April 21st

753 BC - Today is the traditional date of the foundation of Rome.

43 BC - Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near Modena, Italy.

1526 - Mongol Emperor Babur annihilated the Indian Army of Ibrahim Lodi.

1649 - The Maryland Toleration Act was passed, allowing all freedom of worship.

1689 - William III and Mary II were crowned joint king and queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

1789 - John Adams was sworn in as the first U.S. Vice President.

1836 - General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. This battle decided the independence of Texas.

1856 - The Mississippi River was crossed by a rail train for the first time (between Davenport, IA, and Rock Island, IL).

1862 - The U.S. Congress established the U.S. Mint in Denver, CO.

1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln's funeral train left Washington.

1892 - The first Buffalo was born in Golden Gate Park.

1898 - The Spanish-American War began.

1914 - U.S. Marines occupied Vera Cruz, Mexico.

1916 - Bill Carlisle, the infamous ‘last train robber,’ robbed a train in Hanna, WY.

1918 - German fighter ace Baron von Richthofen, "The Red Baron," was shot down and killed during World War I.

1940 - "Take It or Leave It" premiered on CBS Radio.

1943 - U.S. President Roosevelt announced that several Doolittle pilots had been executed by the Japanese.

1953 - In New York, the Sidney Janis Gallery held the Dada exhibition.

1956 - Leonard Ross, age 10, became the youngest prizewinner on the "The Big Surprise". He won $100,000.

1959 - The largest fish ever hooked by a rod and reel was caught by Alf Dean. It was a 16-foot, 10-inch white shark that weighed 2,664 pounds.

1960 - Brasilia became the capital of Brazil.

1961 - The French army revolted in Algeria.

1967 - Svetlana Alliluyeva (Svetlana Stalina) defected in New York City. She was the daughter of Joseph Stalin.

1967 - In Athens, Army colonels took over the government and installed Constantine Kollias as premier.

1972 - Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charles Duke explored the surface of the moon.

1975 - South Vietnam president, Nguyen Van Thieu, resigned, condemning the United States.

1977 - "Annie" opened on Broadway.

1984 - In France, it was announced that doctors had found virus believed to cause AIDS.

1985 - Manuel Ortega proposed a cease-fire for Nicaragua.

1986 - Geraldo Rivera opened a vault that belonged to Al Capone at the Lexington Hotel in Chicago. Nothing of interest was found inside.

1987 - Special occasion stamps were offered for the first time by the U.S. Postal Service. "Happy Birthday" and "Get Well" were among the first to be offered.

1992 - Robert Alton Harris became the first person executed by the state of California in 25 years. He was put to death for the 1978 murder of two teen-age boys.

1994 - Jackie Parker became the first woman to qualify to fly an F-16 combat plane.

1998 - Astronomers announced in Washington that they had discovered possible signs of a new family of planets orbiting a star 220 light-years away.

2000 - In Sinking Spring, PA, a man chased his estranged girlfriend through town and then forced her car into the path of an oncoming train. The woman and her 3 passengers were killed.

2000 - North Carolina researchers announced that the heart of a 66 million-year-old dinosaur was more like a mammal or bird than that of a reptile.

2000 - The 1998 Children's Online Privacy Protection Act went into effect.

2002 - In the city of General Santos, 14 people were killed and 69 were injured in a bomb attack on a department store. The attack was blamed on Muslim extremists.

2003 - North and South Korea agreed to hold Cabinet-level talks the following week.

April 22nd

1500 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral discovered Brazil.

1509 - Henry VIII ascended to the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry VII.

1529 - Spain and Portugal divided the eastern hemisphere in Treaty of Saragosa.

1745 - The Peace of Fussen was signed, restoring the status quo of Germany.

1792 - U.S. President George Washington proclaimed American neutrality in the war in Europe.

1861 - Robert E. Lee was named commander of Virginia forces.

1864 - The U.S. Congress mandated that all coins minted as U.S. currency bear the inscription "In God We Trust".

1876 - Eight baseball teams began the inaugural season of the National League.

1889 - At noon, the Oklahoma land rush officially started as thousands of Americans race for new, unclaimed land.

1898 - The first shot of the Spanish-American war occurred when the USS Nashville captured a Spanish merchant ship.

1914 - Babe Ruth made his pitching debut with the Baltimore Orioles.

1915 - At the Second Battle Ypres the Germans became the first country to use poison gas.

1915 - The New York Yankees wore pinstripes and the hat-in-the-ring logo for the first time.

1918 - British naval forces attempted to sink block-ships in the German U-boat bases at the Battle of Zeeburgge.

1930 - The U.S., Britain and Japan signed the London Naval Treaty, which regulated submarine warfare and limited shipbuilding.

1931 - Egypt signed the treaty of friendship with Iraq.

1931 - James G. Ray landed an autogyro on the lawn of the White House.

1944 - During World War II, the Allies launched a major attack against the Japanese in Hollandia, New Guinea.

1952 - An atomic test conducted in Nevada was the first nuclear explosion shown on live network television.

1954 - The U.S. Senate Army-McCarthy televised hearings began.

1967 - Randy Matson set a new world record with a shot put toss of 71 feet, and 5 1/2 inches in College Station, TX.

1970 - The first "Earth Day" was observed by millions of Americans.

1976 - Barbara Walters became first female nightly network news anchor.

