May 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

28 BC – A sunspot is observed by Han dynasty astronomers during the reign of Emperor Cheng of Han, one of the earliest dated sunspot observations in China.
1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.
1497 – Amerigo Vespucci allegedly leaves Cádiz for his first voyage to the New World.
1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.
1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.
1688 – King Narai nominates Phetracha as regent, leading to the revolution of 1688 in which Phetracha becomes king of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
1768 – Rioting occurs in London after John Wilkes is imprisoned for writing an article for The North Briton severely criticizing King George III.
1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by reducing taxes on its tea and granting it the right to sell tea directly to North America. The legislation leads to the Boston Tea Party.
1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: A small Colonial militia led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold captures Fort Ticonderoga.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Second Continental Congress takes place in Philadelphia.
1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.
1801 – First Barbary War: The Barbary pirates of Tripoli declare war on the United States of America.
1824 – The National Gallery in London opens to the public.
1837 – Panic of 1837: New York City banks suspend the payment of specie, triggering a national banking crisis and an economic depression whose severity was not surpassed until the Great Depression.
1849 – Astor Place Riot: A riot breaks out at the Astor Opera House in Manhattan, New York City over a dispute between actors Edwin Forrest and William Charles Macready, killing at least 22 and injuring over 120.
1857 – Indian Rebellion of 1857: In India, the first war of Independence begins. Sepoys mutiny against their commanding officers at Meerut.
1865 – American Civil War: In Kentucky, Union soldiers ambush and mortally wound Confederate raider William Quantrill, who lingers until his death on June 6.
1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.
1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.
1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia.
1881 – Carol I is crowned the King of the Romanian Kingdom.
1904 – The Horch & Cir. Motorwagenwerke AG is founded. It would eventually become the Audi company.
1908 – Mother’s Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.
1916 – Sailing in the lifeboat James Caird, Ernest Shackleton arrives at South Georgia after a journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island.
1922 – The United States annexes the Kingman Reef.
1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.
1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.
1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg.
1940 – World War II: Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. On the same day, Germany invades France, Belgium and Luxembourg.Meanwhile, the United Kingdom occupies Iceland.
1941 – World War II: The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.
1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.hai Phayap Army invades the Shan States during the Burma Campaign.
1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.
1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.
1967 – The Northrop M2-F2 crashes on landing, becoming the inspiration for the novel Cyborg and TV series The Six Million Dollar Man.
1969 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
1975 – Sony introduces the Betamax videocassette recorder.
1993 – In Thailand, a fire at the Kader Toy Factory kills over 200 workers.
1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president.
1996 – A blizzard strikes Mount Everest, killing eight climbers by the next day.
1997 – The 7.3 M_w Qayen earthquake strikes Iran’s Khorasan Province killing 1,567 people.
2002 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling United States secrets to Russia for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
2005 – A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 60 feet from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
2012 – The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside of a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

Births on May 10

874 – Meng Zhixiang, Chinese general and emperor (d. 934)
955 – Al-Aziz Billah, Fatimid caliph (d. 996)
1491 – Suzanne, Duchess of Bourbon (d. 1521)
1604 – Jean Mairet, French author and playwright (d. 1686)
1697 – Jean-Marie Leclair, French violinist and composer (d. 1764)
1727 – Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, French economist and politician (d. 1781)
1755 – Robert Gray, American captain and explorer (d. 1806)
1760 – Johann Peter Hebel, German author and poet (d. 1826)
1760 – Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French captain, engineer, and composer (d. 1836)
1770 – Louis-Nicolas Davout, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1823)
1788 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer (d. 1827)
1812 – William Henry Barlow, English engineer (d. 1902)
1813 – Montgomery Blair, American lieutenant and politician, 20th United States Postmaster General (d. 1883)
1838 – John Wilkes Booth, American actor, assassin of Abraham Lincoln (d. 1865)
1841 – James Gordon Bennett, Jr., American publisher and broadcaster (d. 1918)
1843 – Benito Pérez Galdós, Spanish author and playwright (d. 1920)
1847 – Wilhelm Killing, German mathematician and academic (d. 1923)
1855 – Yukteswar Giri, Indian guru and educator (d. 1936)
1872 – Marcel Mauss, French sociologist and anthropologist (d. 1950)
1876 – Ivan Cankar, Slovenian poet and playwright (d. 1918)
1878 – Konstantinos Parthenis, Greek painter (d. 1967)
1878 – Gustav Stresemann, German journalist and politician, Chancellor of Germany, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1879 – Symon Petliura, Ukrainian journalist and politician (d. 1926)
1886 – Karl Barth, Swiss theologian and author (d. 1968)
1888 – Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1971)
1890 – Alfred Jodl, German general (d. 1946)
1891 – Mahmoud Mokhtar, Egyptian sculptor and academic (d. 1934)
1893 – Tonita Peña, San Ildefonso Pueblo (Native American) artist (d. 1949)
1894 – Dimitri Tiomkin, Ukrainian-American composer and conductor (d. 1979)
1897 – Einar Gerhardsen, Norwegian politician, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1987)
1898 – Ariel Durant, American historian and author (d. 1981)
1899 – Fred Astaire, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1900 – Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, English-American astronomer and astrophysicist (d. 1979)
1901 – John Desmond Bernal, Irish-English crystallographer and physicist (d. 1971)
1901 – Hildrus Poindexter, American bacteriologist (d. 1987)
1902 – David O. Selznick, American director and producer (d. 1965)
1903 – Otto Bradfisch, German economist, jurist, and SS officer (d. 1994)
1905 – Markos Vamvakaris, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1972)
1908 – Carl Albert, American lawyer and politician, 54th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 2000)
1909 – Maybelle Carter, American autoharp player (d. 1978)
1911 – Bel Kaufman, American author and educator (d. 2014)
1915 – Denis Thatcher, English soldier and businessman, Spouse of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 2003)
1916 – Milton Babbitt, American composer and educator (d. 2011)
1918 – T. Berry Brazelton, American pediatrician and author (d. 2018)
1918 – Desmond MacNamara, Irish painter, sculptor, and author (d. 2008)
1919 – Ella T. Grasso, Governor of Connecticut (d. 1981)
1920 – Basil Kelly, Northern Irish barrister, judge and politician (d. 2008)
1920 – Bert Weedon, English guitarist (d. 2012)
1922 – David Azrieli, Polish-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2014)
1922 – Nancy Walker, American actress, singer, and director (d. 1992)
1923 – Heydar Aliyev, Azerbaijan general and politician, President of Azerbaijan (d. 2003)
1923 – Otar Korkia, Georgian basketball player and coach (d. 2005)
1926 – Hugo Banzer, Bolivian general and politician, President of Bolivia (d. 2002)
1927 – Nayantara Sahgal, Indian author
1928 – Arnold Rüütel, Estonian agronomist and politician, President of Estonia
1928 – Lothar Schmid, German chess player (d. 2013)
1929 – Audun Boysen, Norwegian runner (d. 2000)
1929 – George Coe, American actor and producer (d. 2015)
1929 – Antonine Maillet, Canadian author and playwright
1930 – George E. Smith, American physicist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
1931 – Ettore Scola, Italian director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1933 – Jean Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1935 – Larry Williams, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 1980)
1937 – Tamara Press, Ukrainian shot putter and discus thrower
1938 – Manuel Santana, Spanish tennis player
1940 – Arthur Alexander, American country-soul singer-songwriter (d. 1993)
1940 – Wayne Dyer, American author and educator (d. 2015)
1942 – Jim Calhoun, American basketball player and coach
1944 – Jim Abrahams, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1944 – Marie-France Pisier, French actress, director, and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1946 – Donovan, Scottish singer-songwriter
1946 – Graham Gouldman, English guitarist and songwriter
1946 – Dave Mason, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Caroline B. Cooney, American author
1949 – Miuccia Prada, Italian fashion designer
1952 – Sly Dunbar, Jamaican drummer
1955 – Mark David Chapman, American murderer
1956 – Vladislav Listyev, Russian journalist (d. 1995)
1957 – Sid Vicious, English singer and bass player (d. 1979)
1958 – Gaétan Boucher, Canadian speed skater
1958 – Rick Santorum, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Pennsylvania
1959 – Victoria Rowell, American actress
1959 – Danny Schayes, American basketball player
1959 – Cindy Hyde-Smith, American politician, United States Senator from Mississippi, Mississippi Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce
1960 – Bono, Irish singer-songwriter, musician and activist
1960 – Dean Heller, American lawyer and politician, United States Senator from Nevada, Secretary of State of Nevada
1960 – Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-Slovenian runner
1963 – Lisa Nowak, American commander and astronaut
1963 – Debbie Wiseman, English composer and conductor
1965 – Linda Evangelista, Canadian model
1966 – Jonathan Edwards, English triple jumper
1967 – Eion Crossan, New Zealand rugby player
1968 – Al Murray, English comedian and television host
1968 – Tatyana Shikolenko, Russian javelin thrower
1969 – Dennis Bergkamp, Dutch footballer and manager
1969 – John Scalzi, American author and blogger
1970 – Gabriela Montero, Venezuelan-American pianist
1970 – David Weir, Scottish footballer
1971 – Ådne Søndrål, Norwegian speed skater
1972 – Christian Wörns, German footballer
1973 – Joshua Eagle, Australian tennis player
1973 – Ollie le Roux, South African rugby player
1974 – Sylvain Wiltord, French footballer
1975 – Hélio Castroneves, Brazilian race car driver
1975 – Adam Deadmarsh, Canadian-American ice hockey player
1978 – Bruno Cheyrou, French footballer
1981 – Samuel Dalembert, Haitian-Canadian basketball player
1981 – Humberto Suazo, Chilean footballer
1983 – Gustav Fridolin, Swedish journalist and politician, Swedish Minister of Education
1984 – Edward Mujica, Venezuelan baseball player
1985 – Ryan Getzlaf, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Jon Schofield, English canoe racer
1987 – Wilson Chandler, American basketball player
1990 – Salvador Pérez, Venezuelan baseball player
1990 – Ivana Španović, Serbian long jumper
1995 – Missy Franklin, American swimmer1995 – Gabriella Papadakis, French ice dancer
1996 – Tyus Jones, American basketball player
1996 – Kateřina Siniaková, Czech tennis player

Deaths on May 10

1299 – Theingapati, heir to the Pagan Kingdom
1403 – Katherine Swynford, widow of John of Gaunt
1482 – Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1397)
1493 – Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll, Scottish politician, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (b. 1433)
1521 – Sebastian Brant, German author (b. 1457)
1566 – Leonhart Fuchs, German physician and botanist (b. 1501)
1569 – John of Ávila, Spanish mystic and saint (b. 1500)
1641 – Johan Banér, Swedish field marshal (b. 1596)
1717 – John Hathorne, American merchant and politician (b. 1641)
1726 – Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (b. 1670)
1774 – Louis XV of France (b. 1710)
1787 – William Watson, English physician, physicist, and botanist (b. 1715)
1794 – Élisabeth of France, French princess and youngest sibling of Louis XVI (b.1764)
1798 – George Vancouver, English navigator and explorer (b. 1757)
1807 – Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, French general (b. 1725)
1818 – Paul Revere, American engraver and soldier (b. 1735)
1829 – Thomas Young, English physician and linguist (b. 1773)
1849 – Hokusai, Japanese painter and illustrator (b. 1760)
1863 – Stonewall Jackson, American general (b. 1824)
1868 – Henry Bennett, American lawyer and politician (b. 1808)
1889 – Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian journalist, author, and playwright (b. 1826)
1891 – Carl Nägeli, Swiss botanist and mycologist (b. 1817)
1897 – Andrés Bonifacio, Filipino soldier and politician, President of the Philippines (b. 1863)
1910 – Stanislao Cannizzaro, Italian chemist and academic (b. 1826)
1945 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (b. 1889)
1945 – Konrad Henlein, Czech soldier and politician (b. 1898)
1960 – Yury Olesha, Russian author, poet, and playwright (b. 1899)
1964 – Mikhail Larionov, Russian painter, illustrator, and set designer (b. 1881)
1965 – Hubertus van Mook, Dutch politician, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (b. 1894)
1968 – Scotty Beckett, American actor and singer (b. 1929)
1974 – Hal Mohr, American director and cinematographer (b. 1894)
1977 – Joan Crawford, American actress (year of birth disputed)
1982 – Peter Weiss, German playwright and painter (b. 1916)
1988 – Shen Congwen, Chinese author and academic (b. 1902)
1990 – Walker Percy, American novelist and essayist (b. 1916)
1994 – John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (b. 1942)
1999 – Shel Silverstein, American poet, author, and illustrator
2000 – Jules Deschênes, Canadian lawyer and judge (b. 1923)
2000 – Dick Sprang, American illustrator (b. 1915)
2001 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, Governor of Himachal Pradesh (b. 1934)
2002 – Kaifi Azmi, Indian poet and songwriter (b. 1919)
2002 – Yves Robert, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1920)
2003 – Milan Vukcevich, Serbian-American chemist and chess player (b. 1937)
2006 – Soraya, Colombian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (b. 1969)
2008 – Leyla Gencer, Turkish soprano (b. 1928)
2010 – Frank Frazetta, American illustrator and painter (b. 1928)
2012 – Horst Faas, German photographer and journalist (b. 1933)
2012 – Carroll Shelby, American race car driver and designer (b. 1923)
2012 – Gunnar Sønsteby, Norwegian captain and author (b. 1918)
2015 – Chris Burden, American sculptor, illustrator, and academic (b. 1946)
2018 – David Goodall, Australian botanist and ecologist (b. 1914)
2019 – Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, Spanish politician and chemist (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances on May 10

Children’s Day (Maldives)
Christian feast day:
- Alphius, Philadelphus and Cyrinus
- Calepodius
- Catald
- Comgall
- Damien of Molokai
- Gordianus and Epimachus
- Job (Roman Catholic Church, pre-1969 calendar)
- John of Ávila
- May 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Confederate Memorial Day (North Carolina and South Carolina)
Constitution Day (Micronesia)
Earliest possible day on which Pentecost can fall, while June 13 is the latest; celebrated 50 days after Easter Day.(Christianity)
Golden Spike Day (Promontory, Utah)
Mother’s Day (Guatemala, and Mexico)

May 10 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
1386 – Battle of the Vikhra River: The Principality of Smolensk is defeated by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and becomes its vassal.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orléans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands, is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1521 – Swedish War of Liberation: Swedish troops defeat a Danish force in the Battle of Västerås.
1770 – James Cook arrives in Australia at Botany Bay, which he names.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland’s House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: The Capture of New Orleans by Union forces under David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the American Civil War.
1903 – A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People’s Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1911 – Tsinghua University, one of mainland China’s leading universities, is founded.
1916 – World War I: The UK’s 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: After six days of fighting, Irish rebel leaders surrender to British forces in Dublin, bringing the Easter Rising to an end.
1944 – World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo’s most wanted person, parachutes back into France to be a liaison between London and the local maquis group.
1945 – World War II: The Surrender of Caserta is signed by the commander of German forces in Italy.
1945 – World War II: Airdrops of food begin over German-occupied regions of the Netherlands.
1945 – World War II: The Captain-class frigate HMS Goodall (K479) is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last Royal Navy ship to be sunk in the European theatre of World War II.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor; Hitler and Braun both commit suicide the following day.
1945 – Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People’s Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D television broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 – Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the previous day, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 – The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with some of its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1975 – Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnamese-held Trường Sa Islands.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1986 – Chernobyl disaster: American and European spy satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant.
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as ten million homeless.
1991 – The 7.0 M_w  Racha earthquake affects Georgia with a maximum MSK intensity of IX (Destructive), killing 270 people.
1992 – Riots in Los Angeles, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
2011 – The Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton takes place at Westminster Abbey in London.
2013 – A powerful explosion occurs in an office building in Prague, believed to have been caused by natural gas, injures 43 people.
2013 – National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-400 freighter aircraft, crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Parwan Province, Afghanistan, killing seven people.
2015 – A baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox sets the all-time low attendance mark for Major League Baseball. Zero fans were in attendance for the game, as the stadium was officially closed to the public due to the 2015 Baltimore protests.

