On this day | April 18th

On this day: April 18th

Credit/Source: Wikipedia

796 King Æthelred I of Northumbria is murdered in Coria (Corbridge) by a group led by his ealdormen, Ealdred and Wada. The ''patrician'' Osbald of Northumbria is crowned, but abdicates within 27 days.

1428 Peace of Ferrara between Republic of Venice, Duchy of Milan, Republic of Florence and House of Gonzaga: ending of the second campaign of the Wars in Lombardy fought until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454, which will then guarantee the conditions for the development of the Italian Renaissance.

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 Lutheranism despite the risk of excommunication.

1689 Bostonians rise up 1689 Boston revolt against Sir Edmund Andros.

1738 ''Real Academia de la Historia'' ("Royal Academy of History") is founded in Madrid.

1775 American Revolution: The British Army during the American Revolutionary War advances up the Charles River in Province of Massachusetts Bay to destroy supplies of American militia, while Paul Revere and other riders Paul Revere's midnight ride.

1783 Three-Fifths Compromise: The first instance of black slaves in the United States of America being counted as three-fifths of persons (for the purpose of taxation), in a resolution of the Congress of the Confederation. This was later adopted in the 1787 Constitution.

1831 The University of Alabama is founded in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

1847 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 Kardecist spiritism in France.

1864 Battle of Dybbøl: A Kingdom of Prussia-Austrian Empire army defeats Denmark and gains control of Duchy of Schleswig. Denmark surrenders the province in the following peace settlement.

1897 The Greco-Turkish War (1897) is declared between Greece and the Ottoman Empire.

1899 The St. Andrew's Ambulance Association is granted a royal charter by Queen Victoria.

1902 The 7.5 1902 Guatemala earthquake shakes Guatemala with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale of VIII (''Severe''), killing between 800 and 2,000.

1906 The 7.9 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco, California, killing more than 3,000 people, making one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

1909 Joan of Arc is beatified in Rome.

1912 The Cunard Line liner brings 705 survivors from the to New York City.

1915 World War I: French pilot Roland Georges Garros is shot down and glides to a landing on the German side of the lines.

1916 World War I: During a Mines on the Italian front (World War I) on the Dolomites, the Italian troops conquer the Col di Lana held by the Austrian army.

1930 1930 Costești wooden church fire at a wooden church in the small Romanian town of Costești, most of them schoolchildren, after starting during Good Friday services.

1938 Superman debuts in Action Comics 1 (cover dated June 1938).

1939 Robert Menzies, who became Australia's longest-serving prime minister, is 1939 United Australia Party leadership election as leader of the United Australia Party after the death of Prime Minister Joseph Lyons.

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 World War II: Over 1,000 bombers attack the small island of Heligoland, Germany.

1945 Italian resistance movement: In Turin, despite the harsh repressive measures adopted by Nazi-fascists, a great pre-insurrectional strike begins.

1946 The International Court of Justice holds its inaugural meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.

1946 Jackie Robinson makes his regular season debut for the Montreal Royals of the International League, to make them the first integrated modern professional baseball team.

1947 The Operation Big Bang, the largest non-nuclear man-made explosion to that time, destroys bunkers and military installations on the North Sea island of Heligoland, Germany.

1949 The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 comes into force, declaring ''Éire'' to be a republic and severing Ireland "association" with the Commonwealth of Nations.

1954 Gamal Abdel Nasser seizes power in Egypt.

1955 Twenty-nine nations meet at Bandung, Indonesia, for the first Asian-African Conference.

1972 East African Airways Flight 720 crashes during a rejected takeoff from Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 43.

1980 The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.

1980 The town of Elmore City, Oklahoma holds its first dance in the town's history.

1988 The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.

1988 In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.

2018 Ngwenyama Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.

2018 2018–2022 Nicaraguan protests start in Nicaragua.

2019 A redacted version of the Mueller report is released to the United States Congress and the public.

359 Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)

588 K'an II, Mayan ruler (d. 658)

812 Al-Wathiq, Abbasid caliph (d. 847)

1446 Ippolita Maria Sforza, Italian noble (d. 1484)

1480 Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI (d. 1519)

1503 Henry II of Navarre (d. 1555)

1534 William Harrison (clergyman), English clergyman (d. 1593)

1580 Thomas Middleton, English Jacobean playwright and poet (d. 1627)

1590 Ahmed I, Ottoman Emperor (d. 1617)

1605 Giacomo Carissimi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1674)

1666 Jean-Féry Rebel, French violinist and composer (d. 1747)

1740 Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet, English banker and politician (d. 1810)

