Events

Up to 1950 
 489  Battle of Verona: The Ostrogoths under King Theoderic the Great defeat the forces of Odoacer for the second time in Verona, present-day Northern Italy.
 1061  Pope Alexander II is elected.
 1399  Henry IV is proclaimed King of England.
 1512  A rock avalanche buries most of the town of Biasca in Ticino, in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. Hundreds of people are killed.
 1744  France and Spain defeat the Kingdom of Sardinia at the Battle of Madonna dell'Olmo.
 1791  First performance of The Magic Flute: This is the last opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to have its premiere.
 1791  The National Constituent Assembly in Paris is dissolved; Parisians hail Maximilien Robespierre and Jerome Petion as 'incorruptible patriots'.
 1813  Battle of Bárbula: Simón Bolívar defeats Santiago Bobadilla.
 1860  The UK's first tram service begins in Birkenhead, Merseyside.
 1867  The US takes control of the Midway Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
 1882  The world's first commercial hydroelectric power plant (later known as Appleton Edison Light Company) begins operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States.
 1885  Bechuanaland, in present-day Botswana, becomes a British Protectorate.
 1888  Jack the Ripper kills his third and fourth victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
 1895  Madagascar becomes a French protectorate.
 1906  Real Academia Galega, Galician language biggest linguistic authority starts working in Havana.
 1907  Opening of the McKinley National Memorial in Canton, Ohio. It is the final resting place of US President William McKinley and his family.
 1911  The dam of the Austin Reservoir in Pennsylvania bursts, killing 78 people.
 1915  A Serbian army private becomes the first soldier in history to shoot down an enemy aircraft with ground-to-air fire.
 1927  Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a single season.
 1935  The Hoover Dam, astride the border between the U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada, is dedicated.
 1935  "The Adventures of Dick Tracy" is first heard on the Mutual Radio Network.
 1938  The Munich Pact is signed.
 1938  The League of Nations unanimously outlaws "intentional bombings of civilian populations".
 1939  General Władysław Sikorski becomes commander-in-chief of the Polish Government in exile.
 1941  Holocaust: The Nazis complete the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine, in which thousands of people are killed.
 1945  The Bourne End rail crash in Hertfordshire, England, kills 43 people.
 1947  The Islamic Republic of Pakistan joined the United Nations.
 1947  Baseball: The World Series, featuring New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers, is televised for the first time.
 1949  The Berlin Airlift ends.
 1950  Korean War: South Korean troops cross the 38th Parallel for the first time.

1951  2000 
 1953  On board the bathyscaphe Trieste, Auguste Piccard and Jacques Piccard travel to a depth 3,150 meters below the surface of the sea, which at that time had been the deepest point anyone had travelled.
 1954  The U.S. Navy submarine [[USS Nautilus (SSN-571)|USS Nautilus]] is commissioned as the world's first nuclear reactor powered vessel.
 1955  James Dean dies in a car crash.
 1960  The last episode of The Howdy Doody Show airs on NBC.
 1960  The first episode of The Flintstones is shown on television.
 1962  Mexican-American labor leader César Chávez founds the United Farm Workers.
 1962  James Meredith enters the University of Mississippi, defying segregation.
 1962  Last episodes of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar broadcast on CBS Radio, marking the end of The Golden Age of Radio.
 1965  Civil unrest follows a failed coup attempt by Indonesia Communist Party (PKI). More than a million people died.
 1966  The British protectorate of Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana. Seretse Khama takes office as the first President.
 1967  BBC Radio 1 is launched; the BBC's other national radio stations also adopt numeric names. Tony Blackburn presents the first show.
 1967  Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation is launched in Colombo; the station was formerly known as Radio Ceylon.
 1968  The Boeing 747 is rolled out and shown to the public for the first time.
 1970  Jordan makes a deal with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine for the release of the remaining  hostages from the Dawson's Field hijackings.
 1972  Baseball: Roberto Clemente has the 3,000th hit of his career.
 1975  The Hughes (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.
 1976  Muhammad Ali defends his Heavyweight Boxing Title, against Ken Norton.
 1979  Niki Lauda retires from Formula One racing.
 1980  Ethernet specifications published by Xerox working with Intel and Digital Equipment Corporation.
 1982  Cyanide-laced Tylenol kills six people in the Chicago area. Seven were killed in all. The incident is known as the Tylenol scare.
 1982  The TV sitcom Cheers premieres.
 1986  Mordechai Vanunu, who revealed Israel's covert nuclear programme to British media, is kidnapped in Rome by the Israeli Mossad.
 1989  Foreign Minister of West Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher's speech from the balcony of the German embassy in Prague.
 1991  President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti is forced from office.
 1993  An earthquake hits India's Latur and Osmanabad district of Marathwada (Aurangabad division) in Maharashtra state leaving tens of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.
 1997  Origin Systems Inc. releases Ultima Online, a massively multiplayer game, opening the door for a new video gaming genre.
 1999  Japan's then-worst nuclear accident occurs at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokai-mura, northeast of Tokyo. Workers overload a container with uranium, exposing workers and local residents to very high radiation levels.

