1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
1415 – Religious reformers John Wycliffe and Jan Hus are condemned as heretics at the Council of Constance.
1436 – Assassination of the Swedish rebel (later national hero) Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
1471 – Wars of the Roses: The Battle of Tewkesbury: Edward IV defeats a Lancastrian Army and kills Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales.
1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit arrives in New Netherland (present day Manhattan Island) aboard the See Meeuw.
1686 – The Municipality of Ilagan is founded in the Philippines.
1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
1799 – Fourth Anglo-Mysore War: The Battle of Seringapatam: The siege of Seringapatam ends when the city is invaded and Tipu Sultan killed by the besieging British army, under the command of General George Harris.
1814 – Emperor Napoleon arrives at Portoferraio on the island of Elba to begin his exile.
1814 – King Ferdinand VII abolishes the Spanish Constitution of 1812, returning Spain to absolutism.
1836 – Formation of Ancient Order of Hibernians
1859 – The Cornwall Railway opens across the Royal Albert Bridge linking Devon and Cornwall in England.
1869 – The Naval Battle of Hakodate is fought in Japan.
1871 – The National Association, the first professional baseball league, opens its first season in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
1886 – Haymarket affair: A bomb is thrown at policemen trying to break up a labor rally in Chicago, United States, killing eight and wounding 60. The police fire into the crowd.
1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
1910 – The Royal Canadian Navy is created.
1912 – Italy occupies the Greek island of Rhodes.
1919 – May Fourth Movement: Student demonstrations take place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, protesting the Treaty of Versailles, which transferred Chinese territory to Japan.
1926 – The United Kingdom general strike begins.
1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.
1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea begins with an attack by aircraft from the United States aircraft carrier USS Yorktown on Japanese naval forces at Tulagi Island in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese forces had invaded Tulagi the day before.
1945 – World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath is signed, coming into effect the following day. It encompasses all Wehrmacht units in the Netherlands, Denmark and northwest Germany.
1946 – In San Francisco Bay, U.S. Marines from the nearby Treasure Island Naval Base stop a two-day riot at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Five people are killed in the riot.
1949 – The entire Torino football team (except for two players who did not take the trip: Sauro Tomà, due to an injury and Renato Gandolfi, because of coach request) is killed in a plane crash.
1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.
1961 – American civil rights movement: The “Freedom Riders” begin a bus trip through the South.
1961 – Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather attain a new altitude record for manned balloon flight ascending in the Strato-Lab V open gondola to 113,740 feet (34.67 km).
1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
1972 – The Don’t Make A Wave Committee, a fledgling environmental organization founded in Canada in 1971, officially changes its name to “Greenpeace Foundation”.
1978 – The South African Defence Force attacks a SWAPO base at Cassinga in southern Angola, killing about 600 people.
1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1982 – Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
1988 – The PEPCON disaster rocks Henderson, Nevada, as tons of Space Shuttle fuel detonate during a fire.
1989 – Iran–Contra affair: Former White House aide Oliver North is convicted of three crimes and acquitted of nine other charges; the convictions are later overturned on appeal.
1990 – Latvia proclaims the renewal of its independence after the Soviet occupation.
1994 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
1998 – A federal judge in Sacramento, California, gives “Unabomber” Theodore Kaczynski four life sentences plus 30 years after Kaczynski accepts a plea agreement sparing him from the death penalty.
2000 – Ken Livingstone becomes the first Mayor of London (an office separate from that of the Lord Mayor of London).
2007 – Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7-mile wide EF5 tornado. It was the first-ever tornado to be rated as such with the new Enhanced Fujita scale.
2014 – Three people are killed and 62 injured in a pair of bombings on buses in Nairobi, Kenya.
Births on May 4
1006 – Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Persian mystic and poet (d. 1088)
1008 – Henry I, king of France (d. 1060)
1559 – Alice Spencer, English noblewoman (d. 1637)
1634 – Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (d. 1660)
1649 – Chhatrasal, Indian ruler (d. 1731)
1654 – Kangxi Emperor, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty
1655 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian instrument maker, invented the piano (d. 1731)
1677 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, French noblewoman (d.1749)
1715 – Richard Graves, English minister and author (d. 1804)
1733 – Jean-Charles de Borda, French mathematician, physicist, and sailor (d. 1799)
1752 – John Brooks, American soldier and politician, 11th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1825)
1757 – Manuel Tolsá, Spanish sculptor and first director of the Academy of San Carlos in Mexico City (d. 1816)
1767 – Tyagaraja, Indian composer (d. 1847)
1770 – François Gérard, French painter (d. 1837)
1772 – Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus, German publisher (d. 1823)
1796 – Horace Mann, American educator and politician (d. 1859)
1796 – William Pennington, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of New Jersey, 23rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1862)
1796 – William H. Prescott, American historian and scholar (d. 1859)
1820 – Julia Gardiner Tyler, American wife of John Tyler, 11th First Lady of the United States (d. 1889)
1820 – John Whiteaker, American soldier, judge, and politician, 1st Governor of Oregon (d. 1902)
1822 – Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Canadian physician and politician, 3rd Premier of Quebec (d. 1915)
1825 – Thomas Henry Huxley, English biologist, anatomist, and academic (d. 1895)
1825 – Augustus Le Plongeon, English-American historian, photographer, and academic (d. 1908)
1826 – Frederic Edwin Church, American painter (d. 1900)
1827 – John Hanning Speke, English soldier and explorer (d. 1864)
1851 – Thomas Dewing, American painter (d. 1938)
1852 – Alice Liddell, English model (d. 1934)
1855 – Greyfriars Bobby, faithful dog (d. 1872)
1883 – Wang Jingwei, Chinese politician (d. 1944)
1884 – Richard Baggallay, English army officer and cricketer (d. 1975)
1887 – Andrew Dasburg, French-American painter (d. 1979)
1889 – Francis Spellman, American cardinal (d. 1967)
1890 – Franklin Carmichael, Canadian painter (d. 1945)
1902 – Ronnie Aird, English cricketer and administrator (d. 1986)
1902 – Cola Debrot, Dutch physician, lawyer, and politician (d. 1981)
1903 – Luther Adler, American actor (d. 1984)
1903 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (d. 1951)
1905 – Al Dexter, American country singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
1906 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (d. 1987)
1907 – Lincoln Kirstein, American soldier and playwright, co-founded the New York City Ballet (d. 1996)
1907 – Walter Walsh, American target shooter and FBI agent (d. 2014)
1908 – Wolrad Eberle, German decathlete (d. 1949)
1911 – Evald Seepere, Estonian boxer (d. 1990)
1913 – John Broome, American author (d. 1999)
1913 – Princess Katherine of Greece and Denmark (d. 2007)
1914 – Maedayama Eigorō, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 39th Yokozuna (d. 1971)
1916 – Jane Jacobs, American-Canadian journalist, author, and activist (d. 2006)
1916 – Richard Proenneke, American soldier, carpenter, and meteorologist (d. 2003)
1917 – Edward T. Cone, American pianist and composer (d. 2004)
1917 – Nick Joaquin, Filipino writer, journalist and historian (d. 2004)
1918 – Tom Mead, Australian journalist and politician (d. 2004)
1918 – Kakuei Tanaka, Japanese soldier and politician, 64th Prime Minister of Japan (d. 1993)
1919 – Dory Funk, American wrestler and trainer (d. 1973)
1919 – Basil Yamey, South African-English economist and academic
1921 – Patsy Garrett, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1921 – John van Kesteren, Dutch-American tenor and actor (d. 2008)
1921 – Edo Murtić, Croatian painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 2005)
1922 – Paul-Émile Charbonneau, Canadian archbishop (d. 2014)
1922 – Eugenie Clark, American biologist and academic (d. 2015)
1923 – Stanley Biber, American soldier and physician (d. 2006)
1923 – Ed Cassidy, American jazz and rock drummer (d. 2012)
1923 – Assi Rahbani, Lebanese composer and producer (d. 1986)
1923 – Eric Sykes, British actor and comedian (d. 2012)
1923 – John Toner, American football player and coach (d. 2014)
1925 – Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1925 – Maurice R. Greenberg, American businessman and philanthropist
1926 – David Stoddart, Baron Stoddart of Swindon, English politician
1928 – Maynard Ferguson, Canadian trumpet player and bandleader (d. 2006)
1928 – Thomas Kinsella, Irish poet, translator, and publisher
1928 – Hosni Mubarak, Egyptian air marshal and politician, 4th President of Egypt (d. 2020)
1928 – Betsy Rawls, American golfer
1928 – Wolfgang von Trips, German race car driver (d. 1961)
1929 – Manuel Contreras, Chilean general (d. 2015)
1929 – Audrey Hepburn, Belgian-British actress and humanitarian (d. 1993)
1930 – Katherine Jackson, matriarch of the Jackson family
1930 – Roberta Peters, American soprano (d. 2017)
1931 – Jan Pesman, Dutch speed skater (d. 2014)
1931 – Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Russian conductor and educator (d. 2018)
1931 – Thomas Stuttaford, English physician, journalist, and politician (d. 2018)
1932 – Harlon Hill, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1932 – Alexander MacAra, Scottish epidemiologist and academic (d. 2012)
1933 – J. Fred Duckett, American journalist and educator (d. 2007)
1936 – El Cordobés, Spanish bullfighter
1936 – Med Hondo, Mauritanian filmmaker and actor (d. 2019)
1937 – Ron Carter, American bassist and educator
1937 – Dick Dale, American surf-rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter (d. 2019)
1937 – Wim Verstappen, Dutch director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1938 – Tyrone Davis, American blues and soul singer (d. 2005)
1938 – Carlos Monsiváis, Mexican journalist, author, and critic (d. 2010)
1938 – Gillian Tindall, English historian and author
1939 – Neil Fox, English rugby league player and coach
1939 – Amos Oz, Israeli journalist and author (d. 2018)
1939 – Leon Rochefort, Canadian ice hockey player
1940 – Robin Cook, American physician and author
1940 – Peter Gregg, American race car driver and businessman (d. 1980)
1941 – George Will, American journalist and author
1942 – Nickolas Ashford, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (d. 2011)
1943 – Georgi Asparuhov, Bulgarian footballer (d. 1971)
1943 – Mihail Chemiakin, Russian painter and sculptor
1943 – Prasanta Pattanaik, Indian economist and academic
1944 – Steve Liebmann, Australian radio and television host
1944 – Russi Taylor, American voice actress (d. 2019)
1945 – Jan Mulder, Dutch footballer and journalist
1946 – John Barnard, English car designer
1946 – Gary Bauer, American political activist
1946 – John Watson, British race car driver
1947 – John Bosley, Canadian businessman and politician, 31st Canadian Speaker of the House of Commons
1947 – Ronald Sørensen, Dutch historian and politician
1947 – Trivimi Velliste, Estonian politician, 17th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1948 – Alison Britton, English sculptor and educator
1948 – Hurley Haywood, American race car driver
1948 – King George Tupou V of Tonga, (d. 2012)
1949 – Graham Swift, English novelist and short story writer
1950 – Darryl Hunt, English bass player
1951 – Colin Bass, English bass player, songwriter, and producer
1951 – Colleen Hanabusa, American lawyer and politician
1951 – Jackie Jackson, American singer-songwriter and dancer
1952 – Belinda Green, Australian beauty queen and 1972 Miss World
1953 – Pia Zadora, American actress and singer
1954 – Ryan Cayabyab, Filipino pianist, composer, and conductor
1956 – Michael L. Gernhardt, American astronaut and engineer
1956 – David Guterson, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist
1956 – Ken Oberkfell, American baseball player and coach
1957 – Jaak Huimerind, Estonian architect
1957 – Kathy Kreiner, Canadian skier
1957 – Peter Sleep, Australian cricketer
1957 – Marijke Vos, Dutch educator and politician
1958 – Delbert Fowler, American football player
1958 – Keith Haring, American painter (d. 1990)
1958 – Jane Kennedy, English politician
1958 – Caroline Spelman, English politician, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
1959 – Valdemaras Chomičius, Lithuanian basketball player and coach
1959 – Randy Travis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1959 – Bob Tway, American golfer
1960 – Werner Faymann, Austrian politician, 28th Chancellor of Austria
1961 – Jay Aston, English singer-songwriter and dancer
1964 – Silvia Costa, Cuban high jumper
1966 – Gary Elkins, English footballer and manager
1966 – Jane McGrath, English-Australian activist, co-founded the McGrath Foundation (d. 2008)
1967 – Kate Garraway, English journalist
1967 – Ana Gasteyer, American actress and singer
1969 – Micah Aivazoff, Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Franz Resch, Austrian footballer and manager
1970 – Gregg Alexander, American singer-songwriter and producer
1970 – Will Arnett, Canadian actor and producer
1970 – Giovanni Mirabassi, Italian jazz musician
1970 – Dawn Staley, American basketball player
1970 – Paul Wiseman, New Zealand cricketer and coach
1971 – Joe Borowski, American baseball player and sportscaster
1971 – Miles Stewart, Australian triathlete
1972 – Manny Aybar, Dominican baseball player
1972 – Mike Dirnt, American bass player and songwriter
1973 – Matthew Barnaby, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster
1973 – Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Argentinian footballer and coach
1973 – John Madden, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1974 – Miguel Cairo, Venezuelan baseball player and coach
1974 – Tony McCoy, Northern Irish jockey and sportscaster
1976 – Ben Grieve, American baseball player
1976 – Rory Hamill, Northern Irish international footballer
1976 – Jason Michaels, American baseball player
1976 – Indrek Visnapuu, Estonian basketball player and coach
1977 – John Tripp, Canadian-German ice hockey player
1978 – Erin Andrews, American sportscaster and journalist
1978 – Igor Biscan, Croatian footballer
1978 – Brett Burton, Australian footballer
1978 – Vladimíra Uhlířová, Czech tennis player
1979 – Lance Bass, American singer, dancer, and producer
1979 – Kristin Harmel, American journalist and author
1979 – Marie Poissonnier, French pole vaulter
1979 – Lesley Vainikolo, Tongan rugby player
1980 – Andrew Raycroft, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Eric Djemba-Djemba, Cameroon footballer
1981 – Dallon Weekes, American singer-songwriter and musician
1982 – Kleopas Giannou, Greek footballer
1982 – Markus Rogan, Austrian swimmer
1982 – Giorgos Tsiaras, Greek basketball player
1983 – Dan Christian, Australian cricketer
1983 – Derek Roy, Canadian ice hockey player
1983 – Robert Zwinkels, Dutch footballer
1984 – Manjural Islam Rana, Bangladeshi cricketer (d. 2007)
1984 – Brad Maddox, American wrestler and referee
1984 – Sarah Meier, Swiss figure skater
1984 – Montell Owens, American football player
1984 – Kevin Slowey, American baseball player
1985 – Ravi Bopara, English cricketer
1985 – Anthony Fedorov, Ukrainian-born American singer and actor
1985 – Fernandinho, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Lester “Bo” McCalebb, American-Macedonian professional basketball player
1985 – Jamie Adenuga, English MC and rapper
1986 – Devan Dubnyk, Canadian ice hockey player
1986 – George Hill, American basketball player
1987 – Cesc Fàbregas, Spanish footballer
1987 – Jorge Lorenzo, Spanish motorcycle racer
1988 – Radja Nainggolan, Belgian footballer
1989 – Dániel Gyurta, Hungarian swimmer
1989 – Henna Lindholm, Finnish figure skater
1989 – Rory McIlroy, Northern Irish golfer
1989 – Aris Tatarounis, Greek basketball player
1989 – James van Riemsdyk, American ice hockey player
1990 – Irina Falconi, American tennis player
1990 – Ryan Morgan, Australian rugby league player
1990 – Duvashen Padayachee, Australian race car driver
1990 – Andrea Torres, Filipino actress and model
1991 – Brianne Jenner, Canadian women’s ice hockey player
1992 – Victor Oladipo, American basketball player
1993 – Jānis Bērziņš, Latvian basketball player
1994 – Abi Masatora, Japanese sumo wrestler
1994 – Joseph Tapine, New Zealand rugby league player
1996 – Pelayo Roza, Spanish sprint canoeist
Deaths on May 4
408 – Venerius, archbishop of Milan
784 – Arbeo, bishop of Freising
1003 – Herman II, duke of Swabia
1038 – Gotthard of Hildesheim, German bishop (b. 960)
1406 – Coluccio Salutati, chancellor of Florence (b. 1331)
1436 – Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, Swedish rebel leader
1471 – Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son and heir of Henry VI of England (b. 1453)
1471 – Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset (b. 1438)
1483 – George Neville, Duke of Bedford (b. 1457)
1506 – Husayn Mirza Bayqara, Timurid ruler of Herat (b. 1438)
1519 – Lorenzo de’ Medici, duke of Urbino (b. 1492)
1535 – John Houghton, Carthusian monk and saint
1562 – Lelio Sozzini, Italian Protestant theologian (b. 1525)
1566 – Luca Ghini, Italian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
1571 – Pierre Viret, Swiss theologian and reformer (b. 1511)
1604 – Claudio Merulo, Italian organist and composer (b. 1533)
1605 – Ulisse Aldrovandi, Italian naturalist (b. 1522)
1615 – Adriaan van Roomen, Flemish priest and mathematician (b. 1561)
1626 – Arthur Lake, English bishop and scholar (b. 1569)
1677 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician and theologian (b. 1630)
1684 – John Nevison, English criminal (b. 1639)
1729 – Louis Antoine de Noailles, French cardinal (b. 1651)
1734 – James Thornhill, English painter and politician (b. 1675)
1737 – Eustace Budgell, English journalist and politician (b. 1686)
1774 – Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, Prussian nobleman (b. 1714)
1776 – Jacques Saly, French painter and sculptor (b. 1717)
1790 – Matthew Tilghman, American politician (b. 1718)
1799 – Tipu, ruler of Mysore (b. 1750)
1811 – Nikolay Kamensky, Russian general (b. 1776)
1816 – Samuel Dexter, American lawyer and politician, 4th United States Secretary of War, 3rd United States Secretary of the Treasury (b. 1761)
1824 – Joseph Joubert, French author (b. 1754)
1826 – Sebastián Kindelán y O’Regan, colonial governor of East Florida, Santo Domingo and Cuba (b. 1757)
1839 – Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet (b. 1784)
1858 – Aimé Bonpland, French botanist and explorer (b. 1773)
1859 – Joseph Diaz Gergonne, French mathematician and philosopher (b. 1771)
1880 – Edward Clark, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Texas (b. 1815)
1901 – John Jones Ross, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Premier of Quebec (b. 1831)
1903 – Gotse Delchev, Macedonian Bulgarian revolutionary IMRO (b. 1872)
1912 – Nettie Stevens, American geneticist credited with discovering sex chromosomes (b. 1861)
311 – The Diocletianic Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ends.
