ELTON JOHN, English singer and songwriter, born; (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947) is an English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. In his four decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s.

 He has sold more than 250 million albums, and over one hundred million singles, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. 

He has more than fifty Top 40 hits including seven consecutive #1 U.S. albums, fifty-nine Top 40 singles, sixteen Top 10, four#2 hits, and nine #1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and an Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll.

In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time. You’ve got to hand it to Elton. Coming out publicly in Rolling Stone when he was at the top of the charts took guts. Not many rock stars would have dared to take the risk. But everything’s worked out pretty good. Elton has a new look, and a sharp wit. “Ever since I had that interview in which I said I was bisexual,” he grins, “it seems twice as many people wave at me on the streets.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against HIV-AIDS since the late 1980s (becoming a close friend to Ryan White and his mother) and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership (now married) with David Furnish in December 2005 and continues to be a champion for the LGBT social movements.

THOM BIERDZ, American soap opera star and painter, born; Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this American actor is best known for his role as "Phillip Chancellor III" on The Young and the Restless, appearing from 1986 to 1989 and returning for one "dream sequence" in 2004. 

Shortly after leaving Y&R to pursue movie roles, his youngest brother Troy, a paranoid schizophrenic, beat their mother to death with a baseball bat. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Wisconsin prison. In May 2002, his other brother Craig committed suicide. Bierdz had devoted most of his time to painting in recent years, although he has also written a memoir entitled "Forgiving Troy."http://www.thombierdz.com/bio.html  Bierdz returned to The Young & The Restless in May 2009 playing a Gay painter.

ROLAND BARTHES, French literary critic and writer died (b. 1915); A French literary critic, literary and social theorist, philosopher and semiotican. Barthes' work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, Marxism and post-structuralism.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY is expelled from the University of Oxford for his publication of the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism.