Events
January
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
– The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
ceases to demand
war reparations from
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
.
*
January 3
Events Pre-1600
*AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor.
* 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...
– The Italian broadcaster
RAI officially begins transmitting.
*
January 7
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting.
* 1325 – Alfonso IV ...
–
Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a
machine translation
Machine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT (not to be confused with computer-aided translation, machine-aided human translation or interactive translation), is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates t ...
system is held in New York, at the head office of
IBM.
*
January 10
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon, signalling the start of civil war.
* 9 – The Western Han dynasty ends when Wang Mang claims that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the dynasty and the be ...
–
BOAC Flight 781
BOAC Flight 781 was a scheduled British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) passenger flight from Singapore to London. On 10 January 1954, a de Havilland Comet passenger jet operating the flight suffered an explosive decompression at altitude an ...
, a
de Havilland Comet
The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four d ...
jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to
metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near
Elba; all 35 people on board are killed.
*
January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
*1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned s ...
–
Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and earth ...
s in Austria kill more than 200.
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
–
Mau Mau leader
Waruhiu Itote is captured in
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
.
*
January 17
Events Pre-1600
* 38 BC – Octavian divorces his wife Scribonia and marries Livia Drusilla, ending the fragile peace between the Second Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey.
* 1362 – Saint Marcellus' flood kills at least 25,000 people on ...
– In
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
,
Milovan Đilas
Milovan Djilas (; , ; 12 June 1911 – 30 April 1995) was a Yugoslav communist politician, theorist and author. He was a key figure in the Partisan movement during World War II, as well as in the post-war government. A self-identified democrat ...
, one of the leading members of the
League of Communists of Yugoslavia
The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...
, is relieved of his duties.
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
– The US-based
National Negro Network
The National Negro Network was a black-oriented radio programming service in the United States founded on January 20, 1954 by Chicago advertiser W. Leonard Evans, Jr. It was the first black-owned radio network in the country, and its programming ...
is established, with 46 member
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s.
*
January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Co ...
– The first nuclear-powered
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
, the , is launched in
Groton, Connecticut
Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...
, by
First Lady of the United States
The first lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is the title held by the hostess of the White House, usually the wife of the president of the United States, concurrent with the president's term in office. Although the first lady's role has never ...
Mamie Eisenhower.
*
January 25
Events Pre-1600
* 41 – After a night of negotiation, Claudius is accepted as Roman emperor by the Senate.
* 750 – In the Battle of the Zab, the Abbasid rebels defeat the Umayyad Caliphate, leading to the overthrow of the dynasty ...
– The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the
Berlin Conference.
February
*
February 10
Events Pre-1600
* 1258 – Mongol invasions: Baghdad falls to the Mongols, bringing the Islamic Golden Age to an end.
* 1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, sparkin ...
– After authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
,
President of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
warns against his country's intervention in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
.
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
–
1954 transfer of Crimea
The transfer of the Crimean Oblast in the Soviet Union in 1954 was an administrative action of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that transferred the government of the Crimean Peninsula from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainia ...
: The
Soviet Politburo of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
orders the transfer the
Crimean Oblast from the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
to the
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
(
Invaded and annexed by Russia in
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
).
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
– The first mass
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
of children against
polio
Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
begins in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, United States.
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Lt. Col.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
becomes premier of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
.
March
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
** U.S. officials announce that a
hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
test (
Castle Bravo) has been conducted, on
Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
**
U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four
Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
chamber and wound 5; they are apprehended by security guards.
*
March 9
Events Pre-1600
*141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.
*1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
* 1226 – ...
– American journalists
Edward R. Murrow and
Fred W. Friendly
Fred W. Friendly (born Ferdinand Friendly Wachenheimer, October 30, 1915 – March 3, 1998) was a president of CBS News and the creator, along with Edward R. Murrow, of the documentary television program '' See It Now''. He originated the concep ...
produce a 30-minute ''
See It Now
''See It Now'' is an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, with Murrow as the host of the show. From 1952 to 1957, ''See It Now'' won four Emmy A ...
'' documentary, entitled ''
A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy''.
*
March 12
Events Pre-1600
* 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.
* 1088 – Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Cat ...
– Finland and Germany officially end their state of war.
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
–
Việt Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Front ...
forces under General
Võ Nguyên Giáp began a massive artillery bombardment on the French military, beginning the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...
, the climactic battle of the
First Indochina War.
*
March 19 –
Joey Giardello
Carmine Orlando Tilelli (July 16, 1930 – September 4, 2008) was an American boxer who was the world middleweight champion from 1963 to 1965,. He adopted the name Joey Giardello (the name of a cousin's friend) in order to join the U.S. Army whil ...
knocks out Willie Tory at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in the first
televised boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
prize fight to be shown in colour.
*
March 23 – In Vietnam, the
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
capture the main airstrip of
Dien Bien Phu. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated.
*
March 25
Events Pre-1600
* 421 – Italian city Venice is founded with the dedication of the first church, that of San Giacomo di Rialto on the islet of Rialto.
* 708 – Pope Constantine becomes the 88th pope. He would be the last pope to vi ...
** The
26th Academy Awards
The 26th Academy Awards were held on March 25, 1954, simultaneously at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood (hosted by Fredric March), and the NBC Century Theatre in New York City (hosted by Donald O'Connor).
The second national telecast of ...
Ceremony is held.
** The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
recognises the
sovereignty
Sovereignty is the defining authority within individual consciousness, social construct, or territory. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within the state, as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the perso ...
of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. Soviet troops remain in the country.
*
March 27 – The
Castle Romeo
Castle Romeo was the code name given to one of the tests in the Operation Castle series of U.S. nuclear tests. It was the first test of the TX-17 thermonuclear weapon, the first deployed thermonuclear bomb.
It was detonated on March 26, 1954, a ...
nuclear test explosion is executed at
Bikini Atoll, in the
Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Internati ...
.
*
March 28
Events Pre-1600
* AD 37 – Roman emperor Caligula accepts the titles of the Principate, bestowed on him by the Senate.
* 193 – After assassinating the Roman Emperor Pertinax, his Praetorian Guards auction off the throne to Di ...
** The trial of
A. L. Zissu
Abraham Leib Zissu (first name also Avram, middle name also Leiba or Leibu; he, אברהם לייב זיסו; January 25, 1888 – September 6, 1956) was a Romanian writer, political essayist, industrialist, and spokesman of the Jewish Romanian ...
and 12 other Zionist leaders ends with harsh sentences in
Communist Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist One-party state, one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the s ...
.
** Puerto Rico's first television station, ''
WKAQ-TV'', commences
broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...
.
*
March 29 – A
C-47 transport with French nurse
Geneviève de Galard
Geneviève de Galard (born 13 April 1925) is a French nurse who was dubbed ''l'ange de Dien Bien Phu'' ("the Angel of Dien Bien Phu") during the French war in Indochina by the press in Hanoi, although in the camp she was known simply as Genevièv ...
on board is wrecked on the runway at
Dien Bien Phu.
*
March 30 – The first operational
subway line
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
in Canada opens in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
April
*
April 1
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
*1081 – Alexios I Kom ...
** The
U.S. Congress and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
authorize the founding of the
United States Air Force Academy
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...
in
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
.
**
South Point School
South Point is a higher-secondary co-educational private school located in Kolkata, West Bengal and affiliated to Central Board of Secondary Education, consisting of three organisations – South Point School (Nursery to Class V), South Poi ...
in India is founded, and becomes the largest school in the world by
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
.
