Today is.................

[Hamble]

Dog Farting Awareness Day

International Romani Day

International Feng Shui Awareness Day

Zoo Lovers Day

217 Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

1093 The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by bishop Walkelin

1740 – War of Jenkins' Ear: Three British ships capture the Spanish third-rate Princesa, taken into service as HMS Princess.

1766 1st fire escape patented, wicker basket on a pulley & chain

1781 Premiere of Mozart's violin sonata K379

1801 Soldiers riot in Bucharest, kill 128 Jews

1802 French Protestant church becomes state-supported & -controlled

1820 The famous ancient Greek statue, Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos

1838 Steamship "Great Western" makes her maiden voyage from Bristol, to New York

1862 John D Lynde patents aerosol dispenser

1879 Milk sold in glass bottles for 1st time

1886 William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.

1908 H. H. Asquith succeeds Henry Campbell-Bannerman as Prime Minister

1912 Steamers collide on the Nile, drowning 200

1916 Norway approves active & passive female suffrage

1931 Dmitri Shostakovich's ballet "The Arrow" premieres

1933 Manchester Guardian warns of unknown Nazi terror

1935 Béla Bartok's 5th String quartet premieres in Washington, D.C.

1939 King Zog I of Albania flees

1940 German battle cruisers sink British aircraft carrier Glorious

1943 U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, in an attempt to check inflation, freezes wages and prices, prohibits workers from changing jobs unless the war effort would be aided thereby, and bars rate increases to common carriers and public utilities.

1945 Nazi occupiers executed, Nazi general Christiansen flees Netherlands

1946 League of Nations assembles for last time

1953 Jomo Kenyatta convicted of involvement with the Mau Mau rebellion and sentenced to 7 years jail in Kenya

1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

1961 British liner "Dara" explodes in Persian Gulf, kills 236

1967 121st Grand National: John Buckingham aboard rank 100/1 outsider Foinavon avoids famous carnage to win by 15 lengths from favourite Honey End

1967 12th Eurovision Song Contest: Sandie Shaw for United Kingdom wins singing "Puppet on a String" in Vienna

1972 126th Grand National: Graham Thorner aboard 14/1 bet Well To Do wins from 1970 winner Gay Trip; Black Secret & General Symons dead heat for 3rd

1972 Alvin Kallicharran scores 100* in his 1st Test Cricket innings v NZ

1973 Thirty-two terrorist bombings in Cyprus

1985 Amdahl releases UTS/V, 1st mainframe Unix

1986 Clint Eastwood elected mayor of Carmel, California. Makes his day.

1990 54th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Nick Faldo retains title with a par on the 2nd sudden-death playoff hole with Raymond Floyd

1990 Norwegian ferry Scandinavian Star catches fire; 159 people die

1992 After 151 years "Punch Magazine" publishes its final issue

1997 Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 4 Beta

1997: BBC TV newsman turns politician, Veteran war reporter Martin Bell vows to defeat disgraced Conservative MP Neil Hamilton in the battle for Tatton.

2000 153rd Grand National: Irish 10/1 shot Papillon, ridden by jockey Ruby Walsh and trained by his father Ted Walsh wins by 1¼ lengths from Mely Moss

2017 170th Grand National: Derek Fox wins aboard 14/1 One For Arthur; second ever Scottish-trained winner of the event

2019 600 million birds die each year in the US after striking tall buildings with Chicago the worst city, according to Cornell Lab of Ornithology

2019 14 tons of black market Pangolin scales from 36,000 animals discovered in Singapore, one of largest ever found worldwide

2019 Record 17ft (5.2M) invasive Burmese python pregnant with 73 eggs captured in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve

2020 Saudi-backed coalition fighting Houthi fighters in Yemen calls for a ceasefire after five years to stop the spread of COVID-19

2020 World Trade organization predicts a drop in global trade greater than the 2008 financial crisis, between 13% and 32% for 2020


Born Today ;-

563 Gautama Buddha's birthday, the founder of Buddhism, is commonly celebrated on this day

1605 – Mary Stuart, English-Scottish princess was the third daughter and sixth child of James VI and I, the first king of a unified England, Scotland and Ireland, She developed pneumonia at 17 months

1889 – Adrian Boult, conductor many top orchestras. Born Chester

1892 – Mary Pickford (Gladys Louise Smith ), Canadianactress, producer, and screenwriter, co-founded United Artists

1918 Betty [Bloomer] Ford, US 1st lady (1974-77) and founder of the Betty Ford Center clinic, born in Chicago

1941 Dame Vivienne Westwood, Tintwistle Derbyshire, English fashion designer

1943 James Herbert, horror writer (The Rats), born in London

1963 Julian Lennon, singer (Too Late for Goodbyes) and son of John, born in Liverpool

Died Today ;-

1861 Elisha Otis, American founder of the Otis Elevator Company and inventor of a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails, dies of diphtheria at 50

1950 – Vaslav Nijinsky, Legendary Ballet dancer and choreographer

1957 Frank Chester, cricketer (distinguished 1-armed Engl Test ump)

1969 Denton Cooley, heart transplant patient, recieved 1st fully artificial heart, dies at 48

1973 Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter (The Young Ladies of Avignon, Guernica), dies at 91

2010 Malcolm McLaren, British music manager and musician, dies of cancer at 64

2013 Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister (1979 - 1990) dies aged 87

Yom Hashoah

Holocaust Remembrance Day.

[Alikado]

Yom Hashoah

Holocaust Remembrance Day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_memorial_days

[Hamble]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_memorial_days

Accepted-I forgot sorry.

Officially today in Israel though kept and respected by Jewish people throughout the world as well as the day in their own country.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-...-east-56677691

[Alikado]

International ASMR Day


1413 Henry V is crowned King of England.

1483 Edward V (aged 12) succeeds his father Edward IV as king of England. He is never crowned, and disappears presumed murdered, after incarceration in the Tower of London with his younger brother Richard (the "Princes in the Tower")

1731 British mariner Robert Jenkins' ear cut off by Spanish Guarde Costa in the Caribbean, later catalyst for war between Britain & Spain - The War of Jenkins Ear.

1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of the Kingdom of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War

1829 Danzig (Gdansk) dike break flood kills 1,200

1838 National Gallery re-opens in its new dedicated building in Trafalgar Square

1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice

1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the war.

1880 British Open Men's Golf, Musselburgh Links: Scotsman Bob Ferguson wins first of 3 straight titles; beats Peter Paxton by 5 strokes

1894 1st performance of Anton Bruckner's 5th Symphony in B in Graz

1916 The Libau sets sail from Germany with a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans; Captain Karl Spindler changes the name of the vessel to the Aud to avoid British detection

1917 Battle of Arras begins

1916 – The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.

1917 Vimy Ridge in France stormed by Canadian troops

1918 – The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.

1940 German cruiser Blucher torpedoed and capsizes in Oslofjord, 1,000 die

1940 – Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway. Denmark surrenders after a six-hour battle

1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.

1942 Battle of Bataan; US-Filipino forces overwhelmed by Japanese at Bataan, An Indian Ocean raid by Japan's 1st Air Fleet which sinks the British aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and the Australian destroyer HMAS Vampire.

1945 Battleship Admiral Scheer sunk by RAF bombing in Kiel

1945 Liberty ship at Bari Italy carrying aerial bombs explodes, kills 360

1948 Massacre at Deir Yassin over 100 Palestinians massacred by the Jewish paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi. One day after the Deir Yassin massacre, Albert Einstein wrote a critical letter to the American Friends of Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (the U.S chapter of the Stern gang) refusing to assist them with aid or support to raise money for their cause in Palestine. On December 2, 1948, many prominent American Jews signed and published an op-ed article in The New York Times critical of Menachem Begin and the massacre.

1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping following the Suez Crisis.

1965 Beatles "Ticket to Ride" is released

1967 1st Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight

1969 1st flight of Concorde 002 (Filton-Fairford)

1983 137th Grand National: Ben de Haan wins aboard 13/1 bet Corbiere; Jenny Pittman first female GN winning trainer

1989 53rd US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Englishman Nick Faldo wins the first of his 3 Masters titles after a final round 65 (-7) and a birdie on the 2nd hole of a sudden-death playoff with Scott Hoch

1990 – Thirteen thousand members of the Dene and Métis tribes sign a land claim agreement for 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in the Mackenzie Valley of the western Arctic.[

1992 John Major elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after his Conservative Party wins the most votes in British electoral history

2002 Funeral of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother at Westminster Abbey UK.

2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall.

2011 164th Grand National: Jason Maguire wins aboard Irish 14/1 shot Ballabriggs; first GN win for trainer Donald McCain Jr., son of 4-time winning trainer Ginger McCain

2019 Wolves have returned to the Netherlands after 140 years claim ecologists

Born Today ;-

1794 Theobald Boehm, German inventor of the modern flute, born in Munich

1806 Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (SS Great Britain, Great Western Railway), born in Portsmouth

1898 Paul Robeson, American singer (Old Man River), actor and civil rights activist, born in Princeton, New Jersey

1906 Hugh Gaitskell, British politician (Leader of the Labour Party), born in Kensington, London

1917 Vincent O'Brien, Irish racehorse trainer, born in Churchtown, County Cork

1920 Alexander Moulton, English engineer and bicycle designer (folding bicycle), born in Stratford-upon-Avon

1926 Hugh Hefner, American magazine publisher

1932 Cheetah [Cheeta, Cheta, Chita], chimpanzee actor (1930s Tarzan franchise),

1932 – Peter Moores, businessman and philanthropist, Son of Sir John.

1932 Carl Perkins, American singer and songwriter (Blue Suede Shoes), born in Jackson, Tennessee

1937 Valerie Singleton, broadcaster (Blue Peter), born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire

1941 Hannah Gordon, actress (Oh Alfie, Crossroads), born in Edinburgh

1954 Iain Duncan Smith, politician, Leader of the Conservative Party (2001-03), born in Edinburgh

1957 Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (British Open 1979, 84, 88, US Masters 1980, 83), born in Pedreña, Spain

1958 – Nigel Slater, English food writer and author

1966 – John Hammond, English weather forecaster

1969 Karl Krikken, cricketer (Derbyshire 1989-, wicketkeeper), Now coach at Lancashire, born in Bolton, son of Brian Krikken (3 Lancs)

1971 Wang Yang, youngest Olympic record breaker at age 17 (Olympics 1988)

1974 – Jenna Jameson, American actress and pornographic performer

1975 Robbie Fowler, footballer (Liverpool& England ), is the seventh-highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League, born in Toxteth

Died Today ;-

1283 – Margaret of Scotland, queen of Norway as the wife of King Eric II. She is sometimes known as the Maid of Scotland to distinguish her from her daughter, Margaret, Maid of Norway, who succeeded to the throne of Scotland.

1483 Edward IV, King of England (1461-70, 71-83), dies of unknown causes at 40

1484 Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473), son of Richard III King of England

1626 Francis Bacon, English statesman and philosopher, dies from pneumonia at 65

1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish soldier and politician, Lovat was among the Highlanders defeated at the Battle of Culloden and convicted of treason beheaded at Tower of London

1917 Edward Thomas, poet, killed at Arras

1944 Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine she was the head navigator of the 46th Guards Night Bomber Regiment posthumously awarded Hero of the Soviet Union. Prior to World War II she was an astronomer, the head of the Solar Department of the Moscow branch of the Astronomical-Geodesical Society of the USSR

1945 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologist/antifascist, hanged
1945 Hans Oster, German major general, spy and "July 20th plot", hanged at 57
1945 Hans von Dohnanyi, "July 20th plotter", hanged
1945 Wilhelm Canaris, Admiral/headed Germany Abwehr, hanged
1945 Georg Elser, German failed assassin of Hitler, dies at Dachau concentration camp at 42

1978 Clough Williams-Ellis, architect knownas the creator of the Italianate village of Portmeirion in North Wales the location for The Prisoner (1967–68) TV series, dies at 94, In 1958 Williams-Ellis was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for public services".[ He was made a Knight Bachelor in the New Years Honours List of 1972 "for services to the preservation of the environment and to architecture". At the time, he was the oldest person ever to be knighted. In accordance with his wishes, he was cremated, and his ashes went to make up a marine rocket, which was part of a New Year's Eve firework display over the estuary at Portmeirion some twenty years after his death.

[Alikado]

Siblings Day

World Homeopathy Day


837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).

1516 1st Jewish ghetto established: Venice compels Jews to live in a specific area

1626 Thomas Johnson is known as “the father of British field botany”, he had established an apothecary business in central London and it was here, on 10th April 1633, that he put on sale a strange, new exotic fruit that came to be known as a banana. It is believed that his first consignment came from Bermuda.

1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.

1815 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption blew 150 cubic km into the atmosphere killing around 71,000 people, causing global volcanic winter. The effects were felt worldwide, 1816 was "the year without a summer". Crops failed across Asia and up to 90,000 people probably died of famine. It was the second-coldest year in the Northern Hemisphere since 1400 and parts of North America experienced frost and snow in June and July.

1816 Samuel Taylor Coleridge recites his poem "Kubla Khan" to fellow poet Lord Byron, who persuades him to publish it

1827 George Canning becomes British Prime Minister upon the resignation of Robert Jenkinson, lives to serve only 119 days

1845 More than 1,000 buildings damaged by fire in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400

1849 Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt (NYC); sold rights for $400

1858 – After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster, had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

1868 1st performance of Johannes Brahms' "A German Requiem"

1896 Spyridon Louis of Greece wins inaugural Olympic marathon (2:58:50) in Athens; runs last lap accompanied by King Constantine I

1912 RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton for her maiden (and final) voyage

1923 Adolf Hitler demands "hatred & more hatred" in Berlin

1932 Paul von Hindenburg is re-elected President of Germany in a runoff election against Adolf Hitler

1935 Vaughan Williams' 4th Symphony premieres in London

1938 NY makes syphilis test mandatory in order to get a marriage license

1939 Colijn's Dutch government opens camp Westerbork for German Jews

1940 Vidkun Quisling forms Norwegian "national government"

1943 12 Jewish patients of Herren Loo-Lozenoord escape nazis

1943 General Montgomery occupies Sfax, Tunisia

1944 Soviet forces liberate Odessa from Nazis

1945 Canadian troops conquer Deventer

1945 US troops land on Tsugen Shima Okinawa

1954 Wales beats Scotland, 15-3 at the St. Helen's Ground, Swansea to share Five Nations Rugby Championship with France and England; France's first title

1955 Ruth Ellis shoots jilting lover David Blakely (last woman to be executed in the UK)

1957 – The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.

1963 USS Thresher, a nuclear powered submarine, sinks 220 miles east of Boston killing 129 men, including 17 civilians

1964 Iranian motor launch catches fire & sinks killing 113 (Persian Gulf)

1968 Ferry Wahine sinks in Wellington harbour, New Zealand on route from Lyttelton (51 killed)

1971 The Republican commemorations is held in Belfast of the Easter Rising (in 1916 in Dublin), revealing conflicts between the two wings of the Irish Republican Army

1972 7.0 earthquake kills 1/5 of population of Iranian province of Fars

1972 US, USSR & 70 other nations agree to ban biological weapons

1981 Imprisoned Provisional IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands elected to British Parliament for Northern Ireland county of Fermanagh and South Tyrone

1996 Fastest wind speed ever recorded (not a tornado) 408 km/h (220 kn; 253 mph; 113 m/s) during tropical cyclone Olivia on Barrow Island, Australia

1998 The Good Friday/Belfast Agreement for Northern Ireland is signed by the British and Irish governments

2005 At 16 years, 271 days James Vaughan scores for Everton in a 4-0 win against Crystal Palace at Goodison Park; becomes youngest goalscorer in EPL history

2012 Apple Inc claims a value of $600 billion making it the largest company by market capitalization in the world

2016 Explosions and a fire caused by firecrackers at Puttingal Temple in Kerala, India, kills more than 100 and injures nearly 400

2019 China announces move to cull more than 1 million pigs in effort to eliminate African swine fever

2019 New species of human announced named Homo luzonensis, 3ft tall, remains dated 50-60,000 years old found in cave on island of Luzon, Philippines

2019 New York declares a public health emergency and compulsory vaccinations after a measles outbreak in Brooklyn with 285 cases

Born Today ;-

1512 James V, King of Scotland (1513-42), born in Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow

1829 William Booth, preacher and founder (Salvation Army), born in Sneinton, Nottingham

1916 Alfie Bass [Abraham Basalinsky], actor (Moonraker, Are You Being Served), born in London

1921 Chuck Connors, American author, actor (The Rifleman, Branded, Cowboy in Africa), professional basketball and baseball player, born in Brooklyn

1929 – Mike Hawthorn, race car driver became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the death of his teammate and friend Peter Collins two months earlier in the 1958 German Grand Prix. Hawthorn also won the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, but was haunted by his involvement in the disastrous crash, the worst disaster in motor racing history, a crash which killed 84 spectators and Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh. he died in a road accident three months after retiring; he was allegedly suffering from a terminal kidney problem at the time.