313 – Battle of Tzirallum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire.
642 – Chindasuinth is proclaimed king by the Visigothic nobility and bishops.
1315 – Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged at the instigation of Charles, Count of Valois.
1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist pretender to the English throne, is executed on the orders of Henry VIII.
1557 – Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile.
1598 – Juan de Oñate begins the conquest of Santa Fe de Nuevo México.
1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
1636 – Eighty Years’ War: Dutch Republic forces recapture a strategically important fort from Spain after a nine-month siege.
1671 – Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.
1789 – On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
1803 – Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
1812 – The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
1863 – A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.
1871 – The Camp Grant massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
1885 – Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation, New York’s first state park, ensuring that Niagara Falls will not be devoted solely to industrial and commercial use.
1897 – J. J. Thomson of the Cavendish Laboratory announces his discovery of the electron as a subatomic particle, over 1,800 times smaller than a proton (in the atomic nucleus), at a lecture at the Royal Institution in London.
1900 – Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
1904 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World’s Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
1905 – Albert Einstein completes his doctoral thesis at the University of Zurich.
1925 – Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Co. for US$146 million plus $50 million for charity.
1927 – The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women’s federal prison in the United States.
1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
1937 – The Commonwealth of the Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
1938 – The animated cartoon short Porky’s Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit, an early version of Bugs Bunny.
1939 – The 1939–40 New York World’s Fair opens.
1939 – NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled television service in New York City, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s N.Y. World’s Fair opening day ceremonial address.
1943 – World War II: The British submarine HMS Seraph surfaces near Huelva to cast adrift a dead man dressed as a courier and carrying false invasion plans.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for less than 40 hours. Soviet soldiers raise the Victory Banner over the Reichstag building.
1945 – World War II: Stalag Luft I prisoner-of-war camp near Barth, Germany is liberated by Soviet soldiers, freeing nearly 9000 American and British airmen.
1947 – In Nevada, Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam.
1948 – In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
1956 – Former Vice President and Democratic Senator Alben Barkley dies during a speech in Virginia.
1957 – Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery entered into force.
1961 – K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
1963 – The Bristol Bus Boycott is held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company’s refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
1966 – The Church of Satan is formed in The Black House, San Francisco.
1973 – Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that White House Counsel John Dean has been fired and that other top aides, most notably H. R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, have resigned.
1975 – Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
1980 – Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
1980 – The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
1982 – The Bijon Setu massacre occurs in Calcutta, India.
1993 – CERN announces World Wide Web protocols will be free.
1994 – Formula One racing driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash during the qualifying session of the San Marino Grand Prix run at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari outside Imola, Italy.
2000 – Canonization of Faustina Kowalska in the presence of 200,000 people and the first Divine Mercy Sunday celebrated worldwide.
2004 – U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
2008 – Two skeletal remains found near Yekaterinburg, Russia are confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei and Anastasia, two of the children of the last Tsar of Russia, whose entire family was executed at Yekaterinburg by the Bolsheviks.
2009 – Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2009 – Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen’s Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.
2012 – An overloaded ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India killing at least 103 people.
2013 – Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
2014 – A bomb blast in Ürümqi, China kills three people and injures 79 others.
Births on April 30
1245 – Philip III of France (d. 1285)
1310 – King Casimir III of Poland (d. 1368)
1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)
1383 – Anne of Gloucester, English countess, granddaughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1438)
1425 – William III, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1482)
1504 – Francesco Primaticcio, Italian painter (d. 1570)
1553 – Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)
1623 – François de Laval, French-Canadian bishop and saint (d. 1708)
1651 – Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, French priest and saint (d. 1719)
1662 – Mary II of England (d. 1694)
1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti (d. 1709)
1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
1723 – Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French zoologist and philosopher (d. 1806)
1758 – Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese commander and politician (d. 1802)
1770 – David Thompson, English-Canadian cartographer and explorer (d. 1857)
1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and physicist (d. 1855)
1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian soldier and politician, 10th Minister President of Prussia (d. 1879)
1829 – Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist and academic (d. 1884)
1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist (d. 1940)
1857 – Walter Simon, German banker and philanthropist (d. 1920)
1865 – Max Nettlau, German historian and academic (d. 1944)
1866 – Mary Haviland Stilwell Kuesel, American pioneer dentist (d. 1936)
1869 – Hans Poelzig, German architect, designed the IG Farben Building and Großes Schauspielhaus (d. 1936)
1870 – Franz Lehár, Hungarian composer (d. 1948)
1870 – Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1944)
1874 – Cyriel Verschaeve, Flemish priest and author (d. 1949)
1876 – Orso Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (d. 1937)
1877 – Léon Flameng, French cyclist (d. 1917)
1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American memoirist (d. 1967)
1878 – Władysław Witwicki, Polish psychologist, philosopher, translator, historian (of philosophy and art) and artist (d. 1948)
1880 – Charles Exeter Devereux Crombie, Scottish cartoonist (d. 1967)
1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech soldier and author (d. 1923)
1883 – Luigi Russolo, Italian painter and composer (d. 1947)
1884 – Olof Sandborg, Swedish actor (d. 1965)
1888 – John Crowe Ransom, American poet, critic, and academic (d. 1974)
1893 – Harold Breen, Australian public servant (d. 1966)
1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, German soldier and politician, 14th German Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 1946)
1895 – Philippe Panneton, Canadian physician, academic, and diplomat (d. 1960)
1896 – Reverend Gary Davis, American singer and guitarist (d. 1972)
1896 – Hans List, Austrian scientist and businessman, founded the AVL Engineering Company (d. 1996)
1897 – Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)
1900 – Erni Krusten, Estonian author and poet (d. 1984)
1901 – Simon Kuznets, Belarusian-American economist, statistician, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 2012)
1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Icelandic professor of law and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)
1908 – Frank Robert Miller, Canadian air marshal and politician (d. 1997)
1909 – F. E. McWilliam, Irish sculptor and educator (d. 1992)
1909 – Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
1910 – Levi Celerio, Filipino pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 2002)
1914 – Charles Beetham, American middle-distance runner (d. 1997)
1914 – Dorival Caymmi, Brazilian singer-songwriter, actor, and painter (d. 2008)
1916 – Paul Kuusberg, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2003)
1916 – Claude Shannon, American mathematician and engineer (d. 2001)
1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
1917 – Bea Wain, American singer (d. 2017)
1920 – Duncan Hamilton, Irish-English race car driver and pilot (d. 1994)
1920 – Tom Moore, British army officer and fundraiser
1921 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (d. 2014)
1922 – Anton Murray, South African cricketer (d. 1995)
1923 – Percy Heath, American bassist (d. 2005)
1923 – Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 42nd Yokozuna (d. 2004)
1924 – Uno Laht, Estonian KGB officer and author (d. 2008)
1925 – Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)
1925 – Johnny Horton, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1960)
1926 – Shrinivas Khale, Indian composer (d. 2011)
1926 – Cloris Leachman, American actress and comedian
1928 – Hugh Hood, Canadian author and academic (d. 2000)
1928 – Orlando Sirola, Italian tennis player (d. 1995)
1930 – Félix Guattari, French psychotherapist and philosopher (d. 1992)
1933 – Charles Sanderson, Baron Sanderson of Bowden, English politician
1934 – Jerry Lordan, English singer-songwriter (d. 1995)
1934 – Don McKenney, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1937 – Tony Harrison, English poet and playwright
1938 – Gary Collins, American actor and talk show host (d. 2012)
1938 – Juraj Jakubisko, Slovak director and screenwriter
1938 – Larry Niven, American author and screenwriter
1940 – Jeroen Brouwers, Dutch journalist and writer
1940 – Michael Cleary, Australian rugby player and politician
1941 – Stavros Dimas, Greek lawyer and politician, Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs
1941 – Max Merritt, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter
1942 – Sallehuddin of Kedah, Sultan of Kedah
1943 – Frederick Chiluba, Zambian politician, 2nd President of Zambia (d. 2011)
1943 – Bobby Vee, American pop singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1944 – Jon Bing, Norwegian author, scholar, and academic (d. 2014)
1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)
1945 – J. Michael Brady, British radiologist
1945 – Annie Dillard, American novelist, essayist, and poet
1945 – Mimi Fariña, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist (d. 2001)
1945 – Michael J. Smith, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1986)
1946 – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer
1947 – Paul Fiddes, English theologian and academic
1947 – Finn Kalvik, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Tom Køhlert, Danish footballer and manager
1947 – Mats Odell, Swedish economist and politician, Swedish Minister for Financial Markets
1948 – Wayne Kramer, American guitarist and singer-songwriter
1948 – Pierre Pagé, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 – Margit Papp, Hungarian athlete
1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball player and manager
1949 – António Guterres, Portuguese academic and politician, 114th Prime Minister of Portugal and 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations
1949 – Karl Meiler, German tennis player (d. 2014)
1952 – Jacques Audiard, French director and screenwriter
1952 – Jack Middelburg, Dutch motorcycle racer (d. 1984)
1953 – Merrill Osmond, American singer and bass player
1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Kim Darroch, English diplomat, UK Permanent Representative to the European Union
1954 – Frank-Michael Marczewski, German footballer
1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and environmentalist
1955 – David Kitchin, English lawyer and judge
1955 – Zlatko Topčić, Bosnian writer and screenwriter
1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish director and screenwriter
1957 – Wonder Mike, American rapper and songwriter
1958 – Charles Berling, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1959 – Stephen Harper, Canadian economist and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
1960 – Geoffrey Cox, English lawyer and politician
1960 – Kerry Healey, American academic and politician, 70th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
1961 – Arnór Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer
1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Andrew Carwood, English tenor and conductor
1963 – Michael Waltrip, American race car driver and sportscaster
1964 – Tony Fernandes, Malaysian-Indian businessman, co-founded Tune Group
1964 – Ian Healy, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1964 – Lorenzo Staelens, Belgian footballer and manager
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 Mw 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)
404 BC – Admiral Lysander and King Pausanias of Sparta blockade Athens and bring the Peloponnesian War to a successful conclusion.
775 – The Battle of Bagrevand puts an end to an Armenian rebellion against the Abbasid Caliphate. Muslim control over Transcaucasia is solidified and its Islamization begins, while several major Armenian nakharar families lose power and their remnants flee to the Byzantine Empire.
799 – After mistreatment and disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, pope Leo III flees to the Frankish court of king Charlemagne at Paderborn for protection.
