Fun On this date in history...

In 1864, the United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)

In 1942, director Douglas Trumbull, best-known for his work in movie VFX, was born in Los Angeles.

In 1946, the League of Nations assembled in Geneva for its final session.

In 1949, director John Madden (no, not that John Madden) was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Among his other projects, he directed all three of the “Star Wars” radio adaptations.

In 1970, the science fiction film “Colossus: The Forbin Project”, premiered in New York City.

In 1975, Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians became first black manager of a major league baseball team.

In 1981, General of the Army Omar N. Bradley died in New York City at age 88.

In 1990, Ryan White, the teenage AIDS patient whose battle for acceptance had gained national attention, died in Indianapolis at age 18.

Also in 1990, the cult TV series "Twin Peaks" premiered on ABC.

 

Stan Freberg, working with the great Mel Blanc:

 

April 9th...

193 – Lucius Septimius Severus is proclaimed Emperor by his troops in Illyricum (Balkans). He marches with his army (16 legions) to Rome.
475 – Byzantine Emperor Basiliscus issues a circular letter (Enkyklikon) to the bishops of his empire, supporting the Monophysite christological position.
537 – Siege of Rome: The Byzantine general Belisarius receives his promised reinforcements, 1,600 cavalry, mostly of Hunnic or Slavic origin and expert bowmen. He starts, despite shortages, raids against the Gothic camps and Vitiges is forced into a stalemate.
1241 – Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol forces defeat the Polish and German armies.
1288 – Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Yuan forces are defeated by Trần forces in the Battle of Bach Dang in present-day northern Vietnam.
1388 – Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Näfels.
1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England.
1440 – Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
1454 – The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among northern Italian city-states for almost 50 years.
1511 – St John's College, Cambridge, England, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort, receives its charter.
1585 – The expedition organised by Sir Walter Raleigh departs England for Roanoke Island (now in North Carolina) to establish the Roanoke Colony.
1609 – Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp to initiate twelve years of truce.
1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names it Louisiana.
1782 – American War of Independence: Battle of the Saintes begins.
1860 – On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice.
1865 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the war.
1867 – Alaska Purchase: Passing by a single vote, the United States Senate ratifies a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska.
1909 – The U.S. Congress passes the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.
1914 – Mexican Revolution: One of the world's first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico.
1916 – World War I: The Battle of Verdun: German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
1917 – World War I: The Battle of Arras: The battle begins with Canadian Corps executing a massive assault on Vimy Ridge.
1918 – World War I: The Battle of the Lys: The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps is crushed by the German forces during what is called the Spring Offensive on the Belgian region of Flanders.
1918 – The National Council of Bessarabia proclaims union with the Kingdom of Romania.
1937 – The Kamikaze arrives at Croydon Airport in London. It is the first Japanese-built aircraft to fly to Europe.
1939 – Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall.
1940 – World War II: Operation Weserübung: Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
1940 – Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
1942 – World War II: The Battle of Bataan/Bataan Death March: United States forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula. The Japanese Navy launches an air raid on Trincomalee in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire are sunk off the island's east coast.
1945 – World War II: The German pocket battleship Admiral Scheer is sunk by the Royal Air Force
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
1947 – The Glazier–Higgins–Woodward tornadoes kill 181 and injure 970 in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas.
1947 – The Journey of Reconciliation, the first interracial Freedom Ride begins through the upper South in violation of Jim Crow laws. The riders wanted enforcement of the United States Supreme Court's 1946 Irene Morgan decision that banned racial segregation in interstate travel.
1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán's assassination provokes a violent riot in Bogotá (the Bogotazo), and a further ten years of violence in Colombia known as La violencia.
1948 – Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
1952 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, starting a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalisation of tin mines
1957 – The Suez Canal in Egypt is cleared and opens to shipping.
1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven".
1960 – Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, Prime Minister of South Africa and architect of apartheid, narrowly survives an assassination attempt by a white farmer called David Pratt in Johannesburg.
1961 – The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, once the largest electric railway in the world, ends operations.
1965 – Astrodome opens. First indoor baseball game is played.
1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight.
1969 – The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford.
1975 – The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association, the second oldest professional basketball league in the world.
1975 – Eight people in South Korea, who are involved in People's Revolutionary Party Incident, are hanged.
1980 – The Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein kills philosopher Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda after three days of torture.
1981 – The U.S. Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington accidentally collides with the Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
1989 – The April 9 tragedy in Tbilisi, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, an anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strikes, demanding restoration of Georgian independence is dispersed by the Soviet army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union
1992 – A U.S. Federal Court finds former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering charges. He is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
1999 – Battle of Košare begins, part of Kosovo War.
2003 – Invasion of Iraq: Baghdad falls to American forces; Iraqis turn on symbols of their former leader Saddam Hussein, pulling down a grand statue of him and tearing it to pieces.
2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla Parker Bowles in a civil ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall.
2009 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.


