroom scenes of Lord Jim; in the scenes of the "melancholy-mad elephant" and the "French gunboat firing into a continent", in Heart of Darkness; in the doubled protagonists of The Secret Sharer; and in the verbal and conceptual resonances of Nostromo and The Nigger of the 'Narcissus'. Conrad used his own memories as literary material so often that readers are tempted to treat his life and work as a single whole. His "view of the world", or elements of it, is often described by citing at once both his private and public statements, passages from his letters, and citations from his books. Najder warns that this approach produces an incoherent and misleading picture. "An... uncritical linking of the two spheres, literature and private life, distorts each. Conrad used his own experiences as raw material, but the finished product should not be confused with the experiences themselves." Many of Conrad's characters were inspired by actual persons he had met, including, in his first novel, Almayer's Folly (completed 1894), William Charles Olmeijer, the spelling of whose surname Conrad probably altered to "Almayer" inadvertently. The historic trader Olmeijer, whom Conrad encountered on his four short visits to Berau in Borneo, subsequently haunted Conrad's imagination. Conrad often borrowed the authentic names of actual individuals, e.g., Captain McWhirr (Typhoon), Captain Beard and Mr. Mahon ("Youth"), Captain Lingard (Almayer's Folly and elsewhere), and Captain Ellis (The Shadow Line). "Conrad", writes J. I. M. Stewart, "appears to have attached some mysterious significance to such links with actuality." Equally curious is "a great deal of namelessness in Conrad, requiring some minor virtuosity to maintain." Thus we never learn the surname of the protagonist of Lord Jim. Conrad also preserves, in The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', the authentic name of the ship, the Narcissus, in which he sailed in 1884. Apart from Conrad's own experiences, a number of episodes in his fiction were suggested by past or contemporary publicly known events or literary works. The first half of the 1900 novel Lord Jim (the Patna episode) was inspired by the real-life 1880 story of the ; the second part, to some extent by the life of James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak. The 1901 short story "Amy Foster" was inspired partly by an anecdote in Ford Madox Ford's The Cinque Ports (1900), wherein a shipwrecked sailor from a German merchant ship, unable to communicate in English, and driven away by the local country people, finally found shelter in a pigsty. In Nostromo (completed 1904), the theft of a massive consignment of silver was suggested to Conrad by a story he had heard in the Gulf of Mexico and later read about in a "volume picked up outside a second-hand bookshop." The novel's political strand, according to Maya Jasanoff, is related to the creation of the Panama Canal. "In January 1903", she writes, "just as Conrad started writing Nostromo, the US and Colombian secretaries of state signed a treaty granting the United States a one-hundred-year renewable lease on a six-mile strip flanking the canal... While the [news]papers murmured about revolution in Colombia, Conrad opened a fresh section of Nostromo with hints of dissent in Costaguana", his fictional South American country. He plotted a revolution in the Costaguanan fictional port of Sulaco that mirrored the real-life secessionist movement brewing in Panama. When Conrad finished the novel on 1 September 1904, writes Jasanoff, "he left Sulaco in the condition of Panama. As Panama had gotten its independence instantly recognized by the United States and its economy bolstered by American investment in the canal, so Sulaco had its independence instantly recognized by the United States, and its economy underwritten by investment in the [fictional] San Tomé [silver] mine." The Secret Agent (completed 1906) was inspired by the French anarchist Martial Bourdin's 1894 death while apparently attempting to blow up the Greenwich Observatory. Conrad's story "The Secret Sharer" (completed 1909) was inspired by an 1880 incident when Sydney Smith, first mate of the Cutty Sark, had killed a seaman and fled from justice, aided by the ship's captain. The plot of Under Western Eyes (completed 1910) is kicked off by the assassination of a brutal Russian government minister, modelled after the real-life 1904 assassination of Russian Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav von Plehve. The near-novella "Freya of the Seven Isles" (completed in March 1911) was inspired by a story told to Conrad by a Malaya old hand and fan of Conrad's, Captain Carlos M. Marris. For the natural surroundings of the high seas, the Malay Archipelago and South America, which Conrad described so vividly, he could rely on his own observations. What his brief landfalls could not provide was a thorough understanding of exotic cultures. For this he resorted, like other writers, to literary sources. When writing his Malayan stories, he consulted Alfred Russel Wallace's The Malay Archipelago (1869), James Brooke's journals, and books with titles like Perak and the Malays, My Journal in Malayan Waters, and Life in the Forests of the Far East. When he set about writing his novel Nostromo, set in the fictional South American country of Costaguana, he turned to The War between Peru and Chile; Edward Eastwick, Venezuela: or, Sketches of Life in a South American Republic (1868); and George Frederick Masterman, Seven Eventful Years in Paraguay (1869). As a result of relying on literary sources, in Lord Jim, as J. I. M. Stewart writes, Conrad's "need to work to some extent from second-hand" led to "a certain thinness in Jim's relations with the... peoples... of Patusan..." This prompted Conrad at some points to alter the nature of Charles Marlow's narrative to "distanc[e] an uncertain command of the detail of Tuan Jim's empire." In keeping with his scepticism and melancholy, Conrad almost invariably gives lethal fates to the characters in his principal novels and stories. Almayer (Almayer's Folly, 1894), abandoned by his beloved daughter, takes to opium, and dies. Peter Willems (An Outcast of the Islands, 1895) is killed by his jealous lover Aïssa. The ineffectual "Nigger", James Wait (The Nigger of the 'Narcissus', 1897), dies aboard ship and is buried at sea. Mr. Kurtz (Heart of Darkness, 1899) expires, uttering the words, "The horror! The horror!" Tuan Jim (Lord Jim, 1900), having inadvertently precipitated a massacre of his adoptive community, deliberately walks to his death at the hands of the community's leader. In Conrad's 1901 short story, "Amy Foster", a Pole transplanted to England, Yanko Goorall (an English transliteration of the Polish Janko Góral, "Johnny Highlander"), falls ill and, suffering from a fever, raves in his native language, frightening his wife Amy, who flees; next morning Yanko dies of heart failure, and it transpires that he had simply been asking in Polish for water. Captain Whalley (The End of the Tether, 1902), betrayed by failing eyesight and an unscrupulous partner, drowns himself. Gian' Battista Fidanza, the eponymous respected Italian-immigrant Nostromo () of the novel Nostromo (1904), illicitly obtains a treasure of silver mined in the South American country of "Costaguana" and is shot dead due to mistaken identity. Mr. Verloc, The Secret Agent (1906) of divided loyalties, attempts a bombing, to be blamed on terrorists, that accidentally kills his mentally defective brother-in-law Stevie, and Verloc himself is killed by his distraught wife, who drowns herself by jumping overboard from a channel steamer. In Chance (1913), Roderick Anthony, a sailing-ship captain, and benefactor and husband of Flora de Barral, becomes the target of a poisoning attempt by her jealous disgraced financier father who, when detected, swallows the poison himself and dies (some years later, Captain Anthony drowns at sea). In Victory (1915), Lena is shot dead by Jones, who had meant to kill his accomplice Ricardo and later succeeds in doing so, then himself perishes along with another accomplice, after which Lena's protector Axel Heyst sets fire to his bungalow and dies beside Lena's body. When a principal character of Conrad's does escape with his life, he sometimes does not fare much better. In Under Western Eyes (1911), Razumov betrays a fellow University of St. Petersburg student, the revolutionist Victor Haldin, who has assassinated a savagely repressive Russian government minister. Haldin is tortured and hanged by the authorities. Later Razumov, sent as a government spy to Geneva, a centre of anti-tsarist intrigue, meets the mother and sister of Haldin, who share Haldin's liberal convictions. Razumov falls in love with the sister and confesses his betrayal of her brother; later, he makes the same avowal to assembled revolutionists, and their professional executioner bursts his eardrums, making him deaf for life. Razumov staggers away, is knocked down by a streetcar, and finally returns as a cripple to Russia. Conrad was keenly conscious of tragedy in the world and in his works. In 1898, at the start of his writing career, he had written to his Scottish writer-politician friend Cunninghame Graham: "What makes mankind tragic is not that they are the victims of nature, it is that they are conscious of it. [A]s soon as you know of your slavery the pain, the anger, the strife—the tragedy begins." But in 1922, near the end of his life and career, when another Scottish friend, Richard Curle, sent Conrad proofs of two articles he had written about Conrad, the latter objected to being characterised as a gloomy and tragic writer. "That reputation... has deprived me of innumerable readers... I absolutely object to being called a tragedian." Conrad claimed that he "never kept a diary and never owned a notebook." John Galsworthy, who knew him well, described this as "a statement which surprised no one who knew the resources of his memory and the brooding nature of his creative spirit." Nevertheless, after Conrad's death, Richard Curle published a heavily modified version of Conrad's diaries describing his experiences in the Congo; in 1978 a more complete version was published as The Congo Diary and Other Uncollected Pieces. The first accurate transcription was published in Robert Hampson's Penguin edition of Heart of Darkness in 1995; Hampson's transcription and annotations were reprinted in the Penguin edition of 2007. Unlike many authors who make it a point not to discuss work in progress, Conrad often did discuss his current work and even showed it to select friends and fellow authors, such as Edward Garnett, and sometimes modified it in the light of their critiques and suggestions. Edward Said was struck by the sheer quantity of Conrad's correspondence with friends and fellow writers; by 1966, it "amount[ed] to eight published volumes". Said comments: "[I]t seemed to me that if Conrad wrote of himself, of the problem of self-definition, with such sustained urgency, some of what he wrote must have had meaning for his fiction. [I]t [was] difficult to believe that a man would be so uneconomical as to pour himself out in letter after letter and then not use and reformulate his insights and discoveries in his fiction." Said found especially close parallels between Conrad's letters and his shorter fiction. "Conrad... believed... that artistic distinction was more tellingly demonstrated in a shorter rather than a longer work.... He believed that his [own] life was like a series of short episodes... because he was himself so many different people...: he was a Pole and an Englishman, a sailor and a writer." Another scholar, Najder, writes: Conrad borrowed from other, Polish- and French-language authors, to an extent sometimes skirting plagiarism. When the Polish translation of his 1915 novel Victory appeared in 1931, readers noted striking similarities to Stefan Żeromski's kitschy novel, The History of a Sin (Dzieje grzechu, 1908), including their endings. Comparative-literature scholar Yves Hervouet has demonstrated in the text of Victory a whole mosaic of influences, borrowings, similarities and allusions. He further lists hundreds of concrete borrowings from other, mostly French authors in nearly all of Conrad's works, from Almayer's Folly (1895) to his unfinished Suspense. Conrad seems to have used eminent writers' texts as raw material of the same kind as the content of his own memory. Materials borrowed from other authors often functioned as allusions. Moreover, he had a phenomenal memory for texts and remembered details, "but [writes Najder] it was not a memory strictly categorized according to sources, marshalled into homogeneous entities; it was, rather, an enormous receptacle of images and pieces from which he would draw." Continues Najder: "[H]e can never be accused of outright plagiarism. Even when lifting sentences and scenes, Conrad changed their character, inserted them within novel structures. He did not imitate, but (as Hervouet says) 'continued' his masters. He was right in saying: 'I don't resemble anybody.' Ian Watt put it succinctly: 'In a sense, Conrad is the least derivative of writers; he wrote very little that could possibly be mistaken for the work of anyone else.' Conrad's acquaintance George Bernard Shaw says it well: "[A] man can no more be completely original [...] than a tree can grow out of air." Conrad, like other artists, faced constraints arising from the need to propitiate his audience and confirm their own favourable self-regard. This may account for his describing the admirable crew of the Judea in his 1898 story "Youth" as "Liverpool hard cases", whereas the crew of the Judea'''s actual 1882 prototype, the Palestine, had included not a single Liverpudlian, and half the crew had been non-Britons; and for Conrad's transforming the real-life 1880 criminally negligent British captain J. L. Clark, of the , in his 1900 novel Lord Jim, into the captain of the fictitious Patna—"a sort of renegade New South Wales German" so monstrous in
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fault, questioning the intellectual depth and thematic seriousness of his work given the polish of his language and the perceived lightness of his themes, while others criticized Updike for misogynistic depictions of women and sexual relationships. Other critics argue that Updike's "dense vocabulary and syntax functions as a distancing technique to mediate the intellectual and emotional involvement of the reader". On the whole, however, Updike is extremely well regarded as a writer who mastered many genres, wrote with intellectual vigor and a powerful prose style, with "shrewd insight into the sorrows, frustrations, and banality of American life". Updike's character Rabbit Angstrom, the protagonist of the series of novels widely considered his magnum opus, has been said to have "entered the pantheon of signal American literary figures", along with Huckleberry Finn, Jay Gatsby, Holden Caulfield and others. A 2002 list by Book magazine of the 100 Best Fictional Characters Since 1900 listed Rabbit in the top five. The Rabbit novels, the Henry Bech stories, and the Maples stories have been canonized by Everyman's Library. After Updike's death, Harvard's Houghton Library acquired his papers, manuscripts, and letters, naming the collection the John Updike Archive. 2009 also saw the founding of the John Updike Society, a group of scholars dedicated to "awakening and sustaining reader interest in the literature and life of John Updike, promoting literature written by Updike, and fostering and encouraging critical responses to Updike's literary works". The Society will begin publishing The John Updike Review, a journal of critical scholarship in the field of Updike studies. The John Updike Society First Biennial Conference took place in 2010 at Alvernia University. Eulogizing Updike in January 2009, the British novelist Ian McEwan wrote that Updike's "literary schemes and pretty conceits touched at points on the Shakespearean", and that Updike's death marked "the end of the golden age of the American novel in the 20th century's second half". McEwan said the Rabbit series is Updike's "masterpiece and will surely be his monument", and concluded: Jonathan Raban, highlighting many of the virtues that have been ascribed to Updike's prose, called Rabbit at Rest "one of the very few modern novels in English ... that one can set beside the work of Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Joyce, and not feel the draft ... It is a book that works by a steady accumulation of a mass of brilliant details, of shades and nuances, of the byplay between one sentence and the next, and no short review can properly honor its intricacy and richness." The novelist Philip Roth, considered one of Updike's chief literary rivals, wrote, "John Updike is our time's greatest man of letters, as brilliant a literary critic and essayist as he was a novelist and short story writer. He is and always will be no less a national treasure than his 19th-century precursor, Nathaniel Hawthorne." The noted critic James Wood called Updike "a prose writer of great beauty, but that prose confronts one with the question of whether beauty is enough, and whether beauty always conveys all that a novelist must convey". In a review of Licks of Love (2001), Wood concluded that Updike's "prose trusses things in very pretty ribbons" but that there often exists in his work a "hard, coarse, primitive, misogynistic worldview". Wood both praised and criticized Updike's language for having "an essayistic saunter; the language lifts itself up on pretty hydraulics, and hovers slightly above its subjects, generally a little too accomplished and a little too abstract". According to Wood, Updike is capable of writing "the perfect sentence" and his style is characterized by a "delicate deferral" of the sentence. Of the beauty of Updike's language and his faith in the power of language that floats above reality, Wood wrote: For some time now Updike's language has seemed to encode an almost theological optimism about its capacity to refer. Updike is notably unmodern in his impermeability to silence and the interruptions of the abyss. For all his fabled Protestantism, both American Puritan and Lutheran-Barthian, with its cold glitter, its insistence on the aching gap between God and His creatures, Updike seems less like Hawthorne than Balzac, in his unstopping and limitless energy, and his cheerfully professional belief that stories can be continued; the very form of the Rabbit books—here extended a further instance—suggests continuance. Updike does not appear to believe that words ever fail us—'life's gallant, battered ongoingness ', indeed—and part of the difficulty he has run into, late in his career, is that he shows no willingness, verbally, to acknowledge silence, failure, interruption, loss of faith, despair and so on. Supremely, better than almost any other contemporary writer, he can always describe these feelings and states; but they are not inscribed in the language itself. Updike's language, for all that it gestures towards the usual range of human disappointment and collapse, testifies instead to its own uncanny success: to a belief that the world can always be brought out of its cloudiness and made clear in a fair season. In direct contrast to Wood's evaluation, the Oxford critic Thomas Karshan asserted that Updike is "intensely intellectual", with a style that constitutes his "manner of thought" not merely "a set of dainty curlicues". Karshan calls Updike an inheritor of the "traditional role of the epic writer". According to Karshan, "Updike's writing picks up one voice, joins its cadence, and moves on to another, like Rabbit himself, driving south through radio zones on his flight away from his wife and child." Disagreeing with Wood's critique of Updike's alleged over-stylization, Karshan evaluates Updike's language as convincingly naturalistic: Updike's sentences at their frequent best are not a complacent expression of faith. Rather, like Proust's sentences in Updike's description, they "seek an essence so fine the search itself is an act of faith." Updike aspires to "this sense of self-qualification, the kind of timid reverence towards what exists that Cézanne shows when he grapples for the shape and shade of a fruit through a mist of delicate stabs." Their hesitancy and self-qualification arise as they meet obstacles, readjust and pass on. If life is bountiful in New England, it is also evasive and easily missed. In the stories Updike tells, marriages and homes are made only to be broken. His descriptiveness embodies a promiscuous love for everything in the world. But love is precarious, Updike is always saying, since it thrives on obstructions and makes them if it cannot find them. Harold Bloom once called Updike "a minor novelist with a major style. A quite beautiful and very considerable stylist ... He specializes in the easier pleasures." Bloom also edited an important collection of critical essays on Updike in 1987, in which he concluded that Updike possessed a major style and was capable of writing beautiful sentences which are "beyond praise"; nevertheless, Bloom went on, "the American sublime will never touch his pages". On The Dick Cavett Show in 1981, the novelist and short-story writer John Cheever was asked why he did not write book reviews and what he would say if given the chance to review Rabbit Is Rich. He replied: The reason I didn't review the book is that it perhaps would have taken me three weeks. My appreciation of it is that diverse and that complicated ... John is perhaps the only contemporary writer who I know now who gives me the sense of the fact that life is—the life that we perform is in an environment that enjoys a grandeur that escapes us. Rabbit is very much possessed of a paradise lost, of a paradise known fleetingly perhaps through erotic love and a paradise that he pursues through his children. It's the vastness of John's scope that I would have described if I could through a review. The Fiction Circus, an online and multimedia literary magazine, called Updike one of the "four Great American Novelists" of his time along with Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, each jokingly represented as a sign of the Zodiac. Furthermore, Updike was seen as the "best prose writer in the world", like Nabokov before him. But in contrast to many literati and establishment obituaries, the Circus asserted that nobody "thought of Updike as a vital writer". Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker evaluated Updike as "the first American writer since Henry James to get himself fully expressed, the man who broke the curse of incompleteness that had haunted American writing ... He sang like Henry James, but he saw like Sinclair Lewis. The two sides of American fiction—the precise, realist, encyclopedic appetite to get it all in, and the exquisite urge to make writing out of sensation rendered exactly—were both alive in him." The critic James Wolcott, in a review of Updike's last novel, The Widows of Eastwick (2008), noted that Updike's penchant for observing America's decline is coupled with an affirmation of America's ultimate merits: "Updike elegises entropy American-style with a resigned, paternal, disappointed affection that distinguishes his fiction from that of grimmer declinists: Don DeLillo, Gore Vidal, Philip Roth. America may have lost its looks and stature, but it was a beauty once, and worth every golden dab of sperm." Gore Vidal, in a controversial essay in the Times Literary Supplement, professed to have "never taken Updike seriously as a writer". He criticizes his political and aesthetic worldview for its "blandness and acceptance of authority in any form". He concludes that Updike "describes to no purpose". In reference to Updike's wide establishment acclaim, Vidal mockingly called him "our good child" and excoriated his alleged political conservatism. Vidal ultimately concluded, "Updike's work is more and more representative of that polarizing within a state where Authority grows ever more brutal and malign while its hired hands in the media grow ever more excited as the holy war of the few against the many heats up." Robert B. Silvers, editor of The New York Review of Books, called Updike "one of the most elegant and coolly observant writers of his generation". The short-story writer Lorrie Moore, who once described Updike as "American literature's greatest short story writer ... and arguably our greatest writer", reviewed Updike's body of short stories in The New York Review, praising their intricate detail and rich imagery: "his eye and his prose never falter, even when the world fails to send its more socially complicated revelations directly his story's way". In a post commemorating his birthday in 2011, blogger and literary critic Christy Potter called Updike "... THE Writer, the kind of writer everyone has heard of, the one whose name you can bring up at a party and people who have never read one thing he wrote will still nod their heads knowingly and say, 'Oh yes, John Updike. The writer.'" In November 2008, the editors of the UK's Literary Review magazine awarded Updike their Bad Sex in Fiction Lifetime Achievement Award, which celebrates "crude, tasteless or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature". Themes The principal themes in Updike's work are religion, sex, and America as well as death. Often he would combine them, frequently in his favored terrain of "the American small town, Protestant middle class", of which he once said, "I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules." For example, the decline of religion in America is chronicled in In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) alongside the history of cinema, and Rabbit Angstrom contemplates the merits of sex with the wife of his friend Reverend Jack Eccles while the latter is giving his sermon in Rabbit, Run (1960). Critics have often noted that Updike imbued language itself with a kind of faith in its efficacy, and that his tendency to construct narratives spanning many years and books—the Rabbit series, the Henry Bech series, Eastwick, the Maples stories—demonstrates a similar faith in the transcendent power of fiction and language. Updike's novels often act as dialectical theological debates between the book itself and the reader, the novel endowed with theological beliefs meant to challenge the reader as the plot runs its course. Rabbit Angstrom himself acts as a Kierkegaardian Knight of Faith. Describing his purpose in writing prose, Updike himself, in the introduction to his Early Stories: 1953–1975 (2004), wrote that his aim was always "to give the mundane its beautiful due". Elsewhere he famously said, "When I write, I aim my mind not towards New York City but towards a vague spot east of Kansas." Some have suggested that the "best statement of Updike's aesthetic comes in his early memoir 'The Dogwood Tree'" (1962): "Blankness is not emptiness; we may skate upon an intense radiance we do not see because we see nothing else. And in fact there is a color, a quiet but tireless goodness that things at rest, like a brick wall or a small stone, seem to affirm." Sex Sex in Updike's work is noted for its ubiquity and the reverence with which he described it: The critic Edward Champion notes that Updike's prose heavily favors "external sexual imagery" rife with "explicit anatomical detail" rather than descriptions of "internal emotion" in descriptions of sex. In Champion's interview with Updike on The Bat Segundo Show, Updike replied that he perhaps favored such imagery to concretize and make sex "real" in his prose. Another sexual theme commonly addressed in Updike is adultery, especially in a suburban, middle class setting, most famously in Couples (1968). The Updikean narrator is often "a man guilty of infidelity and abandonment of his family". United States Similarly, Updike wrote about America with a certain nostalgia, reverence, and recognition and celebration of America's broad diversity. ZZ Packer wrote that in Updike, "there seemed a strange ability to harken both America the Beautiful as well as America the Plain Jane, and the lovely Protestant backbone in his fiction and essays, when he decided to show it off, was as progressive and enlightened as it was unapologetic." The Rabbit novels in particular can be viewed, according to Julian Barnes, as "a distraction from, and a glittering confirmation of, the vast bustling ordinariness of American life". But as Updike celebrated ordinary America, he also alluded to its decline: at times, he was "so clearly disturbed by the downward spin of America". Adam Gopnik concludes that "Updike's great subject was the American attempt to fill the gap left by faith with the materials produced by mass culture. He documented how the death of a credible religious belief has been offset by sex and adultery and movies and sports and Toyotas and family love and family obligation. For Updike, this effort was blessed, and very nearly successful." Updike's novels about America almost always contain references to political events of the time. In this sense, they are artifacts of their historical eras, showing how national leaders shape and define their times. The lives of ordinary citizens take place against this wider background. Death Updike often wrote about death, his characters providing a "mosaic of reactions" to mortality, ranging from terror to attempts at insulation. In The Poorhouse Fair (1959), the elderly John Hook intones, "There is no goodness without belief ... And if you have not believed, at the end of your life you shall know you have buried your talent in the ground of this world and have nothing saved, to take into the next", demonstrating a religious, metaphysical faith present in much of Updike's work. For Rabbit Angstrom, with his constant musings on mortality, his near-witnessing of his daughter's death, and his often shaky faith, death is more frightening and less obvious in its ramifications. At the end of Rabbit at Rest (1990), though, Rabbit demonstrates a kind of certainty, telling his son Nelson on his deathbed, "... But enough. Maybe. Enough." In The Centaur (1963), George Caldwell has no religious faith and is afraid of his cancer. Death can also be a sort of unseen terror; it "occurs offstage but reverberates for survivors as an absent presence". Updike himself also experienced a "crisis over the afterlife", and indeed many of his heroes shared the same sort of existential fears the author acknowledged he had suffered as a young man: Henry Bech's concern that he was 'a fleck of dust condemned to know it is a fleck of dust,' or Colonel Ellelloû's lament that 'we will be forgotten, all of us forgotten.' Their fear of death
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in his work a "hard, coarse, primitive, misogynistic worldview". Wood both praised and criticized Updike's language for having "an essayistic saunter; the language lifts itself up on pretty hydraulics, and hovers slightly above its subjects, generally a little too accomplished and a little too abstract". According to Wood, Updike is capable of writing "the perfect sentence" and his style is characterized by a "delicate deferral" of the sentence. Of the beauty of Updike's language and his faith in the power of language that floats above reality, Wood wrote: For some time now Updike's language has seemed to encode an almost theological optimism about its capacity to refer. Updike is notably unmodern in his impermeability to silence and the interruptions of the abyss. For all his fabled Protestantism, both American Puritan and Lutheran-Barthian, with its cold glitter, its insistence on the aching gap between God and His creatures, Updike seems less like Hawthorne than Balzac, in his unstopping and limitless energy, and his cheerfully professional belief that stories can be continued; the very form of the Rabbit books—here extended a further instance—suggests continuance. Updike does not appear to believe that words ever fail us—'life's gallant, battered ongoingness ', indeed—and part of the difficulty he has run into, late in his career, is that he shows no willingness, verbally, to acknowledge silence, failure, interruption, loss of faith, despair and so on. Supremely, better than almost any other contemporary writer, he can always describe these feelings and states; but they are not inscribed in the language itself. Updike's language, for all that it gestures towards the usual range of human disappointment and collapse, testifies instead to its own uncanny success: to a belief that the world can always be brought out of its cloudiness and made clear in a fair season. In direct contrast to Wood's evaluation, the Oxford critic Thomas Karshan asserted that Updike is "intensely intellectual", with a style that constitutes his "manner of thought" not merely "a set of dainty curlicues". Karshan calls Updike an inheritor of the "traditional role of the epic writer". According to Karshan, "Updike's writing picks up one voice, joins its cadence, and moves on to another, like Rabbit himself, driving south through radio zones on his flight away from his wife and child." Disagreeing with Wood's critique of Updike's alleged over-stylization, Karshan evaluates Updike's language as convincingly naturalistic: Updike's sentences at their frequent best are not a complacent expression of faith. Rather, like Proust's sentences in Updike's description, they "seek an essence so fine the search itself is an act of faith." Updike aspires to "this sense of self-qualification, the kind of timid reverence towards what exists that Cézanne shows when he grapples for the shape and shade of a fruit through a mist of delicate stabs." Their hesitancy and self-qualification arise as they meet obstacles, readjust and pass on. If life is bountiful in New England, it is also evasive and easily missed. In the stories Updike tells, marriages and homes are made only to be broken. His descriptiveness embodies a promiscuous love for everything in the world. But love is precarious, Updike is always saying, since it thrives on obstructions and makes them if it cannot find them. Harold Bloom once called Updike "a minor novelist with a major style. A quite beautiful and very considerable stylist ... He specializes in the easier pleasures." Bloom also edited an important collection of critical essays on Updike in 1987, in which he concluded that Updike possessed a major style and was capable of writing beautiful sentences which are "beyond praise"; nevertheless, Bloom went on, "the American sublime will never touch his pages". On The Dick Cavett Show in 1981, the novelist and short-story writer John Cheever was asked why he did not write book reviews and what he would say if given the chance to review Rabbit Is Rich. He replied: The reason I didn't review the book is that it perhaps would have taken me three weeks. My appreciation of it is that diverse and that complicated ... John is perhaps the only contemporary writer who I know now who gives me the sense of the fact that life is—the life that we perform is in an environment that enjoys a grandeur that escapes us. Rabbit is very much possessed of a paradise lost, of a paradise known fleetingly perhaps through erotic love and a paradise that he pursues through his children. It's the vastness of John's scope that I would have described if I could through a review. The Fiction Circus, an online and multimedia literary magazine, called Updike one of the "four Great American Novelists" of his time along with Philip Roth, Cormac McCarthy, and Don DeLillo, each jokingly represented as a sign of the Zodiac. Furthermore, Updike was seen as the "best prose writer in the world", like Nabokov before him. But in contrast to many literati and establishment obituaries, the Circus asserted that nobody "thought of Updike as a vital writer". Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker evaluated Updike as "the first American writer since Henry James to get himself fully expressed, the man who broke the curse of incompleteness that had haunted American writing ... He sang like Henry James, but he saw like Sinclair Lewis. The two sides of American fiction—the precise, realist, encyclopedic appetite to get it all in, and the exquisite urge to make writing out of sensation rendered exactly—were both alive in him." The critic James Wolcott, in a review of Updike's last novel, The Widows of Eastwick (2008), noted that Updike's penchant for observing America's decline is coupled with an affirmation of America's ultimate merits: "Updike elegises entropy American-style with a resigned, paternal, disappointed affection that distinguishes his fiction from that of grimmer declinists: Don DeLillo, Gore Vidal, Philip Roth. America may have lost its looks and stature, but it was a beauty once, and worth every golden dab of sperm." Gore Vidal, in a controversial essay in the Times Literary Supplement, professed to have "never taken Updike seriously as a writer". He criticizes his political and aesthetic worldview for its "blandness and acceptance of authority in any form". He concludes that Updike "describes to no purpose". In reference to Updike's wide establishment acclaim, Vidal mockingly called him "our good child" and excoriated his alleged political conservatism. Vidal ultimately concluded, "Updike's work is more and more representative of that polarizing within a state where Authority grows ever more brutal and malign while its hired hands in the media grow ever more excited as the holy war of the few against the many heats up." Robert B. Silvers, editor of The New York Review of Books, called Updike "one of the most elegant and coolly observant writers of his generation". The short-story writer Lorrie Moore, who once described Updike as "American literature's greatest short story writer ... and arguably our greatest writer", reviewed Updike's body of short stories in The New York Review, praising their intricate detail and rich imagery: "his eye and his prose never falter, even when the world fails to send its more socially complicated revelations directly his story's way". In a post commemorating his birthday in 2011, blogger and literary critic Christy Potter called Updike "... THE Writer, the kind of writer everyone has heard of, the one whose name you can bring up at a party and people who have never read one thing he wrote will still nod their heads knowingly and say, 'Oh yes, John Updike. The writer.'" In November 2008, the editors of the UK's Literary Review magazine awarded Updike their Bad Sex in Fiction Lifetime Achievement Award, which celebrates "crude, tasteless or ridiculous sexual passages in modern literature". Themes The principal themes in Updike's work are religion, sex, and America as well as death. Often he would combine them, frequently in his favored terrain of "the American small town, Protestant middle class", of which he once said, "I like middles. It is in middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules." For example, the decline of religion in America is chronicled in In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) alongside the history of cinema, and Rabbit Angstrom contemplates the merits of sex with the wife of his friend Reverend Jack Eccles while the latter is giving his sermon in Rabbit, Run (1960). Critics have often noted that Updike imbued language itself with a kind of faith in its efficacy, and that his tendency to construct narratives spanning many years and books—the Rabbit series, the Henry Bech series, Eastwick, the Maples stories—demonstrates a similar faith in the transcendent power of fiction and language. Updike's novels often act as dialectical theological debates between the book itself and the reader, the novel endowed with theological beliefs meant to challenge the reader as the plot runs its course. Rabbit Angstrom himself acts as a Kierkegaardian Knight of Faith. Describing his purpose in writing prose, Updike himself, in the introduction to his Early Stories: 1953–1975 (2004), wrote that his aim was always "to give the mundane its beautiful due". Elsewhere he famously said, "When I write, I aim my mind not towards New York City but towards a vague spot east of Kansas." Some have suggested that the "best statement of Updike's aesthetic comes in his early memoir 'The Dogwood Tree'" (1962): "Blankness is not emptiness; we may skate upon an intense radiance we do not see because we see nothing else. And in fact there is a color, a quiet but tireless goodness that things at rest, like a brick wall or a small stone, seem to affirm." Sex Sex in Updike's work is noted for its ubiquity and the reverence with which he described it: The critic Edward Champion notes that Updike's prose heavily favors "external sexual imagery" rife with "explicit anatomical detail" rather than descriptions of "internal emotion" in descriptions of sex. In Champion's interview with Updike on The Bat Segundo Show, Updike replied that he perhaps favored such imagery to concretize and make sex "real" in his prose. Another sexual theme commonly addressed in Updike is adultery, especially in a suburban, middle class setting, most famously in Couples (1968). The Updikean narrator is often "a man guilty of infidelity and abandonment of his family". United States Similarly, Updike wrote about America with a certain nostalgia, reverence, and recognition and celebration of America's broad diversity. ZZ Packer wrote that in Updike, "there seemed a strange ability to harken both America the Beautiful as well as America the Plain Jane, and the lovely Protestant backbone in his fiction and essays, when he decided to show it off, was as progressive and enlightened as it was unapologetic." The Rabbit novels in particular can be viewed, according to Julian Barnes, as "a distraction from, and a glittering confirmation of, the vast bustling ordinariness of American life". But as Updike celebrated ordinary America, he also alluded to its decline: at times, he was "so clearly disturbed by the downward spin of America". Adam Gopnik concludes that "Updike's great subject was the American attempt to fill the gap left by faith with the materials produced by mass culture. He documented how the death of a credible religious belief has been offset by sex and adultery and movies and sports and Toyotas and family love and family obligation. For Updike, this effort was blessed, and very nearly successful." Updike's novels about America almost always contain references to political events of the time. In this sense, they are artifacts of their historical eras, showing how national leaders shape and define their times. The lives of ordinary citizens take place against this wider background. Death Updike often wrote about death, his characters providing a "mosaic of reactions" to mortality, ranging from terror to attempts at insulation. In The Poorhouse Fair (1959), the elderly John Hook intones, "There is no goodness without belief ... And if you have not believed, at the end of your life you shall know you have buried your talent in the ground of this world and have nothing saved, to take into the next", demonstrating a religious, metaphysical faith present in much of Updike's work. For Rabbit Angstrom, with his constant musings on mortality, his near-witnessing of his daughter's death, and his often shaky faith, death is more frightening and less obvious in its ramifications. At the end of Rabbit at Rest (1990), though, Rabbit demonstrates a kind of certainty, telling his son Nelson on his deathbed, "... But enough. Maybe. Enough." In The Centaur (1963), George Caldwell has no religious faith and is afraid of his cancer. Death can also be a sort of unseen terror; it "occurs offstage but reverberates for survivors as an absent presence". Updike himself also experienced a "crisis over the afterlife", and indeed many of his heroes shared the same sort of existential fears the author acknowledged he had suffered as a young man: Henry Bech's concern that he was 'a fleck of dust condemned to know it is a fleck of dust,' or Colonel Ellelloû's lament that 'we will be forgotten, all of us forgotten.' Their fear of death threatens to make everything they do feel meaningless, and it also sends them running after God—looking for some reassurance that there is something beyond the familiar, everyday world with 'its signals and buildings and cars and bricks.' Updike demonstrated his own fear in some of his more personal writings, including the poem "Perfection Wasted" (1990): In popular culture Updike was featured on the cover of Time twice, on April 26, 1968 and again on October 18, 1982. Updike was the subject of a "closed book examination" by Nicholson Baker, titled U and I (1991). Baker discusses his wish to meet Updike and become his golf partner. In 2000, Updike appeared as himself in The Simpsons episode "Insane Clown Poppy" at the Festival of Books. The main character portrayed by Eminem in the film 8 Mile (2002) is nicknamed "Rabbit" and has some similarities to Rabbit Angstrom. The film's soundtrack has a song titled "Rabbit Run". Portraits of Updike drawn by the American caricaturist David Levine appeared several times in The New York Review of Books. Bibliography Rabbit novels Rabbit, Run (1960) Rabbit Redux (1971) Rabbit Is Rich (1981) Rabbit at Rest (1990) Rabbit Angstrom: The Four Novels (1995) Rabbit Remembered (a novella in the collection Licks of Love) (2001) Bech books Bech, a Book (1970) Bech Is Back (1982) Bech at Bay (1998) The Complete Henry Bech (2001) Buchanan books Buchanan Dying (a play) (1974) Memories of the Ford Administration (a novel) (1992) Eastwick books The Witches of Eastwick (1984) The Widows of Eastwick (2008) The Scarlet Letter trilogy A Month of Sundays (1975) Roger's Version (1986) S. (1988) Other novels The Poorhouse Fair (1959) The Centaur (1963) Of the Farm (1965) Couples (1968) Marry Me (1977) The Coup (1978) Brazil (1994) In the Beauty of the Lilies (1996) Toward the End of Time (1997) Gertrude and Claudius (2000) Seek My Face (2002) Villages (2004) Terrorist (2006) Books edited by Updike The Best American Short Stories (1984) The Binghamton Poems (2009) Short story collections The Same Door (1959) Pigeon Feathers (1962) Olinger Stories (a selection) (1964) The Music School (1966) Museums And Women (1972) Problems and Other Stories (1979) Too Far to Go (the Maples stories) (1979) Your Lover Just Called (1980) Trust Me (1987) The Afterlife (1994) The Best American Short Stories of the Century (editor) (2000) Licks of Love (2001) The Early Stories: 1953–1975 (2003) Three Trips (2003) My Father's Tears and Other Stories (2009) The Maples Stories (2009) The Collected Stories, Volume 1: Collected Early Stories (2013) The Collected Stories, Volume 2: Collected Later Stories (2013) Poetry The Carpentered Hen (1958) Telephone Poles (1963) Midpoint (1969) Dance of the Solids (1969) Cunts: Upon Receiving The Swingers Life Club Membership Solicitation (limited edition) (1974) Tossing and Turning (1977) Facing Nature (1985) Collected Poems 1953–1993 (1993) Americana and Other Poems (2001) Endpoint and Other Poems (2009) Non-fiction, essays and criticism Assorted Prose (1965) Picked-Up Pieces (1975) Hugging The Shore (1983) Self-Consciousness: Memoirs (1989) Just Looking: Essays on Art (1989) Odd Jobs (1991) Golf Dreams: Writings on Golf (1996) More Matter (1999) Still Looking: Essays on American Art (2005) In Love with a Wanton: Essays on Golf (2005) Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism
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announcement if he deserved the Nobel, replied: "Frankly, no." Biographer Jackson Benson notes, "[T]his honor was one of the few in the world that one could not buy nor gain by political maneuver. It was precisely because the committee made its judgment ... on its own criteria, rather than plugging into 'the main currents of American writing' as defined by the critical establishment, that the award had value." In his acceptance speech later in the year in Stockholm, he said: Fifty years later, in 2012, the Nobel Prize opened its archives and it was revealed that Steinbeck was a "compromise choice" among a shortlist consisting of Steinbeck, British authors Robert Graves and Lawrence Durrell, French dramatist Jean Anouilh and Danish author Karen Blixen. The declassified documents showed that he was chosen as the best of a bad lot. "There aren't any obvious candidates for the Nobel prize and the prize committee is in an unenviable situation," wrote committee member Henry Olsson. Although the committee believed Steinbeck's best work was behind him by 1962, committee member Anders Österling believed the release of his novel The Winter of Our Discontent showed that "after some signs of slowing down in recent years, [Steinbeck has] regained his position as a social truth-teller [and is an] authentic realist fully equal to his predecessors Sinclair Lewis and Ernest Hemingway." Although modest about his own talent as a writer, Steinbeck talked openly of his own admiration of certain writers. In 1953, he wrote that he considered cartoonist Al Capp, creator of the satirical Li'l Abner, "possibly the best writer in the world today." At his own first Nobel Prize press conference he was asked his favorite authors and works and replied: "Hemingway's short stories and nearly everything Faulkner wrote." In September 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded Steinbeck the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1967, at the behest of Newsday magazine, Steinbeck went to Vietnam to report on the war. He thought of the Vietnam War as a heroic venture and was considered a hawk for his position on the war. His sons served in Vietnam before his death, and Steinbeck visited one son in the battlefield. At one point he was allowed to man a machine-gun watch position at night at a firebase while his son and other members of his platoon slept. Personal life Steinbeck and his first wife, Carol Henning, married in January 1930 in Los Angeles. By 1940, their marriage was beginning to suffer, and ended a year later, in 1941. In 1942, after his divorce from Carol, Steinbeck married Gwyndolyn "Gwyn" Conger. With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in August. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts' death in deep depression. In June 1949, Steinbeck met stage-manager Elaine Scott at a restaurant in Carmel, California. Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship and in December 1950 they married, within a week of the finalizing of Scott's own divorce from actor Zachary Scott. This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968. Steinbeck was also an acquaintance with the modernist poet Robinson Jeffers, a Californian neighbor. In a Letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck wrote, "Robinson Jeffers and his wife came in to call the other day. He looks a little older but that is all. And she is just the same.’” In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalist Jack Rudloe, who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, now Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death. In 1966, Steinbeck traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the site of Mount Hope, a farm community established in Israel by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, was murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 in what became known as the Outrages at Jaffa. Death and legacy John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968, during the 1968 flu pandemic of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969 at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it. The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in The New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain—and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize—the Nobel judges needed him." Steinbeck's incomplete novel based on the King Arthur legends of Malory and others, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, was published in 1976. Many of Steinbeck's works are required reading in American high schools. In the United Kingdom, Of Mice and Men is one of the key texts used by the examining body AQA for its English Literature GCSE. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools. Contrariwise, Steinbeck's works have been frequently banned in the United States. The Grapes of Wrath was banned by school boards: in August 1939, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States. Literary influences Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country". Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel, Cup of Gold, which concerns the pirate/privateer Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child. In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend, Max Wagner, a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration for The Red Pony. Later he used actual American conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history and mythology. One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. Commemoration Steinbeck's boyhood home, a turreted Victorian building in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open for tours on Sunday afternoons during the summer. The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at 1 Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. Dana Gioia (chair of the National Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all." Its "Steinbeckiana" includes "Rocinante", the camper-truck in which Steinbeck made the cross-country trip described in Travels with Charley. His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives. In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The site of the Hovden Sardine Cannery next to Doc's laboratory is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In 1958 the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named Ocean View Avenue, was renamed Cannery Row in honor of the novel. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row, historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts. On February 27, 1979 (the 77th anniversary of the writer's birth), the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service's Literary Arts series honoring American writers. Steinbeck was inducted in to the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 1995. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck into the California Hall of Fame, located at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. His son, author Thomas Steinbeck, accepted the award on his behalf. To commemorate the 112th anniversary of Steinbeck's birthday on February 27, 2014, Google displayed an interactive doodle utilizing animation which included illustrations portraying scenes and quotes from several novels by the author. Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts appear as fictionalized characters in the 2016 novel, Monterey Bay about the founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, by Lindsay Hatton (Penguin Press). In 2019 the Sag Harbor town board approved the creation of the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park across from the iconic town windmill. The structures on the parcel were demolished and park benches installed near the beach. The Beebe windmill replica already had a plaque memorializing the author who wrote from a small hut overlooking the cove during his sojourn in the literary haven. Religious views Steinbeck was affiliated to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church and he stayed attached throughout his life to Episcopalianism. Especially in his works of fiction, Steinbeck was highly conscious of religion and incorporated it into his style and themes. The shaping of his characters often drew on the Bible and the theology of Anglicanism, combining elements of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Steinbeck distanced himself from religious views when he left Salinas for Stanford. However, the work he produced still reflected the language of his childhood at Salinas, and his beliefs remained a powerful influence within his fiction and non-fiction work. William Ray considered his Episcopal views are prominently displayed in The Grapes of Wrath, in which themes of conversion and self-sacrifice play a major part in the characters Casy and Tom who achieve spiritual transcendence through conversion. Political views Steinbeck's contacts with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures may have influenced his writing. He joined the League of American Writers, a Communist organization, in 1935. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter. Through Francis Whitaker, a member of the Communist Party USA's John Reed Club for writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union. In 1939, he signed a letter with some other writers in support of the Soviet invasion of Finland and the Soviet-established puppet government. Documents released by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2012 indicate that Steinbeck offered his services to the Agency in 1952, while planning a European tour, and the Director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell Smith, was eager to take him up on the offer. What work, if any, Steinbeck may have performed for the CIA during the Cold War is unknown. Steinbeck was a close associate of playwright Arthur Miller. In June 1957, Steinbeck took a personal and professional risk by supporting him when Miller refused to name names in the House Un-American Activities Committee trials. Steinbeck called the period one of the "strangest and most frightening times a government and people have ever faced." In 1963, Steinbeck visited the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic at the behest of John Kennedy. During his visit he sat for a rare portrait by painter Martiros Saryan and visited Geghard Monastery. Footage of this visit filmed by Rafael Aramyan was sold in 2013 by his granddaughter. In 1967, when he was sent to Vietnam to report on the war, his sympathetic portrayal of the United States Army led the New York Post to denounce him for betraying his leftist past. Steinbeck's biographer, Jay Parini, says Steinbeck's friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson influenced his views on Vietnam. Steinbeck may also have been concerned about the safety of his son serving in Vietnam. Government harassment Steinbeck complained publicly about government harassment. Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, said that J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI at the time, could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him. According to Thomas, a true artist is one who "without a thought for self, stands up against the stones of condemnation, and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice, or the halls of government. By doing so, these people will naturally become the enemies of the political status quo." In a 1942 letter to United States Attorney General Francis Biddle, John Steinbeck wrote: "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome." The FBI denied that Steinbeck was under investigation. Major works In Dubious Battle In 1936, Steinbeck published the first of what came to be known as his Dustbowl trilogy, which included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. This first novel tells the story of a fruit pickers' strike in California which is both aided and damaged by the help of "the Party", generally taken to be the Communist Party, although this is never spelled out in the book. Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written as a play in 1937. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Some critics found it too sympathetic to the workers' plight and too critical of capitalism, but it found a large audience of its own. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction (novels) and was adapted as a film starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell and directed by John Ford. East of Eden Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons – based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry – and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. The book was published in 1952. Portions of the novel were made into a 1955 movie directed by Elia Kazan and starring James Dean. Travels with Charley In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built camper topwhich was rare at the timeand drove across the United States with his faithful "blue" standard poodle, Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home on Long Island. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. Bibliography Filmography 1939: Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field 1940: The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine 1941: The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler 1942: Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield 1943: The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke 1944: Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak 1944: A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova 1947: La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués 1949: The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern 1952: Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters 1955: East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey 1957: The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins 1961: Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez 1962: Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey) 1972: Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran) 1982: Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger 1992: Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise 2016: In Dubious Battle—directed by James Franco and featuring Franco, Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez See also Pigasus – A personal stamp used by Steinbeck. References Citations General sources Benson, Jackson J. John Steinbeck, Writer (second ed.). Penguin Putnam Inc., New York, 1990, 0-14-01.4417X, Benson, Jackson J. (ed.) The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham: Duke UP, 1990 . Benson, Jackson J. Looking for Steinbeck's Ghost. Reno: U of Nevada P, 2002 . Davis, Robert C. The Grapes of Wrath: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. PS3537 .T3234 G734 DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, Novels and Stories 1932–1937 (Library of America, 1994) DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941 (Library of America, 1996) DeMott, Robert, ed. John Steinbeck, Novels 1942–1952 (Library of America, 2002) DeMott, Robert and Railsback, Brian, eds. John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley and Later Novels, 1947–1962 (Library of America, 2007) Ditsky, John. John Steinbeck and the Critics. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2000 . French, Warren. John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited. NY: Twayne, 1994 . Heavilin, Barbara A. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002 . Hughes, R. S. John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction. R.S. Hughes. Boston : Twayne, 1989. . Li, Luchen. ed.
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With his second wife Steinbeck had two sons, Thomas ("Thom") Myles Steinbeck (1944–2016) and John Steinbeck IV (1946–1991). In May 1948, Steinbeck returned to California on an emergency trip to be with his friend Ed Ricketts, who had been seriously injured when a train struck his car. Ricketts died hours before Steinbeck arrived. Upon returning home, Steinbeck was confronted by Gwyn, who asked for a divorce, which became final in August. Steinbeck spent the year after Ricketts' death in deep depression. In June 1949, Steinbeck met stage-manager Elaine Scott at a restaurant in Carmel, California. Steinbeck and Scott eventually began a relationship and in December 1950 they married, within a week of the finalizing of Scott's own divorce from actor Zachary Scott. This third marriage for Steinbeck lasted until his death in 1968. Steinbeck was also an acquaintance with the modernist poet Robinson Jeffers, a Californian neighbor. In a Letter to Elizabeth Otis, Steinbeck wrote, "Robinson Jeffers and his wife came in to call the other day. He looks a little older but that is all. And she is just the same.’” In 1962, Steinbeck began acting as friend and mentor to the young writer and naturalist Jack Rudloe, who was trying to establish his own biological supply company, now Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratory in Florida. Their correspondence continued until Steinbeck's death. In 1966, Steinbeck traveled to Tel Aviv to visit the site of Mount Hope, a farm community established in Israel by his grandfather, whose brother, Friedrich Großsteinbeck, was murdered by Arab marauders in 1858 in what became known as the Outrages at Jaffa. Death and legacy John Steinbeck died in New York City on December 20, 1968, during the 1968 flu pandemic of heart disease and congestive heart failure. He was 66, and had been a lifelong smoker. An autopsy showed nearly complete occlusion of the main coronary arteries. In accordance with his wishes, his body was cremated, and interred on March 4, 1969 at the Hamilton family gravesite in Salinas, with those of his parents and maternal grandparents. His third wife, Elaine, was buried in the plot in 2004. He had written to his doctor that he felt deeply "in his flesh" that he would not survive his physical death, and that the biological end of his life was the final end to it. The day after Steinbeck's death in New York City, reviewer Charles Poore wrote in The New York Times: "John Steinbeck's first great book was his last great book. But Good Lord, what a book that was and is: The Grapes of Wrath." Poore noted a "preachiness" in Steinbeck's work, "as if half his literary inheritance came from the best of Mark Twain—and the other half from the worst of Cotton Mather." But he asserted that "Steinbeck didn't need the Nobel Prize—the Nobel judges needed him." Steinbeck's incomplete novel based on the King Arthur legends of Malory and others, The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights, was published in 1976. Many of Steinbeck's works are required reading in American high schools. In the United Kingdom, Of Mice and Men is one of the key texts used by the examining body AQA for its English Literature GCSE. A study by the Center for the Learning and Teaching of Literature in the United States found that Of Mice and Men was one of the ten most frequently read books in public high schools. Contrariwise, Steinbeck's works have been frequently banned in the United States. The Grapes of Wrath was banned by school boards: in August 1939, the Kern County Board of Supervisors banned the book from the county's publicly funded schools and libraries. It was burned in Salinas on two different occasions. In 2003, a school board in Mississippi banned it on the grounds of profanity. According to the American Library Association Steinbeck was one of the ten most frequently banned authors from 1990 to 2004, with Of Mice and Men ranking sixth out of 100 such books in the United States. Literary influences Steinbeck grew up in California's Salinas Valley, a culturally diverse place with a rich migratory and immigrant history. This upbringing imparted a regionalistic flavor to his writing, giving many of his works a distinct sense of place. Salinas, Monterey and parts of the San Joaquin Valley were the setting for many of his stories. The area is now sometimes referred to as "Steinbeck Country". Most of his early work dealt with subjects familiar to him from his formative years. An exception was his first novel, Cup of Gold, which concerns the pirate/privateer Henry Morgan, whose adventures had captured Steinbeck's imagination as a child. In his subsequent novels, Steinbeck found a more authentic voice by drawing upon direct memories of his life in California. His childhood friend, Max Wagner, a brother of Jack Wagner and who later became a film actor, served as inspiration for The Red Pony. Later he used actual American conditions and events in the first half of the 20th century, which he had experienced first-hand as a reporter. Steinbeck often populated his stories with struggling characters; his works examined the lives of the working class and migrant workers during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. His later work reflected his wide range of interests, including marine biology, politics, religion, history and mythology. One of his last published works was Travels with Charley, a travelogue of a road trip he took in 1960 to rediscover America. Commemoration Steinbeck's boyhood home, a turreted Victorian building in downtown Salinas, has been preserved and restored by the Valley Guild, a nonprofit organization. Fixed menu lunches are served Monday through Saturday, and the house is open for tours on Sunday afternoons during the summer. The National Steinbeck Center, two blocks away at 1 Main Street is the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to a single author. Dana Gioia (chair of the National Endowment for the Arts) told an audience at the center, "This is really the best modern literary shrine in the country, and I've seen them all." Its "Steinbeckiana" includes "Rocinante", the camper-truck in which Steinbeck made the cross-country trip described in Travels with Charley. His father's cottage on Eleventh Street in Pacific Grove, where Steinbeck wrote some of his earliest books, also survives. In Monterey, Ed Ricketts' laboratory survives (though it is not yet open to the public) and at the corner which Steinbeck describes in Cannery Row, also the store which once belonged to Lee Chong, and the adjacent vacant lot frequented by the hobos of Cannery Row. The site of the Hovden Sardine Cannery next to Doc's laboratory is now occupied by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In 1958 the street that Steinbeck described as "Cannery Row" in the novel, once named Ocean View Avenue, was renamed Cannery Row in honor of the novel. The town of Monterey has commemorated Steinbeck's work with an avenue of flags depicting characters from Cannery Row, historical plaques, and sculptured busts depicting Steinbeck and Ricketts. On February 27, 1979 (the 77th anniversary of the writer's birth), the United States Postal Service issued a stamp featuring Steinbeck, starting the Postal Service's Literary Arts series honoring American writers. Steinbeck was inducted in to the DeMolay International Hall of Fame in 1995. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Steinbeck into the California Hall of Fame, located at the California Museum for History, Women and the Arts. His son, author Thomas Steinbeck, accepted the award on his behalf. To commemorate the 112th anniversary of Steinbeck's birthday on February 27, 2014, Google displayed an interactive doodle utilizing animation which included illustrations portraying scenes and quotes from several novels by the author. Steinbeck and his friend Ed Ricketts appear as fictionalized characters in the 2016 novel, Monterey Bay about the founding of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, by Lindsay Hatton (Penguin Press). In 2019 the Sag Harbor town board approved the creation of the John Steinbeck Waterfront Park across from the iconic town windmill. The structures on the parcel were demolished and park benches installed near the beach. The Beebe windmill replica already had a plaque memorializing the author who wrote from a small hut overlooking the cove during his sojourn in the literary haven. Religious views Steinbeck was affiliated to the St. Paul's Episcopal Church and he stayed attached throughout his life to Episcopalianism. Especially in his works of fiction, Steinbeck was highly conscious of religion and incorporated it into his style and themes. The shaping of his characters often drew on the Bible and the theology of Anglicanism, combining elements of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. Steinbeck distanced himself from religious views when he left Salinas for Stanford. However, the work he produced still reflected the language of his childhood at Salinas, and his beliefs remained a powerful influence within his fiction and non-fiction work. William Ray considered his Episcopal views are prominently displayed in The Grapes of Wrath, in which themes of conversion and self-sacrifice play a major part in the characters Casy and Tom who achieve spiritual transcendence through conversion. Political views Steinbeck's contacts with leftist authors, journalists, and labor union figures may have influenced his writing. He joined the League of American Writers, a Communist organization, in 1935. Steinbeck was mentored by radical writers Lincoln Steffens and his wife Ella Winter. Through Francis Whitaker, a member of the Communist Party USA's John Reed Club for writers, Steinbeck met with strike organizers from the Cannery and Agricultural Workers' Industrial Union. In 1939, he signed a letter with some other writers in support of the Soviet invasion of Finland and the Soviet-established puppet government. Documents released by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2012 indicate that Steinbeck offered his services to the Agency in 1952, while planning a European tour, and the Director of Central Intelligence, Walter Bedell Smith, was eager to take him up on the offer. What work, if any, Steinbeck may have performed for the CIA during the Cold War is unknown. Steinbeck was a close associate of playwright Arthur Miller. In June 1957, Steinbeck took a personal and professional risk by supporting him when Miller refused to name names in the House Un-American Activities Committee trials. Steinbeck called the period one of the "strangest and most frightening times a government and people have ever faced." In 1963, Steinbeck visited the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic at the behest of John Kennedy. During his visit he sat for a rare portrait by painter Martiros Saryan and visited Geghard Monastery. Footage of this visit filmed by Rafael Aramyan was sold in 2013 by his granddaughter. In 1967, when he was sent to Vietnam to report on the war, his sympathetic portrayal of the United States Army led the New York Post to denounce him for betraying his leftist past. Steinbeck's biographer, Jay Parini, says Steinbeck's friendship with President Lyndon B. Johnson influenced his views on Vietnam. Steinbeck may also have been concerned about the safety of his son serving in Vietnam. Government harassment Steinbeck complained publicly about government harassment. Thomas Steinbeck, the author's eldest son, said that J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI at the time, could find no basis for prosecuting Steinbeck and therefore used his power to encourage the U.S. Internal Revenue Service to audit Steinbeck's taxes every single year of his life, just to annoy him. According to Thomas, a true artist is one who "without a thought for self, stands up against the stones of condemnation, and speaks for those who are given no real voice in the halls of justice, or the halls of government. By doing so, these people will naturally become the enemies of the political status quo." In a 1942 letter to United States Attorney General Francis Biddle, John Steinbeck wrote: "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It is getting tiresome." The FBI denied that Steinbeck was under investigation. Major works In Dubious Battle In 1936, Steinbeck published the first of what came to be known as his Dustbowl trilogy, which included Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath. This first novel tells the story of a fruit pickers' strike in California which is both aided and damaged by the help of "the Party", generally taken to be the Communist Party, although this is never spelled out in the book. Of Mice and Men Of Mice and Men is a tragedy that was written as a play in 1937. The story is about two traveling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to earn enough money to buy their own farm/ranch. As it is set in 1930s America, it provides an insight into The Great Depression, encompassing themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence. Along with The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and The Pearl, Of Mice and Men is one of Steinbeck's best known works. It was made into a movie three times, in 1939 starring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr., and Betty Field, in 1982 starring Randy Quaid, Robert Blake and Ted Neeley, and in 1992 starring Gary Sinise and John Malkovich. The Grapes of Wrath The Grapes of Wrath is set in the Great Depression and describes a family of sharecroppers, the Joads, who were driven from their land due to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl. The title is a reference to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Some critics found it too sympathetic to the workers' plight and too critical of capitalism, but it found a large audience of its own. It won both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for fiction (novels) and was adapted as a film starring Henry Fonda and Jane Darwell and directed by John Ford. East of Eden Steinbeck deals with the nature of good and evil in this Salinas Valley saga. The story follows two families: the Hamiltons – based on Steinbeck's own maternal ancestry – and the Trasks, reprising stories about the Biblical Adam and his progeny. The book was published in 1952. Portions of the novel were made into a 1955 movie directed by Elia Kazan and starring James Dean. Travels with Charley In 1960, Steinbeck bought a pickup truck and had it modified with a custom-built camper topwhich was rare at the timeand drove across the United States with his faithful "blue" standard poodle, Charley. Steinbeck nicknamed his truck Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed". In this sometimes comical, sometimes melancholic book, Steinbeck describes what he sees from Maine to Montana to California, and from there to Texas and Louisiana and back to his home on Long Island. The restored camper truck is on exhibit in the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas. Bibliography Filmography 1939: Of Mice and Men—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Betty Field 1940: The Grapes of Wrath—directed by John Ford, featuring Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine 1941: The Forgotten Village—directed by Alexander Hammid and Herbert Kline, narrated by Burgess Meredith, music by Hanns Eisler 1942: Tortilla Flat—directed by Victor Fleming, featuring Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr and John Garfield 1943: The Moon is Down—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Lee J. Cobb and Sir Cedric Hardwicke 1944: Lifeboat—directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Tallulah Bankhead, Hume Cronyn, and John Hodiak 1944: A Medal for Benny—directed by Irving Pichel, featuring Dorothy Lamour and Arturo de Cordova 1947: La Perla (The Pearl, Mexico)—directed by Emilio Fernández, featuring Pedro Armendáriz and María Elena Marqués 1949: The Red Pony—directed by Lewis Milestone, featuring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, and Louis Calhern 1952: Viva Zapata!—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn and Jean Peters 1955: East of Eden—directed by Elia Kazan, featuring James Dean, Julie Harris, Jo Van Fleet, and Raymond Massey 1957: The Wayward Bus—directed by Victor Vicas, featuring Rick Jason, Jayne Mansfield, and Joan Collins 1961: Flight—featuring Efrain Ramírez and Arnelia Cortez 1962: Ikimize bir dünya (Of Mice and Men, Turkey) 1972: Topoli (Of Mice and Men, Iran) 1982: Cannery Row—directed by David S. Ward, featuring Nick Nolte and Debra Winger 1992: Of Mice and Men—directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise 2016: In Dubious Battle—directed by James Franco and featuring Franco, Nat Wolff and Selena Gomez See also Pigasus – A personal stamp used by Steinbeck. References Citations General sources Benson, Jackson J. John Steinbeck, Writer (second ed.). Penguin Putnam Inc., New York, 1990, 0-14-01.4417X, Benson, Jackson J. (ed.) The Short Novels of John Steinbeck: Critical Essays with a Checklist to Steinbeck Criticism. Durham: Duke UP, 1990 . Benson, Jackson J. Looking for Steinbeck's Ghost. Reno: U of Nevada P, 2002 . Davis, Robert C. The Grapes of Wrath: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1982. PS3537 .T3234 G734 DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, Novels and Stories 1932–1937 (Library of America, 1994) DeMott, Robert and Steinbeck, Elaine A., eds. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath and Other Writings 1936–1941 (Library of America, 1996) DeMott, Robert, ed. John Steinbeck, Novels 1942–1952 (Library of America, 2002) DeMott, Robert and Railsback, Brian, eds. John Steinbeck, Travels With Charley and Later Novels, 1947–1962 (Library of America, 2007) Ditsky, John. John Steinbeck and the Critics. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2000 . French, Warren. John Steinbeck's Fiction Revisited. NY: Twayne, 1994 . Heavilin, Barbara A. John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2002 . Hughes, R. S. John Steinbeck: A Study of the Short Fiction. R.S. Hughes. Boston : Twayne, 1989. . Li, Luchen. ed. John Steinbeck: A Documentary Volume. Detroit: Gale, 2005 . Meyer, Michael J. The Hayashi Steinbeck Bibliography, 1982–1996. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 1998 . Steigerwald, Bill. Dogging Steinbeck: Discovering America and Exposing the Truth about 'Travels with Charley.' Kindle Edition. 2013. Steinbeck, John Steinbeck IV and Nancy (2001). The Other Side of Eden: Life with John Steinbeck. Prometheus Books. Tamm, Eric Enno (2005). Beyond the Outer Shores: The Untold Odyssey of Ed Ricketts, the Pioneering Ecologist who Inspired John Steinbeck and Joseph Campbell. Thunder's Mouth Press. . Further reading External links National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California FBI file on John Steinbeck The Steinbeck Quarterly journal John Steinbeck Biography Early Years: Salinas to Stanford: 1902–1925 from National Steinbeck Center Western American Literature Journal: John Steinbeck Cuernavaca, Mexico, 1945 - Mrs. Stanford Steinbeck, Gwyndolyn, Thom and John Steinbeck Libraries John Steinbeck Collection, 1902–1979 Wells Fargo John Steinbeck Collection, 1870–1981 John Steinbeck and George Bernard Shaw legal files collection, 1926–1970s, held by the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature, New York Public Library. Videos Nobel Laureate page "Writings of John Steinbeck" from C-SPAN's American Writers: A Journey Through History'' 1902 births 1968 deaths 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers American agnostics American anti-capitalists American Episcopalians American humanists American male non-fiction writers American
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had known what a shabby miserable place it is, I would not have asked for it; besides as things have turned out I think a certain person is not worth speaking to, nor speaking of", presumably meaning the king. Reynolds wrote to Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of St Asaph, a few weeks later: "Your Lordship congratulation on my succeeding Mr. Ramsay I take very kindly, but it is a most miserable office, it is reduced from two hundred to thirty-eight pounds per annum, the Kings Rat catcher I believe is a better place, and I am to be paid only a fourth part of what I have from other people, so that the Portraits of their Majesties are not likely to be better done now, than they used to be, I should be ruined if I was to paint them myself". Lord Heathfield In 1787 Reynolds painted the portrait of Lord Heathfield, who became a national hero for the successful defence of Gibraltar in the Great Siege from 1779 to 1783 against the combined forces of France and Spain. Heathfield is depicted against a background of clouds and cannon smoke, wearing the uniform of the 15th Light Dragoons and clasping the key of the Rock, its chain wrapped twice around his right hand. John Constable said in the 1830s that it was "almost a history of the defence of Gibraltar". Desmond Shawe-Taylor has claimed that the portrait may have a religious meaning, Heathfield holding the key similar to St. Peter (Jesus' "rock") possessing the keys to Heaven, Heathfield "the rock upon which Britannia builds her military interests". Later life In 1789, Reynolds lost the sight of his left eye, which forced him into retirement. In 1791 James Boswell dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds. Reynolds agreed with Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and, writing in early 1791, expressed his belief that the ancien régime of France had fallen due to spending too much time tending, as he puts it, to the splendor of the foliage, to the neglect of the stirring the earth about the roots. They cultivated only those arts which could add splendor to the nation, to the neglect of those which supported it – They neglected Trade & substantial Manufacture ... but does it follow that a total revolution is necessary that because we have given ourselves up too much to the ornaments of life, we will now have none at all. When attending a dinner at Holland House, Fox's niece Caroline was sat next to Reynolds and "burst out into glorification of the Revolution – and was grievously chilled and checked by her neighbour's cautious and unsympathetic tone". On 4 June 1791 at a dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern to mark the king's birthday, Reynolds drank to the toasts "GOD save the KING!" and "May our glorious Constitution under which the arts flourish, be immortal!", in what was reported by the Public Advertiser as "a fervour truly patriotick". Reynolds "filled the chair with a most convivial glee". He returned to town from Burke's house in Beaconsfield and Edmond Malone wrote that "we left his carriage at the Inn at Hayes, and walked five miles on the road, in a warm day, without his complaining of any fatigue". Later that month Reynolds suffered from a swelling over his left eye and had to be purged by a surgeon. In October he was too ill to take the president's chair and in November Frances Burney recorded that I had long languished to see that kindly zealous friend, but his ill health had intimidated me from making the attempt": "He had a bandage over one eye, and the other shaded with a green half-bonnet. He seemed serious even to sadness, though extremely kind. 'I am very glad,' he said, in a meek voice and dejected accent, 'to see you again, and I wish I could see you better! but I have only one eye now, and hardly that.' I was really quite touched. On 5 November Reynolds, fearing he might not have an opportunity to write a will, wrote a memorandum intended to be his last will and testament, with Edmund Burke, Edmond Malone, and Philip Metcalfe named as executors. On 10 November Reynolds wrote to Benjamin West to resign the presidency, but the General Assembly agreed he should be re-elected, with Sir William Chambers and West to deputise for him. Doctors Richard Warren and Sir George Baker believed Reynolds' illness to be psychological and they bled his neck "with a view of drawing the humour from his eyes" but the effect, in the view of his niece, was that it seemed "as if the 'principle of life' were gone" from Reynolds. On New Year's Day 1792 Reynolds became "seized with sickness" and from that point could not keep down food. Reynolds died on 23 February 1792 at his house in Leicester Fields in London between eight and nine in the evening. Burke was present on the night Reynolds died, and was moved within hours to write a eulogy of Reynolds starting with the following sentiments: "Sir Joshua Reynolds was on very many accounts one of the most memorable men of his Time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant Arts to the other Glories of his Country. In Taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and Harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned Ages." Burke's tribute was well received and one journalist called it "the eulogium of Apelles pronounced by Pericles". Reynolds was buried at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1903, a statue, by Alfred Drury, was erected in his honour in Annenberg Courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy. Around the statue are fountains and lights, installed in 2000, arranged in the pattern of a star chart at midnight on the night of Reynolds' birth. The planets are marked by granite discs, and the Moon by a water recess. Personal characteristics [[File:Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) - Huang Ya Dong 'Wang-Y-Tong' - 129924 - National Trust.jpg|thumb|right|Huang Ya Dong 'Wang-Y-Tong''' (1776)]] In appearance Reynolds was not striking. Slight, he was about 5'6" with dark brown curls, a florid complexion and features that James Boswell thought were "rather too largely and strongly limned." He had a broad face and a cleft chin, and the bridge
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the Rock, its chain wrapped twice around his right hand. John Constable said in the 1830s that it was "almost a history of the defence of Gibraltar". Desmond Shawe-Taylor has claimed that the portrait may have a religious meaning, Heathfield holding the key similar to St. Peter (Jesus' "rock") possessing the keys to Heaven, Heathfield "the rock upon which Britannia builds her military interests". Later life In 1789, Reynolds lost the sight of his left eye, which forced him into retirement. In 1791 James Boswell dedicated his Life of Samuel Johnson to Reynolds. Reynolds agreed with Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France and, writing in early 1791, expressed his belief that the ancien régime of France had fallen due to spending too much time tending, as he puts it, to the splendor of the foliage, to the neglect of the stirring the earth about the roots. They cultivated only those arts which could add splendor to the nation, to the neglect of those which supported it – They neglected Trade & substantial Manufacture ... but does it follow that a total revolution is necessary that because we have given ourselves up too much to the ornaments of life, we will now have none at all. When attending a dinner at Holland House, Fox's niece Caroline was sat next to Reynolds and "burst out into glorification of the Revolution – and was grievously chilled and checked by her neighbour's cautious and unsympathetic tone". On 4 June 1791 at a dinner at the Freemasons' Tavern to mark the king's birthday, Reynolds drank to the toasts "GOD save the KING!" and "May our glorious Constitution under which the arts flourish, be immortal!", in what was reported by the Public Advertiser as "a fervour truly patriotick". Reynolds "filled the chair with a most convivial glee". He returned to town from Burke's house in Beaconsfield and Edmond Malone wrote that "we left his carriage at the Inn at Hayes, and walked five miles on the road, in a warm day, without his complaining of any fatigue". Later that month Reynolds suffered from a swelling over his left eye and had to be purged by a surgeon. In October he was too ill to take the president's chair and in November Frances Burney recorded that I had long languished to see that kindly zealous friend, but his ill health had intimidated me from making the attempt": "He had a bandage over one eye, and the other shaded with a green half-bonnet. He seemed serious even to sadness, though extremely kind. 'I am very glad,' he said, in a meek voice and dejected accent, 'to see you again, and I wish I could see you better! but I have only one eye now, and hardly that.' I was really quite touched. On 5 November Reynolds, fearing he might not have an opportunity to write a will, wrote a memorandum intended to be his last will and testament, with Edmund Burke, Edmond Malone, and Philip Metcalfe named as executors. On 10 November Reynolds wrote to Benjamin West to resign the presidency, but the General Assembly agreed he should be re-elected, with Sir William Chambers and West to deputise for him. Doctors Richard Warren and Sir George Baker believed Reynolds' illness to be psychological and they bled his neck "with a view of drawing the humour from his eyes" but the effect, in the view of his niece, was that it seemed "as if the 'principle of life' were gone" from Reynolds. On New Year's Day 1792 Reynolds became "seized with sickness" and from that point could not keep down food. Reynolds died on 23 February 1792 at his house in Leicester Fields in London between eight and nine in the evening. Burke was present on the night Reynolds died, and was moved within hours to write a eulogy of Reynolds starting with the following sentiments: "Sir Joshua Reynolds was on very many accounts one of the most memorable men of his Time. He was the first Englishman who added the praise of the elegant Arts to the other Glories of his Country. In Taste, in grace, in facility, in happy invention, and in the richness and Harmony of colouring, he was equal to the great masters of the renowned Ages." Burke's tribute was well received and one journalist called it "the eulogium of Apelles pronounced by Pericles". Reynolds was buried at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1903, a statue, by Alfred Drury, was erected in his honour in Annenberg Courtyard of Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy. Around the statue are fountains and lights, installed in 2000, arranged in the pattern of a star chart at midnight on the night of Reynolds' birth. The planets are marked by granite discs, and the Moon by a water recess. Personal characteristics [[File:Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) - Huang Ya Dong 'Wang-Y-Tong' - 129924 - National Trust.jpg|thumb|right|Huang Ya Dong 'Wang-Y-Tong''' (1776)]] In appearance Reynolds was not striking. Slight, he was about 5'6" with dark brown curls, a florid complexion and features that James Boswell thought were "rather too largely and strongly limned." He had a broad face and a cleft chin, and the bridge of his nose was slightly dented; his skin was scarred by smallpox and his upper lip disfigured as a result of falling from a horse as a young man. Edmond Malone asserted that "his appearance at first sight impressed the spectator with the idea of a well-born and well-bred English gentleman." In his mature years he suffered from deafness, as recorded by Frances Burney, although this did not impede his lively social life (he used an ear trumpet). Renowned for his placidity, Reynolds often claimed that he "hated nobody". This may be a little self-idealisation. It is well known that he disliked George Romney, whom he referred to only as "the man in Cavendish Square" and whom he successfully prevented from becoming a member of the Royal Academy. He did not like Gainsborough, yet appreciated his achievements in his obituary. (Rump; Kidson). It is said that when he taught in one of his "discourses" that a painter should not amass too much of the colour blue in the foreground of an image, Gainsborough was prompted to paint his famous "Blue Boy". Never quite losing his Devonshire accent, he was not only an amiable and original conversationalist, but a friendly and generous host, so that Frances Burney recorded in her diary that he had "a suavity of disposition that set everybody at their ease in his society", and William Makepeace Thackeray believed "of all the polite men of that age, Joshua Reynolds was the finest gentleman." Dr. Johnson commented on the "inoffensiveness" of his nature; Edmund Burke noted his "strong turn for humor". Thomas Bernard, who later became Bishop of Killaloe, wrote in his closing verses on Reynolds stating: Thou say'st not only skill is gained But genius too may be attained By studious imitation; Thy temper mild, thy genius fine I'll copy till I make them mine By constant application. Some, such as Hester Lynch Piozzi, construed Reynolds' equable calm as cool and unfeeling. It is to this lukewarm temperament that Frederick W. Hilles, Bodman Professor of English Literature at Yale attributes Reynolds' never having married. In the editorial notes of his compendium Portraits by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Hilles theorizes that "as a corollary one might say that he [Reynolds] was somewhat lacking in a capacity for love", and cites Boswell's notary papers: "He said the reason he would never marry was that every woman whom he liked had grown indifferent to him, and he had been glad he did not marry her." Reynolds' own sister, Frances, who lived with him as housekeeper, took her own negative opinion further still, thinking him "a gloomy tyrant". The presence of family compensated Reynolds for the absence of a wife; he wrote on one occasion to his friend Bennet Langton, that both his sister and niece were away from home "so that I am quite a bachelor". Reynolds did not marry, and had no known children. Biographer Ian McIntyre discusses the possibility of Reynolds having enjoyed sexual rendezvous with certain clients, such as Nelly O'Brien (or "My Lady O'Brien", as he playfully dubbed her) and Kitty Fisher, who visited his house for more sittings than were strictly necessary. Dan Cruickshank in his book London's Sinful Secret summarized Reynolds as having visited and re-visited various reputed red light districts in London after his return from Italy as a possible contributor to his medical condition and appearance due to commonly contracted disease in those areas of London. Gallery See also English art Grand manner Mary Nesbitt, eighteenth-century courtesan who began her career as Reynolds' model. Martin Postle, an expert on Joshua Reynolds References Referenced books James Boswell, Life of Johnson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). Charles Robert Leslie and Tom Taylor, Life and Times of Sir Joshua Reynolds (London: John Murray, 1865, 2 volumes). Ian McIntyre, Joshua Reynolds. The Life and Times of the First President of the Royal Academy (London: Allen Lane, 2003). Martin Postle, Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723–1792), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, October 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2010. Further reading J. Blanc, Les Écrits de Sir Joshua Reynolds (Théorie de l'art (1400–1800) / Art Theory (1400–1800), 4), Turnhout, 2016, John Barrell, The Political Theory of Painting from Reynolds to Hazlitt (1986). A. Graves and W. V. Cronin, A History of the Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1899–1901, 4 volumes). F. W. Hilles, The Literary Career of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1936). Derek Hudson, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Personal Study (1958). J. Ingamells and J. Edgcumbe (eds.), The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds (2000). Alex Kidson, George Romney. 1734-1802 (2002) E. Malone (ed.), The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1798, 3 volumes). D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds PRA, 1723–92 (1992). D. Mannings, Sir Joshua Reynolds: A Complete Catalogue of his Paintings: The Subject Pictures Catalogued by Martin Postle (New Haven ad London, 2000) H. Mount (ed.), Sir Joshua Reynolds, A Journey to Flanders and Holland
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important contributions to economic analysis – the theory of business cycles and development. Following neither Walras nor Keynes, Schumpeter starts in The Theory of Economic Development with a treatise of circular flow which, excluding any innovations and innovative activities, leads to a stationary state. The stationary state is, according to Schumpeter, described by Walrasian equilibrium. The hero of his story is the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur disturbs this equilibrium and is the prime cause of economic development, which proceeds in cyclic fashion along several time scales. In fashioning this theory connecting innovations, cycles, and development, Schumpeter kept alive the Russian Nikolai Kondratiev's ideas on 50-year cycles, Kondratiev waves. Schumpeter suggested a model in which the four main cycles, Kondratiev (54 years), Kuznets (18 years), Juglar (9 years) and Kitchin (about 4 years) can be added together to form a composite waveform. A Kondratiev wave could consist of three lower degree Kuznets waves. Each Kuznets wave could, itself, be made up of two Juglar waves. Similarly two (or three) Kitchin waves could form a higher degree Juglar wave. If each of these were in phase, more importantly if the downward arc of each was simultaneous so that the nadir of each was coincident, it would explain disastrous slumps and consequent depressions. As far as the segmentation of the Kondratiev Wave, Schumpeter never proposed such a fixed model. He saw these cycles varying in time – although in a tight time frame by coincidence – and for each to serve a specific purpose. Keynesianism In Schumpeter's theory, Walrasian equilibrium is not adequate to capture the key mechanisms of economic development. Schumpeter also thought that the institution enabling the entrepreneur to buy the resources needed to realize his vision was a well-developed capitalist financial system, including a whole range of institutions for granting credit. One could divide economists among (1) those who emphasized "real" analysis and regarded money as merely a "veil" and (2) those who thought monetary institutions are important and money could be a separate driving force. Both Schumpeter and Keynes were among the latter. Demise of capitalism Schumpeter's most popular book in English is probably Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. While he agrees with Karl Marx that capitalism will collapse and be replaced by socialism, Schumpeter predicts a different way this will come about. While Marx predicted that capitalism would be overthrown by a violent proletarian revolution, which actually occurred in the least capitalist countries, Schumpeter believed that capitalism would gradually weaken by itself and eventually collapse. Specifically, the success of capitalism would lead to corporatism and to values hostile to capitalism, especially among intellectuals. "Intellectuals" are a social class in a position to critique societal matters for which they are not directly responsible and to stand up for the interests of other classes. Intellectuals tend to have a negative outlook of capitalism, even while relying on it for prestige, because their professions rely on antagonism toward it. The growing number of people with higher education is a great advantage of capitalism, according to Schumpeter. Yet, unemployment and a lack of fulfilling work will lead to intellectual critique, discontent and protests. Parliaments will increasingly elect social democratic parties, and democratic majorities will vote for restrictions on entrepreneurship. Increasing workers' self-management, industrial democracy and regulatory institutions would evolve non-politically into "liberal capitalism". Thus, the intellectual and social climate needed for thriving entrepreneurship will be replaced by some form of "laborism". This will exacerbate "creative destruction" (a borrowed phrase to denote an endogenous replacement of old ways of doing things by new ways), which will ultimately undermine and destroy the capitalist structure. Schumpeter emphasizes throughout this book that he is analyzing trends, not engaging in political advocacy. William Fellner, in the book Schumpeter's Vision: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy After 40 Years, noted that Schumpeter saw any political system in which the power was fully monopolized as fascist. Democratic theory In the same book, Schumpeter expounded a theory of democracy which sought to challenge what he called the "classical doctrine". He disputed the idea that democracy was a process by which the electorate identified the common good, and politicians carried this out for them. He argued this was unrealistic, and that people's ignorance and superficiality meant that in fact they were largely manipulated by politicians, who set the agenda. Furthermore, he claimed that even if the common good was possible to find, it would still not make clear the means needed to reach its end, since citizens do not have the requisite knowledge to design government policy. This made a 'rule by the people' concept both unlikely and undesirable. Instead he advocated a minimalist model, much influenced by Max Weber, whereby democracy is the mechanism for competition between leaders, much like a market structure. Although periodic votes by the general public legitimize governments and keep them accountable, the policy program is very much seen as their own and not that of the people, and the participatory role for individuals is usually severely limited. Schumpeter defined democracy as the method by which people elect representatives in competitive elections to carry out their will. This definition has been described as simple, elegant and parsimonious, making it clearer to distinguish political systems that either fulfill or fail these characteristics. This minimalist definition stands in contrast to broader definitions of democracy, which may emphasize aspects such as "representation, accountability, equality, participation, justice, dignity, rationality, security, freedom". Within such a minimalist definition, states which other scholars say have experienced democratic backsliding and which lack civil liberties, a free press, the rule of law and a constrained executive, would still be considered democracies. For Schumpeter, the formation of a government is the endpoint of the democratic process, which means that for the purposes of his democratic theory, he has no comment on what kinds of decisions that the government can take to be a democracy. Schumpeter faced pushback on his theory from other democratic theorists, such as Robert Dahl, who argued that there is more to democracy than simply the formation of government through competitive elections. Schumpeter's view of democracy has been described as "elitist", as he criticizes the rationality and knowledge of voters, and expresses a preference for politicians making decisions. Democracy is therefore in a sense a means to ensure circulation among elites. However, studies by Natasha Piano (of the University of Chicago) emphasize that Schumpeter had substantial disdain for elites as well. Entrepreneurship Schumpeter was probably the first scholar to theorize about entrepreneurship, and the field owed much to his contributions. His fundamental theories are often referred to as Mark I and Mark II. In Mark I, Schumpeter argued that the innovation and technological change of a nation come from the entrepreneurs, or wild spirits. He coined the word Unternehmergeist, German for "entrepreneur-spirit", and asserted that "... the doing of new things or the doing of things that are already being done in a new way" stemmed directly from the efforts of entrepreneurs. Schumpeter developed Mark II while a professor at Harvard. Many social economists and popular authors of the day argued that large businesses had a negative effect on the standard of living of ordinary people. Contrary to this prevailing opinion, Schumpeter argued that the agents that drive innovation and the economy are large companies which have the capital to invest in research and development of new products and services and to deliver them to customers more cheaply, thus raising their standard of living. In one of his seminal works, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Schumpeter wrote: Mark I and Mark II arguments are considered complementary. Cycles and long wave theory Schumpeter was the most influential thinker to argue that long cycles are caused by innovation, and are an incident of it. His treatise on business cycles developed were based on Kondratiev's ideas which attributed the causes very differently. Schumpeter's treatise brought Kondratiev's ideas to the attention of English-speaking economists. Kondratiev fused important elements that Schumpeter missed. Yet, the Schumpeterian variant of long-cycles hypothesis, stressing the initiating role of innovations, commands the widest attention today. In Schumpeter's view, technological innovation is at the cause of both cyclical instability and economic growth. Fluctuations in innovation cause fluctuation in investment and those cause cycles in economic growth. Schumpeter sees innovations as clustering around certain points in time periods that he refers to as "neighborhoods of equilibrium", when entrepreneurs perceive that risk and returns warrant innovative commitments. These clusters lead to long cycles by generating periods of acceleration in aggregate growth. The technological view of change needs to demonstrate that changes in the rate of innovation governs changes in the rate of new investments, and that the combined impact of innovation clusters takes the form of fluctuation in aggregate output or employment. The process of technological innovation involves extremely complex relations among a set of key variables: inventions, innovations, diffusion paths and investment activities. The impact of technological innovation on aggregate output is mediated through a succession of relationships that have yet to be explored systematically in the context of long wave. New inventions are typically primitive, their performance is usually poorer than existing technologies
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noted that Schumpeter saw any political system in which the power was fully monopolized as fascist. Democratic theory In the same book, Schumpeter expounded a theory of democracy which sought to challenge what he called the "classical doctrine". He disputed the idea that democracy was a process by which the electorate identified the common good, and politicians carried this out for them. He argued this was unrealistic, and that people's ignorance and superficiality meant that in fact they were largely manipulated by politicians, who set the agenda. Furthermore, he claimed that even if the common good was possible to find, it would still not make clear the means needed to reach its end, since citizens do not have the requisite knowledge to design government policy. This made a 'rule by the people' concept both unlikely and undesirable. Instead he advocated a minimalist model, much influenced by Max Weber, whereby democracy is the mechanism for competition between leaders, much like a market structure. Although periodic votes by the general public legitimize governments and keep them accountable, the policy program is very much seen as their own and not that of the people, and the participatory role for individuals is usually severely limited. Schumpeter defined democracy as the method by which people elect representatives in competitive elections to carry out their will. This definition has been described as simple, elegant and parsimonious, making it clearer to distinguish political systems that either fulfill or fail these characteristics. This minimalist definition stands in contrast to broader definitions of democracy, which may emphasize aspects such as "representation, accountability, equality, participation, justice, dignity, rationality, security, freedom". Within such a minimalist definition, states which other scholars say have experienced democratic backsliding and which lack civil liberties, a free press, the rule of law and a constrained executive, would still be considered democracies. For Schumpeter, the formation of a government is the endpoint of the democratic process, which means that for the purposes of his democratic theory, he has no comment on what kinds of decisions that the government can take to be a democracy. Schumpeter faced pushback on his theory from other democratic theorists, such as Robert Dahl, who argued that there is more to democracy than simply the formation of government through competitive elections. Schumpeter's view of democracy has been described as "elitist", as he criticizes the rationality and knowledge of voters, and expresses a preference for politicians making decisions. Democracy is therefore in a sense a means to ensure circulation among elites. However, studies by Natasha Piano (of the University of Chicago) emphasize that Schumpeter had substantial disdain for elites as well. Entrepreneurship Schumpeter was probably the first scholar to theorize about entrepreneurship, and the field owed much to his contributions. His fundamental theories are often referred to as Mark I and Mark II. In Mark I, Schumpeter argued that the innovation and technological change of a nation come from the entrepreneurs, or wild spirits. He coined the word Unternehmergeist, German for "entrepreneur-spirit", and asserted that "... the doing of new things or the doing of things that are already being done in a new way" stemmed directly from the efforts of entrepreneurs. Schumpeter developed Mark II while a professor at Harvard. Many social economists and popular authors of the day argued that large businesses had a negative effect on the standard of living of ordinary people. Contrary to this prevailing opinion, Schumpeter argued that the agents that drive innovation and the economy are large companies which have the capital to invest in research and development of new products and services and to deliver them to customers more cheaply, thus raising their standard of living. In one of his seminal works, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Schumpeter wrote: Mark I and Mark II arguments are considered complementary. Cycles and long wave theory Schumpeter was the most influential thinker to argue that long cycles are caused by innovation, and are an incident of it. His treatise on business cycles developed were based on Kondratiev's ideas which attributed the causes very differently. Schumpeter's treatise brought Kondratiev's ideas to the attention of English-speaking economists. Kondratiev fused important elements that Schumpeter missed. Yet, the Schumpeterian variant of long-cycles hypothesis, stressing the initiating role of innovations, commands the widest attention today. In Schumpeter's view, technological innovation is at the cause of both cyclical instability and economic growth. Fluctuations in innovation cause fluctuation in investment and those cause cycles in economic growth. Schumpeter sees innovations as clustering around certain points in time periods that he refers to as "neighborhoods of equilibrium", when entrepreneurs perceive that risk and returns warrant innovative commitments. These clusters lead to long cycles by generating periods of acceleration in aggregate growth. The technological view of change needs to demonstrate that changes in the rate of innovation governs changes in the rate of new investments, and that the combined impact of innovation clusters takes the form of fluctuation in aggregate output or employment. The process of technological innovation involves extremely complex relations among a set of key variables: inventions, innovations, diffusion paths and investment activities. The impact of technological innovation on aggregate output is mediated through a succession of relationships that have yet to be explored systematically in the context of long wave. New inventions are typically primitive, their performance is usually poorer than existing technologies and the cost of their production is high. A production technology may not yet exist, as is often the case in major chemical inventions, pharmaceutical inventions. The speed with which inventions are transformed into innovations and diffused depends on actual and expected trajectory of performance improvement and cost reduction. Innovation Schumpeter identified innovation as the critical dimension of economic change. He argued that economic change revolves around innovation, entrepreneurial activities, and market power. He sought to prove that innovation-originated market power can provide better results than the invisible hand and price competition. He argued that technological innovation often creates temporary monopolies, allowing abnormal profits that would soon be competed away by rivals and imitators. These temporary monopolies were necessary to provide the incentive for firms to develop new products and processes. Doing Business The World Bank's "Doing Business" report was influenced by Schumpeter's focus on removing impediments to creative destruction. The creation of the report is credited in part to his work. Personal life He was married three times. His first wife was Gladys Ricarde Seaver, an Englishwoman nearly 12 years his senior (married 1907, separated 1913, divorced 1925). His best man at his wedding was his friend and Austrian jurist Hans Kelsen. His second was Anna Reisinger, 20 years his junior and daughter of the concierge of the apartment where he grew up. As a divorced man, he and his bride converted to Lutheranism to marry. They married in 1925, but within a year, she died in childbirth. The loss of his wife and newborn son came only weeks after Schumpeter's mother had died. In 1937, Schumpeter married the American economic historian Elizabeth Boody (1898–1953), who helped him popularize his work and edited what became their magnum opus, the posthumously published History of Economic Analysis. Schumpeter claimed that he had set himself three goals in life: to be the greatest economist in the world, to be the best horseman in all of Austria and the greatest lover in all of Vienna. He said he had reached two of his goals, but he never said which two, although he is reported to have said that there were too many fine horsemen in Austria for him to succeed in all his aspirations. Later life and death Schumpeter died in his home in Taconic, Connecticut, at the age of 66, on the night of January 7, 1950. Legacy For some time after his death, Schumpeter's views were most influential among various heterodox economists,
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John Lee Cooker, Texas Slim, Delta John, Birmingham Sam and his Magic Guitar, Johnny Williams, and the Boogie Man. His early solo songs were recorded by Bernie Besman. Hooker rarely played with a standard beat, but instead he changed tempo to fit the needs of the song. This often made it difficult to use backing musicians, who were not accustomed to Hooker's musical vagaries. As a result, Besman recorded Hooker playing guitar, singing and stomping on a wooden pallet in time with the music. For much of this period he recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland. In Hooker's later sessions for Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, studio musicians accompanied him on most of his recordings, including Eddie Taylor, who could handle his musical idiosyncrasies. "Boom Boom" (1962) and "Dimples", two popular songs by Hooker, were originally released by Vee-Jay. Later career Beginning in 1962, Hooker gained greater exposure when he toured Europe in the annual American Folk Blues Festival. His "Dimples" became a successful single on the UK Singles Charts in 1964, eight years after its first US release. Hooker began to perform and record with rock musicians. One of his earliest collaborations was with British blues rock band the Groundhogs. In 1970, he recorded the joint album Hooker 'n Heat, with the American blues and boogie rock group Canned Heat, whose repertoire included adaptations of Hooker songs. It became the first of Hooker's albums to reach the Billboard charts, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard 200. Other collaboration albums soon followed, including Endless Boogie (1971) and Never Get Out of These Blues Alive (1972), which included Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Van Morrison, and others. Hooker appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. He performed "Boom Boom" in the role of a street musician. In 1989, he recorded the album The Healer with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, and others. The 1990s saw additional collaboration albums: Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don't Look Back (1997) with Morrison, Santana, Los Lobos, and additional guest musicians. His re-recording of "Boom Boom" (the title track for his 1992 album) with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan became Hooker's highest charting single (number 16) in the UK. Come See About Me, a 2004 DVD, includes performances filmed between 1960 and 1994 and interviews with several of the musicians. Hooker owned five houses in his later life, including houses located in Los Altos, California; Redwood City, California, Long Beach, California, and Gilroy, California. Hooker died in his sleep on June 21, 2001, in Los Altos, California in his home. He is interred at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, California. He was survived by eight children, 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren. Collaborations 1968 with The Groundhogs: Hooker & the Hogs 1969 with The Doors: Hooker and Jim Morrison sing "Roadhouse Blues", published 2000 on the tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors 1971 with Canned Heat: Hooker 'n' Heat 1985 with Kingfish: "Put A Hand On Me" on the album Kingfish, featuring John Lee Hooker and Mike Bloomfield 1989 Hooker sang on the album The Iron Man by Pete Townshend, on the songs "Over the Top" and "I Eat Heavy Metal" 1991 with Charlie Musselwhite: "Cheatin' On Me" on the album Signature 1992 with Lightnin' Hopkins: "Katie Mae" and "Candy Kitchen" on the album It's A Sin To Be Rich 1992 with Branford Marsalis: "Mabel" on I Heard You Twice the First Time 1992 with John P. Hammond: "Driftin' Blues" on the album Got Love If You Want It 1993 with Zakiya Hooker: "Loving People" and "Mean Mean World" on the album Another Generation Of The Blues 1993 with B.B. King: "You Shook Me" on his album Blues Summit 1993 with Van Morrison: "Gloria" on his album Too Long In Exile 1996 with Michael Osborn: "Shake It Down" on his album Background in the Blues 1997 with Big Head Todd and the Monsters: "Boom Boom" on the album Beautiful World 2001 with Zucchero: "I Lay Down" on his album Shake Several Hooker songs have resulted in remixes. The piece "Sure Thing" on the album Tourist (2000) by the French musician St Germain became well known. This remix is based on vocal and guitar passages from "Harry's Philosophy" from the album Hot Spot (1990). Hooker's adaptation "It Serves Me Right to Suffer" was remixed by French DJ and music producer The Avener (actually Tristan Casara) on his album "The Wanderings of the Avener" (2015). Awards and recognition Among his many awards, Hooker was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991. He was a recipient of a 1983 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which
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performed in Detroit clubs, and, seeking an instrument louder than his acoustic guitar, he bought his first electric guitar. Earlier career Hooker was working as janitor in a Detroit steel mill when his recording career began in 1948, when Modern Records, based in Los Angeles, released a demo he had recorded for Bernie Besman in Detroit. The single, "Boogie Chillen', became a hit and the best-selling race record of 1949. Though illiterate, Hooker was a prolific lyricist. In addition to adapting traditional blues lyrics, he composed original songs. In the 1950s, like many black musicians, Hooker earned little from record sales, and so he often recorded variations of his songs for different studios for an up-front fee. To evade his recording contract, he used various pseudonyms, including John Lee Booker (for Chess Records and Chance Records in 1951–1952), Johnny Lee (for De Luxe Records in 1953–1954), John Lee, John Lee Cooker, Texas Slim, Delta John, Birmingham Sam and his Magic Guitar, Johnny Williams, and the Boogie Man. His early solo songs were recorded by Bernie Besman. Hooker rarely played with a standard beat, but instead he changed tempo to fit the needs of the song. This often made it difficult to use backing musicians, who were not accustomed to Hooker's musical vagaries. As a result, Besman recorded Hooker playing guitar, singing and stomping on a wooden pallet in time with the music. For much of this period he recorded and toured with Eddie Kirkland. In Hooker's later sessions for Vee-Jay Records in Chicago, studio musicians accompanied him on most of his recordings, including Eddie Taylor, who could handle his musical idiosyncrasies. "Boom Boom" (1962) and "Dimples", two popular songs by Hooker, were originally released by Vee-Jay. Later career Beginning in 1962, Hooker gained greater exposure when he toured Europe in the annual American Folk Blues Festival. His "Dimples" became a successful single on the UK Singles Charts in 1964, eight years after its first US release. Hooker began to perform and record with rock musicians. One of his earliest collaborations was with British blues rock band the Groundhogs. In 1970, he recorded the joint album Hooker 'n Heat, with the American blues and boogie rock group Canned Heat, whose repertoire included adaptations of Hooker songs. It became the first of Hooker's albums to reach the Billboard charts, peaking at number 78 on the Billboard 200. Other collaboration albums soon followed, including Endless Boogie (1971) and Never Get Out of These Blues Alive (1972), which included Steve Miller, Elvin Bishop, Van Morrison, and others. Hooker appeared in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. He performed "Boom Boom" in the role of a street musician. In 1989, he recorded the album The Healer with Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, and others. The 1990s saw additional collaboration albums: Mr. Lucky (1991), Chill Out (1995), and Don't Look Back (1997) with Morrison, Santana, Los Lobos, and additional guest musicians. His re-recording of "Boom Boom" (the title track for his 1992 album) with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan became Hooker's highest charting single (number 16) in the UK. Come See About Me, a 2004 DVD, includes performances filmed between 1960 and 1994 and interviews with several of the musicians. Hooker owned five houses in his later life, including houses located in Los Altos, California; Redwood City, California, Long Beach, California, and Gilroy, California. Hooker died in his sleep on June 21, 2001, in Los Altos, California in his home. He is interred at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, California. He was survived by eight children, 19 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren. Collaborations 1968 with The Groundhogs: Hooker & the Hogs 1969 with The Doors: Hooker and Jim Morrison sing "Roadhouse Blues", published 2000 on the tribute album Stoned Immaculate: The Music of The Doors 1971 with Canned Heat: Hooker 'n' Heat 1985 with Kingfish: "Put A Hand On Me" on the album Kingfish, featuring John Lee Hooker and Mike Bloomfield 1989 Hooker sang on the album The Iron Man by Pete Townshend, on the songs "Over the Top" and "I Eat Heavy Metal" 1991 with Charlie Musselwhite: "Cheatin' On Me" on the album Signature 1992 with Lightnin' Hopkins: "Katie Mae" and "Candy Kitchen" on the album It's A Sin To Be Rich 1992 with Branford
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Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders the last significant Confederate army. 1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer". 1887 – The Rocky Mountains Park Act becomes law in Canada creating the nation's first national park, Banff National Park. 1894 – The International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris, at the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin. 1901–present 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Greeks defeat the Bulgarians in the Battle of Doiran. 1914 – Mexican Revolution: Pancho Villa takes Zacatecas from Victoriano Huerta. 1917 – In a game against the Washington Senators, Boston Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore retires 26 batters in a row after replacing Babe Ruth, who had been ejected for punching the umpire. 1919 – Estonian War of Independence: The decisive defeat of the Baltische Landeswehr in the Battle of Cēsis; this date is celebrated as Victory Day in Estonia. 1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam. 1931 – Wiley Post and Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island in an attempt to circumnavigate the world in a single-engine plane. 1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States. 1940 – Adolf Hitler goes on a three-hour tour of the architecture of Paris with architect Albert Speer and sculptor Arno Breker in his only visit to the city. 1940 – Henry Larsen begins the first successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. 1941 – The Lithuanian Activist Front declares independence from the Soviet Union and forms the Provisional Government of Lithuania; it lasts only briefly as the Nazis will occupy Lithuania a few weeks later. 1942 – World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales. 1946 – The 1946 Vancouver Island earthquake strikes Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. 1947 – The United States Senate follows the United States House of Representatives in overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft–Hartley Act. 1951 – The ocean liner SS United States is christened and launched. 1956 – The French National Assembly takes the first step in creating the French Community by passing the Loi Cadre, transferring a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments in French West Africa. 1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only nine years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career. 1960 – The United States Food and Drug Administration declares Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world. 1961 – The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force. 1967 – Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference. 1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren. 1969 – IBM announces that effective January 1970 it will price its software and services separately from hardware thus creating the modern software industry. 1972 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins. 1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds. 1973 – A fire at a house in Hull, England, which kills a six-year-old boy is passed off as an accident; it later emerges as the first of 26 deaths by fire caused over the next seven years by serial arsonist Peter Dinsdale. 1985 – A terrorist bomb explodes at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. An hour later, the same group detonates a second bomb aboard Air India Flight 182, bringing the Boeing 747 down off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 aboard. 1991 – Sonic the Hedgehog is released in North America on the Sega Genesis platform, beginning the popular video game franchise. 1994 – NASA's Space Station Processing Facility, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing building for the International Space Station, officially opens at Kennedy Space Center. 2001 – The 8.4 southern Peru earthquake shakes coastal Peru with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). A destructive tsunami followed, leaving at least 74 people dead, and 2,687 injured. 2012 – Ashton Eaton breaks the decathlon world record at the United States Olympic Trials. 2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope. 2013 – Militants storm a high-altitude mountaineering base camp near Nanga Parbat in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, killing ten climbers and a local guide. 2014 – The last of Syria's declared chemical weapons are shipped out for destruction. 2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%. 2017 – A series of terrorist attacks take place in Pakistan, resulting in 96 deaths and wounding 200 others. 2018 – Twelve boys and an assistant coach from a soccer team in Thailand are trapped in a flooding cave, leading to an 18-day rescue operation. 2021 – Apple Daily, a Hong Kong tabloid newspaper supporting the pro-democracy factions, is forced to close due to an asset freeze ordered by the Hong Kong government. Births Pre-1600 47 BC – Caesarion, Egyptian king (died 30 BC) 1385 – Stephen, Count Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken (died 1459) 1433 – Francis II, Duke of Brittany (died 1488) 1456 – Margaret of Denmark, Queen of Scotland (died 1486) 1489 – Charles II, Duke of Savoy, Italian nobleman (died 1496) 1534 – Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (died 1582) 1596 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (died 1641) 1601–1900 1616 – Shah Shuja, Mughal prince (died 1661) 1625 – John Fell, English churchman and influential academic (died 1686) 1668 – Giambattista Vico, Italian jurist, historian, and philosopher (died 1744) 1683 – Étienne Fourmont, French orientalist and sinologist (died 1745) 1711 – Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Italian instrument maker (died 1786) 1716 – Fletcher Norton, 1st Baron Grantley, English lawyer and politician, Solicitor General for England and Wales (died 1789) 1750 – Déodat Gratet de Dolomieu, French geologist and academic (died 1801) 1763 – Joséphine de Beauharnais, French wife of Napoleon I (died 1814) 1799 – John Milton Bernhisel, American physician and politician (died 1881) 1800 – Karol Marcinkowski, Polish physician and activist (died 1846) 1824 – Carl Reinecke, German pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1910) 1843 – Paul Heinrich von Groth, German scientist (died 1927) 1860 – Albert Giraud, Belgian poet and librarian (died 1929) 1863 – Sándor Bródy, Hungarian author and journalist (died 1924) 1877 – Norman Pritchard, Indian-English hurdler and actor (died 1929) 1879 – Huda Sha'arawi, Egyptian feminist and journalist (died 1947) 1884 – Cyclone Taylor, Canadian ice hockey player and politician (died 1979) 1888 – Bronson M. Cutting, American publisher and politician (died 1935) 1889 – Anna Akhmatova, Ukrainian-Russian poet and author (died 1966) 1889 – Verena Holmes, English engineer (died 1964) 1894 – Harold Barrowclough, New Zealand military leader, lawyer and Chief Justice (died 1972) 1894 – Alfred Kinsey, American entomologist and sexologist (died 1956) 1894 – Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom (died 1972) 1899 – Amédée Gordini, Italian-born French race car driver and sports car manufacturer (died 1979) 1900 – Blanche Noyes, American aviator, winner of the 1936 Bendix Trophy Race (died 1981) 1901–present 1901 – Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Turkish author, poet, and scholar (died 1962) 1903 – Paul Martin Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1992) 1904 – Quintin McMillan, South African cricketer (died 1938) 1905 – Jack Pickersgill, Canadian civil servant and politician, 35th Secretary of State for Canada (died 1997) 1906 – Tribhuvan of Nepal (died 1955) 1907 – Dercy Gonçalves, Brazilian actress and singer (died 2008) 1907 – James Meade, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1995) 1909 – David Lewis, Russian-Canadian lawyer and politician (died 1981) 1909 – Georges Rouquier, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1989) 1910 – Jean Anouilh, French playwright and screenwriter (died 1987) 1910 – Gordon B. Hinckley, American religious leader, 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 2008) 1910 – Milt Hinton, American bassist and photographer (died 2000) 1910 – Bill King, English yachtsman, naval commander and author (died 2012) 1910 – Lawson Little, American golfer (died 1968) 1912 – Alan Turing, English mathematician and computer scientist (died 1954) 1913 – William P. Rogers, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 55th United States Secretary of State (died 2001) 1915 – Frances Gabe, American artist and inventor (died 2016) 1916 – Len Hutton, English cricketer and soldier (died 1990) 1916 – Irene Worth, American actress (died 2002) 1916 – Al G. Wright, American bandleader and conductor (died 2020) 1919 – Mohamed Boudiaf, Algerian politician, President of Algeria (died 1992) 1920 – Saleh Ajeery, Kuwaiti astronomer 1921 – Paul Findley, American politician (died 2019) 1922 – Morris R. Jeppson, American lieutenant and physicist (died 2010) 1922 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 1998) 1923 – Peter Corr, Irish-English footballer and manager (died 2001) 1923 – Elroy Schwartz, American screenwriter and producer (died 2013) 1923 – Doris Johnson, American politician 1923 – Jerry Rullo, American professional basketball player (died 2016) 1923 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian communist and Partisan (died 1945) 1924 – Frank Bolle, American comic-strip artist, comic-book artist and illustrator (died 2020) 1925 – Miriam Karlin, English actress (died 2011) 1925 – Art Modell, American businessman (died 2012) 1925 – Anna Chennault, Chinese widow of Lieutenant General Claire Lee Chennault (died 2018) 1926 – Lawson Soulsby, Baron Soulsby of Swaffham Prior, English microbiologist and parasitologist (died 2017) 1926 – Magda Herzberger, Romanian author, poet and composer, survivor of the Holocaust (died 2021) 1926 – Annette Mbaye d'Erneville, Senegalese writer 1926 – Arnaldo Pomodoro, Italian sculptor 1927 – Bob Fosse, American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director (died 1987) 1927 – John Habgood, Baron Habgood, English archbishop (died
