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
1928 – 32nd Boston Marathon won by Clarence DeMar in 2:37:07.8; back-to-back wins for his 6th race title
1940 – Heitor Villa-Lobos’ opera “Izaht” premieres in Rio de Janeiro
1948 – Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris
1959 – “Party with Comden and Green” opens at John Golden NYC for 44 performances
1972 – Apollo 16 launched; 5th manned lunar landing (Decartes Highlands)
1975 – Cambodian Red Khmer occupy Phnom Penh
1980 – Arthur Ashe retires from professional tennis
1990 – Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $260 per week
1990 – Supreme Court rejects appeal from retarded man, Dalton Prejean, condemned to death for murdering a Louisiana state trooper in 1977
Author: gil7
Today in History for 16th April 2020
Historical Events
1870 – Vaudeville Theatre Strand opens in London
1935 – Babe Ruth’s 1st NL game, for Boston Braves, included a HR
1953 – British royal yacht Britannia launched by Queen Elizabeth II
1970 – Protestant Unionist Ian Paisley wins seat formerly held by Terence O’Neill in the Stormont (North Ireland Parliament)
1985 – “Grind” opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 79 performances
2018 – Kendrick Lamar is the first rapper and non classical or jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for music with his album “Damn”
Famous Birthdays
1909 – Herman Uyttersprot, Flemish literature historian, born in Denderbelle (d. 1967)
1951 – Mordechai Ben David, American Jewish singer, born in Brooklyn, New York
1953 – Jay O. Sanders, American actor (Meeting Venus, V I Warshawski), born in Austin, Texas
1968 – Grace Kim, South Korean-American tennis star, born in South Korea
1971 – Natasha Zvereva, Belarusian tennis ace (18 Grand Slam double titles), born in Minsk, Belarus
1982 – Boris Diaw, French basketball player, born in Cormeilles-en-Parisis, France
Famous Deaths
1113 – Sviatopolk II of Kiev, Russian prince (b. 1050)
1860 – Carolina, duchess of Berry/daughter of crown prince of Naples, dies
1947 – Rudolf Höss, German commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, dies at 45
1989 – Tawfieq Yusuf Awwaad, Lebanese writer, dies
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946)
2011 – Gerry Alexander, West Indian cricket wicket-keeper (25 Tests, top score 108, 90 dismissals), dies at 82
Famous Deaths for 15th April 2020
1632 – George Calvert, English politician and coloniser, dies at 52
1919 – Jane Delano, American nurse and educator (Red Cross Nursing Service during WWI), dies at 57
1962 – Esther Minciotti, Italian actress, dies at 73
1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor (Vertigo, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Incredible Shrinking Man), dies at 75
1984 – Machito, Latin jazz musician and creator of Cubop and salsa music (Afro-Cubans), dies following a stroke at 76
1993 – John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (contributions to plate tectonics), dies at 84
1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (1976-79) and revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge (1963-97), dies at 72
1999 – Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and racing car designer, dies at 55
2005 – Margaretta Scott, British actress (Crescendo, Where’s Charley, Counterblast), dies from pneumonia and breast cancer at 93
2008 – Krister Stendahl, Swedish Lutheran theologian and bishop, dies at 86
Historical Events for 15th April 2020
1534 – Thomas Cromwell is appointed Chief Secretary to King Henry VIII of England
1850 – City of San Francisco incorporated
1900 – Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) in Paris opens (till 12th Nov)
1925 – NHL’s NY Americans (formerly Hamilton Tigers) 1st game, lose 3-1
1937 – Stanley Cup Final, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, MI: Detroit Red Wings beat New York Rangers, 3-0 for a 3-2 series win; back-to-back titles for Red Wings
1945 – Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Communium interpretes dolorum
1948 – 1st Jewish-Arab military battle, arabs defeated
1951 – Michael Gorsira is 1st person in charge of Curacao
1957 – KTVI TV channel 2 in Saint Louis, MO (ABC) begins broadcasting
1992 – William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley inducted into National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame
Today in History for 15th April 2020
Historical Events
1861 – Federal army (75,000 volunteers) mobilized by US President Abraham Lincoln (US Civil War)
1901 – Pope Leo XIII issues an allocution deploring hostile actions against the Roman Catholic Church throughout Europe
1955 – Ray Kroc opens first McDonald’s Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois
1974 – 78th Boston Marathon: Neil Cusack of Ireland takes men’s race in 2:13:39; American Miki Gorman women’s winner in 2:47:11
2013 – Boston Marathon bombings: 3 people are killed and 183 injured after two explosions near the finish line
2015 – Laureus World Sports Awards, Shanghai Grand Theatre, Shanghai, China: Sportsman: Novak Đoković; Sportswoman: Genzebe Dibaba; Team: German Men’s National Football team
Famous Birthdays
1588 – Claudius Salmasius [Claude Saumaise], French linguist, born in Semur-en-Auxois, France (d. 1653)
1829 – Mary Harris Thompson, 1st American woman surgeon, born in Fort Ann, New York (d. 1895)
