Thursday, 14th May 2026 in Lisbon

14th May in the Stars – Star Sign Taurus

Today, the zodiac sign Taurus celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on May 14 blend Taurus steadiness with Mercurial wit into a compelling personality. They're grounded and sensual, yet their quick minds make them sociable and curious. This mix gives them charm paired with practical cleverness.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths lie in reliability, intellectual flexibility, and persuasiveness. The weakness: stubbornness and inner conflict between pleasure and duty. Impatience with slower people is common.

Love May 14 natives seek deep, sensual connections but also need mental stimulation. Loyal and attentive, they can become restless if unfulfilled. A partner blending intellectual dialogue with physical warmth suits them best.

Caree & Finance Ideal for roles merging communication and practical thinking: sales, design, negotiation. They build wealth through smart, steady effort but may make impulsive purchases for indulgence.

Health May 14 natives thrive with sensory activities like yoga or dancing. They should balance overindulgence in food and manage stress through movement. Regular physical activity stabilizes their natural restlessness.

That night, the moon was in its waxing gibbous phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 14th May

Name Days in Your Language: Asher, Ashlee, Ashleigh, Ashley, Ashlie, Ashlyn, Ashlynn, Ashton, Berk, Berkeley, Bourke, Burgess, Burke

Someone born on this day would be just 18 days old today — roughly 437 hours, 26,239 minutes, or 1,574,387 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 134. day of the year. In 2026, 14th May falls on a Thursday.

There are 231 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 20 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 14th May

On this day, 184 notable people were born on 14th May — spanning from 1316 to 2002. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

14/05/2002

Zach Edey, Canadian basketball player

Zachry Cheyne Edey is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers, leading the team to the NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game in his final year. At the close of the 2023 season, Edey was named the Big Ten Player of the Year and consensus National Player of the Year, repeating both in 2024. He was selected by the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft.

14/05/2001

Jack Hughes, American hockey player

Jack Rowden Hughes is an American professional ice hockey player who is a center and alternate captain for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). A product of the U.S. National Development Team, Hughes was drafted first overall by the Devils in the 2019 NHL entry draft.

14/05/1997

Rúben Dias, Portuguese footballer

Rúben dos Santos Gato Alves Dias is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Manchester City and the Portugal national team. He is regarded as one of the best centre-backs in the world.

14/05/1996

Blake Brockington, American trans man and activist (died 2015)

Blake Brockington was an American trans man whose suicide attracted international attention. He had previously received attention as the first openly transgender high school homecoming king in North Carolina, and had since been advocating for LGBT youth, the transgender community, and against police brutality.

Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ

Martijn Gerard Garritsen, known professionally as Martin Garrix and also as Ytram or GRX, is a Dutch DJ, remixer, and record producer. Best known for his singles "Animals", "In the Name of Love", and "Scared to Be Lonely", he was ranked number one on DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs list in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022, and 2024.

Pokimane, Moroccan-Canadian internet personality

Imane Anys, better known as Pokimane, is a Moroccan and Canadian online streamer, YouTuber and influencer based in California. She is best known for gameplay and commentary livestreams on Twitch, most notably in Valorant and Fortnite. She is a co-founder of OfflineTV, an online social entertainment group of content creators.

14/05/1995

Rose Lavelle, American soccer player

Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team.

14/05/1994

Marquinhos, Brazilian footballer

Marcos Aoás Corrêa, better known as Marquinhos, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and captains both Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazil national team. He is considered one of the best centre-backs in the world and one of the most decorated players in the world.

Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer

Pernille Blume is a Danish former swimmer specializing in sprint freestyle events. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she was the gold medalist in the women's 50 metre freestyle and won a bronze medal in the women's 4 × 100 metre medley relay where she swam the freestyle leg of the relay in both the prelims and the final. She also competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the 50 metre freestyle.

Bronte Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer

Bronte Campbell is a Malawi-born, Australian competitive swimmer. A four time Olympian, Campbell is a triple Olympic gold medallist and a former World Champion in the 50 and 100 m freestyle, having won both titles in 2015.

14/05/1993

Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer

Miranda Taylor Cosgrove is an American actress, singer, and producer. A teen idol of the 2000s and early 2010s, she was listed as the highest-paid child actor of 2012 by Guinness World Records and appeared on Forbes' "30 Under 30" list in 2022. Her accolades include four Kids' Choice Awards and an Emmy nomination.

Kyle Freeland, American baseball player

Kyle Richard Freeland is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball at Evansville and was drafted by the Rockies with the eighth pick in the first round of the 2014 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2017.

Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player

Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles. Her best singles ranking is world No. 10. She is a nine-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2016 and 2022 French Open women's doubles titles partnering Caroline Garcia, and the 2018 Australian Open, 2019 and 2020 French Opens and 2020 Australian Open with Tímea Babos.

14/05/1989

Rob Gronkowski, American football player

Robert James Gronkowski is an American former professional football tight end who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. Nicknamed "Gronk", Gronkowski played nine seasons for the New England Patriots, then played his final two seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Regarded as one of the greatest tight ends of all time, he is a four-time Super Bowl champion, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, a four-time first-team All-Pro selection, and was selected to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

14/05/1987

François Steyn, South African rugby player

François Philippus Lodewyk Steyn is a South African rugby union coach and former player. A utility back who represented his country, he was able to play as a centre, fly-half, full-back and wing. He is currently the Head Coach of the Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup.

14/05/1986

Clay Matthews III, American football player

William Clay Matthews III is an American former professional football linebacker who played in the National Football League for 10 seasons (NFL), primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Matthews is the all-time sack leader for the Packers, as well as a six-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro. He was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 2024.

14/05/1985

Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter

Dustin Charles Lynch is an American country music singer and songwriter, signed to Broken Bow Records. Lynch has released six albums and one EP for the label: a self-titled album in 2012, Where It's At in 2014, Current Mood in 2017, Tullahoma in 2020, Blue in the Sky in 2022 and Killed the Cowboy in 2023. He has also released seventeen singles, of which nine have reached number one on Country Airplay.

Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player

Sam Perrett, also known by the nickname of "Pez"' or "Sammy", is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer. A representative for New Zealand at international level, he was a versatile back who was capable of playing on the wing, in the centres and at fullback. He played for the Sydney Roosters and the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL). Perrett was a member of the World Cup winning New Zealand team in 2008.

Zack Ryder, American wrestler

Matthew Brett Cardona is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under his real name. He previously performed in WWE from 2006 to 2020 under the ring name Zack Ryder, and is also known for his tenures in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and the independent circuit.

14/05/1984

Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer

Gary Robert Ablett Jr. is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (AFL). The eldest son of Australian Football Hall of Fame member and former Hawthorn and Geelong player Gary Ablett Sr., Ablett was drafted to Geelong under the father–son rule in the 2001 national draft and has since become recognised as one of the all-time great midfielders. Ablett is a dual premiership player, dual Brownlow Medallist, five-time Leigh Matthews Trophy winner, three-time AFLCA champion player of the year award winner and eight-time All-Australian.

Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter

Oliver Stanley Murs is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He came to prominence after participating on the sixth series of the television talent show The X Factor in 2009, where he finished as runner-up.

Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook

Mark Elliot Zuckerberg is an American businessman and programmer who co-founded the social media service Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms. He is its chairman, chief executive officer (CEO), and controlling shareholder.

14/05/1983

Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Anahí Giovanna Puente Portilla, known mononymously as Anahí, is a Mexican singer, songwriter and actress. In 1986, she started her acting career when she was cast on Chiquilladas. After working on many successful telenovelas produced by Televisa, including Alondra (1995), Vivo por Elena (1998), El Diario de Daniela (1998) and Mujeres Engañadas (1999), her first leading role was in Pedro Damián's production, Primer Amor... A Mil por Hora (2000). In 2003, she joined the cast of Clase 406. Anahí reached international success in 2004 after starring in Rebelde and being part of the twice-Latin Grammy Award-nominated group RBD, which has sold over 15 million records worldwide. In 2011, she starred in Dos Hogares, her last telenovela to date.

Frank Gore, American football player

Franklin Gore Sr. is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. A member of the San Francisco 49ers for most of his career, he ranks third in NFL career rushing yards. His career was also noted for longevity, a rare trait with his position, and he holds the league record for games played by a running back.

Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer

Tatenda Taibu is a Zimbabwean former cricketer who captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. He is a wicket-keeper-batsman. From 6 May 2004 to 5 September 2019, he held the record for being the youngest test captain in history when he captained his team against Sri Lanka until Rashid Khan of Afghanistan claimed the record. Taibu is currently serving as Head Coach for Cricket PNG and its national men’s team, known as the PNG Barramundis.

Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director

Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and author. She first came to national attention at the age of 11 for her role as Emily Quartermaine on the soap opera General Hospital. From 2003 to 2005 she starred in the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia, portraying the title character, Joan Girardi, for which she received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Her feature film work includes roles such as Tibby Rollins from the first two The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films and Megan McBride in 127 Hours (2010), as well as appearing opposite Tilda Swinton in Stephanie Daley, which debuted at The Sundance Film Festival and for which Tamblyn won Best Actress at The Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2016, she made her directorial debut with the film Paint It Black starring Alia Shawkat, based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name. In 2021, she starred opposite Diane Lane in FX's Y: The Last Man.

14/05/1981

Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense

Pranav Mistry is an Indian computer scientist and inventor. He is the former President and CEO of STAR Labs. He is currently the founder and CEO of TWO, an Artificial Reality startup. He is best known for his work on SixthSense, Samsung Galaxy Gear and Project Beyond.

14/05/1980

Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater

Júlia Sebestyén is a Hungarian former competitive figure skater. She is the 2004 European Champion and 2002–2010 Hungarian national champion. At the 2004 European Figure Skating Championships, she became the first Hungarian woman to win the European title. She is also a four-time Hungarian Olympic team member, and was Hungary's flag-bearer at the 2010 Olympics.

14/05/1979

Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Daniel Quine Auerbach is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer, best known as the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, an indie rock band from Akron, Ohio. As a member of the group, Auerbach has recorded and co-produced thirteen studio albums with his bandmate Patrick Carney. Auerbach has also released two solo albums, Keep It Hid (2009) and Waiting on a Song (2017), and formed a side project, the Arcs, which released the albums Yours, Dreamily, (2015) and Electrophonic Chronic (2023).

Clinton Morrison, Irish international footballer

Clinton Hubert Morrison is a former professional footballer and sports pundit.

14/05/1978

Brent Harvey, Australian footballer

Brent Harvey, often known by his nickname "Boomer", is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played his entire career with North Melbourne, winning a premiership in 1999 and serving as captain from 2009 to 2011. He retired in 2016 having played 432 games, the most games played by an individual in VFL/AFL at the time. The record stood for 10 years until it was surpassed by Collingwood's Scott Pendlebury in Round 11 of the 2026 season.

Eddie House, American basketball player

Edward Lee House II is an American former professional basketball player. A guard known for his three-point shooting, House played for nine NBA teams in 11 seasons in the league. He was a member of the Boston Celtics team that won the NBA championship in 2008, and is currently an analyst for Celtics games on NBC Sports Boston.

14/05/1977

Roy Halladay, American baseball player (died 2017)

Harry Leroy Halladay III was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies between 1998 and 2013. His nickname, "Doc", coined by Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek, was a reference to Wild West gunslinger Doc Holliday. His lasting durability allowed him to lead the league in complete games seven times, the most of any pitcher whose career began after 1945. He also led the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio five times and innings pitched four times. An eight-time All-Star, Halladay was one of the most dominant pitchers of his era and is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Ada Nicodemou, Australian actress

Ada Nicodemou is an Australian actress of Greek Cypriot descent. She began her acting career in 1994 in TV serial Heartbreak High as Katerina Ioannou. She also starred in Police Rescue and Breakers.

14/05/1976

Hunter Burgan, American multi-instrumentalist and bassist of rock band AFI

Hunter Burgan is an American multi-instrumentalist. He is the second and current bassist of AFI.

Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer

Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon is an English former actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama Bluebirds in 1989. In the early 1990s, she had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan, but it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders and her role in the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually that brought her stardom. For the former she won the National Television Award, while the latter earned her the Empire and MTV Movie awards. She was written out of EastEnders at the end of 1998 and then embarked on a pop career, this time as a solo artist.

14/05/1975

Gulmurod Khalimov, Tajikistani police commander turned Islamic State mercenary outlaw

Gulmurod Salimovich Khalimov was a Tajik and Islamist military commander. He was a lieutenant-colonel and commander of the police special forces of the Interior Ministry of Tajikistan until 2015, when he defected to the Islamic State. In September 2016, he was reported to have been appointed as the minister of war of IS in place of Abu Omar al-Shishani; his appointment had not been announced by IS for fears that he might be targeted in airstrikes by the anti-IS coalition. On 8 September 2017, Khalimov was allegedly killed during a Russian airstrike near Deir ez-Zor, Syria. However, the Tajik government, United Nations, and the United States believed that he was still alive by 2019, though his exact fate remained disputed. By 2020, Islamist militants claimed he had died at some point; this source was considered unreliable by the Tajik government. Regardless, the United States had removed Khalimov from their Rewards for Justice Program by 2021.

Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist

Nicki Sørensen is a Danish former professional road bicycle racer, and was directeur sportif of UCI Professional Continental team Aqua Blue Sport and NSN Cycling Team. He competed in five consecutive editions of the Tour de France from 2001 to 2005. Riding as an all-round rider who rode well in hilly terrain, Sørensen was a valued support for the team leader without many wins of his own.

14/05/1973

Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress

Natalie Jane Appleton Howlett is a Canadian-British singer. She is a member of the British girl group All Saints and the duo Appleton with her younger sister Nicole Appleton.

Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist

Fraser Andrew Nelson is a British political journalist and columnist for The Times. He was editor of The Spectator magazine from 2009 to 2024.