*
April 3 –
Petrov Affair: Diplomat
Vladimir Petrov defects from the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and asks for
political asylum
The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another enti ...
in Australia.
*
April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
– Legendary symphony conductor
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At this concert's end, his retirement is announced, and he never conducts in public again.
*
April 7 –
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
gives his "
domino theory" speech, during a news conference.
*
April 8
Events Pre-1600
* 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
*1139 – Ro ...
– A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
collides with a
Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair North Star
The Canadair North Star is a 1940s Canadian development, for Trans-Canada Air Lines (TCA), of the Douglas DC-4. Instead of radial piston engines used by the Douglas design, Canadair used Rolls-Royce Merlin V12 engines to achieve a higher cruisin ...
over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
*
April 11
** This day is denoted as the most boring day in the 20th century by
True Knowledge
Evi (formerly True Knowledge) is a technology company in Cambridge, England, founded by William Tunstall-Pedoe, , an
answer engine
Question answering (QA) is a computer science discipline within the fields of information retrieval and natural language processing (NLP), which is concerned with building systems that automatically answer questions posed by humans in a natural la ...
developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe. No significant newsworthy events, births, or deaths are known to have happened on this day.
** In a
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, the dominant
Christian Social Party wins 95 of the 212 seats in the
Chamber of Representatives, and 49 of the 106 seats in the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. The government led by
Jean Van Houtte
Jean (Jan) Marie Joseph, Baron Van Houtte (17 March 1907 – 23 May 1991) was a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1952 to 1954.
Born in Ghent, van Houtte held a doctorate in law and lectured at Ghent Univer ...
loses their majority in parliament. The two other main parties, the
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and
Liberal Party, subsequently form a rare "
purple
Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, pu ...
" government, with
Achille Van Acker as Prime Minister.
*
April 12 –
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1947 that continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group record ...
record "
Rock Around the Clock
"Rock Around the Clock" is a rock and roll song in the 12-bar blues format written by Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers (the latter being under the pseudonym "Jimmy De Knight") in 1952. The best-known and most successful rendition was record ...
" in their first session for American Decca in New York City; it is released on May 20 as a B-side, but only in
1955
Events January
* January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama.
* January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut.
* January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...
becomes a #1 hit, helping to initiate the
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
craze.
*
April 14
Events Pre-1600
* 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
* 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
**
Aneurin Bevan
Aneurin "Nye" Bevan PC (; 15 November 1897 – 6 July 1960) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, noted for tenure as Minister of Health in Clement Attlee's government in which he spearheaded the creation of the British National Health ...
resigns from the
British Labour Party
The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...
's
Shadow Cabinet in protest over his party's failure to oppose the rearmament of West Germany.
** A Soviet spy ring in Australia is unveiled.
*
April 16 – Vice President
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
announces that the United States may be "putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support".
*
April 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil.
* 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
* 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern ...
** The
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the United ...
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention or the Geneva Convention of 28 July 1951, is a United Nations multilateral treaty that defines who a refugee is, and sets out the rights of individual ...
comes into force, defining the status of
refugee
A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution. s and setting out the basis for granting
right of asylum.
**
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
begins hearings investigating the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
for being "soft" on
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
*
April 26
** An
international conference on Korea and Indo-China opens in Geneva.
**
Akira Kurosawa's ''
Seven Samurai
is a 1954 Japanese epic samurai drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The story takes place in 1586 during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. It follows the story of a village of desperate farmers who hire seven ...
'' is released in Japan.
*
April 28 – U.S. Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...
accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
guerrillas.
May
*
May 1 – The
Unification Church is founded in South Korea.
*
May 4 – General
Alfredo Stroessner deposes
Federico Chávez
Federico Chávez Careaga (February 15, 1882 – April 24, 1978) was a Paraguayan politician and soldier who served as President of Paraguay from September 10, 1949, to May 4, 1954. He was a member of the Colorado Party.
Early life
Chávez wa ...
in a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...
in
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
; from August 15 he will hold the office of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
until
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
.
* May 6 – Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four minute mile, in Oxford, England.
* May 7 – Vietnam War (run-up): The
Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Điện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...
ends in a French defeat (the battle began on
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
).
* May 8 – The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is formed in Manila, Philippines.
* May 11 – U.S. Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
John Foster Dulles (, ; February 25, 1888 – May 24, 1959) was an American diplomat, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. He served as United States Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959 and was briefly ...
declares that Indochina is important but not essential to the security of Southeast Asia, thus ending any prospect of American intervention on the side of France.
* May 14
** The Boeing 707 airplane is released, after about 2 years of development.
** The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted in The Hague, Netherlands.
* May 15 – The Latin Union (''Unión Latina'') is created by the Convention of Madrid. Its member countries use the five Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian. It will suspend operations in 2012.
* May 17
** ''Brown v. Board of Education'' (347 US 483 1954): The Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
** The Royal Commission on the
Petrov Affair in Australia begins its inquiry.
** Adnan Menderes of the Democratic Party (Turkey, current), Democratic Party forms the new (21st) government of Turkey.
* May 20 – Chiang Kai-shek is re-elected as the president of the Republic of China, by the National Assembly of the Republic of China, National Assembly.
* May 22 – The common Nordic Passport Union, Nordic Labour Market act is signed.
* May 26 – A fire on board the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Bennington (CV-20), USS ''Bennington'', off Narragansett Bay, Massachusetts, kills 103 sailors.
* May 29
** 1954 Australian federal election: Robert Menzies' Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal/National Party of Australia, Country Coalition (Australia), Coalition Menzies Government (1949-66), Government is re-elected with a decreased majority, defeating the Australian Labor Party, Labor Party led by H.V. Evatt. The election has come shortly after the
Petrov Affair, arguably helping the Government survive what was initially predicted to be a defeat.
** Creation and first meeting of the Bilderberg Group.
** Diane Leather becomes the first woman to run a sub-five minute mile, in Birmingham, England.
June
* June 6 – The grand opening of the Statue of Yuriy Dolgorukiy, Moscow, sculpture of Yuriy Dolgorukiy takes place in Moscow (this statue is one of the main monuments of Moscow).
* June 7 – English cryptanalyst, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, age 41, commits suicide by cyanide poisoning.
* June 9 – McCarthyism: Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
, lashes out at
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
, during hearings on whether
Communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
has infiltrated the Army, saying, "Have you, at long last, no decency?"
* June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance (United States), Pledge of Allegiance.
* June 15 – The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
* June 17 – A 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala.
* June 18 – Pierre Mendès France becomes prime minister of France.
* June 22
** Sarah Mae Flemming is expelled from a bus in South Carolina, for sitting in a white-only section.
** Parker–Hulme murder case: Pauline Parker, 16 and her friend Juliet Hulme, 15, bludgeon Parker's mother to death using a brick, at Victoria Park, Christchurch, Victoria Park in New Zealand.
* June 27
** Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz steps down in a Central Intelligence Agency, CIA-sponsored 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état, military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years.
** The world's first nuclear power, atomic power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow.
July
* July 1
** The Nordic Passport Union, Common Nordic Labor Market Act comes into effect.
** The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters.
* July 4
**Rationing in the United Kingdom, Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end.
**1954 FIFA World Cup Final, "Miracle of Bern": Germany national football team, West Germany beats Hungary national football team, Hungary 1954 FIFA World Cup Final, 3–2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
* July 10 – Peter Thomson (golfer), Peter Thomson becomes the first Australian to win the The Open Championship, British Open Golf Championship.
