April 18

## Events 
### Up to 1900 
* 1506 &ndash; The cornerstone for the present Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome is laid.
* 1518 &ndash; Bona Sforza is crowned Queen of Poland.
* 1521 &ndash; The trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms.
* 1689 &ndash; Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
* 1738 &ndash; Madrid's Royal Academy of History is founded.
* 1775 &ndash; American Revolution: Paul Revere's ride, to warn the countryside of troop movements.
* 1797 &ndash; France defeats Austria in the Battle of Neuwied.
* 1807 &ndash; A ferry capsizes in the port of Harwich, Essex, England, killing between 60 and 90 people.
* 1831 &ndash; The University of Alabama is founded.
* 1848 &ndash; An American victory at the Battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for the invasion of Mexico in the Mexican-American War.
* 1880 &ndash; A tornado in Marshfield, Missouri, kills 99 people.
* 1881 &ndash; Billy the Kid escapes from Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
* 1888 &ndash; British passenger steamer *State of Florida* sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean after a collision with a sailing ship, killing 130 people.
* 1897 &ndash; The Greco-Turkish War is declared.

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1902 &ndash; Quetzaltenango, Guatemala is destroyed by an earthquake.
* 1906 &ndash; 1906 San Francisco earthquake: San Francisco, California is largely destroyed by a major earthquake, and subsequent fires. Estimates suggest that 3,000 people have died, some of them after Mayor Eugene Schmitz orders a shoot–to–kill policy against looters. Operatic tenor Enrico Caruso, who was in the city at the time, fled, never to return.
* 1909 &ndash; Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
* 1912 &ndash; Cunard liner RMS *Carpathia* brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic sinking to New York City.
* 1915 &ndash; French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
* 1923 &ndash; The Yankee Stadium opens in New York City.
* 1924 &ndash; Simon & Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book.
* 1930 &ndash; BBC Radio announces that there is no news for that day.
* 1941 &ndash; Vichy France announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations.
* 1942 &ndash; Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
* 1945 &ndash; World War II: 1,000 bombers attack the island of Heligoland in the North Sea.
* 1946 &ndash; The International Court of Justice meets for the first time in The Hague.
* 1954 &ndash; Gamal Abdel Nasser takes power in Egypt.
* 1955 &ndash; World–famous physicist Albert Einstein dies aged 76.
* 1955 &ndash; Representatives of 29 nations meet in Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian–African Conference.
* 1958 &ndash; A US Federal Court rules that controversial poet Ezra Pound can be released from an insane asylum.
* 1974 &ndash; Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto opens Lahore's Dry Port.
* 1980 &ndash; The Republic of Zimbabwe becomes independent from the UK, with Canaan Banana as its first President. Robert Mugabe becomes Prime Minister, assuming the presidency in 1987.
* 1981 &ndash; The longest–ever game of professional baseball begins in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
* 1983 &ndash; The US Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is hit by a suicide bomber, killing 63 people.
* 1988 &ndash; The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian forces in the Iran-Iraq War.
* 1992 &ndash; General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolts against President Mohammed Najibullah in Afghanistan.
* 1996 &ndash; At least 106 civilians in Lebanon are killed when Israeli Defense Forces shell a UN compound in Qana.
* 1996 &ndash; Islamic fundamentalists carry out a terror attack on a hotel in Cairo, killing 18 Greek tourists, who they mistook for Israelis.

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; A light aircraft crashes into the Pirelli building in Milan.
* 2002 &ndash; Thor Heyerdahl, who became world–famous for his Kon-Tiki expedition, dies at the age of 87.
* 2004 &ndash; Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero orders the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.
* 2005 &ndash; Start of the Conclave to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II; Joseph Alois Ratzinger is chosen the next day and becomes Pope Benedict XVI.
* 2007 &ndash; 198 people are killed in a series of bombings across Baghdad.
* 2007 &ndash; UEFA Euro 2012 is announced as being hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine.
* 2008 &ndash; Cricket: The first season of the Indian Premier League begins.
* 2013 &ndash; A suicide bombing at a café in Baghdad kills 27 people and injures 63.
* 2014 &ndash; An avalanche on Mount Everest kills 12 people.
* 2015 &ndash; A terrorist attack in the city of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, kills at least 33 people.
* 2017 &ndash; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May calls for an early general election for June 8.
* 2018 &ndash; Saudi Arabia's cinemas open for the first time since 1983.
* 2018 &ndash; NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is launched.
* 2019 &ndash; Northern Irish journalist Lyra McKee is shot and killed during rioting in the city of Londonderry.

