# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/81 "2012-05-31T23:20:41Z")
Buffalo Springfield formed on MY birthday! And a huge tornado hit Jackson, MS and 50 plus people died. So I gues I - uh - should probably shut up, right? SUCKS to be me. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/82 "2012-05-31T23:24:57Z")
My name is Michael. And I was born on Saint Michael’s Day (Sept. 29th). ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/83 "2012-05-31T23:59:50Z")
> [@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. My grandfather has not voted ONCE in his entire votable life and that was in 1950, the day my mother was born. He forgot. 1990 - first time a black person was inaugurated as governor in the US 1980 - I was born and Togo’s constitution became effective and the head of Belgium’s drug brigade was arrested for drug smuggling. 1969 - Beatles release “Yellow Submarine” album (coincidentally, my 21st birthday was a Yellow Submarine birthday. My boyfriend bought me the set of Beatles figs, each of which came with something from the movie, and he also gave me a copy of the movie, which had recently been re-released) 1966 - First black person selected for President cabinet 1957 - First Frisbee produced by Wham-o! 1930 - “Mickey Mouse” comic strip 1st appears 1863 - Thomas Crapper pioneers one-piece pedestal flushing toilet (this one makes me way more amused than it should) 1559 - Elizabeth I crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey In addition to all the interesting stuff, a crapload of people have died on my birthday due to earthquakes, fire, and soccer games. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/84 "2012-06-01T00:28:54Z")
March 25: 421 - Founding of Venice (according to legend) 1655 - Discovery of Titan 1807 - Slavery abolished in the British Empire 1821 - Greek War of Independence begins 1911 - Triangle Shirtwaist fire 1918 - Belarusian People’s Republic established 1947 - Coal mine explosion kills 111 in Centralia, Illinois 1948 - First successful tornado forecast 1957 - European Economic Community established (precursor to the EU) 1965 - Completion of one of several marches lead by Martin Luther King, Jr 1979 - First space shuttle (Columbia) delivered 1990 - Nightclub fire kills 87 in the Bronx 1995 - First Wiki (WikiWikiWeb) launched 2006 - Capitol Hill massacre ([and more from Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_25)) ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/85 "2012-06-01T00:58:54Z")
Noteable, IMO, events that my birthday (Jan 16) fell on the anniversary of, as listed on wikipedia (sticking to ones that happened before I was born): 27 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus is granted the title Augustus by the Roman Senate, marking the beginning of the Roman Empire. 1707 – The Scottish Parliament ratifies the Act of Union, paving the way for the creation of Great Britain. 1919 – Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification. 1920 – The League of Nations holds its first council meeting in Paris, France. 1945 – Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker. The births of: 1901 – Frank Zamboni 1932 – Dian Fossey 1948 – John Carpenter 1950 – Robert Schimmel 1959 – Sade 1969 – Per “Dead” Ohlin 1970 – Garth Ennis 1974 – Kate Moss And the deaths of: 1935 – Ma Barker 1936 – Albert Fish ---
**Author:** ![imthjckaz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/imthjckaz/32/3223_2.png) [@imthjckaz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/imthjckaz)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/86 "2012-06-01T01:30:55Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, many years before I was born. > [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, on the actual day I was born. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech on my 2nd birthday. I guess that makes me the eldest of the 8-28 group. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/87 "2012-06-01T02:09:06Z")
It took a very long time until I could find anything memorable on my birthday, but eventually I discovered it was the same day as the Battle of Bosworth Field (aka, “My kingdom for a horse”). My daughter was born on Armistice Day, though. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/88 "2012-06-01T02:45:47Z")
I share my birthday with Garfield the Cat, Talk Like A Pirate Day (arrrr!), Greg Louganis brained himself on a diving board in 1988, “Captain EO” starring Micheal Jackson premieres at EPCOT (1986) and the Mary Tyler Moore show debuted (1970). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/89 "2012-06-01T03:16:20Z")
666 years earlier Dante began his descent into hell. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/90 "2012-06-01T10:48:53Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > By the way, I hate, hate, hate vanilla cake with keylime buttercream frosting, so whatever you do, don’t send me one I, too, shall hate those who send me such comestibles like unto the heat of a thousand burning suns and set immediately to plotting their horrible bloody demise as soon as I come down from the sugar high and stop going AR NOM NOM NOM like Cookie Monster, whose birthday I forgot to mention I share. How _did_ they come up with the Muppets’s birthdays, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![wayward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a87d85/32.png) [@wayward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wayward)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/91 "2012-06-01T13:40:44Z")
Groundhog Day ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/92 "2012-06-01T13:50:14Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I meant which chronologically (there were at least 4 MSGs) I have no idea. Was there one before 1879? ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/93 "2012-06-01T13:53:22Z")
On the day of my birth, Tricia Nixon got married at the White House. 23 years later, OJ Simpson killed his ex-wife. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/94 "2012-06-02T12:34:18Z")
Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser Beat that you pretenders. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/95 "2012-06-04T06:35:46Z")
1325 – Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 – France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England. 1598 – Boris Godunov becomes Czar of Russia. 1608 – Fire destroys Jamestown, Virginia. 1610 – Galileo Galilei makes his first observation of the four Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europa, although he is not able distinguish the last two until the following day. 1782 – The first American commercial bank, the Bank of North America, opens. 1785 – Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon. 1797 – The modern Italian flag is first used. 1835 – HMS Beagle drops anchor off the Chonos Archipelago. 1885 - Alois and Klara Hitler are married. Adolf is born four years later. 1894 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film. 1904 – The distress signal “CQD” is established only to be replaced two years later by “SOS”. 1919 – Montenegrin guerrilla fighters rebel against the planned annexation of Montenegro by Serbia, but fail. 1920 – The New York State Assembly refuses to seat five duly elected Socialist assemblymen. 1922 – Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64-57 vote. 1927 – The first transatlantic telephone service is established – from New York, New York to London, England, United Kingdom. 1931 – Guy Menzies flies the first solo non-stop trans-Tasman flight (from Australia to New Zealand) in 11 hours and 45 minutes, crash-landing on New Zealand’s west coast. 1935 – Benito Mussolini and French Foreign minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco-Italian Agreement. 1940 – Winter War: The Finnish 9th Division stops and completely destroys the overwhelming Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road. 1942 – World War II: The siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins. 1945 – World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. 1948 – Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of a supposed UFO. 1954 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: the first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM. 1959 – The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. 1960 – The Polaris missile is test launched. 1968 – Surveyor Program: Surveyor 7, the last spacecraft in the Surveyor series, lifts off from launch complex 36A, Cape Canaveral. 1973 – Mark Essex fatally shoots 10 people and wounds 13 others at Howard Johnson’s Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, before being shot to death by police officers. 1979 – Third Indochina War – Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. 1980 – President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation. 1984 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). 1985 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches Sakigake, Japan’s first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union. 1989 – Prince Akihito is sworn in as the emperor of Japan after the death of his father Hirohito 1990 – The interior of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public because of safety concerns. 1991 – Roger Lafontant, former leader of the Tonton Macoutes in Haiti under François Duvalier, attempts a coup d’état, which ends in his arrest. 1993 – The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President. 1993 – Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack on the village of Kravica in Srebrenica. 1999 – The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins. 2010 – Muslim gunmen open fire on a crowd of Coptic Christians leaving church after celebrating a midnight Christmas mass, killing eight of them as well as one Muslim bystander. ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/96 "2012-06-04T07:11:36Z")
Canada Day! ---
**Author:** ![D-bear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@D-bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D-bear)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/97 "2012-06-04T08:06:16Z")
April 21’st Charlotte Brontë born 1855 Anthony Quinn born 1915 Elizabeth Windsor (that gal who is having a diamond jubilee these days) born 1926 Tony Danza born 1951 Nicole Sullivan (mad TV) born 1970 Me! born 1971 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/98 "2012-06-04T08:11:43Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Cervants had been _muerte_ for 10 days when Shakespeare shuffled off this mortal coil. _Muerto_, I’m reasonably sure he hadn’t been Death 😉 April 23rd is also the feast of St George, patron (among many other places) of the lands of the fomer Crown of Aragon. It’s unclear when did books become a traditional St George’s gift in Catalonia, but it was before the UN even came into being. ---
**Author:** ![limegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@limegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/limegreen)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/99 "2012-06-04T14:44:52Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jesus and I share a birthdate. > > Singer Annie Lennox and I share the same birthday. Me, too! ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheField](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@LilyoftheField](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheField)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607/100 "2012-06-04T15:41:52Z")
On my birthday (and his) in 1993, Prince celebrated by changing his name to a symbol. I’m considering doing the same - that way I could go from having the most common name in the world to something totally unpronounceable! Feel free to send me heartfelt birthday greetings later this week. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/historical-significance-of-your-birthday/623607.md?page=6)