1987 - The American Physical Society said that the "Star Wars" missile system was "highly questionable" and would take ten years to research.

1993 - The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was dedicated in Washington, DC.

1997 - In Lima, Peru government commandos storm and capture the residence of the Japanese ambassador ending a 126-day hostage crisis. In the rescue 71 hostages were saved. Those killed: one hostage (of a heart attack), two soldiers, and all 14 rebels.

1997 - 93 people are killed in the insurgency of extremist Muslims that continued in Algeria in a town south of Algiers.

1999 - The Watson Family received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

2000 - Elian Gonzalez was reunited with his father. He had to be taken from his Miami relatives by U.S. agents in a predawn raid.

2000 - ABC-TV aired a small portion of the Clinton-DiCaprio interview.

2002 - Philippino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered a state of emergency in the city of General Santos in response to a series of bombing attacks the day before. The attacks were blamed on Muslim extremists.

OK, got you caught up, Ron. Did you move to the North Pole, or what?

April 23rd


0303 - Perseus was arrested, tortured, and put to death.

1348 - The first English order of knighthood was founded. It was the Order of the Garter.

1500 - Pedro Cabal claimed Brazil for Portugal.

1521 - The Comuneros were crushed by royalist troops in Spain.

1759 - The British seized Basse-Terre and Guadeloupe in the Antilies from France.

1789 - U.S. President George Washington moved into Franklin House, New York. It was the first executive mansion.

1789 - "Courier De Boston" was published for the first time. It was the first Roman Catholic magazine in the U.S.

1826 - Missolonghi fell to Egyptian forces.

1861 - Arkansas troops seized Fort Smith.

1872 - Charlotte E. Ray became the first black woman lawyer.

1895 - Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.

1896 - The Vitascope system for projecting movies onto a screen was demonstrated in New York City.

1900 - The word "hillbilly" was first used in print in an article in the "New York Journal." It was spelled "Hill-Billie".

1908 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act creating the U.S. Army Reserve.

1915 - The A.C.A. became the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA).

1920 - The Turkish Grand National Assembly had its first meeting in Ankara.

1921 - Charles Paddock set a record time in the 300-meter track event when he posted a time of 33.2 seconds.

1924 - The U.S. Senate passed the Soldiers Bonus Bill.

1940 - About 200 people died in a dance-hall fire in Natchez, MS.

1945 - The Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin.

1948 - Johnny Longden became the first race jockey to ride 3,000 career winners.

1950 - Chaing evacuated Hainan, leaving mainland China to Mao and the communists.

1951 - The Associated Press began use of the new service of teletype setting.

1954 - Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit his first major-league home run on this day.

1963 - Pete Rose of the Cincinnati Reds got his first hit in the major leagues.

1964 - Ken Johnson of the Houston Astros threw the first no-hitter for a loss. The game was lost 1-0 to the Cincinnati Reds due to two errors.

1967 - The Soyuz 1 was launched by Russia.

1968 - The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged to form the United Methodist Church.

1969 - Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for killing U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life in prison.

1971 - The Soyuz 10 was launched.

1985 - The Coca-Cola Company announced that it was changing its 99-year-old secret formula. New Coke was not successful, which resulted in the resumption of selling the original version.

1985 - The U.S. House rejected $14 million in aid to Nicaragua.

1987 - An apartment complex being built in Bridgeport, Connecticut collapsed. 28 construction workers were killed.

1988 - A U.S. federal law took effect that banned smoking on flights that were under two hours.

1988 - Kanellos Kanelopoulos set three world records for human-powered flight when he stayed in the air for 74 miles and four hours in his pedal-powered "Daedalus".

1989 - It was reported that 277 had been killed in the most recent rebel attack in Afghanistan.

1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his last regular season game in the NBA.

1996 - A New York civil-court jury ordered Bernhard Goetz to pay $43 million to Darrell Cabey. Cabey was paralyzed when he was shot in subway car in 1984.

1996 - An auction of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' possessions began at Sotheby's in New York City.

1997 - An infertility doctor in California announced that a 63-year-old woman had given birth in late 1996. The child was from a donor egg. The woman is the oldest known woman to give birth.

1998 - James Earl Ray died, at age 70, while serving a life sentence for the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Ray had confessed to the crime and then later insisted he had been framed.

1999 - In Washington, DC, the heads of state and government of the 19 NATO nations celebrated the organization's 50th anniversary.

2003 - U.S. President Bush signed legislation that authorized the design change of the 5-cent coin (nickel) for release in 2004. It was the first change to the coin in 65 years. The change, to commemorate the 200th annivesary of the Louisiana Purchase, was planned to run for only two years before returning to the previous design.

April 24th

1519 - Envoys of Montezuma II attended the first Easter mass in Central America.

1547 - Charles V's troops defeated the Protestant League of Schmalkalden at the battle of Muhlburg.

1558 - Mary, Queen of Scotland, married the French dauphin, Francis.

1800 - The Library of Congress was established with a $5,000 allocation.

1805 - The U.S. Marines attacked and captured the town of Derna in Tripoli.

1833 - A patent was granted for first soda fountain.

1877 - Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.

1877 - In the U.S., federal troops were ordered out of New Orleans. This was the end to the North's post-Civil War rule in the South.

1884 - Otto von Bismarck cables Cape Town that South Africa was now a German colony.

1889 - The Edison General Electric Company was organized.

1897 - William Price became the first to be named White House news reporter.

