Events of 1975

January

• January – Altair 8800 is released, sparking the era of the microcomputer.

• January – Volkswagen introduces the Golf, its new front-wheel-drive economy car, in the United States and Canada as the Volkswagen Rabbit.

• January 1 – Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up.

• January 1 – Work is abandoned on the British end of the Channel Tunnel.

• January 1– Malawi change the capital City from Zomba to Lilongwe

• January 2 – The Federal Rules of Evidence are approved by the United States Congress.

• January 5 – The bulk ore carrier MV Lake Illawarra strikes the Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, killing 12.

• January 6 – Wheel of Fortune premieres on NBC.

• January 6 – AM America makes its television debut on ABC.

• January 7 – OPEC agrees to raise crude oil prices by 10%.

• January 8 – Ella Grasso becomes Governor of Connecticut, the first woman U.S. governor who did not succeed her husband.

• January 8 – U.S. President Gerald Ford appoints Vice President Nelson Rockefeller to head a special commission looking into alleged domestic abuses by the CIA.

• January 10 – Japanese soldier Teruo Nakamura surrenders on the Indonesian island of Morota.

• January 12 – Super Bowl IX: The Pittsburgh Steelers defeat the Minnesota Vikings 16–6 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana.

• January 14 – Heiress Lesley Whittle, 17, is kidnapped from her home in Shropshire, England by Donald Neilson.

• January 15 – International Women's Year is launched in Britain by Princess Alexandra and Barbara Castle.

• January 15 – Portugal grants independence to Angola.

• January 19 – Earthquake strikes Himachal Pradesh, India

• January 20 – In Hanoi, North Vietnam, the Politburo approves the final military offensive against South Vietnam.

• January 20 – Michael Ovitz founds the Creative Artists Agency.

• January 29 – The Weather Underground bombs the U.S. State Department main office in Washington, D.C..

February

• February 1 – The Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation is launched, becoming the first TV network in the Philippines.

• February 4 – The Haicheng earthquake, the first successfully predicted earthquake, kills 2,041 and injures 27,538 in Haicheng, Liaoning, China.

• February 9 – The Soyuz 17 crew (Georgi Grechko, Aleksei Gubarev) returns to Earth after 1 month aboard the Salyut 4 space station.

• February 11 – Margaret Thatcher defeats Edward Heath for the leadership of the UK Conservative Party in the United Kingdom.

• February 11 – Colonel Richard Ratsimandrava, President of Madagascar, is assassinated.

• February 13 – A "Turkish Federated State of North Cyprus" is declared as an unsuccessful first step to international recognition of a Turkish Cypriot separatist state in Cyprus.

• February 13 – Fire breaks out in the World Trade Center.

• February 21 – Watergate scandal: Former United States Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and former White House aides H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, are sentenced to between 30 months and 8 years in prison.

• February 23 – In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly 2 months early in the United States.

• February 26 – A fleeing Provisional Irish Republican Army member shoots and kills off-duty London police officer Stephen Tibble, 22, as he gives chase.

• February 27 – The Movement 2 June kidnaps West German politician Peter Lorenz. He is released on March 4 after most of the kidnappers' demands are met.

• February 28 – A major tube train crash at Moorgate station, London kills 43 people.

• February 28 – In Lomé, Togo, the European Economic Community and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign a financial and economic treaty, known as the first Lomé Convention.

March

• March 1 – Aston Villa wins the Football League Cup at Wembley, beating Norwich City 1–0 in the final.

• March 4 – Charlie Chaplin is knighted by Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

• March 4 – A Canadian parliamentary committee is televised for the first time.

• March 6 – Algiers Accord: Iran and Iraq announce a settlement in their border dispute.

• March 6 – A bomb explodes in the Paris offices of the Springer Press. The 6 March Group (connected to the Red Army Faction) demands amnesty for the Baader-Meinhof Group.

• March 7 – The body of teenage heiress Lesley Whittle, kidnapped 7 weeks earlier by the Black Panther, is discovered in Staffordshire, England.

• March 8 – The United Nations proclaims International Women's Day.

• March 9 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

• March 10 – Vietnam War: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam, on their way to capturing Saigon.

• March 10 – The Rocky Horror Show opens on Broadway in New York City with 4 performances.

• March 10 – Shinkansen opens between Osaka and Fukuoka.

• March 11 – The leftist military government in Portugal defeats a rightist coup attempt.

• March 13 – Vietnam War: South Vietnam President Nguyen van Thieu orders the Central Highlands evacuated. This turns into a mass exodus involving troops and civilians (the Convoy of Tears).

• March 15 – In Brazil, the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara) merges with the state of Rio de Janeiro, under the name of Rio de Janeiro. The state's capital moves from the city of Niterói to the city of Rio de Janeiro.

• March 22 – Ding-a-dong by Teach-In (music by Dick Bakker, text by Will Luikinga and Eddy Ouwens) wins the 20th Eurovision Song Contest 1975 for the Netherlands.

• March 25 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia is shot and killed by his nephew; the killer is beheaded on June 18. (King Khalid succeeds Faisal.)

• March 28 – A fire in the maternity wing at Kucic Hospital in Rijeka, former Yugoslavia, kills 25 people.

April

• April 3 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.

• April 4 – Vietnam War: The first military Operation Babylift flight, C5A 80218, crashes 27 minutes after takeoff, killing 138 on board; 176 survive the crash.

