On this day in History - May 12

• 0254 - St. Stephen I [Papa Estêvão I] began his reign as the 23rd Catholic Pope. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he instituted the rule that clerics should wear special clothes at their ministrations.
• 1003 - Pope Silvester II dies.
• 1012 - Pope Sergius IV dies.
• 1191 - Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre.
• 1264 - The Battle of Lewes, between King Henry III of England and the rebel Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, begins.
• 1328 - Antipope Nicholas V, a claimant to the papacy, is consecrated in Rome by the Bishop of Venice.
• 1364 - Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the oldest university in Poland, was founded in Kraków, Poland.
• 1382 - Queen Joan I of Naples dies (b. 1327).
• 1399 - Demetrius I Starshiy dies killed in battle (b. 1327).
• 1401 - Emperor Shoko of Japan was born (d. 1428).
• 1465 - Thomas Palaeologus dies. Despot of the Despotate of Morea
• 1490 - Santa Joana, filha de D. Afonso V, falece no convento de Aveiro (n. 6 Fev 1452). Princesa de Portugal.
• 1496 - Gustav I of Sweden was born (d. 1560).
• 1500 - Pedro Álvares Cabral parte para a Índia.
• 1539 - El gobernador de Cuba, Hernaldo de Soto, parte de La Habana con la empresa de conquistar Florida.
• 1551 - National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in South America, was founded in Lima, Peru.
• 1567 - Claudio Monteverdi was born. Italian composer.
• 1588 - French Wars of Religion: Henry III of France flees Paris after Henry of Guise enters the city.
• 1590 - Cosimo II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was born (d. 1621).
• 1622 - Louis de Buade de Frontenac was born (d. 1698). Governor General of New France.
• 1626 - Louis Hennepin was born. Flemish Catholic missionary in North America.
• 1634 - George Chapman dies. English writer.
• 1641 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford dies (b. 1593). English statesman.
• 1670 - King Frederick Augustus I of Poland was born (d. 1733).
• 1684 - Edme Mariotte dies (b. 1620). French physicist and priest.
• 1689 - King William's War: William III of England joins the League of Augsburg starting a war with France.
• 1699 - Lucas Achtschellinck dies (b. 1626). Flemish painter.
• 1700 - Luigi Vanvitelli was born (d. 1773). Italian architect.
• 1700 - John Dryden dies (b. 1631). English writer.
• 1708 - Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz dies (b. 1658).
• 1725 - Louis Philip I, Duke of Orléans was born (d. 1785). French soldier and writer.
• 1733 - Maria Theresa was crowned queen of Bohemia in Prague.
• 1748 - Thomas Lowndes dies (b. 1692). English astronomer.
• 1759 - Lambert-Sigisbert Adam dies (b. 1700). French sculptor.
• 1767 - Manuel de Godoy was born (d. 1851). Spanish statesman.
• 1769 - Alvará régio português que combate a consolidação dos prazos das igrejas (legislação sobre a enfiteuse).
• 1776 - José de La Mar was born. Peruvian President.
• 1780 - American Revolutionary War: Charleston, South Carolina is taken by British forces.
• 1784 - Abraham Trembley dies (b. 1710). Swiss naturalist.
• 1792 - Charles Simon Favart dies (b. 1710). French dramatist.
• 1796 - Johann Peter Uz dies (b. 1720). German poet.
• 1797 - First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.
• 1798 - George Vancouver dies (b. 1757). British navy officer and explorer.
• 1801 - Nicholas Repnin dies (b. 1734). Russian statesman.
• 1803 - A guerra recomeça na Europa, com a denúncia do Tratado de Amiens, assinado em 1801.
• 1803 - Justus von Liebig was born (d. 1873). German chemist.
• 1804 - Robert Baldwin was born (d. 1858). Canadian politician.
• 1806 - Johan Vilhelm Snellman was born (d. 1881). Finnish statesman.
• 1812 - Edward Lear was born (d. 1888). English author and poet.
• 1816 - Edmund Beckett Denison (Lord Grimthorpe) was born (d. 29 Apr 1905). British lawyer and horologist (Big Ben).
• 1820 - Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, UItaly (d. 1910). Crimean War nurse known as “Lady with the Lamp,”. She is also known as the founder of modern nursing.
• 1821 - The first big battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks occurs in Valtetsi.
• 1828 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born (d. 1882). English poet and painter.
• 1829 - Pavlos Carrer was born (d. 1896). Greek composer.
• 1832 - Gaetano Donizetti's opera "L'elisir d'amore," premiered in Milan.
• 1837 - Evaristo da Veiga dies (b. 1799). Brazilian journalist, writer and politician.
• 1842 - Jules Massenet was born (d. 1912). French composer.
• 1845 - Gabriel Fauré was born (d. 1924). French composer.
• 1845 - János Bacsanyi dies (b. 1763). Hungarian poet.
• 1850 - Henry Cabot Lodge was born (d. 1924). U. S. statesman.
• 1855 - Hermes da Fonseca was born (d. 9 Sep 1923). Brazilian President (15 Nov 1910 -14 Nov 1914).
• 1856 - Jacques Philippe Marie Binet dies (b. 1786). French mathematician.
• 1859 - Sergei Aksakov dies (b. 1791). Russian writer.
• 1860 - Charles Barry dies (b. 1795). English architect.
• 1862 - U.S. federal troops occupy Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 1863 - American Civil War: Battle of Raymond: two divisions of James B. McPherson's XVII Corps (ACW) turn the left wing of Confederate General John C. Pemberton's defensive line on Fourteen Mile Creek, opening up the interior of Mississippi to the Union Army during the Vicksburg Campaign.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: Thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die in "the Bloody Angle".
• 1864 - J. E. B. Stuart dies (b. 1833). American soldier from Virginia and a Confederate Army general.
• 1865 - American Civil War: Battle of Palmito Ranch: The first day of the last major land action to take place during the Civil War, resulting in a Conferderate victory.
• 1867 - Hugh Trumble was born (d. 1938). Australian test cricketer.
• 1867 - Friedrich William Eduard Gerhard dies (b. 1795). German archaeologist.
• 1870 - The Manitoba Act is given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15.
• 1871 - Anselme Payen dies (b. 1795). French physicist.
• 1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned King of Sweden.
• 1874 - Clemens von Pirquet was born (d. 1928). Austrian physician.
• 1876 - Georgi Benkovski dies (b. 1843). Bulgarian revolutionary, brutally killed by the Turks.
• 1880 - Lincoln Ellsworth was born (d. 1951). American scientist and polar explorer.
• 1881 - In North Africa, Tunisia becomes a French protectorate (The Treaty of Bardo).
• 1884 - Bedřich Smetana dies (b. 1824). Czech composer.
• 1885 - North-West Rebellion: The four-day Battle of Batoche, pitting rebel French Canadians against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat. against the Canadian government, comes to an end with a decisive rebel defeat.
• 1886 - Numa Convenção luso-francesa, foram definidas as fronteiras entre Angola e o Congo francês.
• 1889 - Otto Frank was born (d. 1980). Writer, father of Anne Frank.
• 1889 - John Cadbury dies (b. 1801). English chocolate entrepreneur.
• 1890 - The first-ever official County Championship match begins. Yorkshire beat Gloucestershire by eight wickets at Bristol. George Ulyett scores the first century in the competition.
• 1891 - Nace en Olinalá, Guerrero, Juan Andrew Almazán, quien en 1911 se pronunciará contra el maderismo para unirse a Zapata.En 1940 será candidato a la Presidencia de la República, junto con el general Manuel Ávila Camacho, quien resultará ganador.
• 1892 - Fritz Kortner was born (d. 1970). Austrian-born director.
• 1895 - Jiddu Krishnamurti was born (d. 1986). Indian philosopher.
• 1895 - William Giauque was born (d. 1982). Canadian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1899 - Indra Devi was born (d. 2002). Latvian Yoga Instructor.
