Events

January

• January 4 – WWII – (Axis powers): Luftwaffe General Hermann Göring assumes control of all war industries in Germany.

• January 6 – WWII – Winter War: General Semyon Timoshenko takes command of all Russian forces.

• January 8 – WWII – Winter War – Battle of Suomussalmi: The Russian 44th Assault Division is destroyed by Finnish forces.

• January 8 – WWII – Food rationing begins in Great Britain.

• January 10 – WWII – Mechelen Incident: A German plane carrying secret plans for the invasion of western Europe creates a forced landing in Belgium, leading to mobilization of defense forces in the Low Countries.

• January 26 – Brisbane, Australia swelters through its hottest day ever, 43.2 degrees Celsius (109.76 Fahrenheit).

• January 27 – WWII: A peace resolution introduced in the Parliament of South Africa is defeated 81–59.

• January 29 – Three gasoline-powered trains carrying factory workers crash and explode while approaching Ajikawaguchi station, Yumesaki Line (Nishinari Line), Osaka, Japan, killing at least 181 people and injuring at least 92.

February

• February 1 – WWII: Winter War – Russian forces launch a major assault on Finnish troops occupying the Karelian Isthmus.

• February 7 – RKO release Walt Disney's second full-length animated film, Pinocchio.

• February 20 – Tom and Jerry make their debut in Puss Gets the Boot.

• February 16 – WWII – Altmark Incident: The British destroyer Cossack pursues the German tanker Altmark into Jøssingfjord in southwestern Norway.

• February 27 – Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discover carbon-14.

March

• March – Truth or Consequences debuts on NBC Radio.

• March 2 – Cartoon character Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the animated short Elmer's Candid Camera.

• March 3 – In Sweden, a time bomb destroys the office of Norrskenflamman (a Swedish communist newspaper), killing 5.

• March 5- Katyn massacre: Members of the Soviet Politburo (Stalin, Molotov, Lazar Kaganovich, Mikhail Kalinin, Kliment Voroshilov and Lavrenty Beria) sign an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs.

• March 12 – The Soviet Union and Finland sign a peace treaty in Moscow ending the Winter War; Finns, along with the world at large, are shocked by the harsh terms.

• March 18 – WWII – Axis powers: Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.

• March 21 – Édouard Daladier resigns as prime minister of France; Paul Reynaud succeeds him.

• March 23 – The Pakistan Resolution is rallied around by the All-India Muslim League; Muslims from every corner of India meet up around Iqbal Park, Lahore (now in modern-day Pakistan).

April

• April 5 – Neville Chamberlain, in what proves to be a tragic misjudgment, declares in a major public speech that Hitler has "missed the bus".

• April 7 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.

• April 9 – WWII: Germany invades Denmark and Norway in Operation Weserübung. The British campaign in Norway is simultaneously commenced.

• April 12 – The Faroe Islands are occupied by British troops, following the taking over of Denmark by Nazi Germany. This action is taken to avert a possible German occupation of the islands, which would have had very grave consequences for the course of the Battle of the Atlantic

• April 12 – Opening day at Jamaica Racetrack features the use of pari-mutuel betting equipment, a departure from bookmaking heretofore used exclusively throughout New York state. Other NY tracks follow suit later in 1940.

• April 21 – Take It or Leave It makes it debut on CBS Radio, with Bob Hawk as host.

• April 23 – A fire at the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Mississippi kills 198.

May

• May 10 – WWII:

• * Battle of France begins – German forces invade Low Countries.

• * Iceland is invaded by the United Kingdom.

• *With the resignation of Neville Chamberlain, Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

• May 13 – Winston Churchill, in his first address as Prime Minister, tells the House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat."

• May 13 – WWII: German armies open a 60-mile wide breach in the Maginot Line at Sedan, France.

• May 14 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her government flee to London; Rotterdam is subjected to savage terror bombing by the Luftwaffe; 980 are killed, and 20,000 buildings destroyed.

• May 14 – Recruitment begins in Britain for a home defence force: the Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard.

• May 15 – The very first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.

• May 15 – WWII: The Dutch army surrenders.

• May 16 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressing a joint session of Congress, asks for an extraordinary credit of approximately $900 million to finance construction of at least 50,000 airplanes per year.