1134 – The name Zagreb was mentioned for the first time in the Felician Charter relating to the establishment of the Zagreb Bishopric around 1094.
1607 – Eighty Years’ War: The Dutch fleet destroys the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.
1644 – The Chongzhen Emperor, the last Emperor of Ming dynasty China, commits suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
1707 – A coalition of Britain, the Netherlands and Portugal is defeated by a Franco-Spanish army at Almansa (Spain) in the War of the Spanish Succession.
1792 – Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier becomes the first person executed by guillotine.
1792 – “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) is composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1804 – The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti accepts the suzerainty of the Russian Empire.
1829 – Charles Fremantle arrives in HMS Challenger off the coast of modern-day Western Australia prior to declaring the Swan River Colony for the United Kingdom.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War.
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – British and French engineers break ground for the Suez Canal.
1862 – American Civil War: Forces under U.S. Admiral David Farragut demand the surrender of the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Marks’ Mills.
1882 – French and Vietnamese troops clashed in Tonkin, when Commandant Henri Rivière seized the citadel of Hanoi with a small force of marine infantry.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States declares war on Spain.
1901 – New York becomes the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.
1915 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli begins: The invasion of the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula by British, French, Indian, Newfoundland, Australian and New Zealand troops, begins with landings at Anzac Cove and Cape Helles.
1916 – Anzac Day is commemorated for the first time on the first anniversary of the landing at ANZAC Cove.
1920 – At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I adopt a resolution to determine the allocation of Class “A” League of Nations mandates for administration of the former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
1938 – U.S. Supreme Court delivers its opinion in Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins and overturns a century of federal common law.
1940 – Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands is approved by the British occupation government.
1944 – The United Negro College Fund is incorporated.
1945 – Elbe Day: United States and Soviet troops meet in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two.
1945 – Liberation Day (Italy): The Nazi occupation army surrenders and leaves Northern Italy after a general partisan insurrection by the Italian resistance movement; the puppet fascist regime dissolves and Benito Mussolini is captured after trying to escape. This day was set as a public holiday to celebrate the Liberation of Italy.
1945 – United Nations Conference on International Organization: Founding negotiations for the United Nations begin in San Francisco.
1945 – The last German troops retreat from Finland’s soil in Lapland, ending the Lapland War. Military acts of Second World War end in Finland.
1951 – Korean War: Assaulting Chinese forces are forced to withdraw after heavy fighting with UN forces, primarily made up of Australian and Canadian troops, at the Battle of Kapyong.
1953 – Francis Crick and James Watson publish “Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” describing the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Telephone Laboratories.
1959 – The Saint Lawrence Seaway, linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opens to shipping.
1960 – The United States Navy submarine USS Triton completes the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
1961 – Robert Noyce is granted a patent for an integrated circuit.
1972 – Vietnam War: Nguyen Hue Offensive: The North Vietnamese 320th Division forces 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and traps about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.
1974 – Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime and establishes a democratic government.
1975 – As North Vietnamese forces close in on the South Vietnamese capital Saigon, the Australian Embassy is closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day since the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of at the Tsuruga Nuclear Power Plant in Japan.
1982 – Israel completes its withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula per the Camp David Accords.
1983 – Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
1983 – Pioneer 10 travels beyond Pluto’s orbit.
1986 – Mswati III is crowned King of Swaziland, succeeding his father Sobhuza II.
1988 – In Israel, John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II.
1990 – Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
2001 – Michele Alboreto is killed while testing an Audi R8 at the Lausitzring in Germany.
2004 – The March for Women’s Lives brings between 500,000 and 800,000 protesters, mostly pro-choice, to Washington D.C. to protest the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, and other restrictions on abortion.
2005 – The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
2005 – Bulgaria and Romania sign accession treaties to join the European Union.
2007 – Boris Yeltsin’s funeral: The first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since the funeral of Emperor Alexander III in 1894.
2015 – Nearly 9,100 are killed after a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake strikes Nepal.
Births on April 25
1214 – Louis IX of France (d. 1270)
1228 – Conrad IV of Germany (d. 1254)
1284 – Edward II of England (d. 1327)
1287 – Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1330)
1502 – Georg Major, German theologian and academic (d. 1574)
1529 – Francesco Patrizi, Italian philosopher and scientist (d. 1597)
1599 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician, Lord Protector of Great Britain (d. 1658)
1621 – Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, English soldier and politician (d. 1679)
1666 – Johann Heinrich Buttstett, German organist and composer (d. 1727)
1694 – Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, English architect and politician, Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (d. 1753)
1710 – James Ferguson, Scottish astronomer and author (d. 1776)
1723 – Giovanni Marco Rutini, Italian composer (d. 1797)
1725 – Augustus Keppel, 1st Viscount Keppel, English admiral and politician (d. 1786)
1767 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (d. 1847)
1770 – Georg Sverdrup, Norwegian philologist and academic (d. 1850)
1776 – Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (d. 1857)
1843 – Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (d. 1878)
1849 – Felix Klein, German mathematician and academic (d. 1925)
1850 – Luise Adolpha Le Beau, German composer and educator (d. 1927)
1851 – Leopoldo Alas, Spanish author, critic, and academic (d. 1901)
1854 – Charles Sumner Tainter, American engineer and inventor (d. 1940)
1862 – Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon, English ornithologist and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (d. 1933)
1868 – John Moisant, American pilot and engineer (d. 1910)
1871 – Lorne Currie, French-English sailor (d. 1926)
1872 – C. B. Fry, English cricketer, footballer, educator, and politician (d. 1956)
1873 – Walter de la Mare, English poet, short story writer, and novelist (d. 1956)
1873 – Howard Garis, American author, creator of the Uncle Wiggily series of children’s stories (d. 1962)
1874 – Guglielmo Marconi, Italian businessman and inventor, developed Marconi’s law, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1937)
1874 – Ernest Webb, English-Canadian race walker (d. 1937)
1876 – Jacob Nicol, Canadian publisher, lawyer, and politician (d. 1958)
1878 – William Merz, American gymnast and triathlete (d. 1946)
1882 – Fred McLeod, Scottish golfer (d. 1976)
1887 – Kojo Tovalou Houénou, Beninese lawyer and critic (d. 1936)
1892 – Maud Hart Lovelace, American author (d. 1980)
1896 – Fred Haney, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1977)
1897 – Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood (d. 1965)
1900 – Gladwyn Jebb, English politician and diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1996)
1900 – Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-Swiss-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1958)
1902 – Werner Heyde, German psychiatrist and academic (d. 1964)
1902 – Mary Miles Minter, American actress (d. 1984)
1903 – Andrey Kolmogorov, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1987)
1905 – George Nepia, New Zealand rugby player and referee (d. 1986)
1906 – William J. Brennan Jr., American colonel and Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1997)
1908 – Edward R. Murrow, American journalist (d. 1965)
1909 – William Pereira, American architect, designed the Transamerica Pyramid (d. 1985)
1910 – Arapeta Awatere, New Zealand interpreter, military leader, politician, and murderer (d. 1976)
1911 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2014)
1912 – Earl Bostic, African-American saxophonist (d. 1965)
1913 – Nikolaos Roussen, Greek captain (d. 1944)
1914 – Ross Lockridge Jr., American author and academic (d. 1948)
1915 – Mort Weisinger, American journalist and author (d. 1978)
1916 – Jerry Barber, American golfer (d. 1994)
1917 – Ella Fitzgerald, American singer (d. 1996)
1917 – Jean Lucas, French racing driver (d. 2003)
1918 – Graham Payn, South African-born English actor and singer (d. 2005)
1918 – Gérard de Vaucouleurs, French-American astronomer and academic (d. 1995)
1918 – Astrid Varnay, Swedish-American soprano and actress (d. 2006)
1919 – Finn Helgesen, Norwegian speed skater (d. 2011)
1921 – Karel Appel, Dutch painter and sculptor (d. 2006)
1923 – Francis Graham-Smith, English astronomer and academic
1923 – Melissa Hayden, Canadian ballerina (d. 2006)
1923 – Albert King, African-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 1992)
1924 – Ingemar Johansson, Swedish race walker (d. 2009)
1924 – Franco Mannino, Italian pianist, composer, director, and playwright (d. 2005)
1924 – Paulo Vanzolini, Brazilian singer-songwriter and zoologist (d. 2013)
1925 – Tony Christopher, Baron Christopher, English trade union leader and businessman
1925 – Sammy Drechsel, German comedian and journalist (d. 1986)
1925 – Louis O’Neil, Canadian academic and politician (d. 2018)
1926 – Johnny Craig, American author and illustrator (d. 2001)
1926 – Gertrude Fröhlich-Sandner, Austrian politician (d. 2008)
1926 – Patricia Castell, Argentine actress (d. 2013)
1927 – Corín Tellado, Spanish author (d. 2009)
1927 – Albert Uderzo, French author and illustrator (d. 2020)
1928 – Cy Twombly, American-Italian painter and sculptor (d. 2011)
1929 – Yvette Williams, New Zealand long jumper, shot putter, and discus thrower (d. 2019)
1930 – Paul Mazursky, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1930 – Godfrey Milton-Thompson, English admiral and surgeon (d. 2012)
1930 – Peter Schulz, German lawyer and politician, Mayor of Hamburg (d. 2013)
1931 – Felix Berezin, Russian mathematician and physicist (d. 1980)
1931 – David Shepherd, English painter and author (d. 2017)
1932 – Nikolai Kardashev, Russian astrophysicist (d. 2019)
1932 – Meadowlark Lemon, African-American basketball player and minister (d. 2015)
1932 – Lia Manoliu, Romanian discus thrower and politician (d. 1998)
1933 – Jerry Leiber, American songwriter and producer (d. 2011)
1933 – Joyce Ricketts, American baseball player (d. 1992)
1934 – Peter McParland, Northern Irish footballer and manager
1935 – Bob Gutowski, American pole vaulter (d. 1960)
1935 – Reinier Kreijermaat, Dutch footballer (d. 2018)
1936 – Henck Arron, Surinamese banker and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Suriname (d. 2000)
1938 – Roger Boisjoly, American aerodynamicist and engineer (d. 2012)
1938 – Ton Schulten, Dutch painter and graphic designer
1939 – Tarcisio Burgnich, Italian footballer and manager
1939 – Michael Llewellyn-Smith, English academic and diplomat
1939 – Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, English historian and academic
1939 – Veronica Sutherland, English academic and British diplomat
1940 – Al Pacino, American actor and director
1941 – Bertrand Tavernier, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1942 – Jon Kyl, American lawyer and politician
1943 – Tony Christie, English singer-songwriter and actor
1944 – Len Goodman, English dancer
1944 – Mike Kogel, German singer-songwriter
1944 – Stephen Nickell, English economist and academic
1944 – Bruce Ponder, English geneticist and cancer researcher
1945 – Stu Cook, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1945 – Richard C. Hoagland, American theorist and author
1945 – Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish singer-songwriter and producer
1946 – Talia Shire, American actress
1946 – Peter Sutherland, Irish lawyer and politician, Attorney General of Ireland
1946 – Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian colonel, lawyer, and politician
1947 – Johan Cruyff, Dutch footballer and manager (d. 2016)
1947 – Jeffrey DeMunn, American actor
1948 – Mike Selvey, English cricketer and sportscaster
1948 – Yu Shyi-kun, Taiwanese politician, 39th Premier of the Republic of China
1949 – Vicente Pernía, Argentinian footballer and race car driver
1949 – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, French economist, lawyer, and politician, French Minister of Finance
1949 – James Fenton, English poet, journalist and literary critic
1950 – Donnell Deeny, Northern Irish lawyer and judge
1950 – Steve Ferrone, English drummer
1950 – Peter Hintze, German politician (d. 2016)
1950 – Valentyna Kozyr, Ukrainian high jumper
1951 – Ian McCartney, Scottish politician, Minister of State for Trade
1952 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist and composer
1952 – Vladislav Tretiak, Russian ice hockey player and coach
1952 – Jacques Santini, French footballer and coach
1953 – Ron Clements, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Gary Cosier, Australian cricketer
1953 – Anthony Venables, English economist, author, and academic
1954 – Melvin Burgess, English author
1954 – Randy Cross, American football player and sportscaster
1954 – Róisín Shortall, Irish educator and politician
1955 – Américo Gallego, Argentinian footballer and coach
1955 – Parviz Parastui, Iranian actor and singer
1955 – Zev Siegl, American businessman, co-founded Starbucks
1956 – Dominique Blanc, French actress, director, and screenwriter
1956 – Abdalla Uba Adamu, Nigerian professor, media scholar
1957 – Theo de Rooij, Dutch cyclist and manager
1958 – Fish, Scottish singer-songwriter
1958 – Misha Glenny, British journalist
1959 – Paul Madden, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to Australia
1959 – Daniel Kash, Canadian actor and director
1959 – Tony Phillips, American baseball player (d. 2016)
1960 – Paul Baloff, American singer (d. 2002)
1960 – Robert Peston, English journalist
1960 – Bruce Redman, Australian director, producer, and critic
1961 – Dinesh D’Souza, Indian-American journalist and author
1961 – Miran Tepeš, Slovenian ski jumper
1962 – Foeke Booy, Dutch footballer and manager
1963 – Joy Covey, American businesswoman (d. 2013)
1963 – Dave Martin, English footballer
1963 – David Moyes, Scottish footballer and manager
1963 – Bernd Müller, German footballer and manager
1963 – Paul Wassif, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1964 – Hank Azaria, American actor, voice artist, comedian and producer
1964 – Andy Bell, English singer-songwriter
1965 – Eric Avery, American bass player and songwriter
1965 – Mark Bryant, American basketball player and coach
1965 – John Henson, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2014)
1966 – Diego Domínguez, Argentinian-Italian rugby player
1966 – Femke Halsema, Dutch sociologist, academic, and politician
1966 – Darren Holmes, American baseball player and coach
1966 – Erik Pappas, American baseball player and coach
1967 – Angel Martino, American swimmer
1968 – Vitaliy Kyrylenko, Ukrainian long jumper
1968 – Thomas Strunz, German footballer
1969 – Joe Buck, American sportscaster
1969 – Martin Koolhoven, Dutch director and screenwriter
1969 – Jon Olsen, American swimmer
1969 – Darren Woodson, American football player and sportscaster
1969 – Renée Zellweger, American actress and producer
1970 – Jason Lee, American skateboarder, actor, comedian and producer
1971 – Sara Baras, Spanish dancer
1971 – Brad Clontz, American baseball player
1973 – Carlota Castrejana, Spanish triple jumper
1973 – Fredrik Larzon, Swedish drummer
1973 – Barbara Rittner, German tennis player
1975 – Jacque Jones, American baseball player and coach
1976 – Gilberto da Silva Melo, Brazilian footballer
1976 – Tim Duncan, American basketball player
1976 – Breyton Paulse, South African rugby player
1976 – Rainer Schüttler, German tennis player and coach
1479 BC – Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th dynasty).
1183 BC – Traditional reckoning of the Fall of Troy marking the end of the legendary Trojan War, given by chief librarian of the Library of Alexandria Erastothenes, among others.
