April 26

April 26 is the 116th day of the year (117th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 249 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1336 – Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ascends Mont Ventoux
• 1478 – The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence.
• 1607 – English colonists of the Jamestown settlement make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
• 1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte signs a general amnesty to allow all but about one thousand of the most notorious émigrés of the French Revolution to return to France, as part of a reconciliary gesture with the factions of the Ancien Regime and to eventually consolidate his own rule.
• 1805 – United States Marines captured Derne, Tripoli under the command of First Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon.
• 1865 – American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place near Durham, North Carolina.
• 1865 – Union cavalry troopers corner and shoot dead John Wilkes Booth, assassin of President Lincoln, in Virginia.
• 1925 – Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected head of state of the Weimar Republic.
• 1928 – Los Angeles City Hall dedicated.
• 1933 – The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Guernica (or Gernika in Basque, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
• 1945 – World War II: Battle of Bautzen – last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
• 1954 – The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
• 1956 – First container ship left Port Newark, New Jersey for Houston, Texas.
• 1958 – Final run of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue from Washington, D.C., to New York City after 68 years, the first U.S. passenger train to use electric locomotives.
• 1962 – NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
• 1963 – In Libya, amendments to the constitution transform Libya (United Kingdom of Libya) into one national unity (Kingdom of Libya) and allows for female participation in elections.
• 1964 – Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
• 1965 – A Rolling Stones concert in London, Ontario is shut down by police after 15 minutes due to rioting.
• 1966 – An earthquake of magnitude 7.5 destroys Tashkent.
• 1966 – A new government is formed in the Republic of Congo, led by Ambroise Noumazalaye.
• 1970 – The Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization enters into force
• 1982 – 57 people are killed by former police officer Woo Bum-kon in a shooting spree in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.
• 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
• 1989 – The deadliest tornado in world history strikes Central Bangladesh, killing upwards of 1,300, injuring 12,000, and leaving as many as 80,000 homeless.
• 1991 – Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before the outbreak's end, Andover, Kansas, would record the year's only F5 tornado (see Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak).
• 1994 – China Airlines flight 140 crashes at Nagoya Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.
• 1994 – Physicists announce first evidence of the top quark subatomic particle.
• 2002 – Robert Steinhäuser infiltrates and kills 17 at Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot.
• 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 ( Syrian occupation of Lebanon ).

Births

• 121 – Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (d. 180)
• 570 – Muhammed, founder of Islam, according to the Shi'a sect. Other sources suggest April 20. (d. 632)
• 1538 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (d. 1600)
• 1564 – William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright (baptism) (d. 1616)
• 1573 – Marie de' Medici, wife of Henry IV of France (d. 1642)
• 1648 – King Peter II of Portugal (d. 1706)
• 1662 – Maria Luisa of Orleans, queen consort of Spain (d. 1689)
• 1710 – Thomas Reid, British philosopher (d. 1796)
• 1718 – Esek Hopkins, Commander of the US Navy during the Revolutionary War (d. 1802)
• 1774 – Christian Leopold von Buch, German geologist (d. 1853)
• 1782 – Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, Queen Consort of the French (d. 1866)
• 1785 – John James Audubon, French-American naturalist and illustrator (d. 1851)
• 1787 – Ludwig Uhland, German poet (d. 1862)
• 1798 – Eugène Delacroix, French painter (d. 1863)
• 1801 – Ambrose Dudley Mann, American diplomat (d. 1889)
• 1804 – Charles Goodyear, American politician (d. 1876)
• 1812 – Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1887)
• 1822 – Frederick Law Olmsted, American landscape architect (d. 1903)
• 1826 – George Hull Ward, American general (d. 1863)
• 1826 – Ambrose R. Wright, American Civil War General (d. 1872)
• 1856 – Sir Joseph Ward, 17th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1930)
• 1878 – Saint Rafael Guízar Valencia, Mexican Catholic bishop (d. 1938)
• 1879 – Owen Willans Richardson, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1959)
• 1886 – Ma Rainey, American singer (d. 1939)
• 1886 – Ğabdulla Tuqay, Tatar poet (d. 1913)
• 1888 – Anita Loos, American writer (d. 1981)
• 1889 – Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian-born philosopher (d. 1951)
• 1894 – Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (d. 1987)
• 1896 – Ernst Udet, WWI pilot and film actor, Luftwaffe officer (d. 1941)
• 1897 – Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (d. 1967)
• 1897 – Douglas Sirk, German-born film director (d. 1987)
• 1898 – Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer, Nobel laureate (d. 1984)
• 1898 – John Grierson, British filmmaker (d. 1972)
• 1900 – Charles Richter, American geophysicist (d. 1985)
• 1900 – Hack Wilson, American baseball player (d. 1948)
• 1904 – Paul-Émile Léger, Canadian cardinal and archbishop (d. 1991)
• 1910 – Tomoyuki Tanaka, Japanese movie producer and creator of Godzilla (d. 1997)
• 1911 – Marianne Hoppe, German actress (d. 2002)
• 1912 – A. E. van Vogt, Canadian writer (d. 2000)
• 1914 – Bernard Malamud, American author (d. 1986)
• 1914 – James W. Rouse, American investor (d. 1996)
• 1916 – Morris West, Australian writer (d. 1999)
• 1916 – Vic Perrin, American actor (d. 1989)
• 1916 – George Tuska, American comic book illustrator (d. 2009)
• 1917 – Sal Maglie, American baseball player (d. 1992)
• 1917 – I.M. Pei, Chinese-born architect
• 1918 – Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d. 2004)
• 1918 – Stafford Repp, American actor (d. 1974)
• 1922 – Jeanne Sauvé, Canadian politician (d. 1993)
• 1924 – H. Browning Ross, American long-distance running Olympian (d. 1998)
• 1925 – Jørgen Ingmann, Danish musician
• 1926 – David Coleman, British TV sports broadcaster
• 1926 – Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Jack Douglas, British actor (d. 2008)
• 1929 – Richard Mitchell, American author and professor (d. 2002)
• 1930 – Roger Moens, Belgian athlete
• 1932 – Francis Lai, French film music composer
• 1932 – Michael Smith, British-born chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 2000)
• 1932 – Israr Ahmed, Pakistani Muslim religious scholar (d. 2010)
• 1933 – Carol Burnett, American comedian
• 1933 – Arno Allan Penzias, German-born physicist, Nobel laureate
• 1933 – Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, Puerto Rican activist (d. 2005)
• 1938 – Duane Eddy, American musician
• 1938 – Wolf Kahler, German actor
• 1940 – Giorgio Moroder, Italian composer
• 1940 – Cliff Watson, British rugby league footballer
• 1941 – Claudine Clark, American R&B singer-composer
• 1941 – John Mitchell, American composer
• 1942 – Claudine Auger, French actress
• 1942 – Michael Kergin, Canadian diplomat
• 1942 – Bobby Rydell, American singer
• 1943 – Gary Wright, American singer
• 1943 – Peter Zumthor, Swiss architect
• 1944 – Amien Rais, Indonesian politician
• 1945 – Sylvain Simard, Canadian politician
• 1947 – Warren Clarke, British actor
• 1949 – Carlos Bianchi, Argentinian footballer
• 1949 – Jerry Blackwell, American wrestler (d. 1995)
• 1949 – Dominic Sena, American film director
• 1954 – Alan Hinkes, British mountaineer
• 1955 – Kurt Bodewig, German politician
• 1955 – Mike Scott, American baseball player
• 1956 – Koo Stark, American actress
• 1958 – John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute
• 1958 – Giancarlo Esposito, American actor
• 1958 – Jeffrey Guterman, American mental health counselor
• 1959 – John Corabi, American musician
• 1959 – Thanassis Papakonstantinou, Greek singer and songwriter
• 1960 – Roger Taylor, British musician (Duran Duran)
• 1960 – Steve Lombardozzi, American baseball player
• 1961 – Joan Chen, Chinese-born actress
• 1961 – Anthony Cumia, American radio personality (The Opie and Anthony Show)
• 1961 – Chris Mars, American rock drummer (The Replacements)
• 1962 – Colin Anderson, British footballer
• 1962 – Michael Damian, American actor, singer and producer
• 1962 – Debra Wilson, American actress and comedian
• 1963 – Li Lianjie/Jet Li, Chinese martial artist and actor
• 1963 – Colin Scotts, Australian-born American football player
• 1965 – Kevin James, American comedian
• 1966 – Yoshihiro Togashi, Mangaka who created YuYu Hakusho
• 1967 – Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Academy Award nominated British actress
• 1967 – Glenn Jacobs, American professional wrestler
• 1970 – Melania Trump, Slovenian model
• 1970 – Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, American singer (TLC)
• 1971 – Shondrella Avery, American actress
• 1971 – Jay DeMarcus, American bassist (Rascal Flatts)
• 1972 – Jason Bargwanna, Australian racing driver
• 1972 – Kiko Narváez, Spanish footballer
• 1972 – Avi Nimni, Israeli Footballer
• 1973 – Chris Perry, British footballer
• 1974 – Ivana Milicevic, Croatian-American actress
• 1974 – Adil Ray, British radio presenter (BBC Asian Network)
• 1975 – Nathan "Joey" Jordison, American musician (Slipknot)
• 1975 – Nerina Pallot, British singer
• 1976 – Luigi Panarelli, Italian footballer
• 1976 – Václav Varaďa, Czech ice hockey player
• 1977 – Jason Earles, American actor
• 1977 – Kosuke Fukudome, Japanese baseball player
• 1977 – Chris Johnston, Irish rugby player
• 1977 – Tom Welling, American actor
• 1978 – Avant, American singer
• 1978 – Joe Crede, American baseball player
• 1978 – Peter Madsen, Danish footballer
• 1978 – Tyler Labine, Canadian actor
• 1978 – Stana Katic, Canadian actress
• 1979 – Ariane Moffatt, Canadian singer and songwriter
• 1979 – Janne Wirman, Finnish musician (Children of Bodom)
• 1980 – Jordana Brewster, American actress
• 1980 – Marlon King, Jamaican footballer
• 1980 – Anna Mucha, Polish actress
• 1980 – Channing Tatum, American actor
• 1980 – Marnette Patterson, American actress, famous YouTube star LG15: The Resistance
• 1981 – Matthieu Delpierre, French footballer
• 1981 – Ms. Dynamite, British musician
• 1982 – Joanne Gobure, Nauruan poet
• 1982 – Brock Gillespie, American basketball player
• 1982 – Jon Lee, British singer (S Club)
• 1982 – Cooper Wallace, American football player
• 1983 – José María López, Argentine racing driver
• 1983 – Jessica Lynch, American P.O.W.
• 1985 – John Isner, American tennis player
• 1985 – Nam Gyu-Ri, Korean singer (See Ya)
• 1987 – Jarmila Groth, Slovakian/Australian tennis player
• 1987 – Jessica Lee Rose, American/New Zealand actress
• 1989 – Daesung, Korean singer (Big Bang)
• 1992 – Danielle Hope, English Actress/singer

Deaths

• 1192 – Emperor Go-Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1127)
• 1444 – Robert Campin, Flemish painter (b. 1378)
• 1476 – Simonetta Vespucci, inspiration of Botticelli (b. 1453)
• 1478 – Giuliano di Piero de' Medici, ruler of Florence (assassinated) (b. 1453)
• 1489 – Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Japanese shogun (b. 1465)
• 1716 – John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Lord Chancellor of England (b. 1651)
• 1784 – Nano Nagle, Irish convent founder (b. 1718)
• 1789 – Count Petr Ivanovich Panin, Russian soldier (b. 1721)
