Events

Up to 1900 
 238 – Gordian I and his son Gordian II are proclaimed Roman emperors.
 1508 - Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.
 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags. 
 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquian Native Americans kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population. 
 1630 – Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables.
 1638 – Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent.
 1713 - The Tuscacora War comes to an end with the fall of Fort Neoheroka, effectively opening up the interior of North Carolina to European colonization.
 1739 - Nadir Shah occupies Delhi and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne. 
 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act, the first direct tax levied from England on the American colonies.
 1784 - The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand. 
 1809 – Charles XIII succeeds Gustav IV Adolf to the Swedish throne. 
 1829 - The three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France, Russia) create the borders of Greece.
 1849 - The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
 1871 – In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment.
 1872 - Illinois becomes the first US state to require Sexual Equality in employment.
 1873 - A law is approved by the Spanish National Assembly in Puerto Rico to abolish slavery. 
 1884 - Ecuador introduces the Sucre as its national currency.
 1888 – The Football League is formed. 
 1894 – The first playoff game for the Stanley Cup starts. 
 1895 – First display (a private screening) of movies by Auguste and Louis Lumière.

1901  2000 
 1906 - The first England v France rugby union game is played at Parc des Princes in Paris.
 1912 - The Indian state of Bihar is formed out of the state of Bengal.
 1916 - The last Emperor of China, Yuan Shikai, abdicates the throne and the Republic of China is restored.
 1920 – Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attacked the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).
 1923 - Foster Hewitt makes the first radio broadcast of an ice hockey game.
 1933 - US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs into law a bill legalizing the sale of beer  and wine.
 1939 – World War II: Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
 1941 – Washington's Grand Coulee Dam begins to generate electricity.
 1942 – World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, Regia Marina defeats Royal Navy in the Second Battle of Sirte.
 1943 - World War II: The entire population of Khatyn, Belarus, is burned alive by German occupation forces.
 1944 - World War II: A bombing raid on Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany, kills 1,001 people.
 1945 – The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt. 
 1946 - The United Kingdom grants independence to Trans-Jordan.
 1954 – Closed since 1939, the London gold market reopens. 
 1958 – Faisal becomes King of Saudi Arabia.
 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Townes receive the first patent for a laser. 
 1963 – Please Please Me becomes the first Beatles album released in the UK.
 1965 – Bob Dylan "goes electric," releasing his first album featuring electric instruments, Bringing It All Back Home.
 1972 - The United States Congress sends the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification (meaning confirmation).
 1975 – A fire at the Brown's Ferry nuclear reactor in Decatur, Alabama, causes dangerous lowering of cooling water levels.
 1975 – In Stockholm, Sweden, Teach-In wins the twentieth Eurovision Song Contest for the Netherlands singing "Ding-a-dong."
 1978 – Karl Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas dies after falling off a tight-rope between two hotels in San Juan, Puerto Rico. 
1980 - Iraq invades Iran
 1982 - NASA's Space Shuttle Columbia is launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on its third mission, STS-3.
 1984 – Teachers at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California, are charged with Satanic ritual abuse of the children in the school. The charges are later dropped as completely unfounded. 
 1989 – Fawn Hall, Oliver North's former secretary, begins two days of testimony at North's Iran-Contra trial in Washington.
 1992 - USAir Flight 405 crashes shortly after take-off from New York City's LaGuardia Airport, killing 27 people.
 1993 – Intel ships the first Pentium chips (80586), featuring a 60 MHz clock speed, 100+ MIPS, and a 64-bit data path. 
 1995 – Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returns after setting a record for 438 days in space. 
 1997 – Tara Lipinski, age 14 years and 10 months, becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
 1997 - Comet Hale-Bopp has his closest approach to Earth.

