This Day in History for 26th April

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All Events Birthdays
Weddings Deaths

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 169

757 - Paolo Orsini replaces his brother Pope Stephen II, as Paul I
1220 - German king Frederick II grants bishops sovereign rights
1467 - The miraculous image in Our Lady of Good Counsel appear in Genazzano, Italy.
1478 - Pazzi conspirators attack Lorenzo de'Medici & kill Giuliano de'Medici
1514 - Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn
1532 - Sultan Suleiman through Hungary on away to Vienna
1607 - 1st British to establish an American colony land at Cape Henry, Va
1654 - Jews are expelled from Brazil
1655 - Dutch West Indies Co denies Peter Stuyvesant's desire to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam
1677 - Emperor Leopold I forms University of Innsbruck
1721 - Smallpox vaccination 1st administrated
1755 - 1st Russian university opens (Moscow)
1777 - Sybil Ludington, 16, rode from NY to Ct rallying her fathers militia
1803 - Meteorites fall in L'Aigle, France
1814 - King Louis XVIII lands on Calais, from England
1819 - Odd Fellows Lodge forms
1828 - Russia declares war on Turkey to support Greece's independence
1835 - Frederic Chopins "Grand Polonaise Brillante," premieres in Paris
1841 - "Bombay Gazette" begins publishing on silk
Composer Frederic Chopin 1853 - Dutch King William III disbands 2nd Chamber
1855 - Composer Gioacchino Rossini leaves Italy
1859 - Dan Sickles is acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity 1st time this defense is successfully used
1865 - Battle of Durham Station, NC (Greensboro)
1865 - Battle of Ft Tobacco, VA
1865 - Confederate Gen J E Johnston surrenders Army of Tenn, at Durham NC
1887 - Huntsville Electric Co forms to sell electricity
1890 - Henry Morton Stanley inaugurated in London
1893 - 1st Cleveland Board of Park Commissioners forms
1900 - AL opener in Cleve draws 6,500
1904 - Bell Telephone Company of Antwerp Belgium forms
1905 - Cubs Jack McCarthy becomes only major league player to throw out 3 runners at plate in 1 game, all were ends of a double play
1906 - 1st motion pictures shown in Hawaii
1907 - Jamestown, Va Tercentenary Exposition opens
1912 - 1st homerun hit at Fenway Park (Hugh Bradley, Red Sox)
1913 - Panama-Pacific International Exposition opens in SF
1913 - Sun Yet San calls for revolt against pres Yuan Shikai in China
1915 - Italy secretly signes Pact of London with Britain, France & Russia
1920 - H Shapley & H D Curtis hold "great debate" on nature of nebulae
1925 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Edna Ferber for "So big"
1926 - Germany & Russia sign neutrality/peace treaty
1926 - Karachai Autonomous Region forms in RSFSR (until 1943)
1928 - Madame Tussaud's waxwork exhibition opens in London
1929 - 1st non-stop England to India flight lands
1931 - Lou Gehrig hits a HR but is called out for passing a runner, mistake costs him AL home run crown; he & Babe Ruth tie for season
1932 - Jean Anouilh's "L'Ermine," premieres in Paris
1933 - Jewish students are barred from school in Germany
1935 - Frank Boucher is given NHL's Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship permanently for winning it 7 of 11 years
1936 - Dmitri Shostakovitch completes his 4th Symphony
1937 - German Luftwaffe destroys Basque town of Guernica in Spain
1938 - Austrian Jews required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks
1941 - A tradition begins, 1st organ at a baseball stadium (Chicago Cubs)
1941 - Potatoes rationed in Holland
1942 - Coal mine explosion kills 1,549 at Honkeiko Manchuria
1942 - Luftwaffe bombs Bath
1944 - 1st B-29 attacked by Japanese fighters, one fighter shot down
1944 - Papandreou government in Greece forms
1945 - Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, leader of France's Vichy collaborationist regime during WW II, arrested for treason
1945 - World War II: Battle of Bautzen - last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
1947 - "Bless the Bride" musical opens in London
1950 - Last horse race at Havre de Grace Track in Md, is run
1950 - U of Miami ends William & Mary straight tennis match victories at 82
1951 - Queen Juliana opens Brielsche Mausoleum
1952 - Patty Berg scores 64, best competitive round of golf by a woman
1952 - US minesweeper "Hobson" rams aircraft carrier "Wasp," kills 176
1954 - Far Eastern Affairs conference opens in Geneva
1954 - Nationwide test of Salk anti-polio vaccine begins
1956 - First container ship left Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas
1957 - Jamestown, Va 350th Anniversary Festival opens
1959 - Cuba invades Panama
1959 - Wiffi Smith wins LPGA Betsy Rawls Golf Open
1961 - French paratroopers' revolt suppressed in Algeria
American Baseball Player Roger Maris 1961 - Roger Maris hits 1st of 61 homers in 1961
1962 - 1st Lockheed A-12 flies
1962 - Ariel 1 Launch (1st UK Satellite)
1962 - Ranger 4 crash lands on (backside of) Moon
1962 - Red Sox Bill Monbouquette no-hits White Sox 1-0
1962 - US/UK launch Ariel; 1st international payload
1964 - 18th NBA Championship: Boston Celtics beat SF Warriors, 4 games to 1
1964 - Marilynn Smith wins LPGA Titleholders Golf Championship
1964 - Tanganyika & Zanzibar form United Republic of Tanganyika & Zanzibar
1965 - Ives' 4th Symphony premieres
1966 - Arnold "Red" Auerbach retires as Boston Celtic's coach
1966 - An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent.
1967 - "Hallelujah, Baby!" opens at Martin Beck Theater NYC for 293 perfs
1967 - KSPS TV channel 7 in Spokane, WA (PBS) begins broadcasting
1967 - San Marco 2 Launch (1st Equatorial Launch)
1968 - Students seize administration building at Ohio State
1968 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1968 - US underground nuclear test, "Boxcar," 1 megaton device
1969 - "Celebration" closes at Ambassador Theater NYC after 110 performances
1969 - "George M!" closes at Palace Theater NYC after 435 performances
1969 - Firestone World Bowling Tournament (Mercury Open) won by Jim Godman
1970 - "Company" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 690 performances
1971 - Heaviest rains ever in Bahia district of Brazil, 15" in 24 hrs
1971 - SF lightship replaced by automatic buoy
1971 - Turkey state of siege proclaimed
1973 - "2 Gentlemen of Verona," musical opens in London
1973 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1974 - Landslide in Huancavelica Province Peru creates a natural dam
1974 - Malta adopts constitution