## Births 
### Up to 1900 
* 359 &ndash; Gratian, Roman Emperor (d. 383)
* 1115 &ndash; Gertrud of Süpplingenburg, Saxon noblewoman (d. 1143) 
* 1480 &ndash; Lucrezia Borgia, Florentine ruler (d. 1519)
* 1580 &ndash; Thomas Middleton, English dramatist (d. 1621)
* 1590 &ndash; Ahmed I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1617)
* 1605 &ndash; Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (d. 1674)
* 1647 &ndash; Elias Brenner, Finnish–Swedish artist (d. 1717)
* 1772 &ndash; David Ricardo, English political economist (d. 1823)
* 1782 &ndash; Georg August Goldfuss, German palaeontologist and zoologist (d. 1848)
* 1797 &ndash; Adolphe Thiers, 2nd President of France (d. 1877)
* 1813 &ndash; James McCune Smith, American physician and writer (d. 1865)
* 1819 &ndash; Carlos Cespedes, Cuban revolutionary (d. 1874)
* 1838 &ndash; Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist (d. 1912)
* 1857 &ndash; Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)
* 1857 &ndash; Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and novelist (d. 1935)
* 1858 &ndash; Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian social reformer (d. 1962)
* 1858 &ndash; Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and novelist (d. 1935)
* 1863 &ndash; Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austrian–Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942)
* 1863 &ndash; Linton Hope, English architect and sailor (d. 1920)
* 1864 &ndash; Richard Harding Davis, American writer (d. 1916)
* 1874 &ndash; Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German writer (d. 1941)
* 1877 &ndash; Vicente Sotto, Filipino patriot and writer (d. 1950)
* 1879 &ndash; Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist (d. 1962)
* 1880 &ndash; Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach and umpire (d. 1968)
* 1882 &ndash; Leopold Stokowski, Polish conductor (d. 1977)
* 1882 &ndash; Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler and writer (d. 1964)
* 1884 &ndash; Jaan Anvelt, Estonian Communist revolutionary and writer (d. 1937)
* 1889 &ndash; Jessie Street, American activist (d. 1970)
* 1890 &ndash; Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, Russian royal (d. 1958)
* 1893 &ndash; Violette Morris, French shot putter and discus thrower (d. 1944)
* 1896 &ndash; Ha Hye-sok, Korean poet, feminist, writer, painter, educator and journalist (d. 1948)
* 1897 &ndash; Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)
* 1897 &ndash; Per-Erik Hedlund, Swedish cross–country skier (d. 1975)

