# What happened on your birthday? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730 "2006-04-07T15:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/41 "2006-04-08T02:52:46Z")
August 10. 1519 - Ferdinand Magellan’s five ships set sail from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. 1846 - The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the U.S. Congress after $500,000 was given for such a purpose by scientist James Smithson. 1990 - The Magellan space probe reaches Venus. Births: 1874 - Herbert Hoover, President of the United States (d. 1964) 1940 - Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003) Death: 1945 - Robert Goddard, American rocket scientist (b. 1882) ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/42 "2006-04-08T02:55:45Z")
Events 1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks 1997 - The Pokémon episode Electric Soldier Porygon triggers attacks of photosensitive epilepsy in hundreds of Japanese children. Births 1775 - Jane Austen, British writer (d. 1817) 1866 (N.S.) - Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-born French abstract painter (d. 1944) 1899 - Sir Noel Coward, British playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973) Deaths 1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869) Holidays and Observances Kazakhstan - Independence Day Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/43 "2006-04-08T03:00:41Z")
This is December 16, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/44 "2006-04-08T03:32:02Z")
August 30 (I was born in 1959, not that **Wikipedia** cares) 1862 – Union forces defeated in American Civil War’s Second Battle of Bull Run (or Second Battle of Manassas, as Confederates and their sympathizers have long preferred) 1967 – Thurgood Marshall confirmed as first Negro/black/African-American Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1991 – Azerbaijan declares independence from the USSR, which ceases to exist by the end of the year Born in 1893 – Huey “The Kingfish” Long, Louisiana politician, 1935 assassination victim, and inspiration for Robert Penn Warren novel _All the King’s Men_ Born in 1918 – Theodore Samuel “Ted” Williams, Boston Red Sox outfielder who hit .406 in 1941 and died in 2002 Died in 1938 – Max Factor, makeup artist and cosmetics tycoon born in 1877 and immortalized in the song _Hooray for Hollywood_ (“If you want to be an actor, see Mr. Factor/ He’d make a monkey look good!”) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/45 "2006-04-08T19:17:30Z")
I don’t have to check Wikipedia. I just already know: September 1 1666 - Great Fire of London 1939 - World War II begins with the Nazi invasion of Poland Not too auspicious, eh? I also share a birthday with Lily Tomlin, Rocky Marciano and Gloria Estefan. ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/46 "2006-04-08T21:00:08Z")
On my birthday, the Allies landed on the beach at Normandy, France. I don’t know the other stuff off hand, but it was a popular day in world history, including recently when a near-earth asteroid exploded over the Mediterranean (2002). I share birthday with Tsarina Alexandra of Russia (1872), Regiomontanus, German mathematician (1536) and Steve Vai, American musician (1960). If you know your history, it should be clear which day this is! ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/47 "2006-04-09T08:38:45Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I was born on September 11. I think that date is sufficiently famous among US citizens that I don’t need to elaborate. Ahh yes. Who can forget that gloomy day in 1996, when Union Pacific Railroad purchased Southern Pacific Railroad :eek: As for me, I was born on the 29th of January (or January 29, as you Americans would say), 1983. 1856 - Old Queen Vickie institutes the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valour in the British Commonwealth (she presumably had me in mind). 1886 - Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile. These have become fairly popular since then – I’m sure many of you have seen a couple around the place. 2002 - That great phrase, _The Axis of Evil_, enters the world’s vocabulary. If I were born 400 years earlier, my parents might have taken me out on my 12th birthday to see the first-ever performance of _The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet_ (also known as _Romeo and Juliet_). If I were born a mere 30 years earlier, my 6th birthday present may have been a ticket to the newly-released _Sleeping Beauty_. Of course, in both cases I’m assuming I was also born in the right place (i.e. probably not New Zealand). These people share my birthday: 1953 - Hwang Woo-Suk (that Korean biomedical dude, who recently made some incredible breakthoughs in stem cell research, and more recently got in big trouble just because he made it all up) 1954 - Oprah Winfrey (an oprah singer) 1960 - Steve Sax (_singing_ _and his run-in with the law…_) 1970 - Heather Graham (hey Heather, we should celebrate our birthday together ;)) 1983 - **Mbossa** (a much-loved and well-respected Doper, famous for his witty post about things that happened on his birthday) These people heard about my birthday and realised that they couldn’t possibly live in a world where so much awesomeness is concentrated in just one person (yes, even those who died before I was born): 1743 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus (his friends called him Herc) 1963 - Robert Frost (a talking alligator who ate children and wrote poetry in his spare time) 1992 - Willie Dixon (the guy who wrote songs that Led Zep stole) ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/48 "2006-04-09T09:31:41Z")
