April 26

### Up to 1950

- 1315 – Robert the Bruce opens the first Scottish Parliament.
- 1478 – The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Florence Cathedral.
- 1564 – William Shakespeare is baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England.
- 1607 – English colonists of the Jamestown settlement make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
- 1721 – A massive earthquake hits Tabriz, present-day Iran.
- 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but 1,000 of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France.
- 1803 – Meteor fragments, in their thousands, fall from the skies above L'Aigle, France.
- 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman near Durham, North Carolina.
- 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, in a barn in Virginia. Booth is shot dead by cavalryman Boston Corbett.
- 1876 – In football, FC Copenhagen is founded. It is the oldest Football Club in Denmark and Northern Europe.
- 1903 – In football, Spanish club Atletico Madrid is founded.
- 1923 – Future King George VI of the United Kingdom marries Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey.
- 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected Reichspräsident, the head of state of the Weimar Republic.
- 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
- 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
- 1942 – The worst-ever mining accident in history kills 1,549 miners in an explosion at the Honkeiko Colliery, Manchuria.
- 1944 – Georgius Papandreou becomes Head of the Greek government–in–exile based in Egypt.
- 1946 – Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.

### From 1951

- 1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
- 1956 – SS _Ideal X_, the world's first successful container ship, leaves Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.
- 1960 – The April Revolution in South Korea leads to the resignation of President Rhee Syng-man, who had ruled for 12 years.
- 1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
- 1963 – Libya changes its constitution. Women gain the right to vote, and the official name of the country becomes "Kingdom of Libya".
- 1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
- 1965 – A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario has to be abandoned after 15 minutes after rioting.
- 1966 – The IOC decides that Munich should host the 1972 Summer Olympics.
- 1966 – Ambroise Noumazalaye forms the new government in the Republic of the Congo.
- 1982 – 57 people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in Gyeongsangam-do, South Korea.
- 1986 – In Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
- 1989 – The deadliest-ever tornado kills over 1,000 people in central Bangladesh.
- 1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before its end, Andover, Kansas would record the year's only F5 tornado (see The Andover, Kansas Tornado).
- 1994 – South Africa holds its first multiracial elections.
- 1994 – A China Airlines Airbus A-300–600R crashes at Nagoya Airport, Japan killing 264.
- 2000 – The Andorra national football team scores its first-ever win; 2–0 against the Belarus national football team. Andorra had joined FIFA in 1994.
- 2002 – 19-year–old Robert Steinhäuser shoots and kills 17 people at his school in Erfurt, Germany.
- 2005 – Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.
- 2012 – Former President of Liberia Charles Taylor is found guilty of war crimes for his role in supplying weapons during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
- 2013 – A fire in a psychiatric hospital near Moscow, Russia, kills 38 people. Only 3 people survive.
- 2013 – The Bank of England announces that Winston Churchill will feature on its five–pound bank notes from 2016.
- 2016 – A court ruling finds that the 96 victims of the Hillsborough disaster were unlawfully killed.
- 2017 – The Cassini space probe moves inside Saturn's ring system.
- 2018 – American entertainer Bill Cosby is found guilty of sexual assault.

