Year '1940' ('
MCMXL') was a
leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar) of the
Gregorian calendar.
Events of 1940
: ''(Below, many events of
World War II have the "
WWII" prefix.)''
January
★
January 4 -
WWII:
Axis powers -
Luftwaffe General
Hermann Goering 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 - Russian 44th Assault Division destroyed by Finnish forces in
Battle of Suomussalmi.
★
January 26 -
Australia - Brisbane swelters through its hottest day ever, 43.2 degrees.
February
★
February 1 -
WWII:
Winter War - Russian forces launch major assault on Finnish troops which occupy the
Karelian Isthmus.
★
February 7 -
RKO releases
Walt Disney's second full-length
animated film, ''
Pinocchio''.
★
February 16 -
WWII: In the
Altmark Incident British destroyer ''
Cossack'' pursues
German tanker ''
Altmark'' into
Jøssingfjord in southwestern
Norway.
March
★
March 2 -
Elmer Fudd makes his debut in the short ''
Elmer's Candid Camera''.
★
March 3 - In Sweden, a
time bomb destroys the office of ''
Norrskenflamman'' newspaper of
Swedish communists - 5 dead.
★
March 5- Members of Soviet politburo:
Stalin,
Molotov,
Lazar Kaganovich,
Mikhail Kalinin,
Kliment Voroshilov and
Lavrenty Beria, signed an order, prepared by Beria, for the execution of 25,700 Polish intelligentsia, including 14,700 Polish POWs. The action is known as the
Katyn massacre.
★
March 12 -
Soviet Union and
Finland sign a peace treaty in
Moscow ending the
Winter War. Finns, along with the world at large, were 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. He is replaced by
Paul Reynaud.
★
March 23 - The ''
Pakistan Resolution'' is
rallied 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 will prove to be a tragic lapse of judgment, 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 were occupied by British troops following the invasion of
Denmark by
Nazi Germany. This action was 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 15 - 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 23 - Rhythm Night Club burns in
Natchez, Mississippi: 198 dead.
May
★
May 10 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of France begins -
German forces invade
Low Countries.
★
★
Invasion of Iceland 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."
★
★
WWII: German armies open 60-mile wide breach in
Maginot Line at
Sedan.
★
May 14
★
★
Queen Wilhelmina of the
Netherlands and her government flee to
London;
Rotterdam subjected to savage terror bombing by the
Luftwaffe - 980 killed, 20,000 buildings destroyed.
★
★ Recruitment begins in
Britain for a home defence force - the
Local Defence Volunteers, later known as the Home Guard.
★
May 15
★
★
WWII:
Dutch army surrenders.
★
★
McDonald's founded.
Dick and Mac McDonald open their first
restaurant in
San Bernardino, California, featuring a broad menu including
barbecue. Eight years later, they would streamline production to focus on
hamburgers only.
★
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;
Belgian government flees to
Ostend.
★
May 18 - Marshal
Henri Petain 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.
Holocaust: concentration and death camp,
Auschwitz-Birkenau opens in
Poland.
★
May 22 -
WWII:
British Parliament passes Emergency Powers Act giving the government full control over all persons and property.
★
May 26 -
WWII:
Dunkirk evacuation of
British Expeditionary Force starts.
★
May 28
★
★
WWII:
Belgium army surrenders.
★
★
Winston Churchill warns the
House of Commons to, "... prepare itself for hard and heavy tidings."
June
★
June 3 -
Holocaust:
Franz Rademacher proposes the
Madagascar Plan.
★
June 4
★
★
Dunkirk evacuation ends -
British forces complete evacuating 300,000 troops from
Dunkirk in
France.
★
★
Winston Churchill tells the
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.
★
★ U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt denounces Italy's actions with [ftp://webstorage2.mcpa.virginia.edu/library/nara/fdr/audiovisual/speeches/fdr_1940_0610.mp3 "Stab in the Back"] speech from the graduation ceremonies of the
University of Virginia.
★
★
Canada declares war on
Italy.
★
★
Norway surrenders to
German forces.
★
★ 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 -
WWII:
★
★ French government flees to
Bordeaux.
★
★
Paris falls under
German occupation.
★
★ 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 %.
★
★
Holocaust: 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 17
★
★
Philippe Petain becomes
Prime Minister of
France and immediately asks
Germany for peace terms.
★
★ Soviet Army enters
Baltic states of
Estonia,
Latvia.
★
★
Operation Ariel begins -
Allied troops start to evacuate
France, following
Germany's takeover of
Paris and most of the nation.
★
★
Luftwaffe Junkers 88 bomber sinks British ship ''
RMS Lancastria'', that was evacuating troops from near
Saint-Nazaire,
France. Death toll is over 2500. Wartime censorship prevents the story going public.
★
June 18
★
★
Winston Churchill speaks to the
House of Commons: "... the
Battle of France is over. The
Battle of Britain is about to begin."
★
★ 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 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.
[1]
★
June 24
★
★ U.S. politics:
Republican Party begins its national convention in
Philadelphia and nominates
Wendell Willkie as its candidate for president
★
★
WWII:
Vichy France signs armistice terms with
Italy.
★
June 28 - General
Charles DeGaulle is officially recognized by
Britain as "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
On July 27 Bugs Bunny was introduced to the public
★
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 7 - British musician
Ringo Starr is born Richard Starkey in
Liverpool, England.
★
July 10 -
WWII:
Vichy France begins with a constitutional law where only
80 members of the parliament voted against.
★
July 15 - U.S. politics:
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 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 -
Estonian SSR,
Latvian SSR and
Lithuanian SSR are proclaimed.
★
July 27 - ''
A Wild Hare'' is released, introducing
Bugs Bunny.
August
★
August 3 -
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 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."
★
★
Leon Trotsky 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.
September
London in flames during heavy German bombing raids.
★ September -
U.S. Army 45th Infantry Division (previously a
National Guard Division in
Arizona,
Colorado,
New Mexico, and
Oklahoma), activated and ordered into federal service for one year to engage in a training program in
Ft. Sill and
Louisiana prior to serving in
World War II.
★
September 2 -
WWII: Agreement between
America and
Great Britain announced. Fifty U.S. destroyers needed for escort work 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.
★
★
WWII:
The Blitz -
Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on
London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of
strategic bombing.
★
September 12
★
★
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.
★
★ The
Hercules Munitions Plant in
Kenvil, New Jersey explodes, killing 55 people.
★
September 16 -
WWII:
Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 signed into law by
Franklin D. Roosevelt, creating the first peacetime draft in
U.S. history.
★
September 26 -
WWII:
U.S. imposes a total
embargo on all shipments of scrap metal to
Japan.
★
September 27 -
WWII:
Germany,
Italy and
Japan sign
Tripartite Pact.
October
★ October -
All-American Comics #19 issues the first ''
Atom'' comic.
★
October 1 - Original section of the
Pennsylvania Turnpike opens between
Carlisle and
Irwin.
★
October 9 -
WWII: Battle of Britain - During a nighttime air raid by the
German Luftwaffe,
St. Paul's Cathedral is pierced by a bomb; musician
John Lennon is born during an air-raid in
Liverpool,
England.
★
October 15 - First release of ''
The Great Dictator'', directed by
Charlie Chaplin who is cast as
fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel, clearly modeled on
Führer Adolf Hitler of
Nazi Germany.
★
October 16 -
WWII: Draft registration of approximately 16 million men begins in the
United States.
★
October 27 -
1939 New York World's Fair ends.
★
October 28 -
WWII:
Italy invades
Greece.
★
October 29 -
WWII:
Selective Service System lottery held in
Washington, D.C..
★
October 31 -
WWII:
Battle of Britain ends - The
United Kingdom prevents
Germany from invading Britain.
