21st APRIL
Ludovico Carracci (b. 1555)
Jan van Riebeck (b. 1619)
Humphrey Repton (b. OS 1752)
Charlotte Brontë (b. 1816)
John Muir (b. 1838)
Jean Helion (b. 1904)
Marcel Camus (b. 1912)
Lord (Richard) Beeching (b. 1913)
Norman Parkinson (b. 1913)
Anthony Quinn (b. 1915)
Ira Louvin (b. 1924)
Silvana Mangano (b. 1930)
St Anselm (d. 1109)
Peter Abelard (d. 1142)
Henry VII, King of England (d. 1509)
Elizabeth Barton (The Holy Maid of Kent) (d. 1534)
Cosimo de'Medici (d. 1574)
Jean Racine (d. 1699)
Mark Twain (d. 1910)
Baron Manfred von Richtofen (d. 1918)
Eleanora Duse (d. 1924)
Robert Bridges (d. 1930)
Lord (John Maynard) Keynes of Tilton (d. 1946)
Sir Stafford Cripps (d. 1952)
Earl Hooker (d. 1970)
Papa Doc (François Duvalier) (d. 1971)
Sandy Denny (d. 1978)
Erté (d. 1990)
Richard B Braithwaite (d. 1990)
Tessie O'Shea (d. 1995)
Liz Tilberis (d. 1999)
Nina Simone (d. 2003)
Cyril Tawney (d. 2005)
City of Rome founded by Romulus (traditional date), BC 753
Henry VIII accedes to throne, 1509
Baber founds Mogul Empire, India, 1526
1st UK art exhibition held, Strand, London, 1760
Battle of San Jacinto, Mexico, 1836
Metaphysical Society founded, 1869
1st buffalo born in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 1892
US forces occupy Vera Cruz, Mexico, 1914
Canadians take Vimy Ridge, 1917
Soviet troops enter Berlin, 1945
1st jet-liner service inaugurated by BOAC, London-Rome, 1952
USAF flies French battalion to defend Dien Bien Phu, 1954
Brasilia becomes new capital of Brazil, 1960
San Francisco fire ends, 1960
1st annual Country Music Festival opened, Jacksonville FL, 1961
Radio paging introduced, by Bell Telephone Co, Seattle WA, 1962
BBC2 begins transmissions with Play School, 1964
Opening of Parliament 1st televised, UK, 1966
Great Train Robber James White arrested, Littlehampton, 1966
Greek government taken over by military Junta, 1967
UK troops 1st sent to Northern Ireland, 1969
The Who 1st perform the complete Tommy in public, Dolton, 1969
John Lennon changes middle name from Winston to Ono, Apple Records, London, 1969
Astronauts from Apollo 16 land on Moon, 1972
The musical Annie opened on Broadway, New York NY, 1977
Bob Marley headlines One Love peace concert, Kingston, Jamaica, 1978
£1 coin introduced in England and Wales, 1983
Meares Island declared a Tribal Park, Canada, 1984
1st Alpine cable car system installed in UK, Matlock Bath, 1984
Chris Bonington reaches summit of Everest, 0520 hr, 1984
100,000 Chinese students amass in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, 1989
Ronnie Sullivan scores fastest 147 maximum break in snooker history, 1997
15 die in school shooting, Columbine High School, Denver CO, 1999

22nd APRIL
Isabella of Castile (b. 1451)
Henry Fielding (b. 1707)
Immanuel Kant (b. 1724)
Madame de Staël (b. 1766)
Otto Rank (b. 1884)
Robert Oppenheimer (b. 1904)
Kathleen Ferrier (b. 1912)
Lord (Yehudi) Menuhin of Stoke D'Abernon (b. 1916)
Sir Sidney Nolan (b. 1917)
Charlie Mingus (b. 1922)
Laurel Aitken (b. 1927)
Jack Nitzsche (b. 1937)
Steve Fossett (b. 1944)
John Tradescant (d. 1662)
James Hargreaves (d. 1778)
Villeneuve (d. 1806)
John Crome (d. 1821)
Richard Trevithick (d. 1833)
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (d. 1908)
Sir Frederick Royce (d. 1933)
Roy Campbell (d. 1957)
Ansel Adams (d. 1984)
Otto Preminger (d. 1986)
Stephen Lawrence (d. 1993)
Richard Nixon (d. 1994)
Molly Keane (d. 1996)
Chan Canasta (d. 1999)
Linda Lovelace (d. 2002)