1759 Jacques Widerkehr, French cellist and composer (d. 1823)

1771 Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg (d. 1820)

1772 David Ricardo, British economist and politician (d. 1823)

1794 William Debenham, English founder of Debenhams (d. 1863)

1813 James McCune Smith, African-American physician, apothecary, abolitionist, and author (d. 1865)

1819 Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Cuban lawyer and activist (d. 1874)

1819 Franz von Suppé, Austrian composer and conductor (d. 1895)

1838 Paul-Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran, French chemist and academic (d. 1912)

1854 Ludwig Levy, German architect (d. 1907)

1857 Clarence Darrow, American lawyer (d. 1938)

1858 Dhondo Keshav Karve, Indian educator and activist, Bharat Ratna Awardee (d. 1962)

1858 Alexander Shirvanzade, Armenian playwright and author (d. 1935)

1863 Count Leopold Berchtold, Austrian-Hungarian politician and diplomat, List of foreign ministers of Austria-Hungary (d. 1942)

1863 Linton Hope, English sailor and architect (d. 1920)

1863 Siegfried Bettmann, founder of the Triumph Motorcycle Company and Mayor of Coventry (d. 1955)

1864 Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (d. 1916)

1874 Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić, Croatian author and poet (d. 1938)

1877 Vicente Sotto, Filipino lawyer and politician (d. 1950)

1879 Korneli Kekelidze, Georgian philologist and scholar (d. 1962)

1880 Sam Crawford, American baseball player, coach, and umpire (d. 1968)

1882 Isaac Babalola Akinyele, Nigerian ruler (d. 1964)

1882 Leopold Stokowski, English conductor (d. 1977)

1883 Aleksanteri Aava, Finnish poet (d. 1956)

1884 Jaan Anvelt, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1937)

1889 Jessie Street, Australian activist (d. 1970)

1892 Eugene Houdry, French-American mechanical engineer and inventor (d. 1962)

1897 Ardito Desio, Italian geologist and cartographer (d. 2001)

1898 Patrick Hennessy (industrialist), Irish soldier and businessman (d. 1981)

1900 Bertha Isaacs, Bahamian teacher, tennis player, politician and women's rights activist (d. 1997)

1901 Al Lewis (lyricist), American songwriter (d. 1967)

1901 László Németh, Hungarian dentist, author, and playwright (d. 1975)

1902 Waldemar Hammenhög, Swedish author (d. 1972)

1902 Giuseppe Pella, Italian politician, 32nd Prime Minister of Italy (d. 1981)

1904 Pigmeat Markham, African-American comedian, singer, and dancer (d. 1981)

1905 Sydney Halter, Canadian lawyer and businessman (d. 1990)

1905 George H. Hitchings, American physician and pharmacologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate (d. 1998)

1907 Miklós Rózsa, Hungarian-American composer and conductor (d. 1995)

1911 Maurice Goldhaber, Ukrainian-American physicist and academic (d. 2011)

1914 Claire Martin (writer), Canadian author (d. 2014)

1915 Joy Davidman, Polish-Ukrainian American poet and author (d. 1960)

1916 Carl Burgos, American illustrator (d. 1984)

1918 Gabriel Axel, Danish-French actor, director, and producer (d. 2014)

1918 André Bazin, French critic and theorist (d. 1958)

1918 Shinobu Hashimoto, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2018)

1918 Clifton Hillegass, American publisher, founded ''CliffsNotes'' (d. 2001)

1918 Tony Mottola, American guitarist and composer (d. 2004)

1919 Virginia O'Brien, American actress and singer (d. 2001)

1919 Esther Afua Ocloo, Ghanaian entrepreneur and pioneer of microlending (d. 2002)

1920 John F. Wiley, American football player and coach (d. 2013)

1921 Jean Richard (actor), French actor and singer (d. 2001)

1922 Barbara Hale, American actress (d. 2017)

1924 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)

1925 Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer and author (d. 2005)

1926 Doug Insole, English cricketer (d. 2017)

1927 Samuel P. Huntington, American political scientist, author, and academic (d. 2008)

1927 Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Polish journalist and politician, Prime Minister of Poland (d. 2013)

1928 Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal and theologian (d. 2015)

1928 Otto Piene, German sculptor and academic (d. 2014)

1929 Peter Hordern (politician), English soldier and politician (d. 2024)

1930 Clive Revill, New Zealand actor and singer (d. 2025)

1930 Jean Guillou, French organist (d. 2019)

1931 Bill Miles, American director and producer (d. 2013)

1934 James Drury, American actor (d. 2020)

1934 George Shirley, African-American tenor and educator

1935 Costas Ferris, Egyptian-Greek actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1936 Roger Graef, American-English criminologist, director, and producer (d. 2022)

