On this day thread

[Muteswan]

14th April
1759 George Frideric Handel, German-British baroque composer and organist (Messiah, Water Music), dies at 74
1841 1st detective story published, Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue".
1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later.
1904 John Gielgud, English actor was born. He was known for his beautiful speaking of verse and particularly for his warm and expressive voice. Gielgud is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Award.
1912 The British built luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic shortly before midnight, and sank in the early hours of the next morning. 1500 passengers and crew were killed.
1927 The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1931 The first recorded meteorite fall in Wales happened today in Pontllynfi, near Caernarfon.
1931 The Ministry of Transport issued the first Highway Code, a set of guidelines and rules for drivers.
1939 John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" published.
1945 Born on this day in Weston-super-Mare (His father was born in Cardiff and his grandfather in Swansea),Ritchie Blackmore, a founding member of rock bands Deep Purple and Rainbow. Blackmore was ranked the 50th greatest guitarist of all time in a Rolling Stone magazine poll.
1950 1st edition of British comic "Eagle".
1958 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard burns up during re entry into Earth's atmosphere.
1963 The Rolling Stones played at The Crawdaddy Club, Richmond. All four members of The Beatles were in the audience.
1966 The Spencer Davis Group were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Somebody Help Me', the group's second UK No.1.
1972 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes twenty-four bombs in towns and cities across Northern Ireland.
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.
1996 British golfer Nick Faldo won the US Masters title for the third time.
1999 Anthony Newley, British actor and singer-songwriter (Doctor Dolittle; Goldfinger theme; Willy Wonka score), dies at 67.
2003 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
2019 83rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Tiger Woods wins his 5th Masters title by 1 stroke.

 

[Muteswan]

15th April
1250 Kublai is acclaimed the Great Khan by a Mongol Great Council.
1452 Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary, born in Vinci, Florence, Italy (d. 1519).
1534 Thomas Cromwell is appointed Chief Secretary to King Henry VIII of England.
1729 Johann Sebastian Bach's "St Matthew Passion" premieres in Leipzig.
1755 Dr Samuel Johnson's dictionary 'A Dictionary of the English Language' was first published, in London.
1793 Bank of England issues first £5 note.
1865 Abraham Lincoln dies 9 hours after he is shot attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington.
1901 The birth of Joe Davis, world snooker and billiards champion from 1927-1946.
1901 The first motor hearse appeared on the streets of Britain when it carried the body of William Drakeford to his burial in Coventry. His employer, the Daimler Motor Company, had adapted one of their cars for the occasion.
1912 The British built Titanic luxury ocean liner that had collided earlier with an iceberg about 400 miles from Newfoundland sank at 2:20 a.m. More than 1,500 people drowned or froze to death in the icy waters.
1923 Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics.
1939 Marty Wilde, English pop singer-songwriter ("A Teenager In Love"), and father of rocker Kim Wilde, born in London, England.
1940 Jeffrey Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare, English novelist, born in Finsbury, London.
1944 Dave Edmunds, Welsh rock singer and guitarist (Rockpile - "Girls Talk"; "I Knew The Bride"), born in Cardiff, Wales.
1945 British troops entered the Belsan concentration camp after negotiating a truce with the German commandant. Soldiers found piles of dead and rotting corpses and thousands of sick and starving prisoners.
1955 Ray Kroc opens first McDonald's Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
1955 Dodi Fayed, Egyptian businessman who died in a car crash in Paris with Princess Diana, born in Alexandria, Egypt (d. 1997).
1964 Footballer George Best made his debut for Northern Ireland against Wales.
1966 Samantha Karen Fox, British pop singer and former model, born in London, England.
1980 Jean-Paul Sartre, French existentialist philosopher & writer (Nobel 1964), dies in Paris at 74.
1984 Tommy Cooper, English comedian, collapsed and died from a heart attack in front of millions of television viewers, midway through his act on the London Weekend Television variety show Live From Her Majesty's.
1988 Kenneth Williams, British actor (Hancock's Half Hour, Carry On films), dies of an overdose at 61.
1989 Britain's worst football disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield. 96 football fans were crushed to death shortly after the start of the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Most of those killed were from Liverpool. Fresh inquests into the 96 deaths began in Warrington on Monday, 31st March 2014. On 26th April 2016 the jury of 9 reached a verdict that vindicated the bereaved families who had fought for 27 years against South Yorkshire police claims that misbehaving supporters caused the disaster. It was the longest inquest in British legal history.
1998 Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (1976-79) & revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge (1963-97), dies at 72.
2001 Joey Ramone [Jeffrey Hyman], American musician & singer (The Ramones) died after losing a long battle with lymphatic cancer aged 49.
2010 Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.
2013 Boston Marathon bombings: 3 people are killed and 183 injured after two explosions near the finish line.
2017 Allan Holdsworth, British progressive rock guitarist, dies at 70.
2019 Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof.

