April 28
| April 28 in recent years |
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| 2023 (Friday) |
| 2022 (Thursday) |
| 2021 (Wednesday) |
| 2020 (Tuesday) |
| 2019 (Sunday) |
| 2018 (Saturday) |
| 2017 (Friday) |
| 2016 (Thursday) |
| 2015 (Tuesday) |
April 28 is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar; 247 days remain until the end of the year.
Events
- 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius.
- 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin.
- 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
- 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as the first battle in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder.
- 1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world.
- 1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the Constitution of the United States.
- 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island.
- 1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium), beginning the French Revolutionary War.
- 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, the King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast.
- 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First Transcontinental Railroad lay 10 miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched.
- 1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, Alsatian police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of German Emperor William I, defusing a possible war.
- 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in England.
- 1920 – Azerbaijan is added to the Soviet Union.
- 1930 – The first night game in organized baseball history takes place in Independence, Kansas.
- 1932 – A vaccine for yellow fever is announced for use on humans.
- 1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946.
- 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are executed by a firing squad consisting of members of the Italian resistance movement.
- 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia.
- 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premier of his American ballet, Orpheus, in New York City at New York City Center.
- 1949 – Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, 61, is assassinated while en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and 10 others are also killed.
- 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej marries Queen Sirikit after their quiet engagement in Lausanne, Switzerland on July 19, 1949.
- 1952 – Dwight D. Eisenhower resigns as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.
- 1952 – Occupied Japan: The United States occupation of Japan ends as the Treaty of San Francisco, ratified September 8, 1951, comes into force.
- 1952 – The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (Treaty of Taipei) is signed in Taipei, Taiwan between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- 1965 – United States occupation of the Dominican Republic: American troops land in the Dominican Republic to "forestall establishment of a Communist dictatorship" and to evacuate U.S. Army troops.
- 1969 – Charles de Gaulle resigns as President of France.
- 1970 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to fight communist sanctuaries in Cambodia.
- 1975 – General Cao Van Vien, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on victory.
- 1977 – The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
- 1977 – The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure is signed.
- 1978 – President of Afghanistan, Mohammed Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
- 1986 – The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Enterprise becomes the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to transit the Suez Canal, navigating from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea to relieve the USS Coral Sea.
- 1987 – American engineer Ben Linder is killed in an ambush by U.S.-funded Contras in northern Nicaragua.
- 1988 – Near Maui, Hawaii, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing is blown out of Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, and falls to her death when part of the plane's fuselage rips open in mid-flight.
- 1994 – Former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames pleads guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later Russia.
- 1996 – Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 4½ hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
- 1996 – In Tasmania, Australia, Martin Bryant goes on a shooting spree, killing 35 people and seriously injuring 21 more.
- 1999 – In Alberta, Canada, 14-year-old Todd Cameron Smith fires upon three students, killing one and wounding another in the W. R. Myers High School shooting.
- 2001 – Millionaire Dennis Tito becomes the world's first space tourist.
- 2008 – A train collision in Shandong, China, kills 72 people and injures 416 more.