• May 17 – Brussels falls to German forces; the Belgian government flees to Ostend.

• May 18 – Marshal Philippe Pétain is named vice-premier of France.

• May 19 – General Maxime Weygand replaces Maurice Gamelin as commander-in-chief of all French forces.

• May 20 – WWII: German forces, under General Erwin Rommel, reach the English Channel.

• May 20 – Holocaust: The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and death camp opens in Poland.

• May 22 – WWII: The British Parliament passes the Emergency Powers Act, giving the government full control over all persons and property.

• May 26 – WWII: The Dunkirk evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force starts.

• May 28 – WWII: King Leopold III of Belgium orders the Belgian forces to cease fighting. Leaders of the Belgian government on French territory declare Leopold deposed.

• May 28 – Winston Churchill warns the House of Commons to "prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings."

• May 29 – The Vought XF4U-1, prototype of the F4U Corsair U.S. fighter later used in WWII, makes its first flight.

June

• June 3 – The Holocaust: Franz Rademacher proposes the Madagascar Plan.

• June 3 – WWII: Paris is bombed by the Luftwaffe for the first time.

• June 4 – The Dunkirk evacuation ends – British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops from Dunkirk in France.

• June 4 – Winston Churchill tells the British House of Commons, "We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight on the beaches... on the landing grounds... in the fields and the streets.... We shall never surrender."

• June 9 – WWII: The British Commandos are created.

• June 10 – WWII: Italy declares war on France and the United Kingdom.

• June 10 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with his speech during the graduation ceremonies of the University of Virginia.

• June 10 – Canada declares war on Italy.

• June 10 – Norway surrenders to German forces.

• June 10 – The French government flees to Tours.

• June 12 – WWII: 13,000 British and French troops surrender to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux.

• June 13 – WWII: Paris is declared an open city.

• June 14 – The French government flees to Bordeaux and Paris falls under German occupation.

• June 14 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Naval Expansion Act into law, which aims to increase the United States Navy's tonnage by 11%.

• June 14 – A group of 728 Polish political prisoners from Tarnów become the first residents of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

• June 15 – WWII: Verdun falls to German forces.

• June 16 – The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is held for the first time in Sturgis, South Dakota.

• June 17 – Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France and immediately asks Germany for peace terms.

• June 17 – The Soviet Army enters the Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

• June 17 – Operation Ariel begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.

• June 17 – A Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks the British ship RMS Lancastria, which was evacuating troops from near Saint-Nazaire, France, killing over 2,500 (wartime censorship prevents the story from going public).

• June 18 – Winston Churchill says to the House of Commons: "The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin."

• June 18 – General Charles de Gaulle broadcasts from London, calling on all French people to continue the fight against Nazi Germany: "France has lost a battle. But France has not lost the war."

• June 21 – WWII: Vichy France and Germany sign an armistice at Compiegne, in the same wagon-lit railroad car used by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to accept the surrender of Germany in 1918.

• June 23 – WWII: German leader Adolf Hitler surveys newly defeated Paris in now occupied France.

• June 24 – U.S. politics: The Republican Party begins its national convention in Philadelphia and nominates Wendell Willkie as its candidate for president.

• June 24 – WWII: Vichy France signs armistice terms with Italy.

• June 28 – General Charles de Gaulle is officially recognized by Britain as the "Leader of all Free Frenchmen, wherever they may be."

• June 30 – WWII: German forces land in Guernsey, marking the start of the 5-year Occupation of the Channel Islands.

July

• July 1 The first Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens for business, built with an 8-foot girder and 190 feet above the water, as the third longest suspension bridge in the world.

• July 3 – WWII: British naval units sink or seize ships of the French fleet anchored in the Algerian ports of Oran and Mers-el-Kebir. The following day, Vichy France breaks off diplomatic relations with Britain.

• July 10 – WWII: The Battle of Britain begins

• July 10 – WWII: Vichy France begins with a constitutional law which only 80 members of the parliament vote against.

• July 14 – Winston Churchill, in a worldwide broadcast, proclaims the intention of Great Britain to fight alone against Germany whatever the outcome: "We shall seek no terms. We shall tolerate no parley. We may show mercy. We shall ask none."

