Died on Friday, 11th April – Famous Deaths

11/04/2025

Mike Berry, British singer and actor (born 1942)

Michael Hubert Bourne, known professionally as Mike Berry, was an English singer and actor, known for the top ten hits "Don't You Think It's Time" (1963) and "The Sunshine of Your Smile" (1980) and for portraying Mr. Spooner in Are You Being Served?

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11/04/2024

Park Bo-ram, South Korean singer (born 1994)

Park Bo-ram was a South Korean singer. She took part in Mnet's SuperStar K2 and finished in eighth place. Park made her debut with release digital single "Beautiful" featuring Zico on August 7, 2014. That year, she won Artist of the Year for August at the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards and was nominated for Best New Artist at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and Melon Music Awards. She died at age 30 from acute alcohol poisoning after collapsing at her friend's home.

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11/04/2020

John Horton Conway, English mathematician (born 1937)

John Horton Conway was an English mathematician. He was active in the theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life.

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11/04/2017

J. Geils, American singer and guitarist (born 1946)

John Warren Geils Jr., was an American guitarist. He was known as the leader of the J. Geils Band.

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Mark Wainberg, Canadian researcher and HIV/AIDS activist (born 1945)

Mark Arnold Wainberg, was a Canadian HIV/AIDS researcher and HIV/AIDS activist. He was the director of the McGill University AIDS Centre at the Montreal Jewish General Hospital and Professor of Medicine and of Microbiology at McGill University. His laboratory primarily studies HIV reverse transcriptase, the molecular basis for drug resistance, and gene therapy. He received a B.Sc. from McGill University in 1966, a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1972, and did his post-doctoral research at Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University.

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11/04/2015

Jimmy Gunn, American football player (born 1948)

Jimmy Gunn was an American professional football linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was born in Augusta, Arkansas. He prepped at Lincoln High School in San Diego.

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Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, Bangladeshi journalist and politician (born 1952)

Muhammad Kamaruzzaman was a Bangladeshi politician and journalist who served as the senior assistant secretary general of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and was convicted of war crimes during the 1971 independence war of Bangladesh. He was executed by hanging at Dhaka Central Jail at 22:01 on 11 April 2015.

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François Maspero, French journalist and author (born 1932)

François Maspero was a French author and journalist, best known as a publisher of leftist books in the 1970s. He also worked as a translator, translating the works of Joseph Conrad, Mehdi Ben Barka, and John Reed, author of Ten Days that Shook the World, among others. He was awarded the Prix Décembre in 1990 for Les Passagers du Roissy-Express.

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Hanut Singh, Indian general (born 1933)

Lieutenant General Hanut Singh Rathore, PVSM MVC(6 July 1933 – 10 April 2015) was an Indian General Officer. He was a recipient of India's second highest military decoration, the Maha Vir Chakra, for his role in the Battle of Basantar during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

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Tekena Tamuno, Nigerian historian and academic (born 1932)

Tekena Nitonye Tamuno was a Nigerian historian and Vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan. He was the President of the Board of Trustees of Bells University of Technology.

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11/04/2014

Rolf Brem, Swiss sculptor and illustrator (born 1926)

Rolf Brem was a Swiss sculptor, illustrator and graphic artist. He worked in Meggen close to Lake Lucerne.

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Edna Doré, English actress (born 1921)

Edna Lillian Doré was a British actress. She was known for her bit-part roles in sitcoms and for playing the character of Mo Butcher in EastEnders from 1988 to 1990.

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Bill Henry, American baseball player (born 1927)

William Rodman Henry was an American professional baseball player. A left-handed pitcher, he appeared in Major League Baseball between 1952 and 1969 for the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Houston Astros. Henry was nicknamed "Gabby" by teammates for his quiet nature. While with the Cincinnati Reds, he pitched in an All-Star Game and two World Series games, and in 1964 had an 0.87 earned run average. His 1964 season has been described as being "on the short list of the great relief seasons of all time".

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Lou Hudson, American basketball player and sportscaster (born 1944)

Louis Clyde Hudson was an American National Basketball Association (NBA) player, who was an All-American at the University of Minnesota and a six-time NBA All-Star, scoring 17,940 total points in 13 NBA seasons.

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Myer S. Kripke, American rabbi and scholar (born 1914)

Myer Samuel Kripke was an American rabbi, scholar, and philanthropist. He was based in Omaha, Nebraska.

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Sergey Nepobedimy, Russian engineer (born 1921)

Sergey Pavlovich Nepobedimy was a Soviet designer of rocket weaponry. He was the Head and Chief Designer of the Kolomna Mechanical Engineering Design Bureau (1965-1989). Born in Ryazan, USSR, he graduated from Bauman Moscow State Technical University in 1945 and was directed to the work at SKB-101 of Boris Shavyrin.

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Jesse Winchester, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1944)

James Ridout "Jesse" Winchester Jr. was an American-Canadian musician and songwriter. He was born and raised in the southern United States. Opposed to the Vietnam War, he moved to Canada in 1967 to avoid the draft. During that time, he began his career as a solo artist. His highest-charting recordings were "Yankee Lady" in 1970 and "Say What" in 1981. He became a Canadian citizen in 1973, gained amnesty in the U.S. in 1977 and settled in Memphis, Tennessee in 2002.

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11/04/2013

Don Blackman, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and producer (born 1953)

Don (Donald) Blackman was an American jazz-funk pianist, singer, and songwriter. He performed with Parliament-Funkadelic, Lenny White, Marcus Miller, Sting, Mary J. Blige, Earth, Wind and Fire and Louis Hayes.

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Sue Draheim, American fiddler (born1949)

Sue Draheim was an American fiddler, boasting a more than forty year musical career in the US and the UK. Growing up in North Oakland, Draheim began her first private violin lessons at age eleven, having started public school violin instruction at age eight while attending North Oakland's Peralta Elementary School. She also attended Claremont Jr. High, and graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1967.

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Grady Hatton, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1922)

Grady Edgebert Hatton Jr. was an American professional baseball second baseman, third baseman, coach and manager. He played in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Reds / Redlegs, Chicago White Sox, Boston Red Sox, St. Louis Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles and Chicago Cubs. Hatton is most identified with his native Texas: he was born in Beaumont, attended the University of Texas at Austin, managed minor league teams in Houston and San Antonio, and was an important contributor to the early years of Major League Baseball's Houston Astros.

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Thomas Hemsley, English actor and singer (born 1927)

Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley, CBE was an English baritone.

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Hilary Koprowski, Polish-American virologist and immunologist (born 1916)

Hilary Koprowski was a Polish virologist and immunologist active in the United States who demonstrated the world's first effective live polio vaccine. He authored or co-authored over 875 scientific papers and co-edited several scientific journals.

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Gilles Marchal, French singer-songwriter (born 1944)

Gilles Marchal, born Gilles Pastre, was a French songwriter and singer who reached the height of his career during the 1970s.

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Maria Tallchief, American ballerina (born 1925)

Maria Tallchief, born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief, was an Osage ballerina. She was America's first major prima ballerina and the first Native American to hold the rank. Together with Georgian-American choreographer George Balanchine, she is widely considered to have revolutionized American ballet.

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Clorindo Testa, Italian-Argentinian architect (born 1923)

Clorindo Manuel José Testa was an Italian-Argentine architect and artist.

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Jonathan Winters, American comedian, actor and screenwriter (born 1925)

Jonathan Harshman Winters III was an American comedian, actor, author, television host, and artist. He started performing as a stand-up comedian before transitioning his career to acting in film and television. Winters received numerous accolades including two Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960, the American Academy of Achievement in 1973, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 1999.

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11/04/2012

Ahmed Ben Bella, Algerian soldier and politician, 1st President of Algeria (born 1916)

Ahmed Ben Bella was an Algerian politician, soldier and revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 and then the first president of Algeria from 15 September 1963 until his overthrow on 19 June 1965.

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Roger Caron, Canadian criminal and author (born 1938)

Roger "Mad Dog" Caron was a Canadian robber and the author of the influential prison memoir Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars (1978). At the time of publishing, Caron was 39 years old and had spent 23 years in prison.

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Tippy Dye, American basketball player and coach (born 1915)

William Henry Harrison "Tippy" Dye was an American college athlete, coach, and athletic director. As a basketball head coach, Dye led the University of Washington to its only NCAA Final Four appearance in 1953. As an athletic director, Dye helped build the University of Nebraska football dynasty in the 1960s.

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Hal McKusick, American saxophonist, clarinet player, and flute player (born 1924)

Hal McKusick was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, and flutist who worked with Boyd Raeburn from 1944 to 1945 and Claude Thornhill from 1948 to 1949.

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Agustin Roman, American bishop (born 1928)

Agustín Aleido Román Rodríguez was a Cuban-born prelate of the Román Catholic Church in the United States. He served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Miami in Florida from 1979 to 2003.

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11/04/2011

Larry Sweeney, American wrestler and manager (born 1981)

Alexander K. Whybrow was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by his ring name Larry Sweeney. He performed primarily on the American independent circuit, but also competed in Canada, Mexico, Japan and Europe.

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11/04/2010

Julia Tsenova, Bulgarian pianist and composer (born 1948)

Julia Tsenova was a Bulgarian composer, pianist and musical pedagogue.

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11/04/2009

Gerda Gilboe, Danish actress and singer (born 1914)

Gerda Gilboe was a Danish actress and singer. She appeared in 18 films between 1943 and 2003.