From 2001 
 2003 - Protests take place worldwide against the Iraq War, which began two days earlier.
 2005 – Pat Summitt, coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols (women's college basketball), becomes the all-time leader in victories for both men's and women's college basketball, getting her 880th win as coach of the team.
 2006 - Basque separatist organization ETA announces a permanent ceasefire.
 2009 – The Mount Redoubt volcano in Alaska erupts.
 2012 - The Government of Mali is toppled in a military coup.
 2013 - Over 37 people are killed after a fire destroys  a camp containing Burmese refugees near Ban Mae, Thailand.
 2013 - American Rock band My Chemical Romance break up.
 2014 - Over 251 people are killed when a boat capsizes in Lake Albert in East Africa.
 2014 - 2014 Oso mudslide: A massive mudslide in Oso, Washington kills 43 people.
 2016 - 2016 Brussels bombings: Bomb attacks strike Brussels' International Airport and the Metro, killing at least 34 people.
 2017 - 2017 Westminster attack: An attack by car and knife kills 4 people.

Births

Up to 1900 
 875 - William I, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 918)
 924 - Dinh Bo Linh, first Emperor of Vietnam (d. 979)
 1212 - Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (d. 1235)
 1394 - Ulugh Beg, Timurid astronomer (d. 1449)
 1459 – Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1519)
 1503 - Antonio Francesco Grazzini, Italian writer (d. 1583)
 1517 - Gioseffo Zarlino, Italian music theorist and composer (d. 1590)
 1599 – Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (d. 1641)
 1609 – John II Casimir of Poland (d. 1672)
 1720 - Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect (d. 1799)
 1728 - Anton Raphael Mengs, German painter (d. 1779)
 1759 - Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, Queen of Sweden and Norway (d. 1818)
 1785 - Adam Sedgwick, English geologist (d. 1873)
 1797 – Wilhelm I of Germany (d. 1888)
 1808 - David Swinson Maynard, American frontiersman and physician (d. 1873)
 1814 - Thomas Crawford, American sculptor (d. 1857)
 1817 – Bahá'u'lláh, Persian prophet of the Bahá'í Faith (d. 1892)
 1817 - Braxton Bragg, American Confederate general (d. 1876)
 1818 - John Ainsworth Horrocks, English explorer of South Australia (d. 1846)
 1837 - Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione, Italian aristocrat (d. 1899)
 1842 - Mykola Lysenko, Ukrainian pianist, composer and conductor (d. 1912)
 1852 - Otakar Sevcik, Czech violinist and violin teacher (d. 1934)
 1857 – Paul Doumer, President of France (d. 1932)
 1860 - Alfred Ploetz, German physician (d. 1940)
 1868 – Robert Millikan, American physicist (d. 1953)
 1869 – Emilio Aguinaldo, first President of the Philippines (d. 1964)
 1878 - Marcel Théato, Luxembourgish-French runner (d. 1919)
 1880 - Ernie Quigley, Canadian-American sports official (d. 1960)
 1884 - Arthur Vandenberg, United States Senator for Michigan (d. 1961)
 1885 - Aryeh Levin, Lithuanian rabbi (d. 1969)
 1886 - August Rei, Estonian politician (d. 1963)
 1887 – Chico Marx, American comedian and actor (d. 1961)
 1890 - Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, German lawyer and politician (d. 1945)
 1892 - Johannes Semper, Estonian writer, translator and politician (d. 1970)
 1896 - He Long, Chinese military leader (d. 1969)
 1896 - Joseph Schildkraut, Austrian-born American actor (d. 1964)
 1897 - Ferruccio Novo, Italian football manager (d. 1974)
 1899 - Ruth Page, American ballet dancer and choreographer (d. 1991)

