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April 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

April 20 in History

1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is today the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1535 – The sun dog phenomenon is observed over Stockholm, as later depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – Deposed monarch James II of England lays siege to Derry.
1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
1792 – France declares war against the “King of Hungary and Bohemia”, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – The governor of Caracas, Venezuela declares independence from Spain.
1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter (and the first to return from) Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus.
1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Fenway Park in Boston.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miners’ strike.
1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday’s celebrations in Germany
1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech.
1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricade himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya’an, in China’s Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.

Births on April 20

1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
1772 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary and French general (d. 1824)
1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Miran Bux, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
1913 – Roger Rochard, French runner (d. 1993)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
1920 – Ronald Speirs, American colonel (d. 2007)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer
1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
1933 – Kristaq Dhamo, Albanian actor and film director
1936 – Lisa Davis, English and American former child and adult actress
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
1936 – Christopher Robinson, English organist and conductor
1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
1938 – Peter Snow, British historian and journalist
1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
1939 – Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
1941 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor
1942 – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish journalist and author
1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American model and actress (d. 1971)
1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and head coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner
1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
1946 – Julien Poulin, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (d. 1982)
1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
1947 – David Leland, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
1949 – Veronica Cartwright, English-American actress
1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian-Mexican figure skater and painter (d. 2015)
1949 – Massimo D’Alema, Italian journalist and politician, 76th Prime Minister of Italy
1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 – Steve Erickson, American author and critic
1950 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
1950 – N. Chandrababu Naidu, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
1951 – Louise Jameson, English actress
1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2005)
1952 – Louka Katseli, Greek economist and politician
1952 – Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball player and coach
1952 – Eric Pickles, English politician, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government
1953 – Sebastian Faulks, English journalist and author
1955 – Donald Pettit, American engineer and astronaut
1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician, Swedish Minister for Justice
1956 – Peter Chelsom, English film director, writer, and actor
1956 – Kakha Bendukidze, Georgian economist and politician
1956 – Georgie Glen, Scottish actress
1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Perry Haddock, Australian rugby league player
1960 – Debbie Flintoff-King, Australian hurdler and coach
1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player, coach, and manager
1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
1961 – Nicholas Lyndhurst, English actor
1961 – Paul Usher, English actor
1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian race car driver
1963 – Rachel Whiteread, English sculptor
1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor and director
1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1965 – Kostis Chatzidakis, Greek politician, Ministry of Economy, Infrastructure, Shipping and Tourism
1965 – Léa Fazer, Swiss film director, screenwriter and actress
1965 – Adrián Fernández, Mexican race car driver
1965 – Rebecca Lacey, English actress
1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher and academic
1966 – David Filo, American businessman, co-founded Yahoo!
1966 – Vincent Riendeau, Canadian ice hockey player
1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer and songwriter
1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
1968 – Julia Morris, Australian entertainer
1968 – Yelena Välbe, Russian skier and manager
1968 – Roman Virastyuk, Ukrainian shot putter
1969 – Felix Baumgartner, Austrian skydiver and BASE jumper
1969 – Will Hodgman, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Tasmania
1970 – Sarantuya, Mongolian soprano
1970 – Avishai Cohen, Israeli singer-songwriter and bassist
1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer, physiologist, and academic
1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player and manager
1971 – Nikos Kyzeridis, Greek footballer
1972 – Lê Huỳnh Đức, Vietnamese footballer, coach, and manager
1972 – Carmen Electra, American model and actress
1972 – Željko Joksimović, Serbian singer-songwriter and producer
1972 – Stephen Marley, American singer, guitarist, and producer
1972 – Julia Peng, Taiwanese singer
1973 – Isabel dos Santos, Angolan businesswoman and first African woman billionaire
1973 – Lamond Murray, American basketball player
1974 – Adrian Ilie, Romanian footballer
1974 – Julie Fernandez, English actress and model
1974 – Urmas Paet, Estonian journalist and politician, 26th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1975 – Killer Mike, American rapper and activist
1976 – Aldo Bobadilla, Paraguayan footballer
1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer and manager
1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Ismail Rasheed, Maldivian actor
1976 – Georgina Rylance, English actress
1979 – Stian Barsnes-Simonsen, Norwegian actor and television host
1979 – Ludovic Magnin, Swiss footballer and coach
1979 – Nate Marquardt, American mixed martial artist
1980 – Gunta Baško, Latvian basketball player
1980 – Sunaina Sunaina, Indian weightlifter
1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer and actress
1982 – Jacqueline Govaert, Dutch singer-songwriter and pianist
1982 – Dario Knežević, Croatian footballer
1983 – Danny Granger, American basketball player
1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian model
1983 – Joanne King, Irish actress
1984 – Nelson Évora, Ivorian-Portuguese triple jumper
1984 – Bárbara Lennie, Spanish actress
1984 – Edixon Perea, Colombian footballer
1984 – Jenna Shoemaker, American triathlete
1985 – Curt Hawkins, American wrestler
1985 – Brent Seabrook, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Chun Woo-hee, South Korean actress
1988 – Brandon Belt, American baseball player
1989 – Cally-Jo, English fine artist and tattoo artist
1989 – Nina Davuluri, Miss America 2014
1989 – Carlos Valdes, Colombian-American actor and singer
1990 – Luhan, Chinese singer and actor
1990 – Abby Mavers, English actress
1992 – Kristian Álvarez, Mexican footballer
1992 – Marko Meerits, Estonian footballer
1995 – Damian McKenzie, New Zealand rugby union player
1995 – Jean Marie Dongou, Cameroonian footballer
1997 – Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, German tennis player
1998 – Zachary Claman DeMelo, Canadian racing driver

Deaths on April 20

689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)
767 – Taichō, Japanese monk (b. 682)
888 – Xi Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 862)
1099 – Peter Bartholomew (b. 1061)
1164 – Antipope Victor IV
1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English-Irish politician, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland (b. 1130)
1248 – Güyük Khan, Mongol ruler, 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (b. 1206)
1284 – Hōjō Tokimune, regent of Japan (b. 1251)
1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
1322 – Simon Rinalducci, Italian Augustinian friar
1521 – Zhengde, Chinese emperor (b. 1491)
1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun and martyr (b. 1506)
1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German priest and theologian (b. 1485)
1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer and poet (b. 1567)
1703 – Lancelot Addison, English clergyman and educator (b. 1632)
1769 – Chief Pontiac, American tribal leader (b. 1720)
1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon and anatomist (b. 1764)
1873 – William Tite, English architect, designed the Royal Exchange (b. 1798)
1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1817)
1881 – William Burges, English architect and designer (b. 1827)
1886 – Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville, French general and diplomat, French ambassador to the United States (b. 1814)
1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Greek-Egyptian politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1826)
1899 – Joseph Wolf, German ornithologist and illustrator (b. 1820)
1902 – Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, Brazilian poet and educator (b. 1833)
1912 – Bram Stoker, Anglo-Irish novelist and critic, created Count Dracula (b. 1847)
1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
1927 – Enrique Simonet, Spanish painter and educator (b. 1866)
1929 – Prince Henry of Prussia (b. 1862)
1931 – Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, 5th Baronet, Scottish-English fencer and businessman (b. 1862)
1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (b. 1858)
1935 – John Cameron, Scottish footballer and manager (b. 1872)
1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer (b. 1863)
1942 – Jüri Jaakson, Estonian businessman and politician, 6th State Elder of Estonia (b. 1870)
1944 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and pilot (b. 1917)
1945 – Erwin Bumke, Polish-German jurist and politician (b. 1874)
1946 – Mae Busch, Australian actress (b. 1891)
1947 – Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Italian politician, 25th Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1961 – Ado Vabbe, Estonian painter (b. 1892)
1967 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (b. 1896)
1968 – Rudolph Dirks, German-American illustrator (b. 1877)
1969 – Vjekoslav Luburić, Croatian Ustaše official and concentration camp administrator (b. 1914)
1980 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (b. 1924)
1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet, playwright, and lawyer (b. 1892)
1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani journalist, scholar, and activist (b. 1916)
1991 – Steve Marriott, English singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
1991 – Don Siegel, American director and producer (b. 1912)
1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (b. 1922)
1992 – Benny Hill, English comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1911)
1995 – Milovan Đilas, Yugoslav communist, politician, theorist and author (b. 1911)
1996 – Trần Văn Trà, Vietnamese general and politician (b. 1918)
1999 – Casualties of the Columbine High School massacre:
- Cassie Bernall, American student (b. 1981)
- Eric Harris, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
- Dylan Klebold, American student and murderer (b. 1981)
- Rachel Scott, American student, inspired the Rachel’s Challenge (b. 1981)
1999 – Rick Rude, American wrestler (b. 1958)
2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
2003 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
2003 – Bernard Katz, German-English biophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)
2004 – Lizzy Mercier Descloux, French musician, singer-songwriter, composer, actress, writer and painter (b. 1956)
2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese journalist and author (b. 1904)
2007 – Andrew Hill, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1931)
2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931)
2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian journalist and author (b. 1923)
2010 – Dorothy Height, American educator and activist (b. 1912)
2011 – Tim Hetherington, English photographer and journalist (b. 1970)
2012 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist and songwriter (b. 1920)
2014 – Mithat Bayrak, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1929)
2014 – Rubin Carter, American-Canadian boxer (b. 1937)
2014 – Neville Wran, Australian lawyer and politician, 35th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1926)
2016 – Victoria Wood, British comedian, actress and writer (b. 1953)
2017 – Cuba Gooding Sr., American singer and actor (b. 1944)
2018 – Avicii, Swedish DJ, and musician (b. 1989)
2019 – Jacqueline Saburido, Venezuelan activist (b. 1978)

Holidays and observances on April 20

420 (cannabis culture) (International)
Christian feast day:
- Agnes of Montepulciano
- Beuno
- Hugh of Anzy le Duc
- Johannes Bugenhagen (Lutheran)
- Marcellinus of Gaul (Embrun)
- Blessed Oda of Brabant
- Pope Anicetus
- Theotimos
- April 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
UN Chinese Language Day (United Nations)

April 20 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

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)
1941 – Roberto Carlos, Brazilian singer-songwriter
1941 – Clark Dimond, American musician and author
1941 – Michel Roux, French-English chef and author (d. 2020)
1941 – Bobby Russell, American singer-songwriter (d. 1992)
1942 – Bas Jan Ader, Dutch-American photographer and director (d. 1975)
1942 – Alan Price, English keyboard player, singer, and composer
1942 – Jack Roush, American businessman, founded Roush Fenway Racing
1942 – Maarten van den Bergh, American-Dutch businessman
1943 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (d. 2014)^[28]
1943 – Lorenzo Sanz, Spanish businessman
1944 – Keith Erickson, American basketball player and sportscaster
1944 – James Heckman, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1944 – Bernie Worrell, American keyboard player and songwriter (d. 2016)^[29]
1946 – Duygu Asena, Turkish journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
1946 – Tim Curry, English actor^[30]
1947 – Murray Perahia, American pianist and conductor
1947 – Wilfrid Stevenson, Baron Stevenson of Balmacara, English civil servant
1947 – Yan Pascal Tortelier, French violinist and conductor
1947 – Mark Volman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Stuart McLean, Canadian radio host and author (d. 2017)
1948 – Rick Miller, American baseball player and manager
1949 – Paloma Picasso, French-Spanish fashion designer
1949 – Larry Walters, American truck driver and pilot (d. 1993)
1950 – Julia Cleverdon, English businesswoman and philanthropist
1951 – Barry Brown, American actor and playwright (d. 1978)
1951 – Jóannes Eidesgaard, Faroese educator and politician, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands
1952 – Alexis Argüello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)
1952 – Tony Plana, Cuban-American actor and director
1952 – Michael Trend, English journalist and politician
1953 – Rod Morgenstein, American drummer
1953 – Sara Simeoni, Italian high jumper
1953 – Ruby Wax, British-based American comedian, actress, and screenwriter
1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager
1954 – Bob Rock, Canadian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1956 – Sue Barker, English tennis player and journalist
1956 – Randy Carlyle, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1956 – Anne Glover, Scottish biologist and academic
1957 – Tony Martin, English singer-songwriter
1957 – Mukesh Ambani, Indian businessman, chairman of Reliance Industries and currently the richest man in Asia^[31]^[32]
1958 – Steve Antin, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1958 – Stevie B, American singer-songwriter and record producer
1958 – Denis O’Brien, Irish businessman, founded BT Ireland
1958 – Vytautas Šapranauskas, Lithuanian actor (d. 2013)
1958 – Keith Shine, British academic and educator
1959 – Jane Campbell, Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, English activist
1959 – Teofisto Guingona III, Filipino lawyer and politician
1959 – Donald Markwell, Australian sociologist and academic
1960 – Nicoletta Braschi, Italian actress and producer
1960 – Ara Gevorgyan, Armenian pianist, composer, and producer
1960 – Roger Merrett, Australian footballer and coach
1960 – John Schweitz, American basketball player and coach
1960 – Frank Viola, American baseball player and coach^[33]
1961 – Alan Kirschenbaum, American producer and writer (d. 2012)
1961 – Albert Martinez, Filipino actor, director, and producer
1961 – Spike Owen, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Al Unser Jr., American race car driver
1964 – Gordon Marshall, Scottish footballer and coach
1964 – Kim Weaver, American astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic
1965 – Natalie Dessay, French soprano and actress
1965 – Suge Knight, American record producer, co-founded Death Row Records
1966 – Véronique Gens, French soprano and actress
1966 – David La Haye, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Paul Reiffel, Australian cricketer and umpire
1966 – El Samurai, Japanese wrestler
1967 – Philippe Saint-André, French rugby player and coach
1968 – Ashley Judd, American actress and activist
1968 – Arshad Warsi, Indian film actor and producer
1969 – Andrew Carnie, Canadian-American linguist, author, and academic
1969 – Susan Polgar, Hungarian-American chess player
1970 – Luis Miguel, Mexican singer-songwriter and producer
1970 – Kelly Holmes, English runner
1970 – Abelardo Fernández, Spanish footballer and manager
1971 – Brendon Burns, Australian comedian, podcaster, writer and author
1971 – Scott McCord, Canadian voice actor
1972 – Rivaldo, Brazilian footballer
1972 – Jeff Wilkins, American football player
1973 – George Gregan, Zambian-Australian rugby player and coach
1973 – Alessio Scarpi, Italian footballer
1975 – Jason Gillespie, Australian cricketer and coach
1975 – Jussi Jääskeläinen, Finnish footballer
1976 – Ruud Jolie, Dutch guitarist
1976 – Scott Padgett, American basketball player, coach, and radio host
1976 – Kim Young-oh, South Korean author and illustrator
1977 – Joe Beimel, American baseball player
1977 – Anju Bobby George, Indian long jumper
1977 – Lucien Mettomo, Cameroonian footballer
1977 – Dennys Reyes, Mexican baseball player
1977 – Jonny Storm, English wrestler and trainer
1978 – James Franco, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Gabriel Heinze, Argentinian footballer
1978 – Amanda Sage, American-Austrian painter and educator
1979 – Rocky Bernard, American football player
1979 – Kate Hudson, American actress
1979 – Zhao Junzhe, Chinese footballer
1980 – Jason Blaine, Canadian singer-songwriter
1980 – Robyn Regehr, Brazilian-Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Hayden Christensen, Canadian actor and producer
1981 – Ryuta Hara, Japanese footballer
1981 – Martin Havlát, Czech ice hockey player
1981 – James Hibberd, English cricketer
1981 – Troy Polamalu, American football player
1981 – Catalina Sandino Moreno, Colombian actress
1982 – Joseph Hagerty, American gymnast
1982 – Filip Jícha, Czech handball player
1982 – Samuel C. Morrison, Jr., Liberian-American journalist, producer, and screenwriter
1982 – Rocco Sabato, Italian footballer
1982 – Ignacio Serricchio, Argentinian-American actor
1982 – Sitiveni Sivivatu, New Zealand rugby player
1983 – Alberto Callaspo, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1983 – Zach Duke, American baseball player
1983 – Joe Mauer, American baseball player
1983 – Patrick Platins, German footballer
1983 – Curtis Thigpen, American baseball player
1984 – Christopher Pearce, English cricketer
1985 – Valon Behrami, Swiss footballer
1985 – David Cavazos, Mexican singer-songwriter
1985 – Sabrina Jalees, Canadian comedian, dancer, actress, presenter, and writer
1985 – Jan Zimmermann, German footballer
1986 – Pascal Angan, Beninese footballer
1986 – Candace Parker, American basketball player
1986 – Gabe Pruitt, American basketball player
1986 – Will Thursfield, English-Australian footballer
1987 – Luigi Giorgi, Italian footballer
1987 – Joe Hart, English footballer
1987 – Daniel Schuhmacher, German singer-songwriter
1987 – Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player
1987 – Lauren Wilson, Canadian figure skater
1988 – Enrique Esqueda, Mexican footballer
1989 – Dominik Mader, German footballer
1989 – Daisuke Watabe, Japanese footballer
1989 – Genoveva Añonma, Equatoguinean footballer
1990 – Jackie Bradley, Jr., American baseball player
1990 – Kim Chiu, Filipino actress, singer, and dancer^[34]
1990 – Héctor Herrera, Mexican footballer
1990 – Ayaka Takahashi, Japanese badminton player
1991 – Steve Cook, English footballer

Deaths April 19

843 – Judith of Bavaria, Frankish empress
1012 – Ælfheah of Canterbury, English archbishop and saint (b. 954)
1013 – Hisham II, Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (b. 966)
1044 – Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine
1054 – Leo IX, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1002)
1321 – Gerasimus I, patriarch of Constantinople
1390 – Robert II, king of Scotland (b. 1316)
1405 – Thomas West, 1st Baron West, English nobleman (b. 1335)^[35]
1431 – Adolph III, count of Waldeck (b. 1362)
1560 – Philip Melanchthon, German theologian and reformer (b. 1497)
1567 – Michael Stifel, German monk and mathematician (b. 1487)
1578 – Uesugi Kenshin, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1530)
1588 – Paolo Veronese, Italian painter (b. 1528)
1608 – Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, English poet, playwright, and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1536)
1618 – Thomas Bastard, English priest and author (b. 1566)
1619 – Jagat Gosain, Mughal empress (b. 1573)^[36]
1629 – Sigismondo d’India, Italian composer (b. 1582)
1632 – Sigismund III Vasa, king of Sweden and Poland (b. 1566)
1686 – Antonio de Solís y Ribadeneyra, Spanish historian and playwright (b. 1610)
1689 – Christina, queen of Sweden (b. 1626)
1733 – Elizabeth Hamilton, countess of Orkney (b. 1657)
1739 – Nicholas Saunderson, English mathematician and academic (b. 1682)
1768 – Canaletto, Italian painter and etcher (b. 1697)
1776 – Jacob Emden, German rabbi and author (b. 1697)
1791 – Richard Price, Welsh-English preacher and philosopher (b. 1723)
1813 – Benjamin Rush, American physician and educator (b. 1745)
1824 – Lord Byron, English-Scottish poet and playwright (b. 1788)
1831 – Johann Gottlieb Friedrich von Bohnenberger, German astronomer and mathematician (b. 1765)
1833 – James Gambier, 1st Baron Gambier, Bahamian-English admiral and politician, 36th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1756)
1840 – Jean-Jacques Lartigue, Canadian bishop (b. 1777)
1854 – Robert Jameson, Scottish mineralogist and academic (b. 1774)
1881 – Benjamin Disraeli, English journalist and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1804)
1882 – Charles Darwin, English biologist and theorist (b. 1809)
1893 – Martin Körber, Estonian-German pastor, composer, and conductor (b. 1817)
1901 – Alfred Horatio Belo, American publisher, founded The Dallas Morning News (b. 1839)
1906 – Pierre Curie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)
1906 – Spencer Gore, English tennis player and cricketer (b. 1850)
1909 – Signe Rink, Greenland-born Danish writer and ethnologist (b. 1836)
1914 – Charles Sanders Peirce, American mathematician and philosopher (b. 1839)
1915 – Thomas Playford II, English-Australian politician, 17th Premier of South Australia (b. 1837)
1916 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer, designed the Shay locomotive (b. 1839)
1926 – Alexander Alexandrovich Chuprov, Russian-Swiss statistician and theorist (b. 1874)
1930 – Georges-Casimir Dessaulles, Canadian businessman and politician (b. 1827)
1937 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English cartographer and politician (b. 1856)
1937 – William Morton Wheeler, American entomologist and zoologist (b. 1865)
1941 – Johanna Müller-Hermann, Austrian composer (b. 1878)
1949 – Ulrich Salchow, Danish-Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
1950 – Ernst Robert Curtius, French-German philologist and scholar (b. 1886)
1955 – Jim Corbett, British-Indian colonel, hunter, and author (b. 1875)
1960 – Beardsley Ruml, American economist and statistician (b. 1894)
1961 – Max Hainle, German swimmer (b. 1882)
1967 – Konrad Adenauer, German politician, 1st Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
1971 – Luigi Piotti, Italian race car driver (b. 1913)
1975 – Percy Lavon Julian, American chemist and academic (b. 1899)
1987 – Hugh Brannum, American vocalist, arranger, and composer (b. 1910)
1989 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (b. 1907)
1991 – Stanley Hawes, English-Australian director and producer (b. 1905)
1992 – Frankie Howerd, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1917)
1993 – David Koresh, American religious leader (b. 1959)
1993 – George S. Mickelson, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of South Dakota (b. 1941)
1998 – Octavio Paz, Mexican poet, philosopher, and academic Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1914)
1999 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian-German SS officer (b. 1919)
2000 – Louis Applebaum, Canadian composer and conductor (b. 1918)
2001 – Meldrim Thomson, Jr.. American publisher and politician, 73rd Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1912)
2002 – Reginald Rose, American writer (b. 1920)
2003 – Mirza Tahir Ahmad, Indian-English caliph (b. 1928)
2004 – Norris McWhirter, English author and activist co-founded the Guinness World Records (b. 1925)
2004 – John Maynard Smith, English biologist and geneticist (b. 1920)
2004 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (b. 1922)^[37]
2005 – George P. Cosmatos, Italian-Greek director and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2005 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (b. 1911)
2005 – Clement Meadmore, Australian-American sculptor and author (b. 1929)
2005 – Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Danish bassist and composer (b. 1946)
2006 – Albert Scott Crossfield, American engineer, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1921)
2007 – Jean-Pierre Cassel, French actor (b. 1932)
2008 – John Marzano, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1963)
2008 – Alfonso López Trujillo, Colombian cardinal (b. 1935)
2009 – J. G. Ballard, English novelist, short story writer, and essayist (b. 1930)
2011 – Elisabeth Sladen, English actress (b. 1946)^[38]
2012 – Leopold David de Rothschild, English financier and philanthropist (b. 1927)
2012 – Greg Ham, Australian saxophonist, songwriter, and actor (b. 1953)
2012 – Levon Helm, American singer-songwriter, drummer, guitarist, instrumentalist, and actor (b. 1940)
2012 – Valeri Vasiliev, Russian ice hockey player (b. 1949)
2013 – Sivanthi Adithan, Indian businessman (b. 1936)
2013 – Allan Arbus, American actor and photographer (b. 1918)
2013 – Mike Denness, Scottish-English cricketer and referee (b. 1940)
2013 – François Jacob, French biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
2013 – E. L. Konigsburg, American author and illustrator (b. 1930)
2013 – Al Neuharth, American journalist, author, and publisher, founded USA Today (b. 1924)
2014 – Lindy Berry, American football player (b. 1927)
2014 – Ian McIntyre, Scottish journalist and producer (b. 1930)
2014 – Frits Thors, Dutch journalist (b. 1909)
2015 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (b. 1919)
2015 – William Price Fox, American journalist and author (b. 1926)
2015 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (b. 1924)^[39]
2015 – Tom McCabe, Scottish social worker and politician (b. 1954)^[40]
2015 – Oktay Sinanoğlu, Italian-Turkish chemist and academic (b. 1935)
2016 – Patricio Aylwin, Chilean politician (b. 1918)^[41]
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)

April 19 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

769 – The Lateran Council condemned the Council of Hieria and anathematized its iconoclastic rulings.
1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River. The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne.
1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.
1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.
1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
1736 – Foundation of the Kingdom of Corsica.
1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel receives its premiere performance in London, England.
1755 – Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
1783 – Preliminary articles of peace ending the American Revolutionary War (or American War of Independence) are ratified.
1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc founded the American School for the Deaf, the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut.
1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President upon Lincoln’s death.
1892 – The General Electric Company is formed.
1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
1907 – Triangle Fraternity is founded at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy.
1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.
1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
1924 – Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.
1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.
1942 – The George Cross is awarded “to the island fortress of Malta” by King George VI.
1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line.
1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
1955 – McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 onboard.
1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.
1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang’s death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China.
1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted.
2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring 264 others.
2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people.
2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians were gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire.

