This Day In History

April

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In 1778 -- Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans Businessman, creates the "$" symbol.
In 1815 -- Otto von Bismarck, statesman, born.
In 1863 -- First wartime conscription law in US went into effect.
In 1873 -- Sergei Rachmaninoff (in Novgorod Province, Russia), composer, born.
In 1883 -- Lon Chaney, actor, man of a thousand faces, born.
In 1889 -- The first dishwashing machine is marketed in Chicago.
In 1918 -- Royal Air Force established in Britain.
In 1930 -- Grace Lee Whitney, actor (Star Trek), born.
In 1932 -- Debbie Reynolds (in El Paso, TX), actor, dancer, born.
In 1933 -- Nazi Germany began persecution of Jews boycotting Jewish businesses.
In 1939 -- U.S. recognized Franco government in Spain at end of the Spanish civil war.
In 1945 -- American forces launched the invasion of Okinawa during WW II.
In 1952 -- Annette O'Toole (in Houston, TX), actor, born.
In 1960 -- TIROS I (Television and Infra-Red Observation Satellite) launched to improve weather prediction.
In 1979 -- Iran proclaimed an Islamic Republic following the fall of the Shah.
In 1984 -- Marvin Gaye shot to death by his father Marvin Gaye Sr in LA.

2nd

In 0742 -- Charlemagne, emperor (Holy Roman Empire), born.
In 1805 -- Hans Christian Andersen, danish storyteller, born.
In 1834 -- Frederic A. Bartholdi, sculptor who created the Statue of Liberty, born.
In 1860 -- First Italian Parliament met at Turin.
In 1872 -- Samuel F.B. Morse, the developer of the electric telegraph, died.
In 1875 -- Walter Chrysler, founded a car company, born.
In 1908 -- Buddy Ebsen, actor (Beverly Hillbillies, Barnaby Jones), born.
In 1914 -- Sir Alec Guinness, thespian (credits-too-numerous-to-mention), born.
In 1917 -- Pres. Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany.
In 1920 -- Jack Webb, actor (Dragnet, The D. I.), born.
In 1924 -- Doris Day (in Cincinnati, Ohio), actor, girl next door, born.
In 1932 -- Lindbergh turned over $50,000 as ransom for kidnapped son.
In 1935 -- Sir Watson-Watt granted a patent for RADAR.
In 1948 -- Emmylou Harris (in Alabama), singer, born.
In 1961 -- Yuri A. Gagarin, first man in orbit.
In 1974 -- Arganat Comm publishes report concerning the Yom Kippur War.
In 1974 -- French president Georges Pompidou died in Paris.
In 1982 -- Argentina seized the disputed Falkland (Malvinas) Islands from Britain.
In 1982 -- TV show "Dallas" premiers.
In 1984 -- Soyuz T-11 is launched.

3rd

In 1783 -- Washington Irving, writer (Rip Van Winkle, Legend of Sleepy Hollow), born.
In 1837 -- John Burroughs, founded what later became the Burroughs Corporation, born.
In 1882 -- Jesse James shot dead in St. Joseph Mo. by Robert Ford.
In 1924 -- Marlon Brando, actor (The Godfather, Last Tango in Paris), born.
In 1936 -- Bruno Hauptmann, convicted Lindbergh baby killer, executed.
In 1942 -- Wayne Newton, singer, born.
In 1961 -- Eddie Murphy, comedian, actor, born.
In 1964 -- US and Panama agree to resume diplomatic relations.
In 1966 -- Luna 10, first lunar orbiter.
In 1968 -- North Vietnam agreed to meet US reps to set up preliminary peace talks.
In 1974 -- Soyuz 14 is launched.
In 1977 -- Egyptian Pres Anwar Sadat first meeting with President Jimmy Carter.
In 1982 -- UN Security Council demanded Argentina withdraw from Falkland Islands.