* July 15
** The Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), prototype of the Boeing 707 series, makes its maiden flight.
** Juan Manuel Fangio, Juan Fangio, Argentina, Argentine driver for German Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix team Mercedes-Benz, makes a new fastest lap of the Silverstone Circuit, with an average speed of 100.35 mph, the previous record being 100.16 mph.
* July 19 – Release of Elvis Presley's first single, "That's All Right", by Sun Records (recorded July 5 in Memphis, Tennessee).
* July 21 –
First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference (1954), Geneva Conference sends French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a ceasefire line, and calls for elections to decide the government for all of
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
by July 1956. Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement leads to the establishment of the de facto regimes of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, and the Vietnam War.
* July 29 – ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', the first of three volumes in J.R.R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, ''The Lord of the Rings'', is published in London.
* July 31 – 1954 Italian expedition to K2: Italian mountaineers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni become the first to reach the summit of the second highest mountain in the world, in the Karakoram range.
August
* August 1 – The
First Indochina War ends with the Vietnam People's Army in North Vietnam, the Vietnamese National Army in South Vietnam, the Kingdom of Cambodia (1953–70), Kingdom of Cambodia in Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Laos in Laos, emerging victorious against the French Army.
* August 6 – Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure. She is the first of the five to perish; three live into the 21st century.
* August 16 – The first issue of ''Sports Illustrated'' magazine is published in the United States.
* August 23 – A United States Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules makes its first flight at Burbank, California, manufactured by Lockheed Martin.
* August 24 – Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas commits suicide, after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder his chief political opponent, Carlos Lacerda.
September
* September 6 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) treaty is signed in Manila, Philippines.
* September 8 – SEATO is established in Bangkok, Thailand.
* September 9 – The 6.7 1954 Chlef earthquake, Chlef earthquake shakes northern Algeria, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). The shock destroys Orléansville, leaving 1,243–1,409 dead, and 5,000 injured.
* September 11 – The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time.
* September 14
** The
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
carries out the Totskoye nuclear exercise.
** English composer Benjamin Britten's chamber opera version of ''The Turn of the Screw (opera), The Turn of the Screw'' receives its world premiere, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Italy.
* September 15 – Black Wednesday (air travel), Black Wednesday in air travel: severe delays to flights, due to bad weather, occur along the East Coast of the United States.
* September 17 – William Golding's allegorical dystopian novel ''Lord of the Flies'' is published in London.
* September 18 – Finnish president J. K. Paasikivi is the first Western head of state to be awarded the highest honor of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, the Order of Lenin.
* September 20 – The first ''Moomins'' Moomin comic strips, comic strip is published in the London newspaper ''The Evening News (London newspaper), The Evening News''.
* September 25 – Western Bulldogs, Footscray Football Club wins their first Australian Football League AFL Grand Final, Grand Final.
* September 26 – Japanese ferry ''Tōya Maru'' sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait. More than 1,100 people are killed, 7 other ships are List of shipwrecks in 1954#26 September, wrecked, and at least nine others seriously damaged.
* September 27 – ''The Tonight Show'' first airs on live television on NBC in the United States being the first late night talk show.
* September 30 – The , the first nuclear-powered
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
in the world, is commissioned into the U.S. Navy.
October
* October 11
** Pre-Vietnam War: The
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
takes control of North Vietnam.
** Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000.
* October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale#Category 4, Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina
* October 18
** Texas Instruments announces the development of the first commercial transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 goes on sale the following month.
** The comic strip ''Hi and Lois'', by Mort Walker and Dik Browne, is launched in the United States.
* October 23
** West Germany joins NATO.
** London and Paris Conferences#Paris, Paris Agreement sets up the Western European Union to implement the Treaty of Brussels (1948), providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
* October 25 – Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300.
* October 26 – Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
.
* October 31 – Algerian War, Algerian War of Independence: The National Liberation Front (Algeria), Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.
November
* November 1 – The National Liberation Front (Algeria), FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power.
* November 2
** The dock workers' strike in the United Kingdom, UK comes to an end.
** The radio program ''Hancock's Half Hour'', a pioneer in situation comedy, is first broadcast on BBC Radio (a television version will follow in 1956).
* November 3 – The first Godzilla (1954 film), ''Godzilla'' film premieres in Tokyo.
* November 5 – Japan and Burma sign a peace treaty in Rangoon, to end their long-extinct state of war.
* November 10 – U.S. President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial), at the Arlington National Cemetery.
* November 12 – The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes permanently.
* November 13 – Great Britain national rugby league team, Great Britain defeats France national rugby league team, France, to capture the first ever Rugby League World Cup in Paris in front of around 30,000 spectators
* November 14 –
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian president Muhammad Naguib is deposed, and
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
replaces him.
* November 22 – ''Berman v. Parker'' (348 U.S. 26): The Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court upholds the federal slum clearance and urban renewal programs.
* November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86 percent, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level, reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.
* November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four-kilogram piece of the Sylacauga (meteorite), Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.
December
* December 1 – The first Hyatt, Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens on the grounds of Los Angeles International Airport. It is the first hotel in the world built on an airport property.
* December 2
** Second Red Scare, Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67–22 to condemn
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
, for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
** The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed.
* December 4 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Miami, Florida.
* December 15 – The Netherlands Antilles is created out of the Dutch Caribbean nations. It is dissolved between 1986 and 2010.
* December 23 – J. Hartwell Harrison and Joseph Murray perform the world's first successful kidney transplantation, in Boston, Massachusetts.
* December 24 – Laos gains full independence from France.
Date titles
* New Zealand engineer Bill Hamilton (engineer), Sir William Hamilton develops the first pump-jet engine (the "Hamilton Jet") capable of propelling a jetboat.
* The first electric drip brew coffeemaker is patented in Germany and named the Wigomat after its inventor Gottlob Widmann.
* The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.
* Gerbils (''Meriones unguiculatus'') are brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
* The case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the supposedly antique frescoes in Marienkirche, Lübeck, Marienkirche himself, goes to trial.
* The TV dinner is introduced, by American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas.
* In South Vietnam, the
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
is reorganised into the Viet Cong.
* After the death of Joseph Stalin, the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
starts releasing political prisoners and deportees from its Gulag prison camps.
Births
January
![Oprah in 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Oprah_in_2014.jpg)
*
January 1
January 1 or 1 January is the first day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 364 days remaining until the end of the year (365 in leap years). This day is also known as New Year's Day since the day marks the beginning of the yea ...
** Thomas Aisu, Ugandan physician, educator (d. 2018)
** Djimrangar Dadnadji, 16th prime minister of Chad (d. 2019)
* January 2 – Henry Bonilla, American politician
*
January 3
Events Pre-1600
*AD 69, 69 – The Roman legions on the Rhine refuse to declare their allegiance to Galba, instead proclaiming their legate, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor.
* 250 – Emperor Decius orders everyone in the Roman Empire (ex ...
** Ned Lamont, American politician
** Ross the Boss, American heavy metal/punk guitarist
* January 4
** Tina Knowles, African-American fashion designer; mother of R&B singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles
** Dave Ulliott, Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
* January 5 – Alex English, American basketball player
* January 6 – Anthony Minghella, British film, theatre director (d. 2008)
*
January 7
Events Pre-1600
*49 BC – The Senate of Rome says that Caesar will be declared a public enemy unless he disbands his army. This prompts the tribunes who support him to flee to Ravenna, where Caesar is waiting.