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 240

121 - Antonius Marcus Aurelius, [Marcus A Verus], Emperor of Rome (161-180)
570 - Muhammed, founder of Islam, according to the Shi'a sect. Other sources suggest April 20. Observed according to the Islamic lunar calendar
1538 - Giovanni P Lomazzo, Italian writer/poet (Trattato)
1564 - William Shakespeare, Stratford-on-Avon England, baptism, English playwright and poet
1567 - Nicolas Forme, composer
1573 - Marie de'Medici, Queen of France
1603 - Francesco Nigetti, composer
1637 - Philip J van Lichtenbergh, Governor of Suriname, baptized
1648 - Pedro II, King of Portugal (1683-1706)
1662 - Maria Luisa of Orleans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1689)
1710 - Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher (d. 1796)
1711 - David Hume, English empiricist/philosopher (Treatise of Human Nature)
1718 - Esek Hopkins, US, 1st commander-in-chief (US Navy)
1726 - Pasquale Paoli, Corsican freedom fighter
1774 - Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist (d. 1853)
1776 - Joan M Kemper, Dutch lawyer (designed civil code law book)
1782 - Maria Amalia of Bourbon-Sicily, wife of Louis Phillip of Austria
1785 - John James Audubon, Haiti, bird watcher/artist
1787 - Ludwig Uhland, writer
Philosopher David Hume (1711) 1796 - Auguste-Matthieu Panseron, composer
1798 - Ferdinand Eugene Delacroix, French painter/lithograph/etcher (Journal)
1798 - James Beckwourth, American explorer (d. 1867)
1801 - Ambrose Dudley Mann, American diplomat (d. 1889)
1804 - Charles Goodyear, American politician (d. 1876)
1806 - Ludwig Friedrich Hetsch, composer
1808 - Martha Finley, children's book author
1812 - Alfred Krupp, German arms merchant
1820 - Alice Cary, Cincinnati, American poet (Cincinnati Sentinel)
1822 - Frederick Law Olmsted, architect/writer (designed Central Park)
1822 - Jan Albert van Eyken, composer/organist
1826 - George Hull Ward, American general (d. 1863)
1826 - Ambrose R. Wright, American Civil War General (d. 1872
1827 - Charles Edward Hovey, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1834 - Artemus Ward, (Charles Farrar Browne), humorist
1834 - Horatio Richmond Palmer, composer
1836 - Erminnie Adelle Platt, US, ethnologist (Iriquois-English Dictionary)
1839 - Cyrus Hamblin, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers), died in 1867
1841 - Wilhelm Scherer, German literature historian
1856 - Sir Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
1860 - Alphonse M A J Ariëns, Dutch pastor
1863 - Arno Holz, writer
1863 - Charles Haslewood Shannon, lithographer/painter
1868 - Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere/Newspaper publisher
1868 - Robert Herrick, US writer (Common lot)
1873 - Otto zur Linde, German author (Charon)
1874 - J H "Biddy" Anderson, cricketer (one Test South Africa v Australia 1902)
1875 - Syngman Rhee, South Korea, pres of South Korea (1948-60) [or Mar 26]
1878 - Ethel Griffies, actress (Billy Liar, Birds, We Live Again)
1878 - Saint Rafael Guízar Valencia, Mexican Catholic bishop
1879 - Owen Williams Richardson, England, physicist (Nobel 1928)
1880 - Mikhail Fokine, Russia, choreographer/founder of modern dance
1884 - Harry Sothern, actor (Dr Huer-Buck Rogers)