Births on April 15

68 BC – Gaius Maecenas, Roman politician (d. 8 BC)
1282 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1329)
1367 – Henry IV of England (d. 1413)
1442 – John Paston, English noble (d. 1479)
1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (d. 1519)
1469 – Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru (d. 1539)
1552 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (d. 1626)
1563 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth Sikh leader (d. 1606)
1588 – Claudius Salmasius, French author and scholar (d. 1653)
1592 – Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal (d. 1675)
1641 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and geographer (d. 1722)
1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1691)
1646 – Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
1684 – Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
1688 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (d. 1758)
1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (d. 1783)
1710 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (d. 1790)
1741 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter and soldier (d. 1827)
1771 – Nicolas Chopin, French-Polish educator (d. 1844)
1772 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French biologist and zoologist (d. 1844)
1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer and academic (d. 1864)
1795 – Maria Schicklgruber, mother of Alois Hitler and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler (d.1847)
1800 – James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (d. 1862)
1808 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (d. 1892)
1809 – Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (d. 1877)
1817 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (d. 1885)
1828 – Jean Danjou, French captain (d. 1863)
1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (d. 1908)
1841 – Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (d. 1921)
1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (d. 1919)
1843 – Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (d. 1916)
1856 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (d. 1910)
1858 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (d. 1917)
1861 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (d. 1929)
1863 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (d. 1914)
1874 – George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (d. 1954)
1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1875 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (d. 1953)
1877 – Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (d. 1947)
1878 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (d. 1956)
1879 – Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (d. 1980)
1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
1886 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (d. 1921)
1887 – William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (d. 1953)
1888 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (d. 1904)
1889 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (d. 1975)
1889 – A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
1890 – Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat’s eye (d. 1976)
1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (d. 1975)
1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (d. 1983)
1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971)
1894 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (d. 1937)
1895 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (d. 1980)
1895 – Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (d. 1941)
1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1986)
1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (d. 1973)
1901 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
1901 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (d. 1986)
1901 – René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1993)
1902 – Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
1903 – John Williams, English-American actor (d. 1983)
1904 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (d. 1948)
1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1988)
1908 – eden ahbez, Scottish-American songwriter and recording artist (d. 1995)
1908 – Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
1910 – Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (d. 1986)
1910 – Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (d. 1997)
1912 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 1998)
1912 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 1994)
1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2012)
1916 – Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
1916 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (d. 1997)
1917 – Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
1917 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (d. 1944)
1917 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
1918 – Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (d. 2007)
1919 – Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (d. 1993)
1920 – Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (d. 2013)
1920 – Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (d. 2012)
1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (d. 2015)
1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995)
1921 – Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (d. 2009)
1922 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (d. 2013)
1922 – Hasrat Jaipuri, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1999)
1922 – Harold Washington, American lawyer and politician, 51st Mayor of Chicago (d. 1987)
1922 – Graham Whitehead, English racing driver (d. 1981)
1923 – Artur Alliksaar, Estonian poet and author (d. 1966)
1923 – Robert DePugh, American activist, founded the Minutemen (an anti-Communist organization) (d. 2009)
1924 – M. Canagaratnam, Sri Lankan politician (d. 1980)
1924 – Rikki Fulton, Scottish comedian (d. 2004)
1924 – Neville Marriner, English violinist and conductor (d. 2016)
1927 – Robert Mills, American physicist and academic (d. 1999)
1929 – Gérald Beaudoin, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 2008)
1929 – Adrian Cadbury, English rower and businessman (d. 2015)
1930 – Georges Descrières, French actor (d. 2013)
1930 – Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Icelandic educator and politician, 4th President of Iceland
1931 – Kenneth Bloomfield, Northern Irish civil servant
1931 – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish poet, translator, and psychologist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1933 – Roy Clark, American musician and television personality (d. 2018)
1933 – David Hamilton, English-French photographer and director (d. 2016)
1933 – Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress and producer (d. 1995)
1935 – Stavros Paravas, Greek actor and producer (d. 2008)
1936 – Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
1937 – Bob Luman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1978)
1938 – Claudia Cardinale, Italian actress
1938 – Hso Khan Pha, Burmese-Canadian geologist and politician (d. 2016)
1939 – Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor
1939 – Desiré Ecaré, Ivorian filmmaker (d. 2009)
1940 – Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician
1940 – Penelope Coelen, South African actress, model, beauty queen and 1958 Miss World
1940 – Willie Davis, American baseball player and actor (d. 2010)
1940 – Robert Lacroix, Canadian economist and academic
1941 – Howard Berman, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Francis X. DiLorenzo, American bishop (d. 2017)
1942 – Walt Hazzard, American basketball player and coach (d. 2011)
1942 – Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
1942 – Tim Lankester, English economist and academic
1943 – Pınar Kür, Turkish author, playwright, and academic
1943 – Robert Lefkowitz, American physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1943 – Veronica Linklater, Baroness Linklater, English politician
1943 – Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (d. 2006)
1944 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Russian-Chechen general and politician, 1st President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (d. 1996)
1944 – Dave Edmunds, Welsh singer, guitarist, and producer
1946 – John Lloyd, Scottish journalist and author
1946 – Pete Rouse, American politician, White House Chief of Staff
1947 – Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American screenwriter and producer
1947 – Martin Broughton, English businessman
1947 – Lois Chiles, American model and actress
1947 – David Omand, English civil servant and academic
1947 – Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish nurse and politician, Swedish Minister for Social Security
1947 – Woolly Wolstenholme, English singer and keyboard player (d. 2010)
1948 – Christopher Brown, English historian, curator, and academic
1948 – Michael Kamen, American composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1948 – Phil Mogg, English singer-songwriter and musician
1949 – Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer-songwriter and actress
1949 – Craig Zadan, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1950 – Josiane Balasko, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1950 – Amy Wright, American actress
1950 – Karel Kroupa, Czech football player
1951 – Heloise, American journalist and author
1951 – John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut
1951 – Stuart Prebble, English journalist and producer
1951 – Marsha Ivins, American engineer and astronaut
1952 – Kym Gyngell, Australian actor, comedian, and screenwriter
1952 – Brian Muir, English sculptor and set designer
1952 – Avital Ronell, Czech-American philosopher and academic
1955 – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (d. 1997)
1955 – Joice Mujuru, Zimbabwean politician
1956 – Michael Cooper, American basketball player and coach
1957 – Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach
1958 – Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1958 – John Bracewell, New Zealand cricketer
1958 – Memos Ioannou, Greek basketball player and coach
1958 – Benjamin Zephaniah, English actor, author, poet, and playwright
1959 – Fruit Chan, Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 – Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1959 – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter
1960 – Pierre Aubry, Canadian ice hockey player
1960 – Susanne Bier, Danish director and screenwriter
1960 – Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist and sportscaster
1960 – Tony Jones, English snooker player
1961 – Neil Carmichael, English academic and politician
1961 – Carol W. Greider, American molecular biologist
1961 – Dawn Wright, American geographer and oceanographer
1962 – Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician
1962 – Tom Kane, American voice actor
1963 – Alex Crawford, Nigerian-South African journalist
1963 – Manzoor Elahi, Pakistani cricketer
1963 – Manoj Prabhakar, Indian cricketer and sportscaster
1964 – Andre Joubert, South African rugby player
1964 – Lee Kernaghan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Linda Perry, American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer
1965 – Kevin Stevens, American ice hockey player
1966 – Samantha Fox, English singer-songwriter and actress
1966 – Mott Green, American businessman (d. 2013)
1967 – Frankie Poullain, Scottish bass player and songwriter
1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist
1968 – Ben Clarke, English rugby player and coach
1968 – Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner
1968 – Ed O’Brien, English guitarist
1969 – Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
1969 – Kaisa Roose, Estonian pianist and conductor
1969 – Jimmy Waite, Canadian-German ice hockey player and coach
1970 – Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach
1971 – Philippe Carbonneau, French rugby player
1971 – Finidi George, Nigerian footballer
1971 – Jason Sehorn, American football player
1971 – Josia Thugwane, South African runner
1971 – Karl Turner, English lawyer and politician
1972 – Arturo Gatti, Italian-Canadian boxer (d. 2009)
1972 – Lou Romano, American animator and voice actor
1974 – Kim Min-kyo, South Korean actor and director
1974 – Danny Pino, American actor and screenwriter
1974 – Mike Quinn, American football player
1974 – Douglas Spain, American actor, director, and producer
1974 – Tim Thomas, American ice hockey player
1975 – Sarah Teichmann, German-American biophysicist and immunologist
1976 – Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1976 – Darius Regelskis, Lithuanian footballer
1976 – Kęstutis Šeštokas, Lithuanian basketball player
1976 – Steve Williams, English rower
1977 – Sudarsan Pattnaik, Indian sculptor
1977 – Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
1978 – Milton Bradley, American baseball player
1978 – Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
1978 – Luis Fonsi, Puerto Rican-American singer-songwriter and dancer
1978 – Chris Stapleton, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 – Patrick Carney, American drummer, musician, and producer
1980 – James Foster, English cricketer
1980 – Raül López, Spanish basketball player
1980 – Willie Mason, New Zealand-Australian rugby league player
1980 – Aida Mollenkamp, American chef and author
1980 – Billy Yates, American football player
1981 – Andrés D’Alessandro, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
1982 – Anthony Green, American singer-songwriter
1982 – Seth Rogen, Canadian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1983 – Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
1983 – Matt Cardle, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1983 – Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
1983 – Andreas Fransson, Swedish skier (d. 2014)
1983 – Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist
1984 – Antonio Cromartie, American football player
1984 – Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
1984 – Daniel Paille, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Ryan Hamilton, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Tom Heaton, English footballer
1986 – Sylvain Marveaux, French footballer
1988 – Blake Ayshford, Australian rugby league player
1988 – Steven Defour, Belgian footballer
1988 – Chris Tillman, American baseball pitcher
1989 – Darren Nicholls, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Emma Watson, English actress
1991 – Daiki Arioka, Japanese idol, singer, and actor
1991 – Javier Fernández López, Spanish figure skater
1992 – Jeremy McGovern, Australian rules football player
1994 – Brodie Grundy, Australian rules football player
1994 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter
1995 – Leander Dendoncker, Belgian footballer
1999 – Denis Shapovalov, Canadian tennis player
2001 – Shanti Dope, Filipino rapper

Deaths on April 15

628 – Suiko, emperor of Japan (b. 554)
943 – Liu Bin, emperor of Southern Han (b. 920)
956 – Lin Yanyu, Chinese court official and eunuch
1053 – Godwin, Earl of Wessex (b. 1001)
1136 – Richard Fitz Gilbert de Clare (b. 1094)
1220 – Adolf of Altena, German archbishop (b. 1157)
1237 – Richard Poore, English ecclesiastic
1415 – Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek philosopher and translator (b. 1355)
1446 – Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian sculptor and architect (b. 1377)
1502 – John IV of Chalon-Arlay, Prince of Orange (b. 1443)
1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent (b. c. 1500)
1610 – Robert Persons, English Jesuit priest, insurrectionist, and author (b. 1546)
1632 – George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, English politician, English Secretary of State (b. 1580)
1652 – Patriarch Joseph of Moscow, Russian patriarch
1659 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymnwriter (b. 1605)
1719 – Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, French wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
1754 – Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician and academic (b. 1676)
1761 – Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish lawyer and politician, Lord President of the Court of Session (b. 1682)
1761 – William Oldys, English historian and author (b. 1696)
1764 – Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer and mathematician (b. 1679)
1765 – Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian chemist and physicist (b. 1711)
1788 – Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
1793 – Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian priest, mathematician, and astronomer (b. 1718)
1854 – Arthur Aikin, English chemist and mineralogist (b. 1773)
1861 – Sylvester Jordan, Austrian-German lawyer and politician (b. 1792)
1865 – Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
1888 – Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic (b. 1822)
1889 – Father Damien, Belgian priest and saint (b. 1840)
1898 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician
1912 – Victims of the Titanic disaster:
- Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder (b. 1873)
- John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel, businessman, and author (b. 1864)
- Archibald Butt, American general and journalist (b. 1865)
- Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (b. 1875)
- Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (b. 1865)
- Henry B. Harris, American producer and manager (b. 1866)
- Wallace Hartley, English violinist and bandleader (b. 1878)
- James Paul Moody, English Sixth Officer (b. 1887)
- William McMaster Murdoch, Scottish First Officer (b. 1873)
- Jack Phillips, English telegraphist (b. 1887)
- Edward Smith, English Captain (b. 1850)
- William Thomas Stead, English journalist (b. 1849)
- Ida Straus, German-American businesswoman (b. 1849)
- Isidor Straus, German-American businessman and politician (b. 1845)
- John B. Thayer, American business and sportsman (b. 1862)
- Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer (b. 1872)
1917 – János Murkovics, Slovene author, poet, and educator (b. 1839)
1927 – Gaston Leroux, French journalist and author (b. 1868)
1938 – César Vallejo, Peruvian journalist, poet, and playwright (b. 1892)
1942 – Robert Musil, Austrian-Swiss author and playwright (b. 1880)
1943 – Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian painter and set designer (b. 1882)
1944 – Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (b. 1901)
1945 – Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (b. 1895)
1948 – Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (b. 1892)
1949 – Wallace Beery, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1885)
1962 – Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1880)
1962 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (b. 1912)
1963 – Edward Greeves, Jr., Australian footballer (b. 1903)
1966 – Habibullah Bahar Chowdhury, Bengali politician, writer, journalist, first health minister of East Pakistan
1967 – Totò, Italian comedian (b. 1898)
1971 – Gurgen Boryan, Armenian poet and playwright (b. 1915)
1971 – Friedebert Tuglas, Estonian author and critic (b. 1886)
1979 – David Brand, Australian politician, 19th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1912)
1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (b. 1904)
1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
1982 – Arthur Lowe, English actor (b. 1915)
1984 – Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedian and magician (b. 1921)
1986 – Jean Genet, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1910)
1988 – Kenneth Williams, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1926)
1989 – Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915)
1990 – Greta Garbo, Swedish-American actress (b. 1905)
1993 – Leslie Charteris, English author and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1993 – John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geophysicist and geologist (b. 1908)
1998 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (b. 1912)
1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1925)
1999 – Harvey Postlethwaite, English engineer (b. 1944)
2000 – Edward Gorey, American poet and illustrator (b. 1925)
2001 – Joey Ramone, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2002 – Damon Knight, American author and critic (b. 1922)
2002 – Byron White, American football player, lawyer, and jurist, 4th United States Deputy Attorney General (b. 1917)
2004 – Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Japanese illustrator (b. 1934)
2007 – Brant Parker, American illustrator (b. 1920)
2008 – Krister Stendahl, Swedish bishop, theologian, and scholar (b. 1921)
2009 – Clement Freud, German-English journalist, academic, and politician (b. 1924)
2009 – László Tisza, Hungarian-American physicist and academic (b. 1907)
2009 – Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (b. 1947)
2010 – Jack Herer, American author and activist (b. 1939)
2010 – Michael Pataki, American actor and director (b. 1938)
2011 – Vittorio Arrigoni, Italian journalist, author, and activist (b. 1975)
2012 – Paul Bogart, American director and producer (b. 1919)
2012 – Dwayne Schintzius, American basketball player (b. 1968)
2013 – Benjamin Fain, Ukrainian-Israeli physicist and academic (b. 1930)
2013 – Richard LeParmentier, American-English actor and screenwriter (b. 1946)
2013 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (b. 1928)
2014 – John Houbolt, American engineer and academic (b. 1919)
2014 – Eliseo Verón, Argentinian sociologist and academic (b. 1935)
2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian-American actor and screenwriter (b. 1966)
2015 – Surya Bahadur Thapa, Nepalese politician, 24th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1928)
2017 – Clifton James, American actor (b. 1920)
2017 – Emma Morano, Italian supercentenarian, last person verified born in the 1800s (b. 1899)
2018 – R. Lee Ermey, American actor (b. 1944)
2018 – Vittorio Taviani, Italian film director and screenwriter (b. 1929)

Holidays and observances on April 15

Christian feast day:
- Abbo II of Metz
- Father Damien (The Episcopal Church)
- Hunna
- Paternus of Avranches
- April 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of the Sun (North Korea)
Earliest day on which Sechseläuten can fall, while April 21 is the latest; celebrated on the third Monday in April. (Zürich)
Father Damien Day (Hawaii)
Hillsborough Disaster Memorial (Liverpool, England)
Jackie Robinson Day (United States)
National American Sign Language Day (United States)
One Boston Day (United States)
Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)
Tax Day, the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension). (United States, Philippines)
Universal Day of Culture
World Art Day

April 15 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

240 – Shapur I becomes co-emperor of the Sasanian Empire with his father Ardashir I.
467 – Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
627 – King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus, bishop of York.
1012 – Duke Oldřich of Bohemia deposes and blinds his brother Jaromír who flees to Poland.
1204 – The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
1606 – The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of English and Scottish ships.
1776 – American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Britain.
1807 – The Froberg mutiny ends when the remaining mutineers blow up the magazine of Fort Ricasoli.
1820 – Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece.
1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, cause it to collapse.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Fort Sumter. The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
1862 – American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw).
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Fort Pillow: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
1865 – American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union Army.
1877 – The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
1910 – SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnought battleships built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
1917 – World War I: Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
1927 – Shanghai massacre of 1927: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front.
1927 – Rocksprings, Texas was hit by an F5 tornado that destroyed 235 of the 247 buildings in the town and killed 72 townspeople and injured 205; third deadliest tornado in Texas history.
1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.
1934 – The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
1937 – Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, England.
1945 – U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office; Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes President upon Roosevelt’s death.
1945 – World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.
1955 – The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared safe and effective.
1961 – Cold War: Space Race: The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, Vostok 1.
1963 – The Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-33 collides with the Finnish merchant vessel M/S Finnclipper in the Danish straits.
1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
1980 – The Americo-Liberian government of Liberia is violently deposed.
1980 – Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to Hercílio Luz International Airport, in Florianópolis, Brazil. Fifty-five out of the 58 people on board are killed.
1981 – The first launch of a Space Shuttle (Columbia) takes place: The STS-1 mission.
1983 – Harold Washington is elected as the first black mayor of Chicago.
1990 – Jim Gary’s “Twentieth Century Dinosaurs” exhibition opens at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He is the only sculptor ever invited to present a solo exhibition there.
1992 – The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland; the resort and its park’s name are subsequently changed to Disneyland Paris.
1999 – United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving “intentionally false statements” in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
2002 – A suicide bomber blows herself up at the entrance to Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market, killing seven people and wounding 104.
2007 – A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
2009 – Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwean dollar as its official currency.
2010 – Merano derailment: A rail accident in South Tyrol kills nine people and injures a further 28.
2013 – Two suicide bombers kill three Chadian soldiers and injure dozens of civilians at a market in Kidal, Mali.
2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16 people, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

Births on April 12

811 – Muhammad al-Jawad, the ninth Imam of Shia Islam (d. 835)
959 – En’yū, emperor of Japan (d. 991)
1116 – Richeza of Poland, queen of Sweden and Grand Princess of Minsk (d. 1156)
1432 – Anne of Austria, Landgravine of Thuringia (d. 1462)
1484 – Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect, designed the Apostolic Palace and St. Peter’s Basilica (d. 1546)
1484 – Maharana Sangram Singh, Rana of Mewar (d. 1527)
1500 – Joachim Camerarius, German scholar and translator (d. 1574)
1526 – Muretus, French philosopher and author (d. 1585)
1550 – Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English courtier and politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (d. 1604)
1577 – Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648)
1612 – Simone Cantarini, Italian painter and engraver (d. 1648)
1639 – Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician (d. 1712)
1656 – Benoît de Maillet, French diplomat and natural historian (d. 1738)
1705 – William Cookworthy, English minister and pharmacist (d. 1780)
1710 – Caffarelli, Italian actor and singer (d. 1783)
1713 – Guillaume Thomas François Raynal, French historian and author (d. 1796)
1716 – Felice Giardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1796)
1722 – Pietro Nardini, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1793)
1724 – Lyman Hall, American physician, clergyman, and politician, 16th Governor of Georgia (d. 1790)
1748 – Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist and author (d. 1836)
1777 – Henry Clay, American lawyer and politician, 9th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
1792 – John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, English soldier and politician, Lord Privy Seal (d. 1840)
1794 – Germinal Pierre Dandelin, Belgian mathematician and engineer (d. 1847)
1796 – George N. Briggs, American lawyer and politician, 19th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1861)
1799 – Henri Druey, Swiss lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1855)
1801 – Joseph Lanner, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1843)
1816 – Charles Gavan Duffy, Irish-Australian politician, 8th Premier of Victoria (d. 1903)
1823 – Alexander Ostrovsky, Russian playwright and translator (d. 1886)
1839 – Nikolay Przhevalsky, Russian geographer and explorer (d. 1888)
1845 – Gustaf Cederström, Swedish painter (d. 1933)
1851 – José Gautier Benítez, Puerto Rican soldier and poet (d. 1880)
1851 – Edward Walter Maunder, English astronomer and author (d. 1928)
1852 – Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician and academic (d. 1939)
1856 – Martin Conway, 1st Baron Conway of Allington, English mountaineer, cartographer, and politician (d. 1937)
1863 – Raul Pompeia, Brazilian writer (d. 1895)
1868 – Akiyama Saneyuki, Japanese admiral (d. 1918)
1869 – Henri Désiré Landru, French serial killer (d. 1922)
1871 – Ioannis Metaxas, Greek general and politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1941)
1874 – William B. Bankhead, American lawyer and politician, 47th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1940)
1880 – Addie Joss, American baseball player and journalist (d. 1911)
1883 – Imogen Cunningham, American photographer and educator (d. 1976)
1883 – Dally Messenger, Australian rugby player, cricketer, and sailor (d. 1959)
1884 – Tenby Davies, Welsh runner (d. 1932)
1884 – Otto Meyerhof, German physician and biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1885 – Robert Delaunay, French painter (d. 1941)
1887 – Harold Lockwood, American actor and director (d. 1918)
1888 – Dan Ahearn, Irish-American long jumper and police officer (d. 1942)
1888 – Cecil Kimber, English automobile engineer (d. 1945)
1892 – Henry Darger, American writer and artist (d. 1973)
1894 – Dorothy Cumming, Australian-American actress (d. 1983)
1894 – Francisco Craveiro Lopes, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 13th President of Portugal (d. 1964)
1898 – Lily Pons, French-American soprano and actress (d. 1976)
1901 – Lowell Stockman, American farmer and politician (d. 1962)
1902 – Louis Beel, Dutch academic and politician, 36th Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
1903 – Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1907 – Zawgyi, Burmese poet, author, literary historian, critic, scholar and academic (d. 1990)
1907 – Felix de Weldon, Austrian-American sculptor, designed the Marine Corps War Memorial (d. 2003)
1908 – Ida Pollock, English author and painter (d. 2013)
1908 – Robert Lee Scott, Jr., American pilot and general (d. 2006)
1910 – Gillo Dorfles, Italian art critic, painter and philosopher (d. 2018)
1910 – Irma Rapuzzi, French politician (d. 2018)
1911 – Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer (d. 1976)
1912 – Frank Dilio, Canadian businessman (d. 1997)
1912 – Hamengkubuwono IX, Indonesian politician, 2nd Vice President of Indonesia (d. 1988)
1912 – Hound Dog Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1975)
1913 – Keiko Fukuda, Japanese-American martial artist (d. 2013)
1914 – Armen Alchian, American economist and academic (d. 2013)
1916 – Beverly Cleary, American author
1916 – Russell Garcia, American-New Zealander composer and conductor (d. 2011)
1916 – Benjamin Libet, American neuropsychologist and academic (d. 2007)
1917 – Helen Forrest, American singer and actress (d. 1999)
1917 – Vinoo Mankad, Indian cricketer (d. 1978)
1917 – Robert Manzon, French racing driver (d. 2015)
1919 – István Anhalt, Hungarian-Canadian composer and educator (d. 2012)
1919 – Billy Vaughn, American musician and bandleader (d. 1991)
1921 – Robert Cliche, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1978)
1922 – Simon Kapwepwe, Zambian politician, 2nd Vice President of Zambia (d. 1980)
1923 – Ann Miller, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2004)
1924 – Raymond Barre, French economist and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
1924 – Peter Safar, Austrian physician and academic (d. 2003)
1924 – Curtis Turner, American race car driver (d. 1970)
1925 – Evelyn Berezin, American computer scientist and engineer (d. 2018)
1925 – Ned Miller, American country music singer and songwriter (d. 2016)
1925 – Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1926 – Jane Withers, American actress
1927 – Thomas Hemsley, English baritone (d. 2013)
1927 – Alvin Sargent, two-time Academy-Award-winning American screenwriter (d. 2019)
1928 – Hardy Krüger, German actor
1928 – Jean-François Paillard, French conductor (d. 2013)
1929 – Elspet Gray, Scottish actress (d. 2013)
1929 – Mukhran Machavariani, Georgian poet and educator (d. 2010)
1930 – John Landy, Australian runner and politician, 26th Governor of Victoria
1930 – Bryan Magee, English philosopher and politician (d. 2019)
1930 – Manuel Neri, American sculptor and painter
1930 – Michał Życzkowski, Polish technician and educator (d. 2006)
1931 – Leonid Derbenyov, Russian poet and songwriter (d. 1995)
1932 – Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 5th Sri Lankan Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2005)
1932 – Jean-Pierre Marielle, French actor (d. 2019)
1932 – Tiny Tim, American singer and ukulele player (d. 1996)
1933 – Montserrat Caballé, Spanish soprano and actress (d. 2018)
1934 – Heinz Schneiter, Swiss footballer and manager (d. 2017)
1936 – Charles Napier, American actor (d. 2011)
1936 – Kennedy Simmonds, Kittitian politician, 4th Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis
1937 – Dennis Banks, American author and activist (d. 2017)
1937 – Igor Volk, Ukrainian-Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English director and playwright
1939 – Johnny Raper, Australian rugby league player and coach
1940 – Woodie Fryman, American baseball player (d. 2011)
1940 – Herbie Hancock, American pianist, composer, and bandleader
1941 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (d. 1993)
1942 – Bill Bryden, Scottish actor, director, and screenwriter
1942 – Carlos Reutemann, Argentinian race car driver and politician
1942 – Jacob Zuma, South African politician, 4th President of South Africa
1943 – Sumitra Mahajan, Indian politician, 16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
1944 – Lisa Jardine, English historian, author, and academic (d. 2015)
1944 – John Kay, German-Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1945 – Lee Jong-wook, South Korean physician and diplomat (d. 2006)
1946 – Ed O’Neill, American actor and comedian
1946 – George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen, Scottish politician and diplomat, 10th Secretary General of NATO
1947 – Roy M. Anderson, English epidemiologist, zoologist, and academic
1947 – Martin Brasier, English palaeontologist, biologist, and academic (d. 2014)
1947 – Alex Briley, American disco singer
1947 – Tom Clancy, American historian and author (d. 2013)
1947 – Woody Johnson, American businessman and philanthropist
1947 – Dan Lauria, American actor
1947 – David Letterman, American comedian and talk show host
1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television host and producer (d. 2008)
1948 – Joschka Fischer, German academic and politician
1948 – Marcello Lippi, Italian footballer, manager, and coach
1949 – Scott Turow, American lawyer and author
1950 – Flavio Briatore, Italian businessman
1950 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1950 – Joyce Banda, Malawian politician, 4th president of Malawi
1950 – Nick Sackman, English composer and educator
1951 – Tom Noonan, American actor
1952 – Reuben Gant, American football player
1952 – Leicester Rutledge, New Zealand rugby player
1952 – Gary Soto, American poet, novelist, and memoirist
1952 – Ralph Wiley, American journalist (d. 2004)
1953 – Tanino Liberatore, Italian author and illustrator
1954 – John Faulkner, Australian educator and politician, 52nd Australian Minister for Defence
1954 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician (d. 2015)
1954 – Pat Travers, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1955 – Fabian Hamilton, English graphic designer, engineer, and politician
1956 – Andy Garcia, Cuban-American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer-songwriter and actor
1957 – Greg Child, Australian mountaineer and author
1957 – Vince Gill, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1957 – Tama Janowitz, American novelist and short story writer
1958 – Will Sergeant, English guitarist
1958 – Klaus Tafelmeier, German javelin thrower
1958 – Ginka Zagorcheva, Bulgarian hurdler
1959 – Howard Stableford, English radio and television host
1961 – Corrado Fabi, Italian racing driver
1961 – Charles Mann, American football player and sportscaster
1961 – Magda Szubanski, English-Australian actress, comedian and writer
1962 – Art Alexakis, American singer-songwriter and musician
1962 – Carlos Sainz, Spanish racing driver
1962 – Nobuhiko Takada, Japanese mixed martial artist and wrestler, founded Hustle
1963 – Lydia Cacho, Mexican journalist and author
1964 – Chris Fairclough, English footballer and coach
1965 – Amy Ray, American folk-rock singer-songwriter, musician, and music producer
1965 – Kim Bodnia, Danish actor and director
1965 – Chi Onwurah, English politician
1965 – Gervais Rufyikiri, Burundian politician
1965 – Mihai Stoica, Romanian footballer and manager
1966 – Nils-Olav Johansen, Norwegian guitarist and singer
1966 – Lorenzo White, American football player
1967 – Sarah Cracknell, English singer-songwriter
1968 – Alicia Coppola, American actress
1968 – Toby Gad, German songwriter and producer
1968 – Adam Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Jörn Lenz, German footballer and manager
1969 – Lucas Radebe, South African footballer and sportscaster
1969 – Michael Jackson, American football player and politician (d. 2017)
1970 – Sylvain Bouchard, Canadian speed skater
1971 – Nicholas Brendon, American actor
1971 – Shannen Doherty, American actress, director, and producer
1972 – Paul Lo Duca, American baseball player and sportscaster
1973 – J. Scott Campbell, American author and illustrator
1973 – Ryan Kisor, American trumpet player and composer
1973 – Antonio Osuna, Mexican-American baseball player
1973 – Christian Panucci, Italian footballer and manager
1974 – Belinda Emmett, Australian actress (d. 2006)
1974 – Bryan Fletcher, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1974 – Roman Hamrlík, Czech ice hockey player
1974 – Marley Shelton, American actress
1974 – Sylvinho, Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Olga Kotlyarova, Russian runner
1976 – Brad Miller, American basketball player
1977 – Giovanny Espinoza, Ecuadorian footballer
1977 – Sarah Monahan, Australian actress
1977 – Jason Price, Welsh footballer
1977 – Glenn Rogers, Australian-Scottish cricketer
1978 – Guy Berryman, Scottish bass player and producer
1978 – Scott Crary, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1978 – Svetlana Lapina, Russian high jumper
1978 – Robin Walker, English businessman and politician
1979 – Claire Danes, American actress
1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast
1979 – Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
1979 – Jennifer Morrison, American actress
1979 – Cristian Ranalli, Italian footballer
1979 – Lee Soo-young, South Korean singer
1980 – Sara Head, Welsh Paralympic table tennis champion
1980 – Brian McFadden, Irish singer-songwriter
1981 – Yuriy Borzakovskiy, Russian runner
1981 – Nicolás Burdisso, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Tulsi Gabbard, American politician
1981 – Grant Holt, English footballer and professional wrestler
1981 – Hisashi Iwakuma, Japanese baseball pitcher
1983 – Jelena Dokic, Serbian-Australian tennis player
1983 – Luke Kibet, Kenyan runner
1984 – Aleksey Dmitrik, Russian high jumper
1985 – Brennan Boesch, American baseball player
1985 – Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer
1986 – Brad Brach, American baseball pitcher
1986 – Blerim Džemaili, Swiss footballer
1986 – Marcel Granollers, Spanish tennis player
1986 – Jonathan Pitroipa, Burkinabé footballer
1987 – Brooklyn Decker, American model and actress
1987 – Shawn Gore, Canadian football player
1987 – Josh McCrone, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Luiz Adriano, Brazilian professional footballer
1987 – Brendon Urie, American singer, songwriter, musician and multi-instrumentalist
1988 – Ricardo Gabriel Álvarez, Argentinian footballer
1988 – Stephen Brogan, English footballer
1988 – Amedeo Calliari, Italian footballer
1988 – Jessie James Decker, American singer-songwriter
1989 – Bethan Dainton, Welsh rugby union player
1989 – Miguel Ángel Ponce, American-Mexican footballer
1989 – Ádám Hanga, Hungarian basketball player
1989 – Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian-American ice dancer
1989 – Valentin Stocker, Swiss footballer
1990 – Francesca Halsall, English swimmer
1990 – Hiroki Sakai, Japanese footballer
1991 – Torey Krug, American ice hockey player
1991 – Lionel Carole, French professional footballer
1991 – Oliver Norwood, English born Northern Irish international footballer
1991 – Magnus Pääjärvi, Swedish ice hockey player
1991 – Jazz Richards, Welsh international footballer
1992 – Chad le Clos, South African swimmer
1993 – Jordan Archer, English-Scottish footballer
1993 – Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Canadian ice hockey player
1994 – Isabelle Drummond, Brazilian actress and singer
1994 – Saoirse Ronan, American-born Irish actress
1994 – Oh Sehun, South Korean musician
1994 – Eric Bailly, Ivorian professional footballer
1994 – Guido Rodríguez, Argentine footballer
1995 – Pedro Cachín, Argentine tennis player
1996 – Elizaveta Kulichkova, Russian tennis player

Deaths on April 12

45 BC – Gnaeus Pompeius, Roman general and politician (b. 75 BC)
352 – Julius I, pope of the Catholic Church
434 – Maximianus, archbishop of Constantinople
901 – Eudokia Baïana, Byzantine empress and wife of Leo VI
1125 – Vladislaus I, Duke of Bohemia (b. 1065)
1167 – Charles VII, king of Sweden (b. c. 1130)
1212 – Vsevolod the Big Nest, Grand Prince of Vladimir (b. 1154)
1256 – Margaret of Bourbon, Queen of Navarre, regent of Navarre (b. c. 1217)
1443 – Henry Chichele, English archbishop (b. 1364)
1500 – Leonhard of Gorizia, Count of Gorz (b. 1440)
1530 – Joanna La Beltraneja, Princess of Castile (b. 1462)
1550 – Claude, Duke of Guise (b. 1496)
1555 – Joanna of Castile (b. 1479)
1675 – Richard Bennett, English politician, colonial Governor of Virginia (b. 1609)
1684 – Nicola Amati, Italian instrument maker (b. 1596)
1687 – Ambrose Dixon, English-American soldier (b. 1619)
1704 – Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and theologian (b. 1627)
1748 – William Kent, English architect, designed Holkham Hall and Chiswick House (b. 1685)
1782 – Metastasio, Italian-Austrian poet and composer (b. 1698)
1788 – Carlo Antonio Campioni, French-Italian composer (b. 1719)
1795 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (b. 1710)
1814 – Charles Burney, English composer and historian (b. 1726)
1817 – Charles Messier, French astronomer and academic (b. 1730)
1850 – Adoniram Judson, American lexicographer and missionary (b. 1788)
1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician, founded Fleetwood (b. 1801)
1872 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer and theorist (b. 1795)
1878 – William M. Tweed, American lawyer and politician (b. 1823)
1879 – Richard Taylor, American general (b. 1826)
1885 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1817)
1898 – Elzéar-Alexandre Taschereau, Canadian cardinal (b. 1820)
1902 – Marie Alfred Cornu, French physicist and academic (b. 1842)
1906 – Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar, academic, and philanthropist (b. 1836)
1912 – Clara Barton, American nurse and humanitarian, founded the American Red Cross (b. 1821)
1933 – Adelbert Ames, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Mississippi (b. 1835)
1937 – Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Turkish playwright and poet (b. 1852)
1938 – Feodor Chaliapin, Russian opera singer (b. 1873)
1943 – Viktor Puskar, Estonian colonel (b. 1889)
1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, American lawyer and politician, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
1953 – Lionel Logue, Australian actor and therapist (b. 1880)
1962 – Ron Flockhart, Scottish racing driver (b. 1923)
1966 – Sydney Allard, English racing driver and founder of the Allard car company (b. 1910)
1968 – Heinrich Nordhoff, German engineer (b. 1899)
1971 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and dentist (b. 1886)
1973 – Arthur Freed, American songwriter and producer (b. 1894)
1975 – Josephine Baker, French actress, activist, and humanitarian (b. 1906)
1977 – Philip K. Wrigley, American businessman, co-founded Lincoln Park Gun Club (b. 1894)
1980 – William R. Tolbert, Jr., Liberian politician, 20th President of Liberia (b. 1913)
1981 – Prince Yasuhiko Asaka of Japan (b. 1887)
1981 – Joe Louis, American boxer and wrestler (b. 1914)
1983 – Jørgen Juve, Norwegian football player and journalist (b. 1906)
1983 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (b. 1944)
1984 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral and cryptanalyst (b. 1903)
1986 – Valentin Kataev, Russian author and playwright (b. 1897)
1988 – Colette Deréal, French singer and actress (b. 1927)
1988 – Alan Paton, South African historian and author (b. 1903)
1989 – Abbie Hoffman, American activist, co-founded Youth International Party (b. 1936)
1989 – Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
1992 – Ilario Bandini, Italian racing driver and businessman (b. 1911)
1997 – George Wald, American neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
1998 – Robert Ford, Canadian poet and diplomat (b. 1915)
1999 – Boxcar Willie, American singer-songwriter (b. 1931)
2001 – Harvey Ball, American illustrator, created the smiley (b. 1921)
2002 – George Shevelov, Ukrainian-American linguist and philologist (b. 1908)
2004 – Moran Campbell, Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (b. 1925)
2006 – William Sloane Coffin, American minister and activist (b. 1924)
2007 – Kevin Crease, Australian journalist (b. 1936)
2008 – Cecilia Colledge, English-American figure skater and coach (b. 1920)
2008 – Patrick Hillery, Irish physician and politician, 6th President of Ireland (b. 1923)
2008 – Jerry Zucker, Israeli-American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1949)
2010 – Michel Chartrand, Canadian trade union leader (b. 1916)
2010 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (b. 1945)
2011 – Karim Fakhrawi, Bahraini journalist, co-founded Al-Wasat (b. 1962)
2012 – Mohit Chattopadhyay, Indian poet and playwright (b. 1934)
2012 – Rodgers Grant, American pianist and composer (b. 1935)
2013 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (b. 1928)
2013 – Johnny du Plooy, South African boxer (b. 1964)
2013 – Michael France, American screenwriter (b. 1962)
2013 – Brennan Manning, American priest and author (b. 1934)
2013 – Annamária Szalai, Hungarian journalist and politician (b. 1961)
2013 – Ya’akov Yosef, Israeli rabbi and politician (b. 1946)
2014 – Pierre Autin-Grenier, French author and poet (b. 1947)
2014 – Pierre-Henri Menthéour, French cyclist (b. 1960)
2014 – Maurício Alves Peruchi, Brazilian footballer (b. 1990)
2014 – Hal Smith, American baseball player and coach (b. 1931)
2014 – Billy Standridge, American race car driver (b. 1953)
2015 – Paulo Brossard, Brazilian jurist and politician (b. 1924)
2015 – Patrice Dominguez, Algerian-French tennis player and trainer (b. 1950)
2015 – Alfred Eick, German commander (b. 1916)
2015 – André Mba Obame, Gabonese politician (b. 1957)
2016 – Anne Jackson, American actress (b. 1925)
2016 – Mohammad Al Gaz, Emirati politician & diplomat (b. 1930)
2017 – Charlie Murphy, American actor and comedian (b. 1959)
2020 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (b. 1983)

Holidays and observances on April 12

Children’s Day (Bolivia)
Christian feast day:
- Adoniram Judson (Episcopal Church)
- Alferius
- Blessed Angelo Carletti di Chivasso
- Erkembode
- Pope Julius I
- Teresa of the Andes
- Zeno of Verona
- April 12 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Commemoration of first human in space by Yuri Gagarin:
- Cosmonautics Day (Russia)
- International Day of Human Space Flight
- Yuri’s Night (International observance)
Halifax Day (North Carolina)
National Redemption Day (Liberia)

April 12 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine emperor, with the name of Anastasius I.
1241 – Batu Khan defeats Béla IV of Hungary at the Battle of Mohi.
1512 – War of the League of Cambrai: French forces led by Gaston de Foix win the Battle of Ravenna.
1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: A French army defeats Habsburg forces at the Battle of Ceresole, but fails to exploit its victory.
1689 – William III and Mary II are crowned as joint sovereigns of Great Britain.
1713 – War of the Spanish Succession (Queen Anne’s War): Treaty of Utrecht.
1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig
1809 – An incomplete British victory over the French fleet at the Battle of the Basque Roads results in the court-martial of James, Lord Gambier.
1814 – The Treaty of Fontainebleau ends the War of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon Bonaparte, and forces him to abdicate unconditionally for the first time.
1856 – Second Battle of Rivas: Juan Santamaría burns down the hostel where William Walker’s filibusters are holed up.
1868 – Former shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrenders Edo Castle to Imperial forces, marking the end of the Tokugawa shogunate.
1876 – The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks is organized.
1881 – Spelman College is founded in Atlanta, Georgia as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, an institute of higher education for African-American women.
1908 – SMS Blücher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, is launched.
1909 – The city of Tel Aviv is founded.
1921 – Emir Abdullah establishes the first centralised government in the newly created British protectorate of Transjordan.
1945 – World War II: American forces liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp.
1951 – Korean War: President Harry Truman relieves General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of overall command in Korea.
1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.
1955 – The Air India Kashmir Princess is bombed and crashes in a failed assassination attempt on Zhou Enlai by the Kuomintang.
1957 – United Kingdom agrees to Singaporean self-rule.
1961 – The trial of Adolf Eichmann begins in Jerusalem.
1963 – Pope John XXIII issues Pacem in terris, the first encyclical addressed to all Christians instead of only Catholics, and which described the conditions for world peace in human terms.
1964 – Brazilian Marshal Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco is elected President by the National Congress.
1965 – The Palm Sunday tornado outbreak of 1965: Fifty-one tornadoes hit in six Midwestern states, killing 256 people.
1968 – President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.
1968 – Assassination attempt on Rudi Dutschke, leader of the German student movement.
1970 – Apollo 13 is launched.
1976 – The Apple I is created.
1977 – London Transport’s Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
1979 – Ugandan dictator Idi Amin is deposed.
1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.
1986 – FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan were killed, while five other agents were wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed.
1987 – The London Agreement is secretly signed between Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres and King Hussein of Jordan.
1990 – Customs officers in Middlesbrough, England, seize what they believe to be the barrel of a massive gun on a ship bound for Iraq.
1993 – Four hundred fifty prisoners rioted at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, and continued to do so for ten days, citing grievances related to prison conditions, as well as the forced vaccination of Nation of Islam prisoners (for tuberculosis) against their religious beliefs.
2001 – The detained crew of a United States EP-3E aircraft that landed in Hainan, China after a collision with a J-8 fighter, is released.
2002 – The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.
2002 – Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the Presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed.
2006 – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran’s claim to have successfully enriched uranium.
2007 – Algiers bombings: Two bombings in Algiers kill 33 people and wound a further 222 others.
2011 – An explosion in the Minsk Metro, Belarus kills 15 people and injures 204 others.
2012 – A pair of great earthquakes occur in the Wharton Basin west of Sumatra in Indonesia. The maximum Mercalli intensity of this strike-slip doublet earthquake was VII (Very strong). Ten were killed, twelve were injured, and a non-destructive tsunami was observed on the island of Nias.
2018 – An Ilyushin Il-76 which was owned and operated by the Algerian Air Force crashes near Boufarik, Algeria, killing 257.

Births on April 11

145 – Septimius Severus, Roman emperor (probable; d. 211)
1184 – William of Winchester, Lord of Lüneburg (d. 1213)
1348 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385)
1357 – John I of Portugal (d. 1433)
1370 – Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (d. 1428)
1374 – Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England (d. 1398)
1493 – George I, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1531)
1591 – Bartholomeus Strobel, Silezian painter (d. 1650)
1592 – John Eliot, English lawyer and politician (d. 1632)
1644 – Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, Duchess of Savoy (d. 1724)
1658 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish peer (d. 1712)
1683 – Jean-Joseph Mouret, French composer and conductor (d. 1738)
1715 – John Alcock, English organist and composer (d. 1806)
1721 – David Zeisberger, Czech-American clergyman and missionary (d. 1808)
1722 – Christopher Smart, English actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1771)
1749 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, French miniaturist and portrait painter (d. 1803)
1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist (d. 1824)
1770 – George Canning, Irish-English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
1794 – Edward Everett, English-American educator and politician, 15th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1865)
1798 – Macedonio Melloni, Italian physicist and academic (d. 1854)
1819 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor (d. 1895)
1825 – Ferdinand Lassalle, German philosopher and jurist (d. 1864)
1827 – Jyotirao Phule, Indian scholar, philosopher, and activist (d. 1890)
1854 – Hugh Massie, Australian cricketer (d. 1938)
1856 – Arthur Shrewsbury, English cricketer and rugby player (d. 1903)
1859 – Stefanos Thomopoulos, Greek historian and author (d. 1939)
1862 – William Wallace Campbell, American astronomer and academic (d. 1938)
1862 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 44th United States Secretary of State (d. 1948)
1864 – Johanna Elberskirchen, German author and activist (d. 1943)
1866 – Bernard O’Dowd, Australian journalist, author, and poet (d. 1953)
1867 – Mark Keppel, American educator (d. 1928)
1869 – Gustav Vigeland, Norwegian sculptor, designed the Nobel Peace Prize medal (d. 1943)
1871 – Gyula Kellner, Hungarian runner (d. 1940)
1873 – Edward Lawson, English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1955)
1876 – Paul Henry, Irish painter (d. 1958)
1876 – Ivane Javakhishvili, Georgian historian and academic (d. 1940)
1879 – Bernhard Schmidt, Estonian-German astronomer and optician (d. 1935)
1887 – Jamini Roy, Indian painter (d. 1972)
1893 – Dean Acheson, American lawyer and politician, 51st United States Secretary of State (d. 1971)
1896 – Léo-Paul Desrosiers, Canadian journalist and author (d. 1967)
1899 – Percy Lavon Julian, African-American chemist and academic (d. 1975)
1900 – Sándor Márai, Hungarian journalist and author (d. 1989)
1903 – Misuzu Kaneko, Japanese poet (d. 1930)
1904 – K. L. Saigal, Indian singer and actor (d. 1947)
1905 – Attila József, Hungarian poet and educator (d. 1937)
1906 – Dale Messick, American author and illustrator (d. 2005)
1907 – Paul Douglas, American actor (d. 1959)
1908 – Jane Bolin, American lawyer and judge (d. 2007)
1908 – Masaru Ibuka, Japanese businessman, co-founded Sony (d. 1997)
1908 – Dan Maskell, English tennis player and sportscaster (d. 1992)
1908 – Leo Rosten, Polish-American author and academic (d. 1997)
1910 – António de Spínola, Portuguese general and politician, 14th President of Portugal (d. 1996)
1912 – John Levy, American bassist and businessman (d. 2012)
1913 – Oleg Cassini, French-American fashion designer (d. 2006)
1914 – Norman McLaren, Scottish-Canadian animator, director, and producer (d. 1987)
1914 – Robert Stanfield, Canadian economist, lawyer, and politician, 17th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2003)
1914 – Dorothy Lewis Bernstein, American mathematician (d. 1988)
1916 – Alberto Ginastera, Argentinian-Swiss pianist and composer (d. 1983)
1916 – Howard W. Koch, American director and producer (d. 2001)
1917 – David Westheimer, American soldier, journalist, and author (d. 2005)
1918 – Richard Wainwright, English soldier and politician (d. 2003)
1919 – Raymond Carr, English historian and academic (d. 2015)
1920 – Emilio Colombo, Italian lawyer and politician, 40th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2013)
1920 – William Royer, American soldier and politician (d. 2013)
1921 – Jim Hearn, American baseball player (d. 1998)
1921 – Jack Rayner, Australian rugby league player and coach (d. 2008)
1922 – Arved Viirlaid, Estonian-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2015)
1923 – George J. Maloof, Sr., American businessman (d. 1980)
1924 – Mohammad Naseem, Pakistani-English activist and politician (d. 2014)
1925 – Yuriy Lituyev, Russian hurdler and commander (d. 2000)
1925 – Viola Liuzzo, American civil rights activist (d. 1965)
1925 – Viktor Masing, Estonian botanist and ecologist (d. 2001)
1925 – Pierre Péladeau, Canadian businessman, founded Quebecor (d. 1997)
1926 – David Manker Abshire, American commander and diplomat, United States Permanent Representative to NATO (d. 2014)
1926 – Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2011)
1926 – Karl Rebane, Estonian physicist and academic (d. 2007)
1927 – Lokesh Chandra, Indian historian
1928 – Ethel Kennedy, American philanthropist
1928 – Edwin Pope, American journalist and author (d. 2017)
1928 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2013)
1930 – Nicholas F. Brady, American businessman and politician, 68th United States Secretary of the Treasury
1930 – Walter Krüger, German javelin thrower (d. 2018)
1930 – Anton LaVey, American occultist, founded the Church of Satan (d. 1997)
1931 – Lewis Jones, Welsh rugby player and coach
1932 – Joel Grey, American actor, singer, and dancer
1933 – Tony Brown, American journalist and academic
1934 – Mark Strand, Canadian-born American poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014)
1934 – Ron Pember, English actor, director and playwright
1935 – Richard Berry, American singer-songwriter (d. 1997)
1936 – Brian Noble, English bishop (d. 2019)
1937 – Jill Gascoine, English actress and author
1938 – Gerry Baker, American soccer player and manager (d. 2013)
1938 – Michael Deaver, American politician, Deputy White House Chief of Staff (d. 2007)
1938 – Reatha King, American chemist and businesswoman
1939 – Luther Johnson, American singer and guitarist
1939 – Louise Lasser, American actress
1940 – Col Firmin, Australian politician (d. 2013)
1940 – Thomas Harris, American author and screenwriter
1940 – Władysław Komar, Polish shot putter and actor (d. 1998)
1941 – Ellen Goodman, American journalist and author
1941 – Shirley Stelfox, English actress (d. 2015)
1942 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2014)
1942 – Hattie Gossett, American writer
1942 – James Underwood, English pathologist and academic
1943 – John Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich, English businessman and politician
1943 – Harley Race, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2019)
1944 – Peter Barfuß, German footballer
1944 – John Milius, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1945 – John Krebs, Baron Krebs, English zoologist and academic
1946 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (d. 2015)
1946 – Bob Harris, English journalist and radio host
1947 – Lev Bulat, Ukrainian-Russian physicist and academic (d. 2016)
1947 – Uli Edel, German director and screenwriter
1947 – Frank Mantooth, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
1947 – Peter Riegert, American actor, screenwriter and film director
1947 – Michael T. Wright, English engineer and academic (d. 2015)
1949 – Bernd Eichinger, German director and producer (d. 2011)
1950 – Bill Irwin, American actor and clown
1951 – Paul Fox, English singer and guitarist (d. 2007)
1952 – Nancy Honeytree, American singer and guitarist
1952 – Indira Samarasekera, Sri Lankan engineer and academic
1952 – Peter Windsor, English-Australian journalist and sportscaster
1953 – Guy Verhofstadt, Belgian politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium
1953 – Andrew Wiles, English mathematician and academic
1954 – Abdullah Atalar, Turkish engineer and academic
1954 – Aleksandr Averin, Azerbaijani cyclist and coach
1954 – Francis Lickerish, English guitarist and composer
1954 – David Perrett, Scottish psychologist and academic
1954 – Ian Redmond, English biologist and conservationist
1954 – Willie Royster, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1955 – Kevin Brady, American lawyer and politician
1955 – Michael Callen, American singer-songwriter and AIDS activist (d. 1993)
1955 – Micheal Ray Richardson, American basketball player and coach
1958 – Stuart Adamson, Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2001)
1958 – Lyudmila Kondratyeva, Russian sprinter
1959 – Pierre Lacroix, Canadian ice hockey player
1959 – Ana María Polo, Cuban-American lawyer and judge
1959 – Zahid Maleque, Bangladeshi politician
1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, English journalist and television presenter
1961 – Vincent Gallo, American actor, director, producer, and musician
1961 – Doug Hopkins, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 1993)
1961 – Nobuaki Kakuda, Japanese martial artist
1962 – Franck Ducheix, French fencer
1962 – Mark Lawson, English journalist and author
1963 – Billy Bowden, New Zealand cricketer and umpire
1963 – Waldemar Fornalik, Polish footballer and manager
1963 – Elizabeth Smylie, Australian tennis player
1964 – Steve Azar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – John Cryer, English journalist and politician
1964 – Johann Sebastian Paetsch, American cellist
1964 – Bret Saberhagen, American baseball player and coach
1964 – Patrick Sang, Kenyan runner
1966 – Steve Scarsone, American baseball player and manager
1966 – Shin Seung-hun, South Korean singer-songwriter
1966 – Lisa Stansfield, English singer-songwriter and actress
1968 – Sergei Lukyanenko, Kazakh-Russian journalist and author
1969 – Cerys Matthews, Welsh singer-songwriter
1969 – Michael von Grünigen, Swiss skier
1970 – Trevor Linden, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1970 – Delroy Pearson, English singer-songwriter and producer
1971 – John Leech, English politician
1971 – Oliver Riedel, German bass player
1972 – Balls Mahoney, American wrestler (d. 2016)
1972 – Allan Théo, French singer
1972 – Jason Varitek, American baseball player and manager
1973 – Jennifer Esposito, American actress
1973 – Olivier Magne, French rugby player
1974 – Àlex Corretja, Spanish tennis player and coach
1974 – Ashot Danielyan, Armenian weightlifter
1974 – David Jassy, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1974 – Zöe Lucker, English actress
1974 – Tom Thacker, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1974 – Trot Nixon, American baseball player and sportscaster
1975 – Olga Hostáková, Czech tennis player
1975 – Walid Soliman, Tunisian author and translator
1976 – Kelvim Escobar, Venezuelan baseball player
1977 – Ivonne Teichmann, German runner
1978 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1979 – Malcolm Christie, English footballer
1979 – Sebastien Grainger, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Michel Riesen, Swiss ice hockey player
1979 – Josh Server, American actor
1980 – Keiji Tamada, Japanese footballer
1980 – Mark Teixeira, American baseball player
1981 – Alessandra Ambrosio, Brazilian model
1981 – Alexandre Burrows, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Veronica Pyke, Australian cricketer
1982 – Ian Bell, English cricketer
1982 – Peeter Kümmel, Estonian skier
1983 – Jennifer Heil, Canadian skier
1983 – Rubén Palazuelos, Spanish footballer
1983 – Nicky Pastorelli, Dutch race car driver
1984 – Kelli Garner, American actress
1984 – Nikola Karabatić, French handball player
1985 – Pablo Hernández Domínguez, Spanish footballer
1985 – Will Minson, Australian footballer
1986 – Sarodj Bertin, Haitian model and human rights lawyer
1986 – Dai Greene, Welsh hurdler
1986 – Lena Schöneborn, German pentathlete
1987 – Joss Stone, English singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Lights, Canadian singer-songwriter
1988 – Leland Irving, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Torrin Lawrence, American sprinter (d. 2014)
1989 – Zola Jesus, American singer
1990 – Dimitrios Anastasopoulos, Greek footballer
1990 – Thulani Serero, South African footballer
1991 – Thiago Alcântara, Spanish footballer
1991 – Brennan Poole, American racing driver
1996 – Dele Alli, English international footballer
1997 – Georgia Bohl, Australian swimmer
1997 – Miriam Kolodziejová, a Czech tennis player