Births
- 32 – Marcus Salvius Otho, Roman emperor (d. 69 AD)
- 1442 – Edward IV of England (d. 1483)
- 1545 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean admiral (d. 1598)
- 1630 – Charles Cotton, English poet (d. 1687)
- 1652 – Magdalena Sibylla of Hesse-Darmstadt, German composer (d. 1712)
- 1686 – Michael Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1721)
- 1715 – Franz Sparry, Austrian composer (d. 1767)
- 1758 – James Monroe, American politician, 5th President of the United States (d. 1831)
- 1765 – Sylvestre François Lacroix, French mathematician (d. 1834)
- 1819 – Ezra Abbot, American scholar (d. 1884)
- 1827 – William Nelson Hall, Canadian sailor (d. 1904)
- 1838 – Tobias Michael Carel Asser, Dutch jurist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1913)
- 1855 – José Malhoa, Portuguese painter (d. 1933)
- 1863 – Josiah Thomas, Australian politician (d. 1933)
- 1865 – Charles W. Woodworth, American entomologist (d. 1940)
- 1868 – Lucy Booth, Indian songwriter and commander (d. 1953)
- 1868 – Hélène de Pourtalès, Swiss sailor (d. 1945)
- 1868 – Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (d. 1908)
- 1870 – August Schmierer, German rugby player (death date unknown)
- 1874 – Karl Kraus, Austrian journalist and author (d. 1936)
- 1876 – Nicola Romeo, Italian automobile engineer and entrepreneur (d. 1938)
- 1878 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (d. 1954)
- 1888 – Walter Tull, English footballer (d. 1918)
- 1889 – António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese politician (d. 1970)
- 1891 – Charlie Patton, American Delta blues guitarist (d. 1934)
- 1897 – Ye Jianying, Chinese general and politician (d. 1986)
- 1900 – Heinrich Müller, German police official (d. 1945)
- 1900 – Jan Oort, Dutch astronomer (d. 1992)
- 1902 – Johan Borgen, Norwegian author (d. 1979)
- 1906 – Pierre Boileau, French writer (d. 1989)
- 1906 – Kurt Gödel, Austrian mathematician (d. 1978)
- 1906 – Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (d. 1999)
- 1908 – Oskar Schindler, Austro-Hungarian industrialist (d. 1974)
- 1910 – Sam Merwin, Jr., American writer (d. 1996)
- 1911 – Lee Falk, American writer (d. 1999)
- 1912 – Odette Sansom Hallowes, French resistance worker (d. 1995)
- 1912 – Kaneto Shindō, Japanese director (d. 2012)
- 1914 – Philip E. High, English author (d. 2006)
- 1916 – Ferruccio Lamborghini, Italian industrialist and automobile manufacturer, created Lamborghini (d. 1993)
- 1921 – Rowland Evans, American journalist (d. 2001)
- 1921 – Simin Daneshvar, Iranian writer and translator (d. 2012)
- 1923 – William Guarnere, American soldier and Sergeant
- 1924 – Dick Ayers, American cartoonist
- 1924 – Donatas Banionis, Lithuanian actor
- 1924 – Blossom Dearie, American singer and pianist, (d. 2009)
- 1924 – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambian teacher and politician, 1st President of Zambia
- 1925 – T. John Lesinski, American politician and judge, 51st Lieutenant Governor of Michigan
- 1926 – Bill Blackbeard, American writer and editor, founder-director of the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art (d. 2011)
- 1926 – Harper Lee, American author
- 1928 – Yves Klein, French painter (d. 1962)
- 1928 – Eugene M. Shoemaker, American scientist (d. 1997)
- 1930 – James Baker, American politician
- 1930 – Carolyn Jones, American actress (d. 1983)
- 1932 – Brownie Ledbetter, American civil rights activist (d. 2010)
- 1934 – Lois Duncan, American novelist
- 1934 – Diane Johnson, American author
- 1937 – Saddam Hussein, Iraqi politician, 5th President of Iraq (d. 2006)
- 1937 – John White, Scottish footballer (d. 1964)
- 1937 – Jean Redpath, Scottish singer