1547 – Battle of Mühlberg. Duke of Alba, commanding Spanish-Imperial forces of Charles I of Spain, defeats the troops of Schmalkaldic League.
1558 – Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
1704 – The first regular newspaper in British Colonial America, The Boston News-Letter, is published.
1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”.
1877 – Russo-Turkish War: Russian Empire declares war on Ottoman Empire.
1885 – American sharpshooter Annie Oakley is hired by Nate Salsbury to be a part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.
1895 – Joshua Slocum, the first person to sail single-handedly around the world, sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts aboard the sloop “Spray”.
1913 – The Woolworth Building, a skyscraper in New York City, is opened.
1914 – The Franck–Hertz experiment, a pillar of quantum mechanics, is presented to the German Physical Society.
1915 – The arrest of 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul marks the beginning of the Armenian Genocide.
1916 – Easter Rising: Irish rebels, led by Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, launch an uprising in Dublin against British rule and proclaim an Irish Republic.
1916 – Ernest Shackleton and five men of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition launch a lifeboat from uninhabited Elephant Island in the Southern Ocean to organise a rescue for the crew of the sunken Endurance.
1918 – World War I: First tank-to-tank combat, during the second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Three British Mark IVs meet three German A7Vs.
1922 – The first segment of the Imperial Wireless Chain providing wireless telegraphy between Leafield in Oxfordshire, England, and Cairo, Egypt, comes into operation.
1926 – The Treaty of Berlin is signed. Germany and the Soviet Union each pledge neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years.
1932 – Benny Rothman leads the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, leading to substantial legal reforms in the United Kingdom.
1933 – Nazi Germany begins its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses by shutting down the Watch Tower Society office in Magdeburg.
1944 – World War II: The SBS launches a raid against the garrison of Santorini in Greece.
1953 – Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1955 – The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
1957 – Suez Crisis: The Suez Canal is reopened following the introduction of UNEF peacekeepers to the region.
1963 – Marriage of Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
1965 – Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d’état against Juan Bosch.
1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when its parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
1967 – Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had “gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily”.
1970 – China launches Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth nation to put an object into orbit using its own booster.
1970 – The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
1980 – Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
1990 – STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched from the Space Shuttle Discovery.
1990 – Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
1993 – An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
1996 – In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.
2004 – The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
2005 – Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
2011 – WikiLeaks starts publishing the Guantanamo Bay files leak.
2013 – A building collapses near Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 1,129 people and injuring 2,500 others.
2013 – Violence in Bachu County, Kashgar Prefecture, of China’s Xinjiang results in death of 21 people.
Births on April 24
1086 – Ramiro II of Aragon (d. 1157)
1492 – Sabina of Bavaria, Bavarian duchess and noblewoman (d. 1564)
1532 – Thomas Lucy, English politician (d. 1600)
1533 – William I of Orange, founding father of the Netherlands (d. 1584)
1538 – Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (d. 1587)
1545 – Henry Wriothesley, 2nd Earl of Southampton, English Earl (d. 1581)
1562 – Xu Guangqi, Ming Dynasty Chinese politician, scholar and lay Catholic leader (d. 1633)
1581 – Vincent de Paul, French priest and saint (d. 1660)
1608 – Gaston, Duke of Orléans, third son of King Henry IV of France (d. 1660)
1620 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (d. 1674)
1706 – Giovanni Battista Martini, Italian pianist and composer (d. 1780)
1718 – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, Irish-English painter and educator (d. 1784)
1743 – Edmund Cartwright, English clergyman and engineer, invented the power loom (d. 1823)
1784 – Peter Vivian Daniel, American lawyer and jurist (d. 1860)
1815 – Anthony Trollope, English novelist, essayist, and short story writer (d. 1882)
1823 – Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, Mexican politician, President of Mexico (d. 1889)
1845 – Carl Spitteler, Swiss poet and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1924)
1856 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (d. 1951)
1860 – Queen Marau, last Queen of Tahiti (d.1935)
1862 – Tomitaro Makino, Japanese botanist (d. 1957)
1868 – Sandy Herd, Scottish golfer (d. 1944)
1876 – Erich Raeder, German admiral (d. 1960)
1878 – Jean Crotti, Swiss-French painter (d. 1958)
1879 – Susanna Bokoyni, Hungarian-American circus performer (d. 1984)
1880 – Gideon Sundback, Swedish-American engineer and businessman, developed the zipper (d. 1954)
1880 – Josef Müller, Croatian entomologist (d. 1964)
1882 – Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Scottish-English air marshal (d. 1970)
1885 – Thomas Cronan, American triple jumper (d. 1962)
1885 – Con Walsh, Irish-Canadian hammer thrower and footballer (d. 1961)
1887 – Denys Finch Hatton, English hunter (d. 1931)
1888 – Pe Maung Tin, Burma-based scholar and educator (d. 1973)
1889 – Stafford Cripps, English academic and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (d. 1952)
1889 – Lyubov Popova, Russian painter and academic (d. 1924)
1897 – Manuel Ávila Camacho, Mexican colonel and politician, 45th President of Mexico (d. 1955)
1897 – Benjamin Lee Whorf, American linguist, anthropologist, and engineer (d. 1941)
1899 – Oscar Zariski, Russian-American mathematician and academic (d. 1986)
1900 – Elizabeth Goudge, English author and educator (d. 1984)
1903 – José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish lawyer and politician, founded the Falange (d. 1936)
1904 – Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American painter and educator (d. 1997)
1905 – Al Bates, American long jumper (d. 1999)
1905 – Robert Penn Warren, American novelist, poet, and literary critic (d. 1989)
1906 – William Joyce, American-born Irish-British Nazi propaganda broadcaster (d. 1946)
1906 – Mimi Smith, English nurse (d. 1991)
1907 – Gabriel Figueroa, Mexican cinematographer (d. 1997)
1908 – Marceline Day, American actress (d. 2000)
1908 – Inga Gentzel, Swedish runner (d. 1991)
1908 – Józef Gosławski, Polish sculptor (d. 1963)
1912 – Ruth Osburn, American discus thrower (d. 1994)
1913 – Dieter Grau, German-American scientist and engineer (d. 2014)
1914 – William Castle, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1977)
1914 – Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1991)
1914 – Justin Wilson, American chef and author (d. 2001)
1916 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler and trainer (d. 2002)
1919 – David Blackwell, American mathematician and academic (d. 2010)
1919 – Glafcos Clerides, Cypriot lawyer and politician, 4th President of Cyprus (d. 2013)
1920 – Gino Valenzano, Italian race car driver (d. 2011)
1922 – Marc-Adélard Tremblay, Canadian anthropologist and academic (d. 2014)
1923 – Gus Bodnar, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2005)
1923 – Doris Burn, American author and illustrator (d. 2011)
1924 – Clement Freud, German-English radio host, academic, and politician (d. 2009)
1924 – Ruth Kobart, American actress and singer (d. 2002)
1925 – Franco Leccese, Italian sprinter (d. 1992)
1926 – Marilyn Erskine, American actress
1926 – Thorbjörn Fälldin, Swedish farmer and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Sweden (d. 2016)
1927 – Josy Barthel, Luxembourgian runner and politician, Luxembourgian Minister for Energy (d. 1992)
1928 – Tommy Docherty, Scottish footballer and manager
1928 – Johnny Griffin, American saxophonist (d. 2008)
1928 – Anahit Perikhanian, Russian-born Armenian Iranologist (d. 2012)
1929 – Dr. Rajkumar, Indian actor and singer (d. 2006)
1930 – Jerome Callet, American instrument designer, educator, and author (d. 2019)
1930 – Richard Donner, American actor, director, and producer
1930 – José Sarney, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 31st President of Brazil
1931 – Abdelhamid Kermali, Algerian footballer and manager (d. 2013)
1931 – Bridget Riley, English painter and illustrator
1934 – Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (d. 2015)
1934 – Shirley MacLaine, American actress, singer, and dancer
1936 – David Crombie, Canadian educator and politician, 56th Mayor of Toronto
1936 – Jill Ireland, English actress (d. 1990)
1937 – Joe Henderson, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2001)
1940 – Sue Grafton, American author (d. 2017)
1941 – Richard Holbrooke, American journalist, banker, and diplomat, 22nd United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2010)
1941 – John Williams, Australian-English guitarist and composer
1942 – Richard M. Daley, American lawyer and politician, 54th Mayor of Chicago
1942 – Barbra Streisand, American singer, actress, activist, and producer
1943 – Richard Sterban, American country & gospel bass singer
1943 – Gordon West, English footballer (d. 2012)
1944 – Peter Cresswell, English judge
1944 – Maarja Nummert, Estonian architect
1944 – Tony Visconti, American record producer, musician and singer
1945 – Doug Clifford, American drummer and songwriter
1946 – Doug Christie, Canadian lawyer and activist (d. 2013)
1947 – Josep Borrell, Spanish engineer and politician, 22nd President of the European Parliament
1947 – João Braz de Aviz, Brazilian cardinal
1947 – Claude Dubois, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1947 – Denise Kingsmill, Baroness Kingsmill, New Zealand-English lawyer and politician
1947 – Roger D. Kornberg, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1948 – Paul Cellucci, American soldier and politician, 69th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 2013)
1948 – Eliana Gil, Ecuadorian-American psychiatrist, therapist, and author
1949 – Eddie Hart, American sprinter
1949 – Véronique Sanson, French singer-songwriter and producer
1950 – Rob Hyman, American singer-songwriter and musician
1951 – Ron Arad, Israeli architect and academic
1951 – Christian Bobin, French author and poet
1951 – Nigel Harrison, English bass player and songwriter
1951 – Enda Kenny, Irish educator and politician, 13th Taoiseach of Ireland
1952 – Jean Paul Gaultier, French fashion designer
1952 – Ralph Winter, American film producer
1953 – Eric Bogosian, American actor and writer
1954 – Mumia Abu-Jamal, American journalist, activist, and convicted murderer
1954 – Jack Blades, American singer-songwriter and bass player
1955 – Marion Caspers-Merk, German politician
1955 – John de Mol Jr., Dutch businessman, co-founded Endemol
1955 – Eamon Gilmore, Irish trade union leader and politician, 25th Tánaiste of Ireland
1955 – Margaret Moran, British politician and criminal
1955 – Guy Nève, Belgian race car driver (d. 1992)
1955 – Michael O’Keefe, American actor
1955 – Bill Osborne, New Zealand rugby player
1956 – James A. Winnefeld, Jr., American admiral
1957 – Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed, Pakistani-English businessman and politician
1958 – Brian Paddick, English police officer and politician
1959 – Paula Yates, British-Australian television host and author (d. 2000)
1961 – Andrew Murrison, English physician and politician, Minister for International Security Strategy
1962 – Clemens Binninger, German politician
1962 – Stuart Pearce, English footballer, coach, and manager
1962 – Steve Roach, Australian rugby league player, coach, and sportscaster
1963 – Paula Frazer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1963 – Billy Gould, American bass player, songwriter, and producer
1963 – Mano Solo, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (d. 2010)
1964 – Helga Arendt, German sprinter (d. 2013)
1964 – Cedric the Entertainer, American comedian, actor, and producer
1964 – Djimon Hounsou, Beninese-American actor and producer
1964 – Witold Smorawiński, Polish guitarist, composer, and educator
1965 – Jeff Jackson, Canadian ice hockey player and manager
1966 – Pierre Brassard, Canadian comedian and actor
1966 – Alessandro Costacurta, Italian footballer, coach, and manager
1966 – David Usher, English-Canadian singer-songwriter
1967 – Dino Rađa, Croatian basketball player
1967 – Omar Vizquel, Venezuelan-American baseball player and coach
1968 – Aidan Gillen, Irish actor
1968 – Todd Jones, American baseball player
1968 – Roxanna Panufnik, English composer
1968 – Hashim Thaçi, Kosovan soldier and politician, 5th Prime Minister of Kosovo
1969 – Elias Atmatsidis, Greek footballer
1969 – Rory McCann, Scottish actor
1969 – Eilidh Whiteford, Scottish academic and politician
1970 – Damien Fleming, Australian cricketer, coach, and sportscaster
1971 – Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and umpire
1971 – Mauro Pawlowski, Belgian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1972 – Rab Douglas, Scottish footballer
1972 – Chipper Jones, American baseball player
1972 – Jure Košir, Slovenian skier and singer
1973 – Gabby Logan, English gymnast, television and radio host
1973 – Damon Lindelof, American screenwriter and producer
1973 – Brian Marshall, American bass player and songwriter
1973 – Eric Snow, American basketball player and coach
1973 – Sachin Tendulkar, Indian cricketer
1973 – Toomas Tohver, Estonian footballer
1973 – Lee Westwood, English golfer
1974 – Eric Kripke, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Stephen Wiltshire, English illustrator
1975 – Dejan Savić, Yugoslavian and Serbian water polo player
1976 – Steve Finnan, Irish international footballer
1976 – Frédéric Niemeyer, Canadian tennis player and coach
1977 – Carlos Beltrán, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1977 – Diego Placente, Argentine footballer
1978 – Diego Quintana, Argentine footballer
1980 – Fernando Arce, Mexican footballer
1980 – Karen Asrian, Armenian chess player (d. 2008)
1981 – Taylor Dent, American tennis player
1981 – Yuko Nakanishi, Japanese swimmer
1982 – Kelly Clarkson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
1982 – David Oliver, American hurdler
1982 – Simon Tischer, German volleyball player
1983 – Hanna Melnychenko, Ukrainian heptathlete
1985 – Mike Rodgers, American sprinter
1986 – Aaron Cunningham, American baseball player
1987 – Ben Howard, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1987 – Kris Letang, Canadian ice hockey player
1987 – Rein Taaramäe, Estonian cyclist
1987 – Jan Vertonghen, Belgian international footballer
1987 – Varun Dhawan, Indian actor
1989 – Elīna Babkina, Latvian basketball player
1989 – David Boudia, American diver
1989 – Taja Mohorčič, Slovenian tennis player
1990 – Kim Tae-ri, South Korean actress
1990 – Jan Veselý, Czech basketball player
1991 – Sigrid Agren, French-Swedish model
1991 – Morgan Ciprès, French figure skater
1991 – Batuhan Karadeniz, Turkish footballer
1992 – Joe Keery, American actor
1992 – Laura Kenny, English cyclist
1993 – Ben Davies, Welsh international footballer
1994 – Jordan Fisher, American singer, dancer, and actor
1994 – Caspar Lee, British-South African Youtuber
1996 – Ashleigh Barty, Australian tennis player
1997 – Lydia Ko, New Zealand golfer
1997 – Veronika Kudermetova, Russian tennis player
1998 – Ryan Newman, American actress
1999 – Jerry Jeudy, American football player
Deaths on April 24
624 – Mellitus, saint, and archbishop of Canterbury
1149 – Petronille de Chemillé, abbess of Fontevrault
1288 – Gertrude of Austria (b. 1226)
1338 – Theodore I, Marquess of Montferrat (b. 1291)
1479 – Jorge Manrique, Spanish poet (b. 1440)
1513 – Şehzade Ahmet, Ottoman prince (b. 1465)
1617 – Concino Concini, Italian-French politician, Prime Minister of France (b. 1575)
1622 – Fidelis of Sigmaringen, German friar and saint (b. 1577)
1656 – Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (b. 1561)
1731 – Daniel Defoe, English journalist, novelist, and spy (b. 1660)
1748 – Anton thor Helle, German-Estonian clergyman and translator (b. 1683)
1779 – Eleazar Wheelock, American minister and academic, founded Dartmouth College (b. 1711)
1794 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician (b. 1719)
1852 – Vasily Zhukovsky, Russian poet and translator (b. 1783)
1889 – Zulma Carraud, French author (b. 1796)
1891 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, German field marshal (b. 1800)
1924 – G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist and academic (b. 1844)
1931 – David Kldiashvili, Georgian author and playwright (b. 1862)
1935 – Anastasios Papoulas, Greek general (b. 1857)
1938 – George Grey Barnard, American sculptor (b. 1863)
1939 – Louis Trousselier, French cyclist (b. 1881)
1941 – Karin Boye, Swedish author and poet (b. 1900)
1942 – Lucy Maud Montgomery, Canadian author (b. 1874)
1944 – Charles Jordan, American magician (b. 1888)
1945 – Ernst-Robert Grawitz, German physician (b. 1899)
1947 – Hans Biebow, German SS officer (b. 1902)
1947 – Willa Cather, American novelist, short story writer, and poet (b. 1873)
1948 – Jāzeps Vītols, Latvian composer (b. 1863)
1954 – Guy Mairesse, French race car driver (b. 1910)
1960 – Max von Laue, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1879)
1961 – Lee Moran, American actor, director and screenwriter (b. 1888)
1962 – Milt Franklyn, American composer (b. 1897)
1964 – Gerhard Domagk, German pathologist and bacteriologist (b. 1895)
1965 – Louise Dresser, American actress (b. 1878)
1966 – Simon Chikovani, Georgian poet and author (b. 1902)
1967 – Vladimir Komarov, Russian pilot, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1927)
1967 – Robert Richards, Australian politician, 32nd Premier of South Australia (b. 1885)
1968 – Walter Tewksbury, American athlete (b. 1876)
1970 – Otis Spann, American singer and pianist (b. 1930)
1972 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
1974 – Bud Abbott, American comedian and producer (b. 1895)
1975 – Pete Ham, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
1976 – Mark Tobey, American-Swiss painter and educator (b. 1890)
1980 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (b. 1904)
215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
599 – Maya king Uneh Chan of Calakmul attacks rival city-state Palenque in southern Mexico, defeating queen Yohl Ik’nal and sacking the city.
