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Today April 18th 2009 this day in history Read more below to view events, deaths, births, Holidays observances and video clips. Last database updated: Jan 17th, 2009
Events
1025 – Boleslaw Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland.
1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter s Basilica is laid.
1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
1738 – Real Academia de la Historia (Royal Academy of History) founded in Madrid.
1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begin; riders warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
1783 – Fighting ceases in the American Revolution, eight years to the day since it began.
1797 – The Battle of Neuwied – French victory against the Austrians.
1848 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
1880 – An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
1899 – The St. Andrew s Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria.
1902 – Quetzaltenango, second largest city of Guatemala, destroyed by Earthquake.
1906 – The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroys much of San Francisco, California.
1906 – The Los Angeles Times story on the Azusa Street Revival launches Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
1923 – Yankee Stadium, The House that Ruth Built, opens.
1924 – Simon & Schuster publishes the first Crossword Puzzle book.
1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya bombed.
1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
1945 – Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Bolivia are established.
1946 – The League of Nations is dissolved.
1949 – The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force.
1949 – The aircraft carrier USS United States (CVA-58)Template:WP Ships USS instances is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, the United States is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
1954 – Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
1955 – Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandurg, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
1958 – A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound is to be released from an insane asylum.
1961 – CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule.
1974 – The Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto inaugurates Lahore Dry port.
1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country s first President.
1983 – A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.
1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
1992 – General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolts against President Mohammad Najibullah of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and allies with Ahmed Shah Massoud to capture Kabul.
1993 – President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolves the National Assembly and dismisses the Cabinet.
1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the UN compound at Quana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
1999 – Wayne Gretzky, Canadian hockey great, retires at his final home game with the New York Rangers.
2007 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision.
Births
1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, Florentine ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)
1580 – Thomas Middleton, English dramatist (d. 1627)
1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (d. 1674)
1771 – Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)
1772 – David Ricardo, English economist (d. 1823)
1797 – Adolphe Thiers, French statesman (d. 1877)
1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American doctor and abolitionist (d. 1865)
1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban Revolutionary (d. 1874)
1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (d. 1895)
1838 – Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French scientist (d. 1912)
1857 – Clarence Darrow, American attorney (d. 1938)
1863 – Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942)
1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American author (d. 1916)
1874 – Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (d. 1941)
1875 – Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic, Croatian writer (d. 1938)
1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino patriot, author (d. 1950)
1880 – Sam Crawford, baseball player (d. 1968)
1882 – Leopold Stokowski, Polish conductor (d. 1977)
1888 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player (d. 1979)
1889 – Jessie Street, Australian suffragette, feminist, and human rights activist (d. 1970)
1893 – Violette Morris, French athlete (d. 1944)
1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)
1901 – Al Lewis, American lyricist (d. 1967)
1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Hasidic Judaism leader (d. 1994)
1904 – Pigmeat Markham, American comedian (d. 1981)
1905 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1995)
1915 – Joy Gresham Lewis, American writer, wife of C. S. Lewis (d. 1960)
1917 – Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (d. 1947)
1917 – Frederika of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece (d. 1981)
1918 – Cliff Hillegass, American publisher (d. 2001)
1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist (d. 2004)
1919 – Virginia O Brien, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
1921 – Jean Richard, French actor (d. 2001)
1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress
1924 – Clarence Gatemouth Brown, American musician (d. 2005)
1924 – Henry Hyde, American politician (d. 2007)
1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist
1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand born actor
1934 – George Shirley, American tenor
1936 – Tommy Ivo, American race car driver
1937 – Jan Kaplický, British architect of Czech origin
1939 – Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American judge
1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, Nobel laureate
1940 – Mike Vickers, British guitarist and saxophonist (Manfred Mann)
1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racer and F1 (posthumous) world champion (d. 1970)
1942 – Steve Blass, American professional baseball player
1945 – Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (d. 2004)
1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
1946 – Skip Spence, Canadian-born guitarist, singer and songwriter (Jefferson Airplane) (d. 1999)
1947 – Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
1947 – Dorothy Lyman, American actress
1947 – Herbert Mullin, American serial killer
1947 – Cindy Pickett, American actress
1947 – James Woods, American actor
1949 – Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
1950 – Kenny Ortega, American film and TV producer and choreographer
1951 – Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer
1951 – Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian politician
1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian comedian
1956 – Anna Kathryn Holbrook, American actress
1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
1956 – Melody Thomas Scott, American actress
1956 – Poonam Dhillon, Indian actress
1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1999)
1961 – Jane Leeves, British actress
1961 – Steve Lombardi, American wrestler
1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian actor
1963 – Conan O Brien, American comedian
1964 – Niall Ferguson, British historian
1964 – Rithy Panh, Cambodian film director
1964 – Jim Ellison, musician
1964 – Mark Berry, aka Bez, Dancer in Happy Mondays
1965 – Rob Stenders, Dutch radio discjockey
1966 – Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete
1966 – Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
1967 – Maria Bello, American actress
1968 – Mary Birdsong, American actress
1968 – David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor
1969 – Princess Sayako of Japan
1969 – Keith R.A. DeCandido, American author
1970 – Greg Eklund, American musician
1970 – Rico Brogna, American baseball player
1971 – Tamara Braun, American actress
1971 – Russell Payne, English writer
1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
1971 – Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
1972 – Rosa Clemente, American activist and hip-hop artist
1972 – Eli Roth, American film director
1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian athlete
1973 – Brady Clark, American baseball player
1974 – Mark Tremonti, American musician
1974 – Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican singer
1974 – Edgar Wright, British director
1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
1976 – Fayray, Japanese singer
1976 – Justin Ross, American politician
1977 – Dan Lacouture, NHL hockey player
1979 – Michael Bradley, American basketball player
1979 – Anthony Davidson, British Formula One driver
1979 – Nuria Fergó, Spanish singer
1979 – Matthew Upson, English footballer
1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American reality television star
1980 – Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
1981 – Brian Buscher, American baseball player
1982 – Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
1982 – Scott Hartnell, NHL hockey player
1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
1983 – Fodil Hadjadj, Algerian footballer
1984 – America Ferrera, American actress
1985 – Lukasz Fabianski, Polish footballer
1985 – Karl Reindler, Australian racing driver
1985 – Elena Temnikova, Russian singer (Serebro)
1986 – Maurice Edu, American soccer player
1986 – Billy Butler, American baseball player
1987 – Brett Deledio, Australian Rules Football
1987 – Danny Guthrie, English footballer
1987 – Sandra Lyng Haugen, Norwegian singer
1989 – Alia Shawkat, American actress
1989 – Simas Buterlevicius, Lithuanian basketball player
1994 – Moises Arias, American Actor
1996 – Alexey Zhigalkovich, Belarusian Singer
2007 – Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan
Deaths
1161 – Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury
1552 – John Leland, English antiquarian (b. 1502)
1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (b. 1495)
1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge
1650 – Simonds d Ewes, English antiquarian (b. 1602)
1674 – John Graunt, English statistician (b. 1620)
1689 – George Jeffreys, British Chief Justice (b. 1648)
1732 – Louis Feuillée, French explorer (b. 1660)
1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (b. 1732)
1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803)
1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter (b. 1826)
1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (b. 1858)
1935 – Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (b. 1884)
1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (b. 1879)
1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American socialite (b. 1875)
1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral. (b. 1884)
1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (b. 1849)
1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist (b. 1900)
1945 – Prince William of Wied, sovereign Prince of Albania (b. 1876)
1947 – Josef Tiso, Slovakian leader (b. 1887), Nazi collaborator and puppet ruler.
1949 – Will Hay, English comedian and actor (b. 1888)
1951 – António Óscar Carmona, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal and 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
1955 – Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate (b. 1879)
1958 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872)
1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American politician (b. 1880)
1964 – Ben Hecht, American writer (b. 1894)
1965 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican inventor (b. 1917)
1967 – Karl Miller, German footballer (b. 1913)
1974 – Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and filmmaker (b. 1895)
1976 – Mahmoud Younis, Suez Canal nationalization Engineer (b. 1911)
1988 – Pierre Desproges, French humorist (b. 1939)
1990 – Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (b. 1921)
1992 – Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924)
1993 – Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka (b. 1917)
1995 – Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (b. 1908)
1996 – Brook Berringer, American football player (b. 1973)
1996 – Bernard Edwards, American record producer (b. 1952)
1998 – Terry Sanford, American politician (b. 1917)
2002 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
2002 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (b. 1938)
2003 – Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (b. 1923)
2004 – Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (b. 1920)
2005 – Sam Mills, American football player (b. 1959)
2007 – Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki (b. 1945)
Holidays and observances
Iran – Army Day
Zimbabwe – Independence Day.
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