### 1901 &ndash; 1950 
* 1901 &ndash; Al Lewis, American lyricist (d. 1967)
* 1901 &ndash; Elene Akhvlediani, Georgian artist (d. 1975)
* 1902 &ndash; Giuseppe Pella, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
* 1905 &ndash; George H. Hitchings, American scientist (d. 1998)
* 1907 &ndash; Miklos Rozsa, Hungarian composer (d. 1995)
* 1911 &ndash; Maurice Goldhaber, Austrian–American physicist (d. 2011)
* 1914 &ndash; Claire Martin, Canadian writer (d. 2014)
* 1917 &ndash; Frederika of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece (d. 1981)
* 1918 &ndash; Gabriel Axel, Danish movie director, screenwriter and actor (d. 2014)
* 1918 &ndash; Harry Firth, Australian racing driver (d. 2014)
* 1918 &ndash; Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese screenwriter (d. 2018)
* 1918 &ndash; André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
* 1919 &ndash; Vondell Darr, American actress (d. 2012)
* 1921 &ndash; Jean Richard, French actor (d. 2001)
* 1922 &ndash; Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)
* 1924 &ndash; Clarence Gatemouth Brown, American blues guitarist (d. 2005)
* 1924 &ndash; Roy Mason, British politician (d. 2015)
* 1925 &ndash; Bob Hastings, American actor (d. 2014)
* 1926 &ndash; Harry Volkman, American meteorologist (d. 2015)
* 1927 &ndash; Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish writer, journalist and politician (d. 2013)
* 1927 &ndash; Charles Pasqua, French politician (d. 2015)
* 1927 &ndash; Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist (d. 2008)
* 1928 &ndash; Otto Piene, German artist (d. 2014)
* 1928 &ndash; Karl Josef Becker, German theologian and cardinal (d. 2015)
* 1929 &ndash; Mario Francesco Pompedda, Italian cardinal (d. 2006)
* 1930 &ndash; Jean Guillou, French composer and organist
* 1931 &ndash; Klas Lestander, Swedish biathlete
* 1933 &ndash; Enrico Crispolti, Italian art critic, curator and art historian (d. 2018)
* 1934 &ndash; James Drury, American actor
* 1934 &ndash; Pedro Tenorio, Governor of the Northern Marianas (d. 2018)
* 1936 &ndash; Tarcisio Gitti, Italian politician (d. 2018)
* 1937 &ndash; Jan Kaplicky, Czech–British architect (d. 2009)
* 1937 &ndash; Teddy Taylor, British politician (d. 2017)
* 1940 &ndash; Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist
* 1940 &ndash; Mike Vickers, British musician and composer
* 1940 &ndash; Ira von Fürstenberg, Italian socialite, actress and jewellery designer
* 1941 &ndash; Michael D. Higgins, 9th President of Ireland
* 1942 &ndash; Jochen Rindt, Austrian racecar driver (d. 1970)
* 1943 &ndash; Zeki Alasya, Turkish actor and director (d. 2015)
* 1944 &ndash; Albin Planinc, Yugoslavian chess player (d. 2008)
* 1944 &ndash; Robert Hanssen, American double agent
* 1944 &ndash; Frances D'Souza, Baroness D'Souza, English academic and politician
* 1945 &ndash; Margaret Hassan, Irish aid worker (d. 2004)
* 1946 &ndash; Hayley Mills, British actress
* 1946 &ndash; Irene Fernandez, Malaysian activist (d. 2014)
* 1946 &ndash; Janet Kagan, American writer (d. 2008)
* 1947 &ndash; Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor and director
* 1947 &ndash; Moses Blah, Liberian politician (d. 2013)
* 1947 &ndash; Cindy Pickett, American actress
* 1947 &ndash; James Woods, American actor
* 1947 &ndash; Herbert Mullin, American serial killer
* 1950 &ndash; Kenny Ortega, American director, producer and choreographer

### 1951 &ndash; 1975 
* 1953 &ndash; Rick Moranis, Canadian–American actor, singer and screenwriter
* 1956 &ndash; Eric Roberts, American actor
* 1956 &ndash; Melody Thomas Scott, American actress
* 1956 &ndash; Roberto Calderoli, Italian politician
* 1958 &ndash; Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer
* 1959 &ndash; Frank Mulholland, Scottish lawyer
* 1960 &ndash; Neo Rauch, German artist
* 1960 &ndash; J. Christopher Stevens, American diplomat (d. 2012)
* 1961 &ndash; Jane Leeves, British actress
* 1961 &ndash; Steve Lombardi, American professional wrestler
* 1963 &ndash; Eric McCormack, Canadian actor
* 1963 &ndash; Conan O'Brien, American comedian
* 1963 &ndash; Universo 2000, Mexican professional wrestler (d. 2018)
* 1964 &ndash; Niall Ferguson, British historian
* 1964 &ndash; Rithy Panh, Cambodian documentary moviemaker
* 1966 &ndash; Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
* 1966 &ndash; Trine Hattestad, Norwegian javelin thrower
* 1966 &ndash; Camille Coduri, English actress
* 1967 &ndash; Maria Bello, American actress
* 1968 &ndash; David Hewlett, English–Canadian actor
* 1969 &ndash; Princess Sayako of Japan
* 1970 &ndash; Esther Schweins, German actress
* 1970 &ndash; Saad Hariri, Lebanese Prime Minister
* 1971 &ndash; Samantha Cameron, wife of David Cameron
* 1971 &ndash; David Tennant, Scottish actor
* 1971 &ndash; Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
* 1972 &ndash; Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist
* 1972 &ndash; Eli Roth, American director
* 1972 &ndash; Lars Christiansen, Danish handball player
* 1973 &ndash; Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner
* 1973 &ndash; Arnaud Beltrame, French gendarme (d. 2018)
* 1974 &ndash; Mark Tremonti, American musician
* 1974 &ndash; Edgar Wright, English director and writer

### From 1976 
* 1976 &ndash; Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
* 1976 &ndash; Rodrigo de la Serna, Argentine actor
* 1976 &ndash; Sean Maguire, English actor
* 1977 &ndash; Hassan El Fakri, Norwegian footballer
* 1977 &ndash; Jonathan Rowson, Scottish chess player
* 1979 &ndash; Matthew Upson, English footballer
* 1979 &ndash; Kourtney Kardashian, American reality TV personality
* 1979 &ndash; Anthony Davidson, British racing driver
* 1980 &ndash; Rabiu Afolabi, Nigerian footballer
* 1980 &ndash; Carolina Crescentini, Italian actress
* 1980 &ndash; Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
* 1981 &ndash; Milan Jovanovic, Serbian footballer
* 1982 &ndash; Simone Farina, Italian footballer
* 1983 &ndash; Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
* 1983 &ndash; Hernán Rengifo, Peruvian footballer
* 1984 &ndash; America Ferrera, American actress
* 1985 &ndash; Lukasz Fabianski, Polish footballer
* 1985 &ndash; Rachel Smith, American model
* 1986 &ndash; Maurice Edu, American soccer player
* 1986 &ndash; Mateusz Rutkowski, Polish ski jupmer
* 1987 &ndash; Danny Guthrie, English footballer
* 1987 &ndash; Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, British model and actress
* 1987 &ndash; Samantha Jade, Australian singer-songwriter
* 1987 &ndash; Cara Maria Wayans, American actress
* 1988 &ndash; Anagabriela Espinoza, Mexican model
* 1989 &ndash; Hannah Wang, Australian actress
* 1989 &ndash; Jessica, Korean–American actress, model and singer (Girls' Generation)
* 1990 &ndash; Wojciech Szczesny, Polish footballer
* 1990 &ndash; Britt Robertson, American actress
* 1992 &ndash; Chloe Bennet, American actress and singer
* 1993 &ndash; Nathan Sykes, British singer (The Wanted)
* 1995 &ndash; Divock Origi, Belgian footballer
* 1996 &ndash; Ski Mask the Slump God, American rapper and songwriter
* 2007 &ndash; Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan

## Deaths 
### Up to 1900 
* 1143 &ndash; Gertrud of Süpplingenburg, Saxon noblewoman (b. 1115) 
* 1161 &ndash; Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury
* 1556 &ndash; Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (b. 1495)
* 1567 &ndash; Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
* 1674 &ndash; John Graunt, English statistician (b. 1620)
* 1794 &ndash; Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
* 1796 &ndash; Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (b. 1732)
* 1802 &ndash; Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
* 1832 &ndash; Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)
* 1859 &ndash; Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)
* 1864 &ndash; Juris Alunans, Latvian philologist (b. 1832)
* 1873 &ndash; Justus von Liebig, German scientist (b. 1803)
* 1898 &ndash; Gustave Moreau, French painter (b. 1826)

### 1901 &ndash; 2000 
* 1905 &ndash; Juan Valera, Spanish writer, diplomat and politician (b. 1824)
* 1906 &ndash; Luis Martín, Spanish Superior–General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
* 1936 &ndash; Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (b. 1879)
* 1941 &ndash; Alexandros Koryzis, Prime minister of Greece (b. 1885) 
* 1942 &ndash; Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor and art collector (b. 1875)
* 1943 &ndash; Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
* 1945 &ndash; John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (b. 1849)
* 1945 &ndash; Ernie Pyle, American journalist (b. 1900)
* 1945 &ndash; William, Prince of Albania (b. 1876)
* 1947 &ndash; Jozef Tiso, Slovakian politician (b. 1887)
* 1949 &ndash; Ulrich Salchow, Swedish figure skater (b. 1877)
* 1951 &ndash; Antonio Oscar Carmona, Portuguese politician (b. 1869)
* 1955 &ndash; Albert Einstein, German physicist and Nobel laureate (b. 1879)
* 1957 &ndash; Ben W. Hooper, 33rd Governor of Tennessee (b. 1870)
* 1958 &ndash; Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872)
* 1964 &ndash; Ben Hecht, American director, producer and screenwriter (b. 1894)
* 1965 &ndash; Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena, Mexican inventor and engineer (b. 1917)
* 1974 &ndash; Marcel Pagnol, French writer and movie maker (b. 1895)
* 1976 &ndash; Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer (b. 1911)
* 1988 &ndash; Pierre Desproges, French journalist, comedian and actor (b. 1939)
* 1991 &ndash; Gabriel Celaya, Spanish poet (b. 1911)
* 1992 &ndash; Frankie Howerd, English comedian and actor (b. 1917)
* 1993 &ndash; Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka (b. 1917)
* 1995 &ndash; Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (b. 1908)
* 1996 &ndash; Piet Hein, Danish scientist, mathematician and inventor (b. 1905)
* 1998 &ndash; Terry Sanford, 65th Governor of North Carolina (b. 1917)

### From 2001 
* 2002 &ndash; Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer, ethnographer, zoologist  and writer (b. 1914)
* 2004 &ndash; Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji (b. 1920)
* 2007 &ndash; Iccho Itoh, Japanese politician, Mayor of Nagasaki (b. 1945)
* 2008 &ndash; Germaine Tillion, French anthropologist (b. 1907)
* 2011 &ndash; Pietro Ferrero Jr., Italian businessman (b. 1963)
* 2011 &ndash; William Donald Schaefer, American politician (b. 1921)
* 2012 &ndash; Dick Clark, American radio and television host, and producer (b. 1929)
* 2013 &ndash; Storm Thorgerson, British graphic designer (b. 1944)
* 2014 &ndash; Dylan Tombides, Australian footballer (b. 1994)
* 2014 &ndash; Brian Priestman, British maestro and conductor (b. 1927)
* 2014 &ndash; Derek Cooper, British broadcaster and food naturalist (b. 1925)
* 2014 &ndash; Andrew Sessler, American physicist (b. 1928)
* 2015 &ndash; Mario Pirani, Italian journalist (b. 1925)
* 2015 &ndash; Erwin Waldner, German footballer (b. 1933)
* 2016 &ndash; Yuri Bychkov, Russian art historian (b. 1931)
* 2016 &ndash; Cox Habbema, Dutch actress (b. 1944)
* 2016 &ndash; Eva Henning, Swedish actress (b. 1920)
* 2016 &ndash; Sir John Leslie, 4th Baronet, Irish aristocrat and media personality (b. 1916)
* 2016 &ndash; Johan van Minnen, Dutch journalist and politician (b. 1932)
* 2017 &ndash; Yvonne Monlaur, French actress (b. 1939)
* 2017 &ndash; Jaak Panksepp, Estonian–American neuroscientist (b. 1943)
* 2018 &ndash; Luisa Pastor Lillo, Spanish politician (b. 1948)
* 2018 &ndash; Bruno Sammartino, Italian–American professional wrestler (b. 1935)
* 2018 &ndash; Henk Schouten, Dutch footballer (b. 1932)
* 2018 &ndash; Jeanne Wilson, American swimmer (b. 1926)
* 2018 &ndash; Dale Winton, English television presenter (b. 1955)
* 2019 &ndash; Jameel Jalibi, Pakistani linguist, writer and academic (b. 1929)
* 2019 &ndash; Con de Lange, South African–Scottish cricketer (b. 1981)
* 2019 &ndash; Lyra McKee, Northern Irish journalist (b. 1990)
* 2019 &ndash; Lorraine Warren, American paranormal investigator (b. 1927)

## Observances 
* Independence Day (Zimbabwe)
* Invention Day (Japan)
* International Day of Monuments and Sites
* Army Day (Iran)