• 1899 - Nace en Guaymas, Sonora, Abelardo L. Rodríguez, quien habrá de distinguirse como revolucionario y político. En 1928 ascenderá a general de división y será Presidente de la República de septiembre de 1933 a noviembre de 1934.
• 1899 - Maurice Carême was born (d. 12 Jan. 1978). Belgian poet.
• 1900 - Helene Weigel was born (d. 1971). German actress.
• 1902 - Heinrich Kirchner was born. German sculptor.
• 1903 - Wilfrid Hyde-White was born (d. 1991). English actor.
• 1907 - Leslie Charteris was born (d. 1993). British author and screenwriter.
• 1907 - Katharine Hepburn was born (d. 2003). American actress earned who earned four Academy Awards.
• 1907 - Leslie Charteris [Leslie Charles Bowyer Yin] was born in Singapore (d. 15 Apr 1993). English author (The Saint).
• 1907 - Joris-Karl Huysmans dies (b. 1848). French author.
• 1908 - Muere en la ciudad de México, donde naciera en 1838, el distinguido compositor musical Melesio Morales, iniciador en el país de la escuela italiana. Indirectamente fue el creador del Conservatorio Nacional de Música.
• 1910 - Charles B. Fulton was born (d. 1996). American jurist.
• 1910 - Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin was born (d. 1994). British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1911 - El aviador y constructor de aviones francés Edouard Nieuport logra la plusmarca de velocidad en el aire al alcanzar 120 kilómetros por hora.
• 1912 - Archibald Cox was born. U.S. Solicitor General and Watergate special prosecutor.
• 1913 - Jamelão was born. Brazilian singer.
• 1914 - Bertus Aafjes was born (d. 1993). Dutch poet.
• 1914 - Howard K. Smith was born (d. 2002). American journalist.
• 1915 - Mary Kay Ash was born (d. 2001). American businesswoman, founded Mary Kay Cosmetics.
• 1916 - James Connolly dies (b. 1868). Irish socialist.
• 1917 - Frank Clair was born. Canadian football coach.
• 1918 - Julius Rosenberg was born (d. 1953). American spy.
• 1921 - Ruth de Souza was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1921 - Emilia Pardo Bazán dies (b. 1851). Spanish writer.
• 1921 - Farley Mowat was born. Canadian writer and naturalist.
• 1921 - Joseph Beuys was born († 23 Jan 1986). German artist.
• 1922 - Marco Denevi was born (d. 1998). Argentine writer.
• 1924 - Alexander Esenin-Volpin was born. Russian mathematician.
• 1924 – Maxine Cooper Gomberg was born (d. 2009). American actress.
• 1924 - Tony Hancock was born (d. 1968). Bristish comedian.
• 1925 - Yogi Berra was born in St. Louis, Missouri. American baseball player, manager and coach.
• 1925 - Paul von Hindenburg substitui Walter Simons na presidência da Alemanha.
• 1925 - Amy Lowell dies (b. 1874). American poet.
• 1926 - UK General Strike 1926: In the United Kingdom, a 9-day general strike by trade unions ends.
• 1926 - Aboard the semirigid airship Norge, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, American scientist Lincoln Ellsworth, and Italian engineer Umberto Nobile made the first undisputed flight over the North Pole.
• 1928 - Burt Bacharach was born. American composer.
• 1928 - Henry Cosby was born (d. 2002). African-American songwriter.
• 1929 - Dollard St. Laurent was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1929 - Einar Arnaldur Melax was born. Islandese musician and composer.
• 1929 - Sam Nujoma was born. Namibian politician.
• 1930 - Jesús Franco was born. Spanish film director.
• 1930 - A Pulitzer prize was awarded to Marc Connelly (Green Pastures).
• 1931 - Eugène Ysaÿe dies (b. 1858). Belgian violinist.
• 1932 - Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey just a few miles from the Lindbergh's home.
• 1933 - Andrey Voznesensky was born. Russian poet.
• 1933 - Mário Pereira was born in Barreiro (d. 1996). Portuguese actor.
  
• 1934 - "Cocktails For Two" by Duke Ellington hit #1.
