March 24th
 

1874 ~ Birthday of Harry Houdini, Magician.

1882 ~ Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.

1882 ~ Death of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Poet.

1893 ~ Birthday of Walter Baade, Astronomer.

1905 ~ Death of Jules Verne, Author.

1944 ~ In occupied Rome, the Nazis executed more than 300 civilians in reprisal for an attack by Italian partisans the day before that killed 32 German soldiers.

1965 ~ Ranger 9 broadcast live TV as it crashed-landed onto the Moon.

1980 ~ Archbishop Óscar Romero was killed by gunmen while celebrating Mass in San Salvador.

1989 ~ The Exxon Valdez spilled 270,000 barrels of oil after running aground in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

1999 ~ NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia. This marked the first time NATO attacked a sovereign nation.

March 25th
 

1634 ~ The first settlers arrived in Maryland (led by Lord Baltimore).

1807 ~ The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing slavery in the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1867 ~ Birthday of Arturo Toscanini, Conductor.

1881 ~ Birthday of Béla Bartók, Composer.

1918 ~ Death of Claude Debussy, Composer.

1942 ~ Birthday of Aretha Franklin, Singer.

1957 ~ The European Economic Community was established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg).

1975 ~ King Faisal of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness.

1992 ~ Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev returned to Earth from the Mir space station after a 10-month stay, during which his native country, the Soviet Union, ceased to exist.

1998 ~ President Clinton acknowledged during his Africa tour that "we did not act quickly enough" to stop the slaughter of one million Rwandans four years earlier.

March 26th
 

1827 ~ Death of Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer.

1874 ~ Birthday of Robert Frost, Poet.

1892 ~ Death of Walt Whitman, Poet.

1904 ~ Birthday of Joseph Campbell, Author & Mythologist.

1911 ~ Birthday of Tennessee Williams, Playwright.

1964 ~ The musical “Funny Girl”, starring Barbra Streisand, opened on Broadway.

1979 ~ Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin and Jimmy Carter signed the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty in Washington, DC.

1981 ~ The "Gang of Four", Roy Jenkins, David Owen, William Rodgers and Shirley Williams, founded the Social Democratic Party.

1997 ~ The 39 Heaven's Gate cult suicides.

1999 ~ The Melissa worm infected e-mail systems around the world.

March 27th
 

1836 ~ Antonio López de Santa Anna ordered the Mexican army to kill about 400 Texans at Goliad, Texas.

1845 ~ Birthday of Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, physicist, awarded the first Nobel Prize in physics.

1863 ~ Birthday of Sir Henry Royce, automobile pioneer.

1871 ~ First international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place.

1886 ~ Birthday of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Architect.

1958 ~ Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the USSR.

1968 ~ Death of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.

1972 ~ Death of M. C. Escher, Dutch artist.

1977 ~ A KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on the Canary Island of Tenerife, killing 582 people.

2002 ~ Passover Massacre: A suicide bomber killed 28 people in Netanya, Israel.

March 27th
 

1903 ~ Chicago's National League baseball team, which had previously been known as the White Stockings, Colts, Cowboys, Broncos, Rainmakers, and Orphans, is referred to as the Cubs by Fred Hayner and George Rice of the Chicago Daily News, because of the number of young players on the team. The paper even created a logo, as the name would stick.

March 28th
 

1881 ~ Death of Modest Mussorgsky, Russian composer.

1903 ~ Birthday of Rudolf Serkin, Austrian pianist.

1910 ~ Henri Fabre becomes the first man to fly a seaplane after taking off from a water runway near Martigues, France.

1939 ~ Generalissimo Franco entered Madrid, essentially ending the Spanish Civil War.

1943 ~ Death of Sergei Rachmaninoff, composer and pianist.

1947 ~ The last episode of the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century played on radio.

1965 ~ Conclusion of the 'Selma to Montgomey' Civil Rights march.

1979 ~ One of the nuclear reactors at Three Mile Island was severely damaged in what remains as the largest nuclear incident in U.S. history.

1987 ~ Death of Maria von Trapp, Singer.

2004 ~ Death of Peter Ustinov, Actor.

March 29th
 

1799 ~ New York passed a law aimed at abolishing slavery in the state.

1867 ~ Queen Victoria gave Royal Assent to the British North America Act which established the Dominion of Canada on July 1.

1899 ~ Birthday of Lavrenty Beria, Soviet Communist leader.

1912 ~ Death of Robert Falcon Scott, Explorer.

1973 ~ The last U.S. troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.

1981 ~ First running of the London Marathon.

1982 ~ Queen Elizabeth gave Royal Assent to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.

1984 ~ The Baltimore Colts of the NFL moved to Indianapolis in the middle of the night.

2004 ~ Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia join NATO as full members.

2004 ~ Death of Alistair Cook, Journalist.

March 30th
 

1135 ~ Birthday of Moses Maimonides, Medieval Jewish Philosopher.

1746 ~ Birthday of Francisco Goya, Spanish painter and engraver.

1842 ~ Anesthesia (ether) was used for the first time in an operation.

1853 ~ Birthday of Vincent van Gogh, Painter.

1870 ~ Texas was readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.

1951 ~ Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage.

1951 ~ Remington Rand delivered the first UNIVAC I computer to the U.S. Census Bureau.

1977 ~ Death of Sergey Ilyushin, Russian aerospace engineer.

1981 ~ President Reagan was shot and seriously injured.

1998 ~ German automaker BMW bought Rolls-Royce for $570 million.

March 31st
 

1621 ~ Birthday of Andrew Marvell, English poet.

1732 ~ Birthday of Joseph Haydn, Composer.

1837 ~ Death of John Constable, Painter.

1855 ~ Death of Charlotte Brontë, Author.

1918 ~ Daylight Savings Time went into effect in the United States for the first time.

1959 ~ The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, crossed the border into India and was granted political asylum.

1968 ~ President Johnson announced he would not run for re-election.

1970 ~ After 12 years in orbit, Explorer 1 burnt up when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere.

1991 ~ The end of the Warsaw Pact.

1995 ~ Latina superstar Selena was killed by the president of her fan club.

April 1st
 

1815 ~ Birthday of Otto von Bismarck, Politician.

1884 ~ Birthday of Florence Blanchfield, the first woman to receive a regular commission in the U.S. Army.

1873 ~ Birthday of Sergei Rachmaninoff, Composer, Pianist & Conductor.

1917 ~ Death of Scott Joplin, Musician & Composer.

1918 ~ The Royal Flying Corps was replaced by the Royal Air Force.

1945 ~ World War II: U.S. forces invaded Okinawa.

1970 ~ President Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and TV.

1976 ~ Apple Computer Company was formed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

2001 ~ Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested and taken to prison.

2001 ~ A U.S. intelligence gathering plane collided with a PRC Army fighter jet. The Navy crew made an emergency landing in Hainan, PRC and was detained.

Feastdays & Holidays

April Fools Day

April 2nd
 

1725 ~ Birthday of Giacomo Casanova, adventurer and writer.

1805 ~ Birthday of Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer.

1875 ~ Birthday of Walter Chrysler, automobile pioneer.

1917 ~ President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany.

1917 ~ The first woman ever elected to the U.S. Congress, Jeannette Rankin, took her seat as a representative from Montana.

1966 ~ Death of C.S. Forester, Author.

1978 ~ Dallas premiered on CBS, beginning a 13-year run.

1982 ~ Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands, starting the war.

1986 ~ A grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter were sucked out of a TWA jet when it was bombed by a group calling itself the Ezzedine Kassam Unit of the Arab Revolutionary Cells

2005 ~ Death of Pope John Paul II.

April 3rd
 

1882 ~ Death of Jesse James (shot in the back and killed for the reward).

1895 ~ The libel trial started by Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensbury began, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

1897 ~ Death of Johannes Brahms, Composer.

1901 ~ Death of Richard D'Oyly Carte, Impresario.

1934 ~ Birthday of Jane Goodall, Zoologist.

1946 ~ Masaharu Homma, the Japanese general responsible for the Bataan Death March, was executed in the Philippines.

1948 ~ President Truman signed the Marshall Plan.

1991 ~ Death of Graham Greene, English writer.

1996 ~ Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski was arrested at his Montana cabin.

2000 ~ Microsoft was ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws.

April 4th
 

1884 ~ Birthday of Isoroku Yamamoto, naval commander.

1885 ~ Birthday of Arthur Murray, dancer.

