Birthdays:
2015~ Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, the daughter of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge.
1980~ Ellie Kemper (née Elizabeth Claire Kemper), American actress known for her role as Erin Hannon on the television sit-com The Office.
1975~ David Beckham (né David Robert Joseph Beckham), English soccer player.
1972~ Dwayne Johnson (né Dwayne Douglas Johnson), American actor and professional wrestler. His professional wrestling name is The Rock.
1955~ Donatella Versace (née Donatella Francesca Versace), Italian fashion designer.
1952~ Christine Baranski (née Christine Jane Baranski), American actress.
1950~ Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (née Eve Kosofsky; d. Apr. 12, 2009), American academic scholar who pioneered “queer theory.” She died of breast cancer less than 3 weeks before her 59th birthday.
1946~ Lesley Gore (né Lesley Sue Goldstein; d. Feb. 16, 2015), American feminist icon and singer best known for her song, It’s My Party. She died of lung cancer at age 68.
1945~ Bianca Jagger (née Blanca Pérez-Mora Macías), Nicaraguan socialite and former wife of Mick Jagger.
1942~ Alexis Mardas (né Yannis Alexis Madras; d. Jan. 13, 2017), the Greek electronics engineer and madcap inventor who befriended the Beatles. He was known as Magic Alex. He died of complications from pneumonia at age 74.
1936~ Engelbert Humperdinck (né Arnold George Dorsey), British singer.
1935~ Faisal II of Iraq (d. July 14, 1958), last king of Iraq. He was executed in a coup d’état during the July 14 Revolution. He was 23 years old.
1931~ Martha Grimes, American detective and mystery writer.
1924~ Theodore Bikel (né Theodore Meir Bikel; d. July 21, 2015), Austrian singer and actor. He was named after Theodor Herzl, who was also born on this date. He died at age 91.
1922~ Roscoe Lee Browne (d. Apr. 11, 2007), African-American actor. He died less than a month before his 85th birthday.
1916~ Bernard C. Meltzer (d. Mar. 25, 1998), American radio host. He died at age 81.
1903~ Benjamin Spock (né Benjamin McLane Spock; d. Mar. 15, 1998), American pediatrician and writer. He was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He died at age 94.
1901~ Edouard Zeckendorf (d. May 16, 1983), Belgian doctor and mathematician. He is best known for his work on Fibonacci numbers. He died 2 weeks after his 82nd birthday.
1892~ Manfred von Richthofen (d. Apr. 21, 1918), German pilot known as the Red Baron. He was killed at 11 days before his 26th birthday while in an air battle during World War I.
1885~ Hedda Hopper (née Elda Furry; d. Feb. 1, 1966), American gossip columnist. She died of pneumonia at age 80.
1882~ James Francis Byrnes (d. Apr. 9, 1972), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He replaced James McReynolds on the Court. He served on the Court from July 1941 until October 1942. He went on to become the 49th United States Secretary of State under President Harry Truman. He served in that capacity from July 1945 until January 1947. He then became the 104th Governor of South Carolina. He listed his birthday as May 2, 1879 so that he could apply for work after his father died. His actual birthdate, however, was May 2, 1882. He died a month before his 90th birthday.
1875~ Owen Roberts (né Owen Josephus Roberts; d. May 17, 1955), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President Herbert Hoover. He replaced Edward Stanford on the Court. He served on the Court from May 1930 until July 1945. He died 15 days after his 80th birthday.
1860~ Theodor Herzl (d. July 3, 1904), Austrian journalist and Zionist. He advocated Jewish migration to what is now Israel. He died at age 44 of heart disease.
1859~ Jerome K. Jerome (né Jerome Klapka Jerome, d. June 14, 1927), British author. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 68.
1808~ Emma Darwin (née Emma Wedgwood; d. Oct. 2, 1896), English naturalist and wife and first cousin of Charles Dickens. She was the granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood, of Wedgwood pottery fame. She died at age 88.
1750~ John André (d. Oct. 2, 1780), British Army officer during the American Revolutionary War. He was hanged as a spy by American forces. He was 30 years old at the time of his death.
