Thursday, 28th May 2026 in Prag

28th May in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini

Today, the zodiac sign Gemini celebrates its birthday.

Personality Profile

Personality Those born on May 28th embody Gemini's innovative spirit with Uranian originality and unconventional thinking. They constantly question norms and seek fresh perspectives. This blend creates fascinating conversationalists brimming with unexpected insights.

Strengths & Weaknesses Their strengths include flexibility, intellectual brilliance, and experimental courage. Weaknesses: nervousness, superficiality, and impatience can derail projects. Balancing innovation with perseverance remains an ongoing challenge.

Love These individuals crave intellectual stimulation and freedom in relationships. They thrive on spirited debates with partners who share their curiosity. Emotional depth requires conscious commitment, as rational thinking often dominates.

Caree & Finance Careers in tech, science, or creative fields awaken their genius potential. They flourish in environments fostering innovation. Financial stability demands focus, as impulsivity encourages spontaneous spending habits.

Health These thinkers need mental engagement for inner balance and wellbeing. Nervous tension manifests physically; yoga or meditation provide relief. Regular movement alleviates restlessness and nurtures emotional peace.

That night, the moon was in its waning crescent phase.

Chinese year of the Horse (Fire).

Fun Facts About 28th May

Name Days in Your Language: Bevan, Bevis, Emil, Emiliano, Emilio, Faron, Ferrin, Ferron

Someone born on this day would be just 3 days old today — roughly 73 hours, 4,401 minutes, or 264,102 seconds spent on Earth so far.

It's the 148. day of the year. In 2026, 28th May falls on a Thursday.

There are 217 days still to come.

We’re currently in Week 22 — the year marches on.

Famous Birthdays on 28th May

On this day, 197 notable people were born on 28th May — spanning from 1140 to 2000. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

28/05/2000

Phil Foden, English footballer

Philip Walter Foden is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City and the England national team.

Risi Pouri-Lane, New Zealand rugby sevens player

Risealeaana "Risi" Pouri-Lane is a New Zealand rugby union and sevens player. She captained the 2018 Youth Olympics squad that won gold in Buenos Aires. She also won gold medals with the Black Ferns sevens team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2024 Summer Olympics.

28/05/1999

Cameron Boyce, American actor (died 2019)

Cameron Mica Boyce was an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, appearing in the 2008 films Mirrors and Eagle Eye, along with the comedy film Grown Ups (2010) and its 2013 sequel. His first starring role was on the Disney Channel comedy series Jessie (2011–2015).

Jodie Burrage, British tennis player

Jodie Anna Burrage is a British tennis player. She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 85, achieved on 11 September 2023, and a best doubles ranking of world No. 114, set on 14 July 2025. Burrage has won one doubles title on the WTA Tour and one doubles title on WTA 125 tournaments, along with six titles in singles and seven in doubles on the ITF Circuit.

28/05/1998

Kim Dahyun, South Korean rapper and singer

Kim Da-hyun, known mononymously as Dahyun, is a South Korean singer, rapper, and actress. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Twice, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2015.

28/05/1994

Alec Benjamin, American singer and songwriter

Alec Shane Benjamin is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, his 2018 breakthrough "Let Me Down Slowly" from his debut 12-song mixtape Narrated for You reached the top 40 in over 25 countries.

John Stones, English footballer

John Stones is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or defensive midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City the England national team. He will leave Manchester City on 30 June 2026, upon the expiry of his contract. He is known for his technical ability and physical presence on the pitch.

28/05/1993

Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player

Daniel Alvaro is a former Italy international rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Toulouse Olympique in the Super League.

Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player

Bárbara Luz is a former professional tennis player from Portugal.

28/05/1991

Danielle Lao, American tennis player

Danielle Marie Lao is an inactive American tennis player.

Kail Piho, Estonian skier

Kail Piho is an Estonian Nordic combined skier. He was born in Võru. He competed in the World Cup 2015 season.

28/05/1990

Kyle Walker, English footballer

Kyle Andrew Walker is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for EFL Championship club Burnley. Known for his exceptional speed, he is widely regarded as one of the best full-backs of his generation.

28/05/1988

NaVorro Bowman, American football player

NaVorro Roderick Bowman is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He most recently served as the linebackers coach for the Los Angeles Chargers. Bowman played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft. He was also a member of the Oakland Raiders.

Percy Harvin, American football player

William Percy Harvin III is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Florida Gators, who won the BCS National Championship in 2006 and 2008. A two-time first-team All-American, he was selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft. Harvin also played for the Seattle Seahawks, New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. He was named the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2009 and won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Seahawks in 2013 over the Denver Broncos. He attended and played football for Landstown High School in Virginia Beach, where his team won the high school state championship in 2004.

Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player

Craig Michael Kimbrel is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros, and New York Mets. He is a nine-time All-Star, four-time Reliever of the Year, and a 2018 World Series champion.

David Perron, Canadian ice hockey player

David Perron is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a left winger for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL).

28/05/1987

T.J. Yates, American football player

Taylor Jonathan Yates is an American professional football coach and former player who currently serves as the passing game coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played professionally as a quarterback for seven seasons in the NFL. After playing college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, Yates was selected by the Houston Texans in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL draft. He was also a member of the Atlanta Falcons, Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills. Since retiring from play, Yates has served as an assistant coach for both the Texans and Falcons.

28/05/1986

Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player

Berrick Steven Barnes is an Australian rugby union coach and former dual-code player. His usual position was fly-half or inside centre. He previously played with Japanese Top League clubs Panasonic Wild Knights and Ricoh Black Rams, as well as in the Super Rugby with Australian teams the New South Wales Waratahs and the Queensland Reds; and the Australia national team.

Bryant Dunston, American-Armenian basketball player

Bryant Kevin Dunston Jr. is an American-born naturalized Armenian professional basketball player who plays for Olimpia Milano of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the senior Armenian national team in international competition. Standing at a height of 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), Dunston plays at the center position.

Michael Oher, American football player

Michael Jerome Oher is an American former professional football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the Jacobs Blocking Trophy in 2008. Oher was selected in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens, where he spent his first five seasons and was a member of the team that won Super Bowl XLVII. He later played one season for the Tennessee Titans and his final two for the Carolina Panthers.

Seth Rollins, American wrestler

Colby Daniel Lopez, better known by the ring name Seth Rollins, is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2010, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Rollins topped Pro Wrestling Illustrated's PWI 500 list of the top 500 wrestlers in the world in 2015, 2019, and 2023, was voted as the PWI Wrestler of the Year in 2015 and 2023, was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2022.

Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete

Ingmar Vos is a former Dutch athlete who specialised in the Decathlon and Heptathlon.

28/05/1985

Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Colbie Marie Caillat is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005.

Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer

Pablo Andrés González is an Argentine football coach and retired forward. He is the head coach of Italian Serie D club RG Ticino.

Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer

Kostas Mendrinos is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer

Carey Hannah Mulligan is an English actress. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2025 for services to drama.

28/05/1983

Steve Cronin, American soccer player

Steve Michael Cronin is an American retired soccer player who played as a goalkeeper.

Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player

Humberto A. Sánchez is a Dominican minor league pitching coach and former professional baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). He threw a fastball in the low to mid 90s, as well as a low 90s slider, a curveball, and a changeup.

Roman Atwood, American YouTuber

Roman Bernard Atwood is an American YouTube personality and prankster. He is best known for his vlogs, where he posts updates about his life. His vlogging channel, "RomanAtwoodVlogs", has a total of 5 billion views and 15 million subscribers. He also has another YouTube channel called "RomanAtwood", where he used to post prank videos. The channel has been inactive since 2016. His pranks have gained over 1.4 billion views and 10.4 million subscribers. He became the second YouTuber after Germán Garmendia to receive two Diamond Play Buttons for his first two channels.

28/05/1982

Alexa Davalos, French-American actress

Alexa Davalos Dunas is an American actress. Her early role as Gwen Raiden on the fourth season of the TV series Angel (2002–03) was followed by other television roles and some Hollywood films, including The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) and Defiance (2008). In the late 2010s, she starred as Juliana Crain, the main character in the Amazon Studios series The Man in the High Castle. She also played Special Agent Kristin Gaines in the CBS drama series FBI: Most Wanted (2021–2023).

Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player

Jhonny Antonio Peralta is a Dominican former professional baseball shortstop who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). The Cleveland Indians signed him as an amateur free agent in his native Dominican Republic in 1999, and he made his major league debut for the Indians on June 12, 2003. He subsequently played for the Detroit Tigers and St. Louis Cardinals. A solid hitter with power, Peralta has rated average defensively. He throws and bats right-handed, stands 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m), and weighs 225 pounds (102 kg).

28/05/1981

Laura Bailey, American voice actress

Laura Bailey is an American voice actress. She made her debut as Kid Trunks in the Funimation dub of Dragon Ball Z and has since voiced Henrietta in Gunslinger Girl, Emily / Glitter Lucky in Glitter Force, Tohru Honda in Fruits Basket, Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, the title character in the Funimation dub of Shin-Chan, and Maka Albarn in Soul Eater. She is a cast member of the web series Critical Role, playing Vex'ahlia ("Vex"), Jester Lavorre, Imogen Temult and Thimble among others.

Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player

Daniel Alberto Cabrera Cruz is a Dominican former professional baseball right-handed starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals, and Arizona Diamondbacks, and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Chunichi Dragons. He is a tall pitcher, standing at 6' 7" and 225 lb.

Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player

Eric M. Ghiaciuc [GUY-check] is an American former professional football player who was a center in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 2005 NFL draft. He played college football for the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Adam Green is an American singer-songwriter, artist and filmmaker.

28/05/1980

Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer

Miguel Alfonso Pérez Aracil is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder.

Lucy Shuker, English tennis player

Lucy Jessica Shuker is a British wheelchair tennis player who is currently the highest ranked woman in the sport in Britain. A previous singles and doubles National Champion, Shuker has represented Great Britain at four successive Paralympic Games, twice winning a bronze medal in the women's doubles and is former world doubles champion and World Team Cup silver medallist amongst a number of other national and international successes.

28/05/1979

Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (died 2001)

Abdulaziz al-Omari was a Saudi imam and terrorist who was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 11 as part of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He accompanied Mohamed Atta before the attack and boarded the airplane with him.

Ronald Curry, American football player and coach

Ronald Antonio Curry is an American football coach and former wide receiver who is the wide receivers coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He has previously served as an assistant coach for the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, and Buffalo Bills.

28/05/1978

Jake Johnson, American actor

Mark Jake Johnson Weinberger is an American actor. He has starred as Nick Miller in the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2013. He has also voiced a version of Spider-Man in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and its 2023 sequel.

28/05/1977

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author

Elisabeth DelPadre Hasselbeck is an American television personality and talk show host. She rose to prominence in 2001 as a contestant on the second season of the American version of Survivor, where she finished in fourth place. She married NFL player Tim Hasselbeck the following year.

28/05/1976

Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player

Steven "Steve" Bell is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Catalans Dragons in the Super League. A Queensland State of Origin representative three-quarter, he previously played club football in the NRL for the Melbourne Storm, then the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles.

Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach

Zaza Enden (born Zaza Eladze on 28 May 1976 in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union is a professional wrestler and a Turkish professional basketball player of Georgian descent. He is 2.06 m tall and weighs 116 kg. His well-known nickname is "Tatu". Zaza Enden plays at the power forward position. He came to Turkey in 1992, firstly to Trabzon, afterwards he had his Turkish citizenship.

Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer

Roberto Goretti is an Italian professional football technical director and former player, who is the technical director of Reggiana. He played as a midfielder.

Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach

Glenn Adam Morrison, is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the Parramatta Eels, the Balmain Tigers, the North Sydney Bears and the North Queensland Cowboys in the National Rugby League before moving to England to play for the Bradford Bulls and then the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats (captain). He was later the head coach of the Dewsbury Rams. In 2021, Morrison was appointed Head coach of Cleveland Rugby League, in the newly created North American Rugby League.

Liam O'Brien, American voice actor

Liam Christopher O'Brien is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the Dungeons & Dragons actual play series Critical Role, playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, Orym, and Halandil Fang. He has been involved in many video games, cartoons, and English-language adaptations of Japanese anime. His major anime roles include Gaara in Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and Boruto, Vincent Law in Ergo Proxy, Captain Jushiro Ukitake in Bleach, Lloyd in Code Geass, Kenzo Tenma in Monster, Akihiko Sanada in Persona 3, and Nephrite in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon.

28/05/1975

Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic

Maura K. Johnston is a writer, editor and music critic. A member of Boston College's journalism faculty, she has written for Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Pitchfork, The Awl, The New York Times, Spin and The Guardian.

28/05/1974

Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer

Hans-Jörg Butt, often simply called Jörg Butt, is a German former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer

Misbah-ul-Haq Khan Niazi PP SI is a former Pakistani international cricketer and former cricket coach. Misbah captained Pakistan national cricket team in all formats and is former head coach and former chief selector of the national team. As captain, he led Pakistan to being the champions of the 2012 Asia Cup. Misbah was a member of the team that won the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, two years after the defeat from the final in the previous tournament.

28/05/1973

Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager

Marco Paulo Faria de Lemos, known as Marco Paulo, is a Portuguese retired footballer who played as a central midfielder. He was also a manager.

28/05/1972

Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager

Dorival Guidoni Júnior, known simply as Doriva, is a Brazilian football coach and retired footballer who played as a central midfielder.

Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager

Michael Boogerd is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the leaders of a generation of Dutch cyclists in the late 1990s and early 2000s, together with teammate Erik Dekker and female cyclist Leontien van Moorsel.

28/05/1971

Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer

Isabelle Carré is a French actress. She has appeared in more than 70 films since 1989. She won a César Award for Best Actress for her role in Se souvenir des belles choses (2001), and has been nominated a further six times for Beau fixe (1992), Le Hussard sur le toit (1995), La Femme défendue (1997), Les Sentiments (2003), Entre ses mains (2005) and Anna M. (2007).

Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster

Ekaterina "Katia" Alexandrovna Gordeeva is a Soviet and Russian figure skater. With her late husband Sergei Grinkov, she is the 1988 and 1994 Olympic Champion, a four-time World Champion, a three-time European Champion, the 1990 Goodwill Games champion, 1987 Soviet champion, and 1994 Russian champion in pair skating. After Grinkov's death, Gordeeva continued performing as a singles skater.

Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician

Marco Antonio Rubio is an American politician, attorney, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State. He is also the acting National Security Advisor. A member of the Republican Party, Rubio represented Florida in the United States Senate from 2011 to 2025.

28/05/1970

Glenn Quinn, American actor (died 2002)

Glenn Martin Christopher Francis Quinn was an Irish actor, best known for his portrayal of Mark Healy on the 1990s family sitcom Roseanne and his role as the half-demon Allen Francis Doyle on Angel, a spin-off series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

28/05/1969

Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager

Michael William DiFelice is an American former Major League Baseball journeyman catcher. He is a graduate from the University of Tennessee, and was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 11th round of the 1991 Major League Baseball draft. He made his major league debut in 1996 with the Cards. On April 17, 1997, he recorded his first stolen base with a steal of home against pitcher Kevin Brown who threw a wild pitchout.

Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (died 2016)

Robert Bruce Ford was a Canadian politician and businessman who served as the 64th mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. Before and after his term as mayor, Ford was a city councillor; first being elected to Toronto City Council in the 2000 municipal election, before being re-elected to his council seat twice.

28/05/1968

Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Kylie Ann Minogue is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and the fashion world as a major style icon. Her accolades include two Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards and eighteen ARIA Music Awards. Minogue is the highest-selling Australian female artist of all time, with sales surpassing 80 million records worldwide. In 2024, Time included her in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

28/05/1967

Glen Rice, American basketball player

Glen “Glen Man” Anthony Rice is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star and made 1,559 three-point field goals during his 15-year career. Rice played college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines, and was selected by the Miami Heat with the fourth overall pick in the 1989 NBA draft. He won an NCAA championship in 1989 and an NBA championship in 2000. In recent years, Rice has taken up mixed martial arts fight promotion as owner of G-Force Fights based in Miami, Florida, and is an NBA scout and team ambassador for the Miami Heat. He is the father of Glen Rice Jr.

28/05/1966

Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright

Roger Kumble is an American film director, screenwriter, and playwright.

Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist

Miljenko Jergović is a Bosnian writer.

Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer

Gavin Ron Robertson is an Australian former cricketer. He was a right-handed offbreak bowler and a lower-order batsman.

28/05/1965

Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player

Christopher Ballew is an American musician best known as the lead singer and bassist of the alternative rock group the Presidents of the United States of America. He also performed and recorded as a children's artist under the pseudonym Caspar Babypants, from 2009 until 2021.

Mary Coughlan, Irish politician

Mary Coughlan is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Tánaiste from 2008 to 2011, Deputy leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011, Minister for Health and Children from January 2011 to March 2011, Minister for Education and Skills from 2010 to 2011, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from 2008 to 2010, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food from 2004 to 2008, Minister for Social and Family Affairs from 2002 to 2004 and Minister of State for the Gaeltacht and the Islands from 2001 to 2002. She served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Donegal South-West constituency from 1987 to 2011.

28/05/1964

Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer

Jeff Fenech is an Australian former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2008. He won world titles in three weight divisions, having held the IBF bantamweight title from 1985 to 1987, the WBC super-bantamweight title from 1987 to 1988, the WBC featherweight title from 1988 to 1990. He retroactively won a fourth weight division title, the WBC super-featherweight title in 1991, after the WBC recounted his first bout against Azumah Nelson which had been a controversial decision draw. Fenech was trained by renowned Sydney-based trainer Johnny Lewis.

Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (died 2011)

Armen Louis Gilliam was an American professional basketball player who played 13 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1987 to 2000. He also played one season for the Pittsburgh Xplosion of the American Basketball Association. Gilliam returned to the court after retirement as the head basketball coach for the (NCAA) Division III Penn State Altoona Lions from 2002 to 2005.

Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress

Esperanza "Zsa Zsa" Perez Padilla is a Filipino singer, actress, television host, music producer and businesswoman.

Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter

Phillip George Vassar Jr. is an American country music artist. Vassar made his debut on the country music scene in the late 1990s, co-writing singles for several country artists, including Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Collin Raye, and Alan Jackson. In 1999, he was named by American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) as Country Songwriter of the Year.

28/05/1963

Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic (died 2016)

Houman Younessi was an Iranian-American educator, practitioner, consultant and investigator in informatics, large scale software development processes, computer science, decision science, molecular biology and functional genomics. He was a research professor at University of Connecticut, and was previously the head of faculty and professor at Hartford Graduate Campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Hartford, Connecticut and prior to that, a member of the faculty at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia where he attained tenure in 1997.

28/05/1960

Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina

Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and from 2013 to 2019, and as the 115th governor of South Carolina from 2003 to 2011. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Mary Portas, English journalist and author

Mary Margaret Portas is an English retail consultant and broadcaster who hosts retail- and business-related television shows. Portas was appointed by David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, to lead a review into the future of Britain's high streets.

28/05/1959

Risto Mannisenmäki, Finnish racing driver

Risto Mannisenmäki is a former rally co-driver and two-times world champion with driver Tommi Mäkinen.

28/05/1957

Colin Barnes, English footballer

Colin Barnes is an English former professional footballer born in Notting Hill, London, who played as a forward in the Football League for Torquay United.

Kirk Gibson, American baseball player and manager

Kirk Harold Gibson is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager. Gibson spent most of his career in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Detroit Tigers, but also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Kansas City Royals, and Pittsburgh Pirates. He batted and threw left-handed. He is currently a special assistant for the Tigers.

Ben Howland, American basketball player and coach

Benjamin Clark Howland is an American college basketball coach who most recently served as the men's head coach at Mississippi State University from to 2015 to 2022. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Arizona University from 1994 to 1999, the University of Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2003, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) from 2003 to 2013. Howland became the first men's coach in modern college basketball history to be fired shortly after winning an outright power-conference title. He is one of the few NCAA Division I coaches to take four teams to the NCAA tournament.

28/05/1956

Jerry Douglas, American guitarist and producer

Gerald Calvin Douglas is an American Dobro and lap steel guitar player and record producer. He is widely regarded as "perhaps the finest Dobro player in contemporary acoustic music, and certainly the most celebrated and prolific". A 14-time Grammy winner, he has been called "Dobro's matchless contemporary master" by The New York Times and is among the most innovative recording artists in music, both as a solo artist and member of numerous bands, such as Alison Krauss and Union Station and The Earls of Leicester. He has been a co-director of the Transatlantic Sessions since 1998.

Jeff Dujon, Jamaican cricketer

Peter Jeffrey Leroy Dujon is a retired West Indian cricketer and current commentator. He was a part of the West Indian squad which finished as runners-up at the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

Markus Höttinger, Austrian racing driver (died 1980)

Markus Höttinger was an Austrian racing driver who died after an accident at Germany's Hockenheimring during the third lap of the second round of the 1980 European Formula Two Championship, on 13 April 1980. He was 23 years old at the time.

Peter Wilkinson, English admiral

Vice Admiral Peter John Wilkinson, is a retired senior Royal Navy officer who served as Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel) from 2007 to 2010. He was National President of the Royal British Legion from 2012 until 2016.

28/05/1955

Laura Amy Schlitz, American author and librarian

Laura Amy Schlitz is an American author of children's literature. She is a librarian and storyteller at the Park School of Baltimore in Brooklandville, Maryland.

28/05/1954

João Carlos de Oliveira, Brazilian jumper (died 1999)

João Carlos de Oliveira, also known as "João do Pulo" was a Brazilian athlete who competed in the triple jump and the long jump.

Youri Egorov, Russian pianist and composer (died 1988)

Youri Aleksandrovich Egorov was a Soviet and Dutch classical pianist.

Charles Saumarez Smith, English historian and academic

Sir Charles Robert Saumarez Smith is a British cultural historian specialising in the history of art, design and architecture. He was the secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2007 until he stepped down in 2018. He was replaced by Axel Rüger, who took up the position in 2019.

Péter Szilágyi, Hungarian conductor and politician (died 2013)

Péter Szilágyi was a Hungarian music conductor and politician, member of the National Assembly (MP) for Berettyóújfalu between 1994 and 2002. He was a member of the Committee on Education and Science.

John Tory, Canadian lawyer and politician, 65th Mayor of Toronto

John Howard Tory is a Canadian lawyer, broadcaster, businessman, and former politician who served as the 65th mayor of Toronto from 2014 to 2023. He led the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario from 2004 to 2009 and was Leader of the Official Opposition from 2005 to 2007. Outside politics, Tory served as the 9th Commissioner of the CFL from 1997 to 2000 and has worked for Rogers Communications.

28/05/1953

Pierre Gauthier, Canadian ice hockey player and manager

Pierre Gauthier is a Canadian former general manager of the Montreal Canadiens, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Ottawa Senators. He is currently the director of player personnel of the Chicago Blackhawks.

28/05/1952

Roger Briggs, American pianist, composer, conductor, and educator

Roger Briggs is an American composer, conductor, pianist, and educator.

28/05/1949

Martin Kelner, English journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and radio presenter

Martin Barry Kelner is a British journalist, author, comedian, singer, actor and TV presenter, whose primary career is in radio presenting. He has spent over 40 years hosting radio shows, mostly for the BBC, in particular Radio Leeds. He has been regularly accompanied throughout his career by comedy sidekick Edouard Lapaglie.

Wendy O. Williams, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress (died 1998)

Wendy Orlean Williams was an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the punk rock band Plasmatics. She was noted for her onstage theatrics, which included partial nudity, exploding equipment, firing a shotgun, and chainsawing guitars. Performing her own stunts in videos, she often sported a mohawk hairstyle. In 1985, during the height of her popularity as a solo artist, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

28/05/1948

Michael Field, Australian politician, 38th Premier of Tasmania

Michael Walter Field, is a former Australian politician, holding office as the Premier of Tasmania between 1989 and 1992. Field is also a former chancellor of the University of Tasmania, holding that position from January 2013 to 30 June 2021. He was leader of the Tasmanian Branch of the Labor Party from 1988 until his retirement in 1996. Field is best known for operating in minority government with the support of the Independents, Tasmania's nascent Green party, with an agreement known as the Labor–Green Accord.

Pierre Rapsat, Belgian singer and songwriter (died 2002)

Pierre Rapsat was a Belgian singer-songwriter who had a very successful career in his homeland and also spells of popularity in other Francophone countries. Outside these areas, he is best known for his participation in the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest.

28/05/1947

Zahi Hawass, Egyptian archaeologist and academic

Zahi Abass Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, Egyptologist, and former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, a position he held twice. He has worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert and the Upper Nile Valley.

Lynn Johnston, Canadian author and illustrator

Lynn Johnston is a Canadian cartoonist and author, best known for her newspaper comic strip For Better or For Worse. She was the first woman and first Canadian to win the National Cartoonist Society's Reuben Award.

Leland Sklar, American singer-songwriter and bass player

Leland Bruce Sklar is an American bassist and session musician. He rose to prominence as a member of James Taylor's backing band, which coalesced into a group in its own right, The Section, which supported so many of Asylum Records' artists that they became known as Asylum's de facto house band, as those artists became iconic singer-songwriters of the 1970s.

28/05/1946

Bruce Alexander, English actor

Bruce John Alexander is a British actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Superintendent Norman Mullett in the ITV television series A Touch of Frost, in which he plays the superior of the main character Jack Frost, played by David Jason.

Skip Jutze, American baseball player

Alfred Henry "Skip" Jutze is an American former professional baseball player. He played all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily as a catcher.

Janet Paraskeva, Welsh politician

Dame Janet Paraskeva is a British government official.

K. Satchidanandan, Indian poet and critic

K. Satchidanandan is an Indian poet and critic, writing in Malayalam and English. A pioneer of modern poetry in Malayalam, a bilingual literary critic, playwright, editor, columnist and translator, he is the former editor of Indian Literature journal and the former secretary of Sahitya Akademi. He is also social advocate for secular anti-caste views, supporting causes like environment, human rights and free software and is a well known speaker on issues concerning contemporary Indian literature. He is the festival director of Kerala Literature Festival.

William Shawcross, English journalist and author

Sir William Hartley Hume Shawcross is a British journalist, writer, and broadcaster. He is the incumbent Commissioner for Public Appointments. From 2012 to 2018 he chaired the Charity Commission for England and Wales.

28/05/1945

Patch Adams, American physician and author, founded the Gesundheit! Institute

Hunter Doherty "Patch" Adams is an American physician, comedian, social activist, clown, and author. He founded the Gesundheit! Institute as a not-for-profit in 1989. Each year he also organizes volunteers from around the world to travel to various countries where they dress as clowns to bring humor to orphans, patients, and other people.