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (d. 2005)
Pedro Cabral discovers and claims Brazil for Portugal, 1500
Royal Society instituted, 1662
Last sitting of independent Scottish Parliament, 1707
1st roller-skates, foot-wheelies, worn, London, 1760
St Helena becomes a Crown Colony, 1834
Sirius completes 1st crossing of Atlantic by steam power only, Sandy Hook NY, 1838
4 die in earthquake, Colchester and East Anglia, 1884
Babe Ruth makes professional pitching debut, playing for Baltimore Orioles, 1914
Germany introduces poison gas, 2nd Battle of Ypres, 1915
Penny Post abolished, UK, 1918
Printing of £1,000 note discontinued, UK, 1943
Photo-finish camera 1st used, Epsom, 1947
1st nuclear explosion shown on live network television, from Nevada, 1952
New York World's Fair opens, 1964
Martial law declared after coup, Greece, 1967
Enoch Powell makes "rivers of blood" anti-immigration speech, West Midlands, 1968
Robin Knox-Johnston completes 1st non-stop solo round-world voyage, Falmouth, 1969
John Lennon changes middle name from Winston to Ono, Apple Building, 1969
Environmentalists observe 1st Earth Day, US, 1970
John Fairfax and Sylvia Cook are 1st to row across Pacific, Hayman Island, 1972
Original Flipper dolphin, Kathy, dies in trainer's arms, Miami Seaquarium FL, 1972
Last convertible comes off production line, US, 1976
1st telephone call using fibre-optic cables made, Long Beach-Artesia CA, 1977
UK ends diplomatic relations with Libya, 1984

23rd APRIL
William Shakespeare (b. 1564)
Admiral George Anson (b. 1697)
Joseph MW Turner (b. 1775)
James Buchanan (b. 1791)
Maria Brontë (bapt. 1814)
Max Planck (b. 1858)
Lord (Edmund) Allenby (b. 1861)
Billy Smart (b. 1893)
Cow-Cow Davenport (b. 1894)
Vladimir Nabokov (b. 1899)
Dame Ngaio Marsh (b. 1899)
Raymond Huntley (b. 1904)
Lee Miller (b. 1907)
Simone Simon (b. 1911)
Jack May (b. 1922)
Roy Orbison (b. 1936)
Sheila Gish (b. 1942)
Sandra Dee (b. 1942)
Tony Miles (b. 1955)
Steve Clark (b. 1959)
Timothy McVeigh (b. 1968)
Ethelred The Unready (d. 1016)
Alexander I, King of Scotland (d. 1124)
William Shakespeare (d. 1616)
Miguel de Cervantes (d. 1616)
Henry Vaughan (d. 1695)
Thomas Tickell (d. 1740)
Joseph Nollekens (d. 1823)
William Wordsworth (d. 1850)
Joseph Jefferson (d. 1905)
Rupert Brooke (d. 1915)
Elisabeth Schumann (d. 1952)
Pete Ham (d. 1975)
Buster Crabbe (d. 1983)
Earl Hines (d. 1983)
Sir Roland Penrose (d. 1984)
Harold Arlen (d. 1986)
Jim Laker (d. 1986)
Lord (Michael) Ramsey of Canterbury (d. 1988)
Paulette Goddard (d. 1990)
Johnny Thunders (d. 1991)
Satyajit Ray (d. 1992)
Dennis Compton (d. 1997)
Lady (Nancy) Seear (d. 1997)
James Earl Ray (d. 1998)
Sir John Mills (d. 2005)
Boris Yeltsin (d. 2007)
Icarus crashes into sea (legendary date), na
Battle of Clontarf, 1014
Coronation of Charles II takes place, Westminster Abbey, 1661
Connecticut founded as English colony, 1662
Coronation of Anne, Westminster Abbey, 1702
John Stuart reaches centre of Australia, 1860
Victoria & Napoleon III reject Channel Tunnel plans, 1867
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1879
1st movie theatre opened, Koster And Bials Music Hall, New York NY, 1898
Battle of Zeebrugge, 1918
British Empire Exhibition opened, Wembley, 1924
Cardiff City beat Arsenal in FA Cup Final, 1st club to take cup out of England, 1927
Corinth destroyed in earthquake, Greece, 1928
New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre opened, Stratford-on-Avon, 1932
