Today in History

This day in History, April 13th

1997 Tiger Woods becomes the youngest ever golfer to win the Masters Tournament
The then 21-year old sportsman was also the first person of African heritage to win a major golf title. Tiger Woods is considered one of the most successful golfers of all time.

1970 An oxygen tank explodes on Apollo 13, leaving the spacecraft crippled
The emergency prompted Jack Swigert's famous quote “Houston, we've had a problem”. The crew managed to return to Earth safely.

1970 Mikis Theodorakis is freed
The Greek composer and politician were interned in the concentration camp of Oropos by the right-wing military junta. The solidarity movement demanding his release included Dmitri Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein, and Harry Belafonte.

1960 The world's first satellite navigation system is launched
Transit 1B was primarily used by the U.S. Navy to update the navigation systems aboard their Polaris submarines.

1919 British troops massacred around 400 unarmed civilians in India
Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer ordered his men to shoot into the crowd, in his own words “to punish the Indians for disobedience.” The Indian independence movement grew considerably after the Amritsar massacre.
 

Births On This Day, April 13th 🎂

1963 Garry Kasparov
Russian chess player

1949 Christopher Hitchens
English/American journalist, author

1924 Stanley Donen
American director, choreographer

1906 Samuel Beckett
Irish/French author, playwright, director, Nobel Prize laureate

1743 Thomas Jefferson
American politician, 3rd President of the United States

Deaths On This Day, April 13th 🪦

2009 Harry Kalas
American sportscaster

1954 Angus Lewis Macdonald
Canadian politician

1938 Grey Owl
English/Canadian environmentalist, author

1882 Bruno Bauer
German historian, philosopher

1868 Tewodros II
of Ethiopia
 
13th April

1668 The appointment of the first Poet Laureate - John Dryden.

1742 George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah made its world-premiere, in Dublin, Ireland.

1829 The British Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, lifting restrictions imposed on Catholics at the time of Henry VIII.

2014 New research defined Britishness as the monarchy, the BBC and pubs, with William Shakespeare, the House of Commons and our weather topping the list. The British Social Attitudes survey found that a third of people were very proud to be British, compared with 43 per cent a decade previously.
 

This day in History, April 14th

2003 The Human Genome Project is completed
The project dedicated to mapping the genes of the human genome was started in October 1990.

1988 The Soviet Union agrees to withdraw from Afghanistan
Soviet troops had invaded the country in 1979 to support the communist rulers. They were defeated primarily by the Mujahideen, who were groups of militant Islamists sponsored by the CIA.

1986 The heaviest hailstones ever recorded hit Bangladesh
The lumps of ice weighed about 1 kg (2.2 lb). A total of 92 people reportedly died as a result.

1912 Doomed passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic
The subsequent sinking of the world's largest ocean liner of the time resulted in more than 1500 deaths. It was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history.

1865 U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot
The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, wanted to revive the Confederate cause, mere days after their surrender to the Union Army, bringing the American Civil War to an end. Lincoln died the next day.
 
Births On This Day, April 14th 🎂

1977 Sarah Michelle Gellar
American actress, producer

1904 John Gielgud
English actor, director, producer

1892 V. Gordon Childe
Australian archaeologist, philologist

1891 B. R. Ambedkar
Indian jurist, politician

1629 Christiaan Huygens
Dutch mathematician, astronomer, physicist

Deaths On This Day, April 14th 🪦

1964 Rachel Carson
American biologist, author

1950 Ramana Maharshi
Indian philosopher

1935 Amalie Emmy Noether
German mathematician

1925 John Singer Sargent
American painter

1759 George Frideric Handel
German/English composer
 
14th April

1536 Henry VIII dissolved the 'Reformation Parliament'.

1931 The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code, a set of guidelines and rules for drivers.

1950 Comic strip hero Dan Dare, the pilot of a space ship, made his first appearance in the first edition of the comic, the Eagle. The comic merged with Lion comic in 1969. All 900,000 copies of the first issue were sold. Its founders were Mancunian Frank Hampson and an Oxford-educated vicar Marcus Morris.

1971 Culzean Castle, in South Ayrshire achieved a 'Category A' listing (i.e. a building of national or international importance). The Marquess of Ailsa gave Culzean Castle and its surrounding gardens and woodland to the National Trust for Scotland. He asked that part of the Castle be offered to General Eisenhower, as a thank you from the Scottish people for commanding the allied forces in the battle for Europe.

1983 The first cordless telephone, capable of operating up to 600 feet from base, was introduced. It was made by Fidelity and British Telecom and sold for £170.
 