1901  1950 
 1902 – Madeleine Milhaud, French actress (d. 2008)
 1902 - Johannes Brinkman, Dutch architect (d. 1949)
 1907 - Roger Blin, French actor and movie director (d. 1984)
 1907 - James M. Gavin, American lieutenant general (d. 1990)
 1907 - Lucia Santos, Portuguese nun (d. 2005)
 1908 – Louis L'Amour, American writer (d. 1988)
 1908 - Jack Crawford, Australian tennis player (d. 1991)
 1909 - Nathan Rosen, American-Israeli physicist (d. 1995)
 1912 – Karl Malden, American actor (d. 2009)
 1912 - Agnes Martin, Canadian-American painter (d. 2004)
 1913 – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish combat pilot (d. 2001)
 1913 - Tom McCall, 30th Governor of Oregon (d. 1983)
 1913 - Lew Wasserman, American movie studio executive (d. 2002)
 1915 - Georgiy Zhzhonov, Russian actor and writer (d. 2005)
 1915 - John McConnell, American peace activist and environmentalist (d. 2012)
 1917 - Paul Rogers, British stage actor (d. 2013)
 1917 – Virginia Grey, American actress (d. 2004)
 1917 - Irving Kaplansky, Canadian mathematician, professor, author and musician (d. 2006)
 1918 – Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (d. 1997)
 1919 - R. M. Hare, English philosopher (d. 2002)
 1920 - Werner Klemperer, German actor and musician (d. 2000)
 1920 - Ross Martin, American actor (d. 1981)
 1921 - Nino Manfredi, Italian actor (d. 2004)
 1922 - John J. Gilligan, 62nd Governor of Ohio (d. 2013)
 1922 - Stewart Stern, American screenwriter (d. 2015)
 1923 – Marcel Marceau, French mime artist (d. 2007)
 1924 - Paul Fussell, American writer, historian, writer and professor (d. 2012)
 1924 - Al Neuharth, American businessman, writer and columnist (d. 2013)
 1926 - Franca Falcucci, Italian politician (d. 2014)
 1926 - Avo Uvezian, Lebanese-American jazz pianist, songwriter and cigar manufacturer (d. 2017)
 1929 - Sergio Cervato, Italian footballer (d. 2005)
 1929 - Yayoi Kusama, Japanese artist
 1930 - Lynden Pindling, Prime Minister of the Bahamas (d. 2000)
 1930 – Pat Robertson, American televangelist
 1930 – Stephen Sondheim, American composer and lyricist
 1931 – Burton Richter, American physicist
 1931 – William Shatner, Canadian actor
 1931 - Leslie Thomas, Welsh author (d. 2014)
 1932 – Larry Evans, American chess player (d. 2010)
 1932 - Els Borst, Dutch politician (d. 2014)
 1933 - Michel Hidalgo, French footballer and coach
 1933 - Abulhassan Banisadr, former President of Iran
 1934 - Bola Ajibola, Nigerian politician and jurist
 1934 - Orrin Hatch, United States Senator for Utah
 1936 – Roger Whittaker, British singer
 1937 - Angelo Badalamenti, American composer
 1937 - Armin Hary, German athlete
 1940 - Fausto Bertinotti, Italian Communist politician
 1941 – Bruno Ganz, Swiss actor
 1941 - Cassam Uteem, 2nd President of Mauritius
 1942 – Bernd Herzsprung, German actor
 1943 - George Benson, American jazz and fusion guitarist and singer
 1943 - Keith Relf, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer (d. 1976)
 1945 - Paul Schockemöhle, German equestrian showjumper
 1946 - Don Chaney, American basketball player and coach
 1946 - Rudy Rucker, American mathematician and computer scientist
 1946 - Harry Vanda, Dutch-Australian singer and musician
 1947 - James Patterson, American writer
 1948 – Bernard Dietz, German footballer
 1948 – Andrew Lloyd Webber, English theatre composer
 1948 - Wolf Blitzer, American journalist
 1949 - Fanny Ardant, French actress
 1949 – John Toshack, Welsh footballer and manager
 1949 - Brian Hanrahan, English journalist and broadcaster (d. 2010)
 1950 - Jocky Wilson, Scottish darts player (d. 2012)
 1950 - Mary Tamm, English actress (d. 2012)

