Sunday 21 April 2024 Calendar with holidays, observances and special days

Holidays and observances

• A&M Day (Texas A&M University)
• Administrative Professionals Week in USA
• Animal Cruelty/Human Violence Awareness Week in USA (Humane Society of the US – third week in April)
• Bulldogs Are Beautiful Day (They are related to the Asiatic Mastiff, which, according to historical records, lived in Mesopotamia around 4,000 BC)
• Chief Accountant Day in Russia
• Civil Service Day in India
• Dancing Cow Day in Denmark (On the third Sunday of April)
• Hanover Cherry Blossom Festival (Begins on Sunday of the third full week of April)
• Heroic Defense of Veracruz in Mexico
• Iqbal Day in Pakistan (in memory of the death of the poet in 1938. He was the president of the Muslim League of Muhammad Iqbal and is considered there the spiritual father of Pakistan)
• Kartini Day in Indonesia
• Kenya National Planting Day
• National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day in USA
• National Day of Occupational Health and Safety at Work in Argentina
• National Student Leadership Week in USA
• National Tea Day in United Kingdom
• National Volunteer Week in Canada
• National Volunteer Week in USA
• Queen Elizabeth II's birthday in the UK (1926)
• Queen's Official Birthday on Falkland Islands
• The founding of Rome in Italy
• Tiradentes' Day in Brazil (Joaquim José da Silva Xavier known as Tiradentes)
• Vietnam Book Day in Vietnam
• World Fish Migration Day

Events

• 2014 – The American city of Flint, Michigan switches its water source to the Flint River, beginning the ongoing Flint water crisis which has caused lead poisoning in up to 12,000 people, and 15 deaths from Legionnaires disease, ultimately leading to criminal indictments against 15 people, five of whom have been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
• 1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12.
• 1982 – Baseball: Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers becomes the first pitcher to record 300 saves.
• 1963 – The first election of the Universal House of Justice is held, marking its establishment as the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith.
• 1962 – The Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens. It is the first World's Fair in the United States since World War II.
• 1952 – Secretary's Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
• 1934 – The "Surgeon's Photograph", the most famous photo allegedly showing the Loch Ness Monster, is published in the Daily Mail (in 1999, it is revealed to be a hoax).
• 1898 – Spanish–American War: The United States Navy begins a blockade of Cuban ports. When the U.S. Congress issued a declaration of war on April 25, it declared that a state of war had existed from this date.
• 1809 – Two Austrian army corps are driven from Landshut by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon as two French corps to the north hold off the main Austrian army on the first day of the Battle of Eckmühl.
• 1782 – The city of Rattanakosin, now known internationally as Bangkok, is founded on the eastern bank of the Chao Phraya River by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke.
• 1526 – The last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, Ibrahim Lodi is defeated and killed by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat.

