ΕVENTS OF THIS DAY IN THE PAST 23/10

[edit]

• 534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first recorded actor to portray a character onstage.
• 1174 – Saladin enters Damascus, and adds it to his domain.
• 1248 – Conquest of Seville by Christian troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile.
• 1499 – Pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck is hanged for reportedly attempting to escape from the Tower of London. He had invaded England in 1497, claiming to be the lost son of King Edward IV of England.
• 1510 – First campaign of the Ottoman Empire against the Kingdom of Imereti (modern western Georgia). Ottoman armies sack the capital Kutaisi and burn Gelati Monastery.
• 1531 – The Second War of Kappel results in the dissolution of the Protestant alliance in Switzerland.
• 1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship.
• 1733 – The start of the 1733 slave insurrection on St. John in what was then the Danish West Indies.
• 1808 – French and Poles defeat the Spanish at Battle of Tudela.
• 1810 – Sarah Booth debuts at the Royal Opera House.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Chattanooga begins: Union forces led by General Ulysses S. Grant reinforce troops at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and counter-attack Confederate troops.
• 1867 – The Manchester Martyrs are hanged in Manchester, England, for killing a police officer while freeing two Irish nationalists from custody.
• 1876 – Corrupt Tammany Hall leader William Magear Tweed (better known as Boss Tweed) is delivered to authorities in New York City after being captured in Spain.
• 1889 – The first jukebox goes into operation at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco.
• 1890 – King William III of the Netherlands dies without a male heir and a special law is passed to allow his daughter Princess Wilhelmina to succeed him.
• 1910 – Johan Alfred Ander becomes the last person to be executed in Sweden.
• 1914 – Mexican Revolution: The last of U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, occupied seven months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair.
• 1918 – Heber J. Grant succeeds Joseph F. Smith as the seventh president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
• 1924 – Edwin Hubble's discovery, that the Andromeda "nebula" is actually another island galaxy far outside of our own Milky Way, is first published in The New York Times.
• 1934 – An Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission in the Ogaden discovers an Italian garrison at Walwal, well within Ethiopian territory. This leads to the Abyssinia Crisis.
• 1936 – Life magazine is reborn as a photo magazine and enjoys instant success.
• 1939 – World War II: HMS Rawalpindi is sunk by the German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.
• 1940 – World War II: Romania becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.
• 1943 – World War II: The Deutsche Opernhaus on Bismarckstraße in the Berlin neighborhood of Charlottenburg is destroyed. It will eventually be rebuilt in 1961 and be called the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
• 1943 – World War II: Tarawa and Makin atolls fall to American forces.
• 1946 – French naval bombardment of Hai Phong, Vietnam, kills thousands of civilians.
• 1953 – Pilot Felix Moncla and Lieutenant Robert Wilson disappear while in pursuit of a mysterious craft over Lake Superior.
• 1955 – The Cocos Islands are transferred from the control of the United Kingdom to that of Australia.
• 1959 – French President Charles de Gaulle declares in a speech in Strasbourg his vision for "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals".
• 1963 – The BBC broadcasts the first episode of An Unearthly Child (starring William Hartnell), the first story from the first series of Doctor Who, which is now the world's longest running science fiction drama.
• 1971 – Representatives of the People's Republic of China attend the United Nations, including the United Nations Security Council, for the first time.
• 1972 – The Soviet Union makes its final attempt at successfully launching the N1 rocket.
• 1974 – Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers, and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.
• 1976 – Apneist Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 m undersea without breathing equipment.
• 1978 – Cyclone kills about 1000 people in eastern Sri Lanka.
• 1978 – The Geneva Frequency Plan of 1975 goes into effect, realigning many of Europe's longwave and mediumwave broadcasting frequencies.
• 1980 – The 6.9 M_w Irpinia earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 2,483–4,900, and injuring 7,700–8,934.
