On this day in History - Apr 10

• 0401 - Theodosius II, the Younger, Eastern Roman emperor, was born.
• 0879 - Louis II, the Stutterer, King of France (877-79), died and Louis III was crowned King of France.
• 1389 - Cosimo de' Medici, was born (d. 1464). Ruler of Florence.
• 1512- Prince James Stewart, was born (d. 1542). Later King James V of Scotland
• 1583 - Hugo Grotius was born (d. 1645). Jurist.
• 1585 - Pope Gregory XIII dies (b. 1502).
• 1599 - Gabrielle d'Estrée, dies (b. 1571). Mistress of King Henry IV of France
• 1640 - Agostino Agazzari (61), Italian composer, died.
• 1755 - Samuel Hahnemann, was born (d. 1843). German physician, originator of homeopathy
• 1778 - William Hazlitt was born (d.1830). English writer.
• 1783 - Hortense de Beauharnais, was born (d. 1837). Queen of Holland as wife of Louis Bonaparte.
• 1790 - U.S. patent system was established. The Patent Board was made up of the Secretary of State, Secretary of War and the Attorney General and was responsible for granting patents on "useful and important" inventions. In the first three years, 47 patents were granted. Until 1888 miniature models of the device to be patented were required.
• 1794 - Matthew Perry, was born (d. 1858). American Commodore who forced the opening of Japan to the West.
• 1813 - Joseph-Louis Lagrange dies (b. 1736). Mathematician.
• 1814 - A Batalha de Toulouse foi vencida pelas forças inglesas comandadas pelo General Wellington .
• 1815 - Mount Tambora eruption covers several islands with ash in Indonesia.
• 1816 - The U.S. government approved the creation of a Second Bank of the United States.
• 1827 - Nasceu o escritor americano Lew Wallace.
• 1829 - William Booth, was born (d. 1912). Founder of the Salvation Army
• 1847 - Joseph Pulitzer, was born (d. 29 Oct 1911). Journalist and publisher (d. 29 Oct 1911). His will left $2 million for establishment of school of journalism at Columbia Univ. and a fund which established annual prizes for literature, drama, music and journalism.
• 1864 - Archduke Maximilian of Austria was crowned Emperor of Mexico.
• 1865 - American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
• 1867 - George William Russell, was born. Irish poet and mystic nationalist.
• 1868 - George Arliss, was born (d. 1946). Actor.
• 1870 - (O.S.) - Vladimir Lenin, was born (d. 1924). Premier of the Soviet Union .
• 1880 - Montague Summers, was born (d.1948). English writer on the theatre and the occult.
• 1882 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, dies (b. 1828). Poet, painter.
• 1887 - Bernardo Alberto Houssay was born (d. 21 Sep 1971). Argentine physiologist and corecipient, with Carl and Gerty Cori, of the 1947 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine
• 1894 - Shri Ghanshyam Das Birla, was born. Indian industrialist, Gandhian and educationist .
• 1906 - The Four Million, O. Henry's second short story collection, is published.
• 1909 - Algernon Charles Swinburne, dies (b. 1909). English poet.
• 1910 - Eddy Duchin, was born (d.1951). Musician.
• 1912 - The RMS Titanic leaves port in Southampton, England.
• 1913 - Stefan Heym, was born. Author.
• 1915 - Harry Morgan, was born. Emmy Award-winning actor: M*A*S*H [1979-80]; Dragnet, You Can’t Take It with You, Pete and Gladys, HEC Ramsey, December Bride, The D.A., Aftermash.
• 1916 - The Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City by 82 charter members.
• 1917 - Robert Burns Woodward was born (d. 08 Jul 1979). Chemist. Nobel Prize-winning scientist [1965]: study of the molecular structure of complex organic compounds.
• 1918 - Jørn Utzon, was born. Architect.
• 1919 - Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata (b. c 1877) is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
• 1919 - Emiliano Zapata, dies (b. 1879). Revolutionary.
• 1921 - Chuck Connors, was born (d. 1992). Actor, baseball player.
• 1927 - Marshall Warren Nirenberg, was born. American biochemist and corecipient, with Robert William Holley and Har Gobind Khorana, of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
• 1929 - Max von Sydow, was born. Actor (Dune, The Exorcist, The Seventh Seal, The Emigrants, Flash Gordon, Hannah and Her Sisters, Hawaii, The Quiller Memorandum, Quo Vadis, Three Days of the Condor) .
• 1930 - Claude Bolling, was born. French jazz pianist and flutist .
• 1930 - The first synthetic rubber was produced.
• 1931 - Khalil Gibran - dies (b. 1883). Lebanese poet and painter.
• 1932 - Omar Sharif, (Michael Shalhoub) was born. Actor (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, Funny Girl, Funny Lady, Peter the Great, Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, Beyond Justice, Crime & Passion) .
• 1933 - New Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps is created.
• 1934 - David Halberstam, was born. Writer.
• 1936 - John Madden, was born. American football coach, broadcaster.
• 1938 - Don Meredith, was born. American football quarterback, Monday Night Football broadcaster.
• 1938 - Édouard Daladier becomes Prime Minister of France .
• 1939 - Dr. I.Q., the Mental Banker debuts.
• 1939 - Alfredo Panzini, dies. Writer.
• 1940 - Mrs. Patrick Campbell, nee Beatrice Stella Tanner, dies (b. 1865). British actress .
• 1941- World War II: The Axis Powers in Europe establish the Independent State of Croatia from occupied Yugoslavia with Ante Pavelić's Ustase fascist insurgents in power.
• 1941- Paul Theroux, was born. Author .
• 1943 - Andrzej Badeński, was born. Polish athlete .
• 1944 - Henry Ford II is named executive vice president of Ford Motor Company.
• 1945 - A cidade alemã de Hanover foi tomada pelas tropas americanas .
• 1945 - Charles Nordhoff, dies. Writer .
• 1950 - Ken Griffey, Sr., was born. Major League Baseball player .
• 1950 - Eddie Hazel, was born. Guitarist (P-Funk, The Temptations) .
• 1951- Steven Seagal, was born. Actor ( Executive Decision, Under Siege series, On Deadly Ground, Out for Justice, Marked for Death, Hard to Kill, Above the Law) .
• 1953- The House of Wax opens at New York City's Paramount Theater (it was the first color feature in 3-D).
• 1954 - Auguste Lumière, dies (b. 1862). Cinema pioneer.
• 1954 - Peter MacNicol, was born. Actor .
• 1955 - Lesley Garrett, was born. British soprano .
• 1955 - Dr. Jonas Salk successfully tested the Polio vaccine.
• 1957 - The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
• 1958 - Yefim Bronfman, was born. Russian pianist .
• 1958 - Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, was born. Music producer, musician, film producer.
• 1959 - Nascimento de Gugu, apresentador de televisão e empresário brasileiro .
• 1959 - Akihito, future Emperor of Japan, weds Michiko (née Michiko Shoda), a commoner.
• 1960 - Brian Setzer, was born. Musician .
• 1960 - Katrina Leskanich, was born. Singer, DJ, lead vocalist of Katrina and the Waves .
• 1962 - Michael Curtiz, dies (b. 1886). Director.
• 1962 - Stuart Sutcliffe, original bass player for The Beatles (b. 1940) .
• 1962 - Steve Tasker, was born. American football player .
• 1963 - The submarine USS Thresher is lost at sea, with all hands (129 officers, crewmen and civilian technicians) .
• 1965 - Linda Darnell, actress (b. 1923) .
• 1965 - Tim 'Herb' Alexander, was born. Rockero (Primus).
• 1966 - Evelyn Waugh, writer (b. 1903) .
• 1967 - Bob Hope was the host at the 39th Annual Academy Awards at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Los Angeles. "Virginia Woolf" came loaded with 13 nominations, her opponent, "A Man for All Seasons", was the underdog with 8. At first it was blow for blow, "Virginia Woolf" winning Best Costume Design/Black-and-White (Irene Sharaff) and "Seasons" winning the award in the Color category (Joan Bridge and Elizabeth Haffenden); "Seasons" winning Best Cinematography/Color (Ted Moore) and "Virginia Woolf" winning in the Black-and-White division (Haskell Wexler). Then "Virgina Woolf" won for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Black-and-White (George James Hopkins, Richard Sylbert) while "Seasons" took the Oscar for Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Robert Bolt). They were tied. Best Supporting Actress: "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (Sandy Dennis), but Best Supporting Actor went to Walter Matthau in "The Fortune Cookie". "Virginia Woolf", ahead by one. The Best Music/Song Oscar went to "Born Free" (John Barry-music, Don Black-lyrics) from the movie of the same title. The fight was still on since neither "Seasons" nor "Virginia Woolf" was nominated in that category. It was time for the Academy Award for Best Actress. And the Oscar goes to Elizabeth Taylor for "Who’s Afraid of Virginnia Woolf". Would the drama about Thomas More garner a Best Actor Oscar for Paul Scofield? Yes! . Fred Zinnemann wins for "Seasons" the award for Best Director. The envelope holding the title of the Best Picture of 1966 revealed the overall winner as "A Man for All Seasons", Fred Zinnemann, producer.
• 1967 - Viriato Correia, jornalista e escritor membro da Academia Brasileira de Letras .
• 1968 - Gustavs Celmins, dies (b. 1899). Politician.
• 1968 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences postponed the 40th Annual Academy Awards ceremonies two days because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. Ironically, the Best Picture of 1967, "In the Heat of the Night" (Walter Mirisch, producer), and "Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner" (Best Actress: Katharine Hepburn) and Best Writing/Story and Screenplay/Written Directly for the Screen (William Rose), have racial themes. "Heat" won four more Oscars that evening: Best Actor (Rod Steiger); Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Stirling Silliphant); Best Sound (Samuel Goldwyn SSD); Best Film Editing (Hal Ashby). Bob Hope, as host, livened up the somber ceremonies as did awards for Best Supporting Actor George Kennedy ("Cool Hand Luke"), Best Supporting Actress Estelle Parsons ("Bonnie and Clyde"); Best Music/Song, "Talk to the Animals" from "Doctor Dolittle" (Leslie Bricusse). Mike Nichols who lost to "The Man for All Seasons" the previous year, won this time, as Best Director for "The Graduate".