1902 ~ British financier Cecil Rhodes left £6 million in his will to provide scholarships for Americans at Oxford University in England.

1949 ~ Twelve nations signed The North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

1964 ~ The Beatles occupied all of the top five positions on the Billboard singles chart in the United States.

1968 ~ Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

1979 ~ Death of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan Prime Minister (hanged).

1984 ~ President Reagan called for an international ban on chemical weapons.

1984 ~ Winston Smith, the main character of George Orwell's book Nineteen Eighty-Four, began writing in his secret diary.

1994 ~ Netscape Communications Corporation was founded by Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark.

April 5th
 

1588 ~ Birthday of Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher.

1614 ~ In Virginia, Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe.

1792 ~ President Washington cast the first presidential veto, rejecting a congressional measure for apportioning representatives among the states.

1827 ~ Birthday of Joseph Lister, Surgeon.

1908 ~ Birthday of Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor.

1930 ~ In an act of civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi breaks British law after marching to the sea and making salt.

1942 ~ The Japanese Imperial Navy attacked Colombo, Sri Lanka, and sank the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire southwest of the island.

1951 ~ Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for spying for the Soviet Union.

1964 ~ Death of General Douglas MacArthur, US Army.

1976 ~ Death of Howard Hughes, aviation pioneer.

April 6th
 

1528 ~ Death of Albrecht Dürer, Artist.

1866 ~ Birthday of Butch Cassidy, Outlaw.

1909 ~ Robert Peary and Matthew Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole.

1917 ~ The United States declared war on Germany.

1928 ~ Birthday of James D. Watson, Geneticist, co-discoverer of structure of DNA, awarded 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

1933 ~ Hostess Twinkies were invented.

1971 ~ Death of Igor Stravinsky, Composer.

1992 ~ Death of Isaac Asimov, Science-fiction author.

1994 ~ The presidents of Rwanda and Burundi were killed in a plane crash near Rwanda's capital.

2001 ~ Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, accused of bringing explosives into the U.S. days before the millennium celebrations, was convicted twice in the same day - first in France for belonging to a group supporting Islamic militants, then in Los Angeles on terror charges.

...a bad day for Ahmed.

Poor Ahmed, tough audience.

April 7th
 

1614 ~ Death of El Greco (Domenikos Theotocopoulos), artist.

1770 ~ Birthday of William Wordsworth, English poet.

1795 ~ France adopted the meter as the unit of length.

1862 ~ Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant defeated the Confederates at the battle of Shiloh in Tennessee.

1891 ~ Death of P. T. Barnum, Circus Impresario.

1947 ~ Death of Henry Ford, automobile manufacturer and industrialist.

1953 ~ Dag Hammarskjöld was elected United Nations Secretary General.

1964 ~ IBM announced the System/360.

1968 ~ Death of Jim Clark, racing driver.

1969 ~ The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of First Request for Comment (RFC).

April 8th
 

1820 ~ The Venus de Milo was discovered on the Aegean island of Melos.

1848 ~ Death of Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer.

1889 ~ Birthday of Sir Adrien Boult, English Conductor.

1945 ~ Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed at the POW camp at Flossenbürg.

1953 ~ Jomo Kenyatta was convicted of being a member of the Mau Mau.

1973 ~ Death of Pablo Picasso, artist.

1974 ~ Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves hit his 715th career home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record.

1975 ~ Frank Robinson managed his first game as major league baseball's first African American manager.

1983 ~ Death of Omar Bradley, general.

2005 ~ The funeral of Pope John Paul II.

Zimbabwe had an excellent model in Kenya, murder and disruption.

April 9th
 

1865 ~ Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.

1906 ~ Birthday of Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor.

1940 ~ Operation Weserübung: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.

1942 ~ HMS Hermes and Royal Australian Navy Destroyer HMAS Vampire were sunk off Ceylon’s (Sri Lanka) east coast by Japanese naval aircraft.

1926 ~ Birthday of Hugh Hefner, Editor & Publisher.

1928 ~ Birthday of Tom Lehrer, Musician & Satirist.

1959 ~ Death of Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect.

1974 ~ Birthday of Jenna Jameson, porn star.

1991 ~ Georgia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

2003 ~ Iraqis celebrated the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, beheading a toppled statue of the dictator in downtown Baghdad.

Coincidence? I think not...

Cynic.

