April 3

Birthdays:

 

1998 ~ Paris Jackson (née Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson), daughter of singer Michael Jackson.  She was born in Beverly Hills, California.

 

1987 ~ Rachel Bloom (née Rachel Leah Bloom), American actress best known for her role as Rebecca Bunch on the television series, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.  She was born in Los Angeles, California.

 

1973 ~ Adam Scott (né Adam Paul Scott), American actor best known for his role as Ben Wyatt on the television sit-com, Parks and Recreation.  He was born in Santa Cruz, California.

 

1971 ~ Picabo Street, American alpine skier.  She was born in Triumph, Idaho.

 

1961 ~ Eddie Murphy (né Edward Regan Murphy), American comedian.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.

 

1959 ~ David Hyde Pierce, American actor best known for his role as Nigel on Frasier.  He was born in Saratoga Springs, New York.

 

1958 ~ Alec Baldwin (né Alexander Rae Baldwin, III), American actor.  He was born in Amityville, New York.

 

1953 ~ Sandra Boynton (née Sandra Keith Boynton), American illustrator.  She was born in Orange, New Jersey.

 

1944 ~ Tony Orlando (né Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis), American musician.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1942 ~ Marsha Mason, American actress.  She was born in St. Louis, Minnesota.

 

1942 ~ Wayne Newton (né Carson Wayne Newton), American Las Vegas singer.  He was born in Norfolk, Virginia.

 

1941 ~ John von Sternberg (d. May 7, 2020), American real estate agent who served as a volunteer firefighter in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of Covid-19 at age 79.

 

1934 ~ Dame Jane Goodall (née Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall), English primatologist and anthropologist.  She was born in London, England.

 

1930 ~ Helmut Kohl (d. June 16, 2017), German powerhouse chancellor who reunited Germany.  He served as Chancellor of West Germany from October 1982 until October 1998.  He died at age 87.

 

1928 ~ Earl Lloyd (né Earl Francis Lloyd; d. Feb. 26, 2015), American professional NBA player who broke the color barrier.  In 1950, he became the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association.  He was drafted by the Washington Capitols.  He was born in Alexandria, Virginia.  He died at age 86 in Crossville, Tennessee.

 

1926 ~ Gus Grisson (né Virgil Ivan Grissom; d. Jan. 27, 1967), American astronaut and crewmember of the ill-fated Apollo 1, which caught fire during a pre-launch test of the spacecraft.  He was also one of the original astronauts in the Mercury program.  He was 40 at the time of his death.

 

1924 ~ Roza Shanina (d. Jan. 28, 1945), Soviet army sergeant and sniper.  During World War II, she is credited with 59 confirmed kills, including 12 soldiers during the Battle of Vilnius.  She was killed in action at age 20.

 

1924 ~ Marlon Brando, Jr. (d. July 1, 2004), American actor.  He was born in Omaha, Nebraska.  He died at age 80 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1922 ~ Doris Day (née Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff; d. May 13, 2019), sunny film star who became America’s girl next door.  She was an actress and singer.  She died at age 97.

 

1920 ~ John Demjanjuk (né Ivan Mykolaiovych Demjanjuk; d. Mar. 17, 2012), Ukrainian-American convicted Nazi war criminal who managed to escape detection for many years.  He was convicted of murdering many Jews while a guard at concentration camps during World War II.  He was ultimately convicted of war crimes in 2011.  He died 17 days before his 92^nd birthday.

 

1916 ~ Herb Caen (né Herbert Eugene Caen; d. Feb. 1, 1997), American journalist, humorist, and gossip columnist.  He was born in Sacramento, California.  He died at age 80 in San Francisco, California.

 

1904 ~ Sally Rand (née Hattie Helen Gould Beck; d. Aug. 31, 1979), American burlesque dancer.  She died at age 75 from congestive heart failure.

 

1898 ~ Henry Luce (né Henry Robinson Luce; d. Feb. 28, 1967), American publisher who launched Time and Lifemagazines.  He died at age 68.

 

1893 ~ Leslie Howard (né Leslie Howard Steiner; d. June 1, 1943), English actor, best known for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind.  He died at age 50 when the plane he was in was shot down by a German fighter plane during World War II.