1898 - Spain declared war on the U.S., rejecting America's ultimatum for Spain to withdraw from Cuba.

1915 - The mass deportation of Armenians by Turks began during World War I.

1916 - Irish nationalist launched the Easter Rebellion against British occupation forces. They were overtaken several days later.

1944 - The first B-29 arrived in China, over the Hump of the Himalayas.

1948 - The Berlin airlift began to relieve the surrounded city.

1952 - Raymond Burr made his TV acting debut on the "Gruen Guild Playhouse" in an episode titled, "The Tiger."

1953 - Winston Churchill was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

1955 - "X-Minus One," a science fiction show, was first heard for the first time on NBC radio.

1961 - Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers struck out 18 batters becoming the first major-league pitcher to do so on two different occasions.

1961 - U.S. President Kennedy accepted "sole responsibility" following Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

1962 - MIT sent a TV signal by satellite for the first time.

1967 - Soviet astronaut Vladimir Komarov died when his craft crashed with a tangled parachute.

1967 - The newest Greek regime banned miniskirts.

1968 - Leftist students took over several campus buildings at Columbia University.

1970 - The People's Republic of China launched its first satellite.

1973 - Albert Sabin reported that herpesviruses were factors in nine kinds of cancer.

1974 - David Bowie released "Diamond Dogs."

1981 - The IBM Personal Computer was introduced.

1987 - In Palm Bay, FL, a gunman opened fire in a mall. He killed six and wounded 10.

1989 - Thousands of students began striking in Beijing.

1990 - The space shuttle Discovery blasted off from Cape Canaveral, FL. It was carrying the $1.5 billion Hubble Space Telescope.

1990 - Michael Milken plead guilty to six felonies and agreed to pay a $600 million penalty. He was later sentenced to ten years in prison. Milken had sold junk-bond in the 1980s.

1994 - Madonna visited the San Antonio Spurs locker room to congratulate David Robinson on his 71-point performance.

1997 - The U.S. Senate ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention. The global treaty banned the development, production, storage and use of chemical weapons.

1998 - ABC confirmed that it was canceling the TV series "Ellen." The show was the first series to feature an openly gay lead character.

2000 - ABC-TV aired the TV movie "The Three Stooges."

2003 - A U.S. official reported the North Korea had claimed to have nuclear weapons.

April 25th



1599 - Born this day: Oliver Cromwell, statesman (d. 1658).

1607 - In the "Eighty Years' War" the Dutch fleet destroyed the anchored Spanish fleet at Gibraltar.

1707 - An Allied Austrian army was defeated by the Bourbon army at Almansa (Spain) in "The War of the Spanish Succession".

1719 - Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe, was first published.

1792 - Highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier became the first person to be executed by guillotine.

1831 - "The Lion of the West", a play celebrating Davy Crockett, opened in New York City.

1840 - Born this day: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer (d. 1893).

1846 - "The Thornton Affair": Open conflict began over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican-American War.

1849 - The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signed the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal's English population and triggering "The Montreal Riots".

1859 - Ground was first broken for the Suez Canal.

1862 - American Civil War: Forces under Union Admiral David Farragut capture the Confederate city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

1864 - American Civil War: "The Battle of Mark's Mills" – Confederate forces seized a Union wagon supply train on its way to Camden, Arkansas forcing Union General Frederick Steele to withdraw his troops to Little Rock, Arkansas.

1898 - Spanish-American War: The United States declared war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announced that a state of war had existed since April 21.

1901 - New York became the first U.S. state to require automobile license plates.

1908 - Born this day: Edward R. Murrow, journalist (d. 1965).

1915 - The "ANZAC" tradition began during World War I with a landing at Gallipoli on the Turkish coast.

1916 - "The Easter Rebellion": Britain declared martial law in Ireland. This lasted until April 29, the end of the rebellion.

1916 - "ANZAC Day" was commemorated for the first time.

1917 - Born this day: Ella Fitzgerald, jazz singer (d. 1996).

1926 - Reza Khan was crowned Shah of Iran under the name "Reza Pahlavi".

1940 - Born this day: Al Pacino, actor.

1945 - US and Soviet troops met in Torgau along the River Elbe, cutting the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany in two. This was a milestone in the approaching end of World War II in Europe.

1945 - The United Nations was organized in San Francisco, California, by 50 nations.

1953 - Francis Crick and James D. Watson published "Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid describing the double helix structure of DNA.

1959 - "The Saint Lawrence Seaway", linking the North American Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean, officially opened to shipping.

1961 - Robert Noyce was granted a patent for an integrated circuit.

1972 - Vietnam War: "The Nguyen Hue Offensive" – The North Vietnamese 320th Division forced 5,000 South Vietnamese troops to retreat and trapped about 2,500 others northwest of Kontum.

1974 - "The Carnation Revolution": A coup in Portugal restored democracy.

1975 - As North Vietnamese forces closed in on the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, the Australian Embassy was closed and evacuated, almost ten years to the day of the first Australian troop commitment to South Vietnam.

1980 - A commando mission in Iran to rescue American embassy hostages was aborted after mechanical problems grounded the rescue helicopters. Eight US troops were killed in a mid-air collision during the failed operation.

1981 - More than 100 workers were exposed to radiation during repairs to a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan.

1982 - Israel completed its withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula per the Camp David Accords.

1983 - American schoolgirl Samantha Smith was invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.

