April 4

Events
Up to 1900
1147 - First historic record of Moscow.
1581 - Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England.
1660 - Declaration of Breda by Charles II of England.
1721 - Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
1789 - The HMAV Bounty leaves Tahiti.
1812 - US President James Madison creates a 90-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
1814 - Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates as Emperor of France.
1818 - United States Congress adopts a 13-stripe and 20-star national flag for the United States.
1841 - William Henry Harrison dies, making him the shortest-serving President of the United States, with 31 days in office. John Tyler succeeds him.
1850 - Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.
1865 - American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln visits Confederate capital city Richmond, Virginia.
1866 - Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives an assassination attempt in Kyiv.
1873 - The British Kennel Club is founded, for the registry of purebred dogs.
1884 - A peace treaty ends the War of the Pacific. Chile gains territory from Bolivia, which loses its coastline.
1887 - Argonia, Kansas, elects Susanna M. Salter as its Mayor, becoming the first woman in the United States to take up this role.
1901 2000
1905 - An earthquake in Kangra, Northern India, kills around 20,000 people.
1906 - Mount Vesuvius erupts.
1917 - British passenger steamer City of Paris is sunk by a German U-boat off the Cote d'Azur, southern France, killing all 122 people on board.
1925 - The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded.
1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
1944 - World War II: The first Anglo-American bombardment of Bucharest kills around 3,000 people.
1945 - World War II: The Soviet Army takes control of Hungary.
1945 - World War II: American troops capture Kassel.
1949 - NATO is founded.
1958 - The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time, in London.
1960 - France agrees to the independence of Senegal and French Sudan (Mali).
1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top 5 places in the Billboard Hot 100.
1967 - Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers the Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence speech in protest against the Vietnam War.
1968 - NASA launches Apollo 6.
1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee.
1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
1973 - The World Trade Center in New York City is officially dedicated.
1976 - Microsoft is founded by a partnership of Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia resigns and is placed under house arrest.
1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto is executed in Pakistan.
1983 - The Space Shuttle Challenger makes its first space flight.
1984 - Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
1991 - Nicephore Dieudonne Soglo becomes President of Benin.
1996 - Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Rendezvous.
1998 - A landslide in Southwestern Iran kills around 120 people.
From 2001
2002 - The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty, ending the Angolan Civil War.
2003 - Voodoo becomes an official religion in Haiti.
2003 - Iraq War: US bombing of Baghdad begins.
2004 - Eddie Fenech Adami becomes President of Malta.
2005 - From Moscow, where he fled to after a major uprising, Askar Akayev officially announces his resignation as President of Kyrgyzstan.
2007 - Iran releases 15 Royal Navy personnel that were arrested 12 days earlier for allegedly trespassing in Iranian waters.
2009 - Anders Fogh Rasmussen is announced to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer as NATO Secretary-General. He takes up the post on August 1 of the same year.
2009 - George Abela becomes President of Malta.
2013 - Over 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.
2014 - Marie Louise Coleiro Preca becomes President of Malta.
2017 - A chemical gas attack in Khan Shaykhun, Syria, kills at least 74 people.
2018 - The 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, begin.
2019 - George Vella becomes President of Malta.
