April 3rd



33 - The Crucifixion of Jesus (traditional date).

1559 - The treaty, "Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis", was signed, ending the Italian Wars.

1783 - Born this day: Washington Irving, author (d. 1859).

1860 - The first successful "Pony Express" run from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California was started (completed on April 13).

1865 - American Civil War: Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the breakaway "Confederate States of America".

1882 - In Saint Joseph, Missouri the outlaw Jesse James was shot in the back and killed by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward.

1885 - Gottlieb Daimler was granted a German patent for his engine design.

1895 - The libel trial instigated by Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensbury began. It eventually resulted in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1897 - Died this day: Johannes Brahms, composer (b. 1833).

1922 - Joseph Stalin succeeded Vladimir Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

1924 - Born this day: Marlon Brando, actor (d. 2004).

1924 - Born this day: Doris Day, actress, singer.

1934 - Born this day: Jane Goodall, zoologist.

1936 - Richard Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the baby son of Anne and world-famous pilot Charles Lindbergh.

1941 - Hungarian and German troops marched into Yugoslavia.

1942 - World War II: Japanese forces began an all-out assault on the US and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan fell on April 9 and "The Bataan Death March" began.

1946 - Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma was executed outside Manila in the Philippines for leading "The Bataan Death March".

1948 - President Harry Truman signed "The Marshall Plan" which authorized $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.

1953 - TV Guide debuted.

1955 - The American Civil Liberties Union announced it would defend Allen Ginsberg's book "Howl" against obscenity charges.

1958 - Born this day: Alec Baldwin, actor.

1961 - Born this day: Eddie Murphy, actor and comedian.

1967 - Elvis Presley sang "Heartbreak Hotel" on the Milton Berle Show, with an estimated 25% of the United States population viewing.

1968 - Simon and Garfunkel released the critically acclaimed album "Bookends".

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "mountaintop" speech.

1969 - Vietnam War: "Vietnamization". U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announced that the United States would start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.

1971 - In Dublin, Ireland, Séverine won the sixteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Monaco singing "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (A bench, a tree, a street).

1973 - The first ever "Mobile" phone call was placed by Martin Cooper, in New York City.

1974 - "The Super Outbreak" occurred. 148 tornadoes affected 13 states in 26 hours. It was the biggest tornado outbreak in the planet's recorded history.

1975 - Bobby Fischer refused to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title. (CHICKEN!!!)

1976 - In The Hague, Netherlands, Brotherhood of Man won the twenty-first Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Save Your Kisses For Me".

1986 - IBM unveiled the "PC Convertible", their first laptop computer.

1990 - Died this day: Sarah Vaughn, Jazz singer (b. 1924)

1996 - Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his Montana cabin.

1996 - An Air Force air transport carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashed in Croatia, killing all 35 onboard.

1997 - The "Thalit Massacre" took place in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.

2000 - Microsoft antitrust case: Microsoft was ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.

2004 - Terrorists suspected of involvement in the March 11th Madrid attacks were trapped by the police in their apartment. They killed themselves with explosives. (No big loss.)

April 4th

0896 - Formosus ended his reign as pope.

1541 - Ignatius of Loyola became the first superior-general of the Jesuits.

1581 - Frances Drake completed the circumnavigation of the world.

1687 - King James II ordered that his declaration of indulgence be read in church.

1812 - The territory of Orleans became the 18th U.S. state and will become known as Louisiana.

1818 - The U.S. flag was declared to have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars and that a new star would be added for the each new state.

1841 - U.S. President William Henry Harrison, at the age of 68, became the first president to die in office. He had been sworn in only a month before he died of pneumonia.

1848 - Thomas Douglas became the first San Francisco public teacher.

1850 - The city of Los Angeles was incorporated.

1862 - In the U.S., the Battle of Yorktown began as Union General George B. McClellan closed in on Richmond, VA.

1887 - Susanna M. Salter became mayor of Argonia, KS, making her the first woman mayor in the U.S.

1902 - British Financier Cecil Rhodes left $10 million in his will that would provide scholarships for Americans to Oxford University in England.

1905 - In Kangra, India, an earthquake killed 370,000 people.

1914 - The first known serialized moving picture opened in New York City, NY. It was "The Perils of Pauline".

1917 - The U.S. Senate voted 90-6 to enter World War I on the Allied side.

1918 - The Battle of Somme, an offensive by the British against the German Army ended.

1932 - After five years of research, professor C.G. King, of the University of Pittsburgh, isolated vitamin C.

1945 - Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation.

1945 - During World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.

1949 - Twelve nations signed a treaty to create The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

1953 - Fifteen doctors were released by Soviet leaders. The doctors had been arrested before Stalin had died and were accused of plotting against him.

1967 - The U.S. lost its 500th plane over Vietnam.

1967 - Johnny Carson quit "The Tonight Show." He returned three weeks later after getting a raise of $30,000 a week.

1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at the age of 39.

1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implanted the first temporary artificial heart.

1971 - Veterans stadium in Philadelphia, PA, was dedicated this day.

1974 - Hank Aaron tied Babe Ruth's major league baseball home-run record with 714.

1975 - More than 130 people, most of them children, were killed when a U.S. Air Force transport plane evacuating Vietnamese orphans crashed just after takeoff from Saigon.