4th

In 0188 -- Caracalla Roman emperor (211-17), born.
In 0896 -- Formosus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
In 1284 -- Alfonso X Spanish king (Castile & Leon), dies at 62
In 1581 -- Frances Drake completes circumnavigation of the world
In 1588 -- Frederick II King of Denmark, dies
In 1818 -- Congress decided US flag is 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars.
In 1823 -- Karl Wilhelm Siemens inventor (laid undersea cables), born.
In 1841 -- William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia and becomes the first U.S. president to die in office.
In 1858 -- Asteroid 54, Kalypso discovered (named for goddess of silence)
In 1860 -- Pony Express begins service, from St. Joseph, Missouri.
In 1895 -- Arthur Murray, dance instructor, born.
In 1899 -- Duke Ellington bandleader (Take the A Train), born.
In 1912 -- Chinese republic proclaimed in Tibet
In 1914 -- The movie "The Perils of Pauline" is shown for the first time, in Los Angeles.
In 1915 -- Muddy Waters [McKinley Morganfield], guitarist (Hoochie Coochie Man), born.
In 1918 -- Battle of Somme, ends
In 1918 -- Margaret Dupont tennis champion, born.
In 1929 -- Karl Freidrich Benz automobile engineer (Mercedes), dies
In 1944 -- British troops capture Addis Ababa Ethiopia
In 1945 -- Hungarian National Day.
In 1945 -- Hungary liberated from Nazi occupation (National Day)
In 1949 -- North Atlantic Treaty Organization founded (NATO -- "OTAN" in French).
In 1960 -- Senegalese National Day begins
In 1964 -- Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
In 1968 -- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. shot to death in Memphis, Tennessee.
In 1969 -- Dr. Denton Cooley implants first temporary artificial heart.
In 1974 -- Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th.
In 1979 -- Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto former Pakistani president, hanged in Pakistan
In 1983 -- Sixth space shuttle mission, Challenger 1 launched
In 1984 -- Winston Smith in Orwell's "1984" begins his secret diary
In 1990 -- Gloria Estefan released from the hospital after her accident

5th

In 2348 B.C. -- Noah's ark grounded, Mt Ararat (calculated date)
In 1242 -- Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights
In 1531 -- Richard Roose boiled to death for trying to poison an archbishop
In 1614 -- Indian princess Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe
In 1795 -- Sir Henry Havelock British soldier (War in Afghanistan 1838-39), born.
In 1847 -- The opera "Die Fledermaus" is produced (Vienna)
In 1895 -- Writer Oscar Wilde is arrested
In 1896 -- First modern Olympic Games officially opens in Athens
In 1900 -- Spencer Tracy actor (Father's Little Dividend, Adam's Rib), born.
In 1908 -- Bette Davis Lowell Mass, famous eyes (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel), born.
In 1909 -- Alberto Romero "Cubby" Broccoli film producer, born.
In 1916 -- Gregory Peck, La Jolla, CA, actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur), born.
In 1923 -- Nguyen Van Thieu president of South Vietnam, born.
In 1929 -- Nigel Hawthorne actor (Tartuffe, Pope John Paul II (Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes Minister), Richard III), born.
In 1941 -- Eric Burdon rocker (Animals-House of the Rising Sun), born.
In 1943 -- Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days
In 1951 -- Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death
In 1954 -- Elvis Presley records his debut single, "That's All Right"
In 1955 -- Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him
In 1958 -- Cammie Lusko LA Calif, Guinness' World Strongest Woman, born.
In 1962 -- NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 54,600 m
In 1963 -- Beatles receive their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me)
In 1964 -- Douglas MacArthur US general (Pacific theater-WW II), dies at 84
In 1971 -- Mount Etna erupts in Sicily Italy
In 1975 -- Chai Kai-Shek leader (Taiwan), dies
In 1976 -- Harold Wilson resigns as British PM.
In 1976 -- Howard Hughes reclusive billionaire, dies at 72
In 1986 -- Record for a throw-and-return boomerang toss is set (121m)
In 1987 -- Fox TV network premiers showing Married With Children & Tracey Ullman
In 1989 -- Solidarity grants legal status in Poland
In 1991 -- Space Shuttle STS 37 (Atlantis 8) launched
In 1991 -- US begins air drops to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq

6th

In 1866 -- Butch Cassidy, famous entrepreneur
In 1868 -- Brigham Young marries number 27, his final wife.
In 1874 -- Erich Weiss (aka Harry Houdini), escapist
In 1890 -- Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker, Dutch aircraft pioneer
In 1892 -- Donald Wills Douglas, founded an aircraft company
In 1896 -- Modern Olympics Anniversary. (First modern Olympiad)
In 1906 -- First animated cartoon is copyrighted.
In 1917 -- US declares war on Germany (WWI).
In 1926 -- Four planes take off on first successful around-the-world flight.
In 1937 -- Merle Haggard, musician
In 1937 -- Billy Dee Williams, actor (Star Wars, Batman)
In 1965 -- Intelsat 1 ("Early Bird") first commercial geosynchronous communication satellite.
In 1973 -- Pioneer 11 launched. First spacecraft to flyby Saturn.
In 1975 -- Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek died at the age of 87.
In 1984 -- Eleventh Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 5 is launched.