04.09.84

At the 56th Academy Awards, Richard Edlund, Ken Ralston, Dennis Muren, and Phil Tippett receive a Special Achievement Award for Best Visual Effects for their work on Return of the Jedi

 

In 1898, actor/singer/athlete/activist Paul Robeson was born in Princeton, NJ.

In 1912, the first exhibition baseball game was held at Fenway Park in Boston. The game was between Red Sox and Harvard.

In 1913, the first game was played at Ebbets Field, the newly built home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 1-0.

In 1928, singer/songwriter/musician/satirist/mathematician Tom Lehrer was born in New York City.

In 1932, singer/songwriter Carl Perkins was born in Tiptonville, TN.

In 1945, German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, age 39, was executed by the Nazis at the Flossenburg concentration camp.

In 1965, the Rolling Stones made their first live TV appearance on “Ready Steady Go!”.

In 1970, Paul McCartney announced that he was quitting the Beatles. The same day, his solo LP “McCartney” was released in the U.K.

In 1976, the suspense movie “Family Plot”, Alfred Hitchcock’s last film, was released in the U.S.

In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger ended its first mission with a safe landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1984, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson were posthumously awarded the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for 1957's "The Bridge on the River Kwai". Foreman and Wilson were blacklisted in the '50s, so the original screenplay award for the film went to the author of the original story, Pierre Boulle.

In 1986, it was announced that Patrick Duffy's character of Bobby Ewing on the TV show “Dallas” would be returning after being killed off in the previous season.

In 2000, CBS-TV broadcast a new adaptation of "Fail-Safe," co-produced by and starring George Clooney. It was the first live full-length show to be aired by CBS in 39 years.

In 2001, principal photography finished on “Endgame”, the last episode of “Star Trek: Voyager”.

In 2004, the horror-comedy “Shaun of the Dead” was released in the U.K., just over a week after its London premiere.

 

People are still scratching their heads over that one.

 

​

Battling ******** of Bataan​

​

We're the battling ******** of Bataan;
No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam.
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces,
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces
And nobody give a ****​

Nobody gives a ****.​

 

April 10th...