Births on April 29

912 – Minamoto no Mitsunaka, Japanese samurai (d. 997)
1469 – William II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1509)
1587 – Sophie of Saxony, Duchess of Pomerania (d. 1635)
1636 – Esaias Reusner, German lute player and composer (d. 1679)
1665 – James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1745)
1667 – John Arbuthnot, Scottish-English physician and polymath (d. 1735)
1686 – Peregrine Bertie, 2nd Duke of Ancaster and Kesteven, English politician, Lord Great Chamberlain (d. 1742)
1727 – Jean-Georges Noverre, French actor and dancer (d. 1810)
1745 – Oliver Ellsworth, American lawyer and politician, 3rd Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1807)
1758 – Georg Carl von Döbeln, Swedish general (d. 1820)
1762 – Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, French general and politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1833)
1780 – Charles Nodier, French librarian and author (d. 1844)
1783 – David Cox, English landscape painter (d. 1859)
1784 – Samuel Turell Armstrong, American publisher and politician, 14th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1850)
1810 – Thomas Adolphus Trollope, English journalist and author (d. 1892)
1814 – Sadok Barącz, Galician religious leader, historian, folklorist, archivist (d. 1892)
1818 – Alexander II of Russia (d. 1881)
1837 – Georges Ernest Boulanger, French general and politician, French Minister of War (d. 1891)
1842 – Carl Millöcker, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1899)
1847 – Joachim Andersen, Danish flautist, composer, conductor, and co-founder of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (d. 1907)
1848 – Raja Ravi Varma, Indian painter and academic (d. 1906)
1854 – Henri Poincaré, French mathematician, physicist, and engineer (d. 1912)
1858 – Georgia Hopley, American journalist, temperance advocate, and the first woman prohibition agent (d. 1944)
1863 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Egyptian-Greek journalist and poet (d. 1933)
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951)
1863 – Maria Teresia Ledóchowska, Austrian nun and missionary (d. 1922)
1872 – Harry Payne Whitney, American businessman and lawyer (d. 1930)
1872 – Forest Ray Moulton, American astronomer and academic (d. 1952)
1875 – Rafael Sabatini, Italian-English novelist and short story writer (d. 1950)
1878 – Friedrich Adler, Jewish-German academic, artist and designer (d.1945)
1879 – Thomas Beecham, English conductor (d. 1961, March 8)
1880 – Fethi Okyar, Turkish military officer, diplomat and politician (d. 1943)
1882 – Auguste Herbin, French painter (d. 1960)
1882 – Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman, Dutch printer, typographer, and Nazi resister (d. 1945)
1891 – Bharathidasan, Indian poet and activist (d. 1964)
1894 – Marietta Blau, Austrian physicist and academic (d. 1970)
1885 – Egon Erwin Kisch, Czech journalist and author (d. 1948)
1887 – Raymond Thorne, American swimmer (d. 1921)
1893 – Harold Urey, American chemist and astronomer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1981)
1895 – Vladimir Propp, Russian scholar and critic (d. 1970)
1895 – Malcolm Sargent, English organist, composer, and conductor (d. 1967)
1899 – Duke Ellington, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1974)
1899 – Mary Petty, American illustrator (d. 1976)
1900 – Concha de Albornoz, Spanish feminist and intellectual, exiled during the Spanish Civil War (d. 1972)
1900 – Amelia Best, Australian politician, one of the first women elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly (d. 1979)
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989)
1907 – Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-American director and producer (d. 1997)
1908 – Jack Williamson, American author and academic (d. 2006)
1909 – Tom Ewell, American actor (d. 1994)
1912 – Richard Carlson, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1915 – Henry H. Barschall, German-American physicist and academic (d. 1997)
1917 – Maya Deren, Ukrainian-American director, poet, and photographer (d. 1961)
1917 – Celeste Holm, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1918 – George Allen, American football player and coach (d. 1990)
1919 – Gérard Oury, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1920 – Edward Blishen, English author and radio host (d. 1996)
1920 – Harold Shapero, American composer (d. 2013)
1922 – Helmut Krackowizer, Austrian motorcycle racer and journalist (d. 2001)
1922 – Toots Thielemans, Belgian guitarist and harmonica player (d. 2016)
1923 – Irvin Kershner, American actor, director, and producer (d. 2010)
1924 – Al Balding, Canadian golfer (d. 2006)
1924 – Zizi Jeanmaire, French ballerina and actress
1925 – John Compton, Saint Lucian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (d. 2007)
1925 – Iwao Takamoto, American animator, director, and producer (d. 2007)
1926 – Elmer Kelton, American journalist and author (d. 2009)
1927 – Dorothy Manley, English sprinter
1927 – Bill Slater, English footballer (d. 2018)
1928 – Carl Gardner, American singer (d. 2011)
1928 – Heinz Wolff, German-English physiologist, engineer, and academic (d. 2017)
1929 – Walter Kempowski, German author and academic (d. 2007)
1929 – Mickey McDermott, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1929 – Peter Sculthorpe, Australian composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1929 – Maurice Strong, Canadian businessman and diplomat (d. 2015)
1929 – Jeremy Thorpe, English lawyer and politician (d. 2014)
1930 – Jean Rochefort, French actor and director (d. 2017)
1931 – Frank Auerbach, British-German painter
1931 – Lonnie Donegan, Scottish-English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
1931 – Chris Pearson, Canadian politician, 1st Premier of Yukon (d. 2014)
1932 – Joy Clements, American soprano and actress (d. 2005)
1932 – David Tindle, English painter and educator
1933 – Ed Charles, American baseball player and coach (d. 2018)
1933 – Mark Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, 61st Prime Minister of Belgium
1933 – Rod McKuen, American singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2015)
1933 – Willie Nelson, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor
1934 – Luis Aparicio, Venezuelan-American baseball player
1934 – Peter de la Billière, English general
1934 – Erika Fisch, German sprinter and hurdler
1934 – Pedro Pires, Cape Verdean politician, 3rd President of Cape Verde
1935 – Otis Rush, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2018)
1936 – Zubin Mehta, Indian bassist and conductor
1936 – Adolfo Nicolás, Spanish priest, 13th Superior General of the Society of Jesus
1936 – Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, English banker and philanthropist
1936 – April Stevens, American pop singer
1937 – Arvo Mets, Estonian-Russian poet and translator (d. 1997)
1937 – Jill Paton Walsh, English author
1938 – Bernard Madoff, American businessman, financier and convicted felon
1938 – Klaus Voormann, German artist, bass player, and producer
1940 – Stephanos of Tallinn, Estonian metropolitan
1940 – Brian Taber, Australian cricketer
1941 – Jonah Barrington, English-Irish squash player
1941 – Dorothy Edgington, British philosopher
1941 – Hanne Darboven, German painter (d. 2009)
1942 – Lynda Chalker, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey, English politician, Minister of State for Europe
1942 – Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie, English civil servant and academic
1942 – Galina Kulakova, Russian skier
1943 – Duane Allen, American country singer
1943 – Brenda Dean, Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde, English union leader and politician (d. 2018)
1943 – Ruth Deech, Baroness Deech, English lawyer and academic
1944 – Francis Lee, English footballer and businessman
1945 – Brian Charlesworth, English biologist, geneticist, and academic
1945 – Hugh Hopper, English bass guitarist (d. 2009)
1945 – Catherine Lara, French singer-songwriter and violinist
1945 – Tammi Terrell, American soul singer-songwriter (d. 1970)
1946 – Aleksander Wolszczan, Polish astronomer
1947 – Serge Bernier, Canadian ice hockey player
1947 – Tommy James, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1947 – Johnny Miller, American golfer and sportscaster
1947 – Jim Ryun, American runner and politician
1948 – Bruce Cutler, American lawyer
1950 – Paul Holmes, New Zealand journalist (d. 2013)
1950 – Phillip Noyce, Australian director and producer
1950 – Debbie Stabenow, American social worker and politician
1951 – Rick Burleson, American baseball player
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001)
1951 – John Holmes, English diplomat, British Ambassador to France
1952 – Nora Dunn, American actress and comedian
1952 – David Icke, English footballer and sportscaster
1952 – Bob McClure, American baseball player and coach
1952 – Rob Nicholson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 11th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1952 – Ron Washington, American baseball player and manager
1954 – Jake Burton Carpenter, American snowboarder and businessman, founded Burton Snowboards
1954 – Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian, actor, and producer
1955 – Don McKinnon, Australian rugby league player
1955 – Kate Mulgrew, American actress
1956 – Karen Barad, American physicist and philosopher
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, British-Irish actor
1957 – Mark Kendall, American guitarist and songwriter
1958 – Michelle Pfeiffer, American actress
1958 – Eve Plumb, American actress
1958 – Gary Cohen, American baseball play-by-play announcer
1958 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (d. 2013)
1960 – Bill Glasson, American golfer
1960 – Robert J. Sawyer, Canadian author and academic
1962 – Bruce Driver, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1962 – Rob Druppers, Dutch runner
1962 – Stephan Burger, German Catholic archbishop
1963 – Mike Babcock, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Federico Castelluccio, Italian-American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1964 – Radek Jaroš, Czech mountaineer and author
1965 – Michel Bussi, French geographer, author, and academic
1965 – Peter Rauhofer, Austrian-American disc jockey and producer (d. 2013)
1965 – Larisa Turchinskaya, Russian-Australian heptathlete and coach
1965 – Brendon Tuuta, New Zealand rugby league player
1966 – Christian Tetzlaff, German violinist
1966 – Phil Tufnell, English cricketer and radio host
1967 – Marcel Albers, Dutch race car driver (d. 1992)
1967 – Curtis Joseph, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, 4th President of Croatia
1968 – Carnie Wilson, American singer-songwriter
1969 – Jack Mackenroth, American swimmer, model, and fashion designer
1970 – Andre Agassi, American tennis player
1970 – Uma Thurman, American actress
1972 – Dustin McDaniel, American lawyer and politician, 55th Arkansas Attorney General
1974 – Jasper Wood, Canadian violinist and educator
1974 – Anggun, Diva Indonesia
1975 – Rafael Betancourt, Venezuelan baseball player
1975 – Artem Yashkin, Ukrainian footballer
1976 – Fabio Liverani, Italian footballer and manager
1976 – Chiyotaikai Ryūji, Japanese sumo wrestler
1977 – Zuzana Hejdová, Czech tennis player
1977 – Claus Jensen, Danish international footballer and manager
1977 – Titus O’Neil, American football player and wrestler
1977 – Attila Zsivoczky, Hungarian decathlete and high jumper
1978 – Tony Armas, Jr., Venezuelan baseball player
1978 – Bob Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Mike Bryan, American tennis player
1978 – Javier Colon, American singer-songwriter and musician
1978 – Craig Gower, Australian rugby player
1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor and comedian
1979 – Lee Dong-gook, South Korean footballer
1979 – Ryan Sharp, Scottish race car driver and manager
1980 – Mathieu Biron, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Kelly Shoppach, American baseball player
1981 – Lisa Allen, English chef
1981 – George McCartney, Northern Irish footballer
1981 – Émilie Mondor, Canadian runner (d. 2006)
1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
1983 – Tommie Harris, American football player
1983 – David Lee, American basketball player
1984 – Kirby Cote, Canadian swimmer
1984 – Paulius Jankūnas, Lithuanian basketball player
1984 – Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Russian tennis player
1984 – Vassilis Xanthopoulos, Greek basketball player
1985 – Jean-François Jacques, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – Byun Yo-han, South Korean actor
1986 – Lee Chae-young, South Korean actress
1986 – Viljar Veski, Estonian basketball player
1986 – Sisa Waqa, Fijian rugby league player
1986 – Monique Alfradique, Brazilian actress
1987 – Knut Børsheim, Norwegian golfer
1987 – Sara Errani, Italian tennis player
1988 – Elías Hernández, Mexican footballer
1988 – Alfred Hui, Hong Kong singer
1988 – Jovan Leacock, American football player
1988 – Taoufik Makhloufi, Algerian athlete
1988 – Jonathan Toews, Canadian ice hockey player
1988 – Younha, South Korean singer-songwriter and record producer
1991 – Adam Smith, English footballer
1991 – Jung Hye-sung, South Korean actress
1992 – Emilio Orozco, American soccer player
1992 – Alina Rosenberg, German Paralympic equestrian
1994 – Christina Shakovets, German tennis player
1995 – Victoria Sinitsina, Russian ice dancer
1996 – Katherine Langford, Australian actress
1998 – Kimberly Birrell, Australian tennis player
2007 – Infanta Sofía of Spain, Spanish princess

Deaths on April 29

643 – Hou Junji, Chinese general and politician, Chancellor of the Tang dynasty
926 – Burchard II, Duke of Swabia (b. 883)
1380 – Catherine of Siena, Italian mystic, philosopher, and saint (b. 1347)
1417 – Louis II of Anjou (b. 1377)
1594 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and theologian (b. 1517)
1630 – Agrippa d’Aubigné, French soldier and poet (b. 1552)
1658 – John Cleveland, English poet and author (b. 1613)
1676 – Michiel de Ruyter, Dutch admiral (b. 1607)
1688 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg (b. 1620)
1698 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk (b. 1655)
1707 – George Farquhar, Irish-English actor and playwright (b. 1678)
1743 – Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, French theorist and author (b. 1658)
1768 – Georg Brandt, Swedish chemist and mineralogist (b. 1694)
1771 – Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, French-Italian architect, designed Winter Palace and Catherine Palace (b. 1700)
1776 – Edward Wortley Montagu, English explorer and author (b. 1713)
1793 – John Michell, English geologist and astronomer (b. 1724)
1798 – Nikolaus Poda von Neuhaus, Austrian entomologist and author (b. 1723)
1833 – William Babington, Anglo-Irish physician and mineralogist (b. 1756)
1854 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1768)
1903 – Paul Du Chaillu, French-American anthropologist and zoologist (b. 1835)
1905 – Ignacio Cervantes, Cuban pianist and composer (b. 1847)
1916 – Jørgen Pedersen Gram, Danish mathematician and academic (b. 1850)
1920 – William H. Seward Jr., American general and banker (b. 1839)
1921 – Arthur Mold, English cricketer (b. 1863)
1933 – Constantine P. Cavafy, Greek poet and journalist (b. 1863)
1937 – William Gillette, American actor and playwright (b. 1853)
1944 – Bernardino Machado, Portuguese academic and politician, 3rd President of Portugal (b. 1851)
1945 – Matthias Kleinheisterkamp, German SS officer (b. 1893)
1947 – Irving Fisher, American economist and statistician (b. 1867)
1951 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-English philosopher and academic (b. 1889)
1954 – Kathleen Clarice Groom, Australian-English author and screenwriter (b. 1872)
1956 – Harold Bride, English soldier and operator (b. 1890)
1956 – Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb, German field marshal (b. 1876)
1959 – Kenneth Arthur Noel Anderson, India-born English soldier and Governor of Gibraltar (b. 1891)
1964 – Rae Johnstone, Australian jockey (b. 1905)
1966 – William Eccles, English physicist and engineer (b. 1875)
1966 – Paula Strasberg, American actress, acting coach, and member of the Communist Party (b. 1909)
1967 – J. B. Lenoir, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1929)
1968 – Lin Zhao, Chinese dissident and Christian executed during the Cultural Revolution (b. 1932)
1976 – Edvard Drabløs, Norwegian actor and director (b. 1883)
1978 – Theo Helfrich, German race car driver (b. 1913)
1979 – Muhsin Ertuğrul, Turkish actor and director (b. 1892)
1979 – Hardie Gramatky, American author and illustrator (b. 1907)
1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (b. 1899)
1982 – Raymond Bussières, French actor, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1907)
1992 – Mae Clarke, American actress (b. 1910)
1993 – Michael Gordon, American actor and director (b. 1909)
1993 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1946)
1997 – Mike Royko, American journalist and author (b. 1932)
1998 – Hal Laycoe, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1922)
2000 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (b. 1906)
2001 – Arthur B. C. Walker, Jr., American physicist and academic (b. 1936)
2002 – Bob Akin, American race car driver and journalist (b. 1936)
2003 – Janko Bobetko, Croatian Army general and Chief of the General Staff (b. 1919)
2004 – Sid Smith, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1925)
2005 – William J. Bell, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1927)
2005 – Louis Leithold, American mathematician and academic (b. 1924)
2006 – John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist and diplomat, United States Ambassador to India (b. 1908)
2007 – Milt Bocek, American baseball player and soldier (b. 1912)
2007 – Josh Hancock, American baseball player (b. 1978)
2007 – Dick Motz, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (b. 1940)
2007 – Ivica Račan, Croatian politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (b. 1944)
2008 – Chuck Daigh, American race car driver (b. 1923)
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist and academic (b. 1906)
2010 – Sandy Douglas, English computer scientist and academic, designed OXO (b. 1921)
2011 – Siamak Pourzand, Iranian journalist and critic (b. 1931)
2011 – Joanna Russ, American writer, academic and radical feminist (b. 1937)
2012 – Shukri Ghanem, Libyan politician, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942)
2012 – Joel Goldsmith, American composer and conductor (b. 1957)
2012 – Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (b. 1945)
2012 – Kenny Roberts, American singer-songwriter (b. 1926)
2013 – Alex Elisala, New Zealand-Australian rugby player (b. 1992)
2013 – Pesah Grupper, Israeli politician, 13th Israel Minister of Agriculture (b. 1924)
2013 – Parekura Horomia, New Zealand politician, 40th Minister of Māori Affairs (b. 1950)
2013 – John La Montaine, American pianist and composer (b. 1920)
2013 – Ernest Michael, American mathematician and scholar (b. 1925)
2013 – Kevin Moore, English footballer (b. 1958)
2013 – Marianna Zachariadi, Greek pole vaulter (b. 1990)
2014 – Iveta Bartošová, Czech singer and actress (b. 1966)
2014 – Al Feldstein, American author and illustrator (b. 1925)
2014 – Bob Hoskins, English actor (b. 1942)
2014 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (b. 1940)
2015 – François Michelin, French businessman (b. 1926)
2015 – Jean Nidetch, American businesswoman, co-founded Weight Watchers (b. 1923)
2015 – Calvin Peete, American golfer (b. 1943)
2015 – Dan Walker, American lawyer and politician, 36th Governor of Illinois (b. 1922)
2016 – Renato Corona, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (b. 1948)
2019 – Josef Šural, Czech footballer (b. 1990)
2020 – Irrfan Khan, Indian film actor (b. 1967)

Holidays and observances on April 29

Christian feast day:
- Catherine of Siena (Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Church)
- Endelienta
- Hugh of Cluny
- Robert of Molesme
- Torpes of Pisa
- April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare (United Nations)
International Dance Day (UNESCO)
Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period, which is April 29 and May 3–5. (Japan)

April 29 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

April 9 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

190 – Dong Zhuo has his troops evacuate the capital Luoyang and burn it to the ground.
475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite Christological position.
537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
1511 – St John’s College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
1585 – The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departs England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony.
1609 – Eighty Years’ War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
1609 – Philip III of Spain issues the decree of the “Expulsion of the Moriscos”.
1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of the Saintes begins.
1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world’s first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
1939 – African-American singer Marian Anderson gives a concert at the Lincoln Memorial after being denied the use of Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution.
1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan ends. An Indian Ocean raid by Japan’s 1st Air Fleet sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.
1945 – Execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, anti-Nazi dissident and spy, by the Nazi regime.
1945 – World War II: The German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court’s 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
1947 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 22 relating to Corfu Channel incident is adopted.
1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán’s assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia.
1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
1952 – Hugo Ballivián’s government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines
1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.
1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States’ first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the “Mercury Seven”.
1960 – Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer, David Pratt in Johannesburg.
1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
1976 – The EMD F40PH diesel locomotive enters revenue service with Amtrak.
1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
1989 – Tbilisi massacre: an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
1990 – An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
1990 – Thirteen thousand members of the Dene and Métis tribes sign a land claim agreement for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.
1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
1999 – Kosovo War: The Battle of Košare begins.
2003 – Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor’s Guildhall.
2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
2013 – A 6.1–magnitude earthquake strikes Iran killing 32 people and injuring over 850 people.
2013 – At least 13 people are killed and another three injured after a man goes on a spree shooting in the Serbian village of Velika Ivanča.
2014 – A student stabs 20 people at Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville, Pennsylvania.
2017 – The Palm Sunday church bombings at Coptic churches in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, take place.
2017 – After refusing to give up his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight, Dr. David Dao Duy Anh is forcibly dragged off the flight by aviation security officers, leading to major criticism of United Airlines.