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Vishnu Prabhakar, Indian author and playwright (born 1912)

Vishnu Prabhakar was a Hindi writer. He had several short stories, novels, plays and travelogues to his credit. Prabhakar's works have elements of patriotism, nationalism and messages of social upliftment. He was the First Sahitya Academy Award winner from Haryana.

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Corín Tellado, Spanish author (born 1927)

María del Socorro Tellado López, known as Corín Tellado, was a Spanish writer of romantic novels and photonovels that were best-sellers in several Spanish-language countries. She published more than 4,000 titles and sold more than 400 million books which have been translated into several languages. She was listed in the 1994 Guinness World Records as having sold the most books written in Spanish, and earlier in 1962 UNESCO declared her the most read Spanish writer after Miguel de Cervantes.

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11/04/2008

Merlin German, American sergeant (born 1985)

Merlin German was a United States Marine sergeant stationed in Iraq who survived a roadside bomb blast in 2005. He became a symbol of recovery throughout the United States, soon known as the "Miracle Marine," during the 17 months he spent hospitalized following the blast. German eventually regained the ability to walk, and set up a charity for child burn victims. Just over three years after the blast, he died following a minor skin graft surgery.

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11/04/2007

Roscoe Lee Browne, American actor and director (born 1922)

Roscoe Lee Browne was an American actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his many guest appearances on TV series from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as movies like The Cowboys (1972) with John Wayne, and The World's Greatest Athlete (1973) with John Amos and Jan-Michael Vincent, but his biggest roles were as narrator in Babe and Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, which grossed $400 million combined.

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Loïc Leferme, French diver (born 1970)

Loïc Leferme was a French diver who was the world free diving record holder until 2 October 2005, when he was surpassed by Herbert Nitsch. Loic was also a founder of AIDA in 1990 with Roland Specker and Claude Chapuis in Nice. In 2002 he set the world free diving record without any breathing apparatus at 162 meters (531 ft). His first world record was 137 meters (449 ft), set in 1999. On 30 October 2004, he extended his own world record to 171 meters (561 ft) in the no-limits free-diving category. The premier advocate of this type of freediving which has come to be known as Chapuis Style Freediving.

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Janet McDonald, American lawyer and author (born 1954)

Janet McDonald was an American writer of young adult novels as well as the author of Project Girl, a memoir about her early life in Brooklyn's Farragut Houses and struggle to achieve an Ivy League education. Her best known children's book is Spellbound, which tells the story of a teenaged mother who wins a spelling competition and a college scholarship. The book was named as one of the American Library Association's eighty-four Best Books for Young Adults in 2002. In 2003, her novel Chill Wind won her the John Steptoe Award for New Talent.

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Ronald Speirs, Scottish-American colonel (born 1920)

Ronald Charles Speirs was a United States Army officer who served in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. He was initially assigned as a platoon leader in B Company of the 1st Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Speirs was reassigned to D Company of the 2nd Battalion before the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 and later assigned as commander of E Company during an assault on Foy, Belgium, after the siege of Bastogne was broken during the Battle of the Bulge. He finished the war in the European Theater as a captain. Speirs served in the Korean War, as a major commanding a rifle company and as a staff officer. He later became the American governor for Spandau Prison in Berlin. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.

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Kurt Vonnegut, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (born 1922)

Kurt Vonnegut was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty years; further works have been published since his death.

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11/04/2006

June Pointer, American singer (born 1953)

June Antoinette Pointer was an American singer, best known as the youngest of the founding members of the vocal group the Pointer Sisters.

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DeShaun Holton, American rapper and actor (born 1973)

DeShaun Dupree Holton, known professionally as Proof, was an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. During his career, he was a member of the groups 5 Elementz, Funky Cowboys, Promatic, Goon Sqwad, and D12. He was a close childhood friend of rapper Eminem, who also lived in Detroit. Proof was often a hype man at Eminem's concerts.

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11/04/2005

André François, Romanian-French cartoonist, painter, and sculptor (born 1915)

André François, born André Farkas, was a Hungarian-born French cartoonist. He was one of the most influential graphic artists of his generation. Since the 1960s he had worked primarily as a painter, sculptor, cartoonist, poster artist, and as an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books.

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Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (born 1907)

Lucien Laurent was a French footballer who played as a forward. Playing for France, at the 1930 FIFA World Cup, he scored the first ever FIFA World Cup goal against Mexico.

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11/04/2003

Cecil Howard Green, English-American geophysicist and businessman, founded Texas Instruments (born 1900)

Cecil Howard Green was a British-born American geophysicist, electrical engineer, and electronics manufacturing executive, who trained at the University of British Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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11/04/2001

Harry Secombe, Welsh-English actor (born 1921)

Sir Harry Donald Secombe was a Welsh actor, comedian, singer and television presenter. Secombe was a member of the British radio comedy programme The Goon Show (1951–1960), playing many characters, most notably Neddie Seagoon. An accomplished tenor, he also appeared in musicals and films – notably as Mr Bumble in Oliver! (1968) – and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows incorporating hymns and other devotional songs.

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11/04/2000

Diana Darvey, English actress, singer and dancer (born 1945)

Diana Magdalene Roloff, known professionally as Diana Darvey, was a British actress, singer and dancer, best known for her appearances on The Benny Hill Show.

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11/04/1999

William H. Armstrong, American author and educator (born 1911)

William Howard Armstrong was an American writer of children's literature and educator, best known for his 1969 novel Sounder, which won the Newbery Medal.

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11/04/1997

Muriel McQueen Fergusson, Canadian lawyer and politician, Canadian Speaker of the Senate (born 1899)

Muriel McQueen Fergusson, was a Canadian activist, judge and politician. Fergusson served in the Senate of Canada and the first woman Speaker of the Senate. She is known for a long career of advocating for the less privileged, most often women.

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Wang Xiaobo, contemporary Chinese novelist and essayist (born 1952)

Wang Xiaobo was a Chinese writer known for his sharp irony and critical spirit, through which he portrayed the absurdity and suffering of everyday life. Born in Beijing to an intellectual family, Wang was sent to rural areas in Yunnan in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. He returned to Beijing in 1972 and worked as a factory worker before enrolling at Renmin University of China in 1978. In 1984 he went to the United States to study at the University of Pittsburgh under historian Cho-yun Hsu, and after returning to China in 1988 he briefly taught at Peking University and Renmin University before becoming a freelance writer in 1992. Wang rose to prominence with his novel The Golden Age, which later became part of his “Age” trilogy together with The Silver Age and The Bronze Age. In the 1990s, he gained particular popularity among Chinese college students and achieved posthumous status as a cultural icon associated with liberal and independent thought in China.

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11/04/1996

Jessica Dubroff, American pilot (born 1988)

Jessica Whitney Dubroff was a seven-year-old American trainer pilot who died while attempting to become the youngest person to fly a light aircraft across the United States. On the second day of her attempt, the Cessna 177B Cardinal single-engine aircraft, piloted by her flight instructor, Joe Reid, crashed during a rainstorm immediately after takeoff from Cheyenne Regional Airport in Cheyenne, Wyoming, killing Dubroff, her 57-year-old father Lloyd Dubroff, and Reid.

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11/04/1992

James Brown, American actor and singer (born 1920)

James Edward Brown was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Lt. Ripley Masters in the American western television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.

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Eve Merriam, American author and poet (born 1916)

Eve Merriam was an American poet and writer.

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Alejandro Obregón, Colombian painter, sculptor, and engraver (born 1920)

Alejandro Jesús Obregón Rosės was a Colombian painter, muralist, sculptor and engraver.

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11/04/1991

Walker Cooper, American baseball player and manager (born 1915)

William Walker Cooper was an American professional baseball catcher and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from 1940 to 1957, most notably as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals with whom he won two World Series championships. An eight-time All-Star, Cooper was known as one of the top catchers in baseball during the 1940s and early 1950s. His elder brother Mort Cooper, also played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher.

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Bruno Hoffmann. German glass harp player (born 1913)

Bruno Hoffmann was a German glass harpist. Hoffmann is widely acknowledged as the virtuoso who reanimated contemporary interest in the glass harp and glass harmonica.

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11/04/1990

Harold Ballard, Canadian businessman (born 1903)

Harold Edwin Ballard was a Canadian businessman and sportsman. Ballard was an owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL) as well as their home arena, Maple Leaf Gardens. A member of the Leafs organization from 1940 and a senior executive from 1957, he became part-owner of the team in 1961 and was majority owner from February 1972 until his death. He won Stanley Cups in 1962, 1963, 1964 and 1967, all as part-owner. He was also the owner of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL) for 10 years from 1978 to 1988, winning a Grey Cup championship in 1986. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame (1977) and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1987). His is one of seven names to be on both the Stanley Cup and Grey Cup.

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11/04/1987

Erskine Caldwell, American novelist and short story writer (born 1903)

Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American novelist and short story writer. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native Southern United States, in novels such as Tobacco Road (1932) and God's Little Acre (1933), won him critical acclaim.

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Primo Levi, Italian chemist and author (born 1919)

Primo Michele Levi was a Jewish Italian chemist, partisan, Holocaust survivor and writer. He was the author of several books, collections of short stories, essays, poems and one novel. His best-known works include: If This Is a Man, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland; and The Periodic Table (1975), a collection of mostly autobiographical short stories, each named after a chemical element which plays a role in each story, which the Royal Institution named the best science book ever written.