[January 9](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_9) Events: [ul] [li]1431, Joan of Arc’s trial begins[/li][li]1839, the Daguerreotype photographic process is publicly presented[/li][li]1882, Oscar Wilde gives his first lecture in New York[/li][/ul] Just three? There’s several more interesting ones. Births: [ul] [li]1898, Vilma Banky (Hungarian actress, you might remember her from such Valentino silent films as _The Eagle_ or _Son of the Sheik_)[/li][li]1903, Vilma Banky again (apart from acting, it seems she was something of a liar)[/li][/ul] Deaths: [ul] [li]1936, John Gilbert (the not-husband of Greta Garbo)[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Gladstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90db22/32.png) [@Gladstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gladstone)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/49 "2006-04-09T09:39:01Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > I don’t have to check Wikipedia. I just already know: > > September 1 > > 1939 - World War II begins with the Nazi invasion of Poland Sorta. For Britain and France, World War II formally began when they declared war on Germany on my birthday: September 3 (also the day that the Treaty of Paris was signed, funnily enough in Paris, ending the Revolutionary War). ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/50 "2006-04-09T10:01:46Z")
I’ve already gone, but I was born at 11:00 at night, so if I were an hour younger and born on Margaret Thatcher day: Events: [ul] [li]-49, Julius Cæsar crosses the Rubicon[/li][li]1920, WWI ends with the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles[/li][li]1927, Fritz Lang’s _Metropolis_ premières[/li][/ul] Births: [ul] [li]1869, Rasputin[/li][li]1883, Francis X. Bushman[/li][/ul] Deaths: [ul] [li]1917, “Buffalo Bill” Cody[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/51 "2006-04-09T12:05:15Z")
> [@Arien](#): > > This is a survey that’s going around on Livejournal and since it involves random facts, I thought some people here might enjoy it. > > Go to Wikipedia and look up your birth day (excluding the year). List three facts, two births and one death in your journal, including the year. > > For me: > > October 9 > > Facts: > 1000 - Leif Ericson discovers Vinland, becoming the first known European to set foot in North America. > 1582 - Due to the implementation of the Gregorian calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain. > 1989 - An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh. Those wacky Soviets! > > Bonus fact: 1604 - Supernova 1604, the most recent supernova to be observed in the Milky Way. > > Births: > 1581 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, French mathematician (d. 1638) > 1940 - John Lennon, British musician and songwriter (The Beatles) (d. 1980) > > Deaths: > 1967 - Che Guevara, Argentine revolutionary and guerilla leader (executed) (b. 1928) June 14th: FACT 1648 - Margaret Jones is hanged in Boston for witchcraft in the first such execution for the Massachusetts colony. 1789 - Whisky distilled from maize is first produced by American clergyman the Rev Elijah Craig. Its named Bourbon because Rev Craig lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky. 1962 - Anna Slesersby becomes the first victim of Albert DeSalvo, better known as the Boston Strangler. BONUS FACT: 1976 - The Gong Show debuts on NBC. BIRTHS: 1946 - Donald Trump, American businessman :rolleyes: 1961 - Boy George, British singer (Culture Club) DEATH: 1926 - Mary Cassatt, American artist (b. 1843) VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/52 "2006-04-10T09:42:37Z")
October 16th Facts: 1781 - George Washington captures Yorktown, Virginia 1793 - Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI is guillotined at the height of the French Revolution 1972 - Rainbow, a British television programme for children, debuts. Births 1854 - Oscar Wilde, Irish writer (d. 1900) 1925 - Angela Lansbury, English-born actress 1958 - Tim Robbins, American actor, director, and writer Death: 1781 - Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British naval officer (b. 1705) ---
**Author:** ![Praetor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@Praetor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Praetor)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/53 "2006-04-10T21:04:57Z")
April 15 Facts: Every year - The most hated day in the U.S. (Tax Day)[sup]\*[/sup] 1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic almost three hours earlier. 1955 - The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois. (Coincidentally, this is about 2 miles from where I grew up.) Births: 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist (d. 1519) 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783) Deaths: 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809) [sup]\*[/sup] I made up the part about the most hated day, although I suspect it actually is the most hated day in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/54 "2006-04-10T22:05:29Z")
