What Happened on April 4
Important Events
- 1581 Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I aboard Golden Hind at Deptford
- 1655 Battle at Postage Farina, Tunis: English fleet beats Barbary pirates
- 1789 1st US Congress begins regular sessions during George Washington's presidency at Federal Hall, NYC (ending 1791)
- 1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaty signed in Washington, D.C.
- 1968 US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
- 1973 World Trade Center, then the world's tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories)
- 1975 Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800
April 4 in Film & TV
- 1914 Film serial "Perils of Pauline" shown for the first time in Los Angeles
April 4 in Music
- 1971 Stephen Sondheim's "Follies" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 524 performances, then most expensive broadway musical
April 4 in Sport
- 1974 Hank Aaron ties Babe Ruth's home-run record by hitting his 714th
Famous Birthdays
Caracalla
(188 - 217)- Muddy Waters
(1913 - 1983) - Maya Angelou
(1928 - 2014) - Anthony Perkins
(1932 - 1992) - Robert Downey Jr
54 Years Old - Heath Ledger
(1979 - 2008)
Caracalla
Muddy Waters
Maya Angelou
Anthony Perkins
Robert Downey Jr
Heath LedgerWould You Believe?
Poecilotheria rajaei, a giant tarantula with a 20cm leg span, is discovered in Sri Lanka
On April 4, 2013
Famous Weddings
- 1625 Viceroy Frederick Henry marries Amalia countess von Solms-Braunfels
- 1750 Statesman George Mason (24) weds Ann Eilbeck (16)
- 1992 John Tesh (Entertainment Tonight) marries actress Connie Selleca
Famous Divorces
- 2019 Amazon's Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Bezos agree record-breaking $35 billion divorce settlement
William Henry Harrison
Ludwig Leichhardt
Karl Benz
André Michelin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Gloria SwansonApril in History
![Flash! Bang! It's the Human Cannonball!]()
Flash! Bang! It's the Human Cannonball!
An excited crowd looked up in astonishment and wonder when, in 1877, the first human cannonball flew above their heads.
April 2, 1877![The Computer That Came By Truck]()
The Computer That Came By Truck
It didn't have the sleek lines that Steve Jobs would admire and it needed to be carried on a truck, but the computer age had finally arrived in rural England.
April 3, 1957![Lionheart Richard, The Stranger King]()
Lionheart Richard, The Stranger King
Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood’s king is considered one of the great English monarchs. Yet he cost his country a fortune and barely lived there.
April 6, 1199![The Man Who Sold His Wife]()
The Man Who Sold His Wife
Most modern readers believe Thomas Hardy was plunging into deep fiction when he wrote about a man selling his wife in, The Mayor of Casterbridge. He wasn't.
April 7, 1832