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Dave Houghton, Zimbabwean cricketer and coach 1957 – Frances McDormand, American actress, winner of the Triple Crown of Acting 1958 – John Hayes, English politician, Minister of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change 1960 – Donald Harrison, American saxophonist, composer, and producer 1960 – Tatsuya Uemura, Japanese composer and programmer 1961 – Richard Arnold, English lawyer and judge 1961 – Zoran Janjetov, Serbian singer and illustrator 1961 – LaSalle Thompson, American basketball player, coach, and manager 1962 – Chuck Billy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1963 – Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer 1964 – Nicolas Marceau, Canadian economist and politician 1964 – Tara Morice, Australian actress and singer 1964 – Joss Whedon, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1964 – Lou Yun, Chinese gymnast 1965 – Paul Arthurs, English guitarist 1965 – Sylvia Mathews Burwell, American government and non-profit executive 1965 – Peter O'Malley, Australian golfer 1966 – Chico DeBarge, American singer and pianist 1969 – Martin Klebba, American actor, producer, and stuntman 1970 – Robert Brooks, American football player 1970 – Martin Deschamps, Canadian singer-songwriter 1970 – Yann Tiersen, French singer-songwriter and guitarist 1971 – Fred Ewanuick, Canadian actor and producer 1971 – Félix Potvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1972 – Selma Blair, American actress 1972 – Louis Van Amstel, Dutch dancer and choreographer 1972 – Zinedine Zidane, French footballer and manager 1974 – Joel Edgerton, Australian actor 1974 – Mark Hendrickson, American basketball and baseball player 1975 – Kevin Dyson, American football player and coach 1975 – David Howell, English golfer 1975 – Mike James, American basketball player 1975 – KT Tunstall, Scottish singer-songwriter and musician 1976 – Wade Barrett, American soccer player and manager 1976 – Joe Becker, American guitarist and composer 1976 – Savvas Poursaitidis, Greek-Cypriot footballer and scout 1976 – Brandon Stokley, American football player 1976 – Paola Suárez, Argentinian tennis player 1976 – Emmanuelle Vaugier, Canadian actress and singer 1976 – Patrick Vieira, French footballer and manager 1977 – Miguel Ángel Angulo, Spanish footballer 1977 – Hayden Foxe, Australian footballer and manager 1977 – Jaan Jüris, Estonian ski jumper 1977 – Jason Mraz, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1977 – Shaun O'Hara, American football player and sportscaster 1978 – Memphis Bleek, American rapper, producer, and actor 1978 – Frederic Leclercq, French heavy metal musician 1978 – Matt Light, American football player and sportscaster 1979 – LaDainian Tomlinson, American football player 1980 – Becky Cloonan, American author and illustrator 1980 – Melissa Rauch, American actress 1980 – Francesca Schiavone, Italian tennis player 1981 – Antony Costa, English singer-songwriter 1981 – Rolf Wacha, German rugby player 1982 – Derek Boogaard, Canadian-American ice hockey player (died 2011) 1983 – Brooks Laich, Canadian ice hockey player 1983 – José Manuel Rojas, Chilean footballer 1984 – Duffy, Welsh singer-songwriter and actress 1984 – Takeshi Matsuda, Japanese swimmer 1984 – Levern Spencer, Saint Lucian high jumper 1985 – Marcel Reece, American football player 1986 – Christy Altomare, American actress and singer-songwriter 1987 – Alessia Filippi, Italian swimmer 1988 – Chet Faker, Australian singer-songwriter 1988 – Chellsie Memmel, American gymnast 1989 – Lisa Carrington, New Zealand flatwater canoeist 1989 – Jordan Nolan, Canadian ice hockey player 1990 – Clevid Dikamona, French footballer 1990 – Vasek Pospisil, Canadian tennis player 1990 – Laura Ràfols, Spanish footballer 1991 – Katie Armiger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1992 – Luiza Galiulina, Uzbekistani gymnast 1992 – Nampalys Mendy, French footballer 1993 – Tim Anderson, American baseball player 1993 – Marvin Grumann, German footballer 1994 – Ben Dwarshuis, Australian cricketer 2000 – Starford To'a, New Zealand rugby league player 2007 – Elliana Walmsley, American dancer 2008 – Lilliana Ketchman, American dancer and YouTuber Deaths Pre-1600 79 – Vespasian, Roman emperor (born AD 9) 679 – Æthelthryth, English saint (born 636) 947 – Li Congyi, prince of Later Tang (born 931) 947 – Wang, imperial consort of Later Tang 960 – Feng Yanji, chancellor of Southern Tang (born 903) 994 – Lothair Udo I, count of Stade (born 950) 1018 – Henry I, margrave of Austria 1137 – Adalbert of Mainz, German archbishop 1222 – Constance of Aragon, Hungarian queen (born 1179) 1290 – Henryk IV Probus, duke of Wrocław and high duke of Kraków (born c. 1258) 1314 – Henry de Bohun, English knight 1324 – Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (born 1270) 1343 – Giacomo Gaetani Stefaneschi, Italian cardinal (born c. 1270) 1356 – Margaret II, Holy Roman Empress (born 1311) 1537 – Pedro de Mendoza, Spanish conquistador (born 1487) 1565 – Dragut, Ottoman admiral (born 1485) 1582 – Shimizu Muneharu, Japanese commander (born 1537) 1601–1900 1615 – Mashita Nagamori, Japanese daimyō (born 1545) 1677 – William Louis, duke of Württemberg (born 1647) 1686 – William Coventry, English politician (born 1628) 1707 – John Mill, English theologian and author (born 1645) 1733 – Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, Swiss paleontologist and scholar (born 1672) 1770 – Mark Akenside, English poet and physician (born 1721) 1775 – Karl Ludwig von Pöllnitz, German adventurer and author (born 1692) 1779 – Mikael Sehul, Ethiopian warlord (born 1691) 1806 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (born 1723) 1811 – Nicolau Tolentino de Almeida, Portuguese poet and author (born 1740) 1832 – Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, Scottish geologist and geophysicist (born 1761) 1836 – James Mill, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (born 1773) 1848 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este, Electress of Bavaria (born 1776) 1856 – Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian philosopher and critic (born 1806) 1881 – Matthias Jakob Schleiden, German botanist and academic (born 1804) 1891 – Wilhelm Eduard Weber, German physicist and academic (born 1804) 1891 – Samuel Newitt Wood, American lawyer and politician (born 1825) 1893 – William Fox, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of New Zealand (born 1812) 1893 – Theophilus Shepstone, English-South African politician (born 1817) 1901–present 1914 – Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Indian guru and philosopher (born 1838) 1945 – Giuseppina Tuissi, Italian journalist and activist (born 1923) 1953 – Albert Gleizes, French painter (born 1881) 1954 – Salih Omurtak, Turkish general (born 1889) 1956 – Reinhold Glière, Russian composer and educator (born 1875) 1959 – Boris Vian, French author, poet, and playwright (born 1920) 1959 – Hidir Lutfi, Iraqi poet. (born 1880) 1969 – Volmari Iso-Hollo, Finnish runner (born 1907) 1970 – Roscoe Turner, American soldier and pilot (born 1895) 1973 – Gerry Birrell, Scottish race car driver (born 1944) 1980 – Sanjay Gandhi, Indian engineer and politician (born 1946) 1980 – Clyfford Still, American painter and academic (born 1904) 1989 – Werner Best, German police officer and jurist (born 1903) 1990 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor, and politician (born 1898) 1992 – Eric Andolsek, American football player (born 1966) 1995 – Roger Grimsby, American journalist (born 1928) 1995 – Jonas Salk, American biologist and physician (born 1914) 1995 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (born 1918) 1996 – Andreas Papandreou, Greek economist and politician, 174th Prime Minister of Greece (born 1919) 1996 – Ray Lindwall, Australian cricketer and rugby player (born 1921) 1997 – Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (born 1936) 1998 – Maureen O'Sullivan, Irish-American actress (born 1911) 2000 – Peter Dubovský, Slovak footballer (born 1972) 2002 – Pedro Alcázar, Panamanian boxer (born 1975) 2005 – Shana Alexander, American journalist and author (born 1926) 2005 – Manolis Anagnostakis, Greek poet and critic (born 1925) 2006 – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter, founded Spelling Television (born 1923) 2007 – Rod Beck, American baseball player (born 1968) 2008 – Claudio Capone, Italian-Scottish actor (born 1952) 2008 – Arthur Chung, Guyanese surveyor and politician, 1st President of Guyana (born 1918) 2008 – Marian Glinka, Polish actor and bodybuilder (born 1943) 2009 – Raymond Berthiaume, Canadian singer-songwriter and producer (born 1931) 2009 – Ed McMahon, American game show host and announcer (born 1923) 2009 – Jerri Nielsen, American physician and explorer (born 1952) 2010 – John Burton, Australian public servant and diplomat (born 1915) 2011 – Peter Falk, American actor (born 1927) 2011 – Dennis Marshall, Costa Rican footballer (born 1985) 2011 – Fred Steiner, American composer and conductor (born 1923) 2012 – James Durbin, English economist and statistician (born 1923) 2012 – Brigitte Engerer, French pianist and educator (born 1952) 2012 – Alan McDonald, Northern Ireland footballer and manager (born 1963) 2012 – Frank Chee Willeto, American soldier and politician, 4th Vice President of the Navajo Nation (born 1925) 2012 – Walter J. Zable, American football player and businessman, founded the Cubic Corporation (born 1915) 2013 – Bobby Bland, American singer-songwriter (born 1930) 2013 – Gary David Goldberg, American screenwriter and producer (born 1944) 2013 – Frank Kelso, American admiral and politician, United States Secretary of the Navy (born 1933) 2013 – Kurt Leichtweiss, German mathematician and academic (born 1927) 2013 – Richard Matheson, American author and screenwriter (born 1926) 2013 – Darryl Read, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (born 1951) 2013 – Sharon Stouder, American swimmer (born 1948) 2014 – Nancy Garden, American author (born 1938) 2014 – Euros Lewis, Welsh cricketer (born 1942) 2014 – Paula Kent Meehan, American businesswoman, co-founded Redken (born 1931) 2015 – Miguel Facussé Barjum, Honduran businessman (born 1924) 2015 – Nirmala Joshi, Indian nun, lawyer, and social worker (born 1934) 2015 – Dick Van Patten, American actor (born 1928) 2016
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lines 2.149–170 – The ghosts of great Romans of the past would feel themselves contaminated when such Romans descend to the underworld. Satire III: There is no Room in Rome for a Roman 322 lines. In the place where Numa Pompilius (the legendary second king of Rome) received a nymph's advice on creating Roman law, the narrator has a final conversation with his Roman friend Umbricius, who is emigrating to Cumae. Umbricius claims that slick and immoral foreigners have shut a real Roman out of all opportunity to prosper. Only the first 20 lines are in the voice of the narrator; the remainder of the poem is cast as the words of Umbricius. In 1738, Samuel Johnson was inspired by this text to write his London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal. The archetypal question of whether an urban life of hectic ambition is to be preferred to a pastoral fantasy retreat to the country is posed by the narrator: lines 3.1–20 – The narrator's old friend Umbricius is about to depart Roma for Cumae. The narrator says he would himself prefer Prochyta to the Suburra, and he describes the ancient shrine of Egeria being put up for rent to Jews and polluted by marble. lines 3.21–57 – Umbricius: There is no opportunity in Roma for an honest man. lines 3.58–125 – Umbricius: The Greeks and their ways are flowing like pollution into Roma, and they are so adept at lying flattery that they are achieving more social advancement than real Romans. lines 3.126–163 – Umbricius: The dregs of society so long as they are wealthy lord it over real Romans; there is no hope for an honest man in court if he is poor. lines 3.164–189 – Umbricius: Virtue and lack of pretension is only to be found outside the City; at Roma everything is expensive, pretentious, and bought on credit. lines 3.190–231 – Umbricius contrasts the perils and degradation of living in Roma with the easy and cheap life outside the City. lines 3.232–267 – Umbricius: The streets of Roma are annoying and dangerous if you are not rich enough to ride in a litter. lines 3.268–314 – Umbricius: Travel by night in Roma is fraught with danger from falling tiles, thugs, and robbers. lines 3.315–322 – Umbricius takes his leave of the narrator, and promises to visit him in his native Aquinum. Satire IV: The Emperor's Fish 154 lines. The narrator makes the emperor Domitian and his court the objects of his ridicule in this mock-epic tale of a fish so prodigious that it was fit for the emperor alone. The council of state is called to deal with the crisis of how to cook it, where the fish can neither be cooked by conventional means due to its size, nor can it be cut into pieces. The main themes of this poem are the corruption and incompetence of sycophantic courtiers and the inability or unwillingness to speak truth to power. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's motto, vitam impendere vero (to pay his life for the truth), is taken from the passage below, a description of the qualifications of an imperial courtier in the reign of Domitian: lines 4.1–10 – Criticism of the courtier Crispinus. lines 4.11–33 – Crispinus bought a mullet for six thousand sesterces – more expensive than the fisherman that caught him. lines 4.34–56 – Mock-epic narrative of the crisis of state caused by a giant turbot begins with the catch. lines 4.56–72 – The fisherman rushes to get the fish to the emperor. lines 4.72–93 – Crispinus and other councilors begin to arrive. lines 4.94–143 – More councilors arrive and one prophesizes that the fish is an omen of a future victory. The question of what to do with it is raised, and Montanus advises that a vessel be manufactured at once suitable for its size. lines 4.144–154 – The council break up, and the narrator voices his wish that all the actions of Domitian had been so meaningless. Satire V: Patronizing Patronage 173 lines. The narrative frame of this poem is a dinner party where many potential dysfunctions in the ideal of the patron-client relationship are put on display. Rather than being a performance of faux-equality, the patron (Virro as in 9.35) emphasizes the superiority of himself and his peers () over his clients () by offering food and drink of unequal quality to each. Juvenal concludes with the observation that the clients who put up with this treatment deserve it. lines 5.1–11 – Begging is better than being treated disrespectfully at a patron's dinner. lines 5.12–23 – An invitation to dinner is a social exchange for your services as a client. lines 5.24–48 – Different wines and goblets for different social ranks. lines 5.49–106 – Different water is served by different grades of slaves – and different breads served by arrogant slaves. The patron gets a lobster, and you get a crayfish; he gets a Corsican mullet, and you get a sewer-fish. lines 5.107–113 – Seneca and others were known for their generosity. The elite should dine as equals with their friends – clients. lines 5.114–124 – The patron gets a goose liver and boar meat, but you get to watch the meat carver perform. lines 5.125–155 – If you had a fortune the patron would respect you; it is the cash that he really respects. Different mushrooms and apples. lines 5.156–173 – Clients who will not resist this kind of treatment deserve it and worse. Book II Satire VI: The Decay of Feminine Virtue c. 695 lines. For the discussion and synopsis, see Satire VI. Book III Satire VII: Fortuna (or the Emperor) is the Best Patron 243 lines. Juvenal returns to his theme of distorted economic values among the Roman elite – in this instance centered on their unwillingness to provide appropriate support for poets, lawyers, and teachers. It is the capricious whims of fate that determine the variables of a human life. lines 7.1–21 – The emperor is the only remaining patron of letters. lines 7.22–35 – Other patrons have learned to offer their admiration only. lines 7.36–52 – The urge to write is an addictive disease. lines 7.53–97 – Money and leisure are required to be a really great poet (); hunger and discomfort would have hobbled even Virgil. lines 7.98–105 – Historians () do not have it any better. lines 7.106–149 – Lawyers () get only as much respect as the quality of their dress can buy. lines 7.150–177 – No one is willing to pay teachers of rhetoric (magistri) appropriately. lines 7.178–214 – Rich men restrain only their spending on a teacher of rhetoric () for their sons. Quintilian was rich, he was the lucky exception to the rule. lines 7.215–243 – The qualifications and efforts required of a teacher () are totally out of proportion to their pay. Satire VIII: True Nobility 275 lines. The narrator takes issue with the idea that pedigree ought to be taken as evidence of a person's worth. lines 8.1–38 – What is the value of a pedigree, if you are inferior to your ancestors? lines 8.39–55 – Many nobles have done nothing to make themselves noble. lines 8.56–70 – Racehorses are valued for their speed not their ancestors; if they are slow they will end up pulling a cart. lines 8.71–86 – It is vile to rely on the reputations of others; one should be noble even in the face of danger. lines 8.87–126 – Govern your province honestly. When everything else is stolen from those you rule, weapons and desperation remain. lines 8.127–162 – If you live wickedly, your good ancestors are a reproach to you. lines 8.163–182 – Bad behavior should be ceased in youth. The nobles make excuses for behavior that would not be tolerated in slaves. lines 8.183–210 – When they bankrupt themselves, the nobles may sink to the level of the stage or the arena. lines 8.211–230 – The emperor Nero utterly debased himself in these ways. lines 8.231–275 – Many people without famous ancestors have served Rome with great distinction. Indeed, everyone is descended from peasants or worse if you go back far enough. Satire IX: Flattering your Patron is Hard Work 150 lines. This satire is in the form of a dialogue between the narrator and Naevolus – a male prostitute, the disgruntled client of a pathic patron. lines 9.1–26 – Narrator: Why do you look so haggard, Naevolus? lines 9.27–46 – Naevolus: The life of serving the needs of pathic rich men is not paying off. lines 9.46–47 – Nar: But you used to think you were really sexy to men. lines 9.48–69 – Nae: Rich pathics are not willing to spend on their sickness, but I have bills to pay. lines 9.70–90 – Nae: I saved his marriage by doing his job for him with a wife that was about to get a divorce. lines 9.90–91 – Nar: You are justified in complaining, Naevolus. What did he say? lines 9.92–101 – Nae: He is looking for another two-legged donkey, but don't repeat any of this, he might try to kill me. lines 9.102–123 – Nar: Rich men have no secrets. lines 9.124–129 – Nae: But what should I do now; youth is fleeting. lines 9.130–134 – Nar: You will never lack a pathic patron, don't worry. lines 9.134–150 – Nae: But I want so little. Fortuna must have her ears plugged when I pray. Book IV Satire X: Wrong Desire is the Source of Suffering 366 lines. The theme of this poem encompasses the myriad objects of prayer unwisely sought from the gods: wealth, power, beauty, children, long life, et cetera. The narrator argues that each of these is a false Good; each desired thing is shown to be not good in itself, but only good so long as other factors do not intervene. This satire is the source of the well-known phrase (a healthy mind in a healthy body), which appears in the passage above. It is also the source of the phrase (bread and circuses) – the only remaining cares of a Roman populace which has given up its birthright of political freedom (10.81). lines 10.1–27 – Few know what is really Good. Wealth often destroys. lines 10.28–55 – One can either cry like Heraclitus or laugh like Democritus at the state of things. But what should men pray for? lines 10.56–89 – It is all too easy to fall from power – like Sejanus. The mob follows Fortuna and cares for nothing but bread and circuses. lines 10.90–113 – By seeking ever more honors and power, Sejanus just made his eventual fall that much more terrible. lines 10.114–132 – Being a great orator like Demosthenes or Cicero may get one killed. lines 10.133–146 – Lust for military glory has ruined countries, and time will destroy even the graves of famous generals. lines 10.147–167 – What did Hannibal ultimately accomplish? He dies of poison in exile. lines 10.168–187 – The world was not big enough for Alexander the Great, but a coffin was. Xerxes I crawled back to Persia after his misadventure in Greece. lines 10.188–209 – Long life just means ugliness, helplessness, impotence, and the loss of all pleasure. lines 10.209–239 – Old people are deaf and full of diseases. Dementia is the worst affliction of all. lines 10.240–272 – Old people just live to see the funerals of their children and loved ones, like Nestor or Priam. lines 10.273–288 – Many men would have been thought fortunate if they had died before a late disaster overtook them: e.g. Croesus, Marius, and Pompey. lines 10.289–309 – Beauty is inimical to a person's virtue. Even if they remain untouched by corruption, it makes them objects of lust for perverts. lines 10.310–345 – Beautiful men tend to become noted adulterers, risking their lives. Even if they are unwilling like Hippolytus, the wrath of scorned women may destroy them. lines 10.346–366—Is there nothing to pray for then? Trust the gods to choose what is best; they love humans more than we do ourselves, but if you must pray for something, "[i]t is to be prayed that the mind be sound in a sound body..." (the excerpt above). Satire XI: Dinner and a Moral 208 lines. The main themes of this poem are self-awareness and moderation. The poem explicitly mentions one apothegm (know thyself) from the temple of Apollo at Delphi, while its theme calls to mind another (nothing in excess). The subject, in this instance, is the role of food and the (formal dinner) in Roman society. The narrator contrasts the ruinous spending habits of gourmands with the moderation of a simple meal of home-grown foods in the manner of the mythical ancient Romans. lines 11.1–55 – People that refuse to limit their gourmet habits, even in the face of having to do so on credit, soon endure poverty and consequently inferior food. The advice of Apollo to know oneself should be heeded – not just for ambitions and endeavors, but also for what should be spent on a fish. lines 11.56–89 – The narrator invites a Persicus to come to his house for dinner to see whether his actions match his rhetoric. The dinner will include only home-grown foods from the narrator's Tiburtine land. Long ago, the noble Curius cooked things for himself that a slave on a chain-gang would reject now. lines 11.90–119 – The ancient Romans did not care for luxuries and Greek art. A Jupiter made of terracotta saved the city from the Gauls. lines 11.120–135 – Now rich people get no enjoyment from delicacies unless they eat from tables decorated with ivory. The narrator claims that his food is unharmed, despite owning no ivory. lines 11.136–161 – The narrator promises no professional meat carver or exotic slave servers, nor are his slave boys destined for emasculation and use as sexual toys. lines 11.162–182 – In place of a pornographic Spanish dance show, there will be poetry. lines 11.183–208 – Rather than endure the annoyance of all Roma at the Circus Maximus during the Megalensian Games, the narrator invites his addressee to shake off his cares and come to a simple dinner. Satire XII: True Friendship 130 lines. The narrator describes to his addressee Corvinus the sacrificial vows that he has made for the salvation of his friend Catullus from shipwreck. These vows are to the primary Roman gods – Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva (the Capitoline Triad) – but other shipwrecked sailors are said to make offerings to Isis. In the passage quoted above, the narrator asserts that his sacrifices are not to curry favor or gain an inheritance, common reasons for making vows among those who would not hesitate to sacrifice their slaves or even children if it would bring them an inheritance. lines 12.1–29 – Description of the sacrificial preparations. lines 12.30–51 – Description of a storm: this friend had been willing to cast overboard items of great value to save his own life – who else would prefer his life to his treasures. lines 12.52–82 – They had to cut the mast due to the ferocity of the storm, but then the weather calmed and they limped their ship into the port at Ostia. lines 12.83–92 – The narrator orders that the altar and sacrifice be made ready. He says that he will propitiate his Lares (family gods) as well. lines 12.93–130 – Catullus has heirs, so the narrator is acting as a friend not a legacy-hunter (). Legacy hunters would sacrifice one hundred cattle, elephants, slaves, or even their own child if it secured an inheritance for them. Book V (incomplete) Satire XIII: Don’t Obsess over Liars and Crooks 249 lines. This poem is a dissuasion from excessive rage and the desire for revenge when one is defrauded. The narrator
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or exemplars of particular vices and virtues. Coupled with his dense and elliptical Latin, these tangential references indicate that the intended reader of the Satires was highly educated. The Satires are concerned with perceived threats to the social continuity of the Roman citizens: social-climbing foreigners, unfaithfulness, and other more extreme excesses of their own class. The intended audience of the Satires constituted a subset of the Roman elite, primarily adult males of a more conservative social stance. Scholarly estimates for the dating of the individual books have varied. It is generally accepted that the fifth book must date to a point after 127, because of a reference to the Roman consul Iuncus in Satire 15. A recent scholar has argued that the first book should be dated to 100 or 101. Juvenal's works are contemporary with those of Martial, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger. Manuscript tradition The controversies concerning the surviving texts of the Satires have been extensive and heated. Many manuscripts survive, but only P (the Codex Pithoeanus Montepessulanus), a 9th-century manuscript based on an edition prepared in the 4th century by a pupil of Servius Honoratus, the grammarian, is reasonably reliable. At the same time as the Servian text was produced, however, other and lesser scholars also created their editions of Juvenal: it is these on which most medieval manuscripts of Juvenal are based. It did not help matters that P disappeared sometime during the Renaissance and was only rediscovered around 1840. It is not, however, uncommon for the generally inferior manuscripts to supply a better reading in cases when P is imperfect. In addition, modern scholarly debate has also raged around the authenticity of the text which has survived, as various editors have argued that considerable portions are not, in fact, authentically Juvenalian and represent interpolations from early editors of the text. Jachmann (1943) argued that up to one-third of what survives is non-authentic: Ulrick Knoche (1950) deleted about hundred lines, Clausen about forty, Courtney (1975) a similar number. Willis (1997) italicizes 297 lines as being potentially suspect. On the other hand, Vahlen, Housman, Duff, Griffith, Ferguson and Green believe the surviving text to be largely authentic: indeed Green regards the main problem as being not interpolations but lacunae. In recent times debate has focused on the authenticity of the "O Passage" of Satire VI, 36 lines (34 of which are continuous) discovered by E. O. Winstedt in an 11th-century manuscript in Oxford's Bodleian Library. These lines occur in no other manuscript of Juvenal, and when discovered were considerably corrupted. Ever since Housman translated and emended the "O Passage" there has been considerable controversy over whether the fragment is in fact a forgery: the field is currently split between those (Green, Ferguson, Courtney) who believe it is not, and those (Willis, Anderson), who believe it is. Synopsis of the Satires Book I Satire I: It is Hard not to Write Satire This so-called "Programmatic Satire" lays out for the reader a catalogue of ills and annoyances that prompt the narrator to write satire. Some examples cited by Juvenal include eunuchs getting married, elite women performing in a beast hunt, and the dregs of society suddenly becoming wealthy by gross acts of sycophancy. To the extent that it is programmatic, this satire concerns the first book rather than the satires of the other four known books. The narrator explicitly marks the writings of Lucilius as the model for his book of poems (lines 19–20), although he claims that to attack the living as his model did incur great risk (lines 165–167). The narrator contends that traditional Roman virtues, such as fides and virtus, had disappeared from society to the extent that "Rome was no longer Roman": lines 1.1–19 – Since there are so many poets wasting paper and everyone's time anyway – why not write? lines 1.20–80 – The narrator recites a catalogue of social deviants and criminals that demand Satire be written. lines 1.81–126 – Since the dawn of history, greed and fiscal corruption have never been worse. lines 1.127–146 – The narrator contrasts a typical day in the life of poor clients with that of their self-indulgent patron. lines 1.147–171 – The past cannot be worse than the present – yet one should only satirize the dead if they wish to live in safety. Satire II: Hypocrites are Intolerable 170 lines. The narrator claims to want to flee civilization (i.e. Roma) to beyond the world's end when confronted by moral hypocrisy. Although the broad theme of this poem is the process of gender inversion, it would be an error to take it as simple invective against pathic men. Juvenal is concerned with gender deviance. lines 2.1–35 – Pathic men that pretend to be moral exemplars are much worse than those who are open about their proclivities. lines 2.36–65 – When criticized for her morals, Laronia turns on one of these hypocrites and mocks their open effeminacy. lines 2.65–81 – Criticism of the effeminate dress of Creticus as he practices law. This moral plague (contagiō) spreads like disease passes through an entire herd of livestock or a bunch of grapes. lines 2.82–116 – Effeminate dress is the gateway to complete gender inversion. lines 2.117–148 – A noble man, Gracchus, marries another man – but such brides are infertile no matter what drugs they try or how much they are whipped in the Lupercalia. lines 2.149–170 – The ghosts of great Romans of the past would feel themselves contaminated when such Romans descend to the underworld. Satire III: There is no Room in Rome for a Roman 322 lines. In the place where Numa Pompilius (the legendary second king of Rome) received a nymph's advice on creating Roman law, the narrator has a final conversation with his Roman friend Umbricius, who is emigrating to Cumae. Umbricius claims that slick and immoral foreigners have shut a real Roman out of all opportunity to prosper. Only the first 20 lines are in the voice of the narrator; the remainder of the poem is cast as the words of Umbricius. In 1738, Samuel Johnson was inspired by this text to write his London: A Poem in Imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal. The archetypal question of whether an urban life of hectic ambition is to be preferred to a pastoral fantasy retreat to the country is posed by the narrator: lines 3.1–20 – The narrator's old friend Umbricius is about to depart Roma for Cumae. The narrator says he would himself prefer Prochyta to the Suburra, and he describes the ancient shrine of Egeria being put up for rent to Jews and polluted by marble. lines 3.21–57 – Umbricius: There is no opportunity in Roma for an honest man. lines 3.58–125 – Umbricius: The Greeks and their ways are flowing like pollution into Roma, and they are so adept at lying flattery that they are achieving more social advancement than real Romans. lines 3.126–163 – Umbricius: The dregs of society so long as they are wealthy lord it over real Romans; there is no hope for an honest man in court if he is poor. lines 3.164–189 – Umbricius: Virtue and lack of pretension is only to be found outside the City; at Roma everything is expensive, pretentious, and bought on credit. lines 3.190–231 – Umbricius contrasts the perils and degradation of living in Roma with the easy and cheap life outside the City. lines 3.232–267 – Umbricius: The streets of Roma are annoying and dangerous if you are not rich enough to ride in a litter. lines 3.268–314 – Umbricius: Travel by night in Roma is fraught with danger from falling tiles, thugs, and robbers. lines 3.315–322 – Umbricius takes his leave of the narrator, and promises to visit him in his native Aquinum. Satire IV: The Emperor's Fish 154 lines. The narrator makes the emperor Domitian and his court the objects of his ridicule in this mock-epic tale of a fish so prodigious that it was fit for the emperor alone. The council of state is called to deal with the crisis of how to cook it, where the fish can neither be cooked by conventional means due to its size, nor can it be cut into pieces. The main themes of this poem are the corruption and incompetence of sycophantic courtiers and the inability or unwillingness to speak truth to power. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's motto, vitam impendere vero (to pay his life for the truth), is taken from the passage below, a description of the qualifications of an imperial courtier in the reign of Domitian: lines 4.1–10 – Criticism of the courtier Crispinus. lines 4.11–33 – Crispinus bought a mullet for six thousand sesterces – more expensive than the fisherman that caught him. lines 4.34–56 – Mock-epic narrative of the crisis of state caused by a giant turbot begins with the catch. lines 4.56–72 – The fisherman rushes to get the fish to the emperor. lines 4.72–93 – Crispinus and other councilors begin to arrive. lines 4.94–143 – More councilors arrive and one prophesizes that the fish is an omen of a future victory. The question of what to do with it is raised, and Montanus advises that a vessel be manufactured at once suitable for its size. lines 4.144–154 – The council break up, and the narrator voices his wish that all the actions of Domitian had been so meaningless. Satire V: Patronizing Patronage 173 lines. The narrative frame of this poem is a dinner party where many potential dysfunctions in the ideal of the patron-client relationship are put on display. Rather than being a performance of faux-equality, the patron (Virro as in 9.35) emphasizes the superiority of himself and his peers () over his clients () by offering food and drink of unequal quality to each. Juvenal concludes with the observation that the clients who put up with this treatment deserve it. lines 5.1–11 – Begging is better than being treated disrespectfully at a patron's dinner. lines 5.12–23 – An invitation to dinner is a social exchange for your services as a client. lines 5.24–48 – Different wines and goblets for different social ranks. lines 5.49–106 – Different water is served by different grades of slaves – and different breads served by arrogant slaves. The patron gets a lobster, and you get a crayfish; he gets a Corsican mullet, and you get a sewer-fish. lines 5.107–113 – Seneca and others were known for their generosity. The elite should dine as equals with their friends – clients. lines 5.114–124 – The patron gets a goose liver and boar meat, but you get to watch the meat carver perform. lines 5.125–155 – If you had a fortune the patron would respect you; it is the cash that he really respects. Different mushrooms and apples. lines 5.156–173 – Clients who will not resist this kind of treatment deserve it and worse. Book II Satire VI: The Decay of Feminine Virtue c. 695 lines. For the discussion and synopsis, see Satire VI. Book III Satire VII: Fortuna (or the Emperor) is the Best Patron 243 lines. Juvenal returns to his theme of distorted economic values among the Roman elite – in this instance centered on their unwillingness to provide appropriate support for poets, lawyers, and teachers. It is the capricious whims of fate that determine the variables of a human life. lines 7.1–21 – The emperor is the only remaining patron of letters. lines 7.22–35 – Other patrons have learned to offer their admiration only. lines 7.36–52 – The urge to write is an addictive disease. lines 7.53–97 – Money and leisure are required to be a really great poet (); hunger and discomfort would have hobbled even Virgil. lines 7.98–105 – Historians () do not have it any better. lines 7.106–149 – Lawyers () get only as much respect as the quality of their dress can buy. lines 7.150–177 – No one is willing to pay teachers of rhetoric (magistri) appropriately. lines 7.178–214 – Rich men restrain only their spending on a teacher of rhetoric () for their sons. Quintilian was rich, he was the lucky exception to the rule. lines 7.215–243 – The qualifications and efforts required of a teacher () are totally out of proportion to their pay. Satire VIII: True Nobility 275 lines. The narrator takes issue with the idea that pedigree ought to be taken as evidence of a person's worth. lines 8.1–38 – What is the value of a pedigree, if you are inferior to your ancestors? lines 8.39–55 – Many nobles have done nothing to make themselves noble. lines 8.56–70 – Racehorses are valued for their speed not their ancestors; if they are slow they will end up pulling a cart. lines 8.71–86 – It is vile to rely on the reputations of others; one should be noble even in the face of danger. lines 8.87–126 – Govern your province honestly. When everything else is stolen from those you rule, weapons and desperation remain. lines 8.127–162 – If you live wickedly, your good ancestors are a reproach to you. lines 8.163–182 – Bad behavior should be ceased in youth. The nobles make excuses for behavior that would not be tolerated in slaves. lines 8.183–210 – When they bankrupt themselves, the nobles may sink to the level of the stage or the arena. lines 8.211–230 – The emperor Nero utterly debased himself in these ways. lines 8.231–275 – Many people without famous ancestors have served Rome with great distinction. Indeed, everyone is descended from peasants or worse if you go back far enough. Satire IX: Flattering your Patron is Hard Work 150 lines. This satire is in the form of a dialogue between the narrator and Naevolus – a male prostitute, the disgruntled client of a pathic patron. lines 9.1–26 – Narrator: Why do you look so haggard, Naevolus? lines 9.27–46 – Naevolus: The life of serving the needs of pathic rich men is not paying off. lines 9.46–47 – Nar: But you used to think you were really sexy to men. lines 9.48–69 – Nae: Rich pathics are not willing to spend on their sickness, but I have bills to pay. lines 9.70–90 – Nae: I saved his marriage by doing his job for him with a wife that was about to get a divorce. lines 9.90–91 – Nar: You are justified in complaining, Naevolus. What did he say? lines 9.92–101 – Nae: He is looking for another two-legged donkey, but don't repeat any of this, he might try to kill me. lines 9.102–123 – Nar: Rich men have no secrets. lines 9.124–129 – Nae: But what should I do now; youth is fleeting. lines 9.130–134 – Nar: You will never lack a pathic patron, don't worry. lines 9.134–150 – Nae: But I want so little. Fortuna must have her ears plugged when I pray. Book IV Satire X: Wrong Desire is the Source of Suffering 366 lines. The theme of this poem encompasses the myriad objects of prayer unwisely sought from the gods: wealth, power, beauty, children, long life, et cetera. The narrator argues that each of these is a false Good; each desired thing is shown to be not good in itself, but
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was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements; and one of the most influential figures in early 20th-century art as a whole. The National Observer suggested that, “of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man.” He is best known for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre Blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1950), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie. Cocteau, according to Annette Insdorf, “left behind a body of work unequalled for its variety of artistic expression.” Though his body of work encompassed many different mediums, Cocteau insisted on calling himself a poet, classifying the great variety of his works – poems, novels, plays, essays, drawings, films – as "poésie", "poésie de roman", "poésie de thêatre", "poésie critique", "poésie graphique" and "poésie cinématographique". Biography Early life Cocteau was born in Maisons-Laffitte, Yvelines, a town near Paris, to Georges Cocteau and his wife, Eugénie Lecomte; a socially prominent Parisian family. His father, a lawyer and amateur painter, committed suicide when Cocteau was nine. From 1900 to 1904, Cocteau attended the Lycée Condorcet where he met and began a relationship with schoolmate Pierre Dargelos, who would reappear throughout Cocteau's oeuvre. He left home at fifteen. He published his first volume of poems, Aladdin's Lamp, at nineteen. Cocteau soon became known in Bohemian artistic circles as The Frivolous Prince, the title of a volume he published at twenty-two. Edith Wharton described him as a man "to whom every great line of poetry was a sunrise, every sunset the foundation of the Heavenly City..." Early career In his early twenties, Cocteau became associated with the writers Marcel Proust, André Gide, and Maurice Barrès. In 1912, he collaborated with Léon Bakst on Le Dieu bleu for the Ballets Russes; the principal dancers being Tamara Karsavina and Vaslav Nijinsky. During World War I, Cocteau served in the Red Cross as an ambulance driver. This was the period in which he met the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, artists Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani, and numerous other writers and artists with whom he later collaborated. Russian impresario Sergei Diaghilev persuaded Cocteau to write a scenario for a ballet, which resulted in Parade in 1917. It was produced by Diaghilev, with sets by Picasso, the libretto by Apollinaire and the music by Erik Satie. "If it had not been for Apollinaire in uniform," wrote Cocteau, "with his skull shaved, the scar on his temple and the bandage around his head, women would have gouged our eyes out with hairpins." An important exponent of avant-garde art, Cocteau had great influence on the work of others, including a group of composers known as Les six. In the early twenties, he and other members of Les six frequented a wildly popular bar named Le Boeuf sur le Toit, a name that Cocteau himself had a hand in picking. The popularity was due in no small measure to the presence of Cocteau and his friends. Friendship with Raymond Radiguet In 1918 he met the French poet Raymond Radiguet. They collaborated extensively, socialized, and undertook many journeys and vacations together. Cocteau also got Radiguet exempted from military service. Admiring of Radiguet's great literary talent, Cocteau promoted his friend's works in his artistic circle and arranged for the publication by Grasset of Le Diable au corps (a largely autobiographical story of an adulterous relationship between a married woman and a younger man), exerting his influence to have the novel awarded the "Nouveau Monde" literary prize. Some contemporaries and later commentators thought there might have been a romantic component to their friendship. Cocteau himself was aware of this perception, and worked earnestly to dispel the notion that their relationship was sexual in nature. There is disagreement over Cocteau's reaction to Radiguet's sudden death in 1923, with some claiming that it left him stunned, despondent and prey to opium addiction. Opponents of that interpretation point out that he did not attend the funeral (he generally did not attend funerals) and immediately left Paris with Diaghilev for a performance of Les noces (The Wedding) by the Ballets Russes at Monte Carlo. Cocteau himself much later characterised his reaction as one of "stupor and disgust." His opium addiction at the time, Cocteau said, was only coincidental, due to a chance meeting with Louis Laloy, the administrator of the Monte Carlo Opera. Cocteau's opium use and his efforts to stop profoundly changed his literary style. His most notable book, Les Enfants Terribles, was written in a week during a strenuous opium weaning. In , he recounts the experience of his recovery from
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member of the Académie Française and The Royal Academy of Belgium. During his life, Cocteau was commander of the Legion of Honor, Member of the Mallarmé Academy, German Academy (Berlin), American Academy, Mark Twain (U.S.A) Academy, Honorary President of the Cannes Film Festival, Honorary President of the France-Hungary Association and President of the Jazz Academy and of the Academy of the Disc. Filmography Works Literature Poetry Novels Theatre Poetry and criticism Journalistic poetry Film Director Scriptwriter Dialogue writer Director of Photography Artworks Recordings Colette par Jean Cocteau, discours de réception à l'Académie Royale de Belgique, Ducretet-Thomson 300 V 078 St. Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel and Portraits-Souvenir, La Voix de l'Auteur LVA 13 Plain-chant by Jean Marais, extracts from the piece Orphée by Jean-Pierre Aumont, Michel Bouquet, Monique Mélinand, Les Parents terribles by Yvonne de Bray and Jean Marais, L'Aigle à deux têtes par Edwige Feuillère and Jean Marais, L'Encyclopédie Sonore 320 E 874, 1971 Collection of three vinyl recordings of Jean Cocteau including La Voix humaine by Simone Signoret, 18 songs composed by Louis Bessières, Bee Michelin and Renaud Marx, on double-piano Paul Castanier, Le Discours de réception à l'Académie française, Jacques Canetti JC1, 1984 Derniers propos à bâtons rompus avec Jean Cocteau, 16 September 1963 à Milly-la-Forêt, Bel Air 311035 Les Enfants terribles, radio version with Jean Marais, Josette Day, Silvia Monfort and Jean Cocteau, CD Phonurgia Nova , 1992 Anthology, 4 CD containing numerous poems and texts read by the author, Anna la bonne, La Dame de Monte-Carlo and Mes sœurs, n'aimez pas les marins by Marianne Oswald, Le Bel Indifférent by Edith Piaf, La Voix humaine by Berthe Bovy, Les Mariés de la Tour Eiffel with Jean Le Poulain, Jacques Charon and Jean Cocteau, discourse on the reception at the Académie française, with extracts from Les Parents terribles, La Machine infernale, pieces from Parade on piano with two hands by Georges Auric and Francis Poulenc, Frémeaux & Associés FA 064, 1997 Poems by Jean Cocteau read by the author, CD EMI 8551082, 1997 Hommage à Jean Cocteau, mélodies d'Henri Sauguet, Arthur Honegger, Louis Durey, Darius Milhaud, Erik Satie, Jean Wiener, Max Jacob, Francis Poulenc, Maurice Delage, Georges Auric, Guy Sacre, by Jean-François Gardeil (baritone) and Billy Eidi (piano), CD Adda 581177, 1989 Le Testament d'Orphée, journal sonore, by Roger Pillaudin, 2 CD INA / Radio France 211788, 1998 Journals Stamps 1960: Marianne de Cocteau See also Jean Cocteau Repertory List of ambulance drivers during World War I Footnotes References Breton, André (1953). La Clé des champs, p. 77. Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire.Crucifixion translated into Bengali by Malay Roy Choudhury Steegmuller, Francis (1970). Cocteau: A Biography. Boston: Atlantic-Little Brown & Company. . Further reading Evans, Arthur B. (1977). Jean Cocteau and his Films of Orphic Identity. Philadelphia: Art Alliance Press. . Peters, Arthur King. (1986) Jean Cocteau and His World. New York: Vendôme Press. Tsakiridou, Cornelia A., ed. (1997). Reviewing Orpheus: Essays on the Cinema and Art of Jean Cocteau. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press. . Album Cocteau. Biographie et iconographie de Pierre Bergé. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade. Éditions Gallimard, 2006. . External links Cocteau/cinema Bibliography (via UC Berkeley) Cocteau CMEF Cap d'Ail Cocteau et La chapelle Saint-Blaise-des-Simples Raquel Bitton: The Sparrow and the Birdman'', a drama focusing on the relationship of Cocteau to Edith Piaf Maison Jean Cocteau – Cocteau's former home 1889 births 1963 deaths People from Maisons-Laffitte Lycée Condorcet alumni French ballet librettists 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French experimental filmmakers French fantasy writers French film directors French illustrators French novelists 20th-century French painters 20th-century male artists French male painters French poets French male screenwriters French screenwriters Writers from Île-de-France Prince des poètes Christian poets Christian novelists Les Six French gay writers LGBT film directors LGBT screenwriters LGBT Roman Catholics Surrealist filmmakers French surrealist artists French stamp designers French Roman Catholics Members of the Académie Française Members of the Académie royale
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Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 31 March. During his lifetime several likenesses were made of the poet. The earliest was the anonymous portrait of 1594 now in the National Portrait Gallery, London which has been recently restored. One of the earliest Elizabethan portraits of an author, the fashionably dressed poet is shown darkly brooding on his love. The portrait was described in Donne's will as "that picture of myne wych is taken in the shaddowes", and bequeathed by him to Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram. Other paintings include a 1616 head and shoulders after Isaac Oliver, also in the National Portrait Gallery, and a 1622 head and shoulders in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1911 the young Stanley Spencer devoted a visionary painting to John Donne arriving in heaven (1911) which is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Donne's reception until the twentieth century was influenced by the publication of his writings in the seventeenth century. Because Donne avoided publication during his life, the majority of his works were brought to the press by others in the decades after his death. These publications present what Erin McCarthy calls a "teleological narrative of Donne’s growth" from young rake "Jack Donne" to reverend divine "Dr. Donne." For example, while the first edition of Poems, by J. D. (1633) mingled amorous and pious verse indiscriminately, all editions after 1635 separated poems into "Songs and Sonnets" and "Divine Poems." This organization "promulgated the tale of Jack Donne’s transformation into Doctor Donne and made it the dominant way of understanding Donne’s life and work." A similar effort to justify Donne's early writings appeared in the publication of his prose. This pattern can be seen in a 1652 volume that combines texts from throughout Donne's career, including flippant works like Ignatius his Conclave and more pious writings like Essays in Divinity. In the preface, Donne's son "unifies the otherwise disparate texts around an impression of Donne’s divinity" by comparing his father's varied writing to Jesus' miracles. Christ “began his first Miracle here, by turning Water into Wine, and made it his last to ascend from Earth to Heaven.” Donne first wrote “things conducing to cheerfulness & entertainment of Mankind," and later "change[d] his conversation from Men to Angels.” Another figure who contributed to Donne's legacy as a rake-turned-preacher was Donne's first biographer Izaak Walton. Walton's biography separated Donne's life into two stages, comparing Donne's life to the transformation of St. Paul. Walton writes, "where [Donne] had been a Saul… in his irregular youth,” he became “a Paul, and preach[ed] salvation to his brethren.” The idea that Donne's writings reflect two distinct stages of his life remains common; however, many scholars have challenged this understanding. In 1948, Evelyn Simpson wrote, "a close study of his works... makes it clear that his was no case of dual personality. He was not a Jekyll-Hyde in Jacobean dress... There is an essential unity underlying the flagrant and manifold contradictions of his temperament." In literature After Donne's death, a number of poetical tributes were paid to him, of which one of the principal (and most difficult to follow) was his friend Lord Herbert of Cherbury's "Elegy for Doctor Donne". Posthumous editions of Donne's poems were accompanied by several "Elegies upon the Author" over the course of the next two centuries. Six of these were written by fellow churchmen, others by such courtly writers as Thomas Carew, Sidney Godolphin and Endymion Porter. In 1963 came Joseph Brodsky's "The Great Elegy for John Donne". Beginning in the 20th century, several historical novels appeared taking as their subject various episodes in Donne's life. His courtship of Anne More is the subject of Elizabeth Gray Vining's Take Heed of Loving Me: A novel about John Donne (1963) and Maeve Haran's The Lady and the Poet (2010). Both characters also make interspersed appearances in Mary Novik's Conceit (2007), where the main focus is on their rebellious daughter Pegge. English treatments include Garry O'Connor's Death's Duel: a novel of John Donne (2015), which deals with the poet as a young man. He also plays a significant role in Christie Dickason's The Noble Assassin (2012), a novel based on the life of Donne's patron and (the author claims) his lover, Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford. Finally there is Bryan Crockett's Love's Alchemy: a John Donne Mystery (2015), in which the poet, blackmailed into service in Robert Cecil's network of spies, attempts to avert political disaster and at the same time outwit Cecil. Musical settings There were musical settings of Donne's lyrics even during his lifetime and in the century following his death. These included Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger's ("So, so, leave off this last lamenting kisse" in his 1609 Ayres); John Cooper's ("The Message"); Henry Lawes' ("Break of Day"); John Dowland's ("Break of Day" and "To ask for all thy love"); and settings of "A Hymn to God the Father" by John Hilton the younger and Pelham Humfrey (published 1688). After the 17th century there were no more until the start of the 20th century with Havergal Brian ("A nocturnal on St Lucy's Day", first performed in 1905), Eleanor Everest Freer ("Break of Day, published in 1905) and Walford Davies ("The Cross", 1909) among the earliest. In 1916–18, the composer Hubert Parry set Donne's "Holy Sonnet 7" ("At the round earth's imagined corners") to music in his choral work, Songs of Farewell. Regina Hansen Willman (1914-1965) set Donne’s “First Holy Sonnet” for voice and string trio. In 1945, Benjamin Britten set nine of Donne's Holy Sonnets in his song cycle for voice and piano The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. in 1968, Williametta Spencer used Donne’s text for her choral work “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.” Among them is also the choral setting of "Negative Love" that opens Harmonium (1981), as well as the aria setting of "Holy Sonnet XIV" at the end of the 1st act of Doctor Atomic, both by John Adams. There have been settings in popular music as well. One is the version of the song "Go and Catch a Falling Star" on John Renbourn's debut album John Renbourn (1966), in which the last line is altered to "False, ere I count one, two, three". On their 1992 album Duality, the English Neoclassical Dark Wave band In The Nursery used a recitation of the entirety of Donne's "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" for the track "Mecciano" and an augmented version of "A Fever" for the track "Corruption." Prose texts by Donne have also been set to
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strain, and the deaths of his friends all contributed to the development of a more sombre and pious tone in his later poems. The change can be clearly seen in "An Anatomy of the World" (1611), a poem that Donne wrote in memory of Elizabeth Drury, daughter of his patron, Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, Suffolk. This poem treats Elizabeth's demise with extreme gloominess, using it as a symbol for the Fall of Man and the destruction of the universe. The increasing gloominess of Donne's tone may also be observed in the religious works that he began writing during the same period. Having converted to the Anglican Church, Donne quickly became noted for his sermons and religious poems. Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die are sent to Heaven to live eternally. One example of this challenge is his Holy Sonnet X, "Death Be Not Proud". Even as he lay dying during Lent in 1631, he rose from his sickbed and delivered the Death's Duel sermon, which was later described as his own funeral sermon. Death's Duel portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death; death becomes merely another process of life, in which the 'winding sheet' of the womb is the same as that of the grave. Hope is seen in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection. Style His work has received much criticism over the years, especially concerning his metaphysical form. Donne is generally considered the most prominent member of the metaphysical poets, a phrase coined in 1781 by Samuel Johnson, following a comment on Donne by John Dryden. Dryden had written of Donne in 1693: "He affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love." In Life of Cowley (from Samuel Johnson's 1781 work of biography and criticism Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets), Johnson refers to the beginning of the seventeenth century in which there "appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets". Donne's immediate successors in poetry therefore tended to regard his works with ambivalence, with the Neoclassical poets regarding his conceits as abuse of the metaphor. However he was revived by Romantic poets such as Coleridge and Browning, though his more recent revival in the early twentieth century by poets such as T. S. Eliot and critics like F R Leavis tended to portray him, with approval, as an anti-Romantic. Donne is considered a master of the metaphysical conceit, an extended metaphor that combines two vastly different ideas into a single idea, often using imagery. An example of this is his equation of lovers with saints in "The Canonization". Unlike the conceits found in other Elizabethan poetry, most notably Petrarchan conceits, which formed clichéd comparisons between more closely related objects (such as a rose and love), metaphysical conceits go to a greater depth in comparing two completely unlike objects. One of the most famous of Donne's conceits is found in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" where he compares the apartness of two separated lovers to the working of the legs of a compass. Donne's works are also witty, employing paradoxes, puns, and subtle yet remarkable analogies. His pieces are often ironic and cynical, especially regarding love and human motives. Common subjects of Donne's poems are love (especially in his early life), death (especially after his wife's death), and religion. John Donne's poetry represented a shift from classical forms to more personal poetry. Donne is noted for his poetic metre, which was structured with changing and jagged rhythms that closely resemble casual speech (it was for this that the more classical-minded Ben Jonson commented that "Donne, for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging"). Some scholars believe that Donne's literary works reflect the changing trends of his life, with love poetry and satires from his youth and religious sermons during his later years. Other scholars, such as Helen Gardner, question the validity of this dating—most of his poems were published posthumously (1633). The exception to these is his Anniversaries, which were published in 1612 and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions published in 1624. His sermons are also dated, sometimes specifically by date and year. Legacy Donne is remembered with a commemoration as a priest and poet in the calendar of the Church of England and in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 31 March. During his lifetime several likenesses were made of the poet. The earliest was the anonymous portrait of 1594 now in the National Portrait Gallery, London which has been recently restored. One of the earliest Elizabethan portraits of an author, the fashionably dressed poet is shown darkly brooding on his love. The portrait was described in Donne's will as "that picture of myne wych is taken in the shaddowes", and bequeathed by him to Robert Kerr, 1st Earl of Ancram. Other paintings include a 1616 head and shoulders after Isaac Oliver, also in the National Portrait Gallery, and a 1622 head and shoulders in the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1911 the young Stanley Spencer devoted a visionary painting to John Donne arriving in heaven (1911) which is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Donne's reception until the twentieth century was influenced by the publication of his writings in the seventeenth century. Because Donne avoided publication during his life, the majority of his works were brought to the press by others in the decades after his death. These publications present what Erin McCarthy calls a "teleological narrative of Donne’s growth" from young rake "Jack Donne" to reverend divine "Dr. Donne." For example, while the first edition of Poems, by J. D. (1633) mingled amorous and pious verse indiscriminately, all editions after 1635 separated poems into "Songs and Sonnets" and "Divine Poems." This organization "promulgated the tale of Jack Donne’s transformation into Doctor Donne and made it the dominant way of understanding Donne’s life and work." A similar effort to justify Donne's early writings appeared in the publication of his prose. This pattern can be seen in a 1652 volume that combines texts from throughout Donne's career, including flippant works like Ignatius his Conclave and more pious writings like Essays in Divinity. In the preface, Donne's son "unifies the otherwise disparate texts around an impression of Donne’s divinity" by comparing his father's varied writing to Jesus' miracles. Christ “began his first Miracle here, by turning Water into Wine, and made it his last to ascend from Earth to Heaven.” Donne first wrote “things conducing to cheerfulness & entertainment of Mankind," and later "change[d] his conversation from Men to Angels.” Another figure who contributed to Donne's legacy as a rake-turned-preacher was Donne's first biographer Izaak Walton. Walton's biography separated Donne's life into two stages, comparing Donne's life to the transformation of St. Paul. Walton writes, "where [Donne] had been a Saul… in his irregular youth,” he became “a Paul, and preach[ed] salvation to his brethren.” The idea that Donne's writings reflect two distinct stages of his life remains common; however, many scholars have challenged this understanding. In 1948, Evelyn Simpson wrote, "a close study of his works... makes it clear that his was no case of dual personality. He was not a Jekyll-Hyde in Jacobean dress... There is an essential unity underlying the flagrant and manifold contradictions of his temperament." In literature After Donne's death, a number of poetical tributes were paid to him, of which one of the principal (and most difficult to follow) was his friend Lord Herbert of Cherbury's "Elegy for Doctor Donne". Posthumous editions of Donne's poems were accompanied by several "Elegies upon the Author" over the course of the next two centuries. Six of these were written by fellow churchmen, others by such courtly writers as Thomas Carew, Sidney Godolphin and Endymion Porter. In 1963 came Joseph Brodsky's "The Great Elegy for John Donne". Beginning in the 20th century, several historical novels appeared taking as their subject various episodes in Donne's life. His courtship of Anne More is the subject of Elizabeth Gray Vining's Take Heed of Loving Me: A novel about John Donne (1963) and Maeve Haran's The Lady and the Poet (2010). Both characters also make interspersed appearances in Mary Novik's Conceit (2007), where the main focus is on their rebellious daughter Pegge. English treatments include Garry O'Connor's Death's Duel: a novel of John Donne (2015), which deals with the poet as a young man. He also plays a significant role in Christie Dickason's The Noble Assassin (2012), a novel based on the life of Donne's patron and (the author claims) his lover, Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford. Finally there is Bryan Crockett's Love's Alchemy: a John Donne Mystery (2015), in which the poet, blackmailed into service in Robert Cecil's network of spies, attempts to avert political disaster and at the same time outwit Cecil. Musical settings There were musical settings of Donne's lyrics even during his lifetime and in the century following his death. These included Alfonso Ferrabosco the younger's ("So, so, leave off this last lamenting kisse" in his 1609 Ayres); John Cooper's ("The Message"); Henry Lawes' ("Break of Day"); John Dowland's ("Break of Day" and "To ask for all thy love"); and settings of "A Hymn to God the Father" by John Hilton the younger and Pelham Humfrey (published 1688). After the 17th century there were no more until the start of the 20th century with Havergal Brian ("A nocturnal on St Lucy's Day", first performed in 1905), Eleanor Everest Freer ("Break of Day, published in 1905) and Walford Davies ("The Cross", 1909) among the earliest. In 1916–18, the composer Hubert Parry set Donne's "Holy Sonnet 7" ("At the round earth's imagined corners") to music in his choral work, Songs of Farewell. Regina Hansen Willman (1914-1965) set Donne’s “First Holy Sonnet” for voice and string trio. In 1945, Benjamin Britten set nine of Donne's Holy Sonnets in his song cycle for voice and piano The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. in 1968, Williametta Spencer used Donne’s text for her choral work “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners.” Among them is also the choral setting of "Negative Love" that opens Harmonium (1981), as well as the aria setting of "Holy Sonnet XIV" at the end of the 1st act of Doctor Atomic, both by John Adams. There have been settings in popular music as well. One is the version of the song "Go and Catch a Falling Star" on John Renbourn's debut album John Renbourn (1966), in which the last line is altered to "False, ere I count one, two, three". On their 1992 album Duality, the English Neoclassical Dark Wave band In The Nursery used a recitation of the entirety of Donne's "A Valediction:
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Put Something in My Drink" and "Mama's Boy". Dee Dee Ramone was quoted as saying "All the other singers [in New York] were copying David Johansen (of the New York Dolls), who was copying Mick Jagger... But Joey was unique, totally unique." Other projects In 1985, Ramone joined Steven Van Zandt's music industry activist group Artists United Against Apartheid, which campaigned against the Sun City resort in South Africa. Ramone and 49 other recording artists – including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Keith Richards, Lou Reed and Run DMC — collaborated on the song "Sun City", in which they pledged they would never perform at the resort. In 1994, Ramone appeared on the Helen Love album Love and Glitter, Hot Days and Music, singing the track "Punk Boy". Helen Love returned the favor, singing on Ramone's song "Mr. Punchy". In October 1996, Ramone headlined the "Rock the Reservation" alternative rock festival in Tuba City, Arizona. 'Joey Ramone & the Resistance' (Daniel Rey on guitar, John Connor on bass guitar and Roger Murdock on drums) debuted Ramone's interpretation of Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World' live, as well as Ramone's choice of Ramones classics and some of his other favorite songs, such as The Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It", The Who's "The Kids are Alright" and The Stooges' "No Fun". Ramone co-wrote and recorded the song "Meatball Sandwich" with Youth Gone Mad. For a short time before his death, he took the role of manager and producer for the punk rock band the Independents. His last recording as a vocalist was backup vocals on the CD One Nation Under by the Dine Navajo rock group Blackfire. He appeared on two tracks, "What Do You See" and "Lying to Myself". The 2002 CD won "Best Pop/Rock Album of the Year" at the 2002 Native American Music Awards. Ramone produced the Ronnie Spector EP She Talks to Rainbows in 1999. It was critically acclaimed but was not very commercially successful. The title track was previously on the Ramones' final studio album, ¡Adios Amigos!. Illness and death In 1995, Joey Ramone was diagnosed with lymphoma. He kept his condition private until it was revealed on March 19, 2001, that he was battling the disease. He died of the illness at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on April 15, 2001, a month before he would have turned 50. He was reportedly listening to the song "In a Little While" by U2 when he died. In an interview in 2014 for Radio 538, U2 lead singer Bono confirmed that Joey Ramone's family told him that Ramone listened to the song before he died, which Andy Shernoff (The Dictators) also confirmed. His solo album Don't Worry About Me was released posthumously in 2002, and features the single "What a Wonderful World", a cover of the Louis Armstrong standard. MTV News claimed: "With his trademark rose-colored shades, black leather jacket, shoulder-length hair, ripped jeans and alternately snarling and crooning vocals, Joey was the iconic godfather of punk." Influence On November 30, 2003, a block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Hyman once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone and is near the former site of the music club CBGB, where the Ramones began their career. Hyman's birthday is celebrated annually by rock 'n' roll nightclubs, hosted in New York City by his brother and, until 2007, his mother, Charlotte. Joey Ramone is interred at New Mount Zion Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. (New Mount Zion is a Jewish Cemetery located within Hillside Cemetery). The Ramones were named as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2002. Several songs have been written in tribute to Joey Ramone. Tommy, CJ and Marky Ramone and Daniel Rey came together in 2002 to record Jed Davis' Joey Ramone tribute album, The Bowery Electric. Other tributes include "Hello Joe" by Blondie from the album The Curse of Blondie, "You Can't Kill Joey Ramone" by Sloppy Seconds, Joey by Raimundos, "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" by Sleater-Kinney, "Red and White Stripes" by Moler and "Joey" by the Corin Tucker Band, "I Heard Ramona Sing" by Frank Black, Amy Rigby's "Dancin' With Joey Ramone" and "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" by U2. In September 2010, the Associated Press reported that "Joey Ramone Place," a sign at the corner of Bowery and East Second Street, was New York City's most stolen sign. Later, the sign was moved to above ground level. Drummer Marky Ramone thought Joey would appreciate that his sign would be the most stolen, adding "Now you have to be an NBA player to see it." After several years in development, Ramone's second posthumous album was released on May 22, 2012. Titled ...Ya Know?, it was preceded on Record Store Day by a 7" single re-release of "Blitzkrieg Bop"/"Havana Affair". On April 15, 2021, the 20th anniversary of Ramone's death, it was announced that Pete Davidson would portray Ramone in the upcoming Netflix biopic, I Slept with Joey Ramone which is based on the memoir of the same name written by Ramone's brother Mickey Leigh. Leigh will serve as an executive producer. The film is being made with the full cooperation and support of Ramone's estate, with a treatment written by Davidson and director Jason Orley. Discography Solo Don't Worry About Me (2002) ...Ya Know? (2012) A Closer Look (2020)
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of Ramones classics and some of his other favorite songs, such as The Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It", The Who's "The Kids are Alright" and The Stooges' "No Fun". Ramone co-wrote and recorded the song "Meatball Sandwich" with Youth Gone Mad. For a short time before his death, he took the role of manager and producer for the punk rock band the Independents. His last recording as a vocalist was backup vocals on the CD One Nation Under by the Dine Navajo rock group Blackfire. He appeared on two tracks, "What Do You See" and "Lying to Myself". The 2002 CD won "Best Pop/Rock Album of the Year" at the 2002 Native American Music Awards. Ramone produced the Ronnie Spector EP She Talks to Rainbows in 1999. It was critically acclaimed but was not very commercially successful. The title track was previously on the Ramones' final studio album, ¡Adios Amigos!. Illness and death In 1995, Joey Ramone was diagnosed with lymphoma. He kept his condition private until it was revealed on March 19, 2001, that he was battling the disease. He died of the illness at New York-Presbyterian Hospital on April 15, 2001, a month before he would have turned 50. He was reportedly listening to the song "In a Little While" by U2 when he died. In an interview in 2014 for Radio 538, U2 lead singer Bono confirmed that Joey Ramone's family told him that Ramone listened to the song before he died, which Andy Shernoff (The Dictators) also confirmed. His solo album Don't Worry About Me was released posthumously in 2002, and features the single "What a Wonderful World", a cover of the Louis Armstrong standard. MTV News claimed: "With his trademark rose-colored shades, black leather jacket, shoulder-length hair, ripped jeans and alternately snarling and crooning vocals, Joey was the iconic godfather of punk." Influence On November 30, 2003, a block of East 2nd Street in New York City was officially renamed Joey Ramone Place. It is the block where Hyman once lived with bandmate Dee Dee Ramone and is near the former site of the music club CBGB, where the Ramones began their career. Hyman's birthday is celebrated annually by rock 'n' roll nightclubs, hosted in New York City by his brother and, until 2007, his mother, Charlotte. Joey Ramone is interred at New Mount Zion Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. (New Mount Zion is a Jewish Cemetery located within Hillside Cemetery). The Ramones were named as inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the class of 2002. Several songs have been written in tribute to Joey Ramone. Tommy, CJ and Marky Ramone and Daniel Rey came together in 2002 to record Jed Davis' Joey Ramone tribute album, The Bowery Electric. Other tributes include "Hello Joe" by Blondie from the album The Curse of Blondie, "You Can't Kill Joey Ramone" by Sloppy Seconds, Joey by Raimundos, "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" by Sleater-Kinney, "Red and White Stripes" by Moler and "Joey" by the Corin Tucker Band, "I Heard Ramona Sing" by Frank Black, Amy Rigby's "Dancin' With Joey Ramone" and "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)" by U2. In September 2010, the Associated Press reported that "Joey Ramone Place," a sign at the corner of Bowery and East Second Street, was New York City's most stolen sign. Later, the sign was moved to above ground level. Drummer Marky Ramone thought Joey would appreciate that his sign would be the most stolen, adding "Now you have to be an NBA player to see it." After several years in development, Ramone's second posthumous album was released on May 22, 2012. Titled ...Ya Know?, it was preceded