1932 Omar Sharif [Michel Dimitri Shalhoub], Egyptian actor (Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia), born in Alexandria

1932 Adrian Henri, British poet and founder of poetry-rock group (Liverpool Scene), born in Birkenhead

1933 Poncie Ponce, actor (Kazuo Kim-Hawaiian Eye), born in Maui, Hawaii

1937 Stan Mellor MBE, English National Hunt jockey and trainer (first jumps jockey to ride 1,000 winners; Champion Jockey 1960-62), born in Manchester

1940 Gloria Hunniford [Mary Winifred Gloria Hunniford], British broadcaster and actress (Old Curiosity Shop), born in Portadown

1942 – Ian Callaghan, Liverpool & England footballer born in Toxteth most appearences for LFC , 1966 World Cup squad, He was booked only once in his career

1955 Lesley Garrett, English soprano singer, born in Thorne, Doncaster

1984 Zoe, 1st frozen-embryo child, born in Melbourne Australia

1987 – Hayley Westenra, New Zealand soprano and UNICEF ambassador, born in Christchurch, New Zealand

1992 – Sadio Mané, Liverpool & Senegalese footballer

1992 Daisy Ridley, English actress (Star Wars: the Force Awakens), born in London

Died Today ;-

879 Louis II the Stammerer, King of the West Franks

1585 Gregory XIII [Ugo Boncompagni], Italian pope (1572-85) who introduced the Gregorian (New Style) calendar in 1582, dies at 83

1601 Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet (Sonnet of Venus and Cupid), dies at 39

1927 Ivo Bligh, British noble (8th Earl of Darnley) and cricketer (Lord Darnley England capt v Australia 1882-83), dies at 68

1954 Auguste Lumière, French photograph and movie pioneer, dies at 81

1962 Stuart Sutcliffe, bassist (Beatles), dies of brain hemorrhage at 21, left the Beatles to become an artist.

1966 Evelyn Waugh, British writer (Brideshead Revisited, Black Mischief), dies at 62, son of Alec Waugh & father of Journalist & writer Auberon Waugh

2003 Little Eva [Eva Boyd], American pop singer (Locomotion), dies of cervical cancer at 59

2014 – Sue Townsend, author and playwright (Aidrian Mole)

2015 Richie Benaud, Australian cricket captain, broadcaster (62 Tests, 248 wickets), dies of skin cancer at 84

2016 Howard Marks, drug dealer and author (Mr Nice), dies at 70

[Alikado]

International Louie Louie Day

World Parkinson's Day

1471 Wars of the Roses: King Edward IV of England siezes London from Henry VI

1689 William III & Mary II crowned as joint rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland

1727 – Premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion BWV 244b at the St. Thomas Church, Leipzig

1750 Jack Slack retains Champion of England boxing title, beats Frenchman Jean Petit in 7 rounds in Harlston, England; acknowledged as first international prize fight

1814 Napoleon abdicates unconditionally; he is exiled to Elba

1881 River ferry "Princess Victoria" sinks in Thames River, Ontario, 180 die

1890 Ellis Island, New York, designated as an immigration station

1891 8-year old Jewish tailor's daughter disappears in Greece, rumor spreads that she was a Christian girl ritually killed by Jews

1896 Hungarian swimmer Alfréd Hajós beats Otto Herschmann of Austria by 0.6s to win the inaugural Olympic 100m freestyle final in 1:22.2 at the Athens Games; also takes out the 1,200m on the same day

1896 Irish tennis player John Boland, representing Great Britain wins both the men's singles and doubles finals at the Athens Olympics; Dionysios Kasdaglis of Greece loses both matches

1900 The first modern submarine designed and built by John Philip Holland is purchased by the U.S. Navy

1908 – SMS Blücher, the last armored cruiser to be built by the Imperial German Navy, launches.

1909 Establishment of Tel Aviv by Jewish settlers (named 1910)

1912 RMS Titanic leaves Queenstown, Ireland, for NY

1912 The UK Parliament introduce a Irish home rule bill, granting Ireland its own bicameral parliament and be required to send a representative to the British House of Commons; Protestants in Ulster resist

1933 Hermann Goering becomes Premier of Prussia

1941 Germany blitzes Coventry

1941 Jewish Weekly newspaper taken control by Nazis

1941 Nazi occupiers in Netherlands confiscate Jewish assets

1943 Frank Piasecki, Vertol founder, flies his 1st (single-rotor) craft

1944 RAF bombs census bureau in The Hague

1945 SS burns & shoots 1,100 at Gardelegen

1945 US captures Tsugen Shima

1945 Four soldiers in the Sixth Armored Division of the US Third Army liberate the Nazi concentration camp, Buchenwald

1945 US troops conquers Mulheim, Oberhausen, Bochum, Unna, Essen

1950 US B-29 bomber shot down over Latvia

1951 – The Stone of Scone, the stone upon which Scottish monarchs were traditionally crowned, is found on the site of the altar of Arbroath Abbey. It had been taken by Scottish nationalist students from its place in Westminster Abbey.

1957 Ryan X-13 Vertijet becomes 1st jet to take-off & land vertically

1961 Trial of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes in World War II begins in Jerusalem

1976 The Apple I computer, created by Steve Wozniak is released

1977 Ireland sets fishing zone at 50 mile

1981 – A massive riot in Brixton, south London results in almost 300 police injuries and 65 serious civilian injuries.

1983 In the first 'supergrass' trial in Northern Ireland, fourteen Ulster Volunteer Force members are jailed for a total of two hundred years

2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is sacked after admitting dishonesty following match-fixing allegations in India

2006 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces that Iran has successfully enriched uranium

2012 2011 London riot looter is jailed for 11 years after starting a fire at a furniture retailer

2013 Two women are beheaded for sorcery in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea

2019 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is forcibly removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London by police and arrested on failure to appear in court on US extradition charges

2019 EU leaders agree to a six-month extension to Brexit after UK parliament fails to reach any consensus

2019 Ex-Pope Benedict XVI claims Catholic sexual abuse caused in part by 1960s sexual revolution

2020 Brazil is the 1st country in the southern hemisphere to report more than 1,000 deaths from COVID-19, with 1,056 deaths and 19,638 cases

Born Today ;-

1755 – James Parkinson, English surgeon, geologist, and paleontologist (Parkinsons Disease) He is best known for his 1817 work An Essay on the Shaking Palsy,

1770 George Canning, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1827) and Foreign Secretary, was Prime Minister for the last 118 days of his life.

1819 – Charles Hallé, German-English pianist and conductor, Founded The Halle Orchestra and invented the Mechanical Page Turner

1899 Percy Lavon Julian, African American chemist who received 130 patents, pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants, born in Montgomery, Alabama

1908 – Dan Maskell, tennis player and sportscaster

1935 Richard Berry, African-American singer and musician (Louie Louie), born in Extension, Louisiana

1937 – Jill Gascoine, actress and author (The Gentle Touch)

1946 'Whispering' Bob Harris,radio & Tv presenter (The Old Grey Whistle Test, Time Out), born in Northampton

1960 – Jeremy Clarkson, journalist and television presenter (Top Gear), born in Doncaster

1966 – Lisa Stansfield, singer-songwriter and actress

1991 – Thiago Alcântara, Liverpool & Spain footballer, born in Italy son of 1994 world cup winner Iomar do Nascimento known as Mazinho and brother of Rafael Alcântara do Nascimento known as Rafinha who plays for PSG & Brazil, His mother, Valéria Alcântara, was a former Brazilian volleyball player. He is fluent in five languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, German, and English.[

Died Today ;-

1240 Llywelyn ab Iorwerth the Great, monarch of Wales (1194-1240)

1890 Joseph Merrick, "The Elephant Man", dies of asphyxia at 27 his Skeleton on display in Royal London Hospital in a private room at the university can be viewed by medical students and professionals by appointment, to "allow medical students to view and understand the physical deformities resulting from Joseph Merrick's condition".

1996 Jessica Dubroff, American aviator (attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light utility aircraft across the United States), crashed aged 7

2000 Diana Magdalene Roloff known professionally as Diana Darvey, was a Cheadle born actress, singer and dancer, best known for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show.

2001 Harry Secombe, Welsh actor, comedian, singer and goon (The Goon Show, Oliver!), dies of cancer at 79

[Alikado]

International Day of Human Space Flight

International Day for Street Children

1385 Willem van Oostervant of Bavaria weds Philip the Bold's daughter Marguerite (10)

1606 England adopts the Union Flag, replaced in 1801 by current Union Flag the Union Jack

1831 – Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge over the river Irwell in Salford, cause it to collapse, twenty were injured, including six who suffered severe injuries

1872 Jesse James gang robs bank in Columbia, Kentucky (1 dead/$1,500)

1887 Henrik Ibsen's "Rosmersholm" premieres in Oslo

1892 George C Blickensderfer patents portable typewriter

1905 French Dufaux brothers test helicopter

1908 Fire makes 17,000 homeless in Chelsea, Massachusetts

1911 1st non-stop London-Paris flight (Pierre Prier in 3h56m)

1919 Parliament passes a 48-hour work week with minimum wages

1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.

1930 4th Test Cricket WI v England ends in a draw after nine days, the England team had to catch a boat home. Wilfred Rhodes ends Test Cricket career aged 52 years 165 days

1934 – The strongest surface wind gust in the world at the time of 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. It has since been surpassed.

1935 First flight of the Bristol Blenheim

1937 Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft at Rugby

1938 1st US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses (NY)

1942 Japan kills about 400 Filipino officers in Bataan

1943 Allies conquer Soussa, North-Africa

1945 – The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reached Tangermünde—only 50 miles from Berlin.

1945 Canadian troops liberate Nazi concentration camp Westerbork, Netherlands

1945 US President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies in office and Vice President Harry Truman is sworn in as 33rd US President

1954 Bill Haley and the Comets record "Rock Around Clock"

1954 Joe Turner releases "Shake, Rattle & Roll"

1955 Polio vaccine tested by Dr Jonas Salk announced to be 'safe and effective'

1961 Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first person to orbit Earth (Vostok 1)

1966 1st B-52 bombing on North Vietnam

1975 Six Catholic civilians are killed in a Ulster Volunteer Force gun and grenade attack on Strand Bar in Belfast

1970 – Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.

1990 1st meeting of East German democratically elected parliament, acknowledges responsibility for the Holocaust and asks for forgiveness

1992 Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France

2012 Bodleian, Oxford University and Vatican libraries announce over 1.5 million pages of ancient texts will be made available across the internet

2014 – The Great Fire of Valparaíso ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.

2014 The new drug, ABT-450, with a 90-95% success rate for treating Hepatitis C, is announced

2020 OPEC and other major oil companies agree to the largest-ever drop in production to stabilize world prices


Born Today ;-

1705 William Cookworthy, English chemist, born in Kingsbridge, Devon was the first person in Britain to discover how to make hard-paste porcelain, like that imported from China. He subsequently discovered china clay in Cornwall.

1869 Henri Désiré Landru, French sex murderer, born in Pariswas tried and found guilty of 11 murders. The police eventually concluded that Landru had met or been in romantic correspondence with 283 women during the First World War, including 72 who were never traced. His last date was with Mme Guilotine

1899 Chief Thundercloud [Victor Daniels], Cherokee actor (The Lone Ranger; Colt .45), born in Muskogee, Indian Territory

1925 – Oliver Postgate, English animator, puppeteer, and screenwriter, Pingwings, Pogles' Wood, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Bagpuss

1929 Elspet Gray, Lady Rix, Scottish actress (4 Weddings & a Funeral, Solo, Tenko), born in Inverness

1932 Tiny Tim [Herbert Khaury], American musician (Tiptoe Through The Tulips), born in Manhattan

1939 – Alan Ayckbourn, English director and playwright, has written and produced more than seventy full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their first performance. More than 40 have subsequently been produced in the West End, at the Royal National Theatre or by the Royal Shakespeare Company since his first hit Relatively Speaking opened at the Duke of York's Theatre in 1969.

1941 Bobby Moore, English football defender (108 caps; captain World Cup 1966; West Ham United), born in Barking

1942 Jacob Zuma, South African politician, President of South Africa (2009-), born in Nkandla

1947 – Tom Clancy, American historian and author (Rainbow Six, The Hunt for Red October), born in Baltimore

1948 – Jeremy Beadle, English television host and producer (Beadle's About)

1950 – David Cassidy, American singer-songwriter and guitarist, The Partridge Family

1979 Paul Nicholls, English actor (EastEnders), born in Bolton

1990 – Francesca Halsall, swimmer, Olympian, multi medal winner European & Commonwealth Games, multi record holder distances & Styles, Born Southport, and attended St Mary's College, Crosby married St Helens, England & GB rugby league star Jon Wilkin

Died Today ;-

1866 – Peter Hesketh-Fleetwood, English politician MP Preston, founded Fleetwood, He was descended (through his paternal grandmother) from the Fleetwood family who had owned the large Rossall estate in West Lancashire for over 200 years. Robert inherited the estate in 1819 on the death of his elder brother, On Robert's death in 1824, the estate passed to Peter, his elder brother Edward having predeceased him in 1820.[2] By that time the family's land extended from Heysham in the north, to North Meols, near Southport, in the south, and encompassed most of the Fylde. Hesketh-Fleetwood immersed himself in his development plans. Southport, a town he owned much of, was becoming a popular sea bathing resort, and Hesketh-Fleetwood organised the construction of a promenade. In the face of enormous debts Hesketh-Fleetwood sold his estates at Blackpool, Southport, Meols Hall, and Tulketh Hall.

1945 – Franklin D. Roosevelt 32nd US President (Democrat: 1933-1945), dies in office with the war almost won of a stroke at 63

1975 Josephine Baker, revue artist (Folies-Bergere), dies at 68
A symbol of the Jazz Age, Josephine Baker became a star of the theater in 1920s Paris. She first danced in Paris in 1925 before becoming a sensation the next year when she performed her now famous "Danse Sauvage" at the Folies Bergère cabaret hall wearing just a skirt of bananas. She was the first black woman to star in a major motion picture, the 1927 silent film Siren of the Tropics, directed by Mario Nalpas and Henri Étiévant. During WWII was a Spy & member of the Resistance for this she was awarded a number of honors by France including the French Legion by General Charles de Gaulle.

1981 Joe Louis, [Brown bomber], US heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49), dies of cardiac arrest at 66

1989 Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (world welterweight champion 1946-51; middleweight champion 1951-52, 55, 58), dies of Alzheimer's disease at 67

2019 Tommy Smith, Liverpool & England soccer defender (1 cap; Football League Div 1 1966, 73, 76, 77; FA Cup 1965, 74; European Cup 1977; Liverpool 467 games), In his later years, Smith had a hip replacement operation (both knees and an elbow were also made of plastic) and also began to suffer from arthritis to the extent that he could not work and often needed a wheelchair or walking stick and had to claim incapacity benefit. Smith had his benefit payments stopped for a short time after he managed to take a penalty on the Wembley pitch at half-time during the 1996 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Manchester United; he stated that "I couldn't believe they would do that, I was getting money for charity. I only kicked the ball once." dies at 74 in Waterloo

2020 Peter Bonetti, England soccer goalkeeper (7 caps; World Cup 1966; Chelsea 600 games), dies at 78

[Alikado]

International Hummus Day

International Receptionists' Day

World Cocktail Day

World FM Day

International Be Kind To Lawyers Day

International FND Awareness Day

1637 Cardinal Richelieu of France reputedly creates the table knife

1643 Heavy earthquake strikes Santiago Chile; kills 1/3 of population

1648 Construction of the Red Fort at Delhi is completed.

1767 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's first opera "Apollo et Hyacinthus", written when he was 11 years old, premieres in Salzburg

1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia.

