1st APRIL
William Harvey (b. 1578)
Abbé Prévost (b. 1697)
Prince Otto von Bismarck (b. 1815)
Ferruccio Busoni (b. 1866)
Edgar Wallace (b. 1875)
Lon Chaney (b. 1883)
Lady Spencer-Churchill (b. 1885)
Wallace Beery (b. 1885)
Dame Cicely Courtneidge (b. 1893)
Alberta Hunter (b. 1895)
Sid Field (b. 1904)
Toshiro Mifune (b. 1920)
Amos Milburn (b. 1927)
Dan Flavin (b. 1933)
Carol White (b. 1942)
Ronnie Lane (b. 1946)
Jeff Porcaro (b. 1954)
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of France & England (d. 1204)
St Gilbert (d. 1245)
Scott Joplin (d. 1917)
Hermann Rorschach (d. 1922)
Flann O'Brien (d. 1966)
Max Ernst (d. 1976)
Marvin Gaye (d. 1984)
René Cutforth (d. 1984)
Alec Clifton-Taylor (d. 1985)
Martha Graham (d. 1991)
Lord (Robert) Havers (d. 1992)
Robert Doisneau (d. 1994)
Dame Lucy Rie (d. 1995)
Carrie Snodgress (d. 2004)
Eclipse, race horse, foaled during eclipse, 1764
William Reeves 1st sells watercolour tablets in paintbox, 1766
UK declares war on Prussia, 1806
Napoleon marries Marie-Louise of Austria, 1810
Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine, Oxford NH, 1826
Travelers Insurance Co issue 1st travel accident policy, to James Batterson, 1864
The Times becomes 1st paper to publish weather charts, UK, 1875
Telephone link between London & Paris opened officially, 1891
Treadmills abolished in prisons, UK, 1902
Territorial Army formed (as Territorial Force), UK, 1908
1st double-decker buses begin running, Widnes, 1909
Air Battalion, Royal Engineers (1st aviation unit of British Army) founded, 1911
RAF comes into being, absorbing Royal Flying Corps, 1918
1st German parachutes to safety after being shot down over UK lines, 1918
Hitler sentenced to 5 years for high treason, 1924
Leon Theremin introduces 1st electric symphony orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 1932
Persecution of the Jews by Nazis begins, Germany, 1933
Green Belt legislation for London comes into being, 1935
Fluorescent lamp 1st introduced, 1938
Spanish Civil War ends, 1939
US forces invade Okinawa, Battle of Okinawa, 1945
Electricity nationalised, UK, 1947
School leaving age raised to 15, UK, 1947
Berlin blockade begins, Allied Western Zone, 1948
Newfoundland becomes 10th Province, Canada, 1949
Mrs P Ride takes out patent for sliced bread, 1954
Richard Dimbleby delivers report on "spaghetti harvest", Panorama, 1957
1st meteorological satellite, Tiros I, launched, US, 1960
Doc Martens footwear first goes on sale, 1960
Greater London Council comes into being, 1965
Slade make 1st public appearance, Walsall Town Hall, 1966
Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable event opens, Dom Club, New York NY, 1966
Country Music Hall Of Fame opened, Nashville TN, 1967
Purchase tax abolished & replaced by VAT, UK, 1973
England & Wales boundary changes take effect, 1974
Apple founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, US, 1976
Iran declares itself an Islamic Republic, 1979
1st UK bungee jump takes place, Oxford Dangerous Sports Club, Clifton, 1979
Einstürzende Neubauten make 1st live performance, Moon, Berlin, 1980
US formally transfers control of Panama Canal Zone to government of Panama, 1982
14-mile CND human peace chain links nuclear bases from Greenham, 1983
Some Metropolitan Police officers 1st carry automatic weapons, London, 1984
Rate-capping introduced, UK, 1985
Steve Newman becomes 1st man to walk solo around the world, 1987
Clore Gallery opened, London, 1987
Concorde begins 38,343 mile 22-day round-world luxury trip, 1989
Community Charge comes into effect, Scotland, 1989