1983 - "Pioneer 10" travelled beyond Pluto's orbit.

1988 - In Israel, John Demjanuk was sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II. He was convicted of being a notorious guard at the Treblinka extermination camp known as "Ivan the Terrible" by survivors.

1989 - James Richardson was freed from a Florida prison 21 years after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his seven children.

1990 - Space Shuttle program: STS-31 – Astronauts aboard the Discovery deployed the "Hubble Space Telescope".

1993 - 300,000 homosexuals marched on Washington, DC demanding freedom from discrimination.

1995 - Died this day: Ginger Rogers, actress, dancer extrordinaire (b. 1911).

April 26th

1478 - "The Pazzi" attacked Lorenzo de' Medici and killed his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Florence Cathedral.

1489 - Died this day: Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1465).

1607 - English colonists made landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia. They later moved up the James River to found Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

1785 - Born this day: John James Audubon, naturalist, artist/illustrator (d. 1851).

1812 - Born this day: Alfred Krupp, German industrialist and founder of the "Krupps Works" (d. 1887).

1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendered his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at Durham Station, North Carolina.

1865 - Union cavalry troopers corner President Lincoln's assassin, in a barn in Virginia. He is shot dead by a cavalryman.

1886 - Born this day: Ma Rainey, blues singer (d. 1939).

1925 - Paul von Hindenburg defeated Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election. He became the first directly elected "Reichspräsident", head of state of the Weimar Republic.

1933 - The Gestapo, official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.

1933 - Born this day: Carol Burnett, singer, actress, comedienne.

1934 - Born this day: Alan Arkin, actor

1937 - During "The Spanish Civil War" Guernica, Spain is bombed by the German Luftwaffe.

1942 - The worst-ever mining accident in history killed 1,549 miners in an explosion at the Honkeiko Colliery, Manchuria.

1946 - Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claimed to be God, married the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.

1954 - The 1954 Geneva Conference begins. The international conference was held in Geneva in an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea.

1962 - Ranger program: The "Ranger 4" spacecraft crashed onto the Moon's lunar surface.

1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merged to form Tanzania.

1970 - Died this day: Gypsy Rose Lee, actress, burlesque queen (b. 1911).

1971 - Vietnam War: The American force level in Vietnam dropped to 281,400 men, the lowest number since July 1966.

1972 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced that another 20,000 U.S. troops were to be withdrawn from the war in May and June, reducing the authorized troop level to 49,000.

1984 - Died this day: Count Basie, swing era band leader, musician and composer (b. 1904).

1986 - In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant exploded, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster. Thirty-one people were killed directly in the incident and many thousands more were exposed to significant amounts of radioactive material.

1989 - Died this day: Comedy legend Lucille Ball (b. 1911).

1991 - Seventy tornadoes broke out in the central United States. Before its end Andover, Kansas would record the year's only "F5" tornado and 17 people would perish.

1994 - South Africa held its first multiracial elections.

1994 - A "China Airlines" Airbus A-300-600R crashed at Nagoya Airport, Japan killing 264.

2002 - A 19-year-old student shot and killed 17 people at his school in Erfurt, Germany.

April 27th



1124 - David became King of Scotland.

1296 - At "The Battle of Dunbar" the Scots were defeated by English forces under Edward I.

1509 - Pope Julius II placed the Italian state of Venice under interdict.

1521 - At "The Battle of Mactan" in the Philippines explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed by natives led by chief Lapu-Lapu.

1565 - Cebu was established, becoming the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines.

1650 - At "The Battle of Carbisdale" a Royalist army invaded mainland Scotland from the Orkney Islands. It was defeated by a Covenanter army.

1667 - A blind and impoverished John Milton sold the copyright of "Paradise Lost" for £10.

1773 - The British Parliament passed "The Tea Act", designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1791 - Born this day: Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of Morse code (d. 1872)

1805 - During "The First Barbary War" US Marines and Berbers attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna. This is the "shores of Tripoli" part of the Marines' hymn.

1813 - During "The War of 1812" US troops captured York (present day Toronto) the capital of Ontario.

1822 - Born this day: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States (d. 1885).

1840 - The first foundation stone for the new "Palace of Westminster" was laid by the wife of Sir Charles Barry, in London.

1861 - President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus.

1865 - The steamboat "Sultana", carrying 2,300 passengers, exploded and sank in the Mississippi River killing 1,700, most of whom were Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison.

1882 - Died this day: Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist (b. 1803).

1897 - Grant's Tomb was dedicated.

1904 - The Australian Labor Party, under Chris Watson, became the first socialist party to gain national government vstatus.

1908 - The Summer Olympics opened in London. (In April yet!)

1909 - The Sultan of Turkey, Abdul Hamid II was overthrown, and was succeeded by his brother, Murat V.

1927 - Born this day: Coretta King, civil rights activist and widow of Reverend Martin Luther King.

1936 - The United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) gained autonomy from the American Federation of Labor.

1941 - World War II: German troops entered Athens.

1945 - "Völkischer Beobachter", the newspaper of the Nazi Party, ceased publication.

1947 - Babe Ruth Day was celebrated at Yankee Stadium.

1950 - Apartheid: In South Africa, "The Group Areas Act" was passed formally segregating races.

1960 - Togo gained its independence from French-administered UN trusteeship.

1961 - Sierra Leone was granted its independence from Great Britain, with Milton Margai as the first Prime Minister.

1967 - Expo '67 opened in Montreal, Quebec.

1972 - A constructive Vote of "No Confidence" against German Chancellor Willy Brandt failed under obscure circumstances.

1981 - Xerox PARC introduced the computer mouse.

1986 - "Captain Midnight" (John R. MacDougall) hijacked HBO's satellite and transmitted his own message to HBO viewers.

1992 - The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed, comprising of Serbia and Montenegro.

1994 - Voting ended in the South African general election. This was the first democratic general election in South Africa where black citizens were allowed to vote.

1994 - The funeral of former U.S. President Richard Nixon was held in Nixon's hometown of Yorba Linda, California. Several foriegn dignitaries and all five living U.S. presidents attended.

1997 - A serial killer murdered Jeffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that would last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.

1999 - Died this day: Al Hirt, musician (b. 1922).

April 28th



1253 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounded Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declared it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.

1788 - Maryland became the 7th state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.

1789 - The mutiny on HMAV Bounty. (Lt.) Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors were set adrift and the rebel crew set sail for Pitcairn Island.

1796 - "The Armistice of Cherasco" was signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.

1862 - American Civil War: Admiral David Farragut captured New Orleans, Louisiana.

1878 - Born this day: Lionel Barrymore, actor (d. 1954).

1896 - Born this day: Charlie Rivel, clown (d. 1983).

1908 - Born this day: Oskar Schindler, German businessman, operator of Jewish protectorate during WWII (d. 1974).

1920 - Azerbaijan was added to the Soviet Union.

1930 - The first night game in organized baseball history took place in Independence, Kansas.

1932 - A vaccine for yellow fever was announced for use on humans.

1937 - The Museum of Costume Arts opened in New York City.

1941 - Born this day: Ann-Margret, actress.

1945 - Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed (murdered) by members of the Italian resistance movement.

1947 - Thor Heyerdahl and five crewmates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.

1950 - Born this day: Jay Leno, comedian, political satirist.

1952 - Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Supreme Commander of NATO in order to run for the office of President of the United States.

1952 - The United States occupation of Japan ended.

1965 - United States troops landed in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. citizens.

1969 - Charles de Gaulle resigned as President of France. (We're all still cheering!)

1970 - Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorized American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.

1977 - "The Red Army Faction Trial" ended, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.

1978 - President of Afghanistan Mohammed Daoud Khan was overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.

1987 - 27-year old American engineer Ben Linder was killed in an ambush by US-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua. His death set off a fierce debate in the United States.

1988 - Near Maui, Hawaii, a flight attendant was sucked out of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 and fell to her death when an upper part of the plane's cabin area ripped off in mid-flight. Metal fatigue was later found to be the cause of the failure.

1990 - After 6,237 performances, the Broadway musical "A Chorus Line" closed.

1994 - Former Central Intelligence Agency official Aldrich Ames pled guilty to giving US secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.

1996 - Whitewater scandal: President Bill Clinton gave a 4 1/2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

1996 - The world's worst 'spree killer' killed 35 people, and wounded another 18 at the "Port Arthur Massacre" in Tasmania, Australia.

1997 - The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed in Paris in January 1993, went into effect. Russia, Iraq and North Korea were the notable nations who had not ratified the treaty.

2001 - Millionnaire Dennis Tito became the world's first space tourist.

2002 - Died this day: Ruth Handler, inventor of the Barbie Doll (b. 1916).

2003 - Apple Computer's "iTunes Music Store" launched, selling 1 million songs in its first week.

April 29th

1289 - Qala'un, the Sultan of Egypt, captured Tripoli.

1429 - Joan of Arc lead Orleans, France, to victory over Britain.

1661 - The Chinese Ming dynasty occupied Taiwan.

1672 - King Louis XIV of France invaded the Netherlands.

1813 - Rubber was patented by J.F. Hummel.

1852 - The first edition of Peter Roget's Thesaurus was published.

1856 - A peace treaty was signed between England and Russia.

1858 - Austrian troops invaded Piedmont.

1861 - The Maryland House of Delegates voted against seceding from Union.

1862 - New Orleans fell to Union forces during the Civil War.

1864 - Theta Xi was founded in Troy, New York.

1879 - In Cleveland, OH, electric arc lights were used for the first time.

1913 - Gideon Sundback patented an all-purpose zipper.

1916 - Irish nationalists surrendered to British authorities in Dublin.

1918 - Germany's Western Front offensive ended in World War I.

1924 - An open revolt broke out in Santa Clara, Cuba.

1927 - Construction of the Spirit of St. Louis was completed for Lindbergh.

1941 - The Boston Bees agreed to change their name to the Braves.

1945 - The German Army in Italy surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

1945 - In a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were married. Hitler designated Admiral Karl Doenitz his successor.

1945 - The Nazi death camp, Dachau, was liberated.

1946 - Twenty-eight former Japanese leaders were indicted in Tokyo as war criminals.

1952 - IBM President Thomas J. Watson, Jr., informed his company's stockholders that IBM was building "the most advanced, most flexible high-speed computer in the world." The computer was unveiled April 7, 1953, as the IBM 701 Electronic Data Processing Machine.

1954 - Ernest Borgnine made his network television debut in "Night Visitor" on NBC-TV.

1961 - ABC’s "Wide World of Sports" premiered.