 

[Muteswan]

16th April
1705 Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1746 Jacobite Rising 1745: Battle of Culloden, the last battle on British soil: Royalist troops under the Duke of Cumberland defeat the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie).
1850 Marie Tussaud, French founder of Madame Tussaud's wax museum, dies at 88.
1889 Charlie Chaplin, British actor and comedian (City Lights, Gold Rush), born in London, England (d. 1977).
1918 Spike Milligan, Irish-British actor and comedian (The Goon Show, 3 Musketeers), born in Ahmednagar, India (d. 2002).
1924 Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (Pink Panther), born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1994).
1939 Dusty Springfield [Mary O'Brien], British pop vocalist ("I Only Want To Be With You"; "Son Of A Preacher Man"), born in West Hampstead, London (d. 1999).
1943 Born this day in Norwich (her grandmother was Welsh and she was brought up in Llansamlet), Ruth Madoc, actress and singer, born Ruth Llewellyn, who is best known for her roles as Gladys Pugh in the television comedy Hi de Hi and as Dafydd Thomas's mother in the series Little Britain. Her first husband was the actor, Phillip Madoc.
1945 Colditz Castle, the high-security prisoner of war camp in Germany, is liberated by American troops.
1954 Born this day in Pentre, Rhondda, Alan Curtis, a former Wales football international who is best remembered as a regular member of the Swansea City side that gained promotion to the First Division in 1980-81 and finished in 6th position the following season. He has been a caretaker manager and first team coach at Swansea City as well as being a part of the Wales Under 21 coaching team.
1958 Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies of ovarian cancer at 37.
1964 Twelve members of the Great Train Robbery gang were sentenced, to a total of 307 years.
1993 Jury reaches guilty verdict in federal case against police officers (two convicted, two acquitted) who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17th.
2004 The super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first Transatlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.
2008 It was announced that Karen Matthews (aged 32, from Dewsbury) was to stand trial alongside Michael Donovan, charged with the kidnapping and false imprisonment of her 9 year old daughter Shannon who disappeared on 19th February. On 23rd January 2009, Matthews and Donovan were sentenced to eight years in prison by Mr. Justice McCombe.
2017 World record for gathering of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes - 662 at Manoir de Ban, Chaplin museum in Vevey, Switzerland.

 

[Muteswan]

17th April
1397 Geoffrey Chaucer told the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1534 Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London.
1837 J. P. Morgan, Sr. [John Pierpont], American financier and banker (General Electric, Steel Corporation, AT&T), born in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1913).
1860 The first world title boxing match took place near Farnborough, Hampshire, when Briton Tom Sayers took on American John Heenan. Despite being 46 lb lighter, Sayers forced a draw after 42 rounds of bare-knuckle fighting.
1888 The formation of the English Football League took place at a formal meeting in the Royal Hotel, Manchester.
1924 Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures & Louis B Mayer Co merged to form Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM).
1956 Premium Bonds were introduced into Britain by the Conservative Chancellor, Harold Macmillan.
1960 Eddie Cochran, American rock vocalist and guitarist ("Summertime Blues"; "C'Mon Everybody"), dies in an English taxi-car crash at 21. Cochran's current hit at the time was 'Three Steps to Heaven'.
1964 The British pop group The Rolling Stones released their first album. The debut album was called ......... The Rolling Stones!
1969 The age at which a person was eligible to vote in Britain was lowered from 21 to 18.
1969 People's Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old.
1973 Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side Of The Moon went gold in the US. The LP went on to stay in the US chart for more than ten years and became the longest charting rock record of all time.
1983 Felix Pappalardi, American rock music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist (Mountain - "Mississippi Queen"), shot and killed by his wife, Gail, at 43.
1984 WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead during an anti Gadaafi protest outside the Libyan People’s Bureau in London. Ten others were wounded and the events led to an 11-day siege of the building. Diplomatic relations with Libya were severed on 23rd April and her killer escaped under the cloak of diplomatic immunity.
1998 Linda McCartney [née Eastman], American photographer, musician (Wings) and wife of Paul McCartney, dies of breast cancer at 56.
2011 "Game of Thrones", based on the fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin premieres on HBO.
2012 The 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe's oldest intact book, is purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds.
2013 The funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and the first woman to have held the office.
2015 James Anderson becomes the highest wicket-taking bowler in England's test cricket history.
2020 Norman Hunter, English soccer defender (28 caps; Leeds United, Bristol City, Barnsley; FIFA World Cup 1966), dies from COVID-19 at 76.
2021 The funeral of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II for more than 70 years. Because of coronavirus restrictions the funeral was confined to Windsor Castle after an 8 minute procession within the castle grounds.