• 1981 – Iran–Contra affair: Ronald Reagan signs the top secret National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the Central Intelligence Agency the authority to recruit and support Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
• 1985 – Gunmen hijack EgyptAir Flight 648 en route from Athens to Cairo. When the plane lands in Malta, Egyptian commandos storm the aircraft, but 60 people die in the raid.
• 1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at COMDEX in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 1993 – Rachel Whiteread wins both the £20,000 Turner Prize award for best British modern artist and the £40,000 K Foundation art award for the worst artist of the year.
• 1996 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 is hijacked, then crashes into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125.
• 2001 – The Convention on Cybercrime is signed in Budapest, Hungary.
• 2003 – Rose Revolution: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.
• 2004 – The Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi, the largest religious building in Georgia, is consecrated.
• 2005 – Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country.
• 2006 – A series of bombings kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.
• 2007 – MS Explorer, a cruise liner carrying 154 people, sinks in the Antarctic Ocean south of Argentina after hitting an iceberg near the South Shetland Islands. There are no fatalities.
• 2009 – The Maguindanao massacre occurs in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, Philippines.
• 2010 – Bombardment of Yeonpyeong: North Korean artillery attack kills two civilians and two marines on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.
• 2011 – Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.
• 2015 – Blue Origin's New Shepard space vehicle became the first rocket to successfully fly to space and then return to Earth for a controlled, vertical landing.

Births[edit]

• 870 – Alexander, Byzantine emperor (d. 913)
• 912 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 973)
• 1190 – Pope Clement IV (d. 1268)
• 1221 – Alfonso X of Castile (d. 1284)
• 1402 – Jean de Dunois, French soldier (d. 1468)
• 1417 – William FitzAlan, 16th Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1487)
• 1496 – Clément Marot, French poet (d. 1544)
• 1508 – Francis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, youngest son of Henry the Middle (d. 1549)
• 1553 – Prospero Alpini, Italian physician and botanist (d. 1617)
• 1616 – John Wallis, English mathematician (d. 1703)
• 1632 – Jean Mabillon, French monk and scholar (d. 1707)
• 1641 – Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch lawyer and politician (d. 1720)
• 1687 – Jean Baptiste Senaillé, French violinist and composer (d. 1730)
• 1705 – Thomas Birch, English historian and author (d. 1766)
• 1715 – Pierre Charles Le Monnier, French astronomer and author (d. 1799)
• 1719 – Spranger Barry, Irish actor (d. 1777)
• 1749 – Edward Rutledge, American captain and politician, 39th Governor of South Carolina (d. 1800)
• 1760 – François-Noël Babeuf, French journalist and activist (d. 1797)
• 1781 – Theodor Valentin Volkmar, German lawyer and politician, 1st Mayor of Marburg (d. 1847)
• 1785 – Jan Roothaan, Dutch priest, 21st Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (d. 1853)
• 1803 – Theodore Dwight Weld, American author and activist (d. 1895)
• 1804 – Franklin Pierce, American general, lawyer, and politician, 14th President of the United States (d. 1869)
• 1820 – Isaac Todhunter, English mathematician and author (d. 1884)
• 1837 – Johannes Diderik van der Waals, Dutch physicist and thermodynamicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
• 1838 – Stephanos Skouloudis, Greek banker and politician, 97th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1928)
• 1858 – Albert Ranft, Swedish actor and director (d. 1938)
