1940

**1940** (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar.

## Events 
* March 3 – In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of *Norrskenflamman* newspaper of Swedish communists – 5 dead
* March 5- Members of Soviet politburo: Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria himself, signed execution order prepared by Beria & Stalin. Over 25700 Polish intelligentsia, including over 22000 Polish POW, known also as Katyn massacre were slaughtered.
* March 12 – Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War. Finns, and the World opinion, shocked by the harsh terms.
* March 18 – World War II: Axis powers – Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.
* March 21 - Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France. He is replaced by Paul Reynaud.
* April 4 – Prime minister of Greece, Aleksandros Korizis, shoots himself – initial official explanation is "heart attack"
* April 7 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
* April 9 – World War II: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in operation *Weserübung.* The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.
* April 23 – Rhythm Night Club burns in Natchez, Mississippi – 198 dead.
* May 4 – Nazi Germany opens Auschwitz concentration camp
* May 10 - World War II: Germany invades the Netherlands and Belgium.
* May 10 - Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
* May 10 - World War II: British troops land on Iceland.
* June 4 - World War II: British troops are evacuated from Dunkirk.
* August 20 - Leon Trotsky is wounded with an ice pick, dying the next day.
* November 5 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected to a record third term as President of the United States.
* December 30 – California opens the first freeway.

## Births 
* January 2 - Jim Bakker, American televangelist
* January 4 - Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born French writer
* January 21 - Jack Nicklaus, American golfer
* January 22 - John Hurt, British actor
* January 24 - Joachim Gauck, President of Germany
* January 28 - Carlos Slim, Mexican businessman
* February 2 - David Jason, British actor
* February 6 - Tom Brokaw, American television journalist
* February 7 - Tony Tan Keng Yam, President of Singapore
* February 9 - J. M. Coetzee, South African writer
* February 10 - Kenny Rankin, pop and jazz singer and songwriter
* February 17 - Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)
* February 19 - Smokey Robinson, American singer
* February 19 - Saparmurat Niyazov, President of Turkmenistan (d. 2006)
* February 20 - Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
* February 23 – Peter Fonda, American actor (d. 2019)
* February 27 - Bill Hunter, Australian actor (d. 2011)
* February 28 - Mario Andretti, Italian-born racing driver
* March 2 - Billy McNeill, Scottish footballer
* March 7 - Rudi Dutschke, German student leader (d. 1979)
* March 10 - Chuck Norris, American actor
* March 12 - Al Jarreau, American musician
* March 16 - Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian movie director
* March 24 – Bob Mackie, clothing designer
* March 26 - Nancy Pelosi, American politician
* March 26 - James Caan, American actor
* March 28 - Luis Cubilla, Uruguayan footballer (d. 2013)
* April 1 - Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmental and political activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner (d. 2011)
* April 12 - Herbie Hancock, American musician
* April 15 - Jeffrey Archer, British politician and writer
* April 16 – Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen of Denmark
* April 18 - Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist
* April 20 - James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
* April 25 – Al Pacino, American actor
* April 26 - Giorgio Moroder, Italian composer
* May 4 - Sean Barrett, English actor
* May 8 - Peter Benchley, American writer (d. 2006)
* May 8 - Toni Tennille, American singer (Captain & Tennille)
* May 9 - James L. Brooks, American producer and writer
* May 20 – Stan Mikita, Retired Slovakian-Canadian professional ice hockey player
* May 20 - Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
* May 21 - Tony Sheridan, English musician (d. 2013)
* May 24 - Joseph Brodsky, Russian writer (d. 1996)
* May 26 - Levon Helm, American musician and actor (The Band) (d. 2012)
* May 28 - Maeve Binchy, Irish writer (d. 2012)
* May 29 - Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan (d. 2010)
* June 7 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer
* June 8 - Nancy Sinatra, American singer
* June 23 - Adam Faith, British singer (d. 2003)
* June 28 - Muhammad Yunus, Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner
* July 2 - Kenneth Clarke, British politician
* July 3 – Jerzy Buzek, Polish politician
* July 3 - Fontella Bass, American singer (d. 2012)
* July 7 – Ringo Starr, British musician, actor (The Beatles)
* July 13 - Patrick Stewart, British actor
* July 15 - Robert Winstone, British scientist
* July 27 - Pina Bausch, German choreographer (d. 2009)
* August 3 - Martin Sheen, American actor
* August 16 - Bruce Beresford, Australian director
* August 26 - Don LaFontaine, American actor (d. 2008)
* September 5 - Raquel Welch, American actress
* September 7 - Abdurrahman Wahid, President of Indonesia (d. 2009)
* September 20 - Taro Aso, former Prime Minister of Japan
* September 21 - Rick May, Canadian-American voice actor (d. 2020)
* September 29 – John Miszuk, retired Polish professional ice hockey player
* October 9 – John Lennon, British musician (The Beatles) (died 1980)
* October 14 - Cliff Richard, British singer (Cliff Richard And The Shadows)
* October 19 - Michael Gambon, British actor
* October 21 - Manfred Mann, musician (Manfred Mann)
* October 23 - Pele, Brazilian footballer
* November 5 - Anthony Rolfe Johnson, British tenor (d. 2010)
* November 10 - Screaming Lord Sutch, British musician and politician (d. 1999)
* November 15 - Sam Waterston, American actor
* November 18 - Qaboos, Sultan of Oman (d. 2020)
* November 21 - Doctor John, American musician
* November 22 – Terry Gilliam, American-born British animator, movie maker
* November 27 - Bruce Lee, American actor and martial artist (d. 1973)
* November 29 - Denny Doherty, Canadian singer and musician (The Mamas & the Papas) (d. 2007)
* December 1 – Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)
* December 12 – Dionne Warwick, American singer
* December 18 - Bram Morrison, Canadian singer and musician (Sharon, Lois & Bram)
* December 21 - Frank Zappa, American musician (d. 1993)
* December 28 - Don Francisco, Chilean television host

## Deaths 
* January 4 – Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedienne (b. 1869)
* January 18 – Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (b. 1865)
* January 27 – Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
* February 11 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)
* March 10 – Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)
* March 16 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
* March 20 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)
* March 31 – Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)
* April 26 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
* May 15 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)
* May 20 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
* May 25 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian movie director (b. 1873)
* May 28 – Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)
* June 10 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b. 1887)
* June 17 – Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
* June 21 – Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)
* June 29 – Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)
* July 15 – Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man in the world (infection) (b. 1918)
* August 8 – Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinettist (b. 1892)
* August 18 – Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)
* August 21 – Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)
* August 22 – Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)
* August 30 – J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)
* October 10 – Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)
* November 9 – Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)
* December 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)
* December 19 – Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)
* December 21 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)
* December 25 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)