Events
1958 - Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor
1959 - Peter Ellis, convicted child abuser
1959 - Sabine Meyer, German clarinetist
1961 - Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
1962 - MC Hammer, American rap musician
1963 - Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
1964 - Tracy Chapman, American singer
1964 - Vlado Bozinovski, Australian former footballer
1964 - Dave Ellett, Canadian hockey player
1964 - Ian Ziering, American actor
1965 - Piers Morgan, British journalist
1966 - Joey Castillo, American drummer (Queens of the Stone Age)
1966 - Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess grandmaster and author
1967 - Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (d. 2008)
1967 - Hayashibara Megumi, Japanese voice actress and singer
1968 - Donna D'Errico, American actress and model
1968 - Celine Dion, Canadian singer
1970 - Secretariat, American racehorse (d. 1989)
1971 - Mark Consuelos, American actor
1972 - Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
1973 - Jan Koller, Czech footballer
1973 - Matthew Pritchard Welsh Stuntman
1975 - Bahar Soomekh, American actress
1976 - Mark McClelland, Northern Irish musician (Degrassi)
1976 - Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
1976 - Obadele Thompson, Barbadian athlete
1978 - Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player
1979 - Norah Jones, American singer and pianist
1979 - Simon Webbe, English singer
1980 - Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
1980 - Yalin, Turkish singer and songwriter
1980 - Paul Wall, American rapper
1982 - Jason Dohring, American actor
1983 - Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
1983 - Zach Gowen, American professional wrestler
1983 - Scott Moffatt, Canadian singer and songwriter
1983 - Davis Romero, Panamanian baseball player
1983 - Hebe Tian, Taiwanese singer (S.H.E)
1984 - Mario Ancic, Croatian tennis player
1984 - Anna Nalick, American singer and songwriter
1986 - Beni Arashiro, Japanese singer
1986 - Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
Deaths
1950 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (b. 1872)
1959 - Daniil Andreev, Russian writer and mystic (b. 1906)
1965 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
1966 - Maxfield Parrish, American artist (b. 1870)
1966 - Newbold Morris, American politician (b. 1902)
1967 - Jean Toomer, American writer (b. 1894)
1968 - Bobby Driscoll, American actor (b. 1937)
1970 - Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
1972 - Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
1977 - Abdel Halim Hafez, Egyptian singer and actor (b. 1929)
1981 - DeWitt Wallace, American publisher (b. 1889)
1984 - Karl Rahner, German theologian (b. 1904)
1985 - Harold Peary, American actor and singer (heart attack) (b. 1908)
1986 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
1988 - Edgar Faure, French politician (b. 1908)
1992 - Manolis Andronikos, Greek archeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (b. 1919)
1999 - Gary Morton, American film and television producer (b. 1924)
2002 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
2002 - Søren Nystrøm Rasted, Danish Musician, husband of Lene (b. 1969)
2003 - Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
2003 - Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
2004 - Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (b. 1908)
2004 - Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)
2004 - Michael King, New Zealand historian (b. 1945)
2004 - Timi Yuro, American singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Emil Dimitrov, Bulgarian singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Robert Creeley, American poet (b. 1926)
2005 - Milton Green, American athlete (b. 1913)
2005 - Fred Korematsu, American civil rights activist (b. 1919)
2005 - O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and cartoonist (b. 1930)
2005 - Derrick Plourde, American drummer (b. 1971)
2006 - Red Hickey, American football coach (b. 1917)
- 240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.
- 1282 - The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.
- 1296 - Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.
- 1492 - Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Alhambra decree aimed at expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism.
- 1814 - Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.
- 1814 - Murat issues the Rimini Declaration which would later inspire Italian Unification.
- 1822 - Florida Territory created in the United States.
- 1842 - Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation by Dr. Crawford Long.
- 1844 - One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.
- 1855 - Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas - "Border Ruffians" from Missouri invade Kansas and force election of a pro-slavery legislature.
- 1856 - The Treaty of Paris (1856) is signed, ending the Crimean War.
- 1858 - Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser.
- 1863 - Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.
- 1867 - Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this Seward's Folly.
- 1870 - Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.
- 1885 - The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.
- 1909 - The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan & Queens.
- 1910 - Mississippi Legislature founded The University of Southern Mississippi.
- 1912 - Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
- 1939 - The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets the world airspeed record of 463 mph.
- 1939 - First flight of the Australian C.A.C. CA-16 Wirraway.
- 1940 - Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking to be the capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna, Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.
- 1945 - World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 to Americans.
- 1949 - Riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joined NATO.
- 1951 - Remington Rand delivers the first UNIVAC I computer to the United States Census Bureau.
- 1954 - Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada.
- 1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.