John N. Bambacus, American military veteran (USMC) and politician

John N. Bambacus is an American politician, and represented District 1 in the Maryland Senate, which covers Garrett, Allegany, and Washington Counties.

John Fogerty, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

John Cameron Fogerty is an American musician. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty, he founded the swamp rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), for which he was the lead singer, lead guitarist, and principal songwriter. CCR had nine top-10 singles and eight gold albums between 1968 and 1972, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

Jean Perrault, Canadian politician, Mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec

Jean Perrault, is a Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Sherbrooke, Quebec from 1994 to 2009, and as president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.

Helena Shovelton, English physician

Dame Helena Shovelton is former Chair of the UK National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, former Chair of the UK National Lottery Commission, and former Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation.

28/05/1944

Faith Brown, English actress and singer

Faith Brown is an English actress, singer, comedian and impressionist. She was a star of the ITV impressions show Who Do You Do?, and was The Voice in the TV show Trapped!.

Rudy Giuliani, American lawyer and politician, 107th mayor of New York City

Rudolph William Louis Giuliani is an American politician and disbarred lawyer who served as the 108th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the U.S. Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989. Giuliani led the 1980s federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. After a failed campaign for mayor of New York City in the 1989 election, he succeeded in 1993, and was reelected in 1997, campaigning on a "tough on crime" platform. He led New York's controversial "civic cleanup" from 1994 to 2001, and appointed William Bratton as New York City's new police commissioner. In 2000, he ran against First Lady Hillary Clinton for a U.S. Senate seat from New York, but left the race once diagnosed with prostate cancer. For his mayoral leadership following the September 11 attacks in 2001, he was called "America's mayor" and was named Time Person of the Year for 2001.

Gladys Knight, American singer-songwriter and actress

Gladys Maria Knight is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten. She has won seven Grammy Awards, and is often referred to as the "Empress of Soul".

Sondra Locke, American actress and director (died 2018)

Sandra Louise Anderson, professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director.

Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (died 2013)

Rita MacNeil was a Canadian singer and songwriter from the community of Big Pond on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island. Her biggest hit, "Flying On Your Own", was a crossover Top 40 hit in 1987 and was covered by Anne Murray the following year, although she had hits on the country and adult contemporary charts throughout her career. In the United Kingdom, MacNeil's song "Working Man" was a No. 11 hit in 1990.

Patricia Quinn, British actress and singer

Patricia Quinn, Lady Stephens is a Northern Irish actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Magenta in the 1975 musical comedy horror film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and the original stage play from which it was adapted. She appeared as Dr. Nation McKinley in the 1981 musical film Shock Treatment. In 2012, Quinn played the role of Megan in the horror film The Lords of Salem.

Gary Stewart, American singer-songwriter (died 2003)

Gary Ronnie Stewart was an American musician and songwriter, known for his distinctive vibrato voice. At the height of his popularity in the mid-1970s, Time magazine described him as the "king of honkytonk." He had a series of country chart hits from the mid- to late 1970s, the biggest of which was "She's Actin' Single ", which topped the U.S. country singles chart in 1975.

Billy Vera, American singer-songwriter and actor

Billy Vera is an American singer, songwriter, actor, author, and music historian. He has been a singer and songwriter since the 1960s, his most successful record being "At This Moment", a US number 1 hit in 1987. He continues to perform with his group Billy Vera & The Beaters and won a Grammy Award in 2013.

28/05/1943

Terry Crisp, Canadian ice hockey player and coach

Terrance Arthur Crisp is a Canadian former professional ice hockey coach and player. Crisp played ten seasons in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers between 1965 and 1977. Crisp coached for 11 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning. Crisp also worked as a radio and TV broadcaster for the Nashville Predators. Crisp retired from his broadcast duties at the end of the 2021–22 season.

28/05/1942

Stanley B. Prusiner, American neurologist and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate

Stanley Ben Prusiner is an American neurologist and biochemist. He is the director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prusiner discovered prions, a class of infectious self-reproducing pathogens primarily or solely composed of protein, a scientific theory considered by many as a heretical idea when first proposed. He received the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1994 and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1997 for research on prion diseases developed by him and his team of experts beginning in the early 1970s.

28/05/1941

Beth Howland, American actress and singer (died 2015)

Elizabeth Howland was an American actress known for her work on stage and television. She was best known for playing waitress Vera Gorman in the sitcom Alice.

28/05/1940

David Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (died 2023)

Sir David William Brewer was a British marine insurance broker who served as Lord Mayor of London (2005/06) and Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London to Elizabeth II (2008–15).

Shlomo Riskin, American rabbi and academic, founded the Lincoln Square Synagogue

Shlomo Riskin is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; former dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel.

28/05/1939

Maeve Binchy, Irish novelist (died 2012)

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings. Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.

28/05/1938

Jerry West, American basketball player, coach, and executive (died 2024)

Jerry Alan West was an American basketball player and executive. He played professionally for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His nicknames included "the Logo", in reference to his silhouette being the basis for the NBA logo; "Mr. Clutch", for his ability to make a big play in a key situation such as his famous buzzer-beating 60-foot shot that tied game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks; "Mr. Outside", in reference to his perimeter play with the Lakers and "Zeke from Cabin Creek" for the creek near his birthplace of Chelyan, West Virginia.

28/05/1936

Claude Forget, Canadian academic and politician

Claude E. Forget, is a Canadian economist and former politician.

Ole K. Sara, Norwegian politician (died 2013)

Ole Klemet J. Sara was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party.

Betty Shabazz, American educator and activist (died 1997)

Betty Shabazz, also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate who was married to Malcolm X.

28/05/1933

John Karlen, American actor (died 2020)

John Karlen was an American actor. He was best known for his multiple roles on the gothic soap opera Dark Shadows from 1967 to 1971, most notably as Willie Loomis, and as Harvey Lacey on the crime drama television series Cagney & Lacey (1982–88). He won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1986 for the latter role.

Zelda Rubinstein, American actress and activist (died 2010)

Zelda May Rubinstein was an American actress and human rights activist, known as eccentric medium Tangina Barrons in the Poltergeist film series. Playing "Ginny", she was a regular on David E. Kelley's Emmy Award-winning television series Picket Fences for two seasons. She also made guest appearances in the TV show Poltergeist: The Legacy (1996), as seer Christina, and was the voice of Skittles candies in their long-running "Taste the Rainbow" ad campaign. Rubinstein was also known for her outspoken activism for little people and her early participation in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

28/05/1932

Tim Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, English politician, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries (died 2020)

Ronald Timothy Renton, Baron Renton of Mount Harry, was a British Conservative Party politician.

28/05/1931

Carroll Baker, American actress

Carroll Baker is a retired American actress. After studying under Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, Baker began performing on Broadway in 1954. From there, she was recruited by director Elia Kazan to play the lead in the adaptation of two Tennessee Williams plays into the film Baby Doll in 1956. Her role in the film as a coquettish but sexually naïve Southern bride earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Gordon Willis, American cinematographer (died 2014)

Gordon Hugh Willis Jr., ASC was an American cinematographer and film director, known for his influential work during the American New Wave of the 1970s, collaborating with directors like Woody Allen and Alan J. Pakula, as well as working with Francis Ford Coppola on the Godfather trilogy.

28/05/1930

Edward Seaga, American-Jamaican academic and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Jamaica (died 2019)

Edward Philip George Seaga was a Jamaican politician and record producer. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Jamaica, from 1980 to 1989, and the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party from 1974 to 2005. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1974 to 1980, and again from 1989 until January 2005.

28/05/1929

Patrick McNair-Wilson, English politician

Sir Patrick Michael Ernest David McNair-Wilson was a British Conservative Member of Parliament and consultant.

28/05/1928

Sally Forrest, American actress and dancer (died 2015)

Sally Forrest was an American film, stage and TV actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She studied dance from a young age and shortly out of high school was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

28/05/1925

Bülent Ecevit, Turkish journalist, scholar, and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Turkey (died 2006)

Mustafa Bülent Ecevit was a Turkish statesman, poet, writer, scholar, and journalist. He served as the Prime Minister of Turkey four times between 1974 and 2002, specifically in 1974, 1977, 1978–79, and 1999–2002. Ecevit was Chairman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) from 1972 to 1980, and became Chairman of the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in 1987.

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (died 2012)

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's Lieder, particularly "Winterreise" of which his recordings with accompanists Gerald Moore and Jörg Demus are still critically acclaimed half a century after their release.

28/05/1924

Edward du Cann, English naval officer and politician (died 2017)

Sir Edward Dillon Lott du Cann was a British politician and businessman. He was a member of Parliament (MP) from 1956 to 1987 and served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1967 and as chairman of the party's 1922 Committee from 1972 to 1984.

Paul Hébert, Canadian actor (died 2017)

Paul Hébert, OC, CQ was a French Canadian television and stage actor and director, and the founder of six theatres in Quebec. He is best known for his role as Siméon Desrosiers in Le Temps d’une paix, a Canadian soap opera.

28/05/1923

György Ligeti, Hungarian-Austrian composer and educator (died 2006)

György Sándor Ligeti was a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" and "one of the most innovative and influential among progressive figures of his time".

N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (died 1996)

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor, philanthropist, and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh over four terms for seven years. He founded the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982, the first regional party of Andhra Pradesh. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures of Indian cinema. He starred in over 300 films, predominantly in Telugu cinema, and was referred to as "Viswa Vikhyatha Nata Sarvabhouma". He was one of the earliest method actors of Indian cinema. In 2013, Rao was voted as "Greatest Indian Actor of All Time" in a CNN-IBN national poll conducted on the occasion of the Centenary of Indian Cinema.

28/05/1922

Lou Duva, American boxer, trainer, and manager (died 2017)

Louis Duva was an American boxing trainer, manager and boxing promoter who handled nineteen world champions. The Duva family promoted boxing events in over twenty countries on six continents. Duva was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, and The Meadowlands Sports Hall of Fame.

Roger Fisher, American author and academic (died 2012)

Roger D. Fisher was a Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and director of the Harvard Negotiation Project.

Tuomas Gerdt, Finnish soldier (died 2020)

Kaiho Tuomas Albin Gerdt was a Finnish soldier and Knight of the Mannerheim Cross, numbered #95. He was born in Heinävesi. Gerdt, serving as a junior runner officer in the infantry regiment 7, was awarded the Mannerheim Cross on 8 September 1942. At that time he held the rank of a sergeant. After coming home from the war on 13 November 1944, Gerdt worked as a manager in Oy Wilh. Schauman Ab and as an office manager in Oy Kaukas Ab and Kymmene Oy. Gerdt, serving as the chairman of the Mannerheim Cross Knight Foundation, was the last living Knight of the Mannerheim Cross.

28/05/1921

D. V. Paluskar, Indian Hindustani classical musician (died 1955)

Pandit Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar, was a Hindustani classical vocalist. He was considered a child prodigy.

Heinz G. Konsalik, German journalist and author (died 1999)

Heinz G. Konsalik was a German novelist. Konsalik was his mother's maiden name.

Tom Uren, Australian soldier, boxer, and politician (died 2015)

Thomas Uren was an Australian politician and Deputy Leader of the Australian Labor Party from 1975 to 1977. Uren served as the Member for Reid in the Australian House of Representatives from 1958 to 1990, being appointed Minister for Urban and Regional Development (1972–75), Minister for Territories and Local Government (1983–84) and Minister for Local Government and Administrative Services (1984–87). He helped establish the heritage and conservation movement in Australia and, in particular, worked to preserve the heritage of inner Sydney.

28/05/1918

Johnny Wayne, Canadian comedian (died 1990)

Johnny Wayne was a Canadian comedian and comedy writer best known for his work as part of the comedy duo Wayne and Shuster alongside Frank Shuster (1916–2002).

28/05/1917

Barry Commoner, American biologist, academic, and politician (died 2012)

Barry Commoner was an American cellular biologist, college professor, and politician. He was a leading ecologist and among the founders of the modern environmental movement. He was the director of the Center for Biology of Natural Systems and its Critical Genetics Project. He ran as the Citizens Party candidate in the 1980 U.S. presidential election. His work studying the radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons testing led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963.

28/05/1916

Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (died 1990)

Walker Percy, OblSB was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, The Moviegoer, won the National Book Award for Fiction.

28/05/1915

Joseph Greenberg, American linguist and academic (died 2001)

Joseph Harold Greenberg was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages.

28/05/1914

W. G. G. Duncan Smith, English captain and pilot (died 1996)

Wilfrid George Gerald Duncan Smith was a flying ace of the Second World War in the Royal Air Force. He was the father of Iain Duncan Smith, a Member of Parliament and Leader of the Conservative Party.

28/05/1912

Herman Johannes, Indonesian scientist, academic, and politician (died 1992)

Herman Johannes was an Indonesian professor, scientist, politician and National Hero. Johannes was the rector of Universitas Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta (1961–1966), Coordinator for Higher Education from 1966 to 1979, a member of Indonesia's Presidential Supreme Advisory Council from 1968 to 1978, and the Minister for Public Works and Energy (1950–1951). He was also a member of the Executive Board of UNESCO from 1954 to 1957.

Ruby Payne-Scott, Australian physicist and astronomer (died 1981)

Ruby Violet Payne-Scott was an Australian pioneer in radiophysics and radio astronomy.

Patrick White, Australian novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1990)

Patrick Victor Martindale White was an Australian novelist and playwright who explored themes of religious experience, personal identity and the conflict between visionary individuals and a materialistic, conformist society. Influenced by the modernism of James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, he developed a complex literary style and a body of work that challenged the dominant realist prose tradition of his home country, was satirical of Australian society, and sharply divided local critics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1973 and is the only Australian to have been awarded it.

28/05/1911

Bob Crisp, South African cricketer (died 1994)

Robert James Crisp was a South African cricketer who played in nine Test matches between 1935 and 1936. He appeared for Rhodesia, Western Province, Worcestershire and South Africa. Though his Test bowling average lay over 37.00, Crisp had a successful first-class cricket career, with 276 wickets at 19.88. He is the only bowler in first-class cricket to have taken four wickets in four balls more than once.

Thora Hird, English actress (died 2003)

Dame Thora Hird was an English actress. In a career spanning over 70 years, she appeared in more than 100 films, as well as many television roles, becoming a household name and a British institution.

Fritz Hochwälder, Austrian playwright (died 1986)

Fritz Hochwälder also known as Fritz Hochwaelder, was an Austrian playwright. Known for his spare prose and strong moralist themes, Hochwälder won several literary awards, including the Grand Austrian State Prize for Literature in 1966. Most of his plays were first performed at the Burgtheater in Vienna.

28/05/1910

Georg Gaßmann, German politician, Mayor of Marburg (died 1987)

Georg Gaßmann was a German politician.

Rachel Kempson, English actress (died 2003)

Rachel Redgrave, known primarily by her birth name Rachel Kempson, was an English actress. She married Sir Michael Redgrave, and was the matriarch of the famous acting dynasty.

T-Bone Walker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1975)

Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 67 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

28/05/1909

Red Horner, Canadian ice hockey player (died 2005)

George Reginald "Red" Horner was a Canadian ice hockey defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League from 1928 to 1940. He was the Leafs captain from 1938 until his retirement. He helped the Leafs win their third Stanley Cup in 1932. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1965.

28/05/1908

Léo Cadieux, Canadian journalist and politician, 17th Canadian Minister of National Defence (died 2005)

Léo Alphonse Joseph Cadieux was a Canadian politician.

Ian Fleming, English journalist and author, created James Bond (died 1964)

Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British writer, best known for his postwar James Bond series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his father was the Member of Parliament for Henley from 1910 until his death on the Western Front in 1917. Educated at Eton, Sandhurst, and, briefly, the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Geneva, Fleming moved through several jobs before he started writing.

28/05/1906

Henry Thambiah, Sri Lankan lawyer, judge, and diplomat, Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Canada (died 1997)

Henry Wijeyakone Tambiah (1906–1997) was a Ceylonese academic, diplomat, lawyer and judge, born in Sri Lanka during British colonial rule. He was a Commissioner of Assize, High Commissioner and judge of the Supreme Courts of Ceylon and Sierra Leone.

28/05/1903

S. L. Kirloskar, Indian businessman, founded Kirloskar Group (died 1994)

Shantanurao Laxmanrao Kirloskar was an Indian businessman who was instrumental in the rapid growth of the Kirloskar Group.

28/05/1900

Tommy Ladnier, American trumpet player (died 1939)

Thomas James Ladnier was an American jazz trumpeter. Hugues Panassié – an influential French critic, jazz historian, and renowned exponent of New Orleans jazz – rated Ladnier, sometime on or before 1956, second only to Louis Armstrong.

28/05/1892

Minna Gombell, American actress (died 1973)

Minna Marie Gombell was an American stage and film actress.

28/05/1889

Richard Réti, Slovak-Czech chess player and author (died 1929)

Richard Réti was an Austro-Hungarian and later Czechoslovak chess player, chess author and composer of endgame studies.

28/05/1888

Kaarel Eenpalu, Estonian journalist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Estonia (died 1942)

Kaarel Eenpalu was an Estonian journalist, politician and head of state, who served as 7th Prime Minister of Estonia.

Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot, English author and educator (died 1947)

Vivienne Haigh-Wood Eliot was the first wife of American-British poet T. S. Eliot, whom she married in 1915, less than three months after their introduction by mutual friends, when Vivienne was a governess in Cambridge and Eliot was studying at Oxford.

Jim Thorpe, American decathlete, football player, and coach (died 1953)

James Francis Thorpe was an American athlete who won Olympic gold medals and played professional football, baseball, and basketball. A citizen of the Sac and Fox Nation, he was the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States in the Olympics. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, Thorpe won two Olympic gold medals in the 1912 Summer Olympics.

28/05/1886

Santo Trafficante, Sr., Italian-American mobster (died 1954)

Santo Trafficante Sr. was a Sicilian-born mobster, and father of the powerful mobster Santo Trafficante Jr.

28/05/1884

Edvard Beneš, Czech academic and politician, 2nd and 4th President of Czechoslovakia (died 1948)

Edvard Beneš was a Czech politician and statesman who served as the president of Czechoslovakia from 1935 to 1938, and again from 1939 to 1948. During the first six years of his second stint, he led the Czechoslovak government-in-exile during World War II.

28/05/1883

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Indian poet and politician (died 1966)

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar popularly called Veer Savarkar, was an Indian politician and ideologue. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationalist political ideology of Hindutva while confined at Ratnagiri in 1922. He was a leading figure in the Hindu Mahasabha.

Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed the Portmeirion Village (died 1978)

Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, CBE, MC was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales. He became a major figure in the development of Welsh architecture in the first half of the 20th century, as well as working on commissions across the UK and Ireland, in a variety of styles and building types. He also campaigned widely for the preservation of rural England and Wales, for which he was knighted.

28/05/1879

Milutin Milanković, Serbian mathematician, astronomer, and geophysicist (died 1958)

Milutin Milanković was a Serbian mathematician, astronomer, climatologist, geophysicist, civil engineer, university professor, popularizer of science and academic.

28/05/1878

Paul Pelliot, French sinologist and explorer (died 1945)

Paul Eugène Pelliot was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and Chinese texts at the Sachu printing center storage caves (Dunhuang), known as the Dunhuang manuscripts.

28/05/1872

Marian Smoluchowski, Polish physicist and mountaineer (died 1917)

Marian Smoluchowski was a Polish physicist who worked in the territories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was a pioneer of statistical physics and made significant contributions to the theory of Brownian motion and stochastic processes.

28/05/1858

Carl Richard Nyberg, Swedish inventor and businessman, developed the blow torch (died 1939)

Carl Richard Nyberg was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Nyberg was a pioneer in mechanical engineering. He received a patent for a blow lamp and was an aviation pioneer.

28/05/1853

Carl Larsson, Swedish painter and author (died 1919)

Carl Olof Larsson was a Swedish painter representative of the Arts and Crafts movement. His many paintings include oils, watercolors, and frescoes. He is principally known for his watercolors of idyllic family life. He considered his finest work to be Midvinterblot, a large painting now displayed inside the Swedish National Museum of Fine Arts.

28/05/1841

Sakaigawa Namiemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 14th Yokozuna (died 1887)

Sakaigawa Namiemon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Katsushika District, Shimōsa Province. He was the sport's 14th yokozuna. Nicknamed "Tanikaze of the Meiji era", he's the only officially recognized yokozuna of the "yokozuna abuse era" following the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate.

28/05/1837

George Ashlin, Irish architect, co-designed St Colman's Cathedral (died 1921)

George Coppinger Ashlin was an Irish architect, particularly noted for his work on churches and cathedrals, and who became President of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.

Tony Pastor, American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner (died 1908)

Antonio Pastor was an American impresario, variety performer and theatre owner who became one of the founding forces behind American vaudeville in the mid-to-late-nineteenth century. He was sometimes referred to as the "Dean of Vaudeville". The strongest elements of his entertainments were an almost-jingoistic brand of United States patriotism and a strong commitment to attracting a "mixed-gender" audience, the latter being something revolutionary in the male-oriented variety halls of the mid-century. Although he was a performer and producer, Pastor is best known for "cleaning up" bawdy variety acts and presenting a clean and family-friendly genre called vaudeville.

28/05/1836

Friedrich Baumfelder, German pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1916)

Friedrich August Wilhelm Baumfelder was a German composer of classical music, conductor, and pianist. He started in the Leipzig Conservatory, and went on to become a well-known composer of his time. His many works were mostly solo salon music, but also included symphonies, piano concertos, operas, and choral works. Though many publishers published his work, they have since fallen into obscurity.

Alexander Mitscherlich, German chemist and academic (died 1918)

Alexander Mitscherlich was a German chemist and son of Eilhard Mitscherlich.

28/05/1828

Ratmalane Sri Dharmaloka Thera, Buddhist monk and scholar, founder of Vidyalankara Pirivena (died 1885)

Ratmalane Sri Dharmaloka Thera was a scholar Buddhist monk who lived in the 19th century in Sri Lanka. An educationist and revivalist of Sri Lankan Buddhism, he was reputed for his knowledge of Pali, Sanskrit and Buddhist philosophy. Ratmalane Sri Dharmaloka Thera was the founder of Vidyalankara Pirivena, Peliyagoda, which was granted the University status later by the Sri Lankan government in 1959, and presently known as University of Kelaniya. Sri Dharmaloka College in Kelaniya, Sri Lanka is named after him.

28/05/1818

P. G. T. Beauregard, American general (died 1893)

Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was an American military officer known for being the Confederate general who started the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is commonly referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard, but he rarely used his first name as an adult. He signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard.

28/05/1807

Louis Agassiz, Swiss-American paleontologist and geologist (died 1873)

Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history.

28/05/1779

Thomas Moore, Irish poet and composer (died 1852)

Thomas Moore was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist, widely regarded in his lifetime as Ireland's "national bard". The acclaim rested primarily on the popularity of his Irish Melodies. In these, Moore set to old Irish tunes verses that spoke to a narrative of Irish dispossession, loss, and resistance. With his romantic work Lalla Rookh (1817), in which these same themes are explored in an elaborate orientalist allegory, Moore achieved wider critical recognition. Translated into several languages, and adapted and arranged for musical performance by, among others, Robert Schumann, the chivalric verse-narrative established Moore as one of the leading exemplars of European romanticism.

28/05/1764

Edward Livingston, American jurist and politician, 11th United States Secretary of State (died 1836)

Edward Livingston was an American jurist, statesman and slaveholder. He was an influential figure in the drafting of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, a civil code based largely on the Napoleonic Code. Livingston represented both New York and then Louisiana in Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State from 1831 to 1833 and Minister to France from 1833 to 1835 under President Andrew Jackson. He was also the 47th mayor of New York City.

28/05/1763

Manuel Alberti, Argentinian priest and journalist (died 1811)

Manuel Maximiliano Alberti was an Argentine priest from Buenos Aires when the city was part of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. He had a curacy at Maldonado, Uruguay during the British invasions of the River Plate, and returned to Buenos Aires in time to take part in the May Revolution of 1810. He was chosen as one of the seven members of the Primera Junta, considered the first national government of Argentina. Alberti supported most of the proposals of Mariano Moreno and worked at the Gazeta de Buenos Ayres newspaper. Internal disputes among Junta members had a negative effect on Alberti's health, and he died of a heart attack in 1811.

28/05/1759

William Pitt the Younger, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1806)

William Pitt was a British statesman who served as the last prime minister of Great Britain from 1783 until the Acts of Union 1800, and the first official prime minister of the United Kingdom from January 1801. He left office in March 1801, but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for all his time as prime minister. He is known as "Pitt the Younger" to distinguish him from his father, William Pitt the Elder, who had also previously served as prime minister from 1766–1768.

28/05/1738

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, French physician (died 1814)

Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was a French physician, politician, and freemason who proposed on 10 October 1789 the use of a device to carry out executions in France, as a less painful method of execution than existing methods. Although he did not invent the guillotine and opposed the death penalty, his name became an eponym for it. The actual inventor of the prototype was a French physician, Antoine Louis.

28/05/1692

Geminiano Giacomelli, Italian composer (died 1740)

Geminiano Giacomelli was an Italian composer.

28/05/1676

Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (died 1754)

Jacopo Francesco Riccati was a Venetian mathematician and jurist from Venice, known for his widely influential work on solving differential equations. He is best known for having studied the equation that bears his name.

28/05/1663

António Manoel de Vilhena, Grand Master of the Order of Saint John (died 1736)

António Manoel de Vilhena was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina.

28/05/1589

Robert Arnauld d'Andilly, French writer (died 1674)

Robert Arnauld d’Andilly was a French conseiller d’État, specialising in financial questions, in the court of Marie de' Medici. By the elegance of his language, he was among the major poets, writers and translators of 17th century French classicism. A fervent Catholic, he played an important role in the history of Jansenism and was one of the Solitaires of Port-Royal-des-Champs. He was also renowned for his part in the development of the pruning of fruit trees, to which he was devoted.

28/05/1588

Pierre Séguier, French politician, Lord Chancellor of France (died 1672)

Pierre Séguier was a French statesman who was the chancellor of France from 1635.

28/05/1371

John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy (died 1419)

John I was a scion of the French royal family who ruled the Burgundian State as the Duke of Burgundy from 1404 until his assassination in 1419. He played a key role in French national affairs during the early 15th century, particularly in his struggle to remove the mentally ill King Charles VI and during the Hundred Years' War against the Kingdom of England. A rash, ruthless and unscrupulous politician, John murdered Charles's brother, the Duke of Orléans, in an attempt to gain control of the government, which led to the eruption of the Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War in the Kingdom of France and in turn culminated in his own assassination in 1419.