November
★
November 5 -
U.S. presidential election, 1940:
Democrat incumbent
Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats
Republican challenger
Wendell Willkie and becomes the
United States' first third-term president.
★
November 7 - In
Washington, the middle section of the
Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion (it opened to traffic on
July 1, 1940 as the third-longest
suspension bridge in the world).
★
November 9 - Premiere of
Joaquin Rodrigo's ''
Concierto de Aranjuez'' in
Barcelona,
Spain.
★
November 10 -
Earthquake in
Bucharest,
Romania - 1,000 dead.
★
November 11 -
WWII:
★
★
Battle of Taranto - The
Royal Navy launches the first
aircraft carrier strike in history, on the
Italian fleet at
Taranto.
★
★ The
German Hilfskreuzer (cruiser) ''
Atlantis'' captures
top secret British mail, and sends it to
Japan
★
★
Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected
blizzard kills 144 in
U.S. Midwest.
★
November 13 -
Walt Disney's ''
Fantasia (film)'' is released. It is the first box office failure for Disney, though it will eventually recoup its cost years later, and become one of the most highly regarded of Disney's films.
★
November 14 -
WWII: In
England, the city of
Coventry is destroyed by 500
German Luftwaffe bombers (150,000
fire bombs, 503 tons of high explosives, 130 parachute mines leveled 60,000 of the city's 75,000 buildings; 568 people were killed).
★
November 16
★
★
WWII: In response to
Germany leveling
Coventry two days before, the
Royal Air Force begins to bomb
Hamburg (by war's end, 50,000 Hamburg residents died from
Allied attacks).
★
★ Unexploded
pipe bomb found in
Consolidated Edison office building. (Only years later is the culprit,
George Metesky, apprehended.)
★
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.
★
★
WWII:
Royal Navy and
Regia Marina fight the
Battle of Cape Spartivento.
December
★
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 annual NFL Championship Game.
★
December 12 &
December 15 -
WWII: The "
Sheffield Blitz". The
City of Sheffield is badly damaged by German air-raids.
★
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 26 - The film version of ''
The Philadelphia Story'', starring
Katharine Hepburn,
Cary Grant,
James Stewart and
Ruth Hussey, premieres at
Radio City Music Hall in
New York City.
★
December 29
★
★
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a
fireside chat to the nation, declares that the
United States must become, "... the great arsenal of democracy."
★
★
WWII: "Second Great Fire of London";
Luftwaffe carries out massive incendiary bombing raid starting 1500 fires. Many famous buildings, including the
Guildhall and Trinity House, are either damaged or destroyed.
★
December 30 -
California's first modern
freeway, the future
California State Route 110, is opened to traffic in
Pasadena, California, as the Arroyo Seco Parkway. It is now called the Pasadena Freeway.
Undated
★
Guilin,
China, acquires the current name.
★
Tibet, province of
Amdo: five-year-old
Tenzin Gyatso was proclaimed the ''
tulku'' (
rebirth) of the thirteenth
Dalai Lama.
★
Korea ''The Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye'' (1446) was discovered, explaining the basis of Hangul.
★ ''
Truth or Consequences'' debuts on
NBC Radio.
Ongoing
★
Sino-Japanese War (
1937-
1945)
★
World War II (
1939 -
1945).
Births
January-February
★
January 2 -
Jim Bakker, American televangelist
★
January 4
★
★
Brian David Josephson, Welsh physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate
★
★
Gao Xingjian, Chinese-born writer,
Nobel Prize laureate
★
January 6 -
Penny Lernoux, American journalist and author (d.
1989)
★
January 9 -
Miguel Ángel Rodríguez, a Costa Rican politician, lawyer, economist, and businessman.
★
January 14 -
Julian Bond, American civil rights activist
★
January 20 -
Carol Heiss, American figure skater
★
January 22 -
John Hurt, English actor
★
January 27 -
James Cromwell, American actor
★
January 31 -
Kitch Christie, South African rugby coach (d.