• April 4 – Bill Gates founds Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

• April 9 – Asia's first professional basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Association, plays its first game at the Araneta Coliseum.

• April 13 – Bus massacre: The Kataeb militia kills 27 Palestinians during an attack on their bus in Ain El Remmeneh, Lebanon, triggering the Lebanese civil war.

• April 13 – A coup d'état in Chad led by the military overthrows and kills President François Tombalbaye.

• April 17 – Following several weeks successful fighting, the Communist Khmer Rouge guerilla forces capture Phnom Penh, prompting a forcible mass evacuation of the city.

• April 24 – Six Red Army Faction terrorists take over the West German embassy in Stockholm, take 11 hostages and demand the release of the group's jailed members; shortly after, they are captured by Swedish police. (See West German embassy siege)

• April 25 – Vietnam War: As North Vietnamese Army forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost 10 years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.

• April 30 – Vietnam War: The Fall of Saigon: The Vietnam War ends as Communist forces take Saigon, resulting in mass evacuations of Americans and South Vietnamese. As the capital is taken, South Vietnam surrenders unconditionally.

May

• May 5 – The Busch Gardens Williamsburg Theme Park opens in Virginia.

• May 12 – Mayaguez incident: Khmer Rouge forces in Cambodia seize the United States merchant ship SS Mayaguez in international waters.

• May 15 – Mayaguez incident: The American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued by the U.S. Navy and Marines; 38 Americans are killed.

• May 16 – Sikkim accedes to India after a referendum.

• May 16 – Junko Tabei becomes the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

• May 25 – Indianapolis 500: Bobby Unser wins for a second time in a rain-shorted 174 lap, 435 mile (696 km) race.

• May 25 – Led Zeppelin: plays its last gig in Earls Court.

• May 27 – The Dibble's Bridge coach crash near Grassington, North Yorkshire, England results in 32 deaths (the highest ever toll in a United Kingdom road accident).

• May 28 – Fifteen West African countries sign the Treaty of Lagos, creating the Economic Community of West African States.

June

• June 5 – The Suez Canal opens for the first time since the Six-Day War.

• June 5 – The United Kingdom votes yes in a referendum to stay in the European Community.

• June 9 – The Order of Australia is awarded for the first time.

• June 10 – In Washington, DC, the Rockefeller Commission issues its report on CIA abuses, recommending a joint congressional oversight committee on intelligence.

• June 19 – Richard Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan is found guilty in absentia of the murder of nanny Sandra Rivett.

• June 25 – Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declares a state of emergency in India, suspending civil liberties and elections.

• June 25 – Mozambique gains independence from Portugal.

• June 26 – Two FBI agents and 1 AIM member die in a shootout, at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

July

• July 1 – The Postmaster-General's Department is disaggregated into the Australian Telecommunications Commission (trading as Telecom Australia) and the Australian Postal Commission (trading as Australia Post).

• July 4 – Sydney newspaper publisher Juanita Nielsen disappears, and is presumed to have been murdered.

• July 5 – Cape Verde gains independence after 500 years of Portuguese rule.

• July 6 – The Comoros declare their independence from France.

• July 9 – The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that will pave way for a multi-party system (albeit highly restricted).

• July 12 – São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.

• July 17 – Apollo-Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the 2 nations.

• July 31 – In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.

August

• August 1 – The Helsinki Accords, which officially recognize Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, are signed in Finland.

• August 5 – U.S. President Ford posthumously pardons Robert E. Lee, restoring full rights of citizenship.

• August 8 – The Banqiao Dam, in China's Henan Province, fails after a freak typhoon; over 200,000 people perish.

• August 8 – Samuel Bronfman, son of the president of Seagram's, is kidnapped in Purchase, New York.

• August 11 – British Leyland Motor Corporation comes under British government control.

• August 11 – Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese East Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a UDT coup and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.

• August 15 – The Birmingham Six are wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment in Great Britain.

• August 15 – President Mujibur Rahman of Bangladesh is killed during a coup.

• August 20 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

• August 24 – Officers responsible for the military coup in Greece in 1967 are sentenced to death in Athens. The sentences are later commuted to life imprisonment.

September

• September 5 – In Sacramento, California, Lynette Fromme, a follower of jailed cult leader Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is thwarted by a Secret Service agent.

• September 5 – The London Hilton hotel is bombed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army; 2 people are killed and 63 injured.

• September 6 – A Richter Scale 6.7 magnitude earthquake kills at least 2,085 in Diyarbakir and Lice, Turkey.

• September 14 – Elizabeth Seton is canonized, becoming the first American Roman Catholic saint.

• September 14 – Rembrandt's painting "The Night Watch" is slashed a dozen times at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

• September 15 – The French department of Corse, comprising the entire island of Corsica, is divided into two departments: Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.

• September 16 – Papua New Guinea gains its independence from Australia.

• September 18 – Fugitive Patricia Hearst is captured in San Francisco.

• September 19 – General Vasco Goncalves is ousted as Prime Minister of Portugal.

• September 20 – The term of Tuanku Al-Mutassimu Billahi Muhibbudin Sultan Abdul Halim Al-Muadzam Shah ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah, as the 5th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, ends.