7th

In 0030 -- Scholars' calculate this as the date that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem.
In 1506 -- St. Francis Xavier, missionary
In 1770 -- William Wordsworth (in England), poet
In 1860 -- W. K. Kellogg, founded a cereal company
In 1915 -- Billie Holiday, blues singer
In 1927 -- Using phone lines TV was sent from Washington DC to New York City.
In 1928 -- James Garner, actor (Maverick movies and series, etc.)
In 1939 -- Francis Ford Coppola, director
In 1939 -- David Frost, pundit
In 1948 -- World Health Organization is established.
In 1959 -- First astronauts - selection announced by NASA.
In 1959 -- Radar first bounced off sun, Stanford California.
In 1983 -- Challenger crew perform a spacewalk - first by US in 9 years.

8th

In 563 B.C. -- Gautama Buddha (as celebrated in Japan-Kambutsue), born.
In 217 -- Caracalla [Marcus Aureiius Antoniius], Roman emperor, dies.
In 1143 -- John II Byzantine emperor, dies in an accident.
In 1605 -- Philip IV king of Spain & Portugal (1621-65), born.
In 1766 -- The first patent is granted for a fire escape ... a wicker basket on a pulley and a chain, designed by a London watchmaker.
In 1946 -- League of Nations assembles for last time.
In 1952 -- President Harry Truman seizes steel industry to avoid a strike.
In 1963 -- Julian Lennon, musician, son of John Lennon, born.
In 1964 -- Unmanned Gemini 1 launched.
In 1966 -- OAO 1, the 1st orbiting astronomical observatory, launched.
In 1968 -- New socialist constitution of East Germany takes effect.
In 1971 -- First legal off-track betting system begins (OTB-New York).
In 1973 -- Pablo Picasso artist, dies near Mougins, France, at 91.
In 1976 -- Phil Ochs rock producer, dies.
In 1981 -- Gen. Omar Bradley last 5-star general, dies in NY at 88.
In 1985 -- India files suit against Union Carbide over Bhopal disaster.
In 1986 -- Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California. It made his day.
In 1990 -- "Twin Peaks" with Peggy Lipton premiers on ABC-TV.

9th

In 1830 -- Eadweard Muybridge, pioneered study of motion in photography, born.
In 1865 -- Charles Proteus Steinmetz, electronics pioneer, born.
In 1879 -- W. C. Fields, actor, Philadelphian, born.
In 1895 -- Mance Lipscomb, blues musician, born.
In 1919 -- John Presper Eckert, co-inventor of first electronic computer (ENIAC), born.
In 1926 -- Hugh Hefner, publisher of Playboy, made bunnies famous, born.
In 1928 -- Mae West makes her New York City debut in a daring new play, "Diamond Lil".
In 1942 -- American and Filipino forces overwhelmed by Japanese at Bataan.
In 1947 -- U.S. Atomic Energy Commission confirmed.
In 1950 -- Bob Hope makes his first TV appearance.
In 1954 -- Dennis Quaid, actor, born.
In 1955 -- United Nations Charter hearing.
In 1957 -- Seve Ballesteros, golfer, born.
In 1959 -- NASA announces first seven astronauts with The Right Stuff.
In 1965 -- Paulina Porizkova, Sports Illustrated swimsuit covergirl, actress, born.
In 1967 -- First Boeing 737 rolls out.
In 1980 -- Soyuz 35 is launched.
In 1983 -- Sixth Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 1 returns to Earth.

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10th

In 1790 -- U.S. Patent system established
In 1829 -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, born.
In 1847 -- Joseph Pulitzer, awarded newspaper prizes, born.
In 1883 -- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher, born.
In 1849 -- Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt of New York City. He immediately sells the patent rights for $100.
In 1864 -- Austrian Archduke Maximilian became emperor of Mexico.
In 1866 -- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals organized.
In 1912 -- RMS Titanic sets sail for its first and last voyage.
In 1915 -- Harry Morgan (in Detroit, MI), actor (Dragnet, M*A*S*H), born.
In 1916 -- First professional golf tournament held.
In 1924 -- Chuck Connors, actor (The Rifleman), born.
In 1929 -- Max von Sydow, actor, born.
In 1930 -- Synthetic rubber first produced.
In 1932 -- Paul von Hindenburg elected first German president (Hitler was the second).
In 1932 -- Omar Sharif, actor (Tamarind Seed, Dr. Zhivago), born.
In 1945 -- Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald liberated by US 80th Division.
In 1953 -- House of Wax, first feature-length 3-D movie, released in New York.
In 1974 -- Yitzhak Rabin replaces resigning Prime Minister Golda Meir.
In 1979 -- Soyuz 33 is launched.
In 1990 -- The Hubble space telescope is brought on-line. Unfortunately, its mirror is slightly warped.

