April 12
April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). There are 263 days remaining. Sugar Ray Robinson was born on this day in 1921.
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Events
- 467 - Anthemius is elevated to Emperor of the Western Roman Empire
- 1606 - The Union Flag is adopted as the national flag of Great Britain.
- 1633 - The formal interrogation by the Inquisition of Galileo Galilei begins.
- 1861 - American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina
- 1864 - American Civil War: Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces under General Nathan Bedford Forrest kill most of the African American soldiers who had surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee
- 1865 - American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama falls to the Union Army
- 1877 - The United Kingdom annexes the Transvaal.
- 1926 - By a vote of 45 to 41, the United States Senate unseats Iowa Senator Smith W. Brookhart and seats Daniel F. Steck, after Brookhart had already served for over one year.
- 1937 - Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at the British Thomson-Houston factory in Rugby, England
- 1945 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies and Harry S. Truman is inaugurated as the 33rd President of the United States.
- 1946 - Syria gains independence from France
- 1954 - Bill Haley and His Comets record "Rock Around the Clock" in New York City. Initially unsuccessful, the recording would help launch the Rock and Roll revolution a year later.
- 1955 - The polio vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk is declared safe and effective.
- 1961 - Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to fly in space.
- 1968 - Nerve gas accident at Skull Valley, Utah
- 1975 - Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh, Cambodia
- 1980 - Terry Fox began his trans-Canada marathon to raise money for cancer research (Marathon of Hope) by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland, aiming to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean at Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 1981 - The first launch of a Space Shuttle: Columbia launches on the STS-1 mission.
- 1990 - Christian Bernard, F.R.C., becomes Imperator of AMORC
- 1992 - EuroDisney opens in Marne-la-Vallee, France.
- 1994 - Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet spam.
- 2002 - Coup d'Etat against Hugo Chávez in Venezuela
- 2005 - In Canada, a motion by the opposition Conservative Party to kill legislation opening the door for legalized same sex marriage is defeated 164-132.
Births
- 599 BC - Mahavira, founder of Jainism (d. 527 BC)
- 812 - Muhammad at-Taqi, Shia Imam (d. 835)
- 1748 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (d. 1836)
- 1777 - Henry Clay, American statesman and orator (d. 1852)
- 1799 - Henri Druey, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1855)
- 1832 - Hugo Adolph Steinheil, optician (d. 1893)
- 1856 - William Martin Conway, English art critic and mountaineer (d. 1937)
- 1867- Sindo Garay, Cuban singer and musician (d. 1968)
- 1884 - Otto Meyerhof, biochemist, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1922) (d. 1951)
- 1888 - Cecil Kimber, founder of MG
- 1892 - Johnny Dodds, jazz musician (d. 1940)
- 1898 - Lily Pons, opera soprano (d. 1976)
- 1902 - Louis Beel, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1977)
- 1903 - Sally Rand, fan dancer (d. 1979)
- 1904 - Paul Dahlke, actor (d. 1984)
- 1907 - Felix de Weldon, sculptor (d. 2003)
- 1908 - Lionel Hampton, musician (d. 2002)
- 1908 - Virginia Cherrill, American actress (d. 1996)
- 1916 - Beverly Cleary, writer
- 1917 - Helen Forrest, American jazz singer (d. 1999)
- 1922 - Tiny Tim, American musician (d. 1996)
- 1923 - Ann Miller, American actress, dancer (d. 2004)
- 1925 - Ned Miller, American country musician
- 1926 - Jane Withers, American actress
- 1928 - Jean-François Paillard, French conductor
- 1928 - Hardy Krüger, German actor
- 1932 - Dennis Banks, Native American activist
- 1933 - Montserrat Caballé, Catalan soprano
- 1939 - Alan Ayckbourn, writer
- 1940 - Herbie Hancock, musician
- 1941 - Bobby Moore, English national football team captain (d. 1993)
- 1942 - Frank Bank, American actor
- 1944 - John Kay, of Steppenwolf
- 1946 - Ed O'Neill, actor
- 1947 - Tom Clancy, author
- 1947 - David Letterman, talk show host
- 1947 - Dan Lauria, American actor
- 1948 - Joschka Fischer, foreign minister of Germany
- 1948 - Sandra "Lois" Reeves, singer, member of Martha & the Vandellas
- 1948 - Jeremy Beadle, British television presenter
- 1949 - Scott Turow, writer
- 1950 - David Cassidy, singer, actor
- 1952 - Ralph Wiley, sports journalist (d. 2004)
- 1954 - Pat Travers, Canadian musician
- 1956 - Andy Garcia, actor
- 1956 - Herbert Grönemeyer, singer, pianist and actor
- 1957 - Vince Gill, country musician
- 1961 - Lisa Gerrard, singer, film composer
- 1962 - Art Alexakis, American musician (Everclear)
- 1964 - Amy Ray, American musician (Indigo Girls)
- 1970 - Nick Hexum, American musician (311)
- 1971 - Shannen Doherty, actress
- 1971 - Nicholas Brendon, actor
- 1978 - Guy Berryman, British musician (Coldplay)
- 1979 - Claire Danes, actress
- 1982 - Deen, Bosnian singer
Deaths
- 238 - Roman emperor Gordian I (suicide)
- 238 - Roman emperor Gordian II (killed in battle)
- 1443 - Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1704 - Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, French bishop and writer (b. 1627)
- 1782 - Metastasio, pseudonym of Pietro Armando Dominico Trapassi, Italian poet and librettist (b. 1698)
- 1850 - Adoniram Judson, pioneer Baptist missionary to India and Burma (b. 1788)
- 1912 - Clara Barton, nurse and Red Cross advocate (b. 1821)
- 1938 - Feodor Chaliapin, operatic bass (b. 1873)
- 1945 - Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States (b. 1882)
- 1962 - Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, Indian politician and engineer, dies at 101
- 1975 - Josephine Baker, dancer (b. 1906)
- 1980 - Clark McConachy, billiards and snooker player (b. 1895)
- 1980 - William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia
- 1981 - Joe Louis, boxer (b. 1914)
- 1982 - Lenny Baker, American actor
- 1988 - Alan Paton, novelist (b. 1903)
- 1989 - Sugar Ray Robinson, multiple time world champion boxer (b. 1921)
- 1989 - Abbie Hoffman, radical leader (b. 1936)
- 1989 - Gerald Flood, British actor (b. 1927)
- 1999 - Boxcar Willie, American country music singer
- 2001 - Harvey Ball, inventor of the Smiley (b. 1921)
- 2003 - Cecil H. Green, Texas Instruments Founder (b. 1900)
Holidays and observances
- The Roman holiday of Cerealia begins.
- Yuri's Night, an international celebration of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin.
- Easter, 1998
External links
From "Lines in Praise of a Date Made Praiseworthy Solely by Something Very Nice That Happened to It", by Ogden Nash:
- "As through the calendar I delve
- I pause to rejoice in April twelve.
- Yea, be I in sickness or be I in health
- My favorite date is April twealth.
- ..."
April 11 - April 13 - March 12 - May 12 -- listing of all days
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