April 26
April 26 is the 116th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (117th in leap years). There are 249 days remaining.
Events
- 1478 - The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and kill his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Florence Cathedral.
- 1607 - English colonists of the Jamestown settlement make landfall at Cape Henry, Virginia.
- 1865 - American Civil War: Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrenders his army to General William Tecumseh Sherman near Durham, North Carolina.
- 1865 - Union cavalry troopers corner John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, in a barn in Virginia. Booth is shot dead by cavalryman Boston Corbett.
- 1925 - Paul von Hindenburg defeats Wilhelm Marx in the second round of the German presidential election to become the first directly elected Reichspräsident, the head of state of the Weimar Republic.
- 1933 - The Gestapo, the official secret police force of Nazi Germany, is established.
- 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Guernica, Spain is bombed by German Luftwaffe.
- 1942 - The worst-ever mining accident in history kills 1,549 miners in an explosion at the Honkeiko Colliery, Manchuria.
- 1946 - Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.
- 1954 - The Geneva Conference, an effort to restore peace in Indochina and Korea, begins.
- 1962 - NASA's Ranger 4 spacecraft crashes into the Moon.
- 1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar merge to form Tanzania.
- 1986 - In Ukraine, a nuclear reactor at the Chornobyl (Chernobyl) nuclear plant explodes, creating the world's worst nuclear disaster.
- 1991 - Seventy tornadoes break out in the central United States. Before its end, Andover, Kansas would record the year's only F5 tornado (see The Andover, Kansas Tornado).
- 1994 - South Africa holds its first multiracial elections.
- 1994 - A China Airlines Airbus A-300-600R crashes at Nagoya Airport, Japan killing 264.
- 2002 - 19-year-old Robert Steinhäuser shoots and kills 17 people at his school in Erfurt, Germany.
- 2005 - Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country.
Births
- 121 - Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor (d. 180)
- 1711 - David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian (d. 1776)
- 1785 - John James Audubon, French-American naturalist and illustrator (d. 1851)
- 1787 - Ludwig Uhland, German poet (d. 1862)
- 1798 - Eugène Delacroix, French painter (d. 1863)
- 1798 - James Beckwourth, American explorer (d. 1867)
- 1812 - Alfred Krupp, German industrialist (d. 1887)
- 1822 - Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect (d. 1903)
- 1886 - Ma Rainey, blues singer (d. 1939)
- 1888 - Anita Loos, writer (d. 1981)
- 1889 - Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austian-born English philosopher (d. 1951)
- 1894 - Rudolf Hess, Nazi official (d. 1987)
- 1895 - Nathaniel Kleitman, sleep researcher (d. 1999)
- 1896 - Ernst Udet, German World War II pilot (d. 1941)
- 1897 - Olga Tschechowa, actress (d. 1980)
- 1897 - Douglas Sirk, director (d. 1987)
- 1897 - Eddie Eagan, American sportsman (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Vicente Aleixandre, Spanish writer (d. 1984)
- 1898 - John Grierson, filmmaker (d. 1972)
- 1900 - Charles Richter, geophysicist and inventor (d. 1985)
- 1911 - Marianne Hoppe, actress (d. 2002)
- 1912 - A. E. van Vogt, science fiction writer (d. 2000)
- 1914 - Bernard Malamud, author (d. 1986)
- 1914 - James W. Rouse, American real estate investor, activist, philanthropist (d. 1996)
- 1916 - Morris West, Australian writer (d. 1999)
- 1917 - I.M. Pei, architect
- 1918 - Fanny Blankers-Koen, Dutch athlete (d. 2004)
- 1918 - Stafford Repp American actor (d. 1974)
- 1918 - Stafford Repp, actor (d. 1974)
- 1925 - Jørgen Ingmann, Danish musician and Eurovision Song Contest winner (d. 1990)
- 1926 - Michael Mathias Prechtl, German illustrator (d. 2003)
- 1933 - Carol Burnett, American singer, actress, and comedian
- 1934 - Alan Arkin, actor
- 1936 - Lane Smith, American actor
- 1938 - Duane Eddy, musician
- 1940 - Giorgio Moroder, composer
- 1942 - Bobby Rydell, singer
- 1942 - Claudine Auger, French actress
- 1943 - Gary Wright, singer
- 1946 - Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Russian politician
- 1947 - Donna DeVarona, swimmer
- 1956 - Koo Stark, actress
- 1960 - Roger Taylor, musician (Duran Duran)
- 1961 - Joan Chen, actress
- 1963 - Jet Li, martial artist and actor
- 1965 - Kevin James, American comedian, actor
- 1970 - Tionne Watkins, American singer (TLC)
- 1976 - Jose Pasillas, American musician (Incubus)
- 1977 - Tom Welling, actor
- 1980 - Jordana Brewster, Panamanian-American actress
- 1982 - Joanne Gobure, Nauruan poet
- 1983 - Jessica Lynch, American soldier
- 1984 - Mija Martina, Bosnian singer
Deaths
- 1478 - Giuliano di Piero de' Medici
- 1489 - Ashikaga Yoshihisa, Ashikaga shogun (b. 1465)
- 1865 - John Wilkes Booth, American actor and assassin (shot) (b. 1838)
- 1892 - Sir Provo Wallis, British Admiral and naval hero
- 1910 - Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Norwegian author (b. 1832)
- 1920 - Srinivasa Ramanujan, mathematician (b. 1887)
- 1932 - Hart Crane, American poet (suicide) (b. 1899)
- 1932 - William Lockwood, English cricketer (b. 1868)
- 1938 - Edmund Husserl, philosopher (b. 1859)
- 1940 - Carl Bosch, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1956 - Edward Arnold, American actor
- 1969 - Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido (b. 1883)
- 1970 - Gypsy Rose Lee, actress (b. 1911)
- 1970 - John Knittel, dramatist
- 1973 - Irene Ryan, actress (b. 1902)
- 1976 - Sid James, British comedian (b. 1913)
- 1981 - Jim Davis, American actor
- 1984 - Count Basie, American musician and composer (b. 1904)
- 1984 - Henry Rowland, American actor
- 1986 - Broderick Crawford, actor (b. 1911)
- 1986 - Dechko Uzunov, painter (b. 1899)
- 1988 - James McCracken, American tenor (b. 1926)
- 1989 - Lucille Ball, American actress and comedian (b. 1911)
- 1991 - Carmine Coppola, composer and conductor
- 1991 - William Andrew Paton, economist
- 1991 - Emily McLaughlin, American actress
- 1996 - Stirling Silliphant, writer and producer
- 1999 - Jill Dando, British television presenter (b. 1961)
- 2003 - Rosemary Brown, Canadian politician (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Max Nicholson, environmentalist (b. 1904)
- 2003 - Peter Stone, Oscar- and Tony-winning writer (b. 1930)
- 2004 - Hubert Selby Jr., author (b. 1928)
- 2005 - Maria Schell, Austrian-born actress (b. 1926)
- 2005 - Bob Schiffer, film makeup artist (b. 1916)
- 2005 - Mason Adams, American actor
Holidays and observances
External links
April 25 - April 27 - March 26 - May 26 – listing of all days
See also: April 26, 121, 1465, 1478, 1489