From 2001 
 2004  AIM-54 Phoenix which became the primary missile for the Northrop Grumman F-14 Tomcat retired from U.S. Navy.
 2004  The first images of a live giant squid in its natural habitat is taken 600 miles south of Tokyo.
 2005  The Parliament of Catalonia passes with 120 plus votes and 15 against, the Project of New Catalan Statute of Autonomy, proclaiming in its article 1, "Catalonia is a nation".
 2005  The controversial drawings of Muhammad are printed in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
 2009  A magnitude 7.6 earthquake strikes western Sumatra, killing over 1,000 people.
 2010  In Ecuador, police officers, supported by parts of the army, attempt a failed coup against President Rafael Correa.
 2012  British entertainer Jimmy Savile, who had died in October 2011, is revealed to have carried out sexual abuses over a period of decades.
 2012  Europe wins the Ryder Cup golf tournament, with a comeback against the United States from 10-6 behind to win 14.5 to 13.5.
 2013  Pope Francis announces that Pope John Paul II is to become a saint in April 2014, nine years after his death.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1207  Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1273).
 1227  Pope Nicholas IV (d. 1292).
 1530  Geronimo Mercuriali, Italian philologist (d. 1606).
 1550  Michael Maestlin, German mathematician (d. 1631).
 1689  Jacques Aubert, French composer and violinist (d. 1753).
 1710  John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, British statesman (d. 1771).
 1710  Stanislaw Konarski, Polish monk, poet and playwright (d. 1773).
 1715  Etienne Bonnot de Condillac, French philosopher (d. 1780).
 1732  Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician (d. 1804).
 1743  Christian Ehregott Weinlig, German composer (d. 1813).
 1765  José Maria Morelos, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1815).
 1800  Decimus Burton, English architect (d. 1881).
 1811  Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Queen of Prussia and Empress of Germany (d. 1890).
 1813  John Rae, Orcadian physician and explorer of the Canadian Arctic (d. 1893)
 1827  Ellis H. Roberts, American politician (d. 1918).
 1832  Ann Jarvis, American labor activist (d. 1905).
 1833  Ferdinand von Saar, Austrian writer (d. 1906).
 1836  Remigio Morales Bermúdez, President of Peru (d. 1894).
 1848  Robert Walker Macbeth, Scottish painter (d. 1910).
 1852  Charles Villiers Stanford, Irish composer, conductor and educator (d. 1924)
 1859  George Henry Slight, Scottish engineer, creator of the Chilean lighthouse service (d. 1934)
 1861  William Wrigley, Jr., American industrialist (d. 1932).
 1868  José Serrato, 24th President of Uruguay (d. 1960).
 1870  Jean Baptiste Perrin, French physicist (d. 1942).
 1882  Hans Geiger, German physicist (d. 1945).
 1883  Nora Stanton Blatch Barney, British-born American engineer, architect and Women's Rights activist (d. 1945).
 1883  Bernhard Rust, Nazi education minister (d. 1945).
 1887  Lil Dagover, Dutch-born actress (d. 1980).
 1891  Otto Schmidt, Russian politician, mathematician, geophysicist and Arctic explorer (d. 1956).
 1895  Lewis Milestone, Russian-born movie director (d. 1980).
 1897  Gaspar Cassado, Spanish cellist and composer (d. 1966).
 1898  Princess Charlotte of Monaco (d. 1977).

