Is it because the twentieth of April is Hitlers birthday?
...or...
295 8th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
850 Guntherus becomes bishop of Cologne
1139 2nd Lateran Council (10th ecumenical council) opens in Rome
1505 Jews are expelled from Orange Burgandy by Philibert of Luxembourg
1551 John Dudley becomes Earl Marshal of England
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1611 First known performance of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth at the Globe Theatre, London recorded by Simon Forman
Playwright William Shakespeare
Playwright
William Shakespeare
1650 Dutch East India Company (VOC) management sets new guidelines
1653 Cromwell routes English parliament to house
1657 Battle in Santa Cruz Bay, Tenerife: English fleet under Robert Blake sinks Spanish silver fleet
1689 The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1702 Comet C/1702 H1 approaches within 0.0437 AUs of Earth
1715 Nicholas Rowe's play "The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey" premieres in London
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1736 French mathematician Pierre Louis Maupertuis begins his expedition to Lapland to measure a degree of latitude and prove the shape of the earth, he is joined by fellow scientists Anders Celsius, Charles Etienne Louis Camus, Alexis Claude Clairaut, and Pierre-Charles Le Monnier
Astronomer Anders Celsius
Astronomer
Anders Celsius
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1759 George Frideric Handel is buried in Westminster Abbey, London
Composer George Frideric Handel
Composer
George Frideric Handel
1770 Captain Cook arrives in New South Wales
1777 New York adopts new constitution as an independent state
1785 Thomas Warton appointed British Poet Laureate by King George III
1792 France declares war on Austria, Prussia & Sardinia
1799 Friedrich von Schiller's "Wallensteins Tod" premieres in Weimar
Victory in battleVictory in Battle
1809 Napoleon I and French forces defeat Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria
French Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte
French Emperor
Napoléon Bonaparte
1810 The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain.
1828 Frenchman René Caillié is the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, returns to win 10,000 franc prize from Société de Géographie
1836 Territory of Wisconsin created
1841 1st detective story (Edgar Allen Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue") published
1861 Battle of Norfolk, VA
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1862 The first pasteurization test is completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
Bacteriologist Louis Pasteur
Bacteriologist
Louis Pasteur
1865 Chicago's Crosby Opera House opens
1871 3rd Enforcement Act (President can suspend writ of habeas corpus)
1872 SF Bar Association organized
1879 1st mobile home (horse drawn) used in a journey from London & Cyprus
1884 Pope Leo XIII encyclical "On Freemasonry"
1888 246 reported killed by hail in Moradabad, India
1894 136,000 mine workers strike in Ohio for pay increase
Film release premierFilm Premier
1896 1st public film showing in US John Philip Sousa's "El Capitan" premieres in NYC
Composer John Philip Sousa
Composer
John Philip Sousa
1898 US Assay Office in Deadwood, South Dakota opens
1902 Marie & Pierre Curie isolate the radioactive element radium chloride
1903 7th Boston Marathon won by John Lorden of Mass in 2:41:29.8
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1904 George Bernard Shaw's "Candida" premieres in London
Playwright George Bernard Shaw
Playwright
George Bernard Shaw
1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition opens in St Louis
1908 12th Boston Marathon won by Tom Morrissey of NY in 2:25:43.2
1908 Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
1910 Cleve Indians Addie Joss 2nd no-hitter, beats Chicago, 1-0
1910 Halley's Comet passes 29th recorded perihelion at 87.9 million km
1912 Fenway Park officially opens, Red Sox beat NY Highlanders 7-6 in 11
1912 Tiger Stadium in Detroit opens, Tigers beat Cleve Indians 6-5
1914 18th Boston Marathon won by James Duffy of Canada in 2:25:01.2
1914 33 killed by soldiers during mine strike in Ludlow, Colo
1914 US President W Wilson, having dispatched more naval ships to Mexico, asks a joint session of Congress to approve armed force if necessary; Congress approves
1915 The Armenians rise and seize the Turkish town of Van, which they hold until Russians relieve them on 19 May; thousands of Armenians are killed
1916 German-British sea battle off Belgian coast
1916 Weeghman Park (Wrigley Field) in Chicago opens, Cubs beat Cin Reds 7-6
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1918 Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
World War I Fighter Ace The Red Baron
World War I Fighter Ace
The Red Baron
1919 Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from Soviet Army
1919 King Nicholas of Montenegro abdicates under duress
1920 7th modern Olympic games opens in Antwerp Belgium
1920 Balfour Declaration recognized, makes Palestine a British Mandate
1920 Big Show ends 2 year run on NBC radio
1920 Tornadoes kill 219 in Alabama & Mississippi
1920 Phillies mgr Gravvy Cravath puts himself in as pinch hitter, his 3- run homer beats NY Giants 3-0
1925 29th Boston Marathon won by Charles Mellor of Ill in 2:33:00.6
1926 1st check sent by radio facsimile transmission across Atlantic
1931 35th Boston Marathon won by Jim Henigan of Mass in 2:46:45.8
1931 British House of Commons agrees for sports play on Sunday
1934 Heinrich Himmler becomes inspector Prussian secret state police
1935 "Your Hit Parade" begins broadcasting (becomes #1 quickly)
1936 40th Boston Marathon won by Ellison Brown of RI in 2:33:40.8
1936 Jews repel an Arab attack in Petach Tikvah Palestine
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1939 Ted Williams' 1st hit (off of Yankee Red Ruffing) a double
Baseball Player Ted Williams
Baseball Player
Ted Williams
1940 1st electron microscope demonstrated (RCA), Philadelphia, Pa
1941 100 German bombers attack Athens
1941 Dodgers start to wear liners in their caps
1942 German occupiers forbids Dutch access to their beach
1943 Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi, fractures a leg
1944 Dutch Communist Party resistance fighter John Postma sentence to death
1944 NFL legalizes coaching from bench
1945 Cleveland Browns organization formed by Arthur "Mickey" McBride
1945 German occupiers flood Beemster & Fencer
1945 Soviet artillery begins shelling Berlin
1945 US 7th army captured German city of Nuremberg
1945 US forces conquer Motobu peninsula on Okinawa
1946 1st baseball broadcast in Chicago, Cards vs Cubs
1946 50th Boston Marathon won by Stylianos Kyriakides of Greece in 2:29:27
1947 Frederik IX becomes king of Denmark
1948 NYC hikes subway fare from 5 cents to 10 cents
1948 Walter P Reuther UAW pres shot & wounded at his home in Detroit
1949 Jockey Bill Shoemaker wins his 1st race, in Albany, California
1950 Balt's Memorial Stadium opens - Orioles of International League
1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
1951 Velsen city council demands investigation of police collaborators
1951 4th Cannes Film Festival: "Miss Julie" directed by Alf Sjoberg and "Miracle in Milan" directed by Vittorio De Sica jointly awarded the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1953 57th Boston Marathon won by Keizo Yamada of Japan in 2:18:51
1954 "Golden Apple" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 125 performances
1955 "Saint of Bleecker St" closes at Broadway Theater NYC after 92 performances
1957 61st Boston Marathon won by John J Kelley of Conn in 2:20:05
1957 Yankee Bill Skowron becomes 3rd player to hit a ball out of Fenway
1958 Buses replace Key System trains at 3 AM
Sport awardGolf Tournament
1958 Louise Suggs wins LPGA Babe Didrikson-Zaharias Golf Open
Golfer and Co-Founder of the LPGA Louise Suggs
Golfer and Co-Founder of the LPGA
Louise Suggs
1958 Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins 4 games to 2 for Stanley Cup
1958 Morocco demands departure of Spanish troops
1959 63rd Boston Marathon won by Eino Oksanen of Finland in 2:22:42
1960 "From A to Z" opens at Plymouth Theater NYC for 21 performances
1961 American Harold Graham makes 1st rocket belt flight
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1962 NASA civilian pilot Neil Armstrong takes X-15 to 63,250 m
Astronaut & 1st Man on the Moon Neil Armstrong
Astronaut & 1st Man on the Moon
Neil Armstrong
1962 New Orleans Citizens Co gives free 1-way ride to blacks to move North
1962 OAS-leader ex-general Salan arrested in Algiers
1963 "Sophie" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 8 performances
1963 -30] All Africa Conferences of Churches opens in Kampala Uganda
1963 10th National Film Awards (India): "Dada Thakur" wins the Golden Lotus
1964 68th Boston Marathon won by Aurele Vandendriessche of Belgium in 2:19:59
1964 86% of black students boycott Cleveland schools
1965 People's Republic China offers North Vietnam military aid
1966 WDCA TV channel 20 in Washington, D.C. (IND) begins broadcasting
1967 French author Régis Debray caught in Bolivia
1967 NY Met Tom Seaver's 1st victory, beats Cubs, 6-1
1967 US Surveyor 3 lands on Moon
1967 US planes bomb Haiphong for 1st time during Vietnam War
1967 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
1967 A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
1968 S Afr Boeing 707 crashes at Windhoek, 122 killed
1968 English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.
Event of interestEvent of Interest
1968 Pierre Trudeau sworn in as Canada's 15th Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Canada Pierre Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
1972 Apollo 16's Young & Duke land on Moon with Boeing Lunar Rover #2
1983 President Reagan signs a $165B bail out for Social Security