1886 - Ma Rainey, [Gertrude Pridgett], "Mother of the Blues" American singer (d. 1939)
1886 - Ğabdulla Tuqay, Tatar poet (d. 1913)
1888 - Aleksandr Mikhailov, USSR, astronomer
1888 - Anita Loos, American screenwriter, novelist (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) and playwright (d. 1981)
1889 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austria, philosopher (Tractatus)
1890 - Edgar "E Livingstone" Kennedy, US actor/director (My Old Dutch)
1893 - Draza Mihajlovic, Serbian WWII hero and war criminal (d. 1946)
1894 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (d. 1987)
1896 - Ernst Udet, WWI pilot and film actor, Luftwaffe officer (d. 1941)
1897 - Olga Chekova, Russia, actress (Italian Strawhat, Cry of the Children)
1897 - Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (d. 1967)
1898 - Edward PF Eagan, Denver, boxer (Oly-gold-20)/bobsledder (Oly-gold-32)
1898 - John Grierson, documentary film maker
1898 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spain, writer (Ambito, Bird of Paper, Nobel 1977)
1899 - Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, TX, actor (Hoedown, Country Fair, Blackmail)
1900 - Charles Richter, Ohio, Earthquakes seismologist (Richter scale)
1900 - Douglas Sirk, director (Zu Neuen Ufern, Boefje)
1900 - James Sutherland, English literature scholar/actor (Rob Roy 1953)
1900 - Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
1903 - Geoffrey Worthington, Air vice-marshall
1903 - Niven Busch, US screenwriter (Postman Always Rings Twice)
1904 - Paul E "Cardinal" Leger, archbishop (Montreal)
1905 - Charles K Feldman, [Gould], NYC, producer (Casino Royale)
1905 - Denis O'Dea, Dublin, actor (Esther & the King, Treasure Island)
1905 - Jean Vigo, France, actor/director (Zero For Conduct, L'Atlante)
1906 - Gracie Allen, Mrs George Burns, comedienne (George Burns Show)
1906 - Leopold Spinner, composer
1907 - Theun de Vries, writer (February; PC Hooft prize 1981)
1909 - Richard Howorth, cricketer (English all-rounder, three county doubles)
1910 - Erland von Koch, composer
1910 - Ernst Tittel, composer
1910 - Johan Doorn, Dutch journalist/resistance fighter (Orange Newspaper)
1910 - Tomoyuki Tanaka, director (Godzilla)
1911 - Marianne Hoppe, Rostock Germany (Bei Thea, Liebrauen)
1912 - A. E. van Vogt, Canada, sci-fi author (Wizard of Linn) (d. 2000)
1914 - Bernard Malamud, US, novelist (Fixer, Natural, Pulitizer 1967)
1914 - Charlie Chester, British comedian (Never Say Die)
1914 - Horace Leonard Gold, Sci-Fi writer/editor
1914 - James William Rouse, US builder (shopping malls/Columbia, Maryland)
1914 - Wilfred Howard Mellers, composer
1916 - Arnoldus Christian Vlok van Wyk, composer
1916 - Morris L West, Australia, novelist (Shoes of the Fisherman)
1916 - Vic Perrin, American actor (d. 1989)
1917 - I[eoh] M[ing] Pei, Canton, China, architect (1961 Brunner Prize)
1917 - Sal "The Barber" Maglie, pitcher (NY Giants, 8th best won-lost pct)
1918 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Holland, 100m/200m dash, hurdler (Olym-gold-1948)
1918 - Jack Morpurgo, American Literature scholar (Leeds University)
1918 - Stafford Repp, California, actor (Chief O'Hara-Batman, Plunder Road)

