History Blog

April 28

Happy Birthday RIP James Monroe(1758–1831) Nelle Harper Lee(1926–2016) Carolyn Jones(1930–1983) Lionel Barrymore(1878–1954) ; Ann-Margret Olsson–83 James “Jay” Leno–74 Mary McDonnell–72 Jorge Garcia–51 Penélope Cruz Sánchez–50 Jessica Alba–43 ; 1932 – A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans

April 27

Happy Birthday RIP Hiram Ulysses Grant(1822–1885) Walter Lantz(1899–1994) Coretta Scott King(1927–2006) Jacob “Jack” Klugman(1922–2012) Robert Donner(Morris 1931–2006) Kemal “Casey” Kasem(1932–2014) ; Katherine “Kate” Pierson–76 Eric Schmidt–69 Kevin McNally–68 Sheena Easton(Orr)–65 Cory Booker–55 Sally Hawkins–48 William Mosley–37 James Duke Mason–32 ; 1981 – Xerox PARC introduces the computer mouse.

April 26

Happy Birthday Carol Burnett–91 Jet Li Lian Jie( 李連杰)–61 Kevin “James” Knipfing–59 Thomas “Tom” Welling–47 Channing Tatum–44 ; 1986 – A nuclear reactor accident occurs at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union (now Ukraine), creating the world’s worst nuclear disaster. An explosion and fire in the No. 4 reactor sent radioactivity into the atmosphere; at least 31 people died immediately

April 25

Happy Birthday RIP Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996) George “Meadowlark” Lemon III(1932–2015) ; Alzenia Lynn Hamilton–94 Alfredo “Al” Pacino–84 Henry “Hank” Azaria–60 Andrew “Andy” Bell–60 Renée Zellweger–55 Jason Wiles–54 ; 1901 New York State becomes the first state to require automobile license plates ; 1954 – The first practical solar cell is publicly demonstrated by Bell Labs ; 1972 – Polaroid Corp. introduced its SX-70 folding camera, which ejected self-developing photographs, the first of it’s kind.

April 24

Happy Birthday RIP Harry “Michael” Parks(1940–2017) ; Shirley Beaty MacLean–90 Barbra Joan Streisand–82 Richard M. Daley–82 Jean-Paul Gaultier–72 Djimon Hounsou–60 Aidan Gillen(Murphy)–56 Rory McCann–55 Eric Balfour–47 Kelly Clarkson–42 ; 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”

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