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Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie". 1881 – In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam. 1888 – George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music. 1889 – Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time. 1901–present 1915 – The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history. 1916 – British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising. 1922 – France grants 1 km2 at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes". 1927 – The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii. 1945 – The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia. 1950 – Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea. 1952 – The First Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952. 1956 – The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System. 1971 – Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union’s Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space. 1972 – The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. 1972 – A Convair CV-580 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter collide above Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing 13. 1974 – Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill. 1974 – Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet. 1975 – Steve Wozniak tests his first prototype of the Apple I computer. 1976 – The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom. 1976 – The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin. 1987 – Vincent van Gogh's painting, the Le Pont de Trinquetaille, is bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England. 1995 – Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time. 1995 – The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937. 2002 – Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel. 2006 – Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law. 2007 – Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone. 2012 – A derecho sweeps across the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power. 2014 – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declares its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq. Births Pre-1600 1136 – Petronilla of Aragon (d. 1173) 1326 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1389) 1398 – John II of Aragon and Navarre (d. 1479) 1443 – Anthony Browne, English knight (d. 1506) 1482 – Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1517) 1488 – Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Catholic cardinal (d. 1560) 1517 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (d. 1585) 1525 – Peter Agricola, German humanist, theologian, diplomat and statesman (d. 1585) 1528 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1589) 1543 – Christine of Hesse, Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1604) 1596 – Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan (d. 1680) 1601–1900 1621 – Willem van der Zaan, Dutch Admiral (d. 1669) 1686 – Pietro Paolo Troisi, Maltese artist (d. 1743) 1746 – Joachim Heinrich Campe, German linguist, author, and educator (d. 1818) 1768 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (d. 1831) 1787 – Lavinia Stoddard, American poet, school founder (d. 1820) 1793 – Josef Ressel, Czech-Austrian inventor, invented the propeller (d. 1857) 1798 – Willibald Alexis, German author and poet (d. 1871) 1798 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1837) 1801 – Frédéric Bastiat, French economist and theorist (d. 1850) 1803 – John Newton Brown, American minister and author (d. 1868) 1818 – Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1878) 1819 – Thomas Dunn English, American poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1902) 1833 – Peter Waage, Norwegian chemist and academic (d. 1900) 1835 – Celia Thaxter, American poet and story writer (d. 1894) 1844 – Peter I of Serbia (d. 1921) 1849 – Pedro Montt, Chilean lawyer and politician, 15th President of Chile (d. 1910) 1849 – Sergei Witte, Russian politician, 1st Chairmen of Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire (d. 1915) 1849 – John Hunn, American businessman and politician, 51st Governor of Delaware (d. 1926) 1858 – George Washington Goethals, American general and engineer, co-designed the Panama Canal (d. 1928) 1858 – Julia Lathrop, American activist and politician (d. 1932) 1861 – William James Mayo, American physician and surgeon, co-founded the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939) 1863 – Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1934) 1866 – Bartholomeus Roodenburch, Dutch swimmer (d. 1939) 1868 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and journalist (d. 1938) 1870 – Joseph Carl Breil, American tenor, composer, and director (d. 1926) 1873 – Leo Frobenius, German ethnologist and archaeologist (d. 1938) 1879 – Benedetto Aloisi Masella, Italian cardinal (d. 1970) 1880 – Ludwig Beck, German general (d. 1944) 1881 – Harry Frazee, American director, producer, and agent (d. 1929) 1881 – Curt Sachs, German-American composer and musicologist (d. 1959) 1882 – Henry Hawtrey, English runner (d. 1961) 1882 – Franz Seldte, German captain and politician, Reich Minister for Labour (d. 1947) 1885 – Izidor Kürschner, Hungarian football player and coach (d. 1941) 1886 – Robert Schuman, Luxembourgian-French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1963) 1888 – Squizzy Taylor, Australian gangster (d. 1927) 1889 – Willie Macfarlane, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1961) 1890 – Robert Laurent, American sculptor and academic (d. 1970) 1890 – Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, Dutch supercentenarian (d. 2005) 1893 – Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Indian economist and statistician (d. 1972) 1893 – Aarre Merikanto, Finnish composer and educator (d. 1958) 1897 – Fulgence Charpentier, Canadian journalist and publisher (d. 2001) 1898 – Yvonne Lefébure, French pianist and educator (d. 1986) 1900 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French poet and pilot (d. 1944) 1901–present 1901 – Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (d. 1967) 1903 – Alan Blumlein, English engineer, developed the H2S radar (d. 1942) 1904 – Witold Hurewicz, Polish mathematician (d. 1956) 1906 – Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945) 1906 – Heinz Harmel, German general (d. 2000) 1908 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (d. 1975) 1908 – Erik Lundqvist, Swedish javelin thrower (d. 1963) 1910 – Frank Loesser, American composer and conductor (d. 1969) 1910 – Burgess Whitehead, American baseball player (d. 1993) 1911 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (d. 2004) 1911 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (d. 1995) 1911 – Bernard Herrmann, American composer and conductor (d. 1975) 1912 – José Pablo Moncayo, Mexican pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958) 1912 – Émile Peynaud, French oenologist and academic (d. 2004) 1912 – John Toland, American historian and author (d. 2004) 1913 – Earle Meadows, American pole vaulter (d. 1992) 1914 – Rafael Kubelík, Czech-American conductor and composer (d. 1996) 1914 – Christos Papakyriakopoulos, Greek-American mathematician and academic (d. 1976) 1916 – Ruth Warrick, American actress and activist (d. 2005) 1917 – Ling Yun, Chinese politician (d. 2018) 1918 – Heini Lohrer, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2011) 1918 – Gene La Rocque, U.S admiral (d. 2016) 1918 – Francis W. Nye, United States Air Force major general (d. 2019) 1919 – Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal (d. 2008) 1919 – Walter Babington Thomas, Commander of British Far East Land Forces (d. 2017) 1919 – Slim Pickens, American actor and rodeo performer (d. 1983) 1919 – Lloyd Richards, Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean (d. 2006) 1920 – César Rodríguez Álvarez, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1995) 1920 – Ray Harryhausen, American animator and producer (d. 2013) 1920
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– English crown bans tobacco growing in England, giving the Virginia Company a monopoly in exchange for tax of one shilling per pound. 1644 – Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge. 1659 – At the Battle of Konotop the Ukrainian armies of Ivan Vyhovsky defeat the Russians led by Prince Trubetskoy. 1786 – Alexander Macdonell and over five hundred Roman Catholic highlanders leave Scotland to settle in Glengarry County, Ontario. 1807 – Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos. 1850 – Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece. 1864 – At least 99 people, mostly German and Polish immigrants, are killed in Canada's worst railway disaster after a train fails to stop for an open drawbridge and plunges into the Rivière Richelieu near St-Hilaire, Quebec. 1874 – Greek politician Charilaos Trikoupis publishes a manifesto in the Athens daily Kairoi entitled "Who's to Blame?" leveling complaints against King George. Trikoupis is elected Prime Minister of Greece the next year. 1880 – France annexes Tahiti, renaming the independent Kingdom of Tahiti as "Etablissements de français de l'Océanie". 1881 – In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam. 1888 – George Edward Gouraud records Handel's Israel in Egypt onto a phonograph cylinder, thought for many years to be the oldest known recording of music. 1889 – Hyde Park and several other Illinois townships vote to be annexed by Chicago, forming the largest United States city in area and second largest in population at the time. 1901–present 1915 – The North Saskatchewan River flood of 1915 is the worst flood in Edmonton history. 1916 – British diplomat turned Irish nationalist Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising. 1922 – France grants 1 km2 at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, to the Government of Canada, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes". 1927 – The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii. 1945 – The Soviet Union annexes the Czechoslovak province of Carpathian Ruthenia. 1950 – Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea. 1952 – The First Miss Universe pageant is held. Armi Kuusela from Finland wins the title of Miss Universe 1952. 1956 – The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 is signed by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, officially creating the United States Interstate Highway System. 1971 – Prior to re-entry (following a record-setting stay aboard the Soviet Union’s Salyut 1 space station), the crew capsule of the Soyuz 11 spacecraft depressurizes, killing the three cosmonauts on board. Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsayev are the first humans to die in space. 1972 – The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. 1972 – A Convair CV-580 and De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter collide above Lake Winnebago near Appleton, Wisconsin, killing 13. 1974 – Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill. 1974 – Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union to Canada while on tour with the Kirov Ballet. 1975 – Steve Wozniak tests his first prototype of the Apple I computer. 1976 – The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom. 1976 – The Conference of Communist and Workers Parties of Europe convenes in East Berlin. 1987 – Vincent van Gogh's painting, the Le Pont de Trinquetaille, is bought for $20.4 million at an auction in London, England. 1995 – Space Shuttle program: STS-71 Mission (Atlantis) docks with the Russian space station Mir for the first time. 1995 – The Sampoong Department Store collapses in the Seocho District of Seoul, South Korea, killing 501 and injuring 937. 2002 – Naval clashes between South Korea and North Korea lead to the death of six South Korean sailors and sinking of a North Korean vessel. 2006 – Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law. 2007 – Apple Inc. releases its first mobile phone, the iPhone. 2012 – A derecho sweeps across the eastern United States, leaving at least 22 people dead and millions without power. 2014 – The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant self-declares its caliphate in Syria and northern Iraq. Births Pre-1600 1136 – Petronilla of Aragon (d. 1173) 1326 – Murad I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1389) 1398 – John II of Aragon and Navarre (d. 1479) 1443 – Anthony Browne, English knight (d. 1506) 1482 – Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal (d. 1517) 1488 – Pedro Pacheco de Villena, Catholic cardinal (d. 1560) 1517 – Rembert Dodoens, Flemish physician and botanist (d. 1585) 1525 – Peter Agricola, German humanist, theologian, diplomat and statesman (d. 1585) 1528 – Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1589) 1543 – Christine of Hesse, Duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1604) 1596 – Emperor Go-Mizunoo of Japan (d. 1680) 1601–1900 1621 – Willem van der Zaan, Dutch Admiral (d. 1669) 1686 – Pietro Paolo Troisi, Maltese artist (d. 1743) 1746 – Joachim Heinrich Campe, German linguist, author, and educator (d. 1818) 1768 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (d. 1831) 1787 – Lavinia Stoddard, American poet, school founder (d. 1820) 1793 – Josef Ressel, Czech-Austrian inventor, invented the propeller (d. 1857) 1798 – Willibald Alexis, German author and poet (d. 1871) 1798 – Giacomo Leopardi, Italian poet and philosopher (d. 1837) 1801 – Frédéric Bastiat, French economist and theorist (d. 1850) 1803 – John Newton Brown, American minister and author (d. 1868) 1818 – Angelo Secchi, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1878) 1819 – Thomas Dunn English, American poet, playwright, and politician (d. 1902) 1833 – Peter Waage, Norwegian chemist and academic (d. 1900) 1835 – Celia Thaxter, American poet and story writer (d. 1894) 1844 – Peter I of Serbia (d. 1921) 1849 – Pedro Montt, Chilean lawyer and politician, 15th President of Chile (d. 1910) 1849 – Sergei Witte, Russian politician, 1st Chairmen of Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire (d. 1915) 1849 – John Hunn, American businessman and politician, 51st Governor of Delaware (d. 1926) 1858 – George Washington Goethals, American general and engineer, co-designed the Panama Canal (d. 1928) 1858 – Julia Lathrop, American activist and politician (d. 1932) 1861 – William James Mayo, American physician and surgeon, co-founded the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939) 1863 – Wilbert Robinson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1934) 1866 – Bartholomeus Roodenburch, Dutch swimmer (d. 1939) 1868 – George Ellery Hale, American astronomer and journalist (d. 1938) 1870 – Joseph Carl Breil, American tenor, composer, and director (d. 1926) 1873 – Leo Frobenius, German ethnologist and archaeologist (d. 1938) 1879 – Benedetto Aloisi Masella, Italian cardinal (d. 1970) 1880 – Ludwig Beck, German general (d. 1944) 1881 – Harry Frazee, American director, producer, and agent (d. 1929) 1881 – Curt Sachs, German-American composer and musicologist (d. 1959) 1882 – Henry Hawtrey, English runner (d. 1961) 1882 – Franz Seldte, German captain and politician, Reich Minister for Labour (d. 1947) 1885 – Izidor Kürschner, Hungarian football player and coach (d. 1941) 1886 – Robert Schuman, Luxembourgian-French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1963) 1888 – Squizzy Taylor, Australian gangster (d. 1927) 1889 – Willie Macfarlane, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1961) 1890 – Robert Laurent, American sculptor and academic (d. 1970) 1890 – Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, Dutch supercentenarian (d. 2005) 1893 – Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, Indian economist and statistician (d. 1972) 1893 – Aarre Merikanto, Finnish composer and educator (d. 1958) 1897 – Fulgence Charpentier, Canadian journalist and publisher (d. 2001) 1898 – Yvonne Lefébure, French pianist and educator (d. 1986) 1900 – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French poet and pilot (d. 1944) 1901–present 1901 – Nelson Eddy, American singer and actor (d. 1967) 1903 – Alan Blumlein, English engineer, developed the H2S radar (d. 1942) 1904 – Witold Hurewicz, Polish mathematician (d. 1956) 1906 – Ivan Chernyakhovsky, Ukrainian general (d. 1945) 1906 – Heinz Harmel, German general (d. 2000) 1908 – Leroy Anderson, American composer and conductor (d. 1975) 1908 – Erik Lundqvist, Swedish javelin thrower (d. 1963) 1910 – Frank Loesser, American composer and conductor (d. 1969) 1910 – Burgess Whitehead, American baseball player (d. 1993) 1911 – Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (d. 2004) 1911 – Katherine DeMille, Canadian-American actress (d. 1995) 1911 – Bernard Herrmann, American composer and conductor (d. 1975) 1912 – José Pablo Moncayo, Mexican pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1958) 1912 – Émile Peynaud, French oenologist and academic (d. 2004) 1912 – John Toland, American historian and author (d. 2004) 1913 – Earle Meadows, American pole vaulter (d. 1992) 1914 – Rafael Kubelík, Czech-American conductor and composer (d. 1996) 1914 – Christos Papakyriakopoulos, Greek-American mathematician and academic (d. 1976) 1916 – Ruth Warrick, American actress and activist (d. 2005) 1917 – Ling Yun, Chinese politician (d. 2018) 1918 – Heini Lohrer, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2011) 1918 – Gene La Rocque, U.S admiral (d. 2016) 1918 – Francis W. Nye, United States Air Force major general (d. 2019) 1919 – Ernesto Corripio y Ahumada, Mexican cardinal (d. 2008) 1919 – Walter Babington Thomas, Commander of British Far East Land Forces (d. 2017) 1919 – Slim Pickens, American actor and rodeo performer (d. 1983) 1919 – Lloyd Richards, Canadian-American theatre director, actor, and dean (d. 2006) 1920 – César Rodríguez Álvarez, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1995) 1920 – Ray Harryhausen, American animator and producer (d. 2013) 1920 – Nicole Russell, Duchess of Bedford (d. 2012) 1921 – Frédéric Dard, French author and screenwriter (d. 2000) 1921 – Jean Kent, English actress (d. 2013) 1921 – Reinhard Mohn, German businessman (d. 2009) 1921 – Harry Schell, French-American race car driver (d. 1960) 1922 – Ralph Burns, American songwriter, bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and pianist (d. 2001) 1922 – Vasko Popa, Serbian poet and academic (d. 1991) 1922 – John William Vessey, Jr., American general (d. 2016) 1923 – Chou Wen-chung, Chinese-American composer and educator (d. 2019) 1924 – Ezra Laderman, American composer and educator (d. 2015) 1924 – Roy Walford, American pathologist and gerontologist (d. 2004) 1924 – Philip H. Hoff, American politician (d. 2018) 1925 – Francis S. Currey, American World War II Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2019) 1925 – Giorgio Napolitano, Italian journalist and politician, 11th President of Italy 1925 – Chan Parker, American dancer and author (d. 1999) 1925 – Jackie Lynn Taylor, American actress (d. 2014) 1925 – Cara Williams, American actress (d. 2021) 1926 – Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, Kuwaiti ruler, 3rd Emir of Kuwait (d. 2006) 1926 – Julius W. Becton, Jr., U.S lieutenant general 1926 – Roger Stuart Bacon, Nova Scotia politician 1926 – Bobby Morgan, American professional baseball player 1927 – Pierre Perrault, Canadian director and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1927 – Marie Thérèse Killens, Canadian politician 1928 – Ian Bannen, Scottish actor (d. 1999) 1928 – Jean-Louis Pesch, French author and illustrator 1928 – Radius Prawiro, Indonesian economist and politician (d. 2005) 1929 – Pat Crawford Brown, American actress (d. 2019) 1929 – Pete George, American weightlifter (d. 2021) 1929 – Oriana Fallaci, Italian journalist and author (d. 2006) 1930 – Ernst Albrecht, German economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Lower Saxony (d. 2014) 1930 – Robert Evans, American actor and producer (d. 2019) 1930 – Viola Léger, American-Canadian actress and politician 1930 – Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (d. 2013) 1931 – Sevim Burak, Turkish author (d. 1983) 1932 – Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, British jurist; Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland 1933 – Bob Shaw, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010) 1933 – John Bradshaw, American theologian and author (d. 2016) 1934 – Corey Allen, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2010) 1935 – Vassilis C. Constantakopoulos, Greek captain and businessman (d. 2011) 1935 – Katsuya
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Colombia (d. 2007) 1913 – Harry Wismer, American sportscaster (d. 1967) 1914 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (d. 2001) 1914 – Allan Houser, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994) 1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975) 1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2010) 1917 – Willa Kim, American costume designer (d. 2016) 1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007) 1920 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet and educator (d. 2011) 1921 – Washington SyCip, American-Filipino accountant (d. 2017) 1922 – Al Besselink, American professional golfer 1923 – Andy Jack, English footballer 1924 – Max Trepp, Swiss sprinter 1925 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010) 1925 – Ebrahim Amini, Iranian politician (d. 2020) 1926 – Paul Berg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1926 – David Berglas, American magician and mentalist 1927 – Shirley Fry Irvin, American tennis player (d. 2021) 1927 – James Goldman, American screenwriter and playwright (d. 1998) 1927 – Mario Lanfranchi, Italian director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor (d. 2022) 1927 – Frank McCabe, American basketball player (d. 2021) 1928 – Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Islamic philosopher, theologian, mathematician and mystic (d. 2021) 1928 – Nathaniel Tarn, American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator 1929 – Yang Ti-liang, Chinese judge 1930 – Ben Atchley, American politician (d. 2018) 1930 – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (d. 2021) 1930 – Ignatius Peter VIII Abdalahad, Syrian bishop (d. 2018) 1931 – Yo-Yo Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2013) 1931 – Andrew Hill, American pianist and composer (d. 2007) 1931 – Ronald Rene Lagueux, American judge 1931 – Kaye Vaughan, American football player 1933 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (d. 2011) 1933 – M. J. K. Smith, English cricketer and rugby player 1933 – Orval Tessier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1933 – Joan Murrell Owens, American educator and marine biologist (d. 2011) 1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (d. 1997) 1935 – John Harlin, American pilot and mountaineer (d. 1966) 1936 – Assia Djebar, Algerian-French author and translator (d. 2015) 1936 – Nancy Dussault, American actress and singer 1936 – Tony Musante, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013) 1936 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002) 1937 – Larry Henley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) 1938 – Billy Mills, American sprinter 1939 – Tony Hatch, English pianist, composer, and producer 1939 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016) 1939 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (d. 2014) 1940 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007) 1941 – Peter Pollock, South African cricketer and author 1942 – Robert Ballard, American lieutenant and oceanographer 1942 – Ron Harris, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1943 – Florence Ballard, American pop/soul singer (d. 1976) 1943 – Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Indian director and screenwriter 1944 – Raymond Moody, American parapsychologist and author 1944 – Glenn Shorrock, English-Australian singer-songwriter 1944 – Ron Swoboda, American baseball player and sportscaster 1949 – Uwe Kliemann, German footballer, coach, and manager 1949 – Andy Scott, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1951 – Stanley Clarke, American bass player and composer 1952 – Athanassios S. Fokas, Greek mathematician and academic 1952 – David Garrison, American actor and singer 1953 – Hal Lindes, American-English guitarist and film score composer 1954 – Stephen Barlow, English organist, composer, and conductor 1954 – Pierre Charles, Dominican educator and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004) 1954 – Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian politician, 3rd President of Armenia 1954 – Wayne Swan, Australian academic and politician, 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Australia 1955 – Brian Vollmer, Canadian singer 1955 – Egils Levits, Latvian judge, jurist, 10th President of Latvia 1956 – Volker Beck, German hurdler and coach 1956 – David Lidington, English historian, academic, and politician, Minister of State for Europe 1956 – David Alan Grier, American actor, singer, and comedian 1957 – Bud Black, American baseball player and manager 1957 – Sterling Marlin, American race car driver 1958 – Pam Royle, British television presenter, journalist and voice coach 1958 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish conductor and composer 1959 – Vincent D'Onofrio, American actor 1959 – Daniel Goldhagen, American political scientist, author, and academic 1959 – Brendan Perry, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1959 – Sakis Tsiolis, Greek footballer and manager 1959 – Sandip Verma, Baroness Verma, Indian-English businesswoman and politician 1960 – Jack McConnell, Scottish educator and politician, 3rd First Minister of Scotland 1960 – Murray Cook, Australian musician, actor, songwriter and producer 1961 – Lynne Jolitz, American computer scientist and programmer 1961 – Clive Nolan, English musician, composer and producer 1962 – Tony Fernández, Dominican baseball player (d. 2020) 1962 – Julianne Regan, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1963 – Olha Bryzhina, Ukrainian sprinter 1963 – Rupert Graves, English actor, director, and screenwriter 1963 – Yngwie Malmsteen, Swedish guitarist and songwriter 1964 – Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg 1964 – Mark Waters, American director and producer 1965 – Steve Duchesne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach 1965 – Cho Jae-hyun, South Korean actor 1965 – Anna Levandi, Russian figure skater and coach 1965 – Gary Pallister, English footballer and sportscaster 1965 – Mitch Richmond, American basketball player 1966 – Mike Tyson, American boxer and actor 1967 – Patrik Bodén, Swedish javelin thrower 1967 – David Busst, English footballer and manager 1967 – Victoria Kaspi, American-Canadian astrophysicist and academic 1968 – Phil Anselmo, American singer-songwriter and producer 1969 – Sanath Jayasuriya, Sri Lankan cricketer and politician 1969 – Uta Rohländer, German sprinter 1969 – Sébastien Rose, Canadian director and screenwriter 1970 – Brian Bloom, American actor and screenwriter 1970 – Antonio Chimenti, Italian footballer and manager 1970 – Mark Grudzielanek, American baseball player and manager 1971 – Monica Potter, American actress 1972 – Sandra Cam, Belgian swimmer 1973 – Chan Ho Park, South Korean baseball player 1973 – Frank Rost, German footballer and manager 1974 – Hezekiél Sepeng, South African runner 1975 – James Bannatyne, New Zealand footballer 1975 – Ralf Schumacher, German race car driver 1978 – Ben Cousins, Australian footballer 1978 – Patrick Ivuti, Kenyan runner 1978 – Claudio Rivalta, Italian footballer 1979 – Sylvain Chavanel, French cyclist 1980 – Rade Prica, Swedish footballer 1980 – Seyi Olofinjana, Nigerian footballer 1980 – Ryan ten Doeschate, Dutch cricketer 1981 – Can Artam, Turkish race car driver 1981 – Matt Kirk, Canadian football player 1981 – Barbora Špotáková, Czech javelin thrower 1981 – Ben Utecht, American football player 1982 – Lizzy Caplan, American actress 1982 – Ignacio Carrasco, Mexican footballer 1983 – Marcus Burghardt, German cyclist 1983 – Katherine Ryan, UK-based Canadian comedian and presenter 1983 – Cheryl, English singer and TV personality 1984 – Fantasia Barrino, American singer-songwriter and actress 1984 – Tunku Ismail Idris, Crown Prince of Johor, Malaysia 1985 – Trevor Ariza, American basketball player 1985 – Michael Phelps, American swimmer 1985 – Fabiana Vallejos, Argentinian footballer 1986 – Alicia Fox, American wrestler, model, and actress 1986 – Fredy Guarín, Colombian footballer 1986 – Nicola Pozzi, Italian footballer 1986 – Allegra Versace, Italian-American businesswoman 1987 – Ryan Cook, American baseball player 1987 – Andrew Hedgman, New Zealand runner 1988 – Elisa Jordana, American singer-songwriter, radio and TV personality 1989 – Asbel Kiprop, Kenyan runner 1989 – Steffen Liebig, German rugby player 1989 – David Myers, Australian footballer 1997 – Reuben Garrick, Australian rugby league player 1998 – Tom Davies, English footballer Deaths Pre-1600 350 – Nepotianus,
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1974 begins. 1977 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands. 1985 – Thirty-nine American hostages from the hijacked TWA Flight 847 are freed in Beirut after being held for 17 days. 1986 – The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Bowers v. Hardwick that states can outlaw homosexual acts between consenting adults. 1990 – East Germany and West Germany merge their economies. 1994 – During a test flight of an Airbus A330-300 at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport, the aircraft crashes killing all seven people on board. 1997 – The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to China. 2005 – MTV Canada is rebranded as Razer 2007 – A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. This was linked to the 2007 London car bombs that had taken place the day before. 2009 – Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310-300, crashes into the Indian Ocean near Comoros, killing 152 of the 153 people on board. A 14-year-old girl named Bahia Bakari survives the crash. 2013 – Nineteen firefighters die controlling a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona. 2013 – Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état. 2015 – A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, resulting in at least 116 deaths. 2019 – Donald Trump becomes the first sitting US President to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea). Births Pre-1600 1286 – John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, English magnate (d. 1347) 1468 – John, Elector of Saxony (d. 1532) 1470 – Charles VIII of France (d. 1498) 1478 – John, Prince of Asturias, Son of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile (d. 1497) 1503 – John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1554) 1533 – Martín de Rada, Spanish missionary (d. 1578) 1588 – Giovanni Maria Sabino, Italian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1649) 1601–1900 1641 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (d. 1719) 1685 – John Gay, English poet and playwright (d. 1732) 1688 – Abu l-Hasan Ali I, ruler of Tunisia (d. 1756) 1722 – Jiří Antonín Benda, Czech composer, violinist and Kapellmeister (d. 1795) 1755 – Paul Barras, French soldier and politician (d. 1829) 1789 – Horace Vernet, French painter and academic (d. 1863) 1791 – Félix Savart, French physicist and psychologist (d. 1841) 1803 – Thomas Lovell Beddoes, English poet, playwright, and physician (d. 1849) 1807 – Friedrich Theodor Vischer, German author, poet, and playwright (d.1887) 1817 – Joseph Dalton Hooker, English botanist and explorer (d. 1911) 1843 – Ernest Mason Satow, English orientalist and diplomat (d. 1929) 1864 – Frederick Bligh Bond, English architect and archaeologist (d. 1945) 1884 – Georges Duhamel, French author and critic (d. 1966) 1889 – Archibald Frazer-Nash, English motor car designer, engineer and founder of Frazer Nash (d. 1965) 1890 – Paul Boffa, Maltese physician and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Malta (d. 1962) 1891 – Man Mountain Dean, American wrestler and sergeant (d. 1953) 1891 – Ed Lewis, American wrestler and manager (d. 1966) 1891 – Stanley Spencer, English painter (d. 1959) 1892 – Pierre Blanchar, Algerian-French actor and director (d. 1963) 1893 – Nellah Massey Bailey, American politician and librarian (d. 1956) 1893 – Walter Ulbricht, German soldier and politician (d. 1973) 1895 – Heinz Warneke, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1983) 1899 – Madge Bellamy, American actress (d. 1990) 1901–present 1905 – John Van Ryn, American tennis player (d. 1999) 1906 – Anthony Mann, American actor and director (d. 1967) 1907 – Roman Shukhevych, Ukrainian general and politician (d. 1950) 1908 – Winston Graham, English author (d. 2003) 1908 – Luigi Rovere, Italian film producer (d. 1996) 1908 – Rob Nieuwenhuys, Dutch writer (d. 1999) 1909 – Juan Bosch, 43rd President of the Dominican Republic (d. 2001) 1911 – Czesław Miłosz, Polish novelist, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004) 1911 – Nagarjun, Indian poet (d. 1998) 1912 – Ludwig Bölkow, German engineer (d. 2003) 1912 – Dan Reeves, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1971) 1912 – María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías, Mexican architect (d. 2009) 1913 – Alfonso López Michelsen, Colombian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Colombia (d. 2007) 1913 – Harry Wismer, American sportscaster (d. 1967) 1914 – Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (d. 2001) 1914 – Allan Houser, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994) 1917 – Susan Hayward, American actress (d. 1975) 1917 – Lena Horne, American actress, singer, and activist (d. 2010) 1917 – Willa Kim, American costume designer (d. 2016) 1919 – Ed Yost, American inventor of the modern hot air balloon (d. 2007) 1920 – Eleanor Ross Taylor, American poet and educator (d. 2011) 1921 – Washington SyCip, American-Filipino accountant (d. 2017) 1922 – Al Besselink, American professional golfer 1923 – Andy Jack, English footballer 1924 – Max Trepp, Swiss sprinter 1925 – Fred Schaus, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010) 1925 – Ebrahim Amini, Iranian politician (d. 2020) 1926 – Paul Berg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1926 – David Berglas, American magician and mentalist 1927 – Shirley Fry Irvin, American tennis player (d. 2021) 1927 – James Goldman, American screenwriter and playwright (d. 1998) 1927 – Mario Lanfranchi, Italian director, screenwriter, producer, collector and actor (d. 2022) 1927 – Frank McCabe, American basketball player (d. 2021) 1928 – Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Islamic philosopher, theologian, mathematician and mystic (d. 2021) 1928 – Nathaniel Tarn, American poet, essayist, anthropologist, and translator 1929 – Yang Ti-liang, Chinese judge 1930 – Ben Atchley, American politician (d. 2018) 1930 – Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian politician (d. 2021) 1930 – Ignatius Peter VIII Abdalahad, Syrian bishop (d. 2018) 1931 – Yo-Yo Davalillo, Venezuelan baseball player and manager (d. 2013) 1931 – Andrew Hill, American pianist and composer (d. 2007) 1931 – Ronald Rene Lagueux, American judge 1931 – Kaye Vaughan, American football player 1933 – Tomislav Ivić, Croatian football coach and manager (d. 2011) 1933 – M. J. K. Smith, English cricketer and rugby player 1933 – Orval Tessier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1933 – Joan Murrell Owens, American educator and marine biologist (d. 2011) 1934 – Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (d. 1997) 1935 – John Harlin, American pilot and mountaineer (d. 1966) 1936 – Assia Djebar, Algerian-French author and translator (d. 2015) 1936 – Nancy Dussault, American actress and singer 1936 – Tony Musante, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2013) 1936 – Dave Van Ronk, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002) 1937 – Larry Henley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) 1938 – Billy Mills, American sprinter 1939 – Tony Hatch, English pianist, composer, and producer 1939 – Barry Hines, English author and screenwriter (d. 2016) 1939 – José Emilio Pacheco, Mexican poet and author (d. 2014) 1940 – Mark Spoelstra, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2007) 1941 – Peter Pollock, South African cricketer and author 1942
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1975) 1911 – Arnold Alas, Estonian landscape architect and artist (d. 1990) 1911 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian marshal and politician, Soviet Minister of Defence (d. 2012) 1912 – David Brower, American environmentalist, founded Sierra Club Foundation (d. 2000) 1912 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (d. 1989) 1913 – Frank Barrett, American baseball player (d. 1998) 1913 – Lee Guttero, American basketball player (d. 2004) 1913 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 1979) 1914 – Thomas Pearson, British Army officer (d. 2019) 1914 – Christl Cranz, German alpine skier (d. 2004) 1914 – Bernard B. Wolfe, American politician (d. 2016) 1915 – Willie Dixon, American blues singer-songwriter, bass player, guitarist and producer (d. 1992) 1915 – Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, British peer (d. 2000) 1915 – Boots Poffenberger, American baseball pitcher (d. 1999) 1915 – Joseph Ransohoff, American soldier and neurosurgeon (d. 2001) 1915 – Nguyễn Văn Linh, Vietnamese politician (d. 1998) 1916 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress (d. 2020) 1916 – Iosif Shklovsky, Ukrainian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985) 1916 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (d. 2012) 1917 – Humphry Osmond, English-American lieutenant and psychiatrist (d. 2004) 1917 – Álvaro Domecq y Díez, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2005) 1918 – Ralph Young, American singer and actor (d. 2008) 1918 – Ahmed Deedat, South African writer and public speaker (d. 2005) 1918 – Pedro Yap, Filipino lawyer (d. 2003) 1919 – Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel (d. 2009) 1919 – Malik Dohan al-Hassan, Iraqi politician (d. 2021) 1919 – Gerald E. Miller, American vice admiral (d. 2014) 1920 – Henri Amouroux, French historian and journalist (d. 2007) 1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982) 1920 – George I. Fujimoto, American-Japanese chemist 1921 – Seretse Khama, Batswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (d. 1980) 1921 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (d. 2005) 1921 – Arthur Johnson, Canadian canoeist (d. 2003) 1922 – Toshi Seeger, German-American activist, co-founded the Clearwater Festival (d. 2013) 1922 – Mordechai Bibi, Israeli politician 1923 – Scotty Bowers, American marine, author and pimp (d. 2019) 1924 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1924 – Florence Stanley, American actress (d. 2003) 1924 – Georges Rivière, French actor 1925 – Farley Granger, American actor (d. 2011) 1925 – Art McNally, American football referee 1926 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013) 1926 – Carl Hahn, German businessman 1926 – Mohamed Abshir Muse, Somali general (d. 2017) 1926 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer and educator (d. 2012) 1927 – Alan J. Charig, English paleontologist and author (d. 1997) 1927 – Joseph Martin Sartoris, American bishop 1927 – Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India (d. 2007) 1929 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014) 1930 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American director and producer (d. 2005) 1930 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and academic (d. 2008) 1931 – Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer 1932 – Ze'ev Schiff, French-Israeli journalist and author (d. 2007) 1933 – C. Scott Littleton, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2010) 1934 – Claude Berri, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2009) 1934 – Jamie Farr, American actor 1934 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter 1934 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director and producer (d. 2008) 1935 – James Cotton, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 2017) 1935 – David Prowse, English actor (d. 2020) 1936 – Wally Amos, American entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos 1938 – Craig Anderson, American baseball player and coach 1938 – Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian flute player and composer 1939 – Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013) 1939 – Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2008) 1940 – Craig Brown, Scottish footballer and manager 1940 – Ela Gandhi, South African activist and politician 1940 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (d. 1987) 1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2021) 1941 – Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015) 1941 – Myron Scholes, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer 1942 – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Iraqi field marshal and politician (d. 2020) 1942 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress 1942 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer and pastor (d. 2015) 1942 – Julia Higgins, English chemist and academic 1943 – Philip Brunelle, American conductor and organist 1943 – Peeter Lepp, Estonian politician, 37th Mayor of Tallinn 1943 – Jeff Wayne, American composer, musician and lyricist 1944 – Nurul Haque Miah, Bangladeshi professor and writer (d. 2021) 1945 – Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer 1945 – Debbie Harry, American singer-songwriter and actress 1946 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2013) 1946 – Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish sergeant and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs 1946 – Kojo Laing, Ghanaian novelist and poet (d. 2017) 1947 – Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Japanese race car driver 1947 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (d. 2012) 1948 – John Ford, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1949 – Néjia Ben Mabrouk, Tunisian-Belgian director and screenwriter 1949 – John Farnham, English-Australian singer-songwriter 1949 – David Hogan, American composer and educator (d. 1996) 1949 – Venkaiah Naidu, Indian lawyer and politician 1950 – David Duke, American white supremacist, politician and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard 1951 – Trevor Eve, English actor and producer 1951 – Anne Feeney, American singer-songwriter and activist (d. 2021) 1951 – Julia Goodfellow, English physicist and academic 1951 – Klaus-Peter Justus, German runner 1951 – Tom Kozelko, American basketball player 1951 – Terrence Mann, American actor, singer and dancer 1951 – Fred Schneider, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1951 – Victor Willis, American singer-songwriter, pianist and actor 1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer and screenwriter 1952 – David Arkenstone, American composer and performer 1952 – David Lane, English oncologist and academic 1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1952 – Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer (d. 2006) 1953 – Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Malta 1953 – Jadranka Kosor, Croatian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Croatia 1954 – Keith Whitley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1989) 1954 – Hossein Nuri, Iranian artist and director 1955 – Nikolai Demidenko, Russian pianist and educator 1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese economist and politician, 7th Premier of the People's Republic of China 1955 – Lisa Scottoline, American lawyer and author 1955 – Maʻafu Tukuiʻaulahi, Tongan politician and military officer, Deputy Prime Minister (d. 2021) 1957 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (d. 2010) 1957 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player 1957 – Sean O'Driscoll, English footballer and manager 1958 – Jack Dyer Crouch II, American diplomat, United States Deputy National Security Advisor 1960 – Michael Beattie, Australian rugby league player and coach 1960 – Lynn Jennings, American runner 1960 – Evelyn "Champagne" King, American soul/disco singer 1960 – Kevin Swords, American rugby player 1961 – Malcolm Elliott, English cyclist 1961 – Ivan Kaye, English actor 1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner 1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997) 1961 – Michelle Wright, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1962 – Andre Braugher, American actor and producer 1962 – Mokhzani Mahathir, Malaysian businessman 1963 – Roddy Bottum, American singer and keyboard player 1963 – Nick Giannopoulos, Australian actor 1963 – David Wood, American lawyer and environmentalist (d. 2006) 1964 – Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach 1965 – Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer 1965 – Garry Schofield, English rugby player and coach 1965 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian director and producer 1966 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer and coach 1966 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2013) 1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress 1969 – Séamus Egan, American-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist 1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper, producer, dancer and actress 1971 – Julianne Nicholson, American actress 1974 – Jefferson Pérez, Ecuadorian race walker 1975 – Sean Colson, American basketball player and coach 1975 – Sufjan Stevens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1976 – Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer and coach 1976 – Hannu Tihinen, Finnish footballer 1976 – Albert Torrens, Australian rugby league player 1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager 1976 – Szymon Ziółkowski, Polish hammer thrower 1977 – Tom Frager, Senegalese-French singer-songwriter and guitarist 1977 – Keigo Hayashi, Japanese musician 1977 – Jarome Iginla, Canadian ice hockey player 1979 – Forrest Griffin, American mixed martial artist and actor 1981 – Carlo Del Fava, South African-Italian rugby player 1981 – Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-Australian footballer 1982 – Justin Huber, Australian baseball player 1982 – Joachim Johansson, Swedish tennis player 1982 – Adrian Ward, American football player 1982 – Hilarie Burton, American actress 1984 – Donald Thomas, Bahamian high jumper 1985 – Chris Perez, American baseball player 1986 – Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player 1986 – Andrew Lee, Australian footballer 1986 – Julian Prochnow, German footballer 1987 – Michael Schrader, German decathlete 1988 – Dedé, Brazilian footballer 1988 – Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete 1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player 1989 – Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver 1990 – Ben Coker, English footballer 1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player 1992 – Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player 1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgian footballer 1995 – Savvy Shields, Miss America 2017 1996 – Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater 1998 – Aleksandra Golovkina, Lithuanian figure skater 2000 – Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter 2001 – Chosen Jacobs, American entertainer 2003 – Tate McRae, Canadian singer, songwriter, and dancer Deaths Pre-1600 552 – Totila, Ostrogoth king 992 – Heonjeong, Korean queen (b. 966) 1109 – Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile (b. 1040) 1224 – Hōjō Yoshitoki, regent of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan (b. 1163) 1242 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1183) 1277 – Baibars, Egyptian sultan (b. 1223) 1287 – Narathihapate, Burmese king (b. 1238) 1321 – María de Molina, queen of Castile and León 1348 – Joan, English princess 1555 – John Bradford, English reformer, prebendary of St. Paul's (b. 1510) 1589 – Lady Saigō, Japanese concubine (b. 1552) 1592 – Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer and educator (b. 1535) 1601–1900 1614 – Isaac Casaubon, French philologist and scholar (b. 1559) 1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English politician (b. 1575) 1681 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish archbishop and saint (b. 1629) 1736 – Ahmed III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1673) 1749 – William Jones, Welsh mathematician and academic (b. 1675) 1774 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1705) 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1730) 1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1710) 1787 – Charles de Rohan, French marshal (b. 1715) 1819 – the Public Universal Friend, American evangelist (b. 1752) 1839 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1785) 1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (b. 1800) 1863 – John F. Reynolds, American general (b. 1820) 1884 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (b. 1819) 1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (b. 1811) 1901–present 1905 – John Hay, American journalist and politician, 37th United States Secretary of State (b. 1838) 1912 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (b. 1875) 1925 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (b. 1866) 1934 – Ernst Röhm, German paramilitary commander (b. 1887) 1942 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer (b. 1857) 1943 – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist, author and anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1894) 1944 – Carl Mayer, Austrian-English screenwriter (b. 1894) 1944 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian author (b. 1930) 1948 – Achille Varzi, Italian race car driver (b. 1904) 1950 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (b. 1865) 1950 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish-American architect, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (b. 1873) 1951 – Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, novelist and journalist (b. 1922) 1961 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (b. 1894) 1962 – Purushottam Das Tandon, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1882) 1962 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1882) 1964 – Pierre Monteux, French-American viola player and conductor (b. 1875) 1965 – Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903) 1965 – Robert Ruark, American journalist and author (b. 1915) 1966 – Frank Verner, American runner (b. 1883) 1967 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (b. 1888) 1968 – Fritz Bauer, German judge and politician (b. 1903) 1971 – William Lawrence Bragg, Australian-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890) 1971 – Learie Constantine, Trinidadian-English cricketer, lawyer and politician (b. 1901) 1974 – Juan Perón, Argentinian general and politician, President of Argentina (b. 1895) 1978 – Kurt Student, German general and pilot (b. 1890) 1981 – Carlos de Oliveira, Portuguese author and poet (b. 1921) 1983 – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, designed the Montreal Biosphère (b. 1895) 1984 – Moshé Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1904) 1991 – Michael Landon, American actor, director and producer (b. 1936) 1992 – Franco Cristaldi, Italian screenwriter and producer (b. 1924) 1994 – Merriam Modell, American author (b. 1908) 1995 – Wolfman Jack, American radio host (b. 1938) 1995 – Ian Parkin, English guitarist (Be-Bop Deluxe) (b. 1950) 1996 – William T. Cahill, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (b. 1904) 1996 – Margaux Hemingway, American model and actress (b. 1954) 1996 – Steve Tesich, Serbian-American author and screenwriter (b. 1942) 1997 – Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917) 1997 – Charles Werner, American cartoonist (b. 1909) 1999 – Edward Dmytryk,
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American screenwriter (d. 1973) 1902 – William Wyler, French-American film director, producer and screenwriter (d. 1981) 1903 – Amy Johnson, English pilot (d. 1941) 1903 – Beatrix Lehmann, English actress (d. 1979) 1906 – Jean Dieudonné, French mathematician and academic (d. 1992) 1906 – Estée Lauder, American businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies (d. 2004) 1907 – Norman Pirie, Scottish-English biochemist and virologist (d. 1997) 1909 – Emmett Toppino, American sprinter (d. 1971) 1910 – Glenn Hardin, American hurdler (d. 1975) 1911 – Arnold Alas, Estonian landscape architect and artist (d. 1990) 1911 – Sergey Sokolov, Russian marshal and politician, Soviet Minister of Defence (d. 2012) 1912 – David Brower, American environmentalist, founded Sierra Club Foundation (d. 2000) 1912 – Sally Kirkland, American journalist (d. 1989) 1913 – Frank Barrett, American baseball player (d. 1998) 1913 – Lee Guttero, American basketball player (d. 2004) 1913 – Vasantrao Naik, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 1979) 1914 – Thomas Pearson, British Army officer (d. 2019) 1914 – Christl Cranz, German alpine skier (d. 2004) 1914 – Bernard B. Wolfe, American politician (d. 2016) 1915 – Willie Dixon, American blues singer-songwriter, bass player, guitarist and producer (d. 1992) 1915 – Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, British peer (d. 2000) 1915 – Boots Poffenberger, American baseball pitcher (d. 1999) 1915 – Joseph Ransohoff, American soldier and neurosurgeon (d. 2001) 1915 – Nguyễn Văn Linh, Vietnamese politician (d. 1998) 1916 – Olivia de Havilland, British-American actress (d. 2020) 1916 – Iosif Shklovsky, Ukrainian astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1985) 1916 – George C. Stoney, American director and producer (d. 2012) 1917 – Humphry Osmond, English-American lieutenant and psychiatrist (d. 2004) 1917 – Álvaro Domecq y Díez, Spanish aristocrat (d. 2005) 1918 – Ralph Young, American singer and actor (d. 2008) 1918 – Ahmed Deedat, South African writer and public speaker (d. 2005) 1918 – Pedro Yap, Filipino lawyer (d. 2003) 1919 – Arnold Meri, Estonian colonel (d. 2009) 1919 – Malik Dohan al-Hassan, Iraqi politician (d. 2021) 1919 – Gerald E. Miller, American vice admiral (d. 2014) 1920 – Henri Amouroux, French historian and journalist (d. 2007) 1920 – Harold Sakata, Japanese-American wrestler and actor (d. 1982) 1920 – George I. Fujimoto, American-Japanese chemist 1921 – Seretse Khama, Batswana lawyer and politician, 1st President of Botswana (d. 1980) 1921 – Michalina Wisłocka, Polish gynecologist and sexologist (d. 2005) 1921 – Arthur Johnson, Canadian canoeist (d. 2003) 1922 – Toshi Seeger, German-American activist, co-founded the Clearwater Festival (d. 2013) 1922 – Mordechai Bibi, Israeli politician 1923 – Scotty Bowers, American marine, author and pimp (d. 2019) 1924 – Antoni Ramallets, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 2013) 1924 – Florence Stanley, American actress (d. 2003) 1924 – Georges Rivière, French actor 1925 – Farley Granger, American actor (d. 2011) 1925 – Art McNally, American football referee 1926 – Robert Fogel, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013) 1926 – Carl Hahn, German businessman 1926 – Mohamed Abshir Muse, Somali general (d. 2017) 1926 – Hans Werner Henze, German composer and educator (d. 2012) 1927 – Alan J. Charig, English paleontologist and author (d. 1997) 1927 – Joseph Martin Sartoris, American bishop 1927 – Chandra Shekhar, 8th Prime Minister of India (d. 2007) 1929 – Gerald Edelman, American biologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2014) 1930 – Moustapha Akkad, Syrian-American director and producer (d. 2005) 1930 – Carol Chomsky, American linguist and academic (d. 2008) 1931 – Leslie Caron, French actress and dancer 1932 – Ze'ev Schiff, French-Israeli journalist and author (d. 2007) 1933 – C. Scott Littleton, American anthropologist and academic (d. 2010) 1934 – Claude Berri, French actor, director and screenwriter (d. 2009) 1934 – Jamie Farr, American actor 1934 – Jean Marsh, English actress and screenwriter 1934 – Sydney Pollack, American actor, director and producer (d. 2008) 1935 – James Cotton, American singer-songwriter and harmonica player (d. 2017) 1935 – David Prowse, English actor (d. 2020) 1936 – Wally Amos, American entrepreneur and founder of Famous Amos 1938 – Craig Anderson, American baseball player and coach 1938 – Hariprasad Chaurasia, Indian flute player and composer 1939 – Karen Black, American actress (d. 2013) 1939 – Delaney Bramlett, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 2008) 1940 – Craig Brown, Scottish footballer and manager 1940 – Ela Gandhi, South African activist and politician 1940 – Cahit Zarifoğlu, Turkish poet and author (d. 1987) 1941 – Rod Gilbert, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2021) 1941 – Alfred G. Gilman, American pharmacologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015) 1941 – Myron Scholes, Canadian-American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1941 – Twyla Tharp, American dancer and choreographer 1942 – Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, Iraqi field marshal and politician (d. 2020) 1942 – Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress 1942 – Andraé Crouch, American singer-songwriter, producer and pastor (d. 2015) 1942 – Julia Higgins, English chemist and academic 1943 – Philip Brunelle, American conductor and organist 1943 – Peeter Lepp, Estonian politician, 37th Mayor of Tallinn 1943 – Jeff Wayne, American composer, musician and lyricist 1944 – Nurul Haque Miah, Bangladeshi professor and writer (d. 2021) 1945 – Mike Burstyn, American actor and singer 1945 – Debbie Harry, American singer-songwriter and actress 1946 – Mick Aston, English archaeologist and academic (d. 2013) 1946 – Erkki Tuomioja, Finnish sergeant and politician, Finnish Minister for Foreign Affairs 1946 – Kojo Laing, Ghanaian novelist and poet (d. 2017) 1947 – Kazuyoshi Hoshino, Japanese race car driver 1947 – Malcolm Wicks, English academic and politician (d. 2012) 1948 – John Ford, English-American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1949 – Néjia Ben Mabrouk, Tunisian-Belgian director and screenwriter 1949 – John Farnham, English-Australian singer-songwriter 1949 – David Hogan, American composer and educator (d. 1996) 1949 – Venkaiah Naidu, Indian lawyer and politician 1950 – David Duke, American white supremacist, politician and former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard 1951 – Trevor Eve, English actor and producer 1951 – Anne Feeney, American singer-songwriter and activist (d. 2021) 1951 – Julia Goodfellow, English physicist and academic 1951 – Klaus-Peter Justus, German runner 1951 – Tom Kozelko, American basketball player 1951 – Terrence Mann, American actor, singer and dancer 1951 – Fred Schneider, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1951 – Victor Willis, American singer-songwriter, pianist and actor 1952 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor, producer and screenwriter 1952 – David Arkenstone, American composer and performer 1952 – David Lane, English oncologist and academic 1952 – Steve Shutt, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster 1952 – Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer (d. 2006) 1953 – Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese lawyer and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Malta 1953 – Jadranka Kosor, Croatian journalist and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Croatia 1954 – Keith Whitley, American singer and guitarist (d. 1989) 1954 – Hossein Nuri, Iranian artist and director 1955 – Nikolai Demidenko, Russian pianist and educator 1955 – Li Keqiang, Chinese economist and politician, 7th Premier of the People's Republic of China 1955 – Lisa Scottoline, American lawyer and author 1955 – Maʻafu Tukuiʻaulahi, Tongan politician and military officer, Deputy Prime Minister (d. 2021) 1957 – Lisa Blount, American actress and producer (d. 2010) 1957 – Hannu Kamppuri, Finnish ice hockey player 1957 – Sean O'Driscoll, English footballer and manager 1958 – Jack Dyer Crouch II, American diplomat, United States Deputy National Security Advisor 1960 – Michael Beattie, Australian rugby league player and coach 1960 – Lynn Jennings, American runner 1960 – Evelyn "Champagne" King, American soul/disco singer 1960 – Kevin Swords, American rugby player 1961 – Malcolm Elliott, English cyclist 1961 – Ivan Kaye, English actor 1961 – Carl Lewis, American long jumper and runner 1961 – Diana, Princess of Wales (d. 1997) 1961 – Michelle Wright, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1962 – Andre Braugher, American actor and producer 1962 – Mokhzani Mahathir, Malaysian businessman 1963 – Roddy Bottum, American singer and keyboard player 1963 – Nick Giannopoulos, Australian actor 1963 – David Wood, American lawyer and environmentalist (d. 2006) 1964 – Bernard Laporte, French rugby player and coach 1965 – Carl Fogarty, English motorcycle racer 1965 – Garry Schofield, English rugby player and coach 1965 – Harald Zwart, Norwegian director and producer 1966 – Enrico Annoni, Italian footballer and coach 1966 – Shawn Burr, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2013) 1967 – Pamela Anderson, Canadian-American model and actress 1969 – Séamus Egan, American-Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist 1971 – Missy Elliott, American rapper, producer, dancer and actress 1971 – Julianne Nicholson, American actress 1974 – Jefferson Pérez, Ecuadorian race walker 1975 – Sean Colson, American basketball player and coach 1975 – Sufjan Stevens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1976 – Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer and coach 1976 – Hannu Tihinen, Finnish footballer 1976 – Albert Torrens, Australian rugby league player 1976 – Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer and manager 1976 – Szymon Ziółkowski, Polish hammer thrower 1977 – Tom Frager, Senegalese-French singer-songwriter and guitarist 1977 – Keigo Hayashi, Japanese musician 1977 – Jarome Iginla, Canadian ice hockey player 1979 – Forrest Griffin, American mixed martial artist and actor 1981 – Carlo Del Fava, South African-Italian rugby player 1981 – Tadhg Kennelly, Irish-Australian footballer 1982 – Justin Huber, Australian baseball player 1982 – Joachim Johansson, Swedish tennis player 1982 – Adrian Ward, American football player 1982 – Hilarie Burton, American actress 1984 – Donald Thomas, Bahamian high jumper 1985 – Chris Perez, American baseball player 1986 – Charlie Blackmon, American baseball player 1986 – Andrew Lee, Australian footballer 1986 – Julian Prochnow, German footballer 1987 – Michael Schrader, German decathlete 1988 – Dedé, Brazilian footballer 1988 – Aleksander Lesun, Russian modern pentathlete 1989 – Kent Bazemore, American basketball player 1989 – Daniel Ricciardo, Australian race car driver 1990 – Ben Coker, English footballer 1991 – Michael Wacha, American baseball player 1992 – Aaron Sanchez, American baseball player 1995 – Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo, Belgian footballer 1995 – Savvy Shields, Miss America 2017 1996 – Adelina Sotnikova, Russian figure skater 1998 – Aleksandra Golovkina, Lithuanian figure skater 2000 – Lalu Muhammad Zohri, Indonesian sprinter 2001 – Chosen Jacobs, American entertainer 2003 – Tate McRae, Canadian singer, songwriter, and dancer Deaths Pre-1600 552 – Totila, Ostrogoth king 992 – Heonjeong, Korean queen (b. 966) 1109 – Alfonso VI, king of León and Castile (b. 1040) 1224 – Hōjō Yoshitoki, regent of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan (b. 1163) 1242 – Chagatai Khan, Mongol ruler (b. 1183) 1277 – Baibars, Egyptian sultan (b. 1223) 1287 – Narathihapate, Burmese king (b. 1238) 1321 – María de Molina, queen of Castile and León 1348 – Joan, English princess 1555 – John Bradford, English reformer, prebendary of St. Paul's (b. 1510) 1589 – Lady Saigō, Japanese concubine (b. 1552) 1592 – Marc'Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer and educator (b. 1535) 1601–1900 1614 – Isaac Casaubon, French philologist and scholar (b. 1559) 1622 – William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, English politician (b. 1575) 1681 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish archbishop and saint (b. 1629) 1736 – Ahmed III, Ottoman sultan (b. 1673) 1749 – William Jones, Welsh mathematician and academic (b. 1675) 1774 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (b. 1705) 1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, English admiral and politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (b. 1730) 1784 – Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German organist and composer (b. 1710) 1787 – Charles de Rohan, French marshal (b. 1715) 1819 – the Public Universal Friend, American evangelist (b. 1752) 1839 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (b. 1785) 1860 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (b. 1800) 1863 – John F. Reynolds, American general (b. 1820) 1884 – Allan Pinkerton, Scottish-American detective and spy (b. 1819) 1896 – Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author and activist (b. 1811) 1901–present 1905 – John Hay, American journalist and politician, 37th United States Secretary of State (b. 1838) 1912 – Harriet Quimby, American pilot and screenwriter (b. 1875) 1925 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (b. 1866) 1934 – Ernst Röhm, German paramilitary commander (b. 1887) 1942 – Peadar Toner Mac Fhionnlaoich, Irish writer (b. 1857) 1943 – Willem Arondeus, Dutch artist, author and anti-Nazi resistance fighter (b. 1894) 1944 – Carl Mayer, Austrian-English screenwriter (b. 1894) 1944 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian author (b. 1930) 1948 – Achille Varzi, Italian race car driver (b. 1904) 1950 – Émile Jaques-Dalcroze, Swiss composer and educator (b. 1865) 1950 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish-American architect, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (b. 1873) 1951 – Tadeusz Borowski, Polish poet, novelist and journalist (b. 1922) 1961 – Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French physician and author (b. 1894) 1962 – Purushottam Das Tandon, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1882) 1962 – Bidhan Chandra Roy, Indian physician and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of West Bengal (b. 1882)
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and Vice President of the Republic of China (d. 2001) 1910 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian, author, and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (d. 1984) 1913 – Huang Hua, Chinese translator and politician, 5th Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China (d. 2010) 1913 – Witold Lutosławski, Polish composer and conductor (d. 1994) 1913 – Luis Marden, American photographer and journalist (d. 2003) 1914 – William Strickland, American conductor and organist (d. 1991) 1915 – Ewan MacColl, English singer-songwriter, actor and producer (d. 1989) 1916 – Pop Ivy, American football player and coach (d. 2003) 1917 – Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003) 1917 – Jânio Quadros, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 22nd President of Brazil (d. 1992) 1919 – Edwin Newman, American journalist and author (d. 2010) 1921 – Samuel T. Cohen, American physicist and academic (d. 2010) 1921 – Josef Holeček, Czechoslovakian canoeist (d. 2005) 1922 – Raymond Baxter, English television host and pilot (d. 2006) 1923 – Arvid Carlsson, Swedish pharmacologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018) 1923 – Shirley Ardell Mason, American psychiatric patient (d. 1998) 1923 – Sally Starr, American actress and television host (d. 2013) 1923 – Jean Taittinger, French politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 2012) 1924 – Lou Groza, American football player and coach (d. 2000) 1924 – Husein Mehmedov, Bulgarian-Turkish wrestler and coach (d. 2014) 1924 – Speedy West, American guitarist and producer (d. 2003) 1925 – Gordy Soltau, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2014) 1925 – Giorgos Zampetas, Greek bouzouki player and songwriter (d. 1992) 1926 – Dick McGuire, American basketball player and coach (d. 2010) 1927 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, Brazilian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1994) 1928 – Jérôme Choquette, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2017) 1928 – Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian general and politician, 2nd President of Georgia (d. 2014) 1928 – Cor van der Hart, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2006) 1929 – Elizabeth Allen, American actress and singer (d. 2006) 1929 – Robert Faurisson, English-French author and academic (d. 2018) 1929 – Benny Golson, American saxophonist and composer 1930 – Tanya Savicheva, Russian child diarist (d. 1944) 1931 – Dean Jones, American actor and singer (d. 2015) 1933 – Corazon Aquino, Filipino politician, 11th President of the Philippines (d. 2009) 1935 – Conrad Burns, American journalist, and politician (d. 2016) 1935 – António Ramalho Eanes, Portuguese general and politician, 16th President of Portugal 1936 – Diana Hyland, American actress (d. 1977) 1936 – Onat Kutlar, Turkish author and poet (d. 1995) 1937 – Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African engineer and politician, President of the Central African Republic (d. 2011) 1938 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 1998) 1938 – Etta James, American singer (d. 2012) 1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese author, illustrator, and animator 1938 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (d. 1980) 1941 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2015) 1942 – Carl Eller, American football player and sportscaster 1942 – Eusébio, Mozambican-Portuguese footballer (d. 2014) 1943 – Tobe Hooper, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017) 1945 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress 1947 – Ángel Nieto, Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2017) 1947 – Tostão, Brazilian footballer, journalist, and physician 1948 – Ros Kelly, Australian educator and politician, 1st Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel 1948 – Georgy Shishkin, Russian painter and illustrator 1949 – John Cooper Clarke, English poet and critic 1949 – Paul Nurse, English geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1950 – Gloria Naylor, American novelist (d. 2016) 1951 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975) 1952 – Peter Tatchell, Australian-English journalist and activist 1952 – Timothy White, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2002) 1954 – Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer and manager 1954 – Kay Cottee, Australian sailor 1954 – Renate Dorrestein, Dutch journalist and author (d. 2018) 1956 – Andy Cox, English guitarist 1956 – Dinah Manoff, American actress 1957 – Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish technologist and politician, Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs 1957 – Andrew Harris, American politician 1957 – Jenifer Lewis, American actress and singer 1958 – Franco Pancheri, Italian footballer and manager 1961 – Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean ophthalmologist and politician, Singaporean Ministry of National Development 1962 – Chris Chelios, American ice hockey player and manager 1963 – Fernando Haddad, Brazilian academic and politician, 61st Mayor of São Paulo 1963 – Molly Holzschlag, American computer scientist and author 1964 – Stephen Pate, Australian cyclist 1965 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach 1966 – Chet Culver, American educator and politician, 41st Governor of Iowa 1966 – Yiannos Ioannou, Cypriot footballer and manager 1967 – Nelson Asaytono, Filipino basketball player 1967 – David Ginola, French footballer 1967 – Randy McKay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1968 – Eric Orie, Dutch footballer and manager 1969 – Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2012) 1970 – Stephen Chbosky, American author, screenwriter, and director 1970 – Chris Mills, American basketball player 1970 – Milt Stegall, American football player and sportscaster 1971 – Luca Badoer, Italian racing driver 1971 – Philip Coppens, Belgian journalist and author (d. 2012) 1971 – Ana Ortiz, American actress 1972 – Shinji Takehara, Japanese boxer 1973 – Geoff Johns, American author, screenwriter, and producer 1974 – Robert Budreau, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1974 – Emily Haines, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1974 – Attilio Nicodemo, Italian footballer 1975 – Duncan Jupp, Anglo-Scottish footballer 1975 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress 1976 – Stephanie Bellars, American wrestler and manager 1976 – Mário Haberfeld, Brazilian racing driver 1976 – Dimitris Nalitzis, Greek footballer 1977 – Michael Brown, English footballer, manager and pundit 1978 – Ahmet Dursun, Turkish footballer 1978 – Denis Menchov, Russian cyclist 1978 – Derrick Turnbow, American baseball player 1979 – Rodrigo Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver 1980 – Alayna Burns, Australian track cyclist 1980 – Xavi, Spanish footballer 1981 – Francis Jeffers, English footballer 1981 – Alicia Keys, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress 1981 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007) 1984 – Stefan Kießling, German footballer 1984 – Robinho, Brazilian footballer 1984 – Fara Williams, English footballer 1985 – Brent Celek, American football player 1985 – Patrick Willis, American football player 1985 – Hwang Jung-eum, South Korean actress 1986 – Chris O'Grady, English footballer 1987 – Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player 1988 – Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player 1988 – Ryota Ozawa, Japanese actor 1990 – Apostolos Giannou, Greek-Australian footballer 1990 – Lee Jun-ho, South Korean singer and actor Deaths Pre-1600 390 – Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329) 477 – Gaiseric, king of the Vandals (b. 389) 750 – Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, Umayyad caliph 844 – Pope Gregory IV (b. 795) 863 – Charles of Provence, Frankish king (b. 845) 951 – Ma Xiguang, ruler of Chu (Ten Kingdoms) 1003 – Lothair I, Margrave of the Nordmark 1067 – Emperor Yingzong of Song (b. 1032) 1138 – Antipope Anacletus II 1139 – Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VI) 1366 – Henry Suso, German priest and mystic (b. 1300) 1413 – Maud de Ufford, Countess of Oxford (b. 1345) 1431 – Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364) 1492 – Ygo Gales Galama, Frisian warlord and rebel (b. 1443) 1494 – Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423) 1559 – Christian II of Denmark (b. 1481) 1578 – Mihrimah Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1522) 1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515) 1601–1900 1640 – Robert Burton, English physician and scholar (b. 1577) 1670 – Nicholas Francis, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612) 1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675) 1733 – Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1652) 1742 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer (b. 1656) 1751 – Paul Dudley, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1675) 1852 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1778) 1872 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (b. 1817) 1881 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (b. 1794) 1884 – Périclès Pantazis, Greek-Belgian painter (b. 1849) 1891 – Theo van Gogh, Art dealer, the brother of Vincent van Gogh (b. 1857) 1900 – Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, German Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1835) 1901–present 1907 – René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879) 1908 – Ouida, English-Italian author (b. 1839) 1908 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player and theoretician (b. 1850) 1910 – W. G. Read Mullan, American Jesuit and academic (1860) 1914 – Frank Avery Hutchins, American librarian and educator (b. 1851) 1912 – Dmitry Milyutin, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1816) 1925 – Juan Vucetich, Croatian-Argentinian anthropologist and police officer (b. 1858) 1939 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish soldier and bagpipe player (b. 1870) 1947 – Al Capone, American gangster and mob boss (b. 1899) 1949 – Makino Nobuaki, Japanese politician, 15th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1861) 1957 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman, founded Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (b. 1873) 1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871) 1958 – Cemil Topuzlu, Turkish surgeon and politician, Mayor of Istanbul (b.