 

1859 ~ Alexandru Averescu (d. Oct. 2, 1938), Romanian field marshal and Prime Minister of Romania.  He served as Prime Minister during the reign of King Ferdinand.  He died at age 79.

 

1858 ~ Mary Harrison McKee (née Mary Scott Harrison; d. Oct. 30, 1930), American daughter of President Benjamin Harrison.  She served as First Lady during her father’s presidency after her mother, Caroline died.  She assumed the role of First Lady at age 34 and served from October 1892 until March 1893.  She was born and died in Indianapolis, Indiana.  She died at age 72.

 

1823 ~ Boss Tweed (né William Magear Tweed; d. Apr. 12, 1878), American political figure.  He was known as the Boss of Tammany Hall, a corrupt political machine in New York City.  He died of pneumonia 9 days after his 55^th birthday.

 

1807 ~ Mary Carpenter (d. June 14, 1877), British educational and social reformer.  She was also an advocate for women’s rights.  She died at age 70.

 

1791 ~ Anne Lister (d. Sept. 22, 1840), British diarist, mountaineer and traveller.  She died at age 49.

 

1783 ~ Washington Irving (d. Nov. 28, 1859), American author.  He is best known for his short stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  He died at age 76.

 

1778 ~ Pierre Bretonneau (d. Feb. 18, 1862), French physician who performed the first successful tracheotomy.  He died at age 83.

 

1693 ~ John Harrison (d. Mar. 24, 1776), British carpenter and clockmaker.  He invented the Marine chronometer.  Under the Julian calendar, which was in effect when he was born, indicates he died on his 83^rd birthday, however under the Gregorian calendar, is birthday is April 3, 1776.

 

1540 ~ Maria de’Medici (d. Nov. 19, 1557), Italian noblewoman.  She was the eldest daughter of Cosimo I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany.  She is believed to have died of malaria at age 17.

 

1529 ~ Michael Neander (d. Oct. 23, 1581), German mathematician and astronomer.  The Neander crater on the moon is named after him.  He died at age 52.

 

1016 ~ Emperor Xingzong of Liao (d. Aug. 28, 1055), 7^th Chinese Emperor of the Liao Dynasty.  He died at age 39.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2017 ~ A bomb exploded in the St. Petersburg, Russia metro system.  Fourteen people were killed, and numerous others were injured.

 

2015 ~ Good Friday.

 

2015 ~ Passover began at sundown.

 

2013 ~ Over 50 people died in flooding that resulted from extraordinary heavy rainfalls in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

 

2010 ~ The first generation of the iPad, the Apple tablet computer, was first made available to the public.

 

2008 ~ Over 500 women and children were taken into custody from the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Texas.  State law officers entered the community after Texas Child Protection Services received calls of child abuse taking place in the community.

 

2000 ~ The Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Microsoft that Microsoft’s business practices violated the United States antitrust laws.

 

1996 ~ A United States Air Force plane carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1941 ~ 1996) crashed in Croatia, killing Brown and the other 34 crew and passengers aboard.

 

1996 ~ Theodore Kaczynski (b. 1942), the suspect in the Unabomber bombings, was captured in Montana.

 

1978 ~ Annie Hall, a film directed by Woody Allen (b. 1935), won an Oscar for Best Picture.

 

1948 ~ President Harry Truman (1884 ~ 1972) signed the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries for rebuilding after World War II.

 

1948 ~ The Louisiana Hayride, a radio country music program, began broadcasting in Shreveport, Louisiana.

 

1922 ~ Joseph Stalin (1878 ~ 1953) became the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

 

1888 ~ The first of eleven unsolved murders of women was committed in or near the Whitechapel district of East London.  These murders became known as the “Jack the Ripper” murders due to the brutal nature of the killing.

 

1885 ~ Gottlieb Daimler (1834 ~ 1900) was granted a German patent for his engine design.

 

1865 ~ During the American Civil War, Union forces captured Richmond, Virginia, which was the capital of the Confederate States of America.

 

1860 ~ The Pony Express service began in the United States, running horses and mail from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.  It ceased to operate in October 1861.

 

1043 ~ Edward the Confessor (1003 ~ 1066) was crowned King of England.

 

33 ~ The traditional date for the historical crucifixion of Jesus.