1740~ Elias Boudinot (d. Oct. 24, 1821), Early-American politician. He served as the President of the Continental Congress, from November 1782 until November 1783. He died at age 81.
1737~ William Petty, 1st Marquis of Lansdowne, also known as the 2nd Earl of Shelburne (d. May 7, 1805), Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was Prime Minister during the reign of King George III, from July 1782 until April 1783. He died 5 days after his 68thbirthday.
1729~ Catherine II (d. Nov. 17, 1796), Empress of Russia. She is also known as Catherine the Great. She became Empress after her husband, Peter III of Russia, was assassinated in 1762. She died at age 67.
1660~ Alessandro Scarlatti (d. Oct. 22, 1725), Italian composer. He died at age 65.
1360~ Yongle (d. Aug. 12, 1424), 3rd Chinese Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He ruled from July 1402 until hi s death 22 years later. He died at age 64.
Events that Changed the World:
2008~ The Chaitén Volcano began erupting in Chile.
2000~ President Bill Clinton (b. 1946) announced that accurate Global Positioning Systems (GPS) would not be restricted solely to United States military usage.
1999~ Mireya Moscoso (b. 1946) became the first woman to be elected to the office of President of Panama. She served as President beginning in September 1999 until September 2004.
1986~ The city of Chernobyl was finally evacuated, six days after the nuclear meltdown.
1955~ Tennessee Williams (1911 ~ 1983) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
1952~ The first jet airliner, the De Havilland Comet made its maiden voyage from London, England to Johannesburg, South Africa.
1945~ The United States 82nd Airborne Division liberated Wöbbelin concentration camp. Over 1000 of the prisoners were dead from starvation.
1885~ The first issue of the Good Housekeeping magazine went on sale.
1863~ Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson (1824 ~ 1863) was wounded by friendly fire during the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War. He died of his wounds compounded by a case of pneumonia 8 days later.
1670~ The Hudson’s Bay Company was chartered by King Charles II (1630 ~ 1685) of England, to open up the fur trade in North America.
1611~ The King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England.
1559~ John Knox (1513 ~ 1572) returned to Scotland from having been in exile. He subsequently became the leader of the Scottish Reformation.
1536~ Anne Boleyn (1501 ~ 1536), Queen of England, was arrested and imprisoned on charges of adultery, incest, treason and witchcraft. She would be executed 17 days later.
Good-Byes:
2017~ Anne Morrissy Merick (née Anne Louise Morrissy; b. Oct. 28, 1933), American pioneering journalist who covered Vietnam. She is best known for persuading the Pentagon to reverse an order, known as the Westmoreland Edict, which had prevented female reporters from accompanying troops on the front lines during the Vietnam War. She died at age 83.
2015~ Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh (née Barbara Ruth Grasemann; b. Feb. 17, 1930), English writer of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. She died at age 85.
2015~ Guy Carawan (né Guy Hughes Carawan, Jr., b. July 27, 1927), American folksinger who popularized We Shall Overcome. He died at age 87.
2015~ Maya Plisetskaya (née Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya; b. Nov. 20, 1925), Russian ballerina who stayed loyal to the USSR. Her father was executed as an “enemy of the people” when she was 11, and her mother spent time in a labor camp, and although she was banned from touring in the West for fear that she would defect, Maya stayed in the Soviet Union because of her love of the Bolshoi Theater. She was 89 years old.
2014~ Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (b. Nov. 30, 1918), American actor, best known for his role in the TV show, The FBI. He died at age 95.
2011~ Osama bin Laden (b. Mar. 10, 1957), Saudi Islamist and al-Quada terrorist who was killed in Pakistan by United States operatives. President Barack Obama announced his death on May 1 in the United States, however, due to the time difference between the United States and Abbottabad, Pakistan, he was actually killed on May 2 local time. He was 54 years old.
2011~ Frank Tyger (b. Dec. 24, 1929), American cartoonist. He died of Parkinson’s Disease at age 81.
2010~ Lynn Redgrave (née Lynn Rachel Redgrave; d. Mar. 8, 1943), the British pedigreed actress who had the common touch. She died at age 67 of breast cancer.
2009~ Jack Kemp (né Jack French Kemp; b. July 13, 1935), American politician and professional football player. He served as the 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from February 1989 until January 1993 in the George H.W. Bush administration. He died of cancer at age 73.
2009~ Marilyn French (née Marilyn Edwards; b. Nov. 21, 1929), American feminist author best known for her 1977 novel, The Women’s Room. She was 79.
2008~ Mildred Loving (b. July 22, 1939), African-American woman who, along with her white husband Richard (1933 ~ 1975), helped legalize interracial marriage in the United States. They were arrested and sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their case eventually went to the United States Supreme Court as Loving v. Virginia, which unanimously held that the prohibition against interracial marriage was unconstitutional. It was also portrayed in the 2016 film, Loving. She died at age 68.
2002~ W.T. Tutte (né William Thomas Tutte, b. May 14, 1917), British mathematician. He was a code-breaker during World War II. He died 12 days before his 85th birthday.
1997~ Sir John Eccles (né John Carew Eccles; b. Jan. 27, 1903), Australian neurophysiologist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He died at age 94.
1993~ Julio Gallo (b. Mar. 21, 1910), American vintner who, along with his brother, Ernest Gallo (1909-2007), founded the E&J Gallo Winery. Julio was killed from injuries sustained in a single car crash. He was 83 at the time of his death.
1992~ Wilbur Mills (né Wilber Daigh Mills, b. May 24, 1909), American politician, whose political career ended when he was found cavorting with stripper Fanne Foxe in 1974. He died 22 days before his 83rd birthday.
1979~ Guilio Natta (b. Feb. 26, 1903), Italian chemist and recipient of the 1963 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He died at age 76.
1972~ J. Edgar Hoover (né John Edgar Hoover; b. Jan. 1, 1895), American 1st Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He served in that position from May 1924 until his death 48 years later. He died in office at age 77.
1964~ Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (née Nancy Witcher Langhorne; b. May 19, 1879), American socialite and British politician. She moved to England at age 26. Her second husband was Waldorf Astor. She became the first woman Member of Parliament. She died 17 days before her 85th birthday.
1957~ Joseph McCarthy (né Joseph Raymond McCarthy; b. Nov. 14, 1908), United States Senator from Wisconsin, and head of the Un-American Activities Committee who tried to route out Communism in the United States. He fueled the Red Scare in the 1950s and led the investigations of numerous individuals alleging they supported Communism. He died at age 48.
1945~ Joe Corbett (né Joseph Aloysius Corbett; b. Dec. 4, 1875), American baseball player. He was the younger brother of boxer James Corbett. He died at age 69.
1922~ Richard Greener (né Richard Theodore Greener; b. Jan. 30, 1884), lawyer who was the first African-American to graduate from Harvard College. He went on to become the dean of the Howard University School of Law. He died age 78.
1915~ Clara Immerwahr (b. June 21, 1870), German chemist and women’s rights activist. She was the first woman chemist to be awarded a doctorate in Germany. Although born Jewish, she converted to Christianity. She was the wife on Fritz Haber, recipient of the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. She died by suicide at age 44 following an argument with her husband.
1880~ Eberhard Anheuser (b. Sept. 27, 1806), German-American manufacturer and co-founder of the Anheuser-Busch company. He died at age 73.
1880~ Eunice Waite Cobb (née Eunice Hale Waite; b. Jan. 27, 1803), American writer, social activist and public speaker. She and her husband, the Rev. Sylvanus Cobb, were very active in the Universalist Church. She was born in Kennebunk, Maine. She died at age 77 in East Boston, Massachusetts.
1819~ Mary Moser (b. Oct. 27, 1744), British artist and painter. She was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy. She died at age 74.
1683~ Stjepan Gradić (b. Mar. 6, 1613), Croatian philosopher and mathematician. He died at age 70.
1519~ Leonardo da Vinci (b. Apr. 15, 1452), Italian painter, sculpture, scientist and Renaissance man. He died 17 days after his 67th birthday.
907~ Boris I of Bulgaria. He abdicated the throne in 889 to become a monk. The date of his birth is unknown.
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