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11/04/1985

Bunny Ahearne, Irish-born English businessman (born 1900)

John Francis "Bunny" Ahearne was a British ice hockey administrator and businessman. He served rotating terms as president and vice-president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) from 1951 to 1975, and was the secretary of the British Ice Hockey Association from 1934 to 1971, and later its president until 1982. He began in hockey by managing the last Great Britain team to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games, before moving to the international stage. He implemented business reforms at the IIHF, oversaw the growth of ice hockey to new countries, and expanded the Ice Hockey World Championships. He was inducted into both the Hockey Hall of Fame and the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame during his lifetime and was posthumously inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame.

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John Gilroy, English artist and illustrator (born 1898)

John Thomas Young Gilroy was an English artist and illustrator, best known for his advertising posters for Guinness, the Irish stout. He signed many of his works, simply, "Gilroy".

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Enver Hoxha, Albanian educator and politician, 21st Prime Minister of Albania (born 1908)

Enver Halil Hoxha was an Albanian communist revolutionary, statesman, Marxist–Leninist political theorist, and dictator who was the leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. He was the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania from 1941 until his death, a member of its Politburo, chairman of the Democratic Front of Albania, and commander-in-chief of the Albanian People's Army. He was the twenty-second prime minister of Albania from 1944 to 1954 and at various times served as his own foreign minister and defence minister.

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11/04/1984

Edgar V. Saks, Estonian historian and politician, Estonian Minister of Education (born 1910)

Edgar Valter Saks was an Estonian amateur historian and author. He was the Estonian exile government's minister of education in exile from 1971 until his death.

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11/04/1983

Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (born 1904)

María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete, known professionally as Dolores del Río, was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood. Along with a notable career in American cinema during the 1920s and 1930s, she was also considered one of the most important female figures in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, and one of the most beautiful actresses of her era.

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11/04/1981

Caroline Gordon, American author and critic (born 1895)

Caroline Ferguson Gordon was an American novelist and literary critic who, while still in her thirties, received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and an O. Henry Award in 1934. Her early fiction was influenced by her association with the Southern Agrarians.

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11/04/1980

Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turkish journalist and producer (born 1935)

Ümit Kaftancıoğlu was a Turkish TV producer, writer and columnist of the newspaper Cumhuriyet.

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11/04/1977

Jacques Prévert, French poet and screenwriter (born 1900)

Jacques Prévert was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist movement, and include Les Enfants du Paradis (1945). He published his first book in 1946.

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Phanishwar Nath 'Renu', Indian author and activist (born 1921)

Phanishwar Nath Mandal 'Renu' was one of the most successful and influential writers of modern Hindi literature in the post-Premchand era. He is the author of Maila Anchal, which after Premchand's Godaan, is regarded as the most significant Hindi novel. Phanishwar Nath (Mandal) Renu was born on 4 March 1921 in a small village Aurahi Hingna near Simraha railway station in Bihar. The mandal community of Bihar to which Renu belonged constitutes an under-privileged social group in India. Renu's family, however, enjoyed the benefits of land, education, and social prestige. Renu's father, Shilanath Mandal, had been active in the Indian National Movement and was an extremely enlightened individual, taking a keen interest in modern ideas, culture and art.

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11/04/1974

Ernst Ziegler, German actor (born 1894)

Ernst Ziegler was a German film and television actor.

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11/04/1970

Cathy O'Donnell, American actress (born 1923)

Cathy O'Donnell was an American actress who appeared in The Best Years of Our Lives, Ben-Hur, and films noir such as Detective Story and They Live by Night.

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John O'Hara, American novelist and short story writer (born 1905)

John Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent The New Yorker magazine short story style. He became a best-selling novelist before the age of 30 with Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. While O'Hara's legacy as a writer is debated, his work was praised by such contemporaries as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his champions rank him highly among the major under-appreciated American writers of the 20th century. Few college students educated after O'Hara's death in 1970 have discovered him, chiefly because he refused to allow his work to be reprinted in anthologies used to teach literature at the college level.

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11/04/1967

Thomas Farrell, American general (born 1891)

Major General Thomas Francis Farrell was the Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Field Operations of the Manhattan Project, acting as executive officer to Major General Leslie R. Groves Jr.

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Donald Sangster, Jamaican lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Jamaica (born 1911)

Sir Donald Burns Sangster ON GCVO (26 October 1911 – 11 April 1967) was a Jamaican solicitor and politician, and the second Prime Minister of Jamaica.

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11/04/1962

Ukichiro Nakaya, Japanese physicist and academic (born 1900)

Ukichiro Nakaya was a Japanese physicist and science essayist known for his work in glaciology and low-temperature sciences. He is credited with making the first artificial snowflakes.

