On this day in History - Apr 23

• 0303 BC- Saint George is put to death because of his strong faith in Christianity.
• 0215 BC - A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasum.
• 0303 - Saint George, dies. Soldier of the Roman Empire and Christian martyr .
• 0725 - Wihtred, king of Kent dies.
• 0871 - Ethelred of Wessex dies.
• 1014 - Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru (b. 0940), High King of Ireland defeats Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
• 1016 - Ethelred II of England dies.
• 1124 - King Alexander I of Scotland dies (b.1078).
• 1185 - King Afonso II of Portugal was born (d. 1233) .
• 1336 - Nasce Olivier de Clisson, Condestável de França .
• 1348 - The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III of England is announced on St George's Day.
• 1445 - Henrique VI de Inglaterra casa com Margarida de Anjou .
• 1501 - Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral and 6 ships return to Lisbon one year after landed Brazil .
• 1516 - Georg Fabricius, was born (d. 1571). German poet, historian and archaeologist .
• 1521 - Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeats the Comuneros.
• 1533 - The Church of England annuls the marriage between Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII of England.
• 1563 - Se coloca la primera piedra del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial. Construido en la sierra cercana a Madrid, el monasterio se convirtió en residencia real y símbolo y centro del poder de su promotor, Felipe II.
• 1564 - William Shakespeare, English playwright, actor - traditional birth date, Actual date unknown (d. 1616) .
• 1597 - Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
• 1598 - Maarten Tromp,was born (d. 1653). Admiral in the Dutch navy .
• 1616 - (Julian calendar) - William Shakespeare, dies. English playwright and actor (b. 1564) .
• 1616 - Miguel Cervantes, dies (b. 1547). Spanish author.
• 1616 - Garcilaso de la Vega. the "Inca,"[ Gomez Suarez de Figueroa ] dies (b. 12 Apr 1539). Peruvian writer and historiator.
• 1643 - Muere Luis XIII de Francia.
• 1660 - Treaty of Oliva between Sweden and Poland.
• 1661- King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
• 1676 - King Frederick I of Sweden was born (d. 1751) .
• 1697 - Nasceu o navegador inglês George Anson .
• 1720 - The Vilna Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna, was born (d. 1797).
• 1728 - Nasceu o descobridor do Tahiti, Samuel Wallis .
• 1775 - J.M.William Turner was born (d. 1851). English painter .
• 1791 - James Buchanan, was born (d. 1868). 15th President of the United States) .
• 1792 - John Thomas Romney Robinson,was born (d. 1882) . Irish astronomer and physicist .
• 1792 - Karl Friedrich Bahrdt dies (born 1741). German theologian and adventurer
• 1812 - Franz Sebastian Haindl, composer, dies at 85
• 1813 - Stephen A. Douglas, was born (d. 1861). Senator from Illinois, candidate for President of the United States
• 1823 - Abd-ul-Mejid, was born (d. 1861).Ottoman sultan
• 1827 - William Rowan Hamilton presents his Theory of systems of rays.
• 1850 - William Wordsworth, dies (b. 1770). English poet.
• 1858 - Max (Karl Ernst Ludwig) Planck was born (d. 1947). German Physicis, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics- 1918
• 1861 - Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby,was born (d. 1936). British general.
• 1867 - Johannes Fibiger, Danish physician Nobel Prize in Medicine - 1926.
• 1867 - William Lincoln patents the zoetrope, a machine which shows animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel.
• 1876 - April Uprising in Perushtitsa, Bulgaria
• 1881 - Nasceu o pioneiro da aviação portuguesa, Sacadura Cabral, co-responsável pela travessia aérea do Atlântico Sul
• 1882 - Albert Coates, was born (d. 1953). British composer.
• 1889 - Karel Doorman, was born. Dutch admiral .
• 1891 - Sergei Prokofiev, was born in Ukraine (d. 1953). Soviet composer ( Peter and the Wolf ).
• 1893 - Allen Dulles, was born (d. 1969). CIA director .
• 1893 - Frank Borzage, was born (d. 1952). Director .
• 1896 - Nace el payaso Charlie Rivel.
• 1897 - Lester B. Pearson, was born (d. 1972). Fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada.
• 1897 - Nascimento de Pixinguinha (Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho), grande compositor da MPB, no Rio de Janeiro-RJ.
• 1899 - Dame Ngaio Marsh, was born (d. 1982). Author .
• 1899 - Vladimir Nabokov, was born born in St. Petersburg. Russia, novelist (Lolita, Ada )
• 1901 - E.B. Ford British was born (d. 1988). Ecological geneticist.
• 1902 - Halldór Laxness, was born (d. 1998). Author
• 1906 - Promulgação da primeira constituição russa, aprovada após a derrota na Guerra Russo Japonesa e a subsequente Revolução.
• 1916 - Bud Wilkinson, was born American football coach.
• 1918 - Maurice Druon was born. French novelist and member of Académie française. He is the nephew of the writer Joseph Kessel, with whom he wrote Chant des Partisans, which, with music composed by Anna Marly , was used by the French Resistance during the Second World War.
• 1920 - The national council in Turkey denounces the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces a temporary constitution.
• 1921 - Warren Spahn, was born (d. 2003). Baseball Hall of Famer
• 1923 - Ceremonial inauguration of Gdynia Seaport.
• 1923 - Dolph Briscoe, waas born. Former governor of Texas
• 1923 - Avram Davidson, was born (d. 1993).Science fiction writer .
• 1923 - Manuel Mejia Vallejo was born in Jericó. Colombian writer, novelist.
• 1925 - Se publica la primera edición del "Quijote" en sistema Braille.
• 1926 - Ruth Leuwerik, was born. Aactress .
• 1926 - James Donleavey, was born. Irish novelist
• 1928 - Shirley Temple (Shirley Temple Black), was born. American actress and politician .
• 1932 - Halston, was born (d. 1990). Fashion designer .
• 1932 - Windmill De Adriaan burns down in Haarlem, the Netherlands
• 1934 - An FBI raid in northern Wisconsin goes wrong when George Nelson, aka "Baby Face", kills Special Agent H. Carter Baum.
• 1935 - Polish Constitution of 1935 is passed.
• 1935 - Bunky Green, was born. Jazz musician
• 1936 - Roy Orbison, was born (d. 1988). American singer and musician
• 1936 - O governo de Salazar cria a Colónia Penal do Tarrafal na ilha de Santiago, no arquipélago de Cabo Verde, influenciado pelos exemplos soviéticos e nazis.
• 1939 - Lee Majors, was born . Actor
• 1940 - Dietrich Schwanitz, was born. German author
• 1940 - A fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi kills 198 people.
• 1941 - Paavo Lipponen, was born. Prime Minister of Finland
• 1941 - Jacqueline Boyer, was born. French singer, Eurovision Song Contest winner.
• 1942 - Sandra Dee, was born. Actress .
• 1942 - Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, President of Argentina (1922-28), dies at 73.
• 1942 - World War II: Baedeker Raids - German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
• 1947 - Christer Pettersson, was born (d. 2004). Suspected assassin of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme .
• 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, is captured from Palestinian forces.
• 1949 - Joyce DeWitt, was born. Actress .
• 1951 - Charles G. Dawes, dies (b. 1865).. Vice President of the United States for Calvin Coolidge
• 1953 - James Russo, born in New York City, acto ( My Own Private Idaho, China Girl ) .
• 1954 - Michael Moore, was born. Filmmaker .
• 1954 - Hank Aaron hits his first major league home run.
• 1955 - Judy Davis, was born. Actress
• 1955 - Tony Miles, was born (d. 2001).Chess player .
• 1956 - Elvis Presley makes his first appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 1960 - Steve Clark, was born. Def Leppard guitarist
• 1960 - Valerie Bertinelli, was born. Actress
• 1961 - George Lopez, was born. Actor, comedian
• 1962 - Stirling Moss, auto racer, killed while racing at 32
• 1967 - Soyuz 1 is launched into orbit, carrying a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Komarov, who is killed when the spacecraft crashes after returning to earth.
