1775 – New England militiamen begin the siege of Boston, hemming in the British army garrison
1825 – 33 patriotic exiles return to Uruguay
1919 – French assembly decides on 8 hour work day
1928 – New York Yankees are out of 1st place for 1st time since May 1926
1956 – 1st MLB baseball game in New Jersey – Brooklyn Dodgers beat Philadelphia Phillies, 5-4, at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City
1993 – After a 51 day siege by the FBI 76 Branch Davidians die in a fire near Waco Texas (accident, suicide, tear gas are disputed causes)
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168. including 19 children, and injuring 500
2015 – Boat carrying approx. 850 migrants is shipwrecked in the Mediterranean between Italian and Libya, with only 27 migrants rescued.
2020 – UK COVID-19 death toll reaches 16,060 (hospitals only), as “The Sunday Times” criticizes Boris Johnson’s government’s response, saying they “sleepwalked into disaster”
2022 – US Biden administration restores climate impacts and community say to the National Environmental Policy Act, previously removed by Donald Trump
Author: gil7
Today in History for 19th April 2024
Historical Events
1933 – FDR announces US will leave gold standard
1941 – Bulgarian troops invade Macedonia
1943 – Bicycle Day – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time
1966 – In 1st regular season game at Anaheim Stadium, Angels lose 3-1 to Chic
1987 – Jacqueline Blanc, sets women’s downhill ski speed rec (124.902 mph)
1999 – 103rd Boston Marathon: Joseph Chebet of Kenya takes men’s title in 2:09:52; 3-peat for Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia in women’s race in 2:23:25
Famous Birthdays
1939 – Ellen Weston, American actress (Betty-SWAT), born in New York City
1944 – James Heckman, American economist (Nobel Prize 2000), born in Chicago, Illinois
1953 – Sara Simeoni, Italian high jumper (Olympic gold 1980), born in Rivoli Veronese, Italy
1962 – Al Unser Jr., American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1992, 94), born in Albuquerque, New Mexico
1978 – James Franco, American actor (The Disaster Artist), born in Palo Alto, California
1987 – Courtland Mead, American actor (Dragonworld), born in Mission Viejo, California
Famous Deaths
1529 – John Cuspinianus [Spiessheimer], German physician, dies at about 55
1906 – Spencer Gore, British tennis player (1st Wimbledon singles champion 1877), dies at 56
1945 – J P Heyboer, resistance fighter, executed
1956 – Ernst Robert Curtius, German literature historian, dies at 70
1975 – Percy Lavon Julian, African American chemist who received 130 patents, pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs from plants, dies at 76
2005 – Ruth Hussey, American actress (Another Thin Man), dies at 93
Famous Deaths for 18th April 2024
1558 – Roxelana, wife of Otttoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, dies at ~54
1612 – Emanuel Van Meteren, Flemish merchant and historian, dies at 76
1871 – Omar Pasha [Mihajlo Latas], Serbian-Ottoman field marshal (Crimean War) and Governor (Bosnia, Iraq), dies at 64
1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus, dies at 59
1928 – Henryk Melcer-Szczawiński, Polish pianist, composer, and conductor, dies of a heart attack at 58
1944 – Thomas Hitchcock Jr., American polo player (Westchester Cup 1924,27,30,39), dies testing a new fighter plane during WWII at 44
1955 – Albert Einstein, German-born theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (theory of relativity), dies of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at 76
1995 – Arturo Frondizi, 35th President of Argentina (1958-62), dies at 86
2019 – Lorraine Warren, American paranormal investigator (Amityville haunting), dies in her sleep at 92
2022 – Harrison Birtwistle, British contemporary classical composer (The Minotaur; The Mask of Orpheus), dies at 87
Historical Events for 18th April 2024
1861 – Colonel Robert E. Lee turns down offer to command Union armies (US Civil War)
1881 – Natural History Museum opens in South Kensington, England
1904 – 8th Boston Marathon won by Michael Spring in 2:38:04.4
1916 – Edith Wharton is appointed Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, France’s highest award, for her contribution to the war effort
1939 – Franz von Papen becomes German ambassador in Turkey
1942 – “Stars and Stripes” paper for US armed forces starts
1945 – 1 armed outfielder, St Louis Brown Pete Gray, 1st game he goes 1 for 4
1955 – 1st “Walk”/”Don’t Walk” lighted street signals installed
1958 – A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound is to be released from an insane asylum.