28/05/1140

Xin Qiji, Chinese poet, general, and politician (died 1207)

Xin Qiji was a Chinese poet, calligrapher, and military general during the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279).

Lives Remembered on 28th May

On 28th May, 92 remarkable people passed away — from 576 to 2023. Remember the lives and legacies of those we lost on this day.

28/05/2023

David Brewer, English politician, Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London (born 1940)

Sir David William Brewer was a British marine insurance broker who served as Lord Mayor of London (2005/06) and Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London to Elizabeth II (2008–15).

28/05/2022

Patricia Brake, English actress (born 1942)

Patricia Ann Kennedy, better known by her stage name Patricia Brake, was an English actress. Her credits include Lorna Doone (1963), The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968-1969), My Lover, My Son (1970), The Optimists of Nine Elms (1973), Emmerdale (1975), Nicholas Nickleby (1977), A Sharp Intake of Breath (1977), EastEnders (2004), and Coronation Street (2005-2006). She was most notable for her role as Ingrid Fletcher, eldest daughter of Norman Stanley Fletcher, in the BBC sitcom Porridge (1974-1977), and its sequel Going Straight (1978), and for starring as Gwen Lockhead in 128 episodes of Eldorado (1992-1993).

28/05/2021

Mark Eaton, American basketball player (born 1957)

Mark Edward Eaton was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career (1982–1993) with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Named an NBA All-Star in 1989, he was twice voted the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and was a five-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team. The 7-foot-4-inch (2.24 m) Eaton became one of the best defensive centers in NBA history. He led the league in blocks four times and holds the NBA single-season records for blocks (456) and blocked shots per game average (5.6), as well as career blocked shots per game (3.5). His No. 53 was retired by the Jazz.

28/05/2018

Neale Cooper, Scottish footballer (born 1963)

Neale James Cooper was a Scottish football player and coach. He played as a midfielder during the 1980s and 1990s, most prominently for the Aberdeen team managed by Alex Ferguson, and later played for Aston Villa, Rangers, Reading, Dunfermline Athletic and Ross County. Cooper then became a coach, and worked as a manager in England with Hartlepool United (twice) and Gillingham, and in Scotland with Ross County and Peterhead.

Jens Christian Skou, Danish medical doctor and Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)

Jens Christian Skou was a Danish biochemist and Nobel laureate.

Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (born 1941)

Cornelia Frances Zulver,, credited professionally as Cornelia Frances, was an English-Australian actress. After starting her career in small cameos in films in her native England, she became best known for her acting career in Australia after emigrating there in the 1960s, particularly her iconic television soap opera roles with portrayals of nasty characters.

28/05/2016

Harambe, Cincinnati Zoo western lowland gorilla (born 1999)

Harambe was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy visiting the zoo climbed under a fence into an outdoor gorilla enclosure where he was grabbed and violently dragged and thrown by Harambe. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to use lethal force. Several primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals near humans and the need for better standards of care.

28/05/2015

Steven Gerber, American pianist and composer (born 1948)

Steven Roy Gerber was an American composer of classical music. He attended Haverford College, graduating in 1969 at the age of twenty. He then attended Princeton University with a fellowship to study musical composition.

Johnny Keating, Scottish trombonist, composer, and producer (born 1927)

John Keating was a Scottish musician, songwriter, arranger and trombonist.

Reynaldo Rey, American actor and screenwriter (born 1940)

Reynaldo Rey was an American actor, comedian and television personality.

28/05/2014

Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (born 1928)

Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, essayist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Stan Crowther, English footballer (born 1935)

Stanley Crowther was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Aston Villa, Manchester United, Chelsea and Brighton & Hove Albion during the 1950s and early 1960s. He won three caps for the England under-23 team, though he was never selected at senior level.

Oscar Dystel, American publisher (born 1912)

Oscar Dystel was an American publisher and paperback books pioneer whose firm Bantam Books published bestselling paperback editions of Catcher in the Rye, Jaws and Ragtime among many others. His management made Bantam the main publisher of mass-market paperbacks.

Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (born 1928)

Malcolm Glazer was an American businessman and sports team owner. He was the president and chief executive officer of First Allied Corporation, a holding company for his varied business interests, and owned both Manchester United of the Premier League and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.

Bob Houbregs, Canadian-American basketball player and manager (born 1932)

Robert J. Houbregs was a Canadian professional basketball player. Houbregs was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987.

Isaac Kungwane, South African footballer (born 1971)

Isaac Ramaitsane "Shakes" Kungwane was a South African football midfielder who played for Kaizer Chiefs, Jomo Cosmos, Pretoria City and Manning Rangers. As a part of the Kaizer Chiefs he wore the number 11 jersey after Nelson Dladla.

28/05/2013

Viktor Kulikov, Russian commander (born 1921)

Viktor Georgiyevich Kulikov was the Warsaw Pact commander-in-chief from 1977 to 1989. He was awarded the rank of the Marshal of the Soviet Union on 14 January 1977.

Eddie Romero, Filipino director, producer, screenwriter, and National Artist for Cinema and Broadcast Arts (born 1924)

Edgar Sinco Romero,, commonly known as Eddie Romero, was a Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter.

Gerd Schmückle, German general (born 1917)

Gerd Schmückle was a German four-star general. Schmückle served in the 7th Panzer Division under Erwin Rommel during the Fall of France. With this division he later fought in the Soviet Union where he was wounded six times. In early 1944, he was promoted to the German General Staff, major and artillery battalion commander. After the surrender of the Wehrmacht in 1945 he operated a farm in Bavaria and worked as a journalist. In 1956, he joined the Bundeswehr where he was promoted to general in 1978.

28/05/2012

Bob Edwards, English journalist (born 1925)

Robert John Edwards was a British journalist.

Yuri Susloparov, Ukrainian-Russian footballer and manager (born 1958)

Yuri Vladimirovich Susloparov was a Soviet football player and manager.

28/05/2011

Gino Valenzano, Italian racing driver (born 1920)

Luigi "Gino" Valenzano was an Italian racing driver. He entered 39 races between 1947 and 1955 in Abarths, Maseratis and Lancias as a teammate of drivers like Robert Manzon and Froilán González.

28/05/2010

Gary Coleman, American actor (born 1968)

Gary Wayne Coleman was an American actor, known as a high-profile child star of the late 1970s and 1980s. Born in Zion, Illinois, Coleman grew up with his adoptive parents. Due to the corticosteroids and other medications used to treat a kidney disease, his growth was limited to 4 ft 8 in (142 cm). In the mid-1970s, he appeared in commercials and acted in an episode of Medical Center. He caught the attention of a producer after acting in a pilot for a revival of The Little Rascals (1977), who decided to cast him as Arnold Jackson in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986), a role that launched Coleman into stardom. For playing the role of Arnold he received several accolades, which include two Young Artist Awards; in 1980 for Outstanding Contribution to Youth Through Entertainment and in 1982 for Best Young Actor in a Comedy Series; and three People's Choice Awards; consecutive three wins for Favorite Young TV Performer from 1980 to 1983; as well as nominations for two TV Land Awards. He was rated first on a list of VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars", and an influential child actor.

28/05/2008

Beryl Cook, English painter and illustrator (born 1926)

Beryl Cook, OBE was a British painter best known for her original and instantly recognisable paintings. Often comical, her works pictured people whom she encountered in everyday life, including people enjoying themselves in pubs, girls shopping or out on a hen night, drag queen shows or a family picnicking by the seaside or abroad. She had no formal training and did not take up painting until her thirties. She was a shy and private person, and in her work often depicted flamboyant and extrovert characters very different from herself.

28/05/2007

Jörg Immendorff, German painter, sculptor, and academic (born 1945)

Jörg Immendorff was a German painter, sculptor, stage designer and art professor. He was a member of the art movement Neue Wilde.

Toshikatsu Matsuoka, Japanese politician, Japanese Minister of Agriculture (born 1945)

Toshikatsu Matsuoka was a Japanese politician who served as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 2006 until his suicide in 2007 amid a financial scandal.

28/05/2006

Thorleif Schjelderup, Norwegian ski jumper and author (born 1920)

Thorleif Schjelderup was a Norwegian ski jumper, author and environmentalist.

28/05/2004

Michael Buonauro, American author and illustrator (born 1979)

Michael A. Buonauro was an American webcomic artist, and author. Best known for his webcomic Marvelous Bob, Buonauro had co-created various other webcomics in collaboration with Jeff Lofvers.

John Tolos, Greek-Canadian wrestler (born 1930)

John Tolos, nicknamed "The Golden Greek", was a Canadian professional wrestler, and professional wrestling manager.

28/05/2003

Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov, Russian engineer and astronaut (born 1933)

Oleg Grigoryevich Makarov was a Soviet cosmonaut.

Ilya Prigogine, Russian-Belgian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1917)

Viscount Ilya Romanovich Prigogine was a Belgian physical chemist, noted for his work on dissipative structures, complex systems, and irreversibility.

Martha Scott, American actress (born 1912)

Martha Ellen Scott was an American actress. She was featured in major films such as Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956), and William Wyler's Ben-Hur (1959). Martha played the mother of Charlton Heston's character in both films. She originated the role of Emily Webb in Thornton Wilder's Our Town on Broadway in 1938, and later recreated the role in the 1940 film version, for which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

28/05/2002

Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh, Indian poet and author (born 1908)

Ebrahim Al-Arrayedh Ibrahim Al-Arrayedh was a celebrated Bahraini poet and writer, widely regarded as one of the most influential literary figures in Bahrain’s modern history. His work helped shape the country’s cultural identity and led the literary movement throughout the 20th century

Mildred Benson, American journalist and author (born 1905)

Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson was an American journalist and writer of children's books. She wrote some of the earliest Nancy Drew mysteries and created the detective's adventurous personality. Benson wrote under the Stratemeyer Syndicate pen name Carolyn Keene from 1929 to 1953 and contributed to 23 of the first 30 Nancy Drew mysteries, which were bestsellers.

28/05/2001

Joe Moakley, American lawyer and politician (born 1927)

John Joseph Moakley was an American politician who served as the United States representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district from 1973 until his death in 2001. Moakley won the seat from incumbent Louise Day Hicks in a 1972 rematch; the seat had been held two years earlier by the retiring Speaker of the House John William McCormack. Moakley was the last Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Rules before Republicans took control of the chamber in 1995. He is the namesake of both Joe Moakley Park and the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston.

Francisco Varela, Chilean biologist and philosopher (born 1946)

Francisco Javier Varela García was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology, and for co-founding the Mind and Life Institute to promote dialog between science and Buddhism.

28/05/2000

George Irving Bell, American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer (born 1926)

George Irving Bell was an American physicist, biologist, and mountaineer, and a grandson of John Joseph Seerley. He died in 2000 from complications of leukemia after surgery.

28/05/1999

Michael Barkai, Israeli commander (born 1935)

Michael (Yomi) Barkai was the Commander of the Israeli Navy, a recipient of the Medal of Distinguished Service for his command of the missile ships during the Yom Kippur War.

B. Vittalacharya, Indian director and producer (born 1920)

B. Vittalacharya was an Indian film director and producer known for his works in Telugu and Kannada cinema. He was known as Janapada Brahma in the Telugu film industry. Vittalacharya formed his film production company Vittal Productions, which produced the first film directed by him, Rajya Lakshmi.

28/05/1998

Phil Hartman, Canadian-American actor and comedian (born 1948)

Philip Edward Hartman was a Canadian and American comedian, actor, screenwriter and graphic designer. Hartman was born in Brantford, Ontario, and his family moved to the United States when he was ten years old. After graduating from California State University, Northridge, with a degree in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands including Poco and America. In 1975, Hartman joined the comedy group the Groundlings, where he helped Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee Herman. Hartman co-wrote the film Pee-wee's Big Adventure and made recurring appearances as Captain Carl on Reubens' show Pee-wee's Playhouse.

28/05/1994

Julius Boros, American golfer (born 1920)

Julius Nicholas Boros was an American professional golfer noted for his effortless-looking swing and strong record on difficult golf courses, particularly at the U.S. Open.

Ely Jacques Kahn, Jr., American author and academic (born 1916)

Ely Jacques Kahn Jr. was an American writer with The New Yorker for five decades.

28/05/1990

Julius Eastman, American composer (born 1940)

Julius Eastman was an American composer. He was among the first composers to combine the processes of some minimalist music with other methods of extending and modifying his music as in some experimental music. He thus created what he called "organic music". In compositions like Stay On It (1973), his melodic motifs were not unlike the catchy refrains of then pop music.

28/05/1988

Sy Oliver, American trumpet player, composer, and bandleader (born 1910)

Melvin James "Sy" Oliver was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader.

28/05/1986

Edip Cansever, Turkish poet and author (born 1928)

Edip Cansever was a Second New Movement Turkish poet. Talât Sait Halman referred to Cansever as in the light of surrealist Asaf Halet Celebi and Orhan Sarıkaya characterized him as a nonconformist.

28/05/1984

Eric Morecambe, English actor and comedian (born 1926)

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.

D'Urville Martin, American actor and director (born 1939)

D'Urville Martin was an American actor in both film and television. He appeared in numerous 1970s movies in the blaxploitation genre. He also appeared in two unaired pilots of what would become All in the Family as Lionel Jefferson. Born in New York City, Martin began his career in the mid-1960s and soon appeared in prominent films such as Black Like Me, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and Rosemary's Baby. Martin also directed films in his career, including Dolemite, starring Rudy Ray Moore.