Births on April 9

1285 – Ayurbarwada Buyantu Khan, Emperor Renzong of Yuan (d. 1320)
1458 – Camilla Battista da Varano, Italian saint (d. 1524)
1498 – Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
1586 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
1597 – John Davenport, English minister, co-founded the New Haven Colony (d. 1670)
1598 – Johann Crüger, Sorbian-German composer and theorist (d. 1662)
1624 – Henrik Rysensteen, Dutch military engineer (d. 1679)
1627 – Johann Caspar Kerll, German organist and composer (d. 1693)
1634 – Countess Albertine Agnes of Nassau (d. 1696)
1648 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1720)
1649 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire (d. 1685)
1654 – Samuel Fritz, Czech Jesuit missionary to South America (d. 1725?)
1680 – Philippe Néricault Destouches, French playwright (d. 1754)
1686 – James Craggs the Younger, English politician, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1721)
1691 – Johann Matthias Gesner, German scholar and academic (d. 1761)
1717 – Georg Matthias Monn, Austrian organist, composer, and educator (d. 1750)
1770 – Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist and academic (d. 1831)
1773 – Étienne Aignan, French author and academic (d. 1824)
1794 – Theobald Boehm, German flute player and composer (d. 1881)
1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and philologist (d. 1884)
1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, English engineer, designed the Clifton Suspension Bridge (d. 1859)
1807 – James Bannerman, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1868)
1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (d. 1867)
1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer and cinematographer (d. 1904)
1835 – Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
1835 – Somerset Lowry-Corry, 4th Earl Belmore (d. 1913)
1846 – Paolo Tosti, Italian-English composer and educator (d. 1916)
1848 – Ezequiél Moreno y Díaz, Spanish Augustinian Recollect priest and saint (d. 1906)
1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general and politician (d. 1937)
1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Polish-American mathematician and engineer (d. 1923)
1867 – Chris Watson, Chilean-Australian journalist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
1867 – Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor, discus thrower, and shot putter (d. 1932)
1872 – Léon Blum, French lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
1875 – Jacques Futrelle, American journalist and author (d. 1912)
1880 – Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
1882 – Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1946)
1882 – Otz Tollen, German actor (d. 1965)
1883 – Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
1887 – Konrad Tom, Polish actor, writer, singer, and director (d. 1957)
1888 – Sol Hurok, Ukrainian-American talent manager (d. 1974)
1893 – Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d.1967)
1893 – Victor Gollancz, English publisher, founded Victor Gollancz Ltd (d. 1967)
1893 – Rahul Sankrityayan, Indian linguist, author, and scholar (d. 1963)
1895 – Mance Lipscomb, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
1895 – Michel Simon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1975)
1897 – John B. Gambling, American radio host (d. 1974)
1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football player and coach (d. 1965)
1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer, actor, and activist (d. 1976)
1900 – Allen Jenkins, American actor and singer (d. 1974)
1901 – Jean Bruchési, Canadian historian and author (d. 1979)
1901 – Paul Willis, American actor and director (d. 1960)
1902 – Théodore Monod, French explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
1903 – Ward Bond, American actor (d. 1960)
1904 – Sharkey Bonano, American singer, trumpet player, and bandleader (d. 1972)
1905 – J. William Fulbright, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
1906 – Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
1906 – Antal Doráti, Hungarian-American conductor and composer (d. 1988)
1906 – Hugh Gaitskell, British politician and leader of the Labour Party (d. 1963)
1906 – Victor Vasarely, Hungarian-French painter (d. 1997)
1908 – Joseph Krumgold, American author and screenwriter (d. 1980)
1909 – Robert Helpmann, Australian dancer, actor, and choreographer (d. 1986)
1910 – Abraham A. Ribicoff, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (d. 1998)
1912 – Lev Kopelev, Ukrainian-German author and academic (d. 1997)
1915 – Daniel Johnson Sr., Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
1916 – Julian Dash, American swing music jazz tenor saxophonist (d. 1974)
1916 – Heinz Meyer, German Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) during World War II (d. 1987)
1916 – Bill Leonard, American journalist (d. 1994)
1917 – Johannes Bobrowski, German songwriter and poet (d. 1965)
1917 – Ronnie Burgess, Welsh international footballer left-half and manager (d. 2005)
1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
1917 – Henry Hewes, American theater writer (d. 2006)
1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect, designed the Sydney Opera House (d. 2008)
1919 – J. Presper Eckert, American engineer, invented the ENIAC (d. 1995)
1921 – Jean-Marie Balestre, French businessman (d. 2008)
1921 – Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician (d. 2015)
1921 – Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
1921 – Mary Jackson, African-American mathematician and aerospace engineer (d. 2005)
1922 – Carl Amery, German author and activist (d. 2005)
1923 – Leonard Levy, American historian and author (d. 2006)
1924 – Arthur Shaw, English professional footballer (d. 2015)
1925 – Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2013)
1925 – Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
1926 – Gerry Fitt, Northern Irish soldier and politician; British life peer (d. 2005)
1926 – Hugh Hefner, American publisher, founded Playboy Enterprises (d. 2017)
1926 – Harris Wofford, American politician, author and civil rights activist (d. 2019)
1927 – Tiny Hill, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2019)
1928 – Paul Arizin, American basketball player (d. 2006)
1928 – Tom Lehrer, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and mathematician
1929 – Sharan Rani Backliwal, Indian sarod player and scholar (d. 2008)
1929 – Fred Hollows, New Zealand-Australian ophthalmologist (d. 1993)
1929 – Paule Marshall, American author and academic (d. 2019)
1930 – Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychotherapist and author (d. 2014)
1930 – F. Albert Cotton, American chemist and academic (d. 2007)
1930 – Jim Fowler, American zoologist and television host (d. 2019)
1930 – Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman, founded McCain Foods (d. 2011)
1931 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991)
1932 – Armin Jordan, Swiss conductor (d. 2006)
1932 – Peter Moores, English businessman and philanthropist (d. 2016)
1932 – Carl Perkins, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor and producer
1933 – René Burri, Swiss photographer and journalist (d. 2014)
1933 – Fern Michaels, American author
1933 – Richard Rose, American political scientist and academic
1933 – Gian Maria Volonté, Italian actor (d. 1994)
1934 – Bill Birch, New Zealand surveyor and politician, 38th New Zealand Minister of Finance
1934 – Tom Phillis, Australian motorcycle racer (d. 1962)
1934 – Mariya Pisareva, Russian high jumper
1935 – Aulis Sallinen, Finnish composer and academic
1935 – Avery Schreiber, American actor and comedian (d. 2002)
1936 – Jerzy Maksymiuk, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor
1936 – Valerie Solanas, American radical feminist author, attempted murderer (d. 1988)
1937 – Simon Brown, Baron Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, English lieutenant, lawyer, and judge
1937 – Marty Krofft, Canadian screenwriter and producer
1937 – Valerie Singleton, English television and radio host
1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian businessman and politician, 30th Prime Minister of Russia (d. 2010)
1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
1940 – Hans-Joachim Reske, German sprinter
1940 – Jim Roberts, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach (d. 2015)
1941 – Kay Adams, American singer-songwriter
1942 – Brandon deWilde, American actor (d. 1972)
1942 – Margo Smith, American singer-songwriter
1943 – Leila Khaled, Palestinian activist
1943 – Terry Knight, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2004)
1944 – Joe Brinkman, American baseball player and umpire
1944 – Heinz-Joachim Rothenburg, German shot putter
1945 – Steve Gadd, American drummer and percussionist^[9]
1946 – Nate Colbert, American baseball player^[10]
1946 – Alan Knott, English cricketer^[11]
1946 – Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician^[12]
1946 – David Webb, English footballer, coach, and manager
1947 – Giovanni Andrea Cornia, Italian economist and academic
1948 – Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
1948 – Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Patty Pravo, Italian singer
1949 – Tony Cragg, English sculptor
1952 – Robert Clark, American author
1952 – Bruce Robertson, New Zealand rugby player
1952 – Tania Tsanaklidou, Greek singer and actress
1953 – John Howard, English singer-songwriter and pianist
1953 – Hal Ketchum, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Stephen Paddock, American mass murderer responsible for the 2017 Las Vegas shooting (d. 2017)
1954 – Ken Kalfus, American journalist and author
1954 – Dennis Quaid, American actor
1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
1955 – Yamina Benguigui, Algerian-French director and politician
1955 – Joolz Denby, English poet and author
1956 – Miguel Ángel Russo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1956 – Nigel Shadbolt, English computer scientist and academic
1956 – Vahur Sova, Estonian architect
1956 – Marina Zoueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer and architect (d. 2011)
1957 – Martin Margiela, Belgian fashion designer
1957 – Jamie Redfern, English-born Australian television presenter, and pop singer
1958 – Tony Sibson, English boxer
1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author
1959 – Bernard Jenkin, English businessman and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
1960 – Jaak Aab, Estonian educator and politician, Minister of Social Affairs of Estonia
1961 – Mark Kelly, Irish keyboard player
1961 – Kirk McCaskill, Canadian-American baseball and hockey player
1962 – John Eaves, American production designer and illustrator
1962 – Ihor Podolchak, Ukrainian director, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Imran Sherwani, English field hockey player
1962 – Jeff Turner, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Marc Jacobs, American-French fashion designer
1963 – Joe Scarborough, American journalist, lawyer, and politician
1964 – Rob Awalt, German-American football player
1964 – Juliet Cuthbert, Jamaican sprinter
1964 – Peter Penashue, Canadian businessman and politician, 9th Canadian Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs
1964 – Margaret Peterson Haddix, American author
1964 – Rick Tocchet, Canadian-American ice hockey player and coach
1965 – Helen Alfredsson, Swedish golfer
1965 – Paulina Porizkova, Czech-born Swedish-American model and actress
1965 – Jeff Zucker, American businessman
1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster
1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
1967 – Natascha Engel, German-English translator and politician
1967 – Sam Harris, American author, philosopher, and neuroscientist
1968 – Jay Chandrasekhar, American actor, comedian, writer and director
1969 – Barnaby Kay, English actor
1969 – Linda Kisabaka, German runner
1970 – Chorão, Brazilian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1971 – Peter Canavan, Irish footballer and manager
1971 – Leo Fortune-West, English footballer and manager
1971 – Austin Peck, American actor
1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver
1972 – Bernard Ackah, German-Japanese martial artist and kick-boxer
1972 – Siiri Vallner, Estonian architect
1974 – Megan Connolly, Australian actress (d. 2001)
1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer
1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer and manager
1975 – David Gordon Green, American director and screenwriter
1976 – Kyle Peterson, American baseball player and sportscaster
1977 – Gerard Way, American singer-songwriter and comic book writer
1978 – Kousei Amano, Japanese actor
1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer-songwriter, dancer, and actress
1979 – Jeff Reed, American football player
1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress
1980 – Sarah Ayton, English sailor
1980 – Luciano Galletti, Argentinian footballer
1980 – Albert Hammond Jr., American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1981 – Milan Bartovič, Slovak ice hockey player
1981 – A. J. Ellis, American baseball player
1981 – Ireneusz Jeleń, Polish footballer
1981 – Dennis Sarfate, American baseball player
1981 – Eric Harris, American mass murderer, responsible for the Columbine High School massacre (d. 1999)
1982 – Jay Baruchel, Canadian actor
1982 – Carlos Hernández, Costa Rican footballer
1982 – Kathleen Munroe, Canadian-American actress
1983 – Ryan Clark, Australian actor
1984 – Habiba Ghribi, Tunisian runner^[13]
1984 – Adam Loewen, Canadian baseball player
1984 – Óscar Razo, Mexican footballer
1985 – Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
1985 – David Robertson, American baseball player
1986 – Mike Hart, American football player
1986 – Leighton Meester, American actress
1987 – Kassim Abdallah, French-Comorian footballer
1987 – Graham Gano, American football player
1987 – Craig Mabbitt, American singer
1987 – Jesse McCartney, American singer-songwriter and actor
1987 – Jarrod Mullen, Australian rugby league player
1987 – Jazmine Sullivan, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Michel Alves Baroni, Brazilian footballer
1988 – Jeremy Metcalfe, English racing driver
1989 – Danielle Kahle, American figure skater
1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
1990 – Ryan Williams, American football player
1991 – Ryan Kelly, American basketball player
1991 – Mary Killman, American synchronized swimmer
1992 – Joshua Ledet, American singer
1994 – Joey Pollari, American actor
1995 – Domagoj Bošnjak, Croatian basketball player
1995 – Robert Bauer, German-Kazakhstani footballer
1996 – Jayden Brailey, Australian rugby league player^[14]
1996 – Giovani Lo Celso, Argentinian international footballer, midfielder^[15]
1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress^[16]
1999 – Montero Lamar Hill, American rapper^[17]
2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer^[18]

Deaths on April 9

585 BC – Jimmu, emperor of Japan (b. 711 BC)
AD 93 – Yuan An, Chinese scholar and politician
436 – Tan Daoji, Chinese general and politician
491 – Zeno, emperor of the Byzantine Empire (b. 425)
682 – Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari, Egyptian politician, Governor of Egypt (b. 616)
715 – Constantine, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 664)
1024 – Benedict VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 980)
1137 – William X, duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
1241 – Henry II, High Duke of Poland (b. 1196)
1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway (b. 1261)
1327 – Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland, Scottish nobleman (ca. 1296)
1483 – Edward IV, king of England (b. 1442)
1484 – Edward of Middleheim, prince of Wales (b. 1473)
1550 – Alqas Mirza, Safavid prince (b. 1516)^[19]
1553 – François Rabelais, French monk and scholar (b. 1494)
1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish priest and scholar (b. 1510)
1626 – Francis Bacon, English jurist and politician, Attorney General for England and Wales (b. 1561)
1654 – Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French author (b. 1618)
1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician (b. 1667)
1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher and academic (b. 1679)
1761 – William Law, English priest and theologian (b. 1686)
1768 – Sarah Fielding, English author (b. 1710)
1804 – Jacques Necker, Swiss-French politician, Chief Minister to the French Monarch (b. 1732)
1806 – William V, stadtholder of the Dutch Republic (b. 1748)
1872 – Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
1876 – Charles Goodyear, American lawyer, judge, and politician (b. 1804)
1882 – Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English poet and painter (b. 1828)
1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist and academic (b. 1786)
1909 – Helena Modjeska, Polish-American actress (b. 1840)
1915 – Raymond Whittindale, English rugby player (b. 1883)
1917 – James Hope Moulton, English philologist and scholar (b. 1863)
1922 – Hans Fruhstorfer, German entomologist and explorer (b. 1866)
1926 – Zip the Pinhead, American freak show performer (b. 1857)
1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1855)
1940 – Mrs Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
1944 – Yevgeniya Rudneva, Ukrainian lieutenant and pilot (b. 1920)
1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor and theologian (b. 1906)
1945 – Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
1945 – Johann Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
1945 – Hans Oster, German general (b. 1887)
1945 – Karl Sack, German lawyer and jurist (b. 1896)
1945 – Hans von Dohnányi, Austrian-German lawyer and jurist (b. 1902)
1948 – George Carpenter, Australian 5th General of The Salvation Army (b. 1872)
1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian lawyer and politician, 16th Colombian Minister of National Education (b. 1903)
1951 – Vilhelm Bjerknes, Norwegian physicist and meteorologist (b. 1862)
1953 – Eddie Cochems, American football player and coach (b. 1877)
1953 – C. E. M. Joad, English philosopher and television host (b. 1891)
1953 – Hans Reichenbach, German philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1891)
1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect, designed the Price Tower and Fallingwater (b. 1867)
1961 – Zog I of Albania (b. 1895)
1963 – Eddie Edwards, American trombonist (b. 1891)
1963 – Xul Solar, Argentinian painter and sculptor (b. 1887)
1970 – Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator and animator (b. 1896)
1976 – Dagmar Nordstrom, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1903)
1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1940)
1976 – Renato Petronio, Italian rower (b. 1891)
1978 – Clough Williams-Ellis, English-Welsh architect, designed Portmeirion (b. 1883)
1980 – Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
1982 – Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1896)
1988 – Brook Benton, American singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1931)
1988 – Hans Berndt, German footballer (b. 1913)
1988 – Dave Prater, American singer (b. 1937)
1991 – Forrest Towns, American hurdler and coach (b. 1914)
1993 – Joseph B. Soloveitchik, American rabbi and philosopher (b. 1903)
1996 – Richard Condon, American author and publicist (b. 1915)
1997 – Mae Boren Axton, American singer-songwriter (b. 1914)
1997 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (b. 1916)
1998 – Tom Cora, American cellist and composer (b. 1953)
1999 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Nigerien general and politician, President of Niger (b. 1949)
2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player and coach (b. 1940)
2002 – Pat Flaherty, American race car driver (b. 1926)
2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian soldier, mathematician, and academic (b. 1891)
2003 – Jerry Bittle, American cartoonist (b. 1949)
2006 – Billy Hitchcock, American baseball player, coach, manager (b. 1916)
2006 – Vilgot Sjöman, Swedish director and screenwriter (b. 1924)
2007 – Egon Bondy, Czech philosopher and poet (b. 1930)
2007 – Dorrit Hoffleit, American astronomer and academic (b. 1907)
2009 – Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
2010 – Zoltán Varga, Hungarian footballer and manager (b. 1945)
2011 – Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, Bahraini journalist (b. 1971)
2011 – Sidney Lumet, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1924)
2012 – Malcolm Thomas, Welsh rugby player and cricketer (b. 1929)
2013 – David Hayes, American sculptor and painter (b. 1931)
2013 – Greg McCrary, American football player (b. 1952)
2013 – Mordechai Mishani, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1945)
2013 – McCandlish Phillips, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
2013 – Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect, designed the Cosanti (b. 1919)
2014 – Gil Askey, American trumpet player, composer, and producer (b. 1925)
2014 – Chris Banks, American football player (b. 1973)
2014 – Rory Ellinger, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
2014 – Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, academic, and politician (b. 1941)
2014 – Aelay Narendra, Indian politician (b. 1946)
2014 – A. N. R. Robinson, Trinbagonian politician, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
2014 – Svetlana Velmar-Janković, Serbian author (b. 1933)
2015 – Paul Almond, Canadian-American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1931)
2015 – Margaret Rule, British marine archaeologist (b. 1928)
2015 – Nina Companeez, French director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2015 – Alexander Dalgarno, English physicist and academic (b. 1928)
2015 – Ivan Doig, American journalist and author (b. 1939)
2015 – Tsien Tsuen-hsuin, Chinese-American academic (b. 1909)
2016 – Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
2016 – Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
2017 – John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian comedian, writer, and satirist (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances on April 9

Christian feast day:
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Anglicanism, Lutheranism)
- Gaucherius
- Materiana
- Waltrude
- April 9 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Anniversary of the German Invasion of Denmark (Denmark)
Baghdad Liberation Day (Iraqi Kurdistan)
Bataan Day or Araw ng Kagitingan (Philippines)
Constitution Day (Kosovo)
Day of National Unity (Georgia)
Day of the Finnish Language (Finland)
Feast of the Second Day of the Writing of the Book of the Law (Thelema)
Martyr’s Day (Tunisia)
National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day (United States)
Remembrance for Haakon Sigurdsson (The Troth)
Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)

April 9 – 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 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

It is the first day of the second quarter of the year, and the midway point of the first half of the year.