• 1860 – Hjalmar Branting, Swedish journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
• 1864 – Henry Bourne Joy, American businessman (d. 1936)
• 1868 – Mary Brewster Hazelton, American painter (d. 1953)
• 1869 – Valdemar Poulsen, Danish engineer (d. 1942)
• 1871 – William Watt, Australian accountant and politician, 24th Premier of Victoria (d. 1946)
• 1875 – Anatoly Lunacharsky, Russian journalist and politician (d. 1933)
• 1876 – Manuel de Falla, Spanish pianist and composer (d. 1946)
• 1878 – Frank Pick, English lawyer and businessman (d. 1941)
• 1883 – José Clemente Orozco, Mexican painter (d. 1949)
• 1886 – Eduards Smiļģis, Latvian actor and director (d. 1966)
• 1887 – Boris Karloff, English actor (d. 1969)
• 1887 – Henry Moseley, English physicist and chemist (d. 1915)
• 1888 – Harpo Marx, American actor and singer (d. 1964)
• 1889 – Harry Sunderland, Australian-English journalist and businessman (d. 1964)
• 1890 – El Lissitzky, Russian photographer and architect (d. 1941)
• 1892 – Erté, Russian-French illustrator and designer (d. 1990)
• 1896 – Klement Gottwald, Czechoslovak politician, President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (d. 1953)
• 1896 – Tsunenohana Kan'ichi, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 31st Yokozuna (d. 1960)
• 1897 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Bangladeshi−English historian, author, and critic (d. 1999)
• 1897 – Karl Gebhardt, German physician and war criminal (d. 1948)
• 1899 – Manuel dos Reis Machado, Brazilian martial artist and educator (d. 1974)
• 1902 – Aaron Bank, American colonel (d. 2004)
• 1902 – Victor Jory, Canadian-American actor (d. 1982)
• 1905 – K. Alvapillai, Sri Lankan civil servant (d. 1979)
• 1906 – Betti Alver, Estonian author and poet (d. 1989)
• 1907 – Lars Leksell, Swedish physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1986)
• 1907 – Run Run Shaw, Chinese-Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist, founded Shaw Brothers Studio and TVB (d. 2014)
• 1908 – Nelson S. Bond, American author and playwright (d. 2006)
• 1909 – Nigel Tranter, Scottish historian and author (d. 2000)
• 1912 – George O'Hanlon, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
• 1914 – Donald Nixon, American businessman (d. 1987)
• 1914 – Wilson Tucker, American projectionist and author (d. 2006)
• 1915 – John Dehner, American actor (d. 1992)
• 1915 – Marc Simont, French-American illustrator (d. 2013)
• 1915 – Anne Burns, British aeronautical engineer and glider pilot (d. 2001)
• 1916 – Michael Gough, Malaysian-English actor (d. 2011)
• 1916 – P. K. Page, English-Canadian author and poet (d. 2010)
• 1920 – Paul Celan, Romanian-French poet and translator (d. 1970)
• 1921 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (d. 1960)
• 1922 – Manuel Fraga Iribarne, Spanish politician, 3rd President of the Xunta of Galicia (d. 2012)
• 1922 – Võ Văn Kiệt, Vietnamese soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Vietnam (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Daniel Brewster, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
• 1923 – Billy Haughton, American harness racer and trainer (d. 1986)
• 1923 – Julien J. LeBourgeois, American admiral (d. 2012)
• 1923 – Gloria Whelan, American author and poet
• 1924 – Irvin J. Borowsky, American publisher and philanthropist (d. 2014)
• 1924 – Josephine D'Angelo, American baseball player and educator (d. 2013)
• 1924 – Paula Raymond, American model and actress (d. 2003)
• 1924 – Colin Turnbull, English-American anthropologist and author (d. 1994)
• 1925 – José Napoleón Duarte, Salvadoran engineer and politician, President of El Salvador (d. 1990)
• 1925 – Johnny Mandel, American composer and conductor
• 1925 – Elaine Horseman, English author and educator (d. 1999)
• 1926 – Sathya Sai Baba, Indian guru and philosopher (d. 2011)
• 1926 – R. L. Burnside, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