* 1325 – Alfonso IV ...
** Jodi Long, American actress
** José María Vitier, Cuban music composer, pianist
* January 8 – Julieta Castellanos, Honduran sociologist
* January 11 – Kailash Satyarthi, Indian activist, Nobel Peace Prize laureate
* January 11 - Balachandra Menon, Indian Malayalam film director and actor
*
January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
*1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned s ...
– Howard Stern, American radio host
* January 13 – Trevor Rabin, South African–American musician
* January 14 – Masanobu Fuchi, Japanese professional wrestler
*
January 15
Events Pre-1600
* 69 – Otho seizes power in Rome, proclaiming himself Emperor of Rome, beginning a reign of only three months.
* 1541 – King Francis I of France gives Jean-François Roberval a commission to settle the province of ...
– Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer
* January 16 – Morten P. Meldal, Danish chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate
* January 19
** Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler
** Katey Sagal, American actress and singer
** Katharina Thalbach, German actress
** Yumi Matsutōya, Japanese singer-songwriter
*
January 21
Events Pre-1600
* 763 – Following the Battle of Bakhamra between Alids and Abbasids near Kufa, the Alid rebellion ends with the death of Ibrahim, brother of Isa ibn Musa.
* 1525 – The Swiss Anabaptist Movement is founded when Co ...
– Thomas de Maizière, German politician
* January 22 – Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
* January 23
** Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer, songwriter
** Edward Ka-Spel, British/Dutch singer and songwriter (The Legendary Pink Dots)
* January 28
** Peter Lampe, German theologian, historian
** Bruno Metsu, French football coach (d. 2013)
** Kaneto Shiozawa, Japanese voice actor (d. 2000)
** Willy Telavi, 11th prime minister of Tuvalu
* January 29
** Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
** Oprah Winfrey, African-American actress, talk show hostess, producer and publisher
* January 31 – Mark Slavin, Israeli wrestler (d. 1972)
February
![Recep Tayyip Erdoğan 2019 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Recep_Tayyip_Erdo%C4%9Fan_2018_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* February 1 – Bill Mumy, American actor, musician (''Lost In Space'')
* February 2 – Christie Brinkley, American model
* February 4 – Andrei Karlov, Russian diplomat (d. 2016)
* February 7 – Dieter Bohlen, German music producer and singer-songwriter (''Modern Talking, Blue System'')
* February 9 – Gina Rinehart, Australian mining tycoon
* February 11 – Noriyuki Asakura, Japanese composer
* February 12
** Joseph Jordania, Georgian-Australian musicologist, academic
** Evangelos Basiakos, Greek politician, long term MP, and minister
** Tzimis Panousis, Greek comedian, singer, and author
* February 13 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d.
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...
)
* February 15 – Matt Groening, American cartoonist (''The Simpsons'')
* February 16
** Iain Banks, Scottish author (d. 2013)
** Margaux Hemingway, American fashion model and actress (d. 1996)
* February 17
** Rene Russo, American actress, fashion model
** Yuji Takada (wrestler), Yuji Takada, Japanese free-style wrestler
** Brian Houston (pastor), Brian Houston, Australian-New Zealand pastor, author and founder of Hillsong Church
* February 18
** John Travolta, American actor
** Jalaluddin Hassan, Malaysian actor
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
** Messaouda Boubaker, Tunisian writer
** Michael Gira, American musician
** Sócrates, Brazilian footballer (d. 2011)
* February 20
** Anthony Head, English actor, musician
** Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnap victim
*
February 23
Events Pre-1600
* 303 – Roman emperor Diocletian orders the destruction of the Christian church in Nicomedia, beginning eight years of Diocletianic Persecution.
* 532 – Byzantine emperor Justinian I lays the foundation stone of a ...
– Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
* February 24 – Sid Meier, Canadian programmer, game designer, notable for the ''Civilization series, Civilization'' series
*
February 25
Events Pre-1600
* 138 – Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius as his son, effectively making him his successor.
* 628 – Khosrow II, the last great Shah of the Sasanian Empire (Iran), is overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
...
– Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager
* February 26 – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, List of Presidents of Turkey, 12th President of Turkey
March
![Clive Palmer Aug15 crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Clive_Palmer_Aug15_crop.jpg)
*
March 1
Events Pre-1600
*509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first Roman triumph, triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia.
* 293 – Emperor ...
** Peter Spellos, American actor, voice actor
** Catherine Bach, American actress (''The Dukes of Hazzard'')
** Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer (''The Andy Griffith Show,'' ''Happy Days'')
* March 2
** Ed Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
** Gara Takashima, Japanese voice actress
* March 4
** François Fillon, Prime Minister of France
** Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress (''Second City Television, SCTV'')
** Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer
** Willie Thorne, English snooker player (d. 2020)
* March 5 – João Lourenço, President of Angola
* March 6 – Harald Schumacher, German football goalkeeper
* March 8
** Marie-Theres Nadig, Swiss alpine skier
** David Wilkie (swimmer), David Wilkie, Scottish former world record holder, Olympic gold medallist swimmer (1976)
*
March 9
Events Pre-1600
*141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.
*1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
* 1226 – ...
** Bobby Sands, Irish republican hunger striker (d. 1981)
** Kevin Wade, American screenwriter, television producer
* March 11 – Nicolae Manea, Romanian football player, manager (d.
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
)
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– Valerie Amos, Baroness Amos, The Baroness Amos, British politician
* March 15
** Massimo Bubola, Italian singer, songwriter
** Craig Wasson, American actor
* March 16
** S.A. Griffin, American actor, poet
** Nancy Wilson (rock musician), Nancy Wilson, American rock musician
** Jimmy Nail, English singer, songwriter, actor, film producer, and television writer
* March 17 – Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
* March 18 – James F. Reilly, American astronaut
*
March 19 – Indu Shahani, Indian educator, Sheriff of Mumbai
* March 20 – Louis Sachar, American author
*
March 23
** Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach
** Hideyuki Hori, Japanese voice actor
* March 24
** Mike Braun, American businessman and politician
** Robert Carradine, American actor
** Donna Pescow, American actress, director (''Angie (TV series), Angie'')
** Rafael Orozco Maestre, Colombian singer (d.
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
)
* March 26
** Wendy Fulton, American actress
** Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese voice actor
** Clive Palmer, Australian mining tycoon
*
March 29 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)
April
![Jerry Seinfeld 2016 - 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Jerry_Seinfeld_2016_-_2.jpg)
*
April 1
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
*1081 – Alexios I Kom ...
** Dieter Müller, German soccer player
** Jeff Porcaro, American drummer, songwriter (''Toto (band), Toto'') (d.
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
)
* April 2 – Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician
*
April 4
Events Pre-1600
* 503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
* 190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
* 611 – ...
** Mary-Margaret Humes, American actress
** Tom Ruegger, American animator, screenwriter, storyboard artist, and lyricist
* April 5
** David Edward Maust, American serial killer (d. 2006)
** Guy Bertrand (broadcaster), Guy Bertrand, Canadian linguist, radio/television personality
* April 6
** Judi Bowker, English actress
** Michael Simms (publisher), Michael Simms, American poet, publisher; founded ''Autumn House Press''
*
April 7
** Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor, martial artist
** Tony Dorsett, American football player
*
April 8
Events Pre-1600
* 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
*1139 – Ro ...