Oil pipe line completed, Kirkuk-Banias, 1952
Elvis Presley makes Las Vegas debut, New Frontier Hotel, Las Vegas NE, 1956
1st UK heliport opened, Thames-side, 1959
Pennine Way opened, 1965
Soyuz I launched bearing Vladimir Komarov, 1967
1st decimal coins (5p and 10p) issued alongside 1/- & 2/- form, 1968
Sid Vicious records Frank Sinatra's My Way, 1978
300 arrested at Anti-Nazi League and National Front clash, Southall, 1979
Discovery of Aids virus announced, US, 1984
Coca-Cola announces a new formula for its Coke, US, 1985
2-year guarantee for new goods bought in Europe agreed, Luxembourg, 1998
Concorde returns from record round-world flight (1200 mph over 32 hr 33'), 1989
McDonald's opened its 1st fast-food restaurant in Beijing, 1992
Princess Anne divorced from Capt Mark Phillips, 1992
Newly restored Globe Theatre opened, Southwark, 1993
8,000 Hutu refugees killed in army massacre, Kibelio, Rwanda, 1995
Princess Anne makes flat-racing debut, Epsom, 1985
Work begins on new Globe Theatre, Southwark, 1988

24th APRIL
Edmund Cartwright (b. 1743)
Anthony Trollope (b. 1815)
RM Ballantyne (b. 1825)
Marshal Philippe Pétain (b. 1856)
Lord (Hugh) Dowding (b. 1882)
Sir Stafford Cripps (b. 1889)
Willem de Kooning (b. 1904)
William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw) (b. 1906)
Jill Ireland (b. 1936)
Collin Walcott (b. 1945)
Paula Yates (b. 1959)
Daniel Defoe (d. 1731)
Vladimir Komarov (d. 1967)
Bud Abbott (d. 1974)
William Hartnell (d. 1975)
Bill Edrich (d. 1986)
Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (d. 1986)
Oliver Tambo (d. 1993)
Donald Cammell (d. 1996)
Mike Raven (d. 1997)
Estée Lauder (d. 2004)
Alan Ball (d. 2007)
Mary, Queen of Scots, 16, marries Dauphin of France, 1558
1st printed book in Gaelic published, 1567
US Library of Congress established, Washington DC, 1800
Federal troops leave New Orleans, ending military occupation of the South, 1877
Edison Speaking Phonograph goes into production, 1878
Garrick Theatre opened, London, 1889
Joshua Slocum embarks on 1st solo world trip, Boston MA, 1895
Spain declares war on US, 1898
Daily Express 1st published, 1900
Easter Rising takes place, Dublin, 1916
English Table Tennis Association formed, 1927
UK troops leave Greece, 1941
Chocolate and sweet rationing ends, UK, 1949
The Sky At Night 1st broadcast, BBC, 1957
Dylan records 1st session, playing harmonica for Harry Belafonte, US, 1961
1st transcontinental television satellite broadcast, Camp Parks CA-Westford MA, 1962
Komarov becomes 1st known space fatality, Soyuz I, Steppes of Orenburg, 1967
The Gambia proclaimed a republic, 1970
1st Chinese satellite launched, 1970
Soyuz X successfully docks with space station Salyut, 1971
1st biotechnological test of GM bacteria to prevent frost damage, California, 1987
Final edition of The Tube broadcast, C4, 1987
Discovery launched bearing Hubble Space Telescope, Cape Canaveral FL, 1990
Bowie marries Iman, Lausanne, 1992
Chris Patten named as succeeding Governor of Hong Kong, 1992
1 dies in IRA bomb blast, NatWest Tower, Bishopsgate, 1993
19 becomes 1st LT bus route to operate under private tender, Kentish Bus, 1993

25th APRIL
St Louis (Louis IX of France) (b. 1214)
Edward II, King of England (b. 1284)
William the Silent, Prince of Orange (b. 1533)
Oliver Cromwell (b. 1599)
James Ferguson (b. 1710)
Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (b. 1769)
John Keble (b. 1792)
Peter Tchaikovsky (b. OS 1840)
