Holidays

Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga: ANZAC Day (ANZAC was (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps).

Feast day of St. Mark the Evangelist, St. Heribald, and St. Anianus of Alexandria.

Italy: Liberation Day (1945).

Portugal: Revolution Day / Liberty Day (1974).

Egypt: Sinai Day (1982).

Swaziland: National Flag Day.

Arbor Day: Usually celebrated the last Friday in April, but may be celebrated locally on a different date.

Events

1792 - The guillotine was first used in Paris.

1859 - Ground was broken at Port Said, Egypt, for the Suez Canal.

1898 - The United States declared war on Spain.

1901 - New York became the first state to require automobile license plates; the fee was one dollar.

1915 - In World War I, Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey.

1928 - The first guide dog, Buddy, was presented to Morris S. Frank.

1945 - Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

1953 - The magazine “Nature” published an article by biologists Francis Crick and James Watson, describing the “double helix” of DNA.

1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight Eisenhower, linking the Atlantic Ocean with ports on the Great Lakes.

1967 - The first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. was signed by the Colorado governor.

1990 - The crew of the U.S. space shuttle Discovery placed the Hubble Space Telescope, a long-term space-based observatory, into a low orbit around Earth.

2003 - Georgia lawmakers voted to remove the Dixie cross from the state’s flag.

2005 - Bulgaria and Romania gain entrance into the European Union.

2005 - In Japan, one hundred seven perish in the Amagasaki rail crash.

Births

1214 - Louis IX, king of France (1226-1270).

1599 - Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader in the English Civil War.

1840 - Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, Russian composer.

1874 - Guglielmo Marconi, Italian inventor of radio.

1900 - Wolfgang Pauli, Austrian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist.

1908 - Edward R. Murrow, American war correspondent, newsman.

1918 - Ella Fitzgerald, American Grammy Award-winning jazz singer.

1940 - Al Pacino (photo), American actor.

1964 - Hank Azaria, American actor, comedian, and voice artist.

1969 - Renée Zellweger, American film actress.

1981 - Felipe Massa, Brazilian Formula One driver.

Deaths

1995 - Ginger Rogers (Virginia Katherine McMath), American actress, dancer, and singer.

2005 - Swami Ranganathananda (born Shankaran Kutty), Indian monk.

Source: Reference.com