11th

In 672 -- Deusdedit III begins his reign as Catholic Pope
In 678 -- Donus ends his reign as Catholic Pope
In 1370 -- Frederick I the Warlike, elector of Saxony, born.
In 1713 -- Peace of Utrecht; France cedes Maritime provinces to Britain
In 1770 -- George Canning (C) British PM (1827), born.
In 1814 -- First abdication of Napoleon; he is exiled to Elba
In 1875 -- Heinrich Schwabe discoverer of 11-year sunspot cycle, dies
In 1898 -- President McKinley asks for Spanish-American War declaration
In 1899 -- Treaty of Paris ratifies; Spain cedes Puerto Rico to US
In 1906 -- James A Bailey circus showman (Barnum & Bailey), dies at 58
In 1911 -- Bob Dylan's 1st appearance at Folk City, Greenwich Village
In 1913 -- Oleg Cassini Paris France, fashion designer for Jackie Kennedy, born.
In 1914 -- George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," premieres
In 1921 -- Turkestan ASSR established in Russian SFSR
In 1941 -- Germany blitzes Coventry, England
In 1956 -- Singer Nat Cole attacked on stage of Birmingham theater by whites
In 1963 -- John XXIII encyclical On peace in truth, justice, charity & liberty
In 1970 -- Apollo 13 launched to Moon; unable to land, returns in 6 days
In 1970 -- Beatles' "Let It Be," single goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
In 1979 -- Ugandan dictator Idi Amin overthrown; Tanzania takes Kampala
In 1980 -- Paul McCartney releases "Coming Up"
In 1984 -- Challenger astronauts complete 1st in space satellite repair
In 1986 -- Dodge Morgan sailed solo nonstop around the world in 150 days
In 1986 -- Halley's Comet makes closest approach to Earth this trip, 63 M km
In 1991 -- UN Security Council issues formal cease fire with Iraq declaration

12th

In 1861 -- Fort Sumter, SC, shelled by Confederate troops under General Beauregard. The American Civil War begins.
In 1930 -- Tiny Tim, singer, born.
In 1934 -- Highest velocity wind ever recorded on Mt Washington, 231 mph.
In 1940 -- Herbie Hancock, musician, born.
In 1945 -- Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Ga.
In 1947 -- David Letterman, late night television talk show host, born.
In 1950 -- David Cassidy, Shirley Jones' kid on TV and real life, born.
In 1955 -- Salk polio vaccine safe and effective; four billion dimes marched.
In 1961 -- Yuri A. Gagarin becomes first man to orbit Earth aboard Vostok 1.
In 1979 -- Soyuz 33 returns to Earth.
In 1981 -- First launch of the space shuttle "Columbia" with John Young and Bob Crippen at the controls.

13th

1899 -- Alfred Butts, inventor of the game 'Scrabble', born.
1906 -- Samuel Beckett, playwright, born.
1950 -- Ron Perlman, actor, born.
1951 -- Peabo Bryson, singer, born.
1961 -- UN General Assembly condemns South Africa for apartheid.
1964 -- Sidney Poitier became first black man to win Oscar for best actor.
1966 -- Pan Am places $525,000,000 order for 25 Boeing 747's.
1970 -- Apollo 13's Beech-built oxygen tank explodes.
1984 -- Christopher Wilder, FBI's 'most wanted man' accidentally killed self.
1984 -- Eleventh Space Shuttle Mission - Challenger 5 returns to Earth.
1986 -- Pope John Paul II met Rome's Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff at Rome synagogue.

14th

1817 -- First American school for the deaf (Hartford, Connecticut)
1865 -- President Abraham Lincoln shot in Ford's Theatre by J. W. Booth.
1889 -- Arnold Toynbee, historian, born.
1894 -- First motion picture shown in NY City
1904 -- Sir John Gielgud, actor, singer, born.
1912 -- The RMS Titanic strikes an iceberg at 11:40 p.m.
1925 -- Rod Steiger, actor, born.
1935 -- Loretta Lynn (in Kentucky), Ms. Country Music, coal miner's daughter, born.
1945 -- Tokyo incendiary raids, using B-29's, damage Imperial Palace.
1956 -- Ampex Corporation demonstrates first commercial videotape recorder. It's a unit the size of a deep-freeze, with an additional 5 6-foot racks of circuitry.
1981 -- First Space Shuttle - Columbia 1 returns to Earth.