• 1852 – Charles Athanase Walckenaer, French naturalist (b. 25 December 1771)
• 1865 – John Wilkes Booth, American assassin (b. 1838)
• 1881 – Ludwig Freiherr von und zu der Tann-Rathsamhausen, German general (b. 1815)
• 1892 – Sir Provo Wallis, British Admiral and naval hero (b. 1791)
• 1910 – Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author, Nobel laureate (b. 1832)
• 1915 – John Bunny, silent film comedian (b. 1863)
• 1920 – Srinivasa Ramanujan, Indian mathematician (b. 1887)
• 1932 – William Lockwood, British cricketer (b. 1868)
• 1936 – Tammany Young, American actor (b. 1886)
• 1938 – Edmund Husserl, Austrian philosopher (b. 1859)
• 1940 – Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1874)
• 1944 – Violette Morris, French athlete (b. 1893)
• 1945 – Pavlo Skoropadsky, Ukrainian politician and general (b. 1871)
• 1945 – Sigmund Rascher, Nazi doctor (b. 1909)
• 1946 – Jim White, discoverer of Carlsbad Caverns (b. 1882)
• 1950 – G. Murray Hulbert, American politician (b. 1881)
• 1951 – Arnold Sommerfeld, German physicist (b. 1868)
• 1956 – Edward Arnold, American actor (b. 1890)
• 1957 – Gichin Funakoshi, Father of Japanese Shotokan Karatedo (b. 1868)
• 1964 – E. J. Pratt, Canadian poet born Newfoundland (b. 1882)
• 1968 – John Heartfield, German artist (b. 1891)
• 1969 – Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of aikido (b. 1883)
• 1970 – Erik Bergman, Lutheran pastor (b. 1886)
• 1970 – Gypsy Rose Lee, American actress (b. 1911)
• 1972 – Fernando Amorsolo, Filipino painter (b. 1892)
• 1973 – Irene Ryan, American actress (b. 1902)
• 1976 – Sid James, South African–born British comedian (b. 1913)
• 1980 – Cicely Courtneidge, British actress and comedian (b. 1893)
• 1981 – Jim Davis, American actor (b. 1909)
• 1984 – Count Basie, American musician and composer (b. 1904)
• 1986 – Broderick Crawford, American actor (b. 1911)
• 1986 – Dechko Uzunov, Bulgarian painter (b. 1899)
• 1986 – Bessie Love, American actress (b. 1898)
• 1987 – John Ernest Silkin, British politician (b. 1923)
• 1987 – Shankar, Of Noted Bollywood Music Director Duo Shankar-Jaikishan (b. 1922)
• 1989 – Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (b. 1911)
• 1991 – Leo Arnaud, French-American composer (b. 1904)
• 1991 – Carmine Coppola, American composer and conductor, father of Francis Ford Coppola(b. 1910)
• 1991 – Emily McLaughlin, American actress (b. 1928)
• 1991 – Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician (b. 1931)
• 1994 – Masutatsu Oyama, Founder of Japanese Kyokushin Karate (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Stirling Silliphant, American writer and producer (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Adrian Borland, British musician (The Sound) (b. 1957)
• 1999 – Jill Dando, British television presenter (b. 1961)
• 2002 – Robert Steinhäuser German spree killer (b. 1983)
• 2003 – Rosemary Brown, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
• 2003 – Max Nicholson, Irish environmentalist (b. 1904)
• 2003 – Peter Stone, American writer (b. 1930)
• 2004 – Hubert Selby Jr., American author (b. 1928)
• 2005 – Mason Adams, American actor (b. 1919)
• 2005 – Maria Schell, Swiss-Austrian actress (b. 1926)
• 2005 – Augusto Roa Bastos, Paraguayan author (b. 1917)
• 2007 – Jack Valenti, American political advisor and film executive (b. 1921)
• 2009 – Hans Holzer, American paranormal researcher (b. 1920)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Aldobrandesca
  • Franca Visalta
  • Lucidius of Verona
  • Our Lady of Good Counsel
  • Pope Anacletus and Marcellinus
  • Riquier
  • Radbertus Paschasius
  • Stephen of Perm, also Old Permic Alphabet Day
  • Trudpert
  • April 26 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Confederate Memorial Day (States of Florida and Georgia)
• Union Day (Tanzania)
• Vallenato Legend Festival usually begins on this day. (Valledupar, Colombia)
• World Intellectual Property Day (International)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada