Today in history

86 views0

Today in history

By Correspondent

YEARDAYEVENT
303Apr 23St. George, dragon-slaying knight, died. He was made the patron saint of England in the 14th century. George, later fired by the Pope as mythical, was tortured and beheaded at Nicomedia. He was a soldier who was reported to have risen to a high rank under Diocletian.
871Apr 23Ethelred I, king of Wessex, brother of Alfred the Great, died.
1014Apr 23The Battle of Contarf ended Danish rule in Ireland but a Dane killed Irish King Brian Boru (87).
1016Apr 23Ethelred II “the Unready”, king of England (979-1016), died.
1348Apr 23King Edward III of England established the Order of the Garter, the first English order of knighthood.
1500Apr 23Pedro Cabal landed at Terra da Vera Cruz and claimed Brazil for Portugal. The native population was later estimated to have been from 1 to 11 million people
1504Apr 23King Maximilian I routed troops to Bavaria.
1521Apr 23The Comuneros were crushed by royalist troops in Spain.
1564Apr 23William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English poet and playwright of the Elizabethan and early Jacobin periods, was born and died on the same date 52 years later. He added more than 1,700 word to the English language. He was the son of an illiterate glove maker who left school at 12: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” — from Act II, Scene 5 of “Twelfth Night.” From “Henry V,” “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.”
1616Apr 23Miguel de Cervantes (b.1547), Spanish poet and novelist, died in Madrid.
1661Apr 23English king Charles II was crowned in London.
1662Apr 23Connecticut was chartered as an English colony.
1705Apr 23Richard Steele’s “Tender Husband,” premiered in London.
1706Apr 23Spanish Gov. Francisco Cuervo y Valdes founded a new villa consisting of 35 families and named it in honor of the viceroy of New Spain, who was also the Duke of Albuquerque, a town in southwestern Spain. The 1st r was later dropped and in 2006 Albuquerque, NM, celebrated its 300th anniversary.
1708Apr 23Friedrich von Hagedorn, German poet (Versuch einiger Poem), was born.
1759Apr 23British seized Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe in the Antilies from France.
1775Apr 23Mozart’s Opera “Il Re Pastore” was produced (Salzburg)
1778Apr 23US Captain John Paul Jones attempted to kidnap the Earl of Selkirk, but he only got Lady Selkirk’s silverware.
1789Apr 23President-elect Washington and his wife moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York. George Washington was inaugurated at Federal Hall and lived at 3 Cherry Street in New York City. In 1790, with construction on the new federal capital underway, the government was moved temporarily to Philadelphia, where Washington served out his two terms. He is the only president who never resided in the White House.
1791Apr 23James Buchanan, was born in Franklin County, Pa. He was the fifteenth U.S. president (1857-1861) and the only president not to marry.
1795Apr 23In Britain the trial to impeach Warren Hastings, governor-general of India (1773-1785), on 21 charges for high crimes and misdemeanors ended after 7 years. Hastings was acquitted on all charges.
1809Apr 23Eugene-Prosper Prevost, composer, was born.
1813Apr 23Stephen Douglas (d.1861), the “Little Giant,” was born. He debated Abraham Lincoln for a seat on the U.S. Senate and later lost to Lincoln for the presidency of the United States. He argued that the Declaration of Independence did not mean to include blacks.
1826Apr 23Missolonghi (in west Greece) fell to Egyptian-Turkish forces. [see Apr 22]
1838Apr 23The British steamship “Great Western” arrived in NYC on its maiden voyage from Bristol, England, just hours after the retrofitted steamship Sirius, which had departed Cork on April 4. The Great Western crossed the Atlantic in a record 15 days and 12 hours.
1850Apr 23William Wordsworth (b.1770), English poet, died.
1851Apr 23Canada issued its first postage stamp, the Three-Penny Beaver, which carried an image of the beaver.
1852Apr 23Edwin Markham, US poet and 1st winner of Amer Acad of Poets Award in 1937, (“Man with a Hoe”), was born.
1856Apr 23Free Stater J.N. Mace in Westport, Kansas shot pro-slavery sheriff Samuel Jones in the back.
1858Apr 23Max K.E. Ludwig Planck, German physicist (Planck Constant, Nobel 1918), was born.
1860Apr 23Democratic convention in Charleston, SC, divided over slavery.
1861Apr 23Battle of San Antonio, TX.
1864Apr 23Battle of Cane River, LA (Red River Expedition, Monett’s Ferry).
1865Apr 23Union cavalry units continued to skirmish with Confederate forces in Henderson, North Carolina and Munsford Station, Alabama.
1881Apr 23Gilbert & Sullivan’s opera “Patience” was produced in London.
1882Apr 23Albert Coates, conductor, composer (Eagle), was born in St. Petersburg.
1891Apr 23Jews were expelled from Moscow.
1895Apr 23Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
1896Apr 23The Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was demonstrated in New York City. Motion pictures premiered in New York City. It was developed by Thomas Armat and C. Francis Jenkins and marketed by Thomas Edison.
1897Apr 23Lucius du Bignon Clay, was born. He was the U.S. military governor of occupied Berlin following WW II, who promoted German self government.