15th

1840 -- John Boyd Dunlop, developed the pneumatic rubber tire, born.
1848 -- Belle Starr, entertainer of the wild west, born.
1878 -- Andre-Gustave Citroen, French automaker, born.
1887 -- Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Otello" premiers.
1919 -- Red Buttons, comedian, actor, born.
1946 -- Charlotte Rampling (in England), born.
1948 -- Barbara Hershey (in Atlanta, Georgia), born.
1969 -- Bobby Brown, singer, born.
1983 ---After being expelled from Bolivia, former Nazi Gestapo official Klaus Barbie was brought to Lyon, France to stand trial for alleged war crimes.

16th

1867 -- Wilbur Wright, of aeroplane fame, born.
1889 -- Charlie Chaplin, actor, comedian, movie director, born.
1921 -- Peter Ustinov, actor (Fiddler on the Roof, Death on the Nile), born.
1924 -- Henry Mancini, composer, flutist, born.
1912 -- Harriet Quimby flies the English Channel, first woman to do so.
1917 -- Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution.
1972 -- Apollo 16 takes off for the Moon.

17th

1492 -- Christopher Columbus signs contract with Spain to find the Indies.
1875 -- The game of "snooker" -- a variation of pool -- is invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, while on duty in India.
1895 -- Treaty of Shimonoseki signed, ends first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95).
1961 -- U.S. backed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba. Ended in failure.
1970 -- Apollo 13 limps back safely, Beech-built oxygen tank no help.
1970 -- Paul McCartney's first solo album "McCartney"

18th

1857 -- Clarence Darrow, lawyer, born.
1922 -- Barbara Hale, actor (Perry Mason), born.
1946 -- Hayley Mills (in London, England), actor, born.
1775 -- "The British are Coming!" declares Paul Revere from horseback.
1934 -- First "Washateria" (Laundromat) is opened, in Fort Worth, Texas.
1946 -- League of Nations went out of business, replaced by the U.N.
1949 -- Irish Republic comes into existence.
1950 -- First transatlantic jet passenger trip.
1956 -- Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco (civil ceremony).
1980 -- Nation of Zimbabwe founded (formerly Rhodesia).

19th

1529 -- In Germany at the Diet of Spires (Speyer), a document signed by Lutheran leaders in fourteen cities lodged a "protest" which demanded a freedom of conscience and the right of minorities. Henceforth, the German Lutheran Reformers were known as "Protestants."
1775 -- Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon Revolution begins-Lexington Common, shot "heard round the world"
1782 -- Netherlands recognizes US
1839 -- Treaty of London constitutes Belgium an independent kingdom
1877 -- Ole Evinrude inventor (outboard marine engine), born
1892 -- Charles Duryea takes 1st American-made auto out for a spin
1897 -- First American marathon ran, John J McDermott wins in 2:55:10 (Boston)
1903 -- Eliot Ness untouchable (FBI agent-Chicago), born
1926 -- Don Adams actor, secret agent 86 (Get Smart), born
1932 -- Jayne Mansfield Bryn Mawr Pa, actress (Guide for the Married Man), born
1933 -- Dick Sargent, Carmel, California, actor (Darrin-Bewitched), born
1934 -- Shirley Temple appears in her 1st movie, "Stand Up & Cheer"
1935 -- Dudley Moore actor (10, Arthur, Bedazzled, 6 Weeks), born
1943 -- Jews attack Nazi occupation forces at Warsaw Ghetto
1951 -- Shigeki Tanaka, survivor of Hiroshima A-bomb, wins Boston Marathon
1956 -- US actress Grace Kelly marries Monaco's Prince Rainier III
1957 -- Charles Funk of Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedias, dies at 76
1958 -- Michelle Pfeiffer California, actress (Batman Returns, Married to the Mob), born
1967 -- US Surveyor III lands on Moon
1969 -- "Oliver," Cliff Robertson & Katharine Hepburn win 51st Academy Awards
1971 -- Sierra Leone becomes a republic (Natl. Day)
1980 -- Alfred Hitchcock dies in California at 80
1989 -- Republic Day in Sierra Leone
1991 -- Battle of the Ages -- Heavyweight champ Evander Hollyfield beats 42 year old George Foreman.