• September 21 – Sultan Yahya Petra ibni Almarhum Sultan Ibrahim Petra, Sultan of Kelantan, becomes the 6th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

• September 22 – U.S. President Gerald Ford survives a second assassination attempt, this time by Sara Jane Moore in San Francisco.

• September 27 – Francoist Spain executes five ETA and FRAP members, the last executings in Spain to date.

• September 27 – The Norwood Football Club beats the Glenelg Football Club in the SANFL Australian Rules Football Grand Final.

• September 28 – The Spaghetti House siege takes place in London.

• September 30 – The Hughes Helicopters (later McDonnell-Douglas, now Boeing IDS) AH-64 Apache makes its first flight.

October

• October 1 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.

• October 2 – A blast at an explosives factory kills 6 in Beloeil, Quebec.

• October 9 – A bomb explosion outside the Green Park tube station near Piccadilly in London kills 1 and injures 20.

• October 11 – NBC airs the first episode of Saturday Night Live (George Carlin is the first host; Billy Preston and Janis Ian the first musical guests).

• October 16 – Five Australian-based journalists are killed at Balibo by Indonesian forces, during their incursion into Portuguese Timor.

• October 21 – 1975 World Series: The Boston Red Sox defeat the Cincinnati Reds in Game Six off Carlton Fisk's 12th-inning home run to cap off what many consider to be the best World Series game ever played.

• October 22 The Reds defeat the Red Sox four games to three in a broadcast that breaks records for a televised sporting event.

• October 27 – Robert Poulin kills 1 and wounds 5 at St. Pius X High School in Ottawa, Canada before shooting himself.

• October 29 – Peter Sutcliffe (the "Yorkshire Ripper") commits his first murder, Wilma McCann.

• October 30 – Juan Carlos I of Spain becomes acting Head of State after dictator Francisco Franco concedes that he is too ill to govern.

November

• November 3 – An independent audit of Mattel, one of the United States' largest toy manufacturers, reveals that company officials fabricated press releases and financial information to "maintain the appearance of continued corporate growth."

• November 3 – The first petroleum pipeline opens from Cruden Bay to Grangemouth, Scotland.

• November 3 – The long running The Price is Right goes from being 30 minutes long to its current hour long format.

• November 6 – The Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara.

• November 10 – United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379: By a vote of 72–35 (with 32 abstentions), the United Nations General Assembly approves a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The resolution provokes an outcry among Jews around the world.

• November 10 – The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm 17 miles from the entrance to Whitefish Bay on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board (an event immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot).

• November 10 – Lev Leshchenko revives Den Pobedy, one of the most popular World War II songs in the USSR.

• November 11 – Angola becomes independent from Portugal; civil war soon erupts.

• November 11 – Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Governor-General of Australia Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam and commissions Malcolm Fraser as Prime Minister.

• November 11 – The first annual Vogalonga rowing "race" is held in Venice, Italy.

• November 14 – Spain abandons Western Sahara.

• November 20 – Former California Governor Ronald Reagan enters the race for the Republican presidential nomination, challenging incumbent President Gerald Ford.

• November 20 – Spanish dictator Francisco Franco dies in Madrid, effectively marking the end of the dictatorship established following the Spanish Civil War and the beginning of Spain's transition to democracy.

• November 22 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

• November 25 – Suriname gains independence from the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

• November 25 – The Irish Republican Army is outlawed in the United Kingdom.

• November 26 – The 1975 cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show came out in America.

• November 27 – Ross McWhirter, co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records, is shot dead by the Provisional Irish Republican Army for offering reward money to informers.

• November 28 – Portuguese Timor declares its independence from Portugal as East Timor.

• November 29 – The name "Micro-soft" (for microcomputer software) is used by Bill Gates in a letter to Paul Allen for the first time (Microsoft becomes a registered trademark on November 26, 1976).

• November 29 – While disabled, the submarine tender USS Proteus (AS-19) discharges radioactive coolant water into Apra Harbor, Guam. A Geiger counter at 2 of the harbor's public beaches shows 100 millirems/hour, 50 times the allowable dose.

December

• December 1 – Lambda Theta Phi founded

• December 2 – The communist Pathet Lao takes power in Laos.

• December 3 – The wreck of the HMHS Britannic is found in the Kea Channel by Jacques Cousteau.

• December 8 – New York City is approved for bailout of 2.3 billion each year through to 1978 – 6.9 billion total.

• December 7 – Indonesia invades East Timor.

• December 21 – Six people, including Carlos (the Jackal), kidnap delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna.

• December 29 – A bomb explosion at LaGuardia Airport kills 11.

Undated

• In New Zealand, Maori leader Whina Cooper leads a march of 5,000 people in support of Maori claims to their land.

• The Third Cod War between UK and Iceland lasts from November 1975-June 1976.

• The government of Colombia announces the finding of Ciudad Perdida.

• The Spanish army quits Spanish (Western) Sahara, the last remnant of Spain's Empire. The Sahrawi Republic (RASD) is created. Morocco invades ex-Spanish Western Sahara.

• The term fractal is first used.

• Victoria (Australia) abolishes capital punishment.

• South Australia becomes the first Australian state to decriminalize homosexual acts between consenting adults.

• Some members of Jehovah's Witnesses, based on the group's chronology, believe that Armageddon will happen in 1975 and a few of them sell their houses and businesses to prepare for the new world paradise which they believe will exist when Jesus sets up God's Kingdom on earth.