Community Charge comes into effect, UK, 1990
Strangeways Prison riot and siege begin, Manchester, 1990
Community Care Act comes into force, UK, 1993
British Rail broken up into franchises, UK, 1994
Outbreak of BSE forces government to plan mass-slaughter of cows, UK, 1996
Last British Rail train reaches destination, London-Fort William, 1997
Rutland returns into being, 1997
Paula Jones lawsuit of sexual harassment claims against Bill Clinton fails, 1998
Enigma code-cracking machine stolen, UK, 2000
Slobodan Milosevic imprisoned pending trial, Belgrade, 2001
US troops rescue Jessica Lynch from hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq, 2003

2nd APRIL
Charlemagne (b. 742)
Prince George of Denmark, Consort of Queen Anne (b. OS 1653)
Giovanni Casanova (b. 1725)
Thomas Jefferson (b. OS 1743)
Hans Christian Andersen (b. 1805)
William Holman Hunt (b. 1827)
Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (b. 1934)
Emile Zola (b. 1840)
Walter Chrysler (b. 1875)
Jack Buchanan (b. 1891)
Max Ernst (b. 1891)
Sir Alec Guinness (b. 1914)
Kenneth Tynan (b. 1927)
Serge Gainsbourg (b. 1928)
Brian Glover (b. 1934)
Marvin Gaye (b. 1939)
Richard, Earl of Cornwall (d. 1272)
Arthur, Prince of Wales (d. 1502)
Gabriel Mirabeau (d. 1791)
Frances Kidder (d. 1868)
Samuel Morse (d. 1872)
Hermann Rorschach (d. 1922)
Jean Epstein (d. 1953)
CS Forester (d. 1966)
Georges Pompidou (d. 1974)
Buddy Rich (d. 1987)
Edwin Starr (d. 2003)
John-Paul II (d. 2005)
College of New Aberdeen founded, 1593
1st Mint of US established, Philadelphia PA, 1792
Nelson puts telescope to his blind eye, Battle of Copenhagen, 1801
1st public convenience introduced on a train, Kings Cross-Glasgow sleeper, 1873
Zazal performs 1st human cannonball act, Ampitheatre, London, 1877
1st White House Easter Egg Roll held, Washington DC, 1877
Electric Theater, 1st cinema, opened, Los Angeles CA, 1902
1st Tommy guns delivered to IRA agent, 1921
Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race 1st broadcast, 1927
Radar patented by Watson Watt, 1935
Spanish Civil War officially ended, 1939
Royal Military Academy formed, Sandhurst, 1946
Nato Allied Command, Europe, set up, 1951
1st TV soap opera, The Grove Family, broadcast, 1954
Red Rum wins Grand National for a record 3rd time, 1977
Charlotte Brew becomes 1st woman to ride in Grand National, 1977
Dallas 1st broadcast, US, 1978
Argentine forces overthrow UK administration, Falkland Islands, 1982
Earthquake measuring 5_2 on Richter scale hits UK, 1990
1st computerised Directory Enquiry service introduced by British Telecom, 1991
John Gotti convicted of murder and racketeering, New York NY, 1992

3rd APRIL
Henry IV, King of England (b. 1367)
George Herbert (b. 1593)
Washington Irving (b. 1783)
Daisy Ashford (b. 1881)
Henry R Luce (b. 1898)
Marlon Brando (b. 1924)
Johnny Horton (b. 1925)
Don Gibson (b. 1928)
Jan Berry (b. 1941)
Richard Manuel (b. 1943)
Charlotte Coleman (b. 1968)
Bartolemé Murillo (d. 1682)
Ernst Chladni (d. 1827)
Sir James Clark Ross (d. 1862)
Jesse James (d. 1882)
Johannes Brahms (d. 1897)
Richard D'Oyly Carte (d. 1901)
Bruno Hauptmann (d. 1936)
Conrad Veidt (d. 1943)
Kurt Weill (d. 1950)
Manfred B Lee (d. 1971)
Mary Ure (d. 1975)
Ray Noble (d. 1978)
Warren Oates (d. 1982)
Sir Peter Pears (d. 1986)
Sarah Vaughan (d. 1990)
Graham Greene (d. 1991)
Lionel Bart (d. 1999)
Edward the Confessor is crowned king of England, 1043
Moses crosses Red Sea (according to EW Faulstich), BC 1461
Robert Walpole becomes 1st UK prime minister, 1721
1st Pony Express run begins, St Joseph MO-Sacramento CA, 1860
Tarmacadam patented by Edgar Hooley, 1902