14/05/1972

Ike Moriz, German-South African singer-songwriter, producer and actor

Eike Moriz, better known as Ike Moriz, is a German-South African singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and actor. He has released 20 albums in the indie rock, pop, Latin, easy listening, dance, lounge, blues, jazz and swing genres.

Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security

Kirstjen Michele Nielsen is an American attorney who served as United States secretary of homeland security from 2017 to 2019. She is a former principal White House deputy chief of staff to President Donald Trump and was chief of staff to John F. Kelly during his tenure as Secretary of Homeland Security.

14/05/1971

Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Sofia Carmina Coppola is an American filmmaker and former actress. She has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, a Golden Lion, and a Cannes Film Festival Award. She was also nominated for three BAFTA Awards, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award.

Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager

Martin Reim is an Estonian football manager and former professional player.

14/05/1970

Peter Filandia, Australian footballer

Peter Filandia is a former Australian rules footballer.

14/05/1969

Cate Blanchett, Australian actress

Catherine Élise Blanchett is an Australian actor and producer. Regarded as one of the best performers of her generation, she is recognised for her versatile work across stage and screen, including independent films and blockbusters. Blanchett has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Actor Awards, four British Academy Film Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards, in addition to nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award and a Tony Award.

Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster (died 2021)

Sabine Schmitz was a German professional motor racing driver and television personality. She was born in Adenau to a family in the hotel and catering business, and raised in one of the villages nestled within the Nürburgring. She initially trained to join the same profession as her parents before choosing to begin a career in racing, working as a driver for BMW and Porsche.

14/05/1968

Greg Davies, Welsh actor, comedian, writer and presenter

Gregory Daniel Davies is a British comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Mr. Gilbert in The Inbetweeners (2008–2010), Greg in We Are Klang (2009), Ken Thompson in Cuckoo (2012–2019), Dan Davies in Man Down (2013–2017), and Paul "Wicky" Wickstead in The Cleaner (2021–2024). He also created Man Down and The Cleaner.

14/05/1967

Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist (died 2022)

Anthony Siragusa, nicknamed "Goose", was an American professional football player who was a defensive tackle for 12 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens in the National Football League (NFL). After his football career, he worked as a sideline analyst for NFL games broadcast on the Fox Network from 2003 to 2015. He also hosted various shows on television, such as the home renovation program Man Caves on the DIY Network.

14/05/1966

Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter

Michael Allen Inez is an American rock musician and bassist. Since 1993, Inez has been the bassist of the American rock band Alice in Chains. He is also recognized for his work with Ozzy Osbourne from 1989 to 1993. Inez also has connections with Slash's Snakepit, Black Label Society, Spys4Darwin, and Heart. Inez has earned seven Grammy Award nominations as a member of Alice in Chains.

Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model

Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan is a French singer, dancer, rapper, and model who was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, along with Rob Pilatus. It was later revealed that the two had not actually sung on any of their recordings. After the scandal, the group reformed as Rob & Fab in the 1990s, with limited success. Morvan had a solo comeback in the 2000s, releasing the album Love Revolution in 2003.

Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with his brother D'Wayne and cousin Timothy Christian Riley in 1986. Originally, the band went by the name "Tony, Toni, Toné" as a joke, until they realized it "had a nice ring to it". Along with his groupwork and solo career, he has produced and written songs for other R&B artists, including Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Total, Earth, Wind & Fire, Joss Stone, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.

14/05/1964

Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer

Suzy Kolber is an American football sideline reporter, co-producer, and a former ESPN sports anchor and reporter. She was one of the original anchors of ESPN2 when it launched in 1993. Three years later, she left ESPN2 to join Fox Sports, but returned to ESPN in late 1999. In 2023, she and several other ESPN employees were terminated by the network in what was described as a cost-cutting measure.

Alan McIndoe, Australian rugby league player

Alan McIndoe is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative wing, he played club football in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership for the Illawarra Steelers, with whom he topped the League's try-scoring list in 1991, and the Penrith Panthers. On 4 October 2006 McIndoe was named on the wing in a 40 Year Panthers Legends Team. The same year he was named on the wing in the Illawarra Steelers' "Team of Steel".

14/05/1963

Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach

Patrick Lance Borders is an American former professional baseball player and current coach. He played as a catcher in Major League Baseball from 1988 to 2005. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 1992 World Series as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Borders also won an Olympic gold medal with the United States baseball team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

14/05/1962

Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter

Ian Robert Astbury is a British singer, best known as the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band The Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived band Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Doors of the 21st century, a Doors tribute band that also featured original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. Astbury replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, and has contributed guest vocals on several recordings by other artists.

C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor

Bruce Anthony Johannesson, known professionally as C.C. DeVille, is an American musician, best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Poison. The band has sold over 65 million albums worldwide and 30 million records in the United States. In 1998, he formed a band called Samantha 7.

Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director

Daniel Sallis Huston is a British-American actor, director, and screenwriter. A member of the Huston family of filmmakers, he is the son of director John Huston and half-brother of actress Anjelica Huston.

14/05/1961

Tim Roth, English actor and director

Timothy Simon Roth is an English actor. He was among a group of prominent British actors known as the Brit Pack. After garnering attention in television productions Made in Britain (1983) and Meantime (1983), Roth was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer in his theatrical film debut The Hit (1984). He gained further recognition for his roles in films, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Vincent & Theo, and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Alain Vigneault is a Canadian former professional ice hockey coach. Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers for 19 seasons in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his career with the Canucks, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach of the year in 2006–07 and became the team's record holder for wins as a coach. Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies and made one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance (2014) in 20 years and a Presidents' Trophy in 2015.

14/05/1960

Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet

Anne Charlotte Clark is an English poet, singer and songwriter. Her first album, The Sitting Room, was released in 1982, and she has released over a dozen albums since then.

Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer

Frank Ivan Joseph Nobilo is a New Zealand professional golfer. Nobilo had a successful playing career, winning 14 pro tournaments around the world. He was at his peak during the mid-1990s when he also produced strong finishes in all four major championships. Since his 2003 retirement, Nobilo has worked as a television announcer for golf events.

Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor

Ronan Tynan is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete.

14/05/1959

Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer

Carlisle Alonza Best is a Barbadian former cricketer who played eight Tests and 24 One Day Internationals for the West Indies. He represented the West Indies at the 1987 World Cup.

Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player

Patrick Benguigui, better known by his stage name Patrick Bruel, is a French singer-songwriter, actor, and professional poker player.

Robert Greene, American author and translator

Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written seven international bestsellers, including The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature, and The Daily Laws.

Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Richard Claude Vaive is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played in the final season of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to 1992. While with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he became the first member of that team to score 50 goals in a season.

Heather Wheeler, English politician

Heather Kay Wheeler is a British Conservative Party politician, who was first elected at the 2010 general election as the member of Parliament (MP) for South Derbyshire, taking the seat from the Labour Party after 13 years. In the 2024 general election she lost the seat to the Labour party candidate, Samantha Niblett, on a swing of over 22%

14/05/1958

Christine Brennan, American journalist and author

Christine Brennan is an American sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and NPR, and an author. She was the first female sports reporter for the Miami Herald in 1981, the first woman at the Washington Post on the Washington Redskins beat in 1985, and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media in 1988. Brennan won the 2020 Red Smith Award, presented annually by the Associated Press Sports Editors to a person who has made "major contributions to sports journalism."

Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer

Rudy Amado Pérez is a Cuban-born American musician, songwriter, composer, producer, arranger, sound engineer, musical director and singer, as well as entertainment entrepreneur, and philanthropist. His area of specialty is ballads, although he has also worked in a variety of other genres.

14/05/1956

Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Hazel Anne Blears is a British former Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) successively for the constituencies of Salford and Salford and Eccles between 1997 and 2015.

Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist

Steve Hogarth, also known as "h", is an English musician. Since 1989, he has been the lead singer of the rock band Marillion, for which he also performs additional keyboards and guitar. Hogarth was formerly a keyboard player and co-lead vocalist with the Europeans and vocalist with How We Live. AllMusic has described Hogarth as having a "unique, expressive voice" with "flexible range and beautiful phrasing".

14/05/1955

Zofija Mazej Kukovič, Slovenian electrical engineer and minister of health 2007–8

Zofija Mazej Kukovič is a Slovenian electrical engineer who became a manager and a politician. She was the minister of health 2007–8 before she was a member of the European Parliament for the Slovenian Democratic Party.

Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach

José Dennis Martínez Ortiz, nicknamed "El Presidente", is a Nicaraguan former professional baseball pitcher. Martínez played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Montreal Expos, Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners, and Atlanta Braves from 1976 to 1998. He threw a perfect game in 1991, and was a four-time MLB All-Star. He was the first Nicaraguan to play in the majors.

Big Van Vader, American wrestler and football player (died 2018)

Leon Allen White, better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or simply Vader, was an American professional wrestler and professional football player. During his career, he performed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Catch Wrestling Association (CWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and Pro Wrestling Noah during the 1990s and 2000s. He is widely regarded as the greatest super-heavyweight professional wrestler of all time.

14/05/1953

Tom Cochrane, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist

Thomas William Cochrane is a Canadian musician best known as the frontman of rock band Red Rider and for his work as a solo singer-songwriter. Cochrane has won eight Juno Awards. He is a member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, an officer of the Order of Canada, and has an honorary doctorate from Brandon University. In September 2009, he was inducted onto Canada's Walk of Fame.

14/05/1952

David Byrne, Scottish-American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor

David Byrne is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the rock band Talking Heads.

Michael Fallon, Scottish politician, Secretary of State for Defence

Sir Michael Cathel Fallon is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks from 1997 to 2019, having previously served as MP for Darlington from 1983 to 1992.

Donald R. McMonagle, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut

Donald Ray McMonagle is a former astronaut and a veteran of three shuttle flights. He became the Manager, Launch Integration, at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on August 15, 1997. In this capacity he was responsible for final shuttle preparation, launch execution, and return of the orbiter to KSC following landings at any other location. He was chair of the Mission Management Team, and was the final authority for launch decision.

Robert Zemeckis, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Robert Lee Zemeckis, sometimes referred to as Bob Zemeckis, is an American filmmaker. Known for directing and producing a range of successful and influential films that often blend cutting-edge visual effects with storytelling, he has received accolades such as two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, as well as nominations for five British Academy Film Awards and a Daytime Emmy Award.

14/05/1948

Bob Woolmer, Indian-English cricketer and coach (died 2007)

Robert Andrew Woolmer was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a commentator. He played in 19 Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coached South Africa, Warwickshire and Pakistan. During his coaching career with South Africa, he led the team to being the winners of the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy, first of the only two ICC titles the country has won to date.

14/05/1947

Ana Martín, Mexican actress, singer, producer and former model (Miss Mexico 1963)

Ana Beatriz Martínez Solórzano, known professionally as Ana Martín, is a Mexican actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder. She won the Miss Mexico 1963. which took her to compete in Miss World 1963 in London. Since 1965 she has appeared in numerous telenovelas and films.

Jon Landau, American music critic and record producer

Jon Landau is an American music critic, manager, and record producer. He is most known for his work with Bruce Springsteen. He is the head of the nominating committee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and received that institution's Ahmet Ertegun Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2020.

14/05/1945

Francesca Annis, English actress

Francesca Annis is an English actress. She is known for television roles in Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime (1983-84), Reckless (1998), Wives and Daughters (1999), Deceit (2000), and Cranford (2007). A six-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 1979 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the ITV serial Lillie. Her film appearances include Macbeth (1971), Krull (1983), Dune (1984), The Debt Collector (1999), and The Libertine (2004).

Yochanan Vollach, Israeli footballer

Yochanan Vollach is an Israeli former footballer. He was a member of the Israel national team that competed at the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He is a member of the Israeli Football Hall of Fame.

14/05/1944

Gene Cornish, Canadian-American guitarist

Gene Cornish is a Canadian-American musician. He is an original member of the popular 1960s blue-eyed soul band The Young Rascals. From 1965 to 1970, the band recorded eight albums and had thirteen singles that reached Billboard's Top 40 chart. In 1997, as a founding member of The Rascals, Cornish was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

George Lucas, American director, producer, and screenwriter, founded Lucasfilm

George Walton Lucas Jr. is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the Star Wars franchise and its fictional universe, the Indiana Jones franchise, and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. Lucas also served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012. The recipient of two Emmy Awards and nominations for four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, he is considered to be one of the most significant figures of the 20th-century New Hollywood movement, and a pioneer of the modern blockbuster. Despite this, he has remained an independent filmmaker for most of his career.

David Kelly, Welsh scientist (died 2003)

David Christopher Kelly was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum.

14/05/1943

Jack Bruce, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and bass player (died 2014)

John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, Icelandic academic and politician, 5th President of Iceland

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland, serving from 1996 to 2016. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991.

Eddie Low, New Zealand country singer and musician (died 2024)

Edward Robert Low was a New Zealand country singer and musician, with a career spanning over 60 years. Low released a number of successful country albums and singles throughout the 1970s and 80s and performed in a number of groups since the 1960s including The Quin Tikis and the New Zealand Highwaymen. Low continued to record and release music throughout his life, enjoying a second wave of success in the 2010s after releasing his career overview album The Voice In A Million (2011) which went platinum. He was awarded Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.

14/05/1942

Byron Dorgan, American lawyer and politician

Byron Leslie Dorgan is an American author, businessman and former politician who served as a United States representative (1981–1992) and United States senator (1992–2011) from North Dakota. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green, English businessman and politician (died 2014)

Robert Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green was a British businessman, politician and author who was an advisor to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Tony Pérez, Cuban-American baseball player and manager

Atanasio "Tony" Pérez Rigal nicknamed Big Dog is a Cuban-American former professional baseball player, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman and third baseman from 1964 through 1986, most notably as a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won four National League pennants and two World Series championships between 1970 and 1976. He also played for the Montreal Expos, Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies.

14/05/1940

H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1982)

Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones,, known as H. Jones, was a British Army officer and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC). He was awarded the VC after being killed in action during the Battle of Goose Green for his actions as commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, during the Falklands War.