April 10th
 

1847 ~ Birthday of Joseph Pulitzer, Journalist & Publisher.

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic left port in Southampton, England.

1919 ~ Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata was ambushed and killed by government forces.

1932 ~ Birthday of Omar Sharif, Egyptian actor (Doctor Zhivago, anad many others).

1947 ~ Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in MLB.

1954 ~ Death of Auguste Lumière, Cinema Pioneer.

1963 ~ The American submarine USS Thresher and its crew was lost off Cape Cod, Mass.

1966 ~ Death of Evelyn Waugh, Writer.

1970 ~ Paul McCartney announced that The Beatles had broken up.

1998 ~ The Belfast Agreement was signed.

April 11th
 

1814 ~ Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to Elba.

1893 ~ Birthday of Dean Acheson, former U.S. Secretary of State.

1906 ~ Death of James Bailey, co-founder with Phineas Barnum of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.

1932 ~ Birthday of Joel Grey, American singer and actor.

1945 ~ U.S. forces liberated Buchenwald concentration camp.

1951 ~ President Truman replaced General MacArthur with Lieutenant-General Ridgway.

1961 ~ Bob Dylan made his singing début in New York City.

1961 ~ Start of war crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann.

1979 ~ Idi Amin deposed as president of Uganda.

2007 ~ Death of Kurt Vonnegut, American author.

April 12th
 

65 ~ Death of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Philosopher, Dramatist & Statesman.

1861 ~ The American Civil War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina.

1895 ~ Birthday of Lily Pons, Opera Soprano.

1937 ~ Frank Whittle ground-tested the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft.

1940 ~ Birthday of Herbie Hancock, Musician.

1944 ~ Birthday of John Kay, of Steppenwolf.

1945 ~ President Franklin Roosevelt died.

1961 ~ Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space aboard Vostok 1.

1980 ~ Death of William R. Tolbert, Jr., President of Liberia (Disemboweled by assassins).

1984 ~ Arthur Scargill, the man who led the destruction of the National Union of Mineworkers ruled out a national ballot of miners on whether to continue their strike.

April 13th
 

1570 ~ Birthday of Guy Fawkes, Gunpowder Plot conspirator.

1598 ~ Henry IV of France granted freedom of religion to Hguenots.

1742 ~ George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah premiered in Dublin, Ireland.

1743 ~ Birthday of Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President.

1826 ~ Death of Franz Danzi, German composer.

1829 ~ The British Parliament granted freedom of religion to Roman Catholics.

1892 ~ Birthday of Arthur Harris, commander of RAF's Bomber Command in World War II.

1964 ~ Sidney Poitier broke the color barrier when he was awarded the “Best Actor” Oscar.

1970 ~ Apollo 13 was almost lost when a tank containing liquid oxygen burst.

1990 ~ The Soviet Union admitted committing the Katyn Massacre.

Hadn't heard of Katyn. We're a lovely species.

2000 - Metallica, along with E/M Ventures and Creeping Deaths Music _ all copyright owners of sound recordings and musical compositions created by the veteran hard rock outfit _ jointly file suit against Napster, Inc., the University of Southern California, Yale University, and Indiana University to halt alleged pirating of Metallica music.

1999 - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers release… — 1999 - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers release their album Echo.

1986 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Kiss,” Prin… — 1986 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Kiss,” Prince & the Revolution.

1982 - David Crosby is arrested on charges of drug… — 1982 - David Crosby is arrested on charges of drug possession in Dallas. It’s the second time in three weeks he’s been busted in the Texas city.

1979 - Dave Lee Roth collapses from exhaustion onstage… — 1979 - Dave Lee Roth collapses from exhaustion onstage in Spokane, Wash., during a Van Halen concert.

1974 - Wings: Band on the Run: US… — 1974 - Wings: Band on the Run: US LP is no. 1 chart topper.

1973 - Roger Daltrey releases first solo LP, produced… — 1973 - Roger Daltrey releases first solo LP, produced by Adam Faith, entitled Daltrey.

1969 - Led Zeppelin Headlines at Kimbells in Southsea, UK… — 1969 - Led Zeppelin Headlines at Kimbells in Southsea, Songs performed during this period include: Train Kept a Rollin’, I Can’t Quit You Baby, Dazed and Confused, As Long As I Have, You, Killing Floor, White Summer / Black Mountainside, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, You Shook Me, How Many More Times, Communication Breakdown, Pat’s Delight (drum solo).