• July 15 – U.S. politics: The Democratic Party begins its national convention in Chicago, and nominates Franklin D. Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term as president.

• July 19 – WWII: Adolf Hitler makes a peace appeal to Britain in an address to the Reichstag. Lord Halifax, British foreign minister, flatly rejects peace terms in a broadcast reply on July 22.

• July 21 – The Estonian SSR, Latvian SSR and Lithuanian SSR are proclaimed in Moscow.

• July 27 – Bugs Bunny makes his debut in the Oscar-nominated cartoon short, A Wild Hare.

August

• August 3 – The Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR (August 5) and Estonian SSR (August 6) are incorporated into the Soviet Union.

• August 4 – Gen. John J. Pershing, in a nationwide radio broadcast, urges all-out aid to Britain in order to defend the Americas, while Charles Lindbergh speaks to an isolationist rally at Soldier Field in Chicago.

• August 8 – Wilhelm Keitel signs the "Aufbau Ost" directive, which eventually leads to the invasion of the Soviet Union.

• August 20 – Winston Churchill pays tribute in the House of Commons to the Royal Air Force: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

• August 20 – Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico by Ramón Mercader, a Soviet agent, with an ice axe.

• August 26 – Chad is the first French colony to proclaim its support for the Allies.

• August 30 – Second Vienna Award: Germany and Italy compel Romania to cede half of Transylvania to Hungary.

September

• September – The U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a National Guard Division in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma), is activated and ordered into federal service for 1 year, to engage in a training program in Ft. Sill and Louisiana, prior to serving in World War II.

• September 2 – WWII: An agreement between America and Great Britain is announced to the effect that 50 U.S. destroyers needed for escort work will be transferred to Great Britain. In return, America gains 99-year leases on British bases in the North Atlantic, West Indies and Bermuda.

• September 7 – Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.

• September 7 – WWII: The Blitz – Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London (the first of 57 consecutive nights of strategic bombing).

• September 12 – In Lascaux, France, 17,000-year-old cave paintings are discovered by a group of young Frenchmen hiking through Southern France. The paintings depict animals and date to the Stone Age.

• September 12 – The Hercules Munitions Plant in Succasunna-Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.

• September 16 – WWII: The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 is signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in U.S. history.

• September 26 – WWII: The United States imposes a total embargo on all scrap metal shipments to Japan.

• September 27 – WWII: Germany, Italy and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact.

October

• October 16 – The draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the United States.

• October 28 – WWII: Italian troops invade Greece, meeting strong resistance from Greek troops and civilians. This action signals the beginning of the Balkans Campaign.

• October 29 – The Selective Service System lottery is held in Washington, D.C..

November

• November 5 – U.S. presidential election, 1940: Democrat incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Republican challenger Wendell Willkie and becomes the United States' first and only third-term president.

• November 7 – In Tacoma, Washington, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (known as Galloping Gertie) collapses in a 42-mile per hour wind storm, causing the center span of the bridge to sway. When it collapses, a 600 foot-long design of the center span falls 190 feet above the water, killing Tubby, a black male cocker spaniel dog.

• November 9 – Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez premieres in Barcelona, Spain.

• November 10 – An earthquake in Bucharest, Romania kills 1,000.

• November 11 – WWII: Battle of Taranto: The Royal Navy launches the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian fleet at Taranto.

• November 11 – The German Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) Atlantis captures top secret British mail, and sends it to Japan.

• November 11 – Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.

• November 13 – Walt Disney's Fantasia is released. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it eventually recoups its cost years later, and becomes one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.

• November 14 – WWII: The city of Coventry, England is destroyed by 500 German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000 fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, and 130 parachute mines level 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people are killed).

• November 16 – WWII: In response to Germany levelling Coventry 2 days before, the Royal Air Force begins to bomb Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents will have died from Allied attacks).

• November 16 – An unexploded pipe bomb is found in the Consolidated Edison office building (only years later is the culprit, George Metesky, apprehended).

• November 16 – The Jamaica Association of Local Government Officers is founded.

• November 18 – WWII: German leader Adolf Hitler and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano meet to discuss Benito Mussolini's disastrous invasion of Greece.

• November 20 – WWII: Hungary, Romania and Slovakia join the Axis Powers.

• November 27 – In Romania, coup leader General Ion Antonescu's Iron Guard arrests and executes over 60 of exiled king Carol II of Romania's aides. Among the dead is former minister and acclaimed historian Nicolae Iorga.

• November 27 – WWII: The Royal Navy and Regia Marina fight the Battle of Cape Spartivento.

December

• December 1 – Manuel Ávila Camacho takes office as President of Mexico.

• December 8 – The Chicago Bears, in what will become the most one-sided victory in National Football League history, defeat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the 1940 NFL Championship Game.

• December 9 – WWII: Operation Compass – British forces in North Africa begin their first major offensive with an attack on Italian forces at Sidi Barrani, Egypt.

• December 12 & December 15 – WWII- "Sheffield Blitz": The City of Sheffield is badly damaged by German air-raids.

• December 14 – Plutonium is first isolated chemically in the laboratory.

• December 17 – President Roosevelt, at his regular press conference, first sets forth the outline of his plan to send aid to Great Britain that will become known as Lend-Lease.

• December 23 – Winston Churchill, in a broadcast address to the people of Italy, squarely blames Benito Mussolini for leading his nation to war against the British, contrary to Italy's historic friendship with them.

• December 24 – Mahatma Gandhi, Indian spiritual non-violence leader writes his second letter to Adolf Hitler addressing him "My friend", requesting him to stop the war Germany had begun.

• December 29 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a fireside chat to the nation, declares that the United States must become "the great arsenal of democracy."

• December 29 – WWII – "Second Great Fire of London": Luftwaffe carries out a massive incendiary bombing raid, starting 1,500 fires. Many famous buildings, including the Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.

• December 30 – California's first modern freeway, the future State Route 110, opens to traffic in Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway (now the Pasadena Freeway).

Undated

• In Tibet, province of Amdo, 5-year-old Tenzin Gyatso is proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the thirteenth Dalai Lama.

• In Korea, The Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye (1446) is discovered, explaining the basis of Hangul.

Ongoing

• Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945)

• World War II (1939 – 1945)

Births

January

• January 2 – Jim Bakker, American televangelist and former husband of Tammy Faye

• January 4 – Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

• January 4 – Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate

• January 6 – Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (d. 1989)

• January 9 – Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, Costa Rican politician, lawyer, economist, and businessman

• January 14 – Julian Bond, American civil rights activist

• January 19 – Mike Reid, English actor (d. 2007)

• January 20 – Carol Heiss, American figure skater

• January 21 – Jack Nicklaus, American golfer

• January 22 – John Hurt, English actor

• January 27 – James Cromwell, American actor

• January 31 – Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d. 1998)

February

• February 2 – David Jason, English actor

• February 3 – Fran Tarkenton, American football player

• February 4 – George Romero, American film writer, producer, and director

• February 5 – H. R. Giger, Swiss artist

• February 6 – Tom Brokaw, American television news reporter

• February 6 – Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian

• February 8 – Ted Koppel, American journalist

• February 8 – Joe South, American singer and songwriter

• February 9 – J. M. Coetzee, South African writer, Nobel Prize laureate

• February 12 – Richard Lynch, American actor

• February 17 – Gene Pitney, American singer (d. 2006)

• February 18 – Fabrizio De André, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 1999)

• February 19 – Smokey Robinson, American musician

• February 20 – Jimmy Greaves, English footballer

• February 21 – James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d. 2004)

• February 22 – Judy Cornwell, British actress

• February 22 – Johnson Mlambo, South African politician

• February 22 – Billy Name, American photographer and Warhol archivist

• February 23 – Peter Fonda, American actor

• February 24 – Denis Law, Scottish footballer

• February 24 – Peter Deuel American actor

• February 25 – Ron Santo, American baseball player

• February 28 – Mario Andretti, American race car driver

March

• March 3 – Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist

• March 3 – Owen Spencer-Thomas, English broadcaster, journalist and clergyman

• March 6 – Willie Stargell, African-American baseball player (d. 2001)