1936 Vladimir Hütt, Estonian physicist and philosopher (d. 1997)

1937 Keiko Abe, Japanese marimba player and composer

1937 Jan Kaplický, Czech architect, designed the Selfridges Building, Birmingham (d. 2009)

1939 Glen Hardin, American pianist and arranger

1939 Thomas J. Moyer, American lawyer and judge (d. 2010)

1940 Joseph L. Goldstein, American biochemist and geneticist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate

1940 Mike Vickers, English guitarist, saxophonist, and songwriter

1941 Michael D. Higgins, Irish sociologist and politician, 9th President of Ireland

1942 Michael Beloff, English lawyer and academic

1942 Robert Christgau, American journalist and critic

1942 Jochen Rindt, German-Austrian racing driver (d. 1970)

1944 Kathy Acker, American author and poet (d. 1997)

1944 Philip Jackson (sculptor), Scottish sculptor and photographer

1945 Bernard Arcand, Canadian anthropologist and author (d. 2009)

1946 Hayley Mills, English actress

1947 Moses Blah, Liberian general and politician, 23rd President of Liberia (d. 2013)

1947 Jerzy Stuhr, Polish actor, director, and screenwriter

1947 James Woods, American actor and producer

1948 Régis Wargnier, French director, producer, and screenwriter

1950 Grigory Sokolov, Russian pianist and composer

1953 Rick Moranis, Canadian-American actor, comedian, singer and screenwriter

1953 Sk. Mujibur Rahman, Bengali politician

1954 Robert Greenberg, American pianist and composer

1956 Eric Roberts, American actor

1958 Gabi Delgado-López, Spanish-German singer, co-founder of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (d. 2020)

1958 Malcolm Marshall, Barbadian cricketer and coach (d. 1999)

1959 Susan Faludi, American journalist, author and feminist

1960 Yelena Zhupiyeva-Vyazova, Ukrainian runner

1961 Jane Leeves, English actress and dancer

1961 John Podhoretz, American journalist and author

1962 Jeff Dunham, American ventriloquist and comedian

1963 Eric McCormack, Canadian-American actor

1963 Conan O'Brien, American television host, comedian, and podcaster

1964 Niall Ferguson, Scottish historian and academic

1967 Maria Bello, American actress

1969 Keith DeCandido, American author

1970 Saad Hariri, Saudi Arabian-Lebanese businessman and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of Lebanon

1970 Willie Roaf, American football player

1971 David Tennant, Scottish actor

1972 Rosa Clemente, American journalist and activist

1972 Eli Roth, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

1973 Derrick Brooks, American football player

1973 Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopian runner

1974 Edgar Wright, English filmmaker

1976 Melissa Joan Hart, American actress

1979 Kourtney Kardashian, American television personality

1981 Audrey Tang, Taiwanese Minister of Digital Affairs and programmer

1983 Miguel Cabrera, Venezuelan baseball player

1984 America Ferrera, American actress

1985 Łukasz Fabiański, Polish footballer

1986 Tina Bru, Norwegian politician

1988 Vanessa Kirby, English actress

1989 Jessica Jung, South Korean-American singer, songwriter, actress, author, fashion designer and businesswoman

1989 Alia Shawkat, American actress

1990 Wojciech Szczęsny, Polish footballer

1992 Chloe Bennet, American actress

1993 Mika Zibanejad, Swedish ice hockey player

1994 Aminé, American singer-songwriter

1995 Divock Origi, Belgian footballer

1996 Ski Mask the Slump God, American rapper

2001 PinkPantheress, English singer, songwriter, and record producer

AD 727 Agallianos Kontoskeles, Byzantine commander and rebel leader

850 Perfectus, Spanish monk and martyr

909 Dionysius II of Antioch, Syriac Orthodox patriarch of Antioch

943 Fujiwara no Atsutada, Japanese nobleman and poet (b. 906)

963 Stephen Lekapenos, co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire

1161 Theobald of Bec, French-English archbishop (b. 1090)

1176 Galdino della Sala, Italian archdeacon and saint

1430 John III, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count

1552 John Leland (antiquary), English poet and historian (b. 1502)

1555 Polydore Vergil, English historian (b. 1470)

1556 Luigi Alamanni, Italian poet and politician (b. 1495)

1567 Wilhelm von Grumbach, German adventurer (b. 1503)

1587 John Foxe, English historian and author (b. 1516)

1636 Julius Caesar (judge), English judge and politician (b. 1557)

1650 Simonds d'Ewes, English lawyer and politician (b. 1602)

1674 John Graunt, English demographer and statistician (b. 1620)

1689 George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge and politician, Lord Chancellor (b. 1648)

1732 Louis Feuillée, French astronomer, geographer, and botanist (b. 1660)

1742 Arvid Horn, Swedish general and politician (b. 1664)

1763 Marie-Josephte Corriveau, Canadian murderer (b. 1733)

1794 Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, English lawyer, judge, and politician, Lord Chancellor (b. 1714)