1901  1950 
 1902  Ryuzo Shimizu, Japanese footballer (date of death unknown).
 1904  Waldo Williams, Welsh poet (d. 1971).
 1905  Nevill Francis Mott, English physicist (d. 1996).
 1905  Michael Powell, British screenwriter, movie director and producer (d. 1990).
 1906  Mireille Hartuch, French singer, composer and actress (d. 1996).
 1908  David Oistrakh, Ukrainian violinist (d. 1974).
 1910  Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish military officer (d. 1962).
 1912  Kenny Baker, American singer and actor (d. 1985).
 1913  Bill Walsh, American movie producer and writer (d. 1975).
 1914  Baby Ray, American football player (d. 1986).
 1915  Lester Maddox, American politician, Governor of Georgia (d. 2003).
 1916  Richard K. Guy, British mathematician
 1917  Yuri Lyubimov, Russian stage actor and director (d. 2014).
 1917  Pak Chong Hui, President of South Korea (d. 1979).
 1917  Buddy Rich, American big band jazz drummer (d. 1987).
 1918  René Rémond, French historian and economist (d. 2007).
 1918  Giovanni Canestri, Italian cardinal (d. 2015).
 1919  William L. Guy, 26th Governor of North Dakota (d. 2013).
 1920  Eileen Chang, Chinese writer (d. 1995).
 1921  Deborah Kerr, Scottish actress (d. 2007).
 1921  Stanislaw Nagy, Polish cardinal (d. 2013).
 1922  Oscar Pettiford, American jazz musician and composer (d. 1960).
 1924  Truman Capote, American writer (d. 1984).
 1926  Heino Kruus, Estonian basketball player and coach (d. 2012).
 1927  Hossein Dehlavi, Iranian composer (d. 2019).
 1927  W. S. Merwin, American poet (d. 2019).
 1928  Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born Holocaust survivor, activist and writer, Nobel Peace Prize winner (d. 2016).
 1928  Takeshi Inoue, Japanese footballer (d. 1992).
 1929  Helen M. Marshall, American politician (d. 2017).
 1931  Angie Dickinson, American actress.
 1931  Teresa Gorman, English politician (d. 2015).
 1932  Shintaro Ishihara, Japanese writer and politician.
 1932  Anthony Hawkins, Australian actor.
 1933  Michel Aoun, President of Lebanon.
 1933  Cissy Houston, American singer.
 1934  Marco Dezzi Bardeschi, Italian architect (d. 2018).
 1934  Udo Jürgens, Austrian singer (d. 2014).
 1934  Anna Kashfi, Indian-born actress (d. 2015).
 1935  Johnny Mathis, American singer.
 1936  Jim Sasser, 6th United States Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.
 1939  Jean-Marie Lehn, French chemist.
 1940  Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, English politician.
 1941  Kamalesh Sharma, 5th Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations.
 1942  Frankie Lymon, American rock and roll musician (d. 1968).
 1943  Johann Deisenhofer, German chemist.
 1943  Ian Ogilvy, English actor.
 1944  Jimmy Johnstone, Scottish footballer (d. 2006).
 1945  Ehud Olmert, Israeli politician, former Prime Minister of Israel.
 1945  José Manuel Fuente, Spanish cyclist (d. 1996).
 1946  Fran Brill, American actress, singer and puppeteer.
 1946  Claude Vorilhon, French journalist.
 1946  Héctor Lavoe, Puerto Rican salsa singer (d. 1993).
 1947  Marc Bolan, English rock musician (d. 1977).
 1947  Rula Lenska, English actress.
 1950  Laura Esquivel, Mexican author.