• March 7 – Rudi Dutschke, German radical student leader (d. 1979)

• March 9 – Raúl Juliá, Puerto Rican actor (d. 1994)

• March 10 – Chuck Norris, American actor and martial artist

• March 12 – Al Jarreau, American singer

• March 15 – Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)

• March 16 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian writer and film director

• March 16 – Jan Pronk, Dutch politician and diplomat

• March 17 – Mark White, Governor of Texas

• March 22 – Haing S. Ngor, Cambodian actor (d. 1996)

• March 25 – Anita Bryant, American entertainer

• March 26 – James Caan, American actor

• March 26 – Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

• March 27 – Austin Pendleton, American actor

• March 27 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver

• March 29 – Ray Davis, American musician (P-Funk)

• March 30 – Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian-born singer

April

• April 1 – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

• April 2 – Penelope Keith, English actress

• April 12 – Herbie Hancock, American musician

• April 12 – John Hagee, American televangelist

• April 13 – Max Mosley, British motorsport boss

• April 16 – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

• April 18 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• April 25 – Al Pacino, American actor

• April 26 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian film composer

May

• May 1 – Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer

• May 5 – Lance Henriksen, American actor and potter

• May 7 – Jim Connors, American radio personality (d. 1987)

• May 8 – Peter Benchley, American author (d. 2006)

• May 8 – Angela Carter, English author and editor (d. 1992)

• May 8 – Ricky Nelson, American singer (d. 1985)

• May 8 – Toni Tennille, American singer

• May 9 – James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer

• May 9 – Nuala O'Faolain, Irish journalist and author (d. 2008)

• May 11 – Juan Downey, Chilean-born video artist (d. 1993)

• May 14 – 'H'. Jones, British soldier (VC recipient) (d. 1982)

• May 15 – Don Nelson, American basketball player and coach

• May 17 – Alan Kay, American computer scientist

• May 17 – Reynato Puno, Filipino Supreme Court Chief Justice

• May 18 – Lenny Lipton, American inventor

• May 20 – Stan Mikita, Slovakian-born Canadian hockey player

• May 20 – Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player

• May 21 – António Victorino d'Almeida, Portuguese composer, pianist, writer and director

• May 22 – Bernard Shaw, American journalist and television news reporter

• May 24 – Joseph Brodsky, Russian-born poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)

• May 29 – Farooq Leghari, President of Pakistan

June

• June 1 – René Auberjonois, American actor

• June 2 – King Constantine II of Greece

• June 4 – Ludwig Schwarz, Austrian bishop

• June 6 – Richard Paul, American actor (d. 1998)

• June 7 – Tom Jones, Welsh singer

• June 8 – Carole Ann Ford, British actress

• June 8 – Nancy Sinatra, American singer

• June 16 – Neil Goldschmidt, Governor of Oregon

• June 16 – Taylor Gun-Jin Wang, Chinese-American astronaut

• June 17 – George Akerlof, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

• June 17 – Alan Murray, Australian professional golfer

• June 20 – John Mahoney, English-born actor

• June 21 – Mariette Hartley, American actress

• June 22 – Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film producer

• June 22 – Esther Rantzen, British broadcaster

• June 23 – Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d. 2003)

• June 23 – Lord Irvine of Lairg, Lord Chancellor of England

• June 23 – Wilma Rudolph, American athlete (d. 1994)

• June 25 – A.J. Quinnell, English writer (d. 2005)

• June 27 – Anil Karanjai, Indian painter of the Hungry generation movement.

• June 29 – Vyacheslav Artyomov, Russian composer

July

• July 3 – César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)

• July 7 – Ringo Starr, British drummer (The Beatles)

• July 10 – Gene Alley, American baseball player

• July 10 – Tom Farmer, Scottish entrepreneur

• July 10 – Helen Donath, American soprano

• July 13 – Patrick Stewart, English actor

• July 13 – Paul Prudhomme, American celebrity chef and cookbook author

• July 17 – Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian

• July 17 – Verne Lundquist, American sportscaster

• July 18 – Joe Torre, American baseball player and manager

• July 18 – James Brolin, American actor and director

• July 22 – George Clinton, American musician

• July 22 – Alex Trebek, Canadian game show host

• July 24 – Stanley Hauerwas, American theologian

• July 26 – Mary Jo Kopechne, American aide to Ted Kennedy (d. 1969)