1884 Institute for Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) forms in New York

1912 Royal Flying Corps forms in Great Britain

1913 1st four-engined aircraft built and flown (Igor Sikorsky, Russia)

1917 1st appearance of Mary to 3 shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal

1927 "Black Friday" on Berlin Stock Exchange

1934 Great dustbowl storm sweeps across US prairies

1939 SS St Louis departs Hamburg with 937 Jewish fugitives

1940 British bomb factory at Breda, Netherlands

1940 Winston Churchill says "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" in his first speech as Prime Minister to British House of Commons

1941 – World War II: Yugoslav royal colonel Dragoljub Mihailovic starts fighting against German occupation troops, beginning the Serbian resistance.

1943 German & Italian forces in Africa surrender

1943 German occupiers attempt to confiscate all radios in the Netherlands

1945 US troops conquer Dakeshi Okinawa

1946 Sarwate & Banerjee add 249 for 10th wkt for Indians v Surrey

1946 US sentences 58 camp guards of Mauthausen concentration camp to death

1949 1st British-produced jet bomber, the Canberra, makes its 1st test flight at Warton, production was at Samlesbury, was in service for over 50 years, could fly higher than any other aircraft and was the first jet to fly Non Stop transatlatic.

1950 Diner's Club issues its 1st credit cards

1950 First ever race of the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship is run at Silverstone, England and won by Giuseppe Farina of italy in an Alfa Romeo

1952 Jawaharlal Nehru becomes premier of India

1958 The trade mark Velcro is registered

1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.

1981 Pope John Paul II is shot and critically wounded by Turkish gunman Mehemet Ali Agca in St Peter's Square,

1991 Apple releases Macintosh System 7.0

1995 – Alison Hargreaves, a 33-year-old British mother, becomes the first woman to conquer Everest without oxygen or the help of sherpas.

1998 Chelsea of England win 38th European Cup Winner's Cup against Stuttgart of Germany 1-0 in Stockholm

2000 In Enschede, the Netherlands, a fireworks factory explodes, killing 22 people, wounding 950, and resulting in approximately €450 million in damage

2006 FA Cup Final, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (71,140): Liverpool beats West Ham United, 3-1 on penalties after 3–3 (a.e.t.); Reds 7th title

2007 At 16 years, 65 days Matthew Briggs debuts for Fulham in a 3-1 defeat at Middlesbrough; youngest player to appear in an English Premier League match

2017 22 year old UK blogger halts spread of global ransomware cyber-attack by accidentally identifying "kill switch"

2018 Liverpool's Egyptian soccer forward Mohamed Salah scores in a 4-0 win against Brighton to set the EPL goal scoring record (32) for a 38-game season

Born Today ;-

1842 Arthur Sullivan, English operatic composer (Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S Pinafore), born in London

1901 Witold Pilecki, Polish WWII resistance fighter (volunteered to go to Auschwitz, Witold's Report), born in Olonets, Russian Empire

1907 – Daphne du Maurier, English novelist and playwright (Rebecca, Parasites)

1914 Joe Louis, American world heavyweight boxing champion (1937-49), born in Lafayette, Alabama

1937 – Trevor Baylis, English inventor, invented the wind-up radio

1946 – Tim Pigott-Smith, English actor and author (Jewel in Crown, King Charles III), born in Rugby

1949 Zoe Wanamaker, American actress (Raggedy Rawney), born in NYC, New York

1947 David Hughes, Lancs cricketer, captain & coach

1950 – Stevie Wonder, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (You are the Sunshine of My Life), born in Saginaw, Michigan

1951 – Selina Scott, TV newscaster journalist, producer, and author

1956 – Richard Madeley, TV Presenter, journalist and author

1957 – Frances Barber, English actress

1963 – Andrea Leadsom, English politician

1977 Samantha Morton, English actress

1981 – Luciana Berger, English politician

1983 Yaya Touré, Ivorian footballer

1986 Robert Pattinson, English actor (Cedric Diggory-Harry Potter, Edward Cullen-Twilight), born in London

1993 – Romelu Lukaku, Belgian footballer

Died Today ;-

1914 R E ' Tip' Foster, only dual England captain at cricket & soccer, (287 on debut England v Aust SCG 1903)

1961 Gary Cooper, 2 time Acad award winning actor (High Noon), dies at 60

2019 Doris Day [Kappelhoff], American singer, animal welfare activist and actress known as the "girl next door" actress (Pillow Talk, The Man Who Knew Too Much), dies of pneumonia at 97

[Alikado]

International Day of Pink

International Moment of Laughter Day

1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.

1831 Soldiers marching on Broughton Suspension bridge built in 1826 to span the River Irwell between Broughton and Pendleton, now in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. One of Europe's first suspension bridge collapsed, reportedly due to mechanical resonance induced by troops marching in step.[3] As a result of the incident, the British Army issued an order that troops should "break step" when crossing a bridge. Though rebuilt and strengthened, the bridge was subsequently propped with temporary piles whenever crowds were expected. In 1924 it was replaced by a Pratt truss footbridge, still in use.

1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington

1865 U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell as part of the same conspiracy to assassinate Abraham Lincoln

1894 1st public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films.

1895 1st performance of Gustav Mahler's (incomplete) 2nd Symphony

1903 Dr Harry Plotz discovers vaccine against typhoid

1912 RMS Titanic hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland

1927 The first Volvo car premieres in Gothenburg, Sweden

1932 Bizet, Massine & Mira's "Jeux d'Enfants" premieres in Monte Carlo

1935 Black Sunday: Severe sandstorm ravages the US Midwest, creating the "Dust Bowl"

1936 French singer Édith Piaf questioned after nightclub owner and her patron Louis Leplée murdered in Paris

1939 John Steinbeck novel "The Grapes of Wrath" published

1940 – Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.

1941 1st massive German raid in Paris, 3,600 Jews rounded up

1941 – German general Erwin Rommel attacks Tobruk.

1942 – Malta receives the George Cross for its gallantry. The George Cross was given by King George VI himself and is now an emblem on the Maltese national flag

1942 Destroyer Roper sinks German U-85 of US east coast

1943 A JN-25 decrypt by American intelligence detailing a forthcoming visit by Marshal Admiral Yamamoto to Balalae Island results in his plane shot down 4 days later

1944 1st Jews transported from Athens arrive at Auschwitz

1944 Freighter "Fort Stikene" explodes in Bombay India, killing 1,376

1945 American planes bomb Tokyo & damage the Imperial Palace

1945 US 7th Army & allies forces capture Nuremberg & Stuttgart

1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada, captured it. During the fighting, the battalion's commander was killed by a German soldier, but it was incorrectly rumoured that he had been killed by a civilian. Under this mistaken belief, the division's commander, Major-General Christopher Vokes, ordered that the town be razed in retaliation and it was substantially destroyed. Twenty German civilians died in Friesoythe and the surrounding area during the two days of fighting and its aftermath. A few days earlier, the division had destroyed the centre of Sögel in another reprisal and also used the rubble to make the roads passable. Little official notice was taken of the incident and the Canadian Army official history glosses over it.

1956 Ampex Corp demonstrates 1st commercial videotape recorder

1958 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard burns up during reentry into Earth's Atmosphere

1960 1st underwater launching of Polaris missile

1960 American record company Motown, founded by Berry Gordy Jr.

1972 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes twenty-four bombs in towns and cities across Northern Ireland

1973 Ireland edges France, 6-4 at Lansdowne Road, Dublin to create a 5-way tie for the Five Nations Rugby Championship; each nation wins their 2 home matches

1978 Korean Air Lines Boeing 707, fired on by Soviets, crashes in Russia

1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92.

1987 Turkey asks to join European market

1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.

1999 NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees - Yugoslav officials say 75 people are killed.

1999 A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$1.7 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history.

2003 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%

2012 165th Grand National: Daryl Jacob wins aboard Neptune Collonges; beats Sunnyhillboy in a photo finish and the closest ever GN finish

2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria.

2015 Archaeologists announce they have found at Lomekwi in Kenya 3.3 million-year old stone tools, the oldest ever discovered and which pre-date the earliest humans

2019 South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg officially announces his presidential campaign in Indiana, first openly gay candidate to run for US president

2020 PM Narendra Modi extends India's COVID-19 lockdown until May 3

2020 Parts of Europe begin to ease lockdown restrictions after 5-6 weeks with some shops opening in Austria and parts of Italy

2020 IMF warns the global economy expected to contract by 3% in 2020 due to COVID-19 "Great Lockdown", steepest downturn since the Great Depression

2020 US President Donald Trump freezes funding for the World Health Organization pending a review, for mistakes in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and for being "China-centric"

Born Today ;-

1819 Charles Hallé, pianist, conductor and founder (Halle Orchestra), born in Hagen, Westphalia was also the inventor of a mechanical page-turner for pianists. The pages were preset in the device, and the player would turn each page by means of a foot-mechanism. "People would go to his concerts just to see the spectacle of leaf after leaf turning over, ghostlike, without the intervention of human hands." Was married to Madame Wilma Neruda, the distinguished violinist in her own right.

