April 18 is the 108th day of the year (109th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 257 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events[link]

• 1025 – Bolesław Chrobry is crowned in Gniezno, becoming the first King of Poland.
• 1506 – The cornerstone of the current St. Peter's Basilica is laid.
• 1518 – Bona Sforza is crowned as queen consort of Poland.
• 1521 – Trial of Martin Luther begins its second day during the assembly of the Diet of Worms. He refuses to recant his teachings despite the risk of excommunication.
• 1689 – Bostonians rise up in rebellion against Sir Edmund Andros.
• 1738 – Real Academia de la Historia ("Royal Academy of History") is founded in Madrid.
• 1775 – American Revolution: The British advancement by sea begins; Paul Revere and other riders warn the countryside of the troop movements.
• 1797 – The Battle of Neuwied – French victory against the Austrians.
• 1831 – The University of Alabama is founded.
• 1848 – American victory at the battle of Cerro Gordo opens the way for invasion of Mexico.
• 1857 – "The Spirits Book" by Allan Kardec is published, marking the birth of Spiritualism in France.
• 1864 – Battle of Dybbøl: A Prussian-Austrian army defeats Denmark and gains control of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.
• 1880 – An F4 tornado strikes Marshfield, Missouri, killing 99 people and injuring 100.
• 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico.
• 1897 – The Greco-Turkish War is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.
• 1899 – The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria.
• 1902 – Quetzaltenango, the second largest city of Guatemala, is destroyed by an earthquake.
• 1906 – An earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California.
• 1909 – Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.
• 1912 – The Cunard liner RMS Carpathia brings 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic to New York City.
• 1915 – French pilot Roland Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines during World War I.
• 1923 – Yankee Stadium, "The House that Ruth Built", opens.
• 1924 – Simon & Schuster publishes the first crossword puzzle book.
• 1930 – BBC Radio announces that there is no news on that day.
• 1936 – The first Champions Day is celebrated in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1942 – World War II: The Doolittle Raid on Japan. Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe and Nagoya are bombed.
• 1942 – Pierre Laval becomes Prime Minister of Vichy France.
• 1943 – World War II: Operation Vengeance, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when his aircraft is shot down by U.S. fighters over Bougainville Island.
• 1945 – Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.
• 1946 – The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.
• 1949 – The keel for the aircraft carrier USS United States is laid down at Newport News Drydock and Shipbuilding. However, construction is canceled five days later, resulting in the Revolt of the Admirals.
• 1954 – Gamal Abdal Nasser seizes power in Egypt.
• 1955 – 29 nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.
• 1958 – A United States federal court rules that poet Ezra Pound be released from an insane asylum.
• 1961 – The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, a cornerstone of modern international relations, is adopted.
• 1961 – CONCP is founded in Casablanca as a united front of African movements opposing Portuguese colonial rule.
• 1974 – The Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto inaugurates Lahore's dry port.
• 1980 – The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwe Dollar replaces the Rhodesian Dollar as the official currency.
• 1981 – The longest professional baseball game is begun in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The game is suspended at 4:00 the next morning and finally completed on June 23.
• 1983 – A suicide bomber destroys the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people.
• 1988 – The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
• 1992 – General Abdul Rashid Dostum revolts against President Mohammad Najibullah of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan and allies with Ahmed Shah Massoud to capture Kabul.
• 1996 – In Lebanon, at least 106 civilians are killed when the Israel Defense Forces shell the UN compound at Quana where more than 800 civilians had taken refuge.
• 2007 – The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in a 5-4 decision.
• 2007 – A series of bombings, two of them being suicides, occur in Baghdad, killing 198 and injuring 251.

Births[link]

• 1480 – Lucrezia Borgia, Florentine ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)
• 1580 – Thomas Middleton, English dramatist (d. 1627)
• 1590 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)
• 1605 – Giacomo Carissimi, Italian composer (d. 1674)
• 1666 – Jean-Féry Rebel, French composer and violinist (d. 1747)
• 1740 – Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English merchant banker (d. 1810)
• 1759 – Jacques Widerkehr, Alsatian composer and cellist (d. 1823)
• 1771 – Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, Austrian field marshal (d. 1820)
• 1772 – David Ricardo, English political economist (d. 1823)
• 1797 – Adolphe Thiers, French statesman (d. 1877)
• 1813 – James McCune Smith, African-American doctor and abolitionist (d. 1865)
• 1819 – Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban Revolutionary (d. 1874)
• 1819 – Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer (d. 1895)
• 1838 – Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French scientist (d. 1912)
• 1857 – Clarence Darrow, American attorney (d. 1938)
• 1857 – Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and novelist (d. 1935)
• 1863 – Leopold Graf Berchtold, Austro-Hungarian foreign minister (d. 1942)
• 1864 – Richard Harding Davis, American author (d. 1916)
• 1874 – Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, German author (d. 1941)
• 1874 – Ivana Brlic-Mazuranic, Croatian writer (d. 1938)
• 1877 – Vicente Sotto, Filipino patriot, author (d. 1950)
• 1879 – Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist (d. 1962)
• 1880 – Sam Crawford, American baseball player (d. 1968)
• 1882 – Leopold Stokowski, Polish conductor (d. 1977)
• 1882 – Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler and author (d. 1964)
• 1888 – Duffy Lewis, American baseball player (d. 1979)
• 1889 – Jessie Street, Australian suffragette and activist (d. 1970)
• 1893 – Violette Morris, French athlete (d. 1944)
• 1896 – Na Hye-sok, Korean poeter, feminist writer and painter, educators, journalists. (d. 1948)
• 1897 – Ardito Desio, Italian topographer (d. 2001)
• 1901 – Al Lewis, American lyricist (d. 1967)
• 1901 – László Németh, Hungarian writer (d. 1975)
• 1901 – Elene Akhvlediani, Georgian artist (d. 1975)
• 1902 – Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)
• 1902 – Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Russian-French rabbi and Hasidic Judaism leader (d. 1994)
• 1904 – Pigmeat Markham, American comedian (d. 1981)
• 1905 – Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and sports executive (d. 1990)
• 1905 – George H. Hitchings, American scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1907 – Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian composer (d. 1995)
• 1911 – Maurice Goldhaber, Austrian-American physicist (d. 2011)
• 1914 – Claire Martin, Canadian novelist
• 1915 – Joy Davidman, American poet and writer, wife of C. S. Lewis (d. 1960)
• 1916 – Doug Peden, Canadian athlete (d. 2005)
• 1917 – Ty LaForest, Canadian baseball player (d. 1947)
• 1917 – Frederika of Hanover, Queen Consort of Greece (d. 1981)
• 1918 – Clifton Hillegass, American publisher (d. 2001)
• 1918 – Tony Mottola, American guitarist (d. 2004)
• 1918 – Gabriel Axel, Danish director
• 1918 – Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese screenwriter
• 1918 – André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)
• 1919 – Virginia O'Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)
• 1921 – Jean Richard, French actor (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Barbara Hale, American actress
• 1924 – Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American blues musician (d. 2005)
• 1924 – Henry Hyde, American politician (d. 2007)
• 1925 – Bob Hastings, American actor
• 1925 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (d. 2005)
• 1927 – Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist (d. 2008)
• 1930 – Clive Revill, New Zealand actor
• 1934 – James Drury, American actor
• 1934 – George Shirley, American tenor
• 1935 – Costas Ferris, Greek director
• 1936 – Tommy Ivo, American race car driver
• 1937 – Jan Kaplický, Czech-British architect
• 1939 – Thomas J. Moyer, American judge
• 1940 – Joseph L. Goldstein, American scientist, Nobel laureate
• 1940 – Mike Vickers, British musician and composer (Manfred Mann)
• 1942 – Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian race car driver (d. 1970)
• 1942 – Steve Blass, American baseball player
• 1942 – Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic
• 1944 – Robert Hanssen, American FBI agent
• 1945 – Margaret Hassan, Irish aid worker (d. 2004)
• 1946 – Jean-François Balmer, Swiss actor
• 1946 – Hayley Mills, English actress
• 1946 – Skip Spence, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician (Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape) (d. 1999)
• 1947 – Kathy Acker, American author (d. 1997)
• 1947 – Dorothy Lyman, American actress
• 1947 – Herbert Mullin, American serial killer
• 1947 – Cindy Pickett, American actress
• 1947 – James Woods, American actor
• 1947 – Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, screenwriter, and director
• 1948 – Régis Wargnier, French director and screenwriter
• 1949 – Geoff Bodine, American race car driver
• 1950 – Kenny Ortega, American producer and choreographer
• 1950 – Paul Callery, Australian footballar
• 1951 – Ricardo Fortaleza, Australian-Filipino boxer
• 1951 – Pierre Pettigrew, Canadian politician
• 1953 – Rick Moranis, Canadian comedian
• 1956 – Anna Kathryn Holbrook, American actress
• 1956 – Eric Roberts, American actor
• 1956 – Melody Thomas Scott, American actress
• 1956 – Poonam Dhillon, Indian actress
• 1958 – Malcolm Marshall, Indian cricketer (d. 1999)
• 1961 – Jane Leeves, British actress
• 1961 – Steve Lombardi, American wrestler
• 1961 – John Podhoretz, American columnist and political pundit
• 1961 – Kelly Hansen, American singer and musician (Foreigner and Hurricane)
• 1962 – Jeff Dunham, American comedian
• 1963 – Eric McCormack, Canadian actor
• 1963 – Conan O'Brien, American comedian
• 1963 – Peter Van Loan, Canadian politician
• 1964 – Bez, English dancer, percussionist, and author
• 1964 – Niall Ferguson, British historian
• 1964 – Rithy Panh, Cambodian director
• 1964 – Jim Ellison, American singer and musician (Material Issue) (d. 1996)
• 1965 – Rob Stenders, Dutch discjockey
• 1966 – Trine Hattestad, Norwegian athlete
• 1966 – Valeri Kamensky, Russian ice hockey player
• 1967 – Maria Bello, American actress
• 1968 – Mary Birdsong, American actress
• 1968 – David Hewlett, English-Canadian actor
• 1969 – Princess Sayako of Japan
• 1969 – Keith R.A. DeCandido, American author
• 1969 – Stefan Schwarz, Swedish footballer
• 1970 – Rico Brogna, American baseball player
• 1970 – Greg Eklund, American musician (Everclear and The Oohlas)
• 1970 – Saad Hariri, Saudi-Lebanese politician, Prime Minister of Lebanon
• 1970 – François Leroux, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1970 – Esther Schweins, German actress and comedienne
• 1970 – Tatiana Stefanidou, Greek television host and journalist
• 1971 – Tamara Braun, American actress
• 1971 – Russell Payne, English author
• 1971 – Samantha Cameron, business executive, wife of David Cameron
• 1971 – David Tennant, Scottish actor
• 1971 – Oleg Petrov, Russian ice hockey player
• 1972 – Rosa Clemente, American community organizer, journalist, and activist
• 1972 – Eli Roth, American director
• 1973 – Derrick Brooks, American football player
• 1973 – Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian athlete
• 1973 – Brady Clark, American baseball player
• 1973 – Jad Abumrad, American radio host and producer
• 1974 – Mark Tremonti, American musician (Creed and Alter Bridge)
• 1974 – Millie Corretjer, Puerto Rican singer and actress
• 1974 – Edgar Wright, British director
• 1976 – Fayray, Japanese singer-songwriter and actress
• 1976 – Gavin Creel, American actor and singer
• 1976 – Jo Gibb, Scottish Actress
• 1976 – Melissa Joan Hart, American actress
