Famous birthdays, deaths and events of March 26
Birthdays 603 - Pacal II ruler of the Maya polity of Palenque, 1516 - Conrad Gessner, Swiss naturalist (d. 1565) 1859 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (d. 1936) 1874 - Robert Frost , American poet (d. 1963) 1884 - Wilhelm Backhaus, German pianist (d. 1969) 1894 - Viorica Ursuleac, Romanian soprano (d. 1985) 1888 - Elsa Brändström, Swedish nurse (d. 1948) 1904 - Joseph Campbell, American author (d. 1987) 1904 - Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor 1905 - Monty Berman, British film and television producer (d. 2006) 1906 - Rafael Mendez, Mexican trumpetist (d. 1981) 1908 - Franz Stangl, German concentration camp commandant (d. 1971) 1911 - T. Hee, American animator (d. 1988) 1916 - Bill Edrich, English cricketer (d. 1986) 1916 - Sterling Hayden, American actor (d. 1986) 1917 - Rufus Thomas, American musician (d. 2001) 1919 - Roger Leger, Quebec ice hockey player (d. 1965) 1919 - Strother Martin, American actor (d. 1980) 1923 - Bob Elliott, American comedian 1925 - James Moody, American jazz musician 1930 - Gregory Corso, American poet (d. 2001) 1930 - Sandra Day O'Connor, U.S. Supreme Court Justice 1931 - Leonard Nimoy , American actor and director 1934 - Alan Arkin , American actor 1937 - Wayne Embry, American basketball player 1940 - James Caan , American actor 1941 - Richard Dawkins, British evolutionary biologist 1942 - Erica Jong, American author 1944 - Diana Ross , American singer (Supremes) 1945 - Mikhail Voronin, Soviet gymnast (d. 2004) 1946 - Johnny Crawford, American actor 1947 - Dar Robinson, American stuntman (d. 1986) 1948 - Richard Tandy, British keyboardist (Electric Light Orchestra) 1948 - Steven Tyler , American singer (Aerosmith) 1949 - Vicki Lawrence, American actress and singer 1949 - Patrick Süskind, German writer 1950 - Teddy Pendergrass, American singer 1950 - Martin Short , Canadian comedian 1950 - Ernest Thomas, American actor 1950 - Alan Silvestri, American film score composer 1952 - Didier Pironi, French Formula One driver (d. 1987) 1953 - Youssouf Togoïmi, Chadian rebel (d. 2002) 1954 - Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese seiyu (voice actor) 1955 - Danny Arndt, Canadian ice hockey player 1956 - Charly McClain, American singer 1957 - Leeza Gibbons , American television host 1958 - Chris Codiroli, American baseballer 1958 - Elio de Angelis, Italian racing driver (d. 1986) 1959 - Chris Hansen, American reporter and correspondent 1960 - Marcus Allen, American football player 1960 - Jennifer Grey , American actress 1962 - John Stockton , American basketball player 1962 - Paul de Leeuw, Dutch television host 1963 - Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Japanese writer 1963 - Amparo Larrañaga, Spanish actress 1963 - Roch Voisine , Canadian singer and songwriter 1964 - Martin Donnelly, Irish racecar driver 1964 - Ulf Samuelsson, Swedish ice hockey player 1964 - Baz Warne, English Guitarist (The Stranglers) 1966 - Michael Imperioli, American actor 1967 - Mark Carroll, Australian rugby league footballer 1968 - Kenny Chesney , American singer 1968 - James Iha, American musician (The Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle) 1968 - Laurent Brochard, French cyclist 1970 - Paul Bosvelt, Dutch football player 1970 - Martin McDonagh, Anglo-Irish playwright and film director 1972 - Jon Reep, American comedian and actor 1972 - Jason Maxwell, Retired American Baseball Player 1973 - Heather Goldenhersh, American actress 1973 - T.R. Knight, American actor 1973 - Matt Burke, Australian rugby player 1974 - Mike Peca, Canadian ice hockey player 1976 - Joachim Alcine, Haitian-born Quebec boxer 1976 - Amy Smart , American actress 1976 - Natalia Livingston , American actress 1976 - Nurgül Yeşilçay, Turkish actress 1976 - Ufuk Talay, Australian soccer player 1977 - Kevin Davies, English footballer 1977 - Sylvain Grenier, Canadian professional wrestler 1978 - Anastasia Kostaki, Greek basketball player 1979 - Hiromi Uehara, Japanese jazz pianist 1979 - Pierre Wome, Cameroonian footballer 1979 - Nacho Novo, Spanish footballer 1980 - Son Ho Young, Korean singer 1981 - Baruch Dego, Israeli football player 1981 - Jay Sean, British Asian R&B singer 1981 - Josh Wilson, American baseball player 1982 - Mikel Arteta, Spanish footballer 1983 - David Bennett, Canadian powerlifter and steamfitter 1983 - Michael Brendli, American professional wrestler 1984 - Gregory Strydom, Zimbabwean crickaeter 1984 - Stéphanie Lapointe, French-Canadian singer 1984 - Sara Jean Underwood , American model 1985 - Keira Knightley , English actress 1985 - Prosper Utseya, Zimbabwean cricket captain 1985 - Jonathan Groff, American stage actor 1987 - Yui, Japanese musician 1988 - Suvi Koponen, Finnish supermodel