• 1927 – John Cole, Irish-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Guy Davenport, American author and scholar (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Angelo Sodano, Italian cardinal
• 1928 – Jerry Bock, American composer (d. 2010)
• 1928 – John Coleman, Australian rules footballer and coach (d. 1973)
• 1928 – Elmarie Wendel, American actress and singer
• 1929 – Hal Lindsey, American evangelist and author
• 1929 – Gloria Lynne, American singer (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Geeta Dutt, Indian singer and actress (d. 1972)
• 1930 – Robert Easton, American actor (d. 2011)
• 1930 – Jack McKeon, American baseball player and manager
• 1932 – Michel David-Weill, French-American banker
• 1932 – Kunie Tanaka, Japanese actor
• 1933 – Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish composer and conductor
• 1933 – Ali Shariati, Iranian sociologist and activist (d. 1977)
• 1934 – Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (d. 1994)
• 1934 – Robert Towne, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1935 – Ken Eastwood, Australian cricketer
• 1935 – Vladislav Volkov, Russian engineer and astronaut (d. 1971)
• 1936 – Robert Barnard, English author, critic, and educator (d. 2013)
• 1936 – Steve Landesberg, American actor and screenwriter (d. 2010)
• 1936 – Mats Traat, Estonian poet and author
• 1937 – Graham Hearne, English lawyer and businessman
• 1938 – Patrick Kelly, English archbishop
• 1939 – Betty Everett, American singer and pianist (d. 2001)
• 1940 – Luis Tiant, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
• 1941 – Alan Mullery, English footballer and manager
• 1941 – Franco Nero, Italian actor and producer
• 1942 – Susan Anspach, American actress
• 1943 – Andrew Goodman, American activist (d. 1964)
• 1943 – Sue Nicholls, English actress
• 1943 – David Nolan, American activist and politician (d. 2010)
• 1943 – Petar Skansi, Croatian basketball player and coach
• 1944 – Joe Eszterhas, Hungarian-American screenwriter and producer
• 1944 – Peter Lindbergh, German-French photographer and director
• 1944 – James Toback, American actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1945 – Assi Dayan, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Jim Doyle, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of Wisconsin
• 1945 – Keith Hampshire, English-Canadian singer-songwriter and radio host
• 1945 – Jerry Harris, American sculptor
• 1945 – Dennis Nilsen, Scottish serial killer
• 1945 – Tony Pond, English race car driver (d. 2002)
• 1946 – Giorgos Koudas, Greek footballer and manager
• 1946 – Diana Quick, English actress
• 1946 – Bobby Rush, American activist and politician
• 1947 – Jean-Pierre Foucault, French radio and television host
• 1948 – Bruce Vilanch, American actor and screenwriter
• 1948 – Frank Worthington, English footballer and manager
• 1949 – Alan Paul, American singer-songwriter and actor
• 1949 – Sandra Stevens, English singer (Brotherhood of Man)
• 1950 – Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri, Indian indologist, author, and academic
• 1950 – Carlos Eire, Cuban-born American author and academic
• 1950 – Charles Schumer, American lawyer and politician
• 1951 – Maik Galakos, Greek footballer and manager
• 1952 – Bill Troiano, American tuba player and educator
• 1953 – Rick Bayless, American chef and author
• 1953 – Francis Cabrel, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1953 – Johan de Meij, Dutch trombonist, composer, and conductor
• 1953 – Martin Kent, Australian cricketer
• 1953 – Volodymyr Sabodan, Ukrainian metropolitan (d. 2014)
• 1954 – Pete Allen, English clarinet player and saxophonist
• 1954 – Glenn Brummer, American baseball player
• 1954 – Bruce Hornsby, American singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1954 – Aavo Pikkuus, Estonian cyclist
• 1955 – Steven Brust, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and author (Cats Laughing)
• 1955 – Ludovico Einaudi, Italian pianist and composer
• 1955 – Dinos Kouis, Greek footballer and coach
