April 18th
Events
* 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.
* 1518 - Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
* 1775 - American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begin; riders warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
* 1797 - The Battle of Neuwied - French victory against the Austrians.
* 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.
* 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.
* 1942 - World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan.
* 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) 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.
* 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.
* 1974 - Italian prosecutor Mario Sossi is kidnapped by the Red Brigades.
* 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.
* 2007 - The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision.
[edit] 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)
* 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
* 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 - David Tennant, British actor
* 1971 - Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
* 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
* 1980 - Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1981 - Brian Buscher, American baseball player
* 1982 - Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
* 1983 - Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
* 1984 - America Ferrera, American actress
* 1985 - Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
* 1985 - Karl Reindler, Australian racing driver
* 1986 - Maurice Edu, American soccer player
* 1986 - Billy Butler, American baseball player
* 1987 - Danny Guthrie, English footballer
* 1987 - Sandra Lyng Haugen, Norwegian singer
* 1989 - Alia Shawkat, American actress
* 1996 - Alexey Zhigalkovich, Belarusian Singer
* 2007 - Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan
* 2007 - Prince Lerotholi Seeiso, son of King Letsie III of Lesotho
[edit] 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 socalite (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)
* 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)
[edit] Holidays and observances
* Iran - Army Day
* Zimbabwe – Independence Day.
In the Roman Catholic Church:
* Saint Apollonius (d. 185/6)
* Saint Galdino (d. 1176)
* Saint Perfecto (d. 850)
* Saint Laserian
* Saint Emma
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