On This Day in History.......

0310 St Eusebius begins his reign as Catholic Pope
0387 Bishop Ambrosius of Milan baptizes Augustinus
1521 Parliament of Worms Cardinal Alexander questions Martin Luther
1552 Mauritius of Saksen occupies Linz
1599 Valencia arch duke Albrecht of Austrian marries Isabella of Spain
1663 Osman declares war on Austria
1666 Peace of Kleef Netherlands & bishop Von Galen of Münster
1676 Sudbury MA attacked by Indians
1775 Paul Revere & William Dawes warn "the British are coming!"
1797 France & Austria sign cease fire
1809 1st run of 2,000 guineas horse race at Newmarket England
1834 Charles Darwin sails to Rio Santa Cruz up Patagonia
1835 William Lamb Lord Melbourne forms British government
1838 Wilkes' expedition to South Pole sails
1839 Henry Kendall, New South Wales Australia, poet (Bell Birds)
1853 1st train in Asia (Bombay to Tanna, 36 km)
1856 Russian Republic Chancellor Earl von Nesselrode resigns
1861 Colonel Robert E Lee turns down offer to command Union armies
1861 Battle of Harpers Ferry WV
1862 Battles of Fort Jackson, Fort St Philip & New Orleans LA
1864 Battle of Poison Springs AR (Camden Expedition)
1865 Confederate General Johnson surrendered to General Sherman in North Carolina
1868 San Francisco Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals formed
1869 1st international cricket match, held in San Francisco, is won by Californian
1876 Daniel O'Leary completes a 500 mile walk in 139 hours 32 minutes
1879 Trial of Standing Bear-Crook on Indians citizen rights begins
1881 Natural History Museum of South Kensington England opens
1890 New York Commission of Emigration ends, closing Castle Clinton
1899 John McGraw, at 36, managerial debut as Oriole manager
1902 Denmark is 1st country to adopt fingerprinting to identify criminals
1904 L'Humanité, under Jean Jaurès begins publishing
1906 San Francisco earthquake & fire kills nearly 4,000 & destroys 75% of the city
1906 Calvinist Reformed Union in Netherlands Church forms in Utrecht
1906 San Francisco Earthquake (one of the most significant earthquakes of all time) kills over 700 people
1907 Fairmont Hotel opens
1907 Augustus Thomas' "Witching Hour", premieres in NYC
1908 Tommy Burns KOs Jewy Smith in 5 for heavyweight boxing title
1909 Joan of Arc declared a saint
1918 Cleveland center fielder Tris Speaker turns an unassisted double play
1921 Junior Achievement incorporated in Colorado Springs CO
1921 Philip James Barry's "Punch for Judy", premieres in NYC
1922 Netherlands soccer team defeats Denmark 2-0
1923 74,000 (62,281 paid) on hand for opening of Yankee Stadium
1923 Poland annexes Central Lithuania
1924 1st crossword puzzle book published (Simon & Schuster)
1925 World's fair opens in Chicago
1926 Rhein Stadium opens in Dusseldorf Germany
1927 Chiang Kai-shek forms anti-government in China
1929 Palace for People's industry in Amsterdam devastated by fire
1934 1st "Washateria" (laundromat) opens (Fort Worth TX)
1934 Hitler names Joachim von Ribbentrop, ambassador for disarmament
1935 General Sarazen's double eagle on the 15th, wins him his 2nd Masters
1935 Netherlands election (Musserts NSB wins 8% of vote)
1936 Pan-Am Clipper begins regular passenger flights from San Francisco CA to Honolulu HI
1938 Headless Mad Butcher victim found in Cleveland
1939 Franz von Papen becomes German ambassador in Turkey
1939 Hubert Pierlot forms Belgian government
1942 "Stars & Stripes" paper for US armed forces starts
1942 James H Doolittle bombs Tokyo & other Japanese cities
1942 Stanley Cup Toronto Maple Leafs beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 3
1944 48th Boston Marathon won by Gerard Coté of Canada in 2:31:50.4
1944 Leonard Bernstein & Jerome Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premieres in NYC
1945 Clandestine Radio 1212, after broadcasting pro-nazi propoganda for months used their influence to trap 350,000 German army group B troops
1945 1 armed outfielder, St Louis Brown Pete Gray, 1st game he goes 1 for 4
1945 Epe freed (by corporal G van Aken)
1946 League of Nations dissolves (3 months after the UN starts)
1946 "Call Me Mister" opens at National Theater NYC for 734 performances
1946 Jackie Robinson debuts as 2nd baseman for the Montréal Royals
1946 Rome/Auerbach/Horwitt's musical "Call Me Mister", premieres in NYC
1946 US recognizes Tito's Yugoslavia government
1948 International Court of Justice opens at Hague Netherlands
1949 Republic of Ireland withdraws from British Commonwealth
1950 1st transatlantic jet passenger trip
1950 New York Yankees win 15-10 after trailing Red Sox 9-0 in 6th
1950 1st opening night-game, St Louis Cardinals beat Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2
1950 Polish Catholic church & government sign accord over relations
1950 Sam Jethroe is 1st black to play for Boston Braves
1951 "Make a Wish" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 102 performances
1951 Dutch Antilles government of Da Costa Gomez forms
1951 France, West Germany & Benelux form European Steel & Coal Community
1951 New York Yankee Mickey Mantle goes 1-for-4 in his 1st game
1953 "Pal Joey" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 542 performances
1954 Colonel Nasser seizes power & becomes PM of Egypt
1954 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open
1955 "Ankles Aweigh" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 176 performances
1955 1st "Walk"/"Don't Walk" lighted street signals installed
1955 1st Bandoeng Conference - Afro-Asian conference opens
1956 Egypt & Israel agree to a cease fire
1958 Government troops reconquer Padang, Middle-Sumatra Indonesia
1958 National League single-game record of 78,682, Giants lose to Dogers 6-5, in Los Angeles
1959 Stanley Cup Montréal Canadiens beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 1