1796 Johan Wilcke, Swedish physicist and academic (b. 1732)

1802 Erasmus Darwin, English physician and botanist (b. 1731)

1832 Jeanne-Elisabeth Chaudet, French painter (b. 1761)

1859 Tatya Tope, Indian general (b. 1814)

1864 Juris Alunāns, Latvian philologist and linguist (b. 1832)

1873 Justus von Liebig, German chemist and academic (b. 1803)

1890 Paweł Bryliński, Polish sculptor (b. 1814)

1898 Gustave Moreau, French painter and academic (b. 1826)

1906 Luis Martín, Spanish religious leader, 24th Superior-General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1846)

1912 Martha Ripley, American physician (b. 1843)

1917 Vladimir Serbsky, Russian psychiatrist and academic (b. 1858)

1923 Savina Petrilli, Italian religious leader (b. 1851)

1936 Milton Brown, American singer and bandleader (b. 1903)

1936 Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer and conductor (b. 1879)

1938 George Bryant (archer), American archer (b. 1878)

1942 Aleksander Mitt, Estonian speed skater (b. 1903)

1942 Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, American heiress, sculptor and art collector, founded the Whitney Museum of American Art (b. 1875)

1943 Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese admiral (b. 1884)

1945 John Ambrose Fleming, English physicist and engineer, invented the vacuum tube (b. 1849)

1945 Ernie Pyle, American journalist and soldier (b. 1900)

1947 Jozef Tiso, Slovak priest and politician, President of Slovakia (b. 1887)

1951 Óscar Carmona, Portuguese field marshal and politician, 11th President of Portugal (b. 1869)

1955 Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, engineer, and academic (b. 1879)

1958 Maurice Gamelin, Belgian-French general (b. 1872)

1963 Meyer Jacobstein, American academic and politician (b. 1880)

1964 Ben Hecht, American director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)

1965 Guillermo González Camarena, Mexican engineer (b. 1917)

1974 Marcel Pagnol, French author, playwright, and director (b. 1895)

1988 Oktay Rıfat Horozcu, Turkish poet and playwright (b. 1914)

1995 Arturo Frondizi, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 32nd President of Argentina (b. 1908)

2002 Thor Heyerdahl, Norwegian ethnographer and explorer (b. 1914)

2004 Kamisese Mara, Fijian politician, 2nd President of Fiji (b. 1920)

2008 Germaine Tillion, French ethnologist and anthropologist (b. 1907)

2012 Dick Clark, American television host and producer, founded Dick Clark Productions (b. 1929)

2012 René Lépine, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (b. 1929)

2012 Robert O. Ragland, American musician (b. 1931)

2012 K. D. Wentworth, American author (b. 1951)

2013 Goran Švob, Croatian philosopher and author (b. 1947)

2013 Anne Williams (activist), English activist (b. 1951)

2014 Guru Dhanapal, Indian director and producer (b. 1959)

2014 Sanford Jay Frank, American screenwriter and producer (b. 1954)

2014 Brian Priestman, English conductor and academic (b. 1927)

2019 Lyra McKee, Irish journalist (b. 1990)

2022 Harrison Birtwistle, British composer (b. 1934)

2024 Crandell Addington, American Poker Hall of Fame poker player. (death announced on this date) (b. 1938)

2024 Dickey Betts, American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer (b. 1943)

2024 Mandisa, American gospel singer (b. 1976)

Christian Calendar of saints:

- Apollonius the Apologist

- Corebus

- Cyril VI of Constantinople (Eastern Orthodox Church)

- Eleutherius and Antia

- Galdino della Sala

- Molaise of Leighlin

- Perfectus

- April 18 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Army Day (Iran) (Iran)

Coma Patients' Day (Poland)

Día del Amigo (Brazil)

Independence Day (Zimbabwe) (Zimbabwe)

International Day For Monuments and Sites

Invention Day (Japan)

Days of Military Honour (Russia; Julian Calendar)

International Amateur Radio Union

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/18 BBC: On This Day]

[https://www.onthisday.com/events/april/18 Historical Events on April 18]