 

Good-byes:

 

2015 ~ Sarah Brady (née Sarah Jane Kemp; b. Feb. 6, 1942), prominent campaigner for gun control after her husband former White House Press Secretary, James Brady, was shot along with when President Ronald Reagan was shot.  She was a tireless campaigner who pushed for gun control.  She died at age 73.

 

2015 ~ Robert Rietti (né Lucio Herbert Rietti; b. Feb. 8, 1923), British voice actor who played Bond villains again and again.  He was 92 years old.

 

2013 ~ Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (b. May 7, 1927), German-born American novelist and screenwriter.  Her family fled to Britain in 1939 to escape the Nazism.  She wrote the screenplay for The Remains of the Day.  She died just over a month before her 86^th birthday.

 

2007 ~ Eddie Robinson (né Eddie Gay Robinson, Sr., b. Feb. 13, 1919), American football coach and Louisiana native.  He was the head football coach at Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana.  He was born in Jackson, Louisiana.  He died at age 88 in Ruston, Louisiana.

 

1998 ~ Dame Mary Cartwright (née Mary Lucy Cartwright; b. Dec. 17, 1900), English mathematician.  She was one of the first people to study chaos theory.  She died at age 97.

 

1996 ~ Ron Brown (né Ronald Harmon Brown; b. Aug. 1, 1941), 30^th United States Secretary of Commerce.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until his death 3 months later.  He was killed while in Office when the plane he was in crashed in Croatia.  He was 54 years old.  All 35 crew and passengers aboard the plane were killed.

 

1991 ~ Graham Greene (né Henry Graham Greene; b. Oct. 2, 1904), English writer.  He is best known for such novels at The End of the Affair and The Quiet American.  He died of leukemia at age 86.

 

1990 ~ Sarah Vaughan (née Sarah Lois Vaughan; b. Mar. 27, 1924), African-American jazz singer.  She was born in Newark, New Jersey.  She died of lung cancer a week after her 66^th birthday in Hidden Hills, California.

 

1981 ~ Juan Trippe (né Juan Terry Trippe; b. June 27, 1899), American aviation pioneer and founder of Pan American World Airways.  He died of a stroke at age 81.

 

1950 ~ Kurt Weill (né Kurt Julian Weill; b. Mar. 2, 1900), German composer best known for The Threepenny Opera.  He grew up in a religious Jewish family.  He fled Nazi Germany in 1933.  He became an American citizen in 1943.  He died of a heart attack about a month after his 50^th birthday in New York, New York.

 

1950 ~ Carter G. Woodson (né Carter Godwin Woodson; b. Dec. 19, 1875), African-American historian, author and journalist.  He died at age 74.

 

1936 ~ Bruno Hauptmann (né Bruno Richard Hauptmann; b. Nov. 26, 1899), German convicted kidnapper and killer of the son of Charles Lindbergh.  He was executed for his crime although there has been some question as to whether or not he was actually guilty.  He was 36 years old.

 

1933 ~ Wilson Mizner (b. May 19, 1876), American playwright.  He was born in Benicia, California.  He died at age 56 in Los Angeles, California.

 

1902 ~ Esther Hobart Morris (née Esther Hobart McQuigg; b. Aug. 8, 1814), American attorney and judge.  She was the first female Justice of the Peace in the United States.  She was appointed to that office in 1870.  She died at age 87.

 

1897 ~ Johannes Brahms (b. May 7, 1833), German composer.  He died about a month before his 64^th birthday.

 

1882 ~ Jesse James (né Jesse Woodson James; b. Sept. 5, 1847), American outlaw in the Wild American West.  He was killed at age 34 by Robert Ford, another outlaw.

 

1862 ~ Sir James Clark Ross (b. Apr. 15, 1800), British captain and explorer.  He is best known for exploration of the Antarctic.  He died 12 days before his 62^nd birthday.

 

1718 ~ Jacques Ozanam (b. June 16, 1640), French mathematician.  He died at age 77.

 

1287 ~ Pope Honorius IV (né Giacomo Savelli; b. 1210).  He was Pope from April 1285 until his death 2 years later.  The exact date of his birth is unknown, but he is believed to have been about 77 years old at the time of his death.

April 2

Birthdays:

 

1965 ~ Rodney King (né Rodney Glen King; d. June 17, 2012), American victim and symbol of police violence in Los Angeles.  He died at age 47 of an accidental drowning and drug overdose.

 

1961 ~ Christopher Meloni (né Christopher Peter Meloni), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU.  He was born in Washington, D.C.

 

1947 ~ Emmylou Harris, American singer-songwriter.  She was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

 

1947 ~ Camille Paglia (née Camille Anne Paglia), American social critic.  She was born in Endicott, New York.

 

1945 ~ Linda Hunt (née Lydia Susanna Hunter), American actress best known for her role as Billy in the movie, The Year of Living Dangerously.  She was born in Morristown, New Jersey.

 

1943 ~ Lynn Kellogg Simpers (née Lynn Kellogg; d. Nov. 12, 2020), American singer and actress.  She is best known for her breakthrough role of Sheila in the original 1968 Broadway production of Hair.  She later helped develop children’s television shows such as Animals, Animals, Animals.  She was born in Appleton, Wisconsin.  She died of Covid-19 at age 77 in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

1942 ~ Larry Selman (d. Jan. 20, 2013), American street philanthropist of Greenwich Village.  He weighed 3 pounds at birth and was not expected to live.  He went on to overcome a mental disability and became a skilled charity fundraiser.  He died at age 70.

 

1942 ~ Leon Russell (né Claude Russell Bridges, d. Nov. 13, 2016), American singer-songwriter.  He died at age 74 while recovering from heart surgery.

 

1941 ~ Dr. Demento (né Barrett Eugene Hansen), American radio host.  He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

1939 ~ Marvin Gaye (né Marvin Pentz, Gay, Jr.; d. Apr. 1, 1984), American singer.  He was shot and killed by his father 1 day before his 45^th birthday.

 

1939 ~ Anthony Lake (né William Anthony Kirsopp Lake), 18^th National Security Advisor.  He served under President Bill Clinton from January 1993 until March 1997.  He was born in New York, New York.

 

1934 ~ Paul Cohen (né Paul Joseph Cohen; d. March 23, 2007), American mathematician.  He was the recipient of the 1966 Fields Medal.  He was born in Long Branch, New Jersey.  He died 10 days before his 73^rd birthday in Stanford, California.

 

1934 ~ Carl Kasell (né Carl Ray Kasell; d. Apr. 17, 2018), American newscaster and radio personality.  For many years, he was the announcer on NPR’s Wait! Wait! Don’t Tell Me.  He retired from the radio show in 2014.  He died 15 days after his 84^th birthday.

 

1929 ~ Catherine Gaskin (d. Sept. 6, 2009), Irish-Australian romance novelist.  She was born in Dunkalk Bay, Ireland. She died at age 80 of ovarian cancer in Sydney, Australia.

 

1928 ~ Serge Gainsbourg (né Lucien Ginsburg; d. Mar. 2, 1991), French singer and screenwriter.  He was born and died in Paris, France.  He died of a heart attack a month before his 63^rd birthday.

 

1927 ~ Kenneth Tynan (né Kenneth Peacock Tynan; d. July 26, 1980), British theater critic and writer.  He was born in Birmingham, England.  He died of pulmonary emphysema at age 53 in Santa Monica, California.

 

1927 ~ Bo Callaway, Sr. (né Howard Hollis Callaway; d. Mar. 15, 2014), American soldier and 11^th United States Secretary of the Army.  He served under Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford from May 1973 until July 1975.  He was born in LaGrange, Georgia.  He died 13 days before his 87^th birthday in Columbus, Georgia.

 

1923 ~ G. Spencer-Brown (né George Spencer-Brown, d. Aug. 25, 2016), English mathematician.  He died at age 93.

 

1922 ~ Martha White (d. June 5, 2021), American house cleaner who sparked a civil rights protest.  On June 15, 1953, after a long day a work, she stepped on a Baton Rouge city bus and sat down in the only empty seat behind the driver in the “whites only” section.  She was ordered to move, but she refused.  She was ultimately kicked off the bus.  This action caused a bus boycott, which was ended in a settlement to reduce the number of “whites only” seats.  She was born in Woodville, Mississippi.  She died at age 99 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Her memorial was held on June 19, 2021, the nation’s first Juneteenth Day.

 

1920 ~ Jack Webb (né John Randolph Webb; d. Dec. 23, 1982), American actor.  He is best known for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday from the television series Dragnet.  He died of a heart attack at age 62.

 

1914 ~ Sir Alec Guinness (né Alec Guinness de Cuffe; d. Aug. 5, 2000), English actor.  He died of cancer at age 86.

 

1908 ~ Buddy Ebsen (né Christian Ludolf Ebsen, Jr.; d. July 6, 2003), American actor best known for his role as Jed Clampett in the Beverly Hillbillies.  He died at age 95.

 

1898 ~ Chiungtze C. Tsen (d. Oct. 1, 1940), Chinese mathematician.  He died of a stomach ulcer at age 42.

 

1891 ~ Max Ernst (b. Apr. 1, 1976), German artist.  He died 1 day before his 85^th birthday.

 

1875 ~ Walter Chrysler (né Walter Percy Chrysler; d. Aug. 18, 1940), American automobile pioneer and founder of the Chrysler company.  He died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 65.

 

1862 ~ Nicholas Murray Butler (d. Dec. 7, 1947), American philosopher and diplomat.  He was President of Columbia University.  He was, ironically, the recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize, considering his stance on Italy and Germany during World War II.  He exhibited anti-Semitic views and enforced the quotas on the number of Jews who could attend Columbia University.  He died at age 85.

 

1840 ~ Émile Zola (né Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola; d. Sept. 29, 1902), French novelist and critic.  He is best known for his article, J’Accuse, which was instrumental in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus, an army officer who had been convicted of a crime simply because he was Jewish.  The article brought to light the false accusations against Dreyfus.  Zola died at age 62 of carbon monoxide poisoning, which some believe was murder.

 

1814 ~ Eratus Brigham Bigelow (d. Dec. 6, 1879), American industrialist and inventor of weaving machines.  He was born in West Boylston, Massachusetts and died in Boston, Massachusetts.  He was 65 at the time of his death.

 

1807 ~ Alexander Stuart (né Alexander Hugh Holmes Stuart; d. Feb. 13, 1891), 3^rd United States Secretary of the Interior.  He served under Presidents Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce from September 1850 until March 1853.  He was born and died in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 83.

 

1805 ~ Hans Christian Andersen (d. Aug. 4, 1875), Danish writer of children’s stories and fairy tales.  He died at age 70.

 

1725 ~ Giacomo Casanova (d. June 4, 1798), Italian adventurer and womanizer.  He died at age 73 years old.

 

1647 ~ Maria Sibylla Merian (d. Jan. 13, 1717), German-born naturalist, entomologist botanist, and illustrator.  She died at age 69.

 

1618 ~ Francesco Maria Grimaldi (d. Dec. 28, 1663), Italian mathematician, physicist and priest.  The Grimaldi crater on the moon is named in his honor.  He died at age 45.

 

742 ~ Charlemagne (d. Jan. 28, 814), Holy Roman Emperor.  He is also sometimes referred to as Charles the Great.  He was the creator of the Carolingian Dynasty.  He was the son of Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon.  He died pleurisy at age 71.

 

181 ~ Emperor Xian of Han (d. Apr. 21, 234), 14^th and last emperor of the Han Dynasty.  He reigned from September 189 until November 220.  The exact date of his birth is not known, but it is believed to have been on April 2, 181.  He died 19 days before his 53^rd birthday.

 

Events that Changed the World:

 

2021 ~ Good Friday.

 

2014 ~ A mass shooting spree at the Fort Hood army base in Texas left 4 people dead and 16 others injured.

 

2006 ~ Over 60 tornadoes hit across the United States.  Tennessee was hit the hardest and nearly 30 people were killed by the storm.

 

1982 ~ Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

 

1979 ~ An accidental leak of anthrax spores in a Soviet microbiology facility in Sverdlovsk, Russia caused approximately 100 people to fall ill and die.  The actual number of victims is not known.

 

1973 ~ LexisNexis began its computerized legal research services.

 

1956 ~ CBS television premiered two 30-minute soap operas ~ As the World Turns and The Edge of Night.

 

1930 ~ Haile Selassie (1892 ~ 1975) was proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.

 

1917 ~ President Woodrow Wilson (1856 ~ 1924) asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany, thus marking the entry of the United States in World War I.

 

1902 ~ The first full-time movie theater in the United States opened in Los Angeles.  It was called the Electric Theatre.

 

1900 ~ The Foraker Act was passed granting Puerto Rico limited self-rule.

 

1863 ~ Food shortages caused by the American Civil War incited hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Confederate government release emergency supplies.

 

1792 ~ The Coinage Act was passed thereby establishing the United States Mint.

 

1513 ~ Juan Ponce de León (1474 ~ July 1521) is believed to have first sighted land, which is not the State of Florida in his quest to find the Fountain of Youth.

 

Good-Byes:

 

2020 ~ Sergio Rossi (b. July 31, 1935), Italian luxury shoe designed best known for his elegant heels.  He was born in San Mauro Pascoli, Italy.  He died at age 84 in Cesena, Italy from complications of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Patricia Bosworth (née Patricia Crum; b. Apr. 24, 1933), American actress, biographer, and memoirist.  She was born in Oakland, California.  She died in New York, New York 22 days before her 87^th birthday of complications of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ Lila Fenwick (née Lila Althea Fenwick; b. May 24, 1932), African-American attorney who, in 1956, became the first black woman to graduate from Harvard Law School.  She went on to work as a human rights official at the United Nations.  She was born in Manhattan.  She died from complications of Covid-19 at age 87.

 

2020 ~ Forrest Compton (b. Sept. 15, 1925), American actor and World War II veteran.  He is best known for his portrayal of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Gray on the 1960s sit-com Gomer Pyle.  He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania.  He died at age 95 in Shelter Island, New York from complications of Covid-19.

 

2020 ~ William Frankland (né Alfred William Frankland; b. Mar. 19, 1912), British immunologist and allergist.  He transformed the world’s understanding of allergies and helped millions of hay fever sufferers by developing the idea of a pollen count.  He was born in Sussex, England.  He died in London, England of complications of Covid-19.  He died 14 days after his 108^th birthday.

 

2018 ~ Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (née Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela, b. Sept. 26, 1936), South African anti-apartheid leader who embraced brutality.  She was married to Nelson Mandela.  She died at age 81.

 

2013 ~ Jane Henson (née Jane Ann Nebel, b. June 16, 1924), American puppeteer and widow of puppeteer Jim Hanson, creator of The Muppets.  She was born in New York, New York.  She died of cancer at age 78 in Grenwich, Connecticut.

 

2013 ~ Milo O’Shea (né Milo Donal O’Shea; b. June 2, 1926), Irish character actor.  He died at age 86.

 

2011 ~ Paul Violi (né Paul Randolph Violi; b. July 20, 1944), American poet.  He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He died of cancer at age 66 in Cortlandt Manor, New York.

 

2005 ~ Pope Saint John Paul II (né Karol Józef Wojtyla; b. May 18, 1920).  He served as Pope from 1978 until his death in 2005.  He was 84 at the time of his death.

 

1995 ~ Hannes Alfvén (b. May 30, 1908), Swedish physicist and recipient of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics.  He died at age 86.

 

1994 ~ Betty Furness (née Elizabeth Mary Furness; b. Jan. 3, 1916), American actress and television journalist.  She was also a consumer advocate.  She died of stomach cancer at age 78.

 

1987 ~ Buddy Rich (né Bernard Rich, b. Sept. 30, 1917), American jazz drummer and bandleader.  He died of a brain tumor at age 69.

 

1980 ~ Stanley Forman Reed (b. Dec. 31, 1884), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.  He was nominated to the High Court by President Franklin Roosevelt.  He served on the Court from January 1938 until February 1957.  He replaced George Sutherland on the Court.  He was succeeded by Charles Whittaker.  He was born in Minerva, Kentucky.  He died at age 95 in Huntington, New York.

 

1978 ~ Aurelio Baldor (b. Oct. 22, 1906), Cuban mathematician and lawyer.  He was born in Havana, Cuba.  He died of pulmonary emphysema at age 71 in Miami, Florida.

 

1974 ~ Georges Pompidou (b. July 5, 1911), French politician and President of France from June 1969 until April 1974.  He died in office at age 62.

 

1966 ~ C.S. Forester (né Cecil Louis Troughton Smith; b. Aug. 27, 1899), English author.  He was the author of The African Queen.  He died at age 66.

 

1928 ~ Theodore William Richards (b. Jan. 31, 1868), American chemist and recipient of the 1914 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in determining the atomic weights of a number of chemical elements. He was the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.  He died at age 60 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

 

1914 ~ Paul von Heyse (né Paul Johann Ludwig von Heyse; b. Mar. 15, 1830), German writer and recipient of the 1910 Nobel Prize in Literature.  He was born in Berlin, Germany.  He died 18 days before his 85^th birthday in Munich, Germany.

 

1872 ~ Samuel Morse (né Samuel Finley Breese Morse; b. Apr. 27, 1791), American painter and inventor of the Morse code.  His contribution greatly advanced the use of the commercial telegraph.  He was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  He died three weeks before his 81^st birthday.

 

1791 ~ Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau (b. Mar. 9, 1749), French journalist and politician who played a role in the French revolution.  He died of illness at age 42.

 

1787 ~ Thomas Gage (b. Mar. 10, 1719), British general and American Revolutionary War figure.  He had also served as Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.  The exact year of his birth is not known.  He is believed to have been born in either 1719 or 1720.  He died at age 67 or 68.

 

1720 ~ Joseph Dudley (b. Sept. 23, 1647), Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.  He died at age 72.

 

1657 ~ Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. July 13, 1608).  He died at age 48.

 

1502 ~ Prince Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (b. Sept. 20, 1486), son of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York.  He married Catherine of Aragon, but died before marriage was said to have been consummated.  He died before his father, Henry VII, so his younger brother, Henry, ultimately became King Henry VIII, who married Arthur’s widow.  Arthur was 15 years old at the time of his death.

 

1416 ~ Ferdinand I, King of Aragon (b. Nov. 27, 1380).  He reigned from September 1412 until his death less than 4 years later.  He was of the House of Trastámara.  He was the son of John I, King of Castile and Eleanor of Aragon.  He was married to Eleanor of Albuquerque.  He died at age 35.

 

1305 ~ Joan I, Queen of Navarre (b. Jan. 14, 1273), She reigned from July 1274 until her death in April 1305.  She was also the Countess of Champagne in her own right.  She was the Queen consort of France and wife of Philip IV, King of France.  She was of the House of Blois.  She was the daughter of Henry I, King of Navarre and Blanche of Artois.  She died at age 32, probably in childbirth.

 

1272 ~ Richard, 1^st Earl of Cornwall (b. Jan. 5, 1209).  He was of the House of Plantagenet.  He was one of the richest men in Europe.  He married three times.  His first wife was Isabel Marshal.  After her death, he married Sanchia of Provence.  After her death, he married Beatrice of Falkenburg.  He was the son of John, King of England and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême.  He died at age 63.

April 1

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 74^th 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 84^th 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 ~ Jane Powell (née Suzanne Lorraine Burce; d. Sept. 16, 2021), American sunny actress who lit up golden-age movie musicals.  She is best known for role in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  She was born in Portland, Oregon.  She died in Wilton, Connecticut at age 92.

 

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), 47^th 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 70^thbirthday.

 

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 Jim and 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), 8^th 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), 1^st 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 of the House of Capet.  She was the posthumous daughter of Charles IV, King of France and his third wife, Jeanne d’Évreux.  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.

 

2017 ~ Yevgeny Yevtushenko (b. July 18, 1933), Russian poet and author.  He was born in Zima, Russia.  He died at age 83 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

 

2017 ~ Doug Larson (b. Feb. 10, 1926), American columnist.  He was born in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.  He died at age 91.

 

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 45^th birthday.

 

1976 ~ Max Ernst (b. Apr. 2, 1891), German artist.  He died 1 day before his 85^th 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.

 

1955 ~ Flann O’Brien (né Brian O’Nolan; b. Oct. 5, 1911), Irish novelist.  He died of a heart attack at age 54.

 

1965 ~ Helena Rubinstein (née Chaja Rubinstein; b. Dec. 25, 1870), Polish-American businesswoman 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), 7^th 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), 11^th 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.

 

1548 ~ Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland (b. Jan. 1, 1467).  He reigned Poland from December 1506 until his death 42 years later.  He married twice: first to Barbara Zápolya.  After her death in 1515, he married Bona Sforza.  He was of the House of Jagiellon.  He was the son of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Elisabeth of Austria.  He died at age 81.

 

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), 6^th 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.