April 15

Events

• 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
• 1632 - Battle of Rain; Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War.
• 1715 - Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
• 1738 - Premiere in London of Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel.
• 1755 - Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language published in London.
• 1783 - Preliminary articles of peace ending Revolutionary War ratified.
• 1802 - William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy see a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring the former to pen I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
• 1865 - Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson is then sworn in as the 17th President of the United States.
• 1892 - The General Electric Company is formed.
• 1906 - The Armenian organization AGBU is established.
• 1912 - The British passenger liner, the RMS Titanic, sinks in the North Atlantic, after hitting an iceberg two and a half hours earlier, the previous day.
• 1920 - Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti allegedly murder two security guards while robbing a shoe store.
• 1923 - Insulin becomes generally available for use by diabetics.
• 1924 - Rand McNally publishes its first road atlas.
• 1940 - The Allies begin their attack on the Norwegian town of Narvik which is occupied by Nazi Germany.
• 1941 - In the Belfast Blitz, two-hundred bombers of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) attack Belfast, Northern Ireland killing one thousand people.
• 1942 - George Cross is awarded to "to the island fortress of Malta - its people and defenders" by King George VI.
• 1943 - An Allied bomber attack misses the Minerva automobile factory and hits the Belgian town of Mortsel instead, killing 936 civilians.
• 1945 - The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
• 1947 - Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
• 1952 - The maiden flight of the B-52 Stratofortress
• 1955 - Ray Kroc opens his first franchise of McDonald's restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
• 1957 - White Rock, British Columbia officially separates from Surrey, British Columbia and is incorporated as a new city.
• 1967 - Scotland defeats rival England 3-2 at Wembley Stadium, causing the Scots fans to jokingly claim their side as "Unofficial world Champions", creating the phenomenon of the Unofficial Football World Championships.
• 1979 - A disastrous earthquake (of M 7.1) on Montenegro coast.
• 1984 - British comedian Tommy Cooper suffers a massive heart attack while live on TV.
• 1986 - The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya.
• 1989 - Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of football club Sheffield Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of 96 Liverpool FC fans.
• 1989 - Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in the People's Republic of China.
• 1992 - The National Assembly of Vietnam adopts the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• 1994 - Representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities sign the Marrakesh Agreements revising the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and initiating the World Trade Organization (effective January 1, 1995).
• 1997 - Fire sweeps through a campsite of Muslims making the Hajj pilgrimage; the official death toll is 343.
• 2002 - An Air China Boeing 767-200, flight CA129 crashes into a hillside during heavy rain and fog near Busan, South Korea, killing 128.

