April 4 Events

1581 - Francis Drake completes a circumnavigation of the world and is knighted by Elizabeth I.
1660 - Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England.
1721 - Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.
1812 - U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
1814 - Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
1818 - The U.S. Congress adopts the flag of the United States as having 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 stars) with additional stars to be added whenever a new state is added to the Union.
1841 - President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and at one month, the elected president with the shortest term served.
1850 - Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
1859 - Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
1865 - American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
1866 - Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev. A design for a city gate to commemorate his escape was the inspiration for Mussorgsky's The Great Gate of Kiev from Pictures at an Exhibition.
1887 - Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
1905 - In India, an earthquake near Kangra kills 370,000.
1918 - World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
1939 - Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
1945 - World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf death camp in Germany.
1945 - World War II: Soviet Army liberates Hungary.
1949 - Twelve nations sign The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
1964 - The Beatles occupy all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.
1968 - Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee.
1968 - Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
1969 - Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
1969 - The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour is cancelled after the brothers failed to submit an episode before its broadcast date.
1971 - Roger Hargreaves creates the first Mr Men character "Mr Tickle".
1973 - The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
1974 - Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves ties Babe Ruth's home run record of 714 in the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds.
1975 - Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift - A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans. 172 people are killed.
1976 - Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
1979 - President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
1981 - In Dublin, Ireland, Bucks Fizz win the twenty-sixth Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Making Your Mind Up".
1983 - Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.
1984 - President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
1984 - The first entry in Winston Smith's diary in Nineteen-Eighty Four.
1988 - Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
1991 - Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over Merion, Pennsylvania.
1994 - Netscape Communications Corporation is founded (under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation") by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.
2003 - Sammy Sosa becomes the 18th member of the 500 home run club with a home run at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2004 - Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army stage an uprising in several towns and cities in Iraq after the Coalition's closure of Sadr's al-Hawza newspaper.

April 4 Births

186 - Caracalla, Roman emperor (d. 217)
1492 - Ambrosius Blarer, German reformer (d. 1564)
1593 - Edward Nicholas, English statesman (d. 1669)
1646 - Antoine Galland, French archaeologist (d. 1715)
1648 - Grinling Gibbons Dutch-born woodcarver (d. 1721)
1688 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)
1718 - Benjamin Kennicott, English churchman and Hebrew scholar (d. 1783)
1785 - Bettina von Arnim, German writer (d. 1859)
1802 - Dorothea Dix, American social activist (d. 1887)
1819 - Queen Maria II of Portugal (d. 1853)
1826 - Zénobe Gramme, Belgian engineer (d. 1901)
1846 - Comte de Lautréamont, French writer (d. 1870)
1875 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (d. 1964)
1876 - Maurice de Vlaminck, French painter (d. 1958)
1884 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese naval commander (d. 1943)
1888 - Tris Speaker, American baseball player (d. 1958)
1895 - Arthur Murray, American dance teacher (d. 1991)
1896 - Robert E. Sherwood, American playwright (d. 1955)
1898 - Agnes Ayres, American actress (d. 1940)
1902 - Louise Leveque de Vilmorin, French actress (d. 1969)
1906 - Bea Benaderet, American actress (d. 1968)
1906 - John Cameron Swayze, American journalist and television host (d. 1995)
1911 - Max Dupain, Australian photographer (d. 1992)
1913 - Frances Langford, American actress (d. 2005)
1914 - Marguerite Duras, French writer (d. 1996)
1915 - Muddy Waters, American musician (d. 1983)
1920 - Éric Rohmer, French film director
1922 - Elmer Bernstein, American composer (d. 2004)
1924 - Gil Hodges, American baseball player (d. 1972)
1928 - Maya Angelou, American writer
1931 - Bobby Ray Inman, American admiral and intelligence director
1932 - Anthony Perkins, American actor (d. 1992)
1932 - Andrei Tarkovsky, Russian film director (d. 1986)
1932 - Richard Lugar, American politician
1934 - Clive Davis, American record producer
1938 - A. Bartlett Giamatti, American university president and baseball commissioner
1939 - Hugh Masekela, South African musician
1940 - Sharon Sheeley, American songwriter
1942 - Kitty Kelley, American writer
1944 - Craig T. Nelson, American actor
1945 - Daniel Cohn-Bendit, French political activist
1946 - Dave Hill, English guitarist (Slade)
1947 - Luke Halpin, American actor
1947 - Wiranto, Indonesian general
1948 - Dan Simmons, American writer
1948 - Abdullah Öcalan, Kurdish leader
1948 - Derek Thompson, Northern Irish actor
1950 - Christine Lahti, American actress
1951 - Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia
1952 - Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete
1952 - Gary Moore, Irish guitarist (Thin Lizzy)
1953 - Robert Bertrand, Canadian politician
1956 - David E. Kelley, American writer and television producer
1957 - Aki Kaurismäki, Finnish film director
1957 - Nobuyoshi Kuwano, Japanese television performer and musician (Rats & Star)
1957 - Kelso, American racehorse (d. 1983)
1957 - Graeme Kelling, Scottish musician (Deacon Blue) (d. 2004)
1958 - Mary-Margaret Humes, American actress
1960 - Jane Eaglin, English soprano
1960 - Hugo Weaving, Australian actor
1963 - Jack Del Rio, American football player and coach
1963 - Graham Norton, Irish talk show host
1963 - Dale Hawerchuk, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 - Robbie Rist, American actor
1965 - Robert Downey Jr., American actor
1966 - Nancy McKeon, American actor
1968 - Jennifer Lynch, American director
1970 - Barry Pepper, Canadian actor
1973 - David Blaine, American illusionist
1974 - Dave Mirra, American athlete
1975 - Scott Rolen, American baseball player
1975 - Delphine Arnault, French billionaire businesswoman
1979 - Heath Ledger, Australian actor
1979 - Natasha Lyonne, American actress
1980 - Björn Wirdheim, Swedish race car driver
1991 - Jamie Lynn Spears, American television show host

April 4 Deaths

397 - St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
636 - Saint Isidore of Seville, Church Father and the proposed patron of Internet
896 - Pope Formosus (b. 816)
1284 - King Alfonso X of Castile (b. 1221)
1292 - Pope Nicholas IV (b. 1227)
1305 - Jeanne of Navarre, queen of Philip IV of France
1536 - Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1460)
1588 - King Frederick II of Denmark (b. 1534
1609 - Charles de L'Ecluse, Flemish botanist (b. 1526)
1617 - John Napier, Scottish mathematician (b. 1550)
1643 - Simon Episcopius, Dutch theologian (b. 1583)
1661 - Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier
1701 - Joseph Haines, entertainer and author
1743 - Daniel Neal, English historian (b. 1678)
1761 - Theodore Gardelle, Swiss painter and enameler (b. 1722)
1766 - John Taylor, English classical scholar (b. 1704)
1774 - Oliver Goldsmith, English writer (b. 1728)
1792 - James Sykes, American politician (b. 1725)
1807 - Joseph Jérôme Lefrançais de Lalande, French astronomer (b. 1732)
1817 - André Masséna, French marshal (b. 1758)
1841 - William Henry Harrison, 9th President of the United States (b. 1773)
1842 - Jean Moufot, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1784)
1846 - Solomon Sibley, Senator from Michigan Territory (b. 1769)
1861 - John McLean, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (b. 1785)
1870 - Heinrich Gustav Magnus, German chemist and physicist (b. 1802)
1874 - Charles Ernest Beulé, French archaelogist and politician (b. 1826)
1879 - Heinrich Wilhelm Dove, German physicist (b. 1803)
1884 - Marie Bashkirtseff, Russian artist and diarist (b. 1860)
1890 - Edmond Hébert, French geologist (b. 1812)
1919 - Sir William Crookes, English chemist and physicist (b. 1832)
1923 - John Venn, British mathematician (b. 1834)
1932 - Wilhelm Ostwald, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1853)
1951 - Al Christie, Canadian film director and producer (b. 1881)
1951 - George Albert Smith, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (b. 1870)
1953 - King Carol II of Romania (b. 1893)
1967 - Héctor Scarone, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1898)
1968 - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., American civil rights activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (assassinated) (b. 1929)
1972 - Adam Clayton Powell Jr., American politician (b. 1908)
1972 - Stefan Wolpe, German-born composer (b. 1902)
1976 - Harry Nyquist, important contributor to information theory (b. 1889)
1979 - Ali Bhutto, President and Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1928)
1979 - Edgar Buchanan, American actor (b. 1903)
1983 - Gloria Swanson, American actress (b. 1897)
1984 - Oleg Antonov, Russian airplane engineer (b. 1906)
1987 - C.L. Moore, American writer (b. 1911)
1991 - Max Frisch, Swiss writer (b. 1911)
1991 - H. John Heinz III, U.S. Senator (plane crash) (b. 1938)
1991 - Forrest Towns, American hurdler (b. 1914)
1995 - Priscilla Lane, American singer, actress
1996 - Barney Ewell, American athlete (b. 1918)
1996 - Larry LaPrise, American songwriter (b. 1913)
1999 - Early Wynn, baseball player (b. 1920)
1999 - Faith Domergue American actor (b. 1924)
2001 - Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, American custom car designer (b. 1932)
2002 - Harry L. O'Connor, Czech-born film stuntman
2003 - Resortes, Mexican comedian (b. 1916)
2004 - Casey Sheehan, American soldier, son of Cindy Sheehan (b. 1979)
2005 - Edward Bronfman, Canadian Businessman (b. 1924)

Back to Calendar