^{Daffy Duck premiers in “Porky’s Duck Hunt,” released April 17, 1937}

Today in History

• Geoffrey Chaucer tells the Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II (1397); scholars say this date in 1387 is the day in the story in which the pilgrims set off
• Martin Luther goes on trial before the Diet of Worms (1521)
• Daffy Duck premiers in his first cartoon (1937)
• The Republic of Ireland officially becomes independent of Britain (1949)
• The Bay of Pigs invasion begins; it does not end well (1961)
• Aviatrix Jerrie Mock becomes the first woman to circumnavigate the world by air (1964)
• The Ford Mustang is introduced (1964)
• Apollo 13 returns to Earth (1970)
• George Lucas begins writing what will become Star Wars (1973)
• The Driehonderdvijfendertigjarige Oorlog (Three Hundred and Thirty-Five Years’ War) between Netherlands and Scilly ends without a single shot being fired by either side (1986)
• A fertilizer plant in West, Texas, explodes, killing 15 and injuring 160 (2013)

Birthdays

• Samuel Chase, supreme jurist (1741)
• Alexander Cartwright, credited by some as the “father of baseball” (1820)
• J. P. Morgan, financier (1837)
• Cap Anson, baseball player (1852)
• Karen Blixen/”Isak Dinesen” (1885)
• George Adamski, ufologist (1891)
• Señor Wences, ventriloquist (1896)
• Harry Reasoner, television journalist (1923)
• Don Kirshner, songwriter and producer (1934)
• Olivia Hussey, actress (1951)
• Roddy Piper, wrestler (1954)
• Sean Bean, actor (1959)
• Henry Ian Cusick, actor (1967)
• Liz Phair, singer-songwriter (1967)
• Victoria Beckham, spice girl (1974)

Deaths

• Benjamin Franklin, polymath (1790)
• George Jennings, inventor of the flush toilet (1882)
• Eddie Cochran, singer-songwriter (1960)
• Ralph Abernathy, civil rights leader (1990)
• Piet Hein, scientist and poet (1996)
• Chaim Herzon, Israeli president (1997)
• Linda McCartney, singer and photographer (1998)
• Kitty Carlisle, game show panelist (2007)
• Michael Sarrazin, actor (2011)

Holidays and Celebrations