Today in History

21st April

509 Henry VIII became King of England following the death of his father, Henry VII.

1916 Roger Casement, the Irish-born British consular official, landed in Ireland from a German submarine prepared to lead the Sinn Fein rebellion, but was arrested as the ‘Easter Uprising’ took place. The rebellion against the British in Dublin reached its worst level as Irish republicans took over sections of the city, while a Royal Navy gunboat bombarded them from the River Liffey.

1918 Baron Manfred von Richthofen, the legendary German ace pilot who had destroyed 80 Allied aircraft, was shot down by an RAF fighter and died from the crash behind British lines. He was known as the ‘Red Baron’ because of his distinctive red Fokker tri-plane.

1926 Queen Elizabeth II was born. On 23rd Janury 2015, (following the death of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz), the Queen became the oldest reigning monarch in the world and on 21st April 2016 she became the first 90 year old head of state of the UK and 15 other Commonwealth realms.

1934 The 'Surgeon's Photograph', the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, was published in the Daily Mail. In 1999, it was revealed to be a hoax.
 
1862
U.S. Congress established U.S. Mint in Denver, Colorado. It's the oldest continually operating facility,it produces coins for circulation,mint sets, commemorative coins. It also offers public tours
1918
German WWI fighter ace Manfred Von Richthofen aka' Red Baron' is shot down& killed in France by Canadian pilot, Arthur Roy Brown
1956
Elvis Presley's 1st hit single' Heartbreak Hotel' hits # 1 on music charts, stays there for 8 weeks
1991
French underwater archaeologist, Franck Goddeo discovers the San Diego Dutch galleon ship which sunk in 1600 off Fortune Island in Phillipines
 

22nd April

1838 The British steamer Sirius became the first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean from England to New York. The voyage took 18 days and 10 hours.

1959 Dame Margot Fonteyn released from jail. The world famous British ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn arrived in New York after spending 24 hours in a Panama City jail.

1964 British businessman Greville Wynne, imprisoned by the Russians for spying, was swapped for the Russian spy Gordon Lonsdale, who was jailed by the British for his role in an espionage ring in 1961.

1969 British yachtsman Robin Knox-Johnston sailed into Falmouth Harbour, completing the first non-stop solo voyage around the world. He was at sea for 312 days. His yacht was named Suhaili which means "good wind".

1980 Thirteen leading officials of the ousted government in Liberia were publicly executed on the orders of the new military regime.

1997 Troops stormed the Japanese embassy in Peru and freed all but one of 72 hostages held inside, ending a four-month siege of the building by anti-government rebels.
 
April 24th:
1833
Jacob Evert&George Dulty patent the 1st soda fountain
1888
Eastman Kodak Company is founded by George Eastman in Rochester, NY. The company is still in operation but now focuses on commerical printing, imaging solutions for businesses
1913
Woolworth building in NYC opens costing #13.5 million, at the time it was the world's tallest building at 792 feet
Its now worth $430 million
1953
Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
1979
Georgia names Ray Charles's version' Georgia On My Mind' as the official state song. It was written by Hoagy Carmichael&Stuart Gorell
2018
streaming music services overtake worldwide sales of CD's& vinyl records for the 1st time
 
25th April

1284 The birth, at Caernarfon Castle, of King Edward II, who became the first heir-apparent to bear the title Prince of Wales.

1599 The birth of Oliver Cromwell, Protector of England who led his ‘Ironsides’ in the English Civil War against the ‘Cavaliers’ of King Charles I. Cromwell’s victories enabled him to have the King tried and beheaded, after which he established a republic.

1859 British and French engineers broke ground for the creation of the Suez Canal.

1915 Australian and New Zealand soldiers formed part of the allied expedition that set out to capture the Gallipoli peninsula. These became known as Anzacs and the pride they took in that name continues to this day. The Anzacs landed on Gallipoli and met fierce resistance from the Ottoman Turkish defenders. Their plan to knock Türkiye out of the war quickly became a stalemate and the campaign dragged on for eight months. At the end of 1915, the allied forces were evacuated. Both sides suffered heavy casualties and endured great hardships. Over 8,000 Australian soldiers were killed.

1974 Rebels seized control of Portugal after a dawn coup ended nearly 50 years of dictatorship. A largely bloodless revolution, marked by the carnations that were placed in the rifles of the soldiers, it led to the successful establishment of democracy in Portugal and the integration of more than half-a-million "retornados" – returnees – Portuguese citizens from its former African colonies.

1982 Britain re-established its presence in the Falkland Islands after a two-hour assault by Royal Marines on the remote island of South Georgia.
 
On This Day In History, April 26th

2005, Syria ended its military occupation of Lebanon after 29 years
Syria buckled to domestic and international pressure following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14 of the same year.

1994, Germany made Holocaust denial illegal
The far-right party NPD had sought legitimation by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court for expressing the view that the Nazis' genocide of six million Jews never occurred. The court ruled against them.