CB Fry (b. 1872)
Walter de la Mare (b. 1873)
Guglielmo Marconi (b. 1874)
Mary, Princess Royal (b. 1897)
Wolfgang Pauli (b. 1900)
Ed Murrow (b. 1908)
Sir John Clements (b. 1910)
Jack Ruby (b. 1911)
Gladys Presley (b. 1912)
Earl Bostic (b. 1913)
Ella Fitzgerald (b. 1917)
Jean Carmet (b. 1921)
Albert King (b. 1924)
Lord (Patrick) Lichfield (b. 1939)
Leon Battista Alberti (d. 1472)
Torquato Tasso (d. 1595)
David Teniers the Younger (d. 1690)
Anders Celcius (d. 1744)
William Cowper (d. 1800)
Anna Sewell (d. 1878)
Eugéne Isabey (d. 1886)
Gertie Miller (d. 1952)
Otis Spann (d. 1970)
Pamela Morrison (d. 1974)
Donald Bradley (d. 1974)
Sir Carol Reed (d. 1976)
Dame Celia Johnson (d. 1982)
David Kennedy (d. 1984)
Carolyn Franklin (d. 1988)
Valerie Solanas (f.d. 1988)
Dexter Gordon (d. 1990)
Ginger Rogers (d. 1995)
Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes (d. 2002)
Thom Gunn (d. 2004)
Humphrey Lyttelton (d. 2008)
Shakespeare's body buried, Stratford, 1616
Convention Parliament votes for restoration of Charles II, 1660
Guillotine 1st used, to execute Nicolas Jacques Pelletier, Place de Grève, Paris, 1792
Rouget de Lisle completes La Marseillaise, Strasbourg, 1792
Victoria & Albert Royal yacht launched, Pembroke, 1843
Construction of Suez Canal begins, 1859
Battle of New Orleans begins, 1862
Airbrush patented by Abner Peeler, 1882
US declares war on Spain, 1898
New York becomes 1st state to require automobile license plates, 1901
Allied operations begin, Gallipoli, 1915
Anzac Day 1st celebrated, London, 1916
Lowestoft and Yarmouth heavily bombed, 1916
Totalizator, or tote, 1st used in UK horse race, 1929
1st solar battery announced, New York NY, 1954
Integrated circuit patent granted to Robert Noyce, 1961
St Lawrence Seaway opened, 1959
Triton rises from 3-month circumnavigation of Earth, St Paul's Rock, 1960
Little Mermaid statue is robbed of its head, Copenhagen, 1964
Last episode of Mrs Dale's Diary broadcast (as The Dales), BBC, 1969
Census Day, UK, 1971
Elvis Presley makes final recordings, live at Civic Center, Saginaw MI, 1977
Paul McCartney and Wings split up, 1961
Yes split up, 1981
Pioneer 10 crosses orbit of Pluto, 1983
Stern begins Hitler Diaries serialisation, W Germany, 1983
BR Thameslink officially opened, 1988
Man found to be Ivan (The Terrible) Grozny sentenced to death, Jerusalem, 1988
Riot and siege end after record 25 days, Strangeways, Manchester, 1990
Hubble Space Telescope deployed from space shuttle Discovery, 1990
Earthquake of 6_9 on Richter scale, Ferndale CA, 1992
Eagles reform to record Hell Freezes Over concert for MTV, 1994
Georgia lawmakers vote to scrap Dixie cross from state flag, US, 2003

26th APRIL
Marcus Aurelius (b. 121)
Marie de' Medici (b. 1573)
David Hume (b. OS 1711)
John James Audubon (b. 1785)
Eugène Delacroix (b. 1798)
Ma Rainey (b. 1886)
Anita Loos (b. 1888)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (b. 1889)
Rudolf Hess (b. 1894)
John Grierson (b. 1898)
Douglas Sirk (b. 1900)
Charles Richter (b. 1900)
Jean Vigo (b. 1905)
Rodney Collin (b. 1909)
Charlie Chester (b. 1914)
Johnny Shines (b. 1915)
Chris Wood (b. 1944)
Giuliano de' Medici (d. 1478)
John Wilkes Booth (d. 1865)
Gypsy Rose Lee (d. 1970)
Sid James (d. 1976)
Dame Cicely Courtneidge (d. 1980)
Count Basie (d. 1984)
Broderick Crawford (d. 1986)
Lucille Ball (d. 1989)
Peter Wright (d. 1995)
Jill Dando (d. 1999)
Hubert Selby Jnr (d. 2004)
'William Shaksper' baptized, Stratford-upon-Avon, 1564