711 – Dagobert III succeeds his father King Childebert III as King of the Franks.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: High King of Ireland Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred the Unready as King of England.
1343 – St. George’s Night Uprising commences in the Duchy of Estonia.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III is announced on St. George’s Day.
1516 – The Munich Reinheitsgebot (regarding the ingredients of beer) takes effect in all of Bavaria.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston.
1655 – The Siege of Santo Domingo begins during the Anglo-Spanish War, and fails seven days later.
1660 – Treaty of Oliva is established between Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising: A second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1879 – Fire burns down the second main building and dome of the University of Notre Dame, which prompts the construction of the third, and current, Main Building with its golden dome.
1914 – First baseball game at Wrigley Field, then known as Weeghman Park, in Chicago.
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) is founded in Ankara. The assembly denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces the preparation of a temporary constitution.
1927 – Cardiff City defeat Arsenal in the FA Cup Final, the only time it has been won by a team not based in England.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz: German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – World War II: Adolf Hitler’s designated successor, Hermann Göring, sends him a telegram asking permission to take leadership of the Third Reich. Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels advise Hitler that the telegram is treasonous.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – Cold War: American journalist William N. Oatis is arrested for espionage by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) a manned spaceflight carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov is launched into orbit.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula is back on the market in less than three months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali is assassinated while addressing a gathering, approximately four weeks ahead of the Provincial Council elections for the Western Province.
1999 – NATO bombs the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, as part of their aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
2005 – The first ever YouTube video, titled “Me at the zoo”, was published by co-founder Jawed Karim.
2013 – At least 28 people are killed and more than 70 are injured as violence breaks out in Hawija, Iraq.
2018 – A vehicle-ramming attack kills 10 people and injures 16 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
2019 – The 2019 Hpakant jade mine collapse in Myanmar kills four miners and two rescuers.
Births on April 23
1141 (probable) – Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
1185 – Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
1408 – John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford (d. 1462)
1420 – George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia (d. 1471)
1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
1464 – Robert Fayrfax, English Renaissance composer (d. 1521)
1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian physician and scholar (d. 1558)
1500 – Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian and academic (d. 1565)
1500 – Johann Stumpf, Swiss writer (d. 1576)
1512 – Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel, Chancellor of the University of Oxford (d. 1580)
1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian, and archaeologist (d. 1571)
1598 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (d. 1653)
1621 – William Penn, English admiral and politician (d. 1670)
1628 – Johannes Hudde, Dutch mathematician and politician (d. 1704)
1661 – Issachar Berend Lehmann, German-Jewish banker, merchant and diplomat (d. 1730)
1715 – Johann Friedrich Doles, German composer and conductor (d. 1797)
1720 – Vilna Gaon, Lithuanian rabbi and author (d. 1797)
1744 – Princess Charlotte Amalie Wilhelmine of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (d. 1770)
1748 – Félix Vicq-d’Azyr, French physician and anatomist (d. 1794)
1791 – James Buchanan, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
1792 – Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar and author (d. 1856)
1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher and academic (d. 1879)
1812 – Frederick Whitaker, English-New Zealand lawyer and politician, 5th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American educator and politician, 7th Illinois Secretary of State (d. 1861)
1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, Italian-French historian and scholar (d. 1853)
1818 – James Anthony Froude, English historian, novelist, biographer and editor (d. 1894)
1819 – Edward Stafford, Scottish-New Zealand educator and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, American businessman and politician, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
1856 – Granville Woods, American inventor and engineer (d. 1910)
1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
1858 – Max Planck, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1947)
1860 – Justinian Oxenham, Australian public servant (d. 1932)
1861 – Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, English field marshal and diplomat, British High Commissioner in Egypt (d. 1936)
1861 – John Peltz, American baseball player and manager (d. 1906)
1865 – Ali-Agha Shikhlinski, Russian-Azerbaijani general (d. 1943)
1867 – Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician and pathologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
1876 – Arthur Moeller van den Bruck, German historian and author (d. 1925)
1880 – Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (d. 1942)
1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
1888 – Georges Vanier, Canadian general and politician, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand author and director (d. 1982)
1897 – Folke Jansson, American general (d. 1965)
1897 – Lester B. Pearson, Canadian historian and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Canada, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1972)
1898 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1979)
1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and microbiologist, invented Yakult (d. 1982)
1900 – Jim Bottomley, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1959)
1900 – Joseph Green, Polish-American actor and director (d. 1996)
1901 – E. B. Ford, English biologist and geneticist (d. 1988)
1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic author and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1903 – Guy Simonds, English-Canadian general (d. 1974)
1904 – Clifford Bricker, Canadian long-distance runner (d. 1980)
1904 – Louis Muhlstock, Polish-Canadian painter (d. 2001)
1904 – Duncan Renaldo, American actor (d. 1985)
1907 – Lee Miller, American model and photographer (d. 1977)
1907 – Fritz Wotruba, Austrian sculptor, designed the Wotruba Church (d. 1975)
1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
1910 – Sheila Scott Macintyre, Scottish mathematician (d. 1960)
1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
1911 – Ronald Neame, English-American director, cinematographer, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2010)
1913 – Diosa Costello, Puerto Rican-American entertainer, producer and club owner (d. 2013)
1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, English engineer, academic, and businessman (d. 2000)
1916 – Yiannis Moralis, Greek painter and educator (d. 2009)
1916 – Sinah Estelle Kelley, American chemist (d. 1982)
1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
1917 – Tony Lupien, American baseball player and coach (d. 2004)
1918 – Maurice Druon, French author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Russian colonel (d. 1963)
1920 – Eric Grant Yarrow, 3rd Baronet, English businessman (d. 2018)
1921 – Judy Agnew, Second Lady of the United States (d. 2012)
1921 – Cleto Bellucci, Italian archbishop (d. 2013)
1921 – Janet Blair, American actress and singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Warren Spahn, American baseball player and coach (d. 2003)
1923 – Dolph Briscoe, American lieutenant and politician, 41st Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
1923 – Avram Davidson, American soldier and author (d. 1993)
1924 – Chuck Harmon, American baseball player and scout (d. 2019)
1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
1926 – J.P. Donleavy, American-Irish novelist and playwright (d. 2017)
1926 – Rifaat el-Mahgoub, Egyptian politician (d. 1990)
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat (d. 2014)
1929 – George Steiner, French-American philosopher, author, and critic (d. 2020)
1932 – Halston, American fashion designer (d. 1990)
1932 – Jim Fixx, American runner and author (d. 1984)
1933 – Annie Easley, American computer scientist, mathematician, and engineer (d. 2011)
1934 – George Canseco, Filipino composer and producer (d. 2004)
1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer-songwriter (d. 1988)
1937 – Victoria Glendinning, English author and critic
1937 – David Mills, English cricketer (d. 2013)
1937 – Barry Shepherd, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1939 – Jorge Fons, Mexican director and screenwriter
1939 – Bill Hagerty, English journalist
1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
1939 – Ray Peterson, American pop singer (d. 2005)
1940 – Michael Copps, American academic and politician
1940 – Dale Houston, American singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
1941 – Paavo Lipponen, Finnish journalist and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Finland
1941 – Michael Lynne, American film producer, co-founded New Line Cinema
1941 – Ed Stewart, English radio and television host (d. 2016)
1941 – Ray Tomlinson, American computer programmer and engineer (d. 2016)
1942 – Sandra Dee, American model and actress (d. 2005)
1943 – Gail Goodrich, American basketball player and coach
1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian-American ice hockey player, coach, and manager
1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch painter
1943 – Hervé Villechaize, French actor (d. 1993)
1944 – Jean-François Stévenin, French actor and director
1946 – Blair Brown, American actress
1946 – Carlton Sherwood, American soldier and journalist (d. 2014)
1947 – Robert Burgess, English sociologist and academic
1947 – Glenn Cornick, English bass player (d. 2014)
1947 – Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, Irish civil rights leader and politician
1948 – Pascal Quignard, French author and screenwriter
1948 – Serge Thériault, Canadian actor
1949 – Paul Collier, English economist and academic
1949 – David Cross, English violinist
1949 – John Miles, British rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist
1950 – Rowley Leigh, English chef and journalist
1950 – Barbara McIlvaine Smith, Sac and Fox Nation Native American politician
1951 – Martin Bayerle, American treasure hunter
1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer
1953 – James Russo, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1954 – Stephen Dalton, English air marshal
1954 – Michael Moore, American director, producer, and activist
1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player (d. 2001)
1955 – Urmas Ott, Estonian journalist and author (d. 2008)
1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer, and art director
1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress and comedian (d. 2014)
1958 – Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer and producer
1958 – Ryan Walter, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1959 – Unity Dow, Botswanan judge, author, and rights activist
1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist and songwriter (d. 1991)
1960 – Barry Douglas, Irish pianist and conductor
1960 – Léo Jaime, Brazilian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor, and talk show host
1961 – Pierluigi Martini, Italian race car driver
1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor and producer
1962 – Shaun Spiers, English businessman and politician
1963 – Paul Belmondo, French race car driver
1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian pianist and conductor
1965 – Leni Robredo, Filipina human rights lawyer, 14th Vice President of the Philippines
1966 – Jörg Deisinger, German bass player
1966 – Matt Freeman, American bass player
1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess Grandmaster (d. 1999)
1967 – Rheal Cormier, Canadian baseball player
1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
1968 – Bas Haring, Dutch philosopher, writer, television presenter and professor.
1968 – Ken McRae, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, Oklahoma City bombing co-perpetrator (d. 2001)
1969 – Martín López-Zubero, American-Spanish swimmer and coach
1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
1970 – Egemen Bağış, Turkish politician, 1st Minister of European Union Affairs
1970 – Dennis Culp, American singer-songwriter and trombonist
1970 – Andrew Gee, Australian rugby league player and manager
1970 – Hans Välimäki, Finnish chef and author
1970 – Tayfur Havutçu, Turkish international footballer and manager
43 BC – Battle of Mutina: Mark Antony is again defeated in battle by Aulus Hirtius, who is killed. Antony fails to capture Mutina and Decimus Brutus is murdered shortly after.
900 – The Laguna Copperplate Inscription (the earliest known written document found in what is now the Philippines): the Commander-in-Chief of the Kingdom of Tondo, as represented by the Honourable Jayadewa, Lord Minister of Pailah, pardons from all debt the Honourable Namwaran and his relations.
1092 – The Diocese of Pisa is elevated to the rank of metropolitan archdiocese by Pope Urban II
1506 – The three-day Lisbon Massacre comes to an end with the slaughter of over 1,900 suspected Jews by Portuguese Catholics.
1509 – Henry VIII ascends the throne of England on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.
1615 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.
1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
1789 – George Washington’s reception at Trenton is hosted by the Ladies of Trenton as he journeys to New York City for his first inauguration.
1792 – Tiradentes, a revolutionary leading a movement for Brazil’s independence, is hanged, drawn and quartered.
1802 – Twelve thousand Wahhabis under Abdul-Aziz bin Muhammad, invaded city of Karbala, killed over three thousand inhabitants, and sacked the city.