1967 - The Rolling Stones give their first perform… — 1967 - The Rolling Stones give their first performance behind the Iron Curtain. Warsaw, Poland’s Palace of Culture. Police use tear gas to subdue 2,000 fans.

1966 - At Abbey Road, the Beatles record “Paperback Writer.” — 1966 - At Abbey Road, the Beatles record “Paperback Writer.”

1965 - Beatles rename Eight Arms to Hold You… — 1965 - Beatles rename Eight Arms to Hold You. Song becomes Help and is recorded at Abbey Road.

1964 - The Beatles announce that the title of their first… — 1964 - The Beatles announce that the title of their first film is A Hard Day’s Night.

1962 - The Star Club opens in Hamburg, with the Beatles as its house band. The association between the group and venue would later make the Star Club world famous.

1957 - Elvis Presley: All Shook Up US 45… — 1957 - Elvis Presley: All Shook Up US 45 i sno. 1 chart topper.

Alas, all too true. Nasties everywhere.

April 14th
 

1629 ~ Birthday of Christiaan Huygens, Mathematician.

1759 ~ Death of Georg Friedrich Handel, Composer.

1865 ~ President Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth.

1904 ~ Birthday of Sir John Gielgud, Actor.

1912 ~ RMS Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage.

1935 ~ Death of Emmy Noether, Mathematician.

1939 ~ ''The Grapes of Wrath'' by John Steinbeck was published.

1964 ~ Death of Rachel Carson, Writer & Ecologist.

1988 ~ The USSR pledged to leave Afghanistan.

1999 ~ A hailstorm in Sydney, Australia caused at least A$1.7 billion damages.

1980 - Pete Townshend releases his solo album Empty Glass.

1980 - Bruce Springsteen: A resolution is introduced in the New Jersey Assembly to make Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” the official state song. The resolution fails to be passed.

1980 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Call Me,” Blondie. Chart Toppers ranks the song as the No. 1 single of 1980.

1974 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” MFSB featuring the Three Degrees. The song is the theme to the TV program “Soul Train.”

1969 - The Beatles record “The Ballad of John and Yoko” at Abbey Road.

1969 - Led Zeppelin enter the English albums chart with their self-titled debut in its third week of release.

1967 - David Bowie releases his novelty single “The Laughing Gnome.” Using music hall stylings and a sped-up voice, the song becomes a hit only in 1983.

1965 - The Beatles announce that the title of their second film has been changed from Eight Arms to Hold You to Help!

1965 - Elvis Presley’s latest film, Girl Happy, opens nationwide.

1963 - The Beatles are introduced to the Rolling Stones for the first time backstage in Richmond, England. George Harrison says he’s particularly impressed by the unsigned band’s performance.

1955 - Fats Domino releases “Ain’t That a Shame.”

April 15th
 

1452 ~ Birthday of Leonardo da Vinci.

1707 ~ Birthday of Leonhard Euler, Mathematician.

1802 ~ William Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy come across a "long belt" of daffodils, inspiring him to write "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".

1912 ~ The RMS Titanic sank.

1912 ~ Birthday of Kim Il-sung, "Great Leader" & President of North Korea .

1924 ~ Birthday of Sir Neville Marriner, Conductor.

1945 ~ British & Canadian troops liberate Bergen-Belsen

1955 ~ The first McDonald's restaurant opened in Des Plaines, Illinois.

1994 ~ Representatives of 124 countries signed the Marrakesh Agreements which replaced the GATT with the WTO.

1998 ~ Death of Pol Pot, Cambodian Dictator.

2003 - Reggae artist Ziggy Marley releases his first solo album, “Dragonfly,” via Private Music. The oldest son of Bob Marley, the artist fronted the Melody Makers through nine studio albums on Capitol, Virgin, and Elektra.

2003 - Fleetwood Mac release their album Say You Will. The disc reunites the band with AWOL songwriter Lindsey Buckingham, but vocalist Christine McVie opts to sit this one out. Say You Will enters the chart at No. 3.

2003 - Heartland rocker Melissa Etheridge announces she’s become engaged to her partner of two years, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels.

