Historical Events on April 7

  • 30 Scholars' estimate for Jesus' crucifixion by Roman troops in Jerusalem [or April 3]

Event of Interest

451 Attila the Hun plunders Metz in Northeastern France

Event of Interest

529 First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis (fundamental work in jurisprudence) issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I

  • 1118 Pope Gelasius II excommunicated by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, forcing him to flee Rome and rule in exile
  • 1348 Prague University, first university in central Europe, formed by Charles IV
  • 1456 Louis van Burbon becomes prince-bishop of Luik
  • 1498 Crowd storms Savonarola's convent San Marco Florence, Italy
  • 1509 France declares war on Venice
  • 1521 Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens bans Lutheran books

Event of Interest

1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's fleet reaches Cebu

  • 1541 Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon on a mission to the Portuguese East Indies
  • 1584 Ieper surrenders to duke Van Parma

Appointment of Interest

1625 Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed German supreme commander

  • 1645 Michael Cardozo becomes 1st Jewish lawyer in Brazil

Event of Interest

1655 Fabio Chigi replaces Pope Innocent X as Alexander VII

  • 1712 Slave revolt in New York kills 6 white men, 21 African Americans executed

Music Premiere

1724 Johann Sebastian Bach's "St John Passion" premieres in Leipzig

  • 1739 Dick Turpin executed in England for horse stealing
  • 1776 Captain John Barry and the USS Lexington captures the Edward
  • 1788 1st settlement in Ohio, at Marietta

Event of Interest

1794 English chemist and theologian Joseph Priestley departs England for America on board Sansom at Gravesend

Event of Interest

1795 France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length

  • 1798 Mississippi Territory organized

Historic Expedition

1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves Fort Mandan (on the Missouri River near what is now Washburn, North Dakota), beginning their journey to the Pacific Ocean

Music Premiere

1805 Premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Eroica", in Vienna, conducted by the composer

Victory in Battle

1818 General Andrew Jackson conquers Spanish Fort San Marcos (St Marks), in Spanish Florida during his pursuit of the Native American Seminole Tribe, in what would become known as the First Seminole War

  • 1827 English chemist John Walker invents wooden matches
  • 1831 Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro abdicates, leaving his six-year old son, Dom Pedro II head of state as Prince Imperial

Event of Interest

1853 Queen Victoria asks John Snow to administer chloroform during the delivery of her eighth child, Leopold, leads to wider acceptance of obstetrical anesthesia

  • 1860 Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe
  • 1862 Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tenn, Island #10 falls
  • 1863 Battle of Charleston, South Carolina failed Federal fleet attack on Fort Sumter
  • 1865 Battle of Farmville, Virginia
  • 1868 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and only federal politician
  • 1890 Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal, Japan
  • 1891 Nebraska introduces 8 hour work day

Historic Expedition

1895 Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen reaches record 86°13.6′N latitude north, expedition closest to the North pole

  • 1896 American athlete Robert Garrett wins the throwing double at the Athens Olympics by taking out the shot putt (11.22m); wins the discus the previous day

Olympic Gold

1896 Australian athlete Edwin Flack wins gold in the first Olympic 1500m final at inaugural modern Games in Athens; goes on to win 800m two days later

  • 1901 SDAP demands general voting right, abolishing First Chamber
  • 1902 Texas Oil Company (Texaco) forms
  • 1906 Act of Algeciras drawn between Moroccan police & banking business
  • 1917 J.M. Barrie's play "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals" premieres in London
  • 1917 Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Sombrero de tres Picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat") premieres at Teatro Eslava in Madrid, Spain
  • 1919 1st parcel of land is purchased for Cleveland Metroparks

Election of Interest

1921 Revolutionary leader, Sun Yat-sen is elected President of China at Canton, though China remains divided into north and south and subject to rivalries of warlords

Event of Interest

1922 Warren G. Harding's Interior Secretary, Albert B. Fall, leases the Teapot Dome oil reserves to Harry Sinclair, setting in motion the Teapot Dome scandals

  • 1923 1st brain tumor operation under local anesthetic performed (Beth Israel Hospital in NYC) by Dr K Winfield Ney
  • 1923 Workers Party of America (NYC) becomes official communist party
  • 1926 Forest fire burns 900 acres & kills 2 (San Luis Obispo California)

Event of Interest

1926 Mussolini is shot at 3 times by Violet Gibson in Rome, she only hits him once in the nose

Film & TV History

1927 First long distance television transmission: An image of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover sent from Washington, D.C. to NYC by AT&T

