# 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:** 4
**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, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/61 "2012-05-31T15:50:32Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > By the way, I hate, hate, hate vanilla cake with keylime buttercream frosting, so whatever you do, don’t send me one on Groundhog Day, which for the record is February 2. If it’ll keep until November 1st, I’ll have yours. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/62 "2012-05-31T15:54:19Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I think you need to take your anti-paranoia med. Telling people that my birthday is May 13th reveals nothing, especially since I’m not using my real name. With the year attached, it might give somebody a tidbit of useful information, but then we’re not doing that, are we? I did. Bring it on Nigerian scammers. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/63 "2012-05-31T16:15:21Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > You guys do realize that you’ve just revealed your birthdays on the internet, right? And you realize that a lot of Dopers list their birthdays in their user profiles, right? It’s not dangerous information on its own. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/64 "2012-05-31T16:36:27Z")
Right, and I’ve revealed mine here too. But I’m just sayin’. . .Oh, nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/65 "2012-05-31T17:05:22Z")
Well, I was going to say that some dude named Jesus was born in the general vicinity of my birthday, but apparently the 24th was the date of the Eggnog Riot and, more awesomely, the WWI Christmas Truce. I must start smuggling in whiskey for eggnog to celebrate my b’day. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/66 "2012-05-31T17:21:55Z")
Ronald Reagan had surgery for hemorrhoids on the exact day I was born. No big deal, guys. Calm down. Yes, you can get my autograph. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/67 "2012-05-31T17:59:34Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Nothing of cultural significance happened on the actual day of my birth, but these events happened in other years: > > -Big Ben started keeping time > -Madison Square Garden opened > -The hull of the Titanic was launched > -Adolf Eichmann was hanged > -Vanity Fair revealed the identity of Deep Throat > -Tito Puente died > > Plus, I share a birthday with Clint Eastwood, Joe Namath, Brooke Shields and Colin Farrell. And it happens to be today. 😃 Happy birthday! BTW, which MSG? ---
**Author:** ![azraiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/68 "2012-05-31T18:39:36Z")
My birth date? The bicentennial of the U.S.’ declaration of independence (notice the non-capitalization). ---
**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, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/69 "2012-05-31T19:15:19Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Ronald Reagan had surgery for hemorrhoids on the exact day I was born. No big deal, guys. Calm down. Yes, you can get my autograph. We’re not worthy. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/70 "2012-05-31T19:53:25Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > The Epiphany of Christ. Not sure of the ‘historical’ significance of this but it is recognized as a religious day of celebration. But not the same year, right? On my birthday: - Emperor Caligula was assassinated (41) - Gold was discovered in Sutter’s Mill, CA, triggering the California Gold Rush (1848) - The first Boy Scout troop was organized (1908) - The first Macintosh computer goes on sale (1984) Those are all more-or-less historic I guess. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/71 "2012-05-31T20:21:35Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Happy birthday! BTW, which MSG? Thanks! And, the former Gilmore’s Garden, 26th & Madison, in 1879. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/72 "2012-05-31T20:28:13Z")
Jesus and I share a birthdate. Singer Annie Lennox and I share the same birthday. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/73 "2012-05-31T20:30:33Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > Thanks! And, the former Gilmore’s Garden, 26th & Madison, in 1879. I meant which chronologically (there were at least 4 MSGs) ---
**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, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/74 "2012-05-31T21:07:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jesus and I share a birthdate. > > Singer Annie Lennox and I share the same birthday. And my great grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/75 "2012-05-31T21:30:20Z")
I was born on August 12. My birthday falls during a major meteor shower - I enjoy telling people that the heavens themselves wept fire at my birth. And then I laugh maniacally. The Soviets also detonated their first thermonuclear weapon fifty years to the day before I was born; on that same day, two Greek islands were hit by a magnitude 7.3 earthquake. The Battle of Bogside - a particularly bloody 3-day riot in Northern Island - started on August 12, 1969. A year before I was born, the Mexican debt crisis kicked off. There is a non-zero possibility that I may, in fact, be the Antichrist. And I’m totally okay with that. 😃 ETA: Oh, and Manhattan was blacked-out on the day of my damned birth itself: [FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 1983 - The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/12/nyregion/friday-august-12-1983.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/76 "2012-05-31T21:39:25Z")
I share a birthday with William Shakespeare AND Miguel De Cervantes Shakespeare died on my birthday too. Which is kinda funny when you think about it. I also fancy myself a writer, must be an April thing ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/77 "2012-05-31T21:51:51Z")
19 December 1732 Benjamin Franklin began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac. 1776 Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay, in which he wrote, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” 1843 Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol.” 1946 War broke out in Indochina when Ho Chi Minh attacked the French. 1972 Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings. 1984 Britain and China signed an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty on July 1, 1997. 1998 President Bill Clinton impeached on two counts by the House of Representatives. 2003 Muammar al-Qaddafi of Libya announced that his country would discontinue development of weapons of mass destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/78 "2012-05-31T22:03:22Z")
There was a total eclipse of the sun on the day I was born. That probably accounts for a lot… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/79 "2012-05-31T22:19:06Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > I share a birthday with William Shakespeare AND Miguel De Cervantes Not unless you were born into a timewarp, and neither of them wrote sci-fi. 😉 I presume you were born April 23. That’s the date both of their _deaths_ are observed. Cervantes was born in September 1547 and Shakespeare in 1562. April 23 is believed to be the date of both Shakespeare’s birth and his death. Cervantes’ death is marked on April 23, but he actually died April 22 and was buried the next day. For whatever reason people gravitated to celebrating his death on April 23, maybe because of the Shakesepeare connection. But there’s another complication: in 1616 Spain was on the Gregorian calendar and England was on the Julian, so they didn’t really die on the same day. Cervants had been _muerte_ for 10 days when Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil. April 23 is International Day of the Book because UNESCO realized that the real writers’ creed is “facts should never get in the way of a good story.” You also share a birthday with Shirley Temple. Definitely. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/80 "2012-05-31T23:08:27Z")
Nikita Khrushchev pounded the desk with his shoe the day I was born. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=5)