April 5......

April 5 is the 95th (96th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 270 days remaining in the year on this date.

Best Liberal Quote of the Day: On the Bible "Make your own bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stupidest Quote from the Right for the Day: On Ineptitude "Mathematics are one of the fundamentaries of educationalizing our youths." — George W. Bush, in an address to Congress

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 2348 - -BC- Noah's ark grounded, Mount Ararat (calculated date)

● 456 - St. Patrick returns to Ireland as a missionary bishop.

● 823 - Pope Peschalis I crowns Lotharius I, co-emperor of France

● 1058 - Bishop John "Minchio", elected as Pope Benedictus X

● 1208 - Quetzalcoatl, Toltec king, priest, astronomer, and culture-hero, dies; he reduced Mayan calendar and appendices to a system of signs and ideographs which fitted all languages equally.

● 1242 - Battle on the More of Pskov Estonia

● 1242 - During a battle on the ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

● 1531 - Richard Roose boiled to death for trying to poison an archbishop.

● 1566 - 200 Netherlands noblemen, led by Hendrik van Brederode, force themselves into the presence of Margaret of Parma and present the Petition of Compromise, denouncing the Inquisition in the Netherlands and demanding its immediate dismantling. Margaret agrees to suspend the Inquisition while a delegation is sent to Spain to petition Philip II himself.

● 1585 - Clemens Crabbeels becomes bishop of Hertogenbosch

● 1588 - Birth of Thomas Hobbes, philosopher ("life is nasty, brutish, and short"), England. Bequeathed name to a certain perhaps stuffed tiger.

● 1603 - New English king James I departs Edinburgh for London

● 1609 - Daimyo (Lord) of the Satsuma clan in Southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.

● 1614 - In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas forced to marry English colonist John Rolfe.

● 1614 - 2nd parliament of King James I begins session (no enactments)

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

● 1648 - Spanish troops/feudal barons strike down people's uprising in Naples

● 1649 - Elihu Yale, the English philanthropist for whom Yale University is named, was born in Boston.

● 1654 - The Treaty of Westminster, ending the First Anglo-Dutch War, is signed.

● 1722 - Jacob Roggeveen discovers Easter Island

● 1739 - French emperor Karel VI sign secret treaty

● 1751 - Adolf Frederik of Holstein-Gottorp crowns himself king of Sweden

● 1762 - British take Grenada, West Indies, from French

● 1784 - Birth of Louis Spohr, German violin virtuoso and composer. He is best remembered today for composing the hymn tunes GERALD ("I Want a Principle Within") and SPOHR ("All Things Bright and Beautiful").

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

● 1795 - Peace between France and Prussia signed, Basil, Switzerland.

● 1802 - Pioneer Methodist bishop Francis Asbury wrote in his journal: 'I am often drawn out in thankfulness to God, who hath saved a mother of mine and, I trust, a father also, who are already in glory, where I hope to meet them both."

● 1804 - The first recorded meteorite falls in Possil, Scotland (High Possil Meteorite).

● 1806 - Isaac Quintard patents apple cider mill.

● 1811 - Death of Robert Raikes, 76, the English philanthropist regarded by many as the founder (in 1780) of the modern Sunday School movement.

● 1812 - British storm Badajoz fortress, held by French & Spanish

● 1815 - Eruption of Tambora volcano (Sumbawa Java)

● 1839 - Birth of Constant Martin, Entrevaux (the Low-Alps). Member of the Paris Commune (elected as the teachers' delegate), First International, Blanquist, anarchist. Created a French school in London, attended by children of exiles. A founder of the Blanquist party before rejoining the anarchists, writing for the libertarian press. Following the repression of the anarchists during the "Trial of the 30" he was condemned to 20 years forced labor and took refuge, once again, in London, returning to France in 1896 when the sentence was dropped.

● 1843 - Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.

● 1856 - Booker T. Washington, the educator and reformer who became an important spokesperson for black Americans at the turn of the 20th century, was born.

● 1861 - Federals abandon Fort Quitman TX

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

● 1865 - Battle at Amelia Springs/Jetersville VA (Appomattox Campaign)

● 1869 - Daniel Bakeman, the last surviving soldier of the U.S. Revolutionary War, died at the age of 109.

● 1874 - Birkenhead Park, the first civic public park, was opened in Birkenhead.

● 1877 - Italy - Debut of the anarchist "Gang of Matese." Carlo Cafiero, Errico Malatesta, and Pietro Cesaro Ceccarelli are among the 26 who will be so-called by the government after the town of Letino declares a social revolution and libertarian communism three days hence.

● 1881 - Transvaal regains independence under British suzerainty

● 1892 - Walter H. Coe patented gold leaf in rolls.

● 1894 - 11 strikers killed in riot at Connellsville PA

● 1895 - Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been accused of homosexual practices.

● 1897 - Spain - Benevento anarchist uprising.

● 1897 - The Greco-Turkish War, also called "Thirty Days' War", is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

● 1900 - Attempted assassination of Prince of Wales in Brussels, fails

● 1902 - Soccer match riot between Scotland & England kills 25

● 1906 - St Pius X encyclical "On the Mariavites or Mystic Priests of Poland"

● 1908 - British premier Henry Campbell-Bannerman resigns

● 1908 - The Japanese Army reached the Yalu River as the Russians retreated.

● 1911 - Victor Berger, socialist congressperson (Milwaukee), demands withdrawal of U.S. troops from Mexican border, where they threatened the Mexican revolution.

● 1915 - French begin Woëvre-offensive

● 1916 - French troops occupy Bois de Caillette

● 1919 - Eamon de Valera becomes president of Dail Eireann (Ireland).

● 1919 - Polish Army executes 35 young Jews

● 1923 - Firestone Company puts their inflatable tires into production

● 1925 - Belgian Workers Party wins parliamentary election

● 1929 - Lithuania signs Litvinov-pact

● 1930 - Antoine Cyvoct dies. Lyons anarchist militant. Suspected wrongly of being the author of the attack against the restaurant of the Bellecour theatre in Lyon in 1882. Also implicated during the "Trial of the 66," and sentenced to five years of prison (Cyvoct had taken refuge in Switzerland and Belgium). Extradited to France in 1883, and tried for the Lyons attack. He was sentenced to death, despite the court's failure to prove he was responsible. His sentence was commuted to forced labor. Cyvoct was not amnestied until March 1898. This same year, he was nominated for the legislative elections "To draw attention to the cases of the anarchists remaining in prison." Cyvoct then worked in the bookstore business, and gave talks in the anarchist circles on living conditions in the prisons.

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

● 1932 - Alcohol prohibition in Finland ended. Alcohol sales started in Alko liquor stores.

● 1932 - Dutch textile strike broken by trade unions

● 1933 - The first operation to remove a lung was performed at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

● 1935 - Croatian Farmers Party wins Yugoslavian election

● 1936 - Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: An F5 tornado slams into the north side of Tupelo, Mississippi, killing 233. It is the 4th deadliest tornado in U.S. history. Elvis born shortly thereafter.

● 1938 - Anti-Jewish riots break out in Dabrowa Poland

● 1939 - Membership in Hitler Youth becomes obligatory

● 1941 - German commandos secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.

● 1941 - In San Francisco, Castro & Fillmore streetcars replaced by buses

● 1942 - World War II: Japanese Navy attacks Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Royal Navy Cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.

● 1943 - Poon Lim found after being adrift 133 days

● 1943 - Allies bomb Mortsel

● 1944 - 140 Lancasters bomb airplane manufacturer in Toulouse

● 1944 - World War II: 270 inhabitants of the Greek town Kleisoura are executed by the Germans.

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

● 1945 - Kuniaki Koiso resigns as PM of Japan; replaced by Kantaro Suzuki

● 1945 - Almelo Netherlands freed

● 1946 - Soviet troops leave the island of Bornholm, Denmark after occupying it for approximately 11 months.

● 1949 - A fire in a hospital in Effingham, Illinois, United States, kills 77 people resulting in nationwide fire code improvements.

● 1950 - Prague espionage trial against bishops & priests begins

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

● 1952 - Howard Hughes temporarily closes down MGM studios. His explanation - The authors of all 11 stories on the current shooting schedule were suspected Communist sympathizers.

● 1953 - Jomo Kenyatta was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for orchestrating the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya.

● 1953 - In Washington, D.C., President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. (Its name was later changed to the Annual National Prayer Breakfast.)

● 1955 - Farmers Home Administration offers loan guarantees for home fallout shelters. Just like for a tornado, only you'll stay a bit longer.

● 1955 - Winston Churchill resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom amid indications of failing health, Anthony Eden succeeds him.

● 1956 - Columnist Victor Riesel, a crusader against labor racketeers, blinded in New York City when a hired assailant threw sulfuric acid in his face.

● 1956 - In Sri Lanka, the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna won the general elections in a landslide and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike sworn in as the Prime Minister.

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

● 1958 - Castro declares war on dictatorial and corrupt Batista regime. As the U.S. turns against him he moves into the Communist fold and sets up his own dictatorship.

● 1959 - Censorship of the media, prohibition of strikes, and other anti-labor actions in Castro's "worker-friendly" regime.

● 1961 - Dutch Governor Platteel installs New Guinea Council

● 1962 - Billie Sol Estes indicted for selling millions of dollars' worth of chattel mortgages on nonexistent fertilizer tanks.

● 1962 - NASA civilian pilot Neil A Armstrong takes X-15 to an altitude of 54,600 meters

● 1962 - Manager J Daems appointed bishop of Antwerp

● 1962 - St Bernard Tunnel finished-Swiss/Italians workers shake hands

● 1963 - Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili II becomes chief of Western Samoa

● 1964 - Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur died at age 84.

● 1964 - 1st driverless trains run on the London Underground

● 1965 - Lava Lamp Day celebrated

● 1965 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1967 - In San Francisco, Grayline Tours starts touring Haight-Ashbury hippie scene.

● 1967 - ATS II launched but fails to reach orbit

● 1968 - US marine base Khe San Vietnam, appalled

● 1969 - Vietnam War: Massive antiwar demonstrations are held in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the United States. The 50 cities attract an estimated 150,000 protesters.

● 1969 - Pope Paul VI abolished the galero (red hat) and red shoes and buckles customarily worn by Roman Catholic cardinals.

● 1970 - West German envoy killed by rebels; West Germany's kidnapped ambassador to Guatemala has been shot dead.

● 1971 - In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches insurrection against the United Front government of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike.

● 1971 - Mount Etna erupts in Sicily Italy

● 1971 - US Lieutenant Wiliam Calley (My Lai Massacre) sentenced to life

● 1972 - Harrisburg Seven trial ends in mistrial after 11 weeks (this was for plotting to kidnap Henry Kissinger and blow up heating vents); only Phil Berrigan and Sister Elizabeth McAllister declared guilty -- of smuggling letters in and out of prison. They later married, co-founding Baltimore's venerable Jonah House (a continuing hub of terrorist activities, according to the government).

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

● 1973 - Pierre Messmer becomes Prime Minister of France.

● 1973 - Pioneer 11 launched to Jupiter

● 1974 - Luxembourg - Founding of the Confederation of Socialist Parties of the European Community.

● 1974 - Then tallest building, World Trade Center opens in NYC (110 stories)

● 1975 - Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek died at age 87.

