28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
1997 – The 7.3 Mw Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Births on May 10
874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch.
558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt.
1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
1544 – The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing.
1664 – Louis XIV of France begins construction of the Palace of Versailles.
1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces.
1697 – Stockholm’s royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace.
1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville.
1763 – Pontiac’s War begins with Pontiac’s attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British.
1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.
1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision.
1832 – Greece’s independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.
1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America’s oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
1864 – The world’s oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.
1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan‘s control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy.
1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
1920 – Morecambe Football Club was founded during a meeting at the West View Hotel on the town’s promenade.
1930 – The 7.1 Mw Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed.
1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco’s forces.
1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.
1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
1945 – World War II: Last German U boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland.
1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany’s participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded
1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer.
1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13).
1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
1976 – The Honda Accord is officially launched.
1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.
1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.
1992 – Three employees at a McDonald’s Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first “fast-food murder” in Canada.
1994 – Edvard Munch’s painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February.
1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft apparently inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.
2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.
2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.
Births on May 7
Before 160 – Julia Maesa, Roman noblewoman (d. 224)
1488 – John III of the Palatinate, archbishop of Regensburg (d. 1538)
1530 – Louis, Prince of Condé (d. 1569)
1553 – Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia (d. 1618)
1605 – Patriarch Nikon of Moscow (d. 1681)
1643 – Stephanus Van Cortlandt, American politician, 10th Mayor of New York City (d. 1700)
1700 – Gerard van Swieten, Dutch-Austrian physician (d. 1772)
1701 – Carl Heinrich Graun, German tenor and composer (d. 1759)
1711 – David Hume, Scottish economist, historian, and philosopher (d. 1776)
1724 – Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, French-Austrian field marshal (d. 1797)
1740 – Nikolai Arkharov, Russian police officer and general (d. 1814)
1748 – Olympe de Gouges, French playwright and philosopher (d. 1793)
1763 – Józef Poniatowski, Polish general (d. 1813)
1767 – Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1820)
1774 – William Bainbridge, American commodore (d. 1833)
1787 – Jacques Viger, Canadian archaeologist and politician, 1st mayor of Montreal (d. 1858)
1812 – Robert Browning, English poet and playwright (d. 1889)
1833 – Johannes Brahms, German pianist and composer (d. 1897)
1836 – Joseph Gurney Cannon, American lawyer and politician, 40th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1926)
1837 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (d. 1875)
1840 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer and educator (d. 1893)
1845 – Mary Eliza Mahoney, American nurse and activist (d. 1926)
1847 – Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
1857 – William A. MacCorkle, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of West Virginia (d. 1930)
1860 – Tom Norman, English businessman (d. 1930)
1861 – Rabindranath Tagore, Indian author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)
1867 – Władysław Reymont, Polish novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1925)
1875 – Bill Hoyt, American pole vaulter (d. 1951)
1880 – Pandurang Vaman Kane, Indologist and Sanskrit scholar, Bharat Ratna awardee (d. 1972)
1881 – George E. Wiley, American cyclist (d. 1954)
1882 – Willem Elsschot, Belgian author and poet (d. 1960)
1885 – George “Gabby” Hayes, American actor (d. 1969)
1889 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (d. 1943)
1891 – Harry McShane, Scottish engineer and activist (d. 1988)
1892 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (d. 1982)
1892 – Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav field marshal and politician, 1st President of Yugoslavia (d. 1980)
1893 – Frank J. Selke, Canadian ice hockey coach and manager (d. 1985)
1896 – Kathleen McKane Godfree, English tennis and badminton player (d. 1992)
1899 – Alfred Gerrard, English sculptor and academic (d. 1998)
1901 – Gary Cooper, American actor (d. 1961)
1903 – Jimmy Ball, Canadian sprinter (d. 1988)
1904 – Kurt Weitzmann, German-American historian and author (d. 1993)
1906 – Eric Krenz, American discus thrower and shot putter (d. 1931)
1909 – Edwin H. Land, American scientist and inventor, co-founded the Polaroid Corporation (d. 1991)
1909 – Dorothy Sunrise Lorentino, Native American teacher (d. 2005)
1911 – Ishirō Honda, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1911 – Rıfat Ilgaz, Turkish author, poet, and educator (d. 1993)
1912 – Pannalal Patel, Indian author (d. 1989)
1913 – John Spencer Hardy, American general (d. 2012)
1913 – Simon Ramo, American physicist and engineer (d. 2016)
1914 – Arthur Snelling, English civil servant and diplomat. British Ambassador to South Africa (d. 1996)
1916 – Huw Wheldon, Welsh-English broadcaster (d. 1986)
1916 – W. B. Young, Scottish rugby player and physician (d. 2013)
1917 – Domenico Bartolucci, Italian cardinal and composer (d. 2013)
1917 – Lenox Hewitt, Australian public servant (d. 2020)
1917 – David Tomlinson, English actor (d. 2000)
1919 – Eva Perón, Argentinian actress, 25th First Lady of Argentina (d. 1952)
1920 – Rendra Karno, Indonesian actor (d. 1985)
1921 – Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, English historian and academic (d. 2016)
1921 – Gaston Rébuffat, French mountaineer and author (d. 1985)
1922 – Darren McGavin, American actor and director (d. 2006)
1922 – Joe O’Donnell, American photographer and journalist (d. 2007)
1923 – Anne Baxter, American actress (d. 1985)
1923 – Jim Lowe, American singer-songwriter, disc jockey, and radio host (d. 2016)
1923 – Bülent Ulusu, Turkish admiral and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Turkey (d. 2015)
1924 – Albert Band, French-American director and producer (d. 2002)
1925 – Lauri Vaska, Estonian-American chemist and academic (d. 2015)
1927 – Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, German-American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1929 – Dick Williams, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2011)
1930 – Totie Fields, American comedian and author (d. 1978)
1930 – Babe Parilli, American football player and coach (d. 2017)
1930 – John Smith, Baron Kirkhill, English politician
1931 – Teresa Brewer, American singer (d. 2007)
1931 – Gene Wolfe, American author (d. 2019)
1932 – Jordi Bonet, Spanish-Canadian painter and sculptor (d. 1979)
1932 – Alan Cuthbert, English pharmacologist and academic (d. 2016)
1932 – Pete Domenici, American lawyer and politician, 37th Mayor of Albuquerque (d. 2017)
1932 – Derek Taylor, English journalist and author (d. 1997)
1933 – Johnny Unitas, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2002)
1935 – Avraham Heffner, Israeli actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1935 – Michael Hopkins, English architect
1936 – Robin Hanbury-Tenison, English explorer and author
1936 – Tony O’Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman
1936 – Jimmy Ruffin, American soul singer (d. 2014)
1937 – Eddie Clayton, English footballer
1937 – Claude Raymond, Canadian baseball player and coach
1939 – Sidney Altman, Canadian-American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1939 – Ruggero Deodato, Italian actor, director, and screenwriter
1939 – Ruud Lubbers, Dutch economist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2018)
1939 – Johnny Maestro, American pop/doo-wop singer (d. 2010)
1939 – Clive Soley, Baron Soley, English politician
1940 – Angela Carter, English novelist and short story writer (d. 1992)
1940 – Dave Chambers, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1941 – Lawrence Collins, Baron Collins of Mapesbury, English lawyer and judge
1943 – Terry Allen, American singer and painter
1943 – Harvey Andrews, English singer-songwriter and poet
1943 – John Bannon, Australian academic and politician, 39th Premier of South Australia (d. 2015)
1943 – Peter Carey, Australian novelist and short story writer
1945 – Christy Moore, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist
1945 – Robin Strasser, American actress
1946 – Thelma Houston, American R&B/disco singer and actress
1946 – Marv Hubbard, American football player (d. 2015)
1946 – Bill Kreutzmann, American drummer
1946 – Michael Rosen, English author and poet
1946 – Brian Turner, English chef and television host
1949 – Kathy Ahern, American golfer (d. 1996)
1949 – Deborah Butterfield, American sculptor
1950 – John Dowling Coates, Australian lawyer, sports administrator and businessman
1950 – Randall “Tex” Cobb, American boxer and actor
1950 – Tim Russert, American television journalist and lawyer (d. 2008)
1953 – Pat McInally, American football player and coach
1953 – Ian McKay, English sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1982)
1954 – Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
1954 – Joanna Haigh, English meteorologist and physicist
1954 – Amy Heckerling, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Clément Gignac, Canadian politician
1955 – Ben Poquette, American basketball player
1955 – Axel Zwingenberger, German pianist and songwriter
1956 – Jan Peter Balkenende, Dutch jurist and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1956 – Anne Dudley, English pianist and composer
1956 – Nicholas Hytner, English director and producer
1956 – Jean Lapierre, Canadian talk show host and politician
1956 – Calum MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician
1957 – Kristina M. Johnson, American business executive, engineer, academic and government official
1958 – Mikhail Biryukov, Russian footballer and manager
1958 – Mark G. Kuzyk, American physicist and academic
1958 – Anne Marie Rafferty, English nurse and academic
1959 – Michael E. Knight, American actor
1959 – Tony Sealy, English footballer, forward and manager
1959 – Heiki Valk, Estonian archeologist and academic
1960 – Adam Bernstein, American director and screenwriter
1960 – Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham, Iraqi-English surgeon and academic
1960 – Almudena Grandes, Spanish author
1961 – Hans-Peter Bartels, German politician
1961 – Sue Black, Scottish anthropologist and academic
1961 – Ivar Must, Estonian composer and producer
1962 – Tony Campbell, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Judith Donath, American computer scientist and academic
1963 – Johnny Lee Middleton, American bass player and songwriter
1964 – Ronnie Harmon, American football player
1964 – Denis Mandarino, Brazilian guitarist, composer, and painter
1964 – Leslie O’Neal, American football player
1965 – Reuben Davis, American football player
1965 – Owen Hart, Canadian wrestler (d. 1999)
1965 – Norman Whiteside, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1965 – Huang Zhihong, Chinese shot putter
1967 – Martin Bryant, Australian mass murderer
1967 – Adam Price, Danish chef and screenwriter
1967 – Joe Rice, American colonel and politician
1968 – Traci Lords, American actress and singer
1968 – Lisa Raitt, Canadian lawyer and politician, 30th Canadian Minister of Transport
1969 – Eagle-Eye Cherry, Swedish singer-songwriter
1969 – Jun Falkenstein, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1969 – Katerina Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1971 – Reidar Horghagen, Norwegian drummer
1971 – Dave Karpa, Canadian ice hockey player
1971 – Thomas Piketty, French economist
1972 – Peter Dubovský, Czech-Slovak footballer (d. 2000)
1972 – Frank Trigg, American mixed martial artist and wrestler
1973 – Kristian Lundin, Swedish songwriter and producer
1973 – Paolo Savoldelli, Italian cyclist
1974 – Ian Pearce, English footballer and assistant manager
1973 – Lawrence Johnson, American pole vaulter
1975 – Ashley Cowan, English cricketer
1976 – Calvin Booth, American basketball player
1976 – Berke Hatipoğlu, Turkish guitarist and songwriter
1976 – Stacey Jones, New Zealand rugby league player
1976 – Andrea Lo Cicero, Italian rugby player
1976 – Michael P. Murphy, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2005)
1976 – Ayelet Shaked, Israeli Minister of Justice (2015-2019)
1977 – Elton Flatley, Australian rugby player
1978 – Stian Arnesen, Norwegian guitarist, drummer, and songwriter
1978 – James Carter, American hurdler
1978 – Shawn Marion, American basketball player
1979 – Katie Douglas, American basketball player
1983 – Phionah Atuhebwe, Ugandan vaccinologist and immunization expert
1984 – James Loney, American baseball player
1984 – Alex Smith, American football player
1984 – Kevin Owens, Canadian wrestler
1985 – Jarrad Hickey, Australian rugby league player
1985 – Drew Neitzel, American basketball player
1986 – Matt Helders, English drummer
1987 – Asami Konno, Japanese singer
1987 – Michael Maidens, English footballer (d. 2007)
1987 – Mark Reynolds, Scottish footballer
1987 – David Schlemko, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Eino Puri, Estonian footballer
1988 – Sander Puri, Estonian footballer
1989 – Earl Thomas, American football player
1995 – Seko Fofana, French born Ivorian international footballer
1997 – Daria Kasatkina, Russian tennis player
1998 – Jesse Puljujärvi, Finnish ice hockey player
Deaths on May 7
721 – John of Beverley, bishop of York
833 – Ibn Hisham, Egyptian Muslim historian
973 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 912)
1014 – Bagrat III, 1st King of Georgia (b. 960)
1092 – Remigius de Fécamp, English monk and bishop
1166 – William I of Sicily
1202 – Hamelin de Warenne, Earl of Surrey
1205 – Ladislaus III of Hungary (b. 1201)
1234 – Otto I, Duke of Merania (b. c. 1180)
1243 – Hugh d’Aubigny, 5th Earl of Arundel
1427 – Thomas la Warr, 5th Baron De La Warr, English priest (b. 1352)
1494 – Eskender, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1471)
1523 – Franz von Sickingen, German knight (b. 1481)
1539 – Ottaviano Petrucci, Italian printer (b. 1466)
1617 – David Fabricius, German astronomer and theologian (b. 1564)
1667 – Johann Jakob Froberger, German organist and composer (b. 1616)
1682 – Feodor III of Russia (b. 1661)
1685 – Bajo Pivljanin (b. 1630)
1718 – Mary of Modena (b. 1658)
1793 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1722)
1800 – Niccolò Piccinni, Italian composer (b. 1728)
1805 – William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne, Irish-English general and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1737)
1815 – Jabez Bowen, American colonel and politician, 45th Deputy Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1739)
1825 – Antonio Salieri, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1750)
1840 – Caspar David Friedrich, German painter and educator (b. 1774)
1868 – Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1778)
1872 – Alexander Loyd, American carpenter and politician, 4th Mayor of Chicago (b. 1805)
1876 – William Buell Sprague, American clergyman, historian, and author (b. 1795)
1887 – C. F. W. Walther, German-American religious leader and theologian (b. 1811)
1896 – H. H. Holmes, American serial killer (b. 1861)
1902 – Agostino Roscelli, Italian priest and saint (b. 1818)
1917 – Albert Ball, English fighter pilot (b. 1896)
1922 – Max Wagenknecht, German pianist and composer (b. 1857)
1924 – Alluri Sitarama Raju, Indian activist (b. 1897/1898)
1925 – William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, English businessman and politician (b. 1851)
1937 – Ernst A. Lehmann, German captain and author (b. 1886)
1938 – Octavian Goga, Romanian politician, former Prime Minister (b. 1881)
1940 – George Lansbury, English journalist and politician (b. 1859)
1941 – James George Frazer, Scottish-English anthropologist and academic (b. 1854)
1942 – Felix Weingartner, Croatian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1863)
1943 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish colonel and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1880)
1946 – Herbert Macaulay, Nigerian journalist and politician (b. 1864)
1951 – Warner Baxter, American actor (b. 1889)
1967 – Margaret Larkin, American writer and poet (b. 1899)
1958 – Mihkel Lüdig, Estonian organist, composer, and conductor (b. 1880)
1976 – Alison Uttley, English children’s book writer (b. 1884)
1978 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (b. 1915)
1986 – Haldun Taner, Turkish playwright and author (b. 1915)
1987 – Colin Blakely, Northern Irish actor (b. 1930)
1987 – Paul Popham, American soldier and activist, co-founded Gay Men’s Health Crisis (b. 1941)
1990 – Sam Tambimuttu, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (b. 1932)
1994 – Clement Greenberg, American art critic (b. 1909)
1995 – Ray McKinley, American drummer, singer, and bandleader (Glenn Miller Orchestra) (b. 1910)
1998 – Allan McLeod Cormack, South African-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
1998 – Eddie Rabbitt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
2000 – Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., American captain, actor, and producer (b. 1909)
2001 – Jacques de Bourbon-Busset, French author and politician (b. 1912)
224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire.
357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city.
1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution.
1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars.
1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island.
1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war.
1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
1920 – Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium.
1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas.
1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia.
1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement.
1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center.
1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.
1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
1952 – The Treaty of San Francisco comes into effect, restoring Japanese sovereignty and ending its state of war with most of the Allies of World War II.
1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to “forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship” and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
1967 – Vietnam War: Boxer Muhammad Ali refuses his induction into the United States Army and is subsequently stripped of his championship and license.
1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
1973 – The Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, recorded in Abbey Road Studios goes to number one on the US Billboard chart, beginning a record-breaking 741-week chart run.
1975 – General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
1978 – President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
1986 – High levels of radiation resulting from the Chernobyl disaster are detected at a nuclear power plant in Sweden, leading Soviet authorities to publicly announce the accident.
1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle “C.B.” Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane’s fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
1993 – A Zambia Air Force DHC-5 Buffalo crashes off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, killing all 30 passengers, which included the entire Zambia national football team.
1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
1996 – Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.
2004 – CBS News released evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.
Births on April 28
AD 32 – Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
1402 – Nezahualcoyotl, Acolhuan philosopher, warrior, poet and ruler (d. 1472)
1442 – Edward IV, king of England (d. 1483)
1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean commander (d. 1598)
1573 – Charles de Valois, Duke of Angoulême, son of Charles IX (d. 1650)
1604 – Joris Jansen Rapelje, Dutch settler in colonial North America (d. 1662)
1623 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (d. 1707)
1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet and author (d. 1687)
1676 – Frederick I, prince consort and king of Sweden (d. 1751)
1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and educator (d. 1767)
1758 – James Monroe, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
1761 – Marie Harel, French cheesemaker (d. 1844)
1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician and academic (d. 1834)
1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar and academic (d. 1884)
1827 – William Hall, Canadian soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1904)
1838 – Tobias Asser, Dutch lawyer and scholar, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
1848 – Ludvig Schytte, Danish pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1909)
1854 – Hertha Marks Ayrton, Polish-British engineer, mathematician, and physicist. (d. 1923)
1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
1863 – Josiah Thomas, English-Australian miner and politician, 7th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1933)
1863 – Nikolai von Meck, Russian engineer (d. 1929)
1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist and academic (d. 1940)
1868 – Lucy Booth, English composer (d. 1953)
1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Ukrainian-Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1908)
1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
1874 – Sidney Toler, American actor and director (d. 1947)
1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian engineer and businessman (d. 1938)
1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor and director (d. 1954)
1886 – Erich Salomon, German-born news photographer (d. 1944)
1886 – Art Shaw, American hurdler (d. 1955)
1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer and soldier (d. 1918)
1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 1970)
1896 – Na Hye-sok, South Korean journalist, poet, and painter (d. 1948)
1896 – Tristan Tzara, Romanian-French poet and critic (d. 1963)
1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician, Head of State of the People’s Republic of China (d. 1986)
1900 – Alice Berry, Australian activist (d. 1978)
1900 – Heinrich Müller, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer and academic (d. 1992)
1901 – H. B. Stallard, English runner and surgeon (d. 1973)
1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author and critic (d. 1979)
1906 – Kurt Gödel, Czech-American mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1978)
1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor and philanthropist (d. 1999)
1908 – Ethel Catherwood, American-Canadian high jumper and javelin thrower (d. 1987)
1908 – Jack Fingleton, Australian cricketer, journalist, and sportscaster (d. 1981)
1908 – Oskar Schindler, Czech-German businessman (d. 1974)
1909 – Arthur Võõbus, Estonian-American theologist and orientalist (d. 1988)
1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American author (d. 1996)
1911 – Lee Falk, American director, producer, and playwright (d. 1999)
1912 – Odette Hallowes, French soldier and spy (d. 1995)
1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1913 – Rose Murphy, American singer (d. 1989)
1914 – Michel Mohrt, French author, historian (d. 2011)
1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian businessman, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
1917 – Robert Cornthwaite, American actor (d. 2006)
1921 – Rowland Evans, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2001)
1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian author and academic (d. 2012)
1923 – Carolyn Cassady, American author (d. 2013)
1923 – William Guarnere, American sergeant (d. 2014)
1924 – Dick Ayers, American author and illustrator (d. 2014)
1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist (d. 2009)
1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian educator and politician, 1st President of Zambia
1925 – T. John Lesinski, American judge and politician, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (d. 1996)
1925 – John Leonard Thorn, English lieutenant, author, and academic
1926 – James Bama, American artist and illustrator
1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American historian and author (d. 2011)
1926 – Harper Lee, American novelist (d. 2016)
1926 – Hulusi Sayın, Turkish general (d. 1991)
1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
1928 – Eugene Merle Shoemaker, American geologist and astronomer (d. 1997)
1930 – James Baker, American lawyer and politician, 61st United States Secretary of State
1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
1933 – Miodrag Radulovacki, Serbian-American neuropharmacologist and academic (d. 2014)
1934 – Lois Duncan, American journalist and author (d. 2016)
1935 – Pedro Ramos, Cuban baseball player
1935 – Jimmy Wray, Scottish boxer and politician (d. 2013)
1936 – Tariq Aziz, Iraqi journalist and politician, Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2015)
1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi general and politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (d. 2014)
1937 – John White, Scottish international footballer(d. 1964)
1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican-American actress (d. 1995)
1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer
1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
1941 – John Madejski, English businessman and academic
1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet and author (d. 2013)
1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer and psychoanalyst
1943 – Aryeh Bibi, Iraqi-born Israeli politician
1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director and producer
1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician, 10th Minister-President of the Walloon Region
1944 – Alice Waters, American chef and author
1946 – Nour El-Sherif, Egyptian actor and producer (d. 2015)
1946 – Ginette Reno, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
1946 – Larissa Grunig, American theorist and activist
1947 – Christian Jacq, French historian and author
1947 – Nicola LeFanu, English composer and academic
1947 – Steve Khan, American jazz guitarist
1948 – Terry Pratchett, English journalist, author, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1949 – Jeremy Cooke, English lawyer and judge
1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor and director (d. 2006)
1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican-American trombonist and producer
1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian, talk show host, and producer
1950 – Steve Rider, English journalist and sportscaster
1951 – Tim Congdon, English economist and politician
1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
1952 – Chuck Leavell, American singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean novelist, short-story writer, poet, and essayist (d. 2003)
1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1953 – Brian Greenhoff, English footballer and coach (d. 2013)
1954 – Timothy Curley, American educator
1954 – Michael P. Jackson, American politician, 3rd Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor-producer, singer-songwriter, comedian and television personality
1954 – Ron Zook, American football player and coach
1955 – Eddie Jobson, English keyboard player and violinist
1955 – Dieter Rubach, German bass player
1956 – Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Wilma Landkroon, Dutch singer
1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
1960 – Tom Browning, American baseball player
1960 – Elena Kagan, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
1960 – Phil King, English bass player
1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish author
1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic strongman and weightlifter (d. 1993)
1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer and manager
1963 – Sandrine Dumas, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1963 – Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater and coach
1963 – Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist and academic
1964 – Stephen Ames, Trinidadian golfer
1964 – Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer
1964 – Ajay Kakkar, Baron Kakkar, English surgeon and academic
1964 – Barry Larkin, American baseball player, manager, and sportscaster
1964 – L’Wren Scott, American model and fashion designer (d. 2014)
1965 – Jennifer Rardin, American author (d. 2010)
1966 – John Daly, American golfer
1966 – Too Short, American rapper, producer and actor
1967 – Chris White, English engineer and politician
1968 – Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter and producer
1968 – Andy Flower, South-African-Zimbabwean cricketer and coach
1969 – LeRon Perry Ellis, American basketball player
1970 – Richard Fromberg, Australian tennis player
1970 – Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player and scout
1970 – Diego Simeone, Argentinian footballer and manager
1971 – Brad McEwan, Australian journalist
1972 – Violent J, American rapper
1972 – Helena Tulve, Estonian composer
1972 – Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer and manager
1973 – Jorge Garcia, American actor and producer
1973 – Earl Holmes, American football player and coach
1973 – Andrew Mehrtens, South African-New Zealand rugby player
1974 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress and producer
1974 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
1974 – Richel Hersisia, Dutch boxer
1974 – Vernon Kay, English radio and television host
1974 – Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer and journalist
1975 – Michael Walchhofer, Austrian skier
1976 – Shane Jurgensen, Australian cricketer
1978 – Lauren Laverne, English singer and television host
1978 – Robert Oliveri, American actor
1978 – Nate Richert, American actor
1979 – Scott Fujita, American football player and sportscaster
1980 – Bradley Wiggins, English cyclist
1981 – Jessica Alba, American model and actress
1981 – Pietro Travagli, Italian rugby player
1982 – Nikki Grahame, English model and journalist
1982 – Chris Kaman, American basketball player
1983 – Josh Brookes, Australian motorcycle racer
1983 – David Freese, American baseball player
1983 – Roger Johnson, English footballer
1983 – Graham Wagg, English cricketer
1983 – Thomas Waldrom, New Zealand-English rugby player
1984 – Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer
1985 – Lucas Jakubczyk, German sprinter and long jumper
1985 – Deividas Stagniūnas, Lithuanian ice dancer
1986 – Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player
1986 – Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer
1987 – Ryan Conroy, Scottish footballer
1987 – Samantha Akkineni, Indian actress and model
1987 – Bradley Johnson, English footballer
1987 – Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer
1988 – Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer
1988 – Juan Manuel Mata, Spanish footballer
1988 – Katariina Tuohimaa, Finnish tennis player
1989 – Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer
1989 – Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer
1990 – Niels-Peter Mørck, Danish footballer
1992 – Blake Bortles, American football player
1992 – DeMarcus Lawrence, American football player
1993 – Craig Garvey, Australian rugby league player
1993 – Eva Samková, Czech snowboarder
1995 – Jonathan Benteke, Belgian footballer
1995 – Melanie Martinez, American singer
Deaths on April 28
224 – Artabanus V of Parthia (b. 191)
948 – Hu Jinsi, Chinese general and prefect
988 – Adaldag, archbishop of Bremen
1109 – Abbot Hugh of Cluny (b. 1024)
1192 – Conrad of Montferrat (b. 1140)
1197 – Rhys ap Gruffydd, prince of Deheubarth (b. 1132)
1257 – Shajar al-Durr, sovereign sultana of Egypt
1260 – Luchesius Modestini, founding member of the Third Order of St. Francis
1400 – Baldus de Ubaldis, Italian jurist (b. 1327)
1489 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1449)
1533 – Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
1643 – Francisco de Lucena, Portuguese politician (b. 1578)
1710 – Thomas Betterton, English actor and manager (b. 1630)
1716 – Louis de Montfort, French priest and saint (b. 1673)
1726 – Thomas Pitt, English merchant and politician (b. 1653)
1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (b. 1668)
1772 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, German physician and politician (b. 1737)
1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (b. 1723)
1813 – Mikhail Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
1816 – Johann Heinrich Abicht, German philosopher, author, and academic (b. 1762)
1841 – Peter Chanel, French priest, missionary, and martyr (b. 1803)
1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German author and poet (b. 1773)
1858 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (b. 1801)
1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English businessman, founded Cunard Line (b. 1787)
1881 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
1883 – John Russell, English hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
1902 – Cyprien Tanguay, Canadian priest and historian (b. 1819)
1903 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American scientist (b. 1839)
1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, American general and politician, 40th Governor of Virginia (b. 1835)
1925 – Richard Butler, English-Australian politician, 23rd Premier of South Australia (b. 1850)
1928 – May Jordan McConnel, Australian trade unionist and suffragist (b. 1860)
1929 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (b. 1879)
1936 – Fuad I of Egypt (b. 1868)
1944 – Mohammed Alim Khan, Manghud ruler (b. 1880)
1944 – Frank Knox, American journalist and politician, 46th United States Secretary of the Navy (b. 1874)
1945 – Roberto Farinacci, Italian soldier and politician (b. 1892)
1945 – Hermann Fegelein, German general (b. 1906)
1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian journalist and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1883)
1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and academic (b. 1870)
1954 – Léon Jouhaux, French union leader, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
1956 – Fred Marriott, American race car driver (b. 1872)
1957 – Heinrich Bär, German colonel and pilot (b. 1913)
1962 – Bennie Osler, South African rugby player (b. 1901)
1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux.
1478 – The Pazzi family attack Lorenzo de’ Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in Florence Cathedral.
1564 – Playwright William Shakespeare is baptized in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (date of actual birth is unknown).
1607 – English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
1721 – A massive earthquake devastates the Iranian city of Tabriz.
1777 – Sybil Ludington, aged 16, rode 40 miles (64 km) to alert American colonial forces to the approach of the British regular forces
1794 – Battle of Beaumont during the Flanders Campaign of the War of the First Coalition.
1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
1803 – Thousands of meteor fragments fall from the skies of L’Aigle, France; the event convinces European scientists that meteors exist.
1805 – First Barbary War: United States Marines captured Derne under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon.
1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina. Also the date of Confederate Memorial Day for two states.
1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, in Virginia.
1903 – Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded
1923 – The Duke of York weds Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain, is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
1942 – Benxihu Colliery accident in Manchukuo leaves 1549 Chinese miners dead.
1943 – The Easter Riots break out in Uppsala, Sweden.
1944 – Georgios Papandreou becomes head of the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt.
1944 – Heinrich Kreipe is captured by Allied commandos in occupied Crete.
1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
1945 – World War II: Filipino troops of the 66th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Commonwealth Army, USAFIP-NL and the American troops of the 33rd and 37th Infantry Division, United States Army are liberated in Baguio City and they fight against the Japanese forces under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
1956 – SS Ideal X, the world’s first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey, for Houston, Texas.
1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
1960 – Forced out by the April Revolution, President of South Korea Syngman Rhee resigns after 12 years of dictatorial rule.
1962 – NASA’s Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
1966 – The magnitude 5.1 Tashkent earthquake affects the largest city in Soviet Central Asia with a maximum MSK intensity of VII (Very strong). Tashkent is mostly destroyed and 15–200 are killed.
1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of the Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force.
1981 – Dr. Michael R. Harrison of the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center performs the world’s first human open fetal surgery.
1982 – Fifty-seven people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea.
1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in the Soviet Union, creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
1989 – The deadliest known tornado strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
1989 – People’s Daily publishes the April 26 Editorial which inflames the nascent Tiananmen Square protests.
1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak’s end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year’s only F5 tornado.
1994 – China Airlines Flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
2002 – Robert Steinhäuser kills 16 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
2018 – American comedian Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault.
Births on April 26
121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (d. 180)
757 – Hisham I of Córdoba (d. 796)
764 – Al-Hadi, Iranian caliph (d. 786)
1284 – Alice de Toeni, Countess of Warwick (d. 1324)
1319 – King John II of France (d. 1364)
1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter and academic (d. 1600)
1575 – Marie de’ Medici, queen of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker, Sheriff of London, Lord Mayor of London and politician (d. 1720)
1648 – Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
1697 – Adam Falckenhagen, German lute player and composer (d. 1754)
1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher and academic (d. 1796)
1718 – Esek Hopkins, American commander (d. 1802)
1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist and paleontologist (d. 1853)
1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (d. 1866)
1785 – John James Audubon, French-American ornithologist and painter (d. 1851)
1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet, philologist, and historian (d. 1862)
1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter and lithographer (d. 1863)
1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat, 1st United States Assistant Secretary of State (d. 1889)
1804 – Charles Goodyear, American banker, lawyer, and politician (d. 1876)
1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American journalist and designer, co-designed Central Park (d. 1903)
1834 – Charles Farrar Browne, American author (d. 1867)
1856 – Joseph Ward, Australian-New Zealand businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American painter and educator (d. 1938)
1876 – Ernst Felle, German rower (d. 1959)
1877 – James Dooley, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of New South Wales (d. 1950)
1878 – Rafael Guízar y Valencia, Mexican bishop and saint (d. 1938)
1879 – Eric Campbell, British actor (d. 1917)
1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (d. 1939)
1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Russian poet and publicist (d. 1913)
1889 – Anita Loos, American author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (d. 1951)
1894 – Rudolf Hess, Egyptian-German politician (d. 1987)
1896 – Ruut Tarmo, Estonian actor and director (d. 1967)
1896 – Ernst Udet, German colonel and pilot (d. 1941)
1897 – Eddie Eagan, American boxer and bobsledder (d. 1967)
1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-American director and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1984)
1898 – John Grierson, Scottish director and producer (d. 1972)
1899 – Oscar Rabin, Latvian-English saxophonist and bandleader (d. 1958)
1900 – Eva Aschoff, German bookbinder and calligrapher (d. 1969)
1900 – Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (d. 1985)
1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal (d. 1991)
1904 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist and politician, 177th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2004)
1905 – Jean Vigo, French director and screenwriter (d. 1934)
1907 – Ilias Tsirimokos, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1968)
1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1911 – Paul Verner, German soldier and politician (d. 1986)
1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian-American author (d. 2000)
1914 – Bernard Malamud, Jewish American novelist and short story writer (d. 1986)
1914 – James Rouse, American real estate developer (d. 1996)
1916 – Eyvind Earle, American artist, author, and illustrator (d. 2000)
1916 – Ken Wallis, English commander, engineer, and pilot (d. 2013)
1916 – Morris West, Australian author and playwright (d. 1999)
1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player and coach (d. 1992)
1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art and Bank of China Tower (d. 2019)
1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player and coach (d. 2013)
1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch sprinter and long jumper (d. 2004)
1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 2008)
1922 – J. C. Holt, English historian and academic (d. 2014)
1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian journalist and politician, 23rd Governor General of Canada (d. 1993)
1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer (d. 2019)
1924 – Browning Ross, American runner and soldier (d. 1998)
1925 – Vladimir Boltyansky, Russian mathematician, educator and author (d. 2019)
1925 – Gerard Cafesjian, American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2013)
1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur (d. 2015)
1925 – Frank Hahn, British economist (d. 2013)
1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German soldier and illustrator (d. 2003)
1927 – Jack Douglas, English actor (d. 2008)
1927 – Harry Gallatin, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1927 – Granny Hamner, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and educator (d. 2002)
1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian runner and sportscaster
1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American talent agent and producer (d. 2008)
1931 – John Cain Jr., Australian politician, 41st Premier of Victoria (d. 2019)
1932 – Israr Ahmed, Indian-Pakistani theologian, philosopher, and scholar (d. 2010)
1932 – Shirley Cawley, English long jumper
1932 – Frank D’Rone, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1932 – Francis Lai, French accordion player and composer (d. 2018)
1932 – Michael Smith, English-Canadian biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2000)
1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress, singer, and producer
1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican-American general (d. 2005)
1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1935 – Patricia Reilly Giff, American author and educator
1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 2015)
1938 – Duane Eddy, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1938 – Maurice Williams, American doo-wop/R&B singer-songwriter
1940 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussain Ansari, Indian cleric and politician (d. 2014)
1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian singer-songwriter and producer
1940 – Cliff Watson, English rugby league player (d. 2018)
1941 – Claudine Auger, French model and actress (d. 2019)
1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian journalist, author, and critic (d. 2014)
1942 – Sharon Carstairs, Canadian lawyer and politician, Leader of the Government in the Senate
1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States
1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer and actor
1942 – Jadwiga Staniszkis, Polish sociologist, political scientist, and academic
1943 – Gary Wright, American singer-songwriter, keyboard player, and producer
1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect and academic, designed the Therme Vals
1944 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor (d. 2007)
1945 – Howard Davies, English director and producer (d. 2016)
1945 – Dick Johnson, Australian race car driver
1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian academic and politician
1946 – Ralph Coates, English international footballer (d. 2010)
1946 – Marilyn Nelson, American poet and author
1946 – Alberto Quintano, Chilean footballer
1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer and manager
1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
1951 – John Battle, English politician
1954 – Tatyana Fomina, Estonian chess player
1954 – Alan Hinkes, English mountaineer and explorer
1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
1956 – Koo Stark, American actress and photographer
1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish race car driver
1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor, director, and producer
1958 – Georgios Kostikos, Greek footballer, coach, and manager
1959 – John Corabi, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player and coach
1960 – Roger Taylor, English drummer
1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Chris Mars, American artist
1962 – Colin Anderson, English footballer
1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
1963 – Jet Li, Chinese-Singaporean martial artist, actor, and producer
1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-American football player
1963 – Cornelia Ullrich, German hurdler
1963 – Bill Wennington, Canadian basketball player
1965 – Susannah Harker, English actress
1965 – Kevin James, American actor and comedian
1967 – Glenn Thomas Jacobs, American professional wrestler, actor, businessman and politician
1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, English actress and singer-songwriter
1967 – Toomas Tõniste, Estonian sailor and politician
1970 – Dean Austin, English footballer and manager
1970 – Melania Trump, Slovene-American model; 47th First Lady of the United States
1970 – Kristen R. Ghodsee, American ethnographer and academic
1970 – Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian race car driver
1972 – Kiko, Spanish footballer
1972 – Natrone Means, American football player and coach
1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer and manager
1973 – Geoff Blum, American baseball player and sportscaster
1973 – Jules Naudet, French-American director and producer
1973 – Chris Perry, English footballer
1973 – Óscar García Junyent, Spanish footballer and coach
1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician, songwriter, record producer
1975 – Rahul Verma, Indian social worker and activist
1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
1977 – Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian astronaut
1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist and author
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
1092 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II
1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1615 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1789 – George Washington’s reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil’s independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1802 – Twelve thousand Wahhabis under Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, invaded city of Karbala, killed over three thousand inhabitants, and sacked the city.
1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
1821 – Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1856 – Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
1926 – Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi’a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
1934 – The “Surgeon’s Photograph”, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
1952 – Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.
1958 – United Airlines Flight 736 collides into a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
1960 – Brasília, Brazil’s capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1962 – The Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World’s Fair in the United States since World War II.
1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Bahá’í Faith.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
1965 – The 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 – A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d’état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1977 – Annie opens on Broadway.
1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
2012 – Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, injuring 116 people.
2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
2019 – Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday; more than 200 people are killed.
Births on April 21
1132 – Sancho VI, king of Navarre (d. 1194)
1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)
1523 – Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian lawyer and military officer (d. 1571)
1555 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (d. 1619)
1619 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (d. 1677)
1630 – Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Dutch-English painter (d. 1700)
1631 – Francesco Maidalchini, Catholic cardinal (d. 1700)
1642 – Simon de la Loubère, French mathematician, poet, and diplomat (d. 1729)
1651 – Joseph Vaz, Sri Lankan priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1711)
1652 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (d. 1719)
1671 – John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1673 – Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1742)
1713 – Louis de Noailles, French general (d. 1793)
1730 – Antonín Kammel, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1788)
1752 – Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, French engineer, hydrographer, and politician, French Minister of Marine and the Colonies (d. 1807)
1752 – Humphry Repton, English gardener and author (d. 1818)
1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1862)
1775 – Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (d. 1870)
1790 – Manuel Blanco Encalada, Spanish-Chilean admiral and politician, 1st President of Chile (d. 1876)
1810 – John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
1811 – Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
1814 – Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, English art collector and philanthropist (d. 1906)
1816 – Charlotte Brontë, Cornish-English novelist and poet (d. 1855)
1837 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish lieutenant and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
1838 – John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914)
1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1939)
1854 – William Stang, German-American bishop (d. 1907)
1864 – Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
1868 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (d. 1932)
1870 – Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1941)
1874 – Vincent Scotto, French actor and composer (d. 1952)
1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1885 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1967)
1887 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball manager (d. 1978)
1889 – Marcel Boussac, French businessman (d. 1980)
1889 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985)
1892 – Freddie Dixon, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (d. 1956)
1893 – Romeo Bertini, Italian runner (d. 1973)
1898 – Maurice Wilson, English soldier, pilot, and mountaineer (d. 1934)
1899 – Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (d. 1984)
1903 – Luis Saslavsky, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1904 – Jean Hélion, French painter (d. 1987)
1904 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (d. 1945)
1905 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (d. 1996)
1911 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (d. 2000)
1911 – Kemal Satır, Turkish physician and politician (d. 1991)
1912 – Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (d. 2012)
1912 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1913 – Norman Parkinson, English photographer (d. 1990)
1914 – Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (d. 2013)
1915 – Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (d. 2003)
1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001)
1916 – Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013)
1918 – Eddy Christiani, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (d. 1981)
1919 – Licio Gelli, Italian financer (d. 2015)
1920 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
1922 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1922 – Allan Watkins, Welsh-English cricketer (d. 2011)
1923 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (d. 2009)
1924 – Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (d. 1965)
1925 – Anthony Mason, Australian soldier and judge, 9th Chief Justice of Australia
1925 – John Swinton of Kimmerghame, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (d. 2018)
1926 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and her other realms
1926 – Arthur Rowley, English footballer, manager and cricketer (d. 2002)
1927 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (d. 1991)
1928 – Jack Evans, Welsh-Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
1930 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (d. 2004)
1930 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
1930 – Dieter Roth, German-Swiss illustrator and sculptor (d. 1998)
1930 – Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (d. 2012)
1931 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (d. 2020)
1932 – Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer
1932 – Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter
1932 – Angela Mortimer, English tennis player
1933 – Edelmiro Amante, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Easley Blackwood, Jr., American pianist, composer, and educator
1933 – Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (d. 2014)
1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host
1935 – Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey
1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family
1936 – Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2009)
1937 – Gary Peters, American baseball player
1937 – Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player
1939 – John McCabe, English pianist and composer (d. 2015)
1939 – Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author
1939 – Reni Santoni, American actor
1940 – Jacques Caron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1940 – Souleymane Cissé, Malian director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – David L. Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma
1942 – Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand politician, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
1945 – Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Indian cricketer and umpire
1945 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (d. 2017)
1945 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (d. 2000)
1947 – Al Bumbry, American baseball player
1947 – Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1947 – John Weider, English bass player
1948 – Gary Condit, American businessman and politician
1948 – Paul Davis, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2008)
1948 – Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist
1948 – Dieter Fromm, German runner
1949 – Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
1950 – Shivaji Satam, Indian actor
1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and producer
1951 – Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic
1951 – Bob Varsha, American sportscaster
1951 – Steve Vickers, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Gerald Early, American author and academic
1952 – Cheryl Gillan, British businesswoman and politician, Secretary of State for Wales
1953 – John Brumby, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Victoria
1954 – Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – James Morrison, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, poet, and playwright
1955 – Doug Soetaert, Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1956 – Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist
1957 – Hervé Le Tellier, French linguist and author
1957 – Jesse Orosco, American baseball player
1957 – Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor, and author
1958 – Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer
1958 – Yoshito Usui, Japanese illustrator (d. 2009)
1958 – Michael Zarnock, American author
1959 – Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter
1959 – Olga Kuragina, Russian pentathlete
1959 – Arno Pijpers, Dutch footballer and coach
1959 – Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Michel Goulet, Canadian ice hockey player and scout
1960 – Julius Korir, Kenyan runner
1961 – Cathy Cavadini, American voice actress
1961 – Carey Hayes, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Chad Hayes, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Neale Marmon, English-German footballer, coach, and manager
1961 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (d. 2011)
1962 – Les Lancaster, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Craig Robinson, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Aavo Sarap, Estonian footballer and coach
1963 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1963 – Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
1963 – John Cameron Mitchell, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Alex Baumann, Czech-Canadian swimmer
1964 – Ludmila Engquist, Russian-Swedish hurdler
1965 – Ed Belfour, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Karen Foster, American model and actress
1965 – Gary Grant, American basketball player
1965 – Thomas Helmer, German footballer
1965 – Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian
1967 – Emilio Valle, Cuban hurdler
1968 – Peter van Vossen, Dutch footballer and coach
1969 – John Kibowen, Kenyan runner
1969 – Toby Stephens, English actor
1970 – Jeff Anderson, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1970 – Glen Hansard, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1970 – Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian
1970 – Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
1971 – Axl Rotten, American wrestler (d. 2016)
1971 – Michael Turner, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
1972 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (d. 2001)
1972 – Gwendal Peizerat, French ice dancer
1973 – Steve Backshall, English naturalist, writer, and television presenter
1973 – Jonathan Nsenga, Belgian hurdler and coach
1974 – Maksim Gruznov, Estonian footballer
1974 – Orlando Jordan, American wrestler
1974 – David Peachey, Australian rugby league player
1975 – Danyon Loader, New Zealand swimmer
1976 – Rommel Adducul, Filipino basketball player
1976 – Petero Civoniceva, Fijian-Australian rugby league player
1977 – Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator
1977 – Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
1978 – Jacob Burns, Australian footballer
1978 – Jukka Nevalainen, Finnish drummer
1978 – Yuliya Pechonkina, Russian hurdler
1979 – Virginie Basselot, French chef
1979 – Tobias Linderoth, French-Swedish footballer and coach
1979 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
1980 – Jeff Keppinger, American baseball player
1980 – Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Tony Romo, American football player
1981 – Mads Junker, Danish footballer
1982 – Khalif Barnes, American football player
1982 – Micheal Luck, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Carnell Williams, American football player
1983 – Paweł Brożek, Polish footballer
1983 – Marco Donadel, Italian footballer
1983 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (d. 2020)
1984 – Shayna Fox, American voice actress
1986 – Audra Cohen, American tennis player
1986 – Alexander Edler, Swedish ice hockey player
1986 – Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player
1986 – Mirko Valdifiori, Italian footballer
1987 – Nadif Chowdhury, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Eric Devendorf, American basketball player
1987 – Leroy George, Dutch footballer
1987 – Anastasia Prikhodko, Ukrainian singer
1988 – Ricky Berens, American swimmer
1988 – Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor
1988 – Pedro Mosquera, Spanish footballer
1988 – Adam Rooney, Irish footballer
1989 – Tatyana McFadden, Russian-American sprinter and skier
1989 – Carlos Muñoz, Chilean footballer
1990 – Aleksandar Prijović, Swiss-born Serbian footballer
1992 – Isco, Spanish footballer
1992 – Rene Santos, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Joc Pederson, American baseball player
1994 – Mitchell Weiser, German footballer
Deaths on April 21
234 – Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 181)
586 – Liuvigild, king of the Visigoths
847 – Odgar, Frankish archbishop of Mainz
866 – Bardas, de facto regent of the Byzantine Empire
941 – Bajkam, de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate
1073 – Pope Alexander II
1109 – Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-English archbishop and saint (b. 1033)
1136 – Stephen, Count of Tréguier Breton noblemen (b. c. 1058/62)
1142 – Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1079)
1213 – Maria of Montpellier, Lady of Montpellier, Queen of Aragon (b. 1182)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1400 – John Wittlebury, English politician (b. 1333)
1509 – Henry VII of England (b. 1457)
1557 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1495)
1574 – Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
1591 – Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (b. 1522)
1650 – Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, Japanese samurai (b. 1607)
1668 – Jan Boeckhorst, Flemish painter (b. c. 1604)
1699 – Jean Racine, French playwright and poet (b. 1639)
1719 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1640)
1720 – Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (b. 1646)
1722 – Robert Beverley, Jr., English historian and author (b. 1673)
1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy (b. 1663)
1740 – Thomas Tickell, English poet and author (b. 1685)
1758 – Francesco Zerafa, Maltese architect (b. 1679)
1815 – Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (b. 1746)
1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
1852 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
1863 – Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (b. 1782)
1900 – Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (b. 1819)
1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (b. 1892)
1924 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
1930 – Robert Bridges, English poet and author (b. 1844)
1932 – Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Bohemian cardinal (b. 1864)
1938 – Muhammad Iqbal, Indian-Pakistani philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
1941 – Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (b. 1875)
1945 – Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)
1946 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist and philosopher (b. 1883)
1948 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (b. 1887)
1952 – Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (b. 1890)
1954 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
1956 – Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1965 – Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1971 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (b. 1907)
1973 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1973 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1910)
1974 – Chic Harley, American football player (b. 1894)
1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (b. 1893)
1978 – Sandy Denny, English singer-songwriter (b.1947)
1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (b. 1877)
1980 – Alexander Oparin, Russian biochemist and academic (b. 1894)
1980 – Sohrab Sepehri, Iranian poet and painter (b. 1928)
1983 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (b. 1902)
1984 – Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (b. 1895)
1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian engineer and mountaineer (b. 1943)
1985 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (b. 1922)
1985 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian banker and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (b. 1910)
1986 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (b. 1901)
1986 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1930)
1987 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
1989 – James Kirkwood, Jr., American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1924)
1990 – Erté, Russian-French illustrator (b. 1892)
1991 – Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (b. 1909)
1996 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-born American engineer and race car driver (b. 1909)
1996 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen general and politician, 1st President of Ichkeria (b. 1944)
1996 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1925)
1996 – Jimmy Snyder, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
1998 – Jean-François Lyotard, French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1924)
1999 – Buddy Rogers, American actor (b. 1904)
2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933)
2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)
2005 – Gerry Marshall, English race car driver and journalist (b. 1941)
2006 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand commander and pilot (b. 1912)
2006 – T. K. Ramakrishnan, Indian politician (b. 1922)
2006 – Telê Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2007 – Lobby Loyde, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
2009 – Vivian Maier, American photographer (b. 1926)
2010 – Gustav Lorentzen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
2010 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1920)
2010 – Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan-English engineer and civil servant (b. 1930)
2011 – Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1920)
2012 – Doris Betts, American author and academic (b. 1932)
2012 – Charles Colson, American lawyer and activist, founded Prison Fellowship (b. 1931)
2012 – Albert Falco, French captain and diver (b. 1927)
2012 – Charles Higham, English-American author and poet (b. 1931)
2012 – Jerry Toppazzini, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1931)
2013 – Chrissy Amphlett, Australian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1959)
2013 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (b. 1929)
2013 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author, and educator (b. 1905)
2013 – Gordon D. Gayle, American general and historian (b. 1917)
2014 – Herb Gray, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1931)
2014 – Janet Gray Hayes, American politician, 60th Mayor of San Jose (b. 1926)
2014 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
2014 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (b. 1930)
2015 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (b. 1912)
2015 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (b. 1959)
2015 – John Moshoeu, South African footballer and manager (b. 1965)
2015 – Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Indian politician, Governor of Assam (b. 1927)
2015 – Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters, Canadian general (b. 1920)
2015 – Betsy von Furstenberg, German-American actress (b. 1931)
2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)
2017 – Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (b. 1972)
2018 – Verne Troyer, American actor (b. 1969)
2018 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest Japanese and Asian person ever, last verified person born in the 19th century (b. 1900)
AD 65 – The freedman Milichus betrays Piso’s plot to kill Emperor Nero and all the conspirators are arrested.
531 – Battle of Callinicum: A Byzantine army under Belisarius is defeated by the Persians at Raqqa (northern Syria).
797 – Empress Irene organizes a conspiracy against her son, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VI. He is deposed and blinded. Shortly after, Constantine dies of his wounds; Irene proclaims herself basileus.
1506 – The Lisbon Massacre begins, in which accused Jews are being slaughtered by Portuguese Catholics.
1529 – Beginning of the Protestant Reformation: After the Second Diet of Speyer bans Lutheranism, a group of rulers (German: Fürst) and independent cities protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms.
1539 – The Treaty of Frankfurt between Protestants and the Holy Roman Emperor is signed.
1608 – In Ireland: O’Doherty’s Rebellion is launched by the Burning of Derry.
1677 – The French army captures the town of Cambrai held by Spanish troops.
1713 – With no living male heirs, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inheritable by a female; his daughter and successor, Maria Theresa was not born until 1717.
1770 – Captain James Cook, still holding the rank of lieutenant, sights the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The war begins with an American victory in Concord during the battles of Lexington and Concord.
1782 – John Adams secures the Dutch Republic’s recognition of the United States as an independent government. The house which he had purchased in The Hague, Netherlands becomes the first American embassy.
1809 – An Austrian corps is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition. On the same day the Austrian main army is defeated by a First French Empire Corps led by Louis-Nicolas Davout at the Battle of Teugen-Hausen in Bavaria, part of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparán, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a junta is installed.
1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel signs his preliminary “Note on the Theory of Diffraction” (deposited on the following day). The document ends with what we now call the Fresnel integrals.
1839 – The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom and guarantees its neutrality.
1861 – American Civil War: Baltimore riot of 1861: A pro-Secession mob in Baltimore attacks United States Army troops marching through the city.
1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
1942 – World War II: In Poland, the Majdan-Tatarski ghetto is established, situated between the Lublin Ghetto and a Majdanek subcamp.
1943 – World War II: In Poland, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins, after German troops enter the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining Jews.
1943 – Albert Hofmann deliberately doses himself with LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects on April 16.
1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.
1960 – Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
1971 – Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
1971 – Launch of Salyut 1, the first space station.
1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy in the Tate–LaBianca murders.
1973 – The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
1975 – India’s first satellite Aryabhata launched in orbit from Kapustin Yar, Russia.
1984 – Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia’s national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
1985 – Two hundred ATF and FBI agents lay siege to the compound of the white supremacist survivalist group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord in Arkansas; the CSA surrenders two days later.
1987 – The Simpsons first appear as a series of shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show, first starting with Good Night.
1989 – A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
1993 – The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. 76 Davidians, including eighteen children under the age of ten, died in the fire.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, USA, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
1999 – The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
2000 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes in Samal, Davao del Norte, killing all 131 people on board.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is elected to the papacy and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
2013 – Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
2020 – A killing spree in Nova Scotia, Canada, leaves 22 people and the perpetrator dead, making it the deadliest rampage in the country’s history.