1951  1975 
 1952 - Des Browne, Scottish politician
 1952 - David Jones, Welsh politician
 1953 - Vladimir Trofimenko, Russian athlete
 1955 – Lena Olin, Swedish actress
 1955 - Pete Sessions, American politician
 1955 – Valdis Zatlers, former President of Latvia
 1956 - Maria Teresa, Cuban-born Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
 1958 - Laurie David, American blogger, activist and producer
 1958 - Pete Wylie, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 1959 - Matthew Modine, American actor, screenwriter, director and producer
 1959 - Zhan Videnov, 45th Prime minister of Bulgaria
 1963 – Giuseppe Galderisi, Italian footballer and manager
 1965 - John Kordic, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
 1965 – Emma Wray, British actress
 1966 - Arron Banks, British businessman and political donor
 1966 - Brian Shaw, American basketball player
 1966 - Samantha Robson, British actress
 1967 - Mario Cipollini, Italian cyclist
 1968 - Kazuya Maekawa, Japanese footballer
 1968 - Euronymous, Norwegian guitarist and producer (d. 1993)
 1969 - Robert Halfon, English politician
 1970 - Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist
 1970 - Hwang Young-cho, South Korean marathon runner
 1971 - Keegan Michael Key, American actor
 1972 – Shawn Bradley, American basketball player
 1972 – Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
 1972 - Cory Lidle, American baseball player (d. 2006)
 1973 – Beverley Knight, British singer
 1974 – Philippe Clement, Belgian footballer
 1974 - Marcus Camby, American basketball player
 1974 - Kidada Jones, American actress
 1975 - Jiri Novak, Czech ice hockey player
 1975 - Anne Dudek, American actress

From 1976 
 1976 – Reese Witherspoon, American actress
 1976 - Teun de Nooijer, Dutch field hockey player
 1976 - Victoria Atkins, English politician
 1977 - John Otto, American musician
 1978 - Björn Lind, Swedish cross-country skier
 1981 - Mirel Radoi, Romanian footballer
 1984 – Piotr Trochowski, German footballer
 1985 – Mayola Biboko, Belgian footballer
 1985 – Jakob Fuglsang, Danish cyclist
 1988 – Tania Raymonde, American actress
 1989 - Eva Pereira, Cape Verdean middle-distance runner
 1989 - Ruben Popa, Romanian footballer
 1990 - Lisa Mitchell, Australian singer-songwriter
 1992 - Jessie Andrews, American pornographic actress
 1994 - Kolohe Andino, American surfer
 1997 - Harry Wilson, Welsh footballer
 1998 - Paola Andino, American actress
 1999 - Mick Schumacher, German racing driver

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 1081 - Boleslaw the Generous, King of Poland (b. 1042)
 1322 - Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster (b. 1278)
 1418 - Dietrich of Nieheim, German bishop and historian (b. 1345)
 1421 - Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence (b. 1388)
 1471 - George Podebrady, King of Bohemia (b. 1420)
 1544 - Johannes Magnus, last Roman Catholic Archbishop in Sweden (b. 1488)
 1602 – Agostino Carracci, Italian composer (b. 1557)
 1685 – Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
 1687 – Jean Baptiste Lully, Italian-French composer (b. 1632)
 1772 - John Canton, English physicist (b. 1718)
 1820 - Stephen Decatur, American naval officer (b. 1779)
 1832 – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer (b. 1749)
 1840 - Etienne Bobillier, French mathematician (b. 1798)
 1844 - William Carroll, Governor of Tennessee (b. 1788)
 1851 - Isaac Hill, Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1789)
 1863 - Opothleyahola, principal Native American chief of the Creek Nation (b. 1796)
 1896 - Thomas Hughes, English novelist (b. 1822)