• 1935 - Felipe Alou was born. Major League Baseball manager.
• 1935 - Johnny Bucyk was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1935 - Jósef Piłsudski dies (b. 1867). Polish statesman.
• 1936 - Frank Stella was born. American painter.
• 1936 - Guillermo Endara was born. President of Panama.
• 1936 - Manuel Alegre was born in Águeda. Portuguese poet and politician.
• 1936 - Tom Snyder was born. American journalist and TV personality.
• 1936 - Las cortes aprueban la elección de Manuel Azaña como presidente de la República española.
• 1937 - Coronation of King George VI of Britain at Westminster Abbey after Edward VIII abdication.
• 1937 - Beryl Burton was born (d. 1996). English cyclist.
• 1937 - George Carlin was born. American comedian.
• 1937 - Susan Hampshire was born. English actress.
• 1938 - Millie Perkins was born. American film actress.
• 1939 - Miltiadis Evert was born. Greek politician.
• 1939 - Reg Gasnier was born. Australian rugby league footballer.
• 1939 - Ron Ziegler was born (d. 2003). White House Press Secretary.
• 1941 - Konrad Zuse presented the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer in Berlin.
• 1942 - World War II: Second Battle of Kharkov – In the eastern Ukraine, the Soviet Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
• 1942 - 1,500 Jews are sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz.
• 1942 - Billy Swan was born. American songwriter and singer.
• 1942 - Ian Dury was born (d. 2000). English musician.
• 1942 - Michel Fugain was born. French singer and songwriter.
• 1944 - James Purify was born. American singer.
• 1944 - Arthur Quiller-Couch (pen name Q) dies (b. 1863). English writer.
• 1944 - Max Brand dies. American author.
• 1945 - Alan Ball was born (d. 2007). English footballer.
• 1945 - Ian McLagan was born. English keyboardist (The Small Faces).
• 1945 - Patrick Ricard was born. French businessman.
• 1946 - Daniel Libeskind was born. American architect.
• 1946 - L. Neil Smith was born. American science fiction author.
• 1947 – Catherine Yronwode was born. American writer and editor.
• 1947 - Michael Ignatieff was born. Canadian politician.
• 1947 - Micheline Lanctôt was born. American film actor, director and screenwriter.
• 1948 – David Heineman was born. American politician, current governor of Nebraska.
• 1948 - Steve Winwood was born. English singer, songwriter and musician ("Blind Faith", "Traffic").
• 1949 - The Soviet Union lifts its Blockade of Berlin.
• 1949 - The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state - the Federal Republic of Germany.
• 1950 - Billy Squier was born. American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
• 1950 - Bruce Boxleitner was born. American actor.
• 1950 - Gabriel Byrne was born. Irish actor.
• 1951 - Estados Unidos hace explotar la primera “Bomba-H” sobre las islas Marshall, ubicadas en el Océano Pacífico.
• 1952 - Gaj Singh crowned Maharaja of Jodhpur.
• 1955 - The last portion of the IRT Third Avenue Elevated in Manhattan closes.
• 1955 - Kix Brooks was born. American musician.
• 1956 - Bernie Federko was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1956 - Glenn Robbins was born. Australian comedian.
• 1956 - Louis Calhern dies (b. 1895). American film actor.
• 1957 - Lou Whitaker was born. American baseball player.
• 1957 - Alfonso de Portago dies (b. 1928). Spanish bobsledder and race car driver.
• 1957 - Erich von Stronheim dies of cancer in Paris (b. 1885). Austrian-US actor and director. His films included "Grand Illusion", "The Merry Widow" and "Greed". In 2000 Arthur Lennig published the biography "Stroheim".
• 1958 - A formal North American Aerospace Defense Command agreement is signed between the United States and Canada.
• 1958 - Andreas Petroulakis was born. Greek political caricaturist.
• 1958 - Eric Singer was born. American drummer.
• 1959 - Elizabeth Taylor / Eddie Fisher wedding.
• 1959 - Ving Rhames was born. American actor.
