This Day in History for 5th April

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 185

456 - St. Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.
823 - Pope Peschalis I crowns Lotharius I, co-emperor of France
1058 - Bishop John "Minchio" [domkop] elected as Pope Benedictus X
1242 - Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeats Teutonic Knights in the Battle of the Ice
1566 - 200 Brussel nobles offer Margaretha of Parma a petition
1585 - Clemens Crabbeels becomes bishop of Hertogenbosch
1603 - New English King James I (James VI of Scotland) departs Edinburgh for London
1609 - Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.
1614 - 2nd parliament of King James I begin session (no enactments)
1621 - Mayflower sails from Plymouth on a return trip to England
1648 - Spanish troops/feudal barons strike down people's uprising in Naples
1722 - Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island
1739 - French emperor Karel VI sign secret treaty
1751 - Adolf Frederik of Holstein-Gottorp crowns himself king of Sweden
King of Great Britain James I and VI1762 - British take Grenada, West Indies, from French
1768 - 1st US Chamber of Commerce forms (NYC)
1792 - George Washington casts 1st presidential veto
1803 - 1st performance of Beethoven's 2nd Symphony in D
1804 - High Possil Meteorite: The first recorded meteorite in Scotland falls in Possil.
1806 - Isaac Quintard patents apple cider
1812 - Brits storm Badajoz fortress, held by French & Spanish
1814 - Netherlands Bank issues its 1st banknotes
1815 - Eruption of Tambora volcano (Sumbawa Java)
1818 - In the Battle of Maipú, Chile's independence movement - led by Bernardo O'Higgins and José de San Martín - win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
1861 - Federals abandon Ft Quitman, Texas
Revolutionary Leader José de San Martín1862 - Siege of Yorktown VA
1865 - Battle at Amelia Springs/Jetersville Va (Appomattox Campaign)
1874 - Johann Strauss Jr's opera "Die Fledermaus" premieres in Vienna
1874 - Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, is opened in Birkenhead, England. Designed by Joseph Paxton
1879 - Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
1881 - Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty
1887 - Anne Sullivan teaches "water" to Helen Keller
1889 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of Copper Beeches" (BG)
1893 - Cleveland passes Park Act (forerunner of Metroparks)
1894 - 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville, Penn
1894 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of Empty House" (BG)
1895 - Start of Sherlock Holmes' "Adventure of 3 Students" (BG)
1895 - Oscar Wilde loses libel case against Marquess of Queensberry, who accused him of homosexual practices
Writer/Poet Oscar Wilde1897 - The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
1900 - Attempted assassination of Edward, Prince of Wales in Brussels, fails
1901 - Under threats from the Ottoman Turkish Government, Bulgaria is forced to arrest the leaders of the Macedonian Committee
1902 - Maurice Ravel's "Pavane pour une infante defunte" premieres in Paris
1902 - In Glasgow, Scotland the Ibrox disaster occurs after a section of a grandstand collapses killing 25 and injuring 517
1904 - The first international rugby league match is played between England and an Other Nationalities team (Welsh & Scottish players) in Central Park, Wigan, England.
1905 - James Barrie's "Alice-sit-by-the-fire" premieres in London
1906 - St Pius X encyclical "On the Mariavites or Mystic Priests of Poland"
1908 - British premier Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns
1911 - MCC tour match v Jamaica finishes in a tie
1911 - Waldorf W Aster acquires Daily Observer
1915 - French begin Woëvre-offensive
1915 - Jess Willard KOs Jack Johnson in 26 for heavyweight boxing title
1916 - French troops occupy Bois de Caillette
1919 - Eamon de Valera becomes president of Dail Eireann
1919 - Polish Army executes 35 young Jews
1922 - KOB-AM in Albuquerque NM begins radio transmissions
1922 - WDZ-AM in Decatur IL begins radio transmissions
Tire Industrialist Harvey Firestone1923 - Firestone Co put their inflatable tires into production
1925 - Belgian Workers Party wins parliamentary election
1925 - Yankees whip Dodgers in exhibition 16-9 but Babe Ruth collapses in NC due to an ulcer
1927 - Johnny Weissmuller set records in 100 & 200 m free style
1929 - Lithuania signs Litvinov-pact
1930 - England out for 849 v WI Kingston, Sandham out for 325
1932 - Dutch textile strike broken by trade unions
1932 - Dominion of Newfoundland: 10,000 rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
1935 - Croatian Farmers Party wins Yugoslavian election
1936 - Tupelo Mississippi virtually annihilated by a tornado, 216 die
1938 - Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa Poland
1939 - Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory
Baseball Legend Babe Ruth1941 - In SF, Castro & Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses
1943 - Allies bomb Mortsel
1943 - Japanese troops conquer Indin
1943 - Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days
1944 - 140 Lancasters bomb airplane manufacturer in Toulouse
1944 - World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town of Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.
1945 - Almelo Netherlands freed
1945 - Kuniaki Koiso resigns as PM of Japan; replaced by Kantaro Suzuki
1946 - 1st performance of Charles Ives' 3rd Symphony
1948 - WGN TV channel 9 in Chicago, IL (IND) begins broadcasting
1949 - 60 year old St Anthony's Hospital burns, kills 77 (Effingham Ill)
1949 - Fireside Theater debuts on television.
1950 - Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins
1951 - Julius & Ethel Rosenberg, atomic spies, sentenced to death
1952 - Henry Wittenberg wins his 8th AAU wrestling title
1953 - Babe Didrikson-Zaharias wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open
1953 - WEYI TV channel 25 in Saginaw, MI (CBS) begins broadcasting
Singer & Cultural Icon Elvis Presley1954 - Elvis Presley records his debut single "That's All Right"
1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as British PM, Anthony Eden succeeds him
1956 - In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna win the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike is sworn in as the Prime Minister.
1958 - Ripple Rock, an underwater threat to navigation in the Seymour Narrows in Canada is destroyed in one of the largest non-nuclear controlled explosions of the time.
1959 - 23rd Golf Masters Championship: Art Wall Jr wins, shooting a 284
1961 - Barbra Streisand appears on "Jack Paar Show"
1961 - Dutch governor Platteel installs New Guinea Council
1962 - Herb Gardner's "Thousand Clowns" premieres in NYC
1962 - Mgr J Daems appointed bishop of Antwerp
1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 54,600 m
1962 - St Bernard Tunnel finished-Swiss/Italians workers shake hands
Astronaut & 1st Man on the Moon Neil Armstrong1963 - Beatles receive their 1st silver disc (Please Please Me)
1963 - Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa
1964 - 1st driverless trains run on London Underground
1964 - Mary Lena Faulk wins LPGA St Petersburg Women's Golf Open