14/05/1937

Vic Flick, English guitarist (died 2024)

Victor Harold Flick was an English studio guitarist, prominent in the 1960s and known for playing the guitar riff in the "James Bond Theme".

14/05/1936

Bobby Darin, American singer-songwriter and actor (died 1973)

Walden Robert Cassotto, known by the stage name Bobby Darin, was an American singer, songwriter, and actor who performed pop, swing, folk, rock and roll and country music.

Dick Howser, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 1987)

Richard Dalton Howser was an American Major League Baseball shortstop, coach, and manager who was best known as the manager of the Kansas City Royals during the 1980s and for guiding them to the franchise's first World Series title in 1985.

14/05/1935

Ethel Johnson, American professional wrestler (died 2018)

Ethel Blanche Hairston was an American professional wrestler whose ring name was Ethel Johnson. She debuted at age 16, becoming the first African-American women's champion. She was a fan favorite, billed as "the biggest attraction to hit girl wrestling since girl wrestling began."

14/05/1933

Siân Phillips, Welsh actress and singer

Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips, known professionally as Siân Phillips, is a Welsh actress. Her early career consisted primarily of stage roles, including the title roles in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. In the 1960s, she started taking on more roles in television and film. She is particularly known for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series I, Claudius, for which she was awarded a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society award. She was nominated for a Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Marlene Dietrich in Marlene.

14/05/1931

Alvin Lucier, American composer and academic (died 2021)

Alvin Augustus Lucier Jr. was an American experimental composer and sound artist. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which also included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and Gordon Mumma. Much of Lucier's work explores psychoacoustic phenomena and the physical properties of sound.

14/05/1930

William James, Australian general and physician (died 2015)

William Brian "Digger" James was an Australian soldier and military physician who served in the Australian Army during the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

14/05/1929

Barbara Branden, Canadian-American author (died 2013)

Barbara Joan Branden was a Canadian-American writer, editor, and lecturer, known for her relationship and subsequent break with novelist-philosopher Ayn Rand.

Henry McGee, English actor and singer (died 2006)

Henry James Marris-McGee, known professionally as Henry McGee, was a British actor, best known as straight man to Benny Hill for many years. McGee was also often the announcer on Hill's TV programme, delivering the upbeat intro "Yes! It's The Benny Hill Show!". He was familiar to British children throughout the 1970s as "Mummy" in the Sugar Puffs commercials, the catchphrase of which was "Tell them about the honey, Mummy".

Gump Worsley, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2007)

Lorne John "Gump" Worsley was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, 'Gump' was given his nickname because friends thought he looked like a comic-strip character Andy Gump.

14/05/1928

Frederik H. Kreuger, Dutch engineer, author, and academic (died 2015)

Frederik Hendrik Kreuger, was a Dutch high voltage scientist and inventor, lived in Delft, the Netherlands, and was professor emeritus of the Delft University of Technology. He was also a professional author of technical literature, nonfiction books, thrillers and a decisive biography of the master forger Han van Meegeren.

14/05/1927

Herbert W. Franke, Austrian scientist and author (died 2022)

Herbert W. Franke was an Austrian scientist and writer. Die Zeit calls him "the most prominent German writing Science Fiction author". He is also one of the important early computer artists, creating computer graphics and early digital art since the late 1950s. Franke was also active in the fields of future research as well as speleology. He used his pen name Sergius Both as this Avatar name in Active Worlds and Opensimulator grids. The Sergius Both Award is given for creative scripting in Immersionskunst by Stiftung Kunstinformatik, first time issued at Amerika Art 2022. On November 2, 2025 the Sergius Both Award was given to RSquared and Herzstein for immersive scripting in AI LAND, being part of The Wrong Biennale.

14/05/1926

Eric Morecambe, English comedian and actor (died 1984)

John Eric Bartholomew, known by his stage name Eric Morecambe, was an English comedian who together with Ernie Wise formed the double act Morecambe and Wise. The partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984. Morecambe took his stage name from his home town, the seaside resort of Morecambe in Lancashire.

14/05/1925

Sophie Kurys, American baseball player (died 2013)

Sophie Kurys was a former second basewoman who played from 1943 through 1952 in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Listed at 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m), 115 lb (52 kg), Kurys batted and threw right-handed.

Patrice Munsel, American soprano and actress (died 2016)

Patrice Munsel was an American coloratura soprano. Nicknamed "Princess Pat", she was the youngest singer ever to star at the Metropolitan Opera.

Oona O'Neill, British actress (died 1991)

Oona O'Neill, Lady Chaplin was a British actress, the daughter of American playwright Eugene O'Neill and English-born writer Agnes Boulton, and the fourth and last wife of actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.

14/05/1923

Josette Molland, artist, French Resistance member, and Holocaust survivor (died 2019)

Josette Molland, also known as Josette Molland-Ilinsky, was a painter and member of the French Resistance in World War II.

Adnan Pachachi, Iraqi politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 2019)

Adnan Muzahim Ameen al-Pachachi, better known as Adnan Pachachi, was an Iraqi politician and statesman who served as Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and foreign minister (1965–1967).

Mrinal Sen, Bangladeshi-Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2018)

Mrinal Sen was an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and a few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Indian filmmakers, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Tapan Sinha, Sen played a major role in India's parallel cinema movement, which offered a realistic, socially aware counterpoint to splashy Bollywood films, as well as in the country's New Wave cinema. He also served as the President of FTII from 1984 to 1986.

14/05/1922

Franjo Tuđman, Croatian historian and politician, 1st President of Croatia (died 1999)

Franjo Tuđman was a Croatian politician and historian who became the first president of Croatia, from 1990 until his death in 1999. He served following the country's independence from Yugoslavia. Tuđman also was the ninth and last president of the Presidency of SR Croatia from May to July 1990.

14/05/1921

Richard Deacon, American actor (died 1984)

Richard Lewis Deacon was an American television and motion picture actor, widely known for playing supporting roles in television shows such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Leave It to Beaver, and The Jack Benny Program, along with minor roles in films such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963).

14/05/1917

Lou Harrison, American composer and critic (died 2003)

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his former teacher and contemporary, Henry Cowell, but later moved toward incorporating elements of non-Western cultures into his work. Notable examples include a number of pieces written for Javanese style gamelan instruments, inspired after his introduction to noted gamelan musician Kanjeng Notoprojo. Harrison would create his own musical ensembles and instruments with his partner, William Colvig, who are now both considered founders of the American gamelan movement and world music; along with composers Harry Partch and Claude Vivier, and ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee.

14/05/1916

Robert F. Christy, Canadian-American physicist and astronomer (died 2012)

Robert Frederick Christy was a Canadian-American theoretical physicist and later astrophysicist who was one of the last surviving people to have worked on the Manhattan Project during World War II. He briefly served as acting president of California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

Marco Zanuso, Italian architect and designer (died 2001)

Marco Zanuso was an Italian architect and designer associated with modernism.

14/05/1914

Gul Khan Nasir, Pakistani journalist, poet, and politician (died 1983)

Gul Khan Naseer also known as Malek o-Sho'arā Balochistan ; 14 May 1914 – 6 December 1983) was a Pakistani politician, poet, historian, and journalist from Balochistan. Most of his work is in Balochi language, but he also wrote in English, Urdu, Brahui and Persian.

William Tutte, British codebreaker and mathematician (died 2002)

William Thomas Tutte was an English and Canadian code breaker and mathematician. During the Second World War, he made a fundamental advance in cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher, a major Nazi German cipher system which was used for top-secret communications within the Wehrmacht High Command.

14/05/1910

Ne Win, Burmese army general and politician, 4th President of Burma (died 2002)

Ne Win was a Burmese general and politician who served as Burma's head of government from 1958 to 1960 and again from 1962 to 1974; and also as head of state from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma period of 1962 to 1988.

14/05/1907

Ayub Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 2nd President of Pakistan (died 1974)

Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan NPk HJ HPk MBE was a Pakistani politician and military officer who served as the 2nd President of Pakistan from 1958 until his resignation in 1969. He was the first native Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, serving from 1951 to 1958. Khan's presidency started in 1958 when he overthrew President Iskander Mirza in a coup d'état, and ended in 1969 when he resigned amid mass protests and strikes across the country.

Johnny Moss, gambler and professional poker player, first winner of the World Series of Poker (died 1995)

John Moss was a gambler and professional poker player. He was the first winner of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event, at the time a cash game event in which he was awarded the title by the vote of his peers in 1970. He also twice won the current tournament format of the WSOP Main Event in 1971 and 1974. He was one of the charter inductees into the Poker Hall of Fame in 1979.

14/05/1905

Jean Daniélou, French cardinal and theologian (died 1974)

Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou was a French Jesuit and cardinal, an internationally well known patrologist, theologian and historian and a member of the Académie française.

Herbert Morrison, American journalist (died 1989)

Herbert Morrison was an American journalist whose charged radio report on the Hindenburg disaster is recognized as a landmark in broadcasting. Decades on from his 1937 report, he became the first news director at Pennsylvania's television station WTAE-TV. The writer Craig M. Allen describes him as "an early pioneer of both radio and television news".

Antonio Berni, Argentinian painter, illustrator, and engraver (died 1981)

Delesio Antonio Berni was an Argentine figurative artist. He is associated with the movement known as Nuevo Realismo, an Argentine extension of social realism. His work, including a series of Juanito Laguna collages depicting poverty and the effects of industrialization in Buenos Aires, has been exhibited around the world.

14/05/1904

Hans Albert Einstein, Swiss-American engineer and educator (died 1973)

Hans Albert Einstein was a Swiss-American engineer, the second child and first son of physicists Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić. He was a professor of hydraulic engineering at the University of California, Berkeley from 1947 until 1971.

Marcel Junod, Swiss physician and anesthesiologist (died 1961)

Marcel Junod was a Swiss medical doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). After medical school and a short position as a surgeon in Mulhouse, France, he became an ICRC delegate and was deployed in Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and in Europe as well as in Japan during World War II. In 1947, he wrote a book with the title Warrior without Weapons about his experiences. After the war, he worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as chief representative in China, and settled back in Europe in 1950. He founded the anaesthesiology department of the Cantonal Hospital in Geneva and became the first professor in this discipline at the University of Geneva. In 1952, he was appointed a member of the ICRC and, after many more missions for this institution, was Vice-President from 1959 until his death in 1961.

14/05/1903

Billie Dove, American actress (died 1997)

Lillian Bohny, known professionally as Billie Dove, was an American actress.

14/05/1901

Robert Ritter, German psychologist and physician (died 1951)

Robert Ritter was a German racial scientist doctor of psychology and medicine, with a background in child psychiatry and the biology of criminality. In 1936, Ritter was appointed head of the Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology Research Unit of Nazi Germany's Criminal Police, to establish the genealogical histories of the German "Gypsies", both Roma and Sinti, and became the "architect of the experiments Roma and Sinti were subjected to." His pseudo-scientific "research" in classifying these populations of Germany aided the Nazi government in their systematic persecution toward a goal of "racial purity".

14/05/1900

Hal Borland, American journalist and author (died 1978)

Harold Glen Borland was an American writer, journalist and naturalist. In addition to writing many non-fiction and fiction books about the outdoors, he was a staff writer and editorialist for The New York Times.

Walter Rehberg, Swiss pianist and composer (died 1957)

Walter Rehberg was a Swiss concert pianist, composer and writer on musical subjects who was particularly active from the 1920s to 1950s.

Cai Chang, Chinese first leader of All-China Women's Federation (died 1990)

Cai Chang was a Chinese politician and women's rights activist who was the first chair of the All-China Women's Federation, a Chinese women's rights organization.

Leo Smit, Dutch pianist and composer (died 1943)

Leopold "Leo" Smit was a Dutch composer, murdered during The Holocaust at the Sobibor extermination camp.

Edgar Wind, German-English historian, author, and academic (died 1971)

Edgar Wind was a British interdisciplinary art historian, specializing in iconology in the Renaissance era. He was a member of the school of art historians associated with Aby Warburg and the Warburg Institute as well as the first Professor of art history at Oxford University.

14/05/1899

Charlotte Auerbach, German-Scottish folklorist, geneticist, and zoologist (died 1994)

Charlotte "Lotte" Auerbach FRS FRSE was a German geneticist who contributed to founding the science of mutagenesis. She became well known after 1942 when she discovered, with A. J. Clark and J. M. Robson, that mustard gas could cause mutations in fruit flies. She wrote 91 scientific papers, and was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Royal Society of London.

Pierre Victor Auger, French physicist and academic (died 1993)

Pierre Victor Auger was a French physicist, born in Paris. He worked in the fields of atomic physics, nuclear physics, and cosmic ray physics. He is famous for being one of the discoverers of the Auger effect, named after him.

Earle Combs, American baseball player and coach (died 1976)

Earle Bryan Combs was an American professional baseball player who played his entire career for the New York Yankees (1924–1935). Combs batted leadoff and played center field on the Yankees' fabled 1927 team. He is one of six players on that team who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame; the other five are Waite Hoyt, Herb Pennock, Tony Lazzeri, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.

14/05/1897

Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (died 1959)

Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temper hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.

Ed Ricketts, American biologist and ecologist (died 1948)

Edward Flanders Robb Ricketts was an American marine biologist, ecologist, and philosopher. Renowned as the inspiration for the character Doc in John Steinbeck's 1945 novel Cannery Row, Rickett's professional reputation is rooted in Between Pacific Tides (1939), a pioneering study of intertidal ecology. A friend and mentor of Steinbeck, they collaborated on and co-authored the book, Sea of Cortez (1941).

14/05/1893

Louis Verneuil, French actor and playwright (died 1952)

Louis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage, better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor.