Births on April 19
1452 – Frederick IV, King of Naples (d. 1504)
1593 – Sir John Hobart, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1647)
1603 – Michel Le Tellier, French politician, French Minister of Defence (d. 1685)
1613 – Christoph Bach, German musician (d. 1661)
1633 – Willem Drost, Dutch painter (d. 1659)
1655 – George St Lo(e), Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)
1658 – Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, German husband of Archduchess Maria Anna Josepha of Austria (d. 1716)
1665 – Jacques Lelong, French author (d. 1721)
1686 – Vasily Tatishchev, Russian ethnographer and politician (d. 1750)
1715 – James Nares, English organist and composer (d. 1783)
1721 – Roger Sherman, American lawyer and politician (d. 1793)
1734 – Karl von Ordóñez, Austrian violinist and composer (d. 1786)
1757 – Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth, English admiral and politician (d. 1833)
1758 – William Carnegie, 7th Earl of Northesk, Scottish admiral (d. 1831)
1785 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly, French pianist and composer (d. 1858)
1787 – Deaf Smith, American soldier (d. 1837)
1793 – Ferdinand I of Austria (d. 1875)
1806 – Sarah Bagley, American labor organizer (d. 1889)
1814 – Louis Amédée Achard, French journalist and author (d. 1875)
1832 – José Echegaray, Spanish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1916)
1835 – Julius Krohn, Finnish poet and journalist (d. 1888)
1863 – Hemmo Kallio, Finnish actor (d. 1940)
1872 – Alice Salomon, German social reformer (d. 1948)
1873 – Sydney Barnes, English cricketer (d. 1967)
1874 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (d. 1952)
1877 – Ole Evinrude, Norwegian-American engineer, invented the outboard motor (d. 1934)
1879 – Arthur Robertson, Scottish runner (d. 1957)
1882 – Getúlio Vargas, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 14th President of Brazil (d. 1954)
1883 – Henry Jameson, American soccer player (d. 1938)
1883 – Richard von Mises, Austrian-American mathematician and physicist (d. 1953)
1885 – Karl Tarvas, Estonian architect (d. 1975)
1889 – Otto Georg Thierack, German jurist and politician (d. 1946)
1891 – Françoise Rosay, French actress (d. 1974)
1892 – Germaine Tailleferre, French composer and educator (d. 1983)
1894 – Elizabeth Dilling, American author and activist (d. 1966)
1897 – Peter de Noronha, Indian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1970)
1897 – Jiroemon Kimura, Japanese super-centenarian, oldest verified man ever (d. 2013)
1898 – Constance Talmadge, American actress and producer (d. 1973)
1899 – George O’Brien, American actor (d. 1985)
1899 – Cemal Tollu, Turkish lieutenant and painter (d. 1968)
1900 – Iracema de Alencar, Brazilian film actress (d. 1978)
1900 – Richard Hughes, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1976)
1900 – Roland Michener, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Governor General of Canada (d. 1991)
1900 – Rhea Silberta, Yiddish songwriter and singing teacher (d. 1959)
1902 – Veniamin Kaverin, Russian author and screenwriter (d. 1989)
1903 – Eliot Ness, American law enforcement agent (d. 1957)
1907 – Alan Wheatley, English actor (d. 1991)
1908 – Irena Eichlerówna, Polish actress (d. 1990)
1912 – Glenn T. Seaborg, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1999)
1913 – Ken Carpenter, American discus thrower and coach (d. 1984)
1917 – Sven Hassel, Danish-German soldier and author (d. 2012)
1919 – Sol Kaplan, American pianist and composer (d. 1990)
1920 – Gene Leis, American guitarist, composer, and producer (d. 1993)
1920 – Marvin Mandel, American lawyer and politician, 56th Governor of Maryland (d. 2015)
1920 – John O’Neil, American baseball player and manager (d. 2012)
1920 – Julien Ries, Belgian cardinal (d. 2013)
1920 – Marian Winters, American actress (d. 1978)
1921 – Anna Lee Aldred, American jockey (d. 2006)
1921 – Leon Henkin, American logician (d. 2006)
1921 – Roberto Tucci, Italian Jesuit leader, cardinal, and theologian (d. 2015)
1922 – Erich Hartmann, German colonel and pilot (d. 1993)
1922 – David Smith, politician in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe (d. 1996)
1925 – John Kraaijkamp, Sr., Dutch actor (d. 2011)
1925 – Hugh O’Brian, American actor (d. 2016)
1926 – Rawya Ateya, Egyptian captain and politician (d. 1997)
1928 – John Horlock, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
1928 – Azlan Shah of Perak, Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia (d. 2014)
1931 – Walter Stewart, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2004)
1932 – Fernando Botero, Colombian painter and sculptor
1933 – Dickie Bird, English cricketer and umpire
1933 – Jayne Mansfield, American model and actress (d. 1967)
1933 – Philip Lavallin Wroughton, English captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire
1934 – Dickie Goodman, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 1989)
1935 – Dudley Moore, English actor, comedian, and pianist (d. 2002)
1935 – Justin Francis Rigali, American cardinal
1936 – Wilfried Martens, Belgian politician, 60th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 2013)
1936 – Jack Pardee, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author (d. 2017)
1937 – Elinor Donahue, American actress
1937 – Joseph Estrada, Filipino politician, 13th President of the Philippines
1938 – Stanley Fish, American theorist, author, and scholar
1939 – E. Clay Shaw, Jr., American accountant, judge, and politician (d. 2013)
2016 – Milt Pappas, American baseball player (b. 1939)[42]
2017 – Aaron Hernandez, American football player (b. 1989)[43]
Holidays and observances on April 19
Christian feast day:
Ælfheah of Canterbury (Anglican, Catholic)
Conrad of Ascoli
Emma of Lesum
Expeditus
George of Antioch
Olaus and Laurentius Petri (Lutheran)
Pope Leo IX
Ursmar
April 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which First Day of Summer or Sumardagurinn fyrsti can fall, while April 25 is the latest; celebrated on the first Thursday after April 18. (Iceland)
Army Day (Brazil)
Beginning of the Independence Movement (Venezuela)
Bicycle Day[44]
Dutch-American Friendship Day (United States)
Holocaust Remembrance Day (Poland)
Indian Day (Brazil)
King Mswati III’s birthday (Eswatini)
Landing of the 33 Patriots Day (Uruguay)
Patriots’ Day (Massachusetts, Maine and Wisconsin, United States)
796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid.
1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
1738 – Real Academia de la Historia (“Royal Academy of History”) is founded in Madrid.
1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: the first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.
1831 – The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1857 – “The Spirits Book” by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
1899 – The St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.
1902 – The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800–2,000.
1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
1923 – Yankee Stadium: “The House that Ruth Built” opens.
1925 – The International Amateur Radio Union is formed in Paris.
1930 – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that “there is no news” in their evening report.
1939 – Robert Menzies, who became Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into effect.
1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country’s first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
1983 – A suicide bomber in Lebanon destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
1987 – The New York Islanders defeat the Washington Capitals 3–2 in Game 7 of their Patrick Division Semifinal series.
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Qana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
1997 – The Red River flood begins and soon overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
1999 – Wayne Gretzky, the National Hockey League’s all-time points scorer, plays his final game at Madison Square Garden as a teammate of the New York Rangers in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gretzky recorded his final career point, an assist, bringing his career point total to 2,857.
2007 – A series of bombings, two of them being suicides, occur in Baghdad, killing 198 and injuring 251.
2013 – A suicide bombing in a Baghdad cafe kills 27 people and injures another 65.
2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country’s name will change to Eswatini.
2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller Report is released to the United States Congress and the public.
2020 – Coronavirus Pandemic: Europe surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Births on April 18
359 – Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
588 – K’an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)
812 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)
1446 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)
1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
1503 – Henry II of Navarre, (d. 1555)
1534 – William Harrison, English clergyman (d. 1593)
1580 – Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)
1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)
1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)
1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)
1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)
1771 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)
1772 – David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)
1794 – William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)
1797 – Adolphe Thiers, French historian and politician, 2nd President of France (d. 1877)
1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)
1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)
1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)
1838 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)
1854 – Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1858 – Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)
1858 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)
1863 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, Joint Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
1863 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)
1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)
1874 – Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)
1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)
1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)
1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)
1882 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)
1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
1888 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1979)
1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)
1892 – Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)
1893 – Violette Morris, French shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1944)
1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)
1897 – Per-Erik Hedlund, Swedish skier (d. 1975)
1898 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)
1900 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women’s rights activist (d. 1997)
1901 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
1901 – László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)
1902 – Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)
1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
1904 – Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)
1905 – George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)
1911 – Ilario Bandini, Italian businessman and racing driver (d. 1992)
1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian Jewish-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)
1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (d. 2014)
1915 – Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian Jewish American poet and author (d. 1960)
1916 – Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)
1916 – Doug Peden, Canadian basketball player (d. 2005)
1917 – Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (d. 1947)
1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
1919 – Virginia O’Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1919 – Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)
1920 – John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1921 – Jean Richard, French actor and singer (d. 2001)
1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
1922 – Lord Kitchener, Trinidadian singer (d. 2000)
1923 – Alfred Bieler, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1923 – Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, English engineer and politician (d. 2015)
1924 – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1924 – Henry Hyde, American commander, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
1924 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (d. 2015)
1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)
1926 – Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)
1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)
1927 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)
1927 – Charles Pasqua, French businessman and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 2015)
1928 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)
1928 – Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)
1929 – Peter Hordern, English soldier and politician
1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer
1931 – Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)
1934 – James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)
1934 – George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator
1935 – Brian Clay, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
1935 – Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer
1936 – Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)
1936 – “TV” Tommy Ivo, American actor and drag racer
1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (d. 2009)
1937 – Tatyana Shchelkanova, Russian long jumper and heptathlete (d. 2011)
1937 – Teddy Taylor, Scottish journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1939 – Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger
1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
1941 – Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland
1942 – Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Steve Blass, American baseball player and sportscaster
1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)
1944 – Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)
1944 – Frances D’Souza, Baroness D’Souza, English academic and politician
1944 – Robert Hanssen, American FBI agent and double agent
1944 – Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor and photographer
1945 – Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
1945 – Richard Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
1945 – Robert Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
1946 – Tommy Shannon, American bass guitarist
1947 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)
1947 – Dorothy Lyman, American actress
1947 – Cindy Pickett, American actress
1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – James Woods, American actor and producer
1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1949 – Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
1950 – Paul Callery, Australian footballer
1950 – Tina Chow, American model and jewelry designer (d. 1992)
1950 – Kenny Ortega, American director, producer, and choreographer
1950 – Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer
1951 – Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer and coach
1951 – Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
1956 – Chris Jones, English footballer
1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
1957 – Ian Campbell, Australian jumper
1958 – Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F.
1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)
1959 – Susan Faludi, American journalist and author
1959 – Frank Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, Scottish judge, former Solicitor General for Scotland and Lord Advocate
1960 – John Chiedozie, Nigerian international footballer
1960 – Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner
1961 – Kelly Hansen, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer
1961 – John Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1962 – Jeff Dunham, American comedian and ventriloquist
1962 – Nick Farr-Jones, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor and producer
1963 – Conan O’Brien, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and talk show host
1963 – Phil Simmons, Trinidadian cricketer
1963 – Peter Van Loan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of International Trade
1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
1964 – Rithy Panh, Cambodian director and screenwriter
1966 – Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
1967 – Maria Bello, American actress and writer
1969 – Keith DeCandido, American author
1969 – Stefan Schwarz, Swedish footballer and manager
1969 – Robert Změlík, Czech decathlete
1970 – Rico Brogna, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Greg Eklund, American drummer and guitarist
1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon
1970 – François Leroux, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
1970 – Tatiana Stefanidou, Greek journalist and talk show host
1971 – Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
1971 – Graham Rowntree, English rugby player
1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
1972 – Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
1972 – Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Michael Rutter, English motorcycle racer
1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
1973 – Brady Clark, American baseball player
1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
1974 – Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican-American actress and singer
1974 – Mark Tremonti, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1976 – Gavin Creel, American actor and singer
1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress, director, and producer
1976 – Andrew Ilie, Romanian-Australian tennis player
1976 – Justin Ross, American politician
1976 – Staffan Strand, Swedish high jumper
1977 – Dan LaCouture, American ice hockey player
1977 – Cindy Taylor, Paraguayan model and actress
1979 – Michael Bradley, American basketball player and coach
1979 – Ethan Cohn, American actor
1979 – Matt Cooper, Australian rugby league player
1979 – Anthony Davidson, English racing driver
1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American model and businesswoman
1980 – Rabiu Afolabi, Nigerian footballer and manager
1980 – Justin Levens, American mixed martial artist (d. 2008)
1981 – Brian Buscher, American baseball player
1981 – Milan Jovanović, Serbian footballer
1981 – Aldo Ramírez, Colombian footballer
1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese computer scientist and academic
1982 – Ibrahim al-Asiri, Saudi Arabian terrorist
1982 – Greg Camarillo, American football player
1982 – Ricardo Colclough, Canadian-American football player
1982 – Simone Farina, Italian footballer
1982 – Scott Hartnell, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Blair Late, American singer-songwriter and journalist
1982 – Darren Sutherland, Irish boxer (d. 2009)
1982 – Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Reeve Carney, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1984 – Red Bryant, American football player
1984 – America Ferrera, American actress and producer
1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
1986 – Billy Butler, American baseball player
1986 – Maurice Edu, American soccer player
1986 – Taylor Griffin, American basketball player
1986 – Conrad Logan, Irish footballer
1986 – Efraín Velarde, Mexican footballer
1987 – Brett Deledio, Australian footballer
1987 – Danny Guthrie, English footballer
1987 – Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, English model and actress
1987 – Samantha Jade, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Ivan Tričkovski, Macedonian footballer
1988 – Andre Frolov, Estonian footballer
1988 – Alexander Hauck, South African-German rugby player
1989 – Jessica Jung, Korean American singer, songwriter, actress, and fashion designer
1990 – Henderson Álvarez, Venezuelan baseball player
1990 – Anna van der Breggen, Dutch cyclist
1990 – Jake Howells, English footballer
1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
1990 – Junior Torunarigha, Nigerian footballer
1993 – Matt Salisbury, English cricketer
1993 – Nathan Sykes, English singer-songwriter
1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
1996 – Mariah Bell, American figure skater
1996 – Ioana Ducu, Romanian tennis player
1997 – Matthias Blübaum, German chess grandmaster
1997 – Donny van de Beek, Dutch footballer
Deaths on April 18
727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr
909 – Dionysius II, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
943 – Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)
963 – Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
1161 – Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)
1176 – Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint
1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)
1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)
1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)
1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
1587 – John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)
1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (b. 1557)
1650 – Simonds d’Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)
1674 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)
1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1648)
1732 – Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)
1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)
1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
1832 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
1859 – Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
1864 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)
1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)
1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
1912 – Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)
1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)
1936 – Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)
1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)
1938 – George Bryant, American archer (b. 1878)
1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)
1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)
1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)
1951 – Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
1955 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)
1958 – Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)
1959 – Irving Cummings, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1888)
1959 – Percy Smith, English footballer and manager (b. 1880)
1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)
1964 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island.
1613 – Samuel Argall, having captured Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father.
1742 – George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.
1849 – Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly.
1861 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces.
1865 – American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union Forces.
1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.
1873 – The Colfax massacre, in which more than 60 black men are murdered, takes place.
1909 – The military of the Ottoman Empire reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
1919 – Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops lead by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer killed approx 379-1000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India; and approximately 1,500 injured.
1941 – A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
1943 – World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson’s birth.
1944 – Relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established.
1945 – World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.
1945 – World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.
1948 – In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.
1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra.
1958 – American pianist Van Cliburn is awarded first prize at the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world’s first satellite navigation system.
1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
1970 – An oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed “Odyssey“) while en route to the Moon.
1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
1975 – An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson’s 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
1976 – Forty workers die in an explosion at the Lapua ammunition factory, the deadliest accidental disaster in modern history in Finland.
1992 – Basements throughout the Chicago Loop are flooded, forcing the Chicago Board of Trade Building and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to close.
1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2003 – A bus near the Vale of Tempe, Greece was involved in a major vehicle accident with a truck and multiple cars, leaving 21 students in the tenth grade of Makrochori, Imathia High School dead and nine injured during their return to their homes from a trip to Athens.
2017 – The US drops the largest ever non-nuclear weapon on Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan.
Births on April 13
1229 – Louis II, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1294)
1350 – Margaret III, Countess of Flanders (d. 1405)
1506 – Peter Faber, French priest and theologian, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1546)
1519 – Catherine de’ Medici, Italian-French wife of Henry II of France (d. 1589)
1570 – Guy Fawkes, English soldier, planned the Gunpowder Plot (probable; d. 1606)
1573 – Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1625)
1593 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1641)
1618 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (d. 1693)
1636 – Hendrik van Rheede, Dutch botanist (d. 1691)
1648 – Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon, French mystic (d. 1717)
1713 – Pierre Jélyotte, French tenor (d. 1797)
1729 – Thomas Percy, Irish bishop and poet (d. 1811)
1732 – Frederick North, Lord North, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1792)
1735 – Isaac Low, American merchant and politician, founded the New York Chamber of Commerce (d. 1791)
1743 – Thomas Jefferson, American lawyer and politician, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
1747 – Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (d. 1793)
1764 – Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1830)
1769 – Thomas Lawrence, English painter and educator (d. 1830)
1771 – Richard Trevithick, Cornish-English engineer and explorer (d. 1833)
1780 – Alexander Mitchell, Irish engineer, invented the Screw-pile lighthouse (d. 1868)
1784 – Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
1787 – John Robertson, American lawyer and politician (d. 1873)
1794 – Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist and academic (d. 1867)
1802 – Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist and herpetologist (d. 1884)
1808 – Antonio Meucci, Italian-American engineer (d. 1889)
1810 – Félicien David, French composer (d. 1876)
1824 – William Alexander, Irish archbishop, poet, and theologian (d. 1911)
1825 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1868)
1828 – Josephine Butler, English feminist and social reformer (d. 1906)
1828 – Joseph Lightfoot, English bishop and theologian (d. 1889)
1832 – Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorian author and diplomat (d. 1889)
1841 – Louis-Ernest Barrias, French sculptor and academic (d. 1905)
1850 – Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, Irish astronomer (d. 1917)
1851 – Robert Abbe, American surgeon and radiologist (d. 1928)
1851 – William Quan Judge, Irish occultist and theosophist (d. 1896)
1852 – Frank Winfield Woolworth, American businessman, founded the F. W. Woolworth Company (d. 1919)
1854 – Lucy Craft Laney, Founder of the Haines Normal and Industrial School, Augusta, Georgia (d. 1933)
1860 – James Ensor, English-Belgian painter (d. 1949)
1866 – Butch Cassidy, American criminal (d. 1908)
1872 – John Cameron, Scottish international footballer and manager (d. 1935)
1872 – Alexander Roda Roda, Austrian-Croatian journalist and author (d. 1945)
1873 – John W. Davis, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Solicitor General (d. 1955)
1875 – Ray Lyman Wilbur, American physician, academic, and politician, 31st United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 1949)
1879 – Edward Bruce, American lawyer and painter (d. 1943)
1879 – Oswald Bruce Cooper, American type designer, lettering artist, graphic designer, and educator (d. 1940)
1880 – Charles Christie, Canadian-American businessman, co-founded the Christie Film Company (d. 1955)
1885 – Vean Gregg, American baseball player (d. 1964)
1885 – Juhan Kukk, Estonian politician, Head of State of Estonia (d. 1942)
1885 – György Lukács, Hungarian philosopher and critic (d. 1971)
1885 – Pieter Sjoerds Gerbrandy, Dutch politician (d. 1961)
1887 – Gordon S. Fahrni, Canadian physician and golfer (d. 1995)
1889 – Herbert Yardley, American cryptologist and author (d. 1958)
1890 – Frank Murphy, American jurist and politician, 56th United States Attorney General (d. 1949)
1890 – Dadasaheb Torne, Indian director and producer (d. 1960)
1891 – Maurice Buckley, Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1921)
1891 – Nella Larsen, Danish/African-American nurse, librarian, and author (d. 1964)
1891 – Robert Scholl, German accountant and politician (d. 1973)
1892 – Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet, English air marshal (d. 1984)
1892 – Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish engineer, invented Radar (d. 1973)
1894 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)
1894 – Joie Ray, American runner (d. 1978)
1896 – Fred Barnett, English footballer (d. 1982)
1897 – Werner Voss, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1917)
1899 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and game designer, created Scrabble (d. 1993)
1899 – Harold Osborn, American high jumper and decathlete (d. 1975)
1900 – Sorcha Boru, American potter and ceramic sculptor (d. 2006)
1900 – Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer (d. 1976)
1901 – Jacques Lacan, French psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (d. 1981)
1901 – Alan Watt, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian Ambassador to Japan (d. 1988)
1902 – Philippe de Rothschild, French Grand Prix driver, playwright, and producer (d. 1988)
1902 – Marguerite Henry, American author (d. 1997)
1904 – David Robinson, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 1987)
1905 – Rae Johnstone, Australian jockey (d. 1964)
1906 – Samuel Beckett, Irish novelist, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1989)
1906 – Bud Freeman, American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1991)
1907 – Harold Stassen, American lawyer and politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2001)
1909 – Eudora Welty, American short story writer and novelist (d. 2001)
1911 – Ico Hitrec, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 1946)
1911 – Jean-Louis Lévesque, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 1994)
1911 – Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor and composer (d. 1983)
1913 – Dave Albritton, American high jumper and coach (d. 1994)
1913 – Kermit Tyler, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 2010)
1914 – Orhan Veli Kanık, Turkish poet and author (d. 1950)
1916 – Phyllis Fraser, Welsh-American actress, journalist, and publisher, co-founded Beginner Books (d. 2006)
1917 – Robert Orville Anderson, American businessman, founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. (d. 2007)
1917 – Bill Clements, American soldier, engineer, and politician, 15th United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (d. 2011)
1919 – Roland Gaucher, French journalist and politician (d. 2007)
1919 – Howard Keel, American actor and singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Madalyn Murray O’Hair, American activist, founded American Atheists (d. 1995)
1920 – Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (d. 1982)
1920 – Claude Cheysson, French lieutenant and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2012)
1920 – Liam Cosgrave, Irish lawyer and politician, 6th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 2017)
1920 – Theodore L. Thomas, American chemical engineer, Patent attorney and writer (d. 2005)
1922 – Heinz Baas, German footballer and manager (d. 1994)
1922 – John Braine, English librarian and author (d. 1986)
1922 – Julius Nyerere, Tanzanian politician and teacher, 1st President of Tanzania (d. 1999)
1922 – Valve Pormeister, Estonian architect (d. 2002)
1923 – Don Adams, American actor and director (d. 2005)
1923 – A. H. Halsey, English sociologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Stanley Tanger, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (d. 2010)
1924 – John T. Biggers, American painter (d. 2001)
1924 – Jack T. Chick, American author, illustrator, and publisher (d. 2016)
1924 – Stanley Donen, American film director and choreographer (d. 2019)
1926 – Ellie Lambeti, Greek actress (d. 1983)
1926 – John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English businessman (d. 2014)
1927 – Rosemary Haughton, English philosopher, theologian, and author
1927 – Antonino Rocca, Italian-American wrestler (d. 1977)
1927 – Maurice Ronet, French actor and director (d. 1983)
1928 – Alan Clark, English historian and politician, Minister of State for Trade (d. 1999)
1928 – Gianni Marzotto, Italian racing driver and businessman (d. 2012)
1929 – Marilynn Smith, American golfer (d. 2019)
1931 – Anita Cerquetti, Italian soprano (d. 2014)
1931 – Robert Enrico, French director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1931 – Dan Gurney, American race car driver and engineer (d. 2018)
1931 – Jon Stone, American composer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1932 – Orlando Letelier, Chilean-American economist and politician, Chilean Minister of National Defense (d. 1976)
1933 – Ben Nighthorse Campbell, American soldier and politician
1934 – John Muckler, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1936 – Pierre Rosenberg, French historian and academic
1937 – Col Joye, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1937 – Edward Fox, English actor
1937 – Lanford Wilson, American playwright, co-founded the Circle Repertory Company (d. 2011)
1938 – Klaus Lehnertz, German pole vaulter
1938 – John Weston, English poet and diplomat
1939 – Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2013)
1939 – Paul Sorvino, American actor and singer
1940 – Mike Beuttler, Egyptian-English racing driver (d. 1988)
1940 – Lester Chambers, American singer and musician
1940 – J. M. G. Le Clézio, Breton French-Mauritian author and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Vladimir Cosma, French composer, conductor and violinist
1940 – Jim McNab, Scottish footballer (d. 2006)
1940 – Max Mosley, English racing driver and engineer, co-founded March Engineering, former president of the FIA
46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) at the Battle of Thapsus.
402 – Stilicho defeats the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, an illegitimate son of Peter I of Portugal, is made king John I of Portugal.
1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town.
1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
1782 – King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I) of Siam (modern day Thailand) establishes the Chakri dynasty.
1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic.
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon-led France.
1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration; anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.
1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith and others at either Fayette or Manchester, New York.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, later renamed Community of Christ, is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois.
1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan’s debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign.
1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
1869 – Celluloid is patented.
1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London, after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman emperor Theodosius I.
1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first people to reach the North Pole; Peary’s claim has been disputed because of failings in his navigational ability.
1911 – During the Battle of Deçiq, Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after George Kastrioti (Skanderbeg).
1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson’s address to Congress).
1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
1929 – Huey P. Long, Governor of Louisiana, is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
1930 – At the end of the Salt March, Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
1936 – Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from German and Croatian forces by the Yugoslav Partisans.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Slater’s Knoll on Bougainville comes to an end.
1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first commercial communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1968 – Pierre Elliott Trudeau wins the Liberal Leadership Election, and becomes Prime Minister of Canada soon after.
1970 – Newhall massacre: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed in a shootout.
1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
1974 – The Swedish pop band ABBA wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Waterloo”, launching their international career.
1979 – Student protests break out in Nepal.
1984 – Members of Cameroon’s Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1992 – The Bosnian War begins.
1994 – The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
1997 – In Greene County, Tennessee, the Lillelid murders occurs when a group of young people abduct and kidnap a religious family before shooting them dead on a rural suburban road.
1998 – Nuclear weapons testing: Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activists.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing 307.
2010 – Maoist rebels kill 76 CRPF officers in Dantewada district, India.
2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 victims of Los Zetas were exhumed from several mass graves.
2012 – Azawad declares itself independent from the Republic of Mali.
2017 – U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an airbase in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an “aggression”, adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
2018 – A bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos junior ice hockey team collides with a semi-truck in Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 16 people and injuring 13 others.
Births on April 6
1135 – Maimonides, Jewish philosopher, Torah scholar, physician and astronomer (March 30 also proposed, d. 1204)
1342 – Infanta Maria, Marchioness of Tortosa
1483 – Raphael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520)
1573 – Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, German noble (d. 1643)
1632 – Maria Leopoldine of Austria (d. 1649)
1651 – André Dacier, French scholar and academic (d. 1722)
1660 – Johann Kuhnau, German organist and composer (d. 1722)
1664 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician, Governor of Västerbotten County (d. 1742)
1671 – Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet and playwright (d. 1741)
1672 – André Cardinal Destouches, French composer (d. 1749)
1706 – Louis de Cahusac, French playwright and composer (d. 1759)
1708 – Johann Georg Reutter, Austrian organist and composer (d. 1772)
1725 – Pasquale Paoli, French soldier and politician (d. 1807)
1726 – Gerard Majella, Italian saint (d. 1755)
1741 – Nicolas Chamfort, French author and playwright (d. 1794)
1766 – Wilhelm von Kobell, German painter and educator (d. 1853)
1773 – James Mill, Scottish historian, economist, and philosopher (d. 1836)
1787 – Celestina Cordero, Puerto Rican educator (d. 1862)
1810 – Philip Henry Gosse, English biologist and academic (d. 1888)
1812 – Alexander Herzen, Russian philosopher and author (d. 1870)
1815 – Robert Volkmann, German organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1883)
1818 – Aasmund Olavsson Vinje, Norwegian journalist and poet (d. 1870)
1820 – Nadar, French photographer, journalist, and author (d. 1910)
1823 – Joseph Medill, Canadian-American publisher and politician, 26th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1899)
1824 – George Waterhouse, English-New Zealand politician, 7th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1906)
1826 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (d. 1898)
1844 – William Lyne, Australian politician, 13th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1913)
1851 – Guillaume Bigourdan, French astronomer and academic (d. 1932)
1852 – Will Crooks, English trade unionist and politician (d. 1921)
1855 – Charles Huot, Canadian painter and illustrator (d. 1930)
1857 – Arthur Wesley Dow, American painter and photographer (d. 1922)
1860 – René Lalique, French sculptor and jewellery designer (d. 1945)
1861 – Stanislas de Guaita, French poet and author (d. 1897)
1864 – William Bate Hardy, English biologist and academic (d. 1934)
1866 – Felix-Raymond-Marie Rouleau, Canadian cardinal (d. 1931)
1869 – Levon Shant, Armenian author, poet, and playwright (d. 1951)
1878 – Erich Mühsam, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1934)
1881 – Karl Staaf, Swedish pole vaulter and hammer thrower (d. 1953)
1884 – J. G. Parry-Thomas, Welsh race car driver and engineer (d. 1927)
1886 – Athenagoras I of Constantinople (d. 1972)
1886 – Walter Dandy, American physician and neurosurgeon (d. 1946)
1886 – Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII, Indian ruler (d. 1967)
1888 – Hans Richter, Swiss painter, illustrator, and director (d. 1976)
1888 – Gerhard Ritter, German historian and academic (d. 1967)
1890 – Anthony Fokker, Dutch engineer and businessman, founded Fokker Aircraft Manufacturer (d. 1939)
1892 – Donald Wills Douglas, Sr., American businessman, founded the Douglas Aircraft Company (d. 1981)
1892 – Lowell Thomas, American journalist and author (d. 1981)
1895 – Dudley Nichols, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1960)
1898 – Jeanne Hébuterne, French painter and author (d. 1920)
1900 – Leo Robin, American composer and songwriter (d. 1984)
1901 – Pier Giorgio Frassati, Italian activist (d. 1925)
1902 – Julien Torma, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
1903 – Mickey Cochrane, American baseball player and manager (d. 1962)
1903 – Harold Eugene Edgerton, American engineer and academic (d. 1990)
1904 – Kurt Georg Kiesinger, German lawyer, politician and Chancellor of Germany (d. 1988)
1904 – Erwin Komenda, Austrian car designer and engineer (d. 1966)
1908 – Marcel-Marie Desmarais, Canadian preacher, missionary, and author (d. 1994)
1909 – William M. Branham, American minister and theologian (d. 1965)
1909 – Hermann Lang, German race car driver (d. 1987)
1910 – Barys Kit, Belarusian-American rocket scientist (d. 2018)
1911 – Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1913 – Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune, American geographer and academic (d. 1993)
1915 – Tadeusz Kantor, Polish director, painter, and set designer (d. 1990)
1916 – Phil Leeds, American actor (d. 1998)
1916 – Vincent Ellis McKelvey, American geologist and author (d. 1987)
1917 – Leonora Carrington, English-Mexican painter and author (d. 2011)
1918 – Alfredo Ovando Candía, Bolivian general and politician, 56th President of Bolivia (d. 1982)
1919 – Georgios Mylonas, Greek politician, 11th Greek Minister of Culture (d. 1998)
1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009)
1920 – Edmond H. Fischer, Swiss-American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1921 – Wilbur Thompson, American shot putter (d. 2013)
1922 – Gordon Chater, English-Australian comedian and actor (d. 1999)
1923 – Herb Thomas, American race car driver (d. 2000)
1926 – Sergio Franchi, Italian-American singer and actor (d. 1990)
1926 – Gil Kane, Latvian-American author and illustrator (d. 2000)
1926 – Ian Paisley, Northern Irish evangelical minister and politician, 2nd First Minister of Northern Ireland (d. 2014)
1926 – Randy Weston, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 2018)
1927 – Gerry Mulligan, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and composer (d. 1996)
1928 – James Watson, American biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, Nobel Prize laureate
1929 – Willis Hall, English playwright and author (d. 2005)
1929 – Joi Lansing, American model, actress and nightclub singer (d. 1972)
1929 – André Previn, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1931 – Ram Dass, American author and educator (d. 2019)
1931 – Ivan Dixon, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2008)
1932 – Connie Broden, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1932 – Helmut Griem, German actor and director (d. 2004)
1933 – Roy Goode, English lawyer and academic
1933 – Tom C. Korologos, American journalist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium
1933 – Eduardo Malapit, American lawyer and politician, Mayor of Kauai (d. 2007)
1934 – Enrique Álvarez Félix, Mexican actor (d. 1996)
1934 – Anton Geesink, Dutch martial artist and wrestler (d. 2010)
1934 – Guy Peellaert, Belgian painter, illustrator, and photographer (d. 2008)
1935 – Douglas Hill, Canadian author and critic (d. 2007)
1936 – Helen Berman, Dutch-Israeli painter and illustrator
1936 – Jean-Pierre Changeux, French neuroscientist, biologist, and academic
1937 – Merle Haggard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1937 – Tom Veivers, Australian cricketer and politician
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, American actor, singer, and writer
1938 – Paul Daniels, English magician and television host (d. 2016)
1938 – Roy Thinnes, American television and film actor
1939 – André Ouellet, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1939 – John Sculley, American businessman, co-founded Zeta Interactive
1940 – Homero Aridjis, Mexican journalist, author, and poet
1940 – Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., Mexican-American actor and producer (d. 2011)
1941 – Christopher Allsopp, English economist and academic
1941 – Phil Austin, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (d. 2015)
1941 – Hans W. Geißendörfer, German director and producer
1941 – Don Prudhomme, American race car driver and manager
1941 – Gheorghe Zamfir, Romanian flute player and composer
1942 – Barry Levinson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Anita Pallenberg, Italian-English model, actress, and fashion designer (d. 2017)
1943 – Max Clifford, English journalist and publicist (d. 2017)
1943 – Roger Cook, New Zealand-English journalist and academic
1943 – Ian MacRae, New Zealand rugby player
1943 – Mitchell Melton, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Felicity Palmer, English operatic soprano
1945 – Rodney Bickerstaffe, English trade union leader (d. 2017)
1945 – Peter Hill, English journalist
1946 – Paul Beresford, New Zealand-English dentist and politician
1947 – John Ratzenberger, American actor and director
1947 – André Weinfeld, French-American director, producer, and screenwriter
1947 – Mike Worboys, English mathematician and computer scientist
1949 – Alyson Bailes, English academic and diplomat (d. 2016)
1949 – Patrick Hernandez, French singer-songwriter
1949 – Ng Ser Miang, Singaporean athlete, entrepreneur and diplomat
1949 – Horst Ludwig Störmer, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Claire Morissette, Canadian cycling activist (d. 2007)
1950 – Cleo Odzer, American anthropologist and author (d. 2001)
1951 – Bert Blyleven, Dutch-American baseball player and sportscaster
1951 – Jean-Marc Boivin, French skier, mountaineer, and pilot (d. 1990)
1951 – Pascal Rogé, French pianist
1951 – Phil Schaap, American jazz disc jockey and historian
1952 – Udo Dirkschneider, German singer-songwriter
1952 – Marilu Henner, Greek-Polish American actress and author
1952 – Michel Larocque, Canadian ice hockey player and manager (d. 1992)
1953 – Patrick Doyle, Scottish actor and composer
1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter
1955 – Rob Epstein, American director and producer
1955 – Michael Rooker, American actor, director, and producer
1955 – Cathy Jones, Canadian actress, comedian, and writer
1956 – Michele Bachmann, American lawyer and politician
1956 – Normand Corbeil, Canadian composer (d. 2013)
1956 – Mudassar Nazar, Pakistani cricketer
1956 – Lee Scott, English politician
1956 – Sebastian Spreng, Argentinian-American painter and journalist
1956 – Dilip Vengsarkar, Indian cricketer and coach
1957 – Giorgio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Maurizio Damilano, Italian race walker and coach
1957 – Jaroslava Maxová, Czech soprano and educator
1957 – Paolo Nespoli, Italian soldier, engineer, and astronaut
1958 – Graeme Base, Australian author and illustrator
1959 – Gail Shea, Canadian politician
1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Richard Loe, New Zealand rugby player
1960 – John Pizzarelli, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1961 – Rory Bremner, Scottish actor and screenwriter
1961 – Peter Jackson, English footballer and manager
1962 – Iris Häussler, German sculptor and academic
1962 – Marco Schällibaum, Swiss footballer, coach, and manager
1963 – Rafael Correa, Ecuadorian economist and politician, 54th President of Ecuador
1965 – Black Francis, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Sterling Sharpe, American football player and sportscaster
1966 – Vince Flynn, American author (d. 2013)
1966 – Young Man Kang, South Korean-American director and producer
1967 – Julian Anderson, English composer and educator
1967 – Kathleen Barr, Canadian voice actress and singer
1967 – Tanya Byron, English psychologist and academic
1967 – Jonathan Firth, English actor
1968 – Archon Fung, American political scientist, author, and academic
1968 – Affonso Giaffone, Brazilian race car driver
1969 – Bret Boone, American baseball player and manager
1969 – Bison Dele, American basketball player (d. 2002)
1969 – Philipp Peter, Austrian race car driver
1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor
1969 – Spencer Wells, American geneticist and anthropologist
1970 – Olaf Kölzig, South African-German ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Roy Mayorga, American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1970 – Huang Xiaomin, Chinese swimmer
1972 – Anders Thomas Jensen, Danish director and screenwriter
1972 – Dickey Simpkins, American basketball player and sportscaster
1973 – Donnie Edwards, American football player
1973 – Randall Godfrey, American football player
1973 – Rie Miyazawa, Japanese model and actress
1973 – Sun Wen, Chinese footballer
1975 – Zach Braff, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1975 – Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
1976 – Candace Cameron Bure, American actress and talk show panelist
1976 – James Fox, Welsh singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1976 – Chris Hoke, American football player
1976 – Georg Hólm, Icelandic bass player
1976 – Hirotada Ototake, Japanese author and educator
1977 – Ville Nieminen, Finnish ice hockey player
1977 – Andy Phillips, American baseball player and coach
1978 – Imani Coppola, American singer-songwriter and violinist
1978 – Robert Glasper, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer
1978 – Tim Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
1978 – Myleene Klass, Austrian/Filipino-English singer, pianist, and model
1978 – Martín Méndez, Uruguayan bass player and songwriter
1978 – Blaine Neal, American baseball player
1978 – Igor Semshov, Russian footballer
1979 – Lord Frederick Windsor, English journalist and financier
1979 – Clay Travis, American sports journalist, blogger, and broadcaster
1980 – Tommi Evilä, Finnish long jumper
1980 – Tanja Poutiainen, Finnish skier
1980 – Antonio Thomas, American wrestler
1981 – Robert Earnshaw, Welsh footballer
1981 – Jeff Faine, American football player
1981 – Alex Suarez, American bass player
1982 – Travis Moen, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Spanish actor
1983 – Mehdi Ballouchy, Moroccan footballer
1983 – Jerome Kaino, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Mitsuru Nagata, Japanese footballer
1983 – Remi Nicole, English singer-songwriter and actress
1983 – James Wade, English darts player
1983 – Katie Weatherston, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Max Bemis, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Michaël Ciani, French footballer
1984 – Siboniso Gaxa, South African footballer
1984 – Diana Matheson, Canadian soccer player
1985 – Clarke MacArthur, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Frank Ongfiang, Cameroonian footballer
1985 – Sinqua Walls, American basketball player and actor
1927 – Florence Earle Coates, American poet (b. 1850)
1935 – Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet and playwright (b. 1869)
1944 – Rose O’Neill, American cartoonist, illustrator, artist, and writer (b. 1874)
1947 – Herbert Backe, German agronomist and politician (b. 1896)
1950 – Louis Wilkins, American pole vaulter (b. 1882)
1953 – Idris Davies, Welsh poet and author (b. 1905)
1959 – Leo Aryeh Mayer, Polish-Israeli scholar and academic (b. 1895)
1961 – Jules Bordet, Belgian microbiologist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)
1963 – Otto Struve, Ukrainian-American astronomer and academic (b. 1897)
1970 – Maurice Stokes, American basketball player (b. 1933)
1971 – Igor Stravinsky, Russian-American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1882)
1974 – Willem Marinus Dudok, Dutch architect (b. 1884)
1974 – Hudson Fysh, Australian pilot and businessman, co-founded Qantas Airways Limited (b. 1895)
1977 – Kōichi Kido, Japanese politician, 13th Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal of Japan (b. 1889)
1979 – Ivan Vasilyov, Bulgarian architect, designed the SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library (b. 1893)
1983 – Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, Indian General who served as the Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1962 to 1966 and the Military Governor of Hyderabad State from 1948 to 1949. (b. 1908)
1992 – Isaac Asimov, American science fiction writer (b. 1920)
1994 – Juvénal Habyarimana, Rwandan banker and politician, 3rd President of Rwanda (b. 1937)
1994 – Cyprien Ntaryamira, Burundian politician, 5th President of Burundi (b. 1955)
1995 – Ioannis Alevras, Greek banker and politician, President of Greece (b. 1912)
686 – Maya king Yuknoom Yich’aak K’ahk’ assumes the crown of Calakmul.
801 – King Louis the Pious captures Barcelona from the Moors after a siege of several months.
1043 – Edward the Confessor is crowned King of England.
1077 – The first Parliament of Friuli is created.
1559 – The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis treaty is signed, ending the Italian Wars.
1860 – The first successful United States Pony Express run from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California, begins.
1865 – American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1882 – American Old West: Robert Ford kills Jesse James.
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his engine design.
1888 – The first of eleven unsolved brutal murders of women committed in or near the impoverished Whitechapel district in the East End of London, occurs.
1895 – The trial in the libel case brought by Oscar Wilde begins, eventually resulting in his imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.
1922 – Joseph Stalin becomes the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1933 – First flight over Mount Everest, by the British Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition, led by the Marquis of Clydesdale, and funded by Lucy, Lady Houston.
1936 – Bruno Richard Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the baby son of pilot Charles Lindbergh.
1942 – World War II: Japanese forces begin an assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
1946 – Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.
1948 – Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
1948 – In Jeju Province, South Korea, a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses begins, known as the Jeju uprising.
1955 – The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg’s book Howl against obscenity charges.
1956 – Hudsonville–Standale tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. He was assassinated the next day.
1969 – Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to “Vietnamize” the war effort.
1973 – Martin Cooper of Motorola makes the first handheld mobile phone call to Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs.
1974 – The 1974 Super Outbreak occurs, the second biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history (after the 2011 Super Outbreak). The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.
1975 – Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title of World Champion by default.
1980 – US Congress restores a federal trust relationship with the 501 members of the Shvwits, Kanosh, Koosharem, and the Indian Peaks and Cedar City bands of the Paiute people of Utah.
1981 – The Osborne 1, the first successful portable computer, is unveiled at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.
1989 – The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
1996 – Suspected “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.
1997 – The Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but one of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
2000 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust law by keeping “an oppressive thumb” on its competitors.
2004 – Islamic terrorists involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves.
2007 – Conventional-Train World Speed Record: A French TGV train on the LGV Est high speed line sets an official new world speed record.
2008 – ATA Airlines, once one of the ten largest U.S. passenger airlines and largest charter airline, files for bankruptcy for the second time in five years and ceases all operations.
2008 – Texas law enforcement cordons off the FLDS’s YFZ Ranch. Eventually, 533 women and children will be taken into state custody.
2009 – Jiverly Antares Wong opens fire at the American Civic Association immigration center in Binghamton, New York, killing thirteen and wounding four before committing suicide.
2010 – Apple Inc. released the first generation iPad, a tablet computer.
2013 – More than 50 people die in floods resulting from record-breaking rainfall in La Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2016 – The Panama Papers, a leak of legal documents, reveals information on 214,488 offshore companies.
2017 – A bomb explodes in the St Petersburg metro system, killing 14 and injuring several more people.
2018 – YouTube headquarters shooting.
Births on April 3
1016 – Xing Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1055)
1151 – Igor Svyatoslavich, Russian prince (d. 1202)
1438 – John III of Egmont, Dutch nobleman (d. 1516)
1529 – Michael Neander, German mathematician and astronomer (d. 1581)
1540 – Maria de’ Medici, Italian noblewoman, the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and Eleonora di Toledo. (d. 1557)
1593 – George Herbert, English poet (d. 1633)
1639 – Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d. 1682)
1643 – Charles V, duke of Lorraine (d. 1690)
1682 – Valentin Rathgeber, German organist and composer (d. 1750)
1693 – George Edwards, English ornithologist and entomologist (d. 1773)
1715 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (d. 1787)
1764 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (d. 1831)
1769 – Christian Günther von Bernstorff, Danish-Prussian politician and diplomat (d. 1835)
1770 – Theodoros Kolokotronis, Greek general (d. 1843)
1778 – Pierre Bretonneau, French doctor who performed the first successful tracheotomy (d. 1862)
1781 – Swaminarayan, Indian religious leader (d. 1830)
1782 – Alexander Macomb, American general (d. 1841)
1783 – Washington Irving, American short story writer, essayist, biographer, historian (d. 1859)
1791 – Anne Lister, English diarist, mountaineer, and traveller (d.1840)
1798 – Charles Wilkes, American admiral, geographer, and explorer (d.1877)
1807 – Mary Carpenter, English educational and social reformer (d. 1877)
1814 – Lorenzo Snow, American religious leader, 5th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1901)
1822 – Edward Everett Hale, American minister, historian, and author (d. 1909)
1823 – George Derby, American lieutenant and journalist (d. 1861)
1823 – William M. Tweed, American politician (d. 1878)
1826 – Cyrus K. Holliday, American businessman (d. 1900)
1837 – John Burroughs, American botanist and author (d. 1921)
1842 – Ulric Dahlgren, American colonel (d. 1864)
1848 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and captain (d. 1879)
1858 – Jacob Gaudaur, Canadian rower (d. 1937)
1860 – Frederik van Eeden, Dutch psychiatrist and author (d. 1932)
1864 – Emil Kellenberger, Swiss target shooter (d. 1943)
1875 – Mistinguett, French actress and singer (d. 1956)
1876 – Margaret Anglin, Canadian actress, director, and producer (d. 1958)
1876 – Tomáš Baťa, Czech businessman, founded Bata Shoes (d. 1932)
1880 – Otto Weininger, Jewish-Austrian philosopher and author (d. 1903)
1881 – Alcide De Gasperi, Italian journalist and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1954)
1882 – Philippe Desranleau, Canadian archbishop (d. 1952)
1883 – Ikki Kita, Japanese philosopher and author (d. 1937)
1885 – Allan Dwan, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1981)
1885 – Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (d. 1954)
1885 – Marie-Victorin Kirouac, Canadian botanist and academic (d. 1944)
1885 – St John Philby, English colonial and explorer (d. 1960)
1886 – Dooley Wilson, American actor and singer (d. 1953)
1887 – Ōtori Tanigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 24th Yokozuna (d. 1956)
1887 – Nishizō Tsukahara, Japanese admiral (d. 1966)
1888 – Neville Cardus, English author and critic (d. 1975)
1888 – Thomas C. Kinkaid, American admiral (d. 1972)
1889 – Grigoraș Dinicu, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1949)
1893 – Leslie Howard, English actor (d. 1943)
1895 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian-American composer and educator (d. 1968)
1895 – Zez Confrey, American pianist and composer (d. 1971)
1897 – Joe Kirkwood Sr., Australian golfer (d. 1970)
1897 – Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos, Greek general (d. 1989)
1898 – David Jack, English footballer and manager (d. 1958)
1898 – George Jessel, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 1981)
1898 – Henry Luce, American publisher, co-founded Time Magazine (d. 1967)
1900 – Camille Chamoun, Lebanese lawyer and politician, 7th President of Lebanon (d. 1987)
1900 – Albert Walsh, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland (d. 1958)
1903 – Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Indian social reformer and freedom fighter (d. 1988)
1904 – Iron Eyes Cody, American actor and stuntman (d. 1999)
1904 – Sally Rand, American dancer (d. 1979)
1904 – Russel Wright, American furniture designer (d. 1976)
1905 – Robert Sink, American general (d. 1965)
1909 – Stanislaw Ulam, Polish-American mathematician and academic (d. 1984)
1910 – Ted Hook, Australian public servant (d. 1990)
1911 – Nanette Bordeaux, Canadian-American actress (d. 1956)
1911 – Michael Woodruff, English-Scottish surgeon and academic (d. 2001)
1911 – Stanisława Walasiewicz, Polish-American runner (d. 1980)
1912 – Dorothy Eden, New Zealand-English author (d. 1982)
1912 – Grigoris Lambrakis, Greek physician and politician (d. 1963)
1913 – Per Borten, Norwegian politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (d. 2005)
1914 – Ray Getliffe, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2008)
1914 – Sam Manekshaw, Indian field marshal (d. 2008)
1915 – Piet de Jong, Dutch politician and naval officer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 2016)
1915 – İhsan Doğramacı, Turkish physician and academic (d. 2010)
1916 – Herb Caen, American journalist and author (d. 1997)
1916 – Cliff Gladwin, English cricketer (d. 1988)
1916 – Louis Guglielmi, Catalan composer (d. 1991)
1918 – Mary Anderson, American actress (d. 2014)
1918 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (d. 2000)
1919 – Ervin Drake, American songwriter and composer (d. 2015)
1919 – Clairette Oddera, French-Canadian actress and singer (d. 2008)
1920 – Stan Freeman, American composer and conductor (d. 2001)
1920 – Yoshibayama Junnosuke, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 43rd Yokozuna (d. 1977)
1921 – Robert Karvelas, American actor (d. 1991)
1921 – Jan Sterling, American actress (d. 2004)
1922 – Yevhen Bulanchyk, Ukrainian hurdler (d. 1996)
1922 – Doris Day, American singer and actress (d. 2019)
1923 – Daniel Hoffman, American poet and academic (d. 2013)
1924 – Marlon Brando, American actor and director (d. 2004)
1924 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (d. 1945)
1925 – Tony Benn, English pilot and politician, Secretary of State for Industry (d. 2014)
1926 – Alex Grammas, American baseball player, manager, and coach (d. 2019)
1926 – Gus Grissom, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1967)
1927 – Wesley A. Brown, American general and engineer (d. 2012)
1928 – Don Gibson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2003)
1928 – Emmett Johns, Canadian priest, founded Dans la Rue (d. 2018)
1928 – Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1928 – Jennifer Paterson, English chef and television personality (d. 1999)
1929 – Fazlur Rahman Khan, Bangladeshi engineer and architect, co-designed the Willis Tower and John Hancock Center (d. 1982)
1929 – Poul Schlüter, Danish lawyer and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Denmark
1930 – Lawton Chiles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 41st Governor of Florida (d. 1998)
1930 – Helmut Kohl, German politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 2017)
1930 – Mario Benjamín Menéndez, Argentinian general and politician (d. 2015)
1930 – Wally Moon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1931 – William Bast, American screenwriter and author (d. 2015)
1933 – Bob Dornan, American politician
1933 – Rod Funseth, American golfer (d. 1985)
1934 – Pamela Allen, New Zealand children’s writer and illustrator
1934 – Jane Goodall, English primatologist and anthropologist
1934 – Jim Parker, American football player (d. 2005)
1936 – Jimmy McGriff, American organist and bandleader (d. 2008)
1936 – Harold Vick, American saxophonist and flute player (d. 1987)
1938 – Jeff Barry, American singer-songwriter, and producer
1938 – Phil Rodgers, American golfer (d. 2018)
1939 – François de Roubaix, French composer (d. 1975)
1939 – Hawk Taylor, American baseball player and coach (d. 2012)
1939 – Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and politician
1941 – Jan Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1941 – Philippé Wynne, American soul singer (d. 1984)
1942 – Marsha Mason, American actress
1942 – Wayne Newton, American singer
1942 – Billy Joe Royal, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
1943 – Mario Lavista, Mexican composer
1943 – Jonathan Lynn, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1943 – Richard Manuel, Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1986)
1943 – Hikaru Saeki, Japanese admiral, the first female star officer of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
1944 – Peter Colman, Australian biologist and academic
1944 – Tony Orlando, American singer
1945 – Doon Arbus, American author and journalist
1945 – Bernie Parent, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1945 – Catherine Spaak, French actress
1946 – Nicholas Jones, English actor
1946 – Dee Murray, English bass player (d. 1992)
1946 – Hanna Suchocka, Polish lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Poland
1947 – Anders Eliasson, Swedish composer (d. 2013)
1948 – Arlette Cousture, Canadian author and screenwriter
1948 – Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Dutch academic, politician, and diplomat, 11th Secretary General of NATO
1948 – Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, German footballer
1948 – Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexican economist and politician, 53rd President of Mexico
1949 – Lyle Alzado, American football player and actor (d. 1992)
1949 – A. C. Grayling, English philosopher and academic
1949 – Richard Thompson, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1950 – Indrajit Coomaraswamy, Sri Lankan cricketer and economist
1951 – Brendan Barber, English trade union leader
1951 – Annette Dolphin, British academician and educator
1951 – Mitch Woods, American singer-songwriter and pianist
1952 – Mike Moore, American lawyer and politician
1953 – Sandra Boynton, American author and illustrator
1953 – Wakanohana Kanji II, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 56th Yokozuna
1953 – James Smith, American boxer
1953 – Craig Taubman, American singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Elisabetta Brusa, Italian composer
1954 – K. Krishnasamy, Indian physician and politician
1956 – Kalle Kulbok, Estonian politician
1956 – Boris Miljković, Serbian director and producer
1956 – Miguel Bosé, Spanish musician and actor
1956 – Ray Combs, American game show host (d. 1996)
1958 – Alec Baldwin, American actor, comedian, producer and television host
1958 – Adam Gussow, American scholar, musician, and memoirist
1958 – Francesca Woodman, Jewish-American photographer (d. 1981)
1959 – David Hyde Pierce, American actor and activist
1960 – Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Dutch singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1961 – Tim Crews, American baseball player (d. 1993)
1961 – Eddie Murphy, American actor and comedian
1962 – Dave Miley, American baseball player and manager
1962 – Mike Ness, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Jaya Prada, Indian actress and politician
1963 – Les Davidson, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Ricky Nixon, Australian footballer and manager
1963 – Criss Oliva, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
1964 – Marco Ballotta, Italian footballer and manager
1964 – Nigel Farage, English politician
1964 – Claire Perry, English banker and politician
1964 – Bjarne Riis, Danish cyclist and manager
1964 – Andy Robinson, English rugby player and coach
1964 – Jay Weatherill, Australian politician, 45th Premier of South Australia
1965 – Nazia Hassan, Pakistani pop singer-songwriter, lawyer and social activist (d. 2000)
1966 – John de Vries, Australian race car driver
1967 – Cat Cora, American chef and author
1967 – Pervis Ellison, American basketball player
1967 – Brent Gilchrist, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Cristi Puiu, Romanian director and screenwriter
1967 – Mark Skaife, Australian race car driver and sportscaster
1968 – Sebastian Bach, Bahamian-Canadian singer-songwriter and actor
1968 – Charlotte Coleman, English actress (d. 2001)
1968 – Jamie Hewlett, English director and performer
1968 – Tomoaki Kanemoto, Japanese baseball player
1969 – Rodney Hampton, American football player
1969 – Peter Matera, Australian footballer and coach
1969 – Ben Mendelsohn, Australian actor
1969 – Lance Storm, Canadian wrestler and trainer
1971 – Vitālijs Astafjevs, Latvian footballer and manager
1971 – Emmanuel Collard, French race car driver
1971 – Picabo Street, American skier
1972 – Jennie Garth, American actress and director
1972 – Catherine McCormack, English actress
1972 – Sandrine Testud, French tennis player
1973 – Nilesh Kulkarni, Indian cricketer
1973 – Adam Scott, American actor
1974 – Marcus Brown, American basketball player
1974 – Drew Shirley, American guitarist and songwriter
1974 – Lee Williams, Welsh model and actor
1975 – Shawn Bates, American ice hockey player
1975 – Michael Olowokandi, Nigerian-American basketball player
1975 – Aries Spears, American comedian and actor
1975 – Yoshinobu Takahashi, Japanese baseball player
1975 – Koji Uehara, Japanese baseball player
1976 – Nicolas Escudé, French tennis player
1978 – Matthew Goode, English actor
1978 – Tommy Haas, German-American tennis player
1978 – John Smit, South African rugby player
1979 – Simon Black, Australian footballer and coach
1980 – Andrei Lodis, Belarusian footballer
1980 – Megan Rohrer, American pastor and transgender activist
1981 – Aaron Bertram, American trumpet player
1981 – DeShawn Stevenson, American basketball player
1982 – Jared Allen, American football player
1982 – Iain Fyfe, Australian footballer
1982 – Cobie Smulders, Canadian actress
1983 – Ben Foster, English footballer
1983 – Stephen Weiss, Canadian ice hockey player
1984 – Jonathan Blondel, Belgian footballer
1984 – Maxi López, Argentinian footballer
1985 – Jari-Matti Latvala, Finnish race car driver
1985 – Leona Lewis, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Amanda Bynes, American actress
1986 – Stephanie Cox, American soccer player
1986 – Annalisa Cucinotta, Italian cyclist
1986 – Sergio Sánchez Ortega, Spanish footballer
1987 – Rachel Bloom, American actress, writer, and producer
1987 – Jay Bruce, American baseball player
1987 – Yileen Gordon, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jason Kipnis, American baseball player
1987 – Martyn Rooney, English sprinter
1987 – Julie Sokolow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1988 – Kam Chancellor, American football player
1988 – Brandon Graham, American football player
1988 – Peter Hartley, English footballer
1988 – Tim Krul, Dutch footballer
1989 – Romain Alessandrini, French footballer
1989 – Israel Folau, Australian rugby player and footballer
1989 – Joel Romelo, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Thisara Perera, Sri Lankan cricketer
1990 – Karim Ansarifard, Iranian footballer
1990 – Madison Brengle, American tennis player
1990 – Sotiris Ninis, Greek footballer
1990 – Natasha Negovanlis, Canadian actress and singer
1991 – Hayley Kiyoko, American actress and singer
1992 – Simone Benedetti, Italian footballer
1992 – Yuliya Yefimova, Russian swimmer
1993 – Pape Moussa Konaté, Senegalese footballer
1994 – Kodi Nikorima, New Zealand rugby league player
1996 – Mayo Hibi, Japanese tennis player
1997 – Gabriel Jesus, Brazilian footballer
1998 – Paris Jackson, American actress, model and singer
Deaths on April 3
963 – William III, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 915)
1153 – al-Adil ibn al-Sallar, vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate
1171 – Philip of Milly, seventh Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b. c. 1120)
1203 – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)
1253 – Saint Richard of Chichester
1287 – Pope Honorius IV (b. 1210)
1325 – Nizamuddin Auliya, Sufi saint (b. 1238)
1350 – Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1295)
1538 – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire (b. 1480)
1545 – Antonio de Guevara, Spanish chronicler and moralist (b. 1481)
1606 – Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1563)
1630 – Christopher Villiers, 1st Earl of Anglesey, English noble (b. c. 1593)
1680 – Shivaji, Indian emperor, founded the Maratha Empire (b. 1630)