28/05/1983

Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (born 1909)

Erastus Corning 2nd was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Albany, New York from 1942 to 1983, when Albany County was controlled by one of the last classic urban political machines in the United States.

28/05/1982

H. Jones, English colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (born 1940)

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.

28/05/1981

Mary Lou Williams, American pianist and composer (born 1910)

Mary Lou Williams was an American jazz pianist, arranger, and composer. She wrote hundreds of compositions and arrangements and recorded more than one hundred records. Williams wrote and arranged for Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman, and she was friend, mentor, and teacher to Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Tadd Dameron, Bud Powell, and Dizzy Gillespie.

Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (born 1901)

Stefan Wyszyński was a Polish Roman Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Warsaw and Archbishop of Gniezno from 1948 to 1981. He previously served as Bishop of Lublin from 1946 to 1948. He was created a cardinal on 12 January 1953 by Pope Pius XII. As Archbishop of Gniezno, Wyszyński possessed the title, "Primate of Poland".

28/05/1980

Rolf Nevanlinna, Finnish mathematician and academic (born 1895)

Rolf Herman Nevanlinna was a Finnish mathematician who made significant contributions to complex analysis. He is the namesake of Nevanlinna theory for meromorphic functions.

28/05/1976

Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and sculptor (born 1914)

Zainul Abedin, also known as Shilpacharya was a Bangladeshi painter. He became well known in 1944 through his series of paintings depicting some of the great famines in Bengal during its British colonial period. After the Partition of Indian subcontinent he moved to East Pakistan. In 1948, he helped to establish the Institute of Arts and Crafts at the University of Dhaka. The Indian Express has described him as a legendary Bangladeshi painter and activist. Like many of his contemporaries, his paintings on the Bengal famine of 1943 are viewed as his most characteristic works. His homeland honored him with the title "Shilpacharya" "Great teacher of the arts" for his artistic and visionary attributes. He was the pioneer of the modern art movement that took place in Bangladesh and was rightly considered by Syed Manzoorul Islam as the founding father of Bangladeshi modern arts, soon after Bangladesh became an independent republic.

28/05/1975

Ezzard Charles, American boxer (born 1921)

Ezzard Mack Charles, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1959. Known as "the Cincinnati Cobra", Charles was respected for his slick defense and precision, and is often regarded as the greatest light heavyweight of all time, and one of the greatest fighters pound for pound, having defeated numerous Hall of Fame fighters in three different weight classes. Charles was the world heavyweight champion from 1949 to 1951, and made eight successful title defenses in under two years.

28/05/1972

Edward VIII of the United Kingdom (born 1894)

Edward VIII, later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.

28/05/1971

Audie Murphy, American soldier and actor, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1925)

Audie Leon Murphy was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, and has been described as the most highly decorated enlisted soldier in U.S. history. He received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at age 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded.

28/05/1968

Fyodor Okhlopkov, Russian sergeant and sniper (born 1908)

Fyodor Matveyevich Okhlopkov was a Soviet sniper during World War II credited with 429 kills. Nominated for the title Hero of the Soviet Union in 1944 after tallying his first 420 sniper kills but rejected for unclear reasons, he was belatedly awarded the title in May 1965 over twenty years later to coincide with the anniversary of Victory Day. He is considered as one of the deadliest snipers in history.

28/05/1964

Terry Dillon, American football player (born 1941)

Terrance Gilbert Dillon was a defensive back in the National Football League (NFL). Dillon played with the Minnesota Vikings during the 1963 NFL season. He had also been drafted in the 19th round of the 1963 American Football League draft by the Oakland Raiders.

28/05/1953

Tatsuo Hori, Japanese author and poet (born 1904)

Tatsuo Hori was a Japanese translator and writer of poetry, short stories and novels.

28/05/1952

Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (born 1882)

Philippe-Servulo Desranleau was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and the Archbishop of Sherbrooke from 1951 to 1952.

28/05/1947

August Eigruber, Austrian-German politician (born 1907)

August Eigruber was an Austrian-born Nazi Gauleiter and Reichsstatthalter of Reichsgau Oberdonau and Landeshauptmann of Upper Austria. He was convicted of war crimes at Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp and hanged.

28/05/1946

Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (born 1858)

Carter Glass was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He represented Virginia in both houses of Congress and served as the United States secretary of the treasury under President Woodrow Wilson. He played a major role in the establishment of the U.S. financial regulatory system, helping to establish the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

28/05/1937

Alfred Adler, Austrian-Scottish ophthalmologist and psychologist (born 1870)

Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, and birth order set him apart from Freud and others in their common circle. He proposed that contributing to others was how the individual feels a sense of worth and belonging in the family and society. His earlier work focused on inferiority, coining the term "inferiority complex", an isolating element which he argued plays a key role in personality development. Adler considered a human being as an individual whole, and therefore he called his school of psychology Individual Psychology.

28/05/1930

Frank Cowper, English yachtsman, author and illustrator (born 1849)

Frank Cowper was an English single-handed yachtsman, explorer, author, illustrator, artist, and journalist who was influential in popularizing single-handed cruising. He has been credited as "the forefather of modern cruising", following the publication of his five books, Sailing Tours, describing his circumnavigation of the British Isles, the East coast of Ireland, and the French coast of Brittany in a converted 29-ton, 48-foot Dover Fishing boat named Lady Harvey. In a review of the last of his sailing books published in the year of his passing, recognition of his achievements during and after his eventful life are summarized with the following accolades. His books "laid the foundation" of the pilot guides used by yachtsmen today.

28/05/1927

Boris Kustodiev, Russian painter and stage designer (born 1878)

Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and stage designer during the Modernist period.

28/05/1916

Ivan Franko, Ukrainian economist, journalist, and poet (born 1856)

Ivan Yakovych Franko PhD was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, translator, economist, political activist, ethnographer, and the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in Ukrainian.

28/05/1904

Kicking Bear, Native American tribal leader (born 1846)

Kicking Bear was an Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk, and first cousin, Crazy Horse, during the War for the Black Hills, including the Battle of the Greasy Grass.

28/05/1878

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1792)

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 1866.

28/05/1864

Simion Bărnuțiu, Romanian historian and politician (born 1808)

Simion Bărnuțiu was a Romanian historian, academic, philosopher, jurist, and liberal politician. A leader of the 1848 revolutionary movement of Transylvanian Romanians, he represented its Eastern Rite Catholic wing. Bărnuțiu lived for a large part of his life in Moldavia, and was for long a professor of philosophy at Academia Mihăileană and at the University of Iași.

28/05/1849

Anne Brontë, English novelist and poet (born 1820)

Anne Brontë was an English novelist and poet. A member of the Brontë literary family, she was the younger sister of Charlotte, Emily, and Branwell. Anne is known for her 1847 novel Agnes Grey and for her 1848 novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered to be one of the first feminist novels.

28/05/1843

Noah Webster, American lexicographer (born 1758)

Noah Webster was an American lexicographer, textbook pioneer, English-language spelling reformer, political writer, editor, and author. He has been called the "Father of American Scholarship and Education". He authored a large number of "Blue-Back Speller" books which were used to teach American children how to spell and read. He is also the author for the modern Merriam-Webster dictionary that was first published in 1828 as An American Dictionary of the English Language.

28/05/1831

William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish-English admiral (born 1756)

Admiral William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, was a Royal Navy officer who served in the American Revolutionary War and French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. While in command of HMS Monmouth he was caught in the Nore Mutiny of 1797 and was the officer selected to relay the demands of the mutineers to George III. He most notably served as third-in-command of the Mediterranean Fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in HMS Britannia. He later became Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom and Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.

28/05/1811

Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish lawyer and politician, Secretary of State for War (born 1742)

Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, PC, FRSE, styled as Lord Melville from 1802, was a British politician who served as Home Secretary from 1791 to 1794 and First Lord of the Admiralty from 1804 to 1805. He was instrumental in the encouragement of the Scottish Enlightenment, in the prosecution of the war against France, and in the expansion of British influence in India.

28/05/1808

Richard Hurd, English bishop (born 1720)

Richard Hurd was an English divine and writer, and bishop of Worcester.

28/05/1805

Luigi Boccherini, Italian cellist and composer (born 1743)

Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and galante style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major classical musical centers. He is best known for the minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No. 5, and the Cello Concerto in B flat major. The latter work was long known in the heavily altered version by German cellist and prolific arranger Friedrich Grützmacher, but has recently been restored to its original version. He is also particularly well known for his Musica notturna delle strade di Madrid.

28/05/1787

Leopold Mozart, Austrian violinist, composer, and conductor (born 1719)

Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, violinist, and music theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756).

28/05/1750

Emperor Sakuramachi of Japan (born 1720)

Teruhito , posthumously honored as Emperor Sakuramachi was the 115th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He was enthroned as Emperor in 1735, a reign that would last until 1747 with his abdication. As with previous Emperors during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate had control over Japan.

28/05/1747

Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, French author (born 1715)

Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues was a French writer and moralist. He died at age 31, in broken health, having published the year prior—anonymously—a collection of essays and aphorisms with the encouragement of Voltaire, his friend. He first received public notice under his own name in 1797, and from 1857 on, his aphorisms became popular.

28/05/1727

Juan de Ayala y Escobar, Governor of Spanish Florida (1716–1718) (born 1635)

Juan Francisco Buenaventura de Ayala y Escobar was a prominent Spanish soldier and administrator who governed Spanish Florida from October 30, 1716, to August 3, 1718. The succeeding governor, Antonio de Benavides, a zealous reformer, accused Ayala of trading in contraband with the English, and had him arrested and briefly jailed in the Castillo de San Marcos of St. Augustine. He was eventually exiled to Cuba, where he died in 1727, before he was exonerated and all charges dropped in 1731.

28/05/1672

John Trevor, Welsh politician, Secretary of State for the Northern Department (born 1626)

Sir John Trevor III was a Welsh politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1646 and 1672.

28/05/1651

Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, English politician (born 1594)

Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent, known as Lord Ruthin from 1639 to 1643, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640 and succeeded to the title Earl of Kent in 1643.

28/05/1626

Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (born 1561)

Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk,, of Audley End House in the parish of Saffron Walden in Essex, and of Suffolk House near Westminster, a member of the House of Howard, was the second son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, by his second wife Margaret Audley, the daughter and eventual sole heiress of Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, of Audley End.

28/05/1556

Saitō Dōsan, Japanese samurai (born 1494)

Saitō Dōsan , also known as Saitō Toshimasa, was a Japanese samurai lord and daimyo during the Sengoku period. He was also known as the "Viper of Mino" for his ruthless tactics. He was appointed Governor of Yamashiro by the Imperial Court. After entering monkhood in his later years, he was also called Saitō Yamashiro-nyudō-no-kami (斎藤山城入道守).

28/05/1427

Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg (born 1397)

Henry IV, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg was Count of Holstein-Rendsburg and Duke of Schleswig from 1404 until his death.

28/05/1357

Afonso IV of Portugal (born 1291)

Afonso IV, called the Brave, was King of Portugal from 1325 until his death in 1357. He was the only legitimate son of King Denis of Portugal and Elizabeth of Aragon.

28/05/1327

Robert Baldock, Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England

Robert Baldock was the Lord Privy Seal and Lord Chancellor of England, during the reign of King Edward II of England.

28/05/1279

William Wishart, Scottish bishop

William Wishart was a 13th-century Bishop of St. Andrews. He was postulated to the see of St. Andrews while holding the position as Bishop-elect of Glasgow, which he resigned when, on 2 June 1271, he was elected to that vacant see. He was succeeded at Glasgow by his cousin (consanguieus), Robert Wishart. His election to St. Andrews was notable, because apparently the bishopric's Céli Dé community were excluded from the election. Pope Gregory X charged the Bishop of Moray, the Bishop of Aberdeen, and the Bishop of Argyll, to look over the character of the elect and to investigate the legitimacy of the election, of the latter of which the Pope had suspicions. William, however, emerged successfully, and was consecrated at Scone on 15 October 1273.

28/05/1023

Wulfstan, English archbishop

Wulfstan was an English Bishop of London, Bishop of Worcester, and Archbishop of York. He is thought to have begun his ecclesiastical career as a Benedictine monk. He became the Bishop of London in 996. In 1002 he was elected simultaneously to the diocese of Worcester and the archdiocese of York, holding both in plurality until 1016, when he relinquished Worcester; he remained archbishop of York until his death. It was perhaps while he was at London that he first became well known as a writer of sermons, or homilies, on the topic of Antichrist. In 1014, as archbishop, he wrote his most famous work, a homily which he titled the Sermo Lupi ad Anglos, or the Sermon of the Wolf to the English.

28/05/0926

Kong Qian, official of Later Tang

Kong Qian was a Chinese economist and politician of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Tang (and Later Tang's predecessor state Jin. He was credited with making sure that the campaigns of Later Tang's founding emperor Emperor Zhuangzong was well-financed, but his methods of extracting funds from the people were also said to be so exacting that the people eventually became resentful of Emperor Zhuangzong, helping to lead to Emperor Zhuangzong's downfall.

Li Jiji, prince of Later Tang

Li Jiji (李繼岌), formally the Prince of Wei (魏王), nickname Hege (和哥), was an imperial prince of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Tang. He was Later Tang's founder Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang 's oldest son, and was commonly regarded at the time to be Emperor Zhuangzong's heir apparent. As such, he served as the titular commander of Later Tang's campaign to destroy its neighbor Former Shu, albeit with the major general Guo Chongtao in effective control. After Later Tang conquered Former Shu, however, under the command of his mother Empress Liu, Li Jiji killed Guo, leading to a chain reaction of mutinies that doomed Later Tang.

28/05/0741

Ucha'an K'in B'alam, Mayan king

Uchaʼan Kʼin Bʼalam was the fourth Mayan king of Dos Pilas. He is also known as the Ruler 3, Master of Sun Jaguar, Scroll-head God K, Spangle-head and Jewelled-head. His title was "He of Five Captives".

28/05/0576

Germain of Paris, French bishop and saint (born 496)

Germain was the bishop of Paris and is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early biography, he was known as Germain d'Autun, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".

Celebrations & Special Days Worldwide on 28th May

Armed Forces Day (Croatia)

An Armed Forces Day, alongside its branch-specific variants often referred to as Army or Soldier's Day, Navy or Sailor's Day, and Air Force or Aviator's Day, is a holiday dedicated to honoring the armed forces, or one of their branches, of a sovereign state, including their personnel, history, achievements, and sacrifices. It's often patriotic or nationalistic in nature, carrying information value outside of the conventional boundaries of a military's subculture and into the wider civilian society. Many nations around the world observe this day. It is usually distinct from a Veterans or Memorial Day, as the former is dedicated to those who previously served and the latter is dedicated to those who perished in the fulfillment of their duties.

Christian feast day: Bernard of Menthon

Saint Bernard of Menthon or Bernard of Aosta or Saint Bernard of Montjoux was a Catholic priest and founder of the Great St Bernard Hospice, as well as its associated Canons Regular of the Hospitaller Congregation of Great Saint Bernard.

Christian feast day: Germain of Paris

Germain was the bishop of Paris and is venerated as a saint in both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to an early biography, he was known as Germain d'Autun, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".

Christian feast day: John Calvin (Episcopal Church)

John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was the principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation. Calvinist doctrines were influenced by and elaborated upon Augustinian and other Christian traditions. Various Reformed Church movements, including Continental Reformed, Congregationalism, Presbyterianism, Waldensians, Baptist Reformed, Calvinist Methodism, and Reformed Anglican Churches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world.

Christian feast day: Blessed Lanfranc

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Blessed Margaret Pole

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Bagnesi

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Blessed Thomas Ford

Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their name. Beati is the plural form, referring to those who have undergone the process of beatification; they possess the title of "Blessed" before their names and are often referred to in English as "a Blessed" or, plurally, "Blesseds".

Christian feast day: Ubaldesca Taccini

Ubaldesca Taccini was an Italian Catholic nun and member of the Order of Saint John. Her feast day is celebrated on 28 May.

Christian feast day: William of Gellone

William of Gellone, the medieval William of Orange, was the second Duke of Toulouse from 790 until 811. In 804, he founded the abbey of Gellone. He was canonized a saint in 1066 by Pope Alexander II.

Christian feast day: May 28 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

May 27 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - May 29

Downfall of the Derg (Ethiopia)

The Downfall of the Derg is a national holiday in Ethiopia celebrated on 28 May in commemoration of the fall of communist military junta Derg by the rebel coalition Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1991. The day also pay homage to victims of the Ethiopian Civil War casualties and the Red Terror. Visitors often visited memorial places in this day such as "Red Terror" Martyrs' Memorial Museum in Addis Ababa.

Flag Day (Philippines)

Public holidays in the Philippines are of two types: regular holidays and special non-working days.

Menstrual Hygiene Day

Menstrual Hygiene Day is an annual awareness day on May 28 to highlight the importance of good menstrual hygiene management (MHM) at a global level. It was initiated by the German-based NGO WASH United in 2013 and observed for the first time in 2014.

Republic Day (Nepal)

Republic Day is a national holiday in Nepal. It commemorates the date on which the first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal took place on 28 May 2008, which ended the 240-year reign of the Shah kings and declared Nepal a republic. The establishment of the republic put an end to the civil war that lasted for almost a decade. According to the Nepali calendar, the republic day is marked on Jestha 15 every year. Celebrations include a military parade in Kathmandu and several small-scale programs organised by various government agencies across the country.

TDFR Republic Day, celebrates the declaration of independence of the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918. (Azerbaijan and Armenia)

The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was a short-lived state in the Caucasus that included most of the territory of the present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, as well as parts of Russia and Turkey. The state lasted only for a month before Georgia declared independence, followed shortly after by Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Youm-e-Takbir (Pakistan)

Youm-e-Takbir is celebrated as a national day in Pakistan on 28 May in commemoration of Chagai-I and Chagai-II series of nuclear tests. The nuclear tests made Pakistan the seventh nation to possess nuclear weapons and the first in the Muslim world.

What Happened on 28th May?

50 significant events took place on Sunday, 28th May — stretching from -585 to 2017. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.

28/05/2017

Former Formula One driver Takuma Sato wins his first Indianapolis 500, the first Japanese and Asian driver to do so. Double world champion Fernando Alonso retires from an engine issue in his first entry of the event.

Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel, single-seater formula racing cars run by Formula One Group and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one of the world's premier forms of motorsport since its inaugural running in 1950 and is often considered to be the pinnacle of motorsport. The word formula in the name refers to the set of rules all participant cars must follow. A Formula One season consists of a series of races, known as Grands Prix. Grands Prix take place in multiple countries and continents on either purpose-built circuits or closed roads.

28/05/2016

Harambe, a gorilla, is shot to death after grabbing a three-year-old boy in his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden, resulting in widespread criticism and sparking various internet memes.

Harambe was a western lowland gorilla who lived at the Cincinnati Zoo. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy visiting the zoo climbed under a fence into an outdoor gorilla enclosure where he was grabbed and violently dragged and thrown by Harambe. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to use lethal force. Several primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals near humans and the need for better standards of care.

28/05/2013

Start of the Gezi Park protests in Turkey.

A wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey began on 28 May 2013, initially to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul's Gezi Park. The protests were sparked by outrage at the violent eviction of a sit-in at the park protesting the plan. Subsequently, supporting protests and strikes took place across Turkey, protesting against a wide range of concerns at the core of which were issues of freedom of the press, of expression and of assembly, as well as the AKP government's erosion of Turkey's secularism. With no centralised leadership beyond the small assembly that organised the original environmental protest, the protests have been compared to the Occupy movement and the May 1968 events. Social media played a key part in the protests, not least because much of the Turkish media downplayed the protests, particularly in the early stages. Three and a half million people are estimated to have taken an active part in almost 5,000 demonstrations across Turkey connected with the original Gezi Park protest. Twenty-two people were killed and more than 8,000 were injured, many critically.

28/05/2012

The Arkankergen massacre in Kazakhstan's Alakol District kills 15 people.

The Arkankergen massacre occurred on 28 May 2012 in the Arkankergen military post in the Alakol District of Kazakhstan on the border with China, near the village of Usharal. Fifteen people were killed. A border guard, Vladislav Chelakh, initially confessed to the deed, but later retracted his confession.

28/05/2011

Malta votes on the introduction of divorce; the proposal was approved by 53% of voters, resulting in a law allowing divorce under certain conditions being enacted later in the year.

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese and English but Maltese is recognised as the national language. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the European Union (EU) by both area and population.

28/05/2010

In West Bengal, India, the Jnaneswari Express train derailment and subsequent collision kills 148 passengers.

West Bengal is a state in the eastern part of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal. It had a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) as of 2011. The population estimate as of 2026 is 106 million. West Bengal is the fourth-most populous and thirteenth-largest state by area in India, as well as the eighth-most populous country subdivision of the world. As a part of the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata, the third-largest metropolis, and seventh largest city by population in India. West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, the coastal Sundarbans and the Bay of Bengal. The state's main ethnic group are the Bengalis.

28/05/2008

The first meeting of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal formally declares Nepal a republic, ending the 240-year reign of the Shah dynasty.

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, and India to the south, east, and west, while it is narrowly separated from Bangladesh by the Siliguri Corridor, and from Bhutan by the Indian state of Sikkim. Nepal has a diverse geography, including fertile plains, subalpine forested hills, and eight of the world's ten highest mountains, including Mount Everest, the highest point above mean sea level on Earth. Kathmandu is the nation's capital and its largest city. Nepal is a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-cultural sovereign state, with Nepali as the official language.

28/05/2004

The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.

The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi political and tribal leaders who were appointed by the CPA to provide advice and leadership of the country until the June 2004 transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi Interim Government.

28/05/2003

Peter Hollingworth resigns as Governor-General of Australia following criticism of his handling of child sexual abuse allegations during his tenure as Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane.

Peter John Hollingworth was an Australian bishop who served as Governor-General of Australia from 2001 until his resignation in 2003. He had previously held the position of Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane from 1989 to 2001.

28/05/2002

The last steel girder is removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

The World Trade Center site, often referred to as "Ground Zero" or "the Pile" immediately after the September 11 attacks, is a 14.6-acre (5.9 ha) area in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The site is bounded by Vesey Street to the north, the West Side Highway to the west, Liberty Street to the south, and Church Street to the east. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) owns the site's land. The original World Trade Center complex stood on the site until it was destroyed in the September 11 attacks.

28/05/1999

In Milan, Italy, after 22 years of restoration work, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper is put back on display.

Milan is the regional capital of Lombardy, in northern Italy, and the seat of the Metropolitan City of Milan. It is the second-most populous city in Italy after Rome, with a population of 1,362,863 in 2026. The city's wider metropolitan area is the largest in Italy, and the fourth-largest in the European Union, with an estimated population of 6.55 million. Milan is considered Italy's economic capital, and its metropolitan area accounts for about 20% of the country's GDP.

28/05/1998

Nuclear testing: Pakistan responds to a series of nuclear tests by India with five of its own codenamed Chagai-I, prompting the United States, Japan, and other nations to impose economic sanctions. Pakistan celebrates Youm-e-Takbir annually.

Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the performance of nuclear weapons and the effects of their explosion. Over 2,000 nuclear weapons tests have been carried out since 1945. Nuclear testing is a sensitive political issue. Governments have often performed tests to signal strength. Because of their destruction and fallout, testing has seen opposition by civilians as well as governments, with international bans having been agreed on. Thousands of tests have been performed, with most in the second half of the 20th century.

28/05/1996

U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.

William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979 and as the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992. His centrist "Third Way" political philosophy became known as Clintonism, which dominated his presidency and the succeeding decades of Democratic Party history.

28/05/1995

The 7.0 Mw  Neftegorsk earthquake shakes the former Russian settlement of Neftegorsk with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Total damage was $64.1–300 million, with 1,989 deaths and 750 injured. The settlement was not rebuilt.

The 1995 Neftegorsk earthquake occurred on 28 May at 01:03 local time in northern Sakhalin Island in the Russian Far East. It was the most destructive earthquake known within the modern borders of Russia, with a magnitude of Mw 7.1 and maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) that devastated the town of Neftegorsk. Many buildings collapsed, and 1,989 of its 3,977 citizens were killed, with another 750 injured. Infrastructure was catastrophically damaged, leading to Neftegorsk becoming a ghost town. Surface effects from the earthquake were widespread, with many geological features changing or developing. Due to its location along a poorly understood plate boundary, the earthquake received considerable attention from scientists, and dozens of research papers have been written about it.

28/05/1991

The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.

Addis Ababa is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the eleventh-largest city in Africa. At an elevation of 2,355 metres (7,726 ft), it is the fourth highest capital city in the world and the highest capital in Africa. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia.

28/05/1987

An 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet Union air defences and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow, Russia.

Mathias Rust is a German aviator. In 1987, as a teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, without authorization. According to Russian claims, he was tracked several times by Soviet Air Defence Forces and civilian air traffic controllers, as well as Soviet Air Force interceptor aircraft. The Soviet fighters did not receive permission to shoot him down, and his aeroplane was mistaken for a friendly aircraft several times. Also, 28 May 1987 was Border Guards Day, leaving many guards distracted. He landed on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, next to Red Square near the Kremlin in the capital of the USSR.

28/05/1979

Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.

Konstantinos G. Karamanlis was a Greek statesman who was the four-time Prime Minister of Greece and two-term president of the Third Hellenic Republic, serving in the former role from 1955 to 1963 and from 1974 to 1980. A towering figure of Greek politics, his political career spanned portions of seven decades, covering much of the latter half of the 20th century.

28/05/1977

The Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky, is engulfed by fire, killing 165 people inside.

On the evening of May 28, 1977, a fire occurred at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky. With a total of 165 deaths and over 200 injuries, it is history's seventh-deadliest nightclub fire.

28/05/1975

Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo, as well as Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. As of 2021, the population of West Africa is estimated at 419 million, and approximately 382 million in 2017, of which 189.7 million were female and 192.3 million male. The region is one of the fastest growing in Africa, both demographically and economically.

At Brampton Centennial Secondary School, student Michael Slobodian kills two people and injures 13 others before committing suicide.

Brampton Centennial Secondary School (BCSS) is a public high school located in Brampton, Ontario, Canada and is part of the Peel District School Board. In September 2008, BCSS had 1,775 students.

28/05/1974

Northern Ireland's power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement collapses following a general strike by loyalists.

Northern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares an open border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. At the 2021 census, its population was 1,903,175, making up around 3% of the UK's population and 27% of the population on the island of Ireland. The Northern Ireland Assembly, established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the UK Government. The government of Northern Ireland cooperates with the government of Ireland in several areas under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. The Republic of Ireland also has a consultative role on non-devolved governmental matters through the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

28/05/1968

Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 crashes near Nala Sopara in India, killing 30.

On 28 May 1968, Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892, a scheduled international passenger flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam with stopovers in Singapore, Bangkok, Bombay, Karachi, Cairo, and Rome, crashed during the climb-out after take-off from Santa Cruz Airport for the flight's Bombay to Karachi leg. The Convair 990A jet airliner operating the flight went down at Bilalpada village near Nala Sopara, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground.

28/05/1964

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) is founded, with Yasser Arafat elected as its first leader.

The Palestine Liberation Organization is a Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories. It is currently represented by the Palestinian Authority based in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh.

28/05/1962

The Soviet Kosmos 5 satellite is launched.

Kosmos 5, also known as 2MS #2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 15 was a scientific research and technology demonstration satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the fifth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the third spacecraft to be launched as part of the MS programme, after Kosmos 2 and Kosmos 3. Its primary missions were to develop systems for future satellites, and to record data about artificial radiation around the Earth.

28/05/1961

Peter Benenson's article The Forgotten Prisoners is published in several internationally read newspapers. This will later be thought of as the founding of the human rights organization Amnesty International.

Peter Benenson was a British barrister, human rights activist and the founder of the human rights group Amnesty International (AI); a global movement of more than 10 million people, currently, and in over 150 countries and territories who campaign to end abuses on human rights and to secure the release of political prisoners.

28/05/1958

Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.

The Cuban Revolution was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew the emerging Cuban democracy and consolidated power. Among those who opposed the coup was Fidel Castro, then a young lawyer, who initially tried to challenge the takeover through legal means in the Cuban courts. When these efforts failed, Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led an armed assault on the Moncada Barracks, a Cuban military post, on 26 July 1953.

28/05/1948

Daniel François Malan is elected as Prime Minister of South Africa. He later goes on to implement Apartheid.

Daniël François Malan was a South African politician who served as the fourth prime minister of South Africa from 1948 to 1954. The National Party implemented the system of apartheid, which enforced racial segregation laws, during his tenure as prime minister.

28/05/1940

World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

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.

World War II: Norwegian, French, Polish and British forces recapture Narvik in Norway. This is the first Allied infantry victory of the War.

The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian campaign of the Second World War.

28/05/1937

Volkswagen, the German automobile manufacturer, is founded.

Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by the German Labour Front, it was revived after World War II by British Army officer Ivan Hirst and over the 81 years since grew into the global brand it is today. As of 2025, the company had a market capitalization of approximately US$58.9 billion. The company is well known for the Beetle and serves as the flagship brand of its eponymous conglomerate, the Volkswagen Group, which was the world's largest automotive manufacturer by global sales in 2016 and 2017.

28/05/1936

Alan Turing submits On Computable Numbers for publication.

Alan Mathison Turing was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher and theoretical biologist. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science.

28/05/1934

Near Callander, Ontario, Canada, the Dionne quintuplets are born to Oliva and Elzire Dionne; they will be the first quintuplets to survive infancy.

The Municipality of Callander is a township in central Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast end of Lake Nipissing in the Almaguin Highlands region of Parry Sound District. The municipality is located on Callander Bay, just south of North Bay.

28/05/1932

In the Netherlands, construction of the Afsluitdijk is completed and the Zuiderzee bay is converted to the freshwater IJsselmeer.

The Afsluitdijk is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of Zurich in Friesland province, over a length of 32 kilometres (20 mi) and a width of 90 metres (300 ft), at an initial height above Amsterdam Ordnance Datum of between 6.7 metres (22 ft) along the section at Friesland, and 7.4 metres (24 ft) where it crosses the deep channel of the Vlieter. The height at the greater sea depths west of Friesland was required to be a minimum of 7 metres everywhere when originally constructed.

28/05/1926

The 28 May 1926 coup d'état: Ditadura Nacional is established in Portugal to suppress the unrest of the First Republic.

The 28 May 1926 coup d'état, sometimes called 28 May Revolution or, during the period of the corporatist Estado Novo, the National Revolution, was a military coup of a nationalist origin, that put an end to the unstable Portuguese First Republic and initiated 48 years of corporatist and nationalist rule within Portugal. The regime that immediately resulted from the coup, the Ditadura Nacional, would be later refashioned into the Estado Novo, which in turn would last until the Carnation Revolution in 1974.

28/05/1918

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the First Republic of Armenia declare their independence.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, also known as the Azerbaijan People's Republic, was the first secular democratic republic in the Turkic and Muslim worlds. The ADR was founded by the Azerbaijani National Council in Tiflis on 28 May 1918 after the collapse of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, and ceased to exist on 28 April 1920. Its established borders were with Russia to the north, the Democratic Republic of Georgia to the north-west, the Republic of Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south. It had a population of around 3 million. Ganja was the temporary capital of the Republic as Baku was under Bolshevik control.

28/05/1907

The first Isle of Man TT race is held.

The Isle of Man TT races are an annual motorcycle racing event held on the Isle of Man in May and June of mostly every year since its inaugural race in 1907. The two-week event is sanctioned by the Auto-Cycle Union, which also organises the event. The Manx government owns the rights to and promotes the event.

28/05/1905

Russo-Japanese War: The Battle of Tsushima ends with the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet by Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and the Imperial Japanese Navy.

The Russo-Japanese War was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the Liaodong Peninsula and near Mukden in Southern Manchuria, with naval battles taking place in the Yellow Sea and the Sea of Japan.

28/05/1892

In San Francisco, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club.

San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the fourth-most populous city in California and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with a population of 826,079 in 2025. Among U.S. cities with a population of 200,000 or more, San Francisco is ranked first by per capita income, second by population density, and sixth by aggregate income as of 2024. Some 4.6 million residents live in the city's metropolitan statistical area, which is the 13th-largest in the United States. Around 9.2 million live in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland combined statistical area, the fifth-largest in the United States.

28/05/1871

The Paris Commune falls after two months.

The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the French Third Republic in September 1870 and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on 18 March. The Communards killed two French Army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic; instead, the radicals set about establishing their own independent government.

28/05/1830

U.S. President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which denies Native Americans their land rights and forcibly relocates them.

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

28/05/1802

In Guadeloupe, 400 rebellious slaves, led by Louis Delgrès, blow themselves up rather than submit to Napoleon's troops.

Guadeloupe is an overseas department and region of the French Republic in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and two Îles des Saintes—and 30 uninhabited islets and 3 inhabited islets. It is south of Antigua and Barbuda and Montserrat and north of Dominica. The capital city is Basse-Terre, on the southern west coast of Basse-Terre Island; the most populous city is Les Abymes and the main centre of business is neighbouring Pointe-à-Pitre, both on Grande-Terre Island. It had a population of 395,726 in 2024.

28/05/1754

French and Indian War: In the first engagement of the war, Virginia militia under the 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeat a French reconnaissance party in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a conflict in North America between Great Britain and France, along with their respective Indigenous allies. Historians generally consider it part of the global Seven Years' War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763, although in the United States it is often viewed as a distinct conflict unassociated with any larger European war.

28/05/1644

English Civil War: Bolton Massacre by Royalist troops under the command of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby.

The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.

28/05/1588

The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, heading for the English Channel. (It will take until May 30 for all ships to leave port.)

The Spanish Armada was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, and was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War. The Armada was commanded by Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat appointed by Philip II of Spain. His orders were to sail up the English Channel, join with the army of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in Flanders, and escort an invasion force that would land in England and overthrow Elizabeth I. Its purpose was to reinstate Catholicism in England, end English support for the Dutch Republic in the north and prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas.

28/05/1533

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, declares the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn valid.

The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and primate of the Church of England. They are the diocesan bishop of the diocese of Canterbury and the metropolitan of the province of Canterbury. The archbishop is one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as a Lord Spiritual. They are also the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The 106th archbishop is Dame Sarah Mullally, who was confirmed on 28 January 2026 and is the first woman to hold the office.

28/05/1347

Marriage of Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and Helena Kantakouzene.

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title.

28/05/1242

Avignonet massacre: A group of Cathars, with the probable connivance of Count Raymond VII of Toulouse, murdered the inquisitor William Arnaud and eleven of his companions.

The Avignonet massacre occurred on the eve of 28 May 1242 when a small force, mainly consisting of Cathars, massacred a group of inquisitors during the Albigensian Crusade.

28/05/0934

English king Æthelstan begins his invasion of Scotland with.

This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the Anglo-Saxons from about 886, and while he was not the first king to claim to rule all of the English, his rule represents the start of the first unbroken line of kings to rule the whole of England, the House of Wessex.

28/05/0621

Battle of Hulao: Li Shimin, the son of the Chinese emperor Gaozu, defeats the numerically superior forces of Dou Jiande near the Hulao Pass (Henan). This victory decides the outcome of the civil war that followed the Sui dynasty's collapse in favour of the Tang dynasty.

The Battle of Hulao, or Battle of Sishui, was a decisive Tang victory over the rival Zheng and Hebei-based Xia polities during the transition from Sui to Tang. The battle took place during the Luoyang–Hulao campaign on 28 May 621 when a Xia army – led by Dou Jiande, ruler of Xia – was defeated attacking a smaller Tang army – led by Prince Li Shimin – entrenched at the strategic Hulao Pass.

30/05/2005

A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by the Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated. It is also the earliest event of which the precise date is known.

The eclipse of Thales was a solar eclipse, which was, according to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, accurately predicted by the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus. If Herodotus' account is accurate, this eclipse is the earliest recorded as being known in advance of its occurrence. According to Herodotus, the change of day into night was interpreted as an omen, and interrupted a battle in a long-standing war between the Medes and the Lydians in Anatolia. The only solar eclipse matching the presumed place, era, and conditions of visibility necessary to explain the historical event is the eclipse of 28 May 585 BC. How exactly Thales could have predicted a solar eclipse remains uncertain, however, and modern scholars are skeptical of the story's veracity. Some have argued for different dates, or for other interpretations of Herodotus's account.

On this day

World Hunger Day

Menstrual Hygiene Day

What the Weather Had in Store for Prag on 28th May 2026

28th May in the Stars – Star Sign Gemini

Personality Profile

Fun Facts About 28th May

Famous Birthdays on 28th May

Phil Foden, English footballer

Risi Pouri-Lane, New Zealand rugby sevens player

Cameron Boyce, American actor (died 2019)

Jodie Burrage, British tennis player

Kim Dahyun, South Korean rapper and singer

Alec Benjamin, American singer and songwriter

John Stones, English footballer

Daniel Alvaro, Australian rugby league player

Bárbara Luz, Portuguese tennis player

Danielle Lao, American tennis player

Kail Piho, Estonian skier

Kyle Walker, English footballer

NaVorro Bowman, American football player

Percy Harvin, American football player

Craig Kimbrel, American baseball player

David Perron, Canadian ice hockey player

T.J. Yates, American football player

Berrick Barnes, Australian rugby player

Bryant Dunston, American-Armenian basketball player

Michael Oher, American football player

Seth Rollins, American wrestler

Ingmar Vos, Dutch decathlete

Colbie Caillat, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Pablo Andrés González, Argentinian footballer

Kostas Mendrinos, Greek footballer

Carey Mulligan, English actress and singer

Steve Cronin, American soccer player

Humberto Sánchez, Dominican-American baseball player

Roman Atwood, American YouTuber

Alexa Davalos, French-American actress

Jhonny Peralta, Dominican-American baseball player

Laura Bailey, American voice actress

Daniel Cabrera, Dominican-American baseball player

Eric Ghiaciuc, American football player

Adam Green, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Miguel Pérez, Spanish footballer

Lucy Shuker, English tennis player

Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi Arabian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (died 2001)

Ronald Curry, American football player and coach

Jake Johnson, American actor

Elisabeth Hasselbeck, American talk show host and author

Steven Bell, Australian rugby league player

Zaza Enden, Georgian-Turkish wrestler, basketball player, and coach

Roberto Goretti, Italian footballer

Glenn Morrison, Australian rugby league player and coach

Liam O'Brien, American voice actor

Maura Johnston, American journalist, critic, and academic

Hans-Jörg Butt, German footballer

Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer

Marco Paulo Faria Lemos, Portuguese footballer and manager

Doriva, Brazilian footballer and manager

Michael Boogerd, Dutch cyclist and manager

Isabelle Carré, French actress and singer

Ekaterina Gordeeva, Russian figure skater and sportscaster

Marco Rubio, American lawyer and politician

Glenn Quinn, American actor (died 2002)

Mike DiFelice, American baseball player and manager

Rob Ford, Canadian politician, 64th Mayor of Toronto (died 2016)

Kylie Minogue, Australian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Glen Rice, American basketball player

Roger Kumble, American director, screenwriter, and playwright

Miljenko Jergović, Bosnian novelist and journalist

Gavin Robertson, Australian cricketer

Chris Ballew, American singer-songwriter and bass player

Mary Coughlan, Irish politician

Jeff Fenech, Australian boxer and trainer

Armen Gilliam, American basketball player and coach (died 2011)

Zsa Zsa Padilla, Filipino singer and actress

Phil Vassar, American singer-songwriter

Houman Younessi, Australian-American biologist and academic (died 2016)

Mark Sanford, American military veteran (USAF) and politician, 115th Governor of South Carolina

Mary Portas, English journalist and author