On this day in History - May 20

• 0325 - The First Council of Nicaea is held; the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church.
• 0526 - An Earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
• 0685 - The Battle of Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
• 0685 - Ecgfrith dies (b. 0645). King of Northumbria.
• 1217 - The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
• 1232 - Canonização de Santo Antonio de Pádua.
• 1277 - Pope John XXI (Pedro Hispano) dies (b. 1215). Portuguese philosopher and Pope.
• 1285 - John II of Jerusalem dies (b. 1259). King of Cyprus.
• 1293 - King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
• 1315 - Bonne of Luxembourg was born (d. 1349). Wife of John II of France.
• 1444 - Saint Bernardino of Siena dies (b. 1380). Italian Franciscan missionary.
• 1449 - Batalha de Alfarrobeira entre exército de D. Afonso V e forças do Infante D. Pedro
• 1470 - Pietro Bembo was born (d. 1547). Italian cardinal.
• 1476 - Batalha de Toro entre exércitos de D. Afonso V e príncipe D. João contra D. Fernando de Castela.
• 1497 - John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
• 1498 - Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India./ Vasco da Gama concretiza o grande feito da descoberta do caminho maritimo para a India ao chegar a Calicute. Partira a 8 Jul 1497.
• 1503 - Lorenzo de Medici dies (b. 1463). Italian patron.
• 1506 - Christopher Columbus dies (b. 1451). Italian explorer.
• 1521 - Battle of Pampeluna: Ignatius Loyola seriously wounded in the battle.
• 1550 - Ashikaga Yoshiharu dies (b. 1510). Japanese shogun.
• 1554 - Paolo Bellasio was born (d. 1594). Italian composer.
• 1570 - Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
• 1591 - Argentina: El gobernador Juan Ramírez de Velasco funda la ciudad de La Rioja, originariamente denominada "Ciudad de Todos los Santos de la Nueva Rioja.
• 1593 - Salomo Glassius was born (d. 1656). German theologian.
• 1609 - Shakespeare's Sonnets are first published in London, perhaps illicitly, by the publisher Thomas Thorpe.
• 1622 - Osman II dies (b. 1604). Ottoman Emperor.
• 1631 - The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years War.
• 1648 - King Wladislaus IV of Poland dies (b. 1595).
• 1660 - Andreas Schlüter was born (d. 1714). German sculptor.
• 1663 - William Bradford was born (d. 1752). British-born printer.
• 1677 - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol dies (b. 1612). British statesman.
• 1690 - England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Catholic James II.
• 1706 - Seth Pomeroy was born (d. 1777). American gunsmith and soldier.
• 1713 - Thomas Sprat dies (b. 1635). English writer.
• 1717 - John Trevor dies (b. 1637). British statesman.
• 1722 - Sébastien Vaillant dies (b. 1669). French botanist.
• 1726 - Francis Cotes was born (d. 1770). English painter.
• 1732 - Thomas Boston dies (b. 1676). Scottish church leader.
• 1737 - William Petty Fitzmaurice was born (d. 1805). British statesman.
• 1759 - William Thornton was born (d. 1828). Architect of the United States Capitol.
• 1768 - Dolley Madison was born (d. 1849). First Lady of the United States.
• 1769 - Andreas Vokos Miaoulis was born (d. 1835). Greek admiral and politician.
• 1772 - Sir William Congreve was born (d. 1828). English inventor.
• 1780 - Nace en Buenos Aires Bernardino Rivadavia, primer presidente argentino, fundador de la Universidad de Buenos Aires, organizador de la administración y propulsor de la incorporación de la mujer en la acción pública. Falleció en Cádiz (España) el 2 de septiembre de 1845.
• 1780 - Fundação da Casa Pia de Lisboa.
• 1782 - William Emerson dies (b. 1701). British mathematician.
• 1793 - Charles Bonnet dies (b. 1720). Swiss naturalist.
• 1799 - Honoré de Balzac was born (d. 18 Aug 1850). French novelist (The Human Comedy, Droll Stories, The Chouans).
• 1801 - O Exército espanhol invade Portugal, começando as operações da guerra declarada no mês de Março anterior.
• 1802 - By the Law of 20 May 1802, Napoleon reinstates slavery in the French colonies, revoking its abolition in the French Revolution.
