Today in History

5thApril 1983
US Interior Secretary James Watt officially announces that he will not invite The Beach Boys to perform at the annual Fourth of July celebration in Washington because they attract "the wrong element of people."
His choice of entertainers is Wayne Newton. President Ronald Regan would overturn the decision two days later.
 

5th April 2012
The Los Angeles County coroner released Whitney Houston's final autopsy report which showed the singer drowned face down in a tub of "extremely hot water" about twelve inches deep.
Her death was ruled an accidental drowning with the "effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use" as contributing factors.
 

5th April

1902 25 football fans were killed at Ibrox Park, Glasgow, when a stand collapsed during a Scotland / England international match. At least another 200 were injured.

1942 The Imperial Japanese Navy launched a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean Raid. The port was damaged, civilians were injured and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire were sunk south-west of the island. Four-hundred and twenty-four officers and men were lost from the two warships.

1955 Sir Winston Churchill resigned as prime minister of Britain due to his failing health.

1970 West Germany's kidnapped ambassador to Guatemala was shot dead. The body of Count Karl von Spreti was found in an empty shack 10 miles (16 kilometres) to the north of the country's capital, Guatemala City.

1986 A bomb exploded in a crowded discotheque in Berlin, Germany, killing two and injuring at least 120, including more than 40 Americans.

2002 People queued for miles beside the Thames to pay their last respects to the Queen Mother, whose body was lying in state in Westminster Hall, London.
 
April 6th
1652
The 1st European settlement in South Africa, Cape Colony is established by Dutch East India Company
1889
George Eastman begins selling his Kodak flexible rolled film
1930
Hostess Twinkies invented by bakery executive, James Dewar
1959
31st Academy Awards, winners: Gigi- Picture, Susan Hayward- actress 'I Want To Live', David Niven'Seperate Tables
1980
Post It Notes introduced by 3-M Company, becomes one of the most popular office products in the world
1992
Microsoft announces Windows 3.1
 
7th April

1739 English highwayman Dick Turpin was hanged in York for murdering an inn-keeper. Before becoming a highwayman, he had been a butcher's apprentice.

1832 Joseph Thompson, a farmer, went to Carlisle to sell his wife, both having agreed to part. A large crowd gathered as he offered her for 50 shillings. After an hour, the price was knocked down to 20 shillings, together with a Newfoundland dog as an incentive.

1853 Queen Victoria became the first monarch to receive chloroform. It was administered to ease the birth of her eighth child, Prince Leopold.

1968 British world motor-racing champion Jim Clark died in a crash at the Hockenheim circuit in Germany. He won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965 and at the time of his death, aged 32, he had won more Grand Prix races (25) and achieved more Grand Prix pole positions (33) than any other driver. In 2009, The Times placed Clark at the top of a list of the greatest-ever Formula One drivers.

1986 Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair sold the rights to his machines to Amstrad.
 
8th April 1968
The TV special Petula airs on NBC. During a duet with Harry Belafonte, Clark innocently holds on to Belafonte's arm.
After the scene was over, the director asked them to redo the number, this time standing apart.
They later found out that a representative from the sponsor saw the first take and wanted it re-shot because his company sold cars in the South, and showing a White woman touching a Black man might affect car sales there.
Outraged, Clark and her husband, Claude Wolff (the show's executive producer), ordered the director to erase all takes except the first one, ensuring that the original scene would be the only one broadcast.
 
8th April 1994
An electrician hired to install a security system at Kurt Cobain's residence finds the body of the 27-year-old Nirvana front man lying on the floor of a room above the garage with a shotgun on his chest and a suicide note nearby.
Not everyone was convinced his death was a suicide and The mystery of Kurt Cobain's death is still a hotly debated topic today.
 
1862
John D. Lynde patents aerosol dispenser
1904
NYC changes name of Longacre Sq to Times Sq in honor of New York Times move to the area
1946
League of Nations assembles for the last time
1963
35th Academy Awards winners:
picture' Lawrence of Arabia, actor Gregory Peck 'To Kill a Mockingbird',actress, Anne Bancroft' The Miracle Worker' Arabia won 7 Oscars inc director David Lean
1974
Atlanta Braves Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run off of LA Dodgers pitcher, Al Downing, He breaks Babe Ruth's all time HR record, Aaron would end his career with 755 HR's, a record which stood until 2007.He was inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982.In 2002 was awarded the Presidental Medal of Freedom award
1997
Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 4 Beta
2019
a record 17ft invasive Burmese python pregnant with 73 eggs was captured in Fla's Big Cypress National Preserve
 
9th April

1413 Henry V was crowned King of England. He was the second English monarch from the House of Lancaster.

1483 12 year old Edward V acceded to the throne on the death of Edward IV.

1747 The Scottish Jacobite Lord Lovat was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, for high treason. He was the last man to be executed in this way in Britain, in a form of execution which had been reserved for the nobility.