20th

0121 -- Marcus Aurelius 16th Roman emperor (161-80), philosopher, born.
0295 -- 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
1314 -- Clement V pope (1305-14) who moved papacy to Avignon, dies
1770 -- Capt Cook arrives in New South Wales
1792 -- France declares war on Austria, Prussia & Sardinia
1809 -- Napoleon I defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria
1841 -- First detective story (Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue") published
1879 -- The first "mobile home" (horse drawn) is used for a journey between London and Cyprus.
1889 -- Adolf Hitler (in Braunau, Austria), dictator of Nazi Germany, born.
1902 -- Marie and Pierre Curie isolated the radioactive element radium.
1906 -- Australian wombat dies in London Zoo at 26; oldest known marsupial
1910 -- Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
1919 -- Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army
1920 -- 7th modern Olympic games opens in Antwerp
1938 -- Betty Cuthbert Australia 100m/200m/400m dash (Olympic-gold-1956, 64) , born.
1941 -- Ryan O'Neal, actor, born.
1943 -- In Poland, Germans Nazi troops massacred the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto.
1945 -- Soviet troops enter Berlin
1945 -- US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
1949 -- Jessica Lange Cloquet Minnesota, actress (King Kong, Tootsie) , born.
1962 -- NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m
1974 -- Agnes Moorehead actress (Endora-Bewitched), dies at 67
1974 -- Paul McCartney releases "Band on the Run"
1976 -- George Harrison sings the lumberjack song with Monty Python

21st

0753 -- BC- Traditional date of the foundation of Rome.
1816 -- Charlotte Bronte, Tornton England, novelist (Jane Eyre), born.
1836 -- Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas wins independence from Mexico.
1898 -- Spanish-American War begins.
1910 -- Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens], author, dies in Redding Conn.
1913 -- Norman Parkinson, England, fashion photographer (Harper's Bazaar), born.
1915 -- Anthony Quinn, Mexico, actor (Zorba the Greek, Lawrence of Arabia), born.
1918 -- "Red" Baron Manfred von Richtofen, killed in WW I.
1926 -- Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II, queen of England (1952- ), born.
1947 -- Iggy Pop [James Osterberg], Mich, rocker (Lust For Life, Search and Destroy), born.
1951 -- Paul Carrack rocker (Squeeze/Ace-How Long), born.
1958 -- Andie MacDowell Gaffney SC, actress (Greystroke, Green Card), born.
1959 -- Robert Smith rock guitarist/vocalist (Cure), born.
1959 -- 1211-kg great white shark becomes largest fish ever caught on a rod.
1960 -- Brasilia becomes the capital of Brazil.
1961 -- French army revolts in Algeria.
1963 -- Beatles meet Rolling Stones for 1st time.
1965 -- Karen Foster Lufkin Tx, playmate (Oct, 1989), born.
1966 -- Emperor Haile Selassie (Ethiopia) visits Kingston Jamaica.
1967 -- Svetlana Alliluyeva (Josef Stalin's daughter) defects in NYC.
1972 -- John Young & Charles Duke explores Moon (Apollo 16).
1983 -- �1 coin introduced in United Kingdom.
1986 -- Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on TV & finds nothing.

22nd

1451 -- Queen Isabella I, funded Christopher Columbus
1509 -- Henry VIII ascended to the throne of England.
1904 -- J. Robert Oppenheimer, Manhattan Project physicist
1916 -- Yehudi Menuhin, violinist
1937 -- Jack Nicholson, actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining), born.

23rd

1547 -- Miguel DeCervantes Saavedra, author (The Man Of LaMancha), born
1564 -- William Shakespeare, bard, born.
1753 -- St. George's Day
1928 -- Shirley Temple (in Santa Monica, CA), child actor, born.
1936 -- Roy Orbison, musician, born.
1962 -- First American satellite to reach moon launched from Cape Canaveral.
1967 -- Russia launches first Soyuz mission.
1972 -- Apollo 16 astronauts explore the surface of the moon.

24th

1792 -- "La Marseillaise", the French national anthem, is composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle.
1898 -- Spain declares war on U.S., rejecting ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1934 -- Shirley MacLaine (in Richmond, Virginia), actor (in this life), born
1936 -- Jill Ireland (in London, England), actor, born
1942 -- Barbra Streisand (in Brooklyn, NY), singer, actress, profile, born
1944 -- First Boeing B-29 arrives in China "over the Hump".
1953 -- Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961 -- JFK accepts "sole responsibility" following the Bay of Pigs.
1967 -- Cosmonaut Komarov is first to die in space aboard Soyuz 1.