  
• 1806 - John Stuart Mill was born (d. 8 May 1873). English philosopher. Leader of the utilitarian movement: editor: Westminster Review; System of Logic, Principles of Political Economy, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, The Subjection of Women.
• 1813 - Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
• 1818 - William Fargo was born (d. 1881). Co-founder of Wells, Fargo & Company.
• 1822 - Frédéric Passy was born (d. 1912). French economist, Nobel laureate.
• 1825 - Papaflessas dies (b. 1788). Greek priest and government official.
• 1830 - Hector Malot was born (d. 1907). French writer.
• 1834 - Gilbert du Motier dies (b. 1757). French statesman.
• 1835 - Otto is named made the first modern king of Greece.
• 1838 - Jules Méline was born (d. 1925). French statesman.
• 1840 - York Minster was badly damaged by fire.
• 1841 - Joseph Blanco White dies (b. 1775). British theologian.
• 1845 - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
• 1845 - O Paraguai permite a entrada de europeus por iniciativa de seu presidente, Carlos Antonio López.
• 1846 - Pedro de Sousa Holstein assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro de Portugal.
• 1847 - Antonio López de Santa Ana assume (pela 10º vez) a presidência do México.
• 1851 - Emil Berliner was born (d. 1929). Telephone and recording pioneer.
• 1860 - Eduard Buchner was born (d. 1917). German chemist, Nobel Prize 1907 laureate.
• 1861 - North Carolina voted to secede from the Union.
• 1861 - American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
• 1862 - U. S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church - In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
• 1870 - Duque de Saldanha assume Ministério das Obras Públicas, Comércio e Indústria.
• 1873 - Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a US patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
• 1873 - Sir George-Étienne Cartier dies (b. 1814). French-Canadian statesman.
• 1882 - The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
• 1882 - Sigrid Undset was born (d. 1949). Norwegian author and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
• 1883 - The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.
• 1883 - King Faisal I of Iraq was born (d. 1933).
• 1885 - Manuel Flores dies (b. 1840). Mexican poet.
• 1888 - Inauguración de la Exposición Universal de Barcelona.
• 1891 - History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs).
• 1894 - Adela Rogers St. Johns was born (d. 1988). American journalist, novelist and screenwriter.
• 1894 - Chandrashekarendra Saraswati was born (d. 1994). Indian Hindu sage, Jivanmukta.
• 1895 - R. J. (Reginald Joseph) Mitchell was born (d. 1937). British aircraft designer, developer of the Spitfire.
• 1896 - The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others.
• 1896 - Clara Schumann dies (b. 1819). German pianist and composer.
• 1897 - Diego Abad de Santillán was born (d. 1983). Spanish anarchist.
• 1898 - Aquário Vasco da Gama in Lisbon, Portugal, is inaugurated.
• 1898 - Nace en Buenos Aires el notable poeta lírico Ricardo E. Molinari. Entre otras obras, escribió "El imaginero", "Esta rosa oscura del aire", "Odas a orillas de un viejo río", "Mundos de la madrugada" y "La escudilla". Falleció el 31 de julio de 1996.
• 1898 - Luís Caetano Pereira Guimarães Júnior dies in Lisbon (b. 17 Feb. 1845). Brazilian poet.
• 1899 - Alexander Deyneka was born (d. 1969). Ukrainian painter.
• 1899 – John Marshall Harlan II was born (d. 1971). Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
  
• 1899 - Lydia Cabrera was born (d. 1991). Cuban anthropologist and poet.
• 1900 - Início das Olimpíadas de Paris (França).
• 1901 - Max Euwe was born (d. 1981). Dutch world chess champion.
• 1902 - Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma is the first President.
• 1903 - Barbara Hepworth was born (d. 1975). British sculptor.
• 1905 - Gerrit Achterberg was born. Poet.
• 1906 - Giuseppe Cardinal Siri was born (d. 1989). Italian Roman Catholic cardinal.
• 1908 - James Stewart was born (d. 1997). American actor.
• 1909 - Matt Busby was born (d. 1994). Scottish football manager.
• 1909 - Ernest Hogan dies (b. 1859). Blackface comedian and musician.
• 1910 - Krazy Kat and Ignatz first appear in 'The Dingbat Family' comic strip.
• 1911 - Annie M. G. Schmidt was born. Children's book writer.
• 1911 - Gardner Fox was born (d. 1986). American writer.
• 1913 - William Hewlett was born (d. 2001). American engineer, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.