1806 – Action of 21 April 1806: A French frigate escapes British forces off the coast of South Africa.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
1821 – Benderli Ali Pasha arrives in Constantinople as the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire; he remains in power for only nine days before being sent into exile.
1836 – Texas Revolution: The Battle of San Jacinto: Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
1856 – Australian labour movement: Stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne march from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day.
1894 – Norway formally adopts the Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
1914 – Ypiranga incident: A German arms shipment to Mexico is intercepted by the U.S. Navy near Veracruz.
1918 – World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, better known as “The Red Baron”, is shot down and killed over Vaux-sur-Somme in France.
1926 – Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four Shi’a Imams, is leveled to the ground by Wahhabis.
1934 – The “Surgeon’s Photograph”, the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
1948 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 47 relating to Kashmir conflict is adopted.
1952 – Secretary’s Day (now Administrative Professionals’ Day) is first celebrated.
1958 – United Airlines Flight 736 collides into a United States Air Force fighter jet near Arden, Nevada in what is now Enterprise, Nevada.
1960 – Brasília, Brazil’s capital, is officially inaugurated. At 09:30, the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
1962 – The Seattle World’s Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World’s Fair in the United States since World War II.
1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Bahá’í Faith.
1964 – A Transit-5bn satellite fails to reach orbit after launch; as it re-enters the atmosphere, 2.1 pounds (0.95 kg) of radioactive plutonium in its SNAP RTG power source is widely dispersed.
1965 – The 1964–1965 New York World’s Fair opens for its second and final season.
1966 – Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
1967 – A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d’état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
1975 – Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
1977 – Annie opens on Broadway.
1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
1985 – The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
1987 – The Tamil Tigers are blamed for a car bomb that detonates in the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, killing 106 people.
1989 – Tiananmen Square protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
1993 – The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
2004 – Five suicide car bombers target police stations in and around Basra, killing 74 people and wounding 160.
2010 – The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
2012 – Two trains are involved in a head-on collision near Sloterdijk, Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, injuring 116 people.
2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
2019 – Eight bombs explode at churches, hotels, and other locations in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday; more than 200 people are killed.
Births on April 21
1132 – Sancho VI, king of Navarre (d. 1194)
1488 – Ulrich von Hutten, German religious reformer (d. 1523)
1523 – Marco Antonio Bragadin, Venetian lawyer and military officer (d. 1571)
1555 – Ludovico Carracci, Italian painter and etcher (d. 1619)
1619 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (d. 1677)
1630 – Pieter Gerritsz van Roestraten, Dutch-English painter (d. 1700)
1631 – Francesco Maidalchini, Catholic cardinal (d. 1700)
1642 – Simon de la Loubère, French mathematician, poet, and diplomat (d. 1729)
1651 – Joseph Vaz, Sri Lankan priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1711)
1652 – Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (d. 1719)
1671 – John Law, Scottish economist (d. 1729)
1673 – Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1742)
1713 – Louis de Noailles, French general (d. 1793)
1730 – Antonín Kammel, Czech violinist and composer (d. 1788)
1752 – Pierre-Alexandre-Laurent Forfait, French engineer, hydrographer, and politician, French Minister of Marine and the Colonies (d. 1807)
1752 – Humphry Repton, English gardener and author (d. 1818)
1774 – Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist, astronomer, and mathematician (d. 1862)
1775 – Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (d. 1870)
1790 – Manuel Blanco Encalada, Spanish-Chilean admiral and politician, 1st President of Chile (d. 1876)
1810 – John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864)
1811 – Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903)
1814 – Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts, English art collector and philanthropist (d. 1906)
1816 – Charlotte Brontë, Cornish-English novelist and poet (d. 1855)
1837 – Fredrik Bajer, Danish lieutenant and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1922)
1838 – John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914)
1851 – Charles Barrois, French geologist and palaeontologist (d. 1939)
1854 – William Stang, German-American bishop (d. 1907)
1864 – Max Weber, German economist and sociologist (d. 1920)
1868 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (d. 1932)
1870 – Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1941)
1874 – Vincent Scotto, French actor and composer (d. 1952)
1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961)
1885 – Tatu Kolehmainen, Finnish runner (d. 1967)
1887 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball manager (d. 1978)
1889 – Marcel Boussac, French businessman (d. 1980)
1889 – Paul Karrer, Russian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1971)
1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985)
1892 – Freddie Dixon, English motorcycle racer and racing driver (d. 1956)
1893 – Romeo Bertini, Italian runner (d. 1973)
1898 – Maurice Wilson, English soldier, pilot, and mountaineer (d. 1934)
1899 – Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (d. 1984)
1903 – Luis Saslavsky, Argentinian director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1995)
1904 – Jean Hélion, French painter (d. 1987)
1904 – Odilo Globocnik, Italian-Austrian SS officer (d. 1945)
1905 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (d. 1996)
1911 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (d. 2000)
1911 – Kemal Satır, Turkish physician and politician (d. 1991)
1912 – Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (d. 2012)
1912 – Marcel Camus, French director and screenwriter (d. 1982)
1913 – Norman Parkinson, English photographer (d. 1990)
1914 – Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (d. 2013)
1915 – Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (d. 2003)
1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001)
1916 – Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013)
1918 – Eddy Christiani, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2016)
1919 – Don Cornell, American singer (d. 2004)
1919 – Roger Doucet, Canadian tenor (d. 1981)
1919 – Licio Gelli, Italian financer (d. 2015)
1920 – Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (d. 1991)
1922 – Alistair MacLean, Scottish novelist and screenwriter (d. 1987)
1922 – Allan Watkins, Welsh-English cricketer (d. 2011)
1923 – John Mortimer, English lawyer and author (d. 2009)
1924 – Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (d. 1965)
1925 – Anthony Mason, Australian soldier and judge, 9th Chief Justice of Australia
1925 – John Swinton of Kimmerghame, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berwickshire (d. 2018)
1926 – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and her other realms
1926 – Arthur Rowley, English footballer, manager and cricketer (d. 2002)
1927 – Ahmed Arif, Turkish poet and author (d. 1991)
1928 – Jack Evans, Welsh-Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1996)
1930 – Hilda Hilst, Brazilian author, poet, and playwright (d. 2004)
1930 – Silvana Mangano, Italian actress (d. 1989)
1930 – Dieter Roth, German-Swiss illustrator and sculptor (d. 1998)
1930 – Jack Taylor, English footballer and referee (d. 2012)
1931 – Morgan Wootten, American high school basketball coach (d. 2020)
1932 – Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer
1932 – Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter
1932 – Angela Mortimer, English tennis player
1933 – Edelmiro Amante, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1933 – Easley Blackwood, Jr., American pianist, composer, and educator
1933 – Ignatius Zakka I Iwas, Iraqi patriarch (d. 2014)
1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host
1935 – Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey
1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family
1936 – Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2009)
1937 – Gary Peters, American baseball player
1937 – Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player
1939 – John McCabe, English pianist and composer (d. 2015)
1939 – Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author
1939 – Reni Santoni, American actor
1940 – Jacques Caron, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1940 – Souleymane Cissé, Malian director, producer, and screenwriter
1941 – David L. Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma
1942 – Geoffrey Palmer, New Zealand politician, 33rd Prime Minister of New Zealand
1945 – Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, Indian cricketer and umpire
1945 – Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (d. 2017)
1945 – Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (d. 2000)
1947 – Al Bumbry, American baseball player
1947 – Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor
1947 – John Weider, English bass player
1948 – Gary Condit, American businessman and politician
1948 – Paul Davis, American singer-songwriter and musician (d. 2008)
1948 – Josef Flammer, Swiss ophthalmologist
1948 – Dieter Fromm, German runner
1949 – Patti LuPone, American actress and singer
1950 – Shivaji Satam, Indian actor
1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and producer
1951 – Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic
1951 – Bob Varsha, American sportscaster
1951 – Steve Vickers, Canadian ice hockey player
1952 – Gerald Early, American author and academic
1952 – Cheryl Gillan, British businesswoman and politician, Secretary of State for Wales
1953 – John Brumby, Australian politician, 45th Premier of Victoria
1954 – Ebiet G. Ade, Indonesian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1954 – James Morrison, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1955 – Murathan Mungan, Turkish author, poet, and playwright
1955 – Doug Soetaert, Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Peter Kosminsky, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1956 – Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist
1957 – Hervé Le Tellier, French linguist and author
1957 – Jesse Orosco, American baseball player
1957 – Herbert Wetterauer, German painter, sculptor, and author
1958 – Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer
1958 – Yoshito Usui, Japanese illustrator (d. 2009)
1958 – Michael Zarnock, American author
1959 – Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter
1959 – Olga Kuragina, Russian pentathlete
1959 – Arno Pijpers, Dutch footballer and coach
1959 – Robert Smith, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
1960 – Michel Goulet, Canadian ice hockey player and scout
1960 – Julius Korir, Kenyan runner
1961 – Cathy Cavadini, American voice actress
1961 – Carey Hayes, American screenwriter and producer
1961 – Chad Hayes, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1961 – Neale Marmon, English-German footballer, coach, and manager
1961 – David Servan-Schreiber, French physician, neuroscientist, and author (d. 2011)
1962 – Les Lancaster, American baseball player and coach
1962 – Craig Robinson, American basketball player and coach
1962 – Aavo Sarap, Estonian footballer and coach
1963 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004)
1963 – Roy Dupuis, Canadian actor
1963 – John Cameron Mitchell, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Alex Baumann, Czech-Canadian swimmer
1964 – Ludmila Engquist, Russian-Swedish hurdler
1965 – Ed Belfour, Canadian ice hockey player
1965 – Karen Foster, American model and actress
1965 – Gary Grant, American basketball player
1965 – Thomas Helmer, German footballer
1965 – Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian
1967 – Emilio Valle, Cuban hurdler
1968 – Peter van Vossen, Dutch footballer and coach
1969 – John Kibowen, Kenyan runner
1969 – Toby Stephens, English actor
1970 – Jeff Anderson, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1970 – Glen Hansard, Irish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1970 – Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian
1970 – Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter
1971 – Axl Rotten, American wrestler (d. 2016)
1971 – Michael Turner, American author and illustrator (d. 2008)
1972 – Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (d. 2001)
1972 – Gwendal Peizerat, French ice dancer
1973 – Steve Backshall, English naturalist, writer, and television presenter
1973 – Jonathan Nsenga, Belgian hurdler and coach
1974 – Maksim Gruznov, Estonian footballer
1974 – Orlando Jordan, American wrestler
1974 – David Peachey, Australian rugby league player
1975 – Danyon Loader, New Zealand swimmer
1976 – Rommel Adducul, Filipino basketball player
1976 – Petero Civoniceva, Fijian-Australian rugby league player
1977 – Gyula Koi, Hungarian scholar and educator
1977 – Jamie Salé, Canadian figure skater
1978 – Jacob Burns, Australian footballer
1978 – Jukka Nevalainen, Finnish drummer
1978 – Yuliya Pechonkina, Russian hurdler
1979 – Virginie Basselot, French chef
1979 – Tobias Linderoth, French-Swedish footballer and coach
1979 – James McAvoy, Scottish actor
1980 – Jeff Keppinger, American baseball player
1980 – Vincent Lecavalier, Canadian ice hockey player
1980 – Tony Romo, American football player
1981 – Mads Junker, Danish footballer
1982 – Khalif Barnes, American football player
1982 – Micheal Luck, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Carnell Williams, American football player
1983 – Paweł Brożek, Polish footballer
1983 – Marco Donadel, Italian footballer
1983 – Tarvaris Jackson, American football player (d. 2020)
1984 – Shayna Fox, American voice actress
1986 – Audra Cohen, American tennis player
1986 – Alexander Edler, Swedish ice hockey player
1986 – Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player
1986 – Mirko Valdifiori, Italian footballer
1987 – Nadif Chowdhury, Bangladeshi cricketer
1987 – Eric Devendorf, American basketball player
1987 – Leroy George, Dutch footballer
1987 – Anastasia Prikhodko, Ukrainian singer
1988 – Ricky Berens, American swimmer
1988 – Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor
1988 – Pedro Mosquera, Spanish footballer
1988 – Adam Rooney, Irish footballer
1989 – Tatyana McFadden, Russian-American sprinter and skier
1989 – Carlos Muñoz, Chilean footballer
1990 – Aleksandar Prijović, Swiss-born Serbian footballer
1992 – Isco, Spanish footballer
1992 – Rene Santos, Brazilian footballer
1992 – Joc Pederson, American baseball player
1994 – Mitchell Weiser, German footballer
Deaths on April 21
234 – Emperor Xian of Han, Chinese emperor (b. 181)
586 – Liuvigild, king of the Visigoths
847 – Odgar, Frankish archbishop of Mainz
866 – Bardas, de facto regent of the Byzantine Empire
941 – Bajkam, de facto regent of the Abbasid Caliphate
1073 – Pope Alexander II
1109 – Anselm of Canterbury, Italian-English archbishop and saint (b. 1033)
1136 – Stephen, Count of Tréguier Breton noblemen (b. c. 1058/62)
1142 – Peter Abelard, French philosopher and theologian (b. 1079)
1213 – Maria of Montpellier, Lady of Montpellier, Queen of Aragon (b. 1182)
1329 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1282)
1400 – John Wittlebury, English politician (b. 1333)
1509 – Henry VII of England (b. 1457)
1557 – Petrus Apianus, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1495)
1574 – Cosimo I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (b. 1519)
1591 – Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (b. 1522)
1650 – Yagyū Jūbei Mitsuyoshi, Japanese samurai (b. 1607)
1668 – Jan Boeckhorst, Flemish painter (b. c. 1604)
1699 – Jean Racine, French playwright and poet (b. 1639)
1719 – Philippe de La Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (b. 1640)
1720 – Antoine Hamilton, Irish-French soldier and author (b. 1646)
1722 – Robert Beverley, Jr., English historian and author (b. 1673)
1736 – Prince Eugene of Savoy (b. 1663)
1740 – Thomas Tickell, English poet and author (b. 1685)
1758 – Francesco Zerafa, Maltese architect (b. 1679)
1815 – Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (b. 1746)
1825 – Johann Friedrich Pfaff, German mathematician and academic (b. 1765)
1852 – Ivan Nabokov, Russian general (b. 1787)
1863 – Sir Robert Bateson, 1st Baronet, Irish politician (b. 1782)
1900 – Vikramatji Khimojiraj, Indian ruler (b. 1819)
1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, German captain and pilot (b. 1892)
1924 – Eleonora Duse, Italian actress (b. 1858)
1930 – Robert Bridges, English poet and author (b. 1844)
1932 – Friedrich Gustav Piffl, Bohemian cardinal (b. 1864)
1938 – Muhammad Iqbal, Indian-Pakistani philosopher and poet (b. 1877)
1941 – Fritz Manteuffel, German gymnast (b. 1875)
1945 – Walter Model, German field marshal (b. 1891)
1946 – John Maynard Keynes, English economist and philosopher (b. 1883)
1948 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (b. 1887)
1952 – Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (b. 1890)
1954 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
1956 – Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1895)