1979 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the president of Pakistan, was executed. He had been convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent.

1981 - Henry Cisneros became the first Mexican-American elected mayor of a major U.S. city, which was San Antonio, TX.

1984 - U.S. President Reagan proposed an international ban on chemical weapons.

1986 - Wayne Gretzky set an NHL record with his 213th point of the season.

1987 - The U.S. charged the Soviet Union with wiretapping a U.S. Embassy.

1988 - Arizona Governor Evan Mecham was voted out of office by the Arizona Senate. Mecham was found guilty of diverting state funds to his auto business and of trying to impede an investigation into a death threat to a grand jury witness.

1990 - In the U.S., securities law violator Ivan Boesky was released from federal custody.

1991 - Pennsylvanian Senator John Heinz and six others were killed when a helicopter collided with Heinz's plane over a schoolyard in Merion, PA.

1992 - Sali Berisha became the first non-Marxist president of Albania since World War II.

1994 - Netscape Communications (Mosaic Communications) was founded.

1995 - U.S. Senator Alfonse D'Amato ridiculed judge Lance Ito using a mock Japanese accent on a nationally syndicated radio program. D'Amato apologized two days later for the act.

1999 - The Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres played the first major league season opener to be held in Mexico. The Rockies beat the Padres 8-2.

April 5th



1242 - During a battle waged on the ice of Chudskoye Lake, Russian forces rebuffed an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe.

1621 - The Mayflower set sail from Plymouth on a return trip to Great Britain.

1654 - The signing of "The Treaty of Westminster" took place, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War.

1792 - U.S. President George Washington vetod a bill designed to apportion representatives among U.S. states. This was the first time the presidential veto was used in the United States.

1856 - Born this day: Booker T. Washington, American Educator (d. 1915).

1862 - American Civil War: "The Battle of Yorktown" - The battle begans when Union forces under General George McClellan closed in on the Confederate capital Richmond, Virginia.

1900 - Born this day: Spencer Tracy, actor (d. 1967).

1908 - Born this day: Bette Davis, actress (d. 1989).

1916 - Born this day: Gregory Peck, actor (d. 2003).

1920 - Born this day: Arthur Hailey, author (d. 2004).

1923 - Firestone started production of "balloon tires".

1930 - In an act of civil disobedience, Mohandas Gandhi broke British law after marching to the sea and making salt.

1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: An F5 tornado slammed into the north side of Tupelo, Mississippi killing 233. It was the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history.

1937 - Born this day: Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State.

1945 - Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip "Tito" Broz signed an agreement with the USSR allowing "temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory."

1949 - "Fireside Theatre" debuted on television.

1951 - Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for performing espionage for the Soviet Union.

1955 - Winston Churchill resigned as Prime Minister of Great Britain amid indications of failing health.

1957 - In India, Communists won the first elections in united Kerala and E. M. S. Namboodiripad was sworn in as the first chief minister.

1969 - Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations were held in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and 14 other cities around the United States.

1972 - Vietnam War: North Vietnamese forces invaded Binh Long Province, launching a second front of the "Nguyen Hue Offensive".

1973 - Pierre Messmer became Prime Minister of France.

1976 - In the People's Republic of China, the "April Fifth Movement" led to the Tiananmen incident.

1976 - Died this day: Howard Hughes, American aviation pioneer, film director, entrepreneur (b. 1905).

1991 - ASA Embraer EMB 120 crashed in Brunswick, Georgia killing all 23 aboard.

1992 - Several hundred-thousand abortion rights demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C.

1993 - "The 1991 Child Support Act", administered by the Child Support Agency, came into effect in Great Britain.

1998 - In Japan, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge linking Shikoku with Honshu and costing about US$3.8 billion, opened to traffic, becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world.

1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bringing down Pan Am flight 103 in 1988 were handed over for eventual trial in the Netherlands.

1999 - In Laramie, Wyoming, Russell Henderson plead guilty to kidnapping and felony murder. This in order to avoid a possible death penalty conviction for the hate crime killing of Matthew Shepard.

April 6th

648 BC - The earliest recorded solar eclipse was documented by the Ancient Greeks.

402 - Stilicho's forces defeated the Visigoths led by Alaric in "The Battle of Pollentia".

1320 - The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing "The Declaration of Arbroath".

1327 - The poet Petrarch first saw his idealized love Laura in the church of St. Claire in Avignon. (Just had to slip that one in.)

1483 - Born this day: Rafael, Italian painter and architect (d. 1520).

1520 - Died this day: Rafael, Italian painter and architect (b. 1483). (Lousy way to spend your birthday, Raf.)

1652 - Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply camp at the Cape of Good Hope, which would eventually develop into Cape Town.

1782 - Rama I succeeded King Taksin of Thailand, who was overthrown in a coup d'état.

1804 - The first scientifically recorded meteor lands in Possil, in north Glasgow, Scotland.

1808 - John Jacob Astor incorporates the "American Fur Company".

1830 - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is formed by Joseph Smith, Jr. at Fayette Township, New York.

1832 - Indian Wars: "The Black Hawk War" began when the Sauk warrior Black Hawk entered into war with the United States.

1841 - John Tyler was inaugurated as the 10th President of the United States.

1862 - American Civil War: In Tennessee "The Battle of Shiloh" began. Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant met Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston at Shiloh.

1865 - American Civil War: At "The Battle of Sayler's Creek" Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major engagement while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.

1869 - Celluloid was patented.

1886 - Vancouver, British Columbia was incorporated as a city. (And then promptly burnt to the ground to mark the ocassion.)

1890 - Born this day: Anthony Fokker, Dutch designer of aircraft (d. 1939).

1895 - Oscar Wilde was arrested after losing a libel case against John Sholto Douglas, the 9th Marquess of Queensberry.

1896 - In Athens, the opening of the first Olympic Games in 1,500 years took place, after being banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

1893 - Salt Lake's Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.

1903 - The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) began, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the west.

1909 - Robert Peary allegedly reached the North Pole.

1917 - World War I: The United States declared war on Germany.

1926 - Walter Varney Airlines made its first commercial flight from Pasco, WA to Elko, NV. Varney is the root company of United Airlines.

1930 - Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt (some say just a pinch, some say just a grain) and declared, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." This started "Salt Satyagraha".

1930 - Hostess Twinkies were invented.

1930 - Will Rogers started broadcasting "The Will Rogers Program" on radio.

1931 - "Little Orphan Annie" debuted on the Blue Network of NBC.

1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hit Gainesville, Georgia killing 203.

1941 - World War II: "Operation Castigo" began when Germany invaded the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Greece.

1947 - Born this day: John Ratzenberger, actor.

1952 - Born this day: Marilu Henner, actress.

1968 - In London, England, Massiel wins the thirteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Spain singing "La, la, la". (I guess she forgot the lyrics.)

1971 - Died this day: Igor Stravinsky, composer (b. 1882).

1972 - Vietnam War: During "The Easter Offensive", the first day of clear weather in three days allowed American forces to start sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.

1973 - NASA launched the "Pioneer 11" spacecraft.

1974 - "The California Jam Rock" concert began.

1974 - In Brighton, Great Britain, ABBA launches their career by winning the nineteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden singing "Waterloo". (Still a great tune.)

1987 - Sugar Ray Leonard took the middleweight boxing title from Marvin Hagler.

1993 - The Russian nuclear accident at Tomsk 7 occured.

1994 - "The Rwandan Genocide" began when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down by extremists. (The rest of the world just sat by and watched the ensuing carnage with a yawn.)

1998 - Pakistan tested medium-range missiles capable of hitting India.

1998 - Died this day: Tammy Wynette, country singer, musician (b. 1942).

April 7th

1652 - The Dutch established a settlement at Cape Town, South Africa.

1712 - A slave revolt broke out in New York City.

1798 - The territory of Mississippi was organized.

1862 - Union General Ulysses S. Grant defeated Confederates at the Battle of Shiloh, TN.

1864 - The first camel race in America was held in Sacramento, California.

1888 - P.F. Collier published a weekly periodical for the first time under the name "Collier’s."

1922 - U.S. Secretary of Interior leased Teapot Dome naval oil reserves in Wyoming.

1927 - The first long-distance TV transmission was sent from Washington, DC, to New York City. The audience saw an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover.

1930 - The first steel columns were set for the Empire State Building.

1933 - Prohibition ended in the United States.

1940 - Booker T. Washington became the first black to be pictured on a U.S. postage stamp.

1943 - British and American armies linked up between Wadi Akarit and El Guettar in North Africa to form a solid line against the German army.

1945 - The Japanese battleship Yamato, the world’s largest battleship, was sunk during the battle for Okinawa. The fleet was headed for a suicide mission.

1948 - The musical "South Pacific" by Rogers and Hammerstein debuted on Broadway.

1948 - The United Nations' World Health Organization began operations.

1953 - The Big Four met for the first time in 2 years to seek an end to their air conflicts.

1953 - IBM unveiled the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine. It was IBM's first commercially available scientific computer.

1957 - The last of New York City's electric trolleys completed its final run from Queens to Manhattan.

1963 - At the age of 23, Jack Nicklaus became the youngest golfer to win the Green Jacket at the Masters Tournament.

1963 - Yugoslavia proclaimed itself a Socialist republic.

1963 - Josip Broz Tito was proclaimed to be the leader of Yugoslavia for life.

1966 - The U.S. recovered a hydrogen bomb it had lost off the coast of Spain.

1967 - Israel reported that they had shot down six Syrian MIGs.

1969 - The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously struck down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material.

1970 - John Wayne won his first and only Oscar for his role in "True Grit." He had been in over 200 films.

1971 - U.S. President Nixon pledged to withdraw 100,000 more men from Vietnam by December.

1980 - The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran and imposed economic sanctions in response to the taking of hostages on November 4, 1979.

1983 - Specialist Story Musgrave and Don Peterson made the first Space Shuttle spacewalk.

1985 - In Goteborg, Sweden, China swept all of the world table tennis titles except for men's doubles.

1985 - In Sudan, Gen. Swar el-Dahab took over the Presidency while President Gaafar el-Nimeiry was visiting the U.S. and Egypt.

1985 - The Soviet Union announced a unilateral freeze on medium-range nuclear missiles.

1987 - In Oklahoma a 16-month-old baby was killed by a pit bull. On the same day a 67-year-old man was killed by another pit bull in Dayton, OH.

1988 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev agreed to final terms of a Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet troops began leaving on May 16, 1988.

1988 - In Fort Smith, AR, 13 white supremacists were acquitted on charges for plotting to overthrow the U.S. federal government.

1989 - A Soviet submarine carrying nuclear weapons sank in the Norwegian Sea.

1990 - In the U.S., John Poindexter was found guilty of five counts at his Iran-Contra trial. The convictions were later reversed on appeal.

1990 - At Cincinnati's Contemporary Arts Center a display of Robert Mapplethorpe's photographs went on display. On the same day the center and its director were indicted on obscenity charges. The charges resulted in acquittal.

1994 - Civil war erupted in Rwanda between the Patriotic Front rebel group and government soldiers. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in the months that followed.

1998 - Mary Bono, the widow of Sonny Bono, won a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term.

1999 - Yugoslav authorities sealed off Kosovo's main border crossings to prevent ethnic Albanians from leaving.

2000 - U.S. President Clinton signed the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000. The bill reversed a Depression-era law and allows senior citizens to earn money without losing Social Security retirement benefits.

2002 - The Roman Catholic archdiocese announced that six priests from the Archdiocese of New York were suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct.

April 8th


1513 - Explorer Juan Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain.

1525 - Albert von Brandenburg, the leader of the Teutonic Order, assumes the title "Duke of Prussia" and passed the first laws of the Protestant church, making Prussia a Protestant state.

1789 - The U.S. House of Representatives held its first meeting.

1832 - About 300 American troops of the 6th Infantry left Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, to confront the Sauk Indians in the Black Hawk War.

1834 - In New York City, Cornelius Lawrence became the first mayor to be elected by popular vote in a city election.

1839 - The first Intercollegiate Rodeo was held at the Godshall Ranch, Apple Valley, CA.

1873 - Alfred Paraf patented the first successful oleomargarine.

1911 - The first squash tournament was played at the Harvard Club in New York City.

1913 - The Seventeenth amendment was ratified, requiring direct election of senators.

1935 - The Works Progress Administration was approved by the U.S. Congress.

1939 - Italy invaded Albania.

1942 - The Soviets opened a rail link to the besieged city of Leningrad.

1943 - Wendell Wilkie’s "One World" was published for the first time.

1946 - The League of Nations assembled in Geneva for the last time.

1947 - The first illustrated insurance policy was issued by the Allstate Insurance Company.

1952 - U.S. President Truman seized steel mills to prevent a nationwide strike.

1953 - The bones of Sitting Bull were moved from North Dakota to South Dakota.

1962 - Bay of Pigs invaders got thirty years imprisonment in Cuba.

1974 - Hank Aaron hits 715th home run breaking Babe Ruth's record.

1975 - Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians became first black manager of a major league baseball team.

1985 - India filed suit against Union Carbide for the Bhopal disaster.

1985 - Phyllis Diller underwent a surgical procedure for permanent eyeliner to eliminate the need for eyelid makeup.

1986 - Clint Eastwood was elected mayor of Carmel, CA.

1987 - Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis resigned over remarks he had made. While on ABC's "Nightline" Campanis said that blacks "may not have some of the necessities" to hold managerial jobs in major-league baseball.

1988 - Former U.S. President Reagan aid Lyn Nofzinger was sentenced to prison for illegal lobbying for Wedtech Corp.

1998 - The widow of Martin Luther King Jr. presented new evidence in an appeal for new federal investigation of the assassination of her husband.

2000 - 19 U.S. troops were killed when a Marine V22 Osprey crashed during a training mission in Arizona.

2002 - Ed McMahon filed a $20 million lawsuit against his insurance company, two insurance adjusters, and several environmental cleanup contractors. The suit alleged breach of contract, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress concerning a toxic mold that had spread through McMahon's Beverly Hills home.

April 9th



193 - Septimius Severus was proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum (in the Balkans).

1241 - At "The Battle of Liegnitz" Mongol forces destroyed the Polish and German armies.

1626 - Died this day: Sir Francis Bacon, philosopher, statesman, essayist (b. 1561).

1682 - Robert de LaSalle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi River, claimed it for France and named it Louisiana.

1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered "The Army of Northern Virginia" to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia. This effectively ended the war.

1867 - Alaska purchase: By a single vote, the United States Senate ratified a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.

1909 - The U.S. Congress passed "The Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act".

1913 - The Brooklyn Dodgers' Ebbets Field opened.

1916 - World War I: At "The Battle of Verdun" German forces launched their third offensive of the battle.

1917 - World War I: At "The Battle of Arras" Canadian forces executed a massive assault on, and captured, Vimy Ridge.

1939 - Marian Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial, after having been refused the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.

1940 - World War II: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

1942 - World War II: United States and Philippine forces surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula.

1945 - Died this day: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, theologian and martyr, hanged at Flossenburg concentration camp (b. 1906).

1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward Tornadoes killed 181 and injured 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

1947 - "The Journey of Reconciliation", the first interracial Freedom Ride of 16 black and white men traveling through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws began. The riders, sponsored by CORE and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, were seeking to force southern states to enforce the Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned segregation in interstate travel.

1948 - Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in all of Colombia (La violencia).

1948 - The "Massacre at Deir Yassin" took place.