This day in History, April 15th

1994 The World Trade Organization is founded
The WTO coordinates and strives to liberalize international trade. It has been criticized for ignoring and escalating the negative social and environmental side-effects of globalization.

1989 A small group of students initiates a pro-democracy protest on Tiananmen Square in Beijing
The death of reformer Hu Yaobang triggered the demonstrations, which grew in size and were brutally dispersed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4.

1986 The United States launches retaliatory airstrikes against Libya
Around 40 Libyans died in Operation El Dorado Canyon, including an infant girl. The attack was the United States' response to the bombing of a Berlin discotheque on April 5, in which 3 people had died.

1945 The German concentration camp Bergen-Belsen is liberated
British and Canadian troops found about 53,000 prisoners inside the camp. Tens of thousands died before and after the liberation.

1935 The Eastman Kodak Company launches Kodachrome
The photographic film was one of the most popular media used by professional and hobby photographers around the world. The product was discontinued in 2009 because of the advent of digital photography.
 
Births On This Day, April 15th 🎂

1894 Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union

1858 Émile Durkheim
French sociologist

1843 Henry James
American/English author

1832 Wilhelm Busch
German poet, painter, illustrator

1452 Leonardo da Vinci
Italian painter, sculptor, architect

Deaths On This Day, April 15th 🪦

1998 Pol Pot
Cambodian politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia

1990 Greta Garbo
Swedish actress

1980 Jean-Paul Sartre
French philosopher, writer

1889 Father Damien
Flemish missionary, priest

1865 Abraham Lincoln
American lawyer, politician, 16th President of the United States
 
This day in History, April 16th

2012 The trial of Anders Behring Breivik begins in Oslo
The right-wing extremist had killed 77 people, mostly teenagers, in Oslo with a car bomb and at a youth camp on Utøya island. After doubts about his mental health emerged before the trial, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.

2003 Ten new member states are admitted to the European Union
The Treaty of Accession admitted countries including Poland, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic to the EU. Its original title contains 99 words.

1964 The Rolling Stones release their debut album
The album The Rolling Stones, released in the United States with the added title “England's Newest Hit Makers”, topped the UK charts for twelve weeks.

1917 Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia from exile
The communist revolutionary became the leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) later that year. From 1922, he was the first Premier of the Soviet Union.

1912 Harriet Quimby flies across the English Channel
The U.S. aviator was the first woman who achieved this feat. She died at the age of 37 when her plane crashed in Massachusetts.
 
Births On This Day, April 16th 🎂

1939 Dusty Springfield
English singer, producer

1927 Pope Benedict XVI
1918 Spike Milligan
Indian/Irish actor, singer, screenwriter, author

1896 Tristan Tzara
Romanian/French poet, critic

1889 Charlie Chaplin
English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, composer

Deaths On This Day, April 16th 🪦

1958 Rosalind Franklin
English scientist

1879 Bernadette Soubirous
French mystic, saint

1859 Alexis de Tocqueville
French historian, scientist

1850 Marie Tussaud
French sculptor founded Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

1828 Francisco Goya
Spanish painter
 
This day in History, April 17th

1986 The world's longest war ends without a single shot having been fired
The state of war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly had been extended for a total of 335 years by the lack of a peace treaty. Some historians doubt that war had ever been declared.

1978 Mir Akbar Khyber's assassination triggers a communist coup in Afghanistan
The Communists introduced a series of reforms, such as equal rights for women and universal education. These achievements were undone soon after by the outbreak of several wars.

1975 Phnom Penh falls to the Khmer Rouge
The regime under “Brother number 1” Pol Pot tortured and killed several million people. Amongst the communists' perceived enemies were intellectuals, anyone with a connection to the former government, and several ethnic minorities.

1961 A CIA-sponsored paramilitary group attempts to invade Cuba
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban government. The United States government had ordered the CIA to plan Fidel Castro's overthrow.

1521 Martin Luther faces charges for his revolutionary religious writings
The German monk was a leading figure in the Protestant Reformation. As a result of the hearing before the Diet of Worms, he was excommunicated and declared an outlaw.
 
Births On This Day, April 17th 🎂

1974 Victoria Beckham
English singer, actress

1972 Muttiah Muralitharan
Sri Lankan cricketer

1966 Vikram
Indian actor, singer, producer

1964 Maynard James Keenan
American singer-songwriter, producer

1734 Taksin
Thai king

Deaths On This Day, April 17th 🪦

2014 Gabriel García Márquez
Colombian author, journalist, Nobel Prize laureate

2014 Karpal Singh
Malaysian politician

1988 Louise Nevelson
American sculptor

1790 Benjamin Franklin
American politician, scientist, publisher, 6th President of Pennsylvania

1680 Kateri Tekakwitha
American saint
 
This day in History. April 18th

1956 Rainier III marries Grace Kelly
The wedding celebrations for the Prince of Monaco and the glamorous U.S. actress were broadcast around the world and enthused the population of war-torn Europe.

1951 The European Coal and Steel Community, a precursor of the European Union, is established
The Treaty of Paris was signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.

1949 Ireland becomes an independent republic
Six counties in the northern part of the island remained in the Commonwealth, leading to a decades-long ethnic-nationalist conflict that culminated in The Troubles.

1906 A massive earthquake destroys San Francisco
About 3000 people died in the disaster. Over 80 percent of the city was destroyed by the quake and resulting fires.

1506 Construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica begins
St. Peter's in Vatican City is one of the world's most important Catholic sites.
 
Births On This Day, April 18th 🎂

1973 Haile Gebrselassie
Ethiopian runner

1971 David Tennant
Scottish actor

1964 Niall Ferguson
Scottish historian

1902 Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Russian/French rabbi

1882 Leopold Stokowski
Polish/English conductor

Deaths On This Day, April 18th 🪦

2012 Dick Clark
American television host, producer, founded Productions

2002 Thor Heyerdahl
Norwegian explorer

1964 Ben Hecht
American screenwriter, director, producer

1955 Albert Einstein
German/American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1943 Isoroku Yamamoto
Japanese Admiral
 
18th April

1881 The Natural History Museum in London was opened.

1912 The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brought 705 survivors to New York from the RMS Titanic that had sunk on on 15th April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton.

1949 The first 'Bob-a-Job week' began when 440,000 British Scouts started a nationwide campaign to raise the £22,000 needed to cover the deficits of the Scout movement. In the first year £60,000 was raised. The variety of jobs undertaken included a 13 year old who spent four hours cleaning the silver at 10 Downing Street.

1980 Rhodesia became Zimbabwe at midnight and independent from Britain. Canaan Banana was the President and Robert Mugabe the Prime Minister.

1988 In the House of Commons, the 16th-century symbol of the Speaker’s authority, the Mace, was damaged by Ron Brown, Labour MP for Leith, when he flung it to the floor during a debate. It was described by his own supporters as ‘a childish stunt’ and led to his 20 day suspension.
 
This day in History, April 19th

1995 168 die in the Oklahoma City bombing
Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the attack, was executed on June 11, 2001. The motives for the bombing, which also killed 19 babies and children, remain somewhat unclear.

1987 The first installment of The Simpsons is aired
The hugely popular animated sitcom debuted on the Tracey Ullman Show in the form of one-minute shorts.

1971 The Soviet Union launches the world's first manned space station
Salyut 1 was 23 meters long and offered 100 cubic meters of pressurized space.

1919 Leslie Irvin makes the world's first free-fall parachute jump
The jump was executed to test a new kind of parachute, which was also the first featuring a ripcord. The Hollywood stuntman broke a leg on landing.

1775 The American Revolutionary War begins
The Battles of Lexington and Concord marked the beginning of the armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the 13 colonies of British North America. The war resulted in U.S. independence.
 
Births On This Day, April 19th 🎂

1987 Maria Sharapova
Russian tennis player

1978 James Franco
American actor, director, producer, screenwriter

1952 Alexis Argüello
Nicaraguan boxer, politician

1937 Joseph Estrada
Filipino actor, producer, politician, 13th President of the Philippines

1933 Jayne Mansfield
American model, actress, singer

Deaths On This Day, April 19th 🪦

2004 John Maynard Smith
English biologist

1967 Konrad Adenauer
German politician, Chancellor of West Germany

1914 Charles Sanders Peirce
American philosopher, mathematician, scientist

1882 Charles Darwin
English scientist, theorist

1824 Lord Byron
English poet
 
19th April

1587 The English naval commander Sir Francis Drake sailed a small number of ships into Cadiz Harbour and sank most of the Spanish fleet. The incident became known as 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'.

1770 Explorer Captain James Cook sighted the eastern coast of what is now Australia.

1880 The Times war correspondent telephoned a report of the Battle of Ahmed Khel (part of the Second Afghan War). It was the first time that news had been sent from a field of battle in this manner.

1928 The 125th and final section of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
 
This day in History, April 20th

2010 The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explodes
The explosion of the British Petroleum (BP) platform operated by Transocean killed 11 workers and led to the largest accidental marine oil spill in history.

1999 15 die in the Columbine High School massacre
A further 24 victims were injured when two teenagers opened fire on students and teachers in the high school south of Denver.