– Gary Carter, American baseball player (d. 2012)
* April 9
** Steve Holt (Canadian musician), Steve Holt, Canadian musician
** Dennis Quaid, American actor
* April 10
** Anacani, Mexican-born American singer (''The Lawrence Welk Show'')
** Angelika Hellmann, East German artistic gymnast
*
April 14
Events Pre-1600
* 43 BC – Legions loyal to the Roman Senate, commanded by Gaius Pansa, defeat the forces of Mark Antony in the Battle of Forum Gallorum.
* 69 – Vitellius, commanding Rhine-based armies, defeats Roman emperor Otho ...
** Katsuhiro Otomo, Japanese manga artist (''Akira (Akira), Akira'')
** Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer
*
April 16 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
* April 17
** Norio Imamura, Japanese voice actor
** Roddy Piper, Canadian wrestler (d. 2015)
*
April 22
Events Pre-1600
* 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil.
* 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
* 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern ...
– Jōji Nakata, Japanese voice actor
* April 23
** Peter Nyombi, Ugandan lawyer, politician (d. 2018)
** Michael Moore, American filmmaker, political activist (''Bowling for Columbine'')
** Lea Black, American philanthropist, author, television personality, political activist and entrepreneur
* April 25
** Randy Cross, American football player, broadcaster
* April 27
** Herman Edwards, American football head coach
** Frank Bainimarama, Fijian politician
*
April 28 – Michael Daugherty, American composer
* April 29
** Jake Burton Carpenter, American founder of Burton Snowboards (d. 2019)
** Kazuko Kurosawa, Japanese costume designer
** Jerry Seinfeld, American actor, comedian and producer (''Seinfeld'')
* April 30 – Jane Campion, New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director
May
![Townsend Coleman by Gage Skidmore](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Townsend_Coleman_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg)
*
May 1
** Ray Parker Jr., African-American musician and composer ("Ghostbusters (song), Ghostbusters")
** Maatia Toafa, 2-time prime minister of Tuvalu
* May 2 – Elliot Goldenthal, American composer
* May 5 – David Azulai, Israeli politician (d. 2018)
* May 6 – Angela Hernández Nuñez, Dominican writer
* May 7
** Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
** Amy Heckerling, American film director
** Diana Raab, American author
* May 8 – Pam Arciero, Hawaiian-born puppeteer (''Sesame Street'')
* May 10 – Amos Guttman, Israeli film director (d. 1993)
* May 13 – Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, Australian-born Irish singer, composer and Eurovision Song Contest winner (1980, 1987) dubbed as "Mister Eurovision"
* May 14
** María Dolores Katarain ("Yoyes"), Spanish Basque separatist leader (d. 1986)
** Peter J. Ratcliffe, English cellular biologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Nobel Prize laureate
* May 19
** Hōchū Ōtsuka, Japanese voice actor
** Phil Rudd, Australian rock drummer (AC/DC)
* May 20 – David Paterson, American politician, 55th Governor of New York
* May 22 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese electronics engineer
* May 23 – Marvelous Marvin Hagler, American middleweight boxer and film actor (d. 2021)
* May 25
** Tantely Andrianarivo, 11th prime minister of Madagascar
** Sudirman (singer), Sudirman, Malaysian singer and songwriter (d.
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
)
* May 27
** Pauline Hanson, Australian politician
** Lawrence M. Krauss, American theoretical physicist, science writer
** Coney Reyes, Philippine film and television actress
* May 28 – John Tory, Canadian politician
* May 29 – Pankaj Kapur, Indian actor
June
![Michael Anthony](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Michael_Anthony.jpg)
* June 2
** Mattos Nascimento, Brazilian musician, singer, composer and trombonist
** Dennis Haysbert, African-American actor
** Chiyoko Kawashima, Japanese voice actress
* June 4 – Kazuhiro Yamaji, Japanese actor, voice actor
* June 5
** Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Indonesian entrepreneur, politician
** Nancy Stafford, American actress, Christian author
* June 6 – Harvey Fierstein, American actor
* June 9
** John Hagelin, American physicist, U.S. presidential candidate
** Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada
* June 10 – Kurt Walker (ice hockey), Kurt Walker, American ice hockey player (d. 2018)
* June 13 – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigerian-born Director-General of the World Trade Organization
* June 14 – Will Patton, American actor
* June 15
** Jim Belushi, American actor, comedian, singer and musician
** Bob McDonnell, American politician
* June 16 – Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (d. 1996)
* June 19
** Ted Coombs, American artist
** Kathleen Turner, American actress (''Romancing the Stone'')
* June 20
** Michael Anthony (musician), Michael Anthony, American rock bassist (Van Halen)
** Karlheinz Brandenburg, German electrical engineer, mathematician
** Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, Israel's first astronaut (d. 2003)
* June 21
** Chip Ingram, American Christian pastor, author and orator
** Mark Kimmitt, U.S general
** Anne Kirkbride, British actress (''Coronation Street'') (d. 2015)
** Robert Pastorelli, American actor (d. 2004)
** Jim Tooey, American actor
* June 22
** Chris Lemmon, American actor, author
** Freddie Prinze, American actor, comedian (''Chico and the Man'') (d. 1977)
* June 23
** Francisco Javier Cuadra, Chilean lawyer, academic and politician
** Carme Pinós, Spanish architect
** James Plaskitt, British politician
* June 24 – Chang San-cheng, Taiwanese politician
* June 25
** Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos, Brazilian actor
** Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
** Igor Lisovsky, Soviet pair skater
** Abderrazak Kilani, Tunisian politician, lawyer
* June 26 – Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
* June 27
** Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
** Anita Zagaria, Italian actress
* June 28
** Daniel Dantas (actor), Daniel Dantas, Brazilian actor
** Ava Barber, American country singer (''The Lawrence Welk Show'')
** Alice Krige, South African actress and producer
* June 29
** Jai Jagadish, Indian film actor, director and producer
** Rick Honeycutt, American baseball player, coach
* June 30
** Serzh Sargsyan, President of Armenia
** Stephen Ouimette, Canadian actor, director
** Mohammad A. Quayum, Bangladeshi academic, writer, editor, critic and translator
** Wayne Swan, Australian politician
** Pierre Charles (Dominican politician), Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)
July
![Hugo Chávez salute](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Hugo_Ch%C3%A1vez_salute.jpg)
* July 1
** Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden, Somali politician
** Pedro Guastavino, Argentine politician
** Lawrence Gonzi, Maltese politician and lawyer
** Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iraqi-Iranian military commander (d. 2020)
** Hossein Nuri, Iranian artist
* July 2
** Ludmila Aslanian, Armenian chess player
** Peter Randall-Page, British artist
** Wendy Schaal, American actress
* July 3 – Pennie Lane Trumbull, American socialite, philanthropist, businesswoman, and entrepreneur
* July 4 – Anne Lambton, British actress
* July 5
** Don Stark, American actor
** John Wright (cricketer, born 1954), John Wright, New Zealand cricket captain
* July 6 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player, coach, manager
* July 7
** Robert M. Price, American theologian and writer, Cthulhu Mythos scholar and editor
** Simon Anderson, Australian competitive surfer, surfboard shaper, and writer
** Ursula Stephens, Australian politician
* July 8
** David Aaronovitch, English journalist, television presenter and author
** Matthew Marsh (actor), Matthew Marsh, English actor
* July 9 – Kevin O'Leary, Canadian businessman, television personality, and political candidate
* July 10
** Andre Dawson, American baseball player
** Michele Serra, Italian writer, journalist and satirist
** Neil Tennant, British singer-songwriter, musician and journalist (Pet Shop Boys)
** Yō Yoshimura, Japanese voice actor (d. 1991)
** José González Ganoza, Peruvian footballer (d. 1987)
* July 11 – Alejandro Camacho, Mexican actor and producer
* July 12
** Lisa Pelikan, American actress
** Paulo Saldiva, Brazilian professor, physician, pathologist and medical researcher
* July 13 – Sezen Aksu, Turkey, Turkish singer
* July 15
** Neil Brewer, British musician and songwriter
** Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer
** John Ferguson (rugby league), John Ferguson, Australian rugby league player
** Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer
** Jeff Jarvis, American journalist, professor, public speaker and television critic
* July 16
** Nicholas Frankau, English actor
** Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
* July 17
** Angela Merkel, 8th Chancellor of Germany (Federal Republic of Germany), Chancellor of Germany
** Richard Bekins, American actor
** Edward Natapei, Vanuatu politician and Prime Minister of Vanuatu (d. 2015)
** J. Michael Straczynski, American author
* July 18 – Franziska Troegner, German actress
* July 19 – Verica Kalanović, Serbian politician
* July 20
** Lo Ta-yu, Taiwanese singer and songwriter
** Nguyễn Xuân Phúc, Vietnamese politician; 10th President of Vietnam, 7th Prime Minister of Vietnam
** Wilson Casey, American syndicated columnist and entertainer
* July 21 – Otto Jespersen (comedian), Otto Jespersen, Norwegian comedian, actor and television personality
* July 22 – Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor
* July 24
** Michael H. O'Brien, American politician (d. 2018)
** Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach
* July 25 – Walter Payton, African-American football player (d. 1999)
* July 26
** Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
** Leonardo Daniel, Mexican actor and director
* July 27
** Philippe Alliot, French race car driver
** Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994)
* July 28 – Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela (d. 2013)
* July 29 – Mark Gersmehl, American Christian musician
August
![Al Roker October 2014 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Al_Roker_October_2014_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* August 1