1899Apr 23Edith Ngaio Marsh, Kiwi mystery writer (Black Beech & Honeydew), was born in NZ.
1900Apr 23The 1st published use of word “hillbilly” was in the NY Journal
1902Apr 23Halldór Laxness, Nobel Prize-winning Icelandic novelist (The Fish Can Sing, Paradise Reclaimed), was born.
1904Apr 23The American Academy of Arts and Letters was founded.
1906Apr 23Maria Arnoldo, [Adrianus Broeders], photographer, writer, was born.
1911Apr 23Simone Simon, French actress (All Money Can Buy, Ladies in Love), was born.
1915Apr 23ACA becomes National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of NASA.
1916Apr 23Lord Dunsany’s “Night at an Inn,” premiered in NYC.
1920Apr 23The Turkish Grand National Assembly held its first meeting in Ankara.
1923Apr 23Lady Elizabeth (Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1900-2002) married Prince Albert, Duke of York (d.1952) in Westminster Abbey. Albert was crowned King of England in 1937.
1924Apr 23Eugen Goldbeck shot his photo: “National Balloon Race.”
1925Apr 23The 1st London performance of operetta “Fasquita” was staged.
1926Apr 23J.P. Donlevey, American-born Irish writer (The Ginger Man), was born.
1928Apr 23Shirley Temple Black, child actress, was born in Santa Monica, Ca. She sang “On the Good Ship Lollipop” in the 1934 film “Bright Eyes,” and later became an American ambassador (Ghana 1974; Czechoslovakia 1989).
1932Apr 23Jim Fixx, runner and writer, was born, He popularized running as a form of exercise in the 1970s.
1936Apr 23Roy Orbison, rocker (Pretty Woman), was born in Vernon, Tx.
1938Apr 23Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia demanded self government.
1940Apr 23Some 200 people died in a fire at the Rhythm Night Club in Natchez, Miss.
1941Apr 23Greece Army surrendered to Nazis; RAF flew Greek king George II to Egypt
1942Apr 23A 4-day allied bombing of Rostock began.
1943Apr 23Herve Villechaize, actor, (Fantasy Island), was born in France.
1945Apr 23US troops in Italy crossed the river Po.
1949Apr 23The Chinese Red army entered and occupied Nanjing. Reporter Chang Kuo-sin (d.2006) was the 1st to flash the news that the Nationalist government had collapsed.
1950Apr 23Chaing Kai-shek evacuates Hainan, leaving mainland China to Mao Zedong and the communists.
1951Apr 23In Czechoslovakia American reporter William N. Oatis (1914-1997) was arrested in Prague. Secret police put him in isolation and deprived him of sleep and food. Historians agree that this psychological torture coerced his confession.
1952Apr 23Hoyt Wilhelm hit a home run in his 1st major league at bat, then went on to pitch more than 1,000 games in the next 21 baseball seasons. He never hit another homer.
1954Apr 23The Army-McCarthy hearings began. [see Apr 22]
1955Apr 23“Kismet” closed at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 583 performances.
1956Apr 23US Supreme court ended race segregation on buses.
1958Apr 23The film noir thriller “Touch of Evil,” starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Orson Welles, who also directed, was released.
1964Apr 23Houston Colt 45s Ken Johnson became the 1st major league pitcher to lose a 9 inning no-hitter, Reds win 1-0.
1966Apr 23President Lyndon Johnson publicly appeals for “more flags” (foreign countries) to come to the aid of South Vietnam.
1967Apr 23Soyuz 1 was launched, and Vladimir Komarov became the first in-flight casualty.
1968Apr 23The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church.
1969Apr 23Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
1971Apr 23In the final event of Operation Dewey Canyon III, nearly 1,000 Vietnam War veterans threw their combat ribbons, helmets, and uniforms on the Capitol step.
1972Apr 23In the 26th Tony Awards, held in NYC, “Sticks & Bones” won as best play and “Two Gentlemen of Verona” won as best musical.
1975Apr 23Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” premiered in London.
1977Apr 23Dr. Allen Bussey completed 20,302 yo-yo loops in Waco, Texas.
1979Apr 23In Britain Blair Peach (b.1946), a New Zealand-born teacher, died. A day earlier he was taking part in a protest against the far-right National Front in west London when he was hit on the head with what is thought to have been a lead-filled cosh or a police radio. Details of a long-secret report were made public in 2010 but the name of an officer under “grave suspicion” over the killing were blacked out.
1981Apr 23Josep Pla (b.1897), Catalan Spanish journalist and popular author, died in his native Empordà, leaving thirty-eight volumes of Complete Works published. “It is more difficult to write than to think, much more difficult: so everyone thinks”.
1982Apr 23The Unabomber mailed a pipe bomb from Provo, Utah, to Penn state Univ. It was forwarded to Vanderbilt Univ. scientist Patrick C. Fisher. It was later attributed to the Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.
1983Apr 23Buster Crabbe (b.1908), 400m US swimmer (Olympics-gold-1932), died.
1984Apr 23US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler said the AIDS-virus was identified as the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. [see Apr 21]
1985Apr 23The Coca-Cola Co. announced it was changing the secret formula for Coke. Negative public reaction soon forced the company to resume selling the original version