Emmeline Pankhurst imprisoned for inciting arson, 1913
Stalin appointed General Secretary of Communist Party, 1922
Ras Tafari proclaimed Emperor Hailé Selassié of Ethiopia, 1930
2 UK biplanes become 1st to fly over Mount Everest, 1933
BUPA founded, 1947
Louisiana Hayride country music show 1st broadcast, KWKH Radio, Shreveport LA, 1948
Elvis Presley 1st appears on Milton Berle Show, live from deck of USS Hancock, 1956
I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again 1st broadcast, BBC Radio, 1964
2001: A Space Odyssey premiered, US, 1968
Anatoly Karpov becomes chess champion by default, 1975
Sex Pistols 1st play The Nashville, supporting 101-ers, London, 1976
Sid Vicious 1st appears in UK with Sex Pistols, Screen On The Green, Islington, 1977
1st regular radio broadcasting of Parliament begins, UK, 1978
Kate Bush makes 1st live concert appearance, Liverpool Empire, 1979
Brixton riots begin, 1981
Geraldine Rees becomes 1st female jockey to finish Grand National, Aintree, 1982
Dick Saunders, 48, becomes oldest jockey to win Grand National, Aintree, 1982
Channel 4 Daily breakfast TV service launched, 1989
Grand National declared void after 2 false starts, Aintree, 1993
Radios 1, 4, 5 and World Service 1st officially broadcast by Astra satellite, 1993
Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski arrested, US, 1996
68 residents of Eigg become owners of the island, 1997
Microsoft ruled to have violated antitrust laws, US, 2000

4th APRIL
Caracalla (b. 188)
Grinling Gibbons (b. 1648)
Catherine Eddowes (b. 1842)
Hans Richter (b. 1843)
Maurice de Vlaminck (b. 1876)
Arthur Murray (b. 1895)
Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)
Muddy Waters (b. 1915)
Elmer Bernstein (b. 1922)
Jimmy Logan (b. 1928)
Andrei Tarkovsky (b. 1932)
Anthony Perkins (b. 1932)
Sharon Sheeley (b. 1940)
Major Lance (b. 1941)
Berry Oakley (b. 1948)
Heath Ledger (b. 1979)
Robert III, King of Scotland (d. 1406)
John Napier (d. 1617)
Oliver Goldsmith (d. 1774)
William Harrison (d. 1841)
Philo Remington (d. 1889)
Karl Benz (d. 1929)
André Michelin (d. 1941)
James Hanratty (d. 1962)
Martin Luther King (d. 1968)
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (d. 1979)
Gloria Swanson (d. 1983)
Samuel Reshevsky (d. 1992)
Kenny Everett (d. 1995)
Bob Peck (d. 1999)
Charlton Heston (d. 2008)
Comet McNaught-Russel reported as "guest star", China, 574
Edward I appoints Aymer de Valence his personal lieutenant in Scotland, 1304
University of Basle founded, 1460
Loyola becomes 1st Superior-General of Jesuit Order, 1541
Anne, Shakespeare's sister, buried, 1579
Drake knighted by Elizabeth I, Golden Hind, Deptford, 1581
James II orders his Declaration of Indulgence to be read in churches, 1687
Congress decides format of US flag, 1818
The city of Los Angeles incorporated, US, 1850
Battle of Yorktown, American Civil War, 1862
Susanna Salter elected 1st woman mayor, Argonia KS, 1887
Gold discovered, Klondike River, Yukon, 1896
Chinese Republic declared, Tibet, 1912
2nd Battle of Arras ends, 1918
1st cat's eyes come into use, Bradford, 1934
UK troops capture Addis Ababa, 1941
North Atlantic Treaty signed, Washington DC, 1949
1st CND protest march leaves for Aldermaston, Hyde Park, 1958
Pilot Juke Box Jury broadcast, 1959
Beatles occupy Top 5 in Billboard Hot 100 charts, US, 1964
US loses 500th aeroplane of Vietnam War, 1967
Apollo 6 launched, but fails to reach Moon, 1968
Bob Champion wins Grand National on Aldanati, Aintree, 1981
Royal Navy task force leaves for Falklands, Portsmouth, 1982
Final episode of Crossroads broadcast, 1988