Great Plague begins, London, 1665
1st newspaper interview published, Brice's Weekly Journal, Exeter, 1728
John Tiller founds the Tiller Girls dancing troupe, 1886
Trial of Oscar Wilde begins, Old Bailey, 1895
Pact of London signed, 1916
1st motorcycle police patrol goes on duty, London, 1921
George, Duke of York marries Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Westminster Abbey, 1923
One-way traffic instituted, Trafalgar Square, 1926
Madame Tussaud's opened in new building, Marylebone Rd, London, 1928
German planes begin to bomb Guernica, Spanish Civil War, 1937
1572 die in world's worst mining disaster, Honkeiko, China, 1942
Russian and US troops meet up, R Elbe, 1945
Cubans invade Panama, 1959
1st Anglo-American satellite, Ariel, launched, 1962
Republic of Tanzania formed from Tanganyika and Zanzibar, 1964
Shakespeare's Two Gentleman of Verona 1st produced, London, 1973
Reagan visits China, 1984
World's worst nuclear explosion occurs, Chernobyl, 1986
Up to 1000 die when tornado strikes Manikganj district, Bangladesh, 1989
Afghanistan becomes independent, 1992
British Telecom launches ADSL telephone line service, UK, 2000

27th APRIL
Francisque Millet (b. 1642)
Edward Gibbon (b. OS 1737)
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (b. 1759)
Samuel Morse (b. 1791)
Herbert Spencer (b. 1820)
Ulysses S Grant (b. 1822)
Edward Whymper (b. 1840)
Wallace Carothers (b. 1896)
Walter Lantz (b. 1899)
Cecil Day-Lewis (b. 1904)
Sheila Scott (b. 1927)
Coretta Scott King (b. 1927)
Connie Kay (b. 1927)
Sandy Dennis (b. 1937)
Pete Ham (b. 1947)
Ferdinand Magellan (d. 1521)
Jan van Goyen (d. 1656)
James Bruce (d. 1794)
Thomas Stothard (d. 1834)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (d. 1882)
Alexander Scriabin (d. 1915)
Hart Crane (d. 1932)
Maud Gonne (d. 1953)
Ed Murrow (d. 1965)
Kwame Nkrumah (d. 1972)
ZZ Hill (d. 1984)
Konosuke Matsushita (d. 1989)
Ondine (d. 1989)
Lynne Frederick (d. 1994)
Carlos Castaneda (d. 1998)
Mstislav Rostropovich (d. 2007)
Kepler's given date for the Creation, BC 4977
David I accedes to throne of Scotland, 1124
Edward I defeats Scots, Battle of Dunbar, 1296
Cebu City founded as San Miguel, 1st Spanish settlement in Phillipines, 1565
Première of Handel's Music For The Royal Fireworks disrupted by fire, 1749
US captures Toronto (York), 1813
Esso formed, 1888
London Zoological Gardens opened, Regent's Park, 1828
Christina Rossetti, 12, publishes 1st book of poems, 1842
1,450 Union die when Sultana steamboat explodes on Mississippi, Memphis TN, 1865
Allies demand £6,650m compensation from Germany for World War I, 1921
Carlton Theatre opened, London, 1927
Piccadilly Theatre opened, London, 1928
London-Cape Town airline service inaugurated, 1932
Guernica bombed by German planes, 1937
Conscription for 20-21 year olds announced, UK, 1939
Second Republic founded, Austria, 1945
UK recognises state of Israel, 1950
Tullibee, 1st atomic powered electric-drive submarine launched, 1960
Togo becomes independent, 1960
Sierre Leone becomes independent, 1961
Abortion Act comes into operation, UK, 1968
1st Greenpeace anti-whaling voyage launched, 1975
Betty Boothroyd elected 1st woman Speaker, House of Commons, 1992
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia proclaimed by Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, 1992
1st non-racial elections in S Africa take place, 1994
Fillmore Auditorium re-opened for live music, San Francisco CA, 1994