2017 – British Prime Minister Teresa May announces she will seek a “snap” election
Today in History for 18th April 2024
Historical Events
1924 – 1st crossword puzzle book published by Simon and Schuster
1938 – 42nd Boston Marathon won by Leslie Pawson in 2:35:34.8; his second victory in the event
1946 – Rome, Auerbach and Horwitt’s musical “Call Me Mister” opens at National Theater, NYC; runs for 734 performances
1946 – Jackie Robinson debuts as 2nd baseman for the Montreal Royals
1983 – KMO-AM in Tacoma Wash changes call letters to KAMT (now KKMO)
1984 – Joan Benoit runs world record female marathon (2:22:43)
Famous Birthdays
1842 – Antero Tarquínio de Quental, Portuguese poet (Beatrice), born in Ponta Delgada, Portugal (d. 1891)
1888 – Arnold Lunn, British skier (created the modern Alpine slalom race), born in Madras, India (d. 1974)
1946 – (Alexander) “Skip” Spence, Canadian guitarist and vocalist (Moby Grape – “Omaha”), born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor (Will and Grace), born in Toronto, Ontario
1970 – Rico Brogna, American MLB baseball player (Detroit Tigers), born in Turners Falls, Massachusetts
1988 – Vanessa Kirby, English actress (Princess Margaret in The Crown), born in London, England
Famous Deaths
1610 – Robert Parsons, English jesuit (A Letter Disclosure), dies at 63
1845 – Nicolas Théodore de Saussure, Swiss chemist, dies at 77
1882 – Henry Cole, English inventor and civil servant, 1st director of the VandA Museum, promoter of 1851 Great Exhibition, dies at 73
1976 – Mahmoud Younis, Suez Canal nationalization engineer, dies at 65
1985 – Gertrude Caton-Thompson, English archaeologist (Zimbabwe, So Arabia), dies at 97
1990 – Robert D Webb, American director and actor (Love Me Tender, Jackals), dies at 87
Famous Deaths for 17th April 2024
1761 – Thomas Bayes, English mathematician
1835 – William Henry Ireland, English forger (Shakespearean manuscripts), dies
1899 – Hans Balatka, Moravian-American conductor (Milwaukee Musikverein; Chicago Oratorio Society), author (Condensed History of Music), and composer, dies at 74
1937 – Yi Sang, Korean author and poet (Dying Words, Wings, Child’s Bone), dies of tuberculosis in a Japanese prison camp at 26
1945 – Ion Pillat, Romanian poet and senator (Umbra timpului), dies at 54
1993 – Turgut Özal, Turkish politician (President of Turkey 1989-93, PM of Turkey 1983-89), dies at 65
1994 – Peter Hacker, American journalist/actor (NBC, Broadcast News), dies at 69
1998 – Linda McCartney (née Eastman), American photographer, musician (Wings) and wife of Paul McCartney, dies of breast cancer at 56
2011 – Eric Gross, Austrian-Australian pianist, composer (Na shledanou v Praze (Good-bye in Prague); Moonscape), conductor, and educator (University of Sydney, 1960-91), dies at 84
2023 – April Stevens [Caroline LoTempio], American vocalist (“Deep Purple” – the song, not the band), dies at 93
Historical Events for 17th April 2024
1711 – Charles VI becomes Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his brother Joseph I
1758 – Francis Williams, 1st US black college graduate, publishes poems
1797 – Sir Ralph Abercromby attacks San Juan, Puerto Rico, one of the largest invasions of Spanish territories in America
1860 – Champion of England Tom Sayers and American John Heenan fight out brutal 2 hour, 27 minute draw near Farnborough, England; police stop fight acknowledged as first world title bout
1865 – Mary Surratt is arrested as a conspirator in Abraham’ Lincoln’s assassination
1875 – Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, a bored British officer in Jabalpur, India
1969 – People’s Democracy activist Bernadette Devlin becomes the youngest woman Member of Parliament ever elected to Westminster at 21 years old
1979 – Four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb in Bessbrook, County Armagh; the bomb is believed to be the largest PIRA bomb used up to that point
