1450 – Jack Cade’s Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.
1541 – Hernando de Soto reaches the Mississippi River and names it Río de Espíritu Santo.
1753 – Phillis Wheatley, American poet who was both the second published African-American poet and first published African-American woman. Born
1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts.
1794 – Branded a traitor during the Reign of Terror by revolutionists, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was also a tax collector with the Ferme Générale, is tried, convicted, and guillotined all on the same day in Paris.
1819 – Kamehameha I, King of Hawaii (1782-1819) dies
1828 – Henry Dunant, Swiss businessman and activist, co-founded the Red Cross, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1910) was born.
1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.
1887 – Alexander Ulyanov, brother of Lenin/hanged for assassination of tsar
1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (d. 1972) was birthed.
1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
1903 – Eugene-Henri-Paul Gauguin, French painter (Tahiti), dies
1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
1911 – Robert Johnson, blues singer (King of Delta Blues Singer) Born
1913 – Bob Clampett, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1984) was born.
1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of World War I.
1926 – David Attenborough, Naturalist, TV producer and host (BBC “Life” Series), born in London, England
1926 – Don Rickles, Queens NY, comedian (Don Rickles Show, CPO Sharkey) Born
1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.
1929 – Three gangsters from Chicago were found murdered today and riddled with bullets in retaliation for the “St Valentines Day Massacre” earlier in the year , so far 2 have been identified as 2 of Scarface Al Capones henchmen.
1930 – Gary Snyder, [Japhy Ryder], beat poet (Rip Rap & Cold Mountain Poems) Born
1932 – Sonny Liston, Sand Slough Arkansas, American heavyweight boxer, Born
1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
1936 – Oswald Spengler, German philosopher (Underworld of Abendlandes), dies
1937 – Thomas Pynchon, novelist (V) Born
1939 – Calls for peace continue with Europe on the brink of war including Pope Pius XII who asks the nations involved to try to come to a peaceful settlement , Currently Britain is worried as if the Soviets and Nazis do make a pact to join forces, war could be that much closer and will involve all the countries in Europe
1940 – Peter Benchley, novelist (Jaws, The Deep), born in NYC, New York (d. 2006) Born
1940 – Ricky Nelson, NJ, rock star (Hello Mary Lou, It’s Late, Garden Party) Born
1940 – Toni Tennille, American singer (Captain and Tennille), born
1941 – James A Traficant Jr, American politician (Rep-D-OH, 1985-2002), born in Youngstown, Ohio, (d. 2014)
1951 – Chris Frantz, Ky, rock drummer (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) Born
1941 – The German Luftwaffe launches a bombing raid on Nottingham and Derby
1942 – Euclid “Motorhead” Sherwood, rocker (Mothers Of Invention) Born
1942 – World War II: The Battle of the Coral Sea comes to an end with Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attacking and sinking the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.
1942 – World War II: Gunners of the Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands rebel in the Cocos Islands Mutiny. Their mutiny is crushed and three of them are executed, the only British Commonwealth soldiers to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War.
1943 – Paul Samwell-Smith, English bass player and producer (The Yardbirds and Box of Frogs) was born
1944 – Gary Glitter, [Paul Gadd], England, rocker (Rock & Roll Part II), sex offender birthed
1945 – Keith Jarrett, jazz musician/film composer (Nachtfahrer) Born
1945 – Hundreds of Algerian civilians are killed by French Army soldiers in the Sétif massacre.
1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Reims, France, to an unconditional surrender.
1945 – The Halifax Riot starts when thousands of civilians and servicemen rampage through Halifax.
1948 – Following the end of the World War more problems are appearing in how Germany will be split with the Russians stating the plan put forward by Britain, France and The United States will cause Germany and the rest Europe to be divided and is not in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. So far no word has been given by Russia on what they will do. ( what did happen is that Berlin was split and the Berlin Wall was built as part of the cold war over the next 40 years )
1951 – Philip Bailey, American singer-songwriter, drummer, and actor (Earth, Wind & Fire) was born.
1953 – Billy Burnette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (Fleetwood Mac) was born
1953 – Alex Van Halen, Dutch-American drummer (Van Halen) was born.
1963 – Sylvain Cossette, Canadian singer-songwriter (Paradox) was born.
1964 – Dave Rowntree, English drummer and animator (Blur and The Ailerons) was born.
1967 – Following the publication of his book “unsafe at any speed” Published in 1965 which highlights the Chevrolet Corvair as an unsafe and unreliable example of automobiles offered to American Consumers. Ralph Nader is part of a symposium on “Automobile Crash Injuries” at the Upstate Medical Center as part of the pressure on the government and the automobile industry to improve safety in cars.
1970 – The Hard Hat Riot occurs in the Wall Street area of New York City as blue-collar construction workers clash with demonstrators protesting the Vietnam War.
1970 – The Beatles release Let It Be in the United States
1972 – Darren Hayes, Australian singer-songwriter (Savage Garden) was born.
1972 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
1973 – After more than two months when 120 armed members of the American Indian Movement and their supporters who had seized the old town of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota lay down their arms and surrendered the town to wary Federal officials.
1976 – The rollercoaster Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
1977 – Joe Bonamassa, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Bloodline and Black Country Communion) was born.
1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.
1978 – David Berkowitz ( Son of Sam ) admitted guilty to 6 son of Sam killings in court , he has also claimed responsibility for 2000 fires in a 4 year period under the alias of “The Phantom of the Bronx”, it was revealed a diary found detailed 1,411 of the fires during this time period.
1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.
1982 – Gilles Villeneuve, Canadian auto racer, dies in an accident
1984 – The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
1984 – Lila Bell Wallace, American publisher, co-founded Reader’s Digest (b. 1890) died.
1984 – Corporal Denis Lortie enters the Quebec National Assembly and opens fire, killing three and wounding 13. René Jalbert, Sergeant-at-Arms of the assembly, succeeds in calming him, for which he will later receive the Cross of Valour.
1984 – The Thames Barrier is officially opened.
1986 – Following the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plants meltdown on April 26th the Atomic Energy Agency has announced the fire is now out in number 4 reactor and the job of encasing the reactor in concrete will start.
1987 – The Loughgall ambush: The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
1988 – Robert A Heinlein, sci-fi writer (Friday), dies of heart failure at 80
1988 – A fire at Illinois Bell’s Hinsdale Central Office triggers an extended 1AESS network outage once considered the “worst telecommunications disaster in US telephone industry history”.
1994 – George Peppard, actor (Breakfast at Tiffanys, The Carpetbaggers, A-Team), dies at 65
1999 – Dirk Bogarde, London England, actor (b. 1921) (Death in Venice, Servant) Dies
1999 – Dana Plato, American actress (b. 1964) Dies
2008 – Eddy Arnold, Country music star (b. 1918) Dies
2009 – Dom DiMaggio, American baseball player (b. 1917) Dies
2012 – Maurice Sendak, American author/illustrator, dies at 83
2014 – Roger L. Easton, American scientist, co-invented the GPS (b. 1921) died.
2015 – Ed Milliband, Nick Clegg and Nigel Farage step down as party leaders of the Labour Party, Liberal Democrat Party and UKIP respectively. 2015 – Conservative Party gain a majority in UK Parliament and David Cameron is elected for another term.