1937 The Kamikaze arrived at Croydon Airport in London. It was the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe. The flight from Tokyo to London took 51 hours, 17 minutes and 23 seconds.

1969 Sikh busmen in Wolverhampton won the right to wear turbans on duty after a long-running campaign.

2002 The funeral of the Queen Mother was held at Westminster Abbey.

2005 The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles were married, in a civil ceremony at the Guildhall in Windsor.

2021 The death was announced of Prince Philip (aged 99), husband of Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years.
 
On This Day In History, April 10th

2010 The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, dies in a plane crash
Several high-ranking officials, senior members of the Polish clergy, as well as relatives of the Katyn massacre victims were killed. The accident was blamed on pilot error and bad weather.

2001 Mercy killings become legal in the Netherlands
In a controversial decision, the Dutch senate approved a bill legalizing euthanasia for patients with an unbearable, terminal illness.

1998 Negotiators in Northern Ireland reach a historic peace deal
The Good Friday Agreement ended 30 years of violent conflict about Northern Ireland's constitutional status (“The Troubles”).

1970 The Beatles break up as Paul McCartney leaves the band
In their ten years of existence, the British rock group became one of the most successful bands of all time, selling over a billion albums, according to EMI. McCartney's announcement came a week before the release of his debut solo album, the starting point of a successful solo career.

1815 Mount Tambora explodes in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history
At least 71,000 people were killed by the eruption. The explosion was heard up to 2000 km (1200 mi) away.
 
Births On This Day, April 10th 🎂

1987 Hayley Westenra
New Zealand soprano

1951 David Helvarg
American journalist, activist

1932 Omar Sharif
Egyptian actor

1847 Joseph Pulitzer
Hungarian/American politician, journalist, and publisher, founded Pulitzer, Inc.

1778 William Hazlitt
English critic, painter


Deaths On This Day, April 10th 🪦

1966 Evelyn Waugh
English author, journalist

1965 Linda Darnell
American actress

1955 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
French/American priest, palaeontologist, philosopher

1931 Kahlil Gibran
Lebanese/American poet

1919 Emiliano Zapata
Mexican general
 
On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy granted Winston Churchill the first ever honorary US citizenship.

Churchill could easily have been born American. Jeanette ('Jennie') Churchill (née Jerome), Lady Randolph Churchill. American born
heiress and society figure was the mother of Sir Winston Churchill. She was one of the first so-called 'buccaneers' to cross the ocean, setting the trend of marrying into British aristocracy.
 
1849
inventor, Walter Hunt in NYC patent the safety pin, he sold the rights for $400
1866
American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals{ASPCA} is established
1925
author/ novelist, F Scott Fitzgerald's book' The Great Gatsby' is published by Scribners
1947
Brooklyn Dodgers, G.M Branch Ripley signs the 1st African American baseball player, Jackie Robinson to a Major League Baseball contract
1967
The 39th Academy Awards,winners were:
pic'A Man For All Seasons'{won 7 Oscars}, actor, Paul Scofield'Seasons', actress, Elizabeth Taylor' Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf, supp actor Walter Matthau'The Fortune Cookie, supp actress, Sandy Dennis' Wolf'
1970
Paul McCartney officially announces The Beatles have split
1995
NYC bans smoking in all restaurants that seat 35 people or more
 
On This Day In History, April 12th

1988 The Last Emperor receives nine Academy Awards
Bernardo Bertolucci's biopic about Puyi, the last Emperor of China, was the first film to be awarded all the Oscars it was nominated for.

1981 The Space Shuttle blasts off into space for the first time
Two astronauts took off for Space Shuttle Columbia's first orbital test flight.

1961 Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space
The Soviet Cosmonaut orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok-3KA spacecraft (Vostok 1 mission). The first human spaceflight took 108 minutes from launch to landing.

1937 The first aircraft jet engine is successfully tested
Sir Frank Whittle invented and tested the engine, only a few months before German engineer Hans von Ohain ran his jet engine, which was to power the first ever all-jet aircraft.

1861 The American Civil War begins
The bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina marked the beginning of hostilities. The conflict was sparked by deepening economic, social, and political differences between the southern and northern states, which were most palpably embodied by the dispute about the legitimacy of slavery. The southern (pro-slavery) states, surrendered in 1865, ending the war.
 
Births On This Day, April 12th 🎂

1947 David Letterman
American comedian, talk show host

1947 Tom Clancy
American author

1940 Herbie Hancock
American pianist, composer, bandleader

1871 Ioannis Metaxas
Greek general, politician, 130th Prime Minister of Greece

1823 Alexander Ostrovsky
Russian playwright

Deaths On This Day, April 12th🪦

1989 Sugar Ray Robinson
American boxer

1981 Joe Louis
American boxer

1975 Josephine Baker
American/French actress, singer, dancer

1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt
American politician, 32nd President of the United States

1555 Joanna of Castile
 
12th April 2010
The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Ramano published a story praising The Beatles and saying that it forgives John Lennon's 1966 comment that the group was "bigger than Jesus."
 

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