1901  2000 
 1913 - Sung Chiao-jen, Chinese nationalist leader (b. 1882)
 1914 - Theodor Borrer, Swiss aviation pioneer (b. 1894)
 1917 - Yi-junyong, one of the Korean Joseon Dynasty's politicians (b. 1870)
 1942 - Frederick Cuming, English cricketer (b. 1875)
 1942 - William Donne, English cricketer (b. 1875)
 1946 - Clemens August Graf von Galen, German Resistance activist (b. 1878)
 1952 - Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)
 1955 - Ivan Subasic, Croatian-Yugoslavian politician (b. 1892)
 1958 – Mike Todd, American movie producer (b. 1909)
 1960 - Jose Antonio Aguirre, Basque politician (b. 1904)
 1977 - A.K. Gopalan, Indian Communist leader (b. 1904)
 1978 – Karl Wallenda, German acrobat (b. 1905)
 1987 – Odysseas Angelis, Greek military officer (b. 1912)
 1993 – Steve Olin, American baseball player (b. 1965)
 1994 – Walter Lantz, American cartoonist (b. 1900)
 1994 - Dan Hartman, American singer, songwriter and record producer (b. 1950)
 1996 - Robert F. Overmyer, American test pilot and astronaut (b. 1936)
 1996 - Billy Williamson, American musician (b. 1925)
 2000 - Carlo Parola, Italian footballer (b. 1921)

From 2001 
 2001 – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish combat pilot (b. 1913)
 2001 – William Hanna, American animator and studio founder (b. 1910)
 2002 - Rudolf Baumgartner, Swiss conductor and violinist (b. 1917)
 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, Palestinian co-founder of Hamas (b. 1936)
 2006 - Lawrence Stephen, Nauruan politician (b. 1939)
 2009 – Jade Goody, British television personality (b. 1981)
 2010 – Valentina Tolkunova, Russian singer (b. 1946)
 2010 – James W. Black, Scottish Nobel Prize-winning doctor and medical researcher (b. 1924)
 2012 - Mohammed Merah, French Islamic Jihadist and spree killer (b. 1988), shot after siege
 2013 - Bebo Valdés, Cuban pianist, bandleader and composer (b. 1918)
 2014 - Mickey Duff, Polish-born British boxing trainer and promoter (b. 1929)
 2014 - Patrice Wymore, American actress (b. 1926)
 2014 - Yashwant Vithoba Chittal, Indian author (b. 1928)
 2014 - Yngve A. A. Larsson, Swedish medicine professor and diabetologist (b. 1917)
 2014 - Riina Gerretz, Estonian pianist (b. 1939)
 2015 - Arkady Arkanov, Russian writer and satirist (b. 1933)
 2015 - Norman Scribner, American choral conductor (b. 1936)
 2016 - Rob Ford, Canadian politician, former Mayor of Toronto (b. 1969)
 2016 - Rita Gam, American actress (b. 1927)
 2016 - Richard Bradford, American actor (b. 1934)
 2016 - Glen Dawson, American rock climber and mountaineer (b. 1912)
 2016 - Phife Dawg, American rap musician (b. 1970)
 2016 - Santiago J. Erevia, American soldier (b. 1945)
 2017 - Dallas Green, American baseball player and manager (b. 1934)
 2017 - Sib Hashian, American drummer (b. 1949)
 2017 - Joanne Kyger, American poet (b. 1934)
 2017 - Sven-Erik Magnusson, Swedish singer (b. 1942)
 2017 - Ronnie Moran, English footballer and manager (b. 1934)
 2017 - Khalid Masood, English terrorist (b. 1964)
 2017 - Tomas Milian, Cuban-born Italian actor (b. 1933)
 2017 - Lembit Ulfsak, Estonian actor (b. 1947)
 2017 - Pete Hamilton, American racecar driver (b. 1942)
 2017 - Marilyn McCord Adams, American philosopher and priest (b. 1943)
 2017 - Piroska Oszoli, Hungarian painter (b. 1919)
 2018 - Dick Gamble, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
 2018 - René Houseman, Argentine footballer (b. 1953)
 2018 - Wayne Huizenga, American businessman and entrepreneur (b. 1937)
 2018 - Dariush Shayegan, Iranian philosopher and cultural theorist (b. 1935)

Observances 
 World Day for Water
 Emancipation Day (Puerto Rico)
 Earliest date on which Easter can fall, last in 1818, next in 2285 (April 25 is latest Easter date)
 Day of the People's Party (Laos)

Days of the year