• 1913 - Término do mandato de José Miguel Gómez na presidência de Cuba sucedendo-lhe Mario García Menocal.
• 1914 - Corneliu Coposu was born (d. 1995). Romanian politician.
• 1914 - Hideko Maehata was born (d. 1995). Japanese swimmer.
• 1914 - José Guilherme de Araújo Jorge was born in Acre (d. 1987). Brazilian poet.
• 1915 - Moshe Dayan was born (d. 1981). Israeli general.
• 1916 - The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
• 1916 - The small town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado. Incredibly, the same town was also hit in 1917 and 1918 on the exact same date.
• 1916 - Alexei Petrovich Maresiev was born (d. 2001). Russian flying ace.
• 1916 - Trebisonda Valla was born. Italian athlete.
• 1917 - Bergur Sigurbjörnsson was born (d. 2005). Icelandic politician.
• 1917 - Guy Favreau was born (d. 1967). French Canadian lawyer.
• 1917 - Philipp von Ferrary dies (b. 1850). Italian philatelist.
• 1917 - Valentine Fleming dies (b. 1887). Scottish politician.
• 1918 - Edward B. Lewis was born (d. 2004). American geneticist, Nobel laureate.
• 1918 - For the third consecutive year on this date, the town of Codell, Kansas is struck by a tornado.
• 1919 - George Gobel was born (d. 1991). American comedian.
• 1919 - Gerhard Barkhorn was born (d. 1983). German fighter pilot.
• 1920 - The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany's Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved.
• 1920 - Montreal Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
• 1920 - In Japan, police carry away Socialist members of the Diet; Parliament then approves a security treaty with the United States.
• 1920 - Betty Driver was born. English singer and actress.
• 1920 - John Cruickshank was born. Scottish airman who won Victoria Cross.
• 1921 - Alfredo Zayas y Alfonso assume a Presidência de Cuba sucedendo a Mario García Menocal.
• 1921 - Hal Newhouser was born (d. 1998). American Baseball Hall of Famer.
• 1921 - Wolfgang Borchert was born (d. 1947). German writer.
• 1923 - Mestalla Stadium in Valencia, Spain is inaugurated.
• 1923 - Uruguay y Brasil son aceptados definitivamente como miembros de FIFA.
• 1924 – Zelmar Michelini was born (d. 20 May 1976). Uruguayan reporter and politician.
• 1925 - Início do mandato de Gerardo Machado y Morales na presidência de Cuba.
• 1925 - Chester Ludgin was born (d. 2003). American baritone.
• 1926 - Fundación del Club Colegio Nacional de Iquitos, de Iquito, Perú.
• 1926 - Henri Jaspar assume o cargo de primeiro-ministro da Bélgica.
• 1926 - Bob Sweikert was born (d. 1956). American race car driver.
• 1926 - John Lucarotti was born (d. 1994). TV writer.
• 1927 - By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• 1927 - At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day.
• 1927 - Bud Grant was born. American football coach.
• 1927 - David Hedison was born. American actor.
• 1927 - Franciszek Macharski was born. Polish Cardinal.
• 1927 - Eduard Brückner dies. German archaelogist.
• 1928 - Jack Kevorkian was born. Controversial American medical doctor.
• 1929 - O general Gerardo Machado toma posse de seu cargo de presidente da República de Cuba, para o qual foi reeleito.
• 1930 - James McEachin was born. Actor.
• 1930 - Sam Etcheverry was born. American football player and coach.
• 1931 - Ken Boyer was born (d. 1982). American baseball player.
• 1931 - Paul Evans was born (d. 1987). American furniture designer and sculptor.
• 1932 - Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
• 1932 - Bob Florence was born (d. 2008). American jazz pianist, composer, arranger.
  
• 1934 - En Uruguay, se juegan dos minutos del partido entre River Plate y Nacional pendientes de la temporada 1933. El encuentro es decisivo ya que si River Plate empata, Peñarol se consagra campeón de la temporada, ya que van igualado con Nacional en el primer puesto. Tras los dos minutos, el marcador no sufre variaciones y esto obliga a una definición entre Nacional y Peñarol por el título 1933, cuando el campeonato Uruguayo 1934 esta en pleno desarrollo.
• 1936 - Início do mandato de Miguel Mariano Gómez na presidência de Cuba sucedendo a José A. Barnet y Vinajeras.
• 1936 - Anthony Zerbe was born. American actor.