  • 1928 44-year old NY Rangers GM Lester Patrick replaces his injured goaltender in a Stanley Cup game and beats Montreal Maroons, 2-1 in OT; Rangers go on to win series, 3-2
  • 1931 Seals Stadium opens in San Francisco
  • 1933 'National Beer Day" Cullen-Harrison act comes into effect legalising sale of low alcohol beer
  • 1933 1st 2 NAZI anti-Jewish laws, bars Jews from legal & public service
  • 1933 University Bridge, Seattle opens for traffic

Event of Interest

1934 In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspends his campaign of civil disobedience

  • 1939 Italy invades Albania

US Masters Golf

1940 7th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Jimmy Demaret wins the first of his 3 Masters titles, 4 strokes ahead of runner-up Lloyd Mangrum

Event of Interest

1940 US Post Office issues first postage stamp of African American educator Booker T. Washington

  • 1941 British generals O'Connor & Neame captured in North Africa
  • 1943 British and US troops make contact at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia
  • 1943 German Lt colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded at allied air raid
  • 1943 NFL adopts free substitution rule; helmets made mandatory and 10-game schedule for all teams approved

D-Day

1944 World War II: General Montgomery speaks to generals at St. Paul's School about his vision for the upcoming D-Day landings

  • 1945 Battle of Okinawa: Massive kamikaze attack of around 110 Japanese aircraft damages three US battleships off Okinawa island
  • 1945 Battle of Okinawa: US planes intercept Japanese fleet heading for Okinawa on a suicide mission, super battleship Yamato and four destroyers are sunk
  • 1945 Kuniaki Koiso resigns as Prime Minister of Japan after the US invasion of Okinawa; he is replaced by Kantaro Suzuki
  • 1945 Sonderkommando Elbe, special Luftwaffe units designed to destroy Allied planes by ramming them mid-air, are sent on their first and only mission of World War II
  • 1946 10th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: American Herman Keiser wins his only major title, 1 stroke ahead of tour money-leader Ben Hogan; first Masters in 4 years because of World War II
  • 1946 Part of East Prussia incorporated into Russian SFSR
  • 1946 Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.
  • 1948 A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead
  • 1948 World Health Organization formed by the United Nations
  • 1949 "South Pacific" opens at Majestic Theater NYC for 1928 performances
  • 1951 105th Grand National: John Bullock wins aboard 40/1 shot Nickel Coin; of 36 runners, only 3 complete the course
  • 1951 15th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Ben Hogan wins the first of his 2 Masters titles, 2 strokes ahead of runner-up Skee Riegel
  • 1951 American Bowling Congress begins 1st masters tournament
  • 1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enwetak
  • 1953 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight

Election of Interest

1953 UN General Assembly begins session that will elect Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden as Secretary-General

  • 1954 German government refuses to recognize DDR

Conference of Interest

1954 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in news conference is first to voice fear of a "domino-effect" of communism in Indo-China

  • 1954 WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
  • 1956 10th NBA Championship: Despite 30 points from Pistons forward George Yardley, Philadelphia Warriors beat Fort Wayne, 99-88; Warriors wrap up series, 4-1
  • 1956 Spain relinquishes her protectorate in Morocco
  • 1957 21st US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: Doug Ford wins his only Masters, 3 strokes ahead of 3-time champion Sam Snead
  • 1957 Last of NY's electric trolleys completes its final run
  • 1958 Dodgers erect 42-foot screen in left field at LA Coliseum to cut down on home runs, since it is only 250 feet down the line
  • 1959 Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
  • 1959 Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford Calif
  • 1962 Indian cricketer Polly Umrigar slams 172 not out vs West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 248 minutes

Event of Interest

1962 Yugoslav ex-president Milovan Djilas returns to jail

  • 1963 27th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC: 23 year old Jack Nicklaus wins the first of his record 6 Green Jackets with a 3-foot par putt on the final hole to finish 1 stroke ahead of Tony Lema
  • 1963 Public stock offering of 115,000 shares in Milwaukee Braves withdrawn after only 13,000 shares are sold to 1,600 new investors
  • 1963 Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic

Music Premiere

1964 Hugh Martin and Timothy Gray's musical "High Spirits", based on Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit", opens at Alvin Theater, NYC; runs for 375 performances

  • 1964 IBM announces the System/360.
  • 1965 Bevan Congdon makes a stumping as 12th man NZ v Pakistan
  • 1966 US recovers a lost hydrogen bomb from the Mediterranean sea floor (whoops)
  • 1967 Israeli Syrian border fights
  • 1967 Tom Donahue, San Francisco DJ begins new radio format - Progressive (KMPX-FM)
  • 1969 Dodgers' Bill Singer is credited with 1st official save, against Reds
  • 1969 Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material

