April 23

### Up to 1900

- 215 BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
- 711 – Dagobert III is crowned King of the Franks.
- 1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
- 1016 – Edmund Ironside becomes the Saxon king of England.
- 1343 – Estonia: Saint George's Nigh Uprising.
- 1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III of England is announced on St George's Day.
- 1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
- 1533 – The Church of England annuls the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII of England.
- 1597 – Shakespeare's _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
- 1660 – Treaty of Oliwa is established between Sweden and Poland.
- 1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
- 1685 – King James II of England (James VII of Scotland) is crowned.
- 1827 – William Rowan Hamilton presents his _Theory of systems of rays_.
- 1867 – William Lincoln patents the zoetrope, a machine which shows animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel.
- 1889 – Swedish Social Democratic Party is established.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1914 – The first baseball game at Wrigley Field, Chicago, takes place.
- 1920 – The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
- 1923 – Inauguration ceremonies take place of Gdynia as a temporary military port and fishers' shelter.
- 1927 – Football: Cardiff City F.C. defeats Arsenal in the FA Cup final. With Cardiff City being in Wales, it is the only time a team based outside England has won this trophy.
- 1929 – Turkey becomes the first country to celebrate Children's Day as a national holiday.
- 1932 – The 153–year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands burns down.
- 1935 – Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
- 1940 – Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi kills 198 people.
- 1941 – World War II: The Greek government and King George II of Greece evacuate Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
- 1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
- 1948 – 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, is captured from Palestinian forces.
- 1954 – Hank Aaron hits his first major league home run.
- 1956 – Elvis Presley makes his first appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada.
- 1967 – A group of young radicals are expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN). This group goes on to found the Socialist Workers Party (POS).
- 1968 – The United Kingdom produces its first decimalised coins, a 5p and a 10p coin.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
- 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: Pakistan Army and the Razakars massacre around 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan, present–day Bangladesh.
- 1974 – A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 crashes in Bali, Indonesia, killing 107.
- 1979 – Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol Group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.
- 1981 – Stefano Bontade, Mafia boss in Sicily, is murdered in Palermo, the opening shot in a mob war orchestrated by Salvatore Riina.
- 1984 – The discovery of HIV is announced.
- 1985 – Coca-Cola changes its 99 year old formula to the sweeter new Coke.  (It is doomed to failure and the company is later forced to reintroduce the original).
- 1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
- 1990 – In a referendum in Karl Marx Stadt in then–East Germany, 76% of voters support changing their city's name back to Chemnitz.
- 1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations–monitored referendum.
- 1994 – Physicists discover the top quark subatomic particle.
- 1995 – Association of Autonomous Astronauts founded.
- 1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.

### From 2001

- 2003 – Beijing closes all schools for two weeks due to the SARS virus.
- 2005 – The first YouTube video, called _Me at the Zoo_, is uploaded by the site's co–founder Jawed Karim.
- 2006 – Hungary's Socialist Party wins the most votes in the country's parliamentary election, and can continue to govern with the Alliance of Free Democrats. This is the first re–election of a Hungarian government since the end of the Cold War.
- 2009 – Gamma-ray burst GRB090423 is detected, coming from the most distant known astronomical object of any kind at the time.
- 2013 – France legalizes same-sex marriage.
- 2017 – French presidential election, 2017: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen advance to the second round, as the candidates of the main parties fail to get enough votes.
- 2018 – A new prince, Louis, is born to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, with Princess Charlotte becoming the first British princess not to be overtaken by a younger brother in the line of succession to the throne.
- 2018 – Serzh Sargsyan resigns as Prime minister of Armenia after only six days in office, following major protests in the capital, Yerevan. He had previously served ten years as President.
- 2018 – A white van collided with numerous pedestrians killing ten people and injuring sixteen others at Yonge Street in Toronto. The suspect is arrested by police.
- 2018 – Donald Trump receives his first state visit since becoming President of the United States, by Emmanuel Macron of France.

### Up to 1800

- 1141 – King Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1170 – Isabelle of Hainaut, Queen of France (d. 1190)
- 1185 – King Afonso II of Portugal (d. 1223)
- 1464 – Joan of France, Duchess of Berry (d. 1505)
- 1484 – Julius Caesar Scaliger, Italian philosopher (d. 1558)
- 1516 – Georg Fabricius, German poet, historian and archaeologist (d. 1571)
- 1522 – Catherine of Ricci, Italian saint (d. 1590)
- 1564 – William Shakespeare, English playwright (d. 1616)
- 1628 – Johann van Waveren Hudde, Dutch mathematician (d. 1704)
- 1676 – King Frederick I of Sweden (d. 1751)
- 1728 – Samuel Wallis, British naval officer and explorer (d. 1795)
- 1758 – Philip Gidley King, third Governor of New South Wales (d. 1808)
- 1775 – J. M. W. Turner, English painter (d. 1851)
- 1791 – James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States (d. 1868)
- 1792 – John Thomas Romney Robinson, Irish astronomer and physicist (d. 1882)
- 1794 – Wei Yuan, Chinese scholar (d. 1857)

### 1801 – 1900

- 1804 – Marie Taglioni, Swedish ballerina (d. 1884)
- 1805 – Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz, German philosopher (d. 1879)
- 1812 – Frederick Whitaker, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1891)
- 1813 – Stephen A. Douglas, American politician (d. 1861)
- 1813 – Frédéric Ozanam, French literary scholar, lawyer and journalist (d. 1853)
- 1819 – Edward Stafford, Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1901)
- 1823 – Abd-ul-Mejid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1861)
- 1828 – Albert of Saxony (d. 1902)
- 1844 – Sanford Dole, American politician (d. 1926)
- 1845 – Pier Andrea Saccardo, Italian botanist (d. 1920)
- 1853 – Winthrop M. Crane, 40th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1920)
- 1855 – Marco Fidel Suarez, President of Colombia (d. 1927)
- 1857 – Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian composer (d. 1919)
- 1858 – Max Planck, German scientist (d. 1947)
- 1858 – Ethel Smyth, English composer, conductor, writer and Women's Rights activist (d. 1944)
- 1867 – Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, Danish doctor, won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1928)
- 1879 – Tom Berry, 14th Governor of South Dakota (d. 1951)
- 1880 – Mikhail Fokine, Russian choreographer and dancer (d. 1942)
- 1882 – Albert Coates, English composer and conductor (d. 1953)
- 1883 – Clara Pontoppidan, Danish actress (d. 1975)
- 1888 – Georges Vanier, 19th Governor General of Canada (d. 1967)
- 1889 – Karel Doorman, Dutch admiral (d. 1942)
- 1891 – Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (d. 1953)
- 1893 – Frank Borzage, American actor and director (d. 1952)
- 1894 – Cow Cow Davenport, American singer and pianist (d. 1955)
- 1895 – Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand writer (d. 1982)
- 1896 – Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov, Russian inventor (d. 1964)
- 1897 – Lester Pearson, Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1972)
- 1897 – Lucius D. Clay, American general (d. 1978)
- 1899 – Minoru Shirota, Japanese physician and inventor of Yakult (d. 1982)
- 1899 – Bertil Ohlin, Swedish economist (d. 1979)