Deaths on April 11

618 – Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (b. 569)
678 – Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 610)
924 – Herman I, chancellor and archbishop of Cologne
1034 – Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine emperor (b. 968)
1077 – Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (b. 1014)
1079 – Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków (b. 1030)
1165 – Stephen IV, king of Hungary and Croatia
1240 – Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (b. 1172)
1447 – Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1377)
1512 – Gaston de Foix, French military commander (b. 1489)
1554 – Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader (b. 1521)
1587 – Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (b. 1530)
1609 – John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, English noble (b. 1533)
1612 – Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian and author (b. 1535)
1612 – Edward Wightman, English minister and martyr (b. 1566)
1626 – Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (b. 1568)
1712 – Richard Simon, French priest and critic (b. 1638)
1723 – John Robinson, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1650)
1783 – Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Polish-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1718)
1798 – Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet and academic (b. 1725)
1856 – Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier (b. 1831)
1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (b. 1824)
1873 – Edward Canby, American general (b. 1817)
1890 – David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (b. 1808)
1890 – Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (b. 1862)
1894 – Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist (b. 1832)
1895 – Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (b. 1830)
1902 – Wade Hampton III, American general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (b. 1818)
1903 – Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (b. 1878)
1906 – James Anthony Bailey, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1847)
1906 – Francis Pharcellus Church, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Armed Forces Journal and The Galaxy Magazine (b. 1839)
1908 – Henry Bird, English chess player and author (b. 1829)
1916 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (b. 1864)
1918 – Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (b. 1841)
1926 – Luther Burbank, American botanist and academic (b. 1849)
1939 – Kurtdereli Mehmet, Turkish wrestler (b. 1864)
1953 – Kid Nichols, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869)
1954 – Paul Specht, American violinist and bandleader (b. 1895)
1958 – Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter and educator (b. 1875)
1960 – Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress (b. 1878)
1962 – Ukichiro Nakaya, Japanese physicist and academic (b. 1900)
1962 – George Poage, American hurdler and educator (b. 1880)
1967 – Thomas Farrell, American general (b. 1891)
1967 – Donald Sangster, Jamaican lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Jamaica (b. 1911)
1970 – Cathy O’Donnell, American actress (b. 1923)
1970 – John O’Hara, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1905)
1974 – Ernst Ziegler, German actor (b. 1894)
1977 – Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (b. 1900)
1977 – Phanishwar Nath ‘Renu’, Indian author and activist (b. 1921)
1980 – Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turkish journalist and producer (b. 1935)
1981 – Caroline Gordon, American author and critic (b. 1895)
1983 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (b. 1904)
1984 – Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (b. 1910)
1985 – Bunny Ahearne, Irish-born English businessman (b. 1900)
1985 – John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (b. 1898)
1985 – Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (b. 1908)
1987 – Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (b. 1903)
1987 – Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (b. 1919)
1990 – Harold Ballard, Canadian businessman (b. 1903)
1991 – Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (b. 1915)
1991 – Bruno Hoffmann. German glass harp player (b. 1913)
1992 – James Brown, American actor and singer (b. 1920)
1992 – Eve Merriam, American author and poet (b. 1916)
1992 – Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, sculptor, and engraver (b. 1920)
1996 – Jessica Dubroff, American pilot (b. 1988)
1997 – Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (b. 1899)
1997 – Wang Xiaobo, contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist (b. 1952)
1999 – William H. Armstrong, American author and educator (b. 1911)
2000 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (b. 1945)
2001 – Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (b. 1900)
2005 – André François, Romanian-French cartoonist, painter, and sculptor (b. 1915)
2005 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (b. 1907)
2006 – June Pointer, American singer (b. 1953)
2006 – DeShaun Holton, American rapper and actor (b. 1973)
2007 – Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (b. 1922)
2007 – Loïc Leferme, French diver (b. 1970)
2007 – Janet McDonald, American lawyer and author (b. 1954)
2007 – Ronald Speirs, Scottish-American colonel (b. 1920)
2007 – Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (b. 1922)
2008 – Merlin German, American sergeant (b. 1985)
2009 – Gerda Gilboe, Danish actress and singer (b. 1914)
2009 – Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (b. 1912)
2009 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (b. 1927)
2010 – Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (b. 1948)
2011 – Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (b. 1981)
2012 – Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (b. 1916)
2012 – Roger Caron, Canadian criminal and author (b. 1938)
2012 – Tippy Dye, American basketball player and coach (b. 1915)
2012 – Hal McKusick, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (b. 1924)
2012 – Agustin Roman, American bishop (b. 1928)
2013 – Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (b. 1953)
2013 – Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1922)
2013 – Thomas Hemsley, English actor and singer (b. 1927)
2013 – Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist (b. 1916)
2013 – Gilles Marchal, French singer-songwriter (b. 1944)
2013 – Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (b. 1925)
2013 – Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect (b. 1923)
2013 – Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (b. 1925)
2014 – Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (b. 1926)
2014 – Edna Doré, English actress (b. 1921)
2014 – Bill Henry, American baseball player (b. 1927)
2014 – Lou Hudson, American basketball player and sportscaster (b. 1944)
2014 – Myer S. Kripke, American rabbi and scholar (b. 1914)
2014 – Sergey Nepobedimy, Russian engineer (b. 1921)
2014 – Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1944)
2015 – Jimmy Gunn, American football player (b. 1948)
2015 – Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (b. 1952)
2015 – François Maspero, French journalist and author (b. 1932)
2015 – Hanut Singh, Indian general (b. 1933)
2015 – Tekena Tamuno, Nigerian historian and academic (b. 1932)
2017 – J. Geils, American singer and guitarist (b. 1946)
2017 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (b. 1945)
2020 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician (b. 1937)

Holidays and observances on April 11

Christian feast day:
- Antipas of Pergamum (Greek Orthodox Church)
- Gemma Galgani
- Godeberta
- Guthlac of Crowland
- George Selwyn (Anglicanism)
- Stanislaus of Szczepanów
- April 11 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Juan Santamaría Day, anniversary of his death in the Second Battle of Rivas. (Costa Rica)
International Louie Louie Day
World Parkinson’s Day

April 11 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

451 – Attila the Hun sacks the town of Metz and attacks other cities in Gaul.
529 – First draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.
611 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul sacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico.
1141 – Empress Matilda became the first female ruler of England, adopting the title ‘Lady of the English’.
1348 – Charles University is founded in Prague.
1521 – Ferdinand Magellan arrives at Cebu.
1541 – Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies.
1724 – Premiere performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion, BWV 245, at St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig.
1767 – End of Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67).
1776 – Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward.
1788 – American pioneers to the Northwest Territory establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory.
1789 – Selim III became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and Caliph of Islam.
1798 – The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition: The Corps of Discovery breaks camp among the Mandan tribe and resumes its journey West along the Missouri River.
1805 – German composer Ludwig van Beethoven premiered his Third Symphony, at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna.
1827 – John Walker, an English chemist, sells the first friction match that he had invented the previous year.
1829 – Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, commences translation of the Book of Mormon, with Oliver Cowdery as his scribe.
1831 – Emperor Pedro I of Brazil resigns. He goes to his native Portugal to become King Pedro IV.
1862 – American Civil War: The Union’s Army of the Tennessee and the Army of the Ohio defeat the Confederate Army of Mississippi near Shiloh, Tennessee.
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation, is assassinated by a Fenian activist.
1890 – Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal.
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.
1906 – The Algeciras Conference gives France and Spain control over Morocco.
1922 – The United States Secretary of the Interior leases federal petroleum reserves to private oil companies on excessively generous terms.
1927 – The first long-distance public television broadcast (from Washington, D.C., to New York City, displaying the image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover).
1933 – Prohibition in the United States is repealed for beer of no more than 3.2% alcohol by weight, eight months before the ratification of the XXI amendment. (Now celebrated as National Beer Day in the United States.)
1940 – Booker T. Washington becomes the first African American to be depicted on a United States postage stamp.
1943 – The Holocaust in Ukraine: In Terebovlia, Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress and march through the city to the nearby village of Plebanivka, where they are shot and buried in ditches.
1943 – Ioannis Rallis becomes collaborationist Prime Minister of Greece during the Axis Occupation.
1945 – World War II: The battleship Yamato, one of the two largest ever constructed, is sunk by American aircraft during Operation Ten-Go.
1945 – World War II: Visoko is liberated by the 7th, 9th, and 17th Krajina brigades from the Tenth division of Yugoslav Partisan forces.
1948 – The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.
1949 – The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific opened on Broadway; it would run for 1,925 performances and win ten Tony Awards.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his “domino theory” speech during a news conference.
1955 – Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health.
1964 – IBM announces the System/360.
1964 – A bulldozer kills Rev. Bruce W. Klunder, a civil rights activist, during a school segregation protest in Cleveland, Ohio, sparking a riot.
1965 – Representatives of the National Congress of American Indians testify before members of the US Senate against the termination of the Colville tribe in Washington DC.
1968 – Motor racing world champion Jim Clark is killed in an accident during a Formula Two race at Hockenheim.
1969 – The Internet’s symbolic birth date: Publication of RFC 1.
1971 – President Richard Nixon announces his decision to quicken the pace of Vietnamization.
1976 – Member of Parliament and suspected spy John Stonehouse resigns from the Labour Party (UK) after being arrested for faking his own death.
1977 – German Federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot by two Red Army Faction members while waiting at a red light.
1978 – Development of the neutron bomb is canceled by President Jimmy Carter.
1980 – During the Iran hostage crisis, the United States severs relations with Iran.
1983 – During STS-6, astronauts Story Musgrave and Don Peterson perform the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.
1989 – Soviet submarine Komsomolets sinks in the Barents Sea off the coast of Norway killing 42 sailors.
1990 – Iran–Contra affair: John Poindexter is found guilty of five charges for his part in the scandal (the conviction is later reversed on appeal).
1990 – A fire breaks out on the passenger ferry Scandinavian Star, killing 159 people.
1994 – Rwandan genocide: Massacres of Tutsis begin in Kigali, Rwanda.
1994 – Auburn Calloway attempts to destroy Federal Express Flight 705 in order to allow his family to benefit from his life insurance policy.
1995 – First Chechen War: Russian paramilitary troops begin a massacre of civilians in Samashki, Chechnya.
1999 – The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas.
2001 – Mars Odyssey is launched.
2003 – U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein’s regime falls two days later.
2009 – Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces.
2009 – Mass protests begin across Moldova under the belief that results from the parliamentary election are fraudulent.
2017 – A man deliberately drives a hijacked truck into a crowd of people, killing five people and injuring fifteen others.

Births on April 7

1206 – Otto II Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1253)
1330 – John, 3rd Earl of Kent, English nobleman (d. 1352)
1470 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (d. 1498)
1506 – Francis Xavier, Spanish missionary and saint, co-founded the Society of Jesus (d. 1552)
1539 – Tobias Stimmer, Swiss painter and illustrator (d. 1584)
1613 – Gerrit Dou, Dutch painter (d. 1675)
1644 – François de Neufville, duc de Villeroy, French general (d. 1730)
1648 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1721)
1652 – Pope Clement XII (d. 1740)
1713 – Nicola Sala, Italian composer and theorist (d. 1801)
1718 – Hugh Blair, Scottish minister and author (d. 1800)
1727 – Michel Adanson, French botanist, entomologist, and mycologist (d. 1806)
1763 – Domenico Dragonetti, Italian bassist and composer (d. 1846)
1770 – William Wordsworth, English poet (d. 1850)
1772 – Charles Fourier, French philosopher and author (d. 1837)
1780 – William Ellery Channing, American preacher and theologian (d. 1842)
1803 – James Curtiss, American journalist and politician, 11th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1859)
1803 – Flora Tristan, French author and activist (d. 1844)
1811 – Hasan Tahsini, Albanian astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher (d. 1881)
1817 – Francesco Selmi, Italian chemist and patriot (d. 1881)
1848 – Randall Davidson, Scottish archbishop (d. 1930)
1859 – Walter Camp, American football player and coach (d. 1925)
1860 – Will Keith Kellogg, American businessman, founded the Kellogg Company (d. 1951)
1867 – Holger Pedersen, Danish linguist and academic (d. 1953)
1870 – Gustav Landauer, Jewish-German theorist and activist (d. 1919)
1871 – Epifanio de los Santos, Filipino jurist, historian, and scholar (d. 1927)
1873 – John McGraw, American baseball player and manager (d. 1934)
1874 – Frederick Carl Frieseke, German-American painter (d. 1939)
1876 – Fay Moulton, American sprinter, football player, coach, and lawyer (d. 1945)
1882 – Bert Ironmonger, Australian cricketer (d. 1971)
1882 – Kurt von Schleicher, German general and politician, 23rd Chancellor of Germany (d. 1934)
1883 – Gino Severini, Italian-French painter and author (d. 1966)
1884 – Clement Smoot, American golfer (d. 1963)
1886 – Ed Lafitte, American baseball player and soldier (d. 1971)
1889 – Gabriela Mistral, Chilean poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
1890 – Paul Berth, Danish footballer (d. 1969)
1890 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas, American journalist and activist (d. 1998)
1891 – Ole Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman, founded the Lego Group (d. 1958)
1893 – Allen Dulles, American lawyer and diplomat, 5th Director of Central Intelligence (d. 1969)
1895 – John Flannagan, American soldier and sculptor (d. 1942)
1895 – Margarete Schön, German actress (d. 1985)
1896 – Frits Peutz, Dutch architect, designed the Glaspaleis (d. 1974)
1897 – Erich Löwenhardt, Polish-German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1918)
1897 – Walter Winchell, American journalist and radio host (d. 1972)
1899 – Robert Casadesus, French pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1900 – Adolf Dymsza, Polish actor (d. 1975)
1900 – Tebbs Lloyd Johnson, English race walker (d. 1984)
1902 – Eduard Eelma, Estonian footballer (d. 1941)
1903 – M. Balasundaram, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician (d. 1965)
1903 – Edwin T. Layton, American admiral (d. 1984)
1904 – Roland Wilson, Australian economist and statistician (d. 1996)
1908 – Percy Faith, Canadian composer, conductor, and bandleader (d. 1976)
1908 – Pete Zaremba, American hammer thrower (d. 1994)
1909 – Robert Charroux, French author and critic (d. 1978)
1913 – Louise Currie, American actress (d. 2013)
1913 – Charles Vanik, American soldier, judge, and politician (d. 2007)
1914 – Ralph Flanagan, American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1995)
1915 – Stanley Adams, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Billie Holiday, American singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1959)
1915 – Henry Kuttner, American author (d. 1958)
1916 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (d. 2003)
1917 – R. G. Armstrong, American actor and playwright (d. 2012)
1918 – Bobby Doerr, American baseball player and coach (d. 2017)
1919 – Roger Lemelin, Canadian author and screenwriter (d. 1992)
1919 – Edoardo Mangiarotti, Italian fencer (d. 2012)
1920 – Ravi Shankar, Indian-American sitar player and composer (d. 2012)
1921 – Feza Gürsey, Turkish mathematician and physicist (d. 1992)
1922 – Mongo Santamaría, Cuban-American drummer (d. 2003)
1924 – Johannes Mario Simmel, Austrian-English author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1925 – Chaturanan Mishra, Indian trade union leader and politician (d. 2011)
1925 – Jan van Roessel, Dutch footballer (d. 2011)
1927 – Babatunde Olatunji, Nigerian-American drummer, educator, and activist (d. 2003)
1927 – Leonid Shcherbakov, Russian triple jumper
1928 – James Garner, American actor, singer, and producer (d. 2014)
1928 – Alan J. Pakula, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1928 – James White, Northern Irish author and educator (d. 1999)
1929 – Bob Denard, French soldier (d. 2007)
1929 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (d. 1972)
1930 – Jane Priestman, English interior designer
1930 – Yves Rocher, French businessman, founded the Yves Rocher Company (d. 2009)
1930 – Andrew Sachs, German-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1930 – Roger Vergé, French chef and restaurateur (d. 2015)
1931 – Donald Barthelme, American short story writer and novelist (d. 1989)
1931 – Daniel Ellsberg, American activist and author
1932 – Cal Smith, American singer and guitarist (d. 2013)
1933 – Wayne Rogers, American actor, investor, and producer (d. 2015)
1933 – Sakıp Sabancı, Turkish businessman and philanthropist (d. 2004)
1934 – Ian Richardson, Scottish-English actor (d. 2007)
1935 – Bobby Bare, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1935 – Hodding Carter III, American journalist and politician, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs
1937 – Charlie Thomas, American singer
1938 – Jerry Brown, American lawyer and politician, 34th and 39th Governor of California
1938 – Spencer Dryden, American drummer (d. 2005)
1938 – Freddie Hubbard, American trumpet player and composer (d. 2008)
1938 – Iris Johansen, American author
1939 – Francis Ford Coppola, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1939 – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (d. 2013)
1939 – Gary Kellgren, American record producer, co-founded Record Plant (d. 1977)
1939 – Brett Whiteley, Australian painter (d. 1992)
1940 – Marju Lauristin, Estonian academic and politician, 1st Estonian Minister of Social Affairs
1941 – James Di Pasquale, American composer
1941 – Peter Fluck, English puppet maker and illustrator
1941 – Cornelia Frances, English-Australian actress (d. 2018)
1941 – Gorden Kaye, English actor (d. 2017)
1942 – Jeetendra, Indian actor, TV and film producer
1943 – Mick Abrahams, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Dennis Amiss, English cricketer and manager
1944 – Shel Bachrach, American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
1944 – Warner Fusselle, American sportscaster (d. 2012)
1944 – Oshik Levi, Israeli singer and actor
1944 – Julia Phillips, American film producer and author (d. 2002)
1944 – Gerhard Schröder, German lawyer and politician, 7th Chancellor of Germany
1944 – Bill Stoneman, American baseball player and manager
1945 – Megas, Icelandic singer-songwriter
1945 – Gerry Cottle, English businessman
1945 – Marilyn Friedman, American philosopher and academic
1945 – Martyn Lewis, Welsh journalist and author
1945 – Joël Robuchon, French chef and author (d. 2018)
1945 – Werner Schroeter, German director and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1945 – Hans van Hemert, Dutch songwriter and producer
1946 – Zaid Abdul-Aziz, American basketball player
1946 – Colette Besson, French runner and educator (d. 2005)
1946 – Herménégilde Chiasson, Canadian poet, playwright, and politician, 29th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
1946 – Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenian politician and diplomate
1946 – Stan Winston, American special effects designer and makeup artist (d. 2008)
1947 – Patricia Bennett, American singer
1947 – Florian Schneider, German singer and drummer (d. 2020)
1947 – Michèle Torr, French singer and author
1948 – John Oates, American singer-songwriter guitarist, and producer
1949 – Mitch Daniels, American academic and politician, 49th Governor of Indiana
1950 – Brian J. Doyle, American press secretary
1951 – Bruce Gary, American drummer (d. 2006)
1951 – Janis Ian, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1952 – David Baulcombe, English geneticist and academic
1952 – Jane Frederick, American hurdler and heptathlete
1952 – Gilles Valiquette, Canadian actor, singer, and producer
1952 – Dennis Hayden, American actor
1953 – Santa Barraza, American mixed media artist
1953 – Douglas Kell, English biochemist and academic
1954 – Jackie Chan, Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Tony Dorsett, American football player
1955 – Tim Cochran, American mathematician and academic (d. 2014)
1955 – Gregg Jarrett, American lawyer and journalist
1956 – Annika Billström, Swedish businesswoman and politician, 16th Mayor of Stockholm
1956 – Christopher Darden, American lawyer and author
1956 – Georg Werthner, Austrian decathlete
1957 – Kim Kap-soo, South Korean actor
1957 – Thelma Walker, British politician
1958 – Brian Haner, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Hindrek Kesler, Estonian architect
1960 – Buster Douglas, American boxer and actor
1960 – Sandy Powell, English costume designer
1961 – Thurl Bailey, American basketball player and actor
1961 – Pascal Olmeta, French footballer
1961 – Brigitte van der Burg, Tanzanian-Dutch geographer and politician
1962 – Jon Cruddas, English lawyer and politician
1962 – Andrew Hampsten, American cyclist
1963 – Jaime de Marichalar, Spanish businessman
1963 – Nick Herbert, English businessman and politician, Minister for Policing
1963 – Dave Johnson, American decathlete and educator
1964 – Jace Alexander, American actor and director
1964 – Russell Crowe, New Zealand-Australian actor
1964 – Steve Graves, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Bill Bellamy, American comedian, actor, and producer
1965 – Rozalie Hirs, Dutch composer and poet
1965 – Alison Lapper, English painter and photographer
1965 – Nenad Vučinić, Serbian-New Zealand basketball player and coach
1966 – Richard Gomez, Filipino actor and politician
1966 – Zvika Hadar, Israeli entertainer
1966 – Béla Mavrák, Hungarian tenor singer
1966 – Gary Wilkinson, English snooker player
1967 – Artemis Gounaki, Greek-German singer-songwriter
1967 – Bodo Illgner, German footballer
1967 – Simone Schilder, Dutch tennis player
1968 – Duncan Armstrong, Australian swimmer and sportscaster
1968 – Jennifer Lynch, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Jože Možina, Slovenian historian, sociologist and journalist
1968 – Vasiliy Sokov, Russian triple jumper
1969 – Ricky Watters, American football player
1970 – Leif Ove Andsnes, Norwegian pianist and educator
1971 – Guillaume Depardieu, French actor (d. 2008)
1971 – Victor Kraatz, German-Canadian figure skater
1972 – Tim Peake, British astronaut
1973 – Marco Delvecchio, Italian footballer
1973 – Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, Dutch lawyer and politician, Dutch Minister of Defence
1973 – Carole Montillet, French skier
1973 – Christian O’Connell, British radio DJ and presenter
1973 – Brett Tomko, American baseball player
1975 – Karin Dreijer Andersson, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – Ronde Barber, American football player and sportscaster
1975 – Tiki Barber, American football player and journalist
1975 – Ronnie Belliard, American baseball player
1975 – John Cooper, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1975 – Simon Woolford, Australian rugby league player
1976 – Kevin Alejandro, American actor and producer
1976 – Martin Buß, German high jumper
1976 – Jessica Lee, English lawyer and politician
1976 – Aaron Lohr, American actor
1976 – Barbara Jane Reams, American actress
1976 – Gang Qiang, Chinese anchor
1978 – Jo Appleby, English soprano
1978 – Duncan James, English singer-songwriter and actor
1978 – Lilia Osterloh, American tennis player
1979 – Adrián Beltré, Dominican-American baseball player
1979 – Patrick Crayton, American football player
1979 – Pascal Dupuis, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Danny Sandoval, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1980 – Dragan Bogavac, Montenegrin footballer
1980 – Tetsuji Tamayama, Japanese actor
1981 – Hitoe Arakaki, Japanese singer
1981 – Kazuki Watanabe, Japanese songwriter and guitarist (d. 2000)
1981 – Vanessa Olivarez, American singer-songwriter, and actress
1981 – Suzann Pettersen, Norwegian golfer
1982 – Silvana Arias, Peruvian actress
1982 – Sonjay Dutt, American wrestler
1982 – Kelli Young, English singer
1983 – Hamish Davidson, Australian musician
1983 – Franck Ribéry, French footballer
1983 – Jon Stead, English footballer
1983 – Jakub Smrž, Czech motorcycle rider
1983 – Janar Talts, Estonian basketball player
1984 – Hiroko Shimabukuro, Japanese singer
1985 – KC Concepcion, Filipino actress and singer
1985 – Humza Yousaf, Scottish politician
1986 – Brooke Brodack, American comedian
1986 – Jack Duarte, Mexican actor, singer, and guitarist
1986 – Andi Fraggs, English singer-songwriter and producer
1986 – Christian Fuchs, Austrian footballer
1987 – Martín Cáceres, Uruguayan footballer
1987 – Eelco Sintnicolaas, Dutch decathlete
1987 – Jamar Smith, American football player
1988 – Antonio Piccolo, Italian footballer
1988 – Ed Speleers, English actor and producer
1989 – Alexa Demara, American actress, model and writer
1989 – Franco Di Santo, Argentinian footballer
1989 – Mitchell Pearce, Australian rugby league player
1989 – Teddy Riner, French judoka
1990 – Nickel Ashmeade, Jamaican sprinter
1990 – Anna Bogomazova, Russian-American kick-boxer, martial artist, and wrestler
1990 – Sorana Cîrstea, Romanian tennis player
1990 – Trent Cotchin, Australian footballer
1991 – Luka Milivojević, Serbian footballer
1991 – Anne-Marie, English singer-songwriter
1992 – Andreea Acatrinei, Romanian gymnast
1992 – Guilherme Negueba, Brazilian footballer
1993 – Ichinojō Takashi, Mongolian sumo wrestler
1994 – Johanna Allik, Estonian figure skater
1994 – Aaron Gray, Australian rugby league player
1996 – Emerson Hyndman, American international soccer player^[5]
1997 – Rafaela Gómez, Ecuadorian tennis player