1989 The deadliest tornado in history killed about 1300 people
The Daulatpur–Saturia Tornado devastated everything in its 50-mile-long path across central Bangladesh.

1986, The worst nuclear disaster in history occurred in Chernobyl
Large parts of Europe were contaminated when reactor 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded. Although the number of deaths attributable to the disaster is difficult to determine, experts anticipate tens of thousands of deaths across Europe in the coming decades due to cancer caused by the radioactive fallout.

1925, Franz Kafka published his landmark novel The Trial
The text, which was initially published as Der Process, is a nightmarish account of a man being arrested and prosecuted by a faceless authority for an unknown crime.
 
Births On This Day, April 26th 🎂

1932 Israr Ahmed
Indian/Pakistani theologian, philosopher, scholar

1917 I. M. Pei
Chinese/American architect, designed the National Gallery of Art, Bank of China Tower

1889 Ludwig Wittgenstein
Austrian/English philosopher

1822 Frederick Law Olmsted
American journalist and landscape designer who co-designed Central Park

121 Marcus Aurelius
Roman Emperor

Deaths On This Day, April 26th 🪦

1999 Adrian Borland
English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1989 Lucille Ball
American actress

1984 Count Basie
American pianist, bandleader, and composer

1951 Arnold Sommerfeld
German physicist

1920 Srinivasa Ramanujan
Indian mathematician
 
Bretrick said:
21st April 1969
Janis Joplin makes her first London concert appearance at Royal Albert Hall, a performance considered by many to be one of the best of her career.
Click to expand...
Janis electrified audiences whenever she appeared. We did several festivals with her on the bill, and most everyone stopped what they were doing in order to listen when she was performing. It was a shame, her tragic ending.
 
26th April

1895 The start of the trial of playwright Oscar Wide who was charged with homosexuality.

1923 The marriage of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (later 'the Queen Mother') to the Duke of York (later King George VI) at Westminster Abbey in London. It was the first royal wedding at the abbey since 1383.

1962 The American Moon rocket Ranger IV landed on the far side of the Moon. However, a failure in the spacecraft's onboard computer left Ranger 4's solar panels and navigation system undeployed and the spacecraft unable to carry out its science objectives.

1989 Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland held their first annual pig race watched by over 7,000 people. One punter won £200 on the favourite, Porky’s Revenge, and the bookies handed the remainder of their money to the charity People in Need. 🐷🐖

2014 The only surviving letter thought to have been written on the ill-fated Titanic, was sold at auction for £119,000.
 
On This Day In History, April 27th

2005, the Airbus A380 took to the skies for the first time
The double-deck airliner is the world's largest commercial jet.

1994, South African citizens of all races were allowed to vote in a general election for the first time
The 1994 general election was held precisely 44 years after Apartheid was formalised by the government with the passing of the Group Areas Act.

1992 For the first time in its 700-year history, the British House of Commons is presided over by a female Speaker
Betty Boothroyd served as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1992 to 2000.

1961, Sierra Leone became an independent republic
The West African country's first Prime Minister, Sir Milton Margai, ended over 150 years of British colonial rule.

1810 Ludwig van Beethoven composes “Für Elise”
“Bagatelle No. 25” for solo piano is one of the German composer's most popular works and one of the most recognised melodies in the history of music.
 
Births On This Day, April 27th 🎂

1963 Russell T Davies
Welsh screenwriter, producer

1935 Theodoros Angelopoulos
Greek director, producer, screenwriter

1822 Ulysses S. Grant
American general, politician, 18th President of the United States

1791 Samuel Morse
American painter, inventor, and co-inventor of Morse code

1759 Mary Wollstonecraft
English author, philosopher

Deaths On This Day, April 27th 🪦

1992 Olivier Messiaen
French composer, ornithologist

1972 Kwame Nkrumah
Ghanaian politician, 1st President of Ghana

1938 Edmund Husserl
Austrian mathematician, philosopher

1896 Henry Parkes
English/Australian politician, 7th Premier of New South Wales

1521 Ferdinand Magellan
Portuguese explorer
 
1937
The 1st U.S. social security payment was given to retired Cleveland, Ohio motorman Ernest Ackerman. He took one time lump sum total 17 cents
1967
Expo 67 opens in Montreal, Canada which featured a giant biosphere designed by Buckminster Fuller
1992
Betty Boothroyd becomes the 1st woman Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700 yr history. She served from 1992-2000 she died in 2023 age 93
2018
North Korea's President, Kim Jong-Un & South Korea's President, Moon Jae-In meet and officially end Korean War,rid the peninsula of nuclear weapons
 
On This Day In History, April 28th

2004, the first Abu Ghraib torture pictures were published
The images aired in a 60 Minutes II report showed gross human rights violations, including torture and murder, committed by U.S. soldiers and CIA personnel in the Baghdad prison.

2001, Dennis Tito became the first space tourist in history
A Russian rocket transported the Californian billionaire to the International Space Station (ISS).