### 1901  – 1950

- 1901 – E.B. Ford, British ecological geneticist (d. 1988)
- 1902 – Halldór Laxness, Icelandic Nobel Prize–winning writer (d. 1998)
- 1907 – Lee Miller, American photographer (d. 1977)
- 1908 – Myron Waldman, American animator and director (d. 2006)
- 1910 – Simone Simon, French actress (d. 2005)
- 1911 – Ronald Neame, British movie producer (d. 2010)
- 1915 – Arnold Alexander Hall, British aeronautical engineer (d. 2000)
- 1917 – Dorian Leigh, American model (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Maurice Druon, French writer (d. 2009)
- 1919 – Oleg Penkovsky, Soviet double–agent (d. 1963)
- 1921 – Judy Agnew, wife of Spiro Agnew (d. 2012)
- 1922 – Marjorie Cameron, American writer, painter, actress and occultist (d. 1995)
- 1923 – Dolph Briscoe, Governor of Texas (d. 2010)
- 1924 – Bobby Rosengarden, American drummer and bandleader (d. 2007)
- 1924 – Margit Sandemo, Norwegian writer (d. 2018)
- 1926 – J. P. Donleavy, Irish–American writer (d. 2017)
- 1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress and political activist (d. 2014)
- 1929 – George Steiner, French–American literary critic, writer and philosopher
- 1936 – Roy Orbison, American singer (d. 1988)
- 1939 – Lee Majors, American actor
- 1939 – Stefano Bontade, Italian Mafia boss (d. 1981)
- 1940 – Michael Kadosh, Israeli footballer (d. 2014)
- 1941 – Paavo Lipponen, former Prime Minister of Finland
- 1941 – Jacqueline Boyer, French singer and actress
- 1941 – Arie den Hartog, Dutch road bicycle racer (d. 2018)
- 1942 – Sandra Dee, American actress (d. 2005)
- 1943 – Tony Esposito, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1943 – Frans Koppelaar, Dutch artist
- 1947 – Glenn Cornick, British musician (d. 2014)
- 1947 – Bernadette Devlin, Irish politician
- 1947 – Christer Pettersson, Swedish murder suspect (d. 2004)

### 1951 – 1975

- 1952 – Narada Michael Walden, American singer-songwriter, drummer and producer
- 1953 – James Russo, American actor
- 1954 – Michael Moore, American movie maker
- 1955 – Judy Davis, Australian actress
- 1955 – Tony Miles, English chess player
- 1955 – Mike Smith, English television and radio presenter (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Jan Hooks, American actress (d. 2014)
- 1957 – Neville Brody, English graphic designer, typographer and art director
- 1958 – Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, Icelandic composer
- 1958 – Magnus Andersson, Swedish footballer
- 1960 – Valerie Bertinelli, American actress
- 1960 – Steve Clark, English guitarist (Def Leppard) (d. 1991)
- 1960 – Claude Julien, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
- 1961 – Dirk Bach, German actor and television presenter (d. 2012)
- 1961 – George Lopez, American comedian, actor and talk show host
- 1962 – John Hannah, Scottish actor
- 1962 – Hillel Slovak, American musician (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (d. 1988)
- 1962 – Elaine Smith, British actress
- 1963 – Paul Belmondo, French actor and racing driver
- 1963 – Magnus Ver Magnusson, Icelandic powerlifter, four–times winner of World's Strongest Man title
- 1963 – Robby Naish, American windsurfer
- 1964 – Gianandrea Noseda, Italian conductor
- 1966 – Lembit Oll, Estonian chess player (d. 1999)
- 1967 – Melina Kanakaredes, American actress
- 1968 – Princess Aisha bint al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Princess Zein bint al Hussein of Jordan
- 1968 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (d. 2001)
- 1969 – Yelena Shushunova, Russian gymnast
- 1972 – Patricia Manterola, Mexican singer, actress and fashion designer
- 1973 – Patrick Poulin, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1975 – Jón Thór Birgisson (Jónsi), Icelandic singer