1978 Soviet air defense shoots down Korean Air Lines Flight 902
The Boeing 707's crew had miscalculated their route, taking them into Soviet airspace at the height of the Cold War. The jet made an emergency landing on a frozen lake. Two passengers were killed in the incident.

1951 A human organ is surgically replaced for the first time
Romanian surgeon Dan Gavriliu used a section of the stomach to bypass the esophagus.

1902 Pierre and Marie Curie discover the radioactive element radium
In 1903, the French couple received the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering research.
 
Births On This Day, April 20th 🎂

1969 Felix Baumgartner
Austrian skydiver

1939 Gro Harlem Brundtland
Norwegian physician, politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Norway

1893 Joan Miró
Spanish painter

1889 Adolf Hitler
Austrian/German politician, Chancellor of Germany

1808 Napoleon III
French politician, 1st President of France

Deaths On This Day, April 20th 🪦

1993 Cantinflas
Mexican actor, screenwriter, producer

1991 Don Siegel
American film director

1991 Steve Marriott
English singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

1918 Karl Ferdinand Braun
German/American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

1521 Zhengde Emperor
of China
 
20th April

1653 Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament. It had followed the Long Parliament that had governed during the Civil War.

1657 The Spanish Fleet was destroyed in the Battle at Santa Cruz by an English Fleet commanded by Admiral Blake.

1689 The siege of Londonderry began when supporters of James II attacked the city. The population nearly starved to death before the siege was raised on 30th July.

1819...the exclusive Burlington Arcade opens in London. Lord George Cavendish, Earl of Burlington, commissioned Samuel Ware to build Burlington Arcade as a safe place for his wife and other genteel folk to shop. It is still patrolled by its own private police force, known as the Burlington Beadles. Dressed in top hats and frock-coats, they ensure the atmosphere of the arcade is not spoiled by intrusions such as whistling or singing. They are the world's oldest and smallest private police force. Incredibly, they are still in existence today. Drawn from retired members of his former army regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars, the original Beadles were veterans of the Battle of Waterloo.

1989 Scientists said that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.

2016 The Queen visited the Royal Mail Windsor delivery office to mark the 500th anniversary of the postal service.
 
This day in History, April 21st

1992 The first exoplanets are discovered
Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced that he found two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.

1967 Dictator Georgios Papadopoulos assumes power in Greece
During his six-year reign, thousands of political opponents were incarcerated and tortured.

1934 The Surgeon's photo, allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail
In reality, the famous image depicts a toy submarine with a head and neck made of wood putty.

1918 The Red Baron is killed
Manfred von Richthofen was a legendary German fighter pilot. He earned his renown and nickname by achieving 80 air combat victories in World War I. He was shot down and killed during combat at the age of 25.

1509 Henry VIII is crowned King of England
In popular culture, the monarch is known mainly for his six marriages, two of which ended with the wife's execution.
 
Births On This Day, April 21st 🎂

1959 Robert Smith
English singer-songwriter, guitarist

1947 Iggy Pop
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor

1926 Elizabeth II
of The United Kingdom

1864 Max Weber
German economist, sociologist

1838 John Muir
Scottish/American environmentalist, author

Deaths On This Day, April 21st 🪦

2016 Prince
American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actor

2003 Nina Simone
American singer-songwriter, pianist

1946 John Maynard Keynes
English economist

1910 Mark Twain
American author

1736 Prince Eugene of Savoy
 
21st April

1689 William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1828 Lexicographer Noah Webster compiled a two volume work entitled 'The American dictionary of the English language'. It was the first attempt to standardize the the American language and distinguish it from the English of the British.

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.

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.
 
This day in History, April 22nd

1997 The Japanese embassy hostage crisis ends after 126 days
The hero status of the Peruvian troops involved in the successful raid was later called into question when evidence of summary executions of captured insurgents emerged.

1992 A series of massive explosions destroy parts of Guadalajara
The disaster in the downtown district of Analco occurred after gasoline had leaked into the sewer system. At least 206 people died, nearly 500 were injured, and about 15,000 were left homeless.

1977 Optical fiber is used for telephone transmissions for the first time
Fiber-optic technology allows sending information over long distances by means of light pulses. It has played an important role in the development of modern-day global communications.

1945 Adolf Hitler admits defeat
The German dictator announced in the underground Führerbunker that he plans to commit suicide after learning that Soviet forces had entered Berlin.

1906 The 1906 Olympic Games begin in Athens
While they meet in practice was the second Olympic Games of the modern era, it is not recognized as such by the International Olympic Committee.
 

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