• 1976 – Sean Maguire, British actor
• 1976 – Justin Ross, American politician
• 1977 – Dan Lacouture, American ice hockey player
• 1977 – Cindy Taylor, Paraguayan model and actress
• 1979 – Michael Bradley, American basketball player
• 1979 – Ethan Cohn, American actor
• 1979 – Anthony Davidson, British race car driver
• 1979 – Nuria Fergó, Spanish singer and actress
• 1979 – Kourtney Kardashian, American model, actress, and businesswoman
• 1979 – Matthew Upson, English footballer
• 1979 – Karl Wolf, Lebanese-Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Sky)
• 1980 – Carolina Crescentini, Italian actress
• 1980 – Justin Levens, American mixed martial artist (d. 2008)
• 1980 – Laura Mennell, Canadian actress
• 1980 – Robyn Regehr, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1980 – Priit Võigemast, Estonian actor
• 1981 – Elastinen, Finnish rapper and producer (Fintelligens)
• 1981 – Brian Buscher, American baseball player
• 1981 – Jamie Davis, English actor
• 1981 – Mai Hoshimura, Japanese singer-songwriter and composer
• 1981 – Milan Jovanović, Serbian footballer
• 1982 – Greg Camarillo, American football player
• 1982 – Ricardo Colclough, Canadian football player
• 1982 – Simone Farina, Italian footballer
• 1982 – Scott Hartnell, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Kristina Sisco, American actress
• 1982 – Darren Sutherland, Irish boxer (d. 2009)
• 1982 – Marie-Élaine Thibert, Canadian singer
• 1983 – Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1983 – Reeve Carney, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
• 1983 – Fodil Hadjadj, Algerian footballer
• 1983 – Cheryl Haworth, American weightlifter
• 1983 – Cristina Nardozzi, American model, Miss Massachusetts USA 2005
• 1984 – America Ferrera, American actress
• 1984 – Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Cameroonian mixed martial artist and judoka
• 1985 – Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer
• 1985 – Mary Elise Hayden, American actress
• 1985 – Sasa Handa, Japanese porn model and actress
• 1985 – Karl Reindler, Australian race car driver
• 1985 – Rachel Smith, American model, Miss USA 2007
• 1985 – Elena Temnikova, Russian singer (Serebro)
• 1986 – Billy Butler, American baseball player
• 1986 – Maurice Edu, American soccer player
• 1986 – Eleanor James, English actress and dancer
• 1986 – Denice K., Danish porn actress, producer, and radio host
• 1986 – Conrad Logan, Irish footballer
• 1987 – Brett Deledio, Australian football player
• 1987 – Danny Guthrie, English footballer
• 1987 – Sandra Lyng Haugen, Norwegian singer
• 1987 – Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, British model and actress
• 1987 – Cara Mia Wayans, American actress
• 1988 – Anagabriela Espinoza, Mexican model, Miss International 2009
• 1988 – Alexander Hauck, South African-German rugby player
• 1988 – Chaiwat Thongsaeng, Thai actor and model
• 1989 – Jessica, American-Korean singer, dancer, and actress (Girls' Generation)
• 1989 – Simas Buterlevičius, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1989 – Alia Shawkat, American actress
• 1989 – Hannah Wang, Australian actress
• 1990 – Henderson Alvarez, Venezuelan baseball player
• 1990 – Britt Robertson, American actress
• 1990 – Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer
• 1990 – Junior Torunarigha, Nigerian footballer
• 1993 – Nathan Sykes, British singer (The Wanted)
• 1994 – Moises Arias, American actor
• 2007 – Hayah bint Hamzah, Princess of Jordan

Deaths[link]

• 1161 – Theobald of Bec, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1552 – John Leland, English antiquarian (b. 1502)
• 1556 – Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet (b. 1495)
• 1567 – Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)
• 1558 – Roxelana, wife of Suleiman the Magnificent
• 1636 – Julius Caesar, English judge
• 1650 – Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian (b. 1602)
• 1674 – John Graunt, English statistician (b. 1620)
• 1689 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, British Chief Justice (b. 1648)
• 1732 – Louis Feuillée, French explorer (b. 1660)
• 1763 – Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian convicted murderer (b. 1733)
• 1794 – Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (b. 1714)
• 1796 – Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist (b. 1732)
• 1802 – Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)
• 1859 – Tantya Tope, Indian Revolutionary and General (b. 1814)
• 1873 – Justus von Liebig, German chemist (b. 1803)
• 1898 – Gustave Moreau, French painter (b. 1826)
• 1906 – Luis Martín, Spanish Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)
• 1917 – Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist (b. 1858)
• 1935 – Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (b. 1884)
• 1936 – Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (b. 1879)
• 1942 – Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)
• 1942 – Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American sculptor, art patron, and collector, founder of Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)
• 1943 – Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)
• 1945 – John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer (b. 1849)
• 1945 – Ernie Pyle, American journalist (b. 1900)
• 1945 – William, Prince of Albania (b. 1876)
• 1947 – Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest, politician, and Nazi collaborator (b. 1887)
• 1949 – Will Hay, English comedian and actor (b. 1888)
• 1951 – António Óscar Carmona, Portuguese politician, 97th Prime Minister of Portugal and 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)
• 1955 – Albert Einstein, German physicist (b. 1879)
• 1958 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (b. 1872)
• 1959 – Irving Cummings, American actor and film director (b. 1888)
• 1963 – Meyer Jacobstein, American politician (b. 1880)
• 1964 – Ben Hecht, American writer (b. 1894)
• 1965 – Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican inventor and engineer (b. 1917)
• 1967 – Karl Miller, German footballer (b. 1913)
• 1974 – Marcel Pagnol, French novelist, playwright and director (b. 1895)
• 1976 – Mahmoud Younis, Egyptian engineer of the Suez Canal nationalization (b. 1911)
• 1986 – Marcel Dassault, French aircraft industrialist (b.1892)
• 1988 – Pierre Desproges, French humorist (b. 1939)
• 1990 – Gory Guerrero, American wrestler (b. 1921)
• 1990 – Victoria O'Keefe, British actress (b. 1969)
• 1992 – Frankie Howerd, English comedian and actor (b. 1917)
• 1993 – Masahiko Kimura, Japanese judoka (b. 1917)
• 1995 – Arturo Frondizi, Argentine politician, President of Argentina (b. 1908)
• 1995 – Roza Makagonova, Russian actress (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Brook Berringer, American football player (b. 1973)
• 1996 – Bernard Edwards, American bass player and record producer (Chic) (b. 1952)
• 1998 – Terry Sanford, American politician (b. 1917)
• 2002 – Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian explorer (b. 1914)
• 2002 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
• 2003 – Edgar F. Codd, English computer scientist (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, first Prime Minister of Fiji and President of Fiji (b. 1920)
• 2005 – Sam Mills, American football player (b. 1959)
• 2007 – Iccho Itoh, Japanese politician, mayor of Nagasaki (b. 1945)
• 2009 – Stephanie Parker, Welsh actress (b. 1987)
• 2011 – Olubayo Adefemi, Nigerian footballer (b. 1985)
• 2012 – Dick Clark, American television host and businessman (b. 1929)
• 2012 – K. D. Wentworth, American author (b.1951)

Holidays and observances[link]

• Army Day (Iran)
• Christian Feast Day:
  • Corebus
  • Galdino della Sala
  • Eleutherius and Antia
  • Perfectus
  • Molaise of Leighlin
  • April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Zimbabwe from United Kingdom in 1980.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: April 18

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada