22uk

The 22nd

Your date has company.

Twelve months, twelve 22nds, and more history than any one calendar day should reasonably carry. If you were born on the 22nd — or you're looking up an anniversary — here's who and what you share it with.

January 22

  • Queen Victoria dies at Osborne House, ending the longest British reign up to that point. 22 January.
  • Roe v. Wade decided by the US Supreme Court.
  • Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg — the demonstration that lit the fuse of the 1905 Russian Revolution.

February 22

  • George Washington born, Westmoreland County, Virginia.
  • 'Miracle on Ice' — the US Olympic hockey team beats the Soviet Union at Lake Placid.
  • Dolly the sheep's existence announced — the first mammal cloned from an adult cell.

March 22

  • The Council of Vienne dissolves the Knights Templar.
  • The Stamp Act passed by the British Parliament.
  • Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Townes granted the patent for the laser.

April 22

  • The first Earth Day.
  • 'In God We Trust' first appears on US coinage (by Act of Congress this week, first struck this day).
  • Immanuel Kant born.

May 22

  • Richard Wagner born.
  • The Wright Brothers patent the 'Flying-Machine'.
  • The Great Chilean Earthquake — the most powerful earthquake ever recorded (9.5 M_w).

June 22

  • Galileo Galilei forced by the Roman Inquisition to recant his heliocentric views.
  • Checkpoint Charlie dismantled.
  • France signs the armistice with Nazi Germany at Compiègne.

July 22

  • Battle of Falkirk — the Scots under William Wallace defeated by Edward I.
  • Wiley Post completes the first solo flight around the world (lands this day).
  • The Oslo bombings and Utøya attacks in Norway — 77 killed.

August 22

  • Battle of Bosworth Field — Richard III killed; Henry VII wins the crown. The end of the Plantagenets.
  • The First Geneva Convention signed.
  • Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon — a limnic eruption kills 1,746.

September 22

  • The Iran–Iraq War begins.
  • Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Jack Dempsey vs. Gene Tunney II — the 'Long Count Fight'.

October 22

  • JFK announces the naval quarantine of Cuba — the Cuban Missile Crisis becomes public.
  • The first recorded parachute descent, by André-Jacques Garnerin over Paris.
  • Jean-Paul Sartre declines the Nobel Prize in Literature.

November 22

  • President John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas.
  • Margaret Thatcher resigns as UK Prime Minister.
  • Mike Tyson becomes the youngest heavyweight champion in history, aged 20 years 4 months.

December 22

  • Brandenburg Gate reopens — the Berlin Wall effectively unified days earlier, ceremonially this day.
  • Battle of the Bulge — the German Ardennes offensive in full swing; Bastogne encircled.
  • Giacomo Puccini born.

Born on a 22nd (a partial list).

We keep this list small and verifiable. Tell us if there's a missing 22-born figure and we'll cite them properly.