• 1960 - Ian Khan was born. British racing driver.
• 1960 - Paul Arcand was born. Quebec radio host, journalist and film director.
• 1961 - Billy Duffy was born. British rock guitarist (The Cult).
• 1961 - Bruce McCulloch was born. Canadian actor, writer, and comedian (Kids in the Hall).
• 1961 - Lar Park Lincoln was born. American actress.
• 1961 - Paul Begala was born. American political commentator.
• 1961 - Thomas Dooley was born. German-American soccer player.
• 1962 - Douglas MacArthur delivers his famous "Duty, Honor, Country" valedictory speech at West Point.
• 1962 - Brett Gurewitz was born. American guitarist, songwriter and record producer (Bad Religion) (Epitaph).
• 1962 - Emilio Estevez was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Charles Pettigrew was born (d. 2001). American singer (Charles and Eddie).
• 1963 - Deborah Kara Unger was born. Canadian actress.
• 1963 - Jerry Trimble was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Panagiotis Fasoulas was born. Greek basketball player, Mayor of Piraeus.
• 1963 - Stefano Modena was born. Italian racing driver.
• 1963 - Vanessa A. Williams was born. American actress.
• 1963 - Bobby Kerr dies (b. 1882). Canadian runner.
• 1965 - The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.
• 1965 - West Germany and Israel establish diplomatic relations.
• 1966 - Busch Memorial Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals major league baseball team, opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1966 - Bebel Gilberto was born. Brazilian singer and composer.
• 1966 - Stephen Baldwin was born. American actor.
• 1966 - Felix Martin Julius Steiner dies (b. 1896). German Heer and Waffen-SS officer.
• 1967 - At Queen Elizabeth Hall, England, Pink Floyd stages the first-ever quadraphonic rock concert.
• 1967 – Joe McKinney was born. Irish actor.
• 1967 - Paul D'Amour was born. American bass guitarist (ex-Tool).
• 1967 - John Masefield dies (b. 1878). British writer.
  
• 1968 - Catherine Tate was born. English comedian.
• 1968 - Mark Clark was born. American baseball player.
• 1968 - Scott Schwartz was born. American actor.
• 1968 - Tony Hawk was born. American skateboarding legend.
• 1969 - Cesar Millan was born. Professional dog trainer.
• 1969 - Kevin Nalty was born. Famed YouTuber.
• 1969 - Kim Fields was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Ernie Banks becomes the ninth member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.
• 1970 - Jim Furyk was born. American golfer.
• 1970 - Mike Weir was born. Canadian golfer, 2003 Masters champion.
• 1970 – Samantha Mathis was born. American actress.
• 1970 - Secretário was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1970 – Steve Palframan was born. South African cricketer.
• 1970 - Nelly Sachs dies (b. 1891). German writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1971 - Comienza a funcionar el primer radiotelescopio del mundo en la RFA.
• 1971 - Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger marries Bianca Perez Morena de Macias after a row with the media nearly halts proceedings.
• 1971 - Doug Basham was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1971 - Heinie Manush dies (b. 1901). American baseball player.
• 1972 - Chile: Salvador Allende nacionaliza la compañía norteamericana ITT.
• 1972 - The Rolling Stones release Exile On Main Street, often considered their best album.
• 1972 - Alfredo Rizzotti dies (b. 1909). Brazilian painter.
• 1973 - Kendra Kassebaum was born. American stage actress.
• 1973 - Travis Lutter was born. Mixed Martial Arts Fighter.
• 1973 - Art Pollard dies (b. 1927). American race car driver.
• 1975 - Mayagüez incident: The Cambodian navy seizes the American merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.
• 1975 - Jonah Lomu was born. New Zealand rugby player.
• 1975 – Lawrence Phillips was born. American football player.
• 1977 - Portugal e Israel estabeleceram relações diplomáticas.
• 1977 - Doug Basham was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1977 - Graeme Dott was born. Scottish snooker player.
• 1977 - Rebecca Herbst was born. American actress.