● 1975 - Soyuz 18A launch aborted short of orbit; cosmonauts return safely

● 1976 - China - Tiananmen Square incident, popular demonstration of criticism of the post-Mao Chinese regime in defiance of the banning such criticism.

● 1976 - Howard Hughes dies. Despite living in plastic bags for over 30 years, the germs finally get him. War is hell.

● 1976 - Callaghan is new prime minister; James Callaghan wins the Labour leadership contest and takes over at Number 10 Downing Street.

● 1977 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1979 - Pioneer 11 launched towards Jupiter

● 1979 - Ex-premier Pol Jar flees out of Cambodia

● 1981 - Pres. Ronald Reagan is declared a public moron, Berkeley, California.

● 1982 - Nuclear free zone declared by city of Dublin, Ireland.

● 1982 - Lord Carrington, British foreign secretary resigns due to Falkland Islands war

● 1983 - Two members of a Christian community in San Ramon, El Salvador are abducted, tortured, and shot by the national police. In September, death squads will bomb the Jesuit residence in San Salvador. Over the past two years, 17 priests, nuns, and religious workers had been killed.

● 1983 - France throws out 47 Soviet diplomats

● 1986 - Bombing of the La Belle Discotheque in West Berlin, Germany, kills three.

● 1988 - Hijackers free 25 hostages; Hijackers who have taken control of a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet free 25 passengers.

● 1989 - In Poland, accords were signed between Solidarity and the government that set free elections for June 1989. The eight-year ban on Solidarity was also set to be lifted.

● 1990 - Paul Newman wins a court victory over Julius Gold, to keep giving all profits from Newman foods to charity

● 1991 - Space Shuttle STS 37 (Atlantis 8) launched

● 1991 - US begins air drops to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq

● 1991 - Southeast Airlines Embracer 120 crashes in Georgia, killing 23

● 1992 - Over 500,000 march on Washington, D.C. to support women's reproductive rights and equality.

● 1992 - Nonviolent demonstration against war, Parliament building, Sarajevo, Bosnia. Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic, shot at a peace rally, become the first victims of Bosnia's civil war.

● 1992 - Peru's President Alberto Fujimori suspends constitution, dissolved Congress and imposes martial law.

● 1992 - Thailand General Suchinda Kraprayoon installed as president

● 1992 - Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton died at age 74. {I've always wondered if he were still alive if Wal-Mart would still be the predator it is.}

● 1993 - The Child Support Act 1991, administered by the Child Support Agency, comes into effect in the United Kingdom.

● 1993 - Republican Guard kills 64 in Chad

● 1994 - Black Is...Black Ain't - Marlon Riggs dies (1957-1994). Fearless queer American filmmaker, black activist, AIDS martyr.

● 1996 - Twelve arrested during protest at weapons manufacturing plant of Lockheed-Martin in King of Prussia, Penn.

● 1996 - Fifty-four arrested in Good Friday protest at Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory, Livermore, Calif.

● 1997 - Death of beat poet, prophet for peace, and unapologetic pedophile Allen Ginsburg.

● 1997 - Galileo, 3rd Ganymede Flyby (Orbit 7)

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

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

● 1999 - In Laramie, WY, Russell Henderson plead guilty to kidnapping and felony murder in the death of Matthew Shepard.

● 2001 - Driver jailed for immigrant deaths; A Dutch lorry driver has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in the deaths of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants.

● 2004 - Near Mexico City's international airport, lightning struck the jet Mexican President Vicente Fox was on.

● 2006 - The first case of H5N1 avian flu was confirmed in the UK after tests on a dead swan found in Cellardyke, Fife.

