UN
Days
World
Book and Copyright Day
English
Language Day
Spanish
Language Day
Events
of the day
Aragon, Spain
St George's Day, patron saint
English Language Day
215
BC – A temple is built on the Capitoline Hill
dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the
Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeats
Viking invaders, but is killed in battle.
1016 – Edmund Ironside succeeds his father Æthelred
the Unready as king of England,
1343 – Estonia: St. George's Night Uprising.
1348 – The founding of the Order of the Garter
by King Edward III is announced on St George's
Day.
1521 – Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain
defeats the Comuneros.
1635 – The first public school in the United States,
Boston Latin School, is founded in Boston, Massachusetts.
1660 – Treaty of Oliwa is established between
Sweden and Poland.
1661 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and
Ireland is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 – The Second Serbian Uprising – a second
phase of the national revolution of the Serbs
against the Ottoman Empire, erupts shortly after
the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1910 – Theodore Roosevelt made his The Man in
the Arena speech.
1918 – World War I: The British Royal Navy makes
a raid in an attempt to neutralise the Belgian
port of Bruges-Zeebrugge.
1920 – The national council in Turkey denounces
the government of Sultan Mehmed VI and announces
a temporary constitution.
1920 – The Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM)
is founded in Ankara.
1927 – Turkey becomes the first country to celebrate
Children's Day as a national holiday.
1932 – The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in
Haarlem, Netherlands burns down. It is rebuilt
and reopens exactly 70 years later.
1935 – The Polish Constitution of 1935 is adopted.
1940 – The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall
in Natchez, Mississippi, kills 198 people.
1941 – World War II: The Greek government and
King George II evacuate Athens before the invading
Wehrmacht.
1942 – World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers
hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the
British raid on Lübeck.
1945 – Adolf Hitler's designated successor Hermann
Göring sends him a telegram asking permission
to take leadership of the Third Reich, which causes
Hitler to replace him with Joseph Goebbels and
Karl Dönitz.
1946 – Manuel Roxas is elected the last President
of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
1949 – Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the
People's Liberation Army Navy.
1951 – American journalist William N. Oatis is
arrested for espionage by the Communist government
of Czechoslovakia.
1955 – The Canadian Labour Congress is formed
by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress
of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.
1961 – Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 – Soviet space program: Soyuz 1 (Russian:
Союз 1, Union 1) is a manned spaceflight, Launched
into orbit carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir
Komarov.
1968 – Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia
University in New York City take over administration
buildings and shut down the university.
1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan
Army and Razakars massacred approximately 3,000
Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East
Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
1985 – Coca-Cola changes its formula and releases
New Coke. The response is overwhelmingly negative,
and the original formula is back on the market
in less than 3 months.
1990 – Namibia becomes the 160th member of the
United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth
of Nations.
1993 – Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence
from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1993 – Sri Lankan politician Lalith Athulathmudali
is assassinated while addressing a gathering,
approximately 4 weeks ahead of the Provincial
Council elections for the Western Province.
1997 – Omaria massacre in Algeria: 42 villagers
are killed.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Adalbert of Prague
George
Gerard of Toul
April 23 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day (Conch Republic, Key West, Florida)
National Sovereignty and Children's Day (Turkey
and Northern Cyprus)
St George's Day and its related observances:
La Diada de Sant Jordi (Catalonia, Spain)
Canada Book Day (Canada)
International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day
Vinalia urbana, (Roman Empire)
For details, contact Datacentre