• 1978 - In Zaïre, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba. The government of Zaïre asks the U.S., France and Belgium to restore order.
• 1978 - Aya Ishiguro was born. Japanese singer (formerly Morning Musume).
• 1978 - Hossein Reza Zadeh was born. Iranian weightlifter.
• 1978 - Jason Biggs was born. American actor (American Pie).
• 1978 - Josh Phelps was born. American baseball player.
• 1978 - Malin Akerman was born in Stockholm. Sweden- Canadian actress and model.
  
• 1978 - Wilfred Le Bouthillier was born. Acadian singer.
• 1979 - Andre Carter was born. American football player.
• 1979 - Erdinç Saçan was born. Turkish-Dutch politician.
• 1979 – Robert Key was born. English Cricketer.
• 1979 – Steve Smith was born. American football player.
• 1980 - César Peixoto was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1981 - Francis Hughes starves to death in the Maze Prison in a republican campaign for political status to be granted to IRA prisoners.
• 1981 – Dennis Trillo (Abelardo Dennis Florencio Ho) was born. Filipino actor and singer.
  
• 1981 - Kentaro Sato was born. Japanese composer.
• 1981 - Lorena Bernal was born. Spanish model and actress, Miss Spain 1999.
• 1982 - During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan Fernandez Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet. Krohn, an ultraconservative Spanish priest opposed to the Vatican II reforms, decided that the Pope must be killed for being an "agent of Moscow."
• 1982 - In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II.
• 1983 - Charilaos Pappas was born. Greek footballer.
• 1984 - Cheryl Burke was born. Filipino-American ballroom dancer.
• 1985 – Jeroen Simaeys was born. Belgian footballer.
• 1985 - Tally Hall was born. American soccer player.
• 1985 - Jean Dubuffet dies (b. 1901). French painter.
• 1986 - Emily VanCamp was born. Canadian actress.
• 1986 - Elisabeth Bergner dies (b. 1897). Austrian actress.
• 1986 - Alicia Moreau de Justo dies. Argentine journalist and politician, wife of Juan B. Justo, physician and socialist politician.
• 1987 – Eddie Fenech Adami sworn in as Malta's Prime Minister.
• 1987 - Doble operación de trasplante en Baltimore (EEUU): el corazón de un hombre vivo de 28 años es injertado en otro enfermo cardíaco y el donante recibe el pulmón y corazón de una víctima de accidente de tráfico.
• 1988 - Marcelo was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1988 – Marky Cielo was born (d. 2008). Filipino dancer and actor.
  
• 1989 - A Southern Pacific Railroad freight train derails on Duffy Street on the very steep Cajon Pass in San Bernardino, California.
• 1989 - Amália Rodrigues, fadista portuguesa, após ter actuado no Olympia, é condecorada com a Medalha de Ouro da Cidade de Paris.
• 1990 - Chen Kenmin dies (b. 1912). Japanese chef.
• 1991 - Bradford N. Smith was born. American actor-
• 1992 - Callum Chambers was born. Australian rules footballer.
• 1992 - Malcolm David Kelley was born. American child actor.
• 1992 - Lenny Montana dies (b. 1926). American actor.
• 1992 - Nikos Gatsos dies (b. 1911). Greek poet and lyricist.
• 1992 - Robert Reed dies (b. 1932). American actor.
• 1993 - Kayla Rolland was born (d. 2000). School shooting victim.
• 1994 - UK opposition leader John Smith dies in a London hospital after two serious heart attacks.
• 1994 - John Smith dies (b. 1938). British politician.
• 1994 - Erik Erikson dies (b. 1902). German psychoanalyst.
• 1995 - El actor, escritor y director de cine Fernando Fernán-Gómez es galardonado con el Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes.
• 1995 - Jean Carlos Chera was born. Brazilian football prodigy.
• 1995 - Luke Benward was born. American actor.
• 1995 - Sawyer and Sullivan Sweeten were born. American child actors.
• 1995 - Mia Martini dies (b. 1947). Italian singer.