The Courier 1st puts news on front page, 1992
Property Misdescriptions Act comes into being, 1993
Aire and Calder Navigation, 1st new canal in 100 years, opened, UK, 1995
Ashes of Jerry Garcia sprinkled in Ganges during lunar eclipse, 1996

5th APRIL
Thomas Hobbes (b. 1588)
Elihu Yale (b. 1649)
Catherine I, Empress of Russia (b. OS 1684)
Jean Honoré Fragonard (b. 1732)
Lord (Joseph) Lister (b. 1827)
Algernon Swinburne (b. 1837)
Booker T Washington (b. 1856)
Albert Roussel (b. 1869)
Mistinguett (b. 1875)
Chesney Allen (b. 1894)
Nikita Kruschev (b. OS 1894)
Spencer Tracy (b. 1900)
Melvyn Douglas (b. 1901)
Herbert von Karajan (b. 1908)
Bette Davis (b. 1908)
Cubby Broccoli (b. 1909)
John Le Mesurier (b. 1912)
Arthur Hailey (b. 1920)
Joe Meek (b. 1929)
Sir Nigel Hawthorne (b. 1929)
Peter Grant (b. 1935)
Ronald White (b. 1939)
Lana Clarkson (b. 1961)
Georges Jacques Danton (d. 1794)
John Wisden (d. 1884)
George Herbert, Earl of Carnarvon (d. 1923)
Douglas MacArthur (d. 1964)
Howard Hughes (d. 1976)
Bob (The Bear) Hite (d. 1981)
Danny Rapp (d. 1983)
Arthur Negus (d. 1985)
Allen Ginsberg (d. 1997)
Cozy Powell (d. 1998)
Saul Bellow (d. 2005)
Gene Pitney (d. 2006)
James VI leaves Scotland for new kingdom of England, 1603
Addled Parliament begins sitting, UK, 1614
Pocahontas marries John Rolfe, an English colonist, 1614
Mayflower sets sail on a return trip to England, Plymouth MA, 1621
Oscar Wilde arrested, Cadogan Hotel, Chelsea, 1895
20 die when stand collapses at stadium, Ibrox Park, Glasgow, 1902
Kissing banned on French railways, because it delays the trains, 1910
2nd Battle of the Somme ends, 1918
HMS Illustrious, largest UK aircraft carrier, launched, 1939
All 10-13 year olds ordered to serve in Hitler Youth, Germany, 1939
Churchill resigns as prime minister, 1955
1st driverless trains run on Underground, London, 1964
Queen Elizabeth sold to US syndicate for £3,230,000, 1968
1st International Festival of Country & Western begins, 1969
Mount Etna erupts, Sicily, 1971
Fran Phipps is 1st woman to reach North Pole, 1971
Newsround 1st broadcast, 1972
Callaghan replaces Wilson as prime minister, 1976
UK task force sets sail for Falklands after Argentinian invasion, Southampton, 1982
Fox Broadcasting Co makes prime-time TV debut, US, 1987
John Peel makes 1st daytime broadcast in 23 years, Radio One, 1993
Grand National abandoned after IRA bomb scare, 1997
Spice Girls perform 1st ever live UK concert, Glasgow, 1998
Yoshiro Mori becomes prime minister, Japan, 2000

6th APRIL
Jean Baptist Rousseau (b. 1671)
James Mill (b. 1773)
Gustave Moreau (b. 1826)
JW Waterhouse (b. 1849)
Harry Houdini (b. 1874)
Anthony Fokker (b. 1890)
Richard Murdoch (b. 1907)
Shakey Horton (b. 1918)
Gerry Mulligan (b. 1927)
Ken Colyer (b. 1928)
Richard the Lionheart, King of England (d. 1199)
Raphael (d. 1520)
Albrecht Dürer (d. 1528)
Sir Francis Walsingham (d. 1590)
Domenichino (d. 1641)
Sir William Hamilton (d. 1803)
James Mill (d. 1836)
Igor Stravinsky (d. 1971)
Isaac Asimov (d. 1992)
Kurt Cobain (d. 1994)
Greer Garson (d. 1996)
Tammy Wynette (d. 1998)
Prince Rainier III of Monaco (d. 2005)
Stilicho defeats Alaric's invasion of Italy, Pollentia, 403
Scottish independence proclaimed, Declaration of Arbroath, 1320
St Paul's Cathedral damaged in earthquake, London, 1580
Jan van Riebeeck lands to establish Dutch East India Co. Trading Station, Cape, 1652
Slave revolt takes place, New York NY, 1712
Handel conducts The Messiah, his last public performance, 1759
Washington elected 1st US President, 1789
Mormon Movement founded, Fayette NY, 1830
Wordsworth appointed Poet Laureate, 1843