** Gurinder Singh, Baba Gurinder Singh, Fifth and Present Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas
** Philip Trenary, American businessman (d. 2018)
** Michael Badnarik, American software engineer and presidential candidate
** James Gleick, American non fiction author of several award-winning books.
** Junpei Morita, Japanese actor and voice actor
* August 2 – David Tang, Hong Kong-British entrepreneur and philanthropist (d. 2017)
* August 4
** Dorottya Udvaros, Hungarian actress
** François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer
** Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist
* August 7 – Susanna Javicoli, Italian actress (d. 2005)
* August 9 – Pete Thomas (drummer), Pete Thomas, British drummer for the Elvis Costello band
* August 11 – Joe Jackson (musician), Joe Jackson, British singer-songwriter (''Steppin' Out'')
* August 12
** François Hollande, President of France 2012–17
** Sam J. Jones, American actor
** Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist
* August 13
** Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass guitar player (d. 2001)
** Tõnu Kilgas, Estonian singer and actor
* August 14
** Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d. 2009)
** Stanley A. McChrystal, U.S. Army general
* August 16
** James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
** George Galloway, British politician
* August 17
** Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Russian-Irish writer
** Andrés Pastrana Arango, President of Colombia
* August 20
** Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey and music video producer (d. 2007)
** Al Roker, American television personality and host
** Richarda Schmeisser, East German artistic gymnast
* August 21
** Steve Smith (musician), Steve Smith, American drummer
** Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
* August 22 – Jay Patterson, American actor
* August 23
** Ian Bartholomew, English actor
** Charles Busch, American director, writer and actor
** Halimah Yacob, 8th president of Singapore
* August 24
** Joe Ochman, American actor and voice actor
** Philippe Cataldo, French singer
* August 25
** Bruno Manser, Swiss environmental activist (d. 2005)
** Elvis Costello, English singer-songwriter
* August 29 – István Cserháti, Hungarian keyboardist (d. 2005)
* August 30 – Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus
* August 31
** Robert Kocharyan, President of Armenia
** Caroline Cossey, British model
September
![Cherie Blair in Trento](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Cherie_Blair_in_Trento.jpg)
* September 1 – Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player
* September 2
** Andrej Babiš, Czech entrepreneur and politician, 12th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
** Vance DeGeneres, American actor
** Zeta Emilianidou, Cypriot lawyer and politician (d. 2022)
** Gai Waterhouse, Australian racehorse trainer
** Humberto Zurita, Mexican actor, director and producer
* September 5 – Danny Masterton, Scottish footballer (d. 2020)
* September 6 – Carly Fiorina, American businesswoman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, HP (1999-2005) and Senator Ted Cruz's running mate in the 2016 United States presidential election, 2016 presidential election
* September 7
** Corbin Bernsen, American actor
** Michael Emerson, American actor
** Francisco Guterres, 4th president of East Timor
* September 9 – Mohsen Rezaee, Iranian politician
* September 10 – Mark W. Everson, American businessman; 46th Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (2003–07)
* September 13 – Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
* September 14 – Buzz Schneider, American professional ice hockey player
* September 15 – Nava Semel, Israeli author and playwright (d. 2017)
* September 16 – Ashrita Furman, American record breaker
* September 17
** Wayne Krenchicki, American baseball player (d. 2018)
** Joël-François Durand, French composer
* September 18 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007)
* September 21
** Shinzō Abe, Prime Minister of Japan (d. 2022)
** Thomas S. Ray, American ecologist
** Cass Sunstein, American legal scholar
** Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, English drummer (Motörhead and Waysted)
* September 23 – Cherie Blair, lawyer, wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair
* September 24 – Lilian Mercedes Letona, Salvadoran guerrilla (d. 1983)
* September 26 – Kevin Kennedy (baseball), Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host
* September 28 – Steve Largent, American football player and congressman
* September 29 – Cindy Morgan, American actress
* September 30
** Barry Williams (actor), Barry Williams, American actor
** Patrice Rushen, African-American singer
October
![Malcolm Turnbull at the Pentagon 2016 cropped](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Malcolm_Turnbull_at_the_Pentagon_2016_cropped.jpg)
* October 1 – Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
* October 2 – Wong Tien Fatt, Malaysian politician (d. 2019)
* October 3
** Eddie DeGarmo, American Christian keyboardist and producer
** Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player
** Al Sharpton, African-American civil rights activist, minister and radio talk show host
** Dawayne Bailey, American musician
** Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
* October 5
** Gurudas Kamat, Indian politician (d. 2018)
** Wayne Watson, American Christian musician
* October 6 – Howard Hoffman, American voice actor
* October 7 – Robert A. Schuller, American televangelist and the son of Robert Schuller
* October 9
** Scott Bakula, American actor (''Quantum Leap'', ''Star Trek: Enterprise'')
** John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host
* October 10
** Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
** David Lee Roth, American rock singer
* October 12
** Evalie A. Bradley, Anguillian politician and member of the House of Assembly of Anguilla.
** Linval Thompson, Jamaican singer and producer
* October 13 – Mordechai Vanunu, a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed secrets of its nuclear weapons program
* October 14 – Mohamad Sabu, Malaysian politician
* October 15
** Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
** Michael Garner, English actor
* October 18 – Yūji Mitsuya, Japanese voice actor
* October 19
** Ken Stott, Scottish actor
** Ronnie Leitch, Sri Lankan singer and actor (d. 2018)
* October 21 – Brian Tobin, sixth Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
* October 22 – Ellen Gerstell, American voice actress
* October 23 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director
* October 24
** Doug Davidson, American actor
** Mike Rounds, South Dakota politician
** Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister of Australia, 28th Prime Minister of Australia
* October 25
** Laxmikant Berde, Indian actor (d. 2004)
** Mike Eruzione, American ice hockey player
* October 26
** Farit Ismeth Emir, Malaysian news anchor (d. 2020)
** Carlos Agostinho do Rosário, Mozambican politician
** Victor Ciorbea, 56th prime minister of Romania
* October 30
** Kathleen Cody (actor), Kathleen Cody, American actress
** Mario Testino, Peruvian photographer
November
![Paolo Gentiloni EP Parliament (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Paolo_Gentiloni_EP_Parliament_%28cropped%29.jpg)
* November 2 – Angela Webber, Australian author, television writer, producer and comedian (d. 2007)
* November 3
** Adam Ant, British rock singer and musician
** Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress
** Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedian
* November 5
** Mike Gabriel, American animator and film producer
** Alejandro Sabella, Argentine footballer and manager (d. 2020)
* November 6 – Karin Fossum, Norwegian crime fiction writer
* November 7
** Robin Beck, American singer
** Kamal Haasan, Indian actor, dancer, film director, screenwriter, producer and politician
** Jon Taffer, American bar consultant, television host and author
* November 8
** Michael D. Brown, first Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response, a division of the United States' Department of Homeland Security
** Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate
* November 11 – Mary Gaitskill, American novelist
* November 12 – Rhonda Shear, American television hostess, actress and comedian
* November 13 – Chris Noth, American actor
* November 14
** Yanni, Greek musician
** Robert Alberts, Dutch footballer and manager of Persib Bandung
** Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
** Bernard Hinault, French road bicycle racer
** Condoleezza Rice, American politician, 66th United States Secretary of State
* November 15
** Stephen W. Burns, American actor (d. 1990)
** Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
* November 16 – Bruce Edwards (caddy), Bruce Edwards, American golf caddy (d. 2004)
* November 19 – Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt
* November 20
** Bin Shimada, Japanese voice actor
* November 22 – Paolo Gentiloni, Prime Minister of Italy
* November 23
** Elizabeth Savalla, Brazilian actress
** Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer
* November 26
** Roz Chast, American cartoonist
** Dan Kwong, American performance artist and playwright
* November 27
** Patricia McPherson, American actress
** Kimmy Robertson, American actress
* November 28 – Marty Grabstein, American actor and voice actor
* November 29 – Coen brothers, Joel Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter and editor
* November – Pierre M'Pelé, African public health personality and writer
December
![Denzel Washington cropped 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Denzel_Washington_cropped_02.jpg)
* December 1 – Bob Goen, American television personality and game show host
* December 2
** Dan Butler, American actor and voice actor
** Stone Phillips, American television journalist
* December 3 – Grace Andreacchi, American author
* December 4 – Tony Todd, American actor and producer
* December 6 – Beat Furrer, Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor
* December 7 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
* December 8 – Sumi Shimamoto, Japanese voice actress
* December 9 – Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg politician
* December 10 – Jack Hues, English singer and musician (Wang Chung (band), Wang Chung)
* December 11
** Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricketer (d. 1999)
** Jermaine Jackson, African-American singer and actor
** Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader
* December 13 – John Anderson (musician), John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
* December 14
** Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
** Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
* December 15 – Mark Warner, American politician
* December 18
** Uli Jon Roth, German rock guitarist (''Scorpions'')
** Ray Liotta, American actor and producer (d. 2022)
* December 20
** Binali Yildirim, Prime Minister of Turkey
** Sandra Cisneros, American writer
* December 21 – Chris Evert, American tennis player
* December 23 – Brian Teacher, American tennis player
* December 24 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President (1994–1998)
* December 25
** Roman Baskin, Estonian actor and director of stage and screen (d. 2018)
** Annie Lennox, British pop musician and lead singer of Eurythmics
* December 26
** Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer (d. 2006)
** Ozzie Smith, HOF baseball shortstop
* December 27 – Teo Chee Hean, Singaporean politician and 5th Senior Minister of Singapore
* December 28
** Gayle King, African-American television personality, journalist, and author
** Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler
** Denzel Washington, African-American actor
* December 29
** Wang Huanyu, Chinese astrophysicist (d. 2018)
** Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
** Roger Voudouris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
* December 31 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician
Date not known
*Marek Smurzyński, Polish translator, Persian language speaker and translator (d. 2009)
Deaths
January
* January 5
** Rabbit Maranville, American baseball player (Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1891)
** Lillian Rich, English actress (b. 1900)
* January 8 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (b. 1898)
* January 11
** John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, British politician (b. 1873)
** Oscar Straus (composer), Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
*
January 12
Events Pre-1600
* 475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire.
*1528 – Gustav I of Sweden is crowned King of Sweden, having already reigned s ...
** William H. P. Blandy, American admiral (b. 1890)
** Elmer H. Geran, American politician (b. 1875)
* January 18 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
*
January 20
Events Pre-1600
* 250 – Pope Fabian is martyred during the Decian persecution.
* 649 – King Chindasuinth, at the urging of bishop Braulio of Zaragoza, crowns his son Recceswinth as co-ruler of the Visigothic Kingdom.
* 1156 &ndas ...
– Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890)
* January 30
** John Murray Anderson, Canadian theater director and producer (b. 1886)
** Dorothy Price, Irish physician (b. 1890)
* January 31
** Edwin Howard Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890)
** Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)
February
* February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, American poet and novelist (murdered) (b. 1892)
* February 8 – Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885)
* February 9 – Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880)
* February 11 – Thomas Pierrepoint, British executioner (b. 1870)
* February 12 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
*
February 19
Events Pre-1600
* 197 – Emperor Septimius Severus defeats usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle of Lugdunum, the bloodiest battle between Roman armies.
* 356 – The anti-paganism policy of Constantius II forbids the worship of pagan ...
– Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, 24th Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1883)
* February 21 – William K. Howard, American film director (b. 1899)
March
![Otto Paul Hermann Diels](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Otto_Paul_Hermann_Diels.jpg)
* March 7
** Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
** Will H. Hays, Namesake for the Motion Picture Production Code, Hays Code (b. 1879)
*
March 9
Events Pre-1600
*141 BC – Liu Che, posthumously known as Emperor Wu of Han, assumes the throne over the Han dynasty of China.
*1009 – First known mention of Lithuania, in the annals of the monastery of Quedlinburg.
* 1226 – ...
– Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874)
*
March 12
Events Pre-1600
* 538 – Vitiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city to the victorious Byzantine general, Belisarius.
* 1088 – Election of Urban II as the 159th Pope of the Cat ...
– Marianne Weber, German sociologist and suffragist (b. 1870)
*
March 13
Events Pre-1600
*624 – The Battle of Badr, the first major battle between the Muslims and Quraysh.
*1567 – The Battle of Oosterweel, traditionally regarded as the start of the Eighty Years' War.
*1591 – At the Battle of Tond ...
– Cesar Klein, German painter (b. 1876)
* March 24 – Thành Thái, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 1879)
* March 26 – Louis Silvers, American film composer (b. 1889)
*
March 30
** Horatio Dresser, American writer (b. 1866)
** Fritz London, German physicist (b. 1900)
April
* April 2
** Hoyt Vandenberg, United States Air Force, U.S. Air Force general (b. 1899)
** Maud Barger-Wallach, American tennis player (b. 1870)
*
April 7 – Saburō Kurusu, Japanese diplomat (b. 1886)
*
April 8
Events Pre-1600
* 217 – Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.