### From 1976

- 1976 – Brendan Cole, New Zealand dancer
- 1977 – Lee Young-Pyo, South Korean footballer
- 1977 – John Cena, American wrestler, rapper and actor
- 1979 – Barry Fratelli, Scottish musician (The Fratellis)
- 1979 – Lauri Ylönen, Finnish singer (The Rasmus)
- 1979 – Samppa Lajunen, Finnish skier
- 1979 – Barry Hawkins, English snooker player
- 1979 – Jaime King, American model and actress
- 1979 – Yana Gupta, Czech model, actress and author
- 1980 – Taio Cruz, English singer
- 1981 – Lady Gabriella Windsor, member of the extended British Royal Family
- 1982 – Andy Webster, Scottish footballer
- 1983 – Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakian tennis player
- 1983 – Jay Cutler, American football player
- 1983 – Aaron Hill, American actor
- 1984 – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Russian chess player
- 1984 – Ross Ford, Scottish rugby player
- 1984 – Fumihisa Yumoto, Japanese ski jumper
- 1985 – Tony Martin, German cyclist
- 1986 – Aleksei Rebko, Russian footballer
- 1987 – Emily Fox, American cup stacker and basketball player
- 1987 – Laura Mvula, English singer
- 1987 – Boaz Ma'uda, Israeli singer
- 1988 – Alistair Brownlee, English triathlete
- 1988 – Molly Burnett, American actress and singer
- 1988 – Steph Houghton, English footballer
- 1988 – Victor Anichebe, Nigerian footballer
- 1989 – Nicole Vaidisova, Czech tennis player
- 1990 – Dev Patel, British actor
- 1993 – Rina Chikano, Japanese singer (AKB48)
- 1994 – Patrick Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1995 – Gigi Hadid, American model
- 1997 – Alex Ferris, Canadian actor
- 2018 – Prince Louis of Cambridge

### Up to 1900

- 303 – Saint George, Christian martyr and patron Saint (date of birth unknown)
- 711 – King Childebert III of the Franks (b. 670)
- 725 – Wihtred, King of Kent
- 871 – Ethelred of Wessex, Saxon king
- 1014 – Brian Boru, High King of Ireland
- 1016 – Ethelred the Unready, Saxon king (b. 968)
- 1124 – Alexander I of Scotland (b. 1078)
- 1217 – Inge II of Norway (b. 1185)
- 1307 – Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I of England (b. 1272)
- 1605 – Tsar Boris Godunov of Russia (b. c. 1550)
- 1616 – Garcilaso de la Vega, Peruvian historian and writer (b. 1539)
- 1616 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer (b. 1547)
- 1616 – William Shakespeare, English playwright (b. 1564)
- 1625 – Maurice, Prince of Orange (b. 1567)
- 1670 – Loreto Vittori, Italian singer (b. 1604)
- 1794 – Guillaume-Chretien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes, French statesman (b. 1721)
- 1827 – Georgios Karaiskakis, hero of the Greek War of Independence (b. 1780)
- 1850 – William Wordsworth, English poet (b. 1770)
- 1895 – Carl Ludwig, German physician (b. 1815)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1905 – Gédéon Ouimet, 2nd Premier of Quebec (b. 1823)
- 1915 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (b. 1887)
- 1951 – Charles G. Dawes, Vice President of the United States (b. 1865)
- 1965 – George Adamski, Polish–American writer, teacher and ufologist (b. 1891)
- 1969 – Krzysztof Komeda, Polish jazz pianist and composer (b. 1931)
- 1975 – William Hartnell, English actor (b. 1908)
- 1981 – Josep Pla, Catalan journalist and writer (b. 1897)
- 1981 – Stefano Bontade, Italian Mafia boss (b. 1939)
- 1983 – Buster Crabbe, American singer and actor (b. 1908)
- 1984 – Red Garland, American jazz pianist (b. 1923)
- 1986 – Harold Arlen, American composer (b. 1905)
- 1986 – Otto Preminger, Austrian director (b. 1906)
- 1990 – Paulette Goddard, American actress (b. 1910)
- 1992 – Tanka Prasad Acharya, 27th Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1912)
- 1992 – Satyajit Ray, Indian movie maker (b. 1921)
- 1993 – César Chávez, Mexican–American activist (b. 1927)
- 1995 – Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Canadian politician, 13th Premier of Manitoba (b. 1895)
- 1996 – P. L. Travers, Australian writer (b. 1899)
- 1996 – Mario Luigi Ciappi, Italian cardinal (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Hamani Diori, 1st President of Niger (b. 1916)
- 1998 – James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. (b. 1928)
- 1998 – Konstantinos Karamanlis, Greek politician (b. 1907)