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George Poage, American hurdler and educator (born 1880)

George Coleman Poage was an American track and field athlete. He was the first black and the first African-American athlete to win a medal in the Olympic Games, winning two bronze medals at the 1904 games in St. Louis.

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Axel Revold, Norwegian painter (born 1887)

Axel Revold was a Norwegian painter, illustrator, and art professor at the Norwegian National Academy of Fine Arts for twenty years. He was highly decorated for his merits.

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11/04/1960

Rosa Grünberg, Swedish actress (born 1878)

Rosalie "Rosa" Grünberg was a Swedish actress and opera soprano singer. She was considered one of the Swedish opera scene's prima donnas.

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11/04/1958

Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter and educator (born 1875)

Konstantin Fyodorovich Yuon or Juon was a Russian painter and theatre designer associated with Mir Iskusstva. Later, he co-founded the Union of Russian Artists and the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia.

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11/04/1954

Paul Specht, American violinist and bandleader (born 1895)

Paul Specht was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s.

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11/04/1953

Kid Nichols, American baseball player and manager (born 1869)

Charles Augustus "Kid" Nichols was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher who played for the Boston Beaneaters, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies from 1890 to 1906. A switch hitter who threw right-handed, he was listed at 5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m) and 175 pounds (79 kg). He is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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11/04/1939

Kurtdereli Mehmet, Turkish wrestler (born 1864)

Kurtdereli Mehmet Pehlivan was a Turkish wrestler. He lived most of his life in the village of Kurtdere, 40 km from Balıkesir. He stood 6'5 (196 cm) tall and weighed 326 lb (148 kg).

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11/04/1926

Luther Burbank, American botanist and academic (born 1849)

Luther Burbank was an American botanist, horticulturist, and pioneer in agricultural science who developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank primarily worked with fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed a spineless cactus and the plumcot.

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11/04/1918

Otto Wagner, Austrian architect and urban planner (born 1841)

Otto Koloman Wagner was an Austrian architect, furniture designer and urban planner. He was a leading member of the Vienna Secession movement of architecture, founded in 1897, and the broader Art Nouveau movement. Many of his works are found in his native city of Vienna, and illustrate the rapid evolution of architecture during the period. His early works were inspired by classical architecture. By mid-1890s, he had already designed several buildings in what became known as the Vienna Secession style. Beginning in 1898, with his designs of Vienna Metro stations, his style became floral and Art Nouveau, with decoration by Koloman Moser. His later works, 1906 until his death in 1918, had geometric forms and minimal ornament, more clearly expressing their modern structure and materials. Although they are considered predecessors to modern architecture they remain within the larger classical tradition of the Schinkel School in Germany and Central Europe.

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11/04/1916

Richard Harding Davis, American journalist and author (born 1864)

Richard Harding Davis was an American journalist and writer of fiction and drama, known foremost as the first American war correspondent to cover the Spanish–American War, the Second Boer War, and World War I. His writing greatly assisted the political career of Theodore Roosevelt. He also played a major role in the evolution of the American magazine. His influence extended to the world of fashion, and he is credited with making the clean-shaven look popular among men at the turn of the 20th century.

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11/04/1908

Henry Bird, English chess player and author (born 1829)

Henry Edward Bird was an English chess player, author and accountant. He wrote the books Chess History and Reminiscences and An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom.

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11/04/1906

James Anthony Bailey, American businessman, co-founded Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (born 1847)

James Anthony Bailey, was an American owner and manager of several 19th-century circuses, including the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

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Francis Pharcellus Church, American journalist and publisher, co-founded Armed Forces Journal and The Galaxy Magazine (born 1839)

Francis Pharcellus Church was an American publisher and editor. In 1897, Church wrote the editorial "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". Produced in response to eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon's letter asking whether Santa Claus was real, the widely republished editorial has become one of the most famous ever written.

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11/04/1903

Gemma Galgani, Italian mystic and saint (born 1878)

Gemma Umberta Maria Galgani, also known as Gemma of Lucca, was an Italian mystic, canonized as a saint in the Catholic Church in 1940. She has been called the "daughter of the Passion" because of her profound imitation of the Passion of Christ. She is especially venerated in the Congregation of the Passion of Jesus (Passionists).

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11/04/1902

Wade Hampton III, Confederate general and politician, 77th Governor of South Carolina (born 1818)

Wade Hampton III was an American politician from South Carolina. He was a prominent member of one of the richest families in the antebellum Southern United States, owning thousands of acres of cotton land in South Carolina and Mississippi, as well as thousands of slaves. He became a senior general in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War. He also had a career as a leading Democratic Party politician in state and national affairs.

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11/04/1895

Julius Lothar Meyer, German chemist (born 1830)

Julius Lothar Meyer was a German chemist. He was one of the pioneers in developing the earliest versions of the periodic table of the chemical elements. The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev and he both had worked with Robert Bunsen. Meyer never used his first given name and was simply known as Lothar Meyer throughout his life.

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11/04/1894

Constantin Lipsius, German architect and theorist (born 1832)

Johannes Wilhelm Constantin Lipsius was a German architect and architectural theorist, best known for his controversial design of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and Exhibition Building (1883–1894) on the Brühl Terrace in Dresden, today known as the Lipsius-Bau.

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11/04/1890

David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo, Dutch Talmudist (born 1808)

David de Jahacob Lopez Cardozo was a Dutch Talmudist and communal worker. He was sent at an early age to the bet ha-midrash 'Etz Chayyim, studied under Rabbi Berenstein at The Hague, and received his diploma of "Morenu" in 1839.

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Joseph Merrick, English man with severe deformities (born 1862)

Joseph Carey Merrick was an English man known for his severe physical deformities. He was first exhibited at a freak show under the stage name "The Elephant Man", and then went to live at the London Hospital, in Whitechapel, after meeting the surgeon Sir Frederick Treves. Despite his challenges, Merrick created detailed artistic works, such as intricate models of buildings, and became well known in London society.

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11/04/1873

Edward Canby, American general (born 1817)

Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. He served as a military governor after the war.

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11/04/1870

Justo José de Urquiza, Argentine general, politician and first constitutional president of Argentina (born 1801)

Justo José de Urquiza y García was an Argentine general and politician who served as president of the Argentine Confederation from 1854 to 1860.

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11/04/1861

Francisco González Bocanegra, Mexican poet and composer (born 1824)

Francisco González Bocanegra was a Mexican poet who wrote the lyrics of the Mexican National Anthem in 1853.

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11/04/1856

Juan Santamaría, Costa Rican soldier (born 1831)

Juan Santamaría Rodríguez was a drummer in the Costa Rican army, officially recognized as the national hero of his country for his actions in the 1856 Second Battle of Rivas, in the Filibuster War. He died in the battle carrying a torch he used to light the enemy stronghold on fire, securing a victory for Costa Rica against American mercenary William Walker and his forces. Thirty five years after his death, he began to be idolized and was used as a propaganda tool to inspire Costa Rican nationalism. A national holiday in Costa Rica, Juan Santamaría Day, is held annually on April 11 to commemorate his death.

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11/04/1798

Karl Wilhelm Ramler, German poet and academic (born 1725)

Karl Wilhelm Ramler was a German poet who was the Berlin Cadet School master.

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11/04/1783

Nikita Ivanovich Panin, Polish-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1718)

Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin was an influential Russian statesman and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first 18 years of her reign (1762–1780). In that role, he advocated the Northern Alliance, closer ties with Frederick the Great of Prussia and the establishment of an advisory privy council. His staunch opposition to the Partitions of Poland led to his being replaced by the more compliant Prince Alexander Bezborodko. Catherine appointed many men to the Senate who were related to Panin's powerful family.

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11/04/1723

John Robinson, English bishop and diplomat (born 1650)

John Robinson was an English diplomat and prelate. He became the Bishop of London and Dean of Windsor, succeeding to Henry Compton.

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11/04/1712

Richard Simon, French priest and critic (born 1638)

Richard Simon CO, was a French priest, a member of the Oratorians, who was an influential biblical critic, orientalist and controversialist.

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11/04/1626

Marino Ghetaldi, Ragusan mathematician and physicist (born 1568)

Marino Ghetaldi was a Ragusan scientist. A mathematician and physicist who studied in Italy, England and Belgium, his best results are mainly in physics, especially optics, and mathematics. He was one of the few students of François Viète and friend of Giovanni Camillo Glorioso.

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11/04/1612

Emanuel van Meteren, Flemish historian and author (born 1535)

Emanuel van Meteren or Meteeren was a Flemish historian and Consul for "the Traders of the Low Countries" in London. He was born in Antwerp, the son of Sir Jacobus van Meteren, Dutch financier and publisher of early English versions of the Bible, and Ottilia Ortellius, of the famous Ortellius family of mapmakers, and nephew of the cartographer Abraham Ortelius.

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Edward Wightman, English minister and martyr (born 1566)

Edward Wightman was an English radical Anabaptist minister, who was known for his Nontrinitarianism view.

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11/04/1609

John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, English noble (born 1533)

John Lumley, 1st Baron Lumley, KB was an English aristocrat, who is remembered as one of the greatest collectors of art and books of his age.

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11/04/1587

Thomas Bromley, English lord chancellor (born 1530)

Sir Thomas Bromley was a 16th-century lawyer, judge and politician who established himself in the mid-Tudor period and rose to prominence during the reign of Elizabeth I. He was successively Solicitor General and Lord Chancellor of England. He presided over the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots and died three months after her execution.

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11/04/1554

Thomas Wyatt the Younger, English rebel leader (born 1521)

Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger was an English politician and rebel leader during the reign of Queen Mary I; his rising is traditionally called "Wyatt's rebellion". He was the son of the English poet and ambassador Sir Thomas Wyatt.

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11/04/1512

Gaston de Foix, French military commander (born 1489)

Gaston de Foix, duc de Nemours, nicknamed The Thunderbolt of Italy, was a famed French military commander of the Renaissance. Nephew of King Louis XII of France and general of his armies in Italy from 1511 to 1512, he is noted for his military feats in a career which lasted no longer than a few months. The young general is regarded as a stellar commander well ahead of his time. An adept of lightning fast forced marches as well as sudden and bold offensives that destabilized contemporary armies and commanders, De Foix is mostly remembered for his six-month campaign against the Holy League in the War of the League of Cambrai. He met his end in said conflict, at the age of 22, during the Battle of Ravenna (1512), the last of his triumphs.

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11/04/1447

Henry Beaufort, Cardinal, Lord Chancellor of England (born 1377)

Henry Beaufort was an English Catholic prelate and statesman who held the offices of Bishop of Lincoln (1398), Bishop of Winchester (1404) and cardinal (1426). He served three times as Lord Chancellor and played an important role in English politics.

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11/04/1349

Ramadan ibn Alauddin, first known Muslim from Korea

Ramadan ibn Alauddin was a Yuan darughachi (governor) of Luchuan Prefecture in Rongzhou, Guangxi Province, of Muslim faith and Korean provenance. He served until his death in 1349. His existence is known only from an epitaph in the cemetery of the Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou. Ramadan is notable for being the first named Muslim from Korea, although it is unclear whether he was of Korean ethnicity.

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11/04/1240

Llywelyn the Great, Welsh prince (born 1172)

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth or Llywelyn Fawr was Prince of Gwynedd from 1199 to 1240. His reign saw Gwynedd transformed from a territory suffering from thirty years of civil war into a polity which could exercise suzerainty over most other native Welsh rulers. He received official recognition of his status from the English Crown, but experienced difficulty establishing lasting control over his ostensible vassals and struggled to ensure a smooth succession for his chosen heir, Dafydd ap Llywelyn, son of Llywelyn and Joan, a daughter of King John. He suffered a paralytic stroke in 1237, and died on 11 April 1240, leaving Dafydd to succeed him to the precarious principality.

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11/04/1165

Stephen IV, king of Hungary and Croatia

Stephen IV was King of Hungary and Croatia, ascending to the throne between 1163 and 1165, when he usurped the crown of his nephew, Stephen III. He was the third son of Béla II of Hungary, and when his conspiracy against his brother Géza II failed, he was exiled from Hungary in the summer of 1157. He first sought refuge in the Holy Roman Empire, but received no support from Emperor Frederick I. Shortly afterwards he moved to the Byzantine Empire, where he married a niece of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, Maria Komnene, and converted to the Eastern Orthodox Church.

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11/04/1079

Stanislaus of Szczepanów, bishop of Kraków (born 1030)

Stanislaus of Szczepanów was a Polish Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Kraków and was martyred by the Polish King Bolesław II the Bold. He is the patron saint of Poland.

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11/04/1077

Anawrahta, king of Burma and founder of the Pagan Empire (born 1014)

Anawrahta Minsaw was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone of Upper Burma into the first Burmese Empire that formed the basis of modern-day Burma (Myanmar). Historically verifiable Burmese history begins with his accession to the Pagan throne in 1044.

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11/04/1034

Romanos III Argyros, Byzantine emperor (born 968)

Romanos III Argyros, or Argyropoulos, was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death in 1034. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople when the dying Constantine VIII forced him to divorce his wife and marry the emperor's daughter, Zoë. Upon Constantine's death three days later, Romanos took the throne.

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11/04/0924

Herman I, chancellor and archbishop of Cologne

Herman I served as Archbishop of Cologne from 889, until his death around 924. He was the son of Erenfried I of Maasgau, of the Ezzonian dynasty. As chancellor of Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia, he helped to execute in 911 his kingdom's annexation to West Francia. In 921, he was a signatory of the Treaty of Bonn and, in 922, participated in the Synod of Koblenz.

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11/04/0678

Donus, pope of the Catholic Church (born 610)

Pope Donus was the bishop of Rome from 676 to his death on 11 April 678. Few details survive about him or his achievements beyond what is recorded in the Liber Pontificalis.

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11/04/0618

Yang Guang, Chinese emperor of the Sui Dynasty (born 569)

Emperor Yang of Sui, personal name Yang Guang (楊廣), alternative name Ying (英), childhood name Amo (阿摩), Xianbei name Puliuru Guang (普六茹廣), was the second emperor of the Sui dynasty of China.

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