On This Day in 63 BC – Cicero gives the fourth and final of the Catiline Orations.

History Delivered

OnThisDay is a simple API that can be used to fetch historical events into JSON format. While it's not hard to find a similar API, most of them require registration or just plain suck. Our service makes development quick and to the point.

No API Key Required

The OTD-API can be used free of charge but you may not use this service in a manner that exceeds reasonable request volume. When no API key is provided, attribution is required and the number of requests per IP address is limited.

Check out the full documentation →

Unlimited Requests

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Events for December 5


1958 – The Preston By-pass, the UK's first stretch of motorway, opens to traffic for the first time. (It is now part of the M6 and M55 motorways.)

177029th Regiment of Foot privates Hugh Montgomery and Matthew Kilroy are found guilty for the manslaughter of Crispus Attucks and Samuel Gray respectively in the Boston Massacre.

1649 – The town of Raahe (Swedish: Brahestad) is founded by Count Per Brahe the Younger.

1983 – Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.

2005 – The 6.8 MwLake Tanganyika earthquake shakes the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing six people.

1914 – The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition began in an attempt to make the first land crossing of Antarctica.

1964 – Lloyd J. Old discovers the first linkage between the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and disease—mouse leukemia—opening the way for the recognition of the importance of the MHC in the immune response.

1991Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine.

1935Mary McLeod Bethune founds the National Council of Negro Women in New York City.

1921The Football Association bans women's football in England from league grounds, a ban that stays in place for 50 years.

1971Battle of Gazipur: Pakistani forces stand defeated as India cedes Gazipur to Bangladesh.

1082Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona is assassinated, most likely by his brother, Berenguer Ramon II.

2007Westroads Mall shooting: Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins kills nine people, including himself, with a WASR-10 at a Von Maur department store in Omaha, Nebraska.

1408 – Seeking to resubjugate Muscovy, Emir Edigu of the Golden Horde reaches Moscow, burning areas around the city but failing to take the city itself.

1766 – In London, auctioneer James Christie holds his first sale.

1936 – The Soviet Union adopts a new constitution and the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a full Union Republic of the USSR.

1941 – World War II: Great Britain declares war on Finland, Hungary and Romania.

1578 – Sir Francis Drake, after sailing through Strait of Magellan, raids Valparaiso.

1484Pope Innocent VIII issues the Summis desiderantes affectibus, a papal bull that deputizes Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger as inquisitors to root out alleged witchcraft in Germany.

1943 – World War II: Allied air forces begin attacking Germany's secret weapons bases in Operation Crossbow.

1977Egypt breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, Libya, Algeria, Iraq and South Yemen. The move is in retaliation for the Declaration of Tripoli against Egypt.

Notable Births & Deaths for December 5

  2012 – Ignatius IV of Antioch, Syrian patriarch (b. 1920)
  2014Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (b. 1931)
  2013Fred Bassetti, American architect and academic, founded Bassetti Architects (b. 1917)
  1995Danny Levi, New Zealand rugby league player
  2021Bob Dole, American politician (b. 1923)
  2013 – William B. Edmondson, American lawyer and diplomat, United States Ambassador to South Africa (b. 1927)
  2015 – Chuck Williams, American businessman and author, founded Williams Sonoma (b. 1915)
  2017 – August Ames, Canadian American pornographic actress (b. 1994)
  2014 – Talât Sait Halman, Turkish poet, translator, and historian (b. 1931)
  1987A. J. Pollock, American baseball player
  2023Norman Lear, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1922)
  1992 – Natalie Sourisseau, Canadian field hockey player
  1991 – Jacopo Sala, Italian footballer
  2020Peter Alliss, English professional golfer (b. 1931)
  1988 – Joanna Rowsell, English cyclist
  1991Cam Fowler, Canadian-American ice hockey player
  1993Ross Barkley, English footballer
  1989Jurrell Casey, American football player
  2022Kirstie Alley, American actress and producer (b. 1951)
  2015 – Tibor Rubin, Hungarian-American soldier, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1929)
  1998 – Conan Gray, American singer-songwriter
  1988 – Kyle Long, American football player
  2012 – Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (b. 1909)
  2014 – Jackie Healy-Rae, Irish hurdler and politician (b. 1931)
  1988Ross Bagley, American actor
  1997 – Quinnen Williams, American football player
  2014 – Fabiola, Queen of Belgium (b. 1928)
  1991 – Christian Yelich, American baseball player
  2012 – Oscar Niemeyer, Brazilian architect, designed the United Nations Headquarters and Cathedral of Brasília (b. 1907)
  1995 – Kaetlyn Osmond, Canadian figure skater
  1986 – Justin Smoak, American baseball player
  2012Dave Brubeck, American pianist and composer (b. 1920)
  2019Robert Walker, American actor (b. 1940)
  1995 – Levy Rozman, American chess International Master, streamer and YouTuber
  2015Vic Eliason, American clergyman and radio host, founded VCY America (b. 1936)
  2016Tyruss Himes ("Big Syke"), American rapper (b. 1968)
  2011 – Gennady Logofet, Russian footballer and manager (b. 1942)
  1992Ilja Antonov, Estonian footballer
  2014 – Silvio Zavala, Mexican historian and author (b. 1909)
  2013 – Nelson Mandela, South African lawyer and politician, 1st President of South Africa, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
  1997Maddie Poppe, American singer-songwriter and musician
  1994 – Semi Ojeleye, American basketball player
  1989 – Kwon Yu-ri, South Korean singer-songwriter and actress
  1990Montee Ball, American football player
  1994Ondrej Duda, Slovak footballer
  1995 – Anthony Martial, French footballer
  2017Michael I of Romania, fifth and last king of Romania (b. 1921)
  1988 – Tina Charles, American basketball player

 Quick Start

Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:

Read the full documentation →

Fetch Historical Events

All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.

*[key] not required but recommended.


Sample Requests

https://today.zenquotes.io/api - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for current server time (UTC).

https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.

https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.

https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.


Response

The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.


{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
  "Events":[ 
    { 
      "text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]", 
      "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> &#8211; The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>." 
    },
    //.. MORE DATA ..//
  ],
  "Births":[ 
    { 
      "text":"1494 &#8211; Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)&#91;8&#93;", 
      "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> &#8211; <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)" 
    },
    //.. MORE DATA ..//
  ],
  "Deaths":[ 
    { 
      "text":"689 &#8211; Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)&#91;21&#93;", 
      "html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> &#8211; <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
      //.. MORE DATA ..//
    }
  ]
} }

 Usage Limits and Attribution

Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.

Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>
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