1974 - Phil Donahue’s TV show, "Donahue" moved to Chicago, IL.

1974 - U.S. President Nixon announced he was releasing edited transcripts of secretly made White House tape recordings related to the Watergate scandal.

1975 - The U.S. embassy in Vietnam was evacuated as North Vietnamese forces fought their way into Saigon.

1981 - Steve Carlton, of the Philadelphia Phillies, became the first left-handed pitcher in the major leagues to get 3,000 career strikeouts.

1984 - In California, the Diablo Canyon nuclear reactor went online after a long delay due to protests.

1985 - Billy Martin was brought back, for the fourth time, to the position of manager for the New York Yankees.

1986 - Roger Clemens of the Boston Red Sox set a major-league baseball record by striking out 20 Seattle Mariner batters.

1988 - The Baltimore Orioles set a new major league baseball record by losing their first 21 games of the season.

1988 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev promised more religious freedom.

1990 - The destruction of the Berlin Wall began.

1992 - Exxon executive Sidney Reso was kidnapped outside his Morris Township, NJ, home by Arthur Seale. Seale was a former Exxon security official. Reso died while in captivity.

1992 - Rioting began after a jury decision to acquit four Los Angeles policemen in the Rodney King beating trial. 54 people were killed in 3 days.

1994 - Israel and the PLO signed an agreement in Paris which granted Palestinians broad authority to set taxes, control trade and regulate banks under self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.

1996 - Former CIA Director William Colby was missing and presumed drowned after an apparent boating accident in Maryland. Colby's body was later recovered.

1997 - Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson, a drill instructor at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, was convicted of raping six female trainees. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and was dishonorably discharged.

1997 - Astronaut Jerry Linenger and cosmonaut Vasily Tsibliyev went on the first U.S.-Russian space walk.

1998 - The U.S., Canada and Mexico end tariffs on $1 billion in NAFTA trade.

1998 - Brazil announced a plan to protect a large are of Amazon forest. The area was about the size of Colorado.

2002 - Kelsey Grammer and his production company, Grammnet Inc., were ordered to pay more than $2 million in unpaid commissions to his former talent agency.

2003 - Mr. T (Laurence Tureaud) filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Co. Inc., that claimed the store did not have permission to use his likeness in a print ad.

April 30th

0030 - Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.

0313 - Licinius unified the whole of the eastern empire under his own rule.

1250 - King Louis IX of France was ransomed for one million dollars.

1527 - Henry VIII and King Francis of France signed the treaty of Westminster.

1563 - All Jews were expelled from France by order of Charles VI.

1725 - Spain withdrew from Quadruple Alliance.

1789 - George Washington took office as first elected U.S. president.

1803 - The U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.

1812 - Louisiana admitted as the 18th U.S. state.

1849 - The republican patriot and guerrilla leader Giuseppe Garabaldi repulsed a French attack on Rome.

1864 - Work began on the Dams along the Red River. The work would allow Union General Nathaniel Banks' troops to sail over the rapids above Alexandria, Louisiana.

1889 - George Washington's inauguration became the first U.S. national holiday.

1900 - Hawaii was organized as an official U.S. territory.

1900 - Casey Jones was killed while trying to save the runaway train "Cannonball Express."

1930 - The Soviet Union proposed a military alliance with France and Great Britain.

1931 - The George Washington Bridge, linking New York City and New Jersey, opened.

1939 - The first railroad car equipped with fluorescent lights was put into service. The train car was known as the "General Pershing Zephyr."

1939 - Lou Gehrig played his last game with the New York Yankees.

1940 - Belle Martell was licensed in California by state boxing officials. She was the first American woman, prizefight referee.

1943 - The British submarine HMS Seraph dropped 'the man who never was,' a dead man the British planted with false invasion plans, into the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain.

1945 - Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide. They had been married for one day. One week later Germany surrendered unconditionally.

1945 - Arthur Godfrey began his CBS radio morning show "Arthur Godfrey Time." It ran until this day in 1972.

1947 - The name of Boulder Dam, in Nevada, was changed back to Hoover Dam.

1948 - The Organization of American States held its first meeting in Bogota, Colombia.

1953 - The British West Indian colonies agreed on the formation of the British Caribbean Federation that would eventually become a self-governing unit in the British Commonwealth.

1964 - The FCC ruled that all TV receivers should be equipped to receive both VHF and UHF channels.

1967 - Muhammad Ali was stripped of his world heavyweight boxing championship when he refused to be inducted into the U.S. military service. Ali claimed his religion conflicted with being inducted into the military.

1968 - U.S. Marines attacked a division of North Vietnamese in the village of Dai Do.

1970 - U.S. troops invaded Cambodia to disrupt North Vietnamese Army base areas. The announcement by U.S. President Nixon led to widespread protests.

1972 - The North Vietnamese launched an invasion of the South.

1973 - U.S. President Nixon announced resignation of Haldeman, Ehrlichman, and other top aides.

1975 - Communists North Vietnamese troops entered the Independence Palace of South Vietnam in Saigon. 11 Marines lifted off of the U.S. Embassy were the last soldiers to evacuate.

1980 - Terrorists seized the Iranian Embassy in London.

1984 - U.S. President Reagan signed cultural and scientific agreements with China. He also signed a tax accord that would make it easier for American companies to operate in China.

1991 - An estimated 125,000 people were killed in a cyclone that hit Bangladesh.