- 1965 - Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.
- 1972 - Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.
- 1979 - Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
- 1981 - President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.
- 1982 - Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission completed with the landing of Columbia at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.
- 1997 - Five (channel) Begins broadcasting in the UK
- 2006 - Marcos Pontes is the first Brazilian astronaut in space.
- 2006 - UK Terrorism Act 2006 becomes law.
1958 - Maurice LaMarche, Canadian voice actor
1959 - Peter Ellis, convicted child abuser
1959 - Sabine Meyer, German clarinetist
1961 - Doug Wickenheiser, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1999)
1962 - MC Hammer, American rap musician
1963 - Eli-Eri Moura, Brazilian composer and conductor
1964 - Tracy Chapman, American singer
1964 - Vlado Bozinovski, Australian former footballer
1964 - Dave Ellett, Canadian hockey player
1964 - Ian Ziering, American actor
1965 - Piers Morgan, British journalist
1966 - Joey Castillo, American drummer (Queens of the Stone Age)
1966 - Efstratios Grivas, Greek chess grandmaster and author
1967 - Christopher Bowman, American figure skater (d. 2008)
1967 - Hayashibara Megumi, Japanese voice actress and singer
1968 - Donna D'Errico, American actress and model
1968 - Celine Dion, Canadian singer
1970 - Secretariat, American racehorse (d. 1989)
1971 - Mark Consuelos, American actor
1972 - Mili Avital, Israeli-American actress
1973 - Jan Koller, Czech footballer
1973 - Matthew Pritchard Welsh Stuntman
1975 - Bahar Soomekh, American actress
1976 - Mark McClelland, Northern Irish musician (Degrassi)
1976 - Ty Conklin, American ice hockey player
1976 - Obadele Thompson, Barbadian athlete
1978 - Chris Paterson, Scottish rugby player
1979 - Norah Jones, American singer and pianist
1979 - Simon Webbe, English singer
1980 - Ricardo Osorio, Mexican footballer
1980 - Yalin, Turkish singer and songwriter
1980 - Paul Wall, American rapper
1982 - Jason Dohring, American actor
1983 - Jérémie Aliadière, French footballer
1983 - Zach Gowen, American professional wrestler
1983 - Scott Moffatt, Canadian singer and songwriter
1983 - Davis Romero, Panamanian baseball player
1983 - Hebe Tian, Taiwanese singer (S.H.E)
1984 - Mario Ancic, Croatian tennis player
1984 - Anna Nalick, American singer and songwriter
1986 - Beni Arashiro, Japanese singer
1986 - Sergio Ramos, Spanish footballer
Deaths
1950 - Léon Blum, French prime minister (b. 1872)
1959 - Daniil Andreev, Russian writer and mystic (b. 1906)
1965 - Philip Showalter Hench, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1896)
1966 - Maxfield Parrish, American artist (b. 1870)
1966 - Newbold Morris, American politician (b. 1902)
1967 - Jean Toomer, American writer (b. 1894)
1968 - Bobby Driscoll, American actor (b. 1937)
1970 - Heinrich Brüning, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1885)
1972 - Gabriel Heatter, American radio commentator (b. 1890)
1977 - Abdel Halim Hafez, Egyptian singer and actor (b. 1929)
1981 - DeWitt Wallace, American publisher (b. 1889)
1984 - Karl Rahner, German theologian (b. 1904)
1985 - Harold Peary, American actor and singer (heart attack) (b. 1908)
1986 - James Cagney, American actor (b. 1899)
1988 - Edgar Faure, French politician (b. 1908)
1992 - Manolis Andronikos, Greek archeologist, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (b. 1919)
1999 - Gary Morton, American film and television producer (b. 1924)
2002 - Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Queen Mother of the United Kingdom (b. 1900)
2002 - Søren Nystrøm Rasted, Danish Musician, husband of Lene (b. 1969)
2003 - Michael Jeter, American actor (b. 1952)
2003 - Valentin Pavlov, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union (b. 1937)
2004 - Alistair Cooke, English-born journalist (b. 1908)
2004 - Hubert Gregg, British broadcaster (b. 1914)
2004 - Michael King, New Zealand historian (b. 1945)
2004 - Timi Yuro, American singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Emil Dimitrov, Bulgarian singer (b. 1940)
2005 - Robert Creeley, American poet (b. 1926)
2005 - Milton Green, American athlete (b. 1913)
2005 - Fred Korematsu, American civil rights activist (b. 1919)
2005 - O. V. Vijayan, Indian author and cartoonist (b. 1930)
2005 - Derrick Plourde, American drummer (b. 1971)
2006 - Red Hickey, American football coach (b. 1917)
