1922 – The first Aggie Muster is held as a remembrance for fellow Aggies who had died in the previous year
1940 – 1st $64 Question, “Take It or Leave It,” on CBS Radio
1967 – Evangelical Broadcasting begins in Netherlands
1975 – 79th Boston Marathon: American Bill Rodgers wins men’s section in race record 2:09:55; Liane Winter of West Germany women’s champion in 2:42:24 (female world record)
1976 – Swine Flu vaccine, for non-epidemic, enters testing
1977 – Billy Martin pulls Yankee line-up out of a hat, beats Blue Jays 8-6
1987 – Milwaukee Brewers lose after 13th straight victory to start season
1989 – Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing’s Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom
1995 – British sitcom “Father Ted” written by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan, starring Dermot Morgan premieres on Channel 4
1997 – Ashes of psychologist and author Timothy Leary and “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry launched into space orbit
Author: gil7
Today in History for 21st April 2024
Historical Events
1892 – Black longshoremen strike for higher wages in St Louis, Missouri
1930 – “All Quiet on the Western Front” based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, directed by Lewis Milestone, starring Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres premieres in Los Angeles (Academy Awards Outstanding Production 1930)
1976 – Swine Flu vaccine, for non-epidemic, enters testing
1982 – Dr Michael E Bakey performs 1st successful heart implant
1984 – “Nightline” reverts from 1 hour to ½ hour format
2020 – Health Secretary Matt Hancock and UK government come under criticism for lack of personal protective equipment and testing for COVID-19 (despite pledge to test 100,000 a day only 19,000 done April 20th)
Famous Birthdays
1912 – Marcel Camus, French film director (Orfeu Negro), born in Chappes, France (d. 1982)
1959 – Michael Timmins, Canadian musician (Cowboy Junkies), born in Montreal
1966 – Judy Diduck, ice hockey defenseman (Canada, Olympics 1998)
1971 – Samantha Druce, British swimmer, youngest woman to swim English Channel
1978 – Branden Steineckert, American drummer (Rancid; The Used), born in Pocatello, Idaho
1980 – Jeff Keppinger, American baseball player
Famous Deaths
1910 – Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens], American author (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer), dies at 74
1958 – Manuel Infante, Spanish composer and conductor, dies at 74
1989 – James Kirkwood, American actor, author and playwright (A Chorus Line, P. S. Your Cat Is Dead!), dies of cancer at 64
1996 – Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder, sportscaster, LV bookmaker (The NFL Today; fired for racist remarks), dies of a heart attack at 77
2001 – David Hollestelle, Dutch baritone singer (Dutch Radio Chorus), dies at 84
2013 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian writer and mental calculator known as the “Human Computer”, stops calculating at 83 due to complications from severe respiratory problems
Famous Deaths for 20th April 2024
1662 – Gerard Terborch, the elder, Dutch painter, dies
1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York), dies at 56
1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German inventor, co-developed wireless telegraphy (Nobel 1909), dies at 67
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1977 – Wilmer Allison, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1935), dies at 72
1979 – Peter Donald, British-born American actor and radio host dubbed “one of radio’s great dialecticians” (Masquerade Party), dies at 60
1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet (Conquistador) and playwright (J.B.), dies at 89
1992 – Marjorie Gestring, American springboard diver (Olympic gold 1936), dies at 69
2008 – VL Mike [Michael Allen], American rapper, shot to death by unknown assailant at 32
2013 – Howard Phillips, American politician, dies from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease at 72
Historical Events for 20th April 2024
1818 – Napoleon Bonaparte bids emotional farewell to his old guard at Palace of Fontainebleau
1896 – John Philip Sousa’s operetta “El Capitan” premieres on Broadway at Broadway Theatre, NYC
1912 – Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleveland Indians 6-5
1936 – 40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown in 2:33:40.8
1982 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army explode bombs in Belfast, Derry, Armagh, Ballymena, Bessbrook and Magherafelt; 2 civilians are killed and 12 injured
1987 – US deports Karl Linnas to USSR, charged with Nazi war crimes
1997 – “Gin Game” opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 144 performances
2004 – In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
2007 – Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2023 – Colombian President Gustavo Petro meets with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington
Today in History for 20th April 2024
Historical Events
1818 – Napoleon Bonaparte bids emotional farewell to his old guard at Palace of Fontainebleau
1914 – US President W Wilson, having dispatched more naval ships to Mexico, asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary; Congress approves
1947 – Frederik IX becomes King of Denmark
1962 – NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m
1963 – -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda
1975 – 29th Tony Awards: “Equus” (play) and “The Wiz” (musical) win
Famous Birthdays
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (Diamonds are Forever, King Kong), born in Carlsbad, New Mexico (d. 1972)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian Spitfire pilot and author (The Last Enemy), born in Sydney, Australia (d. 1943)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, British stage and screen, screen, and radio actor (Carry On; Harry Potter films), born in Tottenham, England (d. 2022)
1936 – Pauli Ellefsen, Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (1981-85), born in Miðvágur, Vágar, Faroe Islands (d. 2012)
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American actress (Ciao Manhattan) and socialite, born in Santa Barbara, California (d. 1971)
1971 – Terry Smith, NFL wide receiver (Indianapolis Colts), born in Clemson, South Carolina
Famous Deaths
1912 – Bram Stoker, Irish theater manager and author (Dracula), dies at 64
1935 – Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon, English fashion designer, dies at 71
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1968 – Mabel Stark, American tiger trainer “crazy Mabel”, found dead after her suicide at 79
1998 – Trevor Huddleston, English Anglican bishop in South Africa and anti-apartheid activist (wrote Naught for Your Comfort), dies at 84
2015 – Bob St. Clair, American NFL football player, 1953-63 (San Francisco 49ers), known as “The Geek”, dies at 84
Famous Deaths for 19th April 2024
1916 – Ephraim Shay, American inventor of Shay type of geared steam locomotive, dies at 76
1923 – Thomas Payne Westendorf, American songwriter (“I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen”), dies at 75
1943 – Alexander Schmorell, German resistance fighter, beheaded
1992 – Deacon Lunchbox [Timothy Tyson Ruttenber], American poet and performance artist, dies in car crash with a drunk driver at 41
1993 – George Mickelson, American politician (Governor of South Dakota 1987-93), dies in a plane crash at 52
1997 – El Duce [Eldon Wayne Hoke], American singer and drummer (The Mentors), dies from a “misadventure” on a train-track at 39
2005 – George Pan Cosmatos, Greek film director (b. 1941)
2010 – Carl Williams, Australian criminal (b. 1970)
2016 – Walter Kohn, Austrian-born American scientist (Nobel Prize Chemistry 1998), dies at 93
2018 – Graciela Agudelo, Mexican pianist and avant garde composer (Celebration of Wine), dies at 72
Historical Events for 19th April 2024
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
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