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 5 of 5

1709 - Frisian viceroy Johan Willem Friso marries countess Maria Louisa
1923 - English prince Albert Duke of York (George VI) marries Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey
1946 - Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.
1986 - Actor/body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger weds newscaster Maria Shriver
1994 - "Mad About You" actress Leila Kenzel (33) weds Neil Monaco (34)

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 103

757 - Stephen II, Pope (752-57), dies
1192 - Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
1196 - Alfonso II, King of Aragon (1162-96), dies
1444 - Robert Campin, South Neth painter/porter of Doornik, dies at about 65
1476 - Simonetta Vespucci, inspiration of Botticelli (b.1453)
1478 - Giuliano de' Medici, Medeheerser of Florence, murdered at about 24
1489 - Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (b. 1465)
1558 - Jean Francois Fernel, French physician, dies
1648 - Christoph Thomas Walliser, composer, dies at 79
1703 - Georg Christoph Leuttner, composer, dies at 58
1716 - John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1651)
1726 - Jeremy Collier, Engl bishop/historian/opponent to theater, dies at 75
1731 - Daniel Defoe, English author (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70
1784 - Nano Nagle, Irish convent founder (b. 1718)
1785 - Karl Siegmund von Seckendorff, composer, dies at 40
1789 - Peter I Panin, Russian general (Pugatshov-uprising), dies at about 67
1805 - Jean BG d'ansse the Villoison, classic (Anecdota Graeca), dies at 55
1827 - Bernardo Ottani, composer, dies at 90
1865 - Charles J Sax, Belgium musician and father of Adolphe Sax inventor of the saxophone, dies at 74
Assassin John Wilkes Booth (1865) 1865 - John Wilkes Booth, assassin, is shot dead near Bowling Green VA at 27
1881 - Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
1892 - Sir Provo Wallis, British Admiral and naval hero (b. 1791)
1907 - Pietro Plantania, composer, dies at 79
1910 - Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Norwegian writer (Mary, Nobel 1903), dies at 77
1920 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
1922 - Hans Sommer, composer, dies at 84
1924 - Josef Labor, composer, dies at 82
1932 - Bill Lockwood, cricketer (43 wickets in 12 Tests for England), dies
1936 - Tammany Young, American actor (b.1886)
1938 - Edmund Husserl, German philosopher (study of phenomenon), dies at 79
1940 - Carl Bosch, German chemist (BASF, IG Farben, Nobel 1931), dies at 65
1941 - Jean Demoor, Belgian physician/physiologist/educationalist, dies at 74
1944 - Violette Morris, French athlete (b. 1893)
1945 - Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian politician and general (b. 1871)
1945 - Sigmund Rascher, Nazi doctor (b. 1909)
1946 - Hermann Keyserling, count/philosopher (Unsterblichkeit), dies at 65
1950 - G. Murray Hulbert, American politician (b. 1881)
1951 - John Alden Carpenter, US composer (Sea Drift), dies at 75
1951 - Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist (b. 1868)
1952 - Charles L Baars, Dutch actor (Women Tamers), dies at 59
1956 - Edward Arnold, actor (Mr Smith Goes to Washington), dies at 66
1957 - Gichin Funakoshi, Father of Japanese Shotokan Karatedo (b. 1868)
1958 - Joe Small, cricketer (WI all-rounder in 1928 series), dies
1958 - Johan N C "Joan" Collette, painter, dies at 68
1960 - Wander J de Haas, Dut physicist (Einstein-De Haas effect), dies at 82
1961 - Gail Russell, actress (Calcutta, Moonrise, El Paso), dies at 36
1964 - Edwin John Pratt, Canadian poet (Towards the Last Spike), dies at 81
1964 - Pieter van der Lijn, Dutch geologist (Boulder Book), dies at 93
1965 - Aaron Avshalomov, composer, dies at 70
1969 - Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of aikido (b. 1883)
1970 - Gypsy Rose Lee, stripper/actress (Pruitts of S Hampton), dies at 56
1970 - John Knittel, writer, dies at 79
1970 - Paul Celan, writer, dies at 49 [or May 5]
1970 - Erik Bergman, Lutheran pastor (b. 1886)
1972 - Margaret A R Bonds, US pianist/composer/arranger, dies at 59
1972 - Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
1973 - Irene Ryan, actress (Granny-Beverly Hillbillies), dies at 69
1976 - Allan Jackson, newscaster (Youth Takes a Stand), dies at 60
1976 - Neil McCallum, actor (Pete-Saber of London), dies at 45
1976 - Sid James, South African-born British comedian, dies at 62
1980 - Cicely Courtneidge, actress (Double Exposure), dies at 87
1981 - Jim Davis, actor (Jack Ewing-Dallas), dies at 65
1981 - Madge Evans, TV panelist (Masquerade Party), dies at 71
1981 - Robert Davi, dies at 54
1982 - Celia Johnson, British actress (Jean Brodie), dies of stroke at 73
1982 - Ville Ritola, Finnish 5/10km runner (Olympic-gold-1924, 28), dies
1983 - Bronislaw Kaper, composer, dies at 81
1983 - Vaughn Taylor, actor (Johnny Jupiter), dies at 72
1984 - Henry Rowland, actor (Rogue's Regiment), dies at 70
1984 - May McAvoy, actress (Ben Hur), dies at 82 after a heart attack
1984 - William "Count" Basie, jazz piano great, dies on 80th birthday
1986 - Bessie Love, actress (Broadway Melody, Isadora), dies at 87
1986 - [William] Broderick Crawford, actor (Highway Patrol), dies at 74
1986 - Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
1987 - John Ernest Silkin, British politician (b. 1923)
1987 - Shankar, Of Noted Bollywood Music Director Duo Shankar-Jaikishan (b. 1922)
Comedienne/Actress Lucille Ball (1989) 1989 - Lucille Ball, comedienne (I Love Lucy), dies of heart attack at 78
1990 - Carlos Pizarro Leongomez, Colombian pres candidate, assassinated
1991 - Carmine Coppola, composer/father of Francis Ford Coppola, dies
1991 - Emily McLaughlin, US actress (Jessie-General Hospital), dies at 61
1991 - Leo Arnaud, French-American composer (b. 1904)
1991 - Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician (b. 1931)
1992 - Alberta Vaughn, actress (Wild Horse, Silver Devil), dies at 87
1992 - Clyde Hartley, entertainer, dies at 68
1994 - Masutatsu Oyama, Founder of Japanese Kyokushin Karate (b. 1927)
1995 - Alexander Knox, actor/writer (Gorky Park, Accident), dies at 88
1996 - Burton Stein, historian, dies at 69
1996 - John Norrie McArthur, malariologist/microscopist, dies at 94
1996 - Stirling Silliphant, screenwriter, dies at 78
1997 - Joey Faye, comic (Fruit of the Loom grapes), dies at 86
1997 - Peng Zhen, mayor of Beijing China (1951-66), dies
1997 - Yegorov, Russian leader (1994-95), dies
1999 - Adrian Borland, English musician (The Sound) (b. 1957)
1999 - Jill Dando, British television presenter (b.1961)
2002 - Robert Steinhäuser German spree killer (b.1983)
2003 - Rosemary Brown, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
2003 - Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist (b. 1904)
2003 - Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
2004 - Hubert Selby Jr., American author (b. 1928)
2005 - Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)