May 31
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
[edit] Births
- 1048 - Omar Khayyam, Persian poet, astronomer, mathematician and philosopher (d. 1131)
- 1443 - Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII of England (d. 1509)
- 1469 - King Manuel I of Portugal (d. 1521)
- 1656 - Marin Marais, French composer and viol player.
- 1750 - Karl August of Hardenberg, statesman and reformer (d. 1822)
- 1753 - Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud, French revolutionist (d. 1793)
- 1773 - Ludwig Tieck, German poet and writer (d. 1853)
- 1801 - Johann Georg Baiter, Swiss philologist (d. 1887)
- 1819 - Walt Whitman, American poet (d. 1892)
- 1838 - Henry Sidgwick, English philosopher (d. 1900)
- 1857 - Pope Pius XI (d. 1939)
- 1860 - Walter Sickert, English painter (d. 1942)
- 1872 - Heath Robinson, English cartoonist (d. 1944)
- 1883 - Lauri Kristian Relander, Finnish president (d. 1942)
- 1887 - Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and poet (d. 1975)
- 1892 - Michel Kikoine, Belarus paitner (d. 1968)
- 1894 - Fred Allen, American comedian (d. 1956)
- 1898 - Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, American clergyman (d. 1993)
- 1908 - Don Ameche, American actor (d. 1993)
- 1912 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (d. 1979)
- 1922 - Denholm Elliott, English actor (d. 1992)
- 1923 - Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005)
- 1926 - James Krüss, author (d. 1997)
- 1929 - Menahem Golan, producer
- 1930 - Clint Eastwood, American actor, director, producer
- 1931 - Shirley Verrett, American soprano
- 1932 - Jay Miner, American microchip designer (d. 1994)
- 1938 - Johnny PayCheck, American country music singer (d. 2003)
- 1938 - John Prescott, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- 1938 - Peter Yarrow, American folk singer ("Peter, Paul and Mary")
- 1939 - Terry Waite, British humanitarian
- 1943 - Sharon Gless, American actress
- 1943 - Joe Namath, American football star
- 1945 - Rainer Werner Fassbinder, director (d. 1982)
- 1948 - John Bonham, British musician, drummer with Led Zeppelin (d. September 25, 1980)
- 1949 - Tom Berenger, actor
- 1950 - Gregory Harrison, actor
- 1960 - Chris Elliott, comedian
- 1961 - Lea Thompson, actress
- 1962 - Corey Hart, singer/songwriter
- 1963 - Wesley Willis, musician
- 1965 - Brooke Shields, American model and actress
- 1976 - Colin Farrell, actor
- 1980 - Emanuel Ceciu, comedian
- 1984 - Jason Smith, Australian actor
[edit] Deaths
- 1246 - Isabella of Angouleme, queen of John of England
- 1349 - Thomas Wake
- 1408 - Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1358)
- 1495 - Cecily Neville, mother of Edward IV of England and Richard III of England, (b. 1415)
- 1680 - Joachim Neander, German Calvinist clergyman (b. 1650)
- 1740 - King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (b. 1688)
- 1747 - Andrei Osterman, Russian statesman (b. 1686)
- 1799 - Pierre Lemonnier, French astronomer (b. 1715)
- 1809 - Joseph Haydn, Austrian composer (b. 1732)
- 1809 - Jean Lannes, French Marshal of Empire (b. 1769)
- 1831 - Samuel Bentham, mechanical engineer (b. 1757)
- 1832 - Evariste Galois, mathematician (b. 1811)
- 1846 - Philip Marheineke, German Protestant divine (b. 1780)
- 1847 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, educator, author, and scientist (b. 1780)
- 1848 - Eugénie de Guérin, writer (b. 1805)
- 1910 - Elizabeth Blackwell, first female physician in the United States (b. 1821)
- 1957 - Leopold Staff, Polish poet (b. 1878)
- 1960 - Walther Funk, Nazi leader (b. 1890)
- 1960 - Willem Elsschot, Flemish writer (b. 1882)
- 1962 - Adolf Eichmann, Nazi official (b. 1906)
- 1977 - William Castle, American director (b. 1914)
- 1983 - Jack Dempsey, American boxer (b. 1895)
- 1986 - James Rainwater, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1996 - Paul Peter Piech, artist (b. 1920)
- 1996 - Timothy Leary, American LSD advocate (b. 1920)
- 2000 - Tito Puente, musician (b. 1923)
- 2000 - Johnnie Taylor, vocalist (b. 1938)
- 2004 - Robert Quine, guitarist (b. 1942)