BIRTHS

● 1288 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)

● 1472 - Bianca Maria Sforza, wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1510)

● 1523 - Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer (d. 1596)

● 1588 - Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (d. 1679)

● 1604 - Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (d. 1675)

● 1622 - Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician (d. 1703)

● 1649 - Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University (d. 1721)

● 1692 - Adrienne Lecouvreur, French actress (d. 1730)

● 1732 - Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French artist (d. 1806)

● 1784 - Louis Spohr, German violinist (d. 1859)

● 1801 - Vincenzo Gioberti, Italian philosopher, politician and cleric (d. 1852)

● 1816 - Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 1890)

● 1827 - Joseph Lister, English surgeon (d. 1912)

● 1832 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (d. 1893)

● 1837 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, English poet (d. 1909)

● 1856 - Booker T. Washington, American educator (d. 1915)

● 1865 - Lincoln Filene, American business executive and philanthropist; chairman of Federated Department Stores (1929-57) (d. 1957)

● 1869 - Sergei Chaplygin, Russian physicist and engineer (d. 1942)

● 1871 - Mirko Seljan, Croatian explorer (d. 1913?)

● 1875 - Mistinguett, French vaudeville performer (d. 1956)

● 1893 - Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (d. 1973)

● 1900 - Spencer Tracy, American actor (d. 1967)

● 1901 - Chester Bowles, American politician and advertising entrepreneur (d. 1986)

● 1901 - Melvyn Douglas, American actor (d. 1981)

● 1906 - Lord Buckley, American monologist (d. 1960)

● 1908 - Bette Davis, American actress (d. 1989)

● 1908 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (d. 1989)

● 1908 - Jagjivan Ram, Indian politician (d. 1986)

● 1909 - Albert R. Broccoli, American film producer (d. 1996)

● 1910 - Chaim Grade, Russian-born Yiddish poet, short-story writer and novelist (d. 1982)

● 1912 - John Le Mesurier, British actor (d. 1983)

● 1916 - Gregory Peck, American actor (d. 2003)

● 1917 - Robert Bloch, American author (d. 1994)

● 1920 - Arthur Hailey, American writer (d. 2004)

● 1920 - Rafique Zakaria, Indian author (d. 2005)

● 1922 - Tom Finney, English footballer

● 1922 - Christopher Hewett, British actor (d. 2001)

● 1922 - Gale Storm, American singer

● 1923 - Michael V. Gazzo, American actor (d. 1995)

● 1923 - Nguyen Van Thieu, President of South Vietnam (d. 2001)

● 1926 - Roger Corman, American film director

● 1928 - Tony Williams, American singer (The Platters) (d. 1992)

● 1929 - Hugo Claus, Belgian writer

● 1929 - Ivar Giaever, Norwegian physicist, Nobel laureate

● 1929 - Nigel Hawthorne, British actor (d. 2001)

● 1929 - Joe Meek, English record producer

● 1931 - Cowboy Jack Clement, Country music producer

● 1933 - Larry Felser, American sports columnist

● 1934 - Frank Gorshin, American actor (d. 2005)

● 1934 - Roman Herzog, German politician

● 1934 - Stanley Turrentine, American jazz saxophonist (d. 2000)

● 1935 - Peter Grant, British music manager (d. 1995)

● 1937 - Colin Powell, U.S. Secretary of State

● 1939 - Ronald White, American singer and songwriter (d. 1995)

● 1939 - Crispian St. Peters, British singer

● 1940 - Tommy Cash, Country singer

● 1941 - Michael Moriarty, American actor

● 1941 - Dave Swarbrick, British folk musician

● 1942 - Peter Greenaway, Welsh film director

● 1943 - Max Gail, American actor ("Barney Miller")

● 1944 - Pedro Rossello, Puerto Rican politician

● 1945 - Tommy Smith, English footballer

● 1946 - Jane Asher, British actress

● 1947 - Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 14th President of the Philippines

● 1948 - Les Binks, British musician, former drummer for Judas Priest

● 1948 - Dave Holland, British musician (Judas Priest)

● 1949 - Judith Resnik, American astronaut (d. 1986)

● 1950 - Agnetha Fältskog, Swedish singer (ABBA)