25th

1214 -- Louis IX, king of France (1226-70), born.
1284 -- Edward II, king of England (1307-27), born.
1599 -- Oliver Cromwell, Puritan lord protector of England (1653-58), born.
1684 -- Patent granted for the thimble.
1792 -- Guillotine 1st used, executes highwayman Nicolas J Pelletier.
1825 -- Charles Ferdinand Dowd US, standardized time zones, born.
1840 -- Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer (1812 Overture), born.
1859 -- Ground broken for Suez Canal.
1867 -- Tokyo is opened for foreign trade.
1874 -- Guglielmo Marconi Bologna Italy, inventor (radio) (Nobel 1909), born.
1915 -- ANZAC troops land at Gallipoli (Now observed in Australia, New Zealand, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Western Samoa).
1918 -- Ella Fitzgerald, singer, born.
1925 -- Hindenburg takes office as president of Germany.
1938 -- First use of seeing eye dog.
1940 -- Al Pacino NYC, actor (Godfather, Carlito's Way), born.
1945 -- Bjorn Ulvaeus, rock vocalist/guitarist (ABBA), born.
1945 -- United Nations founded at San Francisco.
1954 -- Bell labs announces 1st solar battery (NYC).
1956 -- Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" goes #1.
1958 -- Fish, rock vocalist (Marillon), born.
1960 -- Hope Emerson, actress (I Married Joan, Peter Gunn), dies at 62.
1961 -- Unmanned Mercury test explodes on launch pad.
1964 -- Andy Bell, rocker (Erasure), born.
1967 -- Britain grants internal self-government to Swaziland.
1972 -- George Sanders, actor (Mr. Freeze-Batman TV series), dies at 65.
1982 -- In accordance with Camp David, Israel completes Sinai withdrawal.
1990 -- Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by shuttle Discovery.

26th

0757 -- Stephen II ends his reign as Catholic Pope.
1514 -- Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn.
1711 -- David Hume England, empiricists (Treatise of Human Nature), born.
1803 -- Meteorites fall in L'Aigle, France.
1812 -- Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant, born.
1865 -- John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, is shot dead.
1895 -- Rudolf Hess, Hitler's Deputy Fuhrer, only prisoner at Spandau, born.
1900 -- Charles Richter, Earthquakes seismologist (Richter scale), born.
1904 -- William "Count" Basie jazz pianist, born.
1948 -- Stevie Nicks, rocker (Fleetwood Mac), born.
1960 -- Roger Taylor rock drummer (Duran Duran), born.
1962 -- US/UK launch of Ariel satellite; 1st international payload.
1964 -- Tanganyika & Zanzibar unite to form Tanzania (Tanzanian Union Day).
1968 -- US underground nuclear test, "Boxcar", 1 megaton device.
1970 -- Gypsy Rose Lee stripper/actress, dies at 56.
1974 -- Landslide in Huancavelica Province Peru creates a natural dam.
1982 -- Argentina surrenders to Britain on S Georgia near Falkland Island.
1984 -- Liverpool's Cavern Club, the home of the Beatles, reopens.
1984 -- Count Basie jazz piano great, dies at 79.
1986 -- Maria Shriver & Arnold Schwarzenegger marry.
1986 -- Worst nuclear disaster, Chernobyl USSR, 31 die.
1989 -- Lucille Ball comedienne/actress dies at 78 of a massive heart attack.