• 1955 – Mary Landrieu, American politician
• 1956 – Bruce Edgar, New Zealand cricketer
• 1956 – Shane Gould, Australian swimmer and coach
• 1958 – Martin Snedden, New Zealand cricketer and lawyer
• 1959 – Maxwell Caulfield, English-American actor
• 1960 – Robin Roberts, American sportscaster and journalist
• 1961 – Keith Ablow, American psychiatrist and author
• 1961 – Nicolas Bacri, French composer
• 1961 – Merv Hughes, Australian cricketer
• 1961 – John Schnatter, American businessman, founded Papa John's Pizza
• 1961 – Peter Stanford, English journalist and author
• 1962 – Lance King, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1962 – Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan union leader and politician, President of Venezuela
• 1963 – Gwynne Shotwell, American businesswoman, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX
• 1964 – Frank Rutherford, Bahamian triple jumper
• 1965 – Jennifer Michael Hecht, American historian, author, and poet
• 1966 – Vincent Cassel, French actor and producer
• 1966 – Kevin Gallacher, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
• 1966 – Jerry Kelly, American golfer
• 1967 – Gary Kirsten, South African cricketer and coach
• 1967 – Salli Richardson, American actress, director, and producer
• 1968 – Robert Denmark, English runner and coach
• 1968 – Hamid Hassani, Iranian lexicographer, linguist, and academic
• 1968 – Anthony Sullivan, English rugby league and union player
• 1968 – Kirsty Young, Scottish journalist
• 1969 – Olivier Beretta, Monégasque racing driver
• 1969 – Mike Lünsmann, German footballer
• 1969 – Robin Padilla, Filipino actor, martial artist, and screenwriter
• 1969 – Jonathan Seet, Singaporean-Canadian singer-songwriter and producer
• 1970 – Zoë Ball, English radio and television host
• 1970 – Oded Fehr, Israeli-American actor
• 1970 – Danny Hoch, American actor and screenwriter
• 1970 – Karsten Müller, German chess player and author
• 1971 – Khaled Al-Muwallid, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1971 – Lisa Arch, American actress
• 1971 – Vin Baker, American basketball player and coach
• 1971 – Chris Hardwick, American comedian, actor, producer, and television host
• 1974 – Juventud Guerrera, Mexican wrestler and sportscaster
• 1974 – Saku Koivu, Finnish ice hockey player
• 1974 – Malik Rose, American basketball player and sportscaster
• 1974 – Jamie Sharper, American football player
• 1976 – Cüneyt Çakır, Turkish footballer and referee
• 1976 – Page Kennedy, American actor and rapper
• 1976 – Tony Renna, American race car driver (d. 2003)
• 1976 – Murat Salar, German-Turkish footballer and manager
• 1976 – Kohei Suwama, Japanese wrestler
• 1977 – Myriam Boileau, Canadian diver
• 1977 – Adam Eaton, American baseball player
• 1977 – David Lucas, English footballer
• 1978 – Ali Güneş, German-Turkish footballer
• 1978 – Tommy Marth, American saxophonist (d. 2012)
• 1978 – Alison Mosshart, American singer-songwriter
• 1978 – Kayvan Novak, English actor, director, and screenwriter
• 1979 – Kelly Brook, English model and actress
• 1979 – Nihat Kahveci, Turkish footballer and manager
• 1980 – Ishmael Beah, Sierra Leonean child soldier and American author
• 1980 – David Britz, American nanotechnologist and engineer
• 1980 – Jonathan Papelbon, American baseball player
• 1982 – Colby Armstrong, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Dallas Johnson, Australian rugby league player
• 1982 – Igor Kuzmin, Estonian rower
• 1982 – Asafa Powell, Jamaican sprinter
• 1983 – Nasser Al-Shamrani, Saudi Arabian footballer
• 1983 – Fatih Yiğituşağı, Turkish footballer
• 1983 – Kevin Clancy, Scottish football referee
• 1984 – Amruta Khanvilkar, Indian actress and dancer
• 1985 – Viktor Ahn, South Korean speed skater
• 1985 – Mike Tolbert, American football player
• 1987 – Nicklas Bäckström, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1987 – Ossi Kanervo, Finnish figure skater
• 1988 – Sebastian Nachreiner, German footballer