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– Ange-Félix Patassé, Central African engineer and politician, President of the Central African Republic (d. 2011) 1938 – Shotaro Ishinomori, Japanese author and illustrator (d. 1998) 1938 – Etta James, American singer (d. 2012) 1938 – Leiji Matsumoto, Japanese author, illustrator, and animator 1938 – Vladimir Vysotsky, Russian singer-songwriter, actor, and poet (d. 1980) 1941 – Buddy Baker, American race car driver and sportscaster (d. 2015) 1942 – Carl Eller, American football player and sportscaster 1942 – Eusébio, Mozambican-Portuguese footballer (d. 2014) 1943 – Tobe Hooper, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2017) 1945 – Leigh Taylor-Young, American actress 1947 – Ángel Nieto, Spanish motorcycle racer (d. 2017) 1947 – Tostão, Brazilian footballer, journalist, and physician 1948 – Ros Kelly, Australian educator and politician, 1st Australian Minister for Defence Science and Personnel 1948 – Georgy Shishkin, Russian painter and illustrator 1949 – John Cooper Clarke, English poet and critic 1949 – Paul Nurse, English geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1950 – Gloria Naylor, American novelist (d. 2016) 1951 – Steve Prefontaine, American runner (d. 1975) 1952 – Peter Tatchell, Australian-English journalist and activist 1952 – Timothy White, American journalist, author, and critic (d. 2002) 1954 – Ricardo Bochini, Argentinian footballer and manager 1954 – Kay Cottee, Australian sailor 1954 – Renate Dorrestein, Dutch journalist and author (d. 2018) 1956 – Andy Cox, English guitarist 1956 – Dinah Manoff, American actress 1957 – Eskil Erlandsson, Swedish technologist and politician, Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs 1957 – Andrew Harris, American politician 1957 – Jenifer Lewis, American actress and singer 1958 – Franco Pancheri, Italian footballer and manager 1961 – Vivian Balakrishnan, Singaporean ophthalmologist and politician, Singaporean Ministry of National Development 1962 – Chris Chelios, American ice hockey player and manager 1963 – Fernando Haddad, Brazilian academic and politician, 61st Mayor of São Paulo 1963 – Molly Holzschlag, American computer scientist and author 1964 – Stephen Pate, Australian cyclist 1965 – Esa Tikkanen, Finnish ice hockey player and coach 1966 – Chet Culver, American educator and politician, 41st Governor of Iowa 1966 – Yiannos Ioannou, Cypriot footballer and manager 1967 – Nelson Asaytono, Filipino basketball player 1967 – David Ginola, French footballer 1967 – Randy McKay, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1968 – Eric Orie, Dutch footballer and manager 1969 – Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian volleyball player and coach (d. 2012) 1970 – Stephen Chbosky, American author, screenwriter, and director 1970 – Chris Mills, American basketball player 1970 – Milt Stegall, American football player and sportscaster 1971 – Luca Badoer, Italian racing driver 1971 – Philip Coppens, Belgian journalist and author (d. 2012) 1971 – Ana Ortiz, American actress 1972 – Shinji Takehara, Japanese boxer 1973 – Geoff Johns, American author, screenwriter, and producer 1974 – Robert Budreau, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter 1974 – Emily Haines, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1974 – Attilio Nicodemo, Italian footballer 1975 – Duncan Jupp, Anglo-Scottish footballer 1975 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress 1976 – Stephanie Bellars, American wrestler and manager 1976 – Mário Haberfeld, Brazilian racing driver 1976 – Dimitris Nalitzis, Greek footballer 1977 – Michael Brown, English footballer, manager and pundit 1978 – Ahmet Dursun, Turkish footballer 1978 – Denis Menchov, Russian cyclist 1978 – Derrick Turnbow, American baseball player 1979 – Rodrigo Ribeiro, Brazilian racing driver 1980 – Alayna Burns, Australian track cyclist 1980 – Xavi, Spanish footballer 1981 – Francis Jeffers, English footballer 1981 – Alicia Keys, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress 1981 – Toše Proeski, Macedonian singer (d. 2007) 1984 – Stefan Kießling, German footballer 1984 – Robinho, Brazilian footballer 1984 – Fara Williams, English footballer 1985 – Brent Celek, American football player 1985 – Patrick Willis, American football player 1985 – Hwang Jung-eum, South Korean actress 1986 – Chris O'Grady, English footballer 1987 – Maria Kirilenko, Russian tennis player 1988 – Tatiana Golovin, French tennis player 1988 – Ryota Ozawa, Japanese actor 1990 – Apostolos Giannou, Greek-Australian footballer 1990 – Lee Jun-ho, South Korean singer and actor Deaths Pre-1600 390 – Gregory Nazianzus, theologian and Patriarch of Constantinople (b. 329) 477 – Gaiseric, king of the Vandals (b. 389) 750 – Ibrahim ibn al-Walid, Umayyad caliph 844 – Pope Gregory IV (b. 795) 863 – Charles of Provence, Frankish king (b. 845) 951 – Ma Xiguang, ruler of Chu (Ten Kingdoms) 1003 – Lothair I, Margrave of the Nordmark 1067 – Emperor Yingzong of Song (b. 1032) 1138 – Antipope Anacletus II 1139 – Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and Duke of Lower Lorraine (as Godfrey VI) 1366 – Henry Suso, German priest and mystic (b. 1300) 1413 – Maud de Ufford, Countess of Oxford (b. 1345) 1431 – Charles II, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1364) 1492 – Ygo Gales Galama, Frisian warlord and rebel (b. 1443) 1494 – Ferdinand I of Naples (b. 1423) 1559 – Christian II of Denmark (b. 1481) 1578 – Mihrimah Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1522) 1586 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515) 1601–1900 1640 – Robert Burton, English physician and scholar (b. 1577) 1670 – Nicholas Francis, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1612) 1726 – Guillaume Delisle, French cartographer (b. 1675) 1733 – Sir Gilbert Heathcote, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1652) 1742 – Edmond Halley, English astronomer (b. 1656) 1751 – Paul Dudley, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (b. 1675) 1852 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1778) 1872 – Richard S. Ewell, American general (b. 1817) 1881 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (b. 1794) 1884 – Périclès Pantazis, Greek-Belgian painter (b. 1849) 1891 – Theo van Gogh, Art dealer, the brother of Vincent van Gogh (b. 1857) 1900 – Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, German Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1835) 1901–present 1907 – René Pottier, French cyclist (b. 1879) 1908 – Ouida, English-Italian author (b. 1839) 1908 – Mikhail Chigorin, Russian chess player and theoretician (b. 1850) 1910 – W. G. Read Mullan, American Jesuit and academic (1860) 1914 – Frank Avery Hutchins, American librarian and educator (b. 1851) 1912 – Dmitry Milyutin, Russian field marshal and politician (b. 1816) 1925 – Juan Vucetich, Croatian-Argentinian anthropologist and police officer (b. 1858) 1939 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish soldier and bagpipe player (b. 1870) 1947 – Al Capone, American gangster and mob boss (b. 1899) 1949 – Makino Nobuaki, Japanese politician, 15th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (b. 1861) 1957 – Ichizō Kobayashi, Japanese businessman, founded Hankyu Hanshin Holdings (b. 1873) 1957 – Kiyoshi Shiga, Japanese physician and bacteriologist (b. 1871) 1958 – Cemil Topuzlu, Turkish surgeon and politician, Mayor of Istanbul (b. 1866) 1958 – Robert R. Young, American businessman and financier (b. 1897) 1960 – Diana Barrymore, American actress (b. 1921) 1966 – Saul Adler, Belarusian-English microbiologist and parasitologist (b. 1895) 1968 – Louie Myfanwy Thomas, Welsh writer (b. 1908) 1970 – Jane Bathori, French soprano (b. 1877) 1970 – Eiji Tsuburaya, Japanese director and producer (b. 1901) 1971 – Barry III, Guinean lawyer and politician (b. 1923) 1972 – Erhard Milch, German field marshal (b. 1892) 1975 – Charlotte Whitton, Canadian journalist and politician, 46th Mayor of Ottawa (b. 1896) 1978 – Skender Kulenović, Bosnian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1910) 1981 – Adele Astaire, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1896) 1982 – Mikhail Suslov, Russian economist and politician (b. 1902) 1985 – Ilias Iliou, Greek jurist and politician (b. 1904) 1987 – Frank J. Lynch, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1922) 1988 – Colleen Moore, American actress (b. 1899) 1990 – Ava Gardner, American actress (b. 1922) 1991 – Frank Soo, English footballer and manager (b. 1914) 1992 – Mir Khalil ur Rehman, Founder and editor of the Jang Group of Newspapers (b. 1927) 1994 – Stephen Cole Kleene, American mathematician, computer scientist, and academic (b. 1909) 1996 – Jonathan Larson, American playwright and composer (b. 1960) 1997 – Dan Barry, American author and illustrator (b. 1923) 1999 – Sarah Louise Delany, American author and educator (b. 1889) 1999 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (b. 1916) 2001 – Alice Ambrose, American philosopher and logician (b. 1906) 2002 – Cliff Baxter, employee at Enron (b. 1958) 2003 – Sheldon Reynolds, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1923) 2003 – Samuel Weems, American lawyer and author (b. 1936) 2004 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch runner and hurdler (b. 1918) 2004 – Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (b. 1979) 2005 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (b. 1923) 2005 – William Augustus Bootle, American lawyer and judge (b. 1902) 2005 – Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the PPG Place and Crystal Cathedral (b. 1906) 2005 – Manuel Lopes, Cape Verdean author and poet (b. 1907) 2005 – Netti Witziers-Timmer, Dutch runner (b. 1923) 2009 – Eleanor F. Helin, American astronomer (b. 1932) 2009 – Ewald Kooiman, Dutch organist and educator (b. 1938) 2009 – Kim Manners, American director and producer (b. 1951) 2010 – Ali Hassan al-Majid, Iraqi general and politician, Iraqi Minister of Defence (b. 1941) 2011 – Vassilis C. Constantakopoulos Greek captain and businessman (b. 1935) 2011 – Vincent Cronin, Welsh historian and author (b. 1924) 2012 – Paavo Berglund, Finnish violinist and conductor (b. 1929) 2012 – Jacques Maisonrouge, French businessman (b. 1924) 2012 – Franco Pacini, Italian astrophysicist and academic (b. 1939) 2012 – Robert Sheran, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1916) 2013 – Martial Asselin, Canadian lawyer and politician, 25th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (b. 1924) 2013 – Kevin Heffernan, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1929) 2013 – Aase Nordmo Løvberg, Norwegian soprano and actress (b. 1923) 2014 – Arthur Doyle, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and flute player (b. 1944)
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States (d. 1993) 1911 – Reg Parnell, English race car driver and manager (d. 1964) 1913 – Max Beloff, Baron Beloff, English historian and academic (d. 1999) 1914 – Frederick Fennell, American conductor and educator (d. 2004) 1914 – Ethelreda Leopold, American actress (d. 1988) 1914 – Mário Schenberg, Brazilian physicist and engineer (d. 1990) 1914 – Erich Topp, German admiral (d. 2005) 1915 – Valerian Wellesley, 8th Duke of Wellington, British peer, politician and soldier (d. 2014) 1916 – Ken Curtis, American actor and singer (d. 1991) 1916 – Hans-Ulrich Rudel, German colonel and pilot (d. 1982) 1916 – Reino Kangasmäki, Finnish wrestler (d. 2010) 1916 – Zélia Gattai, Brazilian author and photographer (d. 2008) 1917 – Leonard J. Arrington, American author and academic, founded the Mormon History Association (d. 1999) 1918 – Athos Bulcão, Brazilian painter and sculptor (d. 2008) 1918 – Indumati Bhattacharya, Indian politician (d. 1990) 1919 – Jean Craighead George, American author (d. 2012) 1920 – John Kneubuhl, Samoan-American historian, screenwriter, and playwright (d. 1992) 1922 – Pierre Cardin, Italian-French fashion designer (d. 2020) 1922 – Paula Valenska, Czech actress (d. 1994) 1923 – Cyril M. Kornbluth, American soldier and author (d. 1958) 1923 – Wisława Szymborska, Polish poet and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012) 1925 – Medgar Evers, American soldier and activist (d. 1963) 1925 – Patrice Lumumba, Congolese politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (d. 1961) 1925 – Marvin Rainwater, American singer-songwriter (d. 2013) 1926 – Octavian Paler, Romanian journalist and politician (d. 2007) 1927 – Lee Allen, American saxophone player (d. 1994) 1927 – James Mackay, Baron Mackay of Clashfern, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain 1927 – Brock Peters, American actor (d. 2005) 1929 – Imelda Marcos, Filipino politician; 10th First Lady of the Philippines 1930 – Carlos Menem, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 50th President of Argentina (d. 2021) 1931 – Mohammad Yazdi, Iranian cleric (d. 2020) 1932 – Dave Thomas, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Wendy's (d. 2002) 1933 – Peter Desbarats, Canadian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 2014) 1933 – Kenny Wharram, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2017) 1934 – Tom Springfield, English musician 1935 – Gilbert Kalish, American pianist and educator 1936 – Omar Suleiman, Egyptian general and politician, 16th Vice President of Egypt (d. 2012) 1937 – Polly Holliday, American actress 1937 – Richard Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster 1938 – David Owen, English physician and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 1939 – Alexandros Panagoulis, Greek poet and politician (d. 1976) 1939 – John H. Sununu, American engineer and politician, 14th White House Chief of Staff 1939 – Paul Williams, American singer and choreographer (d. 1973) 1940 – Kenneth Clarke, English politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain 1941 – William Guest, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2015) 1941 – Wendell Mottley, Trinidadian sprinter, economist, and politician 1942 – John Eekelaar, South African-English lawyer and scholar 1942 – Vicente Fox, Mexican businessman and politician, 35th President of Mexico 1943 – Ivi Eenmaa, Estonian politician, 36th Mayor of Tallinn 1943 – Larry Lake, American-Canadian trumpet player and composer (d. 2013) 1946 – Richard Axel, American neuroscientist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1946 – Ron Silver, American actor, director, and political activist (d. 2009) 1947 – Larry David, American actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter 1947 – Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton, English politician, Minister for International Security Strategy 1948 – Mutula Kilonzo, Kenyan lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1949 – Greg Brown, American musician 1949 – Robert Paquette, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Lynne Brindley, English librarian and academic 1950 – Jon Trickett, English politician 1952 – Sylvia Rivera, American transgender rights activist (d. 2002) 1952 – Anatoliy Solomin, Ukrainian race walker and coach 1954 – Chris Huhne, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 1955 – Kim Carr, Australian educator and politician, 31st Australian Minister for Human Services 1956 – Jerry Hall, American model and actress 1957 – Bret Hart, Canadian wrestler 1957 – Jüri Raidla, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice 1957 – Purvis Short, American basketball player 1958 – Pavan Malhotra, Indian actor 1960 – Maria Lourdes Sereno, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 24th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines 1961 – Clark Kellogg, American basketball player and sportscaster 1962 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (d. 2006) 1964 – Jose Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player and mixed martial artist 1964 – Ozzie Canseco, Cuban-American baseball player, coach, and manager 1964 – Joe Magrane, American baseball player and sportscaster 1964 – Alan Tait, English-Scottish rugby player and coach 1965 – Norbert Röttgen, German lawyer and politician 1969 – Tim Rodber, English rugby player 1970 – Derrick Adkins, American hurdler 1970 – Steve Morrow, Northern Irish footballer and manager 1971 – Troy Brown, American football player and actor 1971 – Bryan Redpath, Scottish rugby player and coach 1972 – Darren Shan, English author 1974 – Sean Casey, American baseball player and sportscaster 1975 – Éric Dazé, Canadian ice hockey player 1975 – Kristen Michal, Estonian lawyer and politician 1975 – Erik Ohlsson, Swedish singer and guitarist 1975 – Stefan Terblanche, South African rugby player 1976 – Krisztián Lisztes, Hungarian footballer 1976 – Tomáš Vokoun, Czech-American ice hockey player 1977 – Deniz Barış, Turkish footballer 1978 – Jüri Ratas, Estonian politician, 42nd Mayor of Tallinn 1979 – Walter Davis, American triple jumper 1979 – Ahmed al-Ghamdi, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of United Airlines Flight 175 (d. 2001) 1979 – Sam Hornish Jr., American race car driver 1979 – Joe Thornton, Canadian ice hockey player 1980 – Nyjer Morgan, American baseball player 1981 – Nathan Ellington, English footballer 1981 – Carlos Rogers, American football player 1983 – Michelle Branch, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1983 – Kyle Hogg, English cricketer 1984 – Thomas Kortegaard, Danish footballer 1984 – Johnny Weir, American figure skater 1985 – Rhett Bomar, American football player 1985 – Chad Henne, American football player 1985 – Ashley Tisdale, American actress, singer, and producer 1986 – Brett Cecil, American baseball player 1986 – Lindsay Lohan, American actress and singer 1987 – Esteban Granero, Spanish footballer 1988 – Lee Chung-yong, South Korean footballer 1989 – Nadezhda Grishaeva, Russian basketball player 1989 – Alex Morgan, American soccer player 1990 – Kayla Harrison, American judoka 1990 – Merritt Mathias, American soccer player 1990 – Morag McLellan, Scottish field hockey player 1990 – Margot Robbie, Australian actress and producer 1990 – Danny Rose, English footballer 1990 – Bill Tupou, New Zealand rugby league player 1992 – Madison Chock, American ice dancer 1993 – Vince Staples, American rapper and actor 1993 – Diamonté Harper, American rapper 1994 – Henrik Kristoffersen, Norwegian skier 1995 – Ryan Murphy, American swimmer 1996 – Julia Grabher, Austrian tennis player Deaths Pre-1600 626 – Li Jiancheng, Chinese prince (b. 589) 626 – Li Yuanji, Chinese prince (b. 603) 649 – Li Jing, Chinese general (b. 571) 862 – Swithun, English bishop and saint (b. 789) 866 – Robert the Strong, Frankish nobleman 936 – Henry the Fowler, German king (b. 876) 1215 – Eisai, Japanese Buddhist priest (b. 1141) 1298 – Adolf, King of the Romans (b. 1220) 1504 – Stephen III of Moldavia (b. 1434) 1566 – Nostradamus, French astrologer and author (b. 1503) 1578 – Thomas Doughty, English explorer 1582 – Akechi Mitsuhide, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1528) 1591 – Vincenzo Galilei, Italian lute player and composer (b. 1520) 1601–1900 1619 – Francis II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (b. 1547) 1621 – Thomas Harriot, English astronomer, mathematician, and ethnographer (b. 1560) 1656 – François-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-French general (b. 1611) 1674 – Eberhard III, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1614) 1743 – Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1673) 1746 – Thomas Baker, English antiquarian and author (b. 1656) 1778 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss philosopher and composer (b. 1712) 1833 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 1st Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (b. 1757) 1843 – Samuel Hahnemann, German physician and academic (b. 1755) 1850 – Robert Peel, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1788) 1857 – Carlo Pisacane, Italian soldier and philosopher (b. 1818) 1901–present 1903 – Ed Delahanty, American baseball player (b. 1867) 1912 – Tom Richardson, English cricketer (b. 1870) 1914 – Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1836) 1915 – Porfirio Díaz, Mexican general and politician, 29th President of Mexico (b. 1830) 1920 – William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer (b. 1846) 1926 – Émile Coué, French psychologist and pharmacist (b. 1857) 1929 – Gladys Brockwell, American actress (b. 1894) 1932 – Manuel II of Portugal (b. 1889) 1950 – Thomas William Burgess, English swimmer and water polo player (b. 1872) 1955 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1873) 1961 – Ernest Hemingway, American novelist, short story writer, and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899) 1963 – Alicia Patterson, American publisher, co-founded Newsday (b. 1906) 1964 – Fireball Roberts, American race car driver (b. 1929) 1966 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish poet and author (b. 1900) 1970 – Jessie Street, Australian suffragette and feminist (b. 1889) 1972 – Joseph Fielding Smith, American religious leader, 10th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1876) 1973 – Betty Grable, American actress, singer, and dancer (b. 1916) 1973 – George McBride, American baseball player and manager (b. 1880) 1973 – Ferdinand Schörner, German field marshal (b. 1892) 1975 – James Robertson Justice, English actor (b. 1907) 1977 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (b. 1899) 1978 – Aris Alexandrou, Greek author and poet (b. 1922) 1986 – Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player
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Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence at the court in Rome. 626 – Li Shimin, the future Emperor Taizong of Tang, ambushes and kills his rival brothers Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. 706 – In China, Emperor Zhongzong of Tang inters the bodies of relatives in the Qianling Mausoleum, located on Mount Liang outside Chang'an. 866 – Battle of Brissarthe: The Franks led by Robert the Strong are defeated by a joint Breton-Viking army. 936 – King Henry the Fowler dies in his royal palace in Memleben. He is succeeded by his son Otto I, who becomes the ruler of East Francia. 963 – The Byzantine army proclaims Nikephoros II Phokas Emperor of the Romans on the plains outside Cappadocian Caesarea. 1298 – The Battle of Göllheim is fought between Albert I of Habsburg and Adolf of Nassau-Weilburg. 1494 – The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain. 1504 – Bogdan III the One-Eyed becomes Voivode of Moldavia. 1555 – Ottoman Admiral Turgut Reis sacks the Italian city of Paola. 1561 – Menas, emperor of Ethiopia, defeats a revolt in Emfraz. 1582 – Battle of Yamazaki: Toyotomi Hideyoshi defeats Akechi Mitsuhide. 1601–1900 1613 – The first English expedition (from Virginia) against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place. 1644 – English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor. 1645 – Battle of Alford: Wars of the Three Kingdoms. 1698 – Thomas Savery patents the first steam engine. 1776 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not published until July 4. 1816 – The strikes the Bank of Arguin and 151 people on board have to be evacuated on an improvised raft, a case immortalised by Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa. 1822 – Thirty-five slaves, including Denmark Vesey, are hanged in South Carolina after being accused of organizing a slave rebellion. 1823 – Bahia Independence Day: The end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia. 1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutiny and take over the slave ship Amistad. 1853 – The Russian Army crosses the Prut river into the Danubian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia), providing the spark that will set off the Crimean War. 1864 – Dimitri Atanasescu founds the first Romanian school in the Balkans for the Aromanians in Trnovo, in the Ottoman Empire (now in North Macedonia). By the early 20th century, the number of these schools will have risen to 106. 1871 – Victor Emmanuel II of Italy enters Rome after having conquered it from the Papal States. 1881 – Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds U.S. President James A. Garfield (who will die of complications from his wounds on September 19). 1890 – The U.S. Congress passes the Sherman Antitrust Act. 1897 – British-Italian engineer Guglielmo Marconi obtains a patent for radio in London. 1900 – The first Zeppelin flight takes place on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany. 1900 – Jean Sibelius' Finlandia receives its première performance in Helsinki with the Helsinki Philharmonic Society conducted by Robert Kajanus. 1901–present 1921 – World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany. 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm. 1937 – Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight. 1940 – Indian independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose is arrested and detained in Calcutta. 1940 – The SS Arandora Star is sunk by U-47 in the North Atlantic with the loss of over 800 lives, mostly civilians. 1962 – The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart, opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas. 1964 – Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places. 1966 – France conducts its first nuclear weapon test in the Pacific, on Moruroa Atoll. 1976 – End of South Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam annexes the former South Vietnam to form the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 1986 – Rodrigo Rojas and Carmen Gloria Quintana are burnt alive during a street demonstration against the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile. 1986 – Aeroflot Flight 2306 crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Syktyvkar Airport in Syktyvkar, in present-day Komi Republic, Russia, killing 54 people. 1988 – Marcel Lefebvre and the four bishops he consecrated were excommunicated by the Holy See. 1990 – In the 1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy, 1,400 Muslim pilgrims are suffocated to death and trampled upon in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the holy city of Mecca. 1994 – USAir Flight 1016 crashes near Charlotte Douglas International Airport, killing 37 of the 57 people on board. 1997 – The Bank of Thailand floats the baht, triggering the Asian financial crisis. 2000 – Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional. 2001 – The AbioCor self-contained artificial heart is first implanted. 2002 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world nonstop in a balloon. 2005 – The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks. 2008 – Colombian conflict: Íngrid Betancourt, a member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia, is released from captivity after being held for six and a half years by FARC. 2010 – The South Kivu tank truck explosion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 230 people. 2013
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and lawyer (d. 1955) 1916 – Bernard Blier, Argentinian-French actor (d. 1989) 1917 – John Robarts, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Ontario (d. 1982) 1918 – Robert C. O'Brien, American author and journalist (d. 1973) 1918 – Spencer Walklate, Australian rugby league player and soldier (d. 1945) 1920 – Mick McManus, English wrestler (d. 2013) 1921 – Gory Guerrero, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1990) 1921 – Juanita M. Kreps, American economist and politician, 24th United States Secretary of Commerce (d. 2010) 1923 – Jerome Bixby, American author and screenwriter (d. 1998) 1923 – Ernst Nolte, German historian and philosopher (d. 2016) 1923 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver, engineer, and businessman, founded Carroll Shelby International (d. 2012) 1924 – Roger Guillemin, French-American physician and endocrinologist, Nobel Prize laureate 1924 – Sam B. Hall, Jr., American lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1994) 1924 – Slim Harpo, American blues singer-songwriter and musician (d. 1970) 1925 – Grant Tinker, American television producer, co-founded MTM Enterprises (d. 2016) 1926 – Lev Dyomin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1998) 1928 – David L. Wolper, American director and producer (d. 2010) 1929 – Dmitri Bruns, Estonian architect and theorist (d. 2020) 1930 – Ron Mulock, Australian lawyer and politician, 10th Deputy Premier of New South Wales (d. 2014) 1930 – Rod Taylor, Australian-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1931 – Betty Churcher, Australian painter, historian, and curator (d. 2015) 1931 – Mary Rodgers, American composer and author (d. 2014) 1932 – Alfonso Arau, Mexican actor and director 1933 – Goldie Hill, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005) 1934 – Jean Chrétien, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Canada 1936 – Eva Hesse, German-American sculptor and educator (d. 1970) 1938 – Arthur Scargill, English miner, activist, and politician 1939 – Anne Heggtveit, Canadian alpine skier 1940 – Andres Tarand, Estonian geographer and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Estonia 1941 – Gérson, Brazilian footballer 1942 – Bud Acton, American basketball player 1942 – Clarence Clemons, American saxophonist and actor (d. 2011) 1944 – Mohammed Abdul-Hayy, Sudanese poet and academic (d. 1989) 1944 – Shibu Soren, Indian politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Jharkhand 1945 – Christine Kaufmann, German actress, author, and businesswoman (d. 2017) 1946 – Naomi Judd, American singer-songwriter and actress 1946 – Tony Kaye, English progressive rock keyboard player and songwriter 1946 – John Piper, American theologian and author 1947 – Hamish Macdonald, New Zealand rugby player 1948 – Fritz Bohla, German footballer and manager 1948 – Joe Harper, Scottish footballer and manager 1948 – Madeline Manning, American runner and coach 1948 – Wajima Hiroshi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 54th Yokozuna (d. 2018) 1948 – Terry Williams, Welsh drummer 1949 – Daryl Braithwaite, Australian singer-songwriter 1949 – Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Iranian lawyer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran 1951 – Charlie Huhn, American rock singer and guitarist 1951 – Willie Maddren, English footballer and manager (d. 2000) 1951 – Philip Tartaglia, Scottish archbishop (d. 2021) 1952 – Bille Brown, Australian actor and playwright (d. 2013) 1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer and architect 1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian lawyer and politician 1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author 1952 – Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer, and producer 1953 – Graham Allen, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Agricultural Development and Food 1954 – Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian physicist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Defence 1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate 1956 – Big Bank Hank, American rapper (d. 2014) 1956 – David Grant, Australian rugby league player (d. 1994) 1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) 1957 – Peter Moore, Australian rules footballer and coach 1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager 1958 – Vicki Peterson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1959 – Brett Bodine, American NASCAR driver 1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1961 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish racing driver (d. 1989) 1962 – Chris Bryant, Welsh politician, Minister of State for Europe 1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist and activist 1962 – Brian Moore, English rugby player 1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American-Australian swimmer 1963 – Petra Schneider, German swimmer 1964 – Ralph Recto, Filipino lawyer and politician 1964 – Albert Dupontel, French actor and director 1965 – Mascarita Sagrada, Mexican wrestler 1965 – Aleksey Zhukov, Russian footballer and coach 1966 – Marc Acito, American author and screenwriter 1967 – Michael Healy-Rae, Irish politician 1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Finance 1968 – Tom Dumont, American guitarist and producer 1968 – Steve Mavin, Australian rugby league player 1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster 1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian painter and sculptor 1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach 1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor 1970 – Ken Ueno, American composer 1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress 1971 – Jeff Orford, Australian rugby league player 1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor 1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1972 – Anthony Lledo, Danish composer 1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress and playwright 1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor 1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer and captain 1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer 1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player 1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer 1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player 1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player and coach 1975 – Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, 56th Prime Minister of Italy 1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player 1977 – Shamari Buchanan, American football player 1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater 1977 – Shane Kelly, Australian rugby league player 1977 – Olexiy Lukashevych, Ukrainian long jumper 1978 – Vallo Allingu, Estonian basketball player 1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress 1978 – Michael Duff, Irish footballer 1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer 1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American director and screenwriter 1979 – Michael Lorenz, German footballer 1979 – Terence Morris, American basketball player 1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler 1979 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer-songwriter and businesswoman 1980 – Josh Hannay, Australian rugby league player and coach 1980 – Mike Williams, American football player 1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player 1982 – Clint Greenshields, Australian-French rugby league player 1982 – Blake Heron, American actor (d. 2017) 1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress 1983 – Turner Battle, American basketball player 1983 – André Myhrer, Swedish skier 1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer 1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver 1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player 1984 – Dario Krešić, Croatian footballer 1984 – Matt Mullenweg, American web developer and businessman, co-created WordPress 1984 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer 1984 – Glenn Stewart, Australian rugby league player 1985 – Newton Faulkner, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1985 – Lucy Knisley, American author and illustrator 1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American Professional BMX rider 1987 – Danuta Kozák, Hungarian sprint canoer 1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer 1987 – Jamie Vardy, English footballer 1987 – Kim Young-kwang, South Korean actor and model 1988 – Rodrigo José Pereira, Brazilian footballer 1989 – Kane Linnett, Australian rugby league player 1990 – Ryan Griffin, American football player 1991 – Andrea Bertolacci, Italian footballer 1992 – Dani Carvajal, Spanish footballer 1992 – Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean rapper and dancer 1993 – Michael Keane, English footballer 1993 – Will Keane, Irish footballer 1996 – Leroy Sané, German footballer 1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor 1998 – Thomas Mikaele, New Zealand rugby league player 1999 – Brandon Wakeham, Australian-Fijian rugby league player Deaths Pre-1600 140 – Pope Hyginus, Bishop of Rome (b. 74) 705 – Pope John VI (b. 655) 782 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan (b. 709) 812 – Staurakios, Byzantine emperor 844 – Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine emperor (b. 770) 887 – Boso of Provence, Frankish nobleman 937 – Cao, empress of Later Tang 937 – Li Chongmei, prince of Later Tang 937 – Li Congke, emperor of Later Tang (b. 885) 937 – Liu, empress of Later Tang 1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1000) 1068 – Egbert I, Margrave of Meissen 1083 – Otto of Nordheim (b. 1020) 1266 – Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania 1344 – Thomas Charlton, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1372 – Eleanor of Lancaster, English noblewoman (b. 1318) 1396 – Isidore Glabas, Metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica (b.c. 1341) 1397 – Skirgaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania 1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1449) 1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (b. 1428) 1546 – Gaudenzio Ferrari, Italian painter and sculptor (b. c. 1471) 1554 – Min Bin, king of Arakan (b. 1493) 1601–1900 1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet and painter (b. 1583) 1696 – Charles Albanel, French priest, missionary, and explorer (b. 1616) 1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (b. 1632) 1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French priest and theologian (b. 1637) 1735 – Danilo I, Metropolitan of Cetinje (b. 1670) 1753 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (b. 1660) 1757 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1688) 1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French-English sculptor (b. 1695) 1763 – Caspar Abel, German poet, historian, and theologian (b. 1676) 1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French philosopher and author (b. 1704) 1788 – François Joseph Paul de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722) 1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh composer and poet (b. 1717) 1798 – Heraclius II of Georgia (b. 1720) 1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer and educator (b. 1749) 1824 – Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry, Anglo-Irish politician and peer (b. 1736) 1836 – John Molson, Canadian businessman, founded the Molson Brewing Company (b. 1763) 1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and songwriter (b. 1779) 1866 – Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, Irish actor (b. 1818) 1866 – John Woolley, English minister and academic (b. 1816) 1867 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian businessman and politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1812) 1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist and biologist (b. 1810) 1891 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French urban planner (b. 1809) 1901–present 1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer and rugby player (b. 1862) 1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1815) 1914
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(d. 2013) 1952 – Ben Crenshaw, American golfer and architect 1952 – Michael Forshaw, Australian lawyer and politician 1952 – Diana Gabaldon, American author 1952 – Lee Ritenour, American guitarist, composer, and producer 1953 – Graham Allen, English politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1953 – Kostas Skandalidis, Greek engineer and politician, Greek Minister of Agricultural Development and Food 1954 – Jaak Aaviksoo, Estonian physicist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Defence 1954 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian engineer, academic, and activist, Nobel Prize laureate 1956 – Big Bank Hank, American rapper (d. 2014) 1956 – David Grant, Australian rugby league player (d. 1994) 1957 – Darryl Dawkins, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015) 1957 – Peter Moore, Australian rules footballer and coach 1957 – Bryan Robson, English footballer and manager 1958 – Vicki Peterson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1959 – Brett Bodine, American NASCAR driver 1959 – Rob Ramage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1961 – Lars-Erik Torph, Swedish racing driver (d. 1989) 1962 – Chris Bryant, Welsh politician, Minister of State for Europe 1962 – Susan Lindauer, American journalist and activist 1962 – Brian Moore, English rugby player 1963 – Tracy Caulkins, American-Australian swimmer 1963 – Petra Schneider, German swimmer 1964 – Ralph Recto, Filipino lawyer and politician 1964 – Albert Dupontel, French actor and director 1965 – Mascarita Sagrada, Mexican wrestler 1965 – Aleksey Zhukov, Russian footballer and coach 1966 – Marc Acito, American author and screenwriter 1967 – Michael Healy-Rae, Irish politician 1968 – Anders Borg, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Finance 1968 – Tom Dumont, American guitarist and producer 1968 – Steve Mavin, Australian rugby league player 1969 – Manny Acta, Dominican-American baseball player, coach, manager, and sportscaster 1970 – Manfredi Beninati, Italian painter and sculptor 1970 – Chris Jent, American basketball player and coach 1970 – Malcolm D. Lee, American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor 1970 – Ken Ueno, American composer 1971 – Mary J. Blige, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress 1971 – Jeff Orford, Australian rugby league player 1971 – Chris Willsher, English singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor 1972 – Christian Jacobs, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor 1972 – Anthony Lledo, Danish composer 1972 – Amanda Peet, American actress and playwright 1973 – Rockmond Dunbar, American actor 1973 – Rahul Dravid, Indian cricketer and captain 1974 – Roman Görtz, German footballer 1974 – Cody McKay, Canadian baseball player 1974 – Jens Nowotny, German footballer 1975 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American ice hockey player 1975 – Dan Luger, English rugby player and coach 1975 – Matteo Renzi, Italian politician, 56th Prime Minister of Italy 1976 – Efthimios Rentzias, Greek basketball player 1977 – Shamari Buchanan, American football player 1977 – Anni Friesinger-Postma, German speed skater 1977 – Shane Kelly, Australian rugby league player 1977 – Olexiy Lukashevych, Ukrainian long jumper 1978 – Vallo Allingu, Estonian basketball player 1978 – Holly Brisley, Australian actress 1978 – Michael Duff, Irish footballer 1978 – Emile Heskey, English footballer 1979 – Darren Lynn Bousman, American director and screenwriter 1979 – Michael Lorenz, German footballer 1979 – Terence Morris, American basketball player 1979 – Henry Shefflin, Irish hurler 1979 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer-songwriter and businesswoman 1980 – Josh Hannay, Australian rugby league player and coach 1980 – Mike Williams, American football player 1982 – Tony Allen, American basketball player 1982 – Clint Greenshields, Australian-French rugby league player 1982 – Blake Heron, American actor (d. 2017) 1982 – Son Ye-jin, South Korean actress 1983 – Turner Battle, American basketball player 1983 – André Myhrer, Swedish skier 1983 – Ted Richards, Australian rules footballer 1983 – Adrian Sutil, German racing driver 1984 – Kevin Boss, American football player 1984 – Dario Krešić, Croatian footballer 1984 – Matt Mullenweg, American web developer and businessman, co-created WordPress 1984 – Stijn Schaars, Dutch footballer 1984 – Glenn Stewart, Australian rugby league player 1985 – Newton Faulkner, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1985 – Lucy Knisley, American author and illustrator 1987 – Scotty Cranmer, American Professional BMX rider 1987 – Danuta Kozák, Hungarian sprint canoer 1987 – Daniel Semenzato, Italian footballer 1987 – Jamie Vardy, English footballer 1987 – Kim Young-kwang, South Korean actor and model 1988 – Rodrigo José Pereira, Brazilian footballer 1989 – Kane Linnett, Australian rugby league player 1990 – Ryan Griffin, American football player 1991 – Andrea Bertolacci, Italian footballer 1992 – Dani Carvajal, Spanish footballer 1992 – Lee Seung-hoon, South Korean rapper and dancer 1993 – Michael Keane, English footballer 1993 – Will Keane, Irish footballer 1996 – Leroy Sané, German footballer 1997 – Cody Simpson, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor 1998 – Thomas Mikaele, New Zealand rugby league player 1999 – Brandon Wakeham, Australian-Fijian rugby league player Deaths Pre-1600 140 – Pope Hyginus, Bishop of Rome (b. 74) 705 – Pope John VI (b. 655) 782 – Emperor Kōnin of Japan (b. 709) 812 – Staurakios, Byzantine emperor 844 – Michael I Rangabe, Byzantine emperor (b. 770) 887 – Boso of Provence, Frankish nobleman 937 – Cao, empress of Later Tang 937 – Li Chongmei, prince of Later Tang 937 – Li Congke, emperor of Later Tang (b. 885) 937 – Liu, empress of Later Tang 1055 – Constantine IX Monomachos, Byzantine emperor (b. 1000) 1068 – Egbert I, Margrave of Meissen 1083 – Otto of Nordheim (b. 1020) 1266 – Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania 1344 – Thomas Charlton, Bishop of Hereford and Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1372 – Eleanor of Lancaster, English noblewoman (b. 1318) 1396 – Isidore Glabas, Metropolitan bishop of Thessalonica (b.c. 1341) 1397 – Skirgaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania 1494 – Domenico Ghirlandaio, Italian painter (b. 1449) 1495 – Pedro González de Mendoza, Spanish cardinal (b. 1428) 1546 – Gaudenzio Ferrari, Italian painter and sculptor (b. c. 1471) 1554 – Min Bin, king of Arakan (b. 1493) 1601–1900 1641 – Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet and painter (b. 1583) 1696 – Charles Albanel, French priest, missionary, and explorer (b. 1616) 1703 – Johann Georg Graevius, German scholar and critic (b. 1632) 1713 – Pierre Jurieu, French priest and theologian (b. 1637) 1735 – Danilo I, Metropolitan of Cetinje (b. 1670) 1753 – Hans Sloane, Irish-English physician and academic (b. 1660) 1757 – Louis Bertrand Castel, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1688) 1762 – Louis-François Roubiliac, French-English sculptor (b. 1695) 1763 – Caspar Abel, German poet, historian, and theologian (b. 1676) 1771 – Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, Marquis d'Argens, French philosopher and author (b. 1704) 1788 – François Joseph Paul de Grasse, French admiral (b. 1722) 1791 – William Williams Pantycelyn, Welsh composer and poet (b. 1717) 1798 – Heraclius II of Georgia (b. 1720) 1801 – Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer and educator (b. 1749) 1824 – Thomas Mullins, 1st Baron Ventry, Anglo-Irish politician and peer (b. 1736) 1836 – John Molson, Canadian businessman, founded the Molson Brewing Company (b. 1763) 1843 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer, author, and songwriter (b. 1779) 1866 – Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, Irish actor (b. 1818) 1866 – John Woolley, English minister and academic (b. 1816) 1867 – Stuart Donaldson, English-Australian businessman and politician, 1st Premier of New South Wales (b. 1812) 1882 – Theodor Schwann, German physiologist and biologist (b. 1810) 1891 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French urban planner (b. 1809) 1901–present 1902 – Johnny Briggs, English cricketer and rugby player (b. 1862) 1904 – William Sawyer, Canadian merchant and politician (b. 1815) 1914 – Carl Jacobsen, Danish brewer and philanthropist (b. 1842) 1920 – Steinar Schjøtt, Norwegian philologist and lexicographer (b. 1844) 1923 – Constantine I of Greece (b. 1868) 1928 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (b. 1840) 1929 – Elfrida Andrée, Swedish organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1841) 1931 – James Milton Carroll, American pastor, historian, and author (b. 1852) 1937 – Nuri Conker, Turkish colonel and politician (b. 1882) 1941 – Emanuel Lasker, German mathematician, philosopher, and chess player (b. 1868) 1944 – Galeazzo Ciano, Italian politician, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1903) 1947 – Eva Tanguay, Canadian singer (b. 1879) 1952 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general (b. 1889) 1952 – Aureliano Pertile, Italian tenor and educator (b. 1885) 1953 – Noe Zhordania, Georgian journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Georgia (b. 1868) 1953 – Roberta Fulbright, American businesswoman (b.1874) 1954 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870) 1957 – Robert Garran, Australian lawyer and politician, Solicitor-General of Australia (b. 1867) 1961 – Elena Gerhardt, German soprano and actress (b. 1883) 1963 – Arthur Nock, English-American scholar, theologian, and academic (b. 1902) 1965 – Wally Pipp, American baseball player (b. 1893) 1966 – Alberto Giacometti, Swiss sculptor and painter (b. 1901) 1966 – Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indian academic and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of India (b. 1904) 1968 – Moshe Zvi Segal, Israeli linguist and scholar (b. 1876) 1969 – Richmal Crompton, English author and educator (b. 1890) 1972 – Padraic Colum, Irish poet and playwright (b. 1881) 1975 – Max Lorenz, German tenor and actor (b. 1901) 1980 – Barbara Pym, English author (b. 1913) 1981 – Beulah Bondi, American actress (b. 1889) 1985 – Edward Buzzell, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1895) 1985 – William McKell, Australian lawyer and politician, 12th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1891) 1986 – Sid Chaplin, English author and screenwriter (b. 1916) 1986 – Andrzej Czok, Polish mountaineer (b. 1948) 1987 – Albert Ferber, Swiss-English pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1911) 1988 – Pappy Boyington, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1912) 1988 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, Polish-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1898) 1989 – Ray Moore, English radio host (b. 1942) 1990 – Carolyn Haywood, American author and illustrator (b. 1898) 1991 – Carl David Anderson, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905) 1994 – Helmut Poppendick, German physician (b. 1902) 1995 – Josef Gingold, Belarusian-American violinist and educator (b. 1909) 1995 – Onat Kutlar, Turkish author and poet (b. 1936) 1995 – Lewis Nixon, U.S. Army captain (b. 1918) 1995 – Theodor Wisch, German general (b. 1907) 1996 – Roger Crozier, Canadian-American ice hockey player (b. 1942) 1999 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940) 1999 – Naomi Mitchison, Scottish author and poet (b. 1897) 1999 – Brian Moore, Irish-Canadian author and screenwriter (b. 1921) 2000 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, invented Clearasil (b. 1911) 2000 – Bob Lemon, American baseball player and manager (b. 1920) 2000 – Betty Archdale, English-Australian cricketer and educator (b. 1907) 2001 – Denys Lasdun, English architect, co-designed the Royal National Theatre (b. 1914) 2002 – Henri Verneuil, French-Armenian director and playwright (b. 1920) 2003 – Jože Pučnik, Slovenian sociologist and politician (b. 1932) 2007 – Solveig Dommartin, French-German actress (b. 1961) 2007 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (b. 1932) 2008 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (b. 1919) 2008 – Carl Karcher, American businessman, co-founded Carl's Jr. (b. 1917) 2010 – Miep Gies, Austrian-Dutch humanitarian (b. 1909) 2010 – Éric Rohmer, French director, screenwriter, and critic (b. 1920) 2011 – David Nelson, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936) 2012 – Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, Iranian physicist and academic (b. 1980) 2012 – Gilles Jacquier, French journalist and photographer (b. 1968) 2012 – Edgar Kaiser, Jr, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1942) 2012 – Wally Osterkorn, American basketball player (b. 1928) 2012 – Steven Rawlings, English astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic (b. 1961) 2012 – David Whitaker, English composer and conductor (b. 1931) 2013 – Aaron Swartz, American programmer (b. 1986) 2013 – Guido Forti, Italian businessman, founded the Forti Racing Team (b. 1940) 2013 – Nguyễn Khánh, Vietnamese general and politician, 3rd President of South Vietnam (b. 1927) 2013 – Mariangela Melato, Italian actress (b. 1941) 2013 – Tom Parry Jones, Welsh chemist, invented the breathalyzer (b. 1935) 2013 – Alemayehu Shumye, Ethiopian runner (b. 1988) 2014 – Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (b. 1933) 2014 – Muhammad Habibur Rahman, Indian-Bangladeshi jurist and politician, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (b. 1928) 2014 – Chai Trong-rong, Taiwanese educator and politician (b. 1935) 2014 – Ariel Sharon, Israeli general and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1928) 2015 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (b. 1925) 2015 – Anita Ekberg, Swedish-Italian model and actress (b. 1931) 2015 – Chashi Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi director and producer (b. 1941) 2015 – Vernon Benjamin Mountcastle, American neuroscientist and academic (b. 1918) 2016 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player (b. 1919) 2016 – David Margulies, American actor (b. 1937) 2017 – Adenan Satem, Malaysian politician and Chief Minister of Sarawak, Malaysia (b. 1944) 2018 – Edgar Ray Killen, American murderer (b.1925) 2019 – Michael Atiyah, British-Lebanese mathematician (b.1929) Holidays and observances Children's Day (Tunisia) Christian feast day: Anastasius of Suppentonia (Roman Catholic) Leucius of Brindisi (Roman Catholic) Mary Slessor (Church of England) Paulinus II of Aquileia Pope Hyginus Theodosius the Cenobiarch Thomas of Cori Vitalis of Gaza (Roman Catholic) January 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Eugenio María de Hostos Day (Puerto Rico) Independence Resistance Day (Morocco) Kagami biraki (Japan)
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(d. 1968) 1897 – Jesse Douglas, American mathematician and academic (d. 1965) 1898 – Stefanos Stefanopoulos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1982) 1900 – Alessandro Blasetti, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 1987) 1901–present 1901 – Ruth Crawford Seeger, American composer (d. 1953) 1903 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1992) 1905 – Johnny Gibson, American hurdler and coach (d. 2006) 1906 – George Sanders, Russian-born British actor (d. 1972) 1908 – M. F. K. Fisher, American author (d. 1992) 1908 – Robert B. Meyner, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of New Jersey (d. 1990) 1909 – Stavros Niarchos, Greek shipping magnate (d.1996) 1910 – Fritz Kasparek, Austrian mountaineer (d. 1954) 1911 – Joe Hardstaff Jr., English cricketer (d. 1990) 1913 – Dorothy Kilgallen, American journalist, actress, and author (d. 1965) 1916 – John Kundla, American basketball player and coach (d. 2017) 1917 – João Saldanha, Brazilian footballer, manager, and journalist (d. 1990) 1918 – S. V. Ranga Rao, Indian actor, director, and producer (d. 1974) 1918 – Johnny Palmer, American golfer (d. 2006) 1919 – Cecil FitzMaurice, 8th Earl of Orkney (d. 1998) 1919 – Gerald W. Thomas, American soldier and academic (d. 2013) 1920 – Eddy Paape, Belgian illustrator (d. 2012) 1920 – Paul O'Dea, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978) 1921 – Flor María Chalbaud, First Lady of Venezuela (d. 2013) 1921 – Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952) 1921 – François Reichenbach, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993) 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter and sculptor (d. 2010) 1922 – Theo Brokmann Jr., Dutch football player (d. 2003) 1924 – Amalia Aguilar, Cuban-Mexican film actress and dancer (d. 2021) 1924 – S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (d. 2016) 1925 – Terry Moriarty, Australian rules footballer (d. 2011) 1925 – Danny Nardico, American professional boxer (d. 2010) 1925 – Philip Jamison, American artist (d. 2021) 1926 – Johnny Coles, American trumpet player (d. 1997) 1926 – Rae Allen, American actress, singer, and director 1926 – Laurence Street, Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (d. 2018) 1927 – Ken Russell, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2011) 1927 – Tim O'Connor, American actor (d. 2018) 1928 – Evelyn Anthony, English author (d. 2018) 1929 – Clément Perron, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1929 – Joanne Herring, American socialite, businesswoman, political activist, philanthropist, diplomat, and television talk show host 1930 – Pete Fountain, American clarinet player (d. 2016) 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, German-Austrian conductor (d. 2004) 1930 – Tommy Tedesco, American guitarist (d. 1997) 1932 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (d. 2014) 1933 – Edward Brandt, Jr., American physician and mathematician (d. 2007) 1935 – Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American geologist, astronaut, and politician 1936 – Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill, English lawyer and politician (d. 2020) 1936 – Baard Owe, Norwegian-Danish actor (d. 2017) 1937 – Nicholas Maxwell, English philosopher and academic 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-English playwright and screenwriter 1938 – Jean Aitchison, English linguist and academic 1938 – Sjaak Swart, Dutch footballer 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German soprano and director 1939 – László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1939 – Coco Laboy, Puerto Rican baseball player 1940 – Lamar Alexander, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Education 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish engineer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Poland 1940 – Lance Larson, American swimmer 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994) 1941 – Gloria Allred, American lawyer and activist 1941 – Liamine Zéroual, Algerian politician, 4th President of Algeria 1942 – Eddy Mitchell, French singer-songwriter 1943 – Gary Waldhorn, British actor (d. 2022) 1943 – Judith Durham, Australian folk-pop singer-songwriter and musician 1943 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor 1943 – Norman E. Thagard, American astronaut 1945 – Michael Cole, American actor 1945 – Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Scottish politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 2018) 1946 – Johnny Lee, American singer and guitarist 1946 – Leszek Miller, Polish political scientist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Poland 1946 – Michael Shea, American author (d. 2014) 1947 – Dave Barry, American journalist and author 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress and singer 1947 – Mike Burton, American swimmer 1948 – Paul Barrere, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019) 1948 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish author and illustrator 1949 – Susan Penhaligon, English actress 1949 – John Verity, English guitarist 1949 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (d. 2006) 1949 – Bo Xilai, Chinese politician, Chinese Minister of Commerce 1950 – Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer 1950 – James Hahn, American judge and politician, 40th Mayor of Los Angeles 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (d. 2014) 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer and footballer 1952 – Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004) 1952 – Lu Colombo, Italian singer 1952 – Andy Fraser, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015) 1952 – Carla Olson, American singer-songwriter and music producer 1952 – Wasim Raja, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2006) 1952 – Amit Kumar, Indian film playback singer, actor, director, music director and musician 1953 – Lotta Sollander, Swedish alpine skier 1954 – Les Cusworth, English rugby player 1955 – Claude Rajotte, Canadian radio and television host 1956 – Montel Williams, American talk show host and television personality 1957 – Poly Styrene, British musician (d. 2011) 1958 – Matthew Fraser, Canadian-English journalist and academic 1958 – Charlie Higson, English actor, singer, and author 1958 – Siân Lloyd, Welsh meteorologist and journalist 1958 – Didier Mouron, Swiss-Canadian painter 1958 – Aaron Tippin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1959 – Julie Burchill, English journalist and author 1959 – Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer 1959 – Stephen Pearcy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1959 – David Shore, Canadian screenwriter and producer 1960 – Vince Clarke, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer 1962 – Scott Borchetta, American record executive and entrepreneur 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor and producer 1962
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Paul O'Dea, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978) 1921 – Flor María Chalbaud, First Lady of Venezuela (d. 2013) 1921 – Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952) 1921 – François Reichenbach, French director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993) 1922 – Guillaume Cornelis van Beverloo, Belgian painter and sculptor (d. 2010) 1922 – Theo Brokmann Jr., Dutch football player (d. 2003) 1924 – Amalia Aguilar, Cuban-Mexican film actress and dancer (d. 2021) 1924 – S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore (d. 2016) 1925 – Terry Moriarty, Australian rules footballer (d. 2011) 1925 – Danny Nardico, American professional boxer (d. 2010) 1925 – Philip Jamison, American artist (d. 2021) 1926 – Johnny Coles, American trumpet player (d. 1997) 1926 – Rae Allen, American actress, singer, and director 1926 – Laurence Street, Australian jurist and former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales (d. 2018) 1927 – Ken Russell, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2011) 1927 – Tim O'Connor, American actor (d. 2018) 1928 – Evelyn Anthony, English author (d. 2018) 1929 – Clément Perron, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1929 – Joanne Herring, American socialite, businesswoman, political activist, philanthropist, diplomat, and television talk show host 1930 – Pete Fountain, American clarinet player (d. 2016) 1930 – Carlos Kleiber, German-Austrian conductor (d. 2004) 1930 – Tommy Tedesco, American guitarist (d. 1997) 1932 – Richard Mellon Scaife, American businessman (d. 2014) 1933 – Edward Brandt, Jr., American physician and mathematician (d. 2007) 1935 – Cheo Feliciano, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter (d. 2014) 1935 – Harrison Schmitt, American geologist, astronaut, and politician 1936 – Anthony Lester, Baron Lester of Herne Hill, English lawyer and politician (d. 2020) 1936 – Baard Owe, Norwegian-Danish actor (d. 2017) 1937 – Nicholas Maxwell, English philosopher and academic 1937 – Tom Stoppard, Czech-English playwright and screenwriter 1938 – Jean Aitchison, English linguist and academic 1938 – Sjaak Swart, Dutch footballer 1939 – Brigitte Fassbaender, German soprano and director 1939 – László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1939 – Coco Laboy, Puerto Rican baseball player 1940 – Lamar Alexander, American lawyer and politician, 5th United States Secretary of Education 1940 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish engineer and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Poland 1940 – Lance Larson, American swimmer 1940 – César Tovar, Venezuelan baseball player (d. 1994) 1941 – Gloria Allred, American lawyer and activist 1941 – Liamine Zéroual, Algerian politician, 4th President of Algeria 1942 – Eddy Mitchell, French singer-songwriter 1943 – Gary Waldhorn, British actor (d. 2022) 1943 – Judith Durham, Australian folk-pop singer-songwriter and musician 1943 – Kurtwood Smith, American actor 1943 – Norman E. Thagard, American astronaut 1945 – Michael Cole, American actor 1945 – Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Scottish politician, Speaker of the House of Commons (d. 2018) 1946 – Johnny Lee, American singer and guitarist 1946 – Leszek Miller, Polish political scientist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Poland 1946 – Michael Shea, American author (d. 2014) 1947 – Dave Barry, American journalist and author 1947 – Betty Buckley, American actress and singer 1947 – Mike Burton, American swimmer 1948 – Paul Barrere, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2019) 1948 – Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish author and illustrator 1949 – Susan Penhaligon, English actress 1949 – John Verity, English guitarist 1949 – Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (d. 2006) 1949 – Bo Xilai, Chinese politician, Chinese Minister of Commerce 1950 – Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer 1950 – James Hahn, American judge and politician, 40th Mayor of Los Angeles 1951 – Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician, 41st President of Haiti (d. 2014) 1951 – Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer and footballer 1952 – Laura Branigan, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004) 1952 – Lu Colombo, Italian singer 1952 – Andy Fraser, English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2015) 1952 – Carla Olson, American singer-songwriter and music producer 1952 – Wasim Raja, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2006) 1952 – Amit Kumar, Indian film playback singer, actor, director, music director and musician 1953 – Lotta Sollander, Swedish alpine skier 1954 – Les Cusworth, English rugby player 1955 – Claude Rajotte, Canadian radio and television host 1956 – Montel Williams, American talk show host and television personality 1957 – Poly Styrene, British musician (d. 2011) 1958 – Matthew Fraser, Canadian-English journalist and academic 1958 – Charlie Higson, English actor, singer, and author 1958 – Siân Lloyd, Welsh meteorologist and journalist 1958 – Didier Mouron, Swiss-Canadian painter 1958 – Aaron Tippin, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1959 – Julie Burchill, English journalist and author 1959 – Ian Maxtone-Graham, American screenwriter and producer 1959 – Stephen Pearcy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1959 – David Shore, Canadian screenwriter and producer 1960 – Vince Clarke, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer 1962 – Scott Borchetta, American record executive and entrepreneur 1962 – Tom Cruise, American actor and producer 1962 – Thomas Gibson, American actor and director 1964 – Yeardley Smith, American actress, voice actress, comedian and writer 1965 – Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005) 1965 – Connie Nielsen, Danish-American actress 1965 – Komsan Pohkong, Thai lawyer and academic 1965 – Christophe Ruer, French pentathlete (d. 2007) 1966 – Moisés Alou, American baseball player 1967 – Katy Clark, Scottish lawyer and politician 1968 – Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo-Albanian soldier and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Kosovo 1970 – Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist 1970 – Audra McDonald, American actress and singer 1970 – Teemu Selänne, Finnish ice hockey player 1971 – Julian Assange, Australian journalist, publisher, and activist, founded WikiLeaks 1973 – Paul Rauhihi, New Zealand rugby league player 1973 – Ólafur Stefánsson, Icelandic handball player 1973 – Fyodor Tuvin, Russian footballer (d. 2013) 1976 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2011) 1976 – Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer and sportscaster 1976 – Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian-American mixed martial artist 1976 – Bobby Skinstad, Zimbabwean-South African rugby union player 1977 – David Bowens, American football player 1978 – Mizuki Noguchi, Japanese runner 1979 – Jamie Grove, English cricketer 1980 – Mazharul Haque, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2013) 1980 – Roland Schoeman, South African swimmer 1980 – Harbhajan Singh, Indian cricketer 1983 – Edinson Vólquez, Dominican baseball player 1984 – Manny Lawson, American football player 1984 – Churandy Martina, Dutch sprinter 1984 – Corey Sevier, Canadian actor and producer 1986 – Marco Antônio de Mattos Filho, Brazilian footballer 1986 – Kisenosato Yutaka, Japanese sumo wrestler 1987 – Sebastian Vettel, German race car driver 1988 – Winston Reid, New Zealand-Danish footballer 1988 – Vladislav Sesganov, Russian figure skater 1988 – James Troisi, Australian footballer 1989 – Mitchell Dodds, Australian rugby league player 1989 – Elle King, American singer, songwriter, and actress 1990 – Nathan Gardner, Australian rugby league player 1990 – Bobby Hopkinson, English footballer 1990 – Lucas Mendes, Brazilian footballer 1991 – Alison Howie, Scottish field hockey player 1991 – Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russian tennis player 1992 – Crystal Dunn, American footballer Deaths Pre-1600 458 – Anatolius of Constantinople, Byzantine patriarch and saint (b. 449) 710 – Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (b. 656) 896 – Dong Chang, Chinese warlord 964 – Henry I, Frankish nobleman and archbishop 1090 – Egbert II, Margrave of Meissen (b. c. 1060) 1288 – Stephen de Fulbourn, English-born Irish cleric and politician 1503 – Pierre d'Aubusson, Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes (b. 1423) 1570 – Aonio Paleario, Italian academic and reformer (b. 1500) 1601–1900 1642 – Marie de' Medici, French queen consort and regent (b. 1573) 1672 – Francis Willughby, English ornithologist and ichthyologist (b. 1635) 1790 – Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1736) 1795 – Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French scholar and author (b. 1714) 1795 – Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general, astronomer, and politician, 1st Colonial Governor of Louisiana (b. 1716) 1809 – Joseph Quesnel, French-Canadian composer and playwright (b. 1746) 1863 – George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826) 1863 – Little Crow, American tribal leader (b. 1810) 1881 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (b. 1811) 1887 – Clay Allison, American rancher (b. 1841) 1888 – Nguyễn Đình Chiểu, Vietnamese poet and author (b. 1822) 1901–present 1904 – Édouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881) 1904 – Theodor Herzl, Austrian journalist, playwright, and father of modern political Zionism (b. 1860) 1908 – Joel Chandler Harris, American journalist and author (b. 1845) 1916 – Hetty Green, American businesswoman and financier (b. 1834) 1918 – Mehmed V, Ottoman sultan (b. 1844) 1921 – James Mitchel, Irish-American weight thrower (b. 1864) 1927 – Gérard de Courcelles, French race car driver 1933 – Hipólito Yrigoyen, Argentinian educator and politician, 19th President of Argentina (b. 1852) 1935 – André Citroën, French engineer and businessman, founded the Citroën Company (b. 1878) 1937 – Jacob Schick, American-Canadian captain and businessman, invented the electric razor (b. 1877) 1941 – Friedrich Akel, Estonian physician and politician, Head of State of Estonia (b. 1871) 1954 – Siegfried Handloser, German physician and general (b. 1895) 1954 – Reginald Marsh, French-American painter, illustrator, and academic (b. 1898) 1957 – Dolf Luque, Cuban baseball player and manager (b. 1890) 1957 – Richard Mohaupt, German composer and Kapellmeister (b. 1904) 1958 – Charles Bathurst, 1st Viscount Bledisloe, English politician, 4th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1867) 1969 – Brian Jones, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1942) 1971 – Jim Morrison, American singer-songwriter (b. 1943) 1974 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet and critic (b. 1888) 1977 – Alexander Volkov, Russian mathematician and author (b. 1891) 1978 – James Daly, American actor
