AIDS virus is discovered and announced by US Health Secretary Margaret Heckler (1984) - Apr. 23
Boris Yeltsin (First President of the Russian Federation) dies from congestive heart failure at age 76 (2007) - 4/23
Miguel de Cervantes (Spanish novelist, poet and playwright best known for Don Quixote) dies in Madrid (1616) - Apr. 23
Charles II of England (the last king to make the traditional journey from the Tower to the Abbey the day before the coronation) is crowned at Westminster Abbey (1661) - Apr. 23
Cherry Cheesecake Day - Apr. 23
De Adriaan Windmill (Haarlen, Netherlands) burns down in 1932 and is rebuilt and reopened exactly 70 years after the fire that destroyed it (2002) - Apr. 23
Coca Cola changes their formula and releases a sweeter beverage called "New Coke" (1985) - Apr. 23
L'Ambiance Plaza (16-story residental project under construction) collapse results in one of the worst disasters in modern Connecticut history killing 28 workers (1987) - 4/23
Order of the Garter is founded by King Edward III of England and announced on St. George's Day (1348) - Apr. 23
Otto Preminger (Austrian-born Jewish film director) dies from cancer and Alzheimer's disease at age 80 (1986) - Apr. 23
Rhythm Night Club Fire occurs in Natchez, MS killing 209 African-American partygoers and injuring many more in the 2nd deadliest fire in the USA (1940) - Apr. 23
William Shakespeare (English poet and playwright) dies in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England (1616) - Apr. 23
St. George's Day honors the death of Saint George of Lydda who died as a Christian martyr (303) - Apr. 23
William Wordsworth (major English Romantic poet) dies from a re-aggravated case of pleurisy (1850) - Apr. 23
World Book and Copyright Day (established by UNESCO in honor of Cervantes and Shakespeare's deaths on the same day) is first celebrated (1995) - Apr. 23
Yom HaShoah (Hebrew Remembrance Day for the Holocaust and Heroism) is held on the 27th day of Nisan-1st month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew Calendar (2017) - Apr. 23
April 24, 2017
Plumber Day - Apr. 24
Bishopgate (financial district in the City of London) is devastated by detonated IRA truck bomb (1993) - Apr. 24
Daniel Defoe (English writer, journalist and pamphleteer best known for his novel Robinson Crusoe) dies at age 72 (1731) - Apr. 24
STS-31 (space shuttle Discovery flight) launches the Hubble Telescope into space (1990) - Apr. 24
Library of Congress in Washington, DC is established when President John Adams signed an Act of Congress transferring the capital from Philadelphia to Washington DC (1800) - 4/24
Mary Queen of Scots marries the Dauphin of France, Francois at Notre Dame de Paris (1558) - Apr. 24
Princess Alexandra of Kent marries Hon. Angus James Bruce Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey (1963) - Apr. 24
Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (1184 BC) - Apr. 24
Vladimir Komarov (Russian cosmonaut) dies in space crash when the secondary parachute on his capsule becomes tangled with the main parachute (1967) - 4/24
Ambivalence Day - 5/24
William I, Prince of Orange (aka William the Silent) is born in the House of Nassau (1533) - Apr. 24
Pigs in a Blanket Day - Apr. 24
April 25, 2017
Anna Sewell (British author best known for her novel Black Beauty) died of hepatitis just 5 months after her book's publication (1878) - Apr. 25
Anzac Day (ANZAC - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) honors the members who fought at Gallipoli during WWI is first observed (1916) - 4/25
Boris Yeltsin (1st President of Russia) is given a state funeral, the first to be sanctioned by the Russian Orthodox Church for a head of state since 1894 (2007) - 4/25
Carnation Day (Portugal) celebrates the military coup that effectively changed the Portugese regime from an authoritarian dictatorship to a democracy (1974) - Apr. 25
Oliver Cromwell (Puritan Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland) is born (1599) - Apr. 25 (O.S.)