Ongoing

• Cold War.

Fictional

• March 12 – Wrongly convicted murderer Andrew Dufresne escapes from Shawshank State Prison.

• In the film The Omega Man a war involving biological weapons between China and the Soviet Union took place in 1975.

• September – A catastrophic earthquake – 9.9 on the Richter scale – strikes Los Angeles, California in the film Earthquake.

World population

Births

January

• January 1 – Eiichiro Oda, Japanese manga artist

• January 2 – Chris Cheney, Australian rock musician (The Living End)

• January 3 – Danica McKellar, American actress

• January 4 – Jill Marie Jones, American actress

• January 5 – Bradley Cooper, American actor

• January 5 – Mike Grier, American hockey player

• January 6 – Ricardo Santos, Brazilian beach volleyball player

• January 8 – Chris Simmons, British actor

• January 9 – Kim Mathers, ex- wife of rapper Eminem

• January 10 – Jake Delhomme, American football player

• January 11 – Rory Fitzpatrick, American hockey player

• January 13 – Shazia Mirza, British comedian

• January 15 – Edith Bowman, British radio DJ

• January 17 – Tony Brown, New Zealand rugby union footballer

• January 17 – Freddy Rodriguez, Puerto Rican actor

• January 20 – David Eckstein, American baseball player

• January 20 – Mark Allan Robinson, Canadian recall leader

• January 22 – Balthazar Getty, American actor

• January 23 – Tito Ortiz, American mixed martial arts fighter

• January 25 – Tim Montgomery, American athlete

• January 25 – Mia Kirshner, Canadian actress

• January 25 – John Wade, American football player

• January 28 – David Zingler, American writer

• January 29 – Sara Gilbert, American actress

• January 30 – Yumi Yoshimura, Japanese singer (Puffy Amiyumi)

• January 31 – Preity Zinta, Indian actress

• January 31 – Jackie O, Australian radio DJ and TV presenter

February

• February 1 – Big Boi, American rapper

• February 2 – Todd Bertuzzi, Canadian hockey player

• February 2 – Ieroklis Stoltidis, Greek footballer

• February 4 – Natalie Imbruglia, Australian actress and singer

• February 5 – Adam Carson, American rock drummer (AFI)

• February 6 – Tomoko Kawase, Japanese singer

• February 8 – Joe Eshwar, Indian writer & filmaker

• February 10 – Amber Frey, Massage therapist & author

• February 10 – Hiroki Kuroda, Japanese baseball pitcher

• February 11 – Jacque Vaughn, American basketball player

• February 14 – Scott Owen, Australian rock musician (The Living End)

• February 14 – Malik Zidi, French actor

• February 15 – Brandon Boyd, American rock musician (Incubus)

• February 17 – Harisu, South Korean singer, model and actress

• February 17 – Todd Harvey, Canadian National Hockey League player

• February 17 – Vaclav Prospal, Czech National Hockey League player

• February 18 – Keith Gillespie, Northern Irish footballer

• February 18 – Gary Neville, English footballer

• February 18 – Sarah Brown, American actress

• February 19 – Daniel Adair, Canadian rock drummer (Nickelback)

• February 20 – Brian Littrell, American pop singer (Backstreet Boys)

• February 21 – Heri Joensen, Faroese rock musician (Týr)

• February 22 – Drew Barrymore, American actress

• February 23 – Michael Cornacchia, American actor

March

• March 4 – Kim Jung-Eun, South Korean actress

• March 4 – Myrna Veenstra, Dutch field hockey player

• March 4 – Hawksley Workman, Canadian rock singer-songwriter

• March 5 – Jolene Blalock, American actress

• March 5 – Niki Taylor, American model

• March 9 – Roy Makaay, Dutch footballer

• March 11 – Eric the Midget, American member of the Wack Pack

• March 11 – Buvaisar Saitiev, Chechen wrestler, Olympic gold-medalist

• March 14 – Rico Yan, Philippine movie/TV actor (d. 2002)

• March 15 – will.i.am, American rapper

• March 15 – Eva Longoria, American actress

• March 15 – Veselin Topalov, Bulgarian chess player

• March 17 – Andrew Martin, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 2009)

• March 18 – Sutton Foster, American actress

• March 19 – Matthew Richardson,Australian rules footballer

• March 19 – Vivian Hsu, Taiwanese singer, actress and model

• March 19 – Le Jingyi, Chinese swimmer

• March 25 – Ladislav Benysek, Czech ice hockey player

• March 27 – Stacy Ferguson (Fergie), American pop/R&B singer and actress

• March 29 – Jan Bos, Dutch speed skater

• March 30 – Bahar Soomekh, American actress

April

• April 2 – Adam Rodriguez, American actor

• April 3 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball pitcher

• April 3 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese professional baseball player

• April 4 – Scott Rolen, American baseball player

• April 4 – Delphine Arnault, French billionaire businesswoman

• April 6 – Zach Braff, American actor

• April 7 – Ronde Barber, American football player

• April 7 – Tiki Barber, American football player

• April 9 – Robbie Fowler, British footballer

• April 10 – Chris Carrabba, American rock musician (Dashboard Confessional)

• April 10 – Matthew Phillips, Italian rugby union footballer

• April 13 – Bruce Dyer, English footballer

• April 14 – Amy Dumas, American professional wrestler

• April 14 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian UFC Middleweight Champion

• April 15 – Paul Dana, American race car driver (d. 2006)

• April 16 – Nick Pickard, British actor

• April 17 – Lee Hyun-il, South Korean badminton player

• April 22 – Greg Moore, Canadian race car driver (d. 1999)

• April 22 – Carlos Sastre, Spanish road bicycle racer

• April 23 – Olga Kern, Russian pianist

• April 25 – Chris Lilley, Australian actor, comedian, and writer

• April 26 – Joey Jordison, American rock drummer and guitarist (Slipknot, Murderdolls)

• April 27 – Kazuyoshi Funaki, Japanese ski jumper

• April 30 – Mike Chat, American actor

May

• May 1 – Marc-Vivien Foé, Cameroonian footballer (d. 2003)

• May 2 – David Beckham, English footballer

• May 3 – Kimora Lee Simmons, American fashion designer

• May 4 – Laci Peterson, American murder victim (d. 2002)

• May 7 – Jason Tunks, Canadian Olympic discus thrower

• May 8 – Jussi Markkanen, Finnish hockey player

• May 8 – Enrique Iglesias, American singer

• May 10 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver

• May 11 – Coby Bell, American actor

• May 12 – Jonah Lomu, New Zealand rugby player

• May 15 – Peter Iwers, Swedish rock bassist (In Flames)

• May 15 – Ray Lewis, American football player

• May 16 – Tonéx, American singer

• May 16 – Tony Kakko, Finnish singer

• May 17 – Sasha Alexander, American actress

• May 18 – John Higgins, Scottish snooker player

• May 18 – Jack Johnson, American singer-songwriter

• May 19 – London Fletcher, American football player

• May 19 – Zhang Ning, Chinese badminton player

• May 20 – Andrew Sega, American musician

• May 20 – Tahmoh Penikett, Canadian actor

• May 22 – Janne Niinimaa, Finnish hockey player

• May 25 – Lauryn Hill, American musician

• May 26 – Nicki Aycox, American actress

• May 27 – Jamie Oliver, British chef and television personality

• May 28 – Charmaine Sheh, Hong Kong actress

June

• June 4 – Angelina Jolie, American actress

• June 4 – Russell Brand, English comedian

• June 7 – Allen Iverson, American basketball player

• June 8 – Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress

• June 9 – Andrew Symonds, Australian cricketer

• June 10 – Nicole Bilderback, American actress

• June 10 – Darren Eadie, English footballer

• June 11 – Choi Ji-woo, South Korean actress and model

• June 12 – Răzvan Ţupa, Romanian poet

• June 14 – Chris Onstad, American cartoonist

• June 17 – Chloe Jones, American pornstar (d. 2005)

• June 18 – Martin St. Louis, Canadian hockey player

• June 19 – Ed Coode, British rower

• June 21 – Gabriel Butnaru, Romanian journalist

• June 23 – KT Tunstall, Scottish singer-songwriter

• June 24 – Christie Rampone, American footballer

• June 25 – Linda Cardellini, American actress

• June 25 – Vladimir Kramnik, Russian chess player

• June 27 – Tobey Maguire, American actor

• June 30 – Ralf Schumacher, German racing car driver

• June 30 – Angela Tong, Hong Kong actress

July

• July 1 – Sufjan Stevens, American folk musician

• July 5 – Hernán Crespo, Argentinian footballer

• July 5 – Ai Sugiyama, Japanese tennis player

• July 5 – Gunnar H. Thomsen, Faroese rock bassist (Týr)

• July 6 – Curtis Jackson, American rapper (50 Cent)

• July 8 – Dan Palmer, American musician

• July 9 – Jack White, American rock and blues musician

• July 9 – Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler

• July 9 – Isaac Brock, American musician

• July 9 – Shona Fraser, British born music journalist and judge

• July 10 – Alain Nasreddine, Canadian ice hockey player

• July 11 – Lil' Kim, American rapper

• July 12 – Hannah Waterman, British actress

• July 14 – Tameka Cottle known as "Tiny", American singer/songwriter member of the group Xscape

• July 15 – Jill Halfpenny, British actress

• July 17 – Konnie Huq, English television presenter

• July 18 – Torii Hunter, American baseball player

• July 18 – Daron Malakian, American rock guitarist (System of a Down)

• July 18 – M.I.A., English musician

• July 19 – Patricia Ja Lee, American model/actress

• July 20 – Ray Allen, American basketball player

• July 21 – Fredrik Johansson, Swedish rock guitarist

• July 22 – Kenshin Kawakami, Japanese baseball pitcher

• July 24 – Torrie Wilson, American professional wrestler and model

• July 25 – Evgeni Nabokov, Russian goaltender currently in the NHL

• July 25 – Håvard Ellefsen, Norwegian rock (metal) artist (Mortiis),

• July 27 – Shea Hillenbrand, American baseball player

• July 27 – Alex Rodriguez, American baseball player

• July 29 – Terrence Wilkins, American football player

• July 30 – Graham Nicholls, British artist

• July 31 – Simon Hirst, British DJ

August

• August 1 – Danny Chan Kwok Kwan, Hong Kong actor

• August 3 – Yoyo Mung, Hong Kong actress

• August 5 – Kajol Devgan, Indian actress

• August 5 – Eicca Toppinen, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)