1994 Former CIA officer Aldrich Ames admits he forwarded U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union
Ames was sentenced to life imprisonment for his activities, which amounted to one of the most damaging spy cases in U.S. history.

1969 Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France
De Gaulle founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and became its first President a year later.

1947 Thor Heyerdahl begins his legendary journey on Kon-Tiki
The Norwegian explorer and his crew set out on the 101-day journey on the self-built raft to prove that South Americans could have reached and settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
 
Births On This Day, April 28th 🎂

1974 Penélope Cruz
Spanish/American actress

1948 Terry Pratchett
English author

1937 Saddam Hussein
Iraqi politician, 5th President of Iraq

1916 Ferruccio Lamborghini
Italian businessman created Lamborghini

1908 Oskar Schindler
Czech/German businessman

Deaths On This Day, April 28th 🪦

1992 Francis Bacon
Irish painter

1949 Aurora Quezon
Filipino wife of Manuel L. Quezon, the 2nd First Lady of the Philippines

1946 Louis Bachelier
French mathematician

1945 Benito Mussolini
Italian politician, Dictator of Italy

1716 Louis de Montfort
French priest, saint
 
28th April

1603 The funeral of Queen Elizabeth I took place at Westminster Abbey.

1772 The death, in London, of the world's most travelled goat. She had circumnavigated the world twice, first on Dolphin under Captain Wallis, then on Cook's Endeavour. The Lord of the Admiralty even signed a document acknowledging her age and adventures.

1789 The crew of the Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, mutinied against the harsh life at sea under Captain Bligh. Bligh and 17 others were cast adrift in a small boat without a chart. While the mutineers eventually colonized Pitcairn Island, Bligh managed to sail the small craft 3,618 miles to Timor, near Java.

1945 Deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, shot and executed by Italian partisans.

1986 The Soviet Union acknowledged there has been an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
 
On This Day In History, April 29th


1997 The Chemical Weapons Convention becomes effective
The arms control treaty prohibits the production, storage, and use of chemical weapons. It has so far been ratified by some 190 countries.

1992 Deadly riots erupt in Los Angeles
53 people died in the riots, which started after the acquittal of the 4 Los Angeles police officers accused of the brutal beating of Rodney King.

1975 Hubert van Es takes the famous picture of a helicopter airlift from a Saigon rooftop
The image shows South Vietnamese civilians employed by the U.S. trying to escape Saigon on the day before the city's fall. It came to symbolize the American defeat in Vietnam.

1968 The musical Hair goes to Broadway
As a portrait of the 1960s hippie counterculture and sexual revolution, it was highly controversial at the time. Some of the musical's songs became anthems of the peace movement during the Vietnam War.

1945 A day before committing suicide, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun marry
On the same day, U.S. troops liberated the Dachau concentration camp near Munich.
 
Births On This Day, April 29th 🎂

1974 Anggun
Indonesian/French singer-songwriter, producer

1958 Michelle Pfeiffer
American actress, singer

1901 Hirohito
Japanese Emperor

1899 Duke Ellington
American pianist, composer, and bandleader

1854 Henri Poincaré
French mathematician, physicist, and engineer

Deaths On This Day, April 29th 🪦

2006 John Kenneth Galbraith
Canadian/American economist

1980 Alfred Hitchcock
English director, producer

1951 Ludwig Wittgenstein
Austrian/English philosopher

1937 William Gillette
American actor, author

1921 Arthur Mold
English cricketer
 
29th April

1958 The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opened for its first night in London, to a rapturous reception.

1978 Afghan coup rebels claimed victory. The new rulers of Afghanistan announced that almost the whole of the leadership of the ousted regime was dead.

1986 The Duchess of Windsor, Wallis Simpson, was laid to rest alongside her husband, the abdicated King Edward VIII, at Frogmore in Windsor.

1993 It was announced that Buckingham Palace would be opened to the public for the first time (during August & September) in a bid to raise funds to repair Windsor Castle.

2008 The unveiling, in his home town of Bolton, of the 8ft memorial statue to the legendary steeplejack Fred Dibnah. Dibnah was also an industrial historian, mechnical engineer, steam engine enthusiast and television presenter. He was awarded the MBE in the 2004 New Year Honours for services to heritage and broadcasting.

2011 The marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The day was declared a bank holiday in celebration.
 
Ann-Margret Olsson, known professionally as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress, singer, and dancer whose career has spanned seven decades. Born in Sweden in 1941, she immigrated to the U.S. with her family in 1946. She started her career in cabaret and became a Hollywood star after starring in Viva Las Vegas (1964) with Elvis Presley. She also appeared in Bye Bye Birdie, The Cincinnati Kid, and Tommy.

Ann-Margret made multiple trips to Vietnam during the war to entertain U.S. troops, including in 1966 and 1968. She traveled with the USO and performed for American service members stationed in Vietnam, often traveling to dangerous locations like the "Iron Triangle".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top