2001 - Joey Ramone (Jeffrey Hyman), the gangly punk rock icon whose signature yelp melded with the Ramones’ three-chord thrash to signify the New York punk revolution, dies at the age of 49 of complications from lymphoma.

1996 - Jerry Garcia’s ashes are scattered near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. A portion of the remains of the Grateful Dead guitarist had already been deposited into the Ganges in India.

1982 - Billy Joel breaks a wrist when his motorcycle and an auto collide. He is hospitalized and has surgery.

1977 - Lynyrd Skynyrd give a gold album for One More for the Road to Atlanta Mayor Maynard Jackson. The band donates another gold record to Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, where the double live album was recorded.

1973 - Topping the singles charts are Tony Orlando & Dawn with the shamelessly sentimental “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.”

1971 - The Beatles win an Oscar for Best Film Music (Original Song Score) for the Paul McCartney-penned “Let It Be.”

1971 - Rolling Stone announces that the Illinois Crime Commission has compiled a list of “drug-oriented rock records.” The list includes Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

1969 - Archie Bell of the Drells is released from military service after a tour of Vietnam.

1962 - Chart Toppers No. 1 Pop Hit: “Good Luck Charm,” Elvis Presley.

1951 - Chart Toppers No. 1 Pop Hit: “How High the Moon,” Les Paul & Mary Ford.

April 16th
 

1867 ~ Birthday of Wilbur Wright, Pioneer Pilot.

1889 ~ Birthday of Charlie Chaplin, Actor, Writer & Film Producer.

1912 ~ Harriett Quimby became the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.

1918 ~ Birthday of Spike Milligan, Comedian.

1921 ~ Birthday of Peter Ustinov, Writer, Actor & Film Director.

1927 ~ Birthday of Joseph Ratzinger, German Shepard.

1943 ~ Dr. Albert Hofmann discovered the psychedelic effects of LSD.

1947 ~ The explosive nature of ammonium nitrate fertilizer first tested in the wild.

1947 ~ Bernard Baruch coined the term Cold War to describe the relationship between the U.S. and the USSR.

1993 ~ The UN voted to make Srebrenica a 'safe haven'.

2003 - Soul/R&B legend Luther Vandross is hospitalized after suffering a stroke. The artist is hospitalized and begins a slow recovery.

2001 - 63-year-old American composer John Corigliano wins the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in music for his “Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra.

1999 - Hip-hop entrepreneur and superstar Sean “Puffy” Combs turns himself in for and is charged in connection with an alleged assault in New York of Interscope Records executive Steven Scoute. Sources confirm that the beating came as a result of Nas video Hate Me Now, in which the artist and Combs, who participated in the shoot for the song willingly, are depicted hanging from crosses in mock crucifixion.

1994 - Bonnie Raitt : Longing In Their Hearts : US LP is no. 1 chart topper.

1994 - Jazz crooner and pianist Harry Connick Jr. marries model and video director Jill Goodacre in New Orleans.

1993 - David Lee Roth is busted by police after allegedly buying marijuana in New York’s Washington Square Park.

1993 - Billy Burnette announces he’s leaving Fleetwood Mac. He wants to concentrate on recording country music.

1993 - Paul McCartney headlines an Earth Day concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Ringo Starr, Steve Miller and Don Henley. He hasn’t performed there since he appeared with the Beatles in 1965.

1990 - At London’s Wembley Stadium, artists including Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Simple Minds, and Tracy Chapman take part in a musical celebration of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.

1977 - Fleetwood Mac release “Dreams,” which becomes their first chart-topping single.

1976 - When songwriter Boz Scaggs tries to go backstage at the Austin club Antone’s to see Bobby “Blue” Bland, he’s knocked out by two bouncers.

1974 - Queen play their first American concert at Denver’s Regis College.

1973 - Paul McCartney appears in the TV special James Paul McCartney with his wife, Linda, and his band Wings.

1972 - Electric Light Orchestra makes its live debut at the Greyhound Club in Surrey, England. The group has seven top 10 hits, the biggest of which is “Don’t Bring Me Down” in 1979.

1966 - Simon and Garfunkel’s Sounds of Silence enters UK LP chart.

1965 - Hollies open their first US tour at the Paramount Theatre, Brooklyn.

1964 - Animals debut on UK chart with Baby Let Me Take You Home.

1963 - The Beatles perform on BBC TV for the first time on The 625 Show.

1956 - Rock `n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly’s first single, “Blue Days, Black Nights,” is released.

April 17th
 

1521 ~ Martin Luther appeared before the Holy Roman Emperor at Worms, Germany, and was cross-examined about his thoughts on religious reform.

1741 ~ Birthday of Samuel Chase, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

1790 ~ Death of Benjamin Franklin, Politician, Inventor, Diplomat, & Printer.

1837 ~ Birthday of J.P. Morgan, Financier, Art Collector, & Philanthropist.

1861 ~ The Virginia State Convention voted to secede from the Union.

1894 ~ Birthday of Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet politician & Premier 1958-1964.

1903 ~ Birthday of Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist.

1961 ~ Cuba was invaded at the “Bay of Pigs” by a U.S. supported invasion force of 1,500 Cuban exiles, who were defeated by Fidel Castro's forces.

1984 ~ Police Constable Yvonne Fletcher was killed by gunfire coming from the Libyan People's Bureau in central London.

2003 ~ Death of Dr. Robert Atkins, noted for the Atkin's Diet.

1995 - Courtney Love and her band Hole perform for the sixth season premiere of MTV’s Unplugged.

1986 - Following the American bombing of Libya, Stevie Ray Vaughan cancels his European tour in fear of reprisals.

1982 - Iron Maiden’s The Number of the Beast hits No. 1 on the British albums charts.

1982 - Paul McCartney becomes the first composer to have simultaneous hits on the black and country music charts.

1980 - Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley performs at the Independence Day celebration in Salisbury, Zimbabwe.

1979 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Knock on Wood,” Amii Stewart. The single is a disco rendition of Eddie Floyd’s song.

1971 - All four Beatles have solo singles in UKcharts: Paul McCartney: Another Day, Ringo Starr: It Don’t come Baby, John Lennon, Power To The People and George Harrison: My Sweet Lord.

1970 - Johnny Cash performs at the White House. President Nixon requests “A Boy Named Sue.”

1969 - The Band step out from behind Bob Dylan for the first time to perform solo at San Francisco’s Winterland auditorium.

1964 - Leading the band Them, an 18-year-old Van Morrison rocks the Maritime Hotel, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is the group’s debut performance.

1955 - Fats Domino’s Ain’t That a Shame released in US is no. 1 chart topper.

April 18th
 

1480 ~ Birthday of Lucrezia Borgia, Renaissance ruler and daughter of Pope Alexander VI.

1772 ~ Birthday of David Ricardo, Economist.

1775 ~ Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode to warn of impending arrests of Samuel Adams and John Hancock and seizure of weapons.

1819 ~ Birthday of Franz von Suppé, Croatian /Austrian composer.

1955 ~ Death of Albert Einstein, Physicist.

1958 ~ A federal court ruled that poet Ezra Pound should be released from an insane asylum.

1980 ~ Independence Day in Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia).

1978 ~ The U.S. Senate narrowly backed President Carter's controversial Panama Canal treaty.

1983 ~ A suicide bomber destroyed the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.

1999 ~ Wayne Gretzky played his last National Hockey League game, at Madison Square Garden in New York.

1998 - Country group Diamond Rio are inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. The band opens their performance with their first number one hit “Meet in the Middle.

1992 - Albums by Def Leppard, Bruce Springsteen and Wynonna debut in the top four spots on Chart Toppers’s pop album chart. The albums are Def Leppard’s “Adrenalize,” Springsteen’s “Human Touch” and “Lucky Town” and Wynonna’s “Wynonna.” (Wynonna Judd launches her solo career with the album and drops her last name to distance herself from her success as half of the mother-daughter duo The Judds.)

1983 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Come on Eileen,” Dexys Midnight Runners.

1977 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” Thelma Houston

1965 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “Game of Love,” Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders.

1944 - No. 1 Chart Toppers Pop Hit: “It’s Love-Love-Love,” Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians. It is one of Lombardo’s 26 No. 1 pop songs. Lombardo’s is the only dance band to ever sell more than 100 million records.

April 18th
 

1906 ~ An earthquake with a magnitude estimated of up to 8.3 rattled the San Francisco Bay Area and was felt up and down the West Coast of the United States.