1986Apr 23Harold Arlen (81), [Hyman Arluck], American songwriter, died in NYC. His many song included “Over the Rainbow.” Edward Jablonski (d.2004) authored a biography of Arlen in 1961: “Harold Arlen: Happy With the Blues.”
1987Apr 23In Connecticut 28 construction workers were killed when an apartment complex being built in Bridgeport collapsed.
1988Apr 23A federal ban on smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or less went into effect.
1989Apr 23Troy Aikman of UCLA became the first player chosen in the NFL draft in New York City as he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys.
1990Apr 23Freed American hostage Robert Polhill, released in Lebanon the day before, enjoyed his first full day of freedom in nearly 39 months at the U.S. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, West Germany.
1991Apr 23President Bush welcomed General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, the just-returned Gulf War commander, at the White House.
1992Apr 23Satyajit Ray (70), Indian director (Distant Thunder, Agantuk), died.
1993Apr 23President Clinton said he was giving “serious consideration” to limited U.S. air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions.
1994Apr 23Mourners left red roses, burning candles and cards at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, Calif., in memory of the 37th president of the United States, who had died the day before at age 81.
1995Apr 23Pres. Clinton declared a national day of mourning for the victims of the Oklahoma City blast.
1996Apr 23A Bronx civil-court jury ordered Bernhard Goetz to pay $43 million to paralyzed Darrell Cabey, one of four young men he shot on a subway car in 1984.
1997Apr 23Golfer Fuzzy Zoeller, again apologizing for racial comments about Masters winner Tiger Woods, withdrew from the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.
1998Apr 23Two New Jersey troopers fired 11 shots into a van carrying African American and Latino men from the Bronx. They admitted to racial profiling and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in 2002.
1999Apr 23The Whitney Museum In NYC opened its mammoth “The American Century” show.
2000Apr 23Elian Gonzalez spent a secluded Easter with his father at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, a day after the six-year-old boy was removed from his Miami relatives’ home in a pre-dawn raid by immigration agents.
2001Apr 23Pres. Bush decided to sell Taiwan older ships and planes, but not the advanced Aegis radar system.
2002Apr 23President Bush’s top White House aide, Karen Hughes, resigned to go home to Texas with her family.
2003Apr 23American Airlines reported a $1-billion first-quarter loss.
2004Apr 23President Bush eased Reagan-era sanctions against Libya in return for Moammar Gadhafi’s giving up weapons of mass destruction.
2005Apr 23Two Bangladeshi farmers were shot dead by Indian border forces in the latest in a spate of frontier clashes.
2006Apr 23Some 10,000 people marched in SF to denounce a bill in the US House of Representatives that would make illegal immigration a felony. Latinos organized a day of protests in over 100 cities. As many as 500,000 marched in Los Angeles
2007Apr 22Congressional Democratic leaders agreed on legislation requiring the first US combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq by Oct. 1, 2007, with a goal of a complete pullout six months later; President Bush pledged to veto such a measure.
2008Apr 23Actress Megan Fox was named the world’s sexiest woman by an annual online poll, while the world’s most Googled woman, Britney Spears, barely scraped in at No. 100 after a shocker of a year.
2009Apr 23The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 7 people have been diagnosed with a new kind of swine flu in California and Texas.
2010Apr 23Bolivia’s President Evo Morales said he is creating a “Mother Earth Ministry” to promote the planet’s rights and says that he would like to establish an international court with the power to punish nations that fail to obey emissions-reduction agreements. Morales revealed the plans as he launched a campaign to plant 10 million trees, equal to Bolivia’s population, by April 22, 2011.
2011Apr 23In Texas sheriff’s deputy Clifton Taylor (34) was fatally shot after responding to a domestic disturbance call. Gunman Wesley Davis was killed in a subsequent shootout.
2012Apr 23Common Cause, a US open government advocate, said it has filed an IRS complaint accusing the American Legislative Exchange Council of masquerading as a public charity. ALEC was formed as a non-profit to develop legislation and policy.
2013Apr 23Paul Kevin Curtis, the Mississippi man charged with sending poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, a US senator and a state judge, was released from jail. The reason for the release wasn’t immediately clear. Focus shifted to Everett Dutschke, a longtime foe of Curtis in Tupelo.
2014Apr 23President Barack Obama opened a four-country Asia tour in Japan aimed at reassuring allies in the region that the US remains a committed economic, military and political partner that can serve as a counterweight to China’s growing influence.
http://www.timelinesdb.com  

Discover more from NewsBreakers

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

What's your reaction?

Excited
0
Happy
0
In Love
0
Not Sure
0
Silly
0
Previous
Next

Comments are closed.