• 1936 - Lee "Scratch" Perry was born. Jamaican reggae and dub artist.
• 1937 - Maria Teresa Horta was born in Lisbon. Portuguese writer.
• 1938 - Marinella was born. Greek singer and actress Ver se é 1935 ou 1938.
• 1940 - Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
• 1940 - Se funda el Colegio Nacional de Arbitros de Perú, bajo la conducción del ex-árbitro Julio Borelli.
• 1940 - Sadaharu Oh was born. Japanese baseball star.
• 1940 - Shorty Long was born (d. 1969). American musician.
• 1940 - Stan Mikita was born. Slovak-born Canadian Hockey Hall of Famer.
• 1940 - Verner von Heidenstam dies (b. 1859). Swedish poet, Nobel laureate in 1916.
• 1941 - World War II: Battle of Crete - German paratroops invade Crete.
• 1941 - Goh Chok Tong was born. Singaporean Senior Minister.
• 1941 - John Strasberg was born. American actor.
• 1941 - Manuel Isaias Lopez was born. Mexican child psychiatrist.
• 1942 - David Proval was born. Actor.
• 1942 - Carlos Hathcock was born (d. 1999). American Marine sniper.
• 1942 - Jill Jackson was born. American singer.
• 1943 - Al Bano was born. Italian singer.
• 1943 - Shorty Long was born (d. 1969). American singer and songwriter.
• 1944 - Boudewijn de Groot was born. Dutch singer.
• 1944 - Dietrich Mateschitz was born. Austrian businessman and founder of Red Bull.
• 1944 - Joe Cocker was born. British singer (With a Little Help from My Friends, She Came in through the Bathroom Window, The Letter, Up Where We Belong [w/Jennifer Warnes], You are So Beautiful, When the Night Comes, Cry Me a River).
• 1945 - Vladimiro Montesinos was born. Peruvian politician.
• 1946 - Cher was born. American singer.
• 1946 - Jacob Ellehammer dies (b. 1871). Danish inventor.
• 1947 - Greg Dyke was born. British broadcast executive.
• 1947 - Philipp Lenard dies (b. 1862). Austrian physicist, Nobel laureate.
• 1948 - Luiz Manoel de Freitas was born in Pirpirituba - Paraíba. Brazilian poet.
• 1949 - In the United States of America, the Armed Forces Security Agency (predecessor to the National Security Agency) is established.
• 1949 - Kuomintang regime declare Taiwan is under the martial law.
• 1949 - Dave Thomas was born. Canadian comedian and actor.
• 1949 - Randolph West dies (b. 1890). American biochemist, known for the Dakin-West reaction.
• 1950 - Reinaldo Merlo was born. Argentine footballer.
• 1950 - Yvon Lambert was born. French Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1951 - Mike Crapo was born. American politician.
• 1952 - Roger Milla was born. Cameroonian footballer.
• 1953 - Robert Doyle was born. Australian politician.
• 1954 - Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
• 1954 - Cindy Hensley McCain was born. Wife of John McCain.
• 1954 - David Paterson was born. American politician.
• 1954 - Guy Hoffman was born. American musician (Violent Femmes).
• 1954 – Robert Van de Walle was born. Belgian judoka.
• 1955 - Zbigniew Preisner was born. Polish film composer.
• 1956 - In Operation Redwing, (shot Cherokee), the first United States airborne hydrogen bomb is dropped over Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1956 - Dean Butler was born. American actor.
• 1956 - Ingvar Ambjørnsen was born. Norwegian author.
• 1956 - William Michaelian was born. American novelist and poet.
• 1956 - Max Beerbohm dies (b. 1872). English theater critic.
• 1957 - Léon Cantave assume (pela 2ª vez) a presidência do Haiti.
• 1957 - Lucélia Santos was born. Brazilian actress.
• 1958 - Jane Wiedlin was born. American singer (The Go-Go's).
• 1958 - Ron Reagan was born. Dancer, talk show host, son of Ronald Reagan.
• 1959 - Bronson Pinchot was born. American actor.
• 1959 - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole was born. Hawaiian singer.
• 1960 - Carlos Coelho was born. Portuguese politician.
• 1960 - Chuck Brodsky was born. American musician.
• 1960 - John Billingsley was born. American actor.
• 1960 - Tony Goldwyn was born. American actor (The Boys Next Door, Truman, Pocahontas: The Legend, Nixon, The Pelican Brief, Ghost, Gaby: A True Story).