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the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. 1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland. 1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States. 1947 – The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan. 1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. 1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage. 1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor. 1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom. 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)). 1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. 1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial. 1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. 1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. 1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city. 1997 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation. 2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. 2002 – A Boeing 707 crashes near Bangui M'Poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, killing 28. 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City. 2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. 2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. 2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day. 2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks. 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao. 2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN. 2015 – Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final. Births Pre-1600 68 – Salonina Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (d. 119) 1095 – Usama ibn Munqidh, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188) 1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367) 1477 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534) 1546 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595) 1601–1900 1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720) 1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (d. 1772) 1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (d. 1769) 1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright (d. 1797) 1729 – George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819) 1753 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809) 1790 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866) 1799 – Oscar I of Sweden (d. 1859) 1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864) 1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (d. 1882) 1816 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899) 1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864) 1842 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (d. 1918) 1845 – Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905) 1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906) 1854 – Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926) 1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921) 1886 – Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949) 1871 – Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (d. 1955) 1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933) 1874 – John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1952) 1880 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975) 1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (d. 1968) 1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970) 1887 – Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965) 1888 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945) 1895 – Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996) 1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981) 1897 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924) 1898 – Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997) 1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952) 1898 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (d. 1998) 1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (d. 2015) 1900 – Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007) 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982) 1901–present 1902 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (d. 1983) 1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992) 1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986) 1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976) 1905 – Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (d. 1991) 1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996) 1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975) 1906 – Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993) 1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948) 1907 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (d. 1996) 1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963) 1910 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003) 1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (d. 2010) 1911 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989) 1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010) 1911 – Elizabeth Peratrovich, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (d. 1958) 1914 – Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997) 1915 – Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006) 1916 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006) 1918 – Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002) 1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984) 1918 – King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (d. 2006) 1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010) 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006) 1918 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013) 1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015) 1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (d. 2007) 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977) 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019) 1921 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004) 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter 1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (d. 2014) 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011) 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003) 1922 – R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019) 1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress 1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter (d. 2021) 1925 – Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018) 1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (d. 2015) 1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014) 1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008) 1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer 1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018) 1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician (d. 2021) 1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines 1928 – Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018) 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001) 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011) 1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011) 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998) 1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010) 1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977) 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013) 1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003) 1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017) 1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner 1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012) 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013) 1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress 1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian 1937 – Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010) 1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020) 1940 – Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020) 1941 – Sam Farr, American politician 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014) 1941 – Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist 1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach (d. 2021) 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008) 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1943 – Conny Bauer, German trombonist 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist 1943 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970) 1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972) 1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist 1947 – Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017) 1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host 1951 – John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician 1951 – Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland 1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist 1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office 1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy 1955 – Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish politician 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist 1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator 1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter 1958 – Carl Valentine, English-Canadian footballer, coach, and manager 1959 – Victoria Abril, Spanish actress and singer 1960 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian race car driver (d. 1994) 1961 – Richard Garriott, English-American video game designer, created the Ultima series 1962 – Pam Shriver, American tennis player and sportscaster 1963 – Henri Leconte, French tennis player and sportscaster 1963 – Laureano Márquez, Spanish-Venezuelan political scientist and journalist 1963 – José Oquendo, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach 1963 – Sonia Pierre, Haitian-Dominican human rights activist (d. 2011) 1964 – Cle Kooiman, American soccer player and manager 1964 – Elie Saab, Lebanese fashion designer 1964 – Edi Rama, Albanian politician 1964 – Mark Slaughter, American singer-songwriter and producer 1964 – Mark Whiting, American actor, director, and screenwriter 1965 – Harvey Grant, American basketball player and coach 1965 – Horace Grant, American basketball player and coach 1965 – Kiriakos Karataidis, Greek footballer and manager 1965 – Gérard Watkins, English actor and playwright 1966 – Ronni Ancona, Scottish actress and screenwriter 1966 – Minas Hantzidis, German-Greek footballer 1966 – Lee Reherman, American actor (d. 2016) 1967 – Vinny Castilla, Mexican baseball player and manager 1967 – Sébastien Deleigne, French athlete 1969 – Al Golden, American football player and coach 1969 – Todd Marinovich, American football player and coach 1969 – Wilfred Mugeyi, Zimbabwean footballer and coach 1972 – Stephen Giles, Canadian canoe racer and engineer 1972 – Mike Knuble, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach 1973 – Keiko Ihara, Japanese race car driver 1973 – Gackt, Japanese musician, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor 1973 – Michael Johnson, English-Jamaican footballer and manager 1973 – Anjelika Krylova, Russian ice dancer and coach 1973 – Jan Magnussen, Danish race car driver 1973 – Tony Popovic, Australian footballer and manager 1974 – Jill Craybas, American tennis player 1974 – La'Roi Glover, American football player and sportscaster 1974 – Adrian Griffin, American basketball player and coach 1976 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (d. 2003) 1976 – Yevgeniya Medvedeva, Russian skier 1978 – Marcos Daniel, Brazilian tennis player 1978 – Émile Mpenza, Belgian footballer 1979 – Siim Kabrits, Estonian politician 1979 – Josh McCown, American football player 1979 – Renny Vega, Venezuelan footballer 1980 – Kwame Steede, Bermudan footballer 1981 – Dedé, Angolan footballer 1981 – Brock Berlin, American football player 1981 – Christoph Preuß, German footballer 1981 – Francisco Cruceta, Dominican baseball player 1981 – Will Smith, American football player (d. 2016) 1982 – Vladimir Boisa, Georgian basketball player 1982 – Vladimir Gusev, Russian cyclist 1982 – Jeff Lima, New Zealand rugby league player 1982
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on the face of the earth", then announces his retirement from major league baseball. 1941 – Nazi crimes against the Polish nation: Nazi troops massacre Polish scientists and writers in the captured Ukrainian city of Lviv. 1941 – World War II: The Burning of the Riga synagogues: The Great Choral Synagogue in German-occupied Riga is burnt with 300 Jews locked in the basement. 1942 – World War II: The 250-day Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimea ends when the city falls to Axis forces. 1943 – World War II: The Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle, begins in the village of Prokhorovka. 1943 – World War II: In Gibraltar, a Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator bomber crashes into the sea in an apparent accident moments after takeoff, killing sixteen passengers on board, including general Władysław Sikorski, the commander-in-chief of the Polish Army and the Prime Minister of the Polish government-in-exile; only the pilot survives. 1946 – The Kielce pogrom against Jewish Holocaust survivors in Poland. 1946 – After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States. 1947 – The "Indian Independence Bill" is presented before the British House of Commons, proposing the independence of the Provinces of British India into two sovereign countries: India and Pakistan. 1950 – Cold War: Radio Free Europe first broadcasts. 1951 – Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage. 1951 – William Shockley announces the invention of the junction transistor. 1954 – Rationing ends in the United Kingdom. 1960 – Due to the post-Independence Day admission of Hawaii as the 50th U.S. state on August 21, 1959, the 50-star flag of the United States debuts in Philadelphia, almost ten and a half months later (see Flag Acts (United States)). 1961 – On its maiden voyage, the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-19 suffers a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. The crew are able to effect repairs, but 22 of them die of radiation poisoning over the following two years. 1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act went into effect the next year. 1976 – Israeli commandos raid Entebbe airport in Uganda, rescuing all but four of the passengers and crew of an Air France jetliner seized by Palestinian terrorists. 1976 – The U.S. celebrates its Bicentennial. 1977 – The George Jackson Brigade plants a bomb at the main power substation for the Washington state capitol in Olympia, in solidarity with a prison strike at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary Intensive Security Unit. 1982 – Three Iranian diplomats and a journalist are kidnapped in Lebanon by Phalange forces, and their fate remains unknown. 1987 – In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (a.k.a. the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment. 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city. 1997 – NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars. 1998 – Japan launches the Nozomi probe to Mars, joining the United States and Russia as a space exploring nation. 2001 – Vladivostock Air Flight 352 crashes on approach to Irkutsk Airport killing all 145 people on board. 2002 – A Boeing 707 crashes near Bangui M'Poko International Airport in Bangui, Central African Republic, killing 28. 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City. 2004 – Greece beats Portugal in the UEFA Euro 2004 Final and becomes European Champion for first time in its history. 2005 – The Deep Impact collider hits the comet Tempel 1. 2006 – Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day. 2009 – The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks. 2009 – The first of four days of bombings begins on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao. 2012 – The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN. 2015 – Chile claims its first title in international football by defeating Argentina in the 2015 Copa América Final. Births Pre-1600 68 – Salonina Matidia, Roman daughter of Ulpia Marciana (d. 119) 1095 – Usama ibn Munqidh, Muslim poet, author and faris (Knight) (d. 1188) 1330 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (d. 1367) 1477 – Johannes Aventinus, Bavarian historian and philologist (d. 1534) 1546 – Murad III, Ottoman sultan (d. 1595) 1601–1900 1656 – John Leake, Royal Navy admiral (d. 1720) 1694 – Louis-Claude Daquin, French organist and composer (d. 1772) 1715 – Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, German poet and academic (d. 1769) 1719 – Michel-Jean Sedaine, French playwright (d. 1797) 1729 – George Leonard, American lawyer, jurist and politician (d. 1819) 1753 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard, French inventor, best known as a pioneer in balloon flight (d. 1809) 1790 – George Everest, Welsh geographer and surveyor (d. 1866) 1799 – Oscar I of Sweden (d. 1859) 1804 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (d. 1864) 1807 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (d. 1882) 1816 – Hiram Walker, American businessman, founded Canadian Club whisky (d. 1899) 1826 – Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864) 1842 – Hermann Cohen, German philosopher (d. 1918) 1845 – Thomas John Barnardo, Irish philanthropist and humanitarian (d. 1905) 1847 – James Anthony Bailey, American circus ringmaster, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (d. 1906) 1854 – Victor Babeș, Romanian physician and biologist (d. 1926) 1868 – Henrietta Swan Leavitt, American astronomer and academic (d. 1921) 1886 – Tom Longboat, Canadian runner and soldier (d. 1949) 1871 – Hubert Cecil Booth, English engineer (d. 1955) 1872 – Calvin Coolidge, American lawyer and politician, 30th President of the United States (d. 1933) 1874 – John McPhee, Australian journalist and politician, 27th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1952) 1880 – Victor Kraft, Austrian philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1975) 1881 – Ulysses S. Grant III, American general (d. 1968) 1883 – Rube Goldberg, American sculptor, cartoonist, and engineer (d. 1970) 1887 – Pio Pion, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1965) 1888 – Henry Armetta, Italian-American actor and singer (d. 1945) 1895 – Irving Caesar, American songwriter and composer (d. 1996) 1896 – Mao Dun, Chinese journalist, author, and critic (d. 1981) 1897 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (d. 1924) 1898 – Pilar Barbosa, Puerto Rican-American historian and activist (d. 1997) 1898 – Gertrude Lawrence, British actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1952) 1898 – Gulzarilal Nanda, Indian politician (d. 1998) 1898 – Gertrude Weaver, American supercentenarian (d. 2015) 1900 – Belinda Dann, Indigenous Australian who was one of the Stolen Generation, reunited with family aged 107 (d. 2007) 1900 – Nellie Mae Rowe, American folk artist (d. 1982) 1901–present 1902 – Meyer Lansky, American gangster (d. 1983) 1902 – George Murphy, American actor and politician (d. 1992) 1903 – Flor Peeters, Belgian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1986) 1904 – Angela Baddeley, English actress (d. 1976) 1905 – Irving Johnson, American sailor and author (d. 1991) 1905 – Robert Hankey, 2nd Baron Hankey, British diplomat and public servant (d. 1996) 1905 – Lionel Trilling, American critic, essayist, short story writer, and educator (d. 1975) 1906 – Vincent Schaefer, American chemist and meteorologist (d. 1993) 1907 – John Anderson, American discus thrower (d. 1948) 1907 – Howard Taubman, American author and critic (d. 1996) 1909 – Alec Templeton, Welsh composer, pianist and satirist (d. 1963) 1910 – Robert K. Merton, American sociologist and scholar (d. 2003) 1910 – Gloria Stuart, American actress (d. 2010) 1911 – Bruce Hamilton, Australian public servant (d. 1989) 1911 – Mitch Miller, American singer and producer (d. 2010) 1911 – Elizabeth Peratrovich, Alaskan-American civil rights activist (d. 1958) 1914 – Nuccio Bertone, Italian automobile designer (d. 1997) 1915 – Timmie Rogers, American actor and singer-songwriter (d. 2006) 1916 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, American typist and broadcaster (d. 2006) 1918 – Eppie Lederer, American journalist and radio host (d. 2002) 1918 – Johnnie Parsons, American race car driver (d. 1984) 1918 – King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga, (d. 2006) 1918 – Alec Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2010) 1918 – Eric Bedser, English cricketer (d. 2006) 1918 – Pauline Phillips, American journalist and radio host, created Dear Abby (d. 2013) 1920 – Norm Drucker, American basketball player and referee (d. 2015) 1920 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (d. 2007) 1920 – Fritz Wilde, German footballer and manager (d. 1977) 1920 – Paul Bannai, American politician (d. 2019) 1921 – Gérard Debreu, French economist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2004) 1921 – Nasser Sharifi, Iranian sports shooter 1921 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (d. 2014) 1921 – Philip Rose, American actor, playwright, and producer (d. 2011) 1921 – Tibor Varga, Hungarian violinist and conductor (d. 2003) 1922 – R. James Harvey, American politician (d. 2019) 1923 – Rudolf Friedrich, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1924 – Eva Marie Saint, American actress 1924 – Delia Fiallo, Cuban author and screenwriter (d. 2021) 1925 – Ciril Zlobec, Slovene poet, writer, translator, journalist and politician (d. 2018) 1925 – Dorothy Head Knode, American tennis player (d. 2015) 1926 – Alfredo Di Stéfano, Argentinian-Spanish footballer and coach (d. 2014) 1926 – Lake Underwood, American race car driver and businessman (d. 2008) 1927 – Gina Lollobrigida, Italian actress and photographer 1927 – Neil Simon, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 2018) 1928 – Giampiero Boniperti, Italian footballer and politician (d. 2021) 1928 – Teofisto Guingona Jr., Filipino politician; 11th Vice President of the Philippines 1928 – Jassem Alwan, Syrian Army Officer (d. 2018) 1928 – Shan Ratnam, Sri Lankan physician and academic (d. 2001) 1928 – Chuck Tanner, American baseball player and manager (d. 2011) 1929 – Al Davis, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2011) 1929 – Bill Tuttle, American baseball player (d. 1998) 1930 – George Steinbrenner, American businessman (d. 2010) 1931 – Stephen Boyd, Northern Ireland-born American actor (d. 1977) 1931 – Rick Casares, American football player and soldier (d. 2013) 1931 – Sébastien Japrisot, French author, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003) 1931 – Peter Richardson, English cricketer (d. 2017) 1932 – Aurèle Vandendriessche, Belgian runner 1934 – Yvonne B. Miller, American academic and politician (d. 2012) 1934 – Colin Welland, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1935 – Paul Scoon, Grenadian politician, 2nd Governor-General of Grenada (d. 2013) 1936 – Zdzisława Donat, Polish soprano and actress 1937 – Thomas Nagel, American philosopher and academic 1937 – Queen Sonja of Norway 1937 – Richard Rhodes, American journalist and historian 1937 – Eric Walters, Australian journalist (d. 2010) 1938 – Steven Rose, English biologist and academic 1938 – Bill Withers, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2020) 1940 – Pat Stapleton, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020) 1941 – Sam Farr, American politician 1941 – Tomaž Šalamun, Croatian-Slovenian poet and academic (d. 2014) 1941 – Pavel Sedláček, Czech singer-songwriter and guitarist 1941 – Brian Willson, American soldier, lawyer, and activist 1942 – Hal Lanier, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1942 – Floyd Little, American football player and coach (d. 2021) 1942 – Stefan Meller, French-Polish academic and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2008) 1942 – Prince Michael of Kent 1942 – Peter Rowan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1943 – Conny Bauer, German trombonist 1943 – Emerson Boozer, American football player and sportscaster 1943 – Adam Hart-Davis, English historian, author, and photographer 1943 – Geraldo Rivera, American lawyer, journalist, and author 1943 – Fred Wesley, American jazz and funk trombonist 1943 – Alan Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1970) 1945 – Andre Spitzer, Romanian-Israeli fencer and coach (d. 1972) 1946 – Ron Kovic, American author and activist 1946 – Michael Milken, American businessman and philanthropist 1947 – Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor and director (d. 2017) 1948 – René Arnoux, French race car driver 1948 – Tommy Körberg, Swedish singer and actor 1948 – Jeremy Spencer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Philip Craven, English basketball player and swimmer 1950 – David Jensen, Canadian-English radio and television host 1951 – John Alexander, Australian tennis player and politician 1951 – Ralph Johnson, American R&B drummer and percussionist 1951 – Vladimir Tismăneanu, Romanian-American political scientist, sociologist, and academic 1951 – Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, American lawyer and politician, 6th Lieutenant Governor of Maryland 1952 – Álvaro Uribe, Colombian lawyer and politician, 39th President of Colombia 1952 – Carol MacReady, English actress 1952 – John Waite, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1952 – Paul Rogat Loeb, American author and activist 1953 – Francis Maude, English lawyer and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office 1954 – Jim Beattie, American baseball player, coach, and manager 1954 – Morganna, American model, actress, and dancer 1954 – Devendra Kumar Joshi, 21st Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy 1955 – Eero Heinäluoma, Finnish politician 1955 – Kevin Nichols, Australian cyclist 1956 – Robert Sinclair MacKay, British academic and educator 1957 – Rein Lang, Estonian politician and diplomat, 25th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs 1958 – Vera Leth, Greenlandic Ombudsman 1958 – Kirk Pengilly, Australian guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter 1958 – Carl
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The Quarrymen to the Beatles: 1956–1970 Formation, fame and touring: 1956–1966 At the age of 15, Lennon formed a skiffle group, the Quarrymen. Named after Quarry Bank High School, the group was established by Lennon in September 1956. By the summer of 1957, the Quarrymen played a "spirited set of songs" made up of half-skiffle and half-rock and roll. Lennon first met Paul McCartney at the Quarrymen's second performance, which was held in Woolton on 6 July at the St Peter's Church garden fête. Lennon then asked McCartney to join the band. McCartney said that Aunt Mimi "was very aware that John's friends were lower class", and would often patronise him when he arrived to visit Lennon. According to McCartney's brother Mike, their father similarly disapproved of Lennon, declaring that Lennon would get his son "into trouble". McCartney's father nevertheless allowed the fledgling band to rehearse in the family's front room at 20Forthlin Road. During this time Lennon wrote his first song, "Hello Little Girl", which became a UK top 10 hit for the Fourmost in 1963. McCartney recommended that his friend George Harrison become the lead guitarist. Lennon thought that Harrison, then 14 years old, was too young. McCartney engineered an audition on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, where Harrison played "Raunchy" for Lennon and was asked to join. Stuart Sutcliffe, Lennon's friend from art school, later joined as bassist. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe became "The Beatles" in early 1960. In August that year, the Beatles were engaged for a 48-night residency in Hamburg, in West Germany, and were desperately in need of a drummer. They asked Pete Best to join them. Lennon's aunt, horrified when he told her about the trip, pleaded with Lennon to continue his art studies instead. After the first Hamburg residency, the band accepted another in April 1961, and a third in April 1962. As with the other band members, Lennon was introduced to Preludin while in Hamburg, and regularly took the drug as a stimulant during their long, overnight performances. Brian Epstein managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967. He had no previous experience managing artists, but he had a strong influence on the group's dress code and attitude on stage. Lennon initially resisted his attempts to encourage the band to present a professional appearance, but eventually complied, saying "I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me." McCartney took over on bass after Sutcliffe decided to stay in Hamburg, and Best was replaced with drummer Ringo Starr; this completed the four-piece line-up that would remain until the group's break-up in 1970. The band's first single, "Love Me Do", was released in October 1962 and reached No. 17 on the British charts. They recorded their debut album, Please Please Me, in under 10 hours on 11 February 1963, a day when Lennon was suffering the effects of a cold, which is evident in the vocal on the last song to be recorded that day, "Twist and Shout". The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership yielded eight of its fourteen tracks. With a few exceptions, one being the album title itself, Lennon had yet to bring his love of wordplay to bear on his song lyrics, saying: "We were just writing songs... pop songs with no more thought of them than that – to create a sound. And the words were almost irrelevant". In a 1987 interview, McCartney said that the other Beatles idolised Lennon: "He was like our own little Elvis... We all looked up to John. He was older and he was very much the leader; he was the quickest wit and the smartest." The Beatles achieved mainstream success in the UK early in 1963. Lennon was on tour when his first son, Julian, was born in April. During their Royal Variety Show performance, which was attended by the Queen Mother and other British royalty, Lennon poked fun at the audience: "For our next song, I'd like to ask for your help. For the people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands... and the rest of you, if you'll just rattle your jewellery." After a year of Beatlemania in the UK, the group's historic February 1964 US debut appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show marked their breakthrough to international stardom. A two-year period of constant touring, filmmaking, and songwriting followed, during which Lennon wrote two books, In His Own Write and A Spaniard in the Works. The Beatles received recognition from the British establishment when they were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours. Lennon grew concerned that fans who attended Beatles concerts were unable to hear the music above the screaming of fans, and that the band's musicianship was beginning to suffer as a result. Lennon's "Help!" expressed his own feelings in 1965: "I meant it... It was me singing 'help'". He had put on weight (he would later refer to this as his "Fat Elvis" period), and felt he was subconsciously seeking change. In March that year he and Harrison were unknowingly introduced to LSD when a dentist, hosting a dinner party attended by the two musicians and their wives, spiked the guests' coffee with the drug. When they wanted to leave, their host revealed what they had taken, and strongly advised them not to leave the house because of the likely effects. Later, in a lift at a nightclub, they all believed it was on fire; Lennon recalled: "We were all screaming... hot and hysterical." In March 1966, during an interview with Evening Standard reporter Maureen Cleave, Lennon remarked, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink... We're more popular than Jesus now – I don't know which will go first, rock and roll or Christianity." The comment went virtually unnoticed in England but caused great offence in the US when quoted by a magazine there five months later. The furore that followed, which included the burning of Beatles records, Ku Klux Klan activity and threats against Lennon, contributed to the band's decision to stop touring. Studio years, break-up and solo work: 1966–1970 After the band's final concert on 29 August 1966, Lennon filmed the anti-war black comedy How I Won the War – his only appearance in a non-Beatles feature film – before rejoining his bandmates for an extended period of recording, beginning in November. Lennon had increased his use of LSD and, according to author Ian MacDonald, his continuous use of the drug in 1967 brought him "close to erasing his identity". The year 1967 saw the release of "Strawberry Fields Forever", hailed by Time magazine for its "astonishing inventiveness", and the group's landmark album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which revealed lyrics by Lennon that contrasted strongly with the simple love songs of the group's early years. In late June, the Beatles performed Lennon's "All You Need Is Love" as Britain's contribution to the Our World satellite broadcast, before an international audience estimated at up to 400 million. Intentionally simplistic in its message, the song formalised his pacifist stance and provided an anthem for the Summer of Love. After the Beatles were introduced to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the group attended an August weekend of personal instruction at his Transcendental Meditation seminar in Bangor, Wales. During the seminar, they were informed of Epstein's death. "I knew we were in trouble then", Lennon said later. "I didn't have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared – I thought, 'We've fucking had it now.'" McCartney organised the group's first post-Epstein project, the self-written, -produced and -directed television film Magical Mystery Tour, which was released in December that year. While the film itself proved to be their first critical flop, its soundtrack release, featuring Lennon's Lewis Carroll-inspired "I Am the Walrus", was a success. Led by Harrison and Lennon's interest, the Beatles travelled to the Maharishi's ashram in India in February 1968 for further guidance. While there, they composed most of the songs for their double album The Beatles, but the band members' mixed experience with Transcendental Meditation signalled a sharp divergence in the group's camaraderie. On their return to London, they became increasingly involved in business activities with the formation of Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation composed of Apple Records and several other subsidiary companies. Lennon described the venture as an attempt to achieve "artistic freedom within a business structure". Released amid the Protests of 1968, the band's debut single for the Apple label included Lennon's B-side "Revolution", in which he called for a "plan" rather than committing to Maoist revolution. The song's pacifist message led to ridicule from political radicals in the New Left press. Adding to the tensions at the Beatles' recording sessions that year, Lennon insisted on having his new girlfriend, the Japanese artist Yoko Ono, beside him, thereby contravening the band's policy regarding wives and girlfriends in the studio. He was especially pleased with his songwriting contributions to the double album and identified it as a superior work to Sgt. Pepper. At the end of 1968, Lennon participated in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a television special that was not broadcast. Lennon performed with the Dirty Mac, a supergroup composed of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. The group also backed a vocal performance by Ono. A film version was released in 1996. By late 1968, Lennon's increased drug use and growing preoccupation with Ono, combined with the Beatles' inability to agree on how the company should be run, left Apple in need of professional management. Lennon asked Lord Beeching to take on the role but he declined, advising Lennon to go back to making records. Lennon was approached by Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and other bands during the British Invasion. In early 1969, Klein was appointed as Apple's chief executive by Lennon, Harrison and Starr but McCartney never signed the management contract. Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969 and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon, eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated. Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond the Beatles, and between 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (known more for its cover than for its music), Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions and Wedding Album. In 1969, they formed the Plastic Ono Band, releasing Live Peace in Toronto 1969. Between 1969 and 1970, Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance", which was widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam War anthem, "Cold Turkey", which documented his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin, and "Instant Karma!". In protest at Britain's involvement in "the Nigeria-Biafra thing" (namely, the Nigerian Civil War), its support of America in the Vietnam War and (perhaps jokingly) against "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts, Lennon returned his MBE medal to the Queen. This gesture had no effect on his MBE status, which could not be renounced. The medal, together with Lennon's letter, is held at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Lennon left the Beatles in September 1969, but agreed not to inform the media while the group renegotiated their recording contract. He was outraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970. Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!" He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that." In a December 1970 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." Lennon also spoke of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and of how he, Harrison and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul ... After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?" Solo career: 1970–1980 Initial solo success and activism: 1970–1972 In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Arthur Janov in Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janov for four months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but they felt no need to continue and returned to London. Lennon's debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), was received with praise by many music critics, but its highly personal lyrics and stark sound limited its commercial performance. The album featured the song "Mother", in which Lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque "Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell foul of broadcasters. In January 1971, Tariq Ali expressed his revolutionary political views when he interviewed Lennon, who immediately responded by writing "Power to the People". In his lyrics to the song, Lennon reversed the non-confrontational approach he had espoused in "Revolution", although he later disowned "Power to the People", saying that it was borne out of guilt and a desire for approval from radicals such as Ali. Lennon became involved with Ali in a protest against the prosecution of Oz magazine for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released the single "God Save Us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in support of the magazine. Eager for a major commercial success, Lennon adopted a more accessible sound for his next album, Imagine (1971). Rolling Stone reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track later became an anthem for anti-war movements, while the song "How Do You Sleep?" was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics on Ram that Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono. In "Jealous Guy", Lennon addressed his demeaning treatment of women, acknowledging that his past behaviour was the result of long-held insecurity. In gratitude for his guitar contributions to Imagine, Lennon initially agreed to perform at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh benefit shows in New York. Harrison refused to allow Ono to participate at the concerts, however, which resulted in the couple having a heated argument and Lennon pulling out of the event. Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971 and immediately embraced US radical left politics. The couple released their "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single in December. During the new year, the Nixon administration took what it called a "strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war and anti-Nixon propaganda. The administration embarked on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him. Lennon was embroiled in a continuing legal battle with the immigration authorities, and he was denied permanent residency in the US; the issue would not be resolved until 1976. Some Time in New York City was recorded as a collaboration with Ono and was released in 1972 with backing from the New York band Elephant's Memory. A double LP, it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland and Lennon's difficulties in obtaining a green card. The album was a commercial failure and was maligned by critics, who found its political sloganeering heavy-handed and relentless. The NMEs review took the form of an open letter in which Tony Tyler derided Lennon as a "pathetic, ageing revolutionary". In the US, "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" was released as a single from the album and was televised on 11 May, on The Dick Cavett Show. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger". Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances. After George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, Lennon and Ono attended a post-election wake held in the New York home of activist Jerry Rubin. Lennon was depressed and got intoxicated; he left Ono embarrassed after he had sex with a female guest. Ono's song "Death of Samantha" was inspired by the incident. "Lost weekend": 1973–1975 As Lennon was about to record Mind Games in 1973, he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing 18-month period apart, which he later called his "lost weekend" in reference to the film of the same name, was spent in Los Angeles and New York City in the company of May Pang. Mind Games, credited to the "Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Lennon also contributed "I'm the Greatest" to Starr's album Ringo (1973), released the same month. With Harrison joining Starr and Lennon at the recording session for the song, it marked the only occasion when three former Beatles recorded together between the band's break-up and Lennon's death. In early 1974, Lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol-fuelled antics with Harry Nilsson made headlines. In March, two widely publicised incidents occurred at The Troubadour club. In the first incident, Lennon stuck an unused menstrual pad on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress. The second incident occurred two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon decided to produce Nilsson's album Pussy Cats, and Pang rented a Los Angeles beach house for all the musicians. After a month of further debauchery, the recording sessions were in chaos, and Lennon returned to New York with Pang to finish work on the album. In April, Lennon had produced the Mick Jagger song "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" which was, for contractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on The Very Best of Mick Jagger (2007). Lennon had settled back in New York when he recorded the album Walls and Bridges. Released in October 1974, it included "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", which featured Elton John on backing vocals and piano, and became Lennon's only single as a solo artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during his lifetime. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano. On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden, in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", a song whose commercial potential Lennon had doubted, reached number one. Lennon performed the song along with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There", which he introduced as "a song by an old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul". Lennon co-wrote "Fame", David Bowie's first US number one, and provided guitar and backing vocals for the January 1975 recording. In the same month, Elton John topped the charts with his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and back-up vocals; Lennon is credited on the single under the moniker of "Dr. Winston O'Boogie". He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards. Lennon released Rock 'n' Roll (1975), an album of cover songs, in February. "Stand by Me", taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single for five years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special A Salute to Lew Grade, recorded on 18 April and televised in June. Playing acoustic guitar and backed by an eight-piece band, Lennon performed two songs from Rock 'n' Roll ("Stand by Me", which was not broadcast, and "Slippin' and Slidin'") followed by "Imagine". The band, known as Etc., wore masks behind their heads, a dig by Lennon, who thought Grade was two-faced. Hiatus and return: 1975–1980 Sean was Lennon's only child with Ono. Sean was born on 9 October 1975 (Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday), and John took on the role of househusband. Lennon began what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry, during which time, he later said, he "baked bread" and "looked after the baby". He devoted himself to Sean, rising at 6am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him. He wrote "Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)" for Starr's Ringo's Rotogravure (1976), performing on the track in June in what would be his last recording session until 1980. He formally announced his break from music in Tokyo in 1977, saying, "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During his career break he created several series of drawings, and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed "mad stuff", all of which would be published posthumously. Lennon emerged from his hiatus in October 1980, when he released the single "(Just Like) Starting Over". In November, he and Ono released the album Double Fantasy, which included songs Lennon had written in Bermuda. In June, Lennon chartered a 43-foot sailboat and embarked on a sailing trip to Bermuda. En route, he and the crew encountered a storm, rendering everyone on board seasick, except Lennon, who took control and sailed the boat through the storm. This experience re-invigorated him and his creative muse. He spent three weeks in Bermuda in a home called Fairylands writing and refining the tracks for the upcoming album. The music reflected Lennon's fulfilment in his new-found stable family life. Sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album Milk and Honey, which was issued posthumously, in 1984. Double Fantasy was not well received initially and drew comments such as Melody Maker'''s "indulgent sterility... a godawful yawn". Murder: 8 December 1980 At approximately 5:00 p.m. on 8 December 1980, Lennon autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for fan Mark David Chapman before leaving The Dakota with Ono for a recording session at the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon and Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment in a limousine at around 10:50p.m. EST. They exited the vehicle and walked through the archway of the building when Chapman shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed in a police cruiser to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15p.m. (EST). Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral for John", ending it with the words, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him." His remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman avoided going to trial when he ignored his lawyer's advice and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life. In the weeks following the murder, "(Just Like) Starting Over" and Double Fantasy topped the charts in the UK and the US. In a further example of the public outpouring of grief, "Imagine" hit number one in the UK in January 1981 and "Happy Xmas" peaked at number two. "Imagine" was succeeded at the top of the UK chart by "Woman", the second single from Double Fantasy. Later that year, Roxy Music's cover version of "Jealous Guy", recorded as a tribute to Lennon, was also a UK number-one. Personal relationships Cynthia Lennon Lennon met Cynthia Powell (1939–2015) in 1957, when they were fellow students at the Liverpool College of Art. Although Powell was intimidated by Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was obsessed with the French actress Brigitte Bardot, so she dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her out, but when she said that she was engaged, he shouted, "I didn't ask you to fuckin' marry me, did I?" She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend to visit him. Lennon was jealous by nature and eventually grew possessive, often terrifying Powell with his anger. In her 2005 memoir John, Powell recalled that, when they were dating, Lennon once struck her after he observed her dancing with Stuart Sutcliffe. She ended their relationship as a result, until three months later, when Lennon apologised and asked to reunite. She took him back and later noted that he was never again physically abusive towards her, although he could still be "verbally cutting and unkind". Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude towards women. He said that the Beatles song "Getting Better" told his own story, "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace." Recalling his July 1962 reaction when he learned that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn. We'll have to get married." The couple wed on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool, with Brian Epstein serving as best man. His marriage began just as Beatlemania was taking off across the UK. He performed on the evening of his wedding day and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein feared that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, and he asked the Lennons to keep their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his infant son until three days later. Cynthia attributed the start of the marriage breakdown to Lennon's use of LSD, and she felt that he slowly lost interest in her as a result of his use of the drug. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales in 1967 for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolise the end of their marriage. After spending a holiday in Greece, Cynthia arrived home at Kenwood to find Lennon sitting on the floor with Ono in terrycloth robes and left the house, feeling shocked and humiliated, to stay with friends. A few weeks later, Alexis Mardas informed Powell that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian. She received a letter stating that Lennon was doing so on the grounds of her adultery with Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, an accusation which Powell denied. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to let her divorce him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court in November 1968, with Lennon giving her £100,000 ($240,000 in US dollars at the time), a small annual payment and custody of Julian. Brian Epstein The Beatles were performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club in November 1961 when they were introduced to Brian Epstein after a midday concert. Epstein was homosexual and closeted, and according to biographer Philip Norman, one of Epstein's reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was attracted to Lennon. Almost as soon as Julian was born, Lennon went on holiday to Spain with Epstein, which led to speculation about their relationship. When he was later questioned about it, Lennon said, "Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. We used to sit in a café in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I'd say, 'Do you like that one? Do you like this one?' I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this." Soon after their return from Spain, at McCartney's twenty-first birthday party in June 1963, Lennon physically attacked Cavern Club master of ceremonies Bob Wooler for saying "How was your honeymoon, John?" The MC, known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks, was making a joke, but ten months had passed since Lennon's marriage, and the deferred honeymoon was still two months in the future. Lennon was drunk at the time and the matter was simple: "He called me a queer so I battered his bloody ribs in." Lennon delighted in mocking Epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was Jewish. When Epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography, Lennon offered Queer Jew; on learning of the eventual title, A Cellarful of Noise, he parodied, "More like A Cellarful of Boys". He demanded of a visitor to Epstein's flat, "Have you come to blackmail him? If not, you're the only bugger in London who hasn't." During the recording of "Baby, You're a Rich Man", he sang altered choruses of "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew". Julian Lennon During his marriage to Cynthia, Lennon's first son
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superior work to Sgt. Pepper. At the end of 1968, Lennon participated in The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, a television special that was not broadcast. Lennon performed with the Dirty Mac, a supergroup composed of Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. The group also backed a vocal performance by Ono. A film version was released in 1996. By late 1968, Lennon's increased drug use and growing preoccupation with Ono, combined with the Beatles' inability to agree on how the company should be run, left Apple in need of professional management. Lennon asked Lord Beeching to take on the role but he declined, advising Lennon to go back to making records. Lennon was approached by Allen Klein, who had managed the Rolling Stones and other bands during the British Invasion. In early 1969, Klein was appointed as Apple's chief executive by Lennon, Harrison and Starr but McCartney never signed the management contract. Lennon and Ono were married on 20 March 1969 and soon released a series of 14 lithographs called "Bag One" depicting scenes from their honeymoon, eight of which were deemed indecent and most of which were banned and confiscated. Lennon's creative focus continued to move beyond the Beatles, and between 1968 and 1969 he and Ono recorded three albums of experimental music together: Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins (known more for its cover than for its music), Unfinished Music No. 2: Life with the Lions and Wedding Album. In 1969, they formed the Plastic Ono Band, releasing Live Peace in Toronto 1969. Between 1969 and 1970, Lennon released the singles "Give Peace a Chance", which was widely adopted as an anti-Vietnam War anthem, "Cold Turkey", which documented his withdrawal symptoms after he became addicted to heroin, and "Instant Karma!". In protest at Britain's involvement in "the Nigeria-Biafra thing" (namely, the Nigerian Civil War), its support of America in the Vietnam War and (perhaps jokingly) against "Cold Turkey" slipping down the charts, Lennon returned his MBE medal to the Queen. This gesture had no effect on his MBE status, which could not be renounced. The medal, together with Lennon's letter, is held at the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood. Lennon left the Beatles in September 1969, but agreed not to inform the media while the group renegotiated their recording contract. He was outraged that McCartney publicised his own departure on releasing his debut solo album in April 1970. Lennon's reaction was, "Jesus Christ! He gets all the credit for it!" He later wrote, "I started the band. I disbanded it. It's as simple as that." In a December 1970 interview with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone magazine, he revealed his bitterness towards McCartney, saying, "I was a fool not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record." Lennon also spoke of the hostility he perceived the other members had towards Ono, and of how he, Harrison and Starr "got fed up with being sidemen for Paul ... After Brian Epstein died we collapsed. Paul took over and supposedly led us. But what is leading us when we went round in circles?" Solo career: 1970–1980 Initial solo success and activism: 1970–1972 In 1970, Lennon and Ono went through primal therapy with Arthur Janov in Los Angeles, California. Designed to release emotional pain from early childhood, the therapy entailed two half-days a week with Janov for four months; he had wanted to treat the couple for longer, but they felt no need to continue and returned to London. Lennon's debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), was received with praise by many music critics, but its highly personal lyrics and stark sound limited its commercial performance. The album featured the song "Mother", in which Lennon confronted his feelings of childhood rejection, and the Dylanesque "Working Class Hero", a bitter attack against the bourgeois social system which, due to the lyric "you're still fucking peasants", fell foul of broadcasters. In January 1971, Tariq Ali expressed his revolutionary political views when he interviewed Lennon, who immediately responded by writing "Power to the People". In his lyrics to the song, Lennon reversed the non-confrontational approach he had espoused in "Revolution", although he later disowned "Power to the People", saying that it was borne out of guilt and a desire for approval from radicals such as Ali. Lennon became involved with Ali in a protest against the prosecution of Oz magazine for alleged obscenity. Lennon denounced the proceedings as "disgusting fascism", and he and Ono (as Elastic Oz Band) released the single "God Save Us/Do the Oz" and joined marches in support of the magazine. Eager for a major commercial success, Lennon adopted a more accessible sound for his next album, Imagine (1971). Rolling Stone reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album's title track later became an anthem for anti-war movements, while the song "How Do You Sleep?" was a musical attack on McCartney in response to lyrics on Ram that Lennon felt, and McCartney later confirmed, were directed at him and Ono. In "Jealous Guy", Lennon addressed his demeaning treatment of women, acknowledging that his past behaviour was the result of long-held insecurity. In gratitude for his guitar contributions to Imagine, Lennon initially agreed to perform at Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh benefit shows in New York. Harrison refused to allow Ono to participate at the concerts, however, which resulted in the couple having a heated argument and Lennon pulling out of the event. Lennon and Ono moved to New York in August 1971 and immediately embraced US radical left politics. The couple released their "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" single in December. During the new year, the Nixon administration took what it called a "strategic counter-measure" against Lennon's anti-war and anti-Nixon propaganda. The administration embarked on what would be a four-year attempt to deport him. Lennon was embroiled in a continuing legal battle with the immigration authorities, and he was denied permanent residency in the US; the issue would not be resolved until 1976. Some Time in New York City was recorded as a collaboration with Ono and was released in 1972 with backing from the New York band Elephant's Memory. A double LP, it contained songs about women's rights, race relations, Britain's role in Northern Ireland and Lennon's difficulties in obtaining a green card. The album was a commercial failure and was maligned by critics, who found its political sloganeering heavy-handed and relentless. The NMEs review took the form of an open letter in which Tony Tyler derided Lennon as a "pathetic, ageing revolutionary". In the US, "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" was released as a single from the album and was televised on 11 May, on The Dick Cavett Show. Many radio stations refused to broadcast the song because of the word "nigger". Lennon and Ono gave two benefit concerts with Elephant's Memory and guests in New York in aid of patients at the Willowbrook State School mental facility. Staged at Madison Square Garden on 30 August 1972, they were his last full-length concert appearances. After George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to Richard Nixon, Lennon and Ono attended a post-election wake held in the New York home of activist Jerry Rubin. Lennon was depressed and got intoxicated; he left Ono embarrassed after he had sex with a female guest. Ono's song "Death of Samantha" was inspired by the incident. "Lost weekend": 1973–1975 As Lennon was about to record Mind Games in 1973, he and Ono decided to separate. The ensuing 18-month period apart, which he later called his "lost weekend" in reference to the film of the same name, was spent in Los Angeles and New York City in the company of May Pang. Mind Games, credited to the "Plastic U.F.Ono Band", was released in November 1973. Lennon also contributed "I'm the Greatest" to Starr's album Ringo (1973), released the same month. With Harrison joining Starr and Lennon at the recording session for the song, it marked the only occasion when three former Beatles recorded together between the band's break-up and Lennon's death. In early 1974, Lennon was drinking heavily and his alcohol-fuelled antics with Harry Nilsson made headlines. In March, two widely publicised incidents occurred at The Troubadour club. In the first incident, Lennon stuck an unused menstrual pad on his forehead and scuffled with a waitress. The second incident occurred two weeks later, when Lennon and Nilsson were ejected from the same club after heckling the Smothers Brothers. Lennon decided to produce Nilsson's album Pussy Cats, and Pang rented a Los Angeles beach house for all the musicians. After a month of further debauchery, the recording sessions were in chaos, and Lennon returned to New York with Pang to finish work on the album. In April, Lennon had produced the Mick Jagger song "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)" which was, for contractual reasons, to remain unreleased for more than 30 years. Pang supplied the recording for its eventual inclusion on The Very Best of Mick Jagger (2007). Lennon had settled back in New York when he recorded the album Walls and Bridges. Released in October 1974, it included "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", which featured Elton John on backing vocals and piano, and became Lennon's only single as a solo artist to top the US Billboard Hot 100 chart during his lifetime. A second single from the album, "#9 Dream", followed before the end of the year. Starr's Goodnight Vienna (1974) again saw assistance from Lennon, who wrote the title track and played piano. On 28 November, Lennon made a surprise guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving concert at Madison Square Garden, in fulfilment of his promise to join the singer in a live show if "Whatever Gets You thru the Night", a song whose commercial potential Lennon had doubted, reached number one. Lennon performed the song along with "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Saw Her Standing There", which he introduced as "a song by an old estranged fiancé of mine called Paul". Lennon co-wrote "Fame", David Bowie's first US number one, and provided guitar and backing vocals for the January 1975 recording. In the same month, Elton John topped the charts with his cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", featuring Lennon on guitar and back-up vocals; Lennon is credited on the single under the moniker of "Dr. Winston O'Boogie". He and Ono were reunited shortly afterwards. Lennon released Rock 'n' Roll (1975), an album of cover songs, in February. "Stand by Me", taken from the album and a US and UK hit, became his last single for five years. He made what would be his final stage appearance in the ATV special A Salute to Lew Grade, recorded on 18 April and televised in June. Playing acoustic guitar and backed by an eight-piece band, Lennon performed two songs from Rock 'n' Roll ("Stand by Me", which was not broadcast, and "Slippin' and Slidin'") followed by "Imagine". The band, known as Etc., wore masks behind their heads, a dig by Lennon, who thought Grade was two-faced. Hiatus and return: 1975–1980 Sean was Lennon's only child with Ono. Sean was born on 9 October 1975 (Lennon's thirty-fifth birthday), and John took on the role of househusband. Lennon began what would be a five-year hiatus from the music industry, during which time, he later said, he "baked bread" and "looked after the baby". He devoted himself to Sean, rising at 6am daily to plan and prepare his meals and to spend time with him. He wrote "Cookin' (In the Kitchen of Love)" for Starr's Ringo's Rotogravure (1976), performing on the track in June in what would be his last recording session until 1980. He formally announced his break from music in Tokyo in 1977, saying, "we have basically decided, without any great decision, to be with our baby as much as we can until we feel we can take time off to indulge ourselves in creating things outside of the family." During his career break he created several series of drawings, and drafted a book containing a mix of autobiographical material and what he termed "mad stuff", all of which would be published posthumously. Lennon emerged from his hiatus in October 1980, when he released the single "(Just Like) Starting Over". In November, he and Ono released the album Double Fantasy, which included songs Lennon had written in Bermuda. In June, Lennon chartered a 43-foot sailboat and embarked on a sailing trip to Bermuda. En route, he and the crew encountered a storm, rendering everyone on board seasick, except Lennon, who took control and sailed the boat through the storm. This experience re-invigorated him and his creative muse. He spent three weeks in Bermuda in a home called Fairylands writing and refining the tracks for the upcoming album. The music reflected Lennon's fulfilment in his new-found stable family life. Sufficient additional material was recorded for a planned follow-up album Milk and Honey, which was issued posthumously, in 1984. Double Fantasy was not well received initially and drew comments such as Melody Maker'''s "indulgent sterility... a godawful yawn". Murder: 8 December 1980 At approximately 5:00 p.m. on 8 December 1980, Lennon autographed a copy of Double Fantasy for fan Mark David Chapman before leaving The Dakota with Ono for a recording session at the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon and Ono returned to their Manhattan apartment in a limousine at around 10:50p.m. EST. They exited the vehicle and walked through the archway of the building when Chapman shot Lennon twice in the back and twice in the shoulder at close range. Lennon was rushed in a police cruiser to the emergency room of Roosevelt Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at 11:15p.m. (EST). Ono issued a statement the next day, saying "There is no funeral for John", ending it with the words, "John loved and prayed for the human race. Please do the same for him." His remains were cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his ashes in New York's Central Park, where the Strawberry Fields memorial was later created. Chapman avoided going to trial when he ignored his lawyer's advice and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 20-years-to-life. In the weeks following the murder, "(Just Like) Starting Over" and Double Fantasy topped the charts in the UK and the US. In a further example of the public outpouring of grief, "Imagine" hit number one in the UK in January 1981 and "Happy Xmas" peaked at number two. "Imagine" was succeeded at the top of the UK chart by "Woman", the second single from Double Fantasy. Later that year, Roxy Music's cover version of "Jealous Guy", recorded as a tribute to Lennon, was also a UK number-one. Personal relationships Cynthia Lennon Lennon met Cynthia Powell (1939–2015) in 1957, when they were fellow students at the Liverpool College of Art. Although Powell was intimidated by Lennon's attitude and appearance, she heard that he was obsessed with the French actress Brigitte Bardot, so she dyed her hair blonde. Lennon asked her out, but when she said that she was engaged, he shouted, "I didn't ask you to fuckin' marry me, did I?" She often accompanied him to Quarrymen gigs and travelled to Hamburg with McCartney's girlfriend to visit him. Lennon was jealous by nature and eventually grew possessive, often terrifying Powell with his anger. In her 2005 memoir John, Powell recalled that, when they were dating, Lennon once struck her after he observed her dancing with Stuart Sutcliffe. She ended their relationship as a result, until three months later, when Lennon apologised and asked to reunite. She took him back and later noted that he was never again physically abusive towards her, although he could still be "verbally cutting and unkind". Lennon later said that until he met Ono, he had never questioned his chauvinistic attitude towards women. He said that the Beatles song "Getting Better" told his own story, "I used to be cruel to my woman, and physically – any woman. I was a hitter. I couldn't express myself and I hit. I fought men and I hit women. That is why I am always on about peace." Recalling his July 1962 reaction when he learned that Cynthia was pregnant, Lennon said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn. We'll have to get married." The couple wed on 23 August at the Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool, with Brian Epstein serving as best man. His marriage began just as Beatlemania was taking off across the UK. He performed on the evening of his wedding day and would continue to do so almost daily from then on. Epstein feared that fans would be alienated by the idea of a married Beatle, and he asked the Lennons to keep their marriage secret. Julian was born on 8 April 1963; Lennon was on tour at the time and did not see his infant son until three days later. Cynthia attributed the start of the marriage breakdown to Lennon's use of LSD, and she felt that he slowly lost interest in her as a result of his use of the drug. When the group travelled by train to Bangor, Wales in 1967 for the Maharishi Yogi's Transcendental Meditation seminar, a policeman did not recognise her and stopped her from boarding. She later recalled how the incident seemed to symbolise the end of their marriage. After spending a holiday in Greece, Cynthia arrived home at Kenwood to find Lennon sitting on the floor with Ono in terrycloth robes and left the house, feeling shocked and humiliated, to stay with friends. A few weeks later, Alexis Mardas informed Powell that Lennon was seeking a divorce and custody of Julian. She received a letter stating that Lennon was doing so on the grounds of her adultery with Italian hotelier Roberto Bassanini, an accusation which Powell denied. After negotiations, Lennon capitulated and agreed to let her divorce him on the same grounds. The case was settled out of court in November 1968, with Lennon giving her £100,000 ($240,000 in US dollars at the time), a small annual payment and custody of Julian. Brian Epstein The Beatles were performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club in November 1961 when they were introduced to Brian Epstein after a midday concert. Epstein was homosexual and closeted, and according to biographer Philip Norman, one of Epstein's reasons for wanting to manage the group was that he was attracted to Lennon. Almost as soon as Julian was born, Lennon went on holiday to Spain with Epstein, which led to speculation about their relationship. When he was later questioned about it, Lennon said, "Well, it was almost a love affair, but not quite. It was never consummated. But it was a pretty intense relationship. It was my first experience with a homosexual that I was conscious was homosexual. We used to sit in a café in Torremolinos looking at all the boys and I'd say, 'Do you like that one? Do you like this one?' I was rather enjoying the experience, thinking like a writer all the time: I am experiencing this." Soon after their return from Spain, at McCartney's twenty-first birthday party in June 1963, Lennon physically attacked Cavern Club master of ceremonies Bob Wooler for saying "How was your honeymoon, John?" The MC, known for his wordplay and affectionate but cutting remarks, was making a joke, but ten months had passed since Lennon's marriage, and the deferred honeymoon was still two months in the future. Lennon was drunk at the time and the matter was simple: "He called me a queer so I battered his bloody ribs in." Lennon delighted in mocking Epstein for his homosexuality and for the fact that he was Jewish. When Epstein invited suggestions for the title of his autobiography, Lennon offered Queer Jew; on learning of the eventual title, A Cellarful of Noise, he parodied, "More like A Cellarful of Boys". He demanded of a visitor to Epstein's flat, "Have you come to blackmail him? If not, you're the only bugger in London who hasn't." During the recording of "Baby, You're a Rich Man", he sang altered choruses of "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew". Julian Lennon During his marriage to Cynthia, Lennon's first son Julian was born at the same time that his commitments with the Beatles were intensifying at the height of Beatlemania. Lennon was touring with the Beatles when Julian was born on 8 April 1963. Julian's birth, like his mother Cynthia's marriage to Lennon, was kept secret because Epstein was convinced that public knowledge of such things would threaten the Beatles' commercial success. Julian recalled that as a small child in Weybridge some four years later, "I was trundled home from school and came walking up with one of my watercolour paintings. It was just a bunch of stars and this blonde girl I knew at school. And Dad said, 'What's this?' I said, 'It's Lucy in the sky with diamonds.'" Lennon used it as the title of a Beatles song, and though it was later reported to have been derived from the initials LSD, Lennon insisted, "It's not an acid song." Lennon was distant from Julian, who felt closer to McCartney than to his father. During a car journey to visit Cynthia and Julian during Lennon's divorce, McCartney composed a song, "Hey Jules", to comfort him. It would evolve into the Beatles song "Hey Jude". Lennon later said, "That's his best song. It started off as a song about my son Julian ... he turned it into 'Hey Jude'. I always thought it was about me and Yoko but he said it wasn't." Lennon's relationship with Julian was already strained, and after Lennon and Ono moved to New York in 1971, Julian did not see his father again until 1973. With Pang's encouragement, arrangements were made for Julian and his mother to visit Lennon in Los Angeles, where they went to Disneyland. Julian started to see his father regularly, and Lennon gave him a drumming part on a Walls and Bridges track. He bought Julian a Gibson Les Paul guitar and other instruments, and encouraged his interest in music by demonstrating guitar chord techniques. Julian recalls that he and his father "got on a great deal better" during the time he spent in New York: "We had a lot of fun, laughed a lot and had a great time in general." In a Playboy interview with David Sheff shortly before his death, Lennon said, "Sean is a planned child, and therein lies the difference. I don't love Julian any less as a child. He's still my son, whether he came from a bottle of whiskey or because they didn't have pills in those days. He's here, he belongs to me, and he always will." He said he was trying to reestablish a connection with the then 17-year-old, and confidently predicted, "Julian and I will have a relationship in the future." After his death it was revealed that he had left Julian very little in his will. Yoko Ono Lennon first met Yoko Ono on 9 November 1966 at the Indica Gallery in London, where Ono was preparing her conceptual art exhibit. They were introduced by gallery owner John Dunbar. Lennon was intrigued by Ono's "Hammer A Nail": patrons hammered a nail into a wooden board, creating the art piece. Although the exhibition had not yet begun, Lennon wanted to hammer a nail into the clean board, but Ono stopped him. Dunbar asked her, "Don't you know who this is? He's a millionaire! He might buy it." According to Lennon's recollection in 1980, Ono had not heard of the Beatles, but she relented on condition that Lennon pay her five shillings, to which Lennon said he replied, "I'll give you an imaginary five shillings and hammer an imaginary nail in." Ono subsequently related that Lennon had taken a bite out of the apple on display in her work Apple, much to her fury. Ono began to telephone and visit Lennon at his home. When Cynthia asked him for an explanation, Lennon explained that Ono was only trying to obtain money for her "avant-garde bullshit". While his wife was on holiday in Greece in May 1968, Lennon invited Ono to visit. They spent the night recording what would become the Two Virgins album, after which, he said, they "made love at dawn". When Lennon's wife returned home she found Ono wearing her bathrobe and drinking tea with Lennon who simply said, "Oh, hi." Ono became pregnant in 1968 and miscarried a male child on 21 November 1968, a few weeks after Lennon's divorce from Cynthia was granted. Two years before the Beatles disbanded, Lennon and Ono began public protests against the Vietnam War. They were married in Gibraltar on 20 March 1969, and spent their honeymoon at the Hilton Amsterdam, campaigning with a week-long Bed-In for Peace. They planned another Bed-In in the United States, but were denied entry, so held one instead at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, where they recorded "Give Peace a Chance". They often combined advocacy with performance art, as in their "Bagism", first introduced during a Vienna press conference. Lennon detailed this period in the Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko". Lennon changed his name by deed poll on 22 April 1969, adding "Ono" as a middle name. The brief ceremony took place on the roof of the Apple Corps building, where the Beatles had performed their rooftop concert three months earlier. Although he used the name John Ono Lennon thereafter, some official documents referred to him as John Winston Ono Lennon. The couple settled at Tittenhurst Park at Sunninghill in Berkshire. After Ono was injured in a car accident, Lennon arranged for a king-size bed to be brought to the recording studio as he worked on the Beatles' album, Abbey Road. Ono and Lennon moved to New York, to a flat on Bank Street, Greenwich Village. Looking for somewhere with better security, they relocated in 1973 to the more secure Dakota overlooking Central Park at 1West72nd Street. May Pang ABKCO Industries was formed in 1968 by Allen Klein as an umbrella company to ABKCO Records. Klein hired May Pang as a receptionist in 1969. Through involvement in a project with ABKCO, Lennon and Ono met her the following year. She became their personal assistant. In 1973, after she had been working with the couple for three years, Ono confided that she and Lennon were becoming estranged. She went on to suggest that Pang should begin a physical relationship with Lennon, telling her, "He likes you a lot." Astounded by Ono's proposition, Pang nevertheless agreed to become Lennon's companion. The pair soon left for Los Angeles, beginning an 18-month period he later called his "lost weekend". In Los Angeles, Pang encouraged Lennon to develop regular contact with Julian, whom he had not seen for two years. He also rekindled friendships with Starr, McCartney, Beatles roadie Mal Evans, and Harry Nilsson. While Lennon was drinking with Nilsson, he misunderstood something that Pang had said and attempted to strangle her. Lennon relented only after he was physically restrained by Nilsson. In June, Lennon and Pang returned to Manhattan in their newly rented penthouse apartment where they prepared a spare room for Julian when he visited them. Lennon, who had been inhibited by Ono in this regard, began to reestablish contact with other relatives and friends. By December, he and Pang were considering a house purchase, and he refused to accept Ono's telephone calls. In January 1975, he agreed to meet Ono, who claimed to have found a cure for smoking. After the meeting, he failed to return home or call Pang. When Pang telephoned the next day, Ono told her that Lennon was unavailable because he was exhausted after a hypnotherapy session. Two days later, Lennon reappeared at a joint dental appointment; he was stupefied and confused to such an extent that Pang believed he had been brainwashed. Lennon told Pang that his separation from Ono was now over, although Ono would allow him to continue seeing her as his mistress. Sean Lennon Ono had previously suffered three miscarriages in her attempt to have a child with Lennon. When Ono and Lennon were reunited, she became pregnant again. She initially said that she wanted to have an abortion but changed her mind and agreed to allow the pregnancy to continue on the condition that Lennon adopt the role of househusband, which he agreed to do. Following Sean's birth, Lennon's subsequent hiatus from the music industry would span five years. He had a photographer take pictures of Sean every day of his first year and created numerous drawings for him, which were posthumously published as Real Love: The Drawings for Sean. Lennon later proudly declared, "He didn't come out of my belly but, by God, I made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and to how he sleeps, and to the fact that he swims like a fish." Former Beatles While Lennon remained consistently friendly with Starr during the years that followed the Beatles' break-up in 1970, his relationships with McCartney and Harrison varied. He was initially close to Harrison, but the two drifted apart after Lennon moved to the US in 1971. When Harrison was in New York for his December 1974 Dark Horse tour, Lennon agreed to join him on stage but failed to appear after an argument over Lennon's refusal to sign an agreement that would finally dissolve the Beatles' legal partnership. Harrison later said that when he visited Lennon during his five years away from music, he sensed that Lennon was trying to communicate, but his bond with Ono prevented him. Harrison offended Lennon in 1980 when he published an autobiography that made little mention of him. Lennon told Playboy, "I was hurt by it. By glaring omission... my influence on his life is absolutely zilch... he remembers every two-bit sax player or guitarist he met in subsequent years. I'm not in the book." Lennon's most intense feelings were reserved for McCartney. In addition to attacking him with the lyrics of "How Do You Sleep?", Lennon argued with him through the press for three years after the group split. The two later began to reestablish something of the close friendship they had once known, and in 1974, they even played music together again before eventually growing apart once more. During McCartney's final visit in April 1976, Lennon said that they watched the episode of Saturday Night Live in which Lorne Michaels made a $3,000 offer to get the Beatles to reunite on the show. According to Lennon, the pair considered going to the studio to make a joke appearance, attempting to claim their share of the money, but they were too tired. Lennon summarised his feelings towards McCartney in an interview three days before his death: "Throughout my career, I've selected to work with... only two people: Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono... That ain't bad picking." Along with his estrangement from McCartney, Lennon always felt a musical competitiveness with him and kept an ear on his music. During his career break from 1975 until shortly before his death, according to Fred Seaman, Lennon and Ono's assistant at the time, Lennon was content to sit back as long as McCartney was producing what Lennon saw as mediocre material. Lennon took notice when McCartney released "Coming Up" in 1980, which was the year Lennon returned to the studio. "It's driving me crackers!" he jokingly complained, because he could not get the tune out of his head. That same year, Lennon was asked whether the group were dreaded enemies or the best of friends, and he replied that they were neither, and that he had not seen any of them in a long time. But he also said, "I still love those guys. The Beatles are over, but John, Paul, George and Ringo go on." Political activism Lennon and Ono used their honeymoon as a Bed-In for Peace at the Amsterdam Hilton Hotel; the March 1969 event attracted worldwide media ridicule. During a second Bed-In three months later at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal, Lennon wrote and recorded "Give Peace a Chance". Released as a single, the song was quickly interpreted as an anti-war anthem and sung by a quarter of a million demonstrators against the Vietnam War in Washington, DC, on 15 November, the second Vietnam Moratorium Day. In December, they paid for billboards in 10 cities around the world which declared, in the national language, "War Is Over! If You Want It". During the year, Lennon and Ono began to support efforts by the family of James Hanratty to prove his innocence. Hanratty had been hanged in 1962. According to Lennon, those who had condemned Hanratty were "the same people who are running guns to South Africa and killing blacks in the streets ... The same bastards are in control, the same people are running everything, it's the whole bullshit bourgeois scene." In London, Lennon and Ono staged a "Britain Murdered Hanratty" banner march and a "Silent Protest For James Hanratty", and produced a 40-minute documentary on the case. At an appeal hearing more than thirty years later, Hanratty's conviction was upheld after DNA evidence was found to match. Lennon and Ono showed their solidarity with the Clydeside UCS workers' work-in of 1971 by sending a bouquet of red roses and a cheque for £5,000. On moving to New York City in August that year, they befriended two of the Chicago Seven, Yippie peace activists Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Another political activist, John Sinclair, poet and co-founder of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for selling two joints of marijuana after previous convictions for possession of the drug. In December 1971 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, 15,000 people attended the "John Sinclair Freedom Rally", a protest and benefit concert with contributions from Lennon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Seger, Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, and others. Lennon and Ono, backed by David Peel and Jerry Rubin, performed an acoustic set of four songs from their forthcoming Some Time in New York City album including "John Sinclair", whose lyrics called for his release. The day before the rally, the Michigan Senate passed a bill that significantly reduced the penalties for possession of marijuana and four days later Sinclair was released on an appeal bond. The performance was recorded and two of the tracks later appeared on John Lennon Anthology (1998). Following the Bloody Sunday incident
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President of the United States (d. 1899) 1844 – Detlev von Liliencron, German poet and author (d. 1909) 1852 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (d. 1896) 1853 – Flinders Petrie, English archaeologist and academic (d. 1942) 1864 – Otto Erich Hartleben, German poet and playwright (d. 1905) 1864 – Ransom E. Olds, American businessman, founded Oldsmobile and REO Motor Car Company (d. 1950) 1865 – George V of the United Kingdom (d. 1936) 1866 – George Howells Broadhurst, English-American director and manager (d. 1952) 1873 – Otto Loewi, German-American pharmacologist and psychobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961) 1877 – Raoul Dufy, French painter and illustrator (d. 1953) 1879 – Alla Nazimova, Ukrainian-American actress, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1945) 1879 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist and botanist (d. 1940) 1879 – Vivian Woodward, English footballer and soldier (d. 1954) 1881 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter and set designer (d. 1964) 1890 – Baburao Painter, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1954) 1897 – Memphis Minnie, American singer-songwriter (d. 1973) 1899 – Georg von Békésy, Hungarian-American biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972) 1900 – Adelaide Ames, American astronomer and academic (d. 1932) 1900 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (d. 1997) 1901–present 1901 – Maurice Evans, English actor (d. 1989) 1901 – Zhang Xueliang, Chinese general and warlord (d. 2001) 1903 – Eddie Acuff, American actor (d. 1956) 1904 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (d. 1950) 1904 – Jan Peerce, American tenor and actor (d. 1984) 1905 – Martin Gottfried Weiss, German SS officer (d. 1946) 1906 – R. G. D. Allen, English economist, mathematician, and statistician (d. 1983) 1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (d. 1975) 1906 – Walter Robins, English cricketer and footballer (d. 1968) 1907 – Paul Rotha, English director and producer (d. 1984) 1910 – Paulette Goddard, American actress and model (d. 1990) 1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1913 – Pedro Mir, Dominican poet and author (d. 2000) 1914 – Ignacio Ponseti, Spanish physician and orthopedist (d. 2009) 1917 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (d. 1969) 1918 – Patrick Cargill, English actor and producer (d. 1996) 1918 – Lili St. Cyr, American burlesque dancer (d. 1999) 1921 – Forbes Carlile, Australian pentathlete and coach (d. 2016) 1921 – Jean Dréjac, French singer and composer (d. 2003) 1922 – Alain Resnais, French director, cinematographer, and screenwriter (d. 2014) 1923 – Igor Shafarevich, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 2017) 1924 – Karunanidhi, Indian screenwriter and politician, 3rd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2018) 1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (d. 1991) 1924 – Jimmy Rogers, American singer and guitarist (d. 1997) 1924 – Torsten Wiesel, Swedish neurophysiologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010) 1926 – Allen Ginsberg, American poet (d. 1997) 1926 – Flora MacDonald, Canadian banker and politician, 10th Canadian Minister of Communications (d. 2015) 1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2007) 1928 – Donald Judd, American sculptor and painter (d. 1994) 1928 – John Richard Reid, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2020) 1929 – Werner Arber, Swiss microbiologist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate 1929 – Chuck Barris, American game show host and producer (d. 2017) 1930 – Marion Zimmer Bradley, American author and poet (d. 1999) 1930 – George Fernandes, Indian journalist and politician, Minister of Defence for India (d. 2019) 1930 – Dakota Staton, American singer (d. 2007) 1930 – Abbas Zandi, Iranian wrestler (d. 2017) 1930 – Ben Wada, Japanese director and producer (d. 2011) 1930 – Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's (d. 2020) 1931 – Françoise Arnoul, Algerian-French actress (d. 2021) 1931 – Raúl Castro, Cuban commander and politician, 18th President of Cuba 1931 – John Norman, American philosopher and author 1931 – Lindy Remigino, American runner and coach (d. 2018) 1931 – Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Bahranian king (d. 1999) 1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021) 1936 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2017) 1937 – Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, French racing driver (d. 2021) 1939 – Frank Blevins, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of South Australia (d. 2013) 1939 – Steve Dalkowski, American baseball player (d. 2020) 1939 – Ian Hunter, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1999) 1943 – Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach 1944 – Thomas Burns, British bishop 1944 – Edith McGuire, American sprinter and educator 1944 – Eddy Ottoz, Italian hurdler and coach 1945 – Hale Irwin, American golfer and architect 1945 – Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist, and businessman, founded the Rajah Broadcasting Network 1945 – Bill Paterson, Scottish actor 1946 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (d. 1993) 1946 – Eddie Holman, American pop/R&B/gospel singer 1946 – Penelope Wilton, English actress 1948 – Jan Reker, Dutch footballer and manager 1950 – Frédéric François, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter 1950 – Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2015) 1950 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (d. 2013) 1950 – Larry Probst, American businessman 1950 – Suzi Quatro, American-English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Christos Verelis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Transport and Communications 1950 – Deniece Williams, American singer-songwriter 1951 – Jill Biden, American educator, First Lady of the United States 1954 – Dan Hill, Canadian singer-songwriter 1954 – Susan Landau, American mathematician and engineer 1956 – George Burley, Scottish footballer and manager 1956 – Danny Wilde, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1957 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player 1959 – Imbi Paju, Estonian-Finnish journalist and author 1960 – Catherine Davani, first female Papua New Guinean judge (d. 2016) 1960 – Tracy Grimshaw, Australian television host 1960 – Carl Rackemann, Australian cricketer and sportscaster 1961 – Lawrence Lessig, American lawyer, academic, and author, founded the Creative Commons 1961 – Peter Vidmar, American gymnast 1961 – Ed Wynne, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1962 – Susannah Constantine, English fashion designer, journalist, and author 1962 – Dagmar Neubauer, German sprinter 1963 – Rudy Demotte, Belgian politician, 8th Minister-President of Wallonia 1963 – Toshiaki Karasawa, Japanese actor 1964 – André Bellavance, Canadian politician 1964 – Kerry King, American guitarist and songwriter 1964 – James Purefoy, English actor 1965 – Hans Kroes, Dutch swimmer 1965 – Michael Moore, British accountant and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland 1966 – Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer, coach, and sportscaster 1967 – Anderson Cooper, American journalist and author 1967 – Tamás Darnyi, Hungarian swimmer 1969 – Takako Minekawa, Japanese singer-songwriter 1969 – Dean Pay, Australian rugby league player and coach 1971 – Luigi Di Biagio, Italian footballer and manager 1971 – Mary Grigson, Australian cross-country mountain biker 1972 – Julie Gayet, French actress 1974 – Kelly Jones, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist 1974 – Serhii Rebrov, Ukrainian international footballer and manager 1975 – Jose Molina, Puerto Rican-American baseball player 1976 – Nikos Chatzis, Greek basketball player 1976 – Jamie McMurray, American race car driver 1977 – Cris, Brazilian footballer 1978 – Lyfe Jennings, American singer-songwriter and producer 1979 – Luis Fernando López, Colombian race walker 1979 – Christian Malcolm, Welsh sprinter 1980 – Amauri, Brazilian-Italian footballer 1981 – Sosene Anesi, New Zealand rugby player 1982 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter 1982 – Manfred Mölgg, Italian skier 1983 – Pasquale Foggia, Italian footballer 1985 – Papiss Cissé, Senegalese footballer 1985 – Łukasz Piszczek, Polish footballer 1986 – Al Horford, Dominican basketball player 1986 – Micah Kogo,
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king (d. 1999) 1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021) 1936 – Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby player and coach (d. 2017) 1937 – Jean-Pierre Jaussaud, French racing driver (d. 2021) 1939 – Frank Blevins, English-Australian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Premier of South Australia (d. 2013) 1939 – Steve Dalkowski, American baseball player (d. 2020) 1939 – Ian Hunter, English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1942 – Curtis Mayfield, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1999) 1943 – Billy Cunningham, American basketball player and coach 1944 – Thomas Burns, British bishop 1944 – Edith McGuire, American sprinter and educator 1944 – Eddy Ottoz, Italian hurdler and coach 1945 – Hale Irwin, American golfer and architect 1945 – Ramon Jacinto, Filipino singer, guitarist, and businessman, founded the Rajah Broadcasting Network 1945 – Bill Paterson, Scottish actor 1946 – Michael Clarke, American drummer (d. 1993) 1946 – Eddie Holman, American pop/R&B/gospel singer 1946 – Penelope Wilton, English actress 1948 – Jan Reker, Dutch footballer and manager 1950 – Frédéric François, Belgian-Italian singer-songwriter 1950 – Melissa Mathison, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2015) 1950 – Juan José Muñoz, Argentinian businessman (d. 2013) 1950 – Larry Probst, American businessman 1950 – Suzi Quatro, American-English singer-songwriter and guitarist 1950 – Christos Verelis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of Transport and Communications 1950 – Deniece Williams, American singer-songwriter 1951 – Jill Biden, American educator, First Lady of the United States 1954 – Dan Hill, Canadian singer-songwriter 1954 – Susan Landau, American mathematician and engineer 1956 – George Burley, Scottish footballer and manager 1956 – Danny Wilde, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1957 – Horst-Ulrich Hänel, German field hockey player 1959 – Imbi Paju, Estonian-Finnish journalist and author 1960 – Catherine Davani, first female Papua New Guinean judge (d. 2016) 1960 – Tracy Grimshaw, Australian television host 1960 – Carl Rackemann, Australian cricketer and sportscaster 1961 – Lawrence Lessig, American lawyer, academic, and author, founded the Creative Commons 1961 – Peter Vidmar, American gymnast 1961 – Ed Wynne, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1962 – Susannah Constantine, English fashion designer, journalist, and author 1962 – Dagmar Neubauer, German sprinter 1963 – Rudy Demotte, Belgian politician, 8th Minister-President of Wallonia 1963 – Toshiaki Karasawa, Japanese actor 1964 – André Bellavance, Canadian politician 1964 – Kerry King, American guitarist and songwriter 1964 – James Purefoy, English actor 1965 – Hans Kroes, Dutch swimmer 1965 – Michael Moore, British accountant and politician, Secretary of State for Scotland 1966 – Wasim Akram, Pakistani cricketer, coach, and sportscaster 1967 – Anderson Cooper, American journalist and author 1967 – Tamás Darnyi, Hungarian swimmer 1969 – Takako Minekawa, Japanese singer-songwriter 1969 – Dean Pay, Australian rugby league player and coach 1971 – Luigi Di Biagio, Italian footballer and manager 1971 – Mary Grigson, Australian cross-country mountain biker 1972 – Julie Gayet, French actress 1974 – Kelly Jones, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist 1974 – Serhii Rebrov, Ukrainian international footballer and manager 1975 – Jose Molina, Puerto Rican-American baseball player 1976 – Nikos Chatzis, Greek basketball player 1976 – Jamie McMurray, American race car driver 1977 – Cris, Brazilian footballer 1978 – Lyfe Jennings, American singer-songwriter and producer 1979 – Luis Fernando López, Colombian race walker 1979 – Christian Malcolm, Welsh sprinter 1980 – Amauri, Brazilian-Italian footballer 1981 – Sosene Anesi, New Zealand rugby player 1982 – Yelena Isinbayeva, Russian pole vaulter 1982 – Manfred Mölgg, Italian skier 1983 – Pasquale Foggia, Italian footballer 1985 – Papiss Cissé, Senegalese footballer 1985 – Łukasz Piszczek, Polish footballer 1986 – Al Horford, Dominican basketball player 1986 – Micah Kogo, Kenyan runner 1986 – Rafael Nadal, Spanish tennis player 1986 – Tomáš Verner, Czech ice skater 1987 – Masami Nagasawa, Japanese actress 1989 – Katie Hoff, American swimmer 1991 – Yordano Ventura, Dominican baseball player (d. 2017) 1992 – Mario Götze, German footballer Deaths Pre-1600 628 – Liang Shidu, Chinese rebel leader 800 – Staurakios, Byzantine general 1052 – Prince Guaimar IV of Salerno 1397 – William de Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English commander (b. 1328) 1411 – Leopold IV, Duke of Austria (b. 1371) 1453 – Loukas Notaras, last megas doux of the Byzantine Empire 1511 – Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah, Islamic scholar, author of the Oran fatwa 1548 – Juan de Zumárraga, Spanish-Mexican archbishop (b. 1468) 1553 – Wolf Huber, Austrian painter, printmaker and architect (b. 1485) 1594 – John Aylmer, English bishop and scholar (b. 1521) 1601–1900 1605 – Jan Zamoyski, Polish nobleman (b. 1542) 1615 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567) 1640 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1584) 1649 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (b. 1590) 1657 – William Harvey, English physician and academic (b. 1578) 1659 – Morgan Llwyd, Welsh minister and poet (b. 1619) 1665 – Charles Weston, 3rd Earl of Portland, English noble (b. 1639) 1780 – Thomas Hutchinson, American businessman and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1711) 1826 – Nikolay Karamzin, Russian historian and poet (b. 1766) 1858 – Julius Reubke, German pianist and composer (b. 1834) 1861 – Stephen A. Douglas, American lawyer and politician, 7th Secretary of State of Illinois (b. 1813) 1865 – Okada Izō, Japanese samurai (b. 1838) 1875 – Georges Bizet, French pianist and composer (b. 1838) 1877 – Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Austrian botanist, composer, and publisher (b. 1800) 1882 – Christian Wilberg, German painter and illustrator (b. 1839) 1894 – Karl Eduard Zachariae von Lingenthal, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1812) 1899 – Johann Strauss II, Austrian composer and educator (b. 1825) 1900 – Mary Kingsley, English explorer and author (b. 1862) 1901–present 1902 – Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (b. 1829) 1906 –
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fights between Chilean and Italian players in one of the most violent games in football history. 1964 – The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is formed. 1966 – Surveyor program: Surveyor 1 lands in Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to soft-land on another world. 1967 – Luis Monge is executed in Colorado's gas chamber, in the last pre-Furman execution in the United States. 1967 – Protests in West Berlin against the arrival of the Shah of Iran are brutally suppressed, during which Benno Ohnesorg is killed by a police officer. His death results in the founding of the terrorist group Movement 2 June. 1979 – Pope John Paul II starts his first official visit to his native Poland, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. 1983 – After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 are killed when a flashover occurs as the plane's doors open. Because of this incident, numerous new safety regulations are put in place. 1990 – The Lower Ohio Valley tornado outbreak spawns 66 confirmed tornadoes in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, killing 12. 1997 – In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later. 2003 – Europe launches its first voyage to another planet, Mars. The European Space Agency's Mars Express probe launches from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan. 2012 – Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution. 2014 – Telangana officially becomes the 29th state of India, formed from ten districts of northwestern Andhra Pradesh. Births Pre-1600 1305 – Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, ruler of Ilkhanate (d. 1335) 1423 – Ferdinand I of Naples (d. 1494) 1489 – Charles, Duke of Vendôme (d. 1537) 1535 – Pope Leo XI (d. 1605) 1601–1900 1602 – Rudolf Christian, Count of East Frisia, Ruler of East Frisia (d. 1628) 1621 – Rutger von Ascheberg, Courland-born soldier in Swedish service (d. 1693) 1621 – (baptized) Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter (d. 1649) 1638 – Henry Hyde, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (d. 1709) 1644 – William Salmon, English medical writer (d. 1713) 1731 – Martha Washington, First Lady of the United States (d. 1802) 1739 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (d. 1815) 1740 – Marquis de Sade, French philosopher and politician (d. 1814) 1743 – Alessandro Cagliostro, Italian occultist and explorer (d. 1795) 1773 – John Randolph of Roanoke, American planter and politician, 8th United States Ambassador to Russia (d. 1833) 1774 – William Lawson, English-Australian explorer and politician (d. 1850) 1813 – Daniel Pollen, Irish-New Zealand politician, 9th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1896) 1823 – Gédéon Ouimet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 2nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1905) 1835 – Pope Pius X (d. 1914) 1838 – Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (d. 1900) 1840 – Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet (d. 1928) 1840 – Émile Munier, French artist (d. 1895) 1857 – Edward Elgar, English composer and educator (d. 1934) 1857 – Karl Adolph Gjellerup, Danish author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1919) 1861 – Concordia Selander, Swedish actress and manager (d. 1935) 1863 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian-Austrian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1942) 1865 – George Lohmann, English cricketer (d. 1901) 1865 – Adelaide Casely-Hayford, Sierra Leone Creole advocate and activist for cultural nationalism (d. 1960) 1866 – Jack O'Connor, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937) 1875 – Charles Stewart Mott, American businessman and politician, 50th Mayor of Flint, Michigan (d. 1973) 1878 – Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (d. 1912) 1881 – Walter Egan, American golfer (d. 1971) 1891 – Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (d. 1969) 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (d. 1945) 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (d. 1981) 1899 – Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980) 1901–present 1904 – Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (d. 1974) 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (d. 1984) 1907 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (d. 1998) 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (d. 1987) 1910 – Hector Dyer, American sprinter (d. 1990) 1911 – Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002) 1913 – Barbara Pym, English author (d. 1980) 1913 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (d. 2015) 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (d. 1992) 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (d. 2006) 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (d. 1997) 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (d. 2011) 1920 – Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969) 1920 – Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (d. 2014) 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (d. 2013) 1920 – Tex Schramm, American businessman (d. 2003) 1920 – Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1998) 1921 – Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (d. 2009) 1921 – Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (d. 1983) 1921 – Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016) 1921 – András Szennay, Hungarian priest (d. 2012) 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1922 – Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002) 1923 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016) 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2007) 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977) 1926 – Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013) 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (d. 2013) 1927 – Colin Brittan, English footballer (d. 2013) 1928 – Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (d. 2014) 1928 – Rafael A. Lecuona, Cuban-American gymnast and academic (d. 2014) 1928 – Ron Reynolds, English footballer (d. 1999) 1929 – Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic (d. 2021) 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007) 1930 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1999) 1933 – Jerry Lumpe, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014) 1933 – Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (d. 1971) 1934 – Johnny Carter, American singer (d. 2009) 1935 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2003) 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator (d. 2021) 1936 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker (d. 2021) 1937 – Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress (d. 2022) 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012) 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer 1937 – Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author 1938 – George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge 1939 – Charles Miller, American musician (d. 1980) 1939 – John Schlee, American golfer (d. 2000) 1940 – Constantine II of Greece 1941 – Ünal Aysal, Turkish businessman 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor 1941 – Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager 1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2021) 1942 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor and director 1943 – Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal 1944 – Robert Elliott, American actor (d. 2004) 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (d. 2012) 1945 – Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer 1945 – Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer (d. 2020) 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor 1949 – Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2020) 1949 – Frank Rich, American journalist and critic 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer 1950 – Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2021) 1951 – Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (d. 2017) 1951 – Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1951 – Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator 1952 – Gary Bettman, American commissioner of the National Hockey League 1953 – Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer 1953 – Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer 1955 – Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor 1955 – Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys 1955 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter 1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player 1956 – Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager 1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player 1959 – Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress 1959 – Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographer 1960 – Olga Bondarenko, Russian runner 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer-songwriter and actor 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster 1961 – Dez Cadena, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1962 – Mark Plaatjes, South African-American runner and coach 1963 – Anand Abhyankar, Indian actor (d. 2012) 1964 – Caroline Link, German director and screenwriter 1965
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Thurman Arnold, American lawyer and judge (d. 1969) 1891 – Takijirō Ōnishi, Japanese admiral and pilot (d. 1945) 1899 – Lotte Reiniger, German animator and director (d. 1981) 1899 – Edwin Way Teale, American environmentalist and photographer (d. 1980) 1901–present 1904 – Frank Runacres, English painter and educator (d. 1974) 1904 – Johnny Weissmuller, Hungarian-American swimmer and actor (d. 1984) 1907 – Dorothy West, American journalist and author (d. 1998) 1907 – John Lehmann, English poet and publisher (d. 1987) 1910 – Hector Dyer, American sprinter (d. 1990) 1911 – Joe McCluskey, American runner (d. 2002) 1913 – Barbara Pym, English author (d. 1980) 1913 – Elsie Tu, English-Hong Kong educator and politician (d. 2015) 1915 – Alexandru Nicolschi, Romanian spy (d. 1992) 1917 – Heinz Sielmann, German photographer and director (d. 2006) 1918 – Ruth Atkinson, Canadian-American illustrator (d. 1997) 1918 – Kathryn Tucker Windham, American journalist and author (d. 2011) 1920 – Frank G. Clement, American lawyer and politician, 41st Governor of Tennessee (d. 1969) 1920 – Yolande Donlan, American-English actress (d. 2014) 1920 – Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Polish-German author and critic (d. 2013) 1920 – Tex Schramm, American businessman (d. 2003) 1920 – Johnny Speight, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1998) 1921 – Betty Freeman, American photographer and philanthropist (d. 2009) 1921 – Ernie Royal, American trumpet player (d. 1983) 1921 – Sigmund Sternberg, Hungarian-English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016) 1921 – András Szennay, Hungarian priest (d. 2012) 1922 – Juan Antonio Bardem, Spanish director and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1922 – Carmen Silvera, Canadian-English actress (d. 2002) 1923 – Lloyd Shapley, American mathematician and economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016) 1924 – June Callwood, Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2007) 1926 – Chiyonoyama Masanobu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 41st Yokozuna (d. 1977) 1926 – Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (d. 2013) 1927 – W. Watts Biggers, American author, screenwriter, and animator (d. 2013) 1927 – Colin Brittan, English footballer (d. 2013) 1928 – Erzsi Kovács, Hungarian singer (d. 2014) 1928 – Rafael A. Lecuona, Cuban-American gymnast and academic (d. 2014) 1928 – Ron Reynolds, English footballer (d. 1999) 1929 – Norton Juster, American architect, author, and academic (d. 2021) 1929 – Ken McGregor, Australian tennis player (d. 2007) 1930 – Pete Conrad, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1999) 1933 – Jerry Lumpe, American baseball player and coach (d. 2014) 1933 – Lew "Sneaky Pete" Robinson, drag racer (d. 1971) 1934 – Johnny Carter, American singer (d. 2009) 1935 – Carol Shields, American-Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2003) 1935 – Dimitri Kitsikis, Greek poet and educator (d. 2021) 1936 – Volodymyr Holubnychy, Ukrainian race walker (d. 2021) 1937 – Rosalyn Higgins, English lawyer and judge 1937 – Sally Kellerman, American actress (d. 2022) 1937 – Jimmy Jones, American singer-songwriter (d. 2012) 1937 – Robert Paul, Canadian figure skater and choreographer 1937 – Deric Washburn, American screenwriter and playwright 1938 – Kevin Brownlow, English historian and author 1938 – George William Penrose, Lord Penrose, Scottish lawyer and judge 1939 – Charles Miller, American musician (d. 1980) 1939 – John Schlee, American golfer (d. 2000) 1940 – Constantine II of Greece 1941 – Ünal Aysal, Turkish businessman 1941 – Stacy Keach, American actor 1941 – Lou Nanne, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager 1941 – Charlie Watts, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 2021) 1942 – Mike Ahern, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of Queensland 1943 – Charles Haid, American actor and director 1943 – Crescenzio Sepe, Italian cardinal 1944 – Robert Elliott, American actor (d. 2004) 1944 – Marvin Hamlisch, American composer and conductor (d. 2012) 1945 – Richard Long, English painter, sculptor, and photographer 1945 – Bonnie Newman, American businesswoman and politician 1946 – Lasse Hallström, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter 1946 – Peter Sutcliffe, English serial killer (d. 2020) 1948 – Jerry Mathers, American actor 1949 – Heather Couper, English astronomer and physicist (d. 2020) 1949 – Frank Rich, American journalist and critic 1950 – Joanna Gleason, Canadian actress and singer 1950 – Momčilo Vukotić, Serbian footballer and manager (d. 2021) 1951 – Gilbert Baker, American artist, gay rights activist, and designer of the rainbow flag (d. 2017) 1951 – Arnold Mühren, Dutch footballer and manager 1951 – Larry Robinson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach 1951 – Alexander Wylie, Lord Kinclaven, Scottish lawyer, judge, and educator 1952 – Gary Bettman, American commissioner of the National Hockey League 1953 – Vidar Johansen, Norwegian saxophonist 1953 – Craig Stadler, American golfer 1953 – Cornel West, American philosopher, author, and academic 1954 – Dennis Haysbert, American actor and producer 1955 – Dana Carvey, American comedian and actor 1955 – Nandan Nilekani, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys 1955 – Mani Ratnam, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter 1955 – Michael Steele, American singer-songwriter and bass player 1956 – Jan Lammers, Dutch race car driver 1957 – Mark Lawrenson, English footballer and manager 1958 – Lex Luger, American wrestler and football player 1959 – Rineke Dijkstra, Dutch photographer 1959 – Lydia Lunch, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress 1959 – Erwin Olaf, Dutch photographer 1960 – Olga Bondarenko, Russian runner 1960 – Tony Hadley, English singer-songwriter and actor 1960 – Kyle Petty, American race car driver and sportscaster 1961 – Dez Cadena, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1962 – Mark Plaatjes, South African-American runner and coach 1963 – Anand Abhyankar, Indian actor (d. 2012) 1964 – Caroline Link, German director and screenwriter 1965 – Russ Courtnall, Canadian ice hockey player 1965 – Mark Waugh, Australian cricketer and journalist 1965 – Steve Waugh, Australian cricketer 1966 – Dayana Cadeau, Haitian born Canadian-American professional bodybuilder 1966 – Candace Gingrich, American activist 1966 – Pedro Guerra, Spanish singer-songwriter 1966 – Petra van Staveren, Dutch swimmer 1967 – Remigija Nazarovienė, Lithuanian heptathlete and coach 1967 – Mike Stanton, American baseball player 1968 – Merril Bainbridge, Australian singer-songwriter 1968 – Andy Cohen, American television host 1968 – Lester Green, American comedian, and actor 1969 – Kurt Abbott, American baseball player 1969 – Paulo Sérgio, Brazilian footballer 1969 – David Wheaton, American tennis player, radio host, and author 1970 – B Real, American rapper and actor 1971 – Kateřina Jacques, Czech translator and politician 1972 – Wayne Brady, American actor, comedian, game show host, and singer 1972 – Raúl Ibañez, American baseball player 1972 – Wentworth Miller, American actor and screenwriter 1973 – Marko Kristal, Estonian footballer and manager 1973 – Neifi Pérez, Dominican-American baseball player 1974 – Gata Kamsky, Russian-American chess player 1974 – Matt Serra, American mixed martial artist 1975 – Salvatore Scibona, American author 1976 – Earl Boykins, American basketball player 1976 – Martin Čech, Czech ice hockey player (d. 2007) 1976 – Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer 1976 – Tim Rice-Oxley, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1977 – Teet Allas, Estonian footballer 1977 – A.J. Styles, American wrestler 1977 – Zachary Quinto, American actor and producer 1978 – Dominic Cooper, English actor 1978 – Nikki Cox, American actress 1978 – Yi So-yeon, biotechnologist and astronaut, the first Korean in space 1978 – Justin Long, American actor 1979 – Morena Baccarin, Brazilian-American actress 1979 – Butterfly Boucher, Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1980 – Fabrizio Moretti, Brazilian-American drummer 1980 – Bobby Simmons, American basketball player 1980 – Richard Skuse, English rugby player 1980 – Abby Wambach, American soccer player and coach 1980 – Tomasz Wróblewski, Polish bass player and songwriter 1981 – Nikolay Davydenko, Russian tennis player 1981 – Chin-hui Tsao, Taiwanese baseball player 1982 – Jewel Staite, Canadian actress 1983 – Chris Higgins, American ice hockey player 1983 – Toni Livers, Swiss skier 1983 – Brooke White, American singer-songwriter and actress 1984 – Jack Afamasaga, New Zealand rugby league player 1984 – Max Boyer, Canadian wrestler 1984 – Feleti Mateo, Australian-Tongan rugby league player 1985 – Miyuki Sawashiro, Japanese voice actress and singer 1986 – Todd Carney, Australian rugby league player 1987 – Maryka Holtzhausen, South African netball player 1987 – Yoann Huget, French rugby player 1987 – Matthew Koma, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1987 – Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan cricketer 1987 – Sonakshi Sinha, Indian actress 1988 – Staniliya Stamenova, Bulgarian canoeist 1989 – Steve Smith, Australian cricketer 1992 – Pajtim Kasami, Swiss footballer 1993 – Adam Taggart, Australian footballer 1999 – Campbell Graham, Australian rugby league player 2002 – Madison Hu, American actress Deaths Pre-1600 657 – Pope Eugene I 891 – Al-Muwaffaq, Abbasid general (b. 842) 910 – Richilde of Provence (b. 845) 1200 – Bishop John of Oxford 1258 – Peter I, Count of Urgell 1292 – Rhys ap Maredudd, Welsh nobleman and rebel leader 1418 – Katherine of Lancaster, queen of Henry III of Castile 1453 – Álvaro de Luna, Duke of Trujillo, Constable of Castile 1567 – Shane O'Neill, head of the O'Neill dynasty in Ireland (b. 1530) 1572 – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk (b. 1536) 1581 – James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Scottish soldier and politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1525) 1601–1900 1603 – Bernard of Wąbrzeźno, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1575) 1693 – John Wildman, English soldier and politician, Postmaster General of the United Kingdom (b. 1621) 1701 – Madeleine de Scudéry, French author (b. 1607) 1716 – Ogata Kōrin, Japanese painter and educator (b. 1658) 1754 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (b. 1680) 1761 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish businessman (b. 1685) 1785 – Jean Paul de Gua de Malves, French mathematician and academic (b. 1713) 1806 – William Tate, English painter (b. 1747) 1853 – Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, English general (b. 1777) 1865 – Ner Middleswarth, American judge and politician (b. 1783) 1875 – Józef Kremer, Polish psychologist, historian, and philosopher (b. 1806) 1881 – Émile Littré, French lexicographer and philosopher (b. 1801) 1882 – Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian general and politician (b. 1807) 1901–present 1901 – George Leslie Mackay, Canadian missionary and author (b. 1844) 1927 – Hüseyin Avni Lifij, Turkish painter (b. 1886) 1929 – Enrique Gorostieta, Mexican general (b. 1889) 1933 – Frank Jarvis, American runner and triple jumper (b. 1878) 1937 – Louis Vierne, French organist and composer (b. 1870) 1941 – Lou Gehrig, American baseball player (b. 1903) 1942 – Bunny Berigan, American singer and trumpet player (b. 1908) 1947 – John Gretton, 1st Baron Gretton, English sailor and politician (b. 1867) 1948 – Viktor Brack, German physician (b. 1904) 1948 – Karl Brandt, German SS officer (b. 1904) 1948 – Karl Gebhardt, German physician (b. 1897) 1948 – Waldemar Hoven, German physician (b. 1903) 1948 – Wolfram Sievers, German SS officer (b. 1905) 1952 – Naum Torbov, Bulgarian architect, designed the Central Sofia Market Hall (b. 1880) 1956 – Jean Hersholt, Danish-American actor and director (b. 1886) 1959 – Lyda Borelli, Italian actress (b. 1884) 1961 – George S. Kaufman, American director, producer, and playwright (b. 1889) 1962 – Vita Sackville-West, English author and poet (b. 1892) 1967 – Benno Ohnesorg, German student and activist (b. 1940) 1968 – André Mathieu, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1929) 1969 – Leo Gorcey, American actor (b. 1917) 1970 – Orhan Kemal, Turkish author (b. 1914) 1970 – Albert Lamorisse, French director, producer, and screenwriter
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1889 – James Daugherty, American author, illustrator, and painter (d. 1974) 1889 – Charles Kay Ogden, English linguist and philosopher (d. 1957) 1890 – Frank Morgan, American actor (d. 1949) 1892 – Amanullah Khan, sovereign of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, (d. 1960) 1899 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, English mathematician and academic (d. 1963) 1901–present 1901 – Hap Day, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager (d. 1990) 1901 – Tom Gorman, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978) 1901 – John Van Druten, English-American playwright and director (d. 1957) 1903 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop and martyr (d. 1973) 1903 – Hans Vogt, Norwegian linguist and academic (d. 1986) 1905 – Robert Newton, English-American actor (d. 1956) 1907 – Jan Patočka, Czech philosopher (d. 1977) 1907 – Frank Whittle, English airman and engineer, developed the jet engine (d. 1996) 1908 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American author (d. 1999) 1909 – Yechezkel Kutscher, Slovakian-Israeli philologist and linguist (d. 1971) 1910 – Gyula Kállai, Hungarian communist leader, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary (d. 1996) 1912 – Herbert Tichy, Austrian geologist, author, and mountaineer (d. 1987) 1913 – Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (d. 2007) 1915 – John Randolph, American actor (d. 2004) 1916 – Jean Jérôme Hamer, Belgian Cardinal (d. 1996) 1917 – William Standish Knowles, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012) 1920 – Robert Clarke, American actor and producer (d. 2005) 1921 – Nelson Riddle, American composer and bandleader (d. 1985) 1922 – Joan Caulfield, American model and actress (d. 1991) 1922 – Povel Ramel, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2007) 1924 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (d. 2006) 1925 – Dilia Díaz Cisneros, Venezuelan teacher (d. 2017) 1926 – Johnny Berry, English footballer (d. 1994) 1926 – Andy Griffith, American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012) 1926 – Marilyn Monroe, American model and actress (d. 1962) 1926 – George Robb, English international footballer and teacher (d. 2011) 1926 – Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2015) 1928 – Georgy Dobrovolsky, Ukrainian pilot and astronaut (d. 1971) 1928 – Steve Dodd, Australian actor and composer (d. 2014) 1928 – Bob Monkhouse, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2003) 1929 – Nargis, Indian actress (d. 1981) 1929 – James H. Billington, American academic and Thirteenth Librarian of Congress (d. 2018) 1930 – Matt Poore, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2020) 1930 – Edward Woodward, English actor (d. 2009) 1931 – Walter Horak, Austrian footballer (d. 2019) 1932 – Frank Cameron, New Zealand cricketer 1932 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (d. 1994) 1933 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (d. 1985) 1933 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2010) 1934 – Pat Boone, American singer-songwriter and actor 1934 – Peter Masterson, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2018) 1934 – Doris Buchanan Smith, American author (d. 2002) 1935 – Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, English architect, founded Foster and Partners 1935 – Reverend Ike, American minister and television host (d. 2009) 1935 – Jack Kralick, American baseball player (d. 2012) 1935 – Percy Adlon, German director, screenwriter and producer 1935 – John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2013) 1936 – Anatoly Albul, Soviet and Russian wrestler (d. 2013) 1936 – André Bourbeau, Canadian politician (d. 2018) 1936 – Bekim Fehmiu, Bosnian actor (d. 2010) 1936 – Gerald Scarfe, English illustrator and animator 1937 – Morgan Freeman, American actor and producer 1937 – Rosaleen Linehan, Irish actress 1937 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist and author (d. 2015) 1939 – Cleavon Little, American actor and comedian (d. 1992) 1940 – René Auberjonois, American actor (d. 2019) 1940 – Katerina Gogou, Greek writer and actress (d. 1993) 1940 – Kip Thorne, American physicist, astronomer, and academic 1941 – Dean Chance, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015) 1941 – Toyo Ito, Japanese architect, designed the Torre Realia BCN and Hotel Porta Fira 1941 – Alexander V. Zakharov, Russian physicist and astronomer 1942 – Parveen Kumar, Pakistani-English physician and academic 1943 – Orietta Berti, Italian singer and actress 1943 – Richard Goode, American pianist 1943 – Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (d. 2004) 1944 – Colin Blakemore, British neurobiologist 1944 – Robert Powell, English actor 1945 – Jim McCarty, American blues rock guitarist 1945 – Linda Scott, American singer 1945 – Lydia Shum, Chinese-Hong Kong actress (d. 2008) 1945 – Frederica von Stade, American soprano and actress 1946 – Brian Cox, Scottish actor 1947 – Ron Dennis, English businessman, founded the McLaren Group 1947 – Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor and singer 1947 – Ronnie Wood, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1948 – Powers Boothe, American actor (d. 2017) 1948 – Tomáš Halík, Czech Roman Catholic priest, philosopher, theologian and scholar 1948 – Michel Plasse, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006) 1948 – Juhan Viiding, Estonian poet and actor (d. 1995) 1950 – Perrin Beatty, Canadian businessman and politician 1950 – Charlene, American singer-songwriter 1950 – Jean Lambert, English educator and politician 1950 – Michael McDowell, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1952 – Şenol Güneş, Turkish footballer and manager 1952 – David Lan, South African-English director and playwright 1952 – Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter 1953 – Ronnie Dunn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1953 – Ted Field, American entrepreneur and race car driver 1954 – Jill Black, English lawyer and judge 1955 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2016) 1955 – Lorraine Moller, New Zealand runner 1955 – Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (d. 2008) 1956 – Patrick Besson, French writer and journalist 1956 – Petra Morsbach, German author 1958 – Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Mongolian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Mongolia 1958 – Gennadiy Valyukevich, Belarusian triple jumper (d. 2019) 1959 – Martin Brundle, English racing driver and sportscaster 1959 – Alan Wilder, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer 1960 – Simon Gallup, English musician 1960 – Vladimir Krutov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2012) 1960 – Sergey Kuznetsov, Russian footballer and manager 1960 – Giorgos Lillikas, Cypriot politician, 8th Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs 1960 – Lucy McBath, American politician 1960 – Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (d. 2006) 1961 – Paul Coffey, Canadian ice hockey player 1961 – Mark Curry, American actor 1961 – Werner Günthör, Swiss shot putter and bobsledder 1961 – John Huston, American golfer 1961 – Peter Machajdík, Slovakian-German pianist and composer 1963 – Vital Borkelmans, Belgian footballer 1963 – Miles J. Padgett, Scottish physicist and academic 1963 – David Westhead, English actor and producer 1965 – Larisa Lazutina, Russian skier 1965 – Olga Nazarova, Russian sprinter 1966 – Greg Schiano, American football player and coach 1968 – Jason Donovan, Australian actor and singer 1968 – Mathias Rust, German aviator 1969 – Luis García Postigo, former Mexican footballer 1969 – Teri Polo, American actress 1970 – Alexi Lalas, American soccer player, manager, and sportscaster 1971 – Mario Cimarro, Cuban-American actor and singer 1973 – Frédérik Deburghgraeve, Belgian swimmer 1973 – Adam Garcia, Australian actor 1973 – Heidi Klum, German-American model, fashion designer, and producer 1974 – Alanis Morissette, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actress 1974 – Michael Rasmussen, Danish cyclist 1974 – Sarah Teather, English politician 1975 – Michal Grošek, Czech-Swiss ice hockey player and coach 1975 – Frauke Petry, German politician 1976 – Marlon Devonish, English sprinter and coach 1977 – Arsen Gitinov, Russian and Kyrgyzstani freestyle wrestler 1977 – Danielle Harris, American actress 1977 – Brad Wilkerson, American baseball player and coach 1977 – Sarah Wayne Callies, American actress 1978 – Antonietta Di Martino, Italian high jumper 1979 – Santana Moss, American football player 1979 – Markus Persson, Swedish game designer, founded Mojang 1981 – Brandi Carlile, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1981 – Amy Schumer, American actress 1981 – Carlos Zambrano, Venezuelan-American baseball player 1981 – Aleksei Mikhailovich Uvarov, Russian footballer 1982 – Justine Henin, Belgian tennis player 1984 – Jean Beausejour, Chilean footballer 1984 – Olivier Tielemans, Dutch racing driver 1985 – Tirunesh Dibaba, Ethiopian runner 1985 – Mário Hipólito, Angolan footballer 1985 – Dinesh Karthik, Indian cricketer 1985 – Nick Young, American basketball player 1985 – Sam Young, American basketball player 1986 – Moses Ndiema Masai, Kenyan runner 1986 – Chinedu Obasi, Nigerian footballer 1986 – Ben Smith, New Zealand rugby player 1987 – Zoltán Harsányi, Slovakian footballer 1987 – Yarisley Silva, Cuban pole vaulter 1988 – Javier Hernández, Mexican footballer 1989 – Nataliya Goncharova, Ukrainian/Russian volleyball player 1989 – Sammy Alex Mutahi, Kenyan runner 1990 – Miller Bolaños, Ecuadoran footballer 1990 – Carlota Ciganda, Spanish golfer 1991 – Tyrone Roberts, Australian rugby league player 1994 – Kagayaki Taishi, Japanese sumo wrestler 1996 – Edvinas Gertmonas, Lithuanian footballer 1996 – Tom Holland, English actor Deaths Pre-1600 195 BC – Emperor Gaozu of Han (b. 256 BC) 193 – The emperor Marcus Didius Julianus is murdered in his palace. 352 – Ran Min, "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang) during the Sixteen Kingdoms 654 – Pyrrhus, patriarch of Constantinople 829 – Li Tongjie, general of the Tang Dynasty 847 – Xiao, empress of the Tang Dynasty 896 – Theodosius Romanus, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch 932 – Thietmar, duke of Saxony 1146 – Ermengarde of Anjou, Duchess regent of Brittany (b. 1068) 1186 – Minamoto no Yukiie, Japanese warlord 1220 – Henry de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford (b. 1176) 1310 – Marguerite Porete, French mystic 1354 – Kitabatake Chikafusa (b. 1293) 1434 – King Wladislaus II of Poland 1571 – John Story, English martyr (b. 1504) 1601–1900 1616 – Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japanese shogun (b. 1543) 1625 – Honoré d'Urfé, French author and poet (b. 1568) 1639 – Melchior Franck, German composer (b. 1579) 1660 – Mary Dyer, English-American martyr (b. 1611) 1662 – Zhu Youlang, Chinese emperor (b. 1623) 1681 – Cornelis Saftleven, Dutch genre painter (b. 1607) 1710 – David Mitchell, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1642) 1740 – Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (b. 1657) 1769 – Edward Holyoke, American pastor and academic (b. 1689) 1773 – Wolraad Woltemade, South African folk
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over the Bay of Biscay by German Junkers Ju 88s, killing British actor Leslie Howard and leading to speculation that it was actually an attempt to kill British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. 1946 – Ion Antonescu, "Conducator" ("Leader") of Romania during World War II, is executed. 1950 – The Declaration of Conscience speech, by U.S. Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith: "The nation sorely needs a Republican victory. But I do not want to see the Republican party ride to political victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny - Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear." A response to Joseph R. McCarthy's speech at Wheeling, West Virginia. 1950 – The Chinchaga fire ignites. By September, it would become the largest single fire on record in North America. 1958 – Charles de Gaulle comes out of retirement to lead France by decree for six months. 1961 – The Canadian Bank of Commerce and Imperial Bank of Canada merge to form the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the largest bank merger in Canadian history. 1962 – Adolf Eichmann is hanged in Israel. 1964 – Kenya becomes a republic with Jomo Kenyatta (1897 – 22 August 1978) as its first President (1964 to 1978). 1974 – The Heimlich maneuver for rescuing choking victims is published in the journal Emergency Medicine. 1975 – The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan was founded by Jalal Talabani, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Fuad Masum and others. 1978 – The first international applications under the Patent Cooperation Treaty are filed. 1979 – The first black-led government of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 90 years takes power. 1980 – Cable News Network (CNN) begins broadcasting. 1988 – European Central Bank is founded in Brussels. 1988 – The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect. 1990 – Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production. 1993 – Dobrinja mortar attack: Thirteen are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo. 1994 – Republic of South Africa becomes a republic in the Commonwealth of Nations. 1999 – American Airlines Flight 1420 slides and crashes while landing at Little Rock National Airport, killing 11 people on a flight from Dallas to Little Rock. 2001 – Nepalese royal massacre: Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal shoots and kills several members of his family including his father and mother. 2001 – Dolphinarium discotheque massacre: A Hamas suicide bomber kills 21 at a disco in Tel Aviv. 2004 – Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols is sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of a parole, breaking a Guinness World Record. 2008 – A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019. 2009 – Air France Flight 447 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are killed. 2009 – General Motors files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It is the fourth largest United States bankruptcy in history. 2011 – A rare tornado outbreak occurs in New England; a strong EF3 tornado strikes Springfield, Massachusetts, during the event, killing four people. 2011 – Space Shuttle Endeavour makes its final landing after 25 flights. 2015 – A ship carrying 458 people capsizes on Yangtze river in China's Hubei province, killing 400 people. Births Pre-1600 1134 – Geoffrey, Count of Nantes (d. 1158) 1300 – Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk, English politician, Lord Marshal of England (d. 1338) 1451 – Giles Daubeney, 1st Baron Daubeney (d. 1508) 1460 – Enno I, Count of East Frisia, German noble (d. 1491) 1480 – Tiedemann Giese, Polish bishop (d. 1550) 1498 – Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter (d. 1574) 1522 – Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Dutch writer and scholar (d. 1590) 1563 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English politician, Secretary of State for England (d. 1612) 1601–1900 1612 – Frans Post, Dutch painter (d. 1680) 1633 – Geminiano Montanari, Italian astronomer and academic (d. 1687) 1637 – Jacques Marquette, French missionary and explorer (d. 1675) 1653 – Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (d. 1704) 1675 – Francesco Scipione, marchese di Maffei, Italian archaeologist and playwright (d. 1755) 1762 – Edmund Ignatius Rice, Irish priest and missionary, founded the Irish Christian Brothers (d. 1844) 1765 – Christiane Vulpius, mistress and wife of Johann Wolfgang Goethe (d. 1816) 1770 – Friedrich Laun, German author (d. 1849) 1790 – Ferdinand Raimund, Austrian actor and playwright (d. 1836) 1796 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French physicist and engineer (d. 1832) 1800 – Edward Deas Thomson, Australian educator and politician, Chief Secretary of New South Wales (d. 1879) 1801 – Brigham Young, American religious leader, 2nd President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1877) 1804 – Mikhail Glinka, Russian composer (d. 1857) 1808 – Henry Parker, English-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1881) 1815 – Otto of Greece (d. 1862) 1819 – Francis V, Duke of Modena (d. 1875) 1822 – Clementina Maude, Viscountess Hawarden, English portrait photographer (d. 1865) 1825 – John Hunt Morgan, American general (d. 1864) 1831 – John Bell Hood, American general (d. 1879) 1833 – John Marshall Harlan, American lawyer, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and politician; Attorney General of Kentucky (d. 1911) 1843 – Henry Faulds, Scottish physician and missionary, developed fingerprinting (d. 1930) 1844 – John J. Toffey, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1911) 1869 – Richard Wünsch, German philologist (d. 1915) 1873 – Elena Alistar, Bessarabian politician (d. 1955) 1874 – Yury Nikolaevich Voronov, Russian botanist (d. 1931) 1878 – John Masefield, English author and poet (d. 1967) 1879 – Max Emmerich, American triathlete and gymnast (d. 1956) 1887 – Clive Brook, English actor (d. 1974) 1889 – James Daugherty, American author, illustrator, and painter (d. 1974) 1889 – Charles Kay Ogden, English linguist and philosopher (d. 1957) 1890 – Frank Morgan, American actor (d. 1949) 1892 – Amanullah Khan, sovereign of the Kingdom of Afghanistan, (d. 1960) 1899 – Edward Charles Titchmarsh, English mathematician and academic (d. 1963) 1901–present 1901 – Hap Day, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and manager (d. 1990) 1901 – Tom Gorman, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978) 1901 – John Van Druten, English-American playwright and director (d. 1957) 1903 – Vasyl Velychkovsky, Ukrainian-Canadian bishop and martyr (d. 1973) 1903 – Hans Vogt, Norwegian linguist and academic (d. 1986) 1905 – Robert Newton, English-American actor (d. 1956) 1907 – Jan Patočka, Czech philosopher (d. 1977) 1907 – Frank Whittle, English airman and engineer, developed the jet engine (d. 1996) 1908 – Julie Campbell Tatham, American author (d. 1999) 1909 – Yechezkel Kutscher, Slovakian-Israeli philologist and linguist (d. 1971) 1910 – Gyula Kállai, Hungarian communist leader, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the People's Republic of Hungary (d. 1996) 1912 – Herbert Tichy, Austrian geologist, author, and mountaineer (d. 1987) 1913 – Bill Deedes, English journalist and politician (d. 2007) 1915 – John Randolph, American actor (d. 2004) 1916 – Jean Jérôme Hamer, Belgian Cardinal (d. 1996) 1917 – William Standish Knowles, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012) 1920 – Robert Clarke, American actor and producer (d. 2005) 1921 – Nelson Riddle, American composer and bandleader (d. 1985) 1922 – Joan Caulfield, American model and actress (d. 1991) 1922 – Povel Ramel, Swedish singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2007) 1924 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (d. 2006) 1925 – Dilia Díaz Cisneros, Venezuelan teacher (d. 2017) 1926 – Johnny Berry, English footballer (d. 1994) 1926 – Andy Griffith, American actor, singer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012) 1926 – Marilyn Monroe, American model and actress (d. 1962) 1926 – George Robb, English international footballer and teacher (d. 2011) 1926 – Richard Schweiker, American soldier and politician, 14th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 2015) 1928 – Georgy Dobrovolsky, Ukrainian pilot and astronaut (d. 1971) 1928 – Steve Dodd, Australian actor and composer (d. 2014) 1928 – Bob Monkhouse, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2003) 1929 – Nargis, Indian actress (d. 1981) 1929 – James H. Billington, American academic and Thirteenth Librarian of Congress (d. 2018) 1930 – Matt Poore, New Zealand cricketer (d. 2020) 1930 – Edward Woodward, English actor (d. 2009) 1931 – Walter Horak, Austrian footballer (d. 2019) 1932 – Frank Cameron, New Zealand cricketer 1932 – Christopher Lasch, American historian and critic (d. 1994) 1933 – Haruo Remeliik, Palauan politician, 1st President of Palau (d. 1985) 1933 – Charles Wilson, American lieutenant and politician (d. 2010) 1934 – Pat Boone, American singer-songwriter and actor 1934 – Peter Masterson, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2018) 1934 – Doris Buchanan Smith, American author (d. 2002) 1935 – Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank, English architect, founded Foster and Partners 1935 – Reverend Ike, American minister and television host (d. 2009) 1935 – Jack Kralick, American baseball player (d. 2012) 1935 – Percy Adlon, German director, screenwriter and producer 1935 – John C. Reynolds, American computer scientist and academic (d. 2013) 1936 – Anatoly Albul, Soviet and Russian wrestler (d. 2013) 1936 – André Bourbeau, Canadian politician (d. 2018) 1936 – Bekim Fehmiu, Bosnian actor (d. 2010) 1936 – Gerald Scarfe, English illustrator and animator 1937 – Morgan Freeman, American actor and producer 1937 – Rosaleen Linehan, Irish actress 1937 – Colleen McCullough, Australian neuroscientist and author (d. 2015) 1939 – Cleavon Little, American actor and comedian (d. 1992) 1940 – René Auberjonois, American actor (d. 2019) 1940 – Katerina Gogou, Greek writer and actress (d. 1993) 1940 – Kip Thorne, American physicist, astronomer, and academic 1941 – Dean Chance, American baseball player and manager (d. 2015) 1941 – Toyo Ito, Japanese architect, designed the Torre Realia BCN and Hotel Porta Fira 1941 – Alexander V. Zakharov, Russian physicist and astronomer 1942 – Parveen Kumar, Pakistani-English physician and academic 1943 – Orietta Berti, Italian singer and actress 1943 – Richard Goode, American pianist 1943 – Lorrie Wilmot, South African cricketer (d. 2004) 1944 – Colin Blakemore, British neurobiologist 1944 – Robert Powell, English actor 1945 – Jim McCarty, American blues rock guitarist 1945 – Linda Scott, American singer 1945 – Lydia Shum, Chinese-Hong Kong actress (d. 2008) 1945 – Frederica von Stade, American soprano and actress 1946 – Brian Cox, Scottish actor 1947 – Ron Dennis, English businessman, founded the McLaren Group 1947 – Jonathan Pryce, Welsh actor and singer 1947 – Ronnie Wood, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer 1948 – Powers Boothe, American actor (d. 2017) 1948 – Tomáš Halík, Czech Roman Catholic priest, philosopher, theologian and scholar 1948 – Michel Plasse, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006) 1948 – Juhan Viiding, Estonian poet and actor (d. 1995) 1950 – Perrin Beatty, Canadian businessman and politician 1950 – Charlene, American singer-songwriter 1950 – Jean Lambert, English educator and politician 1950 – Michael McDowell, American author and screenwriter (d. 1999) 1952 – Şenol Güneş, Turkish footballer and manager 1952 – David Lan, South African-English director and playwright 1952 – Mihaela Loghin, Romanian shot putter 1953 – Ronnie Dunn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1953 – Ted Field, American entrepreneur and race car driver 1954 – Jill Black, English lawyer and judge 1955 – Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2016) 1955 – Lorraine Moller, New Zealand runner 1955 – Tony Snow, American journalist, 26th White House Press Secretary (d. 2008) 1956 – Patrick Besson, French writer and journalist 1956 – Petra Morsbach, German author 1958 – Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Mongolian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Mongolia 1958 – Gennadiy Valyukevich, Belarusian triple jumper (d. 2019) 1959 – Martin Brundle, English racing driver and sportscaster 1959 – Alan Wilder, English singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer 1960 – Simon Gallup, English musician 1960 – Vladimir Krutov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2012) 1960 – Sergey Kuznetsov, Russian footballer and manager 1960 – Giorgos Lillikas, Cypriot politician, 8th Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs 1960 – Lucy McBath, American politician 1960 – Elena Mukhina, Russian gymnast (d. 2006) 1961 – Paul Coffey, Canadian ice hockey player 1961 – Mark Curry, American actor 1961 – Werner Günthör, Swiss shot putter and bobsledder 1961 – John Huston, American golfer 1961 – Peter Machajdík, Slovakian-German pianist and composer 1963 – Vital Borkelmans, Belgian footballer 1963 – Miles J. Padgett, Scottish physicist and academic 1963 – David Westhead, English actor
