The United Nations declared Matej Gaspar as the five billionth person in the world.
Aretha Franklin became the first-ever female artist to enter the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Actor Yul Brynner starred in an anti-smoking ad campaign while dying of smoking-related lung cancer.
Margaret Thatcher became the first post-war prime minister who was refused a degree.
Marvin Gaye died after his father shot him twice in Los Angeles.
Michael Jackson's hair caught fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in front of 3,000 fans.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gained US citizenship.
Betty White received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host.
Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.
Pope John Paul II was sent to hospital for 55 days after contracting an infection.
President Ronald Reagan returned home from the hospital after narrowly escaping death after someone shot him on March 30.
The first Golden Raspberry Awards took place in John Wilson's living room.
At 2 PM EST, there was a 10 minute moment of silence in memory of John Lennon.
John Lennon had his last professional photoshoot.
Polish mountaineers Krzysztof Wielicki and Leszek Cichy became the first to ascend Mt. Everest in winter.
The Guinness World Records awarded Paul McCartney the best-selling singer-songwriter of all time.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to humanitarian Mother Teresa.
Jean-Bédel Bokassa crowned himself the Emperor of Central Africa.
Ross McWhirter, who co-founded the Guinness Book of World Records with his twin brother, was shot dead.
Elton John became the 1,662nd person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
17-year-old Neville Ebbin was riding his electric cycle down a stretch of road in Bermuda when he was hit and killed by a taxi driver named Willard Manders.
Baseball player Roberto Clemente was elected to the Hall of Fame.
Flight attendant Vesna Vulović survived the world's highest fall without a parachute after falling 33,330 feet.
Elvis Presley met President Richard Nixon in the White House.
David Bowie got married.
Paul McCartney publicly declared he's not dead.
Apollo 11 landed on the Moon with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins.
American fugitive James Earl Ray pleaded guilty to murdering Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Muriel Siebert became the first woman to own a seat on New York Stock Exchange.
Paul McCartney and actress Jane Asher announced their engagement.
The world population on Earth passed 3 billion.
Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested.
Stanley Kramer became the first person to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney met for the first time at a church dinner party.
Hollywood actor James Dean died aged 24.
Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel prize in Literature.
Elvis Presley graduated from L. C. Humes High School in Memphis, Tennessee, US.
Florence Chadwick became the first female to swim across the English Channel and back.
Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg discovered the chemical element Plutonium.
Benjamin O. Davis Sr. became the first African American US Army brigadier general.
Danish-Norwegian explorer Caroline Mikkelsen became the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.
Agatha Christie mysteriously disappeared for 11 days.
Judy Garland made her show business debut.
Pope Benedict XV canonized Joan of Arc.
Eugene Bullard became the first African-American military pilot after acquiring his pilot's license from the Aéro-Club de France.
Due to her pure talent and popularity, Mary Pickford became the first female actress to be offered a $1 million contract.
The First Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded to the Red Cross founder Jean Henri Dunant and peace activist Frederic Passy.
Charles Darwin, who taught the world the theory of evolution by natural selection, died at 73 years old.
Feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton became the first woman to testify before Congress.