- 1938 – Madge Sinclair, Jamaican actress (d. 1995)
- 1941 – Lucien Aimar, French cyclist
- 1941 – Ann-Margret, Swedish actress
- 1941 – Nico Mastorakis, Greek director and producer
- 1941 – Karl Barry Sharpless, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 – Iryna Zhylenko, Ukrainian poet
- 1942 – Mike Brearley, English cricketer
- 1943 – Jacques Dutronc, French singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer, and actor
- 1943 – Yoav Talmi, Israeli conductor and composer
- 1944 – Elizabeth LeCompte, American director
- 1944 – Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe, Belgian politician
- 1944 – Alice Waters, American chef
- 1945 – John Wolters, American musician (Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show) (d. 1997)
- 1946 – Ginette Reno, French Canadian singer-songwriter, author, and actress
- 1947 – Christian Jacq, French author and Egyptologist
- 1948 – Dorothée Berryman, Canadian actress and singer
- 1948 – Terry Pratchett, English author
- 1948 – Marcia Strassman, American actress
- 1949 – Indian Larry, American motorcycle builder, stunt rider, and biker (d. 2004)
- 1949 – Paul Guilfoyle, American actor
- 1949 – Bruno Kirby, American actor (d. 2006)
- 1950 – Willie Colón, Puerto Rican trombonist and producer
- 1950 – Jay Leno, American comedian and talk show host
- 1951 – Larry Smith, Canadian football player and politician
- 1952 – Mary McDonnell, American actress
- 1952 – Chuck Leavell, keyboard player, Allman Brothers, Sea Level and others
- 1953 – Kim Gordon, American singer-songwriter, musician, producer, and fashion designer (Sonic Youth, Ciccone Youth, and Free Kitten)
- 1953 – Roberto Bolaño, Chilean author and poet (d. 2003)
- 1954 – Timothy Curley, American athletic director
- 1954 – Vic Sotto, Filipino actor, comedian, and producer
- 1954 – Ron Zook, American football coach
- 1955 – Nicky Gumbel, English author and priest
- 1956 – Jimmy Barnes, Scottish-Australian singer-songwriter and musician Cold Chisel, Fraternity, and Living Loud)
- 1957 – Wilma Landkroon, Dutch singer
- 1958 – Nancy Lee Grahn, American actress
- 1958 – Hal Sutton, American golfer
- 1959 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (d. 2011)
- 1960 – John Cerutti, American baseball player and announcer (d. 2004)
- 1960 – Elena Kagan, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
- 1960 – Ian Rankin, Scottish novelist
- 1960 – Jón Páll Sigmarsson, Icelandic athlete (d. 1993)
- 1960 – Walter Zenga, Italian footballer
- 1960 – Steven Blum, American voice actor
- 1961 – Futoshi Matsunaga, Japanese serial killer
- 1961 – Anna Oxa, Italian singer
- 1963 – Lloyd Eisler, Canadian figure skater
- 1963 – Marc Lacroix, Belgian biochemist
- 1963 – Sandrine Dumas, French actress
- 1964 – Noriyuki Iwadare, Japanese composer
- 1964 – Barry Larkin, American baseball player
- 1965 – Jennifer Rardin, American author (d. 2010)
- 1966 – John Daly, American golfer
- 1966 – Too Short, American rapper, producer, and actor
- 1967 – Kari Wührer, American actress
- 1968 – Howard Donald, English singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (Take That)
- 1968 – Andy Flower, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1968 – Scott Putesky, American musician (Jack Off Jill)
- 1970 – Nicklas Lidström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1970 – Diego Simeone, Argentine footballer
- 1971 – Brad McEwan, Australian journalist
- 1971 – Bridget Moynahan, American actress
- 1972 – Joseph Bruce, American rapper, producer, wrestler and actor (Insane Clown Posse, Dark Lotus, and Psychopathic Rydas)
- 1973 – Jorge Garcia, American actor
- 1973 – Earl Holmes, American football player