• 1968 - The United Kingdom produces its first decimalised coins, a 5p and a 10p coin.
• 1968 - Timothy McVeigh, was born in Nebraska (d.2001). American terrorist .
• 1968 - Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University in New York City take over administration buildings and shut down the university.
• 1968 - A África do Sul é excluída dos Jogos Olímpicos do México .
• 1971 - The Rolling Stones release the classic album Sticky Fingers .
• 1974 - A Pan American World Airways Boeing 707 crashes in Bali, Indonesia killing 107.
• 1974 – Portugal - Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho entrega as instruções para as acções a desencadear na noite de 24 para 25 .
• 1975 - Vietnam War: At Tulane University, U.S. President Gerald Ford states that the war is over as far as the United States is concerned.
• 1975 - William Hartnell, dies (b. 1908). Actor .
• 1976 - O Governo indonésio declara que Timor será integrado na Indonésia
• 1979 - Fighting in London between the Anti-Nazi League and the Metropolitan Police's Special Patrol group results in the death of protestor Blair Peach.
• 1979 - Blair Peach, anti-fascism campaigner dies (b. 1946) .
• 1980 - Muere el escritor Alejo Carpentier.
• 1981 - Muere el escritor Josep Pla.
• 1982 - The Conch Republic declares independence.
• 1983 - In Munich, Germany, Corinne Hermès wins the twenty-eighth Eurovision Song Contest for Luxembourg singing "Si la vie est cadeau" (If life is a gift).
• 1983 - Buster Crabbe, dies. Olympics swimming gold medalist, actor .
• 1984 - The United States announce the discovery of the AIDS virus.
• 1985 - New Coke, a marketing disaster is introduced.
• 1986 - Otto Preminger, dies (b. 1906). Film director (Advise and Consent, Anatomy of Murder)
• 1986 - Jim Laker,dies (b. 19212). Cricketer .
• 1988 - Arthur Michael, Lord Ramsey/archbishop of Canterbury, dies
• 1990 - Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the British Commonwealth.
• 1990 - Paulette Goddard, actress, dies in Switzerland at 78 .
• 1992 - Satyajit Ray, dies (b. 1921). Indian filmmaker .
• 1993 - César Chávez, dies (b. 1927). Labor activist .
• 1993 - Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
• 1993 - Peter Townshend's musical "Tommy," premieres in New York City.
• 1994 - Physicists discover the top quark subatomic particle.
• 1995 - Howard Cosell, dies (b. 1918). Sports journalist
• 1996 - Pamela L. Travers, dies (b. 1899). Author .
• 1996 - El novelista español y Premio Nobel de Literatura Camilo José Cela recibe el Premio Cervantes.
• 1997 - 32nd Academy of Country Music Awards: LeAnn Rines and Brooks and Dunn
• 1997 - Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
• 1997 - Denis Compton, dies (b. 1918) English cricketer.
• 1998 - James Earl Ray, dies (b. 1928) .Assassin
• 1998 - El escritor cubano Guillermo Cabrera Infante recibe el Premio Cervantes.
• 2001 - Intel introduces the Pentium 4 Processor.
• 2003 - Beijing closes all schools for two weeks due to the SARS virus.
• 2003 - James H. Critchfield, CIA Cold Warrior .
• 2003 - Bernard Katz, (b. 26 Mar 1911) biophysicist, Nobel Prize in 1970 for his work on the synapse .
• 2004 - Gonzalo Rojas, poeta chileno, recibe el Premio Cervantes 2003.
• Dia de São Jorge: Brasil: feriado local na cidade do Rio de Janeiro
• National Day of England
• St. Jordi's Day in Catalonia, presents of books and roses.
• Turkey - National Sovereignty and Children's Day (1920)
• Israel - Yom Ha'atzma'ut (Israeli Independence Day) for 2007: (the observed date of this national holiday is determined by the Jewish Calendar).
• Jurgi festival, in ancient Latvia .
• Independence Day for the Conch Republic .
• Dia Mundial do Livro e do Direito de Autor (UNESCO)