1962 16th NBA Championship Boston Celtics beat Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games to 3
1963 "Sophie" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 8 performances
1963 Dr James Campbell performed the 1st human nerve transplant
1963 Stanley Cup Toronto Maple Leafs beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 1
1964 "Cafe Crown" closes at Martin Beck Theater NYC after 3 performances
1964 "Foxy" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 72 performances
1964 Artisans strike in Belgium ends
1964 Geraldine Mock of US becomes 1st woman to fly solo round the world
1964 Sandy Koufax is 1st to strike out the side on 9 pitches
1964 Van Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr Sloane"
1966 Bill Russell became 1st black coach in NBA history (Boston Celtics)
1968 1st ABA basketball championship begins
1968 San Francisco's Old Hall of Justice is demolished
1968 178,000 employees of US Bell Telephone System go on strike
1968 Dutch Department of Amnesty International forms
1968 London Bridge is sold to US oil company (to be erected in Arizona)
1968 Mart Crowley's "Boys in the Band", premieres in NYC
1968 Peter Luke's "Hadrian VII", premieres in London
1968 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
1969 Melina Mercouri establishes Greek Aid Fund
1971 Gavaskar makes 220 in 2nd inning vs West Indies after 124 in 1st
1971 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA Raleigh Golf Classic
1972 "Lost in the Stars" opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 39 performances
1974 Red Brigade kidnaps Italian Attorney General Mario Sossi
1975 John Lennon releases "Stand by Me"
1976 30th Tony Awards Travesties & Chorus Line win
1976 Judy Rankin wins LPGA Karsten - Ping Golf Open
1977 6th Boston Women's Marathon won by Miki Gorman of California in 2:48:33
1977 81st Boston Marathon won by Jerome Drayton of Canada in 2:14:46
1977 Alex Haley, author of "Roots", awarded Pulitzer Prize
1977 Baltimore Orioles' Eddie Murray hits his 1st homerun
1977 Pulitzer prize awarded to Michael Cristofer for "Shadow Box"
1977 Stephen Sondheim's musical "Side by Side" premieres at Music Box NYC for 390 performances
1978 Senate votes to turn Panamá Canal over to Panamá on Dec 31, 1999
1979 "Real People" premieres on NBC TV
1979 Major Haddad declares South-Lebanon independent
1980 Zimbabwe (formerly Southern Rhodesia) declares independence from UK
1981 Pawtucket & Rochester start a 33-inning baseball game
1982 Canada Constitution Act replaces British North America Act
1982 Atlanta Braves win record 11th straight opening game (beat Houston Astros)
1982 Kathy Whitworth wins LPGA CPC Women's Golf International
1982 Zimbabwe capital Salisbury renamed Harare
1983 A lone suicide bomber kills 63, at the US Embassy in Lebanon
1983 KMO-AM in Tacoma WA changes call letters to KAMT (now KKMO)
1983 Rangers 3-Islanders 1-Patrick Division Finals-Series tied at 2-2
1983 12th Boston Women's Marathon won by Joan Benoit Samuelson in 2:22:43
1983 87th Boston Marathon won by Greg Meyer of Massachusetts in 2:09:00
1983 Pulitzer prize awarded to Alice Walker for "The Color Purple"
1984 Challenger flies back to Kennedy Space Center via Kelly AFB
1985 Flyers 3-Islanders 0-Patrick Division Finals-Flyers hold 1-0 lead
1986 Robert M Gates, becomes deputy director of CIA
1986 Titan rocket explodes seconds after liftoff from Vandenberg AFB
1987 An unconscious skydiver is rescued by another diver in mid-air
1987 Bob Land wins his 6th straight Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race
1987 Mike Schmidt hits 500th home run (vs. Robinson-Pirates)
1987 Pat Knauff, France sets 1-leg downhill ski speed record (115.012 mph)
1987 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Maralinga Australia
1988 Barbra Streisand records "Warm All Over"
1988 17th Boston Women's Marathon won by Rosa Mota of Portugal in 2:24:30
1988 92nd Boston Marathon won by Ibrahim Hussein of Kenya in 2:08:43
1990 Bankruptcy court forces Frank Lorenzo to give up Eastern Airlines
1990 Birmingham Fire issued an original franchise in the WLAF
1990 Supreme Court rules that states could make it a crime to possess or look at child pornography, even in one's home
1991 Congress ends railroad workers' 1 day strike
1991 Census Bureau says it failed to count up to 63 million in 1990 census
1991 John Stockton breaks his own NBA season assist record at 1,136
1992 Start of South Africa's 1st Test Cricket since 1970 (v West Indies Bridgetown)
1992 Tennis ace Stefan Edberg marries Annette Olsen in Sweden
1993 "Ain't Broadway Grand" opens at Lunt-Fontanne Theater NYC for 25 performances
1993 54th PGA Seniors Golf Championship Tom Wargo
1993 Beirut-hostage Terry Anderson marries Madeleine Bassil
1993 David Lee Roth arrested in New York NY for purchasing marijuana for $10
1993 Trish Johnson wins LPGA Atlanta Women's Golf Championship
1994 "Beauty & the Beast" opens at Palace Theater NYC
1994 23rd Boston Women's Marathon won by Uta Pippig of Germany in 2:21:45
1994 98th Boston Marathon won by Cosmas Ndeti of Kenya in 2:07:15
1994 Arsenio Hall announces he will end his show in May 1994
1994 Brian Lara scores 375 for West Indies vs England to beat Sobers' world record
1994 Former President Richard Nixon suffers a stroke & dies 4 days later
1994 Lebanon drops relations with Iran
1994 Roseanne Barr Arnold files for divorce from Tom Arnold
1994 STS-59 (Endeavour) lands [approximately]
1995 Houston Post folds after 116 years
1995 Quarterback Joe Montana announces his retirement from football
1996 "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", opens at St James Theater NYC for 715 performances
=====================================================

Missing In Action.....

1965 WHEELER JAMES A. TUCSON AZ CRASH TARGET AREA
1969 ELLIS RANDALL S. CHARLESTON SC
1973 JAMES SAMUEL L. CHATTANOOGA TN "DEAD, CHARRED BODIES FOUND" REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/16/99 ID DISPUTED
1973 MARTIN DOUGLAS K. TYLER TX "DEAD, CHARRED BODIES FOUND" REMAINS IDENTIFIED 04/16/99

Births which occurred on April 18:

1480 Lucretia Borgia murderess (poison)/daughter (Pope Alexander VI)
1521 François de Coligny ruler of van Andelot, French General (Jarnac)
1580 Thomas Middleton English playwright (Game of Chess)
1590 Ahmed I 14th sultan of Turkey (1603-17)
1605 Giacomo Carissimi composer
1729 Gaetano B Vestris Italian/French ballet dancer
1732 George Colman "the Elder", playwright (baptised)
1740 Francis Baring banker/merchant
1744 Pieter 't Hoen Dutch journalist/patriot
1759 Jacques-Christian-Michel Widerkehr composer
1764 Bernhard Anselm Weber pianist/conductor/composer
1777 Ignac Ruzitska composer
1786 Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee composer
1797 Louis-Adolphe Thiers President of France
1803 Charles F Pahud de Montagnes Governor-General of Netherlands East Indies (1856-61)
1806 Ludwig Schuberth composer
1817 George Henry Lewes English philosophical writer (Life of Goethe)
1819 Franz von Suppé Spalato Dalmatia, composer (Light Cavalry Over)
1839 Frantz Jehin-Prume composer
1839 Henry Clarence Kendall New South Wales Australia, poet (Bell Birds)
1842 Antero Tarquinio de Quental Portugal, poet (Beatrice)
1845 Wilhelm Gericke composer
1852 George Clausen painter
1855 Abraham Bredius Dutch art historian (Jan Steen)
1855 Josef Gruber composer
1857 Clarence S Darrow defense attorney at the Scopes monkey trial
1859 Eduard G H H Cuypers architect (Sanatorium High-Laren)
1863 Felix Blumenfeld composer
1864 Richard Harding Davis US, journalist/author (In The Fig)
1868 Didericus G van Epen genealogist (Dutch Patriciate)
1871 Henry Stephenson British West Indies, actor (Conquest, Little Old New York, Mr Lucky)
1873 Jean Roger-Ducasse composer
1881 Hermann KJ Zilcher German pianist/composer (Dr Eisenbart)
1881 Max Weber Polish/Russian/US painter
1882 Leopold Stokowski London England, conductor (Cincinnati Symphony)
1884 Magda Janssens Flemish/Netherlands actress/acting teacher (Maria Stuart)
1888 Arnold Henry Moore Lunn skier
1889 Jessie Street Australian pro women's/aborigine rights fighter
1889 John Kilbane US, featherweight boxing champion (1912-23)
1890 James Rennie Toronto Ontario Canada, actor (Lash, Little Damozel)
1895 Anton F Pieck Dutch illustrator (Efteling, Kaatsheuvel) [or April 19]
1896 C Eugène Wegmann Swiss geologist (Le Jura plissé)
1897 Pedro Regas Sparta Greece, actor (Pat Paulsen's ½ Comedy Hour)
1898 Lord Leatherland British journalist/Labour peer
19-- Anna Kathryn Holbrook Fairbanks AK, actress (Sharlene-Another World)
19-- Bill Lazarus Washington DC, actor (Bad News Bears)
1900 Louise Tazewell [Louise Skiller Tazewell], entertainer
1901 László Németh Hungarian physician/author (Gyász/Galilei)
1903 Leonid Kinskey St Petersburg Russia, actor (Casablanca)
1903 Yury Sergeyevich Milyutin composer
1906 Clara Eggink [Ebbele], Dutch poetess (Life with JC Bloem)
1906 Edgar Unsworth Justice of Appeals (Gibralter)
1907 Stephen Longstreet American writer (All or Nothing)
1907 Miklós Rózsa Budapest Hungary, movie composer (Atomic Cafe, Fedora)
1908 Edward Roberts bishop (Ely)
1908 Henry Guinness missionary
1908 Joseph Keilberth German conductor (Bayreuther Festspiele)
1910 Jamie L Whitten (Representative-Democrat-MS, 1941- )
1910 Sylvia Fisher soprano (Albert Herring Opera)
1911 Francis Frederick Johnson architect
1911 George Huntington Hartford II New York NY, A&P heir
1912 Wendy Barrie Hong Kong, hostess (Wendy Barrie Show)
1912 John Lapworth Holt boat Designer
1913 Al Hodge actor (Captain Video)
1913 Kent Wheeler Kennan composer
1913 Milos Sokola composer
1913 Susan Bosence textile designer
1914 C S Nayudu cricketer (brother of C K, 11 Tests as leggie)
1914 Henk Lankhorst pacifist/Dutch MP (PSP)
1917 Louise Frederika Queen of Greece
1918 Robert Zimonyi Hungary, cox (Olympics-Hungary-bronze-1948/US-gold-64)
1918 Tony Mottola Kearney NJ, president of Sony Music Entertainment/guitarist/host (Melody Street)
1918 Roger de Grey president (Royal Academy)
1920 Walter Clegg MP
1921 Barbara Hale Dekalb IL, actress (Della Street-Perry Mason)
1922 Avril Angers actress (Brass Monkey)
1923 Baroness Platt of Writtle British CEO (Equal Opportunities Commission)
1923 Leif Panduro Danish writer ('k Have varnish on traditions)
1924 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Vinton La, blues singer (Mary is Fine)
1924 Buxton Daeblite Orr composer
1924 Henry J Hyde (Representative-Republican-IL)
1924 Lord Mason of Barnsley MP (Lab)/British defense secretary
1924 Raf de Linde [Raphaël van Hecke] author (Vaarwel on Gertrude)
1925 Bob Hastings Brooklyn NY, actor (McHale's Navy, All in the Family)
1925 Lionel Edmund "Sonny" Taylor musician
1925 Robert Caldwell Crawford composer
1926 Gunter Meisner Germany, actor (Between Wars, Quiller Memorandum)
1926 Doug Insole cricketer (England batsman of the 50's, nine Tests)
1927 Jim De Courcy cricketer (in Newcastle Australian batsman 1953)
1928 Jean-François Pailliard Vitry-le-François France, conductor
1929 Peter Hordern British CEO (Fina)
1929 Peter Jeffrey actor (Dr Phibes Rides Again, Twinsanity)
1930 Clive Revill Wellington New Zealand, actor (Legend of Hell House)
1931 Klas Lestander Sweden, 20K biathlon (Olympics-gold-1960)
1932 Dominic Milroy OSB/headmaster (Ampleforth College England)
1933 Alan Devereux CEO (Scottish Tourist Board)
1934 James Drury New York NY, actor (Virginian)
1934 Jaap F Scherpenhuizen Dutch MP (VVD)
1934 Jan Klusak composer
1934 Jap F Scherpenhuizen Dutch MP (VVD)
1934 Mark Kingston actor (Intimate Contact)
1935 Joel Hefley (Representative-Republican-CO)
1935 Paul A Rothchild record producer
1936 Brian Fuller commandant (Fire Service College, England)
1936 Harold Innocent [HS Harrison] English actor (Tall Guy)
1936 Madeleine Gillian Jinkinson medical administrator
1937 Robert Hooks Washington DC, actor (Fast Walking, Aaron Loves Angela)
1937 Tatyana Shchelkanova USSR, long jumper (Olympics-bronze-1964)
1938 Andreas J "Cat" Liebenberg supreme commander (South Africa army)
1939 Glen Hardin rocker
1939 Von McDaniel baseball player
1940 Ed Garvey labor leader (Major League Baseball Players Association)
1940 Joseph L Goldstein Sumter SC, physician (Nobel-1985)
1940 Ira von Furstenberg [Virginia Caroline] Rome Italy, Princess (Monaco)
1940 Skip Stephenson Omaha NE, comedian (Real People)
1941 Mike Vickers guitarist (Manfred Mann-Mighty Quinn)
1942 Dick K J Tommel chemist/(D66) Dutch Assistant Secretary of State (1994- )
1942 Jochen Rindt German race car driver
1944 Irvine Shillingford cricketer (cousin of Grayson, 4 Tests for West Indies)
1944 Rudy Shackelford composer
1946 Hayley Mills London England, actress (Parent Trap, Pollyanna)
1946 [Alexander] Skip Spence Windsor Ontario Canada, guitarist/vocalist (Moby Grape-Omaha)
1946 Anne Boyd composer
1946 Harvey Kagan rocker
1946 Lenny Baker rocker (Sha Na Na)
1947 Cindy Pickett actress (Ferris Bueller, Hot to Trot, St Elsewhere)
1947 Dorothy Lyman Minneapolis MN, (All my Children, Naomi-Mama's Family)
1947 James Woods Warwick RI, actor (Salvador, Against All Odds)
1947 Lori Martin Glendale CA, actress (Velvet-National Velvet)
1947 David Gee director (Friends of the Earth)
1948 "Tiny" Nate Archibald NBA guard (Cincinnati)
1948 Catherine Malfitano New York NY, soprano (Metropolitan Opera)
1948 Skip Stephenson Omaha NE, comedian (Real People)
1950 Bill Sudderth III trumpeter (Atlantic Star-Touch 4 Leaf Clover)
1952 Jim Scholten Midland MI, country singer (Betty's Bein' Bad)
1953 Rick Moranis Toronto Ontario Canada, (SCTV, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Spaceballs)
1954 Kim Stone bassist (Spyro Gyra-Morning Dance)
1955 Amschel Rothschild banker
1955 Anne-Marie Palli Ciboure France, LPGA golfer (1992 ShopRite)
1956 Eric Roberts Biloxi MS, actor (Pope of Greenwich Village, King of Gypsies)
1956 John James Minneapolis MN, actor (Jeff Colby-Dynasty)
1956 Melody Thomas Scott Los Angeles CA, actress (Nikki-Young & Restless)
1956 David Wayne Edwards Neosho MO, PGA golfer (1980 Walt Disney)
1958 Les Pattinson Ormskirk Merseyside England, rock bassist (Echo & the Bunnymen-Heaven Up Here)
1958 Bernadette Robi model/ex-wife of football player Lynn Swann
1958 Malcolm Marshall cricketer (West Indies quickie 1978-91, West Indies top wicket-taker)
1959 Jim Eisenreich St Cloud MN, outfielder (Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins)
1961 Kelly Hansen heavy metal rocker (Hurricane-I'm on to You)
1961 Ian Doig Seaforth Ontario Canada, Canadian Tour golfer (1985 Florida Classic)
1961 Jane Leeves London England, actress (Murphy Brown, Daphne Moon-Fraiser)
1961 Jeff Cook Muncie IN, Nike golfer (1990 Greater Ozarks Open)
1961 Pamella Bordes New Dehli India, British parliament prostitute
1962 Mick Sweda heavy metal (Bulletboys, King Kobra-Ready to Strike)
1962 Shirlie Hollman rocker (Pepsi & Shirley-All Right Now)
1962 Wilber Marshall NFL linebacker (New York Jets)
1963 Conan [Christopher] O'Brien Brookline MA, TV host (Late Night)
1963 Phil Simmons cricketer (West Indian opening batsman)
1964 Robert Kelker-Kelly actor (Another World)
1965 Diana Villegas México, rocker (Triplets-You DOn't Have To Go)
1965 Sylvia Villegas México, rocker (Triplets-You DOn't Have To Go)
1965 Vicky Villegas México, rocker (Triplets-You DOn't Have To Go)
1966 Chuck Wade Menomonee Falls WI, diver (Olympics-96)
1966 Michelle Chryst WPVA volleyballer (Santa Cruz-17th-1994)
1966 Valeri Kamensky Voskresensk Russia, NHL left wing (Avalanche, Olympics-silver-98)
1967 Jayce Fincher Jr heavy metal bassist (Southgang-Tainted Angel)
1967 Kenneth Gant NFL safety (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1967 Marcel Valk soccer player (RKC, Go Ahead Eagles)
1969 Vladimir Tsyplakov Inta Russia, NHL left wing (Los Angeles Kings, Belarus 1998)
1970 Carl Simpson NFL defensive tackle (Chicago Bears)
1970 Francois Leroux Ste-adele, NHL defenseman (Pittsburgh Penguins)
1970 Heike Friedrich East Germany swimmer (world record 200 meter)
1970 Peter Giles London Ontario Canada, kayaker (Olympics-96)
1970 Vladimir Antipin hockey defenseman (Team Kazakhstan Olympics-1998)
1970 William Roaf NFL tackle (New Orleans Saints)
1971 Dan Kordic Edmonton, NHL defenseman (Philadelphia Flyers)
1971 Kerry Lynn Kemper Miss Nebraska-USA (1996)
1971 Oleg Petrov Moscow Russia, NHL right wing (Montréal Canadiens)
1972 Jeff Traversy CFL defensive tackle (Calgary Stampeders)
1973 Derrick Brooks NFL linebacker (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
1973 Haile Gebresleassie Ethiopia, 10k runner (Olympics-gold-96)
1973 James "Jamie" Koven Morristown NJ, rower (Olympics-5th-1996)
1976 Melissa Joan Hart Sayville NY, actress (Clarissa, Sabrina)
1992 Frances Bean Cobain daughter of Kurt Cobain & Courtney Love
====================================================

Deaths which occurred on April 18:

0680 Mu'awijja kalief of Al-Schaam, dies
1504 Filippino Lippi painter, dies at about 52
1530 François Lambert d'Avignon French church reformer, dies at about 43
1552 John Leland antiquary, dies
1556 Luigi Alamanni Italian poet (Flora, Antigone), dies at 61
1567 Wilhelm von Grumbach German military man, dies at 63
1587 John Foxe author (Book of Martyrs), dies
1610 Robert Parsons English jesuit leader/plotter, dies at 63
1612 Emanuel Van Meteren merchant/historian, dies
1679 Hofmannswaldau writer, dies
1684 Gonzales Cocx [Coques] painter, dies
1689 George Jeffreys 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem/infamous judge, dies
1690 Charles V Leopold Duke of Lotharingen/Austrian fieldmarshal, dies
1710 Pierre de La Barre composer, dies at 75
1800 John Evangelist Schreiber composer, dies at 84
1800 Pieter Fouquet art merchant (Atlas of Fouquet), dies
1807 Erasmus Darwin physician/writer (Influence), dies
1818 Pieter Ondaatje Ceylon/Dutch lawyer, dies at 59
1824 Edward Jones composer, dies at 72
1830 Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia composer, dies at 62
1845 Nicholas T the Saussure Swiss chemist/botany, dies at 77
1853 William King US Vice President, dies a month after his inauguration
1854 Joseph Antoni Frantiszek Elsner composer, dies at 84
1855 Jean-Baptiste Isabey painter, dies
1860 Count István Széchenyi statesman, commits suicide
1861 Heinrich August Neithardt composer, dies at 67
1867 Robert Smirke architect, dies
1871 Omar Pasha [Michael Lats] Croatian Governor, dies at 64
1873 Justus Freiherr von Liebig German chemist, dies at 69
1874 David Livingstone buried in Westminster Abbey
1879 Anthony Pannizim principal librarian (British Museum), dies
1883 Agnes Tyrrell composer, dies at 36
1898 Gustave Moureau painter, dies
1905 Juan Valera bon Alcalá Galiano Sp author (Pepita Jiménez), dies at 80
1917 Moritz F Freiherr von Bissing Governor-General of Belgium (1914-17), dies at 73
1919 Enny Vrede [Maria M Müller] Dutch actress, drowns at 35
1921 Earnest [Bachigaloupi] Tourniaire actor (Inkwartiering), dies at 70
1925 Charles Ebbets president (Dodgers), dies
1928 Henryk Melcer-Szczawinski composer, dies at 58
1935 Ignazio Guidi Italian orientalist/archaeologist, dies at 90
1936 Ottorino Respighi Italian composer (Belkis), dies at 56
1936 Seaborn M Denson composer, dies at 82
1938 Richard Runciman Terry musicologist, dies
1939 Theo Mann actress (Pink Bernd, Hedda Gabler), dies at 88
1940 Florrie Forde music hall artist, dies
1940 Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher historian, dies
1941 Alexander Korysis PM of Greece, commits suicide
1943 I Yamamoto Admiral of Japanese fleet, dies
1944 Cécile Chamindale composer, dies
1945 Ernest T Pyle British/US newscaster, killed in WWII at 44
1945 John Ambrose Fleming electrical engineer, dies
1947 Benny Leonard lightweight boxing champion (1917-25), dies at 51
1949 Leonard Bloomfield linguist/philosopher, dies
1955 Albert Einstein German/US physicist (E=MC²), dies
1955 Don Blackie cricketer (3 Tests for Australia 1928-29), dies at 46
1955 Eugen Herrigel Zen philosopher/scholar, dies in Germany at 70
1958 Maurice-Gustave Gamelin French Generalissmo (WWI, WWII), dies at 85
1958 Richard B Goldschmidt German zoologist (butterflies), dies
1959 Irving Cummings Sr actor/director (In Old Arizona), dies at 70
1960 Emory Johnson director (Phantom Express, Shield of Honor), dies at 66
1963 Henrietta Kreis 3rd of famous Wallenda aerialist to fall to death
1964 Ben Hecht playwright (Child of the Century), dies at 71
1964 Albe Vidakovic composer, dies at 49
1969 Piotr F Scharoff Russian/Italian actor/director (Chechov), dies at 82
1971 Masao Oki composer, dies at 69
1974 Betty Compson actress (Barker, Weary River, Drag Net), dies at 77
1974 Marcel Pagnol French writer/movie (Topaz), dies at 79
1975 Rob Touber [Robert J Noordervliet) chansonnier/director, dies at 38
1976 Percy Julian holder of more than 138 chemical patents, dies at 78
1983 Alan Melville cricketer (11 Tests for South Africa, 894 runs), dies
1984 John Lee Mahin screenwriter, dies of emphysema at 81
1986 Marcel Dassault [Bloch] French airplane builder, dies at 94
1990 Robert D Webb director/actor (Love Me Tender, Jackals), dies at 87
1992 Florence Randall model/designer (Bill Blass), dies at 54 of cancer
1993 Arthur P Smith US founder of Miami Planetarium, dies at 76
1994 Ken Oosterbroek South African press photographer, shot dead at 32
1995 Arturo Frondizi President of Argentina (1958-62), dies
1996 Kalim Siddiqui islamic campaigner, dies at 62
1996 Michael Leander Farr record producer, dies at 55
1996 Piet Hein architect/poet/mathematician/inventor, dies at 80
1996 Robert William Paine architect, dies at 88
1997 Edward Barker cartoonist, dies at 46

1775 Revere and Dawes warn of British attack

On this day in 1775, British troops march out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the American arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, known to be hiding at Lexington. As the British departed, Boston Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback from the city to warn Adams and Hancock and rouse the Minutemen.

By 1775, tensions between the American colonies and the British government had approached the breaking point, especially in Massachusetts, where Patriot leaders formed a shadow revolutionary government and trained militias to prepare for armed conflict with the British troops occupying Boston. In the spring of 1775, General Thomas Gage, the British governor of Massachusetts, received instructions from Great Britain to seize all stores of weapons and gunpowder accessible to the American insurgents. On April 18, he ordered British troops to march against Concord and Lexington.

The Boston Patriots had been preparing for such a British military action for some time, and, upon learning of the British plan, Revere and Dawes set off across the Massachusetts countryside. They took separate routes in case one of them was captured: Dawes left the city via the Boston Neck peninsula and Revere crossed the Charles River to Charlestown by boat. As the two couriers made their way, Patriots in Charlestown waited for a signal from Boston informing them of the British troop movement. As previously agreed, one lantern would be hung in the steeple of Boston's Old North Church, the highest point in the city, if the British were marching out of the city by Boston Neck, and two lanterns would be hung if they were crossing the Charles River to Cambridge. Two lanterns were hung, and the armed Patriots set out for Lexington and Concord accordingly. Along the way, Revere and Dawes roused hundreds of Minutemen, who armed themselves and set out to oppose the British.

Revere arrived in Lexington shortly before Dawes, but together they warned Adams and Hancock and then set out for Concord. Along the way, they were joined by Samuel Prescott, a young Patriot who had been riding home after visiting a lady friend. Early on the morning of April 19, a British patrol captured Revere, and Dawes lost his horse, forcing him to walk back to Lexington on foot. However, Prescott escaped and rode on to Concord to warn the Patriots there. After being roughly questioned for an hour or two, Revere was released when the patrol heard Minutemen alarm guns being fired on their approach to Lexington.

About 5 a.m. on April 19, 700 British troops under Major John Pitcairn arrived at the town to find a 77-man-strong colonial militia under Captain John Parker waiting for them on Lexington's common green. Pitcairn ordered the outnumbered Patriots to disperse, and after a moment's hesitation, the Americans began to drift off the green. Suddenly, the "shot heard around the world" was fired from an undetermined gun, and a cloud of musket smoke soon covered the green. When the brief Battle of Lexington ended, eight Americans lay dead and 10 others were wounded; only one British soldier was injured. The American Revolution had begun.
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1864 Battle of Poison Springs, Arkansas

At Poison Springs, Arkansas, Confederate soldiers under the command of General Samuel Maxey capture a Union forage train and slaughter black troops escorting the expedition.

The Battle of Poison Springs was part of broad Union offensive in the region of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. General Nathaniel Banks had led a Yankee force through Louisiana in March and April, but a defeat in northwestern Louisiana at the Battle of Mansfield on April 8 sent Banks in retreat. Union forces nearby in Arkansas were moving towards Banks' projected thrust into Texas with the intention of securing southwestern Arkansas for the Federals.

Union General Frederick Steele occupied Camden, Arkansas, on April 15. Two days later, he sent Colonel John Williams and 1,100 of his 14,000-man force to gather 5,000 bushels of corn discovered west of Camden. The force arrived to find that Confederate marauders had destroyed half of the store, but the Yankees loaded the rest into some 200 wagons and prepared to return to Camden. On the way back Maxey and 3,600 Confederates intercepted them. Maxey placed General John Marmaduke in charge of the attack that ensued. Williams positioned part of his force, the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry, between the wagon train the Confederate lines. The regiment was the first black unit in the army, comprised primarily of ex-slaves.

The determined soldiers of the 1st Kansas stopped the first two Rebel attacks, but they were running low on ammunition. A third assault overwhelmed the Kansans, and the rout was on. Williams gathered the remnants of his force and retreated from the abandoned wagons. More than 300 Yankee troops were killed, wounded, or captured, while the Confederates lost just 13 killed and 81 wounded. Most shocking was the Rebel treatment of the black troops. No black troops were captured, and those left wounded on the battlefield were brutally killed, scalped, and stripped. The Washington Telegraph, the major Confederate newspaper in Arkansas, justified the atrocity by declaring "We cannot treat Negroes taken in arms as prisoners of war without a destruction of social system for which we contend."
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1915 Germans shoot down French pilot Roland Garros

On this day in 1915, a member of the German Bahnschutzwache, or Railway Protection Guard, shoots down the well-known French airman Roland Garros in his flight over German positions in Flanders, France, on a bombing raid.

Garros, born in 1882, gained renown early in his career as an experienced practitioner of aerial acrobatics, the first French pilot to fly across the Mediterranean Sea and a two-time winner of both the Paris-Madrid and Paris-Rome flying races. In 1914, while working as a test pilot for Morane-Saulnier, an aircraft manufacturer, Garros set the then-world record for the highest flight: 4,250 meters. When war broke out in Europe that same year, he was sent to serve with the French air service, L’Aviation Militaire, on the Western Front.

At the end of 1914, Garros took leave from his regiment and returned to the Morane-Saulnier factory to work with Raymond Saulnier to test a recently developed device that enabled a pilot to fire bullets from a machine-gun through the blades of the propeller of his plane. The device, employed successfully by Garros in the early spring of 1915, allowed him to approach his enemies head-on in the air, giving him a vast advantage. Garros shot down his first German victim, an Albatross reconnaissance aircraft, on April 1, 1915; in the next two weeks, he downed four more.

Garros’ run ended on April 18, however, when he was flying his single-seater plane, a Morane-Saulnier Type L, low in the skies above the German positions in Flanders. A member of the German Bahnschutzwache described the events of that day: “At that moment we saw a southbound train approaching on the railway line Ingelmunster-Kortrijk. Suddenly the plane went into a steep dive…He flew over the train in a loop and as he rose up into the sky again with his wings almost vertical, he threw a bomb at the train. Fortunately it missed the target and there was no damage….As the plane had swooped down over the train the Bahnschutzwache troops had fired on it following my order to open fire. We shot at him from a distance of only 100 metres as he flew past. After he had thrown his bomb at the train he tried to escape, switching his engine on again and climbing to about 700 metres through the shots fired by our troops. But suddenly the plane began to sway about in the sky, the engine fell silent, and the pilot began to glide the plane down in the direction of Hulste.”

A German bullet had apparently hit the gas pipe on Garros’ plane, forcing him to land. Although the daring airman attempted to set the plane on fire and escape on foot once he hit the ground, both he and the plane were captured by the Germans. Garros later managed to escape from captivity and rejoin L’Aviation Militaire. Killed in battle at Vouziers on October 5, 1918, he is remembered as one of France’s most celebrated war heroes; the famous tennis stadium in Paris bears his name.

The propeller of Garros’ Morane-Saulnier plane and its innovative machine-gun firing device were sent immediately after his capture in April 1915 to the Fokker aircraft factory in Germany. A few weeks later, the first Fokker EI—a single-seater airplane fitted with machine guns, deflectors and interrupter gear that could synchronize the rate of fire of the gun with the speed of the propeller—was sent to German forces on the Western Front. From mid-1915 until mid-1916, the Fokker E-types of the German Air Force were the menace of the skies, shooting down a total of over 1,000 Allied aircraft.
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1942 Doolittle leads air raid on Tokyo

On this day in 1942, 16 American B-25 bombers, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet 650 miles east of Japan and commanded by Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle, attack the Japanese mainland.

The now-famous Tokyo Raid did little real damage to Japan (wartime Premier Hideki Tojo was inspecting military bases during the raid; one B-25 came so close, Tojo could see the pilot, though the American bomber never fired a shot)--but it did hurt the Japanese government's prestige. Believing the air raid had been launched from Midway Island, approval was given to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's plans for an attack on Midway--which would also damage Japanese "prestige." Doolittle was eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

A book describing the raid, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson, was adapted into a film starring Spencer Tracy in 1944.
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1945 Ernie Pyle killed at Okinawa

On this day in 1945, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima off the coast of Okinawa. Extremely popular, especially with the average GI, whose life and death he reported on (American infantrymen braved enemy fire to recover Pyle's body), Pyle had been at the London Blitz of 1941 and saw action in North Africa, Italy, France, and the Pacific. A monument exists to him to this day on Ie Shima, describing him simply as "a buddy."

Burgess Meredith portrayed Ernie Pyle in the 1945 film The Story of GI Joe.
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1969 Nixon says prospects for peace in Vietnam are better

At a news conference, President Nixon says he feels the prospects for peace have "significantly improved" since he took office. He cited the greater political stability of the Saigon government and the improvement in the South Vietnamese armed forces as proof.

With these remarks, Nixon was trying to set the stage for a major announcement he would make at the Midway conference in June. While conferring with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu, Nixon announced that the United States would be pursuing a three-pronged strategy to end the war. Efforts would be increased to improve the combat capability of the South Vietnamese armed forces so that they could assume responsibility for the war against the North Vietnamese--Nixon described this effort as "Vietnamization." As the South Vietnamese became more capable, U.S. forces would be withdrawn from South Vietnam. At the same time, U.S. negotiators would continue to try to reach a negotiated settlement to the war with the communists at the Paris peace talks.

This announcement represented a significant change in the nature of the U.S. commitment to the war, as the United States would be withdrawing troops from the war for the first time. The first U.S. soldiers were withdrawn in the fall of 1969 and the withdrawals continued periodically through 1972. At the same time, the United States increased the advisory effort and provided massive amounts of new equipment and weapons to the South Vietnamese as well. When the North Vietnamese launched a massive invasion in the spring of 1972, the South Vietnamese wavered, but eventually rallied with U.S. support and prevailed over the North Vietnamese. Nixon proclaimed that the South Vietnamese victory validated his strategy. In fact, a peace agreement was finalized in January 1973, but the fighting continued anyway. The U.S. did not deliver the aid it had promised in the case of continued attacks-the South Vietnamese held out for two years but they succumbed to the North Vietnamese in April 1975.