33 – According to one historian’s account, Jesus Christ’s Last Supper is held.
286 – Emperor Diocletian elevates his general Maximian to co-emperor with the rank of Augustus and gives him control over the Western regions of the Roman Empire.
325 – Crown Prince Jin Chengdi, age four, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
457 – Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army after defeating 900 Alemanni near Lake Maggiore (Italy).
527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
528 – The daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei was made the “Emperor” as a male heir of the late emperor by Empress Dowager Hu. Deposed and replaced by Yuan Zhao the next day, she was the first female monarch in the History of China, but is not widely recognised.
988 – Robert II of France is married to Rozala of Italy. The marriage is arranged by his father, King Hugh Capet.
1234 – Richard Marshal, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, is defeated by knights loyal to King Henry III of England in the Battle of the Curragh in Ireland.
1293 – Robert Winchelsey leaves England for Rome, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.
1318 – Berwick-upon-Tweed is captured by Scotland from England.
1340 – Niels Ebbesen kills Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg in his bedroom, ending the 1332-1340 interregnum in Denmark.
1545 – Potosí, Bolivia, is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.
1572 – In the Eighty Years’ War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.
1789 – In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
1826 – Samuel Morey received a patent for a compressionless “Gas or Vapor Engine”.
1833 – The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins in San Felipe de Austin.
1854 – Charles Dickens’ novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine Household Words.
1865 – American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia’s last supply line.
1867 – Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
1871 – The 3rd Duke of Buckingham opened the Brill Tramway, a short railway line to transport goods between his lands and the national rail network.
1873 – The White Star steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
1889 – The University of Northern Colorado was established, as the Colorado State Normal School.
1891 – The Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1893 – The rank of Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy is established.
1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch” but spends only nine months in jail.
1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
1933 – The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
1933 – English cricketer Wally Hammond set a record for the highest individual Test innings of 336 not out, during a Test match against New Zealand.
1935 – India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India, is formed.
1937 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.
1937 – The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Jaén, Spain is bombed by German fascist forces, supporting Francoist Nationalists.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1941 – Fântâna Albă massacre: Between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
1941 – A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of ‘Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
1944 – Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
1945 – World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
1946 – The 8.6 M_w  Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
1947 – The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
1948 – Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
1948 – Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
1949 – The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
1955 – The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.
1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General’s warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertising on television and radio in the United States, effective 1 January 1971.
1970 – The first of over 670,000 AMC Gremlins are released into North America to compete with foreign imported cars.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
1973 – Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
1974 – The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
1976 – Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Cupertino, California, USA.
1978 – The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1979 – Nickelodeon was launched in United States.
1986 – Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
1989 – Margaret Thatcher’s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the “poll tax”), is introduced in Scotland.
1993 – Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is founded in Los Angeles, California, USA.
1996 – The government of Nova Scotia amalgamated the City of Halifax and the over 200 communities around the area to create the Halifax Regional Municipality.
1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
2001 – An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
2004 – Google announces Gmail to the public.
2006 – Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
2011 – After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
2016 – Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: The Four Day War or April War begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on April 1.

Births on April 1

1220 – Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (d. 1272)
1282 – Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1347)
1328 – Blanche of France, Duchess of Orléans (d. 1382)
1543 – François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières (d. 1626)
1578 – William Harvey, English physician and academic (d. 1657)
1610 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier and critic (d. 1703)
1629 – Jean-Henri d’Anglebert, French organist and composer (d. 1691)
1640 – Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician and academic (d. 1697)
1647 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier (d. 1680)
1697 – Antoine François Prévost, French novelist and translator (d. 1763)
1721 – Pieter Hellendaal, Dutch-English organist, violinist, and composer (d. 1799)
1741 – George Dance the Younger, English architect and surveyor (d. 1825)
1753 – Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher, lawyer, and diplomat (d. 1821)
1755 – Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, French lawyer and politician (d. 1826)
1765 – Luigi Schiavonetti, Italian engraver and etcher (d. 1810)
1776 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher (d. 1831)
1786 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter (d. 1863)
1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German lawyer and politician, 1st Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1898)
1815 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (d. 1880)
1823 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Kentucky (d. 1891)
1824 – Louis-Zéphirin Moreau, Canadian bishop (d. 1901)
1834 – James Fisk, American businessman (d. 1872)
1852 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter and illustrator (d. 1911)
1865 – Richard Adolf Zsigmondy, Austrian-German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1929)
1866 – William Blomfield, New Zealand cartoonist and politician (d. 1938)
1866 – Ferruccio Busoni, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1924)
1866 – Ève Lavallière, French actress (d. 1929)
1868 – Edmond Rostand, French poet and playwright (d. 1918)
1868 – Walter Mead, English cricketer (d. 1954)
1871 – F. Melius Christiansen, Norwegian-American violinist and conductor (d. 1955)
1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1943)
1874 – Ernest Barnes, English mathematician and theologian (d. 1953)
1874 – Prince Karl of Bavaria (d. 1927)
1875 – Edgar Wallace, English journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1932)
1878 – C. Ganesha Iyer, Ceylon Tamil philologist (d. 1958)
1879 – Stanislaus Zbyszko, Polish wrestler and strongman (d. 1967)
1881 – Octavian Goga, Romanian Prime Minister (d. 1938)
1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1930)
1883 – Edvard Drabløs, Norwegian actor and director (d. 1976)
1883 – Laurette Taylor, Irish-American actress (d. 1946)
1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor (d. 1949)
1885 – Clementine Churchill, English wife of Winston Churchill (d. 1977)
1889 – K. B. Hedgewar, Indian physician and activist (d. 1940)
1893 – Cicely Courtneidge, Australian-English actress (d. 1980)
1895 – Alberta Hunter, African-American singer-songwriter and nurse (d. 1984)
1898 – William James Sidis, Ukrainian-Russian Jewish American mathematician, anthropologist, and historian (d. 1944)
1899 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian academic and politician (d. 1968)
1900 – Stefanie Clausen, Danish Olympic diver (d. 1981)
1901 – Whittaker Chambers, American journalist and spy (d. 1961)
1905 – Gaston Eyskens, Belgian economist and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1988)
1905 – Paul Hasluck, Australian historian, poet, and politician, 17th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1993)
1906 – Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer, founded the Yakovlev Design Bureau (d. 1989)
1907 – Shivakumara Swami, Indian religious leader and philanthropist (d. 2019)
1908 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist and academic (d. 1970)
1908 – Harlow Rothert, American shot putter, lawyer, and academic (d. 1997)
1909 – Abner Biberman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1909 – Eddy Duchin, American pianist and bandleader (d. 1951)
1910 – Harry Carney, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1974)
1910 – Bob Van Osdel, American high jumper and soldier (d. 1987)
1911 – Augusta Braxton Baker, African American librarian (d. 1998)
1913 – Memos Makris, Greek sculptor (d. 1993)
1915 – O. W. Fischer, Austrian-Swiss actor and director (d. 2004)
1916 – Sheila May Edmonds, British mathematician (d. 2002)
1917 – Sydney Newman, Canadian screenwriter and producer, co-created Doctor Who (d. 1997)
1917 – Melville Shavelson, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1919 – Joseph Murray, American surgeon and soldier, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
1920 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor (d. 1997)
1921 – William Bergsma, American composer and educator (d. 1994)
1921 – Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith, American guitarist, fiddler, and composer (d. 2014)
1922 – Duke Jordan, American pianist and composer (d. 2006)
1922 – William Manchester, American historian and author (d. 2004)
1924 – Brendan Byrne, American lieutenant, judge, and politician, 47th Governor of New Jersey (d. 2018)
1926 – Anne McCaffrey, American-Irish author (d. 2011)
1927 – Walter Bahr, American soccer player, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1927 – Amos Milburn, American R&B singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1980)
1927 – Ferenc Puskás, Hungarian footballer and manager (d. 2006)
1929 – Jonathan Haze, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and production manager
1929 – Milan Kundera, Czech-born novelist, poet, and playwright
1929 – Payut Ngaokrachang, Thai animator and director (d. 2010)
1929 – Jane Powell, American actress, singer, and dancer
1930 – Grace Lee Whitney, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1931 – George Baker, Bulgarian-English actor and screenwriter (d. 2011)
1931 – Rolf Hochhuth, German author and playwright (d. 2020)
1932 – Debbie Reynolds, Scottish-Irish American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 2016)
1933 – Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Algerian-French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1933 – Dan Flavin, American sculptor and educator (d. 1996)
1934 – Vladimir Posner, French-American journalist and radio host
1935 – Larry McDonald, American physician and politician (d. 1983)
1936 – Peter Collinson, English-American director and producer (d. 1980)
1936 – Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, Swiss politician, 80th President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1998)
1936 – Tarun Gogoi, Indian politician, 14th Chief Minister of Assam
1936 – Abdul Qadeer Khan, Indian-Pakistani physicist, chemist, and engineer
1937 – Jordan Charney, American actor
1939 – Ali MacGraw, American model and actress
1939 – Phil Niekro, American baseball player and manager
1940 – Wangari Maathai, Kenyan environmentalist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1941 – Gideon Gadot, Israeli journalist and politician (d. 2012)
1941 – Ajit Wadekar, Indian cricketer, coach, and manager (d. 2018)
1942 – Samuel R. Delany, American author and critic
1942 – Richard D. Wolff, American economist and academic
1943 – Dafydd Wigley, Welsh academic and politician
1946 – Nikitas Kaklamanis, Greek academic and politician, Greek Minister of Health and Social Security
1946 – Ronnie Lane, English bass player, songwriter, and producer (d. 1997)
1946 – Arrigo Sacchi, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
1947 – Alain Connes, French mathematician and academic
1947 – Philippe Kirsch, Canadian lawyer and judge
1947 – Francine Prose, American novelist, short story writer, and critic
1947 – Norm Van Lier, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2009)
1948 – Jimmy Cliff, Jamaican singer and musician
1948 – Javier Irureta, Spanish footballer and manager
1948 – Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent Member of parliament(d. 2006)
1949 – Gérard Mestrallet, French businessman
1949 – Paul Manafort, American lobbyist, political consultant, and convicted felon
1949 – Sammy Nelson, Northern Irish footballer and coach
1949 – Gil Scott-Heron, American singer-songwriter and author (d. 2011)
1950 – Samuel Alito, American lawyer and jurist
1950 – Loris Kessel, Swiss racing driver (d. 2010)
1950 – Daniel Paillé, Canadian academic and politician
1951 – John Abizaid, American general
1951 – Frederic Schwartz, American architect, co-designed Empty Sky (d. 2014)
1952 – Annette O’Toole, American actress
1952 – Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher and academic
1953 – Barry Sonnenfeld, American cinematographer, director, and producer
1953 – Alberto Zaccheroni, Italian footballer and manager
1954 – Jeff Porcaro, American drummer, songwriter, and producer (d. 1992)
1955 – Don Hasselbeck, American football player and sportscaster
1955 – Humayun Akhtar Khan, Pakistani politician, 5th Commerce Minister of Pakistan
1955 – Terry Nichols, American criminal
1957 – David Gower, English cricketer and sportscaster
1957 – Denise Nickerson, American actress (d. 2019)
1958 – D. Boon, American singer and musician (d. 1985)
1959 – Helmuth Duckadam, Romanian footballer
1961 – Susan Boyle, Scottish singer
1961 – Sergio Scariolo, Italian professional basketball head coach
1961 – Mark White, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1962 – Mark Shulman, American author
1962 – Chris Grayling, English journalist and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
1962 – Samboy Lim, Filipino basketball player and manager
1962 – Phillip Schofield, English television host
1963 – Teodoro de Villa Diaz, Filipino guitarist and songwriter (d. 1988)
1963 – Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, American aerospace engineer
1964 – Erik Breukink, Dutch cyclist and manager
1964 – Kevin Duckworth, American basketball player (d. 2008)
1964 – John Morris, English cricketer
1964 – José Rodrigues dos Santos, Portuguese journalist, author, and educator
1965 – Jane Adams, American film, television, and stage actress
1965 – Mark Jackson, American basketball player and coach
1966 – Chris Evans, English radio and television host
1966 – Mehmet Özdilek, Turkish footballer and manager
1967 – Nicola Roxon, Australian lawyer and politician, 34th Attorney-General for Australia
1968 – Mike Baird, Australian politician, 44th Premier of New South Wales
1968 – Andreas Schnaas, German actor and director
1968 – Alexander Stubb, Finnish academic and politician, 43rd Prime Minister of Finland
1969 – Lev Lobodin, Ukrainian-Russian decathlete
1969 – Andrew Vlahov, Australian basketball player
1969 – Dean Windass, English footballer and manager
1970 – Brad Meltzer, American author, screenwriter, and producer
1971 – Sonia Bisset, Cuban javelin thrower
1971 – Shinji Nakano, Japanese racing driver
1972 – Darren McCarty, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1972 – Jesse Tobias, American guitarist and songwriter
1973 – Christian Finnegan, American comedian and actor
1973 – Stephen Fleming, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1973 – Rachel Maddow, American journalist and author
1974 – Hugo Ibarra, Argentinian footballer and manager
1975 – John Butler, American-Australian singer-songwriter and producer
1975 – Magdalena Maleeva, Bulgarian tennis player
1976 – Hazem El Masri, Lebanese-Australian rugby league player and educator
1976 – David Gilliland, American race car driver
1976 – David Oyelowo, English actor
1976 – Clarence Seedorf, Dutch-Brazilian footballer and manager
1976 – Yuka Yoshida, Japanese tennis player
1977 – Vitor Belfort, Brazilian-American boxer and mixed martial artist
1977 – Haimar Zubeldia, Spanish cyclist
1978 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican footballer (d. 2009)
1978 – Mirka Federer, Slovak-Swiss tennis player
1978 – Anamaria Marinca, Romanian-English actress
1978 – Etan Thomas, American basketball player
1979 – Ruth Beitia, Spanish high jumper
1980 – Dennis Kruppke, German footballer
1980 – Randy Orton, American wrestler
1980 – Bijou Phillips, American actress and model
1981 – Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player
1981 – Bjørn Einar Romøren, Norwegian ski jumper
1982 – Taran Killam, American actor, voice artist, comedian, and writer
1982 – Andreas Thorkildsen, Norwegian javelin thrower
1983 – Ólafur Ingi Skúlason, Icelandic footballer
1983 – Sean Taylor, American football player (d. 2007)
1984 – Gilberto Macena, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Daniel Murphy, American baseball player
1985 – Beth Tweddle, English gymnast
1986 – Hillary Scott, American country singer-songwriter
1987 – Ding Junhui, Chinese professional snooker player
1987 – Gianluca Musacci, Italian footballer
1987 – Oliver Turvey, English racing driver
1988 – Brook Lopez, American basketball player
1988 – Robin Lopez, American basketball player
1989 – Jan Blokhuijsen, Dutch speed skater
1989 – David N’Gog, French footballer
1989 – Christian Vietoris, German racing driver
1990 – Julia Fischer, German discus thrower
1992 – Deng Linlin, Chinese gymnast
1995 – Logan Paul, American Youtuber and actor
1997 – Álex Palou, Spanish racing driver

Deaths on April 1

996 – John XV, pope of the Catholic Church
1085 – Shen Zong, Chinese emperor (b. 1048)
1132 – Hugh of Châteauneuf, French bishop (b. 1053)
1204 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of France and England (b. 1122)
1205 – Amalric II, king of Cyprus and Jerusalem
1282 – Abaqa Khan, ruler of the Mongol Ilkhanate (b. 1234)
1431 – Nuno Álvares Pereira, Portuguese general (b. 1360)
1441 – Blanche I, queen of Navarre and Sicily (b. 1387)
1455 – Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Polish cardinal and statesman (b. 1389)
1528 – Francisco de Peñalosa, Spanish composer (b. 1470)
1548 – Sigismund I, king of Poland (b. 1467)
1580 – Alonso Mudarra, Spanish guitarist and composer (b. 1510)
1601 – Françoise d’Orléans-Longueville, French princess (b. 1549)
1621 – Cristofano Allori, Italian painter and educator (b. 1577)
1682 – Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, Bavarian bishop (b. 1625)
1787 – Floyer Sydenham, English scholar and academic (b. 1710)
1839 – Benjamin Pierce, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1757)
1865 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (b. 1797)
1872 – Frederick Denison Maurice, English theologian and academic (b. 1805)
1878 – John C.W. Daly, English-Canadian soldier and politician (b. 1796)
1890 – David Wilber, American politician (b. 1820)
1890 – Alexander Mozhaysky, Russian soldier, pilot, and engineer (b. 1825)
1914 – Rube Waddell, American baseball player (b. 1876)
1914 – Charles Wells, English founder of Charles Wells Ltd (b. 1842)
1917 – Scott Joplin, American pianist and composer (b. 1868)
1920 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (b. 1857)
1922 – Charles I, emperor of Austria (b. 1887)
1922 – Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychologist and author (b. 1884)
1924 – Jacob Bolotin, American physician (b. 1888)
1924 – Lloyd Hildebrand, English cyclist (b. 1870)
1924 – Stan Rowley, Australian sprinter (b. 1876)
1946 – Noah Beery, Sr., American actor (b. 1882)
1947 – George II, king of Greece (b. 1890)
1950 – Charles R. Drew, American physician and surgeon (b. 1904)
1950 – Recep Peker, Turkish soldier and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1889)
1962 – Jussi Kekkonen, Finnish captain and businessman (b. 1910)
1965 – Helena Rubinstein, Polish-American businesswoman (b. 1870)
1966 – Brian O’Nolan, Irish author (b. 1911)
1968 – Lev Landau, Azerbaijani-Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
1976 – Max Ernst, German painter and sculptor (b. 1891)
1981 – Eua Sunthornsanan, Thai singer-songwriter and bandleader (b. 1910)
1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer-songwriter (b. 1939)
1984 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author (b. 1900)
1986 – Erik Bruhn, Danish actor, director, and choreographer (b. 1928)
1987 – Henri Cochet, French tennis player (b. 1901)
1991 – Martha Graham, American dancer and choreographer (b. 1894)
1991 – Jaime Guzmán, Chilean lawyer and politician (b. 1946)
1992 – Michael Havers, Baron Havers, English lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1923)
1993 – Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (b. 1954)
1994 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer (b. 1912)
1995 – H. Adams Carter, American mountaineer, journalist, and educator (b. 1914)
1995 – Francisco Moncion, Dominican American ballet dancer, choreographer, charter member of the New York City Ballet (b. 1918)
1995 – Lucie Rie, Austrian-English potter (b. 1902)
1997 – Makar Honcharenko, Ukrainian footballer and manager (b. 1912)
1998 – Rozz Williams, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1963)
1999 – Jesse Stone, American pianist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1901)
2001 – Trịnh Công Sơn, Vietnamese guitarist and composer (b. 1939)
2002 – Simo Häyhä, Finnish soldier and sniper (b. 1905)
2003 – Leslie Cheung, Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1956)
2004 – Ioannis Kyrastas, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1952)
2004 – Carrie Snodgress, American actress (b. 1945)
2005 – Paul Bomani, Tanzanian politician and diplomat, 1st Tanzanian Minister of Finance (b 1925)
2005 – Robert Coldwell Wood, American political scientist and academic (b. 1923)
2006 – In Tam, Cambodian general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1916)
2010 – John Forsythe, American actor (b. 1918)
2010 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1927)
2012 – Lionel Bowen, Australian soldier, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1922)
2012 – Giorgio Chinaglia, Italian-American soccer player and radio host (b. 1947)
2012 – Miguel de la Madrid, Mexican banker, academic, and politician, 52nd President of Mexico (b. 1934)
2013 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (b. 1947)
2013 – Karen Muir, South African swimmer and physician (b. 1952)
2014 – King Fleming, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1922)
2014 – Jacques Le Goff, French historian and author (b. 1924)
2014 – Rolf Rendtorff, German theologian and academic (b. 1925)
2015 – Nicolae Rainea, Romanian footballer and referee (b. 1933)
2017 – Lonnie Brooks, American blues singer and guitarist (b. 1933)
2017 – Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet and Russian poet and writer (b. 1932)
2018 – Steven Bochco, American television writer and producer (b. 1943)
2019 – Vonda N. McIntyre, American science fiction author (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances on April 1

Christian feast day:
- Cellach of Armagh
- Hugh of Grenoble
- Frederick Denison Maurice (Episcopal Church (USA))
- Mary of Egypt
- Melito of Sardis
- Nuno Álvares Pereira
- Tewdrig
- Theodora
- Walric, abbot of Leuconay
- April 1 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Sizdah Be-dar can fall, while April 2 is the latest; celebrated on the 13th day after vernal equinox. (Iran)
Iranian Islamic Republic Day (Iran) falls on this day if the Vernal Equinox falls on March 21.
Veneralia was held on April 1 during Ancient Rome, however this date does not lock into the modern Gregorian calendar.
April Fools’ Day
Odisha Day (Odisha, India)
Arbor Day (Tanzania)
Civil Service Day (Thailand)
Cyprus National Day (Cyprus)
Edible Book Day
Fossil Fools Day
Kha b-Nisan, the Assyrian New Year (Assyrian people)
National Civil Service Day (Thailand)

April 1 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

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

On This Day / admin

For superstitious reasons, when the Romans began to intercalate to bring their calendar into line with the solar year, they chose not to place their extra month of Mercedonius after February but within it. February 24 — known in the Roman calendar as “the sixth day before the Kalends of March” — was replaced by the first day of this month since it followed Terminalia, the festival of the Roman god of boundaries. After the end of Mercedonius, the rest of the days of February were observed and the new year began with the first day of March. The overlaid religious festivals of February were so complicated that Julius Caesar opted not to change it at all during his 46 bc calendar reform. The extra day of his system’s leap years was located in the same place as the old intercalary month but he opted to ignore it as a date. Instead, the sixth day before the Kalends of March was simply said to last for 48 hours and all the other days continued to bear their original names. (The Roman practice of inclusive counting initially caused the priests in charge of the calendar to add the extra hours every three years instead of every four and Augustus was obliged to omit them for a span of decades until the system was back to where it should have been.) When the extra hours finally began to be reckoned as two separate days instead of a doubled sixth (“bissextile”) one, the leap day was still taken to be the one following hard on the February 23 Terminalia. Although February 29 has been popularly understood as the leap day of leap years since the beginning of sequential reckoning of the days of months in the late Middle Ages, in Britain and most other countries, no formal replacement of February 24 as the leap day of the Julian and Gregorian calendars has occurred. The exceptions include Sweden and Finland, who enacted legislation to move the day to February 29. This custom still has some effect around the world, for example with respect to name days in Hungary.