  
• 1997 - In the 7th inning of a baseball game between the Anaheim Angels and the Chicago White Sox, the Angels score 13 runs.
• 1999 - David Steel becomes the first Presiding Officer (speaker) of the modern Scottish Parliament.
• 1999 - In Russia Pres. Yeltsin fired Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and named Sergei Stepashin, a top police official, to head a new government.
• 1999 - Abd-al-Aziz ibn Abd-Allah ibn Baaz dies (b. 1910). Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia (1993-1999).
• 1999 - Saul Steinberg dies (b. 1914). Romanian-American cartoonist.
• 2000 - The Tate Modern art gallery opens in London.
• 2000 - Adam Petty dies (b. 1980). American race car driver.
• 2001 - Dave Benton win the forty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia singing "Everybody".
• 2001 - Didi (Valdir Pereira) dies (b. 08 Oct 1929). Brazilian footballer.
• 2001 - Alexei Tupolev dies (b. 1925). Russian aircraft designer.
• 2001 - Perry Como dies (b. 1912). American singer.
• 2002 - Former President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro becoming first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• 2002 - Erich Kulas dies. ECW Wrestler (Mass Transit).
• 2002 - Joseph Bonanno dies (b. 1905). Italian-born gangster.
• 2003 - The Riyadh compound bombings, carried out by Al Qaeda, kill 26.
• 2003 - Fifty-nine Democratic lawmakers bring the Texas Legislature to a standstill by going into hiding in a dispute over a Republican congressional redistricting plan.
• 2003 - Maddy McCann was born. The little child vanished from holiday flat in Praia da Luz, Algarve Portugal.
• 2003 - Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan dies (b. 1933). French UN High Commissioner for refugees.
• 2004 - A wildlife group warned that world cod stocks were falling and could be wiped out in 15 years if the current rate of over fishing continues (Lá se vai o nosso "bacalhauzinho").
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1965 - 1977).
• 2005 - Kaspars Petrovs is convicted of the strangulation murder and robberies of thirteen elderly women in Riga, Latvia.
• 2005 - Gauteng, South Africa environment minister, Khabisi Mosunkutu pays a surprise visit to the recycling plant of SA Waste, a waste disposal company in Marlboro. Following the visit, the site is shut down, and the company is given 14 days to clean up the area.
• 2005 - Martin Lings dies (b. 1909). English Islamic scholar.
• 2005 - Monica Zetterlund dies (b. 1937). Swedish actress and singer.
• 2006 – Mass unrest by the Primeiro Comando da Capital begins in São Paulo, Brazil, leaving at least 150 dead.
• 2006 - Justin Gatlin ties the fastest 100m sprint ever in a time of 9.77 seconds in Doha, Qatar.
• 2006 - Gillespie V. Montgomery dies (b. 1920). Former U.S. representative from Mississippi.
• 2006 - Hussein Maziq dies (b. 1918). Former Libyan prime minister.
• 2007 – 2007 Karachi riots , which killed over 50 people in Karachi and above 100 injured, on the arrival of Chief Justice of Pakistan; Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in Karachi city.
• 2007 - Mullah Dadullah Akhund dies (b. 1966?). Taliban military leader.
• 2007 - Teddy Infuhr dies (b. 1936). American former child actor.
• 2008 – 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (measuring around 8.0 magnitude) occurs in Sichuan, China, killing over 69,000 people.
• 2008 – Irena Sendler dies (b. 1910). Polish social worker, WWII heroine.
• 2008 - Robert Rauschenberg dies (b. 1925). American artist.
• Municipal Holiday in Aveiro (Portugal).
• Feast day of the following saints in the Roman Catholic Church: Saints Achilleus and Nereus, Saint Pancras (died 304), second of the Ice Saints; Saint Epiphanius; Saint Modoald ; Saint Domitilla; Saint Joan of Portugal; Blessed Imelda.
• International Nurses Day, commemorating the birthday of Florence Nightingale in 1820.
• Day of Finnishness in Finland; Commemoration day of J. V. Snellman.
• National Limerick Day, commemorating the birthday of Edward Lear in 1812.