April Fool’s Day
Birthdays:
1973 ~ Rachel Maddow (née Rachel Anne Maddow), American television host and political analyst. She was born in Castro Valley, California.
1970 ~ Brad Meltzer, American writer. He is best known for his political thrillers. He also writes non-fiction and wrote the 2019 book The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington. He was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1961 ~ Susan Boyle (née Susan Magdalane Boyle), Scottish singer, who won a talent competition in 2009 on Britain’s Got Talent. She was born in Blackburn, Scotland.
1950 ~ Samuel Alito (né Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr.), Associate Justice of the United State Supreme Court. He was nominated to the High Court by President George W. Bush. He replaced Sandra Day O’Connor on the Court. He is one of the conservative Justices on the Court. He assumed office in January 2006. He was born in Trenton, New Jersey.
1949 ~ Gil Scott-Heron (né Gilbert Scott-Heron, d. May 27, 2011), African-American musician and reluctant founder of rap. He died at age 62.
1947 ~ Alain Connes, French mathematician. He was born in Draguignan, France.
1947 ~ Francine Prose, American novelist. She was born in Brooklyn, New York.
1944 ~ Rusty Staub (né Daniel Joseph Staub; d. Mar. 29, 2018), American towering slugger who became “Le Grand Orange” due to his red hair. He was a professional baseball player and played for several teams, including the Montreal Expos. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He died in West Palm Beach, Florida 3 days before his 74th birthday.
1941 ~ Gideon Gadot (d. Sept. 21, 2012), Israeli journalist and politician. He died at age 71.
1940 ~ Wangari Maathai (d. Sept. 25, 2011), Kenyan environmentalist who fought for Africa’s forests. She was the recipient of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. She was the first African woman to win this prize for her work in sustainable development. She died of ovarian cancer at age 71.
1939 ~ Ali MacGraw (née Elizabeth Alice MacGraw), American actress best known for her role as the dying wife in Love Story. She was born in Pound Ridge, New York.
1933 ~ Stanley Weston (d. May 1, 2017), American licensing agent who put G.I. Joe in America’s toy chest. He sold the concept to Hasbro, but never made much money over the toy. He died a month after his 84th birthday.
1933 ~ Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, French physicist and recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his research in methods of laser cooling and trapping atoms. He was born in Constantine, Algeria.
1932 ~ Gordon Jump (né Alexander Gordon Jump; d. Sept. 22, 2003), American actor. He is best known for his role as Arthur Carlson in WKRP in Cincinnati and as the Maytag Repairman in the advertisements. He was born in Dayton, Ohio. He died of respiratory failure at age 71 in Los Angeles, California.
1932 ~ Bob Beaumont (né Robert Gerald Beaumont; d. Oct. 24, 2011), American car dealership owner and creator of the electric car in the 1970s. He was born in Teaneck, New Jersey. He died at age 79 in Columbia, Maryland.
1932 ~ Debbie Reynolds (née Mary Frances Reynolds; d. Dec. 28, 2016), American bubbly actress and singer who danced to fame in Singin’ in the Rain. She died of a broken heart one day after her daughter, Carrie Fischer. She was 84 years old.
1929 ~ Milan Kundera, Czech writer, best known for his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. He was born in Brno, Czechia.
1924 ~ Brendan Byrne (né Brendan Thomas Bryne; d. Jan. 4, 2018), 47th Governor of New Jersey. He served as Governor from January 1974 through January 1982. He died at age 93.
1923 ~ Dan Lurie (d. Nov. 6, 2013), American bodybuilder who arm-wrestled President Ronald Reagan. He was a founding father of bodybuilding. He was born in New York, New York. He died at age 90 in Roslyn, New York.
1922 ~ William Manchester (né William Raymond Manchester; d. June 1, 2004), American historian. He was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts. He died at age 82.
1919 ~ Joseph Murray (né Joseph Edward Murray; d. Nov. 26, 2012), American physician and recipient of the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He and his team performed the first successful kidney transplant in 1954. He was from Massachusetts. He died at age 93.
1917 ~ Sydney Newman (né Sydney Cecil Newman; d. Oct. 30, 1997), Canadian screenwriter and co-creator of Doctor Who. He died at age 80.
1916 ~ Sheila May Edmonds (d. Sept. 2, 2002), British mathematician. She died at age 86.
1898 ~ William James Sidis (d. July 17, 1944), American mathematician. He was a child prodigy and entered Harvard University at age 11. He died in Boston, Massachusetts of a brain hemorrhage at age 46.
1885 ~ Clementine Churchill, Baroness Spencer-Churchill (née Clemenetine Ogilvy Hozier; d. Dec. 12, 1977), wife of Winston Churchill. She died at age 92.
1883 ~ Lon Chaney (né Leonidas Frank Chaney, Sr.; d. Aug. 26, 1930), American actor of silent films and the father of Lon Chaney, Jr. He died of a throat hemorrhage, complicated by lung cancer, at age 47.
1874 ~ Ernest Barnes (né Ernest William Barnes; d. Nov. 29, 1953), English mathematician. He was also a member of the clergy. He died at age 79.
1873 ~ Sergei Rachmaninoff (d. Mar. 28, 1943), Russian composer, pianist and conductor. He died 4 days before his 70th birthday.
1868 ~ Edmond Rostand (né Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand; d. Dec. 2, 1918), French dramatist best known for his play, Cyrano de Bergerac. He died at age 50 during the flu epidemic.
1865 ~ Richard Adolf Zsigmondy (d. Sept. 23, 1929), Austrian chemist and recipient of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in colloids. He died at age 64.
1834 ~ James Fisk, Jr. (d. Jan. 7, 1872), American businessman and stockbroker. He was known as Diamond Jimand was a Robber Baron. He was born in Vermont but moved to New York City to become a stockbroker. He was murdered at age 36 by a disgruntled business associate.
1815 ~ Edward Clark (d. May 4, 1880), 8th Governor of Texas. His term coincided with the American Civil War and he was only governor for about 7 months, from May 1861 until early November 1861. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died at age 65 in Marshall, Texas.
1815 ~ Otto von Bismarck (né Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismark; d. July 30, 1898), 1st Chancellor of the German Empire. He served in that Office from March 1871 until March 1890. He died at age 83.
1776 ~ Marie-Sophie Germain (d. June 27, 1831), French mathematician. She is best known for elasticity theory. She died of breast cancer at age 55.
1640 ~ Georg Mohr (d. Jan. 26, 1697), Danish mathematician. He died at age 56.
1578 ~ William Harvey (d. June 3, 1657), English physician. He is best known for his study of blood and the circulatory system. He died at age 79.
1328 ~ Blanche of France (d. Feb. 8, 1382), Duchess of Orléans through her marriage to Philip, Duke of Orléans. She was the daughter of King Charles IV of France and his third wife, Jeanne d’Évreux. She was of the House of Capet. She died at age 53.
1282 ~ Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d. Oct. 11, 1347). He reigned as the Holy Roman Emperor from 1326 until his death in October 1347. He died at age 65.
Events that Changed the World:
2018 ~ Easter Sunday was celebrated in the Western Christian countries.
2001 ~ Same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands. This was the first country to allow such marriages.
1997 ~ The Comet Hale-Bopp passed the earth at the perihelion.
1979 ~ Iran became an Islamic Republic, officially overthrowing the Shah.
1976 ~ Steve Jobs (1955 ~ 2011), Steve Wozniak (b. 1950) and Ronald Wayne (b. 1934) incorporated Apple, Inc.
1970 ~ President Richard Nixon (1913 ~ 1994) signed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law. This Act required the Surgeon General to post a warning on all tobacco products of the health hazards. The Act also banned cigarette advertisements from television and radio effective January 1, 1971.
1967 ~ The United States Department of Transportation, which had been authorized by Congress in 1966, began operations.
1957 ~ During is current affairs program, the BBC broadcast the “Spaghetti Tree Hoax”, which was a three-minute April Fool’s Day story about a Swiss family harvesting spaghetti from spaghetti trees. Numerous listeners believed the story was an actual news story and called the radio station for advice on growing spaghetti.
1954 ~ President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 ~ 1969) authorized the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
1948 ~ Faroe Islands gained autonomy from Denmark.
1946 ~ An 8.6 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands caused a massive tsunami that hit the Hawaiian Islands. Over 150 people, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii, were killed.
1945 ~ United States troops landed on Okinawa during Operation Iceberg, the last campaign of World War II.
1939 ~ Generalísimo Francisco Franco (1892 ~ 1975) announced the end of the Spanish Civil War. The last of the Republican forces surrendered.
1933 ~ The Nazis organized a boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. This led to widespread acts of anti-Semitism in Germany.
1924 ~ The Royal Canadian Air Force was formed.
1919 ~ Walter Gropius (1883 ~ 1969) founded the Staatliches Bauhaus school in Weimar.
1891 ~ The Wrigley Company was founded in Chicago, Illinois.
1867 ~ Singapore became a British crown colony.
1854 ~ The first episodes of Hard Times by Charles Dickens (1812 ~ 1870) were published in Household Wordsmagazine.
1826 ~ Samuel Morey (1762 ~ 1843) patented the internal combustion engine.
1789 ~ The United States House of Representative met in New York City. Frederick Muhlenberg (1750 ~ 1801) of Pennsylvania was elected the first Speaker of the House.
Good-Byes:
2020 ~ Leilani Jordon (b. Oct. 22, 1992), African-American grocery store clerk from Largo, Maryland who suffered from cerebral Palsy. She kept working through the Coronavirus because she wanted to help people. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She died at age 27 from complications of Covid-19.
2020 ~ Adam Schlesinger (né Adam Lyons Schlesinger; b. Oct. 31, 1967), American singer-songwriter. He was in the band Fountains of Wayne. He also composed music for movies and television shows, including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He was born in New York, New York. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York of complications from Covid-19. He was 52 years old.
2020 ~ Ellis Marsalis, Jr. (né Ellis Louis Marsalis, Jr.; b. Nov. 14, 1934), American jazz pianist and musician from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the father of Branford and Wynton Marsalis. He died in New Orleans, Louisiana of complications from Covid-19 at age 85.
2020 ~ Kevin Duffy (né Kevin Thomas Duffy; b. Jan. 10, 1933), American United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York. He presided over decades of high-profile trials in Manhattan, including those of mob bosses and the terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center in 1993. He was born in New York, New York. He died of complications of Covid-19 in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 87 years old.
2019 ~ Dan Robbins (né John Daniel Robbins; b. May 26, 1925), American artist who brought painting to the masses. He developed the idea of the paint-by-numbers kits so children could “create” paintings. He died at age 93
2018 ~ Steven Bochco (né Steven Ronald Bochco; b. Dec. 16, 1943), American cop show pioneer who shook up television drama. He produces such television shows as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law and NYPD Blue. He died of leukemia at age 74.
2012 ~ Miguel de la Madrid (b. Dec. 12, 1934), President of Mexico. He served as president from December 1982 until November 30, 1988. He led Mexico in hard times. He died at age 77.
2012 ~ Lilia Denmark (née Lelia Alice Daughtry; b. Feb. 1, 1898), American pediatrician and health-care advocate. She was the oldest practicing pediatrician when she retired in May 2001 at age 103. She is credited with co-creating the vaccine for whooping cough. She was born in Portal, Georgia. She died at age 114 in Athens, Georgia.
2010 ~ John Forsythe (né Jacob Lincoln Freund; b. Jan. 29, 1918), American actor. He is best remembered for his role as the conniving patriarch Blake Carrington on the television drama Dynasty. He was born in Penns Grove, New Jersey. He died at age 92 years old in Santa Ynez, California.
1991 ~ Martha Graham (b. May 11, 1894), American dancer and choreographer. She was 96 years old.
1922 ~ Hermann Rorschach (b. Nov. 8, 1884), Swiss psychologist and author. He is best known for devising the inkblot test. He died at age 37 of peritonitis following a rupture appendix.
1984 ~ Marvin Gaye (né Marvin Pentz, Gay, Jr.; b. Apr. 2, 1939), American singer. He was shot and killed by his father 1 day before his 45th birthday.
1976 ~ Max Ernst (b. Apr. 2, 1891), German artist. He died 1 day before his 85th birthday.
1971 ~ Dame Kathleen Lonsdale (née Kathleen Yardley; b. Jan. 28, 1903), Irish chemist and political activist. In 1929, she, using x-ray diffraction, she proved that the benzene ring is flat. She became a Quaker and became involved in political pacifism. She was born in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. She died of cancer at age 68 in London, England.
1968 ~ Lev Landau (né Lev Davidovich Landau; b. Jan. 22, 1908), Russian physicist and recipient of the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics. He died at age 60 from complications of injuries sustained in a serious car accident that had occurred 6 year earlier.
1965 ~ Helena Rubinstein (née Chaja Rubinstein; b. Dec. 25, 1870), Polish-American business woman and cosmetics manufacturer. She founded the Helena Rubinstein Cosmetics, Inc. She died at age 94.
1950 ~ Charles Drew (né Charles Richard Drew, b. June 3, 1904), African-American physician and surgeon. He was active in blood research and blood transfusions. He was killed at age 45 in a car accident in North Carolina. A school in New Orleans was named after him.
1917 ~ Scott Joplin (b. Nov. 24, 1868), African-American ragtime musician and composer. He was known as the King of Ragtime. The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 49 at the time of his death.
1894 ~ Remigio Morales Bermúdez (b. Sept. 30, 1836), President of Peru. He served from August 1890 until his death at age 57 on April 1, 1894.
1843 ~ John Armstrong, Jr. (b. Nov. 25, 1758), 7th United States Secretary of War. He served under President James Madison. He served in that office from January 13, 1813 through September 27, 1814. He died at age 84.
1839 ~ Benjamin Pierce (b. Dec. 25, 1757), 11th Governor of New Hampshire. He was Governor for 1 year, from June 1827 through June 1828. He was the father of President Franklin Pierce. He died at age 81.
1683 ~ Roger Williams (b. December 1603), English theologian and colonist who settled in what is now Rhode Island. The exact dates of his birth and death are unknown.
1204 ~ Eleanor of Aquitaine (b. 1122). The exact date of her birth is unknown, but she is believed to have been about 81 at the time of her death.
1085 ~ Emperor Shenzong of Song (b. May 25, 1048), 6th Chinese emperor of the Song Dynasty. He reigned from January 1067 until his death in April 1085. He died at age 36.
996 ~ Pope John XV. He was Pope from August 985 until his death 11 years later. The date of his birth is not known.
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