1953 - Warner Brothers premiered the first 3-D film, entitled "House of Wax".

1954 - Born this day: Dennis Quaid, actor.

1959 - Mercury program: NASA announced the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, which the news media quickly dubbed "The Mercury Seven".

1959 - Died this day: Frank Lloyd Wright, architect (b. 1867).

1967 - The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) made its maiden flight.

1969 - The "Chicago Eight" pled not guilty on federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois.

1986 - The government of France ruled against the privatization of French automaker Renault.

1987 - Dikye Baggett became the first person to undergo corrective surgery for Parkinson's disease.

1991 - Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

1992 - Manuel Noriega was convicted of eight crimes.

1992 - John Major Labour Party won the general election in Great Britain.

1998 - "The National Prisoner of War Museum" was dedicated in Andersonville, Georgia, on the site of an American Civil War POW camp.

1999 - Ismail Omar Guelleh was elected president of Djibouti.

1999 - Nigerian President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara was assassinated.

2002 - The funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth, the "Queen Mother of the United Kingdom" was held at Westminster Abbey.

2003 - 2003 invasion of Iraq: The Ba'ath regime headed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq was deposed.

April 10th

1741 - Frederick II of Prussia defeated Maria Theresa's forces at Mollwitz and conquered Silesia.

1790 - The U.S. patent system was established.

1809 - Austria declared war on France and its forces entered Bavaria.

1814 - Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Toulouse by the British and the Spanish. The defeat led to his abdication and exile to Elba.

1825 - The first hotel opened in Hawaii.

1849 - Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. He sold the rights for $100.

1854 - The constitution of the Orange Free State in south Africa was proclaimed.

1862 - Union forces began the bombardment of Fort Pulaski in Georgia along the Tybee River.

1865 - During the American Civil War, at Appomattox, General Robert E. Lee issued his last order.

1866 - The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) was incorporated.

1902 - South African Boers accepted British terms of surrender.

1912 - The Titanic set sail from Southampton, England.

1916 - The Professional Golfers Association (PGA) held its first championship tournament.

1919 - In Mexico, revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata was killed by government troops.

1922 - The Genoa Conference opened. The meeting was used to discuss the reconstruction of Europe after World War I.

1925 - F. Scott Fitzgerald published "The Great Gatsby" for the first time.

1930 - The first synthetic rubber was produced.

1932 - Paul von Hindenburg was elected president of Germany with 19 million votes. Adolf Hitler came in second with 13 million votes.

1938 - Germany annexed Austria. 99.75 percent of Austrians had voted in a referundum to merge with Germany.

1941 - In World War II, U.S. troops occupied Greenland to prevent Nazi infiltration.

1941 - Ford Motor Co. became the last major automaker to recognize the United Auto Workers as the representative for its workers.

1944 - Russian troops recaptured Odessa from the Germans.

1945 - German Me 262 jet fighters shot down ten U.S. bombers near Berlin.

1953 - Warner Bros. released "House of Wax." It was the first 3-D movie to be released by a major Hollywood studio.

1953 - Actress Hedy Lamarr became a U.S. citizen.

1959 - Japan's Crown Prince Akihito married commoner Michiko Shoda.

1960 - The U.S. Senate passed the Civil Rights Bill.

1961 - Gary Player of South Africa became the first foreign golfer to win the Masters Golf Tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

1963 - 129 people died when the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher failed to surface off Cape Cod, MA.

1967 - The 13-day strike by the American Federation of Radio-TV Artists (AFTRA) came to an end less than two hours before the 39th Academy Awards presentation went on the air.

1968 - U.S. President Johnson replaced General Westmoreland with General Creighton Abrams in Vietnam.

1971 - The American table tennis team arrived in China. They were the first group of Americans officially allowed into China since the founding of the People Republic in 1949. The team had recieved the surprise invitation while in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship.

1972 - An earthquake in southern Iran killed more than 5,000 people.

1972 - The U.S. and the Soviet Union joined with 70 other nations in signing an agreement banning biological warfare.

1973 - In Switzerland, 108 people died when a plane crashed while attempting to land at Basel.

1974 - Yitzhak Rabin replaced resigning Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir. Meir resigned over differences within her Labor Party.

1980 - Spain and Britain agreed to reopen the border between Gibraltar and Spain. It had been closed since 1969.

1981 - Imprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was elected to the British Parliament.

1988 - On Wall Street, 48 million shares of Navistar International stock changed hands in a single-block trade. It was the largest transaction ever executed on the New York Stock Exchange.

1990 - Three European hostages kidnapped at sea in 1987 by Palestinian extremists were released in Beirut.

1992 - A bomb exploded in London's financial district. The bomb, set off by the Irish Republican Army, killed three people and injured 91.

1992 - Outside Needles, CA, comedian Sam Kinison was killed when a pickup truck slammed into his car on a desert road between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

1992 - In Los Angeles, financier Charles Keating Jr. was sentenced to nine years in prison for swindling investors when his Lincoln Savings and Loan collapsed. The convictions were later overturned.

1993 - South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani was assassinated.

1994 - NATO warplanes launched air strikes for the first time on Serb forces that were advancing on the Bosnian Muslim town of Gordazde. The area had been declared a U.N. safe area.

1996 - U.S. President Clinton vetoed a bill that would have outlawed a technique used to end pregnancies in their late stages.