Airbus A380 makes its maiden flight, Toulouse, 2005

28th APRIL
Buddha (traditional date) (b. BC 563)
Edward IV, King of England (b. 1442)
James Monroe (b. 1758)
Frances Baily (b. 1774)
Anthony Ashley Cooper, Lord Shaftesbury (b. 1801)
Frances Hodgkins (b. 1869)
Lionel Barrymore (b. 1878)
Erich Salomon (b. 1886)
William Soutar (b. 1898)
Jan Oort (b. 1900)
Oskar Schindler (b. 1908)
Odette Hallowes (b. 1912)
Ferruccio Lamborghini (b. 1916)
Eugene Shoemaker (b. 1928)
Carolyn Jones (b. 1929)
Saddam Hussein (b. 1937)
Fred Dibnah (b. 1938)
Thomas Betterton (d. 1710)
Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (d. 1754)
Sir Samuel Cunard (d. 1865)
Charlie Patton (d. 1934)
Benito Mussolini (d. 1945)
Claretta Petacci (d. 1945)
Tom Donahue (d. 1975)
Steve Curry (d. 1981)
Richard Hughes (d. 1976)
Oliver Messaien (d. 1992)
Francis Bacon (d. 1992)
Foundation stone of Salisbury Cathedral laid, 1220
Funeral of Elizabeth I, Westminster Abbey, 1603
Capt Cook lands from Endeavour, at Sting Ray Bay (later Botany Bay), Australia, 1770
Maryland, the Old Line or Free State, becomes 7th State of the Union, 1788
Capt Bligh set adrift when crew of HMS Bounty mutiny, Friendly Islands, 1789
Manchester United founded, 1902
Leslie Irvin makes 1st free-fall parachute descent, McCook Field OH, 1919
1st FA Cup final is 1st sporting event held at Wembley Stadium, 1923
Farouk becomes King of Egypt, 1936
1st animated cartoon electric sign displayed, New York NY, 1937
Thor Heyerdahl sets off to Polynesia on Kon-Tiki expedition, Calloa, Peru, 1947
Japan regains sovereignty, 1952
Ruth Ellis murder trial begins, 1955
Rocky Marciano retires as undefeated world champion heavyweight boxer, 1956
Mohammed Ali stripped of title by World Boxing Authority, 1967
Vanessa Redgrave divorces Tony Richardson, 1967
Hair opened on Broadway, 1968
de Gaulle resigns presidency of France, 1969
Sadat appointed acting President of Egypt, 1970
Ringo Starr marries Barbara Bach, 1981
A Chorus Line closes after record-breaking 15 years, Broadway, 1990
Discovery 2 shuttle launched with crew of 7, Cape Canaveral FL, 1991
Dennis Tito becomes 1st commercial space passenger, Baikonur, 2001

29th APRIL
Georges Boulanger (b. 1837)
William Randolph Hearst (b. 1863)
Alice Keppel (b. 1868)
Rafael Sabatini (b. 1875)
Sir Thomas Beecham (b. 1879)
Sir Malcolm Sargent (b. 1895)
Duke Ellington (b. 1899)
Emperor Hirohito (b. 1901)
Fred Zinnemann (b. 1907)
Deryck Guyler (b. 1914)
Edward Blishen (b. 1920)
Lonnie Donegan (b. 1931)
King Hu (b. 1932)
Tammi Terrell (b. 1945)
Michael Karoli (b. 1948)
St Catherine of Siena (d. 1380)
John Cleveland (d. 1658)
Wallace Carothers (d. 1937)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (d. 1951)
Anthony Mann (d. 1967)
JB Lenoir (d. 1967)
Sir Alfred Hitchcock (d. 1980)
Andrew Cruikshank (d. 1988)
Rita Hunter (d. 2001)
JK Galbraith (d. 2006)
Sir Peter de la Mare takes place as 1st speaker, House Of Commons, 1376
Seige of Orleans relieved by Joan of Arc, 1429
Cato St Conspirators hung and beheaded, last UK beheading, 1820
Corn Law Bill given Royal Assent, 1842
New Orleans fell to Union forces, American Civil War, 1862
Women 1st admitted to examinations at Oxford University, 1884
Table tennis introduced (as Ping Pong), by James Gibb, 1901
Gideon Sundbach patents improved zip fastener, Hoboken NJ, 1913
Sinn Fein supporters burn down Post Office, Dublin, 1916
Football shirts 1st numbered, FA Cup Final, 1933
Cat's eyes 1st come into use, UK, 1935
US soldiers liberate concentration camp, Dachau, 1945
Adolf Hitler marries Eva Braun and designates Doenitz his successor, Berlin, 1945
Pink Floyd play 14-Hour Technicolour Dream, Alexandra Palace, 1967
US Navy munitions train explodes setting off 100+ explosions, Roseville CA, 1973
Pan's People make final TV appearance, Top Of The Pops, 1976
4 gunmen steal $8 million from Wells Fargo armored car company, New York NY, 1985
Halley's Comet returns to its perihelion, 1986
1st condor conceived in captivity born, San Diego Wild Animal Park, 1988
BSB launched, 1990
Stephen Hendry becomes youngest world snooker champion, 1990
138,000 die in cyclone, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 1991
58 die in riots after police beat Rodney King, Los Angeles CA, 1992
Jerry Linenger and Vasily Tsibliyev undertake 1st US-Russian space walk, 1997

30th APRIL
William Lilly (b. 1602)
St Jean-Baptiste de La Salle (b. 1651)
Mary II, Queen of England (b. 1662)
Kaspar Hauser (b. 1812)
Franz Lehár (b. 1870)
Alice B Toklas (b. 1877)
Rev Blind Gary Davis (b. 1896)
Eve Arden (b. 1908)
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands (b. 1909)
Jerry Lordan (b. 1934)
Mimi Farina (b. 1945)
John Montague, Earl of Sandwich (d. 1792)
Lady (Elizabeth) Pembroke (d. 1831)
Edouard Manet (d. 1883)
Carl Rosa (d. 1889)
Casey Jones (d. 1900)
AE Housman (d. 1936)
Adolf Hitler (d. 1945)
Eva Braun (d. 1945)
Helen Chandler (d. 1965)
Richard Farina (d. 1966)
Agnes Moorehead (d. 1974)
Lester Bangs (d. 1982)
Muddy Waters (d. 1983)
George Balanchine (d. 1983)
Sergio Leone (d. 1989)
Mick Ronson (d. 1993)
Roland Ratzenburger (d. 1994)
Sir Alfred Ramsey (d. 1999)
Ron Todd (d. 2005)
Christians legally recognised in Roman Empire, Edict of Nicomedia, 311
Battle of Fontenoy, 1745
Washington inaugurated as 1st US President, New York, 1789
Department of the Navy established, US, 1798
US purchases Louisiana Territory from France at 3 cents per acre, 1803
Shrapnel 1st used, by UK against Dutch, Surinam, 1804
Louisiana, Republican State, becomes 18th State of the Union, 1818
Charles Cros 1st describes the gramophone, France, 1877
Hawaii becomes US territory, 1900
Numbers 1st given to London bus routes, 1906
Flying Scotsman rail service begins, UK, 1928
Cup Final 1st televised live, Wembley Stadium, 1938
New York World Fair opened, 1939
FD Roosevelt 1st US president to appear on TV, 1939
1st prefabricated homes go on show, London, 1944
Organisation of American States founded, 1948
Land Rover launched, UK, 1948
1st UK 3D films premiered, Telekinema, South Bank, London, 1951
Beach Boys record Girl Don't Tell Me, with 1st lead vocal by Carl Wilson, 1965
Bob Dylan and the Band open UK tour, Sheffield, 1965
Last journey of Brighton Belle, London Victoria-Brighton, 1972
4 Nixon aides resign over Watergate charges, 1973
South Vietnam government surrenders to N Vietnam, 1975
Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City by Vietcong, 1975
Red Adair caps oil rig fire, Bravo Norwegian Ekofisk, North Sea, 1977
Clash play to 100,000 demonstrators, Rock Against Racism, Victoria Pk, London, 1978
Armed terrorists seize Iranian Embassy, London, 1980
Monica Seles stabbed by Gunter Parche during tournament, Hamburg, 1993
Virgin 1215 launched on medium wave, UK, 1993
Cassini makes 1st fly-past of Venus, 1997
Ellen DeGeneres "comes out" as a lesbian in Ellen, ABC, 1997
Ronan Keating marries, 1998

Last updated: May 05, 2008