The Wikipedia Birthday Meme

[thewayne]

An interesting concept. Go to Wikipedia, type in your birthday without the year (December 16 for me), and report back on interesting events, births, and deaths that happened on your birthday. Limit yourself to three of each if you like, me, I’m not so good at the counting.

Events
1392 - History of Japan: Nanboku-cho - Emperor Go-Kameyama abdicates in favor of rival claimant Go-Komatsu.
1598 - Seven Year War: Battle of Noryang Point - Admiral Yi Sun Sin's outnumbered Korean navy ambushes and defeats Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Japanese fleet.
1653 - English Interregnum: The Protectorate - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
1944 - World War II: Battle of the Bulge - General Dwight D. Eisenhower's allied forces and Field Marshall Gerd von Rundstedt's German army engage in the Belgian Ardennes.
1997 - The Pokémon episode Electric Soldier Porygon triggers attacks of photosensitive epilepsy in hundreds of Japanese children.


Births
1485 - Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England (d. 1536)
1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer (d. 1827)
1899 - Sir Noel Coward, British playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973)
1917 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke, British writer
1927 - Randall Garrett, American writer
1928 - Philip K. Dick, American writer (d. 1982)


Deaths
705 - Empress Wu of Zhou (China; b. 625)
1859 - Wilhelm Grimm, German writer and folklorist (b. 1786)
1916 - Grigori Rasputin, Russian monk (b. 1869)
1965 - W. Somerset Maugham, British writer (b. 1874)
1980 - Colonel Harland Sanders, American fast food entrepreneur (b. 1890)
1989 - Lee Van Cleef, American actor (b. 1925)


I knew about the Boston Tea Party and Beethoven, I found a lot of the others quite interesting.

Comments

[magic-rat.livejournal.com]

1945 - World War II: the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima. An atomic bomb codenamed Little Boy is dropped by the American B-29 Enola Gay on the city of Hiroshima in Japan at 8:16 a.m., killing 80,000 outright with another 60,000 dead by the end of the year due to fallout sickness. Ultimately, about 200,000 die due to the atomic bomb. [I already knew about this one]

1962 - Jamaica becomes independent.

1991 - Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party (Japan), becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

Births

1180 - Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (d. 1239)
1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892)
1902 - Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger and gangster (d. 1935) [cool]
1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (d. 1989)
1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997)
1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987)
1934 - Piers Anthony, English writer
1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Hong Kong actress [!]
1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-born film director, writer, producer, and actor
1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer
1973 - Asia Carrera, American actress [calling her an actress is being generous]
1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, American beauty queen and murder victim (d. 1996)