Battle of Shiloh, American Civil War, 1862
Civil Rights Act passed by US Congress, 1866
Ku Klux Klan founded, 1868
Vancouver, British Columbia, founded, 1886
1st electrically-powered cinema projector demonstrated, London, 1896
1st modern Olympic Games inaugurated, Athens, 1896
1st animated cartoon copyrighted, 1906
Peary 1st to reach North Pole, 1909
US declares war on Germany, 1917
Handshaking banned as unhygienic, Rome, 1928
Teflon accidentally discovered, 1938
Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece, 1941
White bread production halted, UK, 1942
PAYE comes into force, UK, 1944
Sir Anthony Eden becomes Prime Minister, 1955
1st communications satellite, Early Bird, launched, US, 1965
Syd Barrett leaves Pink Floyd, 1968
Herbert completes 1st surface crossing to North Pole, 1969
Sweden win Eurovision Sing Contest with Waterloo by Abba, 1974
Zola Budd granted UK citizenship, 1984
Cambridge 1st coxed by a woman, Henrietta Cox, in University Boat Race, 1985
Trams return to Manchester, Metrolink, Bury-Victoria, 1992
Nuclear explosion occurs, Sibir Chemical Combinat, Tomsk-7, Siberia, 1993

7th APRIL
St Francis Xavier (b. 1506)
William Wordsworth (b. 1770)
WK Kellogg (b. 1860)
Gabriela Mistral (b. 1889)
Ole Christiansen (b. 1891)
Billie Holiday (b. 1915)
Mongo Santamaria (b. 1922)
Alan J Pakula (b. 1928)
Vic Feldman (b. 1934)
Ian Richardson (b. 1934)
Spencer Dryden (b. 1938)
Jesus Christ (most probable date) (d. AD 30)
Charles VIII, King of France (d. 1498)
El Greco (d. 1614)
Sir William D'Avenant (d. 1668)
St Jean Baptiste de La Salle (d. 1719)
Dick Turpin (d. 1739)
Phineas T Barnum (d. 1891)
Henry Ford (d. 1947)
Theda Bara (d. 1955)
Vanessa Bell (d. 1961)
James Clark (d. 1968)
Phil Ochs (d. 1976)
Kit Lambert (d. 1981)
Sir John Clements (d. 1988)
Lee Brilleaux (d. 1994)
Heinz (d. 2000)
Robert Sangster (d. 2004)
Mark Speight (d. 2008)
Cuckoo 1st heard in Wales (traditional date), St Brynach, 560
Metre becomes official unit of length, France, 1795
John Walker 1st sells his friction matches, Stockton, 1827
James Thompson sells wife for 20/- and dog, Carlisle, 1832
Victoria becomes 1st Royal to use chloroform, during birth of Prince Leopold, 1853
1st camel race in America held, Sacramento CA, 1864
100 die when Mount Vesuvius erupts, Naples, 1906
Copyright Act approved by parliament, UK, 1911
Canadian Grand Trunk Railway completed, 1914
Herbert Hoover's speech in Washington is broadcast on TV in New York NY, 1927
Joseph Schick patents 1st electric razor, 1930
Italy invades and seizes Albania, 1939
Albert Hofmann 1st synthesises LSD, Basel, Switzerland, 1943
US aircraft sink Japanese battleship Yamato, Pacific, 1945
World Health Organisation established, Geneva, 1948
Dag Hammarskjöld elected UN Secretary General, 1953
Trolleybuses final day of service, Queens-Manhattan, New York NY, 1957
1st CND ban-the-bomb protest march reaches Aldermaston, 1958
Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford CA, 1959
Longest organ recital (36 hr) begins, All Saints, Hereford, 1969
US court confirms it has closed the Kennedy/Kopechne crash investigation, 1970
Buddy Holly's glasses found near crash site, Mason City IA, 1980
Wham! becomes 1st Western group to perform in China, Beijing, 1985
40 die when USSR nuclear-submarine catches fire & sinks, Norwegian Sea, 1989
Graeme Souness undergoes heart bypass surgery, 1992
Civil war begins, Rwanda, 1994
Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit marry, Westminster, 1997

8th APRIL
Sir Adrian Boult (b. 1889)
Mary Pickford (b. 1893)
Yip Harburg (b. 1898)
John Christie (b. 1898)