February 24 in History

484 – King Huneric of the Vandals replaces Nicene bishops with Arian ones, and banishes some to Corsica.
1303 – Battle of Roslin, of the First War of Scottish Independence.
1386 – King Charles III of Naples and Hungary is assassinated at Buda.
1525 – A Spanish-Austrian army defeats a French army at the Battle of Pavia.
1538 – Treaty of Nagyvárad between Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and King John Zápolya of Hungary and Croatia.
1582 – With the papal bull Inter gravissimas, Pope Gregory XIII announces the Gregorian calendar.
1607 – L’Orfeo by Claudio Monteverdi, one of the first works recognized as an opera, receives its première performance.
1711 – The London première of Rinaldo by George Frideric Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage.
1739 – Battle of Karnal: The army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah defeats the forces of the Mughal emperor of India, Muhammad Shah.
1803 – In Marbury v. Madison, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the principle of judicial review.
1809 – London’s Drury Lane Theatre burns to the ground, leaving owner Richard Brinsley Sheridan destitute.
1821 – Final stage of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain with Plan of Iguala.
1822 – The first Swaminarayan temple in the world, Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Ahmedabad, is inaugurated.
1826 – The signing of the Treaty of Yandabo marks the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.
1831 – The Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, the first removal treaty in accordance with the Indian Removal Act, is proclaimed. The Choctaws in Mississippi cede land east of the river in exchange for payment and land in the West.
1848 – King Louis-Philippe of France abdicates the throne.
1854 – A Penny Red with perforations was the first perforated postage stamp to be officially issued for distribution.
1863 – Arizona is organized as a United States territory.
1868 – Andrew Johnson becomes the first President of the United States to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives. He is later acquitted in the Senate.
1875 – The SS Gothenburg hits the Great Barrier Reef and sinks off the Australian east coast, killing approximately 100, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.
1881 – China and Russia sign the Sino-Russian Ili Treaty.
1895 – Revolution breaks out in Baire, a town near Santiago de Cuba, beginning the Cuban War of Independence, that ends with the Spanish–American War in 1898.
1916 – The Governor-General of Korea establishes a clinic called Jahyewon in Sorokdo to segregate Hansen’s disease patients.
1917 – World War I: The U.S. ambassador Walter Hines Page to the United Kingdom is given the Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany pledges to ensure the return of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the United States.
1918 – Estonian Declaration of Independence.
1920 – Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament (MP) three months earlier.
1920 – The Nazi Party (NSDAP) was founded by Adolf Hitler in the Hofbräuhaus beer hall in Munich, Germany
1942 – The Battle of Los Angeles: A false alarm led to an anti-aircraft barrage that lasted into the early hours of February 25.
1942 – An order-in-council passed under the Defence of Canada Regulations of the War Measures Act gives the Canadian federal government the power to intern all “persons of Japanese racial origin”.
1944 – Merrill’s Marauders: The Marauders begin their 1,000-mile journey through Japanese-occupied Burma.
1945 – Egyptian Premier Ahmad Mahir Pasha is killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
1946 – Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known as Peronism, is elected to his first term as President of Argentina.
1949 – The Armistice Agreements are signed, to formally end the hostilities of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
1968 – Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive is halted; South Vietnam recaptures Hué.
1971 – The All India Forward Bloc holds an emergency central committee meeting after its chairman, Hemantha Kumar Bose, is killed three days earlier. P.K. Mookiah Thevar is appointed as the new chairman.
1976 – The current constitution of Cuba is formally proclaimed.
1978 – The Yuba County Five disappear in California. Four of their bodies are found four months later.
1980 – The United States Olympic hockey team completes its Miracle on Ice by defeating Finland 4–2 to win the gold medal.
1981 – The 6.7 M_s Gulf of Corinth earthquake affected Central Greece with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe). Twenty-two people were killed, 400 were injured, and damage totaled $812 million.
1983 – A special commission of the United States Congress condemns the Japanese American internment during World War II.
1984 – Tyrone Mitchell perpetrates the 49th Street Elementary School shooting in Los Angeles, killing two children and injuring 12 more.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 811, bound for New Zealand from Honolulu, rips open during flight, blowing nine passengers out of the business-class section.
1991 – Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
1996 – Two civilian airplanes operated by the Miami-based group Brothers to the Rescue are shot down in international waters by the Cuban Air Force.
1999 – China Southwest Airlines Flight 4509, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft, crashes on approach to Wenzhou Longwan International Airport in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. All 61 people on board are killed.
2004 – The 6.3 M_w Al Hoceima earthquake strikes northern Morocco with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). At least 628 people are killed, 926 are injured, and up to 15,000 are displaced.
2006 – Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
2007 – Japan launches its fourth spy satellite, stepping up its ability to monitor potential threats such as North Korea.
2008 – Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He remains as head of the Communist Party for another three years.
2015 – A Metrolink train derails in Oxnard, California following a collision with a truck, leaving more than 30 injured.
2016 – Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft, crashed, with 23 fatalities, in Solighopte, Myagdi District, Dhaulagiri Zone, while en route from Pokhara Airport to Jomsom Airport.

Births on February 24

1103 – Emperor Toba of Japan (d. 1156)
1304 – Ibn Battuta, Moroccan jurist
1413 – Louis, Duke of Savoy (d. 1465)
1463 – Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Italian philosopher (d. 1494)
1494 – Johan Friis, Danish statesman (d. 1570)
1500 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1558)
1536 – Pope Clement VIII (d. 1605)
1545 – John of Austria (d. 1578)
1553 – Cherubino Alberti, Italian engraver and painter (d. 1615)
1557 – Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1619)
1593 – Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, English soldier and courtier (d. 1625)
1595 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and poet (d. 1640)
1604 – Arcangela Tarabotti, Venetian nun and feminist (d. 1652)
1619 – Charles Le Brun, French painter and theorist (d. 1690)
1622 – Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (d. 1665)
1709 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French engineer (d. 1782)
1721 – John McKinly, Irish-American physician and politician, 1st Governor of Delaware (d. 1796)
1723 – John Burgoyne, English general and politician (d. 1792)
1736 – Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (d. 1806)
1743 – Joseph Banks, English botanist and explorer (d. 1820)
1762 – Charles Frederick Horn, German-English composer and educator (d. 1830)
1767 – Rama II of Siam (d. 1824)
1774 – Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (d. 1850)
1786 – Martin W. Bates, American lawyer and politician (d. 1869)
1786 – Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, author, and academic (d. 1859)
1788 – Johan Christian Dahl, Norwegian-German painter (d. 1857)
1827 – Lydia Becker, English-French activist (d. 1890)
1831 – Leo von Caprivi, German general and politician, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1899)
1835 – Julius Vogel, English-New Zealand journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1899)
1836 – Winslow Homer, American painter and illustrator (d. 1910)
1837 – Rosalía de Castro, Spanish poet (d. 1885)
1842 – Arrigo Boito, Italian journalist, author, and composer (d. 1918)
1848 – Andrew Inglis Clark, Australian engineer, lawyer, and politician (d. 1907)
1852 – George Moore, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1933)
1868 – Édouard Alphonse James de Rothschild, French financier and polo player (d. 1949)
1869 – Zara DuPont, American suffragist (d. 1946)
1874 – Honus Wagner, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1955)
1877 – Rudolph Ganz, Swiss pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1972)
1877 – Ettie Rout, Australian-New Zealand educator and activist (d. 1936)
1885 – Chester W. Nimitz, American admiral (d. 1966)
1885 – Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish author, poet, and painter (d. 1939)
1890 – Marjorie Main, American actress (d. 1975)
1896 – Richard Thorpe, American director and screenwriter (d. 1991)
1898 – Kurt Tank, German pilot and engineer (d. 1983)
1900 – Irmgard Bartenieff, German-American dancer and physical therapist, leading pioneer of dance therapy (d. 1981)
1903 – Vladimir Bartol, Italian-Slovene author and playwright (d. 1967)
1908 – Telford Taylor, American general, lawyer, and historian (d. 1998)
1909 – August Derleth, American anthologist and author (d. 1971)
1914 – Ralph Erskine, English-Swedish architect, designed The Ark and Byker Wall (d. 2005)
1914 – Weldon Kees, American author, poet, painter, and pianist (d. 1955)
1915 – Jim Ferrier, Australian golfer (d. 1986)
1919 – John Carl Warnecke, American architect (d. 2010)
1921 – Abe Vigoda, American actor (d. 2016)
1922 – Richard Hamilton, English painter and academic (d. 2011)
1922 – Steven Hill, American actor (d. 2016)
1924 – Hal Herring, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1924 – Erik Nielsen, Canadian lawyer and politician, 3rd Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (d. 2008)
1925 – Bud Day, American colonel and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
1927 – Emmanuelle Riva, French actress (d. 2017)
1929 – Kintaro Ohki, South Korean wrestler (d. 2006)
1930 – Barbara Lawrence, American model and actress (d. 2013)
1931 – Dominic Chianese, American actor and singer
1931 – Brian Close, English cricketer and coach (d. 2015)
1932 – Michel Legrand, French pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1932 – Zell Miller, American sergeant and politician, 79th Governor of Georgia (d. 2018)
1932 – John Vernon, Canadian-American actor (d. 2005)
1933 – Judah Folkman, American physician and biologist (d. 2008)
1933 – Ali Mazrui, Kenyan-American political scientist, philosopher, and academic (d. 2014)
1933 – David “Fathead” Newman, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2009)
1934 – Bettino Craxi, Italian lawyer and politician, 45th Prime Minister of Italy (d. 2000)
1934 – Johnny Hills, English footballer, full-back
1934 – Renata Scotto, Italian soprano
1935 – Ryhor Baradulin, Belarusian poet, essayist, and translator (d. 2014)
1936 – Guillermo O’Donnell, Argentine political scientist (d. 2011)
1938 – James Farentino, American actor (d. 2012)
1938 – Phil Knight, American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded Nike, Inc.
1939 – Jamal Nazrul Islam, Bangladeshi physicist and cosmologist (d. 2013)
1940 – Pete Duel, American actor (d. 1971)
1940 – Jimmy Ellis, American boxer (d. 2014)
1940 – Denis Law, Scottish footballer and sportscaster
1941 – Joanie Sommers, American singer and actress
1942 – Colin Bond, Australian race car driver
1942 – Paul Jones, English singer, harmonica player, and actor
1942 – Joe Lieberman, American lawyer and politician
1942 – Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Indian philosopher, theorist, and academic
1943 – Kent Haruf, American novelist (d. 2014)
1943 – Gigi Meroni, Italian footballer (d. 1967)
1943 – Pablo Milanés, Cuban singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Terry Semel, American businessman
1944 – Nicky Hopkins, English keyboard player (d. 1994)
1944 – Ivica Račan, Croatian lawyer and politician, 7th Prime Minister of Croatia (d. 2007)
1945 – Barry Bostwick, American actor and singer
1946 – Grigory Margulis, Russian mathematician and academic
1947 – Mike Fratello, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1947 – Rupert Holmes, English-American singer-songwriter and playwright
1947 – Edward James Olmos, American actor and director
1948 – Jayalalithaa, Indian actress and politician, 16th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (d. 2016)
1948 – Walter Smith, Scottish footballer and manager
1948 – Tim Staffell, English singer and guitarist
1948 – Dennis Waterman, English actor
1950 – Steve McCurry, American photographer and journalist
1951 – David Ford, Northern Irish social worker and politician
1951 – Derek Randall, English cricketer
1951 – Debra Jo Rupp, American actress
1951 – Helen Shaver, Canadian actress and director
1951 – Laimdota Straujuma, Latvian economist and politician, 12th Prime Minister of Latvia
1953 – Anatoli Kozhemyakin, Soviet footballer (d. 1974)
1954 – Plastic Bertrand, Belgian singer-songwriter and producer
1954 – Judith Ortiz Cofer, Puerto Rican American award-winning author (d. 2016)
1954 – Aurora Levins Morales, Puerto Rican Jewish writer and activist
1954 – Sid Meier, Canadian-American game designer and programmer, created the Civilization series
1954 – Mike Pickering, English DJ and saxophonist
1955 – Steve Jobs, American businessman, co-founded Apple Inc. and Pixar (d. 2011)
1955 – Eddie Johnson, American basketball player
1955 – Alain Prost, French race car driver
1956 – Judith Butler, American philosopher, theorist, and author
1956 – Eddie Murray, American baseball player and coach
1956 – Paula Zahn, American journalist and producer
1958 – Sammy Kershaw, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1958 – Mark Moses, American actor
1959 – Beth Broderick, American actress and director
1959 – Mike Whitney, Australian cricketer and television host
1963 – Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro
1963 – Mike Vernon, Canadian ice hockey player
1963 – Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Gujarati family, most versatile filmmaker of Hindi cinema.
1964 – Russell Ingall, British-Australian race car driver and sportscaster
1965 – Paul Gruber, American football player
1965 – Jane Swift, American businesswoman and politician, Governor of Massachusetts
1966 – Billy Zane, American actor and producer
1967 – Brian Schmidt, Australian astrophysicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1968 – Mitch Hedberg, American comedian and actor (d. 2005)
1969 – Kim Seung-woo, South Korean actor
1970 – Jeff Garcia, American football player and coach
1970 – Neil Sullivan, English born Scottish international footballer, goalkeeper and coach
1970 – Jonathan Ward, American actor
1971 – Josh Bernstein, American anthropologist, explorer, and author
1971 – Pedro de la Rosa, Spanish race car driver
1971 – Brian Savage, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1972 – Teodor Currentzis, Greek conductor and composer
1972 – Manon Rhéaume, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1973 – Stubby Clapp, Canadian baseball player and coach
1973 – Chris Fehn, American drummer
1973 – Alexei Kovalev, Russian ice hockey player and pilot
1974 – Chad Hugo, American keyboard player, songwriter, and producer
1974 – Mike Lowell, American baseball player and sportscaster
1974 – Bonnie Somerville, American actress
1975 – Ashley MacIsaac, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler
1976 – Crista Flanagan, American actress and screenwriter
1976 – Zach Johnson, American golfer
1976 – Bradley McGee, Australian cyclist and coach
1976 – Matt Skiba, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1976 – Marco Campos, Brazilian Formula 3000 race car driver (d. 1995)
1977 – Jason Akermanis, Australian footballer and coach
1977 – Bronson Arroyo, American baseball player and singer
1977 – Floyd Mayweather, Jr., American boxer
1978 – Gary, South Korean rapper and producer
1978 – Shinya, Japanese drummer and songwriter
1978 – John Nolan, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – DeWayne Wise, American baseball player
1978 – Leon Constantine, English footballer
1980 – Shinsuke Nakamura, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1981 – Felipe Baloy, Panamanian footballer
1981 – Lleyton Hewitt, Australian tennis player
1981 – Mauro Rosales, Argentinian footballer
1981 – Mohammad Sami, Pakistani cricketer
1982 – Nick Blackburn, American baseball player
1982 – Emanuel Villa, Argentinian footballer
1982 – Klára Koukalová, Czech tennis player
1982 – Fala Chen, Chinese actress and singer
1984 – Corey Graves, American wrestler and sportscaster
1985 – Nakash Aziz, Indian playback singer and music composer
1987 – Kim Kyu-jong, South Korean singer, dancer, and actor
1988 – Mathieu Baudry, French footballer
1989 – Trace Cyrus, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1991 – Madison Hubbell, American ice dancer
1991 – Semih Kaya, Turkish footballer
1996 – Royce Freeman, American football player

