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April 18

April 18 is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 257 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 1025 - Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland.
• 1506 - The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
• 1518 - Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
• 1738 - Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") founded in Madrid.
• 1775 - American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begin; riders warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
• 1783 - Fighting ceases in the American Revolution, eight years to the day since it began.
• 1797 - The Battle of Neuwied - French victory against the Austrians.
• 1848 - American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
• 1880 - An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
• 1881 - Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
• 1899 - The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria.
• 1902 - Quetzaltenango, second largest city of Guatemala, destroyed by Earthquake.
• 1906 - The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroys much of San Francisco, California.
• 1906 - The Los Angeles Times story on the Azusa Street Revival launches Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
• 1909 - Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
• 1912 - The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
• 1915 - French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
• 1923 - Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built", opens.
• 1924 - Simon & Schuster publishes the first Crossword Puzzle book.
• 1942 - World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya bombed.
• 1942 - Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
• 1943 - World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
• 1945 - Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
• 1945 - Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Bolivia are established.
• 1946 - The League of Nations is dissolved.
• 1949 - The Republic of Ireland Act comes into force.
• 1949 - The aircraft carrier USS United States (CVA-58) is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, the United States is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
• 1954 - Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
• 1955 - Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandurg, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
• 1958 - A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound is to be released from an insane asylum.
• 1961 - CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule.
• 1974 - The Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto inaugurates Lahore Dry port.
• 1980 - The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President.
• 1983 - A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.
• 1988 - The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
• 1992 - General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolts against President Mohammad Najibullah of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and allies with Ahmed Shah Massoud to capture Kabul.
• 1993 - President of Pakistan, Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolves the National Assembly and dismisses the Cabinet.
• 1996 - In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces accidentally shell the UN compound at Quana.
• 2007 - The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision.

Births

• 1480 - Lucrezia Borgia, Florentine ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)
• 1580 - Thomas Middleton, English dramatist (d. 1627)
• 1590 - Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
• 1605 - Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (d. 1674)
• 1771 - Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)
• 1772 - David Ricardo, English economist (d. 1823)
• 1797 - Adolphe Thiers, French statesman (d. 1877)
• 1819 - Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban Revolutionary (d. 1874)
• 1819 - Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (d. 1895)
• 1838 - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French scientist (d. 1912)
• 1857 - Clarence Darrow, American attorney (d. 1938)
• 1863 - Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942)
• 1864 - Richard Harding Davis, American author (d. 1916)
• 1874 - Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (d. 1941)
• 1875 - Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic, Croatian writer (d. 1938)
• 1877 - Vicente Sotto, Filipino patriot, author (d. 1950)
• 1880 - Sam Crawford, baseball player (d. 1968)
• 1882 - Leopold Stokowski, Polish conductor (d. 1977)
• 1888 - Duffy Lewis, American baseball player (d. 1979)
• 1889 - Jessie Street, Australian suffragette, feminist, and human rights activist (d. 1970)
• 1893 - Violette Morris, French athlete (d. 1944)
• 1897 - Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)
• 1901 - Al Lewis, American lyricist (d. 1967)
• 1902 - Giuseppe Pella, Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
• 1902 - Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Hasidic Judaism leader (d. 1994)
• 1904 - Pigmeat Markham, American comedian (d. 1981)
• 1905 - George H. Hitchings, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1907 - Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-born composer (d. 1995)
• 1915 - Joy Gresham Lewis, American writer, wife of C. S. Lewis (d. 1960)
• 1917 - Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (d. 1947)
• 1917 - Frederika of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece (d. 1981)
• 1918 - Cliff Hillegass, American publisher (d. 2001)
• 1918 - Tony Mottola, American guitarist (d. 2004)
• 1919 - Virginia O'Brien, American singer and actress (d. 2001)
• 1921 - Jean Richard, French actor (d. 2001)
• 1922 - Barbara Hale, American actress
• 1924 - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American musician (d. 2005)
• 1924 - Henry Hyde, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1927 - Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist
• 1930 - Clive Revill, New Zealand born actor
• 1934 - George Shirley, American tenor
• 1936 - Tommy Ivo, American race car driver
• 1937 - Jan Kaplický, British architect of Czech origin
• 1939 - Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
• 1939 - Thomas J. Moyer, American judge
• 1940 - Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, Nobel laureate
• 1940 - Mike Vickers, British guitarist and saxophonist (Manfred Mann)
• 1942 - Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racer and F1 (posthumous) world champion (d. 1970)
• 1942 - Steve Blass, American professional baseball player
• 1945 - Margaret Hassan, Irish-born aid worker (d. 2004)
• 1946 - Hayley Mills, English actress
• 1946 - Skip Spence, Canadian-born guitarist, singer and songwriter (Jefferson Airplane) (d. 1999)
• 1947 - Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
• 1947 - Dorothy Lyman, American actress
• 1947 - Herbert Mullin, American serial killer
• 1947 - Cindy Pickett, American actress
• 1947 - James Woods, American actor
• 1949 - Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
• 1950 - Kenny Ortega, American film and TV producer and choreographer
• 1951 - Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer
• 1951 - Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian politician
• 1953 - Rick Moranis, Canadian comedian
• 1956 - Anna Kathryn Holbrook, American actress
• 1956 - Eric Roberts, American actor
• 1956 - Melody Thomas Scott, American actress
• 1956 - Poonam Dhillon, Indian actress
• 1958 - Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian West Indies cricketer (d. 1999)
• 1961 - Jane Leeves, British actress
• 1961 - Steve Lombardi, American wrestler
• 1963 - Eric McCormack, Canadian actor
• 1963 - Conan O'Brien, American comedian
• 1964 - Niall Ferguson, British historian
• 1964 - Rithy Panh, Cambodian film director
• 1964 - Jim Ellison, musician
• 1964 - Mark Berry, aka Bez, Dancer in Happy Mondays
• 1965 - Rob Stenders, Dutch radio discjockey
• 1966 - Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete
• 1966 - Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
• 1967 - Maria Bello, American actress
• 1968 - Mary Birdsong, American actress
• 1968 - David Hewlett, English born Canadian actor
• 1969 - Princess Sayako of Japan
• 1969 - Keith R.A. DeCandido, American author
• 1970 - Greg Eklund, American musician
• 1970 - Rico Brogna, American baseball player
• 1971 - Tamara Braun, American actress
• 1971 - David Tennant, Scottish actor
• 1971 - Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1972 - Eli Roth, American film director
• 1973 - Derrick Brooks, American football player
• 1973 - Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian athlete
• 1973 - Brady Clark, American baseball player
• 1974 - Mark Tremonti, American musician
• 1974 - Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican singer
• 1974 - Edgar Wright, British director
• 1976 - Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
• 1976 - Fayray, Japanese singer
• 1976 - Justin Ross, American politician
• 1977 - Dan Lacouture, NHL hockey player
• 1979 - Michael Bradley, American basketball player
• 1979 - Anthony Davidson, British Formula One driver
• 1979 - Nuria Fergó, Spanish singer
• 1979 - Matthew Upson, English footballer
• 1980 - Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1981 - Brian Buscher, American baseball player
• 1982 - Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
• 1982 - Scott Hartnell, NHL hockey player
• 1983 - Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1983 - Fodil Hadjadj, Algerian footballer
• 1984 - America Ferrera, American actress
• 1985 - Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
• 1985 - Karl Reindler, Australian racing driver
• 1985 - Elena Temnikova, Russian singer (Serebro)
• 1986 - Maurice Edu, American soccer player
• 1986 - Billy Butler, American baseball player
• 1987 - Danny Guthrie, English footballer
• 1987 - Sandra Lyng Haugen, Norwegian singer
• 1989 - Alia Shawkat, American actress
• 1996 - Alexey Zhigalkovich, Belarusian Singer
• 2007 - Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan

Deaths

• 1161 - Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1552 - John Leland, English antiquarian (b. 1502)
• 1556 - Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (b. 1495)
• 1567 - Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
• 1558 - Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
• 1636 - Julius Caesar, English judge
• 1650 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian (b. 1602)
• 1674 - John Graunt, English statistician (b. 1620)
• 1689 - George Jeffreys, British Chief Justice (b. 1648)
• 1732 - Louis Feuillée, French explorer (b. 1660)
• 1794 - Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
• 1796 - Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (b. 1732)
• 1802 - Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
• 1873 - Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803)
• 1898 - Gustave Moreau, French painter (b. 1826)
• 1906 - Luis Martín, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
• 1917 - Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (b. 1858)
• 1935 - Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (b. 1884)
• 1936 - Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (b. 1879)
• 1942 - Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American socialite (b. 1875)
• 1943 - Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral. (b. 1884)
• 1945 - John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (b. 1849)
• 1945 - Ernie Pyle, American journalist (b. 1900)
• 1945 - Prince William of Wied, sovereign Prince of Albania (b.1876)
• 1947 - Josef Tiso, Slovakian leader (b. 1887), Nazi collaborator and puppet ruler.
• 1949 - Will Hay, English comedian and actor (b. 1888)
• 1951 - António Óscar Carmona, 97^th Prime Minister of Portugal and 11^th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
• 1955 - Albert Einstein, Nobel laureate (b. 1879)
• 1958 - Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872)
• 1963 - Meyer Jacobstein, American politician (b. 1880)
• 1964 - Ben Hecht, American writer (b. 1894)
• 1965 - Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican inventor (b. 1917)
• 1967 - Karl Miller, German footballer (b. 1913)
• 1974 - Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and filmmaker (b. 1895)
• 1976 - Mahmoud Younis, Suez Canal nationalization Engineer (b. 1911)
• 1988 - Pierre Desproges, French humorist (b. 1939)
• 1990 - Gory Guerrero, professional wrestler (b. 1921)
• 1992 - Benny Hill, British comedian (b. 1924)
• 1992 - Jason Relva, Friend of Mike Dirnt, former bassist for Pennywise, topic of song J.A.R. (b. 1978)
• 1993 - Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka (b. 1917)
• 1995 - Arturo Frondizi, President of Argentina (b. 1908)
• 1996 - Brook Berringer, American football player (b. 1973)
• 1996 - Bernard Edwards, American record producer (b. 1952)
• 1998 - Terry Sanford, American politician (b. 1917)
• 2002 - Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
• 2002 - Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and professional wrestler (b. 1938)
• 2003 - Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (b. 1923)
• 2004 - Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (b. 1920)
• 2005 - Sam Mills, American football player (b. 1959)
• 2007 - Iccho Itoh, mayor of Nagasaki (b. 1945)

Holidays and observances

• Iran - Army Day
• Zimbabwe – Independence Day.

In the Roman Catholic Church:

• Saint Apollonius (d. 185/6)
• Saint Galdino (d. 1176)
• Saint Perfecto (d. 850)
• Saint Laserian
• Saint Emma

External links

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