April 15th in History

Untergang der Titanic, Willy Stöwer

Today in History

  • GE is founded (1892)
  • The First Olympiad of modern times ends (1896)
  • RMS Titanic sinks (1912)
  • Insulin becomes available for people with diabetes (1923)
  • World War II: Allies begin their attack on Narvik (1940)
  • World War II: The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated (1945)
  • Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line (1947)
  • The B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time (1952)
  • The first McDonald’s restaurant opens (1955)
  • The Ford Mustang premiers (1964)
  • A human crush at Hillsborough Stadium kills 96 people (1989)
  • The Tiananmen Square protests begin (1989)
  • Bombs explode near the finish line of the Boston Marathon (2013)
  • Over 200 female students are kidnapped in Nigeria (2014)

Birthdays

  • Henry IV of England, monarch (1367)
  • Leonardo da Vinci, polymath (1452)
  • Leonhard Euler, mathematician (1707)
  • Charles Wilson Peale, painter (1741)
  • Joseph Seagram, distiller (1841)
  • Henry James, author (1843)
  • Thomas Hart Benton, painter (1889)
  • Nikita Khrushchev (Никита Хрущёв), Soviet leader (1894 [O.S. April 3])
  • Bessie Smith, singer (1894)
  • Kim Il-sung (김일성), North Korean leader (1912)
  • Alfred S. Bloomingdale, retailer (1916)
  • Helene Hanff, author (1916)
  • Hans Conried, actor (1917)
  • Michael Ansara, actor (1922)
  • Harold Washington, Chicago mayor (1922)
  • Roy Clark, country singer (1933)
  • Jeffrey Archer, author (1940)
  • Michael Tucci, actor (1946)
  • Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, producer (1947)
  • Seka, porn star (1954)
  • Dodi Fayed, producer, died in a car crash with Diana, Princess of Wales (1955)
  • Emma Thompson, actress (1959)
  • Emma Watson, actress (1990)

Deaths

  • Madame de Pompadour, royal mistress (1764)
  • Abraham Lincoln, US President (1865)
  • Matthew Arnold, poet (1888)
  • Father Damien, priest and saint (1889)
  • Wallace Beery, actor (1949)
  • Jean-Paul Sartre, philosopher (1980)
  • Jean Genet, playwright (1986)
  • Greta Garbo, actress (1990)
  • Leslie Charteris, author (1993)
  • Pol Pot, Khmer Rouge leader (1998)
  • Edward Gorey, illustrator (2000)
  • Joey Ramone, singer-songwriter (2001)
  • Damon Knight, science fiction author and critic (2002)
  • Byron White, football player and Supreme Court justice (2002)
  • Brant Parker, cartoonist (2007)
Plus, victims of the sinking of RMS Titanic (1912)
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Holidays and Celebrations

  • Fordicidia (ancient Rome)
  • Jackie Robinson Day (Major League Baseball)
  • Kim Il-sung’s Birthday (North Korea)
  • Universal Day of Culture (International)
  • World Art Day (International)
Informal and made-up holidays include Rubber Eraser Day and Titanic Remembrance Day.
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 April 15 is the 105th day of the year (106th in leap years). There are 260 days remaining until the end of the year.