• August 7 – Charlize Theron, South African actress

• August 7 – Gaahl (Kristian Eivind Espedal), Norwegian metal artist

• August 12 – David Filmore, American actor, director

• August 12 – John Stevenson, American songwriter/musician

• August 15 – Kara Wolters, American women's basketball player

• August 22 – Sheree Murphy, English actress

• August 24 – Hayato Sakurai, Japanese martial artist

• Aug 27 – Björn Gelotte

September

• September 1 – Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Australian actress and singer

• September 3 – Jennifer Paige, American singer

• September 4 – Mark Ronson, British DJ and music producer

• September 5 – Kate Allan, British author

• September 6 – Ryoko Tani, Japanese judoka

• September 7 – Renato "Babalu" Sobral, Brazilian martial artist

• September 8 – Richard Hughes, British rock drummer (Keane)

• September 9 – Michael Bublé, Canadian musician

• September 11 – Brad Fischetti, American musician

• September 17 – Constantine Maroulis, American singer

• September 17 – Austin St. John, American actor

• September 17 – Jimmie Johnson, American race car driver

• September 17 – Juan Pablo Montoya, Colombian race car driver

• September 18 – Richard Appleby, English footballer

• September 22 – Ethan Moreau, Canadian hockey player

• September 23 – Chris Hawkins, British radio personality

• September 23 – Kim Dong-moon, South Korean badminton player

• September 25 – Matt Hasselbeck, American football player

• September 25 – Declan Donnelly, British TV presenter (Ant and Dec)

• September 27 – Sam Lee, Hong Kong actor

• September 28 – Karan Ashley, American actor

• September 30 – Marion Cotillard, French actress

• September 30 – Georges-Alain Jones, French singer

October

• October 2 – Michel Trudeau, son of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Margaret Trudeau (d. 1998)

• October 5 – Parminder Nagra, British actress

• October 5 – Kate Winslet, British actress

• October 7 – Terry Gerin, American professional wrestler

• October 9 – Joe McFadden, British actor

• October 14 – Floyd Landis, American cyclist

• October 15 – Ginuwine, American singer

• October 17 – Janne Aikala, Finnish murder victim (d. 1986)

• October 19 – Benjamin Heckendorn, Electronics Modifier and Independent film maker

• October 21 – Henrique Hilário, Portuguese footballer

• October 23 – Odalys Garcia, Cuban-born actress

• October 27 – Max Lilja, Finnish cellist (Apocalyptica)

• October 30 – Ian D'Sa, Canadian rock guitarist (Billy Talent)

November

• November 3 – Marta Dominguez, Spanish athlete

• November 4 – Éric Fichaud, Canadian hockey player

• November 5 – Jamie Spaniolo (Jamie Madrox), American rapper

• November 8 – Tara Reid, American actress

• November 8 – Ángel Corella, Spanish dancer

• November 10 – Markko Märtin, Estonian race car driver

• November 12 – Aaron Solowoniuk, Canadian rock drummer (Billy Talent)

• November 14 – Travis Barker, American rock drummer (Blink-182, The Aquabats!, Transplants, Box Car Racer, +44)

• November 16 – Julio Lugo, Dominican baseball player

• November 17 – Diane Neal, American actress

• November 18 – David Ortiz, Dominican baseball player

• November 18 – Anthony McPartlin, British TV presenter (Ant and Dec)

• November 19 – Sushmita Sen, Indian beauty queen and actress

• November 19 – Tamika Scott, American singer/songwriter and producer.

• November 20 – Davey Havok, American rock lead singer of (AFI)

• November 21 – Chris Moneymaker, American poker player

• November 24 – Thomas Kohnstamm, American writer

• November 24 – Lee Wan Wah, Malaysian badminton player

• November 28 – Eka Kurniawan, Indonesian writer

• November 30 – Ben Thatcher, Welsh international footballer

December

• December 2 – Malinda Williams, American actress

• December 3 – Csaba Czébely, Hungarian heavy metal drummer (Pokolgép)

• December 5 – Ronnie O'Sullivan, British snooker player

• December 6 – Ashin, Taiwanese rock lead singer (Mayday (Taiwanese band))

• December 8 – Kevin Harvick, American race car driver

• December 10 – Joe Mays, American baseball pitcher

• December 10 – Steve Bradley, American WWE Development Star (d. 2008)

• December 11 – Gerben de Knegt, Dutch cyclist

• December 12 – Mayim Bialik, American actress and neuroscientist

• December 13 – Tom Delonge, American rock musician (Blink 182, Box Car Racer, Angels & Airwaves)

• December 14 – Justin Furstenfeld, American rock musician (Blue October)

• December 16 – Benjamin Kowalewicz, Canadian rock lead singer (Billy Talent)

• December 16 – Frode Fjerdingstad, Norwegian photographer

• December 17 – Milla Jovovich, Ukrainian actress and model

• December 17 – Tim Clark, South African golfer

• December 17 – Susanthika Jayasinghe, Sri Lankan athlete

• December 18 – Eugene, American professional wrestler

• December 18 – Masaki Sumitani, Japanese television performer

• December 18 – Trish Stratus, Canadian professional wrestler and fitness model

• December 19 – Jon Smith, British writer

• December 20 – Bartosz Bosacki, Polish footballer

• December 21 – Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballet dancer

• December 22 – Chris Adler, American actor

• December 22 – Crissy Moran, American erotic actress

• December 23 – Sky Lopez, American actress

• December 23 – Vadim Sharifijanov, Russian ice hockey player

• December 26 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player

• December 27 – Heather O'Rourke, American child actress (d. 1988)

• December 30 – Tiger Woods, American golfer

Unknown

• Björn Gelotte – Swedish Drummer & Guitarist

Deaths

January–February

• January 4 – Carlo Levi, Italian writer (b. 1902)

• January 8 – David Marshall "Carbine" Williams, American inventor (b. 1900)

• January 8 – Richard Tucker, American tenor (b. 1913)

• January 18 – Chester Kallman, American poet (b. 1921)

• January 19 – Thomas Hart Benton, American artist (b. 1889)

• January 24 – Larry Fine, American actor and comedian (The Three Stooges) (b. 1902)

• January 24 – Erich Kempka, German chauffeur of Adolf Hitler (b. 1910)

• January 27 – Bill Walsh, American film producer and writer (b. 1913)

• January 28 – Ola Raknes, Norwegian psychoanalyst and philologist (b. 1887)

• February 3 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian actress and singer (b. 1904)

• February 4 – Louis Jordan, American musician (b. 1908)

• February 8 – Robert Robinson, British chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1886)

• February 10 – Nikos Kavvadias, Greek poet and writer (stroke) (b. 1910)

• February 11 – Richard Ratsimandrava, Madagascar President (assassinated) (b. 1931)

• February 13 – André Beaufre, French general (b. 1902)

• February 14 – Julian Huxley, British biologist (b. 1887)

• February 14 – P. G. Wodehouse, English writer (b. 1881)

• February 16 – Morgan Taylor, American athlete (b. 1903)

• February 17 – George Marshall, American film director (b. 1891)

• February 19 – Luigi Dallapiccola, Italian composer (b. 1904)

• February 20 – Robert Strauss, American actor (b. 1913)

• February 24 – Nikolai Bulganin, Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)

• February 25 – Elijah Muhammad, African-American Nation of Islam leader (b. 1897)

• February 26 – Stephen Tibble, London police officer (shot) (b. 1953)

March–April

• March 3 – Therese Giehse, German actress (b. 1898)

• March 7 – Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian philosopher and literary scholar (b. 1895)

• March 7 – Ben Blue, Canadian actor and comedian (b. 1901)

• March 8 – George Stevens, American director, producer, and cinematographer (b. 1904)

• March 9 – Gleb W. Derujinsky, Russian American sculptor (b. 1888)

• March 9 – Joseph Dunninger, American mentalist (b. 1892)

• March 13 – Ivo Andric, Serbo-Croatian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)

• March 14 – Susan Hayward, American actress (b. 1917)

• March 15 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1906)

• March 16 – T-Bone Walker, African-American musician (b. 1910)

• March 16 – Richard W. DeKorte, American New Jersey Energy Administrator and former member of the New Jersey General Assembly (b. 1936)

• March 19 – Harry Lachman, American set designer and film director (b. 1886)

• March 22 – Cass Daley, American actress (b. 1915)

• March 25 – King Faisal of Saudi Arabia (b. 1906)

• April 3 – Mary Ure, Scottish actress (b. 1933)

• April 5 – Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China (b. 1887)

• April 5 – Harold Osborn, American Olympic athlete (b. 1899)

• April 10 – Walker Evans, American photographer (b. 1903)

• April 10 – Marjorie Main, American actress (b. 1890)

• April 12 – Josephine Baker, African-American dancer (b. 1906)

• April 13 – N'Garta Tombalbaye, President of Chad (b. 1918)

• April 13 – Larry Parks, American actor (b. 1914)

• April 14 – Fredric March, American actor (b. 1897)

• April 15 – Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)

• April 17 – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Indian philosopher and president (b. 1888)

• April 23 – William Hartnell, British actor (b. 1908)

• April 24 – Peter Ham, Welsh musician (b. 1947)

• April 30 – Gen Paul, French artist (b. 1895)

May–June

• May 5 – Moe Howard, American actor (The Three Stooges) (b. 1897)

• May 8 – Avery Brundage, American President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1887)

• May 9 – Philip Dorn, Dutch actor (b. 1901)

• May 13 – Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr., American inventor of the drive-in theatre (b. 1900)

• May 13 – Bob Wills, American musician (b. 1905)

• May 18 – Leroy Anderson, American composer (b. 1908)

• May 22 – Lefty Grove, American baseball player (b. 1900)

• May 22 – Torben Meyer, Danish actor (b. 1884)

• May 23 – Moms Mabley, African-American comedian (b. 1894)

• May 25 – Count Dante, American martial artist (b. 1939)

• May 30 – Steve Prefontaine, American distance runner (b. 1951)

• May 30 – Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese martial artist and founder of Isshin-ryu karate (b. 1908)

• May 30 – Michel Simon, Swiss actor (b. 1895)

• June 3 – Ozzie Nelson, American actor (b. 1906)

• June 3 – Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1901)

• June 4 – Evelyn Brent, American actress (b. 1899)

• June 5 – Paul Keres, Estonian chess grandmaster (b. 1916)

• June 6 – Larry Blyden, American actor (b. 1925)

• June 14 – Pablo Antonio, Filipino modernist architect (b. 1902)

• June 26 – Josemaría Escrivá, Spanish priest and founder of Opus Dei (b. 1902)

• June 28 – Rod Serling, American television screenwriter (The Twilight Zone) (b. 1924)

• July 17 – Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, Georgian writer and public benefactor (b. 1893)

• June 29 – Tim Buckley, American singer/songwriter (b. 1947)

July–August

• July 2 – James Robertson Justice, British actor (b. 1907)

• July 15 – Charles Weidman, American choreographer and dancer (b. 1901)

• July 18 – Vaughn Bode, American artist and psychedelic cartoonist (b. 1941)

• July 19 – Lefty Frizzell, American singer (b. 1928)

• July 21 – Billy West, American actor (b. 1892)

• July 29 – James Blish, American science fiction writer (b. 1921)

• August 8 – Julian Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist (b. 1928)

• August 9 – Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer (b. 1906)

• August 10 – Robert Barton, Irish politician and last surviving signatory of the Anglo-Irish Treaty (b. 1881)

• August 15 – Mujibur Rahman, President of Bangladesh (b. 1920)

• August 16 – Vladimir Kuts, Soviet runner (b. 1927)

• August 17 – Sig Arno, German actor (b. 1895)

• August 19 – Mark Donohue, American race car driver (b. 1937)

• August 19 – Frank Shields, American tennis player (b. 1909)

• August 23 – Sidney Buchman, American screenwriter (b. 1902)

• August 23 – Hank Patterson, American actor (b. 1888)

• August 26 – Cullen Landis, American actor (b. 1895)

• August 27 – Haile Selassie I, former emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1892)

• August 28 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor (b. 1907)

• August 29 – Eamon de Valera, 3rd President of Ireland (b. 1882)

• August 31 – Pierre Blaise, French actor (b. 1955)

September–October

• September 9 – Minta Durfee, American actress (b. 1889)

• September 9 – Ethel Griffies, English actress (b. 1878)

• September 9 – John McGiver, American actor (b. 1913)

• September 10 – George Paget Thomson, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)

• September 16 – Irene Hayes, American Ziegfeld girl and businesswoman (b. 1896)

• September 19 – Pamela Brown, English actress (b. 1917)

• September 20 – Vincent Lopez, American bandleader (b. 1895)

• September 20 – Saint-John Perse, French diplomat and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

• September 23 – Ian Hunter, British actor (b. 1900)

• September 24 – Earle Cabell, Texas politician (b. 1906)

• September 27 – Mark Frechette, American actor (b. 1947)

• September 27 – Jack Lang, Australian politician (b. 1876)

• September 27 – Haile Selassie I, Ethiopian Emperor (b. 1892)

• September 29 – Casey Stengel, American baseball player and manager (b. 1890)

• October 4 – May Sutton, American tennis champion (b. 1886)

• October 10 – Norman Levinson, American mathematician (b. 1912)

• October 10 – Lillian Walker, American actress (b. 1887)

• October 21 – Charles Reidpath, American athlete (b. 1889)

• October 22 – Arnold J. Toynbee, British historian (b. 1889)

• October 27 – Rex Stout, American author (b. 1886)

• October 28 – Georges Carpentier, French boxer (b. 1894)

• October 30 – Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1887)

November–December

• November 1 – Sinn Sisamouth, The highly prolific King of Khmer music is executed by the Khmer Rouge ending the Golden Age of the Cambodian music industry.(b. 1935)

• November 2 – Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italian film director (b. 1922)

• November 5 – Annette Kellerman, Australian swimmer and actress (b. 1887)

• November 5 – Edward Lawrie Tatum, American geneticist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1909)

• November 5 – Lionel Trilling, American literary critic (b. 1905)

• November 13 – R.C. Sherriff, English writer (b. 1896)

• November 20 – Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator (b. 1892)

• November 27 – Ross McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records (b. 1925)

• November 29 – Tony Brise, English racing driver (b. 1952)

• November 29 – Graham Hill, English race car driver (b. 1929)

• December 1 – Anna E. Roosevelt, American radio personality (b. 1906)

• December 1 – Nellie Fox, American baseball player (b. 1927)

• December 4 – Hannah Arendt, German political theorist (b. 1906)

• December 7 – Hardie Albright, American actor (b. 1903)

• December 7 – Thornton Wilder, American playwright (b. 1897)

• December 9 – William A. Wellman, American film director (b. 1896)

• December 10 – Andrew "Boy" Charlton, Australian Olympic swimmer (b. 1907)

• December 11 – Lee Wiley, American jazz singer (b. 1908)

• December 14 – Arthur Treacher, English actor (b. 1894)

• December 17 – Noble Sissle, American jazz composer (b. 1889)

• December 20 – William Lundigan, American actor (b. 1914)

• December 24 – Bernard Herrmann, American film composer (b. 1911)

Unknown dates

• Will Mastin, American vaudevillian

Nobel Prizes

• Physics – Aage Niels Bohr, Ben Roy Mottelson, Leo James Rainwater

• Chemistry – John Warcup Cornforth, Vladimir Prelog

• Medicine – David Baltimore, Renato Dulbecco, Howard Martin Temin

• Literature – Eugenio Montale

• Peace – Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov

• Economics – Leonid Kantorovich, Tjalling Koopmans

Templeton Prize

• Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan

See also

• 20th century