1979 – Brian Clark’s stage drama “Whose Life is it Anyway?” starring Tom Conti and Phillip Bosco, and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, opens at the Trafalgar Theatre, NYC; runs for 223 performances, winning Conti a Tony Award
1983 – 1st National Coin Week begins
Today in History for 17th April 2024
Historical Events
1961 – 65th Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:23:39; his 2nd event title
1967 – Italian boxer Nino Benvenuti beats American Emile Griffith in a 15 round points decision to win world middleweight crown at Madison Square Garden; start of famous trilogy of fights between the pair
1969 – Mont Expos Bill Stoneman no-hits Phillies, 7-0
1969 – The Band (formerly The Hawks), perform their 1st concert, at Winterland Ballroom, San Francisco, California
1979 – Four Royal Ulster Constabulary officers are killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army van bomb in Bessbrook, County Armagh; the bomb is believed to be the largest PIRA bomb used up to that point
1981 – New York Islander Dennis Potvin’s 3 playoff power-play goals vs Edmonton Oilers tie NHL record
Famous Birthdays
1865 – Ursula Ledóchowska, Polish-Austrian Catholic saint and foundress of the Ursulines of the Agonizing Heart of Jesus, born in Loosdorf, Austrian Empire (d. 1939)
1912 – Isador Caplan, British lawyer and Aldeburgh Festival pioneer, born in Blackpool, England (d. 1995)
1914 – George Davis, American art director (20th Century Fox), born in Kokomo, Indiana (d. 1984)
1961 – Frank J. Christensen, American labor leader, born in Chicago, Illinois
1970 – Redman [Reginald Noble], American rapper, born in Newark, New Jersey
1983 – Stanislav Chistov, Russian ice hockey player, born in Chelyabinsk, Russia
Famous Deaths
1962 – Louise Fazenda, American vaudeville, and silent and sound screen actress (Mack Sennett comedies), dies of cerebral hemorrhage at 66
1971 – Carmen Lombardo, Canadian musician, dies at 67
1974 – Vinnie Taylor, rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a drug overdose
1997 – Allan Francovich, American documentarian
2013 – Deanna Durbin [Edna Mae Durbin], Canadian actress and vocalist (Every Sunday, Three Smart Girls, 100 Men and a Girl), dies at 91
2021 – Fred Arbanas, American football tight end (All-AFL 1962–67; Super Bowl 1970; Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs), dies at 82
Famous Deaths for 16th April 2024
744 – al-Walid II, Umayyad caliph (743-744), killed at 35
1743 – Cornelis van Bijnkershoek, Dutch jurist who helped develop international law along positivist lines, dies at 69
1930 – José Carlos Mariátegui, Peruvian journalist, political philosopher and activist (b. 1894)
1981 – Eric Hollies, English cricket spin bowler (13 Tests, 44 wickets; dismissed Donald Bradman for 0 in his final Test innings), dies at 68
1993 – John Meefout, Dutch sculptor (Laying Woman), dies at 77
1995 – Cyril Enfield, film Director, dies at 80
1996 – Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Cuban filmmaker (Muerte de un burócrata), dies at 67
1999 – Alexander “Skip” Spence, Canadian-American guitarist, singer and songwriter (Jefferson Airplane), dies of lung cancer at 52
2011 – William A. Rusher, American lawyer and columnist, dies at 87
2020 – Kenneth Gilbert, Canadian harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and educator, dies at 88
Historical Events for 16th April 2024
1849 – Giacomo Meyerbeer’s opera “Le prophète” premieres in Paris
1917 – 21st Boston Marathon won by Bill Kennedy in 2:28:37.2
1943 – 40 NZ bombers attack Haarlem, Netherlands (85 killed)
1948 – Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris
1962 – 66th Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:23:48; second straight win and 3rd title overall
1962 – Brazil nationalizes US businesses
1975 – Cambodian Red Khmer occupy Phnom Penh
1992 – NY Rangers win team record 50th game
1994 – Circus performers Marissa Young (24) and Matt Richardson (21) wed
2020 – New study claims a multi-decade megadrought is already under way in the western US, published in journal “Science”