# Historical significance of your birthday **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 31, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607 "2012-05-31T01:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/21 "2012-05-31T05:35:42Z")
I get to share mine with the Jonestown Massacre, although I had a thirty-year head start. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/22 "2012-05-31T05:53:08Z")
You are welcome to look over this list [December 4 Events in History](http://www.brainyhistory.com/days/december_4.html) for anything more noteworthy, but three days after I was born the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and urged the USA to join in battle in WWII. I don’t remember the day all that well, but it does get mentioned almost as much as 9/8/2001. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/23 "2012-05-31T06:05:15Z")
Adolf Hitler’s wedding anniversary, surrender of the rebels in the Irish 1916 Rising (I’m Irish). ---
**Author:** ![Rhaegar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/51bf81/32.png) [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/24 "2012-05-31T06:18:35Z")
Apollo 8 blasted off a few days after I was born. Ralph Macchio’s character in Karate Kid (not Ralph Macchio himself) was born on the same day as me. And Casper Van Dien of soaps and Starship Troopers fame was also born on the same day. Brad Pitt, Ty Cobb, Steven Spielberg, Katie Holmes, Christina Aguilera, and Ray Liotta also share my birthday, although not in the same year as me obviously. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/25 "2012-05-31T06:31:56Z")
Elliot Ness died the exact day I was born, May 16, 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/26 "2012-05-31T06:37:29Z")
The best known event that occurred on my birth date was the stock market crash, although the crash itself was several decades before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/27 "2012-05-31T06:48:08Z")
The Edmund Fitzgerald sank on November 10, and in 1775 the US Marine Corps was organized (in a tavern, not surprisingly.) I was about three weeks into boot camp in 1961 and was pleased that on my birthday a big lavish dinner was served in the mess hall and very little training got done as the day was considered a semi-holiday. Payback came the next morning as the drill instructors all showed up horribly hung over and took it out on us. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/28 "2012-05-31T07:19:02Z")
I was born on Election Day. My mother actually stopped in to cast her ballot on her way to the hospital. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/29 "2012-05-31T07:24:16Z")
Seventeen years after my birth, another historically significant event ( 😛 ) took place: The [Fall of the Berlin Wall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall). ---
**Author:** ![kenner116](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@kenner116](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenner116)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/30 "2012-05-31T08:16:08Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > I was born on Election Day. > My mother actually stopped in to cast her ballot on her way to the hospital. I was also born on Election Day, but my mom wasn’t able to cast her crucial Mondale vote. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/31 "2012-05-31T09:38:12Z")
Assassination of G. Julius Caesar ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/32 "2012-05-31T11:10:45Z")
A [whole lot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_13) of stuff, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![grama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@grama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grama)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/33 "2012-05-31T11:14:25Z")
well … 4/20 is kind of “weed day” right? also it’s hitler’s birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/34 "2012-05-31T11:58:26Z")
1928 – The U.K. Parliament passes the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis. 1971 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 banning the medicinal use of cannabis. Sorry about that, UK Dopers! > [@sandra\_nz](#): > > 9/11 You win - or, umm, lose? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/35 "2012-05-31T12:19:19Z")
> [@postcards](#): > > Let’s see… > I could go on, and so can you. [Right here](http://www.brainyhistory.com/events.html). **postcards** you are so right. On and on and on and on and on… 😃 A few notable July 29 events: 1987 Ben and Jerry’s and Jerry Garcia agree on a new flavor Cherry Garcia 1981 Prince Charles of England weds Lady Diane Spencer 1978 Pioneer 11 transmits images of Saturn and its rings 1974 Episcopal Church ordained female priests 1968 Pope Paul VI, in an encyclical entitled “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life), declares any artificial forms of birth control prohibited 1965 Beatles movie “Help” premieres, Queen Elizabeth attends 1958 President Eisenhower signs NASA and Space Act of 1958 1957 International Atomic Energy Agency formed by U.N. 1957 Jack Paar’s Tonight show premieres 1952 1st nonstop transpacific flight by a jet 1949 BBC radio begins broadcasting 1938 Comic strip “Dennis the Menace,” 1st appears 1936 RCA shows 1st real TV program (dancing, film on locomotives, Bonwit Teller fashion show and monologue from Tobacco Road and comedy) 1588 Attacking Spanish Armada defeated and scattered by English defenders I’ve always been proud to know I share a birthday with such historically noteworthy persons as Benito Mussolini and Gregory Rasputin. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/36 "2012-05-31T12:45:56Z")
Jerry Mather’s birthday. Beat that. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/37 "2012-05-31T12:46:42Z")
I was born the same day Neil Armstrong _allegedly_ (ahem) walked on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/38 "2012-05-31T12:47:31Z")
I was born 56 years to the day after Kitty Hawk. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/39 "2012-05-31T12:57:43Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Jerry Mather’s birthday. Beat that. Well, besides what I mention above, it’s also Woody Allen’s birthday. And Bette Midler’s birthday. Interesting Trivia: Their birthdays are precisely ten years apart. Also, they co-starred in _Scenes from a Mall_, but I’m sure that’s a coincidence. Uninteresting trivia: My birthday and Bette Midler’s are also ten years apart, but I haven’t co-starred with her in anything. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/40 "2012-05-31T13:13:17Z")
A lot of stuff happened on my birthday, such as Watergate and the opening of the newly painted Sistene Chapel. I share a birthday with Larry Flynn and Jenny McCarthy. And we celebrate all of the saints. Including the New Orleans football team. But on the actual day of my birth? 50,000 women in 60 cities participate in the inaugural Women Strike for Peace (WSP) against nuclear proliferation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=3)