### Up to 1900

- 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (died 188)
- 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (died 1600)
- 1575 – Marie de' Medici, Queen of France (died 1647)
- 1647 – William Ashhurst, English banker and politician (died 1720)
- 1648 – Peter II of Portugal (died 1706)
- 1710 – Thomas Reid, Scottish philosopher (died 1797)
- 1711 – David Hume, Scottish philosopher (died 1776), born on May 7 in Gregorian calendar
- 1765 – Emma, Lady Hamilton, wife of Horatio Nelson (died 1815)
- 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist (died 1853)
- 1782 – Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily (died 1866)
- 1785 – John James Audubon, American painter (died 1851)
- 1786 – William Hovell, English explorer of Australia (died 1875)
- 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet (died 1862)
- 1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter (died 1863)
- 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American politician and diplomat (died 1889)
- 1812 – Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (died 1887)
- 1821 – Robert Adamson, Scottish photographer (died 1848)
- 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect (died 1903)
- 1826 – Ambrose R. Wright, American Civil War general (died 1872)
- 1845 – Jorge Montt, President of Chile (died 1922)
- 1856 – Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (died 1930)
- 1862 – Edmund C. Tarbell, American artist (died 1938)
- 1865 – Akseli Gallen-Kallela, Finnish painter and architect (died 1931)
- 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist (died 1959)
- 1885 – Marcello Bertinetti, Italian fencer and footballer (died 1967)
- 1886 – Gabdulla Tukay, Tatar poet (died 1913)
- 1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (died 1939)
- 1888 – Anita Loos, American writer (died 1981)
- 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born philosopher (died 1951)
- 1889 – James Wordie, Scottish polar explorer (died 1962)
- 1892 – John Murray, Australian army officer (died 1951)
- 1894 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler's Deputy (died 1987)
- 1896 – Ernst Udet, German pilot (died 1941)
- 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-born movie director (died 1987)
- 1897 – Eddie Eagan, American athlete (died 1967)
- 1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (died 1984)
- 1898 – John Grierson, Scottish moviemaker (died 1972)
- 1900 – Charles Richter, American seismologist (someone who studies earthquakes), creator of the Richter scale (died 1985)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1904 – Jimmy McGrory, Scottish footballer (died 1982)
- 1907 – Ilios Tsirimkos, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1968)
- 1909 – Marianne Hoppe, German theatre and movie actress (died 2002)
- 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese movie director (died 1997)
- 1914 – Bernard Malamud, American writer (died 1986)
- 1917 – I. M. Pei, Chinese–born architect
- 1917 – Virgil Trucks, American baseball player (died 2013)
- 1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (died 2004)
- 1921 – Jimmy Giuffre, American jazz clarinetist, saxophone player and composer (died 2008)
- 1922 – Roger Grava, Italian-French footballer (died 1949)
- 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, 23rd Governor General of Canada (died 1993)
- 1922 – Margaret Scott, South African-Australian ballerina and choreographer
- 1925 – Vladimir Botlyansky, Russian mathematician and writer
- 1925 – Jorgen Ingmann, Danish musician (died 2015)
- 1925 – Zvi Yavetz, Israeli historian (died 2013)
- 1925 – Michele Ferrero, Italian businessman (died 2015)
- 1926 – David Coleman, British sports broadcaster (died 2013)
- 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian athlete
- 1931 – Bernie Brillstein, American movie and television producer (died 2008)
- 1931 – Paul Almond, Canadian screenwriter, director and producer (died 2015)
- 1932 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani theologian, philosopher and scholar (died 2010)
- 1932 – Francis Lai, French movie score composer
- 1932 – Agildo Ribeiro, Brazilian actor (died 2018)
- 1932 – Birgitta Stenberg, Swedish writer (died 2014)
- 1932 – Michael Smith, British-born chemist (died 2000)
- 1933 – Carol Burnett, American actress and comedienne
- 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-born physicist
- 1934 – Donald Sterling, American businessman, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers
- 1936 – Doug Sax, American audio engineer (died 2015)
- 1937 – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French racing driver (died 2015)
- 1938 – Nino Benvenuti, Italian boxer
- 1938 – Duane Eddy, American guitarist
- 1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian composer
- 1942 – Svyatoslav Belza, Russian scholar, critic and essayist (died 2014)
- 1942 – Molvi Iftikhar Hussein Ansari, Kashmiri Shia cleric and politician (died 2014)
- 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer
- 1945 – Richard Armitage, American politician
- 1945 – Jorge Serrano Elias, 29th President of Guatemala
- 1947 – Warren Clarke, British actor (died 2014)
- 1947 – David Byrne, Irish politician
- 1948 – Derek Davis, Irish broadcaster (died 2015)
- 1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentine footballer
- 1949 – Dominic Sena, American director
- 1950 – Thomas Quick, Swedish claimed serial killer

### 1951 – 1975

- 1953 – Arved Fuchs, German polar scientist and writer
- 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
- 1956 – Koo Stark, American actress
- 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute, Scottish peer and racing driver
- 1959 – John Corabi, American singer and musician
- 1959 – Thanassis Papakonstantinou, Greek singer and songwriter
- 1960 – Roger Andrew Taylor, British drummer (Duran Duran)
- 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-born actress
- 1961 – Chris Mars, American singer-songwriter, musician and producer
- 1963 – Jet Li, Chinese martial artist and actor
- 1963 – Tank Abbott, American martial artist and wrestler
- 1965 – Kevin James, American comedian
- 1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Japanese manga artist
- 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, British actress
- 1967 – David Gebbia, American businessman
- 1967 – Richard Gebbia, American businessman
- 1967 – Glenn Jacob, American Wrestler
- 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovenian–American model, First Lady of the United States
- 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli footballer
- 1973 – Lee Woon-Jae, South Korean footballer
- 1973 – Gedeon Naudet, French-born American movie maker
- 1974 – Adil Ray, British radio presenter
- 1975 – Nerina Pallot, British singer-songwriter
- 1975 – Joey Jordison, American musician (Slipknot)

### From 1976

- 1977 – Jason Earles, American actor, comedian and martial artist
- 1977 – Roxana Saberi, American journalist
- 1977 – Raphael Wicky, Swiss footballer
- 1977 – Craig Adams, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1978 – Elson Becerra, Colombian footballer (d. 2006)
- 1979 – Ariane Moffatt, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress
- 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor
- 1980 – Jordana Brewster, American actress
- 1980 – Marlon King, Jamaican footballer
- 1981 – Matthieu Delpierre, French footballer
- 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, British singer and musician
- 1981 – Caro Emerald, Dutch singer
- 1982 – Nadja Benaissa, German singer
- 1982 – Amazing Red, Puerto Rican professional wrestler
- 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American POW
- 1984 – Emily Wickersham, American actress and model
- 1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
- 1985 – Nam Gyu-Ri, South Korean singer and actress
- 1987 – Jessica Lee Rose, American-New Zealand actress
- 1989 – Daesung, South Korean singer-songwriter and actor
- 1990 – Kim Yu-mi, South Korean model
- 1990 – Jonathan dos Santos, Mexican footballer
- 1991 – Ignacio Lores Varela, Uruguayan footballer
- 1992 – Danielle Hope, English actress and singer
- 1994 – Daniil Kvyat, Russian racing driver
- 1994 – Zoe Smith, English weightlifter
- 1995 – Daniel Padilla, Filipino actor and singer

### Up to 1950

- 499 – Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei in China (b. 467)
- 645 – Richarius, Frankish hermit and monk (b. 560)
- 757 – Pope Stephen II
- 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
- 1196 – Alfonso II of Aragon (b. 1157)
- 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
- 1476 – Simonetta Vespucci, Italian noblewoman (b. 1453)
- 1478 – Giuliano di Piero de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1453)
- 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (b. 1465)
- 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1651)
- 1789 – Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian soldier (b. 1721)
- 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed United States President Abraham Lincoln (b. 1838)
- 1910 – Bjornstjerne Bjornson, Norwegian writer (b. 1832)
- 1910 – Garretson W. Gibson, President of Liberia (b. 1832)
- 1915 – John Bunny, American actor (b. 1863)
- 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
- 1924 – Josef Labor, Bohemian composer, organist and pianist (b. 1842)
- 1938 – Edmund Husserl, German philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist (b. 1874)
- 1944 – Violette Morris, French footballer, shot putter and discus thrower (b. 1893)
- 1945 – Sigmund Rascher, Nazi doctor (b. 1909)
- 1946 – James Larkin White, American, discovered the Carlsbad Caverns (b. 1882)

### 1951 – 2010

- 1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist (b. 1868)
- 1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
- 1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Japanese creator of Karate (b. 1868)
- 1968 – John Heartfield, German painter and graphic artist (b. 1891)
- 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist (b. 1883)
- 1970 – Charles January, American soccer player (b. 1888)
- 1976 – Sid James, South African-born British comedian (b. 1913)
- 1984 – Count Basie, American musician (b. 1904)
- 1986 – Hermann Gmeiner, Austrian humanitarian (b. 1919)
- 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
- 1988 – Valerie Solanas, American feminist (b. 1936)
- 1989 – Lucille Ball, American actress (b. 1911)
- 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American conductor and composer (b. 1910)
- 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (b. 1931)
- 1994 – Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Japanese Kyokushin karate (b. 1927)
- 1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (b. 1918)
- 1999 – Jill Dando, British television presenter (b. 1961)
- 1999 – Man Mohan Adhikari, Prime Minister of Nepal (b. 1920)
- 2002 – Robert Steinhauser, German spree killer in the Erfurt massacre (b. 1983)
- 2003 – Edward Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist (b. 1904)
- 2005 – Maria Schell, Swiss-Austrian actress (b. 1926)
- 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan writer (b. 1917)
- 2007 – Jack Valenti, American political advisor and movie executive (b. 1921)

### From 2011

- 2011 – Phoebe Snow, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1950)
- 2013 – George Jones, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1931)
- 2013 – William L. Guy, 26th Governor of North Dakota (b. 1919)
- 2013 – Mary Thom, American journalist (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Sandro Lopopolo, Italian boxer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Antonio Pica, Spanish footballer (b. 1933)
- 2014 – DJ Rashad, American DJ (b. 1979)
- 2015 – Wang Guozhen, Chinese poet (b. 1956)
- 2015 – Izatullo Khayoyev, Prime Minister of Tajikistan (b. 1936)
- 2015 – Bill Valentine, American baseball umpire (b. 1932)
- 2015 – Masudur Rahman Baidya, Indian swimmer (b. 1968)
- 2015 – Hojatollah Khatib, Iranian sports administrator (b. 1954)
- 2015 – Jayne Meadows, American actress (b. 1919)
- 2015 – Marcel Pronovost, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1930)
- 2016 – Harry Wu, Chinese activist (b. 1937)
- 2016 – Vincent Darius, Grenadian Roman Catholic prelate (b. 1955)
- 2016 – Amanullah Khan, Pakistani-Kashmiri activist and writer (b. 1934)
- 2016 – Lucy Kibaki, former First Lady of Kenya (b. 1940)
- 2017 – Jonathan Demme, American film director (b. 1944)
- 2018 – Yoshinobu Ishii, Japanese footballer (b. 1939)
- 2018 – Philip H. Hoff, American politician, 73rd Governor of Vermont (b. 1924)
- 2018 – Elvira Orphée, Argentine writer (b. 1922)
- 2018 – Gianfranco Parolini, Italian film director (b. 1925)

## Observances

- Union Day (Tanzania)
- Confederate Memorial Day (Texas and Florida)
- Day of Remembrance of the Chernobyl tragedy (Belarus)
- World Intellectual Property Day
- Latest possible date for Easter Monday (earliest is March 23)