Births

• 1989 – Tatyana McFadden, Russian-American sprinter and skier. McFadden has won 17 Paralympic medals in multiple Summer Paralympic Games.
• 1988 – Jencarlos Canela, American singer-songwriter and actor. Canela starred in the telenovela Más sabe el diablo, and two other telenovelas.
• 1987 – Eric Devendorf, American basketball player. He averaged 15.7 points per game in his final season at Syracuse.
• 1986 – Audra Cohen, American tennis player. She is currently the head women's tennis coach at the University of Oklahoma.
• 1986 – Rodney Stuckey, American basketball player. He previously played seven seasons for the Detroit Pistons and three seasons for the Indiana Pacers and played college basketball for Eastern Washington University.
• 1984 – Shayna Fox, American voice actress. Shayna Bracha Fox (born April 21, 1984) is a former American voice actress known for voicing Regina "Reggie" Rocket on the Nickelodeon animated television series Rocket Power as well as Savannah on All Grown Up!.
• 1982 – Carnell Williams, American football player. Carnell Lamar "Cadillac" Williams (born April 21, 1982) is an American football coach and former running back in the National Football League (NFL), currently serving as running backs coach for the Auburn Tigers football team, for whom he also played college football.
• 1982 – Khalif Barnes, American football player. He played college football at Washington.
• 1980 – Jeff Keppinger, American baseball player. He played for the New York Mets, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays, and Chicago White Sox.
• 1980 – Tony Romo, American football player. Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American football television analyst and retired quarterback who played 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL).
• 1974 – Orlando Jordan, American wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he was a one-time United States Champion, and his time with TNA Wrestling.
• 1971 – Axl Rotten, American wrestler (d. 2016), was an American professional wrestler. In the early 1990s, he was a part of the tag team The Bad Breed with Ian Rotten.
• 1970 – Jeff Anderson, American actor, director, and screenwriter. Jeffrey Allan "Jeff" Anderson (born April 21, 1970) is an American film and television actor, director, and screenwriter best known for starring as Randal Graves in Clerks and Clerks II.
• 1970 – Nicole Sullivan, American actress, comedian, and screenwriter. She also played the role of Holly Shumpert for five seasons (2001–2005, 2007) on the CBS sitcom The King of Queens.
• 1970 – Rob Riggle, American actor and comedian. He has also co-starred in the Adult Swim comedy-action series NTSF:SD:SUV::.
• 1965 – Fiona Kelleghan, American academic, critic and librarian. Richter Library.
• 1965 – Gary Grant, American basketball player. Gary Grant (born April 21, 1965) is a retired American professional basketball player at the point guard position in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
• 1965 – Karen Foster, American model and actress. The following is a list of Playboy Playmates of 1989, the 35th anniversary year of the publication.
• 1963 – John Cameron Mitchell, American actor, director, and screenwriter. John Cameron Mitchell (born April 21, 1963) is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter, and director.
• 1963 – Ken Caminiti, American baseball player (d. 2004), was an American third baseman who spent fifteen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Houston Astros (1987–1994, 1999–2000), San Diego Padres (1995–1998), Texas Rangers (2001) and Atlanta Braves (2001). He was named the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) with San Diego in 1996, and is a member of the Padres Hall of Fame.
• 1962 – Les Lancaster, American baseball player and coach. Lester Wayne (Les) Lancaster (born April 21, 1962) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1987–1993 and later managed in the minor leagues.
• 1961 – Carey Hayes, American screenwriter and producer. He is the twin brother of Chad Hayes.
• 1959 – Tim Jacobus, American illustrator and painter. Tim Jacobus (/dʒəˈkoʊbəs/; born April 21, 1959) is an American artist best known for illustrating the covers for nearly 100 books in R.
• 1958 – Andie MacDowell, American model, actress, and producer. She also received Golden Globe Award nominations for her performances in Green Card (1990) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994).
• 1958 – Michael Zarnock, American author. Michael Zarnock (born April 21, 1958 in Utica, New York) is an American writer of collector guides and articles about Hot Wheels toy cars and accessories.
• 1957 – Jesse Orosco, American baseball player. Jesse Russell Orosco (born April 21, 1957) is a former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball who holds the major league record for career pitching appearances, having pitched in 1,252 games.
• 1956 – Phillip Longman, German-American demographer and journalist. News & World Report.
• 1952 – Gerald Early, American author and academic. Gerald Lyn Early (born April 21, 1952) is an American essayist and American culture critic.
• 1951 – Michael Freedman, American mathematician and academic. Michael Hartley Freedman (born 21 April 1951) is an American mathematician, at Microsoft Station Q, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
• 1951 – Tony Danza, American actor and producer, was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his work on the 1997 sitcom The Tony Danza Show (not to be confused with his 2004–2006 daytime variety talk show of the same name).
• 1949 – Patti LuPone, American actress and singer. She is also a 2006 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee.
• 1948 – Gary Condit, American businessman and politician. Gary Adrian Condit (born April 21, 1948) is a former politician and a Democrat who represented parts of California's Central Valley in the House of Representatives from 1989 to 2003.
• 1947 – Al Bumbry, American baseball player. Alonza Benjamin "Al" Bumbry (born Alonza Benjamin Bumbrey; April 21, 1947) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder who played for the Baltimore Orioles and San Diego Padres from 1972 through 1985.
• 1947 – Iggy Pop, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actor. Designated the "Godfather of Punk", he was the vocalist of influential proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1967 and have disbanded and reunited multiple times since.
• 1941 – David L. Boren, American lawyer and politician, 21st Governor of Oklahoma. Senator from Oklahoma.
• 1939 – Reni Santoni, American actor. Reni Santoni (born April 21, 1939) is an American film, television and voice actor.