• 1990 – Shaun Hutchinson, English footballer
• 1990 – Eddy Kim, South Korean singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1990 – Alena Leonova, Russian figure skater
• 1991 – Ahmed Shehzad, Pakistani cricketer
• 1992 – Miley Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1992 – Gabriel Landeskog, Swedish ice hockey player
• 1994 – Wes Burns, Welsh footballer
• 1995 – Kelly Rosen, Estonian footballer
• 1996 – Anna Yanovskaya, Russian ice dancer

Deaths[edit]

• 386 – Jin Feidi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 342)
• 947 – Berthold, Duke of Bavaria (b. 900)
• 955 – Eadred, English king (b. 923)
• 1161 – Adam, Abbot of Ebrach
• 1183 – William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester (b. 1116)
• 1407 – Louis I, Duke of Orléans (b. 1372)
• 1457 – Ladislaus the Posthumous, Hungarian king (b. 1440)
• 1464 – Blessed Margaret of Savoy (b. 1390)
• 1499 – Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne (b. c. 1474)
• 1503 – Bona of Savoy (b. 1449)
• 1503 – Margaret of York (b. 1446)
• 1572 – Bronzino, Italian painter and poet (b. 1503)
• 1585 – Thomas Tallis, English composer (b. c.1505)
• 1616 – Richard Hakluyt, English priest and author (b. 1552)
• 1682 – Claude Lorrain, French-Italian painter and engraver (b. 1604)
• 1763 – Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff, German field marshal and diplomat (b. 1673)
• 1769 – Constantine Mavrocordatos, Greek prince (b. 1711)
• 1803 – Roger Newdigate, English politician (b. 1719)
• 1804 – Richard Graves, English minister and author (b. 1715)
• 1804 – Ivan Mane Jarnović, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1747)
• 1807 – Jean-François Rewbell, French lawyer and politician (b. 1747)
• 1814 – Elbridge Gerry, American merchant and politician, 5th Vice President of the United States of America (b. 1744)
• 1833 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1762)
• 1890 – William III of the Netherlands (b. 1817)
• 1899 – Thomas Henry Ismay, English businessman, founded White Star Line (b. 1837)
• 1905 – John Burdon-Sanderson, English physiologist and academic (b. 1828)
• 1910 – Hawley Harvey Crippen, American physician and murderer (b. 1862)
• 1927 – Miguel Pro, Mexican priest and martyr (b. 1891)
• 1934 – Giovanni Brunero, Italian cyclist (b. 1895)
• 1937 – Jagadish Chandra Bose, Bangladeshi-Indian physicist, biologist, botanist, and archaeologist (b. 1858)
• 1937 – George Albert Boulenger, Belgian-English zoologist and botanist (b. 1858)
• 1937 – Miklós Kovács Hungarian-Slovene cantor and poet (b. 1857)
• 1948 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (b. 1900)
• 1958 – Nikolaos Georgantas, Greek discus thrower (b. 1880)
• 1958 – Johnston McCulley, American author and screenwriter (b. 1883)
• 1966 – Seán T. O'Kelly, Irish politician, 2nd President of Ireland (b. 1882)
• 1970 – Yusof bin Ishak, Singaporean journalist and politician, 1st President of Singapore (b. 1910)
• 1972 – Marie Wilson, American actress (b. 1916)
• 1973 – Sessue Hayakawa, Japanese actor, director, and producer (b. 1889)
• 1974 – notable victims of the Massacre of the Sixty:
  • Abiye Abebe, Ethiopian general and politician (b. 1918)
  • Aman Andom, Ethiopian general and politician, President of Ethiopia (b. 1924)
  • Aklilu Habte-Wold, Ethiopian politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1912)
  • Asrate Kassa, Ethiopian commander (b. 1922)
  • Endelkachew Makonnen, Ethiopian politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1927)
• 1974 – Cornelius Ryan, Irish-American journalist and author (b. 1920)
• 1976 – André Malraux, French theorist and author (b. 1901)
• 1979 – Merle Oberon, Indian-American actress and singer (b. 1911)
• 1979 – Judee Sill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1944)
• 1982 – Grady Nutt, American minister and author (b. 1934)
• 1983 – Juhan Muks, Estonian painter (b. 1899)
• 1983 – Waheed Murad, Pakistani actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1938)