1965 – Edward Victor Appleton, English-Scottish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1892)
1971 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (b. 1907)
1973 – Arthur Fadden, Australian accountant and politician, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
1973 – Kemal Tahir, Turkish journalist and author (b. 1910)
1974 – Chic Harley, American football player (b. 1894)
1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (b. 1893)
1978 – Sandy Denny, English singer-songwriter (b.1947)
1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (b. 1877)
1980 – Alexander Oparin, Russian biochemist and academic (b. 1894)
1980 – Sohrab Sepehri, Iranian poet and painter (b. 1928)
1983 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (b. 1902)
1984 – Marcel Janco, Romanian-Israeli artist (b. 1895)
1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian engineer and mountaineer (b. 1943)
1985 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (b. 1922)
1985 – Tancredo Neves, Brazilian banker and politician, Prime Minister of Brazil (b. 1910)
1986 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (b. 1901)
1986 – Salah Jahin, Egyptian poet, playwright, and composer (b. 1930)
1987 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
1989 – James Kirkwood, Jr., American actor, playwright, and author (b. 1924)
1990 – Erté, Russian-French illustrator (b. 1892)
1991 – Willi Boskovsky, Austrian violinist and conductor (b. 1909)
1996 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-born American engineer and race car driver (b. 1909)
1996 – Dzhokhar Dudayev, Chechen general and politician, 1st President of Ichkeria (b. 1944)
1996 – Abdul Hafeez Kardar, Pakistani cricketer (b. 1925)
1996 – Jimmy Snyder, American sportscaster (b. 1919)
1998 – Jean-François Lyotard, French sociologist and philosopher (b. 1924)
1999 – Buddy Rogers, American actor (b. 1904)
2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933)
2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)
2005 – Gerry Marshall, English race car driver and journalist (b. 1941)
2006 – Johnny Checketts, New Zealand commander and pilot (b. 1912)
2006 – T. K. Ramakrishnan, Indian politician (b. 1922)
2006 – Telê Santana, Brazilian footballer and manager (b. 1931)
2007 – Lobby Loyde, Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer (b. 1941)
2009 – Vivian Maier, American photographer (b. 1926)
2010 – Gustav Lorentzen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1947)
2010 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (b. 1920)
2010 – Kanagaratnam Sriskandan, Sri Lankan-English engineer and civil servant (b. 1930)
2011 – Catharina Halkes, Dutch theologian and academic (b. 1920)
2012 – Doris Betts, American author and academic (b. 1932)
2012 – Charles Colson, American lawyer and activist, founded Prison Fellowship (b. 1931)
2012 – Albert Falco, French captain and diver (b. 1927)
2012 – Charles Higham, English-American author and poet (b. 1931)
2012 – Jerry Toppazzini, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1931)
2013 – Chrissy Amphlett, Australian singer-songwriter and actress (b. 1959)
2013 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (b. 1929)
2013 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian Holocaust survivor, author, and educator (b. 1905)
2013 – Gordon D. Gayle, American general and historian (b. 1917)
2014 – Herb Gray, Canadian lawyer and politician, 7th Deputy Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1931)
2014 – Janet Gray Hayes, American politician, 60th Mayor of San Jose (b. 1926)
2014 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
2014 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (b. 1930)
2015 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (b. 1912)
2015 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (b. 1959)
2015 – John Moshoeu, South African footballer and manager (b. 1965)
2015 – Janaki Ballabh Patnaik, Indian politician, Governor of Assam (b. 1927)
2015 – Sydney Valpy Radley-Walters, Canadian general (b. 1920)
2015 – Betsy von Furstenberg, German-American actress (b. 1931)
2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)
2017 – Ugo Ehiogu, English footballer (b. 1972)
2018 – Verne Troyer, American actor (b. 1969)
2018 – Nabi Tajima, Japanese supercentenarian, oldest Japanese and Asian person ever, last verified person born in the 19th century (b. 1900)
1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1453 – Three Genoese galleys and a Byzantine blockade runner fight their way through an Ottoman blockading fleet a few weeks before the fall of Constantinople.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his first voyage to what is today the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador.
1535 – The sun dog phenomenon is observed over Stockholm, as later depicted in the famous painting Vädersolstavlan.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – Deposed monarch James II of England lays siege to Derry.
1752 – Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
1770 – The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: The Siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1789 – George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.
1792 – France declares war against the “King of Hungary and Bohemia”, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – The Septinsular Republic is established.
1809 – Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
1810 – The governor of Caracas, Venezuela declares independence from Spain.
1818 – The case of Ashford v Thornton ends, with Abraham Thornton allowed to go free rather than face a retrial for murder, after his demand for trial by battle is upheld.
1828 – René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter (and the first to return from) Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.
1865 – Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX’s yacht, the L’Immaculata Concezion.
1876 – The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus.
1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signed a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball’s Tiger Stadium in Detroit, and Fenway Park in Boston.
1914 – Nineteen men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miners’ strike.
1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings.
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.
1922 – The Soviet government creates South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within Georgian SSR.
1939 – Adolf Hitler’s 50th birthday’s celebrations in Germany
1945 – World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.
1946 – The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.
1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech.
1972 – Apollo program: Apollo 16 lunar module, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the moon.
1998 – Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.
2007 – Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips with a handgun barricade himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
2010 – The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that would last six months.
2012 – One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.
2013 – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya’an, in China’s Sichuan province, killing more than 150 people and injuring thousands.
2015 – Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.
Births on April 20
1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)
1544 – Renata of Lorraine, Duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1602)
1586 – Rose of Lima, Peruvian mystic and saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Kōmyō of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist and author (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English spy (d. 1680)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and politician (d. 1781)
1727 – Florimond Claude, Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-Austrian minister and diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician and psychiatrist (d. 1826)
1748 – Georg Michael Telemann, German composer and theologian (d. 1831)
1772 – William Lawless, Irish revolutionary and French general (d. 1824)
1808 – Napoleon III, French politician, 1st President of France (d. 1873)
1816 – Bogoslav Šulek, Croatian philologist, historian, and lexicographer (d. 1895)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-American mechanic and engineer (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author and poet (d. 1887)
1836 – Eli Whitney Blake, Jr., American scientist and academic (d. 1895)
1839 – Carol I of Romania, King of Romania (d. 1914)
1840 – Odilon Redon, French painter and illustrator (d. 1916)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor, designed the Lincoln statue (d. 1931)
1851 – Alexander Dianin, Russian chemist (d. 1918)
1851 – Siegmund Lubin, Polish-American businessman, founded the Lubin Manufacturing Company (d. 1923)
1860 – Justinien de Clary, French target shooter (d. 1933)
1871 – Sydney Chapman, English economist and civil servant (d. 1951)
1873 – James Harcourt, English character actor (d. 1951)
1875 – Vladimir Vidrić, Croatian poet and lawyer (d. 1909)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French fashion designer (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, American general (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1884 – Oliver Kirk, American boxer (d. 1960)
1884 – Daniel Varoujan, Armenian poet and educator (d. 1915)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer, and activist (d. 1996)
1889 – Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland (d. 1918)
1889 – Marie-Antoinette de Geuser, French mystic (d. 1918)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian born German politician, Führer of Nazi Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Tonny Kessler, Dutch footballer (d. 1960)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Quebec (d. 1959)
1890 – Adolf Schärf, Austrian soldier and politician, 6th President of Austria (d. 1965)
1891 – Dave Bancroft, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor, comedian, and producer (d. 1971)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter and sculptor (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American trombonist and composer (d. 1973)
1895 – Henry de Montherlant, French essayist, novelist, and dramatist (d. 1972)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian captain and pilot (d. 1952)
1899 – Alan Arnett McLeod, Canadian lieutenant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1918)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1907 – Miran Bux, Pakistani cricketer (d. 1991)
1907 – Augoustinos Kantiotes, Greek bishop (d. 2010)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American vibraphone player, pianist, bandleader, and actor (d. 2002)
1910 – Fatin Rüştü Zorlu, Turkish diplomat and politician (d. 1961)
1913 – Mimis Fotopoulos, Greek actor and poet (d. 1986)
1913 – Willi Hennig, German biologist and entomologist (d. 1976)
1913 – Roger Rochard, French runner (d. 1993)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African psychotherapist and physician (d. 1997)
1916 – Nasiba Zeynalova, Azerbaijani actress (d. 2004)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian lieutenant and pilot (d. 1943)
1920 – Frances Ames, South African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (d. 2002)
1920 – Clement Isong, Nigerian banker and politician, Governor of Cross River State (d. 2000)
1920 – Ronald Speirs, American colonel (d. 2007)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (d. 2019)
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster, founded Eternal Word Television Network (d. 2016)
1923 – Irene Lieblich, Polish-American painter and illustrator (d. 2008)
1923 – Tito Puente, American drummer and producer (d. 2000)
1924 – Nina Foch, Dutch-American actress (d. 2008)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor and producer
1924 – Guy Rocher, Canadian sociologist and academic
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-American football player and coach (d. 2006)
1925 – Elena Verdugo, American actress (d. 2017)
1927 – Bud Cullen, Canadian judge and politician, 1st Canadian Minister of Employment and Immigration (d. 2005)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – K. Alex Müller, Swiss physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Robert Byrne, American chess player and author (d. 2013)
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish international footballer (d. 2007)
1929 – Harry Agganis, American baseball and football player (d. 1955)
1929 – Bobby Hollander, American film director, actor, and magazine publisher (d. 2002)
1930 – Dwight Gustafson, American composer and conductor (d. 2014)
1930 – Antony Jay, English director and screenwriter (d. 2016)
1931 – Michael Allenby, 3rd Viscount Allenby, English lieutenant and politician (d. 2014)
1931 – John Eccles, 2nd Viscount Eccles, English businessman and politician
1932 – Myriam Bru, French actress
1933 – Kristaq Dhamo, Albanian actor and film director
1936 – Lisa Davis, English and American former child and adult actress
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Faroese technician, surveyor, and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American captain, journalist, and politician
1936 – Christopher Robinson, English organist and conductor
1937 – Jiří Dienstbier, Czech journalist and politician, Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2011)
1937 – Antonios Kounadis, Greek discus thrower
1937 – Harvey Quaytman, American painter and educator (d. 2002)
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1938 – Betty Cuthbert, Australian sprinter
1938 – Manfred Kinder, German runner
1938 – Peter Snow, British historian and journalist
1938 – Eszter Tamási, Hungarian actress (d. 1991)
1939 – Elspeth Ballantyne, Australian actress
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author and screenwriter
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norwegian physician and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer-songwriter
1940 – James Gammon, American actor (d. 2010)
1941 – Ryan O’Neal, American actor
1942 – Giles Henderson, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Arto Paasilinna, Finnish journalist and author
1943 – Alan Beith, English academic and politician
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor and director
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American model and actress (d. 1971)
1944 – Toivo Aare, Estonian journalist and author (d. 1999)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor and director
1945 – Olga Karlatos, Greek actress and Bermudian lawyer
1945 – Thein Sein, Burmese general and politician, 8th President of Burma
1945 – Naftali Temu, Kenyan runner (d. 2003)
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and head coach, 1966 Heisman Trophy winner
1946 – Sandro Chia, Italian painter and sculptor
1946 – Julien Poulin, Canadian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American race car driver (d. 1982)
1947 – Rita Dionne-Marsolais, Canadian economist and politician
1947 – David Leland, English actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – Viktor Suvorov, Russian intelligence officer, historian, and author
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Matthias Kuhle, German geographer and academic (d. 2015)
796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid.
1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
1738 – Real Academia de la Historia (“Royal Academy of History”) is founded in Madrid.
1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: the first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.
1831 – The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
1847 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1857 – “The Spirits Book” by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
1899 – The St. Andrew’s Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.
1902 – The 7.5 Mw Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing between 800–2,000.
1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
1923 – Yankee Stadium: “The House that Ruth Built” opens.
1925 – The International Amateur Radio Union is formed in Paris.
1930 – The British Broadcasting Corporation announced that “there is no news” in their evening report.
1939 – Robert Menzies, who became Australia’s longest-serving prime minister, is elected as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into effect.
1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country’s first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
1983 – A suicide bomber in Lebanon destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people.
1987 – The New York Islanders defeat the Washington Capitals 3–2 in Game 7 of their Patrick Division Semifinal series.
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the United Nations compound at Qana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
1997 – The Red River flood begins and soon overwhelms the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota. Fire breaks out and spreads in downtown Grand Forks, but high water levels hamper efforts to reach the fire, leading to the destruction of 11 buildings.
1999 – Wayne Gretzky, the National Hockey League’s all-time points scorer, plays his final game at Madison Square Garden as a teammate of the New York Rangers in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Gretzky recorded his final career point, an assist, bringing his career point total to 2,857.
2007 – A series of bombings, two of them being suicides, occur in Baghdad, killing 198 and injuring 251.
2013 – A suicide bombing in a Baghdad cafe kills 27 people and injures another 65.
2018 – King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country’s name will change to Eswatini.
2019 – A redacted version of the Mueller Report is released to the United States Congress and the public.
2020 – Coronavirus Pandemic: Europe surpasses 100,000 COVID-19 deaths.