Births

• 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, Italian Renaissance polymath (d. 1519)
• 1469 - Guru Nanak Dev, Founder of Sikhism (d. 1539)
• 1489 - Sinan, Ottoman architect (d. 1588)
• 1552 - Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician (d. 1626)
• 1588 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar (d. 1653)
• 1641 - Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician (d. 1722)
• 1642 - Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1691)
• 1646 - King Christian V of Denmark (d. 1699)
• 1646 - Pierre Poiret, French mystic (d. 1719)
• 1684 - Catherine I of Russia (d. 1727)
• 1688 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
• 1707 - Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician (d. 1783)
• 1710 - William Cullen, Scottish physician (d. 1790)
• 1721 - Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, English military leader (d. 1765)
• 1741 - Charles Willson Peale, American painter, soldier and naturalist (d. 1827)
• 1772 - Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French naturalist (d. 1844)
• 1793 - Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer (d. 1864)
• 1794 - Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist (d. 1867)
• 1800 - James Clark Ross, English explorer (d. 1862)
• 1809 - Hermann Grassmann, German mathematician (d. 1877)
• 1832 - Wilhelm Busch, German poet (d. 1908)
• 1841 - Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian distillery founder (d. 1919)
• 1843 - Henry James, American author (d. 1916)
• 1858 - Émile Durkheim, French sociologist (d. 1917)
• 1861 - Bliss Carman, Canadian poet (d. 1929)
• 1874 - George Harrison Shull, American plant geneticist (d. 1954)
• 1874 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1957)
• 1875 - James J. Jeffries, American heavyweight boxer (d. 1953)
• 1878 - Robert Walser, Swiss writer (d. 1956)
• 1879 - Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer (d. 1980)
• 1883 - Stanley Bruce, eighth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967)
• 1885 - Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947)
• 1886 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (d. 1921)
• 1888 - Maximilian Kronberger, German poet (d. 1904)
• 1889 - Thomas Hart Benton, American muralist (d. 1975)
• 1889 - A. Philip Randolph, American activist (d. 1979)
• 1892 - Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author and Holocaust survivor (d. 1983)
• 1892 - Theo Osterkamp, World War I and World War II German fighter pilot (d. 1975)
• 1894 - Bessie Smith, American blues singer (d. 1937)
• 1895 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards player (d. 1980)
• 1896 - Nikolay Nikolayevich Semyonov, Russian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1986)
• 1901 - Joe Davis, English snooker player (d. 1978)
• 1902 - Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (d. 2002)
• 1904 - Arshile Gorky, Armenian Artist (d. 1948)
• 1907 - Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch ethologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1988)
• 1908 - Eden Ahbez, American songwriter (d. 1995)
• 1908 - Lita Grey, American actress (d. 1995)
• 1912 - Kim Il-sung, President of North Korea (d. 1994)
• 1916 - Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (d. 1982)
• 1917 - Hans Conried, American actor (d. 1982)
• 1917 - James Kee, American politician (d. 1989)
• 1920 - Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany
• 1921 - Georgi Beregovoi, Russian cosmonaut (d. 1995)
• 1922 - Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor
• 1922 - Harold Washington, American politician (d. 1987)
• 1924 - Sir Neville Marriner, English conductor
• 1927 - Robert Mills, American physicist (d. 1999)
• 1930 - Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland
• 1933 - Roy Clark, American musician
• 1933 - David Hamilton, British photographer, film director and producer
• 1933 - Elizabeth Montgomery, American actress (d. 1995)
• 1933 - Boris Strugatsky, Russian author
• 1936 - Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist
• 1937 - Bob Luman, American country singer (d. 1978)
• 1938 - Hso Khan Pha, Burmese politician
• 1939 - Claudia Cardinale, Tunisian-born actress
• 1939 - Marty Wilde, British singer
• 1940 - Jeffrey Archer, British author
• 1940 - Willie Davis, American baseball player
• 1940 - Woodie Fryman, American baseball player
• 1940 - Robert Lacroix, French Canadian professor of economics
• 1940 - Robert Walker Jr., American actor
• 1941 - Howard Berman, American politician
• 1942 - Francis X. DiLorenzo, American Catholic prelate
• 1942 - Walt Hazzard, American basketball player
• 1942 - Kenneth Lay, American businessman (d. 2006)
• 1944 - Dzhokhar Dudaev, Chechen leader (d. 1996)
• 1944 - Dave Edmunds, Welsh musician
• 1947 - Lois Chiles, American actress
• 1947 - Cristina Husmark Pehrsson, Swedish politician
• 1947 - Mike Chapman, British songwriter
• 1947 - Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, American writer and television producer
• 1948 - Michael Kamen, American composer (d. 2003)
• 1949 - Tonio K, American singer
• 1949 - Alla Pugacheva, Russian singer
• 1949 - Craig Zadan, American film producer
• 1950 - Josiane Balasko, French actress, director and screenwriter
• 1950 - Amy Wright, American actress
• 1951 - Heloise, American newspaper columnist
• 1952 - Bengt Gingsjö, Swedish swimmer
• 1952 - Kym Gyngell, Australian comedian
• 1952 - Sam McMurray, American actor
• 1954 - Seka, American pornographic actress
• 1955 - Dodi Al-Fayed, Egyptian businessman (d. 1997)
• 1956 - Michael Cooper, American basketball player
• 1957 - Evelyn Ashford, American athlete
• 1958 - Keith Acton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
• 1958 - Dolores Gordon-Smith, British Writer
• 1958 - Noni Ιoannidou, Greek fashion model and actress
• 1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah, British writer
• 1959 - Fruit Chan, Hong Kong film director
• 1959 - Emma Thompson, English actress
• 1959 - Thomas F. Wilson, American actor
• 1959 - Kevin Lowe, Canadian ice hockey player and general manager
• 1960 - Tony Jones (snooker), English snooker player
• 1960 - Pedro Delgado, Spanish cyclist
• 1960 - HRH Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne
• 1962 - Surjit Bindrakhia, Punjabi Bhangra singer
• 1962 - Nawal El Moutawakel, Morrocan hurdler
• 1962 - Tom Kane, American voice actor
• 1963 - Bobby Pepper, American journalist
• 1965 - Linda Perry, American musician
• 1966 - Samantha Fox, English singer
• 1967 - Frankie Poullain, British musician (The Darkness)
• 1967 - Dara Torres, American swimmer
• 1967 - Alt, Brazilian comic creator
• 1968 - Ed O'Brien, British musician (Radiohead)
• 1968 - Stacey Williams, American model
• 1969 - Jeromy Burnitz, American baseball player
• 1969 - Jimmy Waite, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
• 1970 - Flex Alexander, American actor
• 1971 - Katy Hill, British television presenter
• 1971 - Sarah Jane Hamilton, British pornographic actress
• 1971 - Jason Sehorn, American football player
• 1972 - Lou Romano, American voice actor
• 1972 - Arturo Gatti, Canadian boxer
• 1974 - Mike Quinn, American football player
• 1974 - Keith Malley, American comedian and podcaster (Keith and The Girl)
• 1974 - Danny Pino, American actor
• 1974 - Douglas Spain, American actor
• 1974 - Josh Todd, American musician (Buckcherry)
• 1975 - Paul Dana, American race car driver (d. 2006)
• 1976 - Jason Bonsignore, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1976 - Susan Ward, American actress
• 1977 - Brian Pothier, American ice hockey player
• 1978 - Austin Aries, American wrestler
• 1978 - Milton Bradley, American baseball player
• 1978 - Tim Corcoran, American baseball player
• 1980 - Natalie Casey, British actress
• 1980 - James Foster, English cricketer
• 1980 - Raúl López, Spanish basketball player
• 1980 - Victor Núñez, Costa Rican footballer
• 1980 - Willie Mason, Australian Rugby League Player
• 1980 - Fränk Schleck, Luxembourgish cyclist
• 1981 - Andrés D'Alessandro, Argentine football player
• 1981 - Seth Wulsin, American artist
• 1982 - Anthony Green, American musician
• 1982 - Seth Rogen, Canadian actor and writer
• 1982 - Albert Riera, Spanish footballer
• 1982 - Michael Aubrey, American baseball player
• 1983 - Ilya Kovalchuk, Russian ice hockey player
• 1983 - Alice Braga, Brazilian actress
• 1983 - Dudu Cearense, Brazilian footballer
• 1983 - Bronson La'Cassie, Australian professional golfer
• 1984 - Rodney Carney, NBA athlete
• 1984 - Cam Janssen, American ice hockey player
• 1984 - Ben Kasica, Guitarist of rock band Skillet
• 1985 - John Danks, American baseball player
• 1985 - Aaron Laffey, American baseball player
• 1986 - Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, Dutch footballer
• 1990 - Emma Watson, English actress
• 1992 - Amy Diamond, Swedish singer
• 1993 - Madeleine Martin, American television actress

Deaths

• 1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex
• 1220 - Adolf of Altena, Archbishop of Cologne
• 1415 - Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek humanist and grammarian
• 1446 - Filippo Brunelleschi, Italian architect (b. 1377)
• 1610 - Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)
• 1621 - John Carver, first governor of Plymouth Colony
• 1632 - George Calvert, Proprietor of the Avalon (Maryland) Colony (b. 1580)
• 1641 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
• 1652 - Patriarch Joseph, head of the Russian Orthodox Church
• 1659 - Simon Dach, German poet (b. 1605)
• 1704 - Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician (b. 1628)
• 1719 - Françoise d'Aubigné, marquise de Maintenon, second wife of Louis XIV of France (b. 1635)
• 1754 - Jacopo Riccati, Italian mathematician (b. 1676)
• 1761 - Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (b. 1682)
• 1761 - William Oldys, English antiquarian and bibliographer (b. 1696)
• 1764 - Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV of France (b. 1721)
• 1764 - Peder Horrebow, Danish astronomer (b. 1679)
• 1765 - Mikhail Lomonosov, Russian scientist and writer (b. 1711)
• 1788 - Giuseppe Bonno, Austrian composer (b. 1711)
• 1793 - Ignacije Szentmartony, Croatian Jesuit missionary and geographer (b. 1718)
• 1804 - Charles Pichegru, French general (strangled in prison) (b. 1761)
• 1854 - Arthur Aikin, English chemist, mineralogist, and writer (b. 1773)
• 1865 - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (b. 1809)
• 1888 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
• 1889 - Father Damien, Belgian missionary (b. 1840)
• 1898 - Kepa Te Rangihiwinui, Maori military leader
• 1912 - Edward Smith, captain of the RMS Titanic (b. 1850)
• 1912 - John Jacob Astor IV, billionaire (b. 1864)
• 1912 - William T. Stead American author and journalist. (b. 1849)
• 1927 - Gaston Leroux, French writer (b. 1868)
• 1938 - César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (b. 1892)
• 1942 - Robert Musil, Austrian novelist (b. 1880)
• 1943 - Aristarkh Lentulov, Russian artist (d. 1882)
• 1945 - Hermann Florstedt, Nazi leader (b. 1895)
• 1948 - Radola Gajda, Czech military commander and politician (d. 1892)
• 1949 - Wallace Beery, American actor (b. 1885)
• 1957 - Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer (b. 1917)
• 1962 - Clara Blandick, American actress (b. 1881)
• 1962 - Arsenio Lacson, Filipino politician and sportswriter (b. 1911)
• 1963 - Edward "Carji" Greeves, Australian rules footballer (b. 1903)
• 1969 - Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (b. 1887)
• 1970 - Ripper Collins, American baseball player (b. 1904)
• 1971 - Dan Reeves, American football team owner (b. 1912)
• 1974 - Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (b. 1906)
• 1975 - Richard Conte, American actor (b. 1910)
• 1980 - Raymond Bailey, American actor (b. 1904)
• 1980 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel laureate (b. 1905)
• 1982 - Arthur Lowe, British actor (b. 1915)
• 1983 - Corrie ten Boom, Dutch author and Holocaust survivor (b. 1892)
• 1984 - Tommy Cooper, Welsh comedy magician (b. 1921)
• 1984 - Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer (b. 1925)
• 1986 - Jean Genet, French author (b. 1910)
• 1988 - Kenneth Williams, English actor and comedian (b. 1926)
• 1988 - Youri Egorov, Soviet classical pianist (b. 1954)
• 1989 - Nesuhi Ertegün, American record executive (b. 1917)
• 1989 - Hu Yaobang, Chinese politician (b. 1915)
• 1990 - Greta Garbo, Swedish actress (b. 1905)
• 1993 - John Tuzo Wilson, Canadian geologist (b. 1908)
• 1993 - Leslie Charteris, Singapore-born author (b. 1907)
• 1994 - John Curry, English figure skater (b. 1949)
• 1995 - Harry Shoulberg, American painter, serigrapher (b. 1903)
• 1998 - Pol Pot, Cambodian dictator (b. 1925)
• 1999 - Harvey Postlethwaite, British engineer and racing car designer (b. 1944)
• 2000 - Edward Gorey, American illustrator (b. 1925)
• 2001 - Joey Ramone, American musician and singer (The Ramones) (b. 1951)
• 2002 - Damon Knight, American author (b. 1922)
• 2002 - Byron "Whizzer" White, American football player and U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
• 2003 - Erin Fleming, Canadian actress (b. 1941)
• 2003 - Reg Bundy, British performer (b. 1941)
• 2004 - Ray Condo, Canadian musician (b. 1950)
• 2005 - John Fred, American singer (b. 1941)
• 2007 - Brant Parker, American cartoonist (b. 1920)
• 2008 - Krister Stendahl, Swedish Lutheran theologian and bishop (b. 1921)
• 2008 - Benoît Lamy, Belgian Movie Director (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

• Ancient Latvia—Tipsa Diena was observed.
• Hawai'i - Father Damien Day—celebrated annually.
• India - Baisakhi, Pôhela Boishakh, Rongali Bihu
• North Korea - Arirang Festival held to commemorate Kim Il-sung's birth.
• Roman Empire—the Fordicia was celebrated in honor of Terra.
• United States - April 15 is the official deadline for filing an individual tax return (or requesting an extension) in most areas of the country (see Tax Day).
• translation of relics of Goeric of Metz
• Abbo II of Metz
• Saint Petrus Gonzalez
• Saint Paternus
• Saint Hunna

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada

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