- 1973 – Francisco Palencia, Mexican footballer
- 1973 – Elisabeth Röhm, German-American actress
- 1973 – Serge Zwikker, American basketball player
- 1974 – Penélope Cruz, Spanish actress
- 1974 – Richel Hersisia, Dutch boxer
- 1974 – Vernon Kay, English disc jockey, model, and television presenter
- 1974 – Dominic Matteo, Scottish footballer
- 1974 – Margo Dydek, Polish basketball player (d. 2011)
- 1977 – Derrick Wayne Frazier, American convicted murderer (d. 2006)
- 1978 – Lauren Laverne, English disc jockey, author, singer, and television presenter
- 1979 – Scott Fujita, American football player
- 1979 – Bahram Radan, Iranian actor
- 1980 – Josh Howard, American basketball player
- 1980 – Karolina Goceva, Macedonian singer
- 1980 – Bradley Wiggins, British cyclist
- 1981 – Jessica Alba, American actress
- 1981 – Pietro Travagli, Italian rugby player
- 1981 – Alex Riley, American wrestler
- 1982 – Nikki Grahame, English model and columnist
- 1982 – Chris Kaman, American basketball player
- 1982 – Harry Shum, Jr., American dancer and actor
- 1983 – Roger Johnson, English footballer
- 1984 – Dmitri Torbinski, Russian footballer
- 1985 – Lucas Jakubczyk, German athlete
- 1985 – Leon Legge, English footballer
- 1986 – David Krejci, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Jennifer Palm Lundberg, Swedish model, Miss World Sweden 2008
- 1986 – George Nozuka, Canadian singer and dancer
- 1986 – Roman Polák, Czech ice hockey player
- 1986 – Jenna Ushkowitz, Korean-American actress, singer, and dancer
- 1987 – Ryan Conroy, Scottish footballer
- 1987 – Bradley Johnson, English footballer
- 1987 – Zoran Tošić, Serbian footballer
- 1987 – Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian Actress
- 1988 – Jonathan Biabiany, French footballer
- 1988 – Juan Manuel Mata, Spanish footballer
- 1988 – Katariina Tuohimaa, Finnish tennis player
- 1989 – Emil Salomonsson, Swedish footballer
- 1989 – Kim Sung-kyu, South Korean singer and dancer, leader and main vocalist of Infinite (band)
- 1990 – Mario Meraz, Mexican boxer
- 1990 – Niels-Peter Mørck, Danish footballer
- 1991 – Jordan Robinson, English footballer
- 1992 – Jack Taylor, American actor
Deaths
- 1192 – Conrad of Montferrat (b. 1140s)
- 1489 – Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (b. 1440s)
- 1533 – Nicholas West, English bishop and diplomat (b. 1461)
- 1643 – Francisco de Lucena, Portuguese Secretary of State (b. 1578?)
- 1695 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh poet (b. 1621)
- 1710 – Thomas Betterton, English actor (b. 1630s)
- 1716 – Louis de Montfort, French priest (b. 1673)
- 1726 – Thomas Pitt, English merchant (b. 1653)
- 1741 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and statesman (b. 1668)
- 1772 – Johann Friedrich Struensee, German physician of Christian VII of Denmark (b. 1737)
- 1781 – Cornelius Harnett, American merchant, farmer, and statesman, delegate to the Continental Congress (b. 1723)
- 1813 – Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov, Russian field marshal (b. 1745)
- 1816 – Johann Heinrich Abicht, German philosopher (b. 1762)
- 1841 – Peter Chanel, French saint (b. 1803)
- 1853 – Ludwig Tieck, German writer (b. 1773)
- 1858 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist (b. 1801)
- 1865 – Samuel Cunard, Canadian-English shipping magnate (b. 1787)
- 1881 – Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor and photographer (b. 1818)
- 1883 – John Russell, English parson, hunter and dog breeder (b. 1795)
- 1902 – Cyprien Tanguay, French-Canadian priest and historian (b. 1819)
- 1905 – Fitzhugh Lee, American Confederate general (b. 1835)
- 1929 – Hendrik van Heuckelum, Dutch footballer (b. 1879)