Births on April 18
359 – Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
588 – K’an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)
812 – Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)
1446 – Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)
1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI
1503 – Henry II of Navarre, (d. 1555)
1534 – William Harrison, English clergyman (d. 1593)
1580 – Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)
1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)
1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)
1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)
1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)
1771 – Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)
1772 – David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)
1794 – William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)
1797 – Adolphe Thiers, French historian and politician, 2nd President of France (d. 1877)
1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)
1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)
1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)
1838 – Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)
1854 – Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
1858 – Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)
1858 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)
1863 – Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, Joint Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)
1863 – Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)
1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)
1874 – Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)
1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)
1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)
1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)
1882 – Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)
1884 – Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)
1888 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 1979)
1889 – Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)
1892 – Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)
1893 – Violette Morris, French shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1944)
1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)
1897 – Per-Erik Hedlund, Swedish skier (d. 1975)
1898 – Patrick Hennessy, Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)
1900 – Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women’s rights activist (d. 1997)
1901 – Al Lewis, American songwriter (d. 1967)
1901 – László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)
1902 – Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)
1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
1904 – Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)
1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)
1905 – George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)
1911 – Ilario Bandini, Italian businessman and racing driver (d. 1992)
1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian Jewish-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)
1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian author (d. 2014)
1915 – Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian Jewish American poet and author (d. 1960)
1916 – Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)
1916 – Doug Peden, Canadian basketball player (d. 2005)
1917 – Ty LaForest, Canadian-American baseball player (d. 1947)
1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)
1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)
1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded CliffsNotes (d. 2001)
1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)
1919 – Virginia O’Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
1919 – Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)
1920 – John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1921 – Jean Richard, French actor and singer (d. 2001)
1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
1922 – Lord Kitchener, Trinidadian singer (d. 2000)
1923 – Alfred Bieler, Swiss ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1923 – Beryl Platt, Baroness Platt of Writtle, English engineer and politician (d. 2015)
1924 – Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
1924 – Henry Hyde, American commander, lawyer, and politician (d. 2007)
1924 – Roy Mason, English miner and politician, Secretary of State for Defence (d. 2015)
1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)
1926 – Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)
1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)
1927 – Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)
1927 – Charles Pasqua, French businessman and politician, French Minister of the Interior (d. 2015)
1928 – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)
1928 – Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)
1929 – Peter Hordern, English soldier and politician
1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer
1931 – Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)
1934 – James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)
1934 – George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator
1935 – Brian Clay, Australian rugby league player (d. 1987)
1935 – Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1936 – Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer
1936 – Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)
1936 – “TV” Tommy Ivo, American actor and drag racer
1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building (d. 2009)
1937 – Tatyana Shchelkanova, Russian long jumper and heptathlete (d. 2011)
1937 – Teddy Taylor, Scottish journalist and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland
1939 – Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger
1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 – Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter
1941 – Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland
1942 – Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic
1942 – Steve Blass, American baseball player and sportscaster
1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)
1944 – Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)
1944 – Frances D’Souza, Baroness D’Souza, English academic and politician
1944 – Robert Hanssen, American FBI agent and double agent
1944 – Philip Jackson, Scottish sculptor and photographer
1945 – Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)
1945 – Richard Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
1945 – Robert Bausch, American novelist and short story writer
1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
1946 – Tommy Shannon, American bass guitarist
1947 – Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)
1947 – Dorothy Lyman, American actress
1947 – Cindy Pickett, American actress
1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter
1947 – James Woods, American actor and producer
1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter
1949 – Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
1950 – Paul Callery, Australian footballer
1950 – Tina Chow, American model and jewelry designer (d. 1992)
1950 – Kenny Ortega, American director, producer, and choreographer
1950 – Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer
1951 – Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer and coach
1951 – Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian businessman and politician, 5th Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter
1954 – Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer
1956 – Chris Jones, English footballer
1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
1957 – Ian Campbell, Australian jumper
1958 – Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of D.A.F.
1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)
1959 – Susan Faludi, American journalist and author
1959 – Frank Mulholland, Lord Mulholland, Scottish judge, former Solicitor General for Scotland and Lord Advocate
1960 – John Chiedozie, Nigerian international footballer
1960 – Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner
1961 – Kelly Hansen, American singer-songwriter
1961 – Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer
1961 – John Podhoretz, American journalist and author
1962 – Jeff Dunham, American comedian and ventriloquist
1962 – Nick Farr-Jones, Australian rugby player and sportscaster
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor and producer
1963 – Conan O’Brien, American actor, producer, screenwriter, and talk show host
1963 – Phil Simmons, Trinidadian cricketer
1963 – Peter Van Loan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of International Trade
1964 – Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic
1964 – Rithy Panh, Cambodian director and screenwriter
1966 – Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
1967 – Maria Bello, American actress and writer
1969 – Keith DeCandido, American author
1969 – Stefan Schwarz, Swedish footballer and manager
1969 – Robert Změlík, Czech decathlete
1970 – Rico Brogna, American baseball player and coach
1970 – Greg Eklund, American drummer and guitarist
1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon
1970 – François Leroux, Canadian ice hockey player and radio host
1970 – Tatiana Stefanidou, Greek journalist and talk show host
1971 – Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
1971 – Graham Rowntree, English rugby player
1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
1972 – Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
1972 – Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1972 – Michael Rutter, English motorcycle racer
1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
1973 – Brady Clark, American baseball player
1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
1974 – Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican-American actress and singer
1974 – Mark Tremonti, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1976 – Gavin Creel, American actor and singer
1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress, director, and producer
1976 – Andrew Ilie, Romanian-Australian tennis player
1976 – Justin Ross, American politician
1976 – Staffan Strand, Swedish high jumper
1977 – Dan LaCouture, American ice hockey player
1977 – Cindy Taylor, Paraguayan model and actress
1979 – Michael Bradley, American basketball player and coach
1979 – Ethan Cohn, American actor
1979 – Matt Cooper, Australian rugby league player
1979 – Anthony Davidson, English racing driver
1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American model and businesswoman
1980 – Rabiu Afolabi, Nigerian footballer and manager
1980 – Justin Levens, American mixed martial artist (d. 2008)
1981 – Brian Buscher, American baseball player
1981 – Milan Jovanović, Serbian footballer
1981 – Aldo Ramírez, Colombian footballer
1981 – Audrey Tang, Taiwanese computer scientist and academic
1982 – Ibrahim al-Asiri, Saudi Arabian terrorist
1982 – Greg Camarillo, American football player
1982 – Ricardo Colclough, Canadian-American football player
1982 – Simone Farina, Italian footballer
1982 – Scott Hartnell, Canadian ice hockey player
1982 – Blair Late, American singer-songwriter and journalist
1982 – Darren Sutherland, Irish boxer (d. 2009)
1982 – Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Reeve Carney, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor
1984 – Red Bryant, American football player
1984 – America Ferrera, American actress and producer
1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
1986 – Billy Butler, American baseball player
1986 – Maurice Edu, American soccer player
1986 – Taylor Griffin, American basketball player
1986 – Conrad Logan, Irish footballer
1986 – Efraín Velarde, Mexican footballer
1987 – Brett Deledio, Australian footballer
1987 – Danny Guthrie, English footballer
1987 – Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, English model and actress
1987 – Samantha Jade, Australian singer-songwriter and actress
1987 – Ivan Tričkovski, Macedonian footballer
1988 – Andre Frolov, Estonian footballer
1988 – Alexander Hauck, South African-German rugby player
1989 – Jessica Jung, Korean American singer, songwriter, actress, and fashion designer
1990 – Henderson Álvarez, Venezuelan baseball player
1990 – Anna van der Breggen, Dutch cyclist
1990 – Jake Howells, English footballer
1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
1990 – Junior Torunarigha, Nigerian footballer
1993 – Matt Salisbury, English cricketer
1993 – Nathan Sykes, English singer-songwriter
1995 – Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
1996 – Mariah Bell, American figure skater
1996 – Ioana Ducu, Romanian tennis player
1997 – Matthias Blübaum, German chess grandmaster
1997 – Donny van de Beek, Dutch footballer
Deaths on April 18
727 – Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader
850 – Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr
909 – Dionysius II, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch
943 – Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)
963 – Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire
1161 – Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)
1176 – Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint
1552 – John Leland, English poet and historian (b. 1502)
1555 – Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)
1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)
1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
1587 – John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)
1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge and politician (b. 1557)
1650 – Simonds d’Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)
1674 – John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)
1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1648)
1732 – Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)
1742 – Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)
1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)
1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
1832 – Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
1859 – Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
1864 – Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)
1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)
1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)
1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
1912 – Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)
1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)
1923 – Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)
1936 – Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)
1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)
1938 – George Bryant, American archer (b. 1878)
1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)
1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)
1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)
1951 – Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
1955 – Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)
1958 – Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)
1959 – Irving Cummings, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1888)
1959 – Percy Smith, English footballer and manager (b. 1880)
1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)
1964 – Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum: Mark Antony, besieging Caesar’s assassin Decimus Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, but is then immediately defeated by the army of the other consul, Aulus Hirtius.
AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, surrounds the Jewish capital with four Roman legions.
193 – Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).
966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
972 – Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome.
1028 – Henry III, son of Conrad, is elected King of Germany.
1205 – Battle of Adrianople between Bulgarians and Crusaders.
1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.
1341 – Sack of Saluzzo (Italy) by Italian-Angevine troops under Manfred V, Marquess of Saluzzo.
1434 – The foundation stone of Nantes Cathedral, France is laid.
1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years’ War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
1699 – Khalsa: The Sikh religion was formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.
1775 – The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush.
1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion and is killed. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary.
1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln died the next day.
1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell.
1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas.
1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C.
1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.
1900 – The Exposition Universelle begins.
1902 – James Cash Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1906 – The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, U.S., fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream.
1909 – A massacre is organized by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population of Cilicia.
1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th).
1927 – The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada – the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas.
1939 – The Grapes of Wrath, by American author John Steinbeck is first published by the Viking Press.
1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
1941 – World War II: German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.
1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours.
1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.
1978 – Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language.
1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight.
1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.
1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.
2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in Jama Masjid, Delhi injure 13 people.
2010 – Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.
2014 – Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others.
2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.
2016 – In Japan, the foreshock of Kumamoto earthquakes occurs.
Births on April 14
1126 – Averroes, Spanish physician and philosopher (d. 1198)
1204 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
1331 – Jeanne-Marie de Maille, French Roman Catholic saint (d. 1414)
1527 – Abraham Ortelius, Flemish cartographer and geographer (d. 1598)
1572 – Adam Tanner, Austrian mathematician, philosopher, and academic (d. 1632)
1578 – Philip III of Spain (d. 1621)
1629 – Christiaan Huygens, Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1695)
1668 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741)
1678 – Abraham Darby I, English iron master (d. 1717)
1709 – Charles Collé, French playwright and songwriter (d. 1783)
1714 – Adam Gib, Scottish minister and author (d. 1788)
1738 – William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, English politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1809)
1741 – Emperor Momozono of Japan (d. 1762)
1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799)
1773 – Jean-Baptiste de Villèle, French politician, 6th Prime Minister of France (d. 1854)
1788 – David G. Burnet, American politician, 2nd Vice-President of Texas (d. 1870)
1800 – John Appold, English engineer (d. 1865)
1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898)
1814 – Dimitri Kipiani, Georgian publicist and author (d. 1887)
1819 – Harriett Ellen Grannis Arey, American educator, author, editor, and publisher (d. 1901)
1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900)
1852 – Alexander Greenlaw Hamilton, Australian biologist (d. 1941)
1854 – Martin Lipp, Estonian pastor and poet (d. 1923)
1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (d. 1944)
1865 – Alfred Hoare Powell, English architect, and designer and painter of pottery (d. 1960)
1866 – Anne Sullivan, American educator (d. 1936)
1868 – Peter Behrens, German architect, designed the AEG turbine factory (d. 1940)
1870 – Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter and educator (d. 1905)
1870 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1929)
1872 – Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Indian-English scholar and translator (d. 1953)
1876 – Cecil Chubb, English barrister and one time owner of Stonehenge (d. 1934)
1881 – Husain Salaahuddin, Maldivian poet and scholar (d. 1948)
1882 – Moritz Schlick, German-Austrian physicist and philosopher (d. 1936)
1886 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German philologist and scholar (d. 1956)
1886 – Árpád Tóth, Hungarian poet and translator (d. 1928)
1889 – Arnold J. Toynbee, English historian and academic (d. 1975)
1891 – B. R. Ambedkar, Indian economist, jurist, and politician, 1st Indian Minister of Law and Justice (d. 1956)
1891 – Otto Lasanen, Finnish wrestler (d. 1958)
1892 – Juan Belmonte, Spanish bullfighter (d. 1962)
1892 – V. Gordon Childe, Australian archaeologist and philologist (d. 1957)
1892 – Claire Windsor, American actress (d. 1972)
1902 – Sylvio Mantha, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and referee (d. 1974)
1903 – Henry Corbin, French philosopher and academic (d. 1978)
1903 – Ruth Svedberg, Swedish discus thrower and triathlete (d. 2002)
1904 – John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (d. 2000)
1905 – Elizabeth Huckaby, American author and educator (d. 1999)
1905 – Georg Lammers, German sprinter (d. 1987)
1905 – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French author and activist (d. 1999)
1906 – Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabian king (d. 1975)
1907 – François Duvalier, Haitian physician and politician, 40th President of Haiti (d. 1971)
1912 – Robert Doisneau, French photographer and journalist (d. 1994)
1912 – Georg Siimenson, Estonian footballer (d. 1978)
1913 – Jean Fournet, French conductor (d. 2008)
1916 – Don Willesee, Australian telegraphist and politician, 29th Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (d. 2003)
1917 – Valerie Hobson, English actress (d. 1998)
1917 – Marvin Miller, American baseball executive (d. 2012)
1918 – Mary Healy, American actress and singer (d. 2015)
1919 – Shamshad Begum, Pakistani-Indian singer (d. 2013)
1919 – K. Saraswathi Amma, Indian author and playwright (d. 1975)
1920 – Ivor Forbes Guest, English lawyer, historian, and author (d. 2018)
1921 – Thomas Schelling, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2016)
1922 – Audrey Long, American actress (d. 2014)
1923 – Roberto De Vicenzo, Argentinian golfer (d. 2017)
1924 – Shorty Rogers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1994)
1924 – Joseph Ruskin, American actor and producer (d. 2013)
1924 – Mary Warnock, Baroness Warnock, English philosopher, and academic (d. 2019)
1925 – Abel Muzorewa, Zimbabwean minister and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia (d. 2010)
1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002)
1926 – Barbara Anderson, New Zealand author (d. 2013)
1926 – Frank Daniel, Czech director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1996)
1926 – Gloria Jean, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
1926 – Liz Renay, American actress and author (d. 2007)
1927 – Alan MacDiarmid, New Zealand chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1927 – Dany Robin, French actress and singer (d. 1995)
1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
1929 – Inez Andrews, African-American singer-songwriter (d. 2012)
1930 – Martin Adolf Bormann, German priest and theologian (d. 2013)
1930 – Arnold Burns, American lawyer and politician, 21st United States Deputy Attorney General (d. 2013)
1930 – René Desmaison, French mountaineer (d. 2007)
1930 – Bradford Dillman, American actor and author (d. 2018)
1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral
1931 – Paul Masnick, Canadian ice hockey player
1932 – Bill Bennett, Canadian lawyer and politician, 27th Premier of British Columbia (d. 2015)
1932 – Atef Ebeid, Egyptian academic and politician, 47th Prime Minister of Egypt (d. 2014)
1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician
1932 – Cameron Parker, Scottish businessman and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrewshire
1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver
