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Today April 20th 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
1303 – The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and Labrador.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the siege of Boston begins, which followed the first battles at Lexington and Concord.
1792 – France declares war on Austria, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1810 – The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain.
1828 – René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
1871 – Civil Rights Act of 1871
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
1914 – Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner s strike.
1916 – Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1926 – Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
1939 – Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song Strange Fruit
1945 – World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1961 – Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba.
1964 – BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.
1967 – A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
1968 – A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, South-West Africa, killing 122.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
1972 – Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
1978 – Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
1980 – Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
1985 – ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
1986 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
1986 – Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
1998 – TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
1998 – German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School located in Jefferson County, Colorado.
2001 – China removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
2004 – In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
2007 – Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.
Births
570 – possible date of Muhammad, Islamic prophet (d. 632)
702 – Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765)
1494 – Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
1586 – Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English informer (d. 1680)
1668 – Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d. 1739)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American Continental Congress delegate (d. 1781)
1727 – Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-born Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
1808 – Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (d. 1873)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author (d. 1887)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)
1851 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
1870 – Maulvi Abdul Haq, Pakistani scholar (d. 1961)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1889 – Adolf Hitler, Reichskanzler of Germany (d. 1945)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and activist (d. 1996)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec (d. 1959)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
1893 – Edna Parker, American supercentenarian (d. 2008)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
1896 – Henry de Montherlant, French writer (d. 1972)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1904 – George Stibitz, American scientist (d. 1995)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African-born psychotherapist (d. 1997)
1918 – Edward L. Beach, Jr., American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (d. 1943)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American jurist
1920 – Ronald Speirs, WWII Veteran (d. 2007)
1921 – Janine Sutto, French-Canadian actress
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
1923 – Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (d. 2007)
1928 – Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American politician
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer
1941 – Ryan O Neal, American actor
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
1946 – Julien Poulin, French Canadian actor
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American racecar driver (d. 1982)
1946 – Mel Winkler, American voice actor
1947 – Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede)
1947 – Andrew Tobias, American journalist and author
1947 – David Leland, British actor, director and screenwriter
1948 – Craig Frost, American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger)
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Rémy Trudel, French Canadian politician
1949 – Massimo D Alema, Prime Minister of Italy
1949 – Veronica Cartwright, American actress
1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist
1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 – Steve Erickson, American novelist
1950 – Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
1950 – Chandra Babu Naidu, Indian politician
1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
1952 – Božidar Maljkovic, Serbian basketball coach
1953 – Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
1954 – Gilles Lupien, French-Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician
1957 – Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-born Canadian actor
1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player
1959 – Clint Howard, American actor
1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player
1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver
1963 – Aubrey de Grey, British biomedical gerontologist
1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor
1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1965 – Ralph Cirella, American radio personality
1965 – Kostas Hatzidakis, Greek politician
1965 – Adrian Fernández, Mexican racing driver
1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher
1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer (Dream Theater)
1967 – Lara Jill Miller, American actress
1968 – J. D. Roth, American game show host and television personality
1969 – Chris Jarvis, English TV personality
1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
1970 – Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player
1971 – Tina Cousins, English singer
1972 – Carmen Electra, American actress
1972 – Le Huynh Ðuc, Vietnamese footballer
1972 – Stephen Marley, Jamaican musician
1973 – Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter
1976 – Joey Lawrence, American actor
1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer
1977 – Johnny The Bull Stamboli, professional wrestler
1978 – Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol
1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer
1981 – Matus Valent, male fitness model
1983 – Terrence J, American television host
1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel
1984 – Tyson Griffin, American mixed martial artist
1986 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (d. 2003)
1987 – John Patrick Amedori, American actor
Deaths
1176 – Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English soldier (b. 1130)
1314 – Pope Clement V (b. 1264)
1521 – Zhengde, Emperor of China (b. 1491)
1534 – Elizabeth Barton, English nun (executed)
1558 – Johannes Bugenhagen, German reformer (b. 1485)
1643 – Christoph Demantius, German composer (b. 1567)
1703 – Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)
1765 – Abigail Williams, American accuser in the Salem witch trials (b. 1674)
1769 – Pontiac, Chief of the Ottawa
1831 – John Abernethy, English surgeon (b. 1764)
1873 – William Tite, English architect (b. 1798)
1874 – Alexander H. Bailey, American politician (b. 1817)
1887 – Muhammad Sharif Pasha, Egyptian statesman (b. 1826)
1899 – Joseph Wolf, German artist (b. 1820)
1912 – Bram Stoker, Irish author (b. 1847)
1918 – Karl Ferdinand Braun, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1850)
1932 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (b. 1858)
1945 – Erwin Bumke, German jurist (b. 1874)
1947 – King Christian X of Denmark (b. 1870)
1951 – Ivanoe Bonomi, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1873)
1964 – Eddie Dyer, baseball player (b. 1899)
1977 – Sepp Herberger, German football coach (b. 1897)
1982 – Archibald MacLeish, American poet and Librarian of Congress (b. 1892)
1984 – Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
1986 – Sibte Hassan, Pakistani activist, journalist and writer (b. 1916)
1989 – Doru Davidovici, Romanian writer and fighter pilot (b. 1945)
1991 – Steve Marriott, British singer and songwriter (Humble Pie) (b. 1947)
1991 – Don Siegel, American film director (b. 1912)
1993 – Cantinflas, Mexican comedian and actor (b. 1911)
1994 – Jean Carmet, French actor (b. 1920)
1996 – Christopher Robin Milne, son of A.A. Milne (b. 1920)
1999 – Victims and shooters of the Columbine High School massacre
1999 – Rick Rude, American professional wrestler (b. 1958)
1999 – Señor Wences, Spanish ventriloquist and comedian (b. 1896)
2001 – Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer (b. 1946)
2002 – Alan Dale, American singer (b. 1925)
2003 – Ruth Hale, American playwright and actress (b. 1908)
2003 – Daijiro Kato, Japanese motorcycle racer (b. 1976)
2003 – Bernard Katz, German-born biophysicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1911)
2005 – Fumio Niwa, Japanese novelist (b. 1904)
2005 – Zygfryd Blaut, Polish football player (b. 1943)
2006 – Anna Svidersky (b. 1988)
2007 – Andrew Hill, American jazz composer and pianist (b. 1931)
2007 – Michael Fu Tieshan, Chinese bishop (b. 1931).
2008 – VL Mike, American Rapper (b. 1976)
2008 – Monica Lovinescu, Romanian essayist, literary critic and journalist (b. 1923)
Holidays and observances
Ridván begins at sunset (Bahá í Faith).
Saint Agnes of Montepulciano
Saint Theotimus (d. 407)
Blessed Oda (d. 1158)
420 (cannabis culture)
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