14/05/1888

Archie Alexander, American mathematician and engineer (died 1958)

Archibald Alphonso Alexander was an American architect and engineer. He was an early African-American graduate of the University of Iowa and the first to graduate from the University of Iowa's College of Engineering. He was also a governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

14/05/1887

Ants Kurvits, Estonian general and politician, 10th Estonian Minister of War (died 1943)

Ants Kurvits or Hans Kurvits was an Estonian military commander, reaching rank of major general. He participated in the Estonian War of Independence and later became the founder and long-time leader of the Estonian Border Guard. Kurvits also served briefly as Minister of War.

14/05/1885

Otto Klemperer, German composer and conductor (died 1973)

Otto Nossan Klemperer was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later better known as a conductor of symphonic music.

14/05/1881

Lionel Hill, Australian politician, 30th Premier of South Australia (died 1963)

Lionel Laughton Hill was an Australian politician who served as the thirtieth Premier of South Australia, representing the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party.

George Murray Hulbert, American judge and politician (died 1950)

George Murray Hulbert was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who was a United States representative from New York and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in the early 20th century.

14/05/1880

Wilhelm List, German field marshal (died 1971)

Siegmund Wilhelm Walther List was a German war criminal and Generalfeldmarschall of the Wehrmacht during World War II.

14/05/1879

Fred Englehardt, American jumper (died 1942)

Frederick William Englehardt was an American athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and triple jump. He competed for the United States in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis, United States in the triple jump where he won the silver medal. He was also 4th in the long jump.

14/05/1878

J. L. Wilkinson, American baseball player and manager (died 1964)

J. Leslie Wilkinson was an American sports executive who founded the All Nations baseball club in 1912, and the Negro league baseball team Kansas City Monarchs in 1920.

14/05/1872

Elia Dalla Costa, Italian cardinal (died 1961)

Elia Dalla Costa was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and cardinal who served as the Archbishop of Florence from 1931 until his death. Dalla Costa served as the Bishop of Padua from 1923 until 1931 when he was transferred to Florence; he was elevated to the cardinalate on 13 March 1933. Dalla Costa was a staunch anti-fascist and anti-communist and was known best for providing refuge for Jewish people during World War II and providing others with fake documentation to flee from persecution.

14/05/1869

Arthur Rostron, English mariner, captain of the rescue ship Carpathia during the Titanic disaster (died 1940)

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron was a British merchant seaman and a seagoing officer for the Cunard Line. He is best known as the captain of the ocean liner RMS Carpathia, when she rescued the survivors from the RMS Titanic after the ship sank in 1912 in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean.

14/05/1868

Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (died 1935)

Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician, sexologist, and LGBTQ advocate whose German citizenship was revoked in 1933 by the Nazi government.

14/05/1867

Kurt Eisner, German journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Bavaria (died 1919)

Kurt Eisner was a German politician, revolutionary, journalist, and theatre critic. As a socialist journalist, he organized the socialist revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy in Bavaria in November 1918, which led to him being described as "the symbol of the Bavarian revolution". Eisner subsequently proclaimed the People's State of Bavaria but was assassinated by far-right Bavarian nationalist Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley in Munich on 21 February 1919.

14/05/1863

John Charles Fields, Canadian mathematician, founder of the Fields Medal (died 1932)

John Charles Fields, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian mathematician and the founder of the Fields Medal for outstanding achievement in mathematics.

14/05/1852

Henri Julien, Canadian illustrator (died 1908)

Henri Julien was a Canadian artist and cartoonist noted for his work for the Canadian Illustrated News and for his political cartoons in the Montreal Daily Star. His pseudonyms include Octavo and Crincrin. He was the first full-time newspaper editorial cartoonist in Canada.

14/05/1851

Anna Laurens Dawes, American author and anti-suffragist (died 1938)

Anna Laurens Dawes was an American author and anti-suffragist. She was the daughter of Henry Laurens Dawes, a Republican United States Senator and Representative of Massachusetts.

14/05/1832

Rudolf Lipschitz, German mathematician and academic (died 1903)

Rudolf Otto Sigismund Lipschitz was a German mathematician who made contributions to mathematical analysis and differential geometry, as well as number theory, algebras with involution and classical mechanics.

14/05/1830

Antonio Annetto Caruana, Maltese archaeologist and author (died 1905)

Antonio Annetto Caruana, also known as A. A. Caruana, was a Maltese archaeologist and author.

14/05/1820

James Martin, Irish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of New South Wales (died 1886)

Sir James Martin, QC was three times Premier of New South Wales, and Chief Justice of New South Wales from 1873 to 1886.

14/05/1817

Alexander Kaufmann, German poet and educator (died 1893)

Alexander Kaufmann was a German poet and folklorist from Bonn.

14/05/1814

Charles Beyer, German-English engineer, co-founded Beyer, Peacock & Company (died 1876)

Charles Frederick Beyer was a celebrated German-British locomotive designer and builder, and co-founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was the co-founder and head engineer of Beyer, Peacock and Company in Gorton, Manchester. A philanthropist and deeply religious, he founded three parish churches in Gorton, was a governor of The Manchester Grammar School, and remains the single biggest donor to what is today the University of Manchester. He is buried in the graveyard of Llantysilio Church, Llantysilio, Llangollen, Denbighshire North Wales. Llantysilio Church is within the grounds of his former 700 acre Llantysilio Hall estate. His mansion house, built 1872–1874, is nearby.

14/05/1794

Fanny Imlay, daughter of British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft (died 1816)

Frances Imlay, also known as Fanny Godwin and Frances Wollstonecraft, was the daughter of the British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and the American commercial speculator and diplomat Gilbert Imlay. Wollstonecraft wrote about her frequently in her later works. Fanny grew up in the household of anarchist political philosopher William Godwin, the widower of her mother, with his second wife Mary Jane Clairmont and their combined family of five children. Fanny's half-sister Mary wrote Frankenstein and married Percy Bysshe Shelley, a leading Romantic poet, who composed a poem on Fanny's death.

14/05/1781

Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, German historian and academic (died 1873)

Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer was a German historian. He was the first scientific historian to popularise history in German. He travelled extensively and served in German legislative bodies.

14/05/1771

Robert Owen, Welsh businessman and social reformer (died 1858)

Robert Owen was a Welsh textile manufacturer, philanthropist, political philosopher and social reformer, and a founder of utopian socialism and the co-operative movement. He strove to improve factory working conditions, promoted experimental socialistic communities, sought a more collective approach to child-rearing, and 'believed in lifelong education, establishing an Institute for the Formation of Character and School for Children that focused less on job skills than on becoming a better person'.

Thomas Wedgwood, English photographer (died 1805)

Thomas Wedgwood was an English photographer and inventor. He is most widely known as an early experimenter in the field of photography. He is the first person known to have thought of creating permanent pictures by capturing camera images on material coated with a light-sensitive chemical. His practical experiments yielded only shadow image photograms that were not light-fast, but his conceptual breakthrough and partial success have led some historians to call him "the first photographer".

14/05/1761

Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 1816)

Samuel Dexter was an early American statesman who served both in Congress and in the Presidential Cabinets of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Dexter was a 1781 graduate of Harvard College. After receiving his degree he studied law, attained admission to the bar in 1784, and began to practice in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.

14/05/1752

Timothy Dwight IV, American minister, theologian, and academic (died 1817)

Timothy Dwight was an American academic and educator, a Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817).

Albrecht Thaer, German agronomist and author (died 1828)

Albrecht Daniel Thaer was a German agronomist and a supporter of the humus theory for plant nutrition.

14/05/1737

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, Irish-English politician and diplomat, Governor of Grenada (died 1806)

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, was a British diplomat, politician and colonial administrator who served as the governor of Grenada, Madras and the Cape Colony. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's victory in the Seven Years' War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled "a vast Empire, on which the sun never sets" as well as his mission to China in 1793.

14/05/1727

Thomas Gainsborough, English painter (died 1788)

Thomas Gainsborough was an English painter, draughtsman and printmaker who specialised in portrait and landscape painting. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he was one of the most important British artists of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterised by a light palette and easy strokes. Despite being a prolific portrait painter, Gainsborough gained greater satisfaction from his landscapes. He is credited as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.

14/05/1725

Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice (died 1802)

Lodovico Giovanni Manin was a Venetian politician, patrician, and the 120th and last Doge of Venice. He governed the Venetian Republic from 9 March 1789 until its fall on 12 May 1797, when he was forced to abdicate by Napoleon Bonaparte. He officially left the Doge's Palace two days later on 14 May 1797.

14/05/1710

Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden (died 1771)

Adolf Frederick was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death in 1771. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. He was an uncle of Catherine the Great and husband to Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.

14/05/1701

William Emerson, English mathematician and academic (died 1782)

William Emerson was an English mathematician. He was born in Hurworth, near Darlington, where his father, Dudley Emerson, also a mathematician, taught a school.

14/05/1699

Hans Joachim von Zieten, Prussian general (died 1786)

Hans Joachim von Zieten, sometimes spelled Johann Joachim von Ziethen,, also known as Zieten aus dem Busch, was a cavalry general in the Prussian Army. He served in four wars and was instrumental in several victories during the reign of Frederick the Great, most particularly at Hohenfriedberg and Torgau. He is also well known for a raid into the Habsburg territories during the Second Silesian War, known as Zieten's Ride. After engaging in a reputed 74 duels, and fighting in four wars, he died in his bed at the age of 86.

14/05/1679

Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (died 1764)

Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow (Horrebov) was a Danish astronomer. Born in Løgstør, Jutland to a poor family of fishermen, Horrebow entered the University of Copenhagen in 1703. He worked his way through grammar school and university by virtue of his technical knowledge: he repaired mechanical and musical instruments and cut seals. He received his MA from the university in 1716, and his MD in 1725. From 1703 to 1707, he served as an assistant to Ole Rømer and lived in Rømer's home. He worked as a household tutor from 1707 to 1711 to a Danish baron, and entered the governmental bureaucracy as an excise writer in 1711.

14/05/1666

Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (died 1732)

Victor Amadeus II was the head of the House of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 12 June 1675 until his abdication in 1730. He was the first of his house to acquire a royal crown, ruling first as King of Sicily (1713–1720) and then as King of Sardinia (1720–1730). Among his other titles were Duke of Savoy, Duke of Montferrat, Prince of Piedmont, Marquis of Saluzzo and Duke of Aosta, Maurienne and Nice.

14/05/1657

Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, Indian(Maratha) emperor (died 1689)

Sambhaji, also known as Shambhuraje, ruled from 1681 to 1689 as the second king (Chhatrapati) of the Maratha Empire, a prominent state in early modern India. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire.

14/05/1652

Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (died 1732)

Johann Philipp Förtsch was a German baroque composer, statesman and medical doctor.

14/05/1630

Katakura Kagenaga, Japanese samurai (died 1681)

Katakura Kagenaga was a Japanese samurai of the early Edo period, who served as a senior retainer of the Date clan of Sendai han. His childhood name was Sannosueke (三之助) later changed to Kojūrō. He bore the same name as his great-grandfather. The lord of Shiroishi Castle, Kagenaga was the third bearer of the common name Kojūrō. During the Date incident, he was a caretaker for the young daimyō, Kamechiyo. Upon receiving news of the actions of Harada Munesuke, Kagenaga immediately brought the domain to emergency footing, restraining any disorder from breaking out and saving the Sendai domain from the danger of being attaindered. However, as he was sickly, he resigned his post immediately following the incident's resolution.

14/05/1592

Alice Barnham, wife of statesman Francis Bacon (died 1650)

Alice Barnham, Viscountess St Albans was the wife of English scientific philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon.

14/05/1574

Francesco Rasi, Italian singer-songwriter, theorbo player, and poet (died 1621)

Francesco Rasi was a Tuscan composer, singer (tenor), chitarrone player and poet.

14/05/1553

Margaret of Valois, Queen of France (died 1615)

Margaret of Valois, popularly known as Queen Margot, was Queen of Navarre from 1572 to 1599 and Queen of France from 1589 to 1599 as the consort of Henry IV of France and III of Navarre.

14/05/1316

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1378)

Charles IV was Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 until his death in 1378. He was elected King of Germany in 1346 and became King of Bohemia that same year. He was a member of the House of Luxembourg from his father's side and the Bohemian House of Přemyslid from his mother's side; he emphasized the latter due to his lifelong affinity for the Bohemian side of his inheritance, and also because his direct ancestors in the Přemyslid line included two saints.

Lives Remembered on 14th May

On 14th May, 113 remarkable people passed away — from 649 to 2026. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

14/05/2026

Hans van Houwelingen, Dutch mathematician and professor emeritus of medical statistics (born 1945)

Johannes Cornelis "Hans" van Houwelingen was a Dutch mathematician and a professor of medical statistics at Leiden University.

14/05/2024

Don Perlin, American comic book artist, writer, and editor (born 1929)

Donald David Perlin was an American comic book artist, writer, and editor. He is best known for Marvel Comics' Werewolf by Night, Moon Knight, The Defenders, and Ghost Rider. In the 1990s, he worked for Valiant Comics, both as artist and editor, where he co-created Bloodshot.

Netiporn Sanesangkhom, Thai political activist (born 1995)

Netiporn Sanesangkhom, better known as Bung (บุ้ง), was a Thai political activist focused on monarchy reform. She initially participated in protests with the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), a right-wing movement in Thailand. However, after listening to other activists about the crackdown on the Red Shirt 2010 protests at Ratchaprasong, Bung became an anti-monarchy activist.

14/05/2023

Doyle Brunson, American poker player (born 1933)

Doyle Frank Brunson was an American poker player who played professionally for over 60 years. He was a two-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion, a Poker Hall of Fame inductee, and the author of several books on poker.

14/05/2019

Tim Conway, American actor, writer, and comedian (born 1933)

Thomas Daniel "Tim" Conway was an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. Conway is perhaps best known as a regular cast member (1975–1978) on the TV comedy-variety series The Carol Burnett Show where he portrayed his recurrent iconic characters Mister Tudball and the Oldest Man. Conway was known for his physical comedy. Over his career he received numerous accolades, including five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1999 and was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2002.