Deaths on April 7

AD 30 – Jesus Christ, (possible date of the crucifixion) (b. circa 4 BC)
821 – George the Standard-Bearer, archbishop of Mytilene (b. c. 776)
924 – Berengar I of Italy (b. 845)
1206 – Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
1340 – Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia (b. 1308)
1498 – Charles VIII of France (b. 1470)
1499 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (b. 1442)
1501 – Minkhaung II, king of Ava (b. 1446)
1606 – Edward Oldcorne, English martyr (b. 1561)
1614 – El Greco, Greek-Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1541)
1638 – Shimazu Tadatsune, Japanese daimyō (b. 1576)
1651 – Lennart Torstensson, Swedish field marshal and engineer (b. 1603)
1658 – Juan Eusebio Nieremberg, Spanish mystic and philosopher (b. 1595)
1661 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (b. 1604)
1663 – Francis Cooke, English-American settler (b. 1583)
1668 – William Davenant, English poet and playwright (b. 1606)
1719 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint, founded the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (b. 1651)
1739 – Dick Turpin, English criminal (b. 1705)
1747 – Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. 1676)
1761 – Thomas Bayes, English minister and mathematician (b. 1701)
1766 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist and critic (b. 1685)
1767 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer and director (b. 1715)
1782 – Taksin, Thai king (b. 1734)
1789 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman sultan (b. 1725)
1789 – Petrus Camper, Dutch physician, anatomist, and physiologist (b. 1722)
1801 – Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer and author (b. 1724)
1804 – Toussaint Louverture, Haitian general (b. 1743)
1811 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician (b. 1757)
1823 – Jacques Charles, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1746)
1833 – Antoni Radziwiłł, Lithuanian composer and politician (b. 1775)
1836 – William Godwin, English journalist and author (b. 1756)
1849 – Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros, Argentinian priest and politician (b. 1777)
1850 – William Lisle Bowles, English poet and critic (b. 1762)
1858 – Anton Diabelli, Austrian composer and publisher (b. 1781)
1868 – Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Irish-Canadian journalist, activist, and politician (b. 1825)
1879 – Begum Hazrat Mahal, Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (b. 1820)
1885 – Karl Theodor Ernst von Siebold, German physiologist and zoologist (b. 1804)
1889 – Youssef Bey Karam, Lebanese soldier and politician (b. 1823)
1889 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician and president, 1872-1876 (b. 1823)
1891 – P. T. Barnum, American businessman and politician, co-founded The Barnum & Bailey Circus (b. 1810)
1917 – Spyridon Samaras, Greek composer and playwright (b. 1861)
1918 – David Kolehmainen, Finnish wrestler (b. 1885)
1918 – George E. Ohr, American potter (b. 1857)
1920 – Karl Binding, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1841)
1922 – James McGowen, Australian politician, 18th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1855)
1928 – Alexander Bogdanov, Russian physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1873)
1932 – Grigore Constantinescu, Romanian priest and journalist (b. 1875)
1938 – Suzanne Valadon, French painter (b. 1865)
1939 – Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1879)
1943 – Jovan Dučić, Serbian-American poet and diplomat (b. 1871)
1943 – Alexandre Millerand, French lawyer and politician, 12th President of France (b. 1859)
1947 – Henry Ford, American engineer and businessman, founded the Ford Motor Company (b. 1863)
1949 – John Gourlay, Canadian soccer player (b. 1872)
1950 – Walter Huston, Canadian-American actor and singer (b. 1883)
1955 – Theda Bara, American actress (b. 1885)
1956 – Fred Appleby, English runner (b. 1879)
1960 – Henri Guisan, Swiss general (b. 1874)
1965 – Roger Leger, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1919)
1966 – Walt Hansgen, American race car driver (b. 1919)
1968 – Edwin Baker, Canadian co-founder of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) (b. 1893)
1968 – Jim Clark, Scottish race car driver (b. 1936)
1972 – Joe Gallo, American gangster (b. 1929)
1972 – Abeid Karume, Tanzanian politician, 1st President of Zanzibar (b. 1905)
1981 – Kit Lambert, English record producer and manager (b. 1935)
1981 – Norman Taurog, American director and screenwriter (b. 1899)
1982 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (b. 1948)
1984 – Frank Church, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1924)
1985 – Carl Schmitt, German philosopher and jurist (b. 1888)
1986 – Leonid Kantorovich, Russian mathematician and economist (b. 1912)
1990 – Ronald Evans, American captain, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1933)
1991 – Memduh Ünlütürk, Turkish general (b. 1913)
1992 – Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1903)
1992 – Antonis Tritsis, Greek high jumper and politician, 71st Mayor of Athens (b. 1937)
1994 – Lee Brilleaux, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1952)
1994 – Albert Guðmundsson, Icelandic footballer, manager, and politician (b. 1923)
1994 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (b. 1909)
1994 – Agathe Uwilingiyimana, Rwandan chemist, academic, and politician, Prime Minister of Rwanda (b. 1953)
1995 – Philip Jebb, English architect and politician (b. 1927)
1997 – Luis Aloma, Cuban-American baseball player (b. 1923)
1997 – Georgy Shonin, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935)
1998 – Alex Schomburg, Puerto Rican-American painter and illustrator (b. 1905)
1999 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1911)
2001 – David Graf, American actor (b. 1950)
2001 – Beatrice Straight, American actress (b. 1914)
2002 – John Agar, American actor (b. 1921)
2003 – Cecile de Brunhoff, French pianist and author (b. 1903)
2003 – David Greene, English-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1921)
2004 – Victor Argo, American actor (b. 1934)
2004 – Konstantinos Kallias, Greek politician (b. 1901)
2005 – Cliff Allison, English race car driver (b. 1932)
2005 – Grigoris Bithikotsis, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1922)
2005 – Bob Kennedy, American baseball player, coach, and manager (b. 1920)
2005 – Melih Kibar, Turkish composer and educator (b. 1951)
2007 – Johnny Hart, American author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2007 – Barry Nelson, American actor (b. 1917)
2008 – Ludu Daw Amar, Burmese journalist and author (b. 1915)
2009 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (b. 1947)
2011 – Pierre Gauvreau, Canadian painter (b. 1922)
2012 – Steven Kanumba, Tanzanian actor and director (b. 1984)
2012 – Satsue Mito, Japanese zoologist and academic (b. 1914)
2012 – Ignatius Moses I Daoud, Syrian cardinal (b. 1930)
2012 – David E. Pergrin, American colonel and engineer (b. 1917)
2012 – Bashir Ahmed Qureshi, Pakistani politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Mike Wallace, American television news journalist (b. 1918)
2013 – Marty Blake, American businessman (b. 1927)
2013 – Les Blank, American director and producer (b. 1935)
2013 – Andy Johns, English-American record producer (b. 1950)
2013 – Lilly Pulitzer, American fashion designer (b. 1931)
2013 – Irma Ravinale, Italian composer and educator (b. 1937)
2013 – Mickey Rose, American screenwriter (b. 1935)
2013 – Carl Williams, American boxer (b. 1959)
2014 – George Dureau, American painter and photographer (b. 1930)
2014 – James Alexander Green, American-English mathematician and academic (b. 1926)
2014 – V. K. Murthy, Indian cinematographer (b. 1923)
2014 – Zeituni Onyango, Kenyan-American computer programmer (b. 1952)
2014 – John Shirley-Quirk, English opera singer (b. 1931)
2014 – George Shuffler, American guitarist (b. 1925)
2014 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (b. 1927)
2014 – Royce Waltman, American basketball player and coach (b. 1942)
2015 – Tim Babcock, American soldier and politician, 16th Governor of Montana (b. 1919)
2015 – José Capellán, Dominican-American baseball player (b. 1981)
2015 – Stan Freberg, American puppeteer, voice actor, and singer (b. 1926)
2015 – Richard Henyekane, South African footballer (b. 1983)
2015 – Geoffrey Lewis, American actor (b. 1935)
2016 – Blackjack Mulligan, American professional wrestler (b. 1942)
2019 – Seymour Cassel, American actor (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances on April 7

Christian feast days:
- Aibert of Crespin
- Blessed Alexander Rawlins
- Blessed Edward Oldcorne and Blessed Ralph Ashley
- Blessed Notker the Stammerer
- Brynach
- Hegesippus
- Henry Walpole
- Hermann Joseph
- Jean-Baptiste de La Salle
- Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (Eastern Orthodox Church, Episcopal Church (USA))
- April 7 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Flag Day (Slovenia)
Genocide Memorial Day (Rwanda), and its related observance:
- International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Rwanda Genocide (United Nations)
Motherhood and Beauty Day (Armenia)
National Beer Day (United States)
Sheikh Abeid Amani Karume Day (Tanzania)
Women’s Day (Mozambique)
World Health Day (International observance)

April 7 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

On the Roman calendar, this was known as the day before the nones of April (Latin: Prid. Non. Apr.).

April 4 in History

503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.
1147 – Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes.
1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
1460 – Basel University is founded.
1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
1609 – Moriscos are expelled from the Kingdom of Valencia.
1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.
1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.
1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.
1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.
1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.
1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).
1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.
1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances.
1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.
1859 – Bryant’s Minstrels debut “Dixie” in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.
1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague.
1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.
1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party in Germany.
1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather.
1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country themselves.
1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.
1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.
1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.
1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech in New York City’s Riverside Church.
1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.
1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.
1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.
1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.
1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.
1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
1990 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People’s Congress.
1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation.
1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
2009 – France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.
2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
2020 – China holds a National day of mourning for martyrs who died in the fight against the novel coronavirus disease outbreak.

Births on April 4

188 – Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
1436 – Amalia of Saxony, Duchess of Bavaria-Landshut (d. 1501)
1490 – Vojtěch I of Pernstein, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1534)
1492 – Ambrosius Blarer, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (d. 1564)
1572 – William Strachey, English author (d. 1621)
1586 – Richard Saltonstall, English diplomat (d. 1661)
1593 – Edward Nicholas, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1669)
1640 – Gaspar Sanz, Spanish guitarist, composer, and priest (d. 1710)
1646 – Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist (d. 1715)
1648 – Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-English sculptor (d. 1721)
1676 – Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (d. 1760)
1688 – Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer and cartographer (d. 1768)
1718 – Benjamin Kennicott, English theologian and scholar (d. 1783)
1752 – Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (d. 1837)
1760 – Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan organist and composer (d. 1797)
1762 – Stephen Storace, English actor and composer (d. 1796)
1772 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement (d. 1810)
1780 – Edward Hicks, American minister and painter (d. 1849)
1785 – Bettina von Arnim, German author, illustrator, and composer (d. 1859)
1792 – Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
1802 – Dorothea Dix, American nurse and activist (d. 1887)
1818 – Thomas Mayne Reid, Irish-American author and poet (d. 1883)
1819 – Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
1821 – Linus Yale, Jr., American engineer and businessman (d. 1868)
1826 – Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer, invented the Gramme machine (d. 1901)
1829 – Owen Suffolk, Australian bushranger, poet, confidence-man and author
1835 – John Hughlings Jackson, English physician and neurologist (d. 1911)
1842 – Édouard Lucas, French mathematician and theorist (d. 1891)
1843 – William Henry Jackson, American painter and photographer (d. 1942)
1846 – Comte de Lautréamont, Uruguayan-French poet and educator (d. 1870)
1851 – James Campbell, 1st Baron Glenavy, Irish lawyer and politician (d. 1931)
1853 – Remy de Gourmont, French poet, novelist, and critic (d. 1915)
1868 – Philippa Fawcett, English mathematician and educator (d. 1948)
1869 – Mary Colter, American architect, designed the Desert View Watchtower (d. 1958)
1875 – Pierre Monteux, Sephardic Jewish French-American viola player and conductor (d. 1964)
1876 – Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter and poet (d. 1958)
1878 – Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral and historian (d. 1958)
1879 – Gustav Goßler, German rower (d. 1940)
1884 – James Alberione, Italian priest, founded the Society of St. Paul (d. 1971)
1884 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (d. 1943)
1886 – Frank Luther Mott, American historian and journalist (d. 1964)
1888 – Tris Speaker, American baseball player and manager (d. 1958)
1888 – Zdzisław Żygulski, Sr., Polish historian and academic (d. 1975)
1889 – Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian journalist, poet, and playwright (d. 1968)
1892 – Italo Mus, Italian painter (d. 1967)
1895 – Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991)
1896 – Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1955)
1897 – Pierre Fresnay, French actor and screenwriter (d. 1975)
1898 – Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
1899 – Hillel Oppenheimer, German-Israeli botanist and academic (d. 1971)
1902 – Louise Lévêque de Vilmorin, French journalist and author (d. 1969)
1902 – Stanley G. Weinbaum, American author and poet (d. 1935)
1905 – Eugène Bozza, French composer and conductor (d. 1991)
1905 – Erika Nõva, Estonian architect and engineer (d. 1987)
1906 – Bea Benaderet, Turkish-Jewish Irish-American television, radio, and voice actress (d. 1968)
1906 – John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
1907 – Robert Askin, Australian sergeant and politician, 32nd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1981)
1910 – Đặng Văn Ngữ, Vietnamese physician and academic (d. 1967)
1911 – Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
1913 – Dave Brown, Australian rugby league player (d. 1974)
1913 – Rosemary Lane, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
1913 – Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
1913 – Jules Léger, Canadian lawyer and politician, 21st Governor General of Canada (d. 1980)
1913 – Muddy Waters, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1983)
1914 – Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014)
1914 – Marguerite Duras, French novelist, screenwriter, and director (d. 1996)
1914 – David W. Goodall, Australian ecologist and botanist (d. 2018)
1915 – Louis Archambault, Canadian sculptor (d. 2003)
1916 – Nikola Ljubičić, Serbian general and politician, 10th President of Serbia (d. 2005)
1916 – Mickey Owen, American baseball player and coach (d. 2005)
1916 – David White, American actor (d. 1990)
1918 – George Jellicoe, 2nd Earl Jellicoe, English soldier and politician, Leader of the House of Lords (d. 2007)
1920 – Orunamamu, American-Canadian author and educator (d. 2014)
1920 – Ignatius IV of Antioch, Greek patriarch (d. 2012)
1921 – Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015)
1922 – Elmer Bernstein, American composer and conductor (d. 2004)
1923 – Peter Vaughan, English actor (d. 2016)
1923 – Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1924 – Bob Christie, American race car driver (d. 2009)
1924 – Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1925 – Dettmar Cramer, German footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1925 – Frank Truitt, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
1925 – Claude Wagner, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician (d. 1979)
1925 – Emmett Williams, American poet and author (d. 2007)
1926 – Mildred Fay Jefferson, American physician and activist (d. 2010)
1926 – Ronnie Masterson, Irish actress (d. 2014)
1927 – Joe Orlando, Italian-American author and illustrator (d. 1998)
1928 – Maya Angelou, American memoirist and poet (d. 2014)
1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian
1928 – Jimmy Logan, Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 2001)
1928 – Monty Norman, English singer-songwriter and producer
1929 – Humbert Allen Astredo, American actor (d. 2016)
1930 – Netty Herawaty, Indonesian actress (d. 1989)
1931 – James Dickens, English politician (d. 2013)
1931 – Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence officer
1931 – Catherine Tizard, New Zealand politician, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand
1932 – Clive Davis, American record producer, founded Arista Records and J Records
1932 – Richard Lugar, American lieutenant and politician, 44th Mayor of Indianapolis (d. 2019)
1932 – Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
1932 – Johanna Reiss, Dutch-American author
1932 – Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian director and producer (d. 1986)
1933 – Bill France, Jr., American businessman (d. 2007)
1933 – Brian Hewson, English runner
1933 – Bapu Nadkarni, Indian cricketer (d. 2020)
1934 – Helen Hanft, American actress (d. 2013)
1934 – Kronid Lyubarsky, Russian journalist and activist (d. 1996)
1935 – Geoff Braybrooke, English-New Zealand soldier and politician (d. 2013)
1935 – Kenneth Mars, American actor and comedian (d. 2011)
1935 – Trevor Griffiths, English playwright and educator
1938 – A. Bartlett Giamatti, American businessman and academic (d. 1989)
1939 – JoAnne Carner, American golfer
1939 – Darlene Hooley, American educator and politician
1939 – Hugh Masekela, South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, composer, and singer (d. 2018)
1940 – Richard Attwood, English race car driver
1940 – Sharon Sheeley, American singer-songwriter (d. 2002)
1942 – Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager (d. 2014)
1942 – Kitty Kelley, American journalist and biographer
1942 – Elizabeth Levy, American author
1944 – Magda Aelvoet, Belgian politician
1944 – Mary Kenny, Irish journalist, author, and playwright
1944 – Bob McDill, American country music songwriter
1944 – Craig T. Nelson, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Nelson Prudêncio, Brazilian triple jumper and educator (d. 2012)
1944 – Toktamış Ateş, Turkish academician, political commentator, columnist and writer (d. 2013)
1945 – Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French-German educator and politician
1945 – Caroline McWilliams, American actress (d. 2010)
1946 – Colin Coates, Australian speed skater
1946 – Dave Hill, English guitarist
1946 – Katsuaki Satō, Japanese martial artist and coach
1946 – György Spiró, Hungarian author and playwright
1946 – Bubba Wyche, American football player and coach
1947 – Wiranto, Indonesian general and politician
1947 – Ray Fosse, American baseball player and sportscaster
1947 – Eliseo Soriano, Filipino minister and television host
1948 – Abdullah Öcalan, Turkish activist
1948 – Berry Oakley, American bass player (d. 1972)
1948 – Richard Parsons, American lawyer and businessman
1948 – Dan Simmons, American author
1948 – Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
1948 – Pick Withers, English drummer
1949 – Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican-American singer (d. 1999)
1949 – Shing-Tung Yau, Chinese-American mathematician and academic
1950 – Christine Lahti, American actress and director
1951 – John Hannah, American football player and coach
1952 – Rosemarie Ackermann, German high jumper
1952 – Pat Burns, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2010)
1952 – Gregg Hansford, Australian race car driver and motorcycle racer (d. 1995)
1952 – Cherie Lunghi, English actress and dancer
1952 – Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater and coach
1952 – Gary Moore, Northern Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2011)
1952 – Villy Søvndal, Danish educator and politician, Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1953 – Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
1953 – Henry Fotheringham, South African cricketer
1953 – Simcha Jacobovici, Canadian director, producer, journalist, and author
1953 – Sammy Wilson, Northern Irish politician, 31st Lord Mayor of Belfast
1953 – Chen Yi, Chinese violinist and composer
1956 – Evelyn Hart, Canadian ballerina
1956 – Tom Herr, American baseball player and manager
1956 – David E. Kelley, American screenwriter and producer
1957 – Paul Downton, English cricketer
1957 – Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish director, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Graeme Kelling, Scottish guitarist (d. 2004)
1957 – Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese singer and trumpet player
1958 – Peter Baltes, German bass player
1958 – Cazuza, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 1990)
1958 – Rodney Eade, Australian footballer and coach
1959 – Phil Morris, American actor and screenwriter
1960 – Jonathan Agnew, English cricketer and sportscaster
1960 – Jane Eaglen, English soprano
1960 – Hugo Weaving, Nigerian-Australian actor and producer
1960 – Godknows Igali, Nigerian diplomat, civil servant and technocrat
1961 – Hildi Santo-Tomas, American interior decorator
1962 – Craig Adams, English bass player and songwriter
1962 – Kailasho Devi, Indian social worker and politician
1963 – A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1963 – Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
1963 – Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1963 – Jane McDonald, English singer and broadcaster
1963 – Graham Norton, Irish actor and talk show host
1964 – Branco, Brazilian footballer and coach
1964 – Dr. Chud, American drummer and singer
1964 – Anthony Clark, American actor
1964 – David Cross, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Paul Parker, England international footballer, right-back and TV pundit
1964 – Đặng Thân, Vietnamese writer and poet
1965 – Vinny Burns, English guitarist and producer
1965 – Robert Downey Jr., American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1966 – Nancy McKeon, American actress
1966 – Mike Starr, American bass player (d. 2011)
1966 – Christos Tsekos, Greek basketball player
1967 – Edith Masai, Kenyan-German runner
1967 – George Mavrotas, Greek water polo player and politician
1968 – Jesús Rollán, Spanish water polo player (d. 2006)
1969 – Piotr Anderszewski, Polish pianist and composer
1969 – Karren Brady, English journalist and businesswoman
1970 – Georgios Amanatidis, Greek footballer and manager
1970 – Greg Garcia, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1970 – Barry Pepper, Canadian actor and producer
1970 – Jason Stoltenberg, Australian tennis player
1970 – Josh Todd, American singer-songwriter and actor
1970 – Yelena Yelesina, Russian high jumper
1971 – Yanic Perreault, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1971 – Malik Yusef, American actor, producer, and poet
1971 – John Zandig, American wrestler and promoter
1972 – Jim Dymock, Australian rugby league player and coach
1972 – Jill Scott, American singer-songwriter and actress
1972 – Magnus Sveningsson, Swedish bass player
1973 – Chris Banks, American football player (d. 2014)
1973 – David Blaine, American magician and producer
1973 – Loris Capirossi, Italian motorcycle racer
1973 – Peter Hoekstra, Dutch footballer and coach
1973 – Chris McCormack, Australian triathlete and coach
1973 – Kelly Price, American singer-songwriter
1975 – Delphine Arnault, French businesswoman
1975 – Thobias Fredriksson, Swedish skier
1975 – Joyce Giraud, Puerto Rican-American model, television actress and producer, Miss Puerto Rico 1994
1975 – Pamela Ribon, American actress, screenwriter, and author
1975 – Miranda Lee Richards, American singer-songwriter
1975 – Scott Rolen, American baseball player
1975 – Kevin Weekes, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1976 – Nathan Blacklock, Australian rugby player
1976 – Sébastien Enjolras, French race car driver (d. 1997)
1976 – Emerson Ferreira da Rosa, Brazilian footballer
1976 – James Roday, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1977 – Stephan Bonnar, American mixed martial artist
1977 – Keith Bulluck, American football player and sportscaster
1977 – Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist, songwriter, and producer
1977 – Stephen Mulhern, English magician and television host
1977 – Omarr Smith, American football player and coach
1978 – Jason Ellison, American baseball player and scout
1978 – Alan Mahon, Irish footballer
1979 – Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
1979 – Roberto Luongo, Canadian ice hockey player
1979 – Natasha Lyonne, American actress
1979 – Andy McKee, American guitarist
1979 – Maksim Opalev, Russian canoeist
1980 – Johnny Borrell, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1980 – Trevor Moore, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1980 – Eric Steinbach, American football player
1980 – Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver
1981 – Currensy, American rapper
1981 – Eduardo Luís Carloto, Brazilian footballer
1981 – Casey Daigle, American baseball player
1981 – Anna Pyatykh, Russian triple jumper
1981 – Ned Vizzini, American author and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1982 – Justin Cook, American voice actor and producer
1982 – Magnus Lindgren, Swedish chef (d. 2012)
1983 – Evgeny Artyukhin, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Eric Andre, American comedian
1983 – Ben Gordon, American basketball player
1983 – Doug Lynch, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Natalie Pike, Scottish-English model and actress
1983 – Amanda Righetti, American actress
1984 – Sean May, American basketball player
1984 – Arkady Vyatchanin, Russian swimmer
1985 – Rudy Fernández, Spanish basketball player
1985 – Dudi Sela, Israeli tennis player
1985 – Ricardo Vilar, Brazilian footballer
1986 – Eunhyuk, South Korean singer-songwriter and dancer
1986 – Cameron Barker, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Maurice Manificat, French skier
1986 – Aiden McGeady, Scottish-born Irish footballer
1986 – Alexander Tettey, Norwegian footballer
1987 – Sami Khedira, German footballer
1987 – McDonald Mariga, Kenyan footballer
1987 – Cameron Maybin, American baseball player
1987 – Marcos Vellidis, Greek footballer
1987 – Sarah Gadon, Canadian actress
1988 – Frank Fielding, English footballer
1989 – Vurnon Anita, Dutch footballer
1989 – Steven Finn, English cricketer
1989 – Chris Herd, Australian footballer
1991 – Yui Koike, Japanese singer and actress
1991 – Justin O’Neill, Australian rugby league player
1991 – Jamie Lynn Spears, American actress and singer
1991 – Marlon Stöckinger, Filipino race car driver
1992 – Lucy May Barker, English actress and singer
1992 – Christina Metaxa, Cypriot singer-songwriter
1992 – Ricky Dillon, American youtuber and singer
1993 – Samir Carruthers, English footballer
1993 – Frank Kaminsky, American basketball player
1994 – Shunsuke Nishikawa, Japanese actor
1994 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer and actress
1996 – Austin Mahone, American singer-songwriter and actor

Deaths on April 4

397 – Ambrose, Roman archbishop and saint (b. 338)
636 – Isidore of Seville, Spanish archbishop and saint (b. 560)
814 – Plato of Sakkoudion, Byzantine monk and saint (b. 735)
896 – Formosus, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 816)
911 – Liu Yin, Chinese warlord and governor (b. 874)
931 – Kong Xun, Chinese official and governor (b. 884)
968 – Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince and poet (b. 932)
991 – Reginold, bishop of Eichstätt
1284 – Alfonso X, king of Castile and León (b. 1221)
1292 – Nicholas IV, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1227)
1406 – Robert III, king of Scotland (b.1337)
1483 – Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex (b. c. 1405)
1536 – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
1538 – Elena Glinskaya, Grand Princess and regent of Russia
1588 – Frederick II, king of Denmark and Norway (b. 1534)
1596 – Philip II, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (b. 1533)
1609 – Carolus Clusius, Flemish botanist, mycologist, and academic (b. 1526)
1617 – John Napier, Scottish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer (b. 1550)
1643 – Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1583)
1661 – Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish field marshal (b. 1580)
1743 – Daniel Neal, English historian and author (b. 1678)
1761 – Théodore Gardelle, Swiss painter (b. 1722)
1766 – John Taylor, English librarian and scholar (b. 1704)
1774 – Oliver Goldsmith, Irish novelist, playwright and poet (b. 1728)
1792 – James Sykes, American lawyer and politician (b. 1725)
1807 – Jérôme Lalande, French astronomer and academic (b. 1732)
1817 – André Masséna, French general (b. 1758)
1841 – William Henry Harrison, American general and politician, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
1846 – Solomon Sibley, American lawyer and politician, 1st Mayor of Detroit (b. 1769)
1861 – John McLean, American jurist and politician, 6th United States Postmaster General (b. 1785)
1863 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (b. 1790)
1864 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American commander and paleontologist (b. 1808)
1870 – Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
1874 – Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
1875 – Karl Mauch, German geographer and explorer (b. 1837)
1878 – Richard M. Brewer, American criminal (b. 1850)
1879 – Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist and meteorologist (b. 1803)
1883 – Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist, founded Cooper Union (b. 1791)
1890 – Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, Canadian lawyer and politician, 1st Premier of Quebec (b. 1820)
1890 – Edmond Hébert, French geologist and academic (b. 1812)
1912 – Charles Brantley Aycock, American lawyer and politician, 50th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1859)
1912 – Isaac K. Funk, American minister, lexicographer, and publisher, co-founded Funk & Wagnalls (b. 1839)
1919 – William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
1919 – Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1908)
1923 – John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher, created the Venn diagram (b. 1834)
1929 – Karl Benz, German engineer and businessman, founded Mercedes-Benz (b. 1844)
1931 – André Michelin, French businessman, co-founded the Michelin Tyre Company (b. 1853)
1932 – Wilhelm Ostwald, Latvian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
1933 – Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author and educator (b. 1842)
1941 – Emine Nazikedâ Kadınefendi, the first wife and chief consort of Sultan Mehmed VI (b. 1866)
1944 – Morris H. Whitehouse, American architect (b. 1878)^[14]
1951 – George Albert Smith, American religious leader, 8th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
1953 – Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
1957 – E. Herbert Norman, Canadian historian and diplomat (b. 1909)
1958 – Johnny Stompanato, American soldier and bodyguard (b. 1925)
1961 – Harald Riipalu, Estonian military commander (b. 1912)
1961 – Simion Stoilow, Romanian mathematician and academic (b. 1873)
1967 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (b. 1901)
1967 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer and manager (b. 1898)
1968 – Martin Luther King Jr., American minister and activist, Nobel Prize laureate (assassinated)(b. 1929)
1972 – Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., American pastor and politician (b. 1908)
1972 – Stefan Wolpe, German-American composer and academic (b. 1902)
1976 – Harry Nyquist, Swedish engineer and theorist (b. 1889)
1977 – Andrey Dikiy, Ukrainian-American journalist, historian, and politician (b. 1893)
1979 – Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan (b. 1928)
1979 – Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
1980 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1917)
1983 – Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
1983 – Bernard Vukas, Croatian football player, played for 1953 FIFA’s “Rest of the World” team against England at Wembley (b. 1927)
1984 – Oleg Antonov, Russian-Ukrainian engineer and businessman, founded Antonov (b. 1906)
1985 – Kate Roberts, Welsh author and activist (b. 1891)
1987 – C. L. Moore, American author and academic (b. 1911)
1987 – Chögyam Trungpa, Tibetan guru, poet, and scholar (b. 1939)
1987 – Sachchidananda Vatsyayan, Indian journalist and author (b. 1911)
1991 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
1991 – Max Frisch, Swiss playwright and novelist (b. 1911)
1991 – H. John Heinz III, American soldier and politician (b. 1938)
1991 – Graham Ingels, American illustrator (b. 1915)
1992 – Yvette Brind’Amour, Canadian actress and director (b. 1918)
1992 – Jack Hamilton, Australian footballer (b. 1928)
1992 – Arthur Russell, American singer-songwriter and cellist (b. 1951)
1993 – Alfred Mosher Butts, American game designer, invented Scrabble (b. 1899)
1993 – Douglas Leopold, Canadian radio and television host (b. 1947)
1995 – Kenny Everett, English radio and television host (b. 1944)
1995 – Priscilla Lane, American actress (b. 1915)
1996 – Barney Ewell, American runner and long jumper (b. 1918)
1996 – Boone Guyton, American lieutenant and pilot (b. 1913)
1997 – Leo Picard, German-Israeli geologist and academic (b. 1900)
1997 – Alparslan Türkeş, Turkish colonel and politician, 39th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1917)
1999 – Lucille Lortel, American actress, artistic director and producer (b. 1900)
1999 – Early Wynn, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1920)
2001 – Liisi Oterma, Finnish astronomer (b. 1915)
2001 – Ed Roth, American illustrator and engineer (b. 1932)
2001 – Maury Van Vliet, American-Canadian academic (b. 1913)
2003 – Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
2004 – Briek Schotte, Belgian cyclist and coach (b. 1919)
2005 – Edward Bronfman, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1924)
2007 – Bob Clark, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1941)
2007 – Karen Spärck Jones, English computer scientist and academic (b. 1935)
2008 – Francis Tucker, South African race car driver (b. 1923)
2009 – Maxine Cooper, American actress, activist and photographer (b. 1924)
2011 – Scott Columbus, American drummer (b. 1956)
2011 – Juliano Mer-Khamis, Israeli actor, director, and activist (b. 1958)
2012 – A. Dean Byrd, American psychologist and academic (b. 1948)
2012 – Anne Karin Elstad, Norwegian author and educator (b. 1938)
2012 – Claude Miller, French director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2012 – Dubravko Pavličić, Croatian footballer (b. 1967)
2012 – Roberto Rexach Benítez, American-Puerto Rican academic and politician, 10th President of the Senate of Puerto Rico (b. 1929)
2013 – Bengt Blomgren, Swedish actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1923)
2013 – Roger Ebert, American journalist, critic, and screenwriter (b. 1942)
2013 – Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
2013 – Tommy Tycho, Hungarian-Australian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1928)
2013 – Ian Walsh, Australian rugby player and coach (b. 1933)
2013 – Noboru Yamaguchi, Japanese author (b. 1972)
2014 – İsmet Atlı, Turkish wrestler and trainer (b. 1931)
2014 – Wayne Henderson, American trombonist and producer (b. 1939)
2014 – Kumba Ialá, Bissau-Guinean soldier and politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1953)
2014 – Margo MacDonald, Scottish journalist and politician (b. 1943)
2014 – Curtis Bill Pepper, American journalist and author (b. 1917)
2014 – Muhammad Qutb, Egyptian author and academic (b. 1919)
2015 – Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysian engineer and politician (b. 1951)
2015 – Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1918)
2015 – Donald N. Levine, American sociologist and academic (b. 1931)
2015 – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish author and poet (b. 1931)
2016 – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)

Holidays and observances on April 4

Children’s Day (Hong Kong, Taiwan)
Christian feast day:
- Benedict the Moor
- Gaetano Catanoso
- Isidore of Seville
- Martin Luther King Jr. (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Reginald Heber (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Tigernach of Clones
- April 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Senegal from France (1960).
Peace Day (Angola)^[15]
One of the possible days for Qingming Festival.

April 4 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now the United States state of Florida.
1755 – Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
1792 – The Coinage Act is passed establishing the United States Mint.
1800 – Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
1800 – The Treaty of Constantinople establishes the Septinsular Republic, the first autonomous Greek state since the Fall of the Byzantine Empire.
1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: The British capture the Danish fleet.
1851 – Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
1863 – American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.
1865 – American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.
1885 – Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.
1900 – The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
1902 – Dmitry Sipyagin, Minister of Interior of the Russian Empire, is assassinated in the Marie Palace, Saint Petersburg.
1902 – “Electric Theatre”, the first full-time movie theater in the United States, opens in Los Angeles.
1911 – The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country’s first national census.
1912 – The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
1917 – World War I: United States President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
1921 – The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
1930 – After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
1956 – As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS. The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.
1964 – The Soviet Union launches Zond 1.
1972 – Actor Charlie Chaplin returns to the United States for the first time since being labeled a communist during the Red Scare in the early 1950s.
1973 – Launch of the LexisNexis computerized legal research service.
1975 – Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
1979 – A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.
1980 – United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
1982 – Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.
1986 – Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the “Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.
1989 – Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.
1989 – ASUS corporation is founded.
1991 – Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.
1992 – In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.
1992 – Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2002 – Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated.
2004 – Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
2006 – Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.
2012 – A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.
2014 – A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
2015 – Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
2015 – Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London’s Hatton Garden area in what has been called the “largest burglary in English legal history.”

Births on April 2

742 – Charlemagne, Frankish king (d. 814)
1473 – John Corvinus, Hungarian noble (d. 1504)
1545 – Elisabeth of Valois (d. 1568)
1565 – Cornelis de Houtman, Dutch explorer (d. 1599)
1586 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian traveler (d. 1652)
1602 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess (d. 1665)
1618 – Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d. 1663)
1647 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-Dutch botanist and illustrator (d. 1717)
1653 – Prince George of Denmark (d. 1708)
1696 – Francesca Cuzzoni, Italian operatic soprano (d. 1778)
1719 – Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim, German poet (d. 1803)
1725 – Giacomo Casanova, Italian explorer and author (d. 1798)
1788 – Francisco Balagtas, Filipino poet and author (d. 1862)
1788 – Wilhelmine Reichard, German balloonist (d. 1848)
1789 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (d. 1871)
1792 – Francisco de Paula Santander, Colombian general and politician, 4th President of the Republic of the New Granada (d. 1840)
1798 – August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, German poet and academic (d. 1874)
1805 – Hans Christian Andersen, Danish novelist, short story writer, and poet (d. 1875)
1814 – Henry L. Benning, American general and judge (d. 1875)
1814 – Erastus Brigham Bigelow, American inventor (d. 1879)
1827 – William Holman Hunt, English soldier and painter (d. 1910)
1835 – Jacob Nash Victor, American engineer (d. 1907)
1838 – Léon Gambetta, French lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of France (d. 1882)
1840 – Émile Zola, French novelist, playwright, journalist (d. 1902)
1841 – Clément Ader, French engineer, designed the Ader Avion III (d. 1926)
1842 – Dominic Savio, Italian Catholic saint, adolescent student of Saint John Bosco (d. 1857)
1861 – Iván Persa, Slovenian priest and author (d. 1935)
1862 – Nicholas Murray Butler, American philosopher and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1869 – Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (d. 1928)
1875 – Walter Chrysler, American businessman, founded Chrysler (d. 1940)
1875 – William Donne, English cricketer and captain (d. 1942)
1884 – J. C. Squire, English poet, author, and historian (d. 1958)
1891 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish entertainer (d. 1957)
1891 – Max Ernst, German painter, sculptor, and poet (d. 1976)
1891 – Tristão de Bragança Cunha, Indian nationalist and anti-colonial activist from Goa (d. 1958)
1896 – Johnny Golden, American golfer (d. 1936)
1898 – Harindranath Chattopadhyay, Indian poet, actor and politician (d. 1990)
1898 – Chiungtze C. Tsen, Chinese mathematician (d. 1940)
1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentinian journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1942)
1900 – Anis Fuleihan, Cypriot-American pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1970)
1900 – Alfred Strange, English footballer (d. 1978)
1902 – Jan Tschichold, German-Swiss graphic designer and typographer (d. 1974)
1903 – Lionel Chevrier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Canadian Minister of Justice (d. 1987)
1906 – Alphonse-Marie Parent, Canadian priest and educator (d. 1970)
1907 – Harald Andersson, American-Swedish discus thrower (d. 1985)
1907 – Luke Appling, American baseball player and manager (d. 1991)
1908 – Buddy Ebsen, American actor and dancer (d. 2003)
1910 – Paul Triquet, Canadian general, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1980)
1910 – Chico Xavier, Brazilian spiritual medium (d. 2002)
1914 – Alec Guinness, English actor (d. 2000)
1919 – Delfo Cabrera, Argentinian runner and soldier (d. 1981)
1920 – Gerald Bouey, Canadian lieutenant and civil servant (d. 2004)
1920 – Jack Stokes, English animator and director (d. 2013)
1920 – Jack Webb, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1922 – John C. Whitehead, American banker and politician, 9th United States Deputy Secretary of State (d. 2015)
1923 – Gloria Henry, American actress
1923 – Johnny Paton, Scottish footballer, coach, and manager (d. 2015)
1923 – G. Spencer-Brown, English mathematician, psychologist, and author (d. 2016)
1924 – Bobby Ávila, Mexican baseball player (d. 2004)
1925 – George MacDonald Fraser, Scottish author and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1925 – Hans Rosenthal, German radio and television host (d. 1987)
1926 – Jack Brabham, Australian race car driver (d. 2014)
1926 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (d. 2006)
1927 – Carmen Basilio, American boxer and soldier (d. 2012)
1927 – Howard Callaway, American soldier and politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Army (d. 2014)
1927 – Rita Gam, American actress (d. 2016)
1927 – Billy Pierce, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1927 – Kenneth Tynan, English author and critic (d. 1980)
1928 – Joseph Bernardin, American cardinal (d. 1996)
1928 – Serge Gainsbourg, French singer-songwriter, actor, and director (d. 1991)
1928 – Roy Masters, English-American radio host
1928 – David Robinson, Northern Irish horticulturist and academic (d. 2004)
1929 – Ed Dorn, American poet and educator (d. 1999)
1930 – Roddy Maude-Roxby, English actor
1931 – Vladimir Kuznetsov, Russian javelin thrower (d. 1986)
1932 – Edward Egan, American cardinal (d. 2015)
1933 – György Konrád, Hungarian sociologist and author
1934 – Paul Cohen, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2007)
1934 – Brian Glover, English wrestler and actor (d. 1997)
1934 – Carl Kasell, American journalist and game show host (d. 2018)
1934 – Richard Portman, American sound engineer (d. 2017)
1934 – Dovid Shmidel, Austrian-born Israeli rabbi
1936 – Shaul Ladany, Serbian-Israeli race walker and engineer
1937 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1938 – John Larsson, Swedish 17th General of The Salvation Army
1938 – Booker Little, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1961)
1938 – Al Weis, American baseball player
1939 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (d. 1984)
1939 – Anthony Lake, American academic and diplomat, 18th United States National Security Advisor
1939 – Lise Thibault, Canadian journalist and politician, 27th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec
1940 – Donald Jackson, Canadian figure skater and coach
1940 – Mike Hailwood, English motorcycle racer (d. 1981)
1940 – Penelope Keith, English actress
1941 – Dr. Demento, American radio host
1941 – Sonny Throckmorton, American country singer-songwriter
1942 – Leon Russell, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 2016)
1942 – Roshan Seth, Indian-English actor
1943 – Michael Boyce, Baron Boyce, South African-English admiral and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
1943 – Caterina Bueno, Italian singer (d. 2007)
1943 – Larry Coryell, American jazz guitarist (d. 2017)
1943 – Antonio Sabàto, Sr., Italian actor
1944 – Bill Malinchak, American football player
1945 – Jürgen Drews, German singer-songwriter
1945 – Guy Fréquelin, French race car driver
1945 – Linda Hunt, American actress
1945 – Reggie Smith, American baseball player and coach
1945 – Don Sutton, American baseball player and sportscaster
1945 – Anne Waldman, American poet
1946 – Richard Collinge, New Zealand cricketer
1946 – David Heyes, English politician
1946 – Sue Townsend, English author and playwright (d. 2014)
1946 – Kurt Winter, Canadian guitarist and songwriter (d. 1997)
1947 – Paquita la del Barrio, Mexican singer-songwriter
1947 – Tua Forsström, Finnish writer
1947 – Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Camille Paglia, American author and critic
1948 – Roald Als, Danish author and illustrator
1948 – Dimitris Mitropanos, Greek singer (d. 2012)
1948 – Daniel Okrent, American journalist and author
1948 – Joan D. Vinge, American author
1949 – Paul Gambaccini, American-English radio and television host
1949 – Bernd Müller, German footballer
1949 – Pamela Reed, American actress
1949 – David Robinson, American drummer
1950 – Lynn Westmoreland, American politician
1951 – Ayako Okamoto, Japanese golfer
1952 – Lennart Fagerlund, Swedish cyclist
1952 – Will Hoy, English race car driver (d. 2002)
1952 – Leon Wilkeson, American bass player and songwriter (d. 2001)
1953 – Jim Allister, Northern Irish lawyer and politician
1953 – Rosemary Bryant Mariner, 20th and 21st-century U.S. Navy aviator
1953 – Malika Oufkir, Moroccan Berber writer
1953 – Debralee Scott, American actress (d. 2005)
1953 – James Vance, American author and playwright (d. 2017)
1954 – Gregory Abbott, American singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Donald Petrie, American actor and director
1955 – Michael Stone, Northern Irish loyalist paramilitary
1957 – Caroline Dean, English biologist and academic
1957 – Hank Steinbrenner, American businessman, co-owner of the New York Yankees
1958 – Stefano Bettarello, Italian rugby player
1958 – Larry Drew, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Gelindo Bordin, Italian runner
1959 – David Frankel, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 – Juha Kankkunen, Finnish race car driver
1959 – Yves Lavandier, French director and producer
1959 – Badou Ezzaki, Moroccan footballer and manager
1960 – Linford Christie, Jamaican-English sprinter
1960 – Brad Jones, Australian race car driver
1960 – Pascale Nadeau, Canadian journalist
1961 – Buddy Jewell, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Christopher Meloni, American actor
1961 – Keren Woodward, English singer-songwriter
1962 – Pierre Carles, French director and producer
1962 – Billy Dean, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Clark Gregg, American actor
1963 – Karl Beattie, English director and producer
1963 – Mike Gascoyne, English engineer
1964 – Pete Incaviglia, American baseball player and coach
1964 – Jonathon Sharkey, American wrestler
1965 – Rodney King, American victim of police brutality (d. 2012)
1966 – Bill Romanowski, American football player and actor
1966 – Teddy Sheringham, English international footballer, striker and coach
1967 – Greg Camp, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1967 – Phil Demmel, American guitarist and songwriter
1969 – Ajay Devgan, Indian actor, director, and producer
1971 – Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, Brazilian footballer
1971 – Jason Lewry, English cricketer
1971 – Todd Woodbridge, Australian tennis player and sportscaster
1972 – Remo D’Souza, Indian choreographer and dancer
1972 – Calvin Davis, American sprinter and hurdler
1972 – Zane Lamprey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1973 – Dmitry Lipartov, Russian footballer
1973 – Roselyn Sánchez, Puerto Rican-American actress
1973 – Aleksejs Semjonovs, Latvian footballer
1974 – Tayfun Korkut, Turkish football manager and former player
1975 – Randy Livingston, American basketball player
1975 – Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski, German rower
1976 – Andreas Anastasopoulos, Greek shot putter
1976 – Rory Sabbatini, South African golfer
1976 – Pattie Mallette, Canadian author and film producer
1977 – Per Elofsson, Swedish skier
1977 – Michael Fassbender, German-Irish actor and producer
1977 – Hanno Pevkur, Estonian lawyer and politician, Estonian Minister of Justice
1978 – Scott Lynch, American author
1978 – Ethan Smith, American actor, director, and producer
1979 – Jesse Carmichael, American keyboard player
1980 – Avi Benedi, Israeli singer and songwriter
1980 – Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist
1980 – Gavin Heffernan, Canadian director and screenwriter
1980 – Ricky Hendrick, American race car driver (d. 2004)
1980 – Wairangi Koopu, New Zealand rugby league player
1980 – Carlos Salcido, Mexican international footballer, defender
1981 – Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
1981 – Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor
1982 – Marco Amelia, Italian footballer
1982 – Jeremy Bloom, American football player and skier
1982 – Jack Evans, American wrestler
1982 – David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player
1983 – Yung Joc, American rapper
1983 – Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter
1984 – Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player
1984 – Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver
1984 – Jérémy Morel, French footballer
1985 – Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player
1985 – Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater
1986 – Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer
1986 – Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player
1986 – Lee DeWyze, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer
1987 – Marc Pugh, English footballer
1988 – Jesse Plemons, American actor
1990 – Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast
1990 – Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer
1991 – Quavo, American rapper
1993 – Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower
1997 – Dillon Bassett, American race car driver
1997 – Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer

Deaths on April 2

670 – Hasan ibn Ali the second Shia Imam (b. 624)
870 – Æbbe the Younger, Frankish abbess
872 – Muflih al-Turki, Turkish general
968 – Yuan Dezhao, Chinese chancellor (b. 891)
991 – Bardas Skleros, Byzantine general
1118 – Baldwin I, king of Jerusalem
1244 – Henrik Harpestræng, Danish botanical and medical author
1272 – Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, English husband of Sanchia of Provence (b. 1209)
1335 – Henry of Bohemia (b. 1265)
1412 – Ruy González de Clavijo, Spanish explorer and author
1416 – Ferdinand I, king of Aragon (b. 1379)
1502 – Arthur, prince of Wales (b. 1486)
1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
1511 – Bernard VII, Lord of Lippe, German nobleman (b. 1428)
1640 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (b. 1595)
1657 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
1657 – Jean-Jacques Olier, French priest, founded the Society of Saint-Sulpice (b. 1608)
1672 – Pedro Calungsod, Filipino missionary and saint (b. 1654)
1672 – Diego Luis de San Vitores, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1627)
1720 – Joseph Dudley, English politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1647)
1742 – James Douglas, Scottish physician and anatomist (b. 1675)
1747 – Johann Jacob Dillenius, German-English botanist and mycologist (b. 1684)
1754 – Thomas Carte, English historian and author (b. 1686)
1787 – Thomas Gage, English general and politician, Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1719)
1791 – Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau, French journalist and politician (b. 1749)
1801 – Thomas Dadford, Jr., English engineer (b. 1761)
1803 – Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, Scottish judge and politician (b. 1721)
1817 – Johann Heinrich Jung, German author and academic (b. 1740)
1827 – Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus, German physician and educator (b. 1776)
1845 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (b. 1763)
1865 – A. P. Hill, American general (b. 1825)
1872 – Samuel Morse, American painter and academic, invented the Morse code (b. 1791)
1891 – Albert Pike, American lawyer and general (b. 1809)
1891 – Ahmed Vefik Pasha, Greek playwright and politician, 249th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1823)
1894 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (b. 1803)
1896 – Theodore Robinson, American painter and academic (b. 1852)
1914 – Paul Heyse, German author, poet, and translator, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1830)
1917 – Bryn Lewis, Welsh international rugby player (b.1891)
1923 – Topal Osman, Turkish colonel (b. 1883)
1928 – Theodore William Richards, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1868)
1930 – Zewditu I of Ethiopia (b. 1876)
1933 – Ranjitsinhji, Indian cricketer (b. 1872)
1936 – Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne, French general (b. 1860)
1942 – Édouard Estaunié, French novelist (b. 1862)
1948 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (b. 1907)
1953 – Hugo Sperrle, German field marshal (b. 1885)
1966 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (b. 1899)
1972 – Franz Halder, German general (b. 1884)
1972 – Toshitsugu Takamatsu, Japanese martial artist and educator (b. 1887)
1974 – Georges Pompidou, French banker and politician, 19th President of France (b. 1911)
1977 – Walter Wolf, German academic and politician (b. 1907)
1987 – Buddy Rich, American drummer, songwriter, and bandleader (b. 1917)
1989 – Manolis Angelopoulos, Greek singer (b. 1939)
1992 – Juanito, Spanish footballer and manager (b. 1954)
1992 – Jan van Aartsen, Dutch politician (b. 1909)
1994 – Betty Furness, American actress, consumer advocate, game show panelist, television journalist and television personality (b. 1916)
1994 – Marc Fitch, British historian and philanthropist (b. 1908)
1995 – Hannes Alfvén, Swedish physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1997 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese director and producer (b. 1910)
1998 – Rob Pilatus, American-German singer-songwriter (b. 1965)
2001 – Charles Daudelin, Canadian sculptor and painter (b. 1920)
2002 – Levi Celerio, Filipino composer and songwriter (b. 1910)
2002 – John R. Pierce, American engineer and author (b. 1910)
2003 – Edwin Starr, American singer-songwriter (b. 1942)
2004 – John Argyris, Greek computer scientist, engineer, and academic (b. 1913)
2005 – Lillian O’Donnell, American crime novelist (b. 1926)
2005 – Pope John Paul II (b. 1920)
2006 – Lloyd Searwar, Guyanese anthologist and diplomat (b. 1925)
2007 – Henry L. Giclas, American astronomer and academic (b. 1910)
2008 – Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran(b. 1898)
2009 – Albert Sanschagrin, Canadian bishop (b. 1911)
2009 – Bud Shank, American saxophonist and flute player (b. 1926)
2010 – Chris Kanyon, American wrestler (b. 1970)
2011 – John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1918)
2012 – Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (b. 1959)
2012 – Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican sculptor and illustrator (b. 1915)
2012 – Mauricio Lasansky, American graphic designer and academic (b. 1914)
2013 – Fred, French author and illustrator (b. 1931)
2013 – Jesús Franco, Spanish director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (b. 1930)
2013 – Milo O’Shea, Irish-American actor (b. 1926)
2014 – Glyn Jones, South African actor and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2014 – Urs Widmer, Swiss author and playwright (b. 1938)
2015 – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1908)
2015 – Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (b. 1926)
2015 – Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician, Governor of Limburg (b. 1954)
2016 – Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (b. 1929)
2016 – Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (b. 1996)

Holidays and observances on April 2

Christian feast day:
- Abundius of Como
- Amphianus of Lycia
- Æbbe the Younger
- Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology)
- Francis of Paola
- Francisco Coll Guitart
- Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Nicetius of Lyon
- Pedro Calungsod
- Theodosia of Tyre
- Urban of Langres
- April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Children’s Book Day (International)
Thai Heritage Conservation Day (Thailand)
Unity of Peoples of Russia and Belarus Day (Belarus)
World Autism Awareness Day (International)

April 2 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1309 – Pope Clement V imposes excommunication and interdiction on Venice, and a general prohibition of all commercial intercourse with Venice, which had seized on Ferrara, a papal fiefdom.
1329 – Pope John XXII issues his In Agro Dominico condemning some writings of Meister Eckhart as heretical.
1513 – Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León reaches the northern end of The Bahamas on his first voyage to Florida.
1625 – Charles I becomes King of England, Scotland and Ireland as well as claiming the title King of France.
1782 – Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1794 – The United States Government establishes a permanent navy and authorizes the building of six frigates.
1809 – Peninsular War: A combined Franco-Polish force defeats the Spanish in the Battle of Ciudad Real.
1814 – War of 1812: In central Alabama, U.S. forces under General Andrew Jackson defeat the Creek at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
1836 – Texas Revolution: On the orders of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican army massacres 342 Texas POWs at Goliad, Texas.
1866 – President of the United States of America Andrew Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866. His veto is overridden by Congress and the bill passes into law on April 9.
1871 – The first international rugby football match, when Scotland defeats England in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.
1884 – A mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, attacks members of a jury which had returned a verdict of manslaughter in what was seen as a clear case of murder; over the next few days the mob would riot and eventually destroy the courthouse.
1886 – Geronimo, Apache warrior, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars.
1899 – Emilio Aguinaldo leads Filipino forces for the only time during the Philippine–American War at the Battle of Marilao River.
1915 – Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States is put in quarantine for the second time, where she would remain for the rest of her life.
1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
1938 – Second Sino-Japanese War: The Battle of Taierzhuang begins, resulting several weeks later in the war’s first major Chinese victory over Japan.
1941 – World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
1943 – World War II: Battle of the Komandorski Islands: In the Aleutian Islands the battle begins when United States Navy forces intercept Japanese attempting to reinforce a garrison at Kiska.
1945 – World War II: Operation Starvation, the aerial mining of Japan’s ports and waterways begins. Argentina declares war on the Axis Powers.
1958 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.
1964 – The Good Friday earthquake, the most powerful earthquake recorded in North American history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes Southcentral Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage.
1975 – Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.
1977 – Tenerife airport disaster: Two Boeing 747 airliners collide on a foggy runway on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 (all 248 on KLM and 335 on Pan Am). Sixty-one survived on the Pan Am flight. This is the deadliest aviation accident in history.
1980 – The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212.
1980 – Silver Thursday: A steep fall in silver prices, resulting from the Hunt Brothers attempting to corner the market in silver, leads to panic on commodity and futures exchanges.
1981 – The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours.
1986 – A car bomb explodes outside Russell Street Police HQ in Melbourne, Australia, killing one police officer and injuring 21 people.
1990 – The United States begins broadcasting anti-Castro propaganda to Cuba on TV Martí.
1993 – Jiang Zemin is appointed President of the People’s Republic of China.
1993 – Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approves Viagra for use as a treatment for male impotence, the first pill to be approved for this condition in the United States.
1999 – Kosovo War: An American Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk is shot down by a Yugoslav SAM, the first and only Nighthawk to be lost in combat.
2000 – A Phillips Petroleum plant explosion in Pasadena, Texas kills one person and injures 71 others.
2002 – Passover massacre: A Palestinian suicide bomber kills 29 people at a Passover seder in Netanya, Israel.
2002 – Nanterre massacre: In Nanterre, France, a gunman opens fire at the end of a town council meeting, resulting in the deaths of eight councilors; 19 other people are injured.
2004 – HMS Scylla, a decommissioned Leander-class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe.
2009 – The dam forming Situ Gintung, an artificial lake in Indonesia, fails, killing at least 99 people.
2014 – Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
2015 – Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
2016 – A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
2020 – North Macedonia becomes the 30th member of NATO.