Sonja Henie (b. 1912)
Ian Smith (b. 1919)
Carmen McRae (b. 1922)
Eric Porter (b. 1928)
Jacques Brel (b. 1929)
Dame Dorothy Tutin (b. 1930)
Fred Ebb (b. 1933)
Tony Banks, Lord Stratford (b. 1943)
Caracalla (d. 217)
Gaetano Donizetti (d. 1848)
Elisha Otis (d. 1861)
Charles Auguste de Bériót (d. 1870)
Alfred Watkins (d. 1934)
José Capablanca (d. 1942)
Vaslav Nijinsky (d. 1950)
Pablo Picasso (d. 1973)
Ben Johnson (d. 1996)
Laura Nyro (d. 1997)
Claire Trevor (d. 2000)
Bernie Grant (d. 2000)
Charles V crowned King of France on death of John II, 1364
Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida, St Augustine FL, 1513
Apocrypha declared to be part of the Bible, Council of Trent, 1546
David Marie patents 1st fire escape, London, 1766
George IV marries Caroline of Brunswick, St James Palace, 1795
Upright piano patented by William Southwell, London, 1807
Great Western begins maiden voyage, Bristol-New York NY, 1838
Big Ben, bell in Westminster's clock tower, cast, Whitechapel, 1858
Entente Cordiale signed, 1904
HH Asquith becomes Liberal prime minister, 1908
Zog, King of Albania abdicates, 1939
Final assembly of League of Nations held, Geneva, 1946
Jomo Kenyatta convicted of involvment with Mau Mau, Kenya, 1953
Puppet On A String sung by Sandie Shaw wins Eurovision Song Contest, 1967
Damned become 1st UK punk band to play in US, CBGB's, New York NY, 1977
Clint Eastwood elected mayor, Carmel CA, 1986
1st self-extinguishing armchair launched, UK, 1988
Daily Express becomes last national daily newspaper to leave Fleet St, 1989
Punch ceases publication, 1992
Kurt Cobain found dead, Seattle WA, 1994
Garbage is formed when Shirley Manson meets founder members, London, 1994
George Michael arrested on public indecency charges, Los Angeles CA, 1998

9th APRIL
James Scott, Duke of Monmouth (b. 1649)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (b. 1806)
Charles Baudelaire (b. 1821)
Eadward Muybridge (b. 1830)
Sebastian de Ferranti (b. 1864)
Léon Blum (b. 1872)
Efrem Zimbalist (b. 1889)
Sir Victor Gollancz (b. 1893)
Michel Simon (b. 1895)
Paul Robeson (b. 1898)
Hugh Gaitskell (b. 1906)
Antal Doráti (b. 1906)
Victor Vasarely (b. 1908)
Sir Robert Helpmann (b. 1909)
Lord (Gerry) Fitt (b. 1926)
Carl Perkins (b. 1932)
Gian Maria Volonté (b. 1933)
Valerie Solanas (b. 1936)
Les Gray (b. 1946)
Edward IV, King of England (d. 1483)
Lorenzo d'Medici (d. 1492)
François Rabelais (d. 1553)
Sir Francis Bacon (d. 1626)
Sarah Fielding (d. 1768)
Ernst Richter (d. 1879)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (d. 1882)
Mrs Patrick Campbell (d. 1940)
CEM Joad (d. 1953)
Frank Lloyd Wright (d. 1959)
Hesketh Pearson (d. 1964)
Zero Mostel (d. 1977)
Sir Basil Blackwell (d. 1984)
Brook Benton (d. 1988)
Dave Prater (d. 1988)
Martin Hannett (d. 1991)
Jess Yates (d. 1993)
Helene Hanfff (d. 1997)
Mae Boren Axton (d. 1997)
Andrea Dworkin (d. 2005)
Edward V, 12, accedes to throne of England, 1483
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, last person to be beheaded in UK, Tower Hill, 1747
National Gallery opened, London, 1838
Gen RE Lee surrenders to Gen Grant, Court House, Appomattox VA, 1865
Hudson Bay Company cedes its territory to Canada, 1896
1st covered-top buses begin running, Widnes, 1909
The World, The Flesh & The Devil, 1st colour feature film, shown, Holborn, 1914
1st Battle of Arras begins, 1917
Latvia proclaims its independence, 1918
Germany invades Norway and occupies Denmark, 1940
Bob Hope makes 1st TV appearance, 1950
Suez Canal cleared for all shipping, 1957
Vladimir Illyushin becomes deranged after 3 Earth orbits (unofficial), USSR, 1961