● 1951 - Dean Kamen, inventor

● 1952 - Mitch Pileggi, American actor

● 1954 - Stan Ridgway, American musician (Wall of Voodoo)

● 1955 - Janice Long, English broadcaster

● 1955 - Akira Toriyama, Japanese manga artist

● 1955 - Charlotte de Turckheim, French actress

● 1961 - Lisa Zane, American actress

● 1962 - Lana Clarkson, American actress (d. 2003)

● 1964 - Christopher "Kid" Reid, American rapper (Kid 'n Play)

● 1964 - Steve Beaton, English darts player

● 1965(66? NYT) - Mike McCready, American musician (Pearl Jam)

● 1965 - Cris Carpenter, baseball player

● 1967 - Troy Gentry,Country singer (Montgomery Gentry)

● 1968 - Paula Cole, American musician

● 1970 - Miho Hatori, Japanese singer and songwriter (Cibo Matto)

● 1972 - Tom Coronel, Dutch racing driver

● 1972 - Krista Allen, American actress

● 1972 - Pat Green, Country singer

● 1973 - Pharrell Williams, American producer (The Neptunes)

● 1973 - Élodie Bouchez, French actress

● 1974 - Uhm Tae Woong, South Korean actor

● 1974 - Sahaj Ticotin, musician/producer (Ra)

● 1975 - John Hartson, Welsh footballer

● 1976 - Fernando Morientes, Spanish footballer

● 1976 - Kim Collins, Nevisian sprinter

● 1976 - Ryan Drese, baseball player

● 1976 - Ross Gload, American baseball player

● 1976 - Simone Inzaghi, Italian footballer

● 1978 - Stephen Jackson, American basketball player

● 1978 - Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer

● 1979 - Timo Hildebrand, German footballer

● 1980 - Matt Bonner, NBA player

● 1980 - Lee Jae Won, South Korean actor, singer, and rapper

● 1982 - Thomas Hitzlsperger, German footballer

● 1982 - Alexandre Prémat, French racing driver

● 1984 - Shin Min-a, South Korean model and actress

● 1985 - Lastings Milledge, baseball player

DEATHS

● 582 - Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople

● 1168 - Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester (b. 1104)

● 1419 - Vincent Ferrer, Spanish missionary and saint (b. 1350)

● 1605 - Adam Loftus, English Protestant archbishop in Ireland

● 1617 - Alonso Lobo, Spanish composer

● 1676 - John Winthrop, the Younger, American politician (b. 1606)

● 1693 - Anne, Duchess of Montpensier, French writer (b. 1627)

● 1695 - George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, English writer (b. 1633)

● 1697 - King Charles XI of Sweden (b. 1655)

● 1717 - Jean Jouvenet, French painter (b. 1647)

● 1735 - William Derham, English minister and writer (b. 1657)

● 1735 - Samuel Wesley, English poet (b. 1662)

● 1765 - Edward Young, English poet (b. 1683)

● 1794 - Georges Danton, French Revolutionary leader (b. 1759)

● 1794 - Camille Desmoulins, French journalist and politician (b. 1760)

● 1900 - Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician (b. 1822)

● 1923 - George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, English financier (b. 1866)

● 1928 - Roy Kilner, English cricketer (b. 1890)

● 1946 - Vincent Youmans, American songwriter (b. 1898)

● 1964 - General Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880)

● 1966 - General Arthur Ernest Percival, British Army officer (b. 1887)

● 1967 - Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist, Nobel laureate (b. 1890)

● 1967 - Mischa Elman, Ukrainian violinist (b. 1891)

● 1969 - Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian Nazi (b. 1903)

● 1969 - Shelby Storck, American television producer (b. 1917)

● 1970 - Alfred Henry Sturtevant, American geneticist (b. 1891)

● 1972 - Brian Donlevy, American actor (b. 1901)

● 1973 - John Coleman, Australian rules footballer (b. 1928)

● 1974 - A. Y. Jackson, Canadian painter (b. 1882)

● 1975 - Chiang Kai-shek, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887)

● 1976 - Howard Hughes, American aviator (b. 1905)

● 1976 - Wilder Penfield, Canadian surgeon (b. 1891)

● 1979 - Eugène Gabritschevsky, Russian biologist and artist (b. 1893)

● 1981 - Bob Hite, American singer (Canned Heat) (b. 1945)

● 1982 - Abe Fortas, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1910)

● 1983 - Danny Rapp, American musician (Danny & the Juniors) (b. 1941)

● 1991 - John Tower, American politician (b. 1925)

● 1991 - Sonny Carter, American astronaut (b. 1947)

● 1992 - Molly Picon, French actress (b. 1898)

● 1992 - Sam Walton, American retailer (b. 1918)

● 1994 - Kurt Cobain, American musician (Nirvana) (b. 1967)

● 1997 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)

● 1998 - Cozy Powell, British musician (b. 1947)

● 1999 - Paul David, French Canadian cardiologist (b. 1919)

● 2000 - Lee Petty, American race car driver (b. 1914)

● 2001 - Brother Theodore, German comedian (b. 1906)

● 2002 - Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (b. 1967)

● 2004 - Heiner Zieschang, German mathematician (b. 1936)

● 2004 - Sławomir Rawicz, Polish soldier (b. 1915)

● 2005 - Saul Bellow, Canadian-born writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1915)

● 2005 - Dale Messick, American comic strip artist (b. 1906)

● 2005 - Debralee Scott, American actress (b. 1953)

● 2005 - John Sichel, British film and television director

● 2006 - Gene Pitney, American singer (b. 1941)

● 2007 - Mark St. John, American musician (b. 1956)

● 2007 - Darryl Stingley, American football player (b. 1951)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Albert of Montecorvino
● St. Becan
● St. Derferl-Gadarn
● St. Ethelburga
● St. Gerard
● St. Irene (d. 304)
● Martyrs of Lesbos
● Martyrs of London
● St. Ruadhan (d. 584)
● Sts. Theodore and Pausilippus
● St. Vincent Ferrer, confessor/priest
● St. Zeno
● Bl. Kreszentia Hoess

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for March 23 (Civil Date: April 5)
● Monk-martyr Nicon and 200 disciples with him in Sicily.
● St. Nicon, abbot of the Kiev Caves.
● Martyrs Philetas the Senator, his wife Lydia, their sons Macedon and Theoprepius, the notary Cronides, and Amphilochius the captain, in Illyria.
● Martyr Dometius of Phrygia.
● Martyr Luke the New of Mytilene (Mt. Athos. .
● St. Basil of Mangazea in Siberia.
● Repose of Elder Porphyrius of Glinsk Hermitage (1868).

● Orthodox:
● Earliest possible Orthodox Easter (3/23 OS)

● Christian:
● St. Albert of Montecorvino
● St. Derfel Gadarn
● St. Ethelburga of Lyminge
● St. Gerard of Suave-Majeure

● Mauritius: Ougadi.

● Qingming Festival in the Chinese calendar

● Arbor Day and Hansik in South Korea

● Iceland : 1st Day of Summer (or 4/18)

● Taiwan : Death of Chiang Kai-shek/Tomb Sweeping Day (1975)

● These Holidays are only applicable on a given "day of the week"
● Switzerland: Glarius Festival (1388) - (Thursday)
● Massachusetts: Student Government Day - (Friday)

IN FICTION

● 1889 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of The Copper Beeches"

● 1894 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the Empty House"

● 1895 - Start of Sherlock Holmes "Adventure of the 3 Students"

● 2063 - Earth's 1st contact by extra-terrestrials (Vulcan); according to Star Trek


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Quotes of the Day taken from "The Best Liberal Quotes Ever: Why the Left Is Right" Compiled by William P. Martin 2004

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