1997 - Rod Steiger received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

1998 - Negotiators reached a peace accord on governing British ruled Northern Ireland. Britain's direct rule was ended.

1999 - The www.June4.org web site was launched by Chinese dissidents and human rights activists to promote their campaign for democracy in China.

2000 - Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) reported irregularities in the voting in Georgia's presidential election on April 9. President Eduard Shevardnadze was reelected to a new five-year term.

2000 - Ken Griffey Jr. became the youngest player in baseball history to reach 400 home runs. He was 30 years, 141 days old.

2001 - Jane Swift took office as the first female governor of Massachusetts. She succeeded Paul Cellucci, who had resigned to become the U.S. ambassador to Canada.

2001 - The Netherlands legalized mercy killings and assisted suicide for patients with unbearable, terminal illness.

2002 - Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke before the U.S. Senate as a representative of the Israeli government. He warned that suicide bombers would spread to the U.S. if Israel was not allowed to finish its military offensive in the West Bank. Netanyaho also cited the goals of dismantling the terror regime and expelling Arafat from the region, ridding the Palestinian territories of terrorist weapons and establishing "physical barriers" to protect Israelis from future Palestinian attacks.

April 11th

1512 - The forces of the Holy League were heavily defeated by the French at the Battle of Ravenna.

1689 - William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

1713 - The Treaty of Utrecht was signed, ending the War of Spanish Succession.

1783 - After receiving a copy of the provisional treaty on March 13, the U.S. Congress proclaimed a formal end to hostilities with Great Britain.

1803 - A twin-screw propeller steamboat was patented by John Stevens.

1814 - Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne. The allied European nations had marched into Paris on March 30, 1814. He was banished to the island of Elba.

1876 - The stenotype was patented by John C. Zachos.

1876 - The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized.

1895 - Anaheim, CA, completed its new electric light system.

1898 - U.S. President William McKinley asked Congress for a declaration of war with Spain.

1899 - The treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

1921 - Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax.

1921 - The first live sports event on radio took place this day on KDKA Radio. The event was a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.

1940 - Andrew Ponzi set a world's record in a New York pocket billiards tournament when he ran 127 balls straight.

1941 - Germany bombers blitzed Conventry, England.

1945 - U.S. troops reached the Elbe River in Germany.

1945 - During World War II, American soldiers liberated the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in Germany.

1947 - Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major-league history. He played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1951 - U.S. President Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur as head of United Nations forces in Korea.

1961 - Israel began the trial of Adolf Eichman, accused of World War II war crimes.

1968 - U.S. President Johnson signed the 1968 Civil Rights Act.

1970 - Apollo 13 blasted off on a mission to the moon that was disrupted when an explosion crippled the spacecraft. The astronauts did return safely.

1974 - The Judiciary committee subpoenas U.S. President Richard Nixon to produce tapes for impeachment inquiry.

1979 - Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

1980 - The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued regulations specifically prohibiting sexual harassment of workers by supervisors.

1981 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan returned to the White House from the hospital after recovering from an assassination attempt.

1985 - Scientists in Hawaii measured the distance between the earth and moon within one inch.

1985 - The White House announced that President Reagan would visit the Nazi cemetery at Bitburg.

1986 - Dodge Morgan sailed solo nonstop around the world in 150 days.

1986 - In Groton, CT, the submarine Nautilus exhibit opened to the public.

1986 - Kellogg's stopped giving tours of its Battle Creek, Michigan breakfast-food plant. The reason for the end of the 80-year tradition was said to be that company secrets were at risk due to spies from other cereal companies.

1991 - U.N. Security Council issued a formal cease-fire with Iraq.

1996 - Forty-three African nations signed the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty.

1996 - Seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff was killed with her father and flight instructor when her plane crashed after takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Jessica had hoped to become the youngest person to fly cross-country.

1998 - Northern Ireland's biggest political party, the Ulster Unionists, announced its backing of the historic peace deal.

1999 - Daouda Malam Wanke was designated president of Niger. President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara had been assassinated on April 9.

2001 - China agreed to release 24 crewmembers of a U.S. surveillance plane. The EP-3E Navy crew had been held since April 1 on Hainon, where the plane had made an emergency landing after an in-flight collision with a Chinese fighter jet. The Chinese pilot was missing and presumed dead.

April 12th

1204 - The Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople.

1606 - England adopted the original Union Jack as its flag.

1770 - The British Parliament repealed the Townsend Acts.

1782 - The British navy won its only naval engagement against the colonists in the American Revolution at the Battle of Saints, off Dominica.

1799 - Phineas Pratt patented the comb cutting machine.

1811 - The first colonists arrived at Cape Disappointment, Washington.

1833 - Charles Gaylor patented the fireproof safe.

1861 - Fort Sumter was shelled by Confederacy, starting America's Civil War.

1864 - Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest captured Fort Pillow, in Tennessee and slaughters the black Union troops there.

1877 - A catcher's mask was used in a baseball game for the first time by James Alexander Tyng.

1892 - Voters in Lockport, New York, became the first in the U.S. to use voting machines.

1905 - The Hippodrome opened in New York City.

1911 - Pierre Prier completed the first non-stop London-Paris flight in three hours and 56 minutes.

1916 - American cavalrymen and Mexican bandit troops clashed at Parrel, Mexico.

1927 - The British Cabinet came out in favor of women voting rights.

1934 - F. Scott Fitzgerald novel "Tender Is the Night" was first published.

1938 - The first U.S. law requiring a medical test for a marriage license was enacted in New York.

1944 - The U.S. Twentieth Air Force was activated to begin the strategic bombing of Japan.

1945 - In New York, the organization of the first eye bank, the Eye Bank for Sight Restoration, was announced.

1945 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Spring, GA. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63. Harry S. Truman became president.

1955 - The University of Michigan Polio Vaccine Evaluation Center announced that the polio vaccine of Dr. Jonas Salk was "safe, effective and potent."

1961 - Soviet Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin became first man to orbit the Earth.

1963 - Police used dogs and cattle prods on peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, AL.

1966 - Emmett Ashford became the first African-American major league umpire.

1967 - Jim Brown made his TV acting debut on the NBC show "I Spy."

1969 - Lucy and Snoopy of the comic strip "Peanuts" made the cover of "Saturday Review."

1981 - The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL, on its first test flight.

1983 - Harold Washington was elected the first black mayor of Chicago.

1984 - Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Challenger made the first satellite repair in orbit by returning the Solar Max satellite to space.

1984 - Israeli troops stormed a bus that had been hijacked the previous evening by four Arab terrorists. All the passengers were rescued and 2 of the hijackers were killed.

1985 - U.S. Senator Jake Garn of Utah became the first senator to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off from Cape Canaveral, FL.

1985 - In Spain, an explosion in a restaurant near a U.S. base killed 17 people.

1985 - Federal inspectors declared that four animals of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus were not unicorns. They were goats with horns that had been surgically implanted.

1987 - Texaco filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it failed to settle a legal dispute with Pennzoil Co.

1988 - Harvard University won a patent for a genetically altered mouse. It was the first patent for a life form.

1988 - The Chinese government named a new array of younger leaders to ensure economic reform.

1989 - In the U.S.S.R, ration cards were issued for the first time since World War II. The ration was prompted by a sugar shortage.

1992 - Disneyland Paris opened in Marne-La-Vallee, France.

1993 - NATO began enforcing a no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2000 - More than 1,500 anti-drug agents raided four cities in Columbia and arrested 46 members of the "most powerful" heroin ring.

2000 - Robert Cleaves, 71, was convicted of second degree murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Cleaves had repeatedly run over Arnold Guerreiro on September 30, 1998 with his car after the two had an argument.

2000 - Israel's High Court ordered the release of eight Lebanese detainees that had been held for years without a trial.

2002 - A first edition version of Beatrix Potter's "Peter Rabbit" sold for $64,780 at Sotheby's. A signed first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" sold for $66,630. A copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," signed by J.K. Rowling sold for $16,660. A 250-piece collection of rare works by Charles Dickens sold for $512,650.

2002 - It was announced that the South African version of "Sesame Street" would be introducing a character that was HIV-positive.

2002 - JCPenney Chairman Allen Questrom rang the opening bell to start the business day at the New York Stock Exchange as part of the company's centennial celebrations. James Cash (J.C.) Penney opened his first retail store on April 14, 1902.

April 13th

1598 - King Henry IV of France signed the Edict of Nantes which granted political rights to French Protestant Huguenots.

1759 - The French defeated the European allies in Battle of Bergen.

1775 - Lord North extended the New England Restraining Act to South, Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland. The act prohibited trade with any country other than Britain and Ireland.

1782 - Washington, NC, was incorporated as the first town to be named for George Washington.

1796 - The first known elephant to arrive in the United States from Bengal, India.

1808 - William "Juda" Henry Lane perfected the tap dance.

1829 - The English Parliament granted freedom of religion to Catholics.

1849 - The Hungarian Republic was proclaimed.

1861 - After 34 hours of bombardment, the Union-held Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederates.

1870 - The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in New York City.

1916 - The first hybrid, seed corn was purchased for 15-cents a bushel by Samuel Ramsay.

1919 - British forces killed hundreds of Indian nationalists in the Amritsar Massacre.

1933 - The first flight over Mount Everest was completed by Lord Clydesdale.

1941 - German troops captured Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

1943 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Jefferson Memorial.

1945 - Vienna fell to Soviet troops.

1949 - Philip S. Hench and associates announced that cortizone was an effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

1954 - Hank Aaron debuted with the Milwaukee Braves.

1959 - A Vatican edict prohibited Roman Catholics from voting for Communists.

1960 - The first navigational satellite was launched into Earth's orbit.

1961 - The U.N. General Assembly condemned South Africa due to apartheid.

1962 - In the U.S., major steel companies rescinded announced price increases. The John F. Kennedy administration had been applying pressure against the price increases.

1963 - Pete Rose got his first major league hit for the Cincinnati Reds.

1964 - Sidney Poitier became the first black to win an Oscar for best actor. It was for his role in the movie "Lilies of the Field."

1970 - An oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, preventing a planned moon landing.

1972 - The first strike in the history of major league baseball ended. Players had walked off the field 13 days earlier.

1976 - The U.S. Federal Reserve introduced $2 bicentennial notes.

1979 - The world's longest doubles ping-pong match ended after 101 hours.