Cuckoo Day - like the Robin, Cukoos are considered harbingers of spring - Apr. 25
Diane de Poitiers (Mistress to Henri II of France though 20 years older) dies at age 67 and is buried in a funeral chapel near her chateau Anet, Eure-et_Loir (1566) - Apr. 25
DNA Day commemorates the day when James Watson and Francis Crick's article on the structure of DNA is published (1953) - Apr. 25
Edward II of England (4th son of Edward I by his first wife Eleanor of Castile) is born at Caernarfon Castle in Wales (1284) - Apr. 25
Nicholas Joseph Pelletier (highwayman thief and killer) becomes the first individual in France to be executed by the guillotine (1792) - 4/25
Hubble Telescope launched on the Space Shuttle Discovery is deployed into orbit around Earth (1990) - Apr. 25
Louis IX of France (son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castille) is born at Poissy near Paris (1214) - Apr. 25
Prince Alice Maud Mary of the United Kingdom (2nd daughter and 3rd child of Queen Victoria) is born at Buckingham Palace, London (1843) - Apr. 25
Red Hat Society Day (founded in 1998 for women over 50) - 4/25
St. Lawrence Seaway (system of canals that permits ocean-going vessles to travel from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes) is officially opened for shipping (1959) - Apr. 25
UNCF (United Negro College Fund - an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuitions for black students) is founded by Frederick D. Patterson (1944) - 4/25
Bea Arthur (American actress, comedian and singer) dies from cancer at age 86 in her Greater Los Angeles area home (2009) - Apr. 25
National Zucchini Bread Day - Apr. 25
April 26, 2017
Andover, KS tornado outbreak involves a violent outbreak of 55 tornadoes with Andover recording the year's only F5 tornado (1991) - Apr. 26
Napoleon Bonaparte signs an amnesty agreement allowing 100,000 banished aristocratic emigres return to France on the condition they sign a loyalty oath (1802) - Apr. 26
Erfurt massacre (a school shooting) occurs at the Gutenberg Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany when a 19-year-old expelled student shoots and kills 16 people (2002) - 4/26
Giuliano de'Medici (co-ruler of Florence with his brother Lorenzo the Magnificient) is assassinated at age 25 in the Duomo of Florence by Francisco de Pazzi (1478) - 4/26
Jamestown Settlement occurs when English colonists make landfall at Cape Henry, VA (1607) - Apr. 26
John James Audubon (French-American ornithologist, naturalist and painter) is born in Les Cayes, Haiti on his father's sugar plantation (1785) - Apr. 26
John Wilkes Booth (Abraham Lincoln's assassin) is cornered and shot by Union cavalry officers with a bullet partially severing his spinal cord he dies at age 26 (1865) - Apr. 26
Lucille Ball (American comedienne, actress, model and film executive) dies from an aortic aneurysm at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at age 77 (1989) - Apr. 26
Marcus Aurelius (Roman emperor aka "The Wise") is born (121) - Apr. 26
Maria de Medici (Consort to Henry IV of France) is born in Florence Italy (1575) - Apr. 26
Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies (Queen consort to King Louis-Philippe) is born in Caserta, Italy to the King and Queen of Naples (1782) - Apr. 26
NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon (1962) - 4/26
Richter Scale Day celebrates the birth of Charles F. Richter, inventor of the Richter Scale (1900) - Apr. 26
William Shakespeare (English poet and playwright) is born in Stratford-upon-Avon (1564) - Apr. 26
William Tecumseh Sherman accepts Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston's surrender at Bennet Place, NC (1865) - 4/26
Simonetta Vespucci (alleged mistress of Giuliano de'Medici and model for Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus) dies from pulmonary tuberculoses at age 22 (1476) - Apr. 26
Tanzania is formed when Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form a new country (1964) - Apr. 26
World Intellectual Property Day (observed annually since 2001) - Apr. 26
Chernobyl Disaster (level 7 nuclear accident - Russia) occurs when reactor number four fails during a test sending a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere (1986) 4/26
Maryland becomes the 7th state to ratify the U.S. Constitution (1788) - Apr. 26
Peter II of Portugal (who forced his mentally unstable brother (Afonso VI) to relinquish the throne, and then married his wife the same year) is born (1648) - Apr. 26
Administrative Professionals Day (formerly known as Secretary's Day) is observed on the Wednesday of the last full week of April (2017) - Apr. 26
April 27, 2017
Betty Boothroyd served as the first, and to date only, woman Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom (1992) - Apr. 27
John D. Ehrilichman (former Nixon aide) is released from an Arizona prison after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes (1978) - Apr. 27
Expo 67 officially opens in Montreal, Canada with an opening ceremony broadcast around the world and officially opens to the public the next day (1967) - Apr. 27
Freedom Day (South Africa) - Apr. 27
1 World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) begins construction (2006) - Apr. 27
Handel's Music for the Royal fireworks has its debut performance for George II of Great Britain to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession (1749) - 4/27
Togo (country in West Africa) gains independence from France (1960) - Apr. 27
Ferdinand Magellan (Portugese Explorer) is killed by natives in the Philippines led by chief Lapu-Lapu (1521) - Apr. 27
Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (Queen Consort then Regent of Spain) is born in Palermo, Sicily Italy (1806) - Apr. 27
Mary Wollstonecraft (18th Century British writer, philosopher, feminist and mother of Mary Godwin-later Mary Shelley) is born in Spitalsfield, London (1759) - Apr. 27
Samuel F.B. Morse (American painter and creater of a single wire telegraph system) is born in Charlestown, MA (1791) - Apr. 27
Sergei Prokofiev (Russian composer, pianist and conductor) is born in Sontsovka, Ukraine, Russia (1891) - Apr. 27 O.S.
Sierra Leone (country in West Africa) gains independence from the UK (1961) - Apr. 27
SS Sultana carrying 2,400 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River killing 1,700 most Union survivors from Confederate prisons (1865) - Apr. 27
Parliament of Great Britain passes an act that gives the East India Company a monopoly on the North American tea trade (1773) - 4/27
Foundation Stone for the new Palace of Westminster, London is laid by the wife of Sir Charles Barry (1840) - Apr. 27
World Graphic Design Day (celebrated to honor the day when Icograda was founded in 1963) - Apr. 27
Xerox PARC releases the first computer mouse (1981) - 4/27
Tornado System tears through Southeast U.S. killing at least 209 people with 137 sighted tornadoes reported (2011) - Apr. 27
Greece sovereign debt crisis occurs when Standard & Poor's decreases the Greek debt rating to BB+ (junk status) resulting in a European sovereign debt crisis (2010) - Apr. 27
Morse Code Day (honors birthday of Samuel F.B. Morse) - Apr. 27
Beethoven finishes composing his famous piano piece, "Fur Elise" (1810) - Apr. 27
Take Your Son or Daughter to Work Day - observed the 4th Thursday in April (2017) - Apr. 27
1 World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) begins construction (2006) - 4/27
April 28, 2017
National Day of Mourning in Canada commemorates workers who have been killed or injured due to work related hazards and incidents (1984) - 4/28
Workers' Memorial Day takes place annually around the world as a day of remembrance for workers killed, disabled, injured or made unwell by their work - Apr. 28
Charles de Gaulle (18th President of the French Republic) resigns from office (1969) - Apr. 28
Aloha Airlines suffers extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but landed safely at Kahului Airport on Maui with only 1 fatality (1988) - 4/28
Bhumibol Adulyadej (King of Thailand) marries Queen Sirikit in Srapathum Palace after their quiet engagement in Lausanne, Switzerland (1950) - 4/28
Kiss Day - Apr. 28
Thor Heyerdahl (Norwegian explorer) and his 5 crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki raft (1947) - Apr. 28
Benito Mussolini (Italian Minister aka Il Duce) and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by firing squad by the Italian resistance movement Mezzegra, Italy (1945) - Apr. 28