Grumpy Cat, American cat and internet meme celebrity (born 2012)

Tardar Sauce, nicknamed Grumpy Cat, was an American internet celebrity cat. She was known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to prominence when a photograph of her was posted on September 22, 2012, on social news website Reddit by Bryan Bundesen, the brother of her owner Tabatha Bundesen. "Lolcats" and parodies created from the photograph by Reddit users became popular. She was the subject of a popular Internet meme in which humorously negative, cynical images were made from photographs of her.

14/05/2018

Tom Wolfe, American author (born 1931)

Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. was an American author and journalist widely known for his association with New Journalism, a style of news writing and journalism developed in the 1960s and 1970s that incorporated literary techniques. Much of Wolfe's work is satirical and centers on the counterculture of the 1960s and issues related to class, social status, and the lifestyles of the economic and intellectual elites of New York City.

14/05/2017

Powers Boothe, American actor (born 1948)

Powers Allen Boothe was an American actor known for his commanding character actor roles on film and television. He received a Primetime Emmy Award and nominations for two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

14/05/2016

Darwyn Cooke, American comic book writer and artist (born 1962)

Darwyn Cooke was a Canadian comics artist, writer, cartoonist, and animator who worked on the comic books Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier, The Spirit and Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter. His work has been honoured with numerous Eisner, Harvey, and Joe Shuster Awards.

14/05/2015

B.B. King, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1925)

Riley B. King, known professionally as B. B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimmering vibrato, and staccato picking that influenced many later electric guitar blues players. AllMusic recognized King as "the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century".

Micheál O'Brien, Irish footballer and hurler (born 1923)

Micheál O'Brien was an Irish Gaelic footballer and hurler who played at senior level for the Meath county team.

Stanton J. Peale, American astrophysicist and academic (born 1937)

Stanton Jerrold Peale was an American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, and Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests include the geophysical and dynamical properties of planets and exoplanets.

Franz Wright, Austrian-American poet and translator (born 1953)

Franz Wright was an American poet. He and his father James Wright are the only parent/child pair to have won the Pulitzer Prize in the same category.

14/05/2014

Jeffrey Kruger, English-American businessman (born 1931)

Jeffrey Sonny Kruger MBE was a British entertainment business executive who owned the Flamingo Club in Soho, London, established the independent record label Ember Records, and set up the music business conglomerate TKO.

Emanuel Raymond Lewis, American librarian and author (born 1928)

Emanuel Raymond Lewis was the longest-serving and final House Librarian for the United States House of Representatives Library in the U.S. Capitol Building. He was appointed House Librarian in 1973, and served in this position until January 1995, at which time the library, along with the House Historical Office, was reorganized and placed under the new Legislative Resource Center, a division of the Office of the Clerk. The House Library predated the Library of Congress, serving as the official repository of Congressional documents generated by the U.S. House of Representatives since 1792.

Morvin Simon, New Zealand historian, composer, and conductor (born 1944)

Morvin Te Anatipa Simon was a New Zealand Māori composer, kapa haka leader, choirmaster and historian.

14/05/2013

Wayne Brown, American accountant and politician, 14th Mayor of Mesa (born 1936)

Wayne Brown was an American politician and accountant. Brown served for two, two-year terms as the Mayor of Mesa, Arizona from 1996 to 2000. He spearheaded the movement to building the Mesa Arts Center in downtown Mesa, now the largest performing arts campus in Arizona.

Arsen Chilingaryan, Armenian footballer and manager (born 1962)

Arsen Chilingaryan was a Soviet Armenian football defender.

Asghar Ali Engineer, Indian author and activist (born 1939)

Asghar Ali Engineer was an academic, Indian reformist writer and social activist. Internationally known for his work on liberation theology in Islam, he led the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement. The focus of his work was on communalism and communal and ethnic violence in India and South Asia. He was a votary of peace and non-violence and lectured all over world on communal harmony.

Ray Guy, Canadian journalist (born 1939)

Ray Guy was a Canadian journalist and humourist, best known for his satirical newspaper and magazine columns.

14/05/2012

Ernst Hinterberger, Austrian author and screenwriter (born 1931)

Ernst Hinterberger was an Austrian writer of novels, particularly detective novels, plays and successful sitcoms. His first TV scripts were unusual for their use of genuine Vienna dialect.

Mario Trejo, Argentinian poet, playwright, and journalist (born 1926)

Mario Trejo was an Argentine poet, playwright, screenwriter, and journalist.

14/05/2010

Frank J. Dodd, American businessman and politician, president of the New Jersey Senate (born 1938)

Frank J. "Pat" Dodd was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as President of the New Jersey Senate from 1974 to 1975.

Norman Hand, American football player (born 1972)

Norman Lamont Hand was an American professional football defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the fifth round of the 1995 NFL draft. He last played with the New York Giants in 2004. He also played with the Seattle Seahawks, the New Orleans Saints, the San Diego Chargers and the Miami Dolphins. With the Saints, Hand was part of a defensive line nicknamed "The Heavy Lunch Bunch", along with fellow 325-pounders Martin Chase and Grady Jackson. Hand was noted for his "Big Wiggle" celebration dance, and in 2000 he was part of the team that won the Saints' first playoff game.

Goh Keng Swee, Singaporean soldier and politician, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (born 1918)

Goh Keng Swee was a Singaporean statesman and economist who served as the second Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore between 1973 and 1985. Goh is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore.

14/05/2007

Mary Scheier, American sculptor and educator (born 1908)

Mary Scheier was a noted American ceramicist, and the wife and artistic partner of Edwin Scheier.

Ülo Jõgi, Estonian historian and author (born 1921)

Ülo Jõgi was an Estonian war historian who was active in the Estonian resistance against the Soviet occupation of Estonia.

14/05/2006

Lew Anderson, American actor and saxophonist (born 1922)

Lewis Burr Anderson was an American actor and musician. He is widely known by TV fans as the third and final actor to portray Clarabell the Clown on Howdy Doody between 1954 and 1960. He famously spoke Clarabell's only line on the show's final episode in 1960, with a tear visible in his right eye, "Goodbye, kids." Anderson is also widely known by jazz music fans as a prolific jazz arranger, big band leader, and alto saxophonist. Anderson also played the clarinet.

Stanley Kunitz, American poet and translator (born 1905)

Stanley Jasspon Kunitz was an American poet. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress twice, first in 1974 and then again in 2000.

Eva Norvind, Mexican actress, director, and producer (born 1944)

Eva Norvind was a Norwegian-born Mexican actress, writer, documentary producer, director, sex therapist, and dominatrix.

14/05/2005

Jimmy Martin, American musician (born 1927)

James Henry Martin was an American bluegrass singer and musician, known as the "King of Bluegrass".

14/05/2004

Anna Lee, English-American actress (born 1913)

Anna Lee, MBE was an English and American actress, labelled by studios "The British Bombshell".

14/05/2003

Dave DeBusschere, American basketball player and coach (born 1940)

David Albert DeBusschere was an American professional basketball player and coach, and professional baseball player. He played for the Chicago White Sox of MLB in 1962 and 1963 and in the NBA for the Detroit Pistons from 1962 through 1968 and for the New York Knicks from 1968 to 1974. He was also the head coach for the Pistons from 1964 through 1967.

Wendy Hiller, English actress (born 1912)

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller was an English film and stage actress who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly 60 years. Writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took command of the screen whenever she appeared on film". Despite many notable film performances, Hiller chose to remain primarily a stage actress.

Robert Stack, American actor and producer (born 1919)

Robert Stack was an American actor and television host. Known for his deep voice and commanding presence, he appeared in over 40 feature films. He starred in the ABC television series The Untouchables (1959–1963), for which he won the 1960 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Series, and later hosted/narrated the true-crime series Unsolved Mysteries (1987–2002). He was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film Written on the Wind (1956). Later in his career, Stack was known for his deadpan comedy roles that lampooned his dramatic on-screen persona, most notably as Captain Rex Kramer in Airplane! (1980).

14/05/2001

Paul Bénichou, French writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian (born 1908)

Paul Bénichou was a French/Algerian writer, intellectual, critic, and literary historian.

Gil Langley, Australian cricketer, footballer, and politician (born 1919)

Gilbert Roche Andrews Langley was an Australian Test cricketer, champion Australian rules footballer and member of parliament, serving as Speaker of the South Australian House of Assembly from 1977 to 1979 for the Don Dunstan Labor government.

14/05/2000

Keizō Obuchi, Japanese politician, 84th Prime Minister of Japan (born 1937)

Keizō Obuchi was a Japanese politician who served as prime minister of Japan from 1998 to 2000.

14/05/1998

Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and environmentalist (born 1890)

Marjory Stoneman Douglas was an American journalist, author, women's suffrage advocate, and conservationist known for her staunch defense of the Everglades against efforts to drain it and reclaim land for development. Moving to Miami as a young woman to work for The Miami Herald, she became a freelance writer, producing over one hundred short stories that were published in popular magazines. Her most influential work was the book The Everglades: River of Grass (1947), which redefined the popular conception of the Everglades as a treasured river instead of a worthless swamp. Its impact has been compared to that of Rachel Carson's influential book Silent Spring (1962). Her books, stories, and journalism career brought her influence in Miami, enabling her to advance her causes.

Frank Sinatra, American singer and actor (born 1915)

Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of the 20th century.

14/05/1997

Harry Blackstone Jr., American magician and author (born 1934)

Harry Bouton Blackstone Jr. was an American stage magician, author, and television performer. He is estimated to have pulled 80,000 rabbits from his sleeves and hats.

Boris Parsadanian, Armenian-Estonian violinist and composer (born 1925)

Boris Khristoforovich Parsadanian was a Soviet Armenian and Estonian composer, violinist, and arts administrator.

14/05/1995

Christian B. Anfinsen, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

Christian Boehmer Anfinsen Jr. was an American biochemist. He shared the 1972 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Stanford Moore and William Howard Stein for work on ribonuclease, especially concerning the connection between the amino acid sequence and the biologically active conformation.

14/05/1994

Cihat Arman, Turkish footballer and manager (born 1915)

Cihat Arman was a Turkish football goalkeeper and manager. He represented Turkey at the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was the coach of the Turkish national football team throughout 1949, and Turkey qualified for the 1950 World Cup as a result of victories in the qualifiers under his management. However, Turkish national football team could not participate in this tournament due to financial difficulties caused by the World War II. He was called "Yellow Canary" by the fans as he wore his Yellow Sweater in every match without exception, and this led to Fenerbahçe adopting the "Yellow Canaries" symbol.

W. Graham Claytor Jr., American businessman, lieutenant, and politician, 15th United States Secretary of the Navy (born 1914)

William Graham Claytor Jr. was an American attorney, United States Navy officer, railroad executive, and administrator of railroad, transportation, and defense affairs for the United States government, working under the administrations of three US presidents.

14/05/1993

William Randolph Hearst, Jr., American journalist and publisher (born 1908)

William Randolph Hearst Jr. was an American businessman, newspaper publisher and member of the wealthy Hearst family.

14/05/1992

Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (born 1899)

Nie Rongzhen was a Marshal of the People's Republic of China. He died as the last People's Liberation Army (PLA) marshal.

14/05/1991

Aladár Gerevich, Hungarian fencer (born 1910)

Aladár Gerevich was a Hungarian fencer, regarded as "the greatest Olympic swordsman ever". He won seven gold medals in sabre at six different Olympic Games.

Jiang Qing, Chinese revolutionary, actress, and politician, member of the Gang of Four (born 1914)

Jiang Qing, born Li Yunhe, and briefly known by her stage name Lan Ping in the 1930s Shanghai, was a Chinese revolutionary, actress, and political figure. The fourth wife of Mao Zedong, she played a major role in the Cultural Revolution and led the Gang of Four.

14/05/1988

Willem Drees, Dutch politician and historian, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (1948–1958) (born 1886)

Willem Drees Sr. was a Dutch politician of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and later co-founder of the Labour Party (PvdA) and historian who served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 7 August 1948 to 22 December 1958.

14/05/1987

Rita Hayworth, American actress and dancer (born 1918)

Rita Hayworth was an American actress, dancer, and pin-up girl. She achieved fame in the 1940s as one of the top stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood, and appeared in 61 films over 38 years. The press coined the term "The Love Goddess" to describe Hayworth after she became the most glamorous screen idol of the 1940s. She was the second top pin-up girl for GIs during World War II, after Betty Grable.

Vitomil Zupan, Slovenian poet and playwright (born 1914)

Vitomil Zupan was a post-World War II modernist Slovene writer and Gonars concentration camp survivor. Because of his detailed descriptions of sex and violence, he was dubbed the Slovene Hemingway and was compared to Henry Miller. He is best known for Menuet za kitaro, describing the years he spent with the Slovene Partisans. In Titoist Yugoslavia he was sentenced to 18 years in a show trial, and upon his release in 1955 his works could only be published under his pseudonym Langus. He is considered one of the most important Slovene writers.

14/05/1984

Ted Hicks, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (born 1910)

Sir Edwin William "Ted" Hicks was a senior Australian public servant and diplomat. He was Secretary of the Department of Defence from 1956 to 1968.

Walter Rauff, German SS officer (born 1906)

Hermann Julius Walther Rauff, also Walther Rauff was a mid-ranking SS commander in Nazi Germany. From January 1938, he was an aide of Reinhard Heydrich firstly in the Security Service, later in the Reich Security Main Office.

14/05/1983

Roger J. Traynor, American academic and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of California (born 1900)

Roger John Traynor was an American lawyer who served as Chief Justice of California from 1964 to 1970 and was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California from 1940 to 1964. Traynor had served as a deputy attorney general of California under Earl Warren, and an acting dean and professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law.

Miguel Alemán Valdés, Mexican politician, 46th President of Mexico (born 1900)

Miguel Alemán Valdés was a Mexican politician who served a full term as the President of Mexico from 1946 to 1952. He was the first civilian president after a string of revolutionary generals.