• 1960 - "La Dolce Vita" directed by Federico Fellini, with Marcelo Mastroiani, Anita Ekberg and Anouk Aimée, wins the Palm D'Or in XIII Festival International du Film in Cannes.
• 1961 - A mob attacked a busload of "freedom riders" in Montgomery, Ala., setting the bus on fire.
• 1961 - Clive Allen was born. English footballer.
• 1961 - Josef "Pips" Priller dies (b. 1915). German fighter ace.
• 1962 - Mike Jeffries was born. American soccer coach.
• 1963 - Sukarno appointed president of Indonesia.
• 1963 - David Wells was born. American baseball player.
• 1963 - Karl Beattie was born. English television director and producer.
• 1965 - PIA Flight 705, a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 720 - 040 B crashes while descending to land at Cairo International Airport, killing 119 of the 125 passengers and crew.
• 1965 - Ted Allen was born. American television host.
• 1966 - El partido de desempate de la Copa Libertadores se juega en Santiago de Chile, y Peñarol de Uruguay, tras ir perdiendo por 2 a 0, vence a River Plate de Argentina por 4 goles a 2. Tercera copa de Peñarol.
• 1966 - Dan Abrams was born. American TV reporter.
• 1966 – Gina Ravera was born. American actress.
• 1966 - Mindy Cohn was born. American actress.
• 1966 - Carlos Arruza dies. Mexican bullfighter.
• 1967 - Gabriele Muccino was born. Italian film director
• 1967 - Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece born.
• 1967 - Ramzi Yousef was born. Kuwaiti-born Pakistani terrorist.
• 1968 - Timothy Olyphant was born. American actor.
• 1968 - Waisale Serevi was born. Fijian rugby union and Rugby sevens legend.
• 1969 - The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
• 1969 - Alberto Mancini was born in Argentina. Tennis star.
• 1969 - Brian Gerard James was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1970 - Louis Theroux was born. British television presenter.
• 1970 - Terrell Brandon was born. American basketball player.
• 1970 - Brian Gerard James was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1971 - Soul singer Marvin Gaye releases the influential album What's Going On.
• 1971 - Šárka Kašpárková was born. Czech athlete.
• 1971 - Tony Stewart was born. American race car driver.
• 1971 - Waldo Williams dies (b. 1904). Welsh poet.
• 1972 - Busta Rhymes was born. American rap music singer.
• 1972 - Tina Hobley was born. British actress.
• 1973 - Elsa Lunghini was born. French singer and actress.
• 1973 - Jarno Saarinen dies (b. 1945). Finnish motorcycle racer.
• 1975 - Isaac Gálvez was born (d. 2006). Spanish cyclist.
• 1975 - Mark Zupan was born. American quadriplegic rugby player.
• 1975 - Barbara Hepworth dies (b. 1903). British sculptor.
• 1976 - Jairzinho anota cuatro goles en el triunfo de 7 a 0 de Cruzeiro sobre Alianza de Lima, por Copa Libertadores. Los otros tres tantos los anota Palinha.
• 1976 - Ramón Hernández was born. Venezuelan baseball player.
• 1976 - Tomoya Satozaki was born. Japanese baseball player.
• 1976 - Syd Howe dies (b. 1911). Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1976 - Zelmar Michelini, Uruguayan politician, member of the Christian-Democrat party, and Héctor Gutiérrez Ruiz "disappeared".
• 1977 – Angela Goethals was born. American actress.
• 1977 – Chad Muska was born. American Skateboarder for Element Skateboards.
• 1977 - Leonardo Noeren Franco was born. Argentine footballer.
• 1977 - Matt Czuchry was born. American actor.
• 1977 – Miriam Parrish was born. American television actress.
• 1977 – Tiger Tyson was born. American gay-pornographic actor.
• 1977 - Vesa Toskala was born. Finnish ice hockey player.
• 1978 - Mavis Hutchinson, 53, became the first woman to run across America. The 3,000-mile trek took her 69 days. She ran an average of 45 miles each day.
• 1978 - Paul McCartney went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'With A Little Luck', his sixth solo US No.1.
• 1978 - Bjarne Brustad dies (b. 1895). Norwegian composer.
• 1980 - In a Referendum in Quebec the population rejects by a vote of 60% the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
• 1980 - Austin Kearns was born. American baseball player.
• 1981 - Appearing at Bingley Hall, Staford, England, Bruce Springsteen.
• 1981 - Calico Cooper was born. American actress and dancer.
• 1981 - Íker Casillas was born. Spanish footballer.
• 1981 - Lindsay Taylor was born. American basketball player.
• 1981 - Mark Winterbottom was born. Australian racing driver.
• 1982 - Imran Farhat was born. Pakistani cricketer.
• 1982 - Kasey James was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1982 - Petr Čech was born. Czech footballer (goalkeeper of Chelsea).
• 1983 - First publications of the discovery of the virus that causes AIDS in the journal Science by Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo individually.
• 1983 - Car-bomb explosion kills 17 and injures 197 in the centre of Pretoria, South Africa.
• 1983 - Jr NTR was born. Indian film actor.
• 1983 – Roger Huerta was born. American mixed-martial artist.
• 1984 - The first line of the Miami Metrorail in Miami, Florida opens.
• 1984 - Kenny Vasoli was born. American singer.
• 1984 – Patrick Ewing, Jr. was born. American basketball player.
• 1985 - Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
• 1986 - Dexter Blackstock was born. English footballer.
• 1986 - LaLa Brown was born (d. 2007). American singer.
• 1988 - Portugal: O semanário Independente começa a ser publicado.
• 1988 - África do Sul, Angola e Cuba chegam a um acordo para o início da retirada das tropas cubanas de Angola e o início do processo de descolonização da Namíbia, de acordo com as resoluções da ONU.
• 1988 - Carla Humphries was born. Filipina actress.
• 1989 - The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
• 1989 - John Hicks dies (b. 1904). English economist, Nobel laureate.
• 1989 - Gilda Radner dies (b. 1946). American comedian and actress.
• 1990 - The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
• 1991 - Tarso de Castro dies (b. 1941). Brazilian journalist.
• 1992 - Amy Fisher, the so-called Long Island Lolita, is arrested for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco on the front porch of her Massapequa, New York home.
• 1992 - F.C. Barcelona ganha, em Londres, a Taça dos Campeões Europeus em futebol.
• 1992 - Suíça apresenta pedido de adesão às Comunidades Européias.
• 1992 - Roger Keith Coleman dies (b. 1958). American convict.
• 1993 - The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC.
• 1993 - Caroline Zhang dies. American figure skater.
• 1994 - Miss India (Sushmita Sen) selected Miss Universe.
• 1995 - In a second Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a slight majority the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
• 1995 - Don Henley married model Sharon Summerall. Guests included Billy Joel, Randy Newman, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Jackson Browne and Bruce Springsteen.
• 1996 - Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of rights of gays and lesbians.
• 1996 - Jon Pertwee dies (b. 1919. British actor.
• 1997 - Virgilio Barco Vargas dies. President of Colombia (1986-1990).
• 1997 - Corte Constitucional da Colômbia legaliza a Eutanásia.
• 2000 - Leo Blair was born. Youngest son of the Prime Minister of England.
  
• 2000 - Jean Pierre Rampal dies (b. 1922). French flutist.
• 2000 - Malik Sealy dies (b. 1970). American basketball player.
• 2001 - Renato Carosone dies (b. 1920). Italian musician and singer.
• 2001 - O italiano Nanni Moretti ganha a Palma de Ouro do Festival de cinema de Cannes com "La habitación del hijo".
• 2002 - The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and 3 years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself was the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
• 2002 - Stephen Jay Gould dies (b. 1941). American paleontologist.
• 2003 - Caso da "Casa Pia" - Detenção do embaixador Jorge Ritto (libertado em 02 Abr 2004.
• 2004 - I Fórum de Estudantes dos Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP) - Aveiro.
• 2005 - Paul Ricoeur dies (b. 1913). French philosopher.
• 2005 - William Seawell dies (b. 1918). United States Army Brigadier General.
• 2006 - The Final of the 51st Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Athens, Greece. Heavy metal monsters Lordi became Finland's first ever Eurovision Song Contest winners.
• 2006 - Cherd Songsri dies. Thai film director.
• 2007 - Norman Von Nida dies (b. 1914). Australian golfer.
• 2008 - Hamilton Jordan dies (b. 1944). Former Carter White House Chief of Staff.
  
• Cameroon National Day.
• East Timor National Day.
• Florida: Emancipation Day
• Portugal: Navy Day / Dia da Marinha.