1662 – Davis Mell, British violinist, composer, and clockmaker, dies at 57
1766 – John Taylor, English classical scholar (b. 1704)
1806 – Friedrich Gottlob Fleischer, composer, dies at 84
1831 – Isaiah Thomas, American journalist, editor and historian (Massachusetts Spy), dies at 82
1967 – Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan soccer forward (51 caps; Nacional, FC Barcelona, FC Inter Milan, Palermo FC), dies at 68
1983 – Jacqueline Logan, American actress and silent film leading lady (WAMPAS Baby Star), dies at 78
1992 – Arthur Russell, American experimental classical-pop fusion cellist, and composer, dies of AIDS at 40
2010 – Clifford M. Hardin, American politician (17th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture), dies at 94
2020 – Forrest Compton, American actor (Gomer Pyle USMC, Edge of Night), dies at 94
2023 – Craig Breedlove, American auto racer (5 x world land speed record holder; first to reach 500mph (800km/h) and 600mph (970km/h), dies of cancer at 86
Author: gil7
Historical Events for 4th April 2024
1081 – Alexius I Comnenus occupies Byzantine throne
1905 – Earthquake in Kangra India, kills 20,000
1912 – Army fires on striking mine workers at Lena-gold fields in Siberia
1949 – WKRC TV channel 12 in Cincinnati, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
1958 – The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London
1960 – Senegal declares independence from France
1973 – World Trade Center, then the world’s tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
1986 – Wayne Gretzky sets NHL record with 213th point of season
1994 – American actor Tony Curtis (68) undergoes heart-bypass surgery
2012 – Somalia’s National Theater is struck by a suicide bomber killing ten people including the presidents of the Somali Olympic Committee and Football Federation
Today in History for 4th April 2024
Historical Events
1828 – Casparus van Wooden patents chocolate milk powder in Amsterdam
1862 – Siege of Yorktown, fought in York County and Newport News, Virginia begins (Yorktown campaign), inconclusive result (US Civil War)
1913 – 75th Grand National: Percy Woodland wins aboard 100/9 chance Covertcoat; owner Sir Charles Assheton-Smith’s 2nd straight GN victory and 3rd overall
1939 – Faisal II ascends to throne of Iraq
1971 – Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” opens at Winter Garden Theater, NYC; runs for 524 performances, then most expensive Broadway musical at the time
2013 – 9 people have been killed on an axe-murdering rampage in Chhattisgarh state, India
Famous Birthdays
1716 – Johann Evangelist Schreiber, Swiss Baroque composer, born in Arth, Switzerland (d. 1800)
1772 – Nachman of Breslov, Ukrainian founder of Breslov Hasidut, born in Międzybóż, Kingdom of Poland (d. 1810)
1870 – George Albert Smith, American religious leader, 8th President of Latter-day Saints, born in Salt Lake City, Utah (d. 1951)
1919 – Antony Tudor, English dancer and choreographer (Metropolitan Opera 1957), born in London (d. 1987)
1957 – Paul Downton, English cricketer (England wicket-keeper in 80’s), born in Farnborough, London
1988 – Frank Fielding, English football goalkeeper, born in Blackburn, Lancashire
Famous Deaths
1643 – Simon Episcopius [Bisschop], Dutch theologist, dies at 60
1661 – Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier (b. circa 1580)
1662 – Davis Mell, British violinist, composer, and clockmaker, dies at 57
1693 – Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, Portuguese-Jewish rabbi, scholar and religious writer prominent in Amsterdam and in Dutch Brazil, dies at 88
1905 – Constantin Meunier, Belgian painter and sculptor, dies at 73
1988 – Ludwig Stiel, German pianist, composer, and conductor, dies at 86
Famous Deaths for 3rd April 2024
1525 – Giovanni Rucellai, Italian humanist and poet (The Bees – one of the 1st famous poems in blank verse), dies at 49
1747 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter, dies at 89
1897 – Johannes Brahms, German composer and conductor (Hungarian Dances; A German Requiem), dies at 63
1930 – Emma Albani, Canadian operatic soprano, dies at 82
1936 – Bruno Hauptmann, German kidnapper of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, executed at 36
1962 – Manolis Kalomiris, Greek opera composer, dies at 78