• 1968 - Dozens die in NZ ferry disasterFifty-one people die when a ferry capsizes in Wellington harbour, New Zealand, during one of the worst storms ever to hit the country.
• 1969 - Harley J. Earl, dies. Automobile designer, father of the Chevrolet Corvette .
• 1970 - Paul McCartney announces that The Beatles have broken up.
• 1970 - Vietnam War: 48 percent of the Americans polled in a Gallup Poll approve of U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's Vietnam policy, while 41 percent disapprove.
• 1971 - Cold War: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, the People's Republic of China host the U.S. table tennis team for a weeklong visit.
• 1972 - 20 days after he was kidnapped in Buenos Aires,Oberdan Sallustro is executed by communist guerrillas.
• 1972 - Earthquake kills thousands in Iran. At least 4,000 people die in a massive earthquake in southern Iran which flattens entire towns and villages.
• 1972 - Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967 American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
• 1972 - Once again, the 44th Annual Academy Awards celebration was held at Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The hosts of the evening’s festivities were Helen Hayes, Alan King, Sammy Davis Jr., and Jack Lemmon. The nominees for the Best Picture were: "A Clockwork Orange", "Fiddler on the Roof", "The Last Picture Show", "Nicholas and Alexandra" and "The French Connection". And the Oscar goes to ... "The French Connection", Philip D’Antoni, producer. The Oscar also went to "The French Connection" for Best Director (William Friedkin); Best Actor (Gene Hackman); Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium (Ernest Tidyman); and Best Film Editing (Gerald B. Greenberg). All of the other Best Picture nominees (except "A Clockwork Orange") also received Oscars: "The Last Picture Show" won for both supporting actor and actress (Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman respectively); "Fiddler on the Roof" won for Best Cinematography (Oswald Morris), Best Sound (Gordon K. McCallum, David Hildyard) and Best Music/Scoring Adaptation/Original Song Score (John Williams); "Nicholas and Alexandra" won the awards for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (John Box, Ernest Archer, Jack Maxsted, Gil Parrondo, Vernon Dixon) and Best Costume Design (Yvonne Blake, Antonio Castillo). "Klute" won one out of its two nominations: Best Actress (Jane Fonda) and "Shaft" won its only nomination: Best Music/Song (Isaac Hayes, "Theme from Shaft".
• 1973 - A British Vanguard turboprop crashes during a snowstorm at Basel, Switzerland killing 104.
• 1974 - Golda Meir announced her resignation as prime minister of Israel. Yitzhak Rabin replaced Golda Meir.
• 1975 - Chris Carrabba, was born. Crockero (Dashboard Confessional).
• 1975 - Josephine Baker, dies (b.1906). Dancer.
• 1975 - Marjorie Main, dies (b. 1890). Actress.
• 1979 - Nino Rota, dies (b. 1911). Composer.
• 1979 - Rachel Corrie, was born (d. 2003). American activist, member of the International Solidarity Movement.
• 1979 - Tsuyoshi Domoto, was born. Artist.
• 1979 - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, was born. Singer.
• 1979 - On the day known to meteorologists as "terrible Tuesday", a tornado hits in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people. (see Wichita Falls, Texas Tornado).
• 1980 - Charlie Hunnam, was born. Actor .
• 1981 - Hunger striker elected MPImprisoned IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands has been elected to Westminster as the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
• 1983 - Ryan Merriman,was born. Actor .
• 1984 - Mandy Moore, ( Amanda Leigh Moore) was born in Nashua, New Hampshire - USA. Pop singer and actress.
• 1985 - Morre Cora Coralina, poetisa e contista brasileira.
• 1987 - Hayley Westenra, was born. Singer .
• 1988 - Haley Joel Osment, was born. Actor .
• 1988 - The comic strip Fox Trot débuts.
• 1993 - Chris Hani, dies. Activist.
• 1994 - Sam B. Hall, dies (b. 1924). American politician.
• 1998 - The anti-impotence drug Viagra appeared on the market and became one of the best-selling new medications of all time.
• 1998 - The Belfast Agreement is signed. The Northern Ireland peace talks have ended with an historic agreement called the Good Friday Agreement.
• 1999 - Heinz Fraenkel-Conrat, dies (b. 1910). Biochemist .
• 2000: Damages for sacked HIV manager A shop manager who was sacked for being HIV positive is to receive thousands of pounds in compensation.
• 2000 - Peter Jones, dies (b. 1920). Comedian and scriptwriter.
• 2000 - Larry Linville, dies. Actor .
• 2001 - Willie Stargell, dies (b. 1940). Baseball player, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame .
• 2003 - Little Eva, dies (1943). Singer.