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 238

1288 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
1472 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)
1523 - Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer (d. 1596)
1588 - Thomas Hobbes, Westport England, philosopher (Leviathan)
1595 - John Wilson, composer
1598 - Laurentius Erhard, composer
1604 - Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675)
1622 - Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician (d. 1703)
1626 - Jan van Kessel, Flemish painter
1643 - Charles V Leopold, Duke of Lorraine/fieldmarshal in Austria
Philosopher Thomas Hobbes(1588)1649 - Elihu Yale, England, philanthropist founded Yale
1692 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)
1698 - Georg Gottfried Wagner, composer
1727 - Pasquale Ankossi, composer
1732 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French artist (d. 1806)
1752 - Sébastien Érard, French musical instruments maker (d. 1831)
1784 - Louis [Ludwig] Spohr, Germany, violin virtuoso/composer (Faust)
1788 - Franz Pforr, German painter/cartoonist (Lukasbund)
1795 - Henry Havelock, British soldier (War in Afghanistan 1838-39)
1799 - Vincenzo Fioravanti, composer
1816 - Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1890)
1818 - Lewis Baldwin Parsons, Bvt Major General (Union volunteers)
1820 - Nadar, [Félix Tournachon], French painter/cartoonist/author/ballonist
1822 - James Nagle, Brigadier General (Union volunteers), (d. 1866)
1824 - Sydney Thompson Dobell, poet (Roman)
1825 - David Rumph "Neighbor" Jones, Major General (Confederate Army)
1827 - Joseph Lister, England, physician (founded aseptic surgery)
1828 - Pietro Plantania, composer
1830 - Alexander Muir, Lesmahagow Scotland, poet (Maple Leaf Forever)
1832 - Jules-Francois Camille Ferry, French statesman
1837 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, England, poet (Atalanta in Calydon)
1838 - Alpheus Hyatt, US, invertebrate paleontologist
1839 - Robert Smalls, Beaufort SC, African American congressman 1875-87 (Rep-SC)
1839 - Stanislaw Pilinski, composer
1845 - Jules M Cambon, French gov-gen of Algeria/ambassador
1853 - Alfonso Randano, composer
1854 - Vicente Goicoechea Errasti, composer
Education Pioneer Booker T. Washington (1856)1856 - Booker Taliaferro Washington, pioneer educator (1st African American on US stamp)
1857 - Alexander-Jozef von Battenberg, ruler of Bulgaria (1879-86)
1859 - Wilhelm Harteveld, composer
1862 - Louis Ganne, composer
1868 - J F "Flooi" Du Toit, cricketer (one Test South Africa 1892)
1869 - Albert Roussel, Tourcoing France, composer (Rapsodie Flamende)
1869 - Sergei Chaplygin, Russian physicist and engineer (d. 1942)
1871 - Jeanne Bougeois, [La Mistinguette], artist (French revue)
1871 - Mirko Seljan, Croatian explorer (d. 1913?)
1872 - Samuel Cate Prescott, American food scientist and microbiologist (d. 1962)
1875 - Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (d. 1956)
1876 - Viktor Patrick Vretblad, composer
1882 - Don Blackie, cricketer (Australian off-spinner 1928-29) (d. 1955)
1885 - Dimitrie Cuclin, composer
1886 - Jacques Handschin, Swiss musicologist (Der Toncharakter)
1890 - Fie Carelsen, Dutch actress (Malle Gervallen)
1893 - Clas Thunberg, Finland, speed skater (Olympic-gold-1924, 28)
1899 - William Hornby Steer, barrister/judge
1900 - Spencer Tracy, Milwaukee, actor (Father's Little Dividend, Adam's Rib)
1901 - Alexander Alexeieff, Russian/French painter/graphic artist
1901 - Chester Bowles, Mass, ambassador/writer (Conscience of a Liberal)
1901 - Melvyn Douglas, [Hesselberg], Macon Ga, actor (Hud, Ghost Story)
1903 - Thomas Baron Pitfield, composer
1905 - Bill Raisch, one armed actor (Fred Johnson-Fugitive)
1905 - Jef Maes, composer
1906 - Arthur Guy Clutton-Brock, English agronomist
1906 - Lord Buckley, American monologist (d. 1960)
1907 - J Zeldenrust, Dutch pathologist/anatomist
Actress Bette Davis (1908)1908 - (Ruth Elizabeth) Bette Davis, Lowell Mass, US actress (Of Human Bondage, Jezebel)
1908 - George Schick, Prague Czech, conductor (Chicago Symphony)
1908 - Grady Sutton, Chattanooga Tn, actor (Pruitts of South Hampton)
1908 - Herbert von Karajan, Austria, Nazi/conductor (Berlin Philharmonic)
1908 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d. 1986)
1909 - Alberto Romero "Cubby" Broccoli, film producer (James Bond), born in NYC, New York
1909 - Cubby Alberto Romolo Broccoli, movie producer
1909 - Gerald Bond, cricketer (one Test South Africa v England 1938, 0 & 0-16)
1911 - Goddard Lieberson, Hanley Staffordshire England, recording exec
1911 - Gordon Jones, Alden Iowa, actor (Mike the Cop-Abbott & Costello)
1912 - John Le Mesurier, Bedford England, actor (Jabberwocky, Dad's Army)
1913 - Alan Cheales, dominican priest
1914 - Frederick Angus Armstrong, journalist
1916 - Baroness Delacourt-Smith of Alteryn [Margaret Rosalind Delacourt-Smith], British Labour politician
1916 - Bernard Baily, comic artist
Actor Gregory Peck (1916)1916 - Gregory Peck, La Jolla California, actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, MacArthur)
1917 - Richard Yardumian, composer (Come Creator Spirit), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
1917 - Robert [Albert] Bloch, US, sci-fi author (Hugo, Psycho)
1919 - Douglas Henley, British auditor-general
1920 - Arthur Hailey, Luton England, novelist (Hotel, Airport)
1920 - Barend Biesheuvel, Dutch premier (1971-73)
1920 - Rafique Zakaria, Indian author (d. 2005)
1921 - Lady Fisher, founder (British Women Caring Trust)
1921 - Les Jackson, cricket bowler (England twice, 1949 & 1961)
1921 - Robert Q Lewis, TV host (Masquerade Party, Robert Q Lewis Show), born in NYC, New York
1922 - Gale Storm, Bloomington Tx, actress (My Little Margie, Gale Storm Show)
1922 - Harry Freedman, composer
1922 - Tom Finney, Preston, Lancashire, English football player (Preston North End)
1923 - Ernest Mandel, Belgian philosopher/economist
1923 - Michael V Gazzo, Hillside NJ, actor (Cookie, Fear City)
Vietnamese Politican Nguyen Van Thieu (1923)1923 - Nguyen Van Thieu, South Vietnam President (1965-75)
1923 - Stanley Orme, Chairman (British Labour Party)
1924 - Mart Kempers, Dutch graphic artist/sculptor
1925 - Oldrich Flosman, composer
1926 - Milton O Thompson, astronaut (Dynasoar, X-15)

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Famous Weddings

Weddings 1 - 4 of 4

1614 - American Indian princess Pocahontas, daughter of chief Powhatan marries English colonist John Rolfe
Musician Ray Charles(1955)1955 - Musician Ray Charles (24) weds Della Beatrice Howard
1992 - Comedian Sam Kenison marries live-in girlfriend Maleeka
1999 - Talk show host Wayne Brady (26) weds dancer Mandie Taketa

Famous Deaths

Deaths 1 - 100 of 122

582 - Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople (c. 512)
828 - Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinopel (806-15), dies at about 77
1168 - Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)
1258 - Julian of Cornillon/Liege, Flemish visionary/saint, dies
1270 - Ramban Nachmanides, Talmudic scholar (Hiddushei Ha-Ramden), dies
1419 - Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)
1531 - Richard Roose, boiled to death for trying to poison an archbishop
1605 - Adam Loftus, English Protestant archbishop in Ireland (c.1513)
1617 - Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer (b. 1555)
1673 - Francois Caron, admiral/governor (Formosa), drowns at about 72
1676 - John Winthrop, the Younger, American politician (b. 1606)
1684 - William Brouncker, 2nd viscount/1st pres of Royal Society, dies
1693 - Anne M L of Orleans, duchess (Grande Mademoiselle), dies at 65
1695 - George Savile, 1st marquis of Halifax, dies at 61
1697 - Charles XI, King of Sweden (1660-97), dies at 41
1712 - John Luyken, poet/etcher (species company), dies at 63
1717 - Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)
1723 - J Fischer von Erlach, Austrian architect (Hofburg, Vienna), dies at 66
1732 - Johann Christian Schieferdecker, composer, dies at 52
1735 - William Derham, English minister and writer (b. 1657)
1735 - Samuel Wesley, English poet (b. 1662)
1765 - Edward Young, English poet (Love of Fame), dies at 81
1794 - Georges-Jacques Danton, French revolutionary leader, guillotined at 34
1811 - Robert Raikes, founder of Sunday Schools, dies
1820 - Henrik C Cras, lawyer (Laudatio Hugonis Grotii), dies at 81
1871 - Georg Andreas Henkel, composer, dies at 66
1878 - Wilhelm Speyer, composer, dies at 87
1884 - John Wisden, publisher/cricketer (prominent Sussex player), dies
1896 - John Rogers Thomas, composer, dies at 66
1900 - Comte de Villebois-Marevil, French/South African general, dies in battle
1907 - Anton G van Hamel, founder (Roman philosphy in Neth), dies at 65
1908 - Gaetano Coronaro, composer, dies at 55
1918 - Paul Vidal de la Blanche, French geographer, dies at 73
1921 - Alphonsus J M Diepenbrock, Dutch composer (Missa), dies at 58
1922 - Charles F A Woeste, Belgian count/min of Justice, dies at 85
1923 - George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier (b. 1866)
1928 - Jane Ellen Harrison, scholar/archaeologist, dies
1928 - Roy Kilner, cricketer (9 Tests for England 1924-26), dies at 38
1934 - Salvatore Di Giacomo, composer, dies at 74
1935 - Emil Mlynarski, composer, dies at 64
1939 - William Cooper, cricketer (two Tests for Australia 1882-84), dies
1941 - Sir Nigel Gresley, Steam locomotive engineer (b. 1876)
1943 - Aleš Hrdlička, Czech anthropologist (b. 1869)
1944 - Isolde Kurz, German writer/poetess (Meine Mutter), dies at 90
1944 - Willy Derby, [Dieben], singer (Hello Bandoeng), dies
1945 - Huldreich Georg Fruh, composer, dies at 41
1946 - Vincent Millie Youmans, US composer (Tea For Two), dies at 47
1951 - Edward Rigby, dies at 72
1952 - Henri Vandeputte, Belgian writer (L'Autre Vie), dies at 75
1952 - Charles Collett, GWR chief mechanical engineer (b. 1871)
1954 - Claude Delvincourt, composer, dies at 66
1958 - Jozef Brems, Flemish apostole vicar of Denmark, dies at 87
1960 - Alma Kruger, actor (Made For Each Other), dies at 88
1963 - Jacobus JP Old, architect/co-founder (The Style), dies at 73
1963 - Julius Harrison, composer, dies at 78
WW2 General Douglas MacArthur (1964)1964 - Douglas MacArthur, US general (Pacific theater-WW II), dies at 84
1966 - Sven Fleuron, writer, dies at 91
1967 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1890)
1968 - Lois Andrews, dies of lung cancer at 44
1969 - Gabriel M-E-R Chevallier, French author (La Peur), dies at 73
1969 - Romulo Gallegos, Venezuela author/president (1947-48), dies at 84
1969 - Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (b. 1903)
1969 - Shelby Storck, American television producer (b. 1917)
1970 - Jacob H "Jaap" Stotijn, oboist/conductor, dies at 78
1970 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)
1972 - Brian Donlevy, actor (Steve-Dangerous Assignment), dies at 73
1972 - Isabel Jewell, dies at 62
1973 - John Coleman, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)
1974 - William Hudson, actor (I Led 3 Lives), dies at 49
1974 - A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882)
1975 - Inez Courtney, dies at 67
1975 - Victor GM Marijnen, Dutch premier (1963-65), dies at 58
1976 - Howard Hughes, reclusive billionaire, dies at 72
1976 - Wilder Penfield, Canadian surgeon (b. 1891)
1977 - John Marriott, dies at 83
1979 - Eugène Gabritschevsky, Russian biologist and artist (b. 1893)
1981 - Bob "Bear" Hite, rocker (Canned Heat), dies of a heart attack at 36
1981 - Cornelis Verolme, Dutch ship builder, dies at 80
1982 - Abe Fortas, Supreme court justice, dies at 71
1983 - Danny Rapp, American musician (Danny & the Juniors) (b. 1941)
1984 - Arthur Travors Harris, marshal of British RAF, dies
1984 - Theo Koomen, Dutch sportscaster, dies in auto-accident at 54
1985 - Tyrell Johnson, cricketer (WI left-arm quickie, one Test 1939), dies
1986 - Colin McCool, cricketer (14 Tests for Australia, 36 wkts), dies
1986 - Manly Wade Wellman, sci-fi author (Devil's Planet), dies at 82
1988 - Alf Kjellin, Swedish actor/director (Juggler), dies
1989 - María Cristina Gómez, Salvadoran Teacher (b. 1938)
1990 - Nico Scheepmaker, Dutch columnist/poet, dies at 59
1991 - John Tower, (Sen-R-Tx), dies in a plane crash at 65
1991 - Manley Lanier "Sonny" Carter Jr, USN/astro (STS 33), dies at 43
1992 - Anthony "Tony" Papa, big band leader, dies at 65
Founder of Walmart Sam Walton (1992)1992 - Sam Walton, Billionaire CEO (Wal-Mart), dies of multiple myeloma at 74
1992 - Samuel H Reshevsky, Polish/US chess grandmaster, dies at 80
1994 - Andre Victor Tchelistcheff, winemaker, dies at 92
1994 - Aubrey J Watson Sr, bishop, dies at 65
1994 - Marlon Riggs, US writer/director/producer (Ethnic notions), dies at 37
1994 - Roy Smeck, guitarist/banjoist, dies at 94
1994 - Kurt Cobain, grunge rocker (Nirvana), commits suicide by gun at 27 in Seattle, Washington
1995 - Christian Pineau, French politician, dies
1996 - Peter Nailor, civil servant/historian, dies at 67