• 1939 – Sister Helen Prejean, American nun, activist, and author. Helen Prejean, C.S.J. (born April 21, 1939, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a Roman Catholic sister, a member of the Congregation of St.
• 1937 – Ben Zinn, Israeli-born American academic and former international soccer player. He is currently the David S.
• 1937 – Gary Peters (baseball), American baseball player. He was one of the best-hitting pitchers of his era.
• 1936 – James Dobson, American evangelist, psychologist, and author, founded Focus on the Family. Although never an ordained minister, he was called "the nation's most influential evangelical leader" by The New York Times while Slate portrayed him as a successor to evangelical leaders Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.
• 1936 – Reg Fleming, Canadian-American ice hockey player (d. 2009), was a professional hockey player in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Black Hawks, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Buffalo Sabres. He also played for the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association, as well as with a number of minor league teams in other professional leagues.
• 1935 – Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host. He had a small part as an obstetrician in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby in 1968.
• 1935 – Thomas Kean, American academic and politician, 48th Governor of New Jersey. He was appointed to this post by U.S.
• 1932 – Elaine May, American actress, comedian, director, and screenwriter. Elaine Iva May (née Berlin; born April 21, 1932) is an American comedienne, screenwriter, director and actress.
• 1932 – Slide Hampton, African-American trombonist and composer. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument is slide trombone, but he also occasionally plays tuba and flugelhorn.
• 1924 – Ira Louvin, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player (d. 1965), was an American country music singer, mandolinist and songwriter. He was a cousin of songwriter John D.
• 1919 – Don Cornell, American singer and trumpet player (d. 2004). Born to an Italian family in The Bronx, New York, Cornell attended Roosevelt High School in the Bronx.
• 1916 – Estella B. Diggs, American businesswoman and politician (d. 2013). Diggs (April 21, 1916 – April 18, 2013) was an American businesswoman, writer and politician from New York.
• 1915 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (d. 2001), was a Mexican-American actor, painter, writer and film director. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed movies, including La Strada, The Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek, Guns for San Sebastian, Lawrence of Arabia, The Shoes of the Fisherman, The Message, Lion of the Desert, Last Action Hero and A Walk in the Clouds.
• 1915 – Garrett Hardin, American ecologist, author, and academic (d. 2003), was an American ecologist who warned of the dangers of human overpopulation. He is most famous for his exposition of the tragedy of the commons, in a 1968 paper of the same title in Science, which called attention to "the damage that innocent actions by individuals can inflict on the environment".
• 1914 – Angelo Savoldi, Italian-American wrestler and promoter, co-founded International World Class Championship Wrestling (d. 2013), was an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter, better known professionally as Angelo Savoldi. At the time of his death, he was known as the world's oldest retired wrestler at the age of 99.
• 1912 – Eve Arnold, Russian-American photojournalist (d. 2012). She joined Magnum Photos agency in 1951, and became a full member in 1957.
• 1911 – Ivan Combe, American businessman, developed Clearasil (d. 2000), was the American inventor of personal-care products, most notably Clearasil and Odor Eaters. In 1949 he established his eponymous company Combe Incorporated in White Plains, New York.
• 1905 – Pat Brown, American lawyer and politician, 32nd Governor of California (d. 1996), was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 32nd Governor of California from 1959 to 1967. Born in San Francisco, Brown had an early interest in speaking and politics; he earned a LL.B. degree in 1927, and subsequently began legal practice.
• 1899 – Randall Thompson, American composer and academic (d. 1984), was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.
• 1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Sr., Russian-American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1985), was a concert violinist, composer, teacher, conductor and director of the Curtis Institute of Music.
• 1887 – Joe McCarthy, American baseball player and manager (d. 1978), was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957.
• 1882 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1961), was an American physicist who received the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the physics of high pressures. He also wrote extensively on the scientific method and on other aspects of the philosophy of science.
• 1870 – Edwin Stanton Porter, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1941), was an American film pioneer, most famous as a producer, director, studio manager and cinematographer with the Edison Manufacturing Company and the Famous Players Film Company. Of over 250 films created by Porter, his most important include Jack and the Beanstalk (1902), Life of an American Fireman (1903), The Great Train Robbery (1903), The Kleptomaniac (1905), Life of a Cowboy (1906), Rescued from an Eagle's Nest (1908), and The Prisoner of Zenda (1913) .
• 1868 – Alfred Henry Maurer, American painter (d. 1932), was an American modernist painter. He exhibited his work in avant-garde circles internationally and in New York City during the early twentieth century.
• 1854 – William Stang, German-American bishop (d. 1907), was a German-born prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as the first Bishop of Fall River from 1904 until his death in 1907.
• 1838 – John Muir, Scottish-American environmentalist and author (d. 1914), was an influential Scottish-American:42 naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist, and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States of America.
• 1811 – Alson Sherman, American merchant and politician, 8th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1903). Alson Sherman (April 21, 1811 – September 27, 1903) served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1844–1845) for the Independent Democrat Party.
• 1810 – John Putnam Chapin, American politician, 10th Mayor of Chicago (d. 1864). John Putnam Chapin (April 21, 1810 – July 27, 1864; buried in Graceland Cemetery) served as Mayor of Chicago, Illinois (1846–1847) for the Whig Party.
• 1775 – Alexander Anderson, Scottish-American illustrator and engraver (d. 1870). Alexander Anderson is the name of:

