Today in History for 13th April 2025

Historical Events

1865 – Raleigh, North Carolina, captured by Union forces
1904 – Battle of Oviumbo (in modern Namibia): Herero tribesmen rise up against German colonists
1920 – 1st woman US Civil Service Commissioner, Helen Hamilton appointed
1989 – “Welcome to the Club” opens at Music Box Theater NYC for 12 performances
2000 – “When Louis Met…” documentary by Louis Theroux premieres on BBC2 in the UK featuring Jimmy Saville

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Famous Birthdays

1891 – Nellallitea “Nella” Larsen [Nellie Walker], African-American Harlem Renaissance novelist (Quicksand, Passing), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1964)
1927 – Maurice Ronet, French film actor, director, and writer (Frantic, Sphinx, Circle of Love), born in Nice, France (d. 1983)
1954 – Niels Olsen, Danish singer and songwriter (The Olsen Brothers; Eurovision Song Contest, 2000), born in Odense, Denmark
1960 – Bob Casey, Jr., American lawyer and politician (Senator-D-Pennsylvania 2007-), born in Scranton, Pennsylvania
1963 – Mark Leiter, American baseball pitcher (SF Giants), born in Joliet, Illinois

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Famous Deaths

1970 – William H. Johnson, African-American artist of the Harlem Renaissance (Flowers; Training for War), dies of pancreatic hemorrhage at 67
1984 – Ralph Kirkpatrick, American musician, musicologist and harpsichordist (Domenico Scarlatti), dies at 72
1994 – Taleb Ali al-Suheil, Iran sheik, murdered in Lebanon at 64
1995 – Edward Henderson, British diplomat, dies at 77
2005 – Yuri Anatoyevich Ponomaryov, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz 18 backup), dies at 73

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Famous Deaths for 12th April 2025

238 – Gordian II, Roman co-Emperor with his father Gordian I, killed in battle at Carthage
1777 – Claude Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon, French satirical novelist (The Skimmer), dies at 70
1878 – William Magear Tweed “Boss Tweed”, American politician and corrupt New York fraudster, dies in prison of pneumonia at 55
1921 – William Strang, Scottish painter and engraver (illustrated Bunyan, Coleridge and Kipling), dies at 62
1946 – August Borms, Flemish nazi collaborator, executed at 67
2000 – Niaz Ahmed, Pakistani cricket fast bowler (2 Tests, 3 wickets; Dacca, Public Works Dep’t, East Pakistan, Railways; only East Pakistani to play Test cricket), dies at 54
2006 – Puggy Pearson, American poker player (World Series of Poker Main Event 1973; 4 x World Series of Poker bracelets), dies from heart failure at 77
2013 – Robert Byrne, American chess player (FIDE Grandmaster), dies from Parkinson’s disease at 84
2016 – Anne Jackson, American stage actress (Twice Around the Park), dies at 90
2019 – Georgia Engel, American actress (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, 1972-77 – “Georgette”; Hot In Cleveland, 2011-15 -“Mamie-Sue”), dies at 70

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Historical Events for 12th April 2025

1862 – James Andrews steals Confederate train (General) at Kennesaw, Georgia
1900 – The US Congress passes the Foraker Act, establishing Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory (effective 1 May)
1905 – French Dufaux brothers test helicopter
1927 – Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek begins a counter-revolution by violently suppressing Communist groups
1938 – First US law requiring medical tests for marriage licenses in New York
1954 – Joe Turner releases “Shake, Rattle and Roll”
1983 – Harold Washington elected Chicago’s 1st black mayor
1992 – Lynn Gunther of California threatens to blow herself up in front of UN
1992 – Euro Disney (Disneyland Paris) opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France
2009 – President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian National Authority makes a courtesy phone call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, restarting the Palestinian-Israeli dialogue

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Today in History for 12th April 2025

Historical Events

1861 – Fort Sumter in South Carolina is attacked by the Confederacy, beginning the American Civil War
1877 – Catcher’s mask 1st used in a baseball game
1986 – 20,000 mine workers protest closing of Hasselt Belgium mines
1989 – Peter Ueberroth deal to purchase Eastern Airlines falls through
2002 – Pedro Carmona becomes interim President of Venezuela during the military coup against Hugo Chávez.