Births
Up to 1900
188 - Caracalla, Roman Emperor (d. 217)
1179 - Farid-ud-din Ganj Shakar, Islamic saint in South Asia (d. 1266)
1492 - Ambrosius Blarer, German-Swiss theologian and reformer (d. 1564)
1572 - William Strachey, English writer (d. 1621)
1593 - Edward Nicholas, English statesman (d. 1669)
1614 - Henry II, Duke of Guise (d. 1664)
1640 - Gaspar Sanz, Aragonese composer, guitarist, organist and priest (d. 1710)
1646 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (d. 1715)
1648 - Grinling Gibbons, Dutch woodcarver (d. 1721)
1676 - Giuseppe Maria Orlandini, Italian composer (d. 1760)
1688 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)
1752 - Niccolo Antonio Zingarelli, Italian composer (d. 1837)
1759 - Israel Smith, Governor of Vermont (d. 1810)
1760 - Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer (d. 1797)
1773 - Etienne Maurice Gerard, French general and statesman (d. 1852)
1785 - Bettina von Arnim, German writer (d. 1859)
1792 - Thaddeus Stevens, American lawyer and politician (d. 1868)
1802 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)
1806 - Claiborne Fox Jackson, Governor of Missouri (d. 1862)
1809 - Benjamin Peirce, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1880)
1819 - Queen Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
1821 - Linus Yale, Jr., American inventor and manufacturer (d. 1868)
1826 - Zenobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (d. 1901)
1828 - Margaret Oliphant, Scottish novelist (d. 1897)
1835 - John Hughlings Jackson, English neurologist (d. 1911)
1842 - Edouard Lucas, French mathematician (d. 1891)
1843 - William Henry Jackson, American painter (d. 1942)
1848 - Artruro Prat, Chilean naval hero (d. 1879)
1858 - Remy de Gourmont, French author, poet and critic (d. 1915)
1869 - Mary Jane Cotter, American architect (d. 1958)
1875 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)
1878 - Stylianos Lykoudis, Greek admiral (d. 1958)
1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
1889 - Makhanlal Chaturvedi, Indian Hindi language poet (d. 1968)
1895 - Arthur Murray, American dancer and educator (d. 1991)
1896 - Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright, editor and screenwriter (d. 1955)
1897 - Dina Manfredini, Italian-born American supercentenarian (d. 2012)
1897 - Pierre Fresnay, French actor (d. 1975)
1898 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
1899 - Hillel Oppenheimer, German-Israeli botanist (d. 1971)
1901 1950
1905 - Dougie Gray, Scottish footballer (d. 1972)
1905 - George Stevenson, Scottish footballer (d. 1990)
1905 - Shojiro Sugimura, Japanese footballer (d. 1975)
1906 - Yasuo Haruyama, Japanese footballer (d. 1987)
1906 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
1906 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist (d. 1995)
1907 - Robert Askin, Premier of New South Wales (d. 1981)
1910 - Barthelemy Boganda, Central African politician (d. 1959)
1910 - Dang Van Ngu, Vietnamese physician (d. 1967)
1911 - Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
1913 - Rosemary Lane, American actress and singer (d. 1974)
1913 - Frances Langford, American actress and singer (d. 2005)
1913 - Jules Leger, Canadian diplomat and Governor General of Canada (d. 1980)
1914 - Marguerite Duras, French writer (d. 1996)
1914 - Richard Coogan, American actor (d. 2014)
1915 - Muddy Waters, American musician (d. 1983)
1916 - Nikola Ljubicic, Yugoslavian general and politician (d. 2005)
1920 - Ignatius IV of Antioch, Syrian patriarch (d. 2012)
1920 - Eric Rohmer, French movie director (d. 2010)
1921 - Elizabeth Wilson, American actress (d. 2015)
1921 - Orunamamu, American-Canadian storyteller (d. 2014)
1922 - Elmer Bernstein, American movie composer (d. 2004)
1923 - Peter Vaughan, English actor (d. 2016)
1924 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player and manager (d. 1972)
1925 - Gene Reynolds, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1925 - Dettmar Cramer, German footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1925 - Frank Truitt, American sports coach (d. 2014)
1926 - Ronnie Masterson, Irish actress (d. 2014)
1928 - Maya Angelou, American writer and poet (d. 2014)
1928 - Elina Bystritskaya, Russian actress (d. 2019)
1931 - Catherine Tizard, 16th Governor-General of New Zealand
1931 - Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence director
1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet movie maker (d. 1986)
1932 - Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1993)
1932 - Richard Lugar, American politician (d. 2019)
1932 - Clive Davis, American music manager and producer
1935 - Kenneth Mars, American actor (d. 2011)
1935 - Trevor Griffiths, English playwright
1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, 7th Commissioner of Major League Baseball (d. 1989)