1993 - Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during a tennis match in Hamburg, Germany. The man called himself a fan of second- ranked Steffi Graf. He was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and received a suspended sentence.

1997 - ABC aired the "coming out" episode of the sitcom "Ellen." The title character, played by Ellen DeGeneres, admitted she was a lesbian.

1998 - NATO was expanded to include Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The three nations were formally admitted the following April at NATO's 50th anniversary summit.

1998 - United and Delta airlines announced their alliance that would give them control of 1/3 of all U.S. passenger seats.

1998 - In the U.S., Federal regulators fined a contractor $2.25 million for improper handling of oxygen canisters on ValuJet that crashed in the Florida Everglades in 1996.

2001 - Chandra Levy was last seen in Washington, DC. Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park on May 22, 2002. California Congressman Gary Condit was questioned in the case due to his relationship with Levy.

2002 - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was overwhelmingly approved for another five years as president.

May 1st

Happy May Day!

0408 - Theodosius II succeeded to the throne of Constantinople.

1308 - King Albert was murdered by his nephew John, because he refused his share of the Habsburg lands.

1486 - Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella to fund an expedition to the West Indies.

1707 - England, Wales and Scotland were united to form Great Britain.

1751 - America’s first cricket tournament was held in New York City.

1805 - The state of Virginia passed a law requiring all freed slaves to leave the state, or risk either imprisonment or deportation.

1863 - In Virginia, the Battle of Chancellorsville began. General Robert E. Lee's forces began fighting with Union troops under General Joseph Hooker. Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded by his own soldiers in this battle. (May 1-4)

1867 - Reconstruction in the South began with black voter registration.

1877 - U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes withdrew all Federal troops from the South, ending Reconstruction.

1883 - William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) had his first Wild West Show.

1884 - The construction of the firt American 10-story building began in Chicago, IL.

1898 - The U.S. Navy under Dewey defeated the Spanish fleet at Manila Bay in the Philippines.

1912 - In London's Kensington Gardens, a statue of Peter Pan was erected.

1915 - A German submarine sank the U.S. ship Gulflight.

1922 - Charlie Robertson of the Chicago White Sox pitched a perfect no-hit, no-run game against the Detroit Tigers. The Sox won 3-0. Another perfect game did not come along until 46 years later.

1927 - Adolf Hitler held his first Nazi meeting in Berlin.

1931 - The Empire State Building in New York was dedicated and opened. It was 102 stories tall and was the tallest building in the world at the time.

1934 - The Philippine legislature accepted a U.S. proposal for independence.

1937 - U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act of neutrality, keeping the United States out of World War II.

1941 - "Citizen Kane," directed and starring Orson Welles, premiered in New York.

1944 - The Messerschmitt Me 262, the first combat jet, made its first flight.

1945 - Martin Bormann, private secretary to Adolf Hitler, escaped from the Fuehrerbunker as the Red Army advanced on Berlin.

1945 - Admiral Karl Doenitz succeeded Hitler as leader of the Third Reich. This was one day after Hitler committed suicide.

1948 - The People's Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea) was proclaimed.

1950 - Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for her book of poetry called Annie Allen.

1958 - James Van Allen reported that two radiation belts encircled Earth.

1960 - Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Powers was taken prisoner.

1961 - Fidel Castro announced there would be no more elections in Cuba.

1967 - Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president of Nicaragua.

1968 - In the second day of battle, U.S. Marines, with the support of naval fire, continue their attack on a North Vietnamese Division at Dai Do.

1969 - Leonard Tose bought the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles for $16,155,000.

1970 - Students at Kent State University riot in downtown Kent, OH, in protest of the American invasion of Cambodia.

1971 - The National Railroad Passenger Copr. (Amtrak) went into service. It was established by the U.S. Congress to run the nation's intercity railroads.

1986 - The Tass News Agency reported the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident.

1986 - Bill Elliott set a stock car speed record with his Ford Thunderbird in Talladega, AL. Elliott reached a speed of 212.229 mph.

1989 - Disney-MGM Studios opened.

1992 - On the third day of the Los Angeles riots resulting from the Rodney King beating trial. King appeared in public to appeal for calm, he asked, "Can we all get along?"

1998 - Arrow Air was fined $5 million for using spare parts that lacked federal approval in the U.S.

1999 - On Mount Everest, a group of U.S. mountain climbers discovered the body of George Mallory. Mallory had died in June of 1924 while trying to become the first person to reach the summit of Everest. At the time of the discovery it was unclear whether or not Mallory had actually reached the summit.

2000 - ABC aired the first celebrity "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?." ---and I said; "I do", but they weren't listening.

2000 - The "Barbie for President" doll was released in stores.

2001 - In Washington, DC, Chandra Levy disappeared. She was an intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. California Representative Gary Condit was named in the investigation. Her body was found on May 22, 2002 in Rock Creek Park.

May 2nd

1519 - Leonardo da Vinci died.

1670 - The Hudson Bay Company was founded by England's King Charles II.

1776 - France and Spain agreed to donate arms to American rebels fighting the British.

1797 - A mutiny in the British navy spread from Spithead to the rest of the fleet.

1798 - The black General Toussaint L’ouverture forced British troops to agree to evacuate the port of Santo Domingo.

1808 - The citizens of Madrid rose up against Napoleon.

1813 - Napoleon defeated a Russian and Prussian army at Grossgorschen.

