History Blog

April 23

Happy Birthday RIP William Shakespeare(1564–1616) Roy Orbison(1936–1988) Hervé Villechaize(1943–1993) Shirley Temple Black(1928–2014) “Sandra Dee”(Alexandra Zuck 1942–2005) ; Alan Oppenheimer–94 Harvey Lee Yeary(“Lee Majors”)–85 Joyce DeWitt–75 Michael Moore–70 Valerie Bertinelli–64 George Lopez–63 John Hannah–62 Daniel “DB” Weiss–53 John Cena–47 John Oliver–47 Jacob Taio Cruz(Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere)–44 Dev Patel–34 ; 1635 – The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts ; 2005 – First YouTube video uploaded, titled “Me at the zoo” by co-founder Jawed Karim

April 22

Happy Birthday RIP Jason Miller(1939–2001) Edward “Eddie” Albert Heimberger(1906–2005) Aaron Spelling(1923–2006) Betty “Bettie” Page(1923–2008) Glen Campbell(1936–2017) Charlotte Rae Lubotsky(1926–2018) ; John “Jack” Nicholson–87 John Waters Jr–78 Peter Frampton–74 Catherine Mary Stewart(Nursall)–65 Ryan Stiles–65 Byron Allen Folks–63 Jeffrey Dean Morgan–58 ; 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that mandates that the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency ; 1993 – Version 1.0 of the Mosaic web browser is released by NCSA University of Illinois at Urbana (first web browser) ; 1970 the first Earth day is established. To learn more visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day

April 21

Happy Birthday RIP Charles Grodinsky!1935–2021) HRH Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor(1926–2022) ; James Osterberg(“Iggy Pop”)–77 Patti LuPone–75 Anthony Iadanza(“Tony Danza”)–73 Rosalie “Andie” MacDowell–66 Robert Smith–65 John Cameron Mitchell–61 Nicole Sullivan–54 James McAvoy–45 Dylan Bruce–44 ; 1989 – Tiananmen Square Protests: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang

April 20

Happy Birthday RIP Luther Vandross Jr(1951–2005) Charles “Ryan” O’Neal III 1941–2023) ; Hosato “George” Takei(武井 穂郷)–87 Jessica Lange–75 Crispin Glover–60 Andrew Serkis–60 “Carmen Electra”(Tara Patrick)–52 Joseph “Joey” Lawrence Mignogna Jr–48 ; 1916 – The Chicago Cubs play their first game at Weeghman Park (renamed Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7–6 in 11 innings ;  1999 – The Columbine High Schooln massacre. Senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 12 students and one teacher. Ten students were killed in the school library, where the pair subsequently committed suicide. Twenty-one additional people were injured by gunshots, and gunfire was also exchanged with the police. Another three people were injured trying to escape the carnage. At the time, it was the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

April 19

Happy Birthday RIP Vera Palmer(“Jayne Mansfield” 1933–1967) Richard Cox(“Dick Sargent” 1930–1994) Dudley Moore(1935–2002) Hugh O’Brian(Krampe 1925–2016) ; Timothy Curry–78 Anne Paloma Ruiz-Picasso y Gilot–75 Ashley Ciminella(“Judd”)–56 James Franco–46 Kate Hudson–45 Hayden Christensen–43 ; 1927 – Mae West is sentenced to ten days in jail for obscenity for her play “Sex” ; 1971 – Charles Manson is sentenced to death (later it is commuted to life imprisonment) for conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders

April 18

Happy Birthday RIP Clarence Darrow(1857–1938) Robert “Bob” Hastings(1925–2014) Barbara Hale(1922–2017) ; Hayley Mills–78 James Woods–77 Frederick “Rick” Moranis–71 Eric Roberts–68 Jane Leeves–63 Eric McCormack–61 Conan O’Brien–61 David Tennant(McDonald)–53 Eli Roth–52 Sean Maguire–48 Melissa Joan Hart–48 Aliah Shawkat–35 Brittany Robertson–34 ; 1923 – Yankee Stadium, “The House that Ruth Built”, opens ; 1924 – Simon & Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book

April 17

Happy Birthday RIP William Holden(Beedle Jr 1918–1981) Donald Kirshner(1934–2011) John Pierpont Morgan(1837–1913) ; Michael Sembello–70 Shaun Bean–65 William Mapother–59 Elizabeth “Liz” Phair–57 Jennifer Garner-Affleck–52 Victoria Adams-Beckham–50 Ken Duken–45 ; 1937 – Daffy Duck’s first appearance, in Porky’s Duck Hunt ; 1969 – Sirhan Sirhan is convicted of assassinating Robert F. Kennedy

April 16

Happy Birthday RIP Sir Charles Chaplin (1889–1977) Enrico “Henry” Mancini(1924–1994) ; Stanley “Bobby” Vinton Jr–89 “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar”(Ferdinand Alcindor Jr)–77 Ellen Barkin–70 Jonathan Cryer–60 Martin Lawrence–59 Peter Billingsley-Michaelsen–53 Lukas Haas–48 ; 1962 – Walter Cronkite takes over as the lead news anchor of the CBS Evening News, during which at that time he would become “the most trusted man in America”

April 15

Happy Birthday RIP Elizabeth Montgomery(1933–1995) Roy Clark(1933–2018) ; Linda Bloodworth-Thomason–77 Ponce Kiah Marchelle Heloise “Heloise” Cruse Evans–73 Emma Thompson–65 Samantha Fox–58 Seth Rogen–42 Emma Watson–34 Margaret “Maisie” Williams–27 ; 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 220am Eastern Time about two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg at 1140pm. Charles Lightoller claimed that the helmsman Robert Hitchens initially panicked and turned the rudder the wrong way and that subsequently Bruce Ismay ordered the boat to continue “Slow Ahead” in the belief that Titanic was unsinkable but this was kept secret for insurance reasons. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew survived. the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia arrived on the scene, and took on board the aforementioned survivors.

April 14

Happy Birthday RIP Arthur John Gielgud(1904–2000) Rodney Steiger(1925–2002) Johanna “Anne” Sullivan Macy(1866–1936) Loretta “Lynn” Webb(1932–2022) ; Julie Christie–84 Peter Rose–83 John Shea–75 Brad “Garrett”(Gerstenfeld)–64 Robert Carlyle–63 Anthony Michael Hall–56 Adrien Brody–51 Sarah Michelle Gellar–47 Claire Coffee–44 ; 1828 – Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary ; 1865 – President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day.