14/05/1982

Hugh Beaumont, American actor (born 1909)

Eugene Hugh Beaumont was an American actor. He was best known for his portrayal of Ward Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver, originally broadcast from 1957 to 1963, and as private detective Michael Shayne in a series of low-budget crime films in 1946 and 1947.

14/05/1980

Hugh Griffith, Welsh actor (born 1912)

Hugh Emrys Griffith was a Welsh actor. Described by BFI Screenonline as a "wild-eyed, formidable character player", Griffith appeared in more than 100 theatre, film, and television productions in a career that spanned over 40 years. He was the second Welsh-born actor to win an Academy Award, winning a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in Ben-Hur (1959), with an additional nomination for Tom Jones (1963).

14/05/1979

Jean Rhys, Dominican-English novelist (born 1890)

Jean Rhys was a British Creole novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she resided mainly in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her final novel, Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.

14/05/1976

Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, harmonica player, and producer (born 1943)

William Keith Relf was an English musician, best known as the lead vocalist and harmonica player for rock band the Yardbirds. He then formed the band Renaissance with his sister Jane Relf, the Yardbirds ex-drummer Jim McCarty and ex–The Nashville Teens keyboardist John Hawken.

14/05/1973

Jean Gebser, German linguist, philosopher, and poet (born 1905)

Jean Gebser was a Swiss philosopher, linguist, and poet who described the structures of human consciousness.

14/05/1970

Billie Burke, American actress and singer (born 1884)

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was an American character actress who was famous on Broadway and radio, and in silent and sound films. She is perhaps best known to modern audiences as Glinda the Good Witch of the North in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film musical The Wizard of Oz (1939).

14/05/1969

Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (born 1893)

Enid Eulalie Bennett was an Australian silent film actress, mostly active in American film.

Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (born 1888)

Frederick Claude Vivian Lane was an Australian swimmer who competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

14/05/1968

Husband E. Kimmel, American admiral (born 1882)

Husband Edward Kimmel was a United States Navy four-star admiral who was the commander in chief of the United States Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was removed from that command after the attack, in December 1941, and was reverted to his permanent two-star rank of rear admiral due to no longer holding a four-star assignment. He retired from the Navy in early 1942. The U.S. Senate voted to change Kimmel's permanent rank to four stars in 1999, but President Clinton did not act on the resolution, and neither have any of his successors.

14/05/1965

Frances Perkins, American workers-rights advocate, U.S. Secretary of Labor (born 1880)

Frances Perkins was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the fourth United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of the Democratic Party, Perkins was the first woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her longtime friend, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped make labor issues important in the emerging New Deal coalition. She advocated for immigrants’ rights as well. She was one of two Roosevelt cabinet members to remain in office for his entire presidency.

14/05/1962

Florence Auer, American actress and screenwriter (born 1880)

Florence Auer was an American theater and motion picture actress whose career spanned more than five decades.

14/05/1960

Lucrezia Bori, Spanish soprano and actress (born 1887)

Lucrezia Bori was a Spanish operatic singer, a lyric soprano and a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Opera.

14/05/1959

Sidney Bechet, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (born 1897)

Sidney Joseph Bechet was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Armstrong. His erratic temper hampered his career, and not until the late 1940s did he earn wide acclaim. Bechet spent much of his later life in France.

Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal (born 1862)

Infanta Maria Antónia of Portugal was the seventh and last child of Miguel I of Portugal and Adelaide of Löwenstein.

14/05/1957

Marie Vassilieff, Russian-French painter (born 1884)

Mariya Ivanovna Vassilieva, gallicised and known in Western sources as Marie Vassilieff, was a Russian-born painter and set designer active in Paris.

14/05/1956

Joan Malleson, English physician (born 1889)

Joan Graeme Malleson was an English physician, specialist in contraception and prominent advocate of the legalisation of abortion.

14/05/1954

Heinz Guderian, Prussian-German general (born 1888)

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian was a German army general and military theorist. A pioneer and advocate of the "blitzkrieg" approach, he played a central role in the development of the panzer division concept and tank warfare more broadly.

14/05/1953

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, American painter and photographer (born 1893)

Yasuo Kuniyoshi was a Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker.

14/05/1945

Heber J. Grant, American religious leader, 7th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (born 1856)

Heber Jeddy Grant was an American religious leader who served as the seventh president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Grant worked as a bookkeeper and a cashier, but was called to be an LDS apostle on October 16, 1882, at age 25. After the death of Joseph F. Smith in late 1918, Grant served as the LDS Church president until his death.

Wolfgang Lüth, Latvian-German captain (born 1913)

Wolfgang Lüth was a German U-boat captain of World War II who was credited with the sinking of 46 merchant ships plus the French submarine Doris sunk during 15 war patrols, for a total tonnage of 225,204 gross register tons (GRT).

Isis Pogson, English astronomer and meteorologist (born 1852)

Elizabeth Isis Pogson, was a British astronomer and meteorologist who was one of the first women to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

14/05/1943

Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)

Henri La Fontaine, was a Belgian international lawyer and president of the International Peace Bureau. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1913 because "he was the effective leader of the peace movement in Europe."

14/05/1940

Emma Goldman, Lithuanian author and activist (born 1869)

Emma Goldman was a Russian-born anarchist revolutionary, political activist, and writer. She played a pivotal role in the development of anarchist political philosophy in North America and Europe in the first half of the 20th century.

Menno ter Braak, Dutch author (born 1902)

Menno ter Braak was a Dutch modernist writer, critic, essayist, and journalist.

14/05/1936

Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (born 1861)

Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, was a senior British Army officer and imperial governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and in the First World War, in which he led the British Empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign against the Ottoman Empire in the conquest of Palestine.

14/05/1935

Magnus Hirschfeld, German physician and sexologist (born 1868)

Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician, sexologist, and LGBTQ advocate whose German citizenship was revoked in 1933 by the Nazi government.

14/05/1934

Lou Criger, American baseball player and manager (born 1872)

Louis Criger was an American professional baseball catcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1896 to 1912 for the Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos / Cardinals, Boston Americans / Red Sox, St. Louis Browns and New York Highlanders. Listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 165 pounds (75 kg), he batted and threw right-handed.

14/05/1931

David Belasco, American director, producer, and playwright (born 1853)

David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story Madame Butterfly for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of many actors, including James O'Neill, Mary Pickford, Lenore Ulric, and Barbara Stanwyck. Belasco pioneered many innovative new forms of stage lighting and special effects in order to create realism and naturalism.

14/05/1923

N. G. Chandavarkar, Indian jurist and politician (born 1855)

Sir Narayan Ganesh Chandavarkar was an early Indian National Congress politician and Hindu reformer. He was true " serve western colonial empire".

Charles de Freycinet, French engineer and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of France (born 1828)

Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet was a French statesman who served four times as Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Moderate Republican faction.

14/05/1919

Henry J. Heinz, American businessman, founded the H. J. Heinz Company (born 1844)

Henry John Heinz was an American entrepreneur who co-founded the H. J. Heinz Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was involved in the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. Many of his descendants are known for philanthropy and involvement in politics and public affairs. His fortune became the basis for the Heinz Foundations.

14/05/1918

James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American journalist and publisher (born 1841)

James Gordon Bennett Jr. was an American publisher. He was the publisher of the New York Herald, founded by his father, James Gordon Bennett Sr. (1795–1872), who emigrated from Scotland. He was generally known as Gordon Bennett to distinguish him from his father. Among his many sports-related accomplishments he organized both the first polo match and the first tennis match in the United States, and he won the first trans-oceanic yacht race. He sponsored explorers including Henry Morton Stanley's trip to Africa to find David Livingstone, and the ill-fated USS Jeannette attempt on the North Pole.

14/05/1912

Frederik VIII of Denmark (born 1843)

Frederik VIII was King of Denmark from 29 January 1906 until his death in 1912.

August Strindberg, Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist (born 1849)

Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography, history, cultural analysis, and politics during his career, which spanned four decades. A bold experimenter and iconoclast throughout his life, he explored a wide range of dramatic methods and purposes, from naturalistic tragedy, monodrama, and historical plays to his anticipations of expressionist and surrealist dramatic techniques. From his earliest work, Strindberg developed innovative forms of dramatic action, language, and visual composition. He is considered the "father" of modern Swedish literature and his The Red Room (1879) has frequently been described as the first modern Swedish novel. In Sweden, Strindberg is known as an essayist, painter, poet, and especially novelist and playwright, but in other countries he is known mostly as a playwright.

14/05/1906

Carl Schurz, German-American general, journalist, and politician, 13th United States Secretary of the Interior (born 1829)

Carl Christian Schurz was a German-American revolutionary and an American statesman, journalist, and reformer. He migrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the newly-forming Republican Party. After serving as a Union general in the American Civil War, he helped found the short-lived Liberal Republican Party and became a prominent advocate of civil-service reform. Schurz represented Missouri in the United States Senate and served as the 13th United States Secretary of the Interior.

14/05/1893

Ernst Kummer, German mathematician and academic (born 1810)

Ernst Eduard Kummer was a German mathematician. Skilled in applied mathematics, Kummer trained German army officers in ballistics; afterwards, he taught for 10 years in a gymnasium, the German equivalent of high school, where he inspired the mathematical career of Leopold Kronecker.

14/05/1889

Volney Howard, American lawyer, jurist, and politician (born 1809)

Volney Erskine Howard was an American lawyer, statesman, and jurist.

14/05/1881

Mary Seacole, Jamaican-English nurse and author (born 1805)

Mary Jane Seacole was a Jamaican nurse and businesswoman. She was famous for her nursing work during the Crimean War and for publishing the first autobiography written by a woman of African descent in Britain.

14/05/1878

Ōkubo Toshimichi, Japanese samurai and politician (born 1830)

Ōkubo Toshimichi was a Japanese statesman and samurai of the Satsuma Domain. Regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan, he was one of the "Three Great Nobles" who led the Meiji Restoration in 1868, alongside Kido Takayoshi and Saigō Takamori. His policies, often characterized by realism and a focus on national strength, has led some historians to compare his role in Japan to that of Otto von Bismarck in Prussia.

14/05/1873

Gideon Brecher, Austrian physician and author (born 1797)

Gideon Brecher, also known by the pen name Gedaliah ben Eliezer (Hebrew: גדליה בן אליעזר, was an Austrian writer and physician. He was a central figure in the Moravian Haskalah.

14/05/1860

Ludwig Bechstein, German author (born 1801)

Ludwig Bechstein was a German writer and collector of folk fairy tales.

14/05/1847

Fanny Hensel, German pianist and composer (born 1805)

Fanny Cäcilie Hensel née Mendelssohn was a German composer and pianist of the early Romantic era, also known as Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Her compositions number over 450, and include a string quartet, a piano trio, a piano quartet, an orchestral overture, four cantatas, more than 125 pieces for solo piano, and over 250 lieder. Most of these were unpublished in her lifetime. Although lauded for her piano technique, she rarely gave public performances outside her family circle.

14/05/1761

Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (born 1710)

Thomas Simpson FRS was a British mathematician and inventor known for the eponymous Simpson's rule to approximate definite integrals. The attribution, as often in mathematics, can be debated: this rule had been found 100 years earlier by Johannes Kepler, and in German it is called Keplersche Fassregel, or roughly "Kepler's Barrel Rule".

14/05/1754

Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée, French playwright and producer (born 1692)

Pierre-Claude Nivelle de La Chaussée was a French dramatist who blurred the lines between comedy and tragedy with his comédie larmoyante.

14/05/1688

Antoine Furetière, French scholar, lexicographer, and author (born 1619)

Antoine Furetière was a French scholar, writer, and lexicographer, known best for his satirical novel Le Roman bourgeois, and also his famous Dictionnaire universel. The Académie Française charged him with lexicographic plagiarism and ousted him for seeking to publish his own French language dictionary.

14/05/1667

Georges de Scudéry, French author, poet, and playwright (born 1601)

Georges de Scudéry, the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet.

14/05/1649

Friedrich Spanheim, Swiss theologian and academic (born 1600)

Friedrich Spanheim the Elder was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden.

14/05/1643

Louis XIII of France (born 1601)

Louis XIII was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown.

14/05/1610

Henry IV of France (born 1553)

Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France, as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in Paris in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.

14/05/1608

Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (born 1543)

Charles III, known as the Great, was Duke of Lorraine from 1545 until his death.

14/05/1603

Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (born 1543)

Magnus II of Saxe-Lauenburg was the eldest surviving son of Duke Francis I of Saxe-Lauenburg and Sybille of Saxe-Freiberg, daughter of Duke Henry IV the Pious. In 1571 Magnus II ascended the throne after his father Francis I resigned due to indebtedness. Two years later Francis I, helped by his other son Francis (II), deposed Magnus II and re-ascended. Magnus' violent and judicial attempts to regain the duchy failed. In 1588 he was imprisoned for the remainder of his life.

14/05/1576

Tahmasp I, Shah of Persia (born 1514)

Tahmasp I was the second shah of Safavid Iran from 1524 until his death in 1576. He was the eldest son of Shah Ismail I and his principal consort, the Mawsillu princess Tajlu Khanum.

14/05/1219

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English soldier and politician (born 1147)

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, also called William the Marshal, was an Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman during High Medieval England who served five English kings—Henry II and his son and co-ruler Young Henry, Richard I, John, and Henry III—as a royal adviser and agent and as a warrior of outstanding prowess.

14/05/1080

Walcher, Bishop of Durham

Walcher was the bishop of Durham from 1071, a Lotharingian and the first Prince-bishop. He was the first non-Englishman to hold that see and an appointee of William the Conqueror following the Harrying of the North. He was murdered in 1080, which led William to send an army into Northumbria to harry the region again.

14/05/0964

Pope John XII (born 927)

Pope John XII, born Octavian, was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 16 December 955 to his death in 964. He was related to the counts of Tusculum, a powerful Roman family which had dominated papal politics for over half a century. He became Pope somewhere between the ages of 17 and 25. If he was 17 then he may have been the youngest Pope in history; if not, that title may belong to Benedict IX, who was between the ages of 11 and 20 when elected.

14/05/0934

Zhu Hongzhao, Chinese general and governor

Zhu Hongzhao was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period Later Tang state. He was a close associate of its second emperor. Li Siyuan and became particularly powerful during the short reign of Li Siyuan's son and successor Li Conghou while serving as chief of staff (Shumishi). Traditionally, he and fellow chief of staff Feng Yun were blamed for making inappropriate sensitive personnel movements that caused Li Conghou's adoptive brother Li Congke to be fearful and rebel, eventually leading to Li Conghou's being overthrown and Zhu's own death.

14/05/0649

Pope Theodore I

Pope Theodore I was the bishop of Rome from 24 November 642 to his death on 14 May 649. His pontificate was dominated by the struggle with Monothelitism.

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 14th May

Christian feast day: Boniface of Tarsus

Saint Boniface of Tarsus was, according to legend, executed for being a Christian in the year 307 at Tarsus, where he had gone from Rome in order to bring back to his mistress Aglaida relics of the martyrs.

Christian feast day: Justa, Justina and Henedina

Saints Justa, Justina and Henedina of Cagliari were Christian martyrs of Sardinia, put to death at Cagliari or possibly Sassari.

Christian feast day: Maria Domenica Mazzarello

Maria Domenica Mazzarello, FMA was an Italian Catholic nun who co-founded the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco.

Christian feast day: Matthias the Apostle (Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

Matthias was an apostle in Christianity. According to the Acts of the Apostles, he was chosen by God through the remaining apostles to replace Judas Iscariot following the latter's betrayal of Jesus and his subsequent death. His calling as an apostle is unique, in that he was, despite having known Jesus throughout the latter's earthly history, selected via the casting of lots following Jesus' ascension to heaven.

Christian feast day: Michael Garicoïts

Michel Garicoïts was a French Basque Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram. He combated Jansenism in his parish due to the threat that it posed to the faith. He served as a teacher and preacher and was known for his ardent devotion to both the Eucharist and the Sacred Heart.

Christian feast day: Mo Chutu of Lismore (Roman Catholic Church)

Mo Chutu mac Fínaill, also known as Mochuda, Carthach or Carthach the Younger, was abbot of Rahan, County Offaly, and subsequently, founder and first abbot of Lismore, County Waterford. The saint's Life has come down in several Irish and Latin recensions, which appear to derive from a Latin original written in the 11th or 12th century.

Christian feast day: Théodore Guérin

Anne Thérèse Guérin, designated by the Vatican as Saint Theodora, was a French-American Catholic saint and the foundress of the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, a congregation of Catholic sisters at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana.

Christian feast day: Victor and Corona

Saints Victor and Corona are two Christian martyrs. Victor was a Roman soldier who was tortured and killed; Corona was killed for comforting him. Corona is invoked as a patron of causes involving money; she was not historically associated with pandemics or disease, but has been invoked against the coronavirus pandemic.

Christian feast day: May 14 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

May 13 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 15

Independence Day (Paraguay)

An Independence Day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a military occupation, or after a major change in government. Many countries commemorate their independence from a colonial empire.

Hastings Banda's Birthday (Malawi)

This is a list of public holidays in Malawi.

National Unification Day (Liberia)

The following are public holidays in Liberia.

The first day of Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival. (Izumo-taisha)

Izumo-taisha , officially Izumo Ōyashiro, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. No record gives the date of establishment. Located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, it hosts two major festivals. It is dedicated to the kami (god) Ōkuninushi , famous as the Shinto deity of marriage and to Kotoamatsukami, distinguishing heavenly kami. The shrine is widely regarded as the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan, predating the Ise Shrine.

What Happened on 14th May?

52 significant events took place on Sunday, 14th May — stretching from 1027 to 2022. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

14/05/2022

Ten people are killed in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York.

On May 14, 2022, a mass shooting occurred in Buffalo, New York, United States, at a Tops Friendly Markets supermarket in the East Side neighborhood. Ten people, all of whom were black, were murdered, and three people were injured. The shooter, 18-year-old Payton Gendron, livestreamed part of the attack on Twitch until the livestream was shut down by the service in under two minutes.

14/05/2021

China successfully lands Zhurong, the country's first Mars rover.

Zhurong is a Chinese rover on Mars, the country's first to land on another planet after it previously landed two rovers on the Moon. The rover is part of the Tianwen-1 mission to Mars conducted by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

14/05/2012

Agni Air Flight CHT crashes in Nepal after a failed go-around, killing 15 people.

On 14 May 2012, a Dornier 228 passenger aircraft of Agni Air operating Flight CHT, crashed near Jomsom Airport, Nepal, killing 15 of the 21 people on board, including both pilots and Indian child actress Taruni Sachdev and her mother.

14/05/2010

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on the STS-132 mission to deliver the first shuttle-launched Russian ISS component — Rassvet. This was originally slated to be the final launch of Atlantis, before Congress approved STS-135.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.

14/05/2008

Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police; 39 policemen injured, one police dog injured and 39 arrested.

Riots took place in Manchester, England, on the day of the 2008 UEFA Cup final between FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and Rangers FC. Serious disorder was allegedly sparked by the failure of a big screen erected in Piccadilly Gardens to transmit the match to thousands of Rangers fans who had travelled to the city without tickets. In addition to property damage, fifteen policemen were injured and ambulance crews attended 52 cases of assault. A Manchester City Council inquiry into the events estimated that over 200,000 Rangers fans visited Manchester for the match, with 39 fans arrested for a range of offences across the city, while 38 complaints were received about the conduct of Greater Manchester Police officers.

14/05/2004

The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.

The Constitutional Court of Korea is a constitutional court of South Korea, seated in Jongno, Seoul. It is one of the two apex courts – along with the Supreme Court – in South Korea's judiciary that mainly exercises constitutional review. Composed of nine justices, the court has the power to nullify unconstitutional laws, remove impeached officials from office, dissolve antidemocratic political parties, oversee disputes on powers of public authorities, and handle constitutional complaints.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson are married at Copenhagen Cathedral.

Frederik X is King of Denmark, reigning since the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, in January 2024.

Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 crashes into the Amazon rainforest during approach to Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Manaus, Brazil, killing 33 people.

Rico Linhas Aéreas Flight 4815 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight from São Paulo de Olivença, via Tefé, to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, northwest Brazil. On 14 May 2004, the aircraft operating the flight, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashed into the dense Amazon rainforest while on approach to Manaus. All 33 people on board were killed.

14/05/1988

Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. Twenty-seven die in the crash and ensuing fire.

The Carrollton bus collision occurred on May 14, 1988, on Interstate 71 in unincorporated Carroll County, Kentucky, United States. The collision involved a former school bus in use by a church youth group and a pickup truck driven by an alcohol-impaired driver. The head-on collision was the deadliest incident involving drunk driving and the third-deadliest bus crash in U.S. history. Of the 67 people on the bus, there were 27 fatalities in the crash, the same number as the 1958 Prestonsburg bus disaster, and behind the 1976 Yuba City bus disaster (29) and 1963 Chualar bus crash (32).

14/05/1987

Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.

Timoci Uluivuda Bavadra was a Fijian medical doctor who founded the Fiji Labour Party and served as the Prime Minister of Fiji for one month in 1987.

14/05/1980

Salvadoran Civil War: The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.

The Salvadoran Civil War was a twelve-year civil war in El Salvador that was fought between the government of El Salvador, backed by the United States, and the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups backed by Cuba under Fidel Castro as well as the Soviet Union. A coup on 15 October 1979 followed by government killings of anti-coup protesters is widely seen as the start of the civil war. The war did not formally end until after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when, on 16 January 1992 the Chapultepec Peace Accords were signed in Mexico City.

14/05/1977

A Dan-Air Boeing 707 leased to IAS Cargo Airlines crashes on approach to Lusaka International Airport in Lusaka, Zambia, killing six people.

Dan-Air was an airline based in the United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of London-based shipbroking firm Davies and Newman. It was started in 1953 with a single aircraft. Initially, it operated cargo and passenger charter flights from Southend (1953–1955) and Blackbushe airports (1955–1960) using a variety of piston-engined aircraft before moving to a new base at Gatwick Airport in 1960, followed by expansion into inclusive tour (IT) charter flights and all-year round scheduled services. The introduction of two de Havilland Comet series 4 jet aircraft in 1966 made Dan-Air the second British independent airline after British United Airways to begin sustained jet operations.

14/05/1973

Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.

Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4.

14/05/1970

Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.

The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang, was a West German far-left militant group founded in 1970, active until 1998, and formally designated a terrorist organisation by the West German government. The RAF described itself as a communist and anti-imperialist urban guerrilla group. It was engaged in armed resistance against what it considered a fascist state. Members of the RAF generally used the Marxist–Leninist term "faction" when they wrote in English. Early leadership included Andreas Baader, Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin, and Horst Mahler.

14/05/1961

Civil rights movement: A white mob twice attacks a Freedom Riders bus near Anniston, Alabama, before fire-bombing the bus and attacking the civil rights protesters who flee the burning vehicle.

The civil rights movement was a social movement in the United States from 1954 to 1968 which aimed to abolish legalized racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement in the country, which most commonly affected African Americans. The movement had origins in the Reconstruction era in the late 19th century, and modern roots in the 1940s and in Mohandas Gandhi's nonviolent movement in India. After years of nonviolent protests and civil disobedience campaigns, the civil rights movement achieved many of its legislative goals in the 1960s, during which it secured new protections in federal law for the civil rights of all Americans, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

14/05/1955

Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.

The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc. It began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.

14/05/1953

Approximately 7,100 brewery workers in Milwaukee perform a walkout, marking the start of the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike.

Milwaukee is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located on the western shore of Lake Michigan at the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menomonee, and Kinnickinnic Rivers. Milwaukee is the 31st-most populous city in the United States and the fifth-most populous city in the Midwest, with a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census. The Milwaukee metropolitan area has over 1.57 million residents and ranks as the 40th-largest metropolitan area in the nation. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County.

14/05/1951

Trains run on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales for the first time since preservation, making it the first railway in the world to be operated by volunteers.

The Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge railway in Wales, which runs for 7+1⁄4 miles (12 km) from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. Opened in 1865 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, it was the first narrow-gauge railway in Britain authorised by Act of Parliament to carry passengers using steam haulage. Despite severe underinvestment, the line remained open, and in 1951 it became the first railway in the world to be preserved as a heritage railway by volunteers.

14/05/1948

Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established. Immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, was proclaimed at the Tel Aviv Museum on 14 May 1948, at the end of the civil war phase and beginning of the Arab–Israeli War of the 1948 Palestine war, by the Va'ad Leumi led by David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organization and chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.

14/05/1943

World War II: A Japanese submarine sinks AHS Centaur off the coast of Queensland.

AHS Centaur was a hospital ship which was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, Australia, on 14 May 1943. Of the 332 medical personnel and civilian crew aboard, 268 died, including 63 of the 65 army personnel.

14/05/1940

World War II: Rotterdam, Netherlands, is bombed by the Luftwaffe of Nazi Germany despite a ceasefire, killing about 900 people and destroying the historic city center.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides, including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

14/05/1939

Lina Medina becomes the youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five.

Lina Marcela Medina de Jurado is a Peruvian woman who became the youngest confirmed mother in history when she gave birth to her son Gerardo on 14 May 1939 when she was five years, seven months, and 21 days of age. Based on the medical assessments of her pregnancy, she was four years old when she became pregnant, which was biologically possible due to precocious puberty.

14/05/1935

The Constitution of the Philippines is ratified by a popular vote.

The Constitution of the Philippines, also known as the 1987 Constitution is the supreme law of the Philippines. Its final draft was completed by the Constitutional Commission on October 12, 1986, and ratified by a nationwide plebiscite on February 2, 1987. The Constitution remains unamended to this day.

14/05/1931

Five unarmed civilians are killed in the Ådalen shootings, as the Swedish military is called in to deal with protesting workers.

The Ådalen shootings was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen, Kramfors Municipality, Ångermanland, Sweden, in May 1931. During a protest on 14 May, five people were killed by Swedish Army troops called in as reinforcements by the police.

14/05/1925

Mrs Dalloway, one of Virginia Woolf's earliest and best-known novels, is published.

Mrs Dalloway is a novel by Virginia Woolf published on 14 May 1925. It details a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway, a fictional upper-class woman in post-First World War England.

14/05/1918

Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, inaugurates the two-minute silence.

Sir Harry Hands was a British colonial politician, who served from 1915 to 1918 as mayor of Cape Town, South Africa. He is credited with instituting the first practice in the world of an official two-minute silence to honour loss of life in conflict, following the death of his eldest son Reginald Hands in World War I, at the suggestion of councillor Robert Rutherford Brydone.

14/05/1915

The May 14 Revolt takes place in Lisbon, Portugal.

The May 14 Revolt (1915) was a politico-military uprising led by Álvaro de Castro and General Sá Cardoso which started in Lisbon, Portugal, with the objective of taking power from the dictatorship of General Pimenta de Castro during the Portuguese First Republic and returning the government to the principles of the 1911 Constitution.

14/05/1913

Governor of New York William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller.

William Sulzer, nicknamed Plain Bill, was an American lawyer and politician. He was the 39th governor of New York serving for 10 months in 1913, and a long-serving U.S. representative from the same state. Sulzer was the first, and to date only, New York governor to be impeached and the only governor to be convicted on articles of impeachment. He broke with his sponsors at Tammany Hall, and they produced convincing evidence that Sulzer had falsified his sworn statement of campaign expenditures.

14/05/1900

Opening of World Amateur championship at the Paris Exposition Universelle, also known as Olympic Games.