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and Hampstead Railway opens. 1911 – George V and Mary of Teck are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1911 – Mexican Revolution: Government forces bring an end to the Magonista rebellion of 1911 in the Second Battle of Tijuana. 1918 – The Hammond Circus Train Wreck kills 86 and injures 127 near Hammond, Indiana. 1940 – World War II: France is forced to sign the Second Compiègne armistice with Germany, in the same railroad car in which the Germans signed the Armistice in 1918. 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany invades the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. 1942 – World War II: Erwin Rommel is promoted to Field Marshal after the Axis capture of Tobruk. 1942 – The Pledge of Allegiance is formally adopted by US Congress. 1944 – World War II: Opening day of the Soviet Union's Operation Bagration against the Army Group Centre. 1944 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs into law the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill. 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Okinawa comes to an end. 1948 – The ship brought the first group of 802 West Indian immigrants to Tilbury, marking the start of modern immigration to the United Kingdom. 1948 – King George VI formally gives up the title "Emperor of India", half a year after Britain actually gave up its rule of India. 1962 – Air France Flight 117 crashes on approach to Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport in Guadeloupe, killing 112 people. 1965 – The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed. 1966 – Vietnamese Buddhist activist leader Thích Trí Quang was arrested as the military junta of Nguyen Cao Ky crushed the Buddhist Uprising. 1969 – The Cuyahoga River catches fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to water pollution, and spurring the passing of the Clean Water Act and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. 1978 – Charon, the first of Pluto's satellites to be discovered, was first seen at the United States Naval Observatory by James W. Christy. 1984 – Virgin Atlantic launches with its first flight from London to Newark. 1986 – The famous Hand of God goal, scored by Diego Maradona in the quarter-finals of the 1986 FIFA World Cup match between Argentina and England, ignites controversy. This was later followed by the Goal of the Century. Argentina wins 2–1 and later goes on to win the World Cup. 1990 – Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin. 2000 – Wuhan Airlines Flight 343 is struck by lightning and crashes into Wuhan's Hanyang District, killing 49 people. 2002 – An earthquake measuring 6.5 Mw strikes a region of northwestern Iran killing at least 261 people and injuring 1,300 others and eventually causing widespread public anger due to the slow official response. 2009 – A Washington D.C Metro train traveling southbound near Fort Totten station collides into another train waiting to enter the station. Nine people are killed in the collision (eight passengers and the train operator) and at least 80 others are injured. 2012 – Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco. 2012 – A Turkish Air Force McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter plane is shot down by the Syrian Armed Forces, killing both of the plane's pilots and worsening already-strained relations between Turkey and Syria. 2015 – The Afghan National Assembly building is attacked by gunmen after a suicide bombing. All six of the gunmen are killed and 18 people are injured. Births Pre-1600 662 – Rui Zong, emperor of the Tang Dynasty (d. 716) 916 – Sayf al-Dawla, founder of the Emirate of Aleppo (d. 967) 1000 – Robert I, duke of Normandy (d. 1035) 1373 – Elizabeth Bonifacia, heiress of Poland (d. 1399) 1427 – Lucrezia Tornabuoni, Italian writer and wife of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici (d. 1482) 1450 – Eleanor of Naples, duchess of Ferrara (d. 1493) 1477 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, English nobleman (d. 1530) 1593 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician and militarian (d. 1671) 1601–1900 1680 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (d. 1754) 1684 – Francesco Manfredini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1762) 1704 – John Taylor, English author and scholar (d. 1766) 1713 – John Sackville, English cricketer and politician (d. 1765) 1738 – Jacques Delille, French poet and translator (d. 1813) 1757 – George Vancouver, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1798) 1763 – Étienne Méhul, French pianist and composer (d. 1817) 1767 – Wilhelm von Humboldt, German philosopher, academic, and politician, Interior Minister of Prussia (d. 1835) 1792 – James Beaumont Neilson, Scottish engineer and businessman (d. 1865) 1805 – Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1872) 1820 – James Hutchison Stirling, Scottish physician and philosopher (d. 1909) 1834 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon and linguist (d. 1920) 1837 – Paul Morphy, American chess player (d. 1884) 1837 – Ernst Ziller, German-Greek architect, designed the Presidential Mansion (d. 1923) 1844 – Oscar von Gebhardt, German theologian and academic (d. 1906) 1845 – Tom Dula, American soldier (d. 1868) 1845 – Richard Seddon, English-New Zealand politician, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906) 1855 – Samuel Morris, Australian cricketer (d. 1931) 1856 – Henry Rider Haggard, English novelist (d. 1925) 1861 – Maximilian von Spee, Danish-German admiral (d. 1914) 1864 – Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician and academic (d. 1909) 1871 – William McDougall, English psychologist and polymath (d. 1938) 1873 – Filippo Silvestri, Italian entomologist and academic (d. 1949) 1874 – Walter Friedrich Otto, German philologist and scholar (d. 1958) 1876 – Pascual Díaz y Barreto, Mexican archbishop (d. 1936) 1879 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1962) 1880 – Johannes Drost, Dutch swimmer (d. 1954) 1884 – James Rector, American sprinter and lawyer (d. 1949) 1885 – Milan Vidmar, Slovenian engineer and chess player (d. 1962) 1887 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and academic (d. 1975) 1888 – Harold Hitz Burton, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Cleveland (d. 1964) 1890 – Aleksander Warma, Estonian commander and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1970) 1891 – Franz Alexander, Hungarian psychoanalyst and physician (d. 1964) 1892 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German general and pilot (d. 1945) 1894 – Bernard Ashmole, English archaeologist and art historian (d. 1988) 1896 – Leonard W. Murray, Canadian admiral (d. 1971) 1897 – Edmund A. Chester, American journalist and broadcaster (d. 1973) 1897 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist and philosopher (d. 1990) 1898 – Erich Maria Remarque, German-Swiss soldier and author (d. 1970) 1899 – Richard Gurley Drew, American engineer, invented Masking tape (d. 1980) 1899 – Michał Kalecki, Polish economist and academic (d. 1970) 1900 – Oskar Fischinger, German-American abstract artist, filmmaker, and painter (d. 1967) 1901–present 1901 – Elias Katz, Finnish runner and coach (d. 1947) 1902 – Marguerite De La Motte, American actress (d. 1950) 1903 – John Dillinger, American criminal (d. 1934) 1903 – Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (d. 1988) 1906 – William Kneale, English logician and philosopher (d. 1990) 1906 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American pilot and author (d. 2001) 1906 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1907 – Eriks Ādamsons, Latvian writer, poet, and novelist (d. 1946) 1909 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2006) 1909 – Infanta Beatriz of Spain, Spanish aristocratic (d. 2002) 1909 – Mike Todd, American producer and manager (d. 1958) 1910 – John Hunt, Baron Hunt, Indian-English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1998) 1910 – Anne Ziegler, English singer (d. 2003) 1910 – Konrad Zuse, German computer scientist and engineer, invented the Z3 computer (d. 1995) 1911 – Vernon Kirby, South African tennis player (d. 1994) 1912 – Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1983) 1912 – Raymonde Allain, French model and actress (d. 2008) 1913 – Sándor Weöres, Hungarian poet and author (d. 1989) 1914 – Mei Zhi, Chinese author and essayist (d. 2004) 1915 – Dolf van der Linden, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1999) 1915 – Cornelius Warmerdam, American pole vaulter and coach (d. 2001) 1915 – Randolph Hokanson, American pianist (d. 2018) 1915 – Thomas Quinn Curtiss, American writer, and film and theatre critic (d. 2000) 1916 – Johnny Jacobs, American television announcer (d. 1982) 1916 – Richard Eastham, American actor (d. 2005) 1916 – Emil Fackenheim, German Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi (d. 2003) 1918 – Cicely Saunders, English nurse, social worker, physician and writer (d. 2005) 1918 – Yeoh Ghim Seng, Singaporean politician, acting President of Singapore (d. 1993) 1919 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1980) 1919 – Henri Tajfel, Polish social psychologist (d. 1982) 1919 – Clifton McNeely, American basketball player and coach (d. 2003) 1920 – James H. Pomerene, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2008) 1920 – Jovito Salonga, Filipino lawyer and politician, 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2016) 1921 – Joseph Papp, American director and producer (d. 1991) 1921 – Barbara Vucanovich, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1921 – Radovan Ivšić, Croatian writer (d. 2009) 1921 – Barbara Perry, American actress (d. 2019) 1922 – Bill Blass, American fashion designer, founded Bill Blass Group (d. 2002) 1922 – Clair Cameron Patterson, American scientist (d. 1995) 1923 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and screenwriter (d. 2004) 1924 – Christopher Booth, English clinician and historian (d. 2012) 1924 – Larkin Kerwin, Canadian physicist and academic (d. 2004) 1926 – George Englund, American film editor, director, producer and actor (d. 2017) 1926 – Rachid Solh, Lebanese politician, 48th Prime Minister of Lebanon (d. 2014) 1927 – Anthony Low, Indian-English historian and academic (d. 2015) 1928 – Ralph Waite, American actor and director (d. 2014) 1929 – Bruce Kent, English activist and laicised Roman Catholic priest 1930 – Yuri Artyukhin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1998) 1930 – Walter Bonatti, Italian journalist and mountaineer (d. 2011) 1931 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (d. 2008) 1932 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari, Princess of Iran (d. 2001) 1932 – Yevgeny Kychanov, Russian orientalist, historian, and academic (d. 2013) 1932 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (d. 2005) 1932 – June Salter, Australian actress (d. 2001) 1932 – Prunella Scales, English actress 1932 – John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, English businessman and politician, Leader of the House of Lords 1933 – Dianne Feinstein, American politician 1934 –
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Naples, duchess of Ferrara (d. 1493) 1477 – Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset, English nobleman (d. 1530) 1593 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, English politician and militarian (d. 1671) 1601–1900 1680 – Ebenezer Erskine, Scottish minister and theologian (d. 1754) 1684 – Francesco Manfredini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1762) 1704 – John Taylor, English author and scholar (d. 1766) 1713 – John Sackville, English cricketer and politician (d. 1765) 1738 – Jacques Delille, French poet and translator (d. 1813) 1757 – George Vancouver, English lieutenant and explorer (d. 1798) 1763 – Étienne Méhul, French pianist and composer (d. 1817) 1767 – Wilhelm von Humboldt, German philosopher, academic, and politician, Interior Minister of Prussia (d. 1835) 1792 – James Beaumont Neilson, Scottish engineer and businessman (d. 1865) 1805 – Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian journalist and politician (d. 1872) 1820 – James Hutchison Stirling, Scottish physician and philosopher (d. 1909) 1834 – William Chester Minor, American surgeon and linguist (d. 1920) 1837 – Paul Morphy, American chess player (d. 1884) 1837 – Ernst Ziller, German-Greek architect, designed the Presidential Mansion (d. 1923) 1844 – Oscar von Gebhardt, German theologian and academic (d. 1906) 1845 – Tom Dula, American soldier (d. 1868) 1845 – Richard Seddon, English-New Zealand politician, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906) 1855 – Samuel Morris, Australian cricketer (d. 1931) 1856 – Henry Rider Haggard, English novelist (d. 1925) 1861 – Maximilian von Spee, Danish-German admiral (d. 1914) 1864 – Hermann Minkowski, German mathematician and academic (d. 1909) 1871 – William McDougall, English psychologist and polymath (d. 1938) 1873 – Filippo Silvestri, Italian entomologist and academic (d. 1949) 1874 – Walter Friedrich Otto, German philologist and scholar (d. 1958) 1876 – Pascual Díaz y Barreto, Mexican archbishop (d. 1936) 1879 – Thibaudeau Rinfret, Canadian lawyer and jurist, 9th Chief Justice of Canada (d. 1962) 1880 – Johannes Drost, Dutch swimmer (d. 1954) 1884 – James Rector, American sprinter and lawyer (d. 1949) 1885 – Milan Vidmar, Slovenian engineer and chess player (d. 1962) 1887 – Julian Huxley, English biologist and academic (d. 1975) 1888 – Harold Hitz Burton, American lawyer and politician, 45th Mayor of Cleveland (d. 1964) 1890 – Aleksander Warma, Estonian commander and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 1970) 1891 – Franz Alexander, Hungarian psychoanalyst and physician (d. 1964) 1892 – Robert Ritter von Greim, German general and pilot (d. 1945) 1894 – Bernard Ashmole, English archaeologist and art historian (d. 1988) 1896 – Leonard W. Murray, Canadian admiral (d. 1971) 1897 – Edmund A. Chester, American journalist and broadcaster (d. 1973) 1897 – Norbert Elias, German-Dutch sociologist and philosopher (d. 1990) 1898 – Erich Maria Remarque, German-Swiss soldier and author (d. 1970) 1899 – Richard Gurley Drew, American engineer, invented Masking tape (d. 1980) 1899 – Michał Kalecki, Polish economist and academic (d. 1970) 1900 – Oskar Fischinger, German-American abstract artist, filmmaker, and painter (d. 1967) 1901–present 1901 – Elias Katz, Finnish runner and coach (d. 1947) 1902 – Marguerite De La Motte, American actress (d. 1950) 1903 – John Dillinger, American criminal (d. 1934) 1903 – Carl Hubbell, American baseball player (d. 1988) 1906 – William Kneale, English logician and philosopher (d. 1990) 1906 – Anne Morrow Lindbergh, American pilot and author (d. 2001) 1906 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2002) 1907 – Eriks Ādamsons, Latvian writer, poet, and novelist (d. 1946) 1909 – Katherine Dunham, American dancer and choreographer (d. 2006) 1909 – Infanta Beatriz of Spain, Spanish aristocratic (d. 2002) 1909 – Mike Todd, American producer and manager (d. 1958) 1910 – John Hunt, Baron Hunt, Indian-English lieutenant and mountaineer (d. 1998) 1910 – Anne Ziegler, English singer (d. 2003) 1910 – Konrad Zuse, German computer scientist and engineer, invented the Z3 computer (d. 1995) 1911 – Vernon Kirby, South African tennis player (d. 1994) 1912 – Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1983) 1912 – Raymonde Allain, French model and actress (d. 2008) 1913 – Sándor Weöres, Hungarian poet and author (d. 1989) 1914 – Mei Zhi, Chinese author and essayist (d. 2004) 1915 – Dolf van der Linden, Dutch conductor and composer (d. 1999) 1915 – Cornelius Warmerdam, American pole vaulter and coach (d. 2001) 1915 – Randolph Hokanson, American pianist (d. 2018) 1915 – Thomas Quinn Curtiss, American writer, and film and theatre critic (d. 2000) 1916 – Johnny Jacobs, American television announcer (d. 1982) 1916 – Richard Eastham, American actor (d. 2005) 1916 – Emil Fackenheim, German Jewish philosopher and Reform rabbi (d. 2003) 1918 – Cicely Saunders, English nurse, social worker, physician and writer (d. 2005) 1918 – Yeoh Ghim Seng, Singaporean politician, acting President of Singapore (d. 1993) 1919 – Gower Champion, American dancer and choreographer (d. 1980) 1919 – Henri Tajfel, Polish social psychologist (d. 1982) 1919 – Clifton McNeely, American basketball player and coach (d. 2003) 1920 – James H. Pomerene, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2008) 1920 – Jovito Salonga, Filipino lawyer and politician, 14th President of the Senate of the Philippines (d. 2016) 1921 – Joseph Papp, American director and producer (d. 1991) 1921 – Barbara Vucanovich, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013) 1921 – Radovan Ivšić, Croatian writer (d. 2009) 1921 – Barbara Perry, American actress (d. 2019) 1922 – Bill Blass, American fashion designer, founded Bill Blass Group (d. 2002) 1922 – Clair Cameron Patterson, American scientist (d. 1995) 1923 – José Giovanni, French-Swiss director and screenwriter (d. 2004) 1924 – Christopher Booth, English clinician and historian (d. 2012) 1924 – Larkin Kerwin, Canadian physicist and academic (d. 2004) 1926 – George Englund, American film editor, director, producer and actor (d. 2017) 1926 – Rachid Solh, Lebanese politician, 48th Prime Minister of Lebanon (d. 2014) 1927 – Anthony Low, Indian-English historian and academic (d. 2015) 1928 – Ralph Waite, American actor and director (d. 2014) 1929 – Bruce Kent, English activist and laicised Roman Catholic priest 1930 – Yuri Artyukhin, Russian colonel, engineer, and astronaut (d. 1998) 1930 – Walter Bonatti, Italian journalist and mountaineer (d. 2011) 1931 – Ruby Garrard Woodson, American educator and cultural historian (d. 2008) 1932 – Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari, Princess of Iran (d. 2001) 1932 – Yevgeny Kychanov, Russian orientalist, historian, and academic (d. 2013) 1932 – Amrish Puri, Indian actor (d. 2005) 1932 – June Salter, Australian actress (d. 2001) 1932 – Prunella Scales, English actress 1932 – John Wakeham, Baron Wakeham, English businessman and politician, Leader of the House of Lords 1933 – Dianne Feinstein, American politician 1934 – James Bjorken, American physicist, author, and academic 1936 – Kris Kristofferson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor 1936 – Ferran Olivella, Spanish footballer 1936 – Hermeto Pascoal, Brazilian accordion player and composer 1937 – Chris Blackwell, English record producer, co-founded Island Records 1937 – Bernie McGann, Australian saxophonist and composer (d. 2013) 1939 – Don Matthews, American-Canadian football player and coach (d. 2017) 1939 – Ed Paschke, Polish-American painter and academic (d. 2004) 1940 – Joan Busfield, English sociologist, psychologist, and academic 1940 – Hubert Chesshyre, English historian and author (d. 2020) 1940 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016) 1940 – Esther Rantzen, English journalist 1941 – Ed Bradley, American journalist (d. 2006) 1941 – Terttu Savola, Finnish journalist and politician 1943 – Klaus Maria Brandauer, Austrian actor and director 1943 – Brit Hume, American journalist and author 1943 – J. Michael Kosterlitz, British-American physicist 1944 – Peter Asher, English singer, guitarist, and producer 1944 – Helmut Dietl, German director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1945 – Rainer Brüderle, German economist and politician, German Minister of Economics and Technology 1946 – Linda Bond, Canadian 19th General of The Salvation Army 1946 – Sheila Hollins, Baroness Hollins, English psychiatrist and academic 1946 – Eliades Ochoa, Cuban singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1946 – Józef Oleksy, Polish economist and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2015) 1946 – Stephen Waley-Cohen, English journalist and businessman 1947 – Octavia E. Butler, American author (d. 2006) 1947 – Howard Kaylan, American pop-rock singer-songwriter and musician 1947 – Bruno Latour, French philosopher, anthropologist and sociologist 1947 – Pete Maravich, American basketball player (d. 1988) 1947 – Jerry Rawlings, Ghanaian lieutenant and politician, President of Ghana (d. 2020) 1948 – James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss, Scottish businessman 1948 – Todd Rundgren, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer 1949 – Larry Junstrom, American bass player (d. 2019) 1949 – Brian Leveson, English lawyer and judge 1949 – Alan Osmond, American singer and producer 1949 – Meryl Streep, American actress 1949 – Luís Filipe Vieira, Portuguese businessman 1949 – Lindsay Wagner, American actress 1949 – Elizabeth Warren, American academic and politician 1950 – Sharon Maughan, English actress 1950 – Adrian Năstase, Romanian lawyer and politician, 59th Prime Minister of Romania 1950 – Greg Oliphant, Australian rugby league player 1950 – Zenonas Petrauskas, Lithuanian lawyer and politician (d. 2009) 1950 – Tom Alter, Indian actor (d. 2017) 1951 – Brian Cookson, British cyclist and sports administrator 1951 – Craig Gruber, American bass player (d. 2015) 1951 – Humphrey Ocean, English painter and academic 1952 – Graham Greene, Canadian actor 1952 – Santokh Singh, Malaysian football player 1953 – Wim Eijk, Dutch cardinal 1953 – Mauro Francaviglia, Italian mathematician and academic (d. 2013) 1953 – Cyndi Lauper, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress 1953 – Bruce McAvaney, Australian journalist and sportscaster 1954 – Freddie Prinze, American comedian and actor (d. 1977) 1955 – Green Gartside, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist 1955 – Christine Orengo, British academic and educator 1956 – Darryl Brohman, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster 1956 – Alfons De Wolf, Belgian cyclist 1956 – Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pakistani agriculturist and politician, 25th Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs 1956 – Tim Russ, American actor, director, and screenwriter 1956 – Markus Schatte, German footballer, manager, and coach 1956 – Derek Forbes, Scottish bass player and guitarist 1957 – Danny Baker, English journalist and screenwriter 1957 – Garry Gary Beers, Australian bass player, songwriter, and producer 1957 – Kevin Bond, English footballer and manager 1957 – Michael Stratton, English geneticist and academic 1958 – Rocío Banquells, Mexican pop singer and actress 1958 – Bruce Campbell, American actor, director, producer and writer 1959 – Michael Kinane, Irish jockey 1959 – Nicola Sirkis, French
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wife Connie Booth co-wrote the sitcom Fawlty Towers, and he starred in it as Basil Fawlty. The series resulted in Cleese's receiving the 1980 BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance, and in 2000 the show topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. In a 2001 Channel 4 poll, Basil was ranked second on its list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. Cleese co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Fierce Creatures (1997), both of which he also wrote. For A Fish Called Wanda he was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has also starred in Time Bandits (1981) and Rat Race (2001) and has appeared in many other films, including Silverado (1985), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), two James Bond films (as R and Q), two Harry Potter films (as Nearly Headless Nick) and the last three Shrek films. Cleese has specialised in satire, black comedy, sketch comedy, and surreal humour. With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay, he co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films. In 1976, Cleese co-founded The Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. Although a staunch supporter of the Liberal Democrats, in 1999 he turned down an offer from the party to nominate him for a life peerage. Early life Cleese was born in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, the only child of Reginald Francis Cleese (1893–1972), an insurance salesman, and his wife Muriel Evelyn (née Cross, 1899–2000), the daughter of an auctioneer. His family's surname was originally Cheese, but his father had thought it was embarrassing and used the name Cleese when he enlisted in the Army during the First World War; he changed it officially by deed poll in 1923. As a child, Cleese supported Bristol City FC and Somerset County Cricket Club. Cleese was educated at St Peter's Preparatory School (paid for by money his mother inherited), where he received a prize for English and did well at cricket and boxing. When he was 13, he was awarded an exhibition at Clifton College, an English public school in Bristol. He was already more than 6 feet (1.83 m) tall by then. Cleese allegedly defaced the school grounds, as a prank, by painting footprints to suggest that the statue of Field Marshal Earl Haig had got down from his plinth and gone to the toilet. Cleese played cricket in the First XI and did well academically, passing eight O-Levels and three A-Levels in mathematics, physics and chemistry. In his autobiography So, Anyway, he says that discovering, aged 17, he had not been made a house prefect by his housemaster affected his outlook: "It was not fair and therefore it was unworthy of my respect... I believe that this moment changed my perspective on the world." Cleese could not go straight to Cambridge, as the ending of National Service meant there were twice the usual number of applicants for places, so he returned to his prep school for two years to teach science, English, geography, history, and Latin (he drew on his Latin teaching experience later for a scene in Life of Brian, in which he corrects Brian's badly written Latin graffiti). He then took up a place he had won at Downing College, Cambridge, to read law. He also joined the Cambridge Footlights. He recalled that he went to the Cambridge Guildhall, where each university society had a stall, and went up to the Footlights stall, where he was asked if he could sing or dance. He replied "no" as he was not allowed to sing at his school because he was so bad, and if there was anything worse than his singing, it was his dancing. He was then asked "Well, what do you do?" to which he replied, "I make people laugh." At the Footlights theatrical club, Cleese spent a lot of time with Tim Brooke-Taylor and Bill Oddie and met his future writing partner Graham Chapman. Cleese wrote extra material for the 1961 Footlights Revue I Thought I Saw It Move, and was registrar for the Footlights Club during 1962. He was also in the cast of the 1962 Footlights Revue Double Take! Cleese graduated from Cambridge in 1963 with an upper second. Despite his successes on The Frost Report, his father sent him cuttings from The Daily Telegraph offering management jobs in places like Marks & Spencer. Career Pre-Python Cleese was a scriptwriter, as well as a cast member, for the 1963 Footlights Revue A Clump of Plinths. The revue was so successful at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that it was renamed Cambridge Circus and taken to the West End in London and then on a tour of New Zealand and Broadway, with the cast also appearing in some of the revue's sketches on The Ed Sullivan Show in October 1964. After Cambridge Circus, Cleese briefly stayed in America, performing on and off-Broadway. While performing in the musical Half a Sixpence, Cleese met future Python Terry Gilliam as well as American actress Connie Booth, whom he married on 20 February 1968. At their wedding at a Unitarian Church in Manhattan, the couple attempted to ensure an absence of any theistic language. "The only moment of disappointment," Cleese recalled, "came at the very end of the service when I discovered that I'd failed to excise one particular mention of the word 'God.'" Later, Booth became a writing partner. He was soon offered work as a writer with BBC Radio, where he worked on several programmes, most notably as a sketch writer for The Dick Emery Show. The success of the Footlights Revue led to the recording of a short series of half-hour radio programmes, called I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, which were so popular that the BBC commissioned a regular series with the same title that ran from 1965 to 1974. Cleese returned to Britain and joined the cast. In many episodes, he is credited as "John Otto Cleese" (according to Jem Roberts, this may have been due to the embarrassment of his actual middle name Marwood). Also in 1965, Cleese and Chapman began writing on The Frost Report. The writing staff chosen for The Frost Report consisted of a number of writers and performers who went on to make names for themselves in comedy. They included co-performers from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and future Goodies Bill Oddie and Tim Brooke-Taylor, and also Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh and future Python members Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. While working on The Frost Report, the future Pythons developed the writing styles that would make their collaboration significant. Cleese's and Chapman's sketches often involved authority figures, some of whom were performed by Cleese, while Jones and Palin were both infatuated with filmed scenes that opened with idyllic countryside panoramas. Idle was one of those charged with writing David Frost's monologue. During this period Cleese met and befriended influential British comedian Peter Cook, eventually collaborating with Cook on several projects and forming a close friendship that lasted until Cook's death in 1995. It was as a performer on The Frost Report that Cleese achieved his breakthrough on British television as a comedy actor, appearing as the tall, upper class patrician figure in the classic "Class" sketch (screened on 7 April 1966), contrasting comically in a line-up with the shorter, middle class Ronnie Barker and the even shorter, working class Ronnie Corbett. The British Film Institute commented, "Its twinning of height and social position, combined with a minimal script, created a classic TV moment." This series was so popular that in 1966 Cleese and Chapman were invited to work as writers and performers with Brooke-Taylor and Feldman on At Last the 1948 Show, during which time the Four Yorkshiremen sketch was written by all four writers/performers (the Four Yorkshiremen sketch is now better known as a Monty Python sketch). Cleese and Chapman also wrote episodes for the first series of Doctor in the House (and later Cleese wrote six episodes of Doctor at Large on his own in 1971). These series were successful, and in 1969 Cleese and Chapman were offered their very own series. However, owing to Chapman's alcoholism, Cleese found himself bearing an increasing workload in the partnership and was, therefore, unenthusiastic about doing a series with just the two of them. He had found working with Palin on The Frost Report an enjoyable experience and invited him to join the series. Palin had previously been working on Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and Jones, with Terry Gilliam creating the animations. The four of them had, on the back of the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set, been offered a series for Thames Television, which they were waiting to begin when Cleese's offer arrived. Palin agreed to work with Cleese and Chapman in the meantime, bringing with him Gilliam, Jones, and Idle. Monty Python Monty Python's Flying Circus ran for four series from October 1969 to December 1974 on BBC Television, though Cleese quit the show after the third. Cleese's two primary characterisations were as a sophisticate and a loony. He portrayed the former as a series of announcers, TV show hosts, and government officials (for example, "The Ministry of Silly Walks"). The latter is perhaps best represented in the "Cheese Shop" and by Cleese's Mr Praline character, the man with a dead Norwegian Blue parrot and a menagerie of other animals all named "Eric". He was also known for his working class "Sergeant Major" character, who worked as a Police Sergeant, Roman Centurion, etc. Cleese also appeared during some abrupt scene changes as a radio commentator (usually outfitted in a dinner suit) where, in a rather pompous manner, he would make the formal and determined announcement "And now for something completely different", which later became the title of the first Monty Python film. Partnership with Graham Chapman Along with Gilliam's animations, Cleese's work with Graham Chapman provided Python with its darkest and angriest moments, and many of his characters display the seething suppressed rage that later characterised his portrayal of Basil Fawlty. Unlike Palin and Jones, Cleese and Chapman wrote together in the same room; Cleese claims that their writing partnership involved him doing most of the work, while Chapman sat back, not speaking for long periods before suddenly coming out with an idea that often elevated the sketch to a new level. A classic example of this is the "Dead Parrot sketch", envisaged by Cleese as a satire on poor customer service, which was originally to have involved a broken toaster and later a broken car (this version was actually performed and broadcast on the pre-Python special How to Irritate People). It was Chapman's suggestion to change the faulty item into a dead parrot, and he also suggested that the parrot be specifically a "Norwegian Blue", giving the sketch a surreal air which made it far more memorable. Their humour often involved ordinary people in ordinary situations behaving absurdly for no obvious reason. Like Chapman, Cleese's poker face, clipped middle class accent, and intimidating height allowed him to appear convincingly as a variety of authority figures, such as policemen, detectives, Nazi officers or government officials, which he then proceeded to undermine. In the "Ministry of Silly Walks" sketch (written by Palin and Jones), for example, Cleese exploits his stature as the crane-legged civil servant performing a grotesquely elaborate walk to his office. On the Silly Walks sketch, Ben Beaumont-Thomas in The Guardian writes, "Cleese is utterly deadpan as he takes the stereotypical bowler-hatted political drone and ruthlessly skewers him. All the self-importance, bureaucratic inefficiency and laughable circuitousness of Whitehall is summed up in one balletic extension of his slender leg." Chapman and Cleese also specialised in sketches wherein two characters conducted highly articulate arguments over completely arbitrary subjects, such
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Flying Circus lasted four series, by the start of series 3, Cleese was growing tired of dealing with Chapman's alcoholism. He felt, too, that the show's scripts had declined in quality. For these reasons, he became restless and decided to move on. Though he stayed for the third series, he officially left the group before the fourth season. Cleese received a credit on three episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth series. He remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Much of his work on Holy Grail remains widely quoted, including the Black Knight scene. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in two further Monty Python films, Monty Python's Life of Brian and Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. His attack on Roman rule in Life of Brian–when he asks "What have the Romans ever done for us?", before being met with a string of benefits including sanitation, roads and public order–was ranked the seventh funniest line in film in a 2002 poll. Since the last Python film (Meaning of Life in 1983) Cleese has participated in various live performances with the group over the years. 1970s From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University of St Andrews. His election proved a milestone for the university, revolutionising and modernising the post. For instance, the rector was traditionally entitled to appoint an "assessor", a deputy to sit in his place at important meetings in his absence. Cleese changed this into a position for a student, elected across campus by the student body, resulting in direct access and representation for the student body. Around this time, Cleese worked with comedian Les Dawson on his sketch/stand-up show Sez Les. The differences between the two physically (the tall, lean Cleese and the short, stout Dawson) and socially (the public school and the Cambridge-educated Cleese vs. the working class, self-educated Mancunian Dawson) were marked, but both worked well together from series 8 onwards until the series ended in 1976. He appeared on a single, "Superspike", with Bill Oddie and a group of UK athletes, billed the "Superspike Squad", to fund the latter's attendance at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Cleese starred in the low-budget spoof of the Sherlock Holmes detective series The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It (1977) as the grandson of the world's greatest consulting detective. In December 1977, Cleese appeared as a guest star on The Muppet Show. Ranked one of the best guest stars to appear on the show, Cleese was a fan of The Muppet Show and co-wrote much of the episode. In it he is "kidnapped" before the show begins, complains about the number of pigs, and gets roped into doing a closing number with Kermit the Frog, Sweetums, pigs, chickens and monsters. Cleese also made a cameo appearance in their 1981 film The Great Muppet Caper and won the TV Times award for Funniest Man on TV – 1978–79. In 1979, he starred in a TV special, To Norway, Home of Giants, produced by Johnny Bergh. Throughout the 1970s, Cleese also produced and acted in a number of successful business training films, including Meetings, Bloody Meetings, and More Bloody Meetings. These were produced by his company Video Arts. Fawlty Towers Cleese achieved greater prominence in the United Kingdom as the neurotic hotel manager Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers, which he co-wrote with his wife Connie Booth. The series won three BAFTA awards when produced, and in 2000 it topped the British Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes. In a 2001 poll conducted by Channel 4 Basil Fawlty was ranked second (behind Homer Simpson) on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters. The series also featured Prunella Scales as Basil's acerbic wife Sybil, Andrew Sachs as the much abused Spanish waiter Manuel, and Booth as waitress Polly, the series' voice of sanity. Cleese based Basil Fawlty on a real person, Donald Sinclair, whom he had encountered in 1970 while the Monty Python team were staying at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay while filming inserts for their television series. Reportedly, Cleese was inspired by Sinclair's mantra, "I could run this hotel just fine if it weren't for the guests." He later described Sinclair as "the most wonderfully rude man I have ever met," although Sinclair's widow has said her husband was totally misrepresented in the series. During the Pythons' stay, Sinclair allegedly threw Idle's briefcase out of the hotel "in case it contained a bomb," complained about Gilliam's "American" table manners, and threw a bus timetable at another guest after he dared to ask the time of the next bus to town. The first series was screened from 19 September 1975 on BBC 2, initially to poor reviews, but gained momentum when repeated on BBC 1 the following year. Despite this, a second series did not air until 1979, by which time Cleese's marriage to Booth had ended, but they revived their collaboration for the second series. Fawlty Towers consisted of two seasons, each of only six episodes; Cleese and Booth both maintain that this was to avoid compromising the quality of the series. The popularity of Fawlty Towers has endured, and in addition to featuring high in greatest-ever television show polls it is often rebroadcast. In a 2002 poll, Basil's "don't mention the war" comment (said to the waitress Polly about the German guests) was ranked the second funniest line in television. 1980s and 1990s During the 1980s and 1990s, Cleese focused on film, though he did work with Peter Cook in his one-off TV special Peter Cook and Co. in 1980. In the same year, Cleese played Petruchio, in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in the BBC Television Shakespeare series. In 1981 he appeared in the Terry Gilliam-directed Time Bandits as Robin Hood. He also participated in Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (filmed 1980, released 1982) and starred in The Secret Policeman's Ball for Amnesty International. In 1985, Cleese had a small dramatic role as a sheriff in the American Western Silverado, which had an all-star cast that included Kevin Kline, with whom he starred in A Fish Called Wanda three years later. In 1986, he starred in the British comedy film Clockwise as an uptight school headmaster obsessed with punctuality and constantly getting into trouble during a journey to speak at the Headmasters' Conference. Written by Michael Frayn, the film was successful in the UK but not in the United States. It earned Cleese the 1987 Peter Sellers Award For Comedy at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. In 1988, Cleese wrote and starred in A Fish Called Wanda as the lead, Archie Leach, along with Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin. Wanda was a commercial and critical success, becoming one of the top ten films of the year at the US box office, and Cleese was nominated for an Academy Award for his script. Kline won the Oscar for his portrayal of bumbling, violent, narcissistic ex-CIA agent Otto West in the film. In 1989, Graham Chapman was diagnosed with throat cancer; Cleese, Michael Palin, Peter Cook, and Chapman's partner David Sherlock witnessed Chapman's death. Chapman's death occurred a day before the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast of Flying Circus, with Jones commenting that it was "the worst case of party-pooping in all history." Cleese gave a eulogy at Chapman's memorial service. Cleese later played a supporting role in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) alongside Branagh himself and Robert De Niro. With Robin Skynner, the English psychiatrist, Cleese wrote two books on relationships: Families and How to Survive Them and Life and How to Survive It. The books are presented as a dialogue between Skynner and Cleese. The follow-up to A Fish Called Wanda, Fierce Creatures—which again starred Cleese alongside Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Palin—was released in 1997, but was greeted with mixed reception by critics and audiences. Cleese has since often stated that making the second film had been a mistake. When asked by his friend, director and restaurant critic Michael Winner, what he would do differently if he could live his life again, Cleese responded, "I wouldn't have married Alyce Faye Eichelberger and I wouldn't have made Fierce Creatures." In 1999, Cleese appeared in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough as Q's assistant, referred to by Bond as "R". In 2002, when Cleese reprised his role in Die Another Day, the character was promoted, making Cleese the new quartermaster (Q) of MI6. In 2004, Cleese was featured as Q in the video game James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing, featuring his likeness and voice. Cleese did not appear in the subsequent Bond films, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall; in the latter film, Ben Whishaw was cast in the role of Q. 21st century Cleese is Provost's Visiting Professor at Cornell University, after having been Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large from 1999 to 2006. He makes occasional well-received appearances on the Cornell campus. In 2001, Cleese was cast in the comedy Rat Race as the eccentric hotel owner Donald P. Sinclair, the name of the Torquay hotel owner on whom he had based the character of Basil Fawlty. That year he appeared as Nearly Headless Nick in the first Harry Potter film: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), a role he would reprise in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002). In 2002, Cleese made a cameo appearance in the film The Adventures of Pluto Nash, in which he played "James", a computerised chauffeur of a hover car stolen by the title character (played by Eddie Murphy). The vehicle is subsequently destroyed in a chase, leaving the chauffeur stranded in a remote place on the moon. In 2003, Cleese appeared as Lyle Finster on the US sitcom Will & Grace. His character's daughter, Lorraine, was played by Minnie Driver. In the series, Lyle Finster briefly marries Karen Walker (Megan Mullally). In 2004, Cleese was credited as co-writer of a DC Comics graphic novel titled Superman: True Brit. Part of DC's "Elseworlds" line of imaginary stories, True Brit, mostly written by Kim Howard Johnson, suggests what might have happened had Superman's rocket ship landed on a farm in Britain, not America. From 10 November to 9 December 2005, Cleese toured New Zealand with his stage show John Cleese—His Life, Times and Current Medical Problems. Cleese described it as "a one-man show with several people in it, which pushes the envelope of acceptable behaviour in new and disgusting ways". The show was developed in New York City with William Goldman and includes Cleese's daughter Camilla as a writer and actor (the shows were directed by Australian Bille Brown). His assistant of many years, Garry Scott-Irvine, also appeared and was listed as a co-producer. The show then played in universities in California and Arizona from 10 January to 25 March 2006 under the title "Seven Ways to Skin an Ocelot". His voice can be downloaded for directional guidance purposes as a downloadable option on some personal GPS-navigation device models by company TomTom. In a 2005 poll of comedians and comedy insiders, The Comedians' Comedian, Cleese was voted second to Peter Cook. In 2006, Cleese hosted a television special of football's greatest kicks, goals, saves, bloopers, plays, and penalties, as well as football's influence on culture (including the Monty Python sketch "Philosophy Football"), featuring interviews with pop culture icons Dave Stewart, Dennis Hopper, and Henry Kissinger, as well as eminent footballers, including Pelé, Mia Hamm, and Thierry Henry. The Art of Soccer with John Cleese was released in North America on DVD in January 2009 by BFS Entertainment & Multimedia. Also in 2006, Cleese released the song "Don't Mention the World Cup". Cleese lent his voice to the BioWare video game Jade Empire. His role was that of an "outlander" named Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, stranded in the Imperial City of the Jade Empire. His character is essentially a British colonialist stereotype who refers to the people of the Jade Empire as "savages in need of enlightenment". His armour has the design of a fork stuck in a piece of cheese. In 2007, Cleese appeared in ads for Titleist as a golf course designer named "Ian MacCallister", who represents "Golf Designers Against Distance". Also in 2007, he was involved in filming of the sequel to The Pink Panther, titled The Pink Panther 2, with Steve Martin and Aishwarya Rai. Cleese collaborated with Los Angeles Guitar Quartet member William Kanengiser in 2008 on the text to the performance piece "The Ingenious Gentleman of La Mancha". Cleese, as narrator, and the LAGQ premiered the work in Santa Barbara. The year 2008 also saw reports of Cleese working on a musical version of A Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla. At the end of March 2009, Cleese published his first article as "Contributing Editor" to The Spectator: "The real reason I had to join The Spectator". Cleese has also hosted comedy galas at the Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in 2006, and again in 2009. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of television adverts for the Norwegian electric goods shop chain Elkjøp. In March 2010 it was announced that Cleese would be playing Jasper in the video game Fable III. In 2009 and 2010, Cleese toured Scandinavia and the US with his Alimony Tour Year One and Year Two. In May 2010, it was announced that this tour, set for May 2011, would extend to the UK (his first tour there). The show is dubbed the "Alimony Tour" in reference to the financial implications of Cleese's divorce. The UK tour started in Cambridge on 3 May, visiting Birmingham, Nottingham, Salford, York, Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Oxford, Bristol and Bath (the Alimony Tour DVD was recorded on 2 July, the final Bath date). Later in 2011 John took his Alimony Tour to South Africa. He played Cape Town on the 21 & 22 October before moving over to Johannesburg, where he played from 25 to 30 October. In January 2012 he took his one-man show to Australia, starting in Perth on 22 January and throughout the next four months visited Adelaide, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, New South Wales, Melbourne, Sydney, and finished up during April in Canberra. In October 2010, Cleese was featured in the launch of an advertising campaign by The Automobile Association for a new home emergency response product. He appeared as a man who believed the AA could not help him during a series of disasters, including water pouring through his ceiling, with the line "The AA? For faulty showers?" During 2010, Cleese appeared in a series of radio advertisements for the Canadian insurance company Pacific Blue Cross, in which he plays a character called "Dr. Nigel Bilkington, Chief of Medicine for American General Hospital". In 2012, Cleese was cast in Hunting Elephants, a heist comedy by Israeli filmmaker Reshef Levi. Cleese had to quit just prior to filming due to heart trouble and was replaced by Patrick Stewart. Between September and October 2013, Cleese embarked on his first-ever cross-Canada comedy tour. Entitled "John Cleese: Last Time to See Me Before I Die tour", he visited Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Victoria and finished in Vancouver, performing to mostly sold-out venues. Cleese returned to the stage in Dubai in November 2013, where he performed to a sold-out theatre.
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Jimmy Carruthers, Australian boxer (d. 1990) 1929 – Katherine Helmond, American actress and director (d. 2019) 1929 – Tony Lock, English cricketer (d. 1995) 1929 – Jovan Rašković, Serbian psychiatrist, academic, and politician (d. 1992) 1929 – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic artist (d. 2014) 1931 – Ismail Mahomed, South African lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (d. 2000) 1932 – Gyula Horn, Hungarian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 2013) 1933 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critic and physicist (d. 1986) 1936 – Shirley Knight, American actress (d. 2020) 1936 – James Mirrlees, Scottish economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018) 1938 – Ronnie Self, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981) 1940 – Chuck Close, American painter and photographer (d. 2021) 1941 – Epeli Nailatikau, Fijian chief, President of Fiji 1942 – Matthias Bamert, Swiss composer and conductor 1942 – Hannes Löhr, German footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2016) 1943 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player and coach (d. 2001) 1943 – Mark Cox, English tennis player, coach and sportscaster 1943 – Robbie Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor 1944 – Leni Björklund, Swedish politician, 28th Swedish Minister of Defence for Sweden 1945 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1945 – Humberto Benítez Treviño, Mexican lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Mexico 1946 – Pierre-Marc Johnson, Canadian lawyer, physician, and politician, 24th Premier of Quebec 1946 – Paul Smith, English fashion designer 1946 – Gerard 't Hooft, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1946 – Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 2013) 1949 – Ludwig G. Strauss, German physician and academic (d. 2013) 1950 – Carlos Caszely, Chilean footballer 1950 – Huey Lewis, American singer-songwriter and actor 1953 – Caryn Navy, American mathematician and computer scientist 1954 – Jimmy Crespo, American guitarist and songwriter 1954 – John Wright, New Zealand cricketer and coach 1955 – Tony Hadley, English footballer 1955 – Peter McNamara, Australian tennis player and coach (d. 2019) 1956 – Horacio Cartes, Paraguayan businessman and politician, President of Paraguay 1956 – James Lofton, American football player and coach 1957 – Carlo Thränhardt, German high jumper 1957 – Doug Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager 1958 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (d. 1996) 1958 – Bill Watterson, American author and illustrator 1959 – Marc Cohn, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1960 – Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor and director 1962 – Sarina Hülsenbeck, German swimmer 1963 – Edie Falco, American actress 1964 – Ronald D. Moore, American screenwriter and producer 1965 – Kathryn Erbe, American actress 1965 – Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Israeli-American pianist and educator 1966 – Susannah Doyle, English actress, director, and playwright 1966 – Gianfranco Zola, Italian footballer and coach 1968 – Ken Akamatsu, Japanese illustrator 1968 – Kenji Ito, Japanese pianist and composer 1968 – Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1968 – Hedi Slimane, French fashion designer and photographer 1968 – Alex Zülle, Swiss cyclist 1968 – Susan Wojcicki, Polish-American technology executive, CEO of YouTube 1969 – Jenji Kohan, American screenwriter and producer 1969 – Armin Kõomägi, Estonian author and screenwriter 1969 – John LeClair, American ice hockey player 1969 – RZA, American rapper, producer, actor, and director 1970 – Mac Dre, American rapper and producer, founded Thizz Entertainment (d. 2004) 1970 – Valentí Massana, Spanish race walker 1971 – Derek McInnes, Scottish footballer and manager 1972 – Matthew Birir, Kenyan runner 1972 – Robert Esmie, Canadian sprinter 1972 – Gary Shteyngart, American writer 1973 – Marcus Allbäck, Swedish footballer and coach 1973 – Bengt Lagerberg, Swedish drummer 1973 – Róisín Murphy, Irish singer-songwriter and producer 1974 – Márcio Amoroso, Brazilian footballer 1974 – Sarah Taylor, Jersey squash player 1975 – Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer and coach 1975 – Ai Sugiyama, Japanese tennis player 1976 – Bizarre, American rapper 1976 – Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer 1977 – Nicolas Kiefer, German tennis player 1977 – Steven Sharp Nelson, American cellist 1978 – Britta Oppelt, German rower 1978 – Allan Simonsen, Danish race car driver (d. 2013) 1978 – İsmail YK, German-Turkish singer-songwriter 1979 – Shane Filan, Irish singer-songwriter 1979 – Amélie Mauresmo, French-Swiss tennis player 1979 – Stiliyan Petrov, Bulgarian footballer and manager 1980 – David Rozehnal, Czech footballer 1980 – Mads Tolling, Danish-American violinist and composer 1980 – Jason Wade, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1982 – Fabrício de Souza, Brazilian footballer 1982 – Alexander Dimitrenko, Ukrainian-German boxer 1982 – Alberto Gilardino, Italian footballer 1982 – Philippe Gilbert, Belgian cyclist 1982 – Kate Gynther, Australian water polo player 1982 – Dave Haywood, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1982 – Paíto, Mozambican footballer 1982 – Javier Paredes, Spanish footballer 1982 – Szabolcs Perenyi, Romanian-Hungarian footballer 1982 – Beno Udrih, Slovenian basketball player 1982 – Tuba Büyüküstün, Turkish actress 1982 – Junri Namigata, Japanese tennis player 1983 – Marco Estrada, Mexican baseball player 1983 – Jonás Gutiérrez, Argentinian footballer 1983 – Zheng Jie, Chinese tennis player 1983 – Taavi Peetre, Estonian shot putter (d. 2010) 1984 – Danay Garcia, Cuban actress 1984 – Zack Miller, American golfer 1985 – Alexandre R. Picard, Canadian ice hockey player 1985 – Megan Rapinoe, American soccer player 1986 – Iurii Cheban, Ukrainian canoe sprinter 1986 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (d. 2012) 1986 – Alexander Radulov, Russian ice hockey player 1986 – Owl City, American singer, songwriter and composer 1987 – Ji Chang-wook, South Korean actor 1987 – Mohd Safiq Rahim, Malaysian footballer 1987 – Andrija Kaluđerović, Serbian footballer 1987 – Alexander Kristoff, Norwegian cyclist 1988 – Martin Liivamägi, Estonian swimmer 1988 – Samir Ujkani, Albanian footballer 1989 – Charlie Austin, English footballer 1989 – Georgios Efrem, Cypriot footballer 1989 – Dwight King, Canadian ice hockey player 1990 – Abeba Aregawi, Ethiopian-Swedish runner 1992 – Alberto Moreno, Spanish footballer 1992 – Chiara Scholl, American tennis player 1993 – Yaroslav Kosov, Russian ice hockey player 1994 – Diana Harkusha, Ukrainian lawyer, dancer, model and beauty queen 1994 – Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball player 1998 – Emily Fox, American soccer player and first pick of the 2021 NWSL Draft Deaths Pre-1600 905 – Cui Yuan, Chinese chancellor 905 – Dugu Sun, Chinese chancellor 905 – Lu Yi, Chinese chancellor (b. 847) 905 – Pei Shu, Chinese chancellor (b. 841) 905 – Wang Pu, Chinese chancellor 936 – Xu Ji, Chinese official and chancellor 967 – Murakami, Japanese emperor (b. 926) 1080 – Ísleifur Gissurarson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1006) 1091 – William of Hirsau, German abbot 1316 – Ferdinand, prince of Majorca (b. 1278) 1375 – Charles III, French nobleman (b. 1337) 1413 – Musa Çelebi, Ottoman prince and co-ruler 1507 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and academic (b. 1475) 1539 – Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian saint (b. 1502) 1601–1900 1661 – Sir Hugh Speke, 1st Baronet 1666 – Albert VI, German nobleman (b. 1584) 1676 – Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1613) 1715 – Charles Ancillon, French jurist and diplomat (b. 1659) 1719 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (b. 1641) 1773 – Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian and philologist (b. 1719) 1819 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (b.1744) 1826 – Stamford Raffles, English politician, founded Singapore (b. 1782) 1833 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, created the first known photograph (b. 1765) 1859 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist and engineer (b. 1777) 1862 – Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist and paleontologist (b. 1800) 1863 – Lewis Armistead, Confederate general (b. 1817) 1884 –
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educator (d. 2013) 1924 – Edward Cassidy, Australian Roman Catholic cardinal priest (d. 2021) 1925 – Fernando de Szyszlo, Peruvian painter and sculptor (d. 2017) 1925 – Jean Raspail, French author and explorer (d. 2020) 1926 – Diana Lynn, American actress (d. 1971) 1928 – Pierre Mauroy, French educator and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2013) 1928 – Warren Oates, American actor (d. 1982) 1929 – Jimmy Carruthers, Australian boxer (d. 1990) 1929 – Katherine Helmond, American actress and director (d. 2019) 1929 – Tony Lock, English cricketer (d. 1995) 1929 – Jovan Rašković, Serbian psychiatrist, academic, and politician (d. 1992) 1929 – Jiří Reynek, Czech poet and graphic artist (d. 2014) 1931 – Ismail Mahomed, South African lawyer and politician, 17th Chief Justice of South Africa (d. 2000) 1932 – Gyula Horn, Hungarian politician, 37th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 2013) 1933 – Paul-Gilbert Langevin, French musicologist, critic and physicist (d. 1986) 1936 – Shirley Knight, American actress (d. 2020) 1936 – James Mirrlees, Scottish economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018) 1938 – Ronnie Self, American singer-songwriter (d. 1981) 1940 – Chuck Close, American painter and photographer (d. 2021) 1941 – Epeli Nailatikau, Fijian chief, President of Fiji 1942 – Matthias Bamert, Swiss composer and conductor 1942 – Hannes Löhr, German footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2016) 1943 – Curt Blefary, American baseball player and coach (d. 2001) 1943 – Mark Cox, English tennis player, coach and sportscaster 1943 – Robbie Robertson, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor 1944 – Leni Björklund, Swedish politician, 28th Swedish Minister of Defence for Sweden 1945 – Michael Blake, American author and screenwriter (d. 2015) 1945 – Humberto Benítez Treviño, Mexican lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Mexico 1946 – Pierre-Marc Johnson, Canadian lawyer, physician, and politician, 24th Premier of Quebec 1946 – Paul Smith, English fashion designer 1946 – Gerard 't Hooft, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate 1946 – Vladimir Mikhailovich Zakharov, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 2013) 1949 – Ludwig G. Strauss, German physician and academic (d. 2013) 1950 – Carlos Caszely, Chilean footballer 1950 – Huey Lewis, American singer-songwriter and actor 1953 – Caryn Navy, American mathematician and computer scientist 1954 – Jimmy Crespo, American guitarist and songwriter 1954 – John Wright, New Zealand cricketer and coach 1955 – Tony Hadley, English footballer 1955 – Peter McNamara, Australian tennis player and coach (d. 2019) 1956 – Horacio Cartes, Paraguayan businessman and politician, President of Paraguay 1956 – James Lofton, American football player and coach 1957 – Carlo Thränhardt, German high jumper 1957 – Doug Wilson, Canadian-American ice hockey player and manager 1958 – Veronica Guerin, Irish journalist (d. 1996) 1958 – Bill Watterson, American author and illustrator 1959 – Marc Cohn, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1960 – Pruitt Taylor Vince, American actor and director 1962 – Sarina Hülsenbeck, German swimmer 1963 – Edie Falco, American actress 1964 – Ronald D. Moore, American screenwriter and producer 1965 – Kathryn Erbe, American actress 1965 – Eyran Katsenelenbogen, Israeli-American pianist and educator 1966 – Susannah Doyle, English actress, director, and playwright 1966 – Gianfranco Zola, Italian footballer and coach 1968 – Ken Akamatsu, Japanese illustrator 1968 – Kenji Ito, Japanese pianist and composer 1968 – Nardwuar the Human Serviette, Canadian singer-songwriter and keyboard player 1968 – Hedi Slimane, French fashion designer and photographer 1968 – Alex Zülle, Swiss cyclist 1968 – Susan Wojcicki, Polish-American technology executive, CEO of YouTube 1969 – Jenji Kohan, American screenwriter and producer 1969 – Armin Kõomägi, Estonian author and screenwriter 1969 – John LeClair, American ice hockey player 1969 – RZA, American rapper, producer, actor, and director 1970 – Mac Dre, American rapper and producer, founded Thizz Entertainment (d. 2004) 1970 – Valentí Massana, Spanish race walker 1971 – Derek McInnes, Scottish footballer and manager 1972 – Matthew Birir, Kenyan runner 1972 – Robert Esmie, Canadian sprinter 1972 – Gary Shteyngart, American writer 1973 – Marcus Allbäck, Swedish footballer and coach 1973 – Bengt Lagerberg, Swedish drummer 1973 – Róisín Murphy, Irish singer-songwriter and producer 1974 – Márcio Amoroso, Brazilian footballer 1974 – Sarah Taylor, Jersey squash player 1975 – Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer and coach 1975 – Ai Sugiyama, Japanese tennis player 1976 – Bizarre, American rapper 1976 – Nuno Gomes, Portuguese footballer 1977 – Nicolas Kiefer, German tennis player 1977 – Steven Sharp Nelson, American cellist 1978 – Britta Oppelt, German rower 1978 – Allan Simonsen, Danish race car driver (d. 2013) 1978 – İsmail YK, German-Turkish singer-songwriter 1979 – Shane Filan, Irish singer-songwriter 1979 – Amélie Mauresmo, French-Swiss tennis player 1979 – Stiliyan Petrov, Bulgarian footballer and manager 1980 – David Rozehnal, Czech footballer 1980 – Mads Tolling, Danish-American violinist and composer 1980 – Jason Wade, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1982 – Fabrício de Souza, Brazilian footballer 1982 – Alexander Dimitrenko, Ukrainian-German boxer 1982 – Alberto Gilardino, Italian footballer 1982 – Philippe Gilbert, Belgian cyclist 1982 – Kate Gynther, Australian water polo player 1982 – Dave Haywood, American singer-songwriter and guitarist 1982 – Paíto, Mozambican footballer 1982 – Javier Paredes, Spanish footballer 1982 – Szabolcs Perenyi, Romanian-Hungarian footballer 1982 – Beno Udrih, Slovenian basketball player 1982 – Tuba Büyüküstün, Turkish actress 1982 – Junri Namigata, Japanese tennis player 1983 – Marco Estrada, Mexican baseball player 1983 – Jonás Gutiérrez, Argentinian footballer 1983 – Zheng Jie, Chinese tennis player 1983 – Taavi Peetre, Estonian shot putter (d. 2010) 1984 – Danay Garcia, Cuban actress 1984 – Zack Miller, American golfer 1985 – Alexandre R. Picard, Canadian ice hockey player 1985 – Megan Rapinoe, American soccer player 1986 – Iurii Cheban, Ukrainian canoe sprinter 1986 – Piermario Morosini, Italian footballer (d. 2012) 1986 – Alexander Radulov, Russian ice hockey player 1986 – Owl City, American singer, songwriter and composer 1987 – Ji Chang-wook, South Korean actor 1987 – Mohd Safiq Rahim, Malaysian footballer 1987 – Andrija Kaluđerović, Serbian footballer 1987 – Alexander Kristoff, Norwegian cyclist 1988 – Martin Liivamägi, Estonian swimmer 1988 – Samir Ujkani, Albanian footballer 1989 – Charlie Austin, English footballer 1989 – Georgios Efrem, Cypriot footballer 1989 – Dwight King, Canadian ice hockey player 1990 – Abeba Aregawi, Ethiopian-Swedish runner 1992 – Alberto Moreno, Spanish footballer 1992 – Chiara Scholl, American tennis player 1993 – Yaroslav Kosov, Russian ice hockey player 1994 – Diana Harkusha, Ukrainian lawyer, dancer, model and beauty queen 1994 – Shohei Ohtani, Japanese baseball player 1998 – Emily Fox, American soccer player and first pick of the 2021 NWSL Draft Deaths Pre-1600 905 – Cui Yuan, Chinese chancellor 905 – Dugu Sun, Chinese chancellor 905 – Lu Yi, Chinese chancellor (b. 847) 905 – Pei Shu, Chinese chancellor (b. 841) 905 – Wang Pu, Chinese chancellor 936 – Xu Ji, Chinese official and chancellor 967 – Murakami, Japanese emperor (b. 926) 1080 – Ísleifur Gissurarson, Icelandic bishop (b. 1006) 1091 – William of Hirsau, German abbot 1316 – Ferdinand, prince of Majorca (b. 1278) 1375 – Charles III, French nobleman (b. 1337) 1413 – Musa Çelebi, Ottoman prince and co-ruler 1507 – Crinitus, Italian scholar and academic (b. 1475) 1539 – Anthony Maria Zaccaria, Italian saint (b. 1502) 1601–1900 1661 – Sir Hugh Speke, 1st Baronet 1666 – Albert VI, German nobleman (b. 1584) 1676 – Carl Gustaf Wrangel, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1613) 1715 – Charles Ancillon, French jurist and diplomat (b. 1659) 1719 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, German-English general (b. 1641) 1773 – Francisco José Freire, Portuguese historian and philologist (b. 1719) 1819 – William Cornwallis, English admiral and politician (b.1744) 1826 – Stamford Raffles, English politician, founded Singapore (b. 1782) 1833 – Nicéphore Niépce, French inventor, created the first known photograph (b. 1765) 1859 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour, French physicist and engineer (b. 1777) 1862 – Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist and paleontologist (b. 1800) 1863 – Lewis Armistead, Confederate general (b. 1817) 1884 – Victor Massé, French composer (b. 1822) 1901–present 1908 – Jonas Lie, Norwegian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1833) 1920 – Max Klinger, German painter and sculptor (b. 1857) 1927 – Albrecht Kossel, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853) 1929 – Henry Johnson, American sergeant (b. 1897) 1932 – Sasha Chorny, Russian poet and author (b. 1880) 1935 – Bernard de Pourtalès, Swiss captain and sailor (b. 1870) 1937 – Daniel Sawyer, American golfer (b. 1884) 1943 – Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski, Polish actor (b. 1880) 1943 – Karin Swanström, Swedish actress, director, and producer (b. 1873) 1945 – John Curtin, Australian journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1885) 1948 – Georges Bernanos, French soldier and author (b. 1888) 1948 – Carole Landis, American actress (b. 1919) 1948 – Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician (b. 1871) 1957 – Anugrah Narayan Sinha, Indian lawyer and politician, 1st Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar (b. 1887) 1965 – Porfirio Rubirosa, Dominican race car driver, polo player, and diplomat (b. 1909) 1966 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1885) 1969 – Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist and educator (b. 1884) 1969 – Walter Gropius, German architect, designed the John F. Kennedy Federal Building and Werkbund Exhibition (b. 1883) 1969 – Tom Mboya, Kenyan politician, 1st Kenyan Minister of Justice (b. 1930) 1969 – Leo McCarey, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1898) 1975 – Gilda dalla Rizza, Italian soprano and actress (b. 1892) 1976 – Walter Giesler, American soccer player and referee (born 1910) 1983 – Harry James, American trumpet player and actor (b. 1916) 1984 – Chic Murray, Canadian politician, 2nd Mayor of Mississauga (b. 1914) 1991 – Howard Nemerov, American poet and essayist (b. 1920) 1995 – Jüri Järvet, Estonian actor and screenwriter (b. 1919) 1997 – A. Thangathurai, Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and politician (b. 1936) 1998 – Sid Luckman, American football player (b. 1916) 2002 – Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (b. 1924) 2002 – Ted Williams, American baseball player and manager (b. 1918) 2004 – Hugh Shearer, Jamaican journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1923) 2004 – Rodger Ward, American race car driver and sportscaster (b. 1921) 2005 – James Stockdale, American admiral (b. 1923) 2006 – Gert Fredriksson, Swedish canoe racer (b. 1919) 2006 – Thirunalloor Karunakaran, Indian poet and scholar (b. 1924) 2006 – Kenneth Lay, American businessman (b. 1942) 2006 – Amzie Strickland, American actress (b. 1919) 2007 – Régine Crespin, French soprano (b. 1927) 2007 – George Melly, English singer-songwriter and critic (b. 1926) 2008 – Hasan Doğan, Turkish businessman (b. 1956) 2010 – Bob Probert, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host (b. 1965) 2011 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter, sculptor, and photographer (b. 1928) 2012 – Rob Goris, Belgian cyclist (b. 1982) 2012 – Gerrit Komrij, Dutch author, poet, and playwright (b. 1944) 2012 – Colin Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, English businessman and politician
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