April 23rd in History
An advertisement for “New Coke,” introduced April 23, 1985
Today in History
- The first public school in colonial British America, Boston Latin School, is founded (1635)
- Charles II is crowned of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1661)
- Cardiff City beats Arsenal 1-0 to win the Football* Association Challenge Cup (FA Cup), the first and so far only time it has been won by a team not based in England (1927 — *Soccer in the US)
- Turkey becomes the first nation to celebrate Children’s Day as a national holiday (1929)
- World War II: The Luftwaffe begins the “Baedeker Blitz,” bomber raids on three English cities, in retaliation for the bombing of Lübeck (1942)
- World War II: Herman Göring writes Adolf Hitler to ask permission to take leadership of the Third Reich; Hitler replaces him immediately (1945)
- The Soviets launch the manned mission Союз 1 (Soyuz 1) (1967)
- Coca-Cola releases New Coke. It does not go well (1985)
Birthdays
- James Buchanan, 15th US President (1791)
- Stephen A. Douglas, ran against Abraham Lincoln for President (1813)
- Max Planck, physicist (1858)
- Сергей Прокофьев (Sergei Prokofiev), composer (1891)
- Cow Cow Davenport, boogie-woogie pianist (1894)
- Ngaio Marsh, mystery writer (1895)
- Jim Bottomley, baseball player (1900)
- Simone Simon, actress (1910)
- Олег Пеньковский (Oleg Penkovsky), Soviet colonel who spied for the West (1919)
- Avram Davidson, science fiction writer and editor (1923)
- J. P. Donleavy, author (1926)
- Shirley Temple, child star (1928)
- Halston, fashion designer (1932)
- Jim Fixx, runner (1932)
- Roy Orbison, singer-songwriter (1936)
- Lee Majors, actor (1939)
- Sandra Dee, actress (1942)
- Gail Goodrich, basketball player (1943)
- Tony Esposito, hockey player (1943)
- Hervé Villechaize, actor known for Fantasy Island (1943)
- Joyce DeWitt, actress (1949)
- Michael Moore, director and activist (1954)
- Jan Hooks, actress (1957)
- Valerie Bertinelli, actress (1960)
- George Lopez, comedian (1961)
- Timothy McVeigh, terrorist (1968)
- John Oliver, Daily Show journalist and comedian (1977)
- Kal Penn, actor and White House aide (1977)
Deaths
- Saint George, Roman soldier and martyr (303)
- Brian Boru, Irish monarch (1014)
- Æthelred II the Unready, English monarch (1016)
- Бори́с Годуно́в (Boris Godunov), Russian tsar (1605 — O.S.* 13 April)
- William Shakespeare, playwright (1616)
- William Wordsworth, poet (1850)
- George Adamski, UFOlogist (1965)
- Buster Crabbe, swimmer and actor (1983)
- Sam Ervin, US senator and Watergate investigator (1985)
- Otto Preminger, filmmaker (1986)
- Harold Arlen, composer (1986)
- Paulette Goddard, actress (1990)
- Satyajit Ray, filmmaker (1992)
- Cesar Chavez, labor leader (1993)
- Howard Cosell, sports journalist (1995)
- P. L. Travers, created Mary Poppins (1996)
- James Earl Ray, assassin (1998)
- John Mills, actor (2005)
- Earl Wilson, baseball player and coach (2005)
- Бори́с Е́льцин (Boris Yeltsin), Russian president (2007)
*O.S., or Old Style, refers to the fact that Russia did not convert from the Julian “old style” calendar to the Gregorian calendar until 1918, meaning that some dates are given in both systems.
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Holidays and Celebrations
- English Language Day (United Nations)
- Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
- National Sovereignty and Children’s Day (Turkey and Northern Cyprus)
- St. George’s Day (and related observances, Christianity)
- Vinalia Urbana (ancient Rome)
- World Book Day (international)
- World Laboratory Day (scientific community)
Informal and made-up holidays include Impossible Astronaut Day (Dr. Who), International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day, Lover’s Day, National Cherry Cheesecake Day, National Lost Dog Awareness Day, Movie Theatre Day, National Zucchini Bread Day, Take a Chance Day, and Talk Like Shakespeare Day.
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April 23 is the 113rd day of the year (114th in leap years). There are 252 days remaining until the end of the year.