Deaths

• 2016 – Prince, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, and actor (b. 1958)
• 2015 – Betsy von Furstenberg, German-American actress (b. 1931)
• 2015 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (b. 1912)
• 2015 – Steve Byrnes, American sportscaster and producer (b. 1959)
• 2014 – George H. Heilmeier, American engineer (b. 1936)
• 2014 – Janet Gray Hayes, American politician, 60th Mayor of San Jose (b. 1926)
• 2014 – Win Tin, Burmese journalist and politician, co-founded the National League for Democracy (b. 1930)
• 2013 – Gordon D. Gayle, American general and historian (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Charles Colson, American lawyer and activist, founded Prison Fellowship (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Charles Higham, English-American author and poet (b. 1931)
• 2012 – Doris Betts, American author and academic (b. 1932)
• 2009 — Vivian Maier, American photographer (b. 1926)
• 2004 – Mary McGrory, American journalist (b. 1918)
• 2003 – Nina Simone, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and activist (b. 1933)
• 1996 – Zora Arkus-Duntov, Belgian-born American engineer and racing driver (b. 1909)
• 1987 – Gustav Bergmann, Austrian-American philosopher from the Vienna Circle (b. 1906)
• 1986 – Marjorie Eaton, American painter and actress (b. 1901)
• 1985 – Rudi Gernreich, Austrian-American fashion designer, created the monokini (b. 1922)
• 1983 – Walter Slezak, Austrian-American actor and singer (b. 1902)
• 1978 – Thomas Wyatt Turner, American biologist and academic (b. 1877)
• 1977 – Gummo Marx, American vaudevillian and talent agent (b. 1893)
• 1974 – Chic Harley, American football player (b. 1894)
• 1956 – Charles MacArthur, American playwright and screenwriter (b. 1895)
• 1954 – Emil Leon Post, Polish-American mathematician and logician (b. 1897)
• 1952 – Leslie Banks, American actor, director and producer (b. 1890)
• 1948 – Aldo Leopold, American ecologist and author (b. 1887)
• 1910 – Mark Twain, American novelist, humorist, and critic (b. 1835)
• 1815 – Joseph Winston, American soldier and politician (b. 1746)