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Famous Birthdays

1705 – William Cookworthy, English chemist, born in Kingsbridge, Devon (d. 1780)
1942 – Bill Bryden, Scottish stage director (National Theatre), film director, and screenwriter, born in Greenock, Scotland (d. 2022)
1945 – Doug Riley, Canadian jazz keyboard player (Dr. Music), and musical director (Famous People Players), born in Toronto, Ontario (d. 2007)
1949 – Scott Turow, American lawyer and author (Presumed Innocent), born in Chicago, Illinois
1979 – Elena Grosheva, Russian gymnast (Olympic 1996), born in Yaroslavl, Russia

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Famous Deaths

238 – Gordian II, Roman co-Emperor with his father Gordian I, killed in battle at Carthage
1550 – Claude of Lorraine, duke of Guise, dies at 53
2007 – Kevin Crease, Australian TV anchor (b. 1936)
2019 – Forrest Gregg, American Pro Football HOF tackle (9 x Pro Bowl; 7 × First-team All-Pro; Green Bay Packers) and coach (Cleveland Browns, Toronto Argonauts, Cincinnati Bengals, GB Packers), dies of Parkinson’s disease at 85
2020 – Stirling Moss, British auto racer (16 x F1 Grand Prix; World F1 Drivers C’ship runner-up 1955-58; 12 Hours of Sebring 1954) and broadcaster (ABC F1, NASCAR), dies at 90

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Today in History for 11th April 2025

Historical Events

1876 – Sir Charles Gordon ends religious tolerance in Sudan
1907 – New York Giants future Baseball Hall of Fame backstop Roger Bresnahan becomes first catcher to wear shin guards
1939 – Hungary leaves League of Nations
1991 – UN Security Council issues formal cease fire with Iraq declaration
2019 – Ex-Pope Benedict XVI claims Catholic sexual abuse caused in part by 1960s sexual revolution

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Famous Birthdays

1904 – Arthur Ernest Mourant, British hematologist, born in La Hougue Bie, Jersey (d. 1994)
1906 – Dalia “Dale” Messick, American cartoonist (Brenda Starr, Reporter), born in South Bend, Indiana (d. 2005)
1918 – Richard Wainwright, English politician, Liberal MP for Colne Valley (1966–70), born in Leeds (d. 2003)
1925 – Viola Liuzzo (née Gregg), American civil rights activist, murdered by Ku Klux Klan, born in California, Pennsylvania (d. 1965)
1932 – Max Schubel, American composer (Opus One Records), born in New York (d. 2010)

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Famous Deaths

1648 – Matthäus Appelt, German composer, dies at 53
1842 – John England, bishop of Charleston Carolina, dies
1981 – Marie Ney, British character actress (The Lavender Hill Mob), dies at 85
1990 – Xenophon Zolotas, Greek economist, Prime Minister of Greece, dies at 86
1998 – Rodney Harvey, American actor and model (Salsa), dies of a drug overdose at 30

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Famous Deaths for 11th April 2025

1240 – Llywelyn ab Iorwerth the Great, monarch of Wales (1194-1240), dies
1512 – Gaston de Foix, French pretender to Navarra throne, dies in battle
1648 – Matthäus Appelt, German composer, dies at 53
1729 – Manuel de Egues, composer, dies at 71
1861 – Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet (Mexican national anthem), dies at 37
1918 – Arthur E Ochse, South African cricket batsman (2 Tests; Transvaal), dies in action WWI at 48
1973 – (Edward) “Ted” de Corsia, American actor (The Naked City; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), dies at 69
2008 – Merlin German, United States Marine
2011 – Billy Bang [William Walker], American free jazz violinist and composer, dies of lung cancer at 63
2011 – Lacy Gibson, American Chicago-style blues guitarist, singer and songwriter (“Switchy Titchy”), dies of a heart attack at 74

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Historical Events for 11th April 2025

491 – Flavius Anastasius becomes Byzantine Emperor, as Anastasius I – often called the first Byzantine Emperor
1828 – Foundation of Bahia Blanca, Argentina
1898 – President McKinley asks for Spanish–American War declaration
1921 – Iowa imposes 1st state cigarette tax
1921 – The Emirate of Transjordan created
1942 – US Merchant Marine Distinguished Service Medal established
1962 – New York Mets make a losing debut
1991 – UN Security Council issues formal cease fire with Iraq declaration
2021 – 20-year-old Daunte Wright shot and killed at a traffic stop by police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, who says they mistook their gun for a taser
2023 – Largest cosmic explosion ever recorded (AT2021lwx)- fireball 100 x size of the solar system with a brightness 2trillion x the sun’s, thought to be large gas cloud entering a supermassive black hole eight million lights years away

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Famous Deaths for 10th April 2025

1362 – Machteld, countess of Holland, dies
1585 – Gregory XIII [Ugo Boncompagni], Italian pope (1572-85) who introduced the Gregorian (New Style) calendar in 1582, dies at 83
1786 – John Byron, British Royal Navy officer and explorer who circumnavigated the globe, grandfather to the poet , dies at 62
1807 – Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, German princess and composer (patron of Classical Weimar court), dies at 67
1862 – William Harvey Lamb Wallace, American lawyer and Brigadier General, dies at 40
1931 – Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-American poet (The Prophet; Broken Wings; Sand and Foam), painter, and philosopher, dies of cirrhosis of the liver, with incipient tuberculosis, at 48
1932 – André Baillon, Belgian-French author (and sabots), dies at 56
1961 – Irene Warfield, American silent screen actress (Satan Sanderson), dies at about 65 [exact birthdate unconfirmed]
2009 – Richard Arnell, English classical composer, dies at 91
2022 – Philippe Boesmans, Belgian pianist, and composer (Upon La-Mi; Reigen), dies at 85

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Historical Events for 10th April 2025

1816 – 2nd Bank of US chartered
1937 – Cole Porter’s musical “Red, Hot And Blue”, starring Ethel Merman, Jimmy Durante, and Bob Hope, closes at the Alvin Theatre, NYC, after 183 performances
1939 – Grens mobilization due to Italian invasion in Albania
1945 – German troops attack Ijsselbrug
1946 – 1st election for Japanese Parliament
1961 – 25th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: South African Gary Player beats defending champion Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe by 1 stroke to become first international champion; Monday finish because of rain
1988 – Islanders beat Devils 5-4 (OT) 1st round tied at 2-2
1993 – Pittsburgh Penguins win their NHL record 17 game winning streak
2006 – 5th CMT Video Music Awards: Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney win
2019 – First home delivery service by drone begins in Canberra, Australia by Wing, part of Google’s Alphabet company

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Today in History for 10th April 2025

Historical Events

1500 – France captures Duke Ludovico Sforza of Milan
1815 – Austria declares war on Kingdom of Naples
1898 – First Navy Law is passed by the German Reichstag
1925 – Scribners publishes “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
1961 – 25th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: South African Gary Player beats defending champion Arnold Palmer and amateur Charles Coe by 1 stroke to become first international champion; Monday finish because of rain
2024 – South Korea’s liberal opposition party wins landslide majority in the country’s general election – a defeat for President Yoon Suk Yeol, amid claims he was brought down by a spring onion

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Famous Birthdays

1847 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-American publisher (St Louis Post-Dispatch, NY World) and Democratic politician whose bequest founded the Columbia School of Journalism and the Pulitzer Prize, born in Makó, Kingdom of Hungary (d. 1911)
1930 – Shujauddin Butt, Pakistani cricket all-rounder (19 Tests, 20 wickets; Combined Services, Bahawalpur), born in Lahore, Pakistan (d. 2006)
1953 – David Moorcroft, British athlete (WR 5,000m 13:00.41 1982-85) and broadcaster (BBC), born in Coventry, England
1965 – Tim Alexander, American funk metal drummer (Primus-Pork soda), born in Cherry Point, North Carolina
1970 – Enrico Ciccone, Canadian NHL defenseman (Chicago Blackhawks), born in Montreal, Quebec
1982 – Damián Lanza, Ecuadorian footballer, born in Cuenca, Ecuador

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Famous Deaths

1807 – Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, German princess and composer (patron of Classical Weimar court), dies at 67
1883 – Emilie Mayer, German composer of Romantic music, dies at 70
1972 – Henech Kon, Polish composer and cabaret performer, dies at 81
1981 – Howard Thurman, African-American theologian and author (Deep River, Deep is the Hunger), dies at 81
2007 – Dakota Staton, American jazz singer (“Where Flamingos Fly”; “Sex Is A Misdemeanor”), dies at 76
2022 – Philippe Boesmans, Belgian pianist, and composer (Upon La-Mi; Reigen), dies at 85

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