### From 2001

- 2003 – Fernand Fonssagrives, French photographer (b. 1910)
- 2005 – Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Australian politician, Premier of Queensland (b. 1911)
- 2007 – Boris Yeltsin, former President of Russia (b. 1931)
- 2007 – David Halberstam, American journalist and writer (b. 1934)
- 2011 – John Sullivan, British television writer (b. 1946)
- 2011 – Norio Ogha, Japanese businessman (b. 1930)
- 2012 – Tommy Marth, American musician (b. 1978)
- 2013 – Robert W. Edgar, American politician (b. 1943)
- 2014 – Mark Shand, British travel writer and conservationist, brother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (b. 1951)
- 2014 – Michael Glawogger, Austrian movie director, screenwriter and cinematographer (b. 1959)
- 2014 – Connie Marrero, Cuban baseball player, oldest living Major League Baseball player (b. 1911)
- 2014 – Yozo Aoki, Japanese footballer (b. 1929)
- 2015 – Sixto Valencia Burgos, Mexican comic artist (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Sawyer Sweeten, American actor (b. 1995)
- 2015 – Aziz Asli, Iranian footballer (b. 1938)
- 2015 – Richard Corliss, American movie critic (b. 1944)
- 2015 – Francis Tsai, American comic book, movie and video game concept artist (b. 1967)
- 2015 – Pierre Claude Nolin, Canadian politician (b. 1950)
- 2016 – Banharn Silpa-archa, Prime Minister of Thailand (b. 1932)
- 2016 – Inge King, German–Australian sculptor (b. 1915)
- 2016 – Ron Brace, American football player (b. 1986)
- 2016 – Miguel Picazo, Spanish movie director (b. 1927)
- 2016 – Madeleine Sherwood, Canadian actress (b. 1922)
- 2017 – Isiaka Adeleke, Nigerian politician (b. 1955)
- 2017 – Jerry Adriani, Brazilian singer and actor (b. 1947)
- 2017 – Chris Bearde, Australian comedy writer and producer (b. 1936)
- 2017 – Kathleen Crowley, Australian actress (b. 1929)
- 2017 – Imre Földi, Hungarian weightlifter (b. 1938)
- 2017 – Ken Sears, American basketball player (b. 1933)
- 2017 – Leo Baxendale, British comics artist (b. 1930)
- 2017 – Chriet Titulaer, Dutch astronomer, television presenter and writer (b. 1943)
- 2017 – Michael Williams, Baron Williams of Baglan, British peer and diplomat (b. 1949)
- 2018 – Haddon Donald, New Zealand army lieutenant colonel and politician (b. 1917)
- 2018 – Bob Dorough, American jazz pianist, composer and singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
- 2018 – Béla Magyari, Hungarian air force colonel (b. 1949)
- 2018 – Jerrold Meinwald, American chemist (b. 1927)
- 2018 – Leland B. Yeager, American economist (b. 1924)
- 2019 – Henry W. Bloch, American businessman (b. 1922)
- 2019 – Matthew Buckland, South African businessman (b. 1974)
- 2019 – George Haigh, English footballer (b. 1915)
- 2019 – Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (b. 1921)
- 2019 – Mark Medoff, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1940)
- 2019 – Juan José Muñante, Peruvian footballer (b. 1948)
- 2019 – Terry Rawlings, British film editor (b. 1933)
- 2019 – Peter Skipper, English footballer (b. 1958)
- 2019 – David Winters, English choreographer (b. 1939)

## Observances

- Saint George's Day – Patron Saint of many places, including England and Catalonia
- UN English language Day
- World Book Day
- National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey)
- National Beer Day (Germany)
- Latest possible date for Good Friday, in relation to Easter