Deaths 922 - Al-Hallaj, Persian Sufi teacher and writer 1517 - Heinrich Isaac, Flemish composer 1566 - Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer (b. 1510) 1679 - Johannes Schefferus, Alsatian-born humanist (b. 1621) 1772 - Charles Pinot Duclos, French writer (b. 1704) 1814 - Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, namesake of the guillotine (b. 1738) 1827 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (b. 1770) 1881 - Roman Sanguszko, Polish aristocrat (b. 1800) 1885 - Anson Stager, American telegraphist (b. 1825) 1892 - Walt Whitman, American poet (b. 1819) 1905 - Maurice Barrymore, actor; patriarch of the Barrymore family (b. 1849) 1910 - An Jung-geun, Korean assassin of Ito Hirobumi (executed) (b. 1879) 1920 - William Chester Minor, American surgeon and contributor to the Oxford English Dictionary (b. 1834) 1923 - Sarah Bernhardt , French actress (b. 1844) 1926 - Konstantin Fehrenbach, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1852) 1929 - Katharine Lee Bates, American poet (b. 1859) 1933 - Eddie Lang, American musician (b. 1902) 1940 - Spiridon Louis, Greek runner 1942 - Jimmy Burke, American baseball player (b. 1874) 1958 - Phil Mead, English cricketer (b. 1887) 1959 - Raymond Chandler, American-born novelist (b. 1888) 1969 - John Kennedy Toole, American author (b. 1937) 1973 - Noel Coward, English composer and playwright (b. 1899) 1973 - Johnny Drake, American football player (b. 1916) 1973 - Don Messer, Canadian fiddler (b. 1909) 1973 - George Sisler, American baseball player (b. 1893) 1976 - Lin Yutang, Chinese writer (b. 1895) 1978 - Wilfred Pickles, English actor and broadcaster (b. 1904) 1995 - Eazy-E, American rapper (N.W.A) (b. 1963) 2000 - Alex Comfort, American author (b. 1920) 2002 - Randy Castillo, American drummer (Ozzy Osbourne 2004 - Jan Berry, American musician (Jan and Dean) (b. 1941) 2004 - Jan Sterling, American actress (b. 1921) 2005 - Paul Hester, Australian drummer (Split Enz and Crowded House) (b. 1959) 2005 - Marius Russo, American baseball player (b. 1914) 2006 - Paul Dana, American race car driver (b. 1975) 2006 - Nikki Sudden, British singer/songwriter (b. 1956) 2008 - Heath Benedict, American Football Player (b. 1983) 2008 - Robert Fagles, American translator and professor (b. 1933) 2008 - Wally Phillips, American radio personality (b. 1925) 2009 - Shane McConkey, 39, Canadian extreme skier, base jumping accident. 2009 - Larry Glick, 87, American talk radio host (WBZ), complications from cardiac surgery. 2009 - Gus Cifelli, 84, American football player (Detroit Lions), natural causes. 2009 - Arne Bendiksen, 82, Norwegian singer, composer and record producer, heart failure.
Events 1484 - William Caxton printed his translation of Aesop's Fables. 1552 - Guru Amar Das becomes the Third Sikh Guru. 1636 - Utrecht University is founded in The Netherlands. 1808 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. 1812 - An earthquake destroys Caracas, Venezuela. 1830 - The Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra, New York. 1839 - The first Henley Royal Regatta is held. 1852 - Decree regarding streets of Paris passed 1881 - Thessaly is freed and becomes part of Greece again. 1913 - Balkan War: Bulgarian forces take Adrianople. 1917 - World War I: First Battle of Gaza 1934 - Driving test introduced in the United Kingdom. 1942 - World War II: In Poland, Auschwitz receives its first female prisoners. 1945 - World War II: In Iwo Jima, US forces declare Iwo Jima "secure." 1953 - Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine. 1958 - The United States Army launches Explorer 3. 1958 - The African Regroupment Party (PRA) is launched at a meeting in Paris. 1965 - A truck loses control down Moosic Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania, killing the driver. This accident later inspired the 1974 Harry Chapin song, "30,000 Pounds of Bananas." 1967 - Ten thousand people gather for the Central Park Be-In. 1971 - East Pakistan declares its independence from Pakistan to form People's Republic of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Liberation War begins. 1975 - The Biological Weapons Convention enters into force. 1976 - Queen Elizabeth II sent out the first royal email, from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. 1977 - Focus on the Family is founded by Dr. James Dobson 1979 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter sign the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty in Washington, DC. 1982 - A groundbreaking ceremony for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is held in Washington, DC. 1995 - The Schengen Treaty goes into effect. 1996 - The International Monetary Fund approves a $10.2 billion loan for Russia. 1997 - Thirty-nine bodies found in the Heaven's Gate cult suicides. 1998 - Oued Bouaicha massacre in Algeria; 52 people killed with axes and knives, 32 of them babies under the age of 2. 1999 - The "Melissa worm" infects Microsoft word processing and e-mail systems around the world. 1999 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man. 2005 - The Taiwanese government calls on 1 million Taiwanese to demonstrate in Taipei, in opposition to the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China. Around 200,000 to 300,000 attend the walk. 2006 - In Scotland, the prohibition of smoking in all substantially enclosed public places comes into force. 2006 - The military junta ruling Burma officially named Naypyidaw, a new city in Mandalay Division, as the new capital. Yangon had formerly been the nation's capital.