1857 – Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, youngest child of Queen Victoria

1876 Cecil Chubb, English barrister, gifted Stonehenge to the British nation, born in Shrewton, Wilts

1904 – (Sir) John Gielgud, English actor, director, and producer (Arthur, Hamlet, Ages of Man), born in London

1906 Faisal, King of Saudi Arabia (1964-75), born in Riyadh, Emirate of Nejd and Hasa (d. 1975)

1917 – Valerie Hobson, ?Irish actress, wife of John Profumo

1929 – Gerry Anderson, English director, producer, and screenwriter Four Feather Falls, Fireball XL5, Supercar, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, UFO, Space: 1999, Terrahawks, Joe 90

1932 – Loretta Lynn, American singer-songwriter and musician

1932 Bob Grant [Robert St Clair Grant], British actor, comedian and writer (on the Buses), born in Hammersmith

1933 – Paddy Hopkirk, Northern Irish racing driver

1940 or 41 Julie Christie, British actress (Darling, Doctor Zhivago), born in Chukua, Assam, India

1944 – John Sergeant, English journalist, Tv & Radio broadcaster

1951 – Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist, conductor, and educator younger brother of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

1958 Peter Capaldi, Scottish actor (12th Doctor in Doctor Who, The Thick of It), born in Glasgow

1961 Robert Carlyle, British actor (Trainspotting, The Full Monty), born in Glasgow

1983 James McFadden, Everton & Scottish footballer, born in Springburn, Glasgow gained his first Scotland cap at the age of 19 against South Africa on a Far East tour, at the end of which a night out drinking caused him to miss his flight home

Died Today ;-

1759 George Frideric Handel, German-British baroque composer and organist (Messiah, Water Music), dies at 74

1985 Noele Gordon, actress (Crossroads) dies at 65

1988 John Stonehouse, politician is remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974. More than twenty years after his death, it was publicly alleged that he had been an agent for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic military intelligence but never prosecuted due to lack of evidence.

1999 Anthony Newley, actor and singer-songwriter (Doctor Dolittle; Goldfinger theme; Willy Wonka score), dies at 67

2000 Wilf Mannion, England footballer

2001 Jim Baxter, Scottish footballer

2015 – Percy Sledge, American singer (When A Man Loves A Woman)

[Alikado]

Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year)

Hillsborough Disaster Memorial

Universal Day of Culture

World Art Day

1250 Pope Innoncent III refuses Jews of Cordova, Spain, request to build a synagogue

1534 Thomas Cromwell is appointed Chief Secretary to King Henry VIII of England

1729 Johann Sebastian Bach's "St Matthew Passion" premieres in Leipzig

1738 Premiere in London of "Serse", an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel

1755 Samuel Johnson's "A Dictionary of the English Language" published

1776 Duchess of Kingston found guilty of bigamy

1793 Bank of England issues first £5 note

1802 William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".

1865 Abraham Lincoln is shot by actor John Wilkes Booth attending the play "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre in Washington

1874 First 'Impressionist' exhibition opens in Paris, features Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot

1896 I Summer Olympic Games close in Athens, Greece; USA wins gold medal count, 11; Greece wins total medal count, 46

1912 RMS Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as the band plays on, with the loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 people

1921 Black Friday in Britain: leaders of transport and rail unions announce a decision not to call for strike action in support of the miners; despite widespread feeling decision a breach of solidarity and a betrayal of the miners

1923 Insulin becomes generally available for diabetics

1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.

1940 British troops land at Narvik, Norway

1941 – In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.

1942 George VI awards George Cross to people of Malta

1945 British Army liberates Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen

1945 US troops liberates Colditz

1952 The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress prototype

1955 – McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1986 Viv Richards century off 56 balls v England on home ground, Antigua

1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans.

1997 Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.

2010 Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.

2019 Measles cases jump 300% in first three months of 2019, according to World Health Organization, largest rise in Africa (700%) with 800 deaths in Madagascar

2019 Paris cathedral Notre Dame catches fire, toppling its spire and destroying its roof

Born Today ;-

1367 – Henry IV of England

1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, inventor and architect

1469 Guru Nanak, Founder of the religion of Sikhism and the 1st Sikh Guru, born in Rai-Bhoi-Di-Talwandi, Punjab, Pakistan

1845 Dave Gregory, Australian cricketer (Australia's 1st Test captain), born in Fairy Meadow, New South Wales

1890 – Percy Shaw, Halifax road contractor, invented the cat's eye

1894 Nikita Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1953-64), born in Kalinovka, Russia, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union

1901 – Joe Davis, snooker player (World Champion 1927-40, 1946), born in Whitwell, Derbyshire

1912 Kim Il-sung, Founder, dictator and Supreme Leader of North-Korea (1948-94), born in Mangyongdae, Japanese Korea

1939 – Marty Wilde, English singer-songwriter and actor, father of rocker Kim Wilde

1940 – Jeffrey Archer, English author, playwright, and politician

1955 Dodi Fayed, Egyptian businessman who died in a car crash in Paris with Princess Diana, born in Alexandria, Egypt

1959 – Emma Thompson, English actress, comedian, author, activist and screenwriter

1966 – Samantha Fox, Model, singer-songwriter and actress, Page 3 Girl

1990 Emma Watson, English actress (Hermione Granger-Harry Potter Series), born in Paris

1997 Maisie Williams, English actress (Game of Thrones), born in Bristol

Died Today ;-

1053 Godwin, Earl of Wessex

1865 Abraham Lincoln, 16th American President, dies from gunshot wounds at 56

1912 Edward Smith, captain of the RMS Titanic, dies when the ship sinks in the Atlantic Ocean aged 62
Jack Phillips, telegraphist
Wallace Hartley, violinist and bandleader from Colne
James Paul Moody, Sixth Officer
William McMaster Murdoch
Henry Tingle Wilde, English chief officer
Thomas Andrews, Irish shipbuilder

1980 – Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and author, Nobel Prize

1982 Arthur Lowe, British actor (Dad's Army, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Ruling Class), dies following a stroke at 66

1984 Tommy Cooper, British comedian and magician, collapses and dies on stage at 61

1988 Kenneth Williams, British actor (Hancock's Half Hour, Carry On films), dies of an overdose at 61

1990 Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (Anna Karenina, Camille), dies at 84

1993 George Frederick Ives, British Canadan army veteren, last survivor of the Boer War, dies at 111

1993 Leslie Charteris, British mystery writer (Saint), dies at 85

1994 John Curry OBE, British figure skater (Olympic gold, World C'ship gold, European C'ship gold 1976), dies from AIDS at 44

1998 Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (1976-79) and revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge (1963-97), dies at 72

2009 Clement Freud, German born writer, broadcaster and former liberal MP, dies at 84

[Alikado]

World Voice Day

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. After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.

1797 Spithead Mutiny begins: British Royal Navy sailors protest over living and working conditions and pay at Portsmouth

1854 Steamer "Long Beach" sinks off Long Beach NY, 311 die

1871 German Empire ends all anti-Jewish civil restrictions

1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.

1918 The House of Commons passes a new Military Service Bill, taking men up to 55 years old and extending to Ireland

1922 Annie Oakley sets women's record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row

1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD. He intentionally takes the drug three days later on April 19.

1943 40 NZ bombers attack Haarlem, Netherlands (85 killed)

1944 – Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.

1945 Dutch town of Arnhem, site of failed Operation Market Garden, is freed by British and Canadian forces

1945 German troops in Groningen surrender

1945 – The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.

1945 US troops enter Nuremberg

1945 – More than 7,000 die when the German refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.

1945 US troops land on He Shima, Okinawa

1945 Colditz Castle, the high-security prisoner of war camp in Germany, is liberated by American troops

1946 NSB mayor of Rotterdam, Netherlands, FE Muller sentence to 100 years in jail

1947 Texas City, Texas, the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up, devastating the town. Another ship, the Highflyer, exploded the following day. The explosions and resulting fires killed more than 500 people and left 200 others missing.

