Today in History: April 25, 1792 At 3:30 p.m. on April 25, 1792, a robber and killer named Nicolas Pelletier was led to the scaffolding in the Place de Grave, where public executions were performed during the reign of Louis XV. Plentiful national guardsmen were on the scene to preserve order. The authorities were concerned that the crowd for this […]

Today in History: April 24, 1479 BCE Tradition holds that by our modern calendar, on April 24, 1479 B.C.E the Trojans learned they should beware of Greeks bearing gifts, especially when they come in the form of large wooden horses. The story goes that after ten long years of warfare, the Greeks, unable to break through the city of Troy’s […]

Today in History: April 23, 1014 The Battle of Clontanf was not a heat-of-the-moment type event. Instead, is was the result of two centuries of broken treaties, misalliances, dirty dealings and general loathing between the native Irish Celtic chieftains and the Norsemen who had invaded and settled in Ireland two hundred years earlier. The Vikings arrived on the shores of […]

Today in History: April 22, 1970 On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans demonstrated in massive rallies from coast-to-coast against the destruction of the environment and for the need to raise awareness of environmental issues. Founded by activist and U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day led to the establishment of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Endangered Species Act […]

Today in History: April 21, 1509 “This day is the end of our slavery, the fount of our liberty; the end of sadness and the beginning of joy.” – Thomas More, April 21, 1509 When Henry VIII came to the throne on April 21, 1509, just before his 18th birthday, the English people looked forward to his reign with great […]

Today in History: April 18, 1775 By April 18, 1775, the Sons of Liberty were in quite the quandary. British soldiers were traveling the countryside confiscating the colonists’ weapons, so they needed a way to alert the Minutemen that their arrival was imminent, giving them time to hide their firearms. Dr. Joseph Warren approached Paul Revere and William Dawes, informing […]

Today in History: April 17, 1865 Mary Surratt, who was convicted of treason, conspiracy and plotting the murder of President Abraham Lincoln, was the first woman in United States history to be sentenced to death and executed. But to this day, there are questions about how much Mary knew about the plan to kill Lincoln. There is even the possibility […]

Today in History: April 16, 1178 BCE King Odysseus began to make his way home when the Trojan War ended after serving ten years as one of the most distinguished leaders of the Greek Army. Along the way, he had to deal with perils such as the Cyclopes, the Sirens and Scylla and Charybdis. These dangerous distractions added another decade […]

Today in History: April 15, 1776 On April 15, 1776, The Duchess of Kingston was brought to trial to face charges of bigamy in Westminster Hall. This scandalous display of aristocratic bad behavior – involving even the King himself – kept London buzzing for months on end. The reason the story was so compelling? The witty and charismatic lady at […]

Today in History: April 14, 966 The Christianization of Poland was a shrewd political choice by Mieszko I, the first ruler of Poland, to ally his country with the Czechs who had also embraced Christianity, rather than the Germans who still practiced Paganism. Uniting the Polish people under a common faith was also a way to strengthen the country and […]

Today in History: April 11, 1931 Dorothy Parker was a writer, poet and satirist whose quick turns of phrase made her a favorite among many prominent Jazz Age newspaper columnists. Along with Robert Benchley and Robert E. Sherwood, she was a founder of the legendary Algonquin Round Table, named in homage to the hotel where they met daily for lunch […]

Today in History: April 10, 1834 On the evening on April 10, 1834, a fire broke out in an elegant three-story mansion in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The rescuers found a slave woman chained in the kitchen, who admitted to deliberately setting the blaze. She felt it was worth the risk of dying in a fire to escape further torture […]

Today in History: April 9, 1970 Paul McCartney’s announcement on April 9, 1970 that he would no longer be recording or performing with the Beatles was disheartening, but hardly surprising. Unable to agree on what direction the band should take, the four musicians had been pouring their creativity into solo projects. There were also arguments over who should manage the […]

Today in History: April 8, 1994 On April 8, 1994 Kurt Cobain, the reluctant messiah of the “grunge” phenomenon that dominated rock music in the early 1990s, was found dead from an apparent suicide at his home in Seattle, WA. The 27-year-old Cobain, leader of the wildly popular and influential band Nirvana, died from a single shotgun blast to the […]

Today in History: April 7, 1906 Mount Vesuvius, located on Italy’s west coast, is mainland Europe’s only active volcano. It’s considered one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes because of the largely populated areas surrounding it, including the city of Naples. It’s estimated that two million people live in the immediate vicinity of Vesuvius. The volcano has erupted at least […]

Today in History: April 4, 1960 On April 4, 1960 “Ben Hur” dominated the 32nd annual Academy awards at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, setting a new record sweeping 11 of the 12 categories it was nominated for, including Best Picture, Actor, and Director. The epic historical drama was adapted from a novel written in 1880 by Lew Wallace […]

Today in History: April 3, 1045 Edward the Confessor was born in 1003 to King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife Emma, the sister of Richard, Duke of Normandy, and was the last Anglo-Saxon king to sit on the throne of England. He was responsible for the building of Westminster Abbey, one of the great churches of England, and […]