1951  1975 
 1951  Barry Marshall, Australian physician.
 1951  Simon White, English astrophysicist and academic.
 1952  John Lombardo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
 1954  Mitch Lewis, Canadian multi-instrumentalist
 1954  Basia, Polish singer-songwriter.
 1955  Andy Bechtolsheim, German engineer, co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
 1956  Frank Arnesen, Danish footballer.
 1957  Fran Drescher, American actress, producer, comedienne and activist.
 1958  Marty Stuart, American country musician.
 1959  Debrah Farentino, American actress.
 1959  Ettore Messina, Italian basketball player and coach.
 1960  Blanche Lincoln, American politician.
 1961  Eric Stoltz, American actor.
 1961  Crystal Bernard, American singer-songwriter and actress.
 1961  Mel Stride, English politician.
 1962  Frank Rijkaard, Dutch footballer.
 1964  Monica Bellucci, Italian actress.
 1964  Trey Anastasio, American singer-songwriter and guitarist.
 1964  Robby Takac, American singer-songwriter and bass player.
 1965  Omid Djalili, English comedian and actor.
 1965  Matt Fallon, American singer-songwriter
 1965  Kathleen Madigan, American comedienne and actress.
 1966  Gary Armstrong, Scottish rugby player.
 1967  Steve Kean, Scottish football manager.
 1969  Alex Rae, Scottish footballer.
 1970  Damian Mori, American actor.
 1970  Prosenjit Chatterjee, Indian actor and producer.
 1971  Giancarlo Judica Cordiglia, Italian actor.
 1971  Jenna Elfman, American actress.
 1972  Ari Behn, Norwegian writer.
 1974  Tom Greatrex, English politician.
 1974  Daniel Wu, American-Hong Kong actor, director and producer.
 1975  Marion Cotillard, French actress.
 1975  Carlos Guillén, Venezuelan baseball player.
 1975  Wopke Hoekstra, Dutch politician.

From 1976 
 1977  Sun Juhai, Chinese footballer.
 1977  Roy Carroll, Northern Irish footballer.
 1978  Candice Michelle, American female wrestler.
 1979  Andy van der Meyde, Dutch footballer.
 1979  Primoz Kozmus, Slovenian hammer thrower.
 1979  Cameron Bruce, Australian footballer.
 1980  Christian Cantwell, American shot putter.
 1980  Martina Hingis, Swiss tennis player.
 1981  Cecelia Ahern, Irish writer.
 1982  Lacey Chabert, American actress.
 1982  Kieran Culkin, American actor.
 1982  Ola Jordan, Polish-British ballroom dancer.
 1982  Teal Redmann, American actress.
 1982  Yan Stastny, Canadian ice hockey player.
 1984  Keisha Buchanan, English singer (Sugababes).
 1984  Georgios Eleftheriou, Greek footballer.
 1985  Dmytro Grabovskyy, Ukrainian cyclist (d. 2017).
 1985  T-Pain, American rapper.
 1985  Cristian Rodríguez, Uruguayan footballer.
 1986  Olivier Giroud, French footballer.
 1986  Cristian Zapata, Colombian footballer.
 1987  Lauren Holiday, American soccer player.
 1987  Rumi Harai, Japanese actress, model and gymnast.
 1992  Ezra Miller, American actor.
 1994  Aliya Mustafina, Russian gymnast.
 1996  Lewis Morgan, Scottish footballer.
 1997  Yana Kudryavtseva, Russian rhythmic gymnast.
 1997  Max Verstappen, Belgian-Dutch racing driver.
 2002  Maddie Ziegler, American dancer and actress.

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 420  Jerome, Roman priest, theologian and historian (b. 347)
 653  Saint Honorius, Archbishop of Canterbury 
 954  King Louis IV of France (b. 920)
 1101  Anselm IV, Archbishop of Milan
 1246  Yaroslav II of Russia (b. 1191)
 1440  Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey of Ruthin, Welsh soldier and politician (b. 1362)
 1487  John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1400)
 1560  Melchior Cano, Spanish theologian (b. 1525)
 1572  Saint Francis of Borgia, Jesuit priest (b. 1510)
 1626  Taizu Emperor, Chinese Emperor (b. 1559)
 1628  Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, English poet and politician (b. 1554)
 1770  Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, English politician and diplomat (b. 1695)
 1865  Samuel David Luzzatto, Italian poet and scholar (b. 1800)
 1888  Elizabeth Stride, victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1843)
 1888  Catherine Eddowes, victim of Jack the Ripper (b. 1843)
 1891  Georges Boulanger, French general and politician (b. 1837)
 1897  Therese of Liseaux, French nun and saint (b. 1873)