Mutiny on the Bounty occurs when a mutiny, led by Fletcher Christian, sets Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors loyal to him adrift in the Pacific Ocean (1789) - Apr. 28
National Arbor Day - held last Friday in April (2017) - Apr. 28
April 29, 2017
Alfred Hitchcock (British filmmaker and producer) dies from renal failure in his Bel-Air, Los Angeles, CA home at age 80 (1980) - Apr. 29
Bangladesh cyclone is among the deadliest tropical cyclones on record killing at least 138,000 and leaving as many as 10 million homeless (1991) - Apr. 29
Dachau Concentration Camp (Germany) is liberated by United States troops (1945) - Apr. 29
Barbaro (American thoroughbred who decisively won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but shattered his leg two weeks later during the Preakness) is born (2003) - Apr. 29
Buckingham Palace is opened to the public during the months of August and September (1993) - Apr. 29
James Cook (English explorer, navigator and cartographer) arrives at Botany Bay Australia (1770) - Apr. 29
Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) is buried in an English oak coffin and laid to rest next to her husband under a spreading plane tree in Windsor, England (1986) - Apr. 29
HAIR (rock musical with book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni) opens on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre (1968) - Apr. 29
Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London is watched by over 2 billion people worldwide (2011) - 4/29
Joan of Arc (national heroine of France) arrives as relief during the Siege of Orleans (1429) - Apr. 29
Los Angeles Riots (aka Rodney King Riots) were sparked when a jury acquitted 4 LA Police officers accused in the videotape beating of Rodney King (1992) - Apr. 29
Oldsmobile (American automobile manufacturer) builds its last car an Alero 4-door sedan (2004) - Apr. 29
Hirohito (aka Emperor Showa, the 124th Emperor of Japan) is born in the Aoyama Palace in Tokyo (1901) - Apr. 29
WHO (World Health Organization) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control) raise the swine flu pandemic alert level to phase 5 (2009) - Apr. 29
Zipper Day - Apr. 29
International Dance Day - Apr. 29
Astronomy Day (held on a Saturday between mid-April and mid May on or just before the Quarter Moon) when telescopes are set up to view the sky (2017) - 4/29
April 30, 2017
Eva Braun and Adolf Hitler commit suicide together by taking cyanide - Braun is 33 years-old (1945) - 4/30
SN 1006 (supernova) is widely seen on Earth appearing in the constellation Lupus (1006) - Apr. 30
Walpurgis Night (celbrated in Germany, central and western Europe) - Apr. 30
New York World's Fair opens in Flushing-Meadows-Corona Park (1939) - Apr. 30
Alderson Federal Prison Camp opens as the first federal prison in the USA for women (1927) - Apr. 30
Beatrix of the Netherlands ascends to the throne (1980) - Apr. 30
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is born at Haga Palace (1946) - Apr. 30
Casey Jones (American railroad engineer) is killed when his passenger train collided with a stopped freight train at Vaughan, MS (1900) - Apr. 30
George Washington takes the oath of office as the first President of the USA under the constitution at Federal Hall in New York City (1789) - 4/30
International Guide Dogs Day - Apr. 30
Louisiana joins the union as the 18th state (1812) - Apr. 30
Louisiana Purchase occurs when the US purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million more than doubling the size of the USA (1803) - 4/30
Queen Juliana of the Netherlands is born to Queen Wilhelmina in The Hague (1909) - Apr. 30
St. Louis World's Fair (Louisiana Purchase Exposition) opens (1904) - Apr. 30
World Expo 88 (Brisbane, Australia) is opened by Queen Elizabeth (1988) - Apr. 30
Expo 2010 (largest world's fair in history) opens in Shanghai (2010) - 4/30
Honesty Day - Apr. 30
Dutch Royal Family Attack involves a car crashing into the Royal Family's Queens Day parade, missing the Royal Family by metres, but leaving 6 dead and 11 injured (2009) - 4/30
Yom Hazikaron (Israel Day of Remembrance for its fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism) is held on the 4th day of Iyar (2017) - 4/30
Most Photos and Descriptions are courtesy of Wikipedia