2015 – Sarah Brady, American gun-control activist, dies at 73
2020 – Tom Dempsey, American NFL kicker (Pro Bowl, First-team All-Pro 1969; New Orleans Saints; longest winning field goal, 63 yards), dies of COVID-19 complications at 73
2022 – Tommy Davis, American baseball utility (3 x MLB All Star; World Series 1963; NL batting champion 1962, 63 LA Dodgers), dies at 83
2023 – Nigel Lawson, British journalist and politician (UK Chancellor 1983-89, reformed tax laws), dies at 91
Historical Events for 3rd April 2024
1559 – Spain and France sign 2nd Treaty of Le Cateau-Cambrésis
1856 – Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes badly damaged by gunpowder explosion, kills 4,000 on island of Rhodes
1868 – A Hawaiian surfs on highest wave ever – a 50-foot tidal wave
1925 – Netherlands and Belgium sign accord of Westerschelde
1948 – US male Figure Skating championship won by Richard Button
1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start a policy of “Vietnamization”, reducing American involvement
1986 – Maureen O’Boyle (future host of “A Current Affair”) is raped
2016 – ANA Inspiration Women’s Golf, Mission Hills CC: Lydia Ko of New Zealand wins by 1 from Charley Hull and Chun In-gee for her second major title
2019 – Ex-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak goes on trial for the 1MDB corruption scandal in Kuala Lumpur, pleads not guilty
2022 – Return engagement of David Byrne’s musical revue “American Utopia” closes at St. James Theatre, NYC, after 134 performances
Today in History for 3rd April 2024
Historical Events
1312 – 2nd council of Vienna, Knights Templars suppressed
1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start a policy of “Vietnamization”, reducing American involvement
1977 – Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s 1st meeting with US President Jimmy Carter
2006 – 68th NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: Florida beats UCLA, 73-57; Gators first title; center Joakim Noah named tournament Most Outstanding Player
2013 – 50 people are killed by flooding across Argentina
2017 – Bomb on St Petersburg metro kills 11, 2nd bomb defused
Famous Birthdays
1904 – Sally Rand, American burlesque dancer, vedette, and actress known for her ostrich feather fan and balloon bubble dances, born in Elkton, Missouri (d. 1979)
1914 – Katherine Stammers Menzies, English doubles tennis player (Wimb 1935), born in St Albans, England (d. 2005)
1930 – Max Frankel, American journalist (Tables of Id of Organic Compounds), born in Gera, Germany
1934 – Jane Goodall, British primatologist, anthropologist, and writer (Through a Window: My Thirty Years With the Chimpanzees of Gombe), born in Hampstead, London, England
1964 – Nigel Farage, British politician and leader of the UKIP who campaigned for Brexit, born in Downe, Kent
1980 – Trevor Moore, American actor and comedian (The Whitest Kids U’ Know), born in Montclair, New Jersey
Famous Deaths
628 – Khosrow II, Sāsānian King of Persia (579-628), murdered by his son Kavad at about 57
1822 – Friedrich Justin Bertuch, German publisher and patron, dies at 74
1983 – Danny Rapp, American pop singer (Danny and The Juniors – “At The Hop”), takes his own life at 41
2003 – Homer Banks, American singer and songwriter (“Be What You Are”), dies at 61
2003 – Michael Kelly, American journalist (b. 1957)
2010 – Dusan Radic, Serbian composer, dies at 80
Famous Deaths for 2nd April 2024
1507 – Francis of Paola, Italian founder of the Order of the Minims (b. 1416)
1864 – Princess Hildegard of Bavaria, seventh child and fourth daughter of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, dies at 38
1865 – Richard Cobden, English politician and manufacturer (founder of the Anti-Corn-Law League), dies at 60
1995 – Hannes Alfven, physicist (Nobel prize), dies at 86
1997 – Anthony Bushell, British actor (Journey’s End, A Night to Remember), dies at 92
2000 – Tommaso Buscetta, Sicilian mafioso and pentito (b. 1928)
2009 – Frank Springer, American comics artist (The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist), dies at 79
2020 – Sergio Rossi, Italian shoe designer, dies of COVID-19 complications at 84
2020 – Carl Tacy, American college basketball coach (Wake Forest University 1972-85; 222-149 record), dies at 87