1873 – Juliette Atkinson, American tennis player (US Nat C’ship 1895, 97-98), born in Rahway, New Jersey (d. 1944)
1888 – Florence Bates, American actress (Moon and Sixpence, Love Crazy, San Antonio), born in San Antonio, Texas (d. 1954)
1940 – Robert Walker Jr, American actor (Ceremony, Ms Don Juan, Ensign Pulver), born in NYC, New York
1962 – Surjit Bindrakhia, Punjabi Bhangra singer, born in Bindrakh, Punjab
Famous Deaths
1761 – William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer, dies at b64
1866 – William Jackson of Masham, English composer and organist, dies at 51
1870 – Emma Willard, American women’s rights activist and educator who founded the 1st school for women’s higher education in the US, dies at 83
2002 – Damon Francis Knight, American sci-fi author (CV, Beyond the Barrier), dies at 79
2008 – Benoît Lamy, Belgian film director, dies at 62
2015 – Jonathan Crombie, Canadian actor (Anne of Green Gables), dies of a brain hemorrhage at 48
Famous Deaths for 14th April 2020
1964 – Earle Hodgins, actor (Guestward Ho!), dies at 64
1964 – Herb McGirr, New Zealand cricketer (2 Tests for NZ, 51 runs), dies at 72
1976 – José Revueltas, Mexican writer (b. 1914)
1986 – Horst Bastian, German writer and screenwriter, dies at 46
1988 – John Stonehouse, British politician (b. 1925)
1998 – Maurice Stans, American politician, Secretary of Commerce and Watergate figure, dies at 90
2000 – Phil Katz, American computer programmer (Zip file format), dies from the effects of alcoholism at 37
2005 – Benny Bailey, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 79
2008 – Miguel Galvan, Mexican actor/comedian. (b. 1957)
2011 – William Lipscomb, American chemist working in nuclear magnetic resonance, theoretical chemistry, boron chemistry, and biochemistry (Nobel 1976), dies at 91
Historical Events for 14th April 2020
1544 – Battle at Carignano: French troops under Earl d’Enghien beat Swiss
1903 – Dr Harry Plotz discovers vaccine against typhoid (NYC)
1940 – RCA demonstrated its new electron microscope in Philadelphia
1945 – US forces conquered Motobu peninsula on Okinawa
1946 – Manager Mel Ott of Giants hits 511th and final HR
1968 – 1st NBA game at Madison Sq Garden, Knicks beat SD Clippers
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
1984 – Farewell concert of “Doe Maar” in Den Bosch Neth
1996 – “Apple Doesn’t Fall” opens at Lyceum Theater NYC for 1 performance
2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to gay couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
Today in History for 14th April 2020
Historical Events
1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Louis Kossuth as its leader
1914 – Stacy G Carkhuff patents non-skid tire pattern
1944 – Greek Colonel Venizelos forms government
1959 – (Robert) Taft Memorial Bell Tower dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1967 – Red Sox rookie Billy Rohome comes within 1 strike of a no hitter at
1972 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army explodes twenty-four bombs in towns and cities across Northern Ireland
Famous Birthdays
1832 – James Hewett Ledlie, American civil engineer and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Utica, New York (d. 1882)
1945 – Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, 8th Prime Minister of Samoa
1946 – Patrick Fairley, Scottish guitarist (Marmalade – “Ob La Di, Ob La Da”)
1965 – Tom Dey, American film director
1967 – Alain Côté, French Canadian ice hockey player
1969 – Vebjørn Selbekk, Norwegian journalist (Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy), born in Trondheim, Norway
Famous Deaths
1279 – Boleslaus of Greater Poland
1655 – Johann Erasmus Kindermann, German composer, dies at 39
1764 – Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow, Danish astronomer, dies at 84
1949 – Joseph A Cushman, US paleontologist, dies at 68
1990 – Peter Dunn, actor (Invaders from Mars) dies
1993 – Sam Ntombani, ANC-secretary in Soweto South-Africa, shot to death
Famous Deaths for 13th April 2020
1641 – Richard Montagu, English clergyman, dies at 64
1826 – Franz Danzi, German composer and cellist, dies at 62
1853 – Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (Gmelin’s test), dies at 64
1855 – Henry De la Beche, English geologist, dies at 59
1910 – William Orchardson, British painter, dies at 78
1959 – Eduard van Beinum, Dutch musician and conductor, dies at 58
1984 – Richard Hurndall, British actor (Doctor Who, The Inheritors, It’s Murder But Is It Art), dies from a heart attack at 73
1990 – Luis Trenker, South Tyrolean film producer, director and actor (Berge in Flammen), dies at 97
1993 – Barry Karas, American actor, dies of leukemia at 49
1994 – Taleb Ali al-Suheil, Iran sheik, murdered in Lebanon at 64
Historical Events for 13th April 2020
1842 – Lord Rosse successfully casts 72″ (183-cm) mirror for a telescope
1896 – John Philip Sousa’s “El Capitan” premieres at the Tremont Theatre in Boston
1919 – British troops open fire on demonstrators in Amritsar, India, killing 350
1945 – Red Army occupies Vienna
1957 – Saturday postal delivery in US is temporarily halted due to lack of funds
1972 – 1st baseball players’ strike ends after 13 days
1975 – Christian Falange kills 27 Palestinians, begins Lebanese civil war
1991 – BPAA US Open by Pete Weber
2002 – Pedro Carmona, interim president of Venezuela, resigns one day after taking office
2019 – BTS is the first K-pop band to perform on US TV show “Saturday Night Live”