1938 - Norro Wilson, American country music singer-songwriter and record producer (d. 2017)
1939 - Ragnhild Queseth Haarstad, Norwegian politician (d. 2017)
1939 - Hugh Masekela, South African musician (d. 2018)
1939 - Ernie Terrell, American boxer and singer (d. 2014)
1942 - Jim Fregosi, American baseball player and manager
1942 - Kitty Kelley, American actress
1942 - Michel Fourniret, French serial killer
1944 - Ann-Louise Hanson, Swedish singer
1944 - Craig T. Nelson, American actor
1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French-German political activist
1945 - Katherine Neville, American writer
1946 - Katsuaki Sato, Japanese martial artist
1946 - Dave Hill, English musician (Slade)
1948 - Abdullah Ocalan, Kurdish activist
1948 - Berry Oakley, American musician (d. 1997)
1948 - Pick Withers, British musician
1949 - Junior Braithwaite, Jamaican musician (d. 1999)
1950 - Christine Lahti, American actress
1951 1975
1951 - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
1952 - Gary Moore, Northern Irish musician (d. 2011)
1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
1952 - Karen Magnussen, Canadian figure skater
1952 - Cherie Lunghi, English actress
1953 - Chen Yi, Chinese composer and violinist
1953 - Henry Fotheringham, South African cricketer
1954 - Michel Camilo, Dominican pianist
1954 - Dave Ulliott, English poker player (d. 2015)
1956 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
1957 - Aki Kaurismaki, Finnish director
1957 - Graeme Kelling, Scottish guitarist (Deacon Blue) (d. 2004)
1958 - Cazuza, Brazilian composer and singer (d. 1990)
1958 - Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Thai businessman (d. 2018)
1960 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
1960 - Jonathan Agnew, English cricketer
1962 - Craig Adams, English bass player and songwriter
1963 - Graham Norton, Irish television host
1963 - A. Michael Baldwin, American actor, producer and screenwriter
1963 - Jane McDonald, English singer and actress
1964 - Branco, Brazilian footballer
1965 - Robert Downey Jr., American actor
1966 - Mike Starr, American musician (d. 2011)
1966 - Stefan Mappus, German politician
1967 - Edith Masai, Kenyan runner
1969 - Karren Brady, British sports executive and broadcaster
1970 - Georgius Amanatidis, Greek footballer
1970 - Greg Garcia, American director, producer and screenwriter
1970 - Yelena Yelesina, Russian high jumper
1972 - Magnus Sveningsson, Swedish musician (The Cardigans)
1972 - Jill Scott, American singer and actress
1972 - Xenia Seeberg, German actress
1973 - David Blaine, American illusionist and magician
1973 - Chris McCormack, Australian athlete
1974 - Dave Mirra, American BMX rider (d. 2016)
1975 - Thobias Fredriksson, Swedish cross-country skier
1975 - Carl Ruiz, American chef and television personality (d. 2019)
From 1976
1976 - Emerson, Brazilian footballer
1977 - Adam Dutkiewicz, American guitarist and producer
1977 - Stephen Mulhern, English magician
1978 - Lemar, English singer
1978 - Irene Skliva, Greek model
1978 - Sam Moran, Australian musician (The Wiggles)
1979 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor (d. 2008)
1980 - Johnny Borrell, English singer (Razorlight)
1980 - Trevor Moore, American actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1981 - Anna Pyatykh, Russian triple jumper
1981 - Ned Vizzini, American author (d. 2013)
1983 - Amanda Righetti, American actress
1983 - Evgeny Artyukhin, Russian ice hockey player
1984 - Sean May, American basketball player
1985 - Rudy Fernandez, Spanish basketball player
1986 - Eunhyuk, South Korean singer
1986 - Rachel Korine, American actress
1986 - Aiden McGeady, Scottish-Irish footballer
1987 - Devon Anderson, English actor
1987 - Sami Khedira, German footballer
1988 - Nadine Kessler, German footballer
1991 - Jamie Lynn Spears, American singer and actress
1992 - Alexa Nikolas, American actress
1992 - Lucy Mae Barker, English actress and singer
1992 - Christina Metaxa, Cypriot singer-songwriter
1996 - Austin Mahone, American singer
1999 - Miki Nishino, Japanese singer, dancer and actress (AKB48)
2012 - Grumpy Cat, famous American cat and internet celebrity (d. 2019)
Deaths
Up to 1900
397 - Saint Ambrose of Milan (b. 338)
636 - Isidore of Seville, Spanish archbishop and saint (b. 560)
896 - Pope Formosus
968 - Abu Firas al-Hamdani, Arab prince, general and poet (b. 932)
1284 - Alfonso X of Castile (b. 1221)
1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
1305 - Jeanne of Navarre, Queen of France (b. 1273)
1406 - King Robert III of Scotland (b. 1337)
1459 - Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark (b. 1382)
1536 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
1588 - King Frederick II of Denmark (b. 1534)
1617 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (b. 1550)
1761 - Theodore Gardell, Swiss painter and enameler (b. 1722)
1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, Irish writer (b. 1728)
1807 - Joseph Jerome Lefrancais de Lalande, French astronomer (b. 1732)
1817 - Andre Massena, Marshal of France (b. 1758)
1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
1846 - Solomon Sibley, United States Senator (b. 1769)
1861 - John McLean, 6th United States Postmaster General (b. 1785)
1863 - Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (b. 1790)
1870 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
1874 - Charles Ernest Beule, French archaeologist and politician (b. 1826)
1875 - Karl Mauch, German explorer (b. 1837)
1879 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)
1883 - Peter Cooper, American businessman and philanthropist (b. 1791)
1890 - Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, 1st Premier of Quebec (b. 1820)
1890 - Edmond Hebert, French geologist (b. 1812)
1901 2000
1912 - Charles Brantley Aycock, 50th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1859)
1919 - Francisco Marto, Portuguese saint (b. 1908)
1923 - John Venn, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1834)
1929 - Karl Benz, German automobile designer and inventor (b. 1844)
1931 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (b. 1853)
1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist (b. 1853)
1933 - Elizabeth Bacon Custer, American author (b. 1842)
1939 - King Ghazi of Iraq (b. 1912)
1951 - George Albert Smith, American Mormon leader (b. 1870)
1953 - King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
1961 - Simeon Stoilow, Romanian mathematician (b. 1873)
1962 - James Hanratty, British murderer (b. 1936)
1967 - Al Lewis, American songwriter (b. 1901)
1967 - Hector Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1898)
1968 - Martin Luther King, Jr., American civil rights activist (b. 1929)
1972 - Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., American politician (b. 1908)
1976 - Harry Nyquist, Swedish contributor to Information Theory (b. 1889)
1979 - Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani politician (b. 1928)
1983 - Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1899)
1984 - Oleg Antonov, Russian airplane designer (b. 1906)
1991 - Edmund Adamkiewicz, German footballer (b. 1920)
1991 - H. John Heinz III, US Senator (b. 1938)
1991 - Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
1993 - Alfred Mosher-Butts, American inventor of Scrabble (b. 1899)
1995 - Kenny Everett, British entertainer (b. 1944)
1995 - Priscilla Lane, American singer and actress (b. 1915)
1996 - Barney Ewell, American runner (b. 1918)
1999 - Faith Domergue, American actor (b. 1924)
From 2001
2003 - Anthony Caruso, American actor (b. 1916)
2004 - Alberic Schotte, Belgian cyclist (b. 1919)
2007 - Bob Clark, American director (b. 1941)
2007 - Karen Sparck Jones, British computer scientist (b. 1935)
2009 - Gonzalo Olave, Chilean actor (b. 1983)
2012 - Claude Miller, French movie director (b. 1942)
2013 - Roger Ebert, American movie critic and writer (b. 1942)
2013 - Carmine Infantino, American illustrator (b. 1925)
2014 - Margo MacDonald, Scottish politician, member of the Scottish Parliament (b. 1943)
2014 - Kumba Iala, President of Guinea-Bissau (b. 1953)
2014 - Anja Niedringhaus, German journalist (b. 1965)
2014 - Jose Aguilar, Cuban boxer (b. 1958)
2015 - Elmer Lach, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1918)
2015 - Jamaluddin Jarjis, Malaysian politician (b. 1951)
2015 - Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer (b. 1931)
2015 - Donald N. Levine, American sociologist (b. 1931)
2015 - Ira Lewis, American actor and playwright (b. 1932)
2016 - Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
2016 - Getatchew Mekurya, Ethiopian jazz saxophonist (b. 1935)
2016 - Royston Nash, English conductor (b. 1933)
2016 - George Radosevich, American football player (b. 1928)
2016 - Mike Sandlock, American baseball player (b. 1915)
2016 - Abe Segal, South African tennis player (b. 1930)
2017 - Samir Farid, Egyptian film critic and historian (b. 1943)
2017 - Giovanni Sartori, Italian political scientist and journalist (b. 1924)
2018 - Andres Ammas, Estonian politician (b. 1956)
2018 - Soon-Tek Oh, South Korean-American actor (b. 1932)
2018 - Johnny Valiant, American professional wrestler (b. 1946)
2018 - Ray Wilkins, English footballer and manager (b. 1956)
2018 - Leonid Sokov, Russian artist and sculptor (b. 1941)
2019 - Alberto Cortez, Argentine singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
2019 - Georgiy Daneliya, Russian film director and screenwriter (b. 1930)
2019 - Barry Malkin, American film editor (b. 1938)
2019 - Marilyn Mason, American concert organist and academic (b. 1925)
Holidays and Observances
Independence Day in Senegal
International Day for Landmine Awareness and Assistance
Peace Day (Angola)
Children's Day (Republic of China and Hong Kong)
April 04