Sports History

1969 Ted Williams begins managing Washington Senators, they lose to Yanks 8-4

  • 1969 The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1

Film Premiere

1970 "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," film directed by Paul Newman and starring his wife Joanna Woodward, premieres in NYC

Academy Awards

1970 42nd Academy Awards: "Midnight Cowboy" - Best Picture, John Wayne (True Grit), and Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jane Brody) win

  • 1970 MLB Milwaukee Brewers (former Seattle Pilots) 1st game, lose to Angels 12-0

Sports History

1971 Dismissal of Curt Flood's free agency suit against baseball is upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [1]

Event of Interest

1971 US President Richard Nixon orders lt Calley (Mi Lai) free

  • 1971 WCJB TV channel 20 in Gainesville, FL (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting 3-judge US Circuit Court of Appeals
  • 1972 Three members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) die in a premature bomb explosion in Belfast
  • 1973 18th Eurovision Song Contest: Anne-Marie David for Luxembourg wins singing "Tu te reconnaitras" in Luxembourg
  • 1973 Cleveland sets day-game & opening-game attendance records of 74,420
  • 1973 Doug Walters' best Test Cricket bowling, 5-66 v WI Georgetown
  • 1974 Herb Gardner's "Thieves" premieres in NYC
  • 1975 Preliminary meeting in Paris on world economic crisis between oil-exporting, oil-importing, and non-oil Third World countries

Event of Interest

1976 Chinese Politburo fires vice-premier Deng Xiaoping

  • 1977 Consumer Product Safety Commission bans "TRIS" flame-retardant
  • 1977 German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot dead by two Red Army Faction members, starting the "German Autumn"
  • 1977 MLB Toronto Blue Jays 1st game, they beat Chicago 9-5
  • 1978 Guttenberg bible sells for $2,000,000 in New York City

Sports History

1978 US Court of Appeals upholds Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's voiding of attempted player sales by A's owner Charlie Finley in June 1976

Event of Interest

1978 US President Jimmy Carter defers production of neutron bomb

  • 1979 Henri La Mothe dives 28' into 12 3/8" of water

Sports History

1979 Houston Astro Ken Forsch no-hits Atlanta Braves, 6-0, becoming with his brother Bob Forsch the only MLB siblings to accomplish the feat

Sports History

1979 Islander's Mike Bossy scores 4 goals against Flyers

  • 1980 US President Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis

Album Release

1981 "Street Songs" 5th studio album by Rick James is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1981)

  • 1981 Willem Klein mentally extracts 13th root of a 100-digit # in 29 sec
  • 1982 Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
  • 1983 Oldest human skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered in Egypt
  • 1983 STS-6 specialist Story Musgrave & Don Peterson perform the 1st STS spacewalk
  • 1983 WIBC Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, attracts 75,480 women bowlers for 83-day event
  • 1984 Detroit Tiger Jack Morris no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0
  • 1985 1st live telecast of Easter Parade in New York
  • 1985 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Alice Miller shoots a final round 67 (−5) to win her only major title, 3 strokes ahead of Jan Stephenson of Australia
  • 1985 New Jersey General Hershel Walker rushes for USFL record 233 yards
  • 1987 Al Campanis, Dodger executive for more than 40 years, resigns, after making racial remarks on "Nightline"
  • 1987 National Museum of Female Physicians opens in Washington, D.C.
  • 1988 Murderer of Gerrit Jan Heijns, Ferdi Elsas, arrested in the Netherlands
  • 1988 Russia announces it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
  • 1988 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
  • 1989 NY Supreme Court takes America's Cup away from SD Yacht Club for using a catamaran against NZ. Appeals court eventually overrules
  • 1989 Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen deaths
  • 1990 144th Grand National: Marcus Armytage aboard 16/1 bet Mr Frisk wins in race record 8m 47.8s; 2 equine fatalities during the race
  • 1990 BPAA US Open by Ron Palombi Jr

Farm Aid Concert

1990 Farm Aid IV concert at Hoosier Dome (Indianapolis, Indiana) features Bonnie Raitt, John Mellencamp, John Hiatt, Carl Perkins, Arlo Guthrie, Garth Brooks, Bruce Hornsby, Elton John, Lou Reed, Taj Mahal, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Willie Nelson, Iggy Pop, and others [1]

  • 1990 Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma
  • 1990 John Poindexter (US National Security Advisor) found guilty of five counts of lying to Congress and obstruction regarding the Iran-Contra scandal
  • 1990 Michael Milken pleads innocent to security law violations
  • 1990 NY Rangers beat NY Islanders 5-2, Rangers lead 2-0 in preliminary
  • 1991 "Shadowlands" closes at Brooks Atkinson Theatre NYC after 169 performances
  • 1991 Brooke Allen's stage drama "The Big Love", a one-woman show starring Tracey Ullman, closes at Plymouth Theater, NYC, after 41 performances
  • 1991 Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth
  • 1991 George Washington Bridge (connecting New York City with Fort Lee, New Jersey, over the Hudson River) raises toll from $3.00 to $4.00

Golf Tournament

1991 Tradition Senior Men's Golf, GC at Desert Mountain: Jack Nicklaus wins his second of 4 event titles by 1 stroke from Jim Colbert, Jim Dent & Phil Rodgers

  • 1992 Republika Srpska (aka the Bosnian Serb Republic) announces its independence.
  • 1993 Dante Bichette hits the 1st Colo Rockie HR (Shea Stadium NY)
  • 1994 "Medea" opens at Longacre Theater NYC for 82 performances
  • 1994 1st night game at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, Indians 6 Seattle 2
  • 1994 American soul singer Percy Sledge pleads guilty to tax evasion

Rwandan Genocide

1994 Beginning of the Rwandan Genocide; the Presidential Guard begins killing moderate politicians and public figures in Kigali, including Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana

  • 1994 NY Yankees beat Texas Rangers 18-6
  • 1994 Vatican commemorates The Holocaust for the first time with an orchestral concert in the Sala Nervi
  • 1995 Baseball exhibition season begins late due to strike
  • 1996 Pakistan beats Sri Lanka to win Cricket's Singer Cup in Singapore

Sports History

1996 Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya hits fastest ODI fifty off 17 balls v Pakistan, Singapore

  • 1996 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, GC at Desert Mountain: Defending champion Jack Nicklaus wins his 4th event title by 3 strokes from Hale Irwin
  • 1997 150th Grand National: Tony Dobbin aboard New Zealand bred Lord Gyllene wins at 14/1 by 25 lengths; race postponed 2 days because of IRA bomb threat
  • 1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Ft Myers FL on WRXK 96.1 FM
  • 1999 The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas
  • 2000 1st regular season MLB game at Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) in Houston, Texas; visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat Astros 4-1, Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen hits first homer at new park
  • 2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is charged by Delhi police with fixing One Day International matches against India
  • 2001 154th Grand National: Richard Guest wins aboard Red Marauder; trainer Martin Pipe saddles 10 of 40-strong field, Blowing Wind best at 3rd place
  • 2001 Mars Odyssey is launched
  • 2003 65th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Syracuse beats Kansas, 81-78; Orangemen win first title; Carmelo Anthony named tournament Most Outstanding Player

Event of Interest

2003 U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.

Event of Interest

2005 Head of government of the Federal District, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, faces an impeachment process at the Mexican Congress

  • 2008 70th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Kansas beats Memphis, 75-68; first time since seeding began, all 4 top seeds advance to the Final Four
  • 2009 28th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Louisville, 76-54; Huskies' 6th national title with center Tina Charles MOP

Event of Interest

2009 Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces

  • 2012 130 Pakistani Army soldiers are buried in an avalanche near the Siachen Glacier
  • 2012 Joyce Banda becomes President of Malawi
  • 2013 15 people, including 9 children, are killed by an air strike on Aleppo by the Syrian Air Force
  • 2013 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Inbee Park wins her 2nd major title, 4 strokes ahead of fellow South Korean So Yeon Ryu; first of Park's 3 straight major victories in 2013
  • 2013 Sweden wins the 2013 World Men's Curling Championship defeating Canada

WrestleMania

2013 WrestleMania XXVIII, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ (80,676): John Cena defeats The Rock to win his record 11th WWE Championship

  • 2014 76th NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Kentucky, 60-54; 2nd time a school has won both men's & women's Div I national titles in same year
  • 2015 34th NCAA Women's Basketball Championship: Connecticut beats Notre Dame, 63-53; Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis & Moriah Jefferson, 15 points for Huskies
  • 2016 Longest-ever captured python found on Penang in Malaysia (26ft/8m)

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

2017 32nd Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Joan Baez; Electric Light Orchestra; Journey; Pearl Jam; 2Pac Shakur; Yes; and Nile Rodgers

  • 2017 Smurfs: The Lost Village is released in the United States
  • 2017 Truck driven into a department store in Stockholm, killing 4 in a terror attack