• July 27 – Pina Bausch, German choreographer (d. 2009)

• July 27 – Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born novelist

• July 31 – Roy Walker, Northern Irish comedian (1986–1999)

August

• August 3 – Martin Sheen, American actor

• August 7 – Jean-Luc Dehaene, Prime Minister of Belgium

• August 8 – Dilip Sardesai, former Indian Test cricketer (d. 2007)

• August 9 – Beverlee McKinsey, American actress

• August 10 – Bobby Hatfield, American singer (Righteous Brothers) (d. 2003)

• August 14 – Galen Hall, American football coach

• August 19 – Jill St. John, American actress

• August 20 – Musa Geshaev, Chechen poet and historian

• August 20 – Rubén Hinojosa, American politician

• August 22 – Valerie Harper, American actress

• August 25 – José Van Dam, Belgian bass-baritone

• August 28 – Tom Baker, American actor (d. 1982)

• August 29

• * Johnny Paris, American musician (Johnny and the Hurricanes) (d. 2006)

• * Bennie Maupin, American musician

September

• September 5 – Raquel Welch, American actress

• September 10 – David Mann, American artist (d. 2004)

• September 11 – Brian De Palma, American film director

• September 12 – Skip Hinnant, American actor

• September 12 – Mickey Lolich, American baseball player

• September 13 – Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

• September 14 – Larry Brown, American basketball coach

• September 18 – Frankie Avalon, American singer and actor

• September 20 – Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan

• September 23 – Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian traditional singer

• September 24 – Michiko Suganuma, Urushi Japanese lacquer artist

October

• October 9 – John Lennon, British musician and singer (The Beatles) (d. 1980)

• October 13 – Pharoah Sanders, American saxophonist

• October 14 – Cliff Richard, English singer

• October 15 – Peter C. Doherty, Australian immunologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

• October 16 – Ivan Della Mea, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 2009)

• October 19 – Michael Gambon, Irish actor

• October 20 – Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate of the United States

• October 21 – Manfred Mann (Manfred Lubowitz), South African rock musician

• October 21 – Geoffrey Boycott, English cricketer

• October 23 – Pelé, Brazilian footballer

• October 25 – Bobby Knight, American basketball coach

• October 27 – John Gotti, American gangster (d. 2002)

November

• November 1 – Ramesh Chandra Lahoti, Chief Justice of India

• November 12 – Glenn Stetson, Canadian singer

• November 15 – Sam Waterston, American actor

• November 15 – Roberto Cavalli, Italian designer

• November 17 – Luke Kelly, Irish ballad singer (The Dubliners)

• November 21 – Richard Marcinko, U.S. Navy SEAL team member and author

• November 25 – Joe Gibbs, American football coach

• November 27 – Bruce Lee, Chinese-American martial artist and actor (d. 1973)

• November 29 – Chuck Mangione, famous American flugelhorn player

December

• December 1 – Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d. 2005)

• December 4 – Freddy Cannon, American singer

• December 4 – Gary Gilmore, American murderer (d. 1977)

• December 5 – Peter Pohl, Swedish writer

• December 12 – Sharad Pawar, Indian politician

• December 12 – Dionne Warwick, American singer

• December 20 – Pat Chapman, English author

• December 21 – Frank Zappa, American musician, composer, and satirist (d. 1993)

• December 22 – Noel Jones, British ambassador to Kazakhstan (d. 1995)

• December 23 – Jorma Kaukonen, American musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna)

• December 23 – Robert Labine, former mayor of Gatineau, Quebec

• December 26 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate

Unknown dates

• Seamus Deane, Irish poet and novelist

• António Roseiro, founder and president of VITAE

Deaths

January–March

• January – Fusajiro Yamauchi, Japanese business executive (b. 1859)

• January 4 – Flora Finch, English-born actress and comedian (b. 1869)

• January 18 – Kazimierz Tetmajer, Polish poet and writer (b. 1865)

• January 27 – Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)

• February 1 – Philip Francis Nowlan, science fiction writer, creator of Buck Rogers (b. 1888)

• February 11 – John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, Governor General of Canada (b. 1875)

• February 26 – Michael Hainisch, 2nd President of Austria (b. 1858)

• February 29 – Edward Frederic Benson, English writer

• March 5

• *Maxine Elliott, American actress (b. 1868)

• *Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b. 1868)

• March 10 – Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b. 1891)

• March 11 – John Monk Saunders, American writer (b. 1897)

• March 16 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)

• March 20 – Alfred Ploetz, German physician, biologist, and eugenicist (b. 1860)

• March 26 – Spiridon Louis, Greek runner (b. 1873)

• March 27

• *Madeleine Astor, American survivor of Titanic (b. 1893)

• *Michael Joseph Savage, Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)

• March 31 – Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b. 1865)

April–June

• April 1 – John A. Hobson, English economist (b. 1858).

• April 26 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)

• April 28 – Luisa Tetrazzini, Italian opera singer (b. 1871)

• May 14 – Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-born anarchist (b. 1869)

• May 15 – Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b. 1902)

• May 19 – Diego Mazquiarán, Spanish matador (b. 1895)

• May 20 – Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)

• May 25 – Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b. 1873)

• May 26 – Wilhelm of Prussia, Prussian prince (b. 1906)

• May 28

• *Walter Connolly, American actor (b. 1887)

• *Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b. 1868)

• May 29 – Mary Anderson, American stage actress (b. 1859).

• June 7 – James Hall, American actor (b. 1900)

• June 10 – Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b. 1887)

• June 11 – Alfred S. Alschuler, American architect (b. 1876)

• June 13 – George Fitzmaurice, American director (b. 1885)

• June 14 – Henry W. Antheil, Jr., American diplomat (b. 1912)

• June 17 – Arthur Harden, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)

• June 19 – Maurice Jaubert, French composer (b. 1900)

• June 20 – Charley Chase, American comedian (b. 1893)

• June 21

• *Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b. 1881)

• *Janusz Kusocinski, Polish athlete (b. 1907)

• June 29 – Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b. 1879)

July–September

• July 1 – Ben Turpin, American actor (b. 1869)

• July 15 – Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man ever (infection) (b. 1918)

• August 5 – Frederick Albert Cook, American explorer (b. 1865)

• August 8 – Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist (b. 1892)

• August 18 – Walter Chrysler, American automobile pioneer (b. 1875)

• August 21 – Leon Trotsky, Russian revolutionary (b. 1879)

• August 21 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss Federal Councillor (b. 1882)

• August 22 – Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (b. 1860)

• August 30 – J.J. Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1856)

• September 4 – George William de Carteret, author from Jersey island (b. 1869)

• September 5 – Charles de Broqueville, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1860)

• September 25 – Marguerite Clark, American actress (b. 1883)

• September 27 – Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1857)

October–December

• October 5 – Ballington Booth, American co-founder of Volunteers of America (b. 1857)

• October 5 – Lincoln Loy McCandless, Hawaiian politician and cattle rancher (b. 1859)

• October 9 – Wilfred Grenfell, English medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (b. 1865)

• October 10 – Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b. 1876)

• October 12 – Tom Mix, American actor (b. 1880)

• November 9 – Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1869)

• November 9 – John Henry Kirby, Texas legislator and American businessman (b. 1860)

• November 17 – Eric Gill, British sculptor and writer (b. 1882)

• November 17 – Raymond Pearl, American biologist (b. 1879)

• December 5 – Jan Kubelík, Czech violinist (b. 1880)

• December 15 or December 16 – Billy Hamilton, American baseball player (b. 1866)

• December 19 – Kyösti Kallio, President of Finland (b. 1873)

• December 21 – F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b. 1896)

• December 22 – Nathanael West, American writer (b. 1903)

• December 25 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (b. 1898)

• December 26 – Daniel Frohman, American theater producer (b. 1851)

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – not awarded

• Chemistry – not awarded

• Physiology or Medicine – not awarded

• Literature – not awarded

• Peace – not awarded

Ship events

• List of ship launches in 1940

• List of ship commissionings in 1940

• List of ship decommissionings in 1940

• List of shipwrecks in 1940