1981 - Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about an 8-year-old heroin addict named "Jimmy." Cooke relinquished the prize two days later after admitting she had fabricated the story.

1984 - U.S. President Reagan sent emergency military aid to El Salvador without congressional approval.

1984 - Christopher Walker was killed in a fight with police in New Hampshire. Walker was wanted as a suspect in the kidnappings of 11 young women in several states.

1990 - The Soviet Union accepted responsibility for the World War II murders of thousands of imprisoned Polish officers in the Katyn Forest. The Soviets had previously blamed the massacre on the Nazis.

1997 - Tiger Woods became the youngest person to win the Masters Tournament at the age of 21. He also set a record when he finished at 18 under par.

1998 - NationsBank and BankAmerica announced a $62.5 billion merger, creating the country's first coast-to-coast bank.

1998 - Dolly, the world's first cloned sheep, gave natural birth to a healthy baby lamb.

1999 - Jack Kervorkian was sentenced in Pontiac, MI, to 10 to 25 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Thomas Youk. Youk's assisted suicide was videotaped and shown on "60 Minutes" in 1998.

2000 - Richard Gordon was charged with trying to extort $250,000 from Louie Anderson in exchange for not telling the tabloid media about Anderson once asking him for sex. Gordon was held without bail pending a court hearing.

2000 - It was announced that 69 people had died when the Arlahada, a Philippine ferry, capsized. 70 people were rescued.

2002 - Twenty-five Hindus were killed and about 30 were wounded when grenades were thrown by suspected Islamic guerrillas near Jammu-Kashir.

2002 - Venezuela's interim president, Pedro Carmona, resigned a day after taking office. Thousands of protesters had supported over the ousting of president Hugo Chavez.

Thanks Pam, I guess I owe you about 100 breakfasts by now, huh?

(I could send a couple of Chippendales over to your place right around bath time too, if you'd like!)

April 14th



43 BC - At "The Battle of Forum Gallorum" Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Mutina, defeated the forces of the consul Pansa, who was killed.

AD 69 - Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeated Emperor Otho in "The Battle of Bedriacum" and seized the throne.

1205 - "The Battle of Adrianople" occurred between the Bulgarians under Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria, and the Crusaders under Baldwin I. It was won by the Bulgarians after a skillful ambush. Approximately 300 knights were killed. Baldwin was captured, blinded, and later died in captivity. The Bulgarians then overran much of Thrace and Macedonia. Baldwin was succeeded by his younger brother, Henry of Flanders, who took the throne the following August.

1450 - at "the Battle of Formigny" French forces attacked and nearly annihilated the English, ending English domination in northern France.

1632 - At "The Battle of Rain" the Swedes, under Gustavus Adolphus, defeated the army of the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.

1828 - Noah Webster copyrighted the first edition of his dictionary.

1860 - The first Pony Express rider reached Sacramento, California.

1864 - "The Battle at the D�ppeler Schanzen". The Prussian Army defeated their Danish opponents and finally separated Schleswig from Danmark. Schleswig became a part of Germany.

1865 - Abraham Lincoln was shot by an assasin while attending a stageplay; he died the next day.

1894 - Thomas Edison demonstrated the kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flip in sequence, this was a precursor to movies.

1910 - President William Howard Taft began the tradition of throwing out the first baseball on opening day.

1912 - The "Titanic": HMRMS Titanic was the largest passenger steamship in the world at the time of its launching, and Titanic's builders hoped that it would dominate the transatlantic ocean liner business. Enroute to New York on her maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg some 900 miles Southeast of Newfoundland at 11:40 p.m. (ship's time) on Sunday evening April 14, and sank two hours and forty minutes later at 2:20 a.m. the next day. The sinking resulted in a great loss of life, ranking as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history and by far the most famous.

1914 - The town of Irving, Texas was incorporated.

1931 - Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaimed the "2nd Spanish Republic".

1935 -"Black Sunday", the worst dust storm of the Dust Bowl years took place.

1940 - The Royal Marines landed in Namsos, Norway and occupyied key points, preparatory to a larger force that arrived two days later.

1940 - Born this day: Loretta Lynn, country music singer.

1944 - Huge explosion rocked Bombay harbour killing 300 and causing a loss of 20 million pounds (at that time).

1962 - Georges Pompidou became Prime Minister of France.

1969 - At the Academy Awards, a tie between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand resulted in the two sharing the "Best Actress Oscar"; Hepburn also became the only actress to win three Best Actress Oscars.

1981 - The Space Shuttle Columbia passed its first test flight.

1986 - In retaliation for the bombing of a West Berlin night club where a U.S. serviceman was killed, US President Reagan ordered major bombing raids against Tripoli and Benghazi, in Libya. 60 people were killed in the raids.

1986 - 2.2 lb (1kg) hailstones fell on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These were the heaviest hailstones ever recorded.

1988 - USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) struck a mine in the Persian Gulf during "Operation Earnest Will". The U.S. retaliated against Iran on April 18 with "Operation Praying Mantis", the world's largest naval battle since World War II.

1995 - Died this day: Burl Ives, folk singer, actor (b. 1909).

2003 - Jean Charest's "Parti lib�ral du Qu�bec" defeated Bernard Landry and the seperatist "Parti Qu�b�cois" in Qu