Births on March 27

972 – Robert II, king of France (d. 1031)
1401 – Albert III, duke of Bavaria (d. 1460)
1416 – Francis of Paola, Italian friar and saint, founded Order of the Minims (d. 1507)
1546 – Johannes Piscator, German theologian (d. 1625)
1627 – Stephen Fox, English politician (d. 1716)
1676 – Francis II Rákóczi, Hungarian prince (b. 1676)
1679 – Domenico Lalli, Italian poet and librettist (d. 1741)
1681 – Joaquín Fernández de Portocarrero, Spanish-Italian cardinal (d. 1760)
1702 – Johann Ernst Eberlin, German organist and composer (d. 1762)
1710 – Joseph Abaco, Belgian cellist and composer (d. 1805)
1712 – Claude Bourgelat, French surgeon and author (d. 1779)
1714 – Francesco Antonio Zaccaria, Italian historian and theologian (d. 1795)
1724 – Jane Colden, American botanist and author (d. 1766)
1745 – Lindley Murray, American-English Quaker and grammarian (d. 1826)
1746 – Michael Bruce, Scottish poet and composer (d. 1767)
1746 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican-French lawyer and politician (d. 1785)
1765 – Franz Xaver von Baader, German philosopher and theologian (d. 1841)
1781 – Alexander Vostokov, Estonian-Russian philologist and academic (d. 1864)
1784 – Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, Hungarian philologist, orientalist, and author (d. 1842)
1785 – Louis XVII of France (d. 1795)
1797 – Alfred de Vigny, French author, poet, and playwright (d. 1863)
1801 – Alexander Barrow, American lawyer and politician (d. 1846)
1802 – Charles-Mathias Simons, German-Luxembourger jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Luxembourg (d. 1874)
1809 – Georges-Eugène Haussmann, French engineer, urban planner, and politician (d. 1891)
1811 – Edward William Cooke, English painter and illustrator (d. 1880)
1814 – Charles Mackay, Scottish journalist, anthologist, and author (d. 1889)
1820 – Edward Augustus Inglefield, English admiral and explorer (d. 1894)
1822 – Henri Murger, French novelist and poet (d. 1861)
1824 – Virginia Minor, American women’s suffrage activist (d. 1894)
1839 – John Ballance, Irish-New Zealand journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1893)
1843 – George Frederick Leycester Marshall, English colonel and entomologist (d. 1934)
1844 – Adolphus Greely, American general and explorer, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1935)
1845 – Wilhelm Röntgen, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1923)
1845 – Jakob Sverdrup, Norwegian bishop and politician, Norwegian Minister of Education and Church Affairs (d. 1899)
1847 – Otto Wallach, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
1851 – Ruperto Chapí, Spanish composer, co-founded Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (d. 1909)
1851 – Vincent d’Indy, French composer and educator (d. 1931)
1852 – Jan van Beers, Belgian painter and illustrator (d. 1927)
1854 – Giovanni Battista Grassi, Italian physician, zoologist, and entomologist (d. 1925)
1855 – William Libbey, American target shooter, colonel, mountaineer, geographer, geologist, and archaeologist (d. 1927)
1857 – Karl Pearson, English mathematician, eugenicist, and academic (d. 1936)
1859 – George Giffen, Australian cricketer and footballer (d. 1927)
1860 – Frank Frost Abbott, American-Swiss scholar and academic (d. 1924)
1862 – Jelena Dimitrijević, Serbian short story writer, novelist, poet, traveller, social worker, feminist and polyglot (d. 1945)
1862 – Arturo Berutti, Argentinian composer (d. 1938)
1863 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, founded Rolls-Royce Limited (d. 1933)
1866 – John Allan, Australian politician, 29th Premier of Victoria (d. 1936)
1868 – Patty Hill, American songwriter and educator (d. 1946)
1869 – James McNeill, Irish politician, 2nd Governor-General of the Irish Free State (d. 1938)
1869 – J. R. Clynes, English trade unionist and politician, Home Secretary (d. 1949)
1871 – Heinrich Mann, German author and poet (d. 1950)
1871 – Joseph G. Morrison, American captain and Nazarene minister (d. 1939)
1871 – Piet Aalberse, Dutch politician, Minister of Labour (d. 1948)
1875 – Albert Marquet, French painter (d. 1947)
1877 – Oscar Grégoire, Belgian water polo player and swimmer (d. 1947)
1878 – Kathleen Scott, British sculptor (d. 1947)
1879 – Sándor Garbai, Hungarian politician, 19th Prime Minister of Hungary (d. 1947)
1879 – Miller Huggins, American baseball player and manager (d. 1929)
1879 – Edward Steichen, Luxembourger-American painter and photographer (d. 1973)
1881 – Arkady Averchenko, Russian playwright and satirist (d. 1925)
1882 – Thomas Graham Brown, Scottish mountaineer and physiologist (d. 1965)
1883 – Marie Under, Estonian author and poet (d. 1980)
1884 – Gordon Thomson, English rower and lieutenant (d. 1953)
1885 – Julio Lozano Díaz, Honduran accountant and politician, 40th President of Honduras (d. 1957)
1885 – Reginald Fletcher, 1st Baron Winster, English navy officer and politician, Secretary of State for Transport (d. 1961)
1886 – Sergey Kirov, Russian politician (d. 1934)
1886 – Wladimir Burliuk, Ukrainian painter and illustrator (d. 1917)
1886 – Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, German-American architect, designed IBM Plaza and Seagram Building (d. 1969)
1887 – Väinö Siikaniemi, Finnish javelin thrower, poet, and translator (d. 1932)
1888 – George Alfred Lawrence Hearne, English-South African cricketer (d. 1978)
1889 – Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, Egyptian-Turkish journalist, author, and politician (d. 1974)
1889 – Leonard Mociulschi, Romanian general (d. 1979)
1890 – Harald Julin, Swedish swimmer and water polo player (d. 1967)
1890 – Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, Scottish admiral (d. 1974)
1891 – Lajos Zilahy, Hungarian novelist and playwright (d. 1974)
1891 – Klawdziy Duzh-Dushewski, Belarusian-Lithuanian architect, journalist, and diplomat, created the Flag of Belarus (d. 1959)
1892 – Ferde Grofé, American pianist and composer (d. 1972)
1892 – Thorne Smith, American author (d. 1934)
1893 – Karl Mannheim, Hungarian-English sociologist and academic (d. 1947)
1893 – G. Lloyd Spencer, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1981)
1893 – George Beranger, Australian-American actor and director (d. 1973)
1894 – René Fonck, French colonel and pilot (d. 1953)
1895 – Roland Leighton, English soldier and poet (d. 1915)
1897 – Douglas Hartree, English mathematician and physicist (d. 1958)
1897 – Fred Keating, American magician, stage and film actor (d. 1961)
1899 – Francis Ponge, French poet and author (d. 1988)
1899 – Herbert Arthur Stuart, German-Swiss physicist and academic (d. 1974)
1899 – Gloria Swanson, American actress and producer (d. 1983)
1901 – Carl Barks, American illustrator and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1901 – Erich Ollenhauer, German politician (d. 1963)
1901 – Eisaku Satō, Japanese politician, 61st Prime Minister of Japan, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1975)
1901 – Kenneth Slessor, Australian journalist and poet (d. 1971)
1902 – Sidney Buchman, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1975)
1902 – Charles Lang, American cinematographer (d. 1998)
1903 – Xavier Villaurrutia, Mexican poet and playwright (d. 1950)
1905 – Leroy Carr, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1935)
1905 – Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, German general (d. 1980)
1905 – Elsie MacGill, Canadian-American author and engineer (d. 1980)
1906 – Pee Wee Russell, American clarinet player, saxophonist, and composer (d. 1969)
1909 – Golo Mann, German historian and author (d. 1994)
1909 – Ben Webster, American saxophonist (d. 1973)
1909 – Valery Marakou, Belarusian poet and translator (d. 1937)
1910 – Ai Qing, Chinese poet and author (d. 1996)
1911 – Veronika Tushnova, Russian poet and physician (d. 1965)
1912 – James Callaghan, English lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2005)
1913 – Theodor Dannecker, German SS officer (d. 1945)
1914 – Richard Denning, American actor (d. 1998)
1914 – Budd Schulberg, American author, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2009)
1915 – Robert Lockwood, Jr., American guitarist (d. 2006)
1917 – Cyrus Vance, American lawyer and politician, 57th United States Secretary of State (d. 2002)
1920 – Colin Rowe, English-American architect, theorist and academic (d. 1999)
1921 – Phil Chess, Czech-American record producer, co-founded Chess Records (d. 2016)
1921 – Moacir Barbosa Nascimento, Brazilian footballer and coach (d. 2000)
1921 – Harold Nicholas, American actor and dancer (d. 2000)
1922 – Dick King-Smith, English author (d. 2011)
1922 – Stefan Wul, French author and surgeon (d. 2003)
1922 – Jules Olitski, Ukrainian-American painter, printmaker, and sculptor (d. 2007)
1923 – Shūsaku Endō, Japanese author (d. 1996)
1923 – Louis Simpson, Jamaican-American poet, translator, and academic (d. 2012)
1924 – Sarah Vaughan, American singer (d. 1990)
1924 – Ian Black, Scottish international footballer, goalkeeper and lawn bowls player (d. 2012)
1924 – Margaret K. Butler, American mathematician and computer programmer (d. 2013)
1926 – Frank O’Hara, American writer (d. 1966)
1927 – Sylvia Anderson, English voice actress, screenwriter, and producer (d. 2016)
1927 – Anthony Lewis, American journalist and academic (d. 2013)
1927 – Mstislav Rostropovich, Russian cellist and conductor (d. 2007)
1928 – Jean Dotto, French cyclist (d. 2000)
1929 – Anne Ramsey, American actress (d. 1988)
1929 – Reg Evans, Australian actor (d. 2009)
1930 – Daniel Spoerri, Romanian-Swiss photographer, writer and artist
1931 – David Janssen, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1932 – Junior Parker, American singer and harmonica player (d. 1971)
1932 – Bailey Olter, Micronesian politician, 3rd President of the Federated States of Micronesia (d. 1999)
1933 – Lê Văn Hưng, South Vietnamese Brigadier general (d. 1975)
1934 – István Csurka, Hungarian journalist, author, and politician (d. 2012)
1935 – Stanley Rother, American Roman Catholic priest and missionary (d. 1981)
1935 – Julian Glover, English actor
1936 – Malcolm Goldstein, American violinist and composer
1937 – Alan Hawkshaw, English keyboard player and songwriter
1939 – Jay Kim, South Korean-American engineer and politician
1939 – Cale Yarborough, American race car driver and businessman
1940 – Sandro Munari, Italian race car driver
1940 – Austin Pendleton, American actor, director, and playwright
1941 – Ivan Gašparovič, Slovak lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Slovakia
1941 – Liese Prokop, Austrian pentathlete and politician, Austrian Minister of the Interior (d. 2006)
1942 – Michael Jackson, English journalist and author (d. 2007)
1942 – John Sulston, English biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
1942 – Michael York, English actor
1943 – Mike Curtis, American football player and coach (d. 2020)
1944 – Jesse Brown, American marine and politician, 2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs (d. 2002)
1944 – Bryan Campbell, Canadian ice hockey player
1946 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (d. 1999)
1947 – Oliver Friggieri, Maltese author, critic, poet and philosopher
1947 – Brian Jones, English balloonist and pilot
1947 – Walt Mossberg, American journalist
1948 – Jens-Peter Bonde, Danish lawyer and politician
1950 – Tony Banks, English keyboardist and songwriter
1950 – Petros Efthymiou, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Culture, Education and Religious Affairs
1950 – Maria Ewing, African-American soprano
1950 – Chris Stewart, English musician and author
1950 – Terry Yorath, Welsh international footballer, Midfielder and international manager
1951 – Andrei Kozyrev, Belgian-Russian politician and diplomat, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Russia
1952 – Annemarie Moser-Pröll, Austrian skier
1952 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)
1953 – Herman Ponsteen, Dutch cyclist
1954 – Gerard Batten, English lawyer and politician
1955 – Patrick McCabe, Irish writer
1955 – Mariano Rajoy, Spanish lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain
1955 – Susan Neiman, Jewish American-German philosopher and author
1956 – Leung Kwok-hung, Hong Kong activist and politician
1956 – Thomas Wassberg, Swedish cross country skier
1957 – Kostas Vasilakakis, Greek footballer and manager
1957 – Stephen Dillane, English actor
1958 – Didier de Radiguès, Belgian race car driver and motorcycle racer
1959 – Andrew Farriss, Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist
1960 – Hans Pflügler, German footballer
1960 – Renato Russo, Brazilian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
1961 – Ellery Hanley, English rugby league player and coach
1961 – Tony Rominger, Swiss professional cyclist
1962 – Jann Arden, Canadian singer-songwriter
1962 – Brett French, Australian rugby league player
1962 – Rob Hollink, Dutch poker player
1962 – John O’Farrell, English journalist and author
1962 – Brad Wright, American-Spanish basketball player
1962 – Kevin J. Anderson, American science fiction writer
1963 – Cory Blackwell, American basketball player
1963 – Randall Cunningham, American football player, coach, and pastor
1963 – Filippos Sachinidis, Greek-Canadian economist and politician
1963 – Gary Stevens, English-Australian footballer and physiotherapist
1963 – Quentin Tarantino, American director, producer, screenwriter and actor
1963 – Xuxa, Brazilian actress, singer, businesswoman and television presenter
1965 – Gregor Foitek, Swiss race car driver
1966 – Žarko Paspalj, Serbian basketball player
1967 – Talisa Soto, American actress
1968 – Irina Belova, Russian heptathlete
1969 – Gianluigi Lentini, Italian footballer and manager
1969 – Pauley Perrette, American actress
1970 – Leila Pahlavi, Princess of Iran (d. 2001)
1970 – Derek Aucoin, Canadian baseball player
1970 – Mariah Carey, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1970 – Brent Fitz, Canadian-American multi-instrumentalist and recording artist
1970 – Jarrod McCracken, New Zealand rugby league player
1970 – Elizabeth Mitchell, American actress
1970 – Uwe Rosenberg, German game designer, created Bohnanza
1971 – David Coulthard, Scottish race car driver and sportscaster
1971 – Nathan Fillion, Canadian actor
1972 – Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Surinamese-Dutch footballer, coach, and manager
1972 – Charlie Haas, American professional wrestler
1973 – Roger Telemachus, South African cricketer
1974 – Marek Citko, Polish footballer and manager
1974 – George Koumantarakis, Greek-South African footballer
1974 – Gaizka Mendieta, Spanish footballer
1975 – Andrew Blowers, New Zealand rugby player
1975 – Kim Felton, Australian golfer
1975 – Jeff Palmer, American gay porn actor and singer-songwriter
1975 – Fergie, American singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1975 – Christian Fiedler, German footballer and manager
1976 – Roberta Anastase, Romanian politician, 57th President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania
1976 – Danny Fortson, American basketball player
1976 – Adrian Anca, Romanian footballer
1977 – Vítor Meira, Brazilian race car driver
1978 – Gabriel Paraschiv, Romanian footballer
1978 – Marius Bakken, Norwegian runner
1978 – Amélie Cocheteux, French tennis player
1979 – Tom Palmer, English rugby union player
1979 – Mohsen Moeini, Iranian author and director
1979 – Imran Tahir, Pakistani-South African cricketer
1979 – Jennifer Wilson, Zimbabwean-South African field hockey player
1980 – Sean Ryan, American football player
1980 – Michaela Paštiková, Czech tennis player
1980 – Maksim Shevchenko, Kazakhstani footballer
1981 – Terry McFlynn, Irish footballer
1981 – Akhil Kumar, Indian boxer
1981 – Jukka Keskisalo, Finnish runner
1981 – Hilda Kibet, Kenyan runner
1982 – Shawn Beveney, Guyanese footballer
1983 – Yuliya Golubchikova, Russian pole vaulter
1983 – Vasily Koshechkin, Russian ice hockey player
1983 – Román Martínez, Argentinian footballer
1984 – Adam Ashley-Cooper, Australian rugby player
1984 – Ben Franks, Australian-born New Zealand rugby player
1984 – Brett Holman, Australian footballer
1985 – Dustin Byfuglien, American ice hockey player
1985 – Danny Vukovic, Australian footballer
1986 – Manuel Neuer, German footballer
1987 – Jefferson Bernárdez, Honduran footballer
1987 – Samuel Francis, Nigerian-Qatari sprinter
1987 – Polina Gagarina, Russian singer-songwriter
1987 – Buster Posey, American baseball player
1988 – Jessie J, English singer-songwriter
1988 – Atsuto Uchida, Japanese footballer
1988 – Brenda Song, American actress
1988 – Mauro Goicoechea, Uruguayan footballer
1988 – Holliday Grainger, English actress
1989 – Matt Harvey, American baseball player
1989 – Camilla Lees, New Zealand netball player
1990 – Erdin Demir, Swedish-Turkish footballer
1990 – Ben Hunt, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Nicolas Nkoulou, Cameroonian footballer
1990 – Luca Zuffi, Swiss footballer
1990 – Kimbra, New Zealand musician
1990 – Brodha V, Indian Rapper and Music Producer
1992 – Marc Muniesa, Spanish footballer
1995 – Bill Tuiloma, New Zealand footballer

Deaths on March 27

710 – Rupert of Salzburg, Austrian bishop and saint (b. 660)
853 – Haymo of Halberstadt, German bishop and author (b. 778)
913 – Du Xiao, chancellor of Later Liang
913 – Zhang empress of Later Liang
916 – Alduin I, Frankish nobleman
965 – Arnulf I, Count of Flanders (born c. 890)
973 – Hermann Billung, Frankish lieutenant (b. 900)
1045 – Ali ibn Ahmad al-Jarjara’i, Fatimid vizier
1184 – Giorgi III, King of Georgia
1248 – Maud Marshal, English countess (b. 1192)
1350 – Alfonso XI of Castile (b. 1312)
1378 – Pope Gregory XI (b. 1336)
1462 – Vasily II of Moscow (b. 1415)
1472 – Janus Pannonius, Hungarian bishop and poet (b. 1434)
1482 – Mary of Burgundy, Sovereign Duchess regnant of Burgundy, married to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1457)
1564 – Lütfi Pasha, Turkish historian and politician, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1488)
1572 – Girolamo Maggi, Italian polymath (b. c. 1523)
1598 – Theodor de Bry, Belgian-German engraver, goldsmith, and publisher (b. 1528)
1613 – Sigismund Báthory (b. 1573)
1615 – Margaret of Valois (b. 1553)
1621 – Benedetto Giustiniani, Italian cardinal (b. 1554)
1624 – Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (b. 1578)
1625 – James VI and I of the United Kingdom (b. 1566)
1635 – Robert Naunton, English politician (b. 1563)
1676 – Bernardino de Rebolledo, Spanish poet, soldier, and diplomat (b. 1597)
1679 – Abraham Mignon, Dutch painter (b. 1640)
1697 – Simon Bradstreet, English businessman and politician, 20th Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1603)
1729 – Leopold, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1679)
1757 – Johann Stamitz, Czech violinist and composer (b. 1717)
1770 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (b. 1696)
1848 – Gabriel Bibron, French zoologist and herpetologist (b. 1805)
1849 – Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, Irish-Canadian politician, 35th Governor General of Canada (b. 1776)
1850 – Wilhelm Beer, Prussian astronomer and banker (b. 1797)
1864 – Jean-Jacques Ampère, French philologist and academic (b. 1800)
1869 – James Harper, American publisher and politician, 65th Mayor of New York City (b. 1795)
1875 – Juan Crisóstomo Torrico, Peruvian soldier and politician, President of Peru (b. 1808)
1875 – Edgar Quinet, French historian and academic (b. 1803)
1878 – George Gilbert Scott, English architect, designed the Albert Memorial and St Mary’s Cathedral (b. 1811)
1886 – Henry Taylor, English poet and playwright (b. 1800)
1889 – John Bright, English politician, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (b. 1811)
1890 – Carl Jacob Löwig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
1898 – Syed Ahmad Khan, Indian philosopher and activist (b. 1817)
1900 – Joseph A. Campbell, American businessman, founded the Campbell Soup Company (b. 1817)
1910 – Alexander Emanuel Agassiz, Swiss-American ichthyologist, zoologist, and engineer (b. 1835)
1913 – Richard Montgomery Gano, American minister, physician, and general (b. 1830)
1918 – Henry Adams, American journalist, historian, and author (b. 1838)
1918 – Martin Sheridan, Irish-American discus thrower and jumper (b. 1881)
1921 – Harry Barron, English general and politician, 16th Governor of Western Australia (b. 1847)
1922 – Nikolay Sokolov, Russian composer and educator (b. 1859)
1923 – James Dewar, Scottish chemist and physicist (b. 1842)
1925 – Carl Neumann, German mathematician and academic (b. 1832)
1926 – Kick Kelly, American baseball player, manager, and umpire (b. 1856)
1926 – Georges Vézina, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1887)
1927 – Joe Start, American baseball player and manager (b. 1842)
1927 – Klaus Berntsen, Danish politician, Prime Minister of Denmark (b. 1844)
1928 – Leslie Stuart, English organist and composer (b. 1863)
1931 – Arnold Bennett, English author and playwright (b. 1867)
1934 – Francis William Reitz, South African lawyer and politician, 5th State President of the Orange Free State (b. 1844)
1938 – William Stern, German-American psychologist and philosopher (b. 1871)
1940 – Michael Joseph Savage, Australian-New Zealand politician, 23rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1872)
1942 – Julio González, Catalan sculptor and painter (b. 1876)
1943 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (b. 1882)
1945 – Vincent Hugo Bendix, American engineer and businessman, founded Bendix Corporation (b. 1881)
1945 – Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil, Turkish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1866)
1946 – Karl Groos, German psychologist and philosopher (b. 1861)
1949 – Elisheva Bikhovski, Israeli-Russian poet (b. 1888)
1952 – Kiichiro Toyoda, Japanese businessman, founded Toyota (b. 1894)
1956 – Évariste Lévi-Provençal, French orientalist and historian (b. 1894)
1958 – Leon C. Phillips, American lawyer and politician, 11th Governor of Oklahoma (b. 1890)
1960 – Gregorio Marañón, Spanish physician, philosopher, and author (b. 1887)
1967 – Jaroslav Heyrovský, Czech chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
1968 – Yuri Gagarin, Russian colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1934)
1968 – Vladimir Seryogin, Russian soldier and pilot (b. 1922)
1973 – Mikhail Kalatozov, Georgian-Russian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (b. 1903)
1974 – Eduardo Santos, Colombian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of Colombia (b. 1888)
1975 – Arthur Bliss, English conductor and composer (b. 1891)
1976 – Georg August Zinn, German lawyer and politician, Minister President of Hesse (b. 1901)
1977 – Shirley Graham Du Bois, American author, playwright, and composer (b. 1896)
1977 – Diana Hyland, American actress (b. 1936)
1977 – Jacob Veldhuyzen van Zanten, Dutch airline pilot (b. 1927)
1978 – Nat Bailey, Canadian businessman, founded the White Spot (b. 1902)
1978 – Kunwar Digvijay Singh, Indian field hockey (b. 1922)
1978 – Sverre Farstad, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1920)
1980 – Steve Fisher, American author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
1981 – Jakob Ackeret, Swiss engineer and academic (b. 1898)
1982 – Fazlur Khan, Bangladeshi-American engineer and architect, designed the John Hancock Center and Willis Tower (b. 1929)
1987 – William Bowers, American journalist and screenwriter (b. 1916)
1988 – Charles Willeford, American author, poet, and critic (b. 1919)
1989 – May Allison, American actress (b. 1890)
1989 – Malcolm Cowley, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (b. 1898)
1990 – Percy Beard, American hurdler and coach (b. 1908)
1991 – Aldo Ray, American actor (b. 1926)
1992 – Colin Gibson, English footballer (b. 1923)
1992 – Lang Hancock, Australian businessman (b. 1909)
1992 – James E. Webb, American colonel and politician, 16th Under Secretary of State (b. 1906)
1993 – Kamal Hassan Ali, Egyptian general and politician, Prime Minister of Egypt (b. 1921)
1993 – Paul László, Hungarian-American architect and interior designer (b. 1900)
1994 – Elisabeth Schmid, German archaeologist and osteologist (b. 1912)
1994 – Lawrence Wetherby, American lawyer and politician, 48th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1908)
1995 – René Allio, French director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
1997 – Lane Dwinell, American businessman and politician, 69th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1906)
1997 – Ella Maillart, Swiss skier, sailor, field hockey player, and photographer (b. 1903)
1998 – David McClelland, American psychologist and academic (b. 1917)
1999 – Michael Aris, Cuban-English author and academic (b. 1946)
2000 – George Allen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1914)
2000 – Ian Dury, English singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1942)
2002 – Milton Berle, American comedian and actor (b. 1908)
2002 – Dudley Moore, English actor (b. 1935)
2002 – Billy Wilder, Austrian-born American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1906)
2003 – Edwin Carr, New Zealand composer and educator (b. 1926)
2004 – Robert Merle, French author (b. 1909)
2005 – Wilfred Gordon Bigelow, Canadian soldier and surgeon (b. 1913)
2006 – Dan Curtis, American director and producer (b. 1928)
2006 – Stanisław Lem, Ukrainian-Polish author (b. 1921)
2006 – Rudolf Vrba, Czech Holocaust survivor and educator (b. 1924)
2006 – Neil Williams, English cricketer (b. 1962)
2007 – Nancy Adams, New Zealand botanist and illustrator (b. 1926)
2007 – Paul Lauterbur, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1929)
2008 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (b. 1921)
2009 – Irving R. Levine, American journalist and author (b. 1922)
2010 – Dick Giordano, American illustrator (b. 1932)
2011 – Clement Arrindell, Nevisian judge and politician, 1st Governor-General of Saint Kitts and Nevis (b. 1931)
2011 – Farley Granger, American actor (b. 1925)
2012 – Adrienne Rich, American poet, essayist and feminist (b. 1929)
2013 – Hjalmar Andersen, Norwegian speed skater (b. 1923)
2013 – Yvonne Brill, Canadian-American scientist and engineer (b. 1924)
2013 – Fay Kanin, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1917)
2014 – Richard N. Frye, American scholar and academic (b. 1920)
2014 – James R. Schlesinger, American economist and politician, 12th United States Secretary of Defense and first United States Secretary of Energy (b. 1929)
2015 – Johnny Helms, American trumpet player, bandleader, and educator (b. 1935)
2015 – T. Sailo, Indian soldier and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of Mizoram (b. 1922)
2016 – Mother Angelica, American Roman Catholic religious leader and media personality (b. 1923)

Holidays and observances on March 27

Christian feast day:
- Alexander, a Pannonian soldier, martyred in 3rd century.
- Amador of Portugal
- Augusta of Treviso
- Charles Henry Brent (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Gelasius, Archbishop of Armagh
- John of Egypt
- Philetus
- Romulus of Nîmes, a Benedictine abbot, martyred c. 730.
- Rupert of Salzburg
- Zanitas and Lazarus of Persia
- March 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Armed Forces Day (Myanmar)
International whisk(e)y day
World Theatre Day (International)

March 27 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

March 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

March 24th is the 365th and last day of the year in many European implementations of the Julian calendar.