1853 - Franconi’s Hippodrome opened at Broadway and 23rd Street in New York City.

1863 - Confederate Gen. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was wounded by his own men in the battle of Chancellorsville, VA. He died 8 days later.

1865 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson offered $100,000 reward for the capture of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

1885 - The Congo Free State was established by King Leopold II of Belgium.

1885 - "Good Housekeeping" was first published.

1887 - Hannibal W. Goodwin applied for a patent on celluloid photographic film. This is the film from which movies are shown.

1890 - The Oklahoma Territory was organized.

1902 - "A Trip To The Moon," the first science fiction film was released. It was created by magician George Melies.

1919 - The first U.S. air passenger service started.

1922 - WBAP-AM bean broadcasting in north Texas.

1926 - In India, Hindu women gained the right to seek elected office.

1926 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua to put down a revolt and to protect U.S. interests. They did not depart until 1933.

1932 - Jack Benny's first radio show debuted on NBC Radio.

1933 - Hitler banned trade unions in Germany.

1939 - Lou Gehrig set a new major league baseball record when he played in his 2,130th game. The streak began on June 1, 1925.

1941 - Hostilities broke out between British forces in Iraq and that country’s pro-German faction.

1941 - The Federal Communications Commission agreed to let regular scheduling of TV broadcasts by commercial TV stations begin on July 1, 1941. This was the start of network television.

1945 - Russians took Berlin after 12 days of fierce house-to-house fighting. The Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

1946 - Prisoners revolted at California's Alcatraz prison.

1954 - Stan Musial of the St. Louis Cardinals set a new major league record when he hit 5 home runs against the New York Giants.

1960 - Caryl Chessman was executed. He was a convicted sex offender and had become a best selling author while on death row.

1965 - The "Early Bird" satellite was used to transmit television pictures across the Atlantic.

1970 - Student anti-war protesters at Ohio's Kent State University burn down the campus ROTC building. The National Guard took control of the campus.

1974 - Former U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew was disbarred by the Maryland Court of Appeals.

1974 - The filming of "Jaws" began in Martha's Vineyard, MA.

1982 - The British submarine HMS Conqueror sank Argentina's only cruiser, the General Belgrano during the Falkland Islands War. More than 350 people died.

1993 - At Washington's National Gallery of Art, an exhibit of 80 paintings from the collection of Dr. Albert C. Barnes opened.

1993 - Authorities said that they had recovered the remains of David Koresh from the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, TX.

1994 - Nelson Mandela claimed victory after South Africa's first democratic elections.

1999 - In Panama, Mireya Moscoso de Grubar, of the Armulfista Party, was elected president.

2002 - It was reported that Phyllis Diller had retired from touring.

May 3rd

1568 - French forces in Florida slaughtered hundreds of Spanish.

1802 - Washington, DC, was incorporated as a city.

1855 - Macon B. Allen became the first African American to be admitted to the Bar in Massachusetts.

1859 - France declared war on Austria.

1888 - Thomas Edison organized the Edison Phonograph Works.

1916 - Irish nationalist Padraic Pearse and two others were executed by the British for their roles in the Easter Rising.

1921 - West Virginia imposed the first state sales tax.

1926 - The revival of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" opened in New York.

1926 - U.S. Marines landed in Nicaragua and stayed until 1933.

1926 - In Britain, trade unions began a general strike.

1927 - Francis E.J. Wilde of Meadowmere Park, NY, patented the electric sign flasher.

1933 - The U.S. Mint was under the direction of a woman for the first time when Nellie Ross took the position.

1937 - Margaret Mitchell won a Pulitzer Prize for "Gone With The Wind."

1944 - Wartime rationing of most grades of meats ended in the U.S.

1944 - Dr. Robert Woodward and Dr. William Doering produced the first synthetic quinine at Harvard University.

1945 - Indian forces captured Rangoon, Burma, from the Japanese.

1948 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities were legally unenforceable.

1952 - The first airplane landed at the geographic North Pole.

1966 - The game "Twister" was featured on the "Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

1968 - After three days of battle, the U.S. Marines retook Dai Do complex in Vietnam. They found that the North Vietnamese had evacuated the area.

1971 - Anti-war protesters began four days of demonstrations in Washington, DC.

1971 - National Public Radio broadcast for the first time.

1971 - James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King's assassin, was caught in a jailbreak attempt.

1986 - In NASA's first post-Challenger launch, an unmanned Delta rocket lost power in its main engine shortly after liftoff. Safety officers destroyed it by remote control.

1988 - The White House acknowledged that first lady Nancy Reagan had used astrological advice to help schedule her husband's activities.

1992 - Five days of rioting and looting ended in Los Angeles, CA. The riots, that killed 53 people, began after the acquittal of police officers in the beating of Rodney King.

1997 - The "Republic of Texas" surrendered to authorities ending an armed standoff where two people were held hostage. The group asserts the independence of Texas from the U.S.

1998 - "The Sevres Road," by 18-century landscape painter Camille Corot, stolen from the Louvre in France.

1999 - Mark Manes, at age 22, was arrested for supplying a gun to Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold, who later killed 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado.

1999 - Hasbro released the first collection of toys for the Star Wars movie "Episode I: The Phantom Menace."

1999 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 11,000 for the first time.

2000 - The trial of two Libyans accused of killing 270 people in the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 (over Lockerbie) opened.