Churchill becomes honorary US citizen, 1963
Race Relations (Anti-Discrimination) Bill published, 1968
UK-built Concorde makes its maiden flight, Bristol-Fairford, 1969
Sikh busmen win right to wear turbans at work, Wolverhampton, 1969
Bowie 1st meets Angie Barnett at King Crimson debut, Speakeasy, London, 1969
Paul McCartney issues writ in High Court which splits Beatles, 1970
Jenny Pitman 1st woman to train Grand National winner (Corbiere), 1983
Georgia votes to secede from USSR, 1991
Conservative Party begins record 4th term, under John Major, UK, 1992
Bowie marries Iman, Lausanne, 1992
Reign of Saddam Hussein is ended, Iraq, 2003
Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles marry, Windsor, 2005

10th APRIL
James V, King of Scotland (b. 1512)
Samuel Hahnemann (b. 1755)
William Hazlitt (b. 1778)
Lew Wallace (b. 1827)
William Booth (b. 1829)
Joseph Pulitzer (b. 1847)
George William Russell (AE) (b. 1867)
George Arliss (b. 1868)
Lenin (b. OS 1870)
Alexander Kerensky (b. OS 1881)
Ben Nicholson (b. 1894)
Clare Booth Luce (b. 1903)
Lord (Vic) Feather of Bradford (b. 1908)
Norman Vaughan (b. 1923)
Rosco Gordon (b. 1928)
Delphine Seyrig (b. 1932)
Adrian Henri (b. 1932)
Joseph Lagrange (d. 1813)
Algernon Swinburne (d. 1909)
Emiliano Zapata (d. 1919)
Khalil Gibran (d. 1931)
Auguste Lumière (d. 1954)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (d. 1955)
Chuck Willis (d. 1958)
Michael Curtiz (d. 1962)
Stuart Sutcliffe (d. 1962)
Linda Darnell (d. 1965)
Evelyn Waugh (d. 1966)
Nino Rota (d. 1979)
Antonia White (d. 1980)
Chris Hani (d. 1993)
Morarji Desai (d. 1995)
Peter Jones (d. 2000)
Nyree Dawn Porter (d. 2001)
Little Eva (d. 2003)
Bananas 1st displayed in shop window, Lambeth, 1633
Copyright Act comes into force, UK, 1710
US patent system established, 1790
Robert Gray becomes 1st American to circumnavigate the globe, Boston MA, 1790
Battle of Toulouse, 1814
1st UK settlers arrive, Algoa Bay, South Africa, 1820
Catholic Emancipation Bill passed by Parliament, UK, 1829
Families of Napoleon and Charles X excluded from France by law, 1832
New York (Herald) Tribune 1st published, 1841
1st UK daguerrotype of a news event taken at Chartist protest meeting, 1848
John Ruskin marries, noon, Perth, 1848
Safety pin patented by Walter Hunt, New York NY, 1849
George Eliot's The Mill On The Floss published, 1860
Phineas T Barnum's circus 1st opened, Brooklyn, New York NY, 1871
California Street Cable Car Railroad Co begins service, 1878
Titanic sets sail on maiden voyage, Southampton, 1912
Viny Ridge taken by Canadian Forces during Battle of Arras, 1917
1st book of crosswords published, New York NY, 1924
Synthetic rubber 1st produced, 1930
Lores Bonney begins 10-week flight as 1st woman pilot to fly Australia-England, 1933
HMS Hermes sunk by Japanese dive-bombers, Bay of Bengal, 1942
The House of Wax, 1st 3D movie, premiered, New York NY, 1953
David Blakely shot dead by Ruth Ellis, Hampstead, 1955
Civil Rights bill passed, US, 1960
Paul McCartney announces Beatles split to press, UK, 1970
3000 die in severe earthquakes, Iran, 1972
Yitzhak Rabin becomes Prime Minister when Golda Meir resigns, Israel, 1974
3 die in IRA bomb blast, City of London, 1992
1st DNA database for criminal records opened, Birmingham, 1995
National Trust bans stag hunting on its land, UK, 1997
NASA releases photographs showing ice rafts on surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, 1997
Peace deal between N Ireland, Irish Republic and UK is made, 1998
Viagra 1st appears on the market, US, 1998

Last updated: May 05, 2008