2023 – Salim Durani, Indian cricket all-rounder (29 Tests, 1 x 100, 74 wickets, BB 6/73; Saurashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan), dies from cancer at 88
Historical Events for 2nd April 2024
1877 – 1st Easter egg roll held on White House lawn
1917 – Jeannette Rankin (Rep-R-Montana) begins her term as 1st woman member of US House of Reps
1932 – “Tarzan the Ape Man” released starring Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller in the first of his 12 Tarzan films
1944 – Dmitri Shostakovich’s 8th Symphony premieres in NY
1960 – Cuba buys oil from USSR
1993 – 1st test flight of Fokker 70 (Amsterdam)
1996 – Vancouver Grizzlies beat Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-103 at General Motors Place Arena to end their NBA single-season record 23-game consecutive loss streak
2017 – 36th NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: South Carolina defeats Mississippi State, 67-55; Gamecocks power forward A’ja Wilson, 23 points
2019 – NASA states it wants to send astronauts to Mars by 2033, and land on the Moon again in 2024
2020 – Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro downplays the COVID-19 pandemic saying “its not all its being made out to be”
Today in History for 2nd April 2024
Historical Events
1905 – Cairo-Capetown railway opens
1987 – IBM introduces PS/2 and OS/2
1995 – Longest strike in American major league sports history (232 days) ends as MLB owners accept players’ offer to return to work without a contract; MLB is first major pro sports league to lose an entire postseason due to labor struggles
1996 – Vancouver Grizzlies beat Minnesota Timberwolves, 105-103 at General Motors Place Arena to end their NBA single-season record 23-game consecutive loss streak
2010 – Basketball superstar Kobe Bryant signs a three-year contract extension with the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers worth $87 million
2013 – Uruguay passes legislation to legalize same-sex marriage
Famous Birthdays
1740 – Armand-Gaston Camus, French revolutionary and Chairman of the Council of 500, born in Paris (d. 1804)
1900 – Roberto Arlt, Argentine writer (The Seven Madmen), born in Buenos Aires, Argentina (d. 1942)
1910 – Arnie Herber, American Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback (NFL C’ship 1930, 31, 36, 39; First-team All-Pro 1932, 35, 36; Green Bay Packers, NY Giants), born in Green Bay, Wisconsin (d. 1969)
1963 – Dermot Reeve, English cricket all-rounder (3 Tests, 29 ODIs), born in Kowloon, Hong Kong
1982 – Jeremy Bloom, American alpine skier (FIS Freestyle World Ski C’ships gold dual moguls 2003) and football wide receiver (Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers), born in Loveland, Colorado
1982 – Leyla Milani, Iranian-Canadian actress and model, born in Toronto, Ontario
Famous Deaths
1787 – Francisco Javier Clavijero, Mexican Jesuit teacher and writer, dies at 55
1956 – Chester Clute, American actor (“Arsenic and Old Lace”; “Too Many Girls”; “Niagara Falls”), dies of a heart attack at 65
1980 – Pascual de Rogatis, Argentine composer (Huemac; Estampas Argentinas), dies at 99
1993 – Eugenie Leontovitch, Russian actress (Homicidal, The Rains of Ranchipur), dies at 93
1995 – Harvey Penick, American golfer, coach, author (World Golf Hall of Fame), dies of degenerative arthritis at 90
2002 – Henry Slesar, American writer and playwright (The Edge of Night), dies at 74
Famous Deaths for 1st April 2024
1637 – Niwa Nagashige, Japanese warlord, dies at 65
1924 – Stan Rowley, Australian athlete (Olympic gold 5,000m team, bronze 60m, 100m, 200m 1900), dies at 47
1925 – Francis William Davenport, English composer, dies at 77
1973 – Gus Aiken, American jazz and blues trumpeter (Jenkins Orphanage Band), dies at 70
1983 – Ken Kersey, Canadian jazz pianist, and composer (“Boogie Woogie Cocktail”), dies at 66
1989 – Henk Gortzak [Hendricus Gortzak], Dutch carpenter and politician (CPN/PSP), dies at 57
1996 – Florence Buchsbaum, French theater director (b. 1926)
2004 – Aaron Bank, American OSS officer and founder of the US Army Special Forces (b. 1902)
2005 – Alexander Brott, Canadian violinist, conductor, educator, and composer (McGill Chamber Orchestra), dies at 90
2019 – Michel Sénéchal, French operatic tenor, and educator, dies at 91