March 24 in History

1199 – King Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting in France, leading to his death on April 6.
1387 – English victory over a Franco-Castilian-Flemish fleet in the Battle of Margate off the coast of Margate.
1401 – Turco-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
1603 – James VI of Scotland is proclaimed King James I of England and Ireland, upon the death of Elizabeth I.
1603 – Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shōgun from Emperor Go-Yōzei, and establishes the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo, Japan.
1663 – The Province of Carolina is granted by charter to eight Lords Proprietor in reward for their assistance in restoring Charles II of England to the throne.
1720 – Count Frederick of Hesse-Kassel is elected King of Sweden by the Riksdag of the Estates, after his consort Ulrika Eleonora abdicated the throne on 29 February
1721 – Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated six concertos to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, now commonly called the Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
1731 – Naturalization of Hieronimus de Salis Parliamentary Act is passed.
1765 – Great Britain passes the Quartering Act, which requires the Thirteen Colonies to house British troops.
1794 – In Kraków, Tadeusz Kościuszko announces a general uprising against Imperial Russia and the Kingdom of Prussia, and assumes the powers of the Commander in Chief of all of the Polish forces.
1829 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, allowing Catholics to serve in Parliament.
1832 – In Hiram, Ohio, a group of men beat and tar and feather Mormon leader Joseph Smith.
1854 – President José Gregorio Monagas abolishes slavery in Venezuela.
1860 – Sakuradamon Incident: Assassination of Japanese Chief Minister (Tairō) Ii Naosuke.
1869 – The last of Titokowaru’s forces surrendered to the New Zealand government, ending his uprising.
1878 – The British frigate HMS Eurydice sinks, killing more than 300.
1882 – Robert Koch announces the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
1885 – Sino-French War: Chinese victory in the Battle of Bang Bo on the Tonkin–Guangxi border.
1900 – Mayor of New York City Robert Anderson Van Wyck breaks ground for a new underground “Rapid Transit Railroad” that would link Manhattan and Brooklyn.
1907 – The first issue of the Georgian Bolshevik newspaper Dro is published.
1921 – The 1921 Women’s Olympiad begins in Monte Carlo, first international women’s sports event.
1927 – Nanking Incident: Foreign warships bombard Nanjing, China, in defense of the foreign citizens within the city.
1934 – United States Congress passes the Tydings–McDuffie Act, allowing the Philippines to become a self-governing commonwealth.
1944 – Ardeatine massacre: German troops murder 335 Italian civilians in Rome.
1944 – World War II: In an event later dramatized in the movie The Great Escape, 76 Allied prisoners of war begin breaking out of the German camp Stalag Luft III.
1946 – A British Cabinet Mission arrives in India to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership.
1958 – Rock ‘n’ roll teen idol Elvis Presley is drafted in the U.S. Army.
1961 – Quebec Board of the French Language is established.
1965 – Images from the Ranger 9 lunar probe are broadcast live on network television.
1973 – Kenyan athlete Kip Keino defeats Jim Ryun at the first-ever professional track meet in Los Angeles.
1976 – In Argentina, the armed forces overthrow the constitutional government of President Isabel Perón and start a 7-year dictatorial period self-styled the National Reorganization Process.
1977 – Morarji Desai became the Prime Minister of India, the first Prime Minister not to belong to Indian National Congress.
1980 – El Salvadorian Archbishop Óscar Romero is assassinated while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.
1986 – The Loscoe gas explosion leads to new UK laws on landfill gas migration and gas protection on landfill sites.
1989 – In Prince William Sound in Alaska, the Exxon Valdez spills 240,000 barrels (38,000 m³) of crude oil after running aground.
1993 – Discovery of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9.
1998 – Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden, aged 11 and 13 respectively, fire upon teachers and students at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Arkansas; five people are killed and ten are wounded.
1998 – A tornado sweeps through Dantan in India, killing 250 people and injuring 3,000 others.
1998 – First computer-assisted Bone Segment Navigation, performed at the University of Regensburg, Germany
1999 – Kosovo war: NATO began attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
1999 – A lorry carrying margarine and flour catches fire inside the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The resulting inferno kills 38 people.
2003 – The Arab League votes 21–1 in favor of a resolution demanding the immediate and unconditional removal of U.S. and British soldiers from Iraq.
2008 – Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
2015 – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps in an apparent pilot mass murder-suicide, killing all 150 people on board.

Births on March 24

1103 – Yue Fei, Chinese military general (d. 1142)
1441 – Ernest, Elector of Saxony, German ruler of Saxony (d. 1486)
1494 – Georgius Agricola, German mineralogist and scholar (d. 1555)
1577 – Francis, Duke of Pomerania-Stettin, Bishop of Cammin (d. 1620)
1607 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (d. 1667)
1628 – Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1685)
1657 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese academic and politician (d. 1725)
1693 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clock-maker, invented the Marine chronometer (d. 1776)
1725 – Samuel Ashe, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1813)
1725 – Thomas Cushing, American lawyer and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1788)
1755 – Rufus King, American lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom (d. 1827)
1762 – Marcos Portugal, Portuguese organist and composer (d. 1830)
1775 – Muthuswami Dikshitar, Indian poet and composer (d. 1835)
1782 – Orest Kiprensky, Russian-Italian painter (d. 1836)
1796 – Zulma Carraud, French author (d. 1889)
1796 – John Corry Wilson Daly, Canadian businessman and politician (d. 1878)
1803 – Egerton Ryerson, Canadian minister, educator, and politician (d. 1882)
1808 – Maria Malibran, Spanish-French soprano (d. 1836)
1809 – Mariano José de Larra, Spanish journalist and author (d. 1837)
1809 – Joseph Liouville, French mathematician and academic (d. 1882)
1816 – Pelagio Antonio de Labastida y Dávalos, Roman Catholic archbishop and Mexican politician who served as regent during the Second Mexican Empire (1863-1864) (d. 1891)
1820 – Edmond Becquerel, French physicist and academic (d. 1891)
1820 – Fanny Crosby, American poet and composer (d. 1915)
1823 – Thomas Spencer Baynes, English philosopher and critic (d. 1887)
1826 – Matilda Joslyn Gage, American activist and author (d. 1898)
1828 – Horace Gray, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1902)
1829 – George Francis Train, American businessman (d. 1904)
1829 – Ignacio Zaragoza, Mexican general (d. 1862)
1830 – Robert Hamerling, Austrian poet and playwright (d. 1889)
1834 – William Morris, English textile designer, poet, and author (d. 1896)
1834 – John Wesley Powell, American soldier, geologist, and explorer (d. 1902)
1835 – Joseph Stefan, Austrian physicist, mathematician, and poet (d. 1893)
1848 – Honoré Beaugrand, Canadian journalist and politician, 18th Mayor of Montreal (d. 1906)
1850 – Silas Hocking, English minister and author (d. 1935)
1854 – Henry Lefroy, Australian politician, 11th Premier of Western Australia (d. 1930)
1855 – Andrew W. Mellon, American banker, financier, and diplomat, 49th United States Secretary of the Treasury (d. 1937)
1855 – Olive Schreiner, South African author and activist (d. 1920)
1862 – Frank Weston Benson, American painter and educator (d. 1951)
1869 – Émile Fabre, French author and playwright (d. 1955)
1871 – Alec Hurley, English music hall singer (d. 1913)
1874 – Luigi Einaudi, Italian economist and politician, 2nd President of the Italian Republic (d. 1961)
1874 – Harry Houdini, Hungarian-Jewish American magician and actor (d. 1926)
1875 – William Burns, Canadian lacrosse player (d. 1953)
1879 – Neyzen Tevfik, Turkish philosopher, poet, and composer (d. 1953)
1882 – Marcel Lalu, French gymnast (d. 1951)
1882 – George Monckton-Arundell, 8th Viscount Galway, English politician, 5th Governor-General of New Zealand (d. 1943)
1883 – Dorothy Campbell, Scottish-American golfer (d. 1945)
1884 – Peter Debye, Dutch-American physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
1884 – Chika Kuroda, Japanese chemist (d. 1968)
1884 – Eugène Tisserant, French cardinal (d. 1972)
1885 – Charles Daniels, American swimmer (d. 1973)
1885 – Dimitrie Cuclin, Romanian violinist and composer (d. 1978)
1886 – Edward Weston, American photographer (d. 1958)
1886 – Robert Mallet-Stevens, French architect and designer (d. 1945)
1887 – Roscoe Arbuckle, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1933)
1888 – Viktor Kingissepp, Estonian politician (d. 1922)
1889 – Albert Hill, English-Canadian runner (d. 1969)
1890 – Agnes Macphail, Canadian educator and politician (d. 1954)
1891 – Sergey Ivanovich Vavilov, Russian physicist and academic (d. 1951)
1892 – Marston Morse, American mathematician and academic (d. 1977)
1893 – Walter Baade, German astronomer and author (d. 1960)
1893 – George Sisler, American baseball player and scout (d. 1973)
1897 – Wilhelm Reich, Austrian-American psychotherapist and academic (d. 1957)
1901 – Ub Iwerks, American animator, director, and producer, co-created Mickey Mouse (d. 1971)
1902 – Thomas E. Dewey, American lawyer and politician, 47th Governor of New York (d. 1971)
1903 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1995)
1903 – Malcolm Muggeridge, English journalist, author, and scholar (d. 1990)
1905 – Pura Santillan-Castrence, Filipino author and diplomat (d. 2007)
1907 – Paul Sauvé, Canadian lawyer and politician, 17th Premier of Quebec (d. 1960)
1909 – Clyde Barrow, American criminal (d. 1934)
1909 – Richard Wurmbrand, Romanian Pastor and Evangelist (d. 2001)
1910 – Richard Conte, American actor, singer, and director (d. 1975)
1911 – Joseph Barbera, American animator, director, and producer, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (d. 2006)
1912 – Dorothy Height, African-American educator and activist (d. 2010)
1915 – Eugène Martin, French racing driver (d. 2006)
1916 – Donald Hamilton, Swedish-American soldier and author (d. 2006)
1916 – Harry B. Whittington, English palaeontologist and academic (d. 2010)
1917 – John Kendrew, English biochemist and crystallographer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1997)
1919 – Lawrence Ferlinghetti, American poet and publisher, co-founded City Lights Bookstore
1919 – Robert Heilbroner, American economist and historian (d. 2005)
1920 – Gene Nelson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1920 – Mary Stolz, American author (d. 2006)
1921 – Vasily Smyslov, Russian chess player (d. 2010)
1922 – Onna White, Canadian dancer and choreographer (d. 2005)
1923 – Murray Hamilton, American actor (d. 1986)
1923 – Michael Legat, English author and publisher (d. 2011)
1924 – Norman Fell, American actor (d. 1998)
1925 – Puig Aubert, German-French rugby league player and coach (d. 1994)
1926 – Desmond Connell, Irish cardinal (d. 2017)
1926 – Dario Fo, Italian playwright, actor, director, and composer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
1926 – William Porter, American hurdler (d. 2000)
1927 – John Woodland Hastings, American biochemist and academic (d. 2014)
1927 – Martin Walser, German author and playwright
1928 – Byron Janis, American pianist and composer
1929 – Pat Renella, Italian-American actor (d. 2012)
1930 – David Dacko, Central African politician, 1st President of the Central African Republic (d. 2003)
1930 – Steve McQueen, American actor and producer (d. 1980)
1931 – Hanno Drechsler, German educator and politician, Mayor of Marburg (d. 2003)
1933 – Stephen De Staebler, American sculptor and educator (d. 2011)
1933 – Lee Mendelson, American television producer (d. 2019)
1936 – Don Covay, American singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1936 – Alex Olmedo, Peruvian-American tennis player
1937 – Billy Stewart, American singer and pianist (d. 1970)
1938 – David Irving, English historian and author
1940 – Bob Mackie, American fashion designer
1941 – Michael Masser, American songwriter, composer and producer (d. 2015)
1944 – R. Lee Ermey, American sergeant and actor (d. 2018)
1944 – Vojislav Koštunica, Serbian academic and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Serbia
1945 – Robert T. Bakker, American paleontologist and academic
1945 – Curtis Hanson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1945 – Patrick Malahide, English actor and screenwriter
1946 – Klaus Dinger, German guitarist and songwriter (d. 2008)
1946 – Kitty O’Neil, American stuntwoman (d. 2018)
1947 – Dennis Erickson, American football player and coach
1947 – Christine Gregoire, American lawyer and politician, 22nd Governor of Washington
1947 – Mick Jones, English footballer and coach
1947 – Alan Sugar, English businessman
1948 – Javier Diez Canseco, Peruvian sociologist and politician (d. 2013)
1948 – Jerzy Kukuczka, Polish mountaineer (d. 1989)
1948 – Lee Oskar, Jewish-Danish musician
1949 – Tabitha King, American author and poet
1949 – Ruud Krol, Dutch footballer and coach
1949 – Steve Lang, Canadian bass player (April Wine) (d. 2017)
1949 – Nick Lowe, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1949 – Ali Akbar Salehi, Iranian academic and politician, 36th Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran
1949 – Ranil Wickremesinghe, Sri Lankan lawyer and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka
1950 – Gary Wichard, American football player and agent (d. 2011)
1951 – Peter Boyle, Scottish-Australian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1951 – Pat Bradley, American golfer
1951 – Tommy Hilfiger, American fashion designer, founded the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation
1951 – Dougie Thomson, Scottish bass player
1951 – Anna Włodarczyk, Polish long jumper and coach
1952 – Greg McCrary, American football player (d. 2013)
1953 – Anita L. Allen, African-American lawyer, philosopher, and academic
1953 – Louie Anderson, American actor and comedian
1955 – Doug Jarvis, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1955 – Pat Price, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1956 – Steve Ballmer, American businessman
1956 – Bill Wray, American cartoonist and painter
1957 – Pierre Harvey, Canadian cyclist and skier
1957 – Pat Jarvis, Australian rugby league player
1958 – Mike Woodson, American basketball player and coach
1959 – Emmit King, American sprinter
1959 – Renaldo Nehemiah, American hurdler and football player
1959 – Derek Statham, English footballer
1960 – Jan Berglin, Swedish cartoonist
1960 – Barry Horowitz, American wrestler
1960 – Kelly Le Brock, English-American actress and model
1960 – Nena, German singer-songwriter and actress
1960 – Scott Pruett, American race car driver
1960 – Annabella Sciorra, American actress
1961 – Dean Jones, Australian cricketer and coach
1961 – Yanis Varoufakis, Greek economist and politician, Greek Minister of Finance
1962 – Angèle Dubeau, Canadian violinist
1962 – Star Jones, African-American lawyer, journalist, and talk show host
1962 – Irina Meszynski, German discus thrower
1963 – Raimond van der Gouw, Dutch footballer and coach
1963 – Vadym Tyshchenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (d. 2015)
1963 – Torsten Voss, German decathlete and bobsledder
1965 – The Undertaker, American wrestler and actor
1966 – Floyd Heard, American sprinter and coach
1967 – Diann Roffe, American skier
1968 – Minarti Timur, Indonesian badminton player
1969 – Stephan Eberharter, Austrian skier
1970 – Lara Flynn Boyle, American actress
1970 – Sharon Corr, Irish singer-songwriter and violinist
1970 – Judith Draxler, Austrian swimmer
1970 – Erica Kennedy, African-American journalist and author (d. 2012)
1970 – Mike Vanderjagt, Canadian-American football player
1971 – Tig Notaro, American comedian and actor
1972 – Christophe Dugarry, French footballer
1972 – Steve Karsay, American baseball player and coach
1973 – Jacek Bąk, Polish footballer
1973 – Philippe Boucher, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1973 – Steve Corica, Australian footballer and coach
1973 – Jure Ivanušič, Slovenian actor, concert pianist and chansonnier
1973 – Mette Jacobsen, Danish swimmer
1973 – Glen Jakovich, Australian footballer
1973 – Jim Parsons, American actor
1974 – Alyson Hannigan, American actress
1974 – Sergey Klyugin, Russian high jumper
1974 – Tado, Filipino comedian and activist (d. 2014)
1975 – Thomas Johansson, Swedish-Monacan tennis player
1976 – Aaron Brooks, American football player
1976 – Aliou Cissé, Senegalese footballer and coach
1976 – Athanasios Kostoulas, Greek footballer
1976 – Peyton Manning, American football player and entrepreneur
1977 – Jessica Chastain, American actress
1977 – Maxim Kuznetsov, Russian ice hockey player
1977 – Darren Lockyer, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
1978 – Michael Braun, Australian footballer and coach
1978 – Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer and manager
1978 – José Valverde, Dominican baseball player
1979 – Lake Bell, Jewish-American actress, director, and screenwriter
1979 – Norris Hopper, American baseball player
1979 – Periklis Iakovakis, Greek hurdler
1979 – Graeme Swann, English cricketer
1980 – Tassos Venetis, Greek footballer
1981 – Mike Adams, American football player
1981 – Ron Hainsey, American ice hockey player
1981 – Dirk Hayhurst, American baseball player
1981 – Mark Looms, Dutch footballer
1981 – Gary Paffett, English racing driver
1982 – Corey Hart, American baseball player
1982 – Jack Swagger, American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler
1982 – Epico Colon, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
1982 – Jimmy Hempte, Belgian footballer
1982 – Dustin McGowan, American baseball player
1983 – Luca Ceccarelli, Italian footballer
1983 – Riccardo Musetti, Italian footballer
1983 – Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – T.J. Ford, American basketball player
1984 – Benoît Assou-Ekotto, French born Cameroonian international footballer, left-back
1984 – Chris Bosh, American basketball player
1984 – Adrian D’Souza, Indian field hockey player
1984 – Lucy Wangui Kabuu, Kenyan runner
1984 – Park Bom, South Korean singer
1984 – Philipp Petzschner, German tennis player
1985 – Lana, American wrestler and manager
1985 – Haruka Ayase, Japanese actress and singer
1987 – Ramires, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Shakib Al Hasan, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Billy Jones, English footballer
1987 – Yuma Asami, Japanese actress and singer
1988 – Aiga Grabuste, Latvian heptathlete
1988 – Ryan Higgins, Zimbabwean cricketer
1988 – Matías Martínez, Argentinian footballer
1988 – Kardo Ploomipuu, Estonian swimmer
1988 – Matt Todd, New Zealand rugby union player
1990 – Starlin Castro, American baseball player
1990 – Aljur Abrenica, Filipino actor
1990 – Keisha Castle-Hughes, Australian-New Zealand actress
1990 – Lacey Evans, American wrestler
1991 – Nick Browne, English cricketer
1991 – Dalila Jakupovic, Slovenian tennis player
1995 – Enzo Fernandez, French-Spanish footballer

Deaths on March 24

809 – Harun al-Rashid, Arab caliph (b. 763)
832 – Wulfred, archbishop of Canterbury
1284 – Hugh III of Cyprus (b. 1235)
1296 – Odon de Pins, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller
1381 – Catherine of Vadstena, Swedish saint (b. 1332)
1394 – Constance of Castile, claimant to the throne of Castile
1396 – Walter Hilton, English mystic and saint (b. 1340)
1399 – Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk (b.c. 1320)
1443 – James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas (b. 1371)
1455 – Pope Nicholas V (b. 1397)
1499 – Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire, English nobleman (b. 1470)
1563 – Hosokawa Harumoto, Japanese daimyō (b. 1514)
1575 – Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, Spanish-Portuguese rabbi and author (b. 1488)
1603 – Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
1653 – Samuel Scheidt, German organist and composer (b. 1587)
1684 – Pieter de Hooch, Dutch painter (b. 1629)
1684 – Elizabeth Ridgeway, English woman convicted of poisoning her husband
1773 – Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield, English politician, Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard (b. 1694)
1776 – John Harrison, English carpenter and clockmaker, invented the Marine chronometer (b. 1693)
1824 – Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux, French lawyer (b. 1753)
1838 – Abraham Hume, English floriculturist and Tory politician (b. 1748/49)
1869 – Antoine-Henri Jomini, French-Russian general (b. 1779)
1881 – Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist and mineralogist (b. 1817)
1882 – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet and educator (b. 1807)
1887 – Ivan Kramskoi, Russian painter and critic (b. 1837)
1888 – Vsevolod Garshin, Russian author (b. 1855)
1905 – Jules Verne, French novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1828)
1909 – John Millington Synge, Irish playwright and poet (b. 1871)
1915 – Margaret Lindsay Huggins, Anglo-Irish astronomer (b. 1848)
1915 – Karol Olszewski, Polish chemist, mathematician, and physicist (b. 1846)
1916 – Enrique Granados, Spanish pianist and composer (b. 1867)
1926 – Phan Châu Trinh, Vietnamese activist (b. 1872)
1940 – Édouard Branly, French physicist and academic (b. 1844)
1944 – Orde Wingate, Indian-English general (b. 1903)
1946 – Alexander Alekhine, Russian chess player (b. 1892)
1946 – Carl Schuhmann, German gymnast, shot putter, and jumper (b. 1869)
1948 – Sigrid Hjertén, Swedish painter and illustrator (b. 1885)
1950 – James Rudolph Garfield, American lawyer and politician, 23rd United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1865)
1951 – Lorna Hodgkinson, Australian educator and educational psychologist (b. 1887)
1953 – Mary of Teck (b. 1867)
1962 – Jean Goldkette, French-American pianist and bandleader (b. 1899)
1962 – Auguste Piccard, Swiss physicist and explorer (b. 1884)
1968 – Alice Guy-Blaché, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1873)
1971 – Arne Jacobsen, Danish architect, designed the Radisson Blu Royal Hotel and Aarhus City Hall (b. 1902)
1971 – Arthur Metcalfe, Australian public servant (b. 1895)
1976 – Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, English field marshal (b. 1887)
1978 – Park Mok-wol, influential Korean poet and academic (b. 1916)
1980 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (b. 1917)
1984 – Sam Jaffe, American actor (b. 1891)
1985 – Raoul Ubac, French painter, sculptor, photographer and engraver (b. 1910)
1988 – Turhan Feyzioğlu, Turkish academic and politician, 27th Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1922)
1990 – Ray Goulding, American comedian and radio host (b. 1922)
1991 – John Kerr, Australian lawyer and politician, 18th Governor-General of Australia (b. 1914)
1993 – Albert Arlen, Australian pianist, composer, actor, and playwright (b. 1905)
1993 – John Hersey, American journalist and author (b. 1914)
1995 – Joseph Needham, English historian and academic (b. 1900)
1999 – Gertrud Scholtz-Klink, German politician (b. 1902)
1999 – Birdie Tebbetts, American baseball player and manager (b. 1912)
2001 – Muriel Young, English television host and producer (b. 1928)
2002 – César Milstein, Argentinian-English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1927)
2002 – Bob Said, American race car driver and bobsledder (b. 1932)
2003 – Hans Hermann Groër, Austrian cardinal (b. 1919)
2006 – Rudra Rajasingham, Sri Lankan police officer and diplomat (b. 1926)
2007 – Shripad Narayan Pendse, Indian Marathi novelist (b. 1913)
2008 – Chalmers Alford, American guitarist (b. 1955)
2008 – Neil Aspinall, Welsh-English record producer and manager (b. 1941)
2008 – Rafael Azcona, Spanish author and screenwriter (b. 1926)
2008 – Richard Widmark, American actor (b. 1914)
2009 – George Kell, American baseball player and sportscaster (b. 1922)
2009 – Hans Klenk, German racing driver (b. 1919)
2009 – Gábor Ocskay, Hungarian ice hockey player (b. 1975)
2010 – Robert Culp, American actor (b. 1930)
2010 – Jim Marshall, American photographer (b. 1936)
2012 – Paul Callaghan, New Zealand physicist and academic (b. 1947)
2012 – Nick Noble, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2013 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (b. 1926)
2013 – Inge Lønning, Norwegian theologian, academic, and politician (b. 1938)
2013 – Gury Marchuk, Russian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1925)
2013 – Paolo Ponzo, Italian footballer (b. 1972)
2013 – Mohamed Yousri Salama, Egyptian dentist and politician (b. 1974)
2013 – Francis Hovell-Thurlow-Cumming-Bruce, 8th Baron Thurlow, English diplomat (b. 1912)
2014 – Oleksandr Muzychko, Ukrainian activist (b. 1962)
2014 – John Rowe Townsend, English author and scholar (b. 1922)
2014 – David A. Trampier, American illustrator (b. 1954)
2015 – Yehuda Avner, English-Israeli diplomat (b. 1928)
2015 – notable deaths of the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash:
- Oleg Bryjak, Kazakhstani-German opera singer (b. 1960)
- Maria Radner, German opera singer (b. 1981)
2016 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer (b. 1947)
2016 – Garry Shandling, American comedian, actor, and screenwriter (b. 1949)
2018 – Lys Assia, Swiss singer and First Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest (b. 1924)
2019 – Joseph Pilato, American film and voice actor (b.1949)
2020 – Albert Uderzo, French comic book artist (b. 1927)

Holidays and observances on March 24

Christian feast day:
- Catherine of Vadstena
- Hildelith of Barking
- Mac Cairthinn of Clogher
- Óscar Romero (Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheranism)
- Paul Couturier (Church of England)
- Walter Hilton (Church of England)
- March 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice (Argentina)
National Tree Planting Day (Uganda)
Student Day (Scientology)
World Tuberculosis Day (International)

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