Deaths on February 24

616 – Æthelberht of Kent (b. 560)
951 – Liu Yun, Chinese governor (jiedushi)
1018 – Borrell, bishop of Vic
1114 – Thomas, archbishop of York
1386 – Charles III of Naples (b. 1345)
1496 – Eberhard I, Duke of Württemberg (b. 1445)
1525 – Jacques de La Palice, French nobleman and military officer (b. 1470)
1525 – Guillaume Gouffier, seigneur de Bonnivet, French soldier (b. c. 1488)
1525 – Richard de la Pole, last Yorkist claimant to the English throne (b. 1480)
1563 – Francis, Duke of Guise (b. 1519)
1580 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (b. 1511)
1588 – Johann Weyer, Dutch physician and occultist (b. 1515)
1666 – Nicholas Lanier, English composer and painter (b. 1588)
1685 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Cumberland (b. 1629)
1704 – Marc-Antoine Charpentier, French composer (b. 1643)
1714 – Edmund Andros, English courtier and politician, 4th Colonial Governor of New York (b. 1637)
1721 – John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, English poet and politician, Lord President of the Council (b. 1648)
1732 – Francis Charteris, Scottish soldier (b. 1675)
1777 – Joseph I of Portugal (b. 1714)
1785 – Carlo Buonaparte, Corsican lawyer and politician (b. 1746)
1799 – Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist and academic (b. 1742)
1810 – Henry Cavendish, French-English physicist and chemist (b. 1731)
1812 – Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (b. 1775)
1815 – Robert Fulton, American engineer (b. 1765)
1825 – Thomas Bowdler, English physician and philanthropist (b. 1754)
1856 – Nikolai Lobachevsky, Russian mathematician and academic (b. 1792)
1876 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, American-Liberian politician, 1st President of Liberia (b. 1809)
1879 – Shiranui Kōemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 11th Yokozuna (b. 1825)
1910 – Osman Hamdi Bey, Greek archaeologist and painter (b. 1842)
1914 – Joshua Chamberlain, American general and politician, 32nd Governor of Maine (b. 1828)
1925 – Hjalmar Branting, Swedish journalist and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Sweden, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1860)
1927 – Edward Marshall Hall, English lawyer and politician (b. 1858)
1929 – André Messager, French pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1853)
1930 – Hermann von Ihering, German-Brazilian zoologist (b. 1850)
1953 – Robert La Follette Jr., American politician, senator of Wisconsin (b. 1895)
1953 – Gerd von Rundstedt, German field marshal (b. 1875)
1967 – Mir Osman Ali Khan, Last Nizam of Hyderabad State (b. 1886)
1970 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (b. 1897)
1974 – Margaret Leech, American historian and author (b. 1895)
1975 – Hans Bellmer, German artist (b. 1902)
1975 – Nikolai Bulganin, Russian marshal and politician, 6th Premier of the Soviet Union (b. 1895)
1978 – Alma Thomas, American painter and educator (b.1891)
1982 – Virginia Bruce, American actress (b. 1910)
1986 – Rukmini Devi Arundale, Indian Bharatnatyam dancer (b. 1904)
1986 – Tommy Douglas, Scottish-Canadian minister and politician, 7th Premier of Saskatchewan (b. 1904)
1990 – Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (b. 1945)
1990 – Malcolm Forbes, American sergeant and publisher (b. 1917)
1990 – Sandro Pertini, Italian journalist and politician, 7th President of Italy (b. 1896)
1990 – Johnnie Ray, American singer-songwriter and pianist (b. 1927)
1991 – John Daly, American journalist and game show host (b. 1914)
1991 – George Gobel, American actor (b. 1919)
1991 – Webb Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1921)
1993 – Danny Gallivan, Canadian sportscaster (b. 1917)
1993 – Bobby Moore, English footballer and manager (b. 1941)
1994 – Jean Sablon, French singer and actor (b. 1906)
1994 – Dinah Shore, American actress and singer (b. 1916)
1998 – Antonio Prohías, Cuban-American cartoonist (b. 1921)
1998 – Henny Youngman, English-American comedian and violinist (b. 1906)
1999 – Andre Dubus, American short story writer, essayist, and memoirist (b. 1936)
2001 – Theodore Marier, American composer and educator, founded the Boston Archdiocesan Choir School (b. 1912)
2001 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician, cryptographer, and engineer (b. 1916)
2002 – Leo Ornstein, Ukrainian-American pianist and composer (b. 1893)
2004 – John Randolph, American actor (b. 1915)
2005 – Coşkun Kırca, Turkish diplomat, journalist and politician (b. 1927)
2006 – Octavia E. Butler, American author and educator (b. 1947)
2006 – Don Knotts, American actor and comedian (b. 1924)
2006 – John Martin, Canadian broadcaster, co-founded MuchMusic (b. 1947)
2006 – Dennis Weaver, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1924)
2007 – Bruce Bennett, American shot putter and actor (b. 1906)
2007 – Damien Nash, American football player (b. 1982)
2008 – Larry Norman, American singer-songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
2010 – Dawn Brancheau, senior animal trainer at SeaWorld (b. 1969)
2011 – Anant Pai, Indian author and illustrator (b. 1929)
2012 – Agnes Allen, American baseball player and therapist (b. 1930)
2012 – Oliver Wrong, English nephrologist and academic (b. 1925)
2013 – Virgil Johnson, American singer (b. 1935)
2013 – Con Martin, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1923)
2014 – Franny Beecher, American guitarist (b. 1921)
2014 – Alexis Hunter, New Zealand-English painter and photographer (b. 1948)
2014 – Carlos Páez Vilaró, Uruguayan painter and sculptor (b. 1923)
2014 – Harold Ramis, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1944)
2015 – Mefodiy, Ukrainian metropolitan (b. 1949)
2015 – Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakh politician and diplomat (b. 1962)
2016 – Peter Kenilorea, Solomon Islands politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (b. 1943)
2016 – Nabil Maleh, Syrian director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1936)
2016 – George C. Nichopoulos, American soldier and physician (b. 1927)
2018 – Sridevi, Indian actress (b. 1963)
2020 – Katherine Johnson, American physicist and mathematician (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances on February 24

Christian feast day:
- Blessed Ascensión Nicol y Goñi
- Lindel Tsen and Paul Sasaki (Anglican Church of Canada)
- Modest (bishop of Trier)
- Sergius of Cappadocia
- February 24 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Dragobete (Romania)
Engineer’s Day (Iran)
Flag Day in Mexico
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Estonia from the Russian Empire in 1918; the Soviet period is considered to have been an illegal annexation.
National Artist Day (Thailand)

February 24 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

January 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day

On This Day / admin

474 – Seven-year-old Leo II succeeds his maternal grandfather Leo I as Byzantine emperor. He dies ten months later.
532 – Nika riots in Constantinople fail.
1126 – Emperor Huizong abdicates the Chinese throne in favour of his son Emperor Qinzong.
1486 – King Henry VII of England marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV uniting the House of Lancaster and the House of York.
1562 – Pope Pius IV reopens the Council of Trent for its third and final session.
1591 – King Naresuan of Siam kills Crown Prince Mingyi Swa of Burma in single combat, for which this date is now observed as Royal Thai Armed Forces day.
1670 – Henry Morgan captures Panama.
1701 – Frederick I crowns himself King of Prussia in Königsberg.
1778 – James Cook is the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the “Sandwich Islands”.
1788 – The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from Great Britain to Australia arrive at Botany Bay.
1806 – Jan Willem Janssens surrenders the Dutch Cape Colony to the British.
1866 – Wesley College is established in Melbourne, Australia.
1871 – Wilhelm I of Germany is proclaimed Kaiser Wilhelm in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles (France) towards the end of the Franco-Prussian War. Wilhelm already had the title of German Emperor since the constitution of 1 January 1871, but he had hesitated to accept the title.
1886 – Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England.
1896 – An X-ray generating machine is exhibited for the first time by H. L. Smith.
1911 – Eugene B. Ely lands on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay, the first time an aircraft landed on a ship.
1913 – First Balkan War: A Greek flotilla defeats the Ottoman Navy in the Naval Battle of Lemnos, securing the islands of the Northern Aegean Sea for Greece.
1915 – Japan issues the “Twenty-One Demands” to the Republic of China in a bid to increase its power in East Asia.
1919 – World War I: The Paris Peace Conference opens in Versailles, France.
1919 – Ignacy Jan Paderewski becomes Prime Minister of the newly independent Poland.
1941 – World War II: British troops launch a general counter-offensive against Italian East Africa.
1943 – Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: The first uprising of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 – World War II: Liberation of Kraków, Poland by the Red Army.
1958 – Willie O’Ree, the first Black Canadian National Hockey League player, makes his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins.
1960 – Capital Airlines Flight 20 crashes into a farm in Charles City County, Virginia, killing all 50 aboard, the third fatal Capital Airlines crash in as many years.
1967 – Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler”, is convicted of numerous crimes and is sentenced to life imprisonment.
1969 – United Airlines Flight 266 crashes into Santa Monica Bay killing all 32 passengers and six crew members.
1974 – A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
1976 – Lebanese Christian militias kill at least 1,000 in Karantina, Beirut.
1977 – Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires’ disease.
1977 – Australia’s worst rail disaster occurs at Granville, Sydney killing 83.
1977 – SFR Yugoslavia’s Prime minister, Džemal Bijedić, his wife and six others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1978 – The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom’s government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
1981 – Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield parachute off a Houston skyscraper, becoming the first two people to BASE jump from objects in all four categories: buildings, antennae, spans (bridges), and earth (cliffs).
1983 – The International Olympic Committee restores Jim Thorpe’s Olympic medals to his family.
1990 – Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is arrested for drug possession in an FBI sting.
1993 – Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.
2002 – The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.
2003 – A bushfire kills four people and destroys more than 500 homes in Canberra, Australia.
2005 – The Airbus A380, the world’s largest commercial jet, is unveiled at a ceremony in Toulouse, France
2007 – The strongest storm in the United Kingdom in 17 years kills 14 people and Germany sees the worst storm since 1999 with 13 deaths. Cyclone Kyrill causes at least 44 deaths across 20 countries in Western Europe.
2008 – The Euphronios Krater is unveiled in Rome after being returned to Italy by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
2018 – A bus catches fire on the Samara–Shymkent road in Yrgyz District, Aktobe, Kazakhstan. The fire kills 52 passengers, with three passengers and two drivers escaping.

Births on January 18

1404 – Sir Philip Courtenay, British noble (d. 1463)
1457 – Antonio Trivulzio, seniore, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1508)
1519 – Isabella Jagiellon, Queen of Hungary (d. 1559)
1540 – Catherine, Duchess of Braganza (d. 1614)
1641 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French politician, Secretary of State for War (d. 1691)
1659 – Damaris Cudworth Masham, English philosopher and theologian (d. 1708)
1672 – Antoine Houdar de la Motte, French author (d. 1731)
1688 – Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
1689 – Montesquieu, French lawyer and philosopher (d. 1755)
1701 – Johann Jakob Moser, German jurist (d. 1785)
1743 – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, French mystic and philosopher (d. 1803)
1751 – Ferdinand Kauer, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1831)
1752 – John Nash, English architect (d. 1835)
1764 – Samuel Whitbread, English politician (d. 1815)
1779 – Peter Mark Roget, English physician, lexicographer, and theologian (d. 1869)
1782 – Daniel Webster, American lawyer and politician, 14th United States Secretary of State (d. 1852)
1793 – Pratap Singh Bhosle, Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire (d. 1847)
1815 – Constantin von Tischendorf, German theologian and scholar (d. 1874)
1835 – César Cui, Russian general, composer, and critic (d. 1918)
1840 – Henry Austin Dobson, English poet and author (d. 1921)
1841 – Emmanuel Chabrier, French pianist and composer (d. 1894)
1842 – A. A. Ames, American physician and politician, Mayor of Minneapolis (d. 1911)
1848 – Ioan Slavici, Romanian journalist and author (d. 1925)
1849 – Edmund Barton, Australian judge and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1920)
1850 – Seth Low, American academic and politician, 92nd Mayor of New York City (d. 1916)
1853 – Marthinus Nikolaas Ras, South African farmer, soldier, and gun-maker (d. 1900)
1854 – Thomas A. Watson, American assistant to Alexander Graham Bell (d. 1934)
1856 – Daniel Hale Williams, American surgeon and cardiologist (d. 1931)
1867 – Rubén Darío, Nicaraguan poet, journalist, and diplomat (d. 1916)
1868 – Kantarō Suzuki, Japanese admiral and politician, 42nd Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1948)
1877 – Sam Zemurray, Russian-American businessman, founded the Cuyamel Fruit Company (d. 1961)
1879 – Henri Giraud, French general and politician (d. 1949)
1880 – Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian-Dutch physicist and academic (d. 1933)
1880 – Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, Italian cardinal (d. 1954)
1881 – Gaston Gallimard, French publisher, founded Éditions Gallimard (d. 1975)
1882 – A. A. Milne, English author, poet, and playwright (d. 1956)
1886 – Clara Nordström, Swedish-German author and translator (d. 1962)
1888 – Thomas Sopwith, English ice hockey player, sailor, and pilot (d. 1989)
1892 – Oliver Hardy, American actor and comedian (d. 1957)
1892 – Bill Meanix, American hurdler and coach (d. 1957)
1892 – Paul Rostock, German surgeon and academic (d. 1956)
1893 – Jorge Guillén, Spanish poet, critic, and academic (d. 1984)
1894 – Toots Mondt, American wrestler and promoter (d. 1976)
1896 – C. M. Eddy Jr., American author (d. 1967)
1896 – Ville Ritola, Finnish-American runner (d. 1982)
1898 – Albert Kivikas, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1978)
1901 – Ivan Petrovsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1973)
1903 – Berthold Goldschmidt, German pianist and composer (d. 1996)
1904 – Anthony Galla-Rini, American accordion player and composer (d. 2006)
1904 – Cary Grant, English-American actor (d. 1986)
1905 – Joseph Bonanno, Italian-American mob boss (d. 2002)
1907 – János Ferencsik, Hungarian conductor (d. 1984)
1908 – Jacob Bronowski, Polish-English mathematician, historian, and television host (d. 1974)
1910 – Kenneth E. Boulding, English economist and academic (d. 1993)
1911 – José María Arguedas, Peruvian anthropologist, author, and poet (d. 1969)
1911 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, and dancer (d. 1987)
1913 – Carroll Cloar, American artist (d. 1993)
1913 – Giannis Papaioannou, Greek composer (d. 1972)
1914 – Arno Schmidt, German author and translator (d. 1979)
1914 – Vitomil Zupan, Slovene author, poet, and playwright (d. 1987)
1915 – Syl Apps, Canadian pole vaulter, ice hockey player, and politician (d. 1998)
1915 – Santiago Carrillo, Spanish soldier and politician (d. 2012)
1915 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (d. 1984)
1917 – Nicholas Oresko, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2013)
1917 – Wang Yung-ching, Taiwanese-American businessman (d. 2008)
1918 – Gustave Gingras, Canadian-English physician and educator (d. 1996)
1919 – Toni Turek, German footballer (d. 1984)
1921 – Yoichiro Nambu, Japanese-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1923 – John Graham, General Officer Commanding (GOC) Wales (d. 2012)
1923 – Gerrit Voorting, Dutch cyclist (d. 2015)
1925 – Gilles Deleuze, French metaphysician and philosopher (d. 1995)
1925 – John V. Evans, American soldier and politician, 27th Governor of Idaho (d. 2014)
1925 – Sol Yurick, American soldier and author (d. 2013)
1926 – Randolph Bromery, American geologist and academic (d. 2013)
1927 – Sundaram Balachander, Indian actor, singer, and veena player (d. 1990)
1928 – Alexander Gomelsky, Soviet and Russian professional basketball coach (d. 2005)
1931 – Chun Doo-hwan, South Korean general and politician, 5th President of South Korea
1932 – Robert Anton Wilson, American psychologist, author, poet, and playwright (d. 2007)
1933 – Emeka Anyaoku, Nigerian politician, 8th Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1933 – David Bellamy, English botanist, author and academic (d. 2019)
1933 – John Boorman, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1933 – Ray Dolby, American engineer and businessman, founded Dolby Laboratories (d. 2013)
1933 – William Goodhart, Baron Goodhart, English lawyer and politician (d. 2017)
1933 – Frank McMullen, New Zealand rugby player (d. 2004)
1933 – Jean Vuarnet, French ski racer (d. 2017)
1934 – Raymond Briggs, English author and illustrator
1935 – Albert Millaire, Canadian actor and director (d. 2018)
1935 – Jon Stallworthy, English poet, critic, and academic (d. 2014)
1935 – Gad Yaacobi, Israeli academic and diplomat, 10th Israel Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2007)
1936 – David Howell, Baron Howell of Guildford, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Transport
1937 – John Hume, Northern Irish educator and politician, Nobel Prize laureate
1938 – Curt Flood, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1997)
1938 – Anthony Giddens, English sociologist and academic
1938 – Werner Olk, German footballer and manager
1938 – Hargus “Pig” Robbins, American Country Music Hall of Fame session keyboard and piano player
1940 – Pedro Rodriguez, Mexican race car driver (d. 1971)
1941 – Denise Bombardier, Canadian journalist and author
1941 – Bobby Goldsboro, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1941 – David Ruffin, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 1991)
1943 – Paul Freeman, English actor
1943 – Kay Granger, American educator and politician
1943 – Dave Greenslade, English keyboard player and composer
1943 – Charlie Wilson, American businessman and politician (d. 2013)
1944 – Paul Keating, Australian economist and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Australia
1944 – Carl Morton, American baseball player (d. 1983)
1944 – Kei Ogura, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer
1944 – Alexander Van der Bellen, President of Austria
1945 – Rocco Forte, English businessman and philanthropist
1946 – Perro Aguayo, Mexican wrestler (d. 2019)
1946 – Joseph Deiss, Swiss economist and politician, 156th President of the Swiss Confederation
1946 – Henrique Rosa, Bissau-Guinean politician, President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2013)
1947 – Sachio Kinugasa, Japanese baseball player and journalist (d. 2018)
1947 – Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor and director
1949 – Bill Keller, American journalist
1949 – Philippe Starck, French interior designer
1950 – Gianfranco Brancatelli, Italian race car driver
1950 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian race car driver (d. 1982)
1951 – Bram Behr, Surinamese journalist and activist (d. 1982)
1951 – Bob Latchford, English footballer
1952 – Michael Behe, American biochemist, author, and academic
1952 – R. Stevie Moore, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1953 – Brett Hudson, American singer-songwriter and producer
1953 – Peter Moon, Australian comedian and actor
1955 – Kevin Costner, American actor, director, and producer
1956 – Paul Deighton, Baron Deighton, English banker and politician
1960 – Mark Rylance, English actor, director, and playwright
1961 – Peter Beardsley, English footballer and manager
1961 – Bob Hansen, American basketball player and sportscaster
1961 – Mark Messier, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and sportscaster
1961 – Jeff Yagher, American actor and sculptor
1962 – Alison Arngrim, Canadian-American actress
1963 – Maxime Bernier, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Minister of Foreign Affairs for Canada
1963 – Ian Crook, English footballer, central midfielder and manager
1963 – Carl McCoy, English singer-songwriter
1963 – Martin O’Malley, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 61st Governor of Maryland
1964 – Brady Anderson, American baseball player
1964 – Richard Dunwoody, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
1964 – Virgil Hill, American boxer
1964 – Jane Horrocks, English actress and singer
1966 – Alexander Khalifman, Russian chess player and author
1966 – Kazufumi Miyazawa, Japanese singer
1966 – André Ribeiro, Brazilian race car driver
1967 – Dean Bailey, Australian footballer and coach (d. 2014)
1967 – Iván Zamorano, Chilean footballer
1969 – Dave Bautista, American wrestler, mixed martial artist, and actor
1969 – Jesse L. Martin, American actor and singer
1969 – Jim O’Rourke, American guitarist and producer
1970 – Peter Van Petegem, Belgian cyclist
1971 – Amy Barger, American astronomer
1971 – Jonathan Davis, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Christian Fittipaldi, Brazilian race car driver
1971 – Pep Guardiola, Spanish footballer and manager
1971 – Binyavanga Wainaina, Kenyan writer (d. 2019)
1972 – Vinod Kambli, Indian cricketer, sportscaster, and actor
1972 – Mike Lieberthal, American baseball player
1972 – Kjersti Plätzer, Norwegian race walker
1973 – Burnie Burns, American actor, director, and producer, co-founded Rooster Teeth Productions
1973 – Luke Goodwin, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Benjamin Jealous, American civic leader and activist
1973 – Anthony Koutoufides, Australian footballer
1973 – Crispian Mills, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and director
1973 – Rolando Schiavi, Argentinian footballer and coach
1974 – Christian Burns, English singer-songwriter
1975 – Leslie Knope, Protagonist of Parks and Recreation (fictional)
1976 – Laurence Courtois, Belgian tennis player
1976 – Marcelo Gallardo, Argentinian footballer and coach
1976 – Damien Leith, Irish-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Richard Archer, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1978 – Brian Falkenborg, American baseball player
1978 – Thor Hushovd, Norwegian cyclist
1978 – Bogdan Lobonț, Romanian footballer
1979 – Ruslan Fedotenko, Ukrainian ice hockey player
1979 – Paulo Ferreira, Portuguese footballer
1979 – Brian Gionta, American ice hockey player
1979 – Kenyatta Jones, American football player (d. 2018)
1980 – Estelle, English singer-songwriter and producer
1980 – Robert Green, English footballer
1980 – Kert Haavistu, Estonian footballer and manager
1980 – Julius Peppers, American football player
1980 – Jason Segel, American actor and screenwriter
1981 – Otgonbayar Ershuu, Mongolian painter and illustrator
1981 – Olivier Rochus, Belgian tennis player
1981 – Khari Stephenson, Jamaican footballer
1981 – Kang Dong-won, South Korean actor
1982 – Quinn Allman, American guitarist and producer
1982 – Mary Jepkosgei Keitany, Kenyan runner
1983 – Amir Blumenfeld, Israeli-American comedian, actor, director, and screenwriter
1983 – Samantha Mumba, Irish singer-songwriter and actress
1984 – Kristy Lee Cook, American singer-songwriter
1984 – Ioannis Drymonakos, Greek swimmer
1984 – Makoto Hasebe, Japanese footballer
1984 – Michael Kearney, American biochemist and academic
1984 – Seung-Hui Cho, South Korean student who perpetrated the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech (d. 2007)
1984 – Benji Schwimmer, American dancer and choreographer
1984 – Viktoria Shklover, Estonian figure skater
1985 – Dale Begg-Smith, Canadian-Australian skier
1985 – Mark Briscoe, American wrestler
1985 – Riccardo Montolivo, Italian footballer
1985 – Hyun Woo, South Korean actor
1986 – Marya Roxx, Estonian-American singer-songwriter
1986 – Ikusaburo Yamazaki, Japanese actor and singer
1987 – Johan Djourou, Swiss footballer
1987 – Christopher Liebig, German rugby player
1987 – Grigoris Makos, Greek footballer
1988 – Ronnie Day, American singer-songwriter
1988 – Angelique Kerber, German tennis player
1988 – Anastasios Kissas, Greek footballer
1988 – Boy van Poppel, Dutch cyclist
1989 – Rubén Miño, Spanish footballer
1990 – Nacho, Spanish footballer
1990 – Hayle Ibrahimov, Ethiopian-Azerbaijani runner
1990 – Gift Ngoepe, South African baseball player
1991 – Diego Simões, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Francesco Bardi, Italian footballer
1993 – Sean Keenan, Australian actor
1994 – Kang Ji-young, South Korean singer
1994 – Ilona Kremen, Belarusian tennis player
1995 – Bryce Alford, American basketball player
1998 – Aitana Bonmatí, Spanish footballer

Deaths on January 18

52 BC – Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician (b. 93 BC)
474 – Leo I, Byzantine emperor (b. 401)
748 – Odilo, duke of Bavaria
896 – Khumarawayh ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun, ruler of the Tulunids, murdered (b. 864)
1213 – Tamar of Georgia (b. 1160)
1253 – King Henry I of Cyprus (b. 1217)
1271 – Saint Margaret of Hungary (b. 1242)
1326 – Robert FitzWalter, 1st Baron FitzWalter, English baron (b. 1247)
1357 – Maria of Portugal, infanta (b. 1313)
1367 – Peter I of Portugal (b. 1320)
1411 – Jobst of Moravia, ruler of Moravia, King of the Romans
1425 – Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, English politician (b. 1391)
1471 – Emperor Go-Hanazono of Japan (b. 1419)
1479 – Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1417)
1547 – Pietro Bembo, Italian cardinal and scholar (b. 1470)
1586 – Margaret of Parma (b. 1522)
1589 – Magnus Heinason, Faroese naval hero (b. 1545)
1677 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch politician, founded Cape Town (b. 1619)
1756 – Francis George of Schönborn-Buchheim, Archbishop-Elector of Trier (b. 1682)
1783 – Jeanne Quinault, French actress and playwright (b. 1699)
1803 – Ippolit Bogdanovich, Russian poet and academic (b. 1743)
1849 – Panoutsos Notaras, Greek politician (b. 1752)
1862 – John Tyler, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the United States (b. 1790)
1873 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, poet, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (b. 1803)
1878 – Antoine César Becquerel, French physicist and academic (b. 1788)
1886 – Baldassare Verazzi, Italian painter (b. 1819)
1892 – Anton Anderledy, Swiss religious leader, 23rd Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1819)
1896 – Charles Floquet, French lawyer and politician, 55th Prime Minister of France (b. 1828)
1923 – Wallace Reid, American actor, director, and screenwriter (b. 1891)
1936 – Hermanus Brockmann, Dutch rower (b. 1871)
1936 – Rudyard Kipling, English author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1865)
1940 – Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Polish author, poet, and playwright (b. 1865)
1951 – Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary and humanitarian (b. 1867)
1952 – Curly Howard, American actor (b. 1903)
1954 – Sydney Greenstreet, English-American actor (b. 1879)
1955 – Saadat Hasan Manto, Pakistani author and screenwriter (b. 1912)
1956 – Makbule Atadan, Turkish lawyer and politician (b. 1885)
1956 – Konstantin Päts, Estonian journalist, lawyer, and politician, 1st President of Estonia (b. 1874)
1963 – Hugh Gaitskell, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1906)
1966 – Kathleen Norris, American journalist and author (b. 1880)
1967 – Goose Tatum, American basketball player and soldier (b. 1921)
1969 – Hans Freyer, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1887)
1970 – David O. McKay, American religious leader, 9th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1873)
1971 – Virgil Finlay, American illustrator (b. 1914)
1973 – Irina Nikolaevna Levchenko, Russian tank commander (b. 1924)
1975 – Gertrude Olmstead, American actress (b. 1897)
1978 – Hasan Askari, Pakistani philosopher and author (b. 1919)
1980 – Cecil Beaton, English fashion designer and photographer (b. 1904)
1984 – Panteleimon Ponomarenko, Belarusian general and politician (b. 1902)
1984 – Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer-songwriter and bouzouki player (b. 1915)
1989 – Bruce Chatwin, English-French author (b. 1940)
1990 – Melanie Appleby, English singer (b. 1966)
1990 – Rusty Hamer, American actor (b. 1947)
1993 – Dionysios Zakythinos, Greek historian, academic, and politician (b. 1905)
1995 – Adolf Butenandt, German biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
1995 – Ron Luciano, American baseball player and umpire (b. 1937)
1996 – N. T. Rama Rao, Indian actor, director, producer, and politician, 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh (b. 1923)
1997 – Paul Tsongas, American lawyer and politician (b. 1941)
1998 – Dan Georgiadis, Greek footballer and manager (b. 1922)
2000 – Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austrian architect (b. 1897)
2003 – Ed Farhat, American wrestler and trainer (b. 1924)
2003 – Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Indian poet and author (b. 1907)
2005 – Lamont Bentley, American actor and rapper (b. 1973)
2006 – Jan Twardowski, Polish priest and poet (b. 1915)
2007 – Brent Liles, American bass player (b. 1963)
2008 – Georgia Frontiere, American businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1927)
2008 – Frank Lewin, American composer and theorist (b. 1925)
2008 – Lois Nettleton, American actress (b. 1927)
2008 – John Stroger, American politician (b. 1929)
2009 – Tony Hart, English painter and television host (b. 1925)
2009 – Nora Kovach, Hungarian-American ballerina (b. 1931)
2009 – Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (b. 1913)
2009 – Grigore Vieru, Romanian poet and author (b. 1935)
2010 – Kate McGarrigle, Canadian musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1946)
2010 – Robert B. Parker, American author and academic (b. 1932)
2011 – Sargent Shriver, American politician and diplomat, 21st United States Ambassador to France (b. 1915)
2012 – Anthony Gonsalves, Indian composer and educator (b. 1927)
2012 – Georg Lassen, German captain (b. 1915)
2012 – Yuri Rasovsky, American playwright and producer, founded The National Radio Theater of Chicago (b. 1944)
2013 – Sean Fallon, Irish footballer and manager (b. 1922)
2013 – Jim Horning, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1942)
2013 – Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (b. 1989)
2013 – Lewis Marnell, Australian skateboarder (b. 1982)
2013 – Ron Nachman, Israeli lawyer and politician (b. 1942)
2014 – Kathryn Abbe, American photographer and author (b. 1919)
2014 – Michael Botmang, Nigerian politician, 17th Governor of Plateau State (b. 1938)
2014 – Dennis Frederiksen, American singer-songwriter (b. 1951)
2014 – Andy Graver, English footballer (b. 1927)
2014 – Sarah Marshall, English actress (b. 1933)
2014 – Eugenio Cruz Vargas, Chilean poet and painter (b. 1923)
2015 – Alberto Nisman, Argentinian lawyer and prosecutor (b. 1963)
2015 – Christine Valmy, Romanian cosmetologist and author (b. 1926)
2015 – Piet van der Sanden, Dutch journalist and politician (b. 1924)
2015 – Tony Verna, American director and producer, invented instant replay (b. 1933)
2016 – Johnny Bach, American basketball player and coach (b. 1924)
2016 – Glenn Frey, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (b. 1948)
2016 – T. S. Sinnathuray, Judge of the High Court of Singapore (b. 1930)
2016 – Michel Tournier, French journalist and author (b. 1924)
2017 – Peter Abrahams, South African-Jamaican writer (b. 1919)
2017 – David P. Buckson, American lawyer and politician, Governor of Delaware (b. 1920)
2017 – Rachael Heyhoe Flint, Baroness Heyhoe Flint, English cricketer, businesswoman and philanthropist (b. 1939)
2017 – Roberta Peters, American coloratura soprano (b. 1930)
2019 – John Coughlin, American figure skater (b. 1985)

Holidays and observances on January 18

Christian feast day:
- Amy Carmichael (Church of England)
- Athanasius of Alexandria (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Confession of Peter (Eastern Orthodox, some Anglican and Lutheran Churches)
- Cyril of Alexandria
- Deicolus
- Margaret of Hungary
- Prisca
- Volusianus of Tours
- January 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Royal Thai Armed Forces Day (Thailand)
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18–25) (Christianity)

January 18 – History, Events, Births, Deaths, Holidays and Observances On This Day Read More »

On This Day

General Science & Ability | Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-III)

General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A / admin

Click HERE for Q.No.1-50
Click HERE for Q.No.51-100

101) Which type of star is maintained by the pressure of an electron gas?
(a) Main Sequence Star
(b) White Dwarf
(c) Neutron Star
(d) Black Hole
Answer: (b)
White dwarfs are stars supported by pressure of degenerate electron gas. i.e. in their interiors thermal energy kT is much smaller then Fermi energy Ep. We shall derive the equations of structure of white dwarfs, sometimes called degenerate dwarfs, in the limiting case when their thermal pressure may be neglected, but the degenerate electron gas may be either non-relativistic. somewhat relativistic. or ultra-relativistic.

102) Which of the following first hypothesized that the Earth orbited the sun?
(a) Alexander the Great
(b) Copernicus
(c) Socrates
(d) Tycho Brahe
Answer: (b)
Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.

103) The LAST manned moon flight was made in what year?
(a) 1971 (b) 1972
(c) 1973 (d) 1974
Answer: (b)
The last manned landing Apollo 17 on the Moon to date, which took place on December 11, 1972, was made by Commander Eugene Cernan and lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt who was also the first scientist on the Moon.

104) A planet is said to be at aphelion when it is:
(a) closest to the sun
(b) farthest from the sun
(c) at it’s highest point above the ecliptic
(d) at it’s lowest point below the ecliptic
Answer: (b)

105) The word Albedo refers to which of the following?
(a) The wobbling motion of a planet
(b) The amount of light a planet reflects
(c) The phase changes of a planet
(d) The brightness of a star
Answer: (b)
Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. The albedo effect when applied to the Earth is a measure of how much of the Sun’s energy is reflected back into space. Overall, the Earth’s albedo has a cooling effect. (The term ‘albedo’ is derived from the Latin for ‘whiteness’).

106) A pulsar is actually a:
(a) black hole
(b) white dwarf
(c) red giant
(d) neutron star
Answer: (d)

107) Astronomers use Cepheid’s principally as measures of what? Is it:
(a) size
(b) speed
(c) chemical composition
(d) distance
Answer: (d)

108) Where are most asteroids located? Is it between:
(a) Jupiter and Saturn
(b) Mars and Venus
(c) Earth and Mars
(d) Mars and Jupiter
Answer: (d)

109) The precession of the Earth refers to the:
(a) change from night to day.
(b) Earth’s motion around the sun.
(c) change in orientation of the Earth’s axis.
(d) effect of the moon on the Earth’s orbit.
Answer: (c)
Precession is the change in orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis. The precession cycle takes about 19,000 – 23,000 years. Precession is caused by two factors: a wobble of the Earth’s axis and a turning around of the elliptical orbit of the Earth itself (Thomas, 2002). Obliquity affected the tilt of the Earth’s axis, precession affects the direction of the Earth’s axis. The change in the axis location changes the dates of perihelion (closest distance from sun) and aphelion (farthest distance from sun), and this increases the seasonal contrast in one hemisphere while decreasing it in the other hemisphere ( Kaufman, 2002). currently, the Earth is closest to the sun in the northern hemisphere winter, which makes the winters there less severe (Thomas, 2002). Another consequence of precession is a shift in the celestial poles. 5000 years ago the North Star was Thuban in the constellation Draco. Currently the North Star is Polaris in the constellation Ursa Minor.

110) The Magellanic cloud is a:
(a) nebula
(b) galaxy
(c) super nova remnant
(d) star cluster
Answer: (b)

111) The comet known as Halley’s Comet has an average period of:
(a) 56 years
(b) 66 years
(c) 76 years
(d) 86 years
Answer: (c)
Halley’s Comet orbits the Sun every 76.0 years and has an orbital eccentricity of 0.97. Comet Halley was visible in 1910 and again in 1986. Its next perihelion passage will be in early 2062.

112) Which one of the following planets has no moons?
(a) Mars
(b) Neptune
(c) Venus
(d) Jupiter
Answer: (c)

113) The rocks that enter the earth’s atmosphere and blaze a trail all the way to the ground and do not burn up completely are known as:
(a) meteorites
(b) meteors
(c) asteroids
(d) none of these
Answer: (a)
A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the Earth’s atmosphere and impact with the Earth’s surface

114) 95% of the Martian atmosphere is composed of what substance?
(a) Carbon dioxide
(b) Nitrogen
(c) Argon
(d) Carbon monoxide
Answer: (a)
The atmosphere of Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth’s, and it is 95 percent carbon dioxide.

115) What is the motion called when a planet seems to be moving westward in the sky?
(a) Retrograde
(b) Parallax
(c) Opcentric
(d) Reverse parallax
Answer: (a)
Retrograde motion, in astronomy, describes the orbit of a celestial body that runs counter to the direction of the spin of that body which it orbits. Apparent retrograde motion, in astronomy, is the apparent motion of planets as observed from a particular vantage point.

116) In what year did Galileo first use an optical telescope to study the moon?
(a) 1492 (b) 1611
(c) 1212 (d) 1743
Answer: (b)

117) Geocentric means around:
(a) Jupiter (b) the Earth
(c) the Moon (d) the Sun
Answer: (b)

118) The Pythagoreans appear to have been the first to have taught that the Earth is:
(a) at the center of the Universe.
(b) spherical in shape.
(c) orbits around the sun.
(d) flat with sharp edges.
Answer: (b)

119) A device which would not work on the Moon is:
(a) thermometer
(b) siphon
(c) spectrometer
(d) spring balance
Answer: (b)
Siphons will not work in the International Space Station where there is air but no gravity, but neither will they work on the Moon where there is gravity but no air

120) Of the following colors, which is bent least in passing through aprism?
(a) orange (b) violet
(c) green (d) red
Answer: (d)

121) In a reflecting telescope where in the tube is the objective mirror placed?
(a) the top to the tube
(b) the middle of the tube
(c) the bottom of the tube
(d) the side of the tube
Answer: (c)

122) What does it mean when someone says that comets have eccentric orbits? Does it mean
(a) they have open orbits
(b) they have nearly circular orbits
(c) their orbits are unpredictable
(d) the sun is far from the foci of their orbits
Answer: (d)

123) What causes the gas tail of a comet to always point away from the sun?
(a) solar wind
(b) air pressure
(c) centrifugal force
(d) gravity
Answer: (a)

124) What are Saturn’s rings composed of?
(a) completely connected solid masses
(b) billions of tiny solid particles
(c) mixtures of gases
(d) highly reflective cosmic clouds
Answer: (b)

125) Of the following, which is the only planet which CANNOT be seen with the unaided eye?
(a) Jupiter
(b) Mars
(c) Neptune
(d) Saturn
Answer: (c)
The ice giant Neptune was the first planet located through mathematical predictions rather than through regular observations of the sky. Nearly 4.5 billion kilometers (2.8 billion miles) from the Sun, Neptune orbits the Sun once every 165 years. It is invisible to the naked eye because of its extreme distance from Earth. In 2011 Neptune completed its first orbit since its discovery in 1846.

126) Accretion is:
(a) the gradual accumulation of matter in one location usually due to gravity.
(b) the process of moon formation for planets.
(c) the process of matter accumulation due to centripetal force.
(d) the disintegration of matter.
Answer: (b)

127) A blue shift means a Doppler shift of light from a(an)
(a) receding star.
(b) blue star.
(c) approaching star.
(d) fixed star.
Answer: (c)
In the Doppler effect for visible light, the frequency is shifted toward the blue end of the spectrum when the light source (such as a star) is approaching.

128) The first and largest asteroid discovered was:
(a) Pallas.
(b) Juno.
(c) Ceres.
(d) Trojan.
Answer: (c)

129) The Crab Nebula consists of the remnants of a supernova which was observed by:
(a) Brahe in 1572.
(b) Kepler and Galileo in 1604.
(c) the Chinese in 1054 A.D.
(d) several ancient civilizations in 236 B.C.
Answer: (c)
The Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova noted by Earth-bound chroniclers in 1054 A.D., is filled with mysterious filaments that are are not only tremendously complex, but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. The Crab Nebula spans about 10 light-years. In the nebula’s very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second.

130) The atmosphere of Venus contains mostly
(a) oxygen
(b) carbon dioxide
(c) nitrogen
(d) water
Answer: (b)
The atmosphere of Venus is composed of about 96% carbon dioxide, with most … various other corrosive compounds, and the atmosphere contains little water.

131) On the celestial sphere, the annual path of the Sun is called
(a) the eclipse path.
(b) ecliptic.
(c) diurnal.
(d) solstice.
Answer: (b)
The ecliptic is an imaginary line on the sky that marks the annual path of the sun. It is the projection of Earth’s orbit onto the celestial sphere.

132) The angular distance between a planet and the Sun, as viewed from the Earth, is called
(a) angle of inclination.
(b) elongation.
(c) latitude.
(d) opposition.
Answer: (b)
Elongation is the angular distance between the sun, and another object such a moon or a planet as seen from earth. There are several special names for these angular distances. The different names of these angles depend on the status, inferior or superior, of the planet. The planets closer to the sun than the earth are called inferior planets. The planets farther away from the sun than earth are called superior planets.
Elongation is measured from earth as the angle between the sun and the planet. Sometimes the apparent relative position of a planet in relation to the sun is called the aspect, or configuration, of a planet.

133) Which of the following has the highest density?
(a) Earth
(b) Venus
(c) Mars
(d) Jupiter
Answer: (a)
Earth has the highest density of any planet in the Solar System, at 5.514 g/cm3. This is considered the standard by which other planet’s densities are measured. In addition, the combination of Earth’s size, mass and density also results in a surface gravity of 9.8 m/s². This is also used as a the standard (one g) when measuring the surface gravity of other planets.

134) Which of the following planets is NOT a terrestrial planet?
(a) Earth
(b) Jupiter
(c) Mars
(d) Mercury
Answer: (b)
The term terrestrial planet is derived from the Latin “Terra” (i.e. Earth). Terrestrial planets are therefore those that are “Earth-like”, meaning they are similar in structure and composition to planet Earth. All those planets found within the Inner Solar System – Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars – are examples of terrestrial planets. Each are composed primarily of silicate rock and metal, which is differentiated between a dense, metallic core and a silicate mantle.

135) Why do we see lunar eclipses much more often than solar eclipses?
(a) Lunar eclipses occur more often than solar eclipses.
(b) Lunar eclipses last longer than solar eclipses.
(c) The lunar eclipse is visible to much more of the Earth than a solar eclipse.
(d) The moon is closer to the Earth than the sun.
Answer: (c)
Lunar and solar eclipses occur with about equal frequency. Lunar eclipses are more widely visible because Earth casts a much larger shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse than the Moon casts on Earth during a solar eclipse. As a result, we are more likely to see a lunar eclipse than a solar eclipse.

136) A star like object with a very large red shift is a
(a) Neutron star.
(b) Nova.
(c) Quasar.
(d) Supernova.
Answer: (c)
Quasars: In the 1930’s, Edwin Hubble discovered that all galaxies have a positive redshift. In other words, all galaxies were receding from the Milky Way.

137) The apparent magnitude of an object in the sky describes its
(a) Size
(b) Magnification
(c) Brightness
(d) Distance
Answer: (c)

138) The Van Allen belts are:
(a) caused by the refraction of sunlight like rainbows.
(b) charged particles trapped in the Earth’s magnetic field.
(c) caused by the reflection of polar snow.
(d) caused by precession.
Answer: (b)
The Van Allen belts are a collection of charged particles, gathered in place by Earth’s magnetic field. They can wax and wane in response to incoming energy from the sun, sometimes swelling up enough to expose satellites in low-Earth orbit to damaging radiation.

139) A coordinate system based on the ecliptic system is especially useful for the studies of
(a) Planets
(b) Stars
(c) The Milky Way
(d) Galaxies
Answer: (a)

140) The mean distance of the earth from the sun in astronomical units is:
(a) 3.7 (b) 10
(c) 1 (d) 101
Answer: (c)
In astronomy, an astronomical unit is defined as the average distance from the Sun to the Earth, or about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles). You can abbreviate astronomical unit as AU.
Since the distances in astronomy are so vast, astronomers use this measurement to bring the size of numbers down.
For example, Earth is 1 au from the Sun, and Mars is 1.523 AU. That’s much easier than saying that Mars is 227,939,000 km away from the Sun.

141) What process produces a star’s energy?
(a) hydrogen and oxygen combustion
(b) nuclear fusion
(c) neutron beta decay
(d) nuclear fission
Answer: (b)
The enormous luminous energy of the stars comes from nuclear fusion processes in their centers. Depending upon the age and mass of a star, the energy may come from proton-proton fusion, helium fusion, or the carbon cycle.

142) What is the most distant object in the sky that the human eye can see without optical instruments?
(a) The Horsehead Nebula
(b) The Andromeda Galaxy
(c) The Sagittarius Constellation
(d) The Aurora Borealis
Answer: (b)
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the closest large galaxy to the Milky Way and is one of a few galaxies that can be seen unaided from the Earth. In approximately 4.5 billion years the Andromeda Galaxy and the Milky Way are expected to collide and the result will be a giant elliptical galaxy. Andromeda is accompanied by 14 dwarf galaxies, including M32, M110, and possibly M33 (The Triangulum Galaxy).

143) Which civilization developed and implemented the first solar calendar?
(a) Babylonian
(b) Greek
(c) Egyptian
(d) Aztec
Answer: (c)
A solar calendar is a calendar whose dates indicate the position of the earth on its revolution around the sun and is based on the seasonal year of approximately 365 1/4 days, the time it takes the Earth to revolve once around the Sun. The Egyptians appear to have been the first to develop a solar calendar, using as a fixed point the annual sunrise reappearance of the Dog Star — Sirius, or Sothis — in the eastern sky, which coincided with the annual flooding of the Nile River. They constructed a calendar of 365 days, consisting of 12 months of 30 days each, with 5 days added at the year’s end. The Egyptians’ failure to account for the extra fraction of a day, however, caused their calendar to drift gradually into error.

144) What is the HOTTEST region of the sun?
(a) The core
(b) The photosphere
(c) The chromospheres
(d) The corona
Answer: (d)
The corona is the outermost layer of the Sun, starting at about 1300 miles (2100 km) above the solar surface (the photosphere) The temperature in the corona is 500,000 K (900,000 degrees F, 500,000 degrees C) or more, up to a few million K. The corona cannot be seen with the naked eye except during a total solar eclipse, or with the use of a coronagraph. The corona does not have an upper limit.
A study published in 2012 in Nature Communications by researchers at Northumbria University found a possible mechanism that causes some stars to have a corona that is almost 200 times hotter than their photosphere (the star’s surface).

145) The same side of the moon always faces the Earth because:
(a) the moon is not rotating about its axis.
(b) the moon’s motion was fixed at its creation by the laws of inertia.
(c) tidal forces keep the moon’s rotation and orbiting motion in sync with each other.
(d) the moon’s magnetic poles keep aligned with the Earth’s magnetic field.
Answer: (b)

146) The resolving power of a telescope depends on the:
(a) focal ratio
(b) diameter of the objective
(c) magnification
(d) focal length
Answer: (b)
The resolving power of a telescope depends on the diameter of the telescope’s light-gathering apparatus, or objective. In a refracting telescope, the objective lens is the first lens the light passes through. In a reflecting telescope, the objective is the telescope’s primary mirror. In a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, the objective is also the primary mirror. As the diameter of the telescope’s objective increases, the resolving power increases.

147) On a clear, dark, moonless night, approximately how many stars can be seen with the naked eye?
(a) 300 (b) 1,000
(c) 3,000 (d) 10,000
Answer: (c)
On any clear dark moonless night a person can see about 3000 stars of our galaxy without the aid of a telescope

148) The study of the origin and evolution of the universe is known as:
(a) Tomography
(b) cystoscopy
(c) cryology
(d) cosmology
Answer: (d)
Cosmology is the branch of astronomy involving the origin and evolution of the universe, from the Big Bang to today and on into the future. According to NASA, the definition of cosmology is “the scientific study of the large scale properties of the universe as a whole.”

149) According to Kepler’s Laws, all orbits of the planets are:
(a) ellipses
(b) parabolas
(c) hyperbolas
(d) square
Answer: (a)
Johannes Kepler, working with data painstakingly collected by Tycho Brahe without the aid of a telescope, developed three laws which described the motion of the planets across the sky.
1. The Law of Orbits: All planets move in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focus.
2. The Law of Areas: A line that connects a planet to the sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.
3. The Law of Periods: The square of the period of any planet is proportional to the cube of the semimajor axis of its orbit.
Kepler’s laws were derived for orbits around the sun, but they apply to satellite orbits as well.

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General Knowledge, MCQs / Q&A

General Knowledge about Cities Famous Second Names

General Knowledge / admin

• Brasilia of Pakistan is called to *Islamabad.*
• City of angles is called to *Bangkok.*
• City of bazaars is called to *Cairo.*
• City of colleges is called to *Lahore.*
• City of conference is called to *Geneva.*
• City of cosmonauts is called to *Moscow.*
• City of eternal spring is called to *Quito.*
• City of golden temple is called to *Amritsar.*
• City of Golden Gate is called to *San Francisco.*
• City of mosques is called to *Dhaka.*
• City of parks is called to *Kiev.*
• City of pope is called to *Rome.*
• City of space flights is called to *Cape Kennedy.*
• Forbidden City is called to *Lahaska.*
• Gateway to the east is called to *Beirut.*
• Gateway to the gulf is called to *Abu Dhabi.*
• Gateway to India is called to *Bombay.*
• Gateway to Pakistan is called to *Karachi.*
• Little Pakistan is called to *Bradford.*
• *Manchester of Pakistan is called to *Faisalabad.*
• Rose pink city is called to *Jaipur.*
• Windy city is called to *Chicago.*
• Lusitanian is the alternative name of *Portugal.*
• Emerald Island is called to *Ireland.*
• Land of Prophets is called to *Palestine.*
• *Yellow River* is known as China’s Sorrow because of devastating floods.
• Gibraltar of the west is said to *Quebec.*
• Zambia is known as *”country of Copper”*
• Albania means *the “Land of Eagles”.*
• Argentian means *“Like Silver”.*
• Bahrain means *two seas*.
• Brazil means
*“Red wood”.*
• Costa Rica means
*“Rich coast”.*
• Cyprus means
*“Land of copper”.*
• Guuatnemala mean
*“Land of Eagles”.*
• Jamaica means
*“Good water”.*
• Kuwait means
*“Fort”.*
• Liberia means
*“Land of free people”.*
• Netherlands means
*“low land”.*
• Nigeria means
*“A great river”.*
• Sierra Leone means
*“Lion Mountains”.*
• Singapore means
*”city of lions”.*
• Sudan means
*“Land of black people”.*
• Which country is popularly called ‘The Land of the Maple Leaf’?
*Canada*
• Mistress of the Eastern Seas is epithet referred to *Sri Lanka.*
• Hong Kong is called as *Pearl

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General Knowledge

100 MCQs About World History

English, History, MCQs / Q&A, World / admin

100 MCQs About World History

1. What is the oldest daily newspaper in England? – The Times

2. Which two American states joined the union in 1959? – Alaska and Hawaii

3. Which American President ordered the dropping of the first atomic bomb? – Harry S Truman

4. In which century did King George IV rule Great Britain? – 18th

5. After which famous person in history was the teddy bear named? – Theodore Roosevelt

6. What was the name given to the trials of 24 Nazi leaders for war crimes in 1945? – The Nuremberg Trials

7. In what century was the Taj Mahal built? – 17th

8. Which gangster said ‘I’ve been accused of every death except the casualty list of the World War’? – Al Capone

9. In what year was Prince William born? – 1982

10. The word ‘book’ originates from the middle English word ‘bok’ meaning which type of
tree? – Beech

11. Richard Byrd is credited with having been the first person to fly over what particular spot
in the world? – The North Pole

12. Why don’t the restaurants ‘Palm Court’, ‘Cafe Parisien’ and ‘Verandah’ exist anymore? – They were on the Titanic

13. What city was the capital of Poland between 1320 and 1611? – Krakow

14. Who was the first President of America? – George Washington

15. Which American President served only 31 days? – William Harrison

16. When the first World War broke out which three countries made up the Triple Entente? –
France, England and Russia

17. What is Adam’s ale or Adam’s wine? – Water

18. Who were the mother and father of Elizabeth I? – Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII

19. Which British Prime Minister resigned because of the Suez crisis? – Anthoney Eden

20. For what was Rosa Parks arrested in 1955, leading to the biggest US Civil Rights
movement? – Refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white man

21. John Major became a member of Parliament in 1979 for which town, north of London? –
Huntingdon

22. Which American President was shot in 1901 and died 8 days later? – McKinley

23. The Battle of Bosworth in 1485 was the last battle of which series of wars? – The Wars Of The Roses

24. The explorer Sir Edmund Hillary was from which country? – New Zealand

25. The popular British pub name ‘The Royal Oak’ is named after which King? – Charles II (he hid in an oak tree to escape enemies)

26. Collectively, by what name are Carole Richardson, Patrick Armstrong, Paul Hill and Gerard Conlon better known? – The Guildford Four

27. In which century was the world’s first public railway opened? – 19th

28. The invention of what in 1867, made Alfred Nobel famous? – Dynamite

29. What was King William II killed by? An arrow, the plague or old age? – An Arrow

30. In Greek mythology, who was the goddess of marriage, women and childbirth? – Hera

31. In what year did Margaret Thatcher become Prime Minister? – 1979

32. In what year was London due to host the Olympic Games, but couldn’t because of the Second World War? – 1944

33. On March 3rd, 1991, who was severly beaten by Los Angeles police officers causing public outcry? – Rodney King

34. Which king was the target of the Gunpowder plot of 1605? – James I

35. What alloy was the most important metal for tools and weapons between the years 4000
and 2000 B.C.? – Bronze

36. In which year did Tony Blair first become British Prime Minister? – 1997

37. Who was the first US President to meet with a reigning British monarch? – Woodrow Wilson

38. In which month in 1914, did Britain declare war on Germany? – August

39. Thomas Chippendale was best known for making and designing what in the 18th century? – Furniture

40. What historic event does the nursery rhyme ‘Ring-a-ring of roses’ commemorate? – The Great Plague

41. In which year did colour TV transmissions begin in Britain? – 1969

42. As at the year 2001, who has been the tallest American President? – Abraham Lincoln

43. Which famous London department store opened on 15th March, 1909? – Selfridges

44. Which of the following occurred most recently? The Iron Age or The Bronze Age? – Iron Age

45. Who is the only American President to have served non-consecutive terms in office? – Grover Cleveland

46. In which country did the cloning of Dolly the sheep take place? – Scotland

47. Who ordered the beheading of Mary Queen Of Scots? – Queen Elizabeth I

48. Which English queen was married to Lord Guildford Dudley? – Lady Jane Grey

49. Which geographical location was the first word spoken on the moon? – Houston

50. What was Hitler’s title as the leader of Nazi Germany? – Fuhrer

51. What was the surname of Zachary, the President of the USA between 1849 and 1850? –Taylor

52. How many of Henry VIII’s wives had been previously married? – 2

53. Who did Queen Elizabeth I succeed to the throne? – Mary I

54. In which war was the Victoria Cross first awarded? – The Crimean War

55. In which century did the diamond engagement ring first become popular? – 15th

56. Which country declared war on both Germany and the Allies in World War II? – Italy

57. Which two brothers are associated with the invention of the aeroplane? – Orville and Wilbur Wright

58. By what title was Oliver Cromwell known? – Lord Protector

59. In 1978, what was Sweden’s most profitable export, ahead of Volvo? – Abba

60. What was the name of the bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki during World War II? – Fat Man

61. How did Robert The Bruce die? – Of the disease leprosy

62. Which famous museum opened in London, in April 1928? – Madam Tussauds

63. In Greek mythology, what was unusual about Medusa’s hair? – It was made of snakes

64. In America, what became the 49th state to enter the union in 1959? – Alaska

65. Which district of London was named after a battle fought in 1815? – Waterloo

66. In what year did the first successful Mars landings take place? – 1976

67. For how many years did the Jurassic period last? – 180 million

68. In which century was Mary, Queen Of Scots executed? – 16th

69. Who was the first American President to visit China? – Richard Nixon

70. Parker and Barrow were the surnames of which famous couple? – Bonnie and Clyde

71. What type of animal was the first to be sent into space? – A dog

72. For what reason did American Sally Ride become famous in 1983? – First American female in space

73. In which year did Richard Nixon begin the secret bombing of Cambodia? – 1969

74. Which famous person in history invented the greeting, ‘Hello’ first used for answering the telephone? – Thomas Edison

75. Who was the famous son of the Greek princess Olympias? – Alexander The Great

76. What were the names of Adam and Eve’s three sons? – Cain, Abel and Seth

77. Which war was called the ‘War to end all wars’? – World War I

78. In what year did Laika the dog become the first space traveller? – 1957

79. Which country in Europe has the oldest Parliament? – Iceland

80. Who was the third President of America and chief author of the Declaration Of Independence? – Thomas Jefferson

81. In what year was the battle of Agincourt? – 1415

82. By what name was the Scottish outlaw Robert McGregor better known? – Rob Roy

83. In 1969, what became the first song to be sung in outer space? – Happy Birthday

84. By what name was Sir Arthur Wellesley better known? – Duke of Wellington

85. What was the name of the suffragette who threw herself under the King’s horse in the
1913 Derby? – Emily Davison

86. What was the profession of Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone? – Teacher (of deaf and dumb children)

87. Which country suffered over 6 million deaths in World War II, equivalent to over 17% of
it’s population? – Poland

88. Which English King was killed by an arrow at the battle of Hastings? – King Harold

89. Who was murdered by Robert Ford? – Jesse James

90. In what year were protesting students murdered in Tiananman Square? – 1989

91. Which US President was forced to resign because of the Watergate scandal? – Richard Nixon

92. Which monarch’s last words were ‘All my possessions for a moment of time’? – Elizabeth I

93. What happened in 1847 that is sometimes referred to as ‘Black Forty Seven’? – The potato famine in Ireland

94. In which country did Venetian blinds originate? Italy, India or Japan? – Japan

95. In which country was Mother Theresa born? – Yugoslavia

96. Who was the first American President to die while in office? – William Harrison

97. What was the maiden name of the bride at the first wedding watched by over 750 million
people? – Diana Spencer

98. Who was Queen Elizabeth II’s father? – George VI

99. Which famous raid did Guy Gibson lead in 1943? – The Dambusters

100. Who, in 1901, was the first man to send a Radio Telegraph signal across the Atlantic
Ocean? – Guglielmo Marconi

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General Science & Ability | Constituents and Structure Solved MCQs (Set-III)

General Knowledge about Cities Famous Second Names