428 – Nestorius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople.
837 – Halley's Comet makes its closest approach to Earth at a distance equal to 0.0342 AU (5.1 million kilometres/3.2 million miles).
879 – Louis III and Carloman II become joint Kings of the Western Franks.
1407 – The lama Deshin Shekpa visits the Ming Dynasty capital at Nanjing. He is awarded the title "Great Treasure Prince of Dharma".
1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
1710 – The Statute of Anne, the first law regulating copyright, comes into force in Great Britain.
1741 – War of the Austrian Succession (10 April 1755 – 2 July 1843): defeat for Austria at Mollwitz on this date.
1809 – Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.
1815 – The Mount Tambora volcano begins a three-month-long eruption, lasting until July 15. The eruption ultimately kills 71,000 people and affects Earth's climate for the next two years.
1816 – The Federal government of the United States approves the creation of the Second Bank of the United States.
1821 – Patriarch Gregory V of Constantinople is hanged by the Ottoman government from the main gate of the Patriarchate and his body is thrown into the Bosphorus.
1826 – The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year's siege by Turkish forces. Very few of them survive.
1856 – The Theta Chi fraternity is founded at Norwich University in Vermont.
1858 – After the original Big Ben, a 14.5 tonnes (32,000 lb) bell for the Palace of Westminster had cracked during testing, it is recast into the current 13.76 tonnes (30,300 lb) bell by Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
1864 – Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.
1865 – American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
1866 – The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is founded in New York City by Henry Bergh.
1868 – At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II. While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
1872 – The first Arbor Day is celebrated in Nebraska.
1887 – On Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIII authorizes the establishment of The Catholic University of America.
1904 – British mystic Aleister Crowley transcribes the third and final chapter of The Book of the Law.
1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
1916 – The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) is created in New York City.
1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
1925 – The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is first published in New York City, by Charles Scribner's Sons.
1941 – World War II: The Axis powers in Europe establish the Independent State of Croatia from occupied Yugoslavia with Ante Pavelić's Ustaše fascist insurgents in power.
1944 – Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from the Birkenau death camp.
1953 – Warner Bros. premieres the first 3-D film from a major American studio, entitled House of Wax.
1957 – The Suez Canal is reopened for all shipping after being closed for three months.
1959 – Akihito, future Emperor of Japan, marries Michiko.
1963 – One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
1968 – New Zealand inter-island ferry TEV Wahine founders and sinks at the mouth of Wellington Harbour.
1970 – Paul McCartney announces that he is leaving The Beatles for personal and professional reasons.
1971 – Ping-pong diplomacy: In an attempt to thaw relations with the United States, the People's Republic of China hosts the U.S. table tennis team for a week-long visit.
1972 – Twenty days after he is kidnapped in Buenos Aires, Oberdan Sallustro is murdered by communist guerrillas.
1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
1972 – Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
1972 – Seventy-four nations sign the Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the production of biological weapons.
1973 – A British Vickers Vanguard turboprop aircraft crashes in a snowstorm at Basel, Switzerland killing 104 people.
1979 – Red River Valley tornado outbreak: A tornado lands in Wichita Falls, Texas killing 42 people.
1988 – The Ojhri Camp disaster: Killing more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad as a result of rockets and other munitions expelled by the blast.
1991 – Italian ferry MS Moby Prince collides with an oil tanker in dense fog off Livorno, Italy killing 140.
1991 – A rare tropical storm develops in the South Atlantic Ocean near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.
1998 – Northern Ireland peace deal reached (Good Friday Agreement).
2009 – President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces he will suspend the constitution and assume all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
2010 – Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński and dozens of other senior officials
2014 – Kathleen Sebelius resigns as Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in light of fallout from the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov.


04.09.84

At the 56th Academy Awards, Richard Edlund, Ken Ralston, Dennis Muren, and Phil Tippett receive a Special Achievement Award for Best Visual Effects for their work on Return of the Jedi

 

In 1790, President George Washington signed the first United States Patent Act.

In 1932, German President Paul Von Hindenburg was re-elected in a runoff, with Adolf Hitler coming in second.

In 1947, Brooklyn Dodgers President Branch Rickey purchased the contract of Jackie Robinson from the Montreal Royals.

In 1952, director Elia Kazan testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, admitting that he was a Communist. He also named eight other actors and directors.

In 1957, the courtroom drama “12 Angry Men” premiered in Los Angeles.

In 1962, musician Stuart Sutcliffe, the original bass player for the Beatles, died in Hamburg, West Germany at age 21.

In 1967, the 13-day strike by the American Federation of Radio-TV Artists (AFTRA) came to an end less than two hours before the 39th Academy Awards presentation went on the air.

In 1981, “Star Wars” was re-released in theaters, now including the subtitle, “Episode IV: A New Hope”.

In 1994, Charles Kuralt hosted his last episode of "Sunday Morning" on CBS. Charles Osgood was his replacement.

In 2001, Kevin Olmstead of Ann Arbor, Michigan, won $2,180,000 on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." It's the largest prize ever given out on a TV game show.

 

04.11.95

Star Wars Droids: Rebellion #1 by Dark Horse Comics is published, featuring cover art by Kilian Plunkett

 

In 1689, William III and Mary II were crowned as joint sovereigns of Britain.

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln spoke to a crowd outside the White House, saying, "We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart." (It was the last public address Lincoln would deliver.)

In 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated as Emperor of the French and was banished to the island of Elba. (Napoleon later escaped from Elba and returned to power in March 1815, until his downfall in the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815.)

In 1899, the treaty ending the Spanish-American War was declared in effect.

In 1909, the city of Tel Aviv was founded.

In 1921, Iowa became the first state to impose a cigarette tax, at 2¢ a package.

Also in 1921, the first live sports event on radio took place this day on KDKA Radio. The event was a boxing match between Johnny Ray and Johnny Dundee.