- 1936 – Fuad I of Egypt (b. 1868)
- 1944 – Mohammed Alim Khan, the last Emir of the Emirate of Bukhara (b. 1880)
- 1944 – Frank Knox, American Secretary of the Navy (b. 1874)
- 1945 – Roberto Farinacci, Italian politician (b. 1892)
- 1945 – Hermann Fegelein, Waffen-SS General (b. 1906)
- 1945 – Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator (b. 1883)
- 1945 – Clara Petacci, Italian mistress of Benito Mussolini (b. 1912)
- 1946 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician (b. 1870)
- 1949 – Aurora Quezon, Filipino first lady, 2nd First Lady of the Philippines (b. 1888)
- 1954 – Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
- 1957 – Heinrich Bär, German pilot (b. 1913)
- 1963 – Wilhelm Weber, German gymnast (b. 1880)
- 1964 – Rolf de Maré, Swedish art collector (b. 1888)
- 1970 – Ed Begley, American actor (b. 1901)
- 1973 – Clas Thunberg, Finnish speed skater (b. 1893)
- 1975 – Tom Donahue, American disk jockey (b. 1928)
- 1976 – Richard Hughes, American writer (b. 1900)
- 1978 – Mohammed Daoud Khan, Afghan politician, 1st President of Afghanistan (b. 1909)
- 1980 – Tommy Caldwell, American musician (The Marshall Tucker Band) (b. 1949)
- 1981 – Steve Currie, English musician (T. Rex) (b. 1947)
- 1987 – Ben Linder, American engineer (b. 1959)
- 1988 – B. W. Stevenson, American singer-songwriter (b. 1949)
- 1991 – Steve Broidy, American executive (b. 1905)
- 1991 – Ken Curtis, American actor and singer (The Sons of the Pioneers) (b. 1916)
- 1992 – Francis Bacon, Anglo-Irish painter (b. 1909)
- 1992 – Iceberg Slim, American writer (b. 1918)
- 1993 – Jim Valvano, American basketball coach (b. 1946)
- 1994 – Berton Roueché, American writer (b. 1910)
- 1996 – Lester Sumrall, American evangelist (b. 1913)
- 1997 – Ann Petry, American author (b. 1908)
- 1998 – Ramakant Desai, Indian cricketer (b. 1939)
- 1998 – Jerome Bixby, American writer (b. 1923)
- 1999 – Rory Calhoun, American actor (b. 1922)
- 1999 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1921)
- 1999 – Alf Ramsey, English football manager (b. 1920)
- 2000 – Jerzy Einhorn, Polish-Swedish doctor, researcher and politician (b. 1925)
- 2000 – Penelope Fitzgerald, English writer (b. 1916)
- 2002 – Alexander Lebed, Russian general (b. 1950)
- 2002 – Lou Thesz, American wrestler (b. 1916)
- 2005 – Chris Candido, American wrestler (b. 1972)
- 2005 – Percy Heath, American jazz bassist (Modern Jazz Quartet) (b. 1923)
- 2005 – Taraki Sivaram, Tamil journalist (b. 1959)
- 2007 – Dabbs Greer, American actor (b. 1917)
- 2007 – René Mailhot, Canadian journalist (b. 1942)
- 2007 – Tommy Newsom, American saxophone player and bandleader (b. 1929)
- 2007 – Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, German physicist and philosopher (b. 1912)
- 2007 – Bertha Wilson, Canadian jurist, first woman Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (b. 1923)
- 2009 – Ekaterina Maximova, Russian ballerina (b. 1939)
- 2009 – Richard Pratt, Australian businessman (b. 1934)
- 2009 – Valeria Peter Predescu, Romanian singer (b. 1947)
- 2011 – Erhard Loretan, Swiss mountaineer (b. 1959)
- 2012 – Fred Allen, New Zealand rugby union footballer and coach (b. 1920)
Holidays and observances
- Christian Feast Day:
- Feast of Jamál ("Beauty"), the first day of the third month of the Bahá'í calendar. (Bahá'í Faith)
- National Day of Mourning, to commemorate workers killed, injured, or suffering illness from occupational hazards and accidents. (Canada)
- National Heroes Day (Barbados)
- National Day (Sardinia)
- The first day of the Floralia, in honor of Flora. (Roman Empire)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to April 28.