• 1984 – Leonard Baker, American historian and author (b. 1931)
• 1990 – Roald Dahl, British novelist, poet, and screenwriter (b. 1916)
• 1990 – Bo Díaz, Venezuelan baseball player (b. 1953)
• 1991 – Klaus Kinski, German-American actor and director (b. 1926)
• 1992 – Roy Acuff, American singer-songwriter and fiddler (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Jean-François Thiriart, Belgian politician (b. 1922)
• 1994 – Art Barr, American wrestler (b. 1966)
• 1994 – Irwin Kostal, American songwriter, screenwriter, and publisher (b. 1911)
• 1995 – Louis Malle, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1932)
• 1995 – Junior Walker, American singer and saxophonist (b. 1931)
• 1996 – Mohamed Amin, Kenyan photographer and journalist (b. 1943)
• 1996 – Art Porter, Jr., American saxophonist and songwriter (b. 1961)
• 1997 – Jorge Mas Canosa, Cuban-American businessman (b. 1939)
• 2000 – Brian Rawlinson, English actor and playwright (b. 1931)
• 2001 – Bo Belinsky, American baseball player (b. 1936)
• 2001 – Mary Whitehouse, English educator and activist (b. 1910)
• 2002 – Roberto Matta, Chilean-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1911)
• 2004 – Pete Franklin, American radio host (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Constance Cummings, American-English actress (b. 1910)
• 2005 – Frank Gatski, American football player and soldier (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Jesús Blancornelas, Mexican journalist, co-founded Zeta Magazine (b. 1936)
• 2006 – Nick Clarke, English journalist (b. 1948)
• 2006 – Betty Comden, American actress, singer, and screenwriter (b. 1917)
• 2006 – Alexander Litvinenko, Russian spy and defector (b. 1962)
• 2006 – Philippe Noiret, French actor (b. 1930)
• 2006 – Anita O'Day, American singer (b. 1919)
• 2006 – Willie Pep, American boxer and referee (b. 1922)
• 2007 – Joe Kennedy, American baseball player (b. 1979)
• 2007 – Óscar Carmelo Sánchez, Bolivian footballer and manager (b. 1971)
• 2007 – Robert Vesco, American-Cuban financier (b. 1935)
• 2007 – Pat Walsh, New Zealand rugby union player (b. 1936)
• 2009 – José Arraño Acevedo, Chilean journalist and historian (b. 1921)
• 2010 – Nassos Daphnis, Greek-American painter and sculptor (b. 1914)
• 2010 – Joyce Howard, English-American actress (b. 1922)
• 2011 – Jim Rathmann, American race car driver (b. 1928)
• 2012 – José Luis Borau, Spanish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1929)
• 2012 – Chuck Diering, American baseball player (b. 1923)
• 2012 – Larry Hagman, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Diana Isaac, English-New Zealand businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1932)
• 2013 – Jay Leggett, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1963)
• 2013 – Peter B. Lewis, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1933)
• 2013 – Wayne Mills, American singer-songwriter (b. 1969)
• 2013 – Costanzo Preve, Italian philosopher and theorist (b. 1943)
• 2014 – Marion Barry, American lawyer and politician, 2nd Mayor of the District of Columbia (b. 1936)
• 2014 – Dorothy Cheney, American tennis player (b. 1916)
• 2014 – Metropolitan Mikhail of Asyut (b. 1921)
• 2014 – Murray Oliver, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (b. 1937)
• 2014 – Clive Palmer, English banjo player (b. 1943)
• 2014 – Pat Quinn, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1943)
• 2015 – Jamiluddin Aali, Pakistani poet, playwright, and critic (b. 1925)
• 2015 – Manmeet Bhullar, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1980)
• 2015 – Dan Fante, American author and playwright (b. 1944)
• 2015 – Douglass North, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
• 2015 – Jim Sochor, American football player and coach (b. 1938)
• 2016 – Rita Barberá Nolla, Spanish politician (b. 1948)
• 2016 – Ralph Branca, American baseball player (b. 1926)
• 2016 – Andrew Sachs, German-born British actor (b. 1930)