27th

4977 BC -- Johannes Kepler's date for creation of universe.
1509 -- Pope Julius II excommunicates Italian state of Venice.
1521 -- Ferdinand Magellan world traveler, killed by Filipino natives.
1565 -- First Spanish settlement in Philippines, Cebu City, forms.
1737 -- Edward Gibson England, historian (Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire), born.
1805 -- US Marines attack shores of Tripoli.
1908 -- Fourth modern Olympic games opens in London.
1909 -- Sultan of Turkey Abdul Hamid II is overthrown.
1922 -- Yakut ASSR formed in Russian SFSR.
1922 -- Jack Klugman Phila (Oscar-Odd Couple, Quincy, Goodbye Columbus), born.
1932 -- Casey Kasem Detroit, radio personality (American Top 40), born.
1944 -- Michael Fish British TV weatherman, born.
1945 -- 2nd Republic of Austria forms.
1947 -- Ann Peebles Missouri, soul singer (I Can't Stand the Rain), born.
1948 -- Katie Pierson vocals/guitarist (B-52's-Rock Lobster, Love Shack), born.
1951 -- Ace Frehley Bronx NY, heavy metal rocker (Kiss), born.
1950 -- South Africa passes Group Areas Act segregating races.
1953 -- Wrestler Freddie Blassie coins the term "Pencil neck geek".
1956 -- Heavyweight champ, Rocky Marciano, retires undefeated from boxing.
1957 -- Mario A Gianini creator of the maraschino cherry, dies.
1959 -- Sheena Easton Glasgow Scotland, singer/Jack LaLane spokesperson, born.
1967 -- Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, heir apparent, born.
1960 -- France grants Togo independence (Natl. Day).
1961 -- UK grants Sierra Leone independence.
1964 -- John Lennon's, In His Own Write, is published in the US.
1972 -- Kwame Nkrumah president of Ghana, dies at 62.
1978 -- Afghanistan revolution (National Day).
1981 -- Beatle Ringo Starr marries actress Barbara Bach.
1987 -- US Justice Dept bars Austrian Chancellor Kurt Waldheim from entering US, due to his aid of Nazi Germany during WW II.
1989 -- Beijing students take over Tiananmen Square in China.

28th

1686 -- First volume of Isaac Newton's "Principia" published.
1789 -- Mutiny on HMS Bounty.
1795 -- Charles Stuart, England, explored Australia, born.
1878 -- Lionel Barrymore actor (A Free Soul, David Cooperfield, Dr Kildaire), born.
1920 -- Azerbaijan SSR joins the USSR (1st time).
1923 -- Wembley Stadium opens-Bolton Wanderers vs West Ham United (FA Cup).
1926 -- Harper Lee author (To Kill a Mockingbird), born.
1929 -- Carolyn Jones, Amarillo Texas, actress (Morticia-Addams Family), born.
1932 -- Yellow fever vaccine for humans announced.
1937 -- First commercial flight across the Pacific, Pan Am.
1937 -- Saddam Hussein president of Iraq (1979- ), born.
1938 -- King Zog of Albania marries Countess Geraldine of Hungary.
1940 -- Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000".
1942 -- "WW II" titled so, as result of Gallup Poll.
1945 -- Benito Mussolini Fascist leader & mistress captured, tried, & shot.
1947 -- Thor Heyerdahl & "Kon-Tiki" sail from Peru to Polynesia.
1950 -- Jay Leno New Rochelle, comedian (Tonight Show host), born.
1952 -- WW II Pacific peace treaty takes effect.
1971 -- Chris Young Penn, actor (Bryce Lynch-Max Headroom, Great Outdoors), born.
1974 -- Last Americans evacuated from Saigon.

29th

1429 -- Joan of Arc leads Orleans, France, to victory over English.
1553 -- Flemish woman introduces practice of starching linen into England.
1661 -- Chinese Ming dynasty occupies Taiwan.
1667 -- John Arbuthnot Scottish writer (Alexander Pope), born.
1715 -- John Flamsteed observes Uranus for 6th time.
1813 -- Rubber is patented.
1818 -- Alexander II Tsar of Russia (1855-81), born.
1830 -- Adolph Sutro SF mayor, built Cliff House, railways, tunnels, born.
1852 -- First Edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus published.
1879 -- Sir Thomas Beecham, English composer, founded London Philharmonic, born.
1899 -- Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington, bandleader (Take the "A" Train), born.
1901 -- Emperor Hirohito of Japan (1926-89), born.
1945 -- US liberates Nazi concentration camp in Dachau, Germany.
1946 -- Twenty-eight former Jap leaders indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.
1954 -- Jerry Seinfeld comedian (Seinfeld), born.
1958 -- Michelle Pfeiffer, U.S. actress (Batman Returns), born.
1967 -- Aretha Franklin releases "Respect".
1970 -- Andre Agassi U.S., tennis pro (US & French Open finalist-1990), born.
1980 -- Alfred Hitchcock director (Psycho), dies at 80, born.

30th

1777 -- Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematician of all time
1808 -- The first practical typewriter is finished by Italian Pellegrini Turri. He built it for a blind friend.
1933 -- Willie Nelson, singer, actor
1942 -- First submarine built on Great Lakes launched, "Peto", Manitowoc, Wi.
1945 -- Adolf Hitler and wife Eva Braun commit suicide.
1955 -- Element mendelevium announced - element 101.
1973 -- Nixon announces resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, et al.
1980 -- Terrorists seize Iranian Embassy in London.

This page last revised: May 2005

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