April 12
From Freepedia
April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). There are 263 days remaining.
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Events
- 467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
- 1606 - The Union Flag is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain.
- 1633 - The formal interrogation by the Inquisition of Galileo Galilei begins.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina
- 1864 - American Civil War: Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the African American soldiers who had surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
- 1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama falls to the Union Army
- 1877 - The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
- 1923 - Kandersteg International Scout Centre came into existence.
- 1926 - By a vote of 45 to 41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.
- 1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England
- 1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.
- 1946 - Syria gains independence from France
- 1954 - Bill Haley and His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock" in New York City. Initially unsuccessful, the recording would help launch the Rock and Roll revolution a year later.
- 1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk is declared safe and effective.
- 1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space.
- 1968 - Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah
- 1975 - Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- 1980 - Terry Fox began his trans-Canada marathon to raise money for cancer research (Marathon of Hope) by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland, aiming to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.
- 1989 - T.V Show Fast Forward starts on The ATN-7 Network (Australia)
- 1990 - Christian Bernard, F.R.C., becomes Imperator of AMORC
- 1992 - EuroDisney opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
- 1994 - Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam.
- 1998 - Catastrophical earthquake in Slovenia in Posočje 5,6 on the Richter scale.
- 2002 - Coup d'Etat against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela
- 2005 - In Canada, a motion by the opposition Conservative Party to kill legislation opening the door for legalized same sex marriage is defeated 164-132.
Births
- 599 BC - Mahavira, Indian founder of Jainism (d. 527 BC)
- 812 - Muhammad at-Taqi, Arabian Shia Imam (d. 835)
- 1484 - Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (d. 1546)
- 1500 - Joachim Camerarius, German classical scholar (d. 1574)
- 1526 - Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585)
- 1550 - Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, English politician (d. 1604)
- 1748 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (d. 1836)
- 1777 - Henry Clay, American statesman and five-time Presidential candidate (d. 1852)
- 1799 - Henri Druey, Swiss Federal Councilor (d. 1855)
- 1823 - Alexandr Ostrovsky, Russian dramatist (d. 1886)
- 1839 - Nikolai Przhevalsky, Russian explorer (d. 1888)
- 1856 - William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
- 1884 - Otto Meyerhof, German-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1951)
- 1887 - Harold Lockwood, American silent film actor (d. 1918)
- 1892 - Johnny Dodds, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1940)
- 1893 - Robert Harron, American actor (d. 1920)
- 1898 - Lily Pons, American soprano (d. 1976)
- 1902 - Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
- 1903 - Sally Rand, American dancer and actress (d. 1979)
- 1903 - Jan Tinbergen, Dutch economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
- 1907 - Felix de Weldon, Austrian-born sculptor (d. 2003)
- 1908 - Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
- 1916 - Beverly Cleary, American writer
- 1917 - Helen Forrest, American singer (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1923 - Ann Miller, American actress and dancer (d. 2004)
- 1928 - Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
- 1928 - Hardy Krüger, German actor
- 1932 - Dennis Banks, American activist
- 1932 - Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lankan Politician (d. 2005 - assassinated)
- 1933 - Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano
- 1939 - Alan Ayckbourn, English writer
- 1940 - Herbie Hancock, American pianist and composer
- 1941 - Bobby Moore, English footballer (d. 1993)
- 1944 - John Kay, German-born musician (Steppenwolf)
- 1946 - Ed O'Neill, American actor
- 1947 - Tom Clancy, American author
- 1947 - David Letterman, American talk show host
- 1948 - Joschka Fischer, Foreign Minister of Germany
- 1948 - Sandra "Lois" Reeves, singer (Martha & the Vandellas)
- 1948 - Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter
- 1949 - Scott Turow, American writer
- 1950 - David Cassidy, American singer and actor
- 1950 - Kari Palaste, Finnish architect
- 1952 - Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)
- 1954 - Pat Travers, Canadian musician
- 1956 - Andy Garcia, Cuban-born actor
- 1956 - Herbert Grönemeyer, German singer, pianist, and actor
- 1957 - Vince Gill, American musician
- 1961 - Lisa Gerrard, Australian singer and film composer
- 1962 - Art Alexakis, American musician (Everclear)
- 1964 - Amy Ray, American musician (Indigo Girls)
- 1970 - Nick Hexum, American musician (311)
- 1971 - Shannen Doherty, American actress
- 1971 - Nicholas Brendon, actor
- 1978 - Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay)
- 1978 - Riley Smith, American actor
- 1979 - Mateja Kežman, Serbian footballer
- 1979 - Claire Danes, American actress
- 1982 - Deen, Bosnian singer
- 1983 - Joe DiMento, American man of letters
- 1985 - Hitomi Yoshizawa, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
Deaths
- 65 - Seneca the Younger (roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist)
- 238 - Roman emperor Gordian I (suicide)
- 238 - Gordian II, heir to the Roman Empire (killed in battle)
- 1443 - Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1550 - Claude, Duke of Guise, French soldier (b. 1496)
- 1555 - Juana of Castile, queen of Philip I of Castile (b. 1479)
- 1687 - Ambrose Dixon, Virginia Colony pioneer
- 1704 - Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b. 1627)
- 1748 - William Kent, English architect
- 1782 - Metastasio, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
- 1850 - Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary (b. 1788)
- 1912 - Clara Barton, American nurse and Red Cross advocate (b. 1821)
- 1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, Russian bass (b. 1873)
- 1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
- 1962 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer (b. 1861)
- 1971 - Igor Tamm, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1895)
- 1975 - Josephine Baker, American dancer (b. 1906)
- 1980 - Clark McConachy, New Zealand billiards and snooker player (b. 1895)
- 1980 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia (b. 1913)
- 1981 - Joe Louis, American boxer (b. 1914)
- 1986 - Valentin Kataev, Russian writer (b. 1897)
- 1988 - Alan Paton, South African novelist (b. 1903)
- 1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, American boxer (b. 1921)
- 1989 - Abbie Hoffman, American radical leader (b. 1936)
- 1989 - Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)
- 1999 - Boxcar Willie, American singer (b. 1931)
- 2003 - Cecil H. Green, American manufacturer (b. 1900)
Holidays and observances
- The Roman holiday of Cerealia begins.
- Yuri's Night, an international celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin.
- Easter, 1998
External links
From "Lines in Praise of a Date Made Praiseworthy Solely by Something Very Nice That Happened to It", by Ogden Nash:
- "As through the calendar I delve
- I pause to rejoice in April twelve.
- Yea, be I in sickness or be I in health
- My favorite date is April twealth.
- ..."
April 11 - April 13 - March 12 - May 12 -- listing of all days
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