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 dies. King of Kent
• 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 and his son claimed the throne as Edmund II.
• 1124 - King Alexander I of Scotland dies (b.1078).
• 1185 - King Afonso II of Portugal was born (d. 1233) .
• 1348 - The founding of the Order of the Garter by King Edward III of England is announced on St George's Day.
• 1407 - Olivier de Clisson dies (b. 1326). French soldier, Connétable de France
• 1445 - Henrique VI de Inglaterra casa com Margarida de Anjou .
• 1484 - Julius Caesar Scaliger was born (d. 1558). Italian philosopher.
• 1500 - Alexander Ales was born (d. 1565). Scottish theologian.
• 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 was born (d. 1616). English playwright and actor.
• 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 - William Shakespeare dies on his birthday in Stratford-upon-Avon (b. 1564). English playwright and actor often considered the greatest playwright in history.
• 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.
• 1625 - Maurice of Nassau dies (b. 1567). Prince of Orange.
• 1628 - Johann van Waveren Hudde was born (d. 1704). Dutch mathematician.
• 1643 - Luis XIII dies. King of France.
• 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 - George Anson was born. English navigator.
• 1702 - Margaret Fell dies (b. 1614). English Quaker leader.
• 1720 - Vilna Gaon was born (d. 1797). Lithuanian rabbi
• 1725 - Saint Gerard Majella was born (d. 1755). Catholic saint.
• 1728 - Samuel Wallis was born. Discover of Tahiti.
• 1740 - Thomas Tickell dies (b. 1685). English writer.
• 1775 - J. M. William Turner was born (d. 1851). English painter.
• 1781 - James Abercrombie dies (b. 1706). British general.
• 1789 - U.S. president George Washington and his wife, Martha, move into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House in New York; the White House is built ten years later.
• 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
• 1794 - Edward Everett was born. American statesman, educator and orator.
• 1794 - Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes dies executed (b. 1721). French statesman.
• 1805 - Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz was born (d. 1879). German philosopher.
• 1812 - Franz Sebastian Haindl dies at 85. Composer.
• 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 was born. 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
• 1876 - Arthur Moeller van den Bruck was born (d. 1925). German historian.
• 1880 - Michel Fokine was born (d. 1942). Russian choreographer and dancer
• 1881 - Sacadura Cabral was born Portuguese aviation pioneer (d. 11 Nov 1924). / Nasceu, em Celorico da Beira, 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.
• 1889 - Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly dies (b. 1808). French writer.
• 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 .
• 1893 - Jorge Mateus de Lima was born (d. 15 Nov 1953). Brazilian writer, poet and politician ("Essa Negra Fulô" - 1928; "Invenção de Orfeu" -1952).
• 1895 - Ngaio Marsh was born (d. 1982). New Zealand writer.
• 1895 - Carl Ludwig dies (b. 1815). German physician.
• 1896 - Charlie Rivel was born (d. 26 Jul 1983). Spanish clown.
• 1986 - Opening of the first movie theater, which took place in New York City.
• 1897 - Lester B. Pearson was born (d. 1972). Fourteenth Prime Minister of Canada recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• 1897 - Nascimento de Pixinguinha (Alfredo da Rocha Vianna Filho), grande compositor da MPB, no Rio de Janeiro-RJ (d. 17 Feb 1973).
• 1897 - Lucius Clay was born (d. 1978). American general.
• 1899 - Dame Ngaio Marsh was born (d. 1982). Author .
• 1899 - Vladimir Nabokov was born born in St. Petersburg. Russian novelist (Lolita, Ada )
• 1899 - Bertil Ohlin was born (d. 1979). Swedish economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner.
• 1900 - Joseph Green was born (d. 1996). Polish-born actor and director.
• 1901 - E.B. Ford British was born (d. 1988). Ecological geneticist.
• 1902 - Halldór Laxness was born (d. 1998). Icelandic writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1904 - Duncan Renaldo was born (d. 1985). Spanish-American actor.
• 1906 - Russian Tsar Nicholas II promulgated the Fundamental Laws, which marked the end of unlimited autocracy but fell short of the reforms promised in the October Manifesto./ Promulgação da primeira constituição russa, aprovada após a derrota na Guerra Russo Japonesa e a subsequente Revolução.
• 1907 - Baltazar Lopes (hiperlink is a pdf extension file) was born. Cape Vert writer.
• 1907 - Fritz Wotruba was born (d. 1975). Austrian sculptor.
• 1910 - Simone Simon was born (d. 2005). French actress.
• 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 was born. Governor of Texas
• 1923 - Avram Davidson was born (d. 1993). American 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
• 1927 - Benitez (Jorge Duílio Benítez Cândia) was born. Paraguayan footballer
• 1928 - Shirley Temple (Shirley Temple Black) was born. American actress and politician .
• 1929 - Antonio da Silva Prado dies (b. 1840). Brazilian industrialist, politician abolicionist.
• 1932 - The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem, the Netherlands burns down.
• 1932 - Halston was born (d. 1990). American fashion designer.
• 1932 - Jim Fixx was born (d. 1984). American athlete and writer.
• 1932 - Estelle Harris was born. American actress.
• 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. American jazz musician
• 1935 - Ray Peterson was born (d. 2005). American singer
• 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.
• 1936 - Teresa de la Parra dies (b. 1889). Venezuelan writer.
• 1939 - Lee Majors was born. American 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 (d. 20 Feb 2005). American actress (Gidget -1959).
• 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.
• 1943 - Tony Esposito was born. Canadian hockey player
• 1943 - Frans Koppelaar was born. Dutch painter.
• 1943 - Hervé Villechaize was born (d. 1993). French actor.
• 1947 - Christer Pettersson was born (d. 2004). Suspected assassin of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme .
• 1947 - Bernadette Devlin wasd born. Irish politician.
• 1948 - Pascal Quignard was born. French author
• 1948 - 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa, the major port of Israel, is captured from Palestinian forces.
• 1949 - Joyce DeWitt was born. American 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 - Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hits the first of his record 755 career home runs.
• 1954 - Michael Moore was born. American filmmaker
• 1955 - Judy Davis was born. Australian actress
• 1955 - Tony Miles was born (d. 2001). English chess player .
• 1956 - Elvis Presley makes his first appearance in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• 1958 - Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson was born. Music composer, art director and allsherjargoði (chief goði) of the Íslenska Ásatrúarfélagið (Icelandic Ásatrú Association)
• 1958 - Tove Jensen was born. Swedish porn actress
• 1958 - Ryan Walter was born. Canadian ice hockey player
• 1960 - Steve Clark was born. Def Leppard guitarist
• 1960 - Valerie Bertinelli was born. American actress
• 1961 - George Lopez was born. American actor, comedian
• 1962 - Stirling Moss, auto racer, killed while racing at 32
• 1967 - A group of young radicals are expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party (PSN). This group goes on to found the Socialist Workers Party (POS).
• 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.
• 1967 - Melina Kanakaredes was born. American actress.
• 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.
• 1969 - Sirhan Sirhan is sentenced to death for the 1968 assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy; the sentence is later reduced to life in prison.
• 1971 - The Rolling Stones release the classic album Sticky Fingers .
• 1972 - Patricia Manterola was born. Mexican singer.
• 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 .
• 1974 - Carlos Dengler was born. American musician, Interpol
• 1975 - Jón Þór Birgisson was born. Icelandic musician and singer
• 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
• 1977 - John Cena was born. American professional wrestler and rapper
• 1977 - Andruw Jones was born. American baseball player
• 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 - Jaime King was born. American actress.
• 1979 - Lauri Ylönen was born. Finnish singer.
• 1979 - Blair Peach dies (b. 1946). New Zealand-born anti-fascism campaigner.
• 1980 - Alejo Carpentier dies. Writer.
• 1981 - Stefano Bontade, Mafia boss in Sicily, is murdered in Palermo, the opening shot in a Mob War orchestrated by Salvatore Riina.
• 1981 - Um incêndio na Cinemateca Portuguesa, em Lisboa, destrói a sala de projecções e vários filmes.
• 1981 - Josep Pla dies. Writer
• 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 - Daniela Hantuchová was born. Slovakian tennis player
• 1983 - Buster Crabbe dies. Olympics swimming gold medalist, actor .
• 1984 - The United States announce the discovery of the AIDS virus.
• 1985 - New Coke: The Coca-Cola Company announces that it will change its classic formula for Coke; negative public reaction provokes a return to the old formula.
• 1986 - Sven Kramer was born. Dutch speedskater and olympic medal winner
• 1986 - Otto Preminger dies (b. 1906). Film director (Advise and Consent, Anatomy of Murder)
• 1986 - Jim Laker dies (b. 19212). Cricketer .
• 1988 - Arthur Michael dies. Lord Ramsey and archbishop of Canterbury
• 1989 - Nicole Vaidišová was born. Czech tennis player.
• 1990 - Namibia becomes the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the British Commonwealth.
• 1990 - Paulette Goddard dies in Switzerland at 78. Actress
• 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 - Association of Autonomous Astronauts founded.
• 1995 - Portugal: Em Setúbal, é inaugurada a fábrica de automóveis Autoeuropa, um dos maiores investimentos estrangeiros em Portugal
• 1995 - João Botelho da Silva dies. Portuguese writer and journalist.
• 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 in prison in Nashville, Tennessee (b. 1928). Martin Luther King's 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 dies (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.
• 2005 - John Mills dies (b. 22 Feb 1908). English actor, Academy award for Best supporting actor in Ryan's Daughter (1971);
• 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)