 

[Muteswan]

18th April
1506 The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid in the Vatican by Pope Julius II.
1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the "regulars are coming!".
1881 Natural History Museum opens in South Kensington, England.
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city.
1912 Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
1920 Born this day in Ton Pentre, Roy Paul, a former Wales football international who played as a half-back for Swansea Town and then Manchester City, where he spent seven years as captain, leading the club to FA Cup finals in 1955 and 1956, He is considered to be one of Wales' toughest and best ever defenders.
1930 BBC news announcer announces "there is no news" at 20:45 news bulletin, plays music instead.
1949 The Republic of Ireland Act came into force as Eire (Southern Ireland) became a Republic and left the British Commonwealth.
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.
1955 Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist & Nobel laureate (theory of relativity), dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 76.
1964 Bez [Mark Berry], English percussionist and dancer (Happy Mondays), born in Bolton, Lancashire.
1966 The Spencer Davis Group were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the Jackie Edwards song 'Somebody Help Me', (as with their previous hit 'Keep on Running' which was also composed by Edwards).
1968 London Bridge was sold for £1m to American oil tycoon Robert McCullough. He decided to knock it down, brick by brick, and have it re-built at Lake Havasu in the United States.
1971 David Tennant [McDonald], Scottish actor (Doctor Who, Broadchurch), born in Bathgate, Scotland.
1980 Rhodesia became Zimbabwe at midnight and independent from Britain. Canaan Banana was the President and Robert Mugabe the Prime Minister.
1985 Łukasz Fabiański, Polish football goalkeeper (Poland national team), born in Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland.
1994 West Indian batsman Brian Lara broke the record for the highest individual score in Test Cricket when he scored 375 against England in Antigua.
1994 Born on this day in St Helens, Merseyside, Ross Moriarty, Wales rugby international. Moriarty is the son of former Wales international Paul Moriarty and was brought up and educated in Swansea.
2019 Irish Journalist Lyra McKee shot to death covering riots in Derry, Northern Ireland with dissident republican group the New IRA claiming responsibility.

 

[Muteswan]

19th April
1770 Explorer Captain James Cook sighted the eastern coast of what is now Australia.
1775 American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts. The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord later that day.
1882 Charles Darwin, English naturalist (Origin of the Species) who conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection, dies of heart failure at 73.
1903 Eliot Ness, US Federal agent "The Untouchables" (put away Al Capone), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1957).
1928 Alexis Korner, British blues musician (Blues Inc - "Bootleg Him"), born in Paris, France (d. 1984).
1933 Jayne Mansfield [Vera Jane Palmer], American actress (The Girl Can't Help It), born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (d. 1967).
1933 Harold "Dickie" Bird, English cricket umpire (66 Tests, 69 ODI), born in Barnsley, England.
1935 Dudley Moore, English comedian, actor (10; Arthur; Bedazzled), jazz pianist, and composer, born in London (d. 2002).
1942 Alan Price, English rock keyboardist (Animals - "House of the Rising Sun"), born in Fatfield, Washington, England.
1954 Trevor Francis, British football player and manager, born in Plymouth, England. 1st million pounds transfer.
1958 The legendary English footballer Bobby Charlton made the first of his 106 appearances for England against Scotland and scored the first of his record 49 goals for his country.
1963 Johnny Cash releases single "Ring Of Fire" written by his future wife June Carter and Merle Kilgore.
1965 The Beatles single 'Ticket to Ride' was released on Capitol records in the US.
1971 Charles Manson sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Sharon Tate.
1980 32 year old English singer Brian Johnson joined Australian group AC/DC, replacing Bon Scott who had died after a drinks binge in February 1980.
1984 Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, with green and gold the national colours.
1992 The death of Frankie Howerd OBE, English comedian and comic actor whose career spanned six decades.
1994 Rodney King awarded $3,800,000 compensation by the Los Angeles County for his police beating.
1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and injuring 500
2011 Fidel Castro resigns from the Communist Party of Cuba's central committee after 45 years of holding the title.
2013 Boston bombing suspects killed and captured in Boston after 4 days.
2014 A family had to flee their people carrier after suffering the misfortune of seeing it catch fire in the middle of the lion enclosure at Longleat Safari Park.
2015 Boat carrying approx. 850 migrants is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean between Italian and Libya, with only 27 migrants rescued.
2020 Michael Ball and Captain Tom Moore went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of "You'll Never Walk Alone".
2021 New Zealand and Australia open a travel bubble between the two countries after more than a year of border closures.

 

[Muteswan]

20th April
1611 First known performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London, recorded by Simon Forman.
1759 George Frideric Handel is buried in Westminster Abbey, London.
1770 Captain James Cook arrives in New South Wales.
1862 First pasteurization test completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
1879 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus.
1889 Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator and Führer of Nazi Germany (1936-45), born in Gasthof zum Pommer, Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary (d. 1945).
1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride.
1912 Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager and writer (Dracula), dies at 64.
1918 Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1937 George Takei, American actor (Sulu-Star Trek, Green Berets), born in Los Angeles, California.
1951 Luther Vandross, American soul singer, songwriter ("Endless Love"; "Dance With My Father"), and vocal arranger (David Bowie - Young Americans), born in NYC, New York (d. 2005).
1957 Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-Canadian actor (Nick Knight-Forever Knight, Bury Me in Niagara, High Hopes), born in Swansea, Wales.
1964 BBC Two launched, with a power cut because of a fire at Battersea Power Station.
1964 Andy Serkis, English actor (Gollum in Lord of the Rings), born in London, England.
1968 British politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.
1968 Deep Purple made their live debut at a gig in Tastrup, Denmark. Formerly known as Roundabout, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore suggested a new name: Deep Purple.
1974 Paul McCartney & Wings release single "Band on the Run" in the US.
1981 Steve Davis became the world snooker champion at 23 years of age, beating Doug Mountjoy at Sheffield.
1989 Scientists said that the Earth had narrowly missed being struck by a passing asteroid weighing 400 million tons.
1991 Steve Marriott, English guitarist (Small Faces), dies in a house fire at 44.
1992 Benny Hill [Alfred Hawthorn Hill], British comedian (The Benny Hill Show), dies of a heart attack at 68.
1992 All-star concert in memory of Freddie Mercury held at Wembley Stadium, London.
1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado.
2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster.
2012 Bert Weedon, whose Play in a Day guitar guide set some of the biggest names in rock and roll on the road to greatness, died, aged 91. Play in a Day, released in 1957, sold over two million copies and helped inspire a generation of budding musicians including Eric Clapton, Brian May of Queen and the late John Lennon.
2016 Victoria Wood, British comedian and actress, dies of cancer at 62.
2018 Arsène Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years as manager.
2021 The ex police officer, Derek Chauvin filmed with his knee on George Floyd’s neck has been convicted of murder.

 

[Muteswan]

21st April
1509 Henry VII, 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), dies at 52, Henry VIII succeeds him aged 17.
1689 William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1816 Charlotte Brontë, English novelist (Jane Eyre), born in Thornton, West Yorkshire, England (d. 1855).
1910 Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens], American author (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), dies at 74.
1916 The Aud, carrying a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans in staging what would become the 1916 Rising, is captured by the British Navy and forced to sail towards Cork Harbour.
1922 Allan Watkins, Welsh cricket all-rounder, (15 Tests, England @ 40.15, 11 wickets; Glamorgan), born in Usk, Wales (d. 2011).
1926 Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, 1952- ), born in London, England.
1947 Iggy Pop [James Osterberg], American singer and lyricist known as "The Godfather of Punk" (The Stooges - "I Wanna Be Your Dog"; solo - "Lust For Life"), born in Muskegon, Michigan.
1959 Robert Smith, British rock singer, songwriter and guitarist (The Cure - "Friday I'm In Love"), born in Blackpool, England.
1963 Beatles meet The Rolling Stones for the 1st time.
1969 Janis Joplin appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, (her first London appearance). The opening act was Yes.
1969 The Ministry of Defence in London announces that British troops would be used in Northern Ireland to guard key public installations following a series of bombings.
1971 François Duvalier "Papa Doc", Dictator and President of Haiti (1957-71), dies of heart disease and diabetes at 64.
1983 One pound coins replaced notes in England and Wales.
1988 1st four-day games in County Cricket Championship commence.
1990 Paul McCartney played in front of 184,000 fans at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, creating a new world record for the largest crowd attending a rock concert.
1995 British sitcom "Father Ted" written by Arthur Mathews & Graham Linehan, starring Dermot Morgan premieres on Channel 4.
2003 Nina Simone [Eunice Waymon], American jazz pianist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and civil rights activist (“To Be Young, Gifted, and Black”), dies of breast cancer at 70.
2016 Prince [Rogers Nelson], American funk, rock, R&B singer-songwriter and musician ("1999"; "Purple Rain"), dies from an accidental overdose of painkillers at 57.
2017 Ugo Ehiogu, English soccer defender (4 caps; Aston Villa, Middlesborough), dies from cardiac arrest at 44.
2019 Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks at a Extinction Rebellion protest in London amid city-wide climate protests where Waterloo Bridge was occupied over four days.

 

[Muteswan]

22nd April
1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral is the first European to discover Brazil, landing near Monte Pascoal, claims it for Portugal.
1662 King Charles II granted a charter to the Royal Society of London, which became an important centre of scientific activity in England.
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.
1870 Vladimir Lenin [Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov], Marxist Revolutionary and Soviet Leader, born in Simbirsk, Russia (d. 1924).
1876 1st official National League baseball game is played; Boston Red Stockings beat Philadelphia Athletics, 6-5 at the Jefferson Street Grounds, Philadelphia.
1876 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky completes his ballet "Swan Lake".
1902 Born today in Criccieth, Lady Megan Lloyd George, daughter of David Lloyd George and the first female, and longest serving, MP in Wales.
1904 Robert Oppenheimer, American theoretical physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project), born in NYC, New York (d. 1967).
1915 The second battle of Ypres started when German troops released clouds of deadly chlorine gas on British troops. It was the first major gas attack of World War I.
1917 Leo Abse, Welsh politician and biographer, born in Cardiff (d. 2008).
1933 Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American scientist and NASA astronaut, born in Cardiff, Wales (d. 2013).
1936 Glen Campbell, American country-pop singer ("Rhinestone Cowboy"; "Wichita Lineman"; "Southern Nights"), guitarist, and actor (True Grit), born in Delight, Arkansas (d. 2017).
1937 Jack Nicholson, American actor (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining), born in Neptune City, New Jersey.
1943 Britain discontinued printing £1,000 notes.
1945 World War II - After learning that Soviet forces had taken Eberswalde without a fight, Adolf Hitler admitted defeat in his underground bunker and stated that suicide was his only recourse.
1950 Peter Frampton, British rock guitarist and vocalist (humble Pie; Frampton Comes Alive), born in Kent, England.
1965 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ticket To Ride.'
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".
1972 An 11-year-old boy killed by a rubber bullet fired by the British Army in Belfast; he was the first to die from a rubber bullet impact.
1972 Deep Purple scored their second UK No.1 album with Machine Head. The album which features 'Smoke on the Water' and 'Highway Star', is often cited as a major influence in the early development of the heavy metal music genre and commercially, it was Deep Purple's most successful album.
1984 Ansel Adams, American photographer, dies at 82.
1991 Intel releases 486SX chip.
1994 Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (1969-75), dies of a stroke at 81.
2000 The Big Number Change took place. It was an update of telephone dialling codes in Britain in response to the rapid growth of telecommunications and the impending exhaustion of numbers.
2013 Police confirmed that the search for missing five-year-old April Jones from Machynlleth, Powys had ended, after almost seven months of searching. Mark Bridger denied abducting and murdering April as well as intending to pervert the course of justice but was jailed on 30th May 2013.

 

[Muteswan]

23rd April
871 The death of Æthelred I (sometimes rendered as Ethelred) king of Wessex from 865 to 871.
1016 Edmund Ironside succeeded his father Æthelred II (Ethelred the Unready) as king of England. Unready, meaning 'poorly advised' was a play on his name, which means 'well advised'.
1516 Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria endorses "The German Beer Purity Law" (Reinheitsgebot) and adds to it standards for the sale of beer in Bavaria, ensuring beer is only brewed from three ingredients – water, malt and hops.
1565 William Shakespeare, English Poet and playwright (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth), born in Stratford upon Avon, (d. 1616) traditionally regarded as his birthdate.
1597 William Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
1616 William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright dies aged 52.(?)
1775 J. M. W. Turner, English landscape painter (Shipwreck, Rain, Steam and Speed), born in Covent Garden, London (d. 1851).
1850 William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet (The Prelude), dies at 80.
1867 Queen Victoria & Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel.
1927 Some team won the FA Cup.
1928 Shirley Temple, American actress, famous 1930s child star (Bright Eyes, Heidi) and diplomat, born in Santa Monica, California (d. 2014).
1935 The Morriston Orpheus Choir was formed today by Ivor E Sims.
1936 Roy Orbison, American rock singer ("Pretty Woman"; "Only The Lonely"; Traveling Wilburys - "Handle With Care"), born in Vernon, Texas (d. 1988).
1939 Lee Majors [Harvey Lee Yeary], American film and TV actor ($6,000,000 Man, The Fall Guy), born in Wyandotte, Michigan.
1959 1st heliport in Britain opens in London.
1960 The Nerk Twins appeared at The Fox And Hounds in Caversham, Berkshire, England. The Nerk Twins being John Lennon and Paul McCartney who were staying at Paul's aunt's pub.
1968 The first decimal coins appeared in Britain - the 5p and 10p pieces which replaced the 1 shilling and 2 shilling coins.
1969 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Get Back' the group's 16th UK No.1.
1977 ADO Den Haag soccer team forms in The Hague, Netherlands.
1982 The 8-bit personal home computer the Sinclair ZX Spectrum is released (goes on to sell 5 million worldwide).
1983 Canadian snooker player Cliff Thorburn completed the first televised maximum break of 147 during the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible Theatre, in Sheffield.
1984 AIDS-virus identified as HTLV-III (acquired immune deficiency syndrome).
1986 Jim Laker, English cricket spin bowler (46 Tests; world best 19-90 4th Test v Australia 1956), dies from complications of gall bladder surgery at 64.
1988 Iron Maiden went to No.1 on the UK album chart with 'Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son', their second No.1 LP.
1993 Daniel Jones, Welsh composer, dies at 80. He died at his home, 55 Southward Lane, Newton, Swansea, where he had composed "in a room looking down on Oystermouth Castle and out over Swansea Bay".
1994 Pink Floyd were at No.1 on the UK album chart with The Division Bell, their fourth UK No.1 album.
2003 Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.
2009 Gamma ray burst (GRB) 090423 is observed for 10 seconds, the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe.
2013 West Indian cricketer, Chris Gayle, smashes the fastest century in history (30 balls).
2013 "Star Trek Into Darkness" directed by J. J. Abrams starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto premieres in Sydney.
2019 World's first malaria vaccine, giving partial protection to children, begins in Malawi by the WHO.
2020 US President Donald Trump suggests COVID-19 might be treated by injecting disinfectant or UV lights into a human body at a White House press briefing. Government officials and disinfectant companies quickly state doing so is not only extremely dangerous but potentially deadly.

 

[Muteswan]

24th April
1731 Daniel Defoe, English novelist (Robinson Crusoe), dies at about 70.
1880 Amateur Athletic Association, governing body for men's athletics in England & Wales, is founded in Oxford, England.
1888 Eastman Kodak founded by George Eastman.
1900 The first issue of the newspaper the Daily Express. It was founded by Arthur Pearson.
1916 In Dublin, Irish nationalists, led by Patrick Pearse, launched the Easter Rebellion against British rule.
1928 Tommy Docherty, Scottish soccer midfielder (25 caps; Preston North End) and manager (Chelsea, QPR, Scotland, Manchester United), born in Glasgow, Scotland (d. 2020).
1942 American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker Barbra Streisand born today.
1953 Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1957 English astronomer Patrick Moore presented the first broadcast of The Sky at Night, on BBC television.
1959 Buddy Holly was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the Paul Anka song 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore.' A No.1 hit six weeks after Holly's death.
1959 Born this day in Colwyn Bay, Paula Yates, a television presenter and writer best known for presenting The Tube and The Big Breakfast.
1968 Louis Armstrong was at No.1 in the UK with the single 'What A Wonderful World / Cabaret.' At 69 years of age, it made Armstrong the oldest act ever to score a UK No.1.
1969 Paul McCartney says there is no truth to rumors he is dead.
1969 Car firm British Leyland launch the Austin Maxi in Oporto Portugal.
1973 Born this day in Leeds, Gabby Logan, television and radio presenter, who is also a former Welsh international gymnast and the daughter of former Wales soccer international Terry Yorath.
1973 Sachin Tendulkar, Indian Cricket Batsman and captain (200 Tests, 15,921 runs @ 53.78, 51 x 100s; highest run scorer in international cricket), born in Mumbai, India.
1975 Pete Ham, Welsh rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Badfinger - "Without You"; "No Matter What"; Day After Day"), commits suicide by hanging himself at 27.
1979 Ray Charles' 'Georgia On My Mind' was proclaimed the state song of Georgia.
1986 Wallis Simpson [Duchess of Windsor], American divorcee whom British King Edward VIII abdicated his throne to marry, dies at 89.
1990 STS-31 launches, the 35th mission of the US Space Shuttle program, carrying the Hubble space telescope.
1990 West & East Germany agree to merge currency & economies on July 1st.
2013 Deadliest structural failure in history when 1,134, mostly garment workers killed and 2,500 injured after the Rana Plaza building collapses in Savar Upazila, Bangladesh.

 

[Muteswan]

25th April
1284 Edward II, King of England (1307-27), born in Caernarfon Castle, Gwynedd, Wales (d. 1327).
1599 Oliver Cromwell, Puritan lord protector of England (1653-58), born in Huntingdon, Huntingdonshire, England (d. 1658).
1719 Daniel Defoe publishes "Robinson Crusoe", regarded as the 1st English novel.
1744 Anders Celsius, Swedish astronomer (proposed the Celsius temperature scale), dies at 42.
1792 Guillotine first used in France, executes highwayman Nicolas Pelletier.
1850 Paul Julius Reuter sets up carrier-pigeon service, using 40 pigeons to carry stock market prices between Aachen and Brussels
1859 British and French engineers broke ground for the creation of the Suez Canal. The excavation took some 10 years and altogether more than 1.5 million people from various countries were employed.
1917 Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz, swing, pop, and blues singer, known as "The First Lady of Song" (Verve "Songbook" series), born in Newport News, Virginia (d. 1996).
1923 Albert King [Nelson], American blues guitarist and singer ("Born Under A Bad Sign"; "That's What The Blues Is About"), born in Indianola, Mississippi (d. 1992).
1940 Al Pacino, American actor (And Justice For All, The Godfather, Scorpio), born in NYC, New York.
1945 Björn Ulvaeus, Swedish songwriter, producer and singer (ABBA), born in Gothenburg, Sweden.
1948 Mike Selvey, English cricket fast bowler (3 Tests, 6 wickets; Glamorgan, Middlesex), born in Chiswick, England.
1953 Two Cambridge University scientists published their answer to how living things reproduced. In an article published in Nature magazine, James D Watson and Francis Crick described the structure of a chemical called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Their achievement was recognized in 1962 when they received the Nobel Prize for Physiology.
1969 5,400th & last episode of BBC Radio serial "The Dales" (formerly "Mrs Dale's Diary").
1979 Peace treaty between Israel & Egypt goes into effect.
1982 British Royal Marines recaptured South Georgia in the Falkland Islands.
1982 Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ebony And Ivory.'
1990 Hubble space telescope is placed into orbit by space shuttle Discovery.
1990 The Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played at the Woodstock festival was auctioned off for a record $295,000.
1995 Ginger Rogers, American actress, dancer and singer (Top Hat, Stage Door), dies at 83.
2007 Alan Ball, English footballer (b. 1945) died today.
2008 Humphrey Lyttelton, British jazz musician, actor and broadcaster (It's Great to Be Young), dies at 86.
2021 Swansea City finally secured a playoff place with a 2-2 draw with Reading, the only team able to catch them.

 

[Muteswan]

26th April
1514 Copernicus makes his 1st observations of Saturn.
1607 Jamestown expedition makes first landing in America at a place named Cape Henry, in what would become Virginia, but they quickly depart for a better site.
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.
1926 The birth, in Alderley Edge, Cheshire of David Coleman, former sports commentator and TV presenter who worked for the BBC for almost fifty years. In 2000, he was awarded the Olympic Order, the highest honour of the Olympic movement.
1954 Mass trials of Jonas Salk's anti-polio vaccine begin; the first shot is delivered in Fairfax County, Virginia; more than 443,000 children receive shots over three months.
1966 Dusty Springfield was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me'.
1976 Sid James [Solomon Joel Cohen], South African-born British character & comedy actor (Hancock's Half Hour, Carry On), dies from a heart attack at 62.
1982 Argentina surrenders to Great Britain on South Georgia Island, near the Falkland Islands.
1984 The re-opening of the reconstructed Cavern Club in Liverpool It is located next to the original Club.
1984 William "Count" Basie, American jazz musician & bandleader, dies at 79.
1986 World's worst nuclear disaster: 4th reactor at Chernobyl nuclear power station in USSR explodes, 31 die, radioactive contamination reaches much of Western Europe.
1991 Diego Maradona, suspended for using cocaine, arrested in Argentina for possession & distribution of illegal narcotics.
1994 1st day of voting in first ever multi-racial elections in South Africa, Dr Nomaza Paintin in NZ is 1st black South African to vote.
1999 Jill Dando, British television presenter, was shot dead outside her home at 29 Gowan Avenue, Fulham, southwest London.
2014 Documents showed that Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One tycoon, had received £300m from his ex-wife Slavica's trust fund following the pair's divorce in 2009.
2016 The jury of 9 in the Hillsborough Inquest reached a decision on all 14 questions relating to the 15th April 1989 disaster during the Liverpool v Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final in which 96 people died. The crucial question number six related to 'unlawful killing'. When asked "Are you satisfied, so that you are sure, that those who died in the disaster were unlawfully killed?" the foreman confirmed "Yes". The verdict represented a vindication for the bereaved families who had fought for 27 years against South Yorkshire police claims that misbehaving supporters caused the disaster, as well as against the 1991 verdict of accidental death. The inquest started on 31st March 2014 and was the longest in British legal history.
2018 Comedian Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault in Pennsylvania.

 

[Muteswan]

27th April
1667 Blind and impoverished, English poet John Milton sells the copyright of "Paradise Lost" for £10.
1749 The first official performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks in Green Park, London. It finished early due to the outbreak of fire, but Handel stuck to his conducting, whilst the audience ran for their lives!
1791 Samuel Morse, American inventor (telegraph, Morse code) and painter, born in Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1872).
1810 Ludwig van Beethoven composes his famous piano piece "Für Elise".
1828 The opening of the London Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, London.
1840 Foundation stone for new Palace of Westminster, London, laid by Sarah Barry wife of its architect Charles Barry.
1927 Sheila Scott, English aviator (completes 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman), born in Worcester, Worcestershire (d. 1988).
1930 On this day Dylan Thomas made the first entry into his poetry notebooks while he was still a pupil at Swansea Grammar School. The first poem, dated 27 April, is entitled 'Osiris, come to Isis.'
1940 Himmler orders establishment of Auschwitz Concentration Camp.
1944 Michael Fish, British TV weatherman, born in Eastbourne, Sussex, England.
1947 Pete Ham, Welsh rock singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Badfinger - "Without You"; "No Matter What"; Day After Day"), born in Swansea, Wales (d. 1975).
1951 Paul "Ace" Frehley, American rock guitarist (Kiss; Frehley's Comet), born in The Bronx, New York.
1963 Russell T. Davies, Welsh TV writer and executive producer (Doctor Who, Queer as Folk), born in Swansea, Wales.
1992 Betty Boothroyd becomes the first woman to be elected Speaker of the British House of Commons in its 700-year history.
2006 Construction begins on the Freedom Tower for the new World Trade Center in New York City.
2020 Global confirmed cases of COVID- 19 pass 3 million with the death toll at 205,000. US has 1/3 of all new cases.
2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work after being hospitalised (5th April) and then placed in intensive care with coronavirus. At the time of his return, more than 21,000 had died in hospital from coronavirus, with another reported 4,300 coronavirus deaths in care homes in just two weeks.

 

[Muteswan]

28th April
1376 English parliament demands supervision of royal spending.
1603 Queen Elizabeth I's funeral took place at Westminster Abbey.
1770 English navigator Captain James Cook and his crew, including the botanist Joseph Banks, landed in Australia, at Stingray Bay, which was later named Botany Bay.
1789 Fletcher Christian leads a mutiny on HMS Bounty against its captain William Bligh in the South Pacific.
1908 Oskar Schindler, Austrian businessman and subject of the novel "Schindler's Ark" and the film "Schindler's List", born in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary (d. 1974).
1916 Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian auto-designer (Lamborghini), born in Cento, Ferrara (d. 1993).
1923 The first FA Cup Final was held at Wembley Stadium. 200,000 people arrived at a stadium which was only designed to hold 125,000 and when 60,000 irate fans rushed the turnstiles a human torrent swept onto the pitch. Players were engulfed by the crowd and 1,000 men, women and children were injured. Finals were made 'all ticket' after that. The game began one hour late and Bolton beat West Ham 2-0.
1926 [Nelle] Harper Lee, American author (To Kill a Mockingbird), born in Monroeville Alabama (d. 2016).
1937 Saddam Hussein, President of Iraq (1979-2003), born in Al-Awja, Iraq (d. 2006).
1940 Glenn Miller records "Pennsylvania 6-5000".
1945 Benito Mussolini [Il Duce], Fascist Italian dictator (1922-43), shot by communist partisans at 61.
1948 Terry Pratchett, English author of fantasy novels (Discworld), born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire (d. 2015).
1965 Luciano Pavarotti makes his debut at La Scala, Milan in Franco Zeffirelli's production of "La bohème" with Mirella Freni.
1967 Muhammad Ali refuses induction into army & stripped of boxing title.
1968 The Broadway musical Hair opened at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City.
1973 Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon went to No.1 in the US.
1977 Andreas Baader and members of terrorist group the Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Gang) jailed for life after a trial lasting nearly 2 years in Stuttgart, Germany.
1980 Bradley Wiggins, British cyclist (Olympic gold 2004, 2008 Tour de France 2012), born in Ghent, Belgium.
1986 Soviet TV news program Vremya announces a nuclear accident at Chernobyl nuclear power station, 2 days after the event.
1989 Iran protests sale of "Satanic Verses" by Salman Rushdie.
1996 In Australia's worst massacre in modern history, Martin Bryant shoots and kills 35 in Port Arthur, Tasmania. Leads to a compulsory gun buy back program and major changes to gun control laws.
1999 The death of Sir Alfred Ernest 'Alf' Ramsey, manager of the English national football team from 1963 to 1974. His greatest achievement was winning the 1966 World Cup with England on 30th July 1966.
2003 Apple launched the iTunes store, the first widely successful legal music download service.
2004 Shrek the sheep from Tarras, Central Otago, New Zealand, is finally shorn live on TV after 6 years avoidance; the fleece weighed 27 kg (60 lb).
2014 Teacher Anne Maguire (aged 61) was stabbed to death in front of pupils inside Corpus Christi Catholic College - Leeds where she had taught for 40 years. 15-year-old Will Cornick was detained by teaching staff and later sentenced to life imprisonment.
2018 World's largest child sacrifice, 140 remains uncovered by archaeologists near Trujillo, Peru, dating back 550 years to Chimú civilisation.
2018 Indian government announces electricity has now reached every Indian village.