1948 Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris

1951 Submarine HMS Affray sank in English Channel, killing 75

1953 British royal yacht Britannia launched by Queen Elizabeth II

1956 1st solar powered radios go on sale

1962 Bob Dylan debuted his song "Blowin' in the Wind" at Gerde's Folk City in New York.

1964 9 men sentenced 25-30 years for Britain's 1963 "Great Train Robbery"

1987 Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appears at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London charged with three acts of gross indecency with one male and one act of gross indecency with another - both teenagers. Lurid allegations surrounding Mr Proctor's sex life surfaced the previous September when allegations appeared in a Sunday newspaper claiming he had organised gay spanking sessions with boys in his London flat.

1996 Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced they were getting a divorce.

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.

2007 Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, kills 32 people and injures 23 others before committing suicide.

2014 South Korean ferry MV Sewol sinks on route Incheon to Jeju, 304 drown, mostly students. National controversy erupts over rescue efforts and actions of crew and owner.

Born Today ;-

1800 George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, British army officer (Charge of the Light Brigade)

1867 Wilbur Wright, American aviator

1878 – R. E. 'Tip' Foster, England cricketer and footballer was only man to have captained England at both sports, (287 on debut England v Aust SCG 1903), one of seven brothers who played for Worcestershire, 4 other close relatives also played.

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

1911 Guy Burgess, English-born Soviet spy, born in Devonport

1918 Spike Milligan, actor and comedian (The Goon Show, 3 Musketeers), born in Ahmednagar, India

1921 – Peter Ustinov, English actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1922 – Kingsley Amis, English novelist, poet, and critic

1924 – John Harvey-Jones, academic and businessman, Chairman of ICI, - 'The Troubleshooter'

1924 Henry Mancini, American composer and conductor (Pink Panther), born in Cleveland, Ohio

1927 Pope Benedict XVI [Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger], Catholic Pope (2005-2013), born in Marktl, Bavaria

1933 – Joan Bakewell, English journalist and author, born in Stockport

1939 Dusty Springfield [Mary O'Brien], English vocalist (Growing Pains), born in London

1942 – Sir Frank Williams, English businessman, founded the Williams F1 Racing Team

1943 Ruth Madoc, British singer and actress (Hi Di Hi), born in Norwich

1947 – Gerry Rafferty, Scottish singer-songwriter

1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer (The Osmonds)

1963 Nick Berry, English actor (Heartbeat, EastEnders), born in Woodford, Essex

1971 Max Beesley, English musician and actor, born in Burnage,Manchester

1984 – Claire Foy, actress, born in Stockport

1987 – Aaron Lennon, Everton, Burnley & England footballer

Died Today ;-

1850 Marie Tussaud, French founder of Madame Tussaud's wax museum, dies at 88

1879 Saint Bernadette Soubirous (allegedly saw Virgin Mary at Lourdes), dies in Nevers France

1938 Bertram Wagstaff Mills, circus proprietor

1947 Rudolf Höss, German commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, hanged at Oswiecim (Auschwitz)

1958 Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies of ovarian cancer at 37

1965 – Sydney Chaplin, English actor, comedian, brother / manager of Charlie Chaplin

1995 Arthur English, British comedian and actor (Malachi's Cove, Are You Being Served?), dies of complications from emphysema at 75

1998 Fred Davis, English 8-time World Snooker Champion (1948-49, 51), dies at 84

2002 – Billy Ayre, footballer and former Southport manager, died Ormskirk

[Alikado]

Bat Appreciation Day

World Hemophilia Day

International Ford Mustang Day

International Haiku Poetry Day

World Circus Day

1397 Geoffrey Chaucer tells the "Canterbury Tales" for the first time at the court of English King Richard II

1534 Sir Thomas More confined in the Tower of London

1860 The first “World Championship” boxing match took place at Farnborough in an open field between 25-year-old John Carmel Heenan, the all-American champion, and England’s “Titch” Sayers, 34, Weighing 149lb, Sayers was just 5ft 8in tall, while 6ft 2in Heenan tipped the scales at 195lb. This was a bare-knuckle fight, which was illegal. But that didn’t stop a huge crowd gathering at the field just outside the village of Farnborough in Hampshire, many of the spectators having arrived by special trains from London. They were said to include the writers Charles Dickens and William Thackeray as well as the Prime Minister, Henry John Temple, and even the 18-year-old Prince of Wales, destined to become King Edward VII.The contest began at precisely 7.29am and the two men fought on for an astonishing and brutal two hours and 27 minutes. Battered and bloodied, they were preparing to come out for the 43rd round when police stormed the ring and brought proceedings to an end, with the crowd – and the pugilists – fleeing to escape arrest. The fight was declared a draw and the men were each paid £200 for their pains. Neither fought again and both died while still in their thirties.

1930 DuPont scientist Elmer K. Bolton invents neoprene using Julius Nieuwland's divinyl acetylene

1942 12 Lancasters bomb MAN factory in Augsburg

1942 Operations begin to destroy Sobibor Concentration Camp

1942 POW French General Henri Giraud escapes from his castle prison in Festung Königstein

1945 8th Air Force bombs Dresden

1945 German occupiers flood Wieringermeer, Netherlands

1945 Benito Mussolini flees from Salò to Milan

1945 US troops land in central Mindanao, Philippines during Battle of Mindanao

1949 – At midnight 26 Irish counties officially leave the British Commonwealth. A 21-gun salute on O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, ushers in the Republic of Ireland.

1951 – The Peak District becomes the United Kingdom's first National Park.

1956 Premium Savings Bonds introduced in Great Britain

1956 Willie Mosconi sinks 150 consecutive balls in a billiard tournament

1961 1,400 Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA land in Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro

1964 Ford Mustang formally introduced ($2,368 base)

1964 Jerrie Mock becomes 1st woman to fly solo around the world

1969 Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating US Senator Robert F. Kennedy

1969 People's Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old

1984 During Libyan Embassy demonstration in London, police officer Yvonne Fletcher shot dead

1991 Dow Jones closes above 3,000 for 1st time

1997 John Bell aged 115 receives a new pacemaker

2002 Four Canadian Forces soldiers are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two United States Air Force F-16s, the first deaths in a combat zone for Canada since the Korean War

Born Today ;-

1837 – J. P. Morgan, American banker and financier, founded J.P. Morgan & Co

1929 – James (Hans) Last, Germanborn bassist, composer, and bandleader

1937 Daffy Duck, Warner Bros. cartoon character created by Tex Avery and Bob Clampett (Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series), first debuts in "Porky's Duck Hunt"

1940 Billy Fury [Ronald Wycherley], English singer (When Will You Say I Love You), born in Liverpool

1940 – John McCririck, journalist & racing pundit

1946 – Clare Francis, sailor and author

1957 – Nick Hornby, novelist, essayist, lyricist, and screenwriter

1959 – Sean Bean, actor

1972 Claire Sweeney, English actress (Brookside), born in Walton, Liverpool

1972 – Muttiah Muralitharan, Lancashire & Sri Lankan cricketer

1974 Victoria Beckham [Adams], singer (Posh Spice in the Spice Girls), born in Harlow, Essex

Died Today ;-

1790 Benjamin Franklin, US Founding Father, inventor, ambassador and writer (Poor Richards Almanac), dies at 84

1882 – George Jennings, English engineer and plumber, invented the Flush toilet

1946 John 'Jack' Iddon, Lancashire & England cricketer (car accident), born Mawdesley

1960 – Eddie Cochran, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1998 Linda McCartney, American-born photographer and wife of Paul McCartney, dies of breast cancer at 56

2003 – Robert Atkins, American physician and cardiologist, created the Atkins diet

2003 John Paul Getty Jr., American-born British oil magnate and billionaire (Getty Oil), dies of a chest infection at 70

[Alikado]

International Day For Monuments and Sites

International Amateur Radio Day

796 – King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Corbridge by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The patrician Osbald is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.

1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the "regulars are coming!"

1783 – Three-Fifths Compromise: the first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.