1998)
★
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
★
★
Jimmy Tarbuck, English comedian
★
February 8
★
★
Ted Koppel, American journalist
★
★
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 19 -
Smokey Robinson, American musician
★
February 20 -
Jimmy Greaves, English footballer
★
February 21 -
James Wong, Hong Kong composer (d.
2004)
★
February 22
★
★
Johnson Mlambo, South African politician
★
★
Billy Name, American photographer and
Warhol archivist
★
February 23 -
Peter Fonda, American actor
★
February 24 -
Denis Law, Scottish footballer
★
February 25 -
Ron Santo, American baseball player
★
February 28 -
Mario Andretti, American race car driver
★
February 29 -
Edward Frederic Benson, American writer
March-April
★
March 3 -
Germán Castro Caycedo, Colombian writer and journalist
★
March 6 -
Willie Stargell, baseball player (d.
2001)
★
March 7 -
Rudi Dutschke, German 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
★
★
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 27
★
★
Austin Pendleton, American actor
★
★
Cale Yarborough, American race car driver
★
March 29 -
Ray Davis, American musician (
P-Funk)
★
March 30 -
Astrud Gilberto, Brazilian-born singer
★
April 1 -
Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize
★
April 2 -
Penelope Keith, English actress
★
April 12
★
★
Herbie Hancock, American musician
★
★
John Hagee, American
televangelist
★
April 16 - Queen
Margrethe II of Denmark
★
April 18 -
Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★
April 20 -
George Takei, American actor
★
April 25 -
Al Pacino, American actor
★
April 26 -
Giorgio Moroder, Italian film composer
May-June
★
May 1 -
Elsa Peretti, Italian jewelry designer
★
May 8
★
★
Angela Carter, English author and editor (d.
1992)
★
★
Ricky Nelson, American singer (d.
1985)
★
May 8 -
Toni Tennille, American singer
★
May 9 -
James L. Brooks, American film producer and writer
★
May 11 -
Juan Downey, Chilean-born video artist (d.
1993)
★
May 17 -
Alan Kay, American computer scientist
★
May 18 -
Lenny Lipton, American Inventor
★
May 20
★
★
Stan Mikita, Slovakian-born hockey player
★
★
Sadaharu Oh, Japanese baseball player
★
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
★
May 30 -
Deanna Summers, American songwriter
★
June 1 -
René Auberjonois, American actor
★
June 2 - King
Constantine II of Greece
★
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 17 -
George Akerlof, American economist,
Nobel Prize laureate
★
June 20 -
John Mahoney, English-born actor
★
June 21 -
Mariette Hartley, American actress
★
June 22
★
★
Abbas Kiarostami, Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film producer
★
★
Esther Rantzen, British broadcaster
★
June 23
★
★
Adam Faith, English singer and actor (d.
2003)
★
★
Lord Irvine of Lairg,
Lord Chancellor of England
★
★
Wilma Rudolph, American athlete (d.
1994)
★
June 25 -
A.J. Quinnell, English writer (d.
2005)
★
June 29 -
Vyacheslav Artyomov, Russian composer
July-August
★
July 3 -
César Tovar, Venezuelan
Major League Baseball player (d.
1994)
★
July 7 -
Ringo Starr, British drummer (
The Beatles)
★
July 10
★
★
Gene Alley, baseball player
★
★
Tom Farmer, Scottish entrepreneur
★
★
Helen Donath, American soprano
★
July 13 -
Patrick Stewart, English actor
★
July 17
★
★
Tim Brooke-Taylor, English comedian
★
★
Verne Lundquist, American sportscaster
★
July 18
★
★
Joe Torre, baseball player and manager
★
★
James Brolin, American actor and director
★
July 22
★
★
George Clinton, American musician
★
★
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 -
Bharati Mukherjee, Indian-born novelist
★
July 31 -
Roy Walker, comedian and TV presenter of ITV's Catchphrase (1986-1999)
★
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 19 -
Jill St. John, American actress
★
August 20
★
★
Musa Geshaev, Chechen poet and historian
★
★
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-October
★
September 5 -
Raquel Welch, American actress
★
September 10 -
David Mann, American artist (d.
2004)
★
September 12
★
★
Skip Hinnant, American actor
★
★
Mickey Lolich, baseball player
★
September 13 -
Óscar Arias, Costa Rican politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize
★
September 14 -
Larry Brown, American basketball coach
★
September 23 -
Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Iranian traditional singer and undisputed Master
★
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 Doherty, Australian immunologist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
★
October 19 -
Michael Gambon, Irish actor
★
October 20 -
Robert Pinsky,
Poet Laureate of the United States
★
October 21
★
★ Manfred Mann (
Manfred Lubowitz), South African musician (
Manfred Mann bands)
★
★
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-December
★
November 1 -
Ramesh Chandra Lahoti,
Chief Justice of India
★
November 15 -
Sam Waterston, American actor
★
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 1 -
Richard Pryor, American actor and comedian (d.
2005)
★
December 4 -
Gary Gilmore, American murderer
★
December 5 -
Peter Pohl, Swedish writer
★
December 12 -
Sharad Pawar, Indian politician
★
December 12 -
Dionne Warwick, American singer
★
December 21 -
Frank Zappa, American musician, composer, and satirist (d.
1993)
★
December 22 -
Noel Jones, British ambassador to Kazakhstan (d.
1995)
★
December 23 -
Robert Labine, former mayor of old city 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 - June
★
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)
★
Fusajiro Yamauchi, Japanese business executive
★
February 11 -
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir,
Governor General of Canada (b.
1875)
★
February 26 -
Michael Hainisch, second
President of Austria (b.
1858)
★
March 5 -
Cai Yuanpei, Chinese educator (b.
1868)
★
March 10 -
Mikhaïl Boulgakov, Russian writer (b.
1891)
★
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
★
March 31 -
Tinsley Lindley, English footballer (b.
1865)
★
April 26 -
Carl Bosch, German chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1874)
★
May 14 -
Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-born anarchist (b.
1869)
★
May 15 -
Menno ter Braak, Dutch writer (b.
1902)
★
May 20 -
Verner von Heidenstam, Swedish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1859)
★
May 25 -
Joe De Grasse, Canadian film director (b.
1873)
★
May 28 -
Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (b.
1868)
★
June 10 -
Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born publisher, entrepreneur, and black nationalist (b.
1887)
★
June 11 -
Alfred S. Alschuler, American
architect (b.
1876)
★
June 17 -
Arthur Harden, English chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1865)
★
June 21 -
Smedley Butler, U.S. general (b.
1881)
★
June 29 -
Paul Klee, Swiss artist (b.
1879)
July - December
★
July 4 -
Robert Pershing Wadlow, tallest man ever (infection) (b.
1918)
★
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 5 -
Charles de Broqueville,
Prime Minister of Belgium (b.
1860)
★
September 27 -
Julius Wagner-Jauregg, Austrian neuroscientist, recipient of the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b.
1857)
★
October 5 -
Ballington Booth, American co-founder of Volunteers of America (b.
1857)
★
October 9 -
Wilfred Grenfell, English medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador (b.
1865)
★
October 10 -
Berton Churchill, Canadian actor (b.
1876)
★
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 19 -
Kyösti Kallio,
President of Finland (b.
1873)
★
December 21 -
F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer (b.
1896)
★
December 25 -
Agnes Ayres, American actress (b.
1898)
Unknown dates
★ (none)
Nobel prizes
★
Physics - ?
★
Chemistry - not awarded
★
Physiology or Medicine - Brendan Michales
★
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
See also
★
20th century
Notes
External links
★
1940 Coin Pictures
Table of contents
__TOC__
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