History is everything. If you want to wipe the memory of a people, get rid of their history first. That’s why having some knowledge of past occurrences is imperative. Find out some important events that happened today in history.

 

215 BC — A temple, built on the Capitoline Hill, is dedicated to Venus Erycina to commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene

1014 — King Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland, is assassinated by a group of retreating Norsemen shortly after his Irish forces defeated them.

1516 — The Duke of Bavaria, Wilheim IV, enforces the German Beer Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) across all of Bavaria. He states that beer should be brewed from only three ingredients: water, malt and hops.

1564 — Historians believe Shakespeare was born on this day in 1564, the same day he died in 1616. Although the plays of William Shakespeare may be the most widely read works in the English language, little is known for certain about the playwright himself.

 

 

1597 — William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.

1851 — Canada issues its 1st postage stamps.

1867 — Queen Victoria & Napoleon III turn down plans for a channel tunnel.

1878 — First Dutch test drive of a steam tram.

1898 — Spain declares war on the United States after rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.

 

The 20th Century

1900 — First know occurrence of word “hillbillie” (NY Journal).

1932 — The New Royal Shakespeare Theatre opens in Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon after a fire destroyed the original Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.

1942 — Germans begin “Baedeker Raids” on England in retaliation for the British raid on Lubeck, German bombers strike Exeter and later Bath, Norwich, York, and other “medieval-city centres.” Almost 1,000 English civilians die in the bombing attacks nicknamed “Baedeker Raids.”

1944 — Germany World War II.

1957 — More police forces throughout the United States are to buy and use a greater number of portable speed radar checking devices to enforce speed limits.

1959 — “Destry Rides Again” opens at Imperial Theater NYC for 472 performances.

1959 — 1st heliport in Britain opens in London.

1965 — “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” single released by the Four Tops (Billboard Song of the Year 1965).

1967 — Soviet cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies when his parachute fails to deploy during his spacecraft’s landing. Komarov was testing the spacecraft Soyuz I in the midst of the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union.

1968 — 1st decimal coins issued in Britain (5 and 10 new pence, replacing the shilling and two-shilling pieces).

1968 — United Methodist Church forms.

1969 — Sirhan Sirhan receives the death penalty for the assassination of politician Robert F. Kennedy.

1984 — Singer Marvin Gaye, the Motown singer who had numerous hits including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, is shot to death by his father at age 45. His father suffers from a brain tumour at the time and, after pleading guilty to manslaughter, is sentenced to six years of probation.

 

More events

1985 — The Coca-Cola Company announces its change of formula for Coke and changes its name to New Coke. Less than 6 months later, they returned to the original formula.

1970 — President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act which would ban the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio beginning on January 2nd, 1971.

1972 — Apollo 16 astronauts explores the Moon surface.

1982 — Professional boxer George Foreman (33) divorces Sharon Goodson after 7 months of marriage.

1992 — British Princess Anne (Princess Royal) and her 1st husband Captain Mark Phillips divorce after 19 years.

1983 — A think tank in Washington predicts that, by the year 2000, 50% of the worlds energy resources will be met from renewable energy sources. ( In 2004 Oil accounted for 37.6 %, Natural Gas 25.6% and Coal for 23.1% so the total for Non-Renewable Energy Sources = 85.2% ), so predictions were somewhat wrong.

1984 — Researchers discover and isolate a virus they say is likely to be the primary cause of AIDS, the mysterious and deadly disease that destroys the body’s protective immune system.

1985 — New Coke debuts; Coca-Cola announced it is changing its secret flavour formula.

1987 — Chrysler buys luxury automaker Lamborghini for a reported sum of $25 million for Lamborghini.

1998 — James Earl Ray, the convicted killer of the black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, dies from a terminal liver disease while still incarcerated. He protested his innocence to the murder until the end.

1989 — Wine merchant William Sokolin breaks a bottle of 1787 Château Margaux, possibly belonging to Thomas Jefferson, worth $500,000 at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York.

1992 — McDonald’s opens its 1st fast-food restaurant in China.

 

23rd April in the 21st Century

2001 — Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic arrested on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and embezzlement by Serbian authorities at his Belgrade villa.

2001 — Fatboy Slim releases single “Weapon of Choice”, a music video directed by Spike Jonze starring Christopher Walken dancing.

2002 — Pope John Paul II meets with U.S. Catholic Church leaders at the Vatican regarding s****l abuse of minors.

2003 — Beijing closes all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.

2011 — Zach Daniels defeats Rick Michaels to become the new TNT Heavyweight Champion.

2012 — Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh agrees to leave power after thirty-two years. He does this to appease protesters in the country and curb violence.

2012 — 38,000 London Marathon entrants have their home and email contacts published in a data protection breach. What does this remind you of?

 

More events

2013 — A 1% flash crash hits the US stock market after a hacked news agency claims injury to President Obama.

2013 — The French National Assembly passes an amended bill legalising same-s*x marriage with a vote of 321 to 225. The bill also legalized the adoption of children by same-s*x couples.

2013 — “Star Trek Into Darkness” directed by J. J. Abrams starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto premieres in Sydney.

2014 — The lower house of the Russian parliament passes a bill that would ban swearing in all film, music and art. The fines would be around $70 for members of the general public and $140 for officials.

2016 — Beyoncé releases her 6th album, “Lemonade,” with a 1-hour film on HBO.

2018 — Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War”, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, premieres in Los Angeles. It stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr and a large ensemble cast.