The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next. It was the sixth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It was held at the esplanade of Les Invalides, the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro and at the banks of the Seine between them, with an additional section in the Bois de Vincennes, and it was visited by more than fifty million people. Many international congresses and other events were held within the framework of the exposition, including the 1900 Summer Olympics.

14/05/1879

The first group of 463 Indian indentured laborers arrives in Fiji aboard the Leonidas.

The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than 1.6 million workers from India were transported to labour in various overseas European colonies, beginning shortly after the abolition of slavery in the early 19th century. Although described by colonial authorities as "free" migration, many recruits were deceived, coerced, or kidnapped, leading historians such as Hugh Tinker to characterise the system as a "new form of slavery". The system began with the Atlas voyage to Mauritius in 1834, but early journeys were marked by mortality rates of over 17%, prompting British authorities to impose stricter shipping regulations. The system expanded after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833, in the French colonies in 1848, and in the Dutch Empire in 1863. British Indian indentureship lasted until the 1920s. This resulted in the development of a large Indian diaspora in the Caribbean, Natal, Réunion, Mauritius, and Fiji, as well as the growth of Indo-South African, Indo-Caribbean, Indo-Mauritian and Indo-Fijian populations. While many descendants celebrate their cultural resilience, historians emphasise the trauma and displacement caused by the indenture system.

14/05/1878

The last witchcraft trial held in the United States begins in Salem, Massachusetts, after Lucretia Brown, an adherent of Christian Science, accused Daniel Spofford of attempting to harm her through his mental powers.

The Salem witchcraft trial of 1878, also known as the Ipswich witchcraft trial and the second Salem witch trial, was an American civil case held in May 1878 in Salem, Massachusetts, in which Lucretia L. S. Brown, an adherent of the Christian Science religion, accused fellow Christian Scientist Daniel H. Spofford of attempting to harm her through his "mesmeric" mental powers. By 1918, it was considered the last witchcraft trial held in the United States. The case garnered significant attention for its startling claims and the fact that it took place in Salem, the scene of the 1692 Salem witch trials. The judge dismissed the case.

14/05/1870

The first game of rugby in New Zealand is played in Nelson between Nelson College and the Nelson Rugby Football Club.

Rugby football is a type of football, a team sport which developed in the nineteenth century in England, and which later split into the modern sports of rugby union and rugby league.

14/05/1868

Boshin War: The Battle of Utsunomiya Castle ends as former Tokugawa shogunate forces withdraw northward.

The Boshin War , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperial Court.

14/05/1863

American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, Union forces drive Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston out of Jackson, Mississippi in the Battle of Jackson.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war ended with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

14/05/1857

Mindon Min is crowned as King of Burma in Mandalay, Burma.

Mindon Min, born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma because of his role in the Fifth Buddhist Council. Under his half brother King Pagan, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 ended with the annexation of Lower Burma by the British Empire. Mindon and his younger brother Kanaung overthrew their half brother King Pagan. He spent most of his reign trying to defend the upper part of his country from British encroachments, and to modernize his kingdom.

14/05/1842

The first edition of The Illustrated London News, the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine, is published.

The Illustrated London News, founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less frequent publication schedule in 1971, and eventually ceased publication in 2003. The company continues today as Illustrated London News Ltd, a publishing, content, and digital agency in London, which holds the publication and business archives of the magazine.

14/05/1836

The Treaties of Velasco are signed in Velasco, Texas.

The Treaties of Velasco were two documents, one private and the other public, signed in Fort Velasco on May 14, 1836 between General Antonio López de Santa Anna and the Republic of Texas in the aftermath of the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The part of the former Velasco, Texas, in which the fort was located is now part of the present-day location of Surfside Beach. The signatories were Interim President David G. Burnet for Texas and Santa Anna for Mexico. Texas intended the agreements to conclude hostilities between the two armies and offer the first steps toward the official recognition of Texas's independence from Mexico.

14/05/1832

The Battle of Stillman's Run, the first battle of the Black Hawk War, is fought.

The Battle of Stillman's Run, also known as the Battle of Sycamore Creek or the Battle of Old Man's Creek, occurred in Illinois on May 14, 1832. The battle was named for the panicked retreat by Major Isaiah Stillman and his detachment of 275 Illinois militia after being attacked by an unknown number of Sauk warriors of Black Hawk's British Band. The numbers of warriors has been estimated at as few as fifty but as many as two hundred participated in the attack. However, reports found in Whitney's Black Hawk War indicated that large numbers of Indians were on the move throughout the region, and it appeared that widespread frontier warfare was underway. The engagement was the first battle of the Black Hawk War (1832), which developed after Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi River from Iowa into Illinois with his band of Sauk and Meskwaki warriors along with women, children, and elders to try to resettle in Illinois. The militia had pursued a small group of Sauk scouts to the main British Band camp following a failed attempt by Black Hawk's emissaries to negotiate a truce.

14/05/1811

Paraguay: Pedro Juan Caballero, Fulgencio Yegros and José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia start actions to depose the Spanish governor.

Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country located in the central region of South America. It borders Bolivia to the northwest and north, Brazil to the northeast and east, and Argentina to the southeast, south, and west. Paraguay has access to the Atlantic Ocean via the Paraná–Paraguay Waterway. The country is governed as a unitary presidential republic composed of a capital district and seventeen departments. Its capital and largest city is Asunción.

14/05/1804

William Clark and 42 men depart from Camp Dubois to join Meriwether Lewis at St Charles, Missouri, marking the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's historic journey up the Missouri River.

William Clark was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Missouri.

14/05/1800

The 6th United States Congress recesses, and the process of moving the Federal government of the United States from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., begins the following day.

The 6th United States Congress was the 6th meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It initially met at Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then was the first congress to meet in the new Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.. Its term was from March 4, 1799, to March 4, 1801, during the last two years of John Adams's presidency. It was the last Congress of the 18th century and the first to convene in the 19th. The apportionment of seats in House of Representatives was based on the 1790 United States census. Both chambers had a Federalist majority. This was the last Congress in which the Federalist Party controlled the presidency or either chamber of Congress.

14/05/1796

Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.

Edward Jenner was an English physician and scientist who pioneered the concept of vaccines and created the smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine. The terms vaccine and vaccination are derived from Variolae vaccinae, the term devised by Jenner to denote cowpox. He used it in 1798 in the title of his Inquiry into the Variolae vaccinae known as the Cow Pox, in which he described the protective effect of cowpox against smallpox.

14/05/1747

War of the Austrian Succession: A British fleet under Admiral George Anson defeats the French at the First Battle of Cape Finisterre.

The War of the Austrian Succession, 1740 to 1748, was a conflict between the European great powers, fought primarily in Europe, the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. Related conflicts include King George's War, the War of Jenkins' Ear, the First Carnatic War, and the First and Second Silesian Wars.

14/05/1610

Henry IV of France is assassinated by Catholic zealot François Ravaillac, and Louis XIII ascends the throne.

Henry IV, also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch of France from the House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty. He pragmatically balanced the interests of the Catholic and Protestant parties in France, as well as among the European states. He was assassinated in Paris in 1610 by a Catholic zealot, and was succeeded by his son Louis XIII.

14/05/1608

The Protestant Union, a coalition of Protestant German states, is founded to defend the rights, land and safety of each member against the Catholic Church and Catholic German states.

The Protestant Union, also known as the Evangelical Union, Union of Auhausen, German Union or the Protestant Action Party, was a coalition of Protestant German states. It was formed on 14 May 1608 by Frederick IV, Elector Palatine in order to defend the rights, land and safety of each member. It included both Calvinist and Lutheran states, and dissolved in 1621.

14/05/1607

English colonists establish "James Fort", which would become Jamestown, Virginia, the earliest permanent English settlement in the Americas.

The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the northeast bank of the James River, about 2.5 mi (4 km) southwest of present-day Williamsburg. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 O.S. (May 14, 1607 N.S.). It followed earlier, failed English colonization attempts, including the 1585 Roanoke Colony. A river island was selected to evade Spanish naval patrols; however, it was infested with mosquitoes, lacked potable water, and was used by the Paspahegh people. Despite supply missions, only 60 of the original 214 settlers survived the 1609–1610 winter known as Starving Time. In 1612, West Indies tobacco was successfully cultivated, leading to an economic boom for the colony and England.

14/05/1509

Battle of Agnadello: In northern Italy, French forces defeat the Republic of Venice.

The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was fought on 14 May 1509 between the army of King Louis XII of France and the Venetian rear-guard elements commanded by Bartolomeo d'Alviano. After a three hour struggle, and after Bartolomeo found himself abandoned by a part of his army, the Venetians were defeated with losses in excess of 4,000 men. Louis then occupied the rest of Lombardy.

14/05/1465

During the 1465 Moroccan revolution which overthrows the Marinid dynasty, the Jewish mellah is attacked by the population of Fez, though the extent of the massacre is debated.

The 1465 Fez revolt was a popular uprising in the Marinid capital of Fez against Sultan Abd al-Haqq II, the final ruler of the Marinid dynasty, and his Jewish vizier, Harun ibn Batash.

14/05/1450

A large Ottoman force begins the siege of Albanian rebel forces in Krujë, that ultimately will fail.

The Ottoman Empire, historically also known as the Turkish Empire, was a state that spanned much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th century to the early 20th century, centred in modern-day Turkey. It also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.

14/05/1264

Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the effective ruler of England.

The Battle of Lewes was one of two main battles of the conflict known as the Second Barons' War. It took place at Lewes in Sussex, on 14 May 1264. It marked the high point of the career of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, and made him the "uncrowned King of England". Henry III's forces left the safety of Lewes Castle and St. Pancras Priory to engage the barons in battle and were initially successful, with Henry's son Prince Edward routing part of the baronial army with a cavalry charge. However, Edward pursued his quarry off the battlefield and left Henry's men exposed. Henry was forced to launch an infantry attack up Offham Hill where he was defeated by the barons' men defending the summit. The royalists fled back to the castle and priory and the King was forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, ceding many of his powers to de Montfort.

14/05/1097

The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade.

The siege of Nicaea was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control of the Seljuk Turks who opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the city. The siege was followed by the Battle of Dorylaeum and the Siege of Antioch, all taking place in modern Turkey.

14/05/1027

Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks.

Robert II, called the Pious or the Wise, was king of the Franks from 996 to 1031, the second from the Capetian dynasty. Crowned junior king in 987, he assisted his father on military matters. His solid education, provided by Gerbert of Aurillac in Reims, allowed him to deal with religious questions of which he quickly became the guarantor. Continuing the political work of his father after becoming sole ruler in 996, he managed to maintain the alliance with the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou and thus was able to contain the ambitions of Count Odo II of Blois.

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Personality Profile

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Zach Edey, Canadian basketball player

Jack Hughes, American hockey player

Rúben Dias, Portuguese footballer

Blake Brockington, American trans man and activist (died 2015)

Martin Garrix, Dutch DJ

Pokimane, Moroccan-Canadian internet personality

Rose Lavelle, American soccer player

Marquinhos, Brazilian footballer

Pernille Blume, Danish swimmer

Bronte Campbell, Malawian-Australian swimmer

Miranda Cosgrove, American actress and singer

Kyle Freeland, American baseball player

Kristina Mladenovic, French tennis player

Rob Gronkowski, American football player

François Steyn, South African rugby player

Clay Matthews III, American football player

Dustin Lynch, American singer-songwriter

Sam Perrett, New Zealand rugby league player

Zack Ryder, American wrestler

Gary Ablett, Jr., Australian footballer

Olly Murs, English singer-songwriter

Mark Zuckerberg, American computer programmer and businessman, co-founded Facebook

Anahí, Mexican singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Frank Gore, American football player

Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwean cricketer

Amber Tamblyn, American actress, author, model, director

Pranav Mistry, Indian computer scientist, invented SixthSense

Júlia Sebestyén, Hungarian figure skater

Dan Auerbach, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Clinton Morrison, Irish international footballer

Brent Harvey, Australian footballer

Eddie House, American basketball player

Roy Halladay, American baseball player (died 2017)

Ada Nicodemou, Australian actress

Hunter Burgan, American multi-instrumentalist and bassist of rock band AFI

Martine McCutcheon, English actress and singer

Gulmurod Khalimov, Tajikistani police commander turned Islamic State mercenary outlaw

Nicki Sørensen, Danish cyclist

Natalie Appleton, Canadian singer and actress

Fraser Nelson, Scottish journalist

Ike Moriz, German-South African singer-songwriter, producer and actor

Kirstjen Nielsen, American attorney, 6th United States Secretary of Homeland Security

Sofia Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter

Martin Reim, Estonian footballer and manager

Peter Filandia, Australian footballer

Cate Blanchett, Australian actress

Sabine Schmitz, German race car driver and sportscaster (died 2021)

Greg Davies, Welsh actor, comedian, writer and presenter

Tony Siragusa, American football player and journalist (died 2022)

Mike Inez, American rock bass player and songwriter

Fab Morvan, French singer-songwriter, dancer and model

Raphael Saadiq, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Suzy Kolber, American sportscaster and producer

Alan McIndoe, Australian rugby league player

Pat Borders, American baseball player and coach

Ian Astbury, English-Canadian singer-songwriter

C.C. DeVille, American guitarist, songwriter, and actor

Danny Huston, Italian-American actor and director

Tim Roth, English actor and director

Alain Vigneault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Anne Clark, English singer-songwriter and poet

Frank Nobilo, New Zealand golfer

Ronan Tynan, Irish tenor

Carlisle Best, Barbadian cricketer

Patrick Bruel, French actor, singer, and poker player

Robert Greene, American author and translator

Rick Vaive, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Heather Wheeler, English politician

Christine Brennan, American journalist and author

Rudy Pérez, Cuban-born American composer and music producer

Hazel Blears, English lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Steve Hogarth, English singer-songwriter and keyboardist

Zofija Mazej Kukovič, Slovenian electrical engineer and minister of health 2007–8

Dennis Martínez, Nicaraguan baseball player and coach