* 876 – The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.
*1139 – Ro ...
** Winnifred Eaton (writer), Winnifred Eaton, Canadian author (b. 1875)
** Fritzi Scheff, Austrian-born American actress and singer (b. 1879)
* April 10 – Auguste and Louis Lumière, Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862)
*
April 12 – Luis Cabrera Lobato, Mexican lawyer, politician and writer (b. 1876)
* April 13 – Angus Lewis Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (b. 1890)
* April 17 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900)
* April 27
** Antoni Bolesław Dobrowolski, Polish scientist and explorer who participated in the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, Belgian Antarctic expedition (b. 1872)
** Thorvald Ellegaard, Danish track cyclist (b. 1877)
*
April 28 – Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
* April 29 – Joe May, Austrian-born director (b. 1880)
May
*
May 1 – Tom Tyler, American actor (b. 1903)
* May 3 – Józef Garbień, Polish footballer and physician (b. 1896)
* May 5 – Henri Laurens, French sculptor and illustrator (b. 1885)
* May 6 – B. C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
* May 14 – Heinz Guderian, German World War II general (b. 1888)
* May 15 – William March, American writer and soldier (b. 1893)
* May 19 – Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
* May 22 – Chief Bender, Native-American baseball player (Philadelphia Athletics) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1884)
* May 25 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
* May 26 – Omer Nishani, former Chairman of the Presidium of the People's Assembly and head of State of Albania (b. 1887)
June
![Alan Turing Aged 16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Alan_Turing_Aged_16.jpg)
* June 7 – Alan Turing, British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and pioneer computer scientist (b. 1912)
* June 9 – Alain LeRoy Locke, American writer, philosopher and educator (b. 1885)
* June 21 – Harvey A. Carr, American psychologists (b. 1873)
* June 22 – Don Hollenbeck, American newscaster (b. 1905)
* June 24 – Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, 5th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1874)
* June 27 – Alfredo Versoza, Filipino Roman Catholic bishop and Servant of God (b. 1877)
* June 30 – Andrass Samuelsen, 1st prime minister of Faroe Islands (b. 1873)
July
![Frida Kahlo, by Guillermo Kahlo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Frida_Kahlo%2C_by_Guillermo_Kahlo.jpg)
* July 1
** Thea von Harbou, German actress (b. 1888)
** Tomás Monje , 41st President of Bolivia (b. 1884)
* July 3 – Reginald Marsh (artist), Reginald Marsh, American painter (b. 1898)
* July 4 – Maria Ripamonti, Italian Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic and a Nun, professed religious from the Handmaids of Charity, Ancelle della carità (b. 1909)
* July 6
** Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian-born film producer and director (b. 1894)
** Cornelia Sorabji, Indian-born lawyer (b. 1866)
* July 11 – Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
* July 13
** Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
** Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891)
** Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (b. 1880)
* July 14
** Jacinto Benavente, Spanish dramatist, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
** Jackie Saunders, American silent screen actress (b. 1892)
* July 16 – Herms Niel, German composer (b. 1888)
* July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895)
* July 19 – Hannes Meyer, Swiss architect (b. 1889)
* July 28 – Sōjin Kamiyama or "Sojin", Japanese film star during the American silent film era (b. 1884)
* July 31 – Princess Antonia of Luxembourg, Luxembourg aristocrat (b. 1899)
August
![Alcide de Gasperi 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/Alcide_de_Gasperi_2.jpg)
* August 3
** Bess Streeter Aldrich, American writer (b. 1881)
** Colette, French novelist (b. 1873)
* August 14 – Hugo Eckener, German president of the Zeppelin Dirigible Company (b. 1868)
* August 19 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian statesman and Christian Democracy politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1881)
* August 21 – Marin Ceaușu, Romanian general (b. 1891)
* August 24 – Getúlio Vargas, 14th and 17th President of Brazil (suicide) (b. 1882)
* August 31 – Elsa Barker, American writer (b. 1869)
September
![Washington_Phillips](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Washington_Phillips.jpg)
* September 1 – Bert Acosta, American aviator (b. 1895)
* September 2 – Franz Leopold Neumann, German- political activist and Marxist theorist (b. 1900)
* September 3 – Eugene Pallette, American actor (b. 1889)
* September 5 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860)
* September 6 – Edward C. Kalbfus, American admiral (b. 1877)
* September 7
** Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885)
** Glenn Scobey Warner, American college football coach (b. 1871)
* September 8 – André Derain, French artist, painter and sculptor (b. 1880)
* September 20 – Washington Phillips, American gospel singer and instrumentalist (b. 1880)
* September 21 – Mikimoto Kōkichi, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
* September 24 – Edward Pilgrim, British homeowner (suicide) (b. 1904)
* September 25 – Eugeni d'Ors, Eugenio d'Ors, Spanish writer (b. 1881)
* September 26 – Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (b. 1868)
* September 27 – Maximilian von Weichs, German field marshal (b. 1881)
* September 28 – Bert Lytell, American actor (b. 1885)
* September 29 – Martin Wetzer, Finnish general (b. 1868)
October
* October 1 – René Le Senne, French philosopher and psychologist (b. 1882)
* October 9 – Robert H. Jackson, United States Supreme Court associate justice and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1892)
* October 12 – George Welch (pilot), George Welch, American aviator (b. 1918)
* October 18 – Mieczysław Norwid-Neugebauer, Polish general and politician (b. 1884)
* October 19 – Hugh Duffy, American baseball player (Boston Braves (baseball), Boston Braves) and a member of the MLB Hall of Fame (b. 1866)
* October 22 – Jibanananda Das, Indian poet, writer, novelist and essayist in Bengali language, Bengali (b. 1899)
* October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)
November
![Wilhelm Furtwängler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Wilhelm_Furtw%C3%A4ngler.jpg)
* November 3 – Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
* November 10 – Édouard Le Roy, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1870)
* November 13 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (b. 1881)
* November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878)
* November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874)
* November 17
** Ludovic Dauș, Romanian novelist and playwright (b. 1873)
** Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet and columnist (b. 1899)
* November 20 – Clyde Cessna, American aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer, founder of the Cessna, Cessna Aircraft Corporation (b. 1879)
* November 21 – Jess McMahon, American professional boxing and wrestling promoter; founder of WWE#Capitol Wrestling Corporation (1952-1963), Capitol Wrestling Corporation (b. 1882)
* November 22
** Moroni Olsen, American actor (b. 1889)
** Andrey Vyshinsky, Russian jurist and diplomat, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Soviet Union), Soviet Foreign Minister (b. 1883)
* November 28 – Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
* November 29 – Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
* November 30 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
December
* December 1 – Fred Rose (songwriter), Fred Rose, American songwriter (b. 1898)
* December 8
** Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
** Gladys George, American actress (b. 1904)
* December 20 – James Hilton (novelist), James Hilton, English novelist (b. 1900)
* December 23 – René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
* December 25
** Ioan Arbore, Romanian general (b. 1892)
** Liberty Hyde Bailey, American botanist (b. 1858)
* December 30
** Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)
** Günther Quandt, German industrialist who founded an industrial empire that today includes BMW and Altana (b. 1881)
Nobel Prizes
* Nobel Prize in Physics, Physics – Max Born, Walther Bothe
* Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemistry – Linus Pauling
* Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Medicine – John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
* Nobel Prize in Literature, Literature – Ernest Hemingway
* Nobel Peace Prize, Peace – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:1954
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