1901  2000 
 1910  Maurice Levy, French engineer (b. 1838)
 1914  Yu Kil-chun, Korean politician (b. 1856)
 1932  Constantin Coanda, Romanian politician (b. 1857)
 1934  Giuseppe Mori, Italian cardinal (b. 1850)
 1942  Hans-Joachim Marseille, German pilot (b. 1919)
 1943  Franz Oppenheimer, German sociologist (b. 1864)
 1948  Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States (b. 1861)
 1953  Lewis Fry Richardson, British meteorologist (b. 1881)
 1955  James Dean, American actor (b. 1931)
 1973  Peter Pitseolak, Canadian photographer and actor (b. 1902)
 1974  Carlos Prats, Chilean Constitutionalist General (b. 1915)
 1977  Mary Ford, American singer (b. 1924)
 1985  Simone Signoret, French actress (b. 1921)
 1985  Charles Richter, American seismologist (b. 1900)
 1990  Patrick White, Australian writer (b. 1912)
 1994  André Michael Lwoff, French microbiologist (b. 1902)
 1994  Roberto Eduardo Viola, Argentine politician (b. 1924)

From 2001 
 2002  Göran Kropp, Swedish mountaineer (b. 1966)
 2002  Hans-Peter Tschudi, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1913)
 2003  Robert Kardashian, American lawyer (b. 1944)
 2004  Gamini Fonseka, Sri Lankan actor, director and politician (b. 1936)
 2004  Jacques Levy, American director and songwriter (b. 1935)
 2004  Michael Relph, English director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1915)
 2007  Joe Mitty, English humanitarian, founder of Oxfam (b. 1919)
 2010  Stephen J. Cannell, American television producer (b. 1941)
 2011  Anwar al-Awlaki, American-born terrorist and Islamist militant (b. 1971)
 2011  Ralph M. Steinman, Canadian immunologist (b. 1943)
 2012  Barbara Ann Scott, Canadian figure skater (b. 1928)
 2012  Barry Commoner, American biologist (b. 1917)
 2013  Kazys Bobelis, Lithuanian politician (b. 1923)
 2013  Rangel Valchanov, Bulgarian actor and director (b. 1928)
 2014  Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Kashmiri Shia cleric, politician and businessman (b. 1942)
 2014  Jerrie Mock, American pilot (b. 1925)
 2014  Martin Lewis Perl, American physicist (b. 1927)
 2015  Kelly Gissendaner, American criminal (b. 1968)
 2015  Claude Dauphin, French businessman (b. 1951)
 2015  Guido Altarelli, Italian theoretical physicist (b. 1941)
 2015  Ricky Talan, Dutch footballer (b. 1960)
 2016  Oscar Brand, Canadian-American folk singer-songwriter and author (b. 1920)
 2016  Mike Towell, Scottish boxer (b. 1991) 
 2017  Monty Hall, Canadian-American game show host (b. 1921)
 2017  Frank Hamblen, American basketball coach (b. 1947)
 2017  Donald Malarkey, American army officer (b. 1921)
 2017  Joe Tiller, American football player (b. 1942)
 2017  Vladimir Voevodsky, Russian-American mathematician (b. 1966) 
 2018  Edredon Bleu, British-bred racehorse (b. 1992)
 2018  Geoffrey Hayes, English television presenter and actor (b. 1942)
 2018  Kim Larsen, Danish rock musician (b. 1945)
 2018  René Pétillon, French cartoonist (b. 1945)
 2019  David Akers-Jones, British politician (b. 1927)
 2019  Wayne Fitzgerald, American film and television title designer (b. 1930)
 2019  Viju Khote, Indian actor (b. 1941)
 2019  Kornel Morawiecki, Polish politician and theoretical physicist (b. 1941)
 2019  Jessye Norman, American opera singer (b. 1945)
 2019  Ben Pon, Dutch racing driver (b. 1936)

Observances 
 Independence Day (Botswana)
 International Translation Day (after Jerome, Bible translator)

Days of the year