I share a January 29 birthday with **Mbossa** , though I’m eight years older. (Question: _Can_ two people born on opposite sides of the International Date Line share a birthday in this case, or do I really share a birthday with Aussies and Kiwis born on January 30?) Events: 904: Pope Sergius III comes out of retirement to replace the deposed pope (or maybe antipope) Christopher. Pope Sergius III was notorious for the start of the “pornocracy” in his reign as pope (though that may have been in his first reign). During his second reign, he also exhumed Pope Formosus, tried him, and found him guilty, for the second time (Pope Stephen VII had earlier posthumously tried Pope Formosus in the Cadaver Synod). (I love this royal- and papal-scandal stuff, can’t you tell?) 1845: _The Raven_ by Edgar Allan Poe is published. 1964: Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was released in the US. That’s one of my favorite movies. Births: 1717: Jeffrey Amherst :eek: 1926: Abdus Salam, Nobel-Prize-winning Pakistani physicist Deaths: 1676: Tsar Alexis I of Russia, father of Peter the Great ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/55 "2006-04-11T12:53:18Z")
> [@Gordon Urquhart](#): > > June 10 > 1190 - Frederick I (Barbarossa) drowns in the Saleph River while leading an army to Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. > 1829 - Oxford and Cambridge compete in their first Boat Race. > 1977 - The first Apple II computer is shipped. > Births: > Gina Gershon (1962), Jeanne Tripplehorn (1963) and Elizabeth Hurley (1965). (I know I was only supposed to provide two, but geez, I share my birthday with Gina Gershon, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Elizabeth Hurley. Yowza.) > Death(s): > Barbarossa’s drowning proved to be fatal. Also, Alexander the Great (323 BC). We’re Birthday twins. So here’s a few more: 1935 - Alcoholics Anonymous is founded in Akron, Ohio, United States, by Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith. 1940 - World War II: German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel. 2003 - The Spirit Rover is launched, beginning NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover mission. Births: In addition to the above, Prince Phillip, the Queens main squeeze, shares our Birthday in 1921. As does: 1941 - Jürgen Prochnow, German actor (of DAS BOOT fame) For death: Ray Charles, 2004 ---
**Author:** ![Seren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/56 "2006-04-11T15:36:28Z")
> [@Praetor](#): > > April 15 > > Facts: > Every year - The most hated day in the U.S. (Tax Day)[sup]\*[/sup] > 1912 - The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks at about 2:20 a.m. after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic almost three hours earlier. > 1955 - The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in Des Plaines, Illinois. (Coincidentally, this is about 2 miles from where I grew up.) > > Births: > 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian artist (d. 1519) > 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783) > > Deaths: > 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809) > > [sup]\*[/sup] I made up the part about the most hated day, although I suspect it actually is the most hated day in the U.S. Aside from the whole tax thing (and all those people dying), your birthday is pretty cool. I’m jealous. This is mine: March 7th Facts: 1876 - Alexander Graham Bell is granted a patent for an invention he calls the telephone (patent # 174,464). 1965 - In Selma, Alabama, State troopers and local law enforcement forcefully break up a group of 600 civil rights marchers. The event was televised and was dubbed Bloody Sunday. 1968 - Vietnam War: The First Battle of Saigon begins. Births: 1671 - Robert Roy MacGregor, Scottish folk hero (d. 1734) 1971 - Rachel Weisz, British actress Death: 322 BC - Aristotle, philosopher (b. 384 BC) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/57 "2006-04-11T16:06:14Z")
Not much happened on my birthday, but on my girlfriend’s birthday, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It always feels a little strange since she’s American and I’m Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/58 "2006-04-11T18:43:43Z")
Facts: 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze. 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Births: 1 BC - Jesus of Nazareth (traditionally observed date and year; see Chronology of Jesus) (d. circa 33) 1642 (O.S.) - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1727) Deaths: 1977 - Charlie Chaplin, English actor (b. 1889) ---
**Author:** ![motomoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@motomoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/motomoon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730/59 "2006-04-11T18:45:21Z")
Oops, my B-Day is December 25\* > [@motomoon](#): > > Facts: > 800 - Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, in Rome. > 1973 - The ARPANET crashes when a programming bug causes all ARPANET traffic to be routed through the server at Harvard University, causing the server to freeze. > 1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as president of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). > > Births: > 1 BC - Jesus of Nazareth (traditionally observed date and year; see Chronology of Jesus) (d. circa 33) > 1642 (O.S.) - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician (d. 1727) > > Deaths: > 1977 - Charlie Chaplin, English actor (b. 1889) \*Yes, it does suck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-on-your-birthday/351730.md?page=2)