On This Day In History
April 14th
1865 US President Abraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington; he dies a day later
1912 RMS Titanic, the world’s largest ocean liner, hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland, sinks in the early hours of 15 April
1914 Dr. Harry Plotz isolates the bacteria that causes Typhus Fever (Mt. Sinai Hospital, New York City)
1935 Black Sunday: Severe dust storm ravages the US Midwest, led to the region being named “the Dust Bowl”
1981 1st Space Shuttle, Columbia 1, returns to Earth
2003 The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%
Did You Know?
Archaeologists announce they have found at Lomekwi in Kenya 3.3 million-year old stone tools, the oldest ever discovered and which pre-date the earliest humans
Today in History in 2015
Would You Believe?
1st detective story published, Edgar Allan Poe‘s “Murders in Rue Morgue” (April 1841)
Today in History in 1841
April 15th
1755 Samuel Johnson‘s “A Dictionary of the English Language” published in London
1861 Federal army (75,000 volunteers) mobilized by US President Abraham Lincoln (US Civil War)
1874 First ‘Impressionist’ exhibition opens in Paris, features Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot
1877 Boston-Somerville installs the world’s 1st telephone in Massachusetts
1912 RMS Titanic sinks at 2:27 AM off Newfoundland as the band plays on, with the loss of between 1,490 and 1,635 people
Did You Know?
Guy Carawan sings “We Shall Overcome” to a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Raleigh – popularising the song as a protest anthem
Today in History in 1960
Would You Believe?
Ray Kroc opens first McDonald’s Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois
Today in History in 1955
April 16th
1457 BC Battle of Megiddo: Egyptian forces of Thutmose III defeat a large Canaanite coalition under King of Kadesh. First battle recorded with a reliable account.
1705 Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton at Trinity College, Cambridge
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
1900 US Post Office issues 1st books of postage stamps
1917 Vladimir Lenin issues his radical “April Theses” calling for Soviets to take power during the Russian Revolution [OS Apr 4]
1948 Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris
2003 Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union
Did You Know?
Swiss scientist Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD
Today in History in 1943
Would You Believe?
World record for gathering of Charlie Chaplin lookalikes – 662 at Manoir de Ban, Chaplin museum in Vevey, Switzerland
Today in History in 2017
April 17th
1387 Geoffrey Chaucer‘s “Canterbury Tales” characters begin their pilgrimage to Canterbury (according to scholars)
1492 Christopher Columbus signs a contract with the Spanish monarchs to find the “Indies” with the stated goal of converting people to Catholicism. This promises him 10% of all riches found, and the governorship of any lands encountered.
1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki is signed ending the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95)
1961 1,400 Cuban exiles land in Bay of Pigs in a doomed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro
1982 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Queen Elizabeth II sign ‘Proclamation of the Constitution Act’, establishes Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of the country’s new Constitution
Did You Know?
The 8th century St. Cuthbert Gospel, Europe’s oldest intact book, is purchased by the British Library for 9 million pounds
Today in History in 2012
Would You Believe?
Modern Snooker invented by Sir Neville Chamberlain, a bored British officer in Jabalpur, India
Today in History in 1875
April 18th
1025 Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland
1506 The cornerstone of the current St. Peter’s Basilica is laid in the Vatican by Pope Julius II
1775 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the “regulars are coming!”
1783 American Revolution: George Washington issues General Order announcing the end of hostilities with Britain, giving thanks to the Almighty, and offering congratulations and authorizing an extra ration of alcohol to the troops to celebrate
1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire kills nearly 4,000 while destroying 75% of the city
1954 Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power and appoints himself Prime Minister
Did You Know?
1st crossword puzzle book published by Simon & Schuster
Today in History in 1924
Would You Believe?
1st “Washateria” (laundromat) opens (Fort Worth, Texas)
Today in History in 1934
April 19th
1770 British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia. Writes in his log book that “what we have as yet seen of this land appears rather low, and not very hilly, the face of the Country green and Woody, but the Sea shore is all a white Sand.”
1775 American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts. The “Shot Heard Round the World” takes place later that day in Concord
1909 Joan of Arc receives beatification by the Roman Catholic Church
1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh sets a truck bomb at Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 and injuring 500
2011 Fidel Castro resigns his position of First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba after 45 years of holding the title
Did You Know?
Bicycle Day – Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time
Today in History in 1943
Would You Believe?
There is no would you believe today 😅
April 20th
1862 First pasteurization test is completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
1902 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive compound radium chloride
1968 British politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial “Rivers of Blood” speech
1974 ‘The Troubles’, the Northern Ireland conflict between republican and loyalist paramilitaries, British security forces, and civil rights groups, claims its 1000th victim
1980 Climax of the Berber Spring in Algeria sees hundreds of Berber political activists arrested
1999 Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School, Colorado
2010 The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes, killing 11 and causing the rig to sink, causing a massive oil discharge into the Gulf of Mexico and an environmental disaster