In 1945, during World War II, American soldiers liberated the notorious Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Germany.

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball history. He played in an exhibition game for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In 1951, President Harry S. Truman relieved Gen. Douglas MacArthur of his commands in the Far East.

In 1961, the trial of Adolf Eichmann began in Jerusalem.

In 1963, Pope John XXIII issues his Pacem in Terris encyclical regarding the establishment of universal peace.

In 1965, dozens of tornadoes raked six Midwestern states on Palm Sunday, killing 271 people.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing.

In 1970, Apollo 13, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise and Jack Swigert, blasted off on its ill-fated mission to the Moon.

In 1979, Idi Amin was deposed as president of Uganda as rebels and exiles backed by Tanzanian forces seized control.

In 1999, on “Mystery Science Theater 3000”, the episode featuring the movie “Soultaker” was broadcast on the Sci-Fi Channel. It was the premiere episode of the tenth season, and featured return appearances by Joel Hodgson as Joel Robinson, and Frank Conniff as TV’s Frank.

In 2006, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully enriched uranium.

 

If I may...

ON APRIL 12th:

In 1606, England's King James I decreed the design of the original Union Flag, which combined the flags of England and Scotland.

In 1776, North Carolina's Fourth Provincial Congress authorized the colony's delegates to the Continental Congress to support independence from Britain.

In 1861, the American Civil War began as Confederate forces opened fire on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

In 1909, Irving A. Feinberg, property master for the original series “Star Trek”, was born inLos Angeles. He helped develop the look of many props on the series, and its unclear how many of them are still referred to as “feinbergers”.

In 1914, cinematographer Gilbert Taylor was born was born in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England. He was an Oscar-winner for “Star Wars” and worked on many other classics films, including “The Omen”, “Dr. Strangelove” and “A Hard Day’s Night”.

In 1932, musician Tiny Tim was born in Manhattan.

In 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the U.S., died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63. Later that day, Vice-President Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President of the U.S.

In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets recorded "Rock Around The Clock" at Pythian Temple Studios in New York City for Decca Records.

In 1955, the Salk vaccine against polio was declared safe and effective.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to fly in space, orbiting the earth once before making a safe landing.

In 1963, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested and jailed in Birmingham, Alabama, charged with contempt of court and parading without a permit. (During his time behind bars, King wrote his "Letter from Birmingham Jail.")

In 1966, Jan Berry of the duo Jan and Dean crashed his Corvette into a parked truck in Los Angeles. He suffered extensive brain damage and paralysis and needed several years of rehabilitation.

Also in 1966, Emmett Ashford became the first African-American major league umpire.

In 1979, the post-apocalypse thriller “Mad Max”, starring Mel Gibson, was released in Australia, where it was made.

In 1980, the novelization of “Star Wars: Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back” was published by Del-Rey. Readers were, thus, not as surprised as others were about Vader when the movie itself was released the following month.

In 1981, the space shuttle Columbia, manned by Mission Commander John Young and Pilot Robert L. Crippen, blasted off from Cape Canaveral on its first test flight.

Also in 1981, former world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis died in Las Vegas, NV, at age 66.

In 1985, Sen. Jake Garn, R-Utah, became the first sitting member of Congress to fly in space as the shuttle Discovery lifted off.

In 1990, in its first meeting, East Germany's first democratically elected parliament acknowledged responsibility for the Nazi Holocaust, and asked the forgiveness of Jews and others who had suffered.

In 1992, The Euro Disney Resort officially opens with its theme park Euro Disneyland, later changed to Disneyland Paris.

In 1996, commercials for the “Doctor Who” TV-movie starring Paul McGann started airing on the FOX network.

In 1999, US President Bill Clinton was cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.

In 2008, on “Doctor Who”, the episode “The Fires of Pompeii” was broadcast on BBC 1. The supporting cast included Karen Gillian (later to play Companion Amy Pond) and Peter Capaldi (later to play the Eleventh Doctor). We’re still waiting to see which fan theory over this similarity is officially confirmed.

 

Happy National Grilled Cheese day!

 

Forgot to commemorate this:

 

April 13th...

1111 – Henry V is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.
1204 – Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1598 – Henry IV of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
1612 – Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō at Funajima island.
1613 – Samuel Argall captures Native American princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia to ransom her for some English prisoners held by her father. She is brought to Henricus as hostage.
1699 – Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Tenth Sikh Guru, Created Khalsa on this day at Anandpur Sahib, Punjab.
1742 – George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world-premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1796 – The first elephant ever seen in the United States arrives from India.
1829 – The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.
1849 – Hungary becomes a republic.
1861 – American Civil War: Fort Sumter surrenders to Confederate forces.
1868 – The Abyssinian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Maqdala.
1870 – The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.
1873 – The Colfax massacre, in which more than 60 African Americans are murdered, takes place.
1902 – James C. Penney opens his first store in Kemmerer, Wyoming.
1909 – The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
1919 – The establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
1919 – Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British troops gun down at least 379 unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India; at least 1200 are wounded.
1919 – Eugene V. Debs is imprisoned at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia, for speaking out against the draft during World War I.
1941 – A Pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.
1943 – World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government in exile in London from the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
1943 – The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.
1944 – Diplomatic relations between New Zealand and the Soviet Union are established.
1945 – World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.
1945 – World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna, Austria.
1948 – The Hadassah medical convoy massacre: In an ambush, 79 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital and a British soldier are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarra near Jerusalem.
1953 – CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKULTRA.
1958 – Cold War: American Van Cliburn wins the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
1960 – The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.
1964 – At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.
1970 – An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the spacecraft while en route to the Moon.
1972 – The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.
1972 – Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
1974 – Western Union (in cooperation with NASA and Hughes Aircraft) launches the United States' first commercial geosynchronous communications satellite, Westar 1.
1975 – Bus massacre in Lebanon: An attack by the Phalangist resistance kills 26 militia members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, marking the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
1976 – The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.
1984 – India moves into Siachen Glacier thus annexing more territory from the Line of Control.
1987 – Portugal and the People's Republic of China sign an agreement in which Macau would be returned to China in 1999.
1992 – The Great Chicago flood devastates much of central Chicago.
1997 – Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.
2014 – A bus traveling from Villahermosa to Mexico City crashes into a tractor-trailer and catches fire, killing at least 36 people.


04.13.00

Screenwriter Jonathan Hales joins Episode II production to help George Lucas refine the final drafts of the script

 

In 1743, Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the United States, was born in Shadwell in the Virginia Colony.

In 1912, the Royal Flying Corps, a predecessor of Britain's Royal Air Force, was created.

Would you believe in 1923, actor/director Don Adams was born in New York City? Would you believe Chicago? How about Frostbite Falls, Minnesota?

In 1942, composer/conductor Bill Conti was born in Providence, RI.

In 1945, actor/director/producer Tony Dow was born in Hollywood, CA. Best-known for playing Wally on “Leave it to Beaver”, he also supervised the VFX for the McGann movie.

In 1946, singer/songwriter/pastor Rev. Al Green was born in Forrest City, AR.

In 1951, Peter Davison was born in Streatham, London, England. His Doctorates (both of them) would come along later.

In 1963, The New York Mets played their first home game. The game was played at the Polo Grounds.

In 1965, at the Grammy Awards, The Beatles captured the best new artist award and won the best group performance award for "A Hard Day's Night."

Also in 1965, The Beatles recorded the song 'Help!' during an evening recording session at Abbey Road in London.

In 1967, The Rolling Stones played their first concert behind the Iron Curtain, in Warsaw, Poland. Riot police had to step in to deal with 2,000 people who weren't able to get tickets.

Also in 1967, “Operation – Annihilate!”, the last episode of the first season of the original series “Star Trek” was broadcast on NBC-TV. It was the only episode of the series to feature members of the family of Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), including Kirk’s brother Sam (also played by William Shatner, if briefly).

In 1971, The Rolling Stones released "Brown Sugar," the first record on their own label, Rolling Stone Records.

In 1979, “Love at First Bite”, starring George Hamilton as Count Dracula, premiered in New York City.

In 1984, actor Richard Hurndall, who played the First Doctor in “The Five Doctors”, died in London at age 73.

In 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the Great Synagogue of Rome in the first recorded papal visit of its kind to a Jewish house of worship.

 

04.14.13

Star Wars: The Old Republic -- Rise of the Hutt Cartel expansion is released