1809 First run of 2,000 guineas horse race at Newmarket

1881 Natural History Museum opens in South Kensington

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

1915 French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.

1924 1st crossword puzzle book published by Simon & Schuster

1930 BBC news announcer announces "there is no news" at 20:45 news bulletin, plays music instead

1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland

1946 League of Nations dissolves

1948 International Court of Justice opens at The Hague

1949 Republic of Ireland withdraws from British Commonwealth

1951 France, West Germany & Benelux form European Steel & Coal Community

1968 London Bridge is sold to US oil company (to be erected in Arizona)

2019 Irish Journalist Lyra McKee shot to death covering riots in Derry, Northern Ireland with dissident republican group the New IRA claiming responsibility

Born Today ;-

1480 Lucrezia Borgia, Italian noblewoman, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI, born in Subiaco, Lazio, Italy. The family's dreadful reputation rubbed off on Lucrezia who was depicted as a femme fatale — a seductive woman who poisoned people that she could not manipulate, attended orgies and committed incest with both her brother Cesare and her father. When she was just eleven years old her father gave her in marriage to 27-year-old Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro. But her standing still suffers from rumours of incest, the birth of that mysterious baby, the murder of her second husband and her attendance at the Banquet of Chestnuts – an orgy hosted by Cesare involving 50 prostitutes and a large number of clergy.

1946 – Hayley Mills, actress

1971 David Tennant [McDonald], Scottish actor (Doctor Who, Broadchurch), born in Bathgate, Scotland

1979 Kourtney Kardashian, American reality television star, born in Los Angeles

1995 – Divock Origi, Liverpool & Belgian footballer, youngest goalscorer in Belgian World Cup history

Died Today ;-

796 – Æthelred I, king of Northumbria

1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, also known as "the Hanging Judge"

1949 Will Hay [William Thomson Hay], comedian, actor and amateur astronomer, dies from a stroke at 60

1955 Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (theory of relativity), dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 76

2002 Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian anthropologist and explorer (Kon Tiki, Aku-Aku), dies of a brain tumor at 87

2018 – Dale Winton, British television presenter

[Alikado]

Bicycle Day

1770 – Marie Antoinette marries Louis XVI of France in a proxy wedding

1770 British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia

1775 Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott are captured by British troops riding from Lexington to Concord, Prescott escapes to warn Concord

1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.

1904 Much of Toronto destroyed by fire

1909 Joan of Arc receives beatification by the Roman Catholic Church

1927 Actress Mae West found guilty of “obscenity and corrupting the morals of youth” in a New York stage play entitled "Sex". She is sentenced to 10 days in prison and fined $500, the resulting publicity launches her Hollywood career.

1932 Bonnie Parker is captured in a failed hardware store burglary, and subsequently jailed. A grand jury fails to indict her, however, and she is released a few months later

1936 First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine, anti-Jewish riots break out

1943 Jews refuse to surrender the Warsaw Ghetto to SS officer Jürgen Stroop, who then orders its destruction, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

1943 Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time, three days after having discovered its effects

1948 Chiang Kai-shek elected President of Nationalist China

1956 – Actress Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier of Monaco.

1962 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 46,900m -over 150,000 feet

1963 Johnny Cash releases his single "Ring Of Fire" written by his future wife June Carter and Merle Kilgore

1971 Charles Manson sentenced to death, later commuted to life in prison for the murder of Sharon Tate

1980 25th Eurovision Song Contest: Johnny Logan for Ireland wins singing "What's Another Year"

2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI

2015 Boat carrying approx. 850 migrants is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean between Italian and Libya, with only 27 migrants rescued.

Born Today ;-

1873 – Sydney Barnes, Enigmatic Warwickshire, Lancashire & England cricketer and probably England's greatest bowler, born in Smethwick

1903 Eliot Ness, US Federal agent "The Untouchables" (put away Al Capone), born in Chicago

1922 Erich Hartmann, German WW II pilot (downed 352 Russian aircrafts), born in Weissach, Württemberg, Weimar Republic

1933 Jayne Mansfield [Vera Jane Palmer], American actress (The Girl Can't Help It), born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

1933 – Harold 'Dickie' Bird, cricketer and umpire

1935 Dudley Moore, English actor and comedian (10, Arthur, Bedazzled), born in London

1937 – Antonio Carluccio, Italian-English chef and author

1939 Ali Khamenei [Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei], 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran (1989-) and the 3rd President of Iran (1981-89), born in Mashhad, Khorasan, Iran

1941 Michel Roux, French chef and restaurateur (opened Le Gavroche, 1st three Michelin starred restaurant in Britain), born in Charolles, Saône-et-Loire, Vichy France

1942 Alan Price, English rock keyboardist (Animals-House of the Rising Sun), born in Fatfield, Washington, Co Durham

1944 Margo MacDonald, Scottish national broadcaster and SNP Leader (MP for Glasgow Govan 1973-74), born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire

1953 Ruby Wax, actress (Girls on Top), born in Evanston, Illinois

1954 – Trevor Francis, English footballer and manager, the first £1m footballer, born in Plymouth

1956 – Sue Barker, English tennis player and journalist, Tv host, born in Paignton

1970 – Kelly Holmes, Multi Olympic , World, European & Commonwealth medal winning runner. Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

1987 – Joe Hart, England footballer


Died Today ;-

1390 King Robert II of Scotland, first monach of the House of Stewart (1371-90), dies at 74

1733 Elizabeth Villiers Countess of Orkney, mistress of William III of England

1824 Lord Byron [George Gordon Byron], British romantic poet (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage) , dies at 36

1881 Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, British Prime Minister (Tory: 1868, 1874-80) and writer, dies of bronchitis at 76

1882 Charles Darwin, English naturalist (Origin of the Species) who conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection, dies of heart failure at 73

1906 Pierre Curie, French physicist (Nobel 1903) and husband of Marie Curie, dies in a cart accident at 46

1956 Lionel K P "Buster" Crabb, British diver (WWII), dies at 47

1989 Daphne Du Maurier, English writer (Rebecca, Jamaica Inn), dies at 82

1992 Frankie Howerd, actor (Carry on Doctor, Up the Front), dies at 70

1996 1996 Norman Oldfield, Lancashire, Northants & England cricketer (scored 99 runs in Test for England days before WWII broke out), dies at 84, English cricketer (scored 99 runs in Test for England),

2004 Norris McWhirter, Scottish co-founder of the Guinness Book of Records

[Alikado]

420 (cannabis culture)

UN Chinese Language Day

1505 Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg

1611 First known performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre

1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City)

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

1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride

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

1919 Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army

1920 Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate

1931 House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday

1941 100 German bombers attack Athens

1945 Soviet artillery begins shelling Berlin

1945 – U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.

1945 – Führerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.

1945 – Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.

1961 – Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.

1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m 207,500'

1968 Politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech

1969 Bombs planted by Loyalists members of the Ulster Volunteer Force and the Ulster Protestant Volunteers explode at Silent Valley reservoir in County Down and at an electricity pylon at Kilmore, County Armagh

1970 74th Boston Marathon: Englishman Ron Hill wins in 2:10:30 (US record)

1974 'The Troubles', the Northern Ireland conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, British security forces, and civil rights groups, claims its 1000th victim

1982 The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode bombs in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Ballymena, Bessbrook and Magherafelt; 2 civilians are killed and 12 injured

2018 Arsène Wenger announces he will leave London EPL club Arsenal after 22 years

Born Today ;-

1889 Adolf Hitler, Austrian-born German dictator and Führer of Nazi Germany (1936-45), born in Gasthof zum Pommer, Braunau am Inn, Austria-Hungary

1924 Leslie Phillips, British actor (Carry On; sorting hat- Harry Potter series), born in Tottenham

1938 – Peter Snow, Tv Newscaster, Presenter, historian and journalist

1941 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor

1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress

1951 – Louise Jameson, actress - EastEnders, Doctor Who, Bergerac, and Tenko.

1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer-songwriter and producer

1957 Graeme Fowler, English cricketer (England left-handed opener early 80s), born in Accrington, First Englishman to score a double Centuary in India and he was never picked again.

1961 – Nicholas Lyndhurst, actor - Only Fools and Horses

Died Today ;-

1534 Elizabeth Barton [St Magd van Kent], nun, The Holy Maid of Kent, She was executed as a result of her prophecies against the marriage of King Henry VIII of England to Anne Boleyn, only women whose head was on a spike on London Bridge, hanged for treason

1912 Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager/writer (Dracula), dies at 64

1992 Benny Hill [Alfred Hawthorn Hill], British comedian (The Benny Hill Show), dies of a